Against all odds (The Pack)

Chapter 17

Warnings: Slight mention of blood, pretty sad

~Rob's P.O.V.~

     "Rob, are you sure this is a good idea?" Mitch questions, laying a hand on my forearm as we being to walk out to the clearing. "Vikk isn't someone to be underestimated."
     "No, but it's too late to go back now. Plus, it's going to be a fair fight. Just a fist fight. I have the weight and height advantage."
     "Honestly, Rob. You're such a dumb cactus." Preston sighs, but I know better than to think much of it. "We could've just found someone else to recruit."
     "Yeah but he's what we have right now, and he'd be useful to have on our team."
     "But Rob your leg-"
     "I'm fine, Mitch." I huff in frustration.

      Mitch and Preston exchange a worried glance, but back off nonetheless. Jerome steps into the middle of the clearing, shouts out all the instructions-which I already know-and then motions for us to begin. So I rush forward, and instantly pain flares up from the cut on my chest, the gash on my side, and slash on my arm, and mostly the deep penetration in the top of my thigh. I stumble a bit, but refuse to let the injuries fell me. I've had worse. Vikk and I meet in the middle of the field. Now he's just wearing a blue shirt with a red and blue diamond on the front, and a white V outlined in black on the back, as well as purplish pants. This, I'm assuming, is his normal outfit when he's not wearing his assassin clothing.

     His fists fly out as he uses his momentum to his advantage, and I bring my elbows up and wrap my hands around the back of my head, protecting my face and making so any blows either hit my arms or my elbows. And if they hit my elbows, it ends up doing some damage to his knuckles as well. But Vikk is quick to react, and he steps back, going to sweep out my legs. I sidestep out of the way, and knee him in the chest. He grunts and stumbles back, but I realize with a start that I shouldn't be pulling that sort of stuff again, because it's really spiking up the pain. Unfortunately do to my wince, Vikk notices this and as I can see from his smirk, I know he's found one of my weak spots.

      My thoughts are confirmed when Vikk lifts his foot up, and tries to step down on my injured thigh and paralyze me. Luckily, I manage to step back enough so that Vikk ends up stomping the ground instead. I can't let him find out about the other cuts on my chest, side, or arm. It's bad enough he knows about the wound on my thigh. I note urgently, landing a few palm strikes to his chest and face area, before he reels back. I twist around to slam the back of my fist into his jaw when suddenly the sharp pain in my side flares up, and causes me to hesitate. I hiss in pain, and turn my head just in time to see the fist flying at my face. It connects squarely with the side of my face, and I'm sent flying backwards, and to the ground. For such a short guy he's got a lot of power in him. I notice painfully, spitting out a few drops of blood, and crawling onto my hands and knees.

     "You made a big mistake taking me on while your injured." Vikk sneers, kicking my in the gut, and sending me back to the ground.

     Out of the corner of my eye I can see my friends all tense, and on the border of stepping in to help me. I catch Jerome's eye and I shake my head slowly, and he seems to get the message, telling Preston and Mitch to hang back. This time, when Vikk goes to harshly kick my gut, I lash out and grab his ankle. I hold his gaze steadily, grinning for a moment, and then tug. As expected, Vikk crashes to the ground, and I spring to my feet, despite the flaring pain covering every inch of my body. Vikk grunts, trying to push himself up, but then I step down on his back with my knee, and pull his arms back. Exactly like how I saw Jerome pin down Mitch, during their sparing match a couple days ago. But this time, because Vikk is a lot lighter, he won't be able to throw me off balance and escape very easily. I grin in triumph as Vikk struggles beneath my weight, trying to free himself. I win.

     "Looks like I-"

     My sentence is cut off by a shout of alarm, and my head jerks up. It didn't come from Vikk, and as I look over at the others, it apparently didn't come from them either. And then my eyes follow their gaze, to see a league of diamond clad men, all clustered in the opposite end of the clearing. They're obviously Royal guards, most likely on their way to attack the Dimensional kingdom. They bear purple and gold shields with a gold crown on it. The hundreds are staring at the five of us in shock, and vice versa. Except Vikk. He has something else in mind.

     "HELP! HELP! THESE REBELS ARE TRYING TO KILL ME!" Vikk screeches.
     My eyes widen and I jump off of him, "No! Please listen to me-"
     "Rebels?!" A booming voice interrupts, pushing his way to the front of the crowd, "What is the meaning of this??"

     And then suddenly, my stomach drops as I see an extremely muscular figure step out front, with a cape flowing behind him and a crown-like diamond helmet. Oh fudge. I find myself thinking, realizing it's the King. And he doesn't look to happy. But when his eyes land on Mitch, they widen, and I can see to my dismay Mitch looks extremely uncomfortable and torn.

     "Mitchell? What is going on here?" He demands, taking a step out to separate himself from his army.
     "Dad I-"
     "Your majesty! These four are trying to overthrow the kingdoms to try and mess with the flow of the war! They are all from different kingdoms!" Vikk cuts in, and the Kings eyes widen even more, if possible at this point.
"This is unacceptable! Mitchell, come home right now! I forbid you to partake in such things as Prince! We are going to have a long talk about this young man." Mitch father commands, pointing firmly to the ground beside him.

     I gasp lightly at this, nervously watching Mitch to see what he'd do. At the moment, his eyes are down, and he's kinda hanging his head and shuffling his feet. I'm slightly aware of Vikk making a break for the trees, but nobody really cares to stop him. All of our focus is on Mitch right now. Come on Mitch. Fight it. I silently plea.

     "Mitchell." His father calls. "Mitchell *middle name* Hughes, look at me."

     Mitch slowly, but surely, raises his head to glare directly at his dad.

     "This is your last warning Mitchell." The King warns.
     "No. I won't come back." Mitch states firmly, setting his jaw. But it looks like he's on the brink of tears.

     And at that moment, all compassion in Mitch's fathers eyes dies, and his gaze turns cold. By now Vikk is long gone, and pretty soon we will be too.

     "You are no son of mine." He seethes, drawing an enchanted diamond sword. "KILL THEM ALL."
     "EVERYONE RUN!" I shriek, running back towards Preston, Jerome, and Mitch.

     Mitch is frozen on the spot, so Jerome grabs him by the forearm and pulls him away. I catch up to the three of them soon enough, and we bolt through the trees, angry cries and the sound of hundreds of feet thundering after us. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice streams of tears running down Mitch's face as Jerome continues to pull him along. My heart reaches out for him, because his father just basically disowned him.

So now we have a broken Mitch, a league of some of the best fighters chasing us, Vikk's gone, and our secret rebellion is out. At this point, what could possibly go wrong?

And then up ahead, I catch sight of a huge ravine, tearing through the ground.

Well... I guess that answers my question.

~~~
Question of the chapter:

How are they going to get across?

My answer: At this point in time I don't even know myself haha