Chapter 19: Caught Off Guard

As Alphonse and Sarah spoke, Alphonse heard the sound of people walking nearby. "Anyway, let's-" Sarah was abruptly interrupted by a hand on her mouth.

"Shhh, I think there's someone nearby." Alphonse whispered. Sarah nodded. Alphonse took his hand off of her mouth and motioned for Sarah to follow him as he hid behind a tree. After around two minutes, Alphonse peeked out and saw three individuals looking around the area.

"Remind me as to why we need to find this kid." One of them said.

"The leader of the Jin Mei sect seems to have taken a liking to him, or so I heard." Another responded.

"Who are they talking about?" Sarah asked quietly.

"What was that?" One of them asked.

"I didn't hear anything, you goin' crazy?" Another responded jokingly.

"Oh, whatever." The other gave up. Alphonse moved to hide fully again and shrugged.

"Well, ignoring that, what do you two numbskulls think happened here?" The only woman in the group asked.

"How are we supposed to know? I mean, it just looks like a cave-in." One of the men responded.

"Oh, how blissful it is to be stupid." She responded. "It's not a natural cave-in, somebody caused it, which means there is somebody nearby, go search the area." She ordered.

'Dangit, what do we do?' Alphonse thought to himself as he looked at Sarah who looks increasingly nervous. 'I haven't frozen yet... If I were to go, no she wouldn't approve of the plan, but what if instead I have her go ask for help?' Alphonse thought.

Sarah looked at Alphonse and gave a nervous smile. Alphonse sighed inaudibly. "Sarah," He whispered. "I need you to run and get help, you're faster than I am, I'll distract them while you go." Alphonse said.

"No." Sarah said.

"Look, we can't both run, they'll find us and catch us. One of us needs to run, and out of the two of us, you are the best candidate for that." Alphonse explained.

"Yeah, but what'll happen to you while I'm gone?" She asked.

"That's not what we need to worry about, we need to worry about what'll happen if you don't go." Alphonse said. Sarah thought for a moment.

"Can't I run without a distraction?" She asked. Alphonse shook his head.

"No, they'll hear you, I'll be yelling to cover the sound, so go the moment I jump out, this is no longer up for debate." Alphonse said. 'Despite having said that, I can tell I'm shaking which is probably why she doesn't want me to do this...' Alphonse thought to himself.

Sarah grumbled. Alphonse jumped out as Sarah began sprinting. "Hey! Get away from there!" Alphonse yelled

"Oh my, it appears our prey has come to us. The patient hunter is quite lucky, aren't they?" The woman said as she slowly approached Alphonse.

'I can't move... If she attempts to do anything, I won't be able to defend... Why do I have to be like this...?' Alphonse thought to himself.

"Oh, could it be you're paralyzed with fear?" She asked.

"Y-you don't know anything!" Alphonse yelled.

"I suppose you're right, so why don't you enlighten me?" The woman asked as she continued to get closer. Admittedly, she was only about ten feet away at this point.

"In fact, why don't you tell me where that girl you're always with is." She suggested. Alphonse became shocked, though he managed not to show it on his face.

"She's not here, I'm alone today." Alphonse said. 'She has more information than she lets on.' Alphonse thought as she stopped two feet in front of him.

"I find that highly unlikely, you do realize I can sense energy, right?" She asked. "Lucky for you, you're our target and we can leave her be for now, after all, what harm can an idiotic child be?" She asked rhetorically.

"Why am I your target?" Alphonse asked.

"My my, quite nosy aren't we?" She asked. "Well, whatever." She said as her expression changed from flat to angry. "He can't move, pick him up and we'll leave." She said, then paused. "Actually, tie him up first, we don't know if this is temporary." She said.

"R-right!" The two men said.

'I really need to fix this problem. It's not like I'm scared, my body is just used to not fighting back unless it's sparring... Wait, what if I convince my body that I'm just sparring?' Alphonse thought to himself. 'Prism, can you help me?' Alphonse asked.

{I cannot. What you are thinking is actually quite likely impossible since that is not the reason as you suspect it is.} Prism said.

'Wait, then what is?' Alphonse asked as the external world began to become ignored.

{The simple answer is subconscious trauma.} Prism said.

"Heh?" Alphonse said aloud.

"Maybe he didn't notice us get closer?" One of the men suggested an answer as to why Alphonse had done that. The other shrugged. Prism sighed.

{Raeloph caused much more subconscious trauma than you think. The reason you freeze up in a fight is that your subconscious is remembering what occurred back then, even if you don't consciously see it, it is more than enough to cause you to freeze up suddenly.} Prism explained.

'No, no, I've moved past the major effects of that, now there are only minor ones.' Alphonse said in denial. Prism sighed again.

{You wish. Anyway, one way to get your body to move is to produce large amounts of adrenaline, though that could cause some issues for you afterward.} Prism said.

'Why must life be so difficult...?' Alphonse thought to himself as he was lifted and his focus was reshifted to the external world. 'I should probably focus on the task at hand, getting myself to move...' Alphonse thought.

"Alright captain Xiao Li, we've got him tied up and we're carrying him!" One of the men said.

"Right, well, let's go back to camp." She said.

"Captain Xiao Li, are we sure about this? I mean, can't we take a look inside the cave?" One of the men asked.

"No, we need to focus on this task." She said. "Especially after my last task had nearly failed since two of them survived." She mumbled.