Into The Woods

Avril Clutched onto Noah as they both slowly peaked out of the Den, peering out into the black abyss of the cavern. They were straining their eyes and ears as they attempted to spot what made that unsettling sound, when faint flickers of lights began approaching their location, easy to see in the complete darkness.

The cavern began to faintly tremble as loud thundering footsteps that echoed from afar seemed to be accompanying the lights. As the pair of light and sound got closer, Cracks began to web out along the roof of the cave as the ground shook.

Avril noticed the cracks and began attempting to escape unsure if it was going to hold for much longer, however Noah was struggling in her grasp.

" Noah, we have to leave, the cave could come crashing down any minute." Avril said in a quite panic, while she held Noah in a death grip, refusing to let go of the only one she had left.

" But, what about Clovers treasure, that's all we have left of her." Noah continued to struggle until Avril let him down.

" ... Show me, Hurry." Avril relented, letting Noah back into the den sure to follow right behind him.

Noah ran to a corner and grabbed ahold of something with his mouth and began pulling it back. It looked like a brown backpack, relatively new, but covered in dust.

Avril ran over to Noah throwing the backpack over her shoulder she almost fell backwards at the surprising weight of the bag. The quakes were getting bigger now and they needed to move. The cracks in the ceiling dislodged the dark purple crystal, and as Avril made her way to the entrance of the cave Noah ran and picked it up.

Meeting up with Avril at the front of the Den, The pair made their way through the cave towards the entrance. As they neared the cave entrance they heard the collapse of rocks, most likely Clovers den. The bats within the cave entrance were in a frenzy, so they had to go around or risk getting caught up in the chaos.

As they neared the exit, the origins of the lights rushed into the entry room with. They appeared to be a group of four, but telling much more was difficult in the shadows especially with the entrance so near. The swarming bat cloud parted with the presence of the bright lights, granting them passage.

~Boom~

The earth shook and the cavern tore open as an angry mass of walking metal burst into the main cave. Three of the group had managed to escape however one had dropped their flashlight during the tremors, and got lost in the swarming bats.

With the entry of the massive beast, the bats dispersed, leaving the short woman vulnerable and confused. Avril knew as soon as her eyes beheld the new creature, it was the Aggron, Clover had warned her about.

Against her better judgement Avril grabbed the woman's arm pulling her, causing the woman to fall on her butt. Quickly, Avril slid her back behind a stalagmite and covered her mouth. The woman stared wide eyed at Avril, though she couldn't see much due to the shadow of the rock, she could see the inhuman outline of Avril's appearance.

After a moment, the Aggron stomped in irritation before striking the cave wall causing an aftershock to shake the cavern, before disappearing, returning to it's neat. It's disappearance caused Avril to relax and release her hold on the woman's mouth.

The woman sat shocked at Avril's appearance, when the people from before returned calling her name.

" Rose, you alright?" a rather loud voice echoed throughout the cave entrance.

The voices snapped the woman out of her daze and she crawled out from behind the rock.

" I'm alright." she called out before turning back to behind the rock, her saviour having disappeared.

"We thought you were a goner." The loud voice joked.

" We're glad you're ok." The other man affirmed

" Mn, that was exhilarating, I thought you would have died for sure." The second girl killed the mood.

While the four were preoccupied, Avril and Noah took the opportunity to escape from the cave unnoticed. Or rather they thought they did.

" Was there someone else in here?" The second girl muttered to herself.

" What are you going on about Reema? Are you sure you're alright in the head?" Alvin asked before getting slugged by Rose.

" Don't be mean to Remi, besides I saw her too. She was wearing a black dress and had a horn poking out of the side of her head!" Rose said Uber dramatically.

" Captain, I think the girls ate something weird, they're both delusional." Alvin whispered to the other man in the group before getting hit by both of them, because they could still hear him.

" Ouch." Alvin groaned

Avril giggled as she watched the exchange before turning and escaping the cave completely.

" Noah, where do you think we should go now?" Avril asked the small black and blue pup beside her.

" I don't know." He meekly responded

" Neither do I."

Avril was unsure about what she was supposed to do now. What could she do? She had nowhere to go, and judging by the look on the woman's face, she couldn't just go back to human society, she was young, but not stupid enough to think everything would be ok.

"Let's head down into the lower forest for now, and try to find a new place to live." Avril said, and Noah agreed.

The forest was dark and gloomy, but in the foliage and under brush there were quite a few places that would work for a small make shift home for two stranded children, given a bit of effort was put into making it a small home.

Finding one such place Avril set down The bag and started to rummage through it. There were a lot of goodies in it. The bag had three main pockets, and three side pockets. In the outer most main pocket, there was a set of pokeballs, she recognized them as ten dusk balls, Five Pokeballs and two ultra balls. The second pocket had a few potions, full heals, and other miscellaneous medical items, like herbs, powders and bitter medicine. The medicine seemed dated though, so she threw those out. The Third, and largest of the main pockets had a few days worth of non perishable food for both people and Pokemon, as well as a rope, some peculiar stones, an assortment of items and a wooden box. Adding the purple stone to the mix Avril looked over the collection, there were nine stones on total.

Reaching deep into her brain to try and remember the lesson on stones she had once, she started to identify them. Two were dull greyish brown rocks, that fit nicely in the palm of her hand. They looked just like normal rocks, except it was slightly different. Avril eventually identified them as hard rocks, a rock that can slightly boost the power of Rock type moves if given to a pokemon to hold. it can also be a delectable treat for rock type Pokemon. Next up was a dull red gem like piece. It was relatively large considering it was what Avril thought it to be, a star piece.

Then Avril looked at the next two and scrunched her face thinking, they were peculiar, as they looked like normal rocks, but one had red spines on it, and was warm to the touch. While the other was cold and had blue spikes.

The next few were relatively easy to identify, as Avril spent more time learning about these. They were a Fire stone, a Thunder stone, a Dawn stone, and the one on the ceiling, a Dusk stone.

Looking into the items she found a few items of interest, like a few repels which would be wonderful, if she needed to get through the forest quickly. Then there was a pair of Black tinted glasses, but neither Noah nor Avril thought they looked good on either of them. In addition, there was a twisted old spoon, that whenever Avril held it, it made her think more clearly, a hard hat with rocks on it, and a matching pair of safety goggles, a white scarf, and a hand held mirror.

Checking the side pockets there was a CD case, as well as a broken hand held CD player, and an unusual screened device that seemed like a hand held computer. Unfortunately it wouldn't turn on.

Finally, saving the best for last, Avril opened the wooden box. Inside, was a small spherical stone with a peculiar pattern inside. It was padded by a cushion, leading Avril to believe it was valuable. As she closed the box, she saw a photo taped to the top. Taking a closer look it was a man with a wide smile, holding a little black and white pokemon. It was an absol like Clover, but it fit along the man's forearm so it had to be a child. Avril then saw a collar around the Absol's neck, looking closer to attempting to read the name, she gasped. The tag read 'Clover'.

Avril's always been good at puzzles, and this one was simple to put together.

" What happened?" Noah asked hearing Avril's suprise.

" I think this used to belong to Clover's Trainer." Avril explained

" What's a trainer?" Noah asked intrigued.

" It's like a person who takes care of pokemon to make them super strong, and gives them all the love in the world to grow together and become the strongest." Avril explained what she thought it meant to be a trainer.

" So, would you be my trainer?" Noah asked, sitting in front of Avril and dropping his head to the side, in confusion.

" I would love to be your trainer." Avril smiled and picked Noah up into a hug.

Noah struggled out of Avril's grasp and turned around puffing his cheat out. " Then we need to get stronger, so we can be the best like Clover!" Noah said with determination.

"..." Avril was lost in thought for a moment, before snapping back." Mn, we'll need to get to work."

Sparked by the shared drive to get stronger Avril and Noah decided start training immediately. Avril was relatively familiar with the concept, since she would occasionally train with Lucario. Noah on the other hand had no idea what he had gotten himself into.

Avril and Noah moved to a more open part of the forest near the cliff side. There were less wild Pokemon here, and it was relatively hidden from view. They both began training. Avril guided Noah on how to try and improve his abilities, like dodging and speed. She had him run from one tree, across the area to another, then scratch the trunk, and spin to change targets. This way he can work on speed, endurance, accuracy, and power. Noah was hyped up and ready to start before he actually did, then not even six attacks in at full speed and power, he ran out of steam. Avril had to do her best to encourage him to not give up, and Noah pushed himself motivated by Avril cheering. Avril also told him to tone it back a bit so he could last longer and prevent hurting himself too bad.

While Noah was training to his fullest, sparked by the notion of Avril's support and the goal of surpassing Clover, Avril found Noah's drive amusing, and it brought a smile to her face. She was happy to see Noah so lively again.

Closing her eyes, she centered herself and started her own training. Starting out small Avril attempted to lift the Stones from the bag with telekinesis. Her eyes glowed softly as her scarf ribbon rose off the ground and began to flutter slightly. Then one by one the stones were lifted off the ground

Avril then started to move the rocks around in a circle when she felt her head pulse and her body get heavier causing her concentration to break and the rocks to fall. Avril was tired and conflicted as she wasn't used to getting exhausted this fast. It worried her.

Lying on her back She looked at the ends of the ribbon wrapped around her neck and noticed them twitching slightly, making her giggle. She tried to move them and she realized she could, she could even feel the air pass over them she started to play with them bending twirling and waving them around. They were about the same length as her, and were pretty flexible she noticed. Waving them around some more she suddenly felt a tug on one of them, after smacking something. Looking over she realized she got it stick in a bush.

Pulling a little harder on the Ribbon the bush tugged back in response. Finally Avril stood up and pulled on the Ribbon with her arms to assist in the endeavor of removing her ribbon from the bush when the bush refused to yield in the tug of war. Finally though Avril won, and the bush relented releasing her Ribbon as a small creature tumbled out of the bush letting out a pained cry.

Avril was shocked at the little creature. It was a black and blue creature, with no visible eyes and a single horn on its head, It had a leg that looked badly bent out of place and was covered in scratches, and blood. The Scream had attracted Noah's attention so he came over to see what had happened.

" Avril. Are you. Alright?" He asked through pants and short breaths.

"Noah, make sure it doesn't move." Avril quickly ran over to the bag and retrieved some herbs and potions as well as some bandages and whatever else she thought she could use.

Rushing back over to the hurt pokemon, Avril gently ran her hand over the injured leg causing the poor creature to let out a whimper.

Raising her ribbon she waved it in front of the pokemon and it quickly bit onto it, it didn't have teeth yet and judging by its size it was still a baby. Avril closed her eyes and found one of the places the creature had broken it's leg. Setting her hands near the injury, she quickly snapped it back in place using her ribbon to wrap it tightly as she readied bandages and the creature flailed, letting out wails of pain. Avril flinched as the creatures mouth crushed the part of her ribbon in its mouth, though it was a baby it had a strong jaw.

Gently removing the ribbon around the creatures leg, she quickly applied a potion to the injury and wrapped it up. Avril sighed as the injury should heal relatively soon since she's pretty sure she did everything right. Gently Lifting the creature up Avril and Noah returned to their Hideout. It was slightly cramped with the three of them and the bag, but it was still manageable.

Opening up the food and digging in the three didn't really like the taste but it was all they had. The Deino also didn't have any teeth in yet, so Avril did her best to feed them, using any soft food they had, hoping it would be able to digest it. Tomorrow they would go looking for some berries or something soft enough to maybe help the Deino grow.

" Hey, Avril do you know what it is?" Noah asked.

" I'm pretty sure it's a Deino." Avril said "... but I don't know how it got there, we we're near a cliff, so it may have fallen off. I don't think that there is a den for them near here though. I feel if there was this wouldn't be the first we've seen of it. It's said that the entire line can be extremely violent, so I find it hard to believe we haven't heard it at all, especially with it's baby missing.."

" Should we bring it back to it's mother? I mean if Clover lost me I would hope they would bring me back to her." Noah asked.

" I would love to, but I don't think we should. First we don't know where the den would be, it would take a while and be needlessly dangerous too. If we tried to bring it back we would probably just die to an angry parent or something else along the way, and if we left them where we found them, most likely they would die to some other predator. The only option that we have is to bring them with us. Maybe one day when we're strong enough, could we reunite them together but not right now." Avril explained petting the dino ball in her lap. "Don't worry, We'll take great care of your child, and one day I promise we will return them to you." Avril called out, to no one in particular.

" If your sure, then ok." Noah sad sadly looking at the deino, before letting out a yawn, causing Avril to do so as well in response. Avril then and used her ribbons to pick up the Deino and wraped it up to keep it cosey and warm, against her chest. Noah curled up beside them placing a paw on the little bundle.

" Sweet dreams Noah." Avril wished, and closed her eyes ready for her exhaustion to be swept away by sleep.

Unfortunately Avril couldn't sleep. She was tired, but she was too anxious about where she was to do so. Thoughts about running into another pokemon like what happened with the little Deino, or if the mother Zweilous or Hydreigon were to find them. Continuous scenarios ran through her head each one of them lead to horrific deaths. These thoughts wove together with her recent, fuzzy memories about the labs, barring her from slumber.

She started to experiment with herself again. She needed a distraction and since sleep wasn't working, she decided to find other ways to divert her mind. She wasn't the same as before, she wasn't as strong now as she used to be. She now had mysterious appendages and physical abilities, even just the thought scared her. Looking over at Noah, then at her hands images danced through her mind. Times when Thomas, Lucy, Noah, and Clover all played with her. The smiles and laughter, the happiness that everyone radiated. She remembered her old home, her old face, and she wanted it back. She wanted everything to go back.

She lied tears streaming down her face, as that seems to be all she had been doing lately. Crying. Looking at her hands again as a reminder of what had changed, they were back to normal again.

Sitting up alarmed she looked around for the bag grabbing the hand held mirror. She caught a glimpse of her old face before it once again faded away. She growled in frustration when a crying caught her off guard.

Her sudden movements had shaken the baby Deino awake, and they began to cry. It was a loud cry, that in the dead of night carried far and wide, alerting nocturnal predators and waking angry diurnal predators alike all ready and eager to stamp out the noise.