Friend or Four? [Pokémon 1x1]

Forest crept in further after Shia. As the biggest person in the room, it was his job to sweep the others away if things got risky, so he stayed on high alert. Peaches, perched on his shoulder, clicked her pinchers nervously. Forest raised his hand and clamped it around the things to silence them, worried that the sound might irritate Lavinia.

The Deino didn't move for a few moments, though she noticeably flinched from Shia's touch. After a few uncomfortable seconds of silence, she rolled back over to look at the others in the room. "I miss Shine," she whispered, voice croaky from disuse.
Forest stopped himself from sighing in relief (she hadn't tried to kill anyone!) and nodded sadly. "We know, Vinny," he reassured, sliding down the wall beside her and sitting with his legs out. "We all miss her too."
 
Shia sat down and nodded her head. "Yeah. It's hard for us too. But.... Shine will be back. She's not gonna stay at wherever she was taken to forever," Shia said as she looked to Lavinia's face.

Xion nodded and chimed in. "Yeah, she'll be thinking of us too much to stay away. We just... Have to hope that she's alright and pray to Arceus that she'll find her way home." The Shinx kit said with a small nod of his head. "But until then, you can't stay in here. Your voice is already getting strange. Shine wouldn't want you to be the way you are," Xion said as he heard a noise at the door.

At this point, the door creaked a little and the kits turned their head to see who it was. It was Ray coming through with a berry in his mouth, struggling a bit to get in the room. He managed to get in after fighting the wood, and pushed the berry the rest of the way to the group. Shia nodded with approval and took the berry over, nudging it lightly to show Lavinia.

"You have to be healthy for when Shine comes back. If you starve, then what?" Shia asked with worry.
 
Lavinia shook her head. "But what if she can't leave?" She whispered. "What if she's stuck there?" She pressed her face against the floor, shaking her head a little.
Forest reached out, and very gently stroked the top of Lavinia's head. She flinched at first, but didn't fight back. By the look of his face, he was clearly deep in thought. He didn't say anything just yet, just bit the inside of his cheek while he stared at the floor.

Lavinia lifted her head again, hearing the berry roll across the floor. She suspiciously eyed the Aspear berry, keeping as far away from it as she could while still sniffing it. Very carefully, she bit into it, a tiny nibble. She shuddered, feeling a bit nauseous. She looked at the others in the room, deliberating on wether or not to have another bite.
"Go on, Vinny," Forest said softly, though his thoughts were obviously still somewhere else.
Lavinia looked back to the berry, and took another bite. A few seconds later, her hunger took over her nausea and she fully devoured the thing. She let out a loud burp, then blushed. "Sorry," she muttered.
 
Shia and Xion looked at each other from Lavinia's first question before thinking on it. It was a valid question, and they didn't know how to respond at first. But then, Ray spoke up, much to the surprise of Shia and Xion.

"There's no way Shine will be trapped there for long. She can get out of anything!" Ray said with a small flick of his tail. "Remember when we were kept in that place with those other Pokémon and humans? Lavinia, if I can remember, you were there in the room with Hatch. And then, before the night even ended, she had freed herself and the rest of us from that place!" Ray said excitedly. Shia and Xion smiled and nodded their heads.

"There's no way she won't come back! She's probably waiting out the perfect moment to escape as we speak," Xion said with a small encouraging gesture.
 
Lavinia rolled onto her side with a sigh. "But...she's not got any friends there," she pointed out. It was true; in all situations Shine had needed to get out of, she had some sort of help or motivation that she had close to her.

Forest seemed to realise something, his eye widening. Without a word, he stood, and walked out of the cabin, his hand in his pocket, resting on the old revolver. Peaches, sat on the ground, angrily clicked her pinchers - how rude could a boy get?! For once, she didn't follow after him; she stayed with Lavinia and the kits.
 
The Shinx kits lowered their ears when Lavinia made a point. It did seem as if Shine had help whenever she was in a situation. They never saw much of what she had to go through, but they noticed her thanking someone every time she was out of danger.
Did she really need motivation to escape? In hindsight, many might need some sort of motivation. But if Shine had none, then how was she going to escape her prison? Was she really going to be stuck forever? The kits held back their whimpers and laid down, trying to figure out a way to cheer up Lavinia. Eventually, Shia decided to break the silence.

"Perhaps not, but she'll figure out a way. Perhaps she'll make friends over there somehow. We just have to believe in her... That's all," Shia said with a look towards the door.

Shia and Xion's ears lifted to the sounds of shuffling and the stepping of feet. They saw Forest getting up and walking away, which made them frown a little. Wasn't he the one asking about Lavinia? Where was he going?

"Forest? Where are you going?" Xion inquired as he stood up.
 
Lavinia sighed, realising that her friends didn't have all the answers. She wanted to believe that Shine would be okay, but how could she know that she wasn't a fancy fur rug by now? She shivered at the thought as she pressed her face against the floor. Maybe just knowing that everyone was waiting for her would be motivation enough? She didn't know...

Forest looked back at the others. "It's...it's nothing," he said after a moment of hesitation. In his pocket, his finger was on the trigger. "I'll be with the adults. You guys stay here," he said. As if for extra measure, he closed the cabin's old rotting door behind him. His footsteps could be heard rushing through the sand. Whatever thought he had was apparently pretty urgent.
 
The kits sighed as they looked to each other: why does he have to leave? He wanted to go see Lavinia in the first place. Whatever. Lavinia needed comfort, and they were going to do just that. The kits looked to the door, then to Lavinia, abd then to themselves. After a few seconds they nodded to each other, and inched a bit closer to Lavinia before curling up with her. They didn't touch her, but their presence was surely known.

"Don't worry Lavinia. We're here for you," Shia said with an encouraging voice. "Shine will find a way out. If she doesn't have friends, then she surely must have a couple of allies to help her. If you rest, she'll be back before you know it," Shia added before she lowered her head. Xion and Ray nodded in agreement before resting their heads as well, letting the young dragon know that they were there for her.

"She'll come back. Just wait and see."




Shine woke up with a gasp. With heavy pants, she looked frantically around her surroundings to see where she was. She nearly panicked when she realised she wasn't with her friends, but was quick to catch herself again. Shine was taken away from her friends. In this place.

A feeling of bittersweet relief washed over her when she took note, and slowly got up on her feet.

"Stupid dream," Shine muttered as she walled over to the bowls of berries and water. Afte having her fill, the Luxray laid back on the bed, sighing at her predicament. Her body still ached a little from the whole Blaziken encounter, but she was feeling more better now than she did then. Considering how good she felt, Shine wondered how long she had rested. The Luxray remembered when she was constantly moving around to keep herself isolated from others: making a large perimeter of territory, chasing off anyone else who tresspassed, fighting off intruders.

Running from poachers.

"Stupid humans... They think they can keep me in here... I'll get out of here..... I need to go back home," Shine said to herself with a small growl. She wondered how the others were doing. If they were fine or not without her there. She hoped that they would be strong in light of her absence. She laid her head back down and stared blanky at the wall before she closed her eyes again.
 
If Shine wanted to get back to sleep, there was no way that was going to happen. There was the sound of something being rolled down the hall on squeaky wheels, and Shine's fine-tuned wild nose would be able to smell humans, sweat, stale smoke and strong booze. The tough laughter of well worn men bounced around the walls, hitting their meaty arms off the doors of the fighting animals rooms to get a rise. And a rise they got; as they passed, there was an almighty roaring and scraping of sharp nails against doors, battle hardened pokémon wanting to tear at the throats of evil men. This only made them laugh louder.

Despite any prayers that Shine may have said, the squeaky wheels and overwhelming stench stopped in front of her door. The door of her room opened, revealing men built like Golurks. They had a cage on wheels like the one that had transported Shine around the previous day, it's door open. They simply glared at Shine, expecting her to just plod on it. "Come on, bitch. We've not got all day," one of them growled.
 
Shine gasped at the sounds of banging and harsh laughter. Her ears picked up the vicious snarls and roars of the other Pokémon, angered at these humans for disturbing their peace. Her nose picked up the scent of smoke and sweat, and other nasty scents that Shine quickly hated with each passing second. Claws slowly came out of their sheaths as she stood up on her paws, hoping that the humans would pass her as the sounds gradually got closer.

Her prayers were left denied as she heard the squeaking stop right in front of her door. The smells that were already strong to begin with suddenly intensified with overwhelming power as the door swung open, revealing two heavily built men as the cause of all the ruckus. They entered the room with a moving cage like one Shine came in with last time, which was something Shine didn't want to go in considering how comfortable she was in her room. The Luxray flattened her ears against her head with a toothy snarl, sparks flying around to show her aggression. "Leave me alone! Get out!" Shine hissed as she stood on her bed.
 
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