Cold Enough to Burn

     Giotto didn’t notice he had fallen asleep until his Elise was excitedly shaking him awake, nearly startling her trainer enough to make him fall into the body of water beside him. One would think he would have learned not to sleep next to these ponds considering how close he came to falling in when he first arrived in this mystery place. Looking behind him, he found the rest of his team had decided to take a rest outside the front of the cabin as well. All save for Elise, apparently.

     Her excited squeaks didn't cease, and she pulled on his sleeve leg, nodding towards the forest and pulling on his sleeve again. The ace knew what this meant--she had gone exploring after they all fell asleep and had found something. A clue to the way out perhaps? Or something worthwhile apparently, considering how eager she was to show her trainer. No sooner was he on his feet did the raichu dash off into the forest, presumably to whatever it is Giotto needed to see.

     “Elise!” He called after his eldest pokemon, waking Natsu in the process. “Keep everyone here--Elise and I will be back soon,” he told the ninetails. The fox nodded and put it’s head’s back down on it’s paws, ready to resume its nap. The rest of his team taken care of, he followed his eagerly squeaking raichu into the misty forest.

     She found him before he found her, tugging on his pant leg before taking off once more, leaving the ace to chase after her in exasperated confusion. Was this something going to leave if Giotto didn’t hurry? Just what had she found?

     “I’m coming I’m coming,” he said with a sigh, following after her. “You need to slow down though Elise I’m not nearly as fast as you--” he came to a halt as he saw exactly what his pokemon was trying to show him. Elise circled excitedly around a young woman with long bright pink hair, squeaking excitedly as if to say ‘see? see?’. Now he understood what this was about.

     At present Aiden, his sylveon, was travelling with him and they, along with the rest of the team had been searching for quite some time for any clues about their present location. The origins of quite a few of the pokemon Giotto had spotted (or rather those he recognized) thus far were mixed, so he couldn’t quite figure out what--if any region they were in. Aiden had been rather docile the whole day, probably more concerned about figuring out where he was than being overly difficult with his trainer. Giotto was ready to head back and break for lunch, which brought them to the area they were now. He had been searching for a place where the trees weren’t too dense so he could let Gelaro out--the pokemon’s release meant to be the signal for the rest of his team to return.

     Giotto was about to let the last member of his team out when Aiden perked up beside him, looking to their left at something only he’d been able to hear as of yet. Listening carefully, the ace hoped to figure out what had gotten the fairy type’s attention--then he heard it. The rustle of leaves as something disturbed the underbrush, and the tread of something bipedal and heavier than most of the pokemon he’s seen thus far. Then again, it was likely Giotto hadn’t even half of what the total population of the pokemon could be--or how big the biggest species in the forest may be.

     He was hoping he could avoid battling--he only had so many potions to heal his team with back at the cabin they presently occupied. Instead he was pleasantly surprised to see a person come into view. He had yet to see anyone else in the forest, nor was he sure if the other cabins in the ‘town’ were occupied since he only had a key to one. Aiden looked curiously at the new arrival, behaving perfectly calmly as he always did when strangers were involved. It wasn’t until the sylveon had drawn a conclusion did his sassy nature dictate how he treated a person.

     A small smile found its way onto the trainer’s face--it was a relief to know there were others within the forest, and if the ace was lucky, the other could offer some insight into where they were.