Drew's POV

I talked to Paul, Ash and Gary about the situation that had just been discussed in the throne room. I hadn't meant to eavesdrop on their little conversation but I had become curious when my father, King Cilan had mentioned the forest. Being a prince was extremely difficult. We had many routines we needed to fulfill meaning we were busy almost 24/7 around the palace. The mentioning of the forest was the perfect opportunity to ask if we could go.

"So basically you want us four to go to the forest and inspect it instead of the soldiers just so we can get outside of this castle?" Gary asked for clarification with me responding with a nod.

"A very bold decision. I'm in!" Gary smirked.

"Me too! I hate being stuck in this place. Plus, mother has been constantly nagging about me finding a wife to rule the kingdom alongside you guys. If I hear her say anything anymore, I think I'm just going to curl up in a ball and die." Ash agreed.

"Alright." Paul said with a small nod.

I grinned and stood up. "Let's go talk to the adults now. The sooner we go, the more time we get to spend in the forest."

"But think about this Drew, whoever stole the food are probably thieves. That means the forest could very well be dangerous if you think about it. I've heard thieves these days can be quite the challenge." Paul stated.

"Hm. You are correct on that one Paul. But we can handle it." I pointed out.

"Hmph. Do whatever you want then." Paul responded.

After we discussed a bit further into what we planned on doing, I went to the throne room with the other three. I put my ear to the door and heard hushed voices speaking amongst each other in the room. We had our fingers crossed that this would all go according to plan. Ash knocked loudly on the door, signalling our arrival to the throne room.

"You may come in!" The familiar voice of my father boomed in echo throughout the building.

The four of us walked into the throne room with our hands behind our bags in a formal way and we stepped towards our parents. King Reggie looked at his brother Paul with a raised eyebrow while Paul just shrugged and gestured to myself. Queen Delia looked confused and stared at her son Ash while King Blue stood up tall, not acknowledging Gary's presence fully as if in deep thought. My father just narrowed his eyes at me.

"What is it you want, princes?" King Cilan asked in a commanding tone.

"I'm sorry for eavesdropping but I overheard your conversation with the soldier earlier about clearing out the forest for thieves." I started.

My father gave me a disapproving look while I took a deep breath and continued.

"I was wondering if myself and Prince Gary, Ash and Paul could go investigate ourselves for any signs of humans within the forest." I explained.

"Absolutely not. You have duties to fulfill and we have plenty of soldiers and guards capable of investigating the forest on their own." King Cilan said sternly.

"I don't know, it doesn't sound like a bad idea." Reggie spoke up while my father glared at him.

"It could be some valuable experience for them." Blue backed us up, finally snapping out of his thoughts. He grinned at Gary.

"I agree with them. You should let these princes have a moment of freedom to explore as well. It's quite a good idea." Delia agreed.

"I suppose just this once." My father said thoughtfully. "But if you are to not return until midnight, you will receive a punishment. That means extra chores and absolutely no breaks between. You shall begin the search tomorrow morning. I expect you to be up and early."

We nodded in gratitude and exited the throne room trying to contain our excitement. Once arriving back in my bedroom, we all cheered except for Paul who had a small smile on his face.

"FREEDOM!" Ash shouted.

"You're lucky these walls are soundproof." Paul grumbled.

"We better rest up so we can set off early." I informed the rest of them.

They nodded and walked back to their own rooms.

Misty's POV

We had just gotten out of the cottage when we realised that we had nowhere to go. We hadn't really left the area but we did know that the places that surrounded this kingdom were easy to get lost in and dangerous altogether.

"Anyone have any idea of where to go?" I spoke up after we just stood there looking at each other expectantly.

"Nope." Everyone responded making me groan.

"Now what? The soldiers are probably coming any minute now." May said in worry.

"Let's split up for now and search for somewhere to go.Leaf, you can come with me. May and Dawn, you can go together." I said. "We'll start off by going West. You guys can go East. We'll meet back at the Great Oak Tree. By sunset."

"Alright." They all agreed.

Leaf walked over to me with her bag slung over her shoulders while I was carrying the heavy box of food. I handed some snacks over to May and Dawn who soon set off east. Leaf and I soon walked west.

Ash's POV

I was so excited for today that I finished eating breakfast in one go leaving the other boys dumbfounded.

"Come on! Let's go let's go let's go let's go-" I was cut off by someone grabbing my shoulders firmly, stopping me from jumping up and down anymore.

"If you say 'let's go!' One more time, I swear it will be the last words you say." Paul growled threateningly.

"Okay okay." I squealed, completely terrified.

Everyone finished off their food finally while I had been sitting there impatiently.

"Now we can go." Gary smirked at me.

I cheered as we took off to the stables where our horses were taken care of. In my opinion, my horse was the best. It's fur was light brown and it had a fully white main. It was the fastest out of all the guys' horses although it's stamina was not too good compared to Drew's. Drew's horse was completely white with some green strands on its mane. Paul's horse was fully black and was probably the strongest out of all our horses, meaning it could ram into pretty much anything and it would destroy it. Gary's horse was a dark brown horse with a caramel coloured mane. Gary's horse seemed to be the more calm horse and wasn't the best at anything particular but it was still a special horse as it was the only one raised here in the kingdom since it's first days.

Each horse had a saddle and bridle with engraved stars onto the leather straps. On my saddle there was a thunderbolt symbol engraved on the seating part of the saddle and for Drew there was a rose, for Paul there was the letter 'P' because he was uncreative and for Gary there was a circle with stars on the border.

"Gary Junior! Oh how I've missed you." Gary said over-dramatically when he approached his horse who neighed in response.

"Let's put your saddle on alright Rose?" Drew spoke to his own horse as he grabbed his saddle from the shelf where we stored all our saddles and bridles.

"Ellie, let's get going." Paul spoke to his horse. I found it cute how he named it Ellie for some reason. It just wasn't something Paul would do. But then again, he wouldn't be one to call his horse 'Paul Junior'.

"Let's go Pika!" I cheered as I got on my horse after putting on its saddle. It neighed like Gary Junior did in response.

We rode out of the castle and we all took a deep breath as we exited the castle grounds completely. After a few minutes of riding, we approached the town, and the forest next to it.

"Woah. I never knew that the forest was so densely covered." I said in surprise staring at the ground which was covered in bushes and the trees were shadowing everything pretty much.

"Yeah, dense just like you Ashy-boy." Gary snickered.

"I'm not dense." I objected.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Gary said back with his annoying smirk.

"Well, looking at the forest floor, I don't think we have a choice but to leave our horses behind for now." Drew said as he studied the ground.

"But Pika!" I whined while getting off my horse.

"Sorry but it's necessary." Drew shrugged while leashing Rose to a tree to keep her from running away.

"You guys stay put." Paul said to the four horses who neighed as an answer as though understanding him.

"Let's go!" I said cheerfully as we left the horses behind and entered the forest.

I was walking happily onwards only to trip over a tree root that was hidden by some leaves. I face planted into the ground and I groaned in pain.

I heard the other guys snickering from behind me as I stood up and glared at them.

"Why don't we split up?" Gary suggested.

"I don't see why not." I said rubbing my face and brushing off leaves.

"I'm going with Paul then. We'll go east while you guys can go west. We'll catch up later." Drew announced.

"Alright then Gary, it's just us." I said.

"Let's go Ashy-boy." Gary said while we separated from the others.

Dawn's POV

We had been walking east for quite some time now, careful not to get anywhere near town. May and I had decided it would be a good idea to take a rest. Setting down our bags, we sat down on a nearby log which had fallen on the ground. Taking out the snacks, I saw May stare at them hungrily.

"Don't get greedy May. All these snacks are going to last us the whole day." I warned her while she just pouted at me and took a granola bar from the pack of food I was holding.

We ate in silence and then began packing up to set off once again. That's when we heard rustling in the bushes nearby.

"That could be the soldiers!" I whispered in panic to May.

May who was good in situations like these, stood up quietly and snapped off a branch from the tree next to her. She got herself in a readying stance and waited patiently for something to approach from the bushes. Soon we heard whispers and then two things popped out of the bushes. A normal green bush...and a purple bush? Then I realised that those weren't bushes but instead it was two guys who looked around our age.

May used her reflexes and whacked them both on the head with her tree branch knocking them unconscious.

"Um May, I'm pretty sure these aren't soldiers." I said quietly to her as I noticed they weren't wearing armour.

"Oh shoot." She muttered.

We dragged the two guys out of the bush fully and lay them down carefully. May splashed some water on their faces and they woke up with a gasp.

"What was that for!?" The purple hair boy growled.

"My head hurts." The green haired one said sitting up properly then he faced me with suspicion.

"Um, who are you?" May asked carefully.

"Huh, you don't know who we are?" The green head said turning to look at May instead, only to stop and stare at her.

"She asked who are you?" I repeated the question for May who nodded in agreement.

"I'm Paul." The purple haired guy said icily.

"And I'm Drew." The green head smirked at us. He seemed awfully cocky.

"Well then, we will be going now then. We have no business with them now." I said to May although I felt Paul look at me from the corner of my eye.

"Alright." She said getting up and swinging her bag over her shoulders.

We began to walk off when May stopped and turned around. The boys sat on the ground looking confused.

"Oh yeah, and sorry for whacking you guys on the head with a tree branch." She snickered.

"You did what!?" They both exclaimed.

"Nothing." I said in a hurry and dragged May away from them and through the forest.

"Wait!" I heard Drew shout as we disappeared while I just managed to hear Paul say, "whats that all about?"

For the rest of our trip, I couldn't get my mind to stop thinking about that Paul guy back there. I just didn't know why. May looked concerned after I didn't talk but decided against asking me.

Leafs POV

Misty and I had been walking for a while now with no luck in finding somewhere to stay. We were heading away from the cottage and towards the Great Oak Tree when we heard voices.

"Misty come here." I whispered dragging her behind a tree.

I peaked around the side of the tree and saw to boys talking to each other.

"I wonder if there are actually thieves in this forest. Maybe the soldier was lying to the king." The raven haired boy said to the guy with spiky brown hair.

"Maybe you're right. This forest seems so peaceful. I haven't seen anyone yet." The other guy agreed.

"They're from the kingdom?" I asked Misty quietly.

She shrugged and inspected them. I climbed the tree we were behind and decided to drop something on them. I was always one for pranks. I found a large tarantula and I picked it up, not caring that it was deadly. When the boys were underneath the branch I was sitting on, I dropped the arachnid on their heads. I chuckled in amusement and I could tell Misty had seen the whole thing too.

The boys stopped. The tarantula had landed on the raven haired boy.

"Ash, don't move." The good looking brown haired guy said cautiously as he reached a hand out to the spider.

"What is it?" The other boy asked oblivious to the creature on his head.

The spider began to crawl slowly on the boy, Ash and onto his back. Ash shrieked with a high pitch scream and slapped his back, knocking the tarantula in the process. The poor thing I thought as it dropped to the floor and crawled away quickly. Only to go in Misty's direction. And oh my Arceus did that girl had anything that looked like an insect of some sort. That included spiders.

She screamed loudly bringing the attention of the two boys. They ran towards Misty and widened their eyes to see her crouched below the tree I was on with her hands covering her eyes in fear.

That's when the branch beneath me began to give way suddenly. My eyes widened in horror. The branch soon snapped and I closed my eyes tightly as I began to fall fast towards the ground.

--

AND THATS THE END OF CHAPTER TWO.

Hehe, lets see what happens to poor Leafy.

It's kind of predictable. But it's fun to write.

thanks for reading and I hope you all have a great day.

Bye!

- April

28 jan, 2018