Leaf's POV

I waited for the pain to arrive and the blackness of going unconscious but nothing came. The only thing that I felt was the strong grip of two hands wrapped around my body. I opened my eyes which had been tightly shut to see a pair of dark brown eyes staring down at me in concern.

"Are you alright?" He said.

"Um-uh-yeah of course." I stuttered in reply.

I looked past the guys shoulder to see Misty with another boy staring at me with worry. I looked up at my savior and spoke softly.

"You can let go now." I said cautiously, suddenly remembering that these guys are strangers.

"Alright." He said reluctantly and put me down.

He smirked.

"Now what is this pretty lady's name may I ask?" The guy asked flirtatiously.

"None of your concern." I said feeling slightly irritated.

"But I did just save your life you know. I think I deserve an answer." He said with a raised eyebrow.

"Hm, maybe I could. But I won't." I answered back.

"Well, my name is Gerald, and that other guys name is Alf." The guy, Gerald, told me and Misty as the other guy and Misty approached us.

Misty gave me a look of urgency meaning that we should go now.

"Nice to meet you Gerald and Alf but we have to go so bye!" Misty ended our conversation and dragged me away in a sprint so that they wouldn't catch up. I heard one of them shout at us to come back but we had disappeared by then.

Once we had stopped, Misty examined me.

"Are you alright? That fall could've been pretty bad if you hadn't been caught." Misty looked at me with concern.

"I'm fine Misty. I'm just wondering if they could be from the kingdom. What happens if they are guards? Does that mean we're in trouble?" I asked suddenly panicking.

"No it's going to be fine. I doubt they were looking for us." Misty said but I could tell that she herself was unsure of her own answer.

"If there are people in the forest, then there's a chance that there could be even more. That means that May and Dawn could be in trouble if these people are from the kingdom." I said.

"That's true. We should head to the Great Oak Tree now. We have to get out of this forest as soon as possible." Misty told me as she continued to walk while I followed closely behind.

Paul's POV

After that encounter with those strange girls, Drew and I had been suffering from a severe headache while trying to stay conscious. One of them had whacked us with a tree branch.

"How pathetic." I muttered to myself in frustration still angry about what happened back there.

I could tell Drew was feeling the same way as we walked in silence. I could see him clenching his fists every few moments. We hadn't paid attention to where we were walking so when I finally cleared my head and looked around, I realized that we had been circling the same place where we had met the two girls before. And we had been doing this for about an hour.

I placed my hand on Drew's shoulder to get his attention since he was still deep in though while pacing around in circles.

"Huh." He mumbled in confusion.

"We've been walking around in circles for the past hour." I explained.

"Wait doesn't that mean we have to get going soon?" Drew asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"Crap. Where are we going to find the other two?" Drew muttered under his breath.

"Hopefully they'll be smart enough to meet up at the Great Oak Tree since that is where travelers go when they are lost most of the time." I said.

"So, the center of the forest we go then." He said while walking off into the direction of the huge tree.

Little did we know that we were in for a surprise when we got there.

May's POV

After Dawn and I got away from those two boys, we had been wandering through the forest aimlessly for the past hour. Only to realize that the sun was going down and we had to meet at the Great Oak Tree.

"It will be near midnight by the time we arrive at the Great Oak Tree." Dawn said to me as we quickened our pace in the direction of the tree.

"Right, and we have no option for shelter tonight since we just abandoned the cottage." I said.

"Let's just find Misty and Leaf first so we can all plan on what to do next together." Dawn reassured.

"Alright." I agreed.

The forest was slowly darkening as the sun's light faded from our vision slowly. We had been walking for a while now and we were only just starting to see the Great Oak Tree. We were about to run up to the tree when we heard unfamiliar voices nearby us. I pushed Dawn into a bush and jumped behind her into a crouch.

"Do you think the other two came this way as well?" A raven haired boy asked a spiky haired dude as they approached from the trees.

"Well knowing Paul, he's smart so he would know. And Drew knows to listen to Paul. So the Great Oak Tree would be the best option of meeting up again." The spiky haired guy explained to his friend. "I just hope Gary Junior is alright."

"Yeah, and Pika as well."

"They know Paul and Drew!" I whispered to Dawn who was listening carefully to their conversation.

"We have to find Leaf and Misty so we don't get spotted by the four if they get here." Dawn turned to me, before sneaking across the forest floor before spotting two familiar faces.

"Crap, crap, crap." I muttered under my breath.

There stood two guys, with unusually colored hair staring at us in recognition.

"Sh*t." I swore.

"Watch your language missy." Dawn scolded me before staring up at the two guys.

We stood up from our crouch and tried to look intimidating, only to fail since Drew and Paul were taller than us.

"Its you two!" Drew pointed an accusing finger at us. "The ones who whacked us with a tree branch."

Paul looked angry while Drew looked frustrated. Altogether they were just mad at us.

"Um no. I think you got the wrong people." I answered quickly while I shrunk away feeling uncomfortable from Drew's emerald gaze that was boring into my skull.

I could see Paul staring at Dawn with no emotion on his face at all, While Dawn stared back with determination.

"Let's go." I pulled Dawn away only to be pulled back by someone.

"You aren't going anywhere." I turned around to see green eyes staring into my own.

We were very close to each other. Close enough that our noses were nearly touching. For some reason, my face was heating up but I covered it up by turning away from his face. His grip released and I looked back in confusion.

As though realizing what he'd done, he grabbed my arm again so I wouldn't get away.

"Could you at least not have such a tight grip please." I asked with fake politeness.

Drew glared and shook his head while Paul had a tight grip on Dawn as well. The four of us just stood there staring at each other, the tension in the air was getting unbearable.

I signaled to Dawn and she nodded in understanding while the boys raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Your boyfriends are looking for you." I said quickly while kicking Drew not too hard, but hard enough for him to release me.

"Boyfriends?" Paul asked looking at me like I was crazy.

He didn't look at all concerned at Drew who was clutching his leg in pain.

"Does spiky brown hair and raven haired guy ring a bell?" Dawn asked while copying my movements making Paul release her.

They both groaned before glaring at us. We bolted straight out of that situation as we looked around for Misty and Leaf. We heard footsteps close behind us which were catching up alarmingly.

That was when we saw a familiar brunette and orange haired girl walking to the oak tree only to stop in their tracks when they saw us sprinting towards them in panic.

"Um guys?" I heard Leaf ask in confusion before we crashed into the both of them.

We recovered quickly before dragging the other two girls who were now extremely confused. We heard the two boys run straight passed us as we hid behind a few bushes.

"Phew. I thought I was going to die after all that running." Dawn complained while I sat panting.

"What's all this about?" Misty asked curiously.

I explained to them from the start of our trek through the forest at the point where I whacked Drew and Paul in the heads and made them unconscious right up to where we crashed into both Leaf and Misty.

"Hm, we had a similar encounter. Except with these two guys named Gerald and Alf." Leaf explained.

"Well, Leaf had the idea to drop a spider on them. A tarantula to be specific. It was all hilarious and all until they spotted me, and Leaf fell from the tree." Misty told Dawn and I.

"When Mr heroic caught me before I could die from falling." Leaf said.

"Gerald or Alf?" Dawn asked.

"Gerald."

"Anyways-" Before Misty could continue, we were rudely interrupted by four boys who stood towering over us.

"Uh oh." I nudged Dawn who looked fearful.

"Hey it's you two girls!" The raven haired boy exclaimed in excitement.

"You never told us your names." The brown haired boy with spiky hair said, mostly to Leaf.

I muttered profanities under my breath as I saw Drew and Paul glaring at Dawn and I. Apparently Leaf and Misty's experience with their boys was much more pleasant than our encounter.

"We would try and attack you both, but since we know our manners, we'll let it slide." Drew said.

Paul looked infuriated but nodded anyway.

"Hm. I don't trust you two." I said skeptically.

"Neither do I." Dawn agreed.

I looked over to Misty and Leaf who seemed to be arguing with the other two boys about some nonsense. That was when silence came. No one moved or spoke. We all just stared at each other. Until one of the boys broke the silence.

"Its midnight isn't it?" Paul said.

"We have to go. Father is going to kill us." Drew said in panic.

"That means you two, Alf and Gerald." Misty said with a glare before pushing the other two boys away.

"Alf and Gerald?" I heard Drew snicker at the other two.

We watched as they ran to the edge of the forest where they disappeared before we all let out a sigh of relief. I took a step forward before I felt something underneath my feet. I moved my foot away and raised an eyebrow. There was a beautiful red rose placed on the ground which luckily hadn't been destroyed under my foot. I picked it up and placed it in my bag, wondering where it came from.

Drew's POV

We reached the edge of the forest in a hurry before finding our horses and riding them back home.

"Shoot, we are going to be late if we don't pick up the pace." Gary said as he signaled for Gary Junior to quicken.

"The other Princes are arriving tomorrow you know and we have to wake up early." I informed the others who groaned in response as we galloped side by side.

"So, Gerald and Alf eh?" Paul asked Gary and Ash who flushed red.

"We didn't tell them our real names since the girls wouldn't give us their names." Ash explained.

"Hm, now that I think of it, I didn't catch those girls' names either." I said thoughtfully.

"Doesn't matter. I doubt we'll see them again. The bluenette and her friend sure do hit hard. I swear that everytime we see them, we'll get hurt." Paul said in anger.

We finally arrived at the castle where we lived and snuck through the doors in hope that we wouldn't get caught for being late.

"PRINCES!" I heard a maid gasp.

She had long flowing purple hair and she had a hand clasped over her mouth.

"You are late and the Kings and Queen are not too happy about it." She informed us. "I was told that you will receive your punishments tomorrow morning before the other kingdom leaders arrive."

"Crap." Gary muttered receiving a glare from the maid.

"No cursing." She scolded. "I will be escorting you to your rooms now. King's orders, not mine."

I sighed and nodded along with everyone else. We followed her to our own rooms before staring at each other.

"What is your name ma'am?" Ash asked politely.

"Iris."

"Alright, Iris. Could you please inform my mother that we have not found any thieves in the forest today." Ash asked her.

"Of course. I will do that right away." She said before hurrying off to do her job.

"We are so dead." Gary said.

___

This chapter was kind of random. And I was bored and decided I needed to update now.

So I did update, and I'm about to write my other book. I'm doing a few stories at once so I need to make sure I update them all.

Thanks for reading, and bye!

- April

4 Feb, 2018