A Brighter Future

Chapter 8: New Friends and New Foes

Italics: Thoughts or Sounds

Bold: POV or Time

Cleo's POV:

I woke up to the sound of Pidgey chirping. As I slowly returned to reality, I noticed something...odd. I had fallen asleep on the cave floor, which should be hard. However, now I felt something warm and fluffy. I pondered this as I awoke. When I opened my eyes, I froze.

Ava was cuddled up to me. Her paws were around me and her head was nestled into my 'mane' of fluffy fur. The warm thing I had felt had been Ava.

Blushing at the situation I was in, I slowly moved, as to not wake her, and moved her paws out from under me. Then, I slowly lifted her head off of my mane and placed it gently on the floor. Finally free, I slowly but surely inched toward the exit of the cave.

Once I was outside, I took in a big sigh of relief. Well, that was awkward, I thought to myself. You know you liked it, thought the annoying part of my brain. Shut up brain! I thought. Wasn't her fur so fluffy and warm? The part of my brain said. I groaned and banged my head on the side of a tree. Stretching my newly freed limbs, I looked at the sky. It was morning already; judging from the sun, it was around 9:00. Yawning, I let the sun soak into my fur. I turned around when I heard something behind me and saw Ava.

"Good morning." I said. She yawned in response.

"I woke up because I heard a loud banging noise outside. Do you know what that was?" She asked. I shook my head rapidly.

"Nope, nuh uh, definitely not." She looked at me but decided not to question it, yawning.

"Maybe you should go back to sleep." I told her. She shook her head.

"I'm already awake anyways, might as well get an early start to the day." She replied. I nodded and we went back into the cave.

Back inside, I got out some berries I had collected the day before, and gave some to Ava. She nodded her thanks and bit into one. After a short breakfast of berries, we decided to head out.

After a while, as we were walking along the path, Ava spoke up.

"Do you think we're close to a town yet?" She asked. I shrugged.

"Remember, I grew up in Darkwood Forest. This is the first time I've been somewhere not inside the woods." I replied. Ava groaned.

"Can we take a break? We've been walking forever." Ava complained.

"Actually, its only been 5 minutes." I replied. She facepalmed.

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After a while of walking, the scenery started to change. The trees started to thin out and there were signs of Pokemon activity.

"I think we're getting close to a village!" I exclaimed. Ava let out a silent cheer at the news. "Hopefully we can get there before nightfall."

"That would be great." Ava said. "I'd rather not sleep in a cave for another night." That reminded me of that morning, and I started to blush. Stop it! I yelled at myself. "You good, Cleo? Your face is kinda red-"

"Yeah, I'm good." I said. I hurriedly picked up the pace. "Let's just keep going."

We had been walking for most of the day now. The sun was starting to set, and we still hadn't reached a town yet. We kept plodding along until I heard a rustling noise in the underbrush.

"Ava, stop." I said. Ava froze. "Do you hear that?" I asked. Ava started to reply when a green blur shot out of the bushes behind her and tackled her to the ground. Ava kicked it off of her and got back to her feet as I entered a battle stance. "Who's there?" I said.