[PRP] Forest Children

[Blood_Goddess]

The beginnings of Autum were starting to touch the trees of Sandalwood, the seasonal trees were starting to tinge in colors of brighter orange and red, still clinging to their branches, though for the time and early time of the season mostly remained green. The evergreens would stand like they always had and always will.
The chill was starting to settle mostly in on the mornings and evenings, while the days still carried residual feelings of summer sun.
The cold made it harder to get out of his sleeping bag in the mornings, once the top of his spiked hair rose up out of the cloth allowing the cool morning air to rush in, he immediately wished to withdraw back into the warmth, the protesting grumbling of the Treecko also taking refuge in the sleeping bag with the boy only encouraging him. It was only the idea that he was determined to wake up before Ray and catch her before her morning routines that spurred him enthusiastically forward.

The sun was just barely starting to glimmer up over the mountains, igniting the sky in a bright orange, leaving the forests below still thrown into shadow from the colossal sleeping guardian of rock. The air was still bringing with it silence, save for the gentle crackle of the embers still chewing on the innards of charred white logs.
A yawn announced his emersion from his hole, the deep breath was joined by a long puff of steam, causing him to pause and shiver in the moments he had to adjust himself from his once warm environment.
The movement of the boy dislodging himself out of the sleeping bag, followed more lazily by a small Treecko, awoke some of the pokemon lying around the fire.
Collections of wild pokemon who had found a benefit of living close by the humans who had made residence in the woods clearing

Life in the forest was what he was used to, sleeping outdoors, even if the weather was colder than he was used too, at least this time he had a sleeping bag. The women who took him in seemed to take it pretty seriously, she had spent the summer overseeing and taking the lead in building a pretty amazing home in the trees, spanning between three of the trees in the aria, and centering from one particularly large tree. He was of course allowed to sleep inside, that was installed with a rudimentary heating system and insolated for the winter that they were going to be facing. But while the ground was still dry, Gon couldn’t help but enjoy the grass and sleeping out with the pokemon in front of the fire pit.
The clearing they had taken up residence in allowed for the surrounding trees to pull away, letting the span of stars to gleam through in the sky above.
The night before had been one of those content quiet nights, Gon bundled in by the fire, where he sat, arms clinging a blanket around his shoulders, with the warm fire burning comfortably before him, and Treecko peering uncertainly out at it from the boy’s lap.
The darkness stretched out into the forest, his fire not quite able to reach far beyond their court.

From above his head he could hear the rhythmic sound of a blade sliding over wood. And the gentle creaking of wood being rocked back and strained.
The tall women who he called his teacher sat in the dim light of a lamp’s glow several feet over his head in the wooden porch jutting out from the tree quietly carving a form from a chuck of wood, her boots kicked up on the railing rocking back in her seat.
An eccentric, strange, powerful, quick and knowledgeable all hidden behind a carefree somewhat vacant demeanor, Gon had learned fairly quickly that she wasn’t you’re average trainer, she must have seen something in him too, because it didn’t take much for her to agree to train Gon… after thoroughly kicking his butt.
She liked his perseverance, she had said it was a good trait, never giving up, but if it wasn’t channeled properly then it would be dangerous for him… he wasn’t sure what that meant yet.

The nights were good, peaceful after a long hard day of training, leaving the boy covered in scraped and bruises, and more sore then he had ever been in his life. It was worth it, and it’s what he needed to get better, if he didn’t get better, he would never find his dad.
It was his moment to just exists, reflect of his dreams, his goals and feel a sense of accomplishment in himself along with the insatiable hunger to get stronger.

His teacher had told him that there was a limit to how hard she was willing to push him. She had explained it to him, he was young, he couldn’t train like she did or he could permanently damage his young growing body.
This idea frustrated him, that he wasn’t being pushed as far as she would normally push someone, as much as she pushed herself, So had made up his mind that night, that he would wake up before she did, and try and force her to let him to her morning routine with her.
A decision he didn’t regret even as goosebumps traveled up his exposed arms, having no time to rub them as he reached for his green boots, having to literally drag them out from under a sleeping Teddiursa, who simply snorted and rolled over.
With boots laced up, Gon snapped up to his feet, hands balling into fists and he curled them up toward his chest “Alright! Let’s go Treecko.”
Treecko let out a little chirp, leaping up from the mess of covers, leaping on the boy’s shoulder who took off through the clearing to a nearby lake, though small provided a great source of water and food.
Ray was always first up, quietly making her way to this lake where she would focus on her own private training and conditioning before spending the rest of the day with the others in the little forest community she had created, and the daily survival chores.

The due of the morning flecked across his knees as he ran through the grass, his eyes wide, arms staying beside him to kick him into a broader stride, flying through the wilderness, his wild hair swaying back with each step.
He was going to do it this time! He’ll beat her there for sure, and she won’t have any choise but to-

Green boots slid to a halt, carrying him forward a few more feet over the slippery surface, though he managed to keep his balance.
Treecko however nearly flew off of his shoulder, and had to catch and cling to the chest of the boy’s white tank top in order to keep a hold.
“No way-!“ Gon gaped in disbelief, dropping his arms next to him “You’re already up?”

A figure by the shore of the lake paused in mid push-up, head snapping to the side where the small trainer had spoken from. A notched eyebrow arched before an amused look on her broad features crossed her lips.
A large white and red striped creature was splayed across her back, no doubt adding weight to the women’s workout, though it hardly hindered her from lifting one hand from the ground, supporting the weight with just one gleaming long muscular arm, so that she could shift her weight and look at him easier. A gray tank top hanging loosely from her shoulders and back.
“Thought you would catch me with my pants down did you?”
The Serperior gave a flick of his tongue, a look of amusement and affection also crossing his large green eyes.  

[Gwennythe]

"Well wouldn't /that/ be a sight!" A voice called from a nearby tree. A boy was standing on one of the branches, leaning back casually against the trunk, grinning; on his shoulder, in place of where Gon would have Treecko, a Snivy perched and rolled his eyes.

Lin only managed to look casual and suave for a moment before his cheeks reddened. He still wasn't good at not embarrassing himself even by his own words but her stubbornly held the position, trying to look 'cool'.

From around the base of the tree, a Chespin snorted and giggled as it toddled out and toward the pair. Unlike Jeeve's pitying eye roll, Acorn's reaction to Lin's silly habit was simply enjoyment. It found. She found her friend pleasantly silly.  

[Blood_Goddess]

White Ray was certainly surprised at first by Gon's sudden appearance, the women was finding herself surprised again when a second familiar voice chimed in, both her, and the twelve year old turning to spot Lin against one of the trees.
"Huh" She voiced, shifting her weight down with her one arm, before sliding her legs in underneath her.
With this movement causing Double Stripe to slither off of her.
The women pulled herself back up to her full height, shooting a smirk over at the now blushing Lin "I'm always up or a good d**k measuring contest." she teased back in hoped to simply fluster him more.

One hand moved to her face where she brushed sweat from her forehead "You both know morning training is my thing, you two should still be sleeping... like the rest of the forest."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"You too Lin!" Gon barked in surprise, Well he wasn't as on the game this morning as he was hoping he would be.
The young boy ran over to the other young man, pausing just in front of him "Are you looking to be trained too?"

Seeming to have missed, or overlooked the comment that Lin had made, though not missing the one Ray contorted with, causing him to arch his eyebrows and look between them with a sense of confused surprise.
"What? but... Aren't you a girl?" He asked genuinely.

Ray grinned wider, looking to Lin and pointing to Gon as if to say 'look at this kid'  

[Gwennythe]

"Me too! Me too what?" Lin exclaimed, and then asked, apparently having only gotten into position in that tree in time to hear the 'pants down' comment and not the preceding remark from Gon.

At Ray's comeback his face went red entirely and his eyes widened somewhat comically. If fact, he had to duck around the tree for a moment and hop down on the other side.
Gon's question was enough to stall his embarrassment such as it was for him to peer back out with a disbelieving expression on his face.

"Uuhh... 'S a joke, Gon. Not. She doesn't mean she has... Oh, never mind. It's just a weird joke, kay?" Lin hadn't lost any red in trying to explain that. "Anyway, Acorn and I got restless and woke up, and then grumpy here," he thumbed at Jeeves "insisted on coming too..."  

[Blood_Goddess]

The boy's brow creased slightly when Lin told him that it was meant as a joke, though not before ducking behind the tree. Thankfully seemed to drop it pretty quickly as it wasn't when he was here for.
Looking back over at Ray as she made her way over toward them, looking back to where Lin was hiding.
Buckling slightly when a sudden arm was places onto of his head like an arm rest.

Closing one eyes he shifted to look up at the taller women.
"We're up though right? You should let us train with you."
He didn't feel the need to look to Lin for back up, telling himself that the other young man wanted the same thing... right? Of course he would!  

[Gwennythe]

Lin stepped fully from behind the tree and, recovered from his bout of blushing, mostly, tried to look suave again and leaned back against the trunk of the tree, just on the ground this time.

He folded his arms and Jeeve's matched his pose on his shoulder, while Acorn stumbled across to stand beside Gon and tried to make herself look tall.
Acorn had Gon's back! She wanted to train!

"We are up." Lin agreed.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Gon reached a hand up to try and pull the arm off of his head.
Treecko hopped off of Gon's shoulder, landing next to Acorn with the same determination as he looked up at Ray and Double Stripe.

Ray however, looked back at the small group before her with a half lidded sigh, and a slight click of her tongue before removing her arm from the boy's head "yeah you are up, and you're interrupting my training. since you're up why don't you two go get the camp ready for some breakfast! the log pile was looking pretty slim."

Ray held her hand up quickly in time to cut off Gon's voice of protest "Hey kiddo, I'm not doing this to be mean, You're not ready for this yet, and I'm not going to be the one responsible for you're stunted and crippled growth" she said reaching out to poke him in the nose. "You're training will start later, for now you need to stop distracting me. alright?"

Gon didn't look like he agreed, or liked the decision, frowning with a furrowed brow.  

[Gwennythe]

"We /cooouuld/ do that..." Lin agreed, still leaning against the tree, but his smile had an amused cant to it now, the redness he'd been exhibiting all but gone.
"Y' know he's probably not going to take that answer and I'm enjoying his persistence a little too much to back you up..."

Acorn placed her paws akimbo and tried to stand straighter than ever.

Jeeves sighed, and gave Lin's ear a tug.

"Oi! Don't you start as well..."  

[insidiousEnigma]

"So early..." A head of unruly, red hair poked out from the opening in the top of the rather large sleeping bag as the lanky trainer slowly emerged from the warmth of sleep. "Espurr!" Hazy green eyes peered back into the darkness of the sleeping bag to spot Purrito glaring up at them from his place curled up on their stomach. "I know it's cold but it's probably time to get up." They reached down to gently pat the sleepy pokemon on the head as they listened to the noises coming from outside of the tree house.

There was the distinct noise of Gon getting up and moving about down by the campfire below and that only confirmed the fact that it was probably ridiculously early in the morning.

Drayce groaned as they scrubbed a hand down their face, "Up and at 'em, Purrito!" They chirped, though their usual, hyper enthusiasm was obviously missing from the statement. After much squirming, wiggling, and dodging Purrito's attempts to pull them back to bed, they were finally hopping into their pants and shrugging their shirt on. "You stay here, Purrito." Though the pokemon had already crawled back into the sleeping bag. "I'll come get you when-" They broke off with a loud yawn, rubbing the sleep from their eyes with the back of their hand. "When breakfast is ready." They finished, shaking their head to rid them of the sleepiness that still lingered before wandering towards the exit.

Well...Drayce didn't manage to get very far. Having grown up living in the forest and having made it a habit of falling asleep in trees; they found it entirely too easy to well...fall asleep in the tree.

Legs dangling over both sides and arms cushioning their cheek from the harsh bark of the sturdy branch, the red-head snored softly as they basked in the early morning light.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Mmh!" Gon grunted in agreement, balling his hands into fists and nodding his head with a determination that Ray had come to be rather wary of.
Even as Ray fixed him with one of her 'no nonsense' stares the steadiness of his conviction didn't falter, a feat not accomplished by many people, let alone twelve year old little boys.

"You said you would train me, I want to get stronger, as strong as I can!"
the young boy looked from Lin, a smile spreading over his face as the man sided with him on this one, even if it wasn't for the reasons Gon had.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ray narrowed her eyes slightly, lifting her chin up as she observed Gon and Lin.
Arching her eyebrow for a moment before she jabbed a finger at Lin "Alright, you want to side with him over my best judgment. I'll let him train with me this morning under a few circumstances. The first being that you have to also train with us, So long as you train, he trains. and second, You don't get to make this a habit Gon." she then shifted her attention to the twelve year old that seemed to light up like the rising sun itself with an excited "Really?" And turn to Lin hopefully.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Breezychu sighed from where he was sitting on top of the railing of the tree houses 'porch ledge' looking through the tree branches to the lanky red head that had managed to crawl their way further into the tree only to fall back asleep.
The Pikachu called out, before hopping from the railing into the branches to climb toward the human Tiny paws patted at the human's cheek.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Drayce's eyebrows furrowed slightly at the soft pressing against their cheek, "Nn..." They grumbled, reaching up to swat at whatever was touching them. There didn't seem to be any other indication that the red-head was even partially awake aside from the soft, "Purrito...not now." That was muffled against the crook of their arm as they turned to hide their face in the cradle of their crossed arms.  

[Gwennythe]

Lin seemed, still to find it amusing, watching Ray and Gon's silent, for a moment, exchanged and staying, arms crossed, leaning against the tree with that slight grin still on his face.

It was present right up until she laid out her conditions.

"Wait what?" Lin's grin froze and faltered, while Acorn, and even Jeeves, seemed pleased by the development. Though Jeeves more out of amusement and the failure to realize that Lin training meant him training too.

"We're trained! Right Jeeves? Back me up, buddy?" Jeeves turned his snout away, refusing too, and causing Lin to frown at him.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Breeze let out a light sigh when the stirring didn't work in waking the human the Pikachu argued He tried to argue logic in the sleeping trainer.
Reaching both paw out to put on Drayce's face, sending a light tingling charge from his cheeks into his hands. Not to hurt of surprise the human, but hopefully to get them alert enough.
 

[Blood_Goddess]

Putting her hands on her hips Ray leaned back a little, blowing out a full laugh at his words before she flicked a finger up, her pointing to Double Stripe, and herself with her pointer finger and thumb, fixing Lin with an unsettling wide smirk "Beat DS and me, and I'll call you trained, and you can go back to camp, AND I'll still train Gon. Otherwise, its the both of you or neither of you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the challenge and the stakes at cost Gon's wide eyes looked over to Lin, his fists still clamped, waiting for Lin's decision, since it weight heavily on if he was going to get to start training early today.