Before the fox could even tell what happened, Aieri found herself dangling in midair from a rope made of old vines and bark, the fur on her back scrapping against a branch of a tree. She flinched as she watched the Nidorino pierce the air where she had been moments ago with his horn. She struggled to get free, scared she'd been caught by some kind of aggressive bird pokemon, like a Noctowl or Fearow, only to hear someone hiss into her ear.

"Stop it, you fool! Would you rather be down there with that beast?" The owner of the voice seemed rather snappy, and their voice cracked and snapped with every word they pronounced.

Aieri struggled to turn her head to see who had saved her, if you could even call it that, trying hard to ignore the pain in her neck where she had been grabbed by the scruff by a none too gentle grip and then slammed into the side of a tree branch.

The Pokemon seemed to be a middle-aged Weavile, her fur matted and an occasional burr sticking from it. Her claws, however, looked sharp as daggers, and shone like the metal of which they resembled. Her eyes were slits, looking rather suspicious of the outsider in the forest.

"I.." Aieri begun, in an apologetic tone, realizing she was nothing but a trespasser in this forest. However, she was quickly cut off by the older Pokemon.

"Shut up!" she said softly her tone of voice, however, made it obvious that she was still irritated. "That beast will hear us if you keep talking."

"Oh.." Aieri whispered, half to herself, as she returned her attention to the monster below.

The Nidorino's ears twitched as he scented the air, looking for any signs if the Fennekin. However, it was extremely difficult to smell anything in this forest, as the smell of moss, humid air, and rotting things overwhelmed everything else. The beast let out a low growl, brimming with irritation. "That fox must be around here somewhere, she couldn't just disappear without a trace.."

Meanwhile, the Weavile's expert claw work allowed it to easily slice a piece of bark from the tree she was sitting in with minimal sound. She then tossed it as far as she could into the opposite direction of the tree in which she was crouching upon. As the bark raced towards the ground, it bounced off of the leaves of bushes and ferns, causing their leaves to rustle quite noticably.

The Nidorino's ears perked up soon after. He then turned, charging off into the direction in which he had heard the noise, completely oblivious to the Weavile and Fennekin lurking in the trees above.

Aieri watched the Nidorino leave, letting out a sigh of relief. She flinched and her fur bristled in shock as she felt something tug on the rope loosely tied around her, but that shock didn't last for long, as she realized it was only the Weavile helping to pull her into the tree.

She turned to face the other Pokemon, and the branch she had been pulled against. Aieri then dug her claws into the bark of the tree and, with the help of the other Pokemon, she managed to pull herself up onto the branch. Being on solid ground again reminded her of how much her pawpads stung, as they had been cut and torn as she raced through thorn bushes and over patches of burrs.

She tugged a few burrs from her now matted pelt before turning her attention to the other Pokemon. The Weavile eyed over the Fennekin a second time, seeming a bit more curious than suspicious this time around, before she finally began to speak.

"Who are you?" the Weavile asked, her tone of voice serious and stern.

"O-Oh," the Fennekin stammered, not used to talking to people outside the village in which she had lived before being chased away by that vicious Nidorino. "I'm Aieri."

"And where are you from?" the Weavile asked, feeling a pang of guilt for bring so stern with the young Pokemon, who looked only thirteen at the oldest.

"From a village west of here, in the mountains. Or, at least, I think it was west..." the Fennekin stopped speaking for a moment to think before continuing on with what she was saying. "I'd been running for quite a while before I came across this forest."

"Well, why don't you run on home? We don't need any trespassers running around out here," the older of the two Pokemon stated plainly, beginning to turn away.

"Wait!" Aieri cried out. "I can't go home! A bunch of Pokemon were attacking my village. For all I know my village could be completely destroyed right now. At least let me stay for a little while, please!" she pleaded with the Weavile, terrified not only of the fact that the Nidorino might come back, but also of being alone.

"Ugh, fine!" the Weavile snarled, passing a glance back at the Fennekin. "But I don't know if the rest of my village will accept you, and you'll have to keep up," the Weavile then easily leapt to the next branch over. Aieri followed behind with a bit more effort. It was manageable, however, due to how dense the vegetation in the forest was.

Aieri was paying very little attention to getting across the branches, anyway. All she could think of was being able to sleep in a warm nest and rest until her sore pawpads and aching muscles were soothed.