"Can you fight?" Blake whispered. "Armaldo took a beating before and I'm not sure he can handle another fight." Jordan shook her head.
"My Kirlia can't hold one of those off. And Milotic can't fight in a forest." Blake nodded and grabbed a stick from the ground, adopting a defensive stance.
"Run then. I'll hold them off."
"Blake.. You won't last two seconds. It's cute and all, but that's not going to help." The bears moved closer. One bear, lumbered over to Blake on all fours and snorted in his face, blowing a breath of warm, foul smelling air. Blake gagged a little, and the bear stood, revealing some slowly healing scratches on its stomach.
"Wait, you're the bear from before. I thought we were done.. I already apologized for attacking you.." Blake looked at the Pokémon, who seemed to motion for the two trainers to follow. Blake looked at Jordan and both gave a sigh of relief.
"I think they want our help." The other Ursaring nodded, and then began to lead the way. Jordan shrugged at Blake and began to follow the bears, and Blake followed after her. They followed the bears in silence for a few minutes and reached what looked like a campsite. A truck was parked at one end with a tent on the other, and a fire in the middle. The Ursaring that had attacked Blake let out a growl and pointed at the truck. Blake could hardly make out a cage in the bed of the truck.
"Is that it? The cage?" He realized what was going on. "Wait, your cub isn't here. Did they capture your cub?" A nod.
"Poachers." Jordan spat the word. "Almost as bad as Rockets. I'd guess they have guns, which is why the Ursaring can't just charge in and rescue their cub." Another nod.
"Don't worry. We'll get your cub back." Blake promised, and pulled a Pokéball off of his belt. "Drifloon, see if you can sneak in and lift the cage." Drifloon appeared in a flash of light, and floated over to the cage, wrapping his arms around it and lifting, hardly able to drag it along. Blake grimaced as the metal of the cage clanked against the bed of the truck, but after a few seconds, Drifloon had made it back over to the group. It set the cage on the ground, and then flopped over; apparently it was a pretty heavy cage, especially with the Pokémon inside. Drifloon had managed to lift Isaac for a few seconds before the trip to Olivine, and the cage apparently weighed more than he did.
"Now, how do we get this open?" Blake turned to see if Jordan had anything that could be used to break the lock, but she was gone. He spun, looking for her and noticed her sneaking up to the truck herself. She knelt on one side, moved to the side, then around to the back before sneaking back.
"Slashed the tires. They deserve a lot worse than that, but I can't think of anything legal to do right now."
"I don't think slashing tires is legal." She shrugged. Oh well. "How do we get the lock open?" Blake asked.
"Can you pick a lock?" she asked, and he shook his head.
"Never had a reason to learn. Maybe Armaldo can help. We should probably get a little distance first." The male Ursaring lifted the cage and walked away. When he had judged a sizeable distance, he set it down and looked at Blake. Blake nodded and sent out Armaldo, who saw the bears and adopted a fighting stance.
"Easy, we're all friends now. Can you break this cage?" Blake asked, and Armaldo chirped. He lifted one claw and brought it down on the top of the cage, denting the metal. He tried again and again, making no headway.
"One more try," Blake said, and Armaldo hit it again, knocking one of the bars loose. The mother Ursaring pushed Armaldo aside, and he chirped angrily. She grabbed the loose bar and began to pull the top of the cage off, making enough room for the smaller Pokémon to climb out, immediately running to its family. Jordan smiled.
"Nice job." The parents growled their thanks, and the family headed deeper into the woods. "Stay safe!" Jordan called after them. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time.
"It's almost ten.. We might be here overnight. I don't suppose you have any camping supplies on you?" she asked. Blake shook his head before realizing he never actually packed his bag.
"Actually, I have no idea. It's worth a check." He set his bag down and looked through it, finding a small tarp at the bottom. "We might be able to use this as a shelter I guess?"
"Are you asking or telling me?" she asked.
"We need something to hang it on. I've never been big on camping." He frowned.
"I've got a rope. Always carry a rope. My personal motto, you know?" Blake gave her a strange look, but she only shrugged. "It's useful. Can you go get firewood? I've got some matches, we can get a fire going." Blake nodded and walked off with Armaldo. Jordan found her rope and tied it to two trees, throwing the tarp over and staking it to the ground with some sticks. It wouldn't be anything amazing, but it would be better than nothing, especially if it rained. Blake was only gone a few minutes, and came back with an arm full of wood.
"I'm no good building fires. Start small is all I know. Plus, we don't wanna burn the forest down." He began setting up the smaller sticks to use as fuel, and when he was finished, added the heavier stuff. Jordan came and lit it, and it took a little time to catch, but it eventually began to burn.
"No food though." Blake said. "And we didn't even get a chance to eat breakfast. I think the only thing we've had today was ice cream, and you didn't even eat most of yours." Jordan nodded, looking regretful.
"I think we'll make it. We need to get out tomorrow though." she said, stepping over towards the makeshift tent. "We could have stolen supplies from the poachers."
"That's stealing though." She knocked Blake on his head.
"That's the idea. Duh. Are you ready to sleep?"
"Not much else to do." Blake stepped over and made a show of holding an imaginary door open for her. "Ladies first."
"Such a gentleman." She rolled her eyes, and the two sat under the tarp."This is going to be awkward."
"Yeah." Blake lay down on his back, and Jordan did the same. "Although you've already cuddled with me once."
"I fell asleep. That's different," she replied.
"I don't see how."
"Goodnight, Blake." She laid her head on his shoulder.
"Night." He watched her close her eyes and smiled, before making his own attempt to fall asleep.
The morning came, and Blake opened his eyes to see the tops of the trees looming over them, the sun thankfully out now. Wait. Trees? Blake sat up. Where was the tarp? Two men sat against the bed of a truck, smiling at Blake. Jordan stirred beside him, slowly being awoken by his movements.
"Blake? What's wrong?" She sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Company."
"Well, hello there." Both men were wearing hunting gear, camouflage all over, and one of them addressed the trainers.
"Hello." Blake tried to play it cool. "We're, uh, working on merit badges. Camping, you know?" The man smiled, revealing a mouth not so full of teeth. Blake hid his disgust.
"I see that. Funny thing is, we're missing a Pokémon of ours. Seeing how's you two's the only people around, we was thinking that you might have an idea of where it went. Small bear, moon on its head. You seen it?"
"Can't say that I have." Blake kept up his best poker face. "We were just going now, though, so if you lovely gentlemen don't mind, we'll just be going." Blake stood and helped Jordan up, and the two grabbed their bags, turned and ran for their lives. Without turning, they heard the truck starting up, and they tried to pick up speed.
"We're not going to be able to outrun them." Jordan said, and Blake had to agree.
"Can we fight?"
"We're going to have to. I don't think they have any Pokémon." She stopped running and released her Kirlia. "Set up some barriers in between the trees." Kirlia focused and a translucent wall of light appeared in the direction they had been running from. The truck had covered most of the distance between them and shattered through the wall only seconds after its formation.
"Dammit." Jordan cursed. The two men climbed out of their truck, the passenger holding a rifle of some kind.
"Now, now, kids. No reason to be starting trouble here. Unless you know something about our teddy bear." Jordan looked up in a tree, and then back at the men.
"Die in a hole!" She shouted at the men, who chuckled a little bit. The man holding the gun cocked it and threw it over his shoulder.
"We don't want to get violent, missy. You're not giving us much of a choice." The one with the gun pointed it at them.
"Jordan, you're going to get us killed.." Blake whispered.
"Listen to your boyfriend, kiddo. Just tell us what you know and we'll let you go."
"Never!" The man who had been talking gave a sigh and motioned for the one wielding the gun to continue, turning his back on them and climbing back into the truck. The man holding the gun gave an insane cackle and pulled the trigger. The noise caused Blake to flinch and close his eyes. When he realized he was still alive, he opened them, and noticed a green bird Pokémon standing in between Jordan and the attacker. It had one white wing outstretched and the other pointing at the man. Its eyes glowed blue with psychic power, holding the bullets in midair. With a motion of its wings, the bullets flew into a nearby tree. The next motion tied the barrel of the gun into a knot. The man's eyes widened, and he scrambled back into the truck. Before they could drive away, the bird's eyes began to glow and the truck lifted off of the ground and floated up to catch on the branch of a large tree, leaving it suspended.
"What just happened?" Blake was in awe.
"I noticed Xatu up in a tree and got Kirlia to ask for his help. I think my crystal helped a little, but I also think he hates the poachers." The large bird turned towards the trainers, waddling a little as it walked. Blake noticed the tattoo-like markings on it, and kept himself from making a face.
"Uh, thanks for your help. Hey, I don't suppose you can help us get out of this forest, can you?" Xatu's eyes glowed again, and Blake prepared for an attack, but the bird simply turned and began waddling off towards what Blake and Jordan hoped was the exit. They looked at each other, shrugged, and began to follow.