Short chapter, but hey, at least I'm finally updating!

I have a bit of a writers block at the moment, I'm having trouble writing anything right now, so don't expect the next chapter to come too soon.

Oh, yeah, I'm working on other stories, they're not pulished yet though.

Gifted Curse

Chapter Six

Into the Depths

"So this is the way out!" Jake exclaimed as he and AuroraFire left the Ryder Forest. AuroraFire simply rolled her eyes at the kid's comment, after all, finding the way out of the forest was easy for her. "Soooo, where to now?" Jake looked down at AuroraFire expecting a reply. The ninetales scanned the horizon, which was a large open field, and spotted a forest at the other side.

"Over there," she replied, taking two steps forward and lifting her paw to the direction of the forest in an attempt to point the way. "We'll go through that next forest,"

Jake looked at the forest with an expression that clearly showed his disapproval. "Through another forest?" He complained, "I'd rather go around it,"

"Now now," AuroraFire began, gracefully walking across the field, "Going through it is much quicker, and I'd prefer it that way," Jake, not wanting to get left behind, unhappily followed her across the field, crossing his arms in an unhappy way. His current attitude reminded AuroraFire of the young Vulpixes back at home, this made her think how old she thought Jake was, which she concluded to be fairly young. She didn't count years because most wild pokemon were ignorant of time.

"It's getting dark AuroraFire, I don't like it," Jake further complained, his expression turning into a slightly fearfull one. The ninetales rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come now, Jake," She whined, "It's nothing to be frightened of," Jake scoffed at the comment and crossed his arms, still maintaining a rather scared expression.

"I'm not s-scared, it's just dark" He retorted, "I've never been in a forest in the dark...," The nine-year-old shivered. It didn't help at all that he was now more acutely aware of his surroundings than he was before, as every noise, scent and sight frightened him a little each time he sensed them. AuroraFire did her best to ignore the jumpy kid, but she was finding it increasingly difficult. Before she had a chance to yell at him, she froze and thrust her nose into the air. Jake looked at her with an expression of both confusion and fear, before he finally caught on to what she was doing.

"W-what is that?" He squeaked, shivering a lot more than before. AuroraFire kept a vigilant stand and gave a low growl, which did little to help Jake's nerves. Jake opened his mouth to ask a question, but before he had a chance to, both of them heard a long, low growl from the darkened abyss in front of them. Jake whimpered and inched closer to AuroraFire, who growled back and also raised all nine of her tails.

After what seemed like forever, the owner of the growl finally appeared, it was a mightyena, his head held high in pride and arrogance, and was followed by what seemed like an army of more mightyena, each growling in their own way. AuroraFire stood defiantly, while Jake simply stood speachless. The mightyena with his head held high, whom Jake believed was the leader, took a few steps closer to the two, and chuckled sinisterly, which made Jake's hair stand on end.

"Well, well, well," He bellowed, eyeing Jake and AuroraFire intently, "If it isn't a Ninetales, no surprise there, but here!" He turned to face Jake, who backed up a few steps, trembling visibly. As if on cue, some of the mightyena moved to surround them, stopping them from escaping. "Here, we have a human! Of all things!" The mightyena laughed loudly, joined briefly by a few others before stopping and looking at Jake once more.

"It's been a while, seeing a human, that is," He spoke with a mixture of dominance and manevolence. It was at this point that AuroraFire finally spoke and gained the attention of the mightyena.

"What business do you have with us?!?" She yelled. The mightyena laughed once again, causing AuroraFire to growl angrily.

"Business? Us?!" He repeated, stopping his laughter, "This happens to be our patch. Our turf. Our territory" The mightyena began to make a noise that sounded like a mixture between a growl and a laugh.

"Tresspassers like you aren't taken lightly,"

I'll try making the next chapter longer and more interesting, that is, if my writer's block goes away.