"Crack" went a branch as someone stepped on it. Dawn immediately jolted into an upright position. One hand on the ground, ready to push her up into a fighting stance, while the other hand was on her hat, fixing it in place so her hair was in the cap. Her eyes were now full of determination again, but no fear. It was as though she did not know the meaning of it. Grovyle just stood up calmly, but swiftly, as though he noticed, but did not seem to worry about it.
"Get back to sleep kid, I'll take a look around and check it out." He said, as he looked right through the forest with a deadly gaze. He seemed to know just where to look.
Dawn looked at Grovyle and nodded once. She laid down her head slowly onto her bag again, but this time grasped the strap. She was ready to bolt, if her partner ever told her to run. She was certain of his confidence as a fighter, but not of hers.
Certain that Dawn was asleep; Grovyle walked a perimeter of fifty feet around her. 'I don't know why, but I feel like I must protect her. Maybe this is what being a partner is all about.' He was too distracted with his thoughts that he did not notice how far he was from her until he was sixty feet away. "Whoops, looks like I need to clear my head. Glad no one noticed." He muttered.
"Excuse me, Grovyle, but did I just here you say, 'Whoops'? Are you going soft? For a child no less? Now I've seen it all." Chuckled a deep voice. It seemed hallow, but firm. Darius Dusknoir came out of the shadow behind a tree.
"You know what has always confused me, Darius? How is it that there are always shadows when I'm around? Some others seem to have that same problem as well. It really is just strange, since there is no source of light around here or anywhere unless its man-made or Pokémon made light. Seriously, why?" Grovyle put on a look of slight amusement. 'Darn, I was too busy thinking that I forgot to let my instincts get to work.'
"Don't go changing the subject, Grovyle, even if it is a good one. We have a more important one at hand to discuss. Give me the boy, and I might let you die a quick death, even though you are a traitor." Darius' eye seemed to smile in place of not having a real mouth. "You were easy to track down with that little boy slowing you down." He seemed to be chuckling.
Grovyle in turn smirked and said, "Bravo, bravo, Darius. Where are your Sableyes, who really did the tracking though? They are the ones who broke the branch that woke the kid from its nap you know. The kid heard the branch and woke up with a start, which was quite rude of you." He seemed to be enjoying this. 'He still thinks that the kid is a boy, ha. What a joke. He would never be able to work with a little girl. Then again, he would probably think the same about me. I have to keep the kid safe, though. She is a human, and most likely cannot even do human fighting styles all that well.'
Darius smiled in such a way that even the mouth on his stomach smiled widely. "I sent them ahead to get the boy. I'm sure that they are there by now."
Grovyle gave up the joking tone and was ticked off at his own stupidity. 'Dawn's in trouble!' as soon as he realized that, he turned and ran back towards the clearing where he had left her. When he got there, no one but Sableyes were there. He hid himself in the treetops before he could be seen.
"I don't get it, the child's scent ends right here at this bit of clothes." Said a puzzled Sableye as he examined a t-shirt and pair of jeans and flip-flops.
'Dawn, what happened to her? She was just down there a minute ago!' forgetting that time did not apply in this world, he looked worriedly from his branch in the tree.
Darius arrived and stood next to the tree that Grovyle was in. "It seems that he was asleep to long, eh boys? He must have been time frozen. Oh well, at least we still have the traitor." He said calmly as he knocked on the tree with his fist. Grovyle fell from the branch startled. To add to his stun he was shot as he fell, by Darius. He was out cold when he landed.