I only own my OCs

Chapter 8: Into the Woods

Varushka watched as the child went out the window with Jack, and as soon as they were out of sight, she looked back at Balbina, her expression no longer tender. "…I really would prefer not to do this…" The older woman turned her gaze down and tapped her fingers together, her shoulders trembling.

"I know…but…Consider it a last request…A death wish per say…"

"I wish we could take you with us…"

"I'll be a burden…I don't want to fight anymore…"

"I see…" Varushka raised her hand high, as if she was going to strike. Balbina flinched out of instinct and braced herself for impact, but nothing came. Suddenly, a light pressure at the back of her head forced her into her taller friend's chest. Varushka's fingers rug into the woman's mane of dark hair and tangled her fingers in it. Her face was hardened and her eyes were focused on her wall behind the mother. "I remember when you used to be taller than me…And that my face used to be in your breasts when you hugged me…And that you used to feed me toast and jam…You were the age I am now, right? Maybe fifteen…Sixteen?"

Balbina's eyes widened a bit, then she placed her hands onto the red haired woman's back, giving her a light squeeze in return. "Fourteen."

"Oh yeah…But you used to deal with me and smile even when I was crying and being a baby…And even if you didn't have money, you'd buy me a little daisy every year and I'd love it…And you gave me my first pokemon, even though daddy didn't approve of it…"

"Feugo…"

"He's still alive…As strong as a Tauros…" A soft tear slipped from her face, her expression still unchanging as the salty drop cascaded down her pale cheek, whisking away a bit of dirt with it. "I'll give your baby the life he should have had with you, if not more…I'm sorry things couldn't be different…" She closed her eyes tightly and yanked Balbina's torso closer to hers, making the woman give a little gasp. Her eyes were widened in pain, but it soon faded to relief and happiness as they fluttered closed. Varushka tugged her closer, the other arm driving the kitchen knife further into the woman's abdomen. "I'm sorry…I…I love you…" she said as she sank to her knees, trying her hardest not to choke as she brought motherly figure down gently with her. She eased her limp body down so it was leaning against the cabinets, smearing the red ominously down the white surface. She removed the blade from her abdomen and dropped it at her side, more tears falling and diluting the thick, dark blood on the shiny metal. "I-It was your favorite knife, too…"

The older woman used her last strength to reach her arm up and press it gently against the girl's face, stroking it gently with a bloody thumb. Varushka's red eyes widened and she looked at her, placing her hand on top of hers with a soft touch, afraid it might just crumble there. "Take it then…Let Claude have it…" Varushka nodded gently, unable to let words come from her mouth. "And clean up…Look pretty and find a daddy for him…And you don't have to let him know who his mother was…" she nodded once more, and Balbina gave a soft sigh, letting her arm go limp. "Thank you…And…I love you…," she said slowly, the words coming out in painful slurs. Soon, her chest stopped moving and her life slipped away. Varushka gave a soft whimper and bit her lip, trying to keep her composure. She ran her calloused fingertips over the woman's thin eyelids, closing them and giving her a peaceful sort of look. The Russian grabbed the execution notice and placed it over the wound, staining it with the blood. She rose on shaky knees and went over to the sink, the knife in hand, and ran water over the blade. Before her was a mirror, something she never liked, and all she could see was her lifeless face, stained with the blood of a woman who didn't need to die, but she forced a soft smile on her face, not wanting the child to see her in such a state of disarray…

Varushka shot up in bed, unable to scream, but unable to contain the few tears that dribbled out from the corners of her eyes. Only a few hours ago, she had killed her best friend that had been a replacement for her mother when she wasn't there. She wouldn't be able to sleep with the guilt for a few weeks, if not the rest of her life. She had many murders on her shoulders, but they were for a good cause, and felt little to no guilt. No matter how much she searched her brain, the woman could not find a good reason why she killed Balbina, a mother…

Mother…Varushka forced herself onto unstable knees and crawled over the leathery seats of the jeeps to the makeshift crib where Claude was asleep, his pink lips full and his lilac eyes shielded from the world. A curl of blond hair bounced with her breath over his face and his hands clutched a pokeball tightly between his fingers. She watched him, reaching out and gently petting his face with a finger. The pressure made the baby moan softly and give a little mewl from her damp fingers on his warm face. She didn't ask for something like this to be shoved into her life, but she accepted it with open arms. Never had she even thought of wanting a baby, but now that it was here, and she didn't know what to do… With a sigh, she tucked him in tightly and emerged from the vehicle to look outside. It was pitch black outside, only a few stars illuminating the darkness that draped over the world.

She and Jack had returned from the nearby city from the sewers, baby and sharp weapons in tow. It was a less then pleasant experience that they would like to never repeat, but it got them out safely, which was all that the two cared about as they hobbled their separate ways and into the cars that served as beds for the time being. Varushka had managed to stay conscious long enough to situate Claude into the spacious glove box with a few blankets to make his sleep as pleasant as possible, not that he cared anyway. He was out like a light before she even wished him a good night.

The red head placed one foot on the ground, then another, and finally, she managed to slither out of the automobile soundlessly. She was finally able to acknowledge the scent of the fresh air that only the forest they camped in could produce. Lostlorn forest was a place of mysteries; people were always getting lost in it , as the name suggested, and more recently, they were turning up either dead or scared half to death. It was a risky move going into the forest, but if it scared off the Monarchy, it was a good move on Varushka's behalf. She didn't just come here to hide though; she came here to search for another member to add to their group, for this forest was the domain of Zoroark's host, and he was most active at this time.

Her tired red eyes watched the tree line for a moment, then when there was movement in the bushes, she moved towards the forest, her coat lazily flicking around with the movement of her slightly swaying hips. Her fingers dove into her pockets, drawing out a small pokeball with quick movements, and she twirled it onto the tips of her fingers before disappearing into the brush, the darkness claiming her.

Tim Comprand was pretty simple fellow; he wanted a simple life with his pokemon in a city, but things weren't that simple with the seventeen year old. He had something that the monarchy wanted, and therefore, things couldn't be simple with him. Only a few months ago, he had lived in the city with little care, but once word had gotten out that he was rumored to have something the Monarchy wanted, shit had hit the fan and he had been forced to flee his home with only the clothing on his back, his pokemon, and not much else. He was forced to run for three days and nights, only stopping to collapse out of exhaustion. He wasn't sure where his legs planned on taking him, but when he arrived at the entrance of the forest, the monarchy hot on his heels, he didn't really care. He ran into the forest, his panic forcing him to focus on losing his pursuers. Lucky for him, this forest was just what he needed, and the bushes and trees seemed to move about to conceal where he truly went, and soon, he had lost them.

The pale boy gave a sigh and ran his fingers through his short brown locks. He preferred his hair in his long buzz cut type style; no one could grab a decent handful if they wanted to and he didn't have to worry about care, not that he had a problem with cleanliness. If he needed a bath, he could find a stream in any direction, no matter where he was. It was the same with food. Should he need an apple to start the day off, all he had to do was turn around and there it was, hanging on a tree twenty feet away. It was strange, but convenient. Everything was to his liking here from the weather to the touch of the grass. There was only one problem with the paradise: there was no way out. He looked for hours and hours and days upon days for an end to the trees, but there was no end. He had thought about burning down the trees to get out, but after staring at them for so long, he couldn't muster up the will to do it; they were far too beautiful for that.

His deep blue eyes, each with a slightly different color, one silvery and one reddish, landed on his right wrist. On it was a bracelet that consisted of three thick bands of metal that didn't connect and that reached across his muscular arm like skeletal fingers. Each piece of glossy metal was tipped with a red jewel that made the fingers seem like claws. That held his arm in a death grip. He wasn't exactly sure where he had gotten the jewelry, but it had been there for as long as he could remember. He had tried to remove it over and over, but it was impossible to remove, and every time he got close to taking it off, he was met with mind numbing, searing pain in his arm. He would have given the stupid authorities what they asked for if he could, but he couldn't, and he was in this wonderful situation.

"Well isn't this just fabu~?" He chimed sarcastically as he dropped his arm, letting his annoyance slip into his normally friendly tone.

"Oh, I kind of like that word. I should start using that," came a monotone voice from the side. The sudden human voice made Tim flinch and tumble onto his back in surprise as he instinctively tried to scramble away from it. It had been so long since he had heard a human voice, much less a voice of a human girl. He blinked and looked around for the source of the voice, but he found nothing. To the side, he saw the slight outline of a human in the depths of the forest, but there was little detail outside of their tall, lean form.

"W-Who are you?" he stammered as he got to his feet again, "And what are you doing here? People don't find me easily…"

The person dug into their pocket and drew out a small sphere that enlarged a moment later. "Who I am doesn't matter." She flicked her wrist, releasing the pokemon within the ball. A long green serpent appeared before him, its red eyes glaring down from their place on its pale face. It was regal in every sense of the word, and it was huge in every sense of the word. The monster was easily 200+ pounds and was about twelve feet. Tim was in no way small, but his hands instinctively went to his pokemon that were concealed in the pockets of his tri-colored short sleeved blazer's pockets. "But…I'm here to kill you."

Serperior was quick and bolted towards him without a word from his trainer, and his maw open wide, but with adrenaline in his coursing through his veins, the brown haired teen was faster. His finger pressed a button on the pokeball just fast enough to release a pokemon. The large snake was only a hair away from ripping off his face when it was yanked back and thrown away into the trees, knocking a few over with the force of the throw. A small, blue, human like creature stood off to the side, its breath coming out in soft pants with the effort of throwing the snake away from his trainer. It waddled it was back to his side as quickly as it could, and Tim breathed a sigh of relief. "You're a life saver, Sawk…" It turned its black gaze up to him, and his cheeks turned upwards slightly, as if it was smiling slightly at his trainer.

It was rammed out of the way just as all seemed to calm, and its body cracked against a nearby tree, causing it to tumble over with the force behind the blow from the serpent's tail. Before it landed, the snake heaved slightly and spat its gastric fluids at the creature, hitting it with the nasty mess of bile. It blinked and looked at its hands that were covered in the disgusting fluid, and from the side, its trainer, who winced at the nasty attack, turned his nose away from him slightly. "Ew…" he mumbled softly, but he released those thoughts as the creature came upon him. He was nowhere near as strong as his pokemon was, but with his constant training, his muscles developed. His hands grabbed the creature's top and bottom jaw that were about to snap over his head, and he held them open, angering the writing creature. Its constant thrashing made the ground rumble and its body wriggle about in his grip and made holding its fangs away from his face very difficult. "Sawk!" He called to the pokemon that was now up on its feet, "Poison Jab!"

Its fingers glowed a purple color but just as it was about to strike, something else was quicker and knocked the creature aside with a loud bark. Its orange body and puffy beige fur was just a blur as it rammed against the creature with its large body at an extremely high speed. It's fangs sung into its body and burst into flames, drawing a squeal of pain from its victim. The tiger striped creature tossed it aside the best it could before returning to its trainer, who had appeared next to Tim. "Stupid move, grabbing its mouth," the blonde girl remarked as she held an unopened pokeball in one hand, and an open one in the other. The Arcanine that had protected him must have belonged to her.

Tim glanced up, and then rubbed the sweat off his brow in relief. "I didn't have much of a choice on the matter…" The snake didn't stay down long though, and it reared up with a hiss, its blood dripping off its green body and onto the ground from its burnt wounds. It charged again, but this time, Tim was ready to dodge. He grabbed the girl and yanked her out of the way just in time to avoid its fangs, but anticipating them to dodge his initial attack, Serperior lashed its tail out and caught them both with its powerful attack and sent them onto the ground. It slithered up quickly despite its massive size, and went to strike again. Arcanine darted in front of the two and took the snake's fangs head on, his own flaming teeth snapping at the snake that was trying to dodge the fire attacks that were aimed at him.

The two seemed to had forgotten about the third member of the fight, and Serperior was taken off guard when a poison coated fist was jabbed into his skull and broke the thin skin there. The sticky, purple liquid dripped into the open wound, making Serperior squeal and howl in pain.

"Let's get out of here while it's distracted!"

She nodded and whistled for the Arcanine to come to her. It listened obediently and as it passed her, she jumped onto it quickly and motioned for Tim to follow suit. He stared at it, a little worried that it wouldn't be able to handle two passengers, but the Serperior was beginning to gain its focus back, and he didn't have much time to think anymore. He called his companion back to his pokeball, and with one smooth motion, got on the orange dog's back. It took off just like a jet, not turning back to check on the green Snake that was still writing in pain.

"What was that thing's problem?"

"I don't really know, but it didn't seem like it was wild…It was too intelligent…"

Tim looked up at her, his dark gray shoulder bag slapping against his back as the Arcanine ran. "I never caught your name…I'd like to thank you properly for helping me."

"You sure needed it." That comment caused him to frown in displeasure, and he opened his mouth to retaliate with his own snarky comment, but she wasn't done speaking. "My name is Hikari…"

"It's a pleasure to meet you…" he said, still a little irked by her comment, but still able to speak with her in a civil manner, "I'm Tim-" They had just emerged into a clearing that had cars and small tents pitched all over when the Serperior burst from the bushes, a wild hiss ripping from its throat. It sped quickly after Arcanine, who was slowing slightly from the excess weight on his back. Hikari cursed under her breath and took a sharp right. The Serpreior followed, throwing anyone in his path to the side with a strong sweep of his tail or a swift and powerful bite before swallowing them whole. Their blood sprayed over the beast's face, but it did not flinch at the death all around it; instead, it seemed to excite it and renew its interest in the two fleeing teens. Tim fumbled with his pokeballs, trying to find one that would finish off the pokemon quickly, but another flaming creature passed them up and rammed heads with the much larger snake. The monsterous serpent stopped dead in it's tracks, its expression blank and its eyes widened in pain, before it slumped down, breath no longer escaping its lungs. The Rapidash removed it glowing and now bloody horn from its head and stomped on it for good measure, sending more red blood all over the grass.

"That's enough, Siegfried," came a strong voice from behind them. Issa towered over them, his expression a little darkened, "It doesn't deserve that, no matter what it's done…" The rapidash snorted in disagreement and cast a glance around the camp. Blood was everywhere, but there were hardly any bodies, as most of them were inside the body of the snake. A few were slumped over against the trees on the side, their necks crooked awkwardly, and some more had crashed into sharp sticks and were impaled. There was a lot of casualties all because of the stubborn snake. "I know, but he can no longer do anything-"

"God, I leave for a couple of hours and I come back to this…What the hell?"

All eyes turned to the voice of the redheaded woman, who had her hands on her hips as she walked back into the camp. Her eyes surveyed her surroundings and she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Messy…"

"These people are dead, and all you have to say is how messy their deaths are…?" Tim asked, not quite believing what had just come out of her mouth. "Don't you think they deserve to be mourned over…?"

"No." She shot back at him, her patience wearing thin. He just looked at her in disbelief. "They were of no particular importance to me," Her eyes darted around, counting the people still left, "they were meant to die to keep the more important players in the game…"

"So they were just puppets to you?!" His anger was beginning to bubble, but he still kept a cool head. There was no reason to get into any fights. "That's just…wrong…Who the hell are you anyway?"

"And where were you, anyway, Varushka?"

She held up her right hand, which was covered in blood. "Taking care of its owner before anything else happened…" She was now ignoring time, not caring for his opinions on her ethics. "It seems I was a little late though…Too bad. Is Claude okay?"

"He is healthy and strong, but he's very quiet and loves to sleep…" Issa said as he held out the package of blankets to her. Neither of the teens had noticed the man was holding something gently in his arms, as it looked just like a part of his tattered clothing. She went over and held out her hand, which were tiny in comparison to those of the brute before her. He however, was much more gentle with the bundle then he was, seeing as she fumbled a bit to get them in the right spot. She peeled back the blankets with one finger of her left hand that was clean to reveal a child's sleeping face.

"He sure does…" She walked away from the group. "This mess needs to be cleaned…I appreciate you watching him, Issa. I hope you'll do it again."

"It would be my pleasure, Miss Varushka."

Tim watched her go, a bit of anger still burning at how she treated her fallen comrades in his veins, then turned his head to Hikari. "Is that hers…?"

"Fortunately, no. She came back with it just yesterday," she replied as she slid off her arcanine, her black clothing riding up a bit as she did. He followed suit, and once her pokemon was safely back in her pokeball, he walked away without another word.

"Forgive them; Varushka leads this camp and is trying her best, and Hikari isn't as friendly…Will you be staying with us?"

"I suppose if you have room, that would be nice."

"Let's give these people a proper burial then…"

Varushka was curled in the back of the car, a bottle held on one hand and Claude supported with the other along with her legs. He was awake now with his lips attached to the nipple of the bottle and sucking merrily. He paid no mind to her bloodied hand that rested just on his back, and she watched him with the same worried expression she always had on around him. She was being increasingly careful with him, her touches gentle and her eyes watching for the tiniest look of displeasure on the infant's face.

"You're not going to break him, you know?"

"How do you know that, Kei?"

He was leaning against the now opened car door, his eyes focused on the girl and her adopted child. It was strange to him seeing her this way, with something so small and helpless in her hands. She was such a rugged individual that he wouldn't imagine, even in his wildest dreams, that she was capable of being tender and caring for anything so delicate. "…I don't really know, but it seems that you take a complete turn with your personality while you're with him. You didn't have any alcohol with you when you came back."

"She was out-"

"Jack told me what happened. He still thinks you're seriously drugged."

"Jack can shut up."

"Relax."

She looked up at him, a displeased frown on her face. "You're telling me what to do now? What a twist."

"Problem?"

"I'll pull your ponytail if you keep up with this behavior." She gave a soft smirk and bounced the baby in her lap, trying to take care of it as one of the mothers in the camp directed her to. "You know I'm not afraid to touch."

He rolled his golden orbs and looked away before putting a cigarette in his mouth. "You caught me off guard."

"You didn't protest."

He lit the cancer stick in his mouth and took a puff, his patience wearing as he repeated himself. "You caught me off guard-" Something smashed into his head, making him drop his cigarette. The empty canteen fell to the ground with a hollow thunk. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Don't smoke around him."

Ahaha, I haven't updated in a loooong time (Over a year!) and I have no excuse for that :'D My apologies. I lost my pokemon muse for a short while, and it's still not completely with me… Hopefully I'll be updating more often.

I've also cut this story almost in half. I realize I need to keep them short and sweet.

Thank you to everyone who's been poking me to keep up this story. It helped a lot! Also, this is a big thing I need you guys to do. If there is any relationship you want or DON'T want your character to have, speak now or I'm going to do what I want with them. I'm like a that one mail service; if it fits, it ships.

If your character is OOC, please give me pointers. I haven't written some of these guys in a LONG time, so they could be wrong.

Alright guys! Thanks for sticking with me for so long! And remember! Reviews and PM's make Crimson happy and want to update more!