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THUNK!

Riddik slowly opened his eyes and all he could see was total darkness. At first he began to think that he was still back at the party and that night came pretty quickly, but then he realized that Kyo wasn't there.
"Hello?"

Riddik slowly pushed himself up off the ground and looked around once again and saw that there were other children here with him, none of them he had never meet before.

"Where are we?" Riddik called out and hopped that one of them would know. He then looked down and saw that something was different. He wasn't wearing any clothes and he wasn't on two feet like he was before. Instead he was on all four, but the weights still remained on his front paws. His jaw also felt different, he clamped down and felt more teeth then he did before. All of a sudden he began to feel a surge of fright.

Something very strange was going on. This wasn't right. It wasn't normal. Belle paid little attention to the pair of boys confused boys nearby. All of her attention was utterly consumed by the state of her surroundings. The trees- they were sick. She gasped, green eyes wide with horror, and spun carefully on the spot. She had seen many a dead plant before, as Green really wasn't very good at watering them, but this -the extent of the waste- was unnatural. The lights that dazzled from the lifeless branches were eerie and sent chills up her little, delicate spine. She couldn't possibly guess at the source, but Belle knew that it must not be right. Who had put them there? Was that same person, or thing, also responsible for murdering the trees?

...what would happen if it came back? Would it kill her, as well?

The flower child swallowed audibly and, suddenly frightened by the idea of being alone, made her way towards Owen and Riddik. Moving was more difficult than she remembered. Belle paused, uncertain, and glanced down at her toes. She blinked and her heart started beating a dozen times faster. Her feet- they weren't feet any longer. Instead, they'd been replaced by green things. They looked like stems, she thought; thick and sturdy stems. With every step she took, roots shot out from the base of her legs and attempted to attach themselves to the ground.

Oh, this was awful.

The sound of the bats made Owen twitch his normally sensitive hearing that much stranger in this strange place. " I'm Owen" he replied slowly trying to settle his nerves " and that's Belle, she's.. aggressive." Yes that was the word Owen wanted, he remembered the other girl's power from when they'd met as small children a long time ago. Though at the moment he was bigger than her and she didn't look too dangerous, especially since she seemed to be in danger of getting rooted in the ground.


" Maybe" he began as Belle approached " Maybe we should follow the bats. they like caves and a cave is probably safer than standing here." Safer but more disgusting the older boy thought. The cave would probably be filled with bugs and bat poop and a host of other nasty things. Still, this forest was starting to unnerve him.

"Oh..." Riddik looked down towards the ground and looked back up and watched as Belle wandered over, she looked like a flower from back home... and those are something that he shouldn't eat. His stomach began to grumble and growl lightly and only noticeable to himself, Riddik wanted to go home and enjoy a nice fish.

Riddik turned his head and followed the flock of bats to where they were flying off too, a cave huh? That didn't sound and more safe then being out here... what if there was something in that cave... like a monster?
"Are you sure about that," Riddik shook his little bear head, "what if there is a monster in there?"

Belle watched skeptically as Owen drew nearer and nearer to the cave. She may not have been much older than a toddler, but she had managed to learn a couple of things in her short life. The cave was dark. It was impossible to tell what was inside it. The prospect of rain didn't bother her, but the possibility of snow made her uncomfortable. Flowers didn't fair well in the cold. She'd experienced frost before and hadn't liked it at all.

Still, she was not afraid enough of the snow to just clamber right up into that cave. It might not have been safe.

"Go look?" The dark skinned little girl gestured from Owen to the mouth of the cave. Until the rabbit went, scouted and then came back there was absolutely no way she was going to step foot (or stem, as it were) inside. Voluntarily.

Owen rolled his eyes and walked towards the cave " I'm not going to look I'm just going in. Even if there's a monster in there we're safer becuase there's more us" Owen was not the overly brave type but Eden brought out his animal instincts and the rabbit in him said a cave was much better option than being out in the open. " I'll protect you" he promised pausing to pick up a fallen dead branch that would make a reasonable club or spear if he had to use it as such " But I am going in" He certainly didn't like the idea of leaving the two younger children alone but his instincts urged him to fine safety and that simply wasn't going to happen if he argued with stubborn kids.

Riddik wasn't very sure of Owen's choices in this current quest. He wasn't to sure of anything any more here. It was rather scary and he was only a little cub after all. For all Riddik knew, he couldn't protect himself...

"Well I'm not going to stay out here," Riddik nodded his bear like face and stared at Owen and then to the brance, "I'm going to come with you."