Welcome to Gaia! ::

The four birds in front of her shuffled around and ruffled their feathers in disbelief. Her team sat still, each averting their eyes; Frey huffed, Enide jittered a little, Kipper was almost tearful, and Skylar couldn't hold back his tears any longer and began crying once more. Sienna pouted and held out her arms, "I'm sorry for yelling, buddy c'mere," The swablu skittered into her arms with a coo and stopped crying.

"Alright," Sienna sat on the wooden floor, and it creaked under her weight. Inhinx wasn't exactly her choice starting point, they'd need supplies...But it'd have to do. Time to assess her team to their faces. She had been putting it off, which she knew she shouldn't have, but it had to be now. "Frey, as my starter pokemon you know you're the strongest on the team," The Pidgeot nodded silently. "Enide, you're still a little green, and could work on your listening skills," The Murkrow stopped looking at the ceiling and quickly looked at her trainer with her unsettling red eyes. "Kipper, you're growing up now and I think it's time we trained you to the point of evolution,"

"Duuuuuuuuck?" "" He nearly bounced into the ceiling, "" Sienna laughed, "I can tell you'd like that, that's why I think he lake in Seatence Valley would be a good first destination,"

The team groaned. That was a long journey. "No complaining! We're doing this," She affirmed, and pulled a map from her bag. Unfurling the parchment, she surveyed it in front of her and began planning their impromptu trip. "I believe Xine's Peak should be our last stop, they say it's the best place for bird pokemon and I think it's time we established a home base, or a gym," She grinned, what a great idea! Sienna could barely contain her excitement, not even considering all the hardship they were going to have to go through to get there. There was also rumored to be a powerful Legendary bird pokemon living there. If she could catch it, she'd be unstoppable.

Sienna was never one for power, but in order to become a gym leader, she'd need to be powerful enough. "We're also going to try and find new teammates along the way," She stated. "I love you all, but our flock is small," The bird keeper drew their destinations and paths on the map in red pastel.

"We'll gather supplies tonight and start traveling in the morning,"

After a night of berry hunting shenanigans and some well-needed sleep, the flock made their way by foot through the Spirit Forest. Enide chittered and hopped through the trees the whole way through the forest with the local murkrow. The path they followed was simple, packed dirt. Ancient and decrepit shines littered the forest, keeping along the path. Sienna had heard of them, and how it was good luck to leave offerings for the spirits that were said to reside in the small houses.

They picked and ate berries off of bushes and trees they saw along the way, and left many with the small shrines. Her and her team would need plenty of luck and good fortune on their journey across the region.

The group made it to the edge of the Spirit Forest just as the sun was going down and decided it would be a good idea to camp near the forest rather than venture out just yet into the dark and cold Freezelands. Exhausted, the birds and Sienna settled on the group. The road had been rough and the birds soon found their feet sore from all the walking they had never been used to.

With a couple of Heat Waves, they had a small fire going and plenty of berries for dinner. Darkness had settled around them, and Sienna was slightly concerned about the pokemon in the forest. Dark and ghost types were notorious tricksters. She soon dismissed these feelings as paranoia; they could easily take out whatever the forest had to offer. The birds (all but Enide) tucked their heads into their wings, never ones to sleep in their pokeballs. Sienna dug out her sleeping bag and was set to sleep.

Twigs crackled as the fire tore them apart, embers popped and fizzled away on the breeze. Other noises soon teemed within the forest, many different creatures awaking in the night or finding a safe place to sleep. Red eyes glowed from the tree-tops one moment, and disappeared the next. Did she hear the rustle of wings? No, no, all her birds were asleep, it must have been her imagination. A small herd of fall Deerling approached the fire cautiously as they grazed. Sienna smiled sleepily at the deer pokemon, they were so graceful.

She dreamt.
""

""

"" The quick flap of dark wings, so many red eyes in the darkness, vanished. One pair of eyes remained.

They awoke at the edge of the forest, refreshed, and quickly set out to make it to the next forest before nightfall. The path outside of the Spirit Forest became rocky and rough, then nearly disappeared into the terrain all-together. It seemed like hardly anyone had used the path next to this mountain range. Nevertheless, the group pressed onward, the birds feet bled on occasion, but soon calluses would form and make the walk easier.

Overhead the mountain range loomed against a bright blue sky, dotted with clouds; some of which obscured the view of the mountain peaks. Sienna swore she saw birds flying ahead, or maybe heard a pokemon's cry, but eerily, there was nothing moving or making noise. The mountain felt entirely deserted. No one paid any mind to this, though her murkrow seemed on edge, red eyes darting around, beak clicking furiously. "Is everything alright Enide?" But the dark bird ignored her. There was no use in talking to that bird, ever. Sienna noted that it was something she would have to deal with on this journey.

The group marched onward through the rough terrain, and made it to the forest at sunset. There was something different from this forest and the Spirit Forest. The Spirit Forest held a gentle kind of quiet, a lively stillness that spoke of spirits happily gone to rest. There was unrest here, in this forest, an eerie silence, a dead and foreboding stillness. Many dead trees could be seen among the living. Lots of creeping vine and brown, brittle foliage said this forest was not in the best of health. There were no little shrines here.

"I- um, I don't think this might be such a good place to stay the night," Sienna said, her team standing behind her as they all gazed up through the tree tops at the last rays of the sun. "dark?>" Frey huffed. "" He glanced around the still forest. Nothing moved, not even the wind. Their view grew dimmer by the minute. "We'll camp a little back where we came, at the edge of the forest." Frey grumbled, but couldn't complain any longer.

They spent the night at the edge of the forest, as Sienna said they would. Sleeping bag unfurled, and snug in it, Sienna dreamt once more. The red eyes were there again, and dark wings, feathers fluttered through the air. Ahead of her, in the dark, she saw a figured clad in black, a red R on his chest. Dark hair, dark as the wings following them, Tai stood in her dream, eyes red as a murkrow's.
He tossed the lighter into the air.
Sienna woke up.

It had been a couple years since Sienna had seen her childhood friend and rival, Tai. The bird keeper had been on another pokemon journey years ago, her first journey.

After their run-in with Claramay, the team was more than happy to be almost out of the Freezelands. Pale grass began to sprout from the thawing ground as the group neared the edge of the tundra. The trees grew more robustly here, though on the edges of the area, as they had on the Freezelands. Hardy grass could be seen in the distance, covering the land ahead in a vast sea of brittle, waving forms.

The group collapsed, exhausted once more and in need of a good thaw. They started a fire on the edge between the tundra and the grasslands. The area in between the two biomes was not much warmer than the tundra, but they knew they would be out soon and warm again. "It's gonna be a long way before we reach any actual towns or cities guys," Sienna spoke as they all huddled around the glowing blaze. She wasn't sure how to lift their spirits, they were all bone tired anyway. "So get as much sleep as you can here, and we'll see how far we can make it tomorrow. We'll start training once we reach an area where the pokemon are of an easier type to take down," She yawned as she finished her statement.

Half of the birds were nearly asleep as she said this. After flying around the Freezelands looking for pokeballs in the snow, they were obviously sore. Since they hadn't flown in days, their wing muscles were out of shape, though they wouldn't get completely weak that fast. In short they were exhausted and didn't want to here any talk of training.