Ayana sniffed. No fire. She didn’t smell fire. It was the first thing she thought of the moment she was conscious. She felt slightly damp though.

She opened her eyes. The tops of trees loomed above her, silhouetted against a deep blue sky. Stars flickered down at her from the clear sky, bright and beautiful. Momentarily transfixed by them, she didn’t notice the presence sitting nearby, just out of her view.

"Seems infinite doesn’t it?" Ayana jumped with surprise, sitting up instantly, jerked out of her speculation. She was sitting in a sleeping bag, her sleeping bag, and wore an unfamiliar red hooded jumper that was so big it fell right over her denim skirt. She was in a small clearing, cold in the night without a campfire. Her bag lay nearby, next to a larger bag that she didn’t recognise. Then her eyes settled on him. A small sleeping Pokemon lying at his feet, he sat on a rock staring up at the sky. She couldn’t make out much of him in the dark, but she could tell that he was tall, from the size of his dark form and the size of the jumper, obviously his.

He turned to look at her and smiled in a friendly manner, thrusting an outstretched hand toward her. "The name’s Andrew." She blinked and hesitated, a seed of suspicion settling in her stomach before shaking his hand.

"I’m Ayana." She murmured in reply, surprised at her own quietness. Normally she was rather loud and not shy at all, but this time was different. Maybe it was because she was a little tired.

"Well, y’know you’ve been sleeping for eighteen hours?" Andrew asked.

"No, I didn’t know that." Ayana said, feeling her sardonic nature surface. She tried to calculate an estimate as to what the time was, but quickly gave up.

"It’s about 4:30am." He stated, as if reading her mind. She looked at him pointedly, choosing not to reply. "Well. You hungry?" Her stomach groaned, speaking for itself. She clasped a hand over her belly and grinned weakly, an eyebrow raised slightly.

"How did you know." She said flatly.

"Why, a guess." He said in an odd tone of voice, and she thought it sounded almost poetic, but she dismissed it. Right now it wasn’t an issue.

He moved over to his bag and slid a hand in, not moving about much for a moment before emerging victoriously with a torch. With a flick it spewed out light into the darkness, and Ayana could see him properly. Light skin was tinted gold, dark orange hair shone with gel. His eyes were light blue. They offered her a fleeting look before he turned away to look in his bag again. She looked him over. He wore a new-looking navy blue dress shirt with short sleeves and baggy jeans that appeared worn; a strange combination she thought. He turned and dumped three fruit straps into her hand. She noticed bandages wrapped around her wrists, where the burns were.

He noticed where she was looking and cleared his throat a bit. "So you were near that fire were you?" He asked, running a hand through his hair casually. Ayana glared at him.

"Obviously." She gritted her teeth and they ground together.

"Woah, don’t have to jump all over me." He laughed slightly and she raised an eyebrow. There was movement nearby, and she turned to look down. Andrew’s Pokemon was rolling around and kicking a leg randomly. It emitted a small grunt and then lay still. Andrew shone his torch over it to reveal a small red creature, a Burnnie. Ayana knew it well from her research. The fire type starter Pokemon of Sherwood, it was like a small rabbit-like thing, with the small fluffy tail and long front teeth that bit over it’s jaw, but the head looked kind of like that of a bear.

Andrew reached over to pick it up, holding it like a baby and rocking it gently as if it were one. "This is Jo, my first and only Pokemon. Got her about a month ago from Dewtown when I started my journey." Ayana’s eyes flicked from the small fire pokemon to him.

"You only left a month ago? How old are you?" She asked almost incredulously. He looked to her to be about sixteen or seventeen.

"Eighteen this year." He noticed her surprised look and continued quickly but not hastily. "I wasn’t exactly one of those people who wanted to just go and train pokemon, I finished high school last year and decided to do this during my gap year while I decide whether or not I’ll go to uni."

"Ah." Ayana commented, not fully satisfied with the explanation but in no mood to complain.

"So how old are you?" Andrew asked. She hesitated before replying out of sheer secretiveness.

"Sixteen this year."

"I noticed you don’t have any pokemon. Were you heading to Dewtown to get one?" Ayana’s mind raced immediately. Was it suspicious for her to be travelling in the forest without a pokemon? If she said she wasn’t going to get a starter pokemon what would he think? If she said she was… he seemed to her like the kind of person to be all polite and noble and stuff and he might even escort her all the way there! Where was she even heading anyway? She had no idea! Perhaps she should go to Dewtown…

"I’m sorry, do I ask too many questions? Just so y’know I’m not a stalker or anything." Andrew said, smiling laughingly. Ayana was jolted out of her thoughts and she stared at him before realising how long she had been lost in her thoughts. All this talk of starting Pokemon… She gasped as she remembered. The egg! Where was it?

"Where’s my egg?" She snapped instantly, not stopping to think why she had called it her egg.

"Woah, chill, it’s right here." Andrew cradled Jo and the torch in one arm precariously but utterly sure of himself and rocked back on his heels, twisting his body around at an almost impossible looking angle from Ayana’s point of view for a few seconds before turning around to face her again, the egg cradled in his other arm against his body, half swathed in a thick blanket. Ayana breathed a sigh of relief and abruptly reached out and took it from him, automatically holding it close. "Ah, I see now." She looked up and stared right into his blue eyes. What was it? What did he see? "Were you given that egg for your first pokemon then?"

Possibility hit her, and she plastered on a fake smile and nodded in agreement, never taking her eyes from his. She hadn’t much practice at lying, but she didn’t falter. She didn’t think.

The strange look Andrew gave her made her hopes fall, but the ordinary smile replaced it almost immediately, giving her the idea that he didn’t notice. "So what’s in it?" She froze. He knew, she knew he knew! Somehow she just knew he didn’t believe that the egg belonged to her, and he was trying to pull her into a trap!

"Nope, it’s a surprise." She replied quickly, a little too quickly, but as calmly as she could muster.

"Who gave it to you?" She was on a role now and spoke without hesitation.

"A friend of mine works at the Breeding Center in Shakup, my hometown, and they found this egg and weren’t sure what it was. It’s a pokemon daycare too, and they have lots of business, so it could be anyone’s egg. They couldn’t find the parents and he, being such a good friend and knowing how much I wanted to get a pokemon and travel, offered to give it to me." She explained smoothly, sure now that he would be convinced. Sure enough he didn’t seem to give it a second thought, but continued the interrogation as it were. Only too late did she remember that the best lies were the simplest ones, not too embellished in details.

"So what were you doing wandering around in the forest with an egg and no pokemon? Looks to me like you were leaving home already, but shouldn’t you have waited for the egg to hatch?" Andrew asked. By now she could pick out the slight differentiation in his tone of voice when asking his provocative questions as opposed to his ordinary speaking. Ayana had to think quickly for this one. She considered claiming that she was only getting to know the forest and getting fit with the backpack, but Andrew seemed convinced that she had started her journey.

"Um, yeah well, I was just so excited and enthusiastic about starting my journey that I decided to leave early." She covered quickly.

"But what would have happened if you had run into a dangerous wild pokemon? You would be putting yourself and the life of the pokemon in the egg in danger." Andrew said, his expression vacant and stressed a little with worry, but Ayana could tell the slight triumph in his voice. She fell silent, at a loss for words. She could pretend she was going through the shock of realisation or the truth, that she couldn’t think up a good enough excuse and that he would likely eventually find out her true story.

Suddenly, as if to come to her rescue, her sister’s mobile rang.

She jumped, breaking eye contact with Andrew and his penetrating gaze hidden behind the warmth that emanated from him and reached for her bag. She fumbled for a bit with the zip, not wanting to put the egg down, and pulled out her sister’s mobile. She glanced at the number calling – it was her own mobile number.

"Hello?" She said, hoping desperately it wasn’t one of her parents. She was happily rewarded with her sister’s voice.

"Hey Yana, oh my goodness where are you? Are you okay? What’s up?" Latty almost squealed into her ear. She pulled it away slightly from the bombardment before it died down. She chanced a glance at Andrew who, after being caught watching, turned away in slight embarrassment and instead began to pet Jo while she slept.

"Okay, slow down." Ayana said in a hushing voice, but tried not to sound suspicious. She crawled out of her sleeping bag and stood, her legs beginning to wander aimlessly, ignoring the dull throb in her ankle and the slight sting from the burns. She gradually made her way a few metres from the campsite. "I’m in Sherwood Forest, I’m all good apart from a couple of burns, and I’ve met this heaps rude guy who doesn’t know when to shut up. Yeah?"

"You’re burnt?!" Latty’s voice was close to screeching point.

"Quiet it down a little, you want me to go deaf? Huh?" Ayana snapped in annoyance at her younger sibling.

"Okay, sorry." Latty said, her voice a mere whisper compared to the moment before.

"Yeah, I did get burnt a little, but I’m good. Anything else you’d like to scream in my ear?"

"Is this guy hot?" Latty’s voice dropped, and Ayana knew the look that was on her face. A playful, ready-to-flirt expression that pissed her off a lot, although usually it was pretty funny. However, she wasn’t in the mood and mentally slapped her as she glanced back at Andrew. His back was turned to her and his Burnnie’s red body looked merged with his similarly red hair. She didn’t know why she noticed that in particular, and she smirked for no reason.

"No way, he’s un-hot, and he doesn’t know how to dress." She muttered into the mobile. He instantly looked over his shoulder, a look of mock hurt on his face.

"Hey!" He said, and she laughed.

"Just joking!" She said, turning to face away from him again.

"What’s going on?" Latty snapped.

"Nothing." She replied.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well, would I go out with him?"

"Yes."

"Great! I want his number."

"No!" Ayana said in protective anger, even though she should have expected this.

"Why not?" Latty demanded, sounding almost like she was going to explode with outrage.

"He’s too old for you!" Ayana snapped.

"What? And too old for you too?!" She could almost feel the anger emanating from the thirteen-year-old on the other end.

"No." She glowered. "Why are you even looking for boyfriends? You worry about true love when you hit adulthood, Miss I-wanna-hit-on-every-hot-guy-I-see!" She heard her sister gasp in anger.

"Why you-" Ayana pulled the phone away from her ear calmly to avoid the expected train of colourful language, and when Latty was done she spoke blatantly.

"I didn’t talk like that when I was your age. Now what’s the meaning of calling me at what, five in the morning?" She confirmed her suspicions after a glance at the mobile clock. There was a confused pause.

"It’s five in the morning?! Woah, had no idea it was that late!" Latty giggled.

"Early, not late. And it’s dark, shouldn’t it be obvious? You’re lucky I wasn’t asleep. And… okay young lady, get off the coffee!" Ayana said in the tone her mother used to use when they were younger. She could imitate it almost perfectly.

"I’m not addicted."

"Yes you are you liar. And I won’t say any more because I know it won’t make anymore difference, but I’ll just tell you mum and dad will have your head cos it’s school for you, remember?" There was a moments’ silence again, then Latty gasped.

"You are so right! Oh well, I’ll have to bring more coffee to school to keep me up all day…"

"Okay, I’ll let you go think about what you’ve done, you bad, bad girl. So goodbye until later. And off the coffee!" She didn’t even wait for her sister’s reply before she hung up and escaped more argument. She shoved the mobile in her pocket and turned to Andrew, who had swiveled around on his rock to watch her. "…What?" She snapped irritably.

"Oh no, nothing, nothing at all." He said, but didn’t break eye contact as Ayana would have thought he would. They stared at each other for a few moments before Ayana realised the silliness of the unspoken staring competition and broke away, pulling the mobile out of her pocket to check on how much credit there was.

"So, did you have fun listening in on our little conversation there?" She asked with minimum expression, not really caring what he would say to her question.

"Of course, especially the parts about me. By the way, is your sister hot?" Ayana glared instantly as his face broke into a wide grin.

"I’m not saying anything!" She said, outraged that he would even consider such a thing.

"Well I suppose if she’s anything like you she’s gotta be." He grinned. She stared at him for a moment before the comment set in, and her mouth dropped open as if he had openly insulted her. She wondered why comments like that struck her as insults, when in fact they complimented the receiver. It didn’t make sense, but she didn’t stop to think on it.

"Oh… well… you’re…" She trailed off, suddenly incapable of throwing something back at him. There was an uncomfortable silence, he exulting in triumph, she brimming with seething fury and embarrassment simultaneously, when the egg in her arms shivered and rocked.