It did indeed take them the majority of the day to traverse the forest trail. After battling nearly half a dozen trainers, Tia and her team were near completely exhausted. Shauna refused to take part in battles along the way, instead she took over cooking and tending to Rinko and Shana between fights. Tia had to not only fend off the wild Pokémon that came after them constantly but the trainers itching to fight as well. Though the bright side to this was that both Shana and Rinko had improved quite a bit, growing stronger and stronger every battle.
When the exit finally came into view both girls quickened their pace, adrenaline rushing them to get out of the woods as quickly as possible.

[align=center]-----------Route 3 (Ouvert Way)-----------[/align]

The girls finally burst through the tree line on Route 3 and the first thing they ran into was the boy's campsite. Calum and Trevor were arguing over something while Tierno slept, his logs- err, legs sticking out of the tent. If he hadn't been asleep, she really might have just drug Shauna back into the woods. Instead, she led her towards the group and listened to their, by no means private, argument.
"Calum, we need to go back. They said they'd be here by now and they aren't, they could be lost, or hurt or- "
"Calm down, they're probably just running late. We'll meet up with them in Santalune Town so just relax. Have some faith in your friends Trevor."
Tia walked right up between them and smiled "Five points to Trevor for the concern, Five to Calum for the trust."
"Lil' T! you're back!" 
"Eh? Trevor... is that ridiculous name supposed to be referring to me? ... I'm taking those points back." She sighed as Trevor nodded to her question. Calum, she noticed, ignored her and went right over to Shauna and started asking how she was. Shauna explained that it was no big deal and they had just gotten caught up with packing and enjoying the trip. As the boys calmed down bit by bit, Tia started getting a strange feeling deep inside her. She wasn’t horny, and she defiantly wasn’t jealous of Calum’s closeness to her new very close friend… well maybe a bit. But the dark feeling growing inside her she could only described as “terror” but of what, she did not know.
They were in one of the safest parts of the entire Kalos region, where weak Pokémon gather to avoid the stronger predators. Yet this feeling was exactly the same as one experience she had years ago. One of her mother’s racing friends were breeding their Rhyhorns, when one suddenly evolved and went into a rage for unknown reasons. Tia was very nearly killed as the hulking Rhydon charged his unsuspecting trainer, landing the man in the hospital for weeks. It’s feet were bigger than she was at the time, and it very nearly flattened her. Most children would be scarred for life by this kind of event but Tia saw it as display of power that showed why Pokémon were to be respected, especially large species. The terror she felt watching that Rhydon charge at her was exactly like the feeling she had now. She had lost the current conversation in her thoughts and decided to interrupt them.
“Calum. How long till we reach Santalune?” her voice reflected a bit more of her true feelings than she wanted and Calum seemed to pick up on it.
“Maybe 3 hours if we hurry? Is something wrong?”
Everyone, including a newly awoken Tierno stared at her in concern. “No, just a funny feeling I’ve got. We should get going if it’s that close.”
“That’s what we were discussing as you zoned out, there’s only an hour of daylight left at most. I think we should spend the night here-“
“No- err, no. If it’s only an hour of twilight and an hour of night I think we should go. I want to sleep in an actual bed tonight…”
Trevor spoke up this time “T, are you sure you’re ok, you look pale”
In fact her stomach had dropped the second Calum suggested staying. They needed to leave now though she didn’t know why. “Actually, I do feel a bit sick right now. Can we please just get going?”
Calum took charge of the group, being oddly intuitive “Ok, we’ll go. Tierno, pack your tent as fast as you can. Trevor, get the girls some water and something light to eat. Tia, relax and rest. Shauna, stay with her and make sure she has what she needs. I’ll make a quick round of the area and make sure we’re good to leave. We set out in 10 minutes or less so hurry it up!”
The boys scampered around following his orders like good little worker ants while Tia and Shauna sat on a nearby bench. Shauna got close, but did not cling onto Tia like she had expected. The boys must not know her… persuasion.
“Tia, I’ve been wondering this for a while now… how do you know so much about Pokémon?”
“I’ve just been around them a lot more than most people I guess. Well, that and my dad left me a book about Pokémon biology before he died. I read through that all the time growing up, random facts just seem to have stuck.”
“I had no idea about your dad. I’m sorry. But how’d you know that Fletchling was female? There are no differences between male and female of those Pokémon. You didn’t even have to check your dex. And you basically tamed her before you even caught her”
“Slow down hun. My dad’s been gone my entire life, so its fine I just knew after I saw her that she was female. I always have been able to tell genders, sometimes even likes and dislikes, just from being close enough to a Pokémon. And weak ones like Shana have always been relaxed and obedient around me. It’s nothing special I do, that’s just the way it is.”
“Sounds like you’d be a much better breeder than trainer.”
“Hehe, I plan to be, and a collector as well. I plan to study and learn the secrets of as many Pokémon as possible.”
“It’s great that you know what you want to do… I’m envious honestly. So, are you really sick? That seemed to pop up rather quickly.”
I see she’s rather intuitive as well… or am I less subtle that I though? “No, but I have a horrible feeling that something bad will happen if we don’t leave soon. I feel like… we’re being watch… hunted…”
Shauna started visibly shaking “Th-the guy in the black suit? Could it be him?”
“I doubt it, he got teleported away or something, remember? By the way sweetie, let’s keep what happened with him and that strange Pokémon between us, ok?”
She nodded and rested her head against Tia’s shoulder as her shaking stopped. Calum returned just then to inform them that the 10 minutes was up and it as time to move out. This caused Shauna to sit straight up and blush madly, which in turn got a giggling fit from Tia and completely confused Calum. 
The five kids picked up the gear and started down the trail towards Santalune Town. Not one of them noticed the pair of large yellow eyes that had been spying on them from the forest edge. Likewise, none of them noticed the massive shadowy figure that left the forest under cover of brush just as they were out of sight. If they had simply turned around they would have seen the large purple spike rising up from the tall grass like a sail, heading right towards them.