As we walked away from the hotel and back towards the city the feeling that I had made a huge mistake hung over me. Now that Dawn was back to her smiling self I wondered if I had overreacted and mentally cursed at myself. But no matter how upset I was, I also knew that I wouldn't go back on my word. I was just going to have to be very careful to keep a wall between Dawn and me.

"So where are we going?" Dawn asked, startling me out of my thoughts. I looked down at her briefly.

"Have you faced any of the other totem pokemon yet?" I asked and Dawn sheepishly shook her head.

"I've been too busy practicing for the showdowns," she explained and I nodded once in acknowledgment.

"Then we'll head to Wela Volcano," I said decisively. Dawn was silent. As I looked down at her she looked pensive, as if she were thinking of something unpleasant. "What?" I asked, wondering if she had been hoping to go somewhere else. 

She blinked up at me, her unhappy expression vanishing as she met my eyes and it was replaced with a slightly awkward look.

"Do you mind if we don't spend the night in a PokeCenter tonight?" she asked hesitantly and I raised an eyebrow at her in a silent question. "It's just that the pokemon centers in Akala run footage from the showdowns. Last night I had a bunch of people come up and talk to me about my dance battle with Traavi and... I don't really feel like talking to strangers today," she explained, looking off to the side so I couldn't see her expression, but her slumped shoulders told me enough.

"That's fine with me," I agreed simply and she gave me a grateful smile, making me turn away from her so I wouldn't stare too long at her eyes.

"Hey, Paul, what did you think about my dance today?" Dawn asked, and I noticed that she didn't seem to have any trouble keeping up with my pace. 

I'm glad Dawn is tall for a girl, I thought briefly before thinking back to Dawn's performance today.

"You're my friend today, remember. So no insults," Dawn said hurriedly and I arched an eyebrow at her.

"You want me to lie to you to make yourself feel better?" I asked bluntly and Dawn grimaced.

"Don't lie to me. I want you to tell me if I should improve something... just don't be mean about it," she mumbled with a frown and I looked away from her for a second.

"It was captivating," I muttered, keeping my gaze in front of me as we walked down Main street towards the path that would take us to the volcano.

"Really?" Dawn's voice sounded more surprised than I thought was warranted, but I nodded. Without looking at her I tried to think about her performance objectively while not thinking about the emotions I had felt during the performance.

"Your dance moves were a lot more complex than most of the other performers, and you made good use of Cutiefly's strengths," I said without emotion.

"Was Cutiefly hard to see?" Dawn asked, concern obvious in her voice. Looking over at her I was surprised to see her biting her bottom lip and looking conflicted. 

I wonder if someone told her that, I thought but as she shifted her gaze to look up at me I quickly turned away from her.

"I was in the back so I couldn't really see her at the beginning, but once you used Double Team it was a lot better," I said gruffly. "You were the second name called, so it obviously wasn't a problem for the judges," I pointed out. From the corner of my eye, I saw Dawn smile while looking relieved.

"Thank you, Paul. I like you as a friend," she announced, turning her sparkling eyes on me and I swallowed.

"Yah, well, don't get used to it," I said gruffly. She laughed and I felt the corners of my lips quirk up but I quickly scowled to cover the almost smile. 

Focus, Paul. Don't let her get too close. I reminded myself. 

We walked for several hours, passing the Pokemon Center that was positioned at the bottom of the volcano without a second glance. The sun was starting to set as the path that would take us to the top of the volcano came into view, so I started looking around for a good place to set up camp.

Remembering back to when I traveled through here last time, I led Dawn off the path until we came to a river. I was pretty sure it was the same river that flowed at the top of Brooklet Hill, but I didn't know if it extended across the whole island or not. Once I found a spot that was big and flat enough to be comfortable I sat down and pulled off my backpack, beginning to unpack pokemon food and things to make a fire with. I tensed up as Dawn sat down close to me, her knee nearly touching my own, but I stayed focused on my task.

"How should we tell our pokemon that we're going to travel together?" Dawn suddenly asked and I nearly spilled the pokefood I was portioning into Torracat's bowl.

"It's not a big deal. Just let them out and have them figure it out on their own," I huffed, silently dreading the way my own pokemon were going to react. 

Dawn opened her mouth as if to argue, but then she shrugged and pulled her Pokeballs off her belt. As Piplup materialized in front of me he peeped in alarm and smacked his flippers up to cover his beak, waddling backward until he bumped into Dawn's crossed legs. I looked away from him, doing my best to keep my grin from showing at his reaction. I continued dishing up food for my pokemon, completely ignoring Dawn and her band of pokemon.

"Are you going to release yours so we can all eat together?" Dawn prompted, and I glanced over at her, my eyes dropping to the Eevee that was sitting in her lap, looking at me with open curiosity.

"Evoy?" it said, wagging its tail against Dawn's stomach as she continued to stare at me.

"Your egg was an eevee?" I asked, reaching to release my pokemon since I had finished with their food.

"Yup! Isn't she precious?" Dawn asked, rubbing the eevee's head. 

Shrugging, I released my pokemon. Almost as one, they all walked toward Dawn with varying degrees of relief and surprise on their faces. Riolu was the only one that hung back with me and I watched as Dawn greeted my pokemon lovingly. 

Eevee's eyes were huge as she stared at Torterra and I watched with mild amusement as the little creature hopped down from Dawn's lap and padded towards him. Once she was almost directly below Torterra's massive head she stood on her back legs and hopped around, trying to stay in one place as she sniffed him curiously. Torterra lowered his head to look at her better and Eevee yelped in shock, dashing away and hiding behind Dawn's back. After a second she popped her long ears and eyes from around her, looking at Torterra in terrified amazement.

"You don't need to be scared, Eevee. Torterra is very nice. Why don't you go say hi to him again?" Dawn said gently, reaching a hand behind her back and tapping Eevee on the bottom to prompt her to come out from behind her. 

Eevee continued to stare at Torterra until Piplup waved at Eevee and then approached my giant pokemon casually. Without fear, Piplup walked under Torterra's head and wrapped his flippers around one of his big legs in a hug. Seeing that, Eevee's ears quivered and she bounded over to Torterra as well, greeting him warmly. Torterra let out a rumbling chuckle. I turned away from them and began clearing away a spot for a fire.

"Riolu, could you go find some firewood?" I asked since he still hadn't left my side. 

He grunted once in understanding before running over to a small group of trees a little ways away from our campsite. Turning back to my task I set up a small circle of stones and pulled out my kindling and matches from my camping supplies. I jerked as something brushed against my arm and turning I saw that Dawn was reaching past me to place some dried moss on top of my kindling. Glancing past her I saw that she had already put out food for her own pokemon and they were all eating happily.

"I don't need help starting a fire," I said roughly, shifting so that we weren't so close. She frowned at me and waved a finger in my face.

"We're friends today, and friends help each other," she said firmly and I rolled my eyes but decided it wasn't worth it to argue. 

To my surprise, Dawn shooed me away from the fire once Riolu returned with enough broken branches to cook with. I sat with Torterra and watched her as she deftly set up a campfire pot and filled it with water. She then pulled out two packages of noodles, some green onions, and mushrooms from her food supply before beginning to chop the vegetables.

"Oh," she said, looking up from where she was bent over her small chopping board and giving me a concerned look. "Do you like mushrooms?" she asked. 

I shrugged my indifference. Dawn smiled and returned to her chopping. I watched her as the setting sun made her blue hair sparkle and I wondered if I had ever seen such a dark shade of blue as a hair color before. I felt something prod my back and I flinched, turning away from Dawn and looking over to see Torterra retracting his vine and giving me an amused look.

"What?" I whispered to him.

He smiled quietly at me, turning his head to look at Dawn. A movement caught my eye and I watched as Eevee stealthily approached Dawn from behind, slinking along on her belly with her ears quivering. Remaining silent I watched, wondering what the young pokemon was doing. When Eevee had gotten within a few inches of Dawn's hunched figure she suddenly exploded to her feet, zipped around Dawn's back, and chomped down on a green onion that Dawn had just reached for. Without a backward glance, Eevee ran off, dragging the stalk of the onion through the grass and Dawn immediately gave chase. I watched as Eevee zigzagged first one way then the other as Dawn chased after her, laughing exuberantly.

Just as Dawn was about to catch her, Eevee turned to duck away from her outstretched fingers but she tripped, falling to her side and spinning through the slippery grass. Dawn gasped, rushing over to her and lifting her from the ground. She checked her for injuries with such obvious worry and concern that it caused a lump to form in my throat. 

She looks like a mom, I thought sadly as the worry on her face softened when Eevee shook her head and cried out happily, placing her front paws on Dawn's cheeks and smiling brightly.

With the green onion forgotten Dawn hugged Eevee to her quickly before putting her back on the grass and instructing her to go find Growlithe. With a happy shake of her tail Eevee trotted off to where Growlithe and Piplup were conversing in their pokemon language with Rockruff, while Torracat lay on the grass sunbathing. It amazed me that only a few hours ago Dawn was crumpled on the ground, crying her heart out and now she could smile happily and look after not only the pokemon she loved but me as well.

As the water in her pot began to boil she added packets of seasoning before plopping in the noodles and mushrooms. After a few minutes, a delicious smell began wafting from the pot of noodles and she added the onions, stirring the soup for another thirty seconds before taking it off the fire.

"Do you have a bowl?" she asked.

I nodded, moving from where I had leaned my back against Torterra, and went to my backpack to take out my bowl and chopsticks. Dawn portioned out the noodles in our two bowls and then carefully poured the broth over the noodles. To be honest, I had never bothered making ramen since I always made the noodles too soggy, but as I inhaled the gentle aroma and cautiously took a bite I was amazed at how good it was.

"What do you think?" Dawn asked after slurping the tail end of a noodle into her mouth. 

I considered whether I should lie and make her angry, but she seemed pretty stuck on this "friend for the day" thing so I just nodded.

"It's good," I said quietly before tilting the bowl and drinking some of the broth which seemed to be flavored with miso and soy sauce. Dawn smiled happily before tucking into her own noodles.

As soon as Dawn finished her soup and I was savoring the last few bites of mine Piplup waddled over to Dawn, still keeping his flippers over his beak. After shooting me a suspicious look, which I ignored, he cautiously removed one flipper and tugged on Dawn's hand.

"What is it, Piplup?"

"Lup lup piplup," he peeped, pointing to the sun that was almost set and then tugging on Dawn's hand again.

"Are you saying we need to find a place to camp for the night?" Dawn asked cautiously, looking at me from the corner of her eye and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Piplup nodded and once again pulled on her hand. but Dawn stayed where she was. Slowly she reached out and petted Piplup's head.

"Actually, Piplup... Paul and I are going to be traveling together for a while, so we're going to camp here for the night," Dawn explained gently and Piplup's mouth fell open wider than I thought was physically possible.

"PIPLUP?!" he shrieked, pointing towards me before quickly covering his beak with his other flipper. 

I schooled my face into a bored expression even though I wanted to laugh at the little coward. All of the other pokemon who had been eating came over and stood around us, looking in between me and Dawn with either curiosity or surprise.

"I have been trying for years to do everything on my own and I am getting nowhere. You know that Piplup," Dawn said sadly. Piplup lowered his flippers and gave her a concerned look, peeping sadly and patting her knee. "So Paul offered to teach me how I can get stronger. I know he can be hard to get along with, but I really think this is something that will help me be a better trainer for you all."

All of Dawn's pokemon, even Eevee, rushed over to her and she gathered them all in her arms in a group hug. I watched the exchange awkwardly, surprised that she was looking to her pokemon for approval for just traveling with someone. 

Torterra shifted so that he could turn his head and look at me with surprise evident in his expression. I shrugged, not feeling the need to explain. Torterra smiled before turning and walking over to Dawn and her pokemon, gently nudging Dawn with the side of his head in welcome. My other pokemon were quick to follow his example and soon Dawn was taking turns hugging all of my pokemon.

Rolling my eyes at the emotional exchange I stood up silently and took both our bowls and the cooking pot to the river so I could clean them. As I washed the dishes Dawn's happy voice rang out. It sounded like she was playing tag with her pokemon and I rolled my eyes again, thinking that if this was her nightly routine there was little wonder as to why she hadn't won one of her precious grand festivals.

From the corner of my eye, I saw something blue bobbing toward me. I turned to glare at Piplup as he cautiously moved towards me, his flippers planted firmly over his beak. He froze as our eyes met and I could almost see the sweat rolling down his face as I stared into his small black eyes. I turned away from him, continuing to scrub at the cooking pot in my hands, and was surprised when I felt a gentle poke on my arm. Sighing I turned to look down at Piplup who had quickly taken a few steps away from me after he poked me.

"What?" I asked, not bothering to hide my annoyance. 

Piplup stretched his throat as if he was trying to swallow and then took one step closer to me, never removing his flippers from his beak. I finally couldn't handle it and an amused chuckle escaped me. Quickly I turned my face away from him, desperately trying to stop my laughter as I remembered back to what had caused Piplup's fear of me.

I had been training with Torterra in the forest outside of Iki Town and was debating whether I should spend the night in the forest or go back to check on Dawn one more time. She seemed to be healing well and as long as she wasn't hurt then there was no reason for me to be concerned about her anymore. As I debated silently I found myself at the edge of the forest where I heard the sound of sobs. The familiar sound made my heart clench as I remembered my mom and how often I would find her on the ground crying by herself. Almost on autopilot, I followed the sound until I found Dawn, hunched over and crying for all she was worth.

My feet took me towards her, wondering if she had somehow managed to hurt herself again, but as I moved silently through the forest her sobs began to quiet. I stopped a few feet from her, hiding behind a tree, and listened as her sobs got softer and softer until she finally stopped. As she quieted I heard Piplup peeping in concern. I peeked around the tree trunk to see that Dawn had apparently cried herself to sleep. Piplup wiggled his way out of her embrace and shook her leg, obviously concerned for his trainer sleeping in the open like this.

I hope you'll always help people who are hurt, Baby, Mom's voice echoed in my head as I watched Piplup trying to wake her without success. 

Heaving out a sigh of frustration I walked out of the forest, startling Piplup and prompting him to stand in front of Dawn defensively. As I came out of the forest though, his little body relaxed and he waddled over to me, pulling on my pant leg and pointing towards Dawn, peeping quietly.

Without looking at the little runt I walked over to Dawn and, after a moment's hesitation, bent down and slid one arm under her bent knees and the other around her back. Grunting quietly I lifted her from the ground, her head lolling to the side and coming to rest against my shoulder. She mumbled sleepily and I froze, ordering her in my mind to go back to sleep, and miraculously she did. Breathing out a sigh she cuddled up closer against my chest and shifted so her forehead was touching my neck, her soft breath caressing my collar bone.

Gritting my teeth and telling myself to not think about the young woman now curled up against me I walked out onto the path, Piplup following a step behind me. I walked swiftly and was relieved when I found Mrs. Jun's front door unlocked. After silently letting myself in I crept through the quiet home and down the hallway where the guest room was. Piplup dashed ahead of me and pushed open the door.

Piplup jumped onto the bed and struggled to pull the blanket down. I rolled my eyes at his pathetic display but waited until his struggles came to a stop and the blanket was mostly pulled back. Glancing down at Dawn's sandaled feet I whistled quietly to get Piplup's attention and pointed Dawn's feet towards him. His flippers struggled to find purchase, but he was eventually able to remove her shoes. Once that was done I angled her feet so they would slide under the blanket and then gently laid her on the mattress. My neck and collarbone were tingling as I slipped my arms out from under her and I quickly backed away, looking anywhere but at the sleeping girl in front of me.

Piplup once again began struggling with the blanket. Muttering darkly under my breath I picked up the runt by the back of the neck and pulled the blankets over Dawn roughly, causing a small gust of air to ruffle her bangs and cause them to fall attractively across her forehead. Turning away from her while gripping the struggling pokemon in my hand tightly I marched out of Dawn's room. I continued walking out the front door and deposited Piplup on the chair set up on the front porch.

"Listen carefully," I growled softly to the irate pokemon and he stopped his hushed peeping to glare at me. "If you ever tell Dawn that I was the one who brought her back I will rip off your pathetic little beak and bury it twenty feet underground. Do you understand?" 

Piplup's eyes widened to nearly the entire size of his face and he rushed back, pressing his tail against the chair and clapping his flippers to his beak.

"Do you understand?" I asked again darkly and Piplup nodded his head furiously. I allowed an evil smile to escape and I straightened up, pointing a finger at the trembling wimp. "Don't forget it," I instructed before walking back into the home and laying down on the couch.

Smiling at the memory I cleared my throat, finally getting my laugh attack under control and turned to face Piplup, who was glaring at me in a mix of terror and anger. Slowly I dipped a hand into the river, then flicked my dripping fingers at Piplup. He peeped in surprise at the water sprayed on his face and backed up a few steps, glaring at me suspiciously.

"Keep your word and you have nothing to be scared of," I said, raising one eyebrow at the little pokemon.

He slowly lowered his flippers from his beak. Cautiously he waddled over to me and I finished washing the cooking pot. As I held the pot up upside down to drain out the water Piplup came to stand next to my knee. I was tempted to put the pot on top of him and see how he would react, but his expression was actually fairly serious so I decided to forego torturing him for now.

"What?" I asked as Piplup continued to stare at me. 

Piplup looked over at Dawn who was being chased by Growlithe and Rockruff. I watched her running, her cheeks glowing pink from the exertion but her expression happy. Piplup's flipper tapped against my knee, bringing me out of my observations and I looked down at him. He pointed towards Dawn then pointed to himself, tapping his chest twice and glaring at me.

"Are you telling me that Dawn is yours and I shouldn't try to steal her?" I asked, feeling both amused and annoyed as Piplup nodded firmly. 

I was about to tell him he could keep her when he peeped up at me and pointed to Dawn again. This time I only glanced at her briefly before looking down at Piplup and he put his flippers on either side of his beak, turning the corners of his mouth up and bouncing around to show an exaggerated happiness. Then he reluctantly pointed at me. Dawn's happy because of me...? I didn't dare voice what I thought he meant. Piplup didn't seem to need confirmation because he patted my knee once more, giving me a look that said he was annoyed but grateful. He then walked away from me and towards Dawn.

I quickly turned away from Dawn and her crazy pokemon and called out to Rockruff and Riolu so we could do our nightly meditation exercises. Rockruff seemed reluctant to leave Dawn's game but after one brief look at Growlithe, who had just tackled Piplup, she turned and trotted over to where Riolu and I were sitting cross-legged and resting our wrists on our knees. 

Closing my eyes I led them through our exercises, tuning out all other sounds around us, and asked them each to visualize and focus on the move they were trying to improve: Iron Head for Rockruff and Focus Palm for Riolu. I focused my own mind on my past battles, going through every step and move I had made and visualizing how I could have handled the situation better or created a better defense.

The call of a pokemon sounded and I furrowed my brow, realizing that I had stopped hearing the sound of Dawn playing a while ago. Slowly I cracked one eyelid open, telling myself I was just making sure she hadn't fallen in the river or something, but then both of my eyes flew open in shock. Behind Riolu and Rockruff, who were sitting directly in front of me, Dawn and all of her pokemon were sitting serenely behind them.

Dawn had copied my position and her face seemed calm and relaxed while her Cutiefly rested on her head. Her Growlithe's eyes were shut tightly as if he was concentrating deeply, while Piplup had folded his flippers and one of his eyelids was twitching as if he were trying his best to keep it closed. Eevee, on Dawn's other side, was sprawled on her back sleeping peacefully with all four of her feet sticking up in the air. Glancing past them I saw Torterra was looking at all of us from a few steps away with a happy smile and Torracat was practicing his jumps and flips.

My eyes wandered back to Dawn. Since when can a girl stay so still for an extended period of time? I wondered in surprise just as Dawn opened one of her eyelids slightly and met my gaze.

Embarrassment at being caught looking at her flooded me, but I felt like if I closed my eyes that would make me look foolish. Dawn opened both of her eyes, smiled slightly, and then winked before closing her eyes and bowing her head slightly to continue her meditation.

I felt heat begin to rise up my neck and I abruptly closed my eyes, cursing myself for letting her distract me. After trying unsuccessfully to focus for another few minutes though I gave up and stood. Riolu and Rockruff slowly opened their eyes, blinking as their eyes adjusted to the moonlight and I nodded at them.

"Good work. Let's go for our run now," I said to them and they both got to their feet.

"Be safe on your run," Dawn called and I glared over at her. 

She was still sitting cross-legged but she was now leaning back with her hands behind her to support her weight as she stroked Piplup who had flopped onto his back as if sitting still for thirty minutes had exhausted him as much as an hour-long jog. I wanted to tell her that I didn't need her concern but her open smile made the words stick in my throat so I just turned away and began running. Rockruff and Riolu, even with their shorter strides, were able to keep up with my pace and I led them up and down the river bank in long laps without taking any breaks.

After our hour of running/jogging was over I sent Riolu and Rockruff away, telling them they could relax the rest of the night, but I didn't go back to the campsite. Instead, I stayed where I was and did my other nightly exercises as I tried to think of how I should treat Dawn tomorrow and throughout the time we would be traveling together. 

Why is she treating me so kindly? I wondered as I did my sets of push-ups. This was the longest we had ever gone without arguing and I knew I had been rude to her in the past, so why was she smiling and winking at me like we'd been friends for years?

No answers came to me as I finished my workout, foregoing my normal pull-ups since there were no trees close by that looked like they could handle my weight. Glancing around me to make sure a certain nosy coordinator hadn't come to interrupt me I dunked my hands into the river and washed off my face and arms. Once I felt a little less sticky I pulled my shirt and jacket back on and made my way to camp. The moon had risen fully by the time I got back and to my surprise, a decent-sized white tent had been set up while I was gone. Dawn and her pokemon were nowhere to be seen so I assumed she had gone to sleep. Torterra moved towards me with his lumbering walk and even in the dim moonlight, I could see that he was smiling.

"What are you so happy about then?" I asked, releasing my sleeping bag from one of my storage capsules and shaking it out several feet away from Dawn's tent.

"Terra torterra," Torterra rumbled happily while glancing over at the tent.

"Don't get used to it. As soon as she wins the tournament thing then she'll be leaving," I said but then I paused and frowned. 

Wull she stay with me until she won something? That was what she had been sad about, that she hadn't been able to win anything before, but what if she left me before then? When she leaves doesn't really matter, I thought gruffly to myself. Everyone leaves eventually.

Torterra smiled quietly at me and I turned away from him, lifting his Pokeball to return him so I wouldn't have to think about why he was smiling like an idiot. After returning the rest of my pokemon for the night I lay down in my sleeping bag and closed my eyes, feeling sleep descend on me almost immediately.

"Ugh, you ready?" A tired voice interrupted my sleep and I blinked, confused when I looked around and it was still fairly dark. 

The sound of soft footsteps against the ground made me blink in confusion again. I tilted my head back slightly to see Dawn, dressed in a white tracksuit with her long blue hair pulled up in a ponytail, and her Growlithe tiptoeing away from her tent. Quickly I closed my eyes and lay still, feigning sleep as the two continued to tiptoe past me. The footsteps began moving away from me and I opened my eyes, watching as Dawn and her Growlithe began jogging down the river.

She runs with her Growlithe before the sun rises? I thought in shock. Since when do coordinators actually train? 

Shaking my head at the surprise I turned around, found a comfortable position, and tried to fall back asleep. Sleep eluded me though and as the sun began to rise I sighed and sat up, rubbing my eyes as I made a mental note to either go to bed earlier or start wearing earplugs to bed.

Reason #1 why traveling with other people is overrated, I grumbled to myself as I began getting things ready for breakfast.

A/N If you couldn't tell, I absolutely ADORE Eevee! She is just the most darling thing :D Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying the story!