As we walked back to the Pokemon Center after Dawn's battle with Nanu I forced her to tell me exactly what those idiots had done to her. I was relieved when she explained and said that they hadn't tried to touch her inappropriately, but I still harbored a desire to kill those two idiots who took her. She seemed to be doing okay though so I tried to relax, but there was something else that was bothering me.

When I went after Dawn it was instinctive; a desperate need to protect her and make sure she was safe had gripped me and completely taken over all rational thought. I felt a little foolish when she told me that Guzma had already rescued her from the perpetrators by the time I got there, but what really bothered me was how Dawn had reacted to me showing up. When she called out my name and I saw her standing at the top of the stairs my entire body seemed to melt with relief. Then when she ran and threw herself into my arms I naturally pulled her to me and had actually thought that I never wanted to let her go.

I'm getting too attached to Dawn, I admitted to myself as we walked along a raised wooden path that meandered through a field of red flowers. 

My thoughts began to jumble together as I considered what I should do if Dawn was experiencing the same feelings as I was. Nothing good could come of our feelings being mutual. I'd prepared myself mentally for telling her goodbye, at least I told myself I had, but I hadn't thought that Dawn would feel the same way for me. Seeing the mirage image of her saying that she felt like she owed me and wanted to pay me back had actually made me think that she only saw me as a teacher, which was exactly what I wanted her to feel.... But her running into my arms and her reluctance to let me go after I got a hold of myself and pulled away.... That might spell trouble.

"Paul? Are you okay?" Flinching slightly at her voice I looked down to see that Dawn was giving me a concerned look. "Were you thinking about my battle?" she asked hesitantly.

I blinked, shaking myself out of my thoughts concerning emotions and feelings and trying to focus on the present.

"No, sorry, I was spacing out a bit," I mumbled and Dawn's eyes widened.

"You? Spacing out?" she asked in shock.

I scowled at her, nearly reaching out to rub the beanie on her head, but I stopped and looked away from her.

"Did you want to talk about your battle?" I asked gruffly and Dawn sighed.

"I just feel like it shouldn't have been so hard to beat his persian. If I had reacted better to his Fake Out attack then I don't think Ribombee would have lost," she said sadly and I nodded.

"He was a weird guy, but he uses strategy during his battles. I think you did well with what you had to deal with though," I said honestly and Dawn looked up at me in surprise and then smiled radiantly.

"Really?" 

Forcing myself to look away from her happy face I nodded, staring straight ahead at the PokeCenter that was set up just beyond the flower field we were walking through. When we arrived we left our pokemon with Nurse Joy and wandered into the cafeteria area. It was a little past noon and neither Dawn or I had eaten breakfast, so we loaded our plates.

I like that Dawn eats a healthy amount, I thought absently but then quickly shook my head and concentrated on the food in front of me. Stop it, Paul. Don't ruin this. If Dawn finds out about my feelings I'm going to have to leave her sooner than later.

Dawn and I finished eating and as we walked back to the nurse's center to pick up our pokemon I felt a small tug on the back of my shirt. Turning I saw that Dawn was looking off to the side and blushing slightly.

"Do you mind if we relax today?" she asked quietly, peeking up at me from between her bangs. 

I nodded slowly and stayed perfectly still, trying not to think of how close her hand was to the small of my back.

"What did you have in mind?" I asked and she shrugged.

"Could we watch a movie?" she asked hesitantly and I blinked in surprise. 

I hardly ever watched movies for fun since they were full of special effects and fantasy. But the thought of spending an afternoon sitting next to Dawn just relaxing was more tempting than I expected and I found myself nodding.

"We can ask Nurse Joy if she has any movies for guests," I suggested and Dawn smiled gratefully at me. 

I wonder why she doesn't want to train. She seemed fine earlier when she was battling Nanu.

Nurse Joy was happy to share a list of movies and I was surprised when Dawn chose three. She accepted the key to a room that had a TV in it and I took a key of a normal room before we headed up to Dawn's room. The room looked almost the same as a normal room, with a bunk bed pushed against the wall on the left and a door leading into a bathroom on the back right hand side, but instead of a second bunk bed there was a TV against the other wall.

"Which one do you want to watch?" Dawn asked me and I shrugged.

"I don't watch movies, so you can pick," I said and Dawn frowned.

"Oh, would you rather do something else?" she asked and I shook my head.

"It's fine," I said gruffly and she frowned, not seeming convinced. "Just choose one," I ordered and she nodded slowly, looking at the three movies Nurse Joy gave her.

"I want to watch this one after dinner with Piplup, you probably wouldn't like it," she said with a small smile as she held up a movie featuring a pikachu, totodile, fennekin, and treecko posing dramatically with the title "Pokemon Rangers!" in large block letters on the top.

"You're probably right," I thought while narrowing my eyes at the kiddish title and Dawn giggled, almost making me smile.

"Then out of these two, which do you think sounds more interesting?" 

After deciding on a movie Dawn sat on the bunk bed, scootching back so she was resting against the wall and her feet dangled off of the edge of the mattress.

"Could you hand me the pillow from the top bunk?" Dawn asked. 

As I passed it to her she slipped it behind her back and the wall and wiggled a little bit to get comfortable before patting the spot next to her.

"I'll just sit on the floor," I said quickly and she frowned at me.

"It's bad for your eyes to be that close to the TV. Come on, there's plenty of room," she said invitingly, patting the spot next to her once again. 

Briefly I weighed the severity of the damage to my eyes or my self-control before gingerly sitting down on the edge of the bed and pushing back so that I was sitting several inches away from Dawn. She didn't seem to mind the gap between us though as she turned her attention to the movie playing.

The movie was about a pokemon trainer who stumbled into a town with a curse on it. The town would evaporate into mist for a hundred years before reforming and allowing the people trapped in the town to live normally for a year, before turning back to mist for another hundred. It was fairly ridiculous to think that something like that could happen and I had to roll my eyes when the trainer ended up falling in love with one of the town girls. Glancing over at Dawn I was surprised to see that she was crying silently as the trainer failed to break the curse but instead of being parted from his love he chose to become mist with her and wait for a hundred years so they could be together.

How selfish, I thought to myself. The trainer probably caused his family a lot of pain when he never came back from his journey.

"Sorry for crying," Dawn apologized and I looked over to see her brushing her cheeks with the backs of her hands to wipe away her tears. "That must've been a really hard decision for him. And his pokemon looked so sad." 

Blinking I thought back to the scene where the trainer had released his pokemon to go be with his love. Were they sad? I wondered briefly but was distracted from my thoughts as Dawn stretched her arms and legs.

"Were you wanting to watch the other movie?" I asked and she smiled sheepishly.

"I love to marathon movies. I can get a lot of ideas for costumes from watching them," she admitted with a grin and I felt one of my eyebrows raise. "If you're bored though you don't have to watch it with me." 

I shrugged silently, looking at her from the corner of my eye. Something seemed off about Dawn, but I couldn't quite place what it was.

"Why don't we go for a walk and then we can watch the other one," I recommended slowly, feeling antsy after sitting and doing nothing productive for nearly two hours.

"Sure!" Dawn agreed with a broad smile. 

We left the room, locking it behind us. After we got outside to my surprise Dawn released all of her pokemon and I stood back as her pokemon all gasped in shock at Arcanine's transformation. Mirageon, Piplup, and Ribombee all ran up to him and ran in between his legs excitedly at how big their friend was now, but I noticed that Vulpix was hanging back. I watched as Dawn slowly walked over to Vulpix and knelt down next to her, prompting the quiet pokemon to look up at her.

"Growlithe evolved because he wanted to protect me," Dawn explained quietly, and I noticed that Arcanine was looking at her and Vulpix with sadness in his black eyes. "I am really sorry that he couldn't stay as your small friend forever. But even though he is evolved, he's still the same."

Vulpix looked at Arcanine and he walked forwards, stepping over Mirageon and Piplup carefully until he was towering over Dawn and Vulpix. He then sat down, laying his head between his huge paws and whined softly at Vulpix. Slowly she walked forward, sniffing at the air in front of her before she touched her little nose to Arcanine's large one. Cautiously Vulpix walked over to the side of Arcanine's head and after a slight hesitation she rubbed her head against his fuzzy cheek. Dawn smiled gently at the scene and I wondered if she regretted that Growlithe evolved.

Once Vulpix had accepted Arcanine in his new body we all walked to the beach where Dawn's pokemon frolicked happily and played together. Dawn watched them with a motherly happiness and I frowned.

"You look at your pokemon as if they were your children," I commented and Dawn blinked up at me before smiling.

"Sometimes I feel like a mother," she agreed. "But other times I feel like a sibling, and other times I feel like a best friend. It's actually fairly rare that I feel like I am just a trainer." 

I looked at Dawn and wondered how she could love others so easily and deeply. Dawn and I walked up and down the beach and the feeling that something was off kept nagging me, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

Eventually Dawn returned her pokemon and we went back to watch the other movie she had selected. This time the movie was about twin sisters who had been raised without knowing the other existed but through fateful events they eventually got their estranged parents back together. The story was okay, but I liked the parts where the twin sisters were terrorizing their dad's materialistic girlfriend best. Seeing the parents get back together made me feel strange and I was quick to suggest we go have dinner after the movie ended.

After dinner Dawn told me she was going to spend the rest of the evening in her room and wished me goodnight. I used the last few hours of daylight to get some training with Riolu and Metang done. Once the sun set, I glanced at the Pokemon Center, wondering if Dawn was still watching her movie. Shaking my head I released Incineroar and Lycanroc and return Metang so we could all go for a run. Incineroar had gotten more powerful in his evolution, but his speed took a major hit, and to compensate for it I needed to make sure he had an increased endurance.

I showered quickly when I got back and laid down on my bed, telling myself there was no reason for me to check on Dawn. Sleep took a while to come to me and I felt like I had just barely drifted off when I jerked awake, feeling a coarse, sandpaper-like substance gripping my wrist. Blinking groggily I looked down to see that one of Mirageon's ear ribbons was wrapped around my wrist and Ribombee beside her was flying up and down in a jittery pattern.

"What's wrong?" I asked, telling myself that there was a rational reason for two of Dawn's pokemon to somehow make their way to my room in the middle of the night.

"Mira mirageon," Mirageon's voice seemed upset and she tugged on my wrist.

"Alright, I'm coming," I said softly. 

Mirageon and Ribombee quickly led me back to Dawn's room. Ribombee's eyes glowed and I heard a small click before the door swung open. Mirageon pulled me into the room and my eyes instantly went to the bottom bunk where Piplup was trying to shake Dawn's shoulder. However, Dawn was tossing and turning, flailing her arms and nearly hitting Piplup in the face as he tried to wake up his trainer.

"Let me go," Dawn sobbed in her sleep.

My throat clenched as I moved over to her. Dawn continued to toss and turn, banging her fists against the wall and the mattress, but as she turned towards me I reached out and snatched her wrists in my hands.

"Dawn, wake up," I said firmly. She pulled with more force than I was expecting, wrenching herself from my grip.

"No, no, let me go," she mumbled, continuing to toss and turn. 

Gritting my teeth I sat on the edge of her bed and gripped her upper arms, shaking her lightly.

"Dawn! Dawn, wake up!" I ordered loudly and winced as her fist beat against my chest and arms as she cried out in fright in her dream. "Dawn!" I repeated, pulling her up into a sitting position

Suddenly her eyes popped open. Her breathing was fast and uneven and her eyes met mine and the fear in them froze me to my core.

"Paul..." she whispered shakily. I cleared my throat and nodded. "Why..." she began to ask and Mirageon jumped onto the mattress, coming up and laying a gentle paw on Dawn's leg while Piplup came and hugged her waist and Ribombee flew in between mine and Dawn's faces and buzzed worriedly at her trained.

"They were worried about you," I said, releasing my hold on her arms and scooting back a few inches. "What were you dreaming about?" 

Dawn swallowed and put a hand to her forehead.

"I was trapped in a dark hole. My hands and arms were tied up and I couldn't see anything but this creepy voice kept saying that I would never get out," Dawn whispered, her voice still shaky and I clenched my hands into fists.

"I'm going to kill those two," I growled darkly, rising from the bed and beginning to walk away.

Suddenly though Dawn's hand gripped my wrist, pulling me to a stop. I looked over at her to see that she was looking at me guiltily, but more concerning was that her entire arm was trembling.

"Don't, Paul. They really didn't mean any harm. I'm just being a baby about it," Dawn said as her arm continued to tremble and I met her eyes in the dimly lit room.

"You're shaking," I observed quietly and she held onto my wrist even tighter.

"It'll stop soon," she breathed out. "Don't go make trouble for them, Paul. Please." 

I turned back to her and sat down on the edge of her bunk bed, trying to ignore the fact that she still had not let go of my wrist.

"Fine. I'll leave them alone," I agreed reluctantly and she nodded and bent her head, still not letting go of my wrist.

"Have you been hiding how scared you were all day?" I asked quietly and Dawn shrugged.

"It's weird. Once Guzma explained that it was a misunderstanding, I thought I was okay. But waking up in a strange place being tied up and gagged... I was terrified," Dawn admitted in a small, shaky voice.

I gripped my hands into fists as I imagined how difficult it would be to tear down that mansion those idiots lived in.

"But when you're here Paul I feel safe," Dawn whispered and my eyes widened before I quickly looked away. 

Whether she likes me or not, she relies on me. If I don't approach this right she might start getting attached to me. I can't let that happen.

"Your pokemon are capable of protecting you," I said softly, forcing myself to push away my desire to pull her against me and promise I would always be there to protect her. 

Dawn's slender fingers twitched against my wrist and as she slowly pulled away I felt shivers go up my arm as her fingers trailed over the knuckles of my hand.

"You're right," she said quietly/

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her patting Mirageon's head lovingly and snaking an arm around Piplup's back. We sat in silence for several minutes as an inner battle raged inside me. Not trusting myself to remain calm I slowly stood up again. Dawn didn't move to stop me but taking a step away from her mattress seemed an impossible feat.

Finally I couldn't stand it. I turned and gently reached out a hand to rest it on her head. Dawn looked up at me and I could see surprise reflected in her expression and her eyes even in the dim light.

"I won't let anything happen to you... while we're traveling together," I said slowly and Dawn's entire body relaxed as she looked up at me.

"Thanks, Paul," she whispered sincerely. I nodded, removing my hand from her head and turning to leave. "Paul," Dawn called and my body automatically came to a stop. Standing still I glanced over my shoulder at her, surrounded by her loving pokemon and giving me the most innocent smile I had ever seen. "I hope we can travel together for a long time."

My throat went dry at her comment and I knew that I should tell her that wasn't possible, that I couldn't stay with her even though the thought of leaving her made me shudder. Swallowing with difficulty I turned so I was facing her door.

"Get some sleep," I said quietly before leaving her room and her beautiful smile behind me.

The next day I faced Nanu and nearly swept his team with Riolu. His persian's speed was no joke though, and I had to bring out Torterra and use Earthquake to throw it off its rhythm and deal the final blow. Nanu gave us each a Darkium Z, which Dawn seemed to accept hesitantly, and then we left this portion of Ula'ula Island behind us. It took us a few days of traveling to get back to the Ula'ula ferry port but we were soon on our way to Poni Island, the last stop for our island challenge.

"What do you think Poni Island will be like?" Dawn asked me on the ferry and I shrugged.

"Probably similar to the other islands we've visited."

"You're no fun," Dawn huffed with a teasing grin and bumped her shoulder against mine. Small physical contact like this had become fairly commonplace the longer we traveled together, but they still made the squishy feeling inside me pulsate.

As we finally left the ferry I was surprised to see that the port at Poni island seemed to be teeming with houseboats. I could see a Pokemon Center at the end of the pier but there was no town that I could see, only a wide expanse of palm trees and tall grass.

"Where did you say the first trial was?" Dawn asked me, seeming confused, and I looked down at my Pokedex.

"It doesn't say a location, it just says that there is a fairy type trial on Poni island," I said slowly as I looked around, wondering where we should even start.

"Did someone say trial?" 

Dawn squeaked in surprise and turned around quickly to see who was speaking. I waited for a half second to make sure that my amusement at her reaction wasn't written on my face before I turned around as well. 

I frowned as I looked at the young woman in front of me. She looked like she was in her twenties and was wearing ripped jeans, an oversized white shirt, and a large backpack. However, her entire body seemed to have been splattered with color, as if she had walked in between two paintings that were throwing their paints at each other. She even had a huge streak of pink paint that ran from her hair, across her nose, and into her hair on the other side of her face.

"Yes, we were looking for the Poni Island trial site," Dawn answered after getting over her initial shock at the woman's disheveled appearance.

"Well that's perfect! I'm Mina, the trial captain on Poni island, and I was just about to leave for a painting excursion. I probably wouldn't have come back for at least a week," she said with a whimsical smile and I frowned, wondering why she seemed to be so lackadaisical about her duties as a captain.

"So you'll let us take on the trial?" Dawn asked hesitantly and Mina blinked her eyes slowly as she focused back on Dawn.

"Of course. But you'll have to gather special petals to call the totem pokemon," she replied with a smile and I folded my arms.

"Where can we find them?" I asked shortly and she smiled calmly.

"With the other trial captains, of course!" she said and I glared at her.

"What do you mean? The other captains didn't say anything about that."

"Well they wouldn't. Just because you make it past one trial doesn't mean you'll actually have the discipline to go through the entire island challenge. You'll have to go back and ask all of the trial captains to give you their special petal and then you can come back here and challenge the totem pokemon," Mina explained while adjusting her backpack and I thought I saw a large sketchpad poking over her shoulder.

"You're not serious," I scoffed with annoyance.

She didn't seem at all intimidated as she smiled up at the sky, holding her hands up so that the tips of her thumbs were touching her index fingers and created a square to look through.

"I'm actually very serious... Seriously in love with how fluffy those clouds are!" she exclaimed and then lowered her hands and closed one of her eyes as she peered through her weird square. "I'm also seriously loving how you two look together. Perfect height ratio, contrasting colors in clothes and hair yet somehow harmonious. Mmmm, maybe I should work in some blue and purple into my painting..." Mina mumbled as she continued to look at Dawn and I.

Shaking my head I tried to hold on to my annoyance and not think about Mina's unwanted analysis. Against my will I glanced down at Dawn and saw that she was looking down, but her cheek seemed to be slightly red. Not wanting to know what she was thinking, I took a step closer to Mina.

"Isn't there another way to get the totem pokemon to battle us?" I asked, not loving the idea of backtracking through three islands to battle one pokemon.

"Nope," Mina answered bluntly, lowering her finger square and turning around. "I'll see you later! When you get back with the petals just meet me at the Whiscash shaped house boat," Mina instructed over her shoulder as she hopped off the pier into a small motorboat. 

Dawn and I watched her power up the small boat and drive away without a backward glance. I clenched my jaw as I glared after her in annoyance.

"Well, it looks like we don't have a choice," Dawn said after a few moments of silence stretched on. She glanced up at me and I couldn't help but wonder why Mina thought that Dawn and I have a 'perfect height ratio'. "Do you mind if we go to Akala Island first? There is a showdown in Paniola Town next week that I would like to enter if I could."

I shrugged my indifference. After wandering up and down the huge pier and figuring out that the pier with all the houseboats WAS Seafolk Village, we were able to find someone who was planning on leaving for Akala the next day. Dawn said that she wanted to work on a new routine and that she would meet me at the Pokemon Center for dinner before walking away to find a place to practice.

Watching her walk away I didn't see any trace of the fear from last night so I let her go. I spent the day training, giving an hour of individual training time to each of my pokemon and having them work on something while I wasn't overseeing them. As we trained I rustled through the Z stones that I had collected, wondering if I would actually be able to use the power. Dawn had now successfully used Z power three times, one of those times wasn't even in a true battle, and I knew it was because her pokemon loved her more than anything else in the world. Glancing at my own pokemon I wondered how they felt about me.

Before now I tried to keep my pokemon at a distance because I knew that as a champion I could only have truly strong pokemon on my team and if at any point I didn't think they could live up to that high standard I would release them. To shield my own feelings and theirs I tried to not allow emotions like "friendship" and "love" come into the equation of my training style... But if I wanted to use the Z Power I knew I was going to have to let go of that aspect of aloofness. I watched my pokemon practicing on their own and then looked down at the stones in my hands.

"Incineroar," I called out and he straightened. 

He had been trying to upgrade his Flame Charge to a Flare Blitz attack and I could see several small cuts along his arms from when he threw himself recklessly against rocks and trees as he tried to perfect the move.

"Come here. You too, Torterra," I said, trying to sound confident. The two walked over to me and I put away the Z stones.

"Incineroar, we're going to try and use the Firium Z in battle. Torterra, when we start the move I want you to use Stone Edge to create a thick wall to try and stop the move and use Frenzy Plant to get yourself out if you think the move will break through." 

Torterra nodded in understanding and Incineroar grinned wickedly.

"Incineroar, I... believe you can do this," I said, the words seeming foreign to my own ears.

Incineroar looked up at me in surprise and then grinned, holding his paw out in a fist. I raised an eyebrow at him before pounding my own fist against his. Incineroar flashed a toothy grin at me and then turned to face Torterra.

"Come at us, Torterra," I instructed. 

He immediately let out a battle cry and raised himself onto his back legs before coming down and creating an Earthquake attack. The ground rumbled and I couldn't help but smile at Torterra's ruthlessness. Incineroar dropped to all fours and rode out the attack with a growl of pain as slabs of the ground hit him from underneath and the sides. Once the ground was almost finished its rumbling I made my move.

Gritting my teeth and trying not to think how stupid I must look, I brought my arms up in front of my face. I almost stopped when my bracelet began to glow, but excitedly I followed through with the movement Kiawe had taught me. As I struck the final pose Incineroar roared and the Firium Z glowed brightly, bathing him in a shimmering red light. Torterra had already started his Stone Edge wall so I focused on Incineroar.

"Inferno Overdrive!" I called out confidently.

Immediately a huge fireball burst into existence in front of Incineroar. I watched in astonished amazement as Torterra added a third layer to his Stone Egde wall as streams of fire swirled around the fireball in front of Incineroar, making it as large around as Incineroar was tall. With a roar, Incineroar sent the fireball streaking towards Torterra's wall and I watched in awe as all three of the Stone Edge walls were burst apart and the fireball exploded. After briefly shielding my eyes from the explosion I quickly looked around for Torterra and was surprised at the relief I felt when I saw him with large roots wrapped around his legs that were setting him down several feet away from the remains of the explosive force of the Z move.

I did it, I thought, feeling almost numb with surprise. Suddenly I jerked forward as something smacked into my back, but familiar arms wrapping around my chest told me instantly what had nearly knocked me over.

"You did it, Paul!" Dawn squealed as she leaned her chin against my shoulder. 

My brain froze as her breath washed over my cheek. She hugged me tightly from behind for a few seconds before letting go and running around me to go to Incineroar who had dropped to his knees and was breathing heavily.

"Incineroar that was INCREDIBLE!" she cheered exuberantly.

He lifted his head and gave a tired smile, raising one hand for Dawn to high-five. I rubbed my chest where she had squeezed and swallowed, trying to force back the squishy feeling that had erupted at having her so close to me.

"I thought you were practicing," I said as I walked over to see if Incineroar needed help. 

All of my other pokemon were gathering around him and seemed to be congratulating him in their own pokemon languages.

"It's already seven. I was getting hungry so I thought I'd try to come find you," Dawn said with a smile and I glanced at my watch, surprised to see that she was right.

"Let's head back then," I said decisively, trying to act like I wasn't affected at all by the surprise hug, although my blood was pulsing quickly through my veins. 

Incineroar looked up at me and I smiled at him and patted his shoulder.

"Thank you," I said simply and he grinned his toothy grin. 

I returned all of my pokemon and Dawn led me towards the Pokemon Center, gushing about how amazing the Z move had been. 

A/N Sorry if the chapter was a little slow, but thank you all for reading!