Paul's POV

I've been staying with Dawn for almost a month now. Since we both felt a little cramped in it, we decided to expand the hollow. We dug out some dirt, not too much but not to little. We stayed under the tree which was pretty big and had its roots support the larger hollow. We stopped digging when we hit some roots that held some dirt to make nice walls. The hollow ended up being big enough for us to have our own berry stash and two fern nests to sleep on. We dug a small hole at the top where there wasn't a tree blocking the way for some sunlight to shine through and light up some of the hollow.

I was coming back into the hollow with some soft fern leaves in my mouth and saw Dawn sorting through the berry stash. I set the ferns down in a corner of the hollow and walked over to Dawn. We dug the place deep enough to the point where you didn't need to crawl anymore and could stand straight up on all fours. Or at least if you were as small as us.

As soon as I stepped behind her, she turned around and looked at me.

"We're low on a few Pecha, Sitrus, Cheri, and Mago berries. Could you go on a run with me to get some more?" Dawn asked as she got up.

"Sure. But I don't know where the Mago and Cheri berries are," I told her.

"That's fine. We need a lot so we'll just do back and forth trips together. Let's go," She said as she walked outside, me following behind.

Dawn walked up to a tree with big leaves and plucked off two of the biggest ones. She gave one to me and picked the other up with her mouth. I did the same and we started collecting berries.

Time Skip~

I waited at the bottom of the huge tree, waiting for Dawn to toss down some Mago berries for me to catch. This would be our last berry hunt and then we'd go back to organize the stash and maybe get some more materials. I saw a hint of pink fall from the tree and quickly caught the berry. I put it in the pile that was on a leaf next to another pile on a leaf.

"I think that's enough!" I heard Dawn's voice shout from somewhere in the tree. "I'm coming down!"

"Alright!" I shouted back a reply.

I saw a few leaves and branches shaking and I suddenly saw a blue Skitty jump out of the tree at least fifteen feet in the air. I was about to shout out in worry, but Dawn landed safely and gracefully on all fours and let out a happy, "Nya!"

"Geez, why'd you jump all the way up there? You could've broken a leg," I scolded her.

"Well, cat pokemon always land on their feet!" Dawn exclaimed proudly.

I sighed and we dragged our leaves of berries towards the hollow.

As we walked, Dawn seemed to get distracted at little things like flowers and daylight filtering through the leaves. At least she didn't seem as tense as she did when I met her. She looks like she's starting to act like how a normal Skitty does. Happy and always easily distracted.

"Ahh, it's a really nice day, wouldn't you think Paul?" Dawn hummed, although it was a bit muffled since she was dragging the leaf by her mouth.

"Hmm..." I said in response.

To be honest, I agreed. The sun was shining as bright as a Sunny Day, although it wasn't hot and there was always a nice, constant breeze. You could hear the faint buzz of Ledyba beyond the trees enjoying the flowers and sunlight. We were walking on a path right next to the meadow and saw the pond. You could see Poliwag, Goldeen, Magikarp, Politoad, Quagsire, and other friendly water type pokemon playing around and enjoying the day as well. It was a nice feeling. Better than all the dark and loneliness that me, and possibly Dawn, have been through. I guess just having someone who experienced something almost the same as you have and really understanding you really could be helpful to one.

As we kept on walking, we both heard a shrill cry of help. A pokemon was in trouble. We both looked at each other and hid the leaves in some bushes, just to make sure that no one would take the berries while we weren't there. When we were ready we quickly sped off towards the cry as we heard another.

A minute later we stopped abruptly and witnessed a Floette surrounded by five Beedrill.

"There are seriously too many Beedrill in this area..." I quietly muttered to no one in particular, but Dawn heard me anyways.

"Yeah. There are so many Beedrill here, especially in this part of the forest. Most pokemon say away from here because this place is known as Beedrill Forest," Dawn said quietly. "What are we going to do?"

"I can distract them while you go and try to get that Floette out of there," I whispered to her.

She nodded in response and snuck into the bush we were hiding behind.

I took a deep breath and then jumped out of the bush.

"Hey!" I yelled at all five Beedrill.

They turned around and hissed at me angrily. They slowly started hovering towards me and then started readying Fury Attack. I used Punishment on them at hit them all, but it wasn't enough to make them faint. The Beedrill were weakened a bit but they just got angrier. They used Fury Attack repeatedly and I dodged each one without breaking a sweat.

As I kept fighting all five Beedrill, I saw Dawn sneak out of the bush and towards the Floette. We were far away enough for the Beedrill not to notice. They slipped back into the bush and hid. I let out a sigh of relief but it didn't last to long as I was hit in the side with Bullet Seed. Three Beedrill were using Bullet Seed on me and they all hit multiple times. Then one Beedrill used Brick Break on me as soon as the Bullet Seed attacks stopped. Then an X-Scissor hit me on the other side. I let out a sharp gasp of pain and collapsed on all fours from both super effective surprise attacks.

Dawn's POV

I gasped as I watched Paul collapse onto the floor. He was hit with multiple attacks, two being super effective. He was probably close to fainting. I glanced over at the Floette that was next to me and she nodded as though knowing what I was going to say.

"Stay here..." I whispered to her.

Floette nodded again and I jumped out of the bush, wasting no time to allow the Beedrill to make another attack.

I yelled out as I used Icy Wind on all of them. They all flew back from Paul in surprise. I quickly picked Paul up by the scruff and dragged him near the bush. I then ran back to the Beedrill. I readied a Thunderbolt and was about to use it when I was hit with a Brick Break. The super effective move knocked me back at least a yard but I managed to stay on all fours.

Great, I have to watch out for that attack now. I tried using Thunderbolt again and hit one Beedrill head on, managing to make it faint.

"Uh oh..." I muttered. The four Beedrill seemed to get even more furious and rage driven. They hovered towards me, buzzing angrily.

I ended up backing into a tree and the Beedrill surrounded me. I glanced around nervously and saw Paul slowly trying to get up. He saw me and his eyes flashed with worry. I saw him struggle to stand up but he fell again.

I didn't want Paul to come over here. He could get hurt again and end up fainting. I straightened myself and glared at all the Beedrill. I opened my mouth to let out a Disarming Voice, but instead saw Punishment.

My eyes widened and out of the corner of my eye I saw Paul's as well. I knew that Skitty couldn't use Punishment, so how...

A smirk suddenly grew on my face. I knew that this move was pretty weak since I just learned it and haven't trained with it yet, but I gave it a shot anyways.

I opened my mouth to let out an attack and I used Toxic. It hit all the Beedrill and they fell to the ground, poisoned.

I took the chance to run away and grab Paul by the scruff. I managed to lift him on my back and tried to take a step with him but I collapsed and he fell off my back with a grunt.

"Ugh, how am I going to do this? We have to get out of here before they get enough strength-" I muttered to myself but I was cut short as I saw a faint blue aura surround Paul.

He was gently lifted off the ground and floating a few inches above it. I turned my head to see Floette. Her eyes were light blue and she had the same faint aura around her. She was using Psychic.

"I'll help you," Floette said softly.

I nodded thankfully and we quietly escaped the scene.

A Few Minutes Later~

Floette carefully set Paul onto the floor as I let go of both leaves of Mago berries. I had almost forgotten them since I was so worried about Paul.

"Is there anything else that I can do to help?" Floette asked.

"Are you sure? You don't need to," I said to her.

Floette nodded determinedly. "You both saved me. It's the least that I could do."

I sighed. "Alright. Can you get some Oran berries and feed them to him? He lost a lot of energy and the berries can help him," I instructed.

Floette nodded and grabbed some Oran berries from our stash. She flew back over to Paul and started feeding him little bits.

I grabbed a few berries from the pile that I knew could help him regain strength and started mushing them into a pulp. After I thoroughly squished and mixed them I walked out of the hollow to grab some tall grass that grew near the tree. I walked back into the hollow, grabbed the grass and pulp, and went over to Paul.

He was laying on his nest of ferns and looked pale. Or at least from what I could see. He had fur, remember? When Paul was battling the Beedrill, I saw him twist a leg, but he probably didn't notice it. He looked unfazed and totally focused. I went over to his hind legs and poked both of them. Paul winced when I touched the left one.

I took some pulp and smothered it onto the blade of grass. I was about to start wrapping the leaf around his leg when I heard him groan.

"Ugh... Where am I?" Paul asked.

"You're back in the hollow. Are you okay?" I asked worriedly as I check over him.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine. Just a bit dizzy..." Paul said as he tried to stand up.

"Don't!" I tried shouting but I was too late as he yelped in pain and collapsed onto his nest again.

"You sprained your leg earlier. I'm going to bandage it, hold on. Can you lift your leg a bit?" I asked.

Paul nodded and lifted his leg as high as he could, which wasn't much. I started wrapping the leaf around his leg and glanced over at him. He still looked pretty tired and drained.

"Hey Floette, can you feed him some more berries, please?" I asked.

"Alright," Floette responded.

I kept wrapping as Floette fed Paul some berries in which he took no time in eating slowly. Guess he was hungry too.

"Hey Dawn," I heard Paul say.

"Yeah?"

"Was that Assist?" He asked.

"Yeah. Guess I learned a new move. Good timing too, huh?" I said shrugging.

"Yeah... But why Punishment and Toxic? Those are moves that I have..." Paul thought out loud.

"I guess we're getting closer to each other. Close enough to make us teammates?" I said, although it sounded more like a question than a statement.

"I guess... So..." Paul said quietly.

I kept wrapping and was almost done.

"We're friends?" Paul asked unsurely.

I tied the grass bandage and looked at him.

"Of course! Weren't we already?" I said smiling.

Paul smiled back.

"Right."

Yay! Chapter! ...I have nothing to say... Anyways, thanks for reading! Please vote and comment. Until the next update. Ciao!!

~Crystal

Word Count: 2152

2/6/18