So, apparently this chapter was incomplete and I didn't notice until now. Luckily I found the first version and restored it. Please read over it again!

Paul's POV

I woke up feeling a lot better than I had in a few days. I felt warmer than normal too. I rubbed my eyes with my paws and saw midnight blue fur in my face. I sat up to look at whose fur was in my face. It was a blue furred Skitty. I was suddenly hit with a flashback of earlier. This Skitty, Dawn, helped me. I looked out the entrance to the hole and saw the sun high in the sky, almost above my head. I decided not to wake up Dawn and tried to stand up and quietly leave, but a sudden pain washed over me as I set my hind left paw on the ground. I fell to the floor but landed on something. It let out a yelp and jolted up, leaving me on the floor again.

"Wah! Sorry!" Dawn exclaimed.

"It's fine. I fell on you," I said, wincing at the pain in my leg.

"Are you okay?" She asked me.

"Yeah, I'm-" I was cut off by her sniffing my hurt leg. She poked it with her nose and I winced again.

"You've sprained your leg. Did you fall?" Dawn asked.

I remembered running from the Beedrill and tripping multiple times. "I was being chased by Beedrill. That's how I got the Poison Sting cuts and probably the sprained leg and bruises from running and tripping," I said.

She nodded in understanding. "Yeah, there are a lot of Beedrill in this area, it's hard to ignore them. Hold on, I'll be right back."

I nodded as I watched her leave the hollow. She came back a few minutes later with some silk from String Shot and a stick.

"Where'd you get that?" I asked her.

"Battled a Caterpie. It used String Shot and I defeated it and took the String Shot. Then I found a stick." Dawn said in short sentences.

I looked at her in surprise. She propped the stick against my sprained leg and wrapped the String Shot around it.

"There you go!" She exclaimed proudly. "You should be able to walk a little better now. Wait here again. I'm gonna get us some berries." Dawn said,

I nodded as I watched her leave and a minute later she came back with a bunch of Oran berries. She dropped them on the floor and we started eating in silence. I heard Dawn swallow and she looked at me.

"So why are you all the way down here? Don't you Zorua and Zoroark live up north?" Dawn asked.

What a smart Skitty. I nodded.

"Yeah, we do, but..." I started to think about if I should tell Dawn. I was kicked out of the pack just for being different. I couldn't tell some random stranger that. But she did save me and helped me. I guess I could... Just this once.

"I was kicked out of my pack... For being different... For being (supposedly) weak." I spat the last word. My pack hated me. I knew that. But I couldn't stand them calling me weak.

"You don't look weak. You survived multiple Poison Stings. Not to mention that the Poison Sting attacks that Beedrill have are exceptionally strong in this area. You also look like you train a lot," Dawn pointed out.

I just nodded.

"Hey, how about we train later today?" Dawn suggested.

"Sure." I said.

We kept eating in silence for a little while until I decided to ask her a question. "What about you?"

"Huh?" She asked.

"Well, why are you alone? Do you have any family?" I asked.

Dawn just sat there in silence. I noticed that her eyes grew wet. That mustn't be good.

"U-Uh, you don't have to answer it, y-you know?" I stuttered.

"N-No, it's f-fine," Dawn said trying to regain herself. "It was the day that I moved into this place. Me and my mom heard a noise so we hid in a bush. The next thing I know is that a Trainer comes out of nowhere and my mom jumps out to protect me. She battles the Trainer's Absol and then loses. She got caught after that... And I ran."

By now, Dawn was shivering slightly and her tail was wrapped around her body.

"Now I train myself to get stronger. I don't want to depend on someone to protect me when they have a chance of getting hurt. I don't want to be weak and watch the people I care about get hurt..." Dawn's voice was getting smaller and quieter by each sentence.

She suddenly sat up and walked to the door.

"I'm done. I'm gonna be out here for a while. Tell me if you wanna train soon. I think it'll help if you don't though. Your leg still needs to heal," Dawn said as she walked out of the hollow.

I felt kinda guilty for asking her that. Her mom was captured by a Trainer right in front of her eyes. Now she's all alone here.

After sitting down for a few minutes I decided that I wanted to train. I stood up and (luckily) felt no pain in my leg. I walked out of the hollow and searched for Dawn. I couldn't find her anywhere.

"Dawn?" I called.

"Dawn?" I repeated.

"Sorry, I'm up here!" I heard a voice.

I looked up and found the blue Skitty up in the tree that was her home. She carefully made her way down the tree and jumped in front of me.

"You wanna train now?" She asked, excitedly.

"I guess. I could use it." I said, shrugging.

"Alright, follow me! I know the perfect spot!" Dawn happily skipped away with me following close behind.

We ended up in a sunny field not too far away from the hollow. There was a little pond of water in the middle, random rocks scattered around, tons of flowers, and not too many trees. The perfect training spot (except the flowers, I don't really like flowers).

I stayed on my spot looking around as Dawn went further ahead of me. Then she stopped and faced me.

"Alright, you ready? How are we going to do this?" Dawn called.

"How about until one of us is close to fainting?" I suggested.

"Alright! You ready?" Dawn asked.

I simply nodded a response.

"3..."

"2..."

"1..."

"GO!"

We both quickly ran towards each other. I quickly tried preparing a Toxic attack but Dawn beat me to it with an Icy Wind. Cold wind swirled in my direction and hit dead on, causing me to stumble back.

I lunged at Dawn and hit her with a Shadow Ball. She shook it off and tried to jump on my back but I dodged her. She landed on her feet and turned to face me again.

Dawn's fur started showing flecks of yellow and before I could counter or even move, a Thunderbolt shocked me. I was paralyzed. I watched as Dawn used Disarming Voice. The super effective attack hit me square in the chest and I was knocked back.

The paralysis left my body as fast as it came and I jumped back up. I used Pubishment and Dawn couldn't dodge in time. As smoke cleared, I saw Dawn still standing. I looked at her in surprise. I was sure that she wouldn't dodge that. She took one shaky step forward and said, "Stop!"

I just stared at her. I noticed that she looked completely exhausted and tired out. She was close to fainting. I myself was panting hard. That was the first great battle that I've had in a long time. Maybe even ever.

I slowly walked over to her side and let her use my side to support her as we walked back to the hollow.

"That was great!" She said as we got into the hollow and sat down in the soft moss.

I nodded. "It was a great battle." Then I smirked. "But would've won if we didn't stop."

I got smacked on the back of my head with her tail.

"Shut up! I know that. Now I need to train harder," She said determinedly.

"Hey..." I suddenly said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Would it be alright if..." I trailed off. Should I asked her?

"If what?" Dawn asked.

"If I could... Stay here. With you?" I asked quietly.

I looked at her and she looked shocked.

"Why?"

I was taken aback. I honestly didn't know why I wanted to stay here. (It's because I say so! And for story plot -ω-) I always thought that it would've been better to be alone but... I feel different around her for some reasons. She's kind and caring (from what I've seen) and she also knows what it feels like to... be alone.

"I-I... W-Well, why not? I mean, we're both alone and could use the- I mean we could both train together." I said quickly.

Use the company?! Is that what you really were gonna say?! What about not letting anyone get close to you? Besides, training is a good reason. Getting stronger is a need in surviving the harsh ways of life.

Dawn just smiled. "Sure! I've been alone for so long that I didn't even remember what someone else's body warmth felt like."

I nodded in acknowledgment.

"I'm going to go sleep now. It's gotten late," Dawn said while yawning.

I looked out the entrance to the hollow and saw that the sky was a dark blue and that the moon was high in the sky. I suddenly yawned and turned back to Dawn who was already curled up on the moss. I laid down next to her and felt her hot breath. Seems like she already feel asleep.

The next thing that I knew was that my vision was getting darker and soon I was fast asleep. I dreamt about a certain midnight blue furred Skitty and sighed in unconscious content.

I might as well curse at myself for not noticing this sooner... Anyways, thanks again for reading! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I'll sart working on the next chapter. Please vote and comment. Thanks and ciao!!

~Crystal

Word Count: 1739
2/4/18