Yin's POV 🌺

"One down, two to go." Adaman says as he smiled as I came back over to him.

I smiled back and nodded as we left the cave and met back up with Volo.

"Should we head on back and show Cogita our progress?" Volo asked.

In response, I nodded my head again before we went back to see Cogita.

After having a small conversation for a moment, we resumed our journey, heading to Lake Verity next.

Once Volo and Adaman went on ahead of me again, I headed off from Obsidian Fields and started making my way to Lake Verity.

But, traveling by myself felt a bit lonely this time, so I took Nightmare out of his pokéball and walked with him for the time being until we were close to Lake Verity.

Unfortunately, as we were walking together and minding our own business, a wild alpha Drifblim suddenly came up behind us, and unleashed a dark type attack out of nowhere, mostly targeting for me.

If Nightmare hadn't acted quickly and pushed me out of the way, taking the blow of the attack for me, I would've been hit and possibly injured again.

"Nightmare! Are you okay?!" I asked, seeing how much pain he was in.

In response, he could only nod before using Snarl at the Drifblim, landing a super effective attack on it.

Looking over at the alpha Drifblim, I noticed it was a higher level than Nightmare, meaning he'll faint quickly if we don't run away from it.

"Nightmare, we gotta go! You'll faint if you get hit by that dark type attack more!" I said urgently as I gently grabbed his arm and tugged on it lightly, knowing his weakness since he's a half ghost and half normal type.

"No, Yin!" He replied as he looked at me, anger showing in his eyes, while it's obvious that he's not willing to listen to me, even though he's at the same level as most of my pokémon are in my team.

"That alpha Drifblim is not an actual Drifblim!"

"Shut up, you traitor!" I heard the Drifblim say to Nightmare, making me freeze.

"Traitor? Not actually a Drifblim?" I thought to myself in disbelief. "No. It can't be..."

Just as I thought, the alpha Drifblim suddenly transformed, revealing another hisuian Zoroark.

"Nycto! What the hell are you doing here!?" Nightmare says as he had his arm around my shoulders to keep his balance steady.

"Getting rid of traitors like you and your sister. I already got wind of what's going on and caught you interacting with that human bitch before you and your sister became her pets." Nycto replies as he growled.

"I'll even tell your parents and the entire fucking clan if I have to!"

"Hey! Luna, Nightmare, and the rest of my pokémon are not pets to me!" I say angrily in defense, not liking how Nycto said that at all either.

"And Nightmare did nothing wrong to be considered a traitor to any kind of Zorua or Zoroark. He and Luna were only trying to be considerate to others!"

"Yin, stay out of this!" Nightmare says before taking another dark type attack from Nycto, as he got in the way to protect me again.

Only this time, he got injured by the spot between the rib cage and the hip.

"Nightmare!" I could only utter out after he fell to his knees in pain, while both of his injuries were bleeding really badly.

Without even saying anything, Nightmare just gave me a dazed expression as he looked at me while I pulled him close to my chest, feeling worried.

Then he slowly closed his eyes and passed out from the blood loss and low health, unable to muster in the strength to keep going and defending us anymore longer.

Gripping my fist tightly, I grabbed a pokéball that had my Luxray inside and brought her out as she was battle ready too.

"Shima, use Bite! Strong style too!" I said to her, after she dodged Nycto's attack.

Without any hesitation, Shima did as she was instructed, instantly fainting Nycto, before turning to look at me.

"I know it's a lot to ask from you after you just had your battle, but, please help me get him to the Heights camp quickly!" I say as I took my jacket off and tied it onto Nightmare to cover up the wound injury on his back, while I had his hand resting on the other wound, covering it there as well.

Understanding the situation, she hurried along and helped out with me as we took Nightmare to the Heights camp.

From there, I explained to one of the Pearl clan members of what happened, before they started to treat Nightmare's injuries immediately, shortly after I removed the jacket for them and moved Nightmare's hand out of the way from the second injury.

For a bit, all I could do is rest Nightmare on my lap and watch over him, after the injury on his back was treated and bandaged up.

"I should've brought some medicine for my pokémon before leaving to Lake Verity..." I thought, feeling ashamed and guilty of myself.

"But, I didn't have enough money to buy anything...I've already used up most of my stuff from the item storage in exchange for some earlier before I met Luna and Nightmare."

"Hey, miss Yin?" A pearl clan member began as she came over to me.

"Yes?" I went.

"Do you want to get some rest for a bit, while you wait on Nightmare to heal?" She asked.

"Sure...But, I'm sleeping with him. I don't wanna wake up and learn that something happened to him again while I was asleep." I answered.

Nodding in understanding, the girl made some sleeping arrangements for me and Nightmare, before mentioning the tent is ready.

Without saying anything, I took Nightmare in the tent and gently laid him down in the futon, before I got in it with him, resting my head lightly on his chest as I pulled the blankets over us.

For a bit, I just laid there wide awake, until I eventually dozed off from the warmth of Nightmare's soft fur.

-  -  -

By the time I woke up, Nightmare was already awake, only he had a half asleep look on his face.

The bandages were still on him, indicating that he's still aware of his injuries from earlier today, but I don't think he seemed to notice that I slept with him.

Pulling him into a hug and being gentle as always, I asked if he was okay and had rested well after what happened.

"Mm-hm..." He went as he rubbed his eyes sleepily as he yawned a little.

I smiled a tiny bit before resting my head on his shoulder.

"I'm glad..." I say as I looked at him.

For a moment, I could've sworn I almost caught Nightmare hiding a blush, before he quickly looked the other way.

"Well, I'm glad you're not hurt at all..." He says as he pulled me close, resting my head on his chest.

I nodded my head in agreement to that in response before gently hugging him again.

"I'm sorry I made you worry and probably made you feel useless too, when Nycto attacked us." Nightmare mentions to me.

"Don't beat yourself up over this...I was too scared and worried to do anything, so, you had your right to protect me." I replied before booping him lightly by the nose.

In response, he smiled before booping me back.

"Aside from the injuries, do you want to try continuing on traveling with me for a little bit, or do you want to be returned to your pokéball and rest for the time being until you're fully recovered?" I asked.

"I think I'll go back in it and rest for a while...I don't think you'd want to put me at risk of fainting in another battle when I'm still in the process of recovering." He answered, which was a valid reason.

"True. I'll walk with Phobos instead while I wait for you to recover." I went.

"Alright. Just know that my older brother is not really friendly towards humans. If you still have any, I recommend sweetening him up with our favorite foods first. Then you might earn his trust while he warms up to you a little." Nightmare mentions.

In response, I gave him an understanding nod before returning Nightmare to his pokéball.

Once I stepped out of the tent, I took out the pokéball containing Phobos and tossed it to let him out, as I already brought out the favorite foods.

"Oh. It's you." Phobos went, sounding a bit like a snob while being disgusted and cocky at the same time.

"Hey now - - " I began before Phobos suddenly cut me off by lifting his hand up.

"Whatever it is you're gonna say, I don't wanna hear it. I shouldn't have been caught.

Besides...Who would want to be with a weak, puny human like you anyways? You're only strong because you got other and bigger pokémon to protect you." Phobos interrupted me before he turned around and folded his arms, his back facing me.

Just as soon as he said those things to me, I immediately lost my patience, trying to say something and being considerate with him, through out the entire time he was talking.

He not only had the nerve to call me weak, puny, and to insult my own pokémon that chose to be with me as their trainer and by their own will from the get go, but acting like a bully and a real asshole is where the line draws.

While Phobos still had his back facing me, I got mad real quickly and pulled some snowballs out from my bag.

Then I immediately hurled the snowball at Phobos' back real hard, making him flinch and turn to look at me.

"What the - - ?" He began before I threw several more snowballs at him, directly hitting him hard in the face this time.

Even though I still had some in my hand, I immediately gave him my death stare as I panted heavily in rage while putting the snow balls away.

"Listen here, you asshole..." I began as I marched over and roughly poked Phobos by the chest, my voice heavy with rage.

"Firstly, I was trying my best in being kind and patient, while your filthy ass was treating me like I was a piece of living shit to you.

I caught you because I made the choice to do so! Plus, your little brother and sister are with me, so I thought you'd like to be reunited with them again!

Secondly, yes, I may seem puny and weak to you, but that's mostly because you're in the 10ft range! Don't even think about judging humans like me, by our sizes, for one fucking second!

And lastly, I was willing to ask if you would want to walk with me for a little bit, which is why I have these..." I continued before showing him the food that any hisuian Zorua and Zoroark would like.

"But, I'm already starting to reconsider this, after the way you just treated me with that disrespectful attitude of yours, because you don't trust me!

If you want to get me to change my mind, then you better be doing some major apologizing to me. Or I won't give you anything to eat when you start feeling hungry later."

Then we just stood there, glaring at each other, as silence stretched between us for a few minutes.