"I might have done something really stupid..."

I told Lucas as we walked home. It was just now hitting sunset, our shadows growing longer behind us.

"You gonna tell me?" Lucas questioned and I started fidgeting with my scarf.

"You're fidgeting... Dawn, what happened?" Lucas asked me quietly, his soft voice soothing me.

"I was practicing with Misdrevius and Eevee for the upcoming contest..." I started off, explaining how I stood up to Lisa and Ethan but somewhat making myself a much bigger target.

"Okay one, that was very dumb of you to do... but..." he placed a gentle hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him. "I'm proud of you Dawn." He smiled and for some reason, I felt butterflies in my stomach.

I gave a smile back, my cheeks feeling incredibly hot. Was I blushing? All he did was say he was proud of me... Nothing special. A strong gust of wind hit both of us, sending my scarf flying.

"Oh no!" I cried out failing at catching it.

' Ow ow ow ow ow' a voice rang in my ears as my scarf got caught on a weirdly shaped being.

"Someone's here..." I looked at my scarf as it stayed in the air before falling into my arms.

'Jeez...That hurt..' The being fell in my arms and my eyes widen.

"Dawn...?" Lucas turned around towards me.

I turned my head towards him, my eyes still on the pokemon. It was so soft in my arms...

"What...?"

Next thing I knew a loud screech filled the area around Lucas and I. I held the pokemon close to my body, covering its head with my arms.

"Dawn! It's using Screech! Let go of it!" Lucas yelled and I quickly let go of the pokemon.

"I-I'm so sorry!" I bowed, clenching my eyes shut.

I looked up at the pokemon, a Noibat before standing up.

"Hey, little guy... That's interesting... Your species isn't out until late evening..." Lucas said calmly, crouching down.

The Noibat fluttered in the air. He had an ear that was bent, a smaller left-wing and... It was missing a foot. Its teal fur was ruffled, it was scared.

"Lucas... It's a baby still... It has the fuzziness in its ears..." I whispered, crouching next to him.

"Here Noibat... Eat this, you may feel a bit better." Lucas held a sitrus berry in his palm. We watched as Noibat sniffed it and took a huge bite.

"Guess he was hungry" Lucas smiled at me and I felt that weird feeling in my stomach again. That weird but good feeling.

"Guess so." I smiled back.

Noibat followed us home. Well, it followed Lucas home. Like... He flew into Lucas's window and perched himself there for the evening.
~~~~~

I shuffled into school the next day, hunched over and cautious. I felt someone grip my shoulder and I stiffened. Slowly turning around I looked up and blinked.

"R-Red...?" I questioned and he held a finger up to his lips. He stepped in front of me and waved over his shoulder 'follow me.'

I stayed close to him as we made our way into the crowd of the hallway.

"Where is she?!" Someone yelled and I gripped Red's bag. Blue.

I embarrassed his right-hand girl. Why am I not surprised about hearing him getting pissed?! Red quietly pushed me into an abandoned classroom, following me in before shutting the door, keeping the lights off.

"Red..." I whispered but he held a finger to his lips. I kept my mouth shut.

I flinched as Red opened the door, letting someone in before shutting the door again.

"L-Lucas...?" I tilted my head, clenching my side strap of my bag tighter.

"I asked Red for help late last night. Blue sent something in the group chat and it wasn't very uh... well... It wasn't the nicest thing i've ever read... and i knew i needed help and i didn't know who else cause May still hates me and I have no clue who Barry is but he'd probably hate me too!" He rambled and a small smile appeared on my face.

"I didn't want you getting hurt more since you haven't recovered yet from the pokemon attack. Let's be honest whenever Blue is pissed no one know's what'll happen. You know what Lisa and Ethan would do. I can't hurt you... Ever... I could never hurt you Dawn..." he kept rambling and i felt my cheeks get warmer.

"SO i went to the one person i knew could help and it turned out to be Blue's cousin and I'm sorry for kinda just shoving you into a random classroom but i didn't know what else to do or where else you should go so this-" I cut him off, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you..." I whispered, it being muffled by his scarf.

"Thank you so much..."

"I found you!"

Shiitake mushrooms...