I don't really ship pokemon together, but man these two are cute and there is barely anything for them so, here you go!

"I dunno…" Audino sighed for the second time.

Misdreavus groaned. "You have always been like this! Just tell Krookodile how you feel and you two can work it out together."

"But that's just it! I'm not sure how I feel…" Audino laid her head on her paw.

For a while, Audino had been playing around with the thought of her and Krookodile being together. Krookodile was constantly busy with his job being the gate keeper for the Cove Town exit. She wasn't sure if their relationship would get in the way of his job or not. She wasn't sure how serious he was either. Was she just going to be a fling? Her heart couldn't take that!

It was true that she kind of liked him. He had always been loyal to the town and his duties, and she could tell that underneath his rough exterior, he was an awfully kind pokemon. She would always remember the time that they first met.

It was a rainy night. Krookodile was standing at his post as always. Suddenly, he heard a weak knocking on the inside of the Tech Area gate. Krookodile walked over to the gate.

"Who's there?!"

A faint voice came out from behind the gate door, "Please, I need help!"

Krookodile never ignored a cry for help. He swiftly opened gate to see a drenched Audino cradling her stomach. She took a few steps forward, but collapsed into his arms. A blush crept up his face at the cute pokemon in his arms.

"W-what happened? Why are you hurt?"

Audino answered in gasping breaths, "Taken to some sort of… park. Part of attraction… escaped… attacked."

Krookodile didn't know anything about a park, but he knew that this pokemon needed his help.

"Come on… Let's get you somewhere dry and warm. I'll find someone to heal you."

Ever since that day, Audino had been grateful to Krookodile. She decided to keep living in Cove Town and work on her healing skills and tutoring pokemon into strengthening their bodies in case they got captured like her.

She was snapped out of her thoughts however when Pikachu and his pals came up to her.

"What? Krookodile wants to see me? Ok I'll visit him later. I dunno, though…"

Audino was still contemplating her feelings, and she wasn't sure if she could face him right then.

"What? You need me to go right now? No time for "I dunno"?"

Maybe something was wrong and he needed help.

"Well, OK then. Please lead the way!"

Once the two of them got there, Audino looked at Krookodile. It didn't seem like anything was wrong.

She walked up to him. "Hello, Krookodile! Is something the matter?"

Krookodile puffed up his chest. "Why, if it isn't Audino! So here's what's going on. These kids are all fired up for a battle with me. I'll take it easy on them of course, but I wanted you to come and watch…"

He coughed. "Um. Just in case they got hurt and needed attention. You know."

She could tell that he was lying. He probably wanted to impress her with his strength. He turned back to Pikachu and his pals.

"OK, brats! Here's the battle you wanted! If you win, I'll open the gate to the Arbor Area. If you can't beat me, you'll only get hurt if you keep going. Stopping you runts is my duty as the Gatekeeper! Ok let's battle!"

The battle was over quickly. Audino knew that Krookodile was going to lose. She helped train Pikachu, she knew how powerful he and his pals were.

Krookodile got up from the ground. "Well, you were good enough to defeat Sandile and Krokorok, too… It's not like me to admit defeat to pip-squeaks like you, but… I admire your spirit, so just this once, I'll say you won. Ugh. Ouch. My pride."

Audino was a bit concerned, it looked like he hurt a bit more than his pride.

"Krookodile, are you OK?"

Krookodile turned to Audino and leaned back to laugh. "Who, me? Ha ha! Couldn't be better! That loss was just acting! Nothing more than a show!"

Audino knew better. "Oh, please! You're not fooling me. I can tell by looking at you. These kids were very strong. Shouldn't you just open the gate? See, you're an absolute mess! Let me fix you up."

Krookodile looked at his feet. "Audino… That was really embarrassing."

He turned back to the kids. "All right, runts! I'll open the Arbor Area gate. You'd better thank Audino!"

Krookodile then opened the gate. "You'll probably end up battling tougher opponents ahead. You should try calling up your friends when you're in trouble. They can't hear you if you call from the Arbor Area, though. You should make lots of new friends in the Arbor Area!"

Audino knew that he cared about them; he didn't just give tips to anybody. When Pikachu and his pals left through the gate, she walked over to Krookodile.

"You don't have to try to impress me you know…"

Krookodile paused for a moment, but spoke up again in a soft voice, "I just want to be strong enough to protect you."

Memories of the night that they met flashed through Audino's eyes.

"Silly… You're already helping me enough."

She gave him a healing kiss on the cheek.

Somewhere in the distance…

Misdreavus: "Finally!"