Muffin entered the dark shade of Santalune Forest. He passed Bolt and Kiki, who were busy observing the large trees of the forest. He ran into the tall grass to avoid conversation with the two Pokémon.

As soon as he entered the tall grass, however, a series of thin needles fired at him in rapid succession. He winced at the piercing needles against his side, and used his tail to whip a few Pin Missiles out of the way.

He looked up at the source of the Pin Missiles to see a scatterbug, held in the air by a pidgey. He charged a Shadow Ball and fired at the scatterbug. Before the scatterbug could be hit, the pidgey dove toward the ground and slammed into him with his wings.

Muffin hit the ground, growling at the pidgey and scatterbug. They're working together? he thought. Do Pokémon really go so in-depth with their strategies like this? The scatterbug fired a thin, sticky thread that wrapped around him like rope.

Muffin fell to the ground, unable to get up. Looking somewhere above him, the scatterbug shot another thread at something else. Nearby, he heard a familiar-sounding yelp, and the scatterbug fired again. A shinx with a light green bandana around her neck leaped forward and slammed into the pidgey with Spark.

Muffin scowled. Bolt.

As the scatterbug fell to the ground, she fired at Bolt with Pin Missile. Bolt struggled to stay on her feet. Muffin glared and wriggled out of the String Shot that bound him.

As soon as he was free, he fired a Shadow Ball at the scatterbug. Bolt looked over at him as she pushed herself off the ground. He began to charge another Shadow Ball when the pidgey darted forward like an arrow, grabbed Muffin by the scruff, and flew in the air. Muffin, very ticked off by the situation, chose that moment to fire his Shadow Ball.

Unfortunately, it did nothing, due to the pidgey being part Normal-type.

Bolt rammed into the pidgey after releasing Kiki. The scatterbug was stumbling under confusion, caused by Kiki's Water Pulse. With one more Shadow Ball, Muffin finished off the scatterbug. He checked to make sure Bolt had really defeated the pidgey.

Muffin huffed. He already wasn't fond of these two Pokémon. It was even worse that they seemed to follow him wherever he went. "You know, I can take care of myself."

Bolt growled slightly in annoyance. "You were outnumbered two to one!" she shot back.

Rather than arguing with the shinx, Muffin simply raised his tail up high. It was much easier not to start an argument, not to mention much less time-consuming. "I find my ways," he said calmly. "If it weren't for those two, I would have made it out more than an hour ago."

"Knowing the size of this forest, there are probably more like them," Bolt replied. "Maybe we should stick together."

Muffin's ears went back. "Are you kidding me? With her?" He pointed at Kiki with one paw. If there was one thing he loathed, it was water. He hated water more than anything, even more than those annoying caterpie back home, even more than Bolt. To have to work with someone that summoned water at will was another matter entirely.

"You barely even know her! And besides, everyone else in this forest probably has their own teams going."

Muffin thought for a long time. She was right about one thing: there were probably going to be many more Pokémon in this forest, some of them with teams. He had trouble fighting a team of two, and there were possibly larger teams waiting. "Fine," he decided.

Bolt smiled. "Great," she cheered. "Hold on just a sec." Bolt reached into her bag. As she was searching, Muffin gave a warning growl to Kiki, who backed away. He wanted to make sure that she didn't try to attack him. Bolt then gripped a blue fruit with a thick rind in her teeth and passed it to Muffin. "Here, eat this."

Muffin looked at the Oran Berry in mild surprise. "Why?"

"Are you kidding?" Bolt grinned happily. "After a tough battle like that, do you expect everyone to make it through the forest without full health?"

Muffin was grateful for the gift. Though, why she didn't just tell him to eat one of his own was beyond him. He rolled his eyes, not in annoyance, but rather to hide his gratitude.

"Sure," he huffed, eating the Oran Berry. "Look, we'd better get going," he said. "It's starting to get dark, and we're closer to Santalune City than we are to our own homes. And there aren't any hotels in Aquacorde Town."

Bolt nodded. "You're right. We'd better get going."

The three Pokémon proceeded through the forest as dusk fell over them. They were all quiet, except for Bolt, who tried to make conversation as they traveled. Eventually, she fell quiet as well. To keep themselves as healthy as possible, they didn't get into any battles unless confronted by other Teams; fortunately, this didn't happen too often.

As Muffin, Bolt, and Kiki wandered through the tall grass in the maze-like forest, larger and larger patches of moonlight became visible as they shone on the dirt pathway. Muffin perked his ears up, and Bolt began to run toward the forest's exit.

Kiki looked up as Bolt bounded toward the exit. "Hey, wait!" The female froakie proceeded to hop after Bolt.

"She really needs to calm down…" Muffin muttered. He ran after Bolt and Kiki.

"Come on, guys!" Bolt called back. "It's not that much further to Santalune City!"

An unknown voice suddenly spoke. "Maybe, or maybe not. I personally think you three newbies may have a trip back to Aquacorde."

"Who said that?" Kiki asked.

Bolt looked around. "I'm not sure."

The voice spoke again. "If you're going to try to defeat the gym's team, you'll need to be able to get past us!" A Pansear then leaped off of a tree and landed in front of them, followed by a Pansage and a Panpour.

Muffin scowled in frustration. "Because that's just what we need!"

"Muffin!" Bolt hissed.

"Well," the Fire type of the trio said, "we've heard that you three defeated Pidge and Scatters. You should be proud of yourselves. They're the second strongest team in the forest. But if you want to have any chance against the gym, you're going to need to be able to defeat us."

Muffin wasn't in the mood to do any more battling until they left the forest. He bent his legs as he prepared to sprint past them with Quick Attack. If they tried to get in his way, he would slam into them, so they'd get hurt.

He was about to sprint past when Bolt said, "We accept your challenge!"

"What!?" Muffin protested. "I just agreed to get through the forest, and that's it!"

"Muffin," Bolt told him, "we can't get through the forest if we can't get past this team."

Muffin held his ears back. "Fine."

As soon as he finished his sentence, a swarm of sharp leaves flew at them. Bolt and Muffin were buffeted by the Razor Leaf. As Bolt struggled to get up, Muffin jumped up from the ground. As Kiki went after Pansage with Quick Attack, he turned toward Pansear. He began to charge his Shadow Ball. However, he was hit with a burst of fire before he could finish charging.

He glared at the pansear, about to launch the Shadow Ball, when Bolt leaped over and bit the pansear, electricity crackling from her teeth. When the pansear flinched, Muffin released his Shadow Ball at him.

Muffin turned toward Bolt. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all. She was annoying, no doubt, but she was a helpful ally to have… just for a little while, though. He smiled at the blue Pokémon; half of his face was covered with fur, so he figured it wouldn't be noticeable to her.

Kiki finished off the pansage with her Quick Attack.

"Well, finally," Muffin sighed, stretching out.

"We'd better get to Santalune. It's really late," Kiki stated.

"You're right. We should get going," Bolt replied.

"You two go on," Muffin said. "I'm going to stay up and look around for any items."

Bolt waved. "Alright," she cheered. "Make sure not to stay up too late!"

Muffin huffed. "I can take care of myself."

"Right. Sorry," Bolt sighed. "Well, maybe I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!"

Muffin flicked his tail. His only response to them was, "Farewell."

The two female Pokémon waved goodbye to Muffin and left for Santalune City. Muffin exited the forest, glad to feel the gentle touch of the moonlight.

He stepped into Ouvert Way (or what the humans referred to as "Route 3"), and began searching the route for berries or other useful items dropped by other Pokémon. He searched the tall grass, the path, as well as every nook and cranny in which he could fit. When he finished scouting the area for items, he ended up with a few Figy Berries, a Chople Berry, and a blue ring of some kind (he also found a TM for Charge Beam, but he left that where he found it).

He took out two Oran Berries and took a bite. He had nothing else to do there. All he had left to do in that area was defeat the Santalune Gym Leader. He knew that the only way to beat the champion would be to defeat all the gyms. What the first gym held for him was a mystery. All he knew was that it was a test of strength for those who wanted to be the strongest.

Muffin finished his Oran Berries and stood up. He had prepared as well as he could. Now it was time for him to fight the gym. He stepped into Santalune City, ready for his first gym battle.

And it's done! Again, I apologize for this having a mostly familiar plotline; when you do two separate stories for the two main characters, that tends to happen when they meet up.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one!