I'm really enjoying writing this story, I'm updating almost every day. Again, thanks for the reviews! Dreamin'Ferno, I just had to chuckle at your comment.

I hope you all enjoy the chapter, it was a lot of fun to write.

Kanto Safari

Chapter 4 - "Getting Closer To You"

Ash stretched out his hand facing the waterfall drop off, "They're… they're really gone."

The sounds of the rushing water covered the long silence between Brock and Ash, Brock walked up and put a hand on Ash's shoulder, "We need to stay calm and find a way down, they're both strong. You know that, Ash. So let's go help them."

Ash stared at the waterfall for a few seconds longer, then nodded and followed Brock in search for a way down.

***

An announcement coming from the speakers scattered across the zone broke the silence of the valley, "Attention trainers in the safari zone, we are now evacuating everyone out of the area. Please hurry to the closest exit, Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy will be scouting the areas by air with a rescue team on the ground. This is an emergency, all trainers must evacuate the safari zone immediately. I repeat, all trainers must evacuate the safari zone."

The announcements went on for thirty minutes, Dawn was laying unconscious on the lake shore; the rushing water could still be heard further away. After the announcements had ceased, a pidgey flew down and started pecking at her scarf. It attempted to fly away with it, but wouldn't unravel; Dawn began to stir, she felt sore all over and could feel her clothes were wet.

Dawn was laying on her back with arms stretched out to each side, when she slowly opened her eyes she coughed twice before shutting them again.

What happened…

Dawn's head was pounding and her ears felt like they were plugged with water, she attempted to open her eyes a second time; when she could see her surroundings and the cloudy sky, Dawn turned her head towards the Pidgey, the movement caused the little bird to fly away. Dawn faced her head back toward to the sky, the clouds were blocking the sun and she began to feel chilly with her soaked clothes.

Previous events raced through Dawn's mind, she didn't blink for a few seconds when she remembered her and Paul getting dragged underwater and sent over the waterfall.

"Paul!"

She sat up quickly, "Paul, where is he?"

Dawn looked down at herself, the dirt had now dried on her skin and was all over her clothes; she brushed the wet pieces of hair out her face and tried to scrub off the dirt off of her skin.

Before she stood up, Dawn put her hand on her forehead and closed her eyes. Her headache felt like it was getting worse, and was beginning to makeg her feel dizzy; Dawn attempted to stand anyway, her feet were wobbly and she kept her arms stretched out for balance. When Dawn finally had enough strength to move around, her eyes began scanning the lake and the shore around her; she began to panic again when she saw no sign of Paul.

Dawn looked over to the waterfall, fear invaded her heart when she thought of the her and Paul being dragged off of it; she let out a sigh, she had to find Paul.

Scanning the lake a second time, Dawn saw a floating figure; she squinted her eyes to see whether or not it was just a floating log. When Dawn got a better look, she realized that it was no log, floating in the middle of the lake with his head facing upward out of the water was Paul.

"Oh my gosh, Paul! Paul!"

What am I going to do, he's so far out.

Dawn rushed to the shallow water and set one foot in, she immediately took it out as memories from the incident an a half hour earlier flashed back into her mind; she didn't want to go back into the water. Paul needed help, Dawn's heart began beating faster; she looked down at the water, then back at Paul.

I have to get to him, I have to…

Dawn clenched her fists and took in a deep breath, she then took a few steps back and then jumped into the water. Her body was still sore, and her headache wasn't about to go away, but she continued to make her to way toward the trainer. Dawn spat out any water that got into her mouth as one arm after the other rose over her and landed in the water, she was getting closer to him.

"Paul!" she called out.

Dawn was breathing heavily when she reached the boy, she wrapped one arm around his chest and began paddling with her free arm back to shore; Paul wasn't moving, Dawn wanted to get back to land as fast as possible. She pushed the bad thoughts out of her mind and kept her eyes on the shore, Dawn felt as if she wasn't able to paddle anymore; Paul's weight and only swimming with one hand made it more difficult and slow to get back.

Dawn breathed in and out deeply, her face was turning red and her head was still throbbing, but she pressed on. After what had seemed to be ages, Dawn finally reached the shallow water, she took a moment to catch her breath before standing up; she then pulled Paul onto land and laid him down on his back.

Paul…

Dawn's hands were shaking, she looked down at Paul as the water dripped off of her; Paul wasn't breathing.

Dawn took in a couple more breathes before putting her hands over Paul's chest, she pressed down three times then looked over his face; she was nervous, but she knew she had to help him before it was too late.

Dawn pinched Paul's nose and put her mouth over his, she blew in; Dawn then pushed her hands down onto his chest again, and for a second time put her lips onto Paul's. When she finished after the third attempt, she sat for a moment.

"Paul…" she said, her voice trembling.

Dawn could only hear herself breathing, she then held her breath when she saw Paul cough up a hanful of water; she gasped, Paul turned over onto his hands and continued coughing. He began taking in deep breaths and had his head lowered toward the ground, when Paul realized where he was, he looked over at Dawn; her face was still red. Paul's purple hair covered his face, his mouth was hanging open as he tried taking in as much air as possible; Dawn was relieved to see that Paul was alright, but she began to feel dizzy.

She had pushed herself too hard, her surroundings began to spin and her head continued to throb; Dawn tried to keep her eyes on Paul, he was watching as the girl began to sway from side to side.

"Are… are you alright?" she asked.

Paul's expression was cold, but he nodded; after seeing Paul's response, Dawn fell forward and passed out on the shore.

***

"There's no way down from here, Brock!"

Brock looked down the steep cliff, "We'll have to turn back again."

"Turn back? Didn't you hear the announcement? We have to get out of here fast, but I'm not going to leave without Dawn."

"Ash, we have to turn back. We can't go down this way."

"Pi-pikachu!"

"Huh? What is it, Pikachu?"

A helicopter was seen flying in the distances toward Ash and Brock on the mountain, "That might be Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy."

Brock and Ash watched the helicopter fly over them, Ash waved his hands in the air trying to get the people in the copter's attention.

"Hey! Over here!"

Up in the sky, Officer Jenny was looking over the map with Nurse Joy sitting across from her; the pink haired woman then pointed down towards Ash and Brock.

"Look!"

Officer Jenny took her eyes off of the map and looked down, she gasped, "There's two trainers down there! We need to find a safe place to land."

The pilot kept his focus in front of him but nodded in response to Officer Jenny; Nurse Joy continued to look over the mountain side, "Look, there's more Kangaskhan down there."

Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy watched the rampaging Kangaskhan tear down nearby trees, Officer Jenny looked over at Nurse Joy, "Once we get the trainers out of here we'll be able to administer the vaccine to the infected."

Nurse Joy nodded, she had been worried since they arrived at the Kanto Safari building; the helicopter circled around Ash and Brock twice, there was no safe surface to land on. After the helicopter finished it's second time circling Ash and Brock decided to follow it; as the helicopter flew off, the two boys began running after it, "We need to catch that helicopter!"

***

Darkness, it was all Dawn could see; for the second time that day she found herself slowly awaking from unconciousness. Her head wasn't throbbing as much, and the dizziness had seemed to pass; but Dawn still felt herself moving. Her eyes were squinted as she opened them, she heard rocks knocking together and twigs breaking, it felt as if she was walking, only her legs weren't moving. Dawn opened her eyes more, her head was leaning against something soft, and purple; Dawn groaned lightly and looked down, blue shoes were stepping in front of the other.

Wha… what's going on.

Dawn looked to side, she was up close near Paul's face who's attention was on the road ahead; Dawn looked down again, she saw her legs were being held up by Paul's arms. In one arm Paul was carrying their two wet backpacks, Dawn's arms were slung over Paul's shoulders; when she realized it was him, she looked at him again. Paul felt Dawn move around, and when he turned slightly towards her their eyes met, Dawn's cheeks went red and she looked away.

"Awake, I see."

Dawn took her one hand and rubbed her forehead, there were a million questions she could ask him, but Paul spoke up first."You passed out before I could say anything."Dawn remembered falling forward onto the shore, she felt a little embarrassed; she looked around the area Paul had taken her to, when she looked behind her she could see the lake far back from where they had been. They were now in the forest, "I… I didn't think you were-"

"I'm fine," Paul interrupted.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm taking you back to your friends, then I'm going to continue traveling through here."

"I hope they're alright…" Dawn said, feeling worried.

There was silence before she spoke up again, "Why don't you just come with us?"

Paul continued to look in front of him, "You're all too slow, and I never said I liked you or your friends to join your little group."

Dawn gave Paul a low growl, "Put me down."Paul stopped and let go of Dawn, she slid off of him and rubbed her arms; Paul then started walking again, Dawn blinked, "Hey, wait!"

He doesn't even ask if I'm okay, or even thank me for saving him earlier?

"Do you even know where you're going?"

Paul stopped and laid his hand on a tree trunk and looked around, then continued on, "I'm just guessing."

"Guessing?" Dawn walked briskly. "How are we supposed to get out of here?"

"There was no way of getting back up that waterfall, I'm going to take the long way around."

Dawn slowed down every few seconds, then sped up again to try to catch up to Paul; she knew she wouldn't be successful trying to find her way out of here without Paul, so Dawn decided to keep quiet and stay close to him.

Dawn took her hat off and ringed the water out of it, Paul watched as he kept his hands in his pockets; when Dawn put it back on she looked up at Paul, "Thanks, for um… caring enough to carry me with you."

Dawn said shying away from Paul, she rubbed her arm up and down waiting for a response.

"Yeah, whatever."

Dawn sighed, and she just rubbed her forehead again; Paul noticed this time, "What's wrong?" he asked in his careless tone.

Dawn winced as it seemed the pain was starting to come back, "Nothing, my head has just been bothering me."

Paul reached into Dawn's backpack then tossed her her water bottle, then he tossed her the backpack; Dawn caught both, and after she put her pack on she took a long drink of water.

"That's better now," she said.

It was now into the evening and Paul and Dawn had been slowly making their way through the forest, somehow, without saying almost nothing to each other. In his own subtle ways, Paul had been showing that he does care, for Dawn, at least. The trainer had not said a thank you to the girl yet, and Dawn remained walking beside Paul with her arms crossed. The waterfall incident seemed almost too dramatic to bring up between the both of them, "By the way," Paul began, breaking the silence.

"While you laid flat on your face, I saw Team Rocket's Meowth balloon floating in the water, so keep your eyes open."

Dawn started to worry again.

Team Rocket? But we don't even have any pokemon to fight against them with.

Paul and Dawn came to a clearing with a creek going across it, Paul walked over and bent down to splash water onto his face. He always kept to himself, who knew what Paul was always thinking, or how he really felt about anything. Dawn watched as the trainer stood up, he might have even been injured and Dawn wouldn't have noticed it.

"Well, are you coming?"

Dawn ran up to catch Paul, he turned around was about to open his mouth until he saw Dawn's foot hit a rock; she fell forward slamming into Paul, the two trainers fell on the ground with Dawn lying overtop of him.

Paul had his eyes closed while he rubbed the back of his head, when he opened them he saw Dawn looking down at him; Paul didn't move for a few seconds and continued to look back into her eyes.

They then narrowed, "You klutz, get off."

Paul pulled himself up as Dawn rolled off of him, she sat there laying on her knees looking up at him, Paul was now dusting himself off. Dawn felt embarrassed, "Sorry, I… I-"

"Can't keep your balance? I noticed." Paul said sternly as he walked off.

Dawn kicked the dirt in frustration before she stood back up, this time walking at a slower pace behind Paul.

***

"We've been walking too long, can we take a break?" James asked.

"No way! We're getting' outta here before the rest of the pokemon start rampaging through here."

"We still need to let Giovanni know when the job is done, so he can send more members with master balls to capture these crazy pokemon."

***

Paul was now far ahead of Dawn, "Slow down!"

Surprisingly, Paul stopped and waited for the girl; this was unusual, Paul listened to her?

When Dawn finally caught up to him, she noticed a couple twigs in his hair; she reached her arm out, but stopped when Paul immediately glared at her.

"What are you doing?"

Dawn paused for a moment, "Um, you've got some twigs in your hair."

"Where…"

"Just hold on, I can get them out for you."

And with that, Dawn place her hand on Paul's hair and pulled out the two twigs that were tangled in it; Paul had his eyes closed as Dawn moved her hand through his hair. She felt frustrated with him still, but was relieved and surprised that he was being so patient with her.

"There, it's all gone." Dawn said tossing the twigs to the ground.

Paul's eyes remained closed, he seemed to be in a dream state; Dawn blinked as she looked at the boy, "Paul?"

Paul opened his eyes, he felt around his hair to where Dawn's hand had just been; he then lowered his hand back down.

"Come on."

Dawn looked up at the sky, the sun had already began to set, she didn't want to be in the forest at night with the pokemon she had run into earlier. She tried to keep her mind off of it, but the light disappearing made it almost impossible to forget the incident from earlier in the day; Dawn could hear unusual pokemon sounds and howls echo through the woods, she kept close to Paul.

"How long do you think it will take for us to get out of this place and get to Ash and Brock?"

"Dunno." Paul stopped, Dawn looked curiously at him.

"What is it?"

Paul kept quiet, there were people talking up further ahead, "Paul?" Dawn whispered.

"Shh."

In the distance, Jesse, Meowth and James were squabbling where to sleep, "If we keep walkin' we can find a better place to sleep."

"No way, my feet hurt and I'm tired. I don't want to walk anymore!" James cried.

"Just pick somewhere so we can lay down!" Jessed snapped at her partners.

"Fine, we'll have it James' way, we'll stay here for tonight."

Paul looked back at Dawn, "Team Rocket is up ahead."

"What do we do?"

"Nothing, we'll stay here for tonight and meet up with your friends tomorrow."

Dawn wanted to get back to Ash and Brock as soon as possible, but she couldn't go against Paul over it right now. She was tired, and all she really wanted to do was rest; it had been a long day.

Dawn watched as Paul walked away from the area, "Where are you going?"

"Going back further, I'm not wanting to get any closer to Team Rocket tonight."

When Paul reached a smooth place on the ground further back, Dawn placed her backpack down along with Paul; they both took out their sleeping bags. Paul unzipped his completely and laid it on the ground, he then went to go set up a fire; Paul gathered kindling and two rocks. Dawn was shaking her sleeping bag, she forgot that it was going to be wet from earlier; after a few minutes of striking the rocks together, Paul was successful and a small fire began to crackle and spread across the kindling.

Paul sat back onto his laid out sleeping bag and leaned up against a tree, he was exhausted from today; Dawn unzipped her sleeping bag completely as well, she then sat down next to Paul.

He raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing?"

"Listen, mister. Hate me all you want, call me names all day tomorrow. But I'm sleeping here tonight, our sleeping bags are both wet and it'd be bad for the both us if we slept alone with the cold weather."

Dawn laid her sleeping bag, now blanket, over her and Paul; Dawn was sitting right next to him.

"Get on your own side," he spat.

"I am on my own side," Dawn said lifting her nose up into the air.

She wasn't going to put up with Paul's attitude tonight, and Paul was ready to give in after their long day.

"Stay there, then."

Dawn wanted to leave the topic she was about to bring up alone, but she had to mention it, "I saved your life twice today, you can't say that to many people. Do you how rude you've been? You haven't even thanked me." Dawn said crossing her arms, looking away from him.

Even if Paul had a sour attitude most of the time, and hit Dawn and her friends with rude comments, he wouldn't be here doing that without her; those words from her sank down into his heart.

Paul thought it over, it wasn't in his nature to apologize; but he took in a deep breath and attempted to think of something thoughtful to say.

Dawn felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned her head and Paul was staring directly into her eyes; his look was sincere, "I'm sorry, thank you for earlier."

Paul apologized to her staring straight at her, not mumbling the words, or looking away; he took his hand off of her shoulder and placed his eyes onto the fire. Dawn drooped her head down a little, her hair was now covering her face; her cheeks were bright red.

"You're welcome," she smiled.

After a half hour had gone by, Dawn had begun to feel sleepy after staring into the fire, she stretched and yawned; a howls and growls in the distance were heard, and it kept Dawn awake when she was about to fall asleep.

After another thirty minutes had gone by, Dawn had begun to drift off sitting up; Paul noticed the head dropping motion, it was all too familiar to him. He continued to watch the girl fight to stay awake, but a few minutes later she finally fell asleep; it was interesting to Paul to see Dawn sleep sitting up, the girl's hair covered her face and Paul could hear light breathing. When he put his eyes back onto the fire Dawn leaned over onto his side, Paul blinked and his eyes widened at the sudden movement from the girl; he looked down at her. Paul, the cold hearted pokemon trainer, was now blushing; he wasn't going to protest this time, he wasn't going to wake her.

Instead, Paul leaned his head back against the tree and continued to let the blue haired girl lay on his chest; she looked tired, and Paul knew what they had been through today took a lot out of them, mentally and physically. Dawn stirred in her sleep and wrapped her one arm around Paul's waist, she snuggled up against his chest; Paul's face was now beat red.

Paul was holding his breath, he then relaxed after a few more minutes; Dawn's head lifted and lowered as Paul's chest rose up and down. Her body was keeping him warm underneath the wet blanket; Paul's cold expression had now gone, and a more soft one took over for the rest of the night; Paul stayed up for another hour to keep watch, but his eyes began feel heavy and could no longer keep them open. He slowly closed his eyes, and before he drifted off to sleep, he pulled Dawn closer.