Maple's POV

I was waiting at our den for Spruce to come, ready to confront him about going on this campaign. I returned home right after the crowd meeting ended and had been waiting since. I was expecting Spruce to come home right after, but he didn't. While waiting for him, I practiced making some more energy balls.

It was late afternoon and Spruce still hadn't returned. What if he's not even going to show up, and he's going straight on his campaign right now? The thought of him leaving without even seeing me made me shiver. I shook my head. He wouldn't do that… right?

I was in the middle of forming an energy ball when I finally saw Spruce coming. For a moment I felt like testing out my energy ball on him after having to wait all day for him. I fired the energy ball at the ground and looked towards him. I could already see the guilty expression on his face.

"Where have you been all day?!" I demanded.

"I was helping organize the campaign," he said, avoiding eye contact.

"Who said you're going on that campaign?"

"Maple, dear, it's my duty to go on this campaign," he said bluntly, looking me in the eyes hard. I flinched from his stare and looked away, my confidence shattered.

"B-but w-what about your duty to your m-mate…?" I countered meekly.

"Listen," he said, placing his paw on my shoulder, "I have to do this because-"

"Because why?!" I snapped.

"Because if I, a guard member, don't go, other pokémon will see our plans as weak, and then they won't join us."

"Good, then you don't have to go," I responded.

"Don't you want to defeat the raiders once and for all?" he said. "This is for the good of our entire forest."

"Hickory's a guard member, but he's not going on the campaign," I brought up.

"That's because he's injured from the fight this morning and isn't in a fighting condition."

I sighed and turned away from him.

"Hey, listen," he said softly, walking around to look at me. "I won't have to do any of this Guard stuff anymore after the raiders are defeated once and for all. After there are no more raiders, I can be with you all the time. I mean it. I promise."

I looked into his eyes and saw some genuine emotion. "Okay… do you really promise this time?"

"Of course I do. When have I ever broken a promise?"

"Well, when I asked you to quit the night guard-"

"Never mind, don't worry, this promise is for real this time, I promise. Now, I gotta quickly go back. I'll see you very soon, okay?"

He came up to me and nuzzled me quickly before saying, "Bye," and running off. I sighed and looked down, not bothering to watch him run off. The sound of the rough pounding of paws fading as he ran off rang in my ears.

I went inside, lied down on the bed, and rested my head on my paws with a sigh, but then I decided not to waste the rest of the day moping and do something because there was still some time left in the day. I headed over to the field to take care of the plants. Once I got there, I realized that I really wasn't in the mood for work. But I sighed and got started anyway, starting with the Oran plants, then moving on to the Figy plants. While I was doing that, I heard some pawsteps. I turned and saw a familiar Arcanine walking my way, carrying an empty basket made of leaves with her tail.

"Good afternoon, Maple," she greeted pleasantly.

"Hey Cassie," I said, although I sounded sad and unenthusiastic.

"Why the long face?" she asked, catching on immediately.

"O-oh, uh… just… growing the plants is hard work today," I lied.

"...Really now? Are you sure that's the only reason?" she asked.

"Well… actually it's because I'm kinda upset about something…"

"Care to share?" she asked, taking a seat on the grass to show that she was willing to stick around and listen.

"Alright…" I agreed, also sitting down. "Do you know about how our guard is going on a campaign to invade the raiders' forest?"

"Yes, I do. I heard from three Mightyenas who were running around the forest and telling everybody."

"Well, Spruce is going on the campaign."

"Oh, I see. You're upset because he's leaving to go on the campaign?"

I nodded.

"Don't you worry about him, Maple. He'll come back in one piece, no doubt about it. Everyone knows he's one of the strongest pokémon in our forest. Plus, I walked by the crowd of pokémon who are preparing to go on the campaign, and there are so many of them that they can't lose. Your mate will be perfectly fine."

"I know he'll be back in one piece, it's not that. What I'm upset about is how he's leaving me home alone while he goes marching off to other forests. He already spends half of his days sleeping during the day because he does the night guard half the time. To me it's like he's not here half the time. Now he's leaving our forest entirely. I wish he could spend more time with his mate."

"Hmm… I understand now. Well, look at the bright side. They'll be destroying the raiders once and for all in this campaign. After they come back, we won't need a guard anymore. Then Spruce will be all yours. No more raiders will be interfering with your safety or your relationship."

"I guess you're right…" I said uncertainly.

"You of all Pokémon should be the most glad that they're heading out to destroy the Raiders. You've been attacked by then not once, but twice! Don't you want the Raiders to never come here again?"

"Yeah, of course… but why does Spruce have to go?" I said solemnly.

"Trust me, everything will be perfect once they come back from their campaign," she assured, placing her paw on my shoulder.

Cassie's right, I should look at the bright side! I quickly cheered up. "You're right. Thank you, Cassie!"

"My pleasure," she chuckled happily. "It's never hard to cheer you up. You were never the crying type," she said with a smile.

"So, I see that basket right there," I said, pointing at the basket held by her tail. "Let's fill it up."

"You don't mind, do you? You said you were upset because today's growing was hard work," she checked with me.

"Oh, that was my failed attempt at lying," I said sheepishly. "On the contrary, a friend of mine has been teaching me how to grow the plants even faster now. I'm glad to give you plenty of berries for your family!" I said cheerfully.

We went around my garden, filling her basket up with all kinds of berries, making it a colorful mix. "Where are your pups? They're usually the ones who pick the berries for you," I asked.

"Max is taking them out exploring today,"she answered.

"He's not going on the campaign, huh?"

"No way. He's got pups to take care of with me. I daresay he wouldn't want to leave me and our kids behind either!"

"You're so lucky that Max puts you and your pups before everything else," I said sadly.

"Like I said before, you'll be Spruce's sole angel once he gets back," she assured.

Once we were done, we chatted s little more until she decided to go.

"Stay positive!" she told me.

"Thanks! I will!" I said.

After she was gone, I continued maintaining the garden. The last bush I got to was the Custap bush in the middle of the garden. I gathered as much grass energy as could then directed it into the Custap bush. The bush glowed bright green all over and started growing as rapidly as the other bushes. My eyes widened in surprise as I watched the stubbornly hard to grow bush that's been bothering me for months flourish. Once all of my powers were depleted, I took a step back and marveled at the now well grown plant. Brand new buds were just waiting to bloom.

How am I suddenly able to grow it by so much today? I wondered in amazement. I thought of the possible reason. Hickory said if I practice my powers, they'll get stronger. Maybe since I've been practicing energy ball all this time, I can grow plants much better too. I'll have to ask him about that. Then I remembered that he was injured from whatever happened this morning. How did I not remember? I was too angry about Spruce leaving that I completely forgot about my injured friend! I need to go see him, I decided.

It was late afternoon, but the sun wasn't setting yet, so there was still plenty of time. Giving the healthy Custap plant a final look, I headed off towards Hickory's den. Despite not heading there often ever since eeveehood days, I remembered the way clearly. The walk to his den reminded me of the good old days before Hickory disappeared.

I was on my way to Hickory's den to see if he could play. He was lying on his back under the Figy tree outside his den. His fluffy brown ears perked up as I approached him.

"Hi Hickory!" I greeted him.

"Hey Maple!" he said, rolling over and standing up.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Nothing much, really."

"In that case, let's go play!"

"Sure! I'll just go ask my parents quickly." He rushed over to the entrance of his den, his tail wagging eagerly from the excitement.

"Mom? Dad? Can I go play with Maple?" he asked.

"Sure you can, dear," Hickory's mom answered.

"As long as you're back by dark," his dad's added.

"Thanks!" he called back. He came running back to me with a smile. "What do you want to do today?" he asked.

"Let's go exploring!" I suggested eagerly. "Pick a direction and let's go!"

We went running off to explore whatever we ran into. There wasn't anything very interesting until we came across a massive tree. The trunk was twice as wide as an Eevee from side to side, and there were so many branches and leaves you couldn't see the sky if you were under it.

"Let's climb this!" I suggested eagerly.

"Race you to the top!" he challenged, running up to the trunk.

I followed him up the tree, leaping from branch to branch to make my way up. As we ascended, the leaves started thinning out and the sunlight started filtering in. By the time I caught up with Hickory, we were both exhausted. We decided to work together to get to the top of the tree by lifting and pulling each other to the next branch. We still couldn't get to the very top, but oh well.

Looking out at the forest, I saw something bright red in between the trees. "Hey Hickory, do you see that red bush over there?" I asked, pointing.

He looked where I was pointing for a moment, then said, "I don't see what you're talking about."

"Look closer in between the trees. See the bush with red flowers?"

He looked around for a while. "Okay, I think see,"he eventually said.

"It's a Custap berry plant!" I exclaimed.

"How can you tell?"

"The flowers make it obvious. Let's go down and get to the plenty! I see two berries on it, one for you, one for me!"

"But… we have to cross a river…"

"But there are Custap berries! C'mon!" I started jumping down the branches.

"Wait up!"

After we reached the ground, I dashed in the direction of the berries, wagging my tail eagerly. I looked back and saw Hickory trudging along behind me. I stopped and waited for him at the river. Looking closely, I could see some red flowers of the Custap plant on the other side. Luckily, my mom, a Vaporeon, taught us both how to swim.

Hickory walked up to my side. "Do we have to swim across?" he complained. I didn't know why he hated swimming.

"Yes, we do," I insisted. "Don't you want a Custap Berry?"

"The plant might not even have any berries ready," he argued.

"We won't know until we get there and look! C'mon!"

"We can walk down the river and hope for a crossing."

"I didn't see any when looking from the tree though. Besides, the bush is right there, so we should cross here!"

"You know how much I hate swimming…"

"I'll be right here next you just in case," I promised.

"But…"

"C'mon! Custap Berries!"

"You can go on your own," he said.

I didn't think he would be so adamant on this. "That's no fun…" I complained. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'll make sure of it," I promised. Even though he didn't like to swim, I knew he had it in him.

He was silent for a few moments. "Alright," he finally agreed.

I jumped into the water and started swimming across. After a moment, I heard a splash behind me, indicating that he was following. I looked back. His expression showed that he was concentrating heavily on swimming. I grinned at him, which made his expression lighten up as he smiled back. I slowed down to allow him to catch up so we could swim side by side. It was smooth swimming all the way across. He was able to get across fine, without any help.

"I knew you had it in you!" I told him as we climbed out of the water.

"Heh, I guess," he said. We shook as much water out of our fur as we could, laughing as we did. "So, where are those Custap berries?"

The plant was huge and had bright red blooming flowers everywhere. Looking up, I saw a break in the trees, which allowed the Custap bush to get as much sunlight as a plant in a wide open field. We looked all around the plant but we couldn't see any berries. I looked disappointed.

"Let's search through the leaves. I'm sure we can find at least one berry in there," Hickory suggested.

"You're right!" I said. I went forward excitedly and stuck my head through the outer leaves eagerly, making a rustling sound. I was expecting and hoping to see tons of delicious Custap berries inside. However, all I could see in there were leaves and branches.

I pulled my head out of the bush. Hickory was right next to me. "Aww… I don't see any berries," I reported.

"I'll take a look," he said. He stuck his head into the bush.

"See anything?" I asked.

"Maybe," he said.

I stuck my head back in next to him. "I think I see one to the right," he murmured. He brought a paw in to reach for the berry. I looked towards where he was reaching and saw, amidst the many branches and leaves, a small bit of bright red. Hickory took a step further into the bush to get a better reach. He moved the leaves and branches out of the way, revealing the berry. "Hey, there are two!" he announced. He reached out to grab them but then...

"Argh!" he exclaimed as he lost his balance and fell. There were loud crunching sounds as the delicate branches below him snapped under his weight.

"Heehee!" I giggled.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted the berries," he complained. "Help me up."

"Grab the berries and I'll pull you out," I said.

He reached out with his paw and plucked the berries off of their branches. I grabbed his sides to help him up and out of the bush. Once we were out, he placed the two Custap berries on the ground. We both had bits of leaves and stuff all over our ears and cream colored neck fur.

We looked at the Custap berries, which looked soft and bright red. "Thank you for grabbing them," I said gratefully.

"You were the one who found the bush from the top of that tree, so thank you," he replied.

We both took one berry each. I started off with a small bite out of mine. The berry was delightfully soft and juicy. My ears and tail perked up slightly as the sweetness enveloped my tongue.

"These are so good!" I exclaimed.

"They certainly are," he agreed. "Super rare too, though."

"Next time I see one of these, I'm going to plant it in the field. Then we can have all the Custap berries we want!"

"Heh, only if you can resist eating it before planting it!"

"Hey! I'm not that crazy for Custap berries!"

"Yes you are! We crossed a whole river for these berries!"

"But I always share with you," I argued.

"That's true," he said with a smile.

"I'll still share with you after I grow my own Custap plant," I promised.

"I don't know, my mom says these berries are not only rare, but also super hard to grow. If it's hard for a Leafeon to grow a Custap plant, how hard will it be for an Eevee?"

"I can do it! I promise you!"

It's been a long time, but I'm almost done with that promise. I smiled, the memories cheering me up.

Soon I was at Hickory's den. Hickory was lying on the leaf bed that I helped him make the day he came back. He lifted his head up when he heard my pawsteps. He was looking sad, but his expression instantly cheered up when he saw me. His expression cheered me up as well.

I smiled at him. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Could be better," he said. "My sides and tail aren't so good, but I'll be better tomorrow."

"Would you like me to get some Oran berries for you?" I offered.

"Maybe later," he said. "You just got here."

"What exactly happened to you?" I asked.

"I saw two raiders beating up an innocent pokémon this morning. I just had to go help. Except there was a third raider who showed up later, and I couldn't handle three opponents at once. I'm so glad the guard showed up when they did. Otherwise… I might not be here…"

I gulped, feeling a little uneasy. The thought of Hickory getting hurt by raiders gave me the chills the same way I feel when Spruce doesn't show up at sunrise, even though he's usually just on the other side of the forest and making his way back.

"Spruce was the one who save me," Hickory mentioned quietly.

"Good thing he did, I don't want to think about losing you again. It'll be like when you were captured."

Hickory looked at me and smiled. After a moment, he asked, "How did you and Spruce meet? I would love to hear the story."

I felt glad that Hickory was asking. For some reason, I had a feeling he didn't like Spruce before. I guess he changed his mind after Spruce saved him this morning. "It was about a year ago, about the time the raiders started coming," I started with. "There had been a big thunderstorm the night before I met Spruce. I had been at my garden the whole day to take care of the plants, which had taken a beating from the storm. By the time it was nighttime…"

Even though it was dark now, I was almost done taking care of the garden and wanted to get it all finished. I was focusing on the last plant, made difficult because it was dark, so I didn't hear the rough pounding of paws behind me until it was too late. There was a menacing looking Skuntank and an equally scary Pinsir dashing towards me. I felt fear course through me.

The Skuntank shot a glob of poisonous stuff out of his mouth. I shrieked as the attack whizzed past my shoulder, exploding on the plant I was working on, the very last injured one.

"W-why are you attacking me?!" I yelped at the aggressors.

The two Pokémon gave no response. The Pinsir's two things glowed and turned sharp. I turned to run but it was too late. The Pinsir slashed at my side diagonally with his two blades. I yelped in pain from the attack, falling over. My side was stinging with pain.

"HELP!" I screamed as loud as I could. A dark wave of energy was created and fired at me by the Skuntank. The attack felt like I had ran into a tree. Next, the Pinsir picked me up in his pincers and flung me across the field. I landed on my side hard and ended up rolling over several times painfully. Curling up in a ball, I closed my eyes and braced myself for whatever attack was coming next.

Nothing happened to me. I heard several loud noises, yells, and growls, but they weren't directed at me. I slowly opened my eyes and uncurled. An Umbreon was here to save me! He stood in front of me, standing in the way of the two evil pokémon. His black fur stood out against his brightly glowing yellow rings.

All I heard my savior say was, "How dare you attack an innocent female in my forest, you… you raiders!" before I fainted from the attacks I had taken.

Despite the soft material I was somehow resting on, my sides felt terrible. I snapped my eyes open and found that I was on a leaf bed in a den.

The Umbreon was to the side of me, watching me. "Ah, you're finally awake!" he said. His voice sounded very strong and powerful.

"Where am I?" I asked quietly.

"This is my den. You fell unconscious, so I brought you here for your safety. I'm Spruce. My dear lady, may I have your name?"

"I'm Maple. Thank you so much, Spruce."

"Maple. What a beautiful sounding name. Anything for you, Maple. Those ruffians were the same guys who attacked my friend earlier today. Now, why were they attacking such a beautiful looking creature like you?"

I found myself blushing from his compliment. "I-I don't k-know why, they just came up behind me and attacked me for no reason… I don't know what would have happened to me if you weren't there..." I muttered.

"I got you some berries from the garden in that field. I know it's stealing but I did it just for you."

"I'm the one who grows the garden…" I told him.

"You do such a lovely job with your garden," he complimented.

"Thanks," I said meekly, blushing again.

"Why don't you stay here with me for a few days while you get better?" He offered.

"Oh… I don't want to be any more of a bother for you…" I said.

"It's my pleasure to have you here. It's no problem at all. No problem at all."

"I stayed with him for however long it took to heal all my injuries from the attack. Even after I was all better, he insisted that I stay with him. I was really touched when he first told me his feelings. I was really happy. We were always together. But then he joined Captain Falcon's brand new Guard, started doing night watches, and not he's going on a campaign to invade another forest! Sometimes I feel like Spruce doesn't love me anymore…"

"Do you love him?" Hickory asked.

Spruce's promise to come back came to mind before I answered. "Of course I do," I said after a moment. Why did I hesitate? For some reason Spruce's promise to quit the night watch was fresh in my mind.

"That Pinsir and Skuntank must have been the same raiders who attacked me this morning…" he said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"The raiders… they scare me…" I admitted. "I've been attacked by them twice. I've seen Spruce come home injured after a fight, and here you are now, unable to travel because of your injuries. I hope I never have to see raiders anymore after this campaign."

"Don't you want to find out why they attacked you?" he asked.

"No, I just want them to stop attacking me!" I exclaimed.

"Well I do want to know. No one attacks others without reason. I have to find out why they attack us. So far I know that the raiders say they're attacking the guard members because we beat them up, but I need to figure out how this all started. Falc says they just started attacking him and the rest all of a sudden."

"Well, Spruce told me that day was the first day they encountered the raiders," I brought up. "They had fought those two and a Luxio earlier that day."

"That must've been the first time. I guess to solve this mystery I need to figure out why they attacked that first time," Hickory figured.

"Are you sad you can't go on the campaign?" I asked.

"Well, I guess I could've figured out more about the raiders on the campaign… but I'm not upset, because I get to spend time with you," he said, his expression changing to a smile.

I smiled back at him, feeling happy. He looked away though. At least my best friend is here, I thought.

"I-I mean, I don't want you to be lonely," he explained after a moment of happy silence. "And we can continue training, if you want. There's one more important move that I really want to teach you."

"Yeah, I definitely want to learn something new! I've been working on my energy ball, by the way. I can make them bigger now."

"Awesome. You should be ready for what comes next."

"What will you teach me next?" I asked eagerly.

"You'll find out tomorrow," he said.

"Aw come on! Why can't you tell me?"

"Well… I have a whole thing planned for tomorrow, and telling you now would ruin it," he explained.

"Alright, fine, I'll wait until tomorrow…" I looked at him, but then, upon seeing his injuries, realized something. "Are you sure you'll be feeling okay to train tomorrow? You don't look too good right now. I can wait a few days for you to get better if you need," I said. As much as I wanted to learn something new, I didn't want him to have to train with me while he was still hurt.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be as good as new tomorrow. I'm sure of it. Now, you better head back to your den before it gets too dark."

I looked behind me and was surprised by how dark it was. "Yeah, I better head out," I said, walking out. "See you tomorrow! Feel better!"

"I will! Don't you worry!"

The sky was a dark purple, almost dark. Some stars were already dully visible. I quickly took the familiar way to the field and then to Spruce's and my den.

I felt a little lonely in the den, but I guess I was kinda used to it because Spruce wasn't here to sleep with me half the time because he was the night guard. Still, it felt odd since he wasn't going to be here tomorrow morning. I didn't feel too bad though. I had training with Hickory tomorrow to look forward to.