And finally, I've caught myself up. From here on, expect new drabbles weekly (unless Cartoon Network skips a week for some reason or another). This time, this is actually not so much Amourshipping but actually a parallel ship - InsectivoreShipping, pairing Serena's partner Fennekin with Ash's stoic Froakie. And the ship started in this episode! So let's wander through "The Bamboozling Forest!"

Pikachu was pretty sure this was the right way, but Froakie wasn't so sure. After all, this was coming from the guy that thought Meowth was trustworthy enough to let them in the group.

"I can't believe this," Froakie fumed to himself.

Pikachu's ears twitched. "Huh? What was that?"

Froakie snorted. "N-nothing. Don't worry about it." Despite thinking Pikachu's a bit naive, he knew that Pikachu was their leader. For better or worse.

"So, Chespin," Meowth said, turning his head toward the Grass-Type, "how's it like travellin' wit' da twoips?"

"Oh, it's amazing!" Chespin said, grinning from ear-to-ear. "We get lots of good food, and Serena makes delicious macarons! She lets me get into them sometimes and…"

Froakie's mind had drifted. Serena… wait, where's Fennekin? "Hey guys, I think we lost Fennekin."

Pikachu stopped the group. "Wait, what? Did she wander off?"

"Maybe she got hungry?" Chespin offered with a shrug. "I know I am."

Pikachu rolled his eyes. "You're always hungry, Chespin."

Meowth tried to get the group's attention. "I'm sure she just wandered ahead. C'mon, we don't wanna get lost out here. Dere might be some really scary wild Pokémon around here."

Froakie narrowed his gaze. Meowth obviously knows more than he's letting on. "I'll hang back and look for her. You guys can go on ahead if you want. I'm sure we'll be able to catch up."

Pikachu frowned. "Alright. Don't get lost. I'll leave marks in the bamboo so you know which way we went."

"Got it," Froakie said with a nod.

Froakie hopped into the tall Bamboo and pulled his hood of frubbles over his face. She probably didn't wander far. He leaped from tree to tree before he heard a whimpering. Sliding down the bamboo, he saw Fennekin. The Fox Pokémon indeed had wandered from the group. She was lying in a muddy puddle, covered from head to paw in dirt and mud.

Froake drew closer. "Fennekin, are you alright?"

Fennekin looked up at him. Her eyes were full of tears that she was trying to hold back. "Huh?" She blinked and rubbed her eyes with her dirty paws. "F-Froakie? Is that you, Froakie?"

He came to the ground and shook the frubbles off. "Yeah, it's me. Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?"

Fennekin sniffled. "It's worse than that…" Tears began to flow. "I fell in this muddy puddle and now I'm filthy! I just wanted a twig, so I was trying to sneak by the puddle, but the ground was soft and I fell in…" she began sobbing.

"H-hey now," Froakie said, walking into the puddle with her, "it's not so bad. Water's fine, right? We can use it to clean you up and-"

"Not this water!" she bawled. "It's gross!"

"Fennekin, c'mon," he said. "I'll carry you out of the water. Climb on. you won't get dirtier."

Fennekin sniffled a little before climbing onto Froakie's back. With one mighty leap, Froakie leaped from the puddle onto some dry, grassy ground. Fennekin slid off but laid flat on the ground. Froakie looked at her. "Oh, is this because you're still dirty?"

With tearful eyes, Fennekin nodded at him.

Feeling his cheeks flush, he took some frubbles off of his back "H-hold still. I'll clean you up."

Froakie began rubbing the frubbles into Fennekin's fur. He felt a bit embarrassed, giving her what amounted to a bath by hand. Her fur felt soft under his paws. He cleaned her face first before grooming her large ears. He tried to stay focused, but he could feel Fennekin's eyes on him as he attended to her fur.

Froakie couldn't help that she was cute. All he could do is behave like a gentleman. He finished cleaning up her fluffy tail and her thin legs. "T-there," he said.

Fennekin had a blush on her face. "Th-thanks, Froakie… I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here to help me."

Froakie looked away. "It's fine," he said, playing it cool.

"You're so chivalrous and kind, even if you're a bit of a loner," she said. She realized she was fawning over him and looked away.

"I-I mean. I just.. thank you."

"C'mon, let's catch up with the others," Froakie said. Fennekin looked back at the pile of twigs she was trying to reach across the puddle.

Froakie sighed, and went to get the twigs in spite of himself. Handing her one, he blushed a little more. "Don't tell Chespin or Pikachu about this. I don't want to lose my rep as the tough guy."

Fennekin smiled and bit into the twig, taking it from Froakie. She chewed it up and swallowed. "Your secret's safe with me!" She said with a wink.

Froakie and Fennekin walked together, quickly, to catch up with Pikachu and the others.