Update! Yay! I'm excited about this chapter, because I wrote this entire thing in one day. Which excites me for some reason. Well, enjoy!

"What are we doing?" Dawn asked as she raced behind Paul.

"We can't let them see us, any of them." Paul growled lowly, when did so many of these people show up? After they had come back up from the secret room they had found Paul noticed an abnormally large group of people outside the warehouses. He couldn't say for sure whether all of them were part of Team Galactic of not but he wasn't going to take any chances. "Come on." He whispered before running quickly again.

Dawn ran behind him as the pair alternatively raced between warehouses, and hid behind storage boxes tying to get past the sudden crowd of people all around all the warehouses. She could barely keep up; as soon as she caught her breath Paul would run off again. But Dawn knew that if they got caught things could get really bad.

Suddenly as they were about to enter the last warehouse, Dawn's foot stepped down on a poke ball on the floor and she slipped falling. Before she could feel the pain creeping up her foot Paul had dragged her over to nearest hiding place. He then quickly looked around to check if anyone had saw them.

"Ow, ow, ow…" Dawn muttered trying to put her foot down but stopping because it hurt too much. Paul turned to her and leaned down to look at her foot. He tentatively touched it and watched her hiss in pain.

"I think it's sprained." Paul said glancing up to see Dawn bite down on her lip. Both of their features froze at the sound of footsteps. After a few painfully slow moments they heard the footsteps quickly fade away, each releasing a relived breath. Paul's eyes hardened, "You can't run with that ankle, and if we don't move they'll find us…." He trailed off in thought.

"Well what are we going to-ah!" Dawn cried as Paul swept her up in his arms bridal style. Her face flushed instantly and she looked up at him startled by his sudden action, but he wasn't even sparing her a second look. He quickly dashed away from their spot and to a more hidden location a few yards further away.

As he continued to see if anyone was around, Dawn was trying to compose herself. He was holding her, his arms were wrapped around her. Any thoughts of the lingering pain in her ankle had been completely wiped out.

"Don't look so happy, if it wasn't for the fact that everyone would scream at me if you didn't come back with me I would have left you behind." Paul said simply. Dawn glared at him; he met her eyes briefly with raised brows. Her eyes narrowed sharply.

"Oh don't go making some lame excuse. You're the one who wanted to get your hands all over me." Dawn almost shrieked when Paul stumbled mid-stride.

"What are you doing? They could find us!" Dawn hissed harshly. His face had frozen for a split second till he heard he turned sharply to her.

"Can you just shut up for like five seconds?" Paul asked coldly glaring at her, but Dawn was un-phased.

"I'm not the one tripping all over the place."

"Actually you are," he poked her swollen ankle and smirked at her cringe in pain. "There is proof right there." She scowled lightly, silently mocking him with implied sarcasm. He just rolled his eyes trying to ignore her. It wasn't long before they could tell they were out of sight from any of the men from the warehouse and were safe enough in the city. Paul kept carrying Dawn, either not seeming to mind or too pre-occupied to notice.

Dawn, being the type of girl who always did enjoy the occasional love story, couldn't help but think about how strangely chivalrous Paul was acting. After all he had "rescued" her when she had gotten injured and was trying to keep her safe. She had almost forgotten that spraining her ankle was a bad thing, and had also forgotten Paul was probably the furthest thing from romantic. But that was okay, she could pretend. Dawn had to admit, with a growing smile, that this was kind of nice.

"God, you're heavy." Paul muttered shifting her weight in his arms. Dawn slammed a fist in his chest with a growl. He looked down at her bored. "If you don't stop that, I'll drop you."

"Sure go ahead, we're safe in the city anyways." She whispered crossing her arms and closing her eyes. "I don't need your help anymore."

"In that case…" Paul pulled back the arm that had been behind Dawn's back quickly. Dawn immediately wrapped her arms around his neck holding on for dear life. She turned bright red as she realized their cheeks were touching. Paul could practically feel the heat radiating from her face.

"Y-You j-jerk." She mumbled, cursing herself for stuttering. "I wasn't serious!"

"Who has their arms all over whom now?" Paul questioned innocently. Dawn flushed again, why wasn't he as humiliated as she was. In fact he didn't seem to be the least bit bothered. He couldn't be enjoying himself, could he?

"Put me down." She commanded stiffly. Paul shrugged at the command and slowly lowered the arm that had been under her knees till her feet touched the ground. Dawn didn't seem to notice but as her she placed all her weight on her left foot she leaned unconsciously towards Paul for support. He grasped her arm in response so she could stabilize herself.

"How does it feel?" he asked almost surprising Dawn with the placid tone. She looked at her ankle and frowned, it was already a bit swollen. And it hurt, but she didn't really want to tell Paul that. He would think she was weak, and he never did like weak things.

"I'm fine." She finally said smiling a bit. Dawn tried taking a step but winced instantly, Paul balanced her, one arm around her waist with the other one tightened on her arm. She looked up at him a little sheepishly as he glared at her.

"Why are you so stubborn? You can't walk with that ankle. Let me just-"

"Dawn is that you?" a voice called out from behind them. The pair turned around slightly to see who it was. Dawn's face brightened in the recognition.

"Zoey!" she called out happily in surprise. The red-head raised her eyebrows questionably at the predicament her friend was currently in. Dawn cocked her head slightly at Zoey's expression before realizing where exactly Paul had his hands.

"Am I missing something?" Zoey asked with amusement. Dawn blushed and instinctively pushed Paul away and to the ground.

"What the-"Unfortunately Dawn seemed to forget that holding on to Paul was the only thing keeping her standing, she swayed under her the support of her left foot before totally losing her balance and falling on top of Paul.

"Wah!"

"Umph!"

Dawn blinked as her bright sapphire orbs were extraordinarily close to a pair of deep violet ones. She felt, just for that moment, like she could stare into those eyes forever. That is until her ears finally started working again.

"Your…knee…my...stomach…get…OFF!" Paul managed to gasp out; Dawn squeaked and scrambled off the boy to sit on the ground carefully avoiding moving her sprained ankle. She was too busy trying to look anywhere but at the boy next to her to notice his red face.

"Oh so that's how it is." Zoey laughed at the two teenagers before receiving almost equally hateful glares, although Paul's was just a tad bit better since he had more experience.

"It's not like that!" they both exclaimed at once.

***XXX***

"Didn't Volkner tell you not to go in by yourselves?" Reggie sighed and rubbed his forehead. When the two teens had finally come back to the gym, Reggie wasn't sure whether to hug his brother or yell at him. Especially when Dawn had to limp back with her sprained ankle lagging behind her. And Paul was acting like none of this was a big deal at all. "What were you thinking? You both could have gotten caught easily, and then what?"

Paul rolled his eyes in the other direction trying to ignore his older brother's scoldings. Honestly, he knew his brother was just worried about him. But Reggie usually showed his protectiveness less subtly, and Paul had other things on his mind. When they had finally gotten back and the others asked what had happened, Paul didn't even have a chance to explain everything. Reggie interrupted as soon as he got to the part where they entered the secret room.

Paul sighed irritably as it seemed Reggie wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Besides everything they learned about in the base, Paul was anxious to tell Volkner about his suspicions concerning the lighthouse. But with a quick glance at the rest of the boys in the room, it seemed like they were all enjoying watching Paul get verbally abused. And then finally there was a part of him wondering whether Dawn was going to be okay. He wasn't worried, or at least that was what he told himself, he just didn't want her to become a burden because of her injury. Paul shifted uncomfortably; yeah that was exactly why he was thinking about her.

"Why do I get the impression that you aren't listening to a word I'm saying?" Reggie asked finally getting Paul's attention.

"Because I'm not." The purple haired boy responded lamely. Reggie groaned dropping his head in his hands.

"I have an easier way to resolve this." Volkner interrupted with a wave of his hands, "All in favor of agreeing that Paul was a total moron, for not only completely ignoring what I said, but dragging a girl down with him and getting her injured, say aye." Paul growled at the gym leader.

"Aye!" Volkner started smirking.

"Aye." Reggie said forcefully staring at Paul.

"Aye." Brock shrugged and grinned as Paul glared at him.

"Hi." Ash added happily.

"Pika." The electric mouse rounded off.

"That's five in favor, and Paul you?" Volkner asked teasingly. The boy twitched in response. "I'll take that as a yes. So Paul's a moron, let's move on if you don't mind." Volkner said towards Reggie. The breeder paused momentarily before nodding wearily. He shot his younger brother a look basically saying 'we're going to talk about to this later'. Paul groaned.

"Alright then," Volkner turned to Paul suddenly becoming serious, "I want details; everything you can tell me can be useful." Paul nodded; he hadn't planned on leaving anything out. Well maybe some parts from the end, he tried not to blush at the recalled memories and quickly shook his head turning to the other boys in the room.

***XXX***

"Well geez Dawn." Zoey scratched the back of her head looking a bit taken back, "Compared to me you have had quite an interesting few weeks. And I was so excited to tell you about the last contest I was in. Now all my stories seem so boring."

Dawn laughed at this, unable to help herself. After they had gotten back to the gym Zoey had taken her to the Pokémon center to get help with her ankle. After a nurse had wrapped it and strictly ordered the girl to stay at the center for a few more hours, the red headed coordinator found it necessary to inquire how she got injured. Zoey hadn't expected Dawn's long-drawn out story.

"I guess it has been crazy for the past couple of weeks, everything has been moving so quickly that I barely have had time to reflect." Dawn admitted sheepishly. She was so glad that Zoey was here, it was nice to have some girl company. Especially after only having five boys as your source for conversation.

"Yeah, well I'm jealous." Zoey replied, "Now that right there is what you call an adventure, you've got everything in there. Action, some good-guy versus bad-guy, adventure, mystery, and there is always some comedy if Ash is involved." Dawn giggled, which signaled her agreement.

"And maybe some romance?" Zoey laughed at the look that crossed her friend's face. Dawn blushed but recovered smoothly enough.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Dawn replied nose in the air indigently.

"And with Paul of all people. That's the real kicker," Zoey continued ignoring Dawn's looks to be quiet, "As I recall he was a selfish jerk who was cruel to his Pokémon and hated happiness. Yeah I think I quoted that right."

"I said that about him?" Dawn asked frowning slightly, had her opinion of Paul really changed that drastically.

"That is what you said." Zoey nodded, "But I don't know, he seemed really nice. Holding you like that when you were injured. That's the kind of guy you need, kind and caring. Nice choice Dawn!" Zoey whipped a thumbs-up at her while winking.

"Har,har very funny." Dawn stuck her tongue out playfully, "Look after getting to know him for the past couple of weeks; I guess I understand his personality. It's not that he doesn't care its just-" she scrunched up her nose unable to convey how to say her next words, "I'm not sure. He won't really ever be nice, and jolly. But he just expresses himself differently, I guess."

"Well it's good that he at least has one person that understands him." Zoey smirked. But before Dawn could protest Nurse Joy was calling them over. Since Dawn was reluctant to move what with her ankle, Zoey walked over and was informed of a phone call for them. As she reached the phone she could already see the excited face of Ash.

"Hi Ash!" Zoey said smiling at the trainer.

"Hey Zoey!" Ash responded with a bright grin before having his face pushed aside momentarily as Pikachu wanted to wave too.

"Why hello Pikachu!"

"Pika!" Pikachu held up a victory sign before Ash got back on the screen.

"Yes, yes we are all so impressed. No, that wasn't sarcasm!" Ash said towards Pikachu before finally turning back to Zoey, "Anyway, how is Dawn?

"It's no big deal. In about two days she'll be all set and ready for this big break-in plan you guys have." Zoey responded.

"She told you about that?" Ash asked. "How much do you know?"

"Well, if Paul told you everything that happened at the warehouse then I think both of us are on the same page."

"I guess since it is you it will be okay, but anyway I called because Volkner is driving us to his house. And, he said there was a car coming to pick you guys up. We'll be staying there for the next two weeks."

"But why am I going?" Zoey asked with confusion. Ash shrugged.

"Volkner didn't say anything about you until after Paul told us everything. I think it has to do with the lighthouse."

"The lighthouse?" Zoey paused trying to remember what Dawn told her, "Oh, I remember but-"

"He just wants to make sure everyone is safe." Ash interrupted with a smile, "Besides, boring old Pokémon center or hooked up mansion." Zoey laughed, "I mean it's got to be cool right, look at what he has done to the city. I can't wait to see his house!"

"Alright, we'll see you there then. Bye Ash!"

"Bye Zoey!" As the call ended Ash left the room and headed to the entrance where everyone else was. As soon as Volkner saw him he led the group outside where a limo was parked. Volkner motioned for the rest of the group to follow him inside. Ash excitedly checked out each feature in the car, asking Volkner about everything. But the gym leader didn't seem to be paying attention; he was oddly quiet the entire time.

Reggie just sat quietly near the window. He looked up in surprise as Paul sat near him, his eyes downcast. Reggie's eyes narrowed at the guilty look on his little brother's face. An expression he rarely ever showed. Paul finally met his brother's gaze.

"Look I've been thinking about what you said earlier and I agree that what I did was stupid." Paul started cringing slightly.

"And selfish, rude, completely idiotic…" Reggie noted.

"Yeah, yeah." Paul scowled before sighing in defeat, "I'm sorry for worrying you." Reggie stared hard at his brother silently for a while. Paul met Reggie's eyes, he was genuinely sorry and he wanted his brother to know that.

"It's fine." Reggie finally replied, he paused a few moments longer before continuing.

"Paul…look just be safe, that's all I ask." Reggie said quietly, "We're all we have left." Paul's gaze shifted towards the window before nodding.

"Yeah, I know…"

***XXX***

When everyone had gotten to Volkner's very large house he had swiftly told his butlers to get hem rooms and to prepare dinner. Before anyone could so much as thank him, Volkner had left insisting he had some gym leader business that needed to be taken care of. With that everyone was soon assigned their own room with a private bathroom.

Dawn almost jumped in the air for joy at their sleeping arrangements before remembering her injury. The navy haired girl had just finished brushing her hair and sighed happily back at her reflection. Having her own bathroom really was great. As she limped back to her bedroom she was surprised to see Paul standing hesitantly at her opened doorway.

"Oh, there you are." He said. Dawn blinked at him before shaking her head.

"Well hello to you to." she crossed her arms and sent him a questionable look, "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I was just wondering how your ankle was." Paul said bluntly with a straight-face, Dawn's eyes widened. He frowned at the look he was receiving, "What?" he asked sourly.

"Oh, um it'll be okay. It's nothing really; they gave me some painkillers so I should be alright." Dawn explained smiled gently as he nodded.

"That's good." He sounded genuine which made Dawn feel oddly happy. "So anyway with everything that happened today we'll be discussing more about what to do tomorrow after breakfast, so don't oversleep." He finished with usual stoic face.

"But I need lots of sleep so I can keep up my beauty." Dawn pouted throwing her hair back behind her.

"You can't sleep forever." He replied impassively before ducking to avoid the pillow she threw at him. But she was still smiling and he even cracked a smirk. They stood there in silence for a few moments before Paul finally spoke up, "Look I know things got a little crazy today, so thanks for trusting me."

"Paul, I may find you annoying, I may think you are a jerk sometimes, I may even-"

"Is there a point to this?" Paul asked with a faint scowl, which faded a bit as Dawn laughed lightly.

"What I'm saying is despite all of that, I do trust you." She smiled at him. Paul almost looked ready to say something before just smirking and nodding his head.

"Thanks."

***XXX***

"Hey Paul, you came just in time!" Ash exclaimed as his rival descended the stairs. Paul looked up to see Ash and Brock in the living room with the biggest television set he had ever seen. As he got closer he saw that it was currently on the local news channel that was reporting some breaking news.

"What's going on?" Reggie asked from behind Paul, just now coming down the stairs himself.

"There is some news about Hunter J." That was all Brock needed to say in order to get both brothers' attention.

"There is breaking news concerning the developing the Hunter J storyline." A newswoman reported in an official tone, "Notorious for kidnapping trainer's Pokémon and selling them illegally for profit, Hunter J has been escaping from the police's grasp constantly. But just recently the police were able to track one of these illegal trades all the way here in Sunyshore. The man in question is supposedly linked to Hunter J; how exactly the police were able to deduce this and any other further information is yet to be disclosed."

As the woman continued to inform the audience on Hunter J's past kidnappings, a video showing the arrested man was being played. Reggie leaned in closer squinting, before his eyes widened dramatically. "I know that man." He said under his breath, before repeating it louder, "I know that man!"

"What?" Paul whipped back to his brother at his statement. "How?"

"He was the man at the Seal Market." Reggie said there was no mistaking it. That was the same man, the same man who sold him a poke ball.

***XXX***

Volkner leaned against the railway of the elevator shooting higher up the lighthouse a serious aura around him. After hearing Paul's explanation about everything Volkner couldn't help but get frustrated. He was almost mad at Paul for suggesting that there were spies right under his nose this entire time. But it made sense, all of what he said made sense. And Volkner was mad at himself that he hadn't even considered the possibility before.

As the elevator opened, the young man walked quietly towards the control room. He wasn't sure what he was hoping, or not hoping to find. But he couldn't just sit in his house doing nothing while there was a chance that the lighthouse he had taken care of was being used for dirty crimes. Volkner's fists clenched with anger, he would get to the bottom of this.

But just as he was in front of the door to the room he let out a deep breath trying to calm down. His fingers grazed against his belt to make sure he had all his Pokémon before opening the door. Volkner stepped inside, his eyes widened in disbelief. The room was empty, no one was here. This post was always supposed to have someone here to guide incoming ships in, at all times. This didn't make sense.

"What the-"his words were cut off as the door slammed shut. From outside the room the sound of the echo softly silenced until all that could be heard was a steady beeping noise.

Question everyone: would there be too many characters if I added just one more? I don't like need to add him/her, but I think it would make this story that more awesome. I added Zoey here because it seemed like everyone wanted Zoey, I know she didn't really do much yet but don't worry I got plans. Well that's everything, I'm sorry I threw so much at you this chapter. Please review!