Hey guys, sorry for the long wait and short chapter, I did have more planned but changed my mind last minute to move a certain scene to a later chapter, I have also been debating on some stuff that will be happening in later chapters, so I apologize if some stuff seems off at those times. Anywho, let's get on with the story.

By the way, when you see chapters with no title like this one it pretty much just means that I couldn't come up with something, so instead of delaying a chapter just for that I'd rather have no title at all, although I may see about just getting suggestions after it is posted but I don't know.

Chapter 25

As Aura began to awaken from his slumber, he felt the warm softness of his mate against his chest. He lovingly smiled at the peaceful sight of the fox curled in a fluffy ball with her back to his chest and her tail tightly in her sleeping grasp, making her look all the cuter. Letting out a yawn, Aura gently pulled his arm out from under Diamond and carefully got out of bed. Taking a second to stretch, Aura quickly put on a shirt before heading over to the kitchen to get started on breakfast.

Not long after he started cooking, Aura faintly heard Diamond get out of bed, the fox letting out a squeaky yawn and soon stumbling tiredly around the corner while rubbing her eyes.

"Morning, Diamond. Sleep well?" Aura asked as he poked the contents within the pan with a spatula.

The fox let out another yawn and smiled at him. She walked over and wrapped her arms around his waist, moaning happily as she pressed against his side. "What are you making?" She asked sniffing the air.

Aura chuckled. "You'll see. It shouldn't take too long so could you let the others out? I actually want to talk to you all about some stuff, and Dan should be coming over soon too."

Giving a quick yet groggy nod in response, Diamond made her way the nightstand on Aura's side of the bed and took the two pokeballs sitting atop the surface before bringing them to the middle of the room, awkwardly holding them out as if unsure what exactly she was supposed to do, having never actually used a pokeball before.

Staring at them for a moment, Diamond finally sighed and extended her arms with the pokeballs facing the sofa as she muttered quietly. Startled for a moment Diamond jumped as the spheres suddenly clicked open and sent out beams of light which quickly too the shapes of the others.

As the balls clicked shut Diamond let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and looked up with a slightly uneasy smile. The two pokemon standing on the sofa stretching with tired yawns as they were awakened. From the kitchen they could hear Aura say good morning as he portioned out the food he made on four separate plates before bringing them to the table two at a time. "Alright, come and eat." He called, "And after I need to talk with you guys about a few things." Nodding in understanding, they each sat at the table and started eating.

After finishing their meal Aura quickly took the dishes to the sink to wash later before sitting back down with the others. "So, what did you want to tell us?" Prince inquired.

"Well for starters, I spoke with Dan last night and we agreed to stay here for a few days while Tia is recovering. To be honest we're both a bit concerned and I don't think leaving so suddenly would help her trust issues at all. Hope that's okay with you three." They all looked at each other and nodded, letting the trainer know they agreed with him. "Thanks for understanding. Now, the other thing I wanted to mention is that since we'll be staying for a few days, this would be a great time to do some extra training before our next gym match." Aura took his phone from his pocket and turned it on. "After a bit of looking I found out that the Cyllage City Gym uses rock types." He looked at Diamond with a somewhat somber expression, "and I'm sorry, Diamond. But since you're weak to rock types it may be best for you to sit this one out if possible."

Although she felt a little disappointed, Diamond still understood his reasoning and agreed to Aura's plans without hesitation. "Don't worry about me. I'll be okay."

"That's good, but if you want you can still train with the others just in case." After receiving a nod of understanding, Aura continued. "That being said, Prince will help a lot since he has a type advantage, think you can handle that?" The Riolu nodded confidently. "Great. We'll be meeting up with Dan outside to do some training this morning, but first," Aura turned to Diamond again, "I'm thinking we go see how Tia's doing if you're up to it."

Diamond flinched, remembering her sudden outburst from the night before and hanging her head as the guilt caught up to her, although soon she felt the hand of her mate rest on her shoulder and she impulsively looked up at him, seeing him donning a kind smile as usual which did quick work at calming her nerves. Staring at him for a moment, Diamond glanced away for a moment before quietly muttering, "Actually, Aura. If it's okay with you, I'd like to do this on my own."

Impressed with her determination to improve, Aura looked down at her with an endearing grin, "If you really want to do this alone then it's fine with me." Aura reached over and took his pokeballs from where Diamond had set them down earlier and clipped them to his belt. "So, you guys ready to head down? Dan should be waiting for us by now." Receiving a collective agreement from the three, Aura stood from his chair and started towards the door, leading his team downstairs to the lobby.

On their way down, Diamond nervously fidget with her necklace, thinking about her encounter with Tia and how she wanted to apologize, as they reached the base of the stairs and made their way to the room Tia was in. "Hey, don't worry. Everything will be okay." Aura assured. "Me and the others will all be outside, so once you're finished you can come out and join us."

Finally stopping in front of Tia's room, Aura gave her another gentle pat on the shoulder as he once again reassured her it was going to be fine. Taking a breath, Diamond knocked on the door before hearing a muffled "come in." and slowly pushed the door open.

Gently shutting the door behind her, Diamond slowly approached the bed the Absol was lain upon before clearing her throat, "Uh… Hi." Diamond meekly greeted.

Looking over, Tia shyly glanced away when she realized it was only Diamond in the room with her. Taking a breath, Tia returned the greeting just as meekly as Diamond had.

With both clearly feeling awkward due to the guilt they each harbored, it took a while for one of them to finally speak up. "I'm sorry for how I acted last night." Diamond said, glancing away from Tia, "I was just… just."

"Pissed at me for attacking you?" Tia finished. Diamond looked up to see the Absol facing the floor with a guilty scowl. "You had every right to be upset. I was too thick to realize not all humans are as bad as the ones who took my family from me." Tia carefully turned over to face Diamond. "Looking back on what I did, I'm no better than the humans who killed my family." A few tears fell from the canine's eyes, "After what Stan had told me, and the way Aura was so kind despite what I'd done. I started to think that I've been wrong this whole time. That all humans were the exact same."

Hearing how sincere and regretful Tia's voice was, Diamond couldn't help but feel bad for her. Looking down and holding her necklace, Diamond sighed and spoke up. "Well, they're not all the same. Just like you I lost my family to bad humans, and of course I was terrified of them for a long time… Until Aura came into my life." Diamond sat in a chair and stared at the gem around her neck. Taking a deep breath, Diamond began to tell Tia how Aura changed her life, how he helped her overcome her fears, how he always treated her and the others as equals, and how he had risked his own life to save hers.

By the end of it all, small tears of joy ran down Diamond's cheeks as she stared down at her necklace with a wavering smile, reminiscing about her time with Aura thus far and the anticipation of what's yet to come.

Wiping away the tears in her eyes and taking a moment to compose herself, Diamond looked back at Tia with a kind and gentle smile. "I was thinking; why don't you come with us when you're healed?"

Tia stared at the fox in shock before somberly glancing away and stuttering. "I-I'm not sure what to say…"

Diamond walked over and placed her paw on Tia's shoulder, "I know it's sudden, but I don't want you to be alone like I was." She stepped back, "Aura said we'll be staying here for a few days, so at least think about it?"

Still looking away, Tia slowly nodded and muttered "okay." Diamond walked over to the door and stepped out, looking back and smiling at the Absol before closing the door and heading outside. Glancing towards the door, Tia looked around the empty room and sighed, cracking a very small smile as the Braixen's offer rest in her mind.

Hope this short chapter is good enough for now, I hope to speed up the story a bit so I might have to sadly start cutting a few corners and shortening chapters.

Also, I want to thank you all for 100 follows on this story. I know it doesn't seem like a big number but on a sight like this I feel it is an accomplishment, especially since this was my first ever story and the beginning was such poor quality. Anywho, thank you all for reading and I hope to get at least one more chapter out before the end of the year, the next chapter probably being a short one as well.