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Shadowforge: I'm glad that you like the idea for Prince. I've always seen Riolu and Lucario as very valiant and loyal to their trainers.

Chapter 6

Diamond groaned as she lay atop Aura's backpack, resting her chin on his head. "When are we going to set up camp? I'm really hungry."

Aura glanced upward at the Fennekin's snout and sighed. "You've asked that four time already in the last half hour. The sun hasn't even started setting."

Dan looked around for a moment and quickly snapped a few twigs off of a bush. "Here. Fennekin like to chew on twigs when they're hungry or just need an energy boost." He took one of the smaller twigs and held it up for Diamond.

Surprisingly, she didn't take long at all to snatch the twig in her fangs and hungrily gnaw away it, her necklace swinging forward and almost poking Aura in the eye. "Whoa. Careful up there."

"Shorry." She slurred with the twig still between her fangs.

Aura laughed and scratched behind her ear. "I didn't think you'd be that hungry after only a few hours. After all, you've spent most of the day riding on my back. Not that I really mind." Aura turned to Dan as he started to hear small beeps and light smacking followed by an agitated groan. "Still no luck?"

Dan sighed and slipped his electronic map back into his pocket. "Nothing. Not even factory resetting it worked." He groaned again and covered his face. "Why did the GPS have to malfunction right after we decided to take that detour. We've been wandering around these woods for over a day and still haven't found a highway or marked trail."

Aura pat his friend on the shoulder. "On the bright side, we've been lucky enough not to be attacked by any wild Pokemon."

"Haahhh… I guess you have a point there. And exploring the wilderness is part of being a trainer."

Aura nudged Dan with his elbow. "Exactly! Plus we have more than enough supplies to last well over a week if we need… Hey! I think I hear splashing coming from over there." He affirmed, pointing off to their left.

Diamond wriggled her ears for a second. "I think I hear it too." She said, accidentally dropping her chewed-up stick down Aura's face.

"Ehw! Slobbery!" He said somewhat sarcastically, wiping off some of Diamond's saliva from his nose.

Dan snickered at them. "Well if there's water nearby then we may as well set up camp early today. I wouldn't mind tinkering with the map a bit more before resorting to old-school navigation."

"Old-school navigation would probably be more helpful if we knew which direction the road even was." Aura said as they pushed through the thick underbrush towards the sounds of water. "Considering we can't even see Lumiose Tower from where we are who's to say we aren't walking back towards Santalune."

Dan grunted. "Well then we'll just have to figure that out. Maybe if there are some friendly wild Pokemon near the water then we could ask them for directions?"

As the two of them pushed through the last bit of foliage, they were surprised to find quite a large clearing with a big lake across from them. And as they suspected, there was a small group of wild Pokemon playing near a waterfall.

"That's convenient." Aura said. "I guess if you wanna start setting up the tents and get a fire going I'll go see if any of those Pokemon know where the road is." He set Diamond down and dropped his bag. He let Prince out of his ball and instructed him to help gather some firewood while he spoke with the wild Pokemon.

"Wait. You're going alone?!" Diamond yipped.

Aura paused for a moment. "I mean, I was planning on it… Do you wanna come?"

Diamond looked over at the Pokemon who all seemed to have stopped playing and were now curiously watching the group. Amongst them were mostly smaller Pokemon who must be pretty young, but close by Diamond could see a Primeape and Shiftry watching their surroundings intensely. Seeing these intimidating Pokemon made Diamond worry about even setting up camp so close to them, but Aura didn't seem too concerned at all.

Diamond swallowed hard as she tried to fight off her anxiety. "Y-you need someone with you t-to make sure you're s-s-safe… So a-at least I sh-should come with." She anxiously stammered.

Aura looked behind him at the Pokemon and shook his head. "Hey, Dan. Think I could borrow Spyke or Nessa as well to go talk with the Pokemon? Might be a bit safer than just me and Diamond."

Nessa raised her hand. "I don't mind coming along. Would that be fine with you, Daniel?"

Dan shrugged. "Go right ahead. I'll send Spyke out with Prince to gather some fresh berries."

Aura nodded and waited for Nessa to jog over before leading the girls around the edge of the lake.

"Excuse me?" Aura said with his empty hands clearly visible to the wild Pokemon. "I don't mean to intrude but my friends and I got a bit lost and were hoping one of you might know the way to the nearest road?"

The Shiftry and Primeape stared harshly at Aura noticing how his hands were kept in the open. Of course, they were still skeptical of the trainer's intentions. Looking at the Pokemon beside him, Shiftry and Primape took notice of Nessa and whispered to one another.

Shiftry pointed at her and scowled. "You. Kirlia. Tell your trainer here that if he even tries to capture any of the other Pokemon in this area, we will not hesitate to slaughter each and every one of you. Got it?!" Nessa put her hands on her chest and took a step back before nodding with a loud gulp.

"Hey, there's no reason to jump to threats right away. I promise you we aren't here to catch anyone." Shiftry and Primeape glared at Aura, causing him to nervously sweat with his hands still up in front of him. "L-look. You both seem like reasonable fellows and we're just a bit lost."

Primeape stared at Aura fiercely. "Do you actually understand us?" Aura nodded. "Huh. Well then you should've heard my buddy here just fine then. Besides, why should we even help a buncha random trainers?"

Aura took a step back. "W-well. I mean I came over here and just tried to talk instead of battle?"

Primeape and Shiftry looked at each other and almost laughed. "That's the best reason you can come up with? Heh! Maybe we should teach you a lesson for trespassing on our turf." Shiftry hissed with Primeape pounding his fists together.

As Shiftry and Primeape slowly fronted on Aura, Diamond immediately jumped in front of them with embers wafting out from her ears. "Hey! We just tried to be nice and ask for some help! So don't you dare threaten my trainer!"

Once again, Shiftry and Primeape almost burst into laughter. "What a joke! This little runt thinks she's gonna scare us off when she can't even stop herself from shaking like a little bitch!" Primeape snorted.

"Why don't we show the kids what happens when you're too nice in the wild?" Shiftry sneered as they both took another step forward.

Diamond's tail lowered as she looked up at the two looming over her. Beginning to panic, Diamond hastily sucked in air before releasing a burst of flames from her mouth into Shiftry's face. The grass type recoiled harshly from the Ember and snarled. "That's it you little shit!" Shiftry readied his arms to strike the fox with Night Slash while Primeape joined in with his fist crackling with electricity from Thunder Punch.

"What are you two doing?!" A gruff voice roared out from the nearby shadows. Both Pokemon suddenly froze in place as a massive Pangoro stomped out of the bushes and approached.

Shiftry spun around and nervously rubbed his leaves together. "O-oh! Chief Pangoro. We were just doing as you asked and protecting the young ones from this nasty trainer and his Pokemon."

Pangoro leaned forward and scowled at the two Pokemon. "You think I'm that ignorant?! Both of you have been walking a very thin line around here with your pointless vendetta against trainers!"

"B-but, Chief."

Pangoro grabbed Primeape's fur and lifted him into the air. "You be quiet! Both of you are to return to the grotto immediately for your punishment. Got it?!" Pangoro pressed his forehead against Primeape's who nervously began to shake. Without another word, Shiftry and Primeape scampered off into the forest. The huge panda turned to face Aura. "Don't think just because I stopped them from harming you doesn't mean I won't if you become a threat to our safety."

Aura frantically nodded. "Y-y-yes sir."

Pangoro suddenly pushed his face close to Aura's and growled. "Lucky for you we're not savages around here. Just be gone by tomorrow afternoon and there won't be any issues." He straightened up and pointed off into the forest. "There is a road that boarders our territory in that direction. But if you value your safety then you'll avoid coming back here without a good reason." Pangoro turned to the young Pokemon and called for them to follow, eventually leaving Aura, Diamond and Nessa to walk back to their camp in relief.

"Seems like things were about to get pretty hairy over there." Dan said. "So how'd it go?"

Aura shrugged and relayed everything he was told to the others. Eventually their tents were set up and they had a sturdy campfire by the time night had slowly rolled in.

Currently in the middle of eating supper, Diamond's ears swiveled around as she looked towards the nearby bushes. "Aura? I can hear something coming."

Aura paused and followed her gaze, listening closely with his hand to his ear. "Maybe Pangoro sent someone to keep an eye on us?"

"But what if it's that Primeape and Shiftry from before?" Dan added. "We shouldn't let our guard down that easily."

"Hm. Prince? Diamond? We might have to fight so be ready."

"You too, Spyke and Nessa."

With everyone standing attentive and at the ready to battle, it came as a shock to see neither Primeape nor Shiftry, but a small Lillipup weakly stumble through the leaves and collapse in front of them. "Holy shit! Dan! Get your medkit!" Aura panicked as he rushed over to the pup and looked over its body seeing dried blood and dirt coating its matted fur. "She's still breathing, but damn it's hard to tell how long she's been like this."

"This looks like it was recent actually. No longer than half a day at least." Dan observed. He instructed Aura to bring her closer to the fire and fetch a fresh pot of water from the lake. "We need to clean and disinfect her wounds right now."

"I got the water." Aura said as he set the pot down atop the camping grill. "Diamond, give the the fire a bit more heat so this boils faster. Prince, see if you can find our anti-bacterial soap." While Diamond began exhaling more flames underneath the pot, Prince hesitantly moved towards Aura's bag before sheepishly turning back asking what anti-bacterial soap was. Aura bit his lip and hurried over to show the Riolu and bring with him a washcloth as well. "Here, Dan. You're probably better suited for this stuff."

"Thanks. Luckily it seems to mostly be some serious scrapes that caused the bleeding, but at least one of her ribs might be broken and she might have some minor internal bleeding. If she weren't a Pokemon then I doubt she'd survive."

Aura sighed in relief. "We really are lucky that Pokemon were blessed with such rapid healing. Anything else we should do?"

Dan shook his head. "Nothing to do other than wait at this point."

"Well I'll at least get her something to lie on for now." Aura dug into his tent and came out with a folded towel he set down beside the fire. Once Dan had gently moved Lillipup to the towel, Diamond slowly walked over and sat down beside her, her ears and tail falling limp in sorrow. "Don't worry. I'm sure she'll be fine by morning." Diamond sadly nodded.

"Nnngh…" Diamond perked her ears up as Lillipup faintly groaned and twitched her ear with a short whine. "G-Gwen…? Where are you…?"

Diamond wiped her eyes. "She's lost."

"Huh?" Aura leaned toward her.

Diamond looked up and spoke up. "She's lost. I heard her mumble something about someone named Gwen… do you think they're her trainer?"

"That's probably very likely." Dan mentioned. "It might be best if we take her with us to the nearest ranger outpost or Pokemon Center. I think I've heard something about them being able to notify trainers if their lost Pokemon are found." He dug through his bag and pulled out a small booklet he quickly began to flip through.

"But wouldn't they need their Pokeball?" Aura thought.

"Ah. Yeah it says right here that the Pokeball makes it a lot easier to find their trainer, but they can still match the Pokemon to a trainer through some thorough scans. So if we don't find her trainer by tomorrow then we shouldn't have trouble reuniting them."

"Aura?" Diamond nudged her trainer's leg to get his attention. "Could we keep her in our tent tonight?"

Aura looked to Dan who gave a shrug. "I guess so? I did promise you we'd help Pokemon in need whenever we could." He scratched under her chin.

Eventually the moon had risen high above them and the fire had started dying out as the hours passed. Soon the trainers had returned their Pokemon with the exception of Diamond and finally retired to their tents for the night, Aura carrying Lillipup delicately in his arms.

As Aura set the pup down near his pillow, Diamond curled up close to her and rested her chin on her tail. "Haahh… I just can't help but think Lillipup went through something terrible to end up like this…" She felt tears slide down her muzzle and quickly wiped them away. "I really hope we can find Gwen tomorrow."

Aura brushed his hand over her forehead softly to reassure her they would do whatever they could to find whoever Gwen was, even if they had to work around the Pangoro and keep searching the forest. Diamond appreciated Aura's good will and his tenacity to go great lengths just to help others. With high hopes for tomorrow, Aura and Diamond quickly fell into a deep slumber.

As the night made way for the sunrise, Diamond was awoken by Aura softly calling her name and letting her know breakfast was ready. The fox uncurled from her fluffy tail and stretched out her haunches, letting out her usual squeaky yawn and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"I brought Lillipup out already for Dan to check on her." Aura started as he put on Diamond's necklace for her. "And I thought you'd appreciate waking up to some good news."

Diamond's ears shot up. "Good news?"

Aura nodded and lead the vixen outside. "Her scrapes are already mostly healed over, and Dan thinks whatever internal bleeding she could have had was so minor it actually healed overnight and she coughed it all out from her lungs."

Diamond stuck out her tongue and folded her ears. "Urk! She was… coughing blood?"

Aura scratched his neck. "I probably could have left that part out. But Dan really thinks she's gonna be fine."

"Master Aura! She's waking up!" Prince called out just as they stepped out of the tent. Diamond gasped and ran over as quick as she could.

They watched in anticipation as Lillipup's eyelids slowly lifted and she whined from the sudden bright sunlight beaming into her eyes. She weakly covered her eyes with her paw until they adjusted to the light, and upon moving her leg down, she went wide eyed and began to breath heavily as she saw six unfamiliar faces looming over her with no memory on how she ended up in that situation. Needless to say, the small puppy was spooked as she stumbled backwards and struggled to run away in fear, at least until her foreleg gave out and she tumbled onto her back.

"P-please don't hurt me!" She cried out as she desperately tried to stand up again only to crumble back to the ground as her ankle was heavily twisted and still hadn't fully recovered.

"It's okay! We're not gonna do anything to hurt you!" Aura stammered as he crawled closer. "You wandered into our camp last night and collapsed. Lucky for you Dan is training to be a doctor."

Lillipup frantically looked around as everyone else kept their distance, with the exception of the sad looking Fennekin hiding behind the trainer's back. "Wh-wh-who are you?" She stuttered, forgetting there was no way for a human to understand her. Although it came as a huge shock to her when her question was answered accordingly by Aura introducing himself along with the others. "W-w-wait a second?! Y-you don't have a translator! So how can you understand me?!"

Aura shrugged and looked back at Diamond a bit nervously. "Actually, I don't need a translator. I can understand Pokemon naturally like another language. More importantly though, what's your name?"

Lillipup's teeth chattered as she mustered up enough courage just to stammer her name. "M-m-m-my name is K-K-Kelsey."

"Well, Kelsey. Once we eat breakfast and pack up we'll be taking you to look for Gwen." Aura assured her.

Kelsey jerked back and began to shiver once again. "How do you know about Gwen?!"

Diamond stepped forward. "You were muttering her name in your sleep. She's your trainer, right?"

Kelsey slowly nodded as Dan called everyone over to eat. Once everyone was seated around the campfire, Dan handed Aura a plate of scrambled eggs and hashbrowns while he set out a bowl for each of the Pokemon filled with some Pokefood and extra hashbrowns.

"So, Kelsey? You mentioned something about a translator? Does that mean your trainer has one…? But I don't think I've ever heard about translators being mass produced and sold yet. Only a very select few people even own prototypes, and even those have a delay and can only give a rough translation based on their tone of voice." Dan inquired as she hesitantly ate the food she was given.

"Gwen's parents own a big company and are working on mass producing translators. They gave Gwen one of their best prototypes to test on our journey." Kelsey explained rather proudly.

"Sounds pretty cool," Aura said, "by the way, do you remember anything that happened before last night? Like how you ended up stumbling into our camp?"

Kelsey folded her ears back. "All I remember is me and Gwen being challenged by a trainer with a scruffy Eevee on his shoulder. Neither of them had earned a badge yet so Gwen accepted thinking we'd be up against the Eevee… but…" Kelsey tightly shut her eyes and trembled in fear as she struggled to finish her explanation. "The trainer used some kind of giant blue dragon with a red head. Gwen tried to stop the fight, but then that jerk had his Pokemon attack me and then I suddenly blacked out…" she started sobbing, "I hope Gwen didn't get hurt by that monster."

Diamond walked over and gently nudged her cheek against Kelsey's. "Don't worry. Aura and I made a promise to help any Pokemon we meet however we can. So I promise we won't leave this forest until you're back with Gwen."

With tears soaking her fur, Kelsey thanked them a lot for their help, and once everyone had finished eating and their camp was packed up, they started off towards the road Pangoro directed them to yesterday while Dan decided to carry Kelsey instead of her having to limp.

"So what does Gwen look like exactly?" Aura inquired.

Kelsey pictured her trainer's appearance. "Gwen's hair is blonde and she likes to wear darker clothes, also she's not really that tall either."

"Alright then, it shouldn't be too hard finding a blonde girl in a forest. Prince, think you can try and sense anyone nearby?" The Riolu bowed loyally to his master and began scanning their surroundings for any unfamiliar auras.

"So, Kelsey?" Nessa asked as she looked up at the dog, "how long have you been on your journey?"

"Me and Gwen just started a few days ago. We were just on our way to Santalune City for our first badge."

Aura suddenly chuckled. "Watch out for Viola's Vivillon. That was one strong butterfly. But lucky for me I had Diamond to rely on after Prince took down her Surskit." He said while squeezing the fox a little tighter in his arms and Prince pat his chest proudly.

Kelsey giggled quietly while Dan asked more about her and Gwen. "Gee I don't know where to start. She actually raised me from just a puppy so we spent almost all our lives together. My parents both belong to Gwen's mom and dad so we like to think of each other as sisters." Kelsey smiled as she thought of their years spent growing up together. "Oh, and Gwen's mom and dad own a big company that makes all kinds of fancy gadgets to help trainers like the translator."

"Well lucky for us we don't need a translator, me and my mom can understand Pokemon naturally while Dan recently got Nessa who can help him understand them too." Aura affirmed.

Kelsey looked at Nessa in awe. "Wow! You can really do that?" Nessa nodded and explained it was due to her psychic abilities. "That's cool! Maybe Gwen should try and get a Psychic Pokemon to help her test the translator!"

Their conversations went on for multiple hours as they searched for Kelsey's trainer, stopping here and there for breaks but not once did they actually stop the search, until finally the sun began to set on another day and they were forced to set up camp once more. They had their supper and were about to pack it in for the night. Diamond felt empathy towards the lost Lillipup, she knew what it was like losing someone you love and wanted to show Kelsey she wasn't alone in this. So instead of sleeping with Aura like usual, Diamond requested to be closer to Kelsey for comfort.

As the night drawn on and everyone had fallen fast asleep, Diamond could feel Kelsey shivering under the blanket Aura gave them. She turned to look at her and nuzzled cheek softly until Kelsey looked back. "Are you gonna be alright?"

Kelsey sniffled and wiped her eyes with her paw. "I think so… I'm just really scared. What if we never find Gwen?"

Diamond wrapped her leg around the puppy's shoulders and hugged her. "Hey! Don't say things like that! I promise we will find Gwen!" She whispered.

Kelsey let out another sniffle as she thanked Diamond with teary eyes and eventually cried herself to sleep. Diamond continued holding her close to provide extra comfort and warmth until eventually falling asleep herself.

They awoke the next morning repeating their usual routine of having breakfast and packing up camp, then setting out for another day of searching for Gwen. As the sun was slowly beginning to set once again, Kelsey felt all hope was lost until everyone began to hear a very faint voice calling out.

Kelsey's ears shot up as she frantically looked towards the source of the voice. Her eyes began to water heavily as she jumped down from Dan's arms and began barking back towards the voice. It was almost like a miracle as they had just started doubting if they would ever reunite Kelsey with Gwen. They rushed through the woods and the voice became more clear with Kelsey growing more excited the closer they got; finally, they pushed their way onto a narrow path where they found a blonde girl wearing black clothes staring back at the group with her hands over her heart.

"K-Kelsey?!"

The pup yelped happily as she hurried over and leaped into the stranger's arms. "Gwen!" Kelsey's eyes shut tightly as tears streamed down each of their faces. "Gwen! I was so scared!"

"Oh, Kelsey! I was so worried about you I couldn't even sleep!" She squeezed the dog tightly as they cried. "I'm so sorry you were alone for so long!"

Kelsey sniffled. "I wasn't alone. Diamond and her friends took care of me and helped me look for you!"

Gwen looked up at the group standing by the bushes and wiped a tear away. "You all helped Kelsey find me…? I-I don't know if I can ever thank you enough for this!"

Aura waved his hands. "All we wanted was for Kelsey to be happy, nothing else."

Gwen took a deep breath and thanked them all again before introducing herself. Aura and Dan followed and introduced themselves as well as their Pokemon. Although with the sun getting so low to the ground now, Dan suggested they set up camp for their last night in the forest, offering Gwen to join them for supper.

After an excited bark from Kelsey, Gwen accepted their invitation and followed them down the path until coming to a small clearing where they quickly set up camp and served a delicious meal to celebrate the reunion between Kelsey and Gwen.

"Kelsey told us your parents are working on mass producing translators. Mind showing us your prototype?" Dan asked curiously.

Gwen gave the dog on her lap a puzzled look. "How could she have told you?"

Dan laughed. "Right. Well Nessa here uses her psychic powers to translate Pokespeak for me through my own subconscious." He pulled the Kirlia closer to him by wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"As for me, I was born with the ability to understand Pokemon like it's just a foreign language."

Gwen stared in awe as she praised their methods of translation and eventually took off a small device from her ear and held it out. "This is my dad's latest prototype, it has almost no delay with its translations and doesn't block out sound from the ear." She put it back in her ear and switched it back on. "Although it still had a hard time translating anything too far or quiet, but at least it's waterproof and the battery is specially manufactured to prevent overcharging. It also has special insulation to prevent issues while being worn."

Kelsey yipped happily. "They're also working on making a special translator collar for Pokemon to wear!"

Gwen laughed. "That too, but that's only an idea for after they perfect the translator."

For the rest of the night, Aura and Dan showed great interest in the translator while Gwen happily taught them how it worked based on specific patterns and frequencies in the Pokemon's voices. Eventually the next day had come and it was time for them to part ways. Although they felt a bit sad to split up, it was almost guaranteed they'd meet again as Aura and Gwen both aimed to join the Kalos League. So wishing Gwen and Kelsey luck in their fight against Viola, the two groups parted ways after finally reaching the road, Gwen heading off to Santalune while Aura and Dan started towards Lumiose.