Now let's continue!

Paul reached into his pocket and pulled out a ball capsule; a pink one. Zoey gasped at the sight.

"But Paul… how did you manage to get one? I heard they're really expensive and –"

Zoey was stopped in mid-sentence when Paul had kissed her. She was shocked yet, happy. When they broke the kiss, Paul placed the empty ball capsule onto Zoey's hand.

"Nothing's too expensive for you Zoey…"

Zoey, with tears of joy in her eyes, hugged Paul, almost tackling him to the ground. When Paul had regained his footing, he slipped his arms around Zoey to return the hug. Zoey was in pure bliss for mainly two reasons: one for the ball capsule she had gotten, and two: for Paul's sympathy and kindness towards her. When they broke apart, Paul took Zoey's hand and they walked back to the Stadium to find out the winners of the performance round…

. . .

"And here are the winners!" the MC announced. 64 pictures flashed across the screen of the stadium. All around, people were screaming like mad for the results and accomplishments of the coordinators. There were over 200 competitors at the start of the Grand Festival but now only 64 remained. And among those 64, Zoey was there; somewhere near the middle of the screen.

"Yes! I made it Paul! I made it!" she then ran into Paul to give him a hug. He of course, returned the hug before Zoey broke apart to see the rest of the competitors.

"Hey look… Dawn's among the 64 that were chosen…"

Through Paul's eyes, Zoey looked worried. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll wipe the floor with her." He took another look on Zoey's face. She seemed a lot more relaxed now. "I'll help you train for your upcoming matches. They start tomorrow right?"

"That's right." Zoey announced.

"Better get started right away then, come on! Let's go!" He took Zoey's hand and they both ran out of the reception lobby and headed outside to train.

. . .

Paul and Zoey were both at their campsite to train; with each other of course.

We'll skip the training part because I really don't feel like writing about it. XD.

It was getting dark and Paul wanted to set up the tent before sundown.

"Whew, want to call it a day Zoey?" he asked in a tired voice.

"Sure *huff* I'm a little tried myself too." They both for some reason laughed before recalling their pokemons.

"I'll go drop them off at the Center. Here's keep Torterra just in case. He still has some energy left." He threw Zoey the pokeball which contained Torterra.

"Actually, can I come with you Paul?"

"Well, I guess. Let's go."

Zoey excitedly caught up and began their excursion to the main city. They were about a 2 mile hike from the edge of the town so they decided to walk all the way instead of hurrying.

When they had finally arrived at the Pokemon Center, they dropped off all of their pokemon except for Torterra; whom they decided to keep in the case of an attack. The hike back to the campsite was a quite one. The serene environment was interrupted when a wild Zangoose appeared out of nowhere with an angry look on its face.

"ZANGOOSE!" it roared out.

The two trainer both took a step backwards.

"Whoa! What's its problem?" Paul had inquired. But before he could've done anything else, the wild pokemon had leapt for Zoey.

"Ahh!" Zoey screamed.

"Look out!" Paul pushed Zoey away and while she fell on the ground unharmed, Paul had taken a blow on his left arm. "Ugh!" he fell backwards landing on his back. He got up slightly and quickly reached into his pockets for his pokeballs. "Dammit…" Paul had realized that they were all gone. He was about to submit to death when a flash appeared behind the Zangoose.

"TOR-TERRA!" the continent pokemon roared.

The Zangoose wasn't surprised by the pokemon nor did it back down to the challenge. He went for Torterra straight on with a Crush Claw but Torterra had withstood the attack.

"Torterra! Frenzy Plant!" Paul yelled.

Torterra did as it was told to do and the Zangoose was wiped into the air.

"Blow it away with Leaf Storm!"

Torterra again did as he was told to do and the Zangoose literally went flying off.

"Thanks Torterra. Return." Zoey said as she recalled Paul's Torterra before running over to him.

"Paul! Are you alright?"

Paul had gripped his arm to try stop the bleeding but it didn't stop.

"I'll… be alright… More importantly, are you ok Zoey?"

Zoey took her long-sleeved shirt and ripped a piece of cloth off.

"Zoey, you don't have to do thi-"

"It's ok Paul." Zoey said while warping the article around his arm. "And yes, I have to do this. I'd do it for anyone but especially for my hero." Zoey then tighten the clothing from her shirt and helped Paul get up.

"We should head over to the campsite, we have more supplies there."

"Thanks Zoey..." he managed to say.

"Hey, don't mention it. This is for the time you helped me when that Ursaring attacked me. And plus, you saved me back there, so I guess I still owe you one."

Paul had thought over the act that he had committed. A couple of weeks ago, he never would've done that for anyone; not even for Reggie. But now, something had changed inside of him; Zoey had changed him.

When they had gotten to the campsite, the cloth that Zoey had used was now soaked in blood. She took Paul's shirt off and with the bandage that she had gotten from their emergency supplies, she wrapped it around Paul's wounds; covering it completely.

"I'm just going to get us some water to drink."

"Thanks again Zoey…"

"Hey, what did I say before?" she quickly gave him a peck on the lips before she left to get water for them to drink. Paul got off the stump that he had been sitting on and took a seat on the grass to reflect on himself.

"Wow… I've never been treated like this before. I wonder if this is how being cared for feels like."

Paul had taken another look at his injured arm. It had bled pretty badly but it wasn't anything fatal. He then thought about why he had risked his own life to save Zoey. "Maybe I did it because I love her… would I have done that for another person…?"

Paul's mind snapped back into reality when Zoey came back with two bottles of pure water.

"Here you go Paul." She handed him a bottle of water before taking a seat next to him. They both decided to relax a bit before going to sleep so Zoey had cuddled up next to her boyfriend. Zoey was on Paul's injured side so he couldn't wrap his arms around her; but she didn't mind. Just having Paul next to her was enough.

"Paul?"

"Yeah Zoey?"

"…Thanks for cheering me on back at the stadium. It really meant a lot to me."

Paul paused for a moment to think again. He had realized what he had done and in his guts, he knew that he had made the right decision. He took a look at Zoey one last time; she glanced back at him too. For a moment, they just stayed liked that; staring into each other's eyes, getting lost in them. They hadn't fully realized it, but their faces were getting ever so closer to each other's. Eventually, their lips met and the two couples finally enclosed themselves in a kiss. They both moved closer to each other so that Paul's hands were cupping Zoey's head while her arms and hands were on his chest. Every so often, one of them would tilt their heads slightly, but the other mirrored the motion. Eventually, they broke apart but Zoey still hung onto Paul to show her compassion for him. He in turn just relaxed; mainly due to his wounded arm. After a minute later, Paul stood up and Zoey epitomized (followed) Paul's actions. They walked back together to their tent and went inside to get some sleep for tomorrow's big competition.

And… cut.