ML54: Hey guys! Don't worry Im not dead!

Fennekin: AH! A GHOST!

Random Ghost: Show off...

ML54: I'm sorry about the late update and short chapter but, as it says on my profile, I have a bit of a crisis going on right now but here's a little bit of good faith that I haven't forgotten about this story. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and please read and review, but don't flame me. I love you guys! :)

Reconciling

Fennekin entered the room, carefully, as to not disturb the frog Pokemon who sat in his bed, staring at the ceiling.

The plan had ultimately failed, however, seeing as how it was so quiet that the door opening had the subtlety of an earthquake. Froakie looked to the door and met her eyes.

The two just sat there for a minute, unsure of what to do or say. Fennekin was too nervous due to the guilt that was still weighing down on her heart and the butterflies building in her stomach from her new found admiration for the blue Pokemon.

Froakie's silence was caused more that he didn't really know what to say. He wasn't upset, that was for sure, but he didn't know how to feel about the fact that she had completely ignored him when he tried to keep her safe.

This combination led to a very awkward silence to pass between them.

Fennekin opened her mouth, desperate to get the apology that she wanted, oh so desperately, to give to him but couldn't seem to find the words.

"C'mon Fennekin! It's two words! It's not that difficult, you've said them before!" She scolded herself, shaking her head in an attempt to shake her fear away.

It didn't work and she still couldn't get the words out.

To his credit, Froakie didn't get impatient with her. He just sat and gave her a reassuring look. Though he wasn't smiling, she could tell that it wasn't because of any ill will towards her. It just wasn't really the moment for one.

Fennekin ultimately sighed, and prepared to turn away. "Way to go, genius! Now you've made yourself look like an idiot! Just say those two stupid words!"

"I'm sorry..." She heard the words finally reach the air and she sighed in relief...

...before she realised that she didn't say them.

She turned and gazed upon the blue frog Pokemon who had taken to looking down upon the bed spread before him, actively avoiding her line of sight. She raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Why are you sorry?" Fennekin blurted out, not really knowing what else to say after that. "What does Froakie have to be sorry for? I'm the one who got him hurt!"

However Froakie's expression made it seem that it wasn't quite that simple. He moved his hand to stroke his neck, as if in some sort of discomfort. Fennekin approached the bed and hopped up onto it like she did the previous night so Froakie could lower his voice to help make things a little easier for him.

He sighed in relief and, in a lower voice, replied. "I...I shouldn't have been so pushy. I didn't...mean to...seem like...I was trying to order you around," He got out, pausing every so often to relax his throat a bit. The painkillers had helped him talk freely last night, but they also made him light headed and loopy, so you know. A bit of a double edged sword.

Fennekin looked at him, incredulously, almost as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What?! Are you listening to yourself?!" She yelled, snapping again.

Froakie, surprisingly, wasn't that startled with her response. He had heard the way she snapped at Piplup earlier so was prepared for the whole 'It's all my fault' speech and was ready to prove her wrong.

But something else entirely happened.

She growled, with her eyes starting to well up with tears. "I could've killed myself! I could've left my trainer, alone and heartbroken! I could've landed on someone and gotten them killed...But you saved me..."

She gasped after a little sob to try to keep the water works from flowing, and trembled as she continued. "You just dived in and almost sacrificed yourself to save me! No regard to whether you'd make it out alive or not! I just...I...I can't thank you enough..."

She finally broke down and wrapped her front paws around Froakie, careful not to upset is position too much. "I know you'll tell...t-tell me it w-wasn't my fault i-if I said it w-was...or say th-that I'm sorry...But there's n-no way you can take this...You're my hero Froakie and I don't care what you think about that!"

Froakie just sat there, frozen in shock about how these events transpired, too lost to even noticed the pain his body felt as she squeezed a few sore spots in his shoulders. All he noticed was the pristine orange fur brushing against his mist blue skin, how warm she felt to the touch and how much she smelt of wood-pine.

Fennekin sniffed and leaned her head back to look him in the eyes, already getting herself caught in a trap of sorts. Those large bulbs just seemed to light up the place and she felt blood rush to her cheeks so that her cheeks matched his.

"It's...It's okay Fenny..." Froakie replied, condensing her name down into a more easily manageable word. Fennekin however, blushed at the new name and started to feel a few small embers fall from her ear fur and dissipate into the air, as if her body was trying to cool her face down itself.

"I...I um...I..." Fennekin tried to say something, but soon found herself caught, flushed, vulnerable and above all else, really attracted to him right now.

But her next move probably wasn't the brightest.

She shot her face forwards and met his lips with her own, feeling like if she didn't she would explode. It caught the frog completely off guard, his wide open eyes being an indicator to his confusion.

Fennekin had held her eyes closed as she did this, trying her best to coax his lips to move against hers in some way. His lips were pretty dry, mainly because he can't really get water himself and, thus, hasn't drunken anything yet. They were rough and almost calloused compared to her moist and soft ones.

But that didn't matter to her. All that mattered to her was who those lips belonged to. The frog Pokemon who had, inadvertently, stolen her heart and had no intentions of giving back anytime soon.

Soon though, her thoughts had caught up to her and her eyes snapped open to meet his ones, that were still confused, but to a much lesser degree. Now it was whether or not he should kiss back or how he goes about doing that.

Before he could think on that, Fennekin jumped away from him and quivered, shrinking into herself, curling up as if to hide in her own fur. "I...I-I...I'm sorry...I...should go!"

"Wait..." Froakie called out, but she had ran off before he could continue, leaving a very confused and disappointed frog behind.

"...I love you..." He whispered to himself, feeling himself tear up at how complicated this situation really was now since he couldn't seek her out and she would have to come to him. "...Damn it..."