"I can't believe it. I actually have three medals." Orihime said as she admired each of her medals. "I only need one more and I can enter the Ultimate Talent Star."

Our heroes have stopped for another break as they continue towards Tachikaze City so Ichigo can win his seventh badge.

"You'll get that medal soon." Ichigo said.

"Maybe you should use the opportunity to try and catch a new pokemon to help you out." Rukia suggested.

"That's a good idea, but I wonder what pokemon I should catch." Orihime said as she tried to figure that out.

"Dustox!"

"Masquerain!"

"Look." Chad said as he pointed to the sky. They all looked up and they saw a Dustox and a Masquerain.

"Those two look lovely. Who are they?" Orihime said.

"That green wing purple one is a Dustox and the one with an eye-pattern on its wings is a Masquerain." Rukia said. Both of them look peaceful pokemon until they started flapping their wings and used Gust against all of them for no reason.

Pokémon!
It's a battle, win or lose
It's the friends you make, it's the road you choose
You've got the right stuff
So make your mind up
Find the courage inside of you
If you're strong you'll survive
And you'll keep your dream alive
Let the battle begin
Pokémon!
Be the best you can be
And find your destiny
It's the master plan
The power's in your hand
Pokémon!

(Orihime's voice) A Beautifly Friendship

All of them tried resisting the attacks and didn't understand why the two of them were attacking them.

"Absol use Razor Wind." Ichigo said.

"Absol!" Absol charged up the attack and shot it out. Dustox and Masquerain got hit and both of them were knocked down.

"That was weird." Rukia said as she fixed up her hair. "Why would those two just attack us?"

"Wait." All of them looked to see a young lady with brown pigtails and wore a white apron with jeans and a peach shirt and she was running their way. "Those two are my responsibility." She ran over to both the pokemon. "You two aren't hurt, are you?"

"Dustox."

"Masquerain."

"I'm sorry. These two can get a little mischievous." The lady said.

"So are these two your pokemon?" Ichigo asked.

"Not exactly. My name is Annerie and I'm a caretaker."

"A caretaker?" Orihime questioned. Annerie took them all with her back to her home where she has been taking care of others pokemon.

"While trainers are away for something busy or important, I care for their pokemon and make them stronger." Annerie said. "Dustox and Masquerain are just two of them." All of them looked to see all the pokemon that are around here.

"Wow! You care for all these pokemon on your own?" Orihime said.

"Its hard work, but I love it." Annerie said. "However, I do have one pokemon that is a little problem." She turned to a bush at her house and they all looked to see a Beautifly shyly hiding in it.

"A Beautifly?" Rukia questioned.

"That Beauttifly is so shy and nervous without it's trainer around." Annerie said. "I don't know how to get it to come out with the other pokemon." Orihime felt really sorry for that Beautifly.

"Your job seems really important and a lot of fun since you can interact with all these pokemon." Orihime said. "You don't mind if we help you out, do you?"

"Not at all. I could actually use a little help." Annerie said. She went to her supplies and pulled out a cart of pokemon food. "You can help out by feeding some of the pokemon." All of them grabbed some of the pokemon food and helped feed some of the pokemon.

"Here you go." Rukia said as she handed some to Masquerain.

"Eat up." Ichigo said as he fed Dustox. Orihime grabbed some food and went over to where Beautifly was hiding.

"It's okay. You can come out." Orihime said as she placed the food down, but Beautifly continued to hide away.

"Getting Beautifly to come out is not easy. It's been here for a few days, but it won't interact with anyone." Annerie said.

"I think Beautifly just needs to make a friend or too. It's probably just lonely." Orihime said.

"You think? I haven't really thought about that." Annerie said.

"I'll work on Beautifly. The others can help you with the other pokemon." Orihime said. The others had no problem with it. All of them got to work on the other pokemon while she hanged back and worked with Beautifly. "It's okay. You can come out. I won't hurt you."

"Beautifly." Beautifly still seemed pretty shy and won't come out. This was going to be harder than Orihime thought. Ichigo and the others continued to work and train with the pokemon.

"Poliwag use Water Gun." Chad said.

"Poli!" Poliwag shot out some water as it was doing some training with Masquerain. Masquerain avoided the attack. "Now use Double Slap." Poliwag jumped up and started slapping Masquerain around with its tail.

"Kwia!"

"Dustox!" Ichigo was training with Dustox as he had Golbat go against it. The two of them continued to slam into each other in this battle.

"It looks like fun, doesn't it?" Orihime asked Beautifly as the two of them stayed back. "We can join them if you like. Your trainer would probably want you to get some battle practice." Orihime kept trying to convince Beautifly to come out, but it wouldn't come out and yet Orihime wasn't going to give up.

"Beautifly still won't come out?" Rukia asked as she came by.

"No, but I'm not going to quit on it." Orihime said.

"Why do you want to help it so much?" Rukia said.

"I just feel sorry for it." Orihime said. "I feel like I'm looking at a trembling child and I want to be able to help it."

"I see." Rukia said as she admired how big Orihime's heart was.

…

At Night

Night covered the sky and Annerie allowed Orihime and the others to stay at her place. Beautifly stayed hidden behind the bush. Beautifly stuck out its head and was surprised to see Orihime was still there. She was asleep and wrapped in a blanket, but she was still there. Beautifly was pretty hungry. So it finally decided to come out and have some of the food and helped itself.

"There we go." Beautifly felt someone gently placed their hand on its head. When it looked up, Beautifly saw it was Orihime who was awake. "I hope you like it." Beautifly was scared at first, but it started to settle down and was warming up to Orihime.

…

The Next Day

Orihime was able to get Beautifly to come out of its shell with her at least. Beautifly was able to do some training. Beautifly practiced it's just Gust attack against Sylveon, but Sylveon was able to hold on.

"You're doing great, Beautifly." Orihime said.

"Impressive, Orihime. I can't believe that you managed to get Beautifly to open up." Ichigo said. Beautifly noticed him and the others and seemed to have gotten scared as it hid behind Orihime.

"I guess not entirely." Orihime said with a nervous laugh.

"It's still a great accomplishment." Rukia said.

"Excuse me." Annerie called out. "Masquerain's trainer and Dustox's trainer have arrived." All of them went to see the two off. Dustox's trainer was a boy and Masquerain's was a girl.

"How you've been, Dustox?" The boy asked.

"Your Dustox seems like a strong battler. You've been training it well." Ichigo said.

"How's Masquerain been doing?" The girl asked.

"Masquerain has a big appetite, but it's a tough one as well." Rukia said.

"Here you go." Annerie said as she handed both trainers their pokeballs. Both their trainers returned their pokemon as they were satisfied with the results and hit the road again. "That just leaves Beautifly. Beautifly's trainer is suppose to come back today." Beautifly was a little anxious to see its trainer again.

"Don't worry." Orihime said as she held Beautifly. "You're trainer is going to be here soon." They waited and waited, but the sun was starting to go down and there was still no sign of Beautifly's trainer.

"That's strange. Beautifly's trainer was suppose to be here a couple hours ago." Annerie said.

"I hope nothing bad has happened." Rukia said. Beautifly was upset that its trainer hasn't returned yet.

"I'm sure you're trainer is coming for your right now." Orihime said. "We just need to have to be patient." They all waited, but there was still no sign of Beautifly's trainer. Night came again and there was no sign of her. Orihime stayed out with Beautifly to keep it company.

"Here." Ichigo came out and handed Orihime a blanket.

"Thank you, Ichigo." Orihime said as she took it. She wrapped herself in the blanket and Beautifly actually cuddled up with Orihime to keep warm that Orihime graciously accepted.

….

The Next Day

"Here you go, Beautifly." Orihime said as she passed Beautifly some food and it started eating. "We want you at full strength when your trainer comes to pick you up."

"I have a feeling that today your trainer will come and get you." Ichigo said. They waited and waited again, but a whole day has almost gone and went. "So much for my feeling?"

"What are we going to do? We can't just keep waiting around." Rukia said.

"Guys." Orihime said to get their attention. "Maybe you should all go without me. Ichigo, I know you want your badge and I'm the one taking responsibility for Beautifly. So there's no reason you all should stay."

"No way." Ichigo said. "We're not just going to leave you here. If Beautifly is your friend, it's our friend too. It's as simple as that." Orihime was glad to hear her friends having her back. They waited for another hour or two and still nothing.

"It's starting to get late." Chad said.

"I hope nothing bad has happened." Rukia said.

"Guy, I'll give Beautifly's trainer another day or two. If they don't show up by then, you can come with me if you like." She said to Beautifly. While that was glad to hear, Beautifly wasn't sure.

"Beautifly! Beautifly!" All of them looked down the road and saw a young girl coming to them. "Beautifly, I'm here!"

"Beautifly!" Beautifly looked so excited as it flew over to the girl. The girl let Beautifly fly into her arms and she dropped to her knees.

"I'm so sorry. You must have been so worried." The girl said.

"There's Beautifly's trainer! I knew she would make it." Ichigo said. One she arrived, they all brought her to the house to help regain some strength.

"Here." Annerie said as she gave her some water and she gulped it all down. "Do you mind telling us what happened?"

"Well, I was up in the mountains and I went after a Sandslash that had potential." The girl said. "What happened is that there was a cave-in and the entrance was blocked off and I was trapped inside. So I needed to find a way out."

"We're just glad you're okay." Rukia said.

"Thank you so much for taking care of Beautifly." The girl said.

"You really have Orihime to thank. She's been taking such great care of it." Annerie said.

"Thank you, Orihime." The girl said.

"No problem." Orihime said, but she sounded a little sad for Beautifly would have to leave.

"Okay. Beautifly, it's time to go." The girl said as she held out Beautifly's pokeball. Just as the red laser hit Beautifly, it waved farewell to Orihime and Orihime watched as a friend it recently made had to leave.

"Bye, Beautifly." Orihime said as she watched Beautifly's trainer leave, but she knows she won't forget THAT Beautifly

Even when they're not very long, friendships will overcome any distance. As Orihime says farewell to one she got close to, our heroes will soon be heading out to Tachikaze City. With that, their journey together continues.

To Be Continued….