I hope everyone had a happy holidays and a wonderful break c:

I'm sorry I haven't really gotten much writing done. I admit, I totally have been neglecting my writing and I apologize again for that.

So! Here's chapter 23, and I assure you, it will be a great one.

Gratitude/Comments:

ElectroPhoenix, thanks for reading and reviewing! I suppose you'll just have to find out.

Kindness over London, thank you for reading and reviewing :D I'm happy that my last chapter blew you away ^-^

Tropicallight, thanks for dropping by to read and review. I don't really think there's much to hide about the identity of the man in the suit. So I'll just tell you that the man was intended to be the captain, pilot, leader, etc of a certain group. I won't say anymore about it, but information will be disclosed on that soon. Oh- and in response to what Drew did at the end, Lucas was moving the branch while talking to Paul. So, since both he and Drew were holding the branch they'd picked up, his movements began to move Drew's end of the branch too. Hope that made sense, haha.

It's alright, this time of year is real busy, you know? BananaBomb, thanks for reading and reviewing! I'm glad that chapter 21 is enjoyable and I assure you that more information on the events from chapter 22 will be explained and disclosed. Let me just say, that Drew is not a savage. He had his teeth filed and then plated with silver making them seemingly weapons. Now, why did he do this? You'll just have to find out! As for Paul, yeah, I didn't want to make him that tough, overpowered character that loves to hurt people and is really powerful in battle like most people depict him as. But he will definitely have his moment, everyone will. Not to worry, I have my own little plan for him. My last thing for you is that Dawn did NOT go into her split-personality in front of anyone other than Paul. The fact that only Paul knows her secret strengthens their bond. When she flipped out earlier, the others only took it as her having a mood-swing and emotional break down. Only Paul knew that something inside her was switching.

Thank you very much, Blacknebulastar! I'm glad you could stop by to read and review once more. I suppose you'll just have to find out, read on, my child!

Alright, that's it for now. But I'm going to advertise my story Lovely Mine once more, haha. If you haven't already checked it out, I encourage you to do so.

Thanks!

Now onto the story!

Disclaimer:*

I don't own Pokemon.

Chapter 23:

"W-what on earth are you doing?!"

"Just get down on the ground." Paul snapped, grabbing Drew by his shoulders and throwing him down onto the sand.

They had already gotten back to the camp and put away the supplies gathered. It was now almost pitch black, the only thing allowing them to see was the light of the campfire. The girls were also back along with Leaf and Gary while Red was at his rock just off the beach fishing.

"Hey, what's up with you?" May frowned, shoving him roughly away from the chartreuse haired boy.

"This bastard has some explaining to do." He growled roughly, snatching a spear sticking up out of the ground near the spot where Red usually crafts.

"Whoa, whoa, chill out, Paul!" Gary's eyebrows furrowed together.

"Yeah-"

"Ketchum, Oak, you two just shut the hell up. You have no idea how much of a threat he is to us. He violently used his teeth as a weapon." Pointing the spear right at Drew, Paul's face darkened. Once again, Paul felt extremely weak as a small wave of fear flew over him.

"Drew, what is he talking about?" May questioned, holding her broken arm close to her body as a gust of wind blew at them. It almost seemed as if it were a hundred times more icy then usual. Drew stared up at the survivors gathering around him. He seemed to be incredibly speechless and somewhat terrified.

"He's dangerous." Lucas muttered quietly.

"Exactly. He already snapped once in rage, who knows what'll happen if he gets pissed again?!" Paul shouted.

"I agree with Paul. Until he speaks, we should keep away from him.." Misty shuffled by Ash's side, looking over at Lucas while pressing a damp piece of tattered cloth to Ash's bruised jaw.

"T-that's too cruel! Don't you think so, Leaf?" May argued, looking to her friend. The petite brunette looked startled upon hearing her name called for an opinion. Her eyes widened and her feet dug into the sand as she frantically searched her mind for something to say. "Leaf!"

"Leave her alone!" Gary suddenly snatched up Leaf's wrist and pulled her away from the other girl. This sparked even more curiosity in all of the chaos among the group. A light blush dusted her face before she wordlessly moved out of his grasp. It wasn't long until she recovered from her shock and her blush melted away.

"Don't touch me.." She growled quietly and stiffly, fiddling with the hem of her skirt.

"Save the romance, I think we're all missing the main point here." Paul grit his teeth and tightened his jaw. "Drew. Has. Some. Explaining. To Do."

"I-I..." Drew stammered, getting back up on his feet. "I'm not hiding anything, I can explain."

"Oh- Can you?" The plum head laughed. "Y-"

"Paul." A certain someone's feminine voice caused the currently aggravated and slightly terrified boy to pause his words. "You need to give him a chance to explain. Don't tell him to explain if you won't let him."

Dawn spoke softly, tugging gently on the sleeve of his hoodie with her small hand. Even she thought he was acting unreasonable. Though, she knew it was only to be expected as the human mind was naturally built to be somewhat scared of the unknown. Reactions to the unknown went either way, in fear, or in curiosity. She smiled lightly at him.

"Urk.." He tensed up, averting his eyes. If he was embarrassed, he certainly did a good job of hiding it. There wasn't any other noticeable signs of fidgety movements or blushing. Dawn mentally huffed, Lucas surely would've reacted somehow if she had done that to him. "Alright."

"Thank you." Drew shivered before nodding to the blue haired girl. In response, she smiled before sighing and sitting down on a log next to Leaf and Misty, who had just finished tending to Ash. The fire was warm and comforting compared to the cold, bitter atmosphere in the woods.

"So..?" Gary raised an eyebrow, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. It went quiet for a moment and Leaf was mentally begging Red to come back. She froze for a moment, zoning out. If it was almost completely black out, what was Red doing out by that rock. Certainly he wasn't fishing at this hour. Turning her head, Leaf looked out, scanning the area where she remembered the large rock to be.

Her eyebrows knitted together in worry upon seeing a bright yellow-white light glowing in the distance, seemingly just off of the sandbar. He was most definitely fishing and working his butt off to feed them all. Guilt flooded over Leaf. They had all eaten their portions as if they were nothing while he spent hours just trying to scrape together anything he could. Tomorrow she would surely get up before the man and help him. After all, that's what her father would probably do if he was in her position.

"Alright.." Drew sighed and finally opened his mouth to speak, directing Leaf's attention from Red to him. Pulling his lips back, he bit down quickly, leaning towards the fire to allow them all to get a good look at his teeth. After a couple good moments, he released his hold on his mouth and let his hands drop to his sides. "There's really no big reason for it. I was in a band at my school, they used to sing some of those girly pop songs, then after a while they decided to change their appearance, and since I was the lead singer, they decided to make me look more wild... Or serious.. Probably more on the wild side."

"That's it? So basically you sharpened your teeth so you'd get your little boy band a more serious image?" Lucas snorted.

"Pretty much." Drew laughed and shrugged.

"And... How did you learn to violently rip people's throats out?" Paul inquired, slightly amused.

"Well, the guy technically wasn't a person.. But I never really use these things unless I'm eating meat. There hasn't been a whole lot of that since the crash.. Throats, meat, either way it's like the same thing, right?" A both careless and sheepish smile coated Drew's face.

"That's.. a bit sick." May gave into it, feeling a shiver run up her spine. Whether it was from the cold or from the fact that he compared eating meat to ripping away at someone's throats, it was extremely uncomfortable.

"Is it?" He replied, touching the silver lined teeth in his mouth with a tap.

"What about fish? Isn't that meat?" Ash questioned.

"Fish meat is thinner and easier to eat than actual meat from things like cows, pigs, lamb, whatever. I can't really sink my teeth into fish.." Drew stretched, walking over and letting himself flop down and onto another log around the campfire. "Any other questions?"

"Why did you want to change the image of your band?" Lucas yawned.

"Honestly, I really love girls... But it gets annoying after a while. In fact, we haven't exactly changed our image for real yet.. The gig we had received was supposed to be our big change. Actually, I was heading to it when we crash landed. My bandmates weren't with me because I overslept and had to catch another one. I was supposed to meet them in Kalos, but.. Life is full of disappointments, you know? It's no big deal anymore." He ran his fingers through his hair before resting his head in his hands. The light of the fire illuminated his face and sent a familiar feeling of warmth and security over him.

"Having girls all over you? Sounds like bliss." Gary teased, sitting down next to Drew and elbowing him in the ribs. His comment which was meant to be a joke however, was taken seriously. The spiky haired brunette received what he thought was an icy glare from Leaf.

"Anyways, if you're going to do anything with those teeth, gnaw on a stick or something." Paul let out an exasperated sigh before walking over towards Dawn and tapping her on the shoulder. "We need to talk. It's really import-"

"Aah!" Lucas yawned loudly, stretching his arms. "Dawn, baby, I'm tired and it's really late. I'm sure your exhausted, it's been a long day. Let's go to bed, my honey." He pulled Dawn by her arm to her feet before dragging the girl off towards the clearing around the big oak. Frowning, Paul decided to think nothing of it as for a split second, he swore an uncomfortable expression crossed her face. And they were dating, so it was only natural for them to want to sleep together.

"I'll go get Red... I.. I think that..." Leaf murmured silently, nervous as she had suddenly attracted both eyes and attention of everyone else. Even Ash, who was usually staring off into the space or talking with someone, usually Misty, was looking straight at her. After the recent events, it seemed as if everyone was confused about what they should do next. It felt as if everyone's eyes were burning into her flesh and assaulting her. Unconsciously, she looked to Gary for help.

"It's really late out, Lucas was right. Maybe we should all just hit the burlap sack for tonight." Gary spoke up casually, folding his arms behind his head.

"G-good idea." May chimed in awkwardly, being the first one to head off after Dawn and Lucas.

"Burlap sack?" Paul grunted with a slight smirk on his face.

"Yep." He replied with a grin.

"Why burlap?" Ash cocked his head to the left. Misty raised her fist, about to hit him for the stupidity of his question, but lowered it upon deeming that it wasn't worth her energy. She sat wordlessly, simply shaking her head with a groan.

"'Dunno, you know? Burlap is rad." Once again, Gary shrugged his shoulders.

"Tote bags?" Drew gave a sharp toothed grin.

"No, no, it has to be a sack made out of burlap." He shook his head.

"Why only burlap sacks? What about burlap-"

"I'm going to bed. I think you guys should too." Misty cut May off, standing up and walking towards the clearing.

"W-wait for me, Mist!" Ash called after her, stumbling as he abruptly stood and rushed after the ginger.

"It is late..." Drew stood and followed after Paul and May, leaving Gary alone by the fire.

He had decided to wait for Leaf and Red to return. After finding out that she was apparently an important part of his life, something had made him want to touch and be around the girl even more. Although, things had gotten a bit awkward since their time in the woods so it only made it harder to get close to her. Even though he said he had loved the old, short haired Leaf who was more open and smiley to other people like Dawn, it was a total lie when he had said he didn't love the new Leaf at all. And that was because either way she was herself and Gary liked it that way.

Waiting for her to come around was going to be hard.

"Red?"

The young man turned at the sound of both his name and the small splashing sounds of someone slowly wading through the ocean waters. He set his spear down and rubbed his eyes.

"Leaf. What are you doing out so late?" Sluggishly turning around, he watched as the said girl hoisted herself up and onto the big rock he was sitting on.

"I could ask you the same thing." She smiled gently, sitting cross-legged in front of him. He had bags under his eyes which were also red and puffy. Red looked incredibly thin and almost as frail as someone like Dawn. Sometimes the man really worried her.

"Fishing. We've only got enough to last us about two days if we keep the portions real low. How..." Taking off his hat, he ran his fingers through his thick, somewhat greasy hair. Even though they could rinse their hair in the salty sea water, there was nothing they could do about shampoo. Leaf had heard of flowers that work in place of shampoo, but unfortunately, it was probably not the right season for them to grow. Shaking her head, she shook the random unwanted thoughts from her head.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat?" She yawned, bringing her arms and legs close to her torso as another freezing gust of wind blew their way.

"I said, 'How is everyone?'" Red replied, beginning to wrap the fish he had speared in three large leaves. There were several of them, two of them were fairly big while the other three were sort of small. One of the biggest two was fat while the other was a bit more on the scrawny side. The last three, the smaller ones, were in average, being in between the looks of plump and slim. Given his luck this morning, it was unbelievable that he had actually landed anything bigger than his hand.

"Terrified of the unknown." Leaf murmured, gazing at the water below. Waves rolled back and forth, gently touching the big rock they were sitting on. The ocean waters were dyed in a sparkling light yellow as they were currently illuminated by Red's torch.

"And what makes you say that?" He raised an eyebrow at her before turning and pushing the leaf wrapped fish further onto the rock. Scooting closer to her, he sat, following the girl's gaze to the water in front of them.

"Did you know Drew had his teeth sharpened and plated?" She hesitated before questioning the young adult.

"Yes, although I figured it was a secret as he usually keeps his mouth closed and his lips moving quickly when he talks." A small laugh escaped his lips. "It makes him look a bit strange, no?"

"Ah.. Well we didn't know that. We all found out after he... sort of.." Trailing off, Leaf averted her eyes, hesitant as to whether or not she should inform Red of what the boys had fought and killed.

"Sort of..?"

"Ripped someone's throat out." She muttered quietly.

"A savage?" Red sighed, crossing his arms.

"Yeah... So a couple of us were extremely wary of him until he finally explained. Did you know he was in a boy band?" Leaf found herself somewhat more talkative and natural with him. It made her happy that she could say all the things she hadn't been able to all day.

"No, that's news to me. Today has been pretty wild, hasn't it?" He smiled at her before uncrossing his arms. Red moved a bit closer to her before softly stroking the top of her head. A content expression spread across Leaf's face and for a moment, it seemed as if she were simply with her father safe at home.

"Very wild.."

There was a period of silence. The only sounds were wind whistling in their ears accompanied by the rolling waves. No stars lit up the sky as clouds took their place. Leaf noticed that Red almost had the same build as her own father. Both were lean and taller than most people. Something about being touched by the young man made her feel a million times safer. Although, it was not to be taken the wrong way, it simply meant that Red gave off the same secure aura as her father.

"Red.." Her voice came out in a small whisper much to Leaf's surprise.

"Hm?" Red turned to her with a slightly questioning look on his face.

"I love you." Leaf mumbled unconsciously. Everything around her seemed to be fuzzy, warm, and somewhat relaxing despite the cold, bitter weather.

"Oh? And what about Gary?" He replied with a gentle chuckle.

"Not that way." She shook her head, a slight grin also gracing her lips. "I love you like family."

"I see. So you do like Gary. He seems like a charming young man once you get by his light teasing." Red rambled, causing a light blush to appear on the girl's face.

"N-no! I mean, we should focus more on survival then relationships, right?" Forcing the heat away from her face, she frowned and slapped on a more serious expression.

"I suppose that's true. But you can't work together without relationships of all sorts." He pointed out.

"W-well.." Glancing away, Leaf began to twiddle her thumbs. "Well what about you, Red?"

"Pardon?"

"Who do you love? Was there anyone special to you before we got here?" Leaf was a bit hesitant to discuss such matters with a grown man, but decided it might be interesting to hear. She looked back at him for an answer, now in a little bit of a better mood. "So-"

The girl cut herself off upon making eye contact with Red. Her cool jade green eyes met his glowing amber orbs. They were wet and shined as the light of the torch hit them, making them pop out even more. His face was frozen in what appeared to be shock. It seemed that her question was too personal, thus causing a sudden heavy wave of guilt to hit Leaf. Wet tears glistened and streaked both of his cheeks. Never in her life had she seen an adult cry that much.

He let out no noises of sobs nor wails. In fact, he must've been too depressed to. There was yet another period of silence flooding over them until Leaf finally mustered up all the courage she had to speak.

"W-W-We should probabl-"

"I love you too." Suddenly, she felt herself being roughly pulled. Just as Leaf was about to panic, she was lulled into pacification by a familiar warmth. Red had begun to stroke her head and run his fingers through her hair. He was now holding her in what seemed to Leaf like a desperate embrace. "You're like a daughter to me and right now you mean the world to me. I'm very jealous of your father for receiving a child such as you."

Leaf found herself speechless. It took her a moment to regain herself from her shock and hug him back. She was one of the few people at the center of his sanity and mind.

"My fiancé.." He breathed silently, letting go of the small girl. "She looks almost just like you.. It as if you came from her."

"I see.." Without the comforting warmth which she had been given from both Gary and Red, the world seemed a whole lot colder.

"I really wanted a daughter like you, but of course, I respect the whole 'no sex before marriage' thing." His eyes were loving, but they contained no lust much to Leaf's relief. She had read too many scenarios and articles where a man falls in love with one who looks like his lover. Now, she was certain that his fatherly emotions toward her were as genuine as hers were. Of course, she knew that Red wasn't that type of person anyways.

"We actually were about to get married when I arrived in Kalos... But unfortunately, I was a tad bit late." He laughed painfully before soaking his hands in the cold, salty water below and running them over his face. Pity began to pang her heart as she realized how much he'd been suffering both physically and mentally up until now.

"It'll be alright. We're going to get through this together, right? All nine of us. We're all in this together, you're not alone." Flashing him a confident smile, she fist pumped as if to change the depressing mood.

"You really are just like her." The last couple tears dripped from Red before he sat up and rubbed away the damp from his face. "So cheesy yet so pacifying to the heart."

"Then I'll happily be cheesy as long as you need me to."

"Food!"

May screeched, sitting up immediately. Drew, who was right next to her, yelped in surprise before moaning and slowly sitting up.

"Jesus, Maple." He rubbed his head. "You're going to wake everyone... Oh.."

He stopped when he saw that everyone else was wide awake, eating their portions out by the fire. Just as he was about to ask, Misty came out with their portions. Freshly cooked fish was handed to them but as much as they smelled good, Drew couldn't help but notice how much smaller they were now compared to yesterdays. Deciding not to complain, he quickly gulped his down while beside him, May shoved her face with the fish.

"If you're wondering why everyone's already awake, it's because Ash also woke us up by screaming." The ginger snorted, flashing them a smile before walking back out towards the campfire. It wasn't long until both May and Drew got up and followed her out, taking their seats on a log next to Gary.

While May fidgeted with her broken arm yet again, Drew looked around at the chatting group members. In a matter of seconds, he noticed how much closer Leaf and Red were sitting on the log directly across from them with Misty. Red seemed to be whittling Paul another spear with a average sized sharp, jagged piece of metal. The same piece of metal that the man had scavenged when they had first crash-landed.

Lucas was once more sitting uncomfortably close to Dawn and Ash was boasting to Paul about how many battles he'd won back in Unova. Misty and Leaf were looking at several colorful seashells which they had collected earlier that morning.

"Drew, help me with this." Gary called out. He had moved from his spot and was now pulling an old, empty turtle shell out of the hot sun. By now the clouds had cleared up quite a bit, however Drew could tell that it wouldn't be this sunny for long.

"What is that?" The chartreuse haired boy inquired, standing up and walking over to where Gary was.

"Misty found it. I filled it with seawater and let it evaporate in the heat." Shaking the shell gently to show him, Gary began to trace his fingertips through rough white salt.

"Interesting. But what are we going to use salt for? Flavoring fish?" Drew joked, pinching a bit of the salt before tasting it. There was only about a handful in the bottom of the container and would have to be used wisely. It would be great if they could find several more shells to use, but they had already gotten lucky enough with this one.

"Gross man, I don't even know if that's sanitary or anything. Does it taste good? The better the water the better the salt." He shuddered, raising an eyebrow.

"Mmm.. It's okay I guess. It's been so long since I've tasted sea salt, I don't really know what to compare it to. You did boil the turtle shell first yesterday, right?" His reply came slow as Drew took a moment to savor the flavor. "How do you know so much about this stuff?"

"Yes and to be a researcher, one must know as much as possible." Gary huffed, puffing out his chest with pride before sitting down in the sand with the shell in his lap. Soon enough, Drew took his seat right next to him on the slightly damp sand.

"That's cool. So do you know anything about medicines? Have you ever been to Kalos before?" Drew leaned forward in curiosity, completely blocking out the soft chattering and murmurs coming from the campfire area.

"Unfortunately, medicine is out of my knowledge and no, but I was going in name of my grandfather so I could expand my knowledge and become a researcher." The spiky haired brunette's eyes seemed to light up as he spoke. It seemed he was quite excited about his dreams.

"Wow. So what can we do with the sea salt?" He eyed the almost snow-white pile.

"Mmm.. Dental hygiene, food preservation, and getting rid of fishy odors so we don't have to smell the remains of the raw fish on Leaf and Red's hands.." His hand rose to his chin as Gary thought carefully through all of the possibilities. "Scaling fish, killing poison ivy, helping remove the pain of bee stings, and soap."

"That's... alot." Drew recounted everything Gary had listened. He really hadn't realized how useful salt could be in these scenarios. "You memorized all of that?"

"It's sort of basic logic." Shrugging, the other boy stood up before carrying the turtle shell over to Red. "So, Red-"

"Yeah, I was listening to you." The man stopped whittling with a smile. His fingers ran over the spear to feel it's sturdiness and texture before he stabbed it into the sand. "I think it's great that you know so much. I'm looking forward to hunting a real animal so let's save that salt for the meat if we can get anything."

"Ah.. Okay." Gary nodded. Of course, this man already had a plan formed before he could even think. After a couple of moments he realized that the low chattering had stopped and eyes were now on them.

"I feel we should get going on the shelter. Although I don't know if what we have will be enough." Red stood up and began to stretch.

"It probably won't." May replied to him quickly raising skeptical expressions.

"And how would you know?" Drew snorted, crossing his arms.

"I can tell just by looking at the pile of stuff, you empty-headed jellyfish." She shot back, clenching her good fist.

"What does that even mean?" He laughed.

"Ah, Drew, jellyfish don't have hearts or brains." Gary chuckled a little bit. "But May, jellyfish don't even have heads, so-"

"Gary, nobody likes a know-it-all." The brunette cut him off quickly.

"Anyways- what would you know about building shit?" Drew rolled his eyes, flipping his hair.

"Well, you know, my daddy was a carpenter and gym leader while my mommy was a former structural engineer." Sticking her tongue out, May began to swing her sling back and forth in boredom.

"Really now? Well-"

"How about half of us go collect material while the other help stays here to at least start building?" Misty suggested, looking over to Red who smiled and nodded before turning to the group.

"So who's going and who's staying?" Ash stopped talking to Paul and turned, giving his full attention to the current plan.

"Oh- I just remembered that Paul and Dawn weren't supposed to be allowed out of camp." Red sheepishly smiled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Red.. should also stay." Leaf nodded furiously, raising her hand up into the air.

"Then... May should also stay, right? Help us get the main structure set up?" Dawn stood up, pulling away from Lucas.

"So then Misty, Ash, Gary, Leaf, Lucas, and I should go?" Drew exchanged glances with Gary and Ash.

"That's six people going and only four staying. Shouldn't another person or two stay back and even everything out?" Lucas muttered, staring after his girlfriend as she moved closer to the edge of the log.

"Misty, Drew, Gary, and Leaf should certainly go. I mean, we need more supplies too, right?" May reasoned, kicking the sand beneath her feet up into the air.

"But then shouldn't we have a fifth person go for brute strength?" Gary took a few glances at Lucas, Ash, and Paul.

"I'm out." Paul grunted, putting his hands up in a surrendering position.

"So... Ash and Lucas.." Leaf nervously shifted in her seat next to Red. For a good minute there was pure silence aside from the rolling waves of the ocean.

"Alright!" Drew shouted, spiky teeth glistening as he opened his mouth, attracting everyone's attention. "I think we can all agree that whatever is going on between Paul, Dawn, and Lucas is ridiculous. In fact, one of these days I'm going to get so irritated that my gorgeous head will explode!"

"Your point is?" Lucas snorted, gritting his teeth.

"My point is that you guys should be separated. Dawn is your girlfriend, you've made that clear enough. But even if you have a relationship, we're all better off having her with Paul then with you who will hold us all back with your constant flirting!" Drew snorted right back at him, baring his fangs.

"And how the hell do you know those two won't hold you back with 'constant flirting'?" The raven-haired boy snapped, adjusting his scarf.

"Do you honestly think that Paul has the guts to pull a move on another guy's girlfriend? I mean, he couldn't even beat one savage." He laughed, flipping his hair.

"That's unfair to say! Paul has beaten more savages than you!" Dawn argued, raising an eyebrow. "And I can handle myself, don't treat me like some sort of distracting possession."

"I agree. Drew, it was dark out, everyone was tired, nobody really had a weapon, and not everyone can rip someone's throat out." Gary nodded, pulling one of Red's newly crafted spears out of the ground. He quickly felt his hand mold around the shaft of the spear before stabbing at the air, testing it out. Content, he smiled before shoving it back in the earth beneath his feet.

"Alright, I'll give him that, but still. He acted pretty wimpy back there." Drew shrugged, rolling his eyes.

"Don't be too modest." May huffed, looking over at Paul who seemed as if he was reflecting on his actions. He stared down at his feet, ignoring Ash's many attempts to talk to him.

"Anyways, you were saying that Lucas should go with the group? What about Ash?" Misty directed the topic right back.

"I don't really have a good idea of Ash's strengths and weaknesses." Red commented, looking at the said boy up and down.

"I'm good at doing what I'm told!" Ash flashed a familiar toothy smile only making everyone sigh. "What?"

"That... doesn't help the situation at all.." Gary suddenly broke out laughing.

"Well.. I think that Ash should stay here and help us build." May voiced her opinion to which none objected.

"Alright. So let's get going!" The black-haired boy fist pumped the air. He led Misty, Drew, and Lucas into the woods. However, Gary stopped following Ash.

"How much do we need?" Gary tore his spear out of the ground before looking back at the remaining group.

"Mm... To make a shelter for ten? A whole lot." May pursed her lips, scanning the pile of materials they had gathered earlier.

"Hurry up and go, it's going to come very soon." Paul muttered, looking up at the cloudy sky above. "Maybe not today, but soon."

"R-Right!" Gary nodded.

Yeah... This is a very short chapter and that being I just felt like wrapping it up quickly..

Anyways, I need to know.

Should I time skip their gathering of materials and only focus in on the group that's building? Or would you want to see what's going on? I can always make things interesting for the group that's gathering, but I need ideas.

Also, if you guys would like to see more of a ship, ex, pokeshipping, contestshipping, etc, just let me know. Because I know that it's not fun to read 5-9k words of just cutting wood, picking up junk, and other things.

I really haven't got much to say. I'm not feeling too confident in my writing today. School has been slowly eating me alive.

Uhm... That's all, I'm not feeling too peppy or excited right now either..

Last thing, I'm going to advertise my story, Lovely Mine. It's on chapter 2 at the moment and I'd love for you to check it out.

Until next time.

Feel free to drop a review, it means a whole lot.

Thanks.

~Bear.