Hello readers! I know it has been a long time :(

I'm sorry for not updating for such a long while. I had been updating pretty consistently within 2-3 weeks for the last 20 chapters, and now suddenly there was a 6 month break. I'm really sorry. I guess I got a little bored of both reading and writing fanfics so I kind of cast it aside. I knew that I didn't want my story to just stop unfinished though. Finally uploading a new chapter of my story gives me a nice feeling. However, I honestly can't promise regular updates anymore. I'm just not as active on this site as I used to be. I will try my best to finish though. After all, I'm only about 3 chapters away from the end.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Hickory's POV

Spruce and I will never be friendly after Hooves went blabbering around the forest humiliating Spruce… I sighed. I moped around the forest looking down between my paws.

"Hey Hickory!" I heard someone call. I looked up and smiled, spotting Maple in the field.

"Hey Maple! What're you doing?" I asked.

"Watching the sunset!" She patted the grass next to her with her tail. "Wanna watch with me?"

"Sure!" I happily agreed, trotting over and lying down in the grass next to her. I hadn't noticed the starting sunset until now. The sun was still above the horizon, and the sky had just begun to darken from blue to orange.

I glanced over at Maple, who was peering up at the sky, and remembered the "news" that Hooves was spreading around. I needed to hear what Maple's take on it was. You can never trust those Mightyenas, after all. "Hey, I heard you got into a battle with Spruce," I brought up. "Is it true?"

She turned to face me, looking a little caught off guard. "Uh, yeah… I did… How do you know?" she asked.

"The Mightyenas have been going around tell everyone. I don't know where they got the info from though," I explained.

"Those stupid jerks," Maple muttered, then sighed, looking down.

"Why did you get into a battle with Spruce?" I asked.

"Spruce wanted me back, but I refused of course." She paused, thinking. "I… I guess I started saying some mean stuff to him, because he got really mad and attacked me," she explained.

"And did you beat him up?" I asked excitedly.

"Yeah… I did."

"Nice job!" I complimented. "All that training went into good use, didn't it?"

She sighed. "I didn't want to fight Spruce. I was hoping to get along with him."

"It's not your fault, it's Spruce's fault for attacking you," I told her.

"And now that the Mightyenas have gone around telling everybody, Spruce's reputation will be ruined. I didn't want to ruin his reputation," she continued.

"Again, it's not your fault," I insisted. "You're so sweet. Even sure you left Spruce, you're still looking after him."

"Aw, thanks," she said, smiling at me warmly. I felt a blush creep up on my face so I looked down. I noticed that our paws were next to each other. I held her paw in mine. I looked back up and saw Maple looking back at me with an intrigued expression. Now's the perfect time to tell her, I thought.

The rough pounding paws interrupted the moment. We both jerked our heads to look behind us and spotted a spooked Mightyena.

"What are you doing here?!" Maple growled at the intruder.

"Ah! I-I came to tell you… The Raiders are attacking your garden!"

Maple and I turned our heads towards the other side of the field. Maple gasped. The Skuntank was spitting up poisonous sludge all over some of the plants, the Pinsir was chopping and uprooting them with his sharp pincers, and Splint the Luxray was watching over them with a malicious smirk. How dare they attack Maple's garden! I thought. I glanced over at Maple and saw the angriest expression I had ever seen on her before.

"My garden! Hickory, we have to stop them!" Maple exclaimed.

"Go find the other Guard members and tell them to come help us!" I ordered the Mightyena, who nodded and hurriedly ran off. "C'mon Maple, let's go!"

The two of us immediately rushed across the field side by side. It's three against two. This is gonna be a rough fight, I thought pessimistically, but then I saw the determined expression on Maple's face and became just as determined. As we approached The Raiders, I unleashed a fire blast, scorching the Pinsir and Skuntank. Maple fired an energy ball which smacked the Luxray.

"How dare you attack my garden! Go away!" Maple yelled.

The Pinsir started running towards Maple, head leaning forward and sharp pincers wide open. I immediately used flame charge to sprint in front of Maple. I set my ankles on fire, leaped off of my hind legs, and smashed into the Pinsir's round body with my flaming fore legs, landing on the ground evenly with my four paws.

I heard a glop-like sound to my right, glanced over, and spotted a nasty purple sludge bomb soaring towards me. Being quick on my paws from flame charge, I hopped backwards, avoiding the gnarly glob. I looked to see the Maple smack the sludge bomb with her leaf blade, sending it flying towards the Pinsir. He was just getting up after I had knocked him down when the sludge bomb exploded on him. I grinned at Maple, who smiled back, but then suddenly her smile went away.

Suddenly I felt pain jolt through me as I was struck by a thunderbolt from behind. I gritted my teeth in pain. A flash of green light appeared and went flying behind me, exploding in a blast of green. The thunderbolt stopped and I turned around to face Splint, who was recovering from Maple's energy ball. Without hesitation, I unleashed a flamethrower at him. This is a battle for Maple's garden. I have to give it my all, I told myself.

I spotted the Skuntank coming at me with a night slash, but didn't dodge in time. I hit the ground with a sharp pain in my side, but I rolled over and stood back up. Maple went at the Skuntank with a leaf blade, and he countered with his night slash. Taking careful aim so as to not accidentally hit Maple, I fired a flamethrower at the Skuntank to break the stalemate. After the Skuntank retreated, I quickly ran over to Maple's side.

"You're doing great," I quickly said to her.

"Thanks," she replied.

"They're not working together. As long as we protect each other, we can beat them," I said. She nodded in agreement.

The Pinsir and Skuntank were making their way towards us. I unleashed a flamethrower at them, and Maple added her energy ball to the fire. The Pinsir was hit, but the Skuntank managed to avoid our attacks and attacked with night slash again. Maple charged up her leaf blade and landed an amazing hit on the Skuntank's side, sending him away. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Splint approaching with his fangs bared, so I leaped forward to dodge.

"AH!" I heard Maple scream. I dreadfully whirled around, and saw that Splint had landed his crunch on Maple's left hind leg. I immediately shot an aggressive streak of flame at the enemy, who released Maple's leg to howl in pain instinctively. I continued my assault with an iron tail. I charged toward Splint and spun on my paw to send my iron tail flying at him. He caught my attack with his elongated fangs and attempted to break my strength with his. I gritted my teeth trying to resist his crunch with my iron tail. I heard the signature glop of a sludge bomb headed towards me. I pushed off the ground with my forepaws towards the left and jerked my tail to the right as hard as I could, causing us to spin and put Splint between me and the sludge bomb. The poison attack exploded on my adversary, knocking him away from me.

My tail was released from Splint's crunch, and I thankfully ended my iron tail. That scuffle with Splint was more exhausting than I expected. I saw the Pinsir coming towards me again, but the next moment he was knocked away by Maple's energy ball. I started up a fire blast. He got up and jumped towards me, and I roasted him with my attack. He went flying with a scream of pain and smacked into the ground. One down. Now this should be a fairer fight, I thought.

A sludge bomb was headed towards Maple which she didn't see because she was looking away. I intercepted the sludge bomb with my flamethrower. However, my tiredness caused me to aim poorly. The explosion was a little too close to Maple and she got knocked down. I quickly rushed over, and luckily she got back up right away. "How are you doing?" I asked.

"Tired," she admitted, "but look over there," she said, pointing to my right. I glanced over and saw, to my great relief, a Rapidash and Herdier at the other side of the field, sprinting towards us using flame charge and quick attack respectively, leaving a trail of orange light and white light behind them.

I quickly turned my attention back to my opponents. Maple had fired an energy ball at the approaching Skuntank, who dodged the attack. She readied her leaf blade. I was about to send a flamethrower at the Skuntank if it weren't for what happened next.

I cried out as I was struck by a wicked thunderbolt from Splint. My legs gave way and I crumpled to the ground. I heard the sound of a roaring flamethrower, and the agonizing electric attack stopped. Hooves had arrived and had hit Splint with a flamethrower. Splint used discharge, firing sparks all over. I was struggling to get up when I was smacked by a bolt of electricity and thrown back to the ground. A yell from my side indicated that Hooves was also hit.

When I gathered my senses and looked back, Splint was making a run for the forest. Hooves whizzed past me in pursuit, his legs on fire from flame charge. I looked around for Maple and saw her coming towards me, looking battered. "Hickory! Look out!" she called out. I was confused for a moment, but then my eyes widened as I saw a disgusting purple sludge bomb arcing through the air towards me. I couldn't move anymore though. I was too exhausted.

A bright green glow indicated that Maple was using leaf blade. I was already panicking with the sludge bomb coming towards me, but I got even more scared when Maple got in front of me. "Maple! Get out of the way!" I yelled. She swung her leaf blade at the sludge bomb, but her tail was extended too far out. She let out a cry as the nasty purple ball smashed into her side and exploded into a ton of poison energy and sludge.

I closed my eyes when the sludge bomb hit. When I opened them, Maple was lying on the ground in front of me, fainted. I was unharmed. Maple saved me from the sludge bomb. I lied still for several moments, breathing slowly to calm myself and regain my senses. I shifted my head up to look around just in time to witness Cedar smashing into the Skuntank, his form glowing white with power from a double edge. The Skuntank thudded against the ground and fainted. Cedar hustled over to me. "Hickory, are you alright?" he asked.

I slowly got off my side and sat down. "I'm okay, really tired, but I'll be fine," I muttered. "But Maple got hit by a sludge bomb and fainted," I said regretfully, pointing towards her.

Cedar looked at Maple lying there. "Will she be alright?" he asked, due to a lack of anything better to say.

"Yeah she'll be fine," I sighed. "Listen, I want to bring her to her den. Can you handle these two dummies?" I asked, signalling to the fainted Pinsir and Skuntank.

"What about them?" Cedar asked.

"Do what we did with Squash. When they wake up, talk to them. Convince them to stop bothering us."

"Um, I don't think I should try to handle two raiders at once when I'm all alone," Cedar pointed out. "Can't you stay here?"

I sighed. "Fine... but if Hooves comes back, then I'll leave with Maple. You two can handle them." I just wanted to get away from The Raiders and be alone with Maple. Hooves better have the sense to get back here soon.

I walked over to Maple, sat down next to her, and thought about the cause of her disheveled fur. I would've fainted had that sludge bomb hit me. Maple took the hit for me. She was just as exhausted as I was, and she's even weak to poison attacks, and yet she still tried to protect me from that sludge bomb.

You didn't have to intercept the sludge bomb… I thought, stroking her fur back to normal. Of course I would've done the same for her if the positions were reversed though. I would try to block any attack from hitting Maple if I could. Maybe she feels the same way I feel about her… I hope she does...

"What happened to her?" said an overly optimistic voice from behind me that made me jump in surprise. I stared angrily at the source.

"What happened to her?" Hooves annoyingly repeated.

"She got hit by a sludge bomb and fainted," I responded bitterly.

"Oh…"

"Hey Hooves, help Cedar deal with the two raiders when they wake up. I'm going to bring Maple back to her den," I instructed.

I was turning back towards Maple when Cedar said, "Hickory, can't you also stay?"

"No, I want to bring Maple to her den," I insisted. "I know you two can handle the raiders. I trust you guys."

"Are you sure you'll be able to carry Maple to her den after that fight?" Cedar asked.

"Yes. I'm perfectly fine now," I asserted.

"Okay, if you say so."

I carried Maple on my back about halfway to her den until I was too tired to continue carrying her and had to put her down. After regaining my lost breath for a several moments, I grabbed one of her legs in my maw and dragged her the rest of the way. Since her den was basically right next to the field and her garden, it wasn't that long - the sun had barely moved - but I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got to her den. I dragged Maple onto her leaf bed, then collapsed on the floor beside her. She was still out cold.

Luckily, her emergency basket was full of juicy blue Oran berries. I ate a couple to regain my energy. They worked like magic, just like those expensive potions that humans used on their pokémon. I looked at Maple lying on the bed. I wasn't worried; I knew she would be perfectly fine after a few Oran berries. Maple's den slowly turned darker and more orange shaded as the sun steadily lowered.

It was quite dark in the den when Maple finally stirred. I was looking out the den at the dark orange sky when I heard the leaves of her bed shift. I immediately turned to look at her. "Hey Maple, how are you feeling?" I asked.

"Ugh, I feel sore everywhere," she remarked. She looked around and patted the leaves of her bed a couple times. "Wait, how'd I get back to my den?"

"I carried you here," I said. I passed her the basket of Oran berries. "Here, after a few Oran berries you'll feel a lot better."

"Thanks for bringing me back here. Why did you bother though? You must be so exhausted," she asked as she ate her Oran berries and regained her strength.

"You saved me from that sludge bomb, so the least I could do was bring you back to your den," I said. "You know it wasn't necessary, right? Why did you sacrifice yourself for me?"

"Well, I saw you on the ground and I was still able to move, so I just had to try and stop it," she said. "Even though I couldn't reflect the attack, at least I blocked it from hitting you. It wouldn't be fair if you got knocked out because I dragged you into a fight to protect my garden."

"I'd help you out in any fight because I love you," I responded.

The words just flowed out of my mouth naturally. There was a moment of silence as we both processed what I had just said. I felt heat rush up to my cheeks, and not the kind of heat that comes from fire. But after a moment, Maple smiled at me, and I smiled too. "You… love me?" she said softly.

"Yeah, you're caring and strong. I know I can always rely on you for anything. There was once a time that you were so scared of The Raiders. You had to be rescued by me. That time is long gone. Today you fought without fear. And I know you care about me because you were willing to protect me from that sludge bomb. I love you Maple. You're special to me."

She blushed from my praise. "Well, I couldn't do anything without you," she said. "You told me how to face my fears of The Raiders, and you taught me how to resist them. You taught me new grass moves and trained my grass abilities, not only for fighting but for growing my garden, too. I've become so much more ever since you came home." She smiled at me sweetly. "How could I not love you for all that?"

I smiled, knowing the feeling was mutual. I lowered my head to her side, closed my eyes, and nuzzled her cheek with mine. She nuzzled me back lovingly. It was such a good feeling to finally exchange feelings with Maple. When I opened my eyes, I noticed that it was much darker. Maple shifted over to one side of her bed and patted the empty space next to her with her tail, smiling at me. I smiled back and climbed in next to her. We snuggled into each other's sides. Her soft fur was nice and comfortable. I lied my head down next to hers, our cheeks brushing slightly.

"So, what happened to The Raiders?" Maple asked.

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot about them until now. My friends came to help us just in time, and they were able to knock out the Pinsir and Skuntank, but… Splint the Luxray still managed to escape."

"Did you get to talk to the two raiders you knocked out?"

"No, because I wanted to bring you back here," I said. "I told Cedar to talk with them. I trust that he'll be able to convince them to stop harassing anyone."

"You didn't have to bring me here all on your own," she said.

"After that fight, I just wanted alone time with you," I explained.

"Oh, I see," she said, then nuzzled me again. I gladly nuzzled her back. She placed her forepaw on mine. I gently laid my tail on her back, and she did the same for me.

"I've never felt this close with Spruce," Maple whispered. "I liked him because he saved me from the raiders. I started to stop liking him when he didn't save me the second time. Then you came in and taught me how to save myself."

The sun fully set and it was finally dark. "You should go to sleep," Maple said quietly. "You haven't rested after that battle."

"You're right, I should." I rested my head against hers, and she leaned back against me. "Thank you for saving me," I whispered.

"You're welcome. Thank you for teaching me how to save you," she whispered back. I chuckled lightly. We cuddled up together and I quickly fell into a blissful sleep in Maple's paws.