~N's pov~

After a full afternoon of hiking, it was more then a relief when Kay pulled back a curtain of ivy from a rock wall, gesturing us inside a small nook behind it. "I smuggled out your Pokémon and stuff already." She explained as we shuffled in the cave behind. "We should all be safe here for the night, you guys look pooped."

I gently shifted Paige in my arms, being a little too tall to stand upright in the confined walkway, I needed to crouch to fit. Paige whined softly, her eyes flickering but she didn't wake. She hadn't since we escaped but in all honestly, she needed the rest anyway.

Thankfully, the back of the cave was taller then the front and I could stand upright. A small campfire flickered with dulled embers and the small outcove had clearly been where Mikayla had spent the past few weeks.

My red head companion, knelt by the fire, tossing some dry leaves and sticks on top before poking the embers in effort to get a flame going. "Your packs are over there." Kay pointed to the corner of the cave. "Your Pokémon too, although I didn't find anything that could have belonged to you Jessica."

"My sister has them..." Jessica replied softly, hugging herself tightly. "I'll figure something out later but I know she won't let them get hurt."

Sitting myself by the fire, I nestled Paige comfortably in my lap. "Milly, can you get Paige's sleeping bag for me she needs to rest." The cave was too small to pitch a tent so I'd need to keep Paige by the fire so she'd stay warm.

"Okay... then I'll start getting dinner ready..." Milly volunteered, pulling out Paige's sleeping bag from her pack. "Should I let out Samurai and Gardenia out? I know Paige feels safest with them around."

After a moment, I nodded. "Yeah, I guess so..." I replied, gently brushing Paige's hair aside wincing at what was revealed. Her neck was badly bruised, even cut in some places where her collar had tightened smaller then her neck, to add insult to injury, the cuts were infected - not deeply thank goodness but it would have to hurt.

The mechanical beam brought my attention away from Paige's injury as her Pokémon were let out. The twin shiny Pokémon took a moment to observe the surroundings once Milly let them out - most likely making sure it was safe since they wouldn't have been put into their Pokéball's under the best of circumstances - before turning to Paige, taking my side with concerned looks over their expressions, nothing needed to be said, Samurai and Gardenia knew Paige better then anyone, they felt her pain and her fear. Gardenia knelt by me, tears in her eyes as she gently held out her arms. ~May I...?~ I could see her shaking, in a state I'd rarely seen the Gardevoir in. Normally she was much more composed.

I reluctantly handed my sister over the her Pokémon. Gardenia cradled her close, holding her hand above Paige's forehead, a slight glow emitting from her palm as she shut her eyes, taking in her trainers condition.

~She's very weak, her heart is having trouble beating.~ She murmured, her expression twisting slightly. ~There's a lot of pain, fatigue, thirst and hunger. She wouldn't have lasted more then three days like this.~ Gardenia explained, opening her eyes, small tears falling over her cheeks. ~My little one, so strong...~ She whispered before turning to me. ~She needs a hospital.~

"Well that's obvious." I retorted, Samurai glared at me but he didn't comment.

Samurai instead turned towards the exit of the cave. ~Keep her warm, I'm going to stand look out.~ He said bitterly before leaving.

"Come on guys, we're all tired and hungry." Milly stated. "Let's just try not to argue until we've eaten..."

~Milly, could you make something with a soup to it? Paige's throat is swollen and sore.~ Gardenia asked, lightly rocking Paige in effort to comfort her. ~I don't think she could manage anything thicker then that.~

The younger brunette, dug through the supplies in her bag before nodding. "Yeah, I could manage that... We need berries and whatever other wild vegetables you can find though, everything fresh we had is rotten... my bag stinks."

"Yeah I forgot to warn you about that." Kay said boredly, standing from the fire, looking over everything with a careful eye. "My bad."

While attaching her Pokéball's to her belt, Milly rolled her eyes. "Of course you did." She retorted, her playful smirk proving it was all in good fun. The young trainer brought Gardenia Paige's sleeping bag, unrolling it for her and spreading it out on the flat ground.

~Sorry, I can't be of assistance with the gathering of fresh berries and veggies today.~ Gardenia murmured, lightly placing Paige on her sleeping bag, pulling the top over her trainer and tucking her in.

"It's no problem Gardenia, you stay with Paige, between the rest of us and our Pokémon, we can manage." Milly smiled reassuringly, pulling out supplies from her bag, checking dates and setting aside whatever food had gone out of date, Jake sat by her side, taking to his sister in a low whisper, looking over his shoulder every now and then.

The shiny Gardevoir nodded, gently brushing aside Paige's hair. ~I need a first aid kit... I want to get this covered.~ Gardenia continued fussing with Paige as she spoke. I peered around the cave, looking for the last member of our small group who'd been very quiet.

Jessica sat in the corner, her knees pulled up against her chest as she stared blankly at the phone in her hand. The small device trembled every now and again, most likely with incoming phone calls and if I had to guess, from her sister as the chloroform used to drug her would have worn off an hour or so ago.

Kay stood from the fire, drawing my attention from the small ravenette as she dug through her pack and pulling out a large first aid kit and handing it Gardenia. "Do you need any help with Paige?"

~No, I can do this... Too many hands might overwhelm her.~ Gardenia replied, stroking Paige's cheek. ~Thank you for the offer.~

Jake stood up from the corner, dusting off his jeans. "Jessica and I are going to gather stuff for dinner, we saw a stream not to far away, we'll get some water if it's clean..."

"Are you taking a phone of some sort?" I asked, being the oldest here, I felt some sort of responsibility over everyone here - especially the three younger girls - Kay was big enough child to look after herself. "Just in case?"

Jake nodded nonchalantly, slinging his pack onto his back. "Yeah, Jessica has her phone, I have my X-transceiver and Milly at the very least has our numbers." He began to walk out, Jessica following silently, I hadn't even seen her get up.

I nodded, leaning back against a rock, breathing evenly as I attempted to relax. Glancing over at Gardenia every once and a while as she cleaned Paige's wounds, covered them in ointment before wrapping them up. She redid them bandages several times, making sure they were as smooth as possible over her sensitive areas. I looked over at the entrance, spying Samurai's blue colouring in a tree not too far out. Milly was burying the rotten food from her pack in the corner where it would decompose and Kay was sitting quietly by Paige's side, a little back as not to disturb Gardenia. It was only then I noticed Paige was awake, her soft blue eyes only just peeking out from beneath her eyelids.

~Don't say anything, Paige will go back sleep shortly. Her heart and mind are weak, the more she rests, the quicker her recovery.~ Gardenia warned quietly. ~Do not make her feel she needs to be awake.~

Bitterly, I complied. I wanted to talk to Paige, make sure she was feeling okay and make sure she knew that she was safe but in the end, she hadn't slept this much in weeks and with her heart having completely stopped just a few days ago, it was best for her to sleep as much as she was willing to.

~~~🌺~~~

Milly carefully served out bowl by bowl of the meal she and Kay had made. "The ingredients are kind of random so it might not be the best dinner you've ever had but there is plenty here." The young brunette explained, handing a bowl to Gardenia for Paige while Kay handed one to me.

Accepting the bowl, I nodded in gratitude "Thanks, I honestly don't think I'd care how it tastes after the past two months."

Samurai returned to the cave, taking his seat next to his sister, assisting her with propping up Paige in Gardenia's arms so she could eat, she still seemed hardly even awake. ~A storm is coming. A big one.~ He warned quietly. ~We should try to get to town tomorrow.~

I ate slowly, watching Samurai and Gardenia feed Paige, she remained mostly asleep - most likely Gardenia's doing so she wouldn't have to feel the immense pain her throat and other injuries caused.

"So, how about we all get to know each other better." Kay stated in the silence, looking over at Jessica from her meal with a friendly smile. "We haven't even met before."

Jessica remained silent for a moment. "Well... I'm Jessica Shiro Hangai, I'm 13 years old and I was born in Mauvile City. There's not a lot to say about me really."

"Boring, come on, what do you parents do for a living, what's the deal with your crazy sister, details woman." Kay laughed, most likely just trying to keep the mood upbeat.

"Well if you must know, my parents are... well drug dealers... Nichole pretty much raised me since I was three and she was seven. She's always kinda looked out for me, she paid for me to go to an expensive boarding school so I didn't have to grow up home since it was really dangerous all the time and while my parents have never really been abusive, they've always been negligent with me and my sister. She's always been kind of cold towards others, not with me though." Jessica explained. "I get you guys kind of  hate her, but I owe too much to my sister to hate her for everything that happened, I don't like it but she's done too much for me."

Mikayla nodded softly. "Yeah, I get that but we do only know her as the person who's almost killed Paige on three separate occasions and succeeded once... How was school?"

"Horrible, I was the laughing stock of the school. The first two years were okay but then someone found out about my parents and then the bullying started... I... I umm... tried to commit suicide last year..." Jessica hung her head. "When I woke up in the hospital, I hoped more then anything it meant that someone cared enough about to try to fix the damage my peers had caused... it got better for a bit but then the names started, then it was an occasional shove to the side and before I knew it, it was as if nothing had changed... I'm sorry, I'm rambling about my issues again." She glanced over at Jake and Milly. "I have a tendency to do that but I've never really had anyone willing to listen to my problems before. I've always felt like I've been a burden to Nicholette and I've never really had a really friend before."

"It's okay, I'll tell you about me now." Mikayla smiled. "My full name is Mikayla Lucille Flare, I'm 16 years old and like Paige, I'm an classified as an orphan but from different circumstances. My dad ditched my mum before I was born and my mum stopped wanting me when I was five, she dumped me in a group home and never looked back. I met Paige the year after and another year after that, I was the only witness to her kidnaping by Team Plasma and in all honesty, it kinda messed me up. I turned down a lot of potential 'forever homes' believing that I simply didn't deserve them because of how helpless I'd been to help my best friend. At ten I started traveling in order to try and find Paige since the rest of the world had given up on her but it wasn't for another four years after that I found her, or rather, she found me. At this point, I've pretty much opted out of the system, my chances of being adopted are hardly above zero so provided I call in once a week, the orphanage gives me money for food and living expenses but they're ultimately not responsible for me anymore."

Jessica was silent for a few seconds. "Wow..." she looked between everyone in our merry little group. "There seem to be a reoccurring tendency of family issues in this group huh?"

Jake chuckled. "Mine and Milly story isn't nearly so... extravagant. We grew up in a normal nuclear family until last year when our parents got a divorce. Milly and I were sent to Unova to stay with our uncle while things were sorted out. That's were we met Paige and invited her to travel with us. It wasn't really until we met Kay a few weeks later that we found out Paige had been kidnaped when she younger - together we took down an entire organisation before returning to Hoenn, bringing Paige with us."

The ravenette giggled in response. "My sister was sooo mad when I commented how much I admired Paige's first contest." Jessica smiled fondly with a giggle. "Jessica, those people aren't real, they're faking it to learn your contest strategy - you can't be around them." She mimicked in a high pitched tone, giggling more. "She can be such a nerd."

~I think you're the only one in the world who could get away with calling your sister a nerd.~ Gardenia chuckled, lightly laying Paige back down.

"Yeah, probably." Jessica chuckled.

Kay leaned back against a rock, looking sideways at me with a playful smirk. "What about you N? I mean, Paige and I know you pretty well but everyone has to share."

With a heavy sigh, I brushed away my long green hair. "I don't know... I was fostered by Ghetsis for as long as I can remember, apparently I was found in the forest but with how Paige came along, I can't be completely sure about that, although I have looked and never found a missing children's report matching my description. When I was nine, Paige was kidnaped - with Ghetsis moulding me to be the King of Team Plasma, Paige would have been the princess but when he found out she was mute, he was furious, seeing it as an imperfection that could never represent Team Plasma. He was going to have her killed." I looked over to my little sister, sleeping soundly now. "But instead, I convinced Ghetsis to let me keep her..."

"You two are cute together." Jessica smiled fondly.

I shook my head with a growing frown. "We weren't always and in all honestly we shouldn't be."

Jessica asked while looking between Jake and Milly as if they had the answers. "Why?"

"Our relationship is somewhat... toxic for Paige. When Ghetsis first gave her to me, I thought little more then he did about her. She was my plaything, a toy. To nine year old me, she stopped exsisting as soon as I left her cell. For almost a year, she had little more then two to six hours of human interaction a day and for a young child, it severely impact mental growth. Paige would do anything to keep me happy, to make me stay with her longer to the point it was an obsession for her, an unhealthy instinct of self preservation and in all honesty, some of the games I'd force her to play weren't exactly designed to make her feel any better about it. It wasn't until I left my jacket behind one day... I hadn't been gone for a minute and when I entered, I- she was in tears, balling her eyes with the emotional distress the isolation brought. When she saw me, she just cried more and I... just left her there..." I hung my head in shame. "I tried to make amends, spending more time with her, stopping any game the put Paige in a position lower then me but a lot of the damage had been done. As I spent more time focusing on Paige I began to realise how little she ate, how rare it was for her to sleep. She was on the brink of a total mental shut down and the communication barrier between us meant there was very little I felt like I could do. Paige needed to feel like her life didn't revolve around mine. She needed something else other then me. So, I convinced Ghetsis to give her two eggs, both of which would hatch into psychic types I hoped I could train to use telepathy and they needed to be eggs so the baby Pokémon within would imprint on Paige."

Kay butter in, cocking her head aside. "Imprint?"

"View Paige as a mother." I explained.

~Well actually, that just scratches the surface. Gardenia and I were both pre-hatch imprinted on Paige. We sensed her aura and recognised it as our mother because she was always there, cleaning out eggs, humming to us... she even slept with us. It's why Gardenia and I have more human tendencies, we grew up believing our mother was a human so we were too.~ Samurai chuckled softly, looking down at Paige with love.

"It helped Paige a lot, having Samurai and Gardenia with her all the time - when they learnt to read Paige's mind, she improved more and... when they learnt to communicate back... you should have seen the look on her face." I smiled fondly, looking back to Paige. "Unfortunately, the toxic tendencies stuck, she still tries too hard to keep me happy with her which is why, despite all my affections for her, a relationship will never work going any further between us because I would never be able to tell just how much of what she says or does would be... well consentual... I'm sorry, that got was more depressing then it should have."

~No, it could have been worse.~ Samurai stated. ~Lots, lots worse.~ When he noticed the uncomfortable looks the others shared he sighed. ~Don't worry too much, nothing... physical. Ghetsis and many of the people around Paige were mental abusive, Natural would protect Paige from the physical abuse - Well most the time.~

~But she's safe out here, we just need to be more vigilant.~ Gardenia stated, playing with Paige's bangs. ~You kids should get some sleep, Samurai and I probably won't sleep.~

"Don't need to tell me twice." Milly mumbled, falling back on her sleeping bag. "You two sure you'll be fine keep watch though? We could probably help."

Gardenia smiled but shook her. ~We'll be fine, you guys need the rest.~

I simply pulled out my sleeping bag, setting myself up near Paige, observing as the others did the same. We were all tired and on more then one occasion Samurai and Gardenia had stayed up for the night to watch over Paige. "Wake me up if she gets worse." I told Gardenia, waiting for Gardenia to nod before settling down with the others to sleep. Kay and Milly whispered between each other for a few minutes but it soon settled down.

~~~~~~🌺~~~~~~
Word count: 3304

Well this took a lot longer then planned, I started writing a part and then another part then realised I jumped a little far a head so I wrote this part... I also haven't been well, surviving on cup-a-soup and panadol buuut, at least I have two chapters almost completed now....