[Edited]

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Before you knew it, it was already Monday morning. Rouen had set up four tents the evening before and Liliana had helped him do that while Kai and Fotula had cooked up delicious soup for dinner. All of you went to sleep right after that. The knights - excluding yourself this time - took turns at guarding. Liliana and Fotula had shared one tent while you and Camilla were put in the other one along with Loraine.

The ruckus the blonde caused outside was the reason you woke up in the first place. "Ew let me go, you peasant!" She squirmed, trying to free herself from Kai's hand that he was using to grip her wrist with rather harshly. The dark skinned knight glared down at her, clicking his tongue. "Shut up, you're annoying."

"Kai, what's going on?" Rouen was the next one to exit the place he had slept in and soon enough, everyone stood outside, staring at the scene. The golden eyed man looked at his partner before releasing the female. "She was trying to sneak away." Everyone was a tad surprised to hear that. "Sneak away? Why?"

"Ugh! Just leave me alone! Stupid peasants..." Loraine exclaimed throwing herself into Myron's arms. The boy gained all sorts of looks from the others, especially from the two knights that knew nothing about his relationship with the rich girl. Rouen, Kai and Aaron then went to prepare the Mudsdale while Fotula and Liliana dismantled the tents. Doni had made his way to you, Camilla accompanying him. "You feeling better, Y/N? I was worried sick!~ What should I have done if something had happened to you?!~"

Now this was the dramatic blond knight you were used to. There was a considerable gap between this attitude and his serious one, it made you wonder which you actually preferred. „Oh and what did you and Aaron do before you joined us for dinner yesterday? You looked as if you had just put behind a super erotic make out session or something!~" Camilla snorted at the knights statement.

Before you could reply or deny anything, the others had returned with the equine creatures. Your Mudsdale was among them, and it gave you a sad look as if it felt sorry for all the trouble it had caused yesterday. The Pokémon walked over to you and nudged you with its muzzle. This was the first time it was being affectionate towards you; something you would call development.

"Are you sure you don't want to change partners?" Aaron asked after having mounted his Mudsdale. Myron who was supposed to be sitting behind him was busy holding Loraine. The blonde was forcing kisses onto him, and she would have probably done that all day long if it weren't for Kai and Aaron's Lucario interrupting them bluntly.

"It's fine like this. I feel much better thanks to your treatment." You replied, smirking near the end of your statement. The change of your expression actually made Aaron feel a bit embarrassed which caused you to chuckle. Myron who had successfully escaped his girlfriend's grip made his way to the knight in charge of his safety and their Mudsdale. He couldn't help but watch the two of you having a good time and felt... weird. Again.

He decided to ignore the odd feeling in his chest and mounted the equine creature, seating himself properly behind Aaron. The white haired boy then awkwardly wrapped his arms around the young man's waist, causing the other to tense up a bit while furrowing his brow slightly. You as well had made your way to your Mudsdale and had gotten on top of it and in front of Liliana who apologised a hundred times for the injuries you got by protecting her. They weren't as bad as they were yesterday, but you still wore most bandages.

"Okay everyone, we're leaving!" Doni called out after he had made sure that everyone was ready to depart. Similar to yesterday, the blond on his Mudsdale led the way and the others followed, Rouen once again going last. The leader chose the routes carefully in order to prevent entering other wild Pokémon's territories and getting assaulted again.

You were on high guard as well, so you didn't talk as much as yesterday with Aaron whose equine creature was trotting next to yours. The small distance between the two Pokémon made you worry about yours, fearing that it will panic again and cause all sorts of disasters. But Lucario didn't let you think about those things for too long: He was back to his normal self, complaining about and insulting you without restraint. Usually you would consider that annoying, but it was a good way to kill time today.

After hours of riding, Doni who was still in the lead stopped all of a sudden, gaining everyone's attention as they imitated him. You found yourselves in front of what seemed to be the entrance to a cave. "Everyone, get off of your Mudsdale." And just like the young man had instructed, you all did as you were told, getting closer together.

"This cave is a tunnel and the fastest way to get to Grona, so we'll be passing through here. It's safer if you walk and lead your Mudsdale on a rope." Doni said, immediately gaining several unsure looks from most of the people. You were the one who actually voiced your insecurity: "Are you sure? Isn't it way to narrow for the Mudsdale?"

"I agree with the newbie." Kai stepped up immediately after you had spoken, surprising you a little. He stood next to you as well and made you more aware of him than you were supposed to be. Every time he would get closer, you would start feeling a little tense. That was probably because of the way he introduced himself and left that not so positive first impression of himself.

The princess candidates whispered among themselves and after Camilla agreed with you and Kai, Doni reconsidered his decision. The blond looked over at the vice captain and sighed. "I suppose it's better if we don't let the Mudsdale into the cave... In that case, Rouen will lead all five of them around the cavern - the longer way."

Everyone including yourself seemed to be more at ease with the current decision, so that's how you proceeded: Everyone led their equine creature to the raven haired male with the eyepatch and let him secure them all to a rope he would use similarly to a leash in order to control all five Pokémon simultaneously.

"Everyone else, follow me." Doni exclaimed once Aaron had delivered the last Mudsdale to his comrade, but before you could proceed, the dark skinned young man protested: "Are you serious?! You're letting Rouen go alone? What if something happens to him? No one will know a thing about it!"

He had a point if you had to be honest, but perhaps Doni trusted Rouen to this extent even if it was rather risky. The blond tried to convince Kai that everything was going to be just fine, but the man just wouldn't listen. He was older than Doni, so it irritated him quite a bit to be bossed around like this. The ravenet then stepped between the two, placing a hand on his partner's shoulder. "Don't worry about me. You should know better than anyone that I can take care of myself."

"But-... Ugh! Fine!" The brunet gave up arguing the moment Rouen said what he needed to and headed first inside the cave. Doni thanked the man with the eyepatch before motioning everyone to follow him. You and Aaron went last, but at a faster pace so you were in front of all princess candidates but still behind Kai.

"Is it me or does Kai only listen to Rouen? Like, without second-guessing him." You whispered in a more silent tone to the knight walking next to you who had to nod in agreement. "Yeah, it's always like that. He seems especially clingy to him... I don't know too much about it, but I've heard rumors that it's got something to do with a mission of eight years ago."

"Eight years ago? Wait, didn't Rouen say he lost his eye around that time? I doubt it's connected, but-..." Just like you had added, you weren't sure if this had anything to do with the matter you were discussing, but before you could finish, a horde of Zubat came flying in your direction, almost colliding into you and the others.

You had never experienced it yourself since this was your first time leaving the kingdom, but it was quite the popular fact that as soon as one would enter a cave, one would find endless groups of rather annoying Zubat around every corner.

You waved your hands above your head in order to hold away the bat-like Pokémon you feared would land on your head. You were so distracted you almost didn't notice Kai had stopped. The brunet was holding his arm out, preventing anyone to step any further. Doni who walked at the end forced his way to the front a bit worriedly: "Is something the matter?"

"I think I heard something." Kai commented, remaining frozen in his position. Fotula who was sticking close to Liliana nodded, saying she had the impression she had heard something as well. Aaron being the overprotective person he is, stepped closer to you, wrapping an arm around you almost unnoticeably as no one else dared to move.

Now that it was completely silent on your part, it allowed you all to hear the noise Kai and Fotula had mentioned more clearly: There indeed seemed to be something producing those sounds. They sounded like a cry- or rather a deep roar of a Pokémon. "I'm guessing it's either an Ursaring or Onix." Fotula said silently after the roaring had ceased. Liliana who immediately got scared, started to clinge to the ravenette's arm, squeezing her eyelids together.

Kai agreed and glanced over at Doni. His look seemed more like a glare though, but it was clear enough that he was waiting for orders. If Fotula turned out to be right, then it would be a serious problem. An Ursaring was alright, but if you were to face an Onix in such a narrow cave...

"Do we proceed or do we go back?" Kai wanted to push the answer out of Doni but the blond was very unsure about the matter. As the leader, he was responsible for the princess candidates' safety the most, and if something were to happen to them like it did to you yesterday-...

"We're gonna get squashed even before you can make your decision. You all, follow me quickly!" The dark skinned young man had enough of the other's hesitation and started to rush ahead. Everyone was confused and didn't know what to do. You felt like no one would follow unless someone else did, so you hurried after Kai. Expectedly, Aaron was the one who went right after you, Myron following close behind and in the end all princess candidates did as well.

Hurrying did no good: The roars became louder and soon enough you all were greeted by the sight of a giant Pokémon resembling a chain of grey boulders glaring down at you as if you were ants- or well, Durant. That was with no mistake the creature you were hoping not to run into: Onix. The bright side to it was that at least it didn't know the move self-destruct.

"Just brilliant." Kai muttered sarcastically before raising one of his hands in the air, calling out a summon: "Sacred summon; Honchkrow aura!" Moments after that, the aura surrounding him materialized into a Japanese sword which he soon held in his right hand. The weapon's part which wasn't the blade was mostly blue and had white, father-like decorations. "Stay behind me!"

Doni soon joined the dark skinned young man, giving Aaron and you the responsibility of guarding the princess candidates while he would take the creature on. The blond summoned his Mega-stage Heracross spear and was ready to counter the gigantic Pokémon. Aaron and you sent your Lucario to support those two, and even Fotula let her Absol loose.

The wild Onix roared loudly, causing the whole cave to tremble as if there had just been an earthquake. Kai and Doni didn't intend on hurting the Pokémon as long as it wasn't necessary, they only meant to threaten the creature and force it to retreat. But they knew too well that it wasn't going to be easy with Onix' aggressive nature: The grey Pokémon slammed its tail into the nearest wall, causing it to crumble.

Not only that, but bigger rocks and even boulders started raining from the top of the cavern. Absol and the Lucario were able to destroy them with Slash and Aura Sphere before they made contact with any of you. That Onix' last attack was the sign for Kai and Doni to go on the offensive: They swung their weapons at the large Pokémon, hitting it and making it roar in pain.

It could only take the attacks of the knights to a certain extent, and once it had crossed it, Onix dug a hole into the ground, quickly forming an escape path. That was the last you were going to see of that Pokémon, but certainly not of all the crumbling rocks it had caused. "It's coming down on us!" Camilla's sudden cry made everyone focus to the top of the cavern. Everything shook tremendously; There was no telling when all those boulders would fall and bury you all alive.

"Get away from there!" Doni yelled, rushing to Camilla and the rest of the princess candidates. All of them with the exception of Fotula followed him as Aaron made sure that no one was getting left behind. The people who stood closer to Kai ran in the other direction, among those were only Fotula and Myron. Kai let his Katana turn back into aura before it as well disappeared completely.

Just as you were about to go join Aaron's group, a giant boulder came falling down exactly on the spot one step in front of you. You would have gotten squashed by it if it weren't for Kai's quick thinking and reflexes: He had grabbed you by your wrist and forcefully pulled you to himself. The impact of the boulders with the ground caused a strong quake which knocked the dark skinned young man off his feet. Literally.

Smoke clouded everyone's vision, but once it had cleared out, you were greeted by Kai's pokerface that was centimeters away from yours. You instinctively held your breath in as you stared at the male wide-eyed. "Are you okay?"

"I-I am. Thanks for uhm... saving me." You replied a bit nervously, getting off of the golden eyed man and back on your feet. Kai did the same before shaking dirt off his clothes. "Be more careful next time. It'd be troublesome if you were to get hurt again."

You nodded and looked around: Fotula and Myron were safe, but the others... Hopefully they found themselves on the other side of the wall of boulders that now separated you. "Y/N! Y/N, can you hear me?!" That was clearly Aaron's worried voice.

Kai stepped closer to the wall as he rolled his eyes before shouting back: "Your girl is fine, so calm down. The girl with the black hair and the guy with the white hair are with me too. We'll go on ahead, I suggest the rest of you go the long way around and join Rouen. Let's regroup at the exit again."

He had to come up with one quickly, but Kai's idea seemed to be the smartest and safest solution for now. Doni approved of his plan from the other side and his group soon started going back the way you came in. The dark skinned male turned around to you all before he started going ahead as well. "You heard me. Let's go."

Fotula walked next to him the whole way, but they didn't talk much since they both had troubles socializing properly. Myron had finally gotten rid of his one weird feeling, but he soon got a different one when he started walking together with you and your Lucario which you soon called back inside your Old ball.

"That sure was close, wasn't it?" You commented, starting up what you hoped would turn into a conversation. You didn't like the silent treatment, and since you were already stuck with them, might as well try to bond. After all, Myron and you might become step-siblings one day. The boy nodded, agreeing with you completely.

"Ah yeah, do you know what Loraine's deal was today morning? She seemed to be acting a bit weird." You then remembered the blonde almost getting into a fight with the knight who was currently leading the way out of this cave. "I thought you might know since you two are close. I mean, she's your girlfriend."

"Well... I don't know what exactly was wrong, but she doesn't seem to want to go to Grona. I think it has something to do with her older brother." The purple eyed boy replied somewhat awkwardly. Even though what you said was true - that he and Loraine were dating - he himself didn't feel that confident in their relationship anymore. You were surprised when he mentioned that, given the fact that you had no idea Loraine had siblings. "She has a brother?"

"Yeah..." Myron mumbled and it was quite obvious that he didn't feel like talking about that matter, so you dropped it. There was something you couldn't quite figure out: How was Loraine's apparent brother connected with her not wanting to go to Grona? Does he live there perhaps, and the two of them don't get along? That was the most logical conclusion you could come up with.

"You two are too slow. Hurry it up a bit, we're here." Just like Kai had just irritatedly announced, you were indeed at the exit of this cavern. The way here was quite okay if it weren't for the constant appearing of Zubat, but then again it was better than to have faced another Onix. The remaining four of you successfully got out of the cave and were given further instructions by your temporary leader: "Okay so, you three stay here. I'll go look for Rouen."

After having been told that so bluntly, Kai hurried somewhere. A sigh escaped Fotula's lips as she went to sit under a tree that provided shadow. The sun wasn't too strong since it was setting, but it was still quite hot, so you and Myron figured you could do the same and instead went to another tree that was further away from hers.

You were sure you were going to be waiting longer for the rest of the group to arrive, and you were short on conversation topics. That's when you remembered that Myron and Aaron were paired up to share a Mudsdale together which reminded you of times where it looked like those two didn't seem so fond of each other. "Do you get along with Aaron? Since you're paired up and everything."

"I wouldn't really call that getting along." The white haired boy replied with a sheepish expression. Even though Aaron wasn't his favourite person, he knew he was someone important to you and forced himself to smile. But his lips didn't stay like that for too long. "You two sure seem to be close. You like that guy, don't you?"

Myron's question was a little unexpected which caused your face to redden. You didn't know if you should deny it or answer honestly. You already saw the purple eyed young man as your brother now that you knew about the relationship of your mother and his father. Yasen seemed to be aware of it too, so why lie to Myron. "Well... yeah, I do."

You felt as if you had confessed to the person in question himself so you started nervously twiddling with your fingers, hoping Myron wouldn't stay silent for much longer. You stared at your lap as if it were the most interesting thing around and refused to look up from it. The white haired boy chuckled, making it sound genuine even though it clearly wasn't. The pain in his chest had started again. "I figured as much..."

It was silent for a few more seconds and you had still been avoiding the male's gaze. But once you raised your head in order to look at him, Myron's face was suddenly much closer to yours than it was a moment ago. At first you thought it wasn't intentional, but the closer he leaned in, the more you doubted your assumption. Not knowing what exactly to do, you moved away, your back hitting the tree as it left you no room for escape.

Myron slowly closed his eyes while inching forward until there was barely some distance between your lips and his. This felt wrong. Very wrong. You considered it normal for people who in the future might become family to get close, but this was something else. You were aware that there were siblings that showed their affection a bit too much such as Yasen, but it was clear enough that Myron wasn't looking at you the way he would at his little sister.

And so you mentally panicked. In a second or two, Myron's lips will collide with yours, resulting in a kiss.

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A/N: Forgive me, but I had no idea how to end this chapter XD I hope this was bearable^^

Kai Mitsuhide:

Fotula _______:

Myron Kenji:

Honchkrow weapon (Common-stage form):

Thank you for Reading!