"Bun."
As a wild Pokémon, Buneary knew the rules of the Pokémon world. Having been caught after a battle, she did not resist much and obediently accepted Xiaoyun's treatment.
"Piplup, piplup." Piplup chose precisely the wrong moment to come over, patting Buneary on the back to declare that he was the boss and she was his second-in-command. Stick with your big brother, and there would be plenty of perks.
"Bun!"
Buneary looked at the little fatty she had just chased all over the place. Now that she had been caught, he actually wanted her to be his lackey. The little rabbit immediately got worked up. Please, she was a girl!
Crack!
An Ice Beam struck Piplup point-blank, instantly freezing him into an ice sculpture, his eyes wide with surprise inside it.
"Bun~" Having finally landed a hit on him, Buneary felt thoroughly satisfied. She lay comfortably against Dawn's smooth calves, closed her eyes, and fell asleep, leaving Xiaoyun terribly envious.
"Ah~ Why did it turn out like this?"
Dawn looked helplessly at Buneary lying on her legs, then at Piplup's ice sculpture, thinking there would probably be plenty of squabbling from now on.
"It's fine. Piplup's a Water-type Pokémon, and Ice Beam's an Ice-type move, so it won't hurt him much. Just let him stay in there for a while."
Looking at Piplup's ice sculpture, Xiaoyun had absolutely no intention of letting him out. Instead, he smiled and reassured Dawn that she need not worry.
Piplup: ?? A world where I'm the only one getting hurt has been achieved.
"Piplup, piplup."
After a cheerful chat filled with laughter, Piplup was finally released. Grumbling angrily, he demanded another one-on-one battle with Buneary to prove that his position as boss was unshakable.
"Bun~"
But Buneary refused to fight him at all. She obediently huddled on Dawn's lap, looking up at her with big, watery eyes while rubbing away nonexistent tears with one paw.
Her pitiful expression seemed to say, "Everything earlier was my fault. If Big Brother Piplup wants to hit me, then let him. I won't fight back."
Piplup had never encountered anything like this before. Her manipulative innocent act completely stunned the simple-minded Piplup, leaving his eyes wide. Where did that fierce female rabbit from earlier go? Had someone swapped the person... no, swapped the Pokémon?
Even Dawn succumbed to Buneary's delicate, helpless appearance and gave Piplup a scolding. "Piplup, Buneary's a girl! Can't you cut her some slack? You're not acting manly at all."
"Pip... piplup!"
Those words left Piplup petrified. He sat alone in a corner drawing circles, once again achieving a world where he was the only Pokémon getting hurt.
"Damn, this Buneary could be an actress." Xiaoyun's expression was rather odd as well. His mouth twitched, and he looked sympathetically toward Piplup before going over to pat his little cape-like back. He comforted him:
"Little fatty... no, Piplup, let me teach you a truth. The jianghu isn't all fighting and killing. The jianghu is about navigating social relationships. Learned something, right? You can't rely on force for everything. A different approach might work better."
Piplup looked at him, then at Buneary making a face at him from Dawn's arms. He seemed to understand something.
He nodded firmly. Master, I have achieved enlightenment.
"Piplup!"
Seeing Piplup suddenly become mature, as though he had grasped something, Xiaoyun could not help remarking, "Mm, you're a promising student. It really does take experience to help someone grow."
Time passed amid all their squabbling. Having grown, Piplup no longer sat alone in the corner feeling miserable and instead walked openly up to them.
He, Piplup, had matured.
His confidence left even Buneary at a loss. She wondered whether she had gone too far earlier and whether she ought to apologize later or something.
Unable to hear the Pokémon's inner monologues, Dawn saw that Piplup was fine and no longer sulking, so she patted his head and praised him. This instantly made Piplup even more confident, leaving Dawn rather puzzled.
After dinner, Dawn and Xiaoyun returned to their respective tents to sleep. At daybreak, they packed their luggage and continued toward Jubilife City.
In theory, they should have been able to see Jubilife City after passing through this forest. As they walked, however, the trees on either side grew increasingly dense. When they reached a crossroads yet again, they realized they might have... gotten lost!!
"Xiaoyun, how did we end up here again?" Dawn looked at the tree they had marked earlier, then at the navigation on her Pokédex, and tossed it straight into her bag. Even a dog wouldn't bother looking at this map.
"We should be in the Forest of Confusion, not far from Jubilife City. Apparently, there are large numbers of Stantler here. Their antlers give off a strange light that draws people into illusions, where they eventually lose their way. We need to be careful."
Xiaoyun checked the map as he explained to Dawn, thinking that this should be the Forest of Confusion from the original story. He just did not know how to get out. If he had known, he would have caught a Flying-type Pokémon.
"Ah, so this is the Forest of Confusion? What should we do?" Dawn knew about this place too. Being pulled into illusions and all that was pretty frightening. She had thought they would not pass through it, but unexpectedly, they had entered it anyway.
"Forget it. Let's just go straight for now. We can't go wrong if we keep moving forward."
Xiaoyun had no good ideas for the moment either, so he could only rely on this most basic method. Taking Dawn's hand and staying close to her, he headed into the forest.
"That's all we can do for now." Dawn did not mind Xiaoyun holding her hand. She leaned her still-developing body against his arm, feeling safer that way.
Feeling the unusual sensation against his arm, Xiaoyun kept his expression unchanged. Dawn's chest is already starting to take shape. It should still develop more, though, right? Suddenly, even the walk felt much easier.
As they ventured deeper, the trees grew denser, and a faint mist appeared. From time to time, a Stantler walked through the forest, and occasionally a Drifloon floated past.
"Xiaoyun, there shouldn't be anything here besides Stantler, right?" Dawn looked around at the rather eerie surroundings, feeling a little frightened. She felt as though there might be something strange here and decided to ask Xiaoyun.
"There is~"
"Huh? What is it?"
"Why, it's... ghosts!!!" Xiaoyun turned toward Dawn with a sinister expression, making the atmosphere even stranger as his voice suddenly grew loud.
"Ah!!" Dawn was so frightened that she jumped straight onto Xiaoyun, wrapping her legs tightly around his waist.
"Hahaha, I'm teasing you. With this atmosphere, it felt like a waste not to give you a scare." Xiaoyun comforted Dawn as she trembled in his arms, inwardly exclaiming, Yoshi!
No wonder couples like watching horror movies. There really are plenty of perks.