Last chapter!

"I don't see anything." Dawn stated as the three of them returned to the river.

"Well they should be close by." Said Brock looking around.

Paul started walking down the river, Brock and Dawn of course followed. It wasn't long before a small cabin was in view. The three of them hid behind some bushes and thought of a plan while looking through the cabin window.

"Pikachu use thunder bolt!"

The yellow pokemon shot out a bolt of electricity from the small cage that it was contained in. The electricity made the cage glow a brilliant yellow and electrified the delibird that was perched on top of the cage. The red penguin like pokemon flew away from the cabin.

"Nice job Pikachu!" Ash shouted from the cage he was trapped in.

Both Pikachu and Piplup celebrated from team rocket's failure to deliver them to headquarters.

"Grrrr… That's the third delibird that flew away!" Jessie shouted. "You would think they would be smart enough not to keep landing on that cage!"

"Calm down Jessie" James said

"Yeah, the boss will just send another one" Meowth chimed in.

"You're not getting Pikachu or Piplup you thieves!" Ash shouted.

"We'll see about that twerp!"

"Oh yeah!"

Dawn, Brock and Paul watched all of this from outside. Dawn was grateful to see that Piplup was still there and hadn't been delivered to team rocket HQ.

"Fine, we'll just deliver these pokemon ourselves. James, Meowth, let's go."

"What!" Ash screamed, frustrated that he couldn't do anything from the cage he was locked in.

Jessie, James, and Meowth gathered up the two cages that contained Pikachu and Piplup. The two pokemon launched every attack they thought of but team rocket actually thought ahead for once and wore protective gloves.

Ash could just watch, unaware that Dawn, Paul, and Brock had a plan.

Team Rocket was in their hot air balloon outside and left the cabin door open so that the twerp could watch in agony.

But as soon as the balloon was in the air, it was shot down by Paul's Gliscore.

A stunned team rocked landed on the ground, with a thud in their balloon.

Ash looked around, wondering what happened after the dust cloud cleared.

Paul emerged first, then Brock, then Dawn.

"Urgh, you medaling twerps just don't know when to quit!" James yelled as Brock went over to free Ash. Pikachu's and Piplup's cages were lying on the ground next to the deflated balloon.

Team Rocket quickly turned the balloon basket into a giant robot. It had two glass orbs, one in the back and one in the front. The orbs were connected to short metal arms that were connected to the robot.

The mechanism had a metallic head that was only there for special effect. Team rocket was sitting in the chest of the robot, with the orbs in front and back of them, though they could not see into the back orb due to where they were positioned.

Now all four trainers were on the ground watching to see what team rocket would do next.

"You twerps are always getting in the way" Jessie said. And with that the front orb opened and headed toward Pikachu.

Ash was quick though.

"Pikachu!" Ash ran over to Pikachu's cage.

The glass orb was about to scoop up Ash and Pikachu. Brock immediately took note of this and ran over to Ash in attempt to warn him.

But instead, all three were now stuck in the front glass orb.

'Lot of good that did…' Paul thought.

Dawn was attending to Piplup's cage, trying to figure out how to break the lock. Paul, being as smart as he is, already figured out how to get Piplup out of the cage.

"Recall Piplup!" Paul had to shout over the loud robot.

"What?" Dawn called back; she was closer to the big machine, so it was harder to hear.

Paul came over to Dawn, "just but it back in the—He was cut off by the other glass orb scooping them up.

They realized that the reason the robot was so loud was because it was turning, that way it could position the ball to pick them up. Dawn looked around, all she could see was the back of the robot, and she knew they were hidden from everything else.

She turned back to Paul who also took note of the situation they were in. "What were you saying before?" Dawn questioned.

"I said, just put him back in the pokeball, which will get him out of the cage."

"That's a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?" Paul just shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands in his pockets.

Dawn got out Piplup's pokeball and recalled piplup, before calling him out once again. "There you go Piplup, safe and sound. Piplup was so grateful to be back with its trainer. Dawn scooped up her blue pokemon and hugged it tight. "Oh Piplup, it's so good to have you back, I missed you sooo much." Dawn exclaimed.

Paul stood there, observing his surroundings and thinking of ways to get out of this predicament.

"Thank you Paul." Dawn said, still holding Piplup In her arms.

Paul, upon hearing these words, stopped gazing around and looked at Dawn.

"Thank you for helping me find Piplup again." She clarified.

Paul said nothing, he didn't have a chance to.

Dawn clashed into him, which was difficult considering she was still holding onto Piplup in her arms. Paul silently returned the kiss with out moving. He knew it would be a long time before he felt this happy again. He wanted to grab onto her, to pull her closer. But something stopped him from that. He simply stood in place, with his hands in his pockets. He enjoyed what ever last moments they could share together.

The kiss only lasted about two seconds before they were interrupted by the glass orb shaking.

The couple looked around to see the robot becoming off balance. Somehow, Ash Brock and Pikachu were on the ground attacking the big robot. And soon enough, Dawn Paul and Piplup were free.

"We're blasting off again!" Shouted team rocket as they flew through the air. Their robot was destroyed.

All four trainers were on the ground safe, Dawn was finally reunited with Brock and Ash.

"Hey Paul…" Ash said cautiously. "Uh... Thanks for protecting Dawn when you guys were attacked earlier."

Paul kept a straight face, which was something Dawn couldn't do.

"Y-You saw that!" Dawn questioned, her face heated up as she remembered the scene. Paul stood up for her and wouldn't let anything harm her.

"No, but when team rocket was talking to you guys, I was in the same room, so I could hear everything. I just wanted to say thanks."

Dawn's face was slightly pink as she really tried not to blush. It was unusual for Ash to bring up something like this, and she couldn't help but wonder if he was suspicious too. Brock Chuckled as he noted her pink face.

"What's so funny?" Ash asked as he scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, nothing Ash..." Dawn said sheepishly, glad with relief that Ash was as clueless as always.

Paul didn't answer to anything, even though the original conversation was about him, he somehow managed to escape the pressure of answering. Which was good in this cas because he knew if he answered he couldn't help but insult that pathetic excuse for a trainer. Doing that would only make Dawn mad, and he did not want to be in that position. So he just kept quiet.

"Well Ash, we better get moving to get to your next gym battle." Brock said. This immediately pumped Ash up.

"Yeah let's go!"

And with that Ash, Brock and Dawn began walking toward the next town.

Paul stood there for a moment watching Dawn leave. Thinking about the next time they meet.

He was sure it would be soon, and those were his last thoughts as he began walking in the opposite direction.