Chapter 4
The next morning, Tia stirred shortly after the sun rose. Streams of light filtering through the canopy hit their tent and illuminated the girls just enough for her to see Shauna bundled up with Chester. They had managed to slip into their sleeping bag sometime during the night, but the deliciously tanned cutie was still naked and hanging out of it. With that mouthwatering morning image burned into her head, Tia crawled her way out of her sleeping bag. She left Rinko still asleep as she threw on her skirt and top. Unzipping the tent as quietly as possible, she snuck outside. The cool morning breeze rolled gently over her as she stretched and slipped her shoes on. 
Tia set out on a light jog, following the trails while they were deserted. She had to dodge a few trainers as she started to circle back around to their campsite, though it was worth it to watch the wild Pokémon as she jogged. There were Caterpie and Weedle all over the place, a few Fletchlings flew around looking for easy food as well.  She even saw a couple Pikachu running around, a single male and three females, who had cute heart shaped tails. Around 3/4ths of the way back, she noticed a small brook running through the forest, and it went very close by their camp. It was just the place she went out looking for. Sprinting the rest of the way back to their tent, Tia flung herself inside to see Shauna drowsily looking around, only just woken up.  
“About time sleepy head, come on I found the perfect spot!”
“Huh? Spot for what?” 
“A quick bath, silly. Come on, throw some clothes on and hurry!”
Shauna lit up at the thought and hurriedly threw a shirt and her shorts back on. After assuring Shauna that the camp would be ok until they were done cleaning up, the girls raced off along the trail. About a quarter mile up the trail, they arrived at the spot Tia had found: a section of the thigh-deep stream that had been overgrown by a large thicket. The six foot dome of thorny branches arched over the stream. When Tia pulled her tanned travel partner off the trail towards this bush, Shauna stopped in her tracks. 
“We’re not gonna go in there are we? That’s a thorn bush, we’d get torn apart.”
“Actually sweetie that’s a Barbtent Bush, the outside is thick and dangerous, but the inside is hollow and safe. They’re perfect hiding holes.”
To demonstrate she striped her clothes off and tossed them to a stunned Shauna before leaping into the stream, Rinko following closely. Wading her way to the bush, she carefully lifted up the side, surprisingly light for something so big, and slipped inside. The tanned girl quickly stashed both of their clothes in a safe dry place beside the bush before leaping in herself. Tia raised the side from inside and let her in and giggled to herself as Shauna’s eyes go wide and she spins to look around the interior. While the walls were made of thick interwoven branches, there were still gaps letting in just enough sunlight to keep it lit up and see through to the outside.  
The bottom of the stream was covered in soft sand Tia had noticed as she laid back, sinking into the water. She made sure that her chest	 stayed just above the water as Shauna’s eyes circled back around to her. Tia watched in delight as her face lit up bright red, this time though, the tanned cutie managed not to look away.
“I could use a hand or two down here hunny.”
Shauna giggled and went a whole new shade of red, but knelt down on top of Tia in the water. One hand gently glided along her tummy, fingers slowly rubbing over Tia’s near flat chest. Her fingers circled the small nubs, teasing both her nipples gently, and bringing light moans out of Tia. Shauna closed her eyes and leaned down slowly, bringing her lips closer to Tia’s. She felt Tia’s breath on her lips and slowly opened her eyes again only to gaze into her deep ocean blue eyes. The tanned girl felt electricity run down her spine and all over her body just from looking into those eyes. Shauna closed the small gap quickly and Tia eagerly rose up to meet her, yet both girls stopped suddenly, neither one taking a breath, as two gunshots rang out nearby in the forest.
Tia whispered to stay down as she returned Rinko, who had been napping in the cool shade, to her pokeball. Shauna followed suit with Chester and both girls made their way out of the stream towards the thorn wall where they heard the shots come from. Finding just the right hole to peep through they look out to find a child-sized Pokémon with flowing green hair running from a tall man in black. The Pokémon was completely unknown to Tia, and she was pretty proud of her knowledge of Pokémon. The man was also unknown, his clothes had a large red stylized “R” on it, but even that symbol she’d never heard of. The two newcomers had run into the large clearing that this stream ran through, but at the opposite end, they were close enough to hear clearly, but far enough that they should be unseen in the Barbtent bush.
“Alright you little bitch, that was the last warning shot. Stop resisting or the next one will be in your leg.”
The Green haired Pokémon stopped and slowly turned around allowing the girls to see its very feminine face. She appeared to be in a tight black dancing dress that had a green band around her belly matching her hair. From her eyes burst a blinding blue light, which quickly surrounded her entire body. The man fired his gun directly at her, blinded completely. From their hiding spot they saw the bullet hit some sort of force field around her that shimmered for a second upon impact like a bubble. 
The field expanded more by the second, quickly enveloping the man. First his gun, followed quickly by his clothes, seemed to evaporate off of him. The bubble of energy started swirling, colors and shapes blurred together, and then bubble shrank instantly, popping out of existence like it, and those inside it, never existed in the first place. 
The girls looked at each other in utter confusion. "Shauna, what just happened?"
"I was about to ask you... Tia... I'm scared"
"It's alright hun, I'm here. We'll probably never even see those two again." Tia took the trembling girl in her arms until she finally calmed down, though still clung onto Tia's arm. "We need to go now hun. We were supposed to meet up with Calum and the rest before last night. They're probably worried."
They finished cleaning up in a comfortable silence, releasing their pokemon to bathe as well. Once everyone was clean and dressed, Tia lifted the side of the Barbtent bush and they all scuttled out. It was just after 10 as they started back on the trail. Shauna followed behind Tia for nearly an hour completely silent and staring at the ground the entire time. She was clearly still shaken about what happened earlier. 
Poor girl must be afraid of violence... How is she going to make it as a trainer then? As Tia contemplated this Rinko, who'd found a comfy perch on Tia's hat, let out some yips, alerting the girls to a small flock of Fletchlings. There were a half dozen or so, all surrounding one slightly smaller Fletchling. They were picking on the small one, or at least trying to. The smallest bird was beating back the bigger attackers impressively, but numbers are often more important than skill and two of the birds got the drop on the little one.
"Rinko, help the little one out. Start with scratch, them ember until they run or drop."
Rinko jumped off her perch into the heat of battle, scratching the first bird and going back to back with the small Fletchling. The little one was defensive at first, but soon the two were coordinating attacks and working as a team almost like they had been all along. Shauna had been purposely avoiding looking in their direction the entire time.
"Shauna, hun, I can tell you don’t like violence. Do you really think being a trainer is the right move for you?"
Shauna looked up straight at Tia like she'd just slapped her, stuttering and fumbling on words, whatever she's trying to say completely lost, but Tia had a fair guess as to what it was she wanted to say.
"Hun, calm down. I'm not telling you to go home. I want you to travel with me. It's just that, trainers fight, a lot. Maybe you should focus more on being a Breeder or Collector or whatever it is that you want to be. Whatever you decide, I still want you with me."
Shauna hugged onto Tia and let out a deep sigh of relief. "I don’t know what I want to do yet, other than be with you."
A yip from Rinko signaled that the little fight was over; the only two Pokémon left standing were Rinko and the small bird. "Nicely done Rinko, look forward to a nice reward from mama tonight~ but for now a potion will have to do." 
Tia knelt next to the two, expecting the Fletchling to fly away now that it wasn't being harassed. After quickly applying the potion to Rinko's minor wounds, she turned to the Fletchling. "You're quite the little fighter... I'll patch you up, then if you want you're free to go. You could join me and Rinko though, we could use another girl with some spunk." As Tia spoke she applied to potion to the bird, noticing that it was indeed female and very young. The bird quickly recovered and flew up onto Tia's shoulder, tweeting happily. Setting a pokeball on the ground, she getting patted the baby bird's crimson plumage. "Just go touch the button if you want to come with us." The small bird fluttered over to the ball and landed on the button, disappearing in a flash of red light into the ball. There was no shaking or resistance as the ball dinged to signal that the capture process was complete.
"Shana. That's what I'm naming her." Sending a wink to Shauna, Tia added her new partner's ball to her belt, next to Rinko's. "Let's get going hun, it'll take most of the day to walk the rest of this trail."