“Hah!” Ivy struck out with her sword at the target in front of her while dodging the spearow that came from her side. She then had to tuck and roll as another one dived her from above. As she came to steady herself, she had no choice but to strike behind her, stabbing her sword through the fourth spearow that had tried to get an attack in.

“Hah… Hah… this…” Ivy wiped the sweat from her brow. She had thought she was in decent shape, but it seemed she was by no means anywhere near what she needed to be. She slowly took a deep breath and continued her breathing technique. If it were not for this technique she would have long been in danger. It was only because she was able to strengthen her body that she was able to continue until now.

Ellee watched from the side, ready to jump in at any time. She would be lying to say she was not nervous. This was Ivy’s first true battle. Five spearows was no laughing matter for a fledgling pokemon warrior. Normally, Ivy would have a pokemon at her side helping her, but because Ivy was training, Ellee could only sit at the side and watch. But she was ready to jump in at any point that Ivy got hurt.

“Echo Slash…” Ivy suddenly mumbled. She had noticed that the last three spearows were about to line up perfectly. She could not allow this chance to escape her. Her body flashed, and the remaining spearows bodies suddenly split in half as their blood spurted out.

“Ivy!” Ellee rushed forward and caught Ivy as she reappeared, falling to the ground. “Why would you use that skill when you were already this worn out!?”

“Hehe…” Ivy grinned and weakly raised her hand spreading her index finger and middle finger out, making a victory sign. “I won. Ellee’s warm…” Ivy leaned into Ellee’s embrace, making Ellee’s heart start beating quickly again.

She looked down at the green-haired girl who had snuggled into her chest and was sound asleep and sighed. “You are really…”

Ellee cradled Ivy in her arms and carried her to their camp. They had a small tent set up with some pokemon repellent. She slipped into the tent and laid Ivy down on the blanket. She then proceeded to take Ivy’s boots off and jacket before sitting at her side. She reached down and gently wiped the blood that had splattered on Ivy’s face. “Master, you make me feel strange…”

Ellee’s eyes locked onto Ivy’s lips. Ellee remembered the sensation from before and wondered if it would happen again. She gulped her saliva as she began leaning down, closer and closer, until her lips once more touched Ivy’s. Ellee once again felt a strange sensation flowing into her as well as the feeling of her master’s lips against hers.

“Mmmm…” Ivy made a sound, startling Ellee as she quickly retracted her head. Ellee touched her lips. She understood two things. Her master’s kiss sent small strands of power into her body, allowing her to absorb it and make it her own and… the most important thing she realized was that she really liked the sensation of kissing Ivy. Ellee sat there staring at Ivy’s sleeping face for a long time before deciding to just take a nap with her. She laid down and snuggled up to Ivy, pulling her close.

Two hours later Ivy was the first to wake up to Ellee’s face right next to hers. She found herself half on top of Ellee. She had a leg over Ellee’s leg, and her arm was wrapped around Ellee’s back. Even though her cheeks flushed, she did not try to pull away right away since she noticed that Ellee was pretty much doing the same to her, only that Ellee’s leg was in between her own and her arm was also wrapped around her waist. It was indeed an intimate position, but Ivy was more worried about waking Ellee, who had been helping her all this time, than caring about the position she was in.

Ivy smiled faintly as she stared at Ellee’s sleeping face. They started off as enemies and were now partners who were going to face the new world together when it came. “I wish I could do something to thank you.” Ivy reached up and pushed a lock of Ellee’s hair out of her face.

This seemed to have disturbed the sleeping girl, making her open her eyes slightly. The half-asleep girl reached out, pulled Ivy’s head to her, and kissed Ivy’s lips before falling back to sleep. “Hehe… Master’s lips…”

Ivy froze. Her mind was turning about a thousand miles per second. She was trying to process what had just happened. ‘Did, Ellee just kiss me!?’

Ivy slowly slipped out from under Ellee and crawled out of the tent. Her face was burning hot, and she needed to cool off. She looked up at the sky that was reflecting back a whole other world and cupped her cheeks with her hands. ‘Was Ellee dreaming about kissing me? Does that mean she wants to kiss me?’

Ivy was very confused. She sat down cross-legged and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and began using her breathing technique once again. Only after a few seconds did she calm herself down and clear her mind. ‘It’s fine. Even if she does, it's fine. It’s not like I hated it anyway. I will let her bring it up. I need to work on growing stronger more than anything else. So for now I will put such things to the back of my mind and will let things like that take its natural course.’