Paul and Dawn: First Light

Chapter 65B: Petals

Hey, if you want to get the full use out of this chapter, go read chapter 65 first. Please. That'd be great. I feel like it'd be good to get a refresh as to why this scene is important. And here you go!

Petals

Dawn

I picked at a flower, the petals falling off one by one. Piplup was sleeping against my side, his round belly expanding and contracting slowly. He'd fallen asleep a few minutes ago under the warm sun and the soft breeze. It was a perfect day outside, clouds passing by lazily just like the time was.

I lay on my back, holding the flower towards the sun as I thought about tonight. And Paul. I was always thinking about him. It seemed like he'd made up his mind about being with me, though he hadn't said it yet. But I saw it. I saw his decision in everything he did. How he'd saved me from Team Magma, how concerned he'd looked ever since I'd opened my eyes in that cave and saw him standing above me. He'd let me sleep next to him, allowed me to get close to him instead of pushing me away.

I was almost shocked at how well I knew him now. I didn't need words. I could just tell what he was going to do by the way he looked at me.

That still didn't tell me if he was going to tell me if he loved me or where in the world he was going to take me tonight.

I guess he's going to take me somewhere, I thought, rolling my eyes.

The last petal fluttered downward, landing on my cheek. I'd been so distracted that I'd lost count of if he loved me or loved me not, though I didn't believe a silly flower could tell me that anyway.

"So, does he love you?" I heard above me.

I bolted upright, Piplup rolling onto his belly into the grass next to me, not waking up, as I scrambled to sit normally as I realized who was talking to me. It was that guy we'd met before that Paul had battled, the one who had that air of confidence that reminded me so much of Ash. I hoped I would get his name right. "Daniel?"

"Yep! You remembered. I must have left an impression." Daniel plopped himself next to me in the grass, putting a hand gently on Piplup's sleeping head. "How have you been, Dawn?"

"Oh, great! Thanks," I said, flustered. I hadn't been expecting him to appear out of nowhere and invite himself to sit with me. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing at a Pokemon Center as a Trainer with tired Pokemon who loves free food? That's a hard question," he mused, grinning at me.

I smiled back, relaxing a bit. Daniel had a very calming presence, even if I didn't know him well at all. "Seriously, what brings you to Mauville?"

"Gym challenges of course."

"So your other friends are with you?"

"Yep! They're inside right now. Emma said I was driving her insane so I needed to stay at least fifty feet away from her the rest of the day."

"What did you do to make her get that mad?"

"Uh," he frowned and looked at the sky, "Let's see. I started the morning saying I wanted donuts for about an hour while she complained until I stopped. After that, I accidentally got us attacked by Roselia on the way here because I said one looked really beautiful."

"Why'd you get attacked for that?"

"It turns out the Roselia in question was male. It wasn't a pretty situation after that. Get it?"

I gave a small smile at his joke. "Well, that sounds horrible."

"Oh, I'm not even done yet. After that fiasco, we were walking here and Emma fell into this huge patch of mud. She was covered in it from head to toe."