A Different Route ✓

Chapter 13

(Pokemon is not mine. The picture above is not mine. It's a screenshot from the anime.
"talking"
'thinking'
-pokespeech-
Enjoy!)

Ash hummed as he twirled the black army knife, 'I think, I should train Dawn on how to defend herself. Just like Knight Lucario trained May.'

Gary kissed his cheek, "What is going on in your head Ashy?"

Ash looked up at Gary, "I was thinking, we should train Dawn on how to use a weapon."

Gary looked at him in understanding, "You are worried Hunter J, Devorakk or Cyrus might come after her."

Ash nodded, "Yeah, I have my retractable knife, staff and aura, you have your guns, May and Max have their tasers and darts, Verity uses steel reinforced string, while Sorrel has his Khyber knife. I don't know what weapon Brock and Misty uses personally, but I bet they have guns as standard for Gym Leaders."

Gary crossed his arms, "That leaves Dawn unarmed. Are you planning on teaching her how to use knives?"

Ash, "Yeah, I was, besides these black knives they belonged to grandma. She was a an awesome hand at knife throwing."

Dawn came in at that moment, "Hey guys.... Woah! What's with the sharp knives?"

Ash and Gary looked at each other before shrugging, now was a good time as any other to explain and teach her. To say Dawn was very reluctant to learn how to hurt someone was an understatement. But Ash made it clear that she would only use the knives during emergencies, like when she was caught and her Pokemon taken from her. And if, that is a big if someone tried to force themselves on her.

Dawn froze at the last one and looked at the two in front of her. She had so many questions about that but was not sure she should ask or if she even had the courage to ask. Ash saw her the questions in her eyes and explained some of the dark things that had happened to him and his friends over the years. Dawn was quite pale after Ash finished and agreed to learn to defend herself.

The training took place on the road. Ash and Gary used the environment around them as an advantage for training Dawn. She was a quick study and picked up the things that were taught very fast. She was proud of her development and a little scared at how easily she picked up how to throw knives at her targets with perfect precision, but she kept on learning.

Dawn, 'If this can help me protect my Pokemon and friends. It is worth it. I just hope I'm not forced to kill someone.'

Aside from the daily training they went around challenging gyms and winning ribbons through Sinnoh. At one point they even met a Princess Salvia who looked so much like Dawn, it was unreal. The Princess was very excited to meet a look a like and spent the day with them. The two girls got along so well Ash thought they were twins separated at birth. They had the same hair colour and face shape but that's where the similarities ended. Dawn had blue gray eyes, Salvia had green eyes, Salvia's skin was a lighter color than Dawn and Dawn was slightly taller than Salvia.

Dawn, "I have been training a lot lately, especially after getting my last ribbon. We ran into some horrible people during our journey."

Salvia, "So you know hand to hand combat?"

Dawn, "Yes, why?"

Salvia got up, "As a Princess one of my lessons was self defense. I was taught how to fight without Pokemon. Let's have a spar Dawn."

Salvia's maid freaked out, "What? P.. Princess.. What are you saying?"

Salvia, "Have you forgotten? I was almost kidnapped last week. Please Dawn have a spar with me. I want to know how far I have come while training."