Paul and Dawn: First Light

Chapter 18: Survival

Chapter 18: Survival 

I hurried through the forest, Torterra's heavy footsteps following me. Furiously, I punched a tree on my way back to camp, wincing on impact. 

Studying my now red hand, the skin torn around my knuckles, I thought about what was bothering me. Dawn. She just had to come snooping around during the one time my Pokemon and I were doing something besides training. Now she must think I'm weak, that all I do all day is lounge around and play peek-a-boo with my Pokemon. 

I swore out loud. Why'd she have to always poke her nose into my business? And she wouldn't leave. I knew if I asked her, she'd refuse. Instead, she'd probably encourage me to splash around with my Pokemon all day. What a waste of time. 

Because of her, I was losing sight of what was important- becoming stronger. Helping Bagon evolve. He was getting closer, but what about today? We'd lost precious hours of training for nothing. Hours we couldn't get back. 

Shaking my head furiously as I entered camp, I went to sit on the fallen tree that we always used as a chair. I threw my still wet jacket on it, stretching it out to help it dry. 

Torterra ambled into view a minute later, Bagon sitting on his back, looking worried. My first partner came right up to me, staring roughly into my eyes. 

"What?" I snapped. 

He continued staring. 

I shrugged, refusing to meet his gaze. I knew he was disappointed. We'd been enjoying ourselves and, really, who was I to let a girl ruin that, no matter how annoying she was? 

"Hmph. You have a point," I admitted. 

Torterra growled and Bagon slid off his body. After a couple minutes, the rest of my Pokemon came back to camp. 

"Enjoy yourselves?" I asked. 

They all seemed to have had a nice time. I nodded and began preparing their food. Right when I sat down and dug through Dawn's refrigeration pack for a sandwich, she came through the trees carrying Piplup, looking at me warily. 

I ignored her and took a bite of my sandwich. 

Dawn got all of her food ready in silence, letting out the rest of her Pokemon for lunch, before sitting down next to me and saying quietly, "So, how did training go?" 

"Don't offend me, Dawn. It's unseemly." 

"How am I offending you?" She laughed despite herself. "Seriously, Paul. You were having fun with your Pokemon. I think that's great. If you want to leave it at that, then I'm fine with that too." 

I stayed silent. 

Dawn snorted. "I don't see why you're so upset with me. All I did was go and train." 

"You're always where you're not supposed to be." I sighed. "You know I never wanted you here. You know how I prefer being alone, and yet you stay. You pretend to understand me, yet you know nothing about me. Nothing, Dawn. I'm just tired of trying to get along with you." 

With that, I stood up and walked into the forest to find a quiet place where I could sit and think. I walked east for about half an hour.  

Dawn didn't come try and find me, which I was grateful for because I was still trying to find myself.  

I shivered. It was chilly now that the sun had fallen. I'd left my jacket behind accidentally. I'd finished my sandwich on the walk away from camp and hadn't had anything to eat since, so my stomach kept making noises of protest about the lack of food. I silently told it to shut up because there was no way I was going back to camp until morning. 

That night, I climbed a tree and stared through the canopy at the stars, feeling extremely glum. I kept trying to brush off the feeling- it made me feel fragile, crushable, which was not a feeling I was used to. Giving up, I decided to sleep and try to wake up ready for a fresh new day which would hopefully end better than this one. 

I slept in the rough embrace of the tree, my head resting against the trunk, with no one around me but myself for the first time in what felt like months.

The next morning, I woke up with the impression that since I couldn't improve my living standards with Dawn, I would just have to do my best to avoid fighting with her. Really, maybe this was just another challenge, another type of training, which I haven't ever seen the likes of before. Maybe it'd be easier to deal with her if I at least pretended it was a test of patience that every Trainer had to endure. 

Because if anything, Dawn was a challenge. 

I returned to camp that morning. All my Pokemon were there. Most of them were still asleep. Torterra was the only one who was awake and he nodded at my arrival before glancing at something- a weird bundle of blankets piled on the log. 

It appeared that Dawn had wrapped herself up like a Kakuna and had fallen asleep sitting up, waiting for me to come back. She was still snoozing, her face peaceful. It was like a trap- how silent she was when she was asleep. Her prey would never suspect that they would die of annoyance when she awakened.

I almost chuckled at my rambling thoughts. I studied a new structure next the fallen log where Dawn slept. It seemed like she'd built a stand to hold my jacket so it would dry faster. I touched the material. It wasn't even damp. With that, I slipped it over my body and silently dug through my bag for food, pulling out some bread. It was a quiet enough food to eat without disturbing Dawn. 

My Pokemon woke up as the sun came up, stretching silently. Torterra closed his eyes as he sunbathed. As the light intensified, Dawn stirred, squinting as her eyes adjusted. 

"Oh!" She gasped, almost falling over because the blanket had ensnared her so tightly. 

"Hi, dimwit," I said casually. 

"When did you get back? I waited up for you," Dawn explained. "I was worried." 

That bothered me. Why would she worry about me? Did she truly see me as some helpless Trainer who couldn't even spend one night by himself?  

She stared at me curiously as I stared incredulously back, trying to figure out her motives. She didn't seem unable to restrain from continuing, "It was cold last night." 

"I survived. I always survive."

"That doesn't exactly sound like much of a life, Paul." 

"Are you saying you know the most adequate way to live?" I raised an eyebrow. 

"Far from it, but shouldn't life be more about enjoying it than just surviving?" Dawn asked. 

"How about," I began, "you live your life the way you want to and I live my life the way I want to." 

Dawn smiled. "I guess that's the best I'll get out of you, huh?" 

I didn't ask her what she meant by that. 

Her voice was cheerful again, "I'm glad you found your jacket. I was hoping you'd come back and get it last night at the very least, but at least you have it now." 

I remained silent. What were with these statements, her smooth tone? That smile? My eyes narrowed every time hers rested on me and I kept chanting to myself to suck it up, that this was life from now on. 

And yes, I planned to survive.