Paul and Dawn: First Light

Chapter 21: Tension

Ch 21: Tension 

The next morning, Dawn was quieter than normal. She picked at her food absentmindedly and I studied her movements. 

"You eat more than I imagined," I observed as she finished a bowl of oatmeal. 

She stared at the spoon in her hand, her eyebrows drawn down. "I don't have any eating disorders." 

I remembered offending her by telling her she had anorexia on our way to Rustburo. "I noticed."  

Dawn's head snapped up. "Do you know what your problem is? You always assume everything about people. That they'll mess up, that they have certain behaviors, that they're not worth your time. That they lie." Her eyes hardened at the last word. "Maybe if you went through the trouble of actually taking the time to get to know people better, like Joey or Ash, you'd understand people better and wouldn't be so afraid to talk to them." 

I was so taken aback by her ferocity that I didn't say anything. With an angry noise, she put her bowl down, grabbed her bag filled with her Poke Balls, and stormed off into the forest. After a minute, all I heard were distant noises of the Pokemon living around us, making their way through the foliage. 

I stared at my hands, wondering what had brought on her outburst. The only thing I could think of was my questions last night, which had seemed innocent enough to me. 

Not that I really did anything innocently. 

Still, I had been curious, and had taken on the teasing nature that I was sure friends often did. What did I have to thank for it? Dawn stomping off, which was exactly why the power of friendship was full of Shinx. 

Sighing, I got up and decided Bagon and I might as well practice his Dragon Claw in the clearing while we waited for Dawn to come back. 

If she does come back, I added. It wouldn't bother me if she did just vanish. I'd want to make sure she was perfectly healthy before she disappeared, but other than that, if she left I'd continue on my way without much of an afterthought. 

"Bagon, we're working on Dragon Claw again. Weavile, you will assist us. This time, it's just a training battle. I won't provide any instruction except for when you're doing something wrong." I nodded to both Weavile and Bagon. "Begin." 

They sparred, Weavile using Metal Claw and Bagon using Dragon Claw, which he had mastered with his right arm. Still, he had a disadvantage because only one of his arms could use the attack while Weavile's Metal Claw used two arms. 

"Try to use your left arm as well, Bagon." From then on, Bagon began attempting to make his left arm glow at the same time with various results. At the end of an hour, he was able to get his left arm to glow consistently, though it still would not elongate as his right arm had for offense or defense. 

"Let's take a break from that and start learning Crunch." 

I had Bagon use Bite by jumping to high branches in the tree, trying to snap them. For an hour, his Bite grew stronger and seemed to resemble something in between a Bite and Crunch attack- stronger than one, but weaker than the other.  

We'd started getting hungry awhile ago, so we took a break for lunch. Dawn was nowhere in sight and I felt a tinge of unease. It would be just like her to be attacked by a group of Breloom and suffer from a Spore attack. She probably wouldn't even know what Breloom were.

Do you know what your problem is? You always assume everything about people, Dawn's words echoed in my mind. I frowned. It was true, I did assume a lot. But I also studied mannerisms. I was knowledgeable.  

And yet, she did have a point. 

Dawn having an accurate point did not improve my mood. I ate quickly and waited for my Pokemon to finish. Right when I was about to get back to work with Bagon, Dawn strode with purpose into camp, meeting my eyes head on with a threatening determination. 

I felt my heart beat too quickly for a moment before it resumed its normal tempo. Her sudden appearance must have caused the change. Piplup marched next to her, his expression matching hers. They actually looked like a formidable pair for once instead of a couple of pushovers. 

I stood up, hands in my pockets and waited for Dawn to speak. After a couple seconds of glaring at me, she said, "We want to battle you." 

"Is that so?" 

"We're not taking no for an answer." Dawn crossed her arms. Her stance made her look stubborn and I knew she wouldn't let it go. 

"The results are going to wield the same, Dawn." I smirked. "But ok." 

"We'll see," she replied coolly. 

I frowned. "Bagon, come here." 

Bagon and I walked far enough away so that there was a reasonable distance for the battle to take place. Piplup walked in front of Dawn and Bagon did the same in front of me. 

They stared each other down and there was no sound, but the friction between the two was easily visible. 

"Bagon, you defeated him once. You can do it again."

"You have no idea how wrong you are," Dawn said darkly. "Piplup, Bubblebeam."