Paul and Dawn: First Light

Chapter 30: Battles

Chapter 30: Battles 

The next morning I woke up to see Dawn fully dressed, packing her bags. She seemed a lot calmer than she had been last night. 

"Good morning," she said as I rolled up my sleeping bag. 

"Why are you packing up?" 

"If it doesn't bother you too much, I'd like for us to make our way to Verdanturf by tonight and stay at the Pokemon Center. It'd make getting ready tomorrow easier." 

"Fine." 

"Ok. After breakfast, let's leave." 

I frowned. She didn't seem to mind bossing me around when she had a purpose. If I knew the Contest thing was a permanent thing, I would have argued, but since it was only a one day thing I decide it was best to plow ahead without causing any avoidable drama. 

We ate quietly. Dawn seemed to glow with excitement now that she wasn't scared to death. To me, it was such an odd display. When I battled, it made me feel powerful and important. When Dawn did anything Contest related, she seemed even giddier and girlier than usual. 

I shook my head to myself- we were so different, even if we were now accustomed to each other's presence. 

We left camp after eating, Dawn walking faster than normal. She didn't talk often and I replied back curtly, not really in a good mood now that we were going back to populated areas where people talked to me to be polite and didn't understand that I hated people bothering me, even for the sake of that pesky thing called manners. 

"There it is!" Dawn exclaimed an hour later. We'd made good time. 

The town looked a lot different than it had the last time I'd been here. Last time, the only large modern building had been the Contest Hall. Now, it seemed like houses and shops were cropping up in the more vacant areas of town. Its population was growing pretty exponentially by the look of it. 

"Let's go!" Dawn tugged my arm for a second, pulling me forward a bit. I scowled, not enjoying feeling like a rag doll. Piplup smiled at me smugly from his Trainer's arms and I gave him a look of annoyance. 

We walked into town. Not many people were milling about and I guessed most of the population was at work. The Pokemon Center was at the very edge of town and it wasn't long before we walked through the front doors. 

Dawn and I handed in our Pokemon to be examined by Nurse Joy and Dawn said, "I'm going to call my mom. I'm pretty sure the Contest will be on TV, so she'll want to watch." 

"Ok. I'll make sure we have two rooms booked and then I'll be... around." 

Dawn nodded and hurried off to the computers.  

Great. Now what? I thought moodily after asking Nurse Joy for two room keys- one for myself and one for Dawn. I'd have to spend about half an hour before my Pokemon would be handed back to me, I wasn't hungry, and I was in a town full of people. We didn't need to restock supplies since we were staying here for at least another day. 

Grumbling, I began to explore the Pokemon Center. There was a fitness room, which didn't interest me. I preferred doing exercises that didn't require machines. A large pool was also inside and a lot of Water Pokemon were swimming. Some Trainers were swimming as well, treading water as their Pokemon swam circles around them. 

The next room I came across was a large library. It had a couple hundred books and I sighed in relief, settling myself among the rows of knowledge. 

I found a book about the rules of Hoenn Contests and decided that I should at least skim through it to understand exactly what would be going on in the Contest tomorrow. In no way would I make a fool of myself by not knowing about the "glitz and glamour" that was used in the world of Coordinators.