Paul and Dawn: First Light

Chapter 50: Sketches

Chapter 50: Sketches 

I didn't sleep well, as I had predicted, and had woken my Pokemon up a few hours earlier than planned by shaking them awake and hissing, "Wake up, we're going for a run. That is, if you're not going to be pathetic and sleep all day." 

And that we had. They hadn't seemed too bothered by missing out on sleep either. Apparently they'd missed training as much as I had. The possibility of them also having girl issues and being unable to sleep was discarded immediately, naturally. 

After an hour job, they began stretching and focusing on their main attacks. We'd hiked pretty far away from camp as to not wake Dawn and her Pokemon, which would be entirely too easy as my Pokemon seemed keen on dismantling the entire route. I didn't blame them. If I had the power to use an attack that could crush anything in my path, I'd use it in a heartbeat. Especially at times such as these when we'd been cooped up inside for such a long period of time.  

My Pokemon and I returned to camp two hours later to find Dawn and her Pokemon getting ready for the day. Dawn was making oatmeal, which I was thankful for. We'd gone to train without eating (any idiot could train well on a full stomach) and we were all ready for a bit of nourishment.  

"Good morning." Dawn handed me a bowl of oatmeal. 

"Morning." I sat down roughly, relieved as I took a bite. 

"I see you were eager to start early today."

I nodded, my mouth full of oatmeal.  

"Did you trip over anything while I was asleep?" 

I ignored her teasing. "No." 

"Good. I didn't miss anything." She stretched cheerfully and I saw Piplup give me a smug look. At least he didn't seem eager to use Ice Beam on me anymore.  

"When do you plan to start training?" I asked, moving away from the jokes. 

"Right after we eat." Dawn watched her Pokemon nibble on their food. "I'm really excited." 

"Yeah, it's refreshing." 

"I can tell you missed it."

"I did, but my time has not been wasted." I took another bite before feeling anxious about what I'd said. Dawn didn't reply and instead finished her oatmeal. 

"Ok, guys," she called once they finished. "It's time to train." 

"Us too." I nodded to my Pokemon who gathered behind me. 

Dawn and I stared at each other for a few seconds before Dawn said, "I guess I'll see you later." 

I frowned, disliking thinking about not seeing her until lunch. It hadn't bothered me this morning, being away from her, but now that I was thinking about it, being away from her didn't appeal to me. "I guess so." 

"Good luck, Paul." She winked at me and held out her hand. 

I shook it, feeling a bit wary of why we were being so formal. "I don't need it. You don't either, you know." 

She grinned. "Right. See you soon." 

Soon, I repeated in my head, watching her skip away as she chatted energetically to her Pokemon as they left camp.

Bagon and I had begun our one on one training right after parting ways with Dawn. It had felt nice to get back into the routine and I'd surprisingly missed his quiet company. He was a lot like me in several ways and shared my never ending perseverance to grow strong. The amount of whining involved in this, however, varied immensely.