Dawn extremely wanted to roll her eyes at Mr. Backlot. It happened every time. Lucas had laughed so hard when she told him about how she responded the first time to the rich mansion owner's saying, "Are you envious?" by looking at him with an unimpressed look and a snapping, "I've seen better."
Her friend and her had been drinking milkshakes together in a café in Jubilife city, laughing and talking about their amazing adventures so far. The way Lucas's eyes sparkled whenever he looked at her, and how a wide grin came across his face always filled her with joy. Maybe when they weren't ten, and traveling all over the region in search of Pokemon for the Pokedex, they could possibly date. Also if her rival, Tyler, wasn't in her life. The way he always grinned with competitiveness always filled her with electricity, and she couldn't wait to verse him again, like she always did when she wasn't battling him and his pokemon.
"Are you envious?" Mr. Backlot asked eagerly with a smirk, and she gave a nod with much less enthusiasm. Why did he have to brag about everything he owned?! "Ha! I knew you would be! Why travel when all the pokemon come straight to my garden? Are you envious?"
Again Dawn nodded, waiting patiently for him to tell her the special pokemon that was visiting, and if it was Eevee or not. He told her more about the garden, and said that Igglytuffs were in it at the moment. Sighing disappointedly, the black haired girl gave a polite smile and was about to walk out of the room when a glint of silver caught her eye behind Backlot. She walked around the huge cherry wood table to stare at a gym statue. What the heck?! How much money did this guy have? To be able to afford an "Only gym leader statue" without actually being one was pretty impressive, she had to admit. It looked so shiny!
Dawn stepped forward, and not giving a second glance to the guard, reached her hand out to touch it with wonder. "No touching the statue. Please step back ma'am." The girl threw an annoyed glance at the guard for breaking her trance of wonder, and she folded her arms and said with glare, "Well that's kinda dumb. Not even letting me touch the statue?" The guard threw her a smirk, and said with his blue eyes gleaming with mischief, "You can touch with your eyes, but not hands." He grinned at her, and Dawn gave a wild guess that he was at most 15, with his lanky posture and childish smiles.
She brushed past him, not saying a word as she went through the door, still thinking of how cool it would be to be a gym leader.
"And then, I literally leap on the black belt, and demand my money back! No way am I going to some lousy karate school for a hard wad of cash! I start hammering on him, and-," Tyler finished the story, and Lucas and Dawn laughed, almost spewing out their soda that they were drinking. All three of them were at a restaurant, sitting at the counter and downing pop and sharing their most recent victories and stories. Lucas began telling one about a shiny espeon that he found, and was about to keep it when the owner actually came and claimed it, when the bell of the Moomoo milk restaurant dinged, and a small group of boys walked in, laughing at a joke that the leader made.
Almost choking on her Dr. Pepper cherry, Dawn recognized the michevious smile and sky blue eyes that glowed with jokes. He looked ten times different with a black pokemon trainer jacket on, and a competitive look on his face along with authority. The black haired girl turned around, breathing slightly hard, and thought with understanding Well, no wonder they chose him for guard duty.
"Uh, Dawn? Earth to Dawn." She blinked at Lucas's waving hand in front of her eyes, and threw up a smile, "Sorry, lost my train of thought for a moment." Tyler gave her an adventurous grin and took a generous swig of his Mountain Dew and Red Bull mix, and said with a burp, "Your turn to tell the story. I'm guessing you went to Backlot again to find a eevee, huh?"
Dawn replied back with a groan, "You have no idea. It's like he never has a single eevee ever! I legit want to go up to Bebe and torture her until she tells me where she got her eevee!" Lucas and Tyler laughed, and then Tyler said with a charming grin, "I bet you want my flareon real bad." Dawn gave him a sarcastic look with a smile, "Naw. I do want to train all of the eevees, but I'd much rather stick with a Glaceon for my second evolution instead of some hothead." Lucas gave a bark of laughter, as the blond haired rival gave a smirk, "That's me alright. An awesome hothead." The three friends laughed, and continued talking about their travels until the evening moon glowed throughout the sky.
Lucas got up first, and with an apologetic smile, put on his backpack and said, "Sorry guys, I promised the newspeople that I'd tell them about my latest capture. But I'll catch you guys later!" Tyler gave him a fist bump, and replied, "Later dude. Until next time that I beat you." They gave a parting laugh, and her rival turned to her, saying while getting his bag, "I'll walk ya out rival. Flareon would appreciate an apology." He winked at Dawn, and she smiled at him while downing the rest of her soda. They stepped out into the cool night air, joking as Tyler turned down the opposite route of Dawn's, and he called after her, "Catch you later! Until next battle." She yelled the same after him, and stood in the warm light of the Moomoo milk café, grinning as she thought of all the stories and jokes that had spawned during the 3 hours that they had had together.
Dawn started walking towards Solaceon Town, saying a greeting to Ava and Pa as she passed the two cowhandlers. But instead of grinning and calling a jolly greeting, Ava grabbed her arm and stopped the traveler, and with a serious look pointed towards the café, said lowly, "Did you see those young city snappers walk in there? The small gang of guards from Backlot's place?" Dawn nodded slowly, not seeing what the point was until Pa spoke up harshly, "We need you to do a favor for us, and I'll give you a ponyta for it." The black haired trainer always loved the little fire horse pokemon, and she had a small herd of them in her PC. "Sure, what do I need to do?" Pa gave her a grin, and exchanged a glance with his daughter, saying, "We need you to show 'em whose boss. Battle the leader and win." A nervous thought sparked in her brain at battling the guard, who probably had level 70 pokemon, and she gave them a hopefully confident smile. "I can do that!" Ava whooped and slapped her on the back, "Yes! Thanks partner. We could use their tails whooped ever since they taunted our farm pokemon."
Dawn grinned, and felt a strong feeling of dread churn in her stomach. Pa and Ava were good friends, showing her good route passages and exchanging stories and tips. But what if she couldn't win?