Polar Opposites

Chapter 1: TwinLeafshipping

"Aaahhh! Dawn, look out! Get out of my way!"

At the sound of that familiar and loud voice reaching her ears, the young blunette turned her head in surprise to spot the source: there barrelling towards her out of control on his bike was Barry, with his grip on the handle bars apparently being as tight as possible and the pedals spinning faster than the eye could see. Dawn had figured that something like this was bound to happen considering that Barry had gotten his bike only recently, but she didn't think that he would be this out of control with riding it. Without a moment to spare, as an expression of alarm was plastered all over her face, Dawn rushed out of the way as he sped through the entrance of Hearthome City and was sent flying from his bike, both him and the bike taking into the air for a few seconds before crashing down on the ground. Once the dust from the impact on the ground cleared, Dawn ran over to see Barry lying on the ground, twitching slightly while his bike lay on the ground beside him, the wheels bent in multiple spots, the handle bars nearly broken off and the centre of the bike twisted in half. The moment Dawn approached him, she bent down with a look of worry.

"Oh, Barry! Are you alright?"

After only a second of waiting for her question to be answered, Barry raised his head to notice Dawn looking down at him and he let out a laugh while she watched in surprise before jumping up on his feet. "Of course! A little fall like that's not going to stop me."

Dawn stood up properly and a smile of relief came to her face at this reply. "Whew… well, that's good to hear. At least I know you're not hurt. I don't think the same could be said for your bike, though."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Barry asked, blinking twice in puzzlement as he was wondering what she was going on about. Dawn proceeded to point behind him, to which he turned around and let out a scream of horror when he saw the pile of twisted metal that used to be his bike. "AAAHHHH! OH NO! My new bike!" He then scrambled over to look down at the amount of damage that had been caused before dropping on his knees in despair while Dawn took a step back in surprise. "This was brand new and now it's completely destroyed…"

Dawn stood there in silence before she walked over to Barry as he had buried his head in his hand and bent down to place a hand on his shoulder with a comforting smile. "Hey, it's all right. We can always go back to Eterna City and get it fixed. There's no need to worry!"

Barry turned his head to her at her reassurance and he jumped back up on his feet with an expression of irritation and his hands clenched tightly into fists while she stepped back. "What do you think I've been doing? I've been going back and forth there all day and every time I leave from there, this thing gets wrecked again! This is the fifth time today this has happened!"

Dawn felt her eyes go wide in surprise at this statement; did that mean this had happened before? "Huh? Wait a second: if your bike's brand new, how do you keep wrecking it?" She placed two fingers under her chin to think it over before an idea hit her. "Could it be possible that you're struggling to learn how to ride it?"

"What?!" Barry felt his eyes go wide at Dawn's suggestion, but then he showed a confident smile and waved a hand dismissively. "Don't be ridiculous, Dawn! If I'm training to become the strongest Trainer in Sinnoh, then I'd never have trouble with learning how to ride a bicycle. It must be the bike's fault for constantly wrecking; they don't care of those things like they used to."

Dawn gave a mischievous smile and placed her hands behind her back; she had a feeling she was going to have to pull out the stops if she wanted to have any chance of getting Barry to be honest. "Really now? I wouldn't be too sure of that. I mean, I've seen Eterna City's bikes and they're in the best condition they can be." She then turned her glance up and pressed one finger against her chin as she continued, while Barry watched her wondering what she was up to. "If it's not the fault of the people who made the bikes, then it would be up to the customer to make sure they know how to come to grips with the bike at all times after they got it." As her mischievous smile slowly grew, Dawn began pacing back and forth while Barry watched the whole while. "And that would happen to include you, Barry."

"And what are you saying to say?" Barry asked, crossing his arms as he was wondering what she was getting at with this.

Dawn then stopped in her tracks in the middle of her pacing and turned her glance to him before pointing directly at him. "I'm saying that you, Barry, are in desperate need of bike riding lessons. And thankfully for you, I happen to have a bike of my own and I know just the place to go for that, so…" She then made her way over to grab her bike before making her way back. "I would be happy to provide you with some lessons, courtesy of my own good nature. But first, what do you say we go get your bike fixed… again?"

Barry could only stare in silence once he saw that Dawn had completely figured that out on her own before a wide smile crossed his face and he eagerly nodded in excitement. "Of course! What are we waiting for? Let's get a move on, you and me!"

Dawn gave a smile of amusement at Barry's eagerness to get the lessons started and she laughed to herself before turning her attention to him to correct him. "Actually, it's you and I, Barry."

Barry fell silent upon realising his mistake before he let out a nervous chuckle. "Oh, I know that. I just got a bit excited, that's all." He then turned to Dawn before placing one hand over his mouth. "Just for the record, we're keeping me wrecking my bike between us, right?"

Dawn gave a bright smile as she nodded. "You know it!"