(I don't know what's wrong with me. This ENTIRE ship, and fic idea both came from a Panic!At the Disco song called 'When the Day met the Night'. It got me thinking about how Harley and Dawn were polar opposites; Dawn is all sweet and cute, and Harley is portrayed as scheming and evil. –Rude.-
And I LOVE Against Me! and as I listened to 'Thrash Unreal', it reminded me of Dawn's future so much it was a physical force that hit me with the idea. Seriously.
I don't have a set name for this ship; I'm thinking either MisunderstoodShipping, or DayMeetsNightShipping, and possibly Bubblegumshipping. –Don't ask.-
So if anyone actually reviews, tell me which one you like best, okay?
This also might be turned into a twoshot; I don't know, I make no promises.
I don't own 'When the Day Met the Night', 'Thrash Unreal', Dawn, Harley, -oh, how I wish I did-, or anything else. Okay?)
Dawn Berlitz calmly stalked to the toilet, leaned over, and threw up copiously.
Amidst the strains of some third-rate jazz band playing in the club, she could hear a few other girls following suit in the stalls near hers.
She took a water-bottle out of her pocket, and swallowed, then spat it out back into the porcelain bowl, and flushed the toilet before standing up and exiting the bathroom quickly, not making eye contact with anyone else.
This was her life as a top Coordinator in Sinnoh; she lived in the lap of false luxury, with a few friends usually tailing behind her, basking in her glow.
She hated every minute of it.
She'd started her journey believing that fame was actually something to aspire to. Well, not anymore.
When was the last time she'd been in a Contest?
She couldn't remember. A few months, maybe more; her grasp on time was slipping faster than she could say 'drugs'.
And where was her mother in this? Her friends?
Under the assumption that her actions were squeaky-clean, Johanna had gone to visit some friends in Hoenn for an 'extended period of time', leaving the now fifteen-year-old Dawn to do as she pleased.
Her friends had deserted her a long time ago; Kenny and Zoey were in a long-term relationship, and had gone to Kanto for some type of 'honeymoon'.
People passed her by, and some looked strangely at the few track marks she had left uncovered. Dawn couldn't help but smile to herself as she caught their expressions, mingling between shock, awe, and disgust, depending on where she partied.
She had indeed, at such a tender age, become a junkie. It started small, just a bit of heroin at the Grand Festival's afterparty a year or so back; then it got to a full-fledged addiction, and she just let it wash over her like a tide, because she didn't have the willpower to stop it.
The music throbbed in her head and through her feet, pulling her away on a tide of choruses and drumbeats, and she obediently danced along, barely noticing and hardly caring that her vision was blurring and obscuring, and she made not a single noise of protest as her world faded to black.
She woke up outside her little flat in Sunyshore; a relic from the two-month relationship she'd had with Volkner. She swore, and clutched her head. Yet another hangover.
Still swearing profusely, she staggered to her door, and fumbled for her keys, clutching at them in a fit of genius, and after fitting them properly in the door, she swung it open.
Her Empoleon was waiting for her, a sad expression on his face. He adored his trainer, but couldn't do a thing to stop her. She flickered a gaze in his direction.
"The others okay?"
She was answered with a nod. She smiled weakly, and patted his wing.
"Don't worry, I'll be back soon."
And since Pokemon were not blessed with speech, the words Empoleon was dying to say never left his lips.
"That's what you always say."
Dawn ambled around the marketplace for a while; fans seeking her were soon put off by her sleepy demeanor and glazed expression. She bustled around the Seal counter for a bit, when she collided with someone. She looked up, face flushed in annoyance.
"Oh, hell, watch where you're going—" She unleashed a few choice swearwords at him. The man looked at her, utterly amazed. Dawn sized him up.
Strange did not begin to cover his outfit. A matching outfit of lime-green and dark-green, and a blue top underneath. His hair was longer than hers, and a violent shade of amethyst, along with being covered slightly by an odd hat, same shade as his outfit. He quirked an eyebrow.
"Dear me, I didn't realize I was crashing into the Dawn Berlitz." The sarcasm in his voice was evident, and Dawn's face flushed again from embarrassment. She fumbled for a comeback.
"...Well, you were." She muttered, eyes glued firmly to the floor. The man laughed at her, and she fumed quietly, wishing she wasn't in the marketplace so she could punch him.
"Well, you look like shit, if you don't mind me saying so. Look, my name's Harley Davidson. And from one Coordinator to the other, is it alright if I take you somewhere for tea? I'd like to apologize." She was floored.
This was the first time in quite a while that a man had so blatantly asked her somewhere—at least, without trying to get into her pants. She wasn't even sure of saying yes, but she heard Harley say, "Ooh, lovely! Come with me, dear!"
With that, she registered herself being yanked off and away. She felt like laughing, but her tongue was still fuzzy and glued to the roof of her mouth, besides.
She heard a jingling of bells signifying their entrance into somewhere, and looked up. This was a tea place she'd frequented for awhile, but eventually, she'd stopped coming, as her schedule was packed with parties and galas and the like.
As she rolled this around in her head, she almost laughed again.
Well, wasn't that nice. She remembered a time where none of that mattered. Back when she had been a Coordinator struggling to make it to the top, she'd had to put her all into everything she did.
But now that she was the Dawn Berlitz, she had no time for the thing that made her famous. She was so good at it that there was no point in doing it anymore. She'd already beaten Sinnoh's Grand Festival three times, so why bother doing it all again?
"...Hey! Dawn! Whaddya want?" Harley's voice jolted her back to consciousness. "Oh, yeah. Um, just a cup of peppermint tea, please. Thank you." The waitress disappeared, and Harley looked at her; she shivered under his intense gaze.
"Okay, so. Why on earth did you zone out like that, for starters? You practically passed out about halfway from getting here. I almost had to carry you out of the marketplace." Dawn looked at her feet, and frowned.
"...No reason." Harley nodded, and spoke smoothly, pointing to the sleeves of her hooded sweatshirt.
"...I see. So, mind explaining the long sleeves in, oh, I don't know, ninety-degree weather?" Dawn cursed angrily. He was smarter than she'd expected. Not many noticed stuff like that.
If the Dawn Berlitz did it, she certainly must have reasons. After all, she'd never do something as vile as drugs, right?
Harley simply stared at her for a minute. Dawn's face flared red in anger. "H-how dare you speak to me that way!" Her voice had risen just a touch, but Harley just leaned back in his seat, appearing almost amused by the whole spectacle.
"I am the three-time winner of the Sinnoh Grand Festival! Who do you think you are?!" She screamed, as the other inhabitants of the tea shop looked on in interest.
Harley waited until the angry color had faded from her face, before looking up at her. "...Just Harley Davidson. Twenty years old—and three-time winner of the Johto Grand Festival." She sat down in her seat again.
"...Seriously?" She asked him, eyes filled with a renewed respect. Harley shrugged.
"I suppose so, yes. I mean, if you actually still cared about Coordinating, you'd probably know that." Dawn fumed.
"What do you mean, I don't know about Coordinating!? Damn you, I'm the Champion; of course I know about Coordinating!" And with that, the tea that had managed to arrive during this conversation was picked up by her trembling hands.
"You... you bastard!" And with that, she chucked the tea in his face, before storming out of the shop, bells jingling in protest as she slammed the door.
Harley stared at the two cups. He shrugged, and picked the other cup up, cradling it in his hands. "Well," he stated, "at least she didn't throw mine."
Dawn stormed back to her apartment in a fury. "Who does he think he is!? Coming from Johto, all just to humiliate me! That... that... gah!" She screamed, startling a few Wingull out of the trees near her.
"...Actually, I'm from Hoenn. And I didn't come here to humiliate you, I came to participate in Contests. Which you seem to all but have forgotten." Dawn jumped, and turned around. Harley was standing there, a look of bemusement on his face. Dawn snarled.
"Same thing! I'm the Champ of this region, in case you've forgotten! So you are out to humiliate me! And would you quit following me?!" She screamed, looking up at him. She'd always been slightly short; and he was almost freakishly tall, even without the heeled boots.
"No. I want a battle." He explained shortly, glaring down at her. She was taken aback. "...A battle? ...But, why?" He shrugged.
"I want to see if you actually deserve that title you wear so proudly. You certainly don't look like you do." He told her, crossing his arms. Dawn turned on her heel.
"...Follow me. We'll do this at my house." Harley sighed, and trailed after the teenage Coordinating queen, rearranging the Pokeballs on his belt with care as they walked.
"Nice flat." He remarked offhandedly, looking at the small, worn-out bungalow-like thing. Dawn said nothing. She led him around to the back, and disappeared inside. Harley was waiting with a Cacturne by his side by the time she got back.
She said nothing still, just selected a Pokeball. "...Pachirisu. Spotlight." The Pokemon flew out of her Pokeball, thrilled at getting some exercise for once.
It'd been a long time since they'd battled together, but Pachirisu was ready. Harley sized up his minute opponent. "Cacturne!" He called. "Needle Arm!" Dawn nodded at Pachirisu.
"Discharge!" But it barely affected Cacturne, and Pachirisu was blasted back into the dirt. Harley sighed.
"Mew above, are you stupid!? Electric does next to nothing against Grass!" He smirked, placing a spidery hand on one hip. "You really are an idiot." Dawn felt like murdering him, but comforted herself with the fact that he'd soon eat his words.
"Cacturne! Finish this with Pin Missile!" The sharp pins struck Pachirisu, and she fainted dead on the spot. Dawn recalled her, fluently cursing at Harley, along with Arceus, Giratina, and any other deity she could think of.
"Ambipom!" Her champion Pokemon. She smirked. There was no way Harley could beat him!
But he sent out an Octillery. "Fire Blast." He ordered calmly. Dawn could only watch in horror as Ambipom was knocked out in one hit.
She frantically tried to recall when she'd trained any of them at all.
She couldn't. She sighed, and suddenly, her eyes and nose stung. Fighting back tears of frustration and sadness, she sent out Lopunny.
In another two minutes, Lopunny was down, thanks to Harley's Ariados. She recalled Lopunny silently, having no more words left. Harley watched her, not with arrogance, but with a sad look on his face. She shook her head once to clear her mind, and threw out the Pokeball of her best friend.
"Empoleon, go!" She called. Harley shrugged, and sent out a Banette. Quickly enough, with an assault from an ill-conceived Rain Dance on her part, and a Thunder attack from Harley, Empoleon was down after one or two shots.
She said nothing as she recalled him. She looked at Harley, the tears finally brimming over. "Are you happy?" She hissed, looking him dead in the eye. He stared at her as she burst into tears, finally letting them flood over. She looked down, and kept crying, until he put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"No. Not if you're crying like that. I didn't mean to make you cry. Please, smile for me, my dearest day." She sniffled, and looked up at him.
"It's Dawn, remember?" He shook his head, and continued.
"Not really. You're different than a plain dawn; you're like a warm summer day, only..." He thought for a minute. "A sudden rainstorm happened upon you. And the clouds came, and you were blocked from life." She looked strangely at him.
"And then what?" She asked, a bit confused by this strange weather metaphor. He grinned at her.
"Then the night came to save you." She was still confused.
"Why? You hardly know me." Harley shrugged.
"True. But I hardly think you know yourself, either." She couldn't argue with that.
"But..." He put a finger to her lips. She was stunned back into silence through this simple act. Her mouth opened like a fish, but he kept his finger firm. "Sssh. Relax, relax. You're just lost, aren't you? You're scared, you're young, and you feel like the world expects too goddamned much of you, right?" Dawn held his gaze, even though her vision was blurred by tears.
"I...I... Yes!" She began howling now, and her Pokemon exploded out of their Pokeballs, clustering around their distraught trainer. Harley was touched by their devotion.
"Emp. Poleon. Empoleon!" Empoleon hoisted her up on his wing, just like he did when he evolved, and they had traveled. "Chhiii! Pachi! Chipa! Pachirisu!" Her blue squirrel leapt up onto her lap, settling down on her fluffy tail.
"Pom!" Her Ambipom took her hand in his own, smiling broadly. "Lo!" Her Lopunny hugged her, being the most humanlike. She stared at all her Pokemon. They weren't angry at her in the slightest; they were smiling and chattering in their own language. She smiled through a shimmering veil of tears. "Guh...guys... waaaaah!" She clutched herself as she sobbed.
Empoleon let her down gently; in one swift movement, Harley caught her. Dawn looked up at him, comfortable in his arms.
"...Hey, Harley?" Dawn asked, closing her eyes. He sniffed, and brushed a piece of hair out of her face.
"What, Dawn?" He asked. She snuggled close to him.
"...Thank you." Harley said nothing, just picked her up, and as she fell asleep, exhausted from her tears, sure that things would be better from now on. With Harley, with her Pokemon, she'd get back on track, and earn back the title of Champion Coordinator for real.
Because when the day meets the night, life can only turn golden from there on out.