Today is November 1st! You know what that means… The beginning of NaNoWriMo! For more details on NaNoWriMo, please see my profile. It's under the big heading titled Announcement- you can't miss it! Anyways, I hope to be updating everyday from now on. Let's hope that works out! Plus, I got some wonderful reviews, so I want to keep bringing those in, too!
Please enjoy.
Shoutouts to Sonicboom123456 and erebush6h.
~Chapter 3~
My trip back home took a very long time, as Glacie kept on wandering off, due to the fact that many of the things we passed were things she had never seen before. Eventually, she looked so exhausted that I thought she was about to faint right there, so I withdrew her back into her pokeball and continued on my way. I finally reached my house, with its familiar brown wooden paneling and teal green roof. I turned the doorknob and walked to find that nothing much had changed since I left. Strange, since so much had happened to me since then. My mother was still sitting in front of the tv, but from the looks of it, she had cleaned the kitchen while I was gone.
"Mom, I'm home." I called, worn out from my expedition. I was about to set down my white duffel bag on the table by the door as usual, when I remembered that I still had my friend in there. I removed her pokeball from inside the bag and clutched it tightly, hiding it behind my back. I walked gently over to the couch and sat down next to my mother.
My mother was an intriguing person. She didn't have a tangible job, but we did get a steady income, due to all of her contests she participated in as a teenager. She was one of the most known contest contenders in all of Sinnoh, and still remains that way to this day. Occasionally, when her contest reruns aren't airing as much and the cash starts to die down, she'll pack up her Kangaskhan, Nullama, and our Award-Winning pet Glameow, Mimi, and go to Hearthome City to participate in another Supreme Contest, which she would undoubtedly win. Then the contest would air on tv, she would be invited to tons of talk shows, interviews would be printed in the newspaper, etc., etc., and we would be reeling in the big bucks again.
Basically, for my whole life, I had been the daughter of the famous Johanna. The ordinary girl with the extraordinary mom. My mom had tried to hide the expectations people had for me from me my entire life, but bits and pieces leaked through. One time, I overheard my kindergarten teacher talking with the school nurse about how they were disappointed that I hadn't shown any sort of interest in contests so far. Or anything "beautiful," for that matter. After I had heard that, I tried to be more like the girl people expected of me, only wearing dresses, using my mom's makeup when she wasn't around, taking pretend interest in "pretty" things. It continued on for about a year, and by the time I was six, I had actually started to believe my own charade. But then Barry moved here from the Johto Region. He was the same age as me, but we couldn't be more different.
"Wow, Dawn! Your dress is so pretty!" A random girl in my class called out to me as I skipped into class that morning.
"Thanks, Kayla!" I called back. I looked down and patted my slightly poofy purple dress. It was one of my favorites at the time, it had a split skirt below a lavender ribbon around my waist, and the darker purple color of the skirt rested on top of a sparkling lavender to match the ribbon. This particular dress drew lots of attention, which constantly reminded me to be girly, because I was going to star in contests one day, and to do that, I had to look like my mother.
I looked to the open glass doors at the back of the classroom and frowned. Normally at this time, the kids would all be outside, but today, they were outside, yes, but crowded around something, instead of in groups doing different things. I headed outside and squeezed myself into the cluster. In the center was a boy with an orange tee shirt and a green scarf, except that the scarf was tied around his forehead in an attempt to look cool and keep his messy blonde hair out of his eyes. He had a bright smile on his face, though I was confused why, as his whole bottom half -pants, shoes, everything- was completely submerged in…
Mud.
I crinkled my nose in distaste as I looked at the smelly brown substance, and subconsciously took a small step back. The boy looked up at me and grinned, his orangey-amber eyes shining.
"Hi there! My name's Barry! Who're you? You seem nice! Wanna help me make mud pies?" He practically yelled in my ear. I stared, dumbfounded at him. He was very different from all the other boys in my class. They were annoying and loud, and mean whenever you tried to do something about it, and when you told the teacher, they would just pout in a corner and get all of the other boys to turn against you. But he- Barry, seemed not only friendly, but determined to be friends with me. I hesitated, not sure of what to do in this kind of situation. Suddenly, a cool breeze wafted over me, blowing my hair back and a wave of calm swept over me, and I glared at Barry and stuck my tongue out at him.
"No, I don't wanna play mud pies, or whatever that is," I started coldly, "And frankly, I think playing in the mud is gross." I sneered while watching his reaction. His face fell, and I felt guilty, but that swiftly turned to confusion as he perked up again.
"That's okay! I didn't used to like mud pies, either, but then I learned that they were really fun!" He said, using a muddy hand to pull on my dress, trying to get my attention. When I looked down, I noticed that he had left a large muddy stain on my dress.
"AHHHH!" I was pretty sure that someone could hear me all the way in Snowpoint City. "T-that was m-my favorite dress, you idiot!" I cried, tears glistening in my eyes. He stared at me in utter shock then looked down bashfully.
"Sorry… That was your favorite dress? T-then I'll fix it!" He said hesitantly, grabbing the hem and rubbing at the stain, making it smear and spread. I forcefully tugged the skirt out of his grasp and gave him my best death glare. He flinched, and again I felt the slightest twinge of guilt, but that faded soon as I looked down to inspect the damage. The rich purple fabric around that area was almost completely concealed under a layer of mud, and it had smeared farther into the dress, making the lavender seem brown and ugly. I was near tears now, and that quickly turned to rage.
"Why would you think that rubbing more mud into it would help!" I screeched, and he started at me like I had grown three heads.
"W-well, I think I can still make it better! I mean, all we have to do is wash the mud out, right?" He then spit into his hand and tried to rub the mud out, not noticing that he was only making it even worse than before. I screamed in rage and launched myself at him, a red haze clouding my vision.
I completely bowled him over, and we rolled around in the mud pit as the other students watched in interest, making side comments to their friends about who they thought would win. Barry was trying to be kind, only pushing me away, but I was fighting with every once of strength my six-year-old body contained. I bit, scratched, and pulled his hair, all the while calling him an idiot and names of the like, but he hardly noticed. I only managed to land a few good blows, seeing as I had never been in a fight before. He finally managed to escape my clutches and ran away, although he was kicking up even more mud due to the fact that it rained the night before, and the entire playground was soaked. So, I did the best thing I could think of. I picked up a giant glob of the brown goo and chucked it with all my might, and watched as it sailed through the air and hit Barry straight in the back of the head.
He slowly turned around, his now muddy hair shielding his eyes from me so that I couldn't see his expression. My insides froze as he bent down, scooped up a handful of mud, and threw it at me.
I "umphed" as the impact landed square in my chest. Fury filled me, and I grabbed two handfuls and lugged them, but he had already gotten another handful and lobbed it in my direction. I ducked and heard a squelch as it landed on someone behind me, and suddenly mud was flying everywhere, but my main target was still the strange blonde boy.
Eventually I managed to catch up to Barry and lunged at him, knocking him to the ground. I sat up, groaning as I inspected a cut on my elbow.
"Ow," I heard and looked up to find Barry sitting cross-legged on the ground and rubbing the back of his head. I lifted an eyebrow as he noticed I was still sitting there and not trying to kill him. "Aren't you mad anymore…?" He asked slowly, as if he was scared that if he asked it, I would suddenly realize that I should attack him and start on my relentless chase again.
"Nah," I said with a small smirk, "You're too fast for me to catch you." Barry looked at my dress and looked like he was trying to hold back laughter. "…What?" I asked warily. I blinked in shock when he burst out laughing.
"L-look at yourself…" He said, and I surveyed myself. My dress was now completely brown, and was ripped and torn in several places. I felt my hair and realized that it too was caked with mud. I blushed as I realized what a mess I must look like.
"W-well," I started indignantly, "Look at yourself!" He too was covered in mud from head to toe, which only made him laugh harder. I was surprised into an easy smile; one of the easiest I'd had in weeks. That smile quickly grew into a chuckle, which grew into a laugh, and soon we were laughing together, until Barry suddenly cut off, gasping. "W-what?" I questioned warily.
"Hey! You laughed! I kinda thought that was impossible!" He stated, earning a swift glare from me, as well as a cuff on the back of the head, "Ow! But, anyways, see!" He pointed out, confusing me, "Mud is fun!" He started laughing again, and, surprised, I realized that he was right. That had been fun. So, I started laughing along with him, with mud from the others still flying all around us. "Hey… I never learned your name. What was it?"
"…Dawn."
"Well, Dawn, it's nice to meet you!" Grinning, Barry held out a mud-covered hand, his orange eyes shining even though his face was covered in dirt. I hesitated, then, smiling, shook my own dirty hand in his.
"Nice to meet you, too, Barry."
"Dawn?" My mother asked, snapping me out of my flashback.
"Huh? O-oh, yeah. Hi!" I started again as my mom rolled her eyes.
"I asked what you had been doing, Dawn. You never listen!" She jokingly scolded as I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head, a habit I had picked up from Barry.
"Sorry, Mom. Oh, and about that…" I sat down next to her on the couch, Glacie's pokeball still held firmly behind my back, "Something kinda big happened to me while I was out." I started, but I didn't get to finish, as my mother got a very confusingly understanding look on her face.
"Ah, I see. So, you and Barry finally got together?" There was a moment of stunned silence from my end as I stared at my mother in shock, my mouth hanging open. My grip on Glacie's pokeball lessened and it fell out of my grasp, and fell to the floor, bouncing a few times before it suddenly came to rest at my feet. We stared at it for a second and finally I turned back to face my mom, my mouth still agape. "Sweetheart? What's that? Is that a pokeball?" She questioned, this time wearing a confused expression. I suddenly snapped out of my trance, shaking my head a few times to clear it. Unfortunately, though, a deep blush slowly crept up my face, not from embarrassment, but from indignation.
"Yeah, yeah, not the point- Why would you think Barry and I would get together?" The very thought was enough to make my head spin. Me? Barry? As if! Even Barry and I had had this conversation when we turned twelve.
"Hey, Barry?" I asked, licking my vanilla ice cream as I took a shady seat beneath a maple tree in the park.
"Yeeees?" He asked, catching a drip at the last second, his rainbow sherbert running down his fingers.
"Are we supposed to start dating?" This comment earned a startled coughing fit from Barry. I blinked at him in surprise, not sure if I should laugh or help him. I settled for laughing.
"W-why –cough, cough- on Earth would you ask that!" He looked at me like I had grown a living shadow. "D-do… Do you want to start dating?" He asked as a furious blush stormed his features. I blushed as well and started shaking my head furiously.
"N-no! I just heard some teachers talking about when we would 'get together' or something. I just wanted to know what you thought." I stammered, extremely embarrassed.
"Phew! Good! For a second there, I thought you would actually want to date me!" Barry sighed, relief evident on his face. I sighed in relief, too, the redness draining from my cheeks.
"So, we'll never date each other, right?" I checked, and Barry nodded.
"Yep! We're best friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend!" He stated, his nose crinkling as he thought of the latter.
"Yeah, that would be weird." I said, and we sealed the deal with a pinky promise.
"Well, you have to admit, Dawn, it's only a matter of time." My mom stated plainly.
"No! No, it's not! That would be way too weird! No!" I yelled, my blush reaching to the roots of my hair. My mother sighed, rested her head on her hand.
You know, your father and I were childhood friends," She informed me. I rolled my eyes; I had heard this story about a billion times.
"Yes, yes, I know the drill, but Barry and I just aren't like that." My mom looked skeptical, and let go of the subject, much to my relief.
"Anyways, Dawn, why do you have a pokeball?" My mother asked, puzzled. I picked it up and held it out for her to see.
"This is what I wanted to show you. Barry and I were by the woods," I informed her, carefully skipping over the part when I would've deliberately disobeyed her, "And we ran into Professor Rowan, and he gave us Pokemon!" I said, finally releasing Glacie from her pokeball. She chirped a greeting to my mom, who, dumbfounded, waved back.
"Dawn, you got a Pokemon?" I nodded hesitantly. My mom got a thoughtful look on her face and she looked Glacie up and down. "Well…" I held my breath, "I think that's wonderful."
"Oh Mom! Thank you! I love you so much!" I yelped throwing my arms around her. She straightened in surprise, then hugged me back. She suddenly pushed my back, holding my shoulders and looking me in the eyes.
"Listen, Dawn, this Pokemon,"
"Glacie," I interrupted.
"Glacie, she's your responsibility now. I'm not going to take care if her for you." She warned as I nodded feverishly.
"I know! I'll take care of her, I promise!" I half yelled as I wrapped my arms protectively around my Piplup's torso. She "pipped" in happiness and nuzzled my chin with her head.
"Alright. But I want you to go thank Professor Rowan first thing in the morning." She warned, shaking her finger along with the last five words. Again, I nodded attentively. She smiled, and, excusing myself, I went back upstairs. It was already five o'clock, and I needed to show Glacie what everything was.
Tomorrow worried me slightly. What if the Professor regretted giving me his valuable Pokemon and decided to take the cheerful Piplup back? I didn't know what I would do if that happened. I sighed. That wasn't for now. Now, I should cherish every minute I had with Glacie. All that important stuff could wait until tomorrow.
Ah, tomorrow! Which is exactly when you'll be getting your next chapter! I promise. I hope. Hehe… Oh, and did anyone notice some patterns in the way Dawn interacts with Barry? I planned that! And, no this is not going to be a TwinLeafShipping fic, but I hope this proved to be interesting in the way Dawn met Barry!
Sonicboom123456: Don't worry, I plan to have Dawn, and all of the characters, for that matter, to be very flawed. And thanks for noticing the spelling, I pride myself on that! I pride myself on a lot of things, though…
erebush6h: Thank you so much for reviewing! I really appreciate it!
All right, I'm beat. Review so that I can answer some people tomorrow! Also, I would like to get more people to read this fic, because I want to know how to make it better, so I was reading a few very successful ones today. And the one consistent factor in all of them? The chapters were all impeccably long. Should I make my chapters longer? But these take me so long...
Tell me what you think!
Sincerely,
Russetwing
