Chapter 11:
"Well, uh, we better get back!" Lucas said with a fake smile on his face, and weakly pumped his fist in the air. "Back to studying, and researching all day long, and examining Pokémon, and-
"Lucas, your attempts at trying to get out of work are sad," The Professor exclaimed haughtily, his hands behind his back. "But as I can see you have a certain fancy for this young lady, I'll let you go to Eterna City with her to research the Pokémon statue there. Now of course, no goofing off, you hear me?"
Lucas grinned a rather grateful smile, but his face was bright red. Dawn was next to him, and there was a slow blush rising on her cheeks. She muttered thank you to the Professor, and with Lucas, set off to get to Floraroma Town, which was practically the gateway to Eterna City as soon as Rowan strode away. There was silence for a few minutes as they left the massive city, but soon enough Lucas spoke up.
"So Dawn, I watched the contest on TV," He said, trying to start up a conversation. "You were really, really good!" He smiled at her, and rubbed the back of his head with one of his hands.
"Thanks," Dawn replied, haven gotten over from the whole Rowan, fancy this young lady comment. "I'm not cut out for them or battles, but I'm doing both of them just to prove that I can do them. I'm not a quitter."
"Neither am I," Lucas mused, shifting his backpack. Dawn suddenly got the feeling he wasn't talking about his research or working with Professor Rowan. Shaking the thought out of her head, she checked her Poketech to see the time. It was 11:00.
The scent of flowers hit their noses. There were an array of different ones, and it lifted Dawn off her feet. The path drew on in a straight line, and grass Pokémon were everywhere as far as she could see. Trainers were battling, and a soft breeze had just picked up. If this was the road to Floraroma Town, Dawn wildly wondered what the town would actually look like.
Something nudged the back of her leg. Dawn whipped around, which got Lucas a mouthful of navy blue hair. She looked down and saw a Roselia, its skin vivid green and its roses bright colors that stood out against the brown road. She bent down so she was face to face with the Pokémon.
"Hello," Dawn said, not really knowing what to do. The Roselia immediately ran away. She stood back up, dusted herself off, and grinned at Lucas, who had to stifle a blooming laugh.
"That was awkward!" He exclaimed, his brown eyes sparkling. Dawn rolled her eyes at him, and then started walking again.
"Rose! Roselia!" The Roselia glided back to Dawn, and then ran away once more. Now both trainers were staring after the Pokémon with a strange look in their eyes. Lucas had out a blue notebook and was scribbling something down furiously. No goofing off, Professor Rowan had told him, and he wasn't kidding. Dawn leaned closer to see what Lucas was writing. He was writing in a messy scrawl about odd behavior for this Pokémon. Dawn smiled and she shook her head as she viewed the now full page. He sure was passionate about his studies.
One of her Pokeballs started wiggling in her bag. Her smile vanished as she pulled Piplup's Pokeball out, and the penguin Pokémon burst free. Lucas started writing even more stuff. Piplup puffed out its chest, and started waddling towards the Roselia. There seemed to be a short conversation between the two, and then they positioned themselves for battle.
"Piplup, wait!" Dawn cried. "Why the heck are going to battle it?"
"Pip!" Piplup proclaimed proudly, and the battle began. Every time Dawn tried to intervene and either command Piplup to do a move, or just stop the battle altogether, every time, Piplup seemingly went on a short ramble, then they would continue fighting.
"Roselia has the type advantage, but Piplup seems stronger," Mused Lucas intelligently. "If my calculations are correct, then Piplup should win the battle."
Dawn looked at Lucas. In doing so, she noticed his cap was tilted just slightly to left, not entirely straight. She reached her arm up to the cap and made it straight and grinned when Lucas frowned and put it back in place.
Lucas shook his head and looked away from Dawn's enticing big blue eyes. "Looks like my calculations are correct," He pointed to the now fainted Roselia. "Throw a Pokeball at it or something."
Dawn shrugged indifferently, reached into her bag, and drew out a fresh Pokeball. She took a deep breath, and with expert aim, chucked it at the Roselia, and it immediately went inside of the ball. It quivered for a few seconds, and then clicked shut. Dawn grinned and retrieved the Pokeball.
"Good job Piplup, this is really your Pokémon!" She exclaimed, winking at the Pokémon. Piplup jumped in the air a few times, and then quickly went back inside of its own ball. The two of them stared at the ball in amazement. Piplup was sure an eccentric Pokémon, well, according to Lucas's notes. After a few seconds of silence, they continued on.
"Oi! Get out of my way!"
"Sounds like Barry," Dawn muttered under her breath, which Lucas caught, much to his displeasure, but when she turned around, there was a strange space dude like before. Lucas narrowed his eyes, and Dawn jumped back in surprise, bumping into Lucas.
The grunt ran past them without a second to spare, and in less than ten seconds, they couldn't see his space suit or his green-blue hair.
"Wonder what that was all about," Lucas muttered and Dawn nodded alongside him. "He was going in the direction we were going in. Do you want to-?
"Yeah, let's follow him, I've got my suspicions about him," Dawn replied back, staring after the grunt. "I swear, that Team Galactic bunch is up to no good, when I get my hands on them-
"Cool!" Lucas interrupted. "Come on, let's go!" with that, he grabbed Dawn's hand and started dragging her along the road, which got cute little giggles from the other trainers. Just to make it clear, she was not dating him, and she most definitely didn't like him like that! Some people just assumed stuff much too quick for her liking.
