GUESS WHAT.
UPDATE!

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Woot, relatively fast update. Thanks so much everyone, for reviewing (and reading – I know there are quite a few closet readers)! This will wrap up the Solaceon arc, and then it's on to Veilstone, and the Maylene battle. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 37: Suspicion

We were six when it started.

I had always been a brat, but I still remember the first time I ever did something really nasty to Taze.

He should have been ashamed to call me his best friend; much less his friend, but he didn't know any better.

Neither of us did.

Like I said, we were six. When we were younger and in our days of innocence, I was always fibbing to our moms when we were doing something we weren't supposed to.

One time when we were supposed to be playing in the back yard, I took an empty Pokeball from my dad's stockpile and we went out into the wild by ourselves. Back then, Taze was still crazy and full of energy, so he didn't try to stop me.

In fact, it had been his idea. Both of us yearned for pokemon of our own to play with.

I ended up catching an injured Bidoof, and we cooed over it all day. It bit my finger pretty deep when I was trying to feed it some Rawst berries, and I screamed my head off and ran all the way home crying and leaving Taze behind.

Our mothers had been chatting over some iced tea in the front yard. When they saw me screaming bloody murder, they shot up, ran over to help me, and demanded to know what had happened.

"Taze d-did it," I croaked, grimacing at the pain. Hot tears soaked my face. I still remember that incident as one of the last times I had a good cry before I vowed to never do it again. "H-he bit my finger."

Just then, Taze came jogging up to the house, panting lightly.

"TAZE! YOU DID THIS?!" his mother yelled the second he came into view.

He looked over at me, visibly furious.

I managed to smirk at him before moaning again as my mom began to bandage my wound.

I didn't think anything of it at the time, but in retrospect, I can't believe what he did that day.

He took the bullet.

He said he'd done it, and his mom took him home after giving him a nice scolding, grounding him for a few days. The next time we saw each other, he didn't seem mad at me at all.

Now that I look back on it, that whole situation was ridiculous. I still don't understand how our parents actually believed that Taze had managed to single-handedly gnaw an inch-long gash into my finger with his baby teeth.

And I still don't understand why he said he'd done it. Because he didn't know how to stand up for himself? …Because he didn't want me to get in trouble?

Maybe.

But it would have been so much easier to call me out on being a liar, and save his own butt.

Whatever the reason was, it had to have been a pretty good one. I kept doing things like this until we were about nine, when he finally had enough.

He stopped coming over. Stopped talking to me in school. I don't remember what happened, or what specifically I had done, but he didn't want anything to do with me. He'd finally snapped. Come to his senses.

I had been so hurt, but I tried not to let it show. Yet at the same time, I didn't blame him for not wanting to be my friend.

I still don't.

After a few more moments of smiling brightly at Dawn, standing inches from her face, Taze finally stepped back.

"Sorry," he said, waving a hand. "Just trying to be nice."

"Yeah, well… go be nice somewhere else. …You should know by now that 'nice' is not a word in my vocabulary." Dawn scowled, looking out into the hallway. Nobody had tried to steal their flags yet. What was taking so long?

"I meant everything I said, though, just so you know."

The girl flinched, her eyes widening involuntarily for a blink of a moment. She tried to pretend she hadn't been surprised, straightening herself out and throwing her grumpy face back on.

"Sure. Whatever. Thanks, I guess, for those oh-so endearing and slightly creepy few moments."

"No problem." Taze went back to his spot next to Eneru, getting ready for any possible raids on their base.

"Say, where were you this morning? I went back to the room to check on you, and you weren't there…"

"Oh, me? …I was out on a morning run."

"Ah."

"Yep."

"You didn't smell disgusting like always when you came out into the lobby for breakfast."

"Heh, that's 'cause I showered, sillyhead."

Dawn nearly choked on her own tongue. Sillyhead?! What the hell?!

"I see," she said through her teeth, sapphire eyes glued on that trainer across the hallway with the Zubat, the single defender of his base.

"Yeah. Sorry for the hold up. I slept in an hour late, and then went on a run and showered…."

"It's okay I guess. We were waiting for a long time, though."

"Sorry…"

She turned to look at him. The blond boy had been staring straight at her. As if on cue, his lips stretched into a smile, and he waved.

Dawn spun back around to face the hallway as fast as she could.

She knit her eyebrows together, trying to sort her thoughts out. She wasn't completely convinced. His story just…. didn't add up. When he had come out for breakfast, he was still half asleep and wiping sleepies from his eyes. If he had really gone on a run, he would have been much more energized.

"Are you… sure that's all that's up? You're acting kind of…" She trailed off, not knowing how to phrase what she wanted to say. Out of character? Psycho?

"No, I'm completely fine -- the best I've felt in a long time, actually -- I got a good night's sleep last night for the first time in like, a month. I feel good, really good!" He was talking a mile a minute, reminiscent of the old Taze, back before he became shy and recluse. "Why, is something the matter…?"

"No. Never mind. You're just… being weird." Dawn growled. She couldn't shake the suspicion that he might have had some kind of weird meeting with Darkrai again, or something.

But if he had, he wouldn't be keeping it secret from her…

Would he?

"I'm being weird? Aw, come on, Dawn-Won, I'm just happy for once! You don't have to give me a hard time about it."

"No. I really do. I have to give you a terrible time about it. Because that's what I do. I'm a bitch. …And seriously, you can quit with all the weird nicknames now. You're starting to freak me out." She glared at him and his stupid smiling face, but the happiness thundering jubilantly out of him didn't go away.

Just as she was contemplating ripping his face off and rearranging the parts to make a little Picasso Taze, a group of pokemon suddenly sprinted into view, their trainers behind them.

"Buizel, Water Gun!" one of them shouted.

"Combee, Gust!"

The orange weasel pokemon shot a jet of water into Eneru's face. She faltered, frozen in her tracks as a small flying pokemon that resembled three honeycombs stuck together sent a rush of swirling wind at Lekora.

Dawn and Taze started to panic. They weren't expecting such a large sabotage attack. There were three trainers, and two pokemon…

"Where's the third one?" Dawn called out to Taze. And then she saw it, a pesky Bidoof sprinting across the room and grabbing a flag in its buck-toothed mouth. Before she had time to react, it was on its way out.

"Lekora--!"

:Dammit, I'm trying. Screw you, ya assholes! Eat my FUR!: the Eevee screamed in frustration. She sprinted after the Bidoof, trying to tackle it to the ground, while Eneru shot a jolt of electricity at the foe, paralyzing it in mid-step.

The flag fell out of its mouth, and Lekora snatched it up proudly, trotting it back to the base. Taze had Eneru use Spark on the Combee and Buizel. The Luxio's fur stood on end as sparks flew around her; she charged at the Buizel first and then the Combee, a ball of lightning tackling them to the ground.

"Jeeze and crackers!" One of the cowgirl trainers said. "We suck. Let's get outta here."

The three of them and their wounded pokemon fled the scene, leaving Taze and Dawn looking triumphant.

"MWAHAHA! Take THAT, suckas!" Dawn yelled after them.

:Hah! We beat 'em good,: Lekora said smugly.

"Woot! Good job, guys! Eneru, that was great." Taze grinned, kneeling down to pet his Luxio, who licked her paws elegantly.

:I am glad to be of service.:

Taze flashed a flowery grin at Dawn. He held out his hand, and she high-fived it.

Aw, screw it, she thought. Being a jerk wasted too much of her energy, now that he was being nice.

So, even though Dawn was still unsure about Taze's behavior, she decided she was going to try to accept his strange bout of friendliness toward her. Who knew how long it might last.

The pokemon sat in a circle in the middle of the Day Care pin. The Day Care was extremely full that day – pokemon were everywhere, crawling and flying and running around happily, all without a care in the world.

They were such joyful creatures. Sure, they shared the same emotions that humans had: they could be depressed, or beyond happy, or angry at the world.

But at the end of the day, they were all little balls of sunshine and joy. There was nothing that could cheer someone up better than a pokemon could.

Budew was a prime example of this, always striving to spread cheer and good feelings among her peers, who were sometimes very hard to get along with.

…Make that, most of the time.

:Okay,: she said, her tiny mouth turning up into a smile, :Who wants to go first? Everyone will say something nice about them, and then we'll move onto someone else.:

Ashes's hand rocketed up into the air.

:ME, ME!:

:What a surprise,: Prinplup muttered, narrowing her eyes at him. :It's gonna be hard to think of something…hmm…:

Budew frowned. :Hey, this activity is not about making fun! Everyone has something nice to say about Ashes, I'm sure of it.:

:Yeah, yeah, whatever.: Let's just get this over with…: Staravia flapped her wings impatiently, and the rest of the pokemon nodded.

:Alright. I'll go first,: Budew volunteered. :Ashes, you are one of the strongest pokemon I have ever seen battle. Your strength impresses me and inspires me every day to get stronger.:

:Aw, me? Shucks, Sprout. Thanks.:

Budew nudged Staravia, who was on her right. The bird pokemon gulped.

:Ashes. You are a goddamn freak. And, well… I hate to say it, but… we love you.:

:AWWWW! That is SO adorable! I love compliments and compliment-giving! HOORAY!: Specter did a flip, giggling uncontrollably. :Ashes, you are super neat and cool and awesome and yay YAY and a neat-o burrito and I really like your tail! Its flame is so bright and gives off orangey light that I love! YAY LOVE! YAY!:

:…Although you are inferior to me, Fireling, you hold a special place… in here.: Narky thumped his chest, and looked up at Ashes with serious eyes. "The chamber of brotherhood."

"Psy, psy, duck psypsy."

(Which roughly translated to, "You is Serious Business.")

:Ashes, you're so smart and funny. You have been one of the best friends to me, from the very beginning!: Pokey gushed.

The circle fell silent, and everyone gazed expectantly at Prinplup. She glared at Ashes, reluctant to give him any sort of compliment.

:…We're waitinnnggggg,: sung Staravia.

:Oh, fine. Ashes… you are… one of a kind, is all there is to say.:

:Ooh la laaa! I like the sound of THAT, baybay.: He licked his lips, moving his eyebrows up and down suggestively at Prinplup. She fumed, proceeding to scream at him about "NOT MEANING IT LIKE THAT, YOU DEVIL MONKEY."

:…Umm yay! Anyway, Prinplup, since you were the last to speak, you can go next.: Budew nodded at the blue penguin pokemon once she had quit making death threats at Ashes, and she ruffled her feathers, pleased.

:YAY! Prinplup is so strong! And PRETTY! She is like, a graceful goddess of water and destiny…: Specter nodded, looking into the distance dreamily.

:Yeah, Prinplup's tough, even though she's a…girl… teehee.: Pokey giggled.

"PSYDUCKKKK!"

(Which roughly translated to, "COOKIEZZZZ!"

And no one knew what that comment had to do. With anything.

But this was Buwante we're talking about, and he didn't really know what was going on.

...Ever.)

:You may be a sissy, and a weakling compared to Lord Narky, but he bestows great honor upon you for being a core part of this party.:

:Prinplup… you're a great friend.: Staravia grinned. :And the one of the only sane ones here…:

:I agree with Staravia here,: Budew said. :You are also very loyal to our trainer. He should be proud to call you his pokemon.:

Ashes flexed his biceps, trying to appear manly. :Prinplup's hawt.:

:Ahem…come again?!: Prinplup glared threateningly at Ashes. She hated being ridiculed by him… it was obvious he was joking.

…Wasn't he?

:I SAID… you're hawt. Pretty, sexay, beautiful, take your pick.:

Everyone got silent, exchanging suggestive glances.

And then Pokey decided to open his big mouth.

:….ASHES AND PRINPLUP, SITTIN' IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-I--:

:SHUT UUUUUUUUP! POKEY, I WILL SLAUGHTER YOU--:

:Aww, c'mon, Princess.: Ashes winked. :You know you wanna make some eggs with meh.:

:NEVER! NOT FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE! I WILL NEVER, EVER, DO SOMETHING SO HEINOUS AND DAMAGING TO MY LOVELY REPUTATION WITH SOMEONE AS REVOLING AS YOU--:

:Okay you guys, calm down please… we aren't supposed to be putting each other down, remember? Heh…: Budew trailed off, realizing her attempt to settle everyone down was useless.

At least Staravia and Specter were trying to hold Prinplup back from throttling Ashes, who was prancing around, shaking his butt at her teasingly.

:Just great…:

Lucas and Shieldon were, on the other hand, actually doing great. When they tackled the bases that only had one trainer at them, they used the Metal Sound tactic. With bases with two defenders, they usually asked another trainer who was lurking around if they wanted to team up with him to take them on.

He and Shieldon had stolen a total of five flags so far, which brought their team up to ten flags. Dawn and Taze were doing an exceptional job at defending.

Whenever Lucas had come back down to the basement to drop off another flag, the two rivals were laughing and appeared to be having real, engaging conversations.

This was a good thing.

A very good thing.

Lucas was beginning to get tired of their constant bickering; it was about time they started getting along. Taze hadn't had any serious Darkrai problems since the Lost Tower mishap a few days ago, so the heavy fear of him suffering from any more had been somewhat lifted.

Of course, there would always be worry. Lucas and Dawn couldn't help but be concerned. There was something terrible going on in Taze's mind…

After all, he had nearly tried to kill them back at the Lost Tower.

Lucas was beginning to see just how serious this situation was. And it scared him. He was just a normal kid. He wanted a normal journey, with normal friends to go along with his normal life.

Of course, he never got what he wished for. Typical.

He didn't get Dawn, for one.

He didn't get a perfect family.

He didn't get to keep his twin brother… who still sent shivers down his spine every time he thought about him.

And… he wasn't perfect, no matter how hard he tried to be.

It was hard, so hard…but he was beginning to accept that his friends couldn't be perfect, either. No one could. They were three flawed kids running around in an imperfect world, where evil organizations were trying to corrupt the region, where phantoms possessed your friends and made them try to kill you.

That sounded like the textbook definition of a perfect journey when Lucas was younger. He had always daydreamed about going on an epic journey full of danger and excitement.

But now that he was living it, he was starting to really wish it would all just go away.

After about an hour of play, all of the teams had been knocked out except for two. Of course, Dawn, Lucas and Taze's team was one of these two.

The three of them stood in their base, trying to figure out their plan to win.

"Okay, so in this round we can take as many flags as we want at once," Lucas was saying.

"We should just all run in there and grab all the flags we can, then!: Taze suggested.

"No, dorkus. We have to have some sort of defense still in play…" Dawn rubbed her chin.

Lucas nodded.

"We can keep two pokemon down here, for defense. The rest of us can run up to the next floor and scoop up all the flags we can, like Taze said. And then…"

"Run like the dickens?" Taze asked.

The dark-haired boy grinned. "Right you are, my friend."

The trio looked down at the pokemon. They decided to take Shieldon along, since his Metal Sound tactic worked wonders before, and Eneru and Lekora had gotten used to working together to bring opponents down.

The three trainers and Shieldon giddily ran upstairs to the last team's base. When the got about halfway up, they were surprised to see the other team was doing the exact same thing they were.

"RUUUUUUUUN LIKE THE DICKENS!!!!" Taze yelled, and both of the teams ran full speed to each other's bases.

Taze was the fastest, of course. He bounded into the room while Shieldon used Metal sound on the Shellos who was standing guard. It faltered just long enough for Dawn and Lucas to grab the rest of the flags Taze couldn't carry and chase him back downstairs to their base.

It was a race to home base. As they jumped down the last few stairs and scrambled around the corner to the base, they saw Eneru and Lekora taking on the cowboys' pair of Pikachu. Lekora was distracting the male one with Attract, while Eneru used Roar on the other one, growling ferociously every time it tried to Quick Attack toward the flags.

"Perfect." Dawn grinned, giving the peace sign to the cowboys as she and the boys streamed back into their base, throwing the flags on the ground. Their opponents looked on at them in defeat.

"Don't worry, you still get a booby prize!" Taze offered, once the Chatot had reappeared and announced them as the winners of the game.

The cowboys sweatdropped once they got up to the main floor and collected their commemorative souvenir…

Cowboy hats.

As if they needed them.

Our heroes happily accepted their prize of goodies, while being hailed as the best trainers around by the townspeople. The special HM prize awarded was Defog. According to the Mayor, they would need it down the road.

"Y'all can't get ta Celestial Town if ya don't got Defog. Can't see nothin' two feet in front a ya without it, ya hear me?!"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, we hear you, old man…"

Despite the earlier struggle, Budew had managed to get everyone back in order, and carried on the Happy Warm Feelings activity with success. There was no more name calling, and everyone seemed to be getting along better than before.

The battle of the sexes thing had died down completely. Everyone was playing with everyone, and they were acting carefree and friendly, like pokemon should.

The Budew smiled on at the scene. The sun was starting to set; their trainers would be coming for them soon. Ashes was chasing Buwante around, laughing and helping the Psyduck up when he tripped -- which was often. Specter and Staravia were flying through the air together, while Prinplup and Narky blew huge bubbles that lazily floated around, waiting to be popped.

And Budew? She was just enjoying what she saw before her. Her work was done. Nothing made her happier than seeing all her teammates getting along.

"Hey, Budew!" came a voice from behind her. "We're back!"

She perked up, spinning around to see Lucas, Dawn and Taze standing outside the white picket fence of the day care. The gate opened, and she leaped up into her trainer's arms. Lucas laughed, patting her on the head.

"Have a nice day?"

:Oh, it had its ups and downs, but it turned out exceptionally.: The grass-type beamed, nuzzling her trainer's shoulder lovingly. Prinplup and Staravia said Hi to Lucas, while Dawn and Taze's pokemon ran over to them, greeting them as well.

"Exceptional? That sounds awesome."

:It was! As long as you keep a positive attitude, things will turn out good.:

:Amen, sista,: Staravia said, and Lucas and his pokemon burst out laughing.

Their bond as teammates, and family… had grown.

"Haha… you guys are the greatest."

Dawn, Lucas and Taze decided to hang around town after the game finished, talking with the townspeople and enjoying the dinner feast that night. They figured it would be a waste to head out now that it was getting dark, so they agreed to spend one more night in town.

Plus, there was free food.

None of them could say no to that. Especially Taze, whose plate of food stood nearly a foot high.

"See, they aren't SO bad," Lucas said, as he munched on a fried chicken leg. The three of them were sitting with the rest of the town in a makeshift eating area, Picnic benches were set up on the grass under a giant tent in a field next to he pokemon center.

The moon was out now, and the stars popped like white freckles in the dark blue sky. It wasn't too cold out despite it being October. There was still a tiny hint of summer left in the air that night.

"Yeah, I guess so… still, I can't wait to get out of these fugly overalls," Dawn grumbled.

"Hmm…today was fun," mused Taze.

"Yeah, it was. Thanks for being such good defenders, guys."

"Don't mention it! It was mostly all Dawn's doing, though..."

"Eh? Me?"

"Yeah, you."

"Haha, just kidding. I know. I'm awesome."

"You can't spell AWESO without DAWN!" Taze said.

"Er…no. Wrong. All wrong. Terrible fail…"

"I know, I was just kidding. Sheesh..." the blond boy blushed indignantly, and Dawn and Lucas laughed, their hearts light.

"Heh, we know, Tazeykins. It's okay." Lucas grinned.

Dawn nearly choked on her orange soda. "Now Lulu's calling Taze Tazeykins? NICKNAMES ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD!"

"You got that right, Dawn-Won." Taze smirked at the girl, who proceeded to thwack him on the head with a chicken leg.

Just then, the Mayor's Chatot's voice boomed through the dining area.

"SQUAWWWK! It's time fer the Solaceon Town Fall Festival Hoedown!"

All of the cowboys stood up at once, dropping their food on the tables, and rushed over to the "dance floor," an open area at the back of the tent. A small band came forth, consisting of a banjo player and a fiddler. The swell of strings filled the air, and everyone started dancing in unison.

"Whoa…" Taze looked on in wonder. "AWESOME!" He grabbed Dawn and Lucas's hands, dragging them over to the dance floor.

"Ohhhh no. God no. I—hate – dancing!" Dawn protested, but to no avail. She and Lucas found themselves the middle of the chaos, surrounded by a bunch of crazy dancing cowboys.

"So, uh…how do you do this?" Lucas asked, moving his arms and legs around awkwardly.

"You look like a rubber chicken," Dawn pointed out.

"It doesn't matter!" Taze yelled above the music. "Just do whatever."

And then he took Dawn's hands in his, pulling her close to him as they danced, two rubber chickens in a sea of coordinated and precise square dancers.

Meanwhile, Lucas was scooped by some random cowgirl, and he waved goodbye at his friends before disappearing into the crowd.

Dawn scowled. She hated dancing. Most of all, she hated looking like a complete idiot in front of a bunch of people.

"Just have fun?" Taze offered, grinning.

He gave her little hands a squeeze of support. She jumped a bit, and almost yelled at him to quit touching her. But thought against it, as that would kind of go against the whole point in dancing.

She decided to follow his advice and relaxed. She smiled. The upbeat music played on in the background, accompanied by the steady claps of the dancers. The two trainers stumbled gawkily on each other's feet, having no idea what they were doing but enjoying every minute of it anyway.

"Hey…." Dawn looked up at Taze. He was substantially taller than her now, she noticed.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you….being so nice to me?"

The blond shrugged. "I was tired of all the fights. Plus, you deserve better."

"Oh… okay. Thanks… I guess."

He nodded, managing another smile.

She bit her lip, still not being able to shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right.

"But—"

"Don't worry about it. Just dance."

And they did.

Fin

There you have it! Hope you enjoyed. Kinda a filler chapter, but necessary to move the plot forward...

Next time on VoD:TSL... Our heroes arrive in Veilstone City, and Dawn makes a shocking discovery. Also, the battle against Maylene! Does Taze have himself a girlfriend?

Annnnd...please review. I am dying for some constructive criticism. XD Thank you!