True Magic
A/N: WHAT IS THIS, AN UPDATE? I just felt like coming back to this story for some reason... I don't know, there might be random updates in the future...
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
Chapter Six
"Congratulations," said Professor Rowan. His beard had grown even whiter, if possible, from the stress, it seemed. "I'm glad you managed to free Eterna."
Lucas and Dawn, who had just been woken up by an extremely happy Nurse Joy, smiled into the computer screen to talk with Professor Rowan.
"Thanks to Dawn, at least," said Lucas, patting her shoulder. "We really couldn't have done it without her. And we had some help from a lady named Cynthia."
Professor Rowan, who had just taken a sip of tea, spluttered and spewed the liquid over the computer screen; Lucas and Dawn screamed in shock at the ungraceful action.
"PROFESSOR ROWAN!" they yelled simultaneously in panic, "ARE YOU OKAY? DID YOU EAT SOMETHING BAD? ARE YOU SICK? WE'VE NEVER SEEN YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT BEFORE!"
A napkin briefly wiped the surface of the screen. "Quite alright, in fact, I'm fine. But... forget what you just saw."
The professor's voice changed subtly, but Lucas caught on to the implication of a severe and painful death if anybody ever found out that Professor Rowan had spewed tea onto a computer. "We understand, Professor," Lucas said quickly.
"Oh my! That was hilarious!" A voice in the background on the professor's side rang out clearly. "Professor Rowan, excuse me as I go tell everyone in Sinnoh and show them this lovely video of you spewing your drink! Bye-bye!"
Dawn looked queerly at the screen. "That sounded like —"
"Your mother, yes," finished Professor Rowan, rubbing his eyes in exasperation. "She is still acting... unpleasant, shall we say. Anyways, back to the topic: you were helped by Cynthia? Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time before she joined in the fun."
"The fun?" hissed Lucas. "The FUN?"
"Figure of speech, my young assistant. Did you not know? She's the Champion Wizard of Sinnoh," said Professor Rowan.
"She is?" gasped Dawn. "No way! Couldn't she have just taken care of this herself then?"
"I honestly have no idea," replied Professor Rowan, casually sipping his tea again. "She has the strangest mind, I can't figure her out. But, back to business. I suggest you move on to another city or town to get closer to Veilstone City. There seems to be another barricade spell, probably the Block Spell like in Eterna. I suggest teleporting to Solaceon Town or Pastoria City, although I think Solaceon is closer. Take a day or so to rest, but there's no time to waste."
The screen zapped out as Rowan ended the call. Lucas and Dawn pulled back, stretching from their bent position in front of the computer.
"Okay, I suggest we stay here for one more day to regain our full strength," said Lucas. "We can't do anything in a weakened condition, especially you after fighting that lady."
"Good idea," agreed Dawn, a dreamy look entering her eyes. "We could go check out some places, maybe find a nice restaurant, have a classy dinner —"
"We're going to start by learning more spells," interrupted Lucas, who had not been paying attention to Dawn's rambling. "More, more, more. We need all the power we can get if we're going to target Veilstone City. Let's go grab some books and we can study in the center's lobby."
"Do I have too?"
"Yes. No complaining, let's go."
And, despite Lucas's command, Dawn moaned and whined for the rest of the morning.
The clock just turned to noon when Dawn slammed her book shut, startling Lucas so much that he nearly fell out of his chair. "It's lunch time," Dawn declared. "And this time, you can't stop me."
"Oh, alright," sighed Lucas, sliding a bookmark into his tome and setting it down. "Where do you suggest?"
"I have no idea," said Dawn airily, getting up. "What kind of food do you like?"
Lucas shrugged. "Spicy, I guess. I love vanilla ice cream though."
"Okay... I'll go ask Nurse Joy for recommendations," said Dawn. Lucas nodded and got up; after three straight hours of sitting, his legs had fallen asleep and he wobbled slightly as he walked.
A moment later, Dawn returned. "There's a nice little restaurant down the street with great desserts, apparently," she said. Lucas nodded.
"Let's go then."
They carted all of their belongings back to their rooms and then walked out into the sunlight. Dawn was nearly skipping with joy at the prospect of a relaxing day and Lucas was stoically slipping on his beret. The restaurant was very quaint; the two entered and were immediately seated, with a waiter taking their orders and their dishes coming out in less than ten minutes.
"This looks great," said Dawn, salivating as she stared at her soup. "Absolutely amazing."
"I agree," said Lucas, who had also ordered soup, but one that was much spicier. "Well, dig in, I suppose."
Dawn was enjoying herself to the fullest; Lucas was composedly spooning soup into his mouth as he realized that he never really had any chance to truly relax. Even though they were in the middle of a crisis, Lucas figured that their afternoon off could maybe be a bit more relaxed than their morning. He smiled and leaned back, chatting with Dawn over their lunch and realizing how nice it was to simply be at ease.
And then came Lucas's favorite part of any meal: dessert. He immediately ordered a bowl of vanilla ice cream, while Dawn chose a nice sponge cake with a caramel sauce. When their desserts arrived, Lucas devoured his instantly, stunning Dawn.
"You have such a sweet tooth," she said after she had managed to invigorate her slacked jaw into working again. "I cannot believe it."
"Hey, I enjoy food too," Lucas said defensively. "Just because I really like vanilla ice cream — and only vanilla, mind you — doesn't mean I'm a slob. Like you."
"Hey, I take that as an insult, you know!" Dawn said, crossing her arms.
"I'd hope so, because it was intended to be one," countered Lucas, snitching a piece of her cake with his fork.
Dawn gasped. "Oh, that's just out of line!"
"I prefer to refer to it as a smart and witty comeback."
"I meant my cake, you cake thief!"
Dawn scoffed and then set to work on her dessert before Lucas could take any more of it. Lucas grinned and pulled out some money to pay for their meal. Dawn protested when she saw him pull out enough for both, but one of his steely looks silenced her and he continued to pay the full bill. Dawn, however, snuck in a tip for the waiter when Lucas wasn't looking and was extremely satisfied with her covert success.
It was only when they were out of the restaurant that Lucas said, "I saw you put that money in, you know."
"...You suck."
"You know, I was going to let us take the afternoon off, but one more insult from you might put us right back into the rest center for studying," teased Lucas, poking Dawn's arm. "Well?"
The young woman stiffened immediately; her head turned, a large smile plastered onto her expression. "Lucas, you're so amazing. Why don't we go do whatever you want to do?"
"You didn't have to go that far," said Lucas, "but, since you insist, sure."
Dawn choked and then punched his shoulder. "You really do suck."
"What did I say about studying?"
"Like you'd actually go through with your threat."
Lucas opened his mouth and then closed it, subdued. How did she know I was going to relax in the afternoon anyways?
"Exactly," continued Dawn. "You're so obvious, but you don't realize it. I can read you like a book." She smirked.
"You can?" Lucas said quietly, turning slightly to face Dawn. She nodded. "That's... interesting. But, you were right. What do you want to do?"
Dawn smiled and grabbed Lucas's hand, pulling him ahead. "Come on, let's check out the statue over there!"
Lucas' mouth twitched slightly; Dawn's hand was very warm.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur; Lucas actually enjoyed himself as they went around from place to place. But when Dawn suggested that they burn down Team Galactic's building, Lucas pulled her back to the rest center.
"Okay, we had fun for today," said Lucas. "But let's get a bit more serious now. We've still got a good three hours or so before we have to sleep, so I going out back to practice some spells. You coming?"
"Sure, let me grab my books..."
A few minutes later, Lucas and Dawn stood across from each other on a dirt field, each holding their respective weapons and a book of choice in their hands. Dawn immediately raised her wand.
"Water Pledge," she called, forcing a column of water to cascade towards Lucas.
The professor's assistant slammed his staff into the ground and said, "Fire Pledge." A tower of fire flew towards Dawn's spell, and the two attacks neutralized each other. "Nice."
"Yeah, it says in my book that there are three Pledge spells," said Dawn. "When you combine them, other stuff will happen..."
"Good to know for a combo attack," said Lucas. "Try to stop this one: Psyshock!"
"Protect!" yelled Dawn, conjuring a bluish dome around herself to block Lucas's psychic waves. "Now you try to block this. Icicle Crash!"
A gust of chilly wind flew from Dawn's wand over Lucas, and particles in the wind clumped together to form icicles that dropped down onto a transparent Barrier Spell from Lucas.
They continued to exchange spells until they began to feel slightly tired; deciding not to get too exhausted for the next days ahead of them, the two went back into the center and to their rooms. They settled down into their beds with slightly different thoughts.
Well... Today was fun.
This morning sucked.
It's pretty easy to tell who was who.