Dawn: part 1

-x-

The moment her name was called, Dawn saw her mother burst into tears. She was rather proud that it took three of the knights to keep Johanna from coming to her daughter's aid. She was a fierce, fierce woman with a heart of gold and Dawn was ever grateful that she had cared for her and loved her all these years.

She stepped forward, forcing herself to remain calm, eyes open and a small smile on her face. "Think of it as another role, Dawn stone dear, you liked being Snow white in the school play didn't you? Work in the contests is just that: smile, smile, and smile. Act happy even when you feel like crying or when your stomach is yelling for food, because that smile will get you food."

Everyone was staring at her as she made her way to the front in her best pink dress. She wondered about the things they must've been thinking—that she was awfully young, but as long as their own children were safe... yes, after all, that was the main point wasn't it? Such a pity that the young girl would undeniably die, but these things happened, there was nothing to do about it. With the thoughts heavy on her mind, the three steps leading to the stage felt a mile long each.

"Aaaaand here we have District Four's female trainer from our very own Hearthome City! Give a big hand for Dawn DeBlanc!"

Fantina's words were met with silence, only broken by the distant sobs and wails of Johanna DeBlanc. Dawn felt like screaming.

"Ah, no cheers this year either," the purple haired escort muttered to herself, before snapping back to attention and reading out the name of the male trainer with a large smile plastered on her lips. Nobody moved. The boy—Dawn had already forgotten his name—must've been from another town. At least she wouldn't be killed by anyone she knew, that would make things a bit easier.

"Très bien… now that the trainers have been chosen, I wish you all happy Trainer Games!" She turned to face Dawn and nodded, sickeningly sweet. "And as for nous petite dresseuse, our little trainer… May the odds be ever in your favor!"

Dawn managed a bitter smile for the cameras as her mother started screaming.

-x-

They didn't allow Johanna in for very long, because apparently she had caused too much hassle at the reaping. As soon as the door opened she marched in and swooped her daughter up in her embrace. Dawn allowed herself to be held and inhaled the scent of her mother's hair. It could be the last time she saw her and she wanted to make most of it.

"Mom, don't get into trouble because of me," she whispered against her mother's shoulder. "You said yourself we gotta look good even if we don't feel good, so now's the time to put those words into action. If I hear you've neglected your duties, I'm gonna be pissed when I return."

Johanna let out a noise that was half a laugh, half a sob. "Yes, dear, you're absolutely correct," she said with the faked conviction of someone who has been selling lies for over a decade. "I'll do my best, so you better do yours, you hear?"

Dawn smiled, rebellious tear welling in her eyes, and nodded. "Sure thing, mom. I'll do my best like you always taught me to."

Her mother returned the smile, although on her lips it was weaker. "That's my Dawn stone. Be sure to pick some great pokémon. You know more about them than most, so you'll be at an advantage, remember that."

Right after her words, two knights marched into the room to announce that their time was up. They didn't need to drag Johanna off the room, like they'd expected to. Instead she turned and followed them calmly, throwing one last smile to her daughter at the doorway.

Dawn's chest clenched painfully.

"I love you mom!" she cried after her, but the door had already slammed shut.

-x-

Fantina, or rather Frances Fontaine as her actual name was, came to pick Dawn up from the room minutes after her mother had left. By then, she had managed to will her tears away and hoped that her face wasn't as puffy as it felt. The woman did pause to raise an eyebrow at the sight of her, so perhaps she hadn't quite pulled it off.

"Allez, ma petite, we must hurry or we'll miss the ferry… and we don't really want that now, do we?" She wore an expression suggesting that Dawn should be sharing a laugh with her. Instead the girl felt like yelling "Yes we do!" at the top of her lungs.

"I guess we don't," she mustered as a response.

Fantina hummed in agreement. "I was wondering how old are you? Fourteen? You certainly do not look older than fifteen at most."

She winced slightly, but Fantina didn't notice. "Thirteen since last month."

"So young?" The woman asked surprised. "Ah, mais don't let that trouble you. This is not a competition of size or age, but that of skill. Which, I'm sure, you'll prove to have more than anyone expects."

Dawn thought bitterly that the woman's words meant little when nobody was expecting anything of her, but said nothing. They walked in silence out of the Gym and straight into a car with darkened windows. Dawn tried not to look too much in awe, but the truth was that she had never been inside a car. Very few people in Sinnoh (not District Four like official documents stated—to Dawn her home region would always be Sinnoh) could afford them and most of those people had come from the Capitol.

Inside, she was amazed to realize that she couldn't even feel the movement. Fantina claimed that they moved so fast that they would be in Canalave in an hour and a half. It must've been true because the scenery was passing by in a blur, leaving her no time to really admire the forests and mountains she was leaving behind, probably forever.

She felt a pang of guilt—hadn't she promised her mother that she would try to return just ten minutes ago? She struggled to gain some confidence, but it was hard. It was easier to give in and accept her fate. She always had been a calm child, content with whatever she had and when times were hard she accepted it with a straight face while the rest of the kids sniveled.

"Alors," Fantina started with a glance to her escort's direction. Dawn could tell she was actually more interested with her nails than actually holding a conversation. "How are you feeling? Excited to see the Capitol and meet a real domesticated pokémon, no doubt?"

"Not really," Dawn offered, feeling sheepish. "My mom and I work in the contests you see, so I've met plenty of pokémon before and had a touch of the Capitol glamour. A small touch, no doubt, but it isn't like I'll have time to see much more while there…"

The woman looked up when she mentioned contests, eyes shining. "You work in the contests, ma petite? That's… formidable!" Fantina grinned. "I'm a big fan myself, I try to watch as many shows as possible, but I guess you must've seen a lot more."

Dawn shook her head. "Oh, no—no I don't get to watch them. But I get to take care of the pokémon before the shows and sometimes assist the competitors, run errands and such. I guess it'll be useful in the games, knowing something about the creatures."

"Oh yes, it will be a tremendous help!" The escort threw her hands in the air. She seemed to be fond of theatricality—Dawn remembered one year, when she'd slapped a knight during the reaping. It had been quite a scene. "You are most definitely champion material!" Fantina swooned. "A pretty young thing with knowledge on pokémon and performing… you can bet that the audience will love you to death."

You can bet that 'love' won't be the cause of your death, Dawn's inner voice reminded her, but she tried to smile gratefully at the purple haired woman. At least she tried to make her believe like her fate wasn't set in stone.

-x-

Meeting the male trainer from her region didn't go at all like she'd imagined. Seeing as Sinnoh used to be fairly rich with natural resources, under the Capitol's control District Four had fared far better than the others, excluding the Capitol's home and pet region, Unova. She herself had come off fairly well in life, what with living in the region's biggest city and actually working in the contests. Thus, she had expected that the boy she'd be accompanying would be much the same as her, middle class and all. It wasn't even that uncommon to have volunteers from their region.

Instead, she was faced with a pale scrawny kid who looked younger than her but was supposed to be fourteen. He was from Sandgem, probably the poorest town of the region along Dawn's birthplace, Twinleaf. The boy offered her a smile before they were even in talking distance and Dawn decided that there was no way he could cause the death of this boy.

Fantina seemed to pay no mind to the male trainer, instead letting out a string of French and sprinting forward to hug the boy's escort, an equally purple haired man in a flamboyant crimson suit. Dawn wrinkled his brows. Behind the man's back, the other trainer rolled his eyes and shrugged making eye contact with Dawn. It made her almost giggle out loud.

"Oh, mon dieu! Lucian! I had no idea that you were an escort this year!" Fantina exclaimed, finally letting the man go.

He merely brushed his suit and offered the woman a sly smile. "They needed me in Jubilife… it seems that the previous escort refused to ever return to, I quote, 'such a tedious and dreadful job'."

Fantina chuckled. "I guess it can be… unrewarding, but I rather like it." Only then she seemed to notice the boy standing about behind Lucian. "And this must be the male trainer of District Four, oui?"

"Lucas Leon," the boy piped up, before Lucian could answer for him. "I'm from Sandgem, not from Jubilife, since we gotta walk there for the reaping. Guess, our town is too small for a reaping of its own." Lucas shrugged and turned to face Dawn, with a weary grin. He was friendly, apparently, and Dawn already liked him, which was bad considering the future. "It's nice to meet you… Dawn, was it?"

"Yes, Dawn DeBlanc," she replied with a smaller smile of her own.

"Well then," Lucian interrupted them, flicking his wrist rather unnecessarily to check his no doubt expensive watch, "with the introductions out of the way, we better get going. There's a ferry waiting for us."

As they began to walk the short distance to the port, Lucas turned back to Dawn, all curious eyes and boyish charms. "Have you been on a ferry before, Dawn?"

She shook her head.

"I can tell you," Lucas whispered gravely, "it won't be a pleasant experience. I ended up puking all the way on my first trip to Unova. It was pathetic really, a sad little kid doubled over a bucket..."

Dawn laughed, the boy grinned and just like that, they became friends.

-x-

It turned out that Dawn was immune to whatever forces were causing Lucas sea sickness. Even though he'd been at the sea many times, being the Unovan professor Rowan's assistant as he told, he had to retreat to his room right after they'd eaten dinner with their escorts. It was the first time ever Dawn had seen so many variations of food and she was from Hearthome! Lucas had temporarily lost his ability to chatter when faced with all the treats on offer.

Dawn was left alone on the deck, staring into the distance and contemplating what she should do next, when someone seemed to appear out of nowhere behind her back. The 'someone' scooped down low to murmur against Dawn's ear, hot breath tickling her neck and sending shivers down her spine.

"Aren't we a pretty one? If we can get some life on that serious little face of yours, we may have ourselves a winner."

Dawn turned around so fast that her head started spinning. The woman was tall and somehow familiar. She was dressed in a luxurious fur trimmed coat and her blonde hair cascaded all the way down her back like waves of honey. Dawn flushed pink, feeling like she was nothing compared to that even if the lady herself had called her pretty.

"Oh, you really are cute," the blonde crooned and offered her hand to Dawn. "Cynthia Shire, at your service from this moment on... I'll be your mentor, in case you hadn't already figured as much."

Her familiarity made sense then and with a little effort Dawn could vaguely recall Cynthia's games from when she had been younger. It had been five or six years ago, if her memory could be trusted, and she had battled with some dragon type pokémon effortlessly. Actually, now that she thought about it, Dawn was pretty sure that her only real competition had been the other trainer from Sinnoh, a quiet and calculating boy who seemed to have no issue with killing along his pokémon.

"Dawn DeBlanc," Dawn said and took the hand, with a timid smile. She felt pretty proud when her hand didn't shake. The mentor probably knew her name already, but Dawn didn't want to be rude. "I'm looking forward to working with you."

Cynthia seemed faintly amused. "Are you, now?" she asked. "Well, that's good then because I'm your best bet at surviving the games—and a good bet that. Of course, this is only because you yourself are such promising little treasure. Dawn…" She paused to offer the girl a contemplative look. "How would you rate your own chances?"

The trainer was slightly startled by the question, but struggled to recoil swiftly. "Um… well, I guess I'm small and pretty enough to attract at least some sponsors, but I'm not too sure of my skills… I mean, I do have some experience with pokémon which sets me on a higher ground than most, but I'd really have to toughen up. At least, that's what I think."

"Honey," Cynthia chuckled sympathetically, "you're far too modest. But that's fine, actually better than fine. The Capitol will love a cute, modest, nice little girl after all the coldblooded and tough champions they've had. You're lucky to be perfect fit for the trend that Iris set last year—if you can remind them of her while being distinctively your own likeable self… well, they'll eat off your hand."

Dawn couldn't speak but she nodded, wide-eyed. Cynthia was saying that she honestly stood a chance—that odds actually were in her favor. She remembered Iris, the cheerful talkative girl from Unova who had ended up winning the previous games. Hadn't she been thirteen too? Iris had only scored a 6, but had won the Capitol's support on her side with her interview and as such had been showered with gifts from sponsors all throughout the games. It had caused a tremendous mass movement when she won—everyone had wanted to meet the young champion, who was far too cheerful for the reality of the games.

Could she be like that too, Dawn wondered. Could she gain such popularity with a smile and a few kind words? At least Cynthia seemed to believe so, as she went over her strategy for Dawn and tried to teach her how to act during the following days. She honestly seemed dedicated on making Dawn win and that cheered the girl up more than any kind words she'd heard that day. They chatted and pondered tactics far into the night and when Dawn retreated to her cabin she felt a tiny shimmer of hope light up in her heart.

Maybe she would really get back to her mother as a champion.

-x-

The next morning Dawn bumped straight into Lucas coming out of her cabin. The boy didn't seem dazed much, but that didn't stop Dawn from blushing in embarrassment and mumbling about how sorry she was. Lucas waved her off with a laugh saying that he'd been hit with worse things than her door and she relaxed a bit. In her mind she wondered what the boy could mean with that. Had he been bullied in school? Were his parents or somebody around him abusive? He certainly wasn't the healthiest looking boy she'd ever met, but he seemed positive enough about life so she doubted that. She bit her lip, figuring she shouldn't meddle in such private matters.

Together they headed to the observation deck for some breakfast. On the way they encountered an excited looking Fantina who said that they would be arriving in Castelia City, the Capitol's southern center, in a few hours. The escort suggested that they eat and get ready before dashing off towards what Lucas claimed to be his mentor's cabin. Dawn turned to him, curiosity getting the best of her.

"So you met your mentor?" She asked and then added with a teasing smile: "And here I thought you were too sick to talk… your green face was really quite something."

Lucas made a face. "Oh please, I'm not that weak," he muttered with faked sourness, before breaking into a grin. "But yeah, I met him. Interesting guy… he won't reveal his first name to me and I was too young when he won to remember it. He told me to call him Volkner."

Dawn tried to picture a face to the name but came through blank. It really must've been when they were small. "I don't remember him," she admitted. "What's he like?"

"Like I said, he's interesting. Kinda broody and claims to be bored all the time, but I guess he likes me alright." Lucas scratched his chin, thinking for something more to say. "If I'm not wrong, he won his games by building an electrical trap with help of his Shinx some nine years ago."

"Oh," Dawn gasped, suddenly remembering a boy with blond spikes, but nothing more. "Yeah, I think I can remember him now. He won the year before Cynthia."

The boy's head perked up at the mention of the other champion's name. "Cynthia Shire? Wait," he pointed at Dawn, grinning, "she's your mentor! That's awesome, Dawn. From what I remember she really knows what she's doing when she's serious."

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, she really is quite… determined."

Lucas snorted. "You don't say."

They fell into comfortable silence for a while as they seated themselves and started piling food on their plates. Dawn definitely wouldn't get used to having so much but she thought that it was quite nice, living in luxury for a week before the games. There were worse ways to spend the last days of one's life as she could full well imagine, having seen the homeless on the back alleys of Hearthome.

Sometime later they were joined by Cynthia and Lucian, who were in the middle of an academic sounding discussion. Soon after that came Fantina, looking a bit like a child caught red-handed. Volkner arrived only half an hour before docking, looking broody just like Lucas had described him. Dawn threw the boy a look and Lucas shook his head, as if to say he had no idea what made the man like that. Her sympathies were on Lucas' side.

Minutes prior to docking, Fantina called them out to the windows. Dawn felt a shiver of excitement as she slowly walked onto view, seeing Castelia's piers and the enormous masses of colorfully dressed, shouting, laughing and waving people. Watching them pointing at her made her feel small and meaningless and so very alone until Cynthia moved to stand by her side.

"Remember Dawn stone," she whispered so that only Dawn could hear. Breath caught in the girl's throat when the woman used the nickname she'd revealed to her the previous night. It reminded her of home. "Shine as bright as you can and they won't forget you or let you down."

Dawn swallowed and nodded.

Then she started waving back.

-x-

A/N:

Here it is… the first chapter! I wonder how things will go from here on.

Some notes:

The Reaping is held separately in every big city, because despite the low population, the distances between the towns are far too long to have only one, single reaping. They still choose only one girl and boy from every region, so it's needless to say that the competitors are selected in advance.

Sinnoh is, as stated, one of the richest districts with developed industries. Many people from the Capitol have moved there to live in the luxury neighborhoods and some, like Fantina, even have ancestry there. In the past, its occupants used to speak French but nowadays the language has mostly been forgotten and has become somewhat of a fad among its Capitol-born occupants, who wish to sound sophisticated.

The Contests still exist, as a form of amusement for the Capitol's people, when there are no Trainer Games to watch.

The pokémon professors exist to study the pokémon on behalf of the Capitol, because the need information on how to best control the creatures without the districts' getting a hold of any, as well as which pokémon is best suited for whatever needs the capitol may have.

The Capitol itself consists of Castelia and Nimbasa, but many Capitol-born people live in the nearby cities of the Unovan continent, as well as in the largest cities of the districts. They don't really see the bad living conditions of the districts, living in their private parts of the town. And of course, there is the luxurious summer resort of Undella Bay.

Lucas is somewhat of an enigma—he's obviously poor and his family is large, but he somehow managed to be picked as the professor's assistant, so he's seen a lot in his years. Though, I don't think Rowan is as nice to him in this story as he is in the games…

Finally, I had fun with names. I didn't want to copy them from Special, so I made up my own last names and occasionally first names, like with Volkner. Yes, I know what it is. ;)

I'm going to stop now, before these notes get longer than the actual chapter. Did you love it? Hate it? Did something seem unclear? Feel free to ask anything!