Dawn: part 3
-x-
She named the piplup Jo, a diminutive of Johanna, simply out of home-sickness. In truth, she wasn't even sure if the pokémon was female… she had simply gone with an assumption. To start out the pokémon and its trainer headed for the station that dealt with training pokémon and battling. The instructor was a brawny dark skinned man with a strange flat hairdo and blue teeth. Honestly, Dawn spent more time being thrown off by the man's appearance than actually listening to what he was saying but she did well enough in the exercises to earn a grunt of acknowledgement from the instructor.
Jo liked her well enough, or at least Dawn assumed the penguin liked her, because it kept trying to nuzzle her hand when she was petting it after a job well done. The instructor told her to treat the pokémon often and always with fish to earn it's trust and loyalty. Dawn didn't need to be told twice.
In the end she ended up making a game of it, keeping in mind what Cynthia had said about a predator being able to aid her with hunting for food. She would hide a fish somewhere in the gym, mostly in the pools, and Jo would have to look for it and bring it back without swallowing it. If it managed to do so, it would get the fish as well as an oran berry, which, Dawn soon realized, was an even bigger treat than fish for the pokémon.
By the time the trainers were ushered out of the gym for a lunch break Jo had learned to find three or more fish before asking for a treat, as well as how to pour water into a flask. Dawn was rather proud of their progress. In the large mess hall she tried looking for Lucas but saw the boy head to table with the trainers from district five. She felt betrayed but didn't want to intrude so she picked a table by the far left side of the room, prepared to eat alone.
Instead she was joined by the tardy, pigtailed brunette from district two. The girl slipped into the seat opposite of Dawn and offered her a mischievous grin.
"Hi," she greeted happily. Her voice was rather high to Dawn's ears, but definitely pleasant to listen to. "I'm Lyra. I'm not bothering to ask if I can sit here, because you obviously have no reason to oppose when your bf has switched sides or something… Oh, and you're Dawn, so no need to repeat it. The pleasure is all mine."
Dawn was frankly more than a little puzzled. Luckily, Lyra didn't seem to expect her to come up with a reply and kept talking like an express train.
"I know, I know, this is the Trainer Games, we're not supposed to be friendly to each other, it's only going to make our matter worse, yadda, yadda… but I said to myself 'Lyra, there's no reason to quit being who you are, even for the games' so I'm not gonna. So, so what if I'm friendly and open? Tough luck that's who I am and if you don't like it, well, screw you."
She winked at Dawn.
"But I don't think you're one of those pricks who can't chat up a girl they'll maybe end up killing next week, or are you? I saw you working with that piplup… brilliant work! I wish I was half as smart as you are, maybe then I'd hold some chances of getting into elite four at least."
She ended her crazy rambling in a long-suffering sight. Dawn couldn't stop her lips quirking upwards. The situation was just too whimsical.
Lyra noticed her unwilling smile and beamed. "Oh Dawn, I knew you cared!"
"Well," Dawn replied full on grinning, "I didn't."
-x-
Cautiously the two girls formed something akin to friendship. Lyra insisted on hanging around Dawn when they got back to the gym and when Dawn returned to training the next day, the older girl was already waiting for her. Lyra taught her how to recognize most edible plants—she had worked in an herb and flower shop most of her life. In turn, Dawn helped her to gain the trust of her pokémon partner, chicorita. Both soon realized that together their chances of surviving in the arena would double.
"So, what, we're like partners?" Lyra asked after the second day of training. "Cause I kinda dig the sound of that. It's not like I could kill you anyways, so it would be better if we worked together, right?"
"I guess so."
"Awesome." The pigtailed girl grinned and pulled Dawn into a half-hearted hug. "We'll be unbeatable, like Thelma and Louise, except preferably without the double suicide part in the end."
The younger let out a surprised laugh. "Lyra! You're so…" She struggled to find a proper way finish the sentence.
"Brilliant? Beautiful? Something else that starts with b?"
"Bonkers." Dawn decided. "Definitely bonkers."
Her answer sent Lyra into a mad giggling fit that only subdued when they had to break apart. The thoroughly spent Lyra stepped out of the elevator and waved with both hands.
"Tomorrow's the last day before the private sessions… better be early, Dawn stone!" She reminded right before the elevator's doors slid shut.
Dawn rode up to her own floor and almost bumped into a tall gray haired man walking out of the elevator. She looked up and met an absentminded pair of eye staring back down at her. Dawn's cheeks heated up.
"Sorry," she mumbled, quickly casting her eyes down.
"There's no need to apologize, Dawn," the man called after her. Even his voice sounded faraway, like he wasn't completely present in the moment.
The girl stopped, turned and nodded to the man, before hastily escaping inside the living quarters. Cynthia was lounging on the couch reading a book when she scrambled in. The woman snapped her fingers at Dawn.
"Did you work hard in training?" She asked when the girl had sauntered over to hear her out.
"Of course," Dawn replied. "We tried the knots, but I wasn't very good at them…"
Cynthia looked up from the book, suddenly suspicious. "Who's 'we'?"
"Oh, um, I mean me and Lyra," Dawn stuttered trying to explain. She hadn't told Cynthia about the girl, because she hadn't been sure how her mentor would react to the unexpected alliance. "The girl from Joh—District two."
Cynthia's eyes narrowed. "I don't care if you call the districts by their real names," she said, "but I do care to know if you're forming alliances behind my back. Now, who is she really? She's the pigtailed girl, isn't she? What's she like?"
Dawn ended up trying to describe Lyra for a long time. In the end Cynthia seemed pleased enough, even allowing the alliance, but reminded her that alliances could be dangerous. The girl had thought about it, yes, but honestly, it felt so much better to know that there was someone watching her back and suffering with her. It made thinking about what was coming so much more bearable.
Besides, it was nice when someone was talking to her. Lucas had more or less stopped interacting with her after they had received their pokémon. He was still being polite and saying good morning and good night and taking the elevator down together with her, but it wasn't the same. It felt stupid considering that she had known him for a couple of days, but she had grown used to his chattering and the smirks that brought a glow into his weary eyes. She missed it but figured that there was no helping it.
Besides, as she liked reminding herself far too often, they would be facing each other on the arena in less than a week. It would only be troublesome if she had strong ties to the other trainers there. Still, she liked to play with the thought that she could've been allying with Lucas instead of Lyra. What would he be like? She had tried to keep an eye on the boy during training, as well as the other trainers to have an idea of what she would be up against, but so far hadn't been able to gain anything useful. Only that Lucas sucked at knots like her and that his turtwig—the grass-type Dawn had seen while picking her own pokémon— liked hiding in the snares station.
When she told Cynthia about her attempts at trying to make out what the others were good, the mentor was positively surprised. She then encouraged her to especially pay attention to the careers from district five because, quite like Dawn had suspected, they were twins and as such would most likely team up against the opposing trainers.
"Oh, and keep an eye on May Birch too… Steven's his mentor so it's wise to expect the worse of her."
Steven turned out to mean Steven Stone, the champion of the second Quarter Quell from district three, as well as the stony looking man Dawn had met on her way up.
"Really?" Dawn asked dubiously. "He didn't seem very… dangerous."
Her mentor started laughing.
"Yeah, I guess he doesn't," she agreed. "But he's got an eye for hidden talents and knows how to bring those up. He's proven it a lot of times since starting out—a lot of his trainers have made it to the elite four and a few have been crowned champions as well. You remember Phoebe, the champion from a couple years back?"
Dawn thought back. Phoebe Kalea had been a pretty girl with sun kissed skin whose first task in the arena had been decorating her hair with countless of blood red flowers. After that she had proceeded with hunting down the other trainers during nighttime with her ghost type pokémon. The only warning her victims would get, was one of the flowers descending from out of nowhere and by then it would be too late. Capitol had gotten a thrill of that year's games.
"She was Steven's protégé." Cynthia gave Dawn a look that clearly told her not to underestimate the man or his trainers. "Too bad she had to choose a ghost pokémon… those bastards always leave a mark on you. Kinda like you became haunted yourself, from what I hear. She lasted a year, before it all got too much…"
Cynthia didn't appear to be shaken by what she was telling Dawn, but the girl felt horrible. Phoebe had been barely fifteen when she had won, she had escaped almost certain death and yet she wasn't with them any longer—dead by her own hand. It could be Dawn's fate too, for all she knew. Maybe, even if she did manage to get out of the arena alive, she'd be burdened with nightmares or memories so painful that she would see no other way out, but death?
That night it took her a long time to fall asleep.
-x-
The third day of training passed by in a blur. As instructed, Dawn tried to watch the careers, and was a bit surprised to realize that Lucas was hanging around the twins more often than not. She had noticed that they were speaking and sometimes spending lunch breaks together, but it hadn't passed her mind that maybe they could be in an alliance. It worried her a lot.
She didn't trust the twins. From what she gathered they were both ruthless and codependent in everything they did. Neither talked a lot, but when they did, it seemed like one of them was speaking for them both. As expected from careers they were superb with combat, excelling at long range weaponry as well as hand to hand. Pokémon, for them, were only a different type of weapon, suitable for certain situations. Dawn knew they wouldn't think twice about killing Lucas and discarding him, if he became a burden. She actually doubted whether they would go through with the alliance, if they even had one.
Dawn tried to talk to Lucas about it, but the boy didn't listen. She felt awful after the conversation, but soon realized that it was mostly because she couldn't stop worrying about the boy. He still tried to be nice to her, even while keeping his distance and Dawn figured that maybe the boy was feeling bad for the way he was acting. She didn't hold it against him because after all they all had their reasons for the way they did things in the games and most of those reasons aimed for their survival.
Lyra, on the other hand, didn't seem worried about the other trainers. She said she didn't care what they were good or bad at, because one of them was going to kill her anyways. After that confession, Dawn finally got around to asking why she was so determined that she was going to die when there was still a chance for her. The girl only laughed at that.
"Because there isn't a chance for me, Dawn stone," she remarked. "I'm choosing to die. I have no family to return to, except my grandparents and I figure they'll be following me in a few years. It's better to die as myself, than to live and be burdened with the deaths of all these innocent kids."
Dawn hadn't thought about that and it troubled her greatly.
Then, suddenly like no time had passed at all, it was already time for the private sessions. Dawn was restless that morning, moving around her breakfast on the plate, not feeling up to eating any of it. She was cut off from her grim thought when Lucas clapped her back. She blinked unable to cover her surprise. Lucas smiled sheepishly.
"Hey," he mumbled, "don't worry about it. I've seen you work with that piplup. You're great and the game makers will easily see that."
She didn't know how to react to the sudden friendliness from the boy. "I'm sure you'll do fine too," she replied almost on autopilot, but managed a real smile at the end.
Lucas scowled. "No way," he said very matter-of-factly. "I suck and it definitely shows. You know what Volkner told me to do? He said," the boy took an annoyed expression to imitate the man better, "don't try anything grand, brat. Actually, it's better if you don't do much anything at all."
Dawn laughed despite herself. Lucas looked up, startled but his surprise soon melted into contentment.
"Well," he went on, "I'm gonna show him that I still got some fight in me. Just watch it, sour-face, Lucas Leon is going to get himself a great score."
Dawn grinned brightly. "I'm sure you will."
-x-
When they headed down to wait for their turn, neither could speak from the tension. They stood around for a good ten minutes, before May came out smirking in evident self-satisfaction. Her bandana was giving out a trail of smoke that left both of the Sinnoh trainers wide-eyed.
Lucas was called in first, leaving Dawn to shift nervously in the hallway. It felt like a long time, but she had heard that the sessions took only fifteen minutes at most. It was such a short time to impress the game makers into believing that she could survive. Lost in thought, she was slightly startled when the announcement eventually came.
"District four: Dawn DeBlanc."
Dawn got up quickly, trying to swallow her fear as she stepped inside the gym.
First thing she noticed was that the room seemed eerily empty without all of the other trainers, pokémon, station instructors and assistants buzzing about. Her steps reverberated in the silent room. Secondly, she realized that the normally empty balcony overlooking the gymnasium was now filled with the game makers. The one sitting in the middle, the head game maker Dawn guessed, was a strangely feline-like man with black hair shaped like ears and a black and red tuxedo, topped with a ridiculously long yellow scarf.
Dawn walked into the middle of the room where her pokémon was already waiting.
"Um, hello," she offered timidly and curtsied. She didn't know if she was supposed to hold her act during the private session, but she figured it didn't hurt being polite. People in the contests always curtsied and bowed and introduced themselves and then their pokémon. "I am Dawn DeBlanc and this is my piplup, Jo."
The nickname roused a round of murmurs from the game makers. The one with the scarf raised an intrigued eyebrow, but otherwise his posture didn't change.
Uncertain if she'd done something funny, Dawn made an effort to perform as fast and flawless as she could, just to get out of there quickly. She had thought about her session the previous night with Cynthia and they had decided together that she should show them her game of hiding fish and making Jo fetch them for her, as well as have Jo perform some of the water-moves Dawn had taught it.
She told Jo to wait as she ran to the cabinet containing the treats for the pokémon and snatched out three fish as well as a handful of oran berries. Then she jogged to the snares station, which provided excellent hiding places. The next fish she took to the pools, throwing it as far as she could. The last one she took into one of the makeshift shelters. Pleased with the hiding places she returned to the middle of the room and crouched on Jo's level.
"Jo, go get it!"
The piplup wasted no time, skipping forward with considerable speed. The one in the pool was the first one, as usual. The second took more time, but in the end Jo found it from the shelter, and the final remaining fish was almost as easy as the first. The penguin brought them all to Dawn's feet and crooned. Dawn offered it the berries and ruffled its feathers while it made quick work of the treats.
Next, she found herself a flask from one of the nearby stations and snapped the pokémon back to attention.
"Jo, water for me, please," she asked. The penguin reacted like always to the phrase, carefully positioning its beak and sprouting out a stream of drinkable water that filled the flask. When the flask was almost full an idea hit Dawn. They hadn't tried anything like it before, but she trusted the penguin.
"Jo, ice!" She yelled and the penguin took a second to understand before releasing a breath of frosty air that turned the water still in the air into ice. Dawn grabbed the icicle before it hit the ground and threw it to the direction of the human shaped targets. It hit one slightly off center, but she was rather proud of her accuracy.
Then she turned to face the game makers, thanked them and curtsied once more, before steadily walking out of the room. She had a good feeling about the session.
-x-
Everyone on team four, Dawn and Lucas, their mentors, escorts and prep teams, as well as Riley, were gathered around in the common room that night to watch the scores. The adults drank wine—Cynthia offered some to Dawn too, but the girl refused. She never would've had the chance in Hearthome, alcohol was way too expensive for them to afford it and besides, it didn't cause much else but trouble. Lucas accepted the offer, too nervous to do otherwise.
The program started with an interview with the head game maker, whose name turned out to be Stefan Grimsley. Ms. Shauntal, the Games' nominated interviewee, and the man exchanged pointless pleasantries and made jokes that were lame in Dawn's opinion, before talking for a while about that year's trainers and what they were shaping out to be like. Lucian sighed a lot when Ms. Shauntal was on view, which was always, and after the tenth glare from Volkner the purple haired escort admitted that he was a huge fan of her books.
Then, finally, it was time for the scores. Cynthia summoned herself a pen and a notebook out of nowhere and began scribbling down as soon as the first score flashed on screen. As usual, they started with the first district. The serious looking boy with the eyes that creeped Dawn out had done poorly, only managing a three out of ten. The girl had faired loads better with a seven. Lyra's partner received a six and Lyra herself a five. District three's boy pulled out a five as well. May Birch topped the game so far with an eight, before it was suddenly Lucas' face in the television.
"A four?" Lucas cried out in disbelief as the number flashed on the screen.
Volkner grunted. "Good job kid. Now the others won't see you as a threat and you can surprise them."
It was, admittedly, one of the nicest things Volkner had ever said to the boy, but Dawn was too distracted with her own information flashing into view. Warmth pooled in her stomach in anticipation as she waited for the score. In the end she heard Fantina hiss it before her eyes registered the number on the screen.
"Seven?" the purple haired escort shrieked. "Mon dieu, ma petite! Tu es extraordinaire!"
Cynthia beamed at her. "That's my Dawn stone."
The girl's heart skipped a beat. Of course the woman didn't know it, but they were the same words her mother had used when she'd said her good byes. It brought back all the home sickness. She hadn't had time to think about how much she missed her home during training but now the aching returned with doubled force. But more than that it worked as a remainder: this is why you're going to get back home. This is why you're fighting.
Like always, the careers received high scores, a nine each. Still, Dawn felt like she could take whatever they threw at her, because after all she had something to fight for.
-x-
Lots of things happening this time! Surprising alliances, scores, some past champions… what's next?
In case anyone is wondering, I chose to use the pronoun "it" when referring to Jo the piplup because Dawn doesn't actually have any idea of its gender. Also, the reason why Dawn didn't get an even better score despite her almost perfect performance is because the game makers thought her to be soft and friendly, and as such an easy target for the more ruthless trainers. We'll have to see if that prediction turns out to be true or not.
Oh, and ignore the fact that neither Lyra nor Dawn has ever seen Thelma and Louise. I was unable to resist the reference. It's an awesome movie, y'all, even with the double suicide.