Hopefully, I'll get off my lazy butt and start working on this thing! -atm is super motivated-
Also, I'm going to rewrite those other chapters because OMG THEY ARE TERRIBLE ALFJLKAS plus all the dates are totally mixed up ;o;
"And here we have the simulator! Here, you will be able to have an experience similar to what you will experience in the stadium!" the scientist in front explained enthusiastically, his hand motions quite exaggerated as he pointed out the parts of the simulator and explained each one thoroughly. Dawn stood amongst her other competitors, all from Sinnoh - each group had been arranged by the home region so they could feel more comfortable? Something like that?
She tried the best as she could to discreetly observe her other competitors; there were nine of them. The only person she did know was Barry, who was currently fidgeting from where he was standing - the blonde was never known to be patient. Next to him stood a girl with curled peach hair and intense red eyes who the blunette swore she knew; maybe a coordinator from one of her competitions?
"Are you going to join everyone?" a voice asked, causing Dawn to blink.
"E-eh...?" Now out of her thoughts, she could see that she was the only one left in the room - other than the scientist in front of her, of course.
"Well, like I said, we're letting everyone have a chance to be inside the simulator so you won't be surprised later on in the competition." he said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. Dawn sighed inwardly - she needed to pay more attention today; after all, today was the orientation, when they'd be teaching everything we needed to know about the competition. And she had listened to nothing all day.
'Right now, I'm nowhere near finding out what secrets this completion is hiding...'
"Well?" the scientist asked again, now putting on an obvious fake smile on his features. Dawn nodded in response, a little too quickly - 'Don't want to make this guy even more angry!' she thought, trying to avoid making eye contact with the man.
"Can you show me where to go?"
-o-
As soon as she exited the pod - it was what she used to get inside the simulator - Dawn gaped in amazement. The view was... amazing! The sky was a perfect blue, clouds scattered across it and the grass... well, it looked like grass, if that wasn't obvious enough. In other words, the sight was so breathtaking that it was almost impossible to describe everything, down to the small details. For a moment, she felt like she was in paradise and she reached out her arms to make herself less tense - why was she tense anyways? That scientist probably had something to do with it - when she realized that her arms did not look like arms.
Instead, there were blue flippers, which she had recognized immediately.
"So, I'm a Piplup!" she exclaimed, trying to observe herself by stretching her head as far as she could. Her attempts failing, she instead waddled over to a pond, the clear water reflecting her body, which was now in the shape of a certain penguin Pokémon. "This is so cool!"
"Hey, Dawn!" a familiar voice called. She turned around to see a Chimchar with a wide grin on his face - how did she know it was a male? She wasn't exactly sure, maybe being around Pokémon for most of her life helped her?
'...I really needed to stop asking questions to myself.' she thought.
Next to the fire Pokémon was a Turtwig without an expression on his face. That Turtwig looked awfully familiar too - maybe she saw him on television? "It's me, Barry!" the Chimchar cheered.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked, looking down at herself, remembering how she looked like at the moment.
Barry stared blankly at her for a moment. "O-Oh! Actually, I don't know!" he chuckled.
"Okay then..." Dawn responded, slightly confused. "Who's the Turtwig next to you?"
"You don't know him?!" the blonde - or would you say redhead now? - gasped dramatically. "This is Paul Shinji, the best trainer in the whole world!"
"Oh, okay!" Dawn chirped, although she had almost no idea who he was. "I'm Dawn Hikari, Pokémon coordinator; I was in the Grand Festival last year!"
"...Hn."
Well, that was rude.
"Hey, you don't have to act like a jerk." Dawn said, narrowing her eyes down at him. He scoffed in response.
"And why should I listen to someone like you?"
"Someone like me - jeez, what is wrong with you!?" she snapped. 'Now would be a good time to figure out how to attack someone in the arena,' she noted as she poised herself to aim a powerful Bubblebeam at him. Before she realized it, she had aimed the attack at him and had hit him; but clearly, he hadn't been affected in the slightest.
"You know, water types are a bad matchup against grass types. You're such an idiot." With that, he walked away.
"The nerve of that guy!" she angrily mumbled, glaring daggers at the Turtwig's back. "I'll show him that I am certainly not an idiot! Barry, how could he possibly be the best trainer in the whole world?"
She then realized that she was standing alone. "Barry?"
"Attention to the Piplup in the simulator! I repeat for the tenth time, it is time to exit the simulator!"
Dawn felt her face go red. "Sorry!" she yelled, hoping her message got to the scientist, who was probably now really angry at her. She waddled up to the pod which would take her back to the laboratory, where a certain scientist would probably reprimand her or something.
"I really should start to listen." she said to herself, mentally sweatdropping.
-o-
So far, she hadn't encountered a certain rude Turtwig - or maybe she had, but she had no idea how "the best trainer in the entire world" actually looked like as a human. Well, that wasn't the main concern right now.
At the moment, she was trying to figure out a battle plan once she got in the arena. Although she was ninety-nine percent sure she was going to end up as a Piplup, she had to be able to plan for other Pokémon. During her research, she had noticed a pattern for how the Pokémon you enter the arena in as is determined - by the main six Pokémon you've registered on your Trainer Card.
And then she also had to plan how to survive, just in case she was defeated while in the arena. And how to work all the gadgets for the tournament and figure out what all the terms meant in the pamphlet she had received with the initial letter that had invited her to the competition in the first place; this is what happened when one doesn't listen - of course, she did listen; just enough to know the very basic things, like names of the gadgets and the most important rules.
There was a lot of stuff she needed to do, especially with the competition only two days away.
So it probably didn't help that she was searching the Internet for a trainer by the name of Paul Shinji.
"Paul Shinji... Top 16 in the Sinnoh League 2011..." she read one site, scrolling down the page. Well, now she knew what he looked like in real life - purple hair, sort of tall, a very serious look in his eyes; if not for his rude attitude, Dawn certainly would have fallen for him - mostly because of how good-looking he was, she admitted.
The blunette had no idea why she was searching up this guy in the first place; 'It's probably so I can figure out a way to crush him in the competition,' she reasoned to herself, although her reason really made no sense at all.
Next to her laptop, still open on the website she had been browsing moments before, were a bunch of papers, all with plans for each of her Pokémon - Piplup, Pachirisu, Togekiss, etcetera. She was prepared; well, at least she hoped so anyways as she put the papers in a neat pile. She took a glance at the pamphlet again, trying to familiarize all the rules so that she wouldn't get reprimanded for breaking any - her mind momentarily shifted to a memory of an annoyed scientist, his expression practically saying, "I would kick you out of here if I could."
"I better not make anymore enemies." she muttered, having fully convinced herself that the scientist was now her enemy. She continued to scroll down random websites, having nothing else better to do - well, she did, but Dawn was really into procrastination at the moment.
She typed in the phrase "Pokémon Transformations" in the search engine and found a website with the history written in it.
"Pokémon Transformations, 'Pokémon Transforms' or simply 'Transforms' for short is a competition that happens yearly. The competition is now on it's 25th year and appears to be inspired by a type of evolution called 'Mega Evolution', an evolution only experienced in the Kalos region. Although many rumors have been heard about this competition..." Dawn mumbled, skimming over the words. She had read the history before; to the point where she could remember the history without thinking.
An alarm went off, causing her to snap out of her thoughts. Unconsciously, she started to move her hands around to find the alarm to shut it up, but then she realized that the sound was coming from the building itself. "Evacuate! Evacuate!" a digital voice repeated, the loud alarm still blaring.
Taking her backpack, stocked with money, food, her Pokémon, and now her laptop as she shoved it inside as carefully as possible, she walked outside, where the rest of the people inside the hotel had decided to gather. "What's going on?" she could hear someone say amongst the sounds of whispers and mumbles.
Soon, a man in a suit walked out, a worried glance on his face. "I'm sorry everyone! There seems to be a mistake; you may all go back to your business now!" he spoke in an apologetic manner. The crowd slowly dispersed as everyone went back to what they had been doing prior to the alarm. 'Was there something wrong with their alarm?' Dawn thought to herself, starting to walk with crowd.
"Dawn!" She didn't even have to guess anymore who the person calling her was. She looked back to see Barry, his usual perky grin replaced by an irritated frown.
"Hi Barry."
"This whole alarm thing is stupid, isn't it!?" he exclaimed, starting to go off on a rant. "Really, me and Paul were doing something important and then this really annoying sound started to sound and I was like 'Damn it, can't you see I'm trying to hang out with the best trainer ever, you stupid alarm!' and then..." Behind the blonde was a certain purple-haired trainer, who Dawn was still very angry at.
"It's you again! I'm still angry at you, you know!" she glared at Paul, who blankly stared back.
"Who are you?"
Well, he certainly knew how to make someone angry.
"My name is DAWN!" she yelled at him.
"And my name is Paul." he replied, that blank stare still on his features.
"Hey, Dawn!" Barry said, interrupting their ...conversation? Argument? Who knows? "You should join me and Paul!"
"Erm..." she mumbled, sending a quick glare at the purple-haired boy.
"Okay, so you're joining us then!" Barry quickly said, grabbing Dawn with one hand and Paul with the other as he led them somewhere.
After a moment of being dragged by the blonde, the blunette attempted to talk to Paul. "Hey, are you willingly going with Barry to wherever he goes or is he forcing you?" she asked. Paul certainly seemed like the type of person who wouldn't stand for nonsense, and admittedly, her childhood friend was all about nonsense.
"...I was forced. I've been trying to get away from him for the past couple of days."
"Oh." she replied dumbly, having nothing else to say.
Soon, Barry had stopped dragging them and revealed their location. "Tada! We are at the cafeteria!"
"We were here earlier, you idiot." Oh, so Paul was mean to everyone then, not just her.
"But I'm hungry!"
"You ate earlier also."
"...I'm sort of hungry." Dawn interrupted, staring at the food. She hadn't eaten anything for a while, and now that they were here, why not eat something?
"Yes! Thank you Dawn!"
"Well, I'm leaving." Paul responded, turning around to walk away before promptly being stopped by Barry.
"Nope, you're staying here with me - I mean, us!" he demanded, pulling Paul by the arm to a table. "Dawn, you can go and get something if you want! I'm not very hungry..."
"You're not hungry?! You just said you were! Why are we here in the first place!?" Paul asked, looking incredulous and slightly outraged. Barry did a shrug, looking indifferent. "I swear I will murder you, you brat!"
Dawn awkwardly walked away from the scene, which was starting to get some attention from fellow competitors and bored cafeteria ladies, so she could get some food for herself. As she picked out some food and put it on her plate - the cafeteria was designed just like a buffet, which admittedly, was pretty awesome - she felt a odd feeling of mixed hatred and pity for the purple-haired trainer; hatred because seriously, that guy was such a jerk and knew just how to get on her nerves, and pity because Barry had made him his idol and was now embarrassing and annoying him at the same time.
As for Barry, she just felt embarrassed. Only embarrassment. And a little bit of amusement.
"Guess some people just never change..." she murmured, a small smile on her face as she thought of a certain blonde trainer.
-o-
Somehow, the remaining time had passed by and now, it was the day she had been waiting-slash-dreaded for her entire life; the day that the competition began. The competition usually lasted just a couple days - the record was eight days - but if all the competitors were good enough, it could probably last a month, maybe two or three at the most. Dawn was really hoping for the competition to last less than a week.
She stood in a long, single file line which consisted of herself and 49 other competitors. They were all being taken to individual rooms, where they had to wait just before the competition began. Humming a tune to herself, checking her Pokétch every twenty seconds, and trying to remember all her strategies for the competition - she had misplaced the papers with all her plans fairly quickly - was all that kept her preoccupied as she continued to move in the line.
Sooner than she had expected - rather than the hour she had predicted, it had only took her sixteen minutes and forty-two seconds - to get to the front of the line. A lady in a professional dress stood in front of her, who looked like she cared less about her job. "Name please?"
"Dawn Hikari." The sounds of fingers tapping on a keyboard, a digital ding from her computer, and a sigh - probably because she was so bored; perhaps they blocked all the cool websites, like Pokébook and Cloystr? - later, the woman looked back at the blunettte and handed her a metallic box. "What is this?"
"Your mentor will explain." she responded plainly. "Please move to your right so that you may proceed to your room."
Dawn nodded, following the instructions. "Hi Dawn," the blunette looked up to see a woman, much older than her looking at her nametag, which she had pasted on her pink shirt. "I'm here to take you to your room." she said, her blonde hair falling loosely around her shoulders. She was wearing a black dress which did not look very professional at all; it looked more like something you'd wear to a party, and she had a small smile on her face. "My name is Cynthia, former Champion of Sinnoh. Now, please follow me."
Almost trailing behind the ex-Champion, Dawn asked, "Why aren't you the Champion anymore?"
"Well, someone finally beat me after six long years and I gave my position to him. Lucas Kouki, what an amazing trainer..." Cynthia had started to murmur to herself, so while they walked a seemingly endless hallway, the floor covered by a red carpet and the walls lined with pictures of famous people and Pokémon, the two stayed in silence. "So, what region are you from?"
"Oh, I'm from Sinnoh!"
"Really..." the conversation had ended there, very awkwardly. It seemed like ages when they finally reached the room; it was nothing fancy like the rest of the hotel, just a couple of metallic gray walls, a single television screen screwed into the wall farthest from the entrance of the room, a small restroom and a table with a lamp and some sticky notes on it.
"So, are you ready for this competition?" If she had been back in Twinleaf, she definitely would have said 'yes', but staying at Unova for the last couple of days had really unnerved her, plus the fact that she had barely listened to anything during their orientation really worried her - she had been practically setting herself up for trouble - so Dawn shook her head 'no'.
"Don't worry about it. I've looked at your records, you're a great coordinator and I think you'll do fine in this competition. Plus, I see that your dad has also participated in this competition some years ago, so you probably got some tips from him, haven't you?"
She just had to mention her dad, didn't she?
In response, Dawn just nodded, her mind now travelling back to memories of her father. 'I'll find you dad. I promise.'
After some more awkward moments between the two and a quick briefing from the blonde before the competition would begin, a timer started to ding, indicating that their time was up. "Okay Dawn, I hope I've prepared you enough!" Yeah, not really.
At least now she knew how the Super Pokétch, a device that was made for the competition, worked; it was voice activated, so all she had to do with it was to set it up so that the device could recognize her voice, and she learned the basic functions of it - adding or removing a team member, opening her inventory in the arena, and as the normal Pokétch could do, check the time and date.
She also knew - well, more like familiarized - all the terms she would need to know for competition, so she guessed that she had gotten at least some things out of this awkward briefing with the former Champion. Being with a Champion probably should have excited her, but being with Cynthia had just been plain - well, awkward.
Jeez, she was starting to get redundant with words.
"Well, I'll be as ready as I'll ever be." Dawn replied. Cynthia nodded, pressing a button that she hadn't noticed before on the metallic wall, causing a pod similar to the pod she had seen in the laboratory she had been at days before to appear from the floor.
"Good luck!" the blonde said, motioning Dawn to get inside the machine that had just appeared. Stepping inside, the sounds from outside the pod couldn't be heard, but Dawn could tell that Cynthia was trying to cheer her on from all that fist-pumping and such she was doing. Inside the pod was a timer, counting down from sixty seconds down to the last second, displaying the numbers and a mechanical voice saying the numbers at the same time. Dawn watched the numbers decrease as the pod started to rise upwards - well, at least that's what it felt like anyways.
Soon, everything outside the pod was too bright so she had to close her eyes, trying to conceal any light from getting into them. "Sixteen... fifteen... fourteen..." the timer continued, counting every second. Dawn didn't dare open her eyes yet; whatever was outside the pod trying to burn her eyes was far too intense, and she'd probably have her eyes burned if she opened them. "Nine... eight... seven..."
Just a couple more seconds.
"I can do this!" she murmured, finally opening her eyes, seeing a dense forest.
"Three... two... one... Start!"
Yay, look it's 3,000 words! I hope this makes up for the last couple of months without an update? And sorry for all that OCness you probably read ;w; At least Dawn and Paul finally talked - well, more like argued - to each other! 8DD
Okay, so hopefully REALLY HOPEFULLY I will get to the next chapter quickly ;3 I MUST FIND SOME INSPIRATION AND STOP PROCRASTINATING LAJSDFLAJ