Chapter 17

June 8th, 2006

"Toge!"

Paul looked up at the sound of the call, seeing the pokémon fly down to him; he wasn't as alarmed as it slowed down the closer it got. "A Togekiss?" The fairy-flying type landed in front of him daintily. It looked very familiar to him. Suddenly the thought struck him. It was Dawn's pokémon. There was a sharp twinge of worry that embedded itself into his chest. He almost immediately dropped the sticks he had in his arms that were no doubt meant for fire. Togekiss wouldn't have been sent unless there was a problem right?

Togekiss extended its wing out to him; he noticed a band around with a letter tied tightly on the band. He pulled the letter off and opened it up; he was met with a slightly messy rounded print that he knew belonged to Dawn;

Come back fast. Don't go to New Bark.

The twinge of worry came back as he read the short message. The shortness made him worry more. Why was he even worrying? The group left behind had solid pokémon teams and they were all able to protect themselves, so why did he feel bothered so much? He held the paper tightly in his hands. "Stay with me." He ordered the pokémon, "Don't go back unless I tell you to." Togekiss tipped her head to the side in slight confusion but didn't show any signs of protest. Paul shoved the letter in his pocket, and then picked up all the sticks he had dropped. "Follow me." He ordered Togekiss and led the way back to the place where the group had decided to make base camp for the night.

Paul walked into the clearing and over to Cilan who had begun to chop up various vegetables. He shoved the wood under a pot which was halfway filled with water. The loud noise startled Cilan a bit, causing a small jump to come from him and for him to look in Paul's direction.

"We need to turn back." He announced to the green-haired man. Cilan had calmed down over the past hours and was mostly back to his normal self. Above them the sky was a bright, blazing orange, the clouds took on a pinky-purple colour. The sun was nowhere to be seen.

Cilan raised an eyebrow at him, "What do you mean?" His eyes darted to Togekiss behind him.

Paul handed Cilan the note. Cilan quickly, but properly, wiped his hands then took it. "It's from Dawn." Cilan scanned the both over and looked at Togekiss; a flash of recognition swam through his eyes.

"We can't leave now." He said calmly. "We have to wait until morning."

Paul shoved a hand into his pocket and clenched it into a fist. "We have time once the other four come back. We can still see."

Cilan eyed him, searching his face. "I thought you and Dawn had a fight, why are you so worried?" His expression changed as he spoke, one holding more anger.

"I'm not worried about Dawn. You're not worried about Iris are you?" He challenged.

Cilan shook his head, "I'm not worried about her in the slightest. I'm more worried about my cooking." He gestured to the area around him. "I would have to pack this all up if we went back now. That's hardly enough sunlight to be able to do that." He turned back to the small table he had set up and returned to slicing meat.

Paul turned to look at Togekiss, who was still watching him. Paul took out a pokéball and released Torterra. Togekiss' eyes lit up as she daintily walked over to the big grass-type.

Paul was sitting at the small table that was set up for them to eat on. He was busy looking at the map of Johto on his pokégear when he saw somebody sit across from him. Looking up, his gray eyes were met with May's bright blue ones. She was resting her head on her opened hand, smirking at him.

Paul frowned at her. "What?"

May closed her eyes in a long blink as she shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing." She left one eye closed as she opened the other one.

"Just tell me what you want."

"Don't you think Drew's adorable?" She asked him as she glanced over at her boyfriend who was helping Cilan.

"I don't really care." Paul stated. "Drew's appearance doesn't affect me like it does to you."

"You know, Drew and Dawn are actually kind of similar." Paul furrowed his eyebrows. Dawn and Drew were very different; the only thing in common was their trainer occupation. "They kinda look the same, don't you think? Similar facial builds. They could totally pull off being siblings. They're both extremely cute. They also have some pretty good looking people after them right?" She winked at him.

"What are you trying to get out of me?" Paul asked with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing." She said smugly.

"I'm smarter than you. What do you want?"

"I heard that you want to go back to Azalea Town. You were rushing Cilan, trying to get him to agree."

"I don't want to go back and I wasn't rushing him. I was only showing him the letter that was attached to Togekiss."

May rolled her eyes and sat back on the chair, crossing her arms. "Come on Paul, when will you get over this fight with her? I know you have both said things that you both regret. Dawn had other things bothering her then and I know what she said wasn't right, but she wasn't in a good state. I managed to get stuff out of Ash, who was told by Iris who was the person Dawn went directly to after you left. She doesn't know what to do know other than to give you some space, but how long will you avoid her? The longer you wait the more hurt you both will be. Don't be like Iris and Cilan who haven't talked to each other in months until they had to because of this whole situation." She guestured to the area around her.

"I'm not hurt." Paul retorted.

"You are. You haven't been talking unless somebody talks to you first. In Hoenn you really opened up, but now you've changed back."

"I'm not a book character, I haven't changed at all." He hissed. "Nobody actually knows who I am for a good reason. I'm not going to apologise."

May sighed and stood up. "Just think about it." Paul didn't watch her as she left.

It was well past midnight now; the sky was black with little flecks of light dotting across it. The moon wasn't quite at its peak yet, though it would be in about another hour or so.

Pansage was curled up fast asleep in Cilan's lap; he was overlooking the big lake in front of him over a small cliff. He could see the docks with a few fishermen on them, looking for late night swimming pokémon. If it was earlier in the day, just when the sun was rising, he too would probably be out on the docks.

"Hey Cilan," Ash greeted with a yawn. He was clad in his pajamas. He did a little stretch and sat down next to him. "Why'd ya wanna talk so late?" His hair was slightly dishevelled, more so than usual.

"So the others wouldn't hear. You wanted to know about Iris and my fight. This isn't something that I want everybody to know. I don't know if I'd even tell my brothers about this, or at least not Chili."

Ash seemed more alert now. "You trust me more than Chili?"

"No, I trust you the same. Your mouth isn't as big as his when it comes to secrets. You do have a bigger mouth though, not everybody can finish a burger in three bites." Ash laughed and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"How did you and Misty start dating?" Cilan asked. Ash was a little taken aback. He guessed that Cilan wasn't exactly ready to talk just yet.

"Uh well, I called her on my pokégear because we hadn't spoken in a super long time because I had no signal because me, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie all had to ride on these Mammoswine up a mountain. So when we got to the next city I called her 'cause I felt a little guilty. So when I called, one of Misty's sisters picked up instead of her since she was in the middle of a gym battle. Lily was the one who picked up and once she saw it was me she called Daisy and Violet over and we talked for a bit about stuff. Then they started talking about how much she missed me and always talked about me. They said that they were convinced that she had a crush on me or something, and then Daisy said that Misty told her that she did because she was dating Tracey at that point and she wanted Daisy's help with me or something, I wasn't really paying attention for a good reason. Then Misty walked in at that point and she was super angry at them, she didn't even know I was there watching them through their videophone. Then they got her to admit it to all of them and then they told her that I was right there. She was super embarrassed but it was kinda cute." Ash recalled her face which had a bright red blush painted across it; it actually complemented her hair very nicely. "She hung up on me and I called her again another day and told her that I liked her too, I always did." He shrugged. "I just never thought about it that way. When I heard her admit it I started to think about it a lot and then I guess I just liked the idea and that's it. It was a great idea and I don't regret it at all, I don't think I ever will."

Cilan nodded slowly, "I know understand your fishing bait." Ash blushed himself. "Anyway," Cilan started, "Do you want me to get straight to the point or do you want the full story?"

"Uh... straight to the point, then you can tell me the whole story if you have to." Ash replied. "Seems easier on you that way."

Cilan shrugged, "You're a friend that I trust so either way doesn't bother me. But the to the point version... Iris told me she loved me."

Ash's eyebrows shot up, "Did she actually?" He couldn't help the small grin that formed on his face, he was glad his friend wasn't looking. Cilan nodded once. "And let me guess. You don't feel the same?" He even more surprised by Cilan's answer.

"No, I actually care about her a lot. More than I should."

"Wait..." Ash frowned. "Why is this such a big deal then? How could that cause a four month fight?"

Cilan looked at him, he didn't seem upset, but Ash knew that he was actually very pained. "I turned her down then I did everything I could to avoid her. She eventually cornered me and made me talk her."

"Why would you turn her down?" He asked quickly, he didn't understand, they both liked each other right?

"There's too big of an age difference. She shouldn't be in a relationship with somebody who is so much older."

Ash crossed his arms. "You're not that much older." He commented. "Why should age even matter? You both really like each other."

"Almost four years?" Cilan questioned, "That's a very big age difference."

"No it's just over three years." Ash retaliated. "Brock's fiancée is three years older than him but she didn't care about that. Iris doesn't care either. She's not the kind of person to think about stuff like that." Ash shrugged. "Iris does what she wants and she wants to be with you."

"She probably doesn't even feel the same anymore. I practically crushed her heart. I wasn't the nicest when she cornered me. I know she hates me for saying what I did." Cilan admitted with a small sigh at the end.

"What did you say?" Ash asked. Cilan was never a mean person; he wasn't even mean while he was angry for the past few days, just moody and frustrated.

Cilan started to pet the sleeping Passage on his lap, Ash didn't even notice the pokémon until now. "I told her that I had absolutely no feelings for a person like her and that I would never want to be in a relationship with someone who has her personality, I told her to leave me alone and not to talk to me."

"I'm not too great with girls and what they think, I'm just guessing from the stuff Misty made me watch while we were in Kalos, because her sisters kept saying that they were good movies, but I think you scared her. Like in one movie, it was kinda like this and the girl thought she scared him by telling him that she liked him, so she tried talking and he turned her down and she was really upset after. She might still be upset with how you turned her down the second time." He scratched the back of his head. "Did she change?"

"I don't know. All I saw of her was when she was on television. She had to be normal for her interviews on being a new gym leader and when they found out that she was the top person who could beat Alder. When her last pokémon lost against his last one, she was all over the news. We met again she seemed the same, happier that Drayden was mentoring her in order to beat Alder."

"I think you should confess to her too." Ash suddenly said. "I'm not a relationship helper guy but just go with your gut and do it, who cares?"

Cilan thought it over. "I'll think about it."

Bonnie swung her legs back and forth as she sat on a chair. She was eagerly watching Tracey who was drawing Daisy and Delia as they made lunch for the people remaining at the tower.

"Why are you so good at drawing?" She asked him.

He looked at her with a smile, "I've drawn for years, even before I was a trainer. It just takes practice."

Bonnie looked down at the half drawn picture, "Can you trachea me how to draw? Clemont's pretty good at drawing too, but it's just his engineering stuff." She shrugged. A new person walked into the kitchen, catching her attention. "Hiya Timmy!" She greeted one of Brock's youngest siblings. Timmy smiled at her and walked over, sitting across from Tracey and Bonnie.

"What are you guys doing?" He asked. Dedenne jumped onto his shoulders and started to race around on him, he laughed. "You want me to bring out Minun right?"

"Ne ne!" Dedenne cheered as her eyes lit up at the thought. Timmy pulled out a pokéball from his pocket and released the electric-type. Dedenne jumped off his shoulders and met the pokémon by sending electric waves through their cheek-pouches.

Bonnie grinned as she watched the two pokémon play together. She turned back to Timmy. "I'm trying to get Tracey to teach me how to draw, do you wanna learn to?" She asked eagerily.

"Sure!" Timmy agreed. "Tracey's an amazing drawer!" He jumped off his chair and pushed it to the other side of Tracey so he could get a better look at what he was doing.

Tracey felt a pair of eyes on him; he looked up and met the Daisy's gaze. She was smiling at him. It was one of the most breathtaking smiles he had ever seen, and that was saying something because all her smiles could compare to the dazzling sun. Her smile changed into a slyer one as she winked at him and turned back to the sandwiches she was preparing. Tracey couldn't help the blush that crawled it way up his neck.

"U-uh to start, you should just start with basic shapes like this..."

Please vote and comment guys! It's a little upsetting to see that I don't have very many votes or comments compared to the amount of people who read this. It's a really nice feeling to see you guys vote or comment, even if I don't always reply. If you really like what I write please vote and comment, it means the world to me!

Hey guys! I managed to spit this out as my whole weekend was taken up by the new Fire Emblem games that came out Friday and all I can say is;

Oh my god.

I love it! Do any of you guys play that game as well? If so what game did you buy? I ended up getting Birthright while my brother is saving up for Conquest.

Wattpad decided to randomly bold 75% of the stuff I write so sorry if I missed any, I can only unbold each paragraph by itself because Wattpad's annoying like that.

I hope you have a marvelous week guys!