A/N: Sorry for the late update! But despite the lateness, I hope you like this one, and as always, thank you very much for your support!

To Guest: Yeah, he's so sweet! Thank you very much!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).

Days

The day with progress

Dawn

Monday, December 2nd

It was a surprising revelation to Dawn, but she was actually getting used to travelling with Paul. While Paul was about as far as one could get from enjoyable company, he was at least useful. He was even unintentionally entertaining, because trying to get him to speak was like a personal challenge to Dawn.

"Paul?"

"Hng?"

"Could we take a break?"

"Hm." It had a negative inflection and Dawn pouted. It wasn't that she actually needed a break, but topics of conversation were rather hard to come by when your conversation partner was as responsive as a stone.

Definitely a challenge.

"Well, at least you have the stamina to cross regions every other day," she muttered under her breath with totally the intention that he heard her. Alright, so maybe she kind of needed a break. While there was definite progress in her ability to keep up with his pace, she still woke up every day with sore muscles.

Dawn felt like huffing when Paul didn't react to her barb, but that would reveal that she was actually trying to get him to respond, and so instead she went for another strategy.

"It's really quite pretty here, don't you think so?"

It wasn't, really. The trees were bare, the sky was a depressing grey and while it was warm for Sinnoh's standards, the almost freezing temperature didn't add much to the scenery. The only happy thing about the surroundings were Buneary and Electivire, who had been allowed out to stretch their legs and occasionally battle wild Pokémon.

"Hm."

She closed her eyes in frustration. She should have known that grey and depressing were Paul's kind of pretty. Or maybe he really didn't want to talk-

"It's too dry," Paul said, and Dawn felt like pumping her fist in the air. "It's not good for nature." Two sentences, that was- "And it's too warm."

Three sentences in a row, oh my Arceus, that must be her new high score! And it was even on a topic unrelated to Pokémon!

"So no, I don't think it's 'pretty' here," Paul concluded the small speech with a scoff.

Dawn did her best to keep her victorious grin under control. Who knows, by the end of this journey she might have succeeded in not only making him a Top Coordinator, but also a normal human being!

"Pessimist," Dawn said happily.

"Realist."

"Anyway," Dawn continued, deciding that discussing Paul's outlook on life was too deep stuff to talk about right now, "You're right, it isn't really pretty, but you should still enjoy the journey! That's what matters, after all, not just the destination." And after a moment of consideration, she added, "So you don't always have to walk so fast."

Her muscles were really sore.

"If you want to reach your goal, you will have to work for it," Paul responded, sounding altogether too amused for her liking (though how she was able to tell that it was amusement and not something else, Dawn didn't know).

"Are you implying I'm not working for it?" Dawn puffed up. She and her Pokémon were working themselves into exhaustion to keep up with his training!

"You're the one that wants to take a break, enjoying the journey and all," Paul mocked her, and Dawn felt blood rush to her cheeks.

"Well, you can't expect everyone to be on the same level as you without giving them the chance to get there!"

Dawn fully expected an amused or mocking reply, but instead Paul clenched his jaw and looked away, completely silent. Feeling even more angry because of his lack of a response, Dawn gladly made use of the silence.

"I'm not expecting you to suddenly be a star Coordinator, now, am I? No! I'm letting you start with simple Appeals, getting your Pokémon to work together, adding twirls to attacks- simple, easy things! I'm helping you to get to my level, and I'm not expecting it to happen overnight! Your Pokémon are making progress and that's what counts, not how fast or how slow they actually get to their goal! It's not always about winning, sometimes you lose when you've worked hard for it and you can still be proud, because you were better than before! So yeah, the journey counts!"

Dawn was breathing heavily by the time she was done with her rant, and Paul still made no reply. Well, she could do that, too, and with a huff she pressed her lips together.

Electivire and Buneary had gotten behind when their argument had started to escalate, but now Buneary got closer to her again in a show of support, while Electivire quietly lumbered behind Paul.

So, Paul definitely wasn't her ideal travelling companion. And she didn't even need his lessons in competitive battling, she was sure that she could handle herself. But her pride wouldn't allow her to go back on her word, and besides, that would be running away.

The silence stretched on and Dawn felt herself grow calmer after a while. If nothing else, he was a proper student, because surprisingly, he didn't mock her lessons and he practiced without complaining.

And well, maybe his own lessons weren't completely useless, either. He had taught her not to be happy with her Pokémon's first attempt, but to challenge them, to expect more of them, and not to coddle them when they wanted to give up after the first few tries. Of course Dawn was never as challenging as Paul liked to see, but she understood his point and was trying to implement it her own way.

Besides, she had to admit that Paul wasn't as hard on his Pokémon as she remembered him from her youth, and she had never seen him discard a Pokémon because it was too weak-

Dawn mentally froze, recalling her words from before.

"Well, you can't expect everyone to be on the same level as you without giving them the chance to get there!"

Dear Arceus, had she-? Yes, she had. She felt like slapping herself in the face. Stupid! She hadn't even noticed that she had implied- Mew, but Paul obviously had noticed. And then she had just continued ranting!

Guilt felt heavy in her stomach and Dawn intertwined her hands. That was below the belt, even if she had done it unintentionally. You didn't go around implying that people abandoned their Pokémon!

Even though Paul had actually done so…

But he was trying to be better! He was sort of nice to his Pokémon now, and he was trying to make his Pokémon nicer, too, because he had scolded Electivire for trying to trip Buneary before, and she had seen him smile when he fed Honchkrow, and he didn't keep his Pokémon in their Poké Balls all the time- Gah!

"Uh, Paul?"

"Hm?"

"I'm… er, I'm sorry for uh, my explosion, before."

"Hm."

While Dawn had gotten pretty good at understanding his 'Hm's,' she didn't know what this one meant.

Silence fell again. Dawn had to stop herself from fidgeting. She had said sorry, what more-

"We can take a break, if you want?" Paul offered suddenly, and this time Dawn did freeze completely.

"Uh… Yeah, sure, that's a good idea!" She quickly recovered and before he could change his mind, she happily sat down on the cold ground. Electivire scoffed at her, and Paul gave his Pokémon a hard look, before sitting down himself. She frowned at her Trainer, but after a moment heavily plopped down on the ground.

Buneary stuck up her nose at Electivire's behavior, and Dawn copied Paul and gave Buneary a look. "No teasing other Pokémon, Buneary."

She thought she saw Paul smile a bit at that, and Buneary pouted, and with a smile she patted her Pokémon's head, covertly glancing back at Paul.

It was still far from an apology, but it was a peace offering, and Dawn would take what she could get. After all, it was progress.

A/N: Yes, yes, slowly but surely they're making progress XD I hope you liked this chapter, thank you for reading! As always, I'd love to hear what you thought about it!

Thank you!

Recommendations:

Pokémon: Gatekeeper by Apheleia. FFN. Anjumstar recommended this story to me, so thank you! A very interesting one-shot about Blue, and his relationships with Red and Leaf. Beautifully written, and with Greek mythology woven into it, making it very enjoyable to read even if you don't like the pairings.

Pokémon: Business and Pleasure by ibuberu. FFN. A well-written collection of one-shots, mostly focusing on the manga-verse Gym Leaders and Elite Four members, but with also some game-verse sprinkled in. Romance, but also friendship and family. Sadly it's been long since it's been updated, but since each chapter has its own story, it's not really a problem. Thanks to inklaced for recommending this story!

Harry Potter: What About Now? by SiriusUntiltheVeryEnd. FFN. Rated M! Sadly this story is unfinished so far, but it is nonetheless an enjoyable read about James Potter and Lily Evans, their time at Hogwarts, and how they fell in love with each other.

If you have any stories you want to recommend, whether they're your own or someone else's, please let me know!