Safe Travels

Paul loses to Brandon at their rematch in Snowpoint City and intends on challenging him once more in Hoenn. Dawn, who intends to participate in Hoenn contests, runs into him on the ship ride to Slateport City. Paul seeks Dawn's coordinating expertise for a contest that Cynthia tells him he should participate in, and so, while Dawn is puzzled as to why Paul has to partake in the contest, they decide to travel together. Along the way, they learn about each other and their passions (Dawn's love for Pokémon, contests, and fashion, and Paul's determination to win battles and his hatred for Brandon), help each other overcome the hurdles standing in their path, and fall in love. —ikarishipping

Hi everyone! Welcome to Safe Travels, my ikarishipping baby! The setting of this fanfiction is not just restricted to Hoenn, but will feature other regions as well. Some readers already know this, but I have already started posting chapters of this story on AO3, dividing the story in a 6-part series (one part per region). I am taking, however, a different approach to posting on FFN. Instead of publishing 6 separate stories, I will be publishing everything into one story, making sure to note the start and end of each part.

There will be A LOT of characters, needless to say, and I'll probably squeeze in a few implied or minor ships in there, too. There are quite a few twists that I'm excited but also nervous to write and put out there, as well, but buckle your seatbelts, guys, because from here on out, it's going to be a very, long ride.

PLEASE NOTE: I will be restructuring the chapters on FFN, so if you're not new here, you may realize that the original Chapter 1 has been split into 3 chapters. Apologies for that, but I will be uploading the chapters up to Chapter 8, to catch up to the AO3 version.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. This story is copyright © 2018 Turnabout Writer. All rights reserved.

"Pip, piplup!"

Dawn's Piplup races to the other end of the outer deck, nearly tripping on his way there.

"Hey!" Dawn pants out. She is crouched down, with her hands on her knees, trying to recover her breath. "Slow down, Piplup!" With a final huff, she straightens up and continues running after her Pokémon.

The ship that Dawn is on has only left Sandgem Town a few hours ago. Things have moving in such a whirlwind that she still can't believe that she is on her way to Hoenn – the land of the birth of contests. She is overwhelmed and is nervous to be traveling far from home, but also excited to see what new adventures she will embark on.

When she finally catches up to the Penguin-like creature, she is surprised to see the familiar, purple-haired boy Piplup is pointing to.

"Pip, lup!"

"Huh? That's Paul," Dawn states in surprise. "Hey, Paul!" she calls out, waving her hands. Piplup waves and cries cheerfully as well.

He turns around at the sound of her voice and meets her face. His eyes light up in recognition and he raises his hand slightly. "Hey." He's quiet for a moment while Dawn walks up to him.

She grins. "Remember who I am this time?" she teases.

He ignores her words. "Is Ash with you? I'd like a battle with him."

Her elated smile falls into a frown, though not by much, because he does remember her as Ash's friend. "Oh, I'm sorry, Paul, but he went back to Kanto last month . . . though, I think he's in Unova now."

"I see . . ." he trails off, as his eyes inspect her face, struggling to remember.

You've got to be kidding me! Dawn scowls, feeling the annoyance bubble in her chest. He really doesn't remember her name. She opens her mouth, ready to shout. 'Excuse me, Sir Rudeness, it's Dawn! D-A-W-N!'

"Dawn. The coordinator friend."

Her eyes widen in surprise, before her lips curl into a smile. "You do remember!"

He says nothing, but stares at her smiling face blankly for a few moments. "See you," he finally says, before walking away.

Dawn's smile slowly fades away, and then she sighs to herself and shakes her head knowingly, as Piplup cries in confusion.

"Pip, pip?" That's it?

"No need to worry, Piplup. That's just Paul for you."

.

" . . . and I have to show you all of the best places to eat in Petalburg!"

"Only in Petalburg?" Dawn teases the girl on the screen in front of her. "What about the rest of Hoenn, May?"

On the screen, she sees May smirk. "I'm going to give you a list of the best restaurants in Hoenn before I go back to Johto, silly!"

She smiles back at her friend cheerfully. "I'll hold you to it!"

Dawn is about to ask May about Professor Birch, but she swears she sees a flash of purple from the corner of her eye. She turns her head from side to side, as her Piplup, who is in his usual spot in her arms, questions her.

"Pip, pip?"

"What's wrong, Dawn?"

She shakes her head. "I thought I saw something, but I think I might have just imagined it. No need to worry. What were you going to say?"

"I was going to tell you that Drew and I talked to Professor Birch and he's more than happy to give you one."

"Awesome!" She looks down at Piplup. "Did you hear, Piplup? We're getting our first, new Hoenn Pokémon added to the team!"

Piplup chirps back at her happily, "Pip piplup!"

May goes on to explain the three Hoenn starters Pokémon to Dawn, and they chat a little more until Piplup's stomach growls loudly, much to his embarrassment. With a laugh, Dawn decides to bid an also chuckling May goodbye and head down for dinner.

The trainer's dining area is not so shabby, though it is not too formal, either. It's a huge, bustling auditorium where trainers partake in a buffet, sit together and dine; because of the ample space, they are able to let their Pokémon out of their Pokéballs and feed them as well.

Dawn's eyes scan through the hall to find a place to sit. Though she doesn't mind sitting with strangers, there aren't a lot of empty seats in the first place. She did not realize that she was on the phone with May for so long.

"Piplup!"

"Huh?" Dawn glances to where her Pokémon points. She smiles at him graciously. "Thanks, Piplup! I can always count on you!" She pushes the cart of her and her Pokémon's food hurriedly to the table before someone else can take the unoccupied seat.

"Hey, Paul," she says, as she approaches his small table, where he and his Pokémon, on the ground near him, eat, " do you mind if we sit here?"

His hand, holding a dinner roll, pauses in the air. He seems mildly annoyed but shrugs anyway. "I don't care." He takes a bite into the bread.

Dawn turns to Piplup. "Alright." She takes out her Pokéballs and throws them into the air. "Time to eat, everyone!"

A chorus of her Pokémon's cries is heard as they're released from their Pokéballs and cheer in happiness.

She then pulls the Pokémon food from the cart and sets each bowl down in front of her Pokémon, the biggest going to her Mamoswine, of course. She then rummages through her backpack and pulls out her big container of poffins (and though it doesn't look that big, it holds a lot more than one might think, which is why Dawn loves it so much). She puts a few poffins into each of their bowls as well.

When she gets to Togekiss's bowl, Paul's Honchkrow comes forward to them.

"Hey, Honchkrow!" Dawn smiles warmly, petting the top of his head lightly. "Would you like a poffin?" She holds a pink one out for him. He sniffs it hesitantly, but Togekiss reassures him that it is good. To Dawn's surprise, Honchkrow has a sudden infatuated look in his eyes, and opens his mouth wide for the poffin. She giggles knowingly and feeds him, and then stands up from her crouched position, stretching as she does. She then walks over to the table so she can sit down and finally eat.

"What did you do to my Honchkrow?"

Dawn looks up to meet Paul's narrowed eyes. "I fed him a poffin," she informs him innocently, deciding to withhold that his Honchkrow has a crush on her Togekiss for now. "You don't mind, right? They're supposed to be good for Pokémon."

He looks displeased, and opens his mouth to say something, but she beats him to it.

"Reggie would approve of them. They're not store-bought or anything – I make my poffins myself using different types of berries. No need to worry, Paul!" she assures him.

He turns his face away and grunts before answering, "Fine."

Dawn is satisfied with his answer, and quickly digs into her food. Arceus, she's starving.

"Fros, froslass?"

Dawn looks up from her meal to see Paul's Froslass in front of her. It looks like Honchkrow has spread the word. She holds back a giggle at the thought. "You want a poffin, too, Froslass?"

"Froslass," Paul warns, giving her a steady glare. "Go eat your food."

"Fros." Her little shoulders slump, as the Pokémon turns around.

"Hey," Dawn exclaims, grabbing Froslass's shoulder, feeling the Pokémon's cold skin beneath her fingers, and then turning to frown at Paul. "Don't do that. I have more than enough to go around. I made a fresh batch last night before we left Sinnoh." She passes the open container on the table to Froslass, who takes it hesitantly from her. "Here," she says softly. "For you and for the rest of Paul's Pokémon, too."

"Lass?" Froslass gives her trainer a questioning stare; Paul nods curtly.

After Froslass drifts away, he glares at Dawn, who resumes eating. "Please, don't spoil my Pokémon. I've worked hard to get to where I want them to be, and I don't need you to ruin it for me now."

"Now, hold on, Paul." She puts her fork down and her eyes meet his. "There's a difference between taking care of your Pokémon and spoiling them. I understand them you feed them regularly and all, but, sometimes, it's good to treat them for all of the hard work they've done, you know?"

Paul sighs. "I already told you once that I'm not like Ash. I'll admit that I've learned some things from him . . . but this pampering . . . it's just not my thing." He looks up at her, and, for the first time ever, Dawn sees uncertainty in his eyes.

She smiles softly, almost in reassurance. "You don't have to do what Ash does. And no one said you have to pamper your Pokémon, either." She turns around to see his Pokémon eating the poffins happily, while they also talk and play with Dawn's Pokémon.

"They work and train hard to fulfill your desire of getting stronger and stronger, and they don't mind that you may get a little too hard on them – you can tell that they love you a lot. All they need in return is just a little love from you, too. Maybe playing with your Pokémon isn't your thing, but a little treat now and then, a little break every once in a while, or even some words of encouragement from you . . . it would mean the world to them."

She looks back at Paul's pensive face. "And with that, your bond with them will grow stronger. You and your team will grow stronger, as well."

It's quiet for a moment before Paul shrugs, and then resumes eating. Dawn sighs in defeat, as it seems that her words probably haven't gone through his thick skull, and goes back to digging into her food.

"Which starter are you picking from Professor Birch?"

Dawn's eyes widen and she then sets her dinner roll down onto her plate – she's never going to be able to finish this meal. "Aha!" she cries out triumphantly, pointing at him. "I knew I saw you! You were eavesdropping on my conversation with May!"

He narrows his eyes at her. "And? You once eavesdropped on my conversation with Reggie."

A warm blush rises to her cheeks. "A-Ah! Right. I forgot about that." She scratches the back of her head and smiles sheepishly at him. "Let's consider it even, then."

"Whatever." He crosses his arms over his chest. "Answer the question."

Geez, he's so bossy. "I . . . I don't know. They all sound great, really."

"Pathetic." He sighs and rolls his eyes. "I should have suspected as much from someone like you."

Dawn narrows his eyes at him. "What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Exactly what I said." His smirk is taunting, causing feelings of impatience to arise within Dawn.

"Oh, yeah? What Hoenn starter would you choose?"

"I didn't get a chance to receive one, so I haven't given much thought to it."

"Huh." That causes Dawn's annoyance to cease. "You know, I can ask Professor Birch to give you a Pokémon as well," she offers, but the words surprise her. She doesn't know where that came from – hell, she doesn't even know if the Professor would be willing to give him a Pokémon as well, since May was the one who asked him to give Dawn one. She begins to anxiously pick at and rip apart her dinner roll as she waits for his answer.

"No, thanks. I'm not interested." His voice is curt. Dawn looks at his plate and realizes that he has finished eating.

"Why?" she questions, twisting the bread further in her hands. "You can train it up to participate in the Hoenn League!"

He exhales sharply in frustration, the fork in his hand dropping onto his plate with a loud clank. Dawn takes the moment to munch on the deconstructed roll. "I've already beaten eight gym leaders, and have fought and lost in the Ever Grande Conference."

She swallows down her food before speaking. "Oh. I forgot you travelled through Hoenn already." She rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. "I figured you caught some of your Pokémon from other regions, but I wasn't able to tell if any were from Hoenn."

He nods. "Hoenn was the second region I travelled through. I caught my Hariyama, Froslass, and Aron there." He reaches into his pocket to grab his Pokéballs and recall his Pokémon.

"I see. Is there a reason that you're going back again, then?"

"Hmph." He stands up from the table, empty plate in hand. He reaches down to pick up the bowls his Pokémon ate from, stacking them one on top of the other and carrying them effortlessly, and it makes Dawn slightly envious of how easy he makes it look. "That's none of your concern."

She feels irritation rush through her once more – Paul has a talent for stirring such feelings within her. "Well, excuse me for trying to make small talk," she grumbles scornfully, as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"There's no need for that." He exhales sharply. "What a troublesome girl," he mutters to himself as he walks away from Dawn's fuming figure.

Her eyebrows shoot up to her forehead, gone from irritated to furious. "What did you call me!?"

He smirks, tilting his head slightly to the left so it is angled towards her. "Hm, like I said – troublesome girl."

And then he walks away, leaving behind a fuming Dawn.

.

Dawn and Piplup are enraptured by the lights.

Being from the small Twinleaf Town, Dawn never got to see the city lights often, until she travelled through cities with Ash and Brock. But none of those city lights compare to what she sees now – not even the gorgeous Valor Lakefront, where Dawn had participated in the Wallace Cup and Sinnoh Grand Festival.

"Look at all of the lights, Piplup!" she tells her penguin companion, as they marvel from the upper deck of the cruise liner. "That's Pokétopia! It's where really powerful trainers go to participate in coliseum battles."

"Piplup, piplup!" Her Pokémon points to one of the skyscrapers and puffs his chest out proudly.

Dawn follows where Piplup is pointing to and gasps. "There's a Piplup on the top of that building!" She points to the other buildings with widened eyes. "Ahh, there's a Toxicroak, Turtwig, and Chimchar, too! Oh, and look at the Bronzor Ferris wheel!"

"Pokétopia has a lot of Sinnohan influence, since the head architect who designed the buildings is from Sinnoh."

A "Huh?" slips out from Dawn's lips, before she turns to her left to see Paul standing next to her, staring at the Pokétopia Skyline intently. When did he get here? She's not mad at him anymore, of course, but she is surprised that he is voluntarily approaching and talking to her, without her prompting him to.

He moves to look at her, his onyx eyes boring into hers. It takes her a moment to realize that he has his finger outstretched towards a pink building and is talking.

"See that skyscraper?"

She snaps out of her trace and glances at the structure in question. "Y-Yeah, it's a Lickilicky."

He nods as his eyes leave hers to look at the building once more. "Look at its tongue." His finger trails the length of the slanted line. "The yellow line in its tongue is actually the transparent roof of the escalator inside the building."

Her eyes widen as she sees "Oh, wow, I didn't even notice that!" Dawn pauses for a moment before she gathers the courage to ask him a question. "Hey, Paul, how do you know so much about this place anyway? Have you been here before?"

"That's none of your business."

Dawn huffs at him, and puts her hands on her hips. "Well, your rudeness, I'm sorry for trying to be friendly." Oh, well. She knows she wouldn't be able to get Paul to open up so easily, but it was worth a shot.

And so they stand next to each other in silence to stare at the bright, flashing lights of the buildings of the lively city and the spotlight beams waving around in the night sky. Dawn enjoys the night breeze and, surprisingly, Paul's company, while Paul appreciates the silence between them contently.

After that, they – Paul with his hands in his pockets, and Dawn not having Piplup in her arms for once, since he was sleepy and was put back into his Pokéball – walk back to their rooms together.

Dawn is surprised how pleasant Paul has been. His final battle with Ash must have changed his demeanor significantly.

"Oh!" Dawn suddenly exclaims, as she stops walking. "Ash told me you were going to battle Brandon again. How did your rematch with Brandon go?"

He stops walking as well, and turns to face her. "I lost."

She frowns, suddenly embarrassed to have asked him at all. "Oh . . . I'm sorry to hear that."

"I don't need your pity. My team just wasn't strong enough."

She is pensive for a moment, before realization hits her like a brick. "Is that why you're going to Hoenn? To train more?"

"Among other reasons," he answers, his face impassive once more, and Dawn feels happy that he's finally revealing some information about his plans. "Brandon is in Hoenn to work on the Battle Frontier Project. After training my team more, I'll challenge him there."

She furrows her eyebrows. "Isn't the Battle Frontier in the Kanto region, though?" she questions, recalling that Ash fought Brandon in Kanto.

"They're planning on moving it to the Battle Resort island area in Hoenn."

"Oh."

They don't continue walking to their rooms. Instead, Paul just stands there in silence, lost in thought, while Dawn watches him, pondering as to what he's thinking about.

"Let's battle," he suggests suddenly, causing Dawn to let out a gasp. Did she just hear him correctly?

"Uh, a battle!?" she sputters out. Paul is surely going to win – he is a more powerful trainer than her for sure.

Paul shakes his head. "A contest battle."

She blinks. "Huh? A contest battle?" It's nearly 1AM in the morning, and he wants to have a contest battle with her? Is she so tired that she is starting to imagine things? What business would he have in a contest battle with her, anyway?

He groans and slaps a palm to his forehead – he seems to be frustrated by her response. "Forget it."

"W-Wait, no – "

Her arm stretches out, trying to reach for him, but he's already walking away.