Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot line. Kudos to Satoshi Tajiri completely.
"How much longer are you planning on hiding out here?"
It was later that morning, closer to noon. The living room had been silent, filled with a quiet that was comfortable for both teenagers. The candy she had been rolling around the inside of her mouth grew still, and Dawn cocked her head in thought. She nearly lost the earbud that sat nestled in her ear doing this, but she secured it before it could hit the couch. "That depends," she replied slowly.
Beside her, Paul narrowed his eyes at her answer, and, removing his own earbud, turned to fully face her. They'd been doing nothing the past few hours besides sharing his phone's earphones while they listened to a mundane podcast and each other's company. She had to admit, though his question wasn't exactly out of left field—she was technically mooching off of their hospitality at this point. She'd wondered how long it would take him to bring it up since it had already been a day, and she guessed that time was now.
He continued, gruffly, "You've been here for almost two days now. If you stay any longer you're going to ruin the couch lining with how much you roll in your sleep."
Harsh.
"I don't roll that much," she muttered, sighing when he glared. "Okay, okay, so I'm being immature about all this. I get that." She pursed her lips in a pout. "Are you that tired of me already?"
"I was tired of you the moment you stormed in here Friday night, especially after yesterday."
Gasping dramatically, hand pressing over her heart, Dawn drawled, "You wound me, good sir. You deny how used to my company you have grown these past nights."
He snorted in half-hearted scorn as he retrieved her fallen earbud. "Yeah, because I totally appreciate my invasion of personal space."
"Oh, you mean like this?"
Before she could decide it probably wasn't the best idea, she flopped sideways, landing heavily on her back across his lap. She grinned up at him, pleased at the disgruntled look that crossed his face. But then he frowned. "Exactly like that," he said.
At least I'm not face-first on the floor. Yet.
Dawn knew she was pushing boundaries, but with how much contact they'd had over the past two days she was beginning to form an idea of just what she could get away with. Was she pushing boundaries by doing it without much reason? Probably. Would it be worth his reactions?
Definitely.
The candy stuck to her cheek as she watched him huff. "Come ooooon, you don't hate me, right?" He snorted, obviously Not Answering. "Then what is it? Do you just not like people touching you? Or just girls in general?"
He appeared confused for a moment, but the look passed as he rolled his eyes. "Yes. No. Just get off of me already."
"Maybe you need more friends. But only if you want. You can hang out with my friends?" He stared at her. "Hey, you've been around the boys too much, you should find out what it's like to have some girl friends."
"What."
"You know, friends of the feminine variety. Typically come in a different array when it comes to style. I myself prefer the classy look: a nice pant suit that just screams 'Look out world, I'm coming through!' The no-nonsense type, you know?"
He rolled his eyes again. "So you're describing the opposite of yourself?"
"Hush, I'm not done." She lightly patted his chest, to which he captured her hand and trapped it in his. Using her other to gesture vaguely around them she continued, "I won't push you to do it, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to learn some new perspectives? I feel like Drew would be a bad influence on you, I've seen him hanging out with that guy I saw in detention once. Ash on the other hand—"
"Wait, what were you doing in detention?" He sounded almost shocked.
"I'll have you know," she said haughtily, "that I'm actually a bit of a troublemaker when I want to be." She crossed one leg over the other as dramatically as possible, lazily curling a lock of hair around her finger as she crunched her candy. "Gotta keep up my image."
Borderline snickering at how silly she obviously sounded, Paul shook his head. "There's no way. You probably got in trouble on accident, it's not possible for a goody-goody like you to wreak havoc."
Wagging a finger back and forth Dawn tut-tutted at him. "Correction, you did something. If it weren't for you shoving Gabite's ball into my bag—thanks for that, by the way—I never would have gotten into trouble after it let itself out in the middle of class. So really, it's your fault I was even in detention."
He opened his mouth to retaliate, but stopped short as the gears in his brain seemed to start working. The look on his face told her he knew she was right—he couldn't really deny his involvement at this point. If he hadn't shoved the Poké Ball into her bag she would have avoided the entire situation. But he was someone with pride, so he just shook it off and huffed indignantly instead.
"You should have just taken it when I left its ball in your room. I told you I didn't want it, yet you insisted on trying to return it."
"One," she said, holding up a finger, "I already had a dragon, I didn't need your charity." She was already so over trying to find an acceptable dragon in an effort to complete a trade. She held up a second finger. "Two, you don't just give up Pokémon like that. If you had released it instead of forcing it onto someone, that would have been a different story. Can't really assume you'd had it for very long considering how easily you gave it up, though."
With a snort he replied, "I caught it as a Gible, thank you. I trained it to the necessary extent for it to reach its full capability, yet it still disappointed me in the end."
Without warning Dawn sat up, coming nose-to-nose with him. This startled Paul, but he kept his reaction to a small twitch as she opened her mouth. "That's the thing, though. Pokémon aren't things you just use like tools. They're partners, friends, family even. We take them out of their environment for our own gain, the least we can do is treat them like living creatures."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were comparing them to people."
"Because they are people, within their own right. They may be animals, but they have a pulse like the rest of us. Well, some of them at least." Frustration made her brow all kinds of wrinkly, and she knew it made her look like a petulant child. She was raised to treat Pokémon fairly; they lived on the same Earth that she did.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Calm down."
Patting her shoulder as a sign of a truce, Paul tried to turn the conversation a different way. "So what, you're saying I should treat them as friends?"
If he thought she wasn't mad at him he wasn't showing it. Huffing in indignation she resumed her spot across his lap. "Well, I would appreciate it if you at least didn't treat them like tools. They have feelings, you know."
He rolled his eyes again. "They're animals–"
"They're sentient animals. They know when you're being a rude, pessimistic, and pompous jerk who looks down his nose at anyone who dares cross your path."
The hand that had started mindlessly playing with her hair stilled, and, seemingly taken aback, he stared at her. Wow, just a few weeks ago and she couldn't have said that without getting tongue tied. Maybe he was rubbing off on her.
"I'm the rude one? You just insulted me out of nowhere, that was completely out of left field."
"Did it make you feel uncomfortable? Leave a little bit of a bad taste in your mouth?"
"Well," he shifted uneasily beneath her. He had an idea of where she was going with this, and he really didn't want to play her game. "I mean, it's not like you really hurt me, but—"
"That's probably just a fraction of how your Pokémon feel when you talk down to them. I've seen you do it, and it's not healthy for keeping your ties strong. Your Pokémon need to feel that they can trust you to guide them on the field, that they don't have to doubt any call you make." Hello kettle, you're calling yourself black. "It's not just about who's the strongest, it's about the bond between you. You put time and effort toward their training, why not spend some time with them doing nothing at all? Or take them somewhere none of you have been, like outside town or—"
A sudden hand over her mouth cut Dawn off. She wasn't completely surprised he'd done it, but she was a little caught off guard at his expression. The usual frown was there, but his eyes seemed almost . . . sad. He wasn't looking at her, more like anything but her. From past experiences the blunette had expected him to snap at her, that he'd give her the satisfaction of looking contrite at her words as she admonished him, maybe even guilty as he realized that she had a point. But this Paul? His reaction was on the opposite spectrum of what she'd expected.
It took a moment for her brain to process everything. Easily removing his hand, she held it with both of hers settled in her lap as she sat up. "Whoa, hey. What's wrong?" She tried to look into his eyes beneath his bangs, but he just avoided her. "I wasn't yelling at you, just trying to convince you to change tactics."
But he didn't answer, just turned away to look at the wall. Dawn didn't like this, so she scooted backwards until she was fully sitting across his lap now. It brought his attention back long enough for her to make eye contact. What she saw made her uneasy: cold and dark, like those times she'd seen him close himself off from her. It almost always happened when they were making some sort of progress. He was shutting her out.
Not this time. Not if she could help it.
"I'm guessing this is a sore subject for you?" she asked softly. She traced imaginary lines across the back of his hand. He didn't give an actual answer, just grunted noncommitedly. So she sighed. "Not something you can talk about?" Here he looked away, meaning no.
In one quick movement she was back off his lap. She settled onto the cushion with her back to him and leaned against the curve of his side, her cheek beneath his collarbone. The sensation of his heart thrumming against her ear was the only reaction she knew he couldn't hide, and she relished in the fact that this was how she could make him be honest with her. Maybe it would be easier for him to talk if she wasn't in his direct line of vision, or at least this was what she used as her reasoning for such odd positions. If this were any other time a short joke would be appropriate here, but she pushed that to the back burner for now.
"Well, how about you tell me something that you can talk about. I mean, I hardly know you." She searched for the most benign question she could, nose scrunching in thought. "Where're you from?" was all she could manage.
Silence met her for a brief moment, but she felt him shift as he muttered, "I was born in Veilstone. Both me and Reggie. Our parents moved us here when we were still young for some research project my father was a part of. I don't know much beyond that."
So they'd lived here once before. "Ooh, my dad's from Veilstone too. He moved here before meeting my mom, then bam, a few years later, here I come. Was your mom a part of the project too?" She picked nervously at her nails. At least he's talking again.
The soft brushing of his hair across her forehead told her he was shaking his head. "No, she was a retired Ranger. She got into an accident not long after I was born that nearly crippled her. She was lucky she'd even survived, or so Reggie's told me."
"Wow, she sounds like a strong person."
"She was," he murmured, pressing his cheek against her crown. He was taking deep, even breaths, like he was trying to keep his voice steady.
How long had it been since he'd talked about his parents? The only tidbit of information she'd heard about them had all been from Reggie, and only in passing. This made her wonder just how broken he was on the inside. She dared to ask the burning question, so softly she could barely hear herself: "How long have they been gone?" She already knew that Mr. and Mrs. Shinji were in an accident at some point when he was still small, and she could understand the pain of losing a parent as a child. But if she learned anything more about them she wanted it to be directly from him.
There was a slight tremor against her ear as he took a breath to steady himself. "About ten years at this point, give or take. We hadn't even been here very long before we got the call to come down to the police station. It was there that they told us that their car had crashed into a cliff railing. Mom was still in the car; she died on impact. Dad, though …"
Trailing off, he heaved a sigh so great that Dawn involuntarily rose and fell with the motion of his chest. When he continued his voice was quiet, almost like he was a small boy again. "He was ejected through the windshield. They never found a body."
The amount of pain that accompanied these words was almost palpable. It filled Dawn with a deep sorrow that grasped her heart like a vise, making every thump against her sternum into an agonizing rhythm that she recognized: the memory of that night her entire world felt shattered. The vague figure of the Officer Jenny in the doorway; the way she broke the news to Johanna as the young mother fell to her knees in grief, tears streaming down her face as her body shook with sobs. Dawn, barely a grade schooler, clinging to her mommy as she begged her to tell her what the lady in blue meant when she said Daddy was in an accident. The dark days that followed, where Johanna was so distraught that she could barely take care of either of them. Multiple days were spent at relatives until her mother could slowly pick herself back up, holding it together long enough to bring her daughter home and attempt at putting their broken future back together piece by piece.
Biting hard at the inside of her cheek, Dawn forced herself back into the present. Tears pricked her eyes as she tasted blood, but she didn't relax her jaw. She'd resisted allowing these thoughts to dredge themselves back into existence; they only reminded her of how much she had hated her mother for closing herself off from Dawn, both emotionally and physically. She'd only been a child, too young to fully grasp the reality that not only was her father gone forever, but her mother had nearly abandoned her in her grief. She knew it wasn't Johanna's fault, but it had been such an overwhelming sense of I'm Alone And I Need My Mommy, and she hadn't been there. But all of the negative feelings from back then had been locked up to the best of her ability, left to fester into a vile little thing as she'd grown. It was threatening to break out of its prison, to take over her once more. But she refused to let it out, forcing it back and squashing it down to barely a flicker of light.
Not this time. Not again.
This wasn't about her, and she wasn't about to make her own problems his as well. These were feelings for another day.
If she was being honest, the fact that they were even having this conversation left Dawn breathless in more ways than one. Emotions other than the overwhelming sadness that filled her washed over her, ones she had a hard time naming. They weren't all negative, like the compassion and empathy that she felt for him, the understanding of his situation. They'd both lost loved ones in some sort of freak accident, left with scars across their hearts that they would carry for the rest of their lives. Whether or not they weighed them down, preventing either of them from creating future bonds that always held the possibility of ending in the worst of ways—well, that was up to them.
In a weak attempt to dry the tear tracks down her cheeks, Dawn had tried to surreptitiously wipe her face across her shoulder. The movement caught Paul's attention since she'd pulled away from him briefly, but he relaxed back into the couch when she turned to look up at him. Her eyes were red with the rogue tears that she couldn't necessarily hide anymore; whether they were from the throbbing of her cheek or all the feelings bombarding her, she wasn't sure. But she sniffed and tried to regain her composure before he could get a better look at her.
"I know you don't like taking my apologies, but I'd still like to give my condolences. For both of you. These past few years couldn't have been easy." She scowled to herself for a moment before seeming to come to terms with something she didn't voice. Without another word she resumed her cheek's spot beneath his collar bone, quietly clicking her back teeth.
Paul said nothing as he mulled over her words. She wasn't wrong; he hated apologies in nearly every form. Too many people had tiptoed around him after his parents had passed, treating him as if he were fragile like a small glass ornament and deserving of pity. He'd heard enough from random people over the years that he always brushed them off or outright ignored somebody if they ever tried to apologize for anything. It had begun to become almost second nature to him as he reached his teens, bringing with it a slowly growing disdain for those around him.
But now, coming from Dawn, he didn't feel like pushing her away.
Instead, he had the urge to do the opposite.
As if moving by a will of their own, his fingers brushed across the back of her hands that sat folded tightly together in her lap. She jumped at the sudden contact, but stilled as his fingers trailed up and over her upper arm, coming to rest at her elbow. Neither said anything as he pressed his cheek atop her crown, burying his nose in her hair. With a short scoot she was flush against his side, repositioning herself ever so slightly as his arm encircled her front and his other looped around her waist.
Through what could only be sheer willpower, it seemed that Dawn was managing to hold her composure—her face was kept in a mask of calm, yet somewhat flushed at their intimate contact—but on the inside she was a jumbled, twisting mess. Heart beating erratically against her ribcage as she tried to remember how to breathe, she was almost positive that he could hear her mentally screaming at herself to keep it together. She wasn't used to being this close to him, even though she'd acted so nonchalant about earlier. This and that were two different situations, she told herself, forcing her panicking brain to stay coherent.
It felt like a battle of wills, and she was losing.
Just when she was on the verge of passing out due to insufficient oxygen, his lips brushed the shape of her ear, and she shivered as he murmured a soft "Thank you."
There wasn't any room for a reply, as he ducked his head into the crook of her neck. She resisted the urge to squirm as his hair tickled against her skin, biting her tongue so she wouldn't say something stupid. Instead she kept taking even breaths, using it as a means of trying to calm her heart. Okay, not really working. Time for plan B.
With a small breath in preparation, she slowly started to empty her lungs of any air. Her rib cage felt like it might collapse in on itself as she exhaled, forcing out not just her breath, but any remaining sense of nervousness that weighed on her mind. She needed a clear head so she didn't spook him; he was being so open and raw with her after what felt like so long, and messing this up because of nerves was just not in her plans.
After a few more times of this her heart finally slowed to a more reasonable pace, and she breathed a soft sigh of relief. Leaning more fully against him now, his hair brushed her nose as she turned her face towards his. He didn't move as she rested a hand on the arm that crossed her front, but he did twitch slightly when her other one softly cupped the side of his face. He glanced up at her, flushing when she snuck a quick peck to his cheek, making Dawn grin.
Her voice was soft as she relaxed into the shape of his arms.
"You're welcome."
"Dawn, honey."
Looking up almost sheepishly, Dawn swept her blanket more tightly around her as she shrank against where Piplip sat beside her. Maybe if she made herself smaller Reggie would overlook her.
Fat chance. He made her come out of her cocoon, which she did begrudgingly.
She'd been relaxing next to Paul as he played some new game on his console. They rarely played it after school because of Reggie, but it was a good way for them to pass the time in companionable silence as he went about roaming in-game. Now, as Piplup sat enraptured by the gameplay, she sat wallowing in regret at the look on Reggie's face.
He continued, "You know I enjoy your company around the house. You're a real help and liven it up—especially for a certain someone." Paul harrumphed and kept his eyes on the TV screen. "Ahem. But you've been hiding here for almost two days now, and I'm sure your mother would like for you to come back home. Don't you think it's about time you two talked this out?"
Dawn couldn't deny that he was right. She'd been dragging this whole thing out for the entire weekend, indirectly including the Shinjis in her mess. She still hadn't told them about their visitor earlier that morning—there just hadn't been a good moment for it, she kept telling herself.
Maybe she really should just go home. If whoever that had been had somehow already caught wind that she had knowledge of classified information, maybe it was better if she were home. She didn't need to get the Shinjis involved anymore than they probably already were.
If she talked things over with her mother, Johanna might even reconsider their arrangement with Reggie. She'd been diligent about her homework the past few weeks, maybe it would help her case? Or just be another reason for her to keep coming over since she wasn't falling behind anymore, she internally groaned.
Everything was testing her patience lately. "I'll . . . I'll think about it," she finally replied.
The young man looked embarrassed. "Well, better make your decision soon, because she's coming to pick you up after she gets off of work today."
Dawn was floored. Today? There were only a few hours until Johanna's was finished with her day job, and depending on the current state of her car, what time she'd hit their neighborhood could be anybody's guess. The blunette's mind ran a mile a minute as she chewed at her thumbnail, feeling anxious at the thought of what new punishment her mother might come up with for this little . . . incident. Would she be forced to continue all of this but with more restrictions since she'd messed up? Or would her mother be merciful and just put her on house arrest in their own home?
"Arceus, that's not very much time," she groaned. "That's not enough to compose myself, or even my thoughts!" Her eyes suddenly narrowed. "Wait a minute."
Turning to face the elder Shinji, she noticed how he flinched when she tried to catch his eye. He was avoiding looking directly at her, peering off somewhere vaguely over her shoulder.
"Wait a damn minute," she repeated, making it a point to ignore his frown at her curse. "Reggie, that phone call you were on Friday—"
"Wh-what of it?"
She glared at him. "Were you on the phone with my mom? Did you tell her I was here before I'd even been gone twenty minutes?"
"I d-don't know what you mean." He was stuttering now. Maybe it was his tell for lying, because he sure didn't do it very often. From what Dawn had seen of him so far, he was usually an honest person.
Paul snickered beside her as his brother began to grow very uncomfortable. Now fully facing him, she looked up at Reggie with a look of betrayal. "Reggie, why did you do that?"
With a groan Reggie ran a hand through his hair. Dawn had seen Paul do this when he got frustrated sometimes, and in that moment she felt she was seeing his future before her.
She continued to press him. "Is it because I'm a minor? Or that I ran away from home? I mean, it's the weekend, it's not like I'm skipping school or anything—"
"No. No, it's not that," he sighed. "Your mother was actually the one who called me. She had a hunch you wouldn't make it across town to Miss Maple's before dark, so she called to see if you'd made a stop here instead. And she was right."
Huffing, Dawn muttered, "Of course she was. She's always right."
"Dawn, come on. She's your mom, don't be like that. She's only worried about you, especially with all this stuff going on just right outside our neighborhood." He propped his hands on his hips as he defended Johanna. "You were directly involved with one of the incidents, how could she not be concerned about your safety through all of this?"
Technically two, but he doesn't need to know that.
"Okay, fine, I get it." Her blanket fell in a pile on the couch as she stood. "But tell me this: Would you be willing to talk to her for me about our arrangement?"
His feet shifted as he thought for a moment. "There's no guarantees, but I can try. You've done very well besides certain incidents—" Paul coughed as he obviously ignored his brother's sharp look for the both of them "—but she doesn't need to know about those. I know you value your freedom as much as the brat on the couch does."
"Bite me," Paul flung half-heartedly over his shoulder. He was too busy paying attention to his game to come up with something more scathing. This time both Dawn and Piplup snickered when Reggie grabbed a pillow, tossing it so it bopped the crown of his brother's head. It was an effective strategy, distracting the boy long enough that he finally looked away from the screen. He full-on insulted Reggie now, which the man returned in kind. They continued to throw dirty names at each other while Dawn laughed at their exchange. Once they were done, Reggie gave her one last reminder about talking to her mom before going back upstairs, ruffling his brother's hair on his way up.
Alone together once more, Dawn sighed. She knew he was right, that the mature thing to do in this situation was to talk things out with her mother. Would she have to beg forgiveness? Probably. She certainly hadn't asked for permission first, so it was her next best shot at not being grounded for the rest of eternity this time.
Showing no apparent signs of wanting to help, Paul went back to ignoring her as he restarted his game. Arceus, he made it difficult figuring out just whose side he was on. The boy was hard to read, but she was sure he did that on purpose.
"Hey."
No reply. She tried again.
"Paul. Can I talk with you?"
Silence, but she noticed he'd tilted his head slightly in her direction. Even though his eyes were still glued to the TV screen, he showed he was at least willing to hear her out.
"I know I've been a pain the past few days, but thanks for at least putting up with me." He snorted, which she ignored. She started twiddling her thumbs as she tried to keep her thoughts straight. "And since you've been putting up with me, I feel like I shouldn't really hide things. I never got the chance to tell you earlier, but this morning there was something out back. It came out of nowhere, but it was gone before I could actually see what it was. Gabite took after it, that's why it hasn't been around the past few hours."
The hard plastic of his game controller made almost no sound as he set it on the coffee table. The screen showed a large pause menu as he turned his full attention to her. His brow was furrowed, moreso appearing to be out of confusion than any real worry. "Why did you wait so long to tell me this?"
"I don't know, it just really weirded me out. I didn't get a good look at it. It was big and yellow, that's all I could see. I don't even know how long it was there before taking off."
He frowned. "That is weird," he agreed.
"Right? The thing with Gabite yesterday, and now this? Paul, there was something out there with us in the forest. Maybe it was whatever that was this morning."
"Maybe." He leaned back, frowning. "Or maybe you're overthinking this whole thing."
"I am not! If you would just think about it—!" She stopped, suddenly growing quiet. A chill visibly ran through her as she reached for Piplup. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
Tap tap.
"That," Dawn hissed, trying to find the source as she held her penguin close. He chirped in a nervous tone.
It continued. Tap. Tap.
"Arceus, am I going crazy, please tell me you hear that too—"
He snapped, "Shut up before you have another panic attack." Getting to his feet, he moved toward the back door. That seemed to be where it was coming from. "Just stay here and be quiet."
Stuttering something that was half-witty under her breath, she didn't listen as she slowly followed him, Piplup not far behind. Of course he glared at her, but she ignored his sour look as they quietly stepped closer toward the door.
Tap. Tap.
With each tap Dawn shuddered. It wasn't so much because of fear, but due to the unknown of what could be on the other side of the door. Was it Gabite, finally back after being gone for hours? Or could it be whatever that yellow shape had been? What if it came to take her this time?
She didn't have long to fret. As her mind kept spinning endless scenarios, Paul had reached the door before her. Peering around the curtain to see out the window at eye level, he gave a disgruntled sigh as he grasped the doorknob.
"Paul, what—!" she gasped, hastily retreating as he opened the door. The sound of a gentle rain spilled in as he watched her stumble over her own feet and Piplup, who unfortunately had been right behind her. She only made it a few steps back before realizing who had stepped over the threshold, looking weary and drenched from the rain. "Gabite! Arceus, you're soaked!"
A sheen of water coated the landshark's scales, and it gave a full body shake that sent the teens scrambling back to avoid getting wet. It crooned in an exhausted tone, and it hunkered down right where it stood in the doorway. Of course Paul complained since the rain was bringing in the cold air, but Dawn shushed him and told him to go get a towel. For a moment they locked eyes, glaring at each other, before he gave in with a disgruntled sigh.
As he went off in search of the linen closet, Dawn took her borrowed blanket and wrapped it around Gabite's head. It gave her a tired half grin, crooning again as the blunette tried her best to pat its scales dry. The blanket was quickly soaked through, though, and she was left wringing it out before Paul came back.
"Not much use now," she muttered as she hung it over the back of the rocking chair she'd sat in just that morning. She was scowling as she scooted back inside around Gabite, and it gave a whine at her expression. She forced a smile for it, murmuring in a soft tone to her landshark. Then she remembered. "Gabite, were you able to find anything earlier?"
The sudden slap! of its wide tail against the patio startled Dawn. A slow rumble started coming from Gabite, a deep sound from within its chest.
"I'll take that as a yes," Dawn muttered.
She'd never seen Gabite so agitated before. Its chest was puffing in agitation, and the rumbling grew louder. It was somewhat common knowledge that the Gible line could have a temper sometimes since they frequently hunted around the outskirts of town, but it was usually of a more moderate level. Whatever it had found seemed to have royally pissed off Gabite, but Dawn had no way of understanding just what it could be. They needed some sort of Pokémon to human speech translator, but did such a thing like that even exist?
Slowly taking Gabite's claws in her hands, Dawn told it everything's gonna be okay, good job. They'd find a way to figure things out. Somehow.
A gruff voice sounded behind her. "Did it find whatever it was looking for?"
"I'm not sure." Dawn frowned. "I've never been able to fully communicate with Pokémon, only with gestures and tone, really."
He harrumphed in dissatisfaction, but then a look crossed his face. "That stupid senior. He can understand his Pikachu—"
"You mean Ash?"
"Yes, him, who else?" She glared. "Maybe they'd have an idea of what it's saying."
Say what now? She must have been thinking out loud again. She had a bad habit of doing it at the wrong time, but decided to overlook that at the moment. "I've seen him talking with Pikachu, but I always figured he just talked to him; I never really assumed there was much behind it."
Paul snorted. "You should hear them at lunch, they don't shut up for the entire time. Even with food in their mouths."
"Aww, someone made a friend!"
"Shut up."
Chuckling to herself, the blunette grasped Gabite's claws with careful hands. She looked it right in the eye and smiled as she said, "Don't worry, Gabite. We'll figure this out."
I hope.
"You're positive you know where you're going?"
Glancing nervously around the unfamiliar neighborhood, Dawn made sure to keep up as best she could. Her hold on Piplup tightened. "You said you'd only been this way once or twice before."
Paul gave a noncommittal grunt as he surveyed the rows of houses. "You worry too much. I know what I'm looking for."
She frowned, resisting the urge to grab his hand so she wouldn't lag behind his wide steps. "If you say so," she muttered.
While Reggie had been preoccupied with another phone call upstairs, they'd slipped out the back door so he wouldn't see them making their way down the front walk. Their destination: Ash's house. They didn't have much care for Reggie's punishments anymore, Dawn would sit with her arms up for five hours if it meant she could have a better idea of just what the hell was going on.
The rain had let up to a small drizzle, but Dawn's hair still grew frizzy from the moisture as they walked. She fiddled with it, idly reaching to readjust the rain coat they'd snatched and draped over Gabite to protect it from the rain. It was as on edge as she was, but it gently butted its head against her hand. "You said you'd only been this way once or twice. Why won't you just let me use the directions he gave us?"
"Because that would take us down main roads and would take too long. Did you want to be back by nightfall?"
"Should've grabbed a bike, would've been faster," she muttered petulantly. Pulling out her phone, she sent a short message to Ash that they were getting close. He replied quickly, and she almost snorted at the Pikachu emoji he responded with. She could feel the weight of Paul's stare as she typed away with her thumbs, but she ignored him.
Earlier, when they'd managed to successfully sneak out of the yard, Dawn had already pulled out her phone and started writing a long winded message to the senior. When she realized that her message would be too long typed out, she instead decided to just call him. He was quick to answer, after only two rings, and the blunette alerted the older boy of their problems. They needed his help, he was the only one who could.
Luckily he replied with a yes, attaching his address at the bottom of a message after hanging up. Before they'd even hit the corner lap, Dawn had plugged it into her map app and was figuring out the best path on foot when Paul muttered that he knew a faster way. Obviously, she'd been confused at this—he hated being around people, so of course he'd have to have been dragged along. With the look he gave her when she said this, she figured she'd guessed correctly, but he refused to acknowledge it and just started walking faster.
For most of the walk, they were both quiet, the only sound the soft patter of rain on Gabite as it trotted along behind them. Piplup stayed inside Dawn's jacket most of the time, and when he wasn't he was watching the dragon behind them. Gabite was at least five paces behind them, keeping a sharp eye on their surroundings as it swivelled its head to look around, making sure that nothing could sneak up and get the jump on them.
Luckily, it wasn't long before the teens spotted a familiar form in the distance. His spiky hair a dead giveaway, Ash sat on the front step of a house, phone cradled in his hands as he watched the rain. Initially, he didn't see them coming, but as they grew closer he looked up at them with a smile. Jumping easily to his feet, he jogged down the front walk to meet them by the sidewalk. "Hey, guys, you made it!"
"Ash!" Dawn smiled as the older boy drew her in for a hug. They'd grown closer over the past few weeks. When she wasn't moping around at school or Paul's house, she was texting her friends to keep up with anything she was missing. House arrest was killing her, but at the same time she loved the pictures they sent her whenever they went out. It prevented her world from growing even smaller.
Pulling back, Ash held his arms open expectantly to Paul, eyebrows raised comically high. But the look of disgust on the boy's face made him shrug and instead go for a clap on the shoulder, which Paul still ducked away from. Guess even being lunch buddies didn't make Ash an exception to his sullen ways.
"So, you guys needed my help?"
The small group followed Ash as he led them inside. Dawn was half-surprised to see his mother—and their principal—Delia relaxing on their couch with Ash's Pikachu sprawled on his back next to her as he napped. She was idly watching TV as Ash told his mother they were going to his room, and she barely batted an eye when he started climbing the stairs. She didn't seem surprised to see them, and she smiled at Dawn as the girl quickly greeted her before running to follow after the boys. It was still so weird to her that she was friends with the principal's son, and it was so mind boggling sometimes that she tried to not think about it too hard.
Once Gabite had managed to squeeze in the room, Ash shut the door behind it. Taking a seat in his desk chair, he sat and listened diligently as Dawn gave him a full—yet brief—rundown of the problem at hand. The serious look he wore never left his face as she rattled on, seeming to follow every word she said. Pausing briefly to catch her breath, he held up a hand before she could continue.
"So," he started, leaning back, "what I'm getting so far from all of this is that there's some sort of walking experiment loose somewhere in the forest, and it might have something to do with a lot of the dragons acting weird and disappearing these days?"
Dawn sidled a sharp I told you so! look at Paul where he stood by the door from her seat on the loft ladder. A sense of relief had washed over her at the fact that someone else had taken notice. But the boy just rolled his eyes and mussed her bangs in return, shortly turning into a power struggle as she tried to reach him and possibly scratch him. Ash sighed as the two messed around, shaking his head while Paul held Dawn at arm's length and prevented her from touching him. Why couldn't they just get along in front of him for once, Ash thought, everything always came to some sort of disagreement when it involved these two.
Giving a sharp a-hem to regain their attention, Ash continued: "Your friend Barry gave you this top secret information because he was worried about your safety, but due to the amount of problems this could cause—big ones?" Dawn nodded. "You can't really keep this to yourself, but you're not really sure who you can trust on this. And that's where I come in?"
She nodded again. "You seem to be a good judge of character, better than I am, at least."
"That's not that hard," Paul muttered. She glared at him. "What, you've barely known him for a month but you already trust him this much?"
"I could say the same about you," she retorted, "and yet you're here with us." And you never actually kicked me out of your house.
He scoffed.
"So, what am I supposed to do to help? Just figure out what Gabite's saying?"
"Something like that, if possible." The blunette reached over to lay a hand on Gabite's head. It chirped at her touch, giving her a curious look. "Gabite picked up on something last night that neither of us can figure out. And that's the main reason we're here."
The landshark hummed where it sat at Dawn's feet. It had been quiet the entire time as it dutifully listened to the teens; it had keen hearing, so she wasn't surprised it had paid attention. Piplup was napping behind her, laid out in a similar fashion to how she'd seen Pikachu sprawled next to Delia on the couch. Guess he hadn't found their discussion as interesting.
Leaning over, Dawn cradled her dragon's head with careful hands. "Two out of three dragons that have been in my company have gone missing, and it all feels like it's my fault." Pausing, she leveled a glare at Paul as he opened his mouth to make a possibly smart remark. Ash snickered when he snapped it shut and pretended to be busy picking at his nails. "I just want to figure out what's going on before that … thing somehow ends up in town and hurts somebody. Barry told me this was top secret information, and I planned on keeping quiet—but not for long."
The older boy gave a dutiful nod. "I can see what you mean. At this point it's about public safety. Have you made any plans to talk to the Rangers about a possible recovery mission? I know it's been a few weeks, but any info you give them could be helpful."
Silence met his question as Dawn quickly became tight lipped. An unreadable look crossed her face as she squirmed in her seat and avoided answering. Beside her, Paul mirrored the glare she'd just given him. The look in his eyes was enough to make the blunette become still with discomfort.
"You'd better not be thinking what I think you are."
Nothing. She refused to look at either boy as she frowned, obviously caught before she could explain herself.
"Dawn."
Blinking in surprise, Dawn finally looked up. Was this the first time he'd even said her name? She was so shocked she couldn't even answer him.
"You literally just told blondey yesterday that you didn't want him or his family at risk. How is this any different?" He gripped one hand that had fallen into her lap, giving her a hard look. "You've done enough stupid things recently that—"
She cut him off quietly. "I know what I said." With a solid gaze she stared back at him as she said, "It would be dumb of me to just go at this gung ho. Especially considering how that's panned out the past few times. But—" Here she cast a glance at Ash. "—I didn't plan on this being something sporadic and unplanned. That's the other reason we're here."
They were all quiet for a moment as the boys contemplated her words. They'd both learned over the short amount of time that they'd known her that she was somewhat impulsive in her thinking, willing to follow through with something even if it were on her own. Ash could only guess at her reasoning for making a decision that seemed bigger than he'd anticipated, but decided that it didn't matter. She was reaching out to him for help because she trusted him, and that was all that counted in his book.
"All right, count me in."
A majority of the weight that had been weighing her shoulders down seemed to be lifted instantly at Ash's words. With a hopeful smile she turned to Paul.
He frowned in return. It was obvious that he didn't like her idea in the first place, especially considering the last time they'd come across the beast. He grit his teeth, ready to buckle down and tell her no, it's too dangerous, but sighed when she gave him The Look. She definitely wasn't playing fair.
"Somebody sane has to be around so you don't get yourself killed." Giving her a dubious sideways glance he grumbled, "Guess that means I'm in."
The smile she gave him was almost blinding, and he ignored the pleased hum she made when she bumped his shoulder. Gabite gave a rumbling chuckle that earned a glare from its former trainer. It just grinned back.
Having come to a satisfying agreement, Ash grabbed a notebook and turned to fully face Gabite. The sophomores sat and watched with anticipation as the dragon began recounting its tale to the older boy. His expression was serious as it had been earlier as he listened intently to the Gabite go on a lengthy, squawking rant. This went on for a few minutes, Ash taking notes the entire time, but before long it gave a huff of finality when it finished.
Ash quickly went about weeding through information, crossing out and circling certain bits in his notes, trying to figure out the best way to configure everything. The most coherent and accurate story he could relay was: Followed big yellow into trees, but lost scent near sunny, tall grass area. Saw nothing but deer, but when it started raining a voice told, "Time go home." Got sleepy, next thing knew back near boy's yard.
Sitting back, Ash scratched at his head as Gabite nodded in approval. He told them it was the closest he could get to verbatim, primarily because it had been a while since he'd really translated for anyone. Dawn thanked him for his efforts, but she frowned. What did Gabite mean by "sunny, tall grass area?" It had mentioned deer, did it mean the clearing with the Stantler and Sawsbuck? Before she could ruminate on this further, a sudden squawk drew their attention once more. Ash commented that Gabite had something else to tell him.
"Is this about whatever that was last night?" Dawn's voice was low and strained as she squeezed Paul's hand. He hadn't let go, so she'd continued to hold it as they played audience.
A slightly puzzled look crossed Ash's face as he listened to Gabite's second story. It was much shorter than the first, and soon he told them: "Smelled same scent last night in trees, why run. Lose scent quickly, but pick up on another. Big green one, far, far opposite of setting sun."
They all sat in confused silence until recognition nearly hit the older boy over the head at another squawk. "Friend, hurt." He quickly turned to Dawn. "Flygon. It picked up on your Flygon's scent."
Dawn paled at the realization. If Paul hadn't steadied her, she might have fainted in disbelief.
Tobasu.
There'd been no sign of Tobasu for the past few weeks, and she'd slowly been growing closer to losing hope with every day that passed. She'd worried she would never find her friend, that she would never know the fate of it or Topaz, who was also still MIA. But now she had the tiniest flicker of light that was helping to rejuvenate that hope. Maybe, just maybe, if Gabite could just pick up on its scent one more time, they'd have a chance.
She was already in enough trouble, what could a little more do at this point? They had no time to waste.
A/N: Hi, lemme just make it known while yes, this is about adventure and going against authority (as kids do sometimes), PLEASE remember that anything similar to what a real life version of what these kids do could be very dangerous. Don't go stalking forests for unknown creatures, there are some animals in the wild that will not have mercy on your curiosity.
Now keep going.