Adventures Beyond!

Chapter 44: Hopping Into the Ring!

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Sapphire Town, Sinnoh

Dawn's nose faintly twitched, picking up an alluring smell. Her eyes opened slowly, seeing the fluffy white pillow beneath her head. Her paws moved to her eyes, using them to rub her eyes gently.

The Buneary used her arms to prop herself up in bed, taking a moment to look around. She quickly realized that she was in her cousin's guest room, and was given a good bed to sleep on in turn.

It had been quite some time since she slept in an actual bed, and Dawn wanted nothing but to lay back down and continue to sleep, but quickly realized that she had signed herself up for a day at the Sapphire Battle Zone to increase her rank in the World Cup. Dawn rolled out of bed, hoping that the jolt from hitting the floor would be enough to wake her up. This worked, and soon she was on her way downstairs, towards where the smell was coming from.

In the kitchen, Susanne was humming cheerfully as she melodically prepared a breakfast for her and Dawn. She gracefully moved around the kitchen, sometimes to check on something heating up, other times to stir the batter for the next batch. She was preparing a breakfast of Pancakes, berries, and fish, a basic breakfast in Sapphire.

The Lopunny was lost in thought as she skillfully diced up some Oran berries, her nose twitching softly as she let out a pleasured giggle. She wondered what she was going to try and make for lunch and dinner, as she wanted to start experimenting with spicy sauces and citric juices.

"Susanne!!" A yell pierced her hearing, completely throwing off her sense of serenity.

She turned around to see Dawn, who was tapping her foot impatiently.

"How long have you been standing there like that?" The Lopunny asked, putting her knife down and facing her younger cousin.

Dawn yawned, walking over to the kitchen table, "About five minutes."

"I didn't even notice you there, Little D..." Susanne chuckled nervously.

"You always get so lost in your cooking, don't you?" The Buneary asked in an exasperated tone, "If there's ever an emergency and you're distracted, I'll have to kill you."

"Like I've ever been that distracted by cooking!" Susanne argued, walking over to a nearby cutting board to cut some meat off some fish.

"There was the one time you almost lit my parents' house on fire because you were busy making your own cookbook..." Dawn gently tugged at Susanne's tail.

The Lopunny huffed, "Just go to the living room and wait for breakfast to be ready!"

—

Dawn greedily scarfed down every last bite of food, cartoonishly gulping down mouthfuls as Susanne watched on with a nervous smile.

"When was the last time you had a proper breakfast, Little D?" The Lopunny asked, using a wooden fork and knife to cut up a piece of pancake and fruit.

The Buneary chewed a bit on her food before opening her mouth, "Not since I left Forest Grotto. Catching food was hard as hell."

Susanne put her utensils down, "Language, and stop talking with your mouth full!"

"Since when were there rules for eating?" Dawn asked, her mouth still full, "Aren't we just creatures, some of which live in forests and caves? Where is the line between that and rules for eating?"

"Ever heard of table etiquette?" The Lopunny asked sarcastically, "I'm sure Aunt Delia would've taught you that."

Dawn remained silent, only continuing to eat her breakfast.

"Little D?"

The Buneary suddenly slammed her paws onto the table, looking down at her food.

"Dawn...?"

Dawn looked up from her plate, "You know, we haven't sparred in a while."