Paul and Dawn: First Light

Chapter 14: Mute

Chapter 14: Mute 

I woke up on the day after my birthday and decided that instead of training I would read the book Dawn had gotten me. When she came out of her tent and saw me leaning against a tree trunk and flipping through the pages, she smiled and offered me one of the last pieces of birthday cake for breakfast, which I accepted. 

"Quilava and I have perfected his new move AND made up a Contest move with it!" Dawn exclaimed. 

Interested, I asked, "May I see?" 

"Nope." She winked. "It's a surprise. I'll show you eventually. And today Piplup and I start our training. Isn't that right, Piplup?" 

Piplup cried out shrilly, obviously happy that it was finally his turn. 

"So what are you doing today, Paul?" Dawn asked. 

"My Pokemon will be conditioning and in charge of Bagon's training while I read this book." I held it up. 

"You're going to read that whole book in one day?" Dawn raised an eyebrow. 

"I'm a fast reader." 

"I should have figured you were." Dawn smiled as if thinking about an inside joke only she knew about. "Ok, I'm off with Piplup. I'll be by the pond nearby." 

She waved as she left. 

"You know the drill," I said to my Pokemon, who all got up and walked into the forest to practice their own moves and techniques. 

I stuck my nose in the book, absorbing information.

By the time the sun had set, I had finished the book. Dawn looked at me suspiciously as if I had lied to her until she questioned me about certain parts of the book as she flipped through them. 

"Wow." She put the book down. "You must have a photographic memory." 

"I do." 

"That's really cool!" Dawn held up a hand to high five me before remembering I didn't do physical contact. 

"Thanks again for the book. It was really helpful," I said again. I didn't remember thanking anyone for anything, let alone twice in a row. 

"You're welcome. I thought you'd put it to good use." 

I changed the subject. "How did training go today?" 

Dawn frowned, "Piplup is learning a lot of new moves, so we'll be training for quite some time together."  

"It'll be worth it," I promised. 

Dawn beamed. Seconds later, something in her bag began beeping. 

"What's that?" I asked as she fiddled with her bag. 

She pulled out a device I recognized. "A Pokegear. My mom got it for me so we could stay in touch easier." 

Mommy's little angel, I thought dryly. "Who's calling?" 

Instantly, Dawn's expression turned sour as she stared at the small screen. "No one I want to talk to." 

Interesting. "Who is it?" 

I strangely couldn't help but ask, which went against my nature of minding my own business. Still, why would lovely Miss Pushover not want to talk to someone who she had given her number to? 

"Kenny," She answered firmly. 

"Did you break up with your boyfriend?" I hid my smile under my sad tone. 

"He was never my boyfriend! And he calls practically every day at different times. I think he's trying to catch me off guard so I'll pick up." Dawn sighed. 

"You left him stranded at the Rustburo Pokemon Center without telling him where you were going, didn't you?" I smirked.  

"Maybe." She bit her lip. "Listen, you don't get what he was like! He never stays quiet for more than a minute and has to be cheerful all the time and-" She noticed my eyebrows shooting up and sighed. "Ok, maybe you know exactly what he was like, but he's male." 

"I don't know. The female version is more annoying in my opinion." I smiled lightly. 

Dawn smiled back. "At least I'm better now." 

I considered this. It was true, she was better. "Why don't you tell him to go screw himself and stop calling you?" 

"Because I can't be that mean." Dawn pouted. 

"Then he's going to keep calling you. He has the same 'I'm never giving up' attitude you do, obviously." 

"Maybe I'll get a new Pokegear number..." Dawn trailed off. 

"Maybe you should just call him and tell him that he's an annoying loser that's no fun to hang out with and then hang up," I offered again. 

"I can't do that!" 

I chuckled. "I bet in another fifty days or so you will. It'll drive you crazy." 

Dawn frowned. The Pokegear rang again and she rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I'm going to mute it and go to bed." She meddled with the controls and trudged toward her tent. 

"Putting things on mute doesn't mean the problem's gone," I called after her. I imagine she'd put me on mute after that comment.