Paul and Dawn: First Light

Chapter 41: Complications

Chapter 41: Complications 

"There you are!" 

I turned just in time to see Dawn running towards me, Piplup jogging behind her with an irritated scowl. By the looks of it, she'd just thrown on her clothes and hadn't bothered with her normal morning beauty treatments. Her hair was messy, her hat was askew, and she breathed heavily as if she'd sprinted the whole way here. 

"Good morning," I greeted her. 

"I didn't know where you'd gone!" she said shrilly, striding up to me and glaring in annoyance. 

My eyes held steady. "And how do you think I felt when you were gone all day signing up for your Contest?" 

Her mouth opened furiously. "I said sorry for that." 

"We're even now." I crossed my arms. 

"So was this just to get back at me?" She raised an eyebrow. 

"I just woke up and felt the need to train." I shrugged. 

Bagon walked over to Dawn and tugged at her pink boot. After a few seconds of frowning at me, she looked down curiously. "Hi, Bagon. You sure look happy." 

Indeed, he did. Winning his first ever battle against a Pokemon Trainer he'd never seen before had given him a huge confidence boost. "He just won a battle. There's a lot of room for improvement, but I must say it was a very impressive sight." 

Bagon grinned cheerfully at me. Dawn gave me an encouraging smile which I ignored, though I was glad she was back in good spirits and not pestering me about not telling her where I was. 

"So what's the plan now?" she asked. 

"We'll go train on Route 117, which is east of here," I replied. "But first, we need breakfast." 

Dawn nodded and we went inside the Pokemon Center. Her hair was still messy, but to me she seemed fit to go out in public without being a laughing stock. I wasn't sure if she'd noticed her appearance wasn't up to her normal standards or if she just didn't care this morning. Either way, I smirked every time I glanced at her. 

We both grabbed trays of food and found a table near the window. Clouds flew by lazily- the sun was already up and shining. 

"God, I'm going to miss this." Dawn sighed as she poured syrup onto her pancakes. "There's nothing like eating a fresh hot meal." 

I nodded as I grabbed the syrup dispenser off the table. 

"So, what'd you dream about last night?" 

I fumbled with the handle and almost knocked the syrup over. Holding back a swear word, I righted the syrup and looked at Dawn who was watching me curiously. She'd never seen me drop anything before. 

I should have known the "What did you dream about?" question was coming- she almost always asked about my dreams. I'd always thought it silly. What did it matter, dreams? I don't live in any sort of fantasy land where people can fly and things were made of cotton candy. She always told me her dreams, but they were filled with things like that. My dreams may be more realistic, but significant? Hardly. 

Now, I wasn't so sure. 

Her blue eyes searched mine. "Are you ok?" 

"Yeah. My hand just slipped." I shrugged, fighting the heat that was creeping slowly but surely into my cheeks from the embarrassment. 

"You never drop anything," Dawn said. 

"There's a first time for everything." I tried to sound calm, but heard the sting in my voice.