Before I leave Cerulean

Three

"Staryu! Use water gun!"
Misty watched her father train his Staryu, which he was working on evolving into a Starmie. Lord Waterflower had many experiences with water-type Pokémon. He even told his wife, Lady Waterflower, that is he were to have a son, he would teach it everything about Water-types.

The ladies sat outside since it was a little cooler. The sun hid behind the clouds and would peek out every so often.
Misty picked up her tea and took a sip. A sip so quiet that no one even heard. Next to her, Serena was reading a book about Pokémon and their finest accessories. She had so many back at Kalos Hall, but she wanted one from the Kanto Region before she returned back to Kalos.
Everything went fine. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, expect for Iris, who had an odd look on her face. She looked confused. She felt something out of place.

"Has anyone seen Dawn?" Iris asked.
Everyone looked around the garden and shook their heads. It was unusual for Dawn to not show up. Besides, she was the main one worrying about making it to a place on time.
"She's not here," May pointed out. "Aren't we supposed to go on our walk? We can't go without Dawn."
"But we can go without Misty," Serena muttered, stirring her tea. She secretly preferred the tea back in Kalos, but she didn't dare tell Lady Waterflower.

Just then, Dawn appeared. She seemed tired and felt like she wanted to pass out.
"I'm so sorry I'm late," Dawn apologized. "I couldn't sleep last night and I overslept. That's highly unladylike of me."
Violet shook her head. "No need to worry. You seemed worried yesterday," she said. "Is everything alright?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Dawn said. Violet shook her head and continued to finish her tea. She took a quick look at Dawn and then stared at her cup.

"Did those maids go near any of your stuff, Lily?" Iris asked.
Lily shook her head. "I've already told mother and father about it," Lily explained. "They would get down to the bottom of."
"Which maid could it be?" May asked.
"Misty," Iris muttered. The girls burst into laughter but then got back to being serious.
"What about Cassidy?" Mallow asked.
"No," Lily answered. "She's usually outside or do laundry. She doesn't go near my room much."
"What about Amy?" May asked.
"Probably," Lily guessed. "I've heard about her working at another palace and stole something. I'll have to keep my eyes on her."

Prince Ash appeared.
"Hello, ladies," Ash said, bowing. "It's nice to see you again."
The girls squealed as they got out of their seats. Misty followed them. The girls just adored Ash. One of the most finest prince in Kanto. Besides Gary Oak, who was located somewhere else in Kanto. He didn't dare be near Ash.
"I would have stopped by yesterday, but you all seemed to have gone somewhere. I did hear about Lady Jessie though. What happened?"
"Nothing!" Misty shot. "Nothing really. Just one of those days where you get angry. I mean, come on, she works day and night on those dresses."
"That's true," Ash agreed. "I feel angry myself. Gary has been doing nothing but taunting me. He has another extension built to his palace, and he won't shut up about it. Not to mention, my friend Brock is terribly ill. I've been running around getting the requirements for him to feel better."

"That poor Brock," Serena cooed. "I hope he's doing alright. Please send him my word that he feels better."
"I certainly will," Ash said. "May I join you all? I have a lot of time on my hands before I return back to Pallet Town. I have some news  I want to tell you all."

Daisy opened the gate and the ladies all sat back down at the beautifully painted white table, glimmering somehow without the help of the sun.
"I've come to tell you all that Queen Serena has invited me to the Cerulean Castle for the ball in 3 weeks. I shall be staying here with you," Ash said.
The ladies all clapped and whooped for Serena. She got up and bowed.
"Thank you, thank you," Serena said.

"I shall be staying at the castle with my own room. However, I do request some personal space every once in a while. I do have a lot to do before the ball."
The girls nodded.
"If Brock feels better by then, you ladies shall expect him being there. He is a friend of mine and I would gladly enjoy you and his company combined."
Misty felt like the girls weren't listening. They seemed to be lost in Ash's looks. Pikachu stood quietly on Ash's shoulder. He just always seemed to be in a horrible mood.

"One last thing before I leave," Ash said, pulling out a wrapped plate, "I bake these for you all. Butter biscuits. I hope you enjoy them."
"Oh how lovely!" Daisy gasped. "They will go just fine with our tea. Thank you so much."
"You're welcome," Ash said. "I must go now. I need to go into Pewter City and see if Brock is doing okay. By the way, Dawn, I have a letter for you."

Ash gave Dawn the letter. She seemed to be out of character. When Ash first arrived, she was the only lady besides Misty who didn't squeal. She got up quietly and greeted him. Misty looked at Dawn when she got the letter from Ash. She seemed to be so different. She wasn't her usual self.
Did she miss her Piplup? Her Piplup had to stay back in Sinnoh due to it being ill. It was accidentally poisoned by someone's Pokémon, and it became terribly ill after. What about Paul? Paul was one of the richest kids in the Sinnoh Region. He was the one that started the Pokémon Battling Club. Paul and Dawn were really close.

Ash left the gardens and the ladies continued on with their tea. Cassidy came by with a pot of hot tea and carefully poured it into each of the ladies cup. She added sugar cubes into Misty's, Dawn's and May's cup.

The plate of biscuits sat in the middle of the table. There were a lot to go around. Maybe the girls could get thirds.
"These are so good!" Iris exclaimed. "It would be horribly rude of me to compare these to Cilan's. He works real hard on them."
"Can someone pass me a biscuit please?" Misty asked. The girls ignored her. But then, something happened.
Dawn reached over and handed Misty a biscuit. The girls looked at Dawn in shock, but went back to nibbling on their biscuits.
Misty looked at Dawn.
Why did she give me a biscuit?
I thought she hated me?
All these questions ran into Misty's head as she nibbled on her biscuit. Dawn took a sip out of her tea and then sighed. She rubbed the temples of her head and her nose. Was she sick? If she was catching a fever, then all the girls would surely run away from her and wouldn't come near her until she felt better.

"Dawn, is everything okay?" Misty asked.
"Please leave me alone," Dawn answered.
"Thank you for the biscuit."
No answer.
"Stop bugging her, little runt!" May shot. "Can't you do anything else but bother people?"
"I was seeing if she was okay," Misty scolded. "Sit down and lower your voice!"
"You're not the boss of her!" Iris snapped. "Little kid! Thinking you always get to run everything."
"I'm not running anything," Misty said. "Lower your voice. A proper princess should not speak that way to another person."
"You're not even proper yourself!" Serena yelled.
"And you call yourself a queen!" Misty shouted. "Spoiled brat!"

"Ladies, thats enough!" Lily yelled.
Dawn began to cry. "My head hurts!" She wailed.
"Now look what you've done!" Violet yelled. "Take Dawn to her room and go straight to yours! Wait till mother and father hear about this!"
Misty got up from her chair and helped Dawn out of hers. Dawn rubbed her head, mumbling something Misty couldn't understand.

When they got to Dawn's room, Dawn turned to look at Misty.
"I need to tell you something," Dawn said. "But not now. Meet me in the gardens tomorrow in the afternoon. Right after we have our music lessons."
Misty nodded.
"And when I tell you, don't tell anyone else! It's private and I feel like the others just won't understand. I need to lay down. I've been under pressure lately."

Misty headed straight for her, wondering what Dawn wanted from her. That was unusual. Dawn never liked Misty, and usually taunted her with the other ladies. She was usually the one blaming things on Misty that she didn't even do. Just last week she blamed Misty for mixing her dresses up when one of the maids did it themselves.
What did Dawn want?
That's something that Misty pondered.
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I feel like it's a little early for a character to change. Something like this only happens in the middle of the story and we're only three chapters in. But then anything can happen.

I'll probably upload again today. But if you could be anybody from Pokémon who would it be?
I'd be either Dawn or Cilan. I feel like out of Pokémon girls, Dawn does the least bit of nagging towards Ash. She seems more relaxed. Cilan is an amazing cook and I'd love to cook like him :D