4A/N: I really shouldn't be staring another fic. Oh well.
Mewmewmewtwo does not own Pokémon. If she did, Nintendo would fail epically.
Oh, one final note. Dawn has a bit of a potty mouth in this fic. Don't go whining to me about her being "out of character." Pray tell, what is Dawn's character? In the games, she's mute. An extension of the person controlling the player. So it depends on the person. Just something I wanted to say before I get eaten alive.
Dawn rolled off her bed, landing with a muffled thump on the wooden floor.
"Ugh…." As her eyelids fluttered open, Dawn began the arduous process of detangling herself from the mound of pink frills and lace her mother deemed a blanket. In her dollhouse room, almost everything Dawn owned came in hideous pastel and lace. The downfall of having a Top Coordinator as a mother…
Tossing her blanket back on the bed, Dawn let her gaze rest on the clock.
"No….nononono!" Dawn's eyes widened in horror, and she scrambled around her room, hunting for the clothes she had tossed aside for later wear.
Frantically changing out of her pink Skitty pajamas, Dawn grabbed a duffel bag and began stuffing random supplies into it.
"Let's see…Some Repel…Pepper spray….am I missing anything?" Snapping her fingers, Dawn opened a drawer, shoving aside albums, broken pencils, and old homework assignments to reveal a stash of candy.
Scooping the candy into her bag, Dawn thundered down the stairs, taking them two at a time and nearly breaking her neck on the way down.
"Morning! I gotta go, sorry!" Grabbing a box of crackers from the counter, Dawn darted out the door before her startled mother could get a word in.
Johanna sighed. "You'd think she'd have learned by now…" Her Glameow came into the kitchen, glancing out of the open door. "I hope she doesn't get mobbed by Pokémon on the way there."
Halfway through Route 201, Dawn realized she should have asked her mother if she could borrow Glameow. Her arm hurt just thinking about Starly…But it was too late. Dawn would get to the lab even if a million Starly got in her way.
"Ah! Speak of Giratina!" A Starly landed in front of her, cocking its head and glancing at Dawn's cracker box with a greedy eye.
She shook her head and hugged the box close. "No. This is my breakfast."
The Starly gave Dawn a beady-eyed stare, before tittering angrily.
"No." Dawn shook her head again, holding the crackers in the air in a futile attempt to keep them away from the Starly.
Starly tittered again, hopping forward.
Dawn sighed, looking around. "I'm late as it is….Fine. Have the crackers, and I hope you can open that without opposable thumbs. Heck, you don't even have hands."
She tossed the box at the Starly's feet and resumed her mad dash to Sandgem Town.
Professor Rowan looked up just as the door to Sandgem's Pokémon Laboratory banged open with a deafening snap, the hinges snapping clean off.
"I'M SORRY I'M LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!" Dawn wailed as she ran in, panting. Grass clung to her shoes, while starly feathers decorated her hair.
Professor Rowan blinked, his untouched coffee still in hand. Behind Dawn, the unlucky door fell down with a final bang.
"Dawn…It's…good to see you…"
"AM I TOO LATE?! WHERE'S MY DARLING CHIMCHAR?!" Dawn ran to the empty suitcase resting on a table, as if the shiny red and white pokéball would magically appear from thin air. Heck, she had seen weirder things happen…
"I'm sorry, Dawn…Jun and Lucas came at the right time and took Chimchar and Turtwig." Rowan sighed, already trying to figure out how much it would cost to replace the door.
"Jun! I swear this was all a conspiracy to make sure that I'll NEVER pay off the debt I owe to Mom!" Dawn slammed her fist on the table, quickly pulling it back and waiving it in the air in pain.
Her plans to have a kick-ass team centered around the king of starters, Chimchar, ruined. She couldn't sweep through the gyms or lay waste to Jun's team, that dream was dead…
"WHY ARCEUS, WHY?!"
Rowan sighed. What had happened to the quiet eleven year old from six years back? He would have to check in on Twinleaf Town's water supply. Jun had been awfully hyper when he took his starter, while Lucas remained calm. He made a mental reminder to do that later.
"How could she let me keep spending money on albums and candy like that? She should have told me I had run out of allowance money instead of letting the debt stack up to over one thousand Poké…"
Dawn moaned, lamenting her bleak future as she curled up in a little ball and put a hand over her eyes, the way she had seen her mom do it whenever Johanna attempted to guilt trip her. She followed up with some pretty convincing fake sniffs and curled into a smaller ball.
Rowan looked flustered, his normally stern composure rapidly crumbling as Dawn rocked on her heels and fake sobbed.
"I-I believe we may have one more Pokémon in the lab that you can use…"
Dawn perked up immediately, her previous drama all but forgotten.
Perhaps she could get herself some awesome, rare shiny Pokémon, just like they had in those cartoons. Heck, even an overpowered, seemingly normal Pokémon would do perfect right here.
"…It's right here." Rowan placed the pokéball in her hands, and Dawn quickly released it.
"It's a….Magikarp…." Dawn could have sworn that dismal music played in the background as she gazed upon the majestic power that was….the Fish Pokémon flailing on the ground. "E-even a Pikachu seems more appealing right now!"
"I'm sorry Dawn, if you had come here earlier, you could have gotten Chimchar. I would have offered you Piplup, but…"
"I know, I know. Piplup got taken by some trainer a while back." Dawn poked the flopping Magikarp, and it flailed again, smacking her in the face with its tail.
She wiped her face with her sleeve, a smirk finding its way onto her face. "Not bad for a Magikarp. I'm going to name you Rillian." She looked up at Professor Rowan. "It's female, right? It has white barbels…"
Rowan nodded, impressed. So Dawn at least somewhat knew what she was doing…Her behavior had led him to have serious doubts.
Extending a hand out, Dawn held it in front of the Magikarp. "I'm Dawn. Come join me, comrade, as we crush Sinnoh beneath our feet…er…and fins."
The Magikarp, now Rillian, flailed again.
Dawn straightened up, returning Rillian to her pokéball. "Alright, thanks Professor, but I gotta get going so I can collect my stuff from home and then get on my way so I can pay off my debt…"
"Now hold it right there, young miss!" Rowan called after Dawn's retreating figure.
Dawn froze in the doorway, pivoting slowly on one leg to face the professor. "Yeeees?"
"I hope you remember the requirements sheet, the permission sheet, and the waiver you signed when you applied for a starter, Dawn."
Dawn sighed. "What did I miss?"
Rowan handed her a shiny red device she vaguely remembered as a 'Pokédex'. "The requirements for getting a starter are that you would try to fill out the Regional Pokédex for us. Now then, this is extremely hard. Nobody has ever completed this feat…"
Dawn straightened her beanie indignantly. "Well then I'll be the first! I'll beat both Jun and Lucas, and anyone else who stands in my way! I'll-!"
"It's not that simple, Dawn…" Rowan sighed. "The Regional Pokédex includes several legendaries that have never been documented before."
In the silence that followed, one could almost hear the sound of an ego deflating.
"Sooo….you mean I'll spend the rest of my life working on this thing?! This is child labor! Am I getting paid?!" Dawn shrieked, flailing her arms in a manner that could almost be considered magikarp-like. Adding her red face, the resemblance increased.
"It isn't mandatory that you spend the rest of your life on the Pokédex, Dawn. But you are required to at least work on it. And a good trainer can rake in a decent sum of cash, Dawn. You don't need a salary from the Pokédex too." Exhausted by Dawn's constant drama and questions, the poor professor could feel a headache coming on.
"And before you go…" Rowan called as Dawn made her escape. "I want to let you know that you'll be paying for the door too."
Dawn kept up a steady stream of grumbling as she trudged home.
Dawn shouldered her duffel bag, glaring up at the sky as if it did her wrong. After half an hour, she had finally finished packing.
Apparently, her mother didn't understand that Dawn's bag wasn't magical. If you crammed one hundred pounds of stuff in it, it would still weigh one hundred pounds…and the seams would probably burst too. Oh, and berries and herbs rotted, and that Potions had an expiration date. Life wasn't a video game, sadly.
Dawn had ditched the portable stove, chair, various pots and pans, a contest kit, and various other crap, including food her mother had suggested. It was too heavy, fresh fruits and vegetables could get bruised or smashed, and Dawn didn't like the idea of having to clean out her bag if that happened. Canned foods her mother didn't approve of, and they would weigh too much anyways. Dawn figured she could live off the calories several candy bars gave, and once she got richer Dawn decided she would eat out each day.
Instead, she had brought a small, lightweight tent, a sleeping roll, candy, a credit card, some pepper spray, Repel, five Pokéballs, and two Potions. It still weighed ten pounds though, and Dawn deeply regretted the fact that she couldn't have an Infernape to carry her stuff later.
"Well…I guess this is it, Rillian." Dawn sighed, strolling along Route 201. "Just you and me, huh? We'll live like hermits until you can evolve. I'm scared to show my face as a trainer until then." Rillian didn't reply, as she remained in her pokéball. A fish couldn't walk on land, after all.
Dawn groaned. "It's been five seconds and I'm already talking to thin air. Ah, this is absolutely f-ing great." She kicked a rock, sending it flying into the grass.
From far away, Dawn could hear the angry cries of…some Pokémon she had never heard at night. Given that there were only three species that lived nearby…she quickly pulled out a pokéball and some pepper spray, just in case. Dawn quickly scurried off to the source of the sound.
"...Oops..."
An indignant Happiny rubbed her head, glaring at Dawn when she ran over wearing a guilty expression.
"S-sorry sweetie!" Dawn purred, with a scheming expression on her face. "But you're mine!" She whipped out a Pokeball, tossing it at Happiny.
The Pokéball bounced off Happiny's head, and she glared at Dawn with the most murderous expression one could imagine on a kind little baby Pokémon's face.
"What the fu-fudge?! That wasn't…That's not…" Dawn suddenly noticed the turquoise bead bracelet on Happiny's wrist, with a small tag attached. She promptly snatched Happiny off the ground and closely examined the bracelet.
Hi! My name is Bliss! If you find me, please return me to my mommy! I'd really appreciate it!
Jubilife Pokémon Center
2-009-456
Dawn set Bliss down with a sheepish face, and the Happiny crossed her stubby little arms and blew a raspberry at Dawn, who quickly wiped off the spit.
"Well…that's one more ruined plan. Seems like our plans to live like hermits and compete with Starly and Bidoof for berries and then roast them over an open flame have been cancelled, Rillian! Onwards! It's Jubilife or bust! I'll be eaten alive by Starly before I surrender!"
Little Bliss rolled her eyes.
"…Well, you aren't very blissful, are you?"
A/N: So…first chapter. Did you catch that anime references I made? Reviewers get virtual hugs and a virtual cookie. (Not a tracker cookie!) Flamers, rest assured knowing that you've helped me make s'mores.