4Yo! Yours truly with more crap typed in roughly three hours. ;_;
Disclaimer: ...For those of you who never bothered to read the disclaimer last time, I don't own Pokémon. Maybe if I had enough money to buy the company...hmm.
Special thanks to everyone who bothered reading and/or leaving a review. Oh, and to my marvelous beta MewBladeXxX, who is kind enough to read for mistakes I was too lazy to catch.
If someone had told her that walking from Sandgem to Jubilife would be the hardest thing she would ever do in her life, Dawn would have laughed in their face and called them an idiot.
"It's only a fifteen minute walk and with your Pokémon it's perfectly safe!"
Oh, life just had to come back and laugh at her naïvety.
It. Was. Hard. The Magikarp known as Rillian somehow managed to Splash her way to earning Dawn's grudging respect. But however...
As much as she hated to admit it, Rillain was dead weight until she evolved. Dawn knew that in order to beat and gain experience from an opponent, Rillain would need a battle partner.
Which is why the budding trainer currently lay on her stomach in knee-high grass, ready to ambush one out of the many Starly peacefully eating from a box of crackers Dawn recognized as her almost breakfast.
Dawn quietly withdrew a Pokeball from her bag, taking careful aim at an especially promising specimen. Shifting her weight, she positioned herself.
However, a twig snapped as Dawn moved. The Starlys' heads shot up, and they immediately took to the air.
Swearing under her breath, Dawn scrambled to her feet and chucked the device into the flock, closing her eyes as wings and beaks and talons battered against her. A bright flash against her closed eyelids informed her that the Pokeball had hit a target. Whether a Starly had been captured was yet to be known.
As the feeling of being smothered by feathers disappeared, Dawn opened her eyes and scrambled over to where she expected the pokeball fell. After pawing through the grass, her fingers hit smooth, unbroken plastic.
It started as an evil smirk. Then a grin. It escalated into a full-fledged evil laugh as Dawn proudly held up her first captured pokemon, right in the view of the remaining Starly.
Meanwhile, it seemed the flock noticed a missing member. Quickly connecting the dots, all forty Starly wheeled around, heading straight for the blue-haired kidnapper. Dawn screamed, sprinting for her life as Bliss silently crept past, the Happiny deciding she had nothing to do with the reckless trainer. The law of the world was survival of the fittest, after all.
"Why must life hate us so, Rillian?" Dawn wailed, wishing for the little blue first aid kit sitting on her cluttered desk at home. Cuts, scratches, bruises, and a dirtied beanie gave testament to the Starly flock encountered earlier.
The Magikarp flailed comfortingly, as if to explain that Dawn wasn't the only one suffering. After all, Splash made for a useless offense or defense.
However, the gesture wasn't enough to calm the metaphorical fire raging inside of the petite Trainer. Dawn whirled around to glare daggers at the Happiny who happily shredded grass beside her, no worse for wear.
"You," Dawn began in an even voice, an accusing finger pointed at said Happiny. "How dare you just sit there while we suffer! Have you no soul?"
Bliss looked up from her latest victim and blew her trademark raspberry in Dawn's face. Dawn growled, looking ready to punch the stuffing out of the Happiny. Finally, she sighed in defeat.
"I should just leave you here to be eaten by Bidoof," Dawn grumbled, recalling her trusted partner and focusing her attention on the distant skyline of Jubilife.
Bliss just followed, sending glares at the terrified local pokemon. The likelihood of being eaten was next to none, the Happiny smugly reflected.
Five minutes later, Dawn found herself several meters away from Jubilife. She speed walked as fast as she could, her white boots unfit for running.
"That's one more thing I forgot to bring," Dawn sighed. "My brand new running shoes." She decided to go back later, perhaps after getting the ever-annoying Happiny off her hands and healing Rillian. Perhaps she could take a nice, long nap when she got home...
Dawn yawned at the mere thought of the nap waiting patiently at home before marching into Jubilife as if she owned the place. Bliss rolled her eyes and followed her into the urban jungle.
"Hi! Welcome to the Poke..." The cheerful greeting died on Nurse Joy's tongue as she surveyed Dawn. "Oh my. Clara!"
A Blissey wearing the usual nurse's outfit waddled over with a tray similar to those used for baking cupcakes. Upon seeing her, Bliss' bottom lip trembled dangerously before she launched herself at Clara.
Dawn snickered quietly as Bliss wailed, clinging onto Clara as if her life depended on it. The Happiny sobbed, pointing to Dawn and shooting dirty looks; no doubt telling Clara about the horrid Trainer she had been forced to pair up with in order to find her way home.
Clara patted the Happiny comfortingly with her stubby arms as Bliss stopped crying. The tone changed to a more excited one as Bliss began to relate her grand journey in earnest, Clara listening intently.
"Sorry about that. Here, just hand over your pokemon, and they'll be ready and raring to go in minutes!"
Dawn did as she was told, wordlessly handing over her two pokemon. Nurse Joy frowned at her obvious slouch and exhaustion, moving back to the area behind her desk and procuring a room key. "Tell you what. Go take a quick shower and rest up, and then you can go!"
Nurse Joy shook her head the moment Dawn opened her mouth in objection, effectively cutting her off. "No, I insist! And besides, the Pokémon Center offers our services free of charge anyways."
Dawn needed no more persuasion; with a quick thanks and a snatch of the key she was off at speeds even Jun would be jealous of.
Dawn came downstairs feeling like a new person. Never again would she take modern comforts for granted, never again...
"Here you go sweetie," Nurse Joy chirped as she handed back Dawn's pokemon. "Oh, and thank you for bringing Bliss back. She's a troublemaker for sure."
Dawn nodded, handing back the key. A flash of pink in her eyes made her smirk as she walked over to Bliss.
"Well little rascal, it was a pleasure knowing you. But alas, this is the end of the road for us. Maybe I'll see you around," Dawn said solemnly, trying to keep a straight face. She offered a hand for Bliss to shake.
Bliss rolled her eyes but gripped Dawn's hand with her two fingerless arms, squeezing hard enough to make Dawn wince.
"Thank you for coming to the Pokémon Center. We hope to see you again!" Nurse Joy called with a jubilant wave and a happy smile. She kept that smile on her face until she was sure that Dawn was gone before sighing and running a hand through her tied-back hair. "...In one piece..."
There were no gyms in Jubilife, so the only places Dawn could see herself visiting was the Trainer's School and the Poketch Company. With a dramatic sigh and a shrug, Dawn entered the Trainer's School, expecting nothing but chalk dust and a boring lesson.
Instead, Dawn was greeted with the sight of schoolchildren reading or discussing things quietly. She was acutely aware that she was at least a decade older than them, but the weirdest thing in the room was the sight of Jun sitting in the corner, reading a book with an expression of intent concentration.
"...Have you been there all morning?" Dawn muttered, poking Jun's shoulder. He wasn't even fidgeting, which deeply unnerved the young woman.
As if she had broken a spell, Jun's head snapped up and he faced Dawn.
"Hi Dawn! I didn't realize you were actually going on a journey too, seeing as you didn't come and Lucas took your pokemon instead," Jun happily babbled, although in reality his sentence sounded more like, "HiDawnIdidn'trealizeyouwereactuallygoingonajourne ytooseeingasyoudidn'tcomeandLucastookyourpokemonin stead."
Dawn paused and blinked, untangling the babble into understandable words. She proudly claimed that she was fluent in Jun, but it still took around ten to twenty seconds to figure out what exactly he was saying.
"..Yo, my minion! That was cruel of you, leaving me behind like that. Blood brothers, remember?" Dawn held up her pinky, which still bore the faint scar. Johanna flipped when she figured out what the two had done with a potato peeler...
It was Jun's turn to blink in confusion. "I'm pretty sure you're a girl, Dawn," he stated flatly. Luckily for Dawn, confusion had slowed his words to an understandable level.
Dawn scowled. "The point is, you're an ass for ditching me."
Jun fidgeted, more because he couldn't keep still and not because he felt guilty. "How about this, I'll make it up to you with a battle! Yeah, a battle. It's your pokemon against mine! 'K? Alright, let's do this!"
Unfortunately for Dawn, he was back to talking at three thousand words per hour. When she had finally decoded his declaration of war, it was too late.
"Go Turtwig! Crush Dawn's whatever!"
Dawn mourned her failed attempt at a possible guilt trip. Lucas, ever the gentleman, had always taken her shopping at Jubilife as an apology. She had run him dry with only minimal guilt - although Johanna quickly caught wind of her daughter's less than sublime habit and promptly added the hefty final cost to Dawn's towering debt.
"...Go Rillian...we'll get that darned turtle at a later date..." Dawn sighed, tossing her pokeball in what she hoped was an elegant yet lazy flick of her wrist. Unlike the idiot Jun, she had class, even if she didn't always make it known.
Rillian flopped, the dopey look on her face morphing to something resembling determination.
Jun broke into a fit of laughter, rolling on the floor and earning strange looks from the schoolchildren. As he convulsed on the floor, Dawn exchanged a glance with Rillian. "...Do I win if the Trainer faints instead?"
"I'm not sure Miss," a boy muttered as he flipped through a hefty rulebook.
"Ha! Get 'em while they're off guard! Specialty Tackle on that Magikarp!" Jun shouted, back on his feet and raring to go. Turtwig happily charged at Rillian with the same energy that his Trainer possessed, colliding into the poor Magikarp with a flying tackle that sent both of them rolling.
"He-THAT ISN'T EVEN A REAL MOVE!" Dawn roared, sobering as she cradled her injured comrade in her arms. "Talk to me, Rillian!"
Rillian managed a weak Splash before promptly dozing off. Dawn recalled the Magikarp slowly, her hair shading her face. "You must die...slowly and painfully..." She muttered as she withdrew Starly's pokeball. "Starly, Tackle!"
Dawn had forgotten one crucial detail due to her overwhelming desire to crush Jun's ego; Starly hadn't bonded properly with her. The dazed Starling Pokémon looked around in confusion. Last he had checked, he was happily eating with his flock...
Dawn let out an undignified yelp as Starly attacked her instead, delivering painful pecks and scratching at her. The attacks weren't even proper moves, just instinct and hatred. There were some major snickers from everyone else in the classroom as Dawn swatted at the enraged Starly.
"Tackle Turtwig, not me! I'm not your enemy! Ow! Well, I suppose I did catch you against your will..." At a particularly violent tug at her hair, Dawn resorted to desperate measures. "Okay! Fine! I'll...give you all the food you want, and when Rillian evolves I'll let you go!"
Dawn would never know if it was the prospect of food or release that made Starly agree, or even how much of her deal he understood. Whatever the case, the relentless attacks finally ceased.
"Finally..." Dawn muttered as she nursed her bruised dignity. "Okay, now Tackle on that Turtwig."
Starly puffed up his chest as he shot the mother of all evil glares at the cackling Turtwig. Under his intense gaze, Turtwig froze and shrank back, shaking slightly. Starly let out a shrill call before lifting himself into the air, gaining enough speed and momentum to slam Turtwig into a bookshelf and cause a book avalanche.
"Tremble in fear, mortal," Dawn laughed, using her deepest and most dramatic voice.
Barry growled. "That was a fluke, okay? A fluke. Turtwig, Tackle!"
Digging his way out of the books, Turtwig marshaled his courage and slammed into Starly, causing the Starling Pokémon to squawk indignantly as a trashcan toppled and spilled on him. The schoolchildren watched wide-eyed, a live demonstration far more interesting than a textbook.
"Tackle!"
"Withdraw!"
Starly slammed into Turtwig just as he pulled himself into the shell and bounced off. He tittered furiously, lifting himself back into the air.
"Aw crap," Dawn growled as she scanned Starly with her Pokedex. "Growl!"
Starly let out a caw worthy of a Staraptor, effectively frightening Turtwig even further. Jun scowled at the little bird that caused him so much trouble. "Don't let that puny bird stop you! Tackle tackle tackle!"
Eyes narrowed in concentration, the tiny turtle let out a battle cry and leapt for Starly, who didn't seem too impressed even as he slid back a meter or two.
"Ha! Boy, you can do so much better than that! Show that Turtwig what a true Tackle looks like!" Dawn cheered, fist in the air.
Starly cawed in agreement as he flew in for what Dawn hoped was a finishing blow.
"Ha! I really am the best! Number one in the universe!" Jun crowed happily. Dawn only glowered as she held Starly's unconscious form.
"We gave it our best shot, little soldier," Dawn murmured sadly as she ran off in her shame.
Jun continued to boast for a couple minutes before eventually stopping. "Well I gotta' pick up that custom made Poketch...bye!"
He darted out of the room, leaving a group of stunned students in his wake.
"...Hey...they didn't even bother cleaning up after themselves!" One girl shouted angrily.
A/N: I really have no excuse other than some sh*t you probably don't need to hear. I hope this makes up for my...almost three month absence.