First Faith

Chapter 3: Implications

Chapter 3: Implications

"How's he doing?" Dawn stood up from a lobby couch, her eyes full of worry. Piplup even seemed a bit uneasy as he sat, frozen in place instead of his normal squirming.

"He's fine." I proceeded in telling her what Nurse Joy had said.

"Oh." Dawn blinked, "Well, I'm sure he's not going to like that very much."

"You guessed correctly. And truthfully, neither do I. I wasn't planning on spending any time around human beings for at least another week."

"Hey, Paul. I know you're pretty slow, so I think I should just tell you now- I'm a human being." Dawn whispered to me as if it was a secret.

I eyed her warily, "Really? I never would have guessed."

My heart lightened a bit at her teasing and she smiled.

"So, I guess you're stuck being around people like me." Dawn sat back down, seeming more comfortable.

"I don't even know where we are." I realized, surprising myself.

"I was told we're in Fiducia Town." Dawn handed me her Pokegear and pointed north of Mt. Pyre, "Right there."

"I've never been here before." I admitted.

"Such a shocker. The great Paul hasn't been absolutely everywhere in Hoenn?" Dawn gasped.

"I was too busy avoiding towns to visit everywhere."

"It's still better than somewhere."

Dawn and I exchanged a very long glance before she couldn't help but laugh. The amount of times she joked about that, I didn't know how she still found it funny.

"What's the plan for the rest of the day?"

I looked at the clock. Four in the afternoon, "We should stay here. I don't want to leave Salamence. It's getting late and I'm not in the mood for talking to people."

Dawn smiled, "Hey, you're talking to me."

My lip quirked up, "You're not people."

"I'm glad I'm unique." Dawn said happily before standing up and grabbing my hand, "Ok, well let's go watch a movie before dinner."

I followed without complaint despite not being in the mood. It didn't matter. Dawn wanted to watch a movie, or perhaps she just wanted to try and get my mind off Salamence. No matter her intentions, it was spending time with her and I didn't have any complaints about that.

After the movie, which I paid no attention to (Teenage Mutant Ninja Squirtle. The horror), we had dinner and then headed to one of the many empty lounge-like areas the Pokemon Center had to offer. We began talking casually on a couch. Or, more accurately, Dawn would talk while I listened and reflected upon how I was so at ease with her talking instead of irritated, like I would have been even months before. She talked, I listened, and Piplup snored as he slept.

Something began bothering me as she talked, which I couldn't decipher until she began talking about how she wasn't sure what to do about her Contest dress.

"What were you doing with your eyes closed when I was trying to figure out what to do?" I asked suddenly.

"Wait, what are you talking about?"