Paul and Dawn: First Light

Chapter 7: First Breath

Chapter 7: First Breath 

I eyed the Bagon, pretty unsure of how to handle the situation. I had never held a newborn Pokemon before. If it started crying I swore I'd leave it in the cave alone. 

Minutes passed and I stared at Bagon as it stared at me. It didn't seem weepy. Or weak. Its eyes just stared intensely into my own and it didn't move, much less squirm or smile or attack. It just watched me. 

"Whoa." Dawn interrupted the silence. 

I closed my eyes in anger- such a rare moment, a newly hatched Dragon Pokemon, had to be ruined by this monstrosity next to me. 

"Hi, Bagon! It's nice to meet you." 

Bagon turned its eyes slowly to see Dawn. It quirked it's head slightly, but showed no emotion. 

Maybe I liked this Bagon after all. It had good distaste. 

"I'm Dawn and this is Paul." Dawn pointed to the two of us in turn. "I guess since we witnessed your hatching that makes us your mom and dad, huh?" 

I flinched and turned to her, Bagon still in my hands. "Arceus, Dawn. There's no way in hell I'd ever raise anything with you- not a baby, a Pokemon, or even a pet rock." 

"Shh, not in front of Bagon!" Dawn said tersely, and then leaned in closer to Bagon. "You're so cute! I love its cute little feet and arms, they're so short!" 

Bagon's eyed widened and his mouth quirked down and he showed the first sign of movement, twisting to face away from Dawn as if offended. 

I scoffed. "Bagon is a boy, Dawn. He doesn't want to be complimented about his limbs." Bagon looked up at me and blinked in surprise. 

"And how would you know that Bagon's a guy?" Dawn put her hands on her hips. 

"Just because you can't tell the difference between a male and female doesn't mean everyone is as slow on the uptake," I shot back at her. 

"I still think he's adorable."

I swore in my head. "Bagon, pay no attention to her. She is not your mother and I'm not your father. I don't know where your parents are, but if you'd like to come with me, you can. I can be your Trainer." 

My eyebrows turned down in confusion. What had caused me to say that? I'd never asked a Pokemon to come with me before. I just catch them. Maybe I felt the need to ask because of the innocence of Bagon. He was newly hatched with nowhere to go.

And it was so much different than what I had expected. Bagon didn't seem childish. In fact, it seemed more intelligent than Dawn and it was only a couple minutes old. I smirked. 

Bagon stared at me and nodded once. 

I took out a Poke Ball silently from my pack and put Bagon down on the floor of the cave. I tapped the Poke Ball to its head and a red light surrounded him, forcing him into the ball. The red light on the Poke Ball chimed as Bagon accepted the ball as his home. 

I stood up, feeling more victorious than I thought I would. 

"Yay!" Dawn jumped up, light on the balls of her feet. "You did it!" 

She then wrapped her arms around me, almost making me drop Bagon's Poke Ball in shock. "Get off of me!" 

I squirmed out of her embrace, my nostrils flaring. 

"Sorry. I forgot rule... what? 165? No touching." Dawn grinned at me, unable to help herself. 

"If that happens again I'm leaving you in this cave alone."

"Hey, Paul." Dawn grinned at me. 

I looked away. "What?" 

Her voice was infuriatingly snide again, "Remember when we made a bet that I couldn't make it to the top of the waterfall and I did?" 

"Of course I do. My memory, as I keep saying and you keep forgetting, isn't as miniscule as your own." I mentally imagined myself slamming my head against the nearest wall, cursing my bad luck. 

"And so that means you also remember saying I can travel around with you if I did make it to the top, right?" Dawn scooted closer to me casually. 

I took a couple steps away. "That was before you almost pushed me off the top of it." 

"But you promised-" 

"I don't remember shaking." 

Dawn's sly smile was replaced with a furious glare. "You said you never lie." 

"Hmph. How observant of you." I sighed. "Yes, you can come along... if you can keep up." 

I began running through the chamber, back to the entrance as I heard Dawn's voice echoing, "That wasn't part of the deal!" behind me. The largest smirk, almost even big enough to be a weak smile, formed on my face as made my way back to the main chamber, Dawn at my heels yelling for me to slow down.