Paul and Dawn: First Light

Chapter 60: Necessary Skills

Chapter 60: Necessary Skills 

We flew for about half an hour, though we passed Mauville several times considering flying was such a fast means of travel. Salamence was eager to stay in the sky as long as possible. As peaceful as it was, Dawn and I grew cold from the icy wind and, despite Salamence's warm skin against our legs, we soon couldn't stand the cold. 

He started descending towards the lit up city. I gave him directions to the Pokemon Center, where he landed quite gracefully considering it was his first true landing. Still, I had to catch Piplup who began tumbling off the side. Dawn slid off Salamence's back first and I followed suit. 

"I'm hungry," Dawn announced. 

I nodded, feeling very shaky now that all the adrenaline produced from today's events was gone. I really hadn't eaten much since the night before. "Let's drop our Pokemon off at the front desk and go eat. There's always something to make in the kitchen." 

I took out Salamence's Poke Ball, turning towards him, somehow not at all surprised that such a wimpy Bagon could turn into a beast capable of anything. Salamence lowered his head so that his eyes were right in front of me. 

We did it, I heard him say with his toothy smile. 

I touched his forehead with my hand, unable to think of words to show him my gratitude for everything he'd done for me. The moment seemed to last forever as we stared at each other. Eventually I removed my hand and he disappeared into his Poke Ball.  

Dawn and I headed inside. A Chansey was watching the front desk and we gave her our Poke Balls. She handed us two keys with a tag that read "Room 4" on both of them. We thanked her and headed to the kitchen where we both opened boxes of cereal and fruit, not caring that it was probably 3:00 in the morning. 

We both ate ravenously. I'd never seen Dawn eat so quickly but, yet again, neither of us were used to going without food. I pulled out some orange juice from the fridge, Dawn's favorite, and some water. 

I sighed as I finished about three glasses, my stomach finally feeling full. Still bruised, but at least nourished. 

I stared at Dawn who was still picking at some cereal. She had dirt covering her arms and face. I'm sure I didn't really look any better. 

"I'm going to take a shower," I said, standing up. 

Dawn looked up at me. "Ok. I am too in a minute. I'll meet you in the room?" 

"Yeah." I nodded, noticing she looked kind of flustered. 

I walked away, my mind really too tired to think about anything else besides getting clean and going to sleep. I went into one of the multiple bathrooms with my backpack, pulling out my extra set of clothes and peeling off the layer that was stuck to me with sweat before stepping into the shower, rinsing off the layers of grime that had accumulated over the past day. 

It was an automatic process and, before I knew it, I was drying off and redressing. I walked down the hallway to our room, pulling out my key and unlocking the door, pushing it open roughly. Dawn wasn't in the room yet. 

The room was nicely furnished. There were multiple bunk beds. I immediately threw myself onto the closest bottom bunk, chucking my bag next to it and opting to take off my shirt. I hadn't really studied my body in the shower, but now I could see my chest bruising from the multiple hits I'd taken today. 

I sighed contently as my head hit the pillow, my body sinking into the soft mattress that couldn't possibly be more comfortable.  

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that the lights had been turned off. I didn't know how long ago I'd fallen asleep. It'd been an accident. I'd meant to wait for Dawn. The second thing I noticed was a soft click noise that sounded like a door closing. My eyes focused groggily on the door where I saw a shadow move. Dawn.