A New Dream

How to (not) Hold a Conversation: Dawn's POV

As Paul and I walked back to Hau'oli city the late afternoon sun made quick work of drying our clothes. The sea breeze was gentle and I couldn't help but be amazed at how relaxed I felt here. Far away from my rivals and contests I somehow felt like I was actually living again instead of just going through the motions, charging ahead to my dream but having it always out of reach. I glanced over at Paul, who hadn't acknowledged my company since I caught up to him, for good or bad. I smiled as I watched him swipe his bangs away from his eyes with a look of annoyance.

"I can cut your bangs for you, if you'd like," I offered and he gave me a dubious look.

"You know how to cut hair?" he asked and I nodded.

"I used to cut Kenny's hair when we traveled together, it's not that hard," I said and Paul cocked his head to the side.

"Your boyfriend?" he asked blandly and I felt my cheeks heat up.

"No! I grew up with him and he is a coordinator too so we traveled together. But that was back when I was eleven," I said, trying not to think back to the last time I saw him and how much I probably hurt him.

"So you haven't cut anyone's hair since you were eleven?" Paul asked and I blinked in surprise, thinking back.

"Well, yah, I guess," I admitted and Paul scoffed, shaking his head to once again get his bangs out of his eyes.

"Then no thanks," he said bluntly. I frowned at him, folding my arms and looking away.

"Whatever, I was just trying to help," I muttered.

"I don't need help," Paul replied gruffly. 

I sighed, recalling how Hau had called him 'intensely independent' and I couldn't agree more with that analysis.

"So where will you be going once we get to Akala?" I asked and Paul raised an eyebrow at me.

"To Brooklet Hill for the first trial," he responded blandly and I blinked.

"First trial?" 

Paul sighed and shook his head as if he couldn't believe anyone could be so ignorant. I swallowed my annoyed comment though because he actually responded to my question.

"There are three trials on Akala island that you have to take in a certain order. The first is the trial on Brooklet Hill, then there is the Wela Volcano trial, and the last trial is in Lush Jungle. From what I could find the trials are to earn a Waterium, Firium, and Grassium Z-stones respectively. Once a challenger has all three of the stones they can challenge the island Kahuna, but I couldn't find information about what typing Akala's Kahuna favors."

"So you're going to head to Brooklet Hill right away?" I asked and he shrugged.

"I want to do some training with Torracat and try to get the Fightinium Z move to work," he said, his voice sounding far away as if he was already planning training schedules and was no longer paying attention to our conversation. 

I thought about the Fightinium Z and the dozens of glowing fists pounding against Torterra and I couldn't help but shiver. Even if I could teach that move to Growlithe, I wasn't sure I wanted to.

"What about you?" Paul asked after a few silent minutes. 

I jerked my head up, shocked that he actually turned the conversation around to me.

"Oh, well there are about ten Showdown's scheduled on Akala Island in the next few months and I want to go to at least two or three of them. I'll try to plan them out so that I can do a trial between every Showdown," I mused, trying to recall the exact schedule of Luau Showdowns Nurse Joy had given me.