A New Dream

Happy Evolution Day!: Dawn's POV

For the next week, Paul and I traveled from the volcano to Lush Jungle. As we traveled Paul and I tried to use our z stones but neither of us could get them to work, even when we battled each other (which was one of the most terrifying experiences of my entire life). I still shuddered as I thought back to his "lesson" about how to create a hole in a pokemon's defense and he had chosen TORTERRA to try and teach me with. Even though I had completely and utterly failed at breaking through Torterra's Frenzy Plant and Stone Edge defenses, Paul surprisingly hadn't gotten angry with me. He just told me to do it again until my pokemon had all fallen to the ground in exhaustion and then he said we'd work on it another time.

Paul sure is strange, I would find myself thinking at least three times a day. 

After traveling with him for a week now it was obvious that he had a wall around him that he wouldn't let even his pokemon through, with the exception of Torterra. But even though he wasn't open about himself or his feelings, his pokemon were completely devoted to him. I could see their determination to prove to themselves and to him that they could become stronger.

We naturally developed a routine after a week of travel. Every morning by the time I came back from my jog with Growlithe Paul had started making breakfast. We would all eat together and then we would spend the morning either traveling or doing personal training. I would normally take my pokemon with me to a spot far enough away that my music wouldn't annoy Paul and we would practice for the next showdown we would enter. Thinking of competing in another showdown made me a little nervous, but my pokemon's enthusiasm in our training gave me courage.

At lunchtime, we would go back to our campsite and eat a small meal together and then Paul would spend the rest of the evening training me. Some days he taught me about battle strategies, one night he taught me how I could look up all of the moves my pokemon could learn and the most effective ways to teach them a move I wanted. Then he would normally make me practice whatever he taught me through a battle. We'd only been at it for a week and already I felt like I had improved as a trainer. To thank him I would make dinner every night and I did my best to make something yummy and new.

"Tomorrow you should take your Lush Jungle trial," Paul said abruptly after I placed our dinner in two tin foil wraps and placed them in the coals of our fire.

"You think I'm ready?" I asked with a smile and he frowned at me.

"You shouldn't need me to tell you that," he scolded gruffly.

I tilted my head at him, wondering if he meant that how it sounded (rude and like he thought I was being childish) or if he actually was trying to tell me to be confident in myself. I found myself wondering a lot lately if he really was rude or if he was just socially inept.

"Are we going to Konikoni city after I finish my trial?" I asked, prodding our dinner gently with a stick to line them up better on the fire. Paul nodded and stood up.

"Call me when dinner is ready," he said without looking at me, then turned and walked over to Torracat, who had been practicing Flame Charge for the past thirty minutes. 

I bit my tongue as I watched Paul tell Torracat to stop and I could see his furry legs trembling from the exertion. Often I wanted to tell Paul to not push his pokemon so much, but I never did because I knew that his pokemon followed his directions because they believed it would make them stronger, even if it made them exhausted. 

I don't think I have the heart to do that though, I admitted to myself, nudging the tin foil wraps again and sighing. If that is what it takes to become a pokemon Champion then I'm glad that's not my dream.

"Grrrow," Growlithe barked from behind me and I felt his soft paws lean against my back. I smiled and looked over my shoulder where he was giving me a doggy smile.