A New Dream

Traitorous Thoughts: Paul's POV

Taking another bite of the delicious chili that Dawn made for dinner tonight I tried not to show how much I was enjoying it while stealing glances at Dawn out of the corner of my eye. She was watching Eevee who was trying her best to copy Ribombee as she flew in large, graceful circles. We had stopped at Heahea City the other day to restock on our food supplies and Dawn had disappeared for nearly two hours while I checked the bookstore for any new battle theory books.

As much as I hated to admit it, traveling with Dawn was surprisingly pleasant. I had my growing list of reasons why I preferred to travel alone, of course, but Dawn's meals alone were worth putting up with her waking me up early in the morning. Our arguments were getting less frequent as well, which surprised me a bit. Sometimes I would say things to purposefully make her angry with me, but she would just give me a smug smile and change the subject.

We had picked a campsite a few hours outside of Konikoni city so that I could continue training her on how to battle more strategically. Her battle with the totem lurantis had been painful to watch, but if I knew Lurantis could create such a powerful Solar Blade I would have insisted on her training more before attempting the trial. She somehow pulled through, thanks to her Cutiefly evolving, and I noticed that she seemed slightly more confident in our practice battles.

"When were you hoping to battle Kahuna Olivia?" Dawn asked suddenly, turning away from her pokemon and meeting my eyes. I quickly swallowed my spoonful of chili, glad that I hadn't been openly staring at her. 

What is it about this girl that is so distracting? I asked myself angrily, but I didn't dare to actually think about it because I was pretty sure I could find several reasons.

"In the next few days. Once Riolu can consistently get his Force Palm charged in three seconds then we'll be ready," I said and she nodded slowly.

"Would you mind if we paused our nightly lessons until then?" she asked slowly and I narrowed my eyes at her.

"You don't want my help anymore?" I asked, surprised at how much discomfort that thought brought me. Her eyes widened and she waved her hand back and forth rapidly.

"No! Not at all! I really appreciate you giving me these lessons and I can tell we've only barely scratched the surface of what you know," she said sincerely, and a strange desire to smile tugged at my lips but I forced myself to remain expressionless. "It's just that the Konikoni showdown is coming up soon and I want to spend some extra time really getting my dance routine polished," she explained and I blinked.

"I see." 

My reply didn't seem to satisfy her though because she scooted a little closer to me, biting her bottom lip. She does that a lot. Is it a nervous habit? I found myself wondering and then I blinked and raised my eyes to meet hers, annoyed that I had been analyzing her lips like a creep.

"Actually, I am going to be doing a dance with Eevee this time," she announced. I blinked several times as I looked over at the little ball of mischief who was still jumping and twirling after Ribombee.

"Eevee can dance?" I asked in shock and Dawn smiled brightly, setting her almost empty bowl down and wrapping her arms around her knees as she brought them up to her chest.

"She's actually really good! The song I picked means a lot to me and Eevee was the only one who could keep up with my choreography. Even Ribombee was struggling since I tap the ground a lot and she basically spends every second in the air," Dawn explained and I wondered why I was actually paying attention to her. What did I care about her showdown practices?

"And you think Eevee will be okay in front of a crowd?" I found myself asking before ladling myself some more chili.

"The Konikoni Showdown is going to be held at night. It's actually difficult to see into the crowd when you have the lights shining on you on stage, so I'm hoping that it won't bother her," she remarked. Her eyes hadn't left Eevee and when she finally tripped, looking like she had made herself dizzy from all the spinning, Dawn chuckled under her breath.