"Frenzy Plant," I commanded, facing the wild alolan Meowth that crossed my path on my way to Iki town.
With a roar Torterra obeyed, sending huge roots racing towards the meowth who was desperately trying to run away. The roots smacked it from underneath though, tossing the pokemon into the air as it yowled in surprise.
Pulling a miniaturized Pokeball from my holder and growing it to normal size I pulled back and aimed. Just before throwing the ball, a piercing shriek blasted through the forest, startling me enough to misjudge my throw and miss the meowth as it fell back to the ground. It immediately took off with a snarl, disappearing under the bushes that grew all over. I growled, annoyed that I couldn't scan it to see what kind of moves it had. I doubted I would have kept it, but if it had a good ability I would have considered it.
Glancing over at Torterra and his bulk though I knew there was no way I would be able to catch up to it. With a sigh, I started walking away from the shrill calls that seemed to echo through the whole forest. A dull thud rang out as something hit me in the back of the head and I whipped around to glare at Torterra, who had once again hit me with a weak razor leaf attack.
"What?" I grumbled and Torterra nodded in the direction of the distressed pokemon. "It's none of my concern. A pokemon that loud is just trying to make up for being weak," I spat.
Torterra narrowed his eye before turning away from me and lumbering towards the shrill noise.I watched him make his purposeful way, weaving the best he could between the tight trees, and my annoyance slowly began melting away.
If I force him to return he's going to be angry with me for days, I thought to myself as I wondered where Torterra got his kind streak, especially after being my pokemon for so many years. Sighing I followed after him and the shrill calls, quickly catching up to the big lug. As we got closer the call became more distinctive and I narrowed my eyes as a sneaking suspicion of what pokemon was making the terrible noise began to form.
As the trees began to thin and the small blue ball that I had been expecting came into view I frowned. Piplup was looking off the cliff edge, calling out desperately and there was a vine tied to a tree next to me that looked like it had torn and was lying limply a few inches from the edge of the cliff. A female voice drifted up from somewhere and I felt my stomach clench uncomfortably as I realized that Dawn was nowhere to be seen.
Piplup then looked up and spotted me, his eyes going wide. The little weakling began jumping up and down and ran out from the middle of a group of Yungoos that were backing away from me and Torterra with threatening hisses. Heedless of the other pokemon's reactions Piplup waddled over to me faster than I could even believe and ran behind my legs, beginning to push me forcefully towards the cliff's edge.
"Calm down, weakling. Where's your trainer?" I asked, even though I was pretty sure I knew the answer.
Piplup continued pushing against the back of my legs and so Torterra and I walked toward the edge. Grateful that I didn't have a fear of heights, I leaned over the cliff's edge and looked down. About ten feet down Dawn was standing on a thin ledge, looking up with a small Vullaby standing in her backpack while gripping her neck.
"Paul? What are you doing here?" Dawn called up to me with obvious shock in her voice. I rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to tell her that wasn't really important right now.
"How did you get down there?" I called down to her and the vullaby in her backpack started squawking terribly.
Ugh, I'm definitely not catching one of those things, I thought with annoyance as I watched Dawn stroke the ugly thing's head to calm it.
"My vine broke," Dawn called up as a reply and I glanced over briefly at the vine tied to the tree I had noticed before.
"Just stay still!" I called down, wondering how one person could get into so much trouble. "Torterra, can you use vine whip to grab her?" I asked.
Torterra slowly began to amble his way towards the cliff's edge so he could peek his large head over. Alarmingly though as he got closer to the edge the cliff began to crumble slightly and I swiftly put my hand out to stop him from coming any closer.
"No good, huh," I muttered under my breath as I once again looked down at Dawn who had raised one of her arms up to shield her eyes from the rays of the setting sun. Blinking in surprise I frowned as I thought I saw trails of blood on her bare arm.
"Piplup lup lup," Piplup blubbered at the edge of the cliff, large tears dripping from his eyes and yellow beak to fall over the edge of the cliff.
Heaving a sigh I glanced down at Torterra who was looking at the little pokemon with worry evident in his large eyes.
"Torterra, use vine whip and wrap them around my stomach," I instructed through gritted teeth. Without question, Torterra did as I asked. "Now, keep lengthening the vine until I tug on them twice. That will mean I want you to bring us up, okay?" I explained and he let out a low "Tor" in agreeance.
Silently berating Dawn for being stupid enough to get herself in this mess, I stepped off the cliff and began to make my way down swiftly, feeling completely secure with Torterra's vines wrapped around me. Every few feet I would glance down to make sure I was still going in the right direction. As the distance slowly diminished a small wind began picking up, tossing my bangs into my eyes. In the same second that I reached up to move them out of my way a much more powerful wind blasted me from the side and my eyes widened as I heard Dawn's shriek of fright.
"Dawn!" I yelled, watching in horror as she was knocked off balance and tumbled off of the ledge she had been standing on, barely reaching out a hand to stop her fall at the last second.
Without thinking I launched off of the cliff wall, desperately hoping that Torterra would realize I needed more slack as I dropped towards Dawn, whose hand was quickly losing purchase on the ledge.
I watched as her strength gave out and she slipped, but Torterra had somehow read the situation. I reached out my hand to her, catching her around the forearm just as Torterra's vine lurched to a stop, nearly knocking the breath out of me as his vines tightened around my stomach and chest. Dawn shrieked in pain at our sudden stop but Vullaby's screams drowned out any attempt I could have made to ask if she was alright.
Awkwardly I reached behind me with my free hand and tugged twice on the vines wrapped securely around me and I felt us begin to be pulled up the cliff wall. I couldn't tell whether it was mine or Dawn's arm that was trembling but I reached down and grabbed her wrist with my other hand as her fingers dug into my own forearm. I was briefly grateful that I hadn't taken off my jacket because I was pretty sure Dawn's fingernails would have dug in deep enough to make me bleed without it.
With one last pull, Torterra lifted me and Dawn up and over the edge, dangling us a few inches from the ground before taking several steps backward and lowering us to the ground. Dawn's legs immediately gave out and she slumped to the ground. I knelt next to her, breathing hard as Torterra released his death grip on me. Piplup threw himself into Dawn's lap, blubbering like an idiot, and she gathered him up into a hug with only her right hand.
"Of all the stupid, idiotic things to do! What in the name of Arceus were you thinking?" I growled, breathing heavily as I rubbed my bruised ribs.
Dawn raised her head to look at me but before she could respond Vullaby began squirming and popped out of Dawn's backpack, stumbling and rolling until it too was standing on Dawn's lap and crying plaintively. I watched as she shushed the vullaby gently, bring her left arm, which was shaking much more than I thought was normal for the situation, and awkwardly patted the Vullaby's head. As she patted the ugly thing she glanced up at me with moisture collecting in her eyes, making them seem larger than normal.
"Thank you, Paul. And you too, Torterra," Dawn said sincerely with a voice that only trembled slightly.
"Mm," I responded shortly.
Seeing her so close to tears made my throat close off slightly and I found myself unable to continue yelling at her. Torterra stepped closer to Dawn, butting her right shoulder against his forehead and giving her a worried look. Dawn smiled shakily and leaned her forehead against Torterra's cheek without saying a word.
Without her looking at me my throat loosened again I had just decided that she really did deserve to be scolded more when a loud, angry pokemon call ripped through the forest trees. The yungoos that had come to surround the little vullaby on Dawn's lap spooked and took off into the forest. I was on my feet within seconds and warily looked to the west as a loud flapping sound reached my ears. Dawn gripped Piplup and Vullaby to her chest, fear evident in her expression, and I was surprised that in her state she was actually trying to protect anyone other than herself.
"Maaa!" The shrill cry sounded once more.
My eyes widened in disbelief as a massive Mandibuzz burst from the trees, flapping its huge wings and causing a small gust of wind to wash over me. The Mandibuzz swiveled in the air, turning to face us with its gleaming black eyes and its gaze fell onto Dawn who had turned partially to the side, trying her best to shield Piplup and Vullaby from the monstrosity.
"Mandibuuuz!" The creature called, stretching its dark wings as wide as they would go and then flapping down hard, sending a shimmering air cutter attack towards us.
It took all I had to withstand the buffeting winds but I managed to stay on my feet and inch towards Torterra and Dawn. A quick glance made me clench my jaws. Torterra had fallen to one knee and was breathing laboriously after the super-effective attack. He met my gaze though and I could see the determination in his eyes as he pushed himself up and took a few steps forward in an attempt to shield Dawn. To my shock, Piplup popped out from Dawn's protective hold and stood in front of his trainer with an equally determined look as he chattered angrily at the gigantic Mandibuzz.
"Stand tall, Torterra, and use Stone Edge!" I ordered, hoping that the Mandibuzz would stay still. But of course it shot into the air, avoiding the hulking stones that erupted from the ground where it had been hovering. Mandibuzz screeched and opened its beak wide, a mass of black energy beginning to collect at the end of its beak.
"Please, stop! What's wrong?" I heard Dawn calling from her position on the ground. I again noticed the blood and cuts running down her arms. Briefly, I wondered if her legs were in a similar condition and I had to roll my eyes at her stupidity of trying to reason with an angry, fully evolved pokemon.
Mandibuzz let loose its Dark Pulse. Torterra roared, stepping in front of me as if he would shield us all with his body, but then a shimmering line of light streaked out of the forest. I had to shield my eyes as a blinding light crashed into the dark pulse, sending explosive sparks in every direction. Mandibuzz screeched in frustration and swooped around, beginning to glow blue as it came in for a brave bird attack.
I blinked rapidly, attempting to get the white spots in my vision to go away as I focused on the new Pokemon that had appeared. It was a black pokemon with huge shield-like arms colored in patches of bright yellow and orange. The strange pokemon let out a cry of its own and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck raise as it gathered and then released a huge bolt of lightning towards the attacking Mandibuzz, stopping it in its tracks and causing it to crash gracelessly to the ground.
Everything went still as the Mandibuzz panted heavily on the ground, crackles of electricity snaking over its body sporadically. I looked at the strange pokemon in shock. A rustling noise caught my attention and I turned to see the vullaby huddling against Dawn shoving away from her and stumbling towards the fallen Mandibuzz, cooing softly. Mandibuzz lifted its head weakly and I thought I saw a strange smile twist the corner of its beak up as the vullaby rubbed its ugly head against the beast's neck.
"Do you think she's the mother?" Dawn asked, still not getting up from her spot on the ground. Vullaby continued rubbing against the fallen Mandibuzz and I shrugged.
"I guess so," I responded, glancing at the pokemon who had protected us and was surprised to see that it was regarding me as well. Slowly it nodded its head in an almost regal gesture and floated over to me, placing a strange stone a foot away from me. Then it flew over my head and went over to Dawn, repeating the gesture.
"Kokooo!" It called loudly, its voice echoing magnificently, and I heard answering pokemon calls all around me.
With that the pokemon closed its large arms around its body, making it look like it was a strange floating bird head, and then flew off over the treetops. A brief feeling of annoyance that I couldn't catch whatever the pokemon was washed over me, but glancing over at Torterra made me doubt we'd have been strong enough to catch it right now. I turned my attention to the rock it had given me, stepping forward to pick it up off the ground. It was an unassuming rock, but as I twisted it around a sliver of onyx black sparkled as the light hit it and I brought it a little closer to peer into a crack within the dull gray of the stone.
"Wow, do you think that was Tapu Koko?" Dawn asked in a daze, watching the retreating figure of the strange pokemon. I gave her a confused look, waiting for a moment before she actually met my gaze and could see it. "Ah, do you not know about the Tapu's?" she asked.
I raised an eyebrow, wondering if she somehow hit her head while climbing the cliff.
"In Alola they revere these special pokemon that they think of as the island guardian and they call them 'Tapu's'. Melemele Island's Tapu is called Tapu Koko, and supposedly it's a fairy electric type," Dawn explained from her spot on the grown. As she spoke Piplup came over to her and touched one of the angry scrapes going down her leg, peeping sadly as he looked up at his trainer.
"I'm alright, Piplup. They're just scratches," she said with a smile but I noticed that she hadn't made any attempt to move since she had fallen to the ground.
"Where did you learn about that?" I asked with mistrust, not believing that Dawn could know more about Alola than I did
"I read a book on Alola's history while we were on the boat," she explained as she too reached out with her right arm and picked up the strange stone the pokemon had left for her. "I don't remember reading about the Tapu's giving people stones though. Do you know what this is?" Dawn asked, gesturing to the stones we were both holding. I shrugged, feeling oddly annoyed that I didn't have an answer for her.
"Tapu Koko! Tapu Koko, were you calling me?" a male voice called from the forest behind me.
I frowned, looking over just as a guy around my age stumbled out of the forest. I wrinkled my nose in disgust as I appraised him. He was wearing the ugliest yellow shorts I had ever seen; they had a large orange flower print all over them and were loose and baggy. His dark green shirt was the same color as his hair, which was pulled back in a thick ponytail, and I noticed that he had a keychain hanging off of one of the loops of his shorts that carried six miniaturized pokeballs.
"Auwe! What happened to you two?" the young man asked with a stupid grin spreading across his face as he ambled over to us, completely missing the oversized Mandibuzz and its baby lying on the ground behind him.
"We had an altercation with the cliff," Dawn explained with an awkward smile and I glanced over at her with surprise.
She knows what altercation means?
"Ah man, no kiddin'. It looks like you got beat up pretty good," the young man said, walking over naturally and squatting next to Dawn.
"Mandi."
I turned around to see that the mother Mandibuzz had seemed to shake off her temporary paralysis and was standing up to her full height, nearly a foot taller than my own which was unheard of according to my research.
"Hey, Mandibuzz! What are you doing all the way out here?" the young man asked, standing up and leaving Dawn to amble over towards the pokemon.
I narrowed my eyes in surprise as I watched him reach up and stroke the beast's neck like they were old friends. The baby vullaby that Dawn had rescued sidled up next to his leg and hugged it affectionately.
Rolling my eyes I looked over at Torterra to see that he had somehow moved away from me without me noticing and was looking down at Dawn with obvious concern. Biting my tongue to keep from saying something derogatory I walked over to where Dawn still had not moved from her spot on the ground and stopped right in front of her. She glanced up at me with a guilty expression in her blue eyes and I wondered if she was gritting her teeth because she didn't want to be near me or because she was in pain.
"Can you stand?" I asked gruffly, slipping the stone I had been given into my jacket pocket.
She blinked her blue eyes up at me as if considering my question before nodding her head slowly.
"Yah. Yah, I can do that," she said as if she was trying to convince herself.
I watched silently as she leaned forward, putting weight on her right hand but leaving her left arm dangling by her side, and slowly pushing herself up onto her feet. Piplup peeped in shock and I inhaled deeply through my nose as I looked at Dawn's legs which only yesterday had been perfectly white and smooth, but now looked like a Sharpedo had gnawed on them. I could see several small bits of rock embedded in the bigger cuts and they were all oozing blood sluggishly.
"You idiot," I said without thinking and she winced, looking down at the ground. "Saving someone does no good if you kill yourself in the process," I scolded, stepping a little bit closer to her as I saw her knees begin to tremble alarmingly.
"I tested the vine. I thought it would hold," she muttered without looking up at me.
"Auwe, what happened to your legs? They're even worse than your arms!" the young man from before said from behind me. I felt myself stiffen as he casually rested a hand on my shoulder and leaned closer to Dawn to inspect her legs.
"Is there a hospital nearby?" I asked, itching to brush off the guy's hand from my shoulder.
"The only hospital on the island is in Hau'oli and unless you have riding gear for Tauros it'll take you a couple of hours to get back down there. But my Mom is a nurse and she's home at Iki Town, I'll take you to her," he said with a grin up at me. I moved away from him swiftly, causing him to lose balance and stumble to the side a bit as he lost his armrest.
"I'm Hau, by the way. Hau Jun," he said, reaching a hand out to Dawn who took it in one of her own slightly trembling ones.
"I'm Dawn, this is my partner Piplup, and that's Paul and his partner Torterra," Dawn introduced us politely.
As she let go of Hau's hand her knees began to shake violently. I moved forward uncertainly, but as she began to fall thin green vines wrapped around her waist taking on her weight easily. Glancing back I saw Torterra frowning sadly and he gently lifted Dawn up and over his head to set her on top of his shell where she could lean against the small tree growing out of his back for support.
"Wow, your pokemon sure is strong! What did you say its name was again?" Hau asked with a stupid grin. I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering if he was always so happy when he found someone bleeding in the forest.
"Torterra," I answered shortly, turning my back on him and walking towards the forest, knowing that Torterra would follow behind me.
"Oy! You don't know where you're going," Hau called after me as he followed me into the forest.
I looked back and noticed that Torterra had bent his head down so that the little runt Piplup could clamber up onto him and make his way to Dawn. As my eyes shifted to her I noticed that she had closed her eyes but was stroking Torterra's shell underneath her with her right hand.
"Then hurry up and lead us," I snapped at Hau as he dodged around Torterra's girth to come walk next to me.
Hau kept up an incessant chatter as he guided us through the forest and if Torterra hadn't been carrying Dawn I would have left him within minutes. Instead, I did my best to ignore him and tried to pinpoint what I had done to become mixed up with such a bothersome girl as Dawn.
It had seemed oddly satisfying to make Dawn angry yesterday on the ship. I hadn't wanted her to think that I enjoyed her company so I was even more blunt than normal. Finding out that she had voluntarily given her Piplup an everstone had caused any lingering respect I held for the girl to drop away instantly. To top it off her claim that coordinators trained as hard as a trainer was so laughable I had been seconds away from challenging her to a battle. She left before I could get it past my lips though, which was for the best since I would have felt a little like a bully if I beat her Piplup and made her cry.
Honestly, I thought that that was the last I would see of Dawn. I had dismissed her reappearance in my life as an unpleasant reminder of the past and figuratively washed my hands of her. WIthout a single regret, I had begun traveling through the tropical island forests, not bothering to follow a path since the reason I came here was to catch new pokemon and learn how to unlock the power of Z-Moves.
A small gasp of pain made me look over my shoulder to see that Piplup was sending a weak stream of water down Dawn's legs and arms, apparently trying to clean out her wounds. I grimaced slightly as I saw in the dimming light the runoff water that was stained a dark red from the blood and dirt sloshing off of Dawn and down onto Torterra's shell. Torterra showed no signs of revulsion through and he continued to lumber carefully forward, doing his best to not jostle his passengers.
Torterra's always had an instinctive need to help out weak things, but I wonder why he has gotten attached to Dawn so quickly? I wondered to myself, not bothering to listen to Hau as he continued droning on about how he beat the island challenge years ago and had just come back from a journey through the Kanto region.
"Ah, we're almost to Iki Town! Don't worry, Dawn. My mom will have you fixed up in no time," Hau said, turning around and walking backward while bringing his hands up to rest against his neck as he grinned idiotically at Dawn.
She returned the grin with a tired smile of her own before turning away and looking to her side, bringing her right hand to rest against her left shoulder which seemed to be covered in a weird shadow.
"Hey Paul, is Torterra your only pokemon?" Hau asked and I scoffed automatically.
"No. But he's the only one I brought with me to Alola," I replied reluctantly and Hau grinned.
"I did the same thing when I traveled through Kanto! I left all my pokemon back with my mom and only brought Decidueye with me. Man, Kanto's got some interesting pokemon. But nobody knew what a malasada was! I thought I was going to die until my mom sent me a box filled with them," Hau said with a boisterous laugh which I did not join in with, but he either didn't notice or didn't care.
I noticed that the trees were once again beginning to thin and soon we left the forest behind us. The path we had found wound up to a large staircase that led to a small town of mainly single-story homes all built around a large raised platform.
"Made it!" Hau said with an enthusiastic fist bump.
I rolled my eyes, wondering how old he was. He was only a few inches shorter than me, but he seemed to have the mindset of a toddler.
"Come on, guys! My house is the second one on the left," he said energetically, practically skipping the rest of the distance to the large wooden stairs.
I glanced over at Torterra with concern, not sure he would be able to navigate the stairs with his large feet, but as we got closer to the stairs Torterra gently raised onto his back legs and then lowered himself to the ground again, triggering his frenzy plant and somehow managing to wrap the attack around his own legs and propel himself up and over the narrow steps.
Interesting, I thought with admiration and wondered if there would ever be a time in a battle where Frenzy Plant could be used in a similar way.
The last of the sun's rays winked below the horizon as Hau led us to his home. Torterra once again used Vine Whip to gently lower Dawn from his back and onto the ground a few steps from me.
"Thank you, Torterra," she said tiredly and he nodded his huge head, taking a step closer to her so she could gently stroke his forehead in thanks. I watched as Piplup waddled down Torterra's shell, slipping in a wet spot and peeping loudly as he tumbled down and crash-landed beak first to the ground, which made me smirk in amusement.
"Alright, return for now, Torterra," I said, raising his Pokeball and calling him back.
Dawn's arm dropped to her side as Torterra disappeared and after making sure her useless pokemon was okay she looked over at me with a tired smile.
"Thank you for letting him carry me, Paul," she said to me. I scoffed, moving closer reluctantly and standing stiffly next to her.
"He wanted to, it was none of my doing," I rebutted and I heard her chuckle breathily. "If you need to lean on something you can hold onto my arm," I offered through gritted teeth, figuring that Torterra wouldn't be happy with me if I didn't help her when he would have.
Without a word, Dawn reached out and gently held onto my jacket sleeve. Hau had already gone into the house, leaving the door wide open, and we could hear him calling for his mother. Slowly I walked into the house, watching Dawn out of the corner of my eye to make sure she wasn't going to fall over again.
Hau's mom, who had the same brown skin and green hair as her son, walked into the living room and gasped when she saw Dawn's battered skin. She immediately ordered Hau to gather some supplies. As Hau dashed into another room she came over and wrapped her arm around Dawn's thin waist and guided her to a wooden chair that she pulled from under the dining room table.
Piplup sat down on the floor next to Dawn's feet as Hau's mother methodically cleaned and disinfected the many scrapes and cuts along Dawn's arms and legs, although the worst of it was on her knees where she had to use tweezers to remove several small rocks that were wedged in the skin. Dawn clenched her eyes shut but surprisingly didn't cry out once, even though I was sure she was in a lot of pain.
Throughout the cleaning process Hau and Dawn told the story of what happened to her and Hau's mom, Mrs. Jun, listened silently as she worked. Once Mrs. Jun was finished she smeared a herbal healing ointment on the worst of the cuts and wrapped her legs practically from ankle to thigh in white gauze, repeating the process on her arms as well.
"What on earth happened to your shoulder, sweetheart?" Mrs. Jun asked as Dawn gasped in pain when she prodded it.
What I thought had been a shadow was actually a large bruise stretching from the inside of her shoulder and back to almost the shoulder blade.
"I think I pulled it during the fall," she said through gritted teeth.
I remembered back to when the wind had knocked her off the ledge and I had caught her, halting her fall. She had cried out in pain then, but had she hurt her shoulder when she was holding onto the ledge or after when I had caught her? I wasn't sure, but I felt a pang of uncomfortable guilt begin to grow in the pit of my stomach.
"You poor thing. You were so brave to go and rescue that Vullaby all by yourself!" Mrs. Jun praised her and I coughed, trying to keep my opinion that she deserved a good scolding instead of praise from surfacing.
"That Vullaby is always wandering away from its mama, but this was the first time I had seen it so far on this side of the island," Hau said from his spot on the floor where he was watching his mother bandage Dawn with interest.
"Dawn, do you have anywhere to spend the night?" Mrs. Jun asked her, ignoring her son's comment which made me smile quietly to myself.
"I bought a tent," she said and Mrs. Jun tsked.
"Don't be ridiculous, dear. You need to keep those bandages clean and rest in a proper bed. We have a guest room down the hall, I'll go get everything ready for you," she said with a tender smile. Dawn attempted to argue but she shook a finger in her face, ending any further discussion. "Will your boyfriend want to sleep in the same room? We have a cot that I can set up next to the bed," Hau's mother offered while looking at me.
I blinked very slowly as I tried to figure out how best to tell her she was a raving lunatic if she thought I would waste my time with a girlfriend, let alone Dawn.
"Oh, Paul isn't my boyfriend," Dawn said with a shocked expression and I shook my head emphatically in agreeance.
"Oh, my mistake. Well then, would you like to sleep on the couch?" Mrs. Jun offered with an easy smile, not seeming sorry in the slightest.
"I'll be fine sleeping outside," I responded tersely and Mrs. Jun frowned at me.
"Don't be silly, I'm not about to let Dawn's rescuer sleep outside. You just make yourself comfortable and I will get you a blanket while I make the guest bed for Dawn," Mrs. Jun said firmly and whisked out of the room before I could argue how unnecessary that sentiment was.
To my chagrin, Mrs. Jun did not take no for an answer and after fixing us a simple dinner I found myself lying on the long couch staring up at the ceiling. What a waste of a day, I thought with annoyance before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.