Taking a second to compose myself after Paul disappeared from view I began walking towards the main hallway, nearly jumped out of my skin when I walked past a small alcove and a hand shot out to grab my arm. Turning quickly my fear melted as I recognized Serena's honey blonde hair instead of the yellow blonde hair of Mr. Faba which I had been half-expecting.
"Serena you nearly gave me a heart attack. What are you doing?" I asked in confusion, looking where she was leaning against the small indent in front of a door that led to who knows where.
She gave me a guilty look. I narrowed my eyes looking back to where Paul and I had been talking just a minute ago and then to Serena's apparent hiding place.
"Did you..." I started to ask and Serena's grip tightened slightly on my arm.
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, really. But Paul left so quickly after the battle and I was going to try and convince him to see you before he left. Then he turned down this hallway and he looked so angry. I followed him and saw that weird older guy trying to drag you away and when Paul stepped in I just... thought it would be awkward if I was here..." Serena explained, obviously feeling awkward herself.
I couldn't blame her for staying hidden; if I had walked into a similar situation I probably would have done the same thing. I smiled gently at her.
"It's okay. Thanks for trying to catch him for me," I said sincerely and Serena looked up at me.
"He REALLY likes you, Dawn," she said seriously and I felt myself blush brightly.
"Why do you say that?" I asked, surprised that this was the first comment that she would have made.
"I was watching him all day. He was so expressionless when he was around all of us but when he watched you his eyes lit up. Then when you battled Kailani and her Flaaffy's Charge Beam nearly hit you he stood up and looked like he was ready to rush down and try to protect you himself," Serena said.
I felt my cheeks heat up even more and a silly smile spread across my lips.
"I just don't understand why he's being so stubborn about not dating you. If you two love each other then why do you have this stupid bet about you leaving him alone?" Serena asked in a huff, folding her arms irritably and I smiled sadly.
"It's not my place to say, Serena. But... I think something changed," I said, recalling how Paul's eyes had softened and he actually said the word 'promise' when I stubbornly insisted I would win our battle. "I think... for the first time, he has actually thought about the possibility of us being together."
Serena raised one of her perfect eyebrows and huffed lightly.
"If it's taken him a month of being apart to realize he doesn't like you being away from him then he's an idiot," Serena said harshly and I giggled, which made her smile; but then her smile slowly faded and concern flooded her light blue eyes.
"Are you okay, Dawn? With how the tournament ended, I mean?" she asked gently and a true smile spread across my lips.
"Yah. For once... I have something that's more important to me than becoming a top coordinator, or the tournament star, Serena. I did my best today, so I'm okay," I said honestly/
Serena grinned broadly and wrapped me in a warm hug. I returned it, feeling like I was floating on cloud nine, and promised myself that in the next three and a half months I wouldn't think about missing Paul. Instead, I would do everything in my power to get stronger. Then when the pokemon league came I would make sure that Paul kept his promise when I won our battle.
May and Drew left the next day to head back to Hoenn together, but Ash and Serena stayed with me for the rest of the week. I allowed myself and my pokemon a break as we all traveled together, reminiscing about our different journeys together.
Serena and I cheered Ash on as he took on both Hau and a guy I hadn't met yet named Gladion. Ash beat Hau with two pokemon to spare and I was shocked at how strong he had gotten since I traveled with him. However, when we traveled back to Ula'Ula for Ash's battle against Gladion he was crushed. It wasn't until Gladion left that Ash explained that Gladion was the Alolan Champion and I wished I could have talked to him more.
Not surprisingly Mirageon and Sylveon became fast friends in our brief trip traveling through the islands and Serena could not get enough of all of my new pokemon. The week went by faster than I could believe and before I knew it we were all standing in the newly renovated Melemele airport bidding each other goodbye.
"Come visit us after you compete in the pokemon league, okay? Promise?" Serena asked as she hugged me tightly, and I nodded against her head as I returned her hug fiercely. I then gave Ash a hug and one of our iconic high fives before he gave me a few last-minute pieces of advice for my first time battling in a pokemon league.
A female voice announced that their plane was now boarding and I tried to hold back my tears as I waved goodbye to them. They both waved at me before turning and handing their tickets to the worker. Swallowing with difficulty I watched until the last glimpse of Pikachu's yellow tail disappeared and then I let out a small sigh and left the airport. As I walked out of the airport with my head down I jumped back when I nearly crashed into something.
"I'm so sorry!" I said automatically before looking at the woman's familiar face and blinking in surprise. "Kahuna Olivia?" I asked in surprise and she smiled up at me.
"Well, if it isn't Dawn! How are you doing?" she asked warmly and I smiled.
"I'm good, I was just saying goodbye to some of my friends that came to watch the Luau Showdown Tournament," I explained and Olivia nodded in understanding.
"That was an incredible tournament. A lot of people were upset that you didn't win," she said but I shook my head.
"Traavi won fair and square," I said firmly and Olivia smiled up at me.
"I"m glad that's how you feel. Where is Paul? I thought you were traveling together."
I gave a little half-smile and shrugged my shoulders slightly. "It's a little complicated, but we're training on our own for the pokemon league."
Olivia looked at me without responding for some time and then shifted her weight so that one of her hips jutted out slightly.
"You have a vulpix, isn't that right?" Olivia asked slowly and I nodded.
"That's right. I caught her on Ula'ula island," I explained and Olivia smiled.
"Would you like her to evolve into a Ninetales?" she asked sweetly and I blinked in surprise at the question.
"Well... of course I've thought of it, but she needs an ice stone to evolve and I heard those are really rare in Alola," I said slowly and Olivia grinned up at me.
"They are, but I just happen to be leaving on a trip to find some ice stones for my store. Why don't you come with me? I can help you train for the pokemon league while we're searching," Olivia offered with a broad smile and I felt my jaw drop open in shock.
"Really? Are you sure I wouldn't be a bother?" I asked and Olivia laughed.
"Not at all! It would be a pleasure to have company," she said sincerely.
And so, thirty minutes later I had purchased a ticket and was sitting next to Olivia as we made our way back to Ula'ula island on the tiniest plane I had ever seen. When we touched down and began traveling towards Mount Lanakila memories flooded through me.
For the first time in a long time, I thought about when Paul kissed me, and instead of feeling despair, I promised myself that once I beat Paul then I would run across the battlefield and plant a kiss right there in front of everyone. The thought alone made me blush, but I smiled at the daydream.
Olivia was surprisingly a wonderful travel companion. She told me stories of how she had become a Kahuna and would watch my practices with my pokemon closely and offer pointers for how to increase my pokemon's power or dodging abilities. I showed Olivia the counter shields that Ash had used when we were traveling together and she encouraged me to use them if the situation arose. I noticed that Olivia stressed the importance of using moves that could create status conditions and I took her advice under consideration, but I preferred a more head-on approach to my battles.
As we traveled through the mountain pass Olivia agreed to stop and say hi to Makani and Nalani, who greeted us excitedly. They seemed surprised to see me without Paul, but I thought Nalani would faint from excitement when she recognized Olivia. The two immediately began talking passionately about the most recent fossils that Olivia had found.
Since Olivia and Nalani were having such a good conversation I decided to take Nani outside and have her meet my pokemon. To my surprise, Nani absolutely fell in love with Arcanine and Vulpix actually seemed a little jealous as Arcanine showered the little munchkin with attention. We ended up spending the entire day at their home and they insisted that we spend the night. I tried to help Nalani with dinner but Olivia told me to stay outside with Nani and my pokemon, so we played a few little games until dinnertime. We all sat on the grass to eat dinner because Nani refused to leave her perch on Arcanine's back after I had boosted her up onto him. After Nani and her parents had gone to bed I lay on one of the comfortable futons spread out on the living room floor and reflected on how much had changed since I had last been here.
"Hey, Dawn, are you awake?" Olivia asked gently and I shifted so that I was facing her.
"Yup. What's up?" I asked.
Olivia's face was bathed in moonlight and as I looked at her I realized that in the past few days of traveling I had started seeing her as a cool older sister.
"Can I ask what happened to you and Paul?" she asked quietly.
I slipped one arm under my pillow and pulled it forward slightly as I thought about how I should answer her.
"Do you mean why did we stop traveling together?" I asked quietly and Olivia shrugged.
"Essentially," she said with a small smile and I chuckled quietly.
"Essentially?" I repeated and Olivia brushed her bangs out of her face gently.
"Well. I couldn't help but notice that in the tournament your song choice was a lot different from the other performances I have seen you give. And your dancing seemed much more emotional in the tournament. I was a little worried that something happened between you two," she said quietly and I blinked in surprise.
"I... didn't realize it was so obvious," I said awkwardly and Olivia chuckled.
"You performed three times on Akala, and I became quite a fan, to be honest. I doubt many others would have noticed," Olivia said with a soothing smile and I blushed at the thought of having a kahuna claim to be my fan.
"Well... It's kind of complicated, but basically, I fell in love with Paul after we traveled together for a while, and he developed feelings for me as well. But he was afraid that if we became a couple that he would hurt me, so he thought it would be best for us to part ways before our feelings got any stronger," I explained, surprised that my normal feelings of sadness and hurt didn't surface as I was speaking. I smiled quietly and closed my eyes, remembering Paul's soft eyes and gentle fingers when he promised I could stay with him if I beat him.
"You seem happy?" Olivia whispered and I opened my eyes quickly.
"It's not because we broke up," I said quickly and Olivia chuckled quietly. "I came up with a plan where I challenged him to a battle. I told him that if I could beat him at the pokemon league then he had to let me stay with him."
I saw Olivia blink slowly in the moonlight and for a long time, she didn't say anything.
"Is that why you have been training so hard?" she asked finally and I nodded.
"Yes," I replied simply.
Olivia went quiet again and turned onto her back so she was looking up at the ceiling.
"I never found someone that I wanted to spend my life with," Olivia said quietly after a long pause. "I always imagined falling in love and having a family... but it just never happened." Turning over to look at me she gave me a small smile. "So if you have found your love then I want to help you hold on to it. Will you let me train you until the next pokemon league?"
"I wouldn't be bothering you? Don't you have duties as the Island Kahuna?" I asked, feeling bad but also excited at the prospect of staying with Olivia for longer.
"If I have a busy spell as kahuna I'll send you to one of the island captains to train you while I'm busy," Olivia said with a smile. "It would make me happy if you let me train you," she whispered and a smile broke across my lips.
"I would be honored to have you train me, Olivia," I answered sincerely and she smiled at me.
"Good. Then we start tomorrow."
I nodded in agreement and within minutes I was asleep and dreaming of Paul.
* * * *
"Any luck yet?" Olivia's voice echoed from within the chamber we had been searching in for several hours now.
I rubbed my hands up and down my arm, grateful that Olivia had told me to buy winter clothes back in Malie City. The top of Mount Lanakila was FREEZING and we had been searching through the ice caves for days now. I was beginning to lose hope that we would find any ice stones, but I was determined to not give up.
"Not yet!" I called back, glancing over at Vulpix who was frolicking in the snow that had collected in the open chamber we were searching for a while.
When I released her to do some training and she saw where she was she had completely shut down and hidden behind my legs. I explained to Olivia about how she was bullied by her old pack before I caught her. Olivia suggested that I keep her out of her Pokeball at all times while we were on Mount Lanakila so that she could create happier memories about her birthplace. Today was the first day where she had actually seemed to be enjoying herself and I was amazed at how innocent and sweet she seemed to be here in the snow.
"I'm getting hungry, so let's meet up at the campsite and we can spend the rest of the day training!" Olivia's voice called through the interconnecting caves.
"Sound good!" I yelled back.
Turning to look at Vulpix I saw she was smiling happily up at me. I returned her smile and tilted my head towards the way we had come back into the tunnels that spiderwebbed through the mountain.
"Let's go get something to eat," I said and Vulpix pranced over to me, rubbing her cheek against my boot.
I bent down and rubbed her ear fondly, briefly touching my nose to her chilly one before standing up and leading us out of the cave. Holding my hand against the cave wall I followed the markers that I had left to make sure that I would be able to find my way out of the maze of caves here. We were nearly out of the cave when Vulpix suddenly froze in her tracks, her ears erect and quivering slightly.
"What is it? What's wrong, Vulpix?" I asked her.
She looked up at me with her big, pale purple eyes and I could see fear in her expression. Before I could say anything else though a movement coming from a connecting tunnel caught my eye and I turned, naturally putting myself in front of my frightened pokemon.
Slowly and deliberately a figure walked out of the shadowy tunnel into the light and I felt my mouth hang open slightly. I was looking at the most beautiful pokemon I had ever seen. The alolan ninetales body was pure white, whiter than the purest snow, and the ends of her flowing tails, paws, and ears were all the clearest blue I had ever seen. She looked delicate and ethereal, but powerful and elegant at the same time.
As I watched the ninetales come into the light I noticed that five or six vulpix were trailing behind it and for the first time, I realized that my vulpix really did look different from them. My vulpix's fur was white, but it had an almost silverish tint to it, instead of the pure white of these vulpix, and instead of having the clear blue color accents, hers were a pale purple. The color difference was barely perceptible, and I felt a rush of anger at this group of beautiful pokemon because I knew that this must be Vulpix's old pack that bullied her since she was crouched down and trembling behind my legs.
Ninetales lifted up her head in a stately gesture, her head coming up to a little above my waist and I saw her eyes travel past me down to my frightened Vulpix. The ninetales multiple tails quivered and she exhaled a breath of air that crystalized midair and the vulpix behind her all glared at my own. I folded my arms and glared at the pack of pokemon that I knew could freeze me into an ice cube without difficulty if they wanted to, but I refused to show any fear.
"What do you want?" I asked loudly, causing Ninetales to look up at me and narrow her crystal blue eyes. I met her imperious gaze with a hard glare of my own and she again let out a large burst of air from her nose, not even bothering to speak.
"Vulpix is my pokemon now, you don't have any reason to torment her anymore," I said firmly.
Ninetales shook her head, causing the long locks of hair sprouting from between her ears to wave. The ninetales took a step closer to me and growled slightly, looking at my cowering pokemon with obvious contempt. Glancing down at my vulpix my heart broke a little bit, but more than anything I wanted Vulpix to stand tall and be proud of herself.
"Vulpix," I said gently and was pleased when she raised her head and looked up at me. "Vulpix, do you trust me?" I asked softly.
Vulpix blinked her pale purple eyes a few times before slowly nodding her head.
"Vulpix vul," she said in her quiet, high-pitched voice. I smiled at her and turned back to Ninetales, who was watching us with narrowed eyes.
"Vulpix and I challenge you to a battle," I said loudly, returning Ninetales glare.
Ninetales blinked once and then let out her version of a laugh. I could see Vulpix wilting slightly as all of the other vulpix laughed as well, but I took a step forward and folded my arms.
"What? Are you scared?" I asked while quirking an eyebrow up. Ninetales instantly stopped laughing and growled again, her tails flapping up and down with obvious irritation. "Then let's battle. But only you against Vulpix," I said firmly.
Ninetales glowered at me then barked delicately at the pack of vulpix surrounding her. As one they all took several steps back and found spots along the edge of the tunnel to watch the battle.
Vulpix followed me to a spot a few feet farther down the cave's tunnel. Her head was held high but I could see her little paws shaking. Before we turned to face her old tormenter I knelt down on the hard ground and laid a gentle hand on Vulpix's back. She looked up at me with obvious uncertainty and I smiled at her, trying to transmit some confidence to her.
"I know this is scary, Vulpix," I whispered quietly. "But you have been training really hard and I have an idea for how we can beat her. I know you can do this if you believe in yourself."
Vulpix blinked her eyes a few times up at me and then I saw determination fill her. With a short bark, she nodded her head and turned around, planting her feet in a strong stance as I stood and turned to face the haughty ninetales.
Without warning the larger pokemon raised her snout and all nine of her tails towards the ceiling and let out a pure, high-pitched howl. A blinding Dazzling Gleam attack erupted in front of us. I shielded my eyes for a few seconds and gritted my teeth, knowing that that would have done quite a bit of damage to Vulpix, whose special defense wasn't very high.
"Use Aurora Veil, Vulpix!" I instructed.
Instantly the Dazzling Gleam faded away and was replaced with a beautiful Aurora Borealis that circled around us and our opponent. Ninetales took a step back, looking at the beautiful sight suspiciously and I smiled, knowing that this wasn't a move that vulpix naturally learned. That meant that our opponent had probably never seen it before and I hoped its effect of halving the damage of any attack for at least five turns would be enough for us to get an advantage.
"Now use Frost Breath," I directed.
Vulpix dashed forward, opening her mouth and letting out a gust of frigid mist that knocked into Ninetales and caused her to stumble back. Ninetales growled in irritation and once again raised her tails and I could see a Blizzard attack materializing behind her.
"Ride it out and use Extrasensory!" I yelled just as the snow collecting behind Ninetales began flying towards us.
With a slightly smug smile, I saw Ninetales look confused as the normally intense move floated past Vulpix and me gently, hardly doing any damage. I was glad that Paul had told me to focus on improving Aurora Veil for Vulpix. As Ninetales looked at the gentle gust of snow with confusion Vulpix jumped forward and whistled, causing a beam of psychic power to descend on Ninetales. The pokemon screeched in irritation and pain but jumped away from the attack. She rounded on Vulpix, letting loose another Dazzling Gleam which was now only half as bright as her first terrible attack, but the glittering wall of power still knocked Vulpix back and onto the ground.
"You're okay, Vulpix," I called over to her encouragingly and she raised her small head to look over at me. Smiling brightly at her I extended a hand towards her. "I'm right here," I said quietly.
Vulpix's lips tug upwards in a smile as she met my gaze. She got to her feet just as Ninetales began to create an Ice Beam attack.
"Flip to dodge it, and then use Frost Breath again!" I said.
With unusual speed Vulpix jumped up and pulled herself into a sideways flip, narrowly missing the Ice Beam which slammed into the ground where she had been. As she came back to the ground she let loose another Frost Breath attack directly into Ninetales face. Ninetales stumbled back shaking her head to try and remove the ice crystals that had sealed her eyelids shut.
"Aurora Veil again, Vupix," I said, taking advantage of Ninetales distraction.
Once again the beautiful green and blue aurora borealis appeared around us as Ninetales rubbed her foreleg against her frozen eyelids. Even before she had removed the ice crystals though, her tails went up as she called another Blizzard attack, which was once again half the power of a normal attack.
"Create a shield out of Hex to block it, Vulpix," I instructed.
She let out a determined 'Vul!' before doing just that. The attack streamed around her but melted upon contact with the ghostly flames of her Hex attack. Ninetales finally got her eyes open again and she blinked in confusion at the purple shield that was obstructing her view of my vulpix.
"Send the Hex over to Ninetales!" I called and the flames shot towards her.
Ninetales leaped over the ghostly flames and began creating an Ice Beam again.
"Extrasensory, quick!"
Before Ninetales had shot the attack at Vulpix another column of purple-pink psychic energy dropped onto our opponent. She let out a ragged cry and fell to her side when she tried to move out from the attack. With trembling legs, she tried to stand up.
"Extrasensory one more time," I called encouragingly.
Before Ninetales could rise Vulpix again sent the psychic attack towards her. After the purple and pink waves subsided Ninetales majestic head fell to the ground and she lay still. Vulpix and I waited for several seconds, seeing if she would get up. Once it was obvious we had won I ran over to Vulpix and scooped her into my arms, spinning her around gleefully as I felt her ice-cold breath panting against my neck.
"I knew you could do it, Vulpix! I knew it!" I squealed happily.
Vulpix laid her cheek against my shoulder, obviously exhausted. I stroked the curly fur in between her ears lovingly as I turned to see the pack of vulpix all gathering around the Ninetales we had just beat. Her eyes were beginning to flutter open and I gently put Vulpix back on the ground and rummaged through my backpack until I found two oran berries. I gave one to Vulpix and then I cautiously approached the pack of ice types. Ninetales glared at me from her spot on the ground but slowly I knelt to the ground to appear less threatening and then rolled the oran berry towards them.
One of the Vulpix cautiously stepped forward and sniffed the berry before gently taking it between her front teeth and scampering over to her fallen pack leader. After a few seconds of stubbornness, Ninetales eventually ate the proffered berry and seemed to give the vulpix who had brought it to her an order, because it ran down the connecting tunnel that they had appeared from a few minutes ago. Ninetales lifted her head and glared over at me and Vulpix and I watched with pride as Vulpix walked right up to me and returned her glare with an unconcerned expression. Ninetales expelled a sharp breath of frosty air in annoyance, but I noticed that her eyes seemed to have softened slightly.
We all looked at each other silently until I could hear the pattering sound of the vulpix returning. I watched as the little thing emerged from the shadows of the tunnel and was surprised when I saw that it was holding something in its mouth. The vulpix pup looked over at Ninetales, who nodded once, and then came over to me and deposited what she was carrying in front of my feet. I sat down cross-legged and picked up the shimmering item, gasping lightly as I realized that I recognized the diamond-shaped stone.
"Is this... a Z Crystal?" I asked in shock and Ninetales yipped lightly in affirmation.
Glancing down at the crystal clear blue stone in my hand I could see the shape of a snowflake in the center of it and I looked down at Vulpix with delight.
"It's an Icium Z, Vulpix!" I explained excitedly, showing her the crystal.
She sniffed it excitedly, wagging her tails back and forth. Turning to Ninetales and her pack of Vulpix I bowed my head slightly.
"Thank you very much," I said sincerely.
To my surprise, Ninetales bowed her head back at me and Vulpix. She then slowly got back to her feet and she and the other vulpix turned and left us as suddenly as they had appeared. Vulpix watched them go and I thought I saw a brief look of longing, but she then turned to look up at me and smiled brightly, jumping into my lap and snuggling against me affectionately. I held her to me in a tight embrace for a few seconds before standing up and following my markers out of the ice caves.
A/N Last call for pokemon requests you'd like to see in the pokemon league :D Any suggestions/requests besides Lopunny and Typhlosion? Thank you for reading!!!