Chapter 4: Reluctance

I woke up slowly, something my body normally didn't do. Pokemon Center beds were quite comfortable compared to sleeping bags on the ground. My mind faded in and out of wakefulness, retreating back to dreams of battling and training, to the state of foggy awareness of soft sheets and sunlight, shifting back and forth until I heard the twittering of small Flying Pokemon.

The sound sent me into another dream. A happier one where I was surrounded by trees, where I studied Starly, where I heard the practical, soothing sound of pencil meeting paper. I forced myself to return to reality, waking with an urgent breath, as if I'd been underwater. I would only allow myself to dream of subjects that could come into fruition with certain amounts of work and talent. Under no circumstances was there a possibility of other dreams, dreams that fools pursued, that would never come to be. Those dreams I didn't allow.

"You ok?" Dawn asked.

I turned my head, noticing her pause as she brushed her hair, studying me meticulously. Nodding, I leaned back on the mattress, trying to clear my mind. Such a peaceful image should not be the cause of alarm, no matter if it'd been years since thinking about it. I stared at the wooden panels of the bunk bed above where I sat, focusing on anything that seemed of interest.

A small squishy thing climbed into my lap. I looked down, wondering why on earth Piplup would think that it was ok to invade my personal space. He blinked up at me curiously, as if waiting for an explanation that I wasn't going to give.

"I'm fine." I stated again, more to Dawn than to him.

"Do you need to go see Salamence?" Dawn asked, coming over and making herself at home on my bed. Funny how I would have been more than generous to share a small space last night, but now that I was being interrogated, it was a much less appealing idea.

"Yes, though I think I can spare a few moments to get ready." I made up, watching Piplup in annoyance as he climbed over one of my legs and flipped onto his back. I was not a playground.

Dawn seemed to notice my continual unease, though didn't remove her partner from my lap, "Did you have a bad dream or something?"

"No, I didn't." I told the truth.

Dawn stared at me. I stared back. She sighed, "You really can't keep things from me, ok? I'm here to help."

She grabbed my hand. I squeezed it tightly, feeling a bit more at ease, "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

"You better." Dawn teased.

I leaned forward, inches from her face. A crashing sound came from the floor. Dawn and I peered over the side of the bed to see Piplup entangled in sheets, kicking furiously to get them off.

Dawn came to his rescue while I sat back, shaking my head mentally as his shrill cries forced their way into my eardrums.

We decided to eat breakfast prior to visiting Salamence. Dawn didn't question why I didn't seem eager, possibly because I hardly ever appeared eager about anything. How fortunate for me. It made keeping thoughts I was trying to forget even more susceptible to slipping back into dormancy. I optimistically hoped they'd disappear in their slumber.

As soon as we sat down at the table with our plates of food, a television on the wall lit up with a bright red news scroll, flashing the word "urgent" in bold, capital letters. Dawn noticed and found the remote on the table behind her, turning up the volume as footage of mountains appeared on screen. Or at least I guessed they were mountains. They looked a bit odd.

A reporter's voice spouted off, "This is Mari, coming to you live from above Mt. Prye where rock shifting on an enormous scale has been happening this morning. Geologists have said the likelihood of this event occurring was almost impossible. Rockslides have occurred on connecting mountains simultaneously. Fortunately, no one has been hurt by this activity, though a lot of the sacred graves on Mt. Pyre have been destroyed, not to mention that most of the routes in the area have been blocked off-"

I put down my fork, "Dawn, where are we again?"

"Fiducia Town."

"And we're near Mt. Pyre?"

"Yeah... it's really mountainous here. We're in a valley."

I closed my eyes, wondering why I was so annoyed by this, "So, in other words, we're most likely stuck here because of all the danger from rockslides all of a sudden?"

Dawn looked at me warily and nodded, "I mean, it's not that big of a deal though. It's not like we have any place to be."

I leaned back in my chair. No, we didn't have any place to be. No, I couldn't really leave anyway considering Salamence was injured. But still, the events from the past two days seemed very suspicious. I was good at calculating things and situations like this weren't adding up, "I don't like being stuck somewhere for so many reasons."

"Why do you think of it as being stuck? I mean, just because you can't go somewhere doesn't mean you're stuck, right?" Dawn asked.

I considered that, "If a person doesn't have options, I don't see how they're free to do what they would like."

Dawn stared at her mug and smiled.

"What?"

"Oh, I just find that funny." Dawn answered, "Because you're free to have whatever kind of attitude you want about the situation you're in, but you're acting like you don't have the freedom to do even that."

I opened my mouth, not even sure how to reply. It didn't seem to matter as I noticed John round the corner of the cafeteria, spotting me instantly despite my mental reaction of wanting to hide. A warm smile spread on his face as he hurried over to see us.

"Hey, you two. How's your Salamence?" John asked.

"He's doing well, though he won't be particularly useful anytime soon." I stated.

"Paul!"

I glanced at Dawn's aghast expression before continuing, "I really am glad he didn't sustain any other injuries."

"Of course you are." John replied, "I'm so thankful I could help you out yesterday. I'm sure he was in a lot of pain."

I nodded, hoping that would suffice for another thank you, "Would you like to see him, or are you busy?"

I was hoping he was busy. I didn't have any actual inclination to talk to this man, but he had helped Salamence and myself. That was reason enough not to turn the cold shoulder.

"Yeah, I'd like to give him some company for a bit." John continued smiling. I wondered how someone could possibly smile that much. Or offer to help for no reason. Something about him seemed very off compared to the rest of humanity, or at least the people I'd met.

But really, I was the one more out of tune with the world.

Dawn and I cleaned up our table and began guiding John. On the way to Salamence's room, Dawn and John talked about common every day topics such as the weather, where they were from, and how their mornings had been. I tuned them out, wondering how Salamence had spent the night, hoping he hadn't begun moping. This would be a difficult few weeks.

We entered the room. Salamence was still hanging from the suspense harness to prevent any weight from being put on his forearm. A low, drolling snore rumbled through the room. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath for patience, and walked over to Salamence, deciding to be a bit nicer considering there was a guest watching right by the door.

"Salamence." I said, less harsh as normal, "You have visitors."

The snore paused before becoming a grumble. Salamence began shifting his body, attempting to get comfortable. The shifting turned into rocking back and forth, swinging as his eyes snapped open in shock.

Instinctively, I put a hand on his neck, near his head. Salamence immediately calmed down, but his eyes were full of fear.

"Forget where you were?" I asked.

Salamence slackened in his harness, annoyed as he looked glumly at his cast.

"Good morning, Salamence." Dawn greeted, walking closer to us, "We'd like you to meet someone. This is John. He used his Espeon to bring you here so you could get help. Wasn't that nice?"

Salamence looked at John before looking at me. I could read his expression, Is she forcing me to say thank you when I don't want to?

I bit back a smile and Salamence let out a growling cough to hide his displeasure. He snaked his head towards John, who stepped forward and placed a hand on Salamence's head.

"I didn't actually come here for thanks. I just wanted to make sure you were ok." John rubbed Salamence's scales, "It seems like you're in good hands."

A satisfied hum filled the room. I was still getting used to the odd sounds Salamence seemed to make since evolving despite knowing that Dragon types had various quirks that others types didn't.

"And really, it could be worse." John snapped me out of my thoughts, "What if you guys had all gotten stuck in one of those rockslides on your way here? All of you would have been hurt, or worse. So really, try not to complain. You'll be perfectly fine. Just take time to rest."

"You're absolutely right." Dawn nodded.

"So you heard the news?" I asked.

"Yeah." John answered gravely, "It's not normal. I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but I'm sure we will soon. For now, we shouldn't worry."

"That's so true." Dawn agreed.

She really seemed to like to agree with John.

"But really, we should just enjoy the time we have here." Dawn added, "I just have no idea what we'll end up doing the rest of the day."

"Hey, if you really don't have anything to do, why don't you two come spend the day with me?" John suggested.

"Where?" I asked. This didn't sound good.

"I work at a church. Well, more like volunteer and serve there on my time off from actual work." John explained, "How does that sound?"

"Wow, that sounds so wonderful. I haven't been to a church in such a long time with all the traveling around." Dawn said excitedly.

I decided not to say anything until I was forced to, which was sadly not very long.

"What do you think, Paul?" John asked.

My conscious streamed through a list of excuses, opting for the most viable, "I don't want to leave Salamence today, actually. I'm sure he'll be bored. Not to mention he's emotionally irrational with his reactions to much less dramatic situations than the one he had just been through yesterday."

Dawn scoffed. John smiled, "Well, I really want you to come along. You don't think you could spare an hour?"

"An hour is enough for Salamence to go into hysterics." I stated.

Salamence scoffed. I was still not very well liked as a Trainer.

"Paul, can I talk to you for a minute please?" Dawn asked in that nicer-than-normal voice that I knew women used when they wanted to scream at men.

I held back answering with "You're talking to me now" and stepped into the hallway, already knowing the speech I was going to get.

Dawn followed me after reassuring John we'd be right back. She closed the door softly before facing me, looking livid, "Paul, how can you be that rude?"
"I don't want to go."

"Why? He's so nice. I get that you don't like talking to people, but really, you only have to go for an hour. Just one. That's all I'm asking."

"What if he ends up giving a sermon the whole time we're there?" I stuffed my hands in my pockets, "Or telling me I'll go to hell unless I believe certain things, trying to push me into my own choice?"

Dawn sighed, but looked more sympathetic, "I never do that to you, do I? Christians shouldn't be like that. It's wrong."

"So I don't have to go then?" I asked, trying to see if I was off the hook.

"Nice try." Dawn said wryly, "I'm not forcing you to believe anything, I just want you to come with me to spend time with the guy who's really nice and helped us out even when he didn't have to. He stopped by just to see how Salamence was doing."

"He has ulterior motives."

"Paul."

I tried to think of ways I could get out of going to this church, but failed, "Fine. You have one hour. And the only reason I'm going is because I'm being forced."

Dawn looked down at her hands, "I hope you don't feel like I do force you into things."

I relaxed a little at her sadness, "Actually, you do force me into things."

Her eyes betrayed pain.

"Dawn, you followed me from Rustburo, became my permanent travel companion despite my refusal of our deal, have never once left despite my many attempts-"

"You tried to make me leave?"

"-And have been forcing me to see that my opinions are almost always irrevocably wrong, especially on matters of the heart." I watched her expression change, "So yes, you force me into things. It just so happens that your forceful habit seems to have positive effects on me."

"That's good to know." Dawn said slowly, still trying to figure out how offended and how complimented she felt, "So shouldn't you be open to trying new things if I'm usually right about the heart?"

"Usually is not always and church is in no way a new concept to me." I stated.

"You've gone before?" Dawn's eyes lit up in excitement.

"It's complicated."

Her eyes faded in disappointment, "You're not going to tell me?"

I attempted to explain in different words, "There's a reason I don't want to go."

"What is it?"

"John's waiting."

Dawn sighed, "Fine. Well... I do want to hear about it when you're ready to tell me."

I didn't think I'd ever really be able to tell anyone. Not really, "Ok."

I grabbed her hand and began opening up the door. John was talking animatedly to Salamence, who seemed to have warmed up to him very quickly, unlike myself. It made me wonder if I'd misjudged him, though my suspicion only grew.

"We're ready to go." I said.

John looked at me, seeming just as energetic and eager as Dawn, "Good. I have a lot to show you both."

One hour. I could handle an hour. I told myself, already feeling uneasiness creep in.

Hey Readers! 

I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Piplup is still ruining kisses, isn't he? That Pokemon is such a handful.

This chapter is dedicated to PurpleWolf14 for being an amazing friend ^_^ I love all our deep conversations we get to have and just getting to build each other up on top of our cornerstone. 

Pokemon Question of the Day: What kind of quirks do you think your favorite Pokemon would have? 

Thanks so much for reading. I hope you're having a good day.

God bless!

-Flips