Chapter 13: Supplies Surprise 

Two more days passed- Bagon was gaining speed and endurance, slowly but surely, and Dawn had begun to train her Quilava. 

The only advice I'd had for her Quilava, who knew the moves Eruption, Flamethrower, Swift, and Smokescreen, was that I imagined she could think up multiple ways to actually showcase those moves with new ones. It was something I refused to discuss further, but her brain worked overtime and I saw her training with Quilava to find new combinations and fiddling with her Pokedex on what other moves Quilava could learn. 

"Of course, when he evolves you have to teach him Thunderpunch. It's one of the only decent moves that make Typhlosion stand out among Fire Pokemon given to new Trainers, especially considering it's weakness to Water attacks. Not to mention that's the move that makes Typhlosion able to defeat a Charizard," I commented. 

She'd looked at Quilava uncertainly. "Well, Quilava did just evolve. I'm just going to worry about what we need now instead of worrying about the future, but we'll keep Thunderpunch in mind." 

I deemed that a justifiable answer and went to work with Bagon on his almost perfected Ember. I had planned to start working on Flamethrower in the next day or so. 

"We need more supplies," Dawn confirmed the next morning. "And it wouldn't be a bad idea to visit the Pokemon Center." 

"My Pokemon are fine." Bagon was the only one who was doing any real work and he recovered his strength easily- we weren't battling, just honing his skills. He was getting three meals a day and rest at night. Plus, I had medicine and vitamins to keep him and the rest of my Pokemon strong. And people accused me of abusing them. How senile of them. 

"Ok..." Dawn said uncertainly. "So I'm just going to go into town and buy some things. Would you like me to strap your pack onto Togekiss to help me restock? I won't have to visit Rustburo for a couple extra days if I do."  

I frowned. Dawn using my bag didn't sound like a very thrilling idea. If she didn't lose it, she would probably end up putting stickers of Smoochum or something "cute" looking all over it. 

"I'll bring it back in one piece, I promise!" she pleaded. 

I sighed. In truth, I did trust her more now. "Fine, take my bag. When will you be back?" 

"Tonight." She smiled as I grabbed my bag after emptying it and handed it to her. "I'll see you soon!" 

I rolled my eyes as she waved good bye and fled through the trees, Piplup at her heels. 

"What do you think of those two, Bagon?" I jabbed my finger in their direction. 

He shrugged, seeming indifferent. 

"Ready to start learning Flamethrower?" I asked, smiling lightly. Bagon's face lit up. "It'll be hard work, but your Ember is up to scratch now. So is your Bite, which we'll have to work on becoming Crunch after you master Flamethrower." 

Bagon and I began with a run, taking twenty minutes. I assumed that if he could use a full powered Ember without warming up, he'd be able to make some sort of Flamethrower after a jog. 

Panting, we came back to our clearing. "Ok, try a Flamethrower." 

Bagon opens his mouth and a rope of fire stretched about six feet out of his mouth for a second or two before disappearing. Shuddering, Bagon fell backwards. 

"Hmph. It's still better than the Ember."  

We struggled with the attack the rest of the day. Again and again he failed at producing a decent Flamethrower that was any better than the first. Frustrated, I punched a tree by the end of the session before glaring at my Pokemon. Bagon flinched and looked down at his feet, not at all his usual determined self. 

I sighed. "I'm sorry, Bagon. I just lose my patience sometimes." 

...Did I just apologize?

Bagon noticed it too and stared up at me in wonder. 

I brushed it off and looked at the darkened sky. "Let's run three more miles and come back. Dawn should be back soon and we've had enough frustration for today." 

We ran together and it calmed us both down as we got lost in the rhythm of feet meeting earth. We dodged trees as sweat dripped off our brows, our breathing faster than normal.  

After three circuits on the now familiar path my Pokemon and I had set in the past week or so, we returned to our campsite to find Dawn and her Pokemon talking excitedly. The second we came through the bushes, Dawn yelled, "Surprise!" 

I stared at her, dumbfounded, before looking at the scene. All her Pokemon were wearing stupidly colored party hats and giving me huge smiles. Togekiss had balloons tied to both tips of her wings and Piplup was holding the strings of a different bundle of balloons, almost flying away if not for Quilava grabbing onto Piplup's feet with his front paws. Buneary and Pachirisu were bouncing up and down, blowing noise makers, and Mamoswine had a huge banner on it's side that read "Happy Birthday!".  

My eyes took all of this in slowly until they moved back to Dawn who was holding a cake and smiling ear to ear. I noticed this time that she had replaced her normal hat with a party hat as well. 

I didn't know how to reply, so I didn't. I just continued to stare at her. 

She noticed. "Happy Birthday, Paul!" 

"Oh." I frowned. "That's today?" 

"Yep!" She said cheerfully. "I've been counting." 

"You can count?" 

Dawn frowned this time. "Since it's your birthday, I'm going to let that comment pass. Here, let me get you a party hat." 

"You know those things look like dunce caps, right?" I raised an eyebrow in distaste. 

"Fine, I won't force you to wear one. Bagon, you want a hat?" Dawn forced one onto his head before he could answer. He stared up at me, frowning, looking like it was all my fault he was now wearing a pink pointed hat with a smiley face on it. I held back my smile and my comment, Well, someone needs to smile. Why not the hat?  

"Let out your other Pokemon so we can have cake." Dawn said. "Quilava can light the candles for us." 

"If you try to put party hats on them, they won't be as kind to hide their dislike as Bagon is," I said before letting them all out. "Oh, and by the way- no singing. It's a rule." 

"Yeah, I figured that much. You still have to blow out the candles, though." Dawn opened the box that held the cake. "Quilava, can you light these?" 

"Actually," I hesitated, "let Bagon do it. He needs the practice." 

And the confidence, I told myself. After all those failed attempts at a Flamethrower, his mood hadn't improved by the party hat now sitting on his head, which made him look abnormally tall. 

"Ok." Dawn held the box containing the cake toward Bagon, who cautiously approached, almost impaling the icing with his dunce hat. Dawn couldn't help smiling at Bagon's attempt to remove it with his too-short limbs. She pulled the hat off his head. Bagon sighed in relief and then lit the candles one at a time. The small flames danced in the night air. 

"Perfect," Dawn whispered to Bagon, who smiled before standing up. "Ok, birthday boy." 

She held up the cake to make and I noticed that, drawn in the icing, were all six of my Pokemon that I had with me right now. It also said "Happy Birthday, Paul!" in huge, girly text.

At least it was red and not pink, I thought dryly. 

I was about to blow out the candles when Dawn yelled, "Wait!" 

"What?" I almost groaned. What more did she want!? I was already going through these silly rituals. I'd never wanted this. I hadn't asked for it. I was just appeasing her. Though, I had to admit, the cake couldn't be too bad. But really, if she asked too much more of me, even a slice of cake wouldn't be worth it. 

"You have to make a birthday wish first!" Dawn frowned. "Did you make a wish?" 

"No." 

"Why?" 

"Because wishing is for little kids who don't take life seriously enough to get what they want. Wishing doesn't do anything and people who wait around for wishes to come true are idiots." I crossed my arms. 

"You can't eat the cake till you make a wish."

"What if I wish for a piece of cake? Is that redundant enough for you?" I snapped. 

Dawn sighed. "A real wish, Paul. Something you actually want that isn't right in front of you. And you can't tell me what it is! That's against the rules." 

"So cake doesn't qualify?" my voice was steely. 

She didn't retort, but just stared at me until I closed my eyes and made a silent wish. I opened them. "Happy?" 

"Yes!" Dawn smiled. "Ok, blow them out." 

I inhaled and blew softly at each flame in turn; just hard enough to make them all go out in a couple seconds. When the light was extinguished, all of Dawn's Pokemon cheered. Dawn began cutting pieces for everyone, serving me first, winking. "Since it's your birthday, you get the first piece." 

After it was all distributed, Dawn took her seat next to me with her piece. "So, how's the cake?" 

It was vanilla, which was my favorite kind of cake. I hadn't talked about anything but Pokemon with Dawn and I found it annoying that she'd probably guessed that I liked vanilla. 

I said shortly, "It's good." 

"I couldn't decide if you were a chocolate or vanilla kind of guy," Dawn seemed to read my thoughts. "Because you seem kinda dark like chocolate, but at the same time you seem to prefer not as sweet and sugary food, so I ended up choosing vanilla." 

I stared at her weakly, unsure how to respond to something as trivial as picking out a cake, but at the same time, she'd gone through all this trouble, something no one had ever bothered with preparing for me before. I looked down at my piece of cake which had a part of Torterra's back drawn in the icing. 

"So, how does being eighteen feel?" Dawn asked politely.  

"The same as every other day, truthfully." I was feeling really drained from all the attention and felt a weird guilt growing inside me. 

"Hey, you have some icing on your lip." Dawn reached over and almost touched my upper lip as she pointed at it. "Right there." 

I brushed it off, not looking at her. 

"You got it." She nodded. I felt like I was at the edge of my seat. Her giddiness was making me nervous and I felt hyper. Maybe it was just the cake. Too much sugar. "Were you surprised when you came back to camp? That's why I was gone for so long- I wanted to make sure everything was perfect. Especially since you haven't ever celebrated your birthday before." 

I considered this. Maybe that's why I was so on edge. I wasn't used to birthday parties in any sense or form. I had never had one and no one had ever invited me. I was adjusting to something new. I prided myself for being flexible to change, but not with socializing. Socializing, especially with people like Dawn, took every ounce of strength that I had. 

"You surprised me," I said truthfully, though it might be for reasons she didn't expect. I had misjudged her amount of thoughtfulness. She spent more time worrying and thinking of others than I had let on- that much was obvious by her planning this whole event out. 

She didn't ask if I liked what she had done, or for any other opinions. We just sat in silence for awhile, watching our Pokemon. Maybe she sensed my unease. Or maybe she was just giving me what I considered was the best gift possible- a quiet night. 

"Hey, Paul?"  

Or maybe not. "Yeah?" 

"I have one more thing for you." Dawn went into her tent and pulled out a package wrapped in blue paper. It was about a foot long, half a foot wide, and only two inches thick. "Go on, open it." 

She handed it to me and I stared at it, feeling the weight in my hands. 

"What's the matter? Never gotten a birthday present before?" Dawn laughed. 

My grip tightened. "No, I haven't."  

"...Really?" 

I didn't answer. Instead, I inhaled deeply, curiously turning over the package Dawn had given me. 

"Open it." Dawn said quietly. 

I ripped the paper off as neatly as possible, not knowing the protocol for discarding wrapping paper. The first thing I noticed was a small booklet resting on the larger present. I read the cover of the booklet, which was dollar-sized, "Dawn's Quick and Easy Coupons. What the heck are these?" 

Dawn smiled. "Read them." 

I flipped through the pages, reading each one, "'This coupon allows for one hour free of Dawn talking or making noise in Paul's presence.' 'This coupon can be used for one dinner of your choice without argument about cooking criticism.' 'This coupon is good for a free, no complaining hour. No complaints from Dawn whatsoever.'"I began chuckling. "These will come in handy."

"I thought they would." 

I turned over the other gift- a book entitled "A Guide to Teaching Pokemon Attacks for Experts" by Satoshi Tajiri, famous Pokemon Master. On the cover were very strong fully evolved Pokemon, including a Salamence. 

"That should come in handy too." Dawn looked at my face as I read it. 

I wasn't sure what to say. Everything she had done for me had been so thoughtful. We'd only been traveling together for less than two weeks and yet... 

"Thank you," I said abruptly, as if saying it was painful. 

Dawn smiled as if knowing how hard that was for me. "Happy Birthday, Paul." 

She stood up, squeezed my shoulder, recalled her Pokemon, and with a short good night, went into her tent. I stared at my book and the coupons, which had landed on "One free hug. Anytime." and wondered if I was dreaming the whole day up.

Hey, I'm dedicating this chapter for the first time to guss0305 because of she drew some awesome fan art which I absolutely love of Dawn with her birthday surprise for Paul! :) Thanks so much for the fan art. I think it's amazing (I can't draw on the computer at all, so I'm still pretty much freaking out over how people can draw with a computer). The picture is to the side if you want to check it out! 

I'm going to try to figure out how to post it differently, but till then that's going to have to do. Have a great day and thanks again, Gustie!

-Flips