Chapter 32: A Different Strategy 

"Awe, I thought you'd win." Daniel patted Amanda on the back.  

She shrugged. "Can't win them all." 

"Hey, where'd Gabby go?" Emma asked, looking around. 

"It looks to me like Daniel has a new shadow," Anthony said, amused. 

We all looked behind Daniel where the shortest in their group was hiding. 

"Hi," she said quietly. 

"Gabby, it's your turn to battle," Daniel chided. 

Truthfully, if I'd been alone I wouldn't have battled anyone after Emma considering she'd lost so quickly. Only Anthony and Amanda had seemed like a challenge and this little pipsqueak looked like she couldn't even throw a Poke Ball a good ten feet, let alone train Pokemon. 

Still, it'd be experience and Dawn was watching. Not to mention I had nothing else to do today... maybe she'd at least provide a couple minute's worth of a distraction. 

"I don't think I want to." Gabby looked at her feet, glancing up at me every couple of seconds. 

"Why?" Daniel asked. 

"Uh." She lowered her voice, "He's scary looking! I mean, look, he's glaring at us right now!" 

They all looked up to me, staring at them, and then back at Gabby. 

"I just figured he'd had surgery and his face got stuck like that." Daniel shrugged. "He's not that bad, Gabbidy! Come on, battle him." 

"Not even you or Emma or Amanda could beat him! There's no way I have a chance!" She cowered. 

"Ah, but you're wrong!" Daniel grinned. "You have the power of annoyance! That's sure to count as something!" 

"You're kidding me, right?" Emma sighed, obviously irritated. "Since you're the living embodiment of annoyance, why didn't you win?" 

Daniel ignored the question and pushed Gabby towards me. "Ok, last battle! Here you go." 

I nodded in acknowledgement to Gabby and she flinched. Shrugging, I walked to the other side of the field, calling out Gastrodon as I did so. 

"Learning anything useful?" I murmured to Bagon. He nodded, his eyes determined. Seemed like he was ready to battle himself. 

I crossed my arms, looking at Gabby impatiently as she fumbled with her bag for a Poke Ball. "Any day now." 

She almost dropped the Poke Ball she'd managed to pull out. "Sorry!" 

"Don't be sorry, just hurry up," I said bluntly. 

I saw some of her friends look like they wanted to aid in her defense, but they decided to stay out of our way. 

Good. She needed to grow her own spine just like everyone else. 

"Rhea, I need your help!" Gabby cried. A large floating purple Mismagius appeared, singing as Felicity did, except the notes were shriller and gave me a headache. 

So Gastrodon's Body Slam wouldn't work. At least Muddy Water was a Water type move and not a Ground type considering Mismagius's ability was Levitate. 

"Use Ice Beam."

"Dodge it," Gabby said. 

The Mismagius flew with ease around Gastrodon. It was a lot faster than I'd have guessed. 

"Now use Attract!" Gabby smiled sheepishly. 

Oh, Arceus.

"Muddy Water counter!" 

As Mismagius winked and sent a hoard of tiny hearts zooming towards Gastrodon, he used Muddy Water and twisted his head in a dance, massing the tendrils of water into a shield, slapping the hearts until they exploded. 

Gabby frowned. "Find a way through his defenses and use Attract!" 

"If she gets anywhere near you, use Ice Beam." 

Gastrodon continued his Muddy Water shield while the Mismagius floated around, trying to find a weak spot, using Shadow Ball on various places. 

"Hmm..." Gabby looked nervous. "Focus a huge Shadow Ball somewhere and then use Attract." 

Rhea tried, but the Shadow Ball, even at twice its normal size, couldn't break through. I smirked- it sucked that Ash was the one who thought up this defensive strategy, but it sure was a great one to annoy people with. 

"Ugh, that's it!" Gabby yelled, frustrated. "Use Perish Song."  

Her Mismagius stopped hovering over Gastrodon and backed away, closing its eyes and chanting an eerie melody. Gastrodon stopped using Muddy Water without my permission and I saw Mismagius open its eyes and use Attract again. 

This time, since Gastrodon was rendered unmovable by the binding song, the Attract hit him. Fully dazed, he sat on the field, not moving. The song stopped. 

"Gastrodon, use Muddy Water!" I barked. 

No movement. The Attract had done its job. 

"Shadow Ball!" Gabby yelled. 

The Shadow Ball hit Gastrodon, but he still didn't move. 

"Muddy Water!" 

This time, Gastrodon stirred and crept forward, but stopped immediately. I resisted the urge to smack my forehead. I swore that I was going to kill that girl for such a tactic after the battle was over. 

"Shadow Ball!" 

"Muddy Water!"  

Gastrodon then responded, sending a furious Muddy Water attack at Rhea, even stopping the Shadow Ball in the process. The Water attack hit Mismagius square on, swallowing her. 

After a few seconds, it was clear that Mismagius had fainted before Perish Song could take full effect. Either way, Gabby looked tearful at losing. 

"Oh, Rhea!" She ran over to her Pokemon and kneeled down in the pool of muck. "I'm sorry, I thought we could win that. I guess I was wrong. You did great. I was just too confident I guess." 

Rhea rolled her eyes and got up, floating feebly an inch or two off the ground. She seemed disgruntled at their loss and the fact that her Trainer was bombarding her with apologies. 

Gabby wouldn't meet my gaze as I went over to thank her for the battle. All her friends joined us and Dawn came over to meet everyone. I stood next to her, feeling the unusual need to fidget. Usually after battles I just left and didn't chitchat. Why bother? The battles spoke for themselves. 

"Hi, guys. Those were some awesome battles. I especially liked that Mismagius's Attract." Dawn smiled at Gabby who seemed to blush at the approval and murmured a thanks. 

"So, what's your name?" Daniel asked Dawn. 

"My name's Dawn. It's nice to meet you." I watched them shake hands and my eyes narrowed as the handshake continued a second longer than necessary. 

Emma seemed to scowl from behind Daniel's back and I wondered why I felt like her expression mimicked what I felt perfectly.  

After the handshake, Daniel seemed to recover some of his surroundings. "Oh, this is Emma, Amanda, Gabby, and Anthony." 

There were a few quiet 'nice to meet you's' before we descended into a very awkward, yet perfectly normal for me, silence. 

This didn't seem to bother Daniel, who seemed to be the mouth of the group, from picking the conversation back up. "What brings you guys to Verdanturf?" 

"I'm competing in a Contest tomorrow," Dawn replied, seeming to enjoy the attention. 

"Oh!" Amanda gasped. "There's a Contest tomorrow? I'd love to go see." 

Emma frowned while Anthony said, "I didn't know you were into Contests." 

"Well, I've never competed in one, but I do enjoy watching on occasion. I prefer battling myself." Amanda answered. 

"Gabby, do you like Contests?" Emma asked, crossing her arms. To me, it looked like she wasn't that big of a fan. 

"Oh, um..." She looked at Dawn as if not wanting to offend her, then at Emma as if not wanting to get beaten up. It was very amusing. 

Luckily for Gabby, Daniel interrupted, "Why don't we go tomorrow? It seems like a couple of us would love to watch Dawn. I know I would." 

Dawn giggled and I heard some sort of hidden exasperated noise coming from our midst. 

"That'd be great. Maybe you could sit with Paul! He's going too," Dawn exclaimed. 

Holy Shinx, no! Was she mad!? I hated people! Why the hell would I want to sit with these teenagers through something that would already be a living nightmare!? 

I hid my scowl as I looked at Dawn who looked like she wouldn't budge away from Daniel who was dopily smiling at her. I looked away, grimacing to find Emma staring at me with this look that I read to mean, "I don't like this situation any more than you do." 

"How about we just go to the Contest tomorrow and see if we all see each other? If not, just know we're cheering for you, Dawn," Emma said hastily. 

Daniel frowned at the suggestion, but Anthony and Amanda agreed and their plans seemed settled. I sighed with relief. 

"Ok, well... I guess we'll see you guys tomorrow. Maybe." Amanda smiled. 

"Good luck, Dawn." Anthony nodded in acknowledgement. 

Gabby said the same thing, as did Emma. The group began walking towards the Pokemon Center, except for Daniel. 

"It was nice battling you, Paul." Daniel held out his hand to shake, but I ignored it till he put it down. He didn't seem offended whatsoever, but instead let his eyes stare at Dawn again. "And Dawn... good luck tomorrow." 

He winked and I heard her inhale sharply as he walked away. 

My eyebrows furrowed as I pieced together all the information that led me to believe that she liked him. Even a hair brained fool could do that math. 

"Wow," Dawn said a little too breathlessly. 

"Wow, what?" I snapped. 

"He was really nice," she said too casually, shrugging, then frowned. "Why didn't you shake his hand?" 

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said mockingly. "It looked like you wanted to throw yourself at him, so I decided not to get in your way." 

Dawn blinked in surprise. "What's that supposed to mean?" 

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not stupid, Dawn. I know what girls look like when they flirt." 

"Do you?" She glared at me. "Since when has anyone ever flirted with you? You wouldn't know if someone was flirting with you if they were KISSING you!" 

She began storming down a walkway to distance herself from the me and the Pokemon Center. I followed her, somewhere in the back of my mind absolutely in shock that we were fighting about something so ridiculous. "What's THAT supposed to mean?" 

Dawn laughed darkly. "Why should I explain? I thought you knew everything." 

"Dawn, you're being immature-" 

"Immature!?" she roared, whipping around to face me. "You're the one accusing me of something I didn't do. You know what I think it is? I think you're jealous!" 

"I think your brain cells are all dead or dying, making all of your thoughts irrational," I hissed. 

"Let me tell you something." She got really close, our eyes shooting daggers at each other. "You may be an expert on everything Pokemon, but that's it. You don't know flirting if it used Attract on you and you definitely don't know me!" 

With that, she stomped off down the trail. I decided not to follow her. Steaming, I went into the Pokemon Center, ignoring that group of friends near the counter even though I wanted to go up and yell at that stupid moron with the Swellow for flashing his eyes at Dawn. It was all his fault, not mine. Him and how he stood two inches taller than me. 

I quickly unlocked the door to my room and slammed it shut, locking it before fling myself roughly on my bed, arms crossed as I stared at the wooden bunk bed panel above me.

Hi everyone!

Yet again, thanks for reading. This chapter is dedicated to snow_cat5 because she is absolutely amazing even if she denies it :P

So, how are you all enjoying First Light so far? I know that I've been focusing on battles. I'm sure Paul was going a bit crazy from lack of actual hands on experience while training his Pokemon. The Contest is coming up soon, I promise!

Comment, like, follow... do I have to use the Pokemon move "Follow Me"? I always thought that move was pointless... but it makes sense on Wattpad, so maybe I'll catch a Clefairy to use Follow Me. Pure genius, right? :P