I could see more of Sandgem as I followed after Dawn. When I’d been making my way to the lab, I hadn’t been paying too much attention to what was around me, but I could then. The town was bustling and lively, with people chatting as they came across one another or while haggling at the street stalls.

Eventually, Dawn led me to a small sitting area beside a food vendor. I followed her lead by purchasing a cheap but surprisingly large meal. I was only mildly surprised that it would be my first real food for over a month. I asked, “Can we wait on talking until after eating?” It’s been a while since I last had real food….”

Dawn looked skeptical, “I mean, okay, sure.”

I ate faster than I had in a long time, trying to keep from groaning at how good it tasted after eating the rather bland travel food for so long. I tried to ignore the half-impressed look Dawn gave me at how quickly I ate. I’d previously been grimacing at already spending some of the money I’d gotten just a few days prior, but afterward, I decided it was money well spent.

I cleared my throat uncomfortably once we were finished, “Um, sorry about that. I’ve been eating travel meals for like, a month now….”

Dawn leaned back in her chair with a raised eyebrow, “Alright, now I’m curious. You said you had experience traveling alone, and now you’ve been eating travel meals for longer than it would ever take to travel between any two towns? What’s up with that?”

“Well,” I paused, “That’s a relatively long story.”

She smirked, “I have nothing else to do tonight, and besides, we’re here to get to know one another.”

I looked at her for a few moments before sighing, “Alright, so it starts in Crown City….” I started telling her the shorter version of events, making her lean back forward not long after. She only asked a few questions here or there, listening intently. The only question I didn’t answer right away was when she asked what species Ladon and Adamant were. I didn’t want to let the rare pokémon I had be too common knowledge.

Once I wrapped up by mentioning how she had come in as I was leaving the Lab, she sat back again. “Huh.”

I snorted, “Huh? That’s it?”

She shrugged, “It’s an impressive story, mostly believable because the Rangers back it.”

I cocked my head at that, “Actually, that’s a good point. Why did they believe it that readily? It is rather hard to believe if you think about it….”

Dawn smiled, “I’m pretty sure they have psychic-types trained to detect lies, that sort of thing. They probably just had one of them check your story.”

I mouthed a silent ‘oh’. “That would make sense….” I thought about it for a moment before shaking my head to clear it. “Alright, well, that’s basically my story. What about you?”

She shrugged again, “I’m not nearly as interesting. I grew up here in Sandgem, with the Professor being basically my uncle. I shamelessly used all my random built-up pokémon knowledge and trivia to score in second place on the placement test and became a starter trainer. I got my partner Tidal, a Piplup. And here I am,” She gestured at the both of us, “As I said in the lab, I figured it’d be more fun to go on my journey with someone rather than alone.” She waited a few moments before adding thoughtfully, “And I can see why you feel the same after all that….”

I nodded, “Yeah, not a big fan of the stuck alone thing.” After that, the two of us lapsed into a somewhat awkward silence as we both thought quietly and occasionally looked the other over.

It was after a few minutes of this that Dawn suggested, “How about we get out of town a little and introduce our pokémon to each other? If they like each other, then I’d have no problem traveling together.”

“That’s a good idea, yeah. Sounds good,” I responded as we both stood up quickly. We took a moment to deposit our trash in the right bin before heading towards the route to Oreburgh. Once we were about ten minutes beyond the outer buildings, we stopped.

She glanced at me once to make sure I wouldn’t be surprised before she unsnapped her pokéball from her belt and released her Piplup, Tidal. When Tidal formed from the red energy, he shook his head and chirped curiously at Dawn before seeing me. He cocked his head before looking me up and down. I looked back at him, guessing him to be a little over a foot tall. I hid a wince as I realized even Adamant was almost twice his size. I mean, sure, size wasn’t everything in a pokémon battle, but it wasn’t nothing either.

“Alright, well, here’s Adamant,” I said before releasing the Beldum. I waited until Adamant’s red eye started flitting between Dawn and Tidal before looking to see their reactions to them. Dawn was staring at Adamant with an indecipherable expression, while Tidal was looking at him with a mix of envy and interest. The envy confused me for a moment before I remembered that Empolean, Tidal’s final evolution, was part steel-type.

“I can see why you were a little hesitant to talk about their species,” Dawn said softly, watching as the two pokémon interacted for a few moments. After a little while, Adamant started floating around the area, indulging their ever-present curiosity and want for exploration.

I smiled wryly, “Yeah, I know it’ll get out there eventually, but I want to be a little stronger before it does.” I shrugged, “Anyways, Ladon is next. And remember, he is a King, so don’t be alarmed when he’s pretty damn big.”

Dawn nodded barely a moment later, her expression set in a determined cast. Seeing that, I resisted the urge to chuckle and just released Ladon. His large four-foot and ten-inch frame thudded to the ground as he opened his eyes and carefully surveyed the area. I saw Dawn’s mouth open slightly in surprise at the same time Ladon communicated quietly with Adamant, seemingly getting a short explanation from them on what was happening.

Once he was satisfied everything was fine, he ambled over to me and gently, but insistently, started nudging me for attention. Rolling my eyes and smiling, I began scratching and rubbing at the base of his skull, getting that pleased rumble of his in response.

Dawn let out a sigh, “Alright, I can definitely see why you were being cautious about it. Seriously though? A Beldum and a King Deino?”

I could only shrug in response, watching with slight amusement as Tidal blinked rapidly while taking in Ladon. “I didn’t plan any of it; I told you that. I was lucky as hell.”

She shook her head while sighing. Yeah, yeah, that’s fair.” The two of us sat back after that and just let our pokémon interact and communicate for a little while. I ended up having to gently shove Ladon towards Adamant and Tidal, earning me a huff from him and a short laugh from Dawn.

After almost ten minutes, though, the sun began to set in earnest, and the night began to darken. Dawn and I recalled our pokémon and started making our way back into town. Dawn led me to the pokécenter and let me know I could get a room for the night as a trainer. We stood in silence for a moment before Dawn sighed, “Alright. Yeah, let’s travel together. If something happens, we can always split later.”

I smiled, “Fair enough. Meet up here or at the route in the morning?”

She considered for a moment before deciding, “At the route, around nine in the morning, good?”

I nodded, “Sounds good, Dawn. I’ll see you then.” We wished each other goodnight before I headed to my room and quickly fell asleep.

The next day came quickly, with me waking up an hour early and getting some breakfast in. I managed to get to the rendezvous a few minutes before Dawn, stretching out in preparation for a long day spent walking.

Dawn waved hello before verbalizing it once she got closer. Having little to say so early in the morning, the two of us set off almost right away. I was happy to see that Dawn was not, in fact, a morning person. I noticed that Dawn had Tidal out and with her. Deciding that I would have to show at least one of my pokémon anyways, I shrugged and let Adamant out, letting him flit about in delight as we traveled. I explained my thought process to Dawn when she arched an eyebrow, earning a shrug.

We could only go so long in silence, so after half an hour, we started chatting about random inane things after half an hour. At some point, the topic turned to our teams and what we thought might wind up on them. It turns out Dawn, and I were very much alike in regards to that, with both of us waiting to see what came to us as we traveled.

Eventually, the day began to close, and the two of us started looking for good camping spots. Just before we found one, Dawn idly suggested a short battle before heading to bed, just to see where we were at. I looked at Adamant for a moment before accepting. I was a little curious about what it would be like.

Once we’d settled in and everyone, including our pokémon, had eaten, Dawn looked at me with a grin. “So I’m pretty sure Tidal is ready to kick your ass now!”

I grinned before slowly leading her to look at where Ladon was lying. Her grin faltered for a moment before I laughed. “Nah, I think Adamant has got this.” I was stopped from talking further by an offended huff from Ladon. I looked at him with a snort, “Ladon, this is light night-time sparring more than anything. And as much as I love you, big guy, you aren’t light anything!”

Dawn giggled out of sight as Ladon thunked his head onto the ground, the absolute picture of dejected innocence. “You know, for a King dragon, he acts more like a Growlithe puppy!” She said laughingly.

I shrugged, “I’m alright with it honestly, easier to work with than a prideful and arrogant dragon would be.”

She just nodded while grinning still before the two of us walked apart, stopping with around twenty meters between us. Tidal excitedly jumped in front of Dawn while Adamant floated over to me. “Wanna have Ladon mark the start?” I asked, and Dawn agreed a moment later. The two of us grinned excitedly as we both waited a few tense moments. Then the sky lit up in purple as Ladon released a Dragon Breath into the air.

“Dodge ranged attacks and start setting up Iron Defenses!” I called out immediately, taking advantage of Dawn’s momentary surprise by the Dragon Breath.

“Water Gun and close the distance for Pound!” Dawn commanded a moment after me.

We watched for a moment as Adamant zipped away from a missed Water Gun. At the same time, steel energy began infusing their form. Tidal started chasing after them, firing off a Water Gun if Adamant started getting too far away. Adamant got hit by two of them before they stopped infusing themselves with the steel energy.

“Telekinesis and Tackle!” I said, grinning. I could see Dawn’s eyes narrow before she swore as Tidal was lifted into the air while struggling madly.

“Water Gun as they attack!” She called out hurriedly, but still a little too late as Adamant’s large and heavy form slammed into Tidal, knocking him out of the Telekinesis and into the ground.

Tidal groaned before leveraging himself to his feet, glaring at Adamant as they floated away. Tidal released a surprisingly powerful Water Gun, but Adamant managed to dodge out of the way.

I waited until Adamant dodged another two attacks before commanding a repeat. This time Tidal managed to hit Adamant right before they slammed into the floating Piplup, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the heavy hit.

Tidal surprised me with his toughness as he popped up again and began charging Adamant while shooting another Water Gun. Adamant didn’t manage to dodge that one, not expecting Tidal to use the attack while charging.

Grimacing, I yelled out, “Lift him up, and then attack beneath him! Before you hit, let him drop!”

Adamant’s red eye gleamed as Tidal was lifted into the air once more. Again, Tidal managed to land one last Water Gun on Adamant as they began speeding towards where he was held in the air.

I watched as the Telekinesis let go, and Tidal began to fall as Adamant angled to hit him as he fell. I grinned as Tidal was too distracted by falling to use another attack. Then my eyes widened as a sheen of steel energy covered Adamant before they slammed brutally into Tidal, sending him tumbling back over the ground, battered.

Dawn called out, “That’s enough for the night!” I quickly agreed, a little concerned for Tidal given how hard that last hit was. Adamant floated over towards me again, humming excitedly. I pulled out my pokédex to confirm my suspicion.

Adamant had just learned Iron Head.