Another Silent Day

[Rosie]

Dawn Kawa sat on a picturesque beach on Teardrop Island. The warm sun beat down on her and a cool breaze floated thourgh her shoulder length, fair hair. The sand moved between her fingers as she watched the waves lap the shore. Waddles, her Psyduck and only friend, sat next to her feeling tranquil and at peace. Another day in silence. Another day without excitement.

[Prof. Cinders]

Kat sauntered along the beach, glaring at her bare feet. The hot sand burnt her toes, and the sun felt like it was giving her sunburn. She hated the day. Seeing the girl only made it worse; she had expected the seaside to be empty today, but here she was, infuriating the young girl to no end. Storming up to her, a thin trail of red light following Kat, she shouted, 'What are you doing here? I come for a bit of peace and quiet, and there's a person! Go away!'

It wasn't a good day.

[Rosie]

Dawn was not aware of the girl shouting, as she was deaf, but did not like to tell other people this. She turned innocently and said in a fakely confident voice "Hello!" She hoped that she had not shouted it or whispered it but there was no way to tell. She noticed the anger on the girl's face and watched her lips for any movement that she could read.

[Prof. Cinders]

Kat raised an eyebrow, fists balled tightly. Her face was a picture of anger, and she'd yelled at the girl... all to be told "hello"?! What was WITH this girl?! 'Why aren't you listening to me?!' she yelled, screwing up her eyes angrily. If she was calm again, she'd REALLY be in for it.

[Rosie]

"I'm sorry i don't think i understand you. Did you say something before I said hello? Because i must not have li- ..... heard you." Dawn said quickly, thinking on the spot. Maybe if she tried really hard she could make this girl think she was normal and be treated normally and not as a disabled person who cannot do anything for herself. Dawn thought she ahd better introduce herself so she smiled sweetly and said "My name is Dawn and this is my Psyduck, Waddles. What's your name?" she said her volume varying from quite loud to almost whispering.

[Prof. Cinders]

'My name's Kat. What's wrong with your voice?' said Kat, switching from angry to calm as only ten year olds do. 'Your psyduck's cute by the way, it looks well trained.' She grinned, holding out her hand.

[Rosie]

"erm.... nothing" said Dawn trying to keep her voice at the same volume and pitch. She shook Kat's hand and added innocently "thanks but i don't really train him. I don't like fighting." She glanced over at Waddles breifly to recieve a "Keep it up" sign before flicking her head around again ready to read Kat's next words from her lips.

[Prof. Cinders]

Kat raised an eyebrow, giggled, and sat down heavily on the sand. She gazed out to sea, daydreaming... Thinking of her parents, thinking of her siblings, and thinking of the beach at home. Oh, how she'd loved it there, but the chores were murder. 'What are you doing out here?' she asked quietly, still in dream world, a far-away look in her eyes.

[Rosie]

Dawn felt quite odd watching Kat for her movements. She thought of a Fearow and it's sharp eye watching for its prey. Of course Kat was not her prey but she felt this one her one chance at gaining a friend. If she was innacurate with her dive or she was not subtle enough then she would run scared like a Fearow's victim to tell more of her kind of Dawn's "disability". Dawn was still thinking about this when Kat asked the question but, so she did not seem rude, she turned back to the sea when answering her. "Nothing much. Watching - and listening of course - to the waves. It relaxes me. What about you? I haven't seen you around here before." she asked, immediately turning her head back to Kat in case she replied quickly.

[Prof. Cinders]

Kat smiled, and lay back. 'You seem alert to me... I came around here to forget about my troubles. I have no idea what's been happening to me, and I came to think about that too. My family's the trouble, especially my dad. I just want to be alone for a while.' She closed her eyes, such a relaxed expression on her face it seemed impossible for her to be anything but happy.

[Rosie]

Dawn didn't catch all that Kat said but knew that starting another conversation was the wrong thing to do. She felt another ripple of cold, salty air hit her face. She took off her white sarong and stood in a light blue bikini. "coming for a swim?" she asked in a small voice hoping not to disturb Kat to much.

[Prof. Cinders]

Kat shook herself, as if coming from a dream, and looked over to Dawn. 'M? Oh. Ok, sure!' she said, slightly startled but happy to oblige. 'My stuff's just behind the bushes over there, I'll only be a sec!' She got up, ran over to a bush, rummaged around behind it and came out dressed in a full length swimsuit. 'Let's go!'

[Rosie]

Dawn felt slightly under dressed in her bikini but there was no time so she sprinted at full speed to wards the water and dived in. She swam like a fish and was soon far enough from the slowly sloping shore to not be able to stand up. She grinned. Now she was with her own element. Forget listening, she was having fun. She seemed to forget all about Kat and started to dive to the bottom of the sea and pick up interesting shells before returning to the surface to examine them more closely.

[Prof. Cinders]

Kat followed as fast as she could; she had grown up by the sea. The thin red vapour trail followed her in the water, and she swam slightly slower than Dawn as she was younger, after all. Diving down as she passed her depth, she used her legs only to swim and started using her hands to stroke passing water pokemon. A horsea stayed with her the whole time, but Kat was unsure why. Maybe it was friendly.

When she ran out of air, she surfaced, as did the horsea. 'Hi little friend, why are you following me?' she asked, tickling the water type under its chin. It laughed in its bubbily voice, and squirted Kat with a small water gun. They both laughed, and dived again until they reached Dawn. 'Hey Dawn! I made a new friend!' she said, stroking the horsea on the head again.

[Rosie]

Dawn had her head turned to Kat though and was examining a beautiful shell. Suddenly loosing interest in it though she dropped it and swam much deeper than before. She stayed there for a couple of minutes, trying to find the perfect shell to give to her new and only friend.

[Prof. Cinders]

Kat smiled anyway, ignoring Dawn for a second while water pokemon surfaced around her. She pointed at each in turn, trying to remember the names for each. 'Golduck... Marill... Horsea... Wow! A mudkip! And... its family! Gosh! You're a mudkip, and so are you... 5 mudkips! And 2 swamperts, and a marshtomp! Cool! You've all come to say hi? Thanks! I'm so priviledged, and honoured!' She stroked them all, tickling the mudkips under the chin. They were obviously very young, and needed their family's help to grow up. Kat smiled, and dived under to meet yet more water types.

[Rosie]

Dawn could see Kat and all the water pokemon around her from deep beneath her. She was gazing almost enviously at her when a small poliwag floated just abover her shoulder. She quickly showed it a shell and soon they were working together to find ther perfect one. After a few minutes the perfect shell was found. It was a perfect pearly white shell as big as Dawn's palm. It glimmered in the faint sunlight, as she swam to the surface, showing it's blue, cream and even yellowy surface. When Dawn surfaced and waited for Kat to appear too, the little Poliwag waiting patiently beside her and firing water guns playfully at any pokemon that approached.

[Prof. Cinders]

Seeing Dawn wait for her, and with urgent, yet playful, nudges from the horsea, Kat quickly swum to the surface. 'What is it?' she asked, pushing her ocean-soaked hair behind her ears. One of the mudkips joined her, and the marshtomp lingered beneath the waves waiting for it. Kat smiled as she saw; obviously they were very close as a family.

[Rosie]

"I just found this really pretty shell" Dawn practically shouted "And i wanted you to have it." Dawn timidly held out the shell to Kat worrying if she would accept it.

[Prof. Cinders]

Thankfully, Kat had a lot of water in her ears, so Dawn sounded normal for a while before she shook her waterlogged self. 'Thanks!' she said, smiling as she took the shell. holding it up to the light, she admired the shell in all its glory. 'It's... It's beautiful! Wow!' she exclaimed, gazing at the shell.

[Rosie]

"Can we be friends?" Dawn asked much quieter. She had never had a friend before and so did not know how you were supposed to know if you were friends in the first place.

[Prof. Cinders]

Kat took one last glance at the shell, turned to Dawn and grinned. 'Sure we can be friends! I'd love to be friends with you, you're so cool! You seem to like swimming a lot, and I grew up by the ocean. We're so alike, and it'd be cool to come swimming with you again.'

[Rosie]

A look of concentration had come over Dawn's face as she tried to follow all of the words. But when Kat stopped speaking her face broke into a smile and she said, sounding quite normal for once "Sure. I'd love that! Maybe we could go to that shipwreck thing. I go there all the time. so is that a yes?"

[Prof. Cinders]

Kat smiled. 'It's a yes!' she shouted, and dived under. The family of mudkip, marshtomp and swampert swam away from her, probably going home. Horsea stayed with her, but most of the other pokemon went about their business again. Then Kat had an idea. Turning towards the shore, she swam quickly to get her clothes. Surfacing in the shallow water, she ran to the bush, and rummaged through them. Triumphantly, she held up a pokeball. 'Go, totodile!' she yelled, and the usual bright light revealed the starter pokemon. She put the pokeball back onto the pile, ran to the ocean again, and swam back to Dawn with Horsea and Totodile in tow.

[Rosie]

Dawn watched in awe as Kat dashed back and forth from to the shore and back again and a small blue pokemon follow her back into the sea. Kat probably wanted her to say something about this pokemon, as there appeared to be no other reason for having it out. But, as Dawn normally spoke only when it was necessary, she just held out her hand to the tododile and smiled weakly at it.