Say the truth

Summary—

After a turn for the worst, Dawn and Paul are stranded with no hope for rescue. With nothing else to do, they talk. But with the temperature rising, do they have enough time to tell each other how they feel?

When team Galactic came after them, Dawn thought that it was going to end up like it always had. She, Ash, and Brock were going to save the day and beat them, like always. But luck was not on their side this time. Team Galactic had become more powerful than she thought. Dawn was separated from Ash and Brock, and was thrown in a random ship. She didn't know where she was, or where she will end up.

One thing she did know, they must have stopped somewhere near Veilstone city, because somehow they picked up Paul along the way.

"Get in there!" Cried a grunt, who threw Paul in face first. "Why don't you stay in here till you change your mind?" the Grunt laughed evilly before closing the electric door.

Paul, hard-headed as ever, ran towards the door. Dawn quickly pulled him by the shirt and prevented him from touching it. "Let me go!" Paul yelled, dragging Dawn with him towards the door.

"That door will shock you!" Once Dawn saw that he wasn't listening, she let go and he ran into the door. Dawn sat down, waiting for the shocking to stop. Paul fell backwards and landed in front of her. She sighed as she wrapped herself up in the fetal position. "What'd you do to get in here?"

Paul sat up and rubbed his head. "I refused to join them. Why do you care-" Paul turned to face Dawn. He raised an eyebrow. "Troublesome?" he glared. "Why didn't you stop me?"

Dawn gasped. "I did try! You weren't listening!"

Paul opened his mouth, but a long screeching sound cause both Paul and Dawn to shut their mouths. Dawn felt the motion stop for a brief second, but suddenly, with a large tearing sound of ripping medal, the room began to tilt at an angle. Dawn screamed and held on to a box that was chained to the floor to prevent from falling. The room kept tilting and tilting. Dawn finally noticed that Paul was still in the same spot, and a large box started to slide towards him. She screamed. "Paul, take my hand!"

Paul looked at Dawn's hand before he looked towards the sliding box. He turned an abnormal shade of white as he jumped behind Dawn, ignoring her hand, and, barely missing being squished between the box and the wall. Paul grabbed the same box Dawn had.

Dawn squealed. "Any idea of what might be happening?"

Paul merely shook his head. Dawn gripped the Box tighter. "I hate this. I-I hate this. Why can't Ash be here? Why did they take my Pokemon?" the room tilted so much the room was vertical. Dawn was hanging on to the box as hard as she could, trying not to fall. She let out her most girly scream and cried. "We are going to die!" when a hand was shoved in front of her face.

"Take it!" Dawn didn't think twice as she let go of the box and grabbed the hand. She was pulled up over the box and onto the other side. She dug her face into the soft fabric of the one who saved her. She molded into his form until she heard him mumble, "Troublesome girl,"

Dawn blush and pulled away from him. She didn't meet his eyes. She felt a slight bumping motion, and then they began to freefall.

It was strange, freefalling inside a room. You could tell that you were falling, but you couldn't tell where. Dawn screamed again as she flew up and hit the roof of the room, then everything became silent.

When she finally woke up, she saw that the room had broken in half with a tree broken in the middle. She saw that the tree was leaning slightly, probably from the impact of the room, and there were almost no leaves left. She came to the conclusion that the tree broke the fall, but broke the room in half. 'How did the ship get in the air?' she asked herself.

Dawn looked around, but it had seemed she was in the middle of the ocean. But then she took another look and realized she was on an island. She was alone on an island in the middle of nowhere.

'Wait,' Dawn thought, 'alone?'

"Paul!" She screamed, jumping to her feet. But as soon as she stood up strait, she fell to her knees, "Ouch!" she cried in pain. Her hand when to her ankle. "It's broken,"

"More like sprained," Dawn's head shot up. "You just made it worse. Don't stand up, troublesome girl," Paul sat next to Dawn, laying some berries next to them. "We would have never made it if it weren't for that tree. But it's dead now. I just picked up the berries that it knocked down,"

"Paul?" Dawn asked.

Paul raised his hand up, cutting her off. "Shut up and eat one,"

Dawn did as she was told and picked up an Oran berry. She bit into the bitter-sour-sweet berry. "Yum," She mumbled to herself. "That's a good Oran berry," Paul didn't say anything. He bit into his berry and looked out to the water. Dawn still tried for a conversation. "And they are really big, too,"

Paul looked at Dawn. "Troublesome girl, is your annoying friend Ash going to rescue you like he always does?"

Dawn blushed lightly before answering. "I don't know. We don't even have a clue where we are, how could he know?"

"Because he's always doing something," Paul glared towards the water again.

Dawn sighed, she reacted for another berry. "Stop," Paul slapped her hand. She pulled it away as fast as she could. "That's all we have! Do you just expect that dead tree to grow more food?"

Dawn looked away. "Dead trees can still come back. It's happened before,"

"Over a long period of time," Paul started yelling. "We are going to die here, Dawn! We are going to shrivel up and wore away into sand! Do you not understand the concept of it? We don't have any more food than this and there is no fresh water! We. Are. Going. To. Die!"

Even though he just yelled at her, even though he was a total jerk, even though what he just said made Dawn already die inside, Dawn felt happy. Not because he was yelling, not because he was mean, not because he was a jerk, but because one thing he said caused Dawn to cry. It wasn't sad crying, it was good, but she wouldn't tell Paul that. She couldn't. He walked away from her, towards the other side of the small island. She could still see him, but they couldn't hear each other.

Dawn looked up to the Sky. "He knows my name!" she whispered, her voice hoarse. "I thought he didn't, but he does!" she fell backwards into the sand and fell asleep.

Dawn opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a fire. She sat up and saw Paul next to her again, poking the fire with a stick. He looked at her for a second, and went back to poking the fire.

Dawn sat up straighter. An idea popped into her head. She tapped Paul's shoulder. He looked at her as she smiled. "Truth or Dare?"

Paul sighed. "Dare,"

Dawn smiled. "I dare you to tell the truth to my next question,"

"I thought it was a rule not to say that," Paul remained looking at the fire.

Dawn sighed. "Fine, let me poke you with that stick," she pointed to the stick he was using. "And with the hot side,"

"How about the first one," Paul said, throwing the stick on top the fire.

Dawn smirked. "I thought so," she giggled. "Tell me who you like,"

"That's not a truth question,"

"Paul," Dawn shook her head. "This is a dare to tell the truth. I never said it had to be a truth question," Dawn stuck out her tongue. "Besides, it is a truth question,"

Paul sighed. "If I tell you, will you shut up?" Dawn nodded. Paul took a deep breath. "Don't get any ideas," Dawn gave him a questionable look. "I like," Paul looked up. "She has blue eyes, and is a coordinator, that's all I'm saying,"

"That works for me," Dawn thought about all the girls she knew. One popped into her head first. "Do you know a girl named May Maple?"

Paul raised an eyebrow. "No,"

"Oh," Dawn mentally sighed. Good.

"Truth or Dare,"

"Huh?" Dawn asked. She snapped back to reality. "Truth,"

"Who do you like?" Paul said it like he could really care less, but Dawn felt a jolt of joy when the words left his mouth.

Dawn opened her mouth and gladly said. "Oh, that's easy. I like-" she stopped in mid sentence.

Paul raised an eyebrow at her. Dawn gulped. "I like Ash," she choked out. She felt horrible for saying it, for it was a complete lie. She couldn't meet Paul's eyes again.

"Hm," Paul grumbled. "Should have known. You are always around him, always sticking up for him. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were an obsessed fan girl,"

"Y-yeah," Dawn mumbled. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth,"

Dawn looked at Paul from the corner of her eye; he wasn't looking at her either. She looked down at the fire, wondering what she could ask next. "Um, what's the most embarrassing moment of your life?"

Paul groaned. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours,"

Dawn smiled at the ground. "When Kenny made up my nick name. I was playing with a Plusle and Minun and got shocked. My hair was a total mess and Kenny said 'Hey everyone! Dawn's name isn't Dawn! It's De-de!' ugh," Dawn groaned. "It sucked,"

Paul smirked for half a second before his usual frown flashed back. He sighed. "When Ash beat me,"

Dawn bowed her head and remembered that day. Ash was so happy, but Paul was completely humiliated. Dawn felt so bad that she just had to say something to him. A light blush appeared on her face. That was when I first started liking him. Dawn sighed at the thought. She felt so stupid. She had just told him that she liked Ash when she really liked him.

"Truth or Dare?" Paul asked. Dawn got the impression that he liked the game.

She smiled. "Truth,"

"Okay," Paul actually looked at her. He started to ask, when his eyes got wide. He kicked dirk on the fire and grabbed Dawn's hand. "Get up," Dawn was jerked from her spot on the ground. Paul started running, dragging Dawn with him.

Dawn gasped every time her ankle hit the ground. "P-p-p-Paul!" she cried. "What are you doing?"

Paul didn't answer; he just pulled Dawn behind the huge tree. There was a gap in the roots that were sticking out from the ground, he pushed Dawn in first. "Stay here,"

Dawn opened her mouth, but Paul was already gone. She waited impatiently for him to get back. She had on a pouting face, and was looking at her feet. A sudden shift of wind caused Dawn to look up, and what she saw made her gasp. Another team Galactic helicopter was heading towards the island. Dawn was about to yell for Paul when he jumped through the hole.

"Get down," He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her down.

"Hey!" she grunted as she fell to the dirt.

"Shhh!" Paul glared. He sat the berries he had in his hands in a corner. He jumped out of the hole and ran towards the rubble that was once part of the room that they were in. Dawn peeked out the hole and saw Paul crack open boxes. She saw him pull out canned fruit and bottled water and run back towards her. She backed away from the hole and he placed the food and water next to the berries. "This should hold us until they leave,"

"Paul, I thought there was no water," Dawn whispered.

Paul shrugged, "I thought there was none, too. When I was coming back with the berries I saw that the box said 'supplies' on it. We're lucky,"

Dawn resumed the fetal position. "Maybe we should just come out. They would take us out of here,"

"No they wouldn't!" Paul whispered/yelled. "Do you think that they came all the way here to rescue the prisoners?"

Dawn gulped. "No," a tear streamed down her face, but Paul didn't see it. He started pushing dirt up to block the hole. He was done when it landed.

Grunts filed out right and left. They searched through the rubble until everything was scrap. Dawn started crying harder. Paul suddenly wrapped his arms around her and held her close. This action caused Dawn to hold her breath and blush. She looked up to the hole, and saw a confused grunt looking around.

"What is it?" asked another Grunt.

"I thought I heard crying," he answered.

"It's the shock of losing everyone," another answered as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Report," said a man with dark blue hair, his Toxicroak close by him.

Dawn gasped lightly. "Saturn," Paul covered Dawn's mouth quickly.

"Saturn! We have no survivors," replied the Grunt.

"Shame," Saturn looked out towards the ocean. The sky was starting to turn a lighter blue. "We must hurry, or the sun will rise on us," The grunts looked at Saturn with a confused look. Saturn smirked at them. "When the sun comes up, the temperature rises with it. When the temperature gets to a spot, the Pokemon that caused this to crash will appear. Let's just say, it hates trespassers," Saturn started to turn away, but stopped and started to chuckle. "And if the Pokemon doesn't kill you, the heat will,"

Dawn turned pale. She almost fainted in Paul's arms, but he was squeezing her. She knew it wasn't on purpose, but it hurt.

Dawn continued to watch the Grunts. Instead of packing up things, they were unpacking. Dawn heard Saturn explain that they were leaving food for any survivors. He said that if anyone touched the food, the sensors would go off and they would know if someone survived.

In other words, it was a trap.

Dawn watched as they left, too. She waited until they were out of sight before she even thought about moving. She wiggled out of Paul's grip and Crawled towards the light. As she exited, she caught sight of the mountain of food they laid out. She shook her head, what a waste of food!

She turned around and saw that Paul was climbing out. He was covered in dirt, which made her a little afraid to look at herself. She looked towards the rising sun. "Do you think that Saturn was telling the truth?"

"It's getting hotter," Paul pointed out.

Dawn gulped. She pulled off her hat. "Why us?" Dawn stood up, and fell back down to her butt. She groaned. "Great! It's worse!"

"Calm down," Paul grunted. He walked towards the same supplies box that he got the water from. "There is medicine in here,"

"Good," Dawn pouted, looking towards the rising sun. She sighed. "What's the point? We are going to die here anyway,"

Something fell on Dawn's head. She looked down and saw a water bottle. "Don't jinx us," Paul sat next to Dawn. "Your boyfriend will save us," he took a drink of his water.

Dawn looked down. If he keeps this up, he'll say it in front of Ash.

"I lied," Dawn said without thinking. She gulped. What am I doing?

Paul raised an eyebrow. "Hm," he looked away from her. "Why did you lie? It's supposed to be the truth,"

"I couldn't," She admitted to herself. To stop from answering, she starting to sing a didn't know if she had the lyrics right, but she didn't care. "How 'bout, baby, we make a promise? And not promise anything more than a one night-,"

Paul glared at her. "Don't sing that!"

"Why?" Dawn asked.

"My brother's girlfriend keeps singing it. It's so annoying,"

Dawn gasped. "Reggie has a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, they just met. She's a real hick,"

"Oh," Dawn looked down. There was so much she didn't know, and she was going to die there. She should have jumped out when Saturn was there. She should have told Ash it was too dangerous. So much she could have done to stop it from happening, but she didn't. She dug her face into her knees. She wanted to sleep.

"Dawn, move your leg," Dawn looked up to see Paul with medicine is his hands. She could have slapped herself! Paul… Paul wanted to help her?

Dawn shook her head to clear her mind. "Right," she positioned herself so that he could treat her ankle. Paul sat the medicine down and slowly pulled off Dawn's boot. Once he succeeded, he started to apply medicine. The medicine automatically started to sooth Dawn's Pain. She started to smile lightly, pleased with the soothing rubbing motion that Paul used when applying the medicine. When he finished, she started pouting again, but he was too busy wrapping her ankle to notice.

Paul stood up and ran back to the box. Out of it, he pulled out a smaller box and ran back. He placed the box next to Dawn and opened it. Out of it he pulled out blankets. He wrapped one into a bundle and placed it under Dawn's ankle to keep it elevated. He made two pillows and used the rest to make beds on the ground nest to the tree. When he was done, he lay down with his back against the tree, and sighed.

"Thank you," Dawn said, scooting slightly closer to him. Paul opened his eyes and looked at her.

"When we don't have anything left, we'll mess with that stuff," He pointed at the trap supplies. "They'll come, and we'll have no choice but to join them,"

Dawn looked down, but nodded. Obviously, Paul knew what he was doing. She knew she could trust him. A small smile appeared on her face. Of course I trust him, I love him.

"Dawn," Dawn looked at Paul. "Is it getting hotter to you?" Dawn instantly felt it. A wave of heat hit her face like a slap from your ex best friend.

"Yeah,"

"Crap," Paul mumbled under his breath. "It's not just me. What he said is coming true,"

"Well," Dawn mumbled. "It's a heat we can stand,"

"Not for long," Paul pointed towards the run, which was now almost completely visible. "Once it's in the middle of the sky, it's going to burn,"

"We can take shade in part of the room," She suggested.

"Won't matter. It will reflect off the sand," Paul leaned back again. "And the water,"

As if on cue, the heat was turned up. Dawn gasped for breath. She looked towards Paul. Her face turned a bright shade of red. Paul was taking off his shirt. Dawn started to take off her scarf. She pulled her over shirt over her head, leaving only her white undershirt, and leaned against the tree again. She blushed at Paul, who looked at her with a raise eyebrow. Dawn turned away. "It's hot,"

"Yeah," Paul looked away. Dawn felt a ting of mischief fill her as she looked at the shirtless Paul. After 5 seconds, her face was burning with a mixture of a blush and the heat. Her breathing became ragged and she quickly took a drink of water. After she finished the bottle, she threw it behind her and grabbed another. It was then that she started panicking.

Dawn's eye's started tearing up as she looked at Paul. "Are we really going to die here?"

Paul looked at Dawn. Looking at her pitiful appearance, his faced change in a way unexplainable. It was like it loosened up. "Don't you even think about crying. You will survive,"

Dawn still cried. She turned away from Paul completely and cried into the tree. She started to mumble while she cried. "We are going to die here! We are going to die! I'm going to die and I haven't even had my first kiss! Or my first boyfriend! And I'm stuck with someone I care about but I can't do anything about it! Why me? Why can't I just say 'no need to worry' and get this over with?"

Paul leaned in. "Say, 'Truth or Dare?'"

Dawn sniffed. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Dawn sniffed and looked at him. Paul continued. "Say, 'who do you like?'"

Dawn whipped her nose. "Who do you like?"

"Blue eyes, blue hair, 10 years old, hometown of Twinleaf, a coordinator, and someone who will survive,"

Dawn held her breath. I'm dreaming. I fell asleep and I'm having the worst/best dream ever. I'm going to wake up next to Ash, who will be drooling. Brock will be cooking breakfast and Ash is going to jump up any second yelling 'FOOD!' I'll get Piplup to fix my hair and then he'll start fighting with Cyndaquil. We'll see Paul while traveling and I'll blush because I'll remember this dream.

Dawn opened her eyes. Paul was sitting in front of her, leaning in close. Dawn blushed. If this is a dream, I better make it work. "I don't like you," Dawn's face turned redder. Paul looked confused. She took a deep breath. "I love you,"

Paul smirked. He leaned closer, very close. Dawn could feel his breath on her face. A chill went down her spine. Her eyes became heavier with the less space that was between them. Paul's hands were on either side of her body, holding him over her.

Right before their lips could touch each other, the ground started to tremble. The water made a huge splash as a huge red object shot up from the water. Paul quickly turned around. Dawn gasped.

"A Gyarados," Dawn yelled.

"A RED Gyarados," Paul corrected.

The Gyarados looked directly at Dawn and Paul. Dawn stared into it's eyes. She could have swore she was staring death in the face. But, It turned so that its back was facing them, and it shot off in a different direction. Dawn sweat-dropped. "What was that about?"

"I don't know," Paul grumbled. Then, out of no-where, he fainted.

Dawn gasped. "Paul!" she jumped to his side. "Paul? Paul!" Dawn shook her head. "This isn't funny!"

Her eyes became foggy. She didn't think twice. She ran to the boxes and kicked one over, she pushed some over, and she broke a few. When she was done, she fell to the ground and started crying. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and spun around. Paul fell to his knees next to her. "Not- not now," he looked into her eyes. "Not until- not until I get a kiss,"

Dawn nodded. "Okay," She said, barely over a whisper. She lifted her lips to his, and they finally kissed. Dawn put as much emotion she could into it. When their lips separated, Paul fainted into her arms.

The sound of a helicopter caused Dawn to look up. The Team galactic helicopter started to land next to her, and she kissed Paul's forehead. "We'll be okay," she whispered before she broke into tears and laid Paul down onto her lap.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Dawn?"

Dawn looked up with foggy eyes. The tears poured down her face when she saw who it was. She held her arms out for him. "Ash!" Ash went to his knees and Hugged Dawn. Dawn saw Brock and Nurse Joy run up to her and Paul. The next thing she knew, she was being carried by a Chansey towards the helicopter. She looked behind her and saw another Chansey helping carry Paul. She Saw Nurse Joy picking up the clothes that they threw on the ground. She looked to her left and Looked at Ash's worried face, and she smiled.

"Ash, guess what,"

"What, Dawn?" he asked, grabbing her hand and squeezing it lightly.

"I told Paul the truth," She giggled weakly. "I told him I loved him,"

Ash's shocked face said it all. Dawn smiled to herself and relaxed into the Chansey's arms. "And he felt the same way about me,"

Dawn felt the air condition and the cold hospital bedding. She looked to her right and saw Paul being placed next to her. Nurse Joy opened bottled water and splashed it on his face and chest. Paul shook from the sudden jolt of cold water, and Dawn could hear his breathing go back to normal. She sighed and laid her head on the soft pillow.

Ash and Brock sat next to her. "Dawn," Ash said quietly. Pikachu cuddled into her side, causing her to smile.

"Hey guys,"

"Dawn?" Ash asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yepper-doodle," she giggled weakly. "Could use some water, though,"

Nurse Joy handed her a cup. Dawn took it and gulping it down. She sat it on the table next to her and started to laugh. "Paul and I saw this thing, uh, ship, not too long ago, how did you guys get it?"

"We were on board," ash said instantly. "They started looking for you. They kept saying something about how they needed the Mesprit girl. We knew they were talking about you,"

Nurse Joy cut in. "After Saturn and the others got off, we took over. At that time we decided that they didn't look hard enough for you. We came back to check on you,"

Brock took the rest. "Half way here, we saw movement in the boxes. We sped up and here we are now,"

"But," Ash cut in. "We didn't know Paul was with you,"

Dawn smiled. "Yeah," she turned her attention towards the boy sleeping next to her. "We saw a red Gyarados,"

"You did too?" Brock asked. "We saw one on the way here. We looked behind us and saw it destroy the place Team Galactic was,"

Dawn giggled. "Wow. So it wanted to help us," Dawn closed her eyes. She heard Ash and the others leave the room. She smiled ever so slightly "Paul? Can you wake up for me?"

When Dawn opened her eyes, Paul's eyes were open. She smiled as she sat up and limped to his side. Paul scooted over and allowed Dawn room to lay down next to him. She snuggled into his bare chest and breathed in his scent. "I love you," she mumbled quietly.

"I love you too, Dawn," Paul said. And they fell asleep in each others arms.