Whelp here it is soooo

Dawn and her friends had gotten up early to go get ready for their contest, leaving Paul alone in the room. Well...May's annoying little brother actually had to stay with Paul while his sister and his sister's boyfriend were gone. Paul was basically stuck babysitting, and he did not appreciate it.

"What kind of Pokémon do you have?"

"How many badges do you have?"

"How long have you known Ash?"

That last one was the only question Paul answered, and he answered with a brief "Too long"

Paul and May's brother sat in the seats of the place the contest was being held. It seemed the gym leader of the city offered to hold it in his gym. Pathetic of him, really.

"May told me about your battle with Harley! That's so cool that you were able to beat him so easily!" The kid said. Paul then remembered the kid's name was Max.

Paul mentally groaned and looked at the boy sitting to his right. He looked awkward, wanting for a reaction, for an answer, from Paul. At least he knew what strength looked like.

"Yeah" Paul grunted.

Max was about to say something else, but the contest announcer cut him off with her usual explanation of contest rules.

Paul never cared to listen to her most of the time. He only listened when she spoke of Dawn, since Dawn was really the only interesting thing about contests.

"Alright everyone, here's our first contestant- May!" She said in her cheery voice.

May walked out into the stage in a fancier outfit than she had been wearing yesterday, and sent out her Beautifly.

She commanded her Pokémon to spin and use Silver Wind, while also using Psychic to give the Silver Wind a gorgeous blue glow. Once Beautifly stopped spinning, May commanded it to use Morning Sun to show off its multicolored wings. Beautifly sat on May's head as May smiled and waved as the crowd cheered.

"Yeah May!" Max cheered.

Paul said nothing.

More and more coordinators came out with their Pokémon, creating combinations that Paul couldn't care less about.

"Next up is Drew!" The announcer said.

Drew emerged from backstage in his regular attire and sent out a Masquerain.

The Masquerain came out of its Pokeball and immediately started using Bubble. A small Silver Wind picked up from around Masquerain's body, wrapping around the bubbles, and giving them an elegant silver glow.

Masquerain fluttered over to its trainer and both trainer and Pokémon bowed in unison as the crowd roared in approval.

"Man Drew just keeps getting better..." Max mumbled.

"Worried?" Paul mocked.

Max crossed his arms, "No. May's gonna win" he huffed.

Not if Dawn has any say in it, Paul thought.

As Drew exited the stage, Dawn entered in her contest attire and Paul instantly started paying more attention. Max noticed and started laughing.

"What?" Paul shot.

"Nothing" Max said, still laughing.

Paul shot the kid a glare and brought his attention back to Dawn. Max shrugged and laughed again.

Dawn had a huge goofy grin on her face as she sent out her Togekiss. Togekiss did a small aerial routine before using Safeguard. Before the move wore off, Togekiss used Air Slash combining the light of the Safeguard with the Air Slash. Togekiss shot the move high in the air, then tossed an Aura Sphere into the ball of wind and light. The moves collided and spread a soft aurora of light over the stadium. The light made Togekiss' feathering shine a dazzling bright white.

Togekiss landed next to Dawn and they both smiled and bowed as the crowd cheered.

"That was awesome!" Max exclaimed.

"Breathtaking..." Paul breathed, referring more to Dawn than the performance. Paul turned to see Max smirking, an eyebrow raised.

"What, brat?" Paul shot.

"You loooooove her" Max teased.

Paul ignored the burning that made its was to his face and brought his attention back to the stage. Paul's face contorted in disgust when the next contestant made their way into the stage.

"Harley" Max stated, disgusted. At least him and Paul had something in common: A distaste for Harley.

Harley sent out an Ariados who used String Shot to wrap itself in webbing. Ariados then used Shadow Ball, using its legs to break it and wrap the dust around the web to give it an eerie purple glow. Ariados finished the performance with a terrifying Scary Face that shook the entire audience to the core.

As Harley exited, a girl just as tall as Harley with long salmon hair entered.

"Solidad" Max said, "she's really good"

"Probably not as good as-" Paul started.

"-Dawn doesn't know what she's up against" Max cut him off. "Sorry to cut you off there lover boy, but Dawn'd better be watching if she has any chance against Solidad"

Paul wanted to tell this kid off- Of course Dawn was watching! She wasn't stupid! She did learn from watching Paul battle. She did learn how to analyze her opponents. She knew what she was doing. He also wanted to tell this brat off for calling him "lover boy".

The girl sent out a Lapras who used Surf in a way were water swirled around Lapras. The water suddenly shot outwards towards the crowd, and Lapras used Sheer Cold to freeze it. The water was frozen in delicate, and intricate patterns. Lapras then used Perish Song to show off its amazing voice, and the crowd loved every second of it.

"Alright!" The announcer said, "That concludes our first round performers! Stay tuned, because we'll have your results in a few minutes!"

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"I'm feeling really confident, Piplup!" Dawn said looking in the mirror. Piplup stood on the desk under the mirror. The five of them (including Piplup, of course) were alone in one of the dressing rooms.

"Plup!" Her Pokémon said proudly, puffing out his chest, then nearly falling over.

Dawn turned from the mirror to see May sitting on a bench looking nervous with Drew on one side of her, and Solidad on the other. Dawn had just met Solidad this morning, and she had to admit: she was intimidating. But that wasn't going to stop Dawn from giving it her all!

"I haven't been this nervous for results in awhile! You're all such great coordinators!" May chattered.

"Hey no need to worry right?" Dawn encouraged.

"That's when I worry the most" May mumbled.

"C'mon May you were great. You'll make it" Drew complimented.

"Yeah," Solidad said, "the judges loved you"

"Pip!" Piplup chirped.

May put her face in her hands.

"Maaaaaay!" A voice called. Five heads turned to see May's little brother come through the door followed by a very agitated looking Paul.

Max ran straight to his sister and hugged her. "May you were amazing!" He said, excitedly.

"You think so?" May asked.

"Of course!" Her brother responded.

Paul made his way over to Dawn and kissed her.

"You were beautiful out there today" he complimented. Piplup made a gagging sound.

"What about Togekiss?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah yeah, she was fine" Paul responded, intertwining his fingers with Dawn's. Max shot Paul a smirk. Paul glared at the kid. Dawn looked between the two boys, trying to figure out what was going on. Sure Paul was unpleasant to most people, especially children (he found them annoying), but he didn't glare unless he really disliked someone.

"We'd better get backstage," Solidad commented, "we don't want to miss the results"

"Okay..." May said nervously.

Drew put his arm around her and kissed her forehead. "It'll be fine May"

Dawn kissed Paul's cheek. "You'll watch Max?"

"Sure, I'll 'watch' the nuisance" Paul said bluntly.

May looked at Dawn, wondering if she should trust Paul. Dawn gave a nervous smile back, shrugging. Max nodded.

"Um, okay. See ya Max..." May said as Max ran out the door. May turned to Paul, "I'll see him, right?"

Paul rolled his eyes and walked out the door after Max.

"He's not capable of murder, don't worry about it" Dawn laughed.

May nodded. Dawn grabbed Piplup and the four coordinators walked out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group of coordinators watched the screen backstage as the second round contestants were announced.

All four coordinators and Harley made it to the second round.

May sighed in relief.

"See May? No need to worry!" Dawn said.

"Piplup!" The penguin said from its trainer's arms.

"Yeah..." May sighed. Drew wrapped his arm around May's waist and nuzzled his face into May's neck.

"What'd I tell ya?" He whispered. May giggled.

"Now" the monitor said, "these lucky coordinators' second round opponents!"

Each match appeared on the screen.

May vs a coordinator she didn't know

Solidad vs Drew

Solidad and Drew looked at each other and returned their gaze to the screen.

A couple other coordinators faces popped up on screen until the last two were matched up.

Dawn gasped.

Dawn vs Harley

Wow that ending though I'm so great at cliffhangers! ....yeah right lol.

I worked on this dang thing longer than I would have liked tbh

Also I drew Drew's (lol) performance because I'm trash, but also the picture LOOKS like trash but eh I tried

K thx bai!