"Stay."

It was a day most like any other in Snowpoint City with the exception that it was Christmas Eve.

Dawn had been planning to shop – albeit a little last minute – before returning to visit Candace and Zoey who were spending Christmas together. It was the perfect scenery for the holidays, and though Dawn had ached a little for home, she had visited her mom the day before. Johanna had actually been spending the holiday with Palmer and Barry, making Dawn a little less apprehensive about spending the time with her friends instead.

She had some bags slung on her arms and flurries were already coming down when she had heard some loud and people started running. Swallowing, she let her time with Ash take over her instincts and she ran toward the commotion.

As she rounding the corner, she saw that there were several Team Rocket members with their Pokemon out, battling someone further away. The other trainer appeared to be out of breath. This didn't surprise Dawn; Team Rocket was known for not caring whether or not their opponents and not just their Pokemon were hurt in the process.

"Hey!" Dawn called out, dropping her bags beside her. "What do you think you're doing?"

The two grunts turned and snickered.

The seemingly older of the two, a man, scoffed. "What's a little girl like you gonna do? Go pick a fight with someone your own size, sweetheart."

The other looked a little wearier after studying Dawn. "Dude, I think that's one of the big time Coordinators around here," he said. "I don't know if we should be teasing…."

The first of the two laughed. "If the kid over there was worth anything he said he was, we wouldn't be having so much fun toying with him then, would we?" he said, jabbing a finger in the direction of the other trainer.

Dawn could barely make out who it was with the large Pokemon standing between the grunts and the other trainer. She breathed the hair out of her eyes and enlarged a Pokeball. "We'll see who you should be toying with," she said, determined now. "Lopunny, Mega Evolve!" she shouted.

As the Pokemon emerged from the ball, it stood up and immediately became engulfed in color that connected to Dawn's bracelet at her wrist.

The two grunts both backed up, realizing they were now fighting on two fronts. "Leave the kid," the first one said. "Get the girl!"

Dawn didn't give them room to breathe. "Double Kick!" she shouted, commanding Lopunny to lunge toward the Purugly and the Crobat in front of her. The other two Pokemon were already clearly worn out and took the hits straight to the face.

"We're not gonna be able to survive another full battle," the second grunt said. "Let's just go!"

"Fine," the first said, "but we'll be back for you." They both recalled their Pokemon to their balls and started to leave.

"Yeah, you better run!" Dawn called after them. She turned to Lopunny who was transforming back. "Great work," she said, rubbing her behind the ear. She recalled her Pokemon before looking over to the other trainer at last.

She now saw that it was a boy, close to her in age. He had recalled an Electivire and Froslass before looked up at Dawn.

"Paul?" she said, her eyes widening. But before he could reply, Dawn watched as he pitched forward, falling to his knees in the snow. "Paul!" she shouted, rushing to his side. She knelt down, the wet of the snow piercing through her pants and dampening them. But she didn't care; all she could register was the blood on his head and the bruising blossoming on his jaw. "Help!" Dawn shouted. "Please! Someone help us!"

The first feeling Paul was aware of was the throbbing in his head. He groaned audibly and lifted his heads to his face. But he sucked in a sharp intake of breath at the stinging the touch caused. Then he coughed; his lungs were weak. Brilliant.

"Hey, you're awake!" said a voice next to him. He removed his hands from his face and he squinted against the fluorescent light of the hospital room. The girl sitting beside his bed had a mixed set of emotions from what he could tell. He wasn't good at reading people to start with, let alone when he was in this much pain.

"Dawn?" was all he could register in his brain. What was she doing here? he wanted to ask but didn't have the energy to process it anyway.

She stood from her chair and crossed over to the bed, sitting on the side of it. "Yeah, it's me. Hey! You remembered my name!" she said, half-excitedly, half-teasingly.

Paul rolled his eyes. "Yeah whatever."

"No, not whatever," she said. "That's good. How do you feel?" she asked gently.

Paul looked back up at her as if to retort again but then he decided on actually surveying his situation. He had felt bandages on his head when he touched his face earlier. His mouth ached, likely from a split lip and maybe bruising on his jaw. He looked down and saw that he had sheets over his legs but could move them. His arms had some bandages on them, but he could move them with only some pain.

"You must be a little confused," Dawn said gently. "You're on a bunch of medications, including some pain meds. Whatever happened out there though, you protected the city for a while."

Ah, he recalled. Dawn had found him after his fight with Team Rocket. "Mmm," he replied.

Dawn stood suddenly, and Paul's head swam with the effort to watch her get up. "I'll go get a nurse and let them know you're awake," she said and turned to leave.

Dawn stopped short at the sudden grip on her arm. It was weak but not feather-light… but gentle. She turned back to the bed.

Paul looked her straight in the eyes. "Stay," he said.

Dawn's gut twisted at the plea. His voice was hoarse with the effort. The bandages all over him didn't help with how it made her feel. She turned back to him fully and gave him a gentle smile. "Okay," she said quietly and carefully – so as not to hurt him – she rested a hand on his bare shoulder.

Minutes after their conversation, nurses had come in to check on Paul, take his vitals, and ask him what his birthday was and what he was doing before he passed out in the snow. They had told him how lucky he was that Dawn had found him but Dawn waved off the praise, saying that Paul had done most of the work. But he couldn't remember how long he had been battling, just that he was hurting.

"My Pokemon," he suddenly gasped and tried to sit up straighter. Then he hissed through his teeth at the sudden strain.

"They're alright," the nurse said to him calmly. "Dawn made sure you still had your pokeballs when you came in and we took care of them right away," she said. "They're being treated now, but they're all in fine condition. You, on the other hand, are much worse for wear than they are. Rest up. Dawn, be sure he doesn't strain himself, please."

She nodded to the nurse. "No need to worry," she said softly but firmly.

When the nurse seemed satisfied, she left the room and the two were alone again.

"I'm glad," Dawn started, "…to see that you care so much."

Paul looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"You know. Like, for your Pokemon," she said, slowly.

Paul scoffed. "Of course I care." he said easily.

Dawn nodded but didn't say more on the topic.

"Why are you here?" Paul suddenly asked.

Dawn cocked her head to one side and stared. "You… asked me to stay…?" she said, a little hesitantly. "Unless, you don't remember-"

"I do," he said abruptly. "I mean before."

Dawn furrowed her eyebrows in thought, trying to understand his language. "Oh, you mean before you woke up?"

He nodded.

"You were alone," she said simply. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"You've done that before," he said. "Why?"

"Done that before?" she asked.

"Before the quarterfinals," he clarified. "You talked to me when I was alone."

It took Dawn a moment to remember. It was strange to her that he would remember such a fleeting moment. But she remembered the conversation as well. Paul had told her why Ash aggravated him so much. She figured it wasn't much at the time, but it had been their only real conversation until now.

"I just thought you could use some advice," she said. "You were frustrated that Ash can do more by seemingly willing his Pokemon to, and you couldn't."

"That's not-" Paul started.

Dawn continued. "The problem was more that Ash was willing to believe in his Pokemon against all odds. But I think you showed you can do that today. You kept fighting and you kept believing in your Pokemon until you couldn't even stand anymore."

Paul's lips formed a thin line.

"Your Pokemon believe in you, even if you don't always believe in you," she said. "But you're a strong trainer. And what you did out there today shows just that."

Paul had eventually drifted in and out of consciousness for the rest of the day. Twice, Dawn had made sure the nurses brought Paul something to eat, and – much to Paul annoyance – Dawn offered to help him eat. He was able to do it just fine on his own.

Most of the nurses had turned over their shifts for the night, and the lights in the room had been turned off at some point when Paul hadn't noticed. He had woken up and looked around to see Dawn was still there, swiping at her Poketch.

"You're still here." he said.

Dawn started with a jolt and raised her gaze to Paul with a gentle smile once she collected herself. "Uh, yeah… I am." she said.

"Why?"

Dawn struggled to reply. Then she looked out the window, saw it was dark but snow was gently dusting the city. She registered the time. "It's Christmas," she said breathlessly.

"That's why you're still here?" he asked.

Dawn frowned. "I mean… no… but I don't think anyone should be alone on Christmas, either."

"You don't have somewhere to be?"

Dawn waved him off. "I told Candace and Zoey I'd make sure you were okay first. No need to worry."

"I'm not okay?"

Dawn grimaced. "Well no! I mean, yes! But you're alone and there's no one else to make sure you're alright."

"Thank you."

Dawn's mouth twitched up into a smirk. "No need to worry."

"Dawn."

"Yeah?"

"Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Paul."