Hey guys! This is my first attempt at an ikarishipping fic. Basically, we're just going to pretend that Paul never traveled to the Hoenn region before the events of the Sinnoh Saga. This first chapter is a little bit slow but I promise things will start rolling :) Happy reading!

As Lavaridge Town finally came into view, Paul began to prepare himself for his upcoming gym battle against Flannery. Having been defeated by Ash in the quarterfinals of the Sinnoh League, and by Brandon once again at the Battle Pyramid, Paul has since begun traveling in the Hoenn region, in hopes of entering the Hoenn league as a way of training for a rematch against Brandon, and Ash. Though he now had a newfound respect for his rival, the loss still stung, and Paul vowed that the next time they battled, things would be different.

Reaching the door of the Lavaridge town gym, Paul knocked, and a few moments later the door opened and a young girl stepped out.

"Hello, are you here for a gym battle?," she asked.

"That's right," Paul replied. "My name's Paul and I was hoping to challenge Flannery to a battle today."

"I'm sorry," the little girl replied. "I'm Flannery's sister Lyla, and I'm afraid she's gone off to the volcano to train for today. She'll be back tomorrow, so you'll have to wait till then."

"Tomorrow it is then," Paul said shortly, as he turned away.

He decided to head to the Pokemon Center and rest for the day, since it had been a long journey from Mauville City and his Pokemon didn't really need any more training. However, on his way there, a giant screen on top of a large building caught his attention. His eyes widened as he realized that the girl on the screen was none other than Dawn, Ash's traveling companion from the Sinnoh region, and she was obviously competing in the appeals round of the Lavaridge Contest. Paul hesitated for a minute, then decided since he had time to kill anyway he might as well go in and watch. He would simply leave before the end so that he would never have to cross paths with the bluenette. With that, he opened the door and stepped into the contest hall.

Dawn's POV

"Alright Piplup and Pachirisu, are you guys ready?"

"Lup!"

"Chu-pa!"

"Alright then! Let's go get our third Hoenn ribbon!" Dawn exclaimed. Piplup and Pachirisu cheered again, and Dawn put the finishing touches into her hair, returned Piplup and Pachirisu back to their Pokeballs, and placed the proper seals on both of them. Just then, the announcer's voice boomed throughout the waiting room.

"The next contestant is Dawn! Dawn, please be ready to enter the stage!"

Dawn took a deep breath and walked through the doors into the long hall. Just as she reached the end the previous performer had just finished her routine with a Plusle and Minun, and by the looks of the audience she had done a pretty amazing performance.

"My my that sure was some performance!" The announcer exclaimed. "Even the judges were thoroughly impressed! But now let's give it up for our next contestant, it's Dawn!" The curtains drew and Dawn raced out from the beneath.

"Piplup, Pachirisu, spotlight!" she said as she threw her pokeballs into the air.

Piplup and Pachirisu exploded out in a whirlwind of sparks, and landed skillfully on the ground with a pose.

"Piplup use Ice Beam, and Pachirisu, Discharge!"

Piplup and Pachirisu lept into the air and fired off their moves, which collided with one another and created a beautiful series of iridescent yet sparking fireworks. The cheer of the crowd gave Dawn more confidence as she yelled out her next combination.

"Now Pachirisu, use Discharge one more time, and Piplup, Whirlpool!"

"Unbelievable!" exclaimed the announcer. "The Discharge and Whirlpool have fused together into a super charged Whirlpool! What a dangerous and yet beautiful combination!"

"Now let's finish this! Piplup use Drill Peck, and Pachirisu use Super Fang!"

The two Pokemon's moves sliced the sparking Whirlpool in pieces, and each part exploded into a myriad of sparks that glistened in the droplets of water. Dawn, Piplup and Pachirisu and bowed and the audience all went wild. Dawn happily waved and thanked the audience. Little did she know that in the second to last row Paul was there intently watching her performance.

"Wow, you guys were great!" Dawn exclaimed as she and her two Pokemon walked back towards the waiting room. "If we keep this up our third ribbon is as good as ours!"

Her two Pokemon cheered happily

Paul had watched Dawn's performance intently. He had been interested in seeing if she had improved at all. Though he told himself it was absolutely not intentionally, Paul had happened to watch several of the contests Dawn had competed in in the Sinnoh region on TV. He distinctly remembered her winning in the Wallace Cup, as he had started watching after seeing Ash competing. Back then, he had disdainfully thought that Ash was completely out of his mind and pathetic for distracting himself from training to participate in such dumb contests. However after seeing the extremely competitive battle rounds, he had left with a small newfound respect for contests and coordinators. Back to reality, Paul had to give it to the Dawn that she definitely knew what she was doing as a coordinator. While her combinations had been nice to look at, he could easily see that her Pokemon's moves had real power behind them, which was why they were able to pull them off so nicely. Knowing that an upcoming gym in Mossdeep City had leaders that specialized in double battles, Paul made a small note of the powerful electric and water the combinations she had used.

Paul was brought out of his thoughts by the announcer announcing the coordinators that had made it on to the next round. He wasn't surprised to see Dawn up on the screen-her performance had been one of the best. However now he was anticipating how she would hold her own during a battle. Without even noticing it himself, Paul was becoming more and more interested in the blue haired girl.

With ease, Dawn had graced through her first two battles and now she was facing off against a girl who used a Milotic and a Manectric. Though Quilava and Mamoswine fought hard, a powerful Twister and Thunder combination by the opponent successfully knocked out both of Dawn's Pokemon and secured her loss. Though Paul had planned to leave earlier to avoid crossing paths with Dawn he had become so engrossed in her battle that he had completely forgotten until now. After the contest ended, he tried to slip away with the rest of the crowd as quickly as possible, but fate did not allow him such luck, and just as he was stepping out the glass doors, a familiar feminine voice called his name.

There you have it! The first chapter of Journey to Petalburg is complete! I am actually trying to come up with a better title, so if anyone has anyone ideas feel free to send them to me via review or message. Speaking of, reviews would be greatly appreciated :)