I do not own Pokemon or any of it's characters.
Pokemon is owned by Satoshi Tajiri.
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This story will inevitably be an AshXGary pairing. If you don't like yaoi, please don't read.
Enjoy :)


The crowd grew silent as the nervous girl made her way center stage. Entering the pale spot light dead center she opened her eyes and gazed out at the grand stand, scanning for the familiar black haired boy and his yellow companion. Spotting them straight ahead she discovered a new found confidence in herself. Throwing her pokeball into the air, she yelled,

"Piplup, Spotlight!" In a burst of blue and yellow, the water Pokémon seemed to dance its way out of its pokeball and around the bright, glistening stars created by the Seal. Landing gracefully and striking a pose it chirped its name, "Pip-pip-lup".

The crowd again grew into an uproar of excitement and anticipation as to how the young trainer would perform.

"Piplup, Whirlpool!" The little penguin Pokémon yelp with excitement as it reared up to launch a full charged Whirlpool. Piplup sent the swirl of water upwards and outwards, crashing and busting the stars that still lingered from the opening. Each star burst added more and more twinkling star dust to the air, which gently rained down onto the stage. The Whirlpool finally collided with the roof of the stadium. Water rained down, casting a rainbow threw the stardust. The crowd gasped in awe at the magnificence that was panning out before their eyes.

"Piplup, Good work!" Cried the girl in excitement, "Now let's show off your speed and power. Peck!" From out of her backpack the young coordinator pulled several Frisbees which she threw into the air, one after another. The little Piplup's beak began to outstretch, preparing for a full on Peck attack. It launched itself off the ground at an incredible speed, smashing the Frisbees as it ascended. At the end of the launch, Dawn shouted another command,

"BUBBLEBEAM!" As Piplup dropped back to the ground, it aimed a blast of bubbles at the ground, causing it to land smoothly in a pool of sparkling blue orbs. Piplup used its foot to pop one of the bubbles. In a chain reaction, from the center outwards, all the bubbles popped in an explosion of glittering blue, granting a marvelous ending to the young girl and her Piplup's performance. The crowd clapped and screamed, congratulating the girl. She looked up to see her friends cheering the loudest. "Thank god it's over." she thought to herself with a small giggle.

She made her way back to the waiting area where all the other coordinators where preparing for their turns. Lots of them had more advanced moves and higher level Pokémon than her; one boy even had an Arcanine, which looked well trained and powerful. How was Dawn ever going to make it through to the next round? She pushed all negative thoughts aside with a sigh as her friends came to greet her.

"Dawn that was an amazing performance!" Belted Ash as he gave her a big hug,

"Yeah, you really have grown a lot in the past few months; I think that was a grade A show." The brown hair man, Brock, smiled down at her and she half smiled back at him, blushing red over his compliment.

"I'm really hungry; do you think you're allowed to leave the waiting room?" Ash sounded hopeful as his stomach growled.

"I'm sure it wouldn't matter. Let's go, I'm pretty hungry too." The three friends walked out of the room of people and made their way to the food court.

After the three had eaten their fill, they decided to head back to the waiting area to see if the 1st round was complete. Turns out they arrived just in time as the trainers who made it threw were being announced. The faces on the computer screen flashed up one by one. Ash and Brock ignored the list of faces, only hoping for one. As Dawns picture came up they cheered and congratulated her. Dawn scanned the other faces; taking in all the details, one of these people could possibly knock her out of the contest. Not 5 photos from her own the boy with the Arcanine had made it through as well. She hopped she wouldn't be up against him. He looked strong.

The next rounds were the battles. The trainers got randomly paired up with another finalist and so round 2 began. Dawn was the second pair to be up on stage. The young boy she had to battle was snooty and cocky. He sent out his Zubat and Dawn called on her Ambipom. Ambipom bounded around the stage making it difficult for Zubat to land any hits. Every miss caused the boys points to decrease rapidly. Ambipom jumped high in the air and came crashing down on top of the Zubat with an intense Mega Punch. The attack Dawn had taught the hyperactive Pokémon came in very handy at times. Zubat lay still on the ground indicating it had been knocked out, which meant an immediate loss. The boy returned his Zubat and bowed to commend Dawn on her victory.

Ash, Brock and Pikachu greeted Dawn again for the second time, with huge grins and big hugs.

"Hey Dawn, I hope you don't mind but all this contest stuff is getting me pumped, I'm going to go train outside okay?" Ash said as he hopped from right foot to his left. Dawn just nodded the boys off and watched as Brock had to run to catch up to Ash. She smiled and went back to watching the other battles. The next battle was between the boy with the Arcanine and the pink hair girl, Jessalina. Her erratic behavior had not subsided since the last contest her and Dawn had been in. Too high on her horse she was. It was the boys Electivior against her Yanmega. Dawn watched the boy as he commanded his Pokémon. He was so precise with his words and what he wanted his Pokémon to do; his battling style was so unique, he kind of reminded Dawn of Drew, the green haired boy Dawn had met when she met Ash's old companion, May. The battle didn't last very long as it usually didn't when Jessalina was involved. She ranted and raved and fumed over her lose as she had done many a time. The crowd clapped and cheered in an uproar as the boy bowed to them, his Electivior sparking with happiness.

The contest raged on as trainer after trainer got knocked out of the competition. Dawn slowly climbing up the ladder. Come the finale, Dawn found herself up against the boy with the Arcanine. The one trainer she didn't want to face in the final round. She shook her head so she could think straight; there was no way she was going to lose.

"Hey Ash, Doesn't that guy look familiar?" Brock whispered to Ash,

"You're right. He does. But I can't really get a good look at him under that coat."

The boy was wearing a full body length coat, with the hood up over his face. Dawn tightened her grip on her Pokeball. She threw it high into the air,

"Buneary, SPOTLIGHT!" Dawn's Pokeball burst open into a gleam of white light, pink love hearts spewing out everywhere. Buneary did a flip or two and landed in the middle of the sea of hearts, causing a ripple of air that pushed them outwards, where they slowly faded into nothing. The boy lifted his hood, revealing his brown spiky hair. Ash and Brock gasped as they realized who the boy was. He hurled his Pokeball out into the area, where it landed with a dull thud. It seemed to quiver, then all of a sudden, burst into a cloud of black smoke. From the haze, a yellow light gleamed ominously. The Pokémon inside screeched its name and the smoke expelled at break neck speed. Sitting casually where the smoke had once been, was an Umbreon, confirming Ash and Brock's realization.

"Buneary, Pound!" The rabbit Pokémon started jogging towards the Umbreon, drawing back its fist, ready to land its attack. Umbreon did not move until the very last second, speeding off to the left. Buneary fell face first into the floor. Dawn looked up as her points diminished slightly.

"Umbreon, Iron Tail!" The boy shouted. The dark Pokémon's tail began to glint pale silver. Jolting towards its opponent, Umbreon jumped and did a forward flip; bringing its hardened tail down, crashing into the floor just in front of Buneary, it didn't make direct contact but the debris from the broken floor collided with the little Pokémon, sending it flying backwards.

"Buneary, Get up and use Ice Beam!" Buneary stood up and charged its Ice Beam. The blue sphere forming just in front of its open mouth grew and shot two beams of jagged blue towards Umbreon.

"Umbreon, this is it! Confusion!" The dark Pokémon's yellow rings started to glow again. Its eyes shining a blood red. The beam of ice stopped dead in its tracks. Umbreon's body seemed to shimmer, and the manipulated ice suddenly burst into a million pieces. The crowd gasped at the marvel of crystal rain. Umbreon roared its name as it sent the thousands of shards back at Buneary. Dawn's body quivered, her eyes wide in a straight stare. She couldn't move, couldn't command her Pokémon to get out of the way. This was it. This is how she was to be beaten? What a beautiful way to lose. As Dawn snapped to, her beloved Buneary fainted to the ground, her line of points dwindling. Her picture disappeared from the big screen leaving only the boy and his Umbreon's photos, next to which, in massive bold letters, "WINNER".

Ash pushed his way through the crowd that had gathered outside the contest hall to celebrate the ending of another festival in their town. He was searching for the familiar face he longed to see. He spotted who he was searching for and made his way up to the boy who's back was towards him,

"Gary?" He asked wearily. The brown haired boy turned around, a wide smirk on his face.

"Well, well, if it isn't Ashy-boy and Pikachu." Gary laughed, giving Pikachu a little scratch, who bleated happily. "How you been?"

"Really good, I didn't know you were in Sinnoh."

"Yeah, Gramps asked me to come to research the contests they hold here." Gary had been studying with his Grandpa, Professor Oak for a few years now, wanting to become a Pokémon professor so it wasn't too much a surprise to learn he was here for research. Ash's friend's Dawn and Brock walked up behind Ash giving him a little fright,

"Gary." Brock said holding out his hand,

"Brock." Gary replied following the gesture and shook his hand. Dawn jumped out from behind Brock and casually waved at Gary,

"I'm Dawn, congratulations on winning the contest! Your Umbreon is really strong, I had no chance of winning." Dawn said, a little disappointment hinted in her tone.

"Thanks Dawn. You did really well too. Your Buneary is really well trained." Gary complimented the girl. Dawn smiled back at him in reply.

"So how long are you in Sinnoh for?" Ash asked,

"Well I'm supposed to be heading back to Kanto tomorrow, but I think I'll prolong my trip now." Gary's heartwarming smile was directed straight at Ash, who was happy he would have time to catch up with his old rival.

"Hey, did you guys want to go watch the firework show?" Dawn suggested, breaking the moment Gary and Ash seemed to be having. The boys turned to her and simultaneously nodded. Dawn ran on ahead with Brocks arm locked in hers, Gary and Ash casually strolling behind them.

"You know, I've really missed you Ash." Ash looked over to Gary, blinking in disbelief, the brown haired boy still looking straight ahead as if what he had said was nothing important,

"I-I've missed you to Gary." Ash mumbled, looking down to hide the redness that suddenly spread over his face. Gary just laughed and took Ash's hand, pulling him along the path as the fireworks began to go off. They reached where their friends were and joined them silently. Gary never let go of Ash's hand until the last firework had faded.