Well, I suppose this is an awfully quick new chapter. xD. I suppose it's necessary, considering how long it took me to write the one before this...

If anyone was looking for Dawn v Ursula this chapter, my apologies, that'll be next chapter.

Not much else to say... so...

Enjoy! :)


Ash and Dawn's eyes followed Ursula as she sauntered out of the room.

"Well.. Um…" Dawn turned back to Ash, wondering if he noticed how red she was.

Ash tilted his hat downwards to cover his blush, then ran over to Brock, grabbed his right arm, and tore out of the room, dragging Brock behind, yelling, "Good luck in the second round Dawn!"

Dawn blinked a few times, then shrugged and looked back at the video screens in time to see her first round battle matchup.

Her first round battle went exceedingly well. Mamoswine and Cyndaquil scored a clean victory over the other coordinator's Pokemon. They were able to dodge their opponent's moves and execute all of their combinations, except one.

With a minute remaining, and victory all but secured, Dawn called for Flame-Ice to finish the battle. The combination started out normally. Cyndaquil had begun the combination with Flame Wheel, rotating in the air above Mamoswine. Mamoswine then shot an Ice Shard towards the rotating Cyndaquil, hitting the Flame Wheel and creating a ring of ice around it. Then the combination broke down. As Cyndaquil descended, the Ice Shard was sucked into the Flame Wheel and created the ice enclosure, but it melted away, meaning that the only thing that hit their opponents was a normal Flame Wheel.

Dawn still won the round, but the failure of the new and most powerful combination was a letdown, and she returned to the contestant's room disappointed.

As usually, Ash and Brock came running into the room.

"Hey guys," said Dawn slightly downcast.

Ash grinned, "You did great! Everything worked perfectly!"

Brock nodded, "That was great Dawn. But what happened to that Flame-Ice?"

Dawn sighed, and beckoned them to follow her.

They walked out of the contestant's rooms and into one of the empty practice rooms. Dawn sent out Mamoswine and Cyndaquil as Ash and Brock sat down on a nearby bench.

She put her right hand on her chin, looking thoughtful. "It worked fine yesterday. I'm not sure what went wrong today."

She paused. "Well, let's try it again. Cyndaquil! Use Flame Wheel!"

Cyndaquil jumped off of Mamoswine's back and then began to spin into a forward somersault, the flames on its back circling around it.

"Now! Mamoswine! Use Ice Shard!"

Mamoswine created a sphere of ice and sent it flying up towards Cyndaquil. It collided with a popping noise, and engulfed Cyndaquil in a large plume of smoke.

"Alright, now! Flame-Ice!"

Cyndaquil dove out of the smoke with a ring of ice chunks surrounding it. Then the ice chunks shot towards the Flame Wheel and enveloped it in a large icy diamond. But then, the flames heated up the ice and it disappeared into another cloud of smoke.

Cyndaquil rolled onto the ground and extinguished its flames.

"Awesome!" Ash exclaimed, beginning to clap, "That was great!"

Pikachu and Piplup jumped in agreement, but all three stopped when Dawn sighed dejectedly.

Ash looked at her questioningly. "What's the problem? It looks great if you ask me!"

Dawn looked down at her feet. "But… That's not what Flame-Ice is supposed to look like…"

Brock nodded sympathetically. "There's no guarantee that it'll work when you try to use it in the contest. Why don't you put it away for now, and work on a more reliable combination?"

Brock then turned to Ash. "I gotta use the bathroom. I'll be in the stands if you need me."

He walked out of the room, and Dawn recalled Mamoswine and Cyndaquil. Then she slumped down on the bench, holding her head in her hands.

"I can't believe this. We've practiced that move for so long. Now I have to think of something else to do for the next round…"

She looked up at Ash through her fingers, seeing him looking down at her with an unreadable expression on his face. She looked down at the floor.

"This stinks. Now I bet even Ash thinks I'm weak and can't do anything right."

She felt him sit next to her.

"Dawn-" he started.

She felt her conflicting emotions all rush together. She wasn't sure what possessed her to say what she said next, or how she was really feeling at that moment. "Go," she said, rather brusquely.

"Huh?" said Ash, softly.

Dawn shuddered slightly before responding. "Just go. Go sit with Brock and watch the rest of the contest. I don't want you to have to listen to my pathetic whining and problems and-"

"Dawn."

Dawn stopped her rambling and looked up at him again.

His face was stern, but his brown eyes were dark with concern.

"Don't say that."

One of his arms snaked out around her waist and pulled her close to him. Dawn blushed slightly at the closeness of their bodies. She could feel his heart beating and the heat radiating from him.

Ash spoke again, softly. "Dawn. You know your combinations work. Flame-Ice worked yesterday remember? You hit me with it."

Dawn couldn't help but giggle a little. "I'm sorry Ash," she apologized, "I guess you're right though."

Ash laughed. "If you don't want to use Flame-Ice, I'm sure you can think of something else. You always do."

Dawn smiled and said, "Thanks Ash."

She scooted up closer against him unconsciously. Ash blushed, but kept his arm around her.

They remained silent for a little while longer until Dawn said quietly, "Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Wha-"

She was interrupted as the door banged open. Ash and Dawn jumped up from the bench and moved away from each other.

"Oops!" said Ursula, smirked at what she had come across, "Am I interrupting something?"

"Oh, no, no," said Ash, blushing.

Dawn, blushing too, thought to herself sarcastically, "No, no, of course not. You didn't interrupt anything."

"Okay then!" Ursula gave a casual flick of her hand and walked away.

Ash turned back towards Dawn, "Well, I should be getting up to Brock. Your battle is probably soon."

Dawn jumped. "You're right! I completely forgot."

She ran off, Ash calling out after her. "Good luck!"

Dawn passed through the semi-finals easily, riding on Ash's words of confidence and Brock's advice. She had not called for a single Flame-Ice, instead opting to using simple synchronized moves and combinations.

After the conclusion of the battle, Ash and Brock got up from their seats and began to walk down towards the contestant's room. Piplup had come up to the stands to watch the battles after being used in the appeal, and was being carried in Ash's arms. Pikachu was in his usual spot on Ash's shoulder.

Brock chuckled to himself, watching the two Pokemon. Pikachu and Piplup had become as close as brothers on their travels together, and Pikachu didn't seem averse to giving up valuable space on his trainer to Piplup. Piplup also allowed Ash to hold him like Dawn did, with Ash's arms wrapped around him, and didn't seem to mind. Brock swore he sometimes even saw Piplup snuggling up to Ash.

As they descended the floors towards the contestant's room, Ash's nose suddenly caught wind of the scent of warm food.

"Look Brock! A pretzel stand! I think I'm going to get some."

"But Dawn's-," started Brock, but it was too late. Ash had already run off towards the pretzel stand. Brock sighed, thinking, "Ash and his food…"

"I'll see you downstairs," Brock yelled, walking towards the stairs, and was surprised to see Ash raise a hand in acknowledgement.

Dawn returned to the contestant's room in almost a daze, full of confidence and happiness. "I'm in the finals! Today's going to be the day I get my fifth ribbon!"

Her attention turned towards the video screen as she watched the other semi-final battle, between Ursula and a coordinator she didn't recognize. "Looks like Ursula's winning. I guess it'll be me and her again…"

Then she became aware of someone watching her, and turned to see Brock with an amused smile on his face.

"What?" she asked, self-consciously.

"Nothing, nothing," he said, "Nice job out there."

"Thanks Brock."

She paused. "Where's Ash?"

Brock laughed. "He, Pikachu, and Piplup are stuffing their faces at a pretzel stand. They'll be down soon."

Brock turned an eye to the video screens. "It looks like Ursula's winning. You'll probably be facing her in the finals."

Dawn nodded slowly, her hands balling into fists.

Brock said, "Well, I'm going to head back up. If I see Ash, I'll send him down."

Dawn nodded again.

Brock headed out of the room, but stopped in the doorway and looked back.

"Dawn, I was never one for inspirational speeches, but don't let Ursula get to you. The nickname? That's in the past, forget about it."

Dawn smiled weakly. "Thanks Brock."

He smiled and gave a thumbs-up, then left the room.

Meanwhile, Ash, Piplup, and Pikachu were slumped onto a bench near the pretzel stand, the ground and unused parts of the bench littered with salt and crumbs and plastic pretzel wrappers.

Ash groaned. "I think we might have eaten a bit too much…"

He turned towards Piplup and Pikachu, who were lying across the wrappers with queasy looks on their faces. Pikachu raised one paw and said weakly, "Pika Pika…" Piplup was lying under a used wrapper, using it as a blanket, and sleeping.

Ash took off his hat and scratched his head, looking at Piplup. "You know, I can't help but think there was something I was supposed to be doing…"

Then it hit him. "Oh crud! I forgot to go talk to Dawn!"

He jumped up, Pikachu looking giving him a peculiar look before jumping onto his shoulder. Pikachu almost fell off, but managed to regain his grip as Ash scooped up the sleeping Piplup in his arms and tore down the stairs.

He cleared the steps three at a time, not paying much attention to where he was running. "Oh boy, I hope Dawn hasn't started her round yet! I'd feel so bad… She's always at my gym battles, cheering, and if I wasn't there... And she's probably expecting me to be there too…"

He was paying so little attention that he didn't realize that the stairs relocated to a different location at one of the floors and he slammed right into a wall, jarring Piplup awake and knocking Pikachu off of his shoulder.

"Oww…" said Ash, rubbing his head, as Piplup chirped at him indignantly. "Sorry Piplup…"

He picked himself up, grabbed Piplup and was about to run off again when he heard Brock laughing.

He spun around. "Brock!"

Brock grinned. "Watch out. What were you doing?"

Ash scratched his head sheepishly, looking down at Piplup, who had gone back to sleep in his arms. "I guess I was just thinking about something else."

Brock just sighed and said, "The stairs down to the contestant's area are steeper, so watch out. Now hurry! Dawn's waiting for you. I'll take Piplup, go ahead."

Ash transferred Piplup to Brock's arms, scooped up Pikachu, and started running again. Brock just shook his head. "I think Barry is rubbing off on that guy…"

Dawn settled back down on her chair and looked back up at the video screens. Ursula had over half of her points remaining while the other coordinator had only one-fourth of his. Dawn watched for a little while longer, then grew uninterested and began watching the door, waiting for Ash.

Every time the door opened, she jumped in her seat slightly, craning her neck to see if it was Ash.

She vaguely heard Marian's voice coming from the screens saying, "And the coordinator moving on to the final round is: Ursula!" But then the door opened again, and her attention was diverted back towards the door.

Another person she didn't recognize walked in. She sighed again.

"Where is Ash? He can't have forgotten! He wouldn't have forgotten."

She sat on her chair, and stared at one of the walls absentmindedly, so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice Ursula re-enter the room.

"I guess I can't expect Ash to be here all of the time. I guess he might be busy, or he's still eating. I mean, I didn't ask him to come down here… But still, I wish he was here…"

Ursula watched from a nearby chair, as Dawn talked to herself. Her mouth was moving but no sound was coming out.

"Why do I want him to be here? I mean, it's not like he-Ugh. Who am I kidding... Ash means a lot to me. He's my best friend, maybe more."

She sighed. "I hope he isn't annoyed at me. Or angry…"

She shook her head. "Get a hold of yourself! Stop thinking these thoughts, you've got the finals of the contest to worry about!"

Dawn looked up at the screen and noticed that there were 10 minutes remaining until the finals. She decided she'd go to the dressing room and check her hair one last time, it couldn't hurt, right?

She stood up to leave the room when she heard a voice from behind her.

"Hey Dee-Dee. Where are your friends? They forget about you?" asked Ursula, smirking.

Dawn, remembering Brock's advice, fought to keep her voice even. "No, they're busy. They were watching your battle," she said calmly.

"Really?" said Ursula, with exaggerated surprise, "I'd think they'd be down here telling you how great you are."

Dawn gritted her teeth but said nothing.

Ursula smirked again. "Maybe, they've given up."

Dawn was not expecting this. "What?"

Ursula's smirk widened. "Maybe they're tired of you failing and decided to just leave you."

Dawn's eyes widened, the impact of the statement hitting her and causing her doubts to rise. "They… They wouldn't… Ash wouldn't do that!"

Ursula shrugged. "I don't know… I didn't see him in the stands…"

After waiting a few seconds, she said, "Well, I'll see you in the finals."

She waved and walked out of the room.

Dawn sank into her chair again. "They wouldn't leave would they? They're my friends? Ash… I need him too much for that. She's got to be lying."

But she was snapped out of her daze when a man poked his head into the room and said, "Is there a 'Dawn' in here?"

Dawn raised her hand and said softly, "Here."

The man smiled. "You're in the contest final young lady, and it's starting now!"

Dawn nodded and followed him, checking her hair in a mirror as they left the room and headed towards the stage.

The man left when she entered the tunnel to head to the stage.

"Well, here goes. This is it. Time to get my fifth ribbon… Hopefully."

She sighed and walked onto the stage and took her space in the left-hand side challenger's box. Ursula smiled at her smugly from the other side.

"Now for the moment you've all been waiting for! It's the final stage of the Daybreak Town Pokemon Contest! To my right, it's Ursula! And to my left, Dawn!"


So yeah, Dawn v Ursula is coming next chapter. :a.

As always, feel free to voice your opinions on this chapter in the reviews. Even if it's negative, go right ahead. It's always helpful. :).

Apologies again if this setup/preliminary rounds chapter wasn't as expected. Rest assured, Dawn v Ursula is coming next chapter, with all of its poorly written battle goodness. :)

Thanks once again to Facescar, for being the person for me to bounce and receive ideas from. :)

Cheers! :D