Ok, let's get started.
Zoey woke up in an unsteadily manner. She didn't find Paul next to her so she probably thought that he was out right now making them both breakfast. She was about to get up when she saw a note on Paul's sleeping bag along with a pokeball. She obviously picked up the note and read its contents.
Went to go fetch the pokemon, I left Torterra with u. I'll be back soon.
With Love,
Paul.
She folded back the note and picked up the pokeball. She placed Torterra in her pocket and headed outside. Outside, the warm morning sun welcomed her follow by a couple of chirrups from the wild Starleys. She smiled at the sight before heading over to the campfire to start cooking their meals.
. . . Change of POV . . .
Paul was taking a rather long hike back to the Pokemon Center. "Whew… Maybe next time we should arrive earlier for these Grand Festivals…" When Paul had finally reached the edge of town, he slowly but coolly walked the rest of the way to the Pokemon Center. When the sliding doors opened, he was faced with a familiar sight…
"Hey Paul!" Ash yelled out in his enthusiastic voice.
Paul ignored the greeting and continued walking towards the counter where Nurse Joy was. He was interrupted when Brock had stepped in the way.
"OH NURSE JOY!" he said before taking a knee in front of her.
Then, his eyes began to sparkle and hair turned shiny. "I'm going to need a cure Nurse Joy… Cure me of my loneliness-"
"CRO-GUNK!" said the frog pokemon before it had stabbed Brock in the ass with its poison jab.
"Ugh, I'm going to need a different cure before that one…" Brock then fell on the floor; stunned.
"Cro-cro-cro-cro…" Crogunk had said before dragging Brock off.
Paul could finally talk to Nurse Joy now.
"Nurse Joy, I'm going to need my pokemon back now."
"Would you also like Zoey's too?" she asked.
Both Ash and Dawn had overheard this conversation and now were getting curious.
"Hey Paul, why are you taking Zoey's pokemon?"
"Because she wants me too? Got a problem with that?"
Ash didn't know how to respond so he just shot him a glare while he glared at him back.
"Here are the pokemon Paul. They're all fully prepared for the upcoming rounds."
"Thank you Nurse Joy." Paul said while slightly bowing down.
He left without saying another word and quietly exited through the front doors.
"I wonder why he's taking Zoey's pokemon…" Dawn asked.
"Beats me. Why would Zoey want that jerk to take care of her pokemon…?" Ash replied.
Dawn took a moment to think everything through then found the answer. She smacked the bottom of her right fist down on her left palm before say, "I've got it!"
"Got what?" Ash asked, being the clueless person he was.
"Paul and Zoey are dating!" Dawn exclaimed.
This made Ash take a couple of steps back. "You've got to be kidding. Zoey and Paul?"
"Well, they do look like a good couple…" Dawn thought over.
"Then again, you might be right… Paul was cheering pretty loudly for Zoey back during the performance stages…"
"See! What did I tell you?" Dawn clasped her hands together. "Aw! They're just like us now!"
"Alright Dawn, I get the picture…" Ash said before walking off with his enlightened girlfriend.
. . .
Paul had returned to the campsite; unharmed this time. When he had arrived, he noticed Zoey cooking breakfast so he gently smiled before walking up to her. Zoey had noticed Paul and gave him a smile back.
"Hey Zoey. I got your pokemon back." He then handed her six pokeballs.
"Thanks Paul! I have your breakfast ready, just wait over there and I'll have mine and your breakfasts done in no time."
Paul decided he'd rest just for today. Although he should've been preparing for his own tournament, he decided to take it easy just for today.
As Zoey had said, she was already making her way over with two platefuls of scrambled eggs and bacon. "Why can't we eat something different for a change…" Paul thought to himself. Zoey gave Paul his scrambled eggs and bacon while she sat down next to him to eat her breakfast. The breakfast had been a quite one. In fact, every meal they had was quite. Maybe it was because they didn't have anything to talk about or nothing interesting has really happened. Paul certainly didn't have any problems at all talking with Zoey but he didn't know what to exactly talk about. Before he knew it, Zoey was already done with her breakfast while Paul was struggling to catch up. He wanted to be done quickly to help Zoey clean up the dishes. After he was done, he caught up to her on the riverside and helped her by cleaning his dish. After some final minute preparations and packing, they decided to head back to town to continue on with Zoey's tournament…
. . .
"Ladies and gentlemen! We will now continue from where we left off yesterday! Today will determine the top 4 semi-finalists so without further ado, let's see who our competitors will be facing today!"
The pictures on the screen randomly on the bottom of the screen to determine who was up against who. When the pictures finally came to a stop, Zoey was found on the 3rd right hand side of the board.
"This won't be easy…" Zoey silently said to herself.
Paul reassured her by wrapping his arms around her.
"Hey, you don't need to worry. I'll be with you every step of the way."
Zoey smiled at him before giving him a brief hug.
"I'll see you after the tournament today." Zoey had said.
"I'll be cheering for you till then." Paul replied. They broke apart and Zoey went on to the coordinator's lounge.
. . .
P.S. I won't be doing each individual match so I'm just going to skip to the end of the day's rounds.
"And now the moment you've all been waiting for…" the MC said. "Here are our final four coordinators!"
On the screen popped four pictures, each appearing one by one: Jessilina, Ursula, Zoey and Dawn.
"Congratulations Zoey!" Paul said from behind her.
"I know! Thanks Paul for cheering me on back there."
"Come on." Paul took Zoey's hand. "Let's go to a restaurant to eat dinner; to celebrate your victory-at-hand." He smiled goofy but Zoey just laughed it out.
"Sure, let's go." They headed outside the main doors hand-in-hand.
. . .
Unlike at the hotel, Paul had made reservations at the restaurant so that they wouldn't have to wait 30 minutes outside at the main entrance for a table. When they sat down at their table, Zoey asked him a question.
"Paul? When did you reserve a restaurant?"
Paul smiled before he gave her his reply. "You see, during the mid-way intermission, I snuck outside the stadium so I could reserve a table for two here. I was confident enough that you'd win so I made the arrangements and here we are!" he said in an enthusiastic voice.
Zoey loved it. Not just Paul's personality tonight but also the restaurant that he had reserved. It wasn't very fancy but neither was it very poor. It was just the right place for her. It made her feel happy that Paul had taken that factor into consideration when he chose the place to eat.
"Thanks for bringing me here tonight Paul."
Paul took a tiny sip from his glass of water. He gave out a refreshing sigh before he responded.
"Hey, no problem. This is the least I can do for the things you've done for me."
Zoey blushed a little. "Aw Paul! You're so sweet! To think you were a nasty person a couple of days ago would've never have described you now…" Zoey stopped her thought. She was right though; Paul had been a cruel jerk a couple of days ago and here he was; the most caring and lovable person in the world. Did she do this? Was she the one who changed him?
Before she finished her trail of thought, the waiter came to give them their meals. They both ordered spaghetti and it looked good. When Zoey had finished taking a sample, she commented on the spaghetti.
"Wow! This is really good! Did you know that they served food this great?"
Paul swallowed his bit of spaghetti before he gave her a reply. "N-no" he said in a surprised tone. "Truth is, I just judged the restaurant by its atmosphere. But I never imagined food tasting this good."
"Well, it's my first time eating food this good too." Zoey said while she ate another fork-full of spaghetti.
"Hey, I've got an idea. Let's come back to eat here again once you win the Grand Festival tomorrow."
"That is IF I win."
"Nah, I'm confident enough that you'll win by a landslide. And I'll be there, in the front row seats cheering for you."
"Aw! Thanks Paul!" she said while giving him a smile.
. . . Change of POV . . .
Paul himself was a little surprised by the way he had acted in the restaurant. He never imagined himself being that nice to anyone, but Zoey was an exception. "She's kind, confident, caring… oh man, the list could go on…" Paul had excused himself to go pay the bill which he lied saying that he had to go to the washroom. He went up to the front desk to ask for the bill.
"Here you go sir." The person at the front desk handed him a tiny tray with a slip of paper on it.
"Thanks…" Paul said before he took a closer look at the sheet.
"Holy shit, 85 dollars for two spaghettis? This place really is a rip off but Zoey seems to like it, that's the only real thing that matter the most." Paul took out a 10 ten dollar bills from his wallet and handed it to the confused person at the front desk.
"Sir, you might have miscalculated. The tip is already included in the bill."
"Wait, so if the tip is included, how much was the meal?"
"The meal was fifteen dollars sir. The tips and services were 70 dollars."
"What kind of restaurant is this… You don't charge people 70 dollars for tip! IT'S 15 FUCKING PERCENT YOU DOUCH BAG!"
"We charged the extra because of the competition that is going on here. Please don't think that we're retarded or slow."
"Uh, right. Give me the change."
The person handed Paul his 15 dollars.
"We would like it if you would kindly leave sir. For you see, we have customers here." He pointed to the line of people that were now waiting.
"Right… let me get my girlfriend and we'll leave."
"Of course sir. Have a nice evening."
"Fuck you; asshole." Paul silently thought.
. . . Change of POV . . .
. . .
They were outside right now. Zoey suggested that she and Paul take a 'scenic' route back to the campsite. The route she had suggested was right by the lakeshore of Lake Valour; the most romantic place she found for miles around. Zoey was hand-in-hand with Paul while walking down the route. She wanted to stop by a bench or some other kind of chair so that she could look over the moonlit lake with him. When she had found an empty bench to sit on with no one else around, she nudged Paul to indicate to him to sit with her. They were now sitting side by side, cuddling each other like girlfriend and boyfriend would. Zoey decided to enjoy the feeling for a while before they'd leave but neither of them were moving. It was evident that both were enjoying the moment very much. Zoey opened her eyes when she felt Paul moving her closer to him. Of course, she didn't mind but she wanted more. Zoey looked up at him and he looked at her in return. They both knew what to do; kiss each other but this time, Zoey decided to conduct a little experiment… She moved her tongue into his mouth and caught Paul by surprise and he did what she had last expected him to do; he bit her tongue. Zoey squealed in pain and quickly pulled away from him turning her back towards him. Her tongue was in pain but so was Paul for hurting her. No, she couldn't do that. Not after what he had done for her. She quickly spun around and kissed him again only this time, he inserted his tongue into her mouth. Zoey was surprised this time but she didn't bite him. Instead, she allowed him to explore the inside of her mouth.
. . . Change of POV . . .
Paul was REALLY surprised by the French kiss. This was his first time and he felt really bad for hurting Zoey, but at least she forgave him. Zoey gave out a pleasurable mourn when Paul had inserted his tongue which made him happy. He moved his tongue in all directions inside of Zoey's mouth but Zoey herself was itching to get inside of Paul. He withdrew from her month and almost instantly Zoey's tongue entered his. Zoey explored the contents of Paul's mouth curiously. Both of them had their eyes closed but used their imaginations to determine what the other's mouth had looked like. Both were running out of air so they pulled apart breathing heavily but also blushing. When they had caught their breaths, Zoey cuddled Paul again and he moved his arm around her.
"Ow…" Paul dropped his injured arm which he was using to wrap around Zoey.
Zoey noticed this and placed his injured arm where it was before he had lifted it.
"Don't hurt yourself Paul. I already know you care for me; a lot."
Paul just smiled and rested his chin on Zoey's head.
"Wow… her bright red hair feels so soft…" Paul dug his face a little more into her hair. Unknowingly, they both fell asleep on the bench; cuddling each other.
Wow, that was the longest chapter I've ever wrote. Might be a while till I update the next chapter but that one will conclude the Grand Festival Sega. As a side note, hardly anyone is reading my story so I'm planning end this one abruptly (sorry for the people who actually follow with me) but I'll promise to make the ending as conclusive as possible.