Disclaimer: In reality, I don't own Pokemon.

Happy Valentine's Day! I give you all hearts and happiness, but knowing you guys, you want a chapter instead. lol.

Whoot! Another chapter! This is a pretty long one!

So, anyways, there's no OCs in this chapter (sorry I lied before) but I'm putting in all of the coordinator OCs for the Pokemon contest in the next chapter. I bet a lot of you guys are excited! By the way, ignore my spelling and all that. I'm too lazy to check.

Okay, we're back to see who will win the argument. I look forward to your reaction in the end.

Anyways enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 18:

"You're saying that we should go to the Oreburgh City instead of Floarama because you want your battle even though you could wait?" Dawn asked in a dangerous tone. Lucas gulped as he turned his head toward Damion. Damion looked a little bit scared but held his ground.

"Don't you know that Floarama City is in the opposite direction?" Damion said angrily, "Going to the contest and back to the gym will take forever. I'm not going to waste time. I want to compete in the Pokemon League, and every second counts."
Dawn pouted but refused to give up her opportunity. Meanwhile, Lucas looked surprise at Damion.

"The same goes for me," Dawn stated, "I'm not giving up my choice." Damion didn't respond. He knew the contests mean everything to Dawn, but he didn't want to lose his position.

"We'll go to the gym then to the contest," Damion said, trying to compromise, "I'm pretty sure someone can give us a ride to Floarama Town in time."

"What?! No way!" Dawn shook her head, "I need to arrive early to Floarama Town! I need to get ready! Why don't we go to the contest first then the gym?"
"I want to get ready to," Damion snapped. He was getting irritated at the fact that both of them arguing were getting nowhere. "I want to have gym battle. I'm not going to wait for you."
"Well," Dawn snapped back, "I'm not going to wait for you to battle. It'll take forever."

"That's fine!" Damion yelled, "But you can't make me go and watch your girly performance."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Umm... Damion how did you know that Floraroma and Orenburgh are in opposite directions? I thought you couldn't read a map." Lucas asked as his head swirled. Lucas kept moving his head back and forth from Damion to Dawn, leaving his head spinning.

"You! Shut up!" Damion and Dawn yelled at Lucas. Lucas immediately fell silent, ready to cry, but he hated the fact that both of them were fighting. Friends shouldn't fight like this.

"How about this," Lucas asked timidly, "Why don't we go separate ways? Dawn will go to her contest and Damion will go to his gym battle. After you guys finish, we can meet somewhere." Dawn and Damion fell silent when they finish listening to Lucas' plan.

"I like the idea," Damion said, breaking the silence, "Besides, it's only a temporary split up. We'll see each other again."

"It'll work," Dawn decided, "I'll get that Pokemon Contest ribbon and then meet you at Oreburgh to see your gym battle."

"What?! No way," Damion grinned, glad they finally compromised, "I'm going to get that gym battle and meet you at Floarama Town where I'll be watching your Pokemon Contest."

"Wanna bet," Dawn grinned.

"Yeah, 1 million dollars," Damion declared, "Let's see who win."

"You're on!" Lucas smiled. Things are more peaceful now. Hopefully, lunch will be served soon.

...

"Thank you so much for participating in our Poketch campaign. Here's the Poketch. You can chose from pink, orange, and blue. We look forward to seeing you again." The man in the plum color suit smiled as he took Lucas', Dawn's, and Damion's coupons before presenting the tray of different Poketch. The merchandises have a large touch screen where one can look at the date, the time, and the map.

"This was a waste of time," Dawn muttered as she strapped on the pink color Poketch onto her wrist. Damion muttered in agreement as he grabbed for the orange one. Lucas stared daze like into the sky. "Lucas!"

"Hmmm?" Lucas looked at Dawn before realizing that he needed to get a Poketch as well, "Oh." He strapped on the blue one to his wrist.

"Honestly, you need to focus more," Dawn sighed, "Speaking of which, have you decided who you're going to follow?"
"Huh?" Lucas asked confused as the three of them walked north, toward the road out of town. Damion hit Lucas' back, causing him to stumble.

"She means that since the two of us are going separate ways, which path are you taking?"

"Well," Lucas thought, his face turning slightly pink at the idea of him traveling with Dawn without the evil Damion, "I guess... I really want to see a Pokemon Contest."

"Then you'll come with me," Dawn said, "I guess it'll be your first time to see something amazing. You'll be able to appreciate it more than a Pokemon battle."
"Hey!" Damion yelled, "I'll make you eat those words!" He suddenly grabbed Lucas and pulled him away from Dawn, just far enough so that the both of them were out of ear shot. "Lucas," Damion hissed in Lucas' ear, "If you do anything weird to Dawn, you're going to be hearing a lot from me." Lucas looked confusingly at Damion. What was Damion's definition of 'weird'?

"Ummm... okay?" Lucas said, terrified as to what Damion might do to him. Damion gave Lucas a death glare until Dawn spoke to them.

"Guys, we're here." Damion looked and saw that the road ahead diverged into two different paths. At the fork, there was two arrows pointing to the road, one said Floaroma Town, the other, Oreburgh.

"Well this is it," Damion said as he shuffled his feet, "We're not going to see each other for a while."

"Don't worry about that," Dawn said, "You should worry more about getting that 1 million dollars to pay me." Damion grinned at the small joke.

"Don't you dare think I would lose!" And with that, Damion ran off down the road to where it pointed Oreburgh.

"Hey! No cheating! Come on Lucas!" Dawn hurried down the road that leads to Floaroma with Lucas behind her.

...

"I'm tired. We haven't eaten lunch." Lucas groaned and moaned as Dawn continued to briskly walk down the path.

"Don't worry," Dawn remarked, "I bought sandwiches back in Jublife. We can eat it once we find shade."

"Really?!" Lucas said happily.

"Yeah," Dawn smiled, "In fact, I'll even show you some Pokemon Contest moves."

...

"Sniff... I love you," Lucas smiled as he looked at the foot long turkey sandwich before he swallowed it in one gulp.

"The way you say that creeps me out," Dawn said shuddering.

"Well, I'm always hungry for some reason," Lucas said through his overstuff mouth, "I can't help it." Dawn and Lucas were sitting under a large oak tree that was next to the road. The sun was just over them, leaving a comfortable shade. Dawn had sandwiches strewn everywhere. Knowing, Lucas, she bought extra.

"Anyways, while we're resting, I'm going to practice!" Dawn stretched her legs and hurried out on to the road.

"So," Lucas said after swallowing his fourth sandwich, "How does a Pokemon Contest work?"

"Basically, there are three events in each contest," Dawn said, holding up three fingers, "The first one is Pokemon dress up. In 60 seconds, you have to dress up your Pokemon in a selection of clothes that you have and the more suited it is for your Pokemon, the higher points you get." Lucas nodded to show that he understood.

"The second part is the dance. Each Pokemon will have a chance to be the leader of the group and the others will have to copy the same type of dance the leader is doing. After a while, leaders switch and the same process are repeated. This is basically to show elegance along with coordination." Dawn explained. "The third and final part is the appeal section. This is when you use different Pokemon moves to make an appealing show. The third event is the most crucial one because it determines how well skill the coordinator is with their Pokemon." Lucas tilted his head to the side as if he was confused. Dawn sighed and shook her head.

"I don't understand. What do you mean by Pokemon moves coordinating with appeals?"

"Well, how about I show it to you instead?" Dawn stated. Lucas nodded enthusiastically. "Come on out Piplup!" The blue penguin, chirping happily, popped out of its Pokeball. "Okay, according to my Pokedex," Dawn muttered as she checked Piplup's moves, "All right, here we go! Piplup use Bubble!"

Piplup took a huge breath and sent out a large stream of giant bubbles into the air. The giant spheres moved about lazily, bumping into each other. "Now use Water Spout onto the bubbles!" Piplup opened its mouth again and sprayed the bubbles. The strong force caused tiny popping sounds, the fountain of water still spraying all over the place. A rainbow was formed to finish the act. Lucas was astounded at the appeal. It was very unique yet simple.

However, Piplup couldn't stop the Water Spout attack and soon got larger and stronger. The road was splashed with incredible force and the leaves on the tree were dripping down drops and drops of water.

"Wahhh!" Lucas cried as the water splashed onto him. Dawn flinched at the uncontrolled attack.

"Piplup stop!" The penguin Pokemon closed its mouth and the attack ceased. "Darn!" Dawn sighed, "Water Spout is hard to control especially when it's supposed to be a small splash, and the move was too plain. Looks like its back to square one." Lucas shook his head, droplets of water were sprayed everywhere.

"It wasn't too bad," Lucas reasoned.

"I suppose," Dawn sighed, "But even the slightest mistake can cost big. I need to use a series of moves that'll be easier to control." Piplup puffed its chest proudly, obviously thinking that they'll succeed.

Suddenly there was a scuttle sound in the grass. Piplup turned around toward the noise and saw a small shadow crashing into it. Piplup fell to the ground.

"Piplup!" Dawn cried, rushing toward her Pokemon, "What the?"

"Shinx!" The blue and black cub lion growled. It was in a fighting position and staring menacingly at Piplup. Shinx's fur was wet as if it just survived a storm. It didn't take two people to figure out why it was mad at Piplup.

"Pip! Piplup!" The blue penguin puffed out its chest angrily. It was obviously that being hit to the ground bruised its ego.

"Wait! A Shinx!" Dawn grabbed her Pokedex and read the data on the lion Pokemon, "It's an electric Pokemon! No good Piplup! Water can't beat electric! It's best to retreat!" Piplup ignored its owner's words and charged at the Pokemon. Piplup's pride was bruised and it was definitely not going to back down. Shinx growled and sent out a Spark attack. Piplup jumped into the air to doge the yellow electric attack and sent out a stream of bubbles. "Piplup! Stop!" Lucas jumped up, surprise. He quickly put his hand to his Pokeball, just in case.

The bubbles came crashing down with increased force. Piplup sent out a Peck attack before retreating back.

"Sh... Shinx!" Shinx growled as it got hit and then all of a sudden, it released from its body a massive amount of electricity.

"Ahhhhhh!" Dawn backed away, trying to avoid the blast of energy. Piplup wasn't as lucky and took a direct hit. It fell to the ground, and fainted. "NO! Piplup return!" Dawn sent her Pokemon back into the Pokeball.

Shinx apparently didn't notice that Piplup wasn't there anymore and continued to send out electricity. It was concentrating very hard, even though it looked like it was in pain; sweat was dripping down its body. Dawn screamed again as a jet of electricity shocked her arm.

"Turtwig Tackle!" Lucas cried as he threw his Pokeball. The turtle Pokemon charged at the electric Pokemon and knocked it back, causing it to stop. Shinx got up weakly, sparks still crackling around its fur. Turtwig stood firmly between Shinx and Dawn, whom Lucas pulled away from harm. "Stay far away," Lucas advised Dawn who was obviously in pain.

The little lion, ignoring the pain, charged toward Turwig. "Turtwig! Withdraw!" Lucas yelled. Turtwig immediately hid in its shell, protecting itself from Shinx. The blue and black lion growled and sent out another Spark attack, only to have it deflected by Turtwig's defense. Shinx got really mad and started to Tackle Turtwig even though it was obvious that Turtwig wasn't getting injured.

"Stop Shinx!" Lucas yelled, "You're injured!" Shinx ignored Lucas' comment and sent out another zap of electricity but immediately dropped to the ground. "Shinx!" Lucas quickly ran over to the wild Pokemon and picked it up. It was panting heavily as if it ran a marathon.

Lucas quickly brought it over to where Dawn, who was tending her burnt arm, was. She had her medicine kit out and was wrapping her left arm with white long bandages. Turtwig, who was also concern for the Shinx, followed Lucas as well.

"Ouch! Good thing that attack wasn't too strong... Lucas! What the-" Dawn gasped at the fatally weak looking Shinx.

"I- I don't know what's wrong with it," Lucas sputtered, confused, "I didn't think Piplup's attack would take a huge damage to it."

"Well that's unusual," Dawn said, inspecting the injured Pokemon, "I'm guessing this is a newborn, seeing how it couldn't defend itself after two attacks." Dawn sighed as she continued to think. "I think its best that we get to Floaroma Town's Pokemon Center. Maybe they can do something."
"Okay," Lucas bobbed his head up and down, "I'll put it into a Pokeball so it'll be easier to carry." Lucas took out an empty Pokeball and sent Shinx into it. The Pokball rolled slightly in his hand, flashing red a couple of times before it finally stopped.

"Good let's go," Dawn said as she got up. She immediately winced and grabbed her injured arm as if it was on fire.

"Are you okay?" Lucas asked concern.

"I'm fine," Dawn gritted her teeth, "The attack was weak, thank goodness, and it's only a small burn mark. Don't worry about me. Let's go." And with that, Lucas, Dawn and Turtwig hurried down the road to their next destination, in hopes of saving a Pokemon.

Author's Notes

I'm so evil. lol. Damion has left the group and I know there are a couple of you guys that are going to hate me. Don't worry, he'll be back.

Well, will Lucas and Dawn save Shinx in time? I'm looking forward to write the next chapter.

...

Thank you

Synctrainer Lucas

WolfSummoner93

dark5523

X-Spark

SsX-77

Phantom shadow mask

Pikana

CC411

KingstonXx

Jarkes

renniegirl

Ketchum Kid

Unknown

AkemiYumikov3

Lady of DarkFire

Aiko

...

All right! Contest stuff in the next chapter! And maybe a hint of (Cough) Team Galactic...

see ya next time!

-JapanDreamer