All Roads Lead to the Grand Festival

Dawn tells Drew that she knows about him having a child after he does his appeal and scores a forty-nine. Drew had the child after cheating on Dawn with Solidad a year ago. His son, Damien, is three months old. Drew signed a contract with Solidad to keep the child secret. The lying from Drew combined with the lack of time he's spent with his son is too much for Dawn to take, so she breaks up with Drew then and there.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon, a creation of one Satoshi Tajiri, and is produced domestically (in the United States) by Pokemon USA/The Pokemon Company, and internationally by Shogakukan and OLM. I personally own nothing and make nothing by writing this. Please do not flame.

(Chapter 21- It's Twelve O'clock Somewhere)

She has never been more ready to leave anywhere than to go from where she is right now. Dawn is in the hotel room that she has been sharing with Drew since Friday afternoon. She's been in here for nearly half an hour, but she can't stay much longer as her conscience will not allow it. While in even more tears, she packs up all of the items in the room, which fortunately amount to very little, and heads for the door of room number 818.

As she reaches for the door handle of the room to leave once and for all, something pulls her back into the room for a moment. She realizes that once she leaves this hotel, she truly leaves Drew. Even though Dawn broke up with the boy some time ago in the backstage area of the stadium, something deep inside of her is telling her to stay for just a minute more and take everything in.

Now reaching into her carry on bag, Dawn rustles through money, identification, makeup and other items of importance to find one wallet-sized photo. It was taken about two months after she and the LaRousse City native got together. At the time, they were at a carnival photo booth and decided to do various poses for each picture. The favorite of Drew's was one in which the two give each other rabbit ears, but Dawn really liked the picture where she and her then boyfriend flashed peace signs at the camera.

What once stood as a small but significant symbol of the bond which these two coordinators shared is now nothing more than a trigger for painful memories. Just looking at him dredged up the times she'd rather forget, and seeing his deceptive smile made things even worse. Dawn could turn away from the picture all she wanted, but his face would still be there each and every time. The face she fell in love with became her own personal Medusa. She knows that looking directly into his eyes turned her into the person that she is now. She became a stone cold individual who turned her back on good friends like Kenny and Zoey, and even caused a great rift between her and her mother that continues to this day.

She meant exactly what she said earlier about losing too much in order to gain Drew, which she had done. The breakup between the two was inevitable and was building for quite some time ever since Drew had his affair with Solidad one year prior. Had she known that Drew fathered a child with his best girl friend from the onset, then there likely would not have been a problem, but knowing that Drew kept this a secret for so long and refused to be an active part of Damien's life tore her apart. Even through her toughest times with her mother, Johanna and Dawn still talk, even though conversations often resulted in yelling and screaming whenever her mother wanted to bring up the subject of Drew.

"I still have a lot to learn," Dawn admits to the room while the air conditioning hums, the water faucet drips and the florescent lighting above flickers in response. He tore him up, so she feels that it's only logical that she return the favor. With the wallet still in her hands, she tears the picture up into many small pieces throwing them onto the carpet, not caring where they land.

Looking at the scene before her in the near spotless hotel room sans the pieces of photograph paper Dawn says "It's a start," before opening the door to room 818 and leaving the hotel room for good. As she shuts the door behind her, the clock in the hotel room turns over to its new time of twelve o'clock.

As the camera pans over various shots of the excited crowd in Slateport City's stadium, the telecast reaches yet another hour of showcasing Saturday's appeals.

"It's twelve o'clock, ladies and gentlemen," the host of this telecast states. The camera cuts to a desk with a male anchor sitting next to a plasma screen television while inside. "This is hour number eight of appeals for the Hoenn region Grand Festival. I'm your host Stephen Craig, and we thank you for inviting us into your homes, wherever you may be. For the next six hours, we will have three new faces calling the action, so it is my pleasure to turn the action over to three people who know that this is the time when we separate the pokemon from the poke boys...and girls. Here's Gavin Harte, 1992 Hoenn Grand Festival champion Melinda Feliciana and the Professor of the Hoenn region, Solomon Birch. Guys?"

"Let me just say," Melinda begins, "you were going well trying to avoid sexism until you called us guys, and clearly…"

"I'll buy you lunch next time, I promise. Please forgive me," Stephen humorously atones while holding up both of his hands in a form of surrender.

"We'll talk. Right now, though, we have business to take care of in the afternoon appeals. Remember, there are a total of 314 coordinators that have come here to fill only sixteen spots for tomorrow's second round. So far, we've had over 160 appeals with Drew Emerson, Sandra Van Hollen, Brianna Nolan and others scoring marks as high as forty-nine, but don't forget that there are still more notable names out there to fill the sixteen seats at this all important tournament."

"That's exactly correct, Melinda," Gavin agrees. "Don't forget top-five coordinator Dawn Berlitz, who has been the subject of some controversy in just the last few hours. If you did not hear the news, she checked into Slateport City General Hospital early this morning complaining of headaches. She was diagnosed with a concussion and released at approximately eight a.m. She admits to not remembering how she suffered the concussion, and while there was great concern about her health, the doctors have given her a clean bill of health for competing. Dawn was scheduled to have her appeal at eight a.m., but due to her hospitalization, officials will give her the final appeal of the evening. And that's the big story heading into appeals."

"Indeed, the many fans of pokemon coordinating are gonna want to stay up late to see if Dawn Berlitz can make it into round two," Professor Birch says, "and we'll be here to cover it all, but for now, we'd like to talk about one of the true feel good stories of this year's Hoenn Grand Festival. As Gavin mentioned, Sandra Van Hollen has already completed her appeal with a score of forty-eight, placing her third amongst coordinators so far. In her three years as a pokemon coordinator, Sandra has had the love and support of one of the top veterans of the 1990s in her mother Savannah Van Hollen, who will do her appeal in just a moment."

"Standing ringside to tell us more about this is former Hoenn Grand Festival champion and field reporter for all twenty-four hours of this event, Robert Weis. Robert?"

After a delay of a second or so, the hardest working individual at this year's Grand Festival says, "Thank you, professor, and good afternoon everyone. Family traditions in pokemon training and coordinating date back as far as the sport itself. Savannah Van Hollen, like most ten-year old girls, had a dream of one day becoming a world class coordinator and eventually a Grand Festival champion. She made quite the impact in her day, but motherhood called Savannah and she answered leaving her dreams behind without regret. From then on, her daughter Sandra became her everything and her dream of being the best seemed to die out like an old light bulb. But dreams have a funny way about them just like life itself."

"One day, her daughter at age seven watched a tape of her mom on the television screen and asked her 'Say mom, you we're really good then. Why aren't you out there coordinating now?' Well folks, one thing led to another, and she has come back along with her daughter to give her dream another fighting chance. Keeping the memory of Sandra's late father in their minds, they will work to be the first immediate relatives in over fifteen years to make it past the first round of any Grand Festival. Savannah's appeal…starts right now. Let's go to public address announcer Lillian Meridian for the call."

From the restaurant at the Slateport Milton Hotel, Erik Marin looks and listens to the story of Savannah Van Hollen in awe while drinking his sparkling water with lime. He has to say out loud, "Wow. That's a really great story if both of them can get make it through."

"Well if both of them get in, where does that leave me?"

Turning around to find out who asked him that question, Erik finds his future daughter-in-law May Maple.

"May!" Erik happily greets. Patting the chair next to him, he says, "Come on! Come on! Have a seat and the watch the appeal with me."

She chooses not to argue and instead sits down with Erik to watch Savannah. She calls out her Ivysaur and in a period of two minutes, she puts on a dazzling kaleidoscope show using the various grass pokemon attacks. She begins with razor leaf, bullet seed, petal dance, and leaf storm in that order. These first four attacks work in near-perfect harmony spreading throughout the arena for the first minute and a half of Savannah's appeal, and then with a call of vine whip to tear every leaf, petal and seed into a fine potpourri, warranting a high amount of cheers from the crowd and the commendation of both Erik and May in the restaurant.

"That was real good," May has to admit as she watches the five judges in attendance. To pass the time with Erik, she orders a raspberry flavored Coca-Cola while waiting for the results to be announced. "Say, Erik. I know I didn't say anything at the time 'cause I was with Kelly, but that was a great battle."

"Thanks, May."

"You…you kicked ass, man! Seriously, I've heard things about your training days from Kelly, Paul and Reiji and knew you weren't a pushover, but…I never knew. I never knew! You could give anyone a run for their money today! Certainly gave me one," she concludes, while taking her first sip of her soda.

"I might have been…pretty good during the late 70s and early 80s," Erik explains, "but nobody could even touch my twin brother Sascha Marin. We were both on the cover of 'Pokemon Digest' our first year and while his career flourished and he went on to win championship after championship, I saw more of the business aspect of it all and found my true calling. I left training at age…either fourteen or fifteen and managed Sascha through the rest of his career. He really loved to battle, and as you know, so do my two nephews in Veilstone."

"Hey look," May alerts, pointing Erik to the screen, "they're about to announce Savannah's score." As both of them watch the television, they see Contesta's score first. He awards the coordinator an eight. Respectable, but Savannah will need more. Going to Suziko, she gets her wish. He gives her remarkable performance a perfect ten. So do two of the three Nurse Joys with the other giving Savannah a nine.

"Wow, a forty-eight!" Erik exclaims as the other people in the restaurant applaud the older coordinator's effort. "Just like her daughter!"

May smiles at the great segue that Kelly's father has given her. "Speaking of daughters, Erik, you've heard it…probably hundreds of times over the years. You know how much I love Kelly."

"Oh, yeah. I do. Whether you've been Kelly's best friend or her girlfriend, you've been very good for my daughter. The rest of the Marin family loves you. You're…all that a father could ask for his girl."

As Erik takes a couple more sips of his sparkling water, May gets to her point by explaining to the older male, "I want to know if I have your permission to ask for her hand in marriage."

The shock of May's plans cause Erik to choke on his sparkling water. Asking Erik to raise his arms only helps a little bit before one of the other patrons hands May a fresh glass of water for Erik to drink. Once his coughing fit ends, Erik decides to get to the bottom of this revelation. "Marry Kelly? When did—when did this come about?"

"I had actually thought about it for a while. Kelly gave me quite a shock last night, though. I thought she was gonna ask to marry me then and there. That would've foiled my plan to propose during the Grand Festival after party, win, lose or draw." Erik breathes somewhat of a sigh of relief knowing that the two planned to propose at different times, though he remains very much on edge. "Luckily, she stopped short of popping the question. I gave her a red herring, basically, saying that I'd be ready to marry her in a 'few years', but I'm ready right now if she is. I have my ring and everything, I've thought ahead and now I just want to know, may I marry your daughter?"

What a mess. Erik would say that great minds think alike, but he felt that that would tip May off to Kelly's plan. Of course, Erik has no problem with May's proposal and he tells her, "Absolutely. I just…want to tell my wife about this and let her know what you want to do, but I'm all but certain she'll say yes. In fact, I'm gonna go ask her right now. Sit tight and I promise I'll be right back. Okay?"

"No problem, Erik, and thank you," May responds. "This really means the world to me."

As she watches Erik quickly leave to go consult his wife concerning the marriage proposal that May plans to give to Kelly, she can't help but think how everything has come together for this weekend.

It'll be up to her to keep everything doing in the right direction, distractions be damned.

A/N: Ooh, what will happen? Savannah is all but in, Dawn is very much out and May is halfway there. Again, what will happen next? Next chapter has the first appearance of (most) everyone's favorite trainer from Pallet Town and a talk between cousins.

Until next time, it's been Rave!