Well here it is, the twenty-seventh part of the fourth installment in my 'Heart' series released a little early but for good reason. That reason is of course the fact that one year ago today I began the Hearts Series with the upload of Part I in 'Follow Your Heart'. Back then it was meant to be a short, 6 Part story that had evolved from a oneshot idea I had and wrote down to get out of my head before realizing that it was too long for a oneshot so made it into a 6 part story. The success of it, and other ideas, led to me writing a short 6 part sequel in 'Home is Where the Heart Is' and the beginnings of an idea for a long story. That long story quickly fell into place and became 'Dreams Come From the Heart' and ultimately led to the full ideas for two more full length stories, as well as Supplements and of spinoff stories. I can safely say I never expected this story to reach this point, nor did I expect to produce 106 full Parts, 28 Supplemental chapters, and 15 spinoff chapters in the last year but I have and it is all thanks to the support and encouragement I have gotten from all of y'all who have stuck with my work to this point so thank you and I hope y'all keep reading my work. There is still a lot more to come, both in the main Hearts series and the side pieces so the material is there for many more years I expect. However, that is all I have to say for now though and as there are no guest reviews or questions to respond to here I will end this note now. That means that it is once again time to sit back and enjoy the latest installment in Winning Takes Heart. Part CVI: Coordinator v. Performer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

Part CVI: Coordinator v. Performer

"Today we have a mock double Contest battle between Dawn and her latest rival in a certain area we all know well, Miette." May said from the judge's position on the Pokémon Center battlefield though Ash wasn't sure why she referred to Miette as a rival as this was just practice to help her improve her Contest battles. "Dawn's 6th of this sort. This time the battle will take the form of a Contest battle under the conditions in a Grand Festival so it is the standard 5-minute Contest battle, but each coordinator will use two Pokémon. Is that clear?"

"It is." Miette said as Dawn just nodded as she focused on what she had to do.

"Go Miette." Serena called from the sideline surprising everyone even Miette with her support as all her Pokémon cheered with her.

"Serena?" Dawn asked confused. "Really?"

"What? In this context I have to support her." Serena said with a wicked smile at Dawn. "One of us has to beat you and take you down a peg so naturally we support your opponent in these situations."

"Serena is right." May added. "Though I will at least judge fairly, you can trust me on that."

"Thanks May." Dawn grumbled but she did trust May to be a fair judge. "I guess I have three of you to show up this time."

"Just try it Dawn." Miette said from her position on the other side of the battlefield. "I am aiming to be the first to beat you."

"Come at me then." Dawn said with a grin. "I'll still beat you and I'm not using any Pokémon that have Contest experience in this battle."

"Wait what?" Miette, May, and Serena all asked surprised and Dawn's announcement.

"Your not?" Miette followed up. "Why?"

"I came to Kalos only planning on using Piplup, and any Pokémon I caught here other than one from Kanto I caught who also joined me so as to late to get experience." Dawn said with a shrug. "It's what Ash does for each new region and helps make him get better as a trainer, so I am doing that now as well."

"But you used your Espeon against me." Serena said surprised. "I know that she has Contest experience, you used her in the Grand Festival semifinals."

"Yes I did." Dawn admitted. "But that was because you have a Sylveon. I wanted that battle to be specific because of our connection there and it helped showed you how to use an Eevee evolution in a Contest battle."

"Oh right, yeah that did help." Serena said. "It allowed me and Sylveon to see how that body type could be maximized in a Contest style situation."

"And now I will show Miette how to use two Pokémon in a Contest battle." Dawn said with a grin. "So, send your best and I'll show you how it's done."

"Oh, I don't consider this a handicap against you." Miette said. "I don't doubt that you're ready for this. I will use this as a learning experience regardless of what happens."

"I am always ready to put a rival in her place." Dawn said. "So, let's get this started."

It was two days after they had met Miette in the Pokémon Center. Two days since the Poke Puff bake off competition that Dawn surprisingly won. Two days since Miette confronted Dawn and revealed that she'd already started to crush on Ash because of who Ash was. Two days since they'd planned this battle.

May had come back yesterday from the Contest she'd judged to learn of the sudden new rival. In all honesty she wasn't surprised once she learned who it was. Miette was a lot like Serena in many ways and seeing Ash in his dedicated mode could easily sway Miette's heart to him the way it did for Serena, and herself. Add in Miette's intense rivalry with Serena and May figured it would be inevitable that Miette would fall for Ash if they ever met.

Of course, she hadn't expected Miette to so boldly go up to Dawn and challenge her like that. Only Misty had done something similar and that was more an explosion that Dawn caused and then escalated by challenging her. This was a direct confrontation that was actually civil but then again Miette was a direct girl with enough confidence to pull it off. Still, a battle with Dawn was going to be tough for her.

Both girls had spent the time preparing while May and Serena watched and didn't intervein with either party, a battle like this was one that no one could get involved in as it would be dishonorable to do so. Now it was time for that battle, and it was going to be interesting to see what happened.

"Alright then, the winner will be whoever I determine would have more points remaining in an actual Contest battle or if one of the coordinators knocks out the other's Pokémon to secure a Battle Off." May said pressing a button to start the timer on Dawn's Poketch. "Begin!"

"Vulpix, Furfrou, spotlight." Dawn said throwing her Poke Balls up in a flair.

"Slurpuff, Meowstic, time to perform." Miette said tossing out her own Poke Balls with an elegance that Dawn had to admit would look good in a Contest setting.

"What's that Pokémon?" Ash asked pulling out his Pokedex to scan the bipedal, blue, and white, feline Pokémon that he'd never seen before.

"Meowstic, the Constraint Pokémon." The Pokedex chimed. "When in danger, it raises its ears and releases enough psychic power to grind a 10-ton truck into dust."

"Well, we know how to handle a psychic type." Dawn said with a grin. "Furfrou, Bite Meowstic, Vulpix, Feint Attack on Slurpuff."

"I don't think so Dawn." Miette said shaking her head. "I'm not letting you get close in this one, you won't use that dark type attack on me. Double Psychic guys. Stop them in their tracks."

Dawn was impressed by the move as her Pokémon charged in unison, Furfrou's jaws glowing as Vulpix just ran for Slurpuff, it showed trust, practice, and coordination to pull off a double move but as a performer Miette had the skill to pull it off. It was a shame that Dawn had plenty of experience against a double attack strategy thanks to her mother and had recently seen how to break a Psychic hold as both Slurpuff and Meowstic glowed blue and lifted up their respective opponents before they reached their targets.

"That's it, slam them into the ground and don't let up." Miette said with a grin of her own. "We have them."

"You think so but you're just taking a good chunk of my points that I can recover from and that's it." Dawn said calmly causing Miette's grin to falter slightly. "Vulpix, Furfrou, stay calm and trust me. Don't fight the Psychic, you can't as far as I know. Instead, counter it with Fire Spin and Attract, respectively. That Psychic can't contain the attacks as well."

"Oh." Miette said her eyes wide as her Pokémon slammed Dawn's into the ground and raised them up again to see that both canine based Pokémon were still snarling at them.

As Miette's Pokémon raised Dawn's, they countered. Vulpix opened his mouth and blasted out a swirl of flames right at Slurpuff while Furfrou gave Meowstic a seductive wink knowing full well her attack would work as she was facing a Pokémon with a clear gender indicator. Thanks to the Psychic neither Pokémon could avoid the attacks as they were immobilized while using it.

The Fire Spin hit Slurpuff and surrounded her in a swirling vortex that caused her to wail before it vanished though everyone knew it would return a few more times in the battle. That was bad but it was worse for Meowstic. The hearts hit him full in the face and instantly his eyes became hearts as he become infatuated by the attack.

With both hits, the Psychic hold was broken and Vulpix and Furfrou fell to the ground. Both landed in a crouch, ready to attack as soon as they were free. Dawn saw her opening and wasn't going to pass it up as she thanked Arceus that Meowstic was male as she'd been guessing with it.

"Furfrou, Bite again." Dawn said with a grin. "We have Meowstic now. Vulpix, protect her with Feint Attack if Slurpuff tries anything."

"Slurpuff, protect Meowstic with Play Rough, intercept Furfrou." Miette said knowing that she had to change targets to avoid the super effective attack. "Meowstic, I know you can do it, Psyshock. Fight that infatuation."

What happened next showed the level of coordination a coordinator like Dawn could pull off, especially when she was using Pokémon that were naturally faster than her opponents. Meowstic didn't do anything as expected so Slurpuff leapt forward to protect her friend with a Play Rough on Furfrou but she never got the chance to employ it.

Vulpix was running next to Furfrou and veered off as soon as Slurpuff came at his friend and put himself between the two and hit Slurpuff in the side with the dark type attack. It didn't do that much damage because of Slurpuff's type resistance but that hadn't been the point of it. The point had been to hit her and send her flying away with Vulpix running after her as he crossed paths with Furfrou. With this Furfrou's path to Meowstic was unobstructed.

Furfrou didn't hesitate as she reached the psychic type and sank her glowing teeth into the infatuated Meowstic. He wailed in pain as the super effective attack hit it. Furfrou shook Meowstic in her mouth for a moment before she tossed him to the side to crash into the ground near where Slurpuff had landed. The only good thing for Miette that came from the attack was that it had snapped Meowstic out of his infatuation.

As soon as the sequence of events ended Slurpuff was engulfed in a swirling vortex of fire and wailed in pain from it. Fire Spin would keep up for a while and that gave Dawn an advantage as it would reduce some points each time it activated, but Miette wasn't done yet.

"Meowstic, Disarming Voice." Miette said. "That will hit both of them. Slurpuff, protect him by using Psychic to deflect any attacks they send your way."

"Vulpix hold for a moment." Dawn said an idea coming to her mind as Meowstic opened his mouth. "Furfrou, hit Slurpuff with Charge Beam and see if she can deflect it. Push through the attack, I know you can do it."

Vulpix trusted his human and held off as the powerful, sound based, emotional attack came from Meowstic's mouth and hit them. He hadn't understood why Dawn would have him hold until the attack hit, but he realized why the moment it did. It further deepened his trust and love for his trainer in that moment.

It was painful but more of an irritant than an actual full power attack meaning that he had a type resistance to it. Why Vulpix didn't know as he didn't know anything about the attack the cat thing had sent at him, but he wasn't complaining. He confirmed his theory when he looked to Furfrou who was clearly more affected by and barked encouragement to push through it and attack as their trainer had ordered.

Furfrou heard her friend's encouragement and pushed through the painful fairy type attack and built up the charge in her mouth. Then she fired it off right at Slurpuff. However, Slurpuff was ready for it thanks to the Disarming Voice giving her the time she needed.

As soon as the move was blasted at her, she activated Psychic and glowed blue. The speed of Charge Beam was too fast for her to stop with Psychic, she didn't have the power to do that, but she could redirect it. That was easier anyway and she used her power to deflected far enough to the right of her to miss in an impressive move that surprised Dawn as Charge Beam soared wide and out the side of the battlefield. In a Contest that would have taken a good amount of Dawn's points because of how stylish it was.

Of course, no one was paying attention to where the electric type attack was going, they never did when something like this happened as they had to focus on the battle. That was why no one noticed that it had been redirected right at a shocked Penguin Pokémon who only had a moment to squawk in protest before he was hit in the face by the super effective attack. The force of it blasted Piplup into the nearby wall swearing bloody revenge at his trainer for once again hurting him.

Dawn had no idea that yet again her starter had been injured in a rival battle as she was solely focused on beating Miette. Vulpix had revealed a new move the day before and now was the time to use it. She'd been surprised by the effectiveness of Miette's attack as she didn't know enough about how Disarming Voice worked to realize that it would affect both of her Pokémon. However, she had a counter for it, and it was why she'd asked Vulpix to hold back.

"Now Vulpix." Dawn commanded as Slurpuff was using psychic. "Flame Burst."

Vulpix grinned as he opened his mouth and formed his new fire type attack in it. This was why he trusted Dawn so much. She'd delayed his attack because Slurpuff would have protected her friend from it. However, now she was too busy deflecting Furfrou's attack to notice and the attack from the feline Pokémon wasn't affecting Vulpix as much as it should so he could focus and fire the ball of fire at his opponents.

Miette had been so absorbed in the Disarming Voice and the attack that she'd forgotten about Dawn's decision to hold Vulpix back. That ended when she suddenly saw the ball of fire arc down on a still attacking Meowstic. Slurpuff had just finished her Psychic and didn't have a chance to stop it as the ball fell onto Meowstic and exploded.

Slurpuff's eyes went wide as Meowstic mewled in pain because there fire didn't explode normally. It was more like a ball of water bursting as small fire balls splashed all around them hurting Slurpuff as well in the process. This was made worse by another Fire Spin activating and doing more damage to Slurpuff as she fell to the ground next to Meowstic who was charred but still in it despite taking the attack head on. However, Dawn saw the end coming and knew what to do.

"Vulpix behind Furfrou, you can't be in the way for this." Dawn said as she prepared her coup de gras. "Furfrou, Surf!"

"Double Psychic." Miette said her eyes wide as Vulpix turned and ran to stand behind her partner as fast as possible and Furfrou roared, a swell of water appearing around her. "Stop it."

Alas her Pokémon didn't have the strength to defend themselves. They'd taken too much damage. All they could do was stand and stare as Furfrou created the wave of water that was suddenly sent at them. They tried, glowing blue for a second, but it didn't stop the wave from slamming into them and sending them flying back and out the corner of the battlefield as the wave carried them off.

Slurpuff and Meowstic didn't make a sound as they slammed into the wall around the battlefield, the wave breaking as it hit, and fell to the ground to lie there in a wet mess on the ground. Slurpuff was on her side while Meowstic was on his back and both had swirls for eyes indicating that they were out of the battle.

"This battle is over." May declared crossing her arms in front of her and stopping the timer and glancing at it to see how much time was left. "Dawn has won by Battle Off with 45 seconds remaining in the battle. Had this gone to the end though, Dawn would have won comfortable on points due to the hits landed though Miette would have taken over half of Dawn's points with her in the battle due to her own actions."

"That's impressive." Dawn said as her Pokémon ran over to her to be congratulated, Dawn petting and stroking them as they reached her with multiple tails wagging. "You did well Miette."

"Thanks Dawn." Miette said as she recalled her Pokémon and then looked at the Poke Balls in her hands. "And thank you Slurpuff and Meowstic, you were amazing in that battle. Dawn is really good and showed it, but we held our own and got some good licks in. I am proud of you guys; we held our own against a Top Coordinator for a while there."

"That you did." Dawn said not recalling her Pokémon and walking out to the center of the battlefield. "You have some impressive skills Miette, same level as Serena I'd say though with a slightly different style. I think you will do well this year."

"Ha we are always on the same level it seems, or there about at least." Miette said as she walked out as well. "Though I will exceed her this year."

"Perhaps." Dawn said as she held out her hand when they reached the center of the battlefield. "You have a different style to her that is clear enough so hone it just as Serena is honing hers and you two will be able to test that one day if you face off in a Contest battle."

"I look forward to that day." Miette said taking Dawn's hand and shaking it. "But for today, I am the same as her in losing to you in more ways than one."

"That you are." Dawn said with a grin. "Six up, six down for me. I hope this shows you that I am the alpha when it comes to Ash."

"Oh, it does." Miette said before she surprised Dawn by not letting go of her hand but pulling her in for a sudden hug and whispering in her ear so that only Dawn could hear. "But if you mess up and hurt him, I will take that as weakness and I will pounce. My feelings won't go away, likely they will deepen when I next meet you lot, so know that while I respect your dominance, I will always be watching you to see if you slip."

"I expect no less if I fuck up." Dawn said simply and just as quietly back to Miette. "I know the others will be watching as well, so you have the whole pack to deal with if that happens. If I hurt Ash, I won't run. I'll let all 6 of you know and wait for the punishment I'd deserve in that situation, but I promise you, I won't hurt him."

"That is good to hear." Miette said as they broke apart and let go of each other the moment over. "Now, care to explain how you routed me there? I didn't expect anything you did so any guidance would be greatly appreciated."

"Of course, I will always give tips to help a coordinator improve." Dawn said with a smile. "Though the first thing I should mention is that your double Psychic was impressive and would have thrown off most but not me. It's a great opening move to use, or a trump card to play should you need it."

"Yeah we've honed that from our performances as it is really useful in them." Miette said. "But you seemed ready for it."

"My mother, who is also a Top Coordinator and my idol in coordinating is known for her double attack style." Dawn said. "She had a Glameow and Umbreon as her main two and they are in perfect sync when she uses them in a double battle. I have never beaten her, and she often incorporates things like double Attract or other double moves so when you used double Psychic I knew that I could counter it if I kept my cool. Well, that and Ash recently showed me how to counter Psychic when a Pokémon is being held like that."

"He did?" Miette asked confused. "How?"

"Ash is a constant source of inspiration for me, so I watch all his battles closely." Dawn said with a slight blush. "Recently he had a full battle with Kenny, the former friend I told you about, and in it his Mega Charizard was stopped by Kenny's Mega Alakazam's Psychic in the final matchup. Ash broke it by using Flamethrower on Alakazam and showing that even if Psychic is affecting a Pokémon, it can still attack with a ranged move."

"And when using Psychic, a Pokémon is so focused on using it that it can't move its body." Miette said realizing Dawn's tactic. "That is brilliant because you were close enough to land the attacks. The Fire Spin ensured that Slurpuff would keep taking damage and thus cost me points each time while the Attract was genius. A move like that means you definitely know your Pokémon's gender, so you used it perfectly there."

"I did?" Dawn asked confused. "I was just going for a 50/50 chance that Meowstic was male. I know Furfrou is female, but I didn't know Meowstic's gender."

"Wait you don't know?" Miette said shocked before laughing at Dawn's serious look confirming that Dawn really didn't know. "Wow, I didn't realize that. You were just gambling not knowing that you had a guaranteed success. Damn and here I thought that you had fully out strategized me."

"I'm missing something aren't I?" Dawn asked as Miette kept laughing. "What?"

"Let me ask you this." Miette said recovering. "Have you ever seen a Meowstic before?"

"No, I am not from Kalos remember and the only native ones I'd seen before arriving were May's and Serena's." Dawn said shaking her head. "Neither has a Meowstic so yours was the first."

"Ok then that explains it." Miette said understanding now, she should have guessed given the fact that Dawn wasn't from the region. "Meowstic is a Pokémon with one of the most blatant gender differences in the world, not just here in Kalos. In fact, it is said that gender can be tied to a Meowstic's ability, but I don't know much about that."

"Oh, so if I had seen them before I would have known that yours was male then." Dawn said realizing why Miette had been surprised by Dawn's lack of knowledge. "I know about gender differences though, my Vileplume is female and I learned how to identify her gender when she was a Gloom from Erika though I'd already knew her gender at the time. So, it take it the blue Meowstic with while markings like that is male."

"Yes and the female is practically the inverse." Miette said with a nod. "White with blue markings, though there are some slight differences in the secondary color's accents. I heard that Olympia, the Anistar Gym Leader, has one of each gender and uses them together in double battles but as I don't compete in gym battles I can't confirm that."

"That would be interesting to see someone use two of the same Pokémon only different genders in battle like that." Dawn said. "Well, it worked for me in this battle, but you showed me I can't be reliant on chance like that, I should brush up on gender differences more. Well, the blatant ones at least."

"That it did." Miette said happy that she'd taught Dawn something in their battle despite her loss. "And then you showed your teamwork which was on a level I couldn't match."

"So, did you." Dawn said remembering the next part of the battle. "It is clear that Slurpuff and Meowstic are close and know how to work together. That defense when Meowstic was infatuated was a solid idea. I just had the speed on you there otherwise it would have worked pretty well. That's just a case of Pokémon body types and mine were built for speed compared to yours."

"I noticed." Miette said. "It was a well-done move; one I will have to work on countering just in case I have a speed disadvantage again."

"It worked because Vulpix and Furfrou are both canine Pokémon." Dawn explained. "We worked on running together yesterday and strategized on how to use their similar physical structures in tandem in a battle. You still showed resilience though even after your defense failed. Disarming Voice was a clever move and actually gave me inspiration at the end."

"It did?" Miette asked amazed that Dawn had imitated something of hers in the battle. "How so?"

"It did." Dawn confirmed. "You used an area attack that I couldn't defend against, and one that I didn't know was an area attack, to hit both my Pokémon. While Surf can be defended, it is an area attack that will hit both of yours, so I used it like how you used Disarming Voice to hit both of my Pokémon at the same time. Having Vulpix run behind Furfrou was about preservation due to type, I didn't want any friendly fire in the battle."

"That makes sense." Miette said understanding why Dawn had finished the way she had, it had been a clever way to land a move that could end it in one fell swoop. "Though I was confused, why did you have Vulpix hold during Disarming Voice. That caught me off guard as I didn't remember until the Flame Burst almost hit that Vulpix hadn't attacked."

"Oh that, that was about type as well." Dawn said surprising Miette. "Disarming Voice was recently reclassified as a fairy type attack, the fourth one to be reclassified I believe, and I know that fire types are resistant to fairy type attacks. That was why I had Vulpix hold. You played into it with your order to Slurpuff and I adapted to that."

"I did?" Miette asked. "What did I do?"

"You ordered her to use Psychic to defend any attacks." Dawn said simply. "Which meant that if I attacked Slurpuff then she would be occupied and unable to defend a second attack. That allowed me to go for Meowstic with Vulpix's new move a moment later and as those two were close I could hit Slurpuff with the splash damage that Fire Burst has."

"I see, very clever." Miette said as she noted Dawn's strategy for examination later. "And from there I was done for because they didn't have the strength to counter Surf."

"That they did not." Dawn said. "Though I was impressed with Slurpuff redirecting that Charge Beam. I've never seen that before. I've seen slower moves sent back but never a faster move like Charge Beam redirected."

"Honestly, that was all her." Miette said surprising Dawn. "I figured she'd just stop the attack with Psychic, but I guess it was too fast, so she just nudged it enough to redirect it though I didn't see where it went as I was too focused on the battle."

"Well, it is something you should keep in mind for future, it is a good defense and will reduce an opponent's points by a fair bit because it is a stylish way to dodge an attack." Dawn said. "Though where did it go? I wasn't paying attention either."

"Off to the side." May said approaching them at last. "Out the side near where Ash and Serena were but I didn't see precisely where it hit."

"Near Ash." Dawn said her eyes wide as she realized what almost certainly happened, Arceus always made sure that it would happen in these battle. "No, not again."

"What do you mean not again?" Miette asked but Dawn had already turned to where the Charge Beam had hit.

There, finally coming too thanks to Ash and Serena who'd been dealing with it while Dawn and Miette talked, was a charred and furious Piplup that had been pulled out of a wall. It had happened again. He'd gotten hurt in a love rival battle.

"Piplup, this wasn't my fault." Dawn said as her starter got up and waddled towards her, his beak grinding and a vein in his temple throbbing as Malamar suddenly burst out of her Poke Ball and got clear of her trainer. "I swear, I'm…"

"Piplup!" Piplup roared not letting her finish before he unleashed a powerful Ice Beam at his human, she had earned it and Malamar nodded in agreement at Piplup's actions.

Miette just stared as the blast of ice hit Dawn in the chest and froze her solid, a look of apology on her face. Piplup just nodded before he turned and waddled off to the Pokémon Center to check himself in, Malamar following behind him and picking him up to help out.

He expected the works when he was done, he deserved it after that injustice and Malamar would help him get it for suffering from their trainer's stupidity again. Next time his human found a rival for her mate he was recalling himself; he was not going through this again.

"Damned penguin." Dawn muttered through the ice as Vulpix sighed and started using Fire Spin to help out, Ash sending out Fletchinder as well to assist Vulpix, though for some reason Fletchinder just landed on the ice and began to melt it with his body. "He'll milk this so much."

"I take it that this happens a lot." Miette said as Ash and Serena joined them, Braixen also coming out to aid in the dethawing of Dawn as it would take a while. "Piplup looked really pissed."

"Every time Dawn battles one of us." Serena said. "Apparently he's always in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets hit, or it is an overpowered attack in battle. Against me it was a missed Shadow Ball from Dawn's Espeon that hit him."

"I'm the exception though." May said. "Our battle was in the final of the Wallace Cup, so it was Piplup against my Glaceon as is tradition and he won that one with only standard battle damage."

"I see." Miette said. "That is odd that that keeps happening."

"Welcome to knowing Ash Ketchum." May said patting Miette on the shoulder as Ash was busy coordinating the thawing of his girlfriend. "Odd is the normal when around him. If things were simple and normal, we'd all be really worried."

"And welcome to the club." Serena said patting Miette on the back. "In near record time I might add. I think only Misty was quicker as their battle was within 10 minutes of the challenge or so I've heard."

"Yeah that was something else for sure." Miette said. "But I need to get my Pokémon healed up and then head off east, there is a Contest that way that I think I can win seeing as you are heading northeast to Shalour."

"True we are." May said with a nod. "So, time to get everyone healed up because tomorrow we head into the forest as we continue to the Kalos Canyon."

Serena just nodded as they bade farewell to Miette who went to get her Pokémon healed up while the others waited for Dawn to finish thawing out. After that they would head in, get their Pokémon healed, and prepared for the next leg of their journey, the large forest between here and the Kalos Canyon.

I think I will end it there on that slight note so that y'all can speculate on what is to come next. There really isn't much to say about this Part, it was a standard rival battle one that ended with Dawn again victorious and Piplup again injured. Miette will of course return from time to time just as she did in XY so she's still going to be around and fun as always. However, that is all I have for y'all so as always please favorite (both this story and me in general to be notified of any new content I post), review as I really like hearing what you think of my work and your suggestions that help complete this story (and respond as best I can) and just in general keep enjoying my work. Until next time.

Stringdog