As soon as Kenny and I finished helping Nerissa tie down all the balloons, we ran toward the Pokémon Center. Buneary and Ambipom hopped along, and Kenny gave Sunflora a piggy-back ride. "What did you think of Nerissa's story, Dawn?" he asked me.

"I think we need to hear Ace's story." My nails dug into my palms. "I'd hate for him to give up his Gym Leader career right when it's getting started, because of an accident like that."

During the exhibition battle, the cliff where Ace had been standing crumbled, plummeting the new Gym Leader over two thousand feet to the rocky ground. Gengar had taken the hit for him, but that didn't negate the terror Ace must have felt, falling, thinking he was going to die a painful, messy death...

The doors to the Pokémon Center are automatic, which is a shame, because I wanted the drama of slamming them open myself. Ace, Aaron, Cynthia, and Paul had secured a table and ordered smoothies. Electivire plugged himself into the nearest socket, as exhausted as the others after his role in maneuvering Paul's hot-air balloon to monitor the battle. Ace's Gengar and Aaron's Heracross squabbled for the last poffin, but Kenny put an end to their conflict by producing a handful of poffins from his backpack.

Paul nodded at me first. "Well met, Dawn."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Paul being polite was unexpected.

"Ah, Dawn," Cynthia said with a faint smile, "you and Kenny just missed Steven Stone. He had to go back to Hoenn to help deal with a villain group in the region. He has it under control, I think, but he won't be able to join us for the celebration this evening, unfortunately."

Kenny tipped his head to one side. "Celebration?"

Aaron held Ace's hand. "Nerissa announced she's opening Amity Square for all Pokémon, on the condition that no unsanctioned battling takes place. All battles have to be registered with the Gym Leader – my boyfriend, Ace – in advance, and Cheryl has to be available as a field nurse. Any violators will have to answer to Officer Jenny."

"And to me," Paul said, his narrowed eyes and ferocious scowl a mighty threat.

"And me," Ace added, though with his shining turquoise eyes and friendly smile, he didn't look so threatening.

I looked over at Ace, who was contentedly slurping his bluk berry smoothie. "Are you okay, Ace? I mean, that fall looked terrifying."

"It was a bit scary," Ace admitted, "but, like, we've been to the Distortion World and back." Proudly, he declared, "Death doesn't scare me anymore. Arceus himself can smite me to world's end, and it wouldn't be a hair compared to the trials we faced in the Distortion World."

"I don't know about that," Aaron said with a chuckle. "I'm still kind of afraid of dying."

I smiled, glad that my friend was all right—more than all right, he'd be an excellent Gym Leader, on par with the strongest leaders like Candice and Volkner. Cynthia tapped her empty glass to get our attention. "You might want to start getting ready for the celebration—especially you, Paul; as a Frontier Brain, you'll be expected to appear more presentable."

Kenny and I glanced at each other and widened our eyes, trying to imagine Paul in a suit as fancy as Steven Stone's ruby-and-sapphire-adorned one.

Paul cleared his throat, sensing what we were thinking and trying to distract us from the image. "Cynthia, you won't be joining us?"

Cynthia smiled as she stood up. "I intend to start my research on Primal Giratina as soon as possible, and hopefully Steven will be able to join me soon."

She doesn't want to go to Amity Square without a date. It was sweet knowing that Cynthia had a coy side to her mysterious persona. Even after seeing her as a young teenager in the Distortion World, I don't know much about the Champion of Sinnoh.

I went into one of the Pokémon Center's changing rooms and changed into my date outfit—the outfit I wore to my first excursion to Amity Square with Kenny, and the same outfit I'd wear to Alola—white sun hat and long-sleeved blouse over a pale pink minidress and matching high heel dress sandals. Kenny was also in his date outfit; I leaned forward to fix the collar of his turquoise button-down shirt, and he grinned.

Ace and Aaron hadn't changed, but I guess they wanted to present themselves as battlers during the celebration. However, I glared up at Paul. "Cynthia told you to dress up!"

Paul held out his hands. "I did. I'm wearing leather gloves. That's dressing up."

"You're such a boy." He was more like Ash than I would've thought before everything he did for Ace. It didn't change his rudeness and the awful way he'd treated Pokémon back when he was Ash's rival, but his recent generosity – helping Ace escape from Hearthome City, putting his name on the line by acting as referee in Ace's second exhibition battle – made him a little more likable. Just a little.

The others went ahead to Amity Square. I wanted to call old friends, so I stayed behind in the Pokémon Center for a while.

"Dawn!" Ash exclaimed. "You look great!"

"Thanks. You look... tan."

Ash laughed. "Yeah, I wonder if Serena—uh, never mind."

Brock chose that moment to pop into the group call, and it was my turn to laugh. "I bet Brock is wondering who this lovely lady Serena is."

Brock smiled. "I've met her, actually. I'm in Hoenn right now."

"Oh! Do you guys want to visit Sinnoh? Nerissa is opening Amity Square so all Pokémon can enter; Brock, you can bring your Onix and also invite your Alolan girlfriend."

Now Brock looked pained, as though his old Croagunk had come up behind him. It was hard to tell; the Pokémon Center where he was at looked crowded. "I'd love nothing more than to stroll through Amity Square with the beautiful and magnificent Olivia—"

Is there a not-beautiful and not-magnificent Olivia?

"—but alas, work bogs me down."

"Brock," I pointed out, "you're an 18-year-old medical student."

Brock explained, "A lot of Pokémon doctors-in-training from Kanto have been deployed to Hoenn to help with the crisis in the region."

I recalled the villain team that Cynthia mentioned. I hoped May and Serena were all right.

Brock pretended to cry. "I just want to go on a date with Olivia in Amity Square."

Ash shrugged. "I like battling."

"Ash Ketchum," I began, but before I could finish, Brock said, "Is Kenny waiting for you?"

I grinned. "Yep. He's an awesome boyfriend."

"Then go be an awesome girlfriend. We're cheering you on, Dawn!"

I waved at them and then ran to the western gate of Amity Square. Ace and Aaron were accepting congratulations from friendly trainers, their Drapion giving small Pokémon piggy back rides. Kenny reached out to take my hand and pull me deeper into the park, his Dusknoir chasing my Ambipom around the pool. I recognized a lot of trainers: Jasmine pulled Volkner and Flint onto her Steelix to ride behind her, while Flareon and Jolteon tussled on the grass nearby; Candice and Maylene chattered excitedly about the newest fashion line from Kalos, Candace's Froslass waving at me; even Koga had shown up, and he nodded at Ace like a proud parent.

This is the start of a promising career, I thought, suddenly feeling envious of Ace. From here, everything would be uphill for him, but for me, it seemed like I'd already reached the pinnacle of my own trainer career. I spent as much time teaching aspiring coordinators as I did participating in contests. Was that what my life would be like now? A washed-up, has-been by the age of 14?

"Dawn?" Kenny must have noticed how tense I was.

I let go of his hand and ran across the wooden bridge, leaping across the mini island to dance among the flowers. I extended a hand to my boyfriend. "Hey, Kenny?"

Kenny took my hand and danced with me. "Yeah?"

"I'll always be a Pokémon Coordinator, right?"

Kenny kissed me. "Always."