Back to our Story!

"Hey Paul…" Ash said in a confused tone.

"Hi Ash!" Zoey replied for her boyfriend.

"Zoey! It's so good to see you!" Dawn replied.

"Hi Dawn. Guess you're here to do some final preparations before the contests?"

"Actually, we were just taking a break from our training and just came here to visit before the contests started.

Just then, the PA system came online. 'Would all coordinators signed up for the Grand Festival please report to the auditorium for attendance, thank you.'

"I guess we'd better get going." Dawn suggested.

"Yea, see you guys!" Zoey replied as she tagged along with Dawn to the auditorium.

In the midst of their conversation and the PA announcement, Paul had managed to slip away unnoticed…

"Hey, where's Paul?" Ash asked.

"I don't know… Oh well, we'd better take our seats if there's going to be any left."

"Great, let's go!"

. . .

"So Zoey…" Dawn started.

"Hm?"

"Is there something going on between you and Paul?" Dawn asked.

"Huh…?"

Zoey didn't know how to answer the question. If she told her that she and Paul were boyfriend and girlfriend, Dawn wouldn't look at her the same way anymore. She decided to lie when Dawn spoke up again.

"Oops! Sorry for asking a personal question. I didn't mean any harm."

Zoey was relieved and gave her a smile. "Hey, don't worry about it. No harm done."

. . .

Ash and Brock were walking down a corridor to the main arena to get their seats.

"Hey, Brock?" Ash asked.

"What's up Ash?"

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Brock was confused by this question.

"If I could read your mind then 'yes'"

Ash ignored the joke and continued on with his question.

"No I mean, do you think Paul and Zoey are dating?"

Brock was more shocked by this question than the first one.

"Huh? What makes you think like that Ash?"

As they were walking, they noticed a purple haired boy walking by with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey Paul!" Ash greeted with his usual optimism.

Paul lifted his head to face his rival.

"What do you want loser?"

Ash wasn't taken back at the response.

"Are you and Zoey going out?"

However this time, Paul was the one taken back; way back.

"Ash, you're not supposed to ask it like that…" Brock whispered into his ear.

"Oh, then how do you ask?" he questioned.

"Allow me. Hi Pau-"

Paul was nowhere to be found.

"That's strange. I wonder where he ran off to…"

"Funny, he's not the sort to disappear like that either…" Ash said in reply.

"Since when do you know about people Ash?" Brock asked him jokingly.

"Ever since I've been dating -" Ash stopped at mid-sentence, almost revealing his secret.

Brock was thrown back by the response "What was that Ash?"

Ash had to come up with something quick…

"Ever since I've been da… daydreaming!"

Brock thought that he'd misunderstood and was disappointed by the answer.

"Hey Brock, is that Officer Jenny?" Ash then pointed over at the opposite direction where a police officer with a blue uniform was standing.

"OH! OFFICER JENNY!" Brock's eyes then turned into a cartoony-heart shape before running over to her.

"Whew… what a relief…"

Ash's true secret was that he was dating Dawn. They had confessed their love for each other some time ago and he wanted to keep their relationship as a secret. If it wasn't such a big deal, everyone Ash knew would've already known. But they were afraid it might turn ugly somehow and decided to keep it as a secret until they thought that it was okay for people to know. Other than that side-note, let's get back to our AGAINSTSHIPPING story.

. . .

Paul had to get away. He was afraid that if Ash had figured out, he wouldn't treat him like a rival anymore. Of course, he wasn't ashamed or anything about him and Zoey being together, it was just the concept of it all that made Paul worry. The 'girlfriend and boyfriend' concept wasn't what was considered "tough". He could almost imagine people saying, "That guy over there wastes his time kissing girls than training." or "You don't belong here! Run back to your girlfriend!" The thought was killing him; that was until the PA started again. "Notice, the contests will start in 10 minutes. Thank you." He had two choices: one, to go to the front row of seats, cheer for Zoey and lose all his pride; or two, walk away, explain everything to Zoey afterwards and still have his pride. Paul wasn't stupid, but neither was he dishonorable. He had to make the right choice…

Well, I'm stumped. XD. I'll post something up as soon as I can.