Chapter 6

May 18th, 2006

Dawn stared at herself in the mirror in her dressing room. She was participating in the Mauville City pokémon contest. She was the only one entered in the contest out of the three coordinators in their little group. Drew wasn't competing for the time being and May already had her five so it was unnecessary for them to compete.

"This is my chance!" Dawn nodded, pumping a fist in the air. "I'm going to get this ribbon and show them how strong my pokémon are!" Dawn looked up at the television placed in her room, noting that she should be preparing to leave since the coordinator that was before her was up next. "I can do this."

Dawn walked down the hallway, arriving in the main room where majority of the other contestants anxiously waited for their turn to go and preform. There was another television in the main waiting room; many coordinators were anxiously watching the screen. She turned to make her way to the stage, holding onto the two pokéballs in her hand tightly. "I will win this!"

There was a person waiting behind the curtains, one that would lead the contestants onto the stage. Dawn smiled kindly at him. "Hello!"

The man looked at her then to a sheet of paper he was holding. "Contestant number ninety-seven, Dawn Berlitz?"

She nodded. "Yes, that's me!"

Loud cheering was heard from the other side of the curtain. After a few moments of the cheering a boy walked off of the stage, smiling at Dawn as he passed her. "Good luck!" He said.

"Thank you!" Dawn replied. The man with the paper waved her onto the stage. Dawn took a deep breath before stepping out and onto the large stage. There were lights flashing everywhere, accentuating Mauville's love for electricity and its high-tech atmosphere. Dawn waved to the crowd, just spotting her friends in a noticeable, clear spot of the crowd. May was standing up cheering; Dawn swore that she could hear her yells from the stage. Drew was smiling while clapping and Paul gave her a stare, and as if he knew that she was looking directly at him, he gave her a slight nod, almost unnoticeable from their distance but she could tell. Dawn held onto her pokéballs and then threw them into the air. Mamoswine and Pachirisu erupted onto the stage in a huge cluster of glitter.

"Mamoswine, Hidden Power!" Many small blue and yellow spheres of energy formed between the ice-types tusks. They then shot out, hovering above the stadium. "Pachirisu use discharge!" Pachirisu's yellow cheeks instantly began to spark blue jolts of electricity; they then all shot out in beams, merging with Mamoswine's Hidden Power, giving them a bright glow. "Ice shard Mamoswine!" In a flash, ice chunks formed all around Mamoswine, the biggest one between his tusks. "Spark!" Dawn shouted. Pachirisu started to envelop itself in sparks of electricity. Mamoswine released each of the shards of ice, sending one at every single one of the glowing balls all over the stadium, the biggest one flying to Pachirisu. Each of the ice shards wrapped themselves around the shimmering Hidden Power balls, making them look like floating light bulbs. Pachirisu was glowing inside of the successful ice chandelier, radiating off a gorgeous glow. The whole appeal brightened up the contest hall, and then all at once each of the icy light bulbs exploded, including Pachirisu's, sending sparkling ice powder onto the stadium.

The cheer was louder than the one boy before her had. Pachirisu leaped on top Mamoswine and together the two pokémon struck a pose. Dawn pulled the bottom of her dress out to the sides and curtsied.

"Oh wow, what a beautiful sight that was!" Vivian's voice broke through the crowd. "Let's have a look at our judges and see Dawn's score!"

Mr. Contesta was sitting in the first chair, like he always was. "Your pokémon were absolutely beautiful! I loved the seals you used in the start, not something we see a lot here in Hoenn! Then you ended it with the same way you entered it, in a bout of glorious sparkles. I'm thoroughly impressed!"

Mr. Suziko was next exclaiming his simple. "Remarkable!"

And finally it was the Mauville City's very own Nurse Joy. "Oh my, such a wonderful and beautiful performance. You showed off you Pokémon's beauty perfectly!"

"Thank you! We will tally up your points and let's hope that you move onto the next round!" Vivian exclaimed. The crowd once again erupted into cheers and Dawn walked off behind the curtain. The next contestant was already waiting.

"Good luck!" Dawn said. The next contestant sneered at her.

"Darling, I don't need any luck!" They turned to look at the man with the clipboard. "I'm going on now."

"Wait, they're not done yet!"

"Doesn't matter. They're dying to see me after so long." They waved a hand and strutted onto the stage.

"Okay…" Dawn muttered and continued to walk backstage. She sat in the main room, watching the strange and very rude coordinator preform. They were dancing around the stage with a Banette and a Cacturne. Once they were done their performance, there was a camera change to a spot in the audience, as this was airing live. Interestingly enough, the camera was showing May, Drew and Paul. May had shrunk down in her seat, hiding her face, Drew was looking on with a weird expression that Dawn had never seen on him before, and Paul had a hand on his chin, his eyes closed.

"That performance was dedicated to my number one ugly rival, May!" They said her name in a sing song voice. "I know you're out there! I can see you!" He thrilled. Dawn frowned, another one of May's rivals? Though it was to be expected since they were in Hoenn.

The first round ended quickly and there was an intermission, Dawn noticed her three friends quickly approaching her, May was holding onto Piplup, using him to cover her face. "Dawn, in the dressing room!" She whispered. Dawn tipped her head to the side slightly but followed them back. As soon as they walked into the room, May slammed the door shut, turning the lock on the knob. "I really hope he didn't actually see me." She grumbled, setting Piplup onto the ground.

"Who?" Dawn said.

"Harley." Drew muttered. "He was a coordinator with us. There were four of us that were undeniably very well known in this region. May, Harley, a woman named Solidad, and myself." He scratched his head. "Harley was the most eccentric out of all of us, Solidad won the grand festival and wasn't from our region, for a few years before her it was only people from Hoenn that won it. Then there was May, the brand new prodigy, and myself the most popular male coordinator in the region."

"Don't flatter yourself." May cut in.

Drew ignored her. "Harley isn't the nicest person, so don't take any of what he says as the truth. He insults to try and put you down, when in all honesty it doesn't have any truth within it."

There was a loud knocking against the door. "Oooh May! I know you're hanging out with that blue haired bimbo!"

May slapped a hand over her face. "Don't open the door." She said in a whisper.

"May darling, I can hear your voice! It doesn't matter if you come out now, but the second round is about to start. It would be best for your friend to open the door now. I want to see the look on her face when she doesn't pass with her pathetic appeal." Harley sang.

Dawn glanced between the two other coordinators. "I do need to go out there to see my results."

"I don't see why this is such a big deal. Let's hurry up and see these results so I can go and sit back down." Paul said, walking to the door and opening it, showing off a smug looking Harley.

"Hello hun!" He waved. "So nice to see the lovely couple again!" He eyed Paul. "How old are you? That scowl will leave wrinkles." Paul walked past him, ignoring what he had said. "How rude." Harley shook his head. "I hope you have fun losing." He said to Dawn and strutted off.

"We'll be right there." Said Drew, he had his arms crossed. Dawn sighed with a nod and walked out of the room. Paul was leaning against the wall beside the doorway. Dawn continued to walk down the hallway. She could hear Paul's foot steps behind her. She stepped into the room and found an empty spot not too far away. She walked over, Paul standing next to her.

"Do you think May and Drew are actually a couple?" She looked up at him.

"How would I know?"

Dawn shrugged. "They could be if you think about it. Like how Drew always gives her roses and stuff. They tease each other a lot too, but in a more than friend way to me."

"It's none of my business, so I don't really care if they are or aren't."

"It would be nice to get flowers like May does."

A loud voice broke through the noisy room. "Alright!" Vivian appeared on the screen. Dawn could hear her heartbeat quicken and her and everything around her felt heavier than normal. "We have tallied up our top twenty competitors with the highest scores; they will be the ones to move onto the next round! And here they are!" It took a moment for the first face to appear; Dawn felt the weight be lifted off of her chest in an instant.

"I did it!" She cheered, turning to face Paul. "I got the highest amount of points!" She leapt forward and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you! You helped us perfect ice chandelier, thank you so much Paul!"

Paul pushed her away. "Whatever, don't hug me."

Dawn grinned; it was her turn to go on stage for the second round. She was in the last group to go on stage, the other performers before her did exceptionally well too. The competitors were all very equal in their skill levels, a big majority of them had all ended in ties here all pokémon had fainted. Leaving only three competitors who have moved onto the second round, one of them was Harley. Dawn smiled and held onto her two pokéballs. She was going to use the two pokémon that she used in the finals of the Sinnoh Grand Festival, sure she didn't win but that wasn't going to bring her hopes down now.

Dawn walked onto the battle field. The boy she was going up against was walking at the same pace as she was, just on the opposite side of the stage. Together they both stepped into the trainer's areas, just outside of the actual battling arena. A loud buzz went off, indicating the start of their battle.

"Piplup, Togekiss spotlight!" Dawn called as she threw her two pokémon out.

Across from her the boy threw out her own two pokémon. "Volcarona, Duosion!"

Dawn stared at the pokémon, she had barely seen any Unova pokémon, and she had certainly never seen these two. She only learned about them once she found out that Ash was going to that region. Luckily enough, she remembered the types of these two pokémon, one was a duel bug-fire type and the other was a psychic type. The combo attacks she was planning to use wouldn't be immensely effective on the Duosion, but would be very effective against the Volcarona.

"Rollout and Fiery Dance!" The boy called. The Duosion's jelly-like outer smoothed itself into round ball and rolled straight towards Dawn's two pokémon. It looked like it was aiming directly for Togekiss but suddenly changed direction and rolled into Piplup, running it over like a car's wheel. The Volcarona flapped its wings and swerved all around the arena before in a quick, jet-like movement; it crashed right into Togekiss, in result Togekiss pulled its wings in front of itself, providing a little protection from the rest of its body. "Bug Buzz!" The boy shouted again. Volcarona lifted its head up and let out an ear piercing screech. Red waves pulsed from the pokémon and vibrated as they were pushed outwards.

"Aura Sphere and Peck!" Dawn called; Togekiss pulled it's slightly burned wings away from where its ears were and formed a blue ball between them, pushing it straight into Volcarona's stomach for a point-blank shot. Volcarona blasted backwards and skidded across the ground. Piplup raced forward and dug its large beak into Duosion, piercing through the jelly and attacking the pokémon inside. Duosion let out a cry of pain and pulled backwards, stopping beside Volcarona, a sad look on its face, Dawn felt a little bit bad, but this was a battle, it was all fair even if it didn't seem like it. "Whirlpool and Aura Sphere!"

Piplup looked upwards and formed a large whirlpool, quickly shooting it out at the two pokémon, Togekiss had already formed its attack, and sent it directly into the base of the whirlpool, making it glow a beautiful bright, light blue colour. The two Unovian pokémon were still recuperating from the previous and had no time to dodge as their trainer instructed. Volcarona, already taken damage from its own Fiery Dance and Aura Sphere, it was starting to get lower on health. Now a super effective water-type move only decreased it plenty more. After the barrage of water, the fire-bug type was breathing heavily and resting on the ground, its wings soaked and too heavy to fly.

"Duosion, Light Screen!" A big cube of yellow energy went around both Duosion and Volcarona, raising their defence stats. "Future Sight!" Duosion's eyes glowed a brilliant blue and stared at Piplup and Togekiss, analysing every inch of them. The wind picked up around them, Dawn's hair was flying everywhere. Suddenly a rainbow coloured beam shot out of nowhere and hit Piplup, making it roll across the ground. Piplup winced and got up, sticking a flipper out and pointing directly at Duosion, whose eyes had now gone back to normal.

"Pip pip lup pip!"

Duosion narrowed its eyes. "Duo!"

"Hidden Power!"

Blue orbs surrounded Duosion and show out; the orbs split and hit both Piplup and Togekiss. Both of Dawn's pokémon put their arms out to block and skidded back a few feet.

"Togekiss, Safeguard, and then Bubble Beam and Aura Sphere!" A green barrier appeared around Togekiss, it then formed an Aura Sphere and it flew through the green screen shattering it and sending sparkles all over Togekiss' body. Piplup then shot out its Bubble Beam and surrounded the blue sphere with many bubbles, the combo resembling a planet with many moons or rings. The attack hit Volcarona and finally knocked out the poor pokémon. "Peck and Sky Attack!" Piplup jumped onto Togekiss' back as it soared into the air, enveloping both in a bright red light. Together they both looked like a huge flying-type pokémon. They shot down and slammed right into Duosion, knocking it unconscious as well. There was another loud buzz, indicating that the match was over. The screen flashed before Dawn could get a glimpse of the yellow bars, she still wanted to see how many points she managed to knock off of the boy before his pokémon fainted, her picture flashed on the screen along with two of her pokémon and the giant word 'Winner' across the bottom. Dawn smiled. She was onto the quarter finals just like she wanted. The boy walked over to her and held out his hand. Dawn placed her hand in his and shook it once.

"Congratulations!" He said with a smile. He them pulled her hand up to his mouth and kissed it. "A beauty like you was destined to win!" Dawn could feel her face heat up.

"Uh, thank you." She said stiffly, the last person who has complemented her in that way was Conway; she didn't really want to relive being with him again. He wasn't her favourite person, but was much more liked than Harley was. Dawn pulled her hand away from his. "I need to go and prepare for the next battle, so uh goodbye." She said rather awkwardly and hurried off stage and into the trainer's area. Dawn let out a sigh, then shook her head. "Alright let's win this next battle, right guys?" She looked to her pokémon who nodded in agreement.

Dawn had easily won her second battle and had made it on to the finals, but unfortunately her opponent was none other than Harley. This outcome just made her even more excited to win against him. The pokémon he had used in the battling rounds, and would still continue to use under the contest rules, didn't have any major advantages against her two pokémon. She was just thankful that Harley didn't use his Cacturne May said he had. Now Dawn was standing on stage across from Harley who was giving her a smug grin. The buzz sounded again and Dawn threw her two pokéballs into the air, "Piplup, Togekiss!"

Harley laughed and tossed his pokéballs, "Show yourselves darlings, Wigglytuff, Araidos!" Harley's two pokémon appeared and gave Dawn's a sly look. Dawn raised her eyebrows at that.

"Like trainer, like pokémon." She muttered quietly. "Aura Sphere, Peck!" She shouted.

Piplup raced forward, its beak shimmering. Ariados stepped out of the way, confusing Piplup a little but it quickly gained its balance and slammed its beak into Ariados' side. Togekiss shot it's Aura Sphere at a high speed and almost missed Wigglytuff, who also had stepped aside, but luckily the attack hit its side enough to make it move back a little bit.

"My poor darlings!" Harley sang, "How about a little bit of Spider Web and Double Slap!" Wigglytuff quickly grabbed a hold of Piplup since it was closest to it and Ariados shot a large string onto the roof and started to build a massive web that was slowly starting to circle the whole battlefield. "Body Slam now Wigglytuff!" Wigglytuff jumped away from Piplup and landed on top of Togekiss, crushing it under its weight.

"Sky Attack!" Togekiss had a white aura around it and it shot into the air, Wigglytuff still on its back. Togekiss did a spin and Wigglytuff flew off, Togekiss then slammed itself down onto Wigglytuff. "Air Slash!" Togekiss spun around in a circle; small visible slashes were rapidly attacking Wigglytuff. "Aura Sphere!"

"Play Rough!" Harley called out. Play Rough was a fairy-type move, fairy-types were well known in Kalos and now many other pokémon from other regions were discovered to have the extra typing, somehow unknown to researchers. "Piplup, Ice Beam!" From the other side of the field, Piplup shot a beam of ice at the part fairy-type pokémon. Wigglytuff was throwing punches and kicks at Togekiss until it got entrapped in ice, frozen.

"You froze my darling! How rude! Ariados hun, Shadow Ball!" From its position in its massive web, the bug-type shot multiple black and purple spheres at the two other pokémon.

"Sky Attack and Peck!" Piplup jumped onto Togekiss' back and together the two flew up towards Araidos. Araidos shot another string of web and swung over to a different spot on its web. Togekiss realised what it had done and turned itself around, making sure that it was the only one caught in the web.

"Pip!" Piplup fell off of its back and tumbled to the ground.

Dawn looked at the situation, suddenly a thought clicked. "Whirlpool!" Piplup raised its head into the air, forming a very large Whirlpool. "Throw it up into the web!" Piplup spun around in a circle then threw the Whirlpool into the top of the web, immediately breaking it and the Whirlpool itself exploded into millions of drops of water, much like rain. Piplup smiled and danced as the drops fell around it. Togekiss was now free and it flew around the arena. Ariados also fell and was wiggling around on its back. "Quick Peck!" Dawn called. Piplup stopped its dancing and ran towards the upturned pokémon slamming its beak into its stomach. Ariados let out a cry of pain before falling unconscious. In the matter of time, Wigglytuff broke free of the ice but the buzzer rang. The five minutes were up. Dawn and Harley looked up at the screen, looking at each other's scores. The screen flashed again and showed the picture of the winner and their two pokémon. Dawn cheered as she saw her face. Piplup and Togekiss race towards her and jumped on her, knocking her over. Dawn laughed and hugged both of her pokémon. "Thanks you two!"

"Pip Piplup!"

"Toge!"

Dawn stood up and brushed herself off. She looked at Harley, hoping to thank him for the battle but he turned his nose up at her and sauntered off of the stage, not giving her a second glance. Dawn scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

"Dawn!" She turned around and saw Vivian smiling at her. "Congratulation on winning the Mauville City pokémon contest!" Vivian cheered and the crowd broke out in a large cheer. "Here's the Mauville City Contest ribbon!" She handed her a bright yellow ribbon, Dawn accepted it happily took it and held it up in the air."

"We got our first ribbon!" She brought it back down and held it close to her body. "Thank you!" She bowed down to Vivian, and then turned back to the crowd with a big grin. Once again the crowd burst into cheers. Dawn bowed again and hurried off stage to go and change since the contest was now officially over. She had to hurry so she could see her friends again and so Paul could train for his upcoming gym battle. She raced into her change room and quickly put on her regular clothes, her shorts, white shirt and short pink jacket. She pulled her beanie on her head as she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in!" Dawn called. May burst through the door and hugged Dawn.

"Congratulations! I told you, you could do it!" May cheered.

Drew nodded in agreement. "You did really well, you deserve that ribbon!" He smiled.

"Thanks! But now it's Paul's turn!"

May shook her head, "It's your turn to shine right now, Dawn. Paul will get his turn once he wins his badge." She looked at him then whispered. "Though I don't know if he would actually enjoy all the attention."

Dawn laughed, "Maybe he secretly likes it?" She shrugged her shoulders. Paul glared at her. "Aren't you going to congratulate me too?" Dawn asked.

"No."

Dawn frowned. "Oh, why not?"

"Because it was obvious that you were going to win. Your opponents were all pathetic, especially the last one."

"I can actually agree with him on that one." May giggled, Drew laughed also.

"Harley can actually be good, if he's not self centered before a battle."

"Maybe you should take your own advice." May muttered.

Drew rolled his eyes. "I'm never self centered." May rolled her eyes.

"How about we go now?" Dawn suggested, not wanting the two to fight again. "I'm sure Paul's itching to go and finally train. When is your battle?"

"Two weeks." He said.

Dawn nodded. "Then let's hurry and go!"