Chapter 6: Coordinating the Choreography!

When Goh mentioned that he and Dawn deserved a vacation after defeating Team Rocket through perfecting Cinderace and Togekiss's appeal move, all in an act of desperation to save his Pokémon from the clutches of the troublesome trio, he was only half-joking. Dawn, however, would take this as an absolutely wonderful piece of advice to follow, and shoved Goh along to partake in all sorts of activities that didn't have to do with training. Of course, though the break had been his suggestion, Goh now protested when hours had gone by and his contest partner opted not to reengage with the training needed for the second round of the contest, the Choreography Stage.

At the same time, the resort pool was very, very nice in the evening light.

" Well, if Dawn won't, then I might as well, " Goh mulled to himself.

The Pokémon catcher turned contest coordinator reclined on his lounge chair, tapping through his Rotom Phone in a bid to not relent on his pursuit of contest knowledge. As of now, much of his attention turned towards looking through the details of the prolific coordinators that would be attending the contest, and by proxy, would be his and Dawn's opponents. As all of this was happening, his own partner Pokémon, Grookey, was content as it floated around on a little pink inflatable raft in the water, alongside Piplup on its own floatie and Togekiss humming along in the pool after it had recovered after a little time in the Pokémon Center. Dawn breached the water in the center of all three, earning laughter from Grookey and Togekiss as water splashed on them, with Piplup shrieking and stumbling into the pool. The little Pokémon swam back up, complaining about the disturbance caused by its trainer.

Dawn looked back towards her contest partner, still in his lounge chair. She shouted at the boy, who was clad in his swimming trunks yet not swimming around like her and the others, "Goh, are you seriously going to scroll away on your phone instead of jumping in and relaxing?!"

Goh then held up his device, and pointed at the screen, "I am relaxing. I'm just… doing some research at the same time."

Dawn rolled her eyes, "Come on, the pool's great! And we earned a little break after we perfected our appeal move! Hmmm, we should probably come up with a name for that…"

"I know that was great, but me and Cinderace-" Goh turned towards the lounge chair next to him, then gawked at a missing Pokémon that was previously laying in it.

"Cinderaaaaace!" Goh's Pokémon partner ran off the edge of the pool, leaped into the air, tucked its legs into its chest, and crashed into the water below. Dawn, Grookey, and Togekiss shielded themselves from the wave as Piplup once again was tossed off of its inflatable raft in a fit of annoyed rage.

"See, even Cinderace wants to have some fun! Now quit being such a landlubber and jump in!" Dawn giggled as she rubbed her face after Cinderace's cannonball washed a wave over her.

"In a minute! I just… I'm reading up on the other contestants!" Goh protested, getting back to scrolling on his phone. Dawn pouted at this. She immediately broke into a power-swim towards the nearby pool ladder, and grappled herself up in record time. Her contest partner seemed to pay no mind to her as she arose from the water and walked over to the boy laying back in his chair, her shadow now ominously looming over him.

Goh blinked, and looked up at Dawn, clad in her one-piece pink swimsuit. Dawn's arm shot out and plucked Goh's Rotom Phone out of his hand in one second, and the next went by with a yank of the boy's wrist out of his chair.

"Wh- Dawn?! What are you-?!" Goh began to stammer as Dawn dragged him towards the edge of the pool, "I was doing research!"

"Like I said! No need-" Dawn, with one hand, shoved Goh from behind, sending the flailing boy into the pool as the Pokémon inside cheered at Goh's forced inclusion, "-to worry!"

Ker-splash!

"Agh!", Goh sputtered as he shot back up to the surface of the swimming pool, rubbing his face as his blurry vision adjusted to see Dawn standing at the pool's edge, giggling at him with a hand over her mouth, "Was that really necessary?!"

Then, a spray of water swamped the back of Goh's head, the boy paddling around to see the various Pokémon in the pool also chortling and snickering as they began to splash the boy with water, egging him on to play with them. After a few more slaps of water to the face, Goh couldn't help but laugh in return, "Alright, alright! Haha!"

Dawn crossed her arms and marveled at the sight of Goh chuckling and having a great time with Grookey, Cinderace, Piplup, and Togekiss. Sensing a bit of nostalgia from the time that the two also played in the beach water when they were with Ash and Chloe, Dawn leaped off the side of the pool, and just like Cinderace, cannonballed back inside.

The morning routine had thankfully become far more orderly with Dawn no longer having to patrol Goh's relapses for catching Pokémon. The coordinator stretched herself awake, along with Piplup. As she did so, she opened her eyes to the right of her, just in time to find her contest partner doing the same, along with Grookey. Dawn blinked, then smiled at the sight.

"Good morning, Goh!" Dawn waved, "Did you sleep well?"

"Oh, morning, Dawn. And… yeah. I did!" Goh flashed her a grin, "I don't know about you, but I think I'm ready for some more practice!"

Dawn pointed her finger up, "Yeah, fun can be, well, fun, but we've got a contest to win! I'll get ready in the bathroom now. After that, we'll get some breakfast, and head outside so we can practice the dance routine I came up with! Whaddya say?"

"R-Rook!" Grookey poked Goh with its branch, earning a flustered response from Goh.

"Okay, Grookey! I'll let her know!" Goh chuckled, "Hey, Dawn? About teaching me how to dance…?"

Dawn was about to head off to get changed in the confines of the bathroom when she heard Goh pipe up, and turned around to hear what he had to say with a, "Oh? Afraid you might be embarrassed? No need to worry, everyone starts from-"

"Heh… actually, a bit of the opposite. Y'see… I already know how to dance. Maybe just a bit-"

"Wait, really?!" Dawn immediately rushed over to Goh, her eyes filled with wonder at the prospect of such a detail about her contest partner being uncovered by her, "Wh-Who taught you?!"

With Dawn this close to his face and demanding answers already, Goh nervously looked away from her eyes as sweat beaded on his forehead, "P-Please don't laugh when I tell you, okay?"

Dawn then covered her mouth with her hands in a gasp, "Don't tell me. Was it Chloe?!"

Goh's face exploded in a deep hue of red, the boy waving his arms in a frantic manner to dispel where Dawn was obviously going with this inquisition, "N-N-No! It wasn't Chloe! It was… uh…" The boy gripped his bedsheets, his face still alight, "C-Cinderace…"

"Cinderace?!" Dawn's mouth practically dropped to the floor.

"Lup?!" Piplup stumbled over backwards on the bed, unsure if what it had just heard really came out of Goh's mouth.

" Well, at least they aren't laughing… " Goh sighed in relief before beginning to clarify, "Yeah. Cinderace is a really, really good dancer. Always has been since it was a Raboot, and since I was getting tired of being the 'unathletic' one of the group compared to Ash and even Chloe, Cinderace has been teaching me to work my feet in my free time. Well… as much free time as I've given myself compared to catching Pokémon, but you've really opened up my schedule!"

"That's absolutely amazing! Alright, first thing after breakfast…" Dawn pointed at Goh's nose, causing the boy's eyes to narrow onto Dawn's finger, "You and Cinderace are going to show me all of your moves!"

Knowing that he'd have to be in tip-top shape for what was about to come, Goh's breakfast consisted mainly of carbohydrates; lots of oats and vegetables. Dawn took note of how meticulous and calculative Goh had become, even with planning his meal before the demonstration he'd planned to give to her. As such, after a little time had passed and an appearance of Cinderace from its Pokéball, Goh began to pump up what was coming up to his partner Pokémon.

"You up for this, Cinderace? We'll finally get our first audience this time!" Goh beamed at his dance teacher as he peeled off his sweater, and set it down in the grass.

"Aaaace!" Cinderace flashed a pose with its right arm as it stretched, getting ready to stand side-by-side with Goh.

Both Piplup and Dawn were deeply curious and anticipative for what kind of moves Goh and Cinderace would display for them. If Dawn were to be honest, she had no idea what to expect from the bookworm and his Pokémon. Nevertheless, Dawn gave them a smile.

"Alright, I'll play what you told me to! Um… is this- here it is!" Dawn held Goh's Rotom Phone and tapped the song that her contest partner had requested. After a few seconds of buffering, the soundtrack began.

Just from the first few beats, Dawn immediately recognized what genre was being played from the wireless speaker. It was the unmistakable, striking, and rhythmic beat of hip-hop.

"Wait, Goh-?"

"Here we go, Cinderace!"

"Cinder!"

Both Goh and Cinderace swatted their palms through each other with a high-five as the two immediately broke down to the rhythm of their track. Dawn hadn't seen this kind of dance done in person before, and neither had Piplup. The two marveled at how rather than glide or sway to the music, Goh and Cinderace moved their arms and feet to slice the air again and again, timing their thrusts and strikes to the beat of the music.

"Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace!" Cinderace chittered at the thumps of rhythm, looking back at its dance partner to find that he was mirroring Cinderace's rapid, yet deliberate shuffling and kick-outs of its feet.

"Hah! I was wondering if you'd be able to keep up with me, Cinderace!" Goh confidently called out to his Pokémon as he began to number the slices he made with his kicks, "Two-two-three-four- down!"

At the last part, Dawn and Piplup gawked at Goh suddenly collapsing onto his hands, using his legs to propel himself into a swirling maelstrom of leg sweeps, also being mirrored by Cinderace. The boy panted as his arms strained from having to readjust where they were supporting his bodyweight again and again as Goh spun around on the grass. Cinderace reflected Goh's moves with its own drop and corkscrew, the two spinning in opposite directions to one another.

"I can't believe what I'm seeing! You two are so cool!" Dawn began to clap with the beat, laughing to herself, "Go! Go! Go! Go!"

"Lup! Lup! Lup! Lup!" Piplup kept thrusting its flippers up and down as if it were holding pom poms.

"Aaaaand- now!" Goh strained as he threw his legs up from the momentum of his breakdown, and just for a brief second, he and Cinderace balanced themselves on one hand, their legs curving up into the air, and their free hand coming up to give a tap to their skyward-pointing feet. With that smack, the two used their arm as a piston to launch themselves up off the ground, and somersault back onto their feet. A finishing pose was struck with Goh and Cinderace, back to back, crossing their arms together.

"Finish!"

"Cinderace!"

Goh and his Pokémon tried their best to mask their labored inhales and exhales in front of Dawn and Piplup, as even just a short burst of dance from the two demanded a lot from their bodies—especially Goh's as he was still in the process of trying to better himself athletics-wise. Nevertheless, Dawn and Piplup were thoroughly blown away at their contest partners' routine, the two applauding enthusiastically.

"Wow, you two were amazing! I didn't even think you could move that quickly!" Dawn was still in the process of rationalizing everything she saw Goh perform alongside his Pokémon, "I think you'll do just fine with the routine I've come up with!"

"I'm… glad to hear it! Whew…" Goh exhaled, thankful that his friend was impressed with his brief showing off of his moves, "What was the routine you had in mind?"

Dawn tapped her chin, and looked over Goh and Cinderace, walking around the two with a quizzical face, "Hmmm… yeah, you'll get my routine in no time!"

She snapped her fingers as she tapped her Pokétch on Goh's phone, a little beep emanating from the larger of the two devices as a video was transferred, "Alright, let me show both of you what I had planned."

Goh's head hovered over his Rotom Phone that was in Dawn's hand. On the screen, he saw numerous videos of various Pokémon Performers from the Kalos region performing a sort of mixture of pop and idol routines on stage. As scenes changed to different performers and their dances, Goh stuffed his hands into his sweater pockets as he commented on the performances he saw.

"I see… a lot of these are kind of like pop. This is the kind of dance you're going for?" Goh looked up at Dawn, "If so, then I can translate what I know pretty quickly. At least I'm pretty sure I can. What do you think, Cinderace?"

"Cinder!" Cinderace nodded rapidly, already excited at the prospect to dance once again.

"Speaking of Cinderace, who's going to be the Pokémon that'll dance with you, Dawn?" Goh asked, his arms coming out of his sweater pockets and forming into a cross.

"I'm glad you asked! I just figured that out a little bit ago!" Dawn smiled, earning a response from Piplup to look up at its trainer, "It'll be Buneary!"

Piplup once again collapsed into a pile of misery, "Luuuuup…"

"Buneary, huh?" Goh raised an eyebrow as he mulled it over in his head, "Hmmm, makes sense, considering how strong Buneary's ears are. I reckon that it'd be able to use them as an extra set of legs!"

"Well, don't you know a lot about Buneary?" Dawn giggled, which earned a boastful response from Goh. "As a matter of fact, one of the Pokémon I caught on this trip to Sinnoh happened to be one! Got the Pokédex data and everything! Though… a bit too bad I immediately sent it back to Professor Cerise's lab… but I wouldn't trust any other Pokémon than Cinderace to be a great dancer!"

Cinderace tugged its ears in an embarrassed, yet flattered expression, "A-Ace…"

"Alright, Buneary. Come on out!" Dawn enthusiastically called out her Pokémon, a flash of white illuminating the area as the Pokéball clicked open from Dawn's hand. The little brown-and-yellow-furred Pokémon with floppy, yet powerful ears stretched as it was let out of its capsule.

"Neary~!" Buneary politely greeted everyone around before Dawn knelt down to give it its pep-talk.

"Good morning, Buneary! I hope you're ready, because you're going to be up for the Choreography Stage!" Dawn then leaned in closer and whispered, "And… I know you won't be dancing alongside 'you know who', but Cinderace here is a really good dancer! You think you could show it our part of the routine?"

Buneary cocked its head at Cinderace, who tried its best to appear as unimposing as possible, considering the height difference. Thankfully, Buneary gave a closed-eyed smile and cheered eagerly.

"Great! So, Goh… Cinderace… here's what we're going to do!" Dawn pointed at her contest partner and his Pokémon, getting ready to share with them the dance routine that she had originally come up with when she had Zoey as a partner in mind.

"One! Two! Three! Four! Just-like-that!" Dawn counted both her and Goh's steps in sync with the music as their Pokémon followed suit, with Goh noticeably struggling to keep up.

"H-Hang on! I need to catch up!" Goh was now convinced that even with his previous experience in dancing, pop was demanding a different set of coordination compared to breakdancing. Sure, it was slower and the moves were less exaggerated, but the level of coordination and strict adherence to the flowchart of dance moves that Dawn envisioned was beginning to take its toll on Goh's muscles.

And he knew that Dawn was definitely much more easygoing when it came to how solidly strict her routine was compared to some of the coordinators and performers he had been shown in her videos.

"No need to worry, you'll get it soon enough!" Dawn spoke back through exasperated breaths, "You- hah! You're doing a lot better than I thought you would! Oh, now we do the cross-over! Ready?"

"Buneary! Ace!" Buneary and Cinderace were already moving towards each other, their paws tapping and leading towards the conversion of dance partners.

"R-Ready!" Goh lied, positioning himself to merge paths with Dawn.

"Alright, now! And remember to strike the pose after we- OW!" Dawn suddenly leaped back in shock as Goh's foot crashed down onto her toes, the boy instantly panicking as he felt his foot come down onto Dawn's and watched as she stumbled right into Buneary. The coordinator crashed down onto her Pokémon.

"Bu-Bunearyyyy!" the creature beneath cried and let loose a blistering Ice Beam out of instinct and shock when Dawn flattened her Pokémon partner, encasing the poor girl in a solid block of ice. Inside her icy tomb, Dawn could only display the now frozen-stiff expression of horror and surprise on her face.

"Dawn!" Goh held his hair in complete shock, "I'm so sorry! I'll… I'll think of something to get you out of there!"

Both Cinderace and Buneary gazed down at the Dawn popsicle in fright, with the latter bearing the unmistakable look of guilt, "Neary…"

Cinderace tapped his head in an effort to think up a solution, before a lightbulb flicked on over its head. With a few taps of its foot on the ground to warm it up, Cinderace placed its foot onto the block of ice, steam hissing from the contact point as the superheated paw began to thaw out Dawn, with Goh and Buneary sighing in relief. It didn't take long for Dawn's prison to melt, with the girl completely soaked from head to toe.

"Are you okay?" Goh knelt down to Dawn. As per usual, she waved her hand with a smile that masked the chattering of her teeth within.

"N-N-No n-n-need to w-worry!" Dawn shivered, "At least y-y-you got me fr-free before I could catch a c-cold!"

"Ugh, all of this because I stepped on your foot…" Goh exhaled.

"I-It's okay, Goh! Really! But… I'm completely soaked. I'll head back to the room and get a new change of clothes on so we can continue practicing!" Dawn reassured her contest partner.

"Really? Even after I stepped on your foot and pretty much turned you into a popsicle?" Goh wanted to make double-sure that Dawn wasn't holding anything against him.

"Really!" Dawn replied, but then got sidetracked by a beep on her Pokétch, a tiny message appearing on the device, "Oh, actually… I think we'll be taking a hold on our dance practice today, lucky you. "

The last few words were spoken to Goh with a hint of playful sarcasm, as much to be expected considering the chain reaction that occurred from Goh's misstep, "Fair enough. What's going on?"

Dawn got back onto her feet and wrung out her scarf as the warm sun began to reheat her once-frozen body, "My dress for the contest just arrived at the Hearthome Tailor from Mom. I'll need to go pick it up, but considering that we'll be there, I'm going to get you to try on outfits for the contest!"

"Try… on… outfits?" Goh rose an eyebrow. It was true that he had worn some outlandish clothes from time to time—the suit he had worn during his circus performance with Grookey came to mind—but Dawn's tone and insistence of "I'm going to" sounded a tad dangerous to him considering Ash and Chloe's mentionings of her shopping habits. However, the boy quickly dismissed these thoughts. Goh was Goh, and he was convinced that it was hard to find something that didn't suit him.

"Yeah! I'm sure we'll find something amazing for you to wear! Can't go to the Doubles Contest in your hoodie, y'know," Dawn winked at Goh.

"Well, I'd bet that you won't have to search for long. Everything looks good on me!" Goh suddenly chuckled, his thumb and index finger resting on his chin.

Dawn gave an exasperated expression, "I'll be the judge of that."

As the door opened to the chic interior of the Hearthome Tailor, a little bell situated above the door jingled, indicating the arrival of new customers. Behind the counter was a woman flipping through a magazine as an Ambipom with a little bow around its neck restocked clothing racks with all sorts of assortments of suit tops and dresses. From the jingle, the lady set down what she was reading and patted one of her blonde bangs on its side.

"Welcome, you two. I take it that you are contest coordinators?" the shopkeeper asked.

"Yeah, that's right! And… wow! Look at all of these new outfits!" Dawn marveled at the proudly displayed costume pieces and accessories, organized neatly onto racks and shelves, "Oh, that's right! My mom had a dress delivered here. It should be under "Dawn" if I remember right!"

The woman gave a warm grin and nodded, "Oh, yes! It just came in. Handy-Dandy, if you could be a dear?"

The Aimbipom gave a happy root, saluted with one of its tails, and scampered off towards the back of the store.

"While that's going on… Goh, over here!" Dawn waved at her friend, beckoning him to come over towards the men's contest selection.

Perhaps a bit enthusiastically, Goh walked on over with his hands in his sweater pockets, his eyes darting around at the numerous flashy and glamorous suits and tuxedos that were fashioned onto racks and mannequins, "Coming!"

Grookey and Piplup crawled and walked after their respective trainers, with Piplup looking over towards some Pokémon accessories at its level. The little Penguin Pokémon took a bowtie from a small shelf and affixed it to its neck.

"Lup!" Piplup proudly placed its flippers on its hips, earning applause from Grookey. Dawn giggled at the little display.

"You like that one? Okay, I'll get it for you after we're done here. But only because you look so adorable in it!" the coordinator smiled at her Pokémon partner.

" And it begins… " Goh mulled in his head, knowing that this would not be the last little thing that Dawn would buy while she was in a clothing store.

"Ambipom~!" the storekeeper's Pokémon had returned with a neatly wrapped box in hand, delivering the parcel to Dawn.

"Oh, thank you so much!" Dawn hugged the box from her mother before motioning over to her contest partner, "And I take it that you'll be measuring Goh out?"

Ambipom gave a signature toothy smile and nodded, hopping over to Goh with two tape measures in both hand, and tail. It worked twice as fast as the typical Pokémon thanks to its additional limbs, getting accurate readings on the length and width of every dimension of Goh's body. Grookey watched in awe at the Ambipom's work, its eyes darting from its arms and tails hovering and whirling around Goh, stretching and collapsing the measuring tape again and again, with the shopkeeper scribbling each and every number on a clipboard.

"Okay… size… mmhm… perfect!" the lady then ushered Goh towards a section of tuxedos. The suits were brightly fashionable and were made to stand out, considering they were to the style of contest coordinators, "I believe you'll find something extraordinary here!"

"Thank you, ma'am. And thanks to you too!" Goh politely thanked both the shopkeeper and her Ambipom, "Hey, Dawn? What do you think I should-"

Goh's mouth was instantly silenced as Dawn began to hand him a stack of neatly folded clothes, "I think you should start with this one!"

Then, Dawn's eyes were caught by another tuxedo, "Oh! This one too!"

Before Goh knew it, the stack that was in his arms began to grow higher and higher until dress trousers, tuxedo undershirts, and pristine coats layered past his head, his vision now filled with fabric.

"This one… and… absolutely this one too!" Dawn absentmindedly sounded off as she kept adding more and more clothes for Goh to carry.

"D-Dawn, how about I try some on first?!" Goh strained to speak up, his face covered in coordinator outfits.

"Sorry about that!" Dawn giggled, and took some clothes off of the pile, relieving the boy, "Here, that oughta make it a bit easier."

Goh sighed in relief, "Thanks. I'll get to trying these on right now! Hey, Grookey? Could you come in with me?"

"Rook!" Grookey hooted, following Goh into the changing room as Dawn and Piplup sat down outside on a waiting bench, the latter still clutching the bowtie that it was promised to receive from its trainer.

Inside, Goh locked the door behind him, caught his reflection in a mirror, did a quick little pose in it, and was thankful that neither Dawn nor Piplup would have caught him in that act.

"I just had to," Goh chuckled, getting ready to try on his first tuxedo, "Grookey, mind if you could hand me those gloves? Thanks!"

"Yeah… I don't think that one's great on you…" Dawn tapped a finger on her chin as she looked over the light-gray suit Goh was dressed in.

"That can't be possible, I told you I look good in anything!" Goh then tried to stretch his shoulder, but found the suit restricting his movement, "But… it is a little stiff around this area."

"Piplup?" Piplup cocked its head to its side.

"Oh, right. How many other suits do you have to try on?" Dawn asked, mirroring her partner Pokémon's reflection.

"Uh… just one more, it seems. I'll try it on," Goh reassured Dawn as he went back inside, the boy collapsing on the bench inside, "Agh… I'm exhausted! Who knew trying on clothes could beat me up harder than dancing?!"

"Grook…" Grookey laid down on the bench next to its trainer, its stomach rising up and down from its exhausted breaths.

Goh stripped himself of his previous suit and looked over the final tuxedo out of the numerous he had tried on already.

"Well, here goes nothing."

Once the previous outfit was off, Goh began to accumulate the next set of clothes onto himself. First came the socks, a striking black, rolled up halfway to his calves. Then came the shirt, a similar color of black with a subtle set of ruffles extending up to the collar, paired next with the dress pants, a silk color with a black strike dividing the white upwards on both sides of his legs. For the next part, Goh called for his partner Pokémon.

"Grookey, could you place your stick here… great!"

A cardinal-colored bowtie adorned just below Goh's neck, with two red ribbons descending from the accessory. Next was the vest, an eye-catching blue to contrast the white and black that had become dominant on Goh up until now. Finally came the coat; it was a matching white to the pants, but the interior consisted of blue and white stripes, of which the top portion had been fanned out to reveal this hidden color scheme around his shoulders and neck.

A look in the mirror, and Goh noticed the lower edges of the jacket flaring out at his sides, "Wow… I look good . What do you think, Grookey?"

"Hah-Rook!" Grookey tapped its stick on the bench in agreement. Goh did look good.

"Are you almost done in there? I can't wait to see!" Dawn called from outside of the changing room.

"Piplup!" her Pokémon chirped as well.

"Coming out!" Goh quickly fastened a pair of black gloves with a blue stripe circumferencing the bottom of the gauntlets. Pulling them tight, he gripped the doorknob, and slowly swung the door open. Before, Goh would strike a pose in an effort to really convey to Dawn that he did, in fact, look good in anything.

This time, however, he simply presented himself to his contest partner and her Pokémon.

At the sight of Goh, Dawn said nothing. Her eyes glossed over the boy, the girl standing up from sitting on the bench. Only a few seconds passed before Dawn opened her mouth.

"I… I think… hold on! Go back inside, and don't take off that tuxedo! Just wait until I tell you to come back out!" Dawn began to gently push Goh back into the room.

"Is everything okay? I really thought that this one-"

"Just wait!"

The door closed behind Goh.

With the boy back inside the changing room, Dawn immediately brought out the box she had received from her mom, and ushered Piplup to follow her into the adjacent changing room, "Piplup, make sure that bow doesn't touch the floor!"

Outside, the storekeeper looked over at Ambipom. Both of them gave a grin at each other.

Shuffling was heard in Dawn's changing room, with a few muffled voices that could barely be made out, though Goh could at least pick up on Dawn trying to hurry up inside. It didn't take long for Goh to come to the conclusion that she was getting her contest dress on, but Dawn sounded just a tad bit… panicked?

Goh shrugged at Grookey, "I wonder what this is all about?"

Then, the shuffling stopped, and from beneath the changing room's door, a pair of white and red high heels appeared in front. A knock then came afterwards.

"You can come out, now."

Dawn's voice rang with the slightest tone of nervousness, and yet carried anticipation within. There was no reason for the boy to deny his contest partner's request, so he opened the door, and came outside.

Unconsciously, Goh's lips parted, and he gave the quietest gasp he had ever made in his life.

Dawn's dress bore a remarkable similarity to the style of Goh's tuxedo. It was white, with red highlights coming in the form of ribbons, stripes, and a bowtie in-between her chest. From her back, a large light-maroon bow adorned her, with two long ribbons trailing down past the short, yet wide-frilled skirt, the edges composed into a wavy ruffled design.

Where Dawn's golden hair clips once were, now rested a pair of golden bows with bright red rubies in the center along with a large red ribbon, the accessories highlighting against her long, navy-blue hair. Those high heels that Goh saw peek from under the changing room door slipped onto Dawn's feet as well.

"Piiiiip-lup!" Piplup proudly presented its trainer to everyone watching.

Dawn lightly tugged at one of her hair's side locks with her right hand, "So… what do you think?"

The memory of when Goh and Ash had run into Dawn at the Sinnoh Festival in Canalave City came to mind, when he had seen Dawn dressed in the traditional garb that the ancient Sinnoh settlers used to wear. If he were being honest with himself, Goh thought at that moment that Dawn had to be one of the coolest-looking girls he'd ever seen, the costume highlighting that fact enough that he suggested getting a picture taken with her alongside Ash when the three would all be in costume.

Goh knew how cool Dawn could be, side by side facing down such terrifying Pokémon like Darkrai, or even managing to recover her mental fortitude when they were in an alternate dimension, saving the universe alongside their mirrored selves.

The boy never realized how pretty Dawn was.

Of course, he had to give an answer to her question.

"You… you look… amazing."

Dawn giggled, taking the edges of her fluffy tutu-like skirt, and gave a curtsey with a crossed leg, "Aww, thank you, Goh!"

A strand of hair sprung from Goh's head, the boy's face alight with red as he coughed, "O-Of course! I… guess… maybe you and I have something in common~!"

Dawn blinked, "In common?"

"Yeah! We're both going to wow everyone!" Goh grinned at Dawn, masking his blushing temperament the best he could.

" Nice save, " the shopkeeper chuckled under her breath, ready to ring up the two coordinators at the register.

Dance practice had come to an end as the day rolled on by. There was a renewed sense of determination within Goh to get everything right in order to not have a repeat of the Ice Beam incident. The two coordinators even opted to do a brief dress rehearsal, considering they had their proper outfits now, and both were thankful to experience how easily their respective outfits allowed for free movement.

Trying to nail down the cross-over glide, where Dawn and Goh would slide past one another in order for both to perform a back-to-back pose at the height of the music, proved to be quite the challenging part of the routine. However, the two knew they would get it down in due time.

Goh's eyes still remained open in the dead of night, the exhausting day not affording the effort for the boy to fall asleep being quite the paradox.

"Can't fall asleep, either?"

Goh exhaled, turning his head over to see Dawn flick on the bedside lamp by her nightstand, "Yeah. I don't know why. I'm exhausted, and yet…"

"I understand. It's like, when you're really getting it all down, with the practice, and the contest coming up, you get Butterfree in your stomach, and you can't sleep even though you really should!" Dawn explained in a manner similar to how Ash would have, though perhaps with just a slight bit more articulation.

"Hmm… I think I understand," Goh rubbed his shoulder under the sheets, still thinking back to when Dawn revealed her outfit to him. It was… so strange. He'd seen Dawn many times before, but that one instance had caught him completely off guard.

Did Dawn feel something similar when Goh stepped out of the changing room in the tuxedo?

"Well, we've gotta get some sleep somehow, and I've got a pretty good idea!" Dawn pointed a finger up as she hopped out of bed, "But you gotta trust me on this one!"

Goh sat on the side of his bed, "Oh? What did you have in mind?"

Dawn looked away for a second, then returned Goh's curious expression with a sly grin, coming closer to the boy.

"It… might be a bit strange for you, but it'll work!" Dawn giggled, "And to be honest… we might get in a bit of trouble for it~..."

The boy's eyes widened.

"T-Trouble?"

"I swear, who on earth orders room service at this hour?!" the bellboy grumbled to himself as he ascended in one of the hotel's elevators, "I don't get paid enough for this… I should be going home right now…!"

The finely dressed staff member adjusted his posture and demeanor, and gently knocked on the door in a bid to be sure not to wake the other guests that were most certainly fast asleep, "Greetings, your room service has arrived."

The door swung open, and he was greeted by a girl in pink pajamas, "Thank you so much!"

The door closed immediately.

Carrying the large silver platter that was covered by a shiny metal dome, Dawn hummed to herself as she took a whiff of the scent that emanated from within, the sweet, sweet smell of sugar escaping the concealed plate.

"You… ordered us more room service? But we already had dinner," Goh pointed out.

"Not dinner, but dessert!" Dawn cheerfully smiled as she lifted the cover, revealing a gigantic platter of freshly baked cookies and pastries, "This is gonna knock us out for sure!"

"Wh-What?! Are you seriously suggesting that we're going to sugar-crash ourselves?!" Goh gawked in befuddlement at Dawn's idea of knocking the two out, "Come to think of it, who's even paying for all of this, let alone the room service we've been having?!"

"No need to worry!" Dawn gave her solid and unarguable response to Goh, "And come on, don't these just smell sooooo good?"

"Agh… alright. But I have a feeling this is about to undo all of the exercise I've gotten in the past month…" Goh pouted.

The two opted to share Dawn's bed on top of the covers, with the platter of cookies dividing where Goh and Dawn lay in order for easy access to the treats. The TV was turned on as the two munched and crunched, the desserts being unbelievably sweet and delectable. Clearly, the pastry office in the hotel had to have been renowned.

As Goh and Dawn continued to dine, Grookey and Piplup already knocked themselves out with a couple of cookies. On the flatscreen, the coverage of the ongoing Sinnoh League was on display, with a familiar face showing up, revealed to have been knocked out in the semi-finals.

"Hey, isn't that Conway?" Dawn asked, her mouth full of cookie crumbs.

"I think it is. Well, that explains what he's doing at the hotel," Goh commented.

Then, Dawn looked over at Goh, "Hey… do you think… maybe someday I could beat all eight gyms in the Sinnoh Region and enter into the Pokémon League?"

Goh blinked at Dawn's suggestion, "Being a coordinator… and a gym challenger? That sounds like quite the packed schedule… even I know that Ash has had less and less free time now thanks to the Pokémon World Coronation Series."

Dawn nodded, returning her view to the TV, "Yeah, I figured it would be a bit much. I still gotta become Top Coordinator, y'know!"

Goh let out a laugh, "Though… to be Top Coordinator, and a League Champion… you'd be quite the famous person!"

The girl smiled, "I think… I'll give Maylene a call again someday."

"Maylene?" Goh inquired at the name he wasn't familiar with.

"Oh, a bit of a long story!" Dawn took another cookie from the platter, waving it around in dramatic fashion, "Just one from a list of many…"

Goh nodded, "Seems to be the case for everyone-"

Dawn fell silent, the arm that hoisted the cookie in the air now falling back down to her side as the girl began to doze off. It was only a few seconds later that she was completely knocked out.

"Oh. Heh. Goodnight D-" Goh's eyelids, right on cue, began to feel ten times as heavy all of a sudden, "Ohhh, wow, it actually works this well-..."

For once, Goh snored louder than Ash, rolling off the side of the bed and landing on the floor with a thud . Not even impacting on the hotel room's carpet was enough to jolt the boy awake, though it was enough for Grookey.

A few minutes were spent by the little Pokémon to drag the comforters off of Goh's bed to lay over its trainer, and one more was needed to hoist the pillow up and tuck it under his head.