A/N: Look, I managed to update on Sunday again! Woo, now I'm properly caught up again!

Anyway, thank you all so much for reading and not giving up on this story. I won't give up on this, either!

So, I've got something to admit. I kind of made a mistake in planning out this story. As you have noticed, every chapter takes place on one day, and the next chapter is the day after, etcetera. And I have a set pattern of point of view characters, only here I kind of messed up. Paul always follows after Ash, but I kind of forgot, skipping straight to Iris for December 30th. So here's the solution! An extra chapter with Paul, taking place on the same day as the previous chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).

Days

The day Paul makes a call

Paul

Sunday, December 29th

Aggron roared loudly before letting loose a Flash Cannon, and Paul shielded his eyes to keep from being blinded. Through narrowed eyes he watched as Aggron attempted to do a turn while keeping the attack going, but the light faded before she had done a full circle. Which had been happening for the past hour of training.

"Hm," Paul said and his Pokémon hung her head slightly, grunting. "Try again."

Again Aggron took a deep breath before releasing the bright ray of light, and then attempted to step around in a whole circle to create a light spiral. After she was slightly more than halfway, the attack faltered and Aggron let out a frustrated growl.

"You're getting better," Paul tried to encourage his Pokémon, but they both knew that Aggron's ability to hold on to the attack had been stagnating for the past half an hour. She hadn't gotten further than half a turn.

Aggron grumphed and kicked at the ground, creating a dent in the rocky battlefield that lay behind Reggie's and his house. Without waiting for Paul to prompt her, she rose back on her hind legs and started with again a Flash Cannon. She stamped around as she tried to make another pirouette, only for the attack to fade out when she was only at a quarter turn. The Pokémon roared in frustration and Paul shook his head slightly.

"Never mind, let's take a break for now," Paul said, but Aggron ignored him and tried again, only to sputter in exhaustion when she finished the attack after another quarter turn.

"Aggron!" Paul called loudly. "It's enough. You did well. We're taking a break now."

"Agggggron!"

"I know it's frustrating," Paul said. "But you'll do better once you're refreshed. We'll try again tomorrow."

"Roooon!"

Without waiting for Paul, the steel/ground type started to stomp away, leaving Paul alone on the battlefield. He watched her go and resisted the urge to sigh. Aggron was a strong, obedient Pokémon who loved a challenge but she got frustrated when she wasn't making any progress. Something Paul understood well enough, but he could keep a cool head while Aggron exploded.

Above him, the sky was darkening with the upcoming night despite it still being only four in the afternoon, but that was what you got when it was winter. And while Paul had nothing against training in the dark, light was sometimes necessary when practicing attacks for Contests.

But it was enough for today, Paul decided. He had done his usual training plus this attempt with Aggron in trying to create an Appeal, so tonight it would be taking care of his Pokémon and strategy studying.

He walked back to the house, which was still decorated with Christmas lights. Reggie just loved those.

Paul left his jacket in the hall and then went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. Reggie was undoubtedly still busy with the Pokémon, and Paul would soon join him. Aggron deserved a proper scrubbing after today, but she'd have to cool down first.

"Ah, you had the same idea as I did." Reggie entered the kitchen and Paul looked up, nodding in acknowledgement.

"Time for a break," Reggie said as he got to making some tea. "How's training?"

"Hm," Paul responded. "The usual things go well. My Appeal idea... is still a challenge."

"With Aggron?"

Paul made a sound of confirmation.

"Did you talk with Dawn about it? When were you two meeting up again?" Reggie poured the hot water in a mug as he spoke.

Paul was glad Reggie's back was turned when the question was asked, because a quick frown passed over his face.

"No, and I don't know," he finally said, as calmly as possible. But it was quite a problem. Dawn and he had not explicitly decided on a date when they would continue – only after the holidays – and while he was loath to admit it, he did need some help with the Contest related training. He could only get so far on his own.

Reggie turned to him with an amused frown. "You should call her and ask," he reasonably pointed out.

Paul hated it when he did that. He knew he had to contact Dawn, but he had hoped that Dawn would have texted or called him first. In the beginning he'd had Christmas as an excuse, but now he had no good reason to ignore Reggie's advice.

"Fine," he said, and gulped down the rest of his coffee.

"I didn't mean right now," he heard Reggie say, but Paul was already on his way to the video phone. It was a bit past four in the afternoon, a reasonable time to call. And even if he didn't want to call her – he didn't, did he? – he'd rather do it sooner than later to get his answers.

He looked up her number on his phone and then started to punch in the numbers.

"Ask her how her Christmas was," Reggie called from the kitchen and Paul grunted in reply.

The phone started ringing and then Dawn's voice sounded hesitantly, "Hello?"

The screen remained black and Paul replied, "Hello, this is Paul."

There was a loud sound on the other end, followed by some scratching noises.

"Ah- Paul, hi!" Dawn's voice was a few pitches higher than before and Paul raised an eyebrow, wondering what exactly she was doing.

"Am I calling at a wrong moment?"

"No, no, it's fine, I uh, just, wait, let me turn on the video..." A moment later the screen flickered on, showing Dawn's face in a slightly grainy quality that was typical of Poké Gears. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks red, and her smile seemed strained. "So what are you calling for?"

"I had some questions," Paul started, and Dawn nodded. He remembered Reggie's hint and decided that it was indeed probably the best to start off with some small talk. It seemed like something Dawn would appreciate.

"Did you have a nice Christmas?" he asked after only a slight hesitation.

Dawn stared at him for a moment, before nodding quickly, her strange smile widening further. "Uh-huh, sure, it was really fun! Well, it was quiet, really, just me and my Mom... And what about you?"

Although he was glad that Dawn hadn't launched into a whole story, it was unlike what he knew from her. Paul, being Paul, made short work of his own answer. "It was nice, too." A pause. "How is your training going?"

"Uh, it's going well enough, yeah!" Dawn nodded rather enthusiastically. "A bit relaxed, with the holidays… You?"

"I had a question about that, actually," he said. "It's about an Appeal I've been working on."

He explained his plan with Aggron and the Flash Cannon and the spiral of light, and Dawn was nodding along with him.

"It's a good idea," Dawn said. "But I'm not sure if Aggron's stamina will improve enough to make this work. You could try using short bursts of light to sprout around?"

He nodded, thinking it over. "It's worth a try." He was unsure if it would create the same effect, but maybe if they were fast bursts.

Dawn nodded, seeming more relaxed than before. "You could also try to make the ray more compact, so that Aggron doesn't put as much energy in it as before and doesn't tire as easily, but it'll require much control."

"Hm-hm…" Dawn's words made sense, but it would indeed be difficult to control the rather volatile attack. "I'll consider it. It could work."

As Paul continued to think it over (it would probably create a prettier effect than the bursts of lights), the silence stretched on, and Dawn started fidgeting.

"Um, did you have any other questions?" she asked.

Paul straightened. "I was wondering when we would meet up again."

"Oh, uh." Her previous relaxedness disappeared and she looked at him wide eyes, before she forced a smile. "We said after the holidays, right?"

"We did," Paul said, furrowing his eyebrows at her behavior. "Then that still stands."

"Yeah, that's fine! Just come by after the holidays!" she spoke quickly and she seemed flustered.

"Alright-"

"Anyway, if that was all, I, uh, have work to get back to," Dawn said, suddenly seeming in a hurry. She was still smiling, but it definitely looked off.

"Yes, thank you. I'll see you after the holidays, then." He tried for a smile, which made Dawn slow down a bit.

"Yeah… Yeah, it was no problem, uh, good luck!" She waved quickly, before the screen flickered and turned to black.

Hm. She really must have had work to get back to. He would have almost thought she had seemed anxious, but Paul knew he was terrible at pinpointing such emotions. Still…

After shutting down the video phone, he walked back to the kitchen and was unsurprised to find that Reggie was still there.

"That was a short conversation," Reggie said.

"She had work to do," Paul said. And he had, too. Aggron's scales needed to be scrubbed, and Ursaring needed to be groomed, and he needed to look if Nidoking's claw was healing right-

"And did you get your answers?" Reggie asked when Paul didn't continue.

"Yes," he said. "We will meet up after the holidays, as we talked about before. I'll pick her up in Twinleaf Town."

Reggie nodded. "Ah yeah, Twinleaf, you mentioned that before, I believe…"

Silence fell between the two brothers, Reggie looking expectantly at Paul.

"And she gave me some tips for the Appeal," Paul continued when he realized Reggie wanted him to say more.

"That's good," Reggie said slowly. He was silent again, unnerving Paul a bit.

"That was all," Paul said when Reggie kept looking at him.

Reggie sighed and looked away, shaking his head and muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "Of course it was."

Reggie quickly finished his tea and jumped up from the kitchen chair. "Alright then, let's get back to work."

Paul nodded, relaxing now that Reggie seemed to have had enough of this topic.

"Hm-hm, let's." He still had enough to do, after all.

A/N: Thank you for reading! This chapter pretty much wrote itself, which was nice for a change haha. I really enjoy writing Reggie and Paul is growing on me, too. I love reading your thoughts, so please leave me a review on the way out! Until next week!

Thank you!

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