A/N: Thanks a lot for all the reviews and for continuing to read this story! Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy!

To cake0108: Yeah, it's an important part of their relationship. Thanks a lot for reading and reviewing!

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

Days

The day things go well

Paul

Tuesday, January 14th

This was not ridiculous. It was not ridiculous.

"You look great!" Dawn said, smiling as she looked at Paul's costume. Then she frowned. "Hm…" She stepped forward and adjusted his hat, then stepped back and nodded, smiling again. "Yes, you're ready."

And not ridiculous, of course. Paul much preferred his own clothes, and he didn't get the point of dressing up for a battle when your clothes were only to get dirty anyway, but he would do what he had to do. He shifted uncomfortably in his Contest costume – the tuxedo was not that bad, albeit a bit stifling, but the hat obscured part of his vision and the cape was heavy and unfamiliar on his shoulders.

Although maybe it was the nerves talking. He pushed his shoulders back and scowled determinedly.

"That's the spirit!" Dawn cheered. Paul almost glared at her, caught up in his own thoughts, but stopped himself in time. She had made his costume, she had helped him with preparing the Appeal, and she had come with him to the locker room as emotional support before his performance – and even if the latter was obviously not necessary, he appreciated the sentiment.

"Thank you for your help," he said instead, though he supposed his smile didn't look convincing.

"Of course!" She was practically bouncing around him, very unlike Reggie's calm presence when he was occasionally present before important matches. "You totally got this! Don't smile, do your thing, and you'll be fine!"

Easy for her to say, her Appeal had been yesterday and the judges had only been complimentary.

"It's normal to be nervous before a performance, I still got that even with all my experience," Dawn chattered on, and Paul grunted vaguely in response. He felt for the two Poké Balls on his belt, Seals attached to them for this occasion.

Applause sounded from the Stadium and Paul's eyes snapped over to the screen hanging in the locker room, showing a young ginger-haired girl bowing in sync with her Psyduck and Bronzor. The scores wouldn't be revealed until the end of tomorrow, but the judges did give their comments right away.

"Remarkable," Mr. Sukizo said, but before Paul could hear more, Dawn was gently pushing him towards the door leading towards the Stadium.

"You need to be ready, you don't want to be late, timing is very important, I almost missed my cue one time, and you don't want to trip on your way there-" Her nervous talking faded in the background when focused calm took over his mind.

This was the moment. He was going to do this. He heard the applause of the crowd, signaling the end of the previous participant's time in the Stadium, and then heard the master of ceremonies call out his cue.

"Now, please welcome two-time winner of the Lily of the Valley Conference, Paul Rebolledo!"

"Good luck," he heard Dawn whisper behind him, and he nodded as he walked away, eyes straight ahead.

The hat prevented him from seeing the whole Stadium at once, and he had to turn his head a bit to see the master of ceremonies – Marian Meridian – and the four judges. Nurse Joy smiled encouragingly, though the others simply seemed expectant.

He inclined his head to them, and when the applause had died down, he took the two Poké Balls from his belt and threw them simultaneously. "Torterra, Magmortar, go!"

The Pokémon materialized in a cloud of black smoke, roaring their challenge as they stood facing each, just as they had planned.

Paul wasn't looking at the audience, or the camera, or even at the judges. This was just him and his Pokémon. With measured steps he walked towards his Pokémon – he could feel the cape flaring behind him – until he stood right between them, Torterra on his left and Magmortar on his right.

Paul glanced at them, before nodding once.

Torterra roared, his body glowing a faint green, and then slammed his two front legs on the earth. The ground shook and cracks appeared alongside Torterra, Paul and Magmortar. The fire type roared back in retaliation, and didn't move from his place when thick, spiked roots shot from the cracks in the earth and into his direction.

Torterra's Frenzy Plant attack was moving a lot slower than usual, something that they had trained very hard on, so that Magmortar could perform his part of the Appeal. Just as planned, purple flames appeared from Magmortar's hands, and he shot the Will-O-Wisp attack towards the roots.

Paul stood in the midst of his Pokémon attacks when they collided, and he didn't flinch when the roots barely missed him, nor when he could feel the heat of flames when the spiked roots caught fire.

The roots' advance was slowed even more, and Torterra now aimed them towards the sky, letting the burning stems dance around himself, his Trainer and Magmortar. This lasted for some moments, and then, still with the same slow, dancing movements, Torterra withdrew the roots back into the ground. When the cracks in the earth were closed, Paul and his Pokémon turned as one towards the audience.

Paul gave them a short, shallow bow, taking off his hat in the same movement. Magmortar and Torterra bowed their heads as well, and when Paul straightened, he put the hat back on. They then turned to the judges and repeated the same maneuver.

When the hat was back on his head and he was looking straight at the judges, Paul felt his battle focus fall away, and he realized they had done it. The sound from the crowd was suddenly loud in his ears, his palms were sweaty and his legs felt a bit more unsteady, but he kept himself straight and expectantly looked at the four judges.

"Wow, that was certainly a daring start!" Marian said. "What do our judges think about this?"

"Standing between your Pokémon's attacks like that shows how much faith you have in them, I think that was wonderful to see," Nurse Joy was the first to comment.

Paul nodded in acknowledgement of her words, not actually showing how much those words meant to him. He had come a long way since the start of his career.

"It was remarkable," Mr. Suziko said, nodding.

"Torterra's control was impressive, as was Magmortar's aim," Mr. Contesta said.

Paul nodded again, inwardly pleased with the words of the judges.

"And what does our Contest Master say?" Marian moved to the other side of the row of judges, eagerly looking at Wallace.

"This was an interesting combination I've not seen before, and it shows how well-trained your Pokémon are," Wallace said. "A very promising start, I'd say."

Paul felt himself relax somewhat and smiled slightly. "Thank you." He nodded again, making eye-contact with all of the judges once more.

"Indeed a promising start, what a compliments!" Marian continued enthusiastically, turning back to the audience. "Thank you, Paul Rebolledo!"

He bobbed his head in her direction and towards the audience, and then recalled Torterra and Magmortar with a thank you that wasn't heard over the talking and clapping of the audience. Paul turned, his cape swooshing dramatically, and left the battlefield.

He was surprised to find that Dawn was no longer in the locker room, but made use of the quiet to take off the hat and the cape. He carefully folded the fabric – hopefully it had helped him pass onto the next round.

Dawn burst through the door of the locker room, out of breath but grinning widely. "That was amazing!" For a moment it seemed as if she was about to hug him, but she pulled back at the last moment. Instead she clapped her hands together and said, "I was watching in from the stands and it was perfect! Everything went just as planned!"

For some reason he felt thrown off, but quickly recovered. "Yes, just as we planned," he agreed, mentally going back over the performance. No hitches, no mistakes, yes, it had been perfect. Paul smiled. "Thank you."

Dawn flushed, trying to wave his thanks away but obviously pleased. "Torterra and Magmortar worked very hard."

Paul could only agree. "They did. I'll make them an extra treat tonight."

Dawn's eyes suddenly started to shine. "That's a great idea, we should celebrate!"

Had he said that? "But we don't know our scores yet."

"We took the first obstacle, that's worth celebrating!" Dawn said.

Well, he supposed she had a point. A bit. He might also be feeling very satisfied with the outcome of his performance.

Apparently not waiting on his answer, Dawn said, "C'mon, we're going to get a drink or an ice cream or whatever you like, and then we'll come back and watch May's Appeal, she's up in a few hours."

"Alright-" He had barely assented before Dawn grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards the main hall of the Stadium.

Still, he supposed he didn't mind that much.

Paul smiled and walked along.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you liked this chapter. Sorry that you didn't get to see all of the Appeals, but there will be more than enough battles to come in the future ;) And I hope that the description of Paul's Appeal was clear enough, it was difficult to get it on paper. Anyway, reviews make my day, so please let me know what you thought about it!

Thank you!

Recommendation:

Harry Potter: Fields of Heaven by Laora. FFN. A collection of one-shots about things taking place in the Marauder era, from their early friendship to the very end. Well-written, funny, heartbreaking and heartwarming, it's all there. Give it a look!

Recommendations are welcome!