A/N: Thank you for your support! Your reviews are wonderful to read and they encourage me to keep writing! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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

Days

The day with ice

Dawn

Saturday, January 18th

"You can do this," Paul told her, repeating his words from before even though Dawn suspected he thought it was stupid that she was being so nervous. "Your Pokémon are strong and you have experience. You can do this."

"Right," Dawn said, a fake confident smile on her face. "You're totally right. I can do this."

She pulled at her light jacket. It was odd not to be dressed up for a battle, but there was no need for that now. Instead she was now dressed comfortably and warmly, because even with the lack of real Sinnoh winter weather, it was still cold.

"You've prepared for this battle. You know what Pokémon he can use and what attacks you can use to counter them. You're a two times Top Coordinator, he's not. You've trained hard. You can do this," Paul continued.

He sounded so confident, like he was stating facts. She appreciated the sentiment and that he had faith in her, but what if she couldn't meet his expectations? What if she did something stupid? She couldn't lose in the first round! This was her mother's Tournament!

"Dawn," Paul said louder than before.

Dawn started, pulled out of her thoughts, and turned to fully face him. She had expected he would be frowning, but instead he was smiling. Granted, it was not a really big smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

"I know you can do this," Paul said, not breaking eye-contact. "You're going to win this battle."

Dawn swallowed, her throat suddenly dry, and blamed the fluttery feeling in her stomach on the nerves for the battle, never mind that she hadn't felt that way before. She took a deep breath and nodded, her smile weak but genuine.

"Thanks, Paul," she said. She balled her fists and smiled viciously. "I'm totally going to win this."

The confidence was partly forced, but surprisingly she did feel a bit better. Rationally she knew she had a good chance of winning, but she couldn't help but remember that one battle of Paul's Magmortar versus a Paras, which had been lost by the fire type.

This was the first real battle of the Tournament, and she would be stupid to underestimate it.

"Good luck," Paul said with a parting nod and then left her to wait in the locker room on her own. He would watch in the stands, which were already more filled than they had been with the selection round. The tickets to the last few rounds were already sold out, although of course the participants had a free pass to watch everything.

Dawn had intended to do so, but the selection rounds had been better spent training, and yesterday she'd planned on watching two or three battles after her training with Paul, but May had thrown a spanner in the works. The brown-haired woman had asked her if she'd had time for a short chat, and of course Dawn would never say no to that, but to her surprise May had pulled her along to her private room in one of the barracks.

It had not been a short chat. It had been a long, intense conversation with tears and hugs as May told her why exactly Drew had left her.

May was pregnant. Three months… just like she herself was. It was a freaking odd coincidence and Dawn had been very tempted to spill the beans about her own pregnancy right then and there, but May's emotional state had kept her from that.

Dawn wrung her hands and tried to push the thought away – she couldn't be distracted by that now. If everything went well, she wouldn't have to tell Paul until the Tournament was over, won by either of them. And besides, it wasn't as if she was as emotionally invested in the relationship with Paul as May had been in her relationship with Drew. They had had a relationship of more than five years; whatever she had with Paul could barely be called a friendship.

And Paul probably wouldn't react like Drew had… she thought. Not that she could really tell. Even if she thought to know him better than most, she could hardly say she knew him well. And this news was something that was so out there that anyone would have a hard time predicting how-

"Dawn Berlitz?" a teenaged assistant peeked in from the door leading to the battlefield. "Are you ready?"

Dawn straightened, mildly panicking at being called out right now. She wasn't ready! "I, uh…" She pulled at her jacket, checked her Poké Balls, ran a hand through her hair, checked her Poké Balls again, and then finally nodded.

"I'm ready," she said, and took a deep breath to calm the nerves that were back in full force. She had to focus on the battle now.

"Follow me, and then wait for your call at the entrance," the boy said, and then smiled. "Good luck."

Dawn forced a smile. "Thanks."

The assistant quickly turned and walked ahead of her, and Dawn had to pick up her pace to keep up with him. At the end of the dimly lit corridor he waited for her, gave her an encouraging smile, and then disappeared through a side door.

In front of her was the battlefield, the sand just a few meters away.

Dawn knew how this part went. She would wait until Marian would call her name and then she would go on stage and show them how it was done. No matter that this was a competitive battle, she could do this.

And just as she had expected, Marian's voice sounded through the Stadium and welcomed everyone here for another exciting battle.

"And let's get started! First, here's Dawn Berlitz, hailing from Twinleaf Town and two times Top Coordinator here in her very own Sinnoh!"

A loud applause sounded and Dawn confidently walked to her designated spot. The other end of the field was still empty. The sky above was cloudy, though fortunately the rain from this morning had stopped. But the battlefield was still wet and there were quite some puddles around; something to watch out for, she realized. The stands were about half-filled, and while the people were too far away to be recognized, Dawn knew that May, her mother and Paul would be watching, and she gave the audience a beaming smile.

"And please welcome Timmy Grimm, a Coordinator coming all the way from Verdanturf Town in Hoenn!"

Again there was a loud applause, though Dawn liked to imagine it was a bit less loud than her own had been.

"Based on the scores from the selection round, Dawn will first choose her Pokémon!" Marian announced. Dawn breathed in and nodded. They had expected that; the person with the highest score had to call out their Pokémon first. It was to give competitive Trainers an edge, for they tended to have lower scores than Coordinators, and now they could pick a Pokémon with an advantage over their opponent.

"Alright, Mamoswine, let's do it!" She didn't pitch her throw, she didn't twirl, she just lightly threw the Poké Ball on the field. There wasn't any pretty effect from a Seal, either, though Mamoswine let out an impressive roar when she materialized on the field.

"Sableye, go!" The dark/ghost type Pokémon appeared on the field and Dawn nodded to herself. After looking at some of Timmy's recent Contests, she'd known what Pokémon to expect, and she supposed that it had been too much to hope for that he'd make the rookie mistake of sending a Pokémon with a type disadvantage out.

No, this would be a fair battle, no advantages on either side. She'd have to play this smart, because Mamoswine's normal type attacks would have no effect. Still, Mamoswine was strong and could endure a few hits, but it was always better to end it quick if it was at all possible.

"This is looking good!" Marian said excitedly, and then nodded to the battle judge standing at the side.

The pink-haired man stepped forward. "This will be an one-on-one battle between Dawn with her Mamoswine versus Timmy with his Sableye. The battle ends when one Pokémon faints or a participant forfeits. There is no time-limit." He lifted both hands. "Are you all ready?! Then three, two, one… Begin!"

"Get close and use Shadow Claw!" Timmy called immediately.

Mamoswine was too heavy and big to evade fast hits, so Dawn said, "Counter with Ice Fang!"

Mamoswine's tusks grew and became encrusted with blue ice, and she charged at Sableye, whose claw was glowing purple with the attack. The Pokémon clashed, and Sableye was thrown back, while Mamoswine only staggered.

"Feint Attack, Sableye!"

Sableye jumped back up and ran back at Mamoswine.

"Ice Shard!" Dawn yelled at Mamoswine. Her Pokémon opened her mouth and let the attack loose, but Sableye evaded the shards while Timmy yelled encouragingly.

Dawn growled when Sableye hit Mamoswine full on with the Feint Attack.

"Stay close, Sableye!" Timmy commanded, and his Pokémon darted around Mamoswine, too fast for Mamoswine's attacks to hit.

We have to slow it down, Dawn realized. "Mamoswine, freeze the puddles!"

As she had hoped, Sableye couldn't correct its course fast enough and slipped on an ice patch. Yes. Mamoswine didn't wait for her command and fired another Ice Shard, freezing Sableye to the ground.

Timmy was yelling, encouraging Sableye to break free, but Dawn knew it was useless.

"Now a strong Ice Fang to end it!" Dawn said, pointing at the mostly-frozen Sableye.

Mamoswine threw her head back and let out a loud roar, and her tusks became crusted with glowing ice again. She hit Sableye at full force and the other Pokémon was tossed into the air.

Sableye hit the ground with a thud, the ice shattering. Not too bad a Contest move, Dawn considered in the back of her mind, with the sparkles and all.

"Get up, Sableye, you can do it! Please get up!" Timmy pleaded, while the battle judge jogged over to Sableye.

The man looked at the Pokémon for a moment, and then announced, "Sableye is unable to battle, Mamoswine is the winner!"

The green flag was pointed in Dawn's direction and on the screen, a big picture of her and Mamoswine appeared. Dawn let out a whoop and ran towards Mamoswine to hug her.

"We did it! We won! We're going to the second round!" Mamoswine's excited trampling made the ground around her shake and Dawn laughed. "You did amazing!"

The audience was clapping and cheering, and when the noise died down again, Dawn thanked Mamoswine and recalled her back to her Poké Ball. She walked to the middle of the field, where she shook hands with the referee, Marian, and of course Timmy.

His small smile seemed genuine enough and Dawn tried not to look too happy with her victory.

"Thank you, it was a good battle," she said, and Timmy's smile widened a bit.

"It was, wasn't it?" He nodded and released her hand. "Thank you."

"That's right, it was a great battle, let's give Timmy a warm applause!" Marian called to the crowd, and there was some polite clapping, though it was nothing compared to the loud cheers of just before. Timmy took it in stride and bowed to the audience, and then turned to leave the field.

"Thank you, Dawn and Timmy, for this exciting battle!" Marian said, wrapping it up, and Dawn took that as her cue to leave. She waved at the stands, grinning widely, and then walked off the battlefield.

She had won.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope the battle was interesting, writing those isn't really my strong suit haha, but it's good to practice. So Dawn has passed onto the next round! Exciting, right? :D Please review!

As for the poll on who you hope will win the Tournament, it looks like it's a tie between Zoey and May. Thank you for voting! The next poll, about who you think will win the Tournament, is now open, so please check out that one!

Thank you!

Recommendation:

Pokémon: Just Another Glorious Day by The Light's Refrain. FFN. This is a drabble, so it's definitely not a long read, but it's a fun and heartwarming story about our favorite Team Rocket members: Jessie, James and Meowth.

If you have story you want me to recommend, let me know and I'll check it out!