A/N: Thank you all for your support! Here's another chapter. Not quite as fast, but not terribly late, I'd like to think. I hope you enjoy!

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

To Guest (chapter 87): Thank you very much and I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter!

Days

The day Dawn is distracted

Dawn

Monday, February 3rd

"Alright, Drapion, Pin Missile!" Paul yelled, his voice resounding through the whole Stadium.

Dawn watched from the stands as Drapion followed through with the attack, the Pin Missiles launched at the airborne Pidgeot of the opponent: Solidad Sarah. A Top Coordinator and an acquaintance of May's, as Dawn understood it.

The thought of May temporarily distracted Dawn from the exciting Quarter Final battle happening in front of her. Her heart clenched at the memory of May's loss.

May had been terribly upset; Dawn had spent the remainder of the day calming her down and trying to cheer her up. The sudden attention of the press had not helped, either, though in Dawn's very private opinion May had been pretty dramatic to announce the break-up like that. Not that she would ever tell her friend that.

On the field, Pidgeot was graciously evading Drapion's attacks, but Dawn could see that the Pokémon was losing altitude, and she was pretty sure that it had been poisoned. And besides, this was a competitive battle, so the gracefulness was useless here.

May had calmed down during the evening, and had apologized for her outburst, blaming it on the pregnancy hormones. A knot formed in Dawn's stomach at the memory of the conversation, as always when she thought about the subject of pregnancy. To top it off, May had mentioned that it really was such a coincidence that she, Misty and Iris were all pregnant at the same time, wasn't it? And Dawn could only agree that it really was a coincidence, inwardly choking on the irony.

She clenched her hands together, trying to force her attention away from those thoughts. Pidgeot was now grounded, and it looked like Drapion was ready to end this matchup.

At least May had regained control of herself, and had determinedly come up with a new plan. May had not wanted to give up working with her Pokémon now, and she wanted to participate in the Hoenn Grand Festival. Now, Dawn was an eternal optimist, but even she had her doubts if May would be able to get the five necessary Ribbons before the start of the Festival… in a week.

A week!

But May had been nothing if not determined, and she had spent yesterday gathering sponsors, making a schedule to visit all the planned Contests in Hoenn, and in the evening had hopped on a plane to Hoenn.

It was a daring plan, but May had found her fire back and with that enthusiasm, Dawn could be nothing else but supportive. And who knows, it might work; from what May had told her, she should be busy with her first Contest right now-

"Pidgeot is unable to battle!" the referee called. "Please send in your next Pokémon!"

Dawn's attention was pulled back to the battle, and she blinked in surprise when she realized that Solidad was sending in her last Pokémon: a Ninetales. Paul still had three left, though Drapion seemed to be close to fainting.

Dawn grinned. Paul would surely move on to the next round, to the Semifinals. Perhaps they would even get to face off against each other; she had won her battle yesterday and been positively ecstatic. The full six on six competitive battle had been the one she had feared the most, so winning that had been wonderful. Obviously Paul had told her it was because she had relied on a type advantage, but so what? That was playing it smart. He really needed to work on how to give compliments. She knew he had been impressed, and it only took some pouting to get him to admit to that.

Dawn wanted to sigh. Paul… He initiated a conversation with her almost just as often as she did, and whenever she sought contact, he hardly seemed reluctant in responding.

They were friends, she thought. She hoped. And just friends, nothing more. She didn't want anything more than that, really. It would only complicate things, and her life was already complicated enough.

Oh, Arceus. Dawn felt the unwanted panic rise in her throat – no, don't think about it – and did her best to swallow it away. First get through this Tournament. She couldn't afford any distractions now, not for herself and definitely not for Paul. He wanted to win this so badly…

"Gastrodon, standby for battle!" Paul called out, releasing the Pokémon. Dawn forced her attention back to the field. She really was terribly distracted today.

The screen showed that Drapion was now out, and Paul had Gastrodon and Torterra remaining. Dawn felt the corners of her mouth go up; he himself had picked the Pokémon with the type advantage as well.

But then again, Paul played to win, too.

"Muddy Water!" On the big screen, a closeup of his face was shown as he commanded Gastrodon. His eyebrows were drawn together in concentration and his jaw was set in determination. He really was quite handsome- Her thought was cut off when the screen switched to Gastrodon following through with the attack while Solidad's Ninetales tried to run around it.

Dawn felt herself flush, even though no one could possibly have guessed her thoughts. She was being ridiculous. Paul had only put up with her because he needed the advantage of her knowledge; he had recognized that she was good at what she did and he needed that to win. At least in the beginning. She was pretty certain that that advantage had been mostly evened out, and yet he still stuck around. That had to mean something, right?

Yes, it meant that they were friends, as she reminded herself again. And friends, just friends. Or maybe even just training partners.

It would be better if they were just training partners. Because after the Tournament, she would have to tell him, and-

Her phone buzzed and Dawn almost jumped up from her seat, adrenaline rushing through her. She felt her cheeks grow warm from her overreaction, and she hurriedly pulled her phone out.

"Hello?"

Incomprehensible sound came from the other end and Dawn had to press her other ear closed against the din from the audience around her.

"What? Who is this?" she called back.

"-s May!" she finally heard. "I won my first Ribbo-!"

Dawn's eyes widened. "May? You won your first Ribbon?!"

"Yes!"

Dawn grinned. "Wow, that's great! Congratulations!"

"-anks. I used Skitty and Bl- opponent was-" May was enthusiastically talking but Dawn had to interrupt her.

"May, May, sorry, I can barely hear you! I'm going to have to call you back later, okay?! I'm in the middle of the Stadium with Paul's battle, it's way too loud here!" It felt as if she was yelling in the phone, but Dawn could barely hear herself over the noise of the audience.

"No proble- back later!"

"Really well done, May, bye!"

With a grin and a shake of her head she put her phone back. May really was something else. She might actually manage it. And now wouldn't that be a great way to get back at Drew…

On the field, Ninetales was futilely trying to evade the barrage of Water type attacks that Gastrodon was launching at it. It was a rather anticlimactic ending; a last Muddy Water attack was the final blow.

After a few tense seconds, the referee held up a hand in Paul's direction. "Ninetales is unable to battle! Paul Rebolledo and Gastrodon are the winners!"

A loud cheer rose around her and Dawn clapped and cheered along just as loudly. Paul thanked his Gastrodon and then met Solidad in the middle of the Stadium to shake hands.

With a few nods at the audience he thanked them for the support. His smile was minimal – they really needed to work on his public representation skills.

Then his gaze caught hers and his smile widened. It felt as if the world around her froze, and the cheers around her disappeared into the thundering of her own heart in her ears. She only saw Paul.

And Beautifly's erupted in her stomach.

Oh, this was not good.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I'm not sure if I'm really happy with this chapter, it feels a bit all over the place. But I wanted to show and tell multiple things, and I hope that has gotten across well enough. I'd really like to hear what you thought about it! Please leave me a review!

Thank you!

Recommendation:

The Hobbit: Flowers Among the Fallen Leaves by garafthel. AO3. I just really love the premise of this multi-chaptered fic. After the Battle of the Five Armies, Bilbo has returned home to the Shire. His adventure is over, he thinks. Until a pregnant Tauriel knocks at his door… Kíli/Tauriel and Bilbo/Thorin. An almost finished story, yet sadly it's been years since it's been updated. Still, definitely recommended!

If you have a story you'd like me to recommend, let me know!