A/N: Look, another chapter! That's fast enough, right? :) I'm on a roll :D Thank you all for the support and I hope you enjoy!

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Days

The day with a twirl

Ash

Thursday, February 6th

"C'mon, c'mon..." Ash whispered excitedly and nervously, sitting on the edge of the sofa and his eyes glued to the TV screen. Pikachu sat next to him, watching the battle on screen with the same enthusiasm as his Trainer.

It was the Final of the Wayland Tournament. This time it was not a competitive battle or a Contest Battle Stage, but a new battle design, specifically made for the Wayland Tournament. There was no time limit so the only way to win was to knock out all your opponent's Pokémon. However, every Pokémon had their own set of points, and getting hit by a Contest style attack from your opponent decreased those points, while doing those kinds of attacks yourself increased your own points. If the points of a Pokémon hit zero, they were forced to leave the field.

Thus, the smartest thing to do was using powerful but pretty attacks to decrease both the Pokémon health and their points.

Ash's fingers were pressing into his knees as he watched the two finalists with sharp eyes. With his career, it was not unusual for him to know the top battlers, but this time, it was personal.

Drew was on one side of the field, arrogantly cool and with a focused gaze, and Paul on the other side, stony faced and barking out orders.

Ash cringed slightly when Paul's Ursaring's points decreased when Drew's Roserade performed a pretty Magical Leaf, and his whispering of "C'mon, c'mon" increased.

A few months ago, Ash would have been conflicted about who to root for, but considering everything that had happened with May, his choice was easily made.

Ursaring performed a combination of Slash attacks that Roserade only clumsily managed to evade, and Ash whispered a yes before continuing his incantation of "C'mon, c'mon."

These were the last two Pokémon of both finalists. Roserade was visibly tiring while Ursaring seemed to be holding out fine, but Drew was a professional Coordinator and it showed, with Ursaring's points being almost at zero.

Ash knew that Dawn had been training with Paul and he had held his own, but going up against a Top Coordinator of Drew's caliber…

"Oh Pikachu, this is so exciting," Ash said, rocking back and forth on the sofa. "Paul has to do something now!"

"Chu!" Pikachu agreed.

"I wish we could have been there!" Ash said, leaning forward again and clasping his hands together in nervous excitement.

Participating in the Wayland Tournament would have been a great challenge, he just knew it. He would have loved to stand right there…

Ash let out a loud cheer when Ursaring actually twirled out of the way of Roserade's Mega Drain attack.

The twirl continued in a strong Hammer Arm and it hit Roserade straight on. The Pokémon flew through the air and landed harshly on the sandy battlefield.

The camera zoomed in on Roserade's motionless body. Half-standing, Ash watched with bated breath.

Then the referee yelled out, "Roserade is unable to battle, Ursaring and Paul Rebolledo from Veilstone City are the winners!"

Loud cheering erupted and Ash yelled along just as loudly. He pumped his fist in the air and did a little jump, before running around the sofa. Pikachu ran along with him and Ash excitedly high-fived with the Pokémon.

"Alright, Pikachu, he did it!"

With a grin Ash turned back to screen, where Drew and Paul were shaking hands.

Paul was actually smiling and Ash didn't think he'd ever seen Paul smile like that. Ash felt his grin grow wider.

"Hah, Pikachu, he actually did it! Our rival, he did it!" Ash high-fived Pikachu again and Pikachu cheerfully responded.

On screen, Paul was congratulated by Cynthia and Mister Contesta and he was handed quite an impressive trophy. Ash felt a rush of pride for his rival as Paul handed the trophy to Ursaring. The Pokémon let out a victorious roar and the camera zoomed in on Ursaring holding the trophy above her head.

Still with a smile on his face, Ash let himself fall back on the couch and Pikachu jumped on his lap. Ash petted the electric type and together they watched as the broadcast switched between reruns of spectacular segments of the battle, Paul releasing his Pokémon team to let them join in the winning ceremony and reactions of the audience.

There were some speeches from Cynthia and Mister Contesta, mostly going about the success of the Wayland Tournament and the steps made in connecting the competitive battlers and Coordinators. There was a shot of Paul's brother, Reggie, who actually seemed to be crying and of a clapping and cheering Dawn.

The broadcast ended with a short speech from Paul. And it really was short: he thanked his Pokémon, he thanked his brother, he thanked Dawn and he thanked his parents, specifically his mother. There was another shot of an emotional Reggie and a beaming Dawn, who were called on stage with Paul and his Pokémon.

Ash knew that Misty was convinced that something was going on between Paul and Dawn – and Ash had learned that something meant something romantically – but Ash himself couldn't see any signs of that. Then again, he knew that he was hardly the right person to see those kinds of things. Well, if Misty was right, that was only a good thing. Dawn was such a happy and positive person, she would be a good partner for Paul.

When Mister Contesta started to speech again, Ash felt his attention drifting. The adrenaline of seeing Paul win had passed slightly, but he was still feeling rather excited and he couldn't sit still in front of the TV anymore.

"Oh Pikachu, I can't wait until we get to battle again!"

"Pika!"

"The Indigo League is just a few weeks away!" Ash pumped his fist in the air. "Man, I wish we could get started already!"

Ash was itching for a challenge. While he spent quite some time training, the truth was that it was mostly solitary training. The rivals he had, who could actually seriously challenge him, such as Paul, were not in Kanto. Nothing against the training partners he had right now – Gary, for example, often helped him out – but if Ash really went all out, he knew he would beat them.

"Do you think we could get Misty to battle us? It's been a while…"

"Chu…" Pikachu looked doubtful. It was true, Misty was usually working and did not have time for battling them.

Going against his better knowledge, Ash made his way to the Gym, Pikachu on his heels. To his hopeful surprise, there weren't any challengers right now.

Misty was seated on the comfortable couch that had been placed there for waiting challengers – Daisy's idea, because Misty thought it didn't match with the rest of the Gym's appearance – and was looking at her laptop with a glazed expression.

Perhaps it was worth a try, then.

"Hey, Misty," Ash greeted her, trying not to look too hopeful and eager, but knowing he probably still did.

Misty's raised eyebrows confirmed that. Then she straightened and expectantly asked, "And? Who won?"

Ash grinned. "Paul did."

Misty let out a quiet "Yes."

"It was an amazing battle," he continued excitedly. "Man, Misty, I wish I could have participated in that Tournament – you, too, you would've been amazing at it, I bet! May often said that you could be a Coordinator, remember? But maybe next year... Anyway, it was a really cool battle, a close one, too, Drew put up a good fight, I have to say that much, but Paul easily beat him. It was awesome."

He was almost out of breath when he finished, and Misty smiled at him. "That's great. May will be happy to hear that."

Her eyes drifted back to her laptop and then turned questioningly to him, "Was there anything else?"

"Well, uh..." Ash resisted the urge to shuffle his feet. "Pikachu and I wondered if you wanted to battle?"

Misty pressed her lips together, again looking back at her laptop. Ash felt disappointment churn in his stomach.

Then, Misty shut the laptop with a determined thud and gave him a challenging smile. "Alright, Ketchum, show me what you got."

Pikachu chu'ed happily in response and Ash smiled widely, ready to take on that challenge.

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A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! After quite some chapters, the Tournament is finally over. Don't worry, you'll get to see Paul's reaction next chapter ;) Thank you and please review!

Thank you!