3. Of Champions and Cheerleaders

After eight long days travelling by sea from Sinnoh, they've finally made it to Slateport City.

As she and Paul walk down the ramp and off the cruise ship, Dawn inhales the warm air of the Hoenn, feeling her eyelids close for a moment. It's so different . . . it's so refreshing.

It's also very hot.

Dawn is grateful that she stowed away her hat and scarf in her backpack, and that she tied her hair up into a ponytail. She notices that Paul, too, has shrugged out of his jacket to reveal a teal-colored, sleeveless turtleneck underneath – but doesn't he still feel hot in that? (Dawn is extremely hot, even in her skirt and v-neck sleeveless top, and can't imagine how Paul must be feeling with his neck covered.)

Paul stops walking and turns to Dawn. "What time is it?" he suddenly asks her.

"Um." Dawn, who has stopped short and nearly bumps into him, looks at her Pokétch. "It says 9:16PM, but that's the Sinnohan Standard Time. What's the time difference?"

"Sinnoh is three hours ahead of Hoenn. So, it's 6:16PM." His gray eyes then widen in realization. What he realizes, Dawn doesn't know. "Let's go!" He grabs her arm, prompting a surprised cry out of her, and begins running.

"Pip, lup!" her Pokémon cries out, as Dawn's other arm curls around him tightly and hurries with Paul. She stumbles a bit, and pulls her other arm away from Paul so that she can hold onto Piplup better.

"Hurry up!"

"What's . . . wrong, Paul!?" she gasps out, pushing her legs to go as fast as she can. "Where are we going?"

"Dammit, we're going to miss it!" He's panting as well. "Run faster!"

"I'm trying!"

They race from the city's port, all the way down to the large beach outside of the city. It's harder to run in the sand, Dawn realizes, once they reach the beach area. Paul sprints ahead of her now, headed towards the shore, where a small dock is located.

"Hey, wait for us!" she protests, her legs picking up speed, as Piplup complains in small chirps with her. It takes her a minute to catch up to the dock, where he now talks to a sailor.

" – yeah, but like I said, rides to Dewford Town are done for the day."

Paul runs a hand through his hair and growls. "All of the boats are gone?"

"Yeah, the last boat left at 6:30."

Dawn checks her Pokétch, mentally subtracting three hours from the time displayed on the screen. "Aww, it's 6:37 now. We just missed it," she informs them sadly, announcing her presence, which causes both the sailor and Paul turn towards her.

The sailor shrugs. "Sorry, little lady."

Paul simply lets out a small "Tch."

Dawn furrows her eyebrows. "Isn't there any other way for us to get to Dewford Town?" she asks. "Please?" Her hands are folded, and Piplup follows suit – though he takes a more pleading approach to it with his wide eyes and pout.

The tall man reaches up to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly. "Uh, well, I suppose there is one way you and your lad here can get to Dewford Town, if you're willing to put up with Mr. Briney and his small, slow boat. He's also really picky, but, hopefully, a young couple like you will melt his heart."

Dawn, who feels her cheeks flame, is about to open her mouth and correct him, but Paul beats her to it.

"That would be great, thank you." He bows respectfully, discretely turning his head to Dawn in the process and glaring at her sharply.

"Oh, um." Dawn knows better than to look a gift Horsea in the mouth, so she bows as well. "Thank you so much, sir!"

"Why are we headed to Dewford Town first?" Dawn asks her travelling companion an hour later, as Mr. Briney sails them away to Dewford Town on the Wingull-shaped boat.

Paul leans against the boat's banister, staring impassively back at her. "I want to train by re-challenging some of the gym leaders here, and maybe participate in the Ever Grande Conference again." There is a weird, unfamiliar gleam in his eyes that leaves Dawn curious.

"Wow . . . is it even allowed to re-challenge the gym leaders if you've won against them already?" She is both surprised by and impressed with his determination.

"Hmph, of course. It's an unofficial, rematch with a gym leader."

"Oh," she responds lamely. "Well, I don't know much about official Pokémon League and Gym battles." She's silent for a moment before speaking once more. "Why don't you train at the Battle Resort and fight the other Frontier Brains before Brandon? Earning your way through the symbols is supposed to be the proper way to get to him, right?"

Paul raises an eyebrow at her. "For someone who doesn't know much about the Pokémon League and its structure, you seem to be well-informed about the Battle Resort and Battle Frontier." She simply shrugs at him in response. "But I haven't decided, yet. We'll see."

"Gull, gull!" The little Wingull lands onto Paul's shoulder. Peeko is fond of Paul for some reason – this, along with Peeko's love for Dawn's poffins convinced Mr. Briney to let the two ride on his boat to Dewford Town in the first place.

Dawn giggles, pointing at the Pokémon in question. "I think Peeko likes you, Paul."

He rolls his eyes and then turns his head away from her, now staring into the Hoenn waters, but doesn't wave Peeko off his shoulder.

Dawn takes the opportunity to mimic Paul's actions and turn to the sea. She closes her eyes as the wind wafts around her hair.

.

"Metagross, Bullet Punch!"

Dawn turns towards the direction of the hoarse voice and sees that a huge crowd has formed around what appears to be two blue-haired boys who are battling. As she rises on the tips of her toes to get a better look, a loud boom resonates in the air, causing the ground to quake.

Dawn lets out a small gasp as she tries to gain her balance, while Piplup wails, afraid of falling out of his trainer's arms.

"Paul." She moves to turn to her travelling companion, suddenly eager to watch how the battle unfolds. "Do you want to check out – " But he's not next to her. "Hey! Paul?! Where did you go?" Her eyes scan the clearing to no avail, and then to the crowd, and sure enough, her eyes catch the lilac mop of hair among the other onlookers.

"Paul!" Her eye twitches, as she spots him looking at the battle with interest. "Ugh!" She stomps over to where he stands, pushing and grumpily excusing herself through the crowd, while trying to make sure her starter Pokémon doesn't get crushed as she tries to squeeze her way through.

When she reaches him, she grabs his shoulder and roughly pulls him to her. "You," she snarls, feeling fire burn in her eyes, "left us behind without a single word! How could you do something like that? You think you – "

He is startled, but roughly pushes her hand off of him. "Shut up," he hisses, "and watch the battle. You're the one who wanted to ask me if I want to watch it."

That makes Dawn blink in confusion, her anger not entirely forgotten but starting to dispel away. "You heard what I wanted to ask you? But you were gone. I mean, you had already walked over to here by then and . . ." she trails off, realizing that Paul's attention is now occupied, his eyes trained on the taller man, donned in a suit, which has an interesting looking pin attached to it.

Typical Paul. Dawn sighs, and realizes that she is simply wasting her time, so, she, too, focuses on the battle before her.

A Hariyama, who seems to have taken a lot of damage, and a Metagross are engaged in combat. Dawn has never seen a Metagross with a silver and yellow coloring before, and though she is tempted to take out her Pokédex, she decides against it.

"You may be riding high on the tide," the shorter boy, with the darker blue hair says, "but it's time for your wave to crash! Hariyama, it's time to unleash your Revenge!"

Hariyama lurches forward to attack the opposing Pokémon – of course, it's a little slow, because of its heavy weight, but it seems to emit an immense amount of power by the way its body glows yellow.

"Counter with Zen Headbutt!" The opponent is pointing towards the battlefield, and the glint of rings catches Dawn's eyes.

The two Pokémon clash forward, both equal in the physical power of their respective moves. Their collide causes a bright flash, and the impact is strong enough to cover the field in dust clouds. All is silent for a moment until the dust clears, and only one silhouette can be seen standing.

"Metagross!" the man with the rings cries out.

Hariyama still stands, though breathes heavily, as it has taken a lot of damage from the Zen Headbutt, since it is extremely weak to Psychic-type moves.

Revenge is a move Dawn learned from Conway, back in the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition. It is a more effective and efficient version of Bide that will inflict double the damage taken by the user; so, it's no surprise to see Metagross collapse.

The referee waves a hand at the collapsed Pokémon. "Metagross is unable to ba – Huh?"

But, unlike Dawn thought, Metagross doesn't faint. After it twitches a few times, it steadily picks itself back up, regains composure, and turns to nod encouragingly at his trainer.

"W-What!?" The shorter boy with the board shorts is taken aback. "My Hariyama's Revenge should have been enough to wipe out Metagross!"

The taller man grins. "You underestimate the power of my Pokémon, my friend. Now, Metagross, use Hammer arm!"

"Low Kick!"

The Metagross attacks the other Pokémon, and though it cannot doge Hariyama's kick, it does not appear to have taken much damage. Dawn is taken aback by how the heavy Pokémon was able to avoid taking damage from an attack that specifically targeted its weight.

Before she can comment on it, Paul, standing next to her, informs her, "It's Metagross's hidden ability, Light Metal. It halves the Pokémon's weight and can especially be useful when being attacked with moves such as Low Kick." He looks on pensively.

"Wow!" She leans forward. "Who are these people anyway?"

"So strong," Paul murmurs to himself, his eyes on the tall individual with the rings.

"Of course, they're strong," a voice speaks up from Dawn's left. She and Paul turn to face the stranger, an orange-hair boy in traditional clothing. (Is that . . . a giant sandwich in his hand?) "They're Brawly and Steven Stone! Not a lot of people know this, but they've been best friends for a long time!" The onlooker is haughty, and appears to be taking pride in himself for knowing information about the two trainers that others may not know.

Dawn's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Who is Brawly?"

Without turning to her, Paul simply responds, "Brawly is the gym leader, but I don't know who Steven Stone is." His voice is breathless, as if the battle is knocking the wind out of him.

The boy's eyes widen and his jaw drops comically. "Whaaaaaat!? Are you serious? You don't know who the Steven Stone is?" Dawn nearly holds back a laugh at the onlooker's behavior. His zeal slightly reminds her of Barry, and this causes a twinge in her chest – she really misses Sinnoh.

She frowns slightly. "Uh, no. I don't know."

"Well, he beat the Ever Grande Conference and the Elite Four, and is planning on challenging Wallace very soon!"

She gasps, recognizing the name. "Wallace!? But he's the Champion!"

Paul's eyes widen in astonishment, and then he gapes at the powerful trainer. He is both truly amazed and confounded by the meager-looking trainer's strength. "He beat the Elite Four?"

"Steven Stone . . . he must be such a powerful trainer." Dawn looks at Paul, who appears to be lost in thought. She sees that his eyes are hard with determination, and his hands, at his sides, are clenched into fists.

She's seen that very same determination within Ash before.

"Sparkling stone, give our bond form!"

Dawn is broken out of her thoughts as her eyes catch the bright light casting from the pin that Steven grasps in his hand – she recalls it was pinned onto his suit earlier. She was so invested into her thoughts that she didn't realize he took it off.

In response to his words, the shiny Metagross radiates an enveloping light that comes from what appears to be a stone on its right leg.

"Metagross, mega evolve!" he commands, causing the crowd to cheer and shout wildly. Dawn fights back a wince from the loud noise as she tries to decipher the meaning of his words.

Mega . . . evolve?

With widened eyes, Dawn looks around at the enthusiastic onlookers in confusion – she has never heard of such a thing. "What? Evolve?!" she exclaims to herself. "Is that even possible?" Evolve? But, how? Metagross is at its final evolution stage already. There is no way it can evolve any further than now.

Paul's eyes widen. "Mega evolution?" he chokes out.

Dawn and Piplup watch in awe as Metagross begins to double in size, and sprout out two more arms and spikes around its torso. As the encapsulating, warm light around the now-levitating Pokémon begins to fade, she sees that his coloring has slightly changed as well, the most prominent being the 'X' across its face turning from yellow to blue.

"Mega evolution!?" she screeches, though it drowns in the crowd's roars. "You're telling me that Metagross just evolved?"

Paul grits his teeth. "Arceus, how . . . how did he get a hold of that key stone? And the mega stone for Metagross?"

Dawn does not know Paul that well, but if she didn't know any better, she would say that he looks a little overwhelmed by the battle unfolding in front of him. It's an unfamiliar to see such an expression cross his face.

"This is really a common thing?! How come I've never heard of it?" she demands, releasing one arm off Piplup to put a hand on her hip.

"It's a relatively new discovery," he says simply, before he goes back to watching the mega evolved Metagross conquer Brawly's Hariyama with Psychic. Whatever the case may be, Dawn decides she will grill him on it later.

"Hariyama is unable to battle," the referee announces soon after, "Metagross is the winner! And, so, the victory goes to Steven Stone of Mossdeep City."

Metagross is captured in a glow that casts a blue light, and quickly reverts to its original form.

Steven walks toward his Pokémon and rubs it affectionately, a Pokéball in hand. "Thank you, Metagross. Return."

Brawly, who is on the ground with his Hariyama, also thanks it before recalling it to its Pokéball. "That was quite a splash you made there, Steven."

Steven raises an eyebrow. "Just a splash?" he teases. "I remember you called it a high tide just not too long ago, Brawly."

He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Brag on, hotshot."

Some of the crowd dissipates, while others – trainers, fan girls, and fan boys, alike – gather around the pair of friends to ask for autographs, compliment them on their battle, or to talk to Steven.

Dawn and Paul wait for these onlookers to leave before Paul, without warning, walks up to Brawly and Steve to introduce himself. Dawn immediately follows behind him, trying to keep up.

The two trainers engage in conversation, shoving each other playfully, as Dawn and Paul approach them.

Paul clears his throat as he comes forth. "Excuse me, Brawly."

Brawly stops laughing and looks at Paul, his light, blue eyes widening in recognition. "Hey, I know you. You're Paul." He beams. "'Sup?"

If Paul is fazed by the fact that Brawly remembers who he is, he shows no indication. Instead, he nods. "Yes. We battled a few years ago, but I would like to battle you again."

Brawly raises his eyebrows in surprised. His eyes flicker to Steven's quickly, before they move back to Paul. "You want to battle me again?"

"Yes."

Dawn resists the urge to roll her eyes. Straight and to the point – that's Paul, all right.

"My Pokémon need to rest right now, but how about we crash some waves at the gym tomorrow?"

Steven appears intrigued. "I would like to watch the battle as well, if you don't mind, Paul."

"That's fine," Paul tells Steven, "Tomorrow, then." Paul turns around, nodding once to Dawn to indicate that they are leaving.

But Brawly, whose lips curl into a smirk, is not finished. "So, does the girl behind you want to battle me, too?" he questions cheekily, nodding at Dawn.

From the corner of her eye, Dawn sees that Paul has stopped walking, his head tilted toward them. "Oh! Um, I'm actually a coordinator. I'm travelling with Paul, so I'll sit on the sidelines and cheer him on."

"Huh." Brawly begins to chuckle, leaving Dawn and Paul, who has turned back around both confused. "That's cute. You're like his personal cheerleader or something."

Dawn laughs sheepishly, as a blush rises to her cheeks. "Oh, uh, it wouldn't be the first time. I used to cheer one of my friends' gym battles when I started off my journey in Sinnoh."

Paul grunts, though he averts his eyes from Dawn, almost as if he is embarrassed – which causes her to purse her lips and hold back a giggle. "I don't need a personal cheerleader."

Brawly's face looks thoughtful. "Sinnoh, huh?" he says, ignoring Paul. "Heard it's too cold there."

"Too cold? Maybe Hoenn's just too hot," Dawn jokes back.

He laughs back good-naturedly and then shakes his head. "Touché."

.

Thump, thump.

"Wake up!" Paul growls, resisting the urge to break down Dawn's room door down. (Though, Nurse Joy would not be pleased at that, especially considering that he had specifically requested for two separate rooms when Nurse Joy was prepared to only give them one room with two beds – Paul isn't used to travelling with a partner, let alone a girl, and, so, he needs his own space.)

Paul has been up since the crack of dawn, making some final preparations for his upcoming battle. After training with his Pokémon, dressed in his daily attire, choosing to skip out on breakfast and opting for his go-to orange juice, and headed next door to Dawn's room, to see if she was ready to go.

At first, he worried if she was alright, but a soft, muffled snore from behind the door that followed assured him that she was simply asleep.

He pounds on her door once more, channeling his frustration through his fist. "Do you want to see the battle or not?" He speaks through gritted teeth.

Ugh, whatever. If she wants to come, she will come herself. No need for Paul to his waste time. Though, he is a little annoyed that she won't be coming to see his battle. They're travelling companions, after all – if she could go to every one of Ash's battles, why can't she do the same for him?

Quickly as it comes, though, Paul banishes the thought. It does not matter. They're simply traveling partners. Nothing more. Ash was her friend; Paul is not. She is simply here to help him ensure a win at the Rubello Town Pokémon Contest.

"Troublesome girl," he mutters to himself, accompanied by a final, softer thump on her room door, before he moves away to leave for the gym.

.

"Huh, you weren't kidding when you said you've done the whole cheerleading business before."

Hearing Brawly's comment, Paul whips his head around to where the gym leader has been staring.

Much to his surprise, Dawn stands in front of him in a pink cheerleading outfit, complete with two pom-poms in her hands. Buneary and Piplup are dressed up as well.

"Arceus." He groans, though his cheeks suddenly feel heated. "Troublesome girl," he mutters to himself, exasperated, trying to avert his eyes from the sight of her in that outfit.