Surprise! I know I said I wouldn't post a chapter till the New Year, but the original Chapter 10 came out way longer than I expected, so I had to divide it into two chapters - this is the first half.

Thank you to all for reading!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Please enjoy.

10. Of Eavesdropping and RageCandyBars

"Come on, don't be like that. If you're already discouraged about winning the next contest, how are you supposed to win?"

"I know. I just can't help it. I lost the Purika City Pokémon Contest, so this is my last chance to get my fifth ribbon."

"Hey, don't you always say 'no need to worry'?"

Next to Zoey, Candice appears, squeezing into the camera frame.

"Candice, hi!" Dawn greets happily.

"Hey, Dawn. Now what's this I'm hearing about you worrying about losing a contest? You have a Key Stone, Dawn. You could crush your way into winning the Grand Festival if you're able to mega-evolve!"

The smile from Dawn's face drops. "I . . . I don't know if Zoey told you the whole story, but I am trying to give the Key Stone to Paul, actually. He is refusing to take it."

Candice purses her lips. "Zo-Zo did tell me, but I don't agree with it. You earned it Dawn - that stone is yours . . ."

Zoey rolls her eyes. "And we both also think he will not take it. You handing him a freebie is just going to hurt his pride."

Piplup, who is perched on Dawn's shoulder, also chirps in agreement.

Dawn lets out an elongated groan and bows in defeat, nearly dropping Piplup in the process. "I know."

She talks to them for a few mins, but as she ends the call, she hears a familiar voice in the booth next to her.

She stretches up on her toes and peers over the divider, suppressing a gasp when she sees her neighbor and quickly retreating to her side of the booth.

Piplup is equally as shocked and is unable to keep quiet. "Pip, pi - "

Dawn quickly cups her hand over her Pokémon's beak. "Shh, don't let him hear us, Piplup," she whispers, before turning away and charging towards the couches, where her travel companion sits.

"Paul, Paul!" she hisses as she approaches him.

"Hm?" He looks up from Dawn's new PokéNav Plus - he has been trying to figure out how to set up the Entry Call app for her, so that she can make calls directly off of her device. "What's up?"

Piplup leaps from Dawn's arms and lands softly onto the coffee table in front of Paul. "Pip, pip, lup piplup!" He gestures his flippers from the booth to Dawn. "Lup, lup." He waves his flippers in a flying motion. "Pip, piplup!" His flippers move to rest on his hips as he puffs his chest and stands proudly, and then waves frantically again towards the phone booths. "Pip, pip, lip!" he finishes with a chirp.

Paul stares blankly. "What?"

An aghast Piplup's chest deflates. "Lup, piplup, pip, lup!" Paul does not need to know Piplup's tongue to understand the cause of the glum, dejected expression on his face: they have been traveling together for months and he still cannot understand Piplup half of the time.

Dawn, accustomed to their daily banter, ignores their exchange and plops herself onto the sofa adjacent to Paul's. "We saw Wallace, the champion, in the booth next to us. I think he was talking to Winona. She seemed upset with him."

Paul shakes his head disapprovingly. "Your habit of eavesdropping hasn't gone away."

Dawn feels scratched with irritation. "It is completely natural to overhear someone talking next to you!"

"Dawn, I thought it was you." Wallace's suddenly gentle voice calls out, as Dawn and Paul turn where he approaches them.

And wouldn't you know? Speak of the Giratina, and the Giratina shall appear.

"Ah, Paul, too. I am happy to see you are both still traveling with each other. How are you both?"

Dawn and Paul both arise from their seats and shake Wallace's hand. Before they can exchange pleasantries with Wallace, he interrupts them.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation next to my booth, Dawn, and I understand that you are worried about earning 5 ribbons on this circuit."

In spite of her confusion, Dawn quickly flashes a smug, pointed look at Paul.

Wallace does not seem to notice their exchange and continues speaking. "You can use your ribbon from the Wallace Cup in Sinnoh, since it's in a different region's circuit, if you'd like. It's not conventional, but it is certainly not illegal."

She frowns. "I wasn't aware, but I'd like to try to win Lilycove for myself."

She withholds herself from admitting that she might not bother participating in the Grand Festival if she loses. It is bad enough she already has to deal with winning the Rubello Town Contest - it feels cheap to use another ribbon she feels was wrongly entered for the Grand Festival.

Wallace appears to be pleased by her answer. "Of course. You know, I was so pleased to see you both perform in the Rubello Town Pokemon Contest. Congratulations to you, Dawn, on your victory, and to you, Paul, on making it to the finals!"

As Wallace raves about their final set of combinations in the final round, Paul remembers Wallaces comment, "Traveling with a coordinator is a splendid way to pick up new training techniques and help you see the different methods of raising Pokémon as well . . . I can tell that you are very determined to learn and better yourself."

Perhaps, Wallace is thinking about it as well, as he says, "Truly, Paul, I am so impressed with how you battled and showed off your Pokémon in the contest."

Paul bows politely. "Thank you, Wallace."

Wallace smiles pleasantly. "I must admit that I am regretful that I did not get to see how your bond with your Torchic has grown, since I recall it taking such a liking to you in Littleroot. I would love to see you display everything that you've learned with Torchic in a battle with me."

"My Combusken and I would be honored to battle you."

Wallace is a powerful trainer, and has not been awarded his champion title for naught. Naturally, Paul and Combusken lose the fight to Wallace and Ludicolo.

"It's close to evolving. I feel so," Wallace tells Paul after their battle.

Paul stares at Wallace, puzzled. "How are you able to tell?"

Wallace kneels to pat the top of Combusken's head. "An important part about being a champion is not just understanding people, but Pokémon as well."

Paul considers Combusken for a moment as Wallace lifts himself off the ground and turns his attention to Dawn.

"Dawn, the next Wallace Cup is four months from now, in Johto. It will be in Cherry Grove City," he informs.

Dawn lets out a small gasp. The Wallace Cup, already? "Oh, wow, has it already been eight months since the last one?"

Wallace looks on wistfully. "Time slips away like a handful of sand from our fingers, doesn't it?"

They talk for a few more minutes, until Wallace bids them farewell.

As the champion of Hoenn walks away, Paul turns to Dawn with an unexpected question.

"What did you hear Wallace say to Winona?"

She might have exclaimed, "Ha!" to Paul, as even he cannot bite back the curiosity, but instead, a blush rises to her face. "Um, he was flirting with her."

"That's it?"

"Yeah . . ."

There is no way Dawn is going to tell Paul that she heard Wallace dreamily sigh to Winona about the charisma of lovers with purple hair.

.

When they finally reach Lilycove City, Dawn is surprised when Paul makes a beeline for the department store there.

He immediately tries his hand at the lottery and surprisingly wins a Moomoo Milk. The onlooking spectators in the mall are happy for him, but he just grumbles out, "Thank you," and stomps sulkily to the register to redeem his prize.

Dawn follows him, hands on her hips as she tries to figure out what just went wrong."Hey, you won, so what's with the grumpy face?"

"If I wanted a Moomoo Milk, I could just walk over to the café near my house in Sinnoh," he mutters scornfully, as he hands the voucher to the cashier.

She lets out a giggle. He is acting like a child who just found out his mother is making Crawdaunt claw stew for dinner. "Miltank is a rarity in Hoenn," she reminds him.

"Hoenn is turning into Sinnoh." He growls frustratedly, as he thrusts the bottle of milk into her shopping tote. "First the RageCandyBars are all out, and now this."

Dawn wrinkles her nose in disgust. "A RageCandyBar? Paul, don't tell me you have a sweet tooth for the 'Cake of Rage,' too?"

"Actually," the cashier interrupts, "some pirate came in here and bought the last of them. Like, just now."

"An actual pirate?" She raises herself on her toes to see a man in a blue bandana heading out, though something about him seems familiar . . .

"No, no, he was just dressed - "

But Paul has already taken off after the pirate.

"H-Hey, Paul! Wait up!" Dawn hollers, running after him.

Paul chases after the mystery customer, while Dawn chases after him. Finally, after a few minutes, the man stops in his tracks, realizing he is being followed, and Paul collides into his back with a force that hauls him to the ground.

"Paul!" Dawn gasps, as she finally catches up to him and helps him off the ground.

The tall man turns around –

. . . To reveal himself as their savior from Rusturf tunnel.

The bandana, the darker-toned skin - it is exactly how Dawn remembers in the darkness of that cave. But something else about him seems so familiar, tugging at the edge of Dawn's memory.

Paul's jaw drops. "You're the guy from the tunnel. You saved us from Team - "

"Team Aqua!" Dawn realizes with a startled cry, recalling the news reports from last year. "Mew, you're the boss of Team Aqua! Your name is Archie!"

The man's eyes widen in surprise, and in a quick movement, he grabs Dawn by the shoulders, spins her around, pulls her close, and covers her mouth with a minty-smelling cloth.

"Dawn, no!" she hears, before the world goes black.

.

Dawn wakes up on a bed.

To be more specific, she wakes up on a bed next to Paul.

She wrenches upright with a gasp. Oh, her head feels heavy. Archie . . . must have drugged them. She quickly turns to her companion and shakes him awake.

"Paul, Paul!" she hisses desperately, roughing pushing and pulling at his shoulders, until he finally stirs.

"Huh?" He blinks several times, before his eyes widen to meet Dawn's. He immediately jumps out of the bed and looks around frantically.

"W-Where are we?" He clutches at his head for a moment. "The RageCandyBars . . . Archie . . . he made us faint."

Dawn takes in her surroundings. They seem to be in a dingy motel room. The smell of mold and cigarettes is heady, wallpaper is peeling off the wall, and the ceiling is full of water stains. Even the bed they were on was full of scratchy sheets and was hardly comfortable. She spots the door, but momentarily fears what awaits them on the other side of it.

She doesn't know where they are, but she knows that Archie must have kidnapped them.

"He took my trainer's belt!" Paul rasps.

Oh, no . . . they can't leave their Pokémon behind. Dawn's hands fly to her waist, but nothing is there. Her hands search her pockets. Empty. Archie must have stripped them both of their Pokéballs and belongings.

Her eyes search the room once more until she sees their backpacks in the corner of the room, atop a dresser.

She steps forward to retrieve them, but the door flies open to reveal Giratina himself. The sudden movement startles her into taking a step back, right into Paul, who then holds her by the shoulders to steady her.

They should be more concerned about the man in front of them, but she cannot help herself. "I didn't realize you were so passionate about the RageCandyBars," Dawn whispers to him, as she moves to stand side-by-side with him.

"I was hoping I would be rewarded with free RageCandyBars for life," he mumbles flusteredly, as blood rises to his cheeks.

"What?" If she and Paul were currently not hostages of the ex-boss of Team Aqua, she would belt out a laugh at his naivety.

Archie chooses to step forward at that moment, and suddenly, the mirth has vanished. He scratches the back of his head awkwardly. "Apologies for makin' ye scamps talk a caulk. Didn't wanna do it, but yer said me name. We ain't the bad guys anymore, but couldn't risk exposure, ye see." He steps to the side to reveal another man in the room.

Paul identifies him immediately.

"Maxie?" His voice is a murmur, but Dawn still catches it.

"No way, from Team Magma?" Her voice is a whisper this time, ensuring not to make the same mistake that got them into this mess in the first place.

Maxie does not say anything. Instead, he examines Dawn for the longest time, searching her face intently. His eyes are trained on her, like she's an experiment waiting to be performed on, and it makes her uncomfortable.

Perhaps, Paul understands, as he takes her hand within his.

Archie rubs his jaws roughly with his palm. "Yer caught ye'self a good lad, lassie. I was only expectin' him to hang the jib and cry, but he got a right hook better than me old metal one!" He lets out a hearty laugh. "Wanted to put up a real fight. Got 'em Pokéballs out, too."

Paul tried to physically fight this giant mountain of a man? Her eyes flit to him as she tries to examine him for any injuries and he squeezes her hand reassuringly. He seems fine, thankfully, but she will have to ask him later, once they're out of here.

The question remains, though, how are they going to get out of here?

"Can we leave now?" Paul asks point-blank.

Dawn wonders if he has lost it, but to her surprise, Archie purses his lips and nods. "Aye. Yer free to set sail."

Before they have a chance to rejoice that they're getting out of here, let alone even think about moving, Maxie takes his eyes off Dawn and turns to Archie. "No!" he suddenly snaps, raising a palm in the air. "She's perfect!"

"Excuse me?"

"Um, yeah . . ." Dawn butts in, unable to hold back her surprise at Paul taking the words out of her mouth, "excuse us?"

Archie grunts. "What's goin' through yer head now, landlubber?"

"You picked up these strays," Maxie scoffs, "might as well make use of them before letting them back out into the wild. Now . . ." He points a finger at Dawn's hair, taking a step forward. "You! Take off the beanie!"

"Uh . . ." The fingers of her free hand twitch, and she slowly lifts them up to her head.

"Don't take it off, Dawn," Paul orders, squeezing her hand holding his once again.

But she takes the beanie off her head anyway. "It's okay, Paul," she reassures softly. They have her, Paul, and their Pokémon hostage, and taking off her beanie seems harmless enough. She closes her eyes and silently prays that, Arceus forbid, he just doesn't ask her to take anything else off . . .

"You resemble a Magma Grunt so closely, it's uncanny."

Her eyes fly open, and she realizes that she has been squeezing poor Paul's hand off. She gently releases her grip on his hand. "Huh?" That is the last thing she expected to come out of his mouth. "Is that supposed to be an insult?"

"Ah!" Archie's eyes sparkle with recognition. "Yer sayin' this fair maiden here would be the key to our cunning plan?"

"Yes!"

"Hold on. What are you guys talking about?"

Paul warily crosses his arms over his chest. "What plan?"

"Let her pose as a humble Neo Magma landlubber, blendin' with the crew, all the while plottin' to pilfer that precious orb from under their very noses."

Paul and Dawn share a knowing look. Neo Magma?

"And why would I do that for you?" Her eyes narrow and her nostrils flare in contempt. "Stealing is illegal!"

Maxie exhales sharply. "Not that you would believe us, but we are on the side of the law. Neo Magma must be stopped, and the only way to do so is to steal the blue orb from them."

Paul wants none of it. "Are you insane?" he thunders. "Who knows what they'll do to Dawn if she's caught? We barely escaped Neo Team Magma the last time!"

"These Sinnohans," Maxie begins muttering to himself, shaking his head, "always so rambunctious and fast. Just like Archie's officer comrade."

Dawn perks up. Officer? He is not referring to Looker, is he?

Archie sighs and rolls his eyes. "Listen, lad. We ain't tryna put the lassie in danger. We just need her to go to the Harbor and grab the loot from 'em landlubbers before it sails to the new headquarters. 'sides, I saved ye once already, haven't I? If her cover's blown, I'll be around, waitin' to teach 'em scurvy dogs a lesson."

Before Paul can object again, Dawn tugs on his arm and whispers, "I think Archie and Maxie are the trump card Looker was talking about. We owe it to him to help. And even Archie's saved us once before, so shouldn't we return the favor?"

Paul lets out a groan, before pointing to the suitcase where Archie pulled out a female grunt uniform. "Archie, do you have a male uniform in there?"

"Wait . . . what are you doing?" she questions, suddenly wary.

"I'm coming with you," he answers, as if it is the most obvious conclusion.

Maxie clasps his hands together in delight. "Excellent!" he hisses.

.

"Aww, man! I was hoping for some more excitement than that!" Dawn laments, as they run back with Archie to the Lily Cove Motel.

"What is wrong with you?" Paul counters back, unable to keep the disbelief out of his voice. "We don't even have our Pokémon on us!"

Their heist turns out to be quite uneventful.

Archie, donning a ridiculous hat over his head and a coat much too thick for the Hoenn sun, escorts them to the Lilycove Harbor. He provides them with a decoy orb, which Dawn hides under her uniform jacket, and a key he stole from that night in the Rusturf Tunnel, informing them that as per his intel, the orb should be in a locked crate.

They enter the harbor port mostly unnoticed. The Neo grunts do not suspect them one bit. Most of their adventure consists of quietly rummaging through the piles and piles of crates - which thankfully do well to hide them - unlocking the one locked crate, switching the orbs, and tucking the real one safely under Dawn's uniform before exiting the harbor and discreetly handing it to Archie.

Dawn is bummed about the lack of action on their end, but Paul is relieved they did not get caught and made it in one piece.

When they finally make it through the motel room door, Dawn ignores whatever Maxie greets them with and sprints to the bathroom to practically tear the itchy uniform off. How do the grunts wear these all day? She could design and make much better uniforms than this.

When she exits the bathroom, she sees that Paul has also changed into his usual clothing. Maxie stands by the door with their backpacks and trainer's belts, which they take back eagerly. Dawn cannot stop the flood of relief that spreads through her when her trainer belt is buckled back onto her waist. She missed her Pokémon way too much.

"What is wrong?"

Maxie's question prompts Dawn's eyes to flit to Paul, who is frowning at the two men.

"It's hard to imagine the former heads of Team Magma and Aqua working together, even if it's for the greater good."

Maxie smirks, crossing his arms over his chest. "It wouldn't be the first time."

"Aye! Maxie and I, we sailed together as comrades." Archie's eyes shine in reminiscence."We were part of a crew devoted to preservin' the environment, protectin' the beauty of the land and sea alike. But alas, fate took a twist, and Maxie turned from a true sailor to a landlubber! Oh, the tales we could tell of our days as environmental stewards on the briny deep."

"Those days started our rivalry." Maxie's grin is twisted, and it makes Dawn shudder. "Now, it's your turn, Archie. Neo Magma was a greater threat, but you must convince Neo Aqua to cease their nonsense."

Archie is about to open his mouth, but freezes. His eyes slowly move to look at Paul and Dawn, who suddenly realize they are intruders in a private conversation.

He takes big steps and crosses over the room to them. He then reaches into his coat pocket and shoves something into Paul's hands.

"Scram, little scamps," is the last thing Dawn hears before she and Paul are pushed out of the hotel room.

As the door slams behind them, she peers over to see what Archie gave him moments ago.

Paul turns over the foil-covered rectangle in his hands. "A RageCandyBar!" he exclaims in awe.

The excitement in his voice surprises Dawn, and she lets out a giggle. "Why are you so obsessed with them anyway?"

He rolls his eyes. "It's not a crime to like candy, Dawn."