4. Of Training and Pokemon

"You made quite the splash there." Brawly's booming laugh reverberates throughout the gym, where he and Paul have just finished their battle. "My Pokémon and I had a lot of fun."

Paul bows respectfully. "Thank you for battling me again." He knew that Brawly was a strong trainer, since his Hariyama was able to put up with the Metagross for a while, but he didn't realize how tough it was going to be to beat. Thankfully, he had trained up his Pokémon enough. (Though, since Dawn has started feeding them poffins, they've gotten stronger somehow.)

"Dawn," Steven begins, causing her to turn to him. "It was nice to chat with you during Paul and Brawly's gym battle. Best of luck on your contests. The next one is in Rustboro City."

Dawn is thoughtful for a moment before she smiles graciously. "Thank you so much, Steven! And likewise. Good luck on your championship battle against Wallace!"

Paul wishes him the same before they all say farewell to each other, and Paul and Dawn begin walking away from the gym.

"I'll see you two very soon," Steven tells them cryptically as they wave goodbye, confusing both Dawn and Paul as they briefly share a look of confusion.

.

They walk back to the Pokémon Center together – Paul is silent as Dawn tells him and Piplup what she has learned from talking to Steven while they were watching Paul and Brawly's battle.

" . . . and, even though he lives in Hoenn, he has a villa in the Resort Area in Sinnoh. He has told us that we are welcome there anytime!"

"Did he say why he was in Sinnoh?" Paul asks, surprising both Dawn and Piplup that he has spoken.

Dawn purses her lips in thought. "He didn't say why, but I'll bet it's because he collects rare stones, and Mount Coronet and Stark Mountain must be full of them!"

"Steven is a stone collector, huh," he murmurs to himself, as his eyebrows furrow. "Makes sense."

"What do you mean?" she questions.

His eyes harden. "Mega stones and key stones are incredibly rare to find. As a stone collector, that is how he must have found his own."

"Oh, yeah!" Dawn blurts out. "What was that about, anyway? Mega evolution?! That's really a thing?"

"Hmph, what kind of pathetic question is that? You were there for the battle. You saw it yourself. It is a thing." He looks away and crosses his arms. "But I suppose you wouldn't get it. You're a coordinator, after all," he sneers.

Dawn feels irritation rise within her. "And what's that supposed to mean?" she says furiously, as Piplup angrily twitters with her.

"It means exactly what I said."

Her face takes on an incredulous look. "You've got to be kidding me!" Why does he think so immaturely when it comes to coordinators? "A coordinator is not weaker or more uninformed than a battling trainer, and I'm going to show you it!" She slowly begins backing away from Paul.

She looks once at Piplup, who nods back at his trainer and jumps into the space between the two humans.

"I challenge you to a contest battle!" she exclaims, a finger pointed at him. "A single contest battle, one-on-one."

He stares at her blankly for a moment, with his arms still over his chest. "I'll pass," he finally responds.

Dawn places her hands on her hips and shakes her head. "Nuh-uh. You're the one that asked for my help, Mister, so, consider this our first contest training session!"

Paul purses his lips and then sighs as he pulls out a Pokéball. "Fine. Froslass, standby for battle!" He calls his Pokémon out, who cries out and gracefully hovers over the field. "You can go first."

Dawn's breath hitches. "Alright, Piplup, use Bubble Beam!" she instructs immediately.

Piplup leaps into the air. "Pip – lup, lup, lup!" he cries out, as a stream of bubbles release from his beak, which glows a light blue.

"Protect!" Paul shouts, causing Frostlass's body to radiate gold, while a green force field appears around its lithe body. It effectively blocks the Bubble Beam and dissipates soon after the attack wears out.

"Use Shadow ball!" he orders next, causing Dawn to reel back in surprise. Paul is relentless in battle, it seems, unafraid to order an attack after another – though, she should have probably known that from his battles with Ash, and from their battle against her and Conway in the Hearthome Tag Battle Competition.

"Cut through it with Drill Peck!"

Dawn's choice of command takes Paul by surprise, but Frostlass is much faster, so the Shadow Ball hits before Piplup has a chance to start preparing his beak for attack, and the impact forces him to the ground.

"No, Piplup!" Dawn frets after hearing him groan out in pain, worrying for her Pokémon's health. Froslass is insanely fast. "Are you okay?"

"Pip, piplup!" Piplup, though evidently has taken damage, stands up and puffs his chest out, flippers on his hips.

Paul decides he won't wait around for Dawn and Piplup and waste an opportunity to strike. "Shadow Punch!"

"Fros, froslass!" Froslass immediately aims for Piplup, her hand encased in a purple shadow.

Dawn gasps in surprise, looking back at the field. "Oh, no! Piplup, Headbutt!"

"Lup!" Piplup jumps towards Froslass, his head ramming into her fist, but Froslass is stronger, and Shadow Punch has more of an impact. It sends Piplup flying into the air, and then he crashes back onto the ground.

Things aren't looking good at all for Dawn. Piplup has already taken much damage so quickly into the battle, and she hasn't gotten a chance to even show some contest moves to Paul.

Wait a minute . . .

Paul has been taking an offensive battling approach and is only concentrated on attacking Piplup, Dawn realizes with a start. Why? This is a contest battle, and she knows that he is well aware of that. Is he only treating this battle as a demonstration, just choosing to watch her battling style carefully, rather than trying to craft his own style?

Or maybe he doesn't want to make a fool of himself as a beginner.

"Paul," she shouts across the field, grabbing his attention, as he looks up at her, "contest battling isn't about trying to beat your opponent's Pokémon, but about showing your Pokémon off with their moves. Though you can show off your Pokémon's power, what matters most is their strength and beauty. The point is to show how you can bring it out in a battle. It is not just a battle, but also a performance. Your Froslass is the star of the battle, and she has to shine through."

He regards her for a moment with his determined, piercing eyes, before giving a curt nod. "Froslass, use Icy Wind and wave it around with your arms!" he orders.

Froslass obeys waves her arms in the air, swaying back and forth as ice swirls around her and Piplup. It is gentle at first, but suddenly, Piplup grunts as he is buffeted back by the wind, while Froslass is unaffected. Paul silently watches and ignores it, but Dawn, holds back a shudder. However, she also marvels at how the tiny shards of ice make Froslass's body twinkle and gleam through the icy gust, and understands what Paul is trying to do – make her shine through.

She also cannot help but find Icy Wind slightly refreshing in the hot weather.

As soon as she thinks it, though, Froslass and Paul seem to realize it as well, since the ice begins to melt and create a revitalizing, windy mist.

"Damn the Hoenn sun," he swears underneath his breath, realizing that the weather is not in his favor and that it is too warm to sustain the Icy Wind – he misses Sinnoh's cold temperatures and should have thought twice before summoning Froslass for an outdoor battle.

With Paul and Froslass inattentive because of the weather conditions skewing their attack, Dawn has a perfect opportunity to strike; however, she chooses not to, as to observe how Paul responds to a situation like this – after all, she has been asked to teach him, and, as he is at the beginner stage, giving him space to craft and adapt is best. Piplup seems to sense this, too, because he joins Dawn in watching them quietly.

"Fros?" Froslass looks at her trainer hesitantly.

"We're not backing down," Paul promises his Pokémon. "Use Frost Breath!"

Froslass blows the sparkly, cold, frigid air from her mouth towards Piplup. The shards of ice attack Piplup, more beautifully, but also more powerfully than Dawn might have thought. A critical hit.

She shivers as she feel the frosty air hit her exposed arms and legs as well.

Bewildered that it didn't thaw from the hot temperature, she questions, "Why didn't Frost Breath melt into mist like Icy Wind?!"

"The temperature of Froslass's breath is -58 degrees," Paul replies back, a smirk playing on his lips, as he crosses his arms and leans back in satisfaction. "Icy Wind failed because the Icy Wind was produced from waving her arms rather than her freezing breath like Frost Breath."

Dawn exhales. Though she is happy to see that Paul was able to turn things around in his favor, when the Icy Wind failed, it's time to end this battle. "Piplup, use Whirlpool!"

But Piplup is slow to respond, most likely due to the effects of Frost Breath, and does not immediately create the whirlpool like Dawn hoped. By the time he has formed the vortex, Paul calmly commands, "Dodge it," to his Froslass, who floats away with ease.

"Grr," Dawn growls in frustration.

"Time to put an end to this – Froslass, Signal Beam!"

"S-Signal Beam!?" Dawn exclaims, her eyes trained at the ice crystals on Froslass's head that now glow purple and form a rainbow ball of energy. But that's a bug type move! There is no time to dwell on it, though, as Froslass is about to attack. "Piplup, quick, spin and use Bide!" She waves toward Froslass.

Paul's eyebrows furrow in uncertainty, the smug look on his face dropping and his hands falling back to his sides. "What?"

"Pip, lup!" Piplup runs on his webbed feet to pick up momentum, as his body glows, outlined in white, before breaking into a spin, barely dodging Froslass's rainbow beam of light. As he spins, with his eyes clenched closed, his bide allows him catch ahold of some of the signal beam. Rings of iridescent light loop around his body as he spins.

"It's beautiful!" Dawn cries out.

Even Paul gapes at the sight. "Amazing," he breathes, awe-stricken by Piplup's strength and beauty – he is beginning to understand what Dawn has been trying to convey to him now.

"Do it!" she interjects, a fist clenched near her erratically beating heart. The adrenaline pumps through her veins, making her feel as if she is buzzing with anticipation – she hasn't felt this way since the Grand Festival and has truly missed this feeling.

This breaks Paul out of his stupor. "Frostlass, dodge it!" he bellows, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice.

But it's too late. Piplup's eyes snap open and he jumps into the air, releasing the rainbow beam from the Bide at Froslass.

"Froslass, no!"

"Lass!" the opposing Pokémon shrieks, the force of the attack shunting her ferociously into the grass. As a result of the impact, dirt clouds begin to swirl around her, which cloak her from Paul and Dawn's visibility.

"Froslass, get up!" Paul urges in a shout.

Piplup lands on his feet unsteadily, the grass beneath him giving in with a slight crunch as he heaves, weakened by the brunt of biding that Signal Beam. He, too, silently waits for the haze to clear up.

And when it does, Froslass is revealed to be knocked-out cold.

Piplup and Dawn turn to look at each other with open-mouthed gapes, and then break out into smiles as Piplup jumps into her arms. "You were so amazing, Piplup!" she praises, lifting him up in the air, as he cheers happily. "Thank you!"

Paul, on the other hand, feels as if the wind as been knocked out of him. He stares dumbly at the scene unfolding in front of him – Dawn and Piplup celebrating their victory, as Froslass lies on the ground in front of him. After a moment, he shakes his head and pulls out Froslass's Pokéball, before kneeling down and patting her ice-cold head lightly.

"You did well," he murmurs quietly to his fainted Pokémon, much to the surprise of Dawn, who turns to him with watchful eyes. He holds the Pokéball near Froslass. "Now, return."

This causes a gentle smile to spread across Dawn's face. "You and Froslass did a great job. The Icy Wind was a great way to show off Froslass's strength and beauty, and when it failed, you bounced back quickly with Frost Breath. How does she know Signal Beam, by the way? I thought that was a Bug-type move."

"Reggie was able to teach it to Froslass," he answers simply, before bowing at her respectfully. "It was a great battle. Using Bide in such a way was clever." He rises up to look at her with sincere eyes. "I learned a lot. Thank you."

Dawn is taken aback by his show of respect. "Y-You're welcome." She's about to tell him that he doesn't need to bow to her in thanks, and that she is happy to show him contest battling anytime, but her stomach interrupts her from speaking as it grumbles very, very loudly.

Paul smirks. "It's nearly noon. Let's go back to the Pokémon Center and get lunch."