Ash was always surprised by how much of a Contest was taken up by Appeals.

Really, he shouldn't have been by now, because the Appeal round was the one everyone did and the Battle round was the one that only took up five minutes per event so it was over in an hour or so, but it still seemed to creep up on him every time.

"Maybe it's because the battling is the bit I'm more familiar with?" he asked.

"What's that?" Pikachu said.

"Sorry, just thinking," Ash explained. "About how long the different parts of Contests last."

"There's actually a good trick to that kind of thing," Cynthia said. "If all the battles last the same amount of time, the first round of a conventional elimination tournament lasts about as long as every other round put together… that's because every battle sees someone eliminated, and after the first round half the competitors are out."

She waved her hand towards the massive Appeal space for the Wallace Cup, which had both a conventional stage and a swimming pool. "But because there's a lot more than sixteen people competing in this Appeal stage, that's going to take up most of the space."

Ash thought about that.

"So… what about the Pokémon League?" he asked. "The first rounds don't take up loads of time there, compared to the later ones. Do they?"

"That's the problem with a good trick," Cynthia said. "It's based on simplifying things, and sometimes it doesn't work… for example, it assumes the battles will all be the same length."

The latest Coordinator finished his Appeal, one that finished with a Pikipek swooping low over the water and drawing patterns with her wake, and the crowd applauded politely.

Then Koraidon nudged Ash. "Look, it's May's turn!"

"It is," Ash agreed. "Let's see what she's learned… going to guess which Pokémon she's using?"

Koraidon shook her head. "I don't know so I'd probably be wrong," she said. "May's got a lot of Pokémon."

The Pokémon May was using, as it turned out, was Skitty, who came out in a shower of hearts from the seal affixed to her Pokéball.

Skitty bowed to the audience, paw-tail waving as the hearts faded, then used a combination of Magnet Bomb and Swift to trace out a pattern of high-speed stars that curled through loops in the air. That wasn't the last of it, though, because she then redirected the Swift stars out across the pool, following it up with a Magical Leaf attack, and just as the leaves were slowing down May ordered the feline Pokémon into the swimming pool itself.

"I didn't expect that," Pikachu said, as Skitty went diving neatly into the pool. "Don't Skitty hate water?"

"They really do," Max replied. "But remember where we've been living for the last several months."

"And – waterspout!" May called.

There was a whoosh as three Magnet Bombs activated simultaneously, and a plume of water rose to twenty feet into the air – carrying Skitty, who was inside a bright pink bubble of energy which shimmered before popping with a flash.

Skitty waved to the audience again, fur bright and sparkling with electricity, and shook herself out to reveal that her paws were the only thing that had got wet.

"She says wet cat smell isn't very polite," Ralts supplied, trying not to giggle. "So she learned Reflect to not get wet."

"That's an interesting trick," Cynthia said. "What do you think about it, Ash?"

"I guess…" Ash began, trying to get his thoughts in order. "It's one of those things where a Pokémon is good at something because they want to be able to do it. And that means they focus on it more than they'd do if they didn't want to learn something… so they learn it better."

Cynthia nodded.

"That's a good thought," she said. "It might even be right."

"And…" Ash went on. "I guess this is more of an Appeal thing in general, not a specific thing for May's Appeal, but I was thinking about what King Lucario said. About being decisive, but not overdoing anything… and it applies to Appeals too, right?"

He pointed at the arena, where May was being replaced by a Kalosian Coordinator with a Pyroar. "Because, uh… if someone makes a mistake, but keeps going with it, then it can work out better than if they stopped and went back and tried to correct themselves. And that's partly because they convince everyone that that's what they meant to do in the first place, but also it really does look better to do one thing all the way through than to start and stop."

"It's like Pokémon battling," Pikachu said. "Sometimes a mistake is something you need to stop for, sometimes a mistake is a reason to push ahead and keep going."

Then the Pyroar slipped and fell in the swimming pool.

"...and sometimes you just need to admit defeat and try again next time," Pikachu said, as clouds of steam rose from the pool and a very wet Pyroar struggled back out of it.

Dawn came several Coordinators later, and the standard was high. Ash knew she'd had several ideas, but he wasn't sure which idea she'd be using, and even seeing her send out Piplup wasn't enough by itself – Dawn had had several ideas she'd been juggling at once, and a little improvisation wasn't out of the question either.

She began by calling on Piplup to use Whirlpool, then Ice Beam, then a moment later got Piplup to stop using Whirlpool and use it in the other direction instead.

Both Whirlpools cancelled out, sending a spray of ice shards out across the arena floor, and Piplup jumped forwards into a flip before landing on one of the ice shards in a re-created Whirlpool.

The ice shard dissolved into the waterspout, breaking up, then Piplup ended the attack again with a flourish. There hadn't been enough time for the water to melt the ice, but there had been time for Piplup to use a little burst of Ice Beam again, and the fragments of the original ice shard turned into miniature snowballs that flew through the air chased by smoky mist as moisture in the air condensed behind them.

"Interesting," Cynthia said. "Have you noticed it, Ash?"

"I don't know," Ash replied. "I'm not sure what you're thinking of. But… she's not using the pool, is she?"

"Not so far," Cynthia confirmed. "I don't know if she's planning on it later, but… most trainers with a Water-type have been using the pool. Even a lot of trainers without a Water-type. But Dawn's not, and I think it's an interesting choice."

"I'm looking forward to being able to do things like that with ice moves," her Eevee said. "Only, more so."

"Oh, you're going to aim for Glaceon?" Max asked. "I know it took a long time for Espeon to choose what he was going to be… Eevee have more choice than just about any other Pokémon, but Ralts has been thinking about his own choice too."

Eevee nodded.

"I've wanted to be Glaceon for a long time," she said. "Cynthia told me that we'd be doing it when we go north to Lake Acuity, but that it's best not to rush because… um, how did she put it…"

The fluffy little Normal-type nodded to herself. "That's it," she said. "That there were always going to be opportunities to be a Glaceon, but being an Eevee was something that I couldn't go back to, so I should enjoy it while it was happening."

Max nodded.

"Thanks," he said.

"Now I'm jealous," Cynthia chuckled. "You're a lucky boy to be able to understand Pokémon, even if it is with Ralts's help."

Koraidon nudged Ash again, pointing, and as they watched Dawn and Piplup did their finale.

Piplup sprang into the air, Whirlpool running, then cut it out with exact timing – sending out a scatter of ice particles and water droplets, then dropping neatly into Dawn's outstretched hands.

Ash joined in the applause, then as Dawn was leaving the stage and the next Coordinator was coming out Max turned to Ash.

"So… obviously I know who Cynthia is," he said. "Even if she's not quite how I expected her… but what's Dawn like?"

Ash thought about that.

"I guess… at first, she was someone who cared deeply for people, including Pokémon, and was new to being a Coordinator but really excited about it," he said. "Then, when she came back from Hisui, she was…"

He paused, trying to put it into words.

"Still her, but more," he finished. "She's still someone who cared deeply, but she'd experienced a lot in Hisui and she's a lot more confident in who she is. It's like… the difference between being confident something's going to work because you believe in your Pokémon, and being confident something's going to work because you've done it before."

He glanced at the others. "Does that make sense?"

"Yes," Latias said. "I can think of someone else who that applies to, Ash."

"You can?" Ash said, then noticed Latias was pointing at him and flushed slightly.

"She's right," Max told him. "The Hoenn League, the Battle Frontier… they were good for you, Ash. And Sinnoh's been good for you too."

"Thanks, Max," Ash said, softly. "It's kind of hard to notice from the inside, I guess..I just... feel like me."

"It can be hard to notice when your definition for 'me' changes," Cynthia said. "Especially when it's already changed once in a different way."

When the results were announced, both May and Dawn were among the sixteen trainers who'd made it to the Battle Rounds.

Ash was very glad of that, up until he realized there was a chance he'd have to support neither side in one of the upcoming battle rounds.

AN:

Wallace Cup is being split into bits, obviously.