Happy New Year! Thanks to those who left kind words on the last chapter and thank you to everyone else for reading! I always thought the Female Magma Grunt sprite from ORAS looked a bit like Dawn, and it became the inspiration for the Neo Teams plotline in this story.

Also, if you haven't seen it already, I have started a new short ikarishipping story called "Waltz of the Clefairy," on Ao3. (It is Rated Explicit, hence it is not on FFN, sorry!)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one. It's probably a little OOC, but it brought me back to the days of 12 year old Turnabout watching the DP anime and imagining fanfiction ideas in her head (more on that in the end notes), so this was a fun one to write!

11. Of Jealousy and Rivalry

Before the finals of the Lilycove Contest, Ursula approached Dawn in the fitting room.

"Let's make ourselves a little deal, Deedee." She folded her arms over her chest and smirked. "You win, and you can ask for whatever, but if I win, I steal your cute little traveling partner."

A growl escaped Dawn's lips. She was surprised by her own strong reaction, possessive. Of course, they both knew it was on Paul to decide from himself, but it did not stop them from fighting it out.

But now, Ursula is the one growling in the empty lobby, stomping her foot like a petulant, spoiled brat.

"It's unfair!" she cries, uncharacteristic of her usual calm, smug nature. "You rob me of my fifth victory in the Hoenn circuit, and you get to keep your close traveling partner."

Dawn wonders about Ursula's intentions with Paul - does she actually have an interest in him, or was the purpose of her bet just to break Dawn down?

Dawn blushes at another thought and begins to think how close indeed she and Paul are to each other.

"Congratulations on your victory, Dawn." His gaze softens, and Dawn finds it striking how easy it is to stay looking into his eyes. "It was well-deserved."

Paul addresses Ursula for the first time. "Paul." He introduces herself with a nod. Dawn is secretly gleeful that he doesn't add any pleasantries to it.

Ursula gapes at Paul for a moment and . . . blushes, before collecting herself. Instead of answering him, she turns to Dawn and sighs wistfully. "Your luck doesn't seem to run out these days, Deedee."

Dawn shakes her head, almost amazed at how thick Ursula's skull is. "One of these days, you'll see it's far from luck - it's the hard work of me and my Pokémon and the support of my friends and family." She is proud at how calmly she is carrying herself.

"Yes . . ." Ursula's eyes darken as they flicker to Paul briefly. "I'm slowly beginning to see the effects of your support system."

Dawn feels like her cheeks are going to burst into flames. She peeks at Paul but thankfully, he seems confused at Ursula's insinuation.

Ursula simply shrugs. "Until next time then." Without waiting for a response, she promptly turns around and walks away.

"What was she going on about?" Paul questions, once Ursula leaves, taking a step closer to Dawn.

Dawn waves it off. "Oh, you know how rivalries go," she says airily, hoping he doesn't read too much into it.

He narrows his eyes at her but thankfully doesn't press it any further. "Sure, Deedee."

She huffs. "Out of all of the people, the last person I need to call me Deedee is you.'

Paul cannot hold back his smirk. "What are you going to do about it?" he taunts, taking a step closer towards her.

But a voice interrupts whatever reply Dawn is about to give him.

"I didn't believe it when Barry told me."

Dawn and Paul turn to the source of the voice.

"Oh, it's Kenny!"

Before Paul can feel irritation at the intrusion of the boy he knows as Dawn's rival, another voice booms into the room.

"Hey, lassy! Great job out there!"

"Aah!" Kenny is trampled down to the ground with a thud as Archie marches into the dressing room.

Paul resists the urge to let out a chuckle.

Dawn gasps. "Oh, no, Kenny!" she cries out, but before she can move towards him, Archie's eyes widen and he whirls to help Kenny up.

"Oh! Sorry, lil scamp. Didn't see yer there."

Maxie, who has trailed in behind Archie, lets out a grunt in disapproval. "Was it necessary to run backstage, Archie?" he rebukes. "We're drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves."

Dawn blinks. "Um, what are you two doing here?"

Archie grins wolfishly. "Couldn't afford to miss the future generation setting sail towards the voyage of progress. We wanted to watch yer performance in the contest."

It seems Dawn is surprised that Maxie does not object to his statement. Instead, Maxie quietly nods. "Thank you for your help."

After Archie and Maxie bid the pair adieu and leave the dressing room, Paul notices Kenny is ready to fire off again.

"Deedee, I can't - "

"Hold your breath," Paul quickly interrupts, his voice terse. "Dawn needs to change and we need to get out of here."

Kenny grouses under his breath, as Dawn agrees and heads to the locker room to change out of her dress.

As Paul stands in tense silence with Kenny, his mind begins wandering to Kenny and Dawn's relationship.

Dawn comes out of the dressing room shortly after.

Paul steps toward Dawn. "I know I said it earlier, but you were wonderful out there. Congratulations, again." His eyes quickly flicker to Kenny, satisfied to see his face puckered up into a frown.

Yeah, Paul is laying it on a little thick. Even Dawn must know the word "wonderful" is not in his dictionary, but he wanted to gauge Kenny's reaction.

"Yeah, congrats, Deedee! You were great out there," Kenny adds quickly, coming closer as well.

Dawn's cheeks redden. "Oh stop it, you two. You're making me blush." So, maybe she did not notice what Paul was trying to do after all.

His suspicion is confirmed when they walk out of the Contest Hall and head towards the Pokémon Center, as Paul hides back a smile when Dawn grumbles, "Wonderful," next to him.

Kenny, who walks ahead, slows his pace so he can be next to Dawn as well. "Hey, I have a bone to pick with you, Deedee."

There is that nickname again. Deedee. The alias seems to get a rise out of Dawn sometimes, so Paul is sure it was not coined out of fondness; but considering Dawn, Kenny, and Ursula are all from Twinleaf Town, there seems to be some childhood affiliation to it. He makes a mental note to ask Dawn about it later.

"Huh? What's up?"

"You said you were going to cheer Ash at the Sinnoh League! But now, you're here, traveling with the guy who lost to Ash, even when I asked you to travel with me? That's not fair, Dee Dee!"

"Kenny, Paul's - "

Paul smirks. "She's here with me."

"Oh, so, is she here because you lost to Ash?"

Paul's stormy eyes blaze in fury. A flash of some indescribable emotion rushes through Dawn as he nearly growls, "She's here with me because she wants to be!" It reminds her of the possessiveness she felt when Ursula set forth that bet yesterday before the finals.

They are suddenly in each other's faces.

"I challenge you to a battle! Winner gets Dawn to travel with them!" Kenny smirks, leaning back. "Of course, that will be me, since you'll be easy to beat, anyway. I was able to beat Ash before, and if he beat you, this should be no problem, right, Empoleon?" He turns to his Pokémon, who cries out its name in agreement.

Paul grits his teeth. "You're on."

Dawn slides in between the two, extending her palms up to both sides. "Oh, no. There will be no battling tonight. I'm starving, and if I don't get to eat right now, it won't be a Pokémon on that battlefield kicking your butts!"

"That's fine! Tomorrow morning. You and me, Paul," Kenny adds quickly.

"Not again!" Dawn whines, as her rival sprints away from them and towards the Pokémon Center. She turns to Paul, hands on her hips. "What's this all about?" she demands. She can understand Kenny's childishness, but Paul, too?

Paul raises an eyebrow. "Oh, you know how rivalries go," he mocks. So, he hasn't let go of yesterday's exchange with Ursula.

"That's different," she snaps. "Ursula's been my rival, and so has Kenny. How did my rival become yours when you've barely known him a day? And you can't bet over me like this! I'm not going to – " Dawn breaks off and suddenly shrieks as Paul grabs her arm and pulls her close to him, so that his mouth can hover over her ear.

"What - "

"No need to worry," he tells her. Dawn shivers at the sudden proximity to realize he stole her catchphrase again. "I'll win, and then you'll be able to go with whomever you want to go with." She can almost feel his smug smile. "Though I'd hope you would save yourself the trouble of choosing to go off with him."

She is unable to do nothing but nod dumbly. He is so, so close to Dawn that she's holding her breath, and she feels light-headed . . .

"Good." His hot breath washes over Dawn's cheek, causing the blood to rush up there. Was he talking in her ear because Kenny's nearby . . . or because he's not nearby?

"Also . . . you're wrong about Kenny," he says softly. Cohesion slowly returns to Dawn as he pulls back.

She blinks, still a little disoriented and confused by the mild attraction to Paul she just felt. "W-Wrong how?"

Paul looks back at the Pokémon Center, casting a shadow over half his face. "Kenny became a rival the moment he tried to stake a claim on you," he says darkly. "It's been barely a day, but he is trying to steal my traveling partner away from me. That makes him a rival."

Paul must admit, Kenny is interesting to infuriate.

He takes note of Kenny's movement around Dawn all night - when she moves, he stumbles after her. It is not in a gravitational or symbiotic way, but in a lost Lillipup way.

He does not find himself taking a liking to Kenny, apart from their new rivalry. His body language is often defensive every time Paul purposefully engages with Dawn, and he takes note of it for his battle with the boy tomorrow.

On a normal night, Paul might be irritated at the fact that the Pokemon Center has only one room available for them, meant to be shared with up to 4 people, but Kenny's sour face is enough to make up for it.

It gets even better, though, when they walk into the room to reveal two bunk beds.

"I call top bunk!" Dawn cries out, as she pushes past Paul and Kenny to run into the room and practically leap up to the top level of one of the beds. This is nothing new to Paul, as, during the rare occasions they have to share a room with a bunk bed, she always claims the top.

But before Kenny can run to claim the bed below Dawn, Paul springs into action. In a very uncharacteristic move, he immediately slings his bag off his back and chucks it onto the bunk beneath hers.

Dawn giggles sweetly, unaware, which stops Kenny from opening his mouth to protest. "Lucky you, Kenny! Poor Paul never gets a choice with me, but at least you get to pick the top or bottom bunk, huh?"

But Paul did get his choice, even if Dawn does not realize it.

"Yeah," Kenny grumbles back, albeit a little more cheerful, as he moves to climb onto the opposing top bunk. "At least, I can be up here with you."

Paul holds back a snort. The two bunks are on opposite sides of the room.

Regardless, a part of him cannot help but relish the jealousy radiating off of Kenny for the rest of the night.

The next morning, Kenny is up early, impatient to fight Paul.

Dawn wakes up at 10AM to see Kenny sitting at the table in the room.

She lets out a quiet, "Oh, brother."

By the time she gets ready and steps out of the bathroom, Kenny is practically vibrating in the chair, his eyes trained on Dawn.

"C'mon, Deedee," he moans. "It's already almost 11 o'clock! When are we gonna battle if I don't wake him up now?"

"Shh!" Dawn sharply glares at Kenny, before her gaze softens at the sight over his shoulder.

A sleeping Paul is nestled into his covers in the bottom level of their bunk bed.

"Kenny," she chides in a whisper, "let him sleep. He's been training so hard for the Mossdeep Gym."

Kenny appears crestfallen, and guilt pricks at Dawn. Of course, with their newfound rivalry, Kenny must be excited to battle Paul, even if she thinks they're both acting stupid.

Determined to cheer him up, Dawn takes a seat at the table. "So, what have you been up to these days, Kenny?" Her voice is soft, in hopes Paul will not hear her and arouse from his sleep.

Kenny beams at her. "I'm actually traveling to Kalos to try my hand at Pokémon Performing for Pokémon Showcases. I wanted to stop by Hoenn on the way and found you guys when I saw you participate in the Lilycove Contest."

"Huh . . . What are Pokémon Showcases?" The name reminds her of contests.

Kenny shrugs. "Honestly, I'm not sure, but I've heard they are similar to contests. Kalos has recently started allowing males to sign up for Pokémon Showcases, too, so I want to try it.

"Kalos, huh?" The region holds some familiarity to Dawn, but it is not memorable enough. She only visited Kalos as a child, during her parents' attempt to have her explore her paternal roots. "That's great, Kenny!" She injects as much enthusiasm as she can into her voice, but the memory of her father in her childhood days overpowers her thoughts. "I think I'd like to travel through the region someday soon."

Kenny's eyes widen as he suddenly seems to remember something. "Oh yeah! How'd ya start traveling with Paul anyway? I didn't realize it when I watched the Rubello Town Contest until Barry mentioned it to me later."

Broken out of her trance, Dawn explains how they ran into each other on the ship ride to Slateport City, meeting Cynthia in Unova, and Paul's motivation to start traveling with her to prepare for the Rubello Town Pokémon Contest. They go back and forth on the contest for a bit, including Barry's last minute preparations and Dawn's new Key Stone.

Right as Kenny tells Dawn that she is fully deserving of the Rubello City Contest ribbon and the Key Stone, Paul rouses from his sleep and stretches himself upright with a yawn.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Dawn teases.

Paul scratches the back of his head absentmindedly. "You're the one who should be exhausted from yesterday's contest, not me." His voice is thick with sleep. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You deserved a nice rest after all your training."

After a late breakfast, Kenny and Paul agree that it is time to battle, much to Dawn's exasperation. As they make their way to the battlefield behind the Pokémon Center, a memory suddenly strikes Dawn.

"It must be weird to cheer for both sides," she remembers telling Barry at the Lily of the Valley Conference.

"Yeah, pretty weird!"

"Yeah . . ." She remembers sweat dropping, remembering that she wasn't sure who to cheer for herself, wanting to cheer for both sides herself, after her conversation with Paul that morning.

Kenny is her friend and rival, but Paul has become a bit of a friend to her, too, and she does consider him close to her.

"No pompoms?" Paul quips, breaking her out of her thoughts.

Dawn looks down at her attire reflexively. She chose not to wear the cheerleading outfit today and give anyone the wrong idea. "Thought you hated the pompoms?" She smirks back at him.

Kenny's brows knit together curiously. "Don't tell me you expect Deedee to wear a cheerleading outfit for your battles every time?"

Paul raises an eyebrow at Kenny. "Don't tell me you don't know that Dawn hates being called 'Deedee.' And not at all - she chooses to wear one for my battles."

Dawn sweatdrops and waves her palms out at the two of them. "Now, now you two, there is no need to worry." She chortles nervously, worrying that the battle will not be enough to stop them from killing each other. Geez, are she and Ursula really this bad? "Let's not forget that I have my own brain and if I have a problem, I won't shy away from saying it."

Paul turns and nods dutifully at Dawn. "Of course."

A blush rises to Kenny's cheek as he defensively answers, "Yes, Dawn, I know that, too!"

The battle is one-on-one, with Paul's Espeon versus Kenny's Dragalge - a Pokémon Dawn has never seen before. It starts off in Paul's favor, at least until Kenny and Dragalge, recognizing Espeon's psychic abilities, strategically time Dragalge's moves to release toxic clouds just as Espeon attempts Psychic. The clouds absorb the psychic energy, creating a unique visual effect and neutralizing Espeon's attack.

Paul scowls. "I didn't realize this was supposed to be a contest battle."

Kenny grins back, crossing his arms over his chest. "You beat Barry, but can you beat me?"

"Grr."

The battle goes on for a couple more minutes, with Paul and Kenny taunting each other from time-to-time. By the climax of the battle, both Pokémon are significantly weakened. Dawn, Piplup, Treecko, Empoleon, and Phanpy look on with bated breath.

But at the final leg of the battle, when both Pokémon are to the point of near exhaustion, something very interesting occurs.

Wild Pokémon in the area, drawn by the intense battle, make a brief appearance. A group of Aipom, Linoone, Gloom, and even a Kecleon appear.

"Perfect! Espeon, Psychic," Paul commands.

Dawn, Kenny, and their Pokémon are all horrified as they think Paul has commanded Espeon to attack the wild Pokémon, but when Espeon's eyes momentarily glow red, as well as the wildlife's, nothing happens. At least, until some of the Pokémon grouped at the edge of the battle start acting strange.

Two Aipoms put on a display of acrobatic moves in the treetops, swinging between branches and creating a spectacle. Meanwhile, the wild Gloom releases an Aromatic Mist around Dragalge, creating a calming effect and causing its aggressiveness from battling to quell.

At that moment, Paul commands Espeon to use Psyshock. Kenny tries to command Dragalge to dodge, but it is too distracted by the wild Pokémon to respond.

Kenny is floored. Not floored, he is awe-struck. It might have been a cheap move, but he is too astounded to complain.

"W-Wow," he stumbles out, "that was a weird play, Paul. I didn't . . . wouldn't have . . . who would have thought you could use a Pokémon's psychic abilities like that?"

Dawn, too, is speechless. Hell, everyone is, except for Phanpy, who jumps up and down and cheers happily at its trainer's victory.

Paul shrugs. "It was an illegal move, and, I'll admit, you might have won if I didn't do that." A hint of a smile touches his lips as he takes a step forward towards Kenny. "But I can't afford to lose my travel partner, can I?"

A quiet, "Huh?" slips from Dawn's lips as Kenny slowly smiles back at Paul. "Yeah," he answers back good-naturedly, meeting him in the middle and shaking his hand, in a complete contrast to their antagonistic behavior towards each other.

She and Piplup whip their heads to each other, aghast. What in Mew just happened between those two? Weren't they trying to kill each other before?

"It was a good battle," Paul tells Kenny, as Dawn and their Pokémon move from the log they were situated on to meet the two boys in the middle of the battlefield. "You and your Dragalge put up a good fight."

"Likewise." Kenny moves to retrieve his backpack and calls Empoleon back to its Pokéball. "I should get going."

"Take care." Paul nods.

Dawn frowns. The past few minutes have been such a whirlwind that his departure feels too sudden. "You're leaving already?"

If Dawn doesn't know any better, she would think that Kenny's smile reaches too far into his eyes to mask some feeling of longing. "Yeah, I don't have long before my flight to Kalos, so I want to explore Hoenn for as long as I can." He tilts his head and smiles. "No need to worry, Dawn. Like you said, we have the same dream, and so, we'll meet again."

He extends his palm up to high-five Dawn, which she returns cheerfully.

The scene with Kenny and Paul arguing was the first scene I ever wrote for this story. At the time, when inspiration struck, I thought I would write a oneshot on Dawn and Paul running into each other in Hoenn, and Kenny sees them together and incorrectly assumes they're traveling together and makes that bet with Paul - it was going to end with Dawn and Paul actually deciding to travel together. That, however, brought about so many ideas and scenes, which inspired a minific I began outlining called Safe Travels . . . until it chaotically took a life of its own and became a multi-chapter fic with a 44 page long outline. Whoops.