Ash was walking back with a few honey treats in a bag. Meanwhile, on his shoulder, Pikachu and Vee were enjoying a honey bun that Ash bought for them. They didn't even bother trying to be clean; they just ate like this was the first time they had ever tried honey, which it's not. Ash has fed them honey before. These two are liars.
He kept walking toward the Contest Hall, casually swinging the bag in his hand, "At least Dawn's gonna be happy. She was talking about that honey like it was some kinda legendary treasure."
Vee made a happy little noise, apparently agreeing.
"Yeah, yeah. You too." Ash reached up and scratched Vee behind the ears with his free hand.
"Though, honestly, I think you two are more excited about the honey than Dawn is."
Pikachu gave him an offended look.
Ash raised an eyebrow, "What? You know I'm right."
Pikachu crossed his arms.
"Uh-huh," Ash said with a blank look.
Pikachu looked betrayed.
Ash laughed, "Don't worry, buddy. I got plenty."
That seemed to immediately fix Pikachu's mood.
Ash continued toward the Contest Hall, but after a few seconds, he noticed something, "...Huh." They weren't around the front of the Contest Hall, but Ash did a quick Aura search and found them, along with someone else around the side.
He walked around the corner and immediately found Verity standing there with her arms crossed, looking annoyed. Dawn was standing beside her, looking like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole.
Kenny was standing in front of them, still talking while laughing and waving his arms around.
Ash sighed, then walked up, putting on a confused expression, "Did I miss something?"
Dawn's head snapped toward him, and her expression immediately brightened, "Ash!" She immediately hurried over, "You're back!"
Ash held up the bag, "Yep. And I brought the honey."
Dawn's eyes immediately went to the bag, "Really?!"
"Yep."
Her expression brightened instantly, "Yay!"
Ash smiled and looked over to Pikachu, "See? I knew that would work."
Dawn reached for the bag, but Ash raised it up just high enough that Dawn couldn't reach it since she was pretty short, "Not so fast."
"What?" Dawn asked as she tried doing a little hop, but it was just out of her reach.
"You gotta share."
"Obviously!"
"With everyone."
Dawn stared at him, "...Even Verity?"
Verity slowly raised an eyebrow, "Wow."
Dawn immediately realized what she had said, "I-I mean, obviously! I was just asking!" she said, looking embarrassed.
Ash laughed, "Sure you were."
Dawn huffed, but she was already smiling again, "Now give me the bag!"
"Alright, alright." Ash lowered it and handed it over.
Dawn immediately hugged the bag to her chest, "Thank you!"
"Careful, you're gonna crush them."
Dawn quickly loosened her grip, "Oh! Right."
Verity shook her head, amused, "You're really that excited over honey?"
"Yes!"
Ash nodded, "She's been talking about it since we got here."
"I have not!"
"You absolutely have."
Dawn pointed at him, "You are not allowed to make fun of me after you literally bought honey for yourself."
Ash raised an eyebrow, "For myself?"
Ash pointed toward Pikachu and Vee, who were both sitting on his shoulders with honey smeared all over their faces, "For these two."
Pikachu and Vee stopped and put their hands behind their backs, even though their fur was covered in honey.
Ash sighed, "Liars. Both of you."
Dawn giggled as she watched them, "They're not even trying to hide it."
"Exactly!" Ash pointed accusingly at them, "Look at them! They're covered in honey!"
Pikachu and Vee looked at each other, then slowly looked away.
Verity snorted, "They're ashamed."
"No, they're not."
Pikachu shook his head.
Ash stared at him, "You're literally lying again."
Pikachu shrugged.
Dawn laughed, and Ash couldn't help smiling when he saw her. She looked completely different from a few minutes ago. She looked like she was right back to her usual self.
Meanwhile, Kenny was watching, and he saw how quickly she went from being red in the face to back to laughing and smiling again.
Kenny blinked a few times, "Uh…"
Kenny quickly cleared his throat and straightened himself up, "So...who's this guy?"
Dawn looked at him, "Oh! This is Ash."
Ash raised a hand, "Yo."
Kenny looked him up and down for a second, then glanced back at Dawn, "You two traveling together?"
"Yep!" Dawn said immediately.
Kenny paused, "...Oh."
Dawn smiled, "Ash has been helping me with training and stuff."
"Yeah, and I'm also the guy who takes care of pretty much everything else, including the cooking," Ash added.
"Hey, I help," Dawn said quickly.
"No, you make dessert. I do everything else~" Ash said, making Dawn puff out her cheeks, and Verity stayed right out of that one, looking away. She knew full well she had no right getting in that conversation.
Kenny stared at the three of them for another moment, clearly trying to figure out the dynamic.
Ash casually reached into the bag and pulled out a honey bun, holding it out toward Dawn, "Oh yeah, here, try this."
Dawn's eyes lit up, "For me?"
"Yep."
She immediately took it, "Thank you!"
She took a bite and practically melted, "Mmm! Oh my gosh, that's so good!"
Ash grinned, "Told you."
Verity pushed her head in the middle and looked at Ash with a side eye, "And what about me?"
"What about you?" Ash asked, making Verity take a step back before she quickly punched his arm, making him laugh. Then he pulled out one for her, and she happily took it.
Kenny took a few moments to process this, then tried to play it off, leaning back casually, "Wow, Dee Dee. You haven't changed at all."
Dawn flinched mid-bite as soon as he called her that. Then she stopped and realised Ash heard that, "Kenny, stop that! Don't call me Dee Dee!" she said, looking panicked again. She didn't want Kenny to tell Ash the story of that stupid nickname. If he did, he'd never live it down.
Kenny, however, just chuckled, "Still embarrassed by it, huh, Dee Dee?"
Dawn's face went red again, "I literally just told you not to call me that!"
"Yeah, but it's funny."
"No, it isn't!"
Kenny shrugged, "You used to hate it too."
"I still hate it!"
Kenny immediately grinned, then looked over at Ash, "Hey, since you're traveling with her, you should hear what it is. It's a great story."
Ash looked at her for a second before sighing, "Yeah, I'm not interested."
Dawn peeked through her fingers, "Huh?"
Ash shrugged, "I mean, if she doesn't like it, I don't really care about the story."
Kenny stopped and blinked a few times, like Ash saying that was something he couldn't compute.
Ash reached over and gently poked Dawn on the head, "Besides, I already have enough embarrassing stuff on her."
Dawn was still embarrassed but was slowly calming down when she heard Ash reject it. She swiped Ash's hand, "Hey, stop that," but she had a grateful smile on her face now.
Kenny finally snapped out of his trance and quickly tried to recover, "Well, I guess some things have changed since Twinleaf."
Dawn tilted her head, "Like what?"
Kenny smirked again, "You're not following me around anymore."
Dawn blinked, "I never followed you around!"
"You did."
"I did not!"
"And you copied the starter I chose."
"I didn't even know which one you chose."
Verity sighed, "Oh boy."
Ash looked between them, then leaned close to Verity, "Are they usually like this?"
"Unfortunately, Kenny, he likes getting under Dawn's skin, but he kinda takes it too far sometimes," Verity whispered back, and Ash nodded.
Dawn crossed her arms, "Anyway, we should probably get going."
Kenny raised an eyebrow, "Already?"
"Yep."
"But I just got here."
"Yeah, and we're leaving." Dawn huffed.
Kenny laughed, "Still bossy, Dee Dee."
Dawn's eye twitched, then she went over and grabbed Ash and Verity's hands and pulled them behind her as she walked away, pulling them along.
Ash and Verity went along with it, and after a bit Ash asked, "You good?"
"Yep, totally fine," Dawn said quickly.
"Hmmm, sure," Verity muttered, not believing her.
Then Ash looked at Verity and gestured with his one hand. He made a few hand signs and gestured to Verity. Verity understood quickly and shook her head, but Ash smirked and ignored her, then leaned over to Dawn, "So, Dee Dee~"
Dawn flinched and quickly looked at Ash with an embarrassed look on her face, "Ash!"
Ash chuckled as Verity hit him on the shoulder, then he waved his hand, "Sorry, sorry. Couldn't resist, but let's call that payback for when you called me Ashy when we were kids."
Dawn opened her mouth but sighed. She couldn't really argue with that one. Everyone knew Ash didn't really like that nickname, "Fine, but please don't call me that again…it um-"
"Yeah, alright," Ash said before she finished, "If you don't like it, I won't call you that."
"Wait, really?" Dawn blinked.
"Yeah. I might like bullying you, but if it genuinely upsets you, I won't do it. Did you think I would keep calling you that?" Ash asked.
"I mean…" Dawn looked away.
"Your track record," Verity finished.
Ash looked between the two of them with a completely deadpan expression, "Wow, that is actually the most hurtful thing I've heard someone say about me, and I've had people tell me they hate me."
Verity shrugged, "I'm just saying."
Dawn giggled, "She's not wrong."
Ash slowly turned toward Dawn, "Oh, so we're teaming up against me now?"
Dawn smiled innocently, "Maybe."
Ash narrowed his eyes, "Interesting."
Verity immediately looked at Dawn, "You probably shouldn't have said that."
"Why?"
"Because I think you two have had it too good for too long. I've been too nice with you both. From now on, the training wheels are off~" As he said that, Ash reached around and took Dawn's hat, "And I'll start with confiscating this."
"Hey, my hat!" Dawn said as she tried to take it back, but she was too short when Ash put it up high.
"Give it back!"
"Nope."
"Ash!"
Ash grinned as Dawn jumped again, reaching for it, only for him to move it slightly higher, "You know, Dawn, I think you're forgetting something."
"What?"
"You have a contest tomorrow."
Dawn blinked, "Yeah?"
Ash lowered the hat just enough for her to see it clearly, then immediately raised it again when she tried grabbing it, "And I think you should know that this hat is being held hostage."
Dawn stared at him in disbelief, "You're holding my hat hostage?!"
"Yep~"
"Give it back!"
"Hmm..." Ash pretended to think about it, "I don't know."
Dawn crossed her arms, "What do you want?"
Ash smiled, "Win the contest tomorrow."
Dawn blinked, "What?"
"You heard me. You want your hat back?" Ash held it up, "Win tomorrow."
Dawn stared at him for a few seconds before narrowing her eyes, "You're kidding."
"Nope."
"You're seriously making my hat a prize?"
"Yep."
"That's not fair!"
"Neither was what you said. You hurt my very delicate feelings," Ash said dramatically.
Verity folded her arms and watched the two of them, "You know, I feel like you're enjoying this way too much."
Ash nodded, "Absolutely."
Dawn pointed at him, "You're just doing this because you know I want my hat!"
"Exactly."
"That's evil!"
"Thank you."
Dawn groaned and reached for her hat again, but Ash simply held it farther away, "Besides," Ash continued, "you wanted to practice right away, remember?"
Dawn hesitated.
"You said you wanted to get your second ribbon."
Dawn slowly nodded, "Yeah…"
"So there you go. Now you have extra motivation."
Dawn looked at her hat, then back at Ash. She clenched her fists with determination, "Fine! I'll win tomorrow!"
Ash grinned and lowered the hat onto her head, "Good."
Dawn immediately fixed it and sighed in relief, "You are such a pain."
Ash shrugged, "But you're motivated now."
"I was already motivated!"
"Uh-huh."
"I was!"
Verity smiled, "You definitely seem more motivated now."
Dawn puffed her cheeks, "Both of you are annoying."
Ash laughed and started walking again, "Come on. We still have honey to eat."
Dawn quickly followed, "Oh! Right!"
She immediately forgot about being annoyed and hurried after him.
Verity shook her head as she followed them, "That was way too easy."
Ash glanced back at her, "What was?"
"Getting her to forget that she was mad at you."
Ash shrugged, "Honey is powerful."
Dawn nodded seriously, "Very."
Ash smirked, "See?"
Verity laughed, "I can't believe I'm traveling with you two."
Ash looked at her, then smiled, "Speaking of traveling with me…"
Verity immediately stopped, "...No."
Ash blinked innocently, "I didn't even say anything."
"I know that look."
"What look?"
"That look you get right before you decide to ruin my life."
Ash grinned.
Verity slowly backed away, "Ash…"
Ash pointed at her, "Double training for a week."
Verity stared at him in horror.
Ash nodded casually, "Yep."
"WHY?!"
"You know why."
Verity's hand fell, "Yeah, I do…"
Dawn immediately started laughing.
Verity turned toward her in betrayal, "Don't laugh!"
Dawn covered her mouth, but she was still giggling, "Sorry!"
"No, you're not!"
"No, I'm not."
Ash put his hands behind his head and smiled, "Training wheels are off, remember?"
Verity looked like she was about to cry, "I didn't agree to this!"
"Too bad, sucks to suck. Now come on, let's practice," Ash said as he spun Dawn's hat on one finger.
—
{The next day}
The time for the contest came. Dawn got to the hall and changed into her dress, but as she was fixing herself, she stopped and looked at the hairpin she got because Ash said it looked good. It might not have matched with her pink dress, and even still, she put it on.
She took a breath and stepped out into the area where all the other contestants were, and there she saw Kenny also waiting in a green suit.
He looked over and had to take a double take seeing Dawn, while Dawn saw him and, still remembering yesterday, didn't immediately run up to him. She was still grumpy at him.
She walked up and nodded, "So, Kenny, I'm surprised to see you here. Didn't really know you were interested in contests," she said, since yesterday Kenny really didn't get the chance to tell her that he was doing contests.
Kenny quickly got out of his trance and put his nose out, "Really? My match was on TV. Why weren't you watching?" he huffed, like Dawn was obligated to watch all of his matches.
"I was probably busy," Dawn shrugged, "Anyway, I'll see you out there. You better get past the first round so I get the chance to pay you back for yesterday," she said with a smirk, making Kenny blink at her change in personality. This was not like the Dawn he remembered.
But before he could say anything, Marian's voice came through and got everyone's attention, signaling that the performance section was going to start. Then the randomizer quickly went through everyone's faces before stopping on Dawn's.
"Oh, looks like I'm first!" Dawn said happily. She got to her feet and stretched quickly, "Alright, I'm off. See ya," Dawn said as she quickly ran off before Kenny could say what he wanted to say, leaving him right there alone.
Dawn, meanwhile, walked around the back and stepped onstage behind the curtains while Marian was announcing the rules and then announcing her. As she did, Dawn looked at her belt and checked her Poké Balls.
She left Buneary with Ash since she wanted to stay with Pikachu, but because of that, Pachirisu also wanted to stay. Might be for the best since, let's be honest, Pachirisu isn't the best choice for this part. She was too energetic to listen to Dawn's orders, at least for now. Maybe later, when Dawn gets some more experience, she'll be able to control Pachirisu better, but for now, she had a better plan for this one.
She grabbed a ball and put it in a ball capsule before taking a breath and getting ready. After a short moment, the curtains opened and she saw the audience. Dawn stepped forward, going to get in position, and as she did, she looked around for her friends, and it was not hard to find them for one reason.
She saw Ash first because he was currently dressed like a ōendan, wearing a Gakuran with a long white headband and everything. In his hand, he had two glowsticks that he was moving quickly. Next to him was Buneary using pom-poms, and Pikachu and Pachirisu using little sparks as pom-poms. Verity was also right there, but she was covering her face, trying to pretend she wasn't associated with Ash.
And Dawn had to admit, she was a little embarrassed. Yesterday, she told him that he was gonna pay her back with interest after she went all cheerleader for him in the Gym battle. She just didn't think he would do it like that.
But she quickly composed herself and stood in the center, where she looked forward, then threw the ball she had in her hand into the sky, "Let's go, Aipom!"
The ball opened, and from it, a shower of stars flew out, becoming a shower as Aipom appeared in the air and did a triple backflip before landing on her tail with a pose, and immediately the opening got people's attention and applause.
Dawn smiled and puffed out her chest, "Alright, Aipom, it's time to put on a show!"
—
Dawn was looking at the screen, and there her name was at the top with the other top four contestants. She made it onto the next round. After what she and Aipom did, they got much higher than last time.
She still remembered how much Ash cheered for her during that.
Along with her, Kenny got second place, then it was two others, because, you know, that's how math works.
Right now, it was the intermission, and she was sitting in the locker room on her phone. She got a text from Ash, and when she opened it, she saw that it was a picture of him in his full ōendan outfit with Verity under one arm, looking flustered and red in the face.
And the caption of the selfie said, [Good luck out there, remember what this is for!~] with a small picture of her hat attached to it.
Then there was a PS saying, 'By the way, I tried to get Verity in a cheerleading dress. Didn't work, but mark my words, she will wear it even if it's the last thing I do.'
Dawn laughed and kept scrolling, but then she heard footsteps. She looked up and saw Kenny walking over to her.
"Sup, Dee Dee, congratulations on making it to the next round," he said.
Dawn immediately shivered at that name, but took a breath, not wanting to give him the reaction he wanted, "Yeah, and good to see that you made it too, Kenny. That means I get to have my payback."
"We'll see about that. You'll have to get to me first," Kenny said, pointing over to the screen. When Dawn looked over, she saw that the matches were announced, and Dawn and Kenny were on opposite sides, so if they wanted to battle each other, they would both have to win their battles.
Dawn stared at the screen for a few seconds, then smiled, "So if we both win, we get to battle each other?"
Kenny nodded, "Yep."
Dawn's smile slowly turned into a smirk, "Perfect."
Kenny raised an eyebrow, "You're really that confident?"
"Of course I am." Dawn crossed her arms, "I told you yesterday I was gonna get my payback."
Kenny chuckled, "We'll see about that, Dee Dee."
Dawn's eye twitched, "...I'm gonna beat you even harder now."
Kenny laughed, "That's the spirit."
A voice suddenly came over the speakers, announcing that the contestants for the next round should begin making their way toward the stage.
Dawn looked toward the entrance, "That's me."
Kenny nodded, "Guess I'll see you later."
"You better make it."
Kenny smirked, "Oh, I will. You should save the luck for yourself."
Dawn walked away, but after a few steps she stopped and looked back, "Oh, and Kenny?"
"Yeah?"
Dawn pointed at him, "Stop calling me Dee Dee," she said before turning and continuing to walk before Kenny could say anything in response.
As she walked, she reached up and touched the little blue flower pin in her hair, and she calmed down again. She took a breath and slowly smiled. She didn't really know why, but this little flower pin Ash picked out for her made her feel more confident. She didn't know why, but it did.
"Alright," she muttered to herself, "Let's do this."
And she stepped out back onto the field.