A New Dream

In Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Dawn's POV

"Wow, Dawn, that was amazing!" Leia squealed, glomping me in a hug as soon as I walked into the tent. I laughed and hugged her back while Eevee batted at her light brown bangs. "What was that green firework attack?" she asked, pulling back and grabbing Eevee's paw playfully.

"It's called Natural Gift. When she hatched it was one of her moves, but I've never seen it before either," I explained, and then both of us turned to the TV screen as Keanu's voice rang over the speakers.

"What a daring performance from Dawn! Thank you very much to all of our performers so far. It's time to announce our top four!" 

I felt Leia's hand grasp mine and I squeezed it back, glad that I had found a friend. We both squealed and bounced in a circle when our names were called. The other two girls who had been selected also jumped up with excitement and we all walked out of the tent together, greeted by the cheering crowd.

"Here they are! Our beautiful top four!" The crowd hollered and I heard several cat calls which made me want to roll my eyes. "For the battle rounds we are going to be graced with some exciting double battles! The theme will be 'Beautiful as a Gem' with the theme type being rock," Keanu explained and I felt my confidence evaporate immediately.

Of course the type is rock. I only have one pokemon effective against it and none of my pokemon know any rock type moves. Forgetting about my lipstick I chewed my bottom lip nervously and then immediately let it go, hoping I hadn't messed it up.

"First we'll have Dawn and Trixie compete, then Leia and Maleah will face off. Is everyone excited?" Keanu asked and the crowd cheered. 

Leia patted my shoulder and gave me a thumbs up. I swallowed nervously and forced a smile but as I walked to my side of the stage my thoughts were running thousands of miles a minute. As I turned to face my opponent I was surprised to see that I was up against the girl I had battled in the mud pits. She apparently recognized me as well as she grinned wolfishly at me.

"Time for payback, Cutie. Just because you look hardcore on the outside doesn't mean you're not a weakling on the inside," she jeered while releasing her Machop and a Roggenrola. To my surprise her words actually sparked an idea and I grinned at her.

"We'll see," I replied to her and then released Piplup and Ribombee. 

I could just see Paul rolling his eyes at my choice of Ribombee, but I had a trick up my sleeve that I was banking on to get me through this.

"Performers ready?" Keanu's amplified voice asked and I nodded while Trixie smirked confidently. "Then.... Start!"

"Wait," I instructed quietly, and after a second Trixie pointed at me with a gleam in her eyes.

"Machop, use Rock Tomb on that water type and Roggenrola, use Rock Blast on Ribombee!"

Praying that my idea would work I tried to smile confidently as rocks began forming above Piplup and Roggenrola blasted one medium side rock, then another towards Ribombee.

"Ribombee, use Psychic and catch the rocks," I instructed. 

Immediately Ribombee's eyes began to glow and she lifted her delicate hands in the air. The rocks all around her halted in their paths and I saw Trixie's mouth drop open in shock.

"Move them into a cone shape and start spinning them," I instructed and the rocks began moving away from our side of the stage into the middle and began circling like a jagged cyclone. "Piplup, use Ice Beam to freeze the rocks," I instructed quickly while Trixie was watching in shock. 

With beautiful precision Piplup fired an ice beam at each of the rocks, encasing them in a thin sheet of ice which reflected the lights shining on the stage.