A New Dream

Strategic Battling: Paul's POV

"Woo! All the trainers and pokemon today have been giving it their all in their battles, oh yeah! We are now in our third preliminary round which will take the current 32 trainers down to 16. Let's see who'll be battling against who!"

I glanced up at the screen, wondering why anyone had thought it would be a good idea to have Professor Kukui as the announcer for the pokemon league. Dawn found me after her second-round battle ended and we watched the remaining battles to see if we could identify anyone we should worry about. I'd never had someone to talk to about my analysis of battles with before and I found that Dawn had done more than just practice since we'd been apart. It was obvious that she studied hard and oftentimes she would insert a comment that made me look at the battle in a completely different way.

While we were talking I noticed several guys glancing over in Dawn's direction and it had felt strangely exhilarating to slip my arm around her waist and glare at them. Dawn hadn't seemed to notice the attention she was garnering, but even so, she moved closer to me and seemed perfectly content with me holding her. When I glanced up at the screen above the bare dirt battlefield we were standing by I didn't see mine or Dawn's pictures on it.

Taking a step back I let my arm fall from her waist so I could take her hand in mine. We walked to the middle of the four fields, so we could see each of the screens, and I frowned when I saw that once again we were in the first round at different battlefields. I didn't bother to look at who my opponent was. Instead, I turned and squeezed Dawn's hand. She glanced over at me with a smile and I wondered if she knew that she had a tiny dimple on her right cheek.

"Don't lose," I ordered gruffly and Dawn rolled her eyes at me.

"Back atcha," she said with another smile. 

Not being able to resist I ruffled my fingers through her bangs, causing her to yelp in annoyance and swat at my hand. I grinned as she ran her fingers through her bangs to get them to lay down prettily again and I waved, turning to go to my battle.

I was once again on a dirt battlefield and I regarded my opponent with interest. He looked a couple of years older than me, and his expression was calm and contemplative. We nodded at each other and the referee announced that I would have to go first. I wanted to raise an eyebrow at the referee since this was the third battle where I had to go first, but I shrugged and unhooked a Pokeball that I hadn't used in battle in a long time.

"Honchkrow, standby for battle!" I called and threw the Pokeball.

Honchkrow burst from the Pokeball and swooped around the battlefield, taking in the size and lack of obstacles before flapping down and taking a position in front of me as I caught the Pokeball that was falling back towards me. The trainer I was battling, who the referee had called Dale, looked at my honchkrow for a few seconds before selecting one of his own pokeballs and silently tossing it. I tried not to let my eyes widen as a huge Salamence burst from his Pokeball and roared intimidatingly. I saw Honchkrow take an involuntary hop backward from the pokemon and I gritted my teeth, realizing that Salamence's ability must be Intimidate and that was going to lower my Honchkrow's attack stat by a stage.

I watched the Salamence closely as it too made a circle around the battlefield before taking his position in front of his silent trainer. My eyes narrowed as I took in the healthy coloring of its skin and wings and I knew that if I didn't come up with a good strategy this was going to be a very difficult battle. Dale glanced over at me and I saw a smug smile cross his lips as if he knew that I knew that I wasn't up against a normal Salamence at all. I returned his smug smile and folded my arms. 

Power means nothing if you don't have a strategy to back it up, I thought silently to myself.

"Battle, begin!" The referee called and I didn't waste any time.