I watched him leave (my eyes blurry from the tears that I couldn't stop) until he walked past the adobe home and out of sight. Raising my shaking hands I covered my face with them and took long, calming breaths until my tears stopped. I'd wanted to show Paul that I was strong enough to say goodbye without crying, but that obviously hadn't happened, so I promised myself that I would do better the next time I saw him.

You... you rely too much on Draining Kiss. Paul's words floated through my mind and I felt myself smile as I gently brushed my fingertips against my lips. There was nothing that he could have said that would have given me more hope. His giving me that last parting advice meant that somewhere inside him he wanted to be with me as badly as I wanted to be with him.

Time to train, Dawn. I thought to myself firmly. 

With one last, longing look towards where I'd last seen Paul I turned around and started walking back to my campsite. When I got back I released my pokemon and they all looked around as if wondering whether Paul's announcement last night was actually a joke. When it was obvious that Paul and his pokemon weren't going to pop out of some hiding place they all came over to me and I smiled sadly at them.

"Yah. They're really gone. But Paul is going to be watching us at the tournament and then we're going to be training for the pokemon league," I explained and Piplup looked up at me in surprise. Swallowing quickly I knelt down and looked at all of my pokemon one at a time.

"If we can beat Paul, then he's promised that I can continue to travel with him. I know you don't always get along with Paul, Piplup," I said and he turned up his beak angrily. "But I love him."

Instantly Piplup jerked back and gave me a guilty look. Ribombee fluttered over to sit on my shoulder and rub her head against my cheek while Mirageon came over to curl up on against my leg. I stroked the soft fur on the back of her neck and turned my attention back to Piplup, who was looking at the ground and hiding his expression from me.

"Will you please help me beat him, Piplup?" I asked quietly. 

He continued looking down at the ground for several seconds but eventually, he lifted his head, looked me in the eye, puffed out his chest, and tapped his chest firmly in agreement. Smiling widely I held my arms out and Piplup ran over to accept my hug. Arcanine barked loudly with obvious anticipation and Vulpix watched us from between his front legs.

The next day was our battle against Hapu and I was grateful when she didn't ask where Paul was. Piplup was a superstar in our battle, taking out both her Mudsdale and Flygon with his water and ice moves, but her Gastrodon landed a massive body slam that paralyzed him. I had momentarily panicked since I didn't have any pokemon that knew a grass type move, but Paul's last words of advice came to mind and I chose Ribombee. Using Double Team and her superior speed to our advantage we were able to defeat Gastrodon and Hapu congratulated us on a good battle.

After showing me how to use the Groundium Z Hapu kindly gave me a ride to the Pokemon Center where Nurse Joy cured Piplup's paralysis quickly. Once I had my pokemon back though I spent the morning restocking on food and other camping necessities. It felt lonely to be shopping alone so I released Piplup and after we got everything we needed from the small floating stores in Seafolk Village I immediately set out for Vast Poni Canyon again. For the rest of the day, I explored the canyon, searching for the perfect place to set up a long-term camp spot and practice for the upcoming tournament.

"It's getting kind of dark, Piplup. Maybe we should stop for the night," I said disappointedly. 

To my surprise, Piplup squirmed in my arms and I let him go so that he could drop to the ground. I watched as he walked over to the cave wall where a small hole was carved into the bottom. Before I could stop him Piplup walked into the dark hole and I gasped.

"Piplup, come back!" 

I rushed over to the hole and crouched down onto my hands and knees. I waited for a few seconds but when he didn't come back I quickly entered the hole myself, twisting my shoulders and hips to make it through the narrow opening.

"Piplup! Piplup, where..." 

My voice trailed off as I managed to squeeze through the hole and looked up. It looked like we were in a cave of some sort, but it was the most beautiful cave I had ever seen. A hole in the ceiling let the weak sunlight of the setting sun in and illuminated a small patch of greenery on the right side of the cave, while on the left, there was a beautiful pool of water with a small waterfall feeding it. Piplup was standing in the middle of the cave, looking around in awe, and when he realized I had followed him he peeped excitedly and waddled over to me, gesturing to the beautiful place he had found.

"Wow, Piplup. This is pretty amazing," I breathed out but then I frowned. "But don't wander away from me like that! I was really worried."

Piplup saluted me in agreement and then ran over to tap the Pokeballs on my hip. Shaking my head and smiling gently I released the rest of my pokemon and they all looked around the spacious cave in surprise.

"Piplup found us a place to practice for the next month. What do you think?" 

They all responded with obvious approval and Piplup puffed his chest out proudly.

"Well, it's a little late to train today, so let's just relax and we'll start our intensive training tomorrow. Sound good?"

Everyone instantly split up, exploring the cave that was going to be our home for the next few weeks. As they explored I prepared their dinners and I wrapped a roll with cheese inserted into the middle in tin foil and placed it on the edge of the small fire that I built near the pool of water. As my simple dinner cooked I set up my tent and I jumped in surprise as something brushed against my arm. Looking down I smiled at Mirageon, who was giving me a sad look.

"Hey there, sweetheart," I greeted quietly.

She raised herself to her back two feet and placed her front paws on my thigh, much like Growlithe used to do.

"Miraaaageon," she said sadly and I reached down and stroked her soft cheek gently.

"Yah. I miss them too," I agreed, feeling a lump beginning to form in my throat. I shook my head, forcing the would-be tears back before they could fall. "But all we can do is get strong enough to beat him. Then we can travel together again," I said with false confidence, but Mirageon smiled happily up at me.

The next day Piplup used his Ice Beam to create an ice mirror to practice with and I explained the plan to my pokemon. The tournament would have three performance rounds, the first of which required only one pokemon partner, the second two, and the third three. To make things simpler I planned to use dance routines that I had used in previous showdowns for the first two rounds, but I had never performed with more than two pokemon at once, so my biggest concern was the final performance round.

"For now, if you aren't practicing a dance with me then please practice your new moves that we've been working on. Help each other and feel free to interrupt me if you're struggling, okay?" I said after laying out our action plan. 

They all nodded in agreeance and went to separate parts of the cave to practice their moves, except for Ribombee. I had decided to use my Fille du Solei routine for my opening act with Ribombee because the Fairy Wind elevator was eye-catching and the song was easy for the crowd to get into.

Ribombee and I were practicing the Fairy Wind elevator when suddenly a gust of wind with bright white streaks shot from the cave wall and cut through Ribombee's Fairy Wind. Yelping I fell to the ground on my back and all of my breath was knocked out of me on impact. Gasping for air I heard Arcanine bark menacingly above me and I could hear Mirageon letting loose a battle cry before flinging a Sand Ribbon attack above my head. Ribombee floated over my face, covering her small mouth with her hands and looking at me worriedly.

"I'm okay," I moaned, sitting up and rubbing my sore back.

As I looked around I couldn't see where the attack had come from and my pokemon also seemed to have lost sight of the intruder.

"I hope we haven't taken over a pokemon's home," I said worriedly, pushing myself to my feet and continuing to rub my sore back. "Do you think we should leave?" I asked but all of my pokemon shook their heads angrily.

"Well, if you see whatever pokemon attacked us again just wait and see what it does. If it seems to be trying to protect its territory then we'll leave; it's only fair," I insisted but Arcanine growled, seeming unconvinced. 

Shaking my limbs out I started my practice with Ribombee, this time turning on our song and working on our moves. The last time we performed this RIbombee had been an unevolved cutiefly and I wanted to incorporate some of her new moves. We worked without further interruption until lunchtime and I prepared a quick meal for everyone.

After our meal, we returned to our practice, but this time I sent Ribombee to practice her Double Team and Psychic attacks while I practiced my dance with Vulpix and Piplup that we had used in the last showdown. In our first practice run, everything was going smoothly and I loved how Vulpix's Aurora Veil looked in our ice mirror. As Vulpix froze Piplup's gravity-defying bubbles though another strong gust of wind whipped through, shattering the frozen bubble.

"Arc!" Arcanine leaped from his spot near the waterfall where he had been trying to get his Flamethrower to change into a Fire Blast and growled threateningly at the wall.

"Wait, Arcanine!" I yelled, jumping in front of him and spreading my arms out wide. 

Even though he was far bigger he came to a stop just before he rammed into me but he continued to bark threateningly at the wall of the cave. Turning I glanced up and saw that there was a pokemon I had never seen standing on a ledge of the cave wall. It looked like some kind of flying type pokemon and I glanced around. 

Why is a flying type pokemon in a cave? Don't they prefer to be out in the open sky?

"Hello. I am really sorry if we've caused you any trouble. Is this your home?" I called up to the pokemon. 

Turning its beak up at me the pokemon spread its wings and I marveled at how beautiful it was. The pokemon was mainly purple but on the edge of its wings, tail, and head plumage the dark purple faded into a line of lighter purple and then ended in a beautiful clear blue. The ends of its wings pinched and then widened, looking as if it was holding fans at the end of its wings, and its head plumage also vaguely resembled the shape of a fan. I watched in fascination as the pokemon jumped from the ledge, beating its wings softly, and was soon airborne and flying out of the small opening in the ceiling of the cave.

"I wonder what that pokemon was," I said in awe. 

Arcanine huffed, butting his muzzle against my back and I turned and smiled at him, giving him a big hug.

"Thank you for protecting me, Arcanine," I said and he woofed happily.

"If any of you see that pokemon again let me know. I want to scan it and see what pokemon it is." 

Piplup saluted me in understanding and I giggled as Mirageon used one of her sand ribbons to copy his gesture. The sun was setting before I called an end to our training for the day but the mysterious pokemon hadn't returned. After fixing a quick meal I played a few rounds of hopscotch with my pokemon to help us relax and then we all got ready for bed.

"Dawn."

I turned around quickly, trying to identify where I was and where that voice was coming from. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.

"This way, Dawn." 

Glancing around I tried to figure out what was going on. Everywhere I looked all I could see was a murky grey color and the voice seemed to echo from multiple directions at once.

"Where are you?" I asked the voice, picking a direction at random and beginning to walk. The greyness persisted though and I felt a small bead of panic beginning to build inside me.

"You'll never be able to be with me if you don't even know where you are," the voice said flippantly and I gasped, finally recognizing it.

"Paul? Paul, where are you?" I called out. 

I started to run, desperately trying to find myself out of the greyness and to where he was.

"It's no use. If you can't even find the door then there's no point in me helping you," Paul's voice said, sounding farther away now. I pushed my hands out, desperately trying to feel something in the overwhelming grey that surrounded me.

"Paul, wait! What do you mean door? Don't leave me, please!" I called out, running in circles as I tried to find a way out.

"Pathetic," Paul's voice seemed to echo faintly as I felt tears slipping down my face as I tried desperately to find my way out of the greyness.

My eyes flew open as I gasped. I could feel cold sweat running down my neck and back and I quickly sat up, cupping my face in my hands and trying to calm my racing heart. Dreams of being trapped had been haunting me since I was mistakenly kidnapped, but this was the first time that I dreamed something like this. 

Paul would never have left me in a situation like that, I told myself as my fingers trembled. But the fact that Paul wasn't here right now didn't lend much confidence to that inner pep talk.

After a few minutes passed and I had calmed down somewhat I gingerly left my tent, doing my best to not disturb Mirageon, Piplup, or Ribombee. As I left the tent I smiled when I saw that Arcanine was sleeping right next to the side of the tent and Vulpix was curled up comfortably in his thick mane of cream-colored fur on the back of his neck. Tiptoeing quietly away from the peaceful pair I walked over to the pool of water and dipped my hands in. I raised the cool water to my face and washed off the sticky sweat as I looked back on my memories of Paul.

Paul left me because he wants to protect my feelings, not because he doesn't think I'm good enough, I told myself firmly and some of the uneasiness that had been gripping me lightened.

Taking a calming breath I walked back to the tent and quietly pulled out my Pokedex. Leaving my pokemon to sleep some more I walked over to the grassy area of the cave and leaned my back against the cave wall as I looked through the Alola-specific portion of my Pokedex.

"Lup piplup." 

Glancing up from my research I saw Piplup poke his head sleepily out of the tent. I waved to him and he waddled over, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he came and plopped down in my lap.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked quietly and he nodded, leaning his head back. 

It looked like he was about to fall back asleep so I stopped talking and gently stroked his head. Before he could fall asleep though the first few rays of the sun shone through the hole in the ceiling and Arcanine began to wake up. Soon everyone was awake and ready to start the day.

Following the same pattern as yesterday, I practice with Ribombee for the first performance. Today though we focused on how to incorporate her Dazzling Gleam move and I debated whether I should keep the Struggle Bug move or replace it with something else.

As we ran through the whole dance I was almost excited when a now-familiar gust of wind hit the Fairy Wind elevator. I was ready for it this time though and was able to land on my feet as I looked up to see the beautiful pokemon who was once again standing on the wall of the cave. I had decided last night that if it came again I was going to catch it and excitement filled me at the thought.

"Piplup, use Ice Beam on that pokemon! Aim for its wings," I called quickly.

The flying type spread its wings with a flourish but just as it jumped from the ledge to fly away Piplup shot an Ice Beam at its right wing. A small layer of ice encased it and the pokemon dropped, flapping its unfrozen wing vigorously to try to keep afloat. Hoping that I was aiming correctly I threw a Pokeball at the falling pokemon. I breathed a sigh of relief as it disappeared into the ball long enough for it to fall to the ground without injuring itself too badly, but I wasn't surprised when it popped out almost instantly.

"Use Bubblebeam, Piplup," I instructed as the pokemon shook its half frozen wing, trying to get the ice off. 

Piplup shot a beam of water and bubbles at the distracted pokemon and it was blasted back. I watched in amazement as it waved its wings in a graceful circular motion and a jet of dark purple light rocketed from it and towards Piplup. He dove to the ground, barely missing the attack as the flying type landed on her bird-like feet.

"Ice Beam again, Piplup! Don't let it get away!" 

From his position with his stomach on the ground, Piplup let loose another Ice Beam just as the pokemon began to lift off the ground. The move connected with its stomach and it gave a small cry before falling back to the ground. Once again I threw a Pokeball and I held my breath as it rolled around on the ground, the white band in the middle of the Pokeball glowing red. I sighed in relief as the chime signaling a successful capture rang out and I rushed over to the Pokeball.

Quickly I scanned it into my Pokedex and blinked in confusion as the Pokedex pulled up a picture of a red and black flying type pokemon called Oricorio. A strange icon appeared above the picture which I clicked and it showed a list of three other "forms". After a moment I came to the Sensu form and a picture of the pokemon I had just caught filled my screen. I read the entry excitedly, showing my other pokemon that the Oricorio we caught could actually change forms and typing if it was exposed to special nectars.

"Well, let's say hello to our new friend," I said with excitement and I released Oricorio. She materialized in front of me and gave me a glare before turning and looking over my pokemon.

"Umm... Hello, Oricorio. My name is Dawn and these are my pokemon." 

I quickly introduced everyone to Oricorio and I was glad when they all acted like their normal kind selves now that Oricorio was part of our family.

"I am a pokemon coordinator and I'm visiting Alola so I can participate in the Luau Showdowns. I've already qualified for the tournament and we are all preparing for that now. Do you think you would like to help me win the tournament, Oricorio? I could really use someone as graceful as you," I said sincerely. 

Oricorio had been looking up at me with a look of contempt until I called her graceful. At that comment though she straightened slightly and waved her wings, as if she were dancing, and then gave me a considering look.

"Do you like to dance?" I asked Oricorio excitedly.

She looked at me for several seconds before spinning around and nodding.

"Then will you help me, Oricorio?" I asked again enthusiastically.

She straightened, lifting her beak in the air in a self-assured manner, and then nodded her head regally. Chuckling slightly I held out one hand to her, she hesitantly placed the fan-like tip of her wing on my fingers and I gently shook it.

"Let's get started then!"

A/N Sorry for the shortness of the chapter, but hopefully you enjoyed it! Does anyone have any ideas about what I should do for the battle rounds of the tournament? I was kind of thinking of just doing normal double battles, but that seems a little boring. Any ideas are welcome :)