"Well, now that our final performance for the Ka hula round has been given our judges will choose the top four performers. Then we will ask all of those who wish to watch the battle round to go into the outdoor battle area in the back of the Showdown hall," Keanu said with a dazzling smile after the crowd calmed down. Her announcement pulled me out of my uncomfortable thoughts and I realized that must have been why Hau said Torterrra could watch during the battle round.

After a few tense moments the four judges sat back with satisfied looks and Keanu gestured up to the large screen above the stage. As the audience all watched with bated breaths Dawn's face flashed in the first spot, eliciting cheers, and was followed by three other trainers, one other girl and two boys. I remained silent, but I wasn't surprised that Dawn received the highest score; her pokemon's moves had actually been used to enhance the ridiculous dance and gave it an element of magic.

"These four lucky trainers have made it to the battle round. Let's get them back out here for a moment!" 

The four finalists walked onto the stage single file with Dawn in the back. She looked like the oldest of the finalists. The other girl was the one with the breakdancing machop, one of the guys looked like he was barely twelve, and the other looked like he was pushing sixteen. I hadn't been paying much attention to either of their dances, so I grudgingly turned my attention back to the hostess Keanu.

"For the battle round the theme is 'Cleanliness is next to Arceus', and the theme type will be ground." The older boy grinned broadly at this announcement while at the same time Dawn furrowed her brow a bit. "For the battle you will be fighting in the mud pits, created by our wonderful new Kahuna last night, and the point is to try and get the opponents as dirty as possible. Whichever team, including the trainer, is the cleanest at the end of five minutes will be the winner!"

I watched with smug amusement as Dawn's already pale face turned as white as a ghost and her mouth dropped open in shock. Chuckling I watched as she glanced down at her pristine white dress and looked back at the hostess as if she was waiting for her to say that she was joking. Keanu made no such announcement though and instead invited us all to move into the outdoor battlegrounds. I stood up and managed to escape the worst of the crowd fairly quickly, grudgingly admitting that Hau's insistence on me sitting in the front was actually a good thing.

As I walked out of the warm performance hall and into the slightly cooler outdoors I stretched and glanced around, instantly spotting the gigantic mud pit that spanned the full size of a normal pokemon field. After a moment's hesitation, I released Torterra who glanced around at the large crowd of people with confusion.

"Dawn is in her Luau Showdown and is about to get in a battle where they are trying to make each other dirty," I explained to him concisely and he blinked his huge eyes in quiet disbelief.

Gesturing with my head, Torterra followed my line of sight and looked over to where Dawn was gingerly taking off her sandals and giving the mud pit a look more filled with disgust than she had ever turned on me. A smile spread unbidden on my lips as I watched her take a deep breath and then step into the mud, sinking down several inches and her entire body shuddered in revulsion. To my surprise though she determinedly walked to her starting position with Piplup trudging behind her and her Cutiefly sitting on her head.

The first round was boys against boys and girls against girls. Dawn's opponent sent out her Machop from the dance round, but sent out a Sandile for her second pokemon and I wondered if she would automatically get extra points for having a ground type pokemon. Torterra and I watched from the back of the crowd. To my surprise when the time started Dawn immediately ordered her Cutiefly to use double team and then to aim it's Fairy Wind at the mud in front of her opponent.

I watched in fascination as the cutiefly instantly created twenty identical copies of itself then swooped forward faster than I could believe, shooting a Fairy Wind at the mud that was easily five times as strong as the one they used during the dance round. This blasted a sheet of mud up and over their opponents, coating them all in a slippery layer. 

Dawn's opponent spit and rubbed the mud from her eyes, too distracted to give her pokemon any commands, so Dawn sent Piplup forward and ordered him to use drill peck on the opposing Machop. Blinking in surprise I watched the little weakling dash forward, his beak elongating and beginning to twirl. 

The machop blindly used Brick Break but Piplup dodged and slammed into Machop's back, pushing him face-first into the mud before retreating quickly back to Dawn. The girl called for a mud-slap attack from her Sandile. The pokemon tried to aim for the dozens of fluttering Cutieflies, but they all dodged the attack easily and Piplup used Bubblebeam to blast the mud away before it could get to him or Dawn. Another Fairy Wind attack from Cutiefly finished off the already injured Machop, causing it to faint and end the battle.

The next battle between the boys also ended in a quick victory with the older boy coming out on top within just a few minutes. To my surprise I actually found myself enjoying the 'battles'. None of the performers looked like they'd last a minute in a pokemon league, but watching them slipping in the mud was more entertaining than I had expected. Yet somehow Dawn was the only trainer to have gotten through her round without a spot of mud on her, besides her muddy feet. 

Is she actually stronger than I gave her credit for? I wondered with a frown but then shrugged. She had the type advantage and took initiative in the first battle, I wasn't so sure that would be enough for her next battle.

Dawn and her opponent took their positions with their pokemon in the mud pit and I studied the guy's pokemon. He had chosen a Mudbray and a Pallosand. Both pokemon were unique to Alola so I didn't know much about them, but they were both obviously ground types. As the battle began I was surprised that Dawn didn't use her trump card of Double Team and instead called for a Hydro Pump directly at the trainer. The trainer, taken by surprise, was knocked flat onto his back in the mud and I chuckled. 

I didn't know she could be so ruthless, I thought with approval and watched with interest as she sent both Piplup and Cutiefly forward. She followed behind them slowly, apparently hoping for a quick finish.

Her opponent wasn't to be beaten so easily though and called for a double Bulldoze. The ground shook as the two pokemon jumped up and down, causing a mini earthquake. Both Dawn and Piplup shuddered and slipped as the ground rocked underneath them, but they managed to keep their footing. Cutiefly, unaffected by the attack, flew in and once again used a blast of Fairy Wind to toss mud up onto all three of its opponents and they shook their heads to clear their vision.

"Mudbray, use mud sport!" Dawn's opponent called, obviously angry now.

Mudbray reared up and crashed his front hooves into the mud, spraying it towards the retreating Cutiefly. To my utter shock Dawn yelled and jumped in front of her Cutiefly, taking a spray of mud directly to her face. I heard a collective gasp as the audience whispered and Dawn's opponent laughed while pointing at her and holding his stomach as if he had never seen anything funnier. 

I could almost see the waves of anger rolling off of Dawn as she deliberately reached up and wiped both her hands down her mud splattered face. She flicked off the worst of the mud and lowered a glare at the laughing boy that would have made any grown man's heart freeze from fear.

"Alright then," I could hear her say, her voice somehow being amplified, and she looked at her Piplup with determination and fury. "Piplup, use ice beam under my feet. Cutiefly, to me!"

I watched in confusion as Dawn jumped, bringing her mud caked feet up and out of the pit as Piplup used an ice beam to create a disk of ice under her feet. Squinting, I thought I could see her Piplup use ice beam to seal her feet into the ice as Cutiefly flew over to Dawn and perched on her shoulder. Dawn's opponent had finally stopped laughing long enough to look up and see what was going on, but it was way too late for him to avoid the wrath about to be unleashed upon him.

"Piplup, use surf," Dawn commanded.

Without hesitation, the tiny pokemon screeched and raised his flippers. I watched in disbelief as water gathered under Piplup and Dawn, propelling them several feet high in the air with Dawn on top of her ice board. Her opponent's mouth dropped open in fear as Piplup released the wave of water and he and Dawn rushed down with it. 

The two ground types were bowled over by the wave and their trainer didn't fare much better. As the wave subsided Dawn removed her feet from the ice board and stomped over towards her opponent who was woozily sitting up. Without a word Dawn grabbed a handful of sloppy mud and shoved it into the guys face. Torterra let out a rumbling laugh and the entire audience cheered as it was obvious the powerful water move had knocked out the guy's pokemon.

After a brief moment the judges announced that Dawn was the winner and the cheers continued as Keanu presented Dawn with her winning pin. Torterra stomped his front feet on the ground in his version of a clap. I watched with amusement as Dawn accepted her pin and then dashed towards the performance hall, holding a hand in front of her mud-caked face. 

Shaking my head at her vanity I looked down at Torterra, whose eyes were shining with amusement and I couldn't help but echo his smile. If the showdowns were all this entertaining I wouldn't mind watching another battle round, if only for the laughs.

Most of the crowd began walking away, heading back to whatever they were doing before the showdown, but I noticed that a large group of mainly young men stayed behind, waiting outside the back entrance and chatting loudly together. I glanced around, trying to see where Hau had gotten to, and after a few seconds, I saw that he was speaking to Keanu over by the mud pit. Torterra followed as I walked over to them and Hau smiled when he saw me.

"So, what did you think? Dawn was awesome, wasn't she?" Hau said with a grin and I shrugged but Torterra responded with a resounded "Terra!"

"Can we have our battle now?" I asked and Hau smiled awkwardly.

"Ah, right. Sorry about that, Paul, but I forgot I promised Keanu to help her with something right after the Showdown. I should be done in an hour or so. Meet me at the beach strip down past the PokeCenter near Verdant Cave and we can have our battle there," Hau said and I frowned.

"It'll take me an hour to get to that Pokemon Center anyways," I pointed out suspiciously and Hau grinned.

"No sweat, man! I'll just hop on Tauros and be there in ten minutes after I finish helping, Keanu. Promise!" 

Without waiting for an answer Hau turned and walked away with Keanu, chatting enthusiastically. Narrowing my eyes as I watched him walk away I folded my arms and sighed, hoping that the other island Kahuna's would be more awe inspiring.

"Well, I guess we'd better head out. Ready to return?" I asked before glancing down at Torterra but then blinked and looked around as I realized that the big guy had somehow moved away from me without me noticing. As I turned I could see him making his way towards the crowd of guys waiting outside the performance hall.

Does he want a warmup battle? I wondered, following after my partner curiously. 

When I caught up with him I began to hear snippets of what the guys were talking about. It seemed like they were waiting for Dawn to come back out so they could try to ask her out. Glancing down I realized that Torterra was glaring at the guy's with a look of suspicion and I sighed.

"You are not her father, Torterra. Come on, the sooner we leave the sooner we can have our Kahuna battle and get out of here," I said, pulling out Torterra's Pokeball. 

To my shock, he used Vine Whip and gently but firmly pushed my hand down, giving me a reproachful look. I narrowed my eyes and was about to tell him to stop being so soft when the back door opened to reveal Dawn, changed back into her black capris and white shirt with a yellow ribbon. Her hair was braided and it looked slightly wet, while her face was rosy and completely mud-free. To my surprise she looked exhausted and she jerked back in shock as the group of guys pressed forward, all talking at once.

"Terra tor," Torterra mutter, growing his vines and stretching them over the crowd of guys that were getting closer and closer to Dawn. 

She was pressed up against the closed door of the performance hall, looking like she wanted nothing more than to run away. The boys kept pressing closer but they all jumped when Dawn yelped in surprise as Torterra wrapped his vines around her stomach and lifted her up and over the guys who all watched in shock as their prey was snatched from them. When they saw what was on the other end of the vines they all looked at me in surprise and I scowled at them.

"Torterra!" Dawn cried with obvious relief and happiness as Torterra lowered her to the ground in front of him. "I'm so glad you came!" Dawn squealed girlishly, dropping to her knees and wrapping Torterra's big head in her arms, which made Torterra smile. 

The guys who had been trying to converge on Dawn slowly walked away, some of them looking back at me with annoyance. For a moment I wanted to tell them it hadn't been my idea, but I honestly couldn't be bothered.

"Terra terra," Torterra rumbled affectionately, moving his head up and down against Dawn's cheek. She let out a giggle before leaning back and looking up at me with obvious surprise.

"Did you come to watch me, Paul?" she asked in disbelief and I rolled my eyes.

"Hau said he wouldn't battle me unless I did," I explained gruffly and Dawn nodded with an understanding expression.

"That makes sense. Did you enjoy it, Torterra?" she asked, turning away from me and giving Torterra a bubbly smile. Torterra nodded with a grin and she laughed.

"So... Torterra and I should get going," I said, feeling slightly awkward. Dawn looked up at me with a slightly disappointed expression.

"Oh, of course," she replied, picking herself up off the ground and dusting off her knees. Torterra stepped closer to her and she smiled while stroking his big head. "Umm, would you mind if I came to watch you?" 

I looked at her in surprise, noticing that she wasn't meeting my gaze as she continued to stroke Torterra's head.

"Why?" I asked and she shrugged.

"You watched me. Even though it was part of your deal with Hau, it still makes me happy. So I'd like to support you in your battle," she explained, finally bringing her blue eyes up to meet mine. Frowning slightly I debated for a minute before shrugging.

"Do what you want," I replied noncommittally and a brilliant smile transformed her face into the picture of happiness.

"Really? Great!" she said, shifting her backpack into a more comfortable position. "Should we head to Iki Town then?"

"No, Hau wants to battle on the beach behind the Pokemon Center by Verdant Cave," I said, returning Torterra, this time without any complaint from him, to his Pokeball and turning to walk around the performance hall.

"Oh, okay then," Dawn accepted with a slight skip in her step. I frowned at her exuberance, wondering where the exhaustion I saw when she left the performance hall had gone.

"So you chose a Cutiefly as your first catch in Alola?" I asked, not bothering to keep the disapproval from my words but Dawn just smiled.

"Yup! She worked really hard during our practice. What did you think of our dance?" Dawn asked, looking up at me with a slightly worried expression. 

I recalled the dance and all of the moves she had used and found myself frowning. "It was... not what I was expecting," I said and Dawn's shoulders slumped.

"Oh," she mumbled sadly and I sighed, knowing that she misunderstood.

"Your pokemon moves were a lot more controlled than I expected. I've never seen a double team like your Cutiefly pulled off," I admitted grudgingly and Dawn's head jerked up as she looked at me with shock.

"Oh!" This time she said it with surprise and happiness as she smiled at me. "Thank you!" 

I nodded awkwardly and we continued walking down the Hau'oli sidewalk. My grumbling stomach prompted us to take a detour and grab a late lunch from one of the street vendors before continuing on our way. Dawn told me about the technique she used to teach Cutiefly Double Team and I couldn't think of ever having read that method in the many books that I had studied.

"So where is your weakling?" I asked after a small silence and I instantly regretted having opened my mouth. 

Why didn't I just let the silence stretch on like normal?

"Piplup isn't weak, didn't you see his Surf today?" Dawn asked with an affronted tone and I nodded slowly, annoyed that I couldn't refute that statement. It really had been a powerful move.

"How did you come up with the idea to make a surfboard out of ice like that?" I asked, changing the subject. Dawn smiled, seeming to accept the change of topic without issue.

"Piplup and I entered a Pokemon Triathlon a couple of years ago. One leg of the triathlon was swimming across a lake, and most of the other participants all had Sharpedo's or Floatzels that could carry them across quickly, but there was no way that Piplup could carry me across the whole lake without getting tired. So we came up with that ice board idea and we were actually faster than most of the other contestants in that leg of the race. Although I think a few of the pokemon were so shocked to see a little Piplup creating such a large Surf that they slowed down to watch as we past them," she said with a giggle and I wondered why her giggle didn't put me on edge.

"So did you end up winning?" I asked. She scoffed and waved her hand in front of her face.

"No way, I'm super slow at running. Any advantage we had in the cycling and swimming portion we lost pretty quick in the sprinting portion," she admitted with a sigh and I frowned.

"If you knew you were going to lose then why did you enter?" I asked, wondering why anyone would do something so pointless.

"I didn't enter it to win, I entered it to train Piplup and myself. Also, it served as a pretty good distraction," Dawn said, trailing off slightly as she turned her face away from me, looking out at the ocean to our left. 

We walked in silence for a little while as I digested what she said. I hadn't ever thought a coordinator would enter a sporting event like that to train herself and her pokemon.

"What did you want to distract yourself from?" I found myself asking after I came to the conclusion that there was more to Dawn than I had first given her credit for. Dawn glanced up at me in surprise before biting her bottom lip lightly and looking down at her feet.

"Losing the Kanto Grand Festival," she whispered. 

We walked in silence for another little while as I wondered what I was supposed to say. I wanted to tell her that festivals and contests were a waste of time so she shouldn't feel bad about losing one, but I didn't think she would like that and I didn't really feel like arguing with her.

"Your... Piplup knows more than four moves," I said lamely and she looked up at me, her blue eyes seeming to have lost their sparkle after her admission to me.

"Yah. Most of my pokemon do," she replied without emotion and I blinked in shock.

"What? But it's difficult for pokemon to remember more than four moves at a time," I countered, shocked that Dawn could have such a high level skill as a trainer to teach more than one pokemon multiple moves. Dawn shrugged and glanced up at me.

"Don't you teach your pokemon more than four moves? Isn't it nice to have the versatility during battles to have a specific group of four moves that will make it most effective against your opponent?" she asked and I frowned at her.

"Of course I do, but I'm a trainer who specializes in battles," I retorted angrily. 

Dawn quirked an eyebrow at me but didn't respond. Slowly my anger fizzled out but neither of us said anything else as we continued walking. Sooner than I anticipated I saw the PokeCenter coming up and I walked across the path and towards the beach, somewhat surprised when Dawn followed behind me. 

We always end up arguing when we talk, so why is she still sticking around? I wondered silently as she continued to follow a step behind me.

"Is Cutiefly the only other pokemon you've caught?" I asked, not sure why I was curious. Dawn raised her eyes to meet mine with a small smile.

"No, I caught one other pokemon just a few days ago," she answered as we stepped onto the beach. 

I noticed the rough outline of a pokemon battlefield down the beach to the right so I headed towards it and Dawn walked beside me.

"Why don't we let our pokemon out to enjoy the beach while we wait for Hau?" Dawn suggested and I shrugged. 

With a smile she released first her Piplup and Cutiefly and then she released her third pokemon who instantly whipped around and began barking at me aggressively. I blinked in surprise as I realized that Dawn had caught a Growlithe and watched as she dropped to her knees and stroked it soothingly, whispering comforting words to the little beast.

"You caught a Growlithe?" I asked, still not quite believing it. 

Growlithe were extremely loyal once they accepted a trainer, but they were tenacious and always ready to tussle if someone came into their territory. Not to mention that Arcanine was one of the more powerful fire types that I knew of. I couldn't help but wonder how Dawn managed to catch a pokemon with such huge battle potential.

"Yep. When I was making my way to Melemele Meadow I found him stuck in the river. He nearly drowned, but I was able to pull him out and nurse him back to health. He's the one who decided he wanted me to be his trainer," she explained with an affectionate smile at the little pokemon who was still growling threateningly at me.

"Hmm," I said, not at all surprised that Dawn would risk herself for a pokemon like that. That also would explain why it chose her as its trainer.

"Have you caught any new pokemon?" she asked as she sent her pokemon to go play. 

Piplup and Cutiefly went off without hesitation, running towards the surf and splashing around in the shallow water. Growlithe, however, sat next to Dawn and stared at me suspiciously, as if expecting me to attack his trainer at any second.

Without speaking I took out Rockruff's Pokeball and released her in a stream of red light. Once Rockruff materialized fully she looked up at me but then her eyes locked on Dawn's Growlithe. Before either of us could react they launched themselves at each other, snarling and biting viciously.

"Growlithe! Stop!" Dawn cried in shock.

"Rockruff, that's enough!" I ordered harshly. 

Neither of the puppy pokemon listened to us as they continued rolling around in the sand, throwing random attacks at each other. Before I could stop her Dawn dashed forward and tried to pull Growlithe away from the fight. I watched uselessly as Rockruff pulled her paw with her rock-hard claws back to rake against Growlithe's face, but instead scratched three gashes down Dawn's arm. 

Dawn yelped and pulled her arm back, sucking in a breath in pain. Growlithe kicked Rockruff off him and immediately went to his trainer, whimpering with worry. Rockruff had gone still, looking at Dawn with obvious surprise and hesitation. I walked over to her and glared down at the feisty pokemon.

"You do not attack anything unless I tell you to. Do you understand?" I asked, my voice dangerously low. Rockruff glanced up at me with a look of fear. She whimpered quietly and pressed her ears down against her head in a gesture of remorse. I jerked my head towards Dawn and Growlithe. "Apologize to Dawn. Now."

Hanging her head, Rockruff slowly padded over to the two, eliciting a threatening growl from Growlithe. After a brief pause, she laid down on the ground, her muzzle between her two front paws and ears still pressed flat against her skull. Slowly she raised her blue eyes to look up at Dawn and Growlithe in a silent apology as she whined softly. To my surprise, Dawn smiled at her and reached out her uninjured arm, leaving it in front of Rockruff's nose so she could sniff it before lightly petting her head.

"It was an accident. I forgive you," she said softly to the pokemon. 

Growlithe snorted, obviously not in a forgiving mood, but he stayed by Dawn's side instead of attacking my defenseless Rockruff. Sighing deeply I sat down in front of Dawn and pulled her arm towards me, examining the scratches.

"I have some antiseptic, but I don't have any bandages," I said regretfully and Dawn smiled at me.

"You may not believe this, but I'm actually fairly danger prone so I always carry bandages," she said with a teasing smile. I rolled my eyes but couldn't help but smile slightly.

After treating the scratches I took the brown bandage that Dawn had in her backpack and wrapped her arm for her, trying to not make it too tight. By now Piplup and Cutiefly had come back to investigate what happened. Just like last time Piplup firmly kept his flippers over his beak when he looked over at me, which would have made me smile if I didn't feel so guilty for letting Dawn get hurt. 

She really is too reckless. She should have just returned her pokemon if she didn't want them to fight, I thought, but I had to admit that I hadn't thought of doing that either in the moment. Once Dawn was all patched up and Rockruff whined out another apology I returned her to her Pokeball.

"I don't know when Hau will get here, but do you want to go up to the PokeCenter and have Nurse Joy check on Growlithe?" I suggested and Dawn nodded her agreement. I stood up and looked down at Dawn who hadn't moved from her spot on the sand. Piplup was stroking her arm and peeping sadly while Cutiefly had landed on Growlithe's head and they were both looking at Dawn with worry.

Would my pokemon react like this if I was hurt? I wondered briefly, but shook my head and extended a hand down to help Dawn get up. She regarded it with surprise for a second before slipping her hand into it and accepting my help. 

I tried not to think about how soft her hand was as I guided her to a standing position. Letting go as soon as possible, I turned to walk up to the PokeCenter, stuffing my hands in my jeans pockets and telling myself firmly that I wasn't looking to make friends on this journey.

A/N Thank you to all who are silently reading this. If you ever feel like leaving a comment that would make me happy, but it's really cool to see that people are reading this regardless of comments :) So thank you