Chapter 4
“So, how do you feel, World Champion?” Once he is finally freed from the reporters and fans that were surrounding him, Dawn pokes the boy’s back, causing Ash to almost choke on his drink with the surprising touch. She laughs while he tries to clean the stain off his shirt and Chloe pats his back to help with the coughing. Dawn had forgotten how fun those celebrations could be.
Between watching an amazing battle, meeting back with Chloe —but sadly not Goh or Iris—, getting to know people like Leon and Diantha and stuffing her face with Galarian food; Dawn feels thankful to be able to enjoy a party like this without having to feel sorry for herself for once.
“I still can’t believe it honestly. Is like I’m dreaming.” Ash admits once he gives up dealing with the stain. Chloe decides to go find something to help with it, leaving them in each other’s company.
“What are you going to do once you wake up?”
“Uh?” he looks at her confused, unsurprisingly not getting her metaphor.
“I mean.. You achieved your dream, didn’t you?” she wonders. “You are the Monarch! The strongest trainer in the world!” she emphasizes “What are you doing now?” she wonders. Partially remembering what Argenta told her a long while ago.
“I haven’t thought about it…” she laughs. She should have expected it “I didn’t even plan to participate on the World Coronation at first. It just happened.” He admits. Up until Professor Cerise told him and Goh about it, he was just having fun traveling without a clear goal. “But I.. I think I want to go somewhere new.” His eyes shine at the idea of going into uncharted lands. “I got to battle Raihan in this tournament and he’s amazingly strong!” he says excited and Dawn smiles at his eagerness. “I wouldn’t have met him if I didn’t come to Galar.” He explains, feeling thankful he met Goh and Cerise. “And that made me realize how many powerful trainers are out there that I don’t know about.” He looks to the other people in the room, both the new and old rivals he made through the years. “I want to meet and battle more trainers like him! Like Leon and Cynthia and Iris and-” He says surely, trying to list all the people he battled in the Coronation tournament.
“Why?” He looks at her puzzled when she blurts it out, cutting off his listing of the participants. “You already proved you are strong. The strongest of them all.” she motions to the people in the room. “Why would you want to keep battling other trainers?”
“Because it’s fun!” His smile is blinding and his words filled with certainty. Fun. How long has it been since she had fun in contests? That she focused on that instead of waiting for a loss and how bad she would feel afterwards?
“Do you plan to stop doing contests when you become a Top Coordinator?” he asks and that catches her off guard.
She had been so insecure about her dream recently. Only ever waiting for the worse, not putting her all into it, hiding her progress from friends and family out of embarrassment. And despite all that... she never could bring herself to fully stop.
Despite everything, she loves contests. She loves seeing her pokemon shine in the stage. The feeling of doing a presentation that both her and her pokemon can feel proud of. The knowledge that she made someone like a pokemon more because of a presentation of hers.
Those feelings are unique to contests and that’s why she loves them so much.
She laughs to herself while Ash seems at a loss why she would find his question so funny. Then she smiles at his confused face. He helped put her in the right track again and doesn’t even realize it.
“No.. I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing contests…”