Yes, DP is coming to a close, but that doesn't mean I can't still make a Pearlshipping story!

"Hey, Dawn, are you coming or not?" Kenny asked exasperatedly for the third time. We were on our way to Kanto on boat, and I kept forgetting things I had to do.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I cried angrily back. "I just have to do something first!"

"That's what you keep saying," Kenny said annoyed. "Well, hurry up; we don't have all day." He slouched away to go sit on a bench.

I turned back to the docks where my family was. My mom was looking at me proudly. "Have fun in Kanto. I know you'll do great in the contests there."

"Thanks, Mom," I said, smiling happily. "And don't worry; I promise I'll remember to call you."

"I'll be watching you," she said. When she noticed my confusion, she laughed and said, "On television, dear! Make me proud, okay?"

"Sure, Mom."

"And did you remember to pack your toothbrush?"

"Yes, Mom."

"And do you have enough money to get by?"

"Yes, Mom."

"And do you have all your clothes ready, too?"

"Yes, Mom!"

"And-"

"Yes, Mom, I have all of those things!"

"Well, I was going to tell you that I love you and be safe, but I guess since you already have that-" She broke off her to give me a sly smile. I sighed.

"Yes, Mom, I love you too."

She kissed the top of my forehead. "See you in Kanto, sweetheart." She began to depart from the docks and back to Twinleaf Town with me waving her goodbye. I was about to shout "goodbye" at her again when someone coughed behind me.

"Hold on, Kenny, I still have a few more things to do!"

"I'm not Kenny," the voice said. I turned around. It was Ash.

"Oh… Hey, Ash," I said sheepishly.

"Hey, Dawn!" he said happily. "You all set for Kanto?"

"Yeah. I just got interrogated by my mom, so I know I have everything I need."

He laughed. "Your mom's always worrying about you. Same with mine, too."

There was an awkward pause. In the background, Kenny was looking at us with a look of disgust on his face, and he was tapping his foot impatiently.

"So-" I began, but I was immediately cut off by Ash.

"Dawn, I want you to have this!" he blurted out and shoved his palm at me. On it was a Soothe Bell.

"Ash, what-"

"The past girls I've traveled with all gave me something, but I never really gave them anything to remember me by. So I wanted to give you something in case you had something for me."

"Oh! Well, Ash, I'm sorry, but…" I looked down at my feet. "I don't really have anything for you," I mumbled.

"Oh." Ash took a deep breath. "Well, have fun in Kanto." he said in a huff.

"Wait, Ash!" I said, making sure he didn't walk off.

"What?"

"I wanted to say something before I go. Ash, I-"

"DAWN, LET'S GO!" Kenny boomed from over at his bench. "THE BOAT DEPARTS NOW; WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!"

"I-I got to go," I said meekly. "Let's talk again soon, okay?"

"Wait, Dawn! What did you want to say to me?"

"Goodbye!" I cried, completely ignoring him. I left him with a curious look on his face.

"Finally!" Kenny said as I walked over to him. "I was wondering when you were ever going to be done. If we run, I bet we can still get on board."

We managed to get on safely and depart with no worries. As the boat started moving away, I waved back to Ash on the boat's stern as it floated off into the setting sun.

"We're too far away," Kenny said curtly. "He won't be able to see you."

I didn't care. I waved until I couldn't see the docks anymore. I sat down next to a chair Kenny had saved with me, although he had that same look of disgust he was wearing before we got on.

"What's your problem?" I asked. "I thought you wanted me to come with you."

"Nothing's wrong we me!" Kenny said angrily. "Maybe there's something wrong with you!"

"Excuse me?" I said, highly insulted.

Kenny glared at me for a moment before saying, "I'm going to go look at the food options. You can stay here." He stormed angrily away."

"Kenny, you jerk!" I muttered to myself. "Why did I even agree to going with him in the first place?"

My thoughts were distracted by the sound of my Poké Balls spilling out of my bag. I groaned; apparently, I didn't zip my bag all the way up. I scrambled around the deck picking up Pachirisu and Mamoswine, trying to get back Togekiss from a child who had picked her up, and rescuing Cyndaquil and Buneary from falling off into the water. I was just about to relax when I saw someone about to step on Piplup.

"No, wait!" I cried out. Too late. The man had already stepped on the Poké Ball, and Piplup was released. I sighed. At first, my irrational fear of Pokémon getting smashed inside their Poké Balls was about to come true. I ran over to where Piplup was and scooped him up in my arms.

"Piplup, pip!" Piplup said furiously. Apparently, he didn't like the fact that he was stuck in his Poké Ball in the first place, let alone being stepped on while in it.

"Sorry, Piplup. But hey, at least you're out of it now, right? No need to worry!" I laughed uneasily. Piplup looked at me crossly and folded his flippers together.

I spent the rest of the day in silence, and Kenny decided to sit back down next to me, slurping up his bowl of ramen. He eventually apologized to me for being a jerk, but in similar fashion to Piplup, I folded my arms and turned my head the other way. Kenny sighed behind me and continued to eat noisily.

It was dark outside now, and the intercom on the boat came on. "We're sorry for the inconvenience," it said, "but due to technical difficulties, we will not be able to make it into Kanto during the night. Our hotel service will be offered to our passengers at no extra costs. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of your trip."

Kenny groaned. "But I already booked us a midnight stay at the Pokémon Center!"

He got up and brushed a few noodles off his shirt. "I'm going to get our rooms and put our belongings in them. Be right back." He took the suitcases that we currently had with him and stormed angrily away. I rolled my eyes. Kenny seriously needed to calm down. Then I remembered the Soothe Bell that Ash gave me and took it out of my pocket. I shook it. It made a beautiful sound that made me feel very peaceful and serene, and even Piplup, who had fallen asleep with his flippers crossed and seemed to have heard the sound, relaxed his body and had a look of content spread across his face.

I kept ringing the bell until my hand hurt. I settled back into my chair even more with a pleasant feeling in my body. However, it quickly went away when I remembered that I never gave Ash anything. I sighed. He gives me this wonderful gift, and what do I get him? Nothing. No need to worry, a voice in my head started to say. After all, you weren't expecting it.

"But I still could have attempted to give him something," I mumbled. I rolled around the bell in my hand lazily and a feeling of remorse swept away whatever happy feeling was left inside me.

"A high five," I said to myself after a while. "That's what I could have given him. A high five. After all, that was our thing, wasn't it?" Piplup grunted in his sleep, which I took as an agreement to my previous statement. My hand suddenly felt strange and incomplete, as though someone had just left the bones in my hand and taken everything else. It was a weird feeling, and I didn't like it at all.

"Dawn, we're all set!" Kenny said from behind me. I picked Piplup up gently and carried him off to where Kenny was headed. When we got settled in our room, Kenny looked at me more carefully. "What's that in your hand?" he asked suspiciously.

"It's Piplup," I said, wondering if Kenny was starting to lose it.

"No, that smaller object. It looks like a bell."

"Oh! Well, that's because it is a bell. A Soothe Bell to be exact."

"I didn't know you had a Soothe Bell with you."

"Ash gave it to me before we left. He wanted me to have something to remember him by."

"Oh." And that ended that conversation.

We settled down on our beds, and Kenny quickly fell asleep. His snores echoed off the walls and filled the whole cabin. I groaned, and a thought came into my mind: Ash never snored.

And thanks to Kenny's reverberating snores, I stayed awake for most of the night. I was about to take action by throwing a pillow at his head, but I decided to try and think of something else less violent. I never had to do this with Ash.

My mind, however, wandered away from thoughts of shutting Kenny up to thoughts of what was going to happen to me. I was going to travel through all of Kanto with Kenny. We going to compete in contests together. But what about gym battles? Those were a lot of fun to watch and cheer on. But since we were both Coordinators, I guess I could just rule out battles.

And I would always being competing against Kenny in contests. We would always be rivals. He probably wouldn't be in the crowds, so there goes that support.

And what adventures would we have? I had Team Rocket and Team Galactic with Ash. With Ash… Why did all these things have to wind up pertaining back to him? I sighed. Kenny just wasn't Ash. And I wasn't going to be traveling with him probably again, thanks to Kenny.

But, I soon realized, why should I have to do whatever Kenny wants me to do? I make my own decisions about my life, not him. I wondered for a second. What did I want?

I want to travel with Ash.

I must have finally fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, it was morning outside and the boat was signaling its arrival in Kanto.

"Hey, Dawn, you're up!" Kenny said when he noticed my open eyes. "Hurry up and get ready; today's going to be a busy day!"

He was scrambling about the cabin searching for things he may have left behind as I gathered up my bags and returned an indignant Piplup to his Poké Ball.

I just about packed all my things when I remembered the Soothe Bell. I checked the dresser I had put it on, but couldn't find it. "Hey, Kenny, have you seen my Soothe Bell? I remember putting it here."

"N-no, I haven't seen it."

I bent down and checked underneath. There, in the far corner, was my Soothe Bell. "Found it!" I told Kenny. "It must have rolled off during the boat ride."

"Yeah, that must be it."

I reached my hand out, trying to grab it, but to no luck. After a few more stretches, I groaned. "This is pointless!" I said, and brought out Cyndaquil.

"Do you think you could get that bell for me?" Cyndaquil nodded furiously and scooted underneath the dresser. A few moments later, it returned with my Soothe Bell. But there was something wrong with it. While I was returning Cyndaquil, I was shaking the bell up and down rapidly. It clinked around, but never let out the beautiful sound it was supposed to make.

"It's broken," I said in a small voice.

"That's a shame. Let's get going."

Kenny quickly pushed me out of the room and soon, we were off the boat and making our first steps onto Kanto land.

"Isn't this exciting?" Kenny said joyfully. "We're in Kanto!" He noticed my disappointment and rolled his eyes. "It's just a bell, Dee Dee. You can always buy another one."

"It wasn't just a bell- it was a gift."

"Oh well. It's broken, and that's that. Let's head over to the Pokémon Center and see if I can get a refund."

I glared at Kenny. "You know, you seem awfully happy about all this."

"We're in Kanto. What's not to be happy about it?"

"No, I meant about my bell. You don't seem to care very much about it."

"It's not mine, now is it? Come on, let's go on."

I paused to take a deep breath and calm down my anger. "Fine," I said shortly. "Let's go."

When we arrived, I went straight over to the phones and dialed Ash's number. He answered on the third ring.

"Hey, Dawn!" he said happily. "Did you make it in Kanto alright?"

"Yeah, but I have something to tell you. The Soothe Bell you gave me-"

"Huh, what was that?" Ash said, clearly distracted. He seemed to be looking at someone else.

"I said, the Soothe Bell-"

"Yes, of course!" Ash cried, laughing with someone else. He turned back to me. "Hey look, Dawn, I have to go. I met this new girl, Iris. She's really funny, and she's kind of wild. You should see her hair!"

"Wow… a new girl. That… that was fast."

"I know! I'm thinking of traveling with her. Ever since you and Brock left, it's been kind of lonely."

"It's only been a day."

"I have to go!" Ash said, not paying me any attention. "Tell Kenny I said hello!"

"Wait, Ash!" But it was too late. He had already hung up. I sat down on a nearby bench and realized something very important.

I was just another girl. I heard about Misty, and I met May, and they were just other girls Ash traveled with. I thought that there was something special between him and me. But I guess I was wrong.

"Dawn, we're all set! I have my refund and everything! Hey, what's the matter?"

I didn't pay him any attention. The only thing that was running through my mind was the fact that I almost told Ash how I felt. That I could possibly, maybe, perhaps, be unequivocally head over heels for him. But it didn't matter any more. I was just another memory.

I looked down in my hand at the broken Soothe Bell. I jiggled it a bit. It didn't even make a sound this time.

"Come on, Dawn," Kenny said exasperatedly. "I hear there's a contest nearby."

I could still get out of traveling with Kenny. This would be my last chance. I could still go back to Ash.

"…Okay."

This is how I imagine the rest of Dawn's departure. Yeah, everyone's a bit OOC, and I never got Buneary crying over Pikachu (which was something i wanted to put in, but I'm too lazy to go back and put it back in). In any case, please review!