Dawn was excited to see his old friend, Ash again. They talked a lot on video call, but it's not the same as seeing him in person. She remembers all the times that he was there supporting her when they traveled together. Dawn is curious to see how much he changed. She finally arrived at his house in Pallet town and knocked on the door. Ash's mom told her to come in, and she walked inside. There she saw Ash with all his other friends, a lot who she's never even seen before. And Ash himself has grown, and Dawn thinks he's grown into quite attractive guy, and blushed a bit when she saw him.
Ash looked right up to dawn, and smiled real big. He ran right over with his arm extended with his hand opened and shouted, "hey Dawn!"
Dawn beamed when she saw him. Knowing what he was doing, Dawn ran up to him with her hand extended with her hand opened too and they gave each other a high five. "Ash! It's great to see you again!"
"It's great to see you too! Come on! You got to meet all my friends!" Ash grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to the group Ash was with.
Dawn was glad to have met all of Ash's friends. They are all very nice and interesting, and had some interesting memories they had with Ash. From what she's heard from them, Ash stayed mostly liked himself when she first met him. Which is what Dawn prefers anyways. She wouldn't know what to think of Ash wasn't supportive, kind, reckless, and childish. After all, that's what she liked most about Ash when she traveled with him. Whenever Dawn was in a tight spot or feeling down, she often think of Ash and it'll help.
It was about time to leave, and Dawn had a great time. But she felt a bit empty leaving Ash, for some odd reason. Just as she was about to step out the door, Bunary popped out of her ball and hopped over to Ash's pikachu and started trying to flirt with him. Dawn walked over to them with a laugh. "Wow Bunary, you still like Pikachu?"
"Bun!" it replied. Then nuzzled Pikachu.
Pikachu just sighed.
Ash came over to Dawn. "Hey Dawn! I thought you already left!"
"Well I was about to, but then…" she nervously laughed as she looked at Bunary.
"Well thanks Bunary! I almost missed my chance to ask to wish Dawn luck with the grand festival! "
Dawn laughed with a blush. "Well, we'll do our best. Come on Bunary." Dawn returned Bunary. "Well, congratulations again Ash… See you!"
Dawn has made it to the finals, and she's way behind on points. Then she heard someone cheer, "Come on Dawn! You can do it!" She looked up and it was Ash. Her cheeks flushed and her heart beat raced seeing him in the stands. She didn't expect to see him here in Sinnoh.
Her opponent called her Persian to use Fury Swipes.
Dawn put her attention back to Piplup. "Dodge! And Then use Whirlpool!"
Piplup did the spin dodge, and when it turned around, it used Whirlpool. Now the Persian was stuck in a whirlpool losing HP and points. The Persian used Screech to take out the whirlpool. Piplup used Bubblebeam, but the Persian used Slash, and cut through the bubbles and was coming straight for Piplup. Piplup came in with a counter shield bubblebeam, which Persain couldn't defend against and got knocked down. Piplup then came in and finished it off with its super powered Peck. Dawn had barley any points left, but it didn't matter as the Persian fainted. So Dawn won, and all she could do was stare at the 'WINNER' with her picture at the board in shock. Piplup jumped in her arms with a happy cry. The crowd cheered. The judges said that it was a fantastic battle. Dawn was given the cup for winning. She felt a bit odd though, like this isn't what she really wanted.
"Everyone, give it up for Dawn!" Maryann shouted.
Everyone in the audience then cheered.
Dawn was finally on her way out the door. She looked at her piplup in her arms and smiled. "Thank you so much for you hard work, Piplup!"
Piplup happily responded.
Dawn then frowned as she went by the audience seats. She went in, and saw it completely empty. "… Was it my imagination… that Ash was here?" she wondered. Dawn quietly left the stands.
Piplup felt Dawn was sad, and gave her a confused look and saying, "pip?"
"I… I don't understand why I'm not happy now." Dawn set Piplup down and brought out the trophy. "We just won this… what we wanted to do from the start." Then she looked at Piplup. "Did… you see Ash in the crowds at all, Pipup?"
Piplup gave her a confused look. He didn't really pay attention to who was in the crowds, as his focus was in the contest battle.
Dawn let out a nervous laugh. "I probably just imagined it." She narrowed her eyes with a frown. Dawn put away the trophy with Piplup walking by her side.
Pipup gave a sad look. He would've liked for Ash to have been here, as he missed him too.
"After all… Ash is probably still catching up with all his friends at home. And needs time to rest up at home too."
Pipup sadly nodded.
They walked out the door and Dawn gasped seeing Ash.
"Hey, what took you so long!" Ash said.
Dawn quickly ran up to him with tears in her eyes and gave him a hug.
Ash blushed, unsure of how to respond.
Dawn got extremely red, let Ash go, and faced away from Ash. "T-thank you, Ash."
"Don't mention it! After all, I missed seeing you perform and come up with ideas that help you win!"
Dawn laughed. "Well, I wouldn't have ever come this far without you!"
"Actually… I wouldn't have won the pokemon league without your help."
"What?"
Ash blushed as he nervously scratched his cheek. "I thought back to all your great ideas that helped me during Sinnoh, and… that helped me win."
Dawn looked at him with a surprised look. Then her eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry… I wasn't there cheering you on then, like you did for me."
"Hey don't worry! I know you were busy here, with contest!"
"But… aren't you busy? You know, at home?"
"With what? When I heard you were going to the grand festival, I wanted to do nothing but be there to cheer for you!"
Dawn gasped with a blush on her face. Then she beamed at him. "I… wish I could have been there to cheer you on."
Ash put his hand on her shoulder. "Dawn… your ideas helped me win, so I think that was more than enough for me!"
"Well, if you say so."
They looked at the night sky together for a bit.
"Hey Ash. How much did you think about me when you traveled?"
Did gave her a confused look and responded, "huh?"
Dawn looked away with a blush. "I… thought about you a lot."
"…More than once, every day."
She looked at him with a blush. "Really?"
He let out a nervous laugh. "Of course. I mean, you are pretty amazing Dawn!"
"Come on! I'm not as amazing as you are, Ash!"
"What do you mean? I had to use your ideas to win a lot of times!"
"And you've done a lot of amazing things, and are amazing…" Dawn blushed at what she said.
"…You're amazing too. Really amazing, Dawn!"
Dawn looked down with a blush. "Do you think… I'm the most amazing girl out there?"
Ash was about to say something, but then Dawn laughed.
"Of course not! I mean there's Cythia, Diantha, and…"
Ash put a hand on her shoulder with a smile. "You are just as amazing as them, but mean much more to me than them."
Dawn looked at him with wide eyes and blushed. "Really?"
"Yeah!"
Dawn slowly wrapped her arms around Ash, and Ash did the same.
They both looked at each other's eyes with a smile.
Dawn was heading to say goodbye to Ash as he heads back to Pallet town. Last night she figured out what she really wanted and why she was feeling down. Dawn didn't want to leave Ash again, as she wasn't sure if she'd ever see him again. After all, it has been five years since they last saw each other. She noticed Ash and ran up to him.
"Hey Dawn!" Ash shouted.
"Hey Ash!"
"Dawn, I need to tell you something…"
"What is it Ash?"
"… I realized after seeing you and being with you again, that I don't want to leave you."
Dawn's eyes teared up. "I don't want to leave you ether."
Ash looked down with tears falling down his face. "I… love you, Dawn."
Dawn gasped, but then beamed with tears in her eyes. "Ash… I love you too!"
They looked at each other for a bit, before they embraced.
A man working for the ship shouted that they'll be leaving soon.
"Dawn, I'm going to come to Twinleaf to see you any time I can!"
"And I'm coming to Pallet to come for you too!"
They both looked at each other for a bit, before they kissed each other.
"The boat for Pallet town is leaving now!" the intercom said.
"No! Wait for me!" Ash screamed. Ash ran off, waving to Dawn. "See yea Dawn!"
Dawn sighed, but waved to him.