Night fell and she couldn't sleep. The boat would board at sunrise, and still she could not ease her restless mind.

"Pip?"

"Rest now Piplup. We have a long trip ahead of us."

She knew it was true, far truer than her heart would believe.

"Dawn?"

She startled, arms tightening around her favored Pokemon.

"Hey Ash."

Her response was quiet as she fought to calm herself. The adrenaline from her earlier battle had long since passed and goodbye was upon them. A goodbye she feared was much more permanent than she wished it to be.

A part of her panicked, bringing her back to a time where overconfidence covered fear and only one could help her through.

"Everything okay?"

"No," she answered, before catching herself and continuing, "No, I'm just fine."

She loosened her grip on Piplup when the pokemon began its struggle, watching as he and Pikachu walked off into the gardens, though still within sight of their masters.

Ash shifted, hat tilting and hiding his face in shadows.

"This is really it, huh?"

Dawn looked at him in surprise. With all the joys of a new adventure, even when he left to Kanto after their own journey together coming to an end, she'd never seen such a sadness come from him.

"You feel it too, don't you?"

She did, and that's what held her tongue. She felt like it was over. Despite how strongly their bonds were from their time together and the many adventures they had along the way, she felt that this would be the end, the last time they'd see each other for a very long time, even if they promised otherwise.

But she couldn't speak this out loud. Instead, she kissed him.

It was a hard kiss, filled with sadness, anger and desperation. A closed-mouth kiss that she never wanted to end and they both ignored the mess of tears as they grasped at each other, slowly gathering up courage to move forward and take another step closer, determined at least to have this one night.