Welcome to my new fic. And it's not Harry Potter! ...What's going on? Ah well. This is "Pulling Heaven Down". PHD is set five years after Ash's journey in Sinnoh ends and takes place on a tropical island way down south...an island that is home to ruins said to have magical properties.

At Professor Rowan's funeral, Dawn sees a person she'd hoped to forget. Not long after this, an elderly woman asks her for a favour: hatch a 150-year-old Teddiursa egg in the Ruins of Calarai, which is farther south than she's ever travelled. Dawn eagerly accepts; however, it appears that she is not the only one on the way south. Like it or not, this isn't a journey she can manage on her own. And why does she have the nagging suspicion that they're being followed? Yes, title is shamelessly borrowed from "Blue October", but titles are my weakness and the story has nothing to do with the song. I just like the sound of it.

This story contains two ships: Pearlshipping (Ash/Dawn) and Shoppingshipping (Brock/May). I realise that most people will shy away from Brock/May, but its role in this fic is minimal and I ask that you please give it a chance.

As a final note, big thanks to Milotic, my beta-reader.

Prologue

Death was not something that Dawn was used to being around. Years ago she'd witnessed the death of a Pokémon, but he'd been restored to life soon after. Pokémon could do that. People could not. As devastated as she was, Dawn also realised that people couldn't live forever: Professor Rowan was old, and it was simply his time to go. As far as she knew, he went peacefully in his sleep and was surrounded by this Pokémon as he died. As comforting as that was, she couldn't stop the tears that fell down her cheeks.

She didn't really know what caused her to look to her right; it might have been intuition, or perhaps coincidence. Whatever the reason, Dawn looked up and felt her breath catch in her throat. Standing next to Professor Oak was her old mentor, Ash Ketchum, whose face looked blank as he stared at the casket. Anger swelled within Dawn; he had no real connection to Professor Rowan. He had no reason to be there. If anything, he was there to just harass her, to rub her failures in her face like he did before—

She snapped her head back as he looked towards her, staring determinedly at the casket as it lowered into the earth. She tried to focus on the rest of the funeral as Rowan's family said their goodbyes, tossing flowers onto his grave after it was filled with dirt, but the fury at Ash's appearance distracted her from all else. When they'd parted five years ago, she had sworn to never see or speak to him again and he had done the same. Call her immature, but she couldn't forgive him for what he said to her.

People began to move away, fanning themselves from the heat, and Dawn took that as her cue to turn and go before Ash tried to get near her. Her stupid shoes – her stupid, expensive heels that she just had to buy because they were on sale – were awkward and uncomfortable on the grass, making travelling difficult, and her rising skirt didn't help much either. She hadn't had any trouble on her way over, but then, it had been cooler outside and she wasn't hurrying. Dawn made it to the vehicle before her mother did and jiggled the handle, kicking the tire in frustration when she found it was locked.

"Slow down, Dawn," her mother scolded, finally catching up to her daughter. "I'm not as young as I used to be. What's your rush?"

"No rush," Dawn lied, wiping the tears away from her face. "I just...it's really hard, saying goodbye to him, you know? I mean...he gave me Piplup." She instinctively stuck her fingers inside her purse to touch the Pokéball containing the Penguin Pokémon, which would have come out had Pokémon been permitted inside the graveyard.

"It's always hard to say goodbye to someone you cared about, Dawn, but to rush out...it's disrespectful. Imagine what his family is thinking!"

"I'm sorry, all right? I mean, I want to...just forget it." She clenched her jaw, glancing back at the casket, where Ash was helping Professor Oak walk back to his own vehicle. With a jolt, she saw Ash help the professor into the passenger side and realised that he was indeed old enough to drive now. She wondered if he had his own vehicle (the stickers on the windows indicated that it was a rental car) but then shook her head. There was no way she'd allow herself to be curious about anything in his life.

She and her mother drove back to Twinleaf Town in silence, and after a few minutes Dawn began to feel despair for Professor Rowan's death again. She sniffled loudly and wiped her eyes with her palm. "Oh," she said softly, then reached inside her purse and let Piplup out of its Pokéball. The little blue penguin ruffled his feathers before snuggling against Dawn, tears forming in his own eyes. She held him close all the way home and carried him up to her room with her when they arrived. While she shed the last of her tears into her pillow, Piplup curled up next to her head. They fell asleep soon after, Dawn dreaming of the day Professor Rowan first gave her the little penguin.