I do NOT own pokemon

Moving on

"The newly weds will now enter the ballroom, please give them a warm applause" announced the loudspeakers. I turned my head to face the entrance as today's main couple arrived. The groom escorted the bride to the centre of the stage, the orchestra began to play and they twirled, sign for the ball opening.

"May is so pretty!" I heard some women behind me say. I had to admit they were right. Although she had chosen quite a basic one, the white dress fitted her perfectly. But more than her, I was looking at her companion. After all, you don't get to see Ash Ketchum in a tuxedo everyday. The thought made me smile: I had almost expected him to come here in that black vest and the pair of jeans I knew so well.

"If it isn't Dawn!" I turned around to see a boy with brown hair

"It's good to see you, Gary" I replied politely. He was Ash's rival and I had met him couple of times during our journey through Sinnoh.

"Yeah…Five years is it?"

"I believe so" He stopped one of the waiter to get some appetizer and two cup of campaign, gave one to me and raised his cup for a toast that I couldn't refuse.

"To our lovely couple" We drank a little before the brown-haired guy went on "At least I can't complain but the reception"

"The room is spacious, plenty of food and drinks, a good service. What do you want more?"

"You're right" He took a few sips of campaign "Still doinf contests I suppose" he asked, suddenly changing the topic.

"That's correct. How do you know?" He looked in his pocket and took out a piece of paper: the entertainment program

"That thing told me" he pointed a line that read, Pokemon appeals performed by Dawn Berlitz "So? What are you planning to show us?"

"I didn't really planned anything. I was just going to do some moves from my last contests"

"Come on! Couldn't have you prepared something, like a proper theme show or I don't know… It's your good friend's wedding after all" and with these words, he left me.

A good friend, this is how he had always seen me right? But I, on the other, had never considered him just as that...to think he never knew…

Not bad looking, passionate and determined, but at the same time sweet and caring: it was love at first sight for me. As we travelled together, what began as a small crush turned into a deep love.

Having him by my side was enough for me so I never said anything. Everyday, I would be practicing for my contests, and everyday he would be with me training for his gym battles. Our different taste lead to extremely mismatched conversations and even quarrels sometimes, but just being together made, I believe, both of us happy.

"Dawn! What a surprise!" A familiar voice called, bringing me back to Earth. Although I never travelled with her, Zoey had always competed in the same league as me since Sinnoh, so I met her quite often.

"What do you mean by that? It's my friends' wedding after all! How could I not attend?"

"Well, normally you don't invite your ex-girlfriend…"

"Me and Ash? Where would that come from?" I interrupted. She obviously seemed confused

"You guys were so close back then… I always assumed you two were an item"

"Well, you were wrong" Zoey sighed

"Had I known earlier, I would have made my move. I used to have a slight crush on him you know?" Now it was my turn to be surprised. Only now did I notice that, although we had gotten close during our travels, the topic Ash was never mentioned. We had talked about guys, even quite a lot I would say, but never about him precisely. Noticing how confused I was, my friend grinned.

"Don't make that kind of face, Dawn. You're freaking me out. It was just a joke okay? J.O.K.E" I mentally sighed

"Now is not the right time for these" I retorted, trying to sound angry

"I guess you're right… My bad…sorry" she scratched the back of her head and then added more seriously "Still. I can't believe you two never went out. I mean, you were stuck together as if your life depended on it. Shouldn't there have been some kind of mutual feeling?"

That one question sent me back to these days for a second time. Mutual feelings there was, but not equals: he liked me and I loved him.

Eventually, it grew to the point I couldn't take it anymore. I can't remember the number of time I considered leaving the group because of that but I never managed to do so: back then, Ash was my everything. So I stayed, agonising by his side, waiting for an opportunity to come, and it did.

"That clearing sure is the perfect place" I nodded. It was almost sunset and Ash and I had decided to use the last lights of the day to train a little while Brock stayed at the camp to prepare dinner. Ash immediately called Buizel, Tutwig and Chimchar and started a sparing session. Seeing him working that hard, I had no choice but to give my best as well, so I summoned Pachirisu and Piplup to come out.

"Okay guys, now let's try that thing we were talking about" I ordered them. Piplup jumped high and executed a whirlpool and when it almost faded, Pashirisu came out from it, with a discharge. Both of my pokemon landed on their feet and bowed. That's when I heard applause behind me. I turned around to see it came from Ash.

"That was great Dawn!"

"Thanks, Ash"

"Something felt different this time. Am I right?"

"You noticed?" I was surprised. I never thought it would work, at least not on our fist try

"Yeah. It looks like a classic combination but there's definitly something about it. Although I can't really tell what" he scratched the back his head. I sat on the grass and made a sign for him to accompany me

"I've thought a lot about my recent loses lately and I came to the conclusion that, if I just keep doing the same, I'll lose again. After days of intense brainstorming, I came up with an idea" I paused "Appeals are made for show, so I liked to perform flashy moves, but that wouldn't do. I decided I wanted to make appeals that conveyed feelings into them" I gazed at my two pokemons who were playing along with Ash's a couple of meters away from us "Piplup's whirlpool is supposed to represent the piece and quiet of a place where you feel at ease. In contrast, Pashirisu's discharge is a burst of joy... but I guess I still have lots to work on until you can find that" I sighed

"Maybe, but I still think that appeal was great. You got to make one like that for me!" he grinned. "Just imagine: a signature appeal for my apparitions in leagues! Wouldn't that be cool?"

I looked at him, dazed, until, a few seconds later he presented his pinky finger I entwined it with my own.

"I promise" This, I though, was possibly the opportunity I was looking for. Through the appeal, surely I would be able to tell him.

I didn't get any sleep that night. I headed in my tent shortly after dinner, as usual, but instead of hitting the bed, I just sat and though about what kind of appeal I could make for him. By the time I came up with a good idea, it was probably around three a.m. I took my pokeball and silently crawled out of my tent, heading for the clearing. Once I arrived there, I called Pashirisu and Buneary.

"Sorry guys, I know you are sleepy, but there's something we need to do without him noticing" As my pokemon, they knew about my crush on Ash. Buneary especially seemed to understand what I was going through and nodded. We practiced again and again, until we could do it flawlessly couple of times in a row. Of course it was far from perfect, nothing is perfect in this world, but with that, I was sure he would understand. Satisfied with ourselves we all fall asleep a few seconds after.

When I woke up again, the sun was rising. I called my pokemon back into their pokeball and went back to the camp. To my surprise, Ash was already up.

"Dawn" he called "what were you doing so early in the morning?"

"Nothing, really" After a few moment of hesitation, I thought it could be the perfect chance for me "Ash…" I began, my voice shaking a little "there's something I could like to show you. Will you watch?"

"Of course" he yawned, looking closely, I could see he had big shadows under his eyes

"Did you get any sleep?" I asked

"Not really...I was up all night thinking"

"It must be something big if you lost sleep over it…wanna talk about it?" I questioned, a little worried. He hesitated a little before answering

"I guess it can't hurt to tell you" He paused "It's pretty funny you know. People always say I'm clueless about these things and I believe it is true somehow. That's why I was surprised myself when I found out"

"What are you talking about?"

"I realised yesterday…I've fallen in love with a certain girl. Until yesterday, it was nothing special, but then I noticed it and though about it all night long…" I swear I heard the sound of my heart breaking like a glass as he confessed that. Sure, I had noticed how happy he had been when he reunited with May during the Wallace Cup, how strange he was whenever she was around. I also swear he was about to cry when she left him for the second time to return to Johto but I never expected him to tell me this straight on. I was just not ready. In these cases, God knows why, a girl will still manage to fake a smile. Weird isn't it?

"No need to worry. Truth is I am exactly the same. That's why I was up so early. The two of us are so similar!" I blurted

"There's someone you like, Dawn?" He seemed surprised

"Of course. I'm your normal teenage girl after all" What the hell was I saying? The only one for me was him. Why couldn't I tell him? Maybe there was still a chance to snatch him away from her. He looked at his feet, appearing deep in thought until he raised his head

"Then, let us both do our best" What followed was probably the saddest high-five I ever exchanged. I never thought words could bring such amount of pain "Well, enough with the serious talk. What did you want to show me anyway?"

"I forgot. It probably wasn't important anyway" I lied "there's still some time before we leave, I think I'll try and catch some sleep until then" Fortunately I managed to hold my tears back until I reached my tent.

Thinking back on all of this must have taken me a long time since when I looked at my watch I found out it was time for me to get ready. I quickly reached the room they had prepared for performers when I heard Brock's voice coming from the outside. He was probably taking some fresh air after his salsa show.

"You know, Misty. I'm glad Ash was able to get married" From what I have heard, she was the Cerulean City Gym leader and a long time friend of Ash. It seems she had accompanied him during his first journey through Kanto.

"What do you mean? He's like any other guy. It was bound to happen at some point" answered the water pokemon trainer. Without noticing, I was eavesdropping on them, it was not like I really wanted to but it just happened.

"You never knew?" Brock sounded very surprised "I don't know if I should tell you this… It's not the really the right place" He added hesistantly

"Spill the bean. Half of the work is done already anyway" Brock sighed

"I guess…You know Dawn, don't you?" Me? Why would they bring me up now?

"The coordinator who travelled through Sinnoh with you?"

"Yes" He paused "Well, back then Ash had a huge crush on her. He told me there was one time where he tried to confess but he refrained since she had someone else in her mind. His heart was broken that day and it only got worst when they had to part ways. I really believed he would never get over it"

I had heard enough. I ran away from them as fast as those high-heel shoes allowed me to and found myself in front of my locker out of breath. That couldn't be true, could it? At that time, he was referring to me? What if I had told him? The answer came naturally to my mind. We would have dated, stayed together after our travel and I surely would have been the one next to him today. After a few more years, we would have settled in a nice city, maybe close to my mum's so that she could come and see her grandchildren whenever she felt like it. Our eldest child is named Clair. Of course she's got blue hair: it runs in the family. She is a little too impulsive, blame Ash for that, but that's alright: she is cute as can be. I am sure she's gonna make some hearts flutter soon. Then is her little brother Joshua, an exact copy of his father, except for his blue eyes in contrast to Clair's brown one. Already babbling about how he is going to defeat his dad and become an even greater pokemon trainer someday. I quickly snapped out of it. With ifs, you could rebuild the entire world. Still, that would have been so nice...

I could hear I was being called for the performance, but I didn't care. I needed some time and allowed myself a couple of more minutes to calm down.

People applaused as I appeared. Like before any of my appeal I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Buneary, Pashirisu, let's do this" I whispered

Please watch me Ash. This is the first and last time I'm going to perform that show. When it is all finished, things will go back to the way they used to but for one minute, let's go back to these days. The feelings I couldn't express back then, I'll leave them here.Will they reach you? At least, I'll be able to say 'let's do our best' from the bottom of my heart now . I'm still young and there must still be plenty of opportunities for me. All I need to do is just to start moving on

...

"Ash? What's wrong? Are you crying?"

"It's nothing May. Don't worry. It's just…I've remembered something from long ago"

For those who know it, the plot is taking from Salad days from Shinobi Inokuma (which is a great manga by the way). To be more precise the chapter's title is: a short beautiful burn.

This and 'what the rain brings' are pretty sad. I'll definitly write something happier next time. Hope you liked it anyway. Please R&R