Title: Even when all feels so distant

Rating: G

Summary: Here in this oppressive room, Dawn needs to find her inner strength when there are no cheering voices from the crowd to help bring it forth.

Warnings: Spoilers for the last few episodes of the DP season. It's a friendship based fic but if you want to see hints of Ash/Dawn, I'm not stopping you. :P

A/N: I love Dawn and I loved the DP trio, so here is my little story exploring how Dawn handles being on her own from here on out. Unbeta'd because my writing schedule is too erratic to keep one on board. Please R&R. Criticism is very much welcome. Like Dawn and Ash, I take a lot of joy in being able to improve. Hopefully, I did improve since the last time I've written.

It was kind of funny how the last time she was in this position, sitting in the dressing room, waiting quietly for the contest to begin, she had been full of excitement. Sure she had been nervous but the thrill of being able to battle Zoey once again had completely overpowered it. She had never been so eager to run out there and battle with her pokemon, win or lose, she knew it would be amazing, a moment that she would never forget.

Now? In this dressing room, practically identical to the last one she had been in, she had never felt more wracked with nerves in her life. She fumbled with her hair tie as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and tried to ignore the weight of the stares on her back or the mutterings that had passed on from one coordinator to the other.

"Hey, isn't that…"

"That's her, yeah. How did a scrawny girl like her get into-"

"Luck, pure luck it was. I mean, wasn't that whole festival dominated by a bunch of-"

Ignore them. Ignore them. Ignore them. Dawn blinked back her tears. They don't mean anything. Just focus, you've done this so many times before. This pressure is nothing compared to what you've felt at the grand festival.

…but was it? Somehow, the pressure felt so much worse now and she couldn't figure out why. Was it because she had the desire to prove herself worthy as runner up of the Sinnoh Grandfestival? No, she admitted to herself. While she certainly wanted to continue improving, she didn't care about some reputation that wasn't even that great to begin wasn't it. That wasn't it at all. So why was she feeling so worried?

"Pip?"

Startled out of her thoughts, she looked down at worried eyes and forced a smile onto her lips.

"No need to worry Piplup. I'm fine! I was just thinking how odd it will be to go out there and not hear Ash, Brock and Pikachu cheering from the-"

The hairbrush dropped onto the floor with a loud clatter, lost in the buzz of coordinators getting ready for the contest.

That's right. This would be the first time she would be doing this alone. Before, all of those times…even when she was at her worst, even when she felt like she couldn't get any better…Brock and Ash had always been right there beside her. Brock, offering her his words of wisdom and Ash, shoving her to keep moving forward with his eternal optimism. Their joy that equalled hers when she won and their silent support and smiles, reminders that it wasn't the end of the world when she lost…

Now.

"First up, it will be Abigail from Sootopolis City!" Marion shouted, her voice blaring out over the speakers. Dawn jumped, hand flying to her chest as she attempted to calm her jittery heart. Had she really been so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realise the contest had begun? She breathed out slowly. Abigail was first. She was eighth.

She could do this. Even though now…

It was just her and Piplup against the world. She tugged at her gloves nervously. No, no, she shouldn't think like that. She was good - she knew she was a good coordinator. She knew better than anyone that her pokemon were amazing. She just had to be an even better coordinator than usual and show how much all of them had grown. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice Piplup's increasing agitation.

"I can do this. I can do this. I've done this a thousand times before. My pokemon will be amazing. Buneary can use her experience from the photoshoot and"

"PIP—LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!" Her quiet ramblings were cut short as she found herself under a barrage of bubbles. She spluttered ungracefully.

"Piplup! What was that for?" She frantically smoothed her hair, hoping that it would dry before it was her turn to go out. She cast Piplup an annoyed look as he huffed angrily jabbering about something she couldn't quite decipher. She peered closely at her reflection, grabbing at a tissue to dry her face. Seeing that nothing had really been damaged, she breathed a sigh of relief, squeezing her eyes shut.

"No need to worry, Dawn," she muttered under her breath, recalling Ash's last words to her. She remembered the hues of orange and indigo dancing like flames in the background, casting a golden hue to his form, the white ship gleaming in the dying sunlight, reflecting the blue water of the harbour. But above all, she remembered his brilliant smile that hadn't been dimmed one iota by their separation because he knew and he reminded her with his last words that goodbye wasn't forever and that they'd meet again.

That's right. Her eyes snapped open.

Even though they were separated, even though she could no longer look back and see them behind her, supporting her with everything they had…she wasn't alone. Because she still had her memories and she still had their friendship. They'd meet again, she would show them that their faith in her wasn't misplaced, that she really was as strong as they said she was.

"Right! No need to worry! We'll win this thing for sure, wont we, Piplup?" She declared loudly, throwing a fist into the air. Piplup let out a happy cheer, and Dawn grinned widely, returning him to the pokeball before slipping it inside the blue seal case.

She gave herself one last glance in the mirror and smiled again, remembering the tall boy with the quiet wisdom, who guided her and pushed her in the right direction whenever she needed to find answers to the questions she always had. She remembered the boy with the Pikachu, whose smile and optimism she had admired so much, had taken so much strength from.

They weren't beside her, she couldn't hear their voices from the crowds. But they were still with her, in her heart. She strode towards the door, determination shining in her eyes.

She would take strength from that.

She would do her best and win.

She'd prove to them, to everyone that their confidence in her and her own confidence in herself were not misplaced.

"We have an amazing lot of coordinators tonight, one of them being the Sinnoh Grand Festival runner up. Next up is Dawn of Twinleaf town!"

And when it was time to reunite, she would be able to face them with an honest smile and stories to tell.