SO. I haven't updated this in...well...closing up on two years now. I have the time, and the mental stability to keep writing, I just...don't know why I can't. I don't think it's writers block I've just lost interest I guess. I want to keep writing, I really do, I just don't. I'm sorry to all of you who want this to be an amazing series, I've received so much support for a story still this size. Hopefully soon I come back to this, but for now it's on the back burner. Thank you so much for your support over the years, my life has really flipped around and it's been a journey I can't even describe.
~Treecko Man
*Story starts a little bit after Ash losses at the Unova league and Dawn has decided to stick around after the whole meloetta incident as well. Instead of the gang going on the season long boat tour to Kanto (which honestly sucked), they decide to fly there instead. This fic includes romance between characters (yet to be decided with who), realistically aged characters (around 16 or so), old pokemon returning for the new adventure, actual pokemon progression, Ash will be an aura user, Ash will be aware that girls actually exist, and so much more. There will be heavy references to canon but I will insert a lot of my own ideas as well. I have no clue what to leave the rating on this because I have to work on this on my school loaned laptop because my personal laptop's screen broke (I dropped it…{bloody idiot…}) soooo yeah anyways... ON TO THE FIC!*
"C'mon Ash, we're going to miss the plane if you don't start hauling!" yelled Ash's long time friend Iris as they were all sprinting down the road. "I want to get to Kanto as soon as possible so I swear if we miss the plane because of you, you're dead!"
"Hey, what did I even do to get us into this!" The 16 year old Ash Ketchum yelled ahead. Iris slowed her pace to get next to Ash and began a rampage of insults.
"What did you do?! You were supposed to wake us all up early! You had one job Ketchum and you unsurprisingly managed to fail at it! Now we're 2 hours behind schedule and there's a pretty good chance we'll miss the plane!"
Ash took all this in and with grin on his face he replied, "Well in hindsight it was a bad idea giving me that job!" He yelled laughing as he started running as fast as he could to avoid the already furious Iris.
"Ketchum you get back here!" She yelled speeding past a panting Cilan and Dawn.
"Iris, just please don't murder him!" Cilan said calling out to her.
"No promises!" She yelled back as she quickly faded out of view, still chasing Ash.
"Better have the bandages ready Cilan" Laughed the bluenette running next to him.
"It wouldn't be a bad idea Dawn." He replied in between his panting.
"Pip piplup!" agreed the little blue penguin on top of her head.
As Cilan and Dawn neared the top of the hill where they had last seen their two friends, they heard the sounds of laughing and screaming. When they got to the top, they weren't surprised to see that Iris had tackled Ash to the ground. Pikachu was just rolling around and laughing at his trainer and Iris was sitting on Ash's back with one of his arms bent behind him, demanding that he call uncle.
"Alright Iris I think he's had enough." said Dawn who was somewhat out of breath.
"I'll say when he's had enough! And we're just getting started here. Now say uncle!" Iris yelled.
"Gaah uncle! Uncle!" Ash cried out.
"Iris if you keep this up much longer, we'll miss our flight." Cilan chimed in. Iris eased her grip taking a moment to think about her situation and decided that Cilan was right.
"You're lucky we're on a tight schedule Ketchum." She said letting go of the boys arm and getting off his back.
"Geez, thanks Cilan. Any longer and I think she would've torn my arm off." Ash said greatful of the connoisseur's actions. He got up off the ground getting a narrow eyed glance from Iris and began to talk to Cilan.
"So how much time do we have before the plane to Kanto takes off."
"Well it leaves at 2:00 p.m. and it's about 1:00 right now so, in an hour." Cilan replied.
"How much further until we reach the airport?" Dawn asked.
"Well, according to the map its less than two miles away. So if we keep running, we could still make it."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Iris yelled "Let's go!"
"Right." replied the rest of the group. They continued running down the path and after a few minutes, the treeline started to thin and the airport slowly began to appear.
"There it is!" Dawn said with excitement in her voice.
"Yes we're going to make it!" Ash yelled out.
"And you get to keep your head on!" Iris said with sarcasm very much present.
About 15 minutes later the group ran through the doors of airport and scrambled to get to their terminal. After Cilan had spotted it they ran towards the ticket lady as fast as they could.
"Is the flight to Kanto still boarding passengers?!" Cilan blurted out.
The ticket woman looked at him with a slight frown "Oh I'm sorry sir. The plane headed to Kanto hasn't even arrived back from the Hoenn region yet. Bad weather held the flight back so it won't be here for a few more hours. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."
Everybody sweatdropped, slowly collapsed on the floor and started groaning from the exhaustion.
"Well, at least we're early." Ash said and everybody groaned even louder.
After a much needed rest at the airport, they had boarded the plane and were about ready to take off. The plane was divided so that there were two seats on the left side of an aisle, and two seats on the right side. Cilan and Iris sat on the left with Iris taking the window seat and Cilan on the isle. Ash and Dawn were on the right side with Dawn next to the window and Ash on the isle. With them seated they had to give their pokemon to the stewardess to be put in the storage compartment. Even Pikachu and Piplup had to be returned had to get into their pokeballs. Pikachu had put up a huge fuss about it even going so far as to slap Ash with an iron tail attack. He eventually gave in and was called back to his pokeball, but not before he could give Ash a glare that seemed to say "You owe me BIG". It was probably the first time since he had even gotten to the Unova region that he had even been in it.
"Thanks again for letting me have the window seat Ash." Dawn said.
"Yeah no sweat Dawn." Ash replied.
There was a beeping sound and the pilot began speaking through the intercom. "Alright everybody, this is your captain speaking. Sorry for the wait, but a storm came out of nowhere back in Hoenn and had the whole airport closed for several hours. There will be a complimentary dinner provided by the airports 5 star restaurant for your troubles."
"Ah yes! Free food!" Ash yelled out getting glances from many of the other passengers on the plane.
"Ok so here is our flight schedule. We will depart from the airport within the next 20 minutes. The estimated time to reach the Kanto region is about 15 hours so sit back and relax. The current temperature at the Cerulean City Interregional airport is 82* fahrenheit and there are mild headwinds along the way so please expect some mild turbulence. Please pay attention to the stewardesses as they demonstrate the proper safety procedures for this aircraft. Thank you for choosing NorthPoke Airlines. Buckle up and we hope you enjoy your flight." Said the captain concluding his monologue.
After the long and boring lecture about the safety procedures, the plane began to move down the strip towards the runway. Ash looked over at Cilan and Iris and saw that both of them looked quite nervous.
"Hey Cilan and Iris, is this your first time flying?" Ash asked with some concern as they both turned and shyly nodded towards him.
"Oh I remember the first time I flew. It's scary at first but it's a really cool experience. You'll love it I promise." He added trying to reassure them.
Dawn leaned over Ash trying to add to what he said. "Hey no need to worry you two, everything will be ok."
The plane began to move onto the runway where it was about to take off. It got into position and with the confirmation of the control tower, the plane began to speed up. In a matter of seconds the plane was moving faster than a bullet. Ash looked over Dawn and out the window to see that they were whizzing past the airport. There was a massive bump and the next thing then knew, they had taken off.
Ash sat back in his seat and reminisced about what had happened to him in the past few weeks. It all really started after he had arrived with Iris and Cilan at Cynthia's summer home. Dawn had been waiting inside and surprised all of them with her guest appearance. He hadn't seen her in about a year and a half so the reunion was warmly welcomed. After that there was the junior cup tournament which Dawn won. Then there was the Meloetta incident. There was his and Dawn's supposed goodbye battle. He had beaten Dawn and man that moment sure did bring back a lot of feeling and memories. Afterwards was when Dawn said she was going to leave, but Dawn ended up changing her mind. She said she wanted to travel some more with Ash and the others and to see him compete in the Unova League tournament. The tournament that Ash unfortunately didn't win. He had only made it to the quarterfinals which really hurt his confidence. Dawn had been hanging around with him after his crushing defeat trying to make him feel a bit better. They had talked for hours on end that day and he felt a new feeling for her that he had never felt before, but he couldn't describe them. So long story short, a lot of stuff happened and Ash was glad his old friend was back.
"So how does it feel to be headed home after being gone for so long?" a tired sounding Dawn asked him.
Ash was surprised by the sudden question and he quickly snapped back into reality. He looked out the window and saw that the sun had almost set. "Geez why does time always pass so fast when I think?" Ash thought to himself while looking for an answer to Dawn's question.
"Oh well, it'll be great to go home. I'll get to see all my pokemon back at the professor's ranch. Oh and I'll see my mom again. Hard to believe that it's been about a year and a half since I've seen my mom in the flesh." he said with excitement. "Oh yeah, this'll be your first time in the Kanto region too won't it?"
"Yeah it will be. It'll be nice to see the region where you grew up at. From what you've told me over the years it's a really nice place." Dawn replied with an even more drowsy feeling.
Ash noticed how tired Dawn looked and that made him think for a sec. "Hey do you know what time it is Dawn?" He asked.
"Oh yeah," Dawn said looking at her poketch "it's like 10:30. I think I'm going to try sleeping in a sec, I'm just finishing up some more ideas for my next contest."
"You have a pillow or something you can use?" Ash asked.
"Nah I don't think I need anything. I actually find these seats very comfortable, so I'll just sleep like this." Dawn replied putting the notepad she was writing her ideas on in her backpack. She squirmed around for a few moments and finally found a position where she felt comfortable. "G'nite Ash" she said to him in a very soothing voice "Talk to ya in the morning." And with that, she laid back into the seat, closed her eyes and instantly fell asleep.
Ash looked to his left to see Cilan who was reading a book about the basics of cooking. Iris, like Dawn and almost everybody else on the plane was asleep. Ash didn't feel much like sleeping so he thought he'd make small talk with Cilan.
"Hey Cilan?" Ash said getting his attention.
"Yes Ash?" Cilan replied.
"You're a five star chef right?" Ash asked.
"That's correct, why do you ask? Are you hungry again?" he stated with a chuckle.
"Haha very funny." Ash said smiling "What I mean is, if you're a five star chef then why are you reading that book about the basics of cooking?"
"Oh, well I'm going through and correcting it." He said chuckling again and showing pages that were almost all highlighted and written over in red pen.
"Cilan, you never cease to amaze me." Ash said chuckling too.
Just as Ash said that, he felt something fall onto his shoulder. He looked out of the corner of his eyes and saw that Dawn had fallen onto him. He looked back to Cilan who had a small grin forming on his face.
"Well looks like she wanted that pillow after all." Ash said mumbling.
"Well Ash, you know this could be an opportunity for you." Cilan said still chuckling at the scene.
"Opportunity? What do you mean Cilan?" Ash asked slightly confused.
"Ahh clueless as ever I see." Cilan replied. "Just like our little stumble with those Cottonee."
"Oh. You mean that kind of opportunity." Ash said realizing what he meant. Ash had to admit he was pretty dense when it came to the complicated world of dating. "Look I know that both you and Iris say that Dawn and I are like soulmates, but to be honest we're really close friends and if I brought dating into that, well I could potentially lose that friendship. I don't want that to happen Cilan." Ash said with concern in his voice.
"Well whether or not you take advantage of this opportunity that Arceus has given you is none of my business." Cilan stated.
"I saved Arceus you know." Ash said trying to change subjects.
"I'm just saying Ash." Cilan said putting his book away and taking a small travel pillow out of his backpack. "I think I'm going to try and sleep so have a good night Ash."
"Okay, well g'nite Cilan." Ash replied back.
Cilan put the pillow on his right shoulder, laid his head down on it, looked at Ash giving him a wink and with that he fell asleep. Ash looked over to the blue haired girl that was still sound asleep on his shoulder. He noted that she was lightly snoring and that every now and then she would say something in her sleep. He had probably been thinking about her for a solid hour before he began to feel exhausted himself. He thought about what to do with his situation and after a few minutes of thinking, he closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
Dawn's View
Dawn's eyes slowly cracked open with light quickly flooding into her eyes as she gently woke up from her sleep. She quickly noticed that her head wasn't on her chair and was surprised to see that she was sleeping on Ash's shoulder. She slightly leaned up to see that Cilan and Iris were still asleep too. She laid her head back in Ash's neck, enjoying the way it felt. It saddened her when she thought about this would probably never happen again, because she really liked Ash. After seeing him perform many heroic acts like saving her life on multiple occasions, defeating criminal organizations on multiple occasions, and even saving the world...on multiple occasions. Not to mention that he was basically a legendary pokemon magnet (whether that was a good thing or not), had the determination to do literally anything he put his mind to, and the icing on the cake is that he was somehow able to use his aura and manifest it into physical energy, even going so far as to perform little shows for her and Brock back in the day. He was literally the greatest guy she had ever met. The only thing that was stopping her from asking him out was how bloody dense he was. She had dropped him hints multiple times but whether he noticed them or not was beyond her knowledge. And that brought her back to her current situation and it made her think.
"Should I stay like this, because it's so much comfier than the plane chairs. Trying to sleep on them is like trying to fall asleep on a Sandslash. But what if Ash woke up and saw me like this. How would he react to me doing this? Ugg it's so hard deciding what to do." She said thinking to herself.
And somehow, what Dawn feared most at that moment became reality. Ash started squirming. Dawn closed her eyes pretending to be asleep, hoping for the best. She just proyed this wouldn't turn out badly. But she was surprised when he didn't do anything. She could feel him moving around. He was obviously awake, she could hear him mumbling to himself. Then he finally started talking out loud.
"Heh, well I guess you were so comfy you didn't even move an inch." He said to her chuckling. "Man if only you knew how Cilan reacted to this last night, you woulda been laughing at me so hard."
"I was like this all night?!" Dawn thought to herself. "And he let me sleep like this, all cradled up in his neck. What a sweet guy." She had to get out of this somehow. "Maybe I should fake wake up and start a normal conversation with him." she thought. "Yeah let's do that. Okay, well here goes nothing."
Ash's View
Ash noticed that Dawn was starting to stir around and he figured that she too was about to wake up. With his guess correct, he watched as Dawn sat up looked around half dazed, then she gazed back at him.
"Oh, good morning Ash." Dawn said with a drowsy yawn and started to stretch her arms out.
"Morning Dawn. You sleep well last night?" He asked.
"Oh uhm yeah I did thanks." she replied trying to hold back the blush forming on her face.
"Well that's good. It looks like we'll be landing in a little bit. I'm so excited to get home you know, I haven't seen my hometown in so long. I wonder if Gary will be there. Or if Misty and Brock will be around. It'd definitely be great to see them again!
"Well somebody certainly is excited for just getting up." Dawn giggled.
"How did you know I just woke up?" Ash asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well...you see umm...I could hear it in your voice! You just sounded really drowsy and all so I just like umm...put the pieces together heheheh" replied Dawn in a hastened tone.
"Dawn relax, you're not on trial."Ash said with a chuckle while Dawn sweatdropped.
"Oh man after 15 hours of sitting in that chair it's nice to just stretch my legs." Iris said. She exercised that thought by performing a few cartwheels through the jetway bridge and into the Cerulean City Airport.
"I can tell she really isn't one for sitting is she?" Dawn asked sweat dropping as the rest of the gang walked out of the plane.
"Her energetic personality is just one of the many bold spices that makes up the powerful spirit that is Iris." Cilan replied to her with a smile.
Just as Cilan finished his sentence, they walked out of the jetway bridge and into the Airport. Iris was standing happily next to a tall woman with brown hair and a pink coat on. Ash saw the woman and his eyes lit up like the lights of a christmas tree.
"Mom!" Ash yelled dropping everything as he ran in for a hug.
"Ash, oh my baby it's been too long!" Ash's mom Delia answered as she embraced her son.
After about a minute of hugs, Ash and his mother finally broke apart, and began the long awaited conversation of his journeys around the Unova region.
"So mom, you remember Dawn right" Ash asked.
"Yes I do and my my Dawn, you've grown up so much since the last time I saw you. Why you've practically become a woman now!" Delia replied.
"Thanks Mrs. Ketchum, It's really nice to meet you again." Dawn said.
Delia looked up from the bluenette and turned towards the other two people that came off the plane. "So you must be Cilan and Iris yes? It's great to finally get to meet you two in person." She stated. Both Cilan and Iris responded with hellos and handshakes.
"Hey, I hate to break up formal greetings but we should probably go pick up our pokemon. Pikachu is probably freaking out from being in his pokeball for so long." Ash stated.
Everyone else nodded and they walked around looking for the receptionist that returned everyone's pokemon. Once they found the pickup area Ash, Cilan, Iris, and Dawn stood in line for what seemed like an eternity. Finally once they had been called up, they presented their trainer I.D.s and received a tray that contained their pokemon. Ash immediately picked up Pikachu's pokeball and released him. Pikachu came out in a flash of white light and instantly began to roll around and kiss the ground as if he'd never even been on it before. Dawn did the same with piplup but when he reappeared from his pokeball, he was fast asleep.
"Alright guys, let's go and meet up with my mom and head to my place so we can figure out what our next step is." Ash said.
Everyone agreed and with pikachu deciding to run on his own (for obvious reasons). They walked out of the airport and to the parking lot where Ash's mom was waiting patiently in her maroon colored mini van. Once everybody had piled in, they drove out of the airport and started the hour long drive back to Ash's nice little home in the comfy town of Pallet. All the way home, Ash could hear the oohs and aahs of Iris, Cilan, and Dawn as they watched many of Kanto's native pokemon frolic in their natural habitats. There were herds of Tauros and flocks of Pidgey and Spearow spattered about the fields surrounding the road. The sight that got the biggest reaction though, was when Iris saw a trainer riding on the back of a Dragonite in the distance.
While everyone was admiring the sights of his home region, Ash couldn't help but reminisce about the first time he had ever traveled through the forest. It was just him and Pikachu on their way to battle at their first gym, Pewter City gym. It was there, after they had beaten Brock, that he and Pikachu truly started to bond with each other. Ash looked down on his lap where Pikachu, who was curled up in a ball, and was sound asleep.
"Good times weren't they buddy." Ash said as he scratched the yellow mouse.
Pikachu's eyes fluttered open and looked up at his trainer who was still scratching him. Pikachu let out a small coo and returned to its sleep. Its bliss didn't last much longer though as the car turned onto a bumpy gravel road. Ash looked up from his annoyed partner and he realised that before him was his home town. The town of Pallet.
"Well that certainly was faster than usual." Delia stated. "Well guys it looks like we're here!"
"Ash your hometown is so cute!" Dawn exclaimed as she looked out the window.
"Yeah, it's a cozy little place isn't it." Ash replied with a smile, happy to be home again.
"Geez, this place is smaller than the Village of Dragons. Are you sure this is a town Ash?" laughed Iris getting an annoyed glare from him.
"I actually have to agree with Iris on this one. Your town has a population of 1,500 people, where are all the homes and businesses at?" Cilan asked.
"Well most of the homes are spread out over ten square miles of land. The people are here, its just a very spread out community." Delia replied. Just as the car was about to enter the town, Delia turned left on a fork in the road and started to head up a steep hill.
"Wait, where are we going mom?" Ash asked with a confused look.
"Well you've been away for about a year and a half now, and I thought that you missed your pokemon at Professor Oak's ranch more than you missed your room." His mom replied to him with a smile.
"Really! We're going to see them now!?" Ash shouted out, making his friends jump in surprise.
"Sweetie we're already there." Delia said as a large building and windmill came into sight.
And there it was. Professor Oak's famous pokemon ranch. Ash could barely hold his excitement as it was literally boiling out of him. He couldn't wait to see all of his old pokemon. Man were they going to be happy to see him, especially Bayleaf. She always showed more affection for him than any of his other pokemon had ever before. But thinking of that made Ash feel a bit down. He had never really taken any of his pokemon with him when he went to new regions aside from pikachu. They were all sent back here to the ranch to do nothing really.
With that thought finished up, the minivan pulled up to the front door of the ranch. Everybody exited the car except for Ash's mom, who said she had to finish making the feast that she had prepared for him and his friends. As she drove off, Ash and the others walked towards the entrance of the complex. Ash seemed a bit nervous because it had been more than a year and a half since he had seen any of his pokemon in person. He always felt this way when he came back from a journey. A sense of fear that his pokemon would hate him for leaving them all in a lab while he was out having adventures and boundless fun. Even though all of his pokemon loved it when he visited, part of him felt like they hated him for it.
The gang walked through the doors of the complex to get a well recepted blast of cold air. Everybody was looking around and gaping at all of the high tech gadgets and monitors that seemed to litter the room. Ash smiled as the memories came flooding back to him. This was where he had started his journey. It was because of this place that he was where he was to this day, and that only made him more excited.
"Professor Oak?!" He yelled out "Tracy, where are you guys at!?"
"Way to be subtle Ash." Iris teased out.
There was a small buzz that could be heard. Everyone was looking around trying to see what it was and where it was coming from. The lights above started to flicker and suddenly a small, orangish cone with a distinctive lightning bolt tracing on its side appeared, and it darted around the room, making an odd laughing sound. Everyone in the group but Dawn realised what was going on and finally, the entity decided to introduce itself.
"Hey Rotom, hows it going?" Ash asked to professor Oak's little electric devil.
"Wait, it's a Rotom?!" Dawn squealed and she quickly grabbed at her hair trying to keep it straight. "No no no no no no no! It's gunna mess up my hair!"
Rotom gave a quick laugh and zoomed by Dawn's head making her hair stand on ends. Dawn let out a small scream and sweatdropped when she discovered, and to her horror, she officially had an afro. Everyone let out a big laugh as Dawn struggled to straighten her hair and rotom snuck back into the electrical system.
"IT'S NOT FUNNY YOU GUYS!" Dawn yelled at them still struggling to fix her hair.
"I'll take a guess that all this screaming I hear is Rotom's doing?" said a smooth voice behind them. Everyone jumped around to see professor Oak and rotom at his side.
"Professor Oak!" Ash yelled out in excitement.
"Ahh Ash, great to see you again. Your mother told me you were returning home soon. Glad to see you made it here safe and sound. And I see that you brought friends along too." professor Oak stated with a great smile on his face. But joyous face quickly turned to confusion. "Umm Ash, who is that young lady there with the afro?"
Dawn's face turned bright red in embarrassment "Oh it's me professor, Dawn Berlitz. Ash's friend from the Sinnoh region heh heh…" She retorted.
The professor let out a chuckle "Ahh yes I remember you now. You're the girl who so dearly loves my poetry, aren't you? Well I certainly do like what you did with your hair." he replied with a chuckle and Dawn sighed giving piplup an order to just hit her with a bubblebeam and get it over with.
"Well professor this is Cilan and Iris, you remember them right?" Ash asked.
"But of course my boy, it's great to see the both of you once again." Oak said to the two who gave warm smiles as a return.
"Hey professor, I was just wondering, where's tracy at?" Ash asked.
"Oh he's out right now, I believe that he's currently on a date with Misty." Oak stated.
"Wait, they're dating?!" Ash exclaimed, shocked by the news he was receiving.
"Oh you haven't heard? Tracy and Misty got together about a year or so back. To be honest I just assumed that they had told you." He replied.
Ash felt like a ton of bricks hit him in the chest. "Misty dating Tracy. Wow…" He said in a whisper.
Dawn, felt her heart drop and her mind was racing. "Is Ash in love with Misty?! But, but I...I"
"Whoo!" Ash screamed out with chaotic enthusiasm. "Oh geez that's a load off my chest. I thought that she had a crush on me, oh thank Arceus."
"I thought you said that you and Misty had a bond like no other." Cilan said questioning what was going on.
"We do, but it's the best friends kind of bond. To be honest she's like a kind hearted psychopath haha. Kind of like you Iris, but with more punching." Ash replied getting an irritated look from her.
Dawn felt her racing heart settle down and her breathing come return to normal. She was still in the clear. To be honest that was one of the big things that had been holding her back from asking him out, not knowing if he had had a crush on one of his previous travel companions.
"That aside, would you care to go see your pokemon ash?" Oak asked the excited boy.
"Oh yeah, of course! C'mon guys lets go already!" Ash yelled out as he started running towards the doors that lead to the ranch out back.
Ash burst through the doors, ready yet nervous to meet his pokemon once again. But as he took his first step into the vast plains, he barely had a second to think before he saw bayleaf charging at him at full force. She crashed into him, taking him to the ground and with a vicious force, began to lick and nuzzle Ash.
"Gahh, hey Bayleaf I missed you to! Woah c'mon let me up hahaha!" Ash managed to get through all of the licking and hugging.
All the others watched the scene unfold and were laughing at the large amount of affection Ash was getting from just Bayleaf alone.
"Well, I think it's clear to see that Bayleaf and Ash have an unbreakable bond" Cilan spoke out still laughing at the scene.
"That's the understatement of the year." Iris retorted rather sarcastically.
"Hey guys" Ash tried to get out from the hug rampage his pokemon was on. "Could you give me and the professor; no stop bayleaf that tickles! hahahaha! Could you give us a moment to talk?! hahaha stop it Bayleaf!"
"Sure thing Ash. C'mon guys let's go relax with our pokemon over in the shade." Dawn chimed as she, Cilan and Iris, Pikachu and Piplup walked off.
As Ash finally got up from the assault of love, Bayleaf ran off to inform the others of his arrival. Ash began to scan the horizon to find the rest of his pokemon. There were many pokemon that were scampering about that must have belonged to other trainers. But he could see a few of his own. His horde of Tauros grazing in the distance and his Torterra was sunbathing nearby. His Muk was seemed to be enjoying a large pit of mud that was being made by his Totodile and Corphish. Buizel and Gibble were sparring in what looked like an epic match because it had drawn a big crowd by many of the other pokemon. He could even see Torkoal, Heracross, and Donphan enjoying it. But all in all that was all he could see right off the bat. He noticed the large forest that was off in the distance and assumed that the rest were somewhere in there.
"So professor, how have they all been doing?" Ash asked.
"Well, most of them are quite happy here. They all get along swimmingly and I think that some even love it as a home. Your Staraptor and Swellow even started families with some of the other bird pokemon here." Oak stated.
Ash smiled at the thought of his pokemon having families. It made him feel as though his pokemon truly were happy here. But there was something in Oak's statement that caught Ash's ears.
"Did you say most of them were happy here professor?" Ash asked with a little worry. "Are any of them unhappy here?"
"Well, let me rephrase what I said. They're all happy here, it's just that a couple of them have grown tedious of the thought of being here another day." Oak replied. "It's your Buizel and Sceptile. They've both been here for quite a long time now and I believe that they both want to travel with you once again."
"I can't just leave them here then professor." Ash stated feeling bad for his pokemon. "I want them to be happy and do what they want to do."
"You've turned into quite the caring man Ash." Oak replied trying to cheer up the clearly down teen.
"But...I want to start my journey again" Ash said feeling very torn. "I can't really do that if I already have 3 out of my 6 pokemon. I just don't know what to do professor…"
"There is something I might be able to do for you to help ease up the tension on your situation." Stated the professor. "You know of the law in place that allows anyone who wins a pokemon league tournament gets to carry 10 pokemon on them, correct?"
"Of course, it's like common knowledge." Ash replied. "How can that help me though, I've never won a league before."
"Yes, yes I know. But I feel that because you have participated and done so well in a large number of league tournaments, that I might be able to pull a few strings for you." Oak stated getting a very hyper reaction from Ash.
"You could do that for me?!" Ash said nearly screaming.
"Now calm down, I did say might. There have been a few cases of where there have been exceptions for this. Take Cynthia, the Sinnoh league champion for example. Throughout her journey she competed in 13 league tournaments before she finally won one. But on her tenth attempt she was given the ability to carry 10 pokemon due to her drive and successes in the past leagues. I think that with your successes in the leagues, along with the large contribution of saving the world a few times, I think that they would allow it."
Ash felt so excited that he felt like he was about to burst. The thought of being able to carry 10 pokemon at once was something he had always dreamed of. It would certainly solve his current situation and would be something that he could use to gain a better edge with training and all other things battle related.
"When do you think that this could be arranged?" Ash asked to the professor, with a very light headed feeling.
"Well, if the league sees you fit to have access to this privilege, it could be as early as tomorrow." The professor replied.
Ash felt like he was about to faint. There was so many things happening all at once that he couldn't even concentrate on his own thoughts. Drool was leaking from his gaping mouth, his eyes looked glazed and his back began to arch back to worrying levels. It was to the point where someone could easily mistake his reaction to him having a stroke.
"Ahem. Ash, you might want to come back to reality, you have a few visitors." The professor chuckled knowing how thrilled the boy must be.
Ash snapped out of his dazed state and ended up collapsing back first onto the ground. He looked up to see the faces of all the pokemon that he had traveled with on his journeys. If Bayleaf's love assault was bad then what happened next was immeasurable because the last thing Ash saw was all of his pokemon starting a dogpile.
Later that night.
It was almost 8:00 PM. The gang was all back at Ash's house and the feast was nearly prepared. Ash was in his room, changing into another set of clothes due to how dirty his other set had gotten. As Ash was changing, he thought about everything that had happened at the ranch.
After much catching up and ruff housing, many pokemon were basically begging him to use them in a battle against someone else. Donphan wanted to battle Glalie, Torterra wanted to battle Snorlax, Muk wanted to battle Torkoal, and Buizel even wanted to battle Pikachu. The list though, went on and on. Ash was surprised after many hours of battles that Sceptile hadn't even participated in one yet. But Ash quickly found out that Sceptile had wanted to show his skills solo. He watched as Sceptile challenged and fought Infernape, and to say that Ash was impressed would have been an understatement. Infernape really had given it his all, even at one point having its blaze ability activated. But Sceptile seemed to have taken him down with ease. After that match, he had been introduced to Swellow's kids and Staraptor's, as well as their partners, which seemed like a very nice way to wrap up his reunion with his pokemon. Dawn had even given the idea of them all leaving their pokemon there for the night, which everyone thought was a great one.
Ash smiled about what a great day it had been as he pulled up a new pair of cargo pants. He was really hoping that the professor would pull through for him and he would be able to carry 10 pokemon. Being able to bring back some of his old partners would be amazing and the thought of having Sceptile and Buizel back made him jitter with excitement. But that also brought up the thought "What would happen if the professor couldn't get permission for me. What should I do about Sceptile and Buizel. I can't just have them stay at the ranch and stay unhappy, it's not right to do that to them." Ash tried to think of any solutions to his problem, but aside from releasing them back into the wild, he couldn't think of anything. Casting those thoughts aside, his put on a shirt, just as there was a knock at his door.
"Hey Ash?" Dawn asked from the other side of his door. "May I come in?"
"Just a sec Dawn!" Ash replied to her as he quickly looked at the mirror on his dresser, making sure he didn't look like a slob. "Ok yeah you can come in now."
Dawn opened the door and walked into the teen's room and it looked completely different than she thought it would have. On the walls there were posters for kids shows, pictures of pokemon, stuffed pokemon on his twin sized bed, and even toys on shelves.
"Wow. Your room is…uhmm..." Dawn started to say
"Yeah I haven't really gotten around to redecorating heh heh." Ash said chuckling at the sights of all of his old kid stuff.
"I guess you could say that." Dawn said as her eyes wandered to the top of a dresser that had awards spewing off of it. "Wow, when you told me you'd won a lot of competitions, you really weren't kidding."
There were dozens of badges in small display cases along with trophies, ribbons, medals, and even pictures of his old travel companions. Dawn saw pictures of Ash in group photos with her, Misty, Brock, Tracy, May, Max, Cilan, Iris, and a lot of others who she didn't recognize. Some were with old rivals, gym leaders, and even a couple of the champions of the regions. But there was one photo that caught her eye. It was an old and well worn photo of Ash when he was maybe 5 or 6 years old. He was wearing a straw hat with a pink ribbon and had a huge smile on his face. But that wasn't what had caught her eye. Standing next to the younger version of Ash stood another girl around 5 or 6 too. She had long blonde hair, was wearing a pink blouse and looked like she was laughing while trying to grab the hat back.
"Hey Ash?" Dawn ask out to him "What's this picture of?"
"Oh that picture? Wow that takes me way back. What was I like 6 years old then?" He asked to himself. "Anyways, when I was really young, I would go to professor Oak's summer camp. I went there like every summer until I was like 8 I think."
"Oh ok." Dawn said still wondering who the girl was. "So who's your little friend in the picture?"
"That's Serena. I accidently bumped into her in the middle of the forest during a scavenger hunt. I guess she had fallen or something because her knee was really badly injured. I remember trying to cast a spell or something on it to try and make her feel better hah hah" Ash said as he reminisced. "Anyways, I helped her get back to the camp and get her to the nurse. After that incident, we were like the best of friends. We would hang out every day at the camp, be partners for every event, and just talk and talk. My guy friends and especially Gary used to tease us that we should just get married already. After summer camp had ended we still hung out alot but I think it was like a couple months later she had to move to another region because of her mom's work. It was something weird like Rhyhorn racing, I quite don't remember. And yeah, that's the story of Me and Serena." Ash said finally finishing his story.
"Wow." Dawn replied. "Did you guys ever see each other again?" Dawn asked feeling a bit bad for getting this deep into Ash's memories.
"No." Ash stated bluntly "After she had moved I never heard from her again. I really don't even remember where she moved to. It's a nice thing to smile back on though because I know that somewhere out there she's grown up just like me and enjoying this world as much as you or I do. Whether I'm in her memories or not."
"Sorry for bringing up the topic Ash." Dawn said apologetically.
"Nah." Ash retorted "Thanks for bringing it back up. I haven't thought about her, and even my past in general in quite a long time. You know with me being busy with the league, saving legendary pokemon and the world is quite the time killer!" Ash laughed out.
Dawn smiled, glad to see Ash was in a good mood about it. Even though he was rubbing in his achievements to her.
"Oh yeah you did all that stuff completely solo. I'd like to see you take on the challenge of saving the pokemon of time, space, and alternate realities again. It'd be quite the show this time." Dawn giggled out.
"Ehh point taken." Ash said to Dawn.
There was a moment of silence and Ash decided to sit down on the edge of his bed. He tapped the side of it to signal Dawn to sit down next to him. Dawn took a seat to his left and with a nervous blush and Ash broke the silence.
"So Dawn, have you figured out what you want to do, where to go in the next couple days?" Ash asked her.
Dawn blushed even more as she thought about how she wanted to answer the question.
"Well…" She stuttered. "I want to continue contests and stuff. I mean I'm still following my goal to be a top coordinator, but I still want to travel with you Ash." She said as her blush deepened even more.
It was Ash's turn to blush as he took in her words.
"You do?" Ash asked trying to conceal his red cheeks.
"Yeah, I mean you're one of my best friends Ash. When you left the Sinnoh region and I went to help Buneary model for the magazine, I felt so alone. Once Buneary had figured out that she hated modeling, I felt even more alone. I went to the Johto region to try and go for being a top coordinator. I got all the ribbons that I needed but I barely did that. When I got to the tournament itself I thought I could do well but I only got to the top 16." Dawn let out as tears started to form in her eyes.
"But, but you said you made it to the final two in Johto." Ash questioned to her noticing how emotional she was becoming.
"I lied Ash because I didn't want you thinking I was a failure. I never had anyone to travel with and almost no support throughout my journey there aside from my pokemon's. I was depressed to say the least." Dawn whimpered with tears now running down her cheeks. "After I had lost my match, I was approached by Cynthia in the dressing rooms. She had seen how devastated I was and offered to take me with her on a little trip to her summer home in the Unova region and I jumped on the opportunity. But I was totally surprised when she told me that she knew that you would be stopping by that I almost had a heart attack. So after we reunited, I decided that I wanted to keep traveling with you and well, I guess it's lead us right here." She said balling.
Tears were now flowing down Dawn's face like a river as she bent forward and was crying into her knees. Ash scrambled to think of something he could do to cheer her up and did the only thing he could think of.
Dawn's View
She just couldn't stop crying. Even next of her crush, in his room and on his bed, She just couldn't hold her emotions back. She had let everything out and now he knew one of her deepest secrets. She couldn't even bear to look at him, or even to lift her head from her knees as she just kept sobbing. As she was sobbing though, she felt a hand lay on her left shoulder. She brought her head up slightly and looked over to the boy next to her. With a gentle pull he sat her upright and looked straight into her eyes. Her tears had stopped flowing but her cheeks still glimmered from the moisture. Ash scooted closer to her and without words embraced her in a loving hug. Ash gently patted her back and once again her tears began to flow. Not as tears of sadness, but as tears of happiness as She thought about how she really had the greatest friend anybody could ever have and She wrapped her arms around him.
"Thank you Ash." Dawn whispered as she finally broke the warmed embrace. "You have no idea how much I've wanted to say that."
"It's no problem Dawn." Ash stated. "I'm always here for you. You're one of my best friends and nothing will ever change that. If you want to keep traveling with me, I'm just as excited for it as you are." He said as he put his hand on hers. "I promise that nothing will ever sever our friendship." and pulled her in for one last embrace.
"Thanks Ash." She said feeling like she was the luckiest girl on the planet.
"Anytime Dawn." Ash replied as he broke the second hug. "Now, what do you say we go downstairs and celebrate with a bunch of food?" Ash laughed out trying to make Dawn feel a bit more normal.
"Yeah, that sounds great Ash." Dawn replied finally calm again.
They both got up from the bed and walked downstairs and into the dining room where there was an abundance of food. There were plates of steamed vegetables, sliced berries, crackers and cheeses, pastas of all sorts, sandwiches, rice balls, bottles of sodas in every flavor imaginable, and in the center was a delicious looking cake with little pokemon figures on the top of it.
"Wow!" Ash and Dawn exclaimed together.
"I'm surprised that you're surprised by this." Ash's mom Delia joked.
"I know!" Iris exclaimed from her seat at the table. "He usually eats more than this for lunch!" She laughed out getting a puckered reaction from him.
"Cmon Iris, let up on him. I don't think he's eaten since last night's in flight meal." Cilan replied from the kitchen to which an earth shattering growl came from Ash's stomach.
"I guess you're right Cilan heh heh" Ash chuckled scratching the back of his head.
"Well go ahead and sit down you two," Delia said as she placed a loaf of bread on the table, "The other guests should be here any second now."
"Other guests?" Everybody else asked just as the doorbell rang.
"Speak of the devil!" Delia exclaimed as she ran to the door.
Ash looked at the others giving them a questioning look, only to get shoulder shrugs from them.
They all walked to the living room where the front door was and Ash's eyes lit up at the sight of who it was.
"Misty, and Gary!? Oh my Arceus what are you guys doing here?!" Ash exclaimed as his old friends walked in.
"Well, professor Oak told me you were back in town and I thought that I'd say hi before you surely leave for some other part of the world tomorrow." Misty responded to the overly excited boy.
"And I actually just got here from the Hoenn region last week so I thought it was appropriate to drop by and say hi to my old punching bag." Gary laughed out getting a steaming reaction from Ash. As his laughter subsided, Gary looked behind Ash and saw Cilan, Iris, and Dawn all with blank expressions. "Great to see you again Dawn but I don't believe I've met either of you." He walked over to Cilan and Iris and stuck out his hand.
Cilan was the first to shake. "It's a pleasure meeting one of Ash's old friends. My name is Cilan and I'm a pokemon connoisseur."
"A connoisseur huh? Sure is an interesting line of work." Gary Replied.
"I am a gym leader on the side too but, that job runs in the family." Cilan joked.
"Wow, a connoisseur and a gym leader. Sounds like you've got your arms full." He stated as he changed his view over to the girl with the biggest hairdo he'd ever seen. He had to admit she looked a bit ridiculous with it but she was strangely attractive. "And who might you be?" Gary asked to her.
"The names Iris, and I'm training to become a dragon master." Iris replied shaking Gary's hand.
"Wow, a dragon master. That sure is a bold goal." Gary stated with a very impressed manner.
"Yeah, well being born and raised in a place called the village of dragons sure will do that to you." Iris chuckled. "What about you, what's your goal?"
"Well, I've achieved mine already." Gary proclaimed. "I've become a field researcher and archeologist of ancient ruins and civilizations."
"Wow!" Iris exclaimed with awe in her eyes. "That's so cool! Tell me about some of the stuff you've done."
"May I do so over dinner?" Gary asked smoothly making Iris blush slightly.
"Ugg, there goes Gary again." Ash said mockingly. "C'mon guys let's eat already, I'm starving."
Everybody sat down at the rectangular table, it be so crowded with food that there was barely enough room for their plates. Ash had decided to sit down on the bottom left of the table with Dawn sitting next him and Cilan to her left. On the adjacent side sat Misty with Iris on her left and Gary sitting on the far right in front of Ash and Delia sat on the back width of the table. Once they had all been seated it was a total free for all. Everybody was grabbing for food to put on their plates like savages and Delia was left with a sweatdrop.
Professor Oak's View
As professor Oak finished up his microwave noodles, he got from the chair in his office and started to make a phone call that would determine whether Ash could carry 10 pokemon or not. Professor Oak had to admit, he was a little shaky due to the fact that he was about to make phone calls to some of the most powerful people on the planet. He dialed the phone number onto his video phone and hoped to get a response. The video phone rang multiple times before the other line picked up.
"Oh, hello there professor Oak. What might you be calling for at this time of night?" Cynthia, the Sinnoh league Champion asked him.
"Hello Cynthia. You see the reason I'm calling is because I need to talk to Mr. Goodshow about some personal business." Oak responded.
"Must be rather important if you need to talk to Mr. Goodshow. But why are you calling me about this and what business are you talking about?" Cynthia asked him.
"Well, I wanted to see if he would allow a pupil of mine to carry 10 pokemon with him instead of the standard 6." getting a nod from Cynthia. "You remember Ash Ketchum don't you?" Oak asked.
"You do realize he was at my summer home just a few weeks ago right?" Cynthia joked.
"Anyways," Oak started, "I think it's time he be granted this privilege. He has quite the resume on him considering He's gotten far in the leagues multiple times. Not to mention that he's saved dozens of legendary pokemon, defeated criminal organization, He's…"
"Professor I know." Cynthia stated cutting off the professor. "I've bared witness to many of these things and you know, I think that you're right. I do believe that he should have this privilege. You have my approval if that is what you're looking for."
"Thank you Cynthia, that sure will help in my little appeal." Oak replied.
"No problem professor. Anything else I could possibly help you with?" Cynthia asked him.
"Oh yes, there's one other thing. I don't really have Mr. Goodshow's number, you know, because only Champions have his number and all that." Oak rattled out.
"I'll do ya better. I'll patch him into the call right now." Cynthia stated.
"Oh excellent!" Oak stated.
Oaks screen suddenly divided in half, with Cynthia's screen on the top and a gray screen on the bottom half. After a few moments of beeping, the lower screen went to static and suddenly Mr. Goodshow appeared on the screen. But the picture of Mr. Goodshow didn't show for more than a second as everything was shaking around. It kept changing from blurs of one kind to blurs of another, almost as if the screen itself was shaking.
"Oh why hello Cynthia, what can I do ya for?" Panted the Pokemon League President.
"Hello Charles, you may want to stop running for a moment." Cynthia replied.
The camera went still as the sweaty president put the camera of his poketch still on him as he noticed there was a third person in the call.
"Why if it isn't professor Oak himself. It's been too long, how are you doing?" Mr. Goodshow asked him.
"Quite well Mr. Goodshow, but I'm here to ask you for a favor." Oak asked him.
"Well what might that be?" Goodshow asked.
"You remember my lad Ash Ketchum correct?" Oak said to the sweaty man.
"Oh of course, how could I forget him. Such a great kid. So what is it that you need for him." Goodshow asked.
"Well, due to his extensive and...heroic resume, I feel that he deserves the right to be able to carry 10 pokemon with him from this point on.
Mr. Goodshow instantly went into deep thought where he stood and was perfectly still, almost as if he were a statue. A smile quickly emerged on his face and he turned back towards the camera.
"What is your opinion on this Cynthia?" Goodshow asked her.
"I think that out of everybody on the earth, Ash definitely deserves it the most. And as the professor stated, he does have quite the resume." Cynthia spoke out.
"Well Oak my friend, there's your answer. The boy from here on out will be allowed to carry up to 10 pokemon in his party."Goodshow said getting a beamed look from the professor. "I'll have my secretaries confirm it and have it entered into the pokemon management system by the end of the night, no problem."
"That's wonderful!" Oak exclaimed extremely happy for the good news Ash was soon to get. "I'll surprise him with the information tomorrow morning. Thank you Mr. Goodshow!"
"Now if you don't mind, Mt. Coronet isn't going to climb itself!" Goodshow exclaimed as his screen went to static and finally into gray leaving only Cynthia on the screen.
"Did he say Mt. Coronet?" Oak asked sweat dropping.
"He even surprises me for what he can do at his age." Cynthia chuckled.
"It sure seems that way." Oak replied. "Anyways, thank you Cynthia. You've no idea how excited he will be about this."
"Think about getting it on camera." Cynthia joked. "Well, I've got to go. This weeks gym battle highlights are about to show on the tv and I never miss them."
"Certainly. Have a nice night then, and thanks again." Oak stated.
"Anytime professor." Cynthia said as her screen went gray and Oak celebrated with a quick fistpump.
Back at Ash's home.
The table was empty. All of the food had been eaten, all the drinks had been drank, and the fancy cake was now a pile of crumbs. Everybody around the table was clenching their stomachs and moaning in delight over how full they were from Delia's amazing cooking. Over the course of the feast, Ash had told Gary and Misty about his friends crazy adventures across the Unova region that he'd had with Cilan, Dawn, and Iris. Throughout the feast though, everybody aside from Iris had taken notice that Gary had been trying to play it smooth with her, telling jokes, talking about some of his biggest finds, and other things on that subject. After the feast was over though everybody had decided it would be interesting to go watch a movie. The movie that had been chosen to watch...Sharpedonado. They spent the next two hours laughing at how comically bad it was. After the movie had finished they had all just broke into random chatter. Cilan was talking to Misty about fishing and how they both shared a love for it. Gary was listening to Iris talk about her interesting stories involving dragon types. Finally Ash and Dawn were talking about their goals for the region they were going to head to.
"Well, I hear that Kanto has contests now. Would you want to journey through here again?" Dawn asked him through the thick of the other conversations.
"I don't know. I've already gotten all the badges here, so there really wouldn't be a place to train my pokemon at." Ash said feeling bad that both his goals and Dawn's were conflicting with each others. "How about the Portos Region. I hear that they're gyms and pokemon are pretty cool."
"I don't think that they have contests though…" Dawn said still thinking. "Umm...well, what about the Kalos region?"
"Well, I know they have gyms over there, but do they have contests for you?" Ash asked.
"I think they do, let me check Bulbapedia here, just a sec…" Dawn replied as she tapped around on her poketch.
"Yes the Kalos region has contests." Gary stated bluntly as he returned to his conversation with Iris.
"Oh really? Thanks Gary." Ash yelled over to him. "So does the Kalos region sound good to you Dawn" Ash asked her.
"Well, yeah I guess it does. It's a new region for us, has gyms and contests, that's all we really need right?" Dawn asked out.
"Sure sounds like it. Well I guess it's decided, we're headed to the Kalos region next!" Ash shouted out in excitement. "Hear the Cilan and Iris?"
"It's hard not to!" Iris yelled back.
"Ash, I think I need to tell you something." Cilan said. "Your friend Misty here has informed me that there's going to be a Kanto regional fishing tournament, and it's just what I've been looking to get involved in." Cilan said.
"Oh, well if it's what you want to do, and makes you happy I say go for it Cilan." Ash said feeling sad that his friend was going to leave from the group.
"I have something to add the that Ash." Iris said sounding a bit more sad and sincere.
"What's up Iris?" Ash asked her.
"Well, Gary told me that his next trip is to the Orange Islands." She spoke out. "Well, I think that I want to travel with him there and become an even stronger trainer. If that's ok with you Gary." Iris stated with a blush clearly forming under her face.
Gary's face bore the same fate and his cheeks turned as red as Pikachu's. "I...umm...of course...I mean if you want...yeah that's ok with me!" Gary stuttered out and getting a hug from Iris.
"Well, I guess it's just you and I Dawn." Ash said to her saddened that Iris was leaving too but somehow happy that it was just him and Dawn that were going to be traveling together.
Just as Ash had finished saying that his mother appeared in the room. "Well it sure sounds like you guys have a lot going on with all the talk I'm hearing. Well anyways, It's almost midnight so I'm headed off to bed. I'm afraid though that there's only one other room in the house and that's Ash's. There's the couch here so...make the appropriate sleeping arrangement. Misty and Gary it was nice seeing you again, goodnight everybody." and with that, Deliah walked up the flight of stairs and closed the door to her room behind her.
"Well I have my room back home, so you guys don't need to worry about me. But your Mrs. Ketchum is right though. It's almost midnight and I really need to get back home. I'll see you guys round later. It's been great seeing you again Ash!" Misty yelled as she closed the front door of the house behind her, starting up her car and driving away.
"Ok, well, I have a room with 2 beds rented out at the pokemon center down the road if someone wants to join me I guess." Gary stated.
"Ooh I will!" Iris exclaimed getting a surprised look from everybody in the room. "Oh you guys are such kids. He said there are two beds there so chill out." Iris stated with a blunt expression.
"Ok, well then I'll take it upon myself to sleep on the couch." Cilan spoke out grabbing everyone's attention. "I've always enjoyed the feel of them anyways."
"So I guess that means that Dawn is sleeping in my room with me then." Ash stated blushing at the statement and getting looks from everybody in the room, excluding Dawn who was also blushing at his statement. "Oh c'mon I have a twin bed built for a 10 year old, I can barely fit on that bed! Stop getting those ideas!"
"Well I guess that settles the whole sleeping arrangement." Cilan stated.
"Sure does, now c'mon Gary I'm tired." Iris said as she grabbed her backpack, Gary, and rushed out the front door in a split second.
"Well...I think I'm just going to change and head off to sleep myself." Cilan said as he grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of shorts from his backpack that he'd left in the corner and went to go and change, leaving Ash and Dawn alone.
"I think we should do the same." Ash said to Dawn.
"Yeah, it sure has been a really long day, and that food is making me all the more drowsy." Dawn stated.
"Ok, well since Cilan is changing in the bathroom, you can change in mine." Ash said.
"What about you?" Dawn asked.
"I'll just change in my room." Ash replied. "I change way more quickly than you do anyways."
"Yeah good point. And I guess since you're sleeping on the bed I'll just use my sleeping bag." Dawn said taking it and her clothes out of her backpack.
"I'm not sleeping on that thing, my knees practically hang off of it. I'll just sleep on the ground too." Ash stated as he too pulled it and his clothes out of his backpack.
"Oh, well ok then." Dawn said as they both started to walk upstairs.
They both entered Ash's room and placed they're sleeping bags next to each other. He pointed to the door that led to his bathroom and Dawn went in to change into her night clothes. Ash rushed to put his usual night attire on so that Dawn didn't accidently see him naked or anything. He took off his pants leaving only his boxers on. He removed his jacket that he'd worn all throughout Unova and tossed it on his bed. He then took off the black t-shirt that he wore over his white wife beater. He then quickly dove under the covers of his sleeping bag just as Dawn emerged from his bathroom wearing her pink sweat pants and her pink tanktop as she always did. Dawn turned off the lights and she too got into her sleeping bag.
"See you in the morning." Dawn sheepishly said to Ash with a slight blush.
"Yeah, you too." Ash replied with a little red on his face as well.
"Goodnight Ash." Dawn said rolling over on her side.
"Goodnight Dawn." Ash stated as he too rolled over on his side.
They both had their backs were to each other, shut their eyes and started to fall asleep. No longer than a minute later though, Ash was surprised when Dawn spoke again.
"Hey Ash?" Dawn asked him.
"Yeah Dawn?" Ash replied with a yawn.
"Do you think Gary and Iris are doing it right now?" Dawn giggled.
"Oh yeah, no doubt about it." Ash said laughing.
"Yeah, I thought so too." Dawn replied. "Goodnight Ash."
"Goodnight Dawn." He replied as they both drifted into a long awaited slumber.
Wow. I mean wow. This has taken me way, way, WAY too long to write. I literally started this like last September. To be honest though, I had really only started it back then, dropped it, and came back to it within the last few days actually. I've finally found my muse and now I'm a writing machine! Ok onto more pressing matters. Now I know I probably screwed a lot of things up character discription wise, but I'm assuming you all know who these guys are and what they look like, but my punctuation is probably as bad as it gets but hang in there. Next chapter is where it's really going to be, which I'm starting right away. I swears it. Secondly, I'd like to say this has all been possible thanks to the Pokemon X and Y anime (specifically the japanese version) for inspiring me with their recent episodes having more power and emotion in them than all episodes of Best Wishes combined (which to be honest sucked, like a lot.) Thirdly, I'd like to thank all of the other Pokemon fanfictions that I've gotten inspiration from. To be honest, I think that Pokemon fans and fanfictions are some of the best out there. Fourth off I'd like to say that there will be no regular schedule with this. I'm a junior in highschool so there are a lot of things going on like homework, studying, friends, (hopefully a soon to be girlfriend!), and a bunch of drama at home so please bare with me there. And lastly, cool out there is no Portos region, I made it up lol so chill out, you haven't missed anything big in the pokemon world. Thank you, and I really mean Thank you to all of those who support my fanfiction. I happily accept all forms of compliments and criticism. Oh and P.S. I know that there aren't contests in Kalos, but Gary sure didn't ;) (dun dun duhhhh) Treecko Man Out!