Welcome guys, to the next chapter of Rising To The Top! I bet you all couldn't wait for the story to continue, so I will leave everything under the chapter, so you could start reading the chapter already.

Of course I wouldn't mind if you leave a review, telling me how was the chapter. As always, I suggest that after you're done with reading the story, you also read the note at the end.

Disclaimer: NOT AGAIN!


"I just wanna go home… I just wanna go home" Dawn repeatedly told myself, while crying and sobbing like a little baby. But she didn't care about it. Everything that mattered was… well… nothing mattered basically. Not after all she has been through…


Flashback, few days after Ash's disappearance

"Dawn come on! Get out of the room and talk to us!" Gary pleased.

"Yeah Dawn. What he says. You can't just sit here forever" Brock also tried to cheer Dawn up from behind the door of her room.

"We are all stunned of what's happened lately, but he's gone now, you don't need to be sad. No one will ever fall for his games again" Misty was also trying to be a big help in Dawn's recovery.


And Dawn would have been thankful to all of them for their help to this day, if they knew the reason why she was crying. It wasn't because of Ash's assassination. It was all about Ash.

Dawn just couldn't understand why Ash would do such a thing. From the beginning of their friendship, he was always the same- caring deeply for others. That's why he would never hurt anyone. And Dawn was the only one who understood it properly. All of her friends hated Ash from now on, but not Dawn. Right after Ash ran away, she wanted to catch up with him and never lose him again. But he was too fast and also the rest of her friends stopped her, mistaking her loyalty to Ash for the rage towards him. She wanted to get away with him so much, but after the whole incident it would make no sense to reveal that anyway.

The day after, she looked everywhere for him, but she never found a clue where could he went. At this point, he was dead or he hid quickly, because of the police already being after him. And Dawn always prayed it was the second option. But her friends… -not anymore at this point- were constantly bragging about how they could have beat him up if they could find him. They also considering his death as the most probable option. And as the time went, they all accepted is as truth. All of them, except for Dawn. For her, Ash was everything- they shared a bond that he never had with any of his past companions. Something that neither Ash or Dawn or anyone else could have described properly. He taught her everything about life. During their travels they always cared deeply for each other, because they always seemed like siblings and were constantly mistook as brother and sister.

After Dawn got back to Sinnoh, she couldn't find a way to forget about him. Whatever she was doing- she automatically thought of Ash. So she couldn't find courage to resume her journey. She was usually invited by Zoey or Lyra or even Kenny, but none of them could make Dawn stop thinking about him.

Then after nearly a year, she decided she would continue to become the best coordinator the world has ever met. And even though she started pretty well, she and all of her pokemon were not the same, which Zoey -as she was the one to travel with Dawn for most of the time- took as some kind of depression that Dawn just has to fight herself. She also stopped talking, ate only when she was starving and slept barely. After a few losses she stopped doing contests again.

Then Iris showed up and invited her to the newly reborn group with all of Ash's travelling companions. Dawn was mad at them at first, but then she decided she would rejoin them and maybe that would help her in general. Later she realized she has made the greatest mistake of her life, as she saw that none of her ex-friends changed. They were still unbearable. The only thing that has changed was the fact that they stopped mentioning Ash forever, even though sometimes it slipped out of someone's mouth. They were always trying to avoid this topic. At first Dawn thought it was the fact that they felt bad for him, but it wasn't. They were still full of anger, except for May who cried every time someone mentioned Ash. But she stated that she was happy that he was gone. Then Drew became a part of her life and she… well… forgot about Ash. Still sometimes a tear would appear on her face when Ash's topic was brought up.
Not only Dawn was unhappy by travelling with Ash's past companions, they were also slightly more rude to Dawn and always complained about her style, mood, pokemon and everything. That's when something terrible happened…


Flashback, sometime before the tournament

"What does it mean you want to go into your pokeball Piplup?" Dawn was stunned. Her best friend never wanted to sit inside and now out of nowhere he asks to be put inside. "Don't you like sitting here with everyone else?"

Piplup didn't say anything and pecked the pokeball's button which caused to suck him in. Dawn fully understood what was happening- Piplup didn't like Dawn's companions and wanted to be left alone. So was Dawn, but she couldn't just hide inside a small pokeball of someone's else.

"Dawn, did Piplup just…?" said Brock who was also shocked. Brock out of all the people was sometimes nicer to Dawn then the rest. But still, he was sometimes a pain in the ass.

"Yeah… I mean… it's okay for a pokemon to sit inside his pokeball, but Piplup always wanted to stay on top of everything. And now, he's just… sad" Dawn tried to play cool, but she was really about to cry.

"Maybe it's because he didn't participate in any contests lately- you know, Pokemon should use some rivalry form time to time" Brock wasn't that much of a help, if you truly understood what was going on.

"Perhaps… but I think he might not be in the mood to talk to me right now" Dawn answered.


From that particular moment, Piplup wasn't himself as well. He barely wanted to get out, only for food and to swim peacefully when he was near a river or lake. That's when Dawn lost not only Ash, but her best friend Piplup. From now on, Piplup never participated in battles, so he didn't have any chance to evolve…

"AAARGH!" someone yelled behind Dawn as she was still crying somewhere in the woods.

"Oh my Arceus… Aiden?! You scared the shit out of me!" Dawn wiped out the tears and went towards Ash.

"Sorry, I was trying to get to you as quiet as I could, but I tripped over a rock or something" Ash explained. The truth is, he didn't trip over, he just wanted to catch Dawn's attention and he had no idea on how to come closer to her. He was watching her for about half of an hour in total.

"Are you okay?" Dawn asked once again.

"Yeah, I'm totally fine" Ash said. Dawn went then back to her corner where she was crying and started sobbing again. Ash seeing that, went to sit next to her.

"Come on Dawn, stop crying. They already left, no one is going to hurt your feelings now" Ash tried to calm Dawn down.

"Oh Aiden, if it was so simple. I'm not crying over the argument" Dawn still wasn't sure about Aiden. He seemed like a nice guy and he was a good battler, but that's all.

"Than what is that all about?" Ash kept pushing the topic further, not knowing that she was crying over him.

"It's nothing important, so there is no need to worry!" Dawn smiled a little, although she was still in pain.

"That's when I worry the most…" Ash said it automatically and facepalmed. It was the most obvious way to reveal himself!

"Huh?" Dawn moved towards Aiden and looked at him closely "The same eyes, the same hair although in another color and this smile…" Dawn thought. "Oh my… I'm gonna…" And Dawn fainted.

Dawn woke up. The first thing that came to her mind was the rain that she was hearing. But, she wasn't getting wet at all. She then opened her first eye and looked around. She was in some kind of a cave. She saw the outside where it was really downpour. Then she looked at the inside of the cave. In the middle, there was a campfire with 2 figures sitting around. Dawn recognized these people to be N and… Ash… That's when she realized everything.

"Ash…" she mumbled and tried getting up.

"Woah! Easy princess… don't strain yourself too hard, you lost consciousness for over a few hours" Ash spoke. He helped her stand up and sat down with her near the fire.

"It's great to have you back Dawn" N smiled.

"Yeah, thanks, I appreciate it" But Dawn was not paying attention to N, but to a certain boy, or a man at this point, who was sitting right next to her. "I… think I'm going to use some fresh air" N wanted to give Dawn and Ash some privacy, because he saw how Dawn reacted to Ash's true identity.

"No, N! You don't need to go- besides it's still raining-" Ash and Dawn spoke together.

"It's totally fine. The rain won't hurt me" And the green haired man left the cave. For a moment there was silence inside. Dawn was just… admiring the view while Ash found it a little bit uncomfortable.

"So… Dawn… err… how has the life been lately?" Ash instantly regretted what he has just said. 'That's a great way to start a conversation Ash!' he thought and facepalmed mentally. What Ash didn't expect was Dawn finding that a little bit funny. She had a huge smile on her face right now.

"Nothing really, except for me being betrayed by my friends" she answered sarcastically. Ash also found that funny and started laughing a bit.

"Wow. It was like a water of Ducklett's back for you really" Ash was very, very surprised.

"Meh… I completely don't care about it. I found something more interesting now…" Dawn was so happy that she finally found that Ash Ketchum, that the writer was unable to express it in the text.

"And what it could be?" asked Ash although he knew all the way what was the outcome of this situation going to be.

"Well… it's a secret. I can't really tell you right now" Dawn teased. "And how has life been for you, Ash?" Dawn intended to finally call Ash by his real name. It was a relief to be finally able to talk to him about all of the things that she was unable to say to anyone for years.

"Well, a few hours ago I got to meet my old friends, which completely hate me, so I needed to hide my true identity from them. I noticed they didn't change at all for all these years and that they were still absolutely selfish and narcissistic. Then I caused all of them to start fighting -of course unwittingly- about some bullshit and they separated from each other. And I don't think they're getting to forgive each other in the nearest future" Ash explained said.

"And then, what did you do?" Dawn wanted to play this weird game for a little bit longer, so Ash kept speaking. "Well… because I earlier noticed Dawn's depression I tried to cheer her up, so she won't cry anymore-"

"Hell no! I wasn't crying, at all! I'm not a baby! I was just… a little bit upset okay?!" Dawn interrupted.

"Okay I understand" Ash sarcastically nodded. "Where were we? Oh… Then she lost consciousness because she found out that she was technically talking to a dead man"

"Which brings us to the question: why didn't you reveal yourself to me earlier? Where were you for all these years? And who is to blame for the pain that we have been through?!" Dawn asked.

"I think he'll explain it later. Right now we have to focus on finding Max" N interrupted "the rain stopped , so he'll be back on his way to Vertress City"

"What? Hell no! That's so cliché! He was about to tell me everything and… and" Dawn stopped talking but she finished her sentence in her head 'We were going to share our first passionate kiss'

"N is right Dawn. Max left the group just like you did. He'll probably get in trouble in no time, so I think we might want to start looking for him. He is also broken and needs some people who he can trust" Ash cheered Dawn up a little.

"It's just n-not fair…" she wasn't sure if Ash felt about her the way she did feel about him, but she dreamed of this moment for the last three years. And N had to interrupt!

"Okay guys, pack your stuff. I'm going to see where could he possibly left" N left the cave and called out Alakazam, so he would help them track Max. At the same time, Ash and Dawn packed their stuff and where about to leave the cave when…

"Ash…" Dawn started.

"Yeah Dawn?" Dawn moved slightly closer to the boy, which Ash noticed. His heart started to beat faster, although he just couldn't understand why.

"I have one more thing for you…" Her head moved towards Ash's. So Ash closed his eyes and waited for the kiss of hers. Suddenly, SMACK! Dawn has slapped him on the cheek really hard. He instantly covered his cheek with his hand.

"That's for leaving me in Kanto!" Dawn yelled.

"Ouch! Okay, I think I deserved it-" SMACK! Dawn slapped him for the second time.

"That's for not contacting me for those three long years!" Dawn had to let go of the rage.

"Ouch! Okay Dawn I get it-" SMACK! Dawn slapped Ash for the third time.

"That's for ruining my hair today!"

"Hey I tried to bring you inside, so you wouldn't-" SMACK! Dawn slapped him one more time, though the last time was unnecessary.

"Ouch! And what was that for?" he asked furiously.

"I-I… I don't know…" Dawn said confused. Then she jumped right into his arms and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm glad that you're alive Ash" Dawn wiped out the newly formed tears and smiled, like she never did for all those years of separation.

"I'm glad to see you too, Dawn" Ash hugged her even harder and then they went to catch up with N.

"Ash! Dawn!" N shouted as he saw something frightening near their current position.

"What the heck is going on?" Ash yelled as he saw what was coming towards them.


So yeah, that wraps the chapter up. I know it's been a little short, but I wanted to make it a special AshxDawn chapter. I will try to make it up for you in the next one. If you want to see more content, then:

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!

Seriously, I know that everyone complains about the lack of reviews, but trust me it doesn't help at all, when you see that over 1000 people saw the chapter and only 2 of them wrote a review, so once again please review!

I've finally decided on not adding the 1st person P.O.V.'s to the story. The reason behind this is that I really prefer to write in the third point of view and it would be just too chaotic for me to write it and of course for you to read.

Also, those ones who gave me OC's may be wondering if I'm going to involve theirs. And I am sorry to say that, but right now, I'm not thinking on adding OC's anymore. And I think I owe you some explanations, so at first I thought it would be a nice idea, adding people's won characters, but now I've changed my mind. What I want to achieve is to keep the original pokemon characters. When I read some of the other authors stories I often get confused, since I don't know their OC's and eve after a long introduction to their appearance and personalit, it is not the same as if I ever saw that character! Even if you find some minor OC- it probably will be mine, since I have some too, but I don't want it to be an actual crucial part of the story. So from now on I won't be adding OC's. I'm really sorry if you waited for it to be the part of my creations.

That's all for today. See you in the next chapter! (I'm still using that line, even though it is incorrect, since we're not actually 'seeing' each other) :D