Okay! It's the tenth chapter! :D

This chapter was extraordinarily difficult for me to write, and probably my first experience with real writer's block. Not just "Oh, I have no ideas" type, but even if I had ideas, I couldn't write. It was bad. And it was only the last section of this chapter too. Somehow I eventually got it though. D:

This may be the last update for awhile, because of looming school, so I apologize in advance.

This is the first chapter I've written in awhile where I actually came up with everything... so... :3.

Well, enjoy! :)

Due to his early night, Brock was the first one up, rising before the sun was even visible in the early morning sky. There was enough light to see around, but everything was tinted grey in the low-light conditions.

"I guess I'm the first one awake… As always," he thought. "Well, I'd better start making breakfast before Ash gets up…"

Brock yawned, looking around. "Huh… Ash's sleeping bag is here, but he isn't… Come to think of it, neither is Dawn… I wonder where they've gone off to."

He shuffled over to the tent, rubbing his eyes. "Maybe they got cold and they're in here…?"

He pulled the flap open and looked around. There was nothing inside but their bags and gear. Now he was really confused. "Now where could they be…?"

He walked back out of the tent. "Oh well, maybe they're already up and they went exploring or something. I'll have breakfast ready for when they come back."

He pulled his cooking pot out of his backpack, setting it above the burned remains of the campfire of the night before. "Ugh… Gotta get more wood…"

His hands drifted to his belt, grabbing Sudowoodo and Croagunk's Poke Balls. He threw them into the air, releasing the Pokemon inside. His Pokemon popped out, looking exactly how they felt: Tired, and annoyed at being woken up. Sudowoodo gave a sleepy salute, while Croagunk just stared at Brock, wordlessly conveying his dissatisfaction.

"Hey guys, sorry for waking you up, but would you help me get some more firewood?"

They both nodded, and they followed as Brock began to walk off towards a forest they had passed on the way to the campsite the day before.

After retrieving some firewood, Brock placed it around the ashes of the previous fire, and thanked his two Pokemon, returning them to their Poke Balls.

As he sat down with a box of matches to light the fire, his gaze drifted over the area and he noticed Ash and Dawn lying on top of a hill near the campsite.

"Huh… Now that's weird. I wonder what they're doing up there."

He stood up and called out, "Hey! Ash! Dawn! Whatcha doing?"

There was no answer.

"Could they be still sleeping? I guess I'll go have a look."

He walked over to the two. Because of the cold in the night, they had cuddled closer together for warmth and were sleeping in each other's arms, both smiling. Pikachu and Piplup were lying on either side of them.

Brock scratched his head. "Is this really possible?"

He rubbed his eyes and looked again, not believing what he was seeing. He sighed. "I guess it's too early… I think I'm going to go back to sleep, I'm starting to see things."

He walked back to his sleeping bag, crawled inside and closed his eyes. The last thing he thought before he drifted back to sleep was, "What if?"

A few minutes after Brock's visit, Dawn stirred and woke up, feeling the sun's first rays as it peeked over the horizon. She noticed she was still lying right next to Ash, with her head nestled between his head and his shoulder, and Ash had one of his arms around her. She noted that they were lying there with no sleeping bags, and were still wearing their traveling clothes. She shivered as a light breeze ran through the area, feeling like ice on her bare legs.

"I guess I kind of forgot to bring the sleeping bags over… Oh well."

She sat up, and looked back down at Ash. His hat had fallen off his head and the sleeping Pikachu was wearing it. His bangs were draped over one of his eyes, and as he breathed, the z's on his cheek twitched.

She smiled, brushing the hair lightly off of his face. Accomplishing this, she just watched him for a little while longer before the cold became impossible to ignore.

Seeking warmth, she lay back down next to him, blushing as she scooted herself so she was directly beside him. Unconsciously, his arm found its way around her again, and he pulled her closer, deepening her blush. She heated up near instantly, but she wasn't sure if it was just her cheeks or she was actually getting warmer.

"You're so cute," she said quietly.

Feeling that it was the right thing to do, she leaned down and lightly kissed Ash on the cheek. He smiled and muttered something in his sleep, and Dawn laughed to herself. But she immediately felt guilty when she felt him stir.

"I hope I didn't wake him up…"

Ash opened his eyes and looked at Dawn, yawning.

"Oh, hey Dawn!"

Dawn winced slightly, but Ash, rubbing his eyes with his free arm, didn't notice.

"Hey Ash… Um… Sleep well?"

"Yeah! I had a pretty awesome dream. I-"

He paused, noticing the position they were in, and blushed, quickly removing his arm from around Dawn. Then he shot up to a sitting position, Dawn following suit more slowly. It was only then that Ash noticed where they were.

"Huh? We're still on this hill? I must have fallen asleep here…"

He blushed again, wondering if, during the night, he had unconsciously put an arm around Dawn and trapped her with him for the night.

"I'm so sorry Dawn," he said, "I hope you weren't cold or anything, sleeping out here."

She blushed again. "I wasn't… You kept me warm…" she thought.

"Oh no, I was okay."

Ash smiled with relief. "That's good."

Dawn's eyes wandered back over to the campsite, noticing that Brock was not yet awake.

Ash picked up some grass from the ground and began to twirl it beneath his fingers absentmindedly. He looked up towards the sky, his mind beginning to wander. "I can't remember what I was doing last night that we ended up on this hill…"

"Ash?"

"Oh right. We were sitting there, watching the sunset… I guess I just… Fell asleep…"

"ASH!"

Ash jumped.

"Oh hi!" he said dumbly.

Dawn couldn't help it. She broke down laughing, and had to grab onto Ash's shoulder for support.

Ash scratched his head, confused and embarrassed. "What? Did I miss something?"

Dawn recovered, coughing, and said, "No, no. You're just too funny."

Ash nodded slowly, still not understanding. "Uh, okay then. Did you need something?"

"Oh, yeah. I think we should go back to the sleeping bags and pretend to sleep, before Brock wakes up and gets worried."

A smile slowly spread across Ash's face. "Makes sense."

He jumped to his feet and held out his hand to help Dawn up. She grasped it and allowed him to pull her up, her cheeks heating up for the brief moment that they held hands.

They picked up their still sleeping Pokemon and walked back over to their sleeping bags. Ash set Pikachu down next to him, then climbed into his sleeping bag, winked and said, "Well, good night Dawn."

Dawn laughed and set Piplup down next to Pikachu, then climbed into hers as well, closing her eyes just as she heard Brock start moving around.

Brock opened his eyes, and blinking in the light of the sun, climbed out of his sleeping bag. He looked over towards the other two sleeping bags and laughed.

"I guess it was good I went back to sleep. I knew that I was seeing things," he muttered, walking off to get breakfast ready.

Ash rolled over in his sleeping bag and looked towards Dawn. He grinned and Dawn gave him a wink in return.

Dawn scooted slightly closer and whispered, "I'll get up first… You usually wake up later…"

She crawled out of her sleeping bag, greeted Brock, made a big show of stretching and yawning, and then walked into the tent to fix her bed-head. Piplup woke up and followed her into the tent.

Ash watched through half-closed eyes as Brock pulled out the cooking pot and set it up above the fire. Pikachu, who had just woken up, looked at him questioningly, but Ash raised a finger to his lip to signal him to keep quiet. Pikachu ran off to the tent, and soon he and Piplup emerged and went to play in the field around the campsite.

As Brock sat down to light the campfire, Ash decided that he could get up, and pulled himself out of his sleeping bag.

Brock looked over at him. "Morning Ash." He noticed his clothes. "You too?"

Ash scratched his head. "Huh?"

Brock gestured towards him. "Your clothes. You're still wearing your traveling gear. Dawn was too."

Ash nodded. "I guess I was just… Kinda tired last night."

Brock laughed. "You and me both."

Ash was relieved that Brock accepted his excuse, and decided to help set out the Pokemon's food bowls. He turned and picked up the blanket for the Pokemon to sit on while they ate.

As he was setting it out, Brock said, "You know, I had a weird dream last night."

Ash looked up. "What was it?"

Brock laughed. "Well, I guess it was more of like a hallucination."

Ash finished spreading out the blanket and turned back to get the food bowls. Dawn emerged from the tent and smiled at Ash. "Good morning Ash."

"Hey Dawn. Brocko was saying he had a hallucination this morning."

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "What was it?"

Brock threw some ingredients into the pot, then sat down, looking pensive. "Well, I woke up early this morning and went to go some wood for the fire, and I passed by that hill over there."

He gestured towards the hill that Ash and Dawn had spent the night on. Ash and Dawn looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. "Uh-oh…"

Brock went on, not looking towards Ash and Dawn, just watching the stew pot. "When I passed by it, I could've sworn I saw you two cuddling each other in your sleep."

Ash and Dawn both paled. Brock laughed to himself. "But I think my mind was just making me see things. I went back to sleep after that. Hallucinating's never good."

He turned back around. "You guys have any crazy dreams?"

Ash immediately began setting out the bowls, pointedly not looking at Brock, while Dawn busied herself with intently staring at her bootlaces.

"Something wrong?"

Ash laughed, a little more strained and higher-pitched than usual. "Oh, no, no. That's pretty weird Brock."

"Yeah, maybe you need some more rest Brock," Dawn chimed in.

Brock was confused, but just said, "I guess so…" and turned back towards the stew pot.

The day's breakfast was a relatively one-sided affair. After releasing their Pokemon, Ash and Dawn, both embarrassed that Brock had seen them and relieved he didn't make anything out of it, merely nodded or agreed with everything Brock said, feeling their voices might betray them if they talked too much.

"So, if we leave right after breakfast, hopefully we'll get to Sunyshore by late afternoon."

"Okay."

"Gotcha."

"If we just follow this road out, it'll lead us straight there."

"Alright."

"Sounds good."

Brock was slowly getting more and more confused. "I think they're trying to play a trick on me or something…"

He studied them carefully. Ash was eating his breakfast, and looking intently into his bowl of stew as if the most valuable item in the world were inside, and Dawn was watching the Pokemon and fiddling with her hair clips.

"It'd be just like them to do something like that…"

He shrugged it off and stood up. Ash and Dawn turned to look at him. "Well, after you guys finish eating, let's get going. If we get there early enough, maybe we'll have time to go find the gym."

Ash grinned, both from excitement and relief that Brock seemed to be off the subject of his dream. "My eighth gym badge is waiting for me there!"

He quickly finished the rest of his breakfast, then jumped up and walked over to the Pokemon.

"Ready to get our eighth badge guys?"

His Pokemon cheering enthusiastically, and he grinned.

"Alright! Let's go then!"

He returned his Pokemon to their Poke Balls, Pikachu hopping onto his shoulder as Piplup climbed into Dawn's arms. Dawn recalled the rest of her Pokemon, and then they folded up the blanket and stacked the food dishes, carrying them over to Brock.

Brock pulled down his stew pot from above the fire, then took the blanket and dishes from Ash and Dawn and put everything into his backpack. He shouldered it and turned back to Ash and Dawn.

"Ready to hit the road?"

Ash grinned. "You bet!"

"Dawn?"

She nodded, laughing. "Of course."

Ash ran up onto the main road that would take them to Sunyshore and began gesturing wildly down it. "Well let's get going then!"

Dawn and Brock rolled their eyes and began to follow him.

On the trip down the road, Ash alternated between running so far ahead that Dawn and Brock couldn't see him and being spent from running and sitting down on the side of the road to rest, allowing Dawn and Brock to catch up with him.

After several hours of this game of traveling catch-up, Brock, thoroughly exhausted from the run, grabbed Ash's arm as he got up to run again.

Ash stared at Brock, who was sweating profusely and panting. "Something wrong?"

Brock took a deep breath and said, "Well, we've been running to Sunyshore the whole morning and we're all tired. Don't you think we should take a break?"

Ash opened his mouth to protest, but Brock quickly said, "We could eat lunch if you want."

Ash was tempted by the offer, but the allure of his eighth badge was outweighing his love for food.

He looked at Brock, who was still breathing deeply, and had removed a water bottle from his backpack to drink. Brock slumped down to a sitting position next to Dawn, who joined him on the ground. Dawn had not said anything the whole morning, feeling that Ash's happiness was worth the weariness, but at this point, felt like she was going to collapse.

Ash immediately felt a pang of remorse. He hadn't meant to hurt his friends, especially Dawn, and he had to admit, he was pretty tired too. He was just excited for his upcoming gym battle. The temptation to sit down and eat lunch was great, but he decided to try to convince them one last time.

"Can't we eat while we walk?"

His appeal fell on deaf ears. Brock and Dawn had already pulled out the blanket and sat down and began to eat sandwiches that Brock had made for days when they were on the road.

Ash sighed. "Guys?"

Dawn grabbed a sandwich off the plate and stood up and walked over to Ash. She held out the sandwich and said, "You know you're hungry. Why not just sit down and eat? The Sunyshore Gym isn't going anywhere."

Ash arm twitched involuntarily towards the sandwich. "But I want to go get my eighth badge…" he whined, almost pleading with himself.

Dawn smiled to herself. "That is so him..."

She walked right up to him, coming so close that they could almost feel the other's breath. Ash's shuddered slightly and reddened at the proximity of their bodies, but didn't draw back. She turned one of his hands so it was facing up and placed the sandwich into his open palm, then grabbed his other hand and gently pulled him over to where Brock and the rest of the sandwiches were.

Ash offered no resistance, and once he and Dawn had sat back down, he turned to look at the sandwich in his hand. He slowly took a bite, but the small taste only made him more hungry, and he quickly consumed the rest of the sandwich.

When he looked up to grab another one off of the tray, he noticed Dawn and Brock watching him with amused looks on their faces.

"What?" he asked self-consciously.

Dawn and Brock laughed.

"So you were hungry after all," said Brock.

"Well, yeah… I just wanted my badge…"

Dawn laughed again and held out the plate of sandwiches. "Here."

Ash accepted them gratefully and tucked into his lunch.

Dawn and Brock watched him in amazement for a few minutes, before realizing that they were hungry too, and liberated several sandwiches from Ash's assault on the plate.

Dawn finished eating first, and amused herself by watching Ash eat the sandwiches.

As he bit into the sandwiches, a bit of meat from inside the sandwich flew out and landed right on the bridge of his nose. He felt it, but due to its location, couldn't see it, and dropped the sandwich, flailing his arms around, trying to get it off of his nose.

Dawn giggled and put a hand on Ash's shoulder.

"Calm down, let me get it."

She leaned over towards him and flicked the piece off of his nose and sat back, grinning at him.

"Better?"

Ash nodded, his cheeks faintly tinted red. "Thanks Dawn."

After their lunch, the group resumed their walk towards Sunyshore City, this time at a much more relaxed pace.

Brock passed the time on the walk by reading a recipe book, and Ash and Dawn chatted the whole way. Pikachu and Piplup started out with their owners, but got bored just tagging along and jumped onto the ground and ran alongside their trainers.

Eventually, by the afternoon, the buildings on the outskirts of Sunyshore City could be seen.

"Here we are!" yelled Ash exuberantly, jumping into the air. Pikachu raised his right paw in celebration.

Dawn just shook her head, but looking at the city, she couldn't help but be amazed.

The city was a spectacle of modern technology. Every building's roof was lined with solar panels, and the sidewalks moved along in different directions, color-coded to tell you where they were headed. Several robots scooted up and down these sidewalks, sweeping, picking up litter, and doing other upkeep duties. The highest point in the city was a large tower covered entirely with blue glass panels.

Ash grinned, taking in the scenery. "Now, I wonder where that gym is…"

Alright, finally! Gotten them to Sunyshore.

I'm expecting Ash v Volkner to be two parts too, like the Dawn v Ursula battle. Probably some pre-battle stuff, similar to the Flint appearances in the anime and games. We'll see. I'm planning to try to write the battle myself though, with only a few elements from the actual episodes. :D.

Please, as always, leave your input on this chapter, whether it be good or bad, it's always nice to know what I'm doing well at, and what to work on. :)

Cheers! :D