Lucas laughed, his face vibrant with excitement, as he trotted quickly up the rocky path. He leapt atop a boulder and looked back down, chuckling when he saw Dawn struggling to follow, her duffel seriously weighing her down. She saw him grin at her, but before she could complete the circuit from coming up with an retort to actually insulting him, she found herself relieved of the strain of toting the bag. Lucas beamed at her, slipping the shoulder strap on, and continued upward and onward, leaving her standing there with her mouth hanging open.

It took her a few moments to realize what had happened. She blushed, and resumed following the boy who had dragged her out of her sleeping bag at FOUR IN THE MORNING. They (he, she, and Damion, who Lucas let sleep because he said something about Damion probably not appreciating it) had decided to spend a week traveling over the Sinnoh region; currently they were The only rationalization offered for his actions (rationalization, not excuse or apology or even explanation) was that she was going to thank him for it later. However, tired and dirty and not even remotely groomed as she was (he didn't even give her a bare minimum of ten minutes for her hair!), she highly doubted that this was going to be worth it. When she finally got to the top of this hill, she was going to give Lucas a VERY large piece of her mind.

Dawn panted and heaved; it was WAY too early to be on mountain hike! Her feet were aching, and she couldn't breathe. A bottle of water would've helped her very much, but that would be in her duffel bag, which was with Lucas. She groaned, and sank onto a rock, her throat too dry and raspy too even call for Lucas. Turns out she didn't need to.

Lucas pressed an open water bottle to her lips, which she quickly drained. She sighed in relief and stood up again, only to attack Lucas. "WHY did you bring me on this forsaken hike up this mountain of doom, again? I'm tired, and hungry, and thirsty, and ugly–"

"Ugly?" Lucas cut her off. "Where did that come from?"

Dawn sighed exasperatedly. She loved Lucas to pieces, but didn't guys know anything?! She grabbed a bit of her hair at shook it in her fist. "You see? My pillow-hair is everywhere!"

"Nice rhyme," Lucas said with a grin. Dawn shoved him.

"You don't get it! It takes a long time to make myself look pretty, and my hair is difficult, because Pachirisu sometimes will just up and set off its Spark, and that makes my hair all staticky, and then I have to start over, and…"

Lucas listened attentively to her explain her position without interrupting her. Then he slowly slid his arms around her. "Dawn, you don't need to make yourself look pretty."

"Yes I do. My hair…" Lucas cut her off by pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Your hair is fine; I see no problem whatsoever." He pressed his lips against her forehead as his hand ran through her tresses, as soft and sweet-smelling is they had been every day for the past two years, since the beginning of their relationship. And heck, even before that, back when he had that crush on her. He had never thought she'd looked ugly, and hey, she thought Pachirisu was bad, the little squirrel was nothing next to his Luxray! Thanks to the lioness and a certain incident involving a Grimer that had lodged itself in the bathroom toilet, there had been a whole week where he had to wear sandals because his socks were giving off enough voltage to power Sunyshore for a whole year!

She giggled for a bit after his speech, and then looked at him. "You mean that?"

"Of course." Lucas kissed her forehead again, and Dawn buried her face in the crook of his neck.

And who said guys weren't romantic?

"So, can we start back up again?"

"This had better be as good as you say it is, Lucas. It's dark, and I can barely see where I'm going, and the sun isn't up yet. Three very good reasons why I should still be in bed." Her smirk revealed her good mood.

"You'll like it, I promise. Professor Rowan showed me this when I was his traveling partner, back when I was ten."

"I'd better, or you're in for a world of hurt, Loverboy."

Lucas chuckled and checked his Pokétch. "We have about half-an-hour to haul our butts up the mountain." Dawn nodded seriously.

"Okay."

With that, the two quickly resumed their march up the hill, Lucas' excitement was catching, and while Lucas was quickly moving ahead, he never left Dawn more than several yards behind. And he'd always wait for her, no matter how much she said she'd catch up later.

Finally, they reached the summit, and it was still dark. Lucas blew a big sigh of relief and laughed. Dawn smiled at his antics; this side of Lucas was rare in showing itself, and she felt honored that he would reveal himself in front of her like that. She quickly joined him when he beckoned her. "You'll want to see this," he said as he grinned.

"Lucas, if this is some weirdo Pokémon mating ritual, I will never speak to you again."

"Dawn, if this is some weirdo Pokémon mating ritual, I wouldn't blame you."

Dawn giggled and sat down beside Lucas as he leaned against a large tree facing east. She squeaked in delighted surprise however, when he wrapped his arms around her, and hoisted her into his lap. She sighed contentedly and snuggled up, thankful for the comforting warmth of the sixteen year old with her.

Above them, slowly the stars twinkled into darkness as streaks of dark violet and red flew suddenly across the sky. Soon, an orange glow seeped across the heavens, followed by bands of yellow. And then the golden orb of the daystar rose above the mountains setting all color on fire. The darkness receded, driven back by the sun's light. The sun rose ever higher, until they could no longer stand its direct radiance.

"So, did you like it?" Lucas asked, leaning over her and giving her an upside-down kiss on the forehead.

"Mm hmm…" Dawn turned over and cuddled her head against Lucas' chest. Lucas smiled and scratched behind her ear – she'd always had a sweet spot there. She cooed back up at him blissfully.

"I think we'd better start heading back." Dawn didn't answer at first.

"Dawn, as much as I want to spend time alone with you, we need to go back now."

"Oh, no you don't. You drag me up here on an hour long hike, so now I have an hour's worth of sleep to catch up on, at least! I declare you my pillow, so you stay!"

Try as he might to shift her, Lucas gained no ground. "Okay, Dawn, joke's over. Dawn? Dawn! Oh, come on, Dawn! Dawn, get up!" After a while, he just sighed; he would have no choice in the matter, it seemed.

Damion was not going to be happy with him when he woke up to find no breakfast.