After about an hour of hiking, I saw a small clearing.
"Can we camp here tonight?" I asked. It was starting to get dark and I really wanted to sit down and talk with Ash.
I sat down on a log and let out a huge sigh of relief. I was starting to get tired. Ash started dinner while Tyler and I set up the tents. Tyler was much quicker than I was, so he went to get the firewood. When I finished setting up the tent, I went over and sat down across from Ash. He looked up from the food preparation.
"What's the matter Dawn? You look worried." He said, setting down the knife in his hand.
I grabbed his hand and looked into his deep brown eyes. "Ash, what happened today?"
"What do you mean?" He said grabbing my hands.
"When Tom brought out Entei. You looked scared. And Pikachu was angry."
He looked down for a few seconds. Then with tears in his eyes, he started his story.
"It was in Jhoto. I got a call from Professor Oak. He had told me that my mom went missing. At first I didn't believe him. I got off the phone and called my mom. I didn't get an answer. Professor Oak called me again and gave me some information. He said something along the lines of my mom was kidnapped by a legendary beast. I looked everywhere I could think. And then I found it, The Crystal Tower.
"The castle was filled with Unown. The Pokémon were found in every room. They would move position and change their order to create words and phrases. It was creepy. Every corner I turned, Unowns would come streaming towards me. It was one of the scariest things I have had to deal with.
"Then I found her. Not my mom. Her name was Molly Hale. She was a poor child. If the circumstances were different I probably would have gotten along with her. She was friends with Entei. And Entei was the one who kidnapped my mother. Her story was terrible. Unowns made her father disappear. I was so sorry for her. She was stuck in a fantasy world, Entei as her father and she didn't want to leave. I couldn't do anything about it. There was no way to get to my mom and I couldn't talk to Molly either. I needed to get through to one of them. Entei wouldn't let me through. He was too strong. Pikachu and I fought Entei, but, he was not strong enough. Pikachu almost didn't make it. The only thing that saved him was my mom snapping out of her trance and telling Molly to stop."
He was nearly crying by now. I couldn't stand it. I went around the table and I hugged him. I looked up to see Tyler. His face was of stoic understanding. He must have known.
"Ash," he started, "The only thing that matters is that you beat Entei. You showed a lot of courage and strength in that battle."
It was the most human thing Tyler had ever done. He showed some sort of empathy for Ash. I was surprised. After that, he went back to starting the fire; I left Ash to finish preparing dinner. I went into the tent and brought out Piplup.
"Piplup, I feel really bad now." I admitted
"Pip?" he responded.
"I just feel so bad for Ash. He went through such a traumatic experience."
"Pip, lup pip." He said as he patted my hand. A single tear fell from my eye.
"Dawn!" I heard Ash call from outside, "Dinner's ready!"
I wiped the tears from my eyes. "I'll be right out!"
I walked out of the tent to the smell of a delicious stew. I sat at the table next to Ash. Under the table, he grabbed my hand and squeezed it. Then, he started eating his stew. When I took my first taste I was amazed. It tasted just like Brock's stews.
"Ash, where did you get this recipe?" I asked him
He pulled out on old brown cookbook. "Brock let me borrow one of his cookbooks. I asked him before we left for the EC."
"Oh. Well you did really well." I gave him a little kiss on the cheek.
"Well I'm going to go to sleep. I'll let you two have some time alone." Tyler said as he got up. "Just don't have too much fun you two." He said with a smirk before he went into his tent.
"Actually Dawn, I am really tired. I need some rest. I love you." He gave me a nice goodnight kiss and went into the tent.
After staring at the fire for a little bit, I decided it would be good to go to bed.
⃝⃝⃝
I got up and looked at my Pokétch. It said 2:00. I looked over to Ash's sleeping bag. It was empty. I got out of my sleeping bag and walked outside. I saw a figure sitting by the fire. It had to be Ash. I walked over and sat next to him.
"How are you?" I asked
"Fine" he said.
"You really expect me to believe that? Ash I traveled with you for too long to fall for that. What is wrong?"
He handed me a small card. I looked at it.
"This is just the coordinates to Will's gym."
"Look on the back."
I turned the card over and saw a small message written on it.
Yes, Cynthia was selected. She competed a few years ago. She lost at number 4 and left. Best Wishes, T.D.J
"Oh, I see. You are concerned that you won't be able to beat the next person."
"Yeah," he said taking the card back, "how am I supposed to beat the person that could beat a trainer that I can never come even close to beating."
"Ash, you know better, you have beaten many tough trainers in your years. Remember that trainer that had a team of legendries?"
"I lost to him."
"That's not the point. You took him on and did a really good job, you beat his main Pokémon. My point is that you have overcome so many tough battles. I believe that you can win this next battle."
"Thanks," he said turning to me. I could still see the doubt in his deep brown eyes. I felt so bad for him. I had to cheer him up.
Without thinking, I leaned in and gave him a deep and passionate kiss. As I pulled away, I saw all of his doubt leave him.
"I'll be there for you, Ash. I know you can win."
"Thanks, now I think we should get to bed."
Reflection: Old FriendsBrock's POV"How are you?" I asked her.
"Fine, I guess." She responded
"You don't seem fine. Come on Misty, what is your problem?"
"I've been thinking about him again. It kills me, I wanted to continue traveling, but I needed to come back and work in the gym."
"Misty, don't you think this is kind of ridiculous. I mean that was so long ago. I think you should move on."
She turned away from me. I could see the tears forming in her eyes. I remember when I first returned from my travels with Ash. I talked to her as soon as I got home; I knew she would feel bad. When she asked me about him I knew that she wasn't over him. Unfortunately, I knew that Ash had moved on. I wasn't sure if Ash realized, when he left Dawn, that they were more than friends. I knew that it would kill Misty, so I didn't tell her.
"Can you please tell me about your adventures again?" she asked after she was calmed down.
"Misty, I have something to tell you. You won't like it, but, you need to know."
I saw the tears forming again and I knew that they wouldn't be stopped this time.
"He's fallen in love with Dawn." I told her. She immediately burst into tears. I hugged her, there was more that I had to tell her, but, she needed time to take in this information.
After the tears had subsided she was ready to listen. I grasped her shoulder to make sure she was fine. She nodded.
"Misty, I know that you have had a crush on Ash, but, the way you acted around him made him turn away from you. When he met May, I could see a relationship that was more of a teacher/student relationship. She fell in love with Drew anyway. Then Dawn came along. There was a bond that was so strong. Yes, they fought, but it was not nearly at the intensity that you and Ash fought. I watched as those two became the perfect team. Dawn was learning from Ash and Ash was learning from Dawn. They both had bad times in their travels. They were always there for each other. Dawn would even dress up and cheer for Ash in some of his gym battles. Ash grew a lot in that time. I have never seen a friendship so strong. When I left Ash to come back to Kanto, Dawn and Ash parted ways. I could tell that Dawn was very upset, Ash tried to console her. He even used the line that Dawn would always use when she was in trouble, but didn't want anyone to know. Another thing that told me of their strong bond was Pikachu and Buneary. Those two Pokémon fell in love. It started as a crush that Buneary had on Pikachu. You know how they say that Pokémon mimic their trainers feelings, well those two Pokémon showed everything that Dawn and Ash hid."
Her face told me everything. She had come to terms with the situation, but still didn't seem so sure.
"If you still don't believe me, I have one more thing that puts the icing on the cake. He chose her to accompany him to the EC."
"What is the EC?" she asked through silent tears.
"It is a group of strong trainers that have formed a type of Pokémon League. They bring one trainer in every year to compete. They saw the trouble Ash was having and they selected him to rekindle his love of traveling."
"How do you know all this?"
"He called me to ask for one of my old cookbooks. He explained to me everything that happened. He also told me that he wanted to tell Dawn that he loved her."
"And what did you do?"
"Gave him the cookbook with my best meals, congratulated him on the acceptance to the EC, and then told him he made a good choice. I am so sorry Misty."
"No." She took a breath. "It's fine. It will just take some time to come terms to this."
"You should talk to Gary."
"Wait, you want to talk to that prick?"
"He is different now Misty. Trust me, just talk to him."
I left her sitting at the café in Celadon. I knew that it hurt her, but I knew she would get over it. Hopefully, she would talk to Gary, see the similarities that they had and would move on.