Trailing behind the triplets, Ash looked ahead as he walked, whilst Dawn kept glancing at Ash from her walking place beside him, "So..." Dawn said slowly, moving her arms behind her back as she looked at Ash, "Where have you been hiding the past seven years?" Ash glanced at Dawn briefly before looking back ahead, "Around." He stated, a clear indication he wasn't ready to tell the blue-haired girl where his home for the past seven years was.
"That's cool..." Dawn said awkwardly, rubbing her arm as she racked her brain for a way to get Ash to open up to her, "You caught any new pokemon?" She finally landed on, watching as Ash's eyes seemed to light up a little, "Not many to be honest...i have caught two new pokemon since coming to this region.." Dawn smiled as the raven haired boys light up - the old Ash was still in there, she just knew it. She just needed to work on bringing him back.
"What pokemon?" "A Growlithe and a Litten" Dawn's eyes lit up at the mention of the two pokemon, "Thats pretty cool - I've actually caught some more pokemon since we last sore each other"
Ash's eyebrow quirked up as he glanced at Dawn, "That's cool." Ash stated as he walked, deciding to give Dawn a small chance - he knew if he was going to trust her, he needed to know more about her, seeing as they hadn't seen anything of each other in seven years, Ash didn't know how much Dawn had changed.
"What pokemon have you caught?"
Dawn smiled at Ash's question, proudly listing of her new pokemon, "I caught a Bulbasaur, Pidgey, Vulpix, Eevee and a Seadra whilst i was in Kanto" Dawn started, making Ash nod as he waited for her to continue, "Whilst i was in Johto and Hoenn, i caught a Wooper, Houndour, Gorabyss and a Roselia."
"What made you go to all those regions?" Ash asked as Dawn's listing came to an end. The question made Dawn blush as she shyly looked away, "Honestly? I was looking for you..." Ash blinked at first, but let a small smile grace his lips, "I'm guessing you heard rumours that i was in Alola, and that's what brought you here?" Dawn nodded shyly, making Ash half smile, which quickly dropped as he looked ahead, "Do you keep all your pokemon on you?"
Dawn smiled in relief at the change in subject and nodded, "I spoke to the professor after i caught more than six pokemon - he said i could carry up to 15 pokemon with me, but if he thought i was struggling he would lower it back to 6" Ash nodded slowly in understanding. It did make sense to the black-haired boy. After all, Dawn would be considered a veteran trainer now, so it was only natural that the professor would allow her to carry more pokemon with her.
"Did any of your old pokemon evolve?" Ash asked after a few seconds, to which Dawn nodded proudly, "Yup! Quilava evolved into a Typhlosion whilst i was travelling through Hoenn" "Thats cool...Some of my pokemon have evolved as well..." Ash spoke softly, but proudly, making Dawn tilt her head in curiosity, "Thats awesome! Which one's evolved?"
"Totodile, Oshawott, Scraggy and Buizel all evolved"
"Buizel evolved? Wow...i thought he didn't want to evolve..." "He didn't, he was forced to" Dawn blinked in surprise, looking at Ash in confusion, "Forced to? what do you mean?" "It doesn't matter" Ash's voice suddenly turned cold, hinting that Dawn had touched on a sensitive subject, making her shut her mouth as she thought of a way to change the subject.
"At least were nearly at Iki town" Ash nodded slowly in confirmation that he had heard her, choosing to remain silent. Dawn frown, sad that Ash had shutdown once more - but she knew things wouldn't and couldn't be perfect right of the back, so she had a expected Ash to be a little quieter with her.
Ash remained silent the rest of the walk, whilst Dawn spent the time thinking of different ways to get Ash to talk, "Were nearly half way there" Ash and Dawn heard Zack say, making them look at the black-haired boy, who had stopped walking to look back at the two quiet trainers, "But if we keep going, we won't get there until its dark, so i think we should stop for the night" Ash's eye twitched in irritation - he really didn't like Zack. And he hated the idea of spending more time with him, but it was starting to get dark, and he knew he wouldn't be able to battle the Kahuna until the morning.
"Fine - again, were leaving early. So wake up before i do, or you will get a water gun to the face again" Ash warned the triplets, who all gulped as they nodded and began setting up camp.
Turning to face Dawn, Ash repressed a smile as he looked at her, "Wanna go for a walk?" Dawn blinked and smiled, nodding and following Ash as he walked away from the triplets, who looked up from their setting up to watch the duo leave.
"Why is he so nice to her, but so cold with us?"