Once Ash and Dawn woke up early and ate breakfast, they decided to go to the next route to train.
"Hey Dawn, you should try out a Z-Move!" Ash shouted.
"But… didn't they say that I'd be unable to use a Z-Move unless I complete a trail?" Dawn asked.
"Come on! You won't know unless you try!"
Dawn smiled. "You're right!"
Dawn put Normalium-Z on Buneary while Crawbrawler was waiting to try out a Z-Move.
"This is great! Our first time using a Z-Move!" Ash shouted.
"Yeah! All ready when you are, Ash!" Dawn shouted.
All of the pokemon were on the sidelines, watching.
Ash and Dawn both did the respective dance to activate the Z-Move. Crawbrawler come after Buneary with an All-Out Pummeling, and Buneary used a Breakneck-Blitz. They both hit hard, but Crabrawler went down.
"I… did it," Dawn said.
"Wow! So cool!" Ash went up to Crabrawler. "You did great! Buneary just had a lot more experience, is all."
Pichu then started glowing.
"Woah! Is Pichu evolving?" Dawn asked.
It then become a pikachu.
"Nice! It must have gotten enough experience from watching the battle!" Ash shouted.
Dawn's pikachu went up to Ash's. "Pika!"
"Pika chu!" Ash's pikachu replied.
They then started playing.
They both smiled at their pikachu's.
"Okay Pikachu! We need to keep going! So come on!" Ash shouted.
Both pikachus hopped onto a side on Ash's shoulder.
"Pika" one said.
Dawn crossed her arms. "He didn't mean you too, Pikachu!" She returned her pikachu in the pokeball.
They healed up at the pokemon center. After words, they decided to head out on Tauros and they raced through the route, defeating some trainers in the process. Dawn wondered how Lillie was doing and if she ever met up with the person that she was supposed to at the hotel. But she guesses Lillie will be fine, as she is staying in one spot, and has Nebby to help her if anything bad happens. And Dawn didn't think Team Skull was that threating. They seemed to like to act tough, but can't really seem to back it up when push comes to shove. Even Ilima didn't seem to think that they were that threating, though Dawn then wondered if that was just part of his personality. Dawn relaxed against Ash as the gentle breeze flowed through her. She looked up at Ash's face with a blush seeing how excited he was seeing all the pokemon on the farm. His comfort and the warm air flow was enough to put Dawn out cold.
Ash smiled as he looked around and saw all the ranch pokemon. "This place is so cool, huh Dawn." Dawn didn't respond, so Ash looked down and saw her fast asleep. Ash smiled big when she saw how cute she looked while sleeping. He stopped in Parnioa Town in a pokemon center to rest up from their long journey.
Once they were ready to go, they continued on to the next route and battled more trainers here. Not too long after, they ran into Mallow.
"Hey Mallow! What are you doing here?" Ash asked.
"I'm just passing through here. But since you're here, I'll give you something." Mallow said. Mallow gave Ash a pager to call Scoutland.
"So what does Scoutland do?" Ash asked.
"He's extremely useful! He can track down some items and dig them up for you!"
"Awesome! Thank you so much!"
"No problem! Well, see you soon!" Then Mallow left.
Ash and Dawn continued on, while Ash sent out Scoutland to sniff for items. But Scoutland mostly disappointed Ash by finding mushrooms or other plant like things found in the forest, so he let him go.
They arrived in a place that was daycare for pokemon. There seemed to be two girls running it. Then a white vulpix came out.
"Wow! How cute!" Dawn shouted.
"I've never seen a vulpix like that! It must be an Alolan form," Ash said.
His rotom dex popped out. "That is correct! While other vulpixs you've seen have been a Fire type, Alolan vulpixs are Ice type!"
"We found the egg that this vulpix came from after the trainer had already left, so this after this vulpix hatched it stayed with us," a daycare worker said.
"But I'm sure it'll be better for her if she went with someone to see the world. So if you'd like, you can have her!" he other worker said.
"Really? Thanks so much!" Dawn shouted. Dawn then knelt down to the vulpix. "How would you like to come with me, Vulpix?"
Vulpix gave her a curious look.
Dawn threw a pokeball at Vulpix, but it broke out, and gave out a fighting stance and a bark.
"Alright, if it's a battle you want, then a battle you'll get!" Dawn sent out Pikachu. Dawn called out a Quick Attack, but Vulpix countered with a Powdered Snow. So then Pikachu used Thundershock, and got Paralyzed. Pikachu then came in again with Quick Attack. Vulpix tried to stop Pikachu with Powder Snow again, but was stopped by the paralysis and got hit and knocked down. Then Dawn threw a pokeball and caught it!
"Alright! I caught Vulpix!" Dawn shouted.
"Great job, Dawn," Ash said.
"Take good care of Vulpix," a daycare worker said.
"I will! Thanks again!" Dawn said.
Then they all said their goodbyes and left.
Everyone was sent out to meet Vulpix. Dawn introduced them all to her. After that, Rockruff came up to Vulpix and gave her a friendly bark. Vulpix smiled at him. Rockruff then playfully nibbled on Vulpix's ear, but then Vulpix pushed him back and licked him on his cheek. Rockruff grinned and wagged his tail.
Dawn laughed. "You two are too cute!" Dawn picked up Rockruff smiling at him. "I'm glad you and Vulpix get along so well already! I'm sure you'll be a great friend to her!" Rockruff barked and licked Dawn's face, which made her laugh. Vulpix happily meet all of Dawn's and Ash's pokemon. Then they returned all of their pokemon and went on.
They continued to walk on the pathway and come to a spot where there was two ways to go, but one way was blocked by sudowoodos.
"Woah cool! It's Sudowoodo!" Ash shouted.
A boy was there with the sudowoodo. "I'm sorry about this. They'll most likely move if someone comes along with a Waterium-Z."
Piplup jumped down from Dawn's arms and started to yell at them. But the sudowoodo just looked at him with an unamused look and didn't move.
"Hey, don't worry! I'll defiantly win that Waterium-Z and move those Sudowoodo out the way!" Ash shouted.
"Yeah! Sounds like a plan, right Piplup?" Dawn asked.
Piplup nodded. "Pip!"
They then went to the other path.
Ash stopped when he realized something. "So… Nebby was that cosmog we found in Melemele Meadow?"
"Yeah…" Dawn said.
"So when you kissed me, it was only…"
Dawn looked away with a frown. She figured that she at least owed him the truth about what happened then. "Back then… when you ran up to me in the meadows, while we looking into each other's eyes…" Dawn looked to the ground as she blushed. "Nebby came, and I… wanted to get it away from you and to Lillie without knowing."
Ash frowned and looked to the ground, pain filling his heart.
"The only thing I could think of, because it crossed my mind… looking into your eyes before Nebby made his presence, was to kiss you."
Ash looked up to her slowly.
Dawn closed her eyes with a serious look. "I know… you never deserved that Ash. I wanted to tell you about Nebby sooner, but... I'm so sorry."
"So let me get this straight…"
Dawn looked at Ash with a sad look. "Get… what straight?"
"You wanted to kiss me? And it had nothing to do with Nebby?"
Dawn gave a shocked look and got a deep shade of red. "W-why does that matter? I just…"
Ash then beamed at her. "So do you want to kiss me now, too?"
"N-no!" Dawn then stormed off passed him.
Ash scratched the back of his head with a frown. "What changed…" he said.
Pikachu looked at Dawn with a confused look. "Pikachu…"
Ash just looked at her from afar. He wasn't sure what to make of this. It's confusing that she wanted to kiss him, but now she's upset that he asked if she like to do it again. He'd defiantly would like to. He enjoyed kissing her, but he guesses Dawn didn't, as that would be the only reason that could make her not want to kiss him anymore. Ash sighed at that thought, and then looked over at Pikachu. "Well, I guess we should get going Pikachu…"
Pikachu nodded.
"Of all the… and to think I apologized. All he can think of is to do it again?" She sighed as she looked to the sky. Ash and Dawn continued on without saying a word to each other.
