Dawn and Ash walked towards the next trail, which they heard was along route 7. They held their hands intertwined. On the way, they ran into a masala restaurant, and decided to have lunch date there. All their pokemon were sent out to eat there, and Dawn and Ash sat across from each other.
"Man, this masala is so good! You got to try it, Dawn!" Ash shouted.
"I-I'll just take your word for it…" Dawn said.
"Come on! Just one bite!" Ash held out a fork towards her with a piece of his masala.
Dawn smiled with a blush. "All right." She took the bite off the fork and swallowed it. "Wow, your right! It's really good, just like my dish!"
"Really? Can I try?"
"Of course!" Dawn got a piece of her masala on her fork and held it out to him. When he went to grab it, he got food all over her face. This made Dawn giggle, while Ash ate it.
"Hey, it is good! I think it's better than what I got!"

Buneary sat close to Ash's pikachu and grinned at him.
"Pika…" Ash's pikachu replied.
Crabrawler glared at Ash's pikachu. He at least respects Buneary, as she defeated him fair and square. But Pikachu, that coward attacked him while his back was turned and when was he was minding his own business eating berries he found first. Crabrawler narrowed his eyes as she started flirting with Pikachu. He knows she needs a better pokemon than that pikachu. It was then that Crawbrawler was determined to win her heart over, so she can be attracted to a real male pokemon.

"Hey Ash! You gotta hear about the weird dreams I've been having about you!"
Ash gave her a confused look. "Weird dreams?"
Dawn laughed. "Yeah… It starts off with us all being sweet and romantic together." Then she looks away from him with an uncomfortable look. "…But then, you suddenly push me away believing I don't like you. Then go to another girl."
"That's… pretty weird, I guess."
Dawn gave him an irritated look. "One of the girls looked like that lure of your friend, only in more human sized!"
Ash laughed. "You mean Misty? Okay! That's weird! But I think my dream of you are more weird!"
"Huh? You've also had… a weird dream of me?"
Ash gave an uncomfortable look. "Y-yeah. The gist of the dream is me discovering that you're actually a man, named Don!"
Dawn gave a disgusted look. "Yeah, that is a lot weirder than my dreams."
Ash laughed. "Well, its good dreams don't really mean anything."
Dawn smiled. "… So, you never had any doubts? That I liked you, that is."
Ash looked away with a frown. "Honestly… I wasn't really sure one way or the other. It was sometimes hard to tell if you liked me more than a friend."
Dawn narrowed her eyes as she looked at her empty plate. Ever since what Ash has said on the boat ride, she had a strong feeling that Ash really liked her, and that's when she realized that she liked him. But with everything that she did to hid everything about Nebby to him, she felt too terrible to try and pursue him. She wondered if her dreams amplified her guilt, and wondered if that her fears of losing him for what he did where the cause of such dreams.
"…What made you ask, Dawn?" Ash asked.
Dawn smiled at him. "Just curious!" It didn't matter ether way, as her dreams never became true.

They continued on after their lunch, and went onto the path on route 7. They go to Wala Volcano Park, and they ran into a salandit. Ash became interested in catching it, and sent out his dewspider. Dewspider used Bubblebeam, but Salandit used Dragon Rage and a big blast appeared and got rid of it. Salandit then used Ember, and burned Dewspider. Dewspider ran close, but then jumped up when Salandit used Dragon Rage, then got a direct hit with its Bubblebeam. But then its burn and another Ember from Salandit knocked Dewspider out. Ash sent out Rockruff next. Rockruff bypassed Salandit's Smog with Rock Tomb, and made her pass out. Ash took this time to throw a pokeball at it, and caught it. Ash happily picked it up and pumped it up in the air. His pikachu and Rockruff cheered along with Dawn. They quickly went to a pokecenter to quickly heal up before continuing on.

Ash and Dawn quickly scaled the mountain with a trail that was made. Once there, they were at the gate that signified a trail and went through it. There, they ran into a man.
"I am Kaiwe, the caption trail here," he said.
"Hi, I'm Ash! I'm here to take on your trial!"
Alright then. You must tell the difference between two dances I'll show, so you must pay close attention. Are you ready?"
"Of course!"
"Alright then."
Three Marrowak came out, and started their did their dances.
"Now, what was different between the dances?" Kaiwe asked.
Ash scratched the back of his head with a frown. "Uhh… the middle Marrowak?"
Kaiwe gasped. "Correct."
Then the middle marrowak came to Ash, swinging around his bone.
"Alright, if it's a battle you want, then a battle you'll get!" Ash shouted. His pikachu was sent out, and quickly took it out.
"Marrowak was so surprised by your correct answer that it simply had to battle you!" Kaiwe said.
"But… he guessed," Dawn thought.
"Let's start the next dance!"
The next dance was shown, and a guy popped up in the end.
"Uh… is that guy supposed to pop up?"
"Remarkable!" the guy shouted. "I must battle you!"
Ash smirked. "Well I accept your challenge!"
The battle quickly ended with Ash as the winner.
"Alright. This will be the last dance!" Kaiwe said.
"Alright!" Ash shouted.
The marrowak did their dances, and a new pokemon showed up.
Dawn crossed her arms with a frown and a furrowed eyebrow. "Is this really supposed to be challenging to figure out?" she wondered.
"What was different about this dance?" Kaiwe asked.
"Well, there was that strange new pokemon that showed up," Ash said.
His rotom dex popped out. "Salazzle! If a salandit fails to bring it food, it slaps it with a flame-spewing palm."
The pokemon came up to Ash and started to glow.
"Woah! That's the totom pokemon!" Ash shouted. He sent out Crawbrawler who did some damage, before getting knocked out. Pikachu came out, but then got knocked out after dealing some good damage on Salazzle. Then Dartrix came out and finished Salazzle off.
"Alright! I beat it!" Ash shouted.
His pokemon happily cheered around him.
Dawn ran up to Ash and jumped into his arms. "Great job, Ash!"
Ash smiled as he put a hand on her head. "Thanks, Dawn."
Kaiwe walked over to them. "You have completed my trail and earned this Z-Crystal." He handed Ash the Firium Z.
"Thanks!"
"Since you have completed my trail, they should open up the barricade on route 7 for you. There, you should make your way towards Mallow's trial!"
"Mallow… I can't wait to see what she has in store for me!"
"And I have one last thing to give you." Kaiwe handed him the Charizard pager. "With this, you can call upon Charizard, and he'll take you to any place you know of!"
"Wow, cool! Thanks so much!"
"Don't mention it! Good luck on your trail!"

They used Chairizard to get back to the pokemon center on route 7 as it was getting dark out. Ash and Dawn looked around as they saw the beautiful scenery below them.
"Man, everything looks so small from down here!" Ash shouted.
Dawn looked down below with a small frown. "Looks like a rough fall!"
Ash looked behind at her. "Don't worry! I'm sure Charizard wouldn't let you fall, right Charizard?"
Charizard roared in response.
Dawn shivered. "And it's really chilly up here, too."
"You can hold on tight to me, you know?"
Dawn smiled a bit. "Right." She gently wrapped her arms around Ash's neck with her whole front body touching Ash's and looked ahead. Dawn smiled as she saw the millions of stars and lights up ahead. "This is pretty amazing!"
"Yeah. So… when do you start to like me?" Ash asked.
Dawn closed her eyes as he held on to Ash and thought about it for a bit. "I think it was when I started hanging out with you here… I realized how much you meant to me and how much I missed you when we traveled. When did you start?"
Ash thought a bit. "I really never really thought about… my feelings for girls that much though out my travels."
Dawn laughed. "Yeah. You were mostly focused on pokemon and your dream…"
"Yeah. But… I think it just naturally happened from when I met you, and when I got to know you more."
"… I'm so glad I've meet you."
"Same."
Charizard finally made it to the pokemon center and he went off. Then went in and ate dinner and healed up their pokemon. They stayed up and talked a bit before turning in. Dawn looked outside and wondered how Lillie was doing. They haven't seen her sense they left her at the hotel. She hopped that she was doing okay and was able to see the person she wanted to see. And she hoped that she and Nebby where safe as well from the people that were after Nebby and his power.