Author's Comments: Wow. I got this one up fast. I had it written in my notebook already, but I had to wait two days until I could post my story. Anyways, this one is a bit longer. Hope this is better than my first chapter. Btw, thanks WalloniaEagle for the helpful tip. This chapter is dedicated to you.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own pokemon or its franchise. This is completely fan-made and has nothing to do with the actual show.

The next morning, Dawn yawned stretching her arms. She got dressed and headed for the small lake about half a mile away. She looked around before quickly getting undressed and slipping into the warm, morning water.

Ash woke up with a start. He had the same dream again. He shook himself awake and decided to go look for some new pokemon. Traveling down a little worn path, he and Pikachu searched around for any new pokemon. Suddenly he heard a splash and a girly giggle. He quietly moved through the bushes and saw a girl swimming in the middle of a lake. Then it hit him like a brick in the face. It was Dawn! He backed out quietly not wanting to alert her to his presense and continued on his search for pokemon.

After about fifteen minutes she quickly got out, toweled off and got dressed. On her way back to camp she heard loud explosions. She ran in the direction of the explosions and found Ash locked in a battle with a purple-haired trainer they all knew. Paul.

"Starly use Ariel-Ace!" Ash cried out. The grey bird-like pokemon swooped down suddenly and shot forward at its opponent.

"Ursaring, return." Paul said in his usual icy tone. "Pathetic!" I'll see you next time, loser!" and ran off. Ash recalled Starly and turned around only to bump right into Dawn.

"Hey Ash. Nice battle."

"Hey Dawn. How did you find me?"

"The explosions kinda gave it away." replied Dawn in a bemused voice.

Ash looked away, embbaressment written all over his face in red. "Come on Dawn, I bet Brock's up by now." They ran all the way back to camp to find Brock already cooking breakfast.

"So where were you two so early in the morning?" Brock asked in a smug tone. Both of them blushed and told him what had happened between Ash and Paul.

Later, the trio are well on their way. "Oreburg City is just up ahead. We should reach it by this evening." said Brock , looking at a map.

"That's great! Now I can finally challenge the Oreburg gym leader and get my first badge!" Ash cried out before running ahead.

By the time the other two had caught up to Ash they were all tired, starved, and worst of all lost.

"Ash Ketchum! What is your problem!?"

"Sorry Dawn, I guess I got a little carried away. Hey, don't worry! I'll get us out of here!"

"Like that will ever happen." mumbled Brock under his breath as he got out his cooking tools. While Brock was getting the place set up for lunch Ash, Dawn, and Pikachu went out to look for firewood.

As Ash and Pikachu were crawling under a bush for some dry sticks they heard the bush ahead of the shake. They looked up and saw a small bluish pokemon that looked somewhat like a fox. "Oh, wow! A riolu! Let's try and catch it Pikachu." "Pika pi!"

Ash crawled his way up to Riolu, then jumped up and cried, "Pikachu use thunderbolt!" Electricity flowed up through the tiny mouse pokemon and into its cheeks. Electricity enveloped Pikachu, when it released it straight at Riolu. It was a direct as Riolu flew back several feet.

"Ha, now's my chance." He grabbed a pokeball from his pokebelt and threw it at Riolu. There was a beam of bright red light and Riolu dissappeared into the pokeball. Ash watched watched hopefully as the ball twitched left and right blinking furiously. Then a Ding! was heard. "Alright! I caught a Riolu!" Ash cried out in his signature pose.

Ash and Pikachu raced back to camp to find that Dawn was already back and a some ramen was cooking in a pot above a blazing fire.

"Where were you Ash? We were about to send a search party to find you."

"Sorry." he said sheepishly. "You guys, I'd like you to meet the newest member of our team." Ash threw the pokeball up and Riolu popped out. "Riolu!" it cried and started looking around with a confused look on it's face.

"Aww, it's so cute!" Dawn chirped in delight. As Riolu met the rest of the pokemon, the trio sat down to eat. Ash told them all about how he saw Riolu and captured it (making it a bit more interesting and exiting than it really was).

The three of them decided that they would stay there for the rest of the day, getting up early to get a fresh start the next day.

As Dawn lay in her tent that night she heard a noise coming from Ash's tent. She peeked out, and seeing him going off into the forest, she quietly followed. She found Ash sitting on the bank of a river looking up into the stars. "Oh Ash..."

Ash whipped his head around when he heard a sound behind him. Dawn sunk back into the shadows of the forest hoping he didn't see her. He didn't. He looked back up at the stars and thought about Dawn.

'Why is this happening to me? I didn't want to get emotionally involved again like I did with May. All she did was break my heart when she stopped traveling with me and went after Drew. I wonder what Dawn would think about this if I told her how I feel about her. She would probably desert me too. It seems like everybody seems to be deserting me. First Misty, then May. Will Dawn leave me too?' He sat there some more and thought about these questions that were floating around in his mind.

Dawn watched him from the shadows of the forest with a worried look on her face and mixed up emotions bombarding her from the inside.

Sorry, I forgot to get this up. I bumped up their ages. So they are:

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Dawn: 15

Paul: 16

Misty: 17

May: 16

P.S. I'm changing the story-line a bit, having Ash, Dawn, and Brock gain new pokemon they don't have in the anime.

Till next time. C Ya!