Hey guys. I was really bored today and I already had half of this chapter written out, so I finished it up. I hope this is longer than the last two chapters. I'm going to try and make them longer.

BTW, if you haven't figured it out, this is a Pearlshipping fanfic with a bit of Advanceshipping to make it interesting.

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

"Riolu, use Aura Sphere!" Ash's cry was heard through out the forest. Riolu held his arm back storing energy in it. A small blue sphere-like spark flashed in its hand before disappearing. Riolu looked down at the ground in disappointment. "Ri, lu." he whispered in a depressed voice. He had been trying to use Aura Sphere for several weeks now, but to no avail.

"Hey, it's ok Riolu. You almost had it. I'm sure you'll get it next time." Ash and Riolu headed back to camp, finding that Pikachu was still sleeping in Ash's tent. He was wiped out from yesterdays battle. Ash had met a young aspiring trainer named Lucas on his way to Oreburg City.

It had been a one on one battle, Ash's Pikachu against Lucas' Staravia. Even though Pikachu won it was a grueling battle. Staravia was quick, Pikachu taking blow after blow before getting Thunder in at the last minute.

"Hey Ash!" Dawn yelled before running over to him.

"Hey Dawn. What's up?" Ash inquired as he saw she was looking tired.

"Um... I kinda wanted to ask you if you would help me out." Dawn said in a shy tone, her nose and cheeks getting pink.

"With what?"

"Well, I've kinda been trying to... um... catch a pokemon." said Dawn whispering out the last part. "I've been running around after it but, I can't seem to catch it."

"Oh, which pokemon is it?"

"It's a, well, the Pokedex says it's a Mantyke." Dawn whispered, embaressment clear on her face. "When I saw it, I thought 'Oh my god! It's soooo cute!', but when I tried to battle it, he kept diving underwater."

"Don't worry Dawn, just stay right here." Ash yelled as he ran off. 'Now where did she find that Mantyke. Hey, there seems to be a lake over there.' Ash ran over to the lake, Riolu running right behind him. They reached the waterfront, the morning sun reflecting off the calm waters and the image of an underwater forest being reflected back to the trees around Ash and Riolu, everything seeming so surreal.

"Mantyke!" a small bluish manta-ray looking pokemon cried out as it broke the surface of the water.

'Alright, this is for Dawn.' "Riolu, use Aura Shpere. I know you can do it!" Riolu saw the confidence in his trainers eyes, confidence that spurred his own confidence. He pulled his arm back, storing all his energy and emotions and love for his trainer into it. A small blue orb appeared in his hand. It grew larger until, Swish!, he snapped his arm forward at the Mantyke staring at him from the water. The aura sphere shot forward at Mantyke, hitting its mark. "You did it Riolu! Now jump on top of Mantyke and use Force Palm."

"Riolu!" he cried in joy as he jumped across the water onto Mantykes back. Pressing his palm against Mantyke's back, he forced all his energy outwards. He was sent flying into the air from the sheer power of his own attack.

Ash caught Riolu in his arms as Mantyke flew onto the land. He grabbed a pokeball from his pocket and threw it at Mantyke. Mantyke disappeared into the red and white ball in a flash of red lighting.

"Ash, what happened? Why did you run off like that. I thought you were going to help me!" Dawn yelled at him, and annoyed look on his face.

Ash was about to say something when Brock crawled out of his tent.

"Whats with all the noise?" he asked, sleepiness obvious in his voice.

"Well, I was about to say something to Dawn, but since she's so grumpy I think I'll wait." Ash said before Dawn even got a chance to open her mouth.

"Fine, just keep it down. I'm still tired." Brock said to the both of them before crawling back into his tent.

"What's wrong with Brock? It's almost 11:00 am. That's really unusual for him." Dawn asked Ash. He just turned away with a Humph! and decided to check up on Pikachu. Ash peeked into his tent only to find it empty.

"Hey Dawn, have you seen Pikachu? He was still sleeping last time I checked."

"Oh, so now you're talking to me? Well, to be honest I didn't notice. I guess he went out looking for you, I was lost in my thoughts until I saw you coming back."

"Oh, what were you thinking about?" Ash asked with a grin on his face.

"Nothing much" she lied, for Ash had caught her off-guard. In fact she had just been thinking about him, trying to sort out her feelings. She didn't know how she was supposed to feel about him. She always felt different around him than she did around Brock. She knew Ash would always be there for her, but she didn't know if he would stay if she told him ho she felt.

Brock had once told her about May. He had said that Ash had feelings for her, and probably still did. She didn't want to jeopardize her friendship with Ash just because of her feelings. She thought it would be better to have Ash as a friend than not have Ash there at all.

All of these things flowed through Dawn's mind in that one instant she had lied to Ash. She bit down her lip and looked away hoping Ash, being who he is, wouldn't notice her blushing. But Ash did. He saw her bite her lip and look away.

"Look, I'm sorry Dawn."

"About what?" she asked surprised at Ash's reaction.

"I've been a real jerk these past few minutes. I actually came here to tell you that I... um. Well, I know it's your birthday in a few weeks and... well, just... happy birthday." he said handing her the pokeball containing the Mantyke. He quickly got up and went off to search for Pikachu.

Dawn looked down at the pokeball. 'He didn't. He couldn't have. It's not like Ash.' She threw the pokeball in the air and out popped Mantyke. There was a ribbon wrapped around its belly with a card. Dawn laughed a joyful yet emotional laugh with tears of joy welling up in her eyes. She took off the ribbon and read the card.

I knew you were upset that you couldn't catch that Mantyke so here,

Happy Early Birthday.

From Ash.

She couldn't believe it. She just couldn't believe that Ash went through all that trouble just to get her this Mantyke.

"Mantyke!" the Mantyke cried out cheerfully before jumping on Dawn, giving her a huge hug. Dawn thought about Ash as she played with her new Mantyke, this present fueling her love for him even more. 'Wait! I didn't just say love right! Oh no, what am I going to do?' Dawn thought.

'I hope Dawn likes her present' Ash thought as he and Riolu walked around looking for Pikachu.

"Pika!" Ash snapped his head around at the sound of his best friends cry. He saw Pikachu running to him along the path.

"Pikachu!" he dried out as Pikachu jumped into his arms. "Where have you been little buddy? I was worried about you"

"Pika, pika pi pikachu!" Pikachu said. He had said, "I was looking for you!" even though Ash didn't understand him. Ash, Pikachu, and Riolu raced back to camp laughing all the way there.

Dawn saw Ash running back with Pikachu and Riolu and her face lit up. She stood up from in front of Mantyke and Piplup, as she was just introducing Mantyke to Piplup, and ran to Ash. She ran right into him enveloping him in a loving hug before she could change her mind. Ash stopped dead in his tracks as he looked down to see that wonderful, shiny haired girl clinging to his chest.

"Thank you Ash" she whispered. Ash wrapped his arms around Dawn and they stood like that for, what seemed to Ash, like an eternity. He just stood there, blushing up a storm.

I don't like to compliment myself, but I think I did a really good job with this chapter. There was a lot of pearlshipping in this one. There will be a few unexpected twists in the upcoming chapters.

P.S. I'm also known as EmpoleonDream (such a big shock! :p ) on forums. If you ever want to talk about pearshipping come and join PKLegendHeroe's pearlshipping thread at:

.?t=348163

Till next time. C ya!