Author's Comments: Uhhhh... this one took a while. I tried to make it good. Pearlshippers will be surprised! Also, I want to thank Pokefan#493 of forums for reviewing this chapter. So uhhh... on with the story!

The dust settled as all the challengers and spectators leaned in closer to see what had happened. Riolu was still standing there although breathing heavily. Cranidos was standing a few feet away, his legs wobbling. Suddenly he collapsed to the ground.

"The winner is Riolu! The winner is the challenger, Ash from Pallet Town!" the ref called for the final time before walking out of the gym. Roark called Cranidos back into his pokeball before walking over to Ash.

"Here Ash, your pokemon are amazing. Especially your Riolu. I've never seen a Riolu that could use Aura Sphere. You must have trained hard for your Riolu to reach such high a level. So here, take this Coal Badge." Roark said holding out a shiny badge that looks kind of like a pokeball made of stone.

Ash took the badge and held it out in his signature pose. "Yeah, I got a... Coal Badge!" He jumped up and ran off the field, his pokemon right behind him. Ash ran out the door and smashed right into Dawn. She almost stumbled and fell before Ash grabbed her hand and pulled her back up.

"Hey! Watch where you're going next ti~. Oh, it's you Ash. Sorry about that. Great battle. Look I'm going to go change. See back at our room." she said before running away hoping that Ash wouldn't notice her blushing. Ash met up with Brock at the door of the pokemon center. They went inside and got a room for the night.

They opened the door and found out that it was a small room with a desk under the window, one bunk-bed, and one normal bed. Three beds in all. Ash put his stuff down in his regular spot. The worst bed, the one one underneath the top bunk. Dawn walked in wearing her normal clothes. Ash was so relieved. He didn't have to look away every time he saw Dawn.

'She sure looked hot in that thing. Stop it Ash! You're not a perv.' Ash thought as he lay down on his bed. He looked at his watch. They still had four hours before 10:00pm and none of them could sleep. They went around town checking out shops and cafes. They finally dragged themselves into their room and fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

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Several days have gone by since Ash's battle. The trio were once again off on the road looking for new adventures. They had stopped early today because it was the day before Dawn's birthday. They set up their camp, tents, and "furniture" (which were just big logs lined up against the side of the fire like a bench). That night they ate in silence, looking up into the sky. After they finished, Ash volunteered to do the dishes. Brock and Dawn crawled in their respective tents.

As Ash finished up washing the dishes, he thought about Dawn. 'I still didn't give her a present. I know I said that Mantyke was her present, but I just did that because she was sad. I know!' he thought with a plan forming in his mind. Later that night when everyone else was sleeping, he quietly crawled out of his tent and went over to Dawn's. He didn't know how she would react, but hoped for the best.

He quietly slipped into her tent and looked down at her. Dawn had half woken up and could just barely see the silhouette of a man looking down at her. She started to get scared when the figure leaned closer and crouched down. Ash leaned in and brushed his lips against hers.

"Happy Birthday Dawn." he whispered and slipped out of the tent. Dawn slowly reached up and touched her lips. They tingled with a warm sensation. 'Who was that?' she thought as she lay back down and tried to sleep. The next morning was an almost usual one. When Dawn woke up she found Brock sitting in front of a fire cooking breakfast. When she looked down at her plate she found out that in her omelet were the words Happy Birthday in barely eligible words of sausage. She looked over at Ash's tent and her mood went down. It was gone.

"Where's Ash, Brock?" she asked, giving him a sad look. She jumped back in surprise at the dark scowl on the breeder's face.

"He left." he said. Plain and simple.

"Where?" she asked getting scared.

"I don't know." whispered Brock and crawled into his tent to pack up. Dawn got up and looked around the campsite for any sign of Ash, but only found three pair of footprints that faded away the further she got from camp. 'What happened to Ash? Why did he just leave?' she thought as she made her way back to camp.

Dawn and Brock packed up in silence. They made their way to their next destination. Eterna City. 'If Ash were here he would be dyeing to get there.' She stopped and looked down, depressed at the thoughts of Ash leaving her.

Ash was in fact, right behind them. He had tried to disappear in case Dawn knew it was him that night. But he was regretting his decision to leave the group, as life traveling alone was boring. He rubbed Pikachu, who was sitting on his shoulder.

"Cha!" he squealed in joy.

Ash took one last look at Dawn before running through a side path trying to beat them to Eterna City. As the day grew old, night replaced it. Ash watched through the bushes as Dawn set up her tent. Ash suddenly blushed furiously, getting flustered as Dawn's mini-skirt rode up her legs revealing the light blue panties she had on.

Dawn lay on her sleeping bag looking up at the stars as they appeared as if by magic.

'I wish Ash would come back. I wonder why he left? Arrgh! Thanks a lot Ash! Thanks for making my birthday the worst.' she looked up as she heard branches crack. She turned her head at the source of the sound. She suddenly jumped up and tackled the boy that was walking into their camp.

"Where were you Ash Ketchum! I was worried sick!" Dawn scolded the boy lying on the ground like a mother would scold a naughty child.

"Oh, you were worried for me huh?" Ash asked smirking. A slight pink blush appeared on her face. She stormed off to her tent and zipped up the zipper furiously.

"So it worked huh?" said the breeder coming out from behind the bushes. "Guess you know how Dawn feels about you now?"

"Still, I feel bad about making Dawn worry like that. Hey, I know. I'll give her this pokemon I caught along the way!" he walked over to Dawn's tent. He placed a pokeball with a note outside her door. "I love you too, Dawn." he whispered to himself and walked away, setting up his own tent.

The sunlight broke through the mesh window in Dawn's tent. She sat up and stretched. She slowly got dressed and opened up her tent. She looked down to see a pokeball with a note in it. She picked up the note and read it.

Dawn,

I'm sorry that I upset you. I just wanted to know if you... what I'm trying to say is...look, I'm sorry Dawn. I hope you like the pokemon. If you forgive me, meet me in the woods today. Don't tell anyone.

Love,

Ash

Dawn looked down at the pokeball. She quickly pocketed it and ran into the woods.

"Ash? Where are you? Is this some kind of joke? Because if it is, then I'm leaving!" she called out, twisting her head every-which way looking for Ash.

"Pikaboo!" Ash cried as he leaped from behind a tree. "Come on, I want to show you something Dawn." he said, dragging her by the hand to a secluded area. Dawn looked around her.

"Amazing..." she whispered, looking around at the scenery. She looked back at Ash. He was watching her with an amused grin on his face.

"Dawn, there's something I need to tell you..." Ash whispered, shifting to stand closer to Dawn. He looked into her light blue eyes. They were soft and warm and gave you fuzzy feeling inside. "Dawn, I..."

EVIL! Muahahahaha! Man, I'm on an evil streak. However, beware. Things aren't going to work out the way you think they are. Thank you "Gred Forge vs Marauder" for answering the poll. Because no one else answered the poll I have decided to have Ash and Dawn together before May shows up. Sorry Complete Hollow, this means that May will appear later.

P.S. I'm scared because Pokefan#493 wants to kill me for the cliffhanger. I just hope you guys don't try to kill me after reading chapter 6.

Until next time. C Ya!