Brock woke up first, as usual. The sun was still rising. Brock lived for those moments. He looked around to the other tents. It was a shame they always slept in too much to enjoy it with him. Well at least he was never alone. Croagunk was probably the only creature that woke up earlier than Brock. Brock always felt a special connection with croagunk, but he never understood it, he doubts that even croagunk understands it.
A rustling sound comes from behind Brock. He turns around to see Ash poking his head out of the tent.
"This is probably the first time anyone has woken up earlier than me. Want to join me in the sun rise.
He heard Ash groan, "actually Brock... I... never mind." He pulled his head inside the tent and zipped it up.
"Wait!" It was too late. He turned toward croagunk, "at least your here..." Croagunk just looked at him with a face free of emotion as always.
Brock spent the next hour cooking up breakfast. His friends really slept in this day. Normally, the way he saw it, Dawn would have woken up already and be helping feeding the pokemon and tending to all the small tasks around the site.
Dawn woke up. She got out yawning. The sun was shining proudly by now.
"Morning Ash", Brock greeted her. At least he woke up at his usual time.
"Morning Brock", Dawn couldn't help but yawn back.
"Can you get your boo?" Dawn flinched at the word. "It is time for breakfast, and then we got to head for Mount Coronet and finish it in less than a day, if were lucky."
"When are we ever?" Dawn walked toward the tent Ash was sleeping in. She leaned in toward the door and then turned her face to check if Brock was paying attention. "Ash" she whispered as loud as she could. "You okay?"
Suddenly the tent opened a little and a hand grabbed and pulled Dawn in.
"Dawn..." Ash was out of breath and his voice sounded panicked. "Dawn... listen... I think I made some kind of mistake."
Dawn sat right in front of Ash, he looked pale and fear was written on his face. She was a little worried.
"What mistake?" There was tension in her voice.
"I don't know how it happened. I guess it all started in the middle of the night actually."
"What started?"
"My stomach was really hurting, it was unbearable..."
"Like cramps?"
"and my legs feel really weird..."
"Uh-huh." Today couldn't be... could it?
"And then there was... I think..." His voice became nothing more than a hoarse whisper. "I may have cut something... and I can't..." He started to make nonsense hand gestures. "bandage it..."
Dawn inwardly laughed. It must have been showing, because Ash looked at Dawn incredulously.
"Dawn, this is serious. I think I may have broken you. I keep bleeding and I can't stop!"
Dawn laughed out loud this time. She felt sorry for Ash. I guess she forgot about that considering she was a boy, and she thought this would be fixed before, that time.
"Calm down Ash. Your just having my period."
"Period? What's that?" His fears seemed to have quelled and is instead substituted by curiosity.
"Well..." little red patches appeared on her cheeks, she leaned into Ash's ear this time and explained everything. After she was done. Ash just sat in stupor, he wanted to try and keep his emotions and actions under control.
"Okay then... How do you stop it?"
Dawn once again explained some more in his ear. Then his face flushed red.
"I GOT TO STICK IT WHERE! YOU GOT TO BE FU-"
"Cooking is fun" Brock said to no one in particular. He was busy making some stir-fry for the trip. There wouldn't be time to rest if they're going to pass Mt. Coronet. "I wonder what is taking those two so long. Probably making out." A small grin came upon his face.
Dawn came out of the tent first. She was giggling slightly. Ash followed her, if not walking a little peculiar. They ate a quick breakfast before packing up and hitting the road again.
"Guys were going to hit the mountain entrance from the west side." Brock announced to the group. It made sense to go from the west side since Ash just got his badge from Canalave City.
"Right!" Both of them agreed.
They had been traveling between the routes for days now. If you were to pinpoint their location right now. It would have to be in between the actual mountain and the bike route.
Ash grabbed Dawn's hand. Dawn pulled her hand hand away in a shocked response.
"What are you doing?" She hissed.
"Well your fast talking got us in a relationship. Might as well act the part with Brock around." Ash stuck his thumb in the direction of Brock, who was busy studying the map.
"Oh right." Dawn let Ash grab her hand. She couldn't help but turn a little red. She secretly liked holding Ash's hand. She liked the touch of his skin. No wait, it was her skin... No! We already went through this. However, she couldn't help but swing Ash's arm back and forth in joy.
Ash stared at Dawn's swinging of their arms obscenely. Dawn looked like she was having fun, it was written on her face, or rather on Ash's face. This kind of behavior, Ash thought, only furthered everyone else's view that Ash was as straight as a circle. Why couldn't he have switched bodies with Misty instead.
"Stop swinging my arms like that, you keep making me look gay." Ash stiffened his arm.
"Well sorry." Dawn felt mildly offended. "PMS is a bitch. Couldn't I enjoy my first fake boyfriend. Or are you my first girlfriend." Dawn stopped swaying their arms, and looked away from him.
Ash sighed. "...but you know..."
Dawn turned to look at him, when he began to swing their arms. "...It doesn't mean I can't do it."
He smiled weakly at Dawn, who smiled back, if not with a little red in her cheeks.
They had scaled the mountain's side looking for a public opening. It took a while until they found one. Once inside they got out chimchar to create a small light source. They began traveling. Until they came across a solid wall of rock.
"That's funny?" Brock was inspecting the rock wall.
"What is?" Dawn asked.
"This wall of rock..." Brock began running his hands across the wall, as though he was trying to find a hidden switch. "Check the guide book's map section. There isn't supposed to be a rock wall here." He threw the guide book at Ash.
Both Ash and Dawn looked at the map. Brock was right, the path they were on was pretty much straight shot, give or take a couple of ledges.
"Why do you keep rubbing the wall Brock?" Dawn asked.
"It feels familiar..." Dawn was puzzled by his response.
"Maybe we should try to blast our way through it." Dawn said to Ash, leaving Brock to mumble to himself.
"Um..." Before Ash could give a proper response.
Piplup heard Dawn's suggestion, and began to take matters in his own hands. He jumped forward, and began to beat his chest in a proud manner. Ash was speechless at his act, but Dawn knew what piplup was thinking.
"No piplup! Don't!" Maybe if it came from her own voice, piplup wouldn't of shot out a water gun.
Brock the meanwhile came to a conclusion. "Onix." He turned around to let everyone know it was a really big onix, when he saw the water jet coming at him. He jumped out of the way by instinct. He really shouldn't of. The onix woke from it's slumber, annoyed with the water attack. It picked itself up and faced the trio, then dozens of other onix's behind him did the same. It was a herd onix!
Piplup's confidence began to fade, but it didn't back down.
"Let's get out of here!" Brock turned around and ran away with the rest.
Dawn turned around and picked up the fear-driven, paralyzed penguin and ran away. The penguin was squirming in Dawn's hands, it freed itself and buried itself in Ash's hands. Ash could only give Dawn a sympathetic smile. Even though Dawn knew it was because Ash looks like Dawn, she couldn't help but feel a little betrayed.
The trio exited out of the cave just in time. The onix couldn't fit through the narrow opening and decided to just give up the chase.
They walked around the mountain exterior until they found a new entrance. When they found one, it seems that the onix were waiting for them, and they brought a few steelix with them. The trio had to run like crazy again to escape the cave full of rock snake like death.
"What... do we do... now?" Ash asked out of breath.
"Well..." Brock was also out breath, and trying to think.
"Why don't we... do what May did... and take a ferry." Dawn answered.
"What...?" Everyone was still out of breath
"Don't you... remember? May... came to visit us... through a ferry she took... in Snowpoint."
Brock took the guide book back from Ash, and perused through the pages. "Well maybe... if we fly..."
"Fly?... We don't have wings." Ash angrily questioned.
"No... we go to Valley Windworks. The guide book says they give balloon rides. If we take one to a port town. We could take the ferry."
"It's worth a shot." Dawn reasoned.
"I just hate to have traveled so far for nothing." Ash said irritably.
"Even then, I don't think we could have scaled the mountain. Guide book says we need to have rock climb, which we don't have."
Ash was grinding his teeth. Dawn grabbed his arm, and whispered, "Calm down."
Ash looked her in the eyes, took a deep breath, "Fine, let's go."
"It could be worse" She cheerfully added.
"And what could that be" Ash leaned in closer to Dawn so only she could hear him say, "I'm already bleeding from my-"
"WE wouldn't have Brock's cooking."
"That's right." Brock held out the bag that held the food he had cooked earlier for the trip.
It was at that moment that a group of luxio's pilfered the bag from Brock's hand and took off as fast as they could.
Ash only gave Dawn a look that said why would you ever say that.
Yeah about this chapter, I kinda left a big plot hole, and that was that you need to have rock climb to access the snowpoint. I also remembered in the episode May visited sinnoh she came from snowpoint on a ferry, and well... It was too late to change everything and writing ferry adventures sounds more appealing than writing cave exploring adventures. So please excuse this sudden twist in plot. I just barely noticed I gave no direction as to where they were going or where they have been, (as in major cities and stuff)