Disclaimer: Squeals might ensue at the end of this chapter and even then I still do not own Pokémon.

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You're The Reason

by: Season Of Magic

{-}

She stared at the television screen amusedly and confused at the same time. It had been months since she had participated in a contest but they were still passing her various wins as re-runs. She sighed as she changed the channel and then decided it was best to just turn it off completely. Seeing herself on television knowing that it was all a long time ago made her really depressed for some reason.

Maybe it was time she joined back that world. It was what she had wanted to do when she was younger after all. When had she given it all up? Okay maybe she was over exaggerating a bit. She still did compete every once in a while but lately all she was focusing n was trainer her Pokémon for gym battles.

She decided to stand up from the couch and went into the kitchen to grab a snack.

All this thinking was making her hungry and giving her a headache. As she walked inside the kitchen she noticed that she was not alone. As she stared at the teenage boy in front of her it was as if a light bulb had went off in her head and it all became clear to her. Of course, he was the reason why she had given up contests.

She had thought about it before but lately she had been too concentrated in anything else to remember it. She sighed as she bit down into the apple he had passed her when she sat down in the table. Minutes went on and neither said anything. The silence was driving her insane.

"Are you okay? You seem worried about something." he said after a while of seeing her fidgeting in her seat.

She took another bite off the apple and decided to answer him with an "I'm fine, no need to worry."

He glanced her way with a confused expression "It's when I worry the most." he stated. "You know you can tell me if anything is the matter right?" he added as he placed one of his hands in top of hers.

She stared at his hand and tried to resist blushing.

How was she going to tell him that it was his fault she was like this? That she had lost her way in life and no had no clue what she wanted to do anymore?

She shook her head. It was best not to say anything at all. "I'm fine." she stated again, flashing what she hoped would be a reassuring smile.

"I guess I should have expected this. You were twelve years old when I left for Unova after all." he said with a sad look in his face "You only took care of my Pokémon because you felt bad for them didn't you?"

"No." she quickly responded and then became silent. That was not the reason why she did it.

"Then why?"

"I cannot say the reason."

"I see. You did pity them after all."

"I did not pity them or anything remotely similar to that. In fact they were the only thing that reminded me of you okay!" and with that she took her hand off his, stood up and walked away in tears.

"Dawn I…" he began as he followed her

"Save it Ash I don't want to hear it leave me alone."

"But…"

"What part of leave me alone don't you understand? It means I do not want to see, hear or have you anywhere near me."

He sighed as he watched her walk away. He had messed up big time and he had to find a way to fix this and fast.

{-}

Seeing her in the fields crossed legged and crying her eyes out made him feel like a fool. How was he supposed to know the way she felt when he left? It was wrong for him to assume such things and he felt bad for nearly yelling at her.

He walked towards her hoping that he was not going to make another mistake. He sat down next to her and passed her the box he was holding in his hands "This came for me this morning from Unova. I was going to give it to you at your party but I feel really bad about the way I treated you and….." he began then shook his head "Just open it before I make a fool of myself, I'm not good at these types of things."

She wiped her tears and stared at him as she tentatively took the box. Was this his way of apologizing to her or was he trying to sneak his way out of the conversation? "Do you…"

"Yes. I'm really trying to say I'm sorry. Go ahead, open it. If the present is what worries you I'll find something else to give you at the party I promise."

She shook her head as she tore open the box and when she looked at what was inside she gasped and tears kept falling again from her eyes "Ash….."

He looked at her confusedly and face palmed himself "I knew you weren't going ot like it…..I should have gotten something else."

She tackled him to the ground and kept him pinned. "No you idiot. This is absolutely perfect, I love it." she said between her tears and excitement.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" she said as she released him and began to stare at it even more closely "Are the jewels real?"

"Yeah they're all diamonds I picked myself at the jewelry store."

"This must have cost you a fortune Ash."

He shrugged it off and wondered what to say, he could not tell her where he'd gotten the money from so he just stated "I've been saving up money I got from battles and stuff it's really no big deal."

She tackled him again and passed her right hand to him. "Would you do the honor of putting it on?"

He smiled and nodded "Sure." and with that he took the bracelet from her and placed it on her wrist.

He had gotten her a diamond encrusted charm bracelet with Pokémon charms that were meant to represent the important people in her life. He made sure to leave more spaces available just in case she wanted to add or remove some.

After he placed it on her wrist he began telling her what each charm meant. "The Piplup represents you, Pikachu is mines, Glameow is for your mother and Zoey, Beautifly is for May, Togekiss is for Misty and princess Salvia, Prinplup is Kenny and Brock is Croagunk"

Dawn laughed at the Brock one then she smiled and hugged him. "You don't know how much this means to me. I thought you had forgotten about me while you were in Unova."

"That could never happen Dawn," he said as he took his hand in his. "Aside from my mother and Pikachu you're the most important person in my life." He smiled as she stared at her. Maybe it was time he showed her just how much he had actually missed her. He kept staring at her and closed his eyes as he began to lean in to kiss her but…..

"Pika-ka-chu!"

Ash opened his eyes annoyed and noticed that not only had Pikachu gotten in between him and Dawn but was also staring at them with quite a sly look on its face.

He sighed as he kept his hand intertwined with Dawn's and glared at his buddy.

How dare he do that? Couldn't he have come a couple minutes after they were done kissing at least?

Then he realized it; he was going to kiss Dawn!

He did not know whether to thank or get angry at his Pokémon.

"Hi Pikachu..." Dawn said with what sounded like disappointment in her voice.

Perhaps she had wanted to kiss him as much as he had wanted to kiss her?

He grinned at that and it made it happy and want to jump in joy. But then he realized that this was the second time they were interrupted and it made him depressed.

Were the poke-gods that against them being together?

Arceus why do you torture me so much?

{-}

As she glanced at the bracelet dangling from her wrist she could not help but squeal. Jumping up and down from the joy overwhelming her she almost killed the Pokémon she was holding tightly unto. "Oh I'm so sorry Piplup it's just that...Do you even understand how I'm feeling right now?"

The penguin glared at its trainer but sighed in relief because it was able to breathe again, the oxygen was flowing back. Sometimes Dawn could over do things and this was one of those occasions. Sure Piplup could understand why its trainer was acting this way due to the gift she had received but come on it was just a present.

Okay hold up just one minute, did she just say they would have kissed if Pikachu had not interrupted? Oh hell no. That boy was not going to play around with Dawn's feelings like that was he?

Piplup crossed its arms and looked at the semi opened door with a smirk. It ran out of the room as quickly as it could and ran down the hall to where he knew Ash's room was located. His trainer had spent many nights in that room that was too much to count for him after all.

Dawn tailed right behind her pokemon mumbling incoherent things on the way such as that Piplup of mines I swear…. And…..why did it run out like that?

"Oh hey Piplup it was you making all that noise right now?" Ash said with a confused look as he opened the door to his room to find the penguin knocking on it with one of its paws.

"Piplup what got into you?" Dawn said as she finally caught up. She threw a poke ball into the air aiming it at the penguin "Piplup, return." She gasped as she saw Piplup shake the poke ball out of the way and run towards Ash with a scowl on its face.

Ash laughed. "Okay I'm going to take a quick guess and say that I think you're mad at me for some reason."

Piplup kept staring as if to say you actually think?

"Piplup stop acting this way, Ash did nothing wrong."

Piplup crossed his arms and pointed at Ash. "Pip-lup"

Ash sighed "I see." he said then he knelt down to the penguin's height. "I promise it's not what you're thinking at all."

Piplup scoffed "pi-pi-lup"

"Dawn, can you leave us alone for a minute? Me and Piplup have a lot to talk about don't we buddy?"

"Are you sure?" Dawn said uncertain

Ash nodded "Yeah I am. I'll bring Piplup back to your room in a bit."

Dawn sighed "Fine." she said and she pointed at Piplup. "You better behave." she added as she walked away

Piplup sighed as well. It did not like getting these kinds of talks from its trainer when it did nothing wrong.

This is all Ash's fault

"No I did not do anything Piplup you're just misunderstanding is all." Ash replied as if it knew what Piplup was thinking.

How does Ash keep doing this? Piplup could not help but wonder. Perhaps it was true Ash had a weird gift of understanding what Pokémon are thinking about.

Ash laughed "I don't." he said and he grinned "Your face expressions give what you are thinking away."

Piplup shrugged. So Ash was just lucky after all? He really is an idiot.

"Can we just get back on track here? I don't want Dawn to worry."

Piplup stared at Ash with a confused look.

Could he actually care about what she thinks?

Ash sighed "I know you have no reason to believe in me Piplup but..." Ash started and pointed at his heart. "I have strong feelings for her, I really do. That's why I came back; I want to show her just how much she means to me."

Piplup glared and pointed to its paw as if to say with jewelry? Are you kidding me? That is so lame

"Hey I'm not perfect and I admit I did not think things through that much. I came here on a whim and I should not have done that. Trip is right, Dawn does deserve so more than what I can ever offer her. What can I, a hillbilly with a dream as he puts it offer her other than my unconditional love? Yeah Piplup…..I love her, I love her with all my heart and it hurts just to know that my feelings won't ever be returned."

Dawn, who was on the other side of the door listening in on the conversation couldn't take it anymore. He sounded so…..broken. It's as if he had given up on her completely.

"You truly are an idiot." she said as she walked up to him. "Are you really going to listen to what Trip says to you?"

"Dawn you were…?" Ash begun to say but Dawn interrupted him.

"Yes I was listening in to the conversation but that does not matter right now," she said as she reached his side. "I think it's about time we settle this once and for all don't you?" she added.

"What do you mean by that?" he said, fear showing in his voice. Rejection was the only word going through his mind over and over.

"I loved your gift Ash and not because it seems expensive or because of all the diamonds but because you chose it thinking of me….." she said as she placed one of her hands in his chest. "It came from your heart."

"Dawn….what are you….." he could not speak. In fact his mind was drawing a blank right now.

"Mind if I borrow that for a sec?" she said and took off her hat and pointed to his. When he shook his head saying he did not mind she simply took it and placed it on. She had to admit his hat was quite comfy but no time to think about that for now. Looking into his eyes she tiptoed closer. She smiled and did her best to imitate his grin then flipped the hat backwards "Ash Ketchum, I choose you." she said and then pressed her lips to his.