After a few grueling hours of walking through the forest, the gang came upon Barkwood Town. A small town on its way to Celestic Town, and Dawn's next Contest, with a small river running through the middle and a bridge to cross.

"This place is so beautiful!" Dawn chimed as they headed to the local Inn, "How long can we stay here?"

"I figured we would stay long enough to stack up on supplies." Brock said putting away his map, "But we can stay a few days then head out if you like."

Walking through, they came across a small gathering in the center of town.

"What's going on?" Ash asked trying to pear over the crowd. A petite pretty girl turned around and looked at him in both shock and slight anger.

"You don't know?!" She questioned in irritation. "He's only the most gorgeous coordinator that's going to win the Grand Festival!"

This sparked up Dawn's curiosity.

"Do you mean Drew?" If he was here then there was a chance that May was here too. "I thought he was in Sunyshore City."

"-Psh- That last season pretty boy isn't even half the man that He is." The girl inquired.

With all three being confused, and Paul not giving a Rattata's ass about what they were talking about, they pushed their way through the people to see who the girl was talking about.

"Luxray, finish it up with Strength!"

"Lux-lux!" – ('You got it!')

The very large black and blue feline Pokemon rush toward an injured Buizel, that was struggling to stay on its' legs, with full force. In that one hit, the match was over. Complementing the large electric type was a fairly good-looking guy, in Dawn's eyes at least, with short, well groomed spiked dark red hair, he had silver blue eyes, a gorgeous smile and he looked really mature and kind. Though Dawn agreed that he was attractive, she didn't go all goo-goo-gaga like these other girls around her squealing like a bunch of love struck bimbos.

"Should we head to the Inn now?" Dawn asked the two standing next to her, whom nodded in agreement. In that instant, just before they began pushing their way through the crowd, the male coordinator looked up to see Dawn standing there with Piplup on her head. Eyes widen in surprise, he had never seen a more beautiful girl in his life. Without bothering to return his Luxray to its poke ball, he rushed to Dawn's side, taking hold of her hand before she could disappear into the crowd.

"Huh?" Dawn looked back to see the coordinator holding her hand, face flushed, with his Luxray standing next to him smiling at her.

"Uh…umm" He was having trouble thinking of what to say to this magnificent being before him. Seeing this conflict, Luxray nudged his trainer's leg to help snap him to his senses.

"Ah, um I'm sorry." He said scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "M-my name is Alex, Alex Arekkusu."

Dawn turned a little pink looking at the boy and looking down at him still holding her hand. When he looked down at their hands, he quickly pulled away.

"I-I'm so sorry," he said turning crimson, "I just saw you and I wanted to ask your name." He had a shy smile on his face, it looked really cute.

Dawn wasn't really sure what to say, looking around she noticed the other girls giving her dirty looks for talking to Alex. Paul on the other hand was doing just that to this annoying trainer standing next to Dawn. He was giving a low growl, his fur was starting to stand on his back, and this caught Dawn's attention.

"Pichu, what's wrong?" She asked concern clear in her voice. Paul was glaring at the boy, who had now noticed the presence of him in her arms. He didn't answer her but kept glaring.

"Pichu, that's enough." She said in a stern voice. "I'm sorry I have to go." Turning to catch up with her friends.

"W-Wait!" A look of disappointment clear on his face.

"Bye." Dawn waved as she ran off.

"Hey Dawn, where were you?" Ash asked as they made their way into the building.

"I got stuck in the crowd." She said looking away as her face turned a bit pink. This didn't go unnoticed however. Brock had a small sly smile on his face; Paul on the other hand looked annoyed and mad.

"Well the day is still young," Brock chimed, walking to the counter, "Why don't we take a look around the town and see the sights?"

"That sounds like a great idea!" Ash agreed, giving Pikachu a scratch behind his ear.

"Yeah," Dawn agreed also, "I need to go shopping for a new pair of boots anyway."

"Great," Brock continued, "I'll go stock up on supplies, meet you guys here for dinner?"

"Definitely!" The two said in unison. All three parted ways after they got their room keys. Ash went off to train and Brock going to gather supplies. Dawn had left her other Pokemon in her room before she and Pichu took off for the shopping center.

There were bunch of quaint little shops in town, before she could think of what she could get for her next contest; she desperately needed new hiking boots. Looking around she found the closest thing to a shoe store, a small attire warehouse in the middle of the shopping center.

"They don't sell shoes by themselves here," she commented to Pichu, "looks like this is the closest I can get."

-Ugh!- "Piii pi-pi chu pichu?" – ('Whyyy did you bring me here?')

"Oh quit your complaining. I wasn't just going to leave you in the room by yourself. Not only that I'm pretty sure you don't feel like spending the day with Ash." An obvious smirk on her face.

Paul just grumbled under his breath and went limp in her arms.

"It won't take long I promise. Just go in, get new boots and window shop for a bit, that's all."

Paul wasn't in any position to object much to his dismay, however, looking around he would start to rethink this trip as pointless.

"Well, well…"

This guy looked familiar to Paul slightly, but he couldn't quite put a finger on where he had seen him before.

"Conway!"

"It's been a while Dawn, how have you been?"

"I didn't expect to see you here, Conway." She wasn't the only one surprised; this guy gave off a creepy vibe from where Paul was viewing him. He had a weird smirk on his face and he was messing with his glasses.

-Hm?- "I didn't know you had a Pichu." He got awfully close on inspection, an action that didn't go without consequence.

-ZAP!- "OWE!" Conway stumbled back from the spark Pichu gave him.

"Pichu!" Paul looked at her through narrowed eyes, flattening his ears back, not really in the mood for a scolding.

"Conway, I'm so sorry!" Dawn rushed to inspect the damage on his hand. "Pichu doesn't really like to be in contact with people," she had a cute apologetic look on her face. Looking at her being so close to him, Conway couldn't help the blush that crossed his face, he wasn't even mad.

"It's alright, Dawn." He said straightening himself out, "Little guy has quite an attack, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, he does." She said with her signature sweet smile. "However, he's not mine. He belongs to a friend of mine; I'm just bringing him back."

"Oh?" This sparked some curiosity with the trainer, "He seems to really have bonded with you," snickering at the incident that just happened, "he doesn't want me getting anywhere near you, Dawn."

"Well even if that's so, he doesn't like to listen to me."

"Can I ask who he belongs to?"

"Paul, Paul Shinji." She spoke in a soft voice, both of them noticed. Almost as if the name itself made her feel pain.

"He's the one that teamed up with Ash in that double battle tournament we were in right?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"If you do see him, tell him I would like to battle with him." Conway gave that same smirk before turning to leave.

On his way out however, Paul was able to hear him. "A fight for the young maiden's heart should be an interesting match indeed..."

`What the hell does he mean by that?` Paul wondered as Dawn made their way to the shoe section of the store.

There was quite a bit of a selection in the girls section. "Not really a large selection, but they do have cute styles." She said picking up a pair of white and pink flats.

"Pi. Pichu!" – ('Hey. Focus!') Paul irritably screamed as he tugged on Dawn's hair.

"Ok, ok, sheesh." She rolled her eyes as she continued scanning the racks.

Having Dawn scroll through all the shoes was beyond irritating for Paul to sit through. After 10 minutes of looking over each pair, Paul finally had enough.

"Pi-Chu!" – ('That's It!')

"Pichu?"

Paul jumped out of Dawn's arms, grabbing a shoe box as he landed on the ground with a thump. Gathering himself together, he pulled out a pair of light blue and black hiking boots with three buckles in the front and a small black heart on the opposite side of each boot.

"Wow Pichu, I had no idea you had such good taste in attire." Giving him a light scratch behind his ear she tried them on and admired them in the mirror.

"These are great!" she beamed happily, "Just one small problem…" she said with a sweat drop, "I'm wearing pink and black not blue and black…he he…"

That was the last straw. Paul was boiling over and he was going to let this troublesome girl have it with full force.

Just as he opened his mouth,

"Guess that means I'm going shopping for a new travel outfit to match." She gave Paul her signature sweet smile, leaving him to cool off in his own steam. Face burning red, he was unable to make a single sound as she pick him up and rushed to the clothing sections.

Time in the shop flew by for Dawn, for Paul it couldn't have gone slower. Dawn emerged through the exit wearing a light blue spaghetti strap with a small, short sleeve, black lace bolero, and a blue scarf. To match, she wore a black and blue skirt and replaced her cover with a light blue schoolboy cap with a small black pokeball symbol on the side.

Being overjoyed with her new attire, Dawn didn't notice she was on a collision course. -BAM!- feeling herself falling back, Dawn closed her eyes and braced herself for impact. That, however, did not happen. She opened her eyes to see that the one she ran into had also caught her before she hit the ground, looking up at her savior; it was the guy from earlier. In unison, both blushed do to the current situation.

"Ah, I-I'm so sorry I wasn't watching where I was going." She pulled away from him straightening herself out. "Pichu, are you alright?" Rubbing his head, Paul looked up at her.

"Pi pichu pi! Pichu pi pichu?!" – ('You stupid girl! Why don't you watch where you're going?!')

"I'm sorry, this is my fault." He held out his hand, "I didn't catch your name last we met. I'm Alex."

"My name is Dawn, Dawn H-Hikari." She reached her hand to shake his, but before they touched, -zap-

"What the..?" Alex pulled away quickly, shaking his hand in surprise.

"Pichu! What has gotten into you, seriously?" This was getting old fast.

Paul didn't react to Dawn's words; he kept his eyes locked on the one in front of him. He didn't like this guy, for the better of it, he didn't know why. Just looking at him pissed him off, and he wanted him to leave. Now.

"I don't think your Pichu likes me all that well." He said not taking his eyes off the small mouse.

"Don't take it personal," she said looking and Pichu, "he doesn't like anyone."

"Well then maybe his trainer could be more open minded?" He had that same gorgeous smile as before when he spoke. "Possibly by accompanying me for ice cream?"

"Uh…," Dawn's face turned bright pink, as cute as he was; she wasn't exactly comfortable with suddenly being asked on a date. "I c-ca.."

"Pichu pi pichu pi! Pi pi-pi-chu pi pi-pichu picha. Pi pichu pichu, pi pichu picha pi pichu pi picha. Pichu pi!" – ('Listen here pretty boy! I don't give a shit who you are and I don't care. Stay away from me, stay away from her and no one has to get hurt. Mainly you!')

"Wow, little guy chill out."

"Chu, Pi pichu!" – ('No, You chill out!')

"Ok that's enough," placing her hand over Pichu's mouth to keep him from snapping at Alex again, "I'm sorry Alex, maybe another time but right now I need to go meet up with my friends." She waved bye as she bolted to the Inn.

"Hey Dawn."

Dawn arrived at the food court that they agreed to meet at. Both Brock and Ash were waiting for her, having already ordered.

"Hey guys, sorry it took me so long." Taking the seat across both boys, she placed Pichu on the table next to Pikachu.

"Cool out-fit Dawn, is that why you're late?" Ash asked giving Pikachu a sip from his lemonade.

"Yeah, it looks great." Brock agreed, handing Dawn a menu.

"Thanks guys, Pichu helped me pick it out. But no, I ran into Conway and that coordinator, Alex."

Both looked up at her in shock. Ash was the first to ask, "Pichu helped you pick out that outfit?"

"Yeah, he found these boots and I had to match them to what I was wearing."

"You ran into Conway?" Brock was getting interested.

"He was at the store I was at. He asked if I could tell Paul that he wanted to battle him the next we met up."

After the waiter brought them their food, both asked her at the same time, "How do you know that guy's name?"

"Well," Dawn's cheeks grew slightly pink, "he wanted to see if I could join with for ice cream."

"Hey, ice cream sounds good actually." Ash had already started digging into his plate, not really paying any mind to Dawn's body language, or the fact that she would glance between her meal and Pichu.

"Did something happen?" Brock was keeping her mood in mind as he kept like nothing was wrong.

"Just," she hesitated to answer, "it's just that Pichu had attacked both of them."

This made both of them stop mid bite. Ash swallowing what was in his mouth and Brock putting down his fork.

"He attacked who?"

"Both Conway and Alex, he got Alex twice actually."

Ash looked at Pichu, who just gave him a dirty look in return. Brock was trying to figure Dawn out, and what she could be thinking.

"The sooner we get to Reggie's the better." Ash said continuing eating, but not quite the same speed as before.

"I did say that he was getting attached to you." Brock calmly started eating again as well. "He was probably protecting you from them. He doesn't know Conway, so he doesn't know that he's a friend. And with Alex, he probably got protective when he asked you out."

"Actually, Conway said something similar." She started eating with the others. "That he doesn't want to let anyone near me."

"Just proves he likes you." Brock gave a sly smile as he glanced at Pichu eating a poffin Dawn handed him. "But if you don't mind," Dawn looked at him curios, "enter him in your next contest."

"What?"

"Chu?" – ('What?')

"I want to see something, if you trust me and trust Pichu; I think he will do quite well in an actual match."

Looking at Pichu skeptical, Dawn was interested in what Brock had in mind. She did trust him and Pichu was really strong despite his size, maybe she should.

"Alright," she said finally, finishing her plate, "I'll enter him in the next contest."

"Great." Brock got up, taking the check the waiter left on their table. "Then shall we get some sleep?"

The group finished their meal, gathering their belongings and heading to their rooms. Both Dawn and Pichu were thinking the same thing as they got into bed.

'What was going through Brock's head?'

I know it's been a good long while since my last update but thanks to a little encouragement, here it is.

Please R&R