It had been a long time since she's seen him. Too long. Everyday since he left she had wondered when he'll be back. She wondered for so long that when he appeared knocking on her door she believed she was dreaming. He spoke to her as if they had talked just the day before as opposed to the near two years that it had been. Even when the two sat beside each other on a park bench Dawn felt as though she would wake any second. But she never did.

"So, Ash. What brings you to Sinnoh?" she asked. Ash's first pokemon, Pikachu, rested on her lap as she slowly rubbed his back.

"I'm just here to rest after Kalos. It was a fun region but a little disappointing. Battles aren't as popular over there as most places. They're more focused on things like fashion and acting," said Ash. Dawn took an interest in hearing more about Kalos. She wondered if contests were as popular there as Sinnoh. Maybe he could take her there.

"You know I would like to go to Kalos some day," said Dawn.

"I'm sure you would like it. Least more than I did. I just hope Alola is more exciting. My mom's vacationing there and she told me they don't even have regular gyms and instead have a different tradition. I've also heard that..."

Ash talked long about Alola and his excitement for the region he'll visit in just a few short weeks. Dawn listened to him with a smile. She always found it charming just how infatuated he would get about his interests. Alola was a region Ash had never been to yet he wanted to learn everything about it before his arrival. His enthusiasm for sharing his knowledge was also admirable. Eventually he had exhausted all he knew about the region made up of islands.

"So, what have you been up to?" Ash asked.

"I actually have a contest tomorrow. If I win then I'll get to participate in the region's finals," said Dawn. Her smile grew as she spoke of what could happen.

"That's awesome, Dawn!" said Ash. Dawn smiled at the praise. The two didn't speak for minutes. Dawn didn't need to hear anything from him. His presence was pleasant enough. Eventually, however, she had a question she wanted the answer to.

"Say, Ash. Would you ever want to settle down and live in a region, such as Sinnoh, as opposed to always traveling?" Ash glanced at Dawn before looking to the sky. It took him some time before giving an answer.

"I don't know. I can't really see myself doing that, least not for a long time. Sinnoh is great and all, but I don't really have a reason to really want to live here," said Ash honestly. Had he lowered his gaze he would have noticed Dawn drop her smile.

"Oh..." said Dawn. Her poketch beeped, an alarm going off that she had set hours before. She was grateful for it as it gave her an excuse to hand Pikachu back to Ash and stand up. "Sorry, Ash, but I must go now. I do hope you can make it to my contest tomorrow."

"For sure," said Ash as Dawn began to walk away. Until she was home she kept her lower jaw clenched. At moments she felt her eyes get wet and she had to blink quickly to keep them normal.

Later in the night Dawn struggled to sleep. She thought of her upcoming contest and her planned routines. She had been practicing for weeks and believed she had every little thing down, but still she worried. What if she gave the wrong order or one of her pokemon slipped up. What if her act just wasn't good enough and she loses.

Ash fell asleep just minutes after getting into bed at a pokecenter. The only thing on his mind were all the regions he visited and the ones he planned to visit. He woke early, had a nice breakfast with his pokemon, then set out to train for a few hours. When his team was trained enough to his liking he spent the rest of the day wandering Hearthome, the city where Dawn's contest was being held.

He tried to speak to Dawn, but when he approached the lockers that the contestants were in, a guard had stopped him. When he asked for Dawn the guard went inside and came out a few moments later. He told Ash that Dawn had said she didn't want to speak to anyone, even friends, until after the contest. Ash found that to be a little odd, but he wasn't going to risk annoying Dawn. The last couple hours leading up to the start of the contest Ash made himself busy.

Ash made his way back to the contest hall just after they opened up for spectators to take their seats. Spectating was free to do so there were no tickets or assigned seating. Ash took a spot in one of the upper levels, as he remembered Dawn once telling him, for an older contest of hers, that it was best for seeing every detail of someone's performance. It was another twenty minutes of waiting before the lights dimmed except on the main floor and an announcer appeared to introduce the contestants.

The announcer introduced each contestant by their name in the order in which they'll appear in the contest. Dawn was announced last.

Ash never cared much for contests. He could appreciate the work and skill it takes, but he would never participate in one. Even Pikachu didn't watch and just laid down on Ash's lap. If it wasn't for Dawn being in the one he was watching, he wouldn't have been there to begin with. Every time a new person came out Ash could only wonder if they ever trained their pokemon for battles. A man came out and used a luxray which Ash believed was powerful and wished he had one. There was a young woman who had a girafarig and from the way she commanded it to use moves Ash could see her being an excellent trainer.

Each contestant had music playing during their performance. Most were just music but some had vocals as well. Ash thought the songs were a nice touch. Without them he would have been terribly bored. Even so, none of the performers got Ash's full attention. Eventually it was Dawn's turn. After being announced she stepped onto the main floor. She wore a pink, slightly poofy, dress that Ash had seen her in before numerous times. He always thought she looked pretty in it.

Dawn looked over the contest hall's crowd. She had performed for similar sized arenas before, but whenever there was a certain pair of eyes on her she became nervous. Letting out a deep sigh, and hoping her anxiety was expelled, Dawn pulled out two pokeballs. She released the first and began giving orders all while a song played. Unlike the previous songs the other contestants used, Dawn's song was slower and had a more somber sound.

From the pokeball came Quilava. The fire type pokemon began walking slowly around the floor as if they were melancholic or searching for something. Though the pokemon was quadrupedal it walked on it's two back legs much like a person.

Dawn then released another pokemon, her mamoswine. The large ice type stood in front of Dawn and was told to cover the floor in a layer of ice and snow. Mamoswine flawlessly did what Dawn wanted and then, from the ice, rose sculptures in the shape of people. Each ice person stood on its own and Quilava wandered among them. Quilava walked up to each person with a hopeful expression which quickly turned to defeat upon a close look at the person's face.

After a few failures, Dawn had Mamoswine shift the people around until each one had a partner. The only one left alone was Quilava who, after looking at all the ice people, curled into a ball and laid on the floor. Ice began to form around Quilava. It formed into a sphere with the fire type in the center. On Dawn's orders Mamoswine lifted the sphere high into the air until it was straight ahead of the upper levels. The ice began to take a new shape. It stayed rounded on the top but the bottom narrowed until it was nearly flat. While Quilava could partially be seen, the ice was a bit foggy and so only the pokemon's outline could be seen, until Quilava was spewing fire directly in front of its face.

Quilava crawled around the ice shape with precision. On all four sides it melted out two holes of equal size and space apart. It went a bit lower and Mamoswine produced some more ice where Quilava melted two smaller holes. Going even lower, Quilava and Mamoswine made four more mounds and holes which fully revealed that form of the ice was that of a person's head and the pokemon had created four faces on each side. Four female faces.

Moving through the ice once more, Quilava went to each pair of eyes and caused them to melt, not enough to make them lose their circular shape, but enough for water to trickle down from the eyes to down by the mouth and then off the face entirely into a puddle on the floor. Mamoswine created an icy mist that filled the area and covered the woman's ice face just enough so Quilava couldn't be seen. Then Quilava melted its way down the head and dropped from the bottom.

With a final order from Dawn, Mamoswine caused the ice face to shatter and rain the floor in tiny sparkling shards of ice. The ice dissipated and within moments the floor was back to normal with no snow or ice and Dawn took a bow with her pokemon on either side of her. She returned the pokemon and walked off the floor to mass applause.

Ash had never seen a performance that made him feel so much. Pikachu had woken before Dawn stepped out and stayed sat watching Dawn's performance. When Ash watched Quilava searching for a partner only to end up alone he felt sympathetic. When Quilava gave up and laid still he wanted the pokemon to get up and keep searching. And when Quilava was taken up by the ice only to turn it into a human's face that started to cry Ash was speechless. Every contest he had seen he only believed it was all about the spectacle. He never knew they could be so deep.

When the contestants all came out and lined up before they declared the winner, Ash watched Dawn. He hadn't noticed it as much, but when the contest started she seemed a bit down. She didn't smile and she answered any questions or remarks she received with nods or one word answers. After she performed she seemed even more down. It was hard for Ash not to see Dawn as Quilava and as the woman's face. He wondered how long she felt that way. He wondered if there was anything he could do for her.

Soon it came time to announce the placements. Each contestant was given a score from three judges. Each judge gave them a one through ten. The only one to receive three tens, ensuring she was the victor, was Dawn. Her sullen mood alleviated slightly when she was handed a large ribbon and the audience cheered for her. She gave a few waves to the crowd and a smile but as the cheers died down her smile dropped.

When the contest floor cleared and Ash was in the venue he saw Dawn, along with the other two contestants that received a ribbon, preparing to give an interview. She saw him and they locked eyes. She ran to Ash but before Ash could say anything Dawn told him to meet her later in the park where they talked the day before. Ash nodded to her and Dawn quickly went back to the interviewer.

Ash always thought he was easy to talk to and that it was easy for him to talk to anyone, even strangers. Yet as he sat beside Dawn he had nothing to say. Dawn herself was also silent. Pikachu laid in her lap to rest.

"I really liked your performance," Ash finally said.

"Thank you," said Dawn. Ash scratched his head before sighing and dropping it and looking up at Dawn.

"I'm sorry, Dawn," he said. Dawn looked at him in surprise. She was genuinely caught off guard by his words.

"What?"

"When I was watching you and Quilava and Mamoswine I thought about us. About when we traveled together and how I was always so focused on myself I never really stopped to think about what you wanted."

"It's okay. You didn't do it on purpose, and I suppose I should have said something before, but still I wish you would have asked me more about my interests," said Dawn. Ash couldn't help but feel a great sense of guilt. "But I don't hate you. Far from it."

"Really?" Ash asked hopefully. Dawn smiled and nodded. "Well, I want to be better for you. I want to be there for you like you were for me."

"I would like that very much, Ash," said Dawn. The two took each other's hands and locked eyes.

"Then from now on, I promise to be a less selfish person and I will never let you feel ignored," the two said nothing more, they didn't need to.

Just the day before Ash was thinking of the next region he'll travel to and now it was the farthest thing from his mind. The only thing he cared about was Dawn and making her happy. He thought back when she asked if he would ever settle down in a region and his answer to her. If she were to ask him again he would give a different response. Sinnoh now seemed like a place Ash would love to spend his time. Especially since he now had a good reason to.

Song; The Reason by Hoobastank. Requested by; Jeannot2978.

~~~Sikoh