"ASH!" Dawn screamed shaking him violently from his dream.

"D-dawn! Umm… w-what… what are you doing?" Ash asked her as he sat up, nervously looking around.

"Waking you up! It's time for breakfast!" Dawn replied, standing back up and walking off.

"R-right… umm… I-I'll be right there," Ash replied, thinking intently about the dream, "Okay Ketchum! Get a hold of yourself! You can't be feeling this about Dawn! S-she's your best friend! She… she doesn't like you like that…"

Ash stood up and got dressed, walking over to Dawn and Brock to help serve breakfast. Almost immediately after they had finished, a kid came over with a Sandslash at his side.

"Hey you! You're Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, right?" He shouted as he and the Sandslash walked over.

"Yeah and who are you?" Ash replied standing up.

"I'm Steve! And I challenge you to a battle!" He yelled.

"Yeah! Let's do it! Come on Pikachu!" Ash shouted to his partner as the battle began.

"Sandslash use swift!" Steve yelled.

"Pikachu dodge and…" Ash began looking over to Dawn who was cheering for him.

"God she looks beautiful… dammit Ash! Stop thinking about her like…" The young trainer thought.

"PIKAAAAA!" Pikachu cried as he flew across the field.

"Ash! What are you doing!?" Dawn shouted, breaking him out of his trance.

"Oh right! Pikachu! Use Iron tail!" Ash yelled as the little yellow mouse did just that.

"Sandslash! Fury swipes!" Steve shouted.

The two attacks clashed and Steve's Sandslash flew back into the ground.

"Dig, now!" Steve yelled as his Sandslash dug into the earth.

"Pikachu! Wait for it to appear and then use Iron Tail!" Ash ordered as he scanned the battlefield.

"You can do it Ash!" Dawn shouted with approval, making Ash look over.

"Dawn… I… I think… that maybe… possibly… I-I…" Ash thought, while Sandslash burst out of the ground behind Pikachu and used Stone Edge, getting a direct hit on Pikachu and sending it right into the dirt.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted running over to the Pokemon as it sat back up.

"Pikaa…" It whined, crawling into his arms.

"Wow, I was expecting a lot more," Steve said, calling his pokemon back, "Oh well."

He walked off as Dawn and Brock met Ash halfway to the campsite.

"What happened Ash? You should have been able to cream that guy!" Dawn asked shocked.

"I have to agree," Brock noted, "Is there anything you want to talk about?"
"N-no," Ash responded curtly, "I'm going for a walk…"
He walked off into the woods, leaving them to wonder what had just happened.

"I'm going to go find out what happened," Dawn said, following Ash into the woods.

"Piplup!" The penguin pokemon cried running after its trainer.

"Umm… alright," Brock sighed, "I'll just stay here then."

"Pika?" Pikachu inquired quietly.

"Oh Pikachu…" Ash sighed, leaning against a tree and sliding to the ground, "I don't know what I'm going to do…"

"Pika, pikachuuu?" It asked again.

"It's… I've just got a lot on my mind lately…" His trainer muttered in reply.

"There's Ash," Dawn said quietly as she stepped behind a tree, "Let's just listen for a little while."

"Piplup," Her partner agreed.

"Chuuu?" The small pokemon wondered aloud.

"Yeah… it's Dawn…" His trainer sighed again, seemingly able to understand the pokemon's words.

"Me?" Dawn said to herself as she continued to listen.

"Pika chu?" Pikachu asked probing further.

"I… I don't know…" Ash replied, "I… I didn't think so, but lately… I really do think I love her."
Dawn gasped, "Did I hear that right!? He loves me!?"

"Lup!" Piplup shrieked in equal shock, drawing attention to them.

"Who's there?" Ash asked standing up and walking over to them, "O-oh… Dawn! W-what… umm… how much did you hear?"

"E-enough," She replied as the two turned a bright red.

"Well?" Ash muttered, his face getting hotter by the second.

"Well what?" Dawn asked, trying not to make eye contact.

"H-how… I mean, do you… do you love me?" Ash clarified, turning to look at her.

"I… umm… Ash.. I… I just don't know," She sighed, looking up at him.

"Oh." Ash replied, "Umm… well…"

"Listen, is that a twerp's confession I hear?" Jessie yelled, appearing in the standard giant Meowth balloon.

"It pleads to me loud and clear!" James continued as the balloon descended.

"On the wind!"
"Pass the stars!"

"In you ear!" Meowth added.

"Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace!"
"Dashing hope, putting fear in its place!"
"A rose by any other name's just as sweet!"

"When everything's worse! Our work is complete!"

"Jessie!"
"And it's James!"
"Meowth, now dat's a name!"
"Putting the do-gooders in their place!"

"We're Team Rocket!"

"And we're in your face!"

"Wobbuffet!" The blue pokemon finished.

"For once I'm glad Team Rocket's here!" Dawn thought as Meowth pushed a large button, causing a hand to eject from the balloon and try to grab Pikachu and Piplup, instead grabbing Pikachu and Dawn.

"Pikachu! Dawn!" Ash shouted, reaching for one of his other pokemon, "Oh yeah, I left everyone back at camp!"

"I don't have any pokemon Ash!" Dawn yelled frantically.

"Hold on guys, I'm coming!" Ash shouted, jumping onto the arm as it withdrew back towards the balloon.

"We've got to twerp stowaways!" Meowth cried as the balloon started to rise.

"Forget it!" Jessie cried, "Let's go! We've got Pikachu! We'll just bring them!"
"Alright…" James said a little unsure.

"Hold on buddy," Ash said, struggling to open the hand that held onto his little yellow pokemon.

After a few seconds of struggling, Pikachu was free and it fell safely to the ground.

"Ash! We're getting too high!" Dawn cried.

"No need to worry," Ash replied calmly as he jumped to the arm that held her.

"Pikachu's free!" Meowth cried as he looked down.

"Let's get out of here!" Jesse shouted, "We can at least leave with out getting blasted off!"

The balloon continued to rise and the arm that held Dawn seemed to be harder to break than the other, but eventually the arm cracked under pressure and Dawn fell from its grasp.

"ASH!" She screamed as she hurtled to the ground.

"DAWN!" He cried, jumping from the balloon and grabbing onto her.

Ash spun at the last second, landing so that he broke Dawn's fall, but as a result took the brunt of the fall.

"Ash! Are you okay!?" Dawn shrieked, getting off of him quickly.

"Y-yeah… I'm…" He began, struggling to sit up.

He jerked forward and coughed up blood collapsing as he whispered, "Fine…"

"Ash!" Dawn screamed, "Pikachu! Piplup! Go get Brock! Hurry!"

"Piplup!" The pokemon yelled, already on its way, but Pikachu stood still, unable to take his eyes of his trainer.

"P-pika…" It cried, slowly walking towards them.

"Pip?" Piplup asked, wondering what to do.

"Just go Piplup!" Dawn ordered.

"Lup!"

"It'll be alright Pikachu. He'll be fine," Dawn assure the little mouse, "I sure hope so anyway…"

"Chaa…" It managed to say, crawling into Ash's lap as Dawn held him.

"Dawn!" Brock shouted, appearing from behind the trees, "Oh my god…"

"W-what do we do!?" Dawn cried frantically.

"T-there's a pokemon center about a half a mile up, but I don't know about a hospital…" Brock replied, grabbing Ash and starting off, "Go get the rest of the pokemon and head over."

"R-right…" Dawn replied, slowly standing up and walking back to camp.

"Pi… pika?" Pikachu whispered, running off after Brock.

"NURSE JOY!" Brock yelled as he entered the Pokemon Center.

"Oh dear! What happened to him!?" She shrieked, already calling for a stretcher.

"He fell from a balloon, I'm not sure from how high," Brock explained, "Can you do anything to help him?"

"I'll do what I can," Nurse Joy said, as Brock placed him on the stretcher, "There isn't a hospital around here…"

"I'll do whatever I can to help," Brock added, following her into the operating room.

"Brock!" Dawn shouted as she ran through the door to the Pokemon Center.

"Ash is fine," Brock replied quickly, answering her unspoken question, "He's got some broken bones, but he should be fine."

"R-really?" Dawn asked, starting to cry.

"Yeah, do you want to see him?" The x-gymleader asked, already knowing the answer.

"Y-yes!" Dawn cried, looking towards the back of the lobby.

"Go in right there and it's the second room on the right, but be quiet, he's asleep," Brock continued, pointing to a back door.

"R-right!" Dawn promised, running through the door.

She stopped at his room, peeking her head around to corner to find Pikachu sitting beside the raven-headed trainer as a machine beeped away behind him.

"Ash…" Dawn whispered, walking into the room and sitting down in a chair, "Ash I'm so sorry…"

"If I had given him an answer, maybe we would have left and Team Rocket couldn't have grabbed me…" The young coordinator said to herself as she her tears fell onto her lap, "He risked his life for me! After I turned him down! He's the most amazing person I've ever known…"

"H-hey… w-what are y-you crying about?" Ash said weakly, "I'm the one who got hurt."

He smiled at her and she burst into tears, jumping onto the bed and latching herself to him.

"Oh Ash! I'm so sorry!" She cried, "This is all my fault."

"No it's not," He replied softly, stroking her hair with his unbroken hand, "It's Team Rocket's fault."

"Ash, you're the most amazing person I've ever met," She sighed, holding him tighter, 'I think I do love you…'

"Aww, Dawn, your making me blush" Ash whispered as Dawn's hold got tighter, "Oww… Dawn… that's my broken arm…"

"Oh, sorry," She apologized, letting go of him and sitting back into her chair, "Hey Ash?"

"Yeah Dawn?" He replied smiling.

"Two things…" Dawn said quietly.

"Yeah?"
"First, Don't you dare do that again! You scared me so badly! I thought… you…" Dawn said stumbling though the sentence as tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Dawn, I'm sorry and I promise I'll be more careful," Ash assured her, reaching over and grabbing her hand, "Come on, shh. Please stop crying, now what was the other thing?"

"Ash?"

"Yeah Dawn?"

"Do you still love me?" She asked in almost a whisper, afraid to look him in the eye.
"Of course! I'll always love you," He replied, shocked that she'd even ask.

"I love you too," Dawn whispered to him.

"R-really?" Ash asked shocked, "You're not just saying that?"
"Nope. I really, really love you." Dawn promised, looking back up at him.
"I love you too Dawn," Ash replied, smiling as Dawn crawled up next to him.

"I know," Dawn acknowledged kissing him softly before curling up beside him, "Thank you Ash… for saving me."

"Anything for you Dawn," Ash muttered, falling back asleep, "Anything for you."