Finally thought of a new chapter so here it is. Sorry for the long delay in updating this story.

Days had passed since Brock had received word from the four allies who had agreed to help them in taking down Paul and his Hoenn forces. Yet, no one had arrived. While the group of assassins and Dawn waited, they had all be practicing and preparing themselves for the fight that was to come. This war would be inevitable.

Dawn grunted as she was pinned by Leaf who held a knife to her throat.

"You're getting better, Princess." Gary commented.

"Please, just Dawn." Dawn said as she grabbed Leaf's outstretched hand and pulled herself up.

"I know. I'm just picking on you with the nickname."

"Wanna spar?" Dawn asked.

"Aren't you tired?"

"Yes, but I need to push myself. The fight that's coming won't care if I'm tired or not."

"It won't do you any good to exhaust yourself, Dawn." Ash said as he removed his knives from a dummy.

"I'm okay,"

She took a fighting stance and Gary nodded his head.

"Want me to go easy?"

Dawn laughed and shook her head. "Not a chance."

"Okay, Princess. You asked for it."

Dawn blocked as Gary threw a punch and pushed his arm away before she jumped back to avoid a kick. Gary rolled to the side as she swung her leg up.

... ...

"Shit Misty!" Ash cried.

Momentarily distracted by Ash's cry, Dawn didn't see Gary's roundhouse kick and his foot connected with her head. She cried out and crumpled to the ground.

"Shit!" Gary cried and dropped to the floor beside Dawn's body.

"Gary what the hell!" Leaf cried, running over.

Ash noticed that Dawn was on the ground and ran over.

"What happened?" he asked, kneeling down beside her.

"We were sparring and she didn't see my kick. It landed directly with her head." Gary said.

"She's out cold." Leaf muttered.

"And bleeding. You caught her temple." Ash said as he brushed some of her hair away from the blood that on the side of her head.

"I didn't mean to knock her out."

"Well she has a pulse so you didn't kill her." Misty said.

"She's gonna have a killer headache when she wakes up though." Leaf said.

"Get her to her room and someone stay watching her until she wakes. When she wakes up, I'll give her a full check to make sure she doesn't have a concussion or anything." Brock said.

Ash picked her up and faced the others.

"I'll take first watch. When I get tired or need someone else to watch her, I'll get one of you." he said and headed towards the rooms.

"He's always going to protect her." Misty said.

"It's what he was assigned to do." Gary stated.

"Yes, but there's more to it. He cares for her. You can see it." Leaf said, looking the way Ash had gone with Dawn.

"They grew up together. He spent most of his time with her than with us." Brock said.

The four looked the way Ash had gone for a few moments more before they all went back to practicing.

Ash laid Dawn down on the bed and took a seat in the chair that occupied the room. The blood had dried from the gash.

As Ash sat watching over her, his mind wondered to what was to come in the near future. A war was going to happen. Dawn would most likely run into her parents again and the man that was suppose to be her fiancé, but instead had tried to assassinate her. She may even have to kill someone, depending on what came their way when they invaded the castle. Would she be ready for it? She had improved in fighting over the time since she had fled the castle with him. But sparring and practicing was different from an actual fight, against someone you weren't familiar fighting against.

Ash knew he would do what he always did. He would protect her at all costs. He had sworn to do so and the mission of invading the castle and trying to take Hoenn down and regain Sinnoh would be no different.

He sighed and looked over to where she laid still unconscious. He knew Gary hadn't meant to knock her out, but he still should've been more careful with fighting her. She had just gone against Leaf and then she had chosen to fight him.

A movement from the bed, snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked over and saw Dawn's eyes flutter open.

"Hey, how you feeling?" he asked.

Her eyes looked over at him, but she didn't seem to be focusing on him.

"I'm going to get Brock."

"Brock!" Ash cried, running out of the room.

"Did she wake up already?" Leaf asked, seeing Ash run out.

Ash nodded his head.

"That was quick."

"She doesn't seem to be focusing, though."

Brock walked out of a room with his medical bag in hand. He had always been the one to look after the injured. He was a naturally skilled healer.

"I heard she's awake."

Ash nodded his head and followed Brock into Dawn's room.

"What...happened?" Dawn asked, as she sat up.

"Take it easy, Dawn." Ash said.

"You took a hit to the head." Brock said.

"Oh..."

"I'm just going to do some tests and check you out and make sure that you're not too hurt."

He shined a light into her eyes.

"Follow the light,"

"On a scale of one to ten how bad is the pain?"

After a few more questions and a few tests, Brock put his things back into his bag.

"She has a slight concussion. She'll need rest and no fighting for a few days to see if we can get it better. I'll get some medication for you to take, too. That'll help with the healing process."

"But I need to practice. I need to be ready for the fight! I can't just sit here!" Dawn cried, moving to stand, but stumbled.

She collapsed onto her bed and held her head.

"Dawn, careful." Ash said.

"Right now you need rest and give your body time to heal. You've been practicing and you've improved a lot since you first got here. Just take it easy for a few days and then we'll reassess and see if you can get back to your regular activity. You need to rest. You won't be any good if you're hurt when the time to fight comes." Brock said.

She nodded her head and got back under the covers.

"We'll keep you updated on all the plans and if any of our allies arrive while you're down. You won't be out of the loop."

The next day, there was a knock on the door to the safe house.

Misty approached the door, cautiously. She peered out of the little peep hole. A girl with long brown hair in two braids and blue eyes stood outside.

"It's Lyra!" she announced and opened the door.

Lyra walked into the room and waved in greeting.

"Sorry it took me so long. There's a lot of security checkpoints that have been set up all around the surrounding cities and towns of the palace. I had to be careful and make sure I had my knives concealed each time. They aren't allowing any kind of weapons to get in anywhere now." Lyra explained.

"Yeah the kingdom has some weapon checks going on at the market stalls now. There's even a curfew." Ash said.

"Things aren't looking easy for us." Leaf said.

"When are they ever?" Gary questioned with a raised brow.

"True,"

"Am I the first here?" Lyra asked.

"For now, yes." Misty said.

"Who else is coming?"

"Tracey and Ritchie. We have Conway who is our inside eyes." Brock replied.

"So where's the princess?" she asked, since she knew everyone in the room currently.

"She had an injury yesterday, so she's resting for a few days." Brock said.

"What happened?"

"Concussion thanks to Gary." Leaf said.

"It was an accident!"

"Come on, I'll take you to her room so you can meet her." Ash said.

Lyra nodded her head and walked over to Ash who walked towards Dawn's room. Ash knocked before opening the door.

"Hey Ash," Dawn greeted.

"Hey Dawn. I brought Lyra here to meet you. Lyra, this is Dawn. Dawn, this is Lyra. Lyra here is skilled in distracting people and good with knives."

"It's nice to meet you, Princess." Lyra said.

"Please call me, Dawn."

"Okay, Dawn. So correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you have long hair?"

"I did, but I cut it trying to disguise myself."

"It'll take more than that. Your hair color is unique and you're gorgeous."

"Well thank you,"

"If need be I can work on some disguises for us for the invasion if needed." Lyra said, looking at Ash.

"That will probably be useful. We'll mention that to Brock." he replied.

"We'll let you get back to resting. If anyone else arrives today, I'll be sure to bring them here so they can meet you." Ash said to Dawn who nodded her head.

Ash and Lyra left the room and went to rejoin the others.

"Brock, Lyra could make use disguises if needed." Ash said.

"That will be much appreciated, Lyra. It might give us the much needed advantage." Brock stated.

"I'll get to work on them. Will I need to make some for Ritchie and Tracey?" she asked.

"Just Tracey. Ritchie, is more of a home base type worker. He'll be behind the scenes."

"Okay,"

Later the same day, around sunset, there was a knock on the door. Ash opened the door after announcing that it was Tracey. Tracey was a male with black hair that was parted down the middle and fell to his chin and dark eyes.

"Tracey, welcome." Brock said.

"The security measures the region is taking is serious. I had to go through so many checks. I ended up having to ditch my bow and arrows because I couldn't conceal them. I was going to hide them in a cart I had obtained under some blankets, but they were searching them. I didn't want to draw suspicion to myself." Tracey said as he set his bag down.

"Don't worry, we have some you can use."

"Follow me and I'll introduce you to Dawn." Ash said.

"That must be the princess?"

Ash nodded his head and Tracey followed him to Dawn's room. The two entered Dawn's room to find her sitting up with a book in her lap.

"Dawn, this is Tracey. He's skilled in drawing a layout of places, even if he saw it once. He's also skilled with a bow. Tracey, this is Dawn." Ash introduced.

"Pleasure to meet you." Tracey said.

"Likewise," Dawn replied.

"So this is the girl that you were assigned to protect?"

"Yes,"

"He's also my best friend. We grew up together." Dawn said.

Tracey nodded his head.

"Has the other ally arrived?" Dawn asked.

"No, we're still waiting for Ritchie to get here." Ash replied. "Brock will also be in to check on you shortly."

Dawn nodded her head and the two men left her room.

Shortly after they had left her room, Brock came into the room.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he approached her bed.

"A little better. The pain isn't as bad." Dawn replied.

"Great. Let's see..."

Brock shined a light in her eyes.

"It's getting better. It's improved since yesterday. Maybe one or two more days of rest and some medicine and it should be better." he said as he handed her some pills.

"Great. I'll be glad to get out of this room and bed. I hate being trapped inside."

"I can imagine. Just take these and we'll get you some more before you go to sleep."

"Thank you,"

As he left the room, Dawn swallowed the pills. She sighed and leaned her head against the headboard.

Please R&R