Hello there. It's been some time since I've done anything here due to a busy real life. Technically, this story was finished some time ago, but then I didn't have the time for proper proofreading, and since I'm afraid of releasing something unfinished, I delayed it again and again. Now that I have some days off, at least some things should be finished. I can't guarantee how often the chapters will be uploaded, as later chapters are still unpolished. It's probably my last story because there is so little time for writing or even reading right now.

Now to the story itself: It's the sequel to "Dreams connected", but having read that is not required. There are references, but all in all this one is an independent story. It is set several years after the first one, and I tried to showcase that the battles are on a different level than before. All in all, it's also much longer and darker, so it's rated M (no things like lemons, though). If you don't want to read about gore, themes like death, murder and suicide, then this story isn't for you.

There's one more thing I want to make clear: The story may become complicated. There are at least four major, more or less antagonistic factions, each with their own motivations and goals. It's not a simple "good vs evil". Don't expect it in the first chapter, though. It's mostly an introduction to tell the story of what had happened after the first story, the magnitude of the conflicts won't become clear until much, much later.

Now all that is left to say is that I hope there are still people left who will enjoy the story. Have fun!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters.

Chapter 1: Memories

Ben was on his way to one of his favorite places, a lake near Eterna forest with a wide variety of wild pokémon, unaware of the fact that it was going to be different today. He wasn't a trainer, though, but a pokémon photographer. A simple, old man, who wished to show the beauty of nature to the world and earn a few coins on the way, as he used to say. Sometimes, he tried it at night as some people claimed that even ghost-types were haunting the lake but so far, he hadn't been lucky enough to see them. Atop a hill, he got into one of the bushes so that the pokémon wouldn't be disturbed by his activities. This time, however, there was nearly nothing to disturb.

"What the ...," he mumbled, having a closer look at the scene.

It was horrible. Starly, staravia, bidoof, shinx and other pokémon were lying on the ground while buizel were floating on the water surface, none of them not moving. In fact, Ben was sure that they were dead but there was no indication for how they died, no signs of a battle, no injuries, nothing. Everything looked normal apart from the bodies just lying about. Then he noticed that not all the pokémon were dead. A single budew was walking among the others, looking just as confused as he was.

The whole time he has been taking pictures of the lake and its inhabitants as they might help the police with finding the cause. It had to be something which only affected a small area as the pokémon on the hill were alright. Suddenly, a strong wind came from behind, nearly knocking him out of the bush. Watching the trees near the lake, Ben concluded that something inside the forest was sucking in the air. Then there was an explosion which shook the area and made the trees glow in a green light. Whatever it was, Ben didn't want to find out. He just ran as fast as he could to show the police what had happened here. Hopefully they would find the cause and put an end to this.

„Staraptor!"

A single Staraptor was flying over its territory near Floaroma Town looking for intruders or possible prey. It only saw two humans sitting on a grassy hill though, so it just flew up even higher. One of the humans it noticed was a raven-haired young man of medium height with brown eyes, who was sporting blue jeans, black shoes and a black shirt with short, white sleeves, and a blue logo of the Indigo Pokémon league on the front. As usual, he was wearing black fingerless gloves, and a black and red hat with a blue pokéball print on it; similar to the one he had been wearing during his first journey through Sinnoh. It was none other than Ash Ketchum, 20 years old, and the only reason he wasn't training right now was his 19 year old girlfriend Dawn, who had convinced him to take a day off.

She was lying next to him, her head in his lap. Her usual outfit had changed quite a bit with, depending on the weather, blue jeans or a black skirt and shorter black boots replacing her skirt and pink boots. She was also wearing a sleeveless, white shirt, a black vest, her old wristband with two pearls and the newest pokétch, which was much smaller than the older ones but still had all the old functions plus a few new ones. Unlike Ash, she didn't have any headwear, which was only due to the fact that he was running his fingers through her blue hair just as he loved to do in situations like that. Usually, she was wearing a white beanie with a pink pokéball print on it. Her sapphire eyes were closed so Ash had no idea whether she was asleep.

Years of traveling and training have given him quite the body, as Dawn would often say, but others usually didn't notice since he didn't show it off. That didn't mean Ash wasn't proud of it, though. He had quite a lot of scars, most of which she found quite attractive since they showed his dedication. There was only one big, ugly scar on the chest, near the heart, which his girlfriend absolutely didn't like. It wasn't because of the look, but because of the memories it brought back. His hair was the usual mess, something she didn't even try to change as she liked the look on him. He just wouldn't be the same Ash otherwise, no matter what other people thought about it.

Similarly, her body had become stronger and more curvy as she had to eat more due to the harder training. He did his best to protect her from any danger, taking any damage that was meant for her. Unfortunately, not even Ash could prevent everything. The biggest scar was on her lower back, caused by her flygon right after the evolution. Most people have only seen a few smaller cuts and bruises on her arms and legs, though. Ash just said that those little flaws made her even cuter but she wasn't sure whether he just said it because he was her boyfriend. Her silky and soft hair, which was longer than it used to be and almost went down to her waist, was still his favourite part. This was strange, considering how he neglected his own hair all the time but hers was just so smooth he couldn't resist running his fingers through it or, even better, bury his face in it. It was even more fun ever since she stopped using hair clips and just let flow like a waterfall. Although he often messed it up that way, she also enjoyed the attention and the feeling. Besides, he allowed her to wash his own hair in return, which she enjoyed quite a lot. So did he, even though he would never admit it. The only problem was the fact that she always needed a very long time to fix it every morning but fortunately, it was the only little obsession of hers that really affected him. She didn't use make-up at all as she knew how easily contest move gone wrong could make everything worse. Ash pointed out that the same could happen to her hair but it was no use.

The situation reminded him a little of what could be considered their first real date. A lot has happened ever since, not only their own lives have changed tremendously but also those of their friends and families. Ash couldn't imagine where he would be without Dawn, probably not where he was right now. His greatest achievement so far was defeating three of the Kanto Elite Four, only losing to Karen, the youngest, but strongest member, who joined after Lance had become the champion.

Flashback

"Shiftry is unable to battle!" Karen flashed an amused smile.

"Thank you, Shiftry. Umbreon, it's your turn!" Whereas Ash only had Leavanny left, Karen still had an unknown pokémon, probably her powerful houndoom. But first he had to defeat the moonlight pokémon, which would be anything but easy. "What are you waiting for, Ash? Let's dance! Toxic!"

"Dodge it!" Evading the stream of liquid poison wasn't difficult but when he tried to look for his opponent, it was gone. "A feint attack. Use razor leaf to determine its location." Dozens of small leaves surrounded the pokémon, who just waited for the right moment. As soon as he heard the leaves behind him rustling, he used x-scissor while spinning, hitting the dark type before it could make contact. The razor leaves followed, hurting it even more. "Keep attacking!" However, it dodged the following x-scissor move.

"Double team and shadow ball!" Numerous copies of Umbreon appeared all around Leavanny and shot shadow balls at him. Although he knew that only one of them was real, he had no intention of finding out which one it was so he jumped up before they met in the center, forming an even larger shadow ball. It shot up right at Leavanny, who cut it with leaf blade.

"Now razor leaf!" He shot them in every direction, destroying the copies but now Umbreon was nowhere to be seen. A moment later, Ash's pokémon was hit from above by another feint attack.

"Pursuit!" Leavanny was pushed away by the feint attack and Karen wasn't going to let him get away.

"Blade shield!" Long, sharp leaves started circling the grass type, slashing anything getting too close. Umbreon was already too fast to stop and got cut. Now Leavanny was on the move and dealt serious damage as it was impossible for Umbreon to dodge both his attacks and the leaves.

Blade shield was one of the moves, which started as advanced combinations but soon Ash and Dawn felt that they deserved to be considered real moves. Unlike signature moves, those weren't for a specific kind of pokémon but for this particular individual, so they were sometimes called individual moves. At first they thought that they were doing something completely new but eventually, they got to know that powerful trainers like the local champions and the Elite Four have already done it, they just didn't use their moves very often so that they wouldn't become too predictable. Dawn had already tried to create a second set of individual sets for her pokémon since she had less pokémon but it proved much harder than the first one and so far, the results weren't too encouraging. The only thing that kept her going was the fact that Cynthia's Garchomp knew at least two so it was possible.

"Confuse ray!" Karen shouted. A yellow orb approached Leavanny.

"Whirling defense!" This was one of the most advanced combinations Ash knew. He created it together with Dawn and it has saved him quite a few times already. It was like an improved counter-shield, which reflected projectiles and dealt a lot of damage to anything nearby. Most importantly, unlike the counter-shield it didn't require a lot of energy unless he wanted to maintain it. Most of the times, though, he just needed it for one attack so it was very efficient. However, a lot of pokémon like Pikachu were only able to use a weaker version of the real move. With a quick spin, the grass type sent the orb right back at Umbreon. "Very good! Now x-scissor, full power!"

"Don't let it hit you! Protect!" However, the confusion prevented it from doing anything. Leavanny hit it twice with both arms before finishing it off with a powerful slash.

"Umbreon is unable to battle!" the referee announced. Now both Ash and Karen were down to their last pokémon. Karen wasn't worried, though, as her last pokémon was the perfect counter for grass types relying on physical attacks. The bug typing only made it even easier for her.

"Well done, Umbreon. You too, Leavanny. I guess I underestimated you. But now you have to face Houndoom. Go!" Against this opponent, Ash's pokémon was at an enormous disadvantage. "Inferno!"

The dark type shot purple fire right at the ground in front of it, creating a large ring of fire around itself.

"Use swords dance and razor leaf!" He released lots of glowing leaves while spinning but even with the power of swords dance, they got burned by the enormous heat around it before they could make contact. "Try seed bomb!" But even that move didn't make it. Ash could only imagine the damage Leavanny would take if he attacked the fire type in melee.

"Use hell vortex!" Knowing that it was safe from the grass and bug type's most powerful attacks, Houndoom started to place a large amount of fire spin traps on the battle field, which further limited his possibilities. "Now flamethrower!"

"Signal beam!" This move managed to get through although it was also pretty weak as he wasn't very good with non-physical attacks. He kept dodging the streams of fire for a while, waiting for an opportunity to strike, before he got caught by a vortex of fire on the field.

"Now! Fire blast!" Karen shouted, seizing the opportunity.

"Use protect!" Ash commanded and Leavanny managed to block the first attack but he was still trapped and receiving damage by the fire spin all the time. He also blocked the second fire blast. However, the third was too much. The moment he collapsed on the floor, unconscious, the flames on the battle field disappeared.

"Leavanny is unable to battle! Karen of the Elite Four is victorious!" the referee shouted.

"Damn it! But you did a very good job, Leavanny. Take a good rest," Ash said with disappointment clear in his voice, recalling his pokémon. In the end, the type disadvantage was too big and Karen's clever way of shielding her pokémon with fire prevented him from dealing serious damage to her pokémon.

"You're a very good trainer, Ash. You nearly overwhelmed me in the end. But I guess that wasn't our last battle," Karen complimented him. She didn't mention the fact that she could have let Houndoom mega evolve. That was to be left for the next battle. "You want to become Kanto's champion, don't you?"

"Thank you. And yes, that's my current goal," he admitted.

"Well, you sure impressed me today. Let's give a big applause to the challenger!" she told the audience after snatching a microphone from one of the employees there.

Ash immediately noticed Dawn among the others, clapping and cheering louder than anyone else with her smile making the disappointment vanish instantly. Instead, he came to appreciate what he had achieved this time and her role in it.

End of flashback

That happened only a few months ago. It hadn't always been like that, though.

He closed his eyes, getting lost in his memories again.

His last journey through Hoenn was a disaster to say the least. It was special in two ways. Not only was Ash traveling alone at that time since he didn't want his girlfriend to waste her time at a grand festival she had already won but Dawn didn't even compete in contests in Sinnoh. She was actually defeating gym leaders to enter the league. The reason for this development was a small group of her pokémon that didn't really like contests but still wanted to participate in battles. But not in practice battles with Ash but real, official battles so that they could achieve something together. Ash supported her decision, claiming that she would do just fine as trainers and coordinators weren't so different, after all. Another reason was simply the lack of challenges for coordinators after winning a grand festival.

Despite traveling through different regions, they still met at least once a week to talk about their progress or go on a date. This wasn't easy as the regions were very far away so they had to find an effective way. The answer was teleport but in order to be able to teleport between different regions, their pokémon had to master the move at a special training facility, which wasn't cheap but they had earned more than enough money for that by now. This training was the only reason people like Mr. Contesta were able to judge every single contest in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. Unova was too far away even for their pokémon so it had its own judges.

There was something about him bugging her, though. She claimed that he was becoming increasingly distracted, careless and even arrogant after seeing him battle a few young challengers. It was like the success had changed him. The next time they met, she challenged him to battle, which should have given him something to think about since she knew that it was the best way to get his attention.

Flashback

"You ready? I have something special just for you," she told him. She wasn't smiling, which worried him a bit. In fact, he has rarely seen her this serious during a practice battle.

"I'm ready. Bring it on!" he replied defiantly. "Pikachu! Go, buddy!"

"Lucario, let's do this!" she shouted, her face showing no emotion.

Their training battles rarely lasted longer than two minutes due to their tendency to take risks they avoided in real battles and two or three clean hits usually being enough to decide a battle. That wasn't the case this time, though, as both of them battled much more carefully, trying not to take any unnecessary risk, especially when Ash realized that she had prepared for electric types very well with Lucario using his bone rush staff as a lightning rod to render the electric attacks completely useless. Pikachu had only one way to deal proper damage and that's by using brick break with his tail, one of his newest combinations. However, Lucario dodged those easily and swung and whirled with his staff so quickly and smoothly that Pikachu had to be careful not to get hit. On the other hand, the fighting type couldn't make a clean hit either as he tried not to touch Pikachu because of his static ability and Ash's pokémon was fast enough to evade the staff attacks entirely. A few times, Dawn's fluid and elegant movements distracted Ash a bit. She had developed quite a bond with Lucario, was totally in sync with him and could therefore effortlessly copy his movements. Although Ash had a similar bond with his own lucario, his movements were usually much more crude but that was maybe due to the fact that she was a coordinator so she actually had to look like that.

When he saw an opening in the fighting type's defenses, he reacted quickly.

"Use electro ball!" Although he still managed to block it, the force from the brick break, which Pikachu used to strengthen the attack, pushed him back a little. Ash was determined to use it to his advantage. "Quick attack and brick break!"

"Now!" Dawn commanded. Lucario used detect to avoid the attack and, at the same time, swung his staff to pin the surprised opponent to the ground. Ash should have known as Dawn often used traps like this. Maybe he was a bit too arrogant this time?

"Use thunder!" Once more, the ground and staff made the electric attack useless. "Try brick break!" The tail wasn't long enough to reach the opponent, though. "We don't give up that easily! Protect!" A green shield raised the staff shortly but Lucario simply used feint to break it again before Pikachu was able to seize the opportunity and pinned him to the ground again.

"Alright, Ash. We've three ways to defeat Pikachu. We can use earthquake, aura sphere or finish him off with the staff. You better use another pokémon," Dawn told him, folding her arms.

"What?" The way she said it made him a bit angry. It sounded as if she was sure that she would win, which was ridiculous since Pikachu has always been a very difficult to defeat for her. "The situation isn't hopeless. We can still win!"

"Forget it. We can counter all of your moves and combinations. We have trained the whole week for this." There was something in her voice that made even him doubt that he could win. It was so serious and full of confidence. Much more than usual. But Ash wasn't one to just give up. "I give you one more chance to switch your pokémon."

"I won't! I have absolute faith in Pikachu." She just shook her head. For the first time in this battle, her eyes were fully of worry. But he knew exactly that attacking Pikachu directly would give him chance to escape and one move wasn't enough to finish off the electric type.

"Ash, there are battles you simply can't win. Sometimes you are just too much at a disadvantage." It was Ash who taught her this. Every pokémon had a weakness. Gyarados couldn't handle electric attacks very well. Torterra was relatively slow. Lucario was very vulnerable to super-effective attacks once they got past his active defenses. Pachirisu had real trouble dealing with ground type pokémon and moves and Pikachu was pretty much the same. "But you don't change your pokémon, it seems you keep using it because of the massive disadvantage. It's almost like you're making it more difficult for yourself just to get an adrenaline kick. It's frustrating. And worrying." She sighed and looked away as if she was ashamed of her decision. "Lucario, return!" Ash was surprised to say the least. Not only surprised but also furious. Furious because he felt that she was going easy on him. He didn't need pity! "Metagross, it's your turn!"

Pikachu hardly took any damage during the battle against Lucario even though his opponent got more than enough chances to do that near the end.

"One last chance, Ash. We have a new combination that will defeat Pikachu." She almost begged him with her eyes but he was adamant. "Fine, use the meteor combination!"

"Don't let it do that! Use thunderbolt!" Pikachu missed it, though, as it rose into the air with magnet rise. As soon as it reached an appropriate height, it put its legs below its body and would have created a drill if the legs hadn't been so wide. However, it created the same effect as it shot down straight at Pikachu with the tips of the legs glowing orange. It missed the electric type but dug deep into the ground, creating a shockwave, which dealt some damage. Suddenly, dozens of small, orange meteors rose from the hole into air only to come down again at the same time. Pikachu dodged them with a spin, jumping up high while the whole ground was blown up. Before he reached the ground again, Metagross emerged with the x on its head glowing purple. It smashed its head into Pikachu and followed up with bullet punch, which was blocked by a green shield. When it dissolved, it smashed one of its arms into Ash's pokémon. This hammer arm was too much for him as he fainted on the spot.

"I'm sorry, Ash," she exclaimed sadly, not really looking at him.

"You shouldn't be. It's a battle, after all," he replied, going to Pikachu and carrying him to the side of the battle field. "Good job. Don't feel bad about it."

He felt that it was his fault for underestimating this combination. After all, he knew exactly how vulnerable Pikachu and physically powerful Metagross was. The hammer arm on its own would have decided the battle so he should have made Pikachu's speed count more. It didn't matter right now, though, as he still had five more pokémon to turn this into a victory.

Ash soon caught up, leaving only two of her pokemon, a rather worn-out Metagross and another, unknown pokémon whereas he still had Krookodile, Gallade and Meganium. However, all of them were pretty injured and that was to be his downfall. Dawn's other pokémon turned out to be Gyarados, who, after one dragon dance, was fast and powerful enough to sweep through the rest of his team, defeating every single one of them. With Pikachu, Ash would have defeated him easily.

"That was a good battle. I'm proud of you," Ash said although he was still a little mad. "You were really well prepared."

"I hope you have learned something today," she replied carefully but he only rolled his eyes.

"Right. There were quite a few nice combinations," he answered despite knowing that she didn't mean those.

"Ash, I'm talking about your recklessness. If you aren't careful, it might lead to a bitter defeat. And it probably won't be just a practice battle," she told him almost desperately but he wouldn't listen.

"I don't need a lesson from you!" He was really annoyed by now. "I have won four leagues in a row! I have defeated Aaron! I don't need anyone to give me advice! I can do it alone!"

"You remind a bit of Drew at the Unova Wallace Cup. And of me at ... you know." She had her own, bitter experiences with overconfidence. "I hope you know what you're doing. It's just that I'm really worried."

"Oh." He realized that she was just trying to help although he still couldn't understand why. "I'm sorry. But I assure you I am alright. Practice battles are for testing, after all. So don't worry."

"I see. So how about we get something to eat now?" she asked, returning to her usual self. "I'm pretty hungry and so are you, I guess."

"Right!" he agreed, glad about the topic change.

End of flashback

Only later did Ash find ways to counter the meteor combination, which made it look pretty weak. Still, she had managed to win quite a few battles with it.

When the Hoenn League started, Ash was happy to hear that Paul was also participating as he hasn't been able to battle one of his old rivals for a while now. He was hoping for an epic, final battle but first, he had to get there. Fortunately, the different leagues weren't being held at the same time so Dawn disrupted her own training to support him despite his protests.

It started with the first few opponents being not a real challenge for him. But then he had to face Andrew, an experienced trainer from Hoenn, in the quarter-finals. The first part of the battle was one big disaster for Ash. Despite massive type disadvantages, he didn't consider switching his pokémon as he felt that they should be able to overcome any challenge. However, it turned out to be too much so Charizard lost to a rampardos and Leavanny was defeated by a blaziken. After those losses, his pokémon slowly gained the upper hand again until only Pikachu and an unknown pokémon were left.

Flashback

"Phew, that beginning had me worried but I think we have it under control now." Ash expected Andrew's last pokémon to be a water type so he had the type advantage for once. He gave Dawn a triumphant look and even expected her to apologize for doubting his abilities. Even now he failed to realize that she never doubted his abilities but was worried about his overconfidence.

"Go, Swampert!" Ash sighed. This might actually become a difficult battle as Pikachu was already tired.

"Pikachu, use quick attack and brick break!" The electric type surprised Swampert by quickly closing the distance and hitting it relentlessly.

"Protect! Then hammer arm!" A green shield protected it for a few seconds but its attacks were all dodged. Pikachu kept running around, striking it with his tail whenever he could. It dealt a lot of damage but it was also extremely tiring. "Use earthquake!"

"Protect!" Swampert stomped onto the ground, sending a shockwave towards Pikachu, who simply blocked the attack, closed the distance after being pushed back and continued his attacks.

"Enough of this! Use bide!" However, Pikachu just waited until the glow faded before he proceeded as a successful bide attack would have been the end for him. Ash was getting worried about his pokémon's endurance as the constant attacks took their toll now. His movement started to become slower and Swampert just didn't go down, proving its incredible toughness.

Then it happened. In just one moment, all of Ash's plans were destroyed when Swampert got hold of Pikachu's tail. He could use neither his electric moves as he would usually do in such a situation nor hitting it with his tail. He tried hidden power but the orbs were blocked by Swampert's own hidden power move. The water type was angry and frustrated and it was ready to take it out on Pikachu. It smashed Ash's pokémon into the ground with all its strength, not stopping until he was unconscious. It was horrible for Ash to watch his partner getting hurt like that without being able to do anything. Now he wished he would have listened to Dawn's advice. Leavanny would have defeated Swampert with just one or two extremely effective attacks but he was unconscious.

"Pikachu is unable to battle! The winner is Andrew!" the referee announced when Pikachu fainted.

End of flashback

The fact that a trainer like Ash got defeated by an experienced but still pretty much unknown trainer was a huge deal. After all, the media claimed that he was about to become the next Kanto champion, speaking of a generation change after Alder got replaced by a younger challenger. But this battle made them question Ash's skill and maturity. Andrew lost to Paul, who didn't even bother talking to Ash, which only made it worse as Ash felt like no one respected him anymore. But his friends didn't just give him up and tried to help him, especially Dawn, who got two tickets to Kalos, a distant region, where he was almost unknown. There he could build up his confidence again without pressure and catch new pokémon at the same time.

Ash believed that being separated was a major cause for the disaster. Not only was training alone or with wild pokémon much less effective than having battles with other trainers but he also often caught himself daydreaming when he was supposed to be training. For some reason, a great deal of motivation was simply gone, so much that he even felt his skills dropping. Nevertheless, he was sure that he would win the league. After all, he had a winning streak. It was too late when he found out he was wrong. Dawn had similar experiences. However, her lack of motivation was mostly counterbalanced by the uncertainty of trying something completely new. In fact, she overworked herself and her pokémon as she was trying really hard to do well.

After that, Ash's training style changed. Resting became much more important, especially when his pokémon started to reach their physical limits. Overworking pokémon at this level could have caused serious injuries so he took it much slower. Only one year ago he would have called people crazy if they had told him that a good rest was just as important as hard work. Tactics and combinations also became much more important due to the limits. There was no way anyone could take down the Elite Four with brute force. Those battles were decided by superior strategy, clever usage of moves and luck. Fortunately, his training with Dawn and battles at the Wallace Cup made him very good with combinations, so much that he started to create his own moves. Dawn did the same. Hers were usually less effective but often had hidden functions, which made up for that. Training together also made their styles more similar although they were still very different. The moves of Ash's pokémon became much more elegant for some reason (their friends suspected that he might have wanted to impress her) but neither of them noticed until they pointed it out. Similarly, Dawn's pokémon became much tougher and her style more physical. The core remained the same, though, with Ash being the aggressive trainer, relying on speed and power whereas Dawn preferred to use her opponents' moves against them.

Ash opened his eyes again and looked at the surroundings. A few starly were singing in a nearby tree, under which Piplup was sleeping. He closed his eyes again, remembering their last journey through Kanto, where the penguin pokémn had caused quite a bit of trouble at the grand festival.

The rivalry between Piplup and Typhlosion caused quite a bit of trouble. Those two have never been on good terms, often fighting over trivial things like two little children who tried to catch their mother's attention. They seemed to get along lately but after having evolved into Typhlosion, the fire type got bolder and more aggressive. He often called the water-type a weakling, a little baby that needed to be pampered and used cheap effects to win his contest battles, overlooking the fact that Dawn created the combinations for those cheap effects on purpose. When Milotic stood up for him, she only hurt his pride even more. It wasn't supposed to be this way. He felt that he should be the one protecting her. Dewott wasn't any better since he has regarded Piplup as a rival ever since he participated in the Wallace Cup. Once, he even claimed that Ash was a better coordinator than Dawn and although Piplup was sure that he had just said it to provoke him, he was furious. This went on for weeks.

Right before the grand festival, the arguments turned into a real fight and Dawn was mad this time. Just scolding them wasn't enough. She had to think of something a bit more drastic. In order to show them that they were on the same side she teamed them up for the first battle despite their complaints and Ash's concerns about using a team like this at the grand festival. Unfortunately, their teamwork wasn't too good and their opponent was a powerful top coordinator called Robert with his milotic and arcanine. When Ash heard that she was going to battle Robert, he asked her to use a different, more experienced team but she didn't listen. Robert's pokémon managed to separate Piplup and Typhlosion so they had to fight on their own, Piplup against Milotic and Typhlosion against Arcanine. Whereas Typhlosion slowly gained the upper hand, Piplup's attacks had almost no effect on Milotic.

Flashback

"Try to reunite! Piplup, use drill peck!" Dawn shouted.

"Stop it with twister!" The tornado coming from Milotic's tail fins blew Piplup's light body away. Meanwhile, Arcanine was standing its ground despite its opponent being slightly superior. Dawn had to admit that it was very tough.

"Typhlosion, rollout! Piplup, try drill peck again!" This time, he dodged the tornado, hitting his opponent in the face. "Very good! Now hidden power!" Piplup just kept spinning while shooting light blue orbs at it.

"Use aqua ring and iron tail! Then recover!" Instead of using the aqua ring to regain health, Milotic wrapped it around Piplup and smashed him into the ground with its tail. Then all of its wounds vanished in an instant. Even worse, Piplup had to use up almost all of his remaining strength to break the aqua ring.

There he was standing, breathing heavily and almost down. He had done everything he could, given everything for the victory, yet it wasn't enough and in this moment, Typhlosion decided to provoke him.

"What's the matter? Your energy already running out?" he asked while fighting off Arcanine.

It was enough to push him over the edge. With a cry and using his remaining energy, he seemed to charge at Milotic without Dawn's order, dodging the incoming twister and the following iron tail. Instead of attacking it, he went even further, jumping at Arcanine behind Milotic. The fire-type noticed him in time and got out of the way so that Piplup hit his ally instead. Little did it know, that was his original intention and he kept using peck on Typhlosion, who retaliated with a flame wheel. Somehow, Piplup managed to keep standing for quite a long time despite his injuries and didn't even stop fighting when a signal marked the end of the battle. The fight between her own pokémon had reduced Dawn's pokémon to zero. As a result, she was eliminated from the tournament, having only made it to the top 16.

End of flashback

This was a huge hit on her career and her self-esteem. It wasn't even her early elimination, which was bad enough, given her high expectation after her last victory in Hoenn, but the fact that she didn't seem to have her pokémon under control. A fight between them in the middle of a battle at a grand festival so that everyone was able to see it ruined her reputation. As usual, she took responsibility for the disaster, which went too far even for Ash. Although he couldn't stand trainers blaming their pokémon for their own mistakes, such a lack of discipline wasn't something that could simply be ignored.

For everybody else, it was clear that Typhlosion had been foolish to provoke Piplup in the middle of a battle but Piplup had been equally foolish to react by attacking. At first, both of them were blaming each other but as soon as they realized that Dawn was trying to take the blame in order to protect them, they claimed that it was entirely their fault. Of course, she didn't accept their apology, believing there was no need for one. To make matters worse, this defeat greatly hampered her motivation as she had doubts about being any good as a coordinator despite her accomplishments so far, which resulted in the pokémon not getting a real chance to redeem themselves.

Piplup was suffering from another issue as he had been unable to deal proper damage to his opponent. Of course, his typing and style were far from optimal for that but it still bugged him a lot. As a result, he was much more motivated to learn new moves and train hard in order to avoid a similar situation in the future. The only problem was Dawn, who got distracted easily for some reason. Only after Ash's victory at the league did she return to normal but both he and Ash knew that she was trying to hide her pain. They thought that she would get over it eventually but for Piplup, that would take way too long so they had to help her out.

Since the next region was Johto, Piplup asked her to challenge Falkner and with Ash's help, he was well-prepared, resulting in two bitter defeats for the gym leader. Piplup's new style was acrobatic, something to make up for the missing strength of his evolutions. Instead of relying on overwhelming force, he tried to deal damage by hitting with extreme precision and use his size to evade the counters. It seemed to have the intended effect on Dawn and although Ash played a big part, he never mentioned it. Unfortunately, the rest of the journey wasn't as great. In fact it almost resulted in her quitting, or at least that's what he thought, so Ash quickly shifted his thoughts to other memories.

Those didn't have anything to do with battles for a change. They were about an event that happened one month ago. Although it didn't look like it at first, it became one of his favorite moments with Dawn, who felt the same way.

It started in Eterna City, where they were supposed to relax the whole day as they had been training for weeks now. But for some reason, they started to argue about something unimportant instead. Maybe it was because of the hot weather. Maybe it was because of the trainers, who kept irritating them by challenging them to battles. So they decided to go to another place, a lake near Eterna Forest, which they haven't visited for a while now as the training kept them busy. Dawn always thought that it was a shame since they had befriended a lot of pokémon there, even a few ghost types, who were friends of Dawn's Gengar, when they stayed there for a night. But this time, they simply wanted to have some peace, which was guaranteed because getting there wasn't easy. They brought swimsuits, food and other things for a nice, little picnic. The peace lasted only until it suddenly started to rain and soon turned into a real storm.

Since they were far away from the city and didn't have a pokémon with teleport with them, they had to find a shelter quickly.

Flashback

They were running as fast as they could, trying to shield themselves from the extremely cold raindrops, at least compared to the warm air temperature.

"Well done, Ash. You have chosen just the right day for this!" Dawn complained.

"If I remember correctly, I had to choose this day because you didn't like the others!" he countered. "So it was kind of your fault."

"My fault? We might be back at the hotel already if we didn't have to find a calmer place because random trainers kept challenging you," she retorted.

"I wasn't the only one who got challenged, you know?" Ash started to imitate the coordinates who had talked to them. "It's the Sapphire Phoenix! Lady Dawn, can we have a battle? Can you show me how to evolve my pokémon?"

"Stop it, 'Dragon'," she replied. "I didn't choose my title, just like you."

"Whatever." He let out a frustrated growl. "It looked so nice half an hour ago."

"But it was your turn to bring a psychic type. That's definitely your fault," she exclaimed triumphantly.

"No way! I thought you ... ahhhhh!" Dawn turned around to see what happened but he was gone. However, she heard noises nearby, which led to her discovering a hole in the ground. Since there were a lot of large plants growing next to it, which covered the entrance, it was nearly impossible to spot.

"Ash? Are you alright? Please tell me!" She cried, trying to enter it herself. Pikachu jumped on her shoulder, making her shirt dirty but she didn't care at the moment as Ash's well-being was more important. He answered with a moan. The water running down made the climb much more difficult but in the end she made it without falling. Piplup wasn't so lucky. He slipped and fell into a small puddle. "Oh dear, are you two all right?"

"I'm fine. No need to worry, right?" Ash stood up, ignoring the pain for the moment. Fortunately, the injuries weren't serious. Dawn's pokémon also signaled that he was alright.

Ash looked around, spotting a small chamber where they were safe from the rain.

"How about we stay here until the weather calms down a bit?" he suggested. "I mean, pretty much everything's better than that storm out there."

"I don't really like resting in a cave which could be inhabited by powerful pokémon but it's really better than that." Loud thunder could be heard now, making the cave seem much more welcoming.

However, there was one big draw: it was cold inside. Despite their attempts to shield themselves from the rain, they were soaking wet and the cold air in the cave only made it worse. So they quickly took off the wet clothes until they were only wearing their swimsuits, which they brought as they often swam in the lake.

"Are you cold?" Ash asked upon seeing her leaning with the back against the wall, hugging her knees. The answer was rather obvious as she was shivering.

Even like that, she's still beautiful, Ash thought. She needs me now. How could I ever stay mad at her? Maybe I've been too focused on battling lately. A single, lousy picnic can't possibly fix that.

"Just a second." He took the towel, which he wanted to use for the picnic before the weather made it impossible, out of their bag and wrapped it around her body.

"What about you?" she asked with a worried expression.

So typical. So selfless. And I have been so rude today. He doesn't deserve such a treatment. She felt really guilty now. No, he won't be the only one to freeze. It's either both or none of us!

"I can handle this," he claimed but that wasn't true. She knew he was lying.

"Come here!" she commanded.

She wrapped the towel also around his body, which could only work since they hugged tightly. The fact that they were nearly naked made them blush a bit. Dawn wished she had pokémon like Mamoswine or Typhlosion with her as the fur or fire would greatly help them but actually, she didn't mind hugging Ash like that. The rain outside seemed to become worse every minute.

So here they were, hugging each other in a towel, Pikachu next to them and Piplup standing in a narrow corridor, which led to another part of the cave. Strange noises could be heard from there.

"Ash … I'm sorry," Dawn whispered suddenly. "I was a real bitch today. I …"

"Shhh!" He held a finger her lips. "I was just as bad. You know I would never stay mad at you because of something like this. So will you also accept my apology?"

"You don't need to ask," she whispered in his ear. They locked their lips in a deep kiss. "You know, this situation isn't that bad. Our clothes will be dry soon and the rain will eventually stop … I hope. I just wonder ... what's that noise coming from the deeper parts?"

"Maybe there is a pokémon living in there? It sure sounds like it." Ash guessed. "And no, I'm not going to explore the cave to catch it." She just giggled.

There was no need for more words. They just stayed like that, waiting for the rain to stop and sometimes snuggling up even closer. Eventually, they fell asleep and so did Pikachu. Piplup stayed awake to guard them just in case the source of the noises decided to remove them from its home.

A few hours later, they woke up again and discovered that the rain was still there but much weaker than before. Since their clothes were dry again and there were strange cries coming from deeper inside the cave, they just ran back to the city, ignoring the rain.

End of flashback

One might wonder why Ash treasured those memories so much. It was due to the events in the cave, which showed him that even when they had a serious argument, they would reconcile quickly and in the end, their bond would be even stronger than before. Besides, it reminded him that Dawn needed more attention as he had been neglecting her a bit ever since his big loss, concentrating on the battles instead. And she learned that she should tell him whenever something like that happened or she might get frustrated and hurt him because of it.

But most of all, it was due to the snuggling.

Of course, they had their share of arguments. When he became her boyfriend he seriously believed that everything would just magically become great and at first it actually happened. But it soon changed. She needed more attention than just training all the time and the occasional date. Now he couldn't believe how naive he had been. Despite their similarities they were different people with different needs. But they did a great job at combining those. All in all, Ash didn't regret a single day.

Ash smiled, comparing it the current situation. It was so much more fun without a cold wind bothering them all the time. But his thoughts were soon replaced by a more serious matter. They have been together for quite a long time now. Maybe it was time to take it to the next level? Or were they still too young?

However, before he could even start making a decision, a voice interrupted him. It wasn't a normal voice but someone or something spoke to him telepathically.

"Help! They're after me! Please help! Anyone!" The voice sounded like it belonged to a small girl.

Dawn immediately got up, obviously having heard the same. So she wasn't asleep, after all.

"I can't run much longer! Help!" the voice told them again.

"Swellow! I choose you!" Ash wanted to find out what was going on. "I have no idea what we're looking for. So just tell us if you find anything unusual." Swellow nodded, flying up high to watch the whole area. Dawn also often had a flying type with her for scouting purposes.

"Crobat, please do the same!" Unlike Ash's pokémon, Crobat immediately stopped, pointing in a specific direction with one of his wings. "Huh? He's already found it without looking?"

"Reuniclus, please translate!" Ash was glad to have a pokémon who could speak telepathically as well but the voice still made him feel uneasy.

Unlike Gallade and Lucario, who had deep, masculine voices, Reuniclus's was really childlike, making it seem like he was sending a baby into battle. It fit the psychic type quite well since he was playful and innocent. Dawn didn't have such problems as her lucario's voice was similar to Gallade's, Espeon's was soft and mature whereas Alakazam's was like that of a young girl, almost a bit shrill but it has also become more mature lately.

The multiplying pokémon was the first one Ash caught during their short trip to Unova directly after the Indigo League. He was a weak, injured Solosis who had just battled a far superior bisharp. Fortunately, Ash and Dawn arrived just in time to save him. In fact, they took such good care of him that he decided to join Ash when he was back at full health. The training turned him into a powerful pokémon. Unlike many of Ash's other pokémon, he was really slow but his toughness and powerful moves, which were surpassed by very few pokémon in their team, more than made up for that. He loved pranks but they were mostly completely harmless and nothing compared to Zoroark's.

"He hears cries which are used by trained golbat to communicate while hunting prey," Reuniclus told them. "Humans and most pokémon can't hear them. And those almost certainly belong to poachers or other pokémon thieves."

"I see." It wasn't the first time they met such golbat so Dawn trusted his judgment completely. "Let's go!"

They quickly grabbed their stuff and followed Crobat along with Pikachu and Buneary, who had been sitting in the tree Piplup was leaning against. They didn't see anything until he suddenly stopped. In the distance, there was a scolipede accompanied by two golbat moving towards them but they weren't the reason why Crobat stopped. The reason was standing right in front of them, well hidden in the grass. It was a small creature with a white body, it's back was covered by a grass-like, green fur and two pink flowers with two leaves were at the sides of its head. It was looking at Crobat like he was death itself. Everyone prepared for battle.