Hello, this is just a short summary thing that'll help you understand what's going on in my first story before you read it.

This story is a PearlShipping fic that follows my version of the events roughly following DP159 (Short and to the Punch).

In this story, I will follow the major events from the Pokemon anime (i.e. Sinnoh Grand Festival, Ash's Sunyshore gym battle), and although the results are most likely going to be near the same as the anime, the storyline will be my own. The anime storyline will be used as merely as an outline.

Depending on the release date of the chapters, characters met, results of events, and Pokemon evolutions may be spoilers, so read only if you don't mind. I'll probably provide warnings at the top of the chapters though.

Oh yeah, and I don't own Pokemon. As if. :P

Enjoy! :D

"Alright Buizel! One more time then we're done for today. We gotta make sure we've got this one-hundred percent. Can't rely on it raining everytime buddy." Ash's voice rang out through the trees from the campground where he, Dawn, and Brock were staying.

Dawn smiled as she turned back towards the river she was retrieving water from. When the group had set up camp for the evening, Brock began to cook and Ash and Buizel continued to work on Ice Punch. Seeing everyone working made Dawn feel a little guilty, but then Brock asked her if she could get some water for the dinner. So she happily grabbed two buckets and ran off towards the river.

Dawn filled up the buckets and returned to the camp only to see Ash and Buizel standing around and still punching the air, while Pikachu and Piplup watched, bemused.

Dawn laughed and thought to herself, "Well, he's nothing if not determined." She went to set down the buckets of water and then walked over to Ash and said, "We all admire you and your work ethic, but what happened to 'one more'?"

Ash and Buizel both immediately stopped mid-punch and slowly turned around to face Dawn. Ash scratched his head and gave a sheepish grin. "We just want to be the best we can be, right Buizel?" asked Ash.

"Bui Bui!" said Buizel, enthusiastically. Ash grinned at the response and said, "I suppose we can stop now though."

As Ash and Buizel began to walk back towards the dinner table, Dawn said to herself, "What a guy. He and his Pokemon sure work hard. I really ought to do some training too... My next contest is coming up soon."

But her thoughts were interrupted when Brock called out, "Stew's almost ready guys! Come and set the table!"

"Alright! It's about time!" said Ash, throwing all of his Pokeballs into the air, "Everyone come on out! It's chow time!"

Before the Pokemon had even materialized, Ash ran over to the table, sat down, grabbed a bowl and held it out to a stunned Brock, saying, "Me first!"

"I don't think so," said Brock, as he recovered from his initial shock, while Dawn sweatdropped, "We still need to get out all the bowls and food for the Pokemon. And anyway, I said it's not ready yet."

Ash looked slightly put out, but sighed and helped Dawn to set the places for everyone.

Dawn laughed to herself, "That is so Ash," she thought.

Not much later, but after what seemed like an eternity to Ash, the table was set and the food was ready.

Brock dished out the stew bowls and Ash immediately dove into his, consuming it as if possessed.

As Dawn watched Ash eat, she thought, "He looks so funny when he eats. He's such a messy eater, but he's just so cute when he eats. The way that the z's on his cheeks bounce when he chews and the way he just looks so happy, I've never seen someone look that sincere."

Dawn watched Ash for awhile before Brock said, "Dawn, better eat up, if you don't finish yours soon, Ash might steal it!"

Dawn laughed and began eating, but Ash caught her eye again. Literally. As he attempted to scrape the final remnants off the bottom of his bowl, his hand slipped, and his spoon and bits of stew went flying onto Brock and Dawn.

Brock laughed and wiped the stew off himself with his napkin, but Dawn wasn't so lucky. A little bit of the stew flew into her eye, and as she fumbled around half-blind trying to get the stew out with her water and her napkin, she thought, "This is all Ash's fault! Why can't he learn to eat like a normal, civilized person? If he did, none of this would have happened."

She had just opened her mouth to yell at Ash when she felt someone touch her shoulder.

"Here, let me help," said Ash, "It is my fault after all."

After Ash brought over one of the buckets of water and helped her to wash her eye out, he said, "There, better?"

Dawn opened her eye, and felt no discomfort so she grinned and said, "Yep, all good. No need to worry! Thanks Ash."

Ash gave a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. I'm sorry, I should eat a little slower."

Dawn raised one eyebrow. "A little?" she asked, with a hint of sarcasm.

"Hey, I said I was sorry," said Ash, defensively, "And anyway, I helped clean out your eye. You should be grateful."

"Well, considering you caused the problem in the first place, I don't think you should be saying anything mister," snapped Dawn.

Brock laughed to himself as the two continued to argue. He cleared his throat loudly and said, "I'm going to put away the cooking stuff, would you two please go down to the river and wash the dishes?

Ash and Dawn stopped arguing immediately and turned towards Brock, looking a little embarrassed, as if they'd forgotten Brock was there. They both agreed, looking away from each other and shuffled off towards the river.

Brock watched them walk off. "Those two,"he thought, "I wonder…"

Ash and Dawn returned some time later, and both bade Brock good night individually, not even looking at the other. As they began to walk towards their own tents, Ash stopped and said nervously, "Uh.. Dawn?"

Dawn turned and faced him. "What?"

"Uh, good night."

Dawn gave him a small smile. "Good night Ash."

Then they both turned and walked into their own tents. Brock grinned to himself and thought, "They never stay angry at each other long do they?"

As Ash crawled into his sleeping bag, he yawned and said to Pikachu, "That turned out alright in the end, don't you think?"

But he didn't hear the answer and when Pikachu looked, Ash was fast asleep.

Apologies if this seemed a little plot deficient/short, this and maybe chapter 2 are setups for later chapters.

Please feel free to voice your opinions, this is my first fic, and critique/help would be nice.