Arceus she was tired.

So freaking tired.

Dawn groaned as she rolled over in her sleep once again, covering her head with her pillow. Ever since she'd lost her contest two days ago she hadn't been able to get a wink of sleep. Her failure kept replaying over and over in her head.

'If only I hadn't gotten Piplup to use bubble beam' she thought to herself, resisting the urge to find something hard and heavy to smash her head into. 'It should've been water gun instead! How in Arecus's name would a stupid bubble beam stop a razor leaf?'

With a groan Dawn sat up and rubbed her eyes, before squinting over at the clock on the opposite side of the room.

1.15am

"Ugh!" she cried. Quickly she slapped a hand over her mouth and glanced over at the two other sleeping people in the room, Brock and Ash, to make sure she hadn't woken them. Thankfully, they were still knocked out in their own dreams.

"I need to take a walk." Dawn muttered, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up. Grabbing her usual clothes from the chair they were hanging over, she tiptoed through the darkness blindly.

Smack!

"Frig!" Dawn cried as her knee slammed into one of the beds, one of her hands flying down to help her keep her balance. Unfortunately it slammed straight into something soft and squishy, causing a loud groan to radiate through the room.

"Oh my Arceus! Ash! I'm sorry!" Dawn whispered frantically.

"Ugh… Misty… stop hitting me…" Ash moaned in response, rolling over so his back was to Dawn and snuggling deeper into the pillows. Dawn sweat dropped. She should've known he wouldn't have woken up… he was Ash!

Quickly, she scuttled out of the room, avoiding anything else, and out into the hallway to make her way to the nearest bathroom to get changed. After doing so, she threw her pajamas back in the room and made her way out to the Poke Centres front lobby.

"Excuse me? Miss Berlitz?" came an innocent voice. With surprise on her face, Dawn turned around to see a small girl with vibrant red hair and big blue eyes staring at her. Dawn felt a sense of familiarity with the girl... but she didn't know where from. The girl seemed to know this.

"Its me, Lizzie!" she laughed, her cute giggled making Dawn smile as she recognized the girl Brock, Ash and herself had helped the other day in saving her fathers Miltanks.

"Of course! How could I forget you?" Dawn remarked, smiling at her. Lizzie grinned back before frowning.

"How come you're not asleep Miss Berlitz?" she asked. Dawn sighed, she'd forgotten about the girls need to call everyone by their last name, no matter how old.

"I could ask the same thing." She replied, giving the young girl a slight disapproving look. Lizzie laughed.

"I asked first!"

"True true…" Dawn sighed. "I couldn't sleep so I'm just off for a walk. To see if I can tire myself out."

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Silly! Just go get a nice cup of warm milk!" she giggled, holding up a glass of white liquid that Dawn hadn't realized she'd been holding. Dawn smiled.

"Maybe if this doesn't work."

"Ok!" Suddenly Lizzie let out a huge yawn, smiling sheepishly at Dawn afterward. "Goodnight Miss Berlitz!"

"Goodnight Lizzie." Dawn sighed, watching the young girl turn and walk off towards her room.

Without anymore delay, Dawn herself turned and walked out the two front doors, her hands clasped behind her back as she walked.

Quietly, Dawn walked softly around Solaceon Town, her eyes running over all the beautiful trees, flowers and small fountains that littered the town. It was peaceful here, more so than Twinleaf which had a small nightlife.

It was only until she heard a familiar voice shouting out commands that she realized she was approaching the gorgeous ruins that Cynthia had educated her on.

"Torterra! Frenzy Plant!" the familiar voice barked. Dawn watched in awe as the trainer's pokemon let out a loud roar before stomping hard on the ground, causing roots to come out in all directions. After a moment, the roots sucked back in and the pokemon turned to look back at its master, waiting for judging.

"Was that it?" the trainer snapped, causing the pokemon to look down at the ground in guilt. Dawn frowned.

"I thought that was pretty great." She said out load, watching the trainers back stiffen. Slowly he turned around, surprising Dawn.

"P-Paul?"

"Troublesome." He replied, fixing her with a glare that left her flinching.

"My name is Dawn." She snapped, instantly getting annoyed at his convenient lack of knowing her name. He rolled his eyes and turned to look at his pokemon.

"Like I care."

"I should've known it was you." Dawn spat, rage taking over. "Who else abuses their pokemon at this time of night?"

She watched in satisfaction as his back once again went rigid. Slowly he turned to face her again, his anger evident on his face.

"I do not abuse my pokemon." He snarled, causing Dawn to wince at the venom in his voice. "And even if I did, it has nothing to do with you idiot girl."

His glare left her face and he had returned his Torterra before Dawn had time to process what he'd even said. When she did, he was already walking away from her.

But did that stop her?

"You prick!" she cried, sprinting after him and tackling him, surprising herself as well as Paul as they both tumbled to the ground.

"What the hell!" Paul cried, as his body smashed to the ground, followed closely by his head and the troublesome girl on top of him. "What's your problem?"

"My problem?" she hissed as she straddled his waist. "My problem is you!"

Paul glared up at her and tried to push her off. "You're pathetic."

That pushed Dawns last button.

"Excuse me!" she practically screamed, grabbing his collar and somehow finding the strength to lift him partially of the ground and shove her face in his. "I'm pathetic? Like you can talk! I hate you Paul! You're heartless, cruel, arrogant, self-centered, abuse your pokemon and are cold! You forget my name all the time and want nothing more than to bring agony to everyone around you!"

Paul was silent as Dawn went on her tangent but as soon as she'd finished he pushed her off, not carrying as she tumbled to the ground with a cry of pain.

"I said, I don't abuse my pokemon." He growled as he got to his feet and turned his back on her. Dawn bit back angry tears as she too rose.

"Sure you don't! You know, people would like you a lot more if you actually treated them with respect for once! You know, pretended they weren't yesterdays trash!" Paul was silent so Dawn continued. "Like that's ever gonna happen though. You're too pathetic."

And with that she turned on her heel, more alert than she was when she exited the Poke Centre.

'I think some warm milk will have to do' Dawn thought bitterly as she made her way back to the pokemon centre, leaving Paul standing there.

'She's right… I guess' was all Paul could think about as he too walked away to continue training.

…

Dawn groaned as she covered her head with her pillow, to tired to even think as Ash bounded around the room happily telling her and Brock all about his plans for the day.

"… And then I'm going to take Pikachu for a run! That'll get his fitness up and I think I might take Infernape with us! He needs some more training so we can beat Paul again!"

Dawn's eyes popped open at the mention of Paul and last nights fight came rushing back to her.

'Crap…'

"DAWN!"

She jumped when suddenly Ash screamed in her ear. With a huge build-up of more anger, she ripped the pillow off her head and smash Ash right in the face with it.

"For the love of Arceus! Shut up Ash! Go and call Misty or something!" she cried, frustrated to the limit. The dazed teenager sat on the ground where he'd landed for less than a minute before suddenly leaping up and sprinting out of the room.

"Good idea Da…" he was cut off as he ran out of the room, making Dawn roll her eyes. Poor Misty.

"Dawn?"

The bluenette looked over at Brock who'd spoken her name. He looked concerned.

"Hmm?" was all she replied as she climbed out of bed, realizing she was still wearing her usual clothes.

"Something bothering you?" he asked, watching as Dawn froze and raised her eyes to meet his.

"N-no! Why would you think that?" she asked, her eyes wide. Brock chuckled.

"I just got the feeling. Come on, tell me what's up."

Dawn fidgeted with her skirt end before taking a deep breath and telling him about her fight with Paul. At the end Brock stood still, tapping his chin with his finger, thinking.

"Well say something!" Dawn cried, getting angry about having to wait. She was getting angry a lot lately.

"There's not much to say except you owe him an apology." Brock simply stated. Dawn's mouth fell open.

"WHAT? After he abused me, I have to apologize?"

"Well… I think you did more of the abusing Dawn." The older man said, his gaze stern. "You did insult him."

"B-but…"

"No buts. Go find him and apologize." When he saw her open her mouth, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Now."

"Fine…" she snapped, stomping out of the room, almost colliding with Lizzie.

"Miss Berlitz!" she cried, grinning at the older girl. Dawn smiled back.

"Hey Lizzie." She replied, her voice slightly deadpan. Lizzie frowned.

"Something wrong?"

"Well-"

"DAWN! I said now!" Brock interrupted, coming out of the room and glaring at her. Dawn groaned.

"Sorry Lizzie, I have to go or Captain Obedient will get snotty." She sighed, turning around and walking down the same corridor as last night, leaving the questioning young girl with the man with the answers.

After a good hour of looking profusely for Paul around town, Dawn had come to the conclusion that he must of left, leaving her to just give up and head back to the Poke Centre.

"Brocks probably gonna pack a snot." She muttered out loud as she stomped down the lane. She felt flat. During her search she'd realized what she'd done was wrong and was happy to apologize… but now she couldn't find him…

"Oof!" her breath left her lungs as suddenly she crashed into some, then to the ground.

"Watch it!" someone cried. Dawn didn't even have time to register she was on the ground before a hand wrapped around her arm and yanked her to her feet. With a frown, Dawn checked to make sure she was okay.

"Thanks…" she trailed off when she saw who'd helped her up. "Paul?"

The lavender haired teenager looked down at her with slight concern on his face. "Are you okay?"

"I… Paul?" she stumbled, her eye twitching. No… this wasn't Paul! Was it?

"Yes?" he asked, a frown in his face. When she didn't reply he just shook his head and brushed past her, leaving her standing there in shock.

"WAIT! PAUL!" she cried when it finally clicked that it was actually Paul. He turned around slowly and looked at her, an eyebrow raised.

"Yes?" he repeated. Dawn frowned again before walking towards him.

"I-I'm sorry about last night." She whispered, not taking her eyes off him. He sent her what looked like a small smile.

"I took what you said into consideration." He stated, looking up at the clouds. "You were right Dawn. No matter how much this is hurting my pride…" he glanced back down at her. "You were right."

Her mouth dropped open in surprise and she promptly fell over, falling forward straight towards Paul who jumped forward and caught her before she made contact with the ground.

"Who are you and what have you done with Paul?" she cried, looking up at him with a small smile on her face. He rolled his eyes and lifted her back on her feet.

"I'm still the same person." He chuckled, his eyes a little bit brighter. Dawn nibbled on her lip as she stared at him before stepping forward and wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

"Thank you Paul." She mumbled into his chest, not surprised when he didn't hug back, instead he awkwardly just patted her head.

"For what?" he asked, slightly confused. Dawn pulled back and grinned up at him.

"For being you." Was all she said before she turned around and sprinted back towards the Poke Centre, a giggle on her lips.

As she crashed through the doors, Ash and Brock intercepted her.

"Did you talk to him?" Brock asked, getting a nod in response. Before he could speak again, Ash jumped in.

"Guess what! Misty, May and Drew are coming to join us Dawn! And possibly Leaf and Gary!" He cried, excitement in his eyes as he grabbed Dawns hands and spun her around. "It's soooo exciting!"

Dawn grinned happily back and laughed with the excited teen before she stopped.

"Hey Ash… can I invite someone else to join us?" she asked, her eyes wide. Ash, to wrapped up in his joy to even ask who, nodded before grabbing Brock and swinging him around with him.

Dawn couldn't help but let out a cry of excitement before turning around once again and racing out of the Poke Centre, sprinting towards where she'd been just before.

Luck was on her side when she saw him walking not to far ahead of her, causing another huge grin to break out on her face.

"PAUL!" she screamed, running as fast as possible towards him. "PAUL! PAUL WAIT UP!"

Unfortunately, Dawn once again lost her footing just as she was less than a meter away from him and crashed straight into him, sending them both tumbling to the ground with her arms tight around his back.

"Have a nice trip?" he groaned from underneath her. Dawn giggled nervously and scuttled off him, kneeling by his side and watching as he got to his knees.

"Shut up Paul." She giggled, causing him to shake his head. As Paul helped her to her feet, Dawn smiled at him.

"Listen." She started, taking a deep breath. "A-are you traveling with a-anyone?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, curiosity in his eyes. "No. Why?"

"W-would… would you like to travel with us?" she asked, crossing her fingers as she hoped he'd say yes. His eyes stayed on hers for a long moment before a small smile came across his face.

"If that's what you want then-" he was cut off as Dawn threw her arms around his neck in a hug.

"You will!" she cried out in happiness. Paul once again didn't return the hug but just shook his head. Dawn let go of him and stepped back, a huge grin on her face.

"Then-"

"Dawn?"

"Paul?"

The two turned around to see Ash and Brock watching them with raised eyebrows. Dawn grinned sheepishly.

"Ah… Hey guys!"

Brock smirked knowingly at her. "So this was who you wanted to join the group?" he asked, watching as she nodded. Brock smiled and shook his head, turning his attention to Ash. It was ultimately his decision.

Ash was quiet for a long time before suddenly a huge grin appeared on his face.

"Welcome to the team, Paul." He said, holding out a hand. Paul raised an eyebrow before reaching out and taking Ash's hand.

"Thanks?" he said uncertain. As soon as they let go though, Dawn threw herself once again on Paul.

"We're going to have so much fun!" she cried out, her arms around Paul's neck while the other two boys laughed. Paul rolled his eyes as she crushed him in her grip. But he did do something unexpected.

He hugged back.

Yeah, I know, crap right? I was super bored and had no internet for a couple of hours so I couldn't write my reviews I wanted to do (I didn't have the stories up... or I would've done it in word) soooo I came up with this!

Bad ending yes? But Oh Well! I thought it was a pretty good story line otherwise! And sorry about Pauls OOC!

OH! And I put this under Romance but it can be either Romance or Friendship... whichever!