My second Pearlshipping story! One I've been thinking about for awhile! And see? I told you I could write a story without tickling! Whoo Hoo! Although… my next one will probably have tickling in it!

TALKING THINKING

"I am not lazy!" Ash shouted as he glared at the blue-haired coordinator in front of him.

"Really!? When did they change the definition of lazy!?" Dawn yelled back, "Cause as far as I know getting up at noon and never cleaning up after yourself is considered lazy!"

"Sorry Mom!" Ash apologized sarcastically.

"Jeeze Ash! Your such an immature idiot!" Dawn shrieked at the young trainer.

"I am not! I've got a lot more experience than you!" Ash protested.

"Yeah? Well I could kick your butt any day of the week!" Dawn yelled.

"No way! Let's battle right here, right now!" Ash demanded.

"Ha! You'd like that, wouldn't you!? Battling! That's all you ever think about! Maybe you could beat me in a battle, but in a contest! Ha! You'd have no chance!" Dawn laughed angrily.

"I would too!" Ash argued.

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" Dawn countered.

"Alright! I'm entering the next contest!" Ash retaliated.

"Pika!?" Pikachu asked in surprise.

"Really?" Brock reiterated.

"Yeah! I am! So… where is the next contest?" Ash asked, realizing he had absolutely no idea.

After they had all finished sweat dropping, Brock looked through his map and said, "The next contest is actually next week in the town right after this one."

"Great! Let's go do some training Pikachu!" Ash yelled as he ran off.

"Let's go too Piplup!" Dawn said angrily, walking off in the opposite direction.

"Piplup-lup!" The small blue penguin cried as it waddled after her.

"This is gonna be a long a week…" Brock sighed to himself.

~A week later at the contest arena

"I would like to register for this tournament!" Ash shouted to the attendant.

"Alright and do you…" The attendant started.

"I WOULD TO!" Dawn interrupted, pushing Ash out of the way.

"Hey! I was here first!" Ash complained.

"Come on Dawn, I know your psyched, but calm down. You'll do just as well even if you do enter after Ash," Brock sighed, pulling the girl back as she scrambled for the desk.

"Pip-lup!" Piplup agreed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Dawn admitted, "But you better hurry up Ash Ketchum!"

"Okay! Fine!" Ash replied, handing the attendant his coordinator card.

"Thank you, you're all set!" The woman said as Dawn appeared at the desk.

"Me too please!" She exclaimed excitedly, handing her, her card.

"Sure, and… there we are! All ready to go!" She replied, handing her back the card.

"Thank you," Dawn said, turning back to face her opponent, "And now I'm going to go change!"

She walked off leaving Ash to think about the contest.

"Jeeze… what have I done?" Ash asked himself quietly.

"Pika?" Pikachu asked, looking to his trainer with concern.

"Don't worry buddy! I'm fine… I just… I'm not sure how this happened…" He replied, looking down until his cap covered his eyes.

"Pikaa…" The little yellow mouse cried, cocking its head slightly as it looked up at him.

"Thanks Pikachu," Ash said gratefully, "I think I'm gonna go talk to her."

"That Ash! Thinking he can beat me at a contest! Humph! Well I'll show him!" Dawn said angrily as Piplup watched her comb her hair in frustration.

"Hey Dawn?" Ash sighed, walking into the room.

"What do you want?" Dawn replied, turning away from him.

"Look Dawn, I'm really sorry for all this…" Ash muttered regretfully, "I didn't mean to get you so mad at me. I guess I was just caught up in the argument…"

Dawn stopped turning around in surprise at her friend's words.

'When did he get so mature?' She said silently.

"Really?"

"Of course! I don't want you to be mad at me! So… I'm dropping out of the contest," Ash continued, turning to leave.

'Whoa! This isn't like him! Backing out of a challenge like this? What happened to Ash!' Dawn thought, immediately countering with, "What's a matter Ash, afraid you loose?"
"Now wait just a…" The trainer began, spinning back around to meet a grinning Dawn.

"Let's have a nice, friendly battle, 'kay?" She asked smiling as she extended her hand.

Ash looked down and pulled her into a hug, "As long as you promise you won't get mad when I win."

"We'll just see about that," Dawn responded, pulling away slowly, "Now let's get this started!"
"Yeah!" Ash yelled happily as they walked out together.

"And now in the final battle are Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and Dawn Berlitz from Twinleaf Town!" Marian announced as Ash and Dawn took their places on the stage.

"Ready Ash?" The coordinator asked.

"Yep!" Ash replied grinning brightly.

"GO BUNEARY! SPOTLIGHT!" Dawn shouted throwing the pokeball into the air and releasing the small bunny pokemon.

"Go Pikachu! Let's do this!" Ash yelled as Pikachu left his side to join Buneary on the stage.

"Bunn!" Buneary cooed winking at the small yellow mouse opposite her.

"Pikaaa…" Pikachu sighed, sweat dropping at the sight.

"Buneary! This is a battle! Not a date!" Dawn yelled to her pokemon.

"Bun!" It replied, getting serious instantly.

"And… let the battle begin!" Marian yelled.

'Ya know… I've never noticed how beautiful Dawn looks in that dress…' Ash sighed in content while Dawn started the battle.

"Buneary Icebeam!"

"Huh?" He said, knocking himself out of the trance as Pikachu froze in a block of ice, "Pikachu! Quick use thunderbolt!"

"Piiiiikaaaaachuuuu!" It shouted as lightning cracked through the ice, turning it into a fine powder.

"And that beautiful thunder turned Buneary's Icebeam into a crystal mist showing off Pikachu's glorious shine!" Marian commented as Ash and Dawn's points went down.

"Quick attack Pikachu, go!" Ash yelled as his partner followed, striking Buneary dead-on and sending it flying backward.

"Buneary! Turn and land on your ears! Then use bounce!" Dawn shouted as Buneary did just that, counter attacking perfectly.

"Pikachu! Charge up electricity in your tail and then use Iron Tail!" Ash ordered.

"Pika!" It shouted back.

"That stored electricity is shining off of Pikachu's glowing tail making that attack just as beautiful as it is powerful!" Marian exclaimed.

"Oh yeah!? Buneary! Dizzy punch! GO!" Dawn yelled as Buneary attempted a counter attack.

It was flung back, sparking with electricity as it stood back up.

"Let's finish this Pikachu! Volt Tackle!" Ash yelled.

"Pika, pika, pika-pika, pikapikachuuu!" Pikachu shouted as it ran at Buneary, lightning crackling around it.

"Buneary! Bounce then use Icebeam!" Dawn yelled.

'All I have to do is tell Pikachu to jump into the Icebeam, the ice will be evaporated by the lightning and we'll make a direct on Buneary, but… if Pikachu keeps going it'll slip on the ice and slide into the wall and we'll probably loose enough points for Dawn to win, especially with such little time left!' Ash thought to himself as the Icebeam got closer.

"Pika…" Ash began.

He looked to Dawn and immediately flashed back to the last contest Dawn had lost.

'She was so upset…' Ash sighed, 'Sorry Pikachu…'

He said nothing and the Icebeam hit in front of Pikachu, freezing the ground and causing Pikachu to slip and fly into the wall as Buneary landed gracefully behind them.

"And that's it for time! By a narrow victory… the winner is… Dawn from Twinleaf Town!" Marian shouted excitedly.

Ash smiled and then ran to Pikachu, who was just standing up.

"You okay buddy?" He asked, concerned.

"Pikaa…" The little mouse apologized.

"Nah, it's okay Pikachu! You did great! I guess I'm just not cut out for contests!" Ash said, petting it and then standing back up.

The ribbon was awarded to Dawn and soon everyone had left the stadium, including Ash, Dawn and Brock.

"Nice battle," Brock commented as he and Ash waited for Dawn to change.

"Yeah, it was," Ash replied.

"It looked to me like you were thinking quite a lot on that last move," Brock noted, "That's not like you."
"Hey!" Ash protested.

"That's not what I meant," Brock corrected him, "I only meant that usually you go on instinct and it looked like you had a plan to win."

"Well… I…" Ash began.

"You shouldn't throw a match so she can win," Brock chided, "I know you only did it so she'd be happy, but she'll never learn that way."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Ash replied blushing as Dawn walked out into the lobby.

"Great battle Dawn!" Ash exclaimed grinning at her.

"Yeah!" Dawn replied excitedly.

"Uh huh…" Brock added sarcastically.
"Shut up!" Ash hissed, elbowing him in the side as he walked up to Dawn.

"You did great Dawn," He complimented.

"You too! Pikachu was wonderful," Dawn said, stroking the small pokemon's cheeks as it purred happily.

"Yeah… wonderful," Brock sighed, rubbing his side where Ash had nudged him.

Dawn looked to her older companion and shrugged making a mental note of the incident as they walked outside. After a night of fun and celebrating the trio returned to the pokemon center for a good night's sleep.

"Hey Ash?" Dawn whispered as she walked out onto the small patio.

"Dawn? What are you doing up?" Ash asked turning to face her.

"Couldn't sleep," She muttered quickly.

"Yeah, me neither, so what is it?" He sighed.

"Did you… did you throw the match today?" She asked quietly.

"Damn that Brock!" Ash said annoyed.

"Brock didn't tell me anything," Dawn corrected him.

"Oh." Ash grumbled, feeling really stupid.

He blushed and turned away from the coordinator whispering to her, "You mad?"
"Turn around and find out," She told him.

He did and got flicked in the nose for his trouble.

"Oww! Hey! I only did it so you wouldn't be upset!" Ash whined, grabbing his nose in pain.

"I know," Dawn replied calmly.

"So why did…" Ash started as he looked back up at her.

She leaned in and pecked him on the lips, "It was sweet."

Ash blushed and grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Don't do it again," She warned, turning and walking back inside.

He grinned wider and looked back towards the city, "Wow…"

He stumbled back inside, still dazed by the kiss and crawled into bed. A few minutes later he fell asleep, his head swimming with thoughts about one person and one person alone.

"Oh Ashy," Dawn cooed as she pulled on his shirt.

"H-huh?" Ash asked started as his face heated up.

"I love you Ashton Ketchum, you're the strongest trainer I've ever met," Dawn continued smiling as she pulled him closer.

"R-really!?" Ash exclaimed still really shocked.

"Why of course!" Dawn replied, pushing him down onto the bed, "I've always loved you!"

"W-what… umm… what are y-you doing?" Ash stuttered as Dawn climbed on top of him.

"I dunno, just havin' some fun," She replied, leaning closer to Ash's beet-red face.

"B-but, w-what if B-brock sees!?" He said, stumbling to find the right words.

"There's no need to worry," Dawn replied grinning at him, "We're just gonna have a little fun."

"B-but Dawn…" Ash started.

"Like I said, there's no need to worry," Dawn replied, "Come on Ash, don't you love me? Huh Ash?"

"O-of course!" Ash answered quickly.

"Ash?" Dawn called.

"I do love you!" Ash yelled to her.

"Ash?" She repeated.
"ASH!"