The moon emerged from the cloud cover. A stone path stretched from the backyard of the house, leading to a wide meadow behind the houses arranged side by side. The grass was neither sparse nor dense. Stepping lightly on it, one could faintly hear a crisp sound, and a soft sensation came from underfoot. A few dark clouds obscured part of the moon, but faint moonlight still shone down from the horizon through the clouds, appearing even brighter in the unobstructed environment of the meadow.
Ash reached the center of the meadow, took a deep breath of the cool night air, and then simply fell straight onto the grass.
Feeling the sensation of the grass from behind, Ash felt his mood relax a lot. He, who hadn't felt sleepy at all, started yawning in just a moment.
"Ugh~~ So comfortable~~"
He stretched, turned to his side, and closed his eyes, but he didn't try to fall asleep. After all, this was someone else's house, and they had invited him to stay, so it would be too awkward if he was found sleeping outside all night the next day.
But thinking about it, how long had it been since he had experienced this feeling?
Before traveling back to the present, he had been training day and night in a fixed place every day in order to challenge the position of Pokémon Master, and he had no time to relax in nature like this.
Feeling all this beauty, Ash could only exclaim, "It's so good to be back~!"
"Back? Back to where?"
Ash: "?!"
Just as Ash made this exclamation, Dawn walked out from behind him without him knowing. Whether it was because her footsteps were too light or because she was wearing slippers, she didn't make any noise on the grass.
"Cough cough, it's nothing, just casually sighing."
Although he was puzzled as to why Dawn was here now, Ash still answered quickly. Seeing this, Dawn just blinked curiously. But thinking that Ash had traveled through so many regions after all, it should be normal for him to sigh suddenly, right?
It was just that this behavior always gave Dawn a feeling of being old-fashioned.
"Can't you sleep either?"
Seeing Dawn walk to his side and sit down, Ash couldn't continue lying down, so he had to get up and sit next to her. The moonlight shone on their faces, as if giving the children about to embark on a new journey the most sincere blessings and baptisms, which was intoxicating.
"Yeah, a little... excited or uneasy, maybe?"
Dawn hugged her legs and swayed her whole body back and forth gently. This feeling of unease looked a little cute and was rare for Dawn. After all, her personality was actually quite confident, and she wouldn't hesitate because of a little setback. In Ash's memory, the number of times Dawn had become decadent because of being hit hard could be counted on one hand, so Ash felt novelty when he saw Dawn in this state.
"It would be strange if you didn't have this feeling. The night before I embarked on my first journey, I was so excited that I overslept. I spent the whole night thinking about which starter Pokémon to choose as my partner, and as a result, I overslept the next day."
Ash couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed about what happened when he first embarked on his journey. It was normal to be unable to sleep because he was too excited, but it wasn't normal to be so late to the lab. Gary had even waited at the door for so long just to tease him, which was annoying.
"Overslept... if it wasn't for my mom calling me at home, I'm afraid I would have overslept too..."
Although she seemed to be the only rookie trainer at this time, being late would leave a bad impression. After all, there should be many situations where she would have to deal with Professor Rowan in the future... Moreover, it was said that Professor Rowan was a terrible person, and Dawn didn't want to offend him on the first day.
"Although I was really flustered when I overslept at that time, and I didn't even have time to wash up and went out in my pajamas, I was still one step late even if I rushed so much. The three starter Pokémon of the Kanto region were all taken."
"Eh?" Dawn covered her mouth in surprise and asked, "So you didn't have a starter Pokémon?"
"Yeah, to be exact, I didn't have the three starter Pokémon from the Kanto region that should have been given to rookie trainers. At that time, I felt very sorry and regretted it, but when Professor Oak gave me Pikachu as my starter Pokémon, I felt like I had made a profit. Although Pikachu at that time hated humans as I said at noon, it would shock me as soon as I touched it, but I liked it at first sight. Looking back now, I should thank myself for oversleeping at that time."
Dawn listened quietly, as if she was Ash at that time, and her mood changed from the depression of oversleeping and not receiving a Pokémon to the joy of obtaining Pikachu.
Seeing that Dawn seemed to be slowly calming down, and the hands that had been hugging her legs had gradually loosened, Ash continued, "There are always a lot of uncertainties in travel, getting lost, meeting bad people... these are unavoidable, but overall, things will always work out in the end. Although my companions and I have encountered many dangers and troubles along the way, we finally managed to solve them, and in the end, there is only the joy of harvest..."
As expected...
A smile unconsciously appeared on the corner of Dawn's mouth. She confirmed the thoughts in her heart.
His love for Pokémon and for traveling was from the bottom of his heart.
Although traveling would definitely be a very happy thing, if I followed him, could I also encounter more interesting things?
If Dawn's feelings about traveling alone before were mixed, then after meeting Ash, hearing about his experiences on his journey, and hearing his encouragement and comfort, Dawn's thoughts about traveling had completely turned to the good side.
Anyway, things will always work out in the end. It doesn't matter if you encounter trouble, just treat it as enriching your life experiences, is that right?
Dawn looked at Ash's face, finally made up her mind, turned around to face Ash directly, and then, under his questioning gaze, Dawn said, "Although it may be a bit abrupt to say this, can I ask you to grant me a request?"
"Request?" After noticing Dawn's movements, Ash also looked at her and asked curiously.
"Yeah." Dawn nodded lightly, looked at the reflection of herself in Ash's pupils, took a deep breath, and said, "Please let me travel with you!"
The few dark clouds on the horizon drifted away in the breeze. The moonlight that had been partially obscured now seemed even more dazzling in the vast night sky.
....