Pokemon The time traveler

Ch 39 She's what!!!

"Ow!" Ash mentally yelled as he received a fifth blow to his leg. "This stupid bike keeps hitting my shin with the pedal!" After apologizing to Dawn for Pikachu destroying her bicycle, Ash volunteered to carry it back to her house. He told her it was the least he could do to repay her. However, he was regretting even asking because the pedal kept hitting his shin as he carried the bike under his right arm. It wasn't that each blow hurt a lot, but it kept hitting one spot and the pain was adding up. "Crap!" Ash complained as he took another hit. "Dang it, Pikachu. We're gonna have a talk about this 'destroying people's bike' thing later..."

"We're almost there, Ash," Dawn said interrupting his thoughts. "It should take us another ten minutes to get there."

"Great..." Ash grunted.

"So," she started as she viewed Pikachu and Piplup walking ahead of them down the path. "This 'Team Rocket' you talked about—do they really try and take other people's Pokémon for themselves?"

Ash knew she was recalling them from the story he told her on how he and Pikachu were separated. "Yeah, it's like their job or something," he said bluntly while looking at her. "They've been trying to take Pikachu ever since I've started my journey."

"That's awful!" Dawn exclaimed angrily looking at Ash.

"You're telling me," he responded. "It's annoying that they keep trying."

"I didn't want to believe people actually did stuff like that...I can't imagine anything like that happening to me." She turned her attention back to the walking Pokémon and frowned. "I just got Piplup, but I already feel so attached to him," she said softly. "I don't know what I'd do if someone tried taking him away from me..."

"If it makes you feel any better, Team Rocket isn't good at what they do," he stated truthfully. "You have a better chance of scaring them with a Burmy than getting your Pokémon taken away by them."

Dawn giggled at the thought of people being afraid of such a small, harmless Pokémon.

Ash smiled as he got her to think of something else. He then thought of something that might work.

"But...if you're still worried about them, you could travel with us," he suggested nonchalantly.

Dawn stopped laughing after hearing his words. She took in every word carefully before replying. "You want me to travel with you?" She asked curiously. Everything seemed to slow around her as she waited for his response.

"I mean, if you want to."

"Y-You mean just you and me traveling the Sinnoh Region?" A blush slowly emerged on her face. "How I can go from hating this person at one moment to feeling flustered in another? I've spent less than two hours with him, but...I don't even know how to describe it. It feels like I've known him for years..."

Ash could tell she was thinking but decided to answer her anyways. "Uh, no, it wouldn't just be you and me," he clarified. "I'm traveling with another friend...or at least I think I still am."

"You don't know if traveling with someone else?" Dawn eyed the trainer curiously. She broke her thoughts and concentrated on him once he began to speak.

"It's complicated," Ash stated while scratching his chin. He smiled to himself when he thought of another way to convince her. "But, I'll find out when we get to Twinleaf Town. She's probably waiting for me at the port right now. I'm sure she's in a rush to sign up for the Sinnoh Contests...I'm not sure she'll be happy if—,"

"Wait!" Dawn yelled as she stepped in front of him. "Your friend is a coordinator?"

"Yeah...is that a problem?"