Platinum Witch

Chapter 5: Under the Night

AN: Oh dear god I finally got my act together and finished this. When was the last time I updated again?

Checks last modified date of Chapter 4: 6/29/2017

Last AN: I will do my best to make sure it doesn't take me a year to make a new chapter.

...Woops.

I do apologize for the fact that it took 3 years to make this. I did want to finish Pride of Your Soul before I shifted focus onto my other stories. I did leave a notice chapter, but someone told me that it was against the TOS so I took it down (even though like literally half of the stories on this site are doing the same thing). And a lot has happened while I was away from here. Both personally, and in the real world. You know you'd think a pandemic forcing you to work from home would give you more time and motivation to make more chapters. But apparently, that's not the case.

I'm sorry for everyone who waited so long for chapter 5. I'm sorry for everyone who I may or may not have blueballed when I took the hiatus chapter down. And I thank everyone of you who still stuck around (seriously though, I actually don't know why this story has this many favorites/follows despite only being 4 chapters long). I will try my best to be more frequent with updates (pretty sure I still owe everyone following PoYS a QnA chapter). But regardless, thank you for sticking around. All I hope is that I can still entertain.

Now onto the reviews:

jordanlink7856: OOOOOOOO!

Arkhym Wyntier: ...I am so sorry.

Tony Anderson: I'm so sorry this took three years. But here we are now!

prototype gear: I mean maybe. Also no, I don't want to think about that. Poor Barry (probably).

TheDarkMaster4000: I suppose there are a few parallels between Dawn and her future successor Nate (chronologically speaking at least). Also spoilers; I doubt I'll be doing an ORAS fic in the near future. Mostly because I don't trust myself finishing these in a relatively decent amount of time and I actually do have another Pokemon story planned after at least either Platinum Witch or Fidelity ends. Although I do have a general plot set for an ORAS story if I ever do get around making one.

Regarding Roark's battle, I do remember that Cranidos can learn Flamethrower and Shock Wave. A few manga adaptations go into this by arming Roark's Cranidos with such coverage, so I figured, why not. Team Galactic is also something I'm pretty excited to work on. While the grunts might more-or-less be the same from canon, there's a lot of material I can work with for the higher-ups. Regardless, thanks for your support as always.

I M Poik: I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting Poik.

Also you do bring up something I should iterate. To everyone who has read through Color of Your Soul. Spoiler warning: yes Dawn does show up there. Chronologically speaking, that is her from after the events of this story. So yes, the team she has with her there will be her final team. I do ask that you please do not spoil her final team in the reviews. I do wish to keep it as much of a surprise as I can.

Barry and Lucas on the other hand: I already finalized both of their teams. Lucas is free game since he really doesn't have a 'team' per say. Barry keeps most of his in-game team; however, I have made some changes on his roster. I won't dwell into what exactly got changed. Hope to hear from you soon again, Poik.

twilight sparkle: Hi there! Glad you like my story! Although I will have to disappoint you; for most of the Pokemon adaptations I do and will do in the future, I only stick with in-game material and characters (and some OCs if I need someone to fill a role that hasn't been touched on in the games). I don't plan on using anime-only characters (unless they do make official game appearances). So unfortunately I don't plan on putting Ash into my story. Sorry about that!

E-cat420: Hello there! Thank you for your comment! Glad you liked my portrayal of the main trio. And I do assure you, there is more to Giratina than meets the eye. I do hope to see you again in the future.

M: Not gonna lie, thinking about it now, that would technically be the correct term to use in terms of Pokemon universe. That one is my bad; it sounded funnier to me at the time. Nonetheless, thank you!

Harem Lover 26: Well, you're gonna have to wait and see just what she ends up catching.

Alright, let's get to the chapter.

"Talk! Where is the rest of your group!?" Looker demanded.

After a repeat of what had happened back at Jubilife, Barry and Lucas had effortlessly defeated the two men of Team Galactic who had previously tried to mug Professor Rowan. This time, however, Looker was there to detain the two. And now he was interrogating them to reveal the whereabouts of their other comrades, should his hunch be accurate.

"We ain't gonna tell you anything!" one of them shot back.

"Yeah! We don't know nothing!" the other shot back as well.

"That's a double negative," Lucas pointed out. "So, you do know something. Or you're just plain stupid. Either one's plausible, really."

"What!?" the second man yelled indignantly, glaring murderously at Lucas.

"It must be sad," Barry added. "To think you ran all the way up here, and no one's here to save you."

"That's not true at all!" the first grunt yelled.

"Yeah! Our buddies back at the power plant will definitely come save us when they realize we haven't come back!" the second grunt responded.

Looker had to thank the kids later; he did not expect them to make this interrogation so much easier.

"So you have comrades at the power plant?" Looker asked carefully.

The two grunts glared at Looker, before slowly realizing the blunder that they made. Lucas glanced at Barry, who had a rather goofy smirk on his face. Did he purposely say that to make them reveal where their other allies were...? Lucas was starting to have his suspicions on whether Barry was simply a simple-minded fool who got lucky or actually deceptively cunning. His demeanor did not help Lucas in deciding which was more accurate.

"Goddamn it!" the first grunt yelled. "Yeah that's right! We have buddies occupying the Valley Windworks!"

"But you'll never get in! We have the entire place on lockdown!" the second grunt yelled triumphantly.

"Enough of that!" Looker snarled. "You two are under arrest as members of Team Galactic!"

As Looker took out a walkie-talkie to contact someone, most likely the local police, Barry glanced around worryingly. "Is everything alright?" Lucas asked Barry, noticing his sudden change of expression.

"...Dawn should've been here by now..." Barry said.

"Dawn?" Lucas asked, before looking around. True to Barry's words, the girl in question was nowhere to be seen. "That's...odd...You'd think she would show up by now."

"Perhaps your friend is waiting for you two at the pokécenter," Looker offered, having finished contacting the local police. "You two can go on ahead. Once I confirm that these two are in the hands of the local authority, I will head to the Valley Windworks."

"Sounds like a plan," Lucas nodded. "C'mon."

"Right..." Barry nodded, although his worry for Dawn did not leave his face.

"Look, I'm sure she'll be fine," Lucas told Barry in an attempt to calm him down. "She's a smart girl. She wouldn't do anything reckless like say, oh I dunno, go raid the Valley Windworks on her own."

Dawn gritted her teeth as she jumped to the side, avoiding the rotund cat slam Turtwig into the wall with deceptively blistering speed. Turtwig gagged as the cat pressed Turtwig further into the wall, choking the life out of him.

"Shinx!" Dawn yelled out.

Shinx growled as he charged into the cat with a Spark attack, electrocuting the feline and pushing it off of Turtwig, letting the turtle fall onto the ground.

"-Are you alright?-" Shinx asked.

"-Yeah,-" Turtwig coughed, before glancing up. "-Duck!-"

Turtwig pushed Shinx out of the way of a Signal Beam aimed at him, courtesy of the yanma hovering above the duo. It looked like the offense from Mars' side was relentless; from both the forefront and from above.

"Shinx, Leer! Turtwig, Razor Leaf!"

Shinx glared at the two Pokémon in front of them. While they were not overly intimidated by the gesture when compared to the opening glare, it was enough to lower their defenses. Turtwig followed up by launching a slew of razor-sharp leaves at them. Purugly was forced to defend herself from the attack, but Yanma shrugged it off, before firing a slew of blades made of air in response, ravaging the duo in a blast of razor-sharp air.

"C'mon, can't you do better after all that big talk?" Mars taunted.

Dawn merely offered an icy leer in response, before immediately assessing the situation before her. The cat, she recognized as a purugly, was most definitely Mars' main offense. It had been taking on Turtwig with ease so far, only ignoring Shinx since he was being dealt with by Yanma, unless Shinx happened to sneak out of the dragonfly's barrage and go assist Turtwig. Dawn did not doubt that Purugly could easily take both Turtwig and Shinx on if the situation demanded it.

Speaking of Yanma, the dragonfly proved to be an utter annoyance. Hanging from above and raining down Signal Beams and Air Cutters down upon the duo, Yanma had been doing nothing but offering Purugly invaluable air support. Because the dragonfly was up in the skies, Turtwig and Shinx could not simply double down and gang up on Purugly. Yanma would always pick a target and keep them occupied, while Purugly picked the other to fight. It was a double battle, but it was obvious that Mars had the advantage with far more experience on the field of battle. At this rate, it would not be long before Mars defeated Turtwig and Shinx.

'However, you have a trump card that can and will turn the tables,' Giratina pointed out within her mind.

Ah yes, Giratina was right. If there was anything that Dawn had over Mars at this very moment, it was access to demonic supernatural powers straight out of an eldritch horror story. With them, she could easily deal the woman right now whether it be incapacitating her or outright killing her if things got hairy. However, that ran several risks.

First, it would require exposing her nature with the powers of the shards to everyone in the room, including the other Team Galactic admin and the owner of the Windworks who was being kept hostage. If one of them escaped with knowledge of Dawn's 'perks', then that would surely be used against her, and the Team Galactic forces moving forward would also know of Dawn's powers and be prepared for it, whether it be to try and recruit her to their ranks or outright eliminating her when she was vulnerable so she would not be a problem in the future.

Second, she would need an opening to use them in the first place without exposing herself, which she could not do as she was blatantly in everyone's sights. The moment they saw her use them, they would all be on guard instantly. She needed to factor of surprise for them to be most effective.

And finally, her pride refused it. Her stubborn pride refused to use them for battle. If it was for remedial tasks such as breaking into a locked door or cutting down pesky trees or threatening someone like she did with Lucas without actually showing them off to them, then she would have no qualms whatsoever.

But the moment she used them to actually harm another being, whether it be Pokémon or a person, on her own volition (not when Giratina took over in an emergency), she would truly become the monster that everyone keeps calling her. The fact that she had offhandedly considered killing Mars disgusted Dawn. That was something she refused to stoop down to.

And from the looks of the scenario, it would seem the demand was steadily increasing by the second.

Turtwig and Shinx were doing their best to fend off Purugly, but Yanma getting in their way made the task all the more difficult. If she could just get rid of one of them...

"Purugly, Shadow Claw!"

"Turtwig, Withdraw!"

Without missing a beat, Turtwig receded into his shell as Purugly lunged forward with a claw made from shadowy energy. The claw bounced off Turtwig's shell, vexing the cat.

"Annoying little..." Mars grumbled. "Yanma, Signal Beam!"

"Now! Spark on Yanma!" Dawn yelled out.

Shinx growled as he surged with electricity once more, as Yanma was preparing to fire off another Signal Beam at the defending Turtwig. Shinx charged forward, and then to Team Galactic's surprise, jumped off Turtwig and soared straight into Yanma, who was in the middle of an attack. The electrified tackle crashed into Yanma, electrocuting the dragon fly mercilessly while bringing him down to the ground. The Spark was strong enough to knock out Yanma in one hit, which was perfect in Dawn's mind.

"Tch," Mars clicked her tongue in annoyance as she recalled Yanma.

"Oh? Are we having trouble dealing with one measly child?" Charon asked in an amused tone, no doubt taking fun in teasing Mars.

"Shut it, you old fart!" Mars hissed. "Are you done yet!?"

"If you want to know, then yes, we have all the energy we need from here," Charon announced.

'They already finished!?' Dawn thought. How much energy did they siphon from this place!? How fast did they actually work!?

"Finally! Some good news!" Mars exclaimed, a malicious grin on her face. "Which means the rest of this place is expendable, yes?"

...Dawn did not like where Mars was going with that question.

"We obtained what we wanted," Charon shrugged. "The smarter option would be to just leave now..."

"Purugly, Slash at the generators!"

Without warning, Purugly suddenly whipped her claws at a nearby generator, making a deep slash into the machine. It burst sparks of electricity, before the whole plant quickly shut off in power. They were all submerged in complete darkness.

"Or you could do that...sure..." Charon sighed. "Why not..."

Barry quickly entered the pokécenter back at Floaroma Town, glancing around frantically. To his disappointment and increasing worry, Dawn was nowhere in sight.

"Where is she?" Barry asked as Lucas quickly followed suit.

"She's not here?" Lucas asked in shock. "...Then where...?"

"U-Um! Excuse me!"

Barry and Lucas quickly turned to see a small girl approaching them, who looked like she was on the verge of breaking down into tears.

"Hey there, what's up?" Barry asked.

"A blonde boy with an orange and white striped shirt..." she mumbled, before raising her voice. "A-Are you friends with a girl with long blue hair and a red jacket?"

Barry's and Lucas' eyes widened instantly. "You know where Dawn is?!" Barry asked.

"Y-Yeah..." the girl whimpered. "Sh-she told me to tell you that she's at the Windworks..."

"What?!" Barry gasped.

"She actually went there alone!?" Lucas gasped. They had no idea who was there or how many of those Team Galactic punks were there! Why would she do something so reckless...?

"Sh-she went to go save Papa!" the girl defended Dawn. "P-Please help her! Please help save Papa!"

Lucas instantly knelt down to the girl and placed his hands on her shoulder. "Don't worry," he assured her. "We'll save your dad. Can you take us to the Windworks?"

"Y-Yeah," the girl nodded.

"C'mon!" Barry urged the two, his worry for Dawn escalating by the minute.

Barry and Lucas allowed the little girl to lead them out of the pokécenter and over to where the Valley Windworks was, and where Dawn was most likely at.

"Son of a..." Dawn swore, frantically glancing around. No luck, she could not see anything.

A flash of light ripped through the darkness of the room momentarily, before immediately fading out. Judging from the sound that accompanied it, it was most likely that someone released another Pokémon. Great, she had just gotten to taking out one of Mars' Pokémon. Now there was another mystery Pokémon that she has no idea what is was.

"At least she can't see us...right?" Dawn muttered.

'You know there's a high chance whatever she just sent out probably can see in the dark,' Giratina pointed out.

"I know," Dawn grumbled back. "If only we can see...don't you have like night vision or something?"

'I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a wizard.'

"You'd be way more useful to me as a wizard right now, to be honest."

'You know, with all this darkness, you have the perfect cover to deal with her right now.'

Dawn scowled but knew that Giratina had a point. She had been contemplating on not using them for the risk that she would expose herself immediately. With the pitch black of the room, no one would see her using her powers to quickly turn the tides.

She could hear the pained cries of Turtwig and Shinx but could not see them. Clearly Mars had some way of seeing in the dark and was using that to her advantage. Dawn needed to make up her mind now before she lost. If only she could see where the hell her opponent was!

"What's the matter? You can't see?" Mars taunted from within the darkness. "Tough luck! If you're a trainer, then you should be willing to play dirty and know how to play dirty back!"

"Sounds like someone can't win fairly and has to resort to playing dirty!" Dawn yelled back, doing her best to not let Mars' jeers get to her.

"That sounds like a personal problem," Mars shot back. "Now, why don't we just end this right NOW!?"

'IN FRONT OF YOU!'

Giratina's mental cry was enough to make Dawn jump back, as Purugly shot out from the dark and lunged straight for her. Dawn yelped as she jumped back, hitting the door behind her. She was expecting Purugly's claws to sink into her defenseless flesh, but to her surprise, the rotund cat had stopped mere inches away from her.

"Wha...?" Dawn muttered, until she realized what had happened.

Several black spikes had shot out from around where Dawn had been standing and had stopped Purugly in her tracks, holding her up in the air and completely immobilizing her. Despite the action having essentially saved her life, she did not cause the shadowy spikes to come out.

Not by her own intentions, at least.

'That was close...' Giratina said.

"Thanks..." Dawn muttered, trying to calm her rapidly-beating heart down.

'I'd rather you not get killed, after all,' Giratina replied. 'And now you have an opening.'

Dawn stared at the perplexed Purugly, who was wondering why she had suddenly stopped in midair and could do nothing but flail her arms futilely. Indeed, now was a perfect opening to take out Purugly and rid herself of one headache.

"Hey what's going on?!" Mars' shrill screaming ripped through the silence of the pitch-black room. "What're those small lights? I thought the power was cut off!"

"Two small lights...?" Dawn mumbled, before she looked down and realized that the 'two small lights' were in fact her gleaming platinum eyes, courtesy of her powers being active. "Tch!"

Dawn did not look up, making sure no one saw the lights coming from her eyes, before spotting Turtwig below Purugly, and Shinx having wandered off aimlessly in the dark, and now closer to a nearby generator.

"Turtwig!" Dawn whispered. "Razor Leaf up above you!"

Turtwig glanced up, spotting the ensnared Purugly, before unleashing a slew of razor-sharp leaves at the overweight feline. Purugly let out a pained cry as she could do nothing but let the Razor Leaf slash her apart. Once Turtwig let up, Dawn glared at the Purugly, before raising her foot up.

"Get out of my FACE!" Dawn growled as she slammed her foot straight into Purugly's face, sending her straight into Mars.

"Agh!" Mars cried out as Purugly crashed into her, knocking the both of them off the table that Mars was sitting on. The spikes dissipated into thin air after the Pokémon they were holding was ripped off from them. Dawn's eyes returned to normal immediately once the spikes disappeared, letting her sigh in relief.

"Shinx, Spark!" Dawn yelled.

Shinx nodded, before unleashing a strong current of electricity from his body, which hit the generator. The electricity poured into the machine, bringing it back to life and filling the room with light.

"What!?" Mars gasped as she got up, pushing Purugly off of her.

Within the light, a lone zubat was spotted hovering above them, freaking out over having been spotted. That must have been the third Pokémon Mars sent out after Purugly destroyed the generators.

"So that's your trick, huh," Dawn growled. Zubats were known to be able to maneuver through even the darkest of caves using echolocation. It would not be a stretch to assume that Mars utilized this particular ability of her zubat's to guide Purugly directly to where Turtwig and Shinx were while they were helpless.

"How the hell did you stop Purugly!?" Mars demanded. "There's no way a scrawny-looking girl like you could've stopped her from gutting your throat out!"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Dawn spat. "Turtwig! Shinx! Now!"

With only Zubat left by himself, Turtwig and Shinx rushed down the lone bat. Zubat tried to fend them off with a Supersonic, but the duo easily evaded the attack, before crashing into the bat with a Bite and a Spark respectively. The combination attack was more than enough to take out the frail zubat as it collapsed to the floor rather pathetically.

Mars' jaw dropped as she watched her final Pokémon go down. The brat in front of her glared at her as Mars' brain began to register what had happened.

"H-How...?" Mars asked.

She had lost.

She, Mars, one of the three elite Commanders of Team Galactic, had lost.

And to this random brat with a mere turtwig and a shinx, no less!

Charon's cackling did no favors for Mars' increasing frustration; it only added fuel to the metaphorical fire that was Mars' increasingly-short temper at the moment.

"To think that you lost to a random child! After acting so full of yourself!" Charon wheezed. "Oh, this is rich! Absolutely beautiful!"

Mars whipped around to the old man, shooting him a furious glare.

"Shut the hell up, you old fart!" Mars snarled.

"Calm down, I'm only jesting," Charon said. "We have what we came for anyways, so we achieved our mission."

"I...I suppose so..." Mars grumbled.

"Now then, I do believe we should be on our way," Charon said as he got up from his chair. "The two scouts haven't returned by the curfew we set for them, so no doubt someone has caught onto us."

As if on cue, the sound of the door bursting open echoed down the hall, with a familiar voice crying out Dawn's name could be made out as well.

"Barry?" Dawn mumbled, instantly recognizing her friend's loud voice.

"We should get going before things get even more annoying," Charon said as he sent out his own Pokémon. It was a dark pink and blue Pokémon, vaguely resembled a duck with a blue bill and an antenna protruding upwards, with its blue arms and tail being loosely attached to the body, and its head being completely detached from it, floating above the body. "That was quite entertaining, if I do say so myself. Thank you for the amusing show."

Charon gave the owner of the Windworks a pat on the back. "Thank you for your cooperation, and sorry you had to deal with her attitude. Have a nice day!"

The man merely nodded dumbly, not sure of how else to react to the old man's nonchalance and friendliness.

"I'll remember this brat!" Mars growled, leering at Dawn as she recalled her Pokémon. "Next time I see you, you're good as dead!"

"Hey where do you think you're–!?" Dawn shot back.

"Flash."

The 'duck' let out a sporadic noise, akin to the sound one would hear when a computer gets the dreaded blue screen of death and freak out, before its body glowed brightly; even brighter than the room; blinding everyone in it.

"AGH!" Dawn yelped, as everyone covered their eyes from the light that shined too brilliantly in the room. Once the light died down, Dawn and her Pokémon opened them to find that both Mars and Charon had disappeared; no traces of Team Galactic had been left behind.

"Damn it..." Dawn muttered as Barry, Lucas and the small girl Dawn had encountered earlier barged into the room.

"Dawn!" Barry cried out.

"Calm down, I'm alright," Dawn said to her friend.

"PAPA!" the girl cried as she sprinted towards the other man in the room.

"Melinda!" the man exclaimed in relief.

The girl was about to jump into her father's arms, before reeling back after taking a whiff.

"Ew! You smell sweaty, Papa!" Melinda exclaimed.

The man stared at his daughter dumbly for a moment, before he took a whiff of his lab coat and reeling in disgust.

"Well, I suppose they had been making me work for a while...I'm certainly due for a shower," the man admitted, before turning to Dawn. "Thank you for coming to our rescue."

"It was the least I can do," Dawn muttered back.

"But to think...those strange folks," the man muttered. "To steal the energy from the Windworks...just what is their intention for it?"

"Wait, what happened?" Lucas asked, confused. "Team Galactic was here, right?"

"Yeah," Dawn nodded. "They stole a lot of energy from the power plant here. For what purpose, hell if I knew."

"They stole power from here?" Lucas asked. "...Huh...that's strange...perhaps they plan to use the energy to fuel something?"

"Yeah, but what?" Dawn asked.

"That's beyond me," Lucas shrugged.

"More importantly!" Barry yelled, turning back to Dawn with a firm frown. "Why did you go off on your own like that?"

"Yeah," Lucas agreed. "Going off on your own, without at least telling us, was reckless of you. You had no idea what was waiting for you here."

Dawn tightened her lips in indignation, but she knew the two were right to be upset with her. There was no telling who or what was waiting for her back here in the Windworks, and yet she went off by herself without so much as informing the others because her emotions got the better of her rationality. She would have lost too had she not possessed an edge like no other.

"...Yeah, yeah, I know," Dawn grumbled, lowering her voice. "...Sorry."

Lucas sighed, while Barry simply smiled back in response.

"Just be more careful next time," Lucas said. "And don't try going off fighting weirdos alone."

"Yeah! At least bring me with you next time!" Barry insisted.

Dawn nodded, before kneeling down to Turtwig and Shinx, who waddled over to Dawn.

"You two did great out there," Dawn said to the two.

"-Aw shucks!-" Shinx blurted happily.

"-Are you okay?-" Turtwig asked. "-That cat almost attacked you...-"

"I'll be fine," Dawn assured Turtwig, before she took out two pokéballs. "You two need some rest though."

As Dawn recalled Turtwig and Shinx, Looker suddenly shot into the room, startling everyone there.

"This is the International Police!" Looker yelled, before realizing that there were no Team Galactic members in sight. "Oh...they got away?"

"Yeah," Dawn said. "Sorry about that."

"Nonsense!" Looker reassured Dawn. "While it is unfortunate that they were here but got away, I'm more relieved to see that you are safe after I heard that you broke into the Windworks alone."

"...Thanks," Dawn muttered, not expecting Looker to show concern for her safety.

"Now then," Looker said, turning towards the man in charge of the Valley Windworks. "I would like to ask you a few questions regarding what Team Galactic wanted with your facility."

"Of course," he nodded. "I'm sorry for the poor conditions of my lab...ha ha..."

"That's quite alright," Looker responded, before glancing back to the three kids. "I'll take things from here. Thank you three for your support on the matter."

"No problem at all!" Barry said cheerily.

"Alright then," Dawn said as she turned around. "Let's get out of here then–."

As Dawn was about to step out of the room, someone tugged at her skirt, stopping Dawn in her tracks. Dawn glanced behind her to see that it was the small girl, Melinda, who was tugging at her skirt.

"Thank you for saving Papa!" she said to Dawn with a big smile.

Dawn blinked at the girl, not expecting the show of gratitude, before smiling and kneeling down to her level, gently ruffling her hair.

"It's no problem at all," Dawn said in a gentler tone. "I'm glad your dad is safe."

"Uh huh!" Melinda smiled. "Maybe now, the balloon Pokémon will come back to play!"

"The balloon Pokémon?" Lucas asked. "You mean Drifloon?"

"Uh huh!" Melinda nodded. "If they come back, then it'll definitely be tomorrow. They always come on Fridays!"

"I see..." Lucas said, contemplating. "Alright, we should be heading out soon. If you two want to make it to the next city by tomorrow, then you'll have to go through Eterna Forest tonight."

"What about you?" Barry asked. "You're not coming with us?"

"I want to stay here a little longer and see if this driflloon really does show up," Lucas said. "Drifloon are rather rare to come by, so I wanna document it for the pokédex."

"Fair enough," Dawn said.

With that, the trio headed back to the pokécenter to heal up their teams and prepare for their next expedition. As they left the room, Dawn glanced back as she saw Looker asking the head of the Valley Windworks some questions. Melinda rushed back to her father, who rubbed her head affectionately while speaking with Looker. Melinda glanced back to Dawn, before waving goodbye to her. Dawn merely waved back with a small smile before turning back to leave, the smile instantly disappearing for her usual cold frown.

"Dad...huh..." Dawn mumbled quietly. Within her cold, distant eyes, one could find a hint of melancholy within them, however small it may be.

A woman let out a tired sigh as she glanced up to the night skies of the pristine and lush green forest of Eterna. She herself had equally green hair tied into a segmented ponytail, while wearing a light green long jacket over a black under shirt, and a long light dark green skirt. Accompanying her was a rather pink ovoid Pokémon with stubby arms, and a dark pink pouch that contained a single egg.

"I can't believe we got lost here," the woman sighed. "I'm really sorry, Chansey. You have to deal with someone as incompetent as me..."

Chansey shook her head vigorously, as if telling her trainer that that was not the case at all. The woman appreciated the gesture, but that did not change the fact that they were currently lost in Eterna Forest. She had wished to travel through the forest to reach Eterna City by morning, but the forest at night proved to be a surprisingly complex maze of trees. With no light shining down the thick ceiling of trees to guide them, she and Chansey found themselves lost by the hour. And while there was no rush to get to Eterna City and they could easily camp out the night, she had heard unsavory rumors of a sinister organization called Team Galactic being spotted near the forest. Even if they were just rumors, she'd rather not stay here long enough to find out.

However, there would be little progress made if she kept wandering through the forest by herself. She would eventually tire herself out and be left defenseless. If she had at least some companions to travel with, then it would a much different story...

"Alright Itachi! Let's try this again–NOT AGAIN!"

The woman and Chansey glanced up at the sound of an energetic boy's cries of agony. The duo walked towards the direction of the sound, which led them back to the entrance of the forest (much to their dismay). There, they spotted two kids. One blonde boy with an orange-and-white striped shirt (which was most likely the source of that scream), currently being assaulted by a small, orange weasel Pokémon; one that she recognized as a buizel. And a girl with long navy-blue hair wearing a red jacket that covered her skirt and a white hat, giving the boy a rather disappointed look along with her turtwig.

"Why don't you love me, Itachi!?" the boy cried out. "I only wanted for you to train out here while we go along our merrily way! Now stop merrily eating my hand!"

"I mean let's be honest here," the girl retorted. "If I were suddenly ambushed by some random human and shoved into a pokéball, and then they suddenly told me we were going to be best friends forever, I would've taken offence to that. Maybe not eat your hand; kicking you in the balls would be more effective; but I digress."

"Your snark isn't help us bond, Dawn!" the boy responded. "Also don't give Itachi more ideas! It's not helping!"

"Your optimism isn't helping either, Barry," the girl said curtly. "Regardless, Itachi is probably still pissed off that you suddenly blindsided him."

"Well I'm sorry for hurling Chloris at you so that she can stun you easily! I'll make it up to you, I promise! Now stop eating my hand! I'm not tasty at all!"

"I suggest you apologize to Chloris too, while you're at it, since you literally hurled her at him..."

The buizel, apparently nicknamed 'Itachi', let out a muffled growled, as his mouth was currently occupied with trying to rip off the boy's hand, as if in a response in agreement to the girl's statement.

"You sure you don't want to try using someone else?" the girl, Dawn, asked. "I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure it's best to avoid Pokémon that try to kill you."

"Nah," the boy, Barry, replied. "I knew that Itachi is a strong one the moment I happened to lay my eyes on him before we got here! That's why I had to catch him! He's gonna go places, and I'm gonna show him those places!"

Itachi narrowed at Barry, before slowly letting go of the boy's hands. The weasel crossed his two small forearms, glowering at his new trainer.

"-...I'll hold you to that,-" Itachi muttered.

"Huh, you actually managed to pacify him," Dawn said, quirking a brow. "Honestly I can never tell whether you're actually smart or just a lucky idiot."

"Hey I can be both!" Barry argued.

Dawn merely rolled her eyes, before glancing over to the woman that had been watching their antics for a while now. Whether the girl just now noticed her presence, or was aware of her from the beginning, she could not tell. If anything, she only felt slightly unnerved by the girl's platinum eyes that somehow gleamed in the dark night, as if they were staring straight into her soul.

"...Can we help you?" Dawn asked.

"A-Ah, yes!" the woman stuttered. "My name is Cheryl."

"Hiya, Cheryl!" Barry greeted cheerfully. "My name's Barry! And this is Dawn!"

Dawn merely nodded curtly at her. The girl's brisk and distant greeting was a stark contrast to her friend's jolly greeting.

"Barry, and Dawn," Cheryl nodded. "Well, I'm very glad to have met you two. Are you two perhaps new to the forest?"

"Yeah," Dawn nodded. "We were hoping to try and go through it to reach Eterna City by morning..."

"But man! Look how dark it is here!" Barry exclaimed. "I dunno if we can make it out here that fast!"

So these two children wished to get through the forest as well. They were all on the same page then.

"Then perhaps we can go together?" Cheryl asked. "Truth be told, I'm trying to navigate the forest as well, and to my shame, am currently lost at the moment..."

"Yeah this place is like really dark," Barry said. "But no worries! We have living flashlights!"

Barry proceeded to send out Wukong, whose fire lit brightly in the darkness of the forest. Dawn shrugged, before sending out Shinx. Upon witnessing the dark surroundings, Shinx immediately let out a gleaming light from his fur, which further lit up the forest.

"With this much light, we'll be able to find our way out in no time!" Barry declared jovially.

"This is wonderful!" Cheryl exclaimed. With a steady light source, navigating the forest would be much easier. "We should be able to get through it in one piece so long as we do not disturb the Pokémon, but we should still be careful. I heard some rumors that this evil group of people called Team Galactic are lurking around the forest..."

Upon hearing Team Galactic, both Dawn and Barry both tensed. They just dealt with them back at Floaroma (in Barry's case) and fighting off one their admins (in Dawn's case). They were now in the forest too?

"They're like a bunch of roaches, I swear to Arceus..." Dawn muttered, ignoring the snort that echoed in her mind.

"Well that can't be good," Barry said. "If they're around here, then it wouldn't be safe going alone."

"Then you'll accompany me through the forest?" Cheryl asked. She was elated when the two agreed to her request. "Thank you very much! Ah, don't worry. We will keep your Pokémon in perfect health."

In response, Chansey eagerly nodded. Itachi merely grunted in response, while Turtwig calmly introduced himself to the pink ovoid creature.

"That would be helpful," Dawn nodded. "We wouldn't have to worry about dwindling supplies with your chansey."

Cheryl lightened up tremendously. While this did not change the fact that she was still lost, having Dawn and Barry with her gave her much more confidence to trek through the dark forest. If Team Galactic was here, then surely the three of them could fend off any trouble and get out of the forest in one piece.

"Alright then," Cheryl said. "Let's get moving."

Having a constant light source was a boon for the group of three, as traversing through the dark maze of trees was made much easier now that they can clearly see what was in front of them. The light source did attract some wild Pokémon to them, but they were mostly friendly and did not try to antagonize them for the most parts. Of course, that is not to say that all the wild Pokémon were friendly.

"Itachi, Aqua Jet!"

"Shinx, Spark!"

Itachi surrounded himself in water as he flew into an opposing buneary with the speed of a bullet, slamming into the bunny head on and into a tree. Shinx, meanwhile, surged with electricity and rammed into a beautifly that tried to use a Gust attack on Dawn. The assault electrocuted the butterfly, sending it back to the ground.

With the opposition defeated, Chansey went over to the two, before taking the egg out of her pouch and cracking it open. A light flowed out of the egg, covering Itachi and Shinx, healing them of their wounds. Chansey immediately replaced the broken egg with a new one. Cheryl also came over and offered the two some berries to eat, which they accepted. It would seem that Cheryl's claim of keeping their Pokémon in tip top shape was not a farce. Constant healing and PP recovery was something Dawn and Barry could not afford, given how expensive it was to buy PP items (it was more cost effective to simply scavenge for any spare PP healing items that happen to be lying on the ground than to go physically buy one nowadays). With Cheryl acting as a constant medic, Dawn and Barry could battle the wild Pokémon to their hearts' content.

The forest proved to be a bountiful training ground for strong wild Pokémon. The Pokémon that tried to fight them proved to be valuable experience. Within the slew of challengers, Hawkeye managed to evolve to a rather formidable Staravia, which would surely help face off against the next gym leader, who Barry discerned to be a Grass-type user.

"Great, I don't have jack to hit them with," Dawn muttered, glancing at her team.

While she had no qualms or complaints with her ever-loyal Pokémon whatsoever, between the two of them, Turtwig and Shinx offered little-to-nothing against Grass-types.

Perhaps Dawn should catch something to help deal with Grass-types. Surely the forest had something to help her. She pondered her options. The forest offered a variety of options to deal with Grass-types, but none of them aptly appealed to her. The forest had Bug-type in the wurmple line, but they were rather notorious for their quick evolution time, but subpar overall strengths to those outside of the most manic of Bug-type enthusiasts. Dawn did not feel too comfortable with a quick fix that would not benefit her in the long run. She could catch her own starly, but if she only planned to use one just to deal with the upcoming gym, then she might as well borrow Hawkeye for that. Dawn glanced up to a nearby tree, where a murkrow was resting on a branch. That was an option Dawn could consider. Murkrow were rather fast and annoying Pokémon, something that Dawn could definitely use to her advantage. And with a Dusk Stone, they evolve into the powerful Honchkrow; while not the bulkiest of creatures, packed surprising brute strength. She could fancy herself a honchkrow, just like–.

Dawn immediately found herself scowling. No, never mind. She would rather not use a honchkrow.

She refused to share the same Pokémon that she remembered him having. Even if he did not have one right now, she would rather die by her own stubborn pride than share the same Pokémon as him.

So, Dawn supposed, that she would have to make do with what she has. Even if she could not use Turtwig's Razor Leaf or Shinx's Spark, they had plenty of other options. And if all else failed, she could simply have Barry lend her Staravia to even out the odds. The gym leader might find it suspicious if she and Barry both used something as rare as a chimchar, but a staravia was common enough for both of them to have without drawing any suspicion. At least, she hoped...

"Dawn?"

Dawn snapped out of her inner thoughts to glance over to Cheryl.

"Are you okay?" Cheryl asked out of concern. "You were spacing out there with a rather frustrated expression. "Is everything alright? Would you like something warm to drink? I can prepare some tea if you want!"

"Ah...no, it's fine," Dawn politely declined, not wishing to make Cheryl worry. "Just lost in thoughts, is all..."

To Dawn's surprise (or perhaps lack of in hindsight), Cheryl proved herself to be the 'caring big sister' type, or whatever it was that Barry would call it from one of those damn animes she would be forced to watch with him. She gave off such an aura, Dawn could not deny. She proved to be far more pleasant than the majority of Twinleaf; that was for sure. But Dawn wondered, would Cheryl keep that act up if she knew the true nature of Dawn?

Dawn kept her dark, paranoid thoughts to herself and mustered the most genuine-looking smile she could, which seemed to be enough to convince Cheryl. She was not foolish or childish as to condemn a random stranger to the same prejudice she held for others; especially one who showed nothing but kindness and support for the hour or so they met. Only when Cheryl decided to reveal something far sinister than her outwardly pleasant demeanor suggested would Dawn group her with the rest of them.

The girl glanced away from Cheryl, focusing her attention to Shinx fighting a murkrow. The crow cackled as it flew around Shinx, blasting him with a ghastly beam from its eyes (most likely Night Shade), as Shinx could do nothing but glare at the bird from the ground. Clearly Shinx needed some kind of long-range attack, or else aerial opponents would make Shinx into a mockery. After all, what good was any sorts of raw strength or type advantage if you could not so much as touch the opponent?

Luckily for Shinx, he was not alone. Murkrow landed on a branch to rest, until it found the branch being assaulted by a storm of razor-sharp leaves, courtesy of Turtwig. The attack cut the branch off, while pelting Murkrow with a slew of leaves, and while the bird resisted the attack, it still stung. This was an opening Shinx needed, as he ran up and lunged at the bird, tackling it in a ball of electricity, electrocuting the crow. The murkrow fell to the ground, with Shinx standing victorious. Dawn went over to congratulate the lynx, but his body suddenly began to glow.

"What the...?" Dawn blurted.

"He's evolving!" Cheryl gasped.

The light shined brightly, obscuring Shinx's form, as it grew bigger in size, until eventually dispersing. Shinx was now much larger, with black fur covering more of his light blue body, most notably a mane of black fur wrapping around the lynx's head. His eyes looked more serious, as he let out a fervent roar.

"He evolved into a luxio!" Barry squealed. "He's now bigger! Stronger! And angrier-looking!"

Dawn looked rather pleased at the sight of her new luxio. She was aware that shinxes tended to evolve somewhat quickly and was aware of the tough battles she had put Turtwig and Shinx through, ranging from Team Galactic, to Roark back at Oreburgh, to themselves even, when they first met. But she did not expect Shinx to evolve here, right before they reached Eterna. Dawn took out her pokédex and scanned her newly evolved lynx.

"Luxio, the Spark Pokémon. Strong electricity courses through the tips of its sharp claws. A light scratch causes fainting in foes."

Dawn smiled. Luxio would be a valuable asset against the next gym, seeing as she was already lacking in power as it was. Dawn knelt down to Luxio, ruffling his mane.

"Congratulations," Dawn said softly.

Luxio could not help but blush at the praise, before nuzzling against Dawn's hand and letting out a content purr.

"-Congrats,-" Turtwig said as he walked up to his now-evolved friend.

"-Thanks,-" Luxio responded. "-Hey, I can carry you on my back now!-"

Luxio then proceeded to kneel down, letting Turtwig curiously climb on top of Luxio's back. Luxio ran around, carrying the small turtle on his back. Dawn could not help but giggle at the sight. At least her Pokémon were having fun.

Now if only she could have fun and not deal with the sharp pain that kept assaulting her head.

The moment they stepped into the forest, the same sharp mental pain she felt back at Oreburgh suddenly invaded her head. That could only mean a shard was within the forest. All the signs were there. She just did not expect to find another one so soon. At first, the pain was not as horrendous as it was back at Oreburgh. At the entrance it was numb enough that she could ignore it and let Barry and the others train up. But as they ventured deeper into the forest, the pain only grew, indicating that they were getting closer. And while she was doing a far more spectacular job at hiding it than she did back at Oreburgh (Cheryl's herbal teas also proved to help keep the headache under wraps), sooner or later she would reach her limits. And after learning that she does not have absolute control over her powers (as noted by how they flared to life when Dawn's life was in danger against Mars), she did not want to risk them going haywire around Cheryl or Barry.

It was simple enough; go through the forest as fast as she could and locate the damn thing, but Cheryl's appearance made it more complicated. She could not afford to let someone else see the shard and potentially steal it away from her.

So, she had to get rid of Cheryl first. Which was simple enough; find the exit, part ways with Cheryl, and then go track down the damn thing.

Now if only they could find the damn exit.

'The shard's up ahead, by the way.'

...Or they could find the shard first. That works too, Dawn supposed.

The group walked out of the trees, emerging into an open area of the forest. They stumbled upon a large, rundown chateau, hidden within the shadows of the trees. Moss was covering parts of the walls, indicating that the chateau had not seen any use any time recently. The pain in Dawn's head grew exponentially, which was enough for the girl to realize that the second shard was most likely in there.

They spotted another person in front of the gates of the chateau; a woman with short half-brown, half-black hair, wearing a green cloak over a black crop top, brown knee-length khaki shorts and green boots. The woman seemed to be staring at the chateau, not noticing the three approaching behind her.

"Um, hello?" Barry asked, walking up to the woman and tapping her shoulder.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The woman let out a terrified shriek, whipping around and slugging Barry in the cheek without opening her eyes out of fear.

"AGH!?" Barry cried out in pain as he was decked (rather impressively) by the terrified woman, before crashing down to the cold, grassy ground.

"H-Huh?" the woman asked, opening her eyes and realizing that it was not a monster who was trying to attack her, but a blonde boy she had slugged in the face. "Ah–Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!"

"A-Are you alright?" Cheryl asked.

"I-I've been through worse...!" Barry moaned.

"That's not inaccurate," Dawn merely commented as she picked Barry up by the collar. "Anyways, who're you, and what is this place?"

"R-Right," the woman responded sheepishly, before shaking it off. "I'm Gardenia. I'm the gym leader at Eterna City. And this is the Old Chateau."

In spite of the headache, Dawn managed to look intrigued. This was the gym leader of Eterna City? Dawn would have guessed otherwise considering how she reacted to Barry, but Dawn was smarter than to judge a book by its cover. She would prove to be a rather annoying roadblock in her path later on.

"The Old Chateau?" Cheryl asked.

Gardenia nodded, before shakily turning around to see the building.

"The house was said to have belonged to a family of nobles long ago," Gardenia explained. "But now it's been abandoned. There've been some rumors that the place is haunted by ghosts..."

"Ghosts?" Dawn asked skeptically as Barry began to recover from Gardenia's accidental punch. "Like Ghost-type Pokémon?"

"No..." Gardenia clarified. "Actual ghosts..."

"...Come again?"

"I'm being serious here!" Gardenia yelled indignantly, noting Dawn's expression of disbelief. "People have been saying that they witnessed the ghost of people in there!"

"You're...sure about that?" Dawn asked skeptically. Ghost-types she could understand, but actual ghosts?

"Positive!" Gardenia yelled, before backing up a bit. "I-I mean it's not like I believe those rumors or anything! I'm just doing my duties as the gym leader of Eterna City and checking it out myself is all!"

Dawn raised a brow as she witnessed Gardenia's shaking stature. The girl did not buy Gardenia's flimsy rebuttal for one bit; the older woman's fervent trembling betraying any sort of confidence Dawn might have missed in her rebuttal.

"Hey, Ms. Gardenia," Barry said, noticing Gardenia's trembling stature as well. "You okay? You're shaking up."

"Huh!? O-Oh it's nothing! It's nothing!" Gardenia replied to Barry.

"...Are you afraid of ghosts?" Barry asked.

Gardenia suddenly froze up, letting out a surprised yelp in the process. "M-Me? Afraid of ghosts? NAAAAAAH!"

"Then why don't you go investigate then?" Dawn asked almost challengingly.

"Well of course I–!" Gardenia started, until a cold breeze passed by, making the woman shiver uncontrollably. ""W-Well I mean I would b-but I have lots and lots of uh...gym leader stuff! Yeah, lots and lots of important gym leader things to do so yeah if you kids want to explore the place then be my guest KTHANKSBYE!" Gardenia stammered rapidly before culminating into not even bothering to hide her innate fear and sprinting the other direction out of the forest with the grace of a terrified child.

"...Well that happened," Dawn muttered, turning her attention to the chateau. From what Gardenia told them, it was supposedly 'haunted', but there was no actual proof defending that claim until they entered it themselves to investigate. And while she would rather head to Eterna City before the sun rose in one piece, the lingering headache that almost felt like it was threatening to split her head in half had gave her other plans. Honestly, she was surprised she was able to hide it from Cheryl so well upon entering the forest. Barry playing along with it certainly helped the illusion.

...Speaking of Cheryl...

"The exit's nearby, judging by the direction Gardenia ran off to," Dawn said, glancing to Cheryl.

"Ah, that's right," Cheryl said, spotting the exit that Gardenia had practically sprinted to. "Thank you for your help!"

"No problem," Dawn muttered offhandedly. The sooner she was gone, the better–.

"Um, are you okay, Dawn?" Cheryl asked her, catching Dawn off guard. "You look rather tired..."

"Huh?" Dawn blurted. She then noticed the light of the moon that was shining down on them, making them more visible to each other. "Uh...I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?" Cheryl asked. "I could have Chansey look at you for a quick–."

"It's fine, really," Dawn insisted, straining her tone. "We won't be out here much longer. We'll be fine."

Cheryl still looked unconvinced, but sighed, before reaching into her bag and took out a thermos filled with the tea Cheryl had kept serving them throughout the trip and handing it to Dawn. "Here. I know it's not much, but it should help somewhat. You were rather enjoying it too. Oh and the Soothe Bell helps wonders with headaches!"

Dawn blinked at Cheryl dumbly, not expecting the gesture, before glancing down to the thermos. The thermos itself looked rather impressive for it to be a generic brand one. Tied to the handle of the cap was a small bell tied on a red string. Dawn recognized the bell as a Soothe Bell, a rather rare item to come across. The thermos and bell must have cost Cheryl a decent amount judging by looks alone. "Uh...th-thanks...But how would I give these back to you–."

"Keep them," Cheryl insisted. "Think of it as thanks for helping me get out of the forest."

"Wha–A-Are you sure?" Dawn asked, her voice surprisingly meek. Cheryl merely gave her a kindly smile; one that would not look out of place on her mother's face. "Th-thank you..."

"Any time," Cheryl said. "I do hope we meet again in the future."

"...Likewise," Dawn mumbled.

Giving one last smile, Cheryl bid the two kids farewell, before heading off to the exit. Before stepping into the exit, Cheryl and her chansey gave the two kids one final wave goodbye, before leaving the forest.

"Huh...she was really nice," Barry commented.

"...Yeah..." Dawn mumbled, glancing at the thermos. While she did expect Cheryl to be on the nicer side, she did not expect that much hospitality from the green-haired woman. They were basically strangers, yet Cheryl decided to give her the thermos and Soothe Bell out of kindness. Dawn did not know how to respond to that kind of kindness from someone who barely knew her. She was too used to being ousted by virtually everyone in her hometown. This was...foreign, to say the least.

Barry stared at Dawn, seemingly examining her reaction to the thermos, before glancing back to the chateau.

"You wanna go explore there, don't you?" Barry asked. "Another one of those weird shards?"

"...So you noticed..." Dawn muttered.

"Well you weren't as abrasive as usual," Barry replied.

Dawn let out a snort, before glancing to the white fence blocking their path, vines overgrowing all over it with small trees blocking the main path. Dawn narrowed her eyes at the trees, before they took a platinum glow. From the dense shadow underneath, two appendages shot out and sliced through the trees in her way, making quick work of the natural obstacles in her path.

As she watched the trees collapse on themselves, Dawn wondered to herself in doubt and melancholy. If Dawn had lost control, even just once, while Cheryl was still here. If Cheryl saw the two, otherworldly sharp tentacles made from her own shadow and saw how she made quick work of the trees in front of her. If Cheryl was aware of how much of a freak of nature Dawn was.

Would she still treat her with kindness?

"...Let's go," Dawn almost grumbled to herself as she silently headed to the chateau, Barry dutifully following behind.

To be continued

AN: And that outta be a good place to stop. Dawn defeated Team Galactic's first admin, Mars, and ventured into Eterna Forest, where another shard was sensed inside the Old Chateau. And Dawn and Barry even get their first evolutions! Somewhat shorter than the norm, but I feel like there's enough for one chapter. Next chapter the duo investigate the Old Chateau, before reaching Eterna City.

Dawn: Turtwig / Luxio

Barry: Wukong (Chimchar) / Hawkeye (Staravia) / Chloris (Budew) / Itachi (Buizel)

Lucas: Piplup / Zubat

And before you ask, no Itachi isn't a Naruto reference. Because I know on God someone is going to ask that.

Before I end it off here, I do want to thank each and everyone of you who stuck with this story in spite of its massive hiatus, and for everyone who took the time to stop by and give it a read.

And in light of recent events going on in America right now, and even in other countries, there's a lot of crazy things going on. Issues that shouldn't even exist to begin with, but unfortunately do.

Just know that if you can do anything to help, even if it may be just as small as sharing resources and letting others know, then please do.

And no matter what you're doing; whether you're among the hundreds and thousands out there protesting, or still stuck at home like me because of the still-ongoing pandemic (that has fortunately gone down a bit for now, but is still out there), please stay safe and healthy.

I think I've rambled on enough. Now to finish up the next chapter for Fidelity and take that off hiatus too. When was the last time I worked on that anyways?

Checks folders.

Last chapter was finished on 8/16/2016.

...I'm so sorry.

See y'all next time.