A/N: Okay, I feel super bad about how long I left this fic sitting. My only excuse is that the past semester was absurdly busy, I had very little motivation to write, and that when I did have it, I was mostly using it on other projects. But I haven't forgotten about this one!

Surprisingly enough, the sun is setting as the two step out of the temple. It's winter, May reminds herself – the days are shorter. The sky is stained saffron, and silhouettes of bare tree branches reach up into it, shuddering at even the slightest breeze. The guard is upon them in moments, a mix of relief and anger on her face.

"We won't be back for a while. So you don't have to get worked up," Dawn states before she can say anything, brushing past the woman. May follows, still in a daze, her eyes shiny and dull.

The Hoenn Champion doesn't really notice how dark it's gotten by the time they make it back into town. The forest becomes pitch black, the brittle branches of the trees reaching out as if to pull her away and petrify her as this place had Steven. The temperature drops drastically, too, and soon May is shivering beneath her clothes.

The city appears before them all of a sudden, blanketed in gentle, twinkling lights, and Dawn continues on towards the Pokemon Center. If Snowpoint was scarcely populated during the day, it was empty at night, though most of the buildings had their lights on at least, enveloping the streets in a warm yellow glow. It starts to snow as they walk, just barely, with big, fluffy flakes falling from the black sky above, as if the stars themselves were drifting down to the ground. Loneliness clenches May's heart, even when she is just one or two steps behind Champion Dawn.

The Pokemon Center is where Dawn has been staying, as it turned out. Like the rest of the town, it's mostly vacant, save for some traveling trainers equipped with all sorts of skis and snow-shoes. She leads her wordless acquaintance down one of the halls, to the suite she'd had picked out, and shuts the door behind them.

May takes a deep breath as she removes her bag, scarf, gloves, and boots. She's still too chilled to take off her jacket, and the hat just stays in place naturally. Dawn shows her the couch, and May sinks onto it with a long sigh.

"Do you want anything?" Dawn's question is careful, coming from the kitchenette somewhere behind May. "There's not a whole lot here. Tea, coffee, noodles, snacks. Snowpoint has good seafood restaurants, but you don't seem up to that right now."

May becomes aware of her empty stomach, but she can't sum up the strength to go to a restaurant. She's much too preoccupied; "Tea" slips off her tongue.

The room is silent save for Dawn's fluttering around in the kitchenette and the faint buzzing of the lights. May hadn't noticed how noisy Hoenn was; nature constantly made its presence known no matter how thick the walls of the building you were in were. Her gaze trails over to the window, and another chill comes over her.

Dawn arrives a few minutes later with the tea. May notices her own mug has hot cocoa in it, and she smiles a little – when was the last time she'd had hot cocoa? Yet here this stoic girl was, casually enjoying a cup.

"We'll stay the night here," she says, "and leave sometime tomorrow, if that's okay with you. The person we're meeting up with should be able to help us."

Slowly, May nods. Given her experience, she's used to always being on top of things, yet in her dazed state she can't really bring herself to care about where Dawn drags her off to.

The Sinnoh Champion starts explaining Snowpoint Temple and some of the stories surrounding it, along with other tidbits May would need to know about the region. She starts off awkwardly, but gradually the trainer grows more comfortable and warms up a bit. At some point the TV gets flicked on, and some program about local trainers is playing – the connection is fuzzy. Between the blurry noises around her, the warm room temperature, and her own exhaustion from the journey in, May dozes off.

It certainly isn't the first time that May had dreamed of that incident since its occurrence. It might've been easier for her to count the nights she hadn't dreamed about it. Swirling water, a strong constriction on her lungs, distant voices calling her name, images of city coastlines getting pummeled by tidal waves – at this point, the images are familiar to her. Overnight, however, her dreams had been much clearer than usual, like crisp memories that'd happened yesterday. Of Rayquaza and that impossible scene, something out of a storybook, as it quelled Kyogre and Groudon and the disastrous weather around them settled.

The sound of waves lapping against Sootopolis's shoreline in her mind slowly turns into the sound of a faucet pouring out water as she wakes up. Her unfamiliar surroundings jolt her the rest of the way into reality, until she's awake enough to remember that this is Snowpoint City. Her head stiffly turns to the weight resting on her stomach… to find a small ball of pink resting there.

She makes a face. …Skitty…? As soon as she shifts, however, lifting a hand, the thing unrolls and looks up at her in surprise.

"W-whoa!" May's eyebrows shoot up. "A Pokemon…? It almost looks like… Clefairy?"

"Cleffa!" chirps the Pokemon, blinking its sparkling eyes up at the trainer.

"Aww, so cute…!" May grins, now, ruffling the tuft of fur on its head. Cleffa trills in response, leaning in to her touch.

Suddenly Dawn appears, looking flustered. After three or four apologies and bows of her head, she scoops the Pokemon up. "Cleffa… How did you get out of your ball…?" Groaning, she looks over her shoulder at May again. "Sorry, May. I brought her along for contests, so she's not exactly as obedient as the rest of my Pokemon…"

The Hoenn Champion sits up all the way, resting her feet on the floor. "It's fine. I almost thought it was one of my own."

Despite everything, May feels well-rested and re-energized. She wanders into the bathroom, staring her face (and bed-head hair) in the mirror. With a sigh, she presses her hands on either side of her head. Keep moving forward. Don't let the shock get to you. Trust Dawn.

Her shower-comb-dress routine is a little rushed, considering that Dawn was already looking ready to go the moment she'd woken up. As May leaves the bathroom – a cloud of steam following her – she's startled by the roar her stomach makes.

Eyes wide, the trainer glances across the room to where Dawn stands, stacking up the dishes she'd used the past few days, and for a moment she thinks the Sinnoh Champion didn't hear.

"We can stop for food on the way out," Dawn then says, and though her back is turned to May the smile in her voice is obvious.

May finds that Snowpoint City looks much nicer come day two. The sun was up and at it when they found a restaurant nestled against the main road. Despite the quietness of the city, the restaurant's interior is anything but, full of loud and boisterous fishermen and travelers. May's wide blue eyes move from the scenery outside, sparkling snowbanks and all, to the diverse faces in the restaurant, to the celebrity-in-the-flesh sitting across from her, and don't seem to focus until her dish is placed before her – the bowl of kaisendon might as well have been glowing, and she instantly digs into it.

Dawn watches from across the table with a ginger smile, taking small bites of her own squid donburi. The restaurant may not have looked it – and for the sake of secrecy, she was glad it didn't – but it was one of Snowpoint's finest. First impressions were everything, after all.

May is finished before Dawn is even halfway through her own bowl, and then walks off into the throngs of other guests. Five minutes later, the trainer is back with hands full of both takeout and Pokemon food.

"I haven't been spending very much of my Champion budget, lately," she says with a sideways grin. "And besides, I've still got my entire Battle Frontier budget I set aside, too."

Once they finish up at the restaurant, the duo heads back down to the docks – it's a little out of the way, but it's also easiest to fly out from, and they might take all day just to get going if they head out through the snow fields of Route 217.

Dawn notes how easily distracted May seems to be. Granted, perhaps, given that she'd never been to Sinnoh before. But, still, her curiosity was unexpected for someone of her prestige.

"Here's a good spot," says Dawn, stopping behind a large warehouse. The scent of raw catch lingers in the air. "We won't draw too much attention, and it's a lot easier than making your Pokemon pick itself up out of the snow."

May nods. "Right… it's been a little while since I've gone for a fly, so if I go bolting off in the wrong direction, forgive me…"

Dawn calls out her Pokemon, and May can't help but watch – some kind of huge crow emerges, with a mix of black and red feathers. Its eyes immediately fall on the unfamiliar trainer, and she almost takes a step back.

The Sinnoh Champion climbs onto the Pokemon's feathered back, nodding again back at May before taking to the sky.

Groaning, the Hoenn Champion plays with the Pokeball in her hands. "Now I almost seem like I'm overdoing it," she thought out loud, before clicking it open.

Out comes Salamence, in all its ridiculous glory, spreading its no doubt cramped wings and letting out a loud yawn. May rushes to its side, shushing it before climbing atop the saddle on its back.

The takeoff is a little bumpy, but they're in the skies in no time, and with a few flaps of its wings Salamence catches up to the black speck that was Dawn. Beneath the shadow cast over her face by her beanie, her eyebrows are clearly raised at the large dragon.

"Where now?" calls May over the wind, already feeling chilled.

"Follow me," Dawn shouts back. "It's a long trip."

The flight is arduous and cold, and May regrets not getting a heavier jacket. The snow fields below them are pretty, at least; the rolling ridges seem to go on for miles and miles, with a white fog obscuring their vision in the distance. They fly for a little while after the sun sets, then stop at a cottage half-buried in the cold that Dawn somehow expertly has navigated them towards. It houses a kind old couple who Dawn was apparently already acquainted with; they stay the night there, huddled by the fireplace, and set off again in the morning.

Some twenty-four hours after they left Snowpoint, the two finally land at the foot of an enormous mountain. It's shocking to look at. May has never seen something so overwhelmingly massive – Sky Pillar was certainly tall, but it didn't take up as much of her field of vision as this did.

"Mt. Coronet," Dawn comments as she recalls her Pokemon. May can't quite tear her gaze from the structure, the pointed ridges encircling it, the puffy clouds sitting idle near the peak, the glaciers seeping down each crevice like rivers of ice. It dwarfs the snow-peaked mountains they'd seen flying in. "Sinnoh's largest… Though hiking it is a lot less exciting than you'd think."

May finally gets moving, following Dawn into a huge maw in the mountain's side. The interior is roomy, the ground uneven – not unlike the other caves she'd been in before. Her eyes widen at the Sinnoh Champion. "You – you've climbed it? The whole thing?!"

An unreadable expression comes over Dawn's face as she remembers her own challenges at Spear Pillar. "Well… that's off the record, but yes."

May's brow twitches at the wording, but she's in awe nonetheless. The two do some easy hiking through the mountain, weaving in and out of its walls. There's hikers all over the place, and steps carved into the ground, making for easy travel. It must be a popular tourist spot, May figures, considering the signposts and markings and general nice upkeep.

She's not given much time to marvel at the inside of the cave, though, because they're no sooner leaving it, heading east along a craggy grassland. All that remains of the arctic wasteland they'd come from is a few piles of snow soaking into the soggy dead grass. The breeze that blows through the valley is cold, but mild compared to what they were facing earlier. Long shadows blend into darkness as night falls, and the two elite trainers continue their descent.

May's curiosity forces her to break the silence. "Where exactly are we headed, again…?"

Dawn doesn't turn around as she continues maneuvering down the slick rocky ledges of the hillside. "To visit someone who can help us; she lives just ahead, in a town past that hill."

The Hoenn trainer's focus moves to a particularly large green hump in the ground just ahead. Beyond it, she can make out some lights, though they're dim. It certainly wasn't a city, or anything like Snowpoint, even. Above, the beginnings of stars are twinkling to life, with no light pollution or clouds to obscure them. May shivers.

"They must be an expert on Legendary Pokemon, then…?" she pries, still unsure as to how to get the Sinnoh trainer to talk. Like… Steven…?

"In a sense," Dawn replies, gently grabbing hold of a pine tree branch as she swings down a rather large ledge in order to skip a very long switchback. "A historian, more like…" she pauses as May does the same, hesitates. "You… might know her. Does the name Cynthia ring a bell?"

As they continue, May suddenly jolts. "Cynthia!...? That's… the Champion, before you?"

Dawn nods. They're climbing the final hill now, with the town lying just before them.

May is impressed with herself. She used to be so out of it when it came to other regions – she could still recount every Gym Leader and League member active when she was growing up in Olivine City, but she'd gone her whole journey in Hoenn in the dark, not even recognizing the Champion himself when he'd helped her on several occasions. Now that she has had the title, though, she'd done much more research – both for her job and out of personal interest. Cynthia was the standing Sinnoh Champion for a while after May herself became Champion of Hoenn, and the trainer regretted not meeting the woman at some point. But it wasn't something she could just casually do, with Sinnoh being on the complete other side of the country.

Now she finds that she's nervous, as she follows Dawn closely into Celestic Town. Yet, it doesn't seem like the home of a league champion, or former, at that. It's old-fashioned, reminiscent of some of the historic cities in Johto, humble, arguably nondescript – and sort of in the middle of nowhere, tucked into the mountains like this. Though for all May knew, there could be a huge city just a few miles away. It was the opposite of a place like Rustboro City, but now that May thinks about it, one of the recent Johto champions had also come from a small, traditional village, too.

All around them, elderly villagers amble back to their houses, some of them carrying groceries, others chattering with each other, many greeting Dawn as if she herself were a resident. Dawn smiles back, giving a kind greeting to each person that welcomes her. May feels like she's sticking out, all of the sudden.

They approach a cottage seated next to a small pond. It overlooks an older section of the town, and in the distance May can spot a shrine, along with some ruins a ways away. She almost wants to go explore them, despite the darkness, but Dawn's gaze on her draws her back to the task at hand.

Right, what am I thinking? May says to herself. Getting so caught up like this… The town's easygoing atmosphere had quelled some of her anxieties for the time being, at least.

"This is her house," Dawn says, her voice especially subdued. "Before we go in, I should tell you… Don't get Cynthia started on Sinnoh history, alright? She'll go on for the whole night. If you have any more questions, ask me, or just wait until tomorrow."

May's eyebrow rise at the rather strange tidbit. But she understands, perhaps too well – she knew people who got that way. Steven, for instance, with rocks, was the first to come to mind. Even she herself could go on about Pokemon battling strategies for quite a while. Wallace could rant about a number of things… With a sideways grin, the trainer nods.

With the warning issued, Dawn raps her knuckles lightly against the door. There's a muffled, "Coming!" and a moment later, it's swung open, heat and warm light pouring out.

May's practically shaking with anticipation as the door slowly opens, and… and her gaze moves downwards, finding a short, elderly woman squinting up at the two of them.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Dawn!" chirps the lady, the tension in the air dissipating. "Goodness! Come along inside. It's chilly!"

Dawn bows before doing as told. "My friend here – May – is it alright if she…?"

"Oh, yes, yes, come along already!" the woman continues, nodding vigorously at May. The Hoenn Champion is more than happy to leave the night's chill behind and step into the warmth of the cottage, though she's more than a little overwhelmed at the character beckoning her in. She bows deeply, giving her thanks to the woman. "You must be the guest my granddaughter was talking about!"

Granddaughter…? May thinks as she follows Dawn inside, who's following the elder.

"Grandma…! I- said I could get the door," comes another voice as they step into a larger room, younger but mature, sounding exasperated. The two trainers turn.

May can't help but catch her breath at the person standing before her. Perhaps seeing one Champion in the flesh had desensitized her to the fact that she was meeting Cynthia. Just, casually – after nearly two days of traveling on their end. Even in a casual sweater and leggings, she seems more like a model in some fashion photoshoot than a real person, her waist-length blonde hair flowing smoothly out behind her, smile sparkling and broad.

"Cynthia," Dawn says nonchalantly, bowing her head. "Sorry for not calling first. I hope this isn't a bad time."

The woman shakes her head, inviting the two in. "Not at all, Dawn. I've been out and about, and I just returned around an hour ago, anyway. It's good to see you. And you – " Gray eyes turn on May "- you must be the Hoenn champion…! May?"

May finds her polite, Johto upbringing kicking in, and her spine nearly curves forwards at a right angle in the bow she dives into. "I-it's an honor, Champ- former Champion Cynthia. I'm May, the current League Champion of Hoenn."

When she straightens again, Cynthia's smile is even wider. "It's great to finally meet you in person. I hope my grandma here didn't scare you at all."

May shakes her head for a little too long. "Not at all! Thank you for having me – us."

Dawn giggles at the quip, ducking between May and Cynthia to follow the elderly woman into a kitchenette. Something's on the stove, something with seafood and veggies, and it smells delicious.

"You two joined just in time for dinner. Let's eat first, and talk about what you're here for after. You must be exhausted."

May, as usual, can't turn down free food, especially not free, delicious, home-cooked food. She cautiously kneels before a table situated across from the kitchen, watching numbly as two Sinnoh champions and a three-foot-tall granny bicker over ingredients and prepare a meal. Her gaze wanders – the house is somewhat bare, and small. Around the table are a collection of artifacts and old scrolls, a fireplace, and where a television would normally go is a bookshelf and a shogi table. There's a hallway leading to some bedrooms further back. The fire soon warms May enough that she can shed the rest of her winter garb, moving to tuck most of it where she left her shoes in the entrance hall. Without her bandanna, her head feels bare.

Soon, the other three have taken spots at the table, and they're all digging into their food. May's awkwardness is lost in the salty flavors of the soup. Cynthia asks her a bunch of simple questions, ones she was thinking Dawn probably would – 'how do you like the region so far?' 'is it too cold?' 'how much do you know about Sinnoh already?' 'was your trip okay?' 'how is the workload as champion?' 'you didn't get interrogated by any old people on the way here, did you?' Nothing gets too prying, either – Cynthia's intention on that was to not dig into some memories she may not want to bring up yet, related to the man they'd just found frozen.

When their food is gone and their conversation is dwindling down, they shift over to the couch and chair that surround the fireplace. Cynthia works on cleaning up the kitchen as Dawn kicks back, leaning her head back over the edge of the couch and letting out a long sigh, as if finally unwinding.

May feels uncomfortable in the silence, to say the least, even moreso when under the sharp gaze of the old lady. She could never deal with the elderly well when she lived in Olivine, being an impatient and hotheaded little kid, and most of the elderly in Hoenn were hearty, energetic, and friendly.

The woman sets her cup of tea on the table before her and crosses her arms. "So, then, shall I begin? May I ask what all this is about?"

May shifts, her gaze moving from Dawn to Cynthia and back to the granny.

"I told you, grandma – the man Dawn found in Snowpoint Temple." The faucet turns on with a loud squeak.

"Frozen isn't really the word to describe it," Dawn adds, sitting up to take her own cup of tea. "Joined with the temple walls… that's what it looked like."

Cynthia soon joins them, taking a seat adjacent to May. "That's strange… I've been in that temple countless times and I never sensed anything strange or… active about it. The fact that Pokemon were leaving, too, is strange." Her brow furrows.

The elderly woman's eyes seem to squint even more across from May. "Snowpoint Temple – that is a ruin of a place once dedicated to Regigigas. You know Regigigas, Cynthia – the titan that helped form Sinnoh."

The blonde nodded, her arms crossing as she sat back on the couch, propping her feet up beside Dawn's. May noted her socks had a Togepi pattern on them. "Yes… though it appears much less in Sinnoh creation mythos, and Sinnoh mythos in general, than the others. I have so many questions… aside from how and why on the temple's end – why would Steven Stone have been there in the first place?"

Gazes turn towards the Hoenn Champion, at this. Her jaw clenches as she glances down, as if the answer were in the green tea she held. "I… have no idea. I… hadn't talked to him in years. He hadn't spoken with his father or any of his close friends about this, either."

"Hey – this isn't your fault, May. We're just trying to get information, is all," clarifies Cynthia, and May, not realizing how easy to read she is, looks up with a ginger smile. "We'll figure this out. We just have to take it step-by-step. Besides, we've got three brilliant trainers here – and, grandma, you can go to bed now. Please. You should get some rest."

The elderly woman rises. "Yes, yes – now tell me if any of you need something, will you?"

With that, she disappears into the hall. Cynthia's expression tightens, as if she's deep in thought, legitimately stubbed on something. May can't help but be reminded of Steven.

"I… Cynthia, I think this should help us out," Dawn speaks up, anxiously looking between the blonde woman and May. From her bag, she pulls out a small, but thick and heavily-worn, notebook. The cover is black, leather, with a silver insignia on the front that May finds familiar (the pencil sticking out of one of the pages does, as well.)

Cynthia's eyebrows raise. "Oh – that must be… That's right. You mentioned that. It's…"

Dawn hands the notebook over to the former Champion. May's eyes haven't left it.

"That's…" Her shoulders tense. "Devon Corporation…" She'd seen the company's products around Hoenn – used them – enough to recognize the insignia on sight, and even the pencil… her countless trips into the headquarters had made her familiar enough with their little giveaway trinkets.

Dawn carefully looked to May, her hands fidgeting in her lap. "The first time I saw him there, this was sticking out of his front pocket. The… 'crystal' hadn't gotten that far, so I was able to take it." She pauses, her bangs falling in her face as she turned her head downwards. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, May – you didn't seem to handle it well at first, so I wanted to give you some time to… adjust."

She frowns, confused. "Never mind that… what… is it?"

Cynthia turns it over in her hands, her fingers brushing dirt off that'd collected in the leather's crevices.

"Well… A journal," Dawn continues. "I wasn't sure if I should open it, at first, for the sake of his privacy, but… I realized after a couple days that it'd be better if I did."

"I'm assuming there's no clear answer to our dilemma, since you're here right now, Dawn?" Cynthia inquires, pulling open the cover. 'Prospecting Notes – 29' was written on the first page, neatly, in pen, as well as on the journal's binding. May leans forward to get a better look – Steven's name is written out on the page, too, the strokes of each character clean and neat, a lot like the handwriting of that letter she'd gotten so long ago. Her hands twitch on the arms of the chair, itching to look through the journal herself.

"No answers, no. Lots of information… but like I said, I figured it'd be best to bring it to you… I don't really know what it all means. It's…. it's a lot." Dawn looks twice as stressed as either Cynthia or May, shifting in her seat on the couch, and the Hoenn Champion notices that the trainer has stopped meeting her eyes directly. This only makes her more concerned.

Cynthia glances between the two younger women before closing the journal and nodding. Her lips part in a sigh. "In any case, I should get my desk set up, and pull out a few books I own on Snowpoint and the Legendary Titans. You know as well as anyone how tied up I can get when it comes to mythos, Dawn." She stands, then turns to May. "For now, I'll leave this in your hands, May. You seem to know him a bit better – it's only right I let you go over it before I start tearing it apart."

She hesitantly takes the book from the blonde-haired woman, and the concern etched into her expression causes Cynthia to raise her eyebrows and laugh awkwardly.

"Metaphorically, that is. I'll try to keep it in best shape as I can."

With that, the poised woman disappears into a hallway, picking up a few books from the bookshelves around on the way. May glances nervously from Dawn to the journal. Dawn, as expected, stays quiet, begins tapping at some device strapped to her wrist.

The journal is just a bit larger than her hand, but thick, chock-full of notes and small bookmarks and folded sheets of paper. Everything is wrinkled, as if it'd been dropped in water more than a few times. As she opens it, flecks of dirt fall from the creases in the brittle pages into May's lap. A weird smell rises up from it – like a mix of salt water and cologne.

The first few pages are what the cover says it is – notes on rocks. There are sketches and diagrams, with dates, locations, quantity, size, clasts, cleavage, and so on. May keeps turning the pages, on and on, glancing up again at Dawn who's still avoiding her gaze. Just when she's about to question whether the thing really concerns Steven's situation, she sees the next page, and freezes.

It's changed – the entire format has changed. The messy handwriting no doubt made while in a cave under the light of a lantern becomes more structured, and of a completely different tones. There's not a rock in sight – nothing that would be related to 'Prospecting Notes'. But there's a very familiar logo drawn at the top of the page – a skull-and-crossbones type of image, with one spike coming out of the top. Below it – 'team aqua?' is written.

In her peripheral vision, Dawn sees May's face twitch – no doubt she got through the first section.

Below the logo are a bunch of notes, some in bubbles, some with lines drawn between them. Team Aqua. A handful of incidents, involving attempted break-ins, both physical and through hacking, at various Devon-associated locations. There are dates attached to many of them, along with what looks like speculation as to what was the exact target, and some thoughts here and there about why the police weren't cracking down on the gang. May turns the page – there's more notes on this, turns the page again and they've become even denser, full of all kinds of speculation on Steven's end. He, alone, had connected all these incidents and traced them back to Team Aqua…? Slowly, he narrowed it down to aquatic tech they were looking at… Then the submarine, the details on some part they targeted, contacts they'd had with employees…

May has to do a double take at the words at the bottom of the next page. 'Theft in Petalburg Woods' 'Activity getting close to the headquarters', and... Heart racing, she flips the page. Sure enough, there's a record of their first encounter – that his father had dragged a 'random trainer' into things, a whole lot of question marks, more details on the parts that she had been carrying at the time, their destination, and her name is written off by the margin, too. She keeps reading – the notes go back to the gear Aqua had attempted to steal, and Steven tries to figure out what exactly their intentions are from that.

Tri-folded in between the pages is a paper with Joseph Stone's name on it – no doubt the letter she had delivered that day. It feels like forever ago. She hadn't known what she'd been getting into – she was only acting on a stupid, heroic whim.

She can guess what lies further within the journal. Details of his journey during the time of Aqua and Magma's activity, leading up to the disaster… and no doubt, more mentions of herself. The 'Prospecting Notes' label seems strange, misleading almost… May can't wrap her mind around that, unless he simply was out of notebooks at the time and ended up just using one of his geology-related ones.

But she has so many questions – why was he carrying this, so long after the incident? What did Dawn see in it that could actually be of use in finding out what happened?

Footsteps interrupt her thoughts, and the Hoenn Champion jolts up to find Cynthia standing beside her, an apologetic smile on her face.

"If you want to go through it for a while, that's alright, May – I can wait," offers the woman.

"…No, no, it's okay," May stammers. Dawn had gotten up, run into the kitchen to make more tea. The trainer closes up the journal and hands it up to the taller woman. "Really, it's fine – you'll probably make more use of it than me, and I want to do whatever I can to help him, as soon as possible." I never really was that good at figuring out what he was thinking, either.

Seeing some fire returning to May's eyes, Cynthia feels less bad about tearing the bulky notebook from her hands. But she's excited nonetheless – any opportunity to study Sinnoh's legends was great, but something about this incident was especially driving. Brushing her hair behind her ear, Cynthia nodded at May. "Right – I'm going to get a head start, then. The house is pretty small, so you and Dawn will have to crash out here – Dawn? Can you get May a futon?"

"Yes," replies the black-haired trainer.

And so the two Sinnoh trainers depart on their own tasks, leaving May to quite literally twiddle her thumbs. Part of her wants to go out and battle, but at the same time she knows she doesn't battle well when she's distracted, and if she were to challenge Dawn or Cynthia she'd want to be at the top of her game. Sighing, she flips open her Pokenav, knowing fully well that the Match Call and Map apps are all but useless now. Her brain is half on autopilot, and it navigates her to Steven's contact entry – the last call was a long time ago, and he hadn't picked up, anyway. She'd stopped bothering after a while. Why had she been so insistent on calling in the first place? To talk, maybe? About… everything? So much had happened in those few months, and all of it so quickly, that when it was all over May didn't know how to process it all. Aside from Wallace, she had no one to discuss it with either, unless she wanted to confess something that huge to Brendan or her family… But Steven had been a constant presence through it all, and having him be gone, to not be able to contact him at all, had left her feeling like she was lost at sea. Absently, May looks over his ID info and photo, and wonders if he's still the same person she'd known on her journey. She certainly wasn't.

Suddenly, Dawn is there, and May jumps again. And suddenly it hits her – the awkward glances, the quietness. Dawn has already read the journal… And if the rest of it covers what I think it does, then…

"I, erm…" May scratches her head, leaning back in the chair. "I guess you must have a lot of questions."

Deep blue eyes meet black ones, and for once Dawn doesn't glance away. "I… won't pry, May. I'm… sorry for digging into your privacy like that. And again – I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the journal earlier – "

The seated trainer waves her hand, softly replying, "It's fine, it's fine… Honestly, you were bound to find out at some point, if whatever this situation is goes as deep as I think it does."

Her hands wrapped around the steaming cup of tea, Dawn takes a seat, tucking her legs beneath her. "…What do you mean by that?"

"…I don't know, really… I guess that's where Cynthia comes in," sighs May, running her hand into her bangs. "As significant as it was… the disaster with Kyogre and Groudon happened years ago. I can't understand why Steven would have it on him, now, unless…"

"…Unless whatever he was there for was related to that, in some way?" finishes Dawn.

"Yes. And if that's the case…" She bites the inside of her cheek, curses the uncomfortable roll her stomach makes, "…why didn't he tell anyone about it? If something related to the disaster was going on? Not just me – Wallace, too. Ah, he's a Sootopolitan – he was one of the other few people involved…"

"Oh, the journal mentioned him too, yes," Dawn is nodding her head in understanding. "It did seem like he and Steven had a close relationship, and shared information regarding Kyogre and Groudon together without stressing over all the red tape the Pokemon League puts up."

May hums in agreement, but Dawn's own backing up of her statement makes her more uneasy. As powerful as the urge was to take action, do whatever was necessary to get Steven back to good health and out of that frozen hole in the ground, she can't deny that after this much time she truly has no idea how he thought and felt about anything, and about what led him here.

Her gaze wanders up, hand weaving out from messy chestnut bangs. Dawn's sitting up, mouth half-open as if she's about to say something, and May waits, but words never come. The Sinnoh Champion hunches over a little, shutting her mouth, and then stares awkwardly at the last bit of tea left in her cup, bushy eyebrows casting shadows over her eyes.

"…In any case, the futon is set up and ready. You should sleep." The trainer rises, prompting May to do the same. "You're probably anxious… but sleep is important, especially in Sinnoh. The hiking takes more out of you than you realize. Cynthia will probably be in there all night, going through that thing…"

A half-smile creeps onto May's lips – she's no stranger to overtiredness. No matter the source. It's true that anxiety about the entire situation has made her guts feel like they've melted to soup, but more than that her back and rear ache from travel on Salamence, and she can feel the blurry beginnings of a cold gathering up in her head.

The Hoenn Champion says her thank-yous and goodnights to Dawn before excusing herself to the bathroom, going through a dreary routine of letting down and combing through her knotted, shoulder-length brown hair, scoffing briefly at her own sunken, red eyes and chapped lips, and brushing her teeth, once she figures out how the old-fashioned sink works. The futon smells like a mix of jasmine and mothballs, but with how clogged her sinuses are getting the scent hardly bothers May. While Sinnoh's quiet winter still sits in wait outside the house, it's not dead silent – through the wall she can hear Cynthia hard at work, flipping pages and scritching a pencil against paper, murmuring to herself now and then. Sleep comes to Dawn earlier, apparently, and somewhere else in the dark room May hears soft snoring coming from the reserved trainer. Gradually, her own breathing evens out and she drifts off into an uneasy slumber.

A/N: I wasn't expecting to enjoy writing Dawn and May this much, but here I am lol.