Chapter 1: Rose's Granddaughter

~Dawn~

"I don't understand why I have to do this." Dawn said staring blankly out the car window and at the house in front of her.

They were parked in front of a rather large gothic farmhouse that looked like a house out of a Grim Brother's fairytale or even a Tim Burton film. It was rather charming if not creepy with the walls of the house shrouded with patches of moss and Ivy, untrimmed bushes and large oak trees helping to shroud and engulf the house. Dawn figured that the house hadn't been kept up with and lacked proper maintenance in years. The large circular driveway was littered with dead leaves and weeds that had sprouted from the ground.

Johanna sighed beside her, shutting the visor in front of her. "Look honey, things are looking pretty rough for us right now especially since your father decided to get married to that little secretary of his." She rolled her eyes. "And since he decided to cut us off from his life it means we have no other way of support."

Dawn stayed silent. Her mother absolutely hated her father. They had gotten a divorce when she was rather young and never really gotten a chance to get to know him. Even though they had gotten a divorce her father still provided some sort of support for them by keeping them a house and paying for Dawn's schooling. Unfortunately that came to an end when he decided to get engaged to a woman who was only a few years older than her and her father called to personally tell them that he was cutting them off to focus on his new family, enraging her mother.

Johanna moved them from Sinnoh all the way to Kanto to move in with her family but not the family that she was really expecting. Dawn found herself on the drive way of a distant relative that she really knew nothing about. Great Grandfather Gary Oak was his name; he was the younger brother of her Great Grandma Daisy and Grandma Rosie's uncle. That side of her family never really talked much about him since he basically isolated himself from everyone. The only time she had ever met him was when she was about four years old when he attended great grandpa Bill's funeral, but she was too young to know the significance at the time.

"This guy has money sweetheart. He could help us." Johanna said, snapping Dawn out of her thoughts. She couldn't help but feel sorry for this guy. What would he think when he found a strange young girl on his front porch claiming to be a long lost relative. She sighed as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and grabbed her suitcase from the back seat. Stepping out of the car she felt the satisfying crunch of leaves under her foot and watched as her mom rolled down the window.

"I'll be back in a few months sweetie. I love you." Dawn watched as she drove off leaving her in the middle of the driveway.

Dawn doubted that he would even acknowledge her as part of his family. After all they were barely related, their lines didn't even intersect, what made her mother think that this was going to work? She made her way up the steps of the front porch, jumping at the sound of the creaking wood that sounding like it was about to snap at any moment and rushed up to the doorbell. Her heart beat wildly as she rang it once and listened to it echo around the house. No answer. She rang it again, waiting another good minute before pressing it again.

'The doorbell obviously works.' She thought to herself. 'What if something happened?', 'What if no one lives here?', 'What if something happened to him and no one knows about it? He did live on the outskirts of town something must have happened!'

She began to panic at these thoughts, and frantically rang the doorbell until the door flung open reveling a rather irritated but otherwise well looking old man.

"Yeahh.. I heard you the first time!" He growled

Dawn was taken aback but was otherwise relieved that he wasn't dead. Dawn took him in.

'This must be Gary Oak.' She thought. He was a rather tall old man with thin grey hair and square wire glasses. In his hand held a small book, he must have been reading.

"I-I'm sorry." She apologized weakly "I was worried that something happened, I rang a couple times but no one answered."

"What do you want?"

"Um, my name is Dawn, I'm a relative of Rosie… her granddaughter actually." Dawn explained nervously.

"You're from Daisy's side of the family?" Gary asked questionably, his voice softening just a little bit.

"Yes sir."

He didn't respond but just looked at her for a while, before finally responding again.

"You look a little too young to be out here by yourself, where are your parents?"

"Well my mother went off to Hoenn in search of a job and won't be back for a couple of months. You see my parents are divorced and so she really couldn't afford to take me with her so she thought that-"

"She thought." Gary stated, sighing he continued. "Look, to be honest I haven't spoken to that side of the family in a very long time. There has to be someone else you can stay with, I'm sorry but I don't think it would be a great idea for you to stay here, I can't have some teenager I don't know running around here." He shut the door.

Dawn rang the doorbell again. "Wait please! Have no other place to go. I'm really sorry if this came out of the blue, but we're still family aren't we?! That has to count for something."

The door opened again, and Dawn felt some hope as he stepped out but was confused as he just placed as wad of cash in her hand before going back in.

"Here, use this and get out." He said shutting the door.

Just as that happened, the sound of thunder filled the sky signaling the arrival of rain.

"Great. Just Great." Dawn sighed feeling the chill of the wind. Rubbing her arms she suddenly dropped her backpack and pulled out a light pink hoody. There was absolutely no way that she could leave now, at least not while there was a storm coming.

Sitting on the steps, Dawn recalled her encounter with her 'grandfather'. He was a rather grumpy old man; but then again she was the one who interrupted his peace and quiet by ringing the doorbell so many times. But despite that it seemed like hearing her talk about her family struck a chord in him and she could see a small spark of interest appear before leaving.

She sighed, 'Maybe he's just lonely.'

She stared out at the sky and felt a wave of nostalgia hit her as she watched the sky turn a beautiful shade of pastel orange, pink and blue. Things have never really been all too great for her family; her parents divorcing at a young age hadn't affected her too much since her mother was the one who always took care of her unlike her father. She would recall the stories that her mother would tell her when she was young about how they met and fell in love but she realized that those were just stories. The reality was that love didn't last, they didn't love each other as much as they believed that they did leading to their downfall. Now her father was off marrying some other woman while Johanna is left to fend for the both of them.

Another sigh came out of her mouth as she continued to ponder these thoughts. She wondered if that's how it was for Gary.