DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon. All characters herein belong to Nintendo. I'm just a fan having a bit of non-profit fun and exercising my lazy imagination...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is set during the course of Pokémon Platinum. For the sake of being 'canon', characters are referred to by their 'official' names, but due to the crossover with the anime, I think it's important to clarify that Dawn is the female player character from Platinum, not anime Dawn. I'm mentioning that in case any questions of characterisation come up. Similarly, Barry is the 'rival' character from Platinum, not anime Barry. Technically his name should be Pearl, but really, how many guys do you know named Pearl?

Certain events in this story might not be quite as familiar if you haven't played Platinum, but it should still make sense. You might struggle if you don't at least know the basic storyline of D/P/Pt, though. This should be fairly short, probably just a few chapters (none of which will be overly long), and quite different compared to what actually happens in the games. There's a twist, let's put it that way. Please stick around for the ride, and do let me know if you're reading, even if you don't want to leave a proper review. Having said that, I welcome constructive criticism and I reply to all reviews!

ONE

It wasn't that she didn't trust him. She just didn't think it was safe for either of them to go alone.

It was different for Lucas. He would be close to his home-town, close to his family, probably even accompanied by Professor Rowan himself – and who wouldn't feel safe around that guy? On the other hand, Lake Acuity was far away, maybe far enough for Barry to get sidetracked before he got there. If Dawn was being honest, she would have confessed that she wasn't looking forward to the prospect of going anywhere near the vicinity of a bomb attack. But rather than admit to cowardice, she told herself that there was strength in numbers – and in avoiding locations of recent explosions, said the nervous voice in her head.

She was still shaking in the aftermath of the tremor that had rattled the bookshelves of the Canalave City library less than an hour ago. People had begun to return to their business already. The library had fallen silent again, save for the television which was still switched on, the news still focused on the bizarre incident that had just taken place near Pastoria City. The professor had told Dawn to go to that very place, to what had been Lake Valor until the bomb had turned it into a messy, muddy crater. Dawn knew that Professor Rowan would never have asked her to go if he hadn't completely believed in her. She was grateful for his faith, but she was about to disobey him.

Throwing her bag onto her shoulder, Dawn made her way out of the library and onto the streets of Canalave City. She overheard a group of people talking excitedly – and fearfully – about what had happened at Lake Valor.

"But what if there's another attack? Where do you think they'll strike next?"

Dawn felt a twinge of guilt, but she quickly suppressed it. Why did she have to be the one who was sent to Lake Valor? In fact, if she thought about it, Professor Rowan and his sycophant Lucas – oh, she felt bad for even thinking it after the number of times that Lucas had helped her out, but he did spend a lot of time following the professor around – had picked the easy option. Lake Verity was the closest out of the three lakes. How nice for them.

I'm not picking the second easiest option, Dawn told herself. Lake Acuity is miles away, and I'll never catch up to Barry. Unless... She took a Pokéball from her belt. "Noctowl!"The owl-like Pokémon appeared in the air with a hoot and immediately landed in front of its trainer. Standing over five feet tall, it was bigger than Dawn herself, and more than capable of carrying her on its back. "I need you to fly me to Eterna City," she said, "and then we'll go north, over Mount Coronet. Do you think you can manage it?"

Although Noctowl was her newest Pokémon, Dawn already knew that she could rely on it. She climbed onto its back and it took flight, stirring up a cloud of dust as it left the ground. When the vertigo had worn off and her stomach had settled, Dawn gazed down through the low-lying clouds. Sinnoh looked even better from the air than it did at ground-level. The meadows of Floaroma Town were like a patchwork quilt of colour, the windmills of the Valley Windworks standing out like large pins. That, Dawn remembered, was where she had first encountered Team Galactic. Taking over a rural wind-farm wasn't exactly the height of evildoing. After she'd helped to drive them away, Dawn had never imagined that she would be crossing paths with them again – over something much more serious. The shock-wave from the Lake Valor bomb was still resonating in her mind.

As they neared Eterna City, it was Team Galactic's relatively new building in the north of the town that served as a landmark, with its strange, spaceship-like rooftop. Noctowl landed on the very same street, outside the Pokémon Centre, and Dawn couldn't help but look back over her shoulder. The Galactic building looked quiet, maybe even deserted. Well, it was evening already. But something told Dawn that it was only deserted because Team Galactic's plans were taking place elsewhere, and that was an unsettling thought. Her mouth felt dry as she dragged herself into the comforting familiarity of the Pokémon Centre. There was no point in carrying on over the mountains now; amongst other things, it would soon be too dark to see.

*****

After an unsettled night of little sleep and a lot of worrying, Dawn got up shortly after first light. It didn't take her long to get ready to leave, but she stalled for a few minutes, thumbing through the numbers stored in her cellphone and wondering how far Barry and Lucas had travelled since yesterday afternoon. Lake Verity was weighing heavily on her mind. She had grown up not far from its shores. She and Barry, friends since childhood, had often raced each other there to play on its banks. When they had received their first Pokémon, the lakefront had been their battlefield. All charming memories – except for one.

That day, a day like any other, they had noisily rushed through the forest to find a stranger standing at the edge of the lake, speaking to – to whom? They'd thought that he was talking to himself, and an awkward silence had followed in which the two youngsters weren't sure whether it would have been cruel to laugh. When the strange man had turned to leave and his eyes had fallen upon Dawn and Barry, any traces of amusement had vanished from their faces. They'd never seen anyone look so stern – with the exception of Professor Rowan, maybe. They had been so transfixed – and slightly afraid – that they hadn't even realised they were standing in the stranger's way until he'd told them to move. Dawn had instantly felt a flush of embarrassment at the realisation that she'd been rudely staring at someone, but Barry had brushed it off.

"What a weirdo," he'd said with a semi-nervous laugh. Dawn had barely smiled, and that was just to keep her friend happy.

Neither of them had known it at the time, but they'd just come face to face with Team Galactic's leader. Since she'd learned this, Dawn had spent sleepless nights trying to remember what he'd been saying at Lake Verity that day. She could never remember anything except his name and his parting words, something addressed to 'the Pokémon of the lake'. That must have been the reason why Team Galactic had attacked Sinnoh's three major lakes. They were after the legendary lake guardians.

"Who goes around chasing after fairytales, anyway?" Dawn muttered to herself as she pulled her pink boots onto her feet

She resisted the urge to phone Lucas or Professor Rowan. Whatever had happened at Lake Verity would have already happened by now. Yes, Dawn was dying to know. She wasn't about to deny that she was curious. But she could hardly call now, when she was in the middle of ignoring what the professor had asked her to do. She put her phone away, picked up her bag and left the Pokémon Centre. As soon as she was outside, she released her Noctowl and greeted it with some food.

"I hope you're ready. We've got another long trip ahead of us."

This time, they were flying over unfamiliar territory, and Dawn silently noted that Sinnoh looked a lot less pretty now that she didn't know exactly where she was going. Mount Coronet was forebodingly high, so Noctowl simply kept close to its rugged sides, trying to fly at a constant level. Nevertheless, Dawn could feel the air getting colder as if they were ascending. White speckles began to appear on her Pokemon's feathers. At first, they were quick to melt. Then they began to linger. Before long, it seemed as though they were in the middle of a mild snowstorm. We can't be far off now. Dawn tried to look down, but all she could see was fog.

"It's no good! The weather's too bad! I can't see a thing down there!" Not to mention the fact that it was icy cold, so much so that Dawn was worried about losing the use of her muscles and tumbling straight off her Pokemon's back. The ice grazing her face was becoming painful. She knew that Noctowl, with its keen eyesight, would be able to see through any amount of mist, fog or snow, but they had already travelled a long distance. Although she knew that she could end up lost in the middle of nowhere, Dawn patted the back of Noctowl's head. "I think it's time we went down and took a rest," she said, almost having to shout over the wailing wind.

Noctowl hooted in agreement and began a gentle descent through the snow and the fog. The visibility was so bad that Dawn couldn't even see the ground approaching. Everything was white. She felt the landing before she saw it; Noctowl stumbled forward into the deep snow and Dawn fell from its back. The snow broke her fall; it must have been more than knee-deep, as she stood. She looked around, hoping to see something that might tell her where they had landed, but aside from a few snow-covered trees, there was nothing. She began to wish that she had gone to Lake Valor after all.

"Which way is north?" she asked desperately, brushing her coat clean as much as she could.

Flapping its wings to get rid of the snow on its feathers, Noctowl let out another hoot and began trudging off. It was obviously difficult for it to walk in such deep snow with its short legs, but Dawn realised what it was doing. Like all bird Pokémon, it had a natural sense of navigation. It was showing her the answer to her question. Dawn followed it for a short distance before she could no longer bear the sight of it fighting against the snow.

"Thanks, Noctowl. Return!" With her Pokémon back in the safety of its Pokéball, the young trainer found herself alone again in this white wilderness. To herself and the silence around her, she added, "I guess I'll just try to keep going in a straight line."

With the sparse trees as her only guidelines and an icy wind battering her from the side, Dawn slowly walked on with her head down, never looking up but occasionally glancing back over her shoulder in an attempt to see whether or not her footprints were swerving. It was difficult to tell. Thanks to the continuing snow, her footprints seemed to disappear almost as soon as she'd made them. If I collapsed out here, nobody would know. Despite that frightening thought, Dawn could feel her lack of sleep taking its toll. Had she been wearing just one more layer of clothing, she might have been tempted to find a sheltered place and take a nap. And die of hypothermia, she added silently. This was such a bad idea. Why didn't I just do as I was told?

Dawn suddenly felt disorientated. She'd hesitated to pull her hat down over her freezing forehead and she'd made the mistake of turning around on the spot to gaze at her surroundings. Now she couldn't even remember where she was going. She was about to release her Noctowl again, but as she considered just how easy it was to get lost in a place like this, she began to worry. Not about herself, but about her friend. Would Barry's Staraptor have brought him this far? Would he have even thought to use it as a navigator? It wasn't that she thought he was stupid. It was just that he could be so careless at times.

With a gripping sense of panic, Dawn broke into a run, yelling Barry's name and receiving nothing in reply, not even an echo. Tears welled up in her eyes and she stumbled on blindly. What was she supposed to do? If she sent Noctowl out to look for Barry, she could safely bet that she would be the one who would end up lost. On the other hand, if she reached Lake Acuity and Barry wasn't there...

"Somebody help me," she muttered, pausing to wipe her eyes with the heels of her gloved hands.

As she looked up, she gasped. In the distance, she could see a small log cabin. It was almost completely covered in snow, but its front door had been cleared and the lights were on. Thinking that her prayers had been answered, Dawn ran the rest of the distance and pounded heavily on the door. For what seemed like an age, there was no answer. Then, finally, the door was opened and Dawn found herself gazing up at a tall, heavyset man who was obviously dressed for the weather: his thick sweater made him look even bigger than he already was.

"Come in, come in," he said, opening the door fully and standing aside. "You must be freezing!" After banging the snow from her boots against the doorstep, Dawn gratefully stepped into the warmth of the little house. "You've found your way to our humble lodge," her host said with an equally warm smile. "Can I take your coat? We've got a fire going, so you'll be plenty warm enough in here."

"Thank you," Dawn said with a blush. She began to unwrap the white scarf from around her neck, but her nagging worry made her hesitate. She kept it on. "Is...is anyone else staying here?" she asked.

"Not at the moment, but don't you worry. Come through here and meet my wife." Beckoning to Dawn, the lodge owner disappeared through the door at the end of the short hallway. Glancing down at her own sodden boots, Dawn followed him. "We've got a guest, Linda."

"Oh, how nice!" A middle-aged woman sat in an armchair at the far side of the room, wrapped in a brown woollen blanket, an open book in her lap. She put it aside as Dawn entered the room. "Please come in and sit down. Will you be staying with us?"

"Actually, I really need to find my friend," Dawn said in a voice that was almost pleading. She didn't want to seem distrustful or ungrateful, so she perched herself on the edge of the nearest chair. If anything, the first thing she wanted to do was fall asleep in front of a roaring fire – but she couldn't, not now that she had started to worry about Barry.

"He isn't one of those Galactic people, is he?" Linda asked disapprovingly.

"Huh?" Dawn was so stunned by what the lady had just said, it took a while before she could reply properly. She adamantly shook her head. "No, he's definitely not one of them. But how do you know...?"

"They came through here not long ago," Linda's husband explained in his deep voice. Dawn almost jumped; she had forgotten that he was still standing in the doorway. "Can I get you a hot drink, chickie?"

"No, thank you. I'm sorry, but did you just say that you saw some members of Team Galactic?"

"I think that's who they were. The folks with the silly hair and the spacesuits, right? They were on their way to – "

"Never mind that, Malcolm!" Linda said impatiently, cutting him off with a wave of her hand. "This girl is looking for her friend!" She smiled at Dawn warmly. "What does he look like?"

"Well, he's...a bit taller than me," Dawn replied, gesturing with one hand as she spoke. "With blonde hair that sort of sticks up like this, and hazel eyes." She tried to remember what sort of clothes Barry usually wore, and was a little ashamed to realise that she couldn't even remember. "He talks really quickly. Oh, and he carries a brown satchel."

"That sounds like the young man who came in just this morning," Malcolm remarked. "Doesn't it, Linda?"

Dawn sat back in the chair and let out a sigh of relief. "But he didn't stay here?" She already knew the answer to that. Barry never spent more than a few minutes in one place if he could help it.

"Oh, no. He just came to ask for directions. Wanted to know where Lake Acuity was."

Although she was exhausted, Dawn knew that her brief rest stop was almost over. She was just glad that Barry had been sensible enough to stop and ask for help; now she felt guilty for doubting him. She shuffled to the edge of the chair again and adjusted her bag on her shoulder. "I'm looking for Lake Acuity, too."

"It's just up the hill from here," Linda replied. "It's a bit of a climb, mind you, and especially in this weather!"

Dawn glanced at the window. Sure enough, it was still snowing. Viewed from indoors, it was a mesmerising sight. "I need to find him," she said absent-mindedly.

So she'd been wrong, thinking Barry careless enough to get hopelessly lost or distracted by something irrelevant. She still couldn't quite believe that he was going to take care of Team Galactic on his own. She knew that she should have more faith in him, but she told herself that it was better to be safe than sorry. It's not that I don't trust him, she told herself for the hundredth time, I just...

"I really should get going," she said, louder this time. She stood up. "Thanks for the help!"

"Are you sure you want to go up there?" Linda asked. "I'm not trying to scare you, but I've never liked the look of those Team Galactic people, and it looked as though they were heading in the same direction."

"I'll be fine." Dawn thought about the six Pokémon on her belt, safely concealed beneath her coat, and she smiled. "I've got protection."

Although the cold bit even deeper after that short taste of warmth, and although the road became steep, Dawn felt so much stronger now. It wasn't that she didn't trust Barry, but they were going to take down Team Galactic together.