A/N: This chapter marks the first sight of a major OC for the story as well as the beginning of the main Plot. Thanks for the reviews, keep reviewing (after reading, of course)!

Chapter Seven: Turbulence

It was a hazy evening here in Port Pastoria. As the Sun was making it's descent to below the horizon, a ray of light streamed over a small bush.

Beneath the bush, was a trio of familiar figures who were hiding themselves, not wanting to be seen by those whom they were observing.

'Hey Jess, I think that the Twerps are going to board that ship!' James, the one with the blue hair, told his team mate.

'Quiet James!' replied the red haired woman, peering through the green bush.

She could see that the quartet was heading to a bench right next to the port, although their expressions were not visible. A magnificent Cruise ship lay in the background, with the letterings 'Lady Light' on it's front brow. The ship was being boarded by many passengers, and the three members of Team Rocket soon lost sight of their swift prey in the crowd.

They were nowhere to be seen now – they had vanished as fast as a Drifloon in the wind.

'Great, now yous lost em' !' Meowth sighed. He carefully came out of the bush and sneaked toward the ship. The two other members of the Team followed – they could sense what to do next – a result of being together for so long.

Repeating what they had done so many times now, the Team quietly slipped onto the ship. They had done so just in time too, the ocean liner left port a mere ten minutes after their infiltration. Being a stowaway was always risky, but exciting and sometimes fate dictated it, especially for this particularly miserable group of Team Rocket field agents.

- - -

An electric rodent led the way as the road went on and on. It's excellent sense of hearing was complemented by it's partner – A far younger Pokemon that was currently walking around with it's eyes closed. Even so, it could sense by the means of Aura, the path and direction it must lead the team through. Riolu and Pikachu were doing their jobs rather well, although it was becoming more difficult every second – guiding the four young souls out of the haze safely, although the former was much younger than all of them.

The road on which our quartet was traveling on was pretty unused. Usually, there was a premier Trainer's road, apart from many other motorized ones which led to the resort of Valor Lakefront and onto Veilstone and Sunnyshore City.

However, the recent storm had caused all of them to be shut down. There was a fanatic rush towards the new Ferry Service, and this resulted in high prices with rooms all booked out – not something our heroes really liked.

May was, to start with, quite happy with this, saying that it would give her a good chance to see the Sinnoh region up close. Her cherry mood diminished, however, as they started upon this gloomy, desolate path towards Valor Lakefront. It was expected to take at least a week or two of consistent traveling by foot, as the distance to the famous resort was a little under a hundred miles from Pastoria City, and there was the unpredictable weather they had to contend with.

But this was a journey that they were prepared to take – after all, the group had faced many dire circumstances before, and Ash did not want to miss the Sinnoh League due to a "little wind blowing up on my face" - as he put it.

They encountered a growing blanket of fog, after nearly a day's march.

'Even Team Rocket won't be able to find us in this fog!' sighed May, completely oblivious to the fact that the incompetent villainous trio was probably far away from them – miles out at sea.

The fog was slowly becoming impossible to navigate. As our group went along the rugged road the sound of someone falling could be heard, along with a little scream. Moving cautiously by instinct, Ash proceeded towards the barely visible figure, with Pikachu tagging along. It was Dawn - she had fallen on a rather hard rock and a stream of blood was trickling down of her leg.

'That must have hurt.' he murmured. 'Are you OK Dawn?' Ash asked her gently. She responded with a small nod while Pikachu hopped over onto her white hat to make her feel a little comfortable. The electric type attempted to calm her by patting her head gently with his paw. Ash tried to straighten out her leg which was proving to be a little difficult for the young girl.

The layer of white surrounding them soon gave away to Brock and May, who had followed Ash's Riolu as soon as it had sensed two members of the group (and Pikachu) not within the confines of his Aura 'vision'. Brock and May understood the situation immediately, as they rushed over to where Ash and Dawn were. As if it was a well rehearsed play, May went over to comfort Dawn while Ash and Brock applied bandages from the Breeder's emergency first-aid kit.

In a ironical turn of events, a streak of green flashed across the sky just as soon as they had finished attending to Dawn. In no time at all, the fog began to dissipate – but not before May had the opportunity to aim her Pokedex at that green streak;

'Rayquaza, the Sky High Dragon pokemon. A Pokémon that flies endlessly in the ozone layer. It is said it would descend to the ground if Kyogre and Groudon were to fight.'

'So that was the "Airlock" ability then.' Brock said, his expression told the others that he had understood what had happened. But – that was immaterial for now.

'Let's get going before the Fog comes back.' Dawn said, making a fruitless attempt to stand up.

The others looked at each other. They knew that there was no way they could go before Dawn was fit to travel. Like a prechoreographed movement, May and Ash simultaneously lifted Dawn by the shoulders – one holding up each – and began moving towards a now-visible clearing.

'I'm sorry Ash, May. Oh, and be careful not to spoil my hair.' Dawn said, looking deeply disappointed. She had her eyes firmly on the ground, although the last remark was said with more enthusiasm.

'That's alright.' both of them replied together. They arrived at the clearing after walking a bit at sluggish pace. Brock was ahead of them, and so were the two Pokemon – already on site and laying the tent foundations.

All this efficiency did surprise our quartet, but they should have expected that long years of traveling would lead to the development of such skills. Actually, this effect was the combinations of many factors – including the exposure of their Aura to Riolu.

'Dawn, you're heavy, you know that?' Ash said, panting slightly as he sat down on a log.

Dawn's expression of deep disappointment immediately turned into a malicious one.

'YOU THINK I'M WHAT???' she shouted.

- - -

Somewhere near the Valor Lakefront, overlooking the south Sinnoh beach...

The sky was black. The wind was fast.

Over there did the storm last.

The sea was green and submarine,

There was a voice which called all to pass.

Dancing in the sea, beneath the waves,

From everywhere, from the caves.

Ever since becoming Grand Coordinator, she had to continually face some difficult and hazardous jobs. It wasn't always like that though – but now she was the first ever Grand Coordinator – and after all this position was created specifically for her. She was too strong for the Top Coordinator Class, there wasn't one person in the world who could outmaneuver her in contest battles. Not one who could choreograph more awe inspiring appeals.

So, it wasn't as if she couldn't manage, of course: in fact – she really enjoyed helping both people and Pokemon everywhere – it gave her an unmatched sense of satisfaction and purpose – two things she wanted; no; needed, now that she had found both love and fame.

But this problem ... it was a little different from what she usually came across – and usually, she was with someone really special who was always close to her. She remembered what he had told her ... 'When in doubt, close your eyes – and focus.'

She did so. Slowly but surely, her sharp mind bent itself, transcending the normality of her five senses. She could see her answer clearly – it called out to her from the higher dimension of thought.

Opening her brilliant shimmering blue eyes, she had found the solution – the ocean was reflecting it back at her.

- - -

'So much for the cake.' Brock murmured, peering into his bag. He found some raw materials for food though; a couple of onions, carrots, and vegetables.

'Ah, forget it. I guess I'll just have to whip up something now.' he sighed, defeated. The Breeder went on to figure out the ingredients for his cuisine.

'Well Brock, you can't start cooking without a fire.' Dawn said peering at her bandaged leg rather nervously.

'Well, those two should get back before the Fog haunts us again.' he replied.

A cold breeze swept through their campsite, momentarily causing both Brock and Dawn to give a little shiver.

'I don't really get what's going on Brock, you know...' Dawn started, now watching the breeder as he prepared his ingredients, '... Sinnoh was never unfriendly or cold, at least for me.' she finished.

'You'll be surprised at how unfriendly the world can be Dawn.' Brock replied, smiling faintly. 'When you're traveling with Ash, strange things happen – even he doesn't know why. The good thing is that we can always learn from it – and see things – amazing things, which we don't normally see.' He finished, now in the process of mixing the ingredients and tasting the uncooked food.

In the background, the Sun was setting, slowly in all of it's majestic glory.

Dawn turned her head towards the sunset and gave a little smile as those refracted orange rays poured into her pupil. She soon closed her eyes, feeling that tingling of sunlight on her face – but she also felt something stronger ... a force which was pulling at her slightly and searching for something.

- - -

'There. Alright, Blaziken – return!' said May, raising her pokeball. Her fully evolved starter transformed into a red flash of energy as it returned to it's pokeball.

'Great. Let's get these back to the campsite.' Ash replied pointing to the freshly cut blocks of wood.

Without any further command, Riolu picked up a rather heavy bunch of logs and started walking back to the campsite, as if those logs were nothing but a bunch of papers.

Ash and May looked at each other, surprised. Once again, the eye contact resulted in that intense energy surge, causing both of them to flinch uncomfortably. But this time -

'Um...Ash, did you feel that?' May asked, although she was a tad bit nervous – she wasn't sure that Ash flinching was a part of her imagination.

'Yeah, it was weird. I...I think it's been happening for some time now.' he replied, smiling slightly but avoiding her eyes. He did look a little confused though, but he had learned throughout the course of his travels that small mysteries like these often solve themselves – they like to run away if you follow them.

There was an uncomfortable silence, but it was broken by Pikachu's prompting. The yellow rodent pointed to those freshly chopped logs while saying it's own name and later looked up at the glorious sunset.

'That's right buddy, we better get going before the Sun goes down.' Ash said. He proceeded to pick up a bunch of logs, helping May get some into her hands. He picked up the remaining ones himself and without another word, the three of them proceeded to follow Riolu back to the camp.

- - -

'Just in time guys!' Brock exclaimed as he proceeded to arrange the logs which his friends had brought beneath his vessel and lit a flickering flame.

It wasn't long before they and their Pokemon began eating. Brock's scrumptious food always managed to elevate their mood, no matter how bad it might be. The proceedings were once again happy and full of color, and Dawn almost forgot that she had an injured leg

Unknown to the party as well as the Grand Coordinator, the Emerald Guardian had locked in on whatever it was searching for. Although it had no power over it anymore, it would still try to negotiate – it must, or the Harmony of Nature would be in jeopardy.

Wait a minute ... I WROTE A POEM???

/Faints from disbelief.

Now, if you'll excuse me, my subconscious mind is playing tricks on me – I need to give it a firm scolding. :D

In all seriousness, I plan to proliferate the chapter length from now somewhat. I hope I can manage it!
Lastly, THE CAKE IS A LIE!!! ;)