"Roark, would you mind?"
"I'm not touching that!"
"It's a door!"
"Yeah, but it's your door! It probably has stupid cooties on it."
Needless to say, Brendan and Roark had made it back to the Gym. With a girl still tied tightly around him, however, it was difficult for the temporary owner to open the doors to the building.
The three were forced to stand in the rain until they got Roark past his 'Roark moment.'
With the devil appearing in his eyes, Brendan jerked his neck around to Roark. "Then ring the doorbell, ya' friggin' lil' idiot, and May will open it!"
"Will she be naked? Or atleast be in a French maid outfit? You know, I bet that beret boy has one she could borrow," Roark decided, scratching his chin.
"Ughhh..." Had they not been locked behind Latias, Brendan would have used a hand to rub his eyes. His head was still able to drop low on his neck. "Answer the door, Roark, or I'll snap your neck in more ways than you ever thought possible..."
"All right," Roark stepped forward and folded his arms. "What's your question, door?"
Before Brendan could rip his hair out in frustration, the door swung open from the other side. An unprepared Roark got slammed on the nose and pushed back a few steps. "What are you two doing?" May asked in a gentle, but tired tone.
Hearing the somewhat familiar sound, Latias pushed Brendan away and ran for May. She hugged her instantly, throwing her arms behind May's back. She wailed into May's chest even harder than she had Brendan's, though all of her crying produced little to no sound.
May was taken aback at first, but quickly recovered after realizing that the girl she was holding wasn't Dawn, despite appearances. "Oh, Latias, you're all right..." She put her arms behind Latias's back and held tightly. "...And...really wet."
May's head lifted from Latias's blue hair. "What happened?" she mouthed to Brendan.
"Let's get inside," he replied in his normal tone, anxious to get out of the rain.
"Sure." May stepped away from the open door so the other two could get in. The path behind her was revealed to be extremely well-lit. "Oh, I shut the spotlight off, by the way. I noticed it was starting to dim, so I just thought it'd be better to shut it off. Then the rest of the lights came back on by themselves."
"That's fine. Glad to see that the rest of the building's finally lit up, anyway." Brendan walked through the door, making sure it shut behind him.
Rubbing his nose gently, but comfortably, Roark frowned to himself. "Son of a b..." He sighed before pulling the door back open and following the other three.
--
"Daw--"
A huge gasp interrupted the boy. "Cripe, Umbreon, quit doing that..." was the tired girl's response after recovering.
He put on a tiny smirk, unable to help himself. "Sorry."
The rain: still pelting. The Sinnoh Trainer's positions: unmoved. Standing under the useless protection of the burned tree, both Trainers were nothing short of drenched by this time.
"Dawn, what did you just say? Something about Berlitz?"
Dawn was holding a creature close to her body, hugging it like a stuffed bear. Her eyes fell on its head. "Turns out, Berlitz has known...everything. My sis--half-sister, Mama's second husband...All of it..."
"Pika pi. Pi Pikachu," Wizard quietly explained to his Trainer.
After receiving a confirming nod, the Pikachu hopped off of Dusk's shoulder. He took one last glance at Dawn before letting out a mute sigh and scampering away.
"Where's he going?" Dawn asked quietly, not even being bothered to move her head. She didn't care much, but yearned for conversation.
"Back to the Gym. May should atleast still be there." Umbreon stepped forward. He reached the opposite side of the scorched tree that Dawn was resting on, and leaned on it. "Forgive me for not helping, but I need to fill in the most shocking revelation of this conversation to the readers...Why aren't you crying?"
Dawn equipped the smallest of smiles. "Just...taking your advice."
"My advice?" he echoed.
"'Ashley's always been my half-sister. Rowan's always been my father. Just, now I know it.' That's what you said, wasn't it?"
Dusk altered the position of the beret on his head, remaining silent while doing so.
"Just...throw another one onto that list. Berlitz knew all of it." Her head slowly craned to the sky. She blinked off any raindrops that rammed into her eyes. "So someone else has been hiding things from me. I'm getting used to it."
"Dreavus, Misdrea, Misdreavus..." Berlitz attempted to comfort, squirming in Dawn's grasp.
"It's fine, Berlitz," Dawn stated, though, between her head not moving and depressed tone in her voice, it was hard to believe. "I understand that you had your reasons..." She sighed. "Well, all right, no, I don't, but maybe I eventually will...Hey, Berlitz, it's getting a little cold out here. Why don't you go back into your ball?"
"Misdrea?"
"I'm fine, really. If you're that worried about me, we can talk later, okay?"
"Vus..."
Silence. Pounding weather aside, nothing but absolute silence could be heard. It was slowly killing Dusk, who had no idea what he was supposed to say, if anything.
"...You okay?" he finally squeaked out.
Dawn giggled as she stopped leaning on the tree. Her soaked bangs made it easy to block her eyes from sight. "Can't say that I've never been better, but I think I've been worse. If there's a silver lining in here, it'd probably be that atleast I know that Rowan wasn't lying to me. That, or Rowan and Berlitz are doing their best to drive me insane. They're getting close."
"You know that I'm--"
"You..." She walked around the tree, starting on the same path that Wizard had run up. Dusk was unable to see Dawn's face as she passed by. Little did he know that it was housing a content smile. "...You're the reason that they're only 'close,' Umbreon. Let's get back to the Gym. Don't need you sick."
"Um...Okay." Slightly stunned by her words, Umbreon got off of the tree himself and followed after the slow-moving Dawn.
"Is Latias okay?" Dawn asked after she was confident that Dusk was near enough to hear her.
"Not sure. We figured that you were looking for her, so I was a little surprised to see you by yourself back there," Dusk answered, keeping his eyes forward.
Dawn sounded out an understanding moan. "It's what it started out as. Once I thought of Berlitz, though...Guess I couldn't get the thought out of my head..."
Dusk turned his head to her. Her already-quiet words had turned into a single notch above mumbling. "Dawn? Are you sure you're okay?"
Dawn knew that she could no longer protect what she was trying to hide. Tears in her eyes and voice, she shook her head. "No. Not really, Umbreon."
"Dawn, I--"
Before he could raise an arm to start rubbing her back, Dawn suddenly shifted her casual stroll into a marathon sprint. Dusk was too stunned to say or do anything until she had already disappeared from his sight range.
"...I'll buy you ice cream, if it'll make you feel better." With a somewhat frustrated sigh, he forced his tired legs to chase after her.
--
"Hosnap!"
"Oh, I'm so sorry!"
While in her blind dash, Dawn had succeeded in bumping into somebody just a few steps outside the Petalburg City Gym door. The girl had managed to recover and stay on her feet, but the victim was pushed to the ground. Not even bothering to hide her tears from the stranger, Dawn ran over to him and offered him an arm.
"Ah, no worries." He grabbed a hold of the petite hand, which only barely lifted him off the ground. "Thanks." Though the light sources were dim, he managed to study Dawn's physical features enough to ring a bell in his head. "Huh? Ain't you the girl that was hanging out with Brendan?"
"Oh, um...Yeah." Dawn scraped away at the farthest corners of her mind, but ended up with nothing. She was curious who he was, and even more so why he was holding a Skitty, but wanted to get into the Gym as soon as possible. "Again, I'm sorry about that." A sniffle was all that she let the person hear before turning away and heading for the Gym again.
Gold blinked. "...Weird girl."
"Nyyyaaa," the Skitty agreed.
With a shrug, Gold followed after her, but at a more casual pace.
--
Inside the Gym, the half of the team that was present still resided in the dining room. Latias was trapped in the chair between Brendan and May, purposely executed by the Hoenn Trainers with the hope that she would calm down. The plan had succeeded, quieting Latias down to only an occasional choke. Ionu was sleeping on the table in front of the silent Pokémon, getting softly stroked by her at the same time. Roark was on the opposite side of the table, leaning back in his chair, hands on his head, tapping his foot to a beat that wasn't there. His eyes were closed, since watching Latias cry bugged him for some reason.
"Thoughts on Umbry's imposter?" Brendan broached.
"Poor guy," Roark added, shaking his head. "He picked the worst kid to copy. Nobody will be able to tell me with a straight face that he actually wants to wear that beret."
Latias opened her mouth, but just as quickly shut it. May couldn't help but stare at her, wondering what she wanted to say.
Brendan rolled his fingers against the tabletop. "You didn't read the Terms of Service, Roark. Intelligent users only."
Roark worked the effort up for a shrug.
The Gym Leader was put on the backburner as soon as the front door got bashed open. Though there was another door blocking it from sight, all the Trainers and Latias turned their heads to the sound.
Soon, the second door was opened, barely any quieter than the first one had been. The eyes under the soaked blue hair scanned the room and instantly found her twin. May sprung up from her chair, but Dawn didn't even seem to notice. "Latias, I'm so happy you're okay..." Water began forming on the tips of her eyes. "Can I..talk to you for a second?"
Latias pushed her chair back and ran towards Dawn. She gave the dripping-wet girl a hug before sprinting through the door that was still open.
Ignoring everybody else, Dawn turned around and followed Latias, shutting the door behind her.
Roark loudly clacked his tongue. "Wow. Dawn's crying. Never saw that one coming."
May raised a hand to her chest and heaved a sigh. She sat back down in her chair and rested her cheek in her hand. The other arm stretched out to continue rubbing Ionu.
"...And May's depressed." Roark folded his arms and yawned. "Boy, you people won't change your personalities for anybody, will you?"
For a second time, the door leading to the dining room got smashed open. Unlike before, there wasn't a warning for it, so the crash startled everybody. "Hunny, I'm home!"
"Hey, G," Brendan replied without enthusiasm. His bored eyes were locked onto their newest guest. "What, uh...What d'ya got there?"
"Oh, this?" Gold held his hand up. "This is Skit-Puff! I named her myself. Still working on it, though." He began walking farther into the room. "Some chick came by and--"
As he neared, Brendan hopped from his seat, knocking it down in the process. He took a few steps backwards, which set him behind May's seat. "Really. Fascinating. Can you, uh...get that thing back in its ball, or something?"
"Uh...Huh?" Gold wondered blankly.
May batted her eyelashes, staring at the Skitty. She eventually turned her eyes back up to Gold. "Brendan's actually terrified of cats."
With his face quickly turning red, Brendan turned around and attempted to cover it up with his hand. "Oh, cripe..."
Roark, of course, took the opportunity to break out into hysterical laughter. "What? Seriously?"
"Whoa, really?" Gold asked blankly. "Oh, dude. Sorry. Didn't know. Um..."
As empty silence filled the room, May decided to explain the history of the phobia. "When he was little, he got separated from his parents once. Before they found him, he'd managed to find a pack of stray cats. For some reason, he followed--"
"MAY," Brendan yelled over both the story and Roark's insane laughter. "Can we perhaps do this another time? Or, maybe not?"
The female Hoenn Trainer was about to apologize, but thought the fact that she was giggling would lower its worth. She kept her mouth shut, though she played the amusing story in her head anyway.
"It's cool that you don't like cats, but I got some bum-inducing news..." Gold gave the team a contemplative frown. "I don't think I have her Pokéball."
Brendan spun around. "What?!" he shouted angrily.
"Nah, man. That girl, Jo, just handed her to me. I ain't got--" While in the process of checking his backpack, Gold felt his hand across something he knew wasn't there before. He took it off and brought his arm back around to his front so he could see it.
A small, unclear, plastic bag was dangling in front of him. He reached inside to pull out a Pokéball. Verily confused, he reached inside again and pulled out a note. "'Forgot to give you this,'" he read aloud. "'Oh, and, she might be used to the name Cherry by now. Jo.'" Around her name was a kiss, planted permanently by fresh red lipstick.
"Aw, man!" Gold whined. "I liked Skit-Puff better..."
Roark turned his head to look at a painting on the wall. "Me too," he said quietly, somewhat hoping nobody had heard him.
"Whatever. Can you return it to its ball now?" Brendan asked politely.
"Oh, sure. No prob." Without consulting the Pokémon first, Gold lifted the new Pokéball up, recalling Cherry to her home.
He walked into the room and stood in front of where Brendan's fallen chair was once standing. He extended a friendly arm toward Roark. "'Sup? Name's Gold!"
Roark observed the toned ligament in front of his face. His eyes forcefully lifted up to Gold's face. Without moving his folded arms, the fossil miner got words to leave his mouth. "How you doin'?"
--
"Dang, that girl can run fast..." Dusk moaned out loud, gasping in front of the Gym doors. After catching his breath, he set a glove on the doorhandle, but was interrupted before he could open it.
"Pika chu?"
Dusk jerked his head to the side, at first startled by the sound. He quickly jogged over to the nearby grass, where Wizard was found laying down. The mouse had been watching the falling sky, only turning his head to look at his Trainer for a moment.
Umbreon got down on a single knee. "You okay, Wizard?"
The Pokémon shook his head softly. "Chu. Pika pi. Pikachu?"
"Of course. You can tell me anything, buddy. But...does it have to be in the rain?"
Dusk's request fell on deaf ears. "Pika. Pikachu."
"What?!" he shouted, nearly falling backwards. "You don't...? But what about..." For some reason, he couldn't find any words to continue his sentence.
Wizard gave a light shrug. "Pika."
"So..." Well aware of the consequences, Dusk sat down on the soaked grass next to his partner. "Is there a reason?"
There was no response for a few moments. "P-Pikachu," he finally confessed, albeit nervously.
Dusk chuckled, which made Wizard feel uncomfortable. It made him quite upset when the boy started laughing. "Should have seen this one coming. In all honesty, I don't think I'm the one you should be talking to." Dusk stood up, dusted off the back of his jeans, and grabbed a Pokéball from his belt. It opened up, releasing a very confused Pokémon next to Wizard. "You two figure something out. I'll figure out how to talk to Dawn." With a somehow amused smile, Dusk walked back to the Gym and welcomed himself in.
"...Buneary, Bun?" Vesera wondered, tilting her head to the side.
Wizard sat up. "...P-Pikachu. Pika pi, Pi Pikachu."
Vesera's eyes sprung open. To somewhat hide her surprise and excitement, she picked up two handfuls of her own fluff and hid half of her face in it. "...B-Buneary?"
--
"May will probably be the most disappointed," Dusk thought to himself as he made his way down the semi-long hallway. "She gave Dawn Ionu with the intention of it symbolizing our relationship..." The boy frowned. He decided on a change of strategy. "I'll keep my mouth shut for now. See what happens."
Dusk put his hand on the doorknob, but for the second time, was interrupted before he could open it. This time, a door on the side wall opened up. The hinged wood was opened only a crack before a healthy body popped out from the other side. She instantly shut the door behind her.
She gasped when she found Umbreon standing close.
"No lecture for scaring you?" Dusk asked as a mock. "Dawn, I actually need to tell you something."
"Um...Okay," Dawn started, uncharacteristically nervous. "...Could it wait for a little bit?"
"Oh, uhh...Sure, I guess."
Without a word, Dawn sneaked by Dusk and entered the dining room before him. He soon followed, curiosity at a predictably high level.
On the right side of the table was Gold, Brendan, then May. The next chair was empty, and the one after that was still knocked down. Roark had stayed in his seat on the left side of the table.
"Hey! You're that girl that ran into me a few minutes ago!" Gold shouted with a disturbing amount of cheerfulness. "'Sup?"
Dawn ignored it, staring at nobody but Roark. Noticing this, the Gym Leader began making funny faces at her. Her apathetic expression did anything but change.
After a moment of absolute silence, Dawn finally inhaled. "...May you leave?"
"What? Oh, c'mon. Like you don't enjoy my company." After getting cold stares from everybody else in the room besides Dawn, who was still simply watching him without emotion, Roark threw his hands in the air. "Fine, fine. Screw you people, too. I need to get back to my shop, anyway."
He left his chair and walked over to Dawn. She stared back at him with a predatory expression. "...Aww, who can stay mad at you?" He ruffled her hair before turning towards the door. "I'll see you around, ladies," he announced before waving and exiting through the door.
"Later!" Gold called out.
"So...Not that I blame you, but what did you need Roark out of here for?" Brendan asked once the ex-Gym Leader had vanished.
"I wanted to tell you all something..." Dawn's voice was quiet, and unusually calm. "Umbreon? Would you like to take a seat?"
Dusk narrowed his gaze at the floor. "...S-sure. Why not." He slowly made his way over to the empty chair on the other side of May.
May smiled, glad that all of her friends were out of the rain and surrounding her.
Dawn was the only one to not be bothered to sit down. She remained standing in the position that she was already in. "After I jumped off of Latias's back, she eventually crashed just outside of town. She tried finding me, but wasn't able to. What she did succeed in finding, however, was..." She paused for a minute, seemingly recollecting her thoughts. "...It was a feeling. She sensed something. Somebody. It was the thing masquerading as Umbreon."
Dusk jumped out of his seat. "What did you just say?"
"He was...here." Dawn shook her head. "But...not for long."
"Dawn..." May leaned forward, giving her a better view of Dawn. "You said 'the thing.' Is it even human?"
Dawn shifted her head once more. "It...cannot be human. I'm not sure what it was, but..."
Conversely of May, Brendan leaned backwards in his chair to get a better view of the girl. "This is all well and good and everything, but I have a question. How do you know this? You were with me the entire time, and Latias hasn't spoken a word to me yet, so unless you're someone special--"
"I know this..." Dawn turned her head in another direction. "I know this because...I am Latias."
The revelation succeeded in flipping Brendan over in his chair. Gold blinked, not positive about what was even going on. The other two tilted their eyebrows.
"But...Latias can't talk," Dusk stated plainly, also speaking what was on May's mind.
"No, she--I mean, I can't..." The girl hesitantly lifted her head up, terrified of her friends' reactions. "A part of me is expecting you all to be mad at me for this, but I am...inside of Dawn. I do not like this term, but one could say that I am...controlling her. Sort of."
Dusk's fists clenched. Latias's eyes locked onto them immediately. "What?" he asked, not entirely amused.
After her previous experiences with Umbreon, Latias was somewhat fearful for her life. She tried lifting her eyes away from Dusk's balled hands and back to his face. "It happened...before. Do you remember? In Littleroot Town?"
Dusk quickly turned his head and looked at May. She returned the glance with a surprised but calm expression. "That would explain alot," May quietly noted.
"That is actually the...main reason that I wanted to tell you," Latias continued shyly, afraid that her grammar wasn't correct.
"Latias?"
Dawn's body turned towards May. "Yes?"
The female Hoenn Trainer stood up. She walked over to Latias and picked Dawn's hand up. "So...do you have control over only her body, er--"
Latias shook her borrowed head. "No. One could say that...I put my soul into Dawn's body. My own body is back in the other room. I cannot use both at once."
Brendan rubbed his eyes. "Oi. My head hurts."
"Really?" Gold reached for his backpack. "I got some medicine on me, if you want it."
The white-haired Trainer glared at Gold. "...It's called 'rhetoric.' Google it."
May ignored the conversation going on behind her. "Then, I only have one more question..." Knowing who it truly belonged to, she ran her hand through the closest waist-long blue hair. "Does this...hurt Dawn?"
"Well..." Latias thought about the question for a few moments, which made May, along with Dusk, quite apprehensive. "...No," she finally answered. "In Littleroot Town, she suffered a...migraine, which healed in only a few minutes. She also didn't remember anything about what I'd done. If you'd please excuse me, I'd like to ask if...Umbreon will talk to me? Alone?"
"...Yeah," Dusk stated, nothing short of clueless of his own emotions. He exited into the hallway, leaving the door open for Latias.
She walked towards the open door, but didn't enter. "It is...strange," she started with her back turned to everybody. "All of my family and friends had this ability. I do not understand why humans don't know much about it."
The three Trainers looked at each other, unsure of how to respond to that.
Latias turned around. "I am...not expecting to talk to you all very often. That wouldn't be very fair to Dawn. So..." Her eyes turned to the two boys in the room. "I am not sure of your names, but I'd like to thank one of you for helping me against that...Silver. And the other one for...running me back to this building, where I feel safe." She turned her head to give May a quick smile, then turned back around and entered the hallway.
"Wow..." May mused after Latias shut the door behind her. "Kind of a weird night, isn't it?"
"Safe to say." Brendan set his elbows on the table. He balled them into a single fist and rested his chin on it. "Dang, it must suck being a girl."
May grew infuriated. "What's that supposed to mean?!"
Brendan calmly shifted his eyes towards May. "It means that Latias could break into your mind and enjoy doing anything she'd like with your face on."
The woman flinched. "Oh...I-I guess you're right..."
"But..." Gold stood up, spun his chair around, and sat on it backwards. He put an arm on the backrest and looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Latios can probably do it with guys, too. But there isn't a big reason to keep looking over your shoulder. Latios and Latias are all born with a great amount of honor. It's in their genes to only use a tactic like that when they absolutely need to, and they probably feel bad while they're doing it."
Brendan and May gave confused looks at Gold. He replied with a wide, stupid grin.
"Weird, right?"
--
"Umbreon? You are...mad at me?"
The two stayed right outside the dining room door. Latias had barely moved anywhere after shutting the door. Umbreon was leaning on the wall, his eyes occasionally bouncing around the hallway.
Dusk lifted his hat up. He ran his hand through his hair, and was pleased when he found it to be drying. "Not mad, so much as...winded. Kind of a curveball you threw at us there. Why didn't you tell me and May that back in Littleroot?"
Latias shrugged. She didn't have an answer to his question.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"You may," she nodded.
"Do you...like being Dawn? Isn't it weird?"
Latias hugged herself. "I adore being Dawn. She's an absolutely stunning girl. To think that I'm talking with her voice, letalone talking at all, is fascinating to me. I would love to get used to this, but, of course, I refuse to."
Dusk looked at his teammate. He was clearly tired, but managed not to say anything about it. "Dawn really can't do anything to break free of you, huh?"
Latias rubbed one elbow with the opposite hand. Her head turned towards the floor. "I...do not like it when you put it like that..."
"Sorry," he replied, doubting its truthfulness.
"...To answer the question, however...If her will to come back was strong enough, she could probably force me out of her body. But she would not do that. We are strong friends. I know that she understands."
"Yeah, me too," Dusk admitted.
Awkward silence was stuffed into the air. Dusk was somewhat shocked by Latias's shyness--it wasn't often that she had the ability to talk, so he figured she would be abusing it while she had it.
"Hey, Latias? I'm kinda curious of something else, and I'm pretty sure Dawn was too...While we were at Littleroot, you changed out of Dawn's form. Any particular reason you did that?"
The familiar sound of Dawn sighing reverberated through the hall. "In the honesty, I was beginning to get worried that Dawn was finding me...frustrating. Clingy, almost. I had seen a picture in the home of May when she was a little girl, and decided to use that for awhile instead."
"Ah..."
A self-conscious smile appeared on Latias's face. "But, I am...glad that I was able to take her form once more, and she said nothing about it..."
Dusk looked toward the ceiling. "She never told me directly, but I got the impression that Dawn felt like she wasn't, you know...good enough for you, or whatever."
"No!" Latias leaned forward, almost not believing the words that came out of Umbreon's mouth. "No! Please, Umbreon, please do not let my friend think that way! She's the most important person in the world to me!"
Dusk put on a tired smile. "I'll relay the message. Did you want to talk to me about anything?"
"Actually, I was hoping...to ask you of another favor. I was hoping you would let Dawn know how sorry I am that I need to do such a terrible thing as, um...stealing her body. But, as pathetic as this makes me sound..." Latias itched her eyebrow. "...N-nevermind. I don't have the courage to ask."
"No. Go on," Dusk prodded. "No such thing as a stupid question."
"Yes...Um...Umbreon, would you ask Dawn if...I mean, when...it is okay to do this?"
Without a word or movement, Dusk gave Latias something like an "are-you-serious" look.
"It is...disgraceful, I know." Latias lowered her head, shame easily overpowering her. "But, words cannot describe how...joyful I feel, talking with all of you. And unlike last time, I am not angered at you or May, so it feels...fun. Do I make sense?"
"...Yeah," Dusk eventually granted. "I make no promises, but it can't hurt to ask."
"I only wish that I could hold conversation...with Dawn. But I do not...feel comfortable with anyone else except those that I'm closely bonded with. It may seem...complicated."
"Quite a bit. But I'm pretty tired, so I'm blaming most of it on--"
Dusk was cut off by Latias jerking her head toward the front door. Umbreon looked in that direction as well, but found nothing. He was just about to question it when the girl in front of him fell to her knees.
"Latias?"
"...Ow...Massive headache...again..."
Dusk showed a tiny smile. "...Dawn?"
The teenage girl gently lifted her pounding head up. A hand was on her forehead, helping to keep it steady. Her eyes were squinting in a vain attempt to block out the light, which was only magnified by her pulsing head. "Umbreon? What time is it?..."
"Far later than you probably think it is. You okay?" Dusk offered a hand to help her up.
She slowly made a grab for it. No effort was made on her part to stand up, so Umbreon had to lift her to her feet by himself. "Of course I am. I'm in my prime form when I have a splitting headache."
To do nothing but worsen her condition, the door behind her swung open. A red- and white-colored dragon came soaring out of it, took a sharp turn, and headed for the front door. She used both hands to unlatch the door lock and flew outside.
As much as it pained her to do so, Dawn managed to turn her head and watch the beast hover out of the building. "Latias...?"
Dusk chose to ignore it for the time being. "Dawn, what's the last thing you remember?"
The girl craned her neck back around to Dusk. "Just...talking, to Latias. I have no idea how I ended up out here. I'm thinking that you do, though."
"I'm thinking you're a good guesser. You should take a shot at Jeopardy." Deciding to save his sarcasm for when Dawn was in a bit better mood, he put a hand on her shoulder and turned serious. "I'll explain things to you when you start feeling better. For now, just take it easy--"
For a second time in a row, Latias succeeded in worsening Dawn's headache. She hovered in front of the Gym's doors and screeched loudly.
The cry was loud enough for the other Trainers to hear. Gold, Brendan, and May, with Ionu in her hands, came dashing through the door.
Dawn was starting to get annoyed. "Would you people quiet down for a freakin' minute?!"
May stepped forward. "Dawn?" she mouthed to Dusk. He nodded, so May instantly turned her head back to the other girl. "Dawn, are you okay?"
"Let's see. Today, I've witnessed an entire Town get burned to the ground, found out that my life-long Pokémon friend has been lying to me her entire life, and got my worst migraine yet. And that's failing to mention that I have no idea what I've been doing for the past I have no idea how long. I can't remember the last time I've been better since I went to the Jubilife Carnival."
"Atleast...your parents aren't on the edge of getting a divorce..." Figuring that wouldn't help the situation much, May decided not to speak it. "Why don't we go see what Latias wants?" Hoping to safely change subjects, May started walking towards the door.
The two boys mindlessly followed her.
"Great. Movement. That's all I needed right now." Dawn slowly made her way after the group. Her hand was still holding her head.
Dusk walked next to her, holding both of her shoulders as support. He had to do everything in his power to stop himself from laughing at all of today's events.
By the time Team Missile made it outside, Dawn's near-vomiting condition had lightened to a pestering headache. She kept a hand on her head, but politely asked Umbreon to remove his arms from her shoulders. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy being held, but it felt too awkward in front of all of their friends, especially Gold.
Another change that had happened was Latias, who had already morphed back into her Dawn form. Seeing Dawn in a semi-healthy state, she couldn't stop herself from blushing, running forward, and giving her a small kiss on the cheek.
From embarrassment alone, Dawn's face also flushed red. "...H-hi, Latias."
"Thrilled to be back out into the rain," Brendan proclaimed, resting his hands on his hips. "Any particular reason we're out here?"
Latias pointed towards the northern sky. Of course, not knowing what it was supposed to mean, the group turned their heads upwards to spot nothing but heavy clouds. They set their gaze back on Latias, confused.
"...Aw, dang! She made me look!" Gold broke out into hysterical laughter and slapped his knee. "She's good at this!"
Latias raised her hand to her chin and tapped her foot, understanding that she needed a new tactic. She suddenly snapped her fingers, creating one of the very few sounds she had access to while in human form.
She ran over to the grass, where Wizard and Vesera had somehow fallen asleep. She picked Wizard up, which awoke him. Vesera, having been sleeping on top of Wizard, fell onto the grass and bumped her head, also waking her up.
She set the groggy Pikachu on her right shoulder before dashing over to Umbreon. She leaned forward and sniffed the side of his neck.
"Um...I'm flattered, but--"
Latias quickly backed off, managing to grab Dusk's hat on her way back. She threw it on top of her own head.
A lightbulb activated inside Dusk, but he was beaten to the punch. "Waitaminute! Waitaminute!" Gold pounded one fist into another three times. "Um, um, um...I know this! I know this one. Um...Napoleon!" he suddenly exclaimed, thinking Latias was playing Charades. "Napoleon Bonaparte!"
All of Team Missile stared at Gold. Latias blinked at him instead.
"...What? Napoleon had a Pikachu, didn't he?"
Dusk shook his head. Deciding that it would be better to forget about Gold, he turned back to Latias. "Can you sense my imposter?"
Excited that her message had been silently relayed, Latias nodded her head eccentrically. She resumed pointing to the northern sky.
Umbreon cracked his finger bones. "Time to see how good this guy's cosplay is with my own eyes."
Taking a cue, Latias glowed brightly. Slightly fearful, Wizard hopped off of his perch and onto the ground.
In a record time, she was back into her dragon form. She stayed hovering low on the ground, awaiting to be boarded.
Dusk stepped forward. He recalled Vesera into her Pokéball, then picked Wizard up. Holding him to his body, Umbreon hopped on Latias's back. "Guys, there's a problem. Even though it's awesome that Latias found him...she can't tell us where he is, exactly."
Latias's expression dropped to sadness. Umbreon petted her neck.
"Umbreon," May began, stepping forward. "you go with Latias. I have a Pokémon with Teleport now, so once you find out where he is, just contact us, and we'll be there before you know it."
"Will do. I'll see you--"
"Latias?" Dawn interrupted. She ran forward and put her hand onto Latias's face. "Do you...feel safe with just Umbreon? If you want me to go too..."
Dusk bit his lip. He hated that Dawn still had that event in her mind, but didn't want to say anything.
Latias rubbed her head on Dawn's neck, chirping gleefully. She soon pulled back and gave a more serious nod.
Dawn smiled. "...All right. Please, take care. Remember, you're going after somebody who's already killed people and Pokémon. I highly doubt he cares very much about adding to the statistic."
With nothing but a confirmation nod, Latias took to the skies. She was rivaling the speed of a jet as soon as she got above the trees.
The girl let out a hefty sigh. She turned around and headed back for the Gym. "Well, no point in staying out here, I guess."
Brendan followed after her. "Your headache doing okay?"
Gold threw his arms behind his head and started heading for the Gym himself. May interrupted him by giving a quiet shout of his name.
"What's up?" Gold asked, turning to her.
"Gold, I was wondering if..." The woman leaned forward to the boy that was as tall as she was. "Could I have that Skitty?" she whispered in his ear. She pulled back to hold a more comfortable conversation.
"Huh? Uh, sure. Why?"
May rubbed her shoe on the ground. "Wellll...I just got thinking that maybe I could...help Brendan over his fear."
Gold thought about her answer for a minute. It didn't take him long to beam widely. "You want to torture him with it, don't'cha?"
"Of course not! I mean...that's not the main reason for it," she replied while attempting to hold a smile. She failed miserably. "I'd love to trade you for it, if you'd like anything in return."
"Sure!" Gold shouted. "Got any Magikarp?"
May blinked, doubting that she had heard him right. "...I-I'm sorry?"
--
"...Wow...Latias...You sure...picked up a few miles per hour, didn't you?..." Dusk screamed at the top of his lungs, hoping that'd be enough to reach Latias's ears.
The dragon screeched back happily, the fact that Umbreon couldn't understand her slipping from her mind.
Latias was soaring the skies at an unbelievable speed, which Dusk assumed to atleast be 60 MPH. The human boy had strapped his arms around Latias's neck with the comforting knowledge that if he let go, there was no way he'd be able to stay on the ride. He had stashed Wizard underneath him, sandwiching the mouse between Latias and himself.
"Guess this is the first time I've rode on her by myself...Hate to see how fast she can fly without any weight to slow her down." Though incredible wind caused them to tear up instantly, Dusk squinted his eyes and looked down. He could barely focus on a single object before he whizzed past it. "...Glad I'm not afraid of heights."
--
"Just kinda pissed," was Dawn's answer.
Brendan and Dawn had made it back to the dining room. They occupied the two nearest chairs, Dawn having landed in hers with a scowl. Brendan, unable to look at Dawn after the events of a few minutes ago, kept his eyes on the fireplace in the near distance.
"I don't have a clue what's going on," she continued, "I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. Without my knowledge, I got to the hallway. Somewhere along the line, Umbreon and Latias became best buddies, and apparently Latias can sense Umbreon's imposter?"
"Yeah...Hey, Dawn, listen...Not quite sure how those two had it planned out to tell you, but it ain't really fair to keep you in the dark about this. See..."
Brendan explained Latias's second announcement in as much detail as he could remember. Dawn's eyes grew and shrunk multiple sizes during the course of the story, but she remained silent and calm through-out it.
"...So...Yeah."
"Well, that's...nice to know."
Silence. It lasted until Brendan gave a soft chuckle. "Wasn't sure if I was expecting you to get pissed or not."
Dawn hugged herself while shifting around in her chair. She kept her eyes locked onto the edge of the table. "I probably have the right to be angry, but I...can't, you know? For one, I had a feeling that she did something like that just yesterday. Besides, it's kind of intriguing, in its own way." Dawn looked into the air and laughed. "Yeah, that's a professor's daughter for you. An event which involves her losing complete control of her body is something she defines as 'intriguing.'"
Brendan casually turned his head toward her, raising an eyebrow. "Professor's daughter?"
"Yep..." Dawn let out a blissful sigh. "In spite of deciding that I was going to deny everything, turns out that I got Rowan's blood going through me."
The Hoenn Trainer carelessly nodded. His gaze returned to the active fireplace. "By the tone of your voice, I'm heading out on a branch for this one, but I'm assuming that you don't appreciate that gene."
"I could do without it."
"Well, take this from somebody who wants to get into a professor's daughter's pants..." While Dawn was laughing, Brendan leaned back in his chair. "Enjoy that blood that's going through you. Not many people can say that they're kids of legends. It's cool if you can't stand the guy. Lotta people hate their makers. That don't mean that you can't enjoy what they gave you, anyway. You know?"
"Yeah, I know..." Dawn thought about his words for a moment. Her thoughts quickly changed, however, to who was saying those words. "Since when did Brendan get so deep?" She let the thought out of her mind--a lot had happened since she'd seen him last, so it wasn't unnatural for the jocular Trainer to have a small change in attitude. Instead, her conscience bugged her about something else. "I hate to keep going back to this, but...Your house."
Brendan grew a light-hearted grin. He nodded his head softly, prodding further development of the topic.
"It was...your house. It's odd to see you being so calm about it. Didn't it mean anything to you?" Dawn asked, continuing her question from earlier in the night.
Rather than up and down, Brendan shook his head from side to side. "Nah. Forget not, Dawn, I'm the heir to the throne of Petalburg Gym. I was never home...I was here, at the Gym. All the time. Training, studying, whatever. I bet I didn't walk into my own house more than twice a month."
"Wow..." Dawn stared at the table, unable to lift her eyes any further. "I didn't realize that being a Gym Leader's kid was so strict."
"It was all good, really." A phone in the room began ringing. Brendan stood up to answer it, but continued his story anyway. "But I'm assuming that it does explain why it was so much more crucial to protect the Gym than anything else, though. Right here's where the memories are for me."
After seeing a nod of acceptance from Dawn, the temporary Gym Leader picked the phone up and held it to his ear. "Peeeetttalburg Gym, where we beat the crap out of you, or you get a free badge. Now with easy-to-access parking. What's up?"
"Brendan?"
Brendan tilted his eyebrows. Though she obviously wouldn't be any help, he also turned to Dawn. "...Umbry?"
The girl perked up at the single name.
"Yeah...Yep."
"Sooo...what happened? Did you get there?"
"Yeah. We did. In about fifteen minutes. That dragon can move really, really fast."
"Guess so." Brendan changed which leg held his weight. "So where are you? I'll go find May."
"The sign outside said something about Fallober, or something?"
"Fallarbor. C'mon, give me and May some credit. We didn't screw up a Sinnoh name once. At any rate, we'll be right there. Don't move."
"Super. And, by any chance...could you hurry?"
The male didn't appreciate the sound of that. "What's wrong? Something happen? ...Umbry?" After blinking twice, Brendan slowly dropped the phone back onto the receiver.
Dawn sat in her chair, a somewhat terrified expression on her face. "Okay, when you say, 'what's wrong,' and the other person doesn't answer, that's not usually good."
Brendan ran his tongue across his lips. "...C'mon. We got to go get May."
--
"Well...h-here you go...Are you sure it's all you want?"
"Yup! That's fine!"
May and Gold had traveled to the nearby Petalburg lake. It was raining, but May tried not to mind it. The girl looked through her bag and found a collapsible, almost untouched Old Rod. She threw the line into the lake and hooked a Pokémon almost instantly. She yanked it out to find the creature she was looking for. Without even being bothered enough for a battle, May tapped the Magikarp with a Pokéball and captured it in a single shot.
May handed the Pokéball to Gold, then accepted her new Pokémon's home from him. Afterwards, she glanced at her other hand and saw the Old Rod. "...W-why don't you go ahead and take this, too? Then you can catch as many, um...Magikarp as you want."
"What?!" Gold shouted, being startled enough to stumble backwards a few steps. "Are you for real?! Sweetness!"
May scratched her cheek with her index finger. "Well, you know what they say...Give a man a Magikarp, and he'll be happy for a minute...Teach a man to fish for Magikarp, and he'll apparently be happy for a little while longer, at least."
"This is nothing short of epic..." Gold ran his hand up and down the aged fishing tool. "Thanks so much, May!"
"No, please, don't mention it!" Her voice quieted down to a level that only she could hear. "Just a little more space in my bag, that's all..."
The awkward moment was gratefully interrupted by a masculine voice crying May's name. The incompatible Trainers turned their heads to see Brendan running towards them, with Dawn not far behind.
Brendan screeched to a halt, which nearly caused him to trip on the wet grass. "Why do I always find myself standing in the rain? Look, May, we need to get to Fallarbor, now."
"Why? Is that where Umbreon is?"
"Yeah." Brendan turned his head over his shoulder just enough to see that Dawn was just a short ways back. She wasn't close enough, however, to hear Brendan's whisper. "I got a bad feeling about this one. Expect the worst."
May gulped. She hated when Brendan got "bad feelings." "...A-all right." May searched for and found a Pokéball that she had previously attempted to use. It opened up in her hand, and a humanoid Pokémon landed face-down on the ground.
Most of the creature's features were hidden in its current face-planted position. It was gray- and blue-colored, and its head was in the shape of an onion.
Without warning, May stepped forward and gave the Pokémon a solid kick to its ribs. Suddenly recharged, it instantly rolled forward and donned a fighting pose. "Mediii, tite!"
Gold stared at the strange Pokémon with an insultingly blank expression. "...What just happened?"
Dawn reached the group in time to hear Gold's question. "What'd I miss?"
May waved her hand, unsure of how to answer the boy's question. "...I-I-I don't know! For some reason, I always need to kick Meditite after it comes out of the Pokéball! I feel horrible for doing it, but I'm not sure if it even breathes until I hit it..."
"Tiiiiite..." it moaned, turning towards its Trainer.
"You succeeded in topping every other random event that's happened today, May. And trust me, you had some tough competition." Brendan ran his hand through his soaked-again hair. "Whatever. Can we get going now?"
"Yeah," May nodded. "Meditite, would you please Teleport all of us to Fallarbor Town?"
"Medi. Tite." The creature closed its eyes and began glowing blue.
While it was concentrating, Dawn squatted down on her knees and rubbed the Meditite's chin. "It's adorable. You two have the most awesome Pokémon..."
Brendan turned his head in a direction that nobody else was in. "Your Absol ranks right up there..."
May instantly jerked her head to her boyfriend. "Absol?"
Brendan said nothing, as did Dawn. The former had a strong frown on his face. The latter eventually came through with another subject. "May, where's Ionu?"
"Oh, I put her back in her Pokéball," she announced, holding one of the objects up. "Knowing her, I figured she couldn't stand the rain. She'll come back out once we get to Fall--"
"MEDI!"
With anything but a warning, the four Trainers disappeared faster than a blink of an eye.
