As I already said, this chapter will be darker than the others, though other, much darker ones will come eventually.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or its characters.

Chapter 14: The special day part 3

Slowly, Dawn's eyes opened. A quick glance at the clock revealed that it was 6:30 am. Ash was still lying next to her with his usual goofy grin. She gave him a tender kiss on the forehead before heading to the bathroom. Although she'd have liked to sleep a bit longer, she had a lot to do. Once she was done, she went back to the bedroom, got dressed and then she was off to the kitchen. An awesome day should be started with an awesome breakfast.

Only a few minutes later, someone knocked on the door. She guessed that it was a slightly overenthusiastic guest but opened nonetheless. To her surprise, it was Ash.

"Ash!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing out there? You were still fast asleep the last time I saw you. Happy birthday!" She tried to kiss him but he prevented her from doing that for some reason.

"Thank you." He smiled but she could tell that something was odd. "Save your affection for a bit later. First. I have a big surprise for you, no, for us. I left the house briefly with Gallade to prepare it but now it's ready."

"Is something wrong?" she asked. She had a bad feeling about this.

"It's nothing. I'm just a bit excited. Let me take you to a special place where I have to tell you something important." He grabbed her left arm. It felt strange for some reason, maybe because of the new gloves. "Please follow me. I can't wait."

"Wait, what about the breakfast?" she asked. "It's almost done."

"Oh, if that's the case, please finish it first. It will be the proper way to start the day once we're back," he said.

They went to the kitchen and he sat down, watching her finish everything, including the pokémon food.

"Let me just get my pokémon," Dawn told him, hurrying out of the kitchen but once more, she was held back by him.

"No need to take them with us. It's very personal," he said, dragging her out of the house. Unbeknownst to her, he had left a small note on the kitchen table.

Once they were far enough away, he called out Gallade.

"I found a very special place just for us. It's a bit far away so Gallade will take us there," he explained.

"Oh, you didn't have to," she replied.

"Alright, do it!" The pokémon took them to their destination.

It was a tiny, crescent-shaped lake within a forest, probably Viridian Forest, Dawn guessed. Gallade quickly went away and hid behind a tree, probably to give them some privacy. Now it was time to give him his present.

"Ash, I hope you like your present." He took the small cask and opened it hesitantly, eyeing the amulet for a few seconds. "It has a very ..."

She stopped when he let it drop to the ground. At first, she thought that he was just clumsy but then he stepped on it, burying it in the mud. There was a pained expression on his face.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I can't do this any longer. We have to ... we have to go separate ways."

"What?" Dawn couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You heard me right. I'm breaking up with you." He took a few deep breath, not even looking at her now. "I just don't think it's going to work. With all the upcoming battles I don't want any more distractions. I'm sorry. You're a wonderful person but ... I just had to make a decision."

"How can you do this to me?" she screamed after a short pause. "After everything we've been through. After everything I've done for you ..."

She sunk to her knees. Ash still wasn't looking at her.

"I guess I am just a distraction to you." She shook her head. "No, we can fix this! We can talk about this."

"I'm afraid not. And I can't look at you like this any longer. Please find someone who can appreciate you. I'm sure there are dozens of men who would kill for you," he told her.

"But I don't want them! I want ... where are you going?" He went to Gallade.

"I hope you find happiness again." Without another word he disappeared.

He left me. He just left me. Why? Dawn sat down, thinking about him. Just like that. I thought he loved me. I really thought he loved me. I actually thought we could get through anything together. Damn you, Ash. She let out a piercing scream. That felt good. I'll talk to him. And if he won't listen I'll make sure he gets to know what I really think of his decision. Poor Buneary. And the others. He and his pokémon were like family to them. It will hit them just as hard. Ash, just what were you thinking? Or rather, were you thinking at all? Anyway, I should get back home first.

She looked around but she couldn't see any clear path. In fact, the forest only looked darker than before.

And he even left me here without my pokémon. Well done, Ash, she thought.

After searching for a while, she found a tiny path. Since it was the only one, she decided to follow it. At first everything seemed normal. Pidgeys were chirping in the trees and caterpies walking around. The more she walked, though, the more silent the forest became. Only when she stopped for a quick rest, she noticed that it has become completely silent.

Strange. Why is it so quiet in such a big forest? she wondered. Probably just a coincidence. I better get moving again.

However, the sounds didn't return. Instead, the forest was becoming increasingly darker with every step. She almost hit a branch with her head and noticed that the leaves were red like blood. The branch itself was very dark, almost black.

I haven't seen a tree like this before. This forest sure is full of surprises. Dawn tried to touch it but backed away when she saw multiple thorns on it. Full of surprises indeed.

Another look at the surroundings revealed a lot of briars growing all around the path, making an escape very painful at best. She decided that it was probably better to go back to the friendlier parts of the forest but suddenly a wall of thorns was blocking the way back.

"Alright, this is getting creepy" Dawn admitted.

It was merely the beginning. As much as she wanted the sounds of the forest to return, what followed was even worse than the silence. It started with the sound of monotonous drumming in the distance. It was slightly faster than a beating heart and made her really nervous. Strange noises from the bushes followed. Just as she expected now, there was nothing in the bushes. Apparently, it was just to freak her out, at which it wasn't entirely unsuccessful. It was the reason she didn't stop to rest despite her feet starting to hurt. Then the temperature suddenly dropped significantly. Now the sounds in the bushes vanished and got replaced by whispers. Dawn could neither make out where they were coming from nor what they were saying. In fact, they seemed to come from every direction.

What the hell is going on here? She was afraid. There was something wrong about this forest. Or someone was playing a very dirty trick on her, which wasn't much better. After all, that person could have something very bad in mind for her.

Even worse, glowing eyes were appearing in the distance like stars in the night sky so she felt watched all the time now.

Suddenly, she felt something grabbing her right ankle and even though it disappeared immediately, it made her feel even more vulnerable. Just when she turned to continue a branch shot right towards her. Fortunately, she dodged in time but instead of smashing into the ground, it simply stopped midair and faded into nothingness.

Calm down, Dawn. Calm down! She took a few deep breaths. Keep your cool and just walk along. Don't run unless necessary. Alright, ready.

Apart from the constant noises, the next few hours, or at least it felt like hours, were rather uneventful. Still, it was more than enough to keep her extremely nervous.

There she was. Tired, lost and thirsty. The landscape seemed to change permanently. For hours, she hasn't seen a single wild pokémon nor a human. The noises, the sense of being followed and the increasing darkness were driving her crazy.

"What the hell are you trying to do, stupid forest? Are you trying to kill me?" she finally shouted.

Suddenly, the volume of the whispers increased dramatically until it was almost unbearable. However, it stopped just as quickly. Instead of the whispers, there was now a light in the distance. Since it seemed to be a better choice than the permanent darkness, she decided to follow it. It guided her to a green glade, which looked much friendlier than the dark forest. In the middle, a tall, bald, dark-skinned man was sitting with his eyes shut. He was wearing a long, white mantle along with white pants and shoes. Dawn didn't know that she was facing Seth the Voice.

"Welcome, child," he said to her without opening his eyes. "Have you come to seek guidance?"

For some reason, his voice had a very soothing effect but there was also a weak pain in her head, probably because she felt like she was about to die from thirst.

"Do you ... have something to drink?" she asked desperately.

"I do." He reached into a bag behind him and took out a bottle of water, which he threw towards her. She caught it and gulped down the water eagerly.

"Sorry, I was almost dying of thirst," she apologized. "Thank you for your help. Can you tell me where I am?"

"In Viridian Forest," Seth simply answered.

"Uhm, yes, I know that. I was asking for something a bit more specific," she said, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"It doesn't matter. This is a safe place between the darker parts of the forests. You look tired. Why don't you sit down and relax?" She nodded although she didn't really want to stay. Maybe it was for the best.

"Why are you here? This is in the middle of nowhere." She started to lose every feeling in her limbs, probably because she was so tired. Even if she wanted she couldn't leave.

"It's a good place for meditation. But this isn't about me. I'm not important. You, on the other hand, are quite an interesting person. You look like something very sad happened to you. Otherwise you wouldn't be wandering around in the woods, frightened, exhausted and thirsty." He stood up, gave her a warm smile and kneeled down next to her. "Don't be afraid. I am your friend. I want to help you. Why don't you tell me what happened?"

"My boyfriend broke up with me." She didn't even know why she told him this. After all, he was just a stranger she met in the middle of the woods. Why would she trust him? There was no denying that there was something about him that she couldn't explain. Maybe he was friend?

"Is that all?" If anyone else had said something like that she would have yelled at him but she just couldn't be mad at this one.

"Well, we've been together for years now and I thought about spending the rest of my life with him. You know, marrying, starting a family. And then, out of nowhere, he broke up with me. Without an apparent reason. I ... just don't understand." She wanted to cry, to let it out but she couldn't. Instead, it started to rain, as if the sky was doing it for her.

What's wrong with me?

"I understand. You had hopes and plans for the future. Now they're all gone. You have every right to be sad." His voice was both calming and unnerving.

He understands you.

"Ash was my everything. We went through so much together. It was his birthday, I organized the party together with our mothers." Suddenly she noticed how emotionless her own voice sounded. "I'm not feeling so well."

I don't even know his name.

"It's no surprise. You went through a lot." He stood up and slowly walked around her, careful not to frighten the coordinator. "Maybe you should move on. Look at you, a brave, strong woman. You deserve more than this."

He wants what is best for you.

"Do you really think so?" she asked and he put his hands on her shoulders.

His touch makes me feel uneasy.

"Yes, you're one of the best I know. Don't let things like this get you down," he reassured her.

He can be trusted.

"But what should I do now? I have no plans, no hopes, nothing." She looked down. "Nothing left."

Why can't we just try it once more?

"You still have yourself. Forget about Ash, he isn't worth it." The man became a bit more forceful now. All of sudden, her head started to hurt badly. "Come with me. I am part of an organization that's trying to make the world a better place. We need strong and dedicated people like you. We are like a family and take care of our own. We would like to welcome you, give you our love and make you feel whole again."

That's exactly what you need.

The darkness of the forest was spreading until only a small are around the man was still normal.

Make you feel whole again. His words kept echoing in her head, making the pain even worse.

"Really? But before I agree, I should know more about this organization." She blinked. "Right?" Her vision started to get blurry.

There's something fishy about this. It does sound tempting, though.

"Does it matter?" He laughed softly. "No, it doesn't. You will join us. You will become one of our most powerful and most loyal members."

Is he trying to ... he can't ... he's a true friend.

Dozens of different thoughts were rushing through her mind, many of them conflicting. It was pure chaos, only the soft voice of this man could be heard. It urged her to agree, to stop resisting, to just let go. In her current state, it seemed like the most sensible thing to do. After all, she had nothing to lose, right? Her eyes were wide open and she was staring at him with an expressionless face. He had to be a friend since he was the only one unaffected by the darkness that was consuming the surrounding area and she didn't want it to consume her as well. Maybe he knew a way to stop it? And there was still the pain in her head that just wouldn't stop. For some reason, she was sure that he knew what to do. Yes, she needed him.

"Maybe ... maybe this is my destiny," she muttered, her trembling hand reaching forward.

Just when she tried to take his hand, his phone rang. His hand glowed blue and he shot something at her head. All of sudden, the voices were gone and replaced by a soothing silence. Dawn fell asleep within a few seconds.

"Victoria!" He roared. "She better has a good reason to call me."

"Hey, they fell for it. So what about your mission?" What made him even madder was that she sounded awfully proud.

"You called me because of that trivial stuff? I almost had her. You're lucky I managed to put her to sleep so quickly or I would have to start all over again," he yelled into the phone.

"Sorry," she just replied.

"Sorry? That's not enough. You nearly ruined everything. I don't know why, but she's pretty resistant to my abilities. A few sentences are usually enough but she kept questioning the thoughts. " Finally, he calmed down a bit. "Anyway, you won't call me again. Understood? No more calls until success. As I said, I'm almost done and the boss wouldn't like to hear about me failing because a certain woman decided to call me. That would be most unfortunate, wouldn't it? So don't disturb me again and I won't need to mention this little detail."

"No need for that." He smirked when he heard the fear in her voice. "Well, just keep it up. Without her, Ash will fall easily."

Once it was over, he turned off the phone as he didn't want to get interrupted again, and this woman was prone to mistakes. He shot a light blue beam at Dawn, waking her up again. She blinked a few times before her mind became clear again. He felt that something was wrong. When he tried to approach her, she backed off slowly.

Great, now I may have to start all over again, he thought. Just working in peace, is that too much to ask? Bloody idiots everywhere.

"I had a most interesting dream," she told him suddenly.

"You did?" He was surprised that she was able to speak properly already.

"At first, there were moments with Ash. Both good and bad moments. They reminded me why I fell in love with him and why we stayed together. So precious, these moments." He didn't like where this was going. "Then he broke up with me and I had to walk through the dark forest again. There was only one difference. At first, I heard your voice, trying to convince me to leave Ash for good, then the voices of my friends and rivals, mocking me for giving up so easily. And you know what? They were right."

The man almost smashed the phone in his hands when he heard that. So his efforts so far were futile, after all.

"I won't give up. We have solved many problems, maybe not as serious as this one but I'm sure we will find a way. I don't care about you or your organization but if you're trying to tear us apart, you can't be a friend." It looked like he had to use a method he didn't enjoy one bit now.

"Are you a psychic?" he asked all of sudden.

"What?" The question caught her off-guard. "No, I'm not. Why do you ask?"

"Because you're more resistant to my ... efforts than most people," he explained.

"Well, my pokémon have completed a special training to increase the power of their psychic and control moves and make both them and their moves more resistant." The reason was more and more coordinators using the move to ruin her combinations. It was a very effective method but with the training, only the most powerful pokémon were able to do that. The training was the equivalent to Ash's resistance to status moves. "I also participated because ... well, I'm their trainer. Now, if you'll excuse me."

She turned to walk away but stopped, surrounded by a blue aura.

"My dear, did you really think I can let you leave like this? No, I have other ways of dealing with you. It's most regrettable, but it has to be done." Dawn didn't see him approaching, she could only feel a head grabbing her head. "I'm sorry."

It felt like dozens of burning needles piercing her skull to say the least. The pain was so bad that for a moment, she wished for a simple, quick death. Fortunately, she fell unconscious shortly after, falling to the ground.

"This will take a while. Make sure nobody disturbs me this time," he shouted into the forest. "At least Victoria wouldn't be able to thwart my plans this time."

He cupped Dawn's head with his hands. Her whole body started to glow blue with the glow on the head being the strongest by far. When it intensified, she screamed as if she was having nightmares. The screams were so horrible, even the guard pokémon in the forest took pity on her and it was the reason he hated this method. Unfortunately, he had no other choice in this case. He's already been doing this for a few minutes when he suddenly got nervous. Voices from the forest got louder and more frequent until they stopped altogether. Suddenly a massive flock of pidgey and pidgeotto came out of the forest, straight at him. Nearby, a zoroark was overwhelmed by the sheer mass of pokémon but the man just pushed them back with a wave of his hand. Only one of them, a large pidgeot and obviously their leader, got through.

It was Ash's pidgeot who had returned to him after he felt that his friends were strong enough to defend themselves against any intruder. Using the pidgey of this forest as scouts, he was able to find Dawn faster than the other pokémon and he had already sent a few of them to tell Ash about their success.

He blocked the flying type with a barrier but then he was attacked from behind by a few pdgeotto so he teleported to get into a better position. First he created several dagger-like psycho-cut-blades and shot them at the flock, killing a few of them instantly- However, the pokémon were pretty much everywhere by now, with even more appearing allow the time and several of them guarding Dawn's body.

"The boss won't like this. Not one bit." Instead of keeping fighting, he teleported next to the defeated zoroark and took them both to a safe place.

Ash arrived soon after, getting off Charizard's back as soon as they were on the ground and took her in his arms. It was a huge shock to find her completely unconscious.

"Dawn! DAWN! Wake up," he shouted desperately. To his relief, she was still breathing and without any visible injury. "Wake, you're safe now." He shook her until her eyes slowly opened.

For a moment, she looked at him and the pokémon surrounding her.

"Dawn, you're safe now. Let's get you back home." He gave Gallade a nod but before he could do anything, her confused look turned into a terrified one.

She let out an infernal scream that felt like it could shatter diamonds. Ash could only watch in horror as she looked directly into the night sky, screaming all the time. It was the stuff of nightmares.

"What's wrong? Is something here? Please tell me?" he begged.

It seemed to have an effect as she stopped screaming and slowly turned her look towards him without actually looking at him but at something far in the distance. He mouth, which was still wide open, slowly turned into a weak smile and then into an emotionless expression. Maybe looking into these dull, empty eyes was the worst part of the whole day.

"It' alright, I'm here. Let's just go home and ..." He stopped when she looked terrified again and expected a scream but this time, she remained completely silent even with the mouth open. She grabbed her head with her hands as if she was experiencing massive pain. Pushing Ash away, she took a few steps in the opposite direction before kneeling down and weeping.

"What the hell is going on?" He looked at his pokémon helplessly and Gallde spoke up.

"Pidgeot told me that a psychic did something to her. Maybe he messed with her mind?" he suggested.

"You're a psychic type. Can you find out what happened?" The desperation in Ash's voice was almost heartbreaking.

"I can't." Fortunately, he knew someone who could. "But Alakazam is a master of the mind. Unless she started looking for Dawn on her own, she should be at home."

"Then let's go." Ash gave Dawn a sympathetic look while she was laughing madly for no apparent reason. "I can't stand seeing her like this. Hurry."

He was next to her with Gallade, when she suddenly hugged him tightly. At first he had a glimmer of hope, which turned into pain when she dug her nails into his back.

"Ow, it doesn't matter. Take us home, Gallade." He turned to the other pokémon. "Please find the way home without us for now. I have to get her back quickly."

They nodded, understanding his situation. Gallade did as he was told and a few seconds later they were standing in the middle of the living room. For the moment, Ash ignored his friends and the pokémon, who were understandably surprised and worried, given Dawn's sudden appearance and especially her strange look. Piplup was probably the worst. Gallade picked her up and carried her upstairs while she was changing her behavior constantly. Fortunately, they found Alakazam along the way and entered the bedroom together with Gallade remaining outside as a guard.

"Do you mind telling me what happened?" Dawn's pokémon asked.

"A psychic did something to her that caused her to behave really strangely. Can you do something about it?" he asked.

"Foolish question. I'm one of the most capable psychic pokémon in the world, nothing concerning the mind is beyond my skills." She certainly wasn't lacking confidence. A quick hypnosis move calmed her trainer down although she still seemed to suffer from nightmares, judging from her pained expression. Alakazam laid one of her hands on Dawn's head. "Interesting. I daresay, whoever did this was no amateur."

"Did what? Please tell me," he begged her as he wanted to understand what happened to his love.

"He or she attempted to crush her mind. Had he been successful, her memory, her character, just about everything could have been altered." It was a terrible thought for Ash as he didn't want her to change, especially the way this psychic wanted. "Fortunately, I'm here to solve this problem. He wasn't able to get too far so this is a trivial task for me."

"Oh thank you. Please be careful," he urged her.

"Unlike a certain trainer, I never do anything without considering every possible outcome. Be assured that I will work with uttermost caution. However, in order to accomplish anything worthwhile, I need to concentrate. I'm afraid your presence is a risk I can't take." Although Ash was disappointed as he didn't want to leave her, he didn't complain for once and left the room without another word.

In front of the door, he found pretty much everyone who was still there.

What the hell happened? Is she going to be alright? Who did this to her? Those were the kind of questions he was bombarded until he had enough.

"Will you shut up for a moment?" he yelled. As if Dawn's situation wasn't bad enough, they were annoying him to no end. "Sorry, I had to do that. I know you're anxious to know what happened but you must also understand that I'm extremely tired. So please ask your questions one at a time."

"You also must understand that you're not the only one worried about Dawn," May told him.

"Well, we were a bit brash," Catelyn admitted.

"Do you want to know what happened or not?" Drew asked, clearly even more drunk than before. As much as he tried to deny it, he was just as worried as the others and the drinks managed to distract him, at least for a short time.

"You should hear yourself talking." Cilan rolled his eyes. "Now, I think there are three major questions to be answered. Firstly, what happened to her? Secondly, who did this? And finally the most important question, is she going to be alright?"

"It's about time you calmed down. Alakazam told me that she can fix the problem so there's no need to worry." This simple message made the atmosphere much more relaxed. "As for the other questions, it seems a psychic attempted something called a mind crush."

"That doesn't sound very nice," Iris remarked.

"How do you think it was for me finding her as if she had lost her mind?" Ash asked, which caused many of his friends to shudder. "We were lucky that he couldn't complete it." He took a deep breath. "Well, all we can do now is wait. You should go to sleep."

"No way!" Misty protested. "She's also our friend. I won't leave until I know she's alright."

"I will stay here as well. If I hadn't let this bitch slip away, we would have more information on who did this and why," Zoey added. Ash knew that she was feeling guilty so he tried to console her.

"You did your best and without your actions we wouldn't have been able to find her in time. For that, I'm forever in your debt," he told her and she calmed down a bit. "But you really don't need to stay here. Alakazam reassured me that she's going to be alright and make sure that nothing else will happen."

As if on a cue, she opened the door and left the room, the eyes of everyone on her. Clearly unimpressed, she slowly closed the door being and even attempted to just go away. Simple walking was also part of her training. A lot of alakazam neglected their bodies so much that they needed their psychic power to move at an acceptable pace but Dawn insisted that she didn't do the same. Although it was exhausting, there were two major advantages. Firstly, she was tougher than most alkazam even though she was still vulnerable and secondly, she could use the energy for something useful instead of supporting her body.

"Are you going to tell us whether you were successful or not?" Ash asked, slightly annoyed.

"I completed the task successfully. There was no other option." Talking telepathically to so many people at the same time was tiring so she tried to keep it short and sweet. "She will need a tremendous amount of time to recover, though. I advise you to be as gentle as possible, otherwise her recovery will only be delayed."

"Hey, I'm always gentle," he protested, which caused her to stop, her expression turning into a smirk.

"Really?" Since the atmosphere was so grim, she decided to lighten it up a little, at Ash's expenses. "The noises from last night told me otherwise."

Ash's face turned red as he felt the stares of his friends on it, some of them merely grinning, others laughing.

"Did you have to say it in front of everyone?" he shouted. "They didn't have to know that."

"Oh, but they already did." The young trainer felt anger building up inside him, looking at Serena who was the only one who could have told them.

"Can't anyone here keep a secret?" Although it wasn't addressed at anyone in particular it was clear that he meant her. Even Pikachu was laughing at him and it was the first time in hours Ash actually noticed that his partner was still there. Who could blame him, considering the past events?

"Maybe you should buy a house with thicker walls?" Drew suggested, rubbing salt into Ash's wound. The laughter was interrupted by Alakazam's voice in their minds.

"Please calm down, you don't want to wake her up, do you?" she told them. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm in dire need of some rest."

Although a few of them still wanted to stay, they also understood that all of them would be too noisy so they left. Serena stayed in the house but went to the guest room. In the end, only Ash, Pikachu, Buneary, Lucario, Piplup and Alakazam, who still had something to tell, remained.

"There's one more detail. It was necessary to remove her memories of the mind crush itself. Experiencing the pain is usually more than sufficient to drive most people insane, and in a certain way, this is the mind crush's key component." Ash was wondering what was so bad about this. "Unfortunately, despite my skills, it was also necessary to erase the memories of the events directly before the mind crush attempt."

"I understand. I trust you know what you're doing." He looked down at his sleeping beauty. There was no way he would want her to be troubled by memories like this.

"I guess it's time to for me to leave. And more thing ... thank you. I have to admit I was relieved when I heard you were successful and when I found out that it's not too late." He gave her a surprised look as it was rare for the psychic type to show her emotions so openly. "You wouldn't have been the only one to be devastated if anything serious had happened to her. Try not to hurt her too soon, alrght?"

"You can count on it." With a flash, she disappeared.

With Lucario being on his guard, nobody could approach the house without being noticed so Ash was able to get a bit of sleep. His only hope right now was to be awake when she woke up.