Author's Note: Point-of-View Change

Dawn's Point-of-View

I waved my arm side to side above my head until Ash, Misty, and May were merely dots on the horizon.

A sudden jolt raced through my body and my arm turned to lead as it fell. This situation, this feeling… it was the same as when Ash and I parted ways after Sinnoh.

My throat closed up as I thought of all the pain I'd gone through after that parting and the loss Ash had endured once I'd left his side. Panic suddenly welled up in me.

What if something else happened? What if this time, I never saw Ash again?

"It'll be ok." Cynthia's voice came from behind me as she placed a hand on my shoulder. "They'll be fine, and we'll see them again soon."

I closed my eyes and took a breath. Cynthia was right. After all, Ash was in the care of Misty and May, and there was nobody I would trust more to keep Ash safe. No need to worry. I blinked back the tears that'd been forming, and whirled around.

"Right. Let's get to it, then."

The older man who'd come to give us Officer Jenny's message had been waiting patiently in the background for us. Now he nodded, turning to leave the woods. Cynthia and I followed, in step with one another. We were far enough behind the man to be out of earshot, though. I tried to take my mind off Ash by making some conversation.

"So… What do you think this artifact is?" I asked casually.

Cynthia looked distracted. "Uh, I'm not sure," she replied, uncharacteristically disinterested.

I must've been staring at her for it, because suddenly she turned her head to look back at me. I turned my face away, but she'd already caught me. She seemed embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, Dawn. I really should be more interested, considering how much work I've done on Sinnoh artifacts, and so recently as well – as you yourself know." Cynthia sighed. "But for some reason, my mind is… wandering."

"To Ash?" I blurted the words out without thinking, and nearly covered my mouth in horror. Way to broadcast what was on my mind.

To my surprise, she didn't look critical or even bemused. In fact, she was… blushing. It was a rare sight on Cynthia, and I admired how lovely and feminine it made her look. On the other hand, that meant that I was right, and her mind was on Ash.

Not sure how I felt about that.

Cynthia tucked some of her golden blonde hair behind her ear. "See, Dawn, it's just that… Well, I feel that…"

I realized suddenly that she was actually opening up to me. Whatever her specific feelings happened to be, she trusted me as a friend enough to confide them in me. I suddenly felt warmed inside. My wariness over her feelings for Ash disappeared behind consideration for her vulnerability.

"He's made you feel something, hasn't he?" I asked vaguely enough to be considerate.

Cynthia looked at me, and I met her gaze head-on. She smiled softly, and then looked down, clenching a fist over her heart. "Yes…"

I felt openness between us that seemed to move our relationship to a higher level; suddenly I could've just as easily been talking to May or Misty.

"So…" I prodded. "Do you know how long? Like, always, even when we first met in Sinnoh? Or…?"

Cynthia shook her head. "Ash has always been… charming… I guess, but never in a more than endearing way, never more than as a friend. Being younger than me, too, and never being interested in me as more than a Champion and a friend, he never caught my eye that way. But after seeing him at PokéCamp, he seems… older, more calm and focused, and he looks at me in a much more open, more piercing way. Not just interested in me as a Champion or even a friend, but seeing everything about me. And that battle we had, I wasn't exaggerating when I said it was good. It was amazing!" Here her voice rose suddenly, and she lowered it back down, embarrassed. "He awakened a fire in me that I hadn't felt for a long time as a trainer… and another fire which I've maybe never felt…" She sighed and touched her hair, self-conscious now. "If you know what I mean by all that."

I looked down, understanding completely. What she'd said about the new Ash was wholly accurate and – I felt – fairly well articulated. It was a hard thing to express, the way he had changed. When she said Ash looked at her as possibly more than just a Champion or a friend now, she wasn't saying that the old Ash had neglected her as a whole person; she was expressing how it had never occurred to the old Ash to treat her in any other way, considering how he was driven by and focused so intensely on his goals. I understood this subtle change because I had noticed the same thing. While Ash had always appreciated me as a whole person, he had always considered my importance to him only as a friend. But new Ash was so free-form and open that you could imagine that maybe, just maybe you could mean something more to him.

But the reason for that change…

"I understand." I said softly. "But, you do realize that the reason for him being that way is…" I couldn't finish the sentence, and I suddenly regretted saying it in the first place. It was too cruel. She had just admitted to me that new Ash might be the first person she ever felt for, and here I was chalking it all up to –

"His memory loss," Cynthia sighed, looking at me. "I know."

Something suddenly twisted within me. Cynthia knew that she felt for Ash because of the way he was after his memory loss, and yet here she was trying to reverse it, giving her all to turn him back… and lose a feeling that I knew – from personal experience – was wonderful and full of hope. I felt sick to my stomach.

"Cynthia… You…"

I watched in awe as she managed a smile. "I know, Dawn. It's ok. I'm not sure if this feeling is even right in the first place. I feel like I'm taking advantage of him somehow. And I can't cheat Ash of his real life just so I can pursue some… petty… emotions."

She had to grind the word "petty" out, and it was obvious she didn't mean it. I wanted to deny her that self-torture, tell her it was wrong, that her feelings were real and she should pursue them wholeheartedly, that she should find a way –

"And what about you, Dawn?"

I felt like a balloon that'd been popped. All the confident, supportive words rushed out of me like hot air, and I tried in vain to turn the spotlight back on her.

"Well, see, that's… beside the point. You've got to put… all that... aside, and just go after –"

Cynthia giggled. "Well, isn't that nice? You'd put aside your own feelings, just to consider mine? Even when you and I are in the same boat?" she asked mischievously.

I could feel my face burning. "Hey! D-Don't change the subject here! Listen," I said, gathering my resolve, "you can't just give up like this!"

Cynthia suddenly became sober. "Don't I have to… if my feelings are really true? It's a bit of an unfortunate paradox."

Her dilemma hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Anyway, who said I was giving up? Even if he does go back to the way he was, all I've got to do is give him a few years, and he'll come around."

I'd never heard a more fake optimism in my life. But I realized that she had to believe what she was saying, whether or not it was realistic. How else could she cope?

I wanted to continue our conversation, but I realized the man we were following had come to a halt ahead of us, and we were already at the investigation site in the crater. The investigative team was huddled around something earnestly, and I felt my curiosity piqued. What could this 'Sinnoh artifact' be?

Cynthia seemed to have regained her old composure, being in the presence of people who would look to her as an authoritative figure.

"Officer Jenny, what did you find?" she asked, and although a moment ago she'd been out of it, she'd refocused and I could hear her genuine interest in what the artifact was.

"Ah, Cynthia!" Officer Jenny's eyes trailed to me, and she looked surprised. "Where are Ash and the others?"

"Something came up, and they had to fly out. I'll fill you in on it after," Cynthia said. "I know you wanted Ash to help with this, but trust me," Cynthia's hand rested on my shoulder, "Dawn's more than capable of assisting us."

I felt a well of goodwill within me towards Cynthia. She obviously trusted me and thought of me as a good friend, and while it would be weird reciprocating that to a Champion, given all our shared experiences thus far and the conversation we'd just had, I did really feel like Cynthia was a close friend.

Officer Jenny nodded, deferring to Cynthia's judgment. "Alright, here it is." Officer Jenny held out her hand.

I leaned forward eagerly, hoping to solve this mystery and live up to Cynthia's praise. There, in Jenny's hand, was…

Nothing?

I looked up. "There's nothing there." Officer Jenny sweatdropped.

"No, there is." Cynthia squinted, suddenly unsure. "At least, I think there is. It's that little red speck, right?"

I looked closer, and indeed saw the red speck in Jenny's hand. It was microscopic, though…

Officer Jenny nodded to Cynthia. "That's it. Any idea what it is?"

Cynthia and I sweatdropped. This thing was so small we could barely see it, and we were expected to identify it?

"Why did you think this was from the Sinnoh region?" I asked.

Jenny turned her head back. "Can someone bring the data here?" she called. She turned back to us. "We've been running tests on this thing since we found it, and the preliminary evidence suggested a tie to the Sinnoh region."

A man ran up holding a laptop in his arms. Cynthia and I leaned in to the screen.

A picture of the red speck was on the left of the screen, zoomed in and rotating. I could finally get a good look. I saw now that it was more like a tiny crystal than a speck of dust; it was jagged and glassy, and to me looked like it'd been broken from something larger.

"See," Jenny said sheepishly, "the people here on this team – including me – are investigators, not scientists. Considering the size of this thing, we – as investigators – can't really analyze or conclude anything from it. We're relying wholly on this software to do some testing at the molecular level to get us info about the thing."

Jenny continued, now serious. "Now I don't know all the technical details about how this analyzing works, but the first thing the software does is cross reference the molecular scan of the artifact with all known research to find any matches. Now, pretty much as soon as we scanned this artifact, the software – based on the molecular structure of the artifact – returned four hits from within the database of scientific research. Now, we couldn't really figure out anything about this artifact from the scientific articles that turned up, because the structure of the artifact is only vaguely referenced in each one, and quite frankly," Jenny blushed, "we couldn't really decipher all the scientific terms. But," and here Jenny resumed her characteristic confidence, "we didn't have to look very hard to conclude that this has something to do with Sinnoh."

Jenny pressed a button on the laptop and a screen popped up with four titles, all of scientific articles.

"See the obvious commonality between them?" she asked.

She hadn't yet opened up the articles, so all we could see were the titles – long, drawn out phrases with lots of words I didn't know – and…

The author!

Cynthia noticed it, too. "The same person wrote all the articles: Pokémon Professor Rowan of Sandgem Town."

Specialized in Pokémon evolution, but more importantly, "Considered the authority on Pokémon for the Sinnoh region," I supplemented.

"Right," Jenny affirmed. "We figured since he wrote all these, and these articles are related to the artifact somehow, it's a good guess that the artifact has something to do with the Sinnoh region. What do you guys think?"

It was a good start, but little to go on. Cynthia spoke up. "Can we see the articles?"

Jenny handed us the laptop happily. "Knock yourself out. Just don't ask me for help with them; my head's already spinning." She left us with the laptop, walking away and mumbling about how she always hated science in school.

Cynthia placed the laptop on a table set up nearby and we both leaned in to the screen as she tapped on the first article.

I balked.

"73 pages?!" Cynthia exclaimed.

"There's no way we'll be able to wade through this," I said, looking at the first sentence. Man, I'd never realized how much serious science was involved in the job of a Pokémon Professor.

"You're right." Cynthia snapped her fingers. "Well, why don't we just ask Professor Rowan what they're about? Get it straight from the source."

It was a brilliant idea, really, and I was kind of mad I didn't think of it. I mentally peeled off my 'I'm a Genius' sticker as Cynthia took down the articles' names and went to call Professor Rowan.

Meanwhile, I tried to parse the first article for words I recognized, hoping I could piece them together and come up with an idea of what it was about. To my surprise, a name kept popping up throughout the article that I was very familiar with: Mespirit.

Mespirit was a member of the legendary trio of the lake guardians of Sinnoh. Mespirit represented the power of emotions, and had connected with me during my travels in Sinnoh because I cared for the feelings of Pokémon. The other two lake guardians were Azelf, who'd connected with Ash because of his willpower to protect Pokémon, and Uxie, who'd connected with Brock because of his thorough knowledge about Pokémon.

But what did Mespirit have to do with this red artifact? It occurred to me that Mespirit was a legendary Pokémon, but there was no way it had done this to Pallet. It was way too sensitive to the emotions of the beings around it to do something so destructive.

Cynthia walked up beside me, pulling me out of my reverie. She placed a phone down on the table thoughtfully, and looked at me.

"Well?" I asked expectantly.

"Well," Cynthia revealed, "I told him the names of the articles, and he told me what they were about pretty concisely. In short, the first article is about Mespirit –"

Ha! I'd figured that out, alright. I returned my virtual sticker to its rightful place.

"– the second is about Uxie, and the third is about Azelf." Wow, I'd kind of had those figured out, too. Well, I'd at least been thinking about the lake trio, and that's got to be worth something. Wait, but…

"But then what's the fourth article about?" I asked, opening it up on the laptop.

Cynthia nodded slowly. "That's the thing. The first three are about the lake trio. I get how those are connected, even if I don't know what it has to do with this red artifact here. But the last article seems random. It's about the meteorites of Sinnoh's Veilstone City."

The Veilstone meteorites? She was right, that was kind of random compared to the lake trio.

Hmm… I dragged the cursor around until I got images of Mespirit, Azelf, and Uxie to show up, along with a picture of a Veilstone meteorite.

Cynthia and I stared at them. How were they all connected?

I absently remembered when I'd been traveling with Ash and we'd stopped in Veilstone. Memories about Maylene, the gym leader there, came flooding back. I also remembered that Paul's brother Reggie had shown us around the city, and taken us to see the Veilstone meteorites. Boy, had those things caused a lot of trouble back then. Team Galactic nearly –

Wait.

Team Galactic had been after the Veilstone meteorites.

Team Galactic had also been after the lake guardians Mespirit, Azelf, and Uxie.

But the real connection between the meteorites and the lake guardians wasn't that Team Galactic had been after them… It was why they'd been after them.

I stared at the little red fragment pictured on the screen, the artifact that was the key to it all. And I knew what it was, and how it all connected.

I could barely form words as implications rushed over me. I could only whisper my finding to Cynthia.

"The Red Chain."

Cynthia looked puzzled at the volume of my voice, but then what I said kicked in. Her eyes darted to the picture on the screen, and I could see then that she saw it, too.

Her eyes were saucers. "Dawn, that's it! The commonality… The substance within the Veilstone meteorites, as well the substance in the crystals on the lake guardians' foreheads, is the same chemical substance – the one that makes up the Red Chain. And that's why these articles turned up – because this artifact we found has got to be a fragment of the Red Chain. You figured it out, Dawn!"

Never had I been so sorry to deserve my sticker. Because this meant…

"Dialga and Palkia," I breathed. "It was them."

Cynthia nodded solemnly. "Right. The Red Chain can be used to take them over, and that's what must have happened here. Under the influence of the Red Chain, Dialga and Palkia were summoned, and it was their power that must've done this to Pallet."

It made sense. The lake guardians? No way. Dialga and Palkia, two of the most powerful legendary Pokémon I'd ever encountered? And under the control of the Red Chain? It made perfect sense.

I gulped. Now for the worst part.

"But if they were under the influence of the chain, who was the one using the chain to control them?" I asked Cynthia. "You don't think…"

"No," Cynthia sensed my first thought. "Team Galactic might've been the last to use the chain, but after Cyrus' disappearance their organization was completely dismantled. This couldn't have been their work."

Then whose?

I put my hands to my temples, pulling my beanie down and trying to get my brain to crack this case open.

Suddenly, something flashed in my mind.

"It's really too bad. That we couldn't stop this from happening is a shame."

No… I looked up at Cynthia. I saw my realization reflected in her eyes.

"Yes, especially since we might've been able to prevent it. Now I feel like we're the ones to blame."

They might've been able to prevent it… because their own organization had done it.

Holy Arceus…

Pallet Town had been destroyed by Team Rocket.

Author's Note

Next Update: 03/02/14, by 4:00 AM UTC