It Takes a Genius

by Ionuneos

Professor Rowan's trusting Dawn and her new friend Dusk to help complete an age-old mission. This might be a little harder than usual...How about some help from Hoenn? Fortuneshipping, Hoennshipping, and AdvancedPocketshipping! Now rewritten! Slightly AU.

21. Climbing Coronet

Three hours passed until they were finally near the base of the mountain.

Dawn's shoulders sagged. "Brendan, even with your flawless estimations, please don't tell us how long it's going to take to do this..."

"Hey, I was closer than I was last time!" Brendan defended. "Atleast we got here on the same day."

"HEY!!" The blond, mysterious boy dashed at them, as usual, at an amazing rate of speed. "What took you guys?! I was waiting here for, like, ever! Haha! Anyway, so who are you two? Oh, you must be the two that I passed back at the door when we were in Eterna! So how are you? I'm Jun, nice to meetcha! Who are you?"

Before Brendan could do anything more than get his mouth open, Jun continued. "Oh! That's right! Dawn, might have a slight problem with our plan. I think Umbreon's sick or something. But that's okay! That's okay. I got some backup from the good ol' Professor! Man, that guy's nice. He doesn't talk much, though. And he doesn't run very fast. Anyway, I don't know what we're all waiting out here for! Dusk, you're going through the inside of the mountain, right? Great! The entrance is over there! Dawn, I got all the equipment for us, and I think you're going to love it! It really is a blast climbing up mountains. Generally, I just go up them with nothin' but my hands, but I'll use equipment this time! Not a problem at all! Nope!"

"Boy, you're a perky one, Jun!" Brendan complimented.

"Haha! Yeah, I know. Anyway, we really need to get going! Don't want the world to accidentally blow up or anything, am I right? I couldn't blame it if it did, though. Having to house creeps like Team Galactic would make me explode too! Let's get 'em! Yeah, let's tear 'em apart! C'mon, Wizard, let's go! You're coming with me up the mountain! No? Oh, okay. Anyway, c'mon, let's go!" Jun ran closer to the base of the mountain.

Dusk wore the same confused expression he always had after a greeting with Jun. May shared it. "Uhm...Damia...are you sure he's...safe to be around?" the latter person wondered.

Dawn laughed. "You might not recognize it at first, but he really is a great friend. Anyway, you three should probably start heading into the mountain. I guess I'll, uhm...go find Jun..."

May hugged the girl. "Good luck, Damia."

"Thank you, May..."

Brendan was next in hugging her. "You watch yourself, all right?"

"I will, Brendan..." Dawn, however, was the first to hug Dusk. "Don't get yourself killed in the mountain, Umbreon."

"Don't get yourself killed on the mountain," Dusk quickly replied.

Dawn began running off, but looked back one more time. "And my bandana better not get dirty either, Umbreon!" Much more nervously than she wanted it to look like, she turned around and continued running after Jun. "I will be okay...won't I?" Her head lowered as a small smile crept on her face. "Best case scenario, I get to see all my friends again...Worst case scenario, I get to see my family again...I guess I could do worse than that."

"I hope she'll be okay..." May thought out loud, watching Dawn's midnight-blue hair dance around her shoulders as she disappeared from view.

"She'll be fine," Brendan reassured. "Right now, I think we got our own problems to worry about."

Dusk started walking off in the direction Jun had pointed to before. He also began petting Wizard, hoping it'd help him to relax. "I checked it out on the computer...before somebody thought it'd be hilarious to tamper with the power...and it said that Mount Coronet has three different caves. When we exit one, we'll come out on a platform for awhile. Apparently, the platforms have the next cave on them somewhere, too."

Brendan inhaled a deep breath of fresh air, knowing that they would lose that air when they stepped into the mountain. "Good. I was worried that it wouldn't be confusing."

The terrain began to get rocky as they neared the entrance to Mount Coronet. May nearly fell a few times, but the boys managed to catch her. Torchic eventually found it safer to travel around with Brendan instead, and hopped over to his shoulder.

They finally entered the massive cave, which was somehow bright inside. There wasn't much detail--Branching paths were offset by the fact that they all winded up in the same place. One of the ways had a pond of water to cross, though it was pointless when an alternate route could be taken.

Without a word, Dusk cracked his knuckles. May held onto Brendan's arm, who was standing prepared. "We're gonna have to expect that there's some wild Pokémon in here," he warned.

"There better be." Dusk took his first step deeper into the cave. "There's something I want to do, and they're going to help me."

Brendan and May looked at each other. They were curious of what he was talking about, but the tone of his voice was enough to off-put them from asking. Instead, they obediently followed.

"Pika pika, Pikachu?" Wizard moaned worriedly.

"Try to relax. Think about how great it'll be when we can finally get out of this mount--" Dusk stopped abruptly.

"Du--" Brendan couldn't get anymore than that out before an index finger was pointed into the air, obliging him to shush.

Dusk closed his eyes and began concentrating. "It's traveling underground...Donphan. No, it's bigger than that. Not Graveler. It's moving too slow. Steel--"

A massive beast surged out from the underground with a loud roar, forcing the unprepared Hoenn Trainers to practically jump. Dusk, however, stood unaffected. "Good. Since you're a Steel-type, this'll be even easier. Moonite, let's burn it to the ground!" He shot a Pokéball spinning through the air, releasing his second Fire-type Pokémon.

"...Moonite?" May pondered, her heart still racing from the surprise attack.

"Quil! Quilava, Quil!" Moonite announced prior to opening his mouth, letting loose an intense heat wave directly at Steelix.

The scorched Pokémon shook the flames off of its body and dug underground.

"Is it...gone?" May asked worriedly.

"Moonite..." Dusk closed his eyes once more. "Twenty degrees northwest, three degrees west...Four seconds. Aim at the floor and fire."

Brendan blinked. "Wh...What the..."

Moonite jumped into the position he was told and patiently waited, wasting the time away by charging up another grand Flamethrower attack. When the four seconds passed, Moonite turned his head to the floor and hesitated for just one more moment.

Steelix came burrowing out of the ground, though it couldn't reach Moonite. The second that Steelix poked itself above ground, Moonite let loose even more flames, torching the iron snake's head before its attack could connect. Unable to stand the concentrated warmth, it fell back down into the hole.

"Use Sand Attack to give this thing a proper burial," Dusk ordered.

Moonite cracked a smile as he began kicking dirt back into the two holes that Steelix had created. He was panting heavily by the time he had finished covering the deep trenches.

"Great job." Dusk recalled his Pokémon, then continued walking through the cave, seemingly forgetting the Hoenn Trainers were even there.

"Incredible...I've never seen him fight like that," Brendan thought in awe.

Being a far enough distance away from him, May could safely talk about Dusk without him hearing it. She kept her voice low, just incase. "Brendan...How did Dusk know where that Steelix was? I don't remember anybody telling me he could do that..."

Brendan didn't think he could keep his voice low enough, so he didn't verbally reply. He shook his head, unsure of what else to do.

Time continued on, and the formations didn't change. Umbreon seemed satisfied that he was in the lead, even though nobody else was in talking range besides Wizard. The other two kept to the back, still holding one another for comfort. Though being uncharacteristically silent, Torchic was still on Brendan's shoulder.

Dusk eventually stopped at a wall. He turned around and waited for the other two to catch up. "We need to get up here," he explained plainly.

When the Hoenn Trainers looked up, they saw that it wasn't a wall. A platform was up there, though it was high up. Brendan whistled. "Man, I sure wish Hulk Hogan was here. He'd know what to do."

"Blaziken can jump thirty-story buildings..." Dusk thought out loud. "May, would she mind helping us get up there?"

"I...don't know..." May looked at Blaziken's Pokéball. "Last time I told it to do something--"

"May, that was different," Brendan interrupted. "She didn't want to do what you told her to last time because she knew it was wrong. It wasn't because she doesn't listen to you."

Dusk waited silently. At this moment, he didn't care what she had told the Pokémon to do last time.

May nodded. "Okay, I'll try."

"Torchic!" the daughter of the Pokémon agreed.

"Blaziken, will you help us get up this mountain?" May released her first Pokémon, only to still be intimidated by it. The loud roar that Blaziken habitually slipped out didn't help the situation, either. "Erm...if...you don't want to, that's okay, too..."

Brendan sighed. Dusk quickly looked at him, but he was hiding his emotions well.

"Blaze...ken!" she agreed. Fire suddenly erupted from her arms, highlighting her incredible strength.

May was nothing but further intimidated by the performance. She fell backwards and spider-crawled away a few paces.

Confused, Blaziken abruptly ended the show and turned to her daughter. "Blaziken?"

"Torchic...Torchic Torchic."

"Ken, Blaziken!"

"Tor..." Her head fell as a sigh escaped her.

"Pika, chu..." Wizard sighed as well. Seeing Torchic sad was enough to change his own mood.

"It's okay, May..." Brendan took both of her hands and got her to her feet. She had put almost no effort into rising up, so Brendan had to lift her weight by himself. "Blaziken's your Pokémon. She isn't going to hurt you."

"...A-all right...If you think so, Brendan..." May gulped and tried to remain confident. "Blaziken, please help get all of us up there!" she demanded, pointing to the destination.

Blaziken looked up for a second, then back at May. "Ken," she replied, nodding blandly. She turned her back to Brendan.

"Kinda funny..." He began climbing onto her back. "Believe it or not, I'm usually pretty picky about which women I get a ride from."

With Brendan safely secured, Blaziken grabbed her Trainer into her arms and leapt for the steep cliff above. A moment later, she jumped back down and picked Dusk up. Once again, she practically flew back up to the same platform. She looked back down at the ground. "Blaziken, Blaziken?"

"Pi Pikachu!" he shook his head. "Pika pika pi..."

"...Ken."

"Don't worry about it, Blaziken," Dusk randomly spoke up. "Dawn's just fine right outside."

May jerked her head to the Sinnoh Trainer. "You understood what Blaziken said?"

"I understood what Pikachu said." He smirked. "Kinda easy to tell what the conversation was about from there." To stop any farther idleness, Dusk continued the excavation exploration.

"...That boy...is he...?"

"Don't know, May. A little scared to find out, too."

May recalled Blaziken, then equipped her arms tightly to Brendan's arm again. She giggled, overjoyed that the young man didn't mind her constant clinging.

More empty life passed by. Dusk stayed in his secluded position while Brendan and May watched his back.

May stole a glance around all of her surroundings and sighed. She snuggled her bandana-coated head into Brendan's arm before saying anything. "Brendan..."

"Something wrong?"

"I don't know...It's just so boring in here. Rock wall after rock wall...We have to have been in here for half an hour by now, and it's just the same thing over and over again..."

Brendan fidgeted with his headband using the opposite hand that was holding May. "Well, we could spruce the place up. What do you think? Throw some posters over there, maybe? A lava lamp, perhaps?"

May laughed, and continued to do so as Brendan kept listing a series of ideas to overcome Mount Coronet's monotony. Neither realized that their leader had stopped walking until they nearly bumped into him.

His back was turned, which didn't help the Hoenn Trainers find out what his expression was. "Hey, Brendan, you ever hit the Game Corner?"

"Sure," he answered casually.

"Did you win anything?" Dusk continued.

"A much lighter backpack. Getting rid of all those coins really, uh...helped."

"Too bad. Something tells me that we're going to need luck for this part."

Ahead of them were three exits. They all led to an outside area, but without heading through all three, it wasn't possible to know which way would allow them to continue.

"...Only one's actually going to let us keep going," Dusk explained.

"Right. It's always right!" Brendan announced.

"Since you said right, does that mean we go left?"

Brendan heard May's teeth clench together as a small, angered growl escaped from her. He knew he had to act quickly before something happened. "It's not like you know which direction each is anyway, so who cares?" he countered, praying that May's tension would die out.

"How about we call a truce and head out the middle?" Dusk suggested, beginning to head in that direction before he could even get an answer.

"...May, it's just for fun. Calm down." Brendan ran a hand through May's hair, dodging the bandana. "Now is a horrible time to get angry at a teammate."

"I-I'm sorry, Brendan...I'll try to concentrate." May inhaled deeply. It helped her relax, though she still held anger toward Dusk for his remark.

The exit led to a platform. Even though they hadn't climbed too high yet, it was already slightly chilly outside. Well-trimmed grass laid about the area, but there didn't seem to be any way of continuing the mission from here.

"Don't think this is it," Dusk stated needlessly. "Let's try the right one. I think I see something over there." He turned back around and headed back for the cave.

"See? Shoulda listened to me from the start," Brendan bragged, doing the same.

May, however, didn't move.

Her modestly-called boyfriend looked back at her. "May? Are you coming?"

Without a word, she shook her head.

"What?!"

The commotion made Dusk stop and turn around, but he didn't say anything.

"May, how are we supposed to continue without you?!" Brendan pressed on harshly.

"Here," she said calmly, holding out a Pokéball. "You can take Blaziken with you, if you want."

"...Why can't we take you with us?" he asked, calming down. He made no grab for May's Pokéball.

May looked over her shoulder and into the amazing view of Eterna City that she had. "I just need to be here, Brendan."

Brendan looked back at Dusk, who gave him an unhelpful neutral expression in return. He sighed and looked back at May, hoping his depression didn't shine through much. "Fine. But I want you to be careful, all right? Don't go falling off this cliff."

"I won't," May smiled, her eyes still observing the view.

Brendan gave her a gentle kiss on the neck, then walked back to Dusk. They entered the mountain once more and headed for the right exit this time.

"What in Pete Samperass is going on here?!" Brendan virtually screamed. "How are we supposed to hike up this mountain without Blaziken's jumping power?"

"So why didn't you take her? May offered her Pokéball to you..."

"So what? When she gets attacked, a one-foot turtle can defend her?"

Dusk shrugged. "A three-foot mouse thing just defended me from a giant metal snake..."

Brendan turned his head to his side and spotted the still-quiet Torchic perched on his shoulder. He lifted his hand up to pet it, earning a grateful chirp in response. "Yeah, difference being, May hasn't said the word 'northwest' since she asked what it meant..."

"'Up' and 'left' probably work too," Dusk guessed.

"What was that about, anyway? I've never seen you battle like that."

"In my defense, you haven't really seen me battle..."

"You're really not going to tell me where that came from, eh?" inquired the older boy.

"Right now, I don't think that should be our prime concern."

In front of Brendan, a Graveler was inching closer, looking anything but peaceful. Brendan barred his teeth and jerked his head over his shoulder, where his eyes met with a wild Machoke's. It was creeping up on him in the same manner that the Graveler was.

Dusk used the low traction on his shoes to dramatically slide on the other side of Brendan, keeping his back protected. He enlarged Moonite's home. "Let's do this like Buddhists."

Brendan released Sceptile. "Sorry, Umbry. I was actually more of a Bonus Stage person than Homestar."

"Too bad." Moonite's Pokéball popped open, even though it was still in Dusk's hand. "Still a good choice, though."

While the Trainers continued with their conversation, Moonite enveloped himself in flames, then Tackled the Machoke to the ground. The combined power of the fire and the impact itself caused Machoke to flinch while it was sent flying backwards.

Sceptile ran up to his opponent with his tail glowing a bright green. He psyched the gullible Rock-type Pokémon out with a punch, then quickly followed up with his tail. The Grass-type attack was too strong for even the boulder to handle, causing it to be sent flying into the cave wall. The floor temporarily shook when the Graveler collided with the wall.

"Postage due, right, Sceptile?"

He looked back at his Trainer and smiled, finally having gained an opportunity to put a leak into his mouth.

"Let's give Dusk a hand! Use X-sci--"

Dusk held his arm out, stopping him. "No. Let me do this. Moonite, Quick Attack it!"

"Lava, Quilava!" Moonite dazed his target by circling around it a few times, and when he found the perfect opportunity, dashed in and nailed his foe with as strong a physical force as he could get. "Quil, Quilava, Quil lava!" Though he didn't receive an order, Moonite took advantage of the close range and unleashed blazing heat upon the Machoke.

The muscular Fighting-type was able to stand up from the attack. "Ma...choke!" it cried as it kicked Moonite back to his Trainer.

He slid at Dusk's feet. "Quilava..."

"Moonite's still tired from taking Steelix down!" Brendan shouted, annoyed, "Tag me already!"

Dusk's gloved hand clenched. "Moonite, Flare Blitz!"

Brendan folded his arms and only watched. "You're an idiot. Just as long as you know that."

Dusk ignored Brendan's comfort and allowed Moonite to continue with the attack.

At a slightly slower pace than usual, Moonite raced toward Machoke. His body began to get enveloped by his own fire yet again, but with a different effect than before. Rather than the fire being close to his body, it was giving Moonite a barrier, surrounding him on all sides for a few feet. The farther he ran, the bigger its range, and the more intense the flames were.

When he neared his foe, the tired, yet confident Quilava jumped for Machoke's stomach, ripping apart any chance the Fighting-type had of fighting back. After driving into it some more, Moonite's own power turned against him, and he was slapped backwards. Machoke didn't stand a chance, however, so Moonite wasn't in any immediate harm.

"Thanks anyway, Sceptile." Brendan recalled his Pokémon, then ran for Dusk, who was already over at Moonite's side.

"Here..." Dusk pulled out a blue bottle and sprayed its contents all over Moonite's body, paying careful attention not to get any in his eyes. "You should feel better in a minute now." He also recalled his Pokémon. He got back to his feet and put the bottle inside his backpack. "Hyper Potion. Don't leave home without it."

"You gonna be that reckless against Team Galactic?"

Dusk remained silent as he bypassed Brendan and continued for the right-hand exit.

"...Ugh..." Brendan followed, though he was reluctant in doing so.

Dusk stepped outside once more, reaching a platform that looked similar to the last one they were on. He glanced to his left, where he could see May staring out at Eterna City. Not wanting to draw much attention to her, he turned the other way to see a small cliff rising up out the ground. Looking past that, he spotted the next entrance. He began walking toward it, paying little attention to the footsteps coming up behind him.

"Yo, Umbry! Why are you so silent all of a sudden?" Brendan caught up to him. "If it's about what I said back there, I didn't mean it. I just--"

"It's not that," Dusk interrupted. "I got my mind on something else right now..."

"Worried about Dawn?"

Dusk didn't reply as he stepped up the small cliff.

"So I guess she gave you her bandana?" Brendan was hoping that changing the subject, while still keeping it on Dawn, would help Dusk relax. Besides that, he was bored and just wanted to talk to somebody.

"...Are you done making fun of me and Dawn?"

Brendan blinked, surprised by the serious tone that Umbreon used. "What?"

"The little digs that you shoot at us whenever we're doing something together. Are you done with them?"

"I already promised Dawn that I'd stop," Brendan mentioned, crossing his fingers behind his back. "Doesn't mean that I did stop, but..."

"...So is that a yes?" the Trainer pressed on.

"I'm sorry, Dusk. I'll keep a lid on it."

"Thank you."

"But where'd that come from?" Brendan wondered. "I mean, I can't blame you for bringing it up. Just kind of weird that it came from nowhere."

"I just needed to know," Dusk responded blandly, barely answering Brendan's question. Before the more experienced Trainer could call him on it, Dusk entered the second cavern.

-----------------------

"This wind, the view...It's all so beautiful." May closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment she had to herself. "But, why? Why did I have to stop here? It was like I was being told that I had to stay here...Well, it's nice anyway, I suppose," May smiled.

Her face quickly became serious again. "Didn't Brendan say something about us leaving tonight? I get to see my family again, I guess. Even though I barely know them, I will miss those two...Atleast I'll always have Damia's scarf." She giggled as she hugged the item that was tied around her neck.

------------------------

"Yeah...I knew it was coming eventually."

"In her own way, I think Dawn said that same thing. Again, sorry, Umbry."

The two kept pushing on through the treacherously long mountain. Not only was the walk dull, but it was also starting to become a little colder inside. Dusk and Brendan having only the company of each other and their respective loose Pokémon only made the trip more boring.

"Don't apologize. It's not like it's your fault. Dawn's told me more than once that she's had it in the back of her head that you two'd be leaving eventually."

"...And you?"

Dusk turned his head to the other side.

Brendan bit the edge of his lip. "Listen, Dusk, are you sure you don't want us to stay any longer? We seriously will..."

"No. Like Dawn said, the longer you stay, the harder it'll be when you eventually leave, anyway." A moment passed, and Dusk chuckled. "You realize that about two weeks ago, you asked us to take you to Oreburgh City?"

"Two weeks ago, there were two more buildings in this country. And, as far as I know, Team Missile didn't have a motto yet."

"We decided to get rid of the second one, by the way," Dusk explained. "We're just going to work with the first one."

"Well, I, for one, am expecting the greatest one when we all reach the top of the mountain."

Wizard had a terrible thought. He turned his head to the side and looked at Torchic, who was luckily on the closest shoulder to himself. It suddenly hit him why Torchic had been so quiet today. "Pika...Pika, chuu?" he questioned weakly.

Torchic bobbed her head up and down, sadly kicking at Brendan's sleeve. "Tor..."

"Wizard..." Dusk mumbled to himself. As he lifted his hand up to pet the rodent along with opening his mouth to speak, he was stopped by an odd sound.

Head bowed, eyes shut, and heart beating, Wizard broke down crying. His hands clamped extra tightly onto Dusk's beret, though they didn't remain there for long.

Before his Trainer could even realize what was going on, Brendan reached over and took the mouse in both of his hands. He held him up in the air, hoping the ride would lift his spirits. "Buddy! What's wrong?"

"Pika!" Wizard shook his head madly. "Pikachu! Pikachu! Pikachu! Pik--" With each cry, his tiny tears fell down faster. He finally choked, stopping him from continuing. He was, however, able to slam his eyes shut.

Dusk dipped the beret lower on his head. "He really doesn't want Torchic to go..."

Brendan stared at his human partner for a moment, registering his words. "Oh..." Seemingly without reason, the Hoenn Trainer brought the Pikachu up to his mouth. Wizard's ear wasn't even an inch away from Brendan's head when the latter began whispering something to him.

After a few short words, the tears instantly stopped. Wizard's eyes popped open. "...Pika?"

"Yup," Brendan answered, pulling Wizard away from him. "Oh, but you can't tell anybody, okay? It's our little thing for now."

Wizard stared blankly at his racing partner. It wasn't a second until he wiggled out of Brendan's grip, and instead leapt forward to give him a bear hug. Brendan laughed when Wizard crashed into him. "Pikachu! Pika, Pikachu!" he shouted joyfully, not paying attention to the remaining tears.

"Don't thank me, buddy. Save it for May." Brendan gave the Pikachu a tight hug before setting him back on Dusk's shoulder.

Umbreon looked at Torchic, who returned it with the same confused expression. They both shrugged, knowing that Wizard wouldn't share whatever secret Brendan had just told him.

Even more minutes passed, this time a little awkwardly. Dusk had decided to take the chance of asking Wizard what had made him feel better, letting the mouse mutter an arrogant, "Chu," in response. Angered, the boy continued on, talking only when addressed by Brendan.

The exact time was 13:16. They were forced to hope that they were making excellent time, since they were only about half-way to the top.

Dusk stopped walking. "Brendan, listen..."

"Is that a voice I hear?" Brendan replied, holding back a smirk.

"No, not that!" He began laughing, then unattached Moonite's Pokéball from his belt. "I think my old friend forgot something."

"Whaddyu--"

The ground quaked dramatically, signaling the incoming of something angry. Suspense wasn't kept for a minute before a familiar-looking Steelix broke out from the underground. It let out a massive roar, quite annoyed that the burn marks from its last battle were still visible.

Brendan folded his arms, secretly thankful that the tyrant had atleast given them a warning this time. "All right, I know that you two have a lot of catching up to do, but I really don't think Moonite should come out and play right now. Can't Metagross meet him this time?"

"But Moonite loves to play!" Dusk countered, shooting the Pokéball into the air. "What kind of a Trainer would I be if I deprived my Pokémon of something they liked?"

The other decided to say nothing.

"Moonite, I don't think it liked the last spot we buried it in, so we need a new one. Force its hand."

Moonite opened his mouth and released a whirling stream of flames, but it didn't attack Steelix directly--rather, the blaze surrounded it on all sides, trapping it in a ring of fire. There was one way to get out of it, but even the wild Steelix knew it wasn't a good option. Dusk smirked upon seeing the Steelix struggle with its decision.

"You got fifteen seconds," he warned. "I'll give you that long to figure something out."

The Steelix wasted nearly none of his allotted time before making a move. It began grinding a certain boulder on its body as if automatically, forcing sand to start spewing out of it. The sand covered the battlefield, and more importantly, smothered the surrounding flames.

"Aw, c'mon. You don't--" Dusk spat out some sand he had gotten in his mouth. "You don't want to go underground anymore? Fine, be that way. Moonite, Quick Attack!"

Even though the decision to use Quick Attack on a Steel-type was odd, Brendan once more remained completely silent. Torchic and Wizard were in the same situation; they seemed to have a bit more confidence in the Trainer, however.

Moonite raced for Steelix, leaving a blinding trail of sand behind him. Steelix brought its heavy tail into the air and tried to crush Moonite with it--of course, Moonite's agility was much too great, and he quickly dodged out of the way. Before Steelix could get its tail back up for a second attempt, Moonite jumped on top of it and began running straight up Steelix's body.

"You baffle me, Umbreon," Brendan finally said.

"That isn't hard." Dusk pointed his finger into the fray. "Moonite, let's make this one flashy. Get to the top and jump!"

Despite Steelix's attempts to shake Moonite off, he stayed directly on top of it. As he climbed up its neck, the blaze on his back only began burning brighter and stronger. When he reached its head, Moonite jumped into the air and turned around so his back was at Steelix. He launched multiple Embers into the air--an act that instantly stopped his inertia and forced him to go back down to earth quicker than he previously would have.

He crashed back into Steelix's head, spinal flames first, causing it to tumble over and slam into the ground. Moonite proceeded to carry out his own order by jumping back into the air and shooting a white-hot Flamethrower straight at Steelix, crisping it.

Dusk blinked, amazed that his Pokémon had done all that without receiving a single order. "Uh...Yeah! That's what I was going to have you do! Great job, Moonite!"

"Quil..." he panted back.

All the Embers that Moonite had shot into the air before were beginning to get affected by gravity as well. All of them hovered back down to the ground, with well more than half hitting Steelix. Unable to take any more abuse, Steelix finally fainted.

Resting in front of his opponent in victory, the fire on Moonite's back was the widest it had ever been. The inferno reached four feet off the ground before the Quilava let out a loud growl.

As had happened once before, Moonite's body began glowing a blinding white. He slowly changed from a quadruped to a biped. He doubled in length and quadrupled in weight. The light shattered off into sparkling stars as the final form of the Pokémon appeared in front of the Trainers. "Typhlosion!!" he screamed, releasing even more fire from the new vents that he had ringed around his neck.

"That thing evolved already?!" Brendan shouted, stunned enough to collapse his folded arms.

"Seems that way, doesn't it?" Dusk responded with a smirk aimed at Moonite.

Wizard became somewhat frightened by his once-cuddly friend. He hid behind Dusk's beret a little, poking his head out only enough to look at the Typhlosion. "Pika...chu?"

"Torchic!" Torchic smiled cheerily, knowing it would help Wizard.

The mouse gave a weak, but understanding and grateful smile in return.

"All right, Moonite. You rest up now. I'll be counting on you when we get to the top." Dusk withdrew his Pokémon and set the Pokéball away.

Things started calming down after Dusk and Brendan sidestepped the unconscious Iron Snake Pokémon.

"So I guess that's why you were pushing Moonite so hard? To evolve it?" Brendan asked, needing conversation.

"It's implied. I'm actually a little surprised how quickly it happened, though. I was figuring it would take a few more battles, atleast."

Somehow, they managed to reach the second exit alive. There was only a single way to go, meaning no more guessing games. Even colder air was starting to blow in from the cavity.

"We're getting pretty close..." Dusk reminded his teammate.

Brendan sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Dusk, I know it's getting pretty intense up here, but...I'm sorry, bud. I got to head back. I got to go find May."

Dusk looked back at the winding trail they had just walked. He thought it was odd to come this far only to run back, but he admired his friend's devotion enough to not say anything about his opinion. "Fine. Just get back here as soon as you can."

Brendan looked in the opposite direction that Dusk was watching. A slow but steady stream of snowflakes was falling outside, though that wasn't exactly what he was paranoid about. "You sure you're going to be all right? Galactic could be around any corner up here, and the fact that you only have two Pokémon on you isn't reassuring, either."

Dusk's head turned back to the exit. "You forget that one of those two Pokémon is a wolverine that stands on two legs and breathes fire from its neck. I'll be fine."

Brendan put one hand on his shoulder, wordlessly thanking him for letting him go, then turned around and ran back through the cave once again. Dusk continued pressing on into the frost-covered platform outside.

---------------------

"I wonder what Brendan's doing right now..." May pondered. "If I remember Mount Ember right, I'm pretty sure he's just about ready to blow the top of it off...Well, it could be worse, I suppose. He could blow the entire mountain up instead."

She sat down on the grass, though she wasn't sure how long she was going to stay there. She couldn't peel her eyes away from Eterna City. "I wonder how my family's changed in the past four years? I bet Max has grown tall...or not. Mom and Dad..." Her head slowly shifted, not stopping until she could see the cave's entrance. "Hey...I wonder how those two are doing?"

----------------------

"Jun, I..."

"You pause a lot! You're like my cousin when he plays a video game! Just, out with it, woman!"

Climbing straight up the incredibly deep slope, Torterra put one confident foot right after another. Dawn was resting on top of the Grass-type Pokémon. It wasn't an enjoyable ride, but she was safe as long as she kept her arms wrapped around Torterra's growth. Right next to them, Jun was keeping up much better than a normal human should be able to. Using a single pickaxe and little else, Jun managed to stay right by Torterra's side, sometimes even gaining a little ground on it.

It had been a long and bumpy day, but the trio of Dawn, Jun, and Torterra were almost three-quarters of the way to the very top of the mountain.

"It's, just...I know that you're optimistic about life, and that's great. I know that you don't like drama very much. But...is it okay if I talk about some things that I'm scared about?" Dawn rubbed her head nervously against the tree on Torterra's back.

"What? Sure! Dawn, we're best buds! You can come to me for anything you need!" Jun exclaimed energetically, never missing a beat with his rock climbing.

"Thanks..." The girl slowly rested her head on the growth. She sighed before her heart poured out its anxiety. "It's all of my other friends...They're really competent Trainers, but Galactic never seems to have less than a hundred men on hand at once. I'm terrified...What if they need me? What if they need us? May, the other girl, has recently had some memory problems, and I want to be there in case she feels like the boys are forcing her to do this."

Jun didn't speak a word. His only reply was a few grunts as he continued climbing.

"And another thing is, what of Torterra?" Hearing its name, Torterra turned its head back curiously. Dawn removed an arm from the moving tree and started petting its shell. "How am I supposed to get back down the mountain? Going up is one thing, but poor Torterra's going to pick up too much speed if it tries to bring me back down the mountain..."

For the second time, Dawn gave a short pause--a time span that Jun said nothing in.

"And what happens if we get to the top, and none of our friends are waiting for us? We could have to face every single member in Team Galactic alone until we get back-up. And that's assuming that we do get back-up..." Dawn twirled a finger around on Torterra's back. Her sad eyes watched herself do that. "I'm sorry for being so pessimistic. It's unrealistic to assume that everything's going to go perfectly, but I'm sure that not everything bad that could happen, will happen, either. Even though that's the story of my life right there..."

More time passed. This time, Dawn began wondering. "Jun? Are you listening to me?"

"Huh?" he replied instantly. "Oh, I didn't know I had to listen! I thought you were just going to talk! My bad! Start over from the top, would you?"

Dawn decided against it. Instead, she kept banging her head on Torterra's growth. "Just...nevermind."

"Okay. Hey, Dawn, look!" Jun took a hand away from his climbing and pointed upwards. "There's a cave right up there! It looks decent enough, so let's rest there for a few minutes!"

Dawn turned her head around and followed where Jun was pointing. When she saw the location, she bit the inside of her lip. "Actually, that's kinda close to the inside of the mountain...If it's okay with you, I'd appreciate it if we actually went around it as far as we could--"

"Sure, no problem! Hey, Torterra, race ya up there!" Breaking all laws of possibility, Jun managed to pick up more speed. He started gaining an inch on his Pokémon with every passing second.

"Jun, wait!" Dawn cried out, "The point of this was so I wouldn't have to expose myself...to..." She hung her head low and sighed. "Why do I even try?"

"Terra," the Pokémon finally spoke.

As if Dawn's fragile confidence needed any more of a beating, it was only minutes before they were on a mini platform. Big enough to hold Torterra, Jun, Dawn, and not much more, the platform was a nice break from constantly rising uphill.

The pleasant rest didn't stop Dawn from staring into the cave with fear trembling her heart. When her shaking legs slid off of Torterra, she realized that the cave's entrance was mere yards away.

Even though it was cold, Jun wiped off a forehead full of sweat with his hand. He had already happily collapsed on the ground, panting. "Yikes! Whatta day, huh? Atleast we still got the best part to go. Right, Dawn? Dawn?" Jun hopped to his feet and quickly made his way over to the girl. He put his hands on either of her elbows when he realized that she was actually shaking. "Dawn, what's wrong?"

Dawn dove into Jun's chest. In spite of being held, she broke out of Jun's grip and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Jun...Please. We're really close to the mountain. I'm so scared. Please. Can we rest somewhere else? Anywhere else?"

"Dawn..." Never having to deal with such emotions before, Jun was forced to wing his words. He calmed down his excited nature enough to rub Dawn's back soothingly. "Dawn, girl, you're way too hyped-up! Take a deep breath and calm--"

"I don't dare to breathe at all, how do you want me to take a deep breath?!" Dawn snapped back, two tears slipping out of her eyes. After realizing what she'd done, she accidentally inhaled a deep breath as a force of habit. "I'm sorry, Jun, I'm sorry...Please..."

"It's okay, Dawn! We can keep going! No need to rest, really. I'm still good! And Torterra's a beast, so don't worry about him! I just thought you'd like a minute break, but that's okay! You all ready, then?" Jun took another hold on Dawn's arms and pulled her out of the hug. Considering how tightly she had been gripping, Jun was surprised by how easy it was to break her off. He raised an eyebrow after staring at her face for a moment. "Dawn? You're lookin' a little pale. You okay?"

No response. Still holding her arms, Jun leaned down and looked into Dawn's eyes. They were open, but void of life. "Dawn? You're creeping me out, here! Wait, I got some water. Here, let me get..." Jun removed his hands from Dawn's arms so he could search through his pack.

"Tor?!" Torterra shouted.

Unable to support her own weight, Dawn stumbled backwards. She only stumbled a single step before running out of ground.

With a loud, disturbing cracking sound, Dawn started to roll down the same mountain that Torterra had worked so hard to get her up on. Torterra blinked, unable to make a physical movement. Jun watched her unconscious body get lifelessly tossed around by the dirt and rocks.

"...Whoops."

------------------------------

After spending so much time alone, May gasped when her name was suddenly called from behind her. She jerked her head toward the sound of the direction, and became quite surprised when she saw a friendly face. "B-Brendan? What are you doing here?"

Due to all the running, Brendan was panting by the time he got up to May. He bent down on a knee and put a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "If I stayed with Dusk, we would have exceeded the weight limit. Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine...Why would you ask that?"

"...Er, nothing. Just curious." Brendan took a seat next to May, simultaneously attempting to regulate his breathing. "Anyway, are you sure you still need to stay here? We could really use your help in the mountain."

May observed the short grass near her knees. "N-no. I'm sorry, I just...feel like I can't."

"Don't apologize. It's fine. We'll just kinda hang out here for now. So what's up?"

The first thing May did was recall Torchic, who was looking somewhat bored, into her Pokéball. "Brendan..." The woman's eyes turned sharp, even though it was her ears that she was paying attention to. "Do you hear something?"

When the boy tuned his ears, a gentle thumping could be heard clearly. Neither Trainer were able to identify the exact location it was coming from.

"If it's an avalanche, I'm jumping down this mountain," Brendan warned.

The noise steadily began getting louder.

"Whatever it is, it's getting clo--"

"Shh," May interrupted.

The curious woman casually scanned the area until she spotted the source of the sound. It was an object that had been rolling down Mount Coronet the rough way. May jumped to her feet upon realizing what the object was. "DAMIA!!"

"What?!" Brendan stood up so fast, he nearly fell back down again.

From the rocky, hilly mountain above them, Dawn was rolling down at an incredible rate of speed. Her head nicked a jagged rock, but it wasn't enough to so much as slow her descent. She continued barreling down the mountain until she rolled right over a rock formation laid out like a ramp. Her body was tossed into the air, slightly above the Hoenn Trainers' heads.

May hurriedly undid her scarf and cracked it like a whip, giving one end to Brendan. "Hold this!" Without giving herself time to have a second thought, May jumped off of the mountain and grabbed Dawn from the air, who would have otherwise kept falling down.

The momentum from the swing kicked in, sending May careening into the rocky wall of the platform, back-first. Through the pain, she knew she couldn't drop Damia. With one hand holding hers, and the other hand holding the scarf, May was about to be torn in two. Relief came when Brendan began tugging on the scarf, lifting them both up.

After a few minutes of an adrenaline rush, all three were safely on the platform. Brendan was on one knee, still trying to figure out what had just taken place. May was writhing in pain--her back had crashed against a series of sharp rocks, all of them digging through her skin. Small amounts of blood doused her shirt, though there was much more sting than the red liquid. Dawn was laying on the ground, completely motionless.

Brendan finally pulled himself together and raced over to his ailing girlfriend. "May, are you all right?"

"I'll be fine...Please, take care of Damia..." She cringed, refusing to let her tears fall.

"I can't help her right now. Let's see you."

Brendan was prepared for an awkward moment--May wasn't.

Without shame, the male took the bottom of May's shirt and lifted it all the way up to her neck, revealing most of her back. There were three deep red marks around her shoulders, though there was also some blood on her bra, meaning she must have gotten injured there as well. He reached for his backpack and took out a first aid kit, then began applying medicine to May's wounds. He slid a soft band-aid over each one after he had finished with them.

May had a strong blush on her face the entire time.

Less than two minutes ticked away. Though he could have been enjoying the view of May's almost-naked back, Brendan's guilty conscience kept his medic skills moving quickly. When he was finished, the first thing he did was lower May's shirt back down. "There we go. Feeling good?"

May sat up, finally having the ability to do so. "Yes..." She blinked. "Uhm...Thank you...Brendan..."

"Not a problem, but if you ever get a jagged rock between your legs, I'm afraid you're on your own there."

May laughed, but it soon died when she saw Dawn still laying in the position she had last seen her in. She crawled over to her side and ran her hand through Dawn's hair. "Please wake up, Damia..."

Brendan bit his lip. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know where this was going to go.

May noticed a small speck of red in her friend's gravel-coated blue hair. She lifted up the Sinnoh Trainer's bangs to see an open sore. "Oh..." May took off her bandana and wrapped it up into a headband, similar to Wizard's headgear. She tied it firmly around Dawn's head, making sure to wrap the bleeding area. "...Please? You have to wake up..."

Brendan slowly walked over with his first aid kit still in hand. He began bandaging the cuts and scrapes she had also received from the fall. Her face, arms, and legs all had markings on them.

It felt to May that hours had passed. She hadn't moved from her spot, lovingly running her fingers through Dawn's hair. Brendan had walked back a short ways, unable to emotionally stand May whispering encouraging words into Dawn's ear. "May...You don't even realize that she just fell halfway down a mountain. If she's even hanging onto life by anymore than a thread, the chances of her waking up anytime soon are--"

"UMBRE...on...Augh..."

Brendan jerked around. He was met by Dawn, who was sitting up and pumping her fingers. May was on her side, keeping an arm behind Dawn's back for support.

After getting over the shock, Brendan put on a light grin. "I should have said that fifteen minutes ago." He casually made his way over to the women, grabbing his first aid kit again incase it was needed.

"Damia!" May exclaimed, finally hugging her conscious friend. "Are you all right?"

"Dandy..." Dawn answered sarcastically, not being effected by the hug much.

"Here." Brendan reached into a separate compartment of his backpack and pulled out a white bottle. "I always keep drugs on me." He handed her the bottle, along with another bottle filled with water to take the pills with.

"Uhm...Thanks." In spite of the cuts and other somewhat severe wounds that Dawn had sustained on her way down the mountain, she grabbed the gifts and used them effortlessly.

While Dawn was taking a long sip of water with her eyes closed, Brendan furrowed his eyebrows. "Hey, uh...Dawn? I'm having a hard time believing that you actually just took those from me so...easily."

The collected girl opened her eyes to look at Brendan curiously, but was too fond of the water bottle to move it away from her mouth.

"Cuts, scrapes, bruises...I fixed up a gash that was on your right arm. You just moved like you weren't in pain."

His last sentence seemed to be enough for Dawn to lose her thirst. She pulled the water bottle away and stared at her pink cast in a suddenly-timid mood. "Oh..."

There was only a moment of quietness before May realized that Brendan had come on a subject that Dawn didn't want to talk about. She tried changing the topic, hoping it would kill the awkwardness. "Damia, what happened?"

"Ugh, that idiot..." Dawn set the bottle filled with pills on the ground and shook her head. "Jun took it upon himself to take a rest stop. Unfortunately, that rest stop was half a foot away from the inside of the mountain."

"What?!" Brendan shouted before May even had a chance to say anything.

Dawn lifted her head upwards until she eyed Brendan. "Try not to get to mad at him...That's just Jun. Anyway, I started panicking and couldn't stop myself from breathing. The last thing I remember is barely being able to tell right from left..."

"But you're okay now, aren't you?" May asked worriedly.

Dawn forced a smile. "Something like that." She pushed on her arms, then legs, finally getting to her feet. She dusted off her clothes, noticing they were dirty, then turned around to look at the same view that May had been staring at. "Wow. Eterna City looks a lot bigger than it did from up there." After getting no response to that statement, Dawn turned her head half-way towards the other Trainers. "Where's Umbreon?"

"You know, that's a pretty good question," Brendan answered, shifting his own head back towards the cave. "We'll go find him in a few minutes, but I'm thinking you really shouldn't move that much right now."

"May..." Dawn turned back to Eterna. "Can you come here for a minute?"

"Oh, sure." May took a couple steps in Dawn's direction. "What--"

Before she could take any more than those paces, Dawn turned around and bolted at May's body. She crashed into her, causing the older girl to stumble back a step.

Instead of getting angry, May looked down to see what the reason for the assault was. She gasped, then locked her arms around Dawn's waist. "Damia, it's okay! Don't cry! Falling down that mountain must have been horrifying, but you're okay now..."

Tears were drenching May's shirt, directly under her right shoulder. Dawn made no effort to hug May back. "May..." She choked. "I-I can't feel anything..."

Not thinking properly, May rubbed Dawn's back. "What do you mean?"

"I c-can't feel anything..." she repeated, still struggling to keep her voice understandable through the tears. "My body...is numb..."

May quickly turned to look at Brendan. His expression was frustrated more than anything else. "That little punk..." he said under his breath. May assumed he was implying the blond-haired boy.

Her attention was again diverted when she heard another voice, this one nearly as quiet as the tone Brendan had used. "May...?" Dawn lifted her unfeeling hands up and wrapped them around May's back. "Don't leave me...Please?"

"Dawn..." May nuzzled her head into the top of Dawn's own head--an action that the latter girl hardly felt at all. "We're best friends! I'm never going to leave you, no matter--"

May was interrupted when Dawn grabbed hold of her back even tighter than she had been and began crying hysterically. The targeted area of May's shirt was almost completely soaked in tears.

The Hoenn Trainers looked at each other. May finally began petting Damia on the back. "Just let it out..."

Time continued, seemingly so much slower than it used to go. Dawn's crying had slowed, but didn't necessarily stop.

She yawned, then turned her head to one of May's sides and closed her eyes. "I guess not feeling anything has its perks...I could probably fall asleep right here..."

May smiled as she looked at Brendan, silently confirming the obvious question. "Damia? Do you want to take a nap here for a little while?"

"...We should go find Dusk..." Dawn answered slowly, much more tempted to take May's offer than she wished she was.

"Well, not if you're tired. You can rest on my sleeping bag."

Dawn smiled a little, then left May's hold so she could get her backpack. "But...May?"

"Mm-hm?"

"Why...Why do I have your bandana on?" Dawn questioned, doing her best to feel the material with her hand.

May finally got hold of her lime green sleeping bag and tossed it over the ground. "Your head was bleeding, so I used it to bandage it. Bandanas aren't always for looking good, you know." May stuck her tongue out, then offered her hand to Damia.

She accepted it, and was slowly elevated downwards until she was laying on the bag. Dawn tapped the bag, then the dirt. She couldn't tell the difference. Tears started coming back to her eyes, but she tried to stay strong.

While May stepped away to let Dawn get some sleep, Brendan started walking over to her. She was searching through her bag, probably making sure nothing was lost, though Brendan didn't feel like questioning her on it. Instead, he squatted down and watched Dawn shuffle her belongings around. "Do you know why you can't feel anything?"

Dawn's expression grew sadder, but she still kept her eyes in the holdall. "I...probably did something to my brain, right?"

"Yeah, that was going to be my guess, too..." Brendan gripped her leg and shook it lightly, hoping to keep the girl's spirits up. "You're going to be okay, Dawn. We'll get'cha through this." He stood up and turned around, taking a cue from May to give Dawn some privacy. "May and I ain't going anywhere until we figure something out."

Dawn knew that he was walking away, which meant that her window of opportunity to get his attention was small. She sat up, hoping it would catch his eye. "Brendan?"

"Oh, yeah?" he responded without turning around.

"You..." Dawn's eyes turned to the ground for a moment, but quickly lifted up to the back of Brendan's head. "You don't...really want to leave Sinnoh, do you?"

Brendan froze, though he managed to keep his body language to a minimum. He forced himself to recover and twirl around, pushed laughter escaping from his mouth. "Not sure what you're talking about. I'd take any chance I could to get away from you two." He turned back to his previous direction and waved Dawn off. "Besides, everybody knows that Hoenn rocks, anyway. You shouldn't have your mind on that while trying to sleep, though. We'll wake you up in an hour or two so we can keep moving."

Dawn sank back into her bed, though her eyes never left Brendan as he walked closer to the edge of the cliff. "Brendan..."

Thirty minutes vanished quickly, atleast for Dawn, who had fallen asleep near the instant that she laid down. The Hoenn Trainers bided their time, usually staying apart from each other. While running Dawn's question through his head for the hundredth time, Brendan's train of thought was thrown off track by loud footsteps blasting inside of the nearby cave. The shoes screeched to a halt, and an energetic young man skidded into view.

He walked out casually and rubbed his forehead of more sweat. "Phew! Nothing gets the old ticker pumping like running. Anyway, Dawn landed here! Sweet!"

Being the closest to the cave, May was the first to make nervous eye contact with him. She raised an arm to her chest, no longer feeling safe with that boy near her. "Oh, it's...you."

Jun ignored May and headed straight for the other girl. Before he could reach her, he crashed into somebody that acted like a brick wall.

"Heyy...'Said your name was Jun, right?" Brendan asked cooly, unfazed by being run into.

"Sure is!" Jun closed his eyes and grinned stupidly. "Don't wear it--"

While he was blind, Brendan ran a fist directly into Jun's face. The boy was pushed back, eventually stumbling to the ground.

May gasped. Every part of her mind didn't want to believe that her boyfriend had just done that.

Brendan walked forward to where Jun had fell. Before he even had a chance to get up, Brendan grabbed the writhing boy by his collar and lifted him up.

"Dude, what was that for?!" Jun shouted, forcing an eye open.

"Sorry, 'dude.'" Brendan shook Jun's shirt, rattling his head a little. "I think Dawn would love to ask you the same thing. If, you know, she was conscious."

May bit her lip before speaking. "Actually, Brendan, she's just slee--"

A nasty glare from Brendan shut her up. He returned his gaze to Jun. "Man, what the hell is wrong with you? We were all kind of counting on you to keep Dawn out of the mountain, and the first thing you think to do is lead her straight into it?"

"Okay, look." Jun swept an arm across Brendan's. The teenager's upper limbs had more strength than Brendan was expecting, so he had no choice but to release Jun from his grip. "It was an accident, man! Let it go. When Dawn wakes up, there's no way she'll be mad at me! She might be pissed off, but she won't be mad!"

"I wouldn't really be putting words in her mouth, if I were you," Brendan warned, rubbing his wrists.

Jun lifted his open hands up to neck-level. "Whatever, man. I just want to check on Dawn. But it's good to know that I don't dare leave her in the hands of a freak like you."

"You're the one that doesn't trust me with her?! You dropped her off of Mount Coro-freaking-net! The day I--"

"Guys!" May yelped, leaping into the tight space that was between Jun and Brendan. She lifted both arms up, keeping the boys at bay from each other. "Don't be so loud! Damia really needs to rest, and now she's stirring..." May pointed over to the sleeping girl, who was fidgeting in her sleep. "If you yell anymore, you'll wake her up! Can't we settle this...civilly, somehow?"

Jun folded his arms and tapped his shoe on the ground. "I am not playing a game of Chess. It's far too long and boring!"

Brendan rubbed his eyes. "That's not what she was getting at, Jun..." He took a deep breath to calm down. Surprising himself, it worked. "Jun...Why don't you go find Dusk?"

"Huh? But Dawn--"

"We'll keep Dawn safe," Brendan answered, lowering his hand back to his side. "And...I'm sorry for hitting you. Just go find Dusk. He's still in Coronet somewhere. Make sure he's safe, then tell him what happened." Brendan nudged his head in Dawn's direction. "We'll let her sleep for a little while, then we'll be on your heels." Finally, he offered his hand to Jun. "We cool?"

Jun sighed, unwilling to work the strength up to smile. He still gripped the hand and shook it. "Yeah, we're cool. Just don't treat the rest of your friends like that."

Brendan found a smirk on his face. "I'll keep that in mind."

Jun gave a nod to both Hoenn Trainers, then turned around. He took a single step, but stopped himself from breaking into a run. Instead, he turned around and looked at Dawn. The more he stared at her many bandages, the guiltier he felt. "When she wakes up..." he started, not appearing to address either specific Trainer. "...make sure she knows that I'm sorry, okay?" Too impatient to wait for a response, Jun shifted back and darted into the cave.

Brendan folded his arms while watching his odd companion dash away. "That Jun...He's all right. A little troubled, but all right."

May turned her head to the side. When she saw that she succeeded in her mission of keeping Dawn asleep, she smiled faintly.

One more hour passed by, and Dawn squinted her eyes open. Once her senses returned to her, she realized that she had rolled onto her stomach sometime during her sleep. She pushed with her arms, lifting herself up until she could rest on the back of her legs.

Realizing that the girl behind him had sprung to life, Brendan ended his watch of Eterna City and turned to her instead. "Hey, girl. Feeling good?"

The question earned him a fatal leer. The unprepared boy cringed upon realizing what it was for.

"Er...Bad choice of words. Sorry."

Dawn steadily got to her feet. She was nervous on numb legs, but surprised by how usable they still were. "Where's May?"

"Present," May spoke up shyly from her position behind Dawn. The latter girl found it odd that May's hands were behind her back, but couldn't say anything about it before the older Trainer talked again. "Hey, Damia? You remember your scarf, right?"

"Um..." Dawn blinked at her. "Little hard for me to forget about it, actually," she replied, stifling a laugh. "Why do you ask?"

"...I-I'm sorry, Damia, but I think it got somewhat ruined in an, uhm..." May quickly searched for a word. "...accident." She brought her hands to the front and revealed the scarlet scarf to Damia. It had been torn and somewhat dirtied during the process of saving its original owner's life.

Dawn ran a hand through the slightly tattered material with a blank expression. May was anxious of Dawn's thoughts right up until she started laughing. "It's okay, May. I have to say that I was expecting worse than that. It's still usable."

"Damia, I know how important this scarf was to you, and I take full responsibility of what happened to it, and--"

"May. Didn't you hear me? I said that it's all right." Dawn paused to smile. "And yes, I still want you to have it."

May threw her arms behind Dawn's back. The blue-haired Trainer remained frustrated that she couldn't feel the embrace, but tried to remember that it was the thought that counted. "Thank you..." May mumbled.

"Well...Hey," Brendan announced, clapping his hands once. "If we ain't got nothing better to do, I guess we...head through the mountain. We'll blast through them as fast as we can, okay, Dawn?"

The question went ignored. Dawn bent down and looked through her handbag, eventually pulling out a green Pokéball and necklace. Berlitz appeared out of the ball and, without speaking a word, accepted her apparel. Dawn dropped the ball into the bag, then stepped past Brendan and towards the view of Eterna City.

May was in the process of rolling her sleeping bag back up when she noticed Brendan was staring at her. "What?" she mouthed.

He pointed at Dawn discreetly, then knelt down to the sleeping bag. Realizing that he wanted to trade positions, May stood up and headed towards Dawn.

"It's...funny, almost," Dawn said the moment she knew that May was within hearing range. She and Berlitz were still looking in Eterna's direction. "You won't remember, but right now is where I would come to you with all my problems and fears. I never understood how, but you always found some way to get me past everything..."

May got to Dawn's side. She was starting to grow tired of the same view of Eterna City, but thought it would be appropriate to be closer to her friend. "So what's stopping you now?"

"You...want me to bug you with my problems?" Dawn wondered, looking at May. "You don't know anything about me anymore...Not like you used to, anyway."

"No..." May closed her eyes and shook her head gently. "That's not true. I know that we were good friends, Dawn. I know it. That's all I need to know. So talk to me."

"Can I share something personal with you?" Dawn wondered anxiously. She received a nod, which was good enough. "The truth is...I...haven't had my first kiss yet."

May turned her head toward Dawn. An interested smile was on her face. "Oh?"

"I'm guessing you pieced this together by now, but Dusk and I aren't siblings. We're friends. Really close friends." She reached her hand up and petted Berlitz's head, remembering from earlier days that the ghost enjoyed it. "I had the entire thing planned out in my head...We'd beat Team Galactic, and at the peak of our excitement, Dusk would lean over and kiss me..."

"I used to do that, too," May confessed after Dawn stopped talking for a moment. "I'd always daydream about when Brendan would first kiss me. I mean, without a few thousand people watching us on national television. Maybe after that dinner, or if I won that Contest..." She giggled. "I'm sorry. This isn't about me, is it? Go on."

"If only that was my problem..." Dawn lifted her head to stare at the sky. No clouds to pay attention to disappointed her, but she continued talking anyway. "What if Dusk kisses me...and I can't feel it? What if I can't even feel him when he holds me anymore?"

"And what if you can?"

Dawn jerked toward May. She said nothing, though her confused expression spoke volumes.

"It's just a thought..." May kicked at the grass. "Brendan mentioned that he thinks something happened to your brain on the way down, but...isn't it odd how the only thing that happened because of that was your loss of feeling?"

"I..." Dawn muttered, unable to say anything else.

"It could be temporary...or maybe a miracle could happen." Dropping her shyness, May tilted her eyes to the side and smiled while Dawn registered her words. "This is the Pokémon world, after all." Her gaze returned to Eterna City. "I know what it's like to be uncertain of the future. I can't go an hour without wondering if I'll ever remember everything again. That's why it's so important for me to believe in something. Have faith that everything will be okay, Damia. Because it will, somehow. You'll have your first kiss with Dusk, and you'll be able to enjoy every second of it. And I'll get my memory back, too!"

At first, Dawn's mouth was twisted into a small grin. By the time three seconds ticked away, it had become a large smile. "I didn't think it was possible for you to be any more optimistic than you were before, May."

May giggled again. "I'll...take that as a compliment."

"Thank you, May. Really. That helps me feel better about having to go through Mount Coronet, too."

"If breathing in the air is what upsets you, you should use my bandana as a mask."

Dawn blinked. "...Huh?"

"Like this." May undid the knot that was keeping her bandana a headband on Dawn's head. She shook it out, then folded the cloth in half. Next, she wrapped it around Dawn's head, making sure it covered from her nose to below her mouth. She stood back and admired her work. "It certainly isn't fool-proof, but it can't hurt any."

"Wow. Um..." Underneath the bandana, Dawn's voice was a little muffled. She couldn't hide that she was stunned by her friend's versatility. "Thanks."

"No," May smiled. "Thank you. It means a lot that you trusted me with your worries."

"Well, what do you know," a third party stated arrogantly. The girls turned towards his direction and smiled at the friendly face, though Dawn's was hidden from view. "We have ourselves a bandana bandit. If everybody's good, let's go! We got some Galaxies to conquer!"

Brendan took off running. Rejuvenated by May's speech, Dawn, followed by Berlitz, gave a happy chase. May quickly stashed her rolled-up sleeping bag into her backpack and tried to catch up with the others.

-----------------------------------

"Wait a minute. Jun was talking about his Pokémon back in Veilstone?"

"Chuu?"

Dusk was, as usual, walking blindly through the cave, hoping to accidentally stumble upon the exit. Even though he had convenient access to a watch, he was blissfully unaware that he had been exploring this particular cave for nearly two hours.

The background was reminiscent of the Pokémon Centers--the same thing over and over again. The only ounce of excitement was when the walls had crashed together, leaving only a small opening near the floor to crawl through. After passing through that, there was nothing but a wide path to follow, guided by rocky walls.

"So, then, he doesn't know my real name."

"Pika pi."

He turned a corner.

"You know, why isn't there a tour guide for this place? Or atleast an information pamphlet."

As he continued walking down the dusty trail, his eyes began focusing on a white object that he was slowly nearing. As he got closer, he realized that the object was breathing rapidly. He quickly ran up to it, only to find the 'it' to be a 'her.'

"A-are you all right?!"

The girl, looking to be no older than six-years-old, was leaning on the wall with all of her weight on her left leg. Her right leg was slightly suspended in the air with blood rapidly flowing out of it, just above the knee.

Her uniform was cursed with a somewhat generic get-up. A cute yellow blouse, plain white miniskirt, and uncomfortable-looking sneakers was all the clothing she had on her. Her brown hair was shoulder length, though she had a small bun in the left hand corner. Her twinkling, nervous eyes didn't leave Dusk's face as she shook her head in response to his question. She pointed to her leg.

"Man, this thing's bleeding, isn't it..." Dusk observed the injury. He hesitated, then finally spoke up. "Here, lay down."

Dusk offered her help to lay down, but she didn't accept it. She shook her head once again, trying hard to sidle closer to the wall.

"I'm not going to hurt you. We need to get this thing fixed before you lose anymore blood!" he scolded, hoping to stay firm but not scary.

It took a few seconds, but she agreed. Carefully, she slid down the rocky wall, landing on the ground with a small thump.

Wizard jumped off of his perch and scampered next to the person. "Pika, chu?" the mouse chimed in, rubbing the girl's arm.

She looked back at him with the same confused expression she used to look at Dusk.

"All right, let's see now...Let's...see..." Dusk quickly realized that he had no bandages. He could take his vest off and use it for a makeshift bandage, but it's awkward design would've made it too difficult. He thought of one thing he could use, but tried to think of any other alternative. Nothing came to mind. "Sorry, Dawn," he said aloud.

He took his backpack off and unzipped a portion of it. He reached his hand in, then took it back out--its tight grip was holding Dawn's bandana. "This should help control the bleeding," Dusk explained. He lifted her leg up just enough to slip the unprofessional medical item under it. He began tying it around her injury. "I can't take you back down the mountain right now, but I got a couple friends that should be following me pretty soon, and I'm sure they'll help you, okay?"

She continued staring at him. Seemingly more than anything, his beret.

"I'm Dusk, by the way. What's your name?"

Silence.

"...Uhm..."

The confused girl watched Dusk carefully finish knotting the bandana around her leg.

"Er...Anyway, it might not be safe for you to stay here by yourself. Do you want to come with me until my friends get here?"

Though it was scarcely noticeable, she nodded her head.

Wizard began sniffing her hand. She returned the gesture by staring at him curiously. "...Pika?"

"This is Wizard, by the way. He's my attack dog." Dusk stood up and helped the girl get to her feet as well.

Wizard smiled as the girl returned her gaze back to him. "PiPikachu."

Dusk started walking off, allowing Wizard to escape as well. The girl stood still and watched them.

Umbreon noticed this and turned around. "Don't you want to come with us? It'll be safer if we protect each other."

She looked at the headband tied around her injury, then back at Dusk. She slowly started stepping towards him, but after one more call by her new companion, caught up to him in a speedy manner.

"I also have a Typhlosion, but he's resting right now," Dusk explained. "What Pokémon do you have?"

More silence.

Dusk turned his head to look at her. Though she'd been completely silent, Umbreon didn't realize until now how much he missed having a human partner to travel through Mount Coronet with. "You don't have any Pokémon?"

She nudged her head left and right.

"Ah...Well, that would explain why you were kinda stuck back there. Don't worry about it, though. We'll protect you," Dusk offered, lifting his shoulder that Wizard was on into the air.

"Kachu!" he nodded.

She stared mystified at them.

-----------------------------

"Simple rule," Brendan thought, "Keep Dawn's mind off the Coronosis, and pow. No problem at all."

"So, is that bandana helping, Damia?" May asked innocently.

Brendan slapped himself on the forehead. "I shouldn't be surprised."

Berlitz had been recalled into her Pokéball, so it was only the trio of humans that were already half-way towards their first target. Of course, it wasn't much of an accomplishment, since the right-hand exit wasn't far away from the one they had entered from.

"Yeah, it's...actually doing pretty good," Dawn answered from behind the cloth. "Thanks, again."

"You always say that!" May countered with a laugh. "I remember the first cave I ever explored...I think I was six, and it was just me, Max, and Dad..."

Dawn and Brendan shared a look with each other.

"One of the Pokémon that Dad was researching...I think it was a Lotad...No, it was an Electrike! Wait, I'm thinking of something else...Maybe it was a Doduo...Anyway, it was sick," May continued, not even noticing the other two. "Somewhere in a cave just off of Littleroot Town, there was supposedly a certain berry that would help it get better. Well..."

The Coordinator kept going with her story. In fact, she left the other two curious if she was ever going to stop. Her amusing, if not extra-detailed plot carried the Trainers through the rest of the first cave, across all of the outside platform, and a little into the second cavern. Dawn had actually become intrigued with the story. Brendan noticed that and, remembering the medicine that the Oreburgh nurse had given her, hoped to abuse it.

"That's real fascinating, but if you want a story, tell 'er about the first time we went into Victory Road together, May..." Brendan requested with a forcefully-blocked smirk.

Dawn tugged on the tails of the bandana, tightening its grip on her face by a bit. "Any story that involves Brendan must be atleast decent."

May brought a finger to her chin and thought carefully. "Victory Road, Victory Road...Is that where--" A strong laughing fit interrupted May's sentence. She tried her hardest to calm down so she could share the story with Dawn. "Have you ever seen a Shiftry, Damia? Brendan's Nuzleaf had just evolved into one. And, for some reason, it was obsessed with the move Mud-Slap. So..."

--------------------------------

"Hey, so...What can I call you?"

The team of Umbreon, Wizard, and the girl continued through the confusing paths. With a smart guess by the silent girl, the trio managed to go the correct way when they had reached a fork in the road. The exit, though far off, was in sight.

The girl appeared to become a little sad, which Dusk assumed branched from an inability to respond to his question. After some time was spent thinking, she snapped her fingers and looked at her two traveling companions. Without somehow requesting permission, she reached for Wizard and held him in front of her head.

"Pikachu?" Wizard questioned blankly.

Hearing the phrase, she nodded her head.

Dusk blinked his eyes. "You, um..." He fixed his beret. "You want me to call you...Pikachu?"

She bowed her head up and down again, seeming to be ecstatic about the nickname. With her request granted, she happily set the mouse back on Dusk's shoulder.

"All right, then. Weird at first, but one gets used to it. Is your leg feeling okay, Pikachu?"

Pikachu didn't answer. She didn't have time to.

Agile footsteps could be heard behind them. Before she could even fully turn around, Pikachu was grabbed from the back. Not knowing that she couldn't scream for help anyway, the captor kept one hand covering her mouth, and used the other arm to keep Pikachu's own arms restrained. Pikachu kicked madly, but to no avail.

Dusk spun around cooly, not wanting to show his enemy any fear. He was somehow surprised when he laid eyes on who it was, even though he should have been expecting it. "A random Galactic nut. You know, you people have an obsession with grabbing others from the back. I'd work on that."

The grunt was armed with nothing more than standard grunt things: bowl cut turquoise hair, uncomfortable suit, and a surprisingly well-toned physique. This particular one also had a slightly frustrated attitude. "It's a bad guy thing! Let us roll with it in peace, already!"

"I haven't had the chance to pay you goons back for doing it to me in Jubilife. Now, drop Pikachu before this gets ugly."

The Galactic guard looked at the floor, where Wizard had hopped to. He looked back at Pikachu, then Wizard again, and finally up to Dusk. "But I'm holding this girl! Your Pikachu's down there!"

Dusk stuck his hands in his pockets. "No. That's Wizard. You're holding Pikachu."

He turned his head for a moment, mouthing a few words to himself. He looked back at Umbreon after figuring something out. "Whatever, man! Look, the boss told me no interruptions allowed. Even two clearly unthreatening kids aren't allowed through. Spear Pillar's off-limits right now! Sight-see later!"

"Mm, sight-see, right, right..." Dusk took a hand out of his pocket to scratch his chin. Assuming that this man's intelligence and loyalty levels were low, Dusk decided to see if he could get any information out of him. "Your boss...He was the one wearing the, um...Oh, what was it?"

The grunt took the hand that was holding Pikachu's mouth and waved it in the air carelessly. "Oh, he's always wearing that stupid orange suit. It looks terrible on him, but I can't say anything..."

"The only thing worse than the suit is his name, right?"

"I know!" the grunt laughed. "Who names their dictator son Gio--" He cut himself off, instead donning another cross expression. "Hey! I'm supposed to be battling you, not making friends!" He gripped Pikachu tightly. The pain actually made the young girl cringe. "Surrender now, or prepare to--GAH!!"

Footsteps, even faster than the ones before, came careening towards the group. Before the grunt could properly act, the owner of the feet tackled into him from the back. He was forced to let go of Pikachu, though she was sent rolling on the ground a few times.

Dusk's eyes widened when he saw who the savior was. The rescuer was simply laying on the Galactic grunt, pinning him to the dirty floor. "Rape scenes aren't cool, dude!"

"Jun?!" Dusk shouted.

The boy looked up and locked eyes with his friend. Jun's eyes turned out to be a bit happier than Umbreon's. "Dusk! Hey, buddy. Pretty epic save, right? So what's up? What's with the girl? When did--"

"Get off'a me!" the grunt cried, taking advantage of Jun's lapse in concentration and pushing him off. He scurried to his knees, then got to his feet, dusting himself off along the way. "These suits are ugly, but they're certainly not cheap! And unlike your sweat-soaked clothes, I can't just throw this thing in the washer and forget about it! Ugh, kids these days..."

Resting on the ground, Jun watched the grunt mutter in frustration. "Dude, I'll give you five bucks if you go buy a personality with it."

"What was that?!" he shot back.

Dusk was going to help Pikachu get on her feet, but noticed that she had already stood up. He offered a hand to Jun instead. When he got the blond to his feet, Dusk didn't release the hand from his grasp. "You got some explaining to do, Lucy."

"No problem, Ricky!" Jun happily responded. "Let's get rid of our guest first, though, okay?"

"Get rid of me? Ha! Yeah, this will be--"

"Freeze."

"--good...EEP!" The grunt began shaking when he felt cold steel rest up against his spine. "Please don't shoot! I have a wife, and kids!" His face suddenly morphed into confused bitterness. "...All right, well, no, I don't, but please don't shoot anyway!"

Dusk and Jun, along with both Pikachu, couldn't stop themselves from looking at what had made the grunt change his attitude. Dusk and Wizard were the only two that furrowed their eyebrows curiously. "Ashley...?" the human muttered.

Ashley equipped a smile, even though it was faint and almost unrecognizable. She used the opposite hand that was holding the gun to push a single strand of hair behind her ear. "It is good to see you again. This is not the preferable time to hold a conversation, however. We shall talk again soon." Ashley pushed the gun harder into the Galactic's back. "It would be for the best if you came with me."

"Yeah! Sure! Sounds cool! Haha...ha..."

The four moved to the sides, allowing Ashley room to push the Galactic grunt forward. Jun was the most curious of her, staring widely at her red dress as she passed by. Though everybody's eyes were on her, the young bounty hunter made no effort to look at anybody as she passed by them.

When she was out of hearing range, Jun frowned. "Who does she think she's kidding with that red dress? She's still pretty cute, though. So what's her story?"

"Ashley. We met her in Veilstone." Dusk cracked his knuckles. "But she's the last thing you need to worry about. If you're here, what happened to Dawn?" he questioned, keeping his voice a bit on the cruel side.

"Oh, that..." Jun forced a chuckle. "You're probably going to laugh..."

---------------------------------

"...And then it used Whirlwind, and blew him straight into the wall!" May finished, even though Dawn was already doubled over in laughter.

The rest of the group was making their way along Mount Coronet quite comfortably. They had passed by the fainted Steelix, which marked the half-way point of the cavern. May was still more than content telling any story that she could remember, while Dawn laughed at most of the details. Brendan was the silent one of the group, talking only when spoken to. He was nervous that all of Dawn's laughter forced her to breathe in a lot of mountain air, but she showed no signs of collapsing. He passed it off as paranoia and tried tuning into May's exaggerated tales.

"Anyway..." May stuck her hands behind her back and stared at the tall ceiling to the cave. "Do you have any stories, Damia?"

Instead of responding to the question, Dawn turned her head towards May. She lowered her eyes until she met with the scarf. "...A lot," she answered to herself, somewhat tearing up while her gaze never left the accessory. "I just wouldn't be able to get through any of them without crying, that's all..."

May noticed she was being stared at. Her eyes nervously shifted in Dawn's direction. "Um...Damia? Are you okay?"

"Oh...Yeah. I'm okay. Sorry. What was the question?"

Cutting in before May, Brendan talked with a highly curious expression. "I got a question. Were you just staring at my girlfriend's chest?"

Dawn jerked her head over to Brendan. Her sub-conscious cursed at the unrealistic lighting in the place, which did nothing to hide her slight blush. "What?!"

"Um..." May scratched her cheek, keeping her arms in a position that hid her chest from a side view. "Damia, I'm flattered, but I--"

"I wasn't looking at--" Halfway through her shouted sentence, Dawn stopped and rubbed her eyes. "F-forget it. I won't lower myself to Brendan's level."

Brendan brought his hands into the air, creating a surrendering motion with them. "Hey, I never said that I had a problem with it. Threesomes--"

"BRENDAN!!" both girls yelled as soon as they heard the last word.

Relieving both women of much humiliation, and also Brendan of an awkward position, a voice from behind them respectfully interrupted, "Excuse me." The male voice was kind, and seemed to leak with professionalism.

The three Trainers turned around. Dawn and Brendan gasped when they saw who the owner of the voice was, but May didn't recognize him. "Galactic!" the former two shouted in unison.

Standing before them was a Galactic grunt, outfitted with nothing more than the other one had been. Unlike the other one, when eyes were upon him, he pushed his arms up against his side and took a heavy bow.

"Yes...How I hate to interrupt you, but I was hoping to ask for your permission to stop proceeding through this mountain."

Dawn and Brendan looked at each other. The girl also tried looking at May, but the woman was too busy staring at the odd suit to notice.

"Sure," Brendan said slowly, unwilling to lower his guard. "You can stop going through the mountain any time you want. No need for our permission."

The grunt laughed a delicate, genuine laugh. "No, no. Forgive me, I didn't make myself very clear. I meant to say that I was hoping you and your group wouldn't mind stopping. There's an amazing ceremony taking place on Spear Pillar this evening, but I'm afraid that it's not open to the public."

"Don't worry." Brendan frowned. The other two kept silent. "We got VIP passes." He made a casual reach toward the Pokéball housing Metagross. "Do you need to see them?"

The Galactic guard released a sigh. "Please, sir, a duel is quite unnecessary. If you were to just--"

The Hoenn Trainer launched the ball into the air a short distance, causing gravity to take effect and send it back down into his hand. His eyes never left the Galactic's in the process. "You know what else is unnecessary? White Crayons. And yet, they're still there."

A second sigh made its way through the grunt's lips. "I see. Very well, then. Please, forgive me."

Rather than stepping back to initiate a Pokémon battle, the grunt took a swift step forward. He thrust a damaging palm at an unprepared Dawn. The attack managed to land on the barely-healed injury on her head, opening the wound back up. The force also made her stumble backwards until she eventually tripped on her own feet.

The grunt acrobatically back-flipped a safe distance away to prevent a counterattack. "I offer you one more chance to accept my request."

Brendan looked at Dawn. The numbness had blocked all the pain from the attack, but she didn't seem pleased with having been pushed to the ground. "Dude," Brendan started, turning back to the Galactic. "Bite me!"

"...I see." He lowered his head and closed his eyes. "Please forgive me, innocent girl. It's unfortunate, but I know where your weakness lies."

Unsurprisingly, the grunt ran forward. Instead of going straight for Dawn, he pushed Brendan to the side, stunning the Trainer for enough time to safely get to Dawn. He stood over the girl on the ground, who was too flustered by the speed the grunt was moving at to make any movement. Without any form of hesitance, the grunt bent down and instantly undid the knot on the back of May's bandana.

Dawn was the most horrified of the three Trainers after realizing what his tactic was. When she unwittingly wrapped her mind around Coronosis, violent coughing was imminent.

The grunt rolled forward, got to his feet, and shot the bandana on the ground. "I simply feel horrible," he stated as he turned back to the Trainers. "What happened to the girl was unfortunate, but--"

"Not as unfortunate as what's going to happen to you if you don't shut up."

Again, another voice was heard. Dawn was unable to comfortably focus, but the remaining three turned their heads upwards.

Gun pointed in the Galactic's direction, Kartock slowly stood up from his position. He had been hiding on a convenient rock that was jutting out far enough to completely cover himself from sight.

Never lowering his weapon from the grunt, Kartock jumped down from his perch. His suit was camouflage, but nowhere near the correct color--instead of a dusty brown, the suit was a bright white. Since he'd been completely hidden from ordinary view, he didn't mind the mismatch so much. Since the lighting was perfect for it, he had decided to keep his sunglasses on.

"Time for you to take a nap." Still keeping his fatal gun aimed, Kartock whipped out another gun with the opposite hand. He pulled the trigger, but instead of a bullet, a compact dart shot out of it and into the Galactic's neck.

"Ah. I see I let my guard down."

It wasn't long until toxins leaked into the grunt's body. Dazed, he fell to the floor, though he was asleep by the time he hit it.

Kartock set both weapons inside their respective holsters. "You people don't listen very well, do you?"

"Who are...you?" May wondered quietly.

"Always nice to see you again, too," Kartock replied sarcastically. His eyes turned to Dawn. The girl was sitting up, but she had a barren, lifeless expression on her face. "Poor girl looks dead. Leave her in here for a few more minutes, and looking dead won't be her only problem." He jogged forward, then knelt down in front of Dawn. With the help of his intense training, the bounty hunter was easily able to cradle Dawn in his arms. "Let's go." He got back to his feet and tore off for the exit.

Brendan and May looked at each other, shrugging in order. Brendan followed after him, then May. The woman stopped to look down at the grunt one more time. The corner of her eye caught sight of her bandana. After picking the cloth up, she chased after the rest of the group, never caring to turn her head back again.

It wasn't long at all until the group was into fresh air. It wasn't helpful that the same air was also freezing, but it was necessary to rest here until Dawn came back to. May shivered, then rushed to Dawn. Kartock had set her on the ground before stepping away and letting her friends surround her. Brendan seemed much more interested in the bounty hunter than his ailing friend, however.

"So...What's with the suit?"

Kartock chuckled and folded his arms. "Can I get some credit? I was told we were going up a mountain. I expected there to be a little more snow than this." The young man cleared his throat, leading way for a more serious expression. "The girl will be fine," he assured, noticing how worried May looked. "She'll wake up in a minute." Without an explanation of why, Kartock turned to his side and paced forward.

Brendan gave a curious chase.

"Oh, Damia..." May moaned, running a hand through the unconscious girl's hair. Doing so caused her to realize the wound that the Galactic had opened before. Careful to make sure everything was precise, May folded her bandana into the same bandage it had been used for before and wrapped it around Dawn's head a second time.

Out of the women's hearing range, Kartock stopped walking. He looked at the ground while fixing his sunglasses' position. "It was Brendan, right?"

Brendan folded his arms and looked out at the view the team had. Rather than Eterna City, nothing but uninteresting fields and forests could be seen from this direction. "Still is, weird enough."

"I have to admit something to you, Brendan," Kartock confessed. His eyes turned up to look at the top of the cave they had just come out of. "The fact is...I'm glad you didn't listen to me. I underestimated Galactic's power, not to mention numbers. Ashley and I wouldn't have a prayer to take them down on our own." Kartock shifted his head to the side. The corner of his eye caught sight of Brendan. "After Veilstone, I'm led to believe that we could do a lot worse than you."

"Uh...Thanks. I think."

"Whether you'll believe me or not, that was supposed to be a compliment." Kartock stretched his neck, pausing while he came up with a subject. "I never caught the girl's name. Was it Damia?"

"Nickname," Brendan answered, surprised that he was holding a casual conversation with someone like Kartock. "Her real name's Dawn."

Silence blew through out of nowhere. The Hoenn Trainer coughed. "So, anyway...Where is Ashley?"

"We play a game of leapfrog when we do missions like this," Kartock responded truthfully. "One of us takes a floor, and the other stays behind to make sure that the first isn't going to be followed. Being straight, I haven't seen her face in over two days."

Before sarcastically noting that Kartock didn't really answer the question, a third voice interrupted Brendan.

"Guys?" May spoke from her position, heightening her voice's volume so it would reach its targets. "Damia...still hasn't woken up..."

Brendan turned around to look. Appearing to haven't even heard May's plea, Kartock reached for a walkie-talkie. "Ashley?" he spoke.

There was only a brief pause before a somewhat staticky voice answered back. "I copy. What is it, Sir Kartock?"

"How's everything going?"

"Well. I encountered a Galactic worker, but he was easy enough to...dispose of. I have also joined forces with our external teammate from Veilstone City, who has two friends with him."

Brendan jerked towards the compact radio. "Two...?"

"I can relate," Kartock replied back to his trusted companion. "Ashley, I'm afraid it's do or die time. Get to the exit and make sure everybody stays down. I'll be joining you shortly."

"Understood."

Knowing it was the last transaction with Ashley until they regrouped, Kartock safely locked the walkie-talkie back into its place on his belt. Afterwards, he again turned his head half-way towards Brendan, managing to spot him with the corner of his eye. "It's a fun fact that the third floor is usually considered the longest. The only reason that holds true is because it's like a maze in there. Take the right turns, and we'll be in and out of there in ten minutes, tops."

"Your point?" Brendan countered.

Kartock turned around. He watched May continue to interact with the unresponsive Dawn. "My point is that I'm not going to waste the time waiting for Dawn to wake up, recover, then hope that the same thing doesn't happen again in the next mountain. We're going through. Now."

"But--"

"After falling unconscious, the victim usually has over two hours before actually dying. So the simple rule is that if we don't get too lost in there, Dawn will end up no worse than she is now."

Brendan tapped his foot on the ground. "Forgive me, but I can't help but find it strange that you know so much about this. Why did you waste your time studying something as random as Coronosis?"

Kartock contemplated refusing to answer. When he saw how anxious May was about Dawn's condition, he decided to wait for another few minutes. Replying to Brendan's question was the only way to pass the time. "...Ashley has it."

"What?!"

"Coronosis." Kartock turned his head to the side, this time, away from Brendan. "We found out that Ashley had Coronosis about a year ago. She got the shot and spent months meditating, training her mind to never think of the disease. At least, not while she was in a mountain. It was vital to her career that she got over it, and was willing to do anything to save her job." Kartock gave a rough "hmph." "I've wasted enough time talking. Let's move out."

Even with a nervous, "Wait," muttered by May, Kartock still walked over to the two and picked Dawn up. He slowly stomped towards the next cave, saving his energy so he could run all the way through it.

May got to her feet and sighed. Brendan set a hand on her shoulder. "She'll be all right. Thick as he may seem, Kartock knows what he's doing."

May looked at him curiously. "Who's Kartock?"

"Uh...Nevermind. We better go after them."

---------------------------

"Dude...You got the instincts of a wolf."

Kartock's promise was fulfilled easily enough. They didn't have convenient access to the current time, but the group knew that they hadn't been in here for more than a half hour. Even through the exhausting maze, Kartock had led the team to the road leading to the exit.

"Nah. I call it pure luck," Kartock answered modestly. "You're free to say otherwise, though."

May remained silent. The only thing that was worrying her more than Dawn at the moment was how Dusk was going to react when he saw her.

Dusk, Jun, Ashley, and the mysterious girl were leaning on the side walls when the others met up with them. Eyes were looking everywhere--Brendan and May looked at the girl nicknamed Pikachu in surprise, Jun kept Kartock in visual range, Ashley and her captain shared a look with one another, and Pikachu stared at just about everyone worriedly.

Umbreon kept his eyes only on Dawn.

"...Right," Kartock stated, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "If everyone's ready, I suppose we might as well get this thing started."

"What thing?" Jun questioned. "Oh, that. Right. Nevermind."

Kartock turned to look at Brendan, who gave him nothing in return but a nonchalant shrug. The bounty hunter shook his head and moved towards Dusk. Remembering how close the two were standing together in Veilstone, he thought it was best to offer the girl to him. "I'm sure she'll be fine, kid. Just give her some fresh and time to recover."

With his work done, Kartock walked closer to the exit, stopping before actually walking through. He folded his arms while staring out into Spear Pillar. "Let me know when we're ready to go."

Dusk's first reaction was to jerk his head at the Hoenn Trainers. "Is she all right?" he asked hastily.

"She's...fine," Brendan said reluctantly, unintentionally implying that it was a lie.

May rubbed her elbow when Dusk's gaze fell on her instead. She tried looking away, hoping it would help somehow. "Considering everything, Damia made out great, Dusk...But she..."

Brendan let out a strong sigh. "Stalling won't help. She's complained about not having any feeling at all in her body, Dusk."

"Brendan..." May whispered hoarsely, having planned on using more subtlety.

Everyone but the Coordinators and the bounty hunters set their eyes sadly on Dawn's lifeless body. In spite of not knowing her at all, Pikachu was almost as worried as Dusk was about the Sinnoh Trainer.

Ashley started to speak up. "Perhaps--"

Before she got any farther, Kartock twisted his head around. The corner of his eye, even through the sunglasses, succeeded in glaring at his teammate. "Ashley. Don't speak out of line."

The quiet girl cleared her throat. She decided to continue, despite the vague threat. "I have...ways of healing that most doctors are not aware of. Allow me to offer a deal. If we succeed in stopping Team Galactic, I shall...see what I can do about this girl's condition."

Dusk turned to Jun, then May. They both had the same surprised expression on their faces. "Well, considering that works right into our plans anyway, I guess--"

"Wait, wait," Brendan interrupted. "Is there a rubber chicken and a slice of ham involved? Because I read about that once, and even tried it, and I got noth--"

"Brendan..." May repeated with clenched teeth, this time a little louder. An embarrassed blush was on her face with nothing around to hide it with.

"Hey, just trying to stop a scam in-progress..." Brendan defended, taking a step back.

Dusk shook his head disappointedly. He slowly worked the courage up to turn back to his serious partner. "We'd be grateful, Ashley. Thanks."

For the second time, Ashley gave Dusk a faint smile. She didn't let anybody study it for long before dropping it and turning around. "We are wasting time. Allow us to proceed."

The group got ready to go. They crowded up to the exit, but Kartock didn't move out of the way.

"You talk too much, Ashley."

The abusive remark made the team look at each other. Ashley did nothing about the cold statement, failing to even change her expression.

Awkward and dysfunctional as Kartock had left them, Team Missile and their four teammates walked through the open exit that led into a bright Spear Pillar.