When The World Ends
Chapter Twenty-Five – A Leap Of Faith
The leaves crunched under his feet, his breath burning in his lungs as he ran through the thick forest. He dodged low-hanging branches and jumped over raised roots. Normally not the type to run from any sort of fight, he had absolutely no choice. If he stopped to face the enemy as he was, he wouldn't stand a chance, and he'd really rather live to fight another day. Dusty-purple hair fell into his eyes, and he made a mental note to hack his long hair off as soon as possible. Once upon a time, stopping to bother with something like a haircut was just too troublesome, but now it was nothing but a hindrance.
A loud bang exploded through the air, and his ears rang painfully. His entire body jerked, and he stumbled, tripping over one of the raised roots that he had been trying to avoid. His body hit the ground, but oddly enough, he didn't feel any type of sting. Normally he just ignored it, this time he didn't feel a thing.
Paul breathed in an out, his face against the dirt and dead leaves that were prematurely falling from the trees. His hand curled into a fist, tugging some of the dry grass from the ground as he opened his eyes just a bit. There was a shadow looming over him.
Foul breath hit him and Paul forced himself to look up at the drooling maw of a large Houndoom. In Paul's mind he didn't fear much, especially not Pokémon, but he couldn't deny the raw feeling of something bad rushing through him as he shifted a bit.
That was when the pain hit him and he groaned, finally moving his hand down to his side where he felt something wet. Had they hit the last bottle of water that he had?
There was a bit of laughter and mocking from somewhere above him, but Paul wasn't really focused on that. Instead, his attention went back to the Houndoom as he snarled at him and lunged forward.
A flash of light blinded him momentarily. Already heavily injured, Torterra practically threw himself at the Houndoom, who clearly wasn't expecting any type of fight. The fire-type was thrown backwards, slamming into a tree as Torterra lumbered towards him. Normally, he wasn't the fastest Pokémon around, but that was even more pronounced due to his injuries and Houndoom's speed. The enemy Pokémon got up quickly and jumped at the grass-type.
Paul shakily reached out, almost like he was hoping to stop his Pokémon with his bare hands. His steel-grey eyes turned away from Torterra for just a moment, locking onto the red substance on his skin. His muddled mind hated it, thinking this liquid was what impeded him.
There was cruel laughter as Houndoom jumped onto Torterra, baring it's sharp teeth. This time, Paul tried to find his Pokéball, but didn't really have the coordination. All he could do was watch.
A torrent of water slammed into Houndoom, throwing it off of Torterra. A wave of electricity followed, and the dark-type howled in pain. The ground shook under Paul and something big ran behind him. He could hear the screams of surprise and the shouts of his pursuers. It sounded like they were scared and in pain. Good.
A sparkling cloud of powder flew overhead, and even though he was starting to feel really tired, Paul still recognized it as a Stun Spore. That was good too. Whoever was doing this was smart.
That's when it hit him that, in the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere, someone was in the middle of saving him. The odds of that were astronomical. He should have been left there to die.
Suddenly, there were pink boots in his field of vision. Someone was looming over him again as a small hand reached out and touched him. He could see a bracelet made of pale purple beads.
"Paul? Paul! Talk to me!"
That was his name. How did she know his name? Slowly, Paul looked up. His vision was blurred, but he still found himself looking into a wide pair of dark blue eyes, dark blue hair framing his savior's face as she stared at him in horror.
He knew this person, but he couldn't say anything. Instead, his world went dark.
…
The next time Paul awoke, he was much more aware of a radiating pain on his side. Not only that, but he was laying down on something that was moving. He groaned and blinked, trying to get his vision back in focus.
"Don't move too much," a feminine voice spoke up. "I could only help your side a little bit. It's still pretty bad."
Paul looked down, realizing that he was on the back of a large Mamoswine. He moved a little more, blinking down at a familiar teenage girl.
"Dane?"
Her face turned red, dark blue eyes snapping up to him as she walked alongside the Mamoswine, carrying her Piplup in her arms. "Seriously? You forgot my name? It's Dawn!" She spoke with such a ferocity that Paul could practically see the steam rising off of her. "Nice thanks I get for saving you."
"Saving...that was you?"
"No, it was the other trainer who just happened to be in the woods around Celestic Town." She paused for a moment. "Never mind, that could actually be quite a few people, but yes, it was me. Why were they—?"
"Torterra! Where is—?" He burst out, moving a little too much and grimacing as pain rushed up his side, unable to finish his sentence.
"Stop moving before you mess up the bandages!" Dawn snapped before her expression softened. She reached for the bag that was slung over her shoulder, resting at her hip. Digging for a moment, she pulled out six Pokéballs. "They're all yours. I used some of my potions on them to help a little, but we'll take them to Nurse Joy."
"No." Despite the fact that he was in pain, his voice came out surprisingly strong. "You can't trust anyone here. You probably don't get it but—."
"Hey, I do too get what's happened!" Dawn fumed. "We can trust this Nurse Joy. I'm positive." She paused for a moment. "Why was Team Galactic after you?"
Paul eyed her warily, but realized that his suspicions were actually a bit ridiculous. Though it had been a few years since he had seen her face-to-face, he did happen to see her on televised contests and things like that when he was flipping through the television. He knew that Dawn wasn't the type to join up with lunatics like Team Galactic or Team Rocket.
"They – Team Rocket – whoever – they tried to recruit me," Paul admitted after a moment of silence. "I said no."
"You actually said no to them?" The surprise on her face was obvious. "How?" Her question was vague but he understood what she meant. How did he get away? How was he still alive? No one was taking no for an answer, especially after the President was assassinated and it turned out that the Vice President and a lot of the others were pro-Team Rocket. It was part of the reason that Paul was so wary.
"I ran, okay?"
"Well, yeah but—."
"Leave it alone," he snapped fiercely, and Mamoswine snorted.
"It's okay, Mamoswine." Dawn pet the large Pokémon's thick fur coat. She looked back up at Paul. "You should try to get to sleep. You'll be okay. No need to worry."
He had every reason to worry, but Paul found himself nodding off anyway.
…
Dawn peered inside of the makeshift hospital room in the small Pokémon Center. Her eyes focused on the monitors around Paul, tracking his vitals. They were all strong, and Nurse Joy insisted that he'd be okay along with his Pokémon, but it was still unsettling for the young teenager. There was so much blood when she was bandaging him.
He was okay though, and so was his Pokémon. That was good because they really didn't need to lose anyone else in all this madness.
Dawn made her way through the Pokémon Center, picking up Piplup on the way out.
The air was muggy and warm that day, a stark contrast from the freezing temperatures that hit every other day or so. Fog loomed around Celestic Town, but that was fairly normal. With fog, treacherous bridges and mountains, the town was very hard to get to unless you already knew about the hidden roads that ran through the mountains. Few did. That was part of the reason that when the government fell, Cynthia chose to house their little rebellion there. It was safe, easy to defend, and everyone without exception could be trusted.
At least until now, and that was something Dawn was determined to change. She made her way towards a large house, not bothering to knock. This house acted as their main headquarters beyond anything else. It belonged to Cynthia's grandparents.
The blonde woman in question was leaning over a desk in the corner, frowning as she wrote something down, punching numbers into a calculator beside her. Dawn admired Cynthia quite a bit and had come to know her much better than she ever expected that she would. She didn't like seeing the worry and stress lines appearing on the young woman's face as the days passed by with Team Galactic and Team Rocket basically running Sinnoh now.
Dawn glanced at the papers curiously, frowning a bit when she saw 'budgets' and some very discouraging numbers. She cleared her throat and Cynthia jumped, looking up at her warily. The woman sighed, shoulders relaxing a bit. "Can I help you with something, Dawn?"
"I was just wondering if I could talk to you about Paul?" She set Piplup on the ground and smiled brightly.
"Actually..." Cynthia glanced down at the papers and then shook her head. "Alright, what about Paul Wayland?"
"Well, I was just wondering...do we have to keep him handcuffed to that hospital bed?" Though hidden by the blankets, Dawn knew that they were there.
"No," Cynthia's voice was stern and left no room for arguments. "You told us yourself that Paul admitted to Team Rocket trying to recruit him. Until we know for sure that they didn't, we're going to be wary."
"But they were shooting at him! And they'd have no way of knowing if there'd be someone there or not!"
"Unless they know where we are." That shut Dawn up immediately. She didn't want them to find their safe haven even if it should have been an obvious place to look. "Until he gives someone actual answers on how he got away and why they were really after him, I'd rather be safe than sorry." Her expression softened. "He's a friend of yours, right?"
"Uh...well...I know him." A friend? That wasn't the exact description Dawn would use for Paul. A potential friend would be the best case scenario. "I know he's not on their side though. I know we can trust him."
"I guess we'll have to wait and see." The blonde looked up at her. "Is there anything else you need?"
"No. Thank you for your time." Dawn quickly scooped Piplup back up and hurried out of the room.
Once she was a little away from there, a fierce scowl appeared on her face. Dawn pouted and made her way up to one of the cliff sides, where she sat with her legs dangling over the edge.
"This is ridiculous," she finally said to Piplup. "I mean, Paul might be a jerk but he's not a bad guy, right?"
"Pip piplup," the Pokémon replied with an unhelpful shrug.
"I guess I can understand why everyone's afraid though. They were really close to here." She looked down at the full cabins and makeshift tents. Nearly everyone there had parts of their families torn away from them. Worry welled up within her as she let herself think about her mother. When the takeover started, she had been in Snowpoint City and managed to get away with Zoey, but there was no word on Johanna. Dawn clung to the hope that her mother was still alive, because at least she still had that hope. So many others didn't.
Her eyes shifted back to the house Cynthia resided in. Even she had lost her sister, who was made a public example by Team Galactic.
"Dawn!" She and Piplup both jumped, and she had to lunge forward to grab her Pokémon so he wouldn't plummet down the cliff side.
She looked around, her long hair whipping around her with the motion. "Barry! Piplup almost fell!"
"Oh, sorry," he said almost carelessly as he hurried over it. "Is it true? The rumours?"
"What rumors?'
"That Paul's here and he fought off an army of Galactics with his bare hands?"
"He got shot and I fought them off with my Pokémon," she deadpanned. It was sad how she could use that as casual conversation now, like it wasn't a big deal.
Suddenly, an idea hit the blue-eyed girl. She grinned and said, "He's recovering in the Pokémon Center, but Cynthia's keeping him locked up out of suspicion. I trust him though."
"What?" Barry appeared positively outraged. "That's not cool at all! Why would she lock up Paul? He could be mad helpful! I'm going to go talk to her! Fine her even!"
"Or you could not." Dawn watched with both fascination and annoyance as Barry seemed to instantly calm at the amused voice.
She looked around him and scowled at the boy that was there. "Lucas! I was trying to get him to go bother her!" Dawn had known Lucas for a long time because he was around Twinleaf Town a lot with Barry when they were younger, even if he didn't live there. They were known to be the best of friends, and he was one of the only people that could calm the blond. Even if it was only for a couple seconds to let someone breathe.
"Sorry," he held up his hands in surrender. "I just...Cynthia seems stressed."
"She is. I peeked and it looks like we're going to be in trouble with the money."
"I figured something like that would happen eventually." He looked down at the town below them. "The Indigo League still exists and is fighting back from Johto, keeping it safe at the same time. Hoenn's league is still intact too. Us? This is all we've got. We're not taking in any money or anything." Lucas shook his head. "If Cynthia's really worrying about it, it must be bad."
"Think there's anything we can do?" Dawn asked him. Lucas was smart, and fairly level-headed, so she trusted that he wouldn't come up with some ridiculous scenario.
"I think we should go set Paul free, he'd know what to do!" Barry suddenly exclaimed, causing Piplup to jump again. Lucas barely had the chance to even try to restrain his friend before he was off.
The two watched him go before looking at one another and shaking their heads with exasperation. Lucas kicked at the ground and then asked, "Dawn?"
"Hmm?"
"Can we trust Paul? I mean, I heard some things about him...the type of person he can be."
Dawn bit her lip for a moment, weighing her choice of words. "Paul can be cold and stubborn. Sometimes he can even seem heartless, but he's a good person too. I think we can trust him. I really do."
Lucas slowly nodded his head. "Alright. I'll trust you on that one." He looked off in the distance, navy eyes focusing on the Pokémon Center. "Besides, maybe he knows more about Team Rocket than we do. We could really use something right about now. Anything."
"Yeah, we really could," Dawn agreed as she hugged Piplup close, staring out over the town with sad eyes. No one said it, but they were really losing hope, and they were losing it fast.
…
It was no surprise that rumours of their little rebellion's money problems were already spreading. Barry did know about it, after all. People whispered in hushed voices in their makeshift meal hall, and already, Dawn couldn't help but notice that their meal was a little smaller than normal. They were going to have to start cutting corners to at least keep everyone fed and safe.
Dawn sat at a long, wooden table beside Zoey, who was watching Barry, Lucas, Kenny and a Kantonian boy that they met, Ritchie, argue over something quietly. Ritchie got caught up in the madness too when it began and ended up in Celestic Town along with them, though his story wasn't an uncommon one. What made him stand out was the fact that he was apparently friends with Ash Ketchum too.
The blue-haired girl smiled just slightly at the thought. It really shouldn't have surprised her. Ash made friends wherever he went.
Shaking off that thought, she leaned closer to Zoey and asked, "What are they going on about?"
"They came up with a harebrained plan on how to get more money," the redhead replied, jerking her finger at Ritchie and Barry. "Kenny was arguing with Lucas at first but now I think it's three against one."
"It's not harebrained though!" Kenny insisted, turning his attention to them. "I thought about it and it's really smart."
"Okay, how?"
"Ash."
"Excuse me?"
"Team Rocket wants Ash alive and they're offering a big reward for him. So we give him Ash and get the reward."
"Excuse me?" Dawn repeated again in a much more scandalized voice.
"Not really Ash," Ritchie butted in before Barry (Dawn?) could bury them. "Me." Zoey snorted at that. "What? Just dye my hair and give me some contacts. Ash and I look a lot alike anyway and we both have a Pikachu. You 'trade' me in, get the money, and then you have someone on the inside who can figure out where they're taking all the prisoners. Put a tracker on me or something."
"That's a terrible idea," the girl said bluntly as she pushed a little bit of her food to Piplup, who ate it eagerly. "Who knows what they'd do to you. And what if they made sure it was Ash before giving the money?"
"That's what I said!" Lucas exclaimed, pointing at her.
"We need to do something, Dawn," Kenny said, his voice lowered. "It doesn't look like anyone else, even Cynthia, is going to."
…
"Why do you keep coming back here?" Paul asked Dawn. He had been awake for a few days by this point, and was very unhappy with the fact that he was shackled to a bed.
"They want to know why Team Rocket is after you and were going to send other people in to interrogate you," she admitted. "I stepped in and said maybe you'd be more likely to talk to a familiar face." She paused for a moment. "Besides, I did save you."
Paul was silent as he contemplated that. "What are you doing here? In this place? It's that rebellion I kept hearing about, I know that, but why are you here specifically?"
"I...I was in Snowpoint visiting Zoey and Candice," Dawn admitted, turning her eyes to Piplup as the Pokémon wandered the room. "We were supposed to watch Ash's match in Kalos, but then he vanished. I tried to get a hold of him even after they said that he was found, but the phones wouldn't do anything. I didn't get it. Team Galactic must have been doing something to them. When Cerulean City was attacked by Manaphy, Team Galactic showed up here again." She didn't even understand how they managed to rally without Cyrus, but apparently he was back, somehow. "They started rounding people up and trying to take them. Candice fought while Zoey, me and a few others got away. We ended up here and Cynthia's grandmother took us in and protected us. It's really hard to get here, you know."
"The rumours say that the rebellion's stationed in a big city like Hearthome City, so I guess this is smart. A little place like this?" Paul looked away. "What do you do? Not the group. You."
"Not much, but I want to do more. I don't...I don't want to just sit here and wait for whatever's coming. That's why I patrol around the woods sometimes." She paused. "My mom's gone and I have no idea where she is or if she's okay and I want to know. I want to do something about it. About this."
"You want to fight?" His skepticism was obvious.
"You don't think I can?" She crossed her arms. "Why? Because I'm a coordinator? Because I'm young? I took out two Rockets on my own." She let her arms fall. "Why were they chasing you? You rejected them and then...what? Just ran?"
"No." Paul admitted. "No. I rejected them and they just walked away. Then they took Reggie." She blinked at that. "So unlike you, I actually went to find my brother. They caught me and I fought but my Pokémon were injured too badly. You know the rest."
Dawn wet her lips. "Do you know anything? Anything that could help us? Find my mother. Find your brother."
"No, but we might be able to talk to some people that can." He looked away.
"Who? WE can go to Cynthia and—."
"No!" He looked around so quickly that she worried he'd get whiplash. "She kept me locked up for over a week in this room because she doesn't trust me. Why should I trust her? There are spies everywhere."
"So why are you telling me?" Dawn asked after a moment.
Paul thought on that briefly and when he spoke, it was almost hesitant. "I guess, against my better judgment, I do trust you. Do you believe me?"
Dawn stared at Paul unsurely, biting her lip a bit. She had a lot of reasons to trust him, but she also had a lot of reasons to be wary. Briefly, she wondered what Ash would do if he were there, but realized that the thought process was a bit ridiculous. Ash and Paul might have fought their fair share of times, but in the end, Ash's decision would have been obvious.
…
The air was cold that night, twisting in front of Dawn as she quickly made her way across the yard, her bag across her shoulder, Paul's heavier one that she stole from storage on her back. She carried Piplup in her arms, not wanting the Pokémon to wander off and get them caught.
This was wrong in a way, she knew that. Cynthia had her reasons for not wanting to trust Paul, but the young woman was just one person, and Dawn knew that she was doing the right thing. Cynthia wanted to protect them all, but keeping them this sheltered and away from danger wasn't what they needed anymore.
She snuck into the Pokémon Center, glad that Nurse Joy never locked the doors anymore, just in case. She hurried down the hall and into Paul's room. He was already awake, and turned his attention to her as she entered.
"So you did show up," he noted.
"Of course I did." What did he expect? That she'd change her mind? Dawn snorted lightly at the thought as she took her barrett out of her hair and started fiddling with the cuff on his wrist. It took a minute, and Dawn nearly cheered when she heard a soft click and the clasp came undone.
Paul got up, shaking out his wrist and stretching his legs. He winced a bit from the light pain on his side, but it wasn't that bad. He nodded at Dawn and started digging through the bag that she brought, relieved to see his winter jacket and his Pokéballs.
He eyed the younger teenager and frowned. "If you want to do this, we're not turning back, you got that, right?"
"I don't know what you think I am, but I'm not a coward, Paul Wayland," Dawn replied, straightening her shoulders and staring at him fiercely, Piplup mimicking her. "So let's go to...wherever it is we're going." He wouldn't tell her earlier, saying that the walls could have eyes and ears, even though she insisted that it didn't.
"Good thing you dressed warm," Paul noted as he hauled his pack onto his back, making his way towards the door. He peered outside cautiously. "We're going up to Snowpoint City."
"Snowpoint?" Dawn asked warily, remembering the last time that she was there. Piplup hummed his disapproval as well. "The person we're trying to find is up there?"
"Not a specific person, but hopefully, someone who will be willing to talk." Paul looked over his shoulder at her. "That's where they're bringing in the new Team Rocket recruits in a couple days."
…
A loud siren startled everyone awake. Serena didn't even have time to be flustered about the fact that she fell asleep leaning on Clemont, nor did she have the time to complain about her aching back. On her other side, May jerked up just as quickly, looking around with wide eyes. All around them, other Team Rocket recruits were all looking around, just as confused as they were.
"Fun time's over," a stern, male voice came over the intercom. "We will be arriving in Sinnoh within the hour. Proceed down to the ballroom." The once easygoing, almost friendly looking full-fledged members of Team Rocket were now tall and foreboding.
That's when Serena knew what was going on. They lured everyone into a false sense of fun and security, and now the training was going to begin.
"We need to find everyone else," Clemont said with a whisper.
"We're supposed to stay apart," May reminded him.
"I know, but I think that's a bigger risk right now."
Serena silently agreed with Clemont, and the three of them started making their way across the ship, looking for their disguised friends.
"There you guys are!" A voice called out after a while. Serena looked around and saw an unfamiliar teenager approach them, and realized a minute later that it was Gary.
"Where's L—Fern?" May asked, looking around him.
"She went to go find Tom and Anne," he said smoothly, not stumbling over their fake names at all. "We're going to the back corner so we can all meet up, come on." They nodded and followed him.
A couple floors below them, Leaf walked slowly, like she was more bored than anything else and trying desperately not to stand out. No one really gave her a second glance, much to her relief.
"Le—Fern!"
She twisted around, relief passing over her face as she saw Ash and Misty hurrying towards her. "Oh thank Mew, where were you guys?"
"Never mind that," Misty said, her voice lowering as she looked around suspiciously. "Our wigs are on the right way, right?"
Leaf blinked. "Yeah but why—oh!" A smirk rose up on her lips. "I get it." She turned away dramatically. "Here I was actually getting info last night, working hard to find things out like where a lot of prisoners were being held in Sinnoh, and other useful things like that, and you," she spun around and pointed at them, "were getting laid." She had to put her hand over her mouth to stop her laughter at how red their faces turned. Then another thought hit her. "Oh Arceus what if the rooms had hidden cameras? Old Gio would be looking all over for you and when he does find some trace of you it's..." She couldn't even finish that sentence, breathing heavily to prevent herself from laughing.
Misty looked at her lividly. "Does getting info have anything to do with that hickey on your neck?"
This time she shrunk down a bit, she was sure she had hidden that beneath her turtleneck. "Well...no...umm..."
"No? So..." Misty trailed off, her own smirk appearing as she put two and two together. "You and Gary had your own fun, huh?"
"He wishes it was your type of fun," she said nonchalantly, trying to turn the conversation back on them.
"Why?" Ash whined, slapping his gloved palm against his face. "We need to go." Being the voice of reason was really mind-boggling, but really, they had places to go and things to do that did not involve conversations like this.
"Fine, fine." Leaf waved her hand at him. "We'll talk more later." The three of them hurried up the stairs, staying close together as they moved through the other confused Rocket recruits.
Somehow, they managed to get over to where their friends were, and Ash felt himself sighing in relief. Everyone was okay.
"The fun ends here," the man who had seemed so open with them yesterday said harshly. "You have dedicated your lives to Team Rocket and you will be trained rigorously. It's time to drop any relationships, any attachments. The only thing that matters to you now is Team Rocket, and Team Rocket alone. Well, and our allies, of course. Welcome the man who helped establish our Sinnoh Training Center, the leader of Team Galactic, Cyrus." It was obvious that they were supposed to applaud.
At first, Ash was incredibly confused. Cyrus was either dead or off in his own world, or something along those lines. How could he be here? Cynthia had shared her extreme doubts of the man ever coming back. Then he saw Cyrus and flinched. He physically felt sick as he stared at the man, horror welling up inside of him, not even bothering to take in what the man was saying. There was only one thought on his mind. They needed to get out of there and they needed to do it fast.
He tuned back in as Cyrus said, "To prove your worth and loyalty, you must complete your very first task." He stared around at them all. "We are in Snowpoint City. To begin, you must take your packs and jump off the side of the ship and swim to shore." People started whispering, because the waters around Snowpoint were absolutely frigid and a person could only survive in it for so long. "Get to the dock, and you will be rewarded with an injection of Ice Heal and brought to your new living quarters. If you don't, well, they say freezing is just like falling asleep." He paused once again and motioned to the door. "Begin."
The people who really wanted to be a part of Team Rocket were the first to get up and head out the door, but so many people were reluctant. Ash leaned towards his friends and whispered, "Guys, we need to get out of here, now."
"Shouldn't we try to stay and get away when we get to shore?" May asked, all too reluctant to jump into the icy water.
"No, Ash is right," Gary agreed. "That injection, I'd bet you anything that there's a microscopic tracker in it, or something like that. If we get those, we're screwed."
"That actually makes sense, and it's entirely possible," Clemont added. "I'm with them."
"Okay, so we jump, I'll call out Gyarados as quickly as you can, and we get out of here and to shore somewhere else as fast as we can," Misty toned in. "Everyone still have the breathing apparatuses I gave you?" She made sure to insist that everyone get one back in Hoenn. It would give them a chance if they needed to hide beneath the water.
"It's better than fighting everyone here," Serena said with a nod of her head.
"You have no idea," Ash mumbled, but there was no time to question him. Instead, they all made their way through the door and towards the deck.
People were jumping off in groups of ten at a time, some smacking into one another as they fell, some not coming up from the water at all. Something must have been on their side, because they all approached the edge at the same time. Misty had her pack off of her back, holding it at her side already. With subtle nods, they, along with a couple other recruits, jumped and plunged into the icy water below.
…
Dawn didn't know what she expected on this trip to Snowpoint, but actually being able to get into the city was probably one of those things. Snowpoint was so heavily guarded though, that they couldn't get anywhere near it. Paul's frustration was obvious as he fumed about it, trying to come up with another plan.
She let him stew in his anger, heading down to the water to let Piplup wash his feathers. The cold didn't bother him at all. She was just sitting on a large rock that she had cleared of snow earlier, enjoying the view, when a Gyarados rose up out of the water, carrying several people along with it.
Dawn gasped and jumped to her feet, hand going back to her Pokéballs as she eyed them warily, the people clearly didn't see her, too focused on getting to shore, and that was fine with her. Her heart started beating heavily when she realized that they all had Team Rocket uniforms on.
Piplup ruffled his feathers, ready to pounce at his trainer's command, but Dawn chose to stay back, hiding behind the rock she had been sitting on, and observe them for now.
"We need to get these clothes off and change, now," someone instructed, and they were tossing their bags to the ground. Dawn blinked with confusion when they pulled completely different bags out of there, along with other clothes. No one really cared that they were a mix of teenage boys as girls, they just started pulling off their wet clothes and replacing it with their dry ones, survival overpowering modesty.
What ended up startling her though, was when one of the girl lost her hair. Literally. It fell to the ground when she pulled off her wet shirt and tugged on a dry one, changing her bra beneath the shirt. Dawn knew that red hair anywhere. It was only after everyone else was decent and shedding their own wigs that she put two and two together. She didn't recognize the two blonds, but everyone else was a familiar face. What sealed the deal was when one of the boys shed his colour contacts and released a very familiar Pikachu from his Pokéball.
"Ash?"
They all jumped and looked around, most of them still only half-dressed in warm clothes. They all just stared at one another in confusion before May broke the silence. "Dawn? What...? How...?" She looked around at the others hopelessly.
Gary snorted and shook his head in disbelief. "Still ended up where we were supposed to be."
"I guess we have a lot to explain, don't we?" Ash asked almost sheepishly, motioning towards their discarded uniforms.
Dawn slowly nodded her head, and at that moment, Paul came barrelling out of the woods. She'd like to believe that maybe he heard voices and was worried about her, but Dawn knew that she'd never get him to admit something like that.
Paul stared at them, and everyone else stared back.
"And I think you have some explaining to do too," Misty added, nodding at the younger girl. "But first, dry clothes before we freeze." That snapped everyone back into action, hauling on the last of their basic clothes before grabbing their boots and winter jackets.
Pikachu scurried over to Piplup, who waved excitedly. The two Pokémon started talking in hushed voices. Dawn had no idea what was going on, or why her friends had just shown up on this beach outside of Snowpoint City dressed up like Team Rocket. If she was honest with herself, she wasn't even sure she wanted to know what was going on, in fear that she'd just get dragged into it.
Who was she kidding? The second she saw them, Dawn was already involved.
...
Note
You probably noticed that I am NOT updating on Thursday right now. The reason for this is because I'm busy, my beta reader's busy, so I can't promise consistent updates like before. I'll try to update once a week still, it's just going to be more of a surprise. So don't expect one this Thursday, I haven't even gotten it completely written. I WAS going to save this one til then, but decided to post it anyway.
To the people that were incredible rude about the fact that I didn't update on Thursday: remember that I do not get paid to write this. I have a job. I have other interests and things I like to do. Sometimes I just don't feel like writing. I try as hard as I can to get updates once a week but I'm not obligated to do that. I'll post them as soon as I can.
Thank you for everyone who reviewed the last chapter! You guys are absolutely amazing! Seriously, huge thank yous to everyone including: JediMasterDraco, Intensity215, cidneha, ultimateCCC, Kauris Azurai, rsweet1798, SuperSonicBros123, windwarrior234, thedarkpokemaster, thor94, amandaalb4, Aaml mania, Kasumi96, ultraguy7x, Citylover96, TheeFirstEvil, younakun, Great, VolcanicPanic, remisolleke, Kittykitty11, Minimisty and Guest.
Til next time,
Written by: Skylight Sparkle
Edited by: EchidnaPower