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The Waking Dawn.
"I have, regrettably, almost brought about the end of the world."
-First line of the first page of the Nameless Diary - Section forty-eight, row F, slot 325 of the Sunken Library.
First observation from Fourth Stigma: The start has certainly caught my attention. I will begin reading and processing the contents of this diary as soon as I'm done with my current assignment.
Second observation from Fourth Stigma: I cannot BELIEVE you took it with you to Sinnoh, Riley! I was really looking forward to reading it! You better bring it back in one piece if you know what's good for you.
Eterna Forest - 6 A.M
The runaway girl got tired of running, which always spelled bad news for whoever was chasing her.
She veered right and threw herself behind a fallen tree trunk that rested between a broad, moss covered rock and a small mound of earth and grass. Steps echoed behind her, seven or eight pair of feet tapping against the wet floor of the forest. She tried her best to control her breathing. It wasn't easy; she'd been smoking before the group of jackasses fell on top of her, forcing her to drop her last cigarette and run for her life. She wasn't sure which one of two she found more offensive.
Relax, she told herself. Breathe in and breathe out, ignore the burning pain in your lungs and focus on finding a way out.
She wasn't sure if the voice was hers or not, but it was good advice nonetheless. Thinking was good, thinking distracted her from the 'Everything around me sucks' and focused her on the 'Okay, we can make it out of this'.
Problem was, plans and ideas were hard to come by recently. She'd lost her backpack, lost everything she'd managed to scavenge the past few weeks and was now left with only an empty cigarette pack and a heavy steel lighter, old enough to have been made in war times.
"Let me take control."
She couldn't help but wince at the feeling of someone else speaking inside her mind. That certainly wasn't her voice, which coupled with the warmth flashing behind her eyes could mean only one thing.
"I can handle this," she whispered, her voice being drowned by the incesant steps around her. "I just need an opening to escape."
"That will not be possible without risking our lives to a degree that I find unacceptable. I will eliminate them."
A painful, cold shiver ran down her spine. Great, she was more scared of her partner than the actual goons trying to kill her.
"There has to be another way," she pleaded.
"I admire your Valor, but you're letting your Emotions get the better of you. They saw us. They will report us to one of their Commanders. We can't let them go."
She closed her eyes and swallowed down all the anger and fear building up inside her. She pushed them to the furthest part of her mind, where they wouldn't interfere with her mission. To think she'd have to do this again...
She let her body fall against the cold grass. "Fine, but take over completely. I don't want to see it."
Before consciousness left, she saw one of them appear from behind a nearby tree. She was young, most likely younger than eighteen, and was dressed in the grey and black uniform she was so familiar with. Her eyes went wide with surprise, and immediately her expression changed to one of fury.
"Here she is!" she yelled for the entire forest to hear. "You! Give us back what you stole! Give us back Az...!"
Her hand moved on its own, covered in a powerful golden glow, and she fell into a silent darkness.
Waking came with a painful jolt, followed by enough dizziness to almost send her face-first to the ground. Thick bangs of pink hair obscured her vision, and after a few moments of standing still she realized nothing in her body hurt, which was good. She closed and opened her hands, trying to get back the sensation of touch, and then looked around.
A big mistake. All eight bodies were laying on the cold ground, their limbs motionless and their eyes dull. None of them were breathing.
She stared wordlessly for what felt like an eternity. A boundless fury grew from her stomach outward, coating her skin completely. The grass and dirt rustled beneath her feet.
"Y-you... I told you to..." she stammered, the words not quite coming to her. "I didn't want to..."
"That was all the time I could keep your conciousness at bay. I am sorry."
She choked down on the vulgar variations of I don't believe you forming in her head and simply closed her eyes, forcing herself to take deep breaths. It was done, and there was nothing she could do about it. Just another few names to add to the list of people who'd ended up dead because of her.
She spoke in as firm a voice as she could manage. "Let's go. I don't want to stay here any longer."
She took two steps before the voice interrupted her again.
"You should take whatever they had in them. We need supplies, and they won't be using theirs anymore."
Her feet stopped. She stood still for a few heartbeats, and turned toward the corpses.
"I hate you so much," she whispered, voice devoid of all strength.
Twinleaf Town - 9 A.M
Waking up came to Inyssa with an jolt, like the feeling of almost falling backwards off a chair. It was sharp and unpleasant, but not unexpected. As she gormlessly stared up at the hazy ceiling above her, consciousness slowly returning, a part of her tried to remember the dream world she'd just been taken out from, but as usual her brain had retained very little of it. There were a few details, though. An empty, expansive white room, an odd clump of shadows, a pale hand approaching her face, fingers closing around the edges of her vision...
She shook her head and brought herself to reality, as dim as the prospect sounded to her. Something was wrong. What had woken her so abruptly? It hadn't been the nightmares this time. Judging by the exhaustion she felt and the position of the sunlight filtering to her room, she hadn't even made it to four hours of sleep this time. That was low, even for her.
Then she heard it: steps. Distant and slow at first, they resounded more strongly as the person went up the stairs. Inyssa waited, wrapped up in blankets like a human burrito, wondering if she'd need to get up or not. She was technically awake, but all cozy and bundled up like this it'd normally take her at least half an hour to rise from the bed.
Three consecutive knocks resounded through her room, and pale whispers of vulgarity left her mouth. She pushed herself to her feet, still surrounded by blankets, and searched for the curtains in the darkness of the room, making sure she didn't trip on any of the myriad of boxes, books and articles of clothing littering the room. Finally she reached them and pulled them open, grimacing like a vampire at the burst of sunlight.
"Come in, Sarah," she said with a raspy voice, and turned around to the solitary chair where she'd hung her clothes.
An older woman entered the room. She was short and stocky with dark hair that fell to her shoulders, and she wore a three-piece blue suit with a distinct logo emblazoned on the left side of her chest.
"How did you know it was me?"
"Well, you didn't break anything while coming up to my room so you're not Barry." Inyssa threw the blankets to the floor and started changing into her usual outfit; a black and pink dress with white jeans. "And it's still morning so you couldn't have been Johanna."
The woman let out a short, tired laugh. "Right. Sorry for waking you up so early. And for entering your house without permission."
"It's fine. Barry's woken me up plenty of times himself, and with even less tact. That's why you two have those spare keys, anyway." She tried to sound courteous, even if deep down it kind of pissed her off. Still, it was an expected security measure, and Sarah didn't deserve her scorn. "So, can I help you with anything?"
Sarah showed her a smile with a clear apology glued to it.
"I know it's really early and it's not your responsibility, but could you please go find him?" The worry lines on the woman's face were as clear as if they were sculpted in marble. "I need to be in Jubilife by ten and I can't go looking for him right now."
Inyssa closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Barry. Of course it was Barry.
"I know he's not the most careful kid out there, but I doubt he's in trouble. He's probably just climbing trees or crashing into things."
The woman took a piece of paper out of her pocket. "Normally I would agree, but he gave me this before he left. I think he wanted me to give it to you."
Inyssa grabbed the paper and unfolded it, revealing a short and very clumsily written letter. All the words were wobbly, as if someone had written them as fast as humanly possible:
Hey Niss! Did you see the thing in the TV!? The interview, they were talking about professor Rowan! Looks like he came back from his journey to wherever and now he's back in Sandgem Town!
He's like a super smart dude and he's full of Pokemon to give and we want Pokemon! Come on, we can't let this opportunity pass, I'm going crazy waiting for my eighteenth birthday and when he sees what great trainers we are he'll give us a Pokemon for sure and we can go on our travels!
I'll wait for you in Route 201, we'll figure something out to get to Sandgem, maybe we can hitch a ride or something! I'll wait as long as I can, if you're late I'm fining you a million bucks!
Barry
She lowered the letter, an indescribable look on her face. "Dear Synn... I don't... how does he get these ideas?"
"I don't know," Sarah sighed, "but I'm really worried that he'll be impatient and run through the tall grass without a Pokemon. I don't want him to get hurt."
Inyssa crumpled the paper furiously in her hands, swallowing her frustration down. That dumbass, what was he thinking? She didn't want to believe he'd be stupid enough to cross the path reserved for trainers by himself, but she knew how much he hated not being able to do something. The last month had been a nightmare: after having graduated from the trainer academy and with their eighteenth birthdays so close, Barry had been twice as energetic as usual, only talking about how much he wanted a Pokemon. Not that she minded, she was quite similar in that regard, but it became a problem when it affected someone other than her.
Poor Sarah. Taking care of that Emolga in human form must've been the equivalent of having a full time job, on top of her actual full time job.
"I'll go get him," she said, sighing. "I'll bring him back, even if I have to drag him by the ear."
"Oh, thank you so much." Sarah stepped forward, about to grab Inyssa's hand in thanks, but she stopped herself at the sight of the girl freezing up, a sudden breath hitching in her throat. "A-anyway... I'll be sure to order something delicious for both of you when I get back."
Inyssa breathed in slow, trying to get her sudden panic under control. Once she did, she shone Sarah, yet tired smile. She didn't have anything to do for the day, like usual. She could waste some time looking for her idiot of a friend.
"I'll... be on my way then. And I'll make sure to punch him for worrying you so much."
Inyssa was half dead by the time she arrived at Route 201. She reached the sign marking the start of the trainer-only path and had to stop to breathe, leaning against it. Her legs felt like jelly, her lungs burned and her mouth was as dry as a desert. Still, she had to find Barry before he did anything dangerous. Well, more dangerous than usual.
Luckily, the boy seemed to have held his Ponytas for once in his life and was waiting for her a few feet ahead. It was impossible to miss him what with that blond hair combed back into a disheveled mess. He stood there with his arms crossed, impatiently tapping his foot on the dirt. Ahead of him lay a long patch of tall grass, which he looked like he was going to cross any second now.
"B... Barry, hey Barry!" She made her way toward him, panting between words. "Whatever you're... thinking of doing, just... don't. Please."
He jumped at the sound of her voice, though his surprise was short-lived.
"Looks like you're late again Niss. Jeez, what's with your face? It looks like you ran for an hour."
"I ran for twenty minutes," she admitted.
"Wow, are we really that far from town? You must be as excited as I am for my super plan!"
"I'm not, I was just... worried," she said, feeling a bit of heat in her face . "It's cold, I didn't want to freeze coming here. And by the way..."
Inyssa drove her fist into Barry's arm with as much force as she could manage.
The boy let out a screech. "The heck was that for?"
"For worrying Sarah," she replied, suddenly feeling a lot better. "And your plan is stupid. Why on earth should we go through the tall grass when there's a perfectly safe path through the other side of town!?"
Barry's eyes gleamed at her words, like they did whenever he was about to explain any of his dubious plans.
"Alright, hear me out." His expression changed, already forgetting about the punch inflicted on him. "You know how wild Pokemon appear when you cross the grass? Well; if we manage to get through it without Pokemon, the Professor will be so impressed that he'll make us trainers on the spot! All we gotta do is run through as fast as we can and no Pokemon will catch up to us!"
Inyssa looked at him, mesmerized by his ability to warp logic into such a strange thing.
"That's the stupidest plan I've ever heard. And I'm counting the time we tried to get honey from that Combee nest."
"Oh come on Niss, I'm really really sure about this one! Come on, let me show you!" He put his hands together, doing those Poochyena eyes that had stopped working on her years ago.
"I..."
Without waiting for her response Barry turned around as fast as wind. He lowered his knees and put one hand on the ground, ready to start sprinting at any second.
"Here we go!"
"Barry, wait! Don't...!"
A booming voice shook the route, almost making them jump out of their skin.
"What do you think you're doing!? Stop right there, young man!"
Both kids froze on their tracks. Barry's body stood still for the first time since Inyssa arrived, and the girl herself felt chills up her spine. That voice...
They both turned at the same time, heart in their throats. Behind them stood an unreasonably tall man with ashen white hair and a thick mustache. He wore a dusty brown suit with a blue vest underneath. His eyes were cold and stern, and Inyssa felt like they were looking right through her. She recognized him instantly.
Professor Rowan had discovered them doing something stupid and dangerous, Inyssa realized. She opened her mouth without thinking and said the first thing that came to mind.
"Aw, fuck."
