Chapter 2: A Slight Misunderstanding

Dawn opened her eyes, only to close them again to shield herself from the brightness of the sun. She groaned and stood up, shielding her eyes with her arm so they could adjust slowly to the light. She seemed to be on an empty beach, excluding the wooden porch that was not far off.

Where to start, Dawn looked around. When she turned around, she saw a convenient path. There.

Dawn looked at the strange pokeball on her belt, considering if she should let Lucario out.

No. I should only reveal that I have a pokemon if it's necessary, Dawn thought to herself. Even though people and pokemon coexisted in modern times, Dawn had no idea when in time she was, so she decided to play it safe.

Dawn followed the path, passing by the empty shack. It was comforting to know that there was some form of civilization, but that didn't mean she was safe.

She continued down the path and stopped when she saw an open clearing. Although it was small, it was beautiful. The open landscape undisturbed by human architecture was something Dawn rarely got to see anymore.

I don't have time for this, Dawn shook her head. I have to find Akari.

Luckily, the path continued at the end of the clearing, so Dawn knew where she could continue on. She continued down the path, and it wasn't long before she saw a town surrounded by a large wooden fence in the distance.

Seems like a good place to start, Dawn concluded. With a clear destination in mind, Dawn picked up the pace, jogging towards the large settlement.

"Halt!" When Dawn approached the gates, a man with a straw hat and a red outfit stood in front of her. Dawn did as he said and stopped.

"Who are you?" The man, who Dawn assumed was a guard, asked. "What is your purpose?"

"My name is Dawn," the champion took a deep breath and introduced herself. "I lost track of my sister, Akari, so I have been looking for her."

"Akari? Isn't the lass that fell out of the sky?" A man wearing an identical uniform to the guard asked.

"Indeed it is," The guard addressing Dawn replied.

"You mean you've seen her?" Dawn asked. Hope gleamed in her eyes. She sent a silent prayer to Arceus thanking him for placing her so close to her sister before cursing the deity for throwing her into the predicament in the first place.

"Yes. I'll take you to the headquarters and we'll figure out something from there," The guard said as he turned around, motioning for Dawn to follow.

Dawn steeled her gaze and followed the guard into the town. Whatever comes her wat, she will endure it. For Akari.


"This mission will put you in extreme danger. Do you believe you can handle it?" Cyllene's icy gaze pierced through Akari's being. Handling the Pokémon noble could easily prove to be life threatening, but for some reason, that didn't scare Akari. She felt a warm feeling of determination spread throughout her body.

I can do this, her heart told her. No matter how illogical it may be, Akari felt like she can do whatever she needed.

"Of course!" Akari said with a nod and a look of firey determination.

"Very well," Cyllene nodded, her expression not changing. "Then let us go over the—"

"Excuse me, but I have something to report," the woman was interrupted by the voice of a guard.

"Can't you see we're bu—"

"Dawn?" As soon as Akari saw who was there, everything tuned out. Standing there at the entrance to the room was Dawn, Akari's only connection to home. When she fell out of the sky that fateful day, the only thing she could remember was her sister, and now she was here.

"Akari!" Dawn bolted to her sister and tackled her into a hug.

"Dawn…" Akari's eyes started to water as she buried her face into her sister's shoulder. "I… I was so scared. I woke up and I…"

"Shh…" Dawn, softly rubbed Akari's back in a comforting motion. "I'm here now. Don't worry. You're safe."

"Well this is nice and all," Akari stiffened at Cyllene's voice. She was so wrapped up in seeing her sister again that she forgot that she was in the middle of a briefing.

"Cyrus?" Akari heard Dawn mumble. Akari didn't recognize the name, but the shock and anger that was in Dawn's voice hinted that he was a good person.

"Who—" Before Cyllene could finish, Dawn was already running towards Cyllene. A shroud of blue energy enveloped Dawn's right hand as she prepared to strike Cyllene. Before she could, the Abra that was always in the corner of the room appeared behind Cyllene and the two blinked away, only to appear a few meters to the side. Even though the attack missed, the sheer force of it caused a gust of air to blow throughout the room. Akari had to hold her arms over her face to shield herself from the resulting winds, even though she was a few meters away.

"Lucario!" Without missing a beat, Dawn grabbed the single pokeball on her belt and threw it in Cyllene's direction. As the pokeball burst open, a humanoid Pokémon with a large spike poking out of its chest and paws appeared. At this point, Akari knew that Dawn wanted to attack Cyllene with the intent to kill. Despite her cold demeanor, Akari had no hard feelings towards her superior. She knew she had to do something or Cyllene would be seriously injured, or even killed. Akari took a deep breath and shouted.

"Stop!"

/

Dawn froze in her tracks when she heard her sister's shout. Shocked out of her rage, she could now see clearly that the woman in front of her was not Cyrus. Even though they looked very similar, they were, in fact, different people.

"This woman does not have the same cursed aura as that man," Lucario spoke. Those that were in the room with Dawn gasped as they heard the voice.

"Did… the pokemon just speak?" The tall man with the weird, purple hat asked with a scared, yet oddly excited tone.

"I did," Lucario replied simply. "I can use my aura to speak within your minds."

"State your purpose then," The Cyrus lookalike spoke. Although the tone of her voice was cold and commanding and her gaze remained unchanged, her legs were wobbling slightly,

"We have been tasked with supporting Akari on her quest, whatever that may be," Dawn was able to sense that Lucario was keeping things ambiguous so they can be shown in a more positive light. If these people thought Akari's quest was to help them, they would be more inclined to help Dawn out.

"I do apologize for attacking you," Dawn bowed apologetically. She still didn't completely trust these people, but since Akari was well, they couldn't be too bad. "You reminded me of an evil man I fought in my past. I thought you had tried to kidnap my sister."

"No harm done," The look-alike's eyes drifted over to the scattered papers. "Well, no physical harm at least. Since Akari had to do a test to earn her residency here, you shall be treated no differently."

"I understand," Dawn nodded. She was confident that she could take on anything this woman threw at her.

"You shall assist Akari in subduing the Lord of the Woods," The woman declared.

"Cyllene!" The young man who looked about Akari's age looked appalled. "You can't just give someone that task without knowing their skills! It's highly probable she'll die!"

"On the contrary, you have seen how proficient…" The Cyrus look-alike, Cyllene trailed off before looking at Dawn. "We actually haven't gotten your name."

"Ah, I apologize," Down bowed once more. "My name is Dawn. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"My name is Cyllene," Cyllene introduced herself. "The young man over there is Rei and the tall man is Professor Laventon."

"It's nice to meet you!" Rei smiled brightly at Dawn.

"How did you do that with your hand?" Laventon's eyes were sparkling as he looked at Dawn with fascination. "And who is that pokemon? And how can he talk? What's this aura thing?"

"Relax, Laventon. You can ask your questions when you are on the field," Cyllene chastised the professor. "We are still in the middle of a briefing."

"Ah, yes," Laventon coughed into his hand. "Please, do carry on."

"Where were we?" Cyllene walked back to her desk and sat down, picking up a few pieces of paper from the floor. "Right. The nobles."

"The Diamond and Pearl Clans revere their nobles because they believe these pokemon serve their 'Almighty Sinnoh.' They leave offerings to express their gratitude to these pokemon in locations they call the nobles' seats."

"Perhaps a good place to start our research could be finding out what sorts of offerings they leave for Kleavor."

Kleavor. So that's the noble's name, Dawn thought to herself. I've never heard of this pokemon before. Did they go extinct?

"Akari!" Everyone turned around to see two people. One of them was a woman who looked oddly familiar to Dawn while the other was a man with a weird hairdo. "We need to speak with you!"

"Listen," the man spoke up. "That rift in space-time seems like it connects this world to a completely separate one. That world might be where the almighty Sinnoh resides. The true one. The one that rules over time!"

Time? Could he be talking about Dialga? Dawn thought. She did notice the rift in the sky, but her sister's safety took priority. She could deal with the time-space shenanigans once she had time for it.

"That means that if you fell though that rift, that might mean you traveled through time by the almighty Sinnoh's own power!" The man declared.

Dawn was about to speak up when she felt a buzzing in her pocket. She took out the arc phone from her pocket to see a message on it.

Do not speak the truth. They will learn when their time comes.

Dawn sighed and rolled her eyes. Of course Arceus had to but in when she was trying to be helpful.

"Ah, it seems that you have one of those strange devices," Laventon observed, directing everyone's attention to Dawn. "That must mean you and Akari come from the same place."

"Oh?" The man turned to meet Dawn's eyes. "Who is this?"

"My name is Dawn," The champion introduced herself. "I'm Akari's older sister. I was sent to aid her in her journey, whatever it may be."

"So the almighty Sinnoh sent you. We are truly blessed," The man smiled widely. "My name is Adaman, the leader of the Diamond clan."

"My name is Mai," The girl then spoke up.

"Anyways," Adaman spoke up before Dawn could exchange pleasantries with Mai. "I have a favor to ask you two."

"What do you need us to do?" Akari asked. She looked confident, but her voice shook a little.

"I implore you not to just study Kleavor. I want you to quell his frenzy!" Adaman declared.

"What a coincidence!" Laventon exclaimed in response. "We were just discussing this very matter!"

"Aha! You must be the scholar that I have heard so much about. It's nice to finally meet you, professor," Adaman turned and nodded to Laventon. "I would love for you to share some of that knowledge with me."

"Now, let me elaborate on this," The easy humor on Adaman's face faded away for a more serious look. "Those in the Pearl Clan have a lot of respect for Kleavor, hence his title. I'm sure they want him to return to normal, but it's not like they can easily come here to ask for help."

"We actually have a similar case in the Diamond Clan as well," Adaman put a hand over his face as he looked down with a complex set of emotions flaring up in his aura. "A pokemon dear to our hearts has flown into a similar frenzy in the mountains."

"I know there is bad blood between us and the Pearl Clan, but we all have to shade Hisui, and that means dealing with our problems together," Adaman continued.

"But there aren't many people that are capable of standing up to such powerful pokemon, so you are our best hope," Mai added, addressing Akari. "You'll find Kleavor at the Grandtree Arena. That's in the very center of the Heartwood. His warden is a boy named Lian."

"Lian is brilliant, but… well…" Mai trailed off. "He'll tell you all about his beloved Kleavor, whether you want to hear it or not."

"Anyways, I'm sure you'll be able to do it…" Adaman smiled once more. "We'll be counting on you, Akari! Dawn! See ya later!"

With that, the two of them left.

"Wow, he just spoke and left," Rei muttered as the door closed behind them. "He must really value his time."

"They aren't wrong," Laventon turned to Akari. "If you two want to quell the noble, it would probably be best to start at the pace it resides"

"Well, with that new heights camp, it should be a lot easier to get to the arena now," Rei pointed out.

"Akari, I trust you can brief Dawn on everything she needs to know," Cyllene looked at Lucario's empty pokeball. "I trust that she already knows the basics."

"Of course," Akari nodded in response.

"It's getting late, so you can depart tomorrow," Cyllene then turned to Dawn. "Dawn, you will be sharing rooms with Akari for now. You are all dismissed."

With a nod, everyone departed. Dawn returned Lucario to his pokeball and they walked out, not saying a word.


The short walk to Akari's residence was quiet, but as soon as the door closed behind them, Akari tugged her sister tightly.

"I'm here, Akari," Dawn smiled softly and hugged her sister back.

"Dawn…" Akari looked up at her sister with wide, scared eyes. "I… I can't remember anything."

"What?" Dawn's eyes widened a little. "You remember me, don't you?"

"I… I do, but…" Akari looked away, as if she was guilty of something. "I can't remember anything else. When I woke up on the beach, I could only remember that I had a sister and who she was. Nothing else. Not my parents, or where I live, or who I was… Just… you."

"Oh, you poor thing," Dawn pulled Akari back into her embrace. She could feel the guilt radiating off Akari's aura. "Even if you don't remember who you are, you're still my sister."

"You…" Akari's aura changed from guilty to shocked. "I thought that you wouldn't accept me as your sister since… since…"

"Shh…" Dawn stroked Akari's hair softly as her younger sister started to try. "None of that matters right now. What matters right now is that you're here with me."

"We're together," Dawn declared softly, "and when we're together, we can do anything."