What if we ruined

It all

And we loved like fools?

And all we have

We lose?

I don't want you to go

But I want you so

So tell me

What we choose.

-"Fools" by Lauren Aquilina.

A Mid-Sinnoh Night's Dream - XIX - Cannonballs On A Sailing Ship

From the plateau, they could barely make out the northern tip of Sinnoh through the clouds. It definitely wasn't the highest point in the region, because the peak of Mt. Coronet reached further into the sky, but they could still get a decent view.

And so, through the mines, they entered a secret tunnel that led into the caves. The snowstorm was starting to pick up outside, and they were forced indoors. Everything that flew was weak to the icy winds.

Infernape's fire was enough to light the dim rocky path as they trudged through. It was humid inside, far below room temperature, and water dripped from the stalactites like rain.

Nothing much of interest happened, though when they passed by a massive underground pond, Dawn got that odd gleam in her eyes.

"We're stopping."

"Why? This is an odd place for a beach episode."

"Shut up, Hilby. I've heard you can find Feebas here, so we're taking a break. And when I say 'find', I mean, it can't be found anywhere else, and it's still rare here."

"Guess we're settling in," he nodded, resigned to set up camp.

They later found that when it got right down to the wire, Dawn had immense patience.

As in, fishing in the same square meter for an hour.

To emphasize that properly, it was going to take a week at that rate, just to get through the entire body of water.

While Hilbert set up the tents, he started talking with Lucario.

"So, what name did the council give you?" He asked, hammering a stake into a loop.

"My name is All Star among u- Lucario."

He broke down into giggles. Very manly giggles.

"What are you laughing at?

"So, who told you the world was gonna roll you?"

"What?"

"Yeah, you aren't the sharpest tool in the shed."

"Are you disrespecting me? You wanna die?"

"Nevermind, you don't get it. How should I refer to you…?"

"Lucario will be fine in most situations, you can call me that whenever we're dealing with other Lucario."

"Got it. I'll keep that in mind, All Star- Pfft."

"Huh? What was that? You wanna get your skull caved in? Huh?"

They sat at the riverbank, watching Dawn return to the water on Marley's Sharpedo, the fourth day she'd done so. Even Lucas was letting his boredom show, with nothing to do in the caves but train and watch the water. They had some board games in their bags, sure, but it wasn't enough to, heh, tide them.

She had one leg over another, tapping her foot against Sharpedo's lower jaw while holding her fishing pole.

"Are you sure you don't want help?"

"No, no, it's fine. With your luck, you'd find a herd of Milotic as soon as you touched the water, and I want to earn my catches."

"I can't tell if that's a diss or not."

"That says more about you than it does about me," she replied lamely, clearly bored out of her mind.

The water rippled, tugging slightly harder than the many Magikarp that came before. Surprised, she nearly dropped her rod, before being pulled off Sharpedo and into the water.

The shark-like Pokemon bit the back of her collar and quickly tugged her back to shore, intuiting that the yelling teenagers on the shore wanted their help.

Cheryl pulled a soaking wet and shivering Dawn out of the water minutes later. She was limply holding onto her rod that had a Feebas at the end of its line.

With cold hands, she shakily caught the Water-type before sneezing.

"That's a… I need a pun for this… Hilby?" She asked, hugging her jacket

"I'd say you couldn't take the heat, but that water sure did."

"Lame as," she sneezed, "Always."

He put the back of his hand on her forehead, brushing away the hair stuck to her skin. "Don't tell me, hypothermia? Shaymin, help me out."

Shaymin used Heal Pulse, to no effect.

"Chansey, please use Soft-Boiled," Cheryl said to her partner who was standing next to her.

The pink Pokemon nodded, and it took an egg in its hands, heating it until it glowed, and placed it in Dawn's frozen grasp.

This also had no effect.

"What the… Porygon, any idea what's going on?"

"Hm… Your friend is showing signs of hypothermia, as you guessed. This is similar to the freezing ailment that can afflict most Pokemon!"

"Yeah, that makes sense… Ah, hell, I haven't bought any of those healing items."

"Just as well, most aren't designed to treat humans! You can find the best treatment for hypothermia in Snowpoint City, as many travelers there are afflicted on their journey."

"Why not Hearthome? Abra."

Nothing.

"Abra?"

Not a peep.

"Damn it, he's actually asleep… How do we take care of her?" It was obvious from Abra's psychopathic tendencies that waking him up would not be a good idea.
"Give warming drinks, avoid rubbing the skin, preserve body heat…"

He rubbed his chin, thinking. He carefully placed a hand on her shoulder, channeling his aura across her body. She began glowing slightly, a faint fuzzy orange coating her skin. Dawn shivered, exhaling a sigh of relief.

"Right, that should work. I'm using my aura to heat up the air around her. How long will this take?"

"Most doctors suggest waiting until the patient's body is back up to normal temperature!"
"...And that will take how long?"

"A few hours."

"Yeah, no, I'm not waiting that long." He slipped one arm under Dawn's knees and moved his other to the opposite shoulder, hefting her up. "It's too cold in here, I'm taking her ahead to Snowpoint."

"Hibert, are you sure that's a good idea?" Lucas asked. "Even with your force powers, getting caught in the snow wouldn't be good."

"I'll manage. And hey, I just taught myself Fire Punch, I'll be fine."

"...You did, didn't you? Son of a-"

He ran with his aura shield surrounding him and Dawn, sure to keep an eye on the heat field he put up. When a Geodude got in his way, he'd swing and kick it into the wall before continuing to the exit.
There was a massive blizzard outside, just as snowy as the news reports predicted.

"Damn."

Regardless, he took a step onto the snow, not letting anything like pressure and gravity keep him down, and walked on top of it. After making sure it was stable, he took off in a sprint.

For any normal person, the route would need to be traversed via rope bridges, given the slippery inclines and mountainous outcroppings.

Hilbert, as you might guess, was not a normal person, and jumped from rock to rock ,leaving small craters in his wake. He did his best not to jostle Dawn, but it was inevitable when he leapt dozens of feet with each step.

The snow was deeper and deeper as he continued, not that he noticed, and soon he was standing level with treetops as he ran. He saw a small house standing out against the mountainside and slowed to look closer. The windows looked tightly shut enough, and there was a note on the door.

'I'm not crazy enough to stay and get stuck here in a blizzard. Door's unlocked, please leave everything you used in a separate bin upon your departure. Firewood is stacked inside, warm yourselves up if you need to. -Hiker Nob.'

Looking around to see if it was a prank, he nudged the door open and rushed inside, slamming the door shut behind him to keep the cool air out.

The lodge was the sort of humid that indicated abandonment. It looked as if it hadn't been visited in days. Used coals lay in a fire pit at the center of the room, and basic amenities were spread through the room. A bed, piles upon piles of blankets, and a table.

Hilbert lightly placed Dawn down close to the pit and set to work. After placing a decent stack of wood on the coals, he snapped his fingers until the faint glow of a blaze appeared, and grabbed an extra log. When it caught fire, he placed it under the other wood and watched smoke begin to rise.

"...Hilby, I'm cold…"

"I know, I know…" Her voice had slowed, almost like she was unable to gather the warmth in her voice. He threw his wet jacket in the corner and grabbed the pile of blankets. He set them next to Dawn, before beginning to take off her clothes.

It wasn't sexy, or fun, or erotic, or whatever you degenerates think it was, he just knew that damp clothing could only hurt her more, and that's what mattered. He did stop at her underwear though, quickly wrapping her in a thick red quilt and moving her closer to the fire.

He sat next to her, keeping a hand on her shoulder and watching the flames flicker while her face slowly turned from bitter pain to a mild discomfort.

Hours passed like that, a peacefulness fading from the windows as snowflakes fell against it in the bitter wind, and day faded away to night. A few liters of water had been boiled and 'cooled' for drinking. She'd been long asleep, but he soon found himself drifting off as well.

He woke up in the middle of the night with Dawn looking over him, as he noticed a distinct freeze on his skin that he didn't before. He also felt sick, which was new.

"Idiot…" She was still wrapped up in blankets, having dragged herself over to him. "You didn't bother drying your own clothes?"

He realized his undershirt and pants were soaked as well, and he'd been sitting too far away from the fire to do any good.

"Oh… Yeah," he turned his head as he pulled his shirt over his head and laid it out to dry. He was about to do the same of his pants, but felt a sudden pang of awareness, and glanced back at Dawn.

"Unless you've been going commando, it's fine. Besides, you saw mine, it's fair."

"I didn't-" he coughed, cutting himself off.
"I can feel the blankets, and I'm not blind, y'know."

"I mean, it's not like I was looking, I was just-"

"You're a teenage boy, don't give me that crap."

"I was more focused on keeping you from freezing to death, sorry!"

There was a brief silence.

"Just… turn around for a minute."

She did, and he grabbed his bag before switching clothes and glowing bright red.

"I don't… I don't have anything dry for you, I'm sorry."

"I'd be concerned if you did."

He actually snorted at that, pulling a blue blanket around himself and giving her the all-clear. Yep, even when completely randomized, they stuck to their color palettes. Go figure.

"You know, we probably need to conserve body heat," she said, wiggling back over to the fire, perpendicular to his legs. They were both swaddled up to their heads in blankets, laying sideways and looking into the fire.

"What kind of books have you been reading?"

"I had a life before we met, you know."

"And?"

"I read the Twilight books."

"Pfft."

"Yeah, I know, they were bad, but I was like, twelve? The guy's a psychopath stalker, but they were good the first time around."

"I feel like someone just needed a lazy 'Take That!' and used the easiest target to hate on teenage girls."

"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Dunno. Anyway, we'll be fine until we run out of firewood. We'll probably outlast this blizzard," he said, glancing at the pile of logs. "The 'only one bed' scenario won't come into play unless we run out."

"I don't know, the floor is getting pretty uncomfortable…"

"Arceus-damn. What? Who wrote this shit? That swear makes no sense!"

Shaymin grew more logs from the stockpile, having the power to do that kind of thing, and the lodge started feeling a lot more cozy from the warmth.

"You're going to get back problems if you sleep on the floor," Dawn told him, while he was still facing away from the bed and towards the fire. He'd moved her blanket burrito because she needed the rest more than he did, "And really, this bed is big enough for both of us."

He nodded, before slowly standing up and wrapping the blankets tighter around himself. He walked over and slid under the massive quilt covering the mattress, facing away from her back. He tapped Dawn's foot with his heel.

"Ah! Your feet are cold…"

He did it again, catching her in a leg lock.

"Are you trying to give me hypothermia again?" She yelled, muffled by blankets.

He laughed at her, stuffing his face into the pillow to keep quiet.

She suddenly tugged the blanket over to her side, leaving him partially exposed to the air.

"Turnabout is fair play," she told him. He could hear the smirk on her face.

In turn, he rubbed his hands together and coated them in cold air before maneuvering through the blankets and pressing them to Dawn's back.

"AH!" She turned, moving to slap him, but only ended up throwing the blankets over both of them.

Hilbert opened his eyes to see Dawn through the dim underside of the blanket.

"My eyes are up here."

"I wasn't-"

"Yeah, right."

They both abruptly noticed that she'd rolled into his outstretched arms and had one hand around his neck.

"So, uh… you come here often?" He joked, dealing with his embarrassment with a crooked grin.

"Shut up…" She muttered, looking away as she pulled herself closer.

"Hey, um, what are you-"

"We need to conserve body heat, remember? That's it. That's the… only reason."

"Ah, right. That's true."

She muttered something about him being an idiot, even as her face was only a few inches away.

Shaymin, sitting on the floor with a bored expression on their face, chose to return themself to their Pokeball instead of sticking around with the embarrassing interplay.

There was a long silence, as they really were trying to get some sleep, and the fire began dying down. Neither of them started to throw on more logs.

The air remained warm, but unknowingly, they slowly moved without to keep themselves warm. Eventually, their arms had wrapped around each other, both none the wiser as their noses nearly touched. As time ticked away, total darkness fell in the lodge.

"Hilby."

"Huh?"

"Are you awake?"

"Clearly."

She kicked him in the shin through the sheets.

"I was already awake!" He hurriedly whispered, hissing.

"Just making sure," she murmured. "Have… have you changed your mind?"

"About…?"

"You know…"

"..."

"...Why can't I just say it. I like you, you idiot!"

He froze.

"I've been thinking about what you said. You're afraid of hurting people you care about, aren't you?"

"I… don't want people to get hurt."

"You can't love people without being vulnerable, Hilby. Not even your friends."

"I can't hurt someone because I don't understand them, Dawn, I can't let that happen."

"You can't ever completely understand someone, and you don't need to, alright? You just do your best."

"...I'm worried. I can't be sure if 'my best' is good enough for you. You deserve better than me, Dawn, you deserve someone that knows what they're doing."

"How can you do everything that you've done and still doubt yourself? This is what you're going to be afraid of?"

"I've never been that confident, you know that. It's a facade, and that's what works. Lucas is our smart guy, I'm the muscle, Barry's the backup, you're the heart, Cheryl's the healer, Marley's the calvary. That's our system, and it works just fine the way it is."

"Are you afraid of change?"

"Honestly? Yeah. Who wouldn't be? Team Galactic's thing is that they want to change things. That's not exactly why I fight them, they're just assholes, but you see the point."

"Oh, come on!" She threw the blanket off of them, sitting up and kneeling over him.
"What?" He sat up, surprised by the girl to his side.

"Don't give me that! You're the badass leader of Team Black, aren't you?"

"Pretty sure."

"Pretty sure? Pretty sure?" She angrily waved her hands around. "You do the impossible, see the invisible, you make every chance one-hundred percent! Agh! You're better than that! You keep people from getting hurt no matter what, right? Then why are you hesitating? You'll save everyone in the end, even if a wall stands in your way, or even a million! Don't hesitate, take your future with your own two hands! Isn't that what you would tell someone else?"

"...Yeah."

"Is that really all you have to say?"

It was, as he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

The other four members of Team Black had decided to go on ahead to Snowpoint, as the next morning brought no more snow from the sky. They were able to get into the air, but couldn't fly very high. The snow was piled higher than the trees in some places, and impalement wasn't a risk they were going to take.

As they passed a lodge, Cheryl stopped them, sensing the Hilbert likely would have stopped there as well. And if he hadn't, well, they could probably still use directions.

Somewhere, in a distant mental landscape, Marley was crying about her lack of screentime.

Nonetheless, as Barry hammered on the door, there was enough silence that it seemed safe to enter.

It was not.

Hilbert was awoken, tangled up in blankets and Dawn's limbs, and jumped at the sudden brightness.

Barry slammed the door again, shielding the rest of the team from the sight.

"...Barry?"

Wiping his nose in hopes of hiding the awestruck look on his face, the blond turned, keeping his back to the door. "Yeah?"

While Barry made up reasons for them not to look inside, Hilbert shook Dawn awake and held a finger to her lips. She nodded and moved to get out of bed. He rushed in the opposite direction, pulling on his pants.

Marley, fulfilling the prophecy, simply asked Arcanine to melt the snow around the windows and peeked inside. "...It's dark, but…"

Hilbert opened the door, interrupting the quiet girl, with Dawn behind him while he noticeably gave Barry a death glare. Both were fully clothed at that point.

"If you say anything, I'll let Abra experiment. On you."

Even if his thoughts didn't travel, his intentions sure did, and Barry stepped back and clamped his jaw shut.

"There's a fire pit inside, we got snowed in. Dawn got better."

"Oh, that's good!" Cheryl grabbed her in a hug, "I was really worried when Chansey couldn't do anything!"

"Yeah…"

"Anyway! We can probably fly the rest of the way to Snowpoint, right?" Hilbert asked, looking at the cloudless sky and trying to keep them from asking any awkward questions. "Blizzard's cleared up."

Lucas nodded, "I've caught the Pokemon I wanted to, that sounds good."

Hilbert and Dawn took up their usual perch on Golurk, noticeably (even to Barry) closer as they approached.

"...There was only one bed inside that house…" Marley said, covering her face.

Barry was uncharacteristically stone-faced, keeping the threat of Abra in mind.

Lucas eyed him suspiciously. "Why are you acting like that? You've been weird all morning, since you disappeared last night."

"Wha? Well, I was… going to the bathroom, yeah! Regice? What's that?"

"..."

"I mean, uh, hahaha! Man, for real? Like, what? It's cool, don't worry about it!"

"...You're incomprehensible."

Snowpoint was a bright, sunny, natural wonderland.

Yeah, right.

Forested and covered in ice, houses red-roofed and vaguely European, it was as close to a snow globe as you could get without a few earthquakes. A temple loomed over the rest of the town, as white as the clouds above.

At least they could walk properly.
They checked in with the local clinic, and Dawn was alright, though she took some medicine just in case, and they began carrying a few thermoses of cocoa just in case. That Hilbert volunteered to carry them wasn't lost on the other four.

They had a secret midnight rendezvous to discuss this new information, after they'd gotten settled at the hotel. Snowpoint was a port, after all, of course it would have one. They'd met up in a small 24-hour cafe, and had identical Gendo poses. Well, not quite, but they held the same sentiment.

"Something is going on with those two. As co-leader, it's my responsibility to discern the actions of the leader for the good of the team."

"You're just curious too, man, don't lie."

"Fine, fine," Lucas took a sip of his steaming drink, "But to ensure the team's wellbeing, we need to make sure everything goes smoothly."

"...Is Hilbert the vampire, or is Dawn? It matters…"

"Neither, Marley, this isn't Twilight or Dracula- Wait, holy shit! Is that why you dress like that?" Barry shot up, nearly spilling his hot chocolate.

"No!" She said, seriously, like it was a matter of life and death.

"My lovaaa, I must take you avayyy!" Barry made a mockery of a vampiric accent. His voice became much higher pitched, eyes sparkling, "Oh, no, we can't! My family would never give us their blessing!" His voice dropped again, "I don't care vat they think, kiss me!" It rose, "Oh…!"

"Stop that!" She cried, clearly embarrassed, and breaking her composure.

"Anyway, if Barry would stop being an idiot, we need to get back on topic."

Cheryl asked, "Which is?"

"Coming up with a couple-name." Ignoring Barry's snickering, he continued, "A code-name, if you will. So we can discuss it around them."
"Black-Dawn?"

"No, Barry, that's too obvious. Don't be an idiot."

"But that's my only personality trait!"

"That's the author's problem, not mine. Cheryl, do you have anything?"

"Dusk? Because a black dawn is like the moon rising."

"Too short, sounds like a protagonist's name. But if we can't come up with anything better, that's good."

"...Do you think they… you know…"

Barry mimicked Dawn's voice, just to say, "Oh, suck my blood, Hilby!"

The blush stood out clearly against her pale face. "No!"

Lucas shook his head. "I don't get how you stay cool in a fight but Barry being stupid is what gets you."

"...Please, make him stop…"

Barry added a bit of bravado and depth to his voice. "Of course, Dawn, my love, I will take what I want!"

"Stop it!"

AN:

This is either a very good thing, or a very bad thing. Could go either way. Lots of tropes in this chapter, but considering how much crack this story is on anyway, I don't think it's any different.