"Ready for the most awkward ride home ever?"

Umbreon now safely secured in Dawn's left ear waited with her and Lila outside the hospital. Today is the day her former partner and a huge chunk of the patients will be fired from the hospital. She had some strict words for her former partner undermining their family linage and underpreparing the current generation for it. Even if Johanna didn't use her much she still received the training she needed.

Dawn looking around she tried to see if Ash was around somewhere. If his mother is going to be let out today she was sure he'd be there.

"I wonder how I should tell him."

It was only fair he knows her big secret seeing she knew his. She really questioned what his response will be to her having powers too. Would he be happy he can get a partner or will he brush her off saying she isn't ready for whatever is troubling him now. And if he did answer with the latter how was she going to prove him wrong?

And how hard is it to mix her personal life with her new hero duties? Surely there are comic books and movies out there who always had a character who has to switch between ordinary and extraordinary on the fly. But that was just fiction. How is it in real life and she asked herself if she will be able to do it like her aura using friend.

Seeing her mother coming out the front door Dawn and Lila waved to her to come over. The Berlitz mother was not looking forward to this moment.

"Did Lila give you your present?"

Dawn removed the hair covering her ear in which she wore the family gem in her earlobe. Seeing it Johanna told her they'd discuss this in the car when driving home. Lila offered to drive them home but was more interested in how their little discussion would go. After riding away from the hospital they are locked away from the outside world.

"Where do I start?"

"How about…"Our family has a earring that grants people special abilities and I've been hiding it from her ever since she was a baby!"

The spirit talking before her turn. Her voice resonating in Dawn's head she sounded upset and annoyed.

"This isn't about you yet." Johanna angry at the spirit for interrupting them.

"Can you hear her too?" Dawn surprised even if she held it now her mother still heard her talking.

"Even when you're carrying her now." Johanna said.

"It's been over fifteen years! Even when you didn't use me you could've kept me company! At least Lila took me to see the world but you have no idea how lonely I got without having someone share my thoughts with or to talk too!"

"I'm sorry ok?"

"Sorry!? If I still had my hands you'd be sorry!"

"Can we do this after Dawn and I had our talk?" Putting on wait again after so long didn't suit the spirit in the gem.

"Hmph…See with what I had to put up with Dawn!? Let's hope you're better than her."

The spirit promising to be quiet until mother and daughter had their little talk. Even if the girl just knew her she had to agree with her on things.

"Umbreon is right mom. Why didn't you tell me?"

Dawn loved her but it left a sour taste in her mouth that her mother didn't trust her with this. After discovering that another gem carrier like her was already protecting the city she's been wondering how long her icy counterpart was already protecting the city she lived in.

"I don't want you to get hurt. It's not what you think it is. You can't imagine the danger you can be in. It's not like a TV show. Umbreon doesn't make you invincible."

"I imagine she doesn't. But she can help me do things others can't. If you gave me her earlier I could've saved you and my friends from being kidnapped."

Johanna knew she'd come with an argument like this.

"You're not thinking clearly about this. Is it really your choice? Isn't your decision influenced because Ash is fighting criminals too and you want to help him?"

Hearing her friends name from her mother Dawn tried covering it up. She thought she did a good job of keeping his closest secret he trusted to her. Pretending not to know what Johanna talked about she waved it off.

"Ash? What do you mean? He doesn't have a gem or superpowers. The only criminals he fights is in his fantasies and videogames."

"Guess I deserve to be lied back too since I started it. Don't think I won't notice all that missing food and drinks with you not gaining a single pound. I know how much you mind your diet. Not to mention you two are a bit loud for your own good. I know he has powers too."

The daughters eyes bulged.

"Please don't tell other people!"

She'd be in trouble if anyone else knows about Ash's big secret. He trusted her with his big secret and with the bounty the police put on his head might ruin life for him and his mother permanently. Her mother assured her that there's no need to worry.

"I know what having a secret identity means. His secret is safe. Still what was his superpower again?"

"He calls it aura."

Dawn answered. Hearing the spiritual power of aura Umbreon had to interrupt their conversation.

"There are aura guardians left!? I want to see him! It's been generations since I met an aura guardian! It was always a joy to meet one in person and work with them."

"Is that we they call him? An aura guardian?" Dawn surprised at the title she gave Ash. She wondered what else the spirit knows about people like him. And maybe share that knowledge so he knows a bit more about himself then he did before.

"Yes. Now tell me who he is already!" The spirit hadn't been this excited in generations but Johanna reigned her in.

"Can we finish our talk first?"

"Fine."

"Like I said. Do you want to do this because Ash is doing it? Don't let him determine if you want it or not."

Johanna again trying to tell Dawn she shouldn't feel pressured because her friend is doing this. The way her mother continuously told that Ash shouldn't pressure and keeping the secret from her for so long Dawn know her mother did everything to prevent it coming into her hands.

"Why don't you want me to do this? You should be supportive of my choice. I'm a big girl now. Why are you so worried?"

"Because I know how headstrong you can be. Confidence is the best and worst thing you can have when fighting. You have to be sure about your abilities but not too much to think you can win easily."

"I can learn to fight. Umbreon helped me see things on how to kick with a lot of force. I want to help others. I can't sit by knowing I have this and not do anything. I want to help people mom. Umbreon said it's the duty of a Berlitz to take the gem and protect humanity."

Johanna knew she was right but what parent would willingly throw their own child into danger. In her own career she used it sparsely and tried to disconnect herself from it wanting a normal life for Dawn.

"You know I'll keep her in check. She's in the safest hands possible."

"You don't have hands anymore." The mother joked making the spirit annoyed.

"You're not allowed to joke."

"I promise to be careful. What more do you want? I'm going to sneak out of the house even if you don't want it. I haven't tried the shadow power yet but it make for a good test."

"Nothing I can say that will change your mind huh?"

This was going to be the last time she try. If Dawn kept defying her then this little talk was pointless to begin with.

"My choice is made. I'm going to use Umbreon to be a protector like our ancestors."

"I assure you I'm as sharp as ever. You don't have to worry about her as long as I'm with her."

She had no choice but to support Dawn's decision. She gave up on trying to change her mind so the best thing she can do now is support her and make sure she's prepared enough for the life that awaits her now.

"Dawn? Do you forgive me?"

"Not that easily."

"I wasn't asking you!" The mother getting angry over Umbreon's comment. She might be a bit grumpy over the treatment but with time she might be getting over it.

"Of course mom. Just promise me to tell me these things in the future if I have questions."

"I promise."

The two Berlitz women shared a hug. Even if she used the power sparsely she never had any intention of giving it to Dawn until her recent kidnapping. All she wanted was a normal life for her little girl and the danger she'd force herself in wasn't a path she cooked up for Dawn.

"Aw, I guess you three made up?"

The stylist had been quietly listening in to their little talk and was happy to hear that Dawn held no grudge to her best friend. Not that Johanna has given her consent she was sure she's going to see a whole lot more in the future. Maybe now she'd agree to the 'internship' she offered her in the first place.

"Turn this car around." Johanna ordered her best friend.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to your place. That secret room must be a dust hall by now and needs cleaning. After that I'm telling you how to punch." She looked at Dawn asking with a smile if she was ready to be schooled in protecting the innocent.

It was inevitable now that Johanna thought about it. She'd neglected Dawn's training long enough and if she was going to fight crime she at least needed someone to show her the basics. The next couple of weeks were going to be interesting.

"I won't let you down mom! I promise!"

"Uhm boss. We got an issue."

"Yes?" A calm voice came over the other side of the line talked. The man sat behind a desk in his own house where he got a call about one of the people who worked for him.

"Mason is dead!"

The boss was smart enough to let one of his men infiltrate the Veilstone prison staff. Expecting a huge loss of personnel during the mother/daughter kidnappings he had foreseen it. That part of his plan worked a charm and he expected for all of his men to be put in the same prison. Hearing the name of the man who died he still wondered what happened.

"Somebody stabbed him. But it's unlike any stab I've ever seen! Cuts all over his body! It's like he went through a meat grinder! We have no clue what happened!" The man inside posing as one of the guards told his boss.

The boss sighed. Still, another body means another product of his that will be bought soon. As a cover for all his illegal activities he owned a workshop that produced coffins. Since people die all the time there never was a shortage for it. And with how scary most people found the boxes that contained the dead he didn't had to worry about to many people bothering them.

"I'll arrange a coffin for him. Still. A deserved death for not being able to handle a teenager."

The boss found it an humiliation being associated with a man who got beaten by a kid who seemed like he didn't finish school yet. Even if he expected to fail that night it was all in the name of research.

"A loss that could have been avoided if he just did his job correctly. I'm sure you and the rest of my staff don't need reminding that failure is not an option. Resume with the plan as normal."

Putting the phone down knowing he scared the rest of his staff, he eyed the person standing across of it. A man with brown hair dressed in a black trench coat with black gloves eyed the man at the desk looking completely disinterested in him.

The man in the trench coat was a trained killer who always got his target one way or another. He never failed in his assassinations and he intended to keep it like that. The man across the desk from him hired his services to eliminate the man the one who even failed to get back and was done in by a teenager. So the boss hired him and if the results were pleasing he'd have another job for him even if he had some questions about his work method.

"Stab wounds. Quite an unpleasant way to go. Why not use a bullet and be done with it?" A sickening grin came over the assassins lips.

"Guns are impersonal. Anyone can kill another from range. To come up close and cut them when they don't expect it, is an art from ancient times. In those days people had nothing but their wits and steel to fall back on. Knives, blades, swords. Nothing spells out dominance than ending another life up close."

The boss regretted asking him. He now just noticed what kind of psycho he hired to the job. Which is good since he doubted anyone else would agree to this specific job.

"Let's cut to the chase then."

Humoring his hitman the boss of the operation handed him an envelope. He wondered what the list of names are. From what she could tell all of them were female. Only about twenty of them were on the list in total.

"Just find the woman and girls on the list and get me the earrings described in the file by any means necessary. The killing is optional."

"Just their ears huh? Mother always wanted me to be a barber. Do you know why children are afraid of the barber Because 'I take the I cut your ear prank to seriously."

As amusing the employer found the joke, the boss is eager for him to start already. But before he set his killer loose he had one final instruction for him.

"Start with the name at the top. Kill her, the others are optional unless they are a threat. You can work through the others in any order as you please. You'll receive part of your payment each time you deliver an earring."

"See you soon for my first payment. As for your business on the side you soon got a few more boxes to fill."

The assassin left the coroners office. With the trench coat wearing man now gone the boss pressed a switch underneath his desk. One of the coffins stalled in his office opened up and displayed a map of Veilstone City with certain landmarks of it depicted with a color around it. Staring at the map he circled a school in which he was sure his assassin will appear soon because he was pretty sure that's where his hired killer's first target is.

"I'll teach you to arrest my men."

So gen 8 has just been announced. Time to get a Switch soon then. As for not getting it for Let's go Eevee/Pikachu! Nothing kills my interest in a Pokémon game quicker than another Kanto remake.

After planning this story a bit more I think it's better I raise the rating of it to M. References to death and other stuff will be made in the future and I don't want to delete this because I didn't read the rules correctly.

Also what name should I give Ash's hero identity in the future? It's going to be Greninja or Riolu since I gave Lucario to Riley already.

See you around.