Purifying Dark Hearts

Rose: Let's get this show on the road! And.. Actually, let's give Dawn a chance here. For the " main character " we've barely seen her. So lets gooo!

My name is Dawn. I was just a lone girl starting her adventure before I got thrown into this mess. I just battled, got my badges, and even some ribbons. But all of that became meaningless quickly. But, let me start from where things were left off. Barry being Barry.

After he ran off to get Togepi and Melody, Lucas stood there, shaking with rage and betrayal. He mutters a few things softly, before turning to me, a crazed look in his eyes, like he knew something, and it was killing him not to say anything to relieve the pent-up energy.

"Dawn. We need a plan before we even think of going after him. Okay?" He said, his voice flat. Almost exactly like before, whenever he was talking to Barry. Like he was hiding his true emotions because they could do some serious damage.

"Alright. What should we do?" I said with worry. He grabbed my wrist, causing me to blush, before dragging me to the Pokemon Center, getting a room and walking in, both of us sitting in a bed. He seemed lost, somewhat. Like something was taken from him. He looked at me with a somber look in his eyes.

"I need to be honest with you if I expect your help."

"I'm listening." I said softly, shocked at his serious expression.

"Get comfortable. I'll be talking for a while." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"When I was a kid, I went to the lake by Twinleaf and encountered a man with blue hair. He spoke of creating a utopia, where people will never be sad, never be lonely, and never feel grief. I thought that was a beautiful idea. My mother abandoned my family and destroyed us. My grandfather lost his daughter, and so he sat around and didn't speak for years. My father buried himself in work to forget her. My sister was just born, so I had to raise her, to make her feel loved. So, yeah, a world with no sadness sounded wonderful.

"When I grew up, he learned about my father's connection to Rowan and asked me to find stuff. Just small papers that were laying around. Then it grew to more extreme actions. Soon enough, I was a spy, taking Rowan's research and giving it to Cyrus. I was convinced that his world would be perfect. That is was the only way for life to be good. And I kept doing it, until just a little while ago. I met my new partner, Melody. I… never really cared for Pokemon. Cyrus convinced me that they were tools, and they meant nothing to us emotionally. So, when I met her, I was surprised how much I cared about her. Then… things went downhill.

"I had a nightmare about a Pokemon, a dark beast, called Giratina. And another Pokemon, that spoke of a prophecy. Long story short, it told me that I would be the key to Cyrus destroying the world, or saving it. Because I opened myself up to Melody. But not only that. Barry too. I hated him from the moment we met. But… he grew on me. His stupid personality, his recklessness. But… I slowly fell for him. I gave away my heart. And that caused me to truly be aware of what would happen if Cyrus' plan worked. Because you can't take away only the bad emotions. You take the good ones away too. I never truly realized it, until I found myself with a best friend and a crush. So, I started sabotaging Team Galactic.

"I'm telling you this because I'm pretty sure Cyrus knows it all too. That I am not on his side anymore. Because of a Pokemon, and a kid. So, he probably thinks taking them from me will make me on his side, to help him kill everything again. That's why I know going after Barry without a plan is a terrible idea. We need a plan to get them back before that crazy deranged psycho kills him and Melody." He looked me in the eye, his eyes fierce. My heart fell. He… liked Barry. I knew now wasn't that time to cry over it, but it still stung. I took a deep breath.

"I'll help you. I won't let that guy do this to you. Barry is my best friend too, so I don't want him to… die either. Let's get thinking."

And that was that. We worked day and night, training, planning, and gathering supplies. It was only the two of us, so we needed to be very sure. Lucas had a map of the whole area, not that I'm surprised, so we worked out every plan, every route, and every little detail. We got a ton stronger. Lucas evolved all of his Pokemon, and so did I for that matter. He even revealed that he had a Spiritomb, which was terrifying. But he let me scan it for the Pokedex, so that kind of helped me.

All that preparation took two and a half weeks. I felt terrible that Barry was there for almost three weeks. Lucas was confident he was alive though, so I just had to trust him there. We finally made our assault, breaking through the warehouse entrance and just, in general, causing chaos, and I thankfully was enough of a distraction for Lucas to slip off to get Barry. Eventually, all of the grunts were defeated, and I was resting to heal all my Pokemon. I was grateful for all the preparing, surely I wouldn't have been so successful. I held out my Poketch and checked the map. Lucas helped me stamp all of the important places to be. And right now… If things went according to plan, I should be meeting both of the guys in the main building. I made my way there, before walking into the empty reception hall. Of course, they fled inward. We can take care of the rest of that later.

I sat on the couch and waited, tapping my foot nervously. Now that I had time, I was getting to thinking. After this… surely they would hook up and I would be left alone.. Right? What would I do afterward? Keep going after the badges? Become a contest star? Or just cave in on myself, because of how lonely I would be without my two closest friends? No… they just leave me behind. They were my friends. We were a trio! .. I hoped. I heard a door slam open, and I say Lucas dragging a half-conscious Barry with him. I wanted to cry. His hair was long and covered in filth. Actually, his whole body was just dirty, as if he hadn't showered. He was paler, from lack of sunlight, and he was skinny. It broke my heart.

"Lucas! You found Barry!" I cried out, standing up and running over to help support Barry.

"I did. I chased off Cyrus, but we need to head to the science labs to free the lake trio. Cyrus was using them to make a device to capture and control Giratina." He said sternly, his voice low and tired. I nodded and we quickly got to the Pokemon Center. Nurse Joy promised to take care of him, and we headed off to finish the job. It tore me apart to see the suffering of those three Pokemon. Once they were free, they looked at me and cried before leaving, probably heading to their lake homes.

"We… did it." I said softly, tired and drained.

"We did a small part of what we need to do. They have the red chain. Now, we need to get stronger, and take them out completely before they reach the Spear Pillar." He said darkly, and I understood. We weren't done. If Lucas had to save the world, he was going to need help. And I was ready to help him out. I wanted to be his best friend if I couldn't be the next best thing.

When we returned to the Pokemon Center, Lucas immediately went to see Barry. I followed because I wanted to see my childhood friend and how he was recovering. And my heart finally realized that Lucas and Barry were fated to be. The way Lucas held his hand and spoke softly apologizing for his lies, and his verbal abuse. And Barry just smiled and said it was all okay. And I made a promise.

I was going to make sure the three of us made it through all of this. And that Barry and Lucas got a proper life together. Not whatever we'll have to call this, many years from now.

We are all getting out of this, alive.

Rose: let's end it here from now. But… Dawn's promise just SCREAMS ominous. Somethings going to happen, isn't it?