DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon. All characters herein belong to Nintendo. I'm just a fan having a bit of non-profit fun and exercising my lazy imagination...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm back at university now and doing a lot of work for my dissertation, so updates might be a bit less frequent e.g. once every couple of weeks. But I do have the rest of this story planned out and I've already started the next chapter, so don't worry, I won't be abandoning it at all :)

EIGHT

"Barry? What's wrong?" They were still in the laboratory, and the blonde-haired boy looked as though he was deep in thought, possibly even feeling guilty about something. Lucas wasn't the impatient type, but even he knew that this was the worst time to be hesitating. "Come on, we need to find Dawn!"

"I might have seen her," Barry muttered, his gaze firmly fixed to his own feet. "And I didn't do anything."

"Huh?" Lucas stared at him. They hadn't seen anyone except for a few Team Galactic lackeys. "When?"

"After Cyrus had given his speech, I saw that Commander – the one from the lake – talking to someone. I keep thinking that it might have been Dawn, but..." Barry shook his head. "I hope it wasn't. She was dressed like one of them." Taking Lucas's lack of a response as a disagreement, Barry glared at him. "She wouldn't join Team Galactic! No way!"

"But...Barry, she doesn't know who she is anymore," Lucas said awkwardly. "We don't really know what she'd do."

"I do!" Barry argued. "She's been my friend for years! I grew up with her!"

Lucas sighed. He didn't see the point in arguing about this. Barry seemed to care about Dawn a lot. Unfortunately, that also meant that, if she had really lost her identity, he would have to deal with the grief. Avoiding eye contact with the other boy, Lucas began to gaze around the laboratory, and his eyes were automatically drawn to the three large machines that dominated the room. He wandered over to the nearest one and his stomach turned. Through a glass panel, he could see Mesprit. It was shuddering as if it was cold – or as though it was in pain. Its eyes were only partially open, and Lucas's heart sank at the way the Pokémon flinched away from the glass when it saw him. It must have been terrified.

"Barry..."

Sensing from Lucas's tone of voice that this was something serious, Barry came to join him and peered into the machine. From above and below, there were wires leading into the compartment where Mesprit was contained. Barry hoped he was wrong, but they seemed to be going into the Pokemon's body. Their ends were secured and covered with band-aids which only partially hid the surrounding burns. The wires were concentrated around Mesprit's head and the end of its tail, and Barry realised why. In the pictures he had seen, Mesprit was supposed to have distinctive red crystals on its body in those places. They were no longer there.

"Those sick, twisted...! How could they?" Barry was so disgusted and angry, he couldn't even speak properly. He spat his words out ungracefully, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and ran towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Lucas asked in surprise. "We need to set them free!"

"We have to find Dawn!" Barry pointed a shaking finger towards the machine that held Mesprit. "I won't let her end up like that! Never!"

*****

Dawn sighed and walked around in a small circle yet again. She was sure that she was starting to wear a groove in the floor with her pacing, but Commander Jupiter had told her to stay there. But that had been ages ago. Dawn's excitement about the prospect of meeting Master Cyrus had already faded; from the length of time it was taking the commander to return, it was quite clear that it wasn't going to happen. Why did she need to get my hopes up? Horrible woman. And what am I supposed to do if she doesn't come back? Stand here forever?

With a roll of her eyes, Dawn returned to the exact same spot in which Jupiter had left her, glaring impatiently at the door through which she had disappeared. The commander didn't reappear, but Dawn saw something else that completely distracted her attention. Running down the corridor were two boys. She noticed them first because they weren't wearing Team Galactic uniforms, and secondly because she recognised one of them. She gasped. It was the crazy one from the lake, the one who had grabbed her and insisted that he knew her. She looked around, frantically searching for somewhere to hide, but he had already seen her – and he looked angry.

"Hey! Galactic person! We're looking for someone, and you're gonna tell us where she..." As he drew closer, Barry noticed the look of shock on the Grunt's face. Then he took a proper look at her features, and his horror was enough to stop him in his tracks. "Dawn?"

Lucas caught up to him and recognised Dawn at once through the hair and the uniform. Despite what he had said to Barry in the lab, he couldn't help but say something. "Gee, Dawn...what are you doing, dressed like that?"

Dawn stared at Lucas from head to toe and back again, angrily mimicking the way he had just looked at her. "And who are you?" she demanded.

"Wow, she really did lose her memory," Lucas muttered.

"Dawn, it's me!" Even though his last attempt to make Dawn remember him hadn't gone very well, Barry couldn't resist trying again. He reminded himself not to lay a hand on her this time. "Do you remember me yet? I've got your Pokémon with me! I'll bet they're all missing you." Speaking of Pokémon, he thought, where are Shinx and Noctowl?

"I know you," Dawn replied coolly. "You're the crazy guy from the lake."

"I'm not crazy!"

"How did you get here?" Lucas asked, genuinely interested to find out.

"It's a long story," Dawn replied, not wanting to rehash everything that had happened yesterday. "I found my way here eventually." There was a strange hint of contentment in her voice, as if she had found her way home. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to save you!" Barry answered. "Oh, and the lake Pokémon, too." He glanced at Lucas guiltily. "Maybe we should have set them free."

Dawn's brow creased in confusion when Barry mentioned the lake Pokémon, but she turned up her nose in scorn at the notion of being 'saved'. "I don't need saving," she said firmly. "I belong here."

"Don't be silly. These guys are out of their minds! I mean, did you hear the speech?"

"Yes, I did, and – "

"Do you...?" Barry slapped his own forehead. "Ugh, no, you don't. I know you don't remember, but we met that Cyrus guy a long time ago at Lake Verity. I told you he was a psycho! But I guess you don't remember that either, so there's no fun in saying I told you so."

"Hey!" Dawn raised her fist angrily. "Don't talk about Master Cyrus like that!"

"Master Cyrus?" Barry stared at his friend, unsure whether he should laugh hysterically or take her by the lapels of her shiny new uniform and shake her like a Team Galactic ragdoll. "What's gotten into you, Dawn?"

Lucas sighed. It was pretty obvious what had happened, and Barry's jibes weren't going to change anything. Dawn had been thoroughly brainwashed. Lucas didn't know how to fix it, but he knew that they weren't going to get anywhere by standing in the corridor and arguing. He quickly stepped between Barry and Dawn and addressed the latter.

"Yeah, it was a great speech," he said quickly, trying his best to sound casual. "So, what are you doing now?"

"I'm waiting for Commander Jupiter," Dawn replied. Barry groaned at the sound of that name and she looked at him suspiciously, but chose to ignore him this time. "She told me to stay here."

"But...hasn't she gone to Mount Coronet with everyone else?" Lucas asked.

Dawn shook her head, although she didn't look very sure. "No," she replied uncertainly, "I think she went to talk to Master Cyrus."

"...who has gone to Mount Coronet," Lucas concluded. "Sorry, Dawn. Looks like you've been stood up."

Dawn was visibly disappointed. "Great," she muttered. "Well, when will they be back? What am I supposed to do until then?"

"Come with us. We've got something to show you." Taking care not to come across as too aggressive, Lucas took Dawn by the arm in a gentlemanly way, gave Barry a meaningful glance and began to walk back in the direction of the laboratory.

"But what if...?" Dawn began.

"I'm telling you, everyone's gone to Mount Coronet. There's no point in waiting around here."

Dawn huffed angrily, but allowed herself to be led away from her waiting spot. She said nothing, but it was obvious from her body language – the way she began to raise her head and not drag her feet quite so much – that she was becoming more curious as they neared the laboratory. By the time they got there, she had let go of Lucas's arm and was walking between him and Barry freely, with no complaints. Lucas opened the blue double doors into the laboratory and the lights came on automatically.

"Go and take a look in one of those machines."

"Hmm?"

Lucas pointed to the nearest machine, the one that held Mesprit, and Dawn nervously walked towards it, glancing back over her shoulder at her two 'tour guides' now and again as if she was afraid of walking into a trap. But as soon as she caught sight of the pitiful Pokémon within the machine, her hand flew to her mouth in horror.

"Do you know why Jupiter thought Cyrus would be interested in you?" Lucas asked grimly. Dawn shook her head. She'd been wondering about that very question herself. "It's because they wanted to use you like they used these Pokémon. For their so-called research."

"But..." Dawn began to protest, but she couldn't argue with what lay before her eyes. "But I thought..."

Barry was about to say something, but Lucas nudged him in the ribs and cut him off. He was watching Dawn intently, noticing every flicker on her face as she stared into the machine. He could practically see the conflict being fought out in her eyes, and he wanted it to take its course. Someone may have managed to brainwash her, but there was nothing like a dosage of truth as a short and sharp antidote.

"I thought he wanted to create a better world," Dawn said at last, her voice sombre and hollow, as if she was choking back tears. She slowly sank to the floor at the foot of the machine.

"Sorry, Dawn."

Without warning, Dawn leapt to her feet. For a moment, Lucas worried that she was about to attack him for destroying her illusions, but she didn't. She ran towards one of the dusty windows and picked up a long pole that was leaning against the wall. It had a small brass hook on the end, for prying open windows that were beyond reach. But Dawn wasn't planning on opening any windows. She returned to the machine, gripped the pole in both hands and swung it like a baseball bat.

"Dawn, no!" Lucas caught the other end of it just in time. "Not like that! There has to be another way."

Dawn let the pole clatter to the floor and began to search the machine at once, looking for anything, a switch or a latch, that might cause it to open. Lucas ran to the next machine. Within its confines, Azelf was fighting to free itself, hurling bolts of energy at the glass even though they rebounded every time. Frowning at the sight of its distress, Lucas did the same as Dawn and frantically looked for a way to release the Pokémon.

Barry, however, did not go anywhere near the machine that held Uxie. Instead, he ran to a fourth machine. This one was mounted on the wall and looked like some sort of control station. At the centre of its keypad was a large red button. This is either the right button, or it'll cause a global disaster. Deciding that he had no choice except to try, Barry closed his eyes and hit it with his fist. His friends stepped back as the lights on the machines went out and the glass panels retracted. With a cry of triumph, Dawn was about to reach in and grab Mesprit, but the Pokémon zoomed away just in time. She didn't know it, but she'd narrowly escaped losing all of her emotions along with her memory.

"The window!" Lucas suggested.

Dawn picked up the pole again and this time used it to open one of the windows. The three lake Pokémon turned into shining orbs of pink, yellow and blue and shot out of the lab at once. Their saviours watched them leave and took a few moments to think about what they'd just done. Lucas eventually broke the silence.

"Great job, Barry. I didn't even notice that other machine."

"Yeah, I did good," Barry agreed, never one to be very modest, "but what about Mount Coronet?"

"You said we couldn't go to Mount Coronet," Lucas reminded him.

"Because we needed to find Dawn. We've found her now." Barry turned to Dawn with a sigh. "Seen as you really don't know who we are, my name's Barry. That's Lucas. And you're Dawn."

"If you say so," Dawn replied with a bewildered shrug. "But what were you saying about Mount Coronet? What's happening there?"

"I don't know, but I think we should go and find out."

Barry darted towards the door and, to his immense relief, Dawn followed him. Lucas brought up the rear, shaking his head in protest. "But Looker said it was too dangerous, and we really shouldn't get in his way – "

"Come on, Lucas!" Barry replied enthusiastically. "We're together now, all three of us! We can take on anything!"

"We lost at the lakes, remember? What if all the commanders have gone to Mount Coronet? How are we supposed to beat them? And what about Cyrus?" Lucas felt his own face turning pale. "I'm not battling against Cyrus!"

"Dawn's the toughest," Barry answered. "She can – "

But, of course, Dawn couldn't. Barry stopped walking so suddenly that she nearly ran into the back of him. His heart had been soaring just a second ago; now it was somewhere in his stomach. He'd been brimming with confidence at the thought of what the three of them could do together. After all, they weren't bad trainers. But he'd forgotten that Dawn was so different now. His troubled gaze fell upon a nearby bookcase, hidden away in a corner, and he practically leapt upon it, seizing books and examining them with alarming speed. None of them looked particularly short or sweet. Finally, he pulled out two of the smaller ones: Basic Battle Strategy and A Brief Technique Encyclopaedia and thrust them into Dawn's arms.

"I don't think we'll change Cyrus's mind by reading to him," she said sarcastically.

"They're for you. I know you like reading."

"Do I?"

"It's a long way to Mount Coronet, so you've got time for a crash course."

"In what?" Dawn almost screamed as she followed him down the corridor. "You want me to read both of these? How is any of this going to help?"

"Uxie only wiped out your memory, so all you need to do is re-learn what you need in order to battle, right?"

"A battle? You really are crazy, mister."

"A Pokémon battle," Barry added, in case Dawn had come to the wrong conclusion. "I'm not expecting you to beat anyone up yourself...although I wouldn't stop you from trying."

"But I don't know the first thing about Pokémon battles!"

"That's why you're gonna read those on the way to Mount Coronet."

"And which Pokémon am I going to use? I don't have any!"

"Yes, you do." Barry glanced at her and realised, again, that Shinx and Noctowl were nowhere in sight. "Where are they?"

"What?"

"Shinx and...!" He growled in exasperation. "I sent two of your Pokémon to follow you. Where are they?"

"I don't..." Dawn suddenly remembered her joyride in the back of the Team Galactic van. "Oh, wait! There was a Pokémon, a little blue one...but they took it!" She looked at Barry in fear. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know that they treated Pokémon like that! If I knew, I would never have let them – "

"It sounds like she's talking about Shinx," Lucas interrupted, giving Dawn an apologetic glance. "We should try to find it."

"I know, but...what about Team Galactic?" Barry asked, practically jumping up and down on the spot in his impatience. "They'll be way ahead of us by now. They've got helicopters, you know! I've seen 'em!"

The three friends looked at each other in dubious silence, unsure of what to do. At last, Dawn sighed. "Maybe I should just stay here," she said. "I don't think I'm going to be much help when we get to that Coronet place. And these books look really technical." She flicked through A Brief Technique Encyclopaedia and baulked at its long list of Pokémon attacks and abilities which, to her, looked like lists of pure nonsense. "How am I supposed to learn all of this? I don't even understand it! No, I should stay behind. If there are any other Pokémon around, I'll find them and set them free myself." She sifted a hand through the artificial hair on her head and giggled. "I mean, I blend in enough, don't I?"

They were huddled together closely, and so busy debating their plan of action, that they didn't hear the footsteps drawing nearer. Then Barry noticed a strange shadow on the wall behind Dawn, and he jumped in alarm. When he turned around, he came face-to-face with an unfamiliar member of Team Galactic – another commander, presumably, judging from his non-standard uniform and his blue hair which was reminiscent of a Purugly's upright ears.

"So," the stranger said in a quiet voice that wasn't entirely unlike that of Cyrus, "you came here to save some Pokémon, did you? Am I to presume that you were responsible for freeing the lake spirits?"

"That's right," Barry replied boldly.

"And what have we here?" The man's gaze fell upon Dawn, who was still very much in uniform. "A master of disguise? Or just a traitor?"

"Leave her alone!" Barry snapped, laying a protective hand on his friend's shoulder. "Who are you?"

"I'm Commander Saturn."

"You can't be much of a commander if they left you here. What's wrong? You weren't good enough to go to Mount Coronet, huh?" Barry was hoping that his scathing remarks would anger Saturn into a battle, but when the commander barely even raised an eyebrow, he decided to cut to the chase. "Come on, then! Let's see how tough you are!"

"I'm with you if you want a tag battle," Lucas muttered.

Commander Saturn gave a nonchalant shrug and took one of the four Pokéballs from his belt. "Well, seen as you've taken the trouble to come here..."