Chapter 4

When Dawn entered her new dorm room only a couple of blocks away from the school she threw herself on her bed, tired didn't even begin to describe how she was actually feeling right now.

At the end of the day (after other challenges from different students who suddenly wanted to battle), Julie Starlight retired to her own home somewhere on the other side of Emeragrove Town. Exactly where it was, no one knew. A black limousine had picked her up and after wishing them all a good day, left.

Dawn looked up from her pillow and to the Starly-Alarm Clock on her bed stand; it read 4:30, so far that was the only thing that had been put in place from her moving boxes by her mom. She sighed, lifted herself off her bed, and started unpacking. As much as she wanted to fall asleep then and there, she knew it would be impossible to get ready tomorrow morning if she woke up late again.

Opening the first couple of boxes, she put away her clothes in the drawers, closet, and put her toiletries in the bathroom connected to her room.

She always wondered how the school was able to afford these luxuries for them, but after being in the school for a couple of years, she understood. The whole school was a funding building; every investor in it had made a name for himself or herself for helping trainers learn what comes after the journey. If you were into politics and had money to spare, the fast and easiest way to earn good fame was to donate to them - not that she was complaining, the more money that was spent on them the better it was. The cafeteria was an example; it was a cheap rundown cafeteria until Princess Salvia visited last year and decided to change it up.

"Knock, knock," said a voice peeking through the door.

"Hey, May," she replied while flattening a box.

"Hey, how's it going?" She asked; her school uniform had been replaced for a pair of white capris along with a green tank top and sneakers.

"Tiring!"

She giggled, "Well, I wouldn't expect much less," she went in and closed the door, "here, let me help you."

"Thanks, I'd really appreciate it!"

"Don't mention it, when I moved I had Max help me - speaking of brothers, where is Lucas?"

"He said he was going to stay behind to talk to Professor Oak."

"Hmm," she hummed in response.

While they continued to unpack the last two boxes in silence, Dawn asked, "Hey, May?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Lucas was acting a little strange today?"

"Well, yeah. I mean not to sound mean or anything, but he was so against doing a background check on Julie that it scared me, when Lyra brought in Silver last year, he went through every record possible, and not only him but on me, Max, Ash, Paul - everyone!"

"I know, but what worries me the most is that he said we would find out things we wouldn't want to know, almost as if he had already done one..."

"Hey, if anything, I know he'll come to you with the truth. He always does, you guys have like this weird twin thing where one of you can't keep a secret, sort of like when you told him you had a crush on Ash!"

"M-May!" Blushing, she looked towards the door, almost expecting a certain raven-haired trainer to walk in the door.

"Relax, Dawn, the boy's dorm is on the other side of the building, I doubt he's here."

Knock. Knock.

"Hey, Dawn, Max told me May might be here, you guys wanna get dinner?"

'Speak of the devil,' thought May as she gave Dawn a teasing look making her redder by the minute. Dawn gave the brunette an 'I told you' look.

May rolled her eyes and went to open the door, "sure, just give us a minute," and closed the door. She turned to Dawn, "Hey, I'll finish here so you can go change out of the uniform."

"Okay, thanks, May," she replied gathering a pair of black shorts, a pink shirt, and pink sneakers and went to the bathroom.

After putting up Dawn's last stuff in her room (which was mostly the pictures of her travels and from the past 2 years at the school), May went to the mirror and fixed her hair a bit.

Once Dawn came out of the bathroom, the two left the room (Dawn locked her door) and followed Ash to the dorm cafeteria.

They chatted as they walked down and even met up with Misty, Leaf and Gary as they were getting dinner.

"Hey, guys!" said Misty.

"Hey," replied the others.

"How's the move, Dawn?" asked Gary.

"Great, I just finished unpacking," she smiled.

"She would've finished earlier if a certain person had helped," said May taking a bite of the lasagna they were serving.

"Who?" asked Leaf.

"Lucas," she replied stabbing her plate a bit harder than necessary.

"I'm sure he's unpacking now as we speak, don't forget he moved in here the same time you did," commented Gary.

"I guess..."

"Oh!" Exclaimed Ash.

"What is it Ash?" Asked Dawn.

"I just remembered I got a postcard from Brock!" he said.

"Oh, how is Brock?" she asked.

"He's fine; he says that he'll probably be able to visit in a couple of months."

"Awesome!"

"Cool!"

"That's great! I haven't seen Brock in a while," said Misty.

"Really? I thought since Cerulean and Pewter City were close by, you two saw each other more often," said Ash.

"We did at first," said Misty, "but then he went to Rustboro City in Hoenn so he could continue his studies as a Pokémon Doctor."

"Wow, I wonder if he's changed at all?" thought Ash out loud.

"I just can't wait to talk to him for real this time," said Leaf, "even though I went to challenge the Pewter Gym, I ended up battling his younger brother. The first and only time I saw him, I didn't get to talk to him much."

"Hmm, it would be nice to see him once more," said Gary.

As they talked about their travels with the soon-to-be Pokémon Doctor, a certain bluenette joined their group.

"Well, well, well," said Gary, "guess who decided to join us."

"Hey," said Lucas as he moved his food around.

"What's wrong, Lucas?" asked Dawn.

"Nothing, just tired."

She exchanged a look with their friends; they were just as confused and ambiguous as her.

"Okay," she said, "well we were just talking about Brock–"

"The Pokémon Doctor?" he asked looking up expectantly.

"Y-yeah…"

"He said he might come sometime," replied Ash, "man oh man, I can't wait to see him again."

"I know," said Gary, "it'd be nice to get another guy to join the group!"

"Hey," said Leaf, "what are you trying to say about us girls?"

"Nothing," he said, "just that you're over taking our entire group!"

"Oh please!" said Misty, "if I remember correctly, you used to be surrounded by girls before."

"Really?" said the brunette turning to her boyfriend, "is that so?"

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about," he said looking elsewhere, "w-well will you look at the time, I uh I have to do some-some homework for Professor Rowan – see ya!" and sped off, putting his tray with the rest of the dirty ones.

"Hey! Come back here, Gary Oak," said Leaf as she followed him out.

"Those two never change," said Misty as she shook her head.

"Uh-huh," agreed the group.

Soon the group finished their dinner and went their separate ways. When Dawn entered her room, she called out Piplup to keep her company as she did her homework. Soon it was 10, and she knew she had to go to bed if she wanted to wake up early tomorrow. However, sleep didn't come to her as fast as she wanted, she knew Piplup was already asleep next to her, so she didn't have the heart to wake up the Penguin Pokémon up.

Dawn stared up her ceiling and tried to bring sleep by counting Mareep, but nothing. Her brain was too active tonight to even consider the sleep deprivation she might get tomorrow morning. She sighed and turned around, looking at the picture of her and her friends from when they met up at the end of their journeys. They all looked so young back then, had it really been 5 years since then?

'Time sure does pass by fast when you're having fun,' thought Dawn as she looked closer at the faces frozen in time. Lost in the picture, she remembered that very same day…

It had been 2 years since she had completed her journey with Ash and Brock back in Sinnoh. Although she had wanted to go back to Kanto with Ash, Bunery's modeling career had started soon afterwards, and now that she had money and was able to take a break from being a Poke Stylist, she gladly accepted the invitation from Brock to meet up with their past traveling companions.

She breathed in the deep clean air surrounding her, "Smell that, Piplup?"

"Pip!"

"That's right! We're in Kanto!"

They got off the ferry and joined the passengers on the land. Dawn clutched her duffle bag's strap tight and walked to a kiosk nearby. She looked at a magazine stand hoping to find a map, but when she couldn't find one, she approached one of the store's clerks.

"Excuse me, do you have any maps that might lead me to Pallet Town?"

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid not," replied the young clerk, "since many travelers and tourists come with Pokégears now a days, we just install Kanto's map on them."

"Oh, I see," thought Dawn, at times like these she wished she should have listened to her mom about buying a Pokégear before leaving to Hearthome City.

Upon seeing the young girl's down casted face, the clerk said, "but if you'd like I can see if we have any Pokégears left from our last shipment!"

"Really?" she asked happily.

"Of course!" the clerk smiled and left to check in the back while Dawn waited by looking around the different souvenirs she could take back home.

"Here it is!" said the clerk when she came back, "you're lucky too, it's the very last one."

"Thank you so much!" she replied and paid for the Pokégear.

Once outside the kiosk she turned on her new Pokégear and made sure to head in the right direction.

From what she understood she was at the Seafoam Islands, which meant she had to take another ferry to Pallet Town if she wanted to reach the town in a midday's trip and not a 10-day one.

She sighed, "Guess we have to take another boat…"

Lucky for them, they were able to get on the last ferry to Pallet Town. While trying to kill time, she explored her brand new Pokégear and started messing around with the new piece of technology in her hand. For a moment she left it on the radio and took a short nap; if it hadn't been for Piplup then she would've slept all day long.

She stretched and boarded off the ferry once more and was met with a spacious town where she could see what she supposed was Professor Oak's Lab. Although the port itself was small, there were many people getting off along with her.

However, as awesome and cool her new Pokégear was, it did not tell her where a certain raven hair trainer's house was.

'Of course not,' she thought sarcastically and walked down the open paths, although the place on its own was small, it was confusing! There were so many roads and the houses all looked almost alike.

"Oh man," she said out loud, "this is worse than when I went to Sandgem Town."

"Excuse me, are you lost?" said a voice from behind her.

She turned around and found a boy around her age with long black hair and green eyes holding a plastic bag, "yeah, I'm looking for someone's house, but all the houses look almost the same."

"Ah," he replied, "understandable, when I first came here I got lost a lot too. So whose house are you looking for?"

"Ash Ketchum," she said, "though I think I might have passed it..."

"Not at all," he replied, "he's just around the corner. Come on, follow me!"

"Thank you so much!"

"No problem, a friend of Ash is a friend of mine!" He smiled, "I'm Tracy Sketchit, what's your name?" He extended his hand

"I'm Dawn Berlitz, nice to meet you!" She replied shaking his hand.

"Ah! So you're Dawn! We've heard so many things about you!"

"I hope good things..."

"Haha, of course," said Tracey, "from what I understand some - if not most - of Ash's battling techniques came from his travels with you."

"Well I can't take all the credit, most of my contest moves came from watching Ash battle."

The two chatted for a while until they stopped by a house similar to the others, except this one had a Mr. Mime watering the flowers.

"Hey, Mr. Mime, are Ash and the others in the back?"

"Mime, Mime!" He saluted.

"Thanks, this way Dawn."

Tracey led Dawn to the backyard behind the house through the white fence.

"Hey! Looks like Tracey finally came back with the drinks! And look he brought Dawn along!" said the recognizable voice of Brock, who was by the grill making burgers.

"Brock! How have you been?" She exclaimed and made her way to hug the Pokémon doctor in-training.

"Great! How about you? Sinnoh treating you well?"

"Yep, and look," she said taking out a picture of when she won the Grand Festival.

"Incredible! I wish you would have told us though!"

"I know, thanks," she replied, "but I really wanted to surprise you guys."

"Is that Dawn?"

"May!" The two girls hugged each other tightly.

"I wasn't expecting to see you all the way here in Kanto!"

"What can I say; Sinnoh was getting a bit lonely."

"I know the feeling," smiled the brunette, "oh! Let me introduce you to a good friend of mine."

She led Dawn to the kitchen where even more people were waiting. One of the first people that stood out from the group in the kitchen was Gary Oak, who was nibbling on what seemed like a piece bread with a girl next to him scolding him and an orange head laughing from the other side of the table at the two; with a very familiar Pikachu.

"Pika Pi!" said Pikachu as it jumped off the table towards Dawn's opened arms.

"Pikachu! I'm so glad to see you again!"

"Pikachu!" exclaimed the mouse Pokémon as it climbed on the bluenette's shoulder.

"Well, let's start with the people here," said May grabbing the attention of the 3, "Dawn I believe you know Gary."

"Yo!" he said raising his hand in greeting while Dawn replied, "Hey!"

"Next to him is Leaf, his unofficial girlfriend–"

"Unofficial?"

"He hasn't had the guts to actually ask her out…"

"Oh!" Dawn turned to the brunette, "it's nice to meet you, Leaf."

"You too, Dawn!"

"And last but not least, this is Misty, Ash's first traveling companion – aside from Brock that is!"

"It's nice to finally meet you, Misty," said Dawn walking towards the orange head and taking her hands in her own, "I've always wanted to meet the amazing water ballet expert from Kanto! They say your shows are incredible!"

"T-thank you?"

May laughed, "I told you we all have weird titles in Sinnoh!"

Misty nodded and squeezed Dawn's hands back, "Well it's nice to meet one of Ash's more girly friends!"

"Hey!"

The group laughed kindheartedly, when they finally heard someone yell, "Ha! I beat you all!" from the living room.

"And now for the more childish members of this get-together," said May shaking her head and leading Dawn into the living room. There they found Ash, Kenny and a young boy with glasses.

When Dawn saw this, she couldn't help but laugh at the scene and say, "Really? You have real Pokémon and you decide to battle each other on a video game?"

"For your information, this is much more – Dawn!"

"Kenny!" she said jokingly, "really, I mean we just saw each other like what 2-3 –"

"months?"

"It hasn't been that long!"

"Uh, yes, it has!" the brunette hugged his childhood friend tightly, "well it's good to see you either way."

"Hey, it's Dawn!" said Ash raising his hand, knowing the cue, she high-fived him, having to tiptoe considering he was now a bit taller than him.

"It's great to see you again Ash!" she said as they hugged each other.

"Yeah," the two looked at each other for a while before Ash blinked hard and gestured to young boy with the glasses still sitting on the couch, "Dawn, this is May's younger brother, Max. He started his journey recently."

"It's nice to meet you!" she greeted while smiling.

"Wow, you sure are prettier than the pictures," said Max bluntly.

"T-thank you!" said Dawn, blushing a bit.

"Hey, now Dee Dee don't go getting yourself a boyfriend now," teased Kenny.

"Shut up, Kenny!" she replied, "and stop calling me Dee Dee!"

The group laughed at the duo and were interrupted by a feminine voice entering the room, "Ash, I'm back!"

"Hey, let me introduce you to my mom, Dawn," said Ash while Pikachu transferred from Dawn's shoulder to Ash's.

When they reached the door they saw Mrs. Ketchum and Professor Oak.

"Oh, hello Dear, I didn't know more of your friends were coming,"

"I didn't know either," replied Ash rubbing his neck before grabbing one of the bags his mom was holding, "Mom, I'd like for you to meet Dawn, the girl I was telling you about from Sinnoh."

"Oh! It's so nice to finally meet you, Dawn," said Mrs. Ketchum as she grabbed Dawn's hands tightly, in the same manner Dawn had done so to Misty, "I've heard so many good things about you, that I'm even more surprised to find out you're prettier than not only pictures but from the way Ash has always talked about you!"

"Mom!"

"H-he talks about me?" asked Dawn blushing lightly.

"Well of course," replied Delia confidently, "it was all he could talk about besides his Gym Battles!"

"Okay! I-I think that's enough, Mom," said Ash as he desperately tried to push his mom away without being rude, "A-anyway, I think Brock might need some help, the others are getting kind of hungry just waiting."

"Oh! In that case, I'll just get to work," she said as she took the bags from her son's hands, "I'll talk to you later," she winked to Dawn, "It was nice to meet you!" and walked towards the kitchen where they heard Gary exclaim, "Yes! Salvation!"

The duo sweat dropped as Ash turned to Pallet Town's very own Professor Oak, "Well, Dawn, you wanted to meet the real thing - so here he is!"

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Dawn, "It's really you, Professor Oak!"

"It's nice to finally meet you face to face Dawn."

"It's an honor just to be in your presence sir!" she exclaimed still mesmerized.

"Wow, I never thought I would meet one of biggest fans," he said as he sweat dropped.

"Well anyone would be after meeting the famous Pokémon Poet and Professor," said a voice from behind Professor Oak.

The three looked behind them and saw a boy with dark hair, light skin and the same blue eyes Dawn had.

"I suppose you're right," replied Professor Oak, "Ash, Dawn, I'd like for you to meet my new Lab Assistant from Sinnoh, his name is –"

"Lucas!" exclaimed Dawn as she darted towards the boy who embraced in a strong hug.

"Oh Dawn!" he said practically lifting her up, "it's been so long, I've missed you!"

When the two separated, they turned to the two confused faces, which Dawn explained to them, "I'm sorry, Professor Oak, but I happen to know Lucas!"

"Really?" he asked a bit intrigued.

"Is he one of your friends from Twinleaf?" asked Ash, a bit envious on the inside.

"Something like that," she giggled.

"You see, Dawn is my little sister, sort of!"

"We're twins!" she smiled.

"Well that makes sense!" said Professor Oak, "Lucas Berlitz and Dawn Berlitz! I knew I had heard your last name before Lucas my boy!"

"Yep," the male twin turned to Ash, "thanks for taking care of my sister, Ash. I would have traveled with her, but someone had overslept."

"That's because you made me stay up with you to watch Pokémon Trivia!"

"Hey, don't worry about it," said Ash extending his hand for a handshake, which Lucas took, "though I have to say, you have a pretty talented sister," this made Dawn blush once more.

"Is that Dane!"

"For the love of – it's Dawn!" she said as she realized that there was only one person who called her that, "Lyra!"

The two girls hugged each other, "it's so good to see you again!"

"It's good to see you, too!" replied the brunette, "oh and guess what?"

"What?"

"I beat the Indigo League!"

"Congrats!"

"Thanks! And I saw you win the Grand Festival!"

"Really?!"

"Dawn, you won the Grand Festival?"

"Oops," said Dawn, "I wanted to make it a surprise for you!"

"You didn't know?" asked May as she approached the group to tell them about lunch.

"What? Did everyone know but me!"

"Uh, pretty much," nodded Lucas.

"Oh man!"

"Hey don't worry about it! No need to worry!"

"That's when I worry the most," he replied looking down comically. The group laughed at his antics before moving outside to eat their meal. The food was delicious, with Brock's expertise in the kitchen and Mrs. Ketchum's homely touch - it was divine.

"So Ash, why the sudden get together?" Asked Brock.

"Well, I wanted to break in the news that..." He prolonged.

"That what?"

"Come on, Ash!"

"Bro! My food's getting cold waiting for you!"

"Shut up, Gary! You can still eat your food if you want."

The group laughed at Leaf's and Gary's antics.

"Well, I wanted to announce that I did it."

"Did what?" They all asked him.

"I beat the Unova League at the Vertress Conference*," they all stayed quiet before irrupting in cheers;

"Awesome!"

"Way to go, Ash!"

"Great job!"

"How come you didn't tell anyone?!"

"Thanks, guys!"

"Seems like I wasn't the only one holding in a surprise," teased Dawn, making Ah blush lightly, "s-shut up! Besides everyone knew but me!"

"And me!" Added Brock.

"How was I supposed to know everyone watched?" Pouted Dawn.

"Well, congratulations, to the both of you, really," intervened Brock.

"So now that you beat the Pokémon League, what are you going to do?" asked Lyra curiously.

"Well, I was thinking on taking Brandon's offer on becoming a Frontier Brain."

"Wow, that's incredible!" Said Kenny.

"Yeah, but I think I'm gonna have to study a bit so I know more than just go by gut instinct," he scratched the back of his head.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Said Gary.

"What is it?"

"Since you and I both know you're not into textbooks and plain analysis, why don't you go enroll at Lunar Academy?"

"Ugh, school," replied the raven-haired boy with a face.

Gary gave him a 'really?' look, "no, stupid–"

"But you said Academy, so it's a school..."

"Yes, but-"

"So it is a school!"

"Will you just let me finish!" Ash closed his mouth, Gary breathed in and then breathed out, "as I was saying, Lunar Academy is a school that focuses on the paths trainers can take after their journeys. Although there are some basic school courses, it's mainly hands-on. They have battle classes, research courses, fine art instructions, and a whole lot more!"

"Wow, that's incredible!"

"How do you know so much about it, Gary? I mean besides the obvious fact that you know everything," asked Misty.

"For your information I don't know everything yet," he answered, "and mostly because Grandpa is going to be the Headmaster there for a while!"

"Really?!"

"Is that true, Prof. Oak!"

"Huh?" He asked from the far end of the long table.

"Are you really going to be teaching at Lunar Academy?!"

"Yes," he replied smiling, "a good friend of mine called in a favor, in the mean time I plan on leaving one of my assistants at the lab until they are able to find a permanent replacement for the retiring headmaster."

"Wow, that's so cool!" Exclaimed Dawn.

"It gets even cooler," continued Gary, "the school is located in the small town of Emeragrove Town in Sinnoh!"

"Sinnoh?!"

"Yep," he replied confidently, "it's a boarding school for all trainers and - it is the only school that offers program for finished trainers in this side of the world!"

"Incredible!"

"Count me in!"

"When can I sign up?"

"Where do I sign up!"

Soon the conversation turned to the school, sadly, Brock would be able to attend since not only was he old enough to be graduating from the school already but he was already smart enough and he was able to enroll in a Pokémon medical school. After they finished their lunch, the group decided to take on Dawn's suggestion from earlier and have a tag battle against one another with their actual Pokémon - who were more than happy to comply.

The mini tournament ended up being Ash and Dawn against Gary and Leaf with Lucas referring since he didn't want to participate. The battle ended up being a tie, which was fine with the four although Gary kept hinting that they were so close to beating them.

There was a flicker of lights turning on as the sun set and the moon rose. The group of trainers noticed this quickly and began to help Mrs. Ketchum put everything away. Once they were done clearing the area, Dawn remembered she had her camera with her, "hey, guys?"

"Yeah?" They replied back.

"How about a picture to remember this day?" She suggested while showing them her camera.

"Sure!"

"Why not?"

"Sounds like a great idea!"

Delia came up to Dawn and said smiling, "here, let me take the picture, that way you can all be in it!"

The bluenette handed the older woman the camera, "Thank you, Mrs. Ketchum!"

"Oh, please, call me Delia!" she stepped back, "okay everyone, say cheese!"

"Cheese!" they said smiling.

"Ooh, let's do another one, but this time let's say Pearlshipping!" exclaimed Lyra.

"Pearlshipping?" asked Dawn confused.

May snickered next to her, "let's do it!"

"Um, okay?"

"okay, one, two, three!"

"Pearlshipping!" they exclaimed, in that moment, May pulled Dawn and Ash together from behind with Lyra cheering on as the camera captured the moment in eternity…

* - I know, Ash didn't beat the Unova league, and Dawn did go visit Ash there, but that is completely irrelevant as I have other plans for the the characters from Unova and maybe Kalos (as I really like Bonnie, she's sooo adorable :3)

Please leave a review, it will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

~Karie