Chapter 15

May 31st, 2006

Dawn looked around the forest, there were still people filing off of the plane. The pilot had informed them that he had to depart back to Kalos.

Dawn adjusted her bag on her back. It was rather heavy with the tent inside but it wasn't something she couldn't handle. It was something that they needed, plus she was mostly used to the weight because of her previous travels. In Hoenn, her and May would take turns carrying it, now the others carried other important items like food, water, and various medical necessities. Some were carrying items specifically for their pokémon.

The air was cool, there was a slight breeze that rattled the trees and caused the leaves to crash into each other, making the only noise in the forest aside from the voices of people stepping off of the plane. It was relaxing, a nice feeling that she would assure herself to remember in the upcoming stressful times that they would no doubt experience.

Dawn watched as the rest of the group stood around her, a big whirring noise erupted as they watched the plane take off once again. The air picked up around them as their clothes billowed around them. Dawn's hair whipped into her face roughly, though she made no move to tame the wild locks.

Nobody moved once the plane was out of their sight. The realization of what they must accomplish weighed down on them. Deciding to get the others moving, she turned to Ash and Misty. "You two know Johto the best. Lead us to Azalea Town." Ash wasn't facing them as he looked into the forest. "Ash?"

Ash quickly turned his head around, "What?"

"Could you and Misty lead us to Azalea Town since you know Johto the best out of all of us?" She repeated.

Ash quickly nodded his head, "Yeah, of course." He glanced behind him once more. He seemed hesitant about leaving but pushed himself in the opposite direction. "It's this way." He muttered.

"How do you even know where we are?" Paul questioned, speaking for the first time since they left. "We're in the middle of a forest that's supposedly gone back in time, there's no way you could know where to go." He said harshly, narrowing his gaze at the raven haired man.

Ash gave Paul the same narrowed eyed gaze back. "I know exactly where we are."

"You aren't the only person who has traveled through Johto." Paul added on. "I came here, those two came here," He pointed to May and Drew, "Even her," He then pointed to Iris. "Ilex Forest is an easy place to get lost and I really rather not have you lead the way just to walk us in circles."

"I know where we are." Ash repeated, "If you don't want me to lead then find your own way through the forest." Ash turned and began to walk away. "I don't care if you come or not. You've annoyed me today so I don't really want to argue with you." Ash didn't look back as him as he walked on. Dawn glanced to Paul, who still didn't spare her a glance. Dawn watched him for a moment before following after Ash. Misty and Gary had already left after him, Clemont and Serena quick after. Dawn looked to Iris and Cilan who were waiting for her. The three quickly followed the rest.

May looked at Paul. "Come on." She placed a hand on his arm, "We can rely on Ash, if he can figure out where we are no matter how many years the region's gone back, we will get there."

Paul pulled his arm away from her and stalked after the others. "Leave me alone."

"Woah." Dawn couldn't help but gasp as she entered the old city. The houses were traditionally styled wooden houses with intricate carvings on the corners of the low hanging roofs. "It looks so beautiful!" She gazed around at the townspeople minding their own business as they walked around the nearby market. The clothing was very different as well. Many people were wearing Johto's traditional yukatas and some had on kimonos. Many people stopped and stared at them as they passed by, giving them unusual expressions.

"We need to change clothes." Serena announced. "We're causing too much of a scene in our attire." She turned to the group. "Luckily, I have a kimono with me. I'll need you guys to wait until I can buy clothes for all of you." Serena quickly ushered everyone out of the town and made them wait quite a ways away from the town entrance. "None of you move." She quickly disappeared behind a bush, then reappeared wearing a pale pink kimono that had a wide variety of flowers on it. "I'll be right back." She paused and took a good look at everybody's faces and height. "I'll find the perfect ones to match all of you!" She dashed away and hurried through the town entrance.

Serena reappeared sometime later, carrying many items of clothing in her arms. "I have stuff for all of you!" She announced. "I have some yukatas, and kimonos, and some hakamas." She said cheerily. "Men don't have much variety other than black and gray or black blue." She frowned. "So I have black yukatas and gray hakamas for Cilan, Paul and Gary." She said awkwardly as she moved the other clothing to pull out the ones she wanted. She looked between Cilan and Paul, "Whichever is the bigger one, give it to Cilan." She shuffled the clothing around again and May rushed forward to offer her help. Serena gladly used her as a clothing rack and pulled out three black yukatas and three blue hakamas. "These are for Clemont, Ash, and Drew." The three grabbed their clothing. Ash and Gary just ripped off their clothes in front of everyone, not caring, whereas the other four went to change in places that had some more coverage.

Serena didn't look at either Ash or Gary, clearly avoiding eye contact. She quickly handed each of the girls their own clothing.

Dawn smiled at her clothing; it was a very pale pink with darker pink and yellow flowers that blossomed from the bottom of the garment. The sash that would go around her middle had both a solid dark pink and pale yellow in it as well. "This is very beautiful, thank you Serena!" Dawn exclaimed. Dawn looked around at the other garments the girls had.

Serena smiled at Dawn, "I got you and Misty kimonos while Iris and May have yukatas." Each garment was very different, they mainly consisted of colours of which the girls usually wore, other than Iris whose yukata matched her hair. Each also had different kinds of flowers on them, aside from the two yukatas which had petals instead.

"How do you get this on?" Ash exclaimed. Dawn turned around to see that the other four had returned as well. "Why is this so difficult?"

"It's not that hard." Gary smirked at him. "How can you not get it on right?"

Dawn noticed Drew make a face, "You're wearing yours backwards Gary. I think you need just as much help as he does." Gary's eyes widened.

"What?" He looked down at himself, squinting at his clothes. "Damn eyes." He muttered. "I can't see anything anymore." He looked up at Drew, "Are you sure it's on backwards?"

"He's very positive." Cilan said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "It's very obvious that it's on backwards."

Clemont was even smirking at the sight of Gary. "There are flaps; it's easy to figure out."

"I can't see a thing." Gary said, "I don't know what I'm doing anymore." He sighed in defeat. "I need glasses."

Dawn giggled lightly, she then turned to go and get changed herself instead of watching the guy's try to teach Ash and Gary how to dress themselves.

Fully dressed, everyone entered the town. Eyes didn't trail to them from the commoners, Dawn felt herself relax a little because of this. "Where should we be going?" Clemont asked. "We're also supposed to find this Lyra Noisi right? Where would she be?"

Ash scratched his head. "Lyra lives in... New Bark Town I think." He said slowly. "But I have no idea if she's left or not because of what's happening." He shrugged, "We could head there and see."

"No." Gary said. "I don't think we should go there."

"Why not?" Misty asked and placed her hands on her hips. "It's our best bet to go to her hometown."

Gary shrugged. "I don't know. I just have this feeling that we don't need to go to her hometown."

"Just because you have a feeling doesn't mean we should act on it. We should take the most reasonable choice." Misty argued.

Gary looked over at her. "You can go. I'm staying here. There's a reason we're here, and I think we should stay." Misty stared at him, as if asking him for more. Gary didn't comply.

"I think we should stay." Iris butted in. "We were given a prophecy right? If Gary thinks we should be here, then maybe we should be." She shrugged. "His reasoning sounds logical to me."

Cilan frowned ever so slightly. "Iris I know you're into all this supernatural stuff, but do you really believe that this prophecy is a real thing? Humans are no pokémon; we can't use psychic powers like Olymipa believes she has." He shrugged, "Your ideals are not what life is really like."

Iris glared at the green-haired connoisseur. "I fully believe what Olympia said to us. She wouldn't send us here for no reason."

"Unless she's insane."

Iris gave Cilan a furious look. "You're starting to piss me off."

"There's no reason to be upset, and don't swear."

Iris threw a punch at his side. Cilan winced and gripped onto it. "Don't tell me what to do. You've already made it very clear to me that people can't control another's emotions." A pained looked crossed over her face briefly. "You're just reminding me of why I ignored you for four months until I had to house all of Ash's friends because you had no room and I was your very last choice on the issue." Cilan remained stotic as he watched her.

"Wait." Ash held up a hand, "You guys weren't talking? Why have you never brought this up to me? Even time I talked to either of you, you never mentioned it. You were fine when we were leaving to do our own stuff."

"Ash, that was two years ago." Iris spoke in monotone. "Things change and clearly not everyone is as likeable as you." There was a quiet scoff from Paul. "I'm also clearly one of the unlikeable people. I don't draw others to me like you do." Her brown eyes bore into his matching ones. "Just because Cilan and I were once friends doesn't mean that it will always stay that way. People drift away as the better option and others just begin to despise their friends for no apparent reason and avoid them at all costs." She shrugged, "It's just a way of life that you have to get used to."

Confusion graced Cilan's features, "Wait, Iris—"

She whipped back to face him, "I don't want to hear you say anything. I'm used to the silence." She threw a glare at him, then quickly turned to stalk off. Cilan clenched his jaw as he watched her leave.

"Cilan—" Ash tried but the connoisseur cut him off like Iris had. "Let's split into two groups." He announced. "Half will stay here, half will leave to New Bark Town. Whoever wants to stay and believe Gary of his hunch will stay, the rest of us will leave."

Dawn stared into the busy cowed of which Iris disappeared into. "I'll stay." She said. "I'm sorry Cilan." She apologised, but he ignored it.

"I... want to leave." Ash said.

"I'll leave too." Misty added in.

"Clemont and I will stay." Serena said. "We don't know Johto well so we'll just be more of a burden and slow you down."

"That's five." Cilan said and turned to May, Drew and Paul. "Are you three willing to leave?" They all nodded their heads. "Cilan turned to Ash." Let's go then." The tall man stalked past the group towards the other side of the town.

Ash watched him, "We'll meet back here in one or two weeks, we won't be long." He said to those who were staying.

Dawn nodded, "Don't worry about Iris either, I know you will. I'll stay with her."

"Me too." Serena nodded in agreement. "Nothing a little girl time can't handle!" She gave Ash a thumbs up.

Ash smiled at them. "Alright, see you then I guess!" He then hurried away after Cilan; the other remaining four didn't bother running, choosing to walk instead.

"Bye Dawn, Serena!" May waved, "See you later!" She gave them a cheery grin.

Dawn smiled softly and waved back. She didn't forget to take one last good look at Paul as it would be a while before she could see him again. "Bye everyone!" Her heart leaped when she saw Paul glance back for a moment, she waved again. Paul quickly looked back to the front, not giving her a wave back.

June 3rd, 2006

Ash trudged through the forest. The road to New Bark was longer that he expected, but they had made a brilliant amount of ground in the past few days, though the constant moving caused a wide spread of drowsiness to affect the group. Cilan was the only one walking with ease, which surprised Ash to say the least. There was nothing Ash wanted more than for Lyra to be where they were expecting her to be, home. The group had donned their more comfortable clothing, leaving the yutakas and kimonos in their bags which dangled off of all of their shoulders. The travel has been tense so far, not much talking, and when there was, it was mostly between the two couples, Misty and Ash, and May and Drew. Paul had stayed quiet most of the time, speaking only when spoken to, a scowl still ever present on his face. Paul still seemed to be in a bad mood after his fight with Dawn, though, Ash knew Paul was the type to hold grudges for as long as he deemed necessary. Ash was just pleading to Arceus now for him and Dawn to reconcile, any friends of his hurt made him hurt. He glanced to the man leading the way, Cilan had not said anything other than telling them where to go, or when they should rest. Nobody wanted to bother the already upset connoisseur. Ash now had three upset friends; tensions were high because of this trip based off of a prophecy from a seeker. Ash trusted Olympia, but he still couldn't help but think, was this all a ruse, or was it actually up to them to save the world? Be these so called Carriers? He didn't quite understand, all he knew is that many people were right, a vast majority of people that Ash had interacted with had been unique and radiated some kind of strong, kind, helpful aura that made him relax around, even Paul had that air about him now.

Misty was beside Ash holding onto his arm from balance. Her eyelids drooped over her sea-like eyes. She was running on empty of rest, they needed to stop sooner rather than later. Ash could feel the tug of fatigue pulling him in as well. "Cilan," Ash called after he stretched his mouth open in a large yawn. "Can we rest for longer than ten minutes? I really need to sleep." He said.

Cilan stopped immediately. Ash deduced that Cilan's constant walking was his way of clearing his mind of Iris. He still wanted to question his friend on that, but he also wanted to avoid the topic in order to bother Cilan less. His emotions were still in a whirl from three days prior. Ash was both the kind of person who talked about his feelings, and was not, depending on the situation. Ash felt as if Cilan was the same, and this time, he would much rather avoid the topic at all possible, but Ash couldn't help but feel the need to help his green-haired friend in some way, it was like an aching pain seeing Cilan, the usually happy, and excitable connoisseur be like this.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw May slump down on the ground, landing in a heap. "I don't care what you say, but I'm sleeping now." She had gotten moodier the longer they had walked, every so often arguments broke out, mostly by her. Misty pulled away from Ash and sat down next to the brunette, heavily leaning against her.

"I'm sleeping too greeny." Misty muttered with a scowl. "I'm going to be from pissed to mother Ursarang pissed in a few seconds and I'm sure nobody wants see that." Ash could second Misty's words. He already seen that pissed off Misty more times than he liked. "Also," She pointed to Ash, "she stole me from you." She then pointed to May.

Ash quirked an eyebrow, "Uh, okay." He said slowly; not exactly understanding what she meant. "Cilan we have to stop." By now Drew had made his way down to the ground too, Paul getting close to the same fate as he leaned against a tree.

There was a loud sigh from the connoisseur. "Okay fine." He grated out. "I'll give you time to sleep, I apologise for making you all so tired."

Ash watched as Cilan sat under a tree with his arms crossed, closing his eyes. He watched him for a moment before letting out a small sigh, the things Ash did for his friends. "Hey Cilan, if you're up for it, why don't we look around for some berries?" Cilan opened an eye to look at him.

"I thought you wanted to sleep?" He questioned.

Ash shrugged with a grin, "I'm fine until our next break. We do need more food and stuff though." He reasoned.

Cilan smiled, a genuine one, and shook his head. "No, you don't work like that." He said with a light laugh. "Knowing you, you should sleep Ash; we have plenty of food so we'll be alright until then."

Ash was a little taken aback at Cilan's suddenly cheery attitude. "Are you sure we have enough?" He asked a little wearily.

Cilan nodded, "I'm the one that cooks, I'm certain that we have enough for two more days at least. Just don't worry about it; I know what you want too." He grinned, "We can talk later. You're easy to read to everyone here. We all know you well enough." A friendly glint passed through his green eyes, causing Ash to relax a little, and it made the aching pain for his friend subside a little.

Ash laughed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Okay, whenever you're up to it I guess."

"Don't worry, I'll let you know."

"So who exactly is this Lyra Noisi?" Clemont asked from beside Dawn. The two were walking down the busy main street, hoping to find a way to get more money. The newer currency that they had wasn't accepted at most vendors, Serena was lucky the day before, telling the Johto citizens that Kalos money is extremely rare and is worth a lot more that the Johto money used now, though in reality, future Johto shared the same currency as the rest on the main regions did, but that knowledge wasn't needed for these people. Gary was busy working himself as his inner pokémon professor came out of him. He was aiding people and answering any off their questions concerning pokémon. Dawn was unsure of what Serena was doing exactly, and Iris was hiding herself, they had been mocked a few days prior for associating themselves with someone, and as the people put it, 'who is an utter disgrace and unwanted' in the world. Hearing that had made Serena utterly furious and she had yanked Iris away, Dawn was sure that Serena was actually staying with her. The blonde's reaction was something that Dawn had never seen from her before.

Dawn thought for a moment, remembering Clemont's question. "Lyra was somebody I met a long time ago. She's super nice but a little eccentric. She kept asking me if I was going to date either Ash or Brock. She when asked if I was interested in her friend Khoury. I'm glad none of them found out about that." She admitted sheepishly, the memory danced though her head so clearly "Brock's seven years older than me, I'm not sure if I want to be in a relationship with somebody if they're that much older than me. I'm fine with two or three years though. But I guess it all just depends on whether you like them or not."

Clemont nodded, he looked a bit flustered. "I understand what you mean. I would have to agree with you. Though Bonnie tries to set me up with just about any woman she sees. It's really embarrassing." He adjusted his glasses slightly; his cheeks tinted a pink colour. "I know she means well, but I'd rather do that sort of thing myself..."

Dawn laughed, "It may be embarrassing, but it is amusing to watch." She gave him a wink, "I would love to have a sibling like you do, but I just wasn't that lucky." She sighed. "It would be super fun."

Clemont smiled at her, "Bonnie can be annoying and gets on my nerves sometimes, but I would never want a different sister." Dawn watched him. He was clearly missing the bubbly little blonde haired girl a lot.

"It's good that she stayed back. She's safe now."

Clemont nodded, and then quickly changed the topic. "I have no idea what small work I can do. I'm not as physically fit as Gary is; he's already found work to do."

"You could build something?" Dawn suggested. "Draw up blueprints and stuff." Clemont was by far the smartest person she knew, Dawn had faith that he could do anything.

"But that will take longer than the time the others will be back here, hopefully with that girl." He shrugged. "You have more opportunities than I do."

Dawn shook her head, looking around at the town wistfully. "I'll find you something!" Dawn exclaimed and placed her hands on her hips. "You're one of the smartest and most helpful people I know! There has to be something here for you to do!"

Clemont smiled slightly at her remark. "We'll see how successful you are."

Dawn grinned at him. "Don't worry! I'll find you something!"

The pair asked around to various different stalls, showcasing their abilities to prove that they would be successful workers. Though not many seek help in what either of them were offering.

Dawn had almost given up when a small boy approached her. "You're looking for work right?" He questioned, he barely reached her shoulders, which Dawn found odd because he looked to be around twelve, and she was not one of the tallest people ever, in fact, the only person who she knew that was shorter than her was May. He had messy brown hair along with what seemed to be work clothing.

Dawn looked down at the boy, "Yes we are." She stated shortly.

"You can help me and my dad! My name's Kurt! My dad likes to make pokémon capsules for people, he has a large order so I have to fetch him bushels of apricorns," he waved his basket around, causing the round objects inside to move around, "he also needs help making the pokémon capsules. I've been looking everywhere for help!"

Dawn looked to Clemont, "Even I could build the pokéballs used now, this is perfect for us!" She exclaimed cheerily, "We have to take the offer!"

"What are pokéballs?" Kurt questioned with a tilt of his head, his brown hair swaying; his brown eyes ablaze with curiosity.

"Well help you!" Dawn announced, avoiding the boy's question. "Will we get paid?" She couldn't help but ask, they needed money.

"Yes!" Kurt's eyes sparkled, "Fifty whole yen!"

"Fifty yen?" Dawn questioned, "That's all?" She felt her heart sink; she knew that Gary had collected much, much more than that so far, how could two yen help them?

"Money costs more now." Clemont said, "We can buy just about anything with that much money."

Kurt eyed Dawn, "Just because you're rich doesn't mean that you'll get more money." He pointed to her garments. "Don't forget you're also a girl." He stared at her.

Dawn clenched her hand into a fist, she forgot about women being deemed 'useless' at this point in time too. She took a deep breath. "Right. Yes, I apologize for my silliness."

Kurt nodded, "It's fine!" He smiled at her, "You seem like a niece person anyway!" The little boy grabbed her hand and dragged her along.

"Dad!" Kurt shouted as he slammed the door open to a small house in the corner of the city. "I found people to help us!" The small boy was still holding onto Dawn as he dragged her into the house, not giving her time to take off her shoes.

"Kurt, please hold on!" Dawn said quickly, "I need to take my shoes off; I really don't want to get your floors dirty!" Kurt quickly halted, almost causing Dawn to trip over him; he looked down at his own feet, "Oh right!" He dragged Dawn back and quickly kicked off his sandals, just slow enough so she could also take off her own shoes.

"Kurt." Dawn looked to the voice, there was a tall and rounded man standing there, he had a large graying beard, a man much too old to have a son as young as Kurt is. Kurt slowly looked to his father and gave him a sheepish grin.

"I thought we could use some help, you said you wanted to have people to help you. So I thought I would find people to help you?" He shrugged, "Thin lady can help me pick apricorns and her husband can help you build pokémon capsules, she said that even she could make them!" Dawn flushed red, not only at Kurt telling his father about what she said, but also about his claim of her and Clemont being married.

"Dawn and I aren't married. "His voice didn't show it, but Clemont's expression clearly conveyed his fear and embarrassment.

"Right!" Dawn said quickly, "We're siblings! See we have the same eyes!" She smiled at the man, hoping for him to believe her.

"You're not married?" Kurt asked, "Shouldn't you have spouses though?"

"W-we do!" Dawn replied, "Clemont's wife is at home taking care of their new... new baby girl!" Dawn announced.

Kurt's eyes sparkled, "Really?" He said enthusiastically, "What are their names?"

Clemont stiffened at the question, "U-uh their names a-are, uh..."

"Serena and Iris!" Dawn cut in, "Serena's his wife and Iris is their daughter!"

Clemont choked on his spit and started coughing. "Are you okay?" Kurt's father asked.

"Just fine." He managed to croak out, "Just breathed something in."

"What about you?" Kurt asked, "What's your husband's name."

"Uh, his name is... Henry! He's such a dear!" She couldn't help but notice the look Clemont quickly flashed her way, "Anyway, why not get started with working? I've been awfully bored at home so I ready to do some work!"

"I hardly think picking apricorns is deemed hard work." Kurt's father said, "But nonetheless it would be hard for a woman. Go now Kurt, take Dawn to the good trees, and drop off the ones you have already collected, I have a girl coming by later today to pick up her love capsules. She seemed pretty desperate to find her Girafarig a beau. Be back by then."

"Understood father!" Kurt grabbed Dawn's hand again.

"See you later Clemont, you too sir!"

"Just call me Kurt Senior." Kurt Sr. replied. Clemont gave Dawn a brief wave, a slightly annoyed look on his face, yet his cheeks were still tinted a bright rosy pink from his choking episode moments before.