Chapter 74: Nightfall? Nightmare

"WHAT? What do you mean our vacation has been canceled?"

Professor Cerise raised his hands defensively, backing away from his enraged daughter.

"But we've been planning this for months!"

"I know sweetie, and I feel really bad. But the new Piplup eggs will be ready to hatch soon, and someone needs to stay here to watch over them until they're ready to be given to Professor Rowan. And since Ash, Goh, and Lillie are in Sinnoh for a week, I have to take care of them so they don't mess up the lab!"

Chloe sighed in frustration, but relented. She'd rather not have to clean up whatever mess a bunch of baby Piplups left unchecked could create.

"Alright, I understand."

"Thank you, I promise I'll make it up to you."

Chloe sighed, and walked away. Professor Cerise could only watch her leave, sorry that he couldn't do more to make her feel better.

Yamper and Eevee were playing tag in the common room, but stopped dead in their tracks when their trainer sulked into the area, flopping down onto the couch.

"Some semester break this turned out to be."

Sensing Chloe's distress, Eevee and Yamper both immediately ran up to try and comfort her. Smiling, Chloe picked them both up and set them by her side.

"Thanks, guys. I knew I could count on you."

"Yamp Yamper!"

"Evoi!"

Chloe reached down and grabbed the remote.
"Come on, let's see what's on TV."

Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot to see. Chloe flipped through the channels one by one, not at all impressed by the selection. There was a cooking show, some soap opera with a cheating subplot, a stupid reality show, the newest Mystery Dungeon series…

"...And now on Coordinator weekly, we bring to you an interview with Top Coordinator Joanna Berlitz!"

Seeing as nothing else of interest was on at the time, Chloe settled in to watch the interview. Currently, the host Marian was interviewing Joanna at her home.

"Now Joanna, the Grand Festival Circuit is in full swing. Being the experience coordinator that you are, Do you have any advice for any hopefuls out there?"

"As always, I find that each and every coordinator has the potential to achieve greatness. So to anyone out there first starting out, be they a coordinator or anything else, my advice is to not be afraid to take the first step. You just might surprise yourself!"

Chloe turned off the television, mulling things over.

"Pokemon Contests? I think I saw one on TV the other day. When's the next one?"

Pulling out her Rotomphone, she pulled up the Contest website to find her answer. As it turned out, the next Sinnoh contest would be in Eterna City in three days.

"Eterna City, huh?"

Chloe turned to her two Pokemon.

"What do you say, guys? Feel like a trip to Sinnoh?"

"Evoi!"

"Yamper!"

With a unanimous decision, Chloe ran off to pack.

"Look out, Sinnoh, here we come!"

Meanwhile, Ash, Goh, and Lillie were walking through a small town in Sinnoh.

"Man, I haven't been in this city in ages! I wonder what's changed?"

"Why'd you want to come here so soon? Your match against Palmer isn't for another week."

"I know that Goh, but after all the crazy stuff that's been happening I thought we could all use a break. Besides, I don't think we've been to Sinnoh yet, so here we are!"

"Hey, I'm not complaining! I'm always up for someplace new."

"Agreed! It's just too bad Chloe couldn't join us."

After a while, they stopped in a restaraunt for lunch. Looking around, they found that their fellow customers were struggling to stay awake. Even their waitress looked like she was about to pass out.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm so sorry! I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"Seems like no one in town has. What's going on?"

"Everyone's too scared to fall asleep. Everytime we do, we have terrible nightmares."

After getting their order, the waitress left, leaving the trio to discuss this new information.

"Nightmares? A whole town?"

"There's no way this is a coincidence, and there's only one Pokemon I can think of with the power to do it on this scale."

"Darkrai."

Ash nodded, thinking for a minute.

"But why would he do that to a whole town?"

"I don't know, but something doesn't feel right. We need to get to the bottom of this."

"Right!"

Goh just sighed.

"So much for a vacation."

"Well, I'm lost."

Chloe sighed, putting the map away in her backpack. Going to Sinnoh sounded like a great idea at first, until she got lost in Eterna Forest. After over an hour of walking around in circles, Chloe had to admit defeat. Sitting down on a log, she sighed, and gazed up at the night sky overhead.

"Well, at least it's a beautiful night out."

Yamper and Eevee rubbed up against her leg, making her smile as she bent down to scratch them both behind the ears.

"You're right, guys. I should just enjoy the journey, and not worry so much about the destination!"

Just then, there was some rustling in the nearby bush. Not wanting to take any chances, Chloe got in a battle stance.

"Yamper, use Spark!"

Yamper obeyed, jumping into the bush and letting off a quick burst of electricity.

"OW! What was that for?"

To Chloe's surprise, their intruder was not a Pokemon, but a teenage girl, her blue hair frizzled from Yamper's attack. Right beside her was a Piplup, looking no happier than she was.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I thought you were a Pokemon, so I had Yamper attack you. Sorry, I'm new to Pokemon training, and…"

The girl's frown changed to a smile, waving it off as she brushed her hair down.

"No need to worry! I should've said something sooner. My name's Dawn, and this is my partner Piplup!"

"Piplup!"

"I'm Chloe! It's nice to meet you. Would you like to join me?"

"Don't mind if I do!"

Soon, the two got to talking like old friends, their Pokemon chasing each other around them as they talked.

"No way, Joanna is your mom?"

"Yep! I guess you could say being a coordinator runs in the family."

"And you don't have a problem with following in her footsteps?"

"Why would I?"

Chloe sighed, enviously.

"It's just…my dad is a Pokemon Professor in the Kanto region. Everyone at school assumes I'll follow in his footsteps, but I don't really know what goal I want to follow in life. I mean, I love my dad and appreciate his work, but I don't think that line of work is for me, you know? But everyone is pressuring me to pick a path."

Dawn smiled kindly.

"Ah, don't let them get to you. Have you ever heard of May Maple?"

"I think so. Didn't she win the Johto Grand Festival a few years ago?"

"The very same! She's a close friend of mine, and you know what? She wasn't sure if she wanted to be a coordinator at first."

"Really? I'd have never guessed."

"Actually, she was in a similar situation as yours. Your dad is the gym leader of Petalburg City, and everyone was expecting her to take over one day. But like you, she wasn't sure what she wanted to be. But once she tried Pokemon Contests, she found her calling! So who cares if your dad is a Pokemon Professor? The only one who controls your future is you!"

Chloe smiled, and nodded.

"Thanks, Dawn."

"Don't mention it! Say, what brings you to Sinnoh, anyway?"

"I'm looking for some fun on my school vacation. I heard there was a Pokemon Contest in Eterna City in a few days, so I thought I'd check it out. But I got lost."

"Hey, what a coincidence! I'm heading there, too."

"Great! Do you know the way out of this forest?"

"Yep! Just follow me!"

Unfortunately, Dawn wasn't quite as skilled at navigating as she claimed.

"Um, maybe it was this way? Or maybe this way?"

"I thought you said you knew how to get out of here! You live in Sinnoh, for pete's sake!"

"Hey, cut me some slack! I haven't been here for a while. Besides, I know it's this way!"

It was not. Chloe sighed, and banged her head against a tree.

"It's hopeless."

"I'm sorry, Chloe. I thought for sure I knew my way around."

"It's okay. I'll just call one of my friends, maybe they can help us."

Just then, they saw a large shape falling through the sky overhead.

"Hey look, a shooting star! Make a wish!"

"I wish I was out of this stupid forest."

Suddenly, the object hit the ground, creating huge shockwaves all around them.

"That's no shooting star."

"Come on, let's go check it out!"

Meanwhile, Ash, Goh, and Lillie were searching the forest for clues when they saw the same thing Dawn and Chloe had.

"What was that?"

"I don't know, but whoever it was needs help!"

"Right!"

Up above in an airship, a silver haired woman watched as her target fell to the ground.

"Boss, we've landed a direct hit on the target. Shall we contact the ground crew?"

"No, land the ship. I want to capture this one myself."

"Understood."

As she got ready for landing, another one of her henchmen directed her attention.

"What?"

"Forgive me, boss, but ground sensors have picked up several lifeforms heading towards the target."

"Bring up visuals."

"Right away!"

When the picture came in, the leader scowled, her blood running cold.

"Ketchum."

"Do you still want to…"

But his boss had already marched off, grabbing her arm canon as the tails of her purple long coat floated behind her.

"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, Ketchum. And this time, you won't live to regret crossing me."