A/N: I have no excuse, really.

Who hasn't waited four years for an update before, though?

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot line. Kudos to Satoshi Tajiri completely.

The pounding of footsteps echoed in the air.

It seemed to shake the branches above their heads as Dawn and Paul were frozen on the spot. Maybe Dawn was overthinking the trees' movements, but something was definitely out there, and they both stood and waited tensely for whatever it was to show itself as the sound grew steadily closer. Dawn had to constantly remind herself to stay calm, that she needed to be brave.

I'm not running away this time.

A sudden flash of color in their peripheral caused them both to jump. Dawn let out a small squeal as she gripped Paul's sleeve, but she clenched her teeth to quiet it. Brave, be brave, Dawn!

Cursing under his breath, the boy reached for his belt, but stopped. Confused, Dawn slowly peeked up at him. He was staring into the trees with a look that mirrored hers. When she followed his eyes she saw why: stepping through the brush, they saw the familiar muzzle of Gabite, its blades glinting in the light. They immediately knew it was her Gabite by the odd way one of its dorsal fins sat on its arm—an unmistakable injury that had healed incorrectly despite seeking medical care.

"Gabite! Arceus, am I glad to see you." Rushing forward, she threw her arms around the Cave Pokemon, being very careful of its spikes. Squawking at her, Gabite leaned to the side to reveal a dizzy Piplup hanging off its dorsal fin. He was mumbling incoherently, just barely hanging on in his semi-conscious state. "And Piplup!"

There was a shuffling sound behind her, and Dawn glanced over her shoulder as the light shifted around them. Paul had retrieved her phone from the ground, and she thanked him softly when he handed it to her. Reaching around the landshark, she gently released the poor penguin's grip on the fin. Cradling him carefully in her arms, she took one of Gabite's claws in her hand. "How did you find us?" she asked.

Gabite squawked again, gesturing vaguely behind it at the trees in a linear way. Dawn guessed it was supposed to be pointing in the general direction of their neighborhood, which meant that it had tracked them all the way to their current location. With a smile, she praised her Pokemon for its talent, and it gave a satisfied chirp in response.

Wait, would Gabite have come out here itself just to look for us? It was protective, sure, but would that be its only reason for following them all the way out into the woods?

Tentatively, she asked, "Did … did Reggie send you to find us?"

Gabite nodded, ultimately causing her to deflate. Sighing, she rubbed at her face, accidentally jostling Piplup in the process. She grimaced, repositioning him so he would nod off again. "Guess it's time for us to head back."

Keeping close together, the four of them began the trek back to the house, with Dawn carrying the dozing Piplup. Gabite led the way with the teenagers trailing behind it. Their lights were held aloft to guide them through the brush and to keep a lookout for anything that could jump out at them. Aside from the crunch of their footsteps in the leaves and the rustling of branches in the bushes, everything was mostly quiet. None of them said anything as they walked, and it wasn't long before the trees began to thin out and they could see the stretch of grass that ended at the cul-de-sac. The blunette breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't see any sign of an irate and disgruntled Reggie waiting nearby. This meant they had at least until they crossed the threshold of the front door before they would be accosted by Paul's brother for being out so late.

Said teenager was making jabs at her for worrying about a simple scolding from Reggie, to which she frowned at him and simply told him to shut up. She demanded if he had any bone in his body that felt human empathy, or any other emotion besides pure disdain for a majority of the human population. He fired back that she cared too much sometimes, and she scoffed at him.

"It's called being human, you know" she stated matter-of-factly, levelling a knowing stare at him. "And I know this isn't the first time we've had this conversation."

He rolled his eyes in reply. Seems like he didn't want to acknowledge their little spat in the cafeteria a month ago. Not like Dawn really wanted to talk about it either considering how they'd both acted, but she also wanted to make sure that he hadn't forgotten. Before he could even respond with a retort, though, both teenagers were caught off guard when Gabite's head snapped to attention. Eyes glinting gold in the dim light from their phones, Dawn shuddered when she saw how its pupils shifted from slitted to dilated in quick succession as it honed in on the darkness they were moving away from. Something behind them had caught its attention, and if the way Gabite began to growl—a deep, menacing sound—it probably wasn't anything good.

"Gabite, what's wrong?" Dawn stepped warily around the landshark, keeping a small distance between them just in case. Paul did the same, glancing around them as he unclipped a Ball from his belt. Piplup was still knocked out in her arms, and she gripped him a little bit tighter as she asked, "Did you hear something—"

In the blink of an eye Gabite was gone. There was barely enough time for either of them to process the split second it took for Gabite to disappear, let alone avoid the kicked up dirt and grass it left in its wake. Startled beyond words, Dawn watched as the landshark sped back toward the darkness of the forest and slipped out of view.

Beside her, Paul had just barely replaced the capsule in its placehold when he heard the shuffle of footsteps. Spinning around he saw that Dawn had almost immediately taken off after Gabite. "Where are you going?" he demanded, calling out to her in an annoyed tone. But she ignored him, the inky black shadows swallowing her as she ran further away.

He stared incredulously in the general direction where she'd disappeared. Did she just expect for him to follow her back in there? Should he just leave her to her own devices?

She's not a child, he thought in a poor attempt to convince himself. That Gabite had a keen sense of direction, so he knew that if he just walked off without her that it would be able to relocate her before she was lost for too long. It wasn't like she was going to just be left to her own devices out here all night.

But ...

No matter how much he tried to tell himself he shouldn't have to babysit her, that she wasn't his problem, there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head that told him he needed to. If not only to keep her out of trouble, then for his own sanity if Reggie interrogated him for why he'd just left her in the dark woods to fend for herself.

Such a pain, the whole lot of it.

Growling in frustration, Paul ran a hand roughly through his hair. Weeks ago he would have probably blown her off without a second thought and just gone back home. He'd shut himself in his room to read or play something on his game console to pass the time so he wouldn't have to think about it. But now . . .

Screw it, he wasn't going to care about what happened anymore, but if she got hurt or kidnapped by something he definitely wasn't going to take the blame for it. Heaving a heavy sigh, he trudged after her.

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.

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Holding his phone aloft, he stepped carefully through the brush. If he wanted to find the dumb girl, he needed to be able to hear her. Fortunately for him, she was making such a racket that all he had to do was follow her stomping somewhere off in the near distance. She was yelling for Gabite, and her light kept flickering in and out of existence like an Illumise as she ran around trees. Was she trying to attract every wild nocturnal Pokemon within a mile's radius with that shrill voice of hers?

He could feel a headache coming on as he stepped over a fallen tree in his path. He'd long passed the markers for the worn trails he knew she normally took, and more and more debris was getting in his way. He was just kicking a rock the size of his fist out of his path, instantly regretting it when it smarted his toes, when a yelp caught his attention. Looking back up, he glanced around the darkness in search of her phone's light, but realized he couldn't see it anymore. Even though he knew there were small eyes reflecting back at him as he looked around, he kept moving in the general direction of where he'd heard that yell. If she'd somehow gotten hurt, he was not going to drag her all the way back.

He hadn't gone very far when the familiar babbling of Piplup caught his attention. It was a high pitched cry, frantic in tone, and it sounded somewhere off to his left. Moving quickly, he ignored sharp leaves and bristles that grabbed at his pants leg as he searched the area. His phone was slowly dying and could act as a flashlight for only so much longer, and he cursed as he nearly tripped over a hidden root. Screw it.

"Hey!" he called, night prowlers be damned. Nearby critters could be heard skittering away at the volume of his voice, but he forced down the mild sense of unease that was starting to wash over him. Fear is weakness, you can't let them sense it. "Troublesome, you alive out there?"

Silence greeted him, then the sharp cries of Piplup sounded again. Even though it echoed throughout the trees, the canopy of leaves above him absorbed the sound. If he'd had to go in any other direction except straight, he probably never would have known where to find them.

It took a bit more walking than he'd expected, but after ducking under some low hanging branches, he sighed at the sight before him. "Please tell me you didn't get hurt again?"

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, cursing softly, was a somewhat disheveled Dawn. Leaves were stuck in her hair, small twigs that she plucked at having attached to her sleeves and dirt covering one shoulder. "Shut up," she snapped.

"Ran right into these branches, didn't you?"

Silently she glared at him, more than confirming his suspicions.

"You can get hurt doing anything, can't you?"

Groaning loudly, the blunette slowly rolled to her knees, then pushed herself to a standing position. She brushed at the dirt on her knees, grumbling that her phone had slipped out of her hand as she'd come upon the branches. She hadn't seen them coming, and they'd smacked her right in the face and knocked her off balance. "At least it wasn't a log this time," she muttered to herself.

Her movements were stiff as she leaned over to pick up a distraught Piplup. He'd been sitting at her feet crying, more out of worry and shock than any actual harm. When she'd fallen on her face, he'd gone flying out of her arms straight into a bush. She'd been in so much shock from the impact of the hard ground against her shoulder that she'd blanked mentally for a few seconds, but the small penguin's cries had brought her back to awareness. Next thing she knew, Paul was yelling for her and easily pushing aside the branches that had taken her down. Lovely.

As she was softly consoling her crying Piplup, a squawk caught both of their attention. From a nearby bush they saw Gabite stepping through the underbrush. Its eyes glinted in the dying light of Paul's phone, and they saw a look of frustration on its face. It was chirping quietly in a rough tone, swivelling its head back and forth in a feeble effort of picking up what it had been tracking. But with a huff it seemed to give up, trudging over to the teenagers.

"Gabite, are you okay?" The blunette carefully edged toward the landshark, attempting to keep her grip on Piplup steady.

Squawking, it gently nosed at her hair. All of its aggression from earlier seemed to have melted away, and she could see how tired it was now by the slump of its shoulders.

Sighing in defeat, Dawn conceded that it was probably best that they all just head home. Maybe if it picked it up again tomorrow they could try one more time, but for the moment they all needed rest. Her phone, which had landed screen up in the dirt, barely had a quarter of battery left, and Paul's finally flickered off as it died. When he tried turning it on again, the screen wouldn't even light up.

"Guess I'm the acting flashlight now." Brushing off her phone, she leveled the light with the ground. Waving it around for a good angle, she shivered when she saw a large footprint nearby in the dirt. It was obviously made by something bigger than any of them, and she rushed for them to start heading back when she saw another. There was a trail of them leading off behind them, and none of them argued with her as they quickly retraced their steps through the bushes.

It was a quiet walk back. They were all tense, more so now than earlier since there were more eyes that glinted back at them from the shadows. Dawn felt a chill go down her spine when she heard the skittering of feet across leaves just inches from the path they were taking. Trying not to panic, she groped around until she caught Paul's arm. Since he was taller he'd taken to holding her phone above them for light, and his hold on it nearly faltered when the blunette suddenly grabbed him.

He was ready to tell her to let him go until she muttered, "I don't like being out here now, I admit this was a bad idea and I'd like to get home, please." He mused that she hadn't seemed scared earlier, but it wasn't the dark that was setting her on edge. He agreed that the feeling of unknown creatures watching you was unsettling, so instead of just shaking her off, he managed to wiggle his arm enough that he could take her hand instead. If she hung on to him like that, they were likely to stumble, he tried to tell himself.

He wasn't very convincing.

Luckily it wasn't very long before they could finally see the dim glow of the street lights through the trees. The cul-de-sac wasn't very far now, and Dawn sighed in relief. Now she could finally sit and relax, put her feet up and maybe spend some time sprawled across the couch if Paul didn't kick her off of it. She'd taken to claiming it recently, and maybe this time Reggie might take her side—

Oh, no.

"Oh, no," she repeated out loud. She pressed her cheek woefully against Paul's shoulder as she sighed. He just glanced down at her. She started muttering about their upcoming confrontation with Reggie since she knew he was waiting for them now. Paul cursed. He'd forgotten, too.

"Whatever happens, happens," he grumbled, wiggling his arm in a weak attempt at making her let go. But she didn't release him, only reached for her phone as they finally breached the wood's treeline. Piplup had fallen asleep at some point, and luckily she had his Ball with her, so she'd returned him to the capsule to free both hands.

"Oh, no you don't." She switched off the flashlight right before the phone died, scowling at the black screen. "If I'm going down for this, you're going down with me."

"I didn't even do anything to get yelled at for," he countered. He didn't really care when Reggie scolded him since a majority of what he said fell on deaf ears anyway. He knew a good idea from a bad one, though, and he had to admit that this whole little escapade of theirs had definitely been on the bad side.

Scoffing, Dawn dialed up the drama. "I'm sorry, but you just let little old me wander in the woods by myself at night." She grasped her collar, as if she were clutching at imaginary pearls. "You never know what could be out, especially these days. It's much too dangerous for me to be out here without at least a capable companion."

"Gag."

She continued to pick at him as they walked, and she giggled when he told her that she didn't need him as her escort—despite her idiotic nature, between the two of them she was definitely the better one at traversing the unmarked trails that wove between the trees. Even though she did seem to get lost nearly every time she decided to go traipsing in the wilderness, she'd probably be able to find her way out eventually.

Maybe.

It wasn't long before they were passing her house. They moved quickly and quietly, Dawn making half hearted jabs at him about doubting her usefulness, all the while making sure Glammy didn't notice them through the open window. She could just barely hear the low hum of the living room TV through it, a thin line of light shining beneath the closed curtain. A stab of guilt ran through her, but she swallowed it down when she saw a round head with pointed ears poke around the curtain.

Muttering multiple curses under her breath, she pulled Paul along at a faster pace before he could make a quip about her colorful language. She didn't use it often, and now wasn't exactly the time for him to make a comment on it. They'd have time for that later.

Once they were far enough away that she was sure Glammy couldn't see them around the neighbors' fences, she breathed a short-lived sigh of relief. Because before Paul could even get a word out, she'd skidded to a halt. Confused, the boy looked down at her and saw that her expression had turned grim. Following her eyes he saw why.

A figure was waiting for them only a few houses down. They were tall, their arms crossed over their chest and foot tapping on the sidewalk as they stood tensely watching the two of them. Quickly dropping hands, Dawn attempted to scramble some sort of excuse together, but was cut off when the figure uttered only two words:

"Inside. Now."

We're so dead.

In the short amount of time that she had known him, Dawn was able to note three things about Reggie: he was normally level-headed, coming off as fairly laid back; gardening was his way of relaxing and unwinding from his work at the Pokémon Daycare in town; and not once when she was around had he ever raised his voice much higher than his normal speaking voice.

But the one thing about him that Dawn avoided if at possible: his anger.

Paul had told her about the fights he'd gotten into when he was in school, that his brother's attitude had been worse than his own at their age. She'd seen the small scars on Reggie's hands, even one that was hidden beneath his collar—Paul tried to tell her it was from a knife fight, but she was dubious—so she knew they weren't just stories to scare her. After she'd learned what a ruthless fighter he'd been as a teenager, though, Dawn had tried to do her best to keep from getting on his bad side. Sort of.

Okay, so she hadn't been that careful lately.

Someone kill me, she inwardly groaned as she flexed her fingers. Her shoulders ached from overexertion, and just as she was ready to drop her arms, a sharp voice from beyond the back door stilled her movements.

For nearly twenty minutes now, Dawn and Paul had been subjected to sitting with their arms held above their heads. They had to stay like that for an hour. One long, strenuous hour.

She sniffed. I don't know if I hate this more or the yelling.

Unfortunately for them, Reggie had given them such a verbal thrashing that Dawn had almost missed her mom's scolding. He didn't exactly yell, but his tone was angry enough that it set her on edge. He went on and on how they needed to stop going off on their own, that it was still dangerous to be out in the forest, especially at night. They didn't know what was going on, why did they keep going back and making everyone worry? Reggie had demanded. Dawn couldn't give him an answer, and Paul had just frowned at the floor.

"If this keeps happening, I can't guarantee that you'll be allowed over anymore, Dawn. You need to talk to your mother, and soon before the two of you go off and actually come back hurt."

Dawn had almost cowered at the idea of facing her mother so soon. She knew she would have to eventually, but she was putting it off for as long as she possibly could; whether from guilt, shame, or a combination of the two, she didn't know. Nor did she want to at the moment.

Once he'd let off enough steam and given them their punishment, Reggie had nearly stomped outside for a smoke break. Seemed like he didn't really care about trying to hide his habit anymore, mostly since he'd left the door cracked so he could still monitor them. Not like it even mattered, both teens knew he had a pack of cigarettes hidden above the doorway out back and a lighter in his pocket at all times. And, Paul had found a bottle of cologne in his jacket they guessed he used to try and mask the heavy smell of smoke. It was difficult to do, though, since he almost constantly reeked of it these days.

Neither said anything or looked at the other as they sat in silence. It was difficult for Dawn to find what to say after that reprimanding, especially since she was pretty sure she was the only one who felt awkward anyway. Everything that had gone wrong that day had to do with her, whether it was them stumbling into trouble, or trouble just finding them on its own. I see where the nickname came from now, at least.

The silence stretched on for the entirety of their punishment. Once Reggie called time, the two teenagers almost flopped over in relief. Dawn groaned as she rubbed at each arm with a shaking hand, trying to massage feeling back into both limbs. Beside her, Paul cursed as he stood up and went over to the couch. She saw him flop heavily onto it, working at his shoulder in a similar fashion. Tentatively, she stood and quietly joined him.

Sinking deep into the velvet cushions, the blunette mumbled an apology to the boy. She knew it was their fault that they'd gotten yelled at, and her pride felt kind of bruised from having to admit it. But he snorted and brushed it off. Oddly enough, she'd noticed that he almost never seemed to take her apologies if it wasn't something serious. She guessed if he thought it was for a frivolous reason he would deem it unnecessary, that she didn't have to say sorry for him to know that she already was. It would have been almost comforting if not for that fact that he always brushed off her apologies. It made her wonder why he did that, but she decided to not overthink it.

She'd pulled her feet onto the couch and rested her chin on her knees in an attempt to get more comfortable, but she felt almost itchy from the amount of energy she could feel running through her. Must have still been coming down from her panic high after getting yelled at, she assumed.

"So," she said, in a weak attempt at breaking the silence, "what now?"

Glancing over at him, she saw he'd pulled out his phone. He was texting someone, his thumbs moving across the screen. Who he could tolerate long enough to exchange messages, she had no clue.

He barely even spared her a look, just grunted, "What do you mean?"

Biting at the inside of her cheek, the blunette moved one of the couch pillows from behind her. Holding it to her chest she continued. "I mean, what do we do? Do you think it's a good idea for us to go back out there tomorrow?"

He paused, thumbs hovering mid-type.

"Gabite definitely picked up on something, and things have been weird lately."

Now he put his phone down long enough to level a stare at her. "Define weird. This whole town is off kilter."

She snorted. "Well, that's already obvious. No, I mean something actually weird." She motioned in the general direction of the front door. "Have you noticed that the dragons have been slowly disappearing? I don't think I've seen one in weeks."

Giving a noncommittal shrug he continued to mess around on his phone.

"Paul, seriously." She lightly pushed him with her foot, but quickly recoiled when he gave her a sharp look. "There used to be swarms of them around the neighborhood. A majority of them live in the woods and the mountains beyond, but I've barely seen one the past few days. And my house is pretty close to the treeline."

Thumb against the lock button, he seemed to mull over her words for a moment as he kept clicking it. It was hard to deny her point and they both knew it.

Just what the hell was going on?

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.

.

It was quiet that night.

Dawn lay on the couch again, curled against the soft back cushion she'd come to know so well. The soft ticking of the clock sounded somewhere behind her, but she tried to block it out as she pondered her earlier words: there was definitely something driving out the dragon population. Was it because of that Tyrantrum that Barry had told her about? Was it running them off in an attempt to claim territory for itself?

Was it actually succeeding?

All the overturned trees with mysterious claw marks; the missing dragons that used to fill the sky; everything was turning into one big puzzle that seemed to be missing so many pieces.

Now overcome with frustration, she threw back her blanket and sat up. Rustling her hair roughly as she got to her feet, she started pacing in an attempt to ease her mind. She'd been doing that a lot lately. It didn't help that everything in her life was becoming so complicated. Was it too hard to ask for an easy day with nothing to bother her or completely ruin her mood? Ugh, she needed some water.

The near-silent sound of her steps filled her ears as she padded barefoot over the linoleum. It was cold against her toes, but she ignored it as she filled a glass she'd retrieved from the cabinet. She'd grown accustomed to doing this because of all of her "study sessions" spent in the kitchen with Paul. By now she could probably navigate the Shinjis' kitchen blindfolded if the situation called for it. But for now she just sipped at her water as she leaned against the counter.

Thoughts of earlier clouded her mind, constantly nagging at her as she tried to relax. There was so much tension in her shoulders; what was she so on edge for? She was in the safe confines of the house, and Gabite was just outside if she ever needed it. Her new companion had taken to sleeping outside recently, as if its instincts were telling it to guard its territory and master. With the sense of danger Dawn felt hanging over her, maybe staying vigilant wasn't such a bad idea. She'd worry about that in the morning, though.

For the time being she needed sleep, so she set her glass in the sink and made her way back to the couch and under her blanket. With her back to the rest of the room, she ducked her head under the covers and tried to resume sleeping.

"Mommy, when's Daddy coming home?"

Johanna closed the book she'd been reading to Dawn. The lines that were forming around her eyes seemed deeper as she sighed and looked at her daughter. "I don't know sweetie. I know you miss him, because Mommy does too."

A tiny Dawn resettled herself in bed, fluffing the pillow behind her. Pressing her face into it, she glanced up with round blue eyes. "I hope it's soon. He promised he'd take me to play in the park. I want him to push me on the swings again."

"He'll do that and more." With a kiss to her forehead, Johanna set the book aside as she turned out the bedside light. "For now it's time for bed. I'll see you in the morning, sweetie."

"G'night, Mommy …"

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Loud crashing sounds against the roof, the tell-tale shattering of glass. A terrified Dawn sat with her blankets wrapped tightly around her. The noise had violently startled her awake from a peaceful, quiet sleep. She usually couldn't sleep when her Daddy was away from home, but for once she'd been able to close her eyes and drift off quickly. Now she was frozen as everything continued around her, only able to cry silently as she waited for Mommy to come rescue her.

But she never came.

The couch rocked as Dawn shot up. She'd been dead asleep—somewhere in the middle of singing Seedots welcoming her to the forest and playing red rover with a bunch of Teddiursa—when she'd more or less been shoved into that. Sweat beaded on her brow as she tried to force herself to take deep, even breaths before anxiety could take over. Tears pooled in her eyes as she inhaled so deep she nearly coughed, but her heart finally seemed to calm.

With a small, broken sob she set her feet on the floor and her face in her palms. What the hell was that. It wasn't a real memory, that much she was sure of at least. Her mother had read to her when she was younger, but nothing about those horrible noises were familiar. She was convinced that her mental state had been scarred to the point where she couldn't escape into her dreams anymore. It had been pushing about three or fours weeks now, and she was sick of it.

When was this living nightmare going to end?

Morning came agonizingly slow the next day as the sun seemed to take its sweet time breaching the horizon. No sunlight could creep between the curtain since they'd been pulled shut the night before. Reggie was keeping a sharp eye out for what could be lurking outside, almost more so than Gabite. He hadn't liked his wards tromping around in the dangerous woods after dark without knowing where they were. He was such a mom sometimes, Dawn felt like she was still home.

In the meantime, the blunette rolled over sleepily. She'd managed to catch a few more hours of fitful sleep after such a restless night, but it still hadn't helped to make her feel any rested. Yawn after yawn escaped her mouth as she stood, dragging the blanket behind her on her way to the kitchen. Maybe some more water would help.

The only thing in the sink was her glass from the night prior, but she looked past it as she grabbed a new one from the cabinet. No sense using the same glass, she thought idly. It felt like she would awaken whatever ghost was seemingly haunting her dreams. Almost like a curse, she sneered as she gulped down her drink. Refraining from slamming the glass down, she trudged back into the living room when she was finished.

She didn't really know what Sunday mornings were like at the Shinji household, but she really hoped Reggie didn't clean like her mother. If he did, she only had two choices for escape: stay upstairs or sneak outside. Neither were great options since it was chilly in the mornings, yet she had no idea where she could hide on the second floor. She highly doubted Paul would let her camp out in his room for the day, and she felt it'd be weird staying in Reggie's. Outside it was, then.

A cool draft blew inside as Dawn slowly cracked the back door open. It was still dim outside, but the sky was slowly becoming stained with rich, warm hues of red and orange. A single rocking chair sat on the back patio by the door, and it was there that Dawn decided to sit. With the blanket wrapped around her like a shawl, the blunette slowly began rocking as she looked around the backyard. This house was set far enough away from the trees that the back lawn was longer than hers. Multiple small structures sat along the property fence lines, facing inward to create an aisle. She supposed they were for any little ones Reggie brought home from the Daycare.

While lost in her thoughts, Dawn failed to notice the presence that had crept across the patio stones. It was only when they came to stand next to her, settling quietly beside the base of the chair, that she glanced up. She hadn't even heard them move, something had just told her she needed to look up.

Blinking in surprise, Dawn smiled at her Gabite. It chirped sleepily at her, yawning as it tried to figure out an angle that would allow it to lean against the house siding. Dawn chuckled as she watched it struggle to get into a comfortable position, its tail somewhat knocking into the frame of the chair, but it eventually decided to just crouch on its haunches in defeat.

Being mindful of its rough skin, she patted its forehead. "Did you have a good night, Gabite?"

The landshark hummed, a pleasant feeling against Dawn's hand as she gently rubbed her thumb over its crown. She spoke in murmured tones to the Cave Pokemon, just enjoying some quiet time alone with it. Piplup was almost always somewhere nearby causing a ruckus, so she rarely had any one-on-one time with it like this. It was nice.

Dawn was just teasing Gabite for being so quiet, playfully rocking its head back and forth by its engine-like appendages as it humored her, when a loud noise startled them both. Skin prickling with goosebumps, they both looked up in confusion. It had come from the direction of the yard, somewhere beyond the fence that lined it.

"What in the world was …?" Dawn started, gripping the blanket tightly around her as she stood, but a gust of wind so strong it almost knocked her over blew across the yard. It roared in her ears, kicking up dirt and leaves from the ground, and she struggled to stay upright for a moment. Gabite instinctively stepped in front of her, shielding her from small branches that flew helter skelter in the air.

Those trees are over a hundred yards away, she thought, astonished as she tried to peer around Gabite. Darn, she couldn't see over the fence due to its height. Through slitted eyed, she tried to search for the source of this sudden gale, when a flash of color against the trees in the distance caught her attention. It was a bright yellow, a contrast of green against what she assumed were wings as it darted into the sky.

Was that a dragon?

A growl rumbled from Gabite as it tracked the unknown form with its eyes until it became a small dot in the distance. Dawn knew it was fighting its instincts of chasing after it to stay with her, and she was thankful for it as she kept her face ducked against its rough shoulder.

Slowly the strong draft died down to a mild breeze, leaving only stray leaves dancing across the grass. Pushing her hair away from her face, Dawn peered around the yard, but everything was still. Sighing, she rubbed at her eyes. "I wasn't just imagining that, right?" she said, more to herself really than Gabite.

It harrumphed, a gruff, disagreeable sound.

"I figured as much." Biting at her lip, Dawn gathered the blanket higher over her shoulders. "Something was watching us, but why? I don't want to make theories out of nothing, but …"

Gabite hummed and nosed at her hair, and she sighed again. I'm going to be just like my dad.

"Let's go back inside," she murmured, casting a wary glance toward the fence line. Gabite chirped at her, and she guessed, "You want to go after it?"

She assumed it wanted to patrol the area, and she didn't blame it. Almost the entirety of its tail twitched in agitation, eyes locked over the backyard. Dawn bit her lip, debating. "We don't know what that was, someone may have sent it to watch us. I'm too exhausted to stop you, but if you do try to track it you have to stay in the area, okay? Something's going on, and I can't have you disappearing on us, all right?"

The land shark nodded, and she gave it a soft pat on the head before taking a step back. It took off from the patio, across the yard, and easily scaled the fence. There was a solid thump as it cleared the top of it, then shuffling footsteps as it raced off on its hunt.

Sighing, Dawn turned to go back inside, suddenly exhausted again. If it's not one thing, I swear it's another.

Closing the door softly behind her, she dragged her feet back over to the couch, where she all but flopped onto it. Taking notice of the time, she grumbled very grumpily when she realized she just might have to partake in whatever Reggie did on Sundays after all. Hopefully, he'd at least let her sleep in first, especially since being awake this early on a Sunday morning had not been an original part of her agenda. Sundays were for sleeping late and avoiding chores.

The sun was higher in the sky by now, early morning light just barely peeking under the skirt of the curtains. She really wished she could blot it out, just get rid of it all if it meant she didn't need to do anything again, ever. But the telltale sound of one of the brothers getting out of bed sounded down the stairs. Groaning into her pillow, Dawn lay face first in it. She didn't even care that the blanket had slipped to the floor, exposing her back where her shirt had ridden up. It was just skin, the blunette grumbled internally. Even though she knew Reggie would do the gentlemanly thing of covering her back up if he came downstairs, she really didn't have much of an idea of what Paul would do. In all honesty, if she wasn't so tired she would probably be embarrassed if it was him who came down and saw her like this. At least she still had her shorts on.

Arceus, it feels like my life has turned into a stupid rom-com lately. Giving in to her habits, she tugged her shirt down and snatched the blanket back over her. Can't even break one stupid cliché. "Oh my stars, my skin is bare to the eye, doth not look at me!" Snickering to herself, she cocooned deeper into the recesses of her blanket. The daily pattern of broken sleep was making her nearly delirious at this point, it was a wonder she could still function on command anymore.

Time was barely a concept to her as she lay there listening to the noises above her. Both of them were awake now. One was in the bathroom taking a shower while the other seemed to be mulling about their room. She couldn't tell them apart by their footsteps yet, but if she had to take a guess she'd assume that Reggie was already in the process of dressing for the day. He had the advantage of the master bath, so naturally he had a head start on his brother.

Within minutes the eldest Shinji was quietly making his way downstairs and past the couch into the kitchen. He'd paused momentarily to check on her, and she heard him snort when he saw the way she was laying. He fixed her blanket with deft fingers so it wouldn't smother her, just the way she knew he would, before continuing beyond the room.

The meager sounds of the stovetop being switched on and the fridge swinging open reached her ears. While Reggie went about starting breakfast she stayed hidden in her cocoon. There wasn't much point in disturbing him in his natural element; she knew he would be making enough for all of them, and any sort of assistance she might offer he would just shoo away. So she buried her face back into the warm folds of the blanket, twitching her toes in a weak effort to keep from fully dozing off.

The sudden creak of the couch frame sent her scrambling into a sitting position, startling her back into awareness.

"Wow, chill."

Heart thumping in her ears, the teen saw Paul sitting on the couch arm. One leg was propped on the cushion by her feet, and he looked quizzically down on her as he took a swig of whatever was in his glass. "Breakfast is ready," he said simply. Handing the glass off to her, he extricated himself from his seat and shuffled into the kitchen. Realizing she really had dozed off, the blunette slowly straightened, yawning.

The whole inside of her head felt fuzzy as she sipped whatever Paul had handed her. Oh, orange juice. It helped the dryness of her throat, slowly working to clear her clouded thoughts.

Then she remembered the strange visitor.

Due to poor sleep and her memory being hazy at the moment, she wondered if what she'd experienced was really just a dream after all. A very, very vivid dream. But when she looked for Gabite's ball to confirm this, it popped open in her hand and showed it was empty.

Pursing her lips, Dawn tried not to think about it as she drained the glass, setting it and the capsule down as she followed Paul into the kitchen.

This just wasn't her morning already.

A/N: Let's just say life took the steering wheel and veered me off onto a side street that added a long time to the destination.

Now keep going.