Chapter Text
Dawn…seek out all Pokemon…and you shall find me…
Dawn came back to the waking world slowly, a headache threatening to split her head in two. She groaned, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands before cracking a single eye open.
She was greeted by a little white, furry face with two black eyes and a brown nose. The little thing chirruped, confused, pawing at her face.
“G…Give me a second.” Dawn mumbled. It felt like something was trying to crawl into her brain. Was this what happened when people had prophetic dreams?
“...ke up…wake….up!...ooh…Do wake up…won’t you?”
Dawn struggled to sit up, still rubbing her eyes. “I-I’m awake! I-I just…ow…my head…”
A gentle hand on her back helped keep her steady. “There we go. Take your time! I’m just glad you’re OK.”
When she opened her eyes, blinking in the harsh sunlight, she found the gentle hand belonged to a middle-aged man in a hat and labcoat. The man smiled, “You gave me quite the shock, falling from the sky like that. But thank goodness, you seem unharmed!”
“Well, my head really hurts.” Dawn objected.
The man nodded. “I see. Don’t worry, I had a particularly nasty migraine just yesterday, I should still have some medication in my bag-” A look of horror dawned upon him as he glanced over his shoulder where his bag presumably was. “MY BAG! M-My research! My pokemon!”
Looking over, Dawn saw three pokemon - including the one with the white face from earlier - rummaging and making a mess of his bag. Dawn considered herself well versed in Pokemon behaviors, having raised and trained a handful before - and these three weren’t acting out of mischief or boredom.
They were acting confused, almost frightened.
“Oh, blast and bother! My darling pokemon, why are you doing this?!” He turned to her, helping Dawn stand up. “I’m terribly sorry - I know we just met and I promised you help - but could you help me round up my pokemon? I beg you! Once that’s done, I’ll help in any way I can, I promise!”
Even with a near-blinding headache, Dawn was confident in her Poke-Rustling abilities. “Sure, Mr…?”
“Professor Laventon.” the man said with a nod. “I’m a bit of a professor myself!”
A professor who couldn’t control his own Pokemon? Now she’s seen everything. “I’m Dawn. And I’d be happy to help you.”
The tea Professor Laventon made her to assist with her headache was one of the worst things Dawn had the displeasure of tasting. “What’s in this?”
“Local plants and berries.” He replied, giving her a look over. “So…you fell from the sky with nothing more than a headache…and I must say, your clothing is most unusual. You wouldn’t happen to have an acquaintance in these parts, would you?”
Dawn gulped. “Where are ‘these parts’ exactly?” She didn’t recognize the geography much, and they used Pokeballs she was unfamiliar with. And when she found her phone - with an unfamiliar case - all it said was “Seek Out All Pokemon” once more. Was this Johto? Maybe she was dreaming?
Laventon looked bewildered and concerned. “You don’t even know where you are? This is Hisui.”
She nearly spit out her tea. Hisui? She only heard that name in her History books - Sinnoh’s ancient name. She didn’t travel far, at least distance-wise, but she had to be centuries in the past!
Everyone she knew…didn’t even exist yet. Could Barry fine her millions of dollars for being too early?
“Uhhmmm…I don’t know…anyone here.” she answered slowly.
Professor Laventon scratched his chin. “I see…you seem to be in a bit of a pickle. You don’t know the area, nor anyone who lives here…this is a proper pickle indeed. Are you quite sure you’ll be able to survive?”
“Survive?”
“That’s not a reassuring answer…Well, no gentleman would abandon a person in such need!” Laventon reached into his coat pocket, removing a thickly bound book. “You see, I have a dream - to compile this region’s first complete record of its Pokemon!”
“A Pokedex.” Dawn instinctively replied between sips of bitter-tasting tea.
“Yes! Exactly that! Unfortunately, Pokeballs have only just been invented-”
Dawn did spit out her tea at that. There was no way. Absolutely no way he was serious. “S-Sorry. I got uh…bitter lump.”
Laventon nodded in understanding before continuing. “You have a knack for catching Pokemon, my dear girl. Perhaps we can help one another! You aid in my research, and I can help with shelter.”
Dawn didn’t have much of a choice. She was in a strange place she didn’t recognize, with a kind professor offering aid.
And her phone did tell her to seek out all pokemon…
“Yeah. OK.” Dawn said, trying not to sound too downtrodden. She’d wake up from this strange dream soon enough.
As she stood to begin following the professor to his village, Dawn looked up at the sky. There, looming above the highest mountain, was a crack in the sky itself. It crackled with lightning and pulsed like a sickening heartbeat, almost audible in her ears.
Just looking at it made Dawn’s head hurt again.
“Miss Dawn! Don’t dawdle now! We don’t want to be out in the open after dark!” Prof. Laventon called over, waving to her.
She ran to catch up with him, wrapping her arm around his to ensure they didn’t get separated. Dawn liked physical contact, something about holding hands, or hugs, or anything of the sort comforted her deeply.
Professor Laventon’s village was thankfully close. By the time they reached the gates, the sun was already setting. While Dawn’s headache was mostly gone, she started aching in other places - notably her legs and arms. It felt similar to when she was younger and just about to go through a growth spurt.
Laventon greeted the guardsman, assuring them that Dawn was with him and not a threat.
The village was small, with a houses and a few larger buildings. It was rural looking, although Dawn wasn’t sure what she expected from a village. She expected more Pokemon though, every town and city she had visited in Sinnoh had at least one pokemon out and about, but there weren’t any.
All she got were judgemental stares and whispers. Everyone looked so…weird. Although, in this situation, Dawn was the weird one. “This is Jubilife Village!It’s come a long way thanks to the fine people of the Galaxy Expedition Team!”
Jubilife Village? Galaxy Team? Now she had to be dreaming, there was no way. It was all too coincidental. This was either a crazy dream…or she had traveled back in time.
That was crazy. That was too crazy.
“Miss Dawn, you’re squeezing me rather tight…is everything OK?” Laventon asked in a hushed tone.
“I’m just…tired.”
He pat the hand holding onto his arm reassuringly. “I completely understand. I just need to file a report in the Galaxy Hall, and I can get you to your quarters. Might I ask you to wait for me at the canteen? It’s just past this bridge here, then to the left. It’s called the Wallflower. Don’t let Beni upset you, OK?”
At the bridge, Laventon and Dawn split, with Dawn carefully walking to wait by the canteen. There was a man standing outside, who frowned at her. “Well now, aren’t you awfully suspicious?” the man - Beni - said, sounding suspicious.
Dawn sniffed, her headache shifting for her sinuses. “...it’s been a long day.”
Beni huffed. “The Wallflower’s for Galaxy Team folk only. We don’t have seats for outsiders.”
“I don’t want to eat here anyway!” she shot back, very much not in the mood to be judged by adults. “Laventon just told me to wait here!”
Continuing to huff and mumble under his breath as he stepped inside. A voice behind Dawn asked, “Who are you? I’ve never seen anyone dressed like you are. What if you were attacked by a Pokemon? You’d be minced meat in those flimsy clothes!”
When Dawn turned around, she said the first thing that came to mind. “Lucas?”
But it was not Lucas. It was a boy her age with Luca’s face, yes, but it wasn’t the boy she knew. Not-Lucas’ face scrunched up as he frowned (just like Lucas did when he frowned). “No, I’m Rei. I don’t know a Lucas.”
“O-Oh. I’m sorry.” Dawn stammered. “You look a lot like a boy I know back home.”
Not-Lucas put a hand on his chin as he said, “So you’re not from here! You have to have a connection to someone from here to be let in by the guards-”
“Professor Laventon invited me. He needs my help with the Pokedex.” Maybe, like in the waking world, Not-Lucas was the professor’s assistant, just like how Lucas was Rowan’s assistant.
“He needs it.” Not-Lucas agreed. “His Pokemon do get away from him at times. It makes me a bit worried for him…” he glanced down sheepishly. “I suppose I’m hardly one to talk - I’ve had trouble with Pokemon myself. I was hit by a thundershock not too long ago and had to take to my bed.”
What a baby. She got shocked plenty of times while raising up her Luxray back home.
“Unfortunately, it’s just as Rei says.” said Laventon, joining the two. “I’m a clumsy sort of fellow, to put it mildly!”
Not-Lucas - Rei, evidently - nearly jumped. “Professor! I didn’t hear you come up!”
“Rei, this is Dawn.” the professor introduced the two. “Dawn, this is Rei! Dawn is going to help us with our Pokedex!”
Rei bristled like an upset bidoof. “Excuse me? You plan to appoint her to the survey corps? You can’t just slap a badge on whoever you like without Captain Cyllene’s permission!”
“I’ll allow it.”
A woman had left the Galaxy Hall. At a distance, she looked familiar, but it wasn’t until Dawn saw her stern eyes and emotionless face the connection clicked.
(Her therapist had told her that nothing Dawn did was her fault. That Cyrus was a bad man, and she did a very good thing in stopping him. But at night sometimes she was still haunted by the fact that Cyrus was out there, somewhere. Was she in the right to leave him in the Distortion world alone?)
Dawn gulped. “Captain Cyllene?!” Rei shouted, clearly just as surprised and nervous.
“Assuming the individual can contribute to the Survey Corps, that is.” said Captain Cyllene, giving Dawn a withering stare. “I am the captain of the Galaxy Team Survey Corps. You may call me Cyllene. Professor Laventon has told me how you helped secure his pokemon when they slipped his control.”
Laventon gave Dawn a big, warm smile. A stark contrast to Cyllene’s cold exterior. She continued, “And now it seems he would like us to feed and house you in exchange for your ongoing labor.”
Cyllene looked Dawn up and down, the corners of her mouth twitching into a frown for just a moment. “You look fifteen or so. Quite old enough to earn your keep.” Dawn was not fifteen. She was only thirteen, turning fourteen in a few months. But it sounded like her stay in this town was on the line, so she kept her mouth shut. “But we can’t simply take on a stranger who wanders in among us, without any idea of their skills or origins.”
“Tomorrow, we shall see if you can prove yourself worthy.”
She even spoke like Him. Dawn found herself shaking, but bowed to Cyllene. “Y-Yes m’am! I’ll-I’ll work as-as hard as I c-can!”
Laventon chuckled, placing a hand on Cyllene’s shoulder. To Dawn’s amazement, she didn’t shake his hand off immediately. “Oho! A most reasonable decision captain! Now, would you care to join us for a meal? I’m sure you’ve got plenty of questions for our visitor!”
Cyllene pushed his hand off, but not in a mean way. “That’s quite alright. I prefer to eat alone so I might appreciate my meals without distraction.”
She left the three after that, giving Dawn another glance as she did so.
Professor Laventon gave Dawn’s shoulder a pat. “Well, no matter! The rest of us can share a meal and some pleasant conversation, then, eh?”
Dawn hesitated, then shook her head. “C…Can I just go to bed?.” she asked in a quiet voice, eyes on the floor.
“Oh, is it your head still?” he asked, his warm smile gone. “Yes, yes of course, Rei? The Captain said she could have one of the empty quarters, can you show her?”
“Sure, order me something while I’m gone.” said Rei, turning around. “Come on, it’s nearby.”
Dawn followed Rei, trying to keep in time with his stride. This whole scenario was looking less and less likely to be a dream…and it made Dawn feel sick - in addition to all the other aches and pains she was feeling right now.
“...you said you had a headache?” Rei asked once out of the professor’s earshot. “I had one just the other day…it was the weirdest thing. I haven’t told anyone this, but when I was out in the field, I saw the thing in the sky almost pulse, and then the next thing I knew…I had a splitting headache. But…it must’ve just been a coincidence. Or my imagination.”
“What is that thing?” she asked.
“The Professor calls it a rip in Spacetime.”
Everything hit Dawn at once.
She fell from the sky. She doesn’t know where she is. Pokeballs haven’t been invented, there are no large cities that she can see, and everyone is dressing weird. There’s a hole in Spacetime.
She was very, very far from home.
“H-Hey, what’s wrong?” Rei asked. “You got all pale.”
Dawn struggled to answer, feeling a lump in her throat. “I…I just need to sleep.”
The abode looked as if it jumped right out of a history book. “Well, it’s not much, but it’s home.” he told her. “Bed, firepit, sturdy walls. I hope it’s OK.”
“Yeah. Goodnight Rei.” said Dawn, sliding open the door and slipping inside. It was nothing like her bedroom back home. Back home. Without a word, she slipped into the bed (which was scarcely more than a mat on the floor and a blanket) and closed her eyes.
“This is a bad dream.” she told herself, voice shaking. “This-this is a horrible dream. Go to sleep, and you-you’ll wake up back home.”
Dawn repeated this mantra to herself over and over, even as her vision grew dark, even as her body and head ached beyond what she had ever experienced before. Even as horrible thoughts filled her mind - what if she never went home?
Despite all this, though, Dawn felt herself slipping into a well deserved slumber. She wouldn’t have another like it in a long, long time.
---
Dawn awoke the next morning to ringing in her ears and something tickling her face. “Ugh…Glameow, go away…” she grumbled, rolling over in her bed to grab her stuffed Cherrim. To her confusion, she could not feel her plush…or any of her other plushies.
She sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Wh…where are…” To her abject horror, she was not in her bed. She was not in her room. This was the house that the Galaxy Team had given her in exchange for her labor.
She was still stuck here.
Dawn went to rub off whatever was tickling her face. It felt like clumps of fur stuck to her skin - but when she tried to brush them away, it didn’t move. And when she tried to tug it off her face…she felt a sting of pain.
What?
She crawled on her hands and knees over to the mirror, sitting in front of it with wide eyes. The bits of fur on her face were white, two tufts on each cheek. Upon some more prodding, she discovered the tufts of fur were growing from her skin.
Her nose was pink and rounder, resembling something that a cat would have more than a person. And, when she scrunched up her face, her nose twitched, almost looking like something she’d see a buneary do.
Her ears were fuzzy, covered in dark fur the same color as her hair. With a mere thought, Dawn wiggles her ears, something she could not do before. As she gently tugged on her ears, she also noticed a subtle webbing between her fingers, barely there, but still noticeable to her.
“No, no, stop that. Wake up, wake up!” Dawn said, tugging on the white fur on her face - whiskers? Was that the right term? “You’re dreaming! This isn’t real! Wake up!”
No matter how hard she pinched and tugged, tears stinging the corners of her eyes, Dawn did not wake up. This was not a bad dream, this was a waking nightmare.
Going through every stage of grief in what was a record time, Dawn laid face-down on the bed mat, stunned and silent. What could she do now? She had no idea what was happening to her-
There was a knock at the door. “Good morning, Dawn. Are you up?” it was Rei, coming to get her. Right, she had to prove herself today? She had to, in order to stay. “We had some big storms last night, huh? Today’s the day of your trial. So, er…let’s give it our all!”
“RIGHT!” Dawn shouted, louder than she intended. There was no way she could go out looking like taxidermy gone wrong. They’d kick her out for sure. “I’m just uh-” she rummaged around the room, looking for some article of clothing to cover it up.
All she found was a white bandana and a red scarf.
It’d have to do.
She wrapped the white bandana around her head, covering her ears the best she could. The scarf went around her face, covering her nose and whiskers. Dawn thought she looked completely stupid, but looking stupid was a small price to pay. She couldn’t do anything about the webbing between her fingers, but she hoped no one would pay too much attention to her hands.
Dawn stepped out of the small house, greeted with a baffled look from Rei. “Uhm…what’s with the scarf?” he asked.
“Where I come from, this is like, the most fashionable thing to do right now.” Dawn lied.
Rei seemed unimpressed. “We prefer function over fashion. But I don’t think it strictly goes against the dress code…anyway, let’s get to the headquarters. Captain Cyllene is waiting.”
He ran ahead, but Dawn hesitated. Was…was he a few inches taller? No that was stupid, there was no way someone could grow a few inches in one night.
Well, there was also no way someone could grow furry ears or whiskers either, and here she was.
But making a good impression and passing the trial, whatever that meant, was her key for her survival. So she took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, and followed Rei to the Galaxy Hall.