TEEN: Broken Paths

[Hellion]

Broken Paths​

Ash has lost his battle to Paul in the Sinnoh League. Throughout his journey through the Sinnoh region, Ash had been animated with the burning desire to prove to his rival, Paul, that through bonding and training alongside them, any pokémon could become powerful. But is efforts have failed. What will become of Ash, his friends and his pokémon? Read to find out.

Chapter 1: Burned to Ashes
Chapter 2: Daybreak's Lonely Light
Chapter 3: A Pallet of Blues
Chapter 4: Nuvema Showdown

- - - - -​

Chapter 1: Burned to Ashes

Dawn could barely believe the words she’s just heard. She couldn’t believe it. For a moment, she thought it might have been her mind playing tricks on her or the din of the crowd coming off in waves behind her. The roar of the crowd swirled around her like, smothering her in noise. But as she looked up at the scoreboard, her stomach dropped: she knew she hadn’t imagined what the referee had just said. Infernape had been declared unable to battle, and Paul was declared the winner of the battle. As the crowd erupted in cheers around her, all Dawn felt the seat beneath her disappear, so did the floor and soon, the entire stadium. She felt motionless and weightless, floating in the silence of confusion. Ash had lost.

She’d said out loud, softly, like a creeping sound barely on the edge of whisper. As the words left her mouth, they sunk into her mind, as though slowly swallowed by quicksand. Ash had lost.

She sat, immobile, paralyzed by the weight of what she’d just witnessed, the implications not yet registering. After all the hard work she’d seen him put into raising his pokémon, after all the times she’d seen him train alongside them, after all the battles they’d been through, Ash and his pokémon had lost.

She was brought back to reality by the crowd growing silent.

“Ash, get up,” screamed Ash’s oldest friend, Brock, who’d been sitting right next to her stoically throughout this tournament.

Dawn turned her eyes back towards the battlefield. She saw Ash, on his knees, trying to find the strength to breathe. She could see him clenching his knuckles, turning them as white as a Snowpoint City blizzard. She stood up and tried to scream something at Ash, tried to make her voice heard in the midst of this noise, but no words came.

She felt something that felt like velveteen touch her hand. As she looked down, she saw the deep inquisitive blue eyes of her Piplup. They’d both been together since she started travelling.

“Just like Ash,” she thought.

After spending the better part of the year traveling with the older trainer from Pallet Town, Dawn could barely recall a time where she didn’t know Piplup and Ash. Those days felt like a distant memories, light years away, from where she was now. Both Piplup and Dawn had watched Ash has he’d try for the past year to prove to his rival Paul that he was just as good a trainer as he was, that Ash could get just as much as Paul, if not more, out of pokémon, by being friends with them, by believing in them. All those efforts, all those sparring matches, all those battles, it was all for nothing. Ash had lost.

“Pip… lup…” she heard her pokémon let out, almost as a pained sigh. She could tell he was feeling the same way.

She was shaken out of her thoughts by the boy on her left standing up and shouting.

“He did it,” said the blond teen, enthusiastically. “Paul really did it. He beat Ash. I knew only a superior trainer like Paul could beat me. He was really awesome, don’t you think?”

“What did you say?” she screamed. “Barry, you know Ash gave his all out there. Just because he lost doesn’t mean he’s less than Paul.”

She couldn’t believe her ears. She could feel anger boiling inside her. She’d known Barry for years, and she never thought she could feel so angry at him.

“Please,” scoffed Barry. “Paul totally outclassed Ash. He only lost two pokémon in the battle. Only Ash’s Pikachu and Gliscor managed to take out some of Paul’s pokémon, because, as usual, Paul’s caught the strongest pokémon, so he’s the strongest trainer.”

“Well, at least Ash managed to take out some of Paul’s pokémon,” argued Dawn, angrily responding to Barry’s praises. “You didn’t even manage defeat one.”

She breezed past him. She wanted to get away from him, from the crowd, from the entire stadium of fans cheering for a trainer she’d seen abuse his pokémon with her own eyes.

“Hey get back here or I’m fining you,” said Barry, but Dawn ignored it. Swiftly followed by Brock, she made her way to the trainer’s rooms in the stadium.

“Wait for me,” screamed Barry, who was running after them.

Dawn blocked him out from her mind, she only focused on Ash. She needed to talk to Ash, tell him the same things he’d once told her when she’d experienced several crushing defeats in contests. He’d always been there for her, encouraging her. She wouldn’t have gotten as far as she did in the Grand Festival, or been the coordinator she was today without Ash. As she, Brock Barry and Piplup ran down the stairs and made a left towards the locker room, Dawn felt her heart racing. Images of Ash kneeling, pounding on the ground with his fists kept flashing into her mind. Who would she find behind the door?

She pushed open the metallic blue door that led to the locker room. She saw Ash sitting on a bench, starring at the ground. He looked lost in the labyrinth of his own disappointment; Dawn could read nothing in his vacuous stare.

“Told ya you wouldn’t get anywhere with Chimchar,” said the apathetic and snarky voice of Paul, Ash’s opponent. “Even though you’ve raised him into an Infernape, he’s still just the same loser he was back then, nothing special. You wanna know why I beat you? Because I didn’t waste my time playing around with my pokémon; I went out there, and sought out the strongest pokémon, the most unique. I didn’t just capture the first run of the mill pokémon I saw; I caught winners.”

Dawn was trembling in rage. On her right, she could hear Brock’s breathing getting heavier and his eyes growing narrower. She expected Ash to bounce off the bench, and let Paul know just how wrong he was, that any pokémon could become strong if you trained them with care and friendship. She wanted Ash to yell at him, to tell him he was wrong, but she just saw Ash fixating on the ground. While she couldn’t see his eyes, Dawn didn’t hear him cry. This worried her. Ash had always worn his heart on his sleeve, never hiding any of his emotions, good or bad.

“Paul, perhaps you should leave since you have that big match tomorrow,” said Brock calmly, but with authority. This wasn’t a request.

Dawn saw Paul nod to Brock and walk past her as he left the room. The three of them stayed immobile in silence as they heard the echo of Paul’s feet slowly dying off. For seconds that seemed to last a lifetime, there was no sound, no movement, just a cold stillness. Dawn could feel a wall being built, brick by brick between her and her two companions.

Breaking the tension, Piplup jumped down on the floor and ran towards the bench Ash was sitting on. His attention was solely on the badly bruised yellow rodent lying next to Ash. Dawn crept closer and took a look at the Pikachu, Ash’s oldest pokémon. He was covered in frostbites and seemed to be running a fever. Brock ran to check on the injured pokémon.

“Ash, we gotta get Pikachu to a Pokémon Center as soon as possible,” said Brock. “He’s been poisoned and we need to get him checked.”

But, Dawn didn’t see Ash moving a muscle, not even acknowledging their presence or Pikachu’s injuries. She could feel something was wrong.

“Ash, it’s me, Dawn,” she said sympathetically. “I know you’re disappointed, but we need to get Pikachu checked out.”

“Who cares?” said Ash. The two words hit Dawn like a slap in the face. It wasn’t just the fact that Ash had just said he didn’t care about Pikachu, his oldest friend, but the inhuman ease with which the words had left his mouth.

“Ash, listen to me,” started Dawn, but she never had the chance to finish her sentence.

“Just leave me alone,” shouted Ash, as he ran outside the door.

“Hey Ash, stop,” said Barry. But Ash only answered back by pushing him out of the way.

Dawn just stood, transfixed by what she’d just seen and heard. She saw Brock pick Pikachu up and grab her arm as he dragged her to Ash’s pursuit, as though knowing her feet wouldn’t have moved by themselves.

They finally found Ash standing outside in the rain, holding a pokéball in his hands. As droplets dripped from the tip of Ash’s cap, she saw him stare intently at the small metallic sphere in his palm. After a moment’s debate, Ash released the pokémon from his ball. Dawn saw a purple bat with immense yellow eyes pop out of the ball in a flash of light, which she immediately recognized as Ash’s Gliscor. The pokémon tried to jump and hug his trainer, but Dawn was shocked to see Ash forcefully push Gliscor away, who tumbled onto the muddy ground.

“You think this was good enough,” screamed Ash. “I trained you; I made you evolve; I sent you to be trained by the best, and this is how you repay me. With all of this effort, taking out only one of Paul’s pokémon was the best you could do? You’re nothing but a pathetic loser.”

As he said those words, Dawn saw Ash take Gliscor’s pokéball and smash it on the ground, shattering it in a million pieces.

“Get out of my sight, nobody could ever want a loser like you for a pokémon,” screamed Ash.

Dawn could see Gliscor’s eyes puffing up and filling themselves with tears. Gliscor was obviously confused, and didn’t understand what was happening, and he wasn’t the only one.

“Just go already,” said an exasperated Ash.

Gliscor turned away from his trainer and took off into the sky, the rain or maybe the pain weighing him down. Dawn saw Gliscor disappear into the moonless night. She turned her attention back to Ash who was getting ready to take another pokéball from his pocket.

“Ash, stop,” she screamed, running towards him, holding his hand as he was ready to call out another one of his pokémon, obviously to have it suffer the same fate. “What are you doing? Stop this.”

“You don’t understand Dawn,” Ash said to her, looking straight at her blue eyes, “They’re weak.”

“But Gliscor defeated one of Paul’s pokémon,” she argued, unconvinced.

“But he’s nothing special,” said Ash, unemotionally. “There’s a million Gliscor just like him.”

Dawn remembered the first time she and Ash encountered Paul in Sandgem Town. After a heated battle between the two, which ended in a tie, Paul had released a Starly, despite the Pokémon having come victorious in the battle. That’s what he’d said, that there were millions of Starly just like it, that it was nothing special. Dawn couldn’t wrap her head around what had just happened. She couldn’t understand how Ash could have just released one of his pokémon in anger.

“Why’d you do that for?” asked Dawn, has she pushed long locks of blue hair off her face frantically. “What happened today wasn’t his fault.”

“You’re right, it’s not his fault,” said Ash, dryly. “He couldn’t help it, but lose because that’s what he is, a loser. That’s why it was bossed around as a Gligar, that’s why it had trouble flying, because he’s just pedestrian. I’ll never be strong without strong pokémon.”

“Don’t blame him for your loss,” said Dawn. She’d tried to make her voice feel as little reproachful as she could, but to no avail. Her voice betrayed her incomprehension and shock.

“Didn’t you listen to a word I just said,” Ash said. “I don’t blame him. I blame myself for ever lowering myself to train him and those other losers, for ever thinking they were good enough. They were just a waste of my time and so were you.”

Had Ash physically hit Dawn, he couldn’t have hurt her more. She felt all strength leave her body; the magma pumping through her veins when she’d seen Paul had been frozen. She felt almost dizzy. Her mind couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

“You’re just like them,” Ash continued. “You’re nothing special, just a whiny brat who cries every time she loses. You don’t deserve what you got; everything you ever achieved was handed to you on a silver platter. Zoey was always there to tell you the basic things any coordinator would know; showing you how to pull off your combinations, practically waging your battles for you. I was always there trying to convince you that you were good when I should have cut you lose a long time ago. You’re nothing but a leech, sapping my energy, always forcing me to stand in the front row of your ridiculous contests, watching you in your ugly pink dress doing some ridiculous sparkly appeals, knowing you’d never amount to anything. The only thing you ever did was hold me back.”

Dawn stood motionless as she watched Ash turn his back on her and walk away towards Brock. She saw Ash try to pick up his pokémon, but he was quickly stopped by Brock.

“I’ll take him to the Pokémon Center,” said Brock. “You can pick him up there later.”

Both left in opposite directions, leaving Dawn in the rain, dripping wet.

“Dawn?” she heard Barry say behind her. “Dawn, are you okay?”

For a few seconds, she stayed silent, the words not coming to her. She turned around to see Barry, whose wet blonds locks had fallen on either side of his face. He looked truly worried, but she had no words to reassure him.

“Dawn, talk to me,” he asked again. “I’m gonna fine you if you keep ignoring me.”

“No,” she answered softly, her voice drowned in the noise of the torrential rain. “I’m really not.”

Silenced by the downpour, paralyzed by the words she’d heard Ash say, the things she’d seen Ash do, Dawn was unable to say more. For the first time since leaving home, she felt totally and utterly alone.

- - - - -

Comments, reviews, etc. would be greatly appreciated. I hope you like it!

 

[brickwork]

This is good so far, a very unique idea for a story. I'd love to see where you go with this. And also:

She couldn’t believe her ears. She could feel anger boiling inside her. She’d known Bar

I think you might be missing something.

Completely off-topic, but did your username come from M:TG?

 

[Hellion]

Just a precision, everything up to DP166 follows the anime canon, from that point on, I asked myself what if Ash had lost his match against Paul, what reaction would that ellicit in him. How would it affect his style as a trainer, his friends, his pokémon, so things changed. Basically, none of the anime canon after DP165 has happened in my fic, and that includes Ash's age being confirmed to be 10, Dawn's Cyndaquil and Brock's Chansey evolving, etc. I know it starts sorta emo, but it'll get cheery by chapter 2.

This is good so far, a very unique idea for a story. I'd love to see where you go with this.

Thanks!

I think you might be missing something.

Fixed, thank you

Completely off-topic, but did your username come from M:TG?

From the X-Men character.

 

[Hellion]

Chapter 2: Daybreak’s Lonely Light

Immobile, yet restless, struggling against the sheer weight of her bed sheets, Dawn was laying awake. She had been back at home for a week or so, but the memories of her last day at the Lily of the Valley Conference kept haunting her, memories of Ash. Images of a time where she was surrounded by friends kept popping into her slumbering mind like echoes of a distant past. She couldn’t believe it had only been a week; it felt like centuries. Sprawled on her bed, her long hair resting all around her like seaweed left on the beach by the receding tide, she felt like a shipwreck: empty, abandoned and useless. With good reason, Ash and Brock had just left the Conference without her; they hadn’t left a note, a message, nothing.

“Pip… Piplup?” she heard her loyal pokémon ask. She could feel the concern in his voice, asking her if she was alright, but she couldn’t seem to find the words to give him an answer.

She closed her eyes. It seemed to her that it was all she’d been doing for the past days: closing her eyes in the hopes that when she’d open them again, it would be over; Ash and Brock would still be here. But they were gone, for good it seemed.

Her eyes shot open as she heard a knock on her bedroom.

“Dawn,” she heard the familiar voice of her mother Johanna call to her.

“Yes, mom,” answered Dawn.

“Honey, are you okay?” said Johanna through the door. “If you want, we can talk about it.”

“It’s alright, mom,” answered Dawn, before adding in a dejected tone, “No need to worry.”

Those last words carried with them none of their trademark optimism, just a sense of sinking hopelessness that wasn’t lost on Johanna. Worried, she opened the door.

“When you say that is when I worry the most,” said Johanna affectionately as she sat on the side of the bed. Dawn shifted to her side, her back facing her mother.

“Well, I can’t force you to talk,” said Johanna. “But you will grab a shower, and get dressed. Breakfast is in half an hour.”

An annoyed Dawn complied; she wasn’t in any mood to argue. She got off her bed while her mother picked Piplup up and went downstairs, as if she could feel her daughter needed a moment without the inquisitive pokemon’s prodding. Dawn grabbed the black dress folded on the chair, and made her way to the bathroom. Simply turning on the hot water seemed a herculean feat. As the warm water hit her face, she was brought back to that night; she once again heard Ash’s harsh words. Part of her wanted to be convinced that Ash had simply taken out his anger out on her; that he hadn’t really meant what he’d said. But part of her thought Ash’s words rang true. She had been relying on Ash, on Zoey, on Brock. Her ribbons, her final at the Sinnoh Grand Festival, did she really deserve any of it?

Whenever she lost, Zoey and her mother had taught Dawn all she knew of contests; Brock had taught her about taking care of pokémon, and Ash had always been there to support her, to believe in her even when she didn’t believe in herself. At that very moment, Dawn kept wondering if she’d be the same person had she not met them. Dawn turned off the water, and dried herself off. As she wiped the steam off of the bathroom mirror, she saw her face looking back at her, and couldn’t help feeling like she didn’t know who she was anymore. Was she the confident Grand Finalist, or was she the lost girl who had once wanted to quit contests altogether.

Dawn put on her black and pink dress, resigned to go downstairs and sit down for a silent uncomfortable breakfast with her mother. Just as she started walking down the stairs, feeling like a death row inmate walking to the chair, she was shaken from her dreadful thoughts as she heard a voice downstairs. It sounded like a young teenage boy.

“He’s here,” she said, inaudibly. All of a sudden, it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She could feel her lips crawling up her cheeks, a smile slowly painting itself upon her face. She ran down the stairs expectantly to greet… Barry.

“Hey Dawn,” said the blond teen, with his mouth half full as he devoured the contents of his plate.

“Barry,” answered Dawn, trying hard not to let the disappointment show on her face. She liked Barry enough, but she was expecting someone else. “Isn’t this a surprise?”

“Uh?” said Barry, as he continued his eating sprint. “Your mom invited me. Didn’t she tell you?”

“Silly me, it must have slipped my mind,” said Johanna, unconvincingly. Dawn was fooled. Her mother knew she didn’t want to see anybody, or talk about the Lily of the Valley Conference, or even think about it. It was just like her mother to try and force her to face those facts, and that’s why Barry was here.

“So Barry, you’re back in Twinleaf?” said Dawn, trying to make small talk while staring at her plate.

“How was the rest of the Conference?” asked Johanna. “I do wish Dawn could have stayed until the end. It only comes once a year after all.”

“It was great,” said Barry enthusiastically. “Dawn, you should have been there. Paul was amazing. He took out 4 of Tobias’ pokémon, and they were all legendaries. Right from the start, when Darkrai put Paul’s Ursaring to sleep, I thought Paul was a goner, but he’s so awesome, he’s planned for it. He had Ursaring use sleep talk, and with Ursaring’s ability, he was able to land a super powered Hammer Arm attack on Darkrai, and then --”

“That’s alright Barry, I saw the match on the TV on the ferry,” lied Dawn. She wanted to run from the table; she wanted to be anywhere but there listening to Barry babbling on about Paul like a lovesick schoolgirl.

“Oh, then I guess you know how it all went down,” answered Barry. “I would have had to fine you for missing that match. It was the match of the century.”

As Barry went back to shovelling heaps and heaps of food in his mouth, Dawn stared at her plate, barely touching it. She knew it was coming; she could feel it, and yet when it happened, she felt totally disarmed.

“So, have you heard back from Ash?” asked Barry. She wanted to be mad at him for bringing it up, but she could see something she’d never really seen in his eyes: concern.

“No, not after…” began to answer Dawn, her eyes trying to look at anywhere but her mom, Barry or Piplup.

“Oh, well what are you planning to do now?” asked Barry, trying to change the subject. Dawn could see him fidgeting on his chair, not knowing how to handle the situation any other way than to change the subject.

She hadn’t thought about it. What was she gonna do? She figured that she would just keep on traveling with Ash and participate in contests wherever he went, but now that plan wasn’t an option anymore, she didn’t know what to do.

“I haven’t thought about it,” she managed to utter, after a long silence. She noticed the concern in everyone’s eyes. “What about you?”

“I was thinking of going over to Kanto to participate in the Battle Frontier there,” said Barry. “I want to practice before I go and challenge the one here in Sinnoh. There’ll be tons of really strong trainers, trainers strong enough that they require a certain kind of superior challengers. Look out Kanto, here I come!”

She recognized Barry’s burning desire to defeat his father Palmer, the Tower Tycoon. The fire in his eyes probably would have brought a smile to her face had Barry not mentioned Kanto. Kanto was where Ash probably was at the moment, and that taught haunted Dawn.

“You should come with me,” said Barry. “I hear they have contests over there.”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” said Johanna, obviously trying to get her daughter to chase away her dark thoughts by embarking on another journey.

“I don’t know Barry…” hesitated Dawn.

“Just say it, you don’t want to travel with me,” said Barry, obviously a little hurt. Dawn realized he was only doing this to help her, as a friend.

“That’s not it Barry,” said Dawn. “I just don’t want to get in the way. I don’t want to impose that heavy a burden on you.”

“That’s crazy talk,” answered back Barry. “You’re not a burden, and I’ll fine you a million dollars if you think that way.”

“Dawn, I think it might be good for you to do this,” said Johanna.

“Piplup Pi Pi Pip Piplup,” said her blue pokémon, obviously excited at the idea to once again prove its strength and grace in contests arenas.

She stayed silent for a long time, not knowing what to say. She knew she didn’t feel ready to embark on a new journey, but at the same time, she knew that it was the thing she needed to do. She couldn’t just wait around for Ash to come and apologize. She knew she needed to prove to herself that she was able to accomplish things on her own.

“Alright, I guess I’m in,” said Dawn. The whole kitchen erupted in cheers at her decision.

“Good thing I did a little shopping earlier in the week,” said Johanna. “You’ll have some new clothes to wear in your contests.”

“ARRRRGH! CLOTHES!” yelled Barry. “I have to go pack, right now. I’ve already wasted too much time. See ya later Dawn!”

“Wait a minute Mister,” said Dawn. “We’re leaving today?”

“No time to waste,” replied Barry, already jogging on the same spot, ready to start sprinting. “I need to pack clothes, and a map, and… there’s so much stuff to do. I gotta run!”

Dawn could only stare in pure disbelief as she watched Barry run for the door, nearly tripping on a rug in the process.

“Mom?” asked Dawn. “Could you do me a favour?”

“What is it honey?” answered Johanna.

“Could you pack for me?” said Dawn, “I want to spend a few moments with my pokémon since I won’t see them in a while.”

“Why won’t you see them?” asked Johanna.

“If I’m gonna do this, I’m only gonna take Piplup with me,” answered Dawn. “All my other pokémon are great, but… I want to start over; see what I can do by myself, not relying on others. Ash helped me catch Buneary; Brock helped prove myself to Mamoswine; Lyra gave me Cyndaquil and Salvia entrusted Togekiss to me. I trained them and taught them combinations, but I can’t help feeling that they’re not the pokémon they are today because of me. I love each and every one of them, and they’re all strong, so I want to become strong enough to deserve great pokémon like them. I’m sure Professor Rowan won’t mind looking after them.”

Dawn gave her mother a weak smile, and ran outside to enjoy the rest of the morning with her pokémon. As she watched them play around and have fun in the sunlight, she realized she’d forgotten all about them in the last few days, only thinking of what Ash had said to her. That was the other reason she’d accepted to follow Barry to Kanto. She wanted to see Ash; she wanted to talk to him, and there was no better place to do that than his home region. But that was a discussion for then, for now, she was decided to simply enjoy the company of her pokémon.

As the morning neared noon, Dawn heard her mother call her. She’d made her a lunchbox for the trip and had packed her bag. They made their way to the harbour to meet up with Barry. As they got nearer to the ocean, Dawn could feel the saline air invigorate her as it entered her lungs, or maybe some of Barry’s energy had rubbed off on her. Whatever it was, it had jolted her out of her morose state of mind… well, for the most part.

As Barry, Piplup and her boarded the ship and ran to the banister to wave goodbye at Dawn’s pokémon and Johanna, she still couldn’t shake that feeling of uncertainty that was lingering in her that she wouldn’t be up to the challenge.

“Leave it here,” she heard Barry say.

“What?” she answered confused about what he’d meant.

“Whatever you’re feeling, whatever’s holding you back,” said Barry. “What he said to you, leave it all here.”

He flashed a confident grin at her, and gave two thumbs up. She answered with a weak smile, trying to seem convincing. But deep down, she knew it wasn’t that easy.

“Next stop, Pallet Town!” she said.

“Why aren’t we there yet?” said an impatient Barry.

“Barry we just left!” said Dawn.

“I want to be there already,” answered Barry, “There are tons of super strong trainers that are just waiting there for me to beat them, and I hate making people wait. I’m gonna fine that conductor if he doesn’t get us there faster.”

Dawn and Piplup looked at each other and sighed, both thinking this trip was starting to sound a lot more exhausting than it first appeared.

 

[Necrozma]

I'm confused, is this story about Ash or Dawn? :/

Anyway, great start and nice second chapter. Although I find Ash's change in personality a bit too jarring, I guess a loss could have such an effect on him, especially after all the training he did. Also, I hated how released Gliscor. :/

One more thing, Ash and Dawn are very close friends. Why the sudden change from a nice, lovable Ash to a jerk? Can't he be like Paul, but nice instead?

Anyway, I like where this is going. She's going back to Kanto (where I assume also Ash is, unless this is a Dawn-centric story) with Barry (awesome combo with those two together) Looking forward to chapter three!

 

[Hellion]

I'm confused, is this story about Ash or Dawn? :/

It's gonna revolve around Barry, Dawn and an as of yet unrevealed character, with Ash as the main rival/antagonist, but also as the main motivation for their journey. It's about them trying to get Ash back on track... with a little help...

Anyway, great start and nice second chapter. Although I find Ash's change in personality a bit too jarring, I guess a loss could have such an effect on him, especially after all the training he did. Also, I hated how released Gliscor. :/

One more thing, Ash and Dawn are very close friends. Why the sudden change from a nice, lovable Ash to a jerk? Can't he be like Paul, but nice instead?

I do agree that I could've written the transition with more subtlety, but at the same time, I wanted to convey the feeling of rage, of hopelessness. This is the team he's trained the hardest, pushed the furthest, Sinnoh is the region that challenged him the most, and despite all that, it's still not enough. He's still not good enought to beat Paul. It's that heat of the moment fury I wanted to capture, hence the Gliscor release and the lashing out at Dawn.

Though, I'll definitely take your advice and tone it down in future chapters, but not to the point of having a "nice" Ash. He's crossed a line, he's gone to the dark place, and there's no quick fix for that.

Anyway, I like where this is going. She's going back to Kanto (where I assume also Ash is, unless this is a Dawn-centric story) with Barry (awesome combo with those two together) Looking forward to chapter three!

They might not stay in Kanto for long... just saying...

But I'm really glad you enjoyed it so far and thanks for the review! It's really helpful.

 

[pikachu200]

barry was always my favorite in gen 4, would've preffered him over Dawn in the trio. Could have make things more hilarious

 

[Necrozma]

It's gonna revolve around Barry, Dawn and an as of yet unrevealed character, with Ash as the main rival/antagonist, but also as the main motivation for their journey. It's about them trying to get Ash back on track... with a little help...

Hmm, an original character or ...?

Anyway, I'm glad I could help. Yeah, it'd be nice to see the story from Ash's perspective to see how he suddenly (and so drastically) changed his opinion and his whole attitude. Though I can kinda understand him, Sinnoh was indeed the region where he gave his best and seeing Paul crush him like that might as well have proved Paul's attitude on training strong Pokémon only correct.

I'll be reading. ^^

 

[Hellion]

Hmm, an original character or ...?

Nope...

Anyway, I'm glad I could help. Yeah, it'd be nice to see the story from Ash's perspective to see how he suddenly (and so drastically) changed his opinion and his whole attitude. Though I can kinda understand him, Sinnoh was indeed the region where he gave his best and seeing Paul crush him like that might as well have proved Paul's attitude on training strong Pokémon only correct.

Exactly, my thoughts were that Ash bet the farm on this fight and lost it all, so now, he's left feeling like his way, his philosophy, etc. is not good enough.

About making it from Ash's perspective, I was planning to have a few chapters here and there written from his perspective, but I might do one earlier than later, since you brought it up as something that could help the story.

I'll be reading. ^^

Great!

 

[pikachu200]

So Barrys going to be the mian character of this story?

 

[Hellion]

Barry, Dawn and an as of yet unrevealed character are gonna be the main characters, while Ash will be the main rival/antagonist.

 

[pikachu200]

Okay that makes sense. Is he going to be like the beginning game Silver?

 

[Hellion]

Who? Ash? Hum... no. He's gonna be like a darker version of Ash.

 

[Hellion]

Back after a huge delay, but other stuff kept getting in the way, so here's Chapter 3.

- - - - - - -​

Chapter 3: A Pallet of Blues

As the wind was blowing through his blond hair, Barry was fidgeting on the ferry’s deck. His foot kept hitting the wooden planks. He felt something in him stirring, burning; he wanted to be there already.

“This is taking too long,” screamed Barry, startling his travel companion. Barry noticed Dawn and her Piplup giving him an exasperated look. “What? We should be there already.”

“Calm down,” said Dawn. “We’re not gonna get there faster if you keep complaining about it. Just relax, and enjoy the ride. We’ll be there in no time.”

Barry relented and sat down next to Dawn on a bench. Both sat in silence, looking at the horizon. Barry’s foot kept jumping up and down.

“Can’t you sit down, and just appreciate the beauty of the ocean?” said Dawn. Barry just grumbled under his breath. He wanted to test his strength, prove his skill against all the trainers in Kanto, and he couldn’t do that sitting around on a boat. He felt trapped on this boat, like his feet were stuck in concrete. He needed to move, to go somewhere. It felt like ants were running all over his legs.

Barry looked at Dawn holding her Piplup. She looked better than she had a week ago at the Lily of the Valley Conference, but that worried Barry a bit. He’d invited her to tag along, not really knowing her all that much. While Barry thought she was nice enough, but he couldn’t understand her. He couldn’t comprehend how a person could just stand in silence as they’re being insulted. If anyone had talked to him like Ash had talked to her, he would have yelled back; he would’ve hit him, or done something, anything. Yet, Dawn wasn’t like that. He wondered how she felt at the moment. He’d seen her smile, but part of him didn’t buy it. There was something forced about it; she was hiding something.

“Barry, look!” screamed Dawn, pointing in front of them. Barry turned away, hoping she hadn’t caught him staring. His eyes followed her arm to where it was pointing; staring at the horizon, he could make out little by little some greenery rising above the water. As the boat slowly made its way towards the land, both Barry and Dawn could make out a sparkling white lighthouse in the distance, then soon after, the entire harbour.

“Kanto,” whispered Barry, intrigued by the unknown land.

As the boat dropped anchor, Barry, Dawn and Piplup followed the waves of passengers flooding like the rising tide the pier to reunite with their friends and loved ones. Barry couldn’t help noticing how Dawn looked saddened by the happy faces around her. He thought that maybe all these people excited at disembarking and reunite with their friends and loved ones probably reminded her that there was nobody waiting for her.

“Well, where do we go from here?” asked Barry. “I think the Battle Factory is near, over in Pewter City. Maybe I should go to the gym there too. I could participate in the League, and of course if I participate, I’ll win everything or my name isn’t –”

“Professor Oak?” asked Dawn inquisitively.

“What? No I was gonna say –” started Barry.

“Professor Oak, it is you” said Dawn, further ignoring Barry. She ran to meet a tall figure in a lab coat. Barry followed her, peeved at being twice interrupted. As they came near the figure, Barry recognized the professor who’d visited their hometown a few months ago during the Twinleaf Festival. Yet, Barry couldn’t help noticing that he seemed to look beat and tired. “Professor Rowan said you’d soon be in our midst, so I thought I’d check to see if you guys needed a lift.”

“A poem!” said Dawn. “I expected no less from a world famous poet like you than to welcome us with a rhyme!”

“That didn’t really rhyme,” said a grumpy Barry, with his arms crossed.

“You wouldn’t know a good poem if it hit you in the face,” replied Dawn.

“There’s no need to fight,” said Professor Oak. “It was just a friendly greeting, not a poem.”

Barry felt a surge of pride rising through him.

“See Dawn, I was ri –” started Barry.

“Professor, you’re so humble,” said Dawn. “But you don’t have to hide your gift because of him.”

Professor Oak gave Dawn a weak smile and invited them to get in his jeep. As he started off the engine and drove away from the harbour, Professor Oak engaged in what Barry thought was a boring conversation about poetry. In the backseat, Barry kept drifting in and out of the conversation, barely following what was being said. He was too busy thinking about the battles he would soon be fighting. Every time his attention was brought back to Dawn and Professor Oak, their conversations felt stilted and forced. They were being careful and guarded. Deep down, Barry knew why without them having to talk about it.

“So Professor Oak is Ash still in Pallet Town?” asked Barry tactlessly.

Barry noticed Dawn stand up straighter and tightening her grip on Piplup, who was sitting in her lap. Her gaze dropped to her feet. The Professor on the other hand was fidgeting, he started out stammering. Barry knew right then and there that Dawn hadn’t been the only one affected by Ash’s loss at the Lily of the Valley Conference. Something had happened with Ash after he had come back here.

“He left a couple of days ago,” said the Professor, finally overcoming his stammer. His tone carried a hint of fear and despair. “He received a letter from Paul’s brother Reggie congratulating him for his performance in the tournament and letting him know that Paul had started a new journey. Well, you know Ash, that’s all he needed to get him started again.”

Barry could tell that Dawn wanted to ask something but didn’t have the strength to.

“How was he?” asked Barry, “He took the loss pretty hard.”

This time Barry’s question was met with an ominous silence that didn’t give him much hope that Ash had really recovered from the loss and was back to the way he used to be, that he was back to the Ash both he and Dawn knew. They didn’t utter a word for the rest of the way, and Barry knew better than to press the subject.

They arrive at Oak’s laboratory, and Barry stared in awe at the giant windmill and the spacious open space that surrounded it. It was atop of a hill. Barry could feel the warm wind swirling around him. There was something about the sun and the wind that felt hot, like a soothing heat that enveloped him like a blanket. It only made the Professor and Dawn’s coldness all the more apparent. They made their way to the door in silence.

“Tracey, Delia, I’m ho–” started the Professor before being smothered by a giant purple gooey mass. Barry, who was freaked out by the attacked, couldn’t help but notice that Dawn didn’t seem surprised in the least. “Hello again, Muk”

Barry noticed the Professor’s bemused and resigned tone. This wasn’t the first time this had happened to him. But before Barry could ask the Professor about it, he heard voices from inside the lab.

“Tracey, have you seen Muk?” said an unsure feminine voice. “He’s not supposed to be up yet; he still needs to recov–”

“Delia, Muk’s here,” screamed the Professor as Dawn was trying to help him to get out from under the poison type pokémon. After the Professor had gotten back on his feet, Barry looked at the pokémon. He noticed that Muk had a worried yet relieved look on his face, like he was afraid Professor Oak would never gonna come back.

“Muk, get back here,” said the woman with authority. Barry, Dawn and Oak followed the poison pokémon to a room in the back of the laboratory. As Barry pushed open the doors of the room, he heard more than a dozen machines buzzing and beeping. Each of them hooked to a different pokémon, monitoring their heartbeats. They were all wrapped up in bandages, and sported a bitter defeated look on their face. Some had bruises and cuts all over their bodies.

“Professor, you’re finally back,” said a tall young man Barry had never met, but assumed to be Tracey. He knew Ash’s mom was called Delia, which he assumed was the older woman trying to keep a seemingly heartbroken Bayleef from struggling as the younger man tried to bandage one of its legs.

Barry, Dawn and Piplup followed the professor into the room, observing more closely the pokémon. Among others, Barry saw a Noctowl nursing a broken wing, a crying Torkoal whose shell had its edges chipped away, a Donphan whose right tusk had bee broken in half and a Kingler with a pincer in a cast. Barry couldn’t help but feeling that this whole room had been converted from a laboratory to a makeshift infirmary.

“Those… are all Ash’s pokémon,” Barry heard Dawn whisper next to him. He turned to face her and noticed her looking away, seemingly understanding something that had escaped him.

Barry left her side, and made his way deeper into the makeshift infirmary. He noticed Dawn’s Piplup walking alongside him sporting a concerned look. He kept looking around, seemingly looking for something. It hit Barry that Dawn and Piplup had traveled for months with some of these pokémon, and that they were probably concerned about
The pokémon they both had met over the course of their journey with Ash through Sinnoh.

As he made his way further into the room, Barry attention was drawn to two pokémon that looked much more battered and bruised than the rest. One was a simian fire pokémon who appeared to have every singled one of his limbs bandaged. Barry recognized Ash’s Infernape, the same one who had lost Ash the match against Paul in the Lily of the Valley Conference quarterfinals. Infernape looked as though he was ready to burst into tears. He sported a look of shock and disbelief on his face. What drew Barry’s attention was the pokémon next to Infernape. It was a surreal sight to Barry. He saw numerous machines all straining to keep the tiny yellow pokémon they were hooked to alive. Barry knew at once it was Ash’s Pikachu. He kept wondering where was Ash if all his pokémon were injured; kept wondering how Ash, the Ash he knew, could have left any of them, let alone Pikachu, at a time like this.

“They got the worst of it,” said the Professor over Barry’s shoulder.

“What… what happened?” said Barry, his voice trembling.

“It’s Ash isn’t it?” Barry heard Dawn say. He turned around to face, and saw her kneeling near a bed on which laid an orange water pokémon, Ash’s Buizel. “He did this to them. He forced them to do this to each other.”

“Dawn, you know Ash would never do that,” said Barry. He looked around for any sign of someone supporting his claim. Professor Oak and Tracey looked away, desperately trying to evade his inquisitive gaze. Mrs. Ketchum started to cry softly, and something told Barry it wasn’t the first time she had done so in the last few days.

“He did,” managed to say Tracey, obviously still having a hard time dealing with the situation. “After he came back, he didn’t talk for a few days. He was just holed up in his room sulking.”

“But then, he received a letter,” said Mrs. Ketchum, in between sobs, “a letter from Paul.”

Barry twitched as he heard the name. Paul was not only the trainer who had beaten Ash in the Lily of the Valley Conference, but also the trainer who had taken Barry out of the tournament. Barry knew that Ash and Dawn had always held a grudge towards Paul, because they thought he didn’t care about his pokémon and didn’t respect Ash, but at the Conference, Paul had been gracious to Barry after he’d beaten him. Yet, Barry remembered how much Paul had ripped Ash after his defeat. He wondered why these two really couldn’t stand the other. Looking back on it, Barry couldn’t help but wonder if Paul had been nice to him because he didn’t care enough to be mean, at least, not the way he seemed to consider Ash very important, like a true rival.

“Paul told him he was going on a journey,” continued Mrs. Ketchum. “From the moment he read the letter, Ash only had one thing on his mind: follow Paul and beat him in a battle. That’s when –” She couldn’t go on and broke down in tears.

“That’s when all of this happened,” said the Professor as he pointed towards the injured pokémon. “Ash came to the lab one morning, and said he needed to train with all of his pokémon. He took them out in the ranch. He came back with six of his pokémon; asked for their pokéballs, and left.”

“I’m gonna fine everyone one here one million dollars if they don’t tell me what Ash did,” screamed Barry.

“He made them attack each another,” softly said Dawn. “He made them tear each other to pieces to weed out the weak, and keep only the strongest.”

Barry’s blood froze as he heard those words. For the first time since they had entered the lab, Barry looked up at Dawn’s face. He could see how much it was taking out of her to even be in the room; he could see how devastated she was by the words she’d just uttered.

“When you say keep only the strongest,” started Barry, but something prevented him form saying the rest.

“He released the rest,” said Tracey. “All of these pokémon are once more without a trainer.”

“Why?” asked Barry.

“Isn’t it obvious?” said Dawn. “You’re like Paul; you only care about catching the strongest pokémon, but Ash wasn’t like that. He befriends his pokémon, and through that trust, through that friendship, he believes he can bring out the strength out of any pokémon. But when Paul beat him, he must have thought he’d been wrong all these years; he must have thought that his methods could only take him so far, so he followed Paul’s.”

Barry could hear a hint of anger in Dawn’s voice. He couldn’t help but feel that Dawn had probably hoped all this time that when she would meet Ash again, he would be the same person she’d traveled with. But the Ash she knew was gone.

“I don’t know what we’ll do,” said Professor Oak. “Even when they heal, these guys won’t be able to go back to the wild. You see, these guys didn’t see Ash as their trainer; to them, he was their friend. They trusted him, and he broke that trust. That’s something that will take more time to heal than their wounds. I just don’t know what we’ll do.”

“I know what we’ll do,” said Dawn. She turned to face all of the injured, trying to get their attention. Something about the strain in her voice told Barry she was holding back tears. “I’m gonna find Ash wherever he is, and talk some sense into him. I’m gonna make him realize what a mistake it was to ever think you guys weren’t worth his time. I won’t rest until he’s back here to be with you all again.”

The pokémon looked at each other hesitating, clearing having difficulty trusting her after the ordeal they had been through.

“No, that’s not what we’ll do,” said Barry, taking everyone by surprise. “I’m sorry Dawn, but Ash has already shown he didn’t put much stock in what you, so you have no guarantee you can deliver on those words.”

Barry could feel Dawn crumbling besides him. The words had come out much harsher than he had intended them to.

“You’ll play your part Dawn,” said Barry, eerily brimming with confidence. “But whatever you have to say won’t help these guys trust Ash or any human trainer ever again, and it won’t make them get back what Ash took from them; it won’t give them back their confidence. These guys need to prove themselves in Ash’s eyes; they need to prove they can fight, and someone needs to show Ash that the way he trained pokémon was right.

“Brilliant my boy,” said Professor Oak. “These two problems have one clear solution: these guys need a trainer and that trainers needs to beat Ash with his own pokémon, and his own methods.”

“You want to train these guys?” asked Dawn.

“I’m gonna need you to show how Ash did it, but yeah, these guys and I will defeat any enemies in our path,” said Barry, before turning to the pokémon. “What do you guys think? Will you follow me?”

The pokémon all looked at each other. Barry could tell some had immediately embraced the idea, pokémon like a Totodile, dancing on his makeshift bed. Others, like a very stern looking Bulbasaur, seemed to react more coldly. The din surrounding Barry was unnerving; he hated to wait after others’ decisions. Suddenly, the pokémon grew somewhat more silent as one of them approached Barry. It was a tiny blue pokémon that looked like a blue head with arms and legs. Barry immediately recognized the Gible he and Ash had once fought over. Barry crouched down to Gible’s level.

“You want to come with me?” asked a grinning Barry.

Gible kept his empty, vacuous stare glued to Barry for a few seconds, before jumping at him and clamping his teeth around Barry’s head.

“That’s Gible’s way of saying yes,” said Dawn, who couldn’t help laughing a little.

As Barry tried to get Gible to stop biting his head, he saw the Muk who had welcomed them move towards him, and before he could say anything, he was smothered by a heavy mass of living goo. The exuberant dancing Totodile and a few other pokémon threw made their way to him, signalling their intention to follow him. Only Infernape, Bulbasaur and Pikachu had remained behind. The former was smiling but couldn’t move because of his injuries, while the other two didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with Barry.

“That’s quite a good team you’ve got there young man,” said the Professor.

“It’s just temporary,” said Barry, as he got out from under the pile of pokemon that were smothering him. “It’s just until these guys return to their rightful owner.”

“Still, they’ll make a great team for you to fight through the Unova region,” said Oak.

“Uno-what?” said Batty, in pure an utter shock.

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Next chapter will be shorter and up sooner. : P

Comments are always appreciated!

 

[Necrozma]

Ugh, I'd feel more comfortable if Dawn trained Ash's Pokémon. x(

Anyway, I can't believe Ash did that. And his Pikachu, I thought they were buddies? Which Pokémon did he bring with himself anyway? Well things are certainly getting interesting, and I assume you will introduce the fabulous boy in Unova?

 

[Hellion]

Ugh, I'd feel more comfortable if Dawn trained Ash's Pokémon. x(

Thought about it but decided against it for two reasons. First, I wanted to have Dawn still doing contests, whereas I needed someone who would be able to partake in gyms and the League. Second, Dawn and Ash are very much alike and Dawn already knows how to train pokémon the way Ash does so it would come very easy for her, which I didn't want. I wanted a character who would need to change in order to change Ash, a character who wouldn't have it easy training Ash's pokémon because he would have to get to know them, to earn their trust. Barry offered that in that he doesn't train his pokémon like Ash, and therefore will have to learn how to. Also, he allows us to get more conflict with each pokémon, so more personality and more developement. Finally, because Dawn knows how to train like Ash, she can help him along the way, again leading to interactions.

Which Pokémon did he bring with himself anyway?

You already know a few that he didn't bring with him (Torkoal, Noctowl, Donphan, Kingler, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Infernape, Gible, Totodile, Muk, Buizel...), so you might have to wait and see for the others. Though of those that weren't mentioned (Snorlax, Heracross, Swellow, Sceptile, Corphish, Glalie, Staraptor and Torterra) which ones do you think didn't make the cut...

I assume you will introduce the fabulous boy in Unova?

I will.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

 

[AetherX]

I picked some fics at random so that I would have a wider pallet for nominations, and I'm glad I chose this one! I love the concept, and the writing is very good. Characterization is well done too, as far as I can tell, besides the whole angry-Ash thing (but that's the point of the fic, so that doesn't count). Another problem I had was when Paul was rubbing it in Ash's face after the battle. I haven't seen all of the DP episodes yet, but that doesn't seem quite like Paul. He's a dick, but he doesn't go out of his way to be a dick. I think it would have fit better for him to just leave, all pompous and arrogant. But I can see why you did what you did, it was a significant trigger in Ash's turnaround.

On her right, she could hear Brock’s breathing getting heavier and his eyes growing narrower.

Unintentional lulz here. I'm not sure how much narrower Brock's eyes can get...

Looking forward to the next chapter!

 

[Hellion]

It's a big one, but lots of things happening.

Chapter 4: Nuvema Showdown​

Dawn could hear Barry’s teeth clattering as the silvery plane they had boarded a few hours earlier was beginning its descent towards the Unova region. Just by looking at Barry’s hands turning white, she could almost feel his fingers clawing at the blue velvet armrests on either side of him.

“You should calm down,” said Dawn, trying to get Barry to relax a bit. “If you go on like this, you’ll have a heart attack before we even get there.”

“This isn’t funny, Dawn,” screamed Barry, making a few of the other passengers’ heads turn in their direction. Everyone wanted to see what the commotion was about. “If I don’t make it out of this plane alive –”

“You’re gonna be okay,” said Dawn. “We’re a few minutes away from splashdown, and then –”

“And then we drown,” let out Barry, incredulous. “Whose idea was this to land this plane on water? Well whoever it is I’m fining him a million dollars. If something goes wrong, if the pilot makes even one mistake, we’ll all drown; I know we will.”

“As opposed to landing on land a mistake gets us blown up?” playfully replied Dawn.

“Now why’d you have to go and say that,” screamed Barry. The chatter around them was intensifying, but Dawn could see that it wasn’t registering with Barry. He didn’t realize that everyone was looking at them. Some were laughing, while others found Barry’s anxiety to be quite contagious. Dawn kept looking at Barry, desperately struggling to find a way to help him. She caught herself thinking that this would be so much easier with Ash; that she and Ash had always been on the same wavelength to the point where they both knew what to say when the other was down. That thought brought unnerved Dawn. Before the Sinnoh League, she’d always had a friend on whom to depend, on whom to count, and now… she felt lost.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” said Barry, on the verge of a nervous breakdown. “You’re looking worried.”

Before Dawn could give an answer, the silvery plane touched the water’s surface below and slowly but surely slowed down before coming to a full stop in a harbour. Barry stayed immobile in his seat, almost frozen by the shock of still being alive. As they were finally allowed to unbuckle their seatbelts, Barry jumped of his seat, and broke into an impromptu celebratory dance. Dawn couldn’t help but nervously giggle as she pushed Barry towards the exit under the bewildered stares of the other passengers.

As she and Barry had made their way to solid land, Dawn couldn’t help but look around in awe of the natural beauty surrounding her. She set her gaze on the waves crashing unto the harbour’s cobblestone piers glistening under the midday sun. As she looked at the ocean, she saw a pinkish heart-shaped fish majestically jump out of the water. In the sky, elegant white bird with long necks and long wings were being slowly carried by the warm summer winds. Dawn was filled with a mixture of awe and confusion. These creatures, these lands, everything around her was foreign and yet strangely comforting. She picked up a pokéball from her bag, and sent out the pokémon resting inside it. Piplup came out and immediately jumped into Dawn’s arms.

“We’re here Piplup,” said Dawn. “You don’t have to stay in your ball if you don’t want to.”

She smiled to the penguin pokémon, who adopted a proud look on his face, obviously priding himself on being allowed to roam outside of his pokéball.

“Are you coming?” said Barry who was now jogging a few meters in front of Dawn, ready to start running. “There’s so many strong pokémon I want to capture, and so many trainers I want to battle against.”

“Oh brother, looks like getting back on the ground brought back the old Barry” teasingly said Dawn. “Plus, you’re not gonna be doing a lot of capturing. Remember?”

An awkward silence slowly built between the two of them. In all the excitement of the flight, they had completely forgotten about the reason they’d come here in the first place. As they turned away from the ocean and started walking with a heavy step towards the tiny town sprawled on the emerald hills rising in front of them. Dawn kept flashing back to herself that night in the rain, drenched in Ash’s words and the downpour. He’d told her everything she’d feared was true all along: that she was weak, that she hadn’t deserved her place in the Grand Festival. She remembered how she had felt watching Zoey and Nando battle in the semi-finals. That contest battle had eclipsed anything she could ever hope to do. They were a breed apart, like her mom. She felt pedestrian and ordinary compared to those coordinators.

“Professor Oak said we should go over and introduce ourselves to Professor Juniper as soon as we arrive here,” Dawn heard Barry say, bringing her back to reality. “Could you check the map Dawn?”

“Well Barry, if you gave it to me, it might be easier,” answered Dawn.

“What are you talking about?” replied Barry. “You… you don’t have it?”

“No, I don’t,” screamed Dawn. “I asked you to bring it. I said that I would grab the plane tickets and it was your job to pick up the map.”

“But the map was right next to the plane tickets,” said Barry. “I thought you were bringing both.”

“That was the Kanto map Barry,” said Dawn. “You’re telling me we’re in the middle of Unova without any idea on how to get to Professor Juniper’s lab. How are we gonna get there?”

“You could spot the only building in this village that doesn’t look like a small house and make the calculated guess it’s the lab,” Barry and Dawn heard a familiar voice say behind them. “Or you could continue arguing like idiots. Maybe if you scream loud enough at each other, Professor Juniper will hear you, take pity on you, and come save you from yourselves.”

Barry and Dawn slowly turned around. Even though both knew they would eventually run into Ash, Dawn wasn’t prepared for that moment to come so soon. She was shocked on how much he looked exactly the same as when she had last seen him: same unkempt jet black hair, same thin mouth, even the clothes looked similar. The only different things were the eyes. The light, the spark inside them shone no more.

“Ash… ” Dawn started, stammering. But Ash had already breezed past her, completely unfazed by the sight of his former traveling companion. After all they had been through, Dawn felt insignificant, as though all her memories with Ash were sand, running through her fingers, slipping away with every passing second. She felt like a shadow.

“Well, are you coming?” said Ash, coldly. “I’m going over there now.”

Both Dawn and Barry looked at each other, both trying to read something in each other’s eyes that would tell them what to do, and how to act around Ash. Dawn could see that Barry was about to explode, she could see him burning to say something, to yell at Ash for the way he’d treated his pokémon. She hoped that Barry could read in her eyes that she wanted to try a softer approach first. Deep down, she couldn’t believe that Ash’s kindness and his devotion to his pokémon were all gone. She wanted to believe there was still a way to reason with him.

She let out a sigh of relief as she noticed Barry taking in a deep breath and starting to follow Ash to Professor Juniper’s lab. The walk was uncomfortably silent. Dawn could notice Barry throwing assassin glances Ash’s way. She remembered how during the time they spent in Pallet Town, he made an effort to get to know every single one of Ash’s pokémon, and help them recover. Some didn’t take too kindly to him though. She remembered that Pikachu bit Barry’s hand when he had tried to pat him on the head. Bulbasaur had given Barry the silent treatment. Dawn felt it was especially difficult for those two. They’d been with Ash the longest. She smiled as she remembered Barry waltzing clumsily around the infirmary carrying trays of medicine while trying not to step on a dancing Totodile’s tail, not to trip on the shell of a Torkoal or not to be knocked over by an overly affectionate Bayleef. She also remembered him running out in the rain to carry some food to Ash’s Torterra, who was too big to fit into the lab with the other pokémon, and had taken a habit of sleeping outside, under a giant tree.

“We swung by Pallet town,” she heard Barry say. From that moment on, she knew the hostilities were soon to follow.

“Did you?” said Ash, coldly. All emotion seemed to have left his voice. He kept looking straight ahead, undeterred by Barry. Dawn grabbed Barry’s arm, trying to get his attention and get him to stop. She’d always thought she would talk to Ash alone first, try to get him to talk about his feelings, about why he’d done the things he’d done, but she could see Barry was set on having a discussion right there, in the middle of a cobblestone street.

“You’re not even gonna ask how they’re doing, are you?” said Barry, raising his voice. “One little loss and you decide that gives you a license to treat your pokémon like dirt. Most of them still haven’t finished recovering from the injuries you let them get.”

“So that’s it?” said Ash, a laughter soon following. The laugh made Dawn’s skin crawl. It felt inhuman, almost evil. It was the laughter of a boy who didn’t care at all about another creature’s life. “You two are the best they could come up with? The last ditch effort my mom and Oak cooked up to get me to come back and take care of all those losers. They should thank me for releasing them, for no longer indulging in their fantasy that they could ever be good enough to be my pokémon.”

“Ash, you don’t mean th–” started Dawn.

“Save it Dawn,” barked back Ash. “I meant every word of it. These guys were pathetic. They’re the reasons I lost those League tournaments.”

“They’re the reason you made it there in the first place,” screamed Barry.

“Ash, I trusted you with Buizel and this is how you repay that trust,” said Dawn, shell-shocked. “You have your pokémon attack him over and over again?”

“I did what I had to do to win,” screamed Ash. “I did what I had to do to get stronger, and if that means cutting loose these losers, well that’s just fine with me.”

“How can you even say that?” yelled Barry. “Is that what you’ve think you’ve become, stronger? All I see is a coward who blames his pokémon for his loses.”

“Barry, stop it!” said Dawn, running to place herself between Ash and Barry. She shot the latter a pleading look. She turned to Ash. “Ash, everyone’s worried sick about you. We’re here to –”

“If the next word out of your mouth isn’t battle, save your breath, Dawn,” said Ash. “I’m here to win this League and be the trainer I always should’ve been, not to prattle the day away talking about my feelings with you. Crying is your speciality Dawn, not mine.”

“Am I interrupting anything?” said a soothing female voice. Dawn turned around to see a tall young woman in a white lab coat sporting an uneasy smile on her face. She could feel vivaciousness and warmth emanating from the older woman, she quickly assumed to be Professor Juniper. Dawn hadn’t even noticed that while their shouting match had been going on, they had reached the lab. It wasn’t a tall building but it felt very much modern with the wall length windows and the arched ceilings.

“No, Professor, I was just showing the tourists your lab,” said Ash in a dejected tone.

“You must be Barry and Dawn,” said the Professor, a smile quickly appearing on her face. “Professor Oak has told me so much about you, and what you’re doing here that I feel like I already know you. He keeps on talking about the Pokémon you’ll be bringing to the Unova region, and I can’t wait to meet them. Please, come in. You too, Ash, your Pokédex is finally ready.”

Ash silently preceded everyone into the lab, clearly impatient to leave the presence of his two former friends. Barry and Dawn followed him inside, with Professor Juniper walking slowly behind them, obviously aware of the tension between the three. As they entered the laboratory, one of Professor Juniper’s assistant came running towards her, holding in his hands a small black electronics device.

“Is that it?” asked Ash, in a dejected tone.

“Here’s your very own Unova region Pokédex, Ash,” said Professor Juniper. “It’ll record data on any new pokémon you catch, and it’ll be a great help to my research.”

“Yeah, all the pokémon you’ll catch,” snorted Barry. “I wonder if this little bauble can help you weed out the weak ones before you go and torture them.”

Ash ignored the comment and bowed to Professor Juniper as thanks for the Pokédex. Completely ignoring Dawn and Barry, he slowly made his way towards the door.

“I pity any pokémon that’s caught by you,” let out Barry. “What kind of weak trainer would blame his own pokémon for his loss?”

Ash stopped dead in its track. A smile slowly crept on his face, a sickly smile. Ash turned to face Barry.

“Care to put your money where your mouth is?” said Ash.

“Is that a challenge?” replied Barry.

Ash turned to Professor Juniper and asked her to use the battlefield on the side of the lab. Dawn’s heart sank as she watched the Professor nod. The last thing she wanted was for Barry to fight Ash, not like this. He was angry and unprepared, and so were his pokémon. As they made their way outside, Dawn was struck with the feeling that something horrible was about to happen. She kept trying to catch Barry’s eyes, get him to reconsider the battle, but to no avail.

As the warm breeze hit the side of her face, Dawn sat on the side of the battlefield, next to Professor Juniper.

“This will be a simple 3-on-3 battle, no time limit,” said Ash. Barry nodded. Ash smiled as he picked up a pokéball from his belt. “Go, Sceptile!”

A tall and lean green reptilian pokémon appeared on the battlefield, furiously chewing on a twig, a look of deep disdain in his eyes. It was as though Barry was insignificant to him.

“This is the first pokémon who agreed to follow me to Unova,” yelled Barry, “so I swore myself this would be the first pokémon I’d use in battle here. Go, Gible!”

The tiny dragon pokémon that appeared on the battlefield felt minuscule compared to Ash’s Sceptile. Before being ordered to do anything, the dragon pokémon ran towards Ash, obviously forgetting about Barry and the Sceptile between him and his former trainer, a mistake that the grass pokémon was more than happy to make him realize. The Sceptile twisted around, and slammed its tail straight in Gible’s face, pushing him back.

“Gible, wait until I give you an order,” yelled Barry. Dawn let out a sigh when she saw him desperately trying to get Gible to listen to him. But Gible was having none of it. The dragon pokémon simply kept his vacuous stare on Ash with a worried and pained expression on his face.

“I didn’t know you had caught a Gible,” said Ash.

“Look closer,” replied Barry. Ash looked at the Gible, confused. Then Dawn saw his eyes shoot open as the realization that this was his Gible dawned on him.

“What… what are you doing with my Gible?” said Ash.

“I’m here to help him,” said Barry. “Help him see that the trainer who hurt and abandoned him was wrong about him, that he can be strong, one of the strongest pokémon you’ll ever see. And, it’s not just him. It’s all of them.” Ash looked at Barry. Dawn could see the confusion on his face. Then, she heard a sound that froze the blood in her veins: Ash’s laughter. It was inhuman, inhuman and haunting.

“You’re wasting your time,” replied Ash, “just like I was wasting my time trying to teach this idiot how to use its attacks. He’s worthless and always will be.”

Dawn could see Gible’s eyes fill with tears. She knew he wasn’t the brightest star in the sky, but she could tell he had understood what Ash had just said, or at the very least, felt Ash’s contempt. She turned her attention to Barry who was shaking furiously.

“Gible, don’t listen to him,” said Barry. “We can beat them. Give them a taste of your Draco Meteor.”

Dawn saw Gible starting to gather energy in its center, but before it was even able to launch the attack, Dawn heard Ash call for Sceptile to use its Quick Attack. The words had barely left his mouth that Sceptile pounced. He moved so fast that all Dawn could see was a green blur crashing into Gible, pushing him back and aborting the Draco Meteor Attack. A bruised Gible struggled to get back on his feet, but indicated its desire to pursue the battle.

“Sceptile, follow it up with Leaf Storm,” screamed Ash. The seeds on Sceptile’s back began to glow of a greenish hue, and soon after, hundreds of swirling leaves shot out in Gible’s direction.

“Gible, use Dig,” screamed Barry. Right before being hit by the grass attack, Gible went underground, jumping out of the ground and into the air seconds later behind Sceptile.

“Gible, use Rock Smash,” ordered Barry. Gible’s right arm because to first glow white, then turned into glowing red, as though it had been heated up metal. Dawn saw Barry smile, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was celebrating too soon. Just as the thought crossed her mind, she heard Ash call for his Sceptile to use its Leaf Blade attack. Before Gible’s tiny fist could connect with Sceptile’s face, the dragon pokémon was hit by Sceptile’s Leaf Blade attack that slammed him into the ground.

Dawn heard Barry groan has he recalled the unconscious Dragon pokémon back to its pokéball. She could tell that something was going on with him, but she didn’t know what. She couldn’t read him, couldn’t understand what was going through his mind. She could see him sporting a bewildered look on his face, almost not understanding what had transpired.

“Go, Swellow!” yelled Barry. As the dark blue bird appeared above the battlefield, Dawn thought it was a good choice considering the type advantage it would have against Ash’s Sceptile, but Ash had thought the same thing.

“Go, Staraptor!” said Ash, in response. Dawn gasped as she looked at the pokémon that had just appeared on the battlefield. She had met Staraptor when it was just a Starly; she had seen him evolve twice and became one of Ash’s strongest pokémon. Staraptor had twice defeated Paul’s pokémon during her journey with Ash. She had seen the flying pokémon in many battles, and yet, she had never seen him looking as mad and angry as he was looking now. She could see a scar, a shallow cut running over its right eye, that wasn’t there before. Staraptor let out an aggressive war cry that made Swellow nervously recoil, intimidated. Dawn could see him shaking the nerves off but Staraptor’s ability had already done some damage to Swellow’s confidence.

Dawn heard both trainers call for a Quick Attack and both pokémon took flight and swiftly flew at one another so quickly at each other that they became nothing more than white trails of white light. Dawn could barely keep up with the two birds’ movements. She could see them swirling to evade attacks, and constantly accelerating hoping to be the one to connect first with their opponent. Dawn could feel gusts of wind blowing in different direction around her every time the flying pokémon flew past her. It felt like a stalemate, neither pokémon really being fast enough to take the other by surprise and land a hit.

“Staraptor, Aerial Ace!” screamed Ash. His pokémon then disappeared in a blur only to reappear behind Swellow. Staraptor rammed into the other flying pokémon, making him veer off course towards the forest. “Follow it up with Brave Bird!”

Staraptor flew away from the ground to gain some height on his opponent. He then started his descent; his entire body soon became engulfed in what looked to be blue flames. Dawn turned her attention towards Barry who seemed to be struggling to find an attack to call. She realized that he knew Gible’s attacks because he had fought against him, and seen him fight Conway in the Lily of the Valley Conference, but Barry had never seen Swellow battle. He looked panicked.

“Swellow, get out of there!” screamed Barry.

Swellow then disappeared in a flash, making Staraptor crash hard unto the ground. Dawn then saw numerous Swellow duplicates appear all around the battlefield.

“He used Double Team,” said Dawn. Professor Juniper nodded in ascent. Dawn turned to look at Ash’s face. He looked shell-shocked for a moment, almost as though he hadn’t imagined the possibility of Staraptor’s attack missing its mark. Dawn saw him quickly shake his head; he seemed to be panicking.

“I can’t lose; I can’t lose; I can’t lose,” Dawn heard him mutter over and over again, his eyes fixated on the ground. She could see breathing heavily. She tried to shoot a pleading look to Barry to stop the battle, but he was too focused on the battle to notice anything else.

“Swellow, use Quick Attack!” yelled Barry, triumphantly.

“Staraptor, fly through the forest,” yelled Ash in response. Staraptor flew off into the forest, swerving between trees. Dawn could barely see him, but she could tell Staraptor was cutting things close, grazing a few branches.

“Swellow, follow him!” ordered a confidant Barry. But Dawn felt that something was wrong. Swellow, using the superior speed of his Quick Attack, started engaging pursuit of Staraptor. Dawn realized what Ash had in mind right before it happened. Swellow’s speed worked against him in an area with as many obstacles as the dense and lush forest surrounding Proessor Juniper’s lab. Swellow couldn’t manoeuvre as easily at that speed as he could in an open field, couldn’t dodge obstacles as easily. Just as he was about to catch up to Staraptor, Swellow found himself unable to get out of the way of a tree and crashed headfirst into its massive trunk, knocking him out.

Dawn looked up at Barry who stood speechless, in shock of having lost a second pokémon. For a moment, they all stood in silence. The silence was soon broken by Ash’s thunderous and maniacal laughter.

“I won’t lose ever again,” he screamed, not really talking to anyone but himself. Dawn could see him muttering to himself, a crazed look shining in his eyes, as Barry walked into the woods to return Swellow to its pokéball. Dawn looked at Barry walking back to the field looking serious, too serious. She couldn’t help feeling that the Barry she’d known for years would still be full of energy and confidence, but that Barry was nowhere to be found. She wondered if it was a mistake coming here. She had already lost Ash; she didn’t want to lose Barry too.

“Go, Totodile!” yelled Barry. A tiny blue dancing pokémon appeared on the field. The Totodile’s energy seemed to reinvigorate Barry who was literally running on the spot and throwing punches in the air.

“Is that the best you can do?” said Ash, in a fit of laughter. “That Totodile has never done much of anything. It just danced around like an idiot and tried to bite everything in sight. It’s worthless.”

“Totodile, things are about to get serious,” said Barry, remembering the battle still going on.

“If you insist I beat that weakling, that’s fine by me,” said Ash. “Staraptor, come back! I call out Snorlax.”

The ground shook as a giant pokémon appeared on the battlefield. Sprawled on its back, the pokémon was sleeping. Dawn could tell Barry was surprised by the move; that he couldn’t tell what Ash was thinking. Ash, on the other hand, looked supremely confident.

“Your move, Barry,” said Ash. Dawn had seen Snorlax at the Lily of the Valley Conference before, and she knew that he could take a punch. Both Barry and Totodile looked determined to win this battle, but both looked unsure how to go about it.

“Totodile, Water Gun!” said Barry. A stream of water came out of Totodile’s mouth and collided with Snorlax’s side with force. Yet, the massive pokémon didn’t budge from his spot, nor did he seem particularly affected by the attack.

“Keep it up Totodile, you’re wearing him down,” said Barry. Dawn wasn’t so sure. The water attack didn’t look that strong, it just looked bothersome.

“At least Snorlax isn’t awake,” said Dawn to herself. But just as she had said those words, Dawn saw the gigantic pokémon start moving. He didn’t look pained by the attack, but merely annoyed.

“Snorlax, finish this up with a Mega Punch,” ordered Ash, nonchalantly. Snorlax ran the length of the battlefield, with speed and ease one wouldn’t expect from a pokémon his size; blocking Totodile’s Water Gun with one hand, while gathering energy in the other. It didn’t look good for Totodile. Dawn looked up at Barry who seemed to again be thinking of the attacks Professor Oak had told them Totodile could use, and he was running out of time.

“Totodile, dance,” screamed Barry in desperation. As Snorlax fist was about to connect with Totodile, the pokémon evaded the attack seeming by performing a back flip. “That’s right Totodile, use those dance moves of yours to evade Snorlax’s attacks. He’ll tire out before you do. I’m sure of it.”

Totodile’s erratic dance moves made it impossible for Snorlax to hit him. On the other side of the field, Dawn could see Ash furiously grinding his teeth. Dawn was shocked by Ash’s next move. He ordered Snorlax to use Ice Punch on the ground. At first, everyone around the field was dumbfounded by the move, but as the ground became covered in a thin layer of eyes, Dawn realized what Ash’s strategy was. She turned towards Totodile, and just as she had expected, she found him unable to keep his balance on the ice, leaving him wide open for an attack.”

“Snorlax, Body Slam!” yelled Ash. Snorlax jumped high into the air, gathering height to flatten Totodile up like a pancake.

“Totodile, aim your Water Gun attack at Snorlax,” said Barry. Totodile shot him a inquisitive look. “Do what I say and attack Snorlax.”

Totodile shook his head, refusing to listen to Barry. He aimed a water gun attack at the ground, propelling him away from the impact of Snorlax’s Body Slam.

“Snorlax, use Hyper Beam,” said Ash. As he uttered those words, a beam of red and orange light shot out of Snorlax’s mouth and hit Totodile straight on. The tiny water pokémon was thrown back across the field until it hit a tree on the edge of the woods. Gravity made Totodile slowly slide down the tree trunk side. Before he’d even hit the ground, Barry had already ran towards him.

Dawn ran to meet up with them. Once she got there, she crouched down to Barry and Totodile’s level.

“Is he gonna be okay,” asked Dawn. Barry did not answer. She looked up at him and noticed two discreet trails of tears running down his cheeks.

“Pathetic,” she heard Ash say behind them. “I told you he was a worthless pokémon, not worth any trainer’s time.”

He turned towards Professor Juniper, and Dawn heard him thank her for the Pokédex and the use of the battlefield, before walking away from them, seemingly unconcerned by the health of one of his former pokémon, one of his former friends. As she watched Ash depart, Dawn couldn’t shake off the feeling that the Ash she knew was gone for good.

“I’ll be better next time,” she heard Barry say, his speech occasionally interrupted by tears. She turned around and saw him clutching Totodile in his arms. “You did your best and you were amazing. I’ll work harder; I promise you, Totodile. I’ll work harder to be a trainer that’s worthy of you and the others. You just wait and see. We’ll show him; we’ll show them all.”