Dawn Platina Berlitz's Story

It was not long after the evening twilight had set and dusk rolled in. You could still sorta make out your surroundings without the aid of artificial light, but reading might be extremely difficult. It was a clear night, and one could see the stars above them in stunning clarity. Mount Coronet... was the exception. To someone standing on the mountain on this night, they would see a great unnatural darkness in the sky over them. If they looked into the distance closer to the horizon, they could see the stars well enough. But something was above them blotting out the sky. Many long arms extended down from the heavens to touch the crown of the earth and a strange upflowing wind lifted extremely light debris off the ground, pulling it into the air and creating an odd whirlwind extending up from the peak. This lasted for a while, probably scaring the snot out of a bunch of people as they began to notice the disturbance.

And then, a burst of light lit up the sky for a mile, potentially momentarily blinding anyone who just happened to be looking directly at its source when it happened, much like briefly looking at the sun. A massive rumbling noise made its way across the landscape like distant sustained thunder, becoming more violent as the fabric of space-time cracked like glass and shattered, caving in and opening a wormhole that glew with the energy of its creation in the sky above Mount Coronet. Hairline cracks began to spread outward at a slow yet no less concerning rate, an arcane energy leaking from each crack. A few moments later, the cry of a pokemon never heard before by mortals could be heard originating from the area, like an alien scream from the heavens.

Not long later, the fabric of space-time began to seal itself back up. The winds died down, and the many arms retreated back into the sky. Even the strange darkness in the sky then vanished, leaving no trace of it having been there except some disturbed dirt, leaves and pebbles raining back down to the ground.

At the peak of Mount Coronet, upon the altar of Spear Pillar, a small girl sat on her knees staring up at the sky with wide eyes in silent thought. Her purse laid several yards away. Dawn shivered ever so slightly in the cold where she sat.

" . . . "

Cynthia couldn't believe what she was seeing through her tiny view screen. It was like the Cyrus incident all over again. She had to make an urgent call to someone she knew she could trust. ...But more importantly, she needed a friend.

"Hikari, come in. It's me, Cynthia. You said you would stand by to defend Sinnoh, ...and judging by the dark clouds over its tallest peak I'd say this definitely qualifies. I'm currently stuck in Johto, but I'll be there as soon as I'm able. I don't know if this is part of the NRE's war plans or something else entirely. That's why I'm sending you. Promise me one thing, though. ...That you'll take your strongest team, and if whatever's up there is a threat, don't hold back no matter what."

Hikari was visiting her mother in Twinleaf when her phone rang with its usual cutesy tune. She excused herself from the lunch table and answered the phone, "Hello hello? What's going on, Cynthia?"

"Hikari, come in. It's me, Cynthia. You said you would stand by to defend Sinnoh, ...and judging by the dark clouds over its tallest peak I'd say this definitely qualifies. I'm currently stuck in Johto, but I'll be there as soon as I'm able. I don't know if this is part of the NRE's war plans or something else entirely. That's why I'm sending you. Promise me one thing, though. ...That you'll take your strongest team, and if whatever's up there is a threat, don't hold back no matter what."

"Understood. I'll get on it ASAP. Sorry Mom, but I gotta get going!"

With a wave, Dawn rushed upstairs to her room and packed up some supplies and left the house, giving her mother a kiss on the cheek and a promise to stay longer next time. Bringing out her Staraptor, she hopped on and they took off. Her destination was Spear Pillar, but to get there she had to climb through the inside of the mountain again as it was too dangerous for Staraptor to fly that high. So she makes a course for the tallest entrance she can get to, by Route 216. On the way there, she talks to herself.

"I doubt it's the NRE on Spear Pillar. Everybody knows what goes on up there! Wait... don't tell me that Giratina is acting up again! Jeeez, how many times is it going to take? Tch... Haaah, whatever."

As she flew above the snowy route, she was reminded of her initial journey where she came up here to take the badge from Candice. She should pay a visit sometime, maybe after this whole mess. Yeah, she'll call up everybody for a visit! But, business first before play. Landing, Dawn hops off her ride and gives her mount a gentle stroke of the feathers on his neck before returning him to his wing patterned ball. She felt the cool air on her face and adjusted her hat and scarf.

"Time for round two, Coronet. Hope you're ready!"

The navy ball with a golden trident on it shook a bit, which made Hikari giggle in response. Seems Marina was raring to go too. They've been through thick, thin and everything in between together.

"What's one more challenge?"

With that, Hikari stepped inside the mountain and from memory, ascertained her next route and began to progress that way. She kept an eye out for trainers, Pokemon or otherwise as she moved.

Hikari's path up the mountain was clear enough. The wild pokemon seemed a bit disturbed. That is to say, more of them were moving around than usual. They weren't fleeing from anything from the looks of it. They were just kind of... skittish and on alert. However, that isn't to say that they were particularly interested in the young lady ascending the mountain. Rather, they were probably more inclined to avoid her. There weren't even any predators to mistake her for an easy snack today! ...Perhaps just luck.

As she climbs, she does discover a very freaked out climber talking about a giant space squid or something, but he isn't very interested in sticking around and is quickly moving to depart after warning Hikari about the madness he witnessed. The poor man appeared extremely distraught. With very little other than wild pokemon to block her path, there was essentially nothing other than the tedium of getting there between her and the peak... and Spear Pillar.

When Dawn reaches Spear Pillar, she discovers something ... reasonably weird. Standing there, not having quite noticed her yet, was herself. Not just any doppelganger, though, but a much younger doppelganger. She stood at a piddling 4'6'', an entire foot shorter than Hikari. She was just kind of staring off into space, shivering occasionally in the chilly evening air. It took her a... good few seconds before she seemed to notice Hikari standing there, her gaze turning and locking onto her in the dim light. One could see the progression from her trying to process what she was looking at, to recognizing to familiar features, to putting things together...

Her eyes widened and she tensed noticeably. Her expression went from confusion to shock... and then to realization and horror. " . . . "

From being frozen like a deer in headlights to abruptly lurching forward, she went for her bag and quickly bent over to grab it and begin rifling through it. "Guys, we've got trouble. There's a doppelganger here; someone must've sent her... We need to get rid of her and get out of here before anyone else finds us." she urged, announcing her intentions as if Hikari couldn't hear her before plucking a pokeball free from her bag adorned with a sticker depicting pink bubbles on it.

"Hey, woah there girlie! I'm not here to hurt you. I was sent by Cynthia to check out Spear Pillar. I'm just as confused as you right now. That hiker said something about squid and now I see an image of me back during my trainer days."

Hikari put a hand on her belt which held Dialga's pokeball, "You got some explaining to do, Dialga. Did you have a hand in this?"

The ball was navy in colour and with light blue stripes wrapping around it, coming together at the button. Dialga's prominent chest piece was featured as the front decal picture with a bright blue button in the center. It shook in response to the question and that was enough for Hikari to figure what was meant.

"Yeah, didn't think so... Look, uh... me. I'd like to avoid a fight if possible, is that alright?"

The smaller girl paused for a moment as she listened to Hikari speak. A shiver ran down her spine. Was that ... really what she sounded like? She stood up with the pokeball in hand and turned to look up at her apparently older self, the expression on her face that of increasing bemusement. This lasted for an... awkwardly long moment. You could just see her trying really hard to process what she had just heard, as if Hikari were speaking an alien language she did not understand.

"...Wait... Y-You're... You don't want to hurt me or my pokemon..?" she softly asked in disbelief. A more visible shudder passed through her. "...But... how..?" she replied, visibly losing her composure and beginning to recoil slightly in fright. She grabbed the hem of her hat and tugged it down over her head in a frustrated manner as if to hide her face and then quickly turned her back on Hikari, apparently having changed her mind about battling. "Nnn... How is this happeniiing? You can't be me! I'm me! I--..." she began to whine rather pathetically, sort of trailing off. For the moment being, she appeared to be content to cower before her older self, very obviously extremely distraught by what was going on. Wait, did she say Dialga? ...No, that couldn't be it. If this was time travel, her older self would already be aware of the events taking place here.

"I'm unsure if our names are the exact same between the different timelines we obviously come from... My name here is Hikari Berlitz. Often, as you're aware, I am called Dawn. I went by the name so as to avoid...hm... I guess backlash being from the Berlitz family. Mom went with it. But after the event upon this ground I decided to start using my name instead of Dawn but my friends still call me Dawn regardless. I uh... got off track... I'm unsure how um... you got here. But, Dialga had no hand in it so it isn't time travel, and Palkia isn't one to do things like this on a whim either. Although...."

Hikari takes out her phone and does some searching before finding what she wanted.

"Yeah, this might be one of those Ultra Wormthings that brought people from other timelines like what happened in Alola years back. So we can roll with that for now until whatever happened comes to the light. Now..."

Hikari looked over the other version of her standing in front of her. She noted everything from hair, to clothes and even nail polish.

"Did I seriously dress like that back then? How did I not freeze up in Snowpoint? And I wonder what I did with those yellow hair clips... Sheesh... Maybe Cynthia would know a thing or two about how I was back then. Maybe. Well... hole in the sky is sealed, Dialga and Palkia aren't going nuts over Giratina messing around... I guess the whole thing cleared up? Mm! Hey, Marina! Say hi to the younger me!"

Hikari would bring out her signature Empoleon, Marina. She was released from her navy ball with a decal of a golden trident on the front. Marina would look over at the girl and smile a little, reminded of her old days as a Piplup. Surprisingly, a little chirp left her beak.

"Heh, I figured you'd enjoy seeing a little blast from the past. Hey, did I ACTUALLY dress like that?"

With a confirmed nod from the Empoleon, Hikari giggled and sighed. She took a few steps towards the other Dawn and bent down a little.

"Hey, is it alright if we be friends? I can't imagine how it feels being in a new timeline or whatever, away from home and all... You could use somebody to help you out. Who better than, well, yourself? Ie: Me."

Dawn slowly relaxed her hold on her head, silently quelling her frustration for a moment as she listened to the other talk, silently processing small details, making connections, figuring things out that previously didn't quite make sense to her. Things had begun to come into focus. She suddenly realized where she was, and who she was talking to. This lightened her anxiety considerably, but also faced her with new troubles she'd never been expecting.

As Hikari inspected Dawn, she'd discover that Dawn was rather lithe, especially in the upper body. In fact, ...one might even say she was very slightly gaunt on closer inspection. There were hints of dishevelment all over her appearance, either from lack of care or lack of skill. A haircut that wasn't quite up to even like you'd expect from a barber. Clothes that were a little frayed and in need of some TLC. One of her boots was missing a button on its clasp. Her nails weren't polished at all, though they were trimmed neatly. Her skin could certainly do with some moisterizer. One could kind of come to the conclusion that it had been a considerable amount of time before she'd last gone home to her own mother. ...Or been taken care of by anyone, for that matter. At the very least, she didn't smell.

"...Hey, I like my clothes!" Dawn replied in a mildly defensive tone, squirming a bit where she stood. "They're comfy and easy to wear." she promptly added in a matter-of-fact tone. It seemed that she'd regained her composure after listening for a while. She obliged Hikari by releasing her piplup, who frankly looked worse than she did, though he wore his battle-wounds with pride and promptly struck an inquisitive pose directed at Marina and Hikari. Dawn took a moment to observe the most obvious difference between the two of them. ...Huh. She meekly modeled a bit for Marina in response to being put in the spotlight again, but had gone otherwise quiet for the moment being.

That was, until after Hikari approached her. Hikari's offer took Dawn off-guard, and for a solid moment one could observe a very heavy wave of sadness wash over her. However, the moment passed without comment and she promptly flashed Hikari a rather sweet smile. "...Well--if everyone here is as nice as you are, maybe it won't be so bad..." she softly replied. "...My name's Dawn. Like, my actual name." she went on to greet, before pausing to consider the strange coincidence. "...Does that mean you named me?" she asked, pondering this for a moment. If Hikari invented the nickname before she was around, and it somehow osmosised its way to her, and--no, wait... that's not how time travel works. Or how anything works. Or was it? She got frustrated and dismissed the thought from her mind. "Anyway, my friends called me Platina sometimes. I'm... kind of broke, and I don't think anyone from home is going to come looking for me. So it'd be really nice if we could be friends." she replied, offering a smaller yet familiar hand up to Hikari in a somewhat timid and awkwardly stiff fashion.

This was what you did, right? When you made a deal? What was the deal again? She didn't know.

"That's not really how that stuff works... Also.. you two look terrible! I mean, you said you're broke, and I've been there too but...this is something else... What happened to you to turn out like this and for Piplup there to be so...hurt?"

Hikari put a hand on the Piplup's head and rubbed it gently. Poor thing looks like its been through hell. What could have done this?

"This may not be the best place for it, but I brought some food for the trip up the mountain and still have some left. Would you like to sit down and eat while we talk? It's just sandwiches though."

Marina looked up at the sky, as if trying to figure out what happened. She knew nothing would come from aimlessly staring up but what else could she do? She could talk to the Piplup but isn't sure if they will divulge information to a stranger. Marina decided to walk around Spear Pillar and look for any hints of anything while Hikari remained with the other Dawn.

"Going to check things out Marina? Well alright. Be careful. Who knows what could have come with her."

Dawn paused for a moment to reflect on how it was things got this bad.... Cue flashback.

"Uuugh. Do we have to battle? ...You're so out of the way, though!" Dawn whined. Across from her, in the middle of the road, stood an ace trainer with his arms folded and a somewhat impatient look on his face.

...End Flashback. Dawn hung her head slightly and wistfully sighed. "...I... may have lost a few costly battles here and there." Dawn replied. Bit of an understatement, don't you think? Dawn briefly leered over her shoulder at no one in particular before returning her attention to Hikari. "I ran out of medicine a while ago. Piplup's been taking it like a champ, at least." Dawn lamented. At this, her piplup struck a rather proud pose with a fin over his heart, only to flinch at Hikari's touch. She could observe that the old wounds still hurt. Even her gentle touch was enough to get a shudder as she brushed over one on his head. A hint of guilt crossed Dawn's expression as she watched this.

"But that's a-okay, because we've got spirit for days! No matter how tough things get, you've just gotta' keep on trucking!" Dawn blurted out, flexing an arm and striking a power pose as she attempted to change the topic. Piplup nodded in agreement accompanied by a couple of chirps, before throwing his fin in the air in his best imitation of her pose.

"--Actually, I'd love some sandwiches! " Dawn would reply, eagerness slipping into her tone. "I don't even know what some of the stuff we've been eating is called." she added with a roll of her eyes. "Did Mom make them? --Er, I mean... your mom. ...Sorry." she quickly went on to blurt out and then correct in an apologetic tone.

As the girls and Piplup sat down to eat and Marina searched the area, Marina would get the distinct feeling of being watched. However, nothing out of the ordinary presented itself. At least, not right away. There were very few wild pokemon around, though that could probably be explained by them having fleed from the initial event earlier. One exception to this was an Xatu, standing perfectly still and staring in the direction of the girls.

Marina looked at the Xatu. An odd place for one to be but given what they do, it would make sense, this being the highest point in Sinnoh. Perfect for staring at the sun until your eyes fall out. however, the Xatu was looking right at the two girls. Marina knew enough to know what Xatu sees and oddly... it made greater sense for him to be curious of the two. The most disturbing part, none of the Pokemon present actually give off that feeling Marina can feel. What is watching? Perhaps Giratina? Has he taken interest in Hikari again? No, the feeling isn't as menacing, not by far. It's not Dialga or Palkia, Marina is quite used to their pressure. No other Pokemon live up here, do they? Marina walks to where the Xatu can see her and makes an obvious show that if Xatu tries anything, he will suffer for it. With that, she walks back and stands by Hikari.

"Actually, yes! Mom made these sandwiches for everybody but Clefable didn't want to eat and Dialga doesn't anyway, so there's extras. I mean, it's just basic store-bought meat and such but there's just something special about anything Mom makes, know what I mean? Oh, hey Marina! Anything?"

Marina would gesture to the Xatu and Hikari would nod, "I guess that makes sense considering we are technically past and future here."

It was then that an orange ball with eyes flew out of Hikari's bag and floated over the pair. It looked intrigued at the younger Dawn.

"Mira! No causing trouble, alright? She's been through enough."

"I wazzn't going to hurt her..."

"Well, as long as you keep it that way then it's fine. No messing with her stuff, ok?"

The ball simply spins around Platina's head, taking the image in.

As Marina walked before the Xatu's gaze and sorta ... threatened them, it... didn't actually get much of a reaction. The bird pokemon remained perfectly still and didn't so much as shift its eyes to look at Marina, perhaps blinded by staring at the sun for extended periods of time. Or rather... it was petrified by fear, tense as a cinderblock. As Marina moved to leave it be, she... would hear a comment from the pokemon, who still hadn't so much as glanced at her. "...It grows bolder. ...Hungrier. I almost envy you, with your eyes closed..." the xatu very softly remarked in pokespeak, before falling quiet.

Back at their little picnic, Dawn nodded in understanding. "I never really knew what that meant until I had to go without for a while." Dawn replied with a hearty smile, pausing for a moment to let trainer and her pokemon talk. Next thing she knew, though, an unidentified flying object made a beeline for her! Dawn emitted a little squeak of surprise, recoiling slightly as she tried to work out what exactly it was she was looking at. "...Did... that... pokemon just talk?? Do pokemon here talk??" Dawn blurted out in mild alarm. She hadn't expected anyone to talk, let alone the monsters! She watched the pokemon orbit her for a few moments before deciding she couldn't contain her curiosity any longer.

"...How'd you get ahold of Dialga anyway? Have you seen Cyrus around?" Dawn asked, puzzling over this development. A legendary pokemon, in her own possession... Except not really, because not technically her.

"Mira can talk through the mechanics of the ball as it was built for them. Rotom love possessing machines so I had the ball made with the same tech the Pokedex is made from in Alola that Rotom can use to talk through. Mira quite likes it. Also, Dialga and Palkia called me here one day and challenged me to an honest battle and I caught them. As for Cyrus... I'm unsure if he ever left the Distortion World. I half hope he did but also don't."

"Zzzt! Yeah! Dawn let me play in thizz ball! The technology izz really rare but she got it for me anyway, Zzt-Zzt!"

Mira stood there and pondered the Xatu's words. What is hungrier? The squid that Hiker spoke of? Odd for a Xatu to even speak of future events. Often they're too paralyzed by fear to even move...

"Haha. But yeah... After I saved them, Dialga and Palkia called me here through the Lustrous and Adamant orbs I picked up inside Coronet. It was really surreal, you know. The looks of gratitude and then the glare similar to a trainer's asking for a battle. They were seriously tough cookies though! Dialga gave Marina a run for her money, and Palkia took out Clefable and Mira... But, for the time being, they deem me as worthy to carry them, and so I do. That's uh... really... it. Yeah. Hey, how's Mom back at your place?"

Dawn had to process this for a good long moment. Hoo boy. Hikari just hit her with a ton of info. "What, that island region on the other side of the world?" Dawn asked, apparently barely having heard of Alola. "...Huh. That's pretty cool, actually. It must make it a lot easier to communicate." she mused aloud. "So you just ... caught them? Just like that?" Dawn went on to ask, bemused by this development. "...Hear that Piplup? We might have the potential for greatness in us yet!" Dawn eventually continued, enthusiastically rallying her pokemon. Piplup gave her a rather shrewd, thoughtful look in response, accompanied by a lightly derisive chirp. Dawn merely grinned toothily at him in response.

"And Cyrus got trapped in the Distortion World?? ...And we just--left him there?" Dawn asked, mulling this over for a moment. She seemed a little concerned by this development, at least at first anyway. "...It's probably for the best. That guy was a monster. --No offense, guys." Dawn went on to dismiss, before promptly apologizing to the pokemon in the room.

At the question about her mother, Dawn hesitated for a good moment as if she didn't know how to answer this relatively simple question. "...I think she's doing just perfect." Dawn eventually replied in slightly distant tone. "I wish I could go see her." she then added. At this, Piplup chimed in, in pokespeak of course for the pokemon present. "She's not around anymore..." the pokemon explained in a slightly concerned tone.

"Kzzrrrt!! Hey uh, bozz-lady? I'm not sure if--"

"No, I think I get it. Sorry I asked if that's the case. And I didn't try to leave Cyrus in there. He ran off after I beat him in there and then I got chased around by Giratina until I took them out too and left with Cynthia. I honestly do not know what happened to him after that. Also, you have to earn the right to catch Dialga or any other Legendary. They can just as easily break free and leave if they wanted to, even from the famed Master Ball. It sounds cheesy, but they choose who lets them capture them."

"Zzzt! It also really doezz help with the talking! I can talk to people like Chatot can but better, Zzzrkt!"

Marina kept glancing at the Xatu. She was rather worried about the prophecy. Xatu can see what is to come so their prophecies aren't something to turn your nose up at... Marina turns to Mira and tells them something in poke-speak to repeat to Hikari.

"The Xatu there said that IT grows hungrier and bolder. It envied us with our closed eyes.. I'm not liking what he means. Xatu aren't far off from their predictions, and seeing as he lives in such a place, so close to the heavens and Arceus, I'm rather worried. I'd like Dawn to be informed about that at the very least, Mira."

"Krzzt! You got it, Marina! Hey hey! Marina said the Xatu there said some weird thingzz! About how thizz 'IT' grows hungrier and bolder and Marina is worried becauzz Xatu are very accurate with predictions. Zzt-zzt!"

"That so? Well that is worrying indeed, coming from a Xatu... Maybe that Hiker was on to something? He talked about a space squid and the only thing that comes to mind that would lead people to say that...is Giratina, but I don't feel his presence here so he might be still in his little world or at Turnback. What do you think, Dawn? Did you come here with anything?"

Dawn was briefly stunned by Hikari's story, mild disbelief hanging over her face for a good moment before she had the presence of mind to respond. " . . . So you just beat him up, then you beat Giratina up, caught a few gods and called it a day?" Dawn replied in a slightly shaken deadpan tone. "--Geez, I'm really glad I didn't fight you. I would've gotten creamed. You're really setting up some huge boots for me to fill, y'know that? Next thing I know you're going to tell me you're the world champion." Dawn went on to remark. At this, Piplup looked between them for a few moments in thought before moving to Hikari's side to signal his apparent bet on that battle. "...It's kind of hard to believe you two are related." Piplup remarked in pokespeak, earning a huffy look from Dawn who at least got the gist of what he was going on about. "--Hey!" Dawn began to protest, before fumbling over her words for a moment as she tried to think of a rebuttal. "...You don't have to take sides, you know!" she sorely chastised. "I'm technically taking your side!" Piplup casually replied, though Dawn failed to gain any meaning from this through the language barrier.

Dawn shifted her attention back to Hikari. "...Cynthia's here too? Oh, yeah. I guess that makes sense. Where else would she be, right? I missed her as much as Mom sometimes. She wound up doing a lot to help me out thinking back on it. Too bad she probably wouldn't even know what to think about me." Dawn replied in a wistful tone. At the question though, Dawn paused and glanced away for a moment in thought. "...Just my pokemon! I think! Honestly, I was a bit busy freaking out the whole way here. That was a pretty crazy show in the sky, though! Also I think it might be talking about me. I'm... really hungry and I've slowly been working up the urge to ask for a sandwhich." Dawn awkwardly replied, apologetically bowing her head.

Meanwhile, Piplup suspiciously gazed at the Xatu for a few moments before running over to it! ...He tripped halfway there, but that didn't stop him from rushing to confront the petrified pokemon. "Hey bird-brother, what's that you're saying about my trainer? I'll give you one chance to elaborate before I peck it out of ya'!" Piplup aggressively challenged, jumping to Dawn's apparent defense. The Xatu held perfectly still once again, and for a brief moment it might not be clear it intended to reply at all. "...Your trainer... is the short one?" the Xatu breathlessly replied. "You're a psychic and you don't already know that?" Piplup remarked rather suspiciously. "...I see... only darkness. No past. NO FUTURE!!" the Xatu replied, abruptly spreading their wings and screaming that last part in a panicked tone. His shrill screech drew Dawn's attention from not far off. Piplup recoiled slightly at the outburst. After a moment, the Xatu lowered their wings again. "...What terrible, innumerable crimes must have been committed... to create such a... deafening silence..." the xatu continued, trailing off into a whisper and lowering their gaze to the ground, their eyes closing. "...Piplup, leave that pokemon alone!" Dawn gently scolded as she listened to what she perceived only as a squawking fit. "--Geez, fine! I think this guy's nuts anyway." a frankly disturbed Piplup replied, sorta slowly backing away from the xatu.

As Piplup eventually turned tail to focus on where he was going, something began to happen. Dawn gasped and gestured back at the xatu to get Hikari's attention. A purple, shadowy aura was beginning to envelop the pokemon. Moments later, Dawn lurched from the ground with a squeak of alarm as a powerful psychic force gripped her. "What's happeniiiEEEEE!!" Dawn began to ask, only for the same psychic force to then shift and violently launch her off of Spear Pillar, tossing her off the mountain itself! Piplup began to run after her in a panic, but he was immensely too slow to do anything about it other than freak out.

"Dawn!"

Without thinking, Marina had dashed over and grabbed Dawn's ankle before she went over the edge. While she could easily hoist her up, she wasn't about to leave herself open to an attack from the Xatu. She simply held onto Dawn and reserved her strength for enduring what back attacks may come. Mira, on the other hand, came out of their ball and shot a Shadow Ball right at the Xatu. Hikari would also get up and toss out her Staraptor. He would move quickly to be underneath Dawn in case Marina lets go or is attacked.

"You JERK! Why would you do that! You're going to regret that! Let's take him down, Mira!"

The Rotom twirled and seemed to glow with power after hearing Hikari's words. Activating Hikari's passive inspiration and giving Mira an all-round boost of +2 to their stat parameters for the time being. Mira made some blip noises and stared down the Xatu.

"Marina, I trust you and Star can take care of Dawn! Piplup, stay with Marina!"

Dawn's scream of fright was abruptly cut off by another yelp as her violent momentum came to an equally violent stop, leaving her hanging there over the abyss from her ankle. Not a position you wanted to be in even if you weren't wearing a mini skirt. She just kinda hung there for a good moment in shock, slightly out of it because of that sudden stop.

The Xatu, meanwhile, pretty much just stood there and took the shadow ball attack, nearly collapsing as the energy passed through it. As it got back up, however, a purple aura finished surrounding its body. The newly descended shadow pokemon opened its red eyes to look at Hikari for a moment before emitting a psychic wave that rushed out to meet the trainer and her pokemon, shoving them back rather harshly, but well--not accomplishing much more than potentially knocking one on their rump.

Instead, the majority of its efforts were focused on Marina. An invisible force rushed out toward Marina and grabbed her as it had Dawn. Rather than attack, the witty psychic pokemon saw fit to violently shove Marina over the edge with her rescuee in tow, putting them both in renewed danger! Could Staraptor carry them both? "--Oooh no!!" Dawn began to squeal as she felt herself start to shift again, though she could do little to help herself. If she owned a flying pokemon, it was currently sitting in her bag ... on the ground where she'd left it.

Hikari stood her ground barely but she quickly shot a look to Marina and quickly returned her so she would avoid the fate of falling off. The Staraptor did drop a bit as Dawn fell on his back roughly, giving a weakened squawk. Hikari was more concerned for the fate of Dawn and her Staraptor than the Xatu.

"Dawn! Starry! Are you two ok?"

The Staraptor stayed behind the cover of the cliff side to avoid more bursts of winds. He wasn't sure of Dawn's well being though but he responded with a screech to let Hikari know he is still airborne.

"Tch... Fighting on two fronts... Also, this can't be a normal wild Xatu to take one of Mira's shadow balls and keep going... Mira, another!"

Mira twirled a bit before firing another Shadow Ball, recently powered up by their trainer.