Arceus's Story

"Thanks..." Dawn replied somewhat breathlessly as she was helped up and given some support. was somewhat on the slow side given her injury, leaving Caden plenty of time to forage ahead. The worst he finds are some sassy wild pokemon. Nothing that would normally be considered a serious threat to a seasoned trainer. Dawn, in turn, was more than happy to learn on her counterpart for support. Thankfully, she was quite light and easy to support. As they arrived back inside, Dawn plopped down onto the rock and sorta tenderly brushed a hand across her injured leg, pouting slightly at it for having given up on her. "...I'd like to get home, honestly. No matter how rough things get, you've just got to keep trucking, y'know? I-If you'll have me." Dawn replied in mild embarrassment.

(Don't get too comfortable. She can't be trusted.) a voice commented in Dawn's head as Hikari was inspecting her foot. (Why not? She's basically me.) Dawn mentally replied. (That's one of the many reasons why you shouldn't trust her.) the voice remarked. (That doesn't make any sense... She's really nice.) Dawn replied. (...That Xatu saw the truth, and he turned on you in an instant. There will be others. Sometimes, to protect someone, you have to keep your distance.) the voice added after a moment. At this, Dawn's expression fell, her heart weighing heavily upon her. (...I can't. She's wonderful. Please don't make me say no to her...) she pleaded with the voice. (...Very well. But do not say I did not warn you...) the voice reluctantly replied, trailing off and leaving Dawn to her own thoughts.

"So, what are we going to tell Mom anyway?" Dawn asked. Her foot was mostly fine. Tense with pain, and perhaps in need of a pedicure, but there weren't any wounds at the skin level. It seemed to be more of a sprain than anything else.

"I mean, she's heard the 'I went to an alternate dimension' thing before so I doubt this is THAT big of a surprise... maybe.. Also... something on your mind? Your expression dropped randomly."

The Lucario's ears were perked. He may not have heard the conversation but he did feel a presence during it. He would look around for any remnants of it.

"Huh? You ok, Caden?" Hikari asked her Lucario friend.

The response came to a head shake and the Lucario went back to meditating. An act he learned from a human in Kanto. It was quite helpful for calming nerves and just relaxing in general.

As Caden looked around, there was nothing visible to his eyes that might register as particularly... in the visual spectrum. Y'know, other than the second Hikari. But with his aura sight, he might notice something ... a little bit off. While Dawn definitely looked like a younger version of Hikari, her aura didn't match this description at all. In fact, their auras looked almost nothing alike. While Hikari's was likely the same as he'd ever known it to be, Dawn's was... startlingly intense. To look upon Dawn's aura was to gaze into the sun. That is to say, the sheer volume of aura surrounding her was so massive that it made her aura very difficult to read. It was likely a phenomenon Caden would have never encountered before. However, he is unable to pick up on anything else that might be behind the presence he just sensed. It seemed that Dawn's presence was simply rather massive for such a tiny girl.

"...Really?" Dawn asked in a flatly incredulous tone, only to quickly realize what it was Hikari was referring to. "Oh right! I almost forgot we both went to the dark world. I never got a chance to tell my mom about that..." she replied, trailing off for a moment as her own train of thought bummed her out briefly. She quickly moved to change the topic though, thinking something up to distract from her actual thoughts. "No need to worry~! Everything's a-ok. I just hope my gym badges are still good here. I had seven badges before I left!" she explained, fishing out her badge case and opening it to show off her pride and joy with an eager grin.

...There were indeed seven badges there. Three of them were the same as the ones Hikari was familiar with, while four were different entirely. Each one of them, however, looked filthy.

" . . . The cloth I used to clean them got too dirty." Dawn awkwardly explained after noticing their worn state.

Caden made note of this but refrained from speaking about it, even to Mira. Hikari looked at the case, recognizing the Coal badge and the Forest badge... The others were foreign to her.

"Hey, who are those from? I can see Roark's, Gardina's and Wake's but... Where is Fantina's or Byron's? Also, if you need a new cloth for them, when get home I can spot you one, no problem!"

Dawn paused for a moment to consider the circumstances. "...Nevermind. I think I understand now. Byron left his gym a bit before I arrived at Canalave to go train at Iron Island or something. That's what Barry said anyway. I can't keep up with his legs or his mouth sometimes. He used to say I better hurry up or another gym leader was going to retire before I got to them. ...Pretty sure he's never going to let me live that one down." Dawn explained with a hint of embarrassment in her tone. "Let's get going! I-If that's okay. I'm sorry if I seem a bit eager. Just... Y'know. I can tell you about my other badges on the way there." Dawn offered. She then began to go over each badge and explain their origins.

"Anyway, This badge is the canalave city gym badge. I got it from Glyede, the dragon type expert. He was a little weird. He kept on referring to me as a lady or a damsel so I decided to roll with it and on my third rematch I wore the dress I usually wear for contests. Long story short he calls me princess now! So that was fun." Dawn began, gesturing to a badge themed like a medieval tower.

"This one's from Charlie the Fire Type expert. You ever feel like someone's looking at you like you're a piece of meat but then you realize that someone is a charizard and also you're medium-well done? That dude was intense. His gym was like an oven. Which smelled about as great as it sounds... I had to use a lot of moisterizer and give my hair a lot of TLC to make it through that one." Dawn continued, gesturing at a badge themed like a volcano.

"This one is from Glimm, the fairy type gym leader. Glimm was a really weird kid. Y'know how sometimes, boys show you they like you by being mean to you? He was that, but turned up to like 11. I'm not sure if he actually had a crush on me or if he just liked messing with me, but I felt like I was getting bullied my entire time there. Did you know gym leaders can just refuse to give you their badge? Speaking of which have you ever seen your mom yell at a gym leader? I have. That was pretty cool. I think he wanted me to keep coming back every day to see him or something, but... No. Just no." Dawn continued, shuddering at the thought. She gestured to a badge that featured a jagged smile over what appeared to be butterfly wings.

"And this one's from Snowpoint City's gym leader, Pryce. He was an old dude who kinda liked to go off telling stories like I was one of his grandkids. But he seemed like he was just a nice old man looking for someone to talk to, y'know? So I wound up listening to a lot of them. It was kind of sad. Dude had a rough life. Oh! And I wound up rooming with this girl named Candice while I was there? Apparently wearing mini skirts in the snow makes us sisters or something. But she was way nice. Total bestie. She even helped me prep and came to cheer me on when I battled Pryce! We exchanged phone numbers, but my poketch has a dead battery and I'm pretty sure I don't get off-world service anyway." Dawn finished, gesturing to a badge themed like a snowflake.