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3rd person pov

Dawn was ecstatic to finally be able to return home. She enjoyed her journey through Johto, but the cliche of "there's no place like home" was true. Dawn missed Sinnoh and now that the Johto contest season was over, she would return home. It still felt like a dream to her. Dawn just couldn't believe that she had won the grand festival. She was now a top coordinator! It's all she ever wanted. Well, not exactly...

She wanted-

Dawn blinked several times when she heard some rustling. Then it hit her, she was finally at her house in Twinleaf town. Guess she was lost in her thoughts longer than she planned to. Dawn walked up the porch and knocked on the door three times. Not hearing a single sound, Dawn twisted the knob only to find out that her house was open. As Dawn stepped into her house, lights flashed on and the townspeople as well as her mother jumped out from their hiding spots.

"Surprise!"

Dawn blinked again, trying to process what was happening. She hadn't expected for practically the whole townspeople to show up. Dawn thought it was a nice gesture from her mother to set this up, but she began to notice something. At everyone that Dawn looked at, the same similar feature was noticed. They all had dark circles around their eyes, including her mother.

"Dawn! It's so nice to have you back home." Johanna says, hugging her daughter.

"Mom is everything okay?" Dawn asks, awkwardly hugging back.

Johanna pulls away. "Of course everything is okay. You're back!" She smiles

"But-"

"Dee Dee!"

Dawn mentally cursed at hearing that old cringey nickname of her's. It was just an accident! When would they let the past go already?! Dawn turned around and forced a smile around Kenny. Johanna smiled, she politely excused herself to go greet her guests.

"Kenny." Dawn says through gritted teeth.

"Congratulations on winning the grand festival. You deserved the win." Kenny says

"I told you there was no need to worry. I would get this time around." Dawn says

Dawn had no problem with Kenny, well at least she didn't before. Nowadays, Dawn couldn't be around Kenny without feeling uncomfortable as well as a bit angry. He just treated her like property! What was more frustrating about it is that nobody else would notice! Since then their friendship hasn't been the same anymore. She wasn't so sure when Kenny began to have feelings for her, but Dawn knew that he began to treat her like property since he met Ash. That's what she preferred about the raven haired trainer. Because unlike Kenny, Ash treated her well and actually gave her a choice.

Maybe, that's just what she liked so much about him...

"So, Dawn..."

'Oh no.' Dawn thought.

"I was wondering when you would like to travel to Hoenn with me. The contest season is starting soon and I think that it would be a good idea for us-"

"Sorry Ken, but you can't hog Dawn all for yourself." Barry smirks, wrapping an arm around Dawn's shoulders.

Kenny nods. "Right. After all, this is a party to celebrate Dawn's win. We can always start making plans later." Kenny says

Kenny reluctantly walks away towards the food put out. Barry mutters a few insults in his direction, while letting his arm fall to his side once more.

"The nerve of that guy. The next time I see him, he's going to owe me a fine." Barry mutters

"Thanks Barry." Dawn says

"No problem Dawn. You know Kenny was a cool guy before. He even has an Empoleon! But that doesn't matter anymore. He shouldn't have tried to force you on a journey with him. Besides we both know that you like Ash." Barry says

Dawn's blue eyes widen. She begin to panic. The bluette looked around the room frantically to see if anyone had heard Barry, but it seemed that, that wasn't the case. At least that's what Dawn thought, until she locked eyes with Paul from across the room.

'What was he doing here?'

"Hey, it's Paul..." Barry mumbles in awe

"What are you doing here?" Dawn asks

Paul crosses his arms. "I'm not here for you. I was forced to take a break from my journey in Alola to come here and congratulate you." Paul explains

"Forced by who?" Dawn asks

"Alola?" Barry questions

Paul rolls his eyes. Before he could explain both Reggie and Maylene approach the trio. Maylene hugs Dawn from behind, while Reggie watches his girlfriend a smile on his face.

"Dawn! Congratulations! I knew you'd win the grand festival one day." Maylene says

"Thanks Maylene. I didn't know that you'd guys would be here. It only seemed that the townspeople were here." Dawn says

"Well, yeah. But I couldn't miss this celebration. After all, I owe you Dawn. I wanted to repay the favor." Maylene says

"She actually wouldn't stop begging us all to come here." Reggie chuckles

"That's really sweet of you Maylene." Dawn smiles

However, she noticed that Reggie, Maylene, and Paul didn't have the dark circles around their eyes. So, why did everyone from Twinleaf town have them? What was even going on while she was in Johto?

"Paul! Battle me!" Barry exclaims

"Here?" Paul looks at Dawn.

She shrugs. "I wouldn't mind. We have an arena out back."

"Alright then. I'll battle you." Paul says

Dawn leads the way to the arena and Barry, Paul, Reggie, and Maylene follow her. It was late at night, but the full moon shone brightly allowing them all to see clearly. Dawn sat on the sidelines with Maylene and Reggie as the battle began. Barry obviously sent out Empoleon and Paul sent out his Torterra. Unfortunately for Barry, before the battle could begin, he collapsed to the floor.

"Barry!"

Dawn runs to his side to check on her best friend. She shook Barry a bit, but got no reaction out of him. Thankfully, he was still alive. Barry just seemed to be sleeping. The blonde cringed in his sleep as if he was having a-

"Nightmare." Reggie mumbles, kneeling besides Dawn.

"That's normal, but why did this happen?" Dawn asks

"It's Darkrai." Paul answers

"Darkrai?"

"It's been said that there's a Darkrai in town terrorizing the people of Twinleaf town." Maylene explains

"That's why everyone looks like they're about to pass out." Dawn mumbles upon coming to the realization. 

A shadow sinks into the ground. The silhouette moves along the ground, trying to make it's escape. Dawn sees this and stands up, she hesitates, but follows after the shadow. Reggie, Paul, and Maylene don't notice due to the fact that they were trying to get Barry inside the house. However, the shadow did notice that it was being followed by Dawn. Slowly it emerged from the ground, it's blue eyes shining brightly.

"What do you want from us?" Dawn asks

"Battle."

'It used telepathy!'

"That's all? But then why cause nightmares? You could have just simply asked any trainer here for a battle-"

Darkrai shakes it's head. Dawn was both terrified and shocked, but she didn't want to show it. It was a freaking Darkrai! A legendary pokemon! Though that still didn't change the fact that it was causing too much trouble for the town.

"Battle. You." Darkrai says

"Me?!" Dawn exclaims