Shadows of a Distorted World

[My comments will be brief on this.]
This story is loosely based on a recent playthrough I did with Pokemon White, but will also have touches of Pokemon Platinum in it as well. Foremost, the protagonist is Dawn (from platinum), although White (the female player from B&W) does cameo later on.

The Premise... well... try summarizing any Pokemon game and it'll probably sound stupid. Just trust me on this. Besides... it's Pokemon.

So without further ado... I give you "Shadows of a Distorted World".

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CHAPTER 1
Being surrounded by blackness on every side was common in places without light. Those whose eyes were not opened would see nothing but it. However, shutting one’s eyes did not shut one’s ears. Even in dreams, one could still be affected by the noises around them. Other times, the fabric of their dreams wove songs and noises of its own to play with the mind of the viewer.
Such were the games being played in the mind of a teenage girl asleep in her room in the quiet town of Nuvema. Most would call them nightmares, but after three years of it, she had become desensitized.

“When are you going to realize that you can’t screw with my head anymore?” she said sternly to some unknown presence.
“Just because I have not attempted any new tricks in your world does not mean I am out of ideas.”
“Yeah, well frankly, not being able to see isn’t making me lose my mind. It’s just pissing me off.”
“I am the reason you were exiled from Sinnoh. The outbreaks that were caused in your wake caused the very damage that I sought for. That country is mine.”

“No shit,” the girl’s voice snapped, “that isn’t tearing me apart either. That just pissed me off slightly more than you taking my sight away.”
“How many Pokémon will you let die in your attempts to stop me?”
“As many as it takes to get rid of you, you bastard. Now go away. No one likes you.”
“You wish for me to go away? You are in my distortion world, child. It should be me telling you to go away, but why would I want something like that?”
“Yeah, well if you and I could be separated, that’d be really great.”
“Very well,” the voice said after a pause, “wake up, Dawn. It is morning…”

A beeping sound rang in Dawn’s ears, shaking her back into reality. Lazily bringing her arm up, she balled her hand into a fist and slammed it down at the offending device, which stopped.

“It’s times like this that I realize how ironic my name is.” Dawn rubbed her eyes as she lazily rolled out of bed. Hitting the floor with an unceremonious thud, she realized just how chilly it was when not in her warm blankets.

She knew the layout of her room, even when groggy and without vision, so the lack of eyesight that “it” had given her was not a hindrance for this. Pulling on a shirt and some kneesocks as she threw on her jacket and strapped on her boots, she slowly made her way downstairs. Normally she would have slept in until the late afternoon, except that this morning, her friends Cheren and Bianca would be coming over for something they said was important, but wouldn’t give Dawn any details about.

It seemed Bianca was running a little late, but Cheren was there, sitting at the table with Dawn’s mother. Their conversation stopped as Dawn stepped in, plopping herself down rather unceremoniously as she laid her head in her arms.
“Look who decided to wake up this morning,” her mother laughed. Cheren, being the slightly more serious one that he usually was, simply greeted her with a ‘good morning’.

Dawn rubbed her eyes, and realized that she could see again. Good. It meant that whatever weird distortion effect Giratina had put on her wasn’t active or manifesting itself, which meant less of a danger for her or for anything and anyone around her.

“Hey.” She lifted her left hand in what looked like an attempt at a wave, “Bianca here yet?”
“Give her about 10 minutes,” Cheren replied, “you know how she is.”
About 10 minutes later, true to Cheren’s estimate, Bianca came through the door, seconds after knocking. In her arms was a box; and her expression made it seem like Christmas had come early.

“Happy birthday to me,” Dawn raised an eyebrow, posing the statement as a question.
“No, silly,” Bianca laughed, “Professor Juniper is giving us these three Pokémon.”
“Even me,” Dawn’s eyes actually widened significantly.
“Even you,” she said with a massive grin, “now come on. Let’s open it in your room.”

“Right, because Pokémon romping through my room is a brilliant idea.” Dawn was dripping with sarcasm, but wasn’t going to fight it, “Right behind you.”
“Do you ever wear pants,” Bianca made a quip at Dawn’s outfit as she stood up. In truth, she did not, but her coat was long enough to keep her from being indecent at all.
“No, and that probably won’t change.” Dawn cracked in a deadpan tone.
The three teens were soon gathered in Dawn’s room with the box on the counter. Opening the box revealed three Pokeballs.
“Starter Pokémon,” Cheren nodded.
“Dibs on the water-type,” Bianca called out. “Cheren, you can have the fire-type!”

“Right,” he gave Bianca a distinct look, “fine—unless Dawn says otherwise.”
“Pff,” Dawn snorted, “you know that at this point I’m just glad that someone’s finally letting me near a Pokémon again. I’ll take the last one then.”
Unsurprisingly, the Pokémon in question were Tepig, Snivy, & Oshawott—standard issue starter Pokémon in the Unova region. Dawn interrupted Bianca mid-sentence, helping steer her clear of the idea that they should try out their Pokémon in her room.
“If this was your house I’d be fine with it.” Dawn reasoned, “But half the shit in here is best left untouched.”

“Spoilsport,” Bianca laughed, but the three of them went outside anyways, Dawn shoving a hat on her head and putting a scarf around her neck as she went.
Dawn almost seemed hesitant with the Pokeball in her hands. After all, she knew that it would be bad if ‘it’ decided to show back up again. She blinked a few times to make sure she could still see clearly, which provided her relief in knowing she could.

“P500 says I’ll beat you, Dawn.” Bianca chanted, sending out her Pokémon,”
“You’re on.” Dawn muttered with a confident smirk. The air out here was crisp and cool, a light winter breeze brushing against her legs and face. “Salazar, have at him.”
Salazar, the Snivy that Dawn had nicknamed, took down Bianca’s Oshawott in two deft moves.
“That’ll be P500 please.” Dawn smirked, holding out her hand. As she pocketed the money, she suddenly felt her vision getting hazy again.

“No… no… no… No… No! NO! NO!!”

As surely as it had started, it suddenly went away. However, Dawn’s friends were both looking at her skeptically. Cheren approached her.
“What was that about?” he asked as he handed Salazar a berry, “Here, you take one of these too.”

Dawn didn’t really even look at what Cheren had given her, but after downing it in a couple chews and a swallow, it tasted like a berry.
“Nothing,” she shook her head, “just misplaced something. You wanna make a bet like Bianca?”
Cheren paused, not really buying the story the way Bianca did.
“P1000 then?” dawn waggled her eyebrows encouragingly.
“Fine… you’re on. Get ‘em, Tepig.”
“Salazar… you know what to do.” Dawn retorted.
Cheren was more of a tactical thinker, and so the movement and commands of the Pokémon was different this time around. While the battle was a short and sweet victory for Dawn’s Snivy, it was clear that some thinking went into the maneuvers, especially given the shallow movepools.

Cheren slapped P1000 into Dawn’s awaiting hand after his defeat, and he immediately changed the subject to something that still somehow managed to be relevant.

“I don’t know about you two, but I’m going to head to the lab to thank Juniper for the Pokémon. Feel free to swing by if you want.”
Bianca loved the idea, and instantly agreed. “See you there, Dawn,” she chanted as Dawn was left standing alone, her waist-length hair fluttering in the light breeze.
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DAWN'S POKEMON:

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There's not much to say about this chapter. It is mostly for exposition, but does also provide some insight on Dawn.
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CHAPTER 2
For a moment, Dawn simply stood outside her door, glancing up at the grey winter sky, with Salazar back in his Pokeball at her waist.
“I am not entirely sure this is the best idea for me.” she ruminated, “and especially not for Salazar—or any other Pokémon I may catch. I will have to do this with as few of them as possible. If I am to stop Pokémon from dying, I need as few as possible to take the life-risking journey with me. It must be done though—I will prevent the Master of Judgment from rising. Do you hear that, Giratina? I. Will. Stop. You.”

Rolling her shoulders, she passed by Bianca’s house to hear a heated discussion going on inside—it sounded like Bianca’s father. Dawn lingered for a few seconds to see a slightly disgruntled Bianca stagger out the door, shaking her head. When she saw Dawn, she looked slightly apprehensive for a moment before shaking her head again and smiling.

“What was that about, if you don’t mind me asking,” Dawn raised an eyebrow.
“Daddy just doesn’t want to see me go,” Bianca replied, and then looked around nervously, taking a step closer to the slightly shorter girl.
“He also said something about you… and about Sinnoh.”

“If it was about how I am exiled from ever going back, it’s true.” Dawn confessed, “I’m 17 and dangerous, but that’s for a different reason than people think. I’d never cause you any harm, Bianca.”
Bianca produced her cute and innocent smile that made Dawn crack a rare smile.

“I don’t think you’re dangerous,” she laughed, “well, maybe in the mornings, but so is my dad. But come on—let’s go thank Professor Juniper for the awesome Pokémon!”

Dawn nodded, following Bianca in doing just that.
Professor Juniper was able to detect evidence of the little scuffle between Tepig, Snivy, and Oshawott, but she said nothing about it. She did, however, give each of them a handful of Pokeballs, as well as a Pokedex, explaining what the latter was used for.

“Trainers with these are able to communicate with their Pokémon,” she elaborated, “communication between trainers and the Pokémon of other trainers is not yet possible, however.”
“And here I thought all you had to do was get your soul possessed by some legendary behemoth,” Dawn thought to herself, “that won’t be for much longer though.”

A short lecture later, and the three of them were heading towards the outskirts of the town to take their first steps into Route 1 together. With Bianca counting to three, they lifted their feet and took the step past the boundary of Nuvema town, setting foot into the fields of Unova for the first time.
“Oh, I have another idea!” Bianca piped up. “let’s see who can catch the most Pokémon between here and Accumula town!”

“So basically,” Cheren quipped, “Who can catch the most Patrats and Lillipups?”
“Don’t ruin the surprise!” Bianca laughed, racing away into the tall grass. “Last one to Accumula loses bragging rights!”

The walk to Accumula was a couple of hours at a slow and steady pace, but trainers and Pokémon often did it without worry. It was a good place for beginner trainers to test their skills without fear of stronger trainers. Dawn might have argued that concept if someone told this to her, but it was just the popular saying in the area; little more.

Dawn whipped out her Pokeball, twirling it on her finger like a basketball for a moment before pushing the center button to let Salazar out. It stretched and seemed unfazed. Dawn knew that you could rattle the ball all you want and that it would not affect the Pokémon inside unless you sent them out.
“So,” the Snivy said in a soft but distinctly masculine voice, “how are you going to go about this journey? After all… everyone does it differently.”
Dawn was surprised for a moment; not because a Pokémon had spoken to her, but because of what it had asked. The Pokémon inside her head did a good job at keeping talking Pokémon from being a surprise, but the audacity of such an inquiry made Dawn stop and think. She sat down under a bare tree and gazed upward again for a moment.

“Well, what do you mean?” she asked back.  Salazar hopped up onto Dawn’s lap, preferring her natural heat compared to the winter chill.
“Well, every trainer goes about it in different ways. Some raise Pokémon as friends; others raise them to be fighters. A brave few even try to complete a Pokedex. Some even fight to the death, only catching the first Pokémon in each area. A few others collect only certain types of Pokémon, and there is always the occasional idiot who will catch 6 incredibly weak Pokémon like Magkiarp.”

“Heh,” Dawn shrugged, looking at Salazar for a moment as she closed her eyes in thought. Her mind seemed clear, and so did her vision. Giratina was dormant again.

“This is going to probably be different than anything you’ve heard from Juniper.” She warned.
“Try me.” the Snivy changed its expression into what was undoubtedly a smug little grin.

“You might be able to tell that there is a Pokémon inside me.” Dawn explained, “my quest is to find the two legendary Pokémon that split from one being. They are the answer to my problem.”
“Oh, so as soon as you get them, it’s box time for poor Salazar then,” he teased.

“Hardly,” Dawn shook her head, “I hate legendary Pokémon. It’s a long story. To put it simply though—you might as well slap a “Property of Giratina” tattoo on my ass. When he takes control of me… bad things happen. There is destruction; violence. I put the lives of people and Pokémon alike in danger when he shows up.”

“Is there any way to avoid it, or am I doomed to attack you the moment you go feral?”
“I’m working on that, although Pokeballs seem to help.”
“Well,” Salazar chuckled, “it seems I know what to do then.”
“Same,” she slowly stood up. “Even then though, I want to catch only 6 Pokémon during this journey—no more. The fewer Pokémon I have to put at risk because of Giratina’s influence, the better.”
“Fair enough.” The Snivy nodded. Dawn paused for a moment, looking skeptical.
“Doesn’t anything get you down?”

“I’m too lax to let that happen,” he indicated, “I am concerned, yes; but I am not about to leave you over that—not without at least seeing it myself.”
“I have to admire that.” Dawn confessed, “Thank you, Salazar.”
“No problem.” He beamed, “now, let us train some, yes? I feel like knocking a few Patrat heads.”

Salazar proved to be quite alert and quick to act. The Lillipups and Patrats that Route 1 had to offer were little match for him. However, after about 45 minutes of training, something caught his eye that he alerted Dawn about.
A single Lillipup was facing horde of other Lillipups, and the loner was winning.
“That’s a teammate right there.”  Dawn tossed a Pokeball up and down in her hand.

Naturally, the Pokémon was a bit worn out after defeating so many adversaries, and so catching it in the Pokeball was easy. However, Dawn planned to take a tactical approach. If a Pokémon was to become a permanent team member, it had to be fully loyal to her; and her to it.
“That was some impressive work back there.” She said softly. “Welcome to the Team, NewYork.”

The Lillipup twitched its ear, looking up with a lazy eye.
“It was strictly business, lass.” It quipped, “Nothing for me to get uppity about. Either way—it’s about time someone found me. I was starting to get bored—needed some better frontiers.”

“Let me assure you,” Salazar chuckled, “this girl will provide that and more.”
“Good to hear,” the Lillipup nodded, “NewYork at your service, lassie.”
Dawn watched the two Pokémon converse, a small smile growing on her face. Salazar gave NewYork the rundown of what Dawn intended to do, and NewYork seemed content with it. The two Pokémon rested a bit, and for the first time in a while, Dawn herself felt truly happy.

However, that bout of happiness stopped instantly after she noticed her vision growing steadily hazier.
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DAWN'S POKEMON:

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And now we see the effects of what Dawn's curse does, as well as how NewYork acts.
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CHAPTER 3
Dawn began mumbling strings of swearwords, as her attempts to fight off the influence began very clearly fading. The only thing that pained her about this was that she could see the fading faces of her two Pokémon, both with confused expressions on their faces, particularly NewYork, who had barely joined her team. Would his loyalty end here with her outbreak, or would he have Salazar’s back?

“You see Dawn… when I want to show myself… I always will.”
“Piss off,” Dawn mumbled, “Don’t get too uppity this fast.”
The fact that she was speaking these things out loud led to a pair of skeptical Pokémon.
Swiftly, Dawn reached into her bag pocket, rummaging blindly till she felt what she was looking for. Holding out her hand, there were a handful of small badges.

“Take… these,” she grunted, still desperately trying to fight off what she was starting to see as inevitable, “just… hold them!”
NewYork, being new to the team and unfamiliar with Dawn, was slightly more skeptical, but Salazar convinced him, and in the nick of time. Moments after the two were holding on to these peculiar items, some type of energy radiated from about Dawn’s eye level. The radius seemed limited, but the results were just as dangerous as Dawn had warned.

“So thaaaaaat’s what these do,” Salazar seemed rather impressed. NewYork just seemed more confused than ever, and luckily, Salazar noticed.
“I get this feeling that we are in for a rough time, NewYork my friend.”
NewYork did not need to be told twice, and so despite being surrounded by bloodthirsty Lillipups and Patrats (as unimposing as it sounded), it did leave him skeptical about another thing.
“She is the one causing it though. Doesn’t that make her the problem?”
“Fight more, talk while you fight!” Salazar warned, swinging a Lillipup that had latched onto his tail off and slamming it to the ground.

“It makes Giratina the problem,” he motioned towards where Dawn was lying face down and unconscious. “And that is what she is trying to stop!”
The fight was a bit rough, especially around the edges, and there were multiple wild casualties. However, NewYork and Salazar managed to fight off the onslaught of feral Pokémon. The price, however, was that most of them had to be killed or were incapacitated. NewYork seemed to be desensitized a bit already by it.

“It happens even without that influence—but if that is what is in that poor lass’ head, it needs to be stopped. I don’t think offing her would do the trick either.”
“Do the two of you really think that the inferior likes of you: a lab-bred starter Pokémon and an underlevelled spawn of Unova’s first route could really stop me?”
“You wanna talk smack, do it to my face,” NewYork barked, “instead of trying to kill us from your hiding place. I refuse to die unless it’s done with dignity.”
“Noted,” was Giratina’s reply, “I will remember that when you carelessly drop the badges.”
With that, the aura subsided, but Dawn remained unconscious for a while.
She awoke to find her two Pokémon, a bit battered and with a little blood, but otherwise okay. It seemed that the rest they took while waiting for her to wake up had helped heal them a bit. Resting seemed to have that effect quite a lot.

“Are you two alright,” she gasped, sounding very worried, “I didn’t hurt you guys did I?”
“Nope,” NewYork boasted, “just the Patrats, who landed a few good moves on me. It was nothing I couldn’t handle though.”
Salazar chuckled, using one of his stubby limbs to rub his side. “They got a few hits on me, but that is just the nature of a Pokémon battle. There’s nothing we got from this scuffle that can’t be fixed there.”
“Then let’s go.” Dawn nodded, “hold onto those badges though.”
She helped place them on their chests (or equivalent) which they showed off proudly.

“I take it these are the reason we were not tainted?” Salazar quipped,
“Correct,” Dawn nodded, “and I was only able to save about 6 or 7 of them from Sinnoh before I left, which is part of why I am limited on the number of teammates I can feel safe about getting.”
“Noted, lass.” NewYork nodded, “well, whenever you decide how many folks you’re going to have join us, know that I’m sticking with it. I’ll knock as many enemies as you need, be it a Patrat or a Genesect.”
“That’s the spirit,” Dawn smiled, “thank you.”

She paused for a moment, wondering if she could explain to them the magnitude of their problem. Deciding that the answer should be painfully obvious, she did just that. To her surprise, NewYork simply nodded. Looking at him skeptically, he explained.
“Salazar told me while you were out, lass. You’ve got a clever little starter there.”

Salazar chuckled and Dawn concurred.
The rest of their walk to Accumula Town was rather quiet, as Dawn had been somewhat subdued because of how easily Giratina had taken over when he had wanted to. She was worried that he would make her become a threat to anywhere she went.
Dawn’s first stop in the town was the Pokémon Center, where she ran into Bianca. As she turned her Pokémon over for healing, Bianca decided to have a word with her.

“You’re late!” she exclaimed, “and you look a bit groggy. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Dawn lied, resisting the urge to rub her forehead, “just a bit tired out. We had a rigorous training session out there.”
She then gave Bianca a distinct look that said that she would explain it later.
“Besides,” she mumbled, “if I don’t say, my Pokémon would end up telling yours, and they’d tell you.”

“What makes it so difficult to tell me?” Bianca asked with a look of concern on her face and a caring tone in her voice.
“Because you’re my friend, and I don’t want you hurt. It’s the same way with my Pokémon. There’s a reason I’m as reclusive as I am, and it’s not because of Cheren.”
This made Bianca chuckle. “Oh come on, Dawn. I don’t believe half of the stuff they say about you. The Sinnoh stuff has me curious, but I think a lot of that is just conspiracy garbage.”

“Some of it is… but some is true. This is the stuff I’ll explain later.” She mumbled out of the corner of her mouth. After all, there were more people in the Pokémon center than just the two girls.
Dawn shook her head to herself as she got her Pokémon back. “I’ma get a room and I’ll call you after we get something to eat.” She promised Bianca as she began walking outside,

“Alright,” she smiled, “I’ll keep you to that.”
She grabbed a few things for herself and for her Pokémon, and then checked into a room, locking the door, and then removing her coat and hat. She was alone, and so her lack of pants did not bother her at all. She plopped down into a chair and sighed, closing her eyes, contemplating what had just happened. She wondered if it had permanently affected Route 1 or not. Perhaps turning on the TV might show her if anything had happened.

There was no unusual news, however, and so Dawn felt relieved. She let Salazar and Newyork out of their Pokeballs, letting them roam around and get a bite to eat from the things Dawn bought. After all, it was not unreasonable to bring Pokémon indoors unless they were large or would cause damage. A Snivy and a Lillipup hardly qualified as such.
“So what now, boss?” NewYork piped up as he ate, “we crashing her for the time?”
“For tonight at least, aye.” She indicated. “There are some things I need to do here.”

“No hurries,” Salazar shrugged, “we’re doing just fine.”
“Alright then,” she replied, and after a few minutes, called Bianca, putting her coat back on as she did so. No sooner than 3 minutes after she had hung up, there was a knock at her door.
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DAWN'S POKEMON:

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