Introduction: I'd like to start off by apologizing to the regular readers of my Pokemon AU. I know I've neglected these stories for far too long, and I wouldn't be surprised if I probably lost a lot of you because of it. The thing is that I just tend to get a little burnt out on writing these Pokemon stories sometimes. Of course part of that had to do with the pace I had set for myself at the time, but there have been times where I'd just get so sick of the whole AU that I'd really want to work on something totally different. For now though, my creative spark for this little AU of mine has returned with all the news of the new Sun and Moon games that have been coming out recently.

I know I still have my Thunder in Kanto story to finish, and I also know that many of you are still waiting for me to work on Reign of Silver. I still can't say when I'll finally get Reign of Silver off the ground, but I can assure everyone that I plan to start wrapping up Thunder in Kanto fairly soon. In the meantime, I'd like to present everyone with this new story that I've been working on for the past few days. I've had the concept for this story ever since X and Y came out, but for a long time I had been running into walls with it until just last week. The inspiration behind this story came from the female Mewtwo that appeared in that Genesect movie from the Black and White era.

There are just two other things I'd like to mention before we get into our story. The first is that if anyone reading hasn't read my earlier story, Dusk of the Dead, you should probably go back and do that now. The epilogue to that story is especially important. The other thing is that I kind of ripped off some of the plot elements from the H.G. Wells novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau to use for this story. That said, on with the show.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

Chapter 1: The Island of Dr. Fuji

Dawn Berlitz sat looking out the window of her plane at a sky covered by thick grey clouds. Sitting in the seat next to Dawn was a short penguin-like bird with a large blue head and a light-blue body. It had a short orange beak and large white circles around its eyes, along with two small white circles on the front of its chest. This was Dawn's first Pokemon, Piplup. At that moment, Dawn and Piplup were passengers on a small plane flying across the ocean. The plane was taking them to a city in the Kalos Region where Dawn was going to participate in a Pokemon Contest. Pokemon Contests were starting to become big in the Kalos Region, and Dawn was looking forward to participate in the city's very first one.

It was also Dawn's hope that the contest in Kalos would be a fresh start for her. The fact was that the twenty-two year old coordinator had been having a very rough time. Just over a month ago, Dawn had broken up with her boyfriend from Lavender Town in Kanto after she found out he had been cheating on her with his maid. At that same time, Dawn had also had a very rough reunion with her two sisters, Dusk and Diane. The reunion had been so harsh that Dawn broke her arm during a fight with them that had gotten out of hand. The physical and emotional toll of the whole ordeal had caused Dawn to go back to her hometown in Sinnoh to recover. But now that her cast was finally off, Dawn felt like she wanted to get back out on the road.

Unfortunately, Dawn's new journey had not been getting off to a good start. She had been late getting to the airport and missed her original flight to Kalos, forcing her to negotiate passage on a small plane delivering mail to the region. It had helped that the pilot was a fan of Dawn's mother, the champion coordinator Johanna. Only half way through the flight though, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. As Dawn looked out the window, she could see that they had flown into a storm.

"Uh, hey. Do you think that maybe we should turn back?" Dawn asked the pilot. "It looks pretty rough out there."

"Relax, little lady. I've flown through worse weather than this." The pilot assured her. "Besides, we don't have enough fuel to turn around and go back. We're almost there. Don't worry."

Dawn tried to assure herself that the pilot did indeed know what he was doing. He did appear to be a veteran aviator. Still, the storm seemed to be getting worse and worse by the second. Every now and then she could see a flash of lightning in the distance. Before long, a heavy rain started to come down outside. The wind of the storm had increased too, causing some turbulence that frightened Piplup. Suddenly a blot of lightning hit the wing of the plane, causing the engine on it to catch on fire. The plane began to plummet towards the ocean below. The pilot tried to pull up, but his efforts seemed to be in vein. The aircraft hit the water, and the force of the resulting impact caused Dawn to hit her head on the window. Dawn's world went completely dark as the plane started to sink.

Dawn slowly opened her eyes, and as he vision came into focus she saw Piplup's face staring down at her. It took the blunette a few moments to recall what had happened. Slowly, Dawn began to sit up and found that she was in a bed in an unfamiliar room. It was fairly small and minimally furnished. The wallpaper was colored a dull yellow, and by the wall to Dawn's left was a large oak dresser with a mirror. Directly in front of the blunette was a wall that had a very large window overlooking a tropical forest. There was an almost equally large window in the wall directly next to Dawn's bed.

Once Dawn had fully set up, a relieved Piplup cuddled up to her chest with tears in his eyes. Dawn responded by smiling and putting an arm around the little penguin Pokemon. She was relieved that Piplup was okay, then suddenly wondered about her other five Pokemon. Dawn looked frantically around the room and was relieved to find all six of her pokeballs sitting on the dresser.

"Good! You're finally awake." A voice suddenly spoke. "I was starting to become as concerned as your little friend was."

Dawn looked and found that the single door to her room was open. In the middle of the doorway was a man in an electric wheelchair. He had grey hair that grew out over his forehead and a curled grey beard. The left side of his face was scared as though it had been burned and he had on a pair of oval framed glasses. The man's outfit consisted of a tan short-sleeved shirt with tan slacks. A black glove covered the wheelchair-bound man's left hand, while his right hand was bare.

"Who are you?" Dawn asked. "And where am I?"

"I am Dr. Fuji." The man answered as he wheeled himself completely into the room. "As for where you are, you're in the guestroom of my house, which is on an island about forty miles of the coast of Kalos. As for how you got here, you and your Piplup washed up on shore. My assistant, Muldoon found you both and brought you back here to the house. Fortunately I had all the equipment here to treat you and your Pokemon."

"Was there anyone else besides me and Piplup on the beach?" Dawn asked, worried about the pilot.

"I'm afraid not." Dr. Fuji answered as he shook his head. "By the way, you might wish to know that you've been unconscious for about three days. I am quite curious to know how you washed up here."

"Piplup and I were on a plane to the Kalos Region when we ended up in a storm." Dawn explained. "Lightning struck one of the wings and we crashed into the water."

"Well, you and your Pokemon are all extremely lucky." Dr. Fuji declared. "It's not very often for me to have visitors here."

"Um… thank you for everything that you've done, but I'd like to get back on my way to Kalos if it's possible." Dawn told him. "Do you have a boat here or something that could take me there?"

"I understand your wish to leave, but I'm afraid it's impossible for you to get off the island at the moment." Dr. Fuji informed her. "There are no boats on this island, or anything else besides this house for that matter. There is a boat that comes by here bringing supplies, but it's not due here for another three weeks. When it does arrive though, I'm sure the captain would be agreeable to giving you a lift to Kalos. Until then, feel free to consider yourself my guest."

"Well, I guess that'll have to do." Dawn replied.

"Muldoon brought you a change of clothes for when you finally woke up." Dr. Fuji told her, pointing at the closet in the wall behind Dawn. "It's not exactly what a young woman your age would consider high fashion, but it should be suitable for your stay here. If you're feeling up to it, you're welcome to join me for dinner in two hours."

"Now that you mention it, I probably could use something to eat." Dawn realized.

"Excellent. I'll tell Muldoon to set a place for you." Dr. Fuji replied. And with that, he left the room.

After a few moments, Dawn got out of bed and changed into one of the outfits that Dr. Fuji's assistant had prepared for her. The closet was filled with fourteen versions of the same outfit: A short-sleeved tan shirt with pockets on the front and tan cargo shorts. Dawn put one of the outfits on, along with the pair of black boots that had been prepared for her. Dawn felt like she was dressing up to go on some kind of jungle expedition. She was at least thankful that she still had her yellow hair barrettes.

Dawn left the room with Piplup when dinnertime finally arrived, and the two of them managed to find their way to the dining room. It was a slightly large rectangular room with a long table designed to seat six people. Dr. Fuji was already at the end of the table and several plates of food had been set out on the white tablecloth.

"Delighted that you could join me." Dr. Fuji told her. "I don't believe that I got your name before."

"Sorry. I'm Dawn Berlitz." The blunette replied as she sat at the other end of the table. Piplup, meanwhile, had quickly waddled over to a bowl of Pokemon food that had been laid out for him in a corner of the room. "Um, will Mr. Muldoon be joining us?"

"No. Muldoon prefers to eat in his quarters." Dr. Fuji answered. "He's a good assistant, but not very sociable. Actually, the more accurate job title for him is manservant, but that term probably isn't very politically correct these days."

Dawn nodded and the two of them began to eat. A heavy silence hung over the room for what seemed like several minutes. It was natural, of course. After all, Dawn didn't know the first thing about her host, and her host had only just learned her name. Plus the good doctor was old enough to be her father or maybe even her grandfather. There was also something peculiar about Dr. Fuji that Dawn could not place, something that she couldn't help but find a little disquieting.

"So Dawn, I'm correct in assuming that you're a Pokemon trainer?" Dr. Fuji asked in an attempt to start up a conversation.

"Pretty much." The blunette confirmed. "Actually, I'm a Pokemon coordinator. I was on my way to a Pokemon Contest in Kalos when my plane crashed."

"Ah yes. I've heard of these Pokemon Contests before." Dr. Fuji recalled. "I've never actually seen one though. I don't pay much attention to the world outside this island."

"I see…" Dawn replied. The awkward silence from before returned for several moments. "So… just what kind of doctor are you anyway?"

"I'm a geneticist." Dr. Fuji answered. "My specialty is cloning."

"You mean like brining back Pokemon from fossils?" Dawn asked.

"I did help to develop that technology, but my attempts at cloning have been more… revolutionary." Dr. Fuji answered. "But I'm sure a young lady like you wouldn't be interested in such things. Besides, it was long ago and I've since retired."

Dawn nodded and looked around the room for something else she could use to start another conversation. Within seconds she spotted the picture of a little girl with long green hair and a big smile on her face hanging on the wall to her left. She had on a sun hat and a white dress.

"Who's the girl in that picture over there?" Dawn asked.

Dr. Fuji looked at the picture Dawn indicated and sighed. "That, Ms. Berlitz, is my daughter… Amber."

"Where is she now?' Dawn asked.

"…She died… many years ago." The good doctor answered. "I never truly got over her death. I coped with it by throwing myself into my work, chasing an impossible dream that I eventually found could never be realized. My work cost me my marriage, and many other things. Now here I am, an old man living alone on an island with nothing but old memories and shattered dreams."

"I'm… sorry to hear that." Dawn responded.

"…I think I'll retire for the evening." Dr. Fuji decided. "I'm sorry that I couldn't be better company to you."

With that, Dr. Fuji wheeled himself out of the room. Dawn continued her meal in silence. She realized she had brought up a sensitive subject for her host and regretted it a bit. After finishing her dinner, Dawn took Piplup and went back to her room.

It was the dead of night, and Dawn was lying in her bed staring up at the ceiling. Her encounters with Dr. Fuji were keeping her from getting to sleep. There were too many things about the good doctor that Dawn couldn't help but find strange, questions that she couldn't figure out the answers to. Why was Dr. Fuji living alone on some remote island? How did he get those scars covering his body? And just what was sort of work was it that Dr. Fuji did before he retired?

Dawn got out of bed, deciding that she needed to walk around and explore the house to take her mind off things. Plplup woke up as Dawn left the room and quickly followed after her, tripping along the way as he headed for the door. Dawn and Piplup eventually came to a fairly large room that seemed to be some kind of library. There were shelves of books lining each of the walls, and in the center of the room were two green chairs. Between them was a round table made of polished wood, and on top of the table was a lamp with a blue lampshade and a bottle of what appeared to be brandy along with a single empty glass and a brown book with a bookmark sticking out of the middle.

Dawn decided that reading a book might quiet her thoughts and help her get to sleep. She began to peruse the shelves for just the right book. At last she found a book that she thought might do the trick. It was a thick book on the history of the Kalos Region, interesting yet at the same time boring enough to make her drowsy enough to go to sleep. When Dawn tried to pull out the book, the entire shelf suddenly retracted into the wall. A startled Piplup hid behind Dawn's legs as the bookcase move aside after retracting into the wall, revealing an opening to a hidden room. The opening was completely dark except for electronic lights that Dawn thought might be from pieces of computer equipment.

Against her better judgment, Dawn decided to go through the opening and investigate. Piplup hung back for a moment out of fear before quickly following after Dawn, deciding that being alone might be more dangerous than going in. The chamber beyond the opening seemed quite large, but it was hard for Dawn to tell exactly what was inside because it was so dark. Suddenly a pair of lights clicked on as soon as Dawn took at few more steps in. The lights were coming from a pair of glass tubes. Dawn took a look at the first tube before her and was completely stunned by what she saw.

Floating inside the tube, which seemed to contain some kind of odd yellow liquid, was a young woman who appeared to be in her early twenties. She had long green hair and was in a fetal position, completely naked except for some kind of device that seemed to be covering her eyes. The machine had thick black wires leading from it to the bottom of the tube. Dawn suspected that the wires were connected to the computers at the back of the room but couldn't be sure. As Dawn looked at the young woman in the tube, Piplup looked at the other tube giving off light and alerted Dawn with a startled cry.

Dawn looked at the other tube and saw that it was not only full of the same yellow liquid as the one containing the girl, but that it was also occupied. The thing inside the second tube was a six-foot-tall bipedal feline that was purplish-grey in color. Its stomach and tail were purple and it had a cord-like growth on the back of its neck. The creature's eyes were closed as if asleep. Dawn had encountered the Pokemon in the tube once before. She had run into it back in Lavender Town a month ago when she had her little fight with her sisters. It was Mewtwo.

Author's Note: The main reason why Dawn is the hero of this story is because I just wanted to use her in another story. I rather like Dawn. I don't like her as a love interest for Ash, but she is one of the better characters from the anime. Anyway, the next chapter is already up, so go ahead and take a look.

If you'd like, please review and let me know what you think.