Frankly, I'm disappointed I have to say this, but whatever. If you're a part of the Farla vs Hybrid of Fate, please don't spam the the review sections or my PM's with 'warnings'. If you do so, I will not hesitate to block you. I've been on fanfiction long enough to know what's going on, and I don't need any 'advice' on who to block, and I certainly don't want to be involved in this crap.

With that out of the way, welcome to Warped Matter!

"I heard he found two new fossils that hadn't been discovered yet!"

"He's the new gym leader or Oreburgh too, isn't he!"

"Isn't he Byron's son too?"

"Aaaahhh! One of these days, I'm gonna pack up and go on a journey!"

Dawn tapped a pencil on her wooden desk, annoyance boiling up inside her. She brushed a couple dark strands of hair out of her face, and shot a glance at her babbling classmates. All of them were discussing the same topic: the emergence of the new Gym Leader Roark. Son of the successful Byron, Roark was quickly gaining ranks as a rising archaeologist and gym leader.

To put it simply, he was the talk of the town.

Dawn pressed her pencil hard into the desk at the sound of her classmates squealing about the gym leader's good looks. She sighed, and pulled her sharpener out of her bag. Thank goodness winter break was approaching. She couldn't think she could handle any more of her classmates' rambles about gyms. All of them talked about how'd they'd become a celebrity when they went on their journeys.

As if.

What was so great about gyms? A trainer specializes in a certain type, and you had to complete a simple puzzle to reach the leader. Nothing exciting about that. Bring a pokémon with a type advantage, and you'd walk out the gym twenty minutes later with a shiny badge to show off to your friends.

Dawn smiled, remembering the Battle Frontier. She twirled her pencil between the fingers, recalling all the information she had read on forums the past few days. The Sinnoh Frontier Brains weren't afraid to use different types and battle styles. Everyone had their own gimmick that forced you to be creative, and utilize skills unrelated to battling.

The Battle Frontier had opened recently, only allowing high-ranking trainers to participate thus far. However, there was an announcement that the Battle Frontier would be broadening its clientele, now allowing more trainers to come. That clearly meant that they would be opening it to the public, and she would be able to go!

Of course, there was the matter of convincing her mother to let her go and-

"Caught in another one of your fantasies, eh Dawny?"

Dawn's smile slipped off her face, and she tilted her head back to see an ever-familiar boy. "For the last time Barry, stop calling me Dawny."

Barry slid down into his seat next to her, grabbing his textbook. "Well, think of it as payback for all the times you called me the Berry Man back in kindergarten!"

"Barry, I was literally five!" Dawn replied, exasperated. "It was too good of an opportunity for a young me to pass up!"

Her childhood friend gave her cheeky grin, and Dawn groaned. Thankfully, the bell rang, ending the conversation. Their teacher attempted to get the classes attention, but it did little to quell the commotion in the front of the classroom. Finally, the teacher slammed her hands down on the desk, the resulting bang finally catching the student's attention. They quickly hurried to their desks, eyes on the ground.

The teacher grumbled something about kids, and pulled up a video. "We're watching the Lake of Rage footage today."

The class cheered, while Dawn merely rubbed her forehead. The video itself was a familiar one. Two people fought a pack of raging Gyarados' in a murky lake. The gyarados were uncontrollable, their pupils dilated and wide. One stood out for the rest, with gleaming blood-red scales. He seemed to be rampaging the most.

The monotone voice of the narrator came on, explaining the event. Team Rocket used radio signals to send the magikarp in the lake on an evolving rampage, all as an experiment. Pokédex Holders Lyra and Silver calmed the rampaging beasts, and exposed Team Rocket's deeds.

Dawn looked down at her nails. She'd seen this video over a dozen times this month. It was interesting the first few times, but it had quickly become more boring after repetitive views. She wasn't quite sure what this had to do with Geography either.

Maybe she could catch a nap...

Something sharp jabbed at her arm, and Dawn shot up. Whipping her head to her right, she saw Barry poking her arm with his pen, his orange eyes still glued to the screen.

Leave to Barry to never get bored from this video.

Once again, Dawn went back to tapping her pencil again, but this time it was out of boredom. The rest of the period was spent in immense boredom, time seeming to crawl at a horribly slow pace. The bell finally sounded through the air and Dawn breathed a sigh of relief. She grabbed all her books and threw them into her pink bag before she raced out the door.

Exiting the portable classroom, Barry soon surpassed her, laughing. "Even with a head start, you'll never beat me when running!"

"Well, if I had known we were going to race, I would have worn better clothes!" Dawn shot back, pressing down her navy uniform skirt in order to keep it from riding up.

Barry stopped running and turned to her, a sinister smile on his face. "Say Dawn, I want to become a master trainer, and you want to go to the Battle Frontier, right?"

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, and...?"

Barry looked at her as he stated. "We just watched a video on the Red Gyarados right? Well, what if there's one in Lake Verity?"

Everything was silent for a few seconds.

"...You've got to be kidding me," Dawn said, "Out of all the stupid ideas you've had, this one is the worst. You don't have any pokémon and you want to go catch a Gyarados of all things?"

"That's why I'm asking you to come with me," Barry answered, "You can bring your Staryu."

Dawn rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Barry, my Staryu is a water type. She can't take on a normal water type, much less a Gyrarados."

Barry waved his hand. "No, you don't understand! This is where my master plan comes in! You take your Staryu and distract it while I come in with the poke balls and catch it. Then we can show it off to our classmates!"

"...Goodbye Barry."

"DAWNY WAIT!"

Dawn stomped through the snow, cursing under her breath. In her hands was a glass capsule, containing her partner. In the distance, she could see the gate out Twinleaf Town, where Barry was tapping his foot impatiently.

How the heck did she get looped into this?

Right. Barry had said he would pay her money. How he had that much was beyond her. Regardless, she needed the funds to get to the Battle Frontier.

Upon reaching the gate, Barry ran up to her. "You're late Dawn! You'll need to pay me 2000 pd!"

"Sounds good," Dawn said blandly, "Lets go to that lake."

Barry nodded excitedly, and they both trudged through the thick snow towards Lake Verity, worn signs guiding them through the covered paths. Barry began to hum an old show tune, while Dawn had taken to looking at the snow-covered landscape.

They passed between an arch of snow-capped pine trees, and found themselves on the outskirts of the frosty. There were thin patches of ice covering the water, and as always, there was a large boulder in the middle of the lake.

At the edge of the water, there was an older man with deep blue hair wearing a gray suit. He was kneeling down on one knee on the shore, muttering something to himself.

"The flowing time, the expanding space... I will make it all mine... Cyrus Steel in my name. Until you awake, remember that name, legendary pokémon of the lake bed..."

'Cyrus' seemed to notice Dawn's and Barry's presence, and he turned his head. He stiffly walked towards them, his cold grey eyes boring through them.

"Move." he said.

Barry gulped, and shuffled aside to create a space for Cyrus to walk past. Dawn shot the man a weird look before she mumbled to Barry. "Well, that was freaking weird."

"Yeah." Barry answered.

Dawn shrugged, and walked towards the lake. "Well, let's get this over wi- eh?"

She appeared to be looking at something in the grass, and Barry quickly hurried over to see what was going on. There was a brown briefcase lying in the grass. It was perfectly pristine, not covered in any snow.

"You think it was that Cyrus guys?" Barry asked.

"I don't know," Dawn said, "We should probably leave it. I'd rather not talk to him again."

"Good point! Let's get on with my brilliant plan!" Barry shouted.

Dawn released her Staryu, both of them falling into position before the lake. Barry hopped towards the edge, his hands cupped over his mouth.

"HEY HEY HEY! C'MON GYARADOS! WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"

Dawn covered her ears, shooting a glance at her partner. "How did he end up like this Staryu?"

Staryu merely raised two of her orange appendages, as if she were shrugging.

Loud splashing was heard from the lake and Barry cheered, "Get ready Dawn and Staryu! I think it's working!"

The splashing noise grew louder as a shadow approached Barry. Staryu's red gem glowed, ready to blast the wild pokémon. However, the pokémon that emerged from the water wasn't a red gyarados. It wasn't even a blue one.

Barry, Dawn and Staryu all backed away as a furious golduck burst out of the water. He began to chase after Barry, who immediately took off.

"Barry, I think your shouting angered it!" Dawn yelled.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Barry swore. "Staryu!"

Staryu jumped towards Golduck, attempting to stop it in its tracks. She shot off some water guns, but they had little effect on the pokémon.

Dawn looked around, searching for something that could help them. Her gray eyes landed on the briefcase on the ground. There must be something useful in there. She raced to it, and clicked the case open. Inside, there were two poke balls, with a third empty slot. Dawn quickly grabbed both of the poke balls, mumbling a quick apology to the owner of the briefcase.

"Barry!" Dawn shouted as she threw the poke ball at him.

Barry looked over, and caught the poke ball. He whipped around, and let a boisterous laugh. "HAHA! Try beating me with this!"

He threw the poke ball at Golduck, hitting him in the head. The poke ball opened up, leaving a small, blue penguin sitting on Golduck's face.

"Pip?" it peeped, hopping down onto the ground.

Dawn blinked. "That's Piplup. It's a water type right?"

"That's right," Barry said, "Me and him can still fight though. Piplup, attack!"

The blue penguin rolled its eyes, but followed Barry's order regardless. It dove towards Golduck, but unfortunately was swatted away. Dawn gulped and threw the other poke ball. A small, orange monkey flew out. It had a small flame on it's bottoms, and yellow hands.

It turned around to look at Dawn. "Chim?"

Dammit.

They had more pokémon to fight with now, but none of them could hold their own against a Golduck of all things. Chimchar was a fire type and Staryu and Piplup were water types, neither of which fared well against a water type like Golduck. Still though, they had to try.

"Staryu, confusion! Chimchar, attack!" Dawn shouted as she closed the briefcase.

The two pokémon dove towards the blue duck as Dawn picked up the briefcase. Barry whipped around and commanded, "Piplup, attack!"

Piplup followed his order and joined Chimchar and Staryu as they began diving at the Golduck from all different angles. Meanwhile, Dawn lugged the heavy case towards the fray. Golduck let out a wave of psychic energy, sending all of the other pokémon flying back. He ran towards Barry, ready to attack.

Barry stumbled back, but tripped over a tree root that was protruding out of the ground. He fell to the ground, and cursed loudly as he clutched his ankle in pain. The Golduck stood over him, ready to attack. Barry gulped.

CRACK!

Golduck fell to his knees, holding his head in pain. Above him stood Dawn, who hefted the briefcase in her hands. A gleam was in her eye, and she slammed down the briefcase again. Barry watched with wide eyes as Golduck collapsed face-first onto the ground. A large purple welt was present on the Golduck's head.

Dawn dropped the briefcase, and panted as she collapsed to the ground in a heap. "Let's never do that again."

"Agreed," Barry answered, also collapsing. "That Gyarados is not worth all the hassle."

Dawn let out a weak laugh, and turned her attention to her two partners. "Thanks for the assist, you two."

Chimchar and Staryu nodded, crawling to their feet. Barry picked up the poke ball containing Piplup.

He simply said, "Alrighty, now we just pop em' back in the box and we pretend that never happened."

"I am so dead."

Both Dawn and Barry whipped their heads around to face the exit of the lake. Standing at the edge of the clearing was a boy around their age. Like them, he was dressed appropriately for the weather with a blue winter coat, black pants, blue shoes, and a white scarf. A red beret was nestled on his slate grey hair, and his eyes were wide.

"Professor Rowan is not going to be pleased," he said.

Dawn swore.

The boy began to pace around, mumbling to himself. "First I leave the briefcase behind. Then when I return two random hooligans are battling with the starters. I am so dead.

His eyes fell on the Golduck. "What the heck is that?"

"It's a fainted Golduck?" Barry offered weakly.

"What did you do to it?" the boy shot back.

Dawn sighed, and grabbed Piplup's poke ball from Barry's hand. She returned both pokémon, and placed them back into the briefcase. After snapping it shut, she carried it over to the boy.

Here you are," she said "You can return the pokémon to the Professor and we'll return home. Like Barry said, all of us can pretend this never happened."

"What never happened?"

The group of three now turned to see an old man in a winter coat and boots trudge through the snow towards them. "Who are these two Lucas?" he asked.

Lucas ran up to the old man as he apologized profusely. "I'm so sorry Professor Rowan! I came back here to retrieve the starters and when I walked in, I saw these two battling with them."

Professor Rowan looked at Dawn and Barry as he asked, "Why did you two take the starters?"

Barry began speaking at the speed of light. "YouseemeandDawnhereweretryingtocatch-"

Dawn cut him off. "What he's trying to say is that he accidentally angered a Golduck, and my Staryu didn't have the strength to defeat. We, er, borrowed the starters for the time being to attempt to defeat it."

Professor Rowan examined the two before turning to Lucas. "Lucas, let out the starters."

Lucas did as he asked and knelt down. He unclicked the briefcase, and took the two poke balls out. Upon being released from their poke balls, Piplup and Chimchar looked around their surroundings before hopping over to Dawn and Barry.

The old man's reaction shifted slightly as he hummed, "I see. You have already imprinted on them. To take them away from you would be cruel."

Barry blinked in surprise as he asked, "So... your saying we can keep them?"

"Yes, but on one condition," Professor Rowan stated, "Those two starters were meant for the Sinnoh Pokédex Project."

"Sinnoh Pokédex Project?" Dawn questioned as Chimchar hopped onto her shoulder, "You mean Sinnoh's going to get Pokédex Holders as well?"

"Yes. The project was a success in other regions, so Samuel decided to try it here in Sinnoh," Professor Rowan said, "In exchange for the starters, you will participate and help complete the Sinnoh segment of the National Pokédex."

"WE'LL DO IT!" Barry screamed.

Dawn turned to Barry, and stated, "You made up your mind rather fast."

"This is an awesome opportunity though Dawn!" Her childhood friend yelled, "All of the previous eleven Pokédex Holders ended up doing amazing things!"

Dawn sighed. She was going to do the project whether she liked it or not, since she didn't want to abandon Chimchar. Perhaps this was a good opportunity though. She wanted to go to the Sinnoh Battle Frontier. She could use this project as an excuse to go on the journey to Snowpoint City.

"So, what's your answer Dawn?" Lucas asked.

Dawn lifted her head and smiled. "I've made up my mind. I'll do the project."

First story, yay!

I'm trying to write Dawn a bit differently then other iterations (namely, Dawn from the anime, Platinum from Pokespe and Mitsumi from the DP Adventure Manga), with her being obsessed with the Battle Frontier instead of contests or gym battles, with a sorta close-minded approach towards gym battles. I used the Diamond/Pearl events of getting your starter, but this story is going to follow the plot of Platinum.

At the moment, Chapter 2-5 are mostly drafted, so I hope I can post again soon :)

For the time being, I hope you enjoy Warped Matter!

~WarriorElise~