Alola to a New Journey!

It's Bedtime

Dawn flight back home was depressing her. She promised Ash that she would be by his side, but here she was flying away, in this stupid metal tube. It didn't feel right. But she also promised her mother she would be home for a few days before joining Ash. She loved her mother, but Ash was admittedly higher on her list of priorities at the moment. She mulled over what to do in her seat.

"kzzt- Attention. This is your captain speaking. We will be touching down in Jubilife City in a few moments. Please secure your seatbelts and prepare for landing. Over. -kzzt"

Dawn sighed and made up her mind. She would drop in and say hi to her mom in Twinleaf Town, then first thing next morning, she was back off to Alola. Her only possible roadblock was getting her mom to let her, in the first place.

The plane landed, and Dawn caught herself about to shout a greeting to her homeland as she stepped off the plane. She snickered to herself. Ash really was rubbing off on her. She'll be running around the world to become a Master, if she wasn't careful.

Dawn's trek home was rather peaceful, and despite wanting to stay behind with Ash, she couldn't deny she was excited to show off Pikipeki to her mom. She always loved birds. Dawn fondly remembered Ash's Staraptor being babied by her mom when it was just a Starly. She quickly learned her lesson when she tried to coddle Starly once he had fully evolved, and got a cut from Staraptor's talons, and a barrage of apologies from Ash.

Snapping out of her flashback, Dawn finally came to the entrance to Twinleaf Town. She took a deep breath of her home's fresh air, and walked up to her house, exchanging kind words with her neighbours, before unlocking her door, and walking inside.

"Mom? Are you here?" Dawn called, as she fully entered the house, taking extra care to remove her shoes.

...

Dawn really felt terrible. Her mom was going to have a panic attack tomorrow, when she'll walk into her room next morning to find Dawn's bed empty. She wasn't allowed to go back to Alola, since her mom had no prior knowledge to her being there in the first place. But Dawn couldn't leave Ash to dry like that, so she left. On the night flight back to Alola, Dawn could hardly keep her head upright. She was going to have some major sleep to catch up on, between the late flight, and jet lag, her sleep schedule is effectively ruined.

But her sleep was pushed out of her mind by imagining the excitement on Ash's face when she gets back. Seeing her somewhat big brother again would be nice. She passed out in her sleep imagining what he's been up to while she was gone.

...

The doorbell rung at Kukui's house, and unfortunately woke everyone up. Dawn was greeted by a confused Kukui and a tired Burnet.

"Dawn? I thought you went back home." Kukui said, as he welcomed her in.

"Yeah, I did, but I wasn't there for long. Just went to check on my mom to see how she was doing before coming back."

"Why are you here so late? It's 3 in the morning, you know?" Burnet asked, shuffling over to the sofa to sit down.

"I missed the early flights, also I had to wait for the late flights. Sorry I woke you up." Dawn apologized, but Kukui waved it off.

"Ah, relax. Not like we haven't had late nights before. So, anyone want coffee?"

Burnet quickly accepted. While Kukui got to work on making coffee for himself and Burnet, Dawn sat down next to Burnet on the couch.

"Sorry I showed up so late. Could I...um, tell you something?" Dawn asked quietly.

"Sure thing, Dawn. I'm all ears." Burnet replied, making herself a little more comfortable.

"Well, I kinda ran away from home in order to be here." Dawn admitted. Burnet's smile quickly vanished.

"Why? Did you get in a fight at home or something?"

"Sort of. My original plan was to spend the day with mom, and come back the next day, but she didn't allow me. There was an argument, but it was quickly shut down by my mother putting her foot down. I want to be here for Ash, so I ran away last night, and got on the 10 o'clock flight. I got here a few minutes ago." Dawn explained.

"Wow, you better get some sleep then, Dawn. You should probably sleep in tomorrow, too. You have everything you need with you, right?" Burnet asked.

"Yeah, my suitcase is right outside." Dawn answered.

"Go grab it, and bring it in." Burnet said. "The couch is all yours, until we get your proper bedding set up in the loft."

"Thank you, Ms. Burnet." Dawn got up to go grab her suitcase. "Oh! Could you, uh... not tell Ash about this? I don't want him to worry."

Burnets discomfort with keeping the secret was clear, but she nodded nonetheless. "Sure, Dawn. My lips are sealed. I promise."

"Thank you." Dawn said, before opening the door to grab her suitcase.

"I'll give Ash a call tomorrow, and let him know you're back." Kukui said, as he handed Burnet one of two coffee mugs.

"Thanks, Professor. How's he been doing while I was gone?"

"Well, I'm actually not sure. He's at Ula'ula Island with Lillie right now."

"Oh, I guess I'll head down there sometime later this week to check on them. You guys don't mind me being here?"

"Not at all, Dawn." Burnet said, idly swishing the hot liquid inside around her mug.

Dawn made sure to sleep well into the next morning.