Archie had a dream that night.
It was blurry, sound was hushed, and it seemed completely random, but it was a dream.
His first sight was that of a plain, gray room. A single door with a glass window in it lead out and if he squinted, he could make out something printed on it.
Two humanoid figures were sprawled out on the floor in harsh states of defeat-thankfully, it was too blurry to make out much graphic damage. Both had lit-up hands that ebbed a sort of power, though the light was fading out as their strength decreased.
One said something: "You'll never get away with this..."
The other said something else: "The Pokémon will stop you..."
Pokémon...that name rang a bell somewhere in his crazy head...
The last being in the room stood before them and cackled at their primal efforts. Archie took a better look at the last person. He couldn't see the face clearly because of a large fedora that covered it up. He did, however, notice that the person was fairly tall, was completely dressed in brown, and had a scar on his left cheek. The person sent one last glare their way, saying something alongside it in a psychotic tone:
"...already have..."
He strolled to the single tabletop in the room, being as plain a grey as everything else. Apparently, Archie didn't have a very color-active imagination.
One of the victims muttered something along the lines of 'not the documents...'.
He said something back: "Yes, the documents...every pain-enduring one...every character in the book!"
One of the humanoid figures shakily stood up and broke into a sprint toward the man. However, in her horribly weakened state, she collapsed after only two steps.
Archie watched in despair. Was all this supposed to just play out in front of him? Should he help the victims? Could he help?
Just when he was thinking he should try to wake up and spare himself from the bloodshed, something knocked on the door.
A male voice asked something, the figure left on the floor coughing out a weak "Help..."
"NO!" the evil being shouted, reaching a hand to the door like it would stop the strangers.
It didn't; a few harsh charges was all it took before a large group of blurry figures broke their way in. Some looked human; others were bipedal; yet others looked moist.
They gaped at the two on the floor before turning on the evil and charging, shouting curses and battle cries. Among them were:
"YOU KILLED OUR AUTHOR!"
"SELFISH BISHARP!"
"MEET MY CLAWS!"
"HOW COULD YOU?!"
"EVEN MORE EVIL THAN I AM!"
"DIE!"
"BURN IN A HOLE!"
"DROWN!"
The being looked angry before regaining his composure and lifting both hands, now encased in red light. The fighters were encased in it and stayed suspended in midair, screaming and shouting as if electricity was charging through them.
He dropped them and charged a wave of white between his hands.
"No..." the figure who tried running gasped, "No...no! Guys, run...!"
Too late: he thrust it forward, encasing the once-fighters in a typhoon of white. Their forms changed and they stayed encased in white as he lifted them once more and threw them into the computer screen-it wavered afterwards, but the fighters were definitely gone.
Archie stepped back. Should he escape from this nightmare now?
Before he could attempt to wake up, an ear-piercing howl, a war cry, filled the room. A red beam hit the being, and more creatures suddenly broke into the room. The leader of them appeared to be an orange fox, with large ears and red eyes. "ATTACK!" she howled again.
The figure on the floor gasped. "Is that... Fen...?" Her voice trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.
The fox attacked the evil being with sharp claws and fire. She barked orders at the others, who nodded. The look on their faces said they would've otherwise protested, but this was serious business.
"THIS IS WAR!" one of them shouted, lunging at their enemy.
Electricity seemed to build from another. "KILL HIM! SMASH HIM!"
Others let out roars and snarls, and yet others remained silent as they tried to quickly rid themselves of the vicious slanderer.
"FOOLS!" said slaughterer roared, preforming a similar attack with them. "Not even your kind can beat reality!"
"Reality...?" one of the girls echoed.
"Roseh, you think we can...send (what she said didn't reach his ears)...to the real...world?" the other asked.
The one identified as Roseh shot her an 'are-you-kidding-me' look before turning back to the second group.
Suddenly, his view changed. He found himself looking from the palm of the girl who had asked, and felt coiled up-like he was in a ball. He could see several part red, part white balls knocking against him lightly, but he didn't feel them. The red parts were clear, though, showing a hazy view of several creatures: A blue, cat-like animal with a frill and fins; a short, humanoid creature with a set of black jaws on her head; a white-dressed creature with hair parted by a pink horn; another cat, this one with leaves on its head and tail.
There were others, but his attention was dragged as the girl lifted her hand to show them to the other.
"I have some leftover submissions..." she explained.
Roseh looked at the tiny spheres in her friend's hand. "I guess... they're our only hope..."
The girl nodded and tossed them into the air. As if on queue, both girls shot a beam each at them and sent them into the laptop.
Archie, of course, was in one of the balls; the moment his vision went white, he woke up to the orange walls of his room. The sun from the balcony was shining in his eyes, hard-earned from Fen after he won several 'MINE' battles.
"Archie!" the girl with the wild, black-red ponytail-Zora-shouted, poking her head into his room. "Come on, get up! It's your first day in this town, and we're eating pancakes to celebrate! PANCAKES, I'M TELLING YOU!"
"Arf?" Lassie barked.
Rose was close by, holding onto the puppy's leash. "I love pancakes!"
"Dude, I just had the craziest dream last night," a boy named Trevor yawned. His ruffled black hair was even messier in the morning, but still had his signature yellow-lensed goggles perched in it somewhere.
"Oh really?" Philip asked out of boredom.
"Yea...I was wielding a sword made of diamonds..."
"Ooh, real diamonds?" Piper was right behind Philip. "Were they really shiny and pretty?"
"Yea! Okay, it was more of one huge, sharp diamond on a handle, but it was beautiful," Trevor sighed dreamily.
"You're crazy," another resident of the house, a girl by the name of Sarah, sniffed. Her blonde hair was combed so the green highlights caught the light, matching her tanktop and ankle-length skirt.
"Oh rly?" Trevor stated. "And what did you dream of?"
"Leading an army of yams against another army of cooked yams."
Everyone stared at the teen.
"...TOTALLY NOT CRAZY!" Zora laughed.
"Yep," Farren sighed, leaning against a wall. "Everyone's crazy but me."
Kale rolled his eyes. "Says the one who told me she dreamed about teaming up with a fox and taking over the world."
"Being a tyrant isn't the same as being crazy!" she insisted.
"I often dream of foxes," Zora yawned, shoving a pop tart into her open mouth.
"HEY GUYS, YOU'RE GONNA MISS THE BUS!" Carl (a seventeen-year-old with spiky, red hair) shouted from the doorway. His normal get-up, a crème shirt and jeans, was underneath his Starz Café uniform-a dark blue shirt and logoed apron.
"You guys enrolled, right?" Trevor asked, snatching a backpack and heading out the door.
"Yep!" Piper smiled. "And so did Phillip!"
"So did I," said Farren.
Kale simply nodded.
"Then ONWAAAARD!" Renee declared, standing on a chair.
"GET OFF THE CHAIR!" Charlie shouted from another room.
Renee stepped off the chair, grabbed her bag, and ran to the bus while yelling "FOR NARNIAAAAAA!"