Chapter 4
Vacation Time
Three days passed since DJ and the others returned from Chrysolis. True to Asura's words, they were given a 'vacation' of sorts. They were only allowed to relax, as DJ found out when he tried to train and Grace found him. He was still terrified of fountains.
It was on the third day that the remaining four members of Team Stardust returned to the guild house, none worse for where. Except for Blitz, whose fur looked as singed as it did when he fought Magma in the Battle of the Tower.
As soon as he saw Asura, Blitz marched right up to him and glared angrily. "You sent us to a freaking volcano FOR AN ORAN BERRY?!" His voice got steadily louder as he shouted as his leader.
"It was the mission's parameters?" Asura said with a listless shrug.
"But it was for an oran berry!" Blitz emphasized, his eyebrow twitching in agitation. "We could have gone to the forest around us and got one, hell, could have gone to a store and purchased one! But know, we had to go to an Arceus damn volcano and find a specific oran berry! I nearly got my tail scorched off by lava!"
"It's you're own fault for running off headfirst," Bertha added.
Blitz rounded on Bertha. "It's not like I had a choice! The berry was about to fall into a lava pit!"
"Which wouldn't have happened if you hadn't fired a thunderbolt at it!"
"I wasn't firing at it! I was firing at a Slugma that was about to eat it!"
Both Bertha and Blitz began to argue vehemently, both of them getting in the others face. Finally having enough of the argument, Jet stepped forward and slammed twin fists on the top of Blitz and Bertha. Blitz face planted from the force of Jet's punch while Bertha's head barely dipped down, her skull softening the blow. In fact, Jet took more damage from punching Bertha as the impact of his fist against her skull caused a visible vibration to run of his body. He clutched his hand in pain as Bertha turned to him with a glare.
"What was that for?" she asked dangerously.
"Your arguing was annoying me," Jet said, wincing as his hand throbbed.
"So you hit me?!" she asked angrily, hefting her bone. "Well allow me to return the favor!"
With an overhead swing, Bertha slammed her bone onto Jet's head, sending him to the floor next to Blitz. At this point, Blitz had shakily gotten to his feet, unsure of what happened. Seeing that Bertha was standing above him with her bone held in an aggressive grip, he assumed that she had attacked.
"I'll get you for that!" he roared, pouncing on Bertha. Startled by this action she lost her balance and fell to the floor, her bone flying her grasp.
The two rolled on the floor biting and punching each other, each yelling insults at the other. Jet got up with a groan, clutching his head in pain.
"Now look what you did." Asura chided the Floatzel.
"Well sorry," Jet snapped. "I was trying to stop them!"
"By hitting them?! What made you think that that would work?"
"I don't know?! I didn't think it through!"
"That's why I keep telling you to think before you act!"
Jet and Asura then started to argue with one another, their voices rising above that of the wrestling duo. Their arguments continued for several more minute before Grace finally had enough.
Stepping forward, tick marks forming on her forehead. "Okay, THAT'S ENOUGH!" she shouted, silencing the entire room.
"Now I know tensions are high at the moment, but these senseless arguments are not helping any." She stopped and looked at everyone. "Know, what I recommend is we all take a vacation."
"But we're already on vacation," Asura argued.
"Not this kind of vacation," Grace said, a smile forming on her face. "I was thinking more of an actual vacation to an actual place."
"What place do you have in mind?" Jet asked curiously.
Grace smiled. "I thought you'd never ask." She left the room for a minute or two, the sound of rummaging coming from where she went. She came back with a brochure in her hands and a large smile on her face. "We're going here."
Asura took the brochure from her hands and read it out loud. "Frosalis Resort. A five star resort complete with large water park, casino, a twenty-four hour buffet with five star chefs, a ballroom, ocean excursions, scuba diving, and top of the line masseuses and masseurs. The even have a world class dojo with highly skilled instructors"
"That does sound nice," Jet commented. "That water park especially
"I wouldn't mind checking out that dojo," DJ commented.
"Of course you wouldn't," Katara teased, rolling her eyes. "Though I would love one of those massages."
"Five star buffet," Blitz said, drooling slightly.
"A casino," Bertha mused. "It's been a while since I've gambled." She cracked her knuckles. "Should be fun."
"Indeed," Drake agreed with a smirk.
"I've already booked us rooms for a four day stay," Grace said happily. "We leave tomorrow morning."
"How much did this cost?" Asura asked suspiciously.
"We're going to have so much fun," Grace said, ignoring Asura's question. "The resort is right in front of the ocean so we can also visit the beach! We can-"
"Grace," Asura interrupted. "How much did this cost?"
"H-Huh?" she asked nervously.
"How much," Asura said slowly. "did this cost."
"Oh, you know, not much," Grace babbled, sweat pouring down her face. "Just..."
"Sorry, didn't catch that last part," Asura said, his voice scarily calm.
"Umm, just, you know, thirty thousand poké," she said hurriedly.
"Excuse me?!" Asura spluttered. "Thirty thousand poké?!"
"Yes?" she said uncertainly.
Asura's face went red in anger. He began to breathe slowly in order to gain control of his anger. Once he gained his composure, he spoke.
"How did you get the money for this trip?"
"I may or may not have dipped into our team funds for this," she said nervously.
Asura's rage seemed to come back and he looked like he wanted to explode. He once more forced himself to calm down and, in a very strained voice, said, "Well, it's already done, so we might as well enjoy itself." As he said this, his eyebrow was twitching furiously.
"YAY!" everyone besides Asura cheered happily.
-Legend-
Frosalis Resort
"Wow," Katara said, her eyes sparkling in wonder. "It's huge!"
Team Stardust stood just outside a humongous resort. The resort was made of some kind of white stone that seemed to shine in the sunlight. In front of the building was a large marble fountain depicting twin Milotic intertwined against each other, water spouting from their mouths in a large arc that created a small rainbow in the sunlight. Behind the resort they could see the top of a giant red slide, the sounds of laughing echoing from beyond the resort.
"Welcome to Frosalis Resort," a female Lopunny with a clipboard greeted them. "Names?"
"We should be under Team Stardust," Grace answered.
"Team Stardust," she mumbled to herself, looking at her clipboard. "Ah, here you are. It says that you've paid for four days?"
"That's right," Grace confirmed.
"Okay then," the Lopunny said happily. "My name is Linda and if you have any questions feel free to ask. Now if you'll follow me I'll show you to your rooms." With that, Linda turned to the resort and led Team Stardust inside.
Upon entering the resort, the team were struck dumb by the sheer beauty of the inside of the building. Large crystal chandeliers hung from the large golden ceiling that arched up like the inside of a cathedral. The crystals of the chandeliers reflected the light and bathed the large cathedral like room in a golden light. The floor was made of a smooth hard wood, polished to the point that they shined. Large red carpeted stairs led up to the higher levels of thee resort. Multiple Pokémon walked past them, each with contented smiles on their faces.
Linda led them up the grand staircase and into a large hallway with large doors on either side. It turned out that Grace had paid for them all to have their own rooms, much to Asura's ire. The rooms themselves were large and lavish, each containing large, king size, canopy beds with soft silken sheets. Each possessed large glass doors that led out to balconies that looked out over the ocean.
After a few minutes of situating themselves within their rooms Team Stardust met back up in the main lobby and discussed their plans for the day.
"This place is awesome!" Blitz said bubbly, bouncing on his feet in excitement.
"I have to agree," Blade calmly agreed, though if you listened closely you could hear the excitement in his voice. "This was a lovely idea, Grace."
Grace beamed at Blade's compliment.
"Despite costing us thirty thousand poké," Asura added, causing Grace to smile to become strained.
Grace coughed nervously and shifted topics. "Well, what should we do first?"
"Water park!" Jet shouted.
"Buffet!" Blitz shouted.
"Casino!" Bertha shouted.
"Dojo!" DJ shouted.
The four who answered looked at each other with unyielding glares. An argument broke out between them as all four began to argue where they wanted to go.
"Guys!" Katara intervened. "We have four whole days here. We have plenty of time to do everything."
"Katara's right, we have time to do everything here," Grace said. "Plus, we don't have to do everything together. The point of this vacation is to relax and to do that, some of us..." She looks at Bertha and Blitz. "need some time away from one another."
"So we split up?" Jackson asked.
"Well you don't have to. Just go wherever you want."
"We'll meet up for dinner later tonight," Asura said. "As long as Blitz doesn't clean them out." He shot a pointed look at Blitz who made a show of ignoring the Medicham.
"Have fun everybody!" Grace called
"WOOO!" Blitz shouted, running off in search of the buffet.
"Don't embarrass the team!" Asura called after him, but it was unclear if the Pikachu heard him or not.
The rest of Team Stardust broke apart, heading out to enjoy the resort their own way.
-Legend-
Jet, Jackson, and Katara went towards the back of the resort in order to scope out the water park. Once they reached the giant sliding back doors they were greeted by the sight of five, twisting, red water slides of various sizes, the smallest of them being around fifty feet and the largest being close to a one hundred feet. Each slide led into a fifty by twenty-five meter pool. Multiple Pokémon were either in the pool or traveling down the slides, all of them having a good time.
"It's... it's..." Jackson began.
"Beautiful," Jet muttered.
"Jet, are you crying?" Katara asked in disbelief.
"No! I just have something in my eye!" Katara and Jackson rolled their eyes at the Floatzel's antics.
Jet stood there in silence, simply basking in the sight of the giant slides before him. He then turned to Katara and Jackson, a huge smile on his face.
"Well? Let's go!" With that, he grabbed both Katara and Jackson and dragged them towards the slides, Jackson having to hop along on three legs as Jet had grabbed one of his front legs.
"Jet! Slow down!" Jackson shouted futility, trying to keep up with the exuberant Floatzel on three legs.
"Come on!" Jet shouted, completely disregarding Jackson's comment and pulling them towards the largest slide.
"Why did I agree to this?" Jackson asked himself as he was pulled along.
He pulled them all the way up the stairs to the top of the slide, bypassing many waiting Pokémon that were waiting in line. They gave admonishing shouts at the excited Floatzel, but he ignored them and dragged his two teammates towards the top of the slide. It wasn't until they got to the top that Jet released Katara and Jackson.
"Are you sure about this, Jet?" Katara asked nervously, gazing down the slide. "This is pretty high..."
"Of course I'm sure," Jet said happily. With that, he shoved the two down the slide before diving down headfirst down the slide after his teammates.
"AHHH!" Jackson and Katara shouted in surprise as they found themselves hurtling down the slide. The scenery whipped by, merely blurs of color as they shot down the slide at break-neck pace. They twisted and turned parallel to the slide's form. At one point the two found themselves upside down, but they were too terrified/excited to pay attention. "AHHH!"
Splash!
With one final scream, the two shot from the slide and plunged into the water, sinking several feet into the water. The two swam to the top and broke the surface, Jackson having a hard time keeping his head over the surface, his fur matted down with water. They heard a cry of joy coming from the slide. Jackson and Katara turned just in time to see Jet flying right towards them.
"Crap," Katara managed to get out just as Jet slammed into them.
Splash!
Jet slammed into the duo and pushed them once more beneath the surface. Katara and Jackson broke the surface once more, spluttering and treading water. Jet resurfaced, giving them a shit-eating grin.
"I hate you," Jackson growled at Jet who laughed in response.
"Come on, you know you had fun!"
Both Jackson and Katara gave Jet an indigent huffs, though they had smiles on their faces.
-Legend-
In the buffet room, multiple Pokémon circled a table, several feet in between them and the table. They watched in a mixture of shock and disgust as a Pikachu presided to gorge himself on a mountain of food.
"Can't you at least have some manners?" Blade asked in disgust as he watched Blitz pig out. "You are representing Team Stardust after all."
"Relax, Blade," Blitz said, his mouth full of food. He took a large gulp and spoke again. "I'm just enjoying myself like Grace said."
"Yes, but you're drawing a crowd," Blade said in annoyance, gesturing to the crowd around them who all sheepishly turned away and pretended like they hadn't been watching. "Plus it's revolting to watch you stuff your face in such a manner."
"If you didn't want to watch me eat, then wide you come?" Blitz asked in a casual manner, grabbing some more food from his plate.
"Because I wanted to sample the delicacies that are offered here," Blade replied regally, taking a bite of his own food. "And I must say, this food is divine."
"Well that's something we can agree on," Blitz said, stiffing a belch.
"Quite," Blade said reproachfully.
"You know, this place really is beautiful." Blade was surprised by Blitz's sudden comment.
"Huh? Where did that come from?"
"It's just that I'm grateful that Grace did this for us." Blitz looked over to the large glass doors that led outside. "We all needed this, I think."
Blade smiled softly. "Yeah, I have to agree with you there. We've all been working hard and this is the perfect way to unwind."
"It's times like this that I realize how lucky I am to be part of such an awesome team." Blitz turned back to Blade and gave him a megawatt smile. "I don't say this enough, but I care about you guys. All of you. I know I act like an idiot all the time, but I truly am grateful for you all."
Blade blushed slightly at Blitz's sincerity. He gave an intentional huff and turned back to his food.
"Eat your food," he said pointedly without any bite to his words. Blitz could only chortle in response.
-Legend-
"You know, you didn't have to come with me, Leaf," DJ said, his paws laced behind his head. "If you wanted to do something to relax, you could."
DJ had immediately went in the direction of the dojo. The knowledge that there were highly skilled instructors present was enough to make the overenthusiastic fighting type drool with anticipation. Leaf ended up following him silently, apparently not having anything else to do.
"It is alright, Alpha," Leaf replied. "I am afraid I am inexperienced in regards to resorts. I would have no idea of where to go or what to do."
"Well we're in the same boat in that regard," DJ laughed. "If I've ever gone to a resort, I have no memories of it."
The duo came upon a large shōji door, which looked fairly out of place along the grandeur of the rest of the resort. On the other side of the thin door the sounds of fighting and battle cries. DJ reached out and slid the paper door open and were greeted by a very large and accommodating room. The floors were made of the same wood that as the rest of the resort, but a large blue mat on top. On the opposite wall there was a large mirror that spread across the entire back wall. Several punching bags and other heavy bags.
All throughout the room there were dozens of of Pokémon, mainly fighting types, sparring with each other under the direction of several others, most likely the instructors. Under the watchful eyes of the instructors, the assembled vacationers were throwing punches, kicks, and various other attacks towards those that were sparring. Several of those Pokémon were using the heavy bags.
"Hello!" a Sawk called out to the duo. "Are you here for a training session."
"Yes, please," DJ said eagerly while Leaf simply nodded.
The Sawk gave both of them warm smiles. "It's always nice to see one's as young as yourselves show such passion in the art of combat."
Suddenly the Sawk blurred out of existence and DJ and Leaf found themselves hurtling through the air before they slammed into the matted floor on their backs. The Sawk looked down at them from the spot where they once stood, his face once warm and kind replaced by a visage of cold sternness.
"From now and until your training is done you will refer to me as Sensei," the Sawk said in a steely voice. "Is that clear?"
"Y-Yes," DJ and Leaf responded weakly.
"Then get up!" he commanded, causing Leaf and DJ to jump to their feet. "Now come at me!"
"B-Both of us?" DJ asked uncertainly.
"Did I stutter?!" the Sawk shouted.
"No, sir!" DJ and Leaf yelped simultaneously, dashing towards the Sawk.
Leaf reached the Sawk first and threw a punch at the Sawk only for him to grab the Grovyle's arm and flip him over his shoulder and slammed him into the mat. He then spins around and grabs DJ's outstretched arm and pulled him into an arm bar. The Sawk then sweeps DJ's leg and sends the young Riolu onto his back.
Just as DJ hit the ground, he kicked out with his foot and slammed it into the elder fighting type's shin. However, instead of the Sawk reeling back in pain, a shudder went through DJ's entire body as it felt like he had just kicked solid steel.
"Yow!" DJ howled in pain as he clutched his leg.
"A good attempt," the Sawk said. "But useless against one as conditioned to pain as me."
He then kicks DJ in the stomach, knocking the air from his lungs, and sending him into Leaf, who was just getting up. The both collapsed onto the ground in a tangled mass of limbs.
"Get up!" the Sawk commanded. "We're not done yet!"
"Alpha?" Leaf asked.
"Yes, Leaf?" DJ responded weakly.
"I think I would like to do something relaxing now."
-Legend-
"Oh yeah!" Bertha shouted gleefully as she pulled down the lever of the slot machine she was sitting in front of.
The three dials spun rapidly. The first stopped at the image of a chuckling Mew. The second one landed on the same image. Bertha leaned closer in anticipation. The third dial slowed down, teetering on an image of a glaring Voltorb before it landed on the same Mew picture as the other three.
"Yes!" she cheered as coins spilled out of the machine. "Another jackpot!"
The casino that she currently resided in was overly large and lit up with the sounds and lights of the flashing machines. The floors were carpeted with a soft red fabric with spherical designs on the carpet. At the far end of the casino was a bar with a single Panpour standing behind it and wiping a glass, a wide closed-lipped smile on their face. Several Pokémon could be seen sitting at the bar and ordering various drinks in order to wash away the sorrow of losing. All around various Pokémon were either cheering and cursing loudly.
At the other end of the casino, Drake was sitting stoically at a poker table, five cards held precariously in his claws. Also around the table were three other Pokémon, a Loudred, a Swampert, and a Miltank, each of whom were sweating nervously. In front of Drake was a large mound of poker chips, completely dwarfing the almost nothingness that the other three had.
The three Pokémon nervously looked at their cards then to Drake, then back to their cards.
"I fold," the Loudred said, throwing his cards face down on the table.
"Me too," the Miltank sighed, mimicking the action.
The Swampert refused to fold, glaring at Drake with a nervous intensity, trying to see gauge Drake's reactions. Unfortunately, Drake's face gave no emotion, his face remaining blank as he gazed at the Swampert, making the water-ground type even more nervous.
After a few seconds of internal debate, the Swampert placed her cards on the table face up. "Straight flush!" he declared, showing his cards, a three, a four, a five, a six, and a seven, all of spades.
Drake did not move or say anything for a few seconds and the Swampert began to gain confidence. That confidence was then dashed as the Gabite placed his cards on the table slowly and deliberately.
"Royal flush," Drake said coolly, showing his cards. He presented a ten, a jack, a queen, a king, and an ace, all of the same suite.
"GAAH!" the Swampert cried, throwing his hands into the air as the dealer pushed the chips in the center to Drake, increasing his already ridiculously large pile.
Drake smirked minutely as he gazed at the giant pile of chips before him. "I like this game," he said simply.
-Legend-
"See? Isn't this nice?" Grace asked, sighing in content.
She had all but dragged Asura to the spa in order to receive a full treatment. From manicures to pedicures, Asura went through it all. Currently they were on two separate beds, receiving massages from two very skilled Gardevoir.
"Yeah, yeah," Asura tried to say in an uncaring tone, but the sigh of satisfaction that escaped his mouth made it less believable.
"Oh, stop acting so stiff," Grace chided. "We're on vacation. Loosen up, will you!"
"I feel like I would be enjoying this more if you hadn't spent all of our money on this trip." Grace gave him a deadpan look.
"Are you still on that? Let it go, Asura. Plus it wasn't all our money."
"Almost all of it."
"Well it's too late now, so you might as well enjoy yourself."
"Hmph."
"Oh, don't be like that, Asura. You, and the rest of us, have been working so hard. We needed this."
"Yes, but I wish you had consulted me before you went off and spent all that money."
"But you would have said 'no'," she whined.
"Exactly."
"Look, I'm sorry for tricking you, but I don't regret it," Grace said with conviction. "We all needed a break and this was the only way I could drag you away from the guild house and force you to relax."
Asura gave no verbal retort, just an almost inaudible grunt as he looked at the floor. He understood that Grace had his best in mind when she went through with this plan, but he couldn't help but feel slight resentment for her going behind his back like this. He was, however, secretly thankful for an excuse to unwind in such a manner having grown tired from the constant missions and assignments.
Despite his best efforts to keep his facade of displeasure, a contented smile slowly found its way upon Asura's face. He gave a content sigh and allowed his eyes to close as he allowed himself to relax fully into the feeling of the massage. Grace saw this and smiled to herself before closing her eyes and relaxing as well. The two masseuses shot each other knowing looks and continued the massages with small smiles on their faces.
-Legend-
When Team Stardust met back up it was already late at night. The moon was full and hung high in the sky. The team were currently seated in the buffet room, multiple lamps hung along the sides of the room lit up the spacious room. Several other tables were occupied by the resorts other inhabitants, the majority of the vacationers were in their rooms as it was fairly late at night.
"Ugh," Blitz moaned, clutching his stomach in obvious discomfort. "I don't feel good."
"Probably because you ate all that food earlier," Blade chided.
"Then you ate more when we all met up for dinner!" Bertha added.
"Come on, give me some sympathy. I'm in pain!" Blitz groaned.
"You have only yourself to blame," Blade said unsympathetically. "I told you not to eat so much earlier. You only made it worse when ate even more."
"So what did you all do today?" Grace asked, ignoring the over-dramatic Pikachu that was still groaning in his seat.
"We went to the water park!" Jet said excitedly, his entire body almost vibrating with energy. "Those slides were huge!"
"Yes they were," Jackson groaned in annoyance, slamming his head on the table in tired annoyance. "He dragged us to each slide five times!"
"Oh, you liked them," Jet said, patting Jackson's head.
"I would have liked them more if you didn't literally drag me up the stairs then practically throw me down the slides!" Jackson shouted.
"Whatever," Jet huffed, turning his head to the side.
Katara sweat-dropped at the duo antics and laughed nervously. "So what did you do, Grace?" she asked.
"She dragged me to the spa," Asura grunted before Grace could answer.
"Oh, you had fun," Grace said, rolling his eyes.
"Is anyone else getting déjà vu here?" DJ joked.
"So what did you do, pup?" Grace asked annoyed, though there was no bite to her voice. "I take it you went to the dojo."
Both DJ and Leaf gave twin shudders as they thought back to their training with Brick. "First rule of Brick's training: don't talk about Brick's training!" DJ shouted while Leaf rubbed a phantom injury on his arm.
"Oookay," Bertha said awkwardly. "Anyway, Drake and I made a killing at the casino. We actually won enough to pay for another week's stay and then some!"
"Well at least we have that money back," Asura sighed in relief.
"Who said we were giving you our money~?" Bertha challenged, raising a eyebrow, which they were unable to see as it was covered by her skull.
"What?!" Asura shouted in disbelief.
"It's our money, so we decide what we do with it~" Bertha said matter-of-factly.
"B-B-But...!" Asura was at a loss of words. "What would you do with all that money?!"
"Ice cream," Drake said seriously. Everyone looked at him strangely.
"I can't tell if your serious or not," Blitz said.
"Me neither and I can sense emotions," DJ added.
Drake only smirked in response.
Katara gave a contented sigh and looked out the galls doors at the moon. "I'm really glad we came here." Everyone paused from their own conversations and turned to Katara. "I mean this is the first time we've been able to all sit down together and relax like this sense I've joined."
"I know what you mean," Bertha said. "It's nice."
"It's times like these I wish time would freeze so this moment would last forever," Jackson said wistfully.
The rest of the team fell into a comfortable silence, simply basking in the feeling of being with close friends.
"Anyway, we've still got three more days here after tonight, so what do you guys want to do tomorrow?" Grace asked, breaking the silence.
"I say we all take a day to visit the beach," Katara proposed.
"That could be fun. As long as a certain Floatzel doesn't throw me into the water," Jackson said with a glare directed at Jet.
"Oh, stop being a spoil sport, Jackson," Jet teased, flicking his forehead.
"I'll bite you if you do that again," Jackson threatened half-heartedly.
Jet smirked cheekily and began waving his finger in front of Jackson's face. "I'm not touching you. I'm not touching you~"
"Jet, stop being a child," Grace chastised.
"Yes, Mom," Jet said in a tone much like a child would use when they are reluctant to do something asked of them.
"Don't sass me, mister," Grace in a false sternness, playing along.
"Getting back on track!" Asura interjected. "I think a trip the beach would be nice."
"It should be sunny all day tomorrow," Blade added. "It will be the perfect day for it."
"Sounds like a plan," DJ agreed.
"So it's settled!" Grace clasped her hands together and beamed at them. "We head to the beach tomorrow!"
"Yeah!" they all cheered.
"AAAHH!" They all jumped when a blood curdling scream echoed through the room. They turned towards the direction of the scream and saw that the scream came from a female Croconaw who was shaking a Smeargle that was sitting next to her, their face in their food and unmoving.
"What was that?" one of the patrons, a Koffing, asked, looking around the room.
"What was what?" Bertha asked them.
Just as she said this, a ball of black energy that was outlined in a dark purple aura shot out from seemingly nowhere and struck the Croconaw that was trying to wake the unmoving Smeargle. When the sphere hit her it expanded and encased her entire body. The shadowy prison then faded away and the Croconaw gained a glazed look in her eye before falling forward next to the Smeargle.
A second passed before the remaining patrons all screamed in terror and began to panic. Team Stardust at this point leapt up from the table and began to look around for where the attack came from. Asura noticed movement from the corner of his eye. Turning to it he saw another shadowy sphere flying at them, and more specifically, Grace.
"Grace!" Asura shouted, leaping towards Grace and shoved her out of the way.
Grace's eyes widened as she was forcibly pushed away. Turning to Asura she could only watch helplessly as the same sphere that hit the Croconaw hit their leader. Asura's eyes widened as the attack hit him, before they glazed over and he fell to the ground, face-first.
"ASURA!" Grace shouted in shock, disbelief, and horror as her friend and leader fell to the ground. She practically dove to Asura's side and began to shake him. "Please, get up!"
"Where did that come from?!" Katara shouted just as another one of the spheres hit one of the other patrons.
DJ closed his eyes and attempted to use his aura sight to pinpoint their assailant. He saw, what looked to be a rather tall figure floating on the ceiling, but the strange thing was that the figure had no dimension to their form.
DJ's eyes snapped open and shot to the ceiling, his eyes locking onto what looked like a moving shadow. "Above us!"
Just as these words left his mouth the shadowy figure raised its hands and multiple shadowy spheres shot out from the shadows.
The remaining patrons all screamed in terror and began to run towards the exits. Team Stardust began to dodge and evade the falling spheres and began to fire their own attacks at the shadow, however their attacks only hit the ceiling while the shadow seemed to be able to shift out of the way.
"This isn't working!" Katara shouted, hurling another water pulse at the shadow only for it to dodge out of the way. "We have to try something el-!"
She was cut off when one of the spheres hit her, sending her to the ground as well.
"KATARA!" DJ called out to her. He tried to move to to her downed form, but had to leap back to avoid another sphere that hit the ground in front of them.
"We've go to move!" Jackson shouted, taking cover behind one of the food stations and poking his head out every once in a while to fire attacks at the shadow.
"Come on, Grace," Jet said, grabbing her arm and tugging her away from Asura's downed form. As he was pulling her along one of the spheres hit him in the back and he too fell to the ground.
The room descended into further chaos, screams of terror echoing through the room. The spheres fell down like rain, hitting many of the panicked Pokémon as they tried to flee. Bertha, Blade, and Leaf too fell to the same fate. The remaining members of Team Stardust had found places to hide and continued to attack the shadow, but their attacks found no purchase.
Then as suddenly as the attacks began, they stopped. An echoing laugh full of sinister superiority cut through the now silent room. Team Stardust peeked out from their spots and saw the shadow still floating on the ceiling. The shadow then slunk across the ceiling, down to the wall, and out the door.
The group waited a few seconds before moving out from their hiding places. Looking around, they saw all of the remaining patrons that had tried to escape were on the ground and not moving.
"What the hell was that?!" Blitz shouted from his hiding place.
"I don't know," Grace said, her voice shaky. She moved over to Asura's downed form and rolled him on his back. Asura's eyes were closed, but he was breathing. "They're alive, but..."
She narrowed her eyes as she inspected Asura's face. He seemed to be in some kind of distress as his eyes were scrunched up and his mouth twisted in what appeared to be fear. His body was moving erratically. It was like he was either fighting or running.
"It looks like he's having a nightmare," Grace commented in concern.
"Katara as well," DJ called out sadly.
"These guys too," Jackson said grimly, looking over the unconscious patrons.
"Whatever those attacks were, they put everyone to sleep and put them in a nightmare," Grace reasoned.
Before any of them could say anymore a Kricketune ran into the room. The Kricketune was out of breath and panting in desperation. When the Kricketune saw that they were still conscious he gave a sigh of relief.
"Oh good, you're awake," he said.
"What's happening?" Blitz demanded.
"We're not sure, but almost everyone has fallen asleep and we can't wake them."
"So it wasn't just us that was attacked?" DJ asked.
"No," the Kricketune said sadly. "The entire resort was attacked."
-Legend-
Several hours passed and in that time the still conscious members of Team Stardust, along with the conscious staff members, had moved those that were put to sleep in the dining room to makeshift beds. They stood in front of their unconscious team members and were only able to watch on helplessly as their friends were trapped within nightmares. Not only that, but those that were asleep during this event were too trapped within nightmares.
"That's the last of them," a female Frilish said, gently lowering an unconscious Mankey onto one of the beds.
"Do you have any idea what could have caused this?" Jackson asked hopefully.
"Unfortunately, no," the Frilish said sadly. "This has never happened before."
"I know what this is," a monotone voice rang out. They all turned and saw a Bronzong floated over to them.
"What is it?" Grace asked, her tone full of hopeful desperation.
"In all my years of existence, I have only heard of one Pokémon that can put others to sleep in such a manner as well as trap them in an unending nightmare," the Bronzong said. "and that Pokémon is Darkrai."
A sudden chill seemed to go through the room, causing everyone to shiver unconsciously.
"Darkrai?" Grace asked in almost a whisper. "This was caused by Darkrai?"
"It appears so," the Bronzong said, while his voice held no emotion, their seemed to be an edge of trepidation to his voice. "It also stands to reason that only he can reverse what has happened to all these Pokémon."
"Who's Darkrai?" DJ asked.
"He's a legendary," Drake explained, speaking for the first time sense his brother was trapped within his nightmare induced sleep. "A rare type of Pokémon that possess incredible strength and power."
"They've even been considered gods amongst Pokémon," Jackson added. "There are also one of each species of legendaries."
"So Darkrai caused this," DJ said, his paws curling into tight fists as he looked at all of the Pokémon trapped in nightmares, his eyes stopping on Katara, his first friend. "Where can we find him?"
"I am unsure," the Bronzong said. "I am only visiting this area and, as such, have no knowledge on the landscape."
"I'm not sure if this could help, but there's an island a few miles out from the shore," a Pinsir pipped in, approaching the group along with Kricketune from earlier. "You're not thinking of going after Darkrai, are you?"
"There's no other choice," DJ said grimly. "He's the only one who can reverse this."
"But he's a legendary!" the Frilish shouted in objection. "There's no way you can beat him by yourself!"
"He won't be alone," Jackson said as he and the remaining members of Team Stardust stood next to DJ.
"Even if there are more of you, you still stand little chance against a legendary," the Bronzong said.
"That doesn't matter," Grace said with conviction, glancing to her sleeping teammates. "We're Team Stardust and we will help those in need regardless of the risk!"
"But-"
"You can't talk us out of this," Blitz interrupted. "We're a resistance team. We've done plenty of dangerous things before. This is no different.
The Pinsir sighed, but relented. "Alright."
The Kricketune turned to his fellow staff member in disbelief. "Roshi, you can't be serious! They're just kids! We can't let them-!"
"That's enough, Dimitry," the now named Roshi cut him off. "It's obvious that we won't be able to convince you to not go. The least we can do is provide you with transportation to the island."
Dimitry still looked mutinous about Roshi's decision, but he relented. "Fine then, I'll call the pier and see if I can get one of the boats."
"That will be greatly appreciated," Grace said gratefully. She then turned to the unconscious members of their team with a determined gaze. "Don't worry guys, we'll save you. I swear it!"