Chapter 7: Swords of Wind and Water

⽕ Sarah's POV ⽕

After two hours of listening to our stomachs growl, the three of us were just about to snap from boredom and hunger. Bidoof had suggested to us that we eat with the rest of the guild this time. We had not eaten breakfast, and were just dying to find out why this was worth the wait. Caleb was of course the logical one, claiming that we would be best off sticking to a regular eating schedule. Nincada was also impatient: his stomach was much smaller than ours, and it was probably completely empty.

"you know what" Caleb said "why don't we look over the notice boards and think about our first mission?"

I agreed mostly because it would get my mind off of my stomach. When we got to the boards, however, I realized that the boards were even emptier than before. "perhaps some teams work at night?" Caleb said, more analytically than confused.

we walked to the left mission board. Caleb looked at a easy looking one, set at Mt. Horn. "Is that the one we will do?" Nincada asked, speaking for the first time in a while. "Perhaps" Caleb said. "It is very basic: save two Nidorans from Mt Horn's seventh floor." he frowned. "this is the only paper to mention the gender of the Nidorans. Why is that important in this scenario?"

It was Nincada who had the answer: "Nidorans look different based on their gender" he informed Caleb. "female Nidorans are blue, and males are purple." He looked at the page. "One male and one female Nidoran need to be saved from mt horn. Lets hope this mission is there when we wake" he finished.

Then, we heard the wonderful sound of dinner being called.

Ding ding ding ding ding. "Dinner is ready!" chimed Chimecho

We rushed downstairs, and saw Chimecho floating at the entrance of the mess hall. Everyone was rushing towards chimecho at a speed that I worried might hurt her. Caleb and Nincada where the only other Pokemon who were being orderly in entering the mess hall. Big bowls full of apples, oran berries, a few bananas (from Caleb's harvest on our way here), and to Caleb's evident delight: pecha berries. I made a mental note to feed him pecha berries more often. Everybody was clamoring as they waited for the word from Chatot. We took our spots at the table: three of the last five plates at the end.

Chatot spoke up once we were all prepared. "lets eat!" he called from the head of the table. Every Pokemon in the room immediately started chowing down. I followed suit, and I saw Nincada do the same. Caleb, however, was eating slower than the others. I wondered what was wrong, but he was simply savoring. Particularly the pecha berries. It took him three times as long to finish his food than the other Pokemon, who just stared at him. Even Chatot seemed dumbfounded by his control over himself. By the time he finished, he had everyone's attention, and some frustration to go with it.

"i want to go to bed…"

"hurry up will you?"

"just eat faster"

"how can he do that?"

meanwhile, Wigglytuff danced with a giant, wonderful looking apple balanced on his head. He was oblivious to Caleb it seemed, but when Caleb finished, wigglytuff stopped dancing immediately, widened his mouth bigger than he should have been able to, and ate the giant apple in one bite.

"well, that was a lovely dinner!" he exclaimed. "off to bed, friends! there is a long day ahead of you tomorrow!"

with that, everyone left quickly, their bedtimes disrupted by Caleb's casual eating. A few shot him frustrated glances. I was okay with his pace, and Caleb pretended to be oblivious to the actions of our fellow guild members. Nincada climbed onto my back, and with our bellies full we walked back to our chambers. Without a word, we all laid down and slept.

"UP AND AT EM'!" Loudred roared again "IT'S MORNING!"

i shuddered in bed, but I did not have to wait for Nincada to 'help' me out of bed this time. I rose to my feet, and plodded out of the room. Caleb and Nincada joined me in a few seconds, and we arrived at the main room. We were not the last this time. quickly, we started off the day by chanting the first three rules of the guild.

A ONE, A TWO...A ONE-TWO-THREE

ONE! DON'T SHIRK WORK!

TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY!

THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!

i sang with them, I thought it kinda corny and fun. Caleb did not feel the same. He mouthed some of the words, but no sound escaped him. He did a good enough job looking like he was singing to not get caught, but there was no sense of humor in this eyes. We then moved quickly to the next floor and walked straight to the job board. The Mt. Horn job was there, and Caleb pulled it down. We figured out how to take the job, and stuffed the directions in our treasure bag.

"you" a hostile voice said behind me.

Caleb automatically started to reach for Crystal Star, before realizing that it was likely not an enemy. Likewise, I had almost spun and used vacuum cut. (i had been threatened by Chatot with extreme punishment if I used my flamethrower within the guild ever again)

a Mightyena stalked toward us with a Machoke and a Bastiodon in tow. "who are you?" the mightyena demanded. He was clearly hostile, but he would have to be part of a team. Otherwise, why was he in here.

Caleb answered "My name is Caleb, and these two are Nincada and Sarah" he said, gesturing to each of us in turn. "we are the guild's newest recruits, named Team Edge. We were about to-"

"i don't care what you are doing" the Mightyena snarled, "i only asked who you are"

boy, Caleb did not appreciate that. He looked at Mightyena disapprovingly before asking "who are you, and what are you doing?"

"we are Team Rush" Mightyena growled "and we are talking to a fool, a red monstrosity, and a bug".

Caleb did not react to the word 'fool', but the instant I was described as a red monstrosity, he shuddered and became utterly furious. The same fury that had shown when that Absol called me a 'thing'. His head lowered a bit, and his eyes practically smoldered. With sudden fear I realized that Crystal Star was turning from a calm blue to an angry red, reflecting Caleb's mood. I worried that some explosions might be caused, but I was not about to defend Mightyena.

Mightyena noticed the color change as well, and growled. Caleb growled right back, his growl lower and much more dangerous sounding. A week ago, Caleb did not even know how to growl. A fight might have broken out between the two leaders, but they were interrupted by Chatot.

Chatot made a Squawk! sound, and said "what is going on, here?"

The two of them tore their gazes apart and settled them now on chatot, still with hostility in their eyes. Crystal Star dimmed a bit, but was not about to turn back to the safe color of blue. Chatot recoiled, realizing that standing anywhere near these two would be a mistake. Even so, he said "i will not have two respectable exploration teams fight! I forbid you to do it!

"You forbid me" Mightyena repeated harshly

"Two respectable teams?" Caleb growled

"Think you aren't good enough?" Mightyena said to Caleb

Caleb went back to glaring at Mightyena "no person can judge others based on color or species without losing all respectability" he said, fury igniting Crystal Star's red glow again.

"STOP!" me and Chatot exclaimed together.

There was a horribly long standoff, and then Mightyena noticed that his teammates were not exactly paying attention, as if he had done this before, and they wanted no part of it. Mightyena backed off, and Crystal Star's glow faded so that it was just plain red.

"I'm sorry about that" I whispered to Chatot. "he only get's angry like that occasionally"

"I see." Chatot whispered back. "i will have to have a chat with Team Rush later about that. I assume that they were attacking you?"

"Verbally, but that's all it takes for Caleb to get fired up on this topic." I whispered. I noted that most of the guild members were not openly hostile towards me. This included Chatot.

"We should be on our way" Nincada whispered to Caleb

His blade went back to blue. "very well".

We were on our way to Mt. Horn. It was apparently within the mountain range, and there was apparently a path straight through the mountains that led to the mystery dungeon within Mt. Horn. We ran at top speed, Nincada on my back again. I really don't think Nincada would ever ride on Caleb when he had that weapon on his back. I was okay with that, I did not exactly think that thing was safe. We would need a break soon, and would likely take one at the base of the mountain range. We raced east, with some mountains on the right, and a vast forest on the left. Initially, that forest had a lot of blue oran berries in them, and we had restocked. Then, the forest promptly switched from blue to red as apples replaced berries. We restocked on those too. Our bananas were in the guild's food stock.

"That doesn't look right…" Nincada said. He was looking at a weird dark spire that was about five strides tall, and had a diameter of about a foot. It hovered two inches above a blackened patch of grass. Caleb marked the location on his map. He was not the best with maps, but by pouring water type energy into his badge, which I don't believe was easy to do, the map received a blue mark near the corner of Apple Woods. He put the map away. "let's keep moving" he said, shaking his head.

so we continued, and only when we hit a spot when the mountains surrounded us, and a path appeared that we rested. A Kangaskhan rock stood near the entrance. Caleb frowned. "will that affect the badges teleportation?"

"no" Nincada said. "the badge only transports people to the guild."

Caleb walked to the stone statue of Kangaskhan and tried to figure out how to use the saving mechanism. He did not have much luck at all. "it's just a stupid rock!" he protested.

i walked over and looked inside the pouch on the statue. It did look like nothing special, but when I tried to feel the area around me with my horn, the rock definitely had a freaky energy coming off of it. Caleb touched the rock, and I felt the energy make a connection with Caleb's own energy. "i think you just did it, Caleb"

he said: "lets hope so". And then he went and made himself comfortable on the ground near the statue.

"someone should keep watch" Nincada said "i'll wake you two up in one hour."

"you arent tired?" I asked

"not at all" he replied, and then climbed onto the statue's head and kept an eye on the road.

i walked over to Caleb, who was pretending to sleep. I knew that he intending on keeping watch too. "go to sleep, Caleb, Nincada can handle it" I said, and saw him relax slowly. I went to lie down right next to him, but he suddenly stiffened up.

not yet.

i went to the other side of the statue. It took me several minutes to fall asleep, and when I did, I had dreams of future events I had planned out. I did not know if they would happen, but I would do my best.

⻤Nincada's POV⻤

I did not need to sleep much. I always woke up prior to Loudred's wake up call, and was always eager to start the day. Nincadas in general did not have to sleep much, and I was wide awake. Even so, I almost missed the dark shape slipping past a rock on the far side of the clearing. Slipping off the statue, I burrowed quietly underground. This actually gave me a better view of the landscape and what was moving on it. I saw a Pokemon behind a stone, moving too stealthily for me to properly make out it's shape. I burrowed closer to it, feeling the vibrations of it's movement. I heard sniffing, like some Pokemon following another's scent. It was MIghtyena, and he had followed us. I did not sense anyone else, no Machoke or Bastiodon. Mightyena had likely come alone. Why?

Revenge. He holds a grudge

He suddenly began walking towards the statue. He found us. I made a decision. I burrowed over to each of my friends in turn, waking them up and whispering the situation to them. They feigned sleep, and I prepared to attack. He stalked up to my friends... And then just sat down and waited.

What?

I again whispered to my friends. I told them what was happening. Mightyena just sat there, watching. I waited for him to attack, and he waited for something else. His friends? For my friends to wake up? I burrowed quietly over to a blind spot and surfaced. If Mightyena smelled me, he gave no sign of it. But what he was waiting for came: Crystal Star began to shine in blue. Mightyena smiled, and walked over to it so quietly that I would not have known if I was asleep. He reached down and tried to grip Crystal Star.

he wants the blade. He wants if for his own.

As he reached for the blade, the glow took on a different color: black. Mightyena was shocked with a dark lightning spark, and as he recovered, Caleb attacked. Suddenly Mightyena was being held down by a paw, and Crystal Star was held to his neck. Caleb's eyes smoldered, probably remembering the incident at the guild.

"Caleb-" Mightyena pleaded

And then, Caleb stepped off of mightyena. He put his blade down on the ground. All anger had vanished from him. I realized that Caleb never wanted to hurt mightyena at all.

but Caleb was still stern and disapproving in tone. "do you understand?" he asked

mightyena still lay on his back, shocked. Caleb sat down. "please answer me mightyena. do you understand what I told you back at the guild? about being respectable?"

Mightyena still had no answer.

"you wanted to see the blade" Caleb said. "go ahead. Look"

at this point, Mightyena got up. "do you mean that?"

"yes"

"why"

"because if you attack me or my friends, the blade will strike you back."

Caleb was so sure about that. Then again, he had been paying attention to how he had not been hurt by the poison wave, and how it only hurt Sarah during the time when she became dangerous. I did not know if that was coincidental, but the blade had struck Mightyena before.

Mightyena approached the blade again, and it started to turn black. He reared back.

"Stop that!" he barked.

"I'm doing nothing at all, Mightyena." Caleb said. It's your own spirit reflecting in the blade. You have shown the blade you're cruelty to Sarah because of nothing other than color. Crystal Star is reflecting that. Think about it. Apologize to Sarah, and consider how little it matters how she is different."

i could see Mightyena think about it. It was more likely that Caleb was playing a mind game with Mightyena than telling the complete truth. His game, I realized, was transforming Mightyena into a better Pokemon in general. "Sarah…" Mightyena said.

"Yes?" she said suddenly up and next to Caleb.

"I…" he choked out the words, but it sounded sincere. Like he was sorrowful. "i apologize, Sarah."

"Thank you" Sarah said.

"Would you like to try holding the blade?" Caleb asked.

"No thank you" Mightyena answered.

As he was leaving, Caleb spoke up. "one thing, if you are heading back to the guild, there is something along the way that we saw. If you could check on it and report to chatot and Wigglytuff, that would be great. If you don't want to, we will talk to Chatot and Wigglytuff ourselves."

"What is it?" Mightyena asked.

Caleb took out the map and showed Mightyena the mark. MIghtyena, being a team leader, took out his map and marked the same spot. "ill check it out" he promised. "good luck".

"Thank you, Mightyena" Caleb said. "Nincada, where are you?".

"Here" I said, and scuttled over to them. climbing on Sarah, I said "it's been only about 20 minutes" .

"Oh well" Sarah said.

"I feel rested" Caleb said.

And we moved into the canyon.

⽯ Caleb's POV ⽯

That had been difficult.

I don't have a tendency to play mind games, but brute force would only lead to him holding a grudge. On the plus side, we were definitely a proper team. Sarah caught on and played her part beautifully (don't tell her I used that word), and nincada was excellent at sneaking around underground, and was so quiet and precise that he could let us know what was going on right in front of the enemy without giving anything away. I have not gotten to see him attack anything, but it was a matter of time. Also, I noted that I was capable of taking naps. That never worked for me as a human. I guess that there was less stress here, or something. But we were running to save two Pokemon trapped high on Mt Horn. Realizing this, I picked up the pace. Mt Horn loomed above us. The entrance to the dungeon was right in front of us. And another Kangaskhan rock was there. I walked over to it and touched it. My horn alerted me to the link between me and the statue now. I stored some of our apples and oran berries that we likely would not need, in an effort to save space.

"Caleb"

"Yeah, Sarah?"

She was holding a Technical Machine that said 'water pulse'. Where on earth had she gotten that?

"Go ahead" I said.

"I need your help, silly"

She really did not, but I obliged anyways. She gave me puppy eyes while I did it, which was harder to ignore this time. Weird.

"We should go" Nincada informed me.

"Yes" I said. "of course"

And we dived into our third major mystery dungeon.

I had expected a lot of pesky rock types again, but this place was populated mostly by bugs. Sarah seemed disappointed, maybe because she wanted to try out her new attack.

"We should probably use these gummis now" Nincada said, bringing them out of Sarah's pack.

"You should probably tell me what they do first" I said, looking at the small things. Nincada had piled them, two half dozen piles of black colored 'gummis' and one half dozen stack of brown colored gummis.

"They boost your IQ" Sarah told me.

"You're kidding" I said. Food could not literally make you smarter. That concept was just not a thing.

"And give you special abilities over time" Nincada said "at six, you should not be able to accidentally hurt your teammates at all, even if you are confused. The effect is called the 'Nontraitor' skill."

Now that sounded useful. I did not believe it for so much as a second, but I might as well eat them anyways. I already felt a little hungry. I tasted one first, and realized that it tasted a lot like chocolate. That made no sense, but I wolfed it down all the same. I felt no different at all.

"No change" I said

"Me either" Sarah said

"We should no longer be able to hurt each other" Nincada said

"Shall we test that?" Sarah asked, looking at me. She was already charging a flamethrower.

"No thanks" I said a bit quickly.

We continued on. Sarah's flame lit the way in dark floors. On our second floor, we encountered a pile of little gold coins. "Poké" Sarah explained

"Pardon?"

"It's used to buy things at shops."

"And I haven't heard this yet how?" I asked "i went a week and a half without understanding the monetary system of your world."

your world…

i had almost said 'our world'. That scared me. I was losing focus.

"I bought those apples from the kecleon brothers at Crystal Community" Sarah said

"I guess I was letting other things sink in. Like the change of species" I said.

"Oh" she said "right".

"And it's just sitting on the floor of a dungeon." I said. "like everything else".

"That's how these places work" she said. "when you are knocked out in a dungeon, all of your Poké disappears. I think that's where the dungeon gets it."

Now i'm thinking of the dungeon like a living thing. Thanks.

we met our first enemy. It was a giant purple moth, with big eyes and constantly scattering different colors of dust.

"Let me guess" I said "something to do with the word poison, and then 'moth'"

"Its a Venomoth" Sarah said.

Okay. getting used to this. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Nincada piped up "if you get anywhere near it, you can get poisoned, paralyzed, or fall right asleep. Sometimes all at once."

Lovely. "Sarah, you're up again"

"Fine with me" she said before torching it.

I almost stupidly walked right into the cloud, but Nincada grabbed me by the leg and stopped me.

"Thank you" I said, suddenly feeling sluggish

"You got a few particles of sleep powder up your nose" Sarah said. "you'll be drowsy for a while."

"Oh." I said, wobbling.

Sarah came to me, and to my embarrassment, pressed herself against me. I could not do anything about it. "you need some support" she said, but I could tell this meant more than that. She was taking advantage of my weakness because I was stupid enough to walk right into a cloud. She was trying to get me interested. How could she still do that, I wondered, when she knew why I needed to go back? I think she understands perfectly how selfish she is being. She just chooses to ignore the facts. I was human, and this was not my home. I realized that I was getting sleepier, and realized that soon, she really would have to carry me, and that would embarrass me to no end.

Why am I embarrassed? I should say creeped out, but that would not be accurate anymore. Why am I falling so quickly into this fantasy? I need help staying focused. I should tell someone. Talk to this 'Jake' Character I am hearing about. Somebody whom I can trust to keep everything in balance, who can help me get out of here. I will talk to Jake and that Swampert. Perhaps I will talk to Chatot. He should be able to keep Sarah separated from me. Until… I… Ugh! I'm so tired. I'll figure this out later. Right… After… I… Rest…

…

⻤Nincada's POV⻤

A few minutes after Sarah needlessly began to support him, She was forced to carry him as he fell asleep standing up. That sleep powder he inhaled was not that strong: He should have been fine after a few minutes, but it was like he was sensitive to it.

"Now I have to lug him around" Sarah complained after a few minutes of walking. "do you have any idea how heavy he is?"

I sensed that she was not insulting Caleb, but instead acting like he was still awake; an affectionate joke that was rendered useless by his state. I had helped drape his unconscious form over Sarah, in a way that did not affect Sarah's ability to grab item's from her pack. I stood on top of him, getting a better view of the path ahead while being able to grab things from Caleb's pack. I had tried to feed him a heal seed, but anyone who has ever tried to get an unconscious Pokemon to swallow something was wasting their time. I was now included on that list.

It was not long before we met more enemies. I actually got a chance to attack some, because so many were around that Sarah could not take them all out on her own. My technique of spearing a Pokemon from underground was causing damage, but nowhere close to what Flamethrower was doing. My real chance for fame was digging pitfalls faster than other Pokemon could fall into them. as they struggled to get out, Sarah would appear above them, give a sweet smile, and then roast them.

Caleb saw none of it. the guy slept like a Snorlax. I pondered at his inability to combat the sleep powder. It likely had to do with his being a human prior. He was incredibly strong, but he was so easy to affect with sleep or paralysis or poison. Ridiculous strength was not always worth it in my opinion if you cant handle the real threats to your health. Caleb snored away, riding on Sarah's back. his weapon occasionally became a problem, absorbing an attack, and then becoming dangerous for me to be near. one time, we had to drop him and flee as it unleashed a poison wave after absorbing Poisonpowder. Caleb was unharmed by it as always, but several of the bug type enemies nearby got a nasty treatment. after replacing Caleb on Sarah's back, we continued to the sixth floor. There were not too many enemies apparent, but we took no chances. I did recon ahead underground, though it was hard to feel the vibrations of flying Pokemon.

Eventually, we located another room with treasure. A Technical machine that was dusty, and we could not read the label, a cheri berry, and a small bottle of something that I could not identify. the label read: 'Max Elixir'.

"Huh" was Sarah's only comment.

"Lets keep that" I said "we might need it".

"Fine with me" she replied "we have plenty of room in our bag".

But before we could do anything else, we were interrupted. a horrible shriek filled the air behind us, down the corridor. as we whirled around to face it, a monstrous flying thing roared around the corner. it was giant and gray, with massive wings, horrible looking teeth, and just looked deadlier than anything I had ever seen. another thing I noticed is that unlike the other Pokemon in the dungeon, this one had no cloud in it's eyes. it was awake, it was angry, and it wanted our destruction. I tried to move away so that me and Sarah could get different angles on it, but the huge Pokemon moved impossibly fast. I was about to use scratch, but it rammed me with it's wing incredibly hard. I was flung across the room, hit a wall, and blacked out.

⽕ Sarah's POV ⽕

When I saw Nincada get smashed, I grew very serious. this thing had just hurt my friend. and now it was attacking me, as if it could beat me.

Give me a break

But soon enough, I realized that this was no ordinary dungeon Pokemon. it roared at me and spiraled towards me incredibly fast. I made the foolish mistake of trying to burn it. the Pokemon passed right through my flamethrower and slammed me with it's wing. I was flung against the wall, and it hurt, but I was not about to give up. flamethrower was not working.

what is this thing?!

There was no time to think. I had to bolt to my left as it went to attack, and still got hit. the thing had turned practically on a Poké coin, and slammed me again.

I got up slowly, favoring my back leg where it had hit me. it hurt so bad, I was not sure I could keep standing long. once again, I was thinking too long. it struck me, this time making it's wings glow white and striking me with a powerful blast of wind. I was thrown clear to the other side of the room. I stumbled, and tried to grab an Oran berry, but it had reached me again. It was just so fast. desperately, I tried to use vacuum cut.

this thing isn't even hurt!

It struck me again, this time on my side. I crashed against the wall and stayed there for a moment. I tried jumping up, only to slide back down again as my side protested the movements.

This thing could defeat us. how is it so strong?!

I pushed through the pain, and stood up. My abilities haven't done me any good this far. what was wrong? With a roar, that Pokemon attacked. But it did not attack me. it flew directly at Caleb instead, and struck him. Caleb went flying against the wall, and flopped down there on his right side, horn buried in the ground. he was still asleep.

Nobody hurts Caleb and gets away with it. I was ready to tear this thing apart. It was diving at me again, this time its entire body glowed with an awesome power. it would crush me and end the fight. I could not move. How on earth do I fight something like that?

Oh, wait. I can't lose. stupid, stupid me. I forgot what I have.

It was seconds away, and I was just standing there. because knew how to beat this monster. as it prepared to crush me, a powerful azure glow encased me. I felt it's energy slowing down anything around it. I felt the power in the air become suppressed.

The giant Pokemon slammed into me, and nothing happened at all. I did not move, I was completely unaffected. With a surprised grunt, it was stopped cold. It's forward momentum tried to carry it through me, but it simply crashed. I prepared to attack it, but it suddenly flew off and hovered there at the other end of the room, like it was making a decision. I thought it would run off, but that monster roared and soared back into action. I powered up that amazing blue energy, but then, it simply faded. Protect had failed me!

The Pokemon crashed into me with the power of nothing I had ever felt before. I tried to struggle to my feet again, but I was not strong enough.

We've lost. I've failed.

i was no longer in danger. that creature was flapping toward Caleb now. I think that is what set me off.

If you hurt Caleb, you will regret it for the rest of your life.

I stood up, ignoring the pain in my side and legs. I felt my power grow, and I felt an intense energy as I tapped into my reserves of power. I might hurt myself, but there was no choice. it was fight, or watch Caleb get smashed in front of me. No contest. I knew what to do. I began to generate a powerful blue sphere in front of me. the attack was not perfectly centered, and was rather in front of the spot where my horn connected to my head. I could see past it and aim with my left eye. I chose my target.

Take this, you bastard…

⽯ Caleb's POV ⽯

I was in a field. One that stretched forever. it went on in every direction.

What is this?

I felt no breeze, yet the grass swayed. there was no real landscape. the grass was about a foot tall. I looked around, hoping to see something. absolutely nothing at all. just me, and a giant field of grass. what would this place be?

I fell asleep. this could only be a dream. so why is there nothing? and I don't even dream. Ever. I never have.

I was going to try and wake myself up when I heard laughter. Laughter and small growls, like children roughhousing with dogs. I listened for a bit. there were two laughing kids and two different animals.

They are likely Pokemon.

I turned. only two were playing, the laughter and playful growls coming from them both. they were young Absol, much smaller than I was. about the size of puppies. They ran about, pouncing on each other, ETC. it was a good image, but I wondered why it mattered to me. One Absol was colored like me, the other was colored like Sarah. she had a younger voice compared to Sarah, but I could tell that this was the same. the other one could only be me.

Why am I dreaming of this? This never happened. a week and a half ago I was human. am I being sent a message by my subconscious? perhaps I have begun to be attached to this place. I do like it here, but that is nothing compared to what I need to do.

They played on. I felt like an adult supervising kids, making sure that they got in no trouble.

How accurate is that?

The laughter was infectious. I wanted to find out what they were doing. I shook my head. I needed to wake up. I needed to get back to helping the others. I could not wake up. something was keeping me asleep, and that would be the sleep powder. I could not push through it. I could only stand here in an endless field, watching two small Absol jump at each other playfully. Something was wrong with me. I should not be thinking about this. home was my priority.

This is a dream. this is my dream. it is mine to control.

I looked out over the field. I looked through it. this dream was controllable, I simply needed to bring about memories. I thought about home. I thought about the tufts of grass and the juniper trees, the high desert that is saturated by a recent rain. my scene shifted until I was there. for some reason, I could not summon my house into the picture. I could not remember it well enough. That made me very sad. I already was forgetting my home. I remembered the nature around it better. I could not make myself appear human again, much as I yearned to. Looking back at the two Absol pups, I saw they had begun a tug-of-war with one of the many dead sticks littering the place. They seemed unfazed by the change in scenery. When I began to walk through it, those two pups followed me in a random pattern, jumping, playing, but always staying a certain distance away from me.

Please stop following me. It hurts.

The Absol pups would not stop playing. their laughter drilled into my ears and their playful growls infected my ability to focus. they were just having a good time. I could not bring myself to interrupt them.

That black Absol will not be me. I promise. I will find a way home.

I was not convincing myself. I was not affecting my own judgment with logic. if anything, I seemed to want to rebel against it.

How dare I act like it would be OK to stay? how dare I let my family and friends down?

The two Absol continued to laugh and play, this time with a orange frisbee they had found that was a dog toy back home. they flung it around, and tugged at it. All I could do was watch. All I could do was think. Finally, I walked towards them. they noticed me, and looked at me with wider, more innocent eyes than I think I have seen in many years.

"Who are you?" the male asked.

Child Sarah said nothing, just looked at me adoringly.

"I'm Caleb" I said to the male Absol. he continued looking at me, and finally answered: "i have never seen you here before".

Could an image in a dream really have its own memories? I did not know. but I wanted to keep talking. it felt good to talk. this was a dream: only I really heard what was said.

"What is your name?" I asked, sure I knew the answer.

"My name is Caleb, too" he said quickly, earnestly. Child me was carefree, ready to play a game that I should not play. but he pleaded with his eyes in a way I never could in my state. Child Sarah pleaded with her blue eyes as well. I needed to find a way awake. I needed to help Sarah and Nincada and save the two nidorans. but there was no waking up. For once, I really wondered if I would succeed in getting back. there was no guarantee, and I had been acting like there was some way home. What if there was no answer? What would I become if I stayed? would I become this, a playful, childish being, frolicking around? specifically playing with Sarah?

If I give up, I can never forgive myself. it would haunt me for the rest of my life. my biggest what if. My biggest regret.

But in that moment, I realized that no matter what goal I had, I was not getting out of this dream without time. I realized that there was no reason to say no to this little pup, this little version of me. He was what I might have been if I had lived here my whole life. Right now, he wanted me to join their game. I felt awkward. what sort of person did that make me? I hesitate to play with a child because I am too busy worrying about something I cannot control. I needed to let go for once. just forget what I don't have for once.

"Of course" I told Child Me. "Of course ill join you".

He looked at me like I had acted unexpectedly. then, he smiled broadly. he raced back to join Child Sarah, and I followed him at a walk.

We played for a while. I know it was all in my imagination; a dream that I could decide my actions in. they kept charging me, jumping on me. I felt like a parent to these little dream kids. two people that I needed to take care of. My dream even included exhaustion. after way too long of getting pounced on, I simply lay down and rested. when I closed my eyes in my dream, I wondered if I would wake up. Nothing happened.

How long will I be here? do I care?

The Child versions of me and Sarah still wanted to play, but I just let them charge each other for a while again. Watching them, I felt longing. I had not much of a childhood. not much time was spent running around with good friends, wrestling and playing. I had friends of course, but I was always the distant one. the logical one. the one of the group who took on a challenge whilst the others talked about sports or games or did you go to the party last night? This was these two. a childhood I could have had but did not let myself have. In the interest of success for me and those around me, I chose the life of adulthood. To be fair, I was treated as an adult. people shook hands with me when I was in fourth grade. adults congratulated me on my attempts at a science fair, or a school project. My attentiveness. My ability to understand adults better than the children around me. I now wondered if that was worth it. The two young Absol moved me. I wanted to stay in this dream where worries do not exist. where I could do what I liked. I wondered if I would get my wish.

I found out seconds later. my dream suddenly changed. we were still in the desert, but the two children in front of me had changed drastically. they were grown, Me and Sarah.

they are fighting each other.

A wail of pain caught my attention, and I saw Sarah get tossed across the field and into a tree. I was there, having struck her, and I was here, still lying down. still on the ground. I feared for them. I wanted them to stop.

"ENOUGH!" I shouted at the two of them. they both turned on me, without anger in their eyes. it was fear I saw. the same fear I felt. I immediately felt an invisible blow to my belly and felt myself go flying. The two of them rushed to me, looking over at me. they tried to ask if I was hurt.

"Don't worry about me" I groaned. "please. just stop fighting" .

They looked at me, and despite that I could distantly hear the sounds of a battle, the screaming of anger and pain, I was worried about these two. why? why was I so intent on keeping pokemon in my dreams safe?

Its because they are children. they don't know what is going on. they only reflect what I am feeling outside.

I thought of them as nice children again, peaceful, playful. and my dream complied. the two of them were afraid still, but I got up and went to them. My very presence calmed them. and while the battle erupted around us, I told them: "This is only a dream. Something you can wake up from. This cannot hurt you."

"Who's dream is it?" Child Me asked.

I thought about it. I felt bad about it. I wanted these two to think of themselves as living. They were alive to me at any rate; they had shown themselves to be a little more than I could understand. A little more than dreams. The kids looked up at me expectantly.

"Both of yours" I lied. "You share this dream".

They smiled and drew close to me, and everything started to fade.

⽕ Sarah's POV ⽕

My Water Pulse struck that huge Pokemon and sent him flying onto a wall before the sphere promptly exploded. Caleb was safe for the moment, and i was the target again. with yet another roar, it began to race towards me sideways, the tip if the wing facing downward now had glowing misshapen material around it. with a Boom-Boom-Boom the glowing items turned to stones and slammed together, creating a massive spike.

Stone Edge

I controlled my fear and prepared another Water Pulse, shooting it straight at its ugly open maw. the explosion drove the Pokemon backwards, the Dangerous Stone Edge breaking apart. I was feeling pretty triumphant when that Pokemon roared at me. It told me it wasn't done yet.

What the hey?! Fall already!

At this point, i just started shooting it repeatedly with water pulse. It went on for many minutes until it stopped getting up, badly damaged and out cold. I did not even know what it was. I felt a breeze of sorts, and i suddenly felt stronger. my wounds did not feel so painful.

I had leveled up. i felt my physical body grow stronger and heal, and i felt my strength return. i felt a power that i recognized based off of stories i had heard. i let Vacuum Cut fade away from my memory and accepted the new attack. i felt powerful. unstoppable. unbeatable. i had taken down this large Pokemon, and saved the mission. I walked over to Caleb and saw that he was no longer snoring. he would wake soon. i wanted to be near him when he did, but i then remembered with a guilty shock that i had forgotten Nincada.

I raced to the small Pokemon, who was knocked out cold. his body was badly damaged by the crushing Wing Attack. i was not able to send him home with Caleb asleep, and we would have to wait for him to wake up. i brought Nincada over to Caleb's sleeping form and laid down next to him. his breathing was much quieter, and his sleep was finally fading away. His eyes opened slowly.

"Morning sleepyhead" i said from my position lying next to him.

He looked at me, right next to him, and blinked the rest of sleep off. His eyes widened a bit, but he did not leave. he simply looked at me. His eyes were softer, and sad.

What happened to him?

He then said: "i'm sorry, Sarah" and got up. he began to walk away.

"wait!" i called "Nincada is hurt!"

He spun around, and noticed the unconscious form next to me. he raced over, and said "we don't have any reviver seeds. i need to send him back.

"Do it" i said, trying to get up. My legs acted up again, all of them. i collapsed, my legs and side were killing me.

"What happened to you two?!" he exclaimed, finally figuring out how to send Nincada back, and used the badge to teleport Nincada.

"That" i wheezed, gesturing over to that large rock pokemon.

"You forgot to use Protect again?"

"At first, but we would not have won if i had not used Protect and Water pulse." i said, and noticed that Caleb had not noticed the injuries on his belly at all. he would if i mentioned that he got hit. I let out a whimper of pain involuntarily.

"You need these" Caleb proclaimed, pushing Oran berries over to me. Three of them. I wolfed them down and recovered a bit, but no basic oran berry could heal the damage to my side from that Take Down. I groaned as i stood, but i could stand. I stumbled over to the other items that were in the room initially. i wondered if the Technical Machine was also for me, but as i cleared the dusty surface with a gust of wind i forced through the air, it read: Swords Dance.

That was Caleb's, no doubt. i had heard of that move, and it was beyond lifesaving in a serious fight. with Caleb awake, i could no longer pretend that it took ten seconds for the Technical Machine to work. in fact, they worked instantly.

"Swords Dance?" Caleb said, walking up to me. he had a edge to his voice that took me a moment to identify. He was afraid. "it doesn't actually involve dancing, right?" he asked worriedly.

I laughed at him, he was just so silly. "i don't know" i said teasingly. "lets find out".

He shrank away, but i just tossed the thing at his head. it whacked against his skull and taught him the move instantly. he breathed a sigh of relief. "no, i don't have to dance to make it work" he said. "thank goodness".

I laughed at him again and said "we should continue."

"Yeah…" he replied.

We progressed to the seventh floor, out destination somewhere here. we were attacked by more enemies, but Caleb was here this time. I was in no shape to do anything quickly, just fire the occasional flamethrower. Caleb swung his massive weapon around, absorbing attacks and basically destroying any enemies that crossed our path. Crystal Star would not have done that to that giant flying Pokemon, it was too strong, but we faced weaklings from that point forward. soon enough, we found the two Nidorans, huddled in a corner, scared out of their wits. Caleb headed over to them. "its all right" he said soothingly. "we will get you out of here".

After they were done thanking us, Caleb sent them home with his badge.

"Should we continue?" i asked.

He shuddered. "no" he said, and promptly activated the badges ability to transport us back. we found ourselves standing in our beds, and the sun was setting. The day was basically over. We checked on nincada, who was being nursed back to health by Chimecho. He was fine in time for dinner. Caleb marveled at how easy it was to fix up Nincada, despite the injuries that he sustained. Chimecho's heal bell move restored us as well. and at dinner, all of us chowed down our food. the only berries Caleb savored this time was the Pecha berries.

Thank you all for reading through this chapter. i know it was longer than the others, but i cannot decide what length to make my chapters. Over time, they should become more consistent. Please remember that you can send me feedback on my work if you want. i would appreciate constructive feedback to improve different issues. Thank you all.

-Hyperjade