Jango: Hey, guys! Jango here. In return for fixing the TV, i seem to have been released from the solitary confinement that was my new room since i showed up. I just can't miss Hyper falling for my little trap. It's all set up now. To be completely fair, it's probably entirely valid to contain me in a room with minimal things to break, considering who i am. Shhhh... He's coming along now. This should be awesome.

*CRASH!*

Hyperjade (in the distance): Gah! What's goi-

*CRASH!*

Hyperjade: Owwwww... Wha... What is- JANGO!

Jango: Oh dear, seems I've been found out. Rather obvious in hindsight. Not like i'll be stopped from talking right now. Part two's coming along about... Now.

*KRSSSSSHHH*

Jango: Aaand he should be unconscious by now. Haha, it's funny because he actually fell for it, the poor guy. Anyways, it looks like i'll actually be telling this chapter for the most part until he wakes up and slams me into my room. I deserve it after all. Couldn't help myself.

*BOOOOOOM...*

Jango: Uh... There was no part three... Uhhh, hang on, i'm going to make sure that nothing else happened. Read the chapter, and the like. Hope i didn't actually kill him... Caleb would be all over me when i returned... Hang on, Hyper. I'm coming. Please don't be, you know, dead.


Chapter 28: Riley

Sarah's POV

I charged through the fields faster even than when I had chased Caleb down when he was going home. Maybe the magic in this useful (yet ugly) band knew just how serious this was. The grass whipped behind me as I whizzed past every blade. I was blazing a trail with my claws severing several grass blades per step.

I barely noticed these things, mostly because Caleb was certainly in danger. I needed to get to sky peak now. My paws pounded the grass as trees came into view.

What will he say to me? He really might say anything, but I know him too well. I just have to think about it. He could say 'Why did you come? I want to be alone'. He also could say 'I don't belong here'.

I then took into account recent events. Would he say something else? Would he basically say 'leave me alone'? That would not be an acceptable answer. He would starve if he managed to keep himself asleep for a week, worst case scenario. He had to wake up immediately, get some breakfast, and promise never to do something so stupid ever again.

I looked at the sun as I ran. It would be setting when I got there. I could move no faster than I was right now. I willed my speed band to go faster, but it would not. This thing sure was handy though. It basically had no faults except for the increased effort, not to mention it being the ugliest shade of pink in history.

Seriously, what was the deal with that? What, the person who invented these things basically said: 'You will have speed to rival that of an aerodactyl, but you will be wearing the worst accessory of all time, in a color that literally clashes with everything. Yeah, I think that's a good trade'. Maybe it was. I certainly hated the thing on me. It was pink, but the worst sort of pink that somehow clashed with my pink fur, even though they are such a similar color.

Either way, it was about to save Caleb. I decided to forgive it's maker's terrible fashion sense.

The wind is pushing against me. Stupid wind…

It would not impede my progress much. I only hoped that there was a way to get to Caleb. He was asleep after all, with no way of waking him without his own decision. I would have to talk to him in his dreams. How would I do that? I had not planned anything, but I would just have to try. I could only try.

Or I could have been smarter and figured out what to do with a sleeping absol that won't wake up That would have been smart.

Enough of the self loathing, me.

And now I was talking to myself. Actually addressing myself. It seemed common enough in times of stress. At least for me. Caleb could actually starve doing what he was doing, so stupidly doing. I was really stressed out about that. I wanted to get him back immediately.

I wondered at why he was doing this. He knew he needed food. He knew that he would starve if he slept permanently. He was smarter than that. Why would he do this is he knew what his probable limits were?

It confused me to no end. My Caleb, he proved to be really smart, and there was no way he could possibly be in his right mind. My Caleb, he was a genius even. I had watched him think his way out of more situations than fight out of them. He had tricks hidden somewhere in that armor of his, snapping Servine out of her shock with a simple few words. He had literally talked Mightyena out of his mad personality within a few minutes.

I almost ran into a tree in my distraction, and probably would have if this band did not do most of the running. I found myself jumping over a small crevice next, one I had not seen at all.

Ugliest scarf of all time saves time and well being.

Scarves don't even look good on me anyways. Maybe if there was one that was red or something. Red is better than pink.

I am pink as well as red…

Except that I was talking about the band I wore. I would get the dumb thing off of me the instant I had the chance, when I got to Caleb. I just hoped that I would not collapse in sudden exhaustion when I took it off.

So time passed with me thinking things that either led nowhere or focused on Caleb. Trees blurred by. I jumped over a boulder with impressive speed, and since the thing was about fifteen times my size, the jump was impressive. After that, it was a dense, yet tiny forest that I somehow weaved through.

Eventually, I reached the mountains. Instead of weaving around the paths, I sprinted over the hills. After an hour, a real scare appeared. A mountain that consisted mostly of broken cliffs , and I was making a beedrill-line straight for the edge of it.

It turned out, my surprise and fear was unnecessary. I found myself practically dancing up the cliffs, finding impossible pawholds and somehow not flying off of the cliff and plummeting towards the unforgiving ground. Somehow, I scaled the practically vertical cliff. It felt awesome.

Amazing thing, this ugly band.

A shame it sucked up your energy and messed with your vision.

Many of the other mountains had little in the way of massive cliffs, and thankfully I never jumped off of any or ended up running straight up a cliff. Eventually, way too slowly, the mountain that contained Shaymin Village appeared in front of me. The sun was beginning to set.

I growled, wincing at how high pitched my growl was. It did not really count as a growl. I needed to get to the top of the mountain right now.

My paws pounded the ground, the pounding becoming apparent as I hit more rocks on the ground. As I practically flew towards the gate, that was just appearing in the distance, I had another thought.

What am I actually able to do for Caleb?

I shook that off. I would find a way. I darted into the village, almost ran over ten small grass types, and skidded to a stop, trying to rip my band off in the process. I left an impressive ten foot skid mark, and something bad happened. My band caught on my horn. I immediately cursed my species itself, trying to get it off. my vision was messed up, and my legs kept trying to move, though I was slowing down.

"Stop stop stop stop stop!" I muttered as I finally ripped the horrible thing off of my horn. My vision snapped to focus, hurting my eyes, and I promptly collapsed. Voices floated over to me.

"Goodness! It's that absol!"

"Look what she did to our flowers!"

"Sage won't be too happy with her. Is she who he wanted to come?"

"He said he just wrote 'send someone'. Rather, Combusken did".

"Sage should be back soon, else we'll have to wait until morning".

That last bit shocked me to my feet in an instant. "What!?" I shouted, bolting to me feet, causing the poor shaymin to jump back. "Caleb needs help, and we have to wait!? Where is he?!"

They backed away a bit, but one small kid hesitantly pointed over in a direction. I whipped my head around to see Caleb in a small house, curled up with his eyes closed. A ghostly black aura swirled around him. "Caleb!" I yelled charging to get to him. I barely registered one of the pokemon muttering "grab her speed band for her. She'll forget it".

I'll forget what? Never mind.

I nudged his sleeping form. I was used to seeing a uncharacteristically broad smile on his face when he slept, but this… This was a scowl. His dreams must not be going so well. "Come on, Caleb!" I said to him, nudging his side "Wake up!"

He did not stir. I had not seen him curled up like this before either. Normally, he just slept on his side, normally accidentally on his right side and impaling his horn into the ground. I smiled at the memory. "Come on, you" I said, getting closer "wake up, sleepyhead".

The shaymin behind me seemed confused by my actions. I guess I was actually indulging myself. Just being anywhere near him at all eased all of my worries. He was right here. I could talk to him, if that darned 'Sage' person ever showed up. I noted the jabberings of the others behind me.

"What is she doing?"

"She's weird…"

"She's so frantic…"

And then, a slightly deeper voice called out behind me. "I'm sure she is simply worried". This was followed by an intense squealing of somebody else. "Let be down already! I don't want to fall!"

"Calm yourself" the deeper voice commanded "You're only two feet from the ground". I turned to see an incredibly amusing sight, that is if the situation was not so stressful. A strange pokemon with the same colors of a shaymin was floating about three feet in the air, and an even stranger pokemon, this one yellow and brown with a freaky nose was struggling to keep his grip on the first pokemon's front legs.

Frowning down at the struggling whatever-it-was, he shook the poor thing off. As it fell to the floor, it gave a final gasp before apparently realizing he was safe. Sage looked at the setting sun, noting that it was almost fully down, and glided over to me. As he landed, he glowed and changed. Standing in front of me was a shaymin. I guess they can fly or something. I did not really care.

"Hello" he said simply. I looked at Caleb, and then back at him. "No time for chatting" I said harshly. He blinked, and I continued. "The best guy i've ever known, ever, has placed himself in a sleep and has not woken up to even eat of drink. I'm thinking he may not even want to". He seemed taken aback by my lack of formality, but I was beyond that. Caleb was starving himself, and this guy wanted to talk.

"Hmm… As you can see, I brought Drowzee here" he said, gesturing towards the yellow pokemon. Drowzee looked up quickly, and he hesitated before coming up to us. "What was it that you needed?" he asked, trying to keep the shaking out of his voice. I pointed towards Caleb.

"Oh, yeah! The guy you told me about" he said, making me want to smack him. This was serious! The ridiculous looking pokemon wandered over to Caleb, putting his hand over Caleb's head. "He's in deep" the guy muttered.

"Meaning?" I asked. He looked up at me, seeming apprehensive. I guess I was being somewhat intimidating. Nobody forgets to take the color pink seriously as long as Wigglytuff is around.

"I-I mean that he's not coming out with outside efforts" he stammered, causing me to frown at him. "Meaning?"

"That i'll have to enter his dreams, or more accurately, send someone else in" he said. This was startling. "You can do that?"

"Yes".

"Then what are you wasting time for?! Get me in there, quick!" I practically shouted, moving closer to Caleb. He stepped away from me, looking really worried. "Uh, Shouldn't Sage be doing it?" he questioned, causing the shaymin to sigh. I went up to him and glared daggers at him, and then decided to prove my point.

"Get".

Smack

"Me".

Smack

"Into".

Smack

"My".

Smack

"Boyfriend's".

Smack

"Dream".

Smack

"Now".

"Enough!" the shaymin, apparently called Sage, suddenly said sternly, halting my doubleslap on Drowzee. "I understand that you are stressed, but please be patient. Please" he pleaded. I was about to retort, but I did realize how rash I was being.

"Owwwww…" Drowzee whimpered, causing me to realize that I was not helping. "I-I'm sorry" I muttered. Drowzee was skeptical, but Sage sighed again, like we were bickering children. Maybe we were. "Drowzee, please do as she asks. Tell her whatever you can and send her in. Please".

"Alright, but only to get this crazy absol away from me" the insufferable yellow pokemon muttered. "Right. There's some things to remember here. You will not fall asleep. You are physically entering the dream, meaning you can get hurt there. Especially if it's a nightmare. For some reason, I can't tell what he is dreaming about. Be extra careful.

I nodded. This was actually important now. He continued. "I cannot keep tabs on you while you are in the dream. If you need to leave, specifically if you get hurt, I will keep the way out open for you. Just find it again. In no way will I be able to speak to you. Normally, I would be able to do at least that, but he is a dark type. It will take all of my energy to get you in there at all".

That was it for the lesson on dream travelling. He moved closer to Caleb. "Please touch his head" he instructed me, and I gladly did so. "Right then…" he muttered as if he was unsure of himself. "Off you go, then".

Suddenly, everything went white except for Caleb, the only thing I could see properly. I found myself thinking I was flying towards him, him getting bigger in my vision as if I was physically entering his mind. Once I was close enough, there was another flash and I fell about ten feet onto a bunch of… Sticks?

The buffoon didn't even have the decency to make the entrance at ground level.

I opened my eyes, not having realized they were closed. Around me was a forest. A beautiful forest. The sun was still setting… No wait, it was wrong somehow. I looked at it through the tree's wondering what was up before it clicked. The sun was rising, not setting. That actually made sense to me, if time was switched here. Not that I doubted that it would be less nice at night.

I stood, ignoring the slight ache on my legs from the landing and my sprint here. I was surprised that I was in better shape than I should be at all. Even so, I made my way through the pretty place. The trees were unlike anything I have seen. They were tall, and most of the leaves and branches were high up. The morning sun filtered through the forest and making everything several shades of brown or green.

It was an amazingly detailed dream. No wonder, it was in Caleb's head. I wandered aimlessly, no real destination in mind. What, would I just see him sitting around somewhere in this forest?

Fifteen minutes later, a break in the trees was visible. I cleared them to see the most beautiful place I have ever seen. A big, strange house of sorts sat atop a hill, overshadowed by a mountain. The forests around it were impressive, and I could see a meadow over to my left. What was freaky was the changing colors in the flowers, never the same color.

Something worried me though. Flashes of light came from the mountain, which had a scary red cloud over it. Freaky spikes of… Ice? Ice was stretching above it in some sort of crown of curved icicles. Maybe that was what was keeping Caleb here? Had some of that darkness survived? It was the only scary thing about this place. I shook my head, clearing the dark though away. I had extinguished that. Besides, that cloud was red, not black.

Something was clearly wrong with the mountain however. What I thought I might do is check out the two level house in front of me. It was the like that I have never seen before. It's windows were uniform, and square. It's door was wooden, and looked rather thin and light.

As I got closer, it began to loom above me. The door now seemed taller than many in our world. I saw lights on the outside of it. They were shaped oddly, and had strange glass structures in each one that were lit up. I wondered what they were. I prepared myself for what might be within. It could be a nightmare after all. I may have to battle it, take whatever it is down, and continue my search for Caleb.

As I neared the strange building, I realized that it could only be a human house. It was in Caleb's dream, and I had never seen it before. It was impressive, I can say that. On a rock that stood about seven feet high sat something I have never seen before.

It was clearly alive. It was reading a book. It's strange fur seemed loose around it, from what I could tell at my distance. It's face was hairless, and a tan color. It had only hair on the top of it's head, and that hair was a fierce orange color. It wore something on it's face, that looked a lot like blackglasses, that item that boosts dark type attacks. However, I could not see their shape clearly. The book's cover read: 'Dark Star'. An odd book title. At his waist hung three metal objects.

With a shock, I realized that with Caleb's description, this could only be one thing. A human. I was actually standing before a human. A shiver of hope flew down my spine as I thought that this might be Caleb. He could simply be in his human form. He had not noticed me yet.

"C-Caleb? Is that you?" I asked hopefully. I was ten feet from him now. The boy scowled, to my surprise. A similar scowl to the one Caleb was wearing in the real world, but this was slightly different. His book snapped shut, and he actually dropped it on the grass below.

Then, faster than I could follow, he planted his foot on the rook and lunged. I let out a slight shriek of surprise, before I could not see him. I looked to my left and then to my right. Where had he gone? Behind me, I heard the sound of metal against metal. I turned my head slowly to see the human above me, something in his hand, and he was swinging it. Hard.

THWACK!

The pain was incredible. I got a headache immediately from the strike. I was driven into the grass. With my eyes open and looking up, I saw the scowling human above me, ready to strike again. Before I could protest, he swung it low, caught me straight in the face, and sent me flying with impressive power. I was flipped straight into the rock that the boy had been sitting on.

Ow…

Caleb had told me that humans were basically weaklings. Who was this joker then? Maybe he is simply someone in the dream. A violent someone. He confirmed in a moment that he was not Caleb as I looked up.

I took the moment before he began speaking to finally give my opponent a proper look. His red hair practically glowed in the morning sun. His blackglasses were wider, in a strange shape and was actually a single piece of darkened glass. It turned his angry expression into more of a serious one. His fur was weird. It seemed to be in two layers on his upper half, a thinner layer on his chest that was loose enough, but his outer, thicker coat was hanging loosely. There was some metal in it, like rows of miniscule teeth that lined the part near it's opening. What on earth could that be for?

His fur below the waist was odd as well, appearing to be thicker than the first layer, it opened at the base to reveal things that definitely were not fur. Knots attached to them also seemed to hold them in place. unlike the rest of his fur, these things on his feet were white. The only other white on his shirt was the lightning pattern on the inner layer of fur. That layer was black otherwise, as was the lower layer of fur. His outer coat was blue and gray, with the metal lines being silver.

in his hand he held what he had smacked me into the rock with. It seemed to be a simple rod of metal, but it was white, and it was slightly thicker on the end he held. The way he held it was holding the thing against the ground, like a walking stick. It packed quite a punch, evidently. At his waist there were two more things that he could probably attack with as well.

"I am not Caleb" he practically snarled. reaching for my neck, grabbing my scruff, and holding me up to his face with his free hand. "Nor will you see him".

"And who are you?" I demanded "Are you what's keeping Caleb here? Have you done this to him, you nightmare!?" He scowled, and raised his metal rod. Tossing me, he whirled and smashed me in the side of the head. Hard.

I let out a yelp as I tumbled against the grass. The boy continued speaking. "The only nightmare here" he said "is you". I stared at him uncomprehensively. He hefted his weapon again. "As the guardian of this dream, I will take you apart" he promised "you are a danger to this world".

"Wait!" I said, jumping up "I need to talk to Caleb! Just let me see him!"

"You will never see him" the boy muttered, walking forward. I sensed major danger around him now. "I will not allow you to ruin him any further…" This guy was stubborn, but apparently he was guarding everything in this dream. "And what makes you think you can stop me?" I muttered.

He continued his advance. His scowl deepened. The weapon twirling between his fingers constantly. I tried something else. "What have I done?!"

It was a stupid question on my part, but it stalled the guy. He let out a strange growl in his throat, sounding less dangerous than Caleb's or Mightyena's, but the promise of destruction was still there. Suddenly he whirled his arm around and pointed his walking staff out towards the mountain. "You did that!" he snarled. I looked at the top of the mountain, covered in ice with a freaky red cloud above it. The cloud dropped a few red lightning bolts on the mountains.

"What do you mean I did that?!" I snarled right back. What he was saying made no sense. His eyes were hidden beneath those blackglasses, but I imagined he was glaring at me. 'You really are clueless aren't you?" he muttered, loud enough for me to hear "stupid enough to come here after what you did. You will never come in this house".

With that, he stepped between me and the door, and that is when I realized that something important was there. It was probably Caleb this guy was protecting. "Caleb is in danger" I said softly "And I will find him. I must get in there, and for that reason…"

I launced a flamethrower at the boy, powerful enough to hurt, but not enough to get to the house. The boy did not jump away, instead he put his stick in the way. I wondered what he was doing, but to my shock, his stick sucked away the flames and turned red.

Uh oh…

He spun and swung his weapon, releasing a blade of red energy straight at me, with the same exact sound effect that my razor wind makes.

BOWWWWWWWWWW….

I yelped as I threw myself to my left. The kid was keeping himself between me and the front door of that house. If Caleb was in there, I needed to get in as fast as possible. The guy was starving! I wondered if this guy attacking me had any sense of that, if he was a complete person.

Then again, he certainly is angry with me. He has proper emotions, I can tell.

He was angry with me because wherever Caleb was, what I caused has him still hurt, at least emotionally. Caleb was not doing well, and this guy, apparently the guardian of this dream, was angry about that. Very angry.

He walked towards me at a steady pace, his weapon ready to keep beating me until I was unconscious. Actually, knowing Caleb's horror stories of war. Would this guy try to kill me? I tensed, but as I built a flamethrower, I realized that he could just absorb it. It was like Caleb's old sword. I shuddered at that. There was only one question other than 'Where the hell is my future boyfriend'. "Who are you anyways?"

He kept walking unfortunately, though he began talking. "My name is Riley. My job is defending this place. I was based on Caleb's memory of a personal friend he had in his old world. Caleb wanted me to defend this place". He scowled even more, if possible. "Now his world is beyond his reach. This is your fault".

My eyes widened. His anger was definitely because of what I did to Caleb. "Caleb's going to starve if he sleeps for too long! You're telling me that you don't care!?" I shouted at him. He was very close now. "It is not my place to question Caleb" he muttered "not because of what you might think. I simply believe that after all the shit you put him through he deserves to have a choice in what he does with his life. He deserves at least that, and I don't care about my own life…"

Something was different. His voice had gone somewhat sad, but I could tell he believed every word. His own life did not matter, and he thought Caleb should choose his own future. What did he leave out? What is wrong?

Suddenly, he lunged. I was thinking too much, and did not see it coming. He whirled, slamming me into the ground painfully, and began to smash the staff into me with no abandon. The strikes rained down on me, but I focused on staying conscious. I had to fight Riley, even if I did not want to. I raised my head when I could and tried to fire a flamethrower.

Riley's speed amazed me. He impassively placed his weapon in the way and absorbed every flame. Then, he kicked me over so I was on my back, and jabbed the heavy end of the weapon right on my chest. My eyes widened before he fired.

Boom!

I did not move at all, because the blast went downward, but it hurt like hell. I yowled in pain, and when the flames cleared, my belly was charred, blackened. Riley landed on the ground about fifty feet away, thrown from the blast. He seemed unharmed mostly, but there were burn marks on the fur on his arms, and the rest of the coat had some burn marks as well.

He looked at the burns in distaste, and then, to my shock, he literally shrugged the outer layer of fur right off. I looked at it on the ground. He had taken off his fur. Somehow. Next, I noticed that his muscles were very defined. He looked very tough, and the fur from the lower layer only went barely past his shoulders.

Humans can take off their fur? What?

Riley put his finger to the center of his blackglasses and pushed them back to his nose. Then, he began to sprint towards me. This time, I rushed to meet him. He suddenly bolted to my right. I halted and whipped my head to the right, a water pulse charged. When I got to the point where he should have been…

He was not there. I looked all around me. Where the heck had he gone? Too late. Far too late, I decided to look up. In fact, I chose such a poor time to look up that I got nailed straight in the nose by the heavy end of Riley's stick. I felt a sharp, lasting pain in my snout, and was of course driven into the dirt. Riley wasted no time in hooking his weapon in my horn and tossed me into the air.

His next series of attacks involved juggling me by smacking me in various weakened places with pinpoint accuracy. When he finally let me land, the silence was deafening. There was a liquid running down my face, and it hurt a lot. I made the mistake of touching it with my paw, and pain shot through my entire head. There was a little blood on my paw, barely visible on my red pad.

"Wha-" I began, but Riley had picked me up by my scruff again. "Broken snout" he said flatly, causing my eyes to widen. His staff was not in hand. I watched as he pulled back his hand and made a fist. As he did, his knuckles cracked twice. It sounded sickening.

Crack! Crack!

Then, he threw the punch. Straight into my broken face. My yell of pain was very loud this time. There was no healing right now. I could not fight this guy, but it seemed I had to.

"Please!" I yelled at Riley "Caleb is in danger! Even if it is his choice, he can't make it!".

Riley looked at me. "That is not for you to decide" he finally said. I looked at him incredulously. "Yes! It is! I can't let him just die in here! What's keeping him asleep anyways?!"

The boy shook his head. "You actually have no idea huh? I don't think telling you anything would help you in any way. In other words, i'm going to beat you to unconsciousness, find whatever brought you here, beat that up if it's a living thing, and send you both out of here the hard way".

I shuddered at the thought. I struggled to get up, but Riley stopped me with a good smack on the head. I made a squeak of pain before hitting the ground again. Riley began to talk.

"Everything you have done to Caleb ends here. Everything. I don't personally care how it ends. I would prefer not to kill you, so there are a few options". He planted his foot on my side preventing me from getting up and put his weapon between him and my face. "Option one, is that I find the way out of here and toss you through it, along with any other intruders. Option two, only viable if the way out is not there, I detain you until this place blinks out of existence. Maybe it'll kill you as well as us. Dunno".

"There's no way out of here unless Caleb wakes up…" I lied, trying to suck up the pain. He scowled. "I shall simply have to knock you out and keep you that way, then". As he prepared to do just that, I felt that there was something wrong. Something he said. His emotions showed an intense anger, but hidden in that was sorrow. He did not want to hurt me, but he had told me that I was not going anywhere near the house. He had not said that about Caleb.

Is Caleb actually in that house at all?

Maybe not. Maybe Caleb was somewhere else. If that was the case, what was he actually guarding? What had he said? "Maybe it'll kill you as well as us" Riley had said. Us. That was the word. But he had unwittingly suggested that Caleb was not in there. Who else lived in this world?

"Wait" I said softly, but he continued his work on setting up a knockout blow. "Hang on" I said, louder this time. "Shut up" he muttered, and prepared to take me down. As he started, I cut to the chase. "Who else lives here?"

Riley stopped cold. He looked straight at me, his eyes still hidden within those glasses. His serious expression turned to one of slight surprise. He was nearly as impassive as Caleb. Nearly, but, being able to see through Caleb, I could easily see through one of his dream creations. He noticed how intently I was looking at him.

"How do you know there are others?" he asked somewhat angrily. Apparently that was not a good thing, to know about others living here. His voice had a hint of a growl to it.

That's what he's guarding. Not Caleb. He hates what i've done because Caleb is his friend, just like he is a friend to Servine and Mightyena. What he is actually guarding…

"Caleb's not in that house, is he?" I asked. He prepared to strike again. "You're not protecting Caleb… Who are you protecting?"

Riley swung his weapon, making my world go black with quite a bit of pain.

Riley's POV

I paced about in the living room of the house. I had not found any exit in the nearby woods at all. I had carried this little pyromaniac along where I went, knocking her on the head whenever it seemed she might wake up. How pathetic. I knew these woods like the back of my hand, and I found nothing. Had it collapsed or something? Or had she actually told the truth?

I glared at her. She had managed to burn my coat too.

Actually, I did that trying to be fancy with my brutal explosion of fire on her. That's my fault.

Didn't stop me from getting annoyed either way. I had put the books away. Sarah was still unconscious after two hours, probably from me repeatedly whacking her. After a while, I had sighed and sat myself down to tend to her snout, which I had badly damaged in my attack on her. If she were awake, I would not have dared.

Inwardly, I wondered why I was doing this in the first place. I should be doing something else, something worth my time, like cleaning this place up a bit. Instead, I was tending to somebody's broken face. I basically force-fed her sitrus berries until she was in prime condition. The next time she woke up, it would take more than one hit to knock her back out again. I sighed at that thought. The kids were still asleep (thank god), and Sarah was dozing away, now looking rather peaceful. Having realized that her waking up in the actual house would defeat the point of the fight completely, I decided to remove her from said house.

After dragging the girl a ways away, I just dropped her there and sat on the same rock. I resolved that I would give her a choice: Either leave this house and either get out of the dream or just wander, anywhere else but here, or have me give her a severe beating again.

I was happy that I had practiced my little maneuver before using it on Sarah, the one where I would seemingly disappear. It was actually simple: Lunge out of view, and spring skyward immediately. The only reason I had broken the poor girl's face was because she had looked up at the wrong time.

I had been very angry for my friend, and I was still angry, but I realized that that anger had controlled me, made me reckless. If Sarah had been at all tactful, she could have just run around me to the door of the building. I was only lucky she wasn't. I resolved to never be so careless again. My job was defending the kids. No more. No less.

I looked up at the mountain, it's new features the product of such a powerful anger that the very dream world shuddered now and again. Pure anger struck the ground in the form of lightning. The place had frozen over. It was actually a nightmare up there.

At least until it's over…

I shook my head. What was I thinking, that it was alright this was happening? I wanted someone to blame, and Sarah was that someone. In fairness, she did instigate the entire scenario.

I would not try to stop Caleb. I respect his judgement, however flawed it is. However, I hoped. I secretly hoped that Sarah would actually go find him. I would not say so aloud.

What worried me was how much Sarah saw through me. It stunned me. She was dull enough to try and come here in the first place, but smart enough to know that not only was Caleb not in the house, but that there were others as well. It worried me that she was that good at it.

It also worried me that I was so careless that I let something like that slip. Maybe I had given a clue to it in my words. Also, I found myself monologuing. Like a typical bad guy. Was I the bad guy here?

I'm a failure at my job, even after all the training I put in. All of that training, it was just physical training. Never once did I think about how I was talking…

I had failed, and it was nobody's fault but mine. I think that hurt the most, that I was a failure. That I had not done my job properly. I had not kept this place properly safe and this absol, this silly, lovestruck absol had managed to get in.

So I decided to let this go, unless Sarah tried to get into the house. That thought in my head, I decided to just lean against the door instead. Sarah probably would not try anything if I was guarding the exit, unless she decided the window was a better deal than I was. Oh, wait, the windows.

I think it's better just to talk about it really. I'm sure the girl has some form of patience, right?

There I was with the assumptions again. I just wanted to trust somebody. That was it. I was thinking about how this would end up in the future with no thought to myself because I never considered myself fully alive, but I realized that I wanted to at least hang on a little longer. Maybe that was what life was. And yet, I still would not go against what Caleb wanted for himself. At least, not me.

Sarah can go… If she really wants to. She won't enter the place knowing Caleb is not inside.

So I waited. It seemed I did a good job with knocking her out, because it took an entire hour for her to wake up. In that time, I had to tell the kids to stay inside today. They had not taken it well, but they know i'm serious when I get stern with them. I pushed up my sunglasses up to my forehead, and checked on her. Her breathing changed as she began to wake up.

I quickly moved my glasses back over my eyes. Why? Not sure. Just felt like I should avoid eye contact for some reason, like I felt myself wanting to every time I wore these things. I backed up and sat down as she sleepily opened her eyes, like she had just taken a nap or something. "hnnnn… Huh?" she asked, starting to wake up.

I only had to wait before I could watch in amusement as her eyes widened considerably and she basically leapt a foot in the air attempting to get to her feet, almost landing on her right side and impaling her horn into the dirt. Quite amusing.

"Where-" she started before finally noticing me, sitting there about ten feet away from her. My face was impassive. She backed up a step, took a step forward, and then backed up several feet. Inside, I was starting to laugh my guts out, but on the outside, my face was stone.

"Uh…" she stammered. I waited for her to say something, or ask something. She eventually pointed in the direction of the house. "Caleb's not in there, is he?" I shook my head. She put her paw down, and then she suddenly, upturned it and felt her face. "I-... You healed me?" I nodded. She seemed incapable of figuring out what I was thinking.

Maybe that was just what I wanted. I guess I took being figured out more harshly than I thought. Anyways, my ploy did the trick. Sarah was confused. "Er…" she stammered. I almost lost it there, but I decided to test myself. Stay serious. Stay on task.

Finally she got her words together. "Why would you heal me?"

"'Cause you were hurt".

"Why, though?"

I sighed. "My job is to protect this house. Being confident that you would leave knowing that Caleb isn't here, well, I decided that it would be best to get you back to full strength".

"Wait… Why's that?"

"You'll need that strength to get to the guy".

"Uh… Why?"

"You ask that a lot".

She seemed taken aback, apparently realizing that we were having an actual conversation. She stammered again, causing quite the confusion in her mind. Maybe her brain was addled after getting slammed about by a shortstaff. Though she had had several sitrus berries, it seemed like she had a concussion, or maybe the concept of being so close to Caleb was making her a little dense. Being told that she could get out of here and search for Caleb probably blasted her inner thought process to shreds.

I waited for her to pick up the pieces. She was just staring at me at this point. maybe I had gone too far. Then again, this was hilarious. I had no idea she was like this, the kind of person who basically falls apart if things go unexpectedly. Finally, I decided to intervene before I lost it entirely.

"You're gaping at me like a fish".

She slammed her jaws shut. She blinked, and finally found something to say. "I don't understand why you're so calm… Weren't you just attacking me?" I nodded. She seemed exasperated. "Just answer me!"

"Nah, i'm good". I said, allowing myself a smirk. She glowered at me. "At least tell me where Caleb is" she demanded.

"No".

Her eyes widened. "Excuse me?!" she practically shouted at me.

"I still respect Caleb's decisions, no matter how bad they are. If you want to find him, do it yourself" I said with finality. The joke was over. I had something to make very clear. "If you ever try to go in this house, I will hurt you far more next time". She seemed to have already guessed that. I expected her to just go away.

Instead, she seemed to calm down a bit. To my surprise, she sat down. "You know where Caleb is" she said "I don't. I need to know". I frowned fiercely, but the many emotions I had seen in her eyes had been replaced by resolve. "No you don't" I said instead of providing an answer.

"What do you mean?" she demanded. My frown persisted. "I mean that you have a very difficult choice to make. I'm saying that you'd better figure it out yourself. If you can't prove that you really want to get him back that bad, prove it. Otherwise, you will probably recover eventually with him out of your life".

"How can you say that!?" she shouted "That last bit! It's not just me, it's everyone else you jerk! Nobody will ever recover if he dies!"

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You haven't seen enough of the real world at all, have you!? You've only ever lived right here! Everyone out there knows Caleb! Every one of them would be destroyed if he died, you insensitive prick! Who are you to say I could possibly recover?!"

Woah, there. She's actually angry. And right. I've never seen her angry like that. What is the real world like? Is Sarah an accurate representation?

She had said that everyone, not just her, would be heavily affected by his permanent disappearance, and it was true that the real world would be so much different than right here, and despite everything, I did not understand life and death. It was black and white for me, because Caleb had never told me what to expect. For a moment, annoyance flashed through me before I realized that Caleb never expected this to happen.

So what did it mean to be alive? Caleb mentioned once just how surprised he was at how the kids and I were so… Sentient. To him, we were essentially living people, particularly those two kids. We were still around when he was awake after all. Why was he so sealed off anyways? I still did not want to help for some reason, but now I think I had a different reason.

"You are right. I don't know how the real world works. I won't ever breath a breath of real air in my life" I said, causing a triumphant flash to appear in her eyes. "But you are smart, and i've seen you figure things out. Caleb may be in the wrong, and you may be right, but my job is to protect this house. You're job is to find Caleb. So find him. Figure it out" I said.

Sarah's POV

I stared at Riley uncomprehensively. His expression had changed when I had yelled at him. I wanted beyond anything to push him for more information, but no such info was coming. He had seemed to grow sad when I mentioned that he did not know the real world. That was because he knew that perfectly well.

"Figure it out" He had said. Where could he be that was a clear spot to be and was not the house in front of me? A clearing perhaps? Where would Caleb go that would be the most secluded, and would involve complete privacy? I looked about. Anywhere in the forest may be able to do, but the most obvious place to check…

I looked straight at the mountain. It's scary ice and red clouds, along with ted lightning striking it repeatedly. Could Caleb really be up there? Was there any other obvious places to check? Probably not. If there was anywhere to check, it really could only be there.

"I think that there's only one place to check…" I muttered aloud. Riley just looked at me. His glasses were unnerving me at this point. What was behind those? I was looking for unspoken confirmation, but his scowl was practically stone. Finally, I turned to leave.

"Sarah" Riley suddenly said behind me. I turned back. To my surprise, his mouth was different from the normal scowl. It was Different. Was that pity? To my shock, he brought his hand up to his face and pulled off the blackglasses. His eyes had plenty of emotion. There was definitely pity there, and there was a sadness as well. That was probably from my comment on the real world. His eyes were a deep blue, with several lines in it, kind of like mine were now. They looked deep, just like how Chimecho described mine.

"If you're gonna do this, at least be careful. This place isn't as safe as it used to be" he warned. After a moment, I nodded. This was a trial of sorts. Riley respected Caleb's decisions above all else, but that did not mean he liked it. I wondered again who he was actually protecting. If I asked, he may become hostile again, but here he was, warning me about danger in this dream.

I gave him my thanks with my eyes, and he nodded. Then, I finally turned away from him and walked off towards the mountain.

Riley's POV

I watched her leave. Sarah's disappearance was lengthy, because the trees grow thicker over time. More of them, I mean. It took several minutes for me to no longer see her at all. I placed my sunglasses over my face again. Why had I even taken them off?

I had not told her everything. I had said to be careful, and it was terrifying to remember why. I could have at least told her about the fact that the only way into the mountains was guarded by something. I'm not even sure what it is, because I don't have many memories of Caleb's world, but as soon as he sealed himself off, something very dangerous just showed up at the entrance.

I shuddered. Not even I could beat that thing. It sounded like it had a female voice, but it was anything but a living creature. She was indestructible. She could not be reasoned with. If Sarah went against her…

Sarah's dead meat. Why hadn't I warned her? I forgot. That's what happened. I was stupid, and I forgot.

I cursed myself. Sarah, being the pokemon she specifically was, would try to fight her way past, and she would lose. If I could not beat her, Sarah could not beat her. I had basically sent Sarah to her death. I scowled. There was no way for Sarah to win. I would not dare leave this house, but I could only make sure that the kids stayed in the house.

I'm sorry, Sarah. You can't win against Sheila.


Jango: Hehehe... Hi guys... Guess what?

Hyperjade: Unfortunately for Jango here, i survived his trick.

Jango: That last bit, uh, that last bit wasn't s'posed to happen.

Hyperjade: YOU SUPERGLUED A FREAKING REFRIGERATOR TO THE CEILING! YOU TRAPPED IT SO THAT IT WOULD OPEN UP AND POUR IT"S CONTENTS ON ME!

Jango: Oh, you've snapped... Uh, you realize that the whole thing was not supposed to fall right?

Hyperjade: AND WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!? YOU SUPERGLUED A FRIDGE TO THE CEILING! DID YOU THINK IT WOULD STAY THERE?! IT'S NOT EVEN MY GODDAMN FRIDGE! YOU STOLE IT, DIDN'T YOU?! I CANT EVEN IMAGINE HOW YOU WOULD MANAGE TO DO ANY OF THAT AT ALL! REFRIGERATORS DON'T STAY ON THE CEILING EVEN IF YOU SUPERGLUED IT! IT'S NOT EVEN POSSIBLE!

Jango: Calm down, calm down, you need to calm down.

Hyperjade: Calm down!? You squashed me with a fridge! I don't even care that you also managed to bring some sitrus berries with you!

Jango: Look, i get it. Back to my room.

Hyperjade: Oooooohh, no you don't.

Jango: Uh... What?

Hyperjade: I can do so much worse, Jango. I can do SO much worse...

Jango: ...


Alright. This is Hyperjade. It's been a day since the above stuff happened... Just waiting 'till I calmed down a bit. Jango is not here at the moment. He probably wont be talking to you guys at all for a few chapters. His first punishment was cleaning up the mess and finding a way to return it to wherever he stole it... Now he's doing something that he absolutely hates, and it's just hilarious listening to him complain. He deserves it after tying to KILL me.

But i'm only here this time to tell you guys to review and tell me what you think of the chapters. Please. I need a distraction right now. Also do your follow/favorite thing if you enjoy the story. Thank you. Oh, and character bios. Still want them.


Nickname:

Age:

Gender:

Species:

Personality:

Background (this may be lengthy):

Unique Aspect (optional):

Other: