AN: So here's chapter 19 for ya'll. Might be a little slow on the updates but I'll see what I can do in the meantime. Keep on keeping on guys and uh hope you enjoy.

Chapter 19 - A Friend within a Dream

An Abandoned Village Just outside of Driftveil

During our walk through the route which would lead us directly to Driftveil City, we stumbled across an abandoned village, a twenty minute walk away from the city. It was a rather small village with three or four houses, a small store, and pharmacy, a small village all wrapped around by an old black and yellow tape tied to the trees with a torn sign which read; 'Danger do no enter!' something which was obviously ignored due to how much trash, old tents and old campfires were left lying around here and there. Almost every window of each building were smashed, walls covered in graffiti, and rusty cars piled up to the edge of the village each scrapped for parts or burnt for the campfire.

"I wonder what happened here." Aqua said, crawling underneath the black and yellow tape as we walked further into the village. This decrepit village we had to be careful to navigate through because of the broken glass left around here and there, we found papers, newspapers left lying around surprisingly in good conditions, readable but good enough to try and get a clear picture on what exactly happened to this village. Inside one of the houses we entered, a very dusty and a littered place with upturned and broken furniture, Aqua found a note on a coffee table and picked it up and read. "'Attention resident(s), due to a dangerous and hazardous material being present within the village, you have been given a 24 hour warning to evacuate your homes and the village before March 3rd 9AM were soldiers will do a sweep of the village before beginning the cleanup. If you remain within the village be it either refusal to leave or in the process of leaving still, you will be forcefully removed or prosecuted based on the situation.'" She placed the note back on the table and looked at me. "They were given a warning to evacuate their homes and this village because of something dangerous being here. I guess things didn't return to normal after. And so this place was left for anyone to come in and do with it however they please."

"I wonder what happened here. What this dangerous thing was that had to have all of these people leave their homes?" We walked further inside the house towards the kitchen to find another note attached to the fridge by a magnet left behind by either the home owner or someone else.

'I can't believe we have to abandon our homes by these Savior scum al because of a so-called 'dangerous being' seen within our village. Hah! There ain't a dangerous being in this village. This village is as a safe as safe can get. We hardly get any visitors here who cause us a bad time. There ain't anything much out here. No cash, no jewellery stores for anyone to rob and get big, not even a legendary or legendary shrine to attract a few colorful Teams showing up and making a scene. They want me to evacuate this village? Well, I am going to show 'em a piece of my mind come tomorrow!'

On one of the counters, Aqua found a newspaper with the headline reading 'Beast Sighted Within Village Not Pokemon!' each of us grabbed a side each of the paper and read.

'A humanoid taking the forms of both human and Pokemon creating a hybrid monster known partially throughout the region as The Reanimated Corpses that spread havoc throughout the region created by the shut down terrorist team known as Team Annihilation was found within a small village near to Driftveil City. The villagers were all told to evacuate their homes while the cleanup team were sent to investigate and take down the last remaining stragglers that escaped when the last of the Reanimated Corpses were burnt to death during the fall of Team Annihilation. It is unknown when the cleanup will end or if the villagers will return to their homes. But we….' The last section of the paper was unreadable due to the remaining text being stained by some dried up blue fluid.

"A Reanimated Corpse…" Aqua whispered, almost letting go of her side of the paper. "I know them. They were the things that attacked the city when I was younger. I didn't realize they affected other people across the region." She let go of her side of the paper leaving me carrying the rest with my other paw. Aqua walked up to a dining table with four chairs set at the table with other newspapers set with different articles about this village and Team Annihilation. Some talking about how horrifying Team Annihilation were when reviving the dead by using fresh corpses collected from morgues all over the region, that those remaining from Tem Annihilation were to be punished. And some papers blaming the creation of the Reanimated Corpses on The Savior's for just being there because without The Savior's, Team Annihilation would never have created the Reanimated Corpses to be used as an army… yeah, because that makes sense, blaming others for what another team did…

"I remember you talking about that day with the others." I said, setting the newspaper back on the table before approaching her as she came to a stop beside a cabinet full of smashed photo frames of the people who used to live in the house we were in, probably. Carefully, she picked up the photo of the family; an elderly man and woman smiling facing towards the camera while sitting under a parasol beside a beach. They seemed pretty happy.

"I was lucky to escape them when I did. Those things gave me nightmares for a while. But if it weren't for my mom, my dad… if they weren't there when I needed them, I would be alone." She placed the photo back on the shelf. "I don't know where I would be if not for them. I hope I made them proud of me. I wish I could hear their voices again instead of being left in the dark. When the sickness came, they didn't say much. Lack of appetite, their strength drained… I didn't tell them that I loved them… I only just begged for them not to leave me, waiting day after day if they would be healed and everything would be back to normal. My mom was the last to live, telling me to leave the place and find someplace better… then before I could say anything to her, she died. I wanted to tell her so much. I wish I could've said something…"

"They knew you loved them. And they loved you. They would've been happy knowing that you would be safe." She took my paw with hers as I tried to comfort her. Aqua nodded her head and looked up to me, a tear in her eye.

"I know… I'm sorry for that. It's just seeing that newspaper article about the monsters, it made me remember about my parents… s-sorry for that, crying like I am right now." She laughed while whipping away at her tears.

I smiled, glancing back at the window to see the sun had almost set. "It will be getting dark soon. We should find ourselves a place for the night."

Aqua again nodded her head. But with her paw still clutched tight in mine she dragged me through the kitchen until we reached the doorway of the entrance to the house. "How about we stay here? It has already got a clean bed we can use upstairs in one of the bedrooms. No one will come here tonight or very early in the morning, so we can relax."

The bedroom upstairs was unlike the rest of the destroyed downstairs or like outside in the village littered with trash and took over by nature. In here it was as if no one had walked in here ever since the villagers were kicked out. A blue carpeted floor covered the wooden floor beneath. The large bed with its white bed sheets and pillows at the back of the room, and on the left side of the bed was a very large Spinarak web… yeah; I wonder which one of us will be going near that side… it was me. Well anyway, on the right side was a large oak dresser with the remains taken by the residents, or maybe thieves. At the head of the bed was a large window with see through curtains covered in almost completely in dust

"You saw this in a vision?" I asked, unsure how to feel about this place, almost turned off on the thought of sleeping in this room with how huge the Spinarak web was and how close it was to the bed. This bedroom didn't look clean at all.

"Yep. Just sprung up on me; a nice bed both of us would find very nice to sleep in after cleaning it up first; dust and to check whether or not the room was Spinarak-free which thankfully it was because that's all we needed, to be ambushed by Pokemon living here when we were already tired. After running into the trainer earlier today and walking this far from Nimbasa, we needed the rest, so it shouldn't' take us long."

And it didn't... well it felt as though it had taken an hour to do so when in reality it had taken four to clean the bed up and make sure the Spinarak web wasn't touching the bed in any way or not wanting to disturb the Spinarak's if there were any nearby. Aqua said we would be safe here; the night and in morning. Yep, it took us a while but we managed to clear up the bedroom and the bed for me and Aqua to sleep in for the night and Driftveil City would be just a short walk away to gather our supplies in and we would continue on from there.

With everything all set, we sat on the bed eating our food before going to sleep that night, talking about our plan with the only light source was a small amount of the moons light giving us a little amount of light in the room.

Before I slept, I felt uneasy ever since we left the hideout together, anxious that Purrloin and her gang were close by still looking for us. Our moves still needed to be practiced with, we wouldn't stand a chance if they were to attack us.

"Maybe sometime after we were done in Driftveil City Aqua and I could practice our moves together." I thought to myself while shifting my eyes to look at the other parts of the darkened room. "Yeah. After we leave Driftveil I think we will do just that. The road to Unova will not be kind to us. We may run into another trainer trying to capture us, or Purrloin and her gang. We have to be ready for anything."

Dream

In the dream, I was walking alongside a beach I wasn't familiar with. The sky was completely black, no stars, cloud, or even the moon to help light the way, yet for some reason I could still see. Looking around starting from the ocean on the left side of me was an endless still ocean almost as if it were frozen in time. To the right side of me was an endless grassy field. In the dream I walked alongside the beach wanting to know where this dream would take me. I was in control of the dream, which I could tell, so maybe it was a lucid dream.

"Hm… so how does this work?" I asked myself as I walked further up the beach. "Do I just try to imagine something to happen? Do I say something?" I tried to come up with something quick to randomly show up out of nowhere so that I could try and do something with this dream, like have some fun at least rather than walk up a very quiet and boring dark world. Having some dream food could be fun, flying high above the cloud may be exciting if I can change this dark sky above to a bright and sunny day, maybe go on an adventure in a dark castle… I don't know. But try as I might I could never get anything to appear within the dream. "Lucid dreaming sure is tough… eh, I guess it was interesting that I could get the chance to experience-" I stopped when I saw something new, something different rather than the ocean, sand, or grass in the dream I had walked passed for what seemed like hours; it was small glass dining table with several books set out on top.

I walked closer to the table to examine the books picking up the first in reach. The cover of the book didn't have any title or words on it; it was just a large and quiet heavy green book. Inside on the very first page I noticed there was a sentence written inside;

'Welcome to The Savior's potential new recruit. Here at The Savior's you will join the ranks of a Savior member, to go out on missions to help others from great threats, to fight against those who seek out chaos and commit evil deeds to the people and Pokemon. But at first it won't be the home region you'll get to venture out and do good deeds, it'll be across the seas to different lands to help others. A member of the Savior's is there to bring about hope in this world to people and Pokemon young and old when no one else can. As you move up in the ranks, the more you can do. The more you can see, the more you can help.'

'So are you up for it?'

'Join today and become a hero to the people and Pokemon who need your help.'

'Apply Online at .Application'

"The Savior's… is that where my trainer and I used to work at?" I read the page again, hoping that it would somehow spark a lost memory to come back to me, but nothing did happen. The words I read was the same exact words from the opening from The Savior's recruitment flyer I received from the library in town when I was first interested on joining them. Applying was easy, and yet it took a long time for me to get any response from them. I wanted to join The Savior's so I could become a better person. And also in some childish sort of way, I guess I wanted to become a hero before I made it to rank 01, the highest rank a Savior could become. I wanted when I was that rank or when I get there; I would settle down and start a family or something.

I turned the page and began to read.

"What is the most horrific thing you can imagine happen to you, Zack? What do you dread will happen to those you love? Whatever comes up inside that head of yours, I shall make it much worse than you can. Watch as I hurt those you love!"

"What's this about?" I said to myself, unsure what this page was about. Before I lost my memory, these were the words spoken by Shiny Latias before I ended up in the water, before I was found by Aqua.

Then I turned to the third page of the book and read that. It had more words than the previous two entries;

To do list:

'Make a 'Latias Cake' for her birthday tomorrow'

'Clean room before mom gets home'

'Fix computer keyboard'

'Search the laboratory for the 'First Edition Castelia City Dictionary' for Gardevoir with the others this afternoon'

"Zackary?" This was all I read from the page before hearing a voice behind me, a voice deep down I knew, a female that had been with me for a long time before my memory was wiped clean… Espeon.

Standing behind me was Espeon, her fur soaked with what appeared to be water, blood running down her hind legs from open wounds; it appeared she had been in some kind of battle recently. "Zackary, I finally found you after all this time. Well, it has been a couple of months already, but it's good to see that you are still alive and kicking it."

My dream self stood there and stared at Espeon with confusion, asking myself questions as to who this Espeon was and how did she know my name. I didn't know her; I had no memory of ever knowing this Espeon. And then another question came to mind 'If she knows my name, do I know her? Is she someone important to me?'

"W-who are you?" I asked, almost like a whisper for how quiet my voice was, perhaps anxious about this situation. But anyway, she heard me clearly, but instead of answering immediately, her ears drooped and she gasped.

"Wha-? Y-you don't know who I am? But how can that… Did you lose your memory?" All I did was nod to her question. "That bitch caused you to lose your memory, did she? Oh wait! You lost your memory, of course you don't know… she must've used her ability to control you and cause you to enter the dark place." She gasped again after noticing all of my scars and eye patch. "Jeez, look at what the bitch did to you… I'm glad I messed her face up when I saw her throw you off the rooftop."

"What are you talking about? How was it I lost my memory? And who are you?"

"My name is Espeon; I am an Espeon if it weren't all that obvious." She stepped forward. "We have been friends for a long time, the best of friends who have done so much together, travelled from region to region helping others. You and I were in a battle against a powerful enemy, an enemy who is still out there, alive with a badly scarred face all thanks to yours truly." She smirked as she examined her claws. "I don't know how long I can communicate with you like this, seeing as dreams are a tricky thing to navigate through, especially if one were elsewhere across the region."

"All of us thought you were dead at first, there was no body or remains, just blood everywhere. Then after we got back, those who escaped heard about how the bitch was 'searching' for someone. She never said who it was, but I had my suspicions it was you who she was looking for, you were still alive. And despite how little rest I have had I spent hours upon hours using my own psychic to try and track you down, and I have." She sighed. "All I had to do was search areas where Team Doom's base was and the surrounding areas. And then I noticed there was a big river leading from the base all the way down to the ocean near Castelia City, so I tried there next. No results, so I had to move away from the city, and so I have found you. a signal, a light in the dark. Not sure where I am going with that description, but I guess it'll do for now."

Espeon stepped closer standing merely inches apart from one another, but try as either one of us could, our bodies would just phase right through the other like ghosts. "Zackary, I want to tell you more about yourself, but doing this requires a lot of energy on my part. After the battle, I lost a lot of energy and HP if you want to see this as living in a video game world, something I do most of the time." She chuckled. "So I can't stay in contact with you for too long or as frequent as I would have liked. I need to rest for what is about to come." Thunder rumbled in the dark clouds above startling the both of us. "Zackary, where are you? Are you alright?"

"Just outside Driftveil City. Me and a friend I made when I woke up with no memory is helping me along the way. We're heading to Nuvema Town. I believe it was a place I am familiar with." I wanted to tell her more, about Purrloin and her gang that may be after us, but she overtook me, desperate to tell me all she could for her time was limited.

"Then you are heading in the right place. Go there, it's where I am at the moment with a few others… those that made it back that is…" She hung her head low. 'those that made it back' to me when hearing those words I didn't think much on them, but if I knew what she meant, I would've asked questions; who made it back, what had happened.

I tried to reach out to her, almost forgetting about how I couldn't touch her, then she looked up at me, desperately saying. "But be cautious Zackary, the bitch is after you. The bitch with her new army is searching all over Unova for you. If she catches you… we're all doomed. Not just your family and our friends, but everyone in this region and perhaps the world if she gets a hold of you. Controls you to do her bidding. An ability that has already took control of one of our friends…" Her ears drooped.

"Who is searching for me?" I asked, just slightly unaware the dream was going dark.

"Shiny-" The last word I heard before the dream ended. She had tried to say them as quick as she could, but it was all too late. I wondered what would've happened if she did say 'Shiny Latias' to me if she had enough time. Would I have remembered a lot of what happened to me? My memories pouring in and the true me would return like that? Then again, how come when Espeon spoke to me, seeing her face, her tone of voice, how come I didn't remember any of that? Remembering the most important things will take a lot more time than that I guess. But it was nice to see her face again, to hear her voice.

I woke up to the suns light shinning down on my face through the window. A new day for the both of us, one which by the end of the day we would find a place to hold up in Driftveil City whilst gathering for supplies to begin the journey up north to the next city Mistralton, a walk which would last almost half a day.

I thought about the dream I had, seeing Espeon and talking with her.

The warning she gave me about someone named 'Shiny' was after me with her new army. If I was ever captured by them, whoever they were, it would apparently be a bad thing for everyone, friends and family, something I was happy knowing I still had waiting for me back home and that Nuvema Town was truly a place of importance, a place others were waiting for my return. Whoever this new enemy was, I felt a little shiver at the thought on what or who this enemy is, human or Pokemon, perhaps both all searching for me made me rethink on how to travel throughout the region; avoid confrontation with everyone as best as we could to ensure a safe travel. We originally would've gone through each town/city, each route and cave we passed through without causing too much of a scene. We would be in and out as if we were never there while being on the lookout for any of Purrloin's gang members that have travelled this far already looking for us instead of worrying about a new enemy, a face we didn't know or how many were at 'Shiny's' disposal and where they were waiting for us.

To be continued...

Trivia:

Espeon's appearance in the dream sequence of the chapter wasn't originally planned; in fact I actually wanted to keep Zack's friends and family's fate ambiguous until the end of the story. But with Shiny Latias appearing earlier and how she would have her soldiers hunt all over the region for Zack I decided that Zack would be warned by 'someone' I hadn't planned yet so Zack and Aqua wouldn't be ambushed by them and outmatched. I figured the best bet would be Espeon since she and Zack had trained using their Psychic type moves for a week and had a strong connection with the other.