Yeah, this isn't a long chapter, but I figured that it ended at the right place. You'll see what I mean at the bottom of this chapter.

If you haven't checked out Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Fallen Angel yet, I suggest you do so. I'm currently working on that one as well, and Chapter 2 should be posted later today if things go well.

I've also only gotten a small number of reviews, and I'd love to receive more. So please, tell me what you think of this chapter in the review box. Thanks.

Enjoy!


LUCAS ENFIELD

I wasn't able to get any more sleep that night.

The reasons for that should be pretty obvious. I was still shaken by my dream; at this point, I was assuming that everything that happened in these dreams, these visions I was having, was happening in reality. These dreams were just far too lucid for my liking otherwise.

And then, when I'd gotten up to go downstairs, I'd seen Angelina sleepwalking as though she were possessed. Maybe sleepwalking is supposed to be a common thing, but I was shocked that she hadn't tripped down the stairs, and that I hadn't been able to wake her up, as though she were in a coma.

But people in comas don't walk!

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. That was quite a crazy event, and one I would ponder later. I kept tossing and turning for the next three hours and fifteen minutes, trying to find a comfortable enough position to drift off once more.

And yes, I was counting the minutes, paying attention to the digital clock. Perhaps that wasn't the best strategy for someone trying to fall asleep, but I just hadn't been able to stop myself from doing so.

By the time the first rays of the sun began shining through the window of the room I was sharing with Angelina, I knew it was a lost cause. The windows did have blinds, so that it would still be possible to block the sun out, but it wouldn't be blocked out of my body clock. At this point, my circadian rhythm was fully convinced that it was daytime.

So I got up and brushed my teeth. Even though I used an electric toothbrush, I somehow didn't wake up Angelina. Clearly, she was having better dreams than me, even after she'd been sleepwalking.

Okay, maybe not "better". I'm sure she's scared too. Maybe…"less terrifying"?

It wasn't that important right now, so I decided to go down to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of water. As I was raising it to my lips to drink, I heard the sound of footsteps coming from the nearby stairwell.

Mr. Kemp, in his nightshirt and pajama pants, was making his way down the stairs towards the kitchen. Per the grandfather clock that stood majestically nearby, it was 5:47 AM, and so he was also pretty early in getting up.

I decided not to bother him on that. "Good morning, Mr. Kemp" I told him.

Mr. Kemp chuckled at me. "Well, well, I thought I'd be the first one up. I'm usually up pretty early myself, but you've got me beat today".

Should I tell him about my nightmare? Would he believe me? Can I trust him with it?

On paper, it would have seemed like a no-brainer. After all, I was trusting Mr. Kemp with so much already, why did it make sense to keep this secret from him? However, I knew that Mr. Kemp might have a hard time dealing with the knowledge that the blizzards were going to increase in intensity, and that we were in serious danger.

In the end, I decided to tell him. "I've actually been up since two in the morning" I said.

"Oh, why is that?" he asked, sounding somewhat concerned.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Had a nightmare" I replied, hoping that I sounded casual enough that he didn't decide to press me any further.

Mr. Kemp raised an eyebrow. "Care to tell me any more about this nightmare?"

At first, I considered not telling him. After all, I was 18 years old, not 8 years old. Plus, I didn't want to worry him too much over something that could very well have simply been a distraction.

"Sure" I replied. I wasn't sure at first if it was the right call, but Mr. Kemp didn't seem too incredulous, so I continued until I finished my story. This is what I said:

"I had a dream about a snow spirit who called herself Khione. She claimed that she was the one who caused me to turn into a Lucario".

Mr. Kemp scratched his chin. "Are you sure about that, Lucas? I've heard that the snow spirits are quite the can't trust them with anything".

"Wait...you know about the snow spirits?" I asked him. "Do they appear in your dreams too?"

Perhaps asking that question was tantamount to throwing caution to the wind, but, to my relief, Mr. Kemp simply nodded.

"They do, and we're not the only ones. They say that there are a certain amount of people who can sense these things, in addition to being able to sense aura".

This led me into another question, one that I thought almost immediately that I knew the answer to.

"I hate to ask, but...can you use aura? Like, at all?"

For a moment, I thought that this was it, that I'd pushed Mr. Kemp further than he was willing to go. There was no way in hell he was going to answer this question.

But then he nodded. "Yes. I can make a small aura sphere about the size of a golf ball. It doesn't have too much destructive energy, but I'm not going to use it in here. Don't want to blow up my grandfather clock, do we?"

I shook my head. "Still, that's pretty incredible" I said, because I couldn't think of anything else to say. It was a shocking revelation, to say the least.

Mr. Kemp nodded again. "I didn't realize that for quite a while. Throughout high school and college, I felt like I could see better at night than many of my peers, but I just dismissed that as simply having better eyesight. Then while in the military, I was often used for nighttime missions, and I didn't require a flashlight. I could see about twenty yards around me just using aura, although I didn't realize that's what it was. I just thought I had this weird gift".

I chuckled. "I suppose aura is a weird gift. You were in the military?" I was rather surprised by this revelation".

"Yeah, I joined right out of college. Served for three years in the Sevii Islands, and then I quit. I wanted to get married and start a family".

"Did you?" I asked him. Almost immediately afterwards, I gulped.

It was then that I knew that this time, I'd pushed him too far. Mr. Kemp looked back at me with an expression that told me he felt as though his privacy had been violated, and he said, "That's not something I'm comfortable talking about".

"Sorry" I replied. "I was just curious".

"And you're going to be curious for a while longer" Mr. Kemp replied sternly. "That's not information I just give out like that".

I was about to protest; we were trusting him with so much, the least he could do would be to trust us with this. At the same time, though, if it was from his personal life, I understood why he might not want to share it.

"Okay" I replied.

"It'll be a little longer before Angelina wakes up, probably" said our host. "If you'd like, I could make breakfast, and it could be ready within a few minutes. But we should probably wait for her to get up first, that way she can have some input too".

I nodded. Then, with nothing else to do, I decided to explore the outside of the manor a little more. I made sure to get Mr. Kemp's permission first, and he said it was okay so long as I didn't go past the fence.

Why is he so determined that we don't go past the fence?, I wondered. Arceus, he was so obsessed with it that it was probably unhealthy. We were in our late teens, we could handle the forest, or so I thought.

After making my way past the statue of Sir Aaron next to the hallway, I opened the door and headed outside. I remembered, too late, that I didn't know the passcode to the door, but that probably didn't matter too much; I could simply knock and then Mr. Kemp would let me in.

I saw some Beautifly in the flowers near the manor, and they reminded me somewhat of the flowers at home. There was something slightly eerie about their heads, though; the heads were much larger than the bodies, but they didn't mean any harm to me. Indeed, they were quite cute if I do say so myself.

The crisp early morning air felt heavenly. There was a slight breeze that rippled the grass as well as my white fur. I could hear, in the distance, the sound of a stream rushing, and then I remembered that the stream was right next to the manor. It was still within the boundaries of the fence, meaning that I was permitted to go there.

I walked around the house, which took a little longer than I had expected. On the inside, I hadn't fully appreciated just how large it was. It was most definitely the largest house I'd ever been in, and that was saying something.

Once I reached the stream, I sat down next to it for a while, just listening to the sounds of nature, the sounds that I felt more in tune with now that I was a Pokemon.

Looking down at the small river, I could see that there were fish of several different colors swimming in it; orange, white, red, and purple. I reached into the stream and splashed some water on my face.

It was just the perfect temperature; had it been hotter, it would have been extremely refreshing. Unfortunately, I soon realized my own stupidity.

I'd heard that there was some sort of trick one could use with aura to get water out of one's fur, but I did not know how to do it. Perhaps Mr. Kemp could teach us what he knew, but it didn't seem like that would be much.

Perhaps I'll just have to use a towel.

I must have sat by the stream for a good twenty to thirty minutes. I couldn't see them over the ten-foot fence, but I knew that the hills were nearby, and I felt them calling to me like there was a piece of metal in my body attracted to a magnet somewhere in the mountains.

However, soon afterwards, I felt somewhat sad, because I strongly suspected that, no matter what, I wouldn't be allowed to exit this area during my stay.

And I realized, just then, how utterly depressing that would be.


ANGELINA HAWLEY

When I woke up at approximately 6:30 AM that day, I didn't remember anything about sleepwalking. I felt like I'd had a good night's sleep, perhaps the best that I'd had in a long time.

I'd had no dreams that I could recall, but as soon as I made my way into the kitchen where breakfast was being made, I could tell that the same could not be said of Lucas.

He looked rather tired as he was sitting at the table, watching Mr. Kemp make scrambled eggs on the stove. His head was down in his hands, as though he were embarrassed, but I didn't particularly think that having nightmares was something to be embarrassed about.

"Morning, Lucas" I told him as I walked in.

He looked up to face me. "Good morning, Angelina" he replied, not looking up from the floor.

I didn't want to sound rude or anything like that, but I did want to know what was on his mind. "Did you have a nightmare?" I asked him, trying to sound as polite as possible.

Lucas nodded. "How could you tell?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Judging by your facial expression and your posture, it's completely transparent. The question is, Lucas, how could I not tell?"

"Fair point".

"Do you like scrambled eggs? I asked Lucas. Since that was what Mr. Kemp was making for breakfast, I figured that it made sense to learn something more about my potential boyfriend.

Lucas shook his head. "I can't stand them". Unfortunately, he made the mistake of saying that in front of Mr. Kemp, who turned around to face him.

"I don't care if you don't like eggs, you're going to eat them, because that's what I'm making" he replied.

"Okay then".

I snorted at that. A few minutes later, Mr. Kemp handed us each a plate of eggs and bacon, which we both started eating.

While we were eating, Mr. Kemp reiterated his point from yesterday that neither of us were allowed to go beyond the fence under any circumstances. He once again claimed that it was for our own protection.

"So we're not allowed to leave the manor at all?" Lucas asked. He sounded a little peeved at that, but he didn't argue any further.

"You can go outside into the yard" Mr. Kemp replied. "You just can't go beyond the fence. There are lots of dangerous creatures about in the woods, and Lucario are not necessarily at the top of the food chain".

The way he said it almost seemed to suggest a traumatic event that had taken place in his past, but I wasn't going to ask him about that. It would be rather rude.

"I went outside earlier" Lucas told him.

Mr. Kemp looked at Lucas with an expression that, if I hadn't known better, I would have assumed was a violent one.

"You did?" he asked in a deadly serious tone.

The white-furred Lucario nodded. "I did, but I didn't go beyond the fence. Just went to the stream a bit. The fish there are so pretty".

I nodded and kept eating. I was finding it quite interesting to learn about all the areas around the manor, and I couldn't wait to experience some of those for myself.

On the other hand, we weren't allowed to leave the property. I worried that that would cause a serious case of restlessness in the two of us. It might have been a big house, but there was only so much you could pace around inside of it before you got bored to tears.

"Is there a library here?" I asked Mr. Kemp. Really, I was desperate for anything that might make it easier to be cooped up inside indefinitely. Something that would keep me from going insane.

Our host nodded. "Yeah, it's on the third floor, has a lot of different volumes. You can go there after breakfast; just don't go into the closet, no matter what".

Oh yeah, I remember that rule from yesterday.

Hopefully, the books were fairly interesting. Perhaps some of them held information about aura and the moves that Lucario could use, and how they could learn them if they didn't already know the methods. I didn't know where we would practice, though.

Or maybe, I thought, the books might have information about how to turn us back human. Oh, wouldn't that be fantastic!

There were certainly a few cool things that had come as a result of being a Lucario. It was probably pushing me and Lucas closer together; we were certainly bonding somewhat over having both transformed into Pokemon.

On the other hand, I was now stuck in this mansion, being hunted by poachers and people who wanted to see me for all the wrong reasons.

Not that there is any right reason to want to harass me, I thought. I might be a major celebrity now, but I have a life too. And they're going to take my life away from me if they get the chance, those poachers.

If Lucas and I were able to turn back human, then we wouldn't have to be at this mansion anymore. We could go home and see our parents again. We could live normal lives (or, at least, as normal as things can be when you've had this experience).

But if we went home, we'd never see Mr. Kemp again, and I'd never get to explore the area surrounding the manor. Just like Lucas did, I felt a certain attachment to these mountains, like they were exactly where I belonged.

Of course, Mr. Kemp had told us that under no circumstances were we to go there, that it was too dangerous. The question was, would there be any way to persuade him otherwise? Could we somehow get him to let up?

I pondered that question through the rest of breakfast. I ate the whole plate of eggs and bacon while barely tasting any of it.

After breakfast, Lucas and I headed up to the third floor, where Mr. Kemp had said the library was. And, sure enough, he had been telling the truth.

Now, I'm not one to spend a lot of time in libraries; you couldn't call me a nerd at all. Even so, this library was pretty spectacular, with several rows of bookshelves and a central reading area. There must have been over a thousand volumes in the room.

I wonder if this is what Mr. Kemp does in his spare time; he probably has a lot of it. Maybe he just spends the time in this room, reading these books. That would probably take up quite a while.

And in the corner, I saw a metal door that led into a closet. I remembered Mr. Kemp telling us not to go into that closet, no matter what.

There's something about being prohibited from doing something that makes you really, really want to do it. If you know that effect, you can imagine exactly how I was feeling in that moment, when I realized that the closet was right there and yet we couldn't go in.

Then again, who says we have to follow Mr. Kemp's rules?

"Lucas?" I asked him. He was going down one of the rows of books, presumably looking for a title that might help us turn back human, or else adapt to our current form a little more.

He turned to face me. "Yes?"

I pointed to the metal door that led to the forbidden closet. "Do you think we should go in there? I know Mr. Kemp told us not to, but I'm quite curious. What do you think's in there?"

Lucas shrugged his shoulders. "I'm really not sure, but I think that whatever it is, it's probably pretty important to him that we don't go in there. He seemed pretty adamant that we had to stay out of it, you know?"

I hung my head down low. "I suppose you're right".

Instead of exploring the forbidden closet, the two of us spent the next three hours poring over the various volumes, trying to find something that would help our situation. For the most part, however, we turned up empty-handed.

As it became increasingly clear that we would not be successful, though, and as it got hotter and hotter in the library (for whatever reason, the third floor of the mansion did not have air conditioning), we made a mutual decision to abandon the search for information and instead went down to the living room.

"Find anything interesting in the library?" Mr. Kemp asked us as we entered said living room. He was sitting by the empty fireplace, reading a book whose title was partly obscured by dust.

I shook my head. It was then that Lucas gave a great sneeze.

"Bless you" I told him.

Lucas grabbed a tissue from the nearby box and said, "Thanks. I have really bad seasonal allergies that I suppose carry over from my human form, and I think there's a lot of dust around the house. How old is this house, exactly?"

Mr. Kemp scratched his chin. "I believe it was built around 1880" he replied. "So I guess that explains why there's so much dust".

Oof, I thought. That really sucks.

"But," Mr. Kemp continued, "I have housekeepers come every Monday, and they take care of a lot of the dust. As a matter of fact, today is Monday, so they should be here in a few minutes".

I turned to Lucas, smiling. "Don't you see, Lucas? Today's your lucky day".

Lucas snorted. "Yeah, I guess so".

Soon enough, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it" Mr. Kemp said. "That'll be the housekeepers, and I really don't want them seeing you as Lucario. So before I get it, go to the third floor. Go to the library".

I internally groaned. We'd just been in the library for three hours, poring over all sorts of books, and now Mr. Kemp wanted us to go back up there.

Lucas looked at me with an expression that clearly stated, This is not going to be fun.

And no, it wasn't going to be fun. But if that's what it took to keep the housekeepers from knowing that Mr. Kemp was harboring the two human teenagers who had transformed into Lucario, then that's what it took.

We went back up to the library, making sure to stay as far away from the windows as possible so that the housekeepers didn't see us. Fortunately, I did find something up there that would keep us occupied.

There was a checked board, eight spaces by eight spaces, that looked like it hadn't been in use for several decades at least. In a compartment attached to the board, there were thirty-two different pieces, some light, some dark, and all different sizes and shapes.

Which could only mean one thing.

"Do you want to play chess, Lucas?"

Lucas shrugged. "I'm not very good at it, but I do enjoy it. I suppose that'll keep us busy, at least for a little while, so why not?"

And really, in my opinion, that was the right attitude to have. We weren't in an ideal situation right now, and it was important to make the best of it in any way we could. I just hoped that we'd be able to go back downstairs soon enough.

As the day outside got hotter and hotter, it became increasingly stuffy in the library, which, as stated above, didn't have AC. We did play a few games of chess over the next two hours. I won some, I lost some, and Lucas and myself were probably at roughly equivalent skill levels when it came to chess.

I hope we can find some books in here about chess, I thought. Otherwise, it's going to seem like forever that we're stuck here.

"Should we go in the closet now?" Lucas joked two hours later. By now, both of us were sweating like beasts, which I suppose we were. Both of us were also probably slightly dehydrated from the heat, and it showed in the way Lucas practically rasped that question.

I shook my head. "You said so yourself, Lucas. Mr. Kemp must have an important reason why he won't let us go in there".

"Okay then".

It wasn't long after that that, mercifully, Mr. Kemp came back upstairs and told us that the housekeepers were gone and we could go have lunch.

If this is what every day is going to be like here, I thought grimly, then let the poachers catch me.