Untitled9 The amulet-induced 'Dreamscape' is a very different place when entered by way of unconsciousness, instead of merely by sleep. And, all in all, it is not nearly as pleasant.
Suikun was finding this out. The hard way.
The air - if it could be called such - appeared to have the consistency of water. No, that wasn't an accurate description... Suikun was a water pokemon, and perfectly at home in the substance. This was impeding even her movement. Maybe treacle would be a better description. Moving was painfully slow, and required a lot of effort... and even breathing in the air was difficult. Suikun guessed this was due to the cause of her human's unconsciousness - oxygen deprivation.
And manipulation of the realm was virtually impossible. Indeed, she'd tried to use it several times to clear the air, and to no avail.
Her vision was fogged, it was difficult to see any distance whatsoever. She hadn't yet determined if this was true, or an optical illusion, or simply a problem with her eyes; the air was always crystal clear here - indeed, one could literally see forever into the distance.
Unless someone had created something to obstruct it. Which left only one option, one thing that could have happened... Jess.
Jess was causing this. Maybe unintentionally, maybe unwillingly, but it was happening. And there was only one way that she was going to stop it - wake Jess up.
A piercing scream rang through the place. Suikun shuddered. There was the last thing, and possibly the worst of all... Jess's cries.
Whatever was happening, Jess wasn't enjoying it. Ever since they'd ended up here, Suikun had had to listen to endless screams, sobs and cries for help, thrown out by Jess. But they didn't have a specific direction, they echoed through the scape like the voice of god... it almost seemed to be a mental thing, not a physical. Suikun couldn't tell whether she was hearing it in her mind or her ears, but she was sure of one thing - it was slowly but surely driving her insane.
"Jess, where are you?" She cried in frustration, knowing it was useless - even if the sound wasn't immediately swallowed up by the heavy air, she couldn't tell in which direction Jess's voice would come from, and there was certainly no landmarks in the foggy eternity.
As expected, the Guardian got no more answer than another sob echoing through her mind, adding to her frustration, grinding away at sanity and patience...
She spat a Hydro Pump to vent her anger, and watched it dissipate and dissolve in the heavy air. Her Blizzard attack barely stirred the air, and the icy energy fell to simply vanish.
And then, an Ice Beam.
The concentrated cold energy slashed through the treacle-thick air as if it weren't there, suprising Suikun as it arced off into infinity and out of sight. Of course, an energy attack wouldn't be affected. This was an interesting discovery... but could she turn it to her advantage?
Icebeam was the only energy attack she knew... wait, or was it?
She grinned a wolfish grin, though nobody was there to see it, and powered up a rare move of the water-ice element... and then fired, the rainbow light of Aurora Beam lighting the dark fog, then pushing it away. So it wasn't an optical illusion...
The cone of fog she had pushed away showed nothing, and as the attack faded the encircling, choking fog slowly seeped back through the thick air to fill the gap. Now was the hard part; she had to find Jess. Who could be anywhere, as the dreamscape was technically infinite and made little distinction to direction - up and down were as likely and indistinguishable as forward, left right or back... and time had no real meaning here, warped back and forth freely, probably even more so in this strange new scape...
The task ahead of Suikun made the traditional needle in a haystack business look downright trivial.
~-~-~-~

It seemed like everything was going wrong.
James had Meowth's comatose body in one arm. The pokemon, by all rights, should have woken up by now. Or at least stirred. And James was beginning to fear a very strong possibility.
Meowth had been poisoned.
Normally the effects of such an attack would be visible and obvious, but one heard stories of special cases... strange pokemon venoms, mutated in some way, with different effects... Some that would kill instantly, some that would not show their effects for some time, until it was too late... Some of the stranger stories talked of poisons that would destroy them mentally while leaving their bodies essentially unharmed, disable attacks, or cause strange physical irregularities.
Meowth was showing no signs of physical damage... yet. James had no real proof that the pokemon was suffering any more than a fairly major concussion, but paranoia was eating away at his not-so-great resolve. Sati - and the prospect of finding the others and a way to cure him - was all that was currently keeping him going.
He'd already lost one of his best friends to poison in this cruel new world. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost the other...
His search was becoming as futile as Suikun's - he was completely lost in the semi-forest area. He had to find them... And it wasn't going to be easy, since they were trying to find someone who lay in virtually the opposite direction to him.
He sighed, and kept moving.
~-~-~-~
Another Aurora Beam blasted through the fog, taking longer than it had before. Suikun had made a discovery that made the job seem a little easier - the fog was thicker in one direction, taking longer to blast through. While this made her general job harder, she guessed that it meant that Jess was in that direction.
She shot a thin, more concentrated beam to see how thick it was ahead, and watched as it penetrated further, but slowed, until the fog was so thick it simply couldn't make it go further...
A sob echoed through the scape. Suikun looked into what she currently regarded as 'up', and whispered "I'm coming, Jess..."
She bounded forward as best she could through the treacle-air, ignoring the fatigue which was building up. You weren't supposed to get tired in this place - indeed, the idea was that you got less tired as you stayed here, as you did with sleep - but it just wasn't working...
Another wide-spread Aurora beam barely penetrated the fog, and she had to keep it up for some time to actually see ahead. She ran as quickly as she could ahead, while keeping the attack running, before having to stop and try to get over a hacking fit from using the attack too long. As the fog once again closed in, another groan could be heard echoing through the fog...
But Suikun's spirits suddenly soared... it could have been her imagination, but she thought she'd heard the sound. Not in the all-encompassing half-psychic manner which she had been for god knows how long, but ahead and to the left, and slightly upwards...
Suikun unleashed a concentrated Aurora beam in that direction, and waited an eternity for the ultra-thick fog to fade... but just before she could keep the attack up no longer...
FLASH! Something moved! Suikun gave a howl of success and leapt towards it.
She wasn't sure which took longer - the endless search she'd endured earlier, or the time it took her to move at the slow-motion pace towards the movement. She'd found her at last, and now both of them could get out of this nightmare...
And so was quite suprised when something slashed out of the fog and hit her with enough power to knock her aside, although she managed to regain her balance before hitting the 'ground'. Another came, in the slow-motion that was caused by the air but it was too close already... Suikun managed to avoid most of the blow, but it still hit her on the long crest that extended from the back of her head, twisting her head painfully. As a third appeared, she managed to spin far enough to grab it in her fang-filled mouth, chewing it in two with little difficulty.
A pained, angered roar filled the area, and Suikun was caught off-guard as a heavy weight flattened her from above. She looked up and saw Jess there, wrapped up head-to-toe. She was struggling hard, and somehow managed to get her head free, and caught sight of her guardian.
"Suikun, help!" She screamed, before her face was re-wrapped and she was pulled out of sight. She was being attacked by something! Suikun hadn't considered that possibility, and she cursed herself for not thinking of it.
Suikun let loose another Aurora beam in hope of seeing the attacker, and recoiled in shock as she found herself less than ten feet from the leering face of a giant Venusaur. Having presented herself as a target, she quickly found herself contending with several vines.
The slow-motion battle was frustrating and exhausting. Despite the low speed, they still packed quite a punch. Every time she would bite one in half or tear it out, several more would take its place. She caught occasional flashes of Jess, and more-than-occasional flashes of her screams.
Eventually she decided she'd had enough, and unleashed an icebeam where she'd last seen the huge Venusaur's body. Another roar echoed through the scape, and the vines retreated.
Taking the advantage, Suikun leapt powerfully at the area she'd hit, both paws finding their way through the cradling vines to slam into the creature's frozen face.
Another Icebeam she aimed straight ahead, where she knew the Venusaur's flower to be. She followed it up with a powerful Body Slam, and the plant made fragile by the ice shattered, weakening the mutant pokemon no end.
Suikun fired a low-powered Aurora beam to determine the location of the vines, and began biting them off. As a desperate measure, the half-dead Venusaur thumped her with Jess, knocking her off... but in the process lost it's prize, too many of the holding vines having been removed to steady the human. Suikun aimed one more full-powered Icebeam at the pokemon before setting to roughly ripping the vines off Jess.
Finally free, Jess got up, although slowly as she couldn't do otherwise. She shook herself, stretched, then closed her eyes.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Suikun asked, as the human began to glow blue. The icy cold power could be felt, making the area feel like a freezer...
Then suddenly, she snapped her eyes open, and they glowed... a solid blue, with no iris or pupil, and she pulled her arms back and threw them out, somehow not feeling the restrictive effects of the strange atmosphere...
And a mass of pulsating ice/water energy flew out, manifesting in a storm of blades... Suikun looked away as the mutant Venusaur was shredded like lettuce... but couldn't do it fast enough, and so was forced to watch at least a short time as the blades bit home...
And then almost sprained her neck as suddenly the air returned to normal. Jess didn't move from that position a moment, just breathed deeply... then looked at Suikun.
"Thanks."
"Thank god that's over." Agreed Suikun. "Look, you've got to get back... The others are probably still lo-" Everything disappeared.
~-~-~-~
-oking for you. Suikun finished.
Jess slowly yawned, and tried to get up... but found herself still resricted by the vines. At least her head was free, though.
The dim light flickered, leading to her next thought - Where the hell am I?
A quick survey of the surroundings revealed she was in a cave. A further examination showed a Pinsir, a Sandslash and a Tangela nearby. The Sandslash was holding a torch apparently constructed of a stalagmite wrapped around with vines from the Tangela. Both the other pokemon were sitting well away from the torch.
They hadn't noticed her awakening yet, and she started to try to work her way out of the frozen cocoon.
In a couple of minutes she'd managed to squeeze out a fair way, but suddenly the edge cracked, and bits of frozen vine and String Shot tinkled on the floor. The three pokemon halted their conversation. She was in a darkened section of the cave, opposite to them. The Sandslash silently waved the Tangela to investigate, and it reluctantly obeyed.
Jess lay as still as she could, still half-encased in the frozen vines. As the Tangela shuffled over on it's huge feet, she smiled imperceptively, opening her eyes just the slightest crack to watch...
The Tangela waddled up to try to examine the human, and looked at the seemingly still-unconcious face. It got quite a suprise as the eyes burst open, and the mouth split into an evil-looking grin.
The Sandslash, who had gone back to talking to the Pinsir, somehow heard the tiny sound of the icebeam taking effect. It only needed to see the firelight sparkle off two reflective, frozen mats of vines instead of one, before immediately shoving the torch into the ground, extinguishing it.
Jess hadn't been expecting this, and froze, ready to use her attacks at any moment to let the others do the same. Hurried movement noises echoed throughout the cave. Jess couldn't see a thing in the completely dark cave.
Something sharp poked into her back, and she inhaled sharply. She started to power up a quick attack...
"Wouldn't do that, human." A gravelly voice hissed by her ear. The Sandslash, she guessed.
"And why not?"
"Try it, and I'll kill you. And even if you survive, you would never escape." It smirked. "Humans can't dig."
Jess suddenly realised the terrible error she had been about to make. This was seriously not good. The Sandslash held her life in it's hands. Or claws.
She relaxed, giving up. She could almost feel the smug grin of the pokemon as it removed its claw from her back.
More movement could be heard, then sparks flew suddenly from the other side of the cave. The torch was quickly lit, showing the Sandslash rubbing its claws together to spark.
It picked up the torch between two claws, and waved it towards the human, who was looking thouroughly depressed. With a satisfied grin, it walked up and carefully held out the torch to her.
"We're moving. Don't try anything, human - Ash won't mind if you're dead."
The pokemon headed for a wall, and started rapidly sawing through the fairly-solid earth like loose sand. The Pinsir waved her in, and she followed the ground-type dejectedly, the Pinsir taking up the rear.
How on earth are we gonna get out of this one? Suikun moaned.
~-~-~-~

Liam suddenly stopped, too quickly for his equilibrium to compensate, and nearly fell over. Keira, who had been slightly ahead of him and swinging through the trees, didn't notice and kept going.
"Keira! Stop!" He called.
"What do you mean stop?" She called back, but she swung back to stand next to him.
"Look at this." He pointed to a spot on the ground where footprints clustered. They seemed to be running around in circles or something.
"So? They might have been a little confused. The footprints continue that way."
"But not all of them."
Keira looked closer. Indeed, there were somewhat fewer footprints continuing on than where they were now. She looked confused.
Liam put his hand near the middle of the bunch of footprints. "I think they may of dug a hole here. Shit!"
Keira squatted next to him. "But some of them kept going. We don't know whether she's underground or not."
Liam swore some more. "I guess we'll have to split up."
Jess is in this general direction... Carnak spoke up. Or at least Suikun is. I dunno whether they'd take off the amulet...
"Hmm..."
Go with her, and if we get close enough we can tell whether she's underground or not...
"Let's move." Liam said suddenly, assuming Keira had recieved the same message from her guardian. A moment later, the two of them were gone.
~-~-~-~
It was a never-ending, monotonous sequence. The Sandslash dug away at the wall ahead, she plodded along behind holding the torch, and the Pinsir guarded her. She knew she could take both of them out in a split second, even if it meant using the flaming torch against the bug-type.
But no... she couldn't break out. There was an off chance that Liam might find her, but she wasn't going to take that.
All that was keeping her from falling too far into depression to ever actually break out was watch the Sandslash, who was becoming quite paranoid. It'd keep glancing back, to make sure she wasn't going to try anything. The Pinsir was staring at her with a mixture of anger and fear, too. She didn't help either of them, giving the Sandslash occasional menacing or smug looks, like she was getting ready for something, (no matter what she felt inside) and occasionally waving the torch near the giant bug behind her.
Soon it began to slow down the digging. The Sandslash was trying to keep an eye on her the entire time, but couldn't move very well under that condition...
Eventually its paranoia got the best of it, and he stopped. "Amulet-holder... you can cause sleep. On yourself. Do it."
"Wha-"
How does it know that? Suikun snapped. It's true, yeah, but he shouldn't know...
"I know you can, human. Do it. Or I'll put you into a sleep you won't wake up from."
Alright... tell him we will...
Jess seemed rather shocked, but nodded. She felt Suikun bringing the sleep on... felt herself collapse, her senses fading away...
The last thing she heard was "Don't think about waking up... Pinsir will be holding you. If you give any indication, you'll be snapped in half." Before the real world was replaced with the Dreamscape.
Suikun was waiting for her, looking rather worried. "If they know that... then that probably means they've got one of us prisoner already."
~-~-~-~