As I came to, I felt a terrible soreness all across my body, almost like I'd been punched everywhere at the same time. To top it off, I was freezing cold, and my head hurt badly. Strangely however, my leg felt better, as if Sycamore had never dropped me in the forest. Nonetheless, with all the energy I had left, I sat up and opened my eyes.

From the pitch-black sky above, snow steadily trickled down from nearly invisible clouds, piling atop of a mountain plateau of some kind. However, despite the darkness encompassing the horizon, the scene was abnormally bright; there was even a pale reflection of some kind on the glassy top of my Mega Bracelet.

Just a couple yards away from me, the uneven ground gave away to more darkness, signaling a steep drop, and just ahead of me was an incline that led farther up but suddenly stopped.

Immediately recognizing the landscape, I shivered knowing I was trapped in Darkrai's nightmare. Suddenly, out of nowhere a ghostly laugh echoed out through the air.

"...Welcome back, human…" I saw Darkrai's figure emerge in front of me, his red outline contrasting from the dark world behind him.

"D-Darkrai! Take me back right this instant!" I yelled out, trying to stay confident.

"...I am afraid I can do no such thing… Do you not remember the fun you had here…?" I cringed, thinking back to the other nightmares, which seemed to be a long time ago now. But unlike the last time, no one was here to save me now; the fear I felt then fully seeped back into me. Darkrai laughed once more, knowing it played with my head.

"...This time, you will not leave this place. There is no one who will come to your aid…!" He blared out. It was hard enough dealing with the pain of my injuries, let alone with his loud voice. "...Here, I will torment you forever…!" He finished with his typical maniacal laughter. Now frozen with fear and losing hope fast, I couldn't think straight about how I wanted to approach the situation.

"Ugh…" a quiet voice stammered out beside me. I jumped a foot in response, completely on edge. Darkrai stopped laughing, turning his gaze to the ground beside me. My eyes popped as I saw who was there.

"E-Eliza? What are you–"

"Huh…? Is... Is that you, stalker?" Eliza said, attempting to stand up slowly. But as she was almost back up on her feet, she fell back down to the ground, presumably with the same injuries as me. "Ow...! What… What happened?"

"Darkrai has us captured in a nightmare, Eliza. He's–" Before I had a chance to say anything else, Eliza sprung up off the ground, ignoring all her pain.

"Darkrai! We need to talk!" She cried out with a surprisingly stern voice.

"...You have no quarrel here, Eliza…" Darkrai replied monotonously, almost sounding annoyed.

"I did everything you said, Darkrai! I followed the stalker and lured him to you! That's my side of the wager, now where's my payment?" Darkrai scoffed at Eliza's statement.

Wager? Payment? What's going on here, I wondered.

"...My, my… Yet another human has surpassed my judgment… But I will not do such a thing…"

"What? No, we had a deal! Where's Phoebe?!"

"...I assure you that your sister has not been taken to the prisons of Ultra Space… But now that I have no more use for you, I cannot just set you and her free... That would make me look, well, like a terrible commander, yes…?" She looked extremely taken aback by that statement.

"You– grrrah! You can't do this!" Eliza yelled, seething in anger and presumably exhausted.

"What's–" I tried to question before Eliza snapped at me.

"My little sister! Darkrai took her away!"

"...Like all the other humans in your measly town…" he teased. Eliza and I both cringed at his response.

"I'm sorry, stalker– I had to chase you! There... There was no other choice! When Darkrai came to me in a dream one night, he… He threatened to take my little sister away. He said if I didn't work for him, he would take away the only thing I ever loved… I declined at first, b-but..."

"...A mistake, that was…" Darkrai added in. Eliza winced and paused for a moment.

"But… You've always been so confident. How could you be so strong even when your loved one was taken away?" I added quietly.

"Me, confident? Pshhhh, are you kidding me?! It's all part of the façade... I've been hiding my true self for years!" She stopped for a moment and turned away from both of us.

"...Do you even know what it's like to live life day to day virtually by yourself? My parents are too stuck up their own asses to even give my sister and I the time of day, nobody even wants to be in the same room as me, and no jobs want to even attempt to hire someone like me because of my track record! And to top it all off, since I basically have to look after my sister full time, I'm not gonna get into any college because of my grades..." Eliza then whipped around again and pointed directly at me, the pent-up anger obvious on her red face.

"So? Do you know what it feels like– to wake up every day knowing that your life is virtually over?!" She stood still for a moment with a faux-confident pose, but as her words replayed in her head again, she began to crumble. She collapsed to the ground a few seconds later, tears streaming from her eyes.

As the space was filled with only the sounds of Eliza's grief, I felt terrible for her. She then looked up at Darkrai and yelled,

"Give me back my sister!" in between her tears.

"...My, such somber sadness… Maybe I could actually learn something about emotions from you humans… But today is definitely not that day...!" He gave off a single hearty laugh. "...You know, since you are here, Eliza... I'll make sure to send you, the 'chosen one', and your precious little sister to Ultra Space once I'm done with you...!" Eliza's crying increased as she hung her head down, finally coming to her grim realization. Seeing her like this reminded me of myself in Hornell not too long ago. And knowing that I was the only one who could do something about it, I couldn't just stand there idly.

"Eliza…" I said quietly, trying to think of a way to help, but it was extremely hard to do considering the situation we were in.

"Leave me alone, stalker!" she cried, hitting the snow with her fist. Turning her gaze back to Darkrai, she cried out, "You can't do this, Darkrai! We had a deal!" Just then, the clouds began to part away from the sky. Behind them was the largest full moon I'd ever seen, with part of the bottom cut off from the hill in the middle. But this wasn't just any full moon, it had a red menacing glow, almost like a harvest moon.

"...It is time. I have no more patience for your trivial feelings! You both will feel my wrath…!" Red lightning arced down from the high clouds and a rumble of thunder ran through the air. Standing up as hastily as I could, I reached down and offered Eliza my hand to help in getting up.

"Come on, Eliza! We need to move, now!" I yelped.

"Go away! Are you too dense to realize what I want?!" Suddenly, the lightning began to strike the ground behind us with powerful jolts. Energy coursed through the air, and I could feel the vibrations at my feet. Unsure what would happen if the lightning actually struck her in Darkrai's dream, I took the matter into my own hands.

Reaching down and grabbing her wrist, I pulled up as quickly as I could and attempted to take off running up the hill. Of course, I didn't get that far; she resisted the best she could, but I managed to just move her to the point where the plateau began to slope upwards, and the path narrowed.

"We need to run, Eliza!" I yelled, still meagerly attempting to get her to follow along. I didn't look behind me to check on how close the lightning was to us now, but based on the electricity standing my hair up, I figured it was close behind.

"Let me go, stalker!" Eliza yelped at my side, grabbing onto my coat with her other free hand.

"C-can't you see I'm just trying to help?!" I screeched back, still somehow trudging forwards.

"Dammit stalker, I don't want your help! Leave me alone!" she screamed before putting all her might into breaking free from my grasp and pushing me away from her.

"W-wait!" is all I could get out as I stumbled backwards towards the cliff. My heart pounded out of my chest as I slipped on the snow and plunged into darkness. "Elizaaaaaaaaaa!" I yelled out as I fell into the unknown, watching the lightning strike where we were just standing.

The further I plummeted from the cliff top, the more I could feel my consciousness fading. Instinctively closing my eyes to give in to the stimuli, I suddenly heard a splash around me and felt my momentum stop. As I opened my eyes, I was seemingly suspended in complete darkness. All I knew was that I was floating in something and couldn't breathe. It was strange because I didn't feel wet at all.

Am I underwater? I performed a simple breaststroke, trying to propel myself. It proved successful as I felt a sensation around my body, as if I was swimming. I continued to push up, heading towards the surface. At least, I thought I was. As I began to run out of air, I realized I wasn't as close as I thought.

How deep am I?! Expecting the worst, I began to swim faster, but I still couldn't reach the surface. Fear made its way back into my head and I began to panic. As the last of my energy was spent, I was almost completely out of breath. I stopped moving fast and felt my consciousness fleeting again. I closed my eyes and opened my mouth to try and take a breath before I passed out. As I did, I realized I could breathe again and gasped in as hard as I could. Suddenly, I was no longer in a liquid and on the hard ground.

I coughed and hacked, trying to get air back into my system. As my senses came to, I looked up. I was on the bridge again, but something was definitely wrong. Everything around me was barren and nothing stirred. The sky was completely black, but the bridge was lit up with some kind of ghostly white hue that made it look bright. I was also extremely dizzy and didn't feel quite right, presumably from almost passing out due to lack of oxygen. At the end, the rainbow portal stood out against the monochrome background, now completely unguarded. Seeing it like that, something clicked on in my mind and I began to slowly limp towards my goal.

As I got closer to the portal, part of me wanted to turn back, but something kept me walking forward; it was almost like I wasn't in control of my body. Suddenly, a figure materialized before me a couple yards ahead in the sky. The figure was fuzzy at first, but slowly came into focus the closer I got. I rubbed my eyes and squinted as the figure floated down to bridge level. There was something familiar about the shape and color. I felt like I personally knew the way the pink skin formed into the pale yellow, and the way the gray crown with a red gemstone in the middle sat atop the big creature's head.

"Luke…" the figure called out to me. The soothing feminine voice lulled me into a calm state, and it clicked in my head who it was.

"Slowking…" I mumbled, still not one hundred percent there.

"Luke… You are almost there… You… Must get to the portal…" she called out. As I walked closer, I could make her out with full detail. Her eyes were closed, and she held her head down so I couldn't fully see her face. I was so happy to see Slowking alright though that I followed her orders directly, not expecting anything was wrong.

"Y-yes, Slowking!" I yelled, continuing forwards. As I got closer and closer, I remembered thinking,

I did it… I did it…! Suddenly, as I was a couple feet away from the portal. Slowking moved over and blocked the path in front of me; I bumped into her and fell to the ground. Her eyes were still closed, but I could tell she was glaring straight at me.

"Why… Why did you leave?" she called out loudly, almost like she wasn't actually speaking to me. I was immediately confused, and I could feel my head spinning. "You… could have... saved me!" she yelled even louder than before. I suddenly felt fearful and began backpedaling on the ground.

"You... You–" I stammered.

"Why didn't you come back?!" Slowking screamed, her eyes flinging up to show a black glow radiating from them. I gasped and continued to back up, fear enveloping me again. It started to prepare an attack of some kind between its hands, almost like the ball of energy Darkrai formed when it was about to capture Eliza and I.

"You're..." I couldn't get my words out.

"Save me… Save me…" it repeated as the orb stopped growing.

"You're... Not–"

"Why?!" it yelped one last time, releasing the ball out towards me. I closed my eyes and finally said what I meant, preparing for impact.

"You're... Not real!" Suddenly, all sounds faded out and I felt nothing. I opened my eyes and found myself in a dark room surrounded by stone walls, that same eerie glow from the bridge lighting up everything.

Now where am I? I looked around and stood up, searching for a clue. Upon further inspection, there seemed to be nothing in the room except for a doorway that led out into a hallway. Where it led, I couldn't tell, as nothing was visible beyond the darkness around five feet out. As I walked closer to it, I heard a blood-curdling scream from deep inside. I had no doubt that it was Eliza's.

"Eliza!" I yelled, immediately jumping into action. I rushed as fast as I could towards the door, not even thinking about my wellbeing. But as soon as I took a step out of the room, the hallway lengthened before my eyes before spreading out into two pathways. Coming to a halt, a bright light flicked on in the back of both the hallways, revealing the curvature of the stone brick walls. At that moment, I heard other familiar voices coming from the left path.

"Luke! I-I need help!" I gasped, hearing Kian's voice for the first time in a while.

"Hello?! Can someone help my husband and I out?" My aunt Janice yelped from somewhere.

"H-help! Luke?!" My dad's cowardly voice rang out. As I recognized more of the cries for help, I felt my heart caving in. Sure, I knew it was Darkrai baiting me, and I still needed to find Eliza... But the fact that my family members could actually need my help petrified me.

Snapping out of it and remembering my goal, I was about to make up my mind and go down the right path when I heard,

"Lukas, help! Please!" I froze, my mother's fearful cry stinging in my ears. Not sure I'd heard right, I turned my gaze back down the left path right as she called out to me again. "Lukas, I know you're there! Please, Darkrai is trying to take us to Ultra Space!" Hesitant and unsure what to do, I shouted back.

"Mom, is... Is that really you?"

"What do you mean is that really you?! Of course it is! Now come and help me!" I winced at her response; aggressive as always. Still hesitant to react, I felt my brain split into two sides as I had to come to a decision.

"I… I–"

"Luke, please! What are you waiting for?! Hurry!" No matter if she was real or not, I couldn't stand hearing her this way. "Luke!" It was now or never. "Please!" Do or die. "Help..." Precious time was ticking away moment by moment...

"I... I'm coming, mom..." As I headed down the left path with my heart completely on the floor, I swear I heard Eliza's scream one more time from behind the wall. Hearing her shot some sense through me; just enough to get my brain thinking the right way again. Recalling quickly what Slowking had said about Darkrai's trickery in the cave, I stopped in my tracks as the hesitation took over once more.

"Luke! What's the hold up?! Aren't you coming to save me?" My mother immediately yelped back, like she'd seen me stop. With the two sides of my brain still at war with each other I took a deep breath and tried to cancel out her voice in my head. I then screamed,

"No... No! I'm not coming to help you! I've got to save Eliza and get out of here... And nothing will change my mind! You hear me, Darkrai?" Plugging my ears and hanging my head, I turned around and began running down the right path. Of course, this proved futile, as the voices seemed to be transmitted directly into my head.

"No, Luke, please! Don't leave me!" Her pleading got more and more harsh the further I ran. But as I heard Eliza's scream pierce through it all once more, I knew I had to resist.

Pushing myself forward, I ran for what seemed to be an eternity, but the hallway didn't seem to stop. All the while, my mother's shouts and Eliza's screams played with my psyche. Multiple times I stopped and turned around only to change my mind a second later. Wondering when it would finally stop, everything suddenly went quiet all around me. Looking up, I found myself in a plain stone room like I did before, but this time there was a doorway on each side.

I stood confused in the middle, wondering what was going on. I froze as Eliza's scream echoed throughout the chamber, but I still couldn't quite pinpoint what door it was coming from.

Which one should I take? Just then, I heard what sounded to be footsteps. They were coming on fast, and it sounded like they were coming from every doorway. The culprits showed themselves quickly as large figures appeared in every doorway. I nervously gulped as Pheromosa emerged from the one in front, a terribly menacing look on her face behind the ugly purple marking. I turned to see a Buzzwole and a Xurkitree emerging from my sides and nervously turned around to see a Nihilego at my back. I was trapped with nowhere to go.

The Ultra Beasts edged closer, trying to corner me. Pheromosa suddenly put on an excited face, ready to finally get its revenge. My heart pounded and I screamed internally, but my mind was finally ready.

Just before I was in grabbing range, I ducked and tumbled left around Pheromosa, narrowly missing her grasp. Heading for the door in front, I began dashing again. But like before, the hallway melded into something else as soon as I took a step outside, and I quickly found myself in another corridor just like the one I was in after just a quick bit of running. I was obviously stuck in a maze of some kind without a map.

I heard the footsteps quickly approaching from behind again, so I knew I needed to act fast. Starting down a random path, I dashed from corridor to corridor, turning whenever I could. It wasn't long before I became tired and started running out of breath, but I knew I had to keep moving.

As I was about to pass out from running and pain, I arrived in a corridor with no doors except for the one I came in from.

No, there's gotta be a secret door or something, I yelled in my head. I ran to the back wall and thoroughly inspected it, moving my hands all over the surface, hoping for a hidden lever or button. The footsteps got closer and closer and before I knew it, I turned around and saw the Ultra Beasts piling into the room.

Now, I was truly cornered. I could try to duck under Pheromosa's grip again… But would she be ready this time? And would the other Ultra Beasts assist her? Not to mention, I would probably end up lost again anyway if I actually got away. My heart sank again, and I crouched down against the wall. They got closer and closer… But suddenly Slowking's words popped back into my head.

'As soon as you realize his nightmares are not real, you have no trouble grasping reality.' Remembering that Darkrai never wanted to hurt us and that he only wanted to waste time to close the portal, I hatched a quick plan in my head and prayed my calculations were correct.

As the Ultra Beasts got closer, almost within grabbing distance, I thought in my head over and over, psyching myself up.

This isn't real… This isn't real…! I took a final deep breath and lunged at Pheromosa. Just as I expected, I faded right through her and fell into the ground, plummeting through the air until my consciousness couldn't take the stimuli and I passed out.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself inside another liminal space, but this one didn't seem to have any kinds of walls or boundaries. It was pitch black all around me and the darkness seemed to extend outwards with no end in sight. But like on the clifftop before, I could see my body as clear as day through the darkness.

Immediately, I was startled by what sounded to be muffled crying behind me. Expecting to see something horrific as I slowly turned around, I was surprised to find Dusty behind me crying to himself. He was on his side curled into a ball, whimpering quietly. Still unsure if he was real or not, I cautiously approached him, getting ready to turn around and run if needed.

"...Dusty? Is that...?" I questioned as I got within arm's length of him. Recognizing my voice, he stopped crying and curiously turned towards me. Behind his tears, his eyes looked normal, so I figured he wasn't fake or 'possessed' like the Slowking I'd run into before.

"G-Gar?" he said with a sniffle before hoisting himself upright with his arms. It looked like he'd been crying for a while, as there was a pool of potent smelling greenish-blue liquid at his feet; I tried to ignore it as I spoke to him.

"Hey, no need to cry, buddy. I'm here now," I said calmly, sporting a stiff, crooked smile. He had an almost bewildered look on his face, so I was uncertain if he thought I was real or not too. But as he suddenly reached out and gave me the tightest, most gross hug yet, I knew the answer. "I-I'm glad you're okay too, Dusty..." I hesitantly said, tugging on his arm as a sign to let him know I was being squashed.

After a quick self-cleanup once Dusty had let me go (he looked sorry for sliming me), we reconvened.

"So, Dusty... Are you okay? You're not hurt or anything?" He wiped away a tear with his metallic arm and shook his head no. "Good, that's a relief... I had no idea Darkrai's nightmares had this much depth to them. One second ago, I was being chased by Pheromosa again... And now I'm here." Behind his sad eyes, he looked a bit worried. "But, now that we're together again, we can look for a way out as a pair." He then perked up a little and gave off a tiny smile.

"Although these nightmares seem pretty realistic, it seems that Darkrai's dreams have some hidden errors to them. And if I'm correct, we can use them to slip through to a different level, almost like a passageway of some kind. That's how I got here, I think..." I looked up at the black sky for a moment out of curiosity, but there was no evidence that I had fallen through from above at all; Dusty looked up as well, probably confused and disoriented from my description.

"Oh, right. Dusty, I think the key to falling through has to do with the obstacle Darkrai put in your dream. Any idea what that would be for you?" He hesitated for a moment but then pointed out to my right. Looking over, I found a strange scene that I somehow hadn't noticed when I woke up.

Under what seemed to be a bright spotlight gleaming from high above, three shadowy figures stood. I couldn't exactly make out their silhouettes or shapes, but based on the way that they were moving, I figured they were Pokémon of some kind. The one in the front of the group was the tallest, while the ones in the back were around half my size. None of them were making any sounds as they continued their movement, but I suddenly realized what they were doing: laughing at us. Looking back and forth between them, I slowly began to put together the picture.

"Dusty... Do you know these three?" He reluctantly nodded, turning away to hide some more incoming tears.

These shadows must be figments of Pokémon Dusty knew from the Pokémon world, I concluded to myself. Turning back to the figures, they almost seemed to be laughing harder now. Although I wasn't completely sure of what was truly happening, I decided to take things into my own hands.

"Hey! You three!" They stopped upon hearing my response and looked at each other. "Leave Dusty alone! What did he ever do to you?" The figure in the front then walked forwards until it was just outside the spotlight and bent forwards, looking down at me. It was only then that I realized how much taller it was compared to me.

As soon as it was out of the strange light, I could visibly make out more of its body and features as it got up close to me. As a pair of beady, glowing red eyes blinked open and stared into mine, I realized how similar to Dusty the figure was. Any thoughts of being the hero of the situation immediately receded as I suddenly felt small. Taking a step back to run if needed, the figure then returned to the light, and all three of them looked like they were laughing again. My cheeks turned red as I realized they were testing me, and I had surely failed.

Walking back to Dusty with my head down, I almost felt like I could cry too.

"Dusty, I..." I was unable to finish my sentence. He was facing the other way at this point with his head down. Knowing I had only made things worse for him, part of me desperately wanted to try again to make things right, but my usual hesitation in social situations like this held me back. Quickly gazing over my shoulder once more, the figures seemed to be talking amongst themselves, pointing at us and giggling from time to time. Seeing them like that suddenly reminded me of the times I'd seen or been bullied in school. It unlocked a part of my brain that hadn't been opened in some time and I realized what I had to do.

Turning back around to Dusty, I took a deep breath and gave myself a moment to correctly gather my thoughts. Before I started talking, I promised that this moment would be the last time I would freeze up like this when my friends needed me the most.

"Look, Dusty... I'm still not sure how these three are related to you. Whether they're friends, family, or even just acquaintances, that doesn't matter." He shifted for a moment, as if one of the words struck him the wrong way. The important part of this was that I knew he was listening. "...Because no matter how they treat you, I promise you'll always have me, Sycamore, and even Slowking and Uxie to count on. We'll always be there to help you back up, no matter when and where. And even when you just want to figure out your problems by yourself... Just know that we'll always be happily waiting for you to come back with our arms wide open. When you're ready, of course." There was a pause for a moment as Dusty lifted his head up.

"...Oh, and don't forget to just focus on being yourself, Dusty. I know it sounds cheesy and that everyone says that... But no matter what the world may think of you, I know from experience that being genuine to a group of close friends feels a whole lot better than faking it with a large group of people you hardly know. Especially if that close group of friends acts the same way towards you."

There was another pause. I then saw Dusty turn slowly and peer at me from the side of his eye. I gave him an honest smile as soon as I noticed, this time from ear to ear. He then took a deep breath and swiveled around completely with an equally authentic, open-mouthed smile. Thankfully nodding at me, I watched as his happy face turned into one filled with confidence and conviction. He stormed past me and stopped just in front of the three figures who now had their backsides turned to us.

"Gar!" Dusty yelped loudly to get their attention. The three turned around and seemed to exchange confused poses, but they then moved closer and got up face to face with him. "Garbo, dor! Arbo, dor! Garboooooooooodor!" Dusty roared triumphantly before picking his foot up and slamming it back on the ground once he was finished. The figures seemed surprisingly set back by his outburst, but they quickly recovered and started to argue their side.

I watched with pride as Dusty held his ground and stood tall at the end of each of his statements, going back and forth with the shadows until they finally gave up and began to walk further off beyond the strange spotlight. As they disappeared out of sight into the darkness, Dusty turned to me with an equally proud look across his face.

As I was about to congratulate him for his success, the floor beneath us suddenly gave away and sent us both tumbling into another dark abyss.

I woke up on another cold, hard floor, my head still aching with pain and my body completely sore. My surroundings this time were a set of narrow, tall walls that extended down both ways and then turned off out of sight. They had the same familiar ghostly glow that most objects had in the nightmare, but there seemed to not be a roof above. Standing up and turning around, I found Dusty waking up right behind me. He looked confused and a little startled at first, but his look faded into a smile once he noticed I was by his side; I was super happy he was with me as well.

Helping him up, we both gazed up and down the strange hallway for a moment, unsure how to continue.

"You okay, Dusty?" I added quickly just to make sure I wouldn't be pushing him.

"Gar…" he replied quietly with a quick nod.

"Alright, let's head down to the turn over here and see what's on the other side. Then we can make a plan of some kind to get out." He nodded again. "Right, follow me."

Walking single file down the hallway, I got a strange feeling of grief. I wasn't sure if it was because of this new space or left over from a previous encounter, but all I knew was that I didn't want to stay here any longer than I needed to. There was just something that rubbed me the wrong way about the eerie quietness all around us. I sat on the feeling for a while until we were just about to turn down the other hallway, when I heard what sounded to be a fast set of footsteps approaching from beyond the corner. I immediately stopped and held my arm out to stop Dusty.

"...Hear that? Get ready, something's coming…!" I whispered to him.

"...Gar..." He then got into a battle stance with his arms outreached. I backed up off to the side and prepared myself to run or face whatever came at us. As the footsteps got closer and closer, culprits of who could be there danced in my mind. What if it was an Ultra Beast or another 'possessed' friend? Would we be able to defeat them, just Dusty and I?

Suddenly, a blue and black figure appeared from around the corner at almost mach speeds. It turned towards us on a dime and continued barreling forwards, slamming right into Dusty before either of us could react. The sudden blow caused him to lose his balance and tumble backwards towards me. I was immediately smacked right in the head with the metallic part of his arm and sent barreling to the ground.

I laid on my back for a moment stunned from the direct hit until I realized we were still in danger. Recovering and standing up as fast as I could, my eyes popped when I noticed who was lying face-down on the floor in front of us.

"Sycamore?" Upon hearing his name, Sycamore's ears twitched. Immediately, he pushed himself off the ground and gazed over at us. Although I was relieved to find him safe, I could tell something was definitely wrong. He had a very fearful look on his face and his fur was sticking up in places where it usually didn't. There was also something off about his eyes... Like there was a glint missing or something?

But before I could confront him about anything, Sycamore flicked his head back to the corner where he'd come from and then immediately back to me.

...Run! Is all I heard in my head before he shot off the ground and took off sprinting towards the other end of the hallway. Knowing his keen senses, I figured he knew something we didn't.

"Hey! Sycamore!" I yelped while Dusty got up to his feet. But Sycamore just kept running, his remarkable speed getting him quite far away. Knowing we had ground to make up, I took off running too, Dusty following close behind.

While we dashed away, I again noticed that something felt off. Listening to our footsteps echo off the walls, it sounded like no one was following us. And after a quick peek over my shoulder, I found that my hypothesis was indeed correct; the entire rest of the hallway was empty besides the three of us. Maybe Sycamore had found a secret about the space and was running from that?

As Dusty and I turned the corner, we found Sycamore stopped just a little bit ahead at a t-shaped intersection. He nervously glanced back and forth at the two directions while panting heavily, his body language suggesting he'd definitely been here before.

"Wait up!" I called out again to him; he paid me no attention. Seeing him like this reminded me of his behavior when we'd first met. But what could cause him to shed his normally calm and cool demeanor like this?

Just as we got within arm's length of him, he bolted off to the right again, leaving us in his dust once more.

"Come on Sycamore, slow down!" I shouted in between hard breathing and physical pain. Dusty also looked a little ticked off that he wasn't communicating with us. Fortunately, it seemed like he was starting to slow down on the straight towards the next corner, allowing us to catch up with him for the moment.

Once we were all side by side, I finally got to confront him.

"What's wrong, Sycamore? Are you hurt at all?"

My Auras… They're… They're gone!

"Your… Auras?" He looked at me for a moment out of the corner of his right eye. It was like I was looking at a completely different Pokémon.

I cannot see or feel anything here! It is almost like… Something is restricting my powers! I… Cannot even sense my own life energy!

"…B-but, why–"

Yet my ears have heard their cries… And my eyes have caught their movement… I know they're here!

"W-who? Who's here?"

No time to talk. Must keep running… And with that, he took off again with his tail in between his legs. Looking over to Dusty, we exchanged similarly worried faces.

"I-I guess he's having trouble functioning without one of his main senses. Heck, I don't I'd be able to either…"

"G-Gar…" Dusty looked really worried.

"But I'm not just gonna let him run in here forever. Let's try to calm him down before we do anything else, okay?" Dusty nodded and placed his hand over his heart. I did the same before he picked me up in his grasp and began to sprint.

After a couple more short corridors and split-second turn taking, we found Sycamore stopped in the middle of the biggest straight hallway we'd been in yet. He was on his arms and knees shuddering in place with his head down. Seeing him like this, I felt Dusty sped up. He screeched to a halt and a second later and I hopped out of his arms, swinging around to Sycamore's side to console him.

"Sycamore… It's okay, we're here."

Running in circles… No exit… They are closing in…!

"Easy, easy… There's no one here besides us, buddy."

"Garbo!" Dusty cheerfully chimed in. Sycamore gazed over at me again with the side of his eye. It was only then that I realized how dilated his pupil was.

No use… They will find you too… Leave me… After that, the rest of what he was saying seemed like mumbled mixed up gibberish. I watched with a hole in my heart as his gaze uncontrollably shifted back and forth like a wild animal's.

"We gotta get him out of here, Dusty…" Dusty didn't respond and instead kept his eyes locked on Sycamore. "But if this actually is a labyrinth with no exit… How do we get out?" I glanced over my shoulder again both ways to confirm to myself that we were actually not being followed by some kind of unfathomable monster. Dusty looked away for a moment but then stared up. I watched as a plan unfolded across his face.

"G-Gar! Garbo!" He began frantically pointing up towards the sky.

"Huh? Do you… Want to go up there?"

"Gar! Gar!" Dusty nodded and then held both of his arms up, making a climbing motion with them.

"...You think you can hoist us all the way up there? It's gotta be at least fifteen feet up... Are you sure?" He nodded again more excitedly with a smile. "Well, we'd certainly be able to see all around the maze... Why not? Just be careful with Sycamore..." He quickly slapped his hand over his heart again and got into position against the back wall.

Sliding his metallic arm around Sycamore's waist slowly and carefully, I watched him extend his other arm up the wall, using the weight of his three-pronged hand to hold himself against the side. As his arm continued to lengthen, I was surprised that he had quite the reach, but judging from his facial expressions he was pushing himself quite far.

It took a while, but once his hand was over the top and latched onto the other side, he began hoisting himself and Sycamore upwards. I was originally worried that Sycamore might freak out, but it looked like he was too much in a trance to care.

Watching with bated breaths and hoping Dusty's grip wouldn't falter, it was only then that I realized I was all alone down on the ground for the moment. Looking back and forth at the emptiness, I started to understand Sycamore's paranoia. How long he'd been trapped here was something I didn't want to think about.

Once Dusty and Sycamore were safely at the top, Dusty safely set Sycamore next to him and dangled his free arm back down for me. I quickly grabbed onto it as tightly as I could, ready to get to where my friends were. Watching the floor slowly get smaller the further he pulled me up, I continued to worry about Sycamore. What if he didn't snap out of it? Or worse... What if he was 'possessed' like Slowking?

As soon as my eyes crested the top, the space didn't seem as intimidating. The walls were pretty thick, allowing enough space at the top to at least pass side by side without falling off. It seemed we were positioned on one of the far sides of the maze; behind us was the familiar black void that surrounded all of Darkrai's nightmares. And in front of us was the rest of the labyrinth with all of its narrow hallways and sharp turns. It looked a lot bigger than I expected from up top, but I didn't pay much more attention to it than that.

Once again coming to Sycamore's side, I bent down to come face to face. He was still on his arms and knees with his head down, his eyes continuing to wildly dart around. And although he'd been at rest for a while, it looked like he was still hyperventilating. As I got up and close, Dusty watched from the side anxiously.

"Sycamore... Can you hear me?" He didn't respond. "...It's gonna be alright, buddy. See? We're not in the maze anymore." Still no response. With a quick sigh, I unconsciously placed my arm on his back. As my hand made contact with his fur, he flinched like he hadn't expected me to do it.

I was about to pull my arm back in recoil when I felt some kind of energy flow through me. Suddenly looking at my Mega Bracelet and his bracer, I remembered the power that combined the two. Obviously realizing the same thing, I saw Sycamore look at me from the corner of his eye again, but the look of fear on his face was slowly melting away.

Recognizing his breakthrough, I grabbed onto his arm as close to his bracer as I could. The energy got stronger, and I swear I could feel his heartbeat alongside my own. It almost scared me at first since his pulse was so much faster than my own, but I ignored it the best I could so I could speak to him as sincerely as possible.

"Sycamore? Hey, Sycamore!" I yelped, hoping for some kind of response. I still didn't get one, but it looked like he was at least reacting to the stimuli. His heartbeat started to slow as he controlled his breathing and began to untense his muscles. All the while, he still had his gaze intently set on my own. I wanted to look away, but I forced myself to keep focused.

"Are you okay, buddy? Can you hear me? Dusty's here too, Sycamore... We're both here for you."

"G-Gar!" Dusty bent down and placed his metallic arm on Sycamore's side, but this time Sycamore didn't flinch. He looked over at Dusty for a moment before coming back to me. His pupil seemed to be back to normal size at this point.

"Sycamore... Please, if you're in there..." I muttered to myself. Just then, I heard a faint and scraggly voice in my head.

...Luke? Garbodor? Is that... Is that really you? Sycamore then blinked a couple times, and I could obviously tell the glint that was missing before had returned.

"Sycamore! You're... You're okay!" I couldn't help but yelp. I immediately reached over and hugged him tightly, some tears managing to make their way out from my eyes. Dusty sighed in relief. "I was so worried..."

What... What happened? Where are we...?

"You don't remember? We're still in Darkrai's nightmare." I stopped hugging him and sat him up in a comfortable position.

...Nightmare? That means all this was...? None of this was... Real?

"...Nope, it was all just part of the dream."

Damn... So that means we are stuck in here while the portal is still being closed?

"I believe so, unfortunately... The worst part is I have no idea if the portal is still open or not at this point. I've heard nothing from anyone on the outside..." We all paused for a moment, thinking about the situation that we were in.

How do we get out?

"We need to find some kind of... Well, a 'glitch' in the dream."

Glitch?

"...After I figured out that all of this is just one of Darkrai's nightmares, I started looking for ways to escape. And even though Darkrai has his dreams tailored to trick you into believing that there is no way out... Well, if there's a will, there's a way. Sometimes you have to solve a problem or just straight up brute force through. And it seems that when you finally find the exit, you just fall into another nightmare with some different way out... Fortunately, it seems that you can fall through together, and we won't be separated anytime we do it."

That sounds rough, especially without the use of Aura... I suppose I lost my mind trying to find a way out of this maze, but I do not seem to remember what happened… Sycamore paused to look out at the empty labyrinth before him, letting out a sad sigh.

"Hey, don't sweat it! That's why we're here, Sycamore. Just because you're missing your best sense doesn't mean you're useless. As a team, I know we can find a way out of here in time!" He glanced back at Dusty and I, who were both giving him confident stares. A smile appeared on his face as he turned around.

Thank you... Both of you... I will try to control myself as we continue onwards. We all nodded to each other in unison.

Suddenly, a familiar scream resonated out from the abyss below us. Although the shriek was relatively quiet and seemed to have some kind of padded reverb, I could tell right away that it was Eliza's voice. All three of us jumped a foot; Sycamore and Dusty looked back and forth to try and find the source.

What was that?

"I think that was Eliza calling out for help just now. It came from below the maze..."

Eliza... Wait, the one that has been chasing us the whole time? She is here too?

"I-It's a long story, trust me... But I believe the best way to get out of Darkrai's nightmare is to–"

Keep going down... Right. The three of us looked at each other tentatively.

"R-right... Here we go." We all lined up on the edge facing out towards the endless void. Although I'd already fallen through a couple dreams already, I didn't know if I was ready to make the plunge myself.

Luke... Ready? I heard Sycamore say to my right. He had his paw outstretched to me. Taking it, I did the same for Dusty. He gladly took it too with a worried expression stretched across his face.

"Okay... On the count of three..." I took one last deep breath and attempted to steel my senses. "One... Two... Three!" Stepping off the overhang, I felt my body go weightless and begin the fall. Right after, I felt Dusty and Sycamore make the jump too, and with that we were off. Immediately, I closed my eyes out of fear and felt my mind begin to slip. Yet this time I wasn't so afraid of where I would land knowing that my friends were by my sides.