At least the bed sheets were comfortable. Espir was struggling to find the positives in his current predicament.
Once his Pokémon had been brought back to full health, Espir had retreated to his room at the Bed and Breakfast to try and lay low while he rethought his situation. He was now convinced all of what he was experiencing was a matter inside his mind, but he wasn't sure what the fractured sentience of those around him was to do with it. Maybe the forced control by whatever the hell it was, was pulling the strings of this false fantasy?
Espir knew he needed to somehow break out, as he was unsure how long he had been asleep if this wasn't a natural dream. He had also been told to leave by another powerful being, as if he had any idea how to do it willingly. He'd still been convinced this was all okay up until he had watched his entire Pokémon team nearly die in front of him.
What Espir had also noticed was that every time he had vocalized something he wanted, he had received it, right up until he requested the difficulty to be increased. Maybe that was an irreversible mistake, it wouldn't be a challenge if he could simply make it easy once again. Espir was unsure if he would still continue getting any of his requests answered, but he knew that, if he was actively trying to be difficult, he would do everything to stop someone getting what they wanted instead of just giving it to them; so, Espir decided he would not speak through any of his plans anymore. He would have to think things through and only speak when necessary; he needed the thing in charge to be caught off guard somehow.
Finally, Espir needed to know more about the world he was currently residing within. If this wasn't a figment of his imagination and the people truly had free will beyond the creature controlling them, he needed to learn more from them in order to escape back to his own world.
Espir hoped, as he picked himself up off of the bed, that the Bed and Breakfast owners were reasonable people. Unfortunately, he also hoped he wouldn't regret what he was about to do to them.
Espir walked down the stairs towards the living room and kitchen of the small one-bedroom hotel and looked around for the owners. It would be best if only one were currently in. Espir noticed the older lady, an elderly woman with curling grey hair and glasses that hung on a thin silver chain around her neck, currently doing some dusting around the shelves near the sofas in the living room.
"Hello, ma'am?" Espir called out hesitantly. The lady turned to regard him with a soft smile.
"How are you dear?" She said, "I trust you won that Pokémon battle you were talking about attending?"
"Unfortunately, no," Espir said, shaking his head sadly, "I'm sorry if you're busy at the moment, I was just wondering if you were available to look over a little something I found in my room?"
"Oh, of course dear!" The lady exclaimed, putting down the duster and shuffling over in Espir's direction. "What was the problem?" She asked as she followed Espir up the stairs to his room.
"I just noticed something odd about the joints in the bed," Espir said, pointing across the room to a random corner of his bed. The old lady walked over to investigate as Espir subtly locked the door behind them, shutting them both in the room.
"What seems to be the issue?" She asked again, looking closely at the bed and not seeing anything untoward.
Saying nothing, Espir advanced on the old lady and grabbed her by the shoulder.
Before the lady could react, Espir had a hand clamped over her mouth and the other arm restraining her across her torso, pinning her arms by her side.
"Please," Espir said as calmly as he was able to while holding a muted struggling lady, "I just have some questions I need answering. I feel like I'm losing my mind. When I release my hand, please don't scream."
Espir waited for a moment and the old lady nodded quickly, shaking with terror. He slowly began to peel has hand away from her mouth, to which she immediately started to yell out for help. A split second later and Espir had his hand back over her mouth, drowning out any more noise.
"I asked nicely," Espir said, "I really am a good person, I promise. Now, I will ask my questions and you will answer them. Firstly, do you have free will? Does it feel like there is some creature forcing you to act in a certain way around me, or not? I've had some conversations that lead me to believe the people around here are being held hostage by something. Does that sound familiar? Nod for yes, shake for no."
The old lady settled her struggling for a short moment. Her escape attempts were still apparent, but weaker, more resigned to her fate. After a moment's thought, she shook her head, no.
"That's annoying," Espir said, more to himself than to the lady, "second line of thought. Have you noticed anything strange going on with other people in the town? I went into the gym battle expecting one kind of battle and instead, Roark was far beyond anything you would think of for the first gym challenge. The guy that hangs around the gym also seemed strange, like a mouthpiece for something else. Ring a bell?"
The lady slowed her struggles once again and then shook her head. She wouldn't be giving up any information to Espir any time soon. Maybe he really was just thinking down the wrong line of reasoning and shouldn't be trying to make sense of weird happenings within his dreams.
Espir kicked himself in frustration, causing the old lady to jerk in his arms. This isn't a dream, he thought to himself, how many times will you have to remind yourself? It's likely the being controlling people is keeping this woman from being truthful.
"Are you sure none of these questions are ringing any bells?" Espir asked again and, before the lady could react, they both heard a faint call from the counter downstairs. Neither could make out the words from where they were perched, but the muffled words- likely spoken from the front desk of the Bed and Breakfast- were followed by a sharp ding. The bell on the desk was being rung.
"How fucking ironic." Espir sighed.
The old lady looked up at Espir, trying to make eye contact as the bell began to get dinged with more urgency and impatience. She needed to answer it or questions would begin to be asked, but if he let her answer it, she would rat him out immediately. It was time to get out of town. It was past time to get out of town.
Espir pulled the old lady onto the bed and wrapped her in the bed sheet, hoping it would muffle her shouts for a moment while he grabbed his belongings to leave. Thankfully, he was already ready to get going, but he just needed to give himself the extra few seconds to avoid getting grabbed on the way out of the Bed and Breakfast.
Espir held the sheets pressed down on the wrapped-up lady, praying to whatever deity would listen that he really didn't want to be doing what he was doing, and then he darted across the room, grabbing his bag. He tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. He'd forgotten he had locked it. He fumbled with the lock but managed to open the door, just as the lady sat up from the bed and began to screech at the top of her voice.
Espir could hear the raised voices from downstairs begin to get closer. It was over, he was trapped. He would be locked up in some Pokémon world prison and serve his time while his real body withered away with age.
The first person rounded the corner of the staircase, charging up towards Espir's room and the screaming woman. Espir made note of the man's clothes straight away. The people that were downstairs- and rapidly gaining to upstairs- were members of Team Cosmic.
Espir tried closing the door but one of the members kicked it open before he had fully clicked it shut, knocking Espir off of his feet and across the floor of the room.
"Oh, thank goodness!" The lady cried out before the first Cosmic goon pointed an aggressive finger at her.
"Shut it old lady," he said, turning to Espir next, "you have something that belongs to us. We'd like it back."
"No," Espir said, knowing they meant the Shinx, "they're my partner, not your test animal."
"You can give it willingly," the goon said slowly, "or we'll just take it off you by force."
"I won't give up my Pokémon," Espir said defiantly.
Both of the goons that had now entered the room held out Pokéballs, ready to battle. Espir sighed and pulled out the Pokéballs for Murkrow and Buizel. He didn't want to give them a chance to go for Shinx. Hopefully they wouldn't wipe the floor with him like the gym leader had.
"No battling indoors!" The old lady cried out, but she fell silent once more with one look from one of the goons.
Espir let out both Murkrow and Buizel as the goons both released their Pokémon, a Carnivine and a Skuntank.
"Great," Espir muttered to himself as both opposing Pokémon moved in on his own, in unison.
Espir had his Pokémon switch things up, to try and keep his Buizel away from the Carnivine and hassling the Skuntank. The battle was a slugfest of hits, each Pokémon doing minimal damage on the others. Espir wasn't wiping the floor with them like last time, nor was he getting steamrolled like at the gym. It was a close fight, with all Pokémon gradually getting whittled down until-
"Got it!" The old lady called out, holding out a Pokéball. The other three in the room turned to her as she threw it towards the goons. "Take it and go. I assume that was what you were after?"
"What the hell!" Espir began to ask.
"Get out!" the lady demanded, "I won't kick up a fuss as long as you all just get out this instant."
"Works for me," one of the goons said as his ally laughed at the turn of events. Both of them turned to leave and Espir leapt towards them, hoping to grab his Shinx back, but one of the goons just pushed him to the floor and laughed some more as they left.
He had lost both the battle and his main Pokémon in the process.
"Young man," the lady said sternly, "I believe I told you to get out of my property."
"Just…" Espir didn't have the energy to insult her, she was well within her right to do what she did and he was exhausted from the entire day's events.
No! I need to get Shinx back, Espir thought, but how without more Pokémon? They clearly need my Shinx for whatever the hell they're planning.
He trudged out of the Bed and Breakfast, unsure of what to do or where to go. It was probably a good idea to get his Pokémon healed up once again, barely an hour after the last time he had gone in to get them healed. He wondered what Nurse Joy would be thinking of him after the second short term visit. It was probably unlikely though that she would view him any worse than he was viewing himself at that moment.
Espir felt like crying, he had become such a failure of a trainer over the course of just one day. Maybe he wasn't cut out for it after all. No. Whether he was good or not, he needed to look after the Pokémon that trusted in him. He needed to chase down those goons before they got away for good. They would already have a healthy head start, but he was quick on his feet. No matter what his reality was right now, he would get his Pokémon back.
Espir wracked his brain for ideas on which way they would have gone, considering there were no more signs of them anywhere he looked in the city. Every moment stalling was allowing them to take his Shinx further away.
He had seen them messing around the museum, so maybe he could find out some useful information there, he decided.
As he approached the entrance to the museum, Espir saw one of the clerks from inside walking towards the exit to close up for the day. The majority of the day had gone by without Espir even realizing.
"I'm sorry sir," the clerk said as he tried to close the door before Espir could get a word in, "the museum has closed for the day. Please come by tomorrow during our opening hours."
Espir caught his foot in the door, keeping it open.
"I'm not stopping for long, I just have a serious question." Espir said.
"And that is..?"
"What were the Team Cosmic people doing here earlier?" Espir asked.
"Foolishness and lawlessness," the clerk said, "what else would one expect?"
"Did you manage to get any information on their plans ahead of this city?" Espir asked.
"Why?"
"I'm hoping to chase after them. They took something from me," Espir said, keeping it deliberately vague to avoid a reprimand about his ability to hold onto his own Pokémon.
"If you manage to catch them, take back the orbs they stole and return them here, please," the clerk said irritably.
"But, where am I heading to follow them?" Espir asked.
"I believe they said something about a mountain," the clerk said, "it's likely they wish to return to these orbs' original discovery site. Why, however, I am unsure. They are deluded and dangerous."
Espir nodded. "Where would that site be? I'd like to get going sooner rather than later here."
"Mount Coronet," the clerk said, now clearly annoyed and making no effort to hide it. He continued to push against the foot in the door.
"Thank you for your time," Espir said hurriedly, darting off to the north of Oreburgh, now having a direction to follow the Cosmic goons.
Even choosing to chase after the men was more than Espir would normally be capable of, but he refused to allow the Shinx to believe he let it down after it placed so much trust in him. Even if he was petrified on the inside and concerned about the variety of possible outcomes to chasing these people, he had to try. Hopefully this would spell the end of whatever twisted game he had become a part of too, although, for some reason, he didn't think it would. Hopefully, this "fantasy", or whatever it really was, wasn't dangerous enough to kill him. Keyword: "Hopefully".
When the sun eventually fell, Espir carried on for a little bit longer before bedding down for the night. He had to squeeze out as much travelling opportunity as he could, which would mean waking at the crack of dawn- or earlier.
As Espir fell asleep, he felt the presence return. The gaze of the being more powerful than any he knew of. He was being judged.
You were told to leave and yet you remain. The ruin of all you now maintain.
Espir saw more visions of his family trying to wake his sleeping body, transitioning into his body being sent to the hospital- clearly, they believed him to be in some sort of mysterious coma. He saw the small pink being watching over and then he saw his Shinx, being placed in a harness in the center of a dark cavern. A switch flicked and a button pressed. Then began the end of everything.
Espir woke up sweating. He was so unused to nightmares and now he had two within the same dreamworld? He couldn't help but believe that to be a planned occurrence and not just coincidence. Nothing about this place seemed to be coincidental.
Espir continued to push further on up the mountain. He could see specks that he assumed must be the goons walking ahead. As he travelled, Espir managed to capture two more Pokémon. A Girafarig and a Sneasel. Again, two Pokémon that didn't really seem like they we're in the right habitat, but that hardly mattered anymore. He would need all the help he could get for recapturing his friend and, thankfully it kind of seemed, he was still getting at least some help from the puppet master of this realm.
Espir could see he was slowly gaining on the goons, until he looked away and lost sight of them completely. Until that point, they had always been clearly visible as he gained ground on them. They must have either gone into a cave, or turned a corner around some well camouflaged rocks.
Espir decided to keep pushing on ahead and see if he could find what had caused them to disappear. He didn't believe they would be smart enough to pull off a trick to catch him off-guard. No. They were stupid... but Espir certainty felt the same with what he was doing.
Espir now had four Pokémon with him to help battle through whatever he was going to find on the inside of that mountaintop, but he knew the risks of what would happen if he failed. He didn't fully understand what he saw in his nightmare, but he knew it wasn't good.
What actually happens if I die here? Do I just return home to my body, like dying in a dream? Would it feel painful? Can I even die here? What if there was an afterlife but I couldn't reach it since I died away from my actual body? Is that how ghosts are formed? What even is my "actual" body at this point?
Espir continued to talk to himself in his mind as he travelled higher and higher. He needed the distraction, otherwise he would remember just how dangerous the act he was preparing for truly was.
Something flashed in front of Espir, but only for an instant and then it was gone. Before he could lay his eyes on it, it had disappeared.
Suddenly, a boulder came crashing down the mountainside, avoiding him narrowly but passing in front and crushing much of the path ahead. Espir ignored the obstacle, pushing up against the rock wall of one side of the path and doing his best to avoid stepping on any potentially dangerous parts of the path. He couldn't let a simple rockslide stop him.
Another flash, another thing Espir couldn't quite see fast enough. This time, geysers erupted in front of Espir, filling the path ahead with scorching hot steam, but Espir didn't care. He covered his upper half with his coat and charged forward, trying his best to weave through the geysers.
Something was definitely trying to keep him back from this place, Espir decided. Was he finally pushing against the puppet master's strings?
Espir crept forwards, now close enough to see the well-hidden entrance to the cave system that the goons must have snuck into. He had his Pokéballs ready, even if he didn't personally feel ready himself. His breathing was unsteady and his hands wouldn't stop shaking. It was against his very nature to be marching towards danger, but he had to try.
Espir snuck further into the cave and could hear the cries of Shinx echoing down the corridor back up to him. There wasn't a lot of time left. Espir started to speed up his creeping until he was all but running down the corridor to save his friend.
Something flashed once more, directly in front of him in the dark cave. A creature floating, clearly trying to stop him from progressing any further, but Espir wouldn't hear it. If this was the one pulling the strings, it was the creature's fault all of this was happening and Espir's duty to fix it. If this wasn't, then it was of no concern to the creature what Espir did or didn't do. Espir threw his hands up, motioning to bat aside the being, which disappeared before he could make contact.
The biting cold of the outdoors was slowly becoming less bitter the further into the mountain Espir ran. The winds and snow from outside couldn't reach this far into the cave and that was the small bit of solace he found in the brutally stressful scenario.
Espir plucked up his Buizel's Pokéball, knowing he was now approaching the main chamber. He could hear the cries of the Shinx from inside, although he had no idea what Team Cosmic were attempting to pull off with their theft-ridden plans.
Espir turned the corner to the chamber, Pokéball outstretched and ready to let loose his Buizel, just as he finally saw Shinx.
The chamber was vast, with a raised rock platform in the middle. There was a contraption on the platform. A small cage with Shinx trapped within, secured into a harness. That cage was connected to two far larger cages on either side of the Shinx and a series of cables ran between all three.
Team Cosmic members lined the walls and the areas of the chamber that weren't upon the platform and only four people stood anywhere near the platform, although Espir didn't have time to properly make out the details of their figures. Only one he noticed and recognized; the man, clad in the white militaristic uniform from Sandgem Town.
The members were all waiting with baited breath as Espir ran out of the tunnel, but it was too late. The harness jolted Shinx into action, forcing the poor Pokémon to power up the device that it was attached to. Within the two other cages, small things began to rise into the air as the cages arced with electricity. The orbs. One orb in each cage.
The orbs were both struck by electricity at the same time, shattering each into dust. The collections of dust swirled and whipped around within the cages, each taking form, into what must have been some sort of Pokémon.
One Pokémon that bristled against its restraints was primarily black, with white hair, a red highlight around its collar, and piercing blue eyes. The other Pokémon appeared calmer, made of pastel tones and circular stylings as it floated in the air. Each regarded the other, before one of the main members of Team Cosmic called out.
"Turn it up more," to the scientists working the machine. They readily obliged, forcing more electric arcs from the Shinx and then Espir saw it, beads of pure light dripping away from the dark Pokémon, being pulled into the cables and pushed into the cage with the pastel-colored Pokémon.
"Soon," the same man cried out, turning to the crowd, "we shall be feared above all and our rule shall be unquestioned. For we have captured control over the sleeping world and fear itself!"
A series of cheers erupted out from the crowd as the man then turned to the darker Pokémon and said some words that Espir couldn't make out.
The dark Pokémon looked angered beyond belief, but it complied with whatever it had been requested to do. It began to shake, almost vibrating with the speed it shook, and then Espir felt a pain pierce his mind. It was as if a white-hot nail had been forced through his eye socket. Nobody else was reacting to the pain; only him.
As Espir looked around the entire cavern began to shake violently, the quakes matching up with whenever he felt increases in the pain within his mind. The shadows of the dark cavern started to come alive, dripping off of the walls, eager to become acquainted with the crowd below.
Espir couldn't help but begin to scream as the pain mixed in with the visions he was seeing. The crowd attempted to flood towards the exit, but bottlenecked at the corridor where Espir was bent over in pain. Chunks of rock rained from the ceiling as the cavern continued to shake and the shadows started to feast on the closest humans. All the while, the Pokémon of shadows in the cage vibrated.
Espir could see deep cracks of light and dark begin to rip through the cavern above everyone and, on the other side of the tears, he could see the pink creature flying around frantically trying to force the rips closed.
It was Mew.
Looking up to see what was going on with the terrifying visions, Espir saw it. The thing he had always feared. His death. A chunk of rock dislodged almost directly above him. Absolutely overwhelmed with pain, he was forced to watch as the rock came crashing down and blocked out his vision entirely. Everything went to black.