Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

Shadows of Ganderosa

Chapter 26

Living the Nightmare


Team Rapture walked down the snow-covered street as they followed the plusle to a building near the center of town. The building had a big spire shooting up from the middle for what Dillan guessed was three stories. It had a snow-covered roof with a black stripe painted on the grey stone, so Dillan guessed it was the guild. It had a courtyard with a fountain in the middle like in Palando, but the statue standing on its pedestal was made out of ice. The statue that stood in the middle of the fountain was of a dragonite with a cape, but almost all of its head was scattered around the courtyard in pieces as though it was hit with a bomb. There was a white, wooden sign next to the red doors that was plastered with torn pieces of paper. Team Rapture walked with the plusle through the iron gates and into the courtyard.

"Sir?" Dillan asked.

"What is it, maggot?" the plusle asked.

"Why are we at the guild?"

The plusle stopped in his tracks and whipped around to face Dillan. The gabite was disturbed to find the plusle's vein located near its temple was pulsating. "Where have you been?" he shouted. "We're here for the meeting!"

"So, Team Armageddon's taken over this town too." Hazel said. Dillan couldn't tell if she sounded worried or curious.

"Of course we have!" the plusle yelled. "We own the Alkan Islands!"

"So, we do." Ryan said with a fake-joy.

Dillan felt his heart drop. Does that mean Team Armageddon killed the guildmembers here?

"Where did the guildmembers go?" Hazel asked. Dillan was surprised to see Hazel had the same question on her mind.

"That's not my concern." the plusle said angrily. He turned away from the group.

The plusle was about to continue walking when Dillan asked, "Are they dead?" The plusle stood there for a while. Dillan looked at the plusle, wondering if he was going to explode. After about twenty second, Dillan decided he wasn't going to. He just stood there. However, that didn't put Dillan's worries at ease. In fact, it made him even more worried.

"Is he alright?" Ryan whispered to Hazel.

"Sir?" Hazel asked.

The plusle didn't say anything. He began walking forward into the guild. Dillan looked at Ryan who shrugged his shoulders. He began following with Hazel. Dillan walked with them. They went around the fountain and through the guild's red doors.


Dillan was horrified. Team Rapture found themselves in what looked like a war zone. The grey, stone walls had holes blown into them. There were Ganderosan banners on the floor that were scorched from flames and replaced by Team Armageddon banners. The brown, wooden floor had ash scattered across the different planks. Some planks looked fine while others were splintered with holes in them. There was also the occasional plank sticking up from the floor, revealing what looked like some sort of basement below. There was a desk on the right side of the entrance that was split down the middle. Dillan found he couldn't open his mouth without getting the taste of dust and ash in his mouth. He also noticed that it wasn't any warmer in here than the outside. The holes in the wall seemed to be blowing cold air into the room, making little patches of snow below the holes in the walls. Dillan found there was a bunch of noise coming from the room ahead of them.

"Oh my gosh." Hazel said with an open jaw.

"Get over it." the plusle told her flatly. "This is war. We need to win at any cost."

"This fight looks like someone had to have gotten hurt or worse." Ryan said.

"Again," the plusle said with what Dillan thought was a little less anger in his tone, though he still sounded very harsh. "We need to win at any cost." The plusle continued walking onward, leading Team Rapture towards a set of dented doors at the end of the hall accompanied by the increasing volume of voices. The plusle pushed opened the doors with little effort.

They were now in what Dillan could only assumed use to be the meeting room for the guild. It had the same damaged as the previous room. This time, there was a stage at the back of the room with a collapsed right-corner. Other than that and a few dents and boards sticking up, the stage was completely usable. In front of the stage was the source of all the noise. There was nearly thirty Team Armageddon members standing in groups, talking about their own respective topics.

Dillan froze when he saw how many Team Armageddon members there were. He felt his muscles tighten. If we get caught now...

"Dillan," Ryan whispered worriedly. He looked at the pachirisu who had narrowed eyes and a furrowed brow. Ryan's worried, too? The pachirisu's eyes moved towards the massive group of Team Armageddon members. "Keep moving or you'll draw attention to us."

The plusle turned to face Team Rapture. "Alright, maggots." he said commandingly. "Take your place in the group." With that, the plusle turned right and walked around the edge of the circle of Armageddon members.

Team Rapture walked closer to the group of Armageddons.

"So what now?" Ryan asked.

"Well," Hazel said. "I'm not sure." Dillan found Hazel didn't seem very worried. In fact, she seemed confident.

"Can't we just walk out?" Dillan asked.

"Maybe," Hazel said. "But I don't think that'll work, either. We're on that Armageddon Commander's watch list. He'll probably be watching us wherever he is."

"That sounds really drastic, don't you think?" Ryan asked.

"You three have no idea." a pokemon told them from the Armageddon Circle. Dillan looked at the pokemon. It was a bipedal pokemon with baby blue scales. It also had a tan pattern on its stomach like a toga with baby blue holes in three different places. The pokemon had red scales protruding from three different places: a group of three on the head, a group of three on the back, and a lone scale on its tail. It had chubby arms and legs. The feet were chubby like the legs. The hands, compared to the feet, looked smaller than they should be. The pokemon had a snout that stopped at two nostrils. The lower jaw was tan with three teeth protruding onto the upper lip at the back.

"Were you listening to our conversation?" Hazel asked.

"What?" the croconaw asked, as though shocked Hazel could accuse him of spying. "Now, why would I ever do that?"

"Shut it." Ryan said. "Mind your own business and get lost."

"Wait a minute." the croconaw said taking a close look at the group. "I don't recognize you three." Dillan felt the back of his neck getting hotter from the statement.

"W-What do you mean by that?" Dillan stuttered nervously.

"I know every member of our group." the croconaw said. "Yet, I don't know you three. "That means..." Ryan clenched his fist as if ready to brawl.

"We're new." Hazel said. "Just recruited."

"Hey!" the croconaw shouted. "That's what I was about to say!"

"Attention, maggots!" the plusle's voice shouted from in front. Dillan looked ahead to find the small pokemon was on the stage, scowling at the group ahead. Everyone quieted down and faced the stage without a second's delay. They all looked at the plusle attentively. "Good. I see you can follow orders. You've all officially graduated to crap." The Armageddon's gave a light chuckle which seemed to please the plusle. Team Rapture, however, was too on edge to laugh. "Now then, you're all here today for a special job. If you'll all give your attention over to your new commander. You've all probably met him by now, but in case you haven't, this is Team Armageddon Commander Molan."

D-did he say... The group didn't cheer. They all stood in silence as if they respected Molan enough to give him their undivided attention. The horror-struck gabite looked on as the greninja walked onto the stage accompanied by the charizard Dillan recognized as Titus.

"Good evening." Molan said. "I come with great joy to announce that we've successfully driven the Guild's Resistance out of most of the Alkan Islands." Everyone began cheering. Team Rapture did the same, but someone who might be paying them attention might be able to tell it was a forced joy. "Now then," Molan continued. "Ignitus has allowed me to tell you all that we have an issue."

"What kind of issue?" an Armageddon asked from the crowd.

"The Resistance has taken shelter inside of Ice Spear Cave." Titus announced

A roar of disapproval rang out in the group.

"Settle down, crap!" the plusle shouted. Everyone became quiet.

"Thank you, Pete." Molan said. He cleared his throat before saying, "The Resistance needs to be chased from the cave as soon as possible."

"Sir!" an Armageddon shouted. "If the Resistance is inside of Ice Spear Cave, a mystery dungeon, won't they become feral?"

"What is your point?" Molan asked.

"Well," the pokemon began again. "If they're going to go feral, why do we have to deal with them?"

The pokemon looked at Molan for an answer. Molan stood up even straighter, making himself gain an inch, and began by saying, "How did we take the Alkan Guild? Anyone?"

"By force!" a pokemon yelled. The group shouted their approval.

"No," Molan said proudly. "Not by force." Molan began scanning the crowd. Dillan got a little lower in an attempt to avoid Molan's gaze.

"What's wrong?" Hazel whispered.

"It's him." Dillan whispered back. "He's the guy who," Dillan made a slashing motion across his neck with his claw. "At you-know-where."

Hazel looked at him, trying to piece together what Dillan was trying to tell her. She gave a confused shake of her head.

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked. Dillan didn't want to answer. He didn't care. He wasn't going to say his sentence out loud in front of all of Team Armageddon.

"Never mind." Dillan said as he shook his head. Ryan and Hazel, still confused, directed their attention back to Molan.

"No one knows?" Molan asked again. No one responded. Molan gave a sigh. "We took the Alkan Guild not by force, but by convincing a leader of our cause." Some Armageddons nodded their heads in recognition. Others, like Dillan, tilted their heads in confusion. "We convinced the Alkan Guldmaster to back us up, allowing us to take the Alkan Guild. Diplomacy won us the Alkan Guild, not force."

"But what about the guildmembers?" an Armageddon member asked.

Molan gave a scowl into the audience. "Those that resisted were taken care of." the greninja announced. "It's common knowledge."

"So, what now?" the croconaw next to Team Rapture asked.

"Now? Well, that's why we're having this meeting. There has been talk within our group that we went too far when we attacked the Alkan Guild. Does anyone agree?"

No one responded. There were a few nervous glances around the room as well as some pokemon shifting their weight, but no one spoke up.

"Of course you do." Molan said. "And I agree."

"What?" Hazel whispered seemingly to herself, yet Dillan thought she was asking him and Ryan.

Dillan was shocked as well. From their first encounter, he had always guessed Molan was a thug. He thought the greninja was just someone who used whoever he could. To hear Molan say he doesn't feel right about what he's doing was somehow wrong.

Titus looked at Molan with a curious scowl. Molan continued to look at the group and said, "I think it was wrong. What we had to do in order to end the Guild's tyranny here in the Alkan Islands was hard. It still hurts me, as I'm sure it hurts you. But then, I thought about the oppression that the guild has enforced upon us." Molan stuck out a finger into the front of the crowd. "You, sir. Tell us what led you to take a stand against the guild."

"Me?" a voice asked in the crowd. Molan nodded. "Well, my family lived in Shrindant Town in Labensia. We couldn't afford the food there, so we had to move."

"Now," Molan began. "Some of you may be asking yourselves, "How is that the guild's fault?" and I ask you my, skarmory friend, did the guild help you?"

"No." the voice said forcefully.

"Did you ask them for help?"

"Yes, I did."

"So you asked for help, yet the guild didn't do a thing." Molan said. He stood there for a few seconds to let the words sink in before he said, "You, ma'am." He pointed to the middle of the crowd. "The primarina. Why did you join the fight?"

"Mr. Molan," a prideful, yet sad voice said. Dillan watched as a pokemon stood up above the crowd. To Dillan, the primarina looked elegant. "My child was kidnapped and taken into the Palando Mountain Pass. I went to the guild for help, but they turned me away."

"Wait a minute." Ryan whispered angrily as his paws clenched together, making his knuckles pop.

"I know." Hazel said sternly.

"Know what?" Dillan asked.

"It's Jeremy's mother." Hazel said. Jeremy's... Dillan looked into the crowd. He stared at the primarina. She had an angry expression on her face and looked as though she was on the verge of crying

"What happened next?" Molan asked the primarina.

"The kidnappers hurt my son and blamed me!" Jeremy's mother said. "They convinced the guild my son's marks were a result of domestic violence! The guild then tried to arrest me!"

"So you're saying the guild trusted kidnappers over a mother who was only trying to get her child back?"

Dillan felt his heart begin to pound in his chest. He looked at Ryan. The pachirisu's fist began shaking. His face was filled with frustration.

"Yes, they did!" the primarina announced.

"Liar." Ryan said to himself. As much as Dillan felt like what Ryan said implied they weren't with Team Armageddon, he couldn't blame the pachirisu. He also felt frustrated. She should have been arrested! How is she here?

"Thank you." Molan said with a disturbing sweetness in his voice. "As you can all see, we have our own reasons for fighting against the guild. This road may seem wrong at certain points in time. It might tug at our very souls. But we need to carry onward. We need to fight the injustices forced upon us! And no matter what the cost, we need to win and take back our kingdom!"

Team Armageddon cheered for Molan. The atmosphere in the room changed into one of enthusiasm. Team Rapture, however, didn't cheer. They looked on at Molan with scowls. Dillan didn't think it was the best way to keep their cover, but he didn't care. For one, he was in the back. No one would see his scowl. Another thing was that if he and his team did cheer, it was guaranteed to feel forced and fake. They were all frustrated.

"She didn't just do that." Dillan said.

"She did." Ryan said. "I can't believe that liar just inspired pokemon with her fake story."

"Let's talk about it later." Hazel said. "It isn't safe right now."

"Settle down!" Titus ordered. Everyone quieted down.

"Now then," Molan said. "I'm glad to see you all have your moral boosted. Now for the reason we're having our meeting.

"Who here has heard of an M. P?"

No one raised their hand.

"Well," Molan continued. "Its technical term is a "Mystery Pocket". The basic definition is its the area of a mystery dungeon that's unaffected by the actual dungeon itself. You can get more information on the M. P.s somewhere else. For now, I'm only here to tell you that the resistance standing against us are taking refuge in Ice Spear Cave. To be more precise, they're staying in Ice Spear Cave's M. P. I've gathered you all here today so we can stamp out the resistance once and for all and finally take the Alkan Islands from the Guild. If you have any doubts of your moral status, look back to the testaments today and remember what was said. Let these stories drive you back into the fight so we can save Ganderosa from the enemy that has plagued us for generations!" Molan raised his fist into the air and said. "For freedom!"

Everyone in the room raised either their right fist or their head and said, "For freedom!"

"Everyone rest up for tonight." Titus said as he took a step closer to the edge of the stage. "Tomorrow, a group of you will move out to attack Ice Spear Cave. Dismissed." Titus went over to Molan. The two began discussing their own matters. All of the Armageddons began discussing their situation in their own groups. Dillan was disgusted to see pokemon flocking to Jeremy's mother and apologizing, saying things like, "I'm so sorry for your loss", as if she was some kind of hero. That liar's looking like the victim. She's using her abuses as an opportunity!

"Ryan." Hazel said. Ryan looked at Hazel as she grabbed Dillan's arms and began pulling him around the Armageddons.

"Where are we going?" Dillan asked, shocked by the sudden movement.

"To meet with Hank Peterson." Hazel said. She led the group around towards the stage.

"Didn't you say we couldn't leave Team Armageddon because we'd get caught?"

"I did, but that was before I found out he's here."

"He is?" Ryan asked.

Dillan watched the stage. As he got closer to it, his heart began beating harder on his ribs. He finally pulled his arm from Hazel's grip. The group stopped feet from the stage. Hazel looked at Dillan with confusion.

"I can't go up to the stage." Dillan said fearfully, not taking an eye off of Molan who was still on the stage with Titus. He felt his anxiety start to build up inside of him. "Molan will recognize me."

"He will?" Ryan asked.

"We had a face-to-face conversation back in Palando." Dillan said.

"Alright..." Hazel said as she looked on the stage.

"Wait a minute." Ryan said. "Peterson's on the stage?"

"Weren't you paying attention?" Hazel asked. Ryan looked at her with confusion. "The plusle."

"You mean the one who led us here?" Ryan asked. "'No way that's him."

"Molan called him Pete." Hazel said. "As in Peterson."

"Stop." Ryan said. "Just stop right there."

"What's wrong?" Hazel asked.

"Peterson isn't the same as Pete, only similar."

"Yes it is." Hazel said.

"Even if it was, do you think it's a good risk to take? I mean, if you're wrong, we could get killed."

"But if I'm right?"

"The risk outweighs the gain."

"I don't agree." Hazel said flatly.

Dillan's gaze drifted away from Molan. He looked for the plusle, but he didn't see him.

"Guys?" Dillan said. "Where's the plusle?"

"What?" Hazel asked. She looked onto the stage as well. She gave a groan when she saw the plusle wasn't there. "Come on!"

"I don't like this." Dillan said.

"It's fine." Ryan assured.

"No, it isn't." Dillan told him worriedly. He knelt forwards before whispering, "We're going to get caught. If Molan sees us, he'll know who we are. In fact..." Dillan paused. He took a worried look around. "I wouldn't be surprised if other pokemon would recognize us from Palando."

"Dillan." Hazel said. "It's going to be alright."

"No." Dillan said. "It's too risky here."

Dillan." Hazel said forcefully. She stepped forwards and grabbed his arms, though she didn't have a tight grip. She only used enough force to get his attention. Dillan looked at her. "You're freaking out." she told him calmly. "There isn't any reason to freak out."

"But-" Dillan tried to say.

"Dillan." Hazel interrupted. "Do you trust us?"

"Well... yeah." Dillan said.

"Then trust me when I say that our group is going to make it through this." Hazel said. "We're a team. We won't let anything happen to each other. Alright?"

Dillan looked Hazel in the eyes. He felt his anxiety start to die down. He focused on her words. She seemed confident, while he was scared. "How can you be so sure?"

"We've been through worse." Ryan said. "And even then, we've relied on each other up until now. We'll get through this."

"Couldn't have said it better." Hazel told Ryan. He gave a smile of acknowledgment.

"Alright." Dillan said. He focused on Hazel and Ryan's words to keep his calm. At the moment, it seemed to be working.

"Are you alright, now?" Hazel asked.

"Yes." Dillan said. "I think so."

"Alright." Hazel said. "Just remember we have your back." The charmeleon turned away towards the stage. She then gave a moan. "Where's Molan and that charizard?"

"Titus." Ryan said. "And I saw them walk into that room." Ryan pointed a paw towards a door on the left wall next to the stage. "I'm guessing that's the Guildleader's quarters. So, based on the fact that Molan is a commander, I think it's safe to assume that "Pete" or "Peterson" or whatever his name is is in that room."

"Maybe." Hazel said. She turned around and faced the crowd. It was beginning to shrink. Small groups of three to five pokemon were breaking from the crowd and began entering a hallway towards the right of the stage. "Wait a minute." Hazel smacked her palm to her forehead. "Duh!" She ran away from her team and went up to a group of three pokemon. To Dillan's worry, she began talking to a big, purple snake in the group. The snake looked at Hazel and talked back. They both started to have a conversation with each other.

"What is she doing?" Dillan asked.

"I'm not sure." Ryan said. The two watched as Hazel and the snake continued to talk for a few minutes before the charmeleon smiled at the snake. She gave a wave and came back to Dillan and Ryan.

"He's in there." Hazel said. "That's where the commanders sleep."

"Did the snake tell you that?" Ryan asked.

"The arbok?" Hazel asked. "Yeah. I figured that he would answer my questions since I'm practically part of Team Armageddon."

"Good thinking." Ryan said.

"Thanks." Hazel said with a wink. "I also asked where everyone was going. The arbok told me that we're suppose to go into the guild's dorms for some rest."

"I don't like that idea." Ryan said.

"I agree." Dillan said. "We'd have to split up; Ryan and I in the boy's dorm while you would be in the girl's."

"Don't worry." Hazel said."I thought about that as well. I figured we'd just sneak out and find some place to sleep in town."

"Good plan." Ryan said. "I like that plan."

"Yeah." Hazel said. "The only problem I could see is that I think we're all suppose to get up tomorrow for a debrief."

"You got all that in seconds?" Ryan asked.

"If you ask the right questions and make them brief enough," Hazel began. "You can get some good information in a short time."

"Well, when do we have to be here?" Dillan said.

"Sun rise." Hazel said.

"Well, that sucks." Ryan said.

"Agreed." Dillan said.

"It'll be fine." Hazel said. "I'll make sure to get us up on time."

"Well then," Ryan started. "In that case, I guess tomorrow we start as full fledged members of Team Armageddon."

Team Rapture departed from the room as fast and as quietly as they could as to avoid the attention of anyone standing in the room. They exited the guild and began walking down the white path.


Team Rapture scanned different roofs in the town until they found one with a yellow ring barely visible from underneath the white snow. The building the group stopped at was a place called, "Snowed Inn". The group ignored the cheesy pun and entered the building.

Hazel took care of renting two rooms while Dillan and Ryan waited. Once the charmeleon was finished, the group walked up the stairs slowly, visibly exhausted from the long voyage they had just been through. Dillan and Ryan got a room together while Hazel stayed in her own room. The three pokemon said their "good night"s and went to bed. Dillan didn't talk to Ryan. He felt so tired that he strode towards the bed, letting Ryan shut the door, and fell down on the hay. Dillan immediately closed his eyes and slipped into a dream.


The gabite opened his eyes. He found himself inside of a white room that he recognized. He was back in the room with the paintings. He noticed there were new ones he didn't recognize. Colors formed, creating paintings of the past Dillan remembered so visibly, it felt as if the events had only happened yesterday. He looked at the paintings ranging from fighting Arlon as Dillan watched Reya being taken away by the baby-blue lizard in Castellum Town to getting shipwrecked in the middle of the green and blue ocean as pirates blasted the waters around him. Even with these new paintings, one caught Dillan off guard. It was the horrific scene that unfurled when Arlon killed Koa. Dillan stared at the red eyes present on Bolt's horrified, tear-drenched face. Dillan and Adelina were watching with a mixture of shock and anger on their faces. The gabite also saw Arlon staring at the scene as the green blade bathed his face in a green hue, magnifying every wrinkle in the shiftree's nasty smile.

Dillan felt his eyes start to tear up from staring at the scene. It forced him to think about everything about Koa he didn't know, making him even more depressed. Dillan turned away from the picture, trying to get his emotions in check.

"Isn't it sad?" a cold voice asked. Just hearing the voice made Dillan's scales stand up ever so slightly. Dillan looked towards the voice quickly to see the charred shiftry looking back at him.

"How did you get here?" Dillan asked sharply.

Arlon looked at Dillan with a twisted smile. "Wouldn't you like to know." he stated. "You're pathetic, Dillan."

"You're not really here." Dillan stated flatly, ignoring the shiftree who practically breathe over his shoulder.

"This again?" Arlon asked with a sneer. "We've already done this. You say I'm not real, I say I'm as real as you. Eventually I'm just going to kill you and you'll have no choice but to believe I'm here!"

"Well then, why are you here?"

"I'm here for you." Arlon said. "Well, I'm really here to torture you in whatever way possible."

"Is that why you killed Koa?" Dillan asked forcefully. "To hurt me?"

"Oh, him?" Arlon said. He looked towards the painting. "No. I killed him for me. You suffering from it is just an added bonus." The shiftree walked closer to the painting and put his hand up to it. "This is a great interpretation!" he announced.

"I'm done with this." Dillan said. He moved his claw to his green crystal. He was about to touch it when Arlon tore towards him and slammed his wrist to Dillan's arm. Vines grew from Arlon's hand-leaves. They trailed across Dillan's arms, wrapping them like an old building, and tying them down to their sides.

"You think you can run?" Arlon asked. He started laughing. "That's too funny! No. It's not that simple!"

The shiftree swept his leg below Dillan, taking the gabite's feet out from under him. Dillan started falling sideways. He expected to hit the floor, but he didn't. He started doing cartwheels. When he managed to see the floor, he realized it wasn't there. It began rising above him as he fell deeper into a black void. Dillan felt his fear start to take him. Arlon's vines extended the more Dillan fell. Everything started to go black around him. Dillan lost all sense of where he was.


"I don't mind it." Grace said. Dillan instantly recognized the voice as Grace's. "I just want you to stay here." The gabite recognized that phrase. He had heard it just about every night. I'm in my dream again? But I was just with Arlon. Where did he go?

Dillan recalled what Reya had told him before. He remembered her telling him he couldn't see what happened next. I can't be here. I need to leave. The gabite tried to move his claw towards his chest, but he found his arms were still restricted by the green tendrils.

"But you can't." Arlon said. Dillan looked to his left and saw Arlon standing next to him. He had vines trailing from his leaves to Dillan. The gabite then faced Grace again. She was blurred like usual, but he found a new blurred figure he didn't recognize was almost attached to Grace's side. Who-

"That's you, idiot!" Arlon shouted as he rolled his eyes.

"Dillan." The doctor said from his usual spot at the door to the hospital room.

"I'm only going to be outside the room, alright?" the blurred Dillan told Grace.

"You promise?" Grace asked.

"Cross my heart." The blurred Dillan let go of Grace. "I'll be back in once the doctor's finished."

"Okay." Grace said with a sniffle.

"How touching." Arlon said with a false sweetness. "Let's follow."

"Stop!" Dillan shouted at Arlon.

"But, don't you want to see what's going to happen?" Arlon asked.

"Stop it!"

"So you don't. Well, I do!" He began pulling the tied-up Dillan across the room and out the door.

Dillan tried to resist, struggling his body in an attempt to wriggle out of the vines. It didn't work.

"Arlon, stop it!"

"Struggling won't get you anywhere."

This isn't going to work! I need to do something! Dillan focused on his fins, attempting a "dragon claw" attack. His fins began glowing a dim blue as they grew outwards, putting pressure on the vines until they snapped. Dillan jumped quickly to is feet and shoved Arlon out of the door. He tried again to touch his crystal, but a new vine appeared. It grabbed Dillan's green gem and yanked it, snapping the string. The vine retracted towards Arlon as he stood up. Arlon brought the crystal to him.

"It's not going to be that easy." Arlon told the gabite.

Dillan gave a shout and advanced through the door towards Arlon. Arlon quickly side-stepped out of Dillan's way and stuck out his wooden foot. Dillan's ankle caught on the chunk of burned bark, forcing Dillan onto his stomach with a "thud". He landed on what he could only guess was a tile floor. The impact rattled his head as is chest stung. How am I hurting in my dream?

"Be thankful for it!" Arlon shouted happily. Vines snaked their way off of Arlon's leaves. They wrapped themselves around Dillan's chest and pulled him up, hanging the gabite in the air. Dillan's head stopped spinning. "Some of us can't feel anything! Besides, pain is in your mind! So is this dream! It only makes sense you would be able to feel the world around you when the right parts are stimulated!"

"Then can't you feel this as well?" Dillan asked as he slashed at Arlon's vines. Arlon didn't recoil, though he did drop Dillan onto his head. The gabite felt his neck sting from the surge of pressure forced on his spine.

"You're starting to tick me off!" Arlon shouted, visibly annoyed by Dillan's question. "That fire damaged my mind! It doesn't work anymore!"

The gabite stood up. He felt some strain on his body from the impacts, but it wasn't enough to stop him just yet. "You act as though I should care!" he shouted. "And why should I? You're self-proclaimed purpose is to hurt me!"

"Which is exactly why we're here!" Arlon stated. "To make you suffer!"

Dillan heard a sound like leaves being raked together. He watched new vines appear from Arlon's arm and snake their way across the floor towards him, though he was ready this time. Dillan took a deep breath and exhaled a stream of fire. He hit Arlon's vines. They disintegrated into ask upon impact. Arlon flew through the fire. He slammed into Dillan and shoved him to the ground. Dillan was shocked to see that Arlon backed off. He was even more shocked to find a scarlet-red seed on his chest. It looked familiar. Wait.

"Too late!" Arlon shouted.

The seed split open, shooting vines across Dillan's scales until he was covered from head to toe in green tendrils. They then glowed red as they zapped Dillan. He felt as though he was getting weaker by the second. The gabite fell onto the floor in a laying position. Arlon strode towards Dillan. He got behind the gabite and pushed his back up until he was in a sitting position. Dillan was scowling at Arlon through the corner of his eye.

Arlon took a look around before saying, "I feel bad for you; having to live in such a blurry world. Or I would if you didn't take my sense of touch." Arlon looked at the ceiling. "Logan!" he called. "Everything's pretty blurred down here! Could you fix it?"

"Who's Logan?" Dillan asked.

"None of your-" Arlon started before he stopped himself. Dillan saw why. Everything started shifting. It all began to come into focus. Different blurred colors were coming together to form actual objects. Dillan was surprised to see a tan blur in front of him start to change colors. It turned into a pokemon that looked like Anna the audino from Ferricia Castle. "Ah! Much better!"

Dillan looked around. They were in a long hall way. Both walls had a set of doors leading into different patient's rooms or offices. There were different pokemon shuffling around. Some were pushing carts and carrying supplies while others were just walking to their next destination. Some pokemon were wearing blue outfits while others were wearing white coats.

"What in Ganderosa?" Dillan said to himself.

"Dillan, I'm warning you." a stern, familiar voice ordered. The gabite turned towards two pokemon who were standing next to a door. They both looked like a gabite, yet the one with the stern voice was bigger and nastier. Its forehead protruded farther than its actual face. It came out to a star pattern and ended. The pokemon had colors like a gabite with the red and blue, yet they looked diluted; as if they were mixed with some dirt before being applied. It had longer fins and claws. Dillan also noticed more teeth protruding onto its lower lip.

Dillan automatically identified the garchomp as his father based only on his voice. That meant the gabite was him. But why am I a pokemon? Shouldn't I be human?

"You don't know what a human looks like, do you?" Arlon asked.

"I don't know what that looks like!" Dillan shouted as he pointed to the garchomp. "And stop reading my mind!"

"I'm in your mind, idiot!" Arlon said with a maniacal smile. "I don't have to read it! Now stop talking and watch!"

"Why would I do that?" Dillan asked sternly as he tried to struggle out of his foliage prison. The moment he struggled, the vines lit up again. Dillan felt like his whole body was on fire. It lasted for a few seconds before stopping.

"Shut up!" Arlon snapped with a malicious grin. "This is the big reveal! The crowd's been waiting for this moment! Don't you want to see what's going to happen?"

"Stop!" Dillan shouted. He focused on his fins again, hoping that would work. His movements were once again interrupted by the red flash of the vines. Dillan gave a cry of pain. The vines went on for a few more seconds before stopping again.

"Mr. Lambert?" a pokemon asked from the door to Grace's room. The doctor looked like Doctor Valentine the persian from Palando.

"Not now!" Dillan pleaded. "I can't see this yet!"

"I know!" Arlon said with glee. "Reya doesn't want you to, but I'm not Reya! That's why you get to see it now!"

"I wanted to ask you a question about your daughter." the doctor stated.

"How are you even here?" Dillan asked Arlon, trying to do anything to keep his attention off of the situation that seemed to be forcing him to do the very thing Reya told him not to.

"Stop avoiding the inevitable, Dillan! Stop running! Embrace the truth!"

Dillan smashed the back of his head into Arlon's face. Arlon's head was forced backwards from the impact. Dillan focused on his caws once more. They began glowing and extended, tearing the vines. Dillan looked back to see his green crystal flying through the air, landing feet from the gabite lunged at the green gem. He flew through the air, but was stopped by a force holding him by the ankle. Dillan knew based on the feeling of leaves and vines that Arlon ad grabbed him once again. The shiftree then threw Dillan like a mace at the wall. He smashed into it, but it didn't seem to leave a dent. Dillan's back wasn't so fortunate. He gave a cry of pain as his face tensed up and his fin bent to the side.

"How many times do I have to do this?" Arlon asked as he walked to Dillan. He stopped over the gabite. "This seems like a reoccurring problem for you, doesn't it?" Arlon brought his foot up and slammed it on Dillan's right ankle. Dillan heard a "pop" noise as his ankle gave. A surge of pain flooded into his mind. Dillan gave a cry of agony as his ankle felt as though it was about to fall off. "Now then. Where were we?" Arlon grabbed Dillan by his newly injured ankle and began dragging him. Dillan felt his scales were the only thing keeping his foot attached to the rest of his body. The gabite continued to yell from the pain surging in his ankle.

"Now, watch!" Arlon shouted. He grabbed Dillan's waist and put him into a sitting position. Dillan looked down at his ankle. The pain became a little more tolerable, but it still felt like fire. Arlon put his leaves under Dillan's chin and pushed it up, making sure Dillan couldn't look down. "Watch!" he insisted. Dillan looked at his double who was staring at the doctor next to him. The second him looked annoyed.

"How does your daughter do with running?" the doctor asked.

"She does fine, I guess." Dillan's dad said.

"No, she doesn't." the second Dillan interrupted. Mr. Lambert closed his eyes and gave an annoyed sigh. "Shouldn't that be on record?"

"What do you mean by that?" the doctor asked.

"We've been here before and we've talked about this." the second Dillan stated. Please something, anything, stop this!

"Nothing's going to stop this!" Arlon said. "Now watch!"

"My sister can't do any sports." the second Dillan explained. "If she tries to be active for too long, she passes out. You told us it had something to do with her blood pressure."

"Get ready!" Arlon shouted with glee.

"That's probably the reason this wasn't identified earlier." the doctor said calmly and empathetically. This can't be it!

"Here it comes!" Arlon said.

"Dillan?" a voice called out. "Come on, Dillan. You need to get up." Dillan recognized the voice.

"Ryan?" Dillan called out.

"He can't help you here!" Arlon said.

"What wasn't identified earlier?" the second Dillan asked the doctor.

"Dillan," Ryan said. "Get up!"

"Ryan!" Dillan shouted.

"Grace has..." the doctor said. His voice trailed off. "There's no easy way to say this." Dillan was shocked. He looked at the doctor. He's never said that before. Dillan saw the doctor's face was filled with an emotion he could never have see before. The doctor's face became one of empathy. Wait... For the first time he'd been in the dream, he felt something inside of him. As much as he felt as though he needed to leave, something inside him wanted him to stay. No, that wasn't it. It begged him to watch what was going to happen next. Seeing the doctor's face reminded Dillan of a feeling he didn't know; yet it felt very familiar. It was as if something inside his mind clicked. He felt like an older brother who wanted to protect his little sister at all cost, yet he also felt trapped. He felt like he wouldn't be able to help, no matter how hard he wanted to. Why does he look that way? Dillan felt his heart start to sink. Wait... No.

"I'm sorry to tell you this." the doctor said. "But your daughter has a rare disease." Dillan felt his heart start to drop as though it was thrown off of a cliff and plummeting quickly to meet the solid bottom that was fifty feet down.

"What?" Both Dillans asked in unison.

"What does that mean?" Dillan's dad asked sharply.

"Well," the doctor said. He turned to the second Dillan. "You're sister has a tumor in her cerebellum. In laymen terms, there's a blood clot in her brain." What? "Based on its size, it's been there for some time now."

"What does that mean?" Dillan's dad asked.

"You see, when her blood pressure goes up, the blood in her veins starts to build up in the tumor. That tumor starts to grow from the pressure. It isn't able to move because it's between Grace's skull and her brain As a result, it starts to push on her brain. The pressure keeps Grace's brain from functioning correctly. That's why she can't do anything that gets her blood pressure too high, like sports. Under normal circumstances, we would have caught this earlier. Grace's abnormal blood pressure. The other doctor thought it was because of a disease Grace has called diabetes, which I assume you know about. The diabetes screws with her blood pressure making it higher than it should have been. As you can imagine, that caused even more problems for the tumor."

"So why can't she see?" the second Dillan asked slowly.

"The tumor got too big." the doctor said sadly. "It's put too much pressure on her brain."

"So she won't be able to see?" Dillan's dad asked with worry and sadness.

The doctor didn't say anything.

"Is she going to..." the second Dillan said. His voice trailed off. Tears began to fill both Dillan's eyes. Die?

"I'm sorry." the doctor said. Dillan felt like his heart stopped falling. He felt like it had hit the ground and splattered against the surface like an egg, sending pieces all over the place making a massive jumble of emotions; all were bad. Dillan's breathing became harsh.

"There has to be something you can do!" the second Dillan shouted.

"I'm sorry." the doctor said. "We can't do anything. Under normal conditions, the only option would be to remove the clot, but because of where it is on Grace's brain and how bad its gotten, a surgery would burst the tumor and kill her."

"H-" Dillan's dad tried to say. His voice cracked. A tear fell down his face. "How much longer?"

"Do you really want t-" the doctor began slowly.

"How much longer!" Dillan's dad shouted as he pounded his fin into the wall making a big "smack" sound. His eyes began streaming with water.

The doctor took a deep breath before saying, "Two weeks at the most."

"No." the second Dillan said. Dillan watched the second him mimic his feelings. His mirror closed his eyes as tears began flowing down his face. His arms began vibrating uncontrollably and his breathing became very shaky. "No!" he shouted.

Dillan watched as his double ran off down the hall way. Dillan felt like following. He couldn't believe what he heard. He wanted to run away. She's going to die? He then remembered how long he'd been in Ganderosa. He'd been here for a few months now; more than two weeks. But... I don't even remember Grace... And she's dead? Dillan felt the tears start to flow out of his eyes and down his cheeks. He felt like falling onto his side and laying there. It was as if the world was beginning to collapse around him. The memory went white.


Dillan opened his eyes and saw the room. The walls had paintings all over them, telling the gabite was back in the memory room, but he didn't care. He just thought about Grace. She's dead... All this time and she's dead...

"Great show!" Arlon shouted gleefully. He began clapping his leaves together. "Encore! Encore! Tit was an amazing spectacle! The very thing the hero has been fighting for has been taken before his very eyes! And by the looks of it, this isn't the first time it's happened! Just spectacular!"

"It's not true..." Dillan said slowly, tears still falling down his cheeks. "It didn't happen..." He turned to Arlon with red eyes. His teeth were gritted together. "You showed me that!" he shouted. "That didn't happen! It's a trick!"

"Then what's that?" Arlon asked as he pointed to the East wall. Dillan turned around and faced the wall of his past memories. All but one were blurred. The second-to-last one on the wall showed Dillan running down a hall. He was running away from the doctor and his father. Tears were flowing down his cheeks.

"That just happened!" Dillan shouted.

"But based on the other walls, I'd say that one's the wall of your past. Face it, Dillan! Stop running from what you know is true! That wall shows what happened a while ago. That memory might be modified so you could experience it once again, but the basic history is still history."

Dillan stared at the painting. He's lying! He has to be! It can't be true! It can't be! It can't be... Dillan felt a wave of nausea come over him. The room started to twist into waves as the room collapsed in on itself.

"I'll see you outside, Dillan!" Arlon shouted gleefully. Dillan felt himself slip from his dream.


The gabite quickly opened his eyes. He bolted upright and began panting heavily. He felt very sweaty and uncomfortable. Head still shaking from the dream, he looked around the room.

The gabite found himself in his bed of hay. There was another bed next to his. A window on the wall revealed that it was still dark outside. Dillan looked at the lone torch that lit up the room. It shone on the door at the front wall that lead out to the hotel's hall way.

"Dillan?" Ryan asked. Dillan looked to the gap between the beds. Ryan was standing there with a worried expression. Dillan turned away from Ryan and started looking into his lap. She's gone... All of my hopes and dreams to see her again... All of my hopes to love my sister... Gone... Dillan felt his eyes start to water. His heart began to ache terribly.

"Was it the dream?" Ryan asked with knitted eyebrows. He watched as tears fell from Dillan's face. "Dillan?" The pachirisu sounded worried. "Dillan, what happened?"

"She's-" Dillan's voice cracked. "She's dead, Ryan."

"What?" Ryan asked, shocked by what Dillan said.

"Grace is dead."


(Author's Notes)

Hey guys! MasterKnight here! I just wanted to say a few quick things.

Shout-out to PlayingMKS for following the story! I can see you just joined, so if you need help getting accustomed to the site, PM me! I'd be happy to help!

So, here's the excuse! I posted this chapter at 1 A. M. (Pacific Time Zone (No, that's not where I live, just giving you a basic idea of when it was posted)) on Saturday (Not Friday ;-;). Now, I'm very (very) sorry to the fans who came on yesterday expecting for there to be a new chapter, just to learn that there wasn't. Finals for college are right around the corner! As a result, my time is taken up by everything in my life! It's been hard to find time to edit the chapter and I'm sorry for that! You can tell I'm still trying to get it posted in time (or as close to "on time" as possible) based on the fact that I'm up very early in the morning (take your pick of US Time Zones), trying to get this chapter posted for you guys. I would have posted it regardless, but I feel like this chapter was SOOOOO IMPORTANT! I just needed to finish it. So, sorry for being late! It shouldn't happen again (until the next semester starts up, but I hope to finish the story by then).

Thanks for reading the story and sticking with it up until this point! Hope you guys liked this chapter! It only gets better (or worse, depending on your perspective) from here on out! I'll see you guys in the next chapter!

P. S. Thanks to the guests who have commented on the story! It means so much that even though you don't have a profile, you're still commenting! See you guys in two weeks!