Close to the stream, the mud was deep and cold. Jak had been standing there, ankle deep in the muck and hidden in the cover of a fallen tree. She had been standing there for a while, it had to be approaching two hours now.

Soon, they will show up soon, Jak thought. The same thought had been circling in her head for the entirety of her wait. She would wait as long as it took. This was rather uncharacteristically patient for her, but this was different. This was personal.

A small splash reached Jak's ears. She didn't move. She was well hidden here, close to the path of the stream and therefore close to her target. Jak held her breath, tracking the occasional splash and swish of the water as it got closer to her hiding spot. This was it. This was it. Jak would win for sure this time.

Jak's nostrils flared and she crouched even lower to the ground, ready to spring. Almost, almost, almost… Now!

Jak leapt from her hiding spot like a coiled predator suddenly lashing out. That was the plan. However, it didn't work out as flawlessly as she had planned, and 'leapt' implied a certain amount of grace and power that just wasn't there. That deep, cold mud Jak stood in did not make the surest of foundations to spring from.

When Jak attempted to jump, she didn't even make it up half an inch before the mud yanked her right back down. There was no 'leaping' but there was a lot of 'tripping through a dense pack of branches and landing face first in the edge of a stream'.

Jak heard a splash and looked up from where she lay, halfway in the river and blowing bubbles from her submerged snout, surrounded by broken twigs slowly being carried downstream. Five feet away in the center of the river where the water ran waist deep, a Croconaw flipped from floating peacefully to standing.

The Croconaw tilted her head and regarded Jak curiously. A beat of awkward silence passed. Then the Croconaw's face split in a toothy grin and she brandished a bleached white bone above her head. She waved it back and forth with a laugh.

"Wanna play fetch?" she crowed.

Jak snarled and her claws raked against the muddy river bed, viciously fighting to drag herself towards her intended target. The Croconaw cackled madly and skipped further down the stream away from Jak. She still flourished the bone above her head. An ill-gotten trophy. A challenge to her pack. So what that stupid Cubone had found a replacement almost immediately, retrieved from Jak-didn't-know-or-care-where? That wasn't the point! The pack had been challenged.

Jak yanked and pulled at her feet until one was released with a pop. Her struggles splashed water everywhere and she hissed in pain when some showered on the tip of her tail. It felt like an electric shock through her body whenever water hit the flame on her tail and her fingers and other extremities would turn numb from too much exposure, but frustration and anger beat down caution and sensibility. This had been going on for far too long! How many fights was Jak going to lose to this pest?! She wouldn't allow her to happily skip out of sight before the battle could even start!

Jak finally found her feet and she sprinted after the Croconaw. The pest wasn't even trying to sneak away. She was laughing and splashing, and even though she had passed out of sight around a bend, Jak could tell exactly where she was. It was pissing her off.

Jak cut through the trees, bypassing the bend, and when she burst back out of the treeline with a roar, she had caught up to the Croconaw who had reverted back to leisurely floating on her back down the river. She shrieked in surprise at her sudden arrival, but the shriek quickly turned into laugh. She used one of her arms like a pillow on the water, and with the other she waved at Jak with the stolen bone.

Silver flashed from Jak's hand as a metal like substance coated her claws. She ran forwards to hit that pest in her smug face, but when Jal was almost close enough to reach out and touch her, her foot landed on nothing and Jak went from thigh deep to submerged in one stride.

Shock. Then pain. A lot of pain, screaming from the submerged flame of her tail before coursing through her body like erratic lightning strikes. Jak floundered for less than then the span of a second before her foot found the edge of the sudden drop off and she hauled herself out of the water. Her legs were numb. She couldn't feel her fingers. She trudged to the edge of the river, winded and sluggish, tripped, and landed on her stomach on a rocky patch of the river end. She didn't feel like standing back up. Water beaded and slid down her skin like tear drops, and sizzling came from her tail where water was turned to steam.

Pebbles crunched beside Jak's head. She opened her eyes with a huff and, without moving her head, looked up at the Croconaw out of the corner of her eye. The bone was held idly at her side and for once she looked almost serious, brow furrowed quizzically as she stared down at her. Once Jak opened her eyes, the grin returned to the Croconaw's face and she used the bone to scratch her back. A long growl started deep in Jak's chest.

"I thought you'd be better a fetch."

The growl rose sharply in volume.

"Oh, they tamed you good!"

Jak stopper her growl with a huff, going silent but keeping a careful on the Croconaw.

"Attacking in a river… Tame and dumb!" she laughed. "You've got the claws, but you've not got rid of the Charmander dumbness!"

The Croconaw twirled the bone into the air like a baton, snatched it back out of the air and dove into the river.

Jak inhaled deeply, then exhaled things. in a rush. Stupid pest. Stupid Cubone. Stupid Sol off doing stupid things. Jak pushed up off the ground and slowly rose to standing. Jak was sure she could take the Croconaw in a straight fight. She was a few inches taller, she was quicker, and she was sure her moves were stronger. But the stupid pest and her stupid tricks...

Jak hated tricky Pokémon. Tricky pest, tricky Cubone, tricky coward attacking in dreams.

Jak stalked off through the tees away from the river. Another time, another try, and then she'd finally win. She flexed her claws and shook her feet a bit in between steps. The numbness was gone save for a slight tingle in the tips of her toes. For now, she'd check on Ren, make sure the stupid Cubone hadn't gotten himself killed. Then she would go back to training. Not strong enough yet. The Croconaw was proof enough of that. Jak huffed, smoke spilling from her nostrils.

After an hour and a half of walking, Jak stopped and cocked her head. Voices wafted towards her through the trees. She wasn't close enough to make out the words, but there sounded to be quite a few people ahead. What had the stupid Cubone done now? Jak had told him from the start that it was stupid to camp within sight of the road. Anyone could see you there, and he would be a target for any wild Pokémon looking for a fight.

Jak crouched down and sneaked towards the camp. She was able to pick out Ren among the voices when she got closer, and there was a tense edge to their words, she didn't think they were fighting. Cautiously, she rose and openly approached them.

The talking immediately cut off when the group caught sight of Jak. She paused, the stares and sudden silence putting her on edge. She was surprised to recognize the Sunflora, the Loudred and the Bidoof gathered there along with Ren and a Drowzee that Jak did not recognize. This did little to put her at ease as the silent stares stretched on for several long seconds.

"…Oh. My. Gosh! Jak!" Sunflora finally exclaimed.

The odd moment passed with the broken silence and Jak entered Ren's camp. The Sunflora smiled, but it lacked the glowing, bubbling enthusiasm she was known for. The Loudred met her eyes only briefly before looking away. The Bidoof looked from Jak to Ren to the Drowzee and back again. The three guildmembers looked exhausted with dark circles under their eyes, like they had been on the road a long time.

"Golly, Jak, you've… you're bigger than I remember."

There was another short silence.

"So you two are here, but Sol and Eevee are too far away to be of any use," the Loudred muttered.

The Drowzee shuffled awkwardly and kept his eyes on the ground as he spoke.

"If things are as bad as you said, then we can't afford to wait around."

Ren moved next to Jak. "Nightmares have besieged Treasure Town."

"Jeez, I reckon we could use the extra help."

Jak's eyes narrowed and she puffed out a cloud of smoke. What new nonsense was the weak town Pokémon going to drag her into now?

The Drowzee hummed softly. "From what your Cubone friend has said, and from what these others here have explained to me, it wouldn't surprise me if what's happening in the town is connected to what happened to that… to what happened to Sol."

Anger surged in Jak, along with not a small amount of fear that Jak would never admit to. She hissed and flexed her claws. Stupid, stupid, stupid…

…

"It started with Azurill, Marill brought him to the guild to see if we could help. We didn't know what to do, but then a few days later Marill didn't wake up either. And then, well, things got worse."

Exhaustion was evident on the Chimecho's face, on the faces of everyone they had seen within Treasure Town. She chewed her lip nervously and looked like it took a lot of effort for her to remain focused.

"People fall asleep, and they just don't wake up. They keep bringing them to the guild, hoping we can help, but there's just nothing we can do."

All around them lay Pokémon, eyes closed tight, faces pinched, twitching sporadically. Make shift beds filled both the bottom and middle floors of the guild. Several others walked among them, helping in what few ways they could. Every so often, one of the afflicted Pokémon would start screaming and flailing and the helpers would rush over to hold them down until the fit was over so that they didn't hurt themselves.

Jak recognized guildmembers among the Pokémon trapped in sleep. Corphish, Diglett, Chatot… There was the lavender Kecleon holding the hand of the tossing green Kecleon. Azumarill cried over her sleeping sons. Kangaskhan moved about the rows, wringing her hands. Magnemite filled an entire row of beds.

"We're all terrified to go to sleep. Sometimes you wake up, sometimes you don't."

"Has there been word of anything like this happening in other towns?" the Drowzee asked. The Chimecho glared at him before saying that there hadn't been. No one seemed too happy to see the Drowzee, but he ignored the angry stares.

"I'll see if there's anything I can do," he said.

Jak looked over the room. Once again, an enemy that refused to take Jak in a straight fight.