The fog tasted sweet and soft like wisps of sugar clogging Eevee's lungs. Sol was staring off into the dark that surrounded him, but he stayed focused on her. Looking out into that void felt like falling out of your body.

"Darkness and

a glow

ing

cloud

…"

A shot of panic stopped Eevee's breath and paralyzed his limbs. Sol's voice became slow and distorted, and as he watched the sight before him stretched out into a mess of coloured shapes. A fierce wind swirled around him and Eevee cried out when the fog surged upwards, creating a luminous, swirling funnel that boxed him in. The prettiest tornado that smell of sickeningly sweet smell of candy.

Eevee shut his eyes tight and screamed into the wind for Sol, for her to figure everything out and power through like she always did.

And then it stopped. A moment passed before Eevee's heart slowed from racing and he felt brave enough to open his eyes. He did so slowly with a rising feeling of dread, but that all disappeared when he saw what was around him. He perked up and smiled sheepishly at Sol, who looked down at him with her head tilted to the side and a furrowed brow.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, no, I just…" Eevee trailed off. He wasn't sure why he had felt so anxious a moment ago. They had succeeded, hadn't they? Eevee looked up to the nearly crumbled tower far above the dirt path they followed. It had been close, but they had stopped Temporal Tower from collapsing. The Time Gears were back where they belonged. They had saved everyone, they were heroes, they were the first exploration team to ever set foot in the Hidden Land! It was better than anything Eevee had ever wanted!

"Well, I didn't want to say anything before, but…" Sol began. She looked away. "I can't leave this place."

"What?!"

"Time changed, so I no longer exist. If I try to leave this place, I'll disappear."

No, no, no! This couldn't be happening! Not now!

"But we could stay here. Then I wouldn't disappear. You wouldn't be left alone."

Relief flooded through Eevee. He would do anything to stop that from happening. The words caught in his throat so he could only nod vigorously as tears collected in the corners of his eyes.

…

The Azurill was still whimpering pathetically, even after so long without any noticeable threat. At least he did what he was told, and he seemed to have decent instincts. It was too bad that after living in towns his whole life taught him to ignore what his gut told him. Jak had found him as a twitching ball of nerves, trapped in his illusion but knowing something was wrong, even if he couldn't tell what. Simply showing up was enough to convince him that what he was seeing wasn't reality and that he had to leave.

However, much to Jak's frustration, the Azurill breaking free hadn't woken them up. Jak just couldn't see what else there was that could be done, so that had to be the answer, so why were they still wandering this emptiness lit by purple fog? It smelled like sharp spices and left a taste like vinegar in her mouth. Jak pressed onward as if she had a direction. It keep the kid from panicking and she was better able to fool herself into believing she had some control over what was going on.

"Ah!" The Azurill yelled and cowered beside Jak. "Monster!"

Jak tensed and quickly spun in place. Nothing jumped out at them and Jak didn't see any threat.

"Where?"

"Over there!"

Jak peered out into the dark, but she still didn't see anything in the indicated direction. While the Azurill had been clearly terrified the entire time they had been stuck here, however long that was, he hadn't acted paranoid. Jak hesitated to dismiss the threat as nothing more than his imagination.

Then, Jak began to make something out. A slight darkening gave the impression of a shape in the distance, large, vaguely rectangular. Jak couldn't tell what it was, perhaps it really was a creature that would devour them, but it was also the only thing she had seen in the long time they had spent wandering. Jak began to make her way towards it.

"Wait!" the Azurill hurried to stay close to her side and grabbed at her hand. "What if its bad?"

A plume of smoke left her nostrils and Jak let out a snort. The Azurill gripped her hand even more tightly and pressed close to her side as they walked. Soft whimpers came from the small Pokémon, but beyond that he kept himself together. Of all the Pokémon Jak could have been stuck with, she could have done a lot worse. A low rumble sounded from deep in Jak's chest, soft and constant. Her mother used to make a similar noise after defending the nest, covered in new wounds, the air smelling of smoke and blood. But that hum was comfort and the assurance that, for now, their mother's strength was greater than any threat. The sound meant nothing to a town Pokémon, however, and Azurill didn't give any indication of whether he even noticed.

Dirt crunched under Jak's foot and she started at the sudden change in footing. A moment later and the fog around them peeled back and the sky above them brightened to a vibrant blue sky, conspicuously missing a sun yet still bright. The shape they had been approaching gained detail, Jak saw it was not a creature but a large, crumbling tower stood on a mass of floating rocks high above them. The narrow dirt path they stood on circled upwards, getting close to the Tower but not quite connecting. When she looked back the way they had come she saw more of the path circling down towards a sprawling ruin far below.

The Azurill squeaked and hide his face against Jak's side. He had impressive grip strength for a child.

"Where are we?" he whimpered.

"Nowhere. It's another lie."

He cautiously peeked at the sight around them with fearful, untrusting eyes. That was good. It wouldn't do for any of them to have escaped from one illusion only to get stuck in another.

Jak led the Azurill up the path. She was already beginning to feel the pull of this place. It told her to stay, that leaving meant being abandoned, left to fend for herself and completely alone. It wasn't hard for Jak to shake the feeling off. She had done this three times already, a slightly different flavour each time, and this was by far the least convincing. That was to be expected, however, as this was personalized for an entirely different person. When she had entered Azurill's trap, the place had whispered of outside dangers, of how leaving was far too risky and the only was to stay safe and warm was to stay exactly where she was. Again, not something that was particularly appealing to Jak.

Jak paused when she caught sight of the figure up ahead. Really, she didn't know why she was surprised. The only thing that could have made this any more typical was if they had stepped over a horribly wounded Sol on the way over. Jak stomped over to a vacant eyed the Eevee seated on the ground. Of course he'd manage to show up in a dangerous place he had no business in.

"Get up."

"Eevee?" Azurill asked hesitantly, like he didn't believe he could really be there. The Eevee didn't react to either of them.

"Get up," Jak repeated and shoved his shoulder. That got his attention and the Eevee blinked lazily and looked up at her.

"Huh?"

"We're leaving."

It took a few seconds for the Eevee to process the demand. He switched from dazed to alert and panicked a moment later.

"No! I can't! I can't leave Sol and I can't be left alone!"

This was already harder than convincing the Azurill had been.

"But… Sol isn't here…" the Azurill pointed out.

"She's right-" the Eevee turned to the empty spot beside him. "I… I have to stay here."

Jak leaned out over the step drop-off at the side of the path. Similar to the tower above them, the path they were on was floating in space with nothing supporting them. That made things easier. Jak positioned herself behind Eevee, who had gone back to staring at nothing, centered her foot on his back and gave him a firm push off the edge of the path. The Eevee was to caught up in a daze to make a single sound as he went over.

"We don't have time for the long way," Jak explained to the Azurill whose eyes had gone wide and was now frozen where he stood. She didn't know if what she said was true or if there was any sort of time constraint to begin with, but patience was never her strong suit. The Eevee should have known better than to get stuck here, and it wasn't like the fall would hurt him. Jak had escaped her first trap in a similar manner.

Jak jumped off the edge after the Eevee, dragging the Azurill along beside her.

This site wouldn't kept changing Sol's line near the beginning. I had it all stretched out and a lot better looking but the site kept "fixing" it. Had to settle for putting the words on separate lines but the effect is just not the same :(