Wow, it's been well over a year since I last updated...people must've left and hate me.. :/

Ah well, I will see this story to the end one day. Enjoy, those of you who are left!

The Resistance: Chapter 17

Dream Zone

"…"

"…"

"…?"

Paula opened her eyes. As soon as she did, a huge wave of pain circled through her head. She clutched it in pain, letting out a low groan. She took a quick look around. The scenery had changed drastically. Instead of a plain white room, there was an open, grassy field. Big, puffy clouds were in the sky, drifting along as if the day was taking a nap. Paula could feel a small breeze pass by. Paula rubbed her eyes, hoping that she was dreaming. However the scenery had remained the same.

"Where am I?" She asked herself. She looked around once more, scanning the area for any familiar face. But the plain was bare as it was wide. She couldn't find anyone; not a single person in sight. "Hello?" She called out. "Ness? Jeff? Poo? Anyone?"

There was no reply.

"Picky? Tracy?"

Still no reply.

". . . This isn't right. Just what exactly happened?" She said to herself. "I can't even find a single tree. At times like this, Jeff always thinks about things from a logical point of view. Stopping and thinking seems more progressing than wandering around at this point." Paula sat down on the grass. She looked up at the clouds, watching them go by with the breeze. "Let's see…the last thing I remember was Ness yelling at Pokey. But everything after that is a blank." Paula's mind began to drift at the thought of Ness. "We were just about to fight Pokey…but what exactly happened? I hope Ness is ok. He gets into a lot of trouble on his own. With that ego of his, he'll most likely end up fighting someone. God, he makes me worry."

"It isn't always his fault."

"True, but all he has to do is keep his mouth shut. I mean, sometimes we should just keep it moving, but normally he has to comment. He knows I worry about his safety." Paula groaned. "Why can't boys just drop the tough act for a few…?"

"Seconds?"

Paula sat up to see a creature staring at her with a smile. The creature was a purple bear with bulky human arms and legs. It wore white gloves that sparkled brightly. It also wore a monocle and a bright, red baseball cap that looked exactly like Ness'. Paula jumped back from the bear, letting out a small cry.

"Relax Paula." The bear said. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help." It took off its hat and bowed before Paula.

"Help me? But I didn't…"

"You may not know it, but you did call for help." The bear explained. "Your heart did. It called for the courage to not be afraid. So I answered the call. I am the symbol of your courage. When you thought about Ness, you felt less scared on the inside, allowing your courage to come out."

"Hmm…" Paula shrugged her shoulders. "I guess it makes just as much sense as anything else I've seen in my life. Do you have a name?"

"…My name?" The bear tilted its head to the side. "Let's say Climbing Man."

"Wait, but you…never mind." Paula stepped closer to the bear and stuck out her hand. Climbing Man shook back with a smile. "So how are you going to help me Climbing Man?"

"First thing, I should show you what happened before you awoke."

"?!" Paula was surprised to hear Climbing Man say that. "You can do that?"

"Sure, all I have to do is recall the situation."

Climbing Man closed his eyes and hummed to itself. Paula watched it in complete silence. Climbing Man then shook his head around in a complete circle. His head then turned into a purple box. On top of the box was a Mr. Saturn, balancing on its nose. The box was a television. Paula crossed her legs and sat down, staring at the television. The screen turned on, showing nothing but darkness at first. The darkness then faded, and Paula found herself staring at Pokey, sitting inside his spider mechanism.

"I'll be looking forward to crushing you…buddy." Pokey said in a low voice. He then coughed a bit.

The focus then changed from Pokey to Ness, who had his bat in his hand. Paula looked closely at the image.

"How about we make things more interesting before you do "crush" me, Pokey?" Ness hid his face under his hat. "I know you love a good wager."

The focus went back to Pokey, who smiled evilly, then back to Ness.

"I've heard that you cannot die…if that is true, then I propose this nice little wager. If we do beat you, then you must suffer the punishment we choose."

"And when I win?" Pokey asked.

"IF we lose…and somehow miraculously survive death," Ness chuckled under his breath. "then I'll personally suffer all the consequences."

Numerous gasps erupted from the television.

"This wasn't part of the plan Ness!" Paula heard her own voice say.

"Ness, think about what you're saying!" The focus went to Jeff.

"My, that sounds unfair on everyone's part…I love it." Pokey laughed. "But don't you think it should be one-on-one then?"

The Pig King then snapped his fingers before erupting into another coughing fit. Suddenly a wall of glass appeared in front of the focus, making Pokey look wobbly. The screen shook up and down a bit as two hands appeared on the screen, pressed against them. The hands pounded on the glass as Ness rushed up to it.

"Paula!" He yelled.

Paula gasped at the sight.

"Let them go Pokey!" Ness turned to the Pig King.

"Oh I will, once you and I finish a good game of hide-and-seek!" Pokey laughed as the spider mech sank into the ground. The focus turned on Ness as he ran to another capsule, attacking it with his bat. As he did, purple gas filled started filling the screen as loud coughing was heard. The screen then suddenly went black.

Paula stared with her mouth open as the television turned back into Climbing Man's head. "Do you understand now?" He asked. "That was all from your point of view. Pokey had trapped you, along with your friends. Ness tried to help you, but you passed out before he could even get to you."

Paula shook her head. "So did I…die?"

"Nonsense, you're just asleep." Climbing Man told her. "Right now, you're inside your mind; a dream, if you will. I don't really know why myself, but I think that gas put you to sleep." Paula stood up and crossed her arms, showing her annoyance. "I think you were put in the same capsules as the others."

"So he's draining my energy as we speak…" Paula muttered. "We better find a way to break free then, or else…"

"I'll follow you anywhere Paula." Climbing Man smiled. "But I'm not too keen on wandering around aimlessly."

"Don't worry. This is a dream, right? I know how to get us out of here." Paula closed her eyes and put her hands on her head. As she rubbed her forehead, a White door appeared between the two. "As long as I'm in control of the dream, we can leave at any time." She muttered to herself before opening her eyes.

"How did you do that?" Climbing Man asked.

"You can do anything in a dream, silly." Paula laughed as she opened the door. "As long as you know it's a dream, you can control it any way you please. Now come on, we've got work to do."

Paula walked into the door as Climbing Man went in behind her. The two walked down a bright, blue hallway. Pictures of clouds were on the walls, although they looked poorly drawn.

"So where does this door lead?" Climbing Man asked.

"I'm not sure." Paula asked as they walked through a cloud. "All I did was think of the word "exit" and the door appeared."

"So it could be anywhere in your mind?"

"That's right."

"What about the sky?"

"Huh?"

The two turned looked down to see that they couldn't even see the ground. Paula looked at Climbing Bear, who looked back at her. The two looked around and noticed the clouds were moving in different directions, each taking on a different color of the rainbow.

". . ."

Paula suddenly felt gravity take effect, and the two started to fall at a rapid rate. Paula closed her eyes tightly and tried to avoid looking down. However she opened an eye, and noticed she was falling faster than before. She looked up and saw Climbing man above her. "C'mon dream, give me wings so that I don't get hurt…" She muttered to herself, but all she could feel was gravity increasing, her body feeling heavier, and her hair flapping in the wind as it flew up. She closed her eyes and braced herself for impact. As soon as she did, she felt something cold grab her, and she suddenly felt lighter. She started to shiver, and then opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was two metallic arms. She then saw a gray robot staring at her with big, black eyes. Paula jumped out of the robot's arms with a scream and landed in front of it. She instantly lit the tip of her fingers with electricity and stared at the robot. The robot merely waved at her and then walked off. As Paula put out her Psi, she noticed a group of girls dressed in kimonos after the robot, laughing and giggling. Paula stared at the sight with a confused look. She then looked around. Another field of huge grass, only it wasn't as wide as the first. Behind her was a tall, golden palace that shined in the light as the sun passed radiantly by.

"Wait…this is…Dalaam?" Paula muttered to herself.

"You've been here before, remember?" Said a voice. Paula turned around to see a figure wearing a purple mask with pink marks. It had large black eyes surrounded by yellow pupils. It had red lines sticking out of it. The person wore a black robe with a white belt wrapped around it.

"GAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Paula immediately jumped back and shot out a Pk fire. "Pk Fire β!"

"Pk Freeze β!" The person shot out a freezing flash from their fingertips, countering Paula's blazing blast. The two attacks clashed together and turned into a cloud of steam, evaporating into the air. The figure removed the mask, and it turned out to be Poo.

"P-Poo!" Paula exclaimed. She rushed up and tried to hug him, but he jumped above her head, causing her to lose her balance. He stood behind her and smiled. "What are you doing in my dream?"

"Your dream?" He asked, confused. "I could ask you the same thing."

"But this is my dream. Isn't it?" Paula tapped her chin. "This doesn't make much sense…"

"It's quite simple really." Climbing man suddenly came down from the sky. Over his head was an aqua halo. He also had royal blue wings on his back. He stood in between the two. "Your dreams are connected."

"Connected?" They both asked.

"When Paula thought of an exit from her dream, she must've connected to your dream. Since you're both Psi users, this would make it relatively easy to do."

"It does sound plausible." Poo admitted with a shrug and a shake of his head. "I was wondering why things were getting normal."

"Normal?" Paula looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I was stuck in a nightmare." Poo shivered. "All those girls, chasing me around like there's no tomorrow…then all of a sudden that robot appeared and handed me a mask. Then those girls started following it. I just put the mask on and every few minutes the moon passes by the sun. So then I just started training against a whole wave of enemies, using the falling moon as a timer."

". . ." Paula was quiet for a moment. Then she shook her head. "Only you would dream of training. But that's enough of that. We need to find a way to get the others out of their dreams."

"All except Ness…" Poo reminded her. "He went after Pokey, remember?"

"All the more reason to get out of here. He might be in trouble." Paula muttered. "Hmm…shall we be off men?"

"Yes ma'am!" Climbing bear saluted.

"I've had my terrors with this dream, I'm ready to go." Poo tossed the mask to the side. "Dream hopping sounds way more challenging anyway."

"Good, then think of an exit." Paula told him.

Poo sat down and closed his eyes. He crossed his legs and folded his hands. He hummed quietly to himself. Paula and Climbing Man stared at him. After a few short seconds, the ground began to shake. Poo stood up and opened his eyes.

"Here comes our door." Poo pointed up to the sky. A giant gray ball filled with craters was falling down at an incredible pace.

"Poo what were you thinking?!" Paula yelled.

"I was thinking of a spectacular exit." Poo laughed as the moon came closer.

Everything went black after that.

". . ."

Paula sat up and clutched her head. "Oh, god…my head's filled with pain…"

"Morning!" a voice from above called. Paula clutched her head tighter and groaned. She looked up to see Poo standing in a brightly colored tree.

"This is why you shouldn't make jokes…" Paula groaned. She stood up and groaned again and looked around. She noticed green grass as far as the eye could see once again, but this time there were trees and bridges that ran across rivers. "Wait…isn't this…"

"…Green Hill Zone." Poo finished her sentence.

"Wait, but didn't we break them open?" Paula pointed out.

-Flashback-

Upon pressing the enter key, each capsule broke upon impact. The darkness inside the capsule disappeared within the air. As the capsules broke in front of Lucas and Ness, Metal Sonic, appearing badly damaged, fell out of it. As the other capsules broke, they revealed to have Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, the Chaotix, Dr. Robotnik, and a strange cat in red. This surprised everyone, as they each checked on a character.

"Whoa, what happened to them?" Ness asked, checking on Metal Sonic.

"It seems like those capsules drained their energy." Jeff said, checking on Knuckles.

"Porky must've taken them while they were waiting for us." Kumatora said, checking on Dr. Robotnik.

-End of flashback-

"Yeah…we did." Paula muttered. "So why did we connect to one of their dreams?"

"Well…" Poo thought for a moment. "They WERE still asleep afterwards. Maybe it's possible we can still connect to them."

"So then, who are we connected to?" Paula asked.

"Those two." Poo pointed out into the distance, where a giant loop stood. On top of it where two figures who moved around quickly. One seemed to fly around the other, although it was hard to tell which, as both silhouettes where round. Paula narrowed her eyes to see what was going on. "I tried to go near, but each time they would get farther. Quite intriguing…" He smirked and jumped down from the tree.

"So what do we do now?" Paula asked.

"Look for the exit." Poo looked up into the sky. "However, these exits can literally be anywhere. It's not going to be easy to find them."

At that moment a blue streak speeded by the two. The wind that followed knocked Poo over and caused Paula to hold down her dress. As the wind died down, a voice could be heard screaming loudly. Paula helped Poo off of the ground. As he dusted himself off, the two turned around to see the back of Sonic's spiky head. Before either could comment, the screaming from before became louder. The two psychics looked up and saw the Egg Mobile coming down at an alarming pace. It flew over their heads and crashed just beside the hedgehog, who took a step to the side. The Egg Mobile let out a black cloud of smoke as it made a dent into the ground. A loud coughing fit erupted as Dr. Robotnik fell out of the vehicle. The two approached the hero and villain as Sonic knelt down to look the doctor in the face.

"I…hate you, hedgehog." Robotnik huffed. "You big, damn heroes always do this. It's sickening!"

Sonic snickered and poked Robotnik in his nose. "You'll never beat me, Ro-butt-nik. Not even in your dreams!" The hedgehog stood and shrugged. "And I think I just proved that."

"I liked you better when you didn't talk, you wiseass…"

"He can talk?" Paula said. Sonic took note of their presence and waved.

"Hey guys, long time no see. What are you doing here?" The hedgehog asked.

"What are you doing talking, Sonic?" Poo asked. "You've never talked before."

"Eh, I choose not to talk." The hedgehog shrugged again. "My voice is only dream accessible."

"And he never shuts up." Robotnik stood up and sighed. "Every time I have a mad plan, this blue son of a gun shows up and destroys it, even in my dreams!"

"I'm shocked you don't dream of Robotropolis. It'd be way cooler to trounce that." Sonic scratched his nose as the doctor huffed.

"So you two also connected your dreams?" Poo asked.

"It was only by pure coincidence." The doctor muttered. "THIS one was dreaming of running through Green Hill, and bashing everything in his way. Guess who he dreamed of fighting?"

"You gotta admit, it is fun handing your butt to you smoking hot." Sonic muttered.

"So you already know what's going on Doctor?" Paula asked.

"Naturally. That little brat's using the power of our dreams to power something of immense power. I don't know what it is yet, but I know it required large amounts of energy. The more dream energy drained the faster the dream turns into a nightmare. With more energy drained, the weaker our bodies become. It's only a matter of time before our bodies become frail and boneless." The doctor adjusted his goggles.

"Then we don't have time to waste." Poo said. "We have to keep moving."

"But where do we go?" Paula reminded him. "We don't have the slightest clue where an exit might be."

"You leave that to me." Sonic wagged his finger. The hedgehog started to run in place, as his feet began to look like a figure eight. "If it's an exit you want, then I'll get it for you. Gotta juice!"

The hedgehog then speed off, leaving a blue streak and a huge cloud of dust. The three humans went into a coughing fit as the dust cloud surrounded them. Thankfully, it disappeared as it evaporated into the air before anyone could start crying uncontrollably. Sonic's footprints were left on the ground, although there was nothing but a somewhat thin line. As soon as the air was completely clear of dust, Sonic came back screeching to a halt. He turned around and showed off what he was carrying; an exit sign. More specifically, it was a sign with Dr. Robotnik's face on it. Sonic jammed it into the ground and leaned on it. Paula and Poo stared at him while Robotnik grinned with satisfaction. Sonic flipped the sign with his finger, spinning it around to a picture of him giving the peace sign.

"You might wanna duck now." Sonic jumped onto the sign. Paula and Poo looked at each other with confusion. They got on the ground as the doctor crawled into his Egg Mobile. Coming right from behind them, a large set of words flew by quickly. Sonic jumped up and stood on one of the letters. He put his hands on his hips and tapped his foot. A loud but short jingle echoed throughout the area, followed by a loud ringing sound. "Ok, you can get up now." Paula got up and was a bit shocked to read what the giant words said.

SONIC HAS PASSED ACT 3

SCORE: 122000

"What the…" Poo couldn't even finish the sentence.

"Oh you just had to bring THAT with the sign." Robotnik huffed.

"What can I say? It's a given." Sonic lay down and crossed his legs, resting his head on his head on his hand. "Climb on."

Paula jumped up and grabbed the 0 of the score and pulled herself up. Poo climbed up the S of the word "Score", and sat on top of it. Dr. Robotnik jumped up and grabbed the O in "Score", but he couldn't pull himself up. The letters took off quickly, with Dr. Robotnik hanging on with both hands. Both Paula and Poo had to reassert their hold onto the letters, while Sonic simply laid there as if it was nothing. The lush green in Green Hill Zone became nothing but a blur as they sped by. The green suddenly disappeared, and the group was surrounded in black. The four were then suddenly flung off the letters as the "Score" came to a screeching halt. Sonic landed on his feet. The other three weren't so lucky, and ended up sliding across the ground. Sonic stretched his arms and legs while he waited for them to get up.

"Why does everything have to be fast with you?" Robotnik grumbled as he stood. He held his head in agony and couldn't stand. Sonic merely shrugged in response.

"When all this is over, I'll be fine if I never go fast again…" Poo groaned as he stood. Paula nodded and dusted herself off. She looked around into the vast darkness.

"So what do we do now?" She asked. Her voice echoed throughout the void.

"We must have been sent to another person's dream." Robotnik analyzed. "But a black setting isn't normally signs of a good dream. We could be in someone's nightmare."

"Look!" Sonic pointed in the direction of a ray of light. "There's something over there. Maybe it's the person dreaming." He dashed off before the others could comment. Paula and the others ran after Sonic. By the time they caught up, he was standing with his back towards them. He stood in the middle of the ray of light. Paula looked up into the light. She couldn't see an end. But she did notice something blond within the light.

"Something's falling, but it's taking a long time to come down." Sonic remarked. "What do you think it is?"

"It could be someone." Poo reminded him. "If we're in a nightmare, it could be someone dreaming of failing at something."

"Failing?"

"Yes. Ness told me about this once." Poo looked up at the blond spot. "He said whenever he fell in battle, things would go pitch black. There would be a ray like this one, and a voice asking him to try again from where he left off. At first I thought he was making a poor joke, but Jeff said he saw it too. I did some searching around within libraries, but I couldn't find anything on the subject. Truly, a mysterious phenomenon."

"Maybe you guys just play too many games." Paula mumbled. "A black screen normally means a "game over" and that you died."

"We considered that a possibility, but the fact that Jeff experienced it during our travels, before Ness even introduced him to games, was what made me think otherwise."

"It doesn't sound like a bunch of rotten eggs." Sonic pointed out. "It's possible they might have went into a coma. I can't say I remember experiencing one, but I assume it's just like this setting."

"But who would be dreaming of going into a comma?" Robotnik asked.

At that moment a machine fell onto his feet. It smashed into bits before any could get a look at it. The four looked down at the ground at the scattered bolts. Another machine fell, only this time it smashed upon colliding with Robotnik's head. With a loud yelp, he looked up and gasped. Paula, Poo, and Sonic looked up as well. There were multiple machines raining from the sky. Each member proceeded to move away from the light. With each impact on the ground, the machines scattered around their nuts and bolts, making clanking noises. Then the blond spot came crashing down as well. It turned out to be Jeff, who did not break like his machines, but instead landed on his stomach. Poo was the first to reach him. He knelt and put his hand on his back while the other three stood behind him.

"Jeff, are you all right?" He questioned. He shook Jeff violently.

"All my inventions…they're not of any use." He mumbled in response. "How can I truly help if I can't even keep an invention running? I might as well just give up."

Poo grunted. "Oh no, he's having that dream again."

"Again?" Paula asked. "This is the first time I've heard, let alone seen, this dream of his."

"It's only happening lately." Poo told her. "He's been trying to invent something like the devil's machine. He said if he could replicate that shield, it would make the final confrontation easier. But he's had nothing but bad luck."

"What's the point of trying?" Jeff groaned. "it's too hard."

"I'll handle this." Robotnik pushed both kids aside. He got on his knees and looked down at a sniveling Jeff. "You've got a case of inventor's frustration. You can't give up here though. Where's the fun in succeeding if there was no challenge at all? You should keep trying before throwing everything away. I want you to get up, dust off that self-pity, and try again! It never hurts to revisit some old tactics. Just don't go quitting like a child. Toughen yourself up, fix those glassed, and show the world your genius!"

Jeff stopped sniffling and looked up at the Doctor. "But don't you know what it's like to fail so many times in a row?"

A hedgehog snickered in the background.

"You don't see me giving up do you?" Robotnik smirked. "I shall take over the world one day, and it shall be glorious! Someone as young and intelligent as you shouldn't give up on something trivial such as a shield." He made Jeff stand up. "You've got talent kid. Don't waste it wallowing, put it to use doing what you love."

"To what…I love?" Jeff mumbled quietly. He took out a handkerchief and wiped off his glasses. He then proceeded to wipe off his tears. "Wait a minute."

"EUREKA!" Jeff exclaimed. All I have to do is rewire the cords and connect them to the microchips. Then if I install the microchips with some materials I saved from the meteor, it'll give it a space-like charge!" Jeff's body became pale as he went on about science.

"He's fading…is he waking up?" Sonic asked.

"Most likely." Poo mumbled. "He should be in a capsule too."

"But then…what happens to-"

A loud breaking sound was heard, interrupting the thought process of Paula. She jumped and looked around. Poo clutched his ears and Sonic looked around with his hands in fist. Dr. Robotnik stayed calm, adjusting his goggles. Jeff's body then completely faded away, and the black area around suddenly became pure white.

"What was that?" Poo asked, still clutching his ears.

"The sound of Jeff waking up in shock." Robotnik said. "He must've finally had an idea of how to build that shield you went on about."

"What kind of person wakes up to the sound of something breaking?" Sonic asked, irritated.

"Heh, you poor, naïve hedgehog." Robotnik smirked.

"Brr…does anyone else feel cold?" Paula grabbed her arms and started shivering. The boys looked back at her in confusion. A strong gust of wind blew, making Paula shiver more.

"I don't feel anything." Sonic scratched his nose.

"Me either." Robotnik Rubbed his forehead.

"Maybe you're just imagining it." Poo told her.

"Okay, I'm imagining I'm cold in a dream." Paula grunted. She the set her finger ablaze and drew an outline of a coat. She then took the outline and wrapped it around her, making herself a fire coat. She took a glance around the room. Although there was still nothing but pure white surrounding them, she couldn't help but feel cold. The others stared at her with blank looks.

"It seems we've reached a dead end." Poo told them. "There's nothing but emptiness as far as the eye can see."

"But that's not right. This should still be a dream." Robotnik wondered. "If there's nothing here, than perhaps this is just an empty dream. It's possible to wake up with no memory of a dream due to not having one in the first place."

"But who WOULDN'T have a dream?" Paula wondered. "If those capsules are making us experience dreams, then shouldn't we all be dreaming?"

"I bet it's that old bucket of bolts that Ro-butt-nik keeps around." Sonic mumbled. "I can tell you he's no ordinary robot, that's for sure. I wouldn't be surprised to find out we're in its metallic head."

"You forget that even if "Metal Sonic" were to be put to sleep, he'd be put in sleep mode like other robots." Robotnik huffed. "It certainly wouldn't be empty though."

"So we need to find out not only whose dream we're in, but also why it's blank." Poo thought to himself.

"Wait. Before we go off into different directions and making this harder, shouldn't we just dream up the person who is dreaming? If it's a dream, I'm sure we can do that." Paula reminded them. "We should be able to affect this dream too, since we're technically apart of this dream too."

"Looks like somebody grew in IQ level all of a sudden." Sonic gave her a thumbs up. "Way past cool, girl."

Paula let out a shy look as she blushed. "H-hey, I'm just thinking aloud here…nothing special. Let's just try it and see what happens."

The four then grew silent. Paula folded her arms, while Poo tapped his chin quietly. Robotnik tapped his foot while Sonic crossed his arms and started swaying to the side. The four stared at each other, waiting for something to happen. Paula felt the air get colder as they waited.

"No luck." Poo sighed.

"What other options do we have?" Sonic asked.

Just then a black hole appeared in front of them. The three humans and the blue hedgehog looked down and saw a tuff of blonde hair. Within it was Picky, who was looking up out of the hole. He climbed out of it slowly as Paula helped him up. Hanging onto his legs was Tracy, who didn't look very happy.

"Picky, this is your dream?" Paula asked as she helped her fellow blondes.

"Yeah, it's nothing spectacular, really." Picky dusted himself off and smiled. "I always dream of quietness and solitude so I can relax and get away from all my troubles. I sleep a lot because it's kinda a way for me to escape."

Paula glanced at Poo and noticed he looked tense, as he knew as well as she the reason behind Picky's words. "So is this "Dream Tracy", or…" Paula eyed the girl suspiciously.

"No no no, I'm the real deal." Tracy huffed. "Big Brother once told me he could connect to other people's dreams if he tried hard enough."

"Ness connecting to dreams?" Poo questioned. "Looks like he hasn't been slacking off in his PSI training."

"But that doesn't explain how Tracy came to be here, in Picky's dream." Paula pointed out.

"Actually, I was dragged here." Tracy muttered. "Ness brought me here telling me to wait here with Picky until he could find the others." This caught everyone's attention. "He went off a little while ago."

"Ness was put to sleep too?" Paula clenched her fist. "Damn that Pokey…"

"So where did he go too?" Sonic pointed out. "I understand rounding everyone up, but if you do it alone, then that's no good." He shook his head.

"That, is something you must not know." A voice echoed throughout the emptiness. The group looked around, but there was nothing standing in the distance.

"Did anyone else hear something?" Poo asked.

"Yep."
"Uh-huh."
"Definitely."
"Certainly."
"Kinda."

"I have a bad feeling…" Poo sighed.

"You should…for now is the worst time to be you! But of course, it's the best time to be me." The voice echoed again.

"Look, up there!" Sonic pointed.

Up above the group was Climbing Man, who now had a giant claw on his forehead. The claw extended from his forehead and smashed into the ground. The vibrating waves shook the ground, causing the small group to lose their footing. The claw then grabbed Dr. Robotnik and Sonic before allowing them to recover. It then retracted, and Climbing Man then disappeared.

"Climbing Man, what are you doing?" Paula yelled as she got up. After her yell, Climbing Man reappeared, only this time in front of her. Paula jumped and fell down again.

"You don't get it do you? Such a stupid brat you are." Climbing Man's words became harsh. "You really don't get it at all do you?"

"What?" Poo came to her side and helped her up. Picky hid behind Poo, and Tracy hid behind Picky.

*Zip*

Suddenly…Climbing Man's skin fell off. The only thing left was the claw on his forehead…
which was now on the forehead of Porky Minch.

( watch?v=I1QfIbLulf8 )

"Spankety Spankety SPANK!" The old man laughed loudly. The four kids jumped back in fear. "You naïve fool, you fell for it so easily! "Symbol of courage"? Bah! That's just the stuff they tell you in fairy tales!"

"Pokey…what have you done?" Poo yelled.

"Let's just say we all took a deep sleep." He coughed a deep, heavy cough. "What you see here isn't Picky's dream…it's mine. Letting that fool of a pig's butt wander around and gather you all here was far too easy. Where he ran off too, I'll never know."

"So you didn't battle Ness?" Paula asked.

"He's not dead yet, I'll give him that. But, I suppose he'll turn up sooner or later."

"Brother!" Picky peeked over Poo's shoulder. "Why are you doing this?"

"…" Porky stared down his kin.

"It didn't have to be this way. If you just held on a little longer, things could've gotten better! I just want to know…why you turned evil. Why did you abandon me?"

"…because I despise you. Your very exsistance has caused me nothing but grief! I want you, along with all these other chosen losers, dead at my feet. Do you hear me? DEAD!"

Picky stood motionless. Tracy and Paula turned to him and tried to comfort him as Poo stepped up. "What happened to Jeff? Didn't he wake up?"

Without a word, the hand on Porky's head opened up. Its palm had a black hole in it. It shot out Jeff in response to Poo's question, and the lad rolled across the white ground. As Poo helped him up, Porky grunted. "Damn, I wanted to shoot him at you."

Jeff groaned.

"You…you monster!" Tracy yelled.

This caught the man's attention. "Hmm…"

"All you do is cause misery to others. Even those who try to help you, you turned them away. You want people to feel pity for you, but you're just a miserable old man without a heart! Nobody ever liked you. Nobody but my brother. He thought you could change and you stabbed him in the back! It says a lot about who you really are; a sad, confused little boy who is worth nothing compared to the trouble he causes. The reason YOU suck, Porky, is that you're just the worst person ever born! You have no real friends, your family hates you, you can't even give your own brother any respect, and you went bat-crazy just to prove to the one person who called you friend that you were "cool"? You don't even deserve to go to hell. The only thing left for you is to wander the remains of the earth, with no one to ever acknowledge you…watching them go about their everyday lives and not even know you once existed. And I shall make sure you get there!"

The room grew silent. Porky only stared at Tracy in response. The girl was breathing heavily, as she tried to catch her breath.

"How…how DARE you!" Porky yelled. "You think you have the right to complement me? You need to learn your place, girl!"

"…complement?" Paula thought she heard someone say.

Porky then used his giant hand to slap away the five kids. In a rage, he followed up with the hand slamming down on their bodies before they got up. He used his mechanical hand to grab them all at once. "You all…need to learn your place!" He then repeatedly slammed down his hand, impaling them into the ground, giving them no chance to attack or recover. Porky laughed evilly as the groans and screams emitted from under his palm. When he finally stopped, the group was literally flattened into the ground.

"D-dammit…" Jeff groaned. "Didn't see that coming."

"W-we've got to get up." Poo could not move. "We can't g-give up."

"Ever the…, aren't you?" Paula winced in pain; she could barely speak.

Porky lifted up his robot hand once more. The hand then emitted spikes. "If I kill you here…you'll never wake up. You'll just be victims to my dream machine…never to open your eyes again. Perhaps I'll put you in my museum. It shall be called "Chosen Deaths!" A fitting name, wouldn't you say? Ah, I'm sorry; I should be killing you now." The pig-man grinned and laughed once more.

"Pk Thunder!"
A ball of Pk Thunder came out from behind Porky. It swirled around and hit his robot hand straight in the center, causing it to tilt back. Porky lost his balance and fell over. As he struggled to get up, a cloud of smoke covered his view. As he let out a loud cough, Porky saw the silhouette of a person jumping over him.

"No…of all the times…it had to be now…" Porky cursed under his breath. The silhouette floated down gracefully in front of his friends. It adjusted the hat on its head and smirked.

"You'll never get away from me Porky." The person assumed a fighting stance.

"Dammit! This is the second time you've done this! You just have to be a big damn hero, don't you?"

"Yes. And big damn heroes like me have to take down villains like you!" Porky got up and waved his hand to the side, but the person jumped over it. "Pk Flash!" With a quick motion, a green pulse of energy was sent towards Porky. He was too slow to react, and the result ended with an explosion upon impact. The hand broke as a result. The smoke also disappeared with the flash, revealing the silhouette of the person to be a boy.
And the boy was none other than Ness.

"No…not again! This can't be happening again!" Porky muttered in disbelief.

"Believe it." Ness huffed. He turned to his friends. "Sorry I'm late guys." Ness casted Pk Lifeup Ω on his friends, slowly letting each one revive. "Now's not the time for talking though, we've got to help Porky get his dessert." Before any of them could reply, however, Ness was punched in the back by Porky himself. The king had quickly donned a purple suit with black knuckles and shoes. He wore a red crown that covered his forehead and a helmet to protect his face. The punch was so powerful that Ness was actually slammed into the ground.

"I'll be a fool if I let you win!" Porky huffed. He jumped off Ness and kicked him in his side. As Ness yelped in pain, the other five ran up to him. Porky saw them out of the corner of his eye and lifted up both of his hands. The palms then began shooting orbs at them. The five stopped in their tracks to avoid the attack. "You…I'll kill you all! I've had enough of you…always in MY way!"

"He's finally snapped." Picky exclaimed.

"I think my speech broke him…" Tracy cried as she knelt on the ground, covering her head with her hands.

"We can't worry now; we've got to help Ness!" Paula yelled.

Porky then charged at the girl. Paula narrowly avoided his punch by ducking. He followed up with a roundhouse kick, which she couldn't avoid. She fell to the ground and held her cheek in pain. Jeff fired his bazooka at Porky, but the boy grabbed it and threw it back at him. Jeff ducked while Poo sliced it in half. Poo then sprang forward, jumping off of Jeff's back and attacked. Porky took the attack head on, and countered with his own fist. Poo took the attack in his chest, but he managed to kick Porky in his side. Porky didn't flinch and instead head-butted Poo. The young prince fell unconscious due to the impact. As soon as he fell, Jeff had fired another bazooka at Porky. It managed to hit this time, but Porky once again seemed unfazed. Porky shot out another orb of energy at Jeff, but Paula jumped in and countered with a Pk freeze Ω. Paula then shot another one at Porky, but with a flick of his arm he redirected the attack.

As the fighting kept going on, Tracy and Picky snuck over to Ness. Tracy shook her brother. "Ness. Get up! You have to fight."

"…can't a guy…get some sleep in a…dream?" Ness had a hard time breathing.

"Ness you can't let Pokey win! We'll be stuck dead in this dream forever if you do!" Picky yelled.

"wait…dream?" Ness sat up. "I've got it!"

Paula and Jeff kept firing their attacks at Porky, but he shook them off like nothing. Porky then slammed his fist into the ground. A wave of energy sprouted up. Paula jumped over it while Jeff braced himself for impact. Jeff was knocked away by the blast while Paula fired a Pk Thunder at Porky. The thunder missed its target, however, allowing Porky to jump right at her. Paula put up her frying pan as a means of defense, but the attack knocked it out of her hand. She looked in the direction it was sent, leaving her guard down. Porky took advantage of this and kicked her off of her feet. She fell before him, and he sent her flying with another kick. She slammed into Jeff as he was recovering, and the two rolled across the ground together. Porky then turned his attention to Tracy and Picky, while Ness was hunched over, clutching his stomach.

"I've got to find a way for this suit to be built for real." Porky snorted. "It's my best idea ever. I'll call it… the Power Outing Revolver Kickass Suit!" He slowly walked over to the remaining children. Tracy pulled out a drill from her pocket, while Picky stared at his brother.

"Don't you dare hurt them…" Ness grumbled. "If you…lay even a finger on them…I will make you pay." He stood up slowly and ushered the kids behind him.

"You always put others before yourself Ness." Porky muttered. "Even when you could save yourself some time and run, you still worry for these useless fools. Why? Why shorten your already shortened life just to extend theirs by a few seconds?"

"Because…these "useless fools" are family." Ness narrowed his eyes. "They may be annoying, but I love them. The brother I never had…and the sister I've always wanted…they may be annoying, but I'll never let anyone harm them! The same goes for my friends…Paula, Jeff, Poo…and everyone else you threaten to destroy. I..I can't let them down. So maybe I care…about everyone else a bit too…much. But it's better than not caring at all! I'll protect them to the end!"

". . .you poor, damn loser. I had hopes for you Pigs Butt. But no more waiting around." Porky charged at Ness. In response, Ness took out a baseball cap from his bag and threw it at him. The hat didn't even make it to him. Porky stopped in his tracks.

". . ." everyone stared at Ness, who crossed his arms.

"That played out better in my head." He admitted sheepishly. This caused Porky to burst out laughing. When he did, Ness flashed a smirk. Within a flash, five silhouettes appeared out from behind Ness and charged at Porky. Porky was caught off guard and the silhouettes grabbed him, pinning him down. He struggled to break free, but the forces were too strong.

"What are these things?" Porky cried. He found himself looking at five bird-like creatures. Above him was a butterfly, floating in the air.

"The symbol of my courage." Ness huffed. "The five Flying Men!"

"We came as soon as you called Ness!" One told them.

"Your courage is stronger than anything Pokey can come up with!" Another said.

"We've hold him down, you finish him off!" A third shouted.

"Don't worry about us; we'll always be a part of you." A fourth reassured.

"You can do it as long as you believe!" the fifth nodded in his direction.

Ness grabbed the hands of both Tracy and Picky. "Guys, I need you to think positive. Don't ask why, just do it!" The two nodded in response.

Ness closed his eyes and raised their hands up high. As he did, the ground started to shake below him. A swirl of rainbow-colored energy appeared before his head. Tracy and Picky noticed this, and closed their eyes as well. This caused the energy ball to become bigger. As it did, the ground tore apart. A rainbow-colored aura covered the three children as well. Sparks could also be seen flying from their bodies. Porky desperately tried to get away, but the flying men held him down. Unable to flee, Porky unleashed a slur of curses before running out of breath. The butterfly sat upon his forehead as he huffed. It seemed to slap him with its wings.
"Pk…Rockin'…OMEGA!"
With a loud, earth-shattering yell, Ness fired the ball of energy. It broke apart and surrounded Porky and the Flying Men with bright lights. The lights closed in on him, and hit Porky straight in his eyes. The dazzling lights hit him again, causing a huge explosion after colliding with his armor. The armor could be heard cracking within the explosion, and Porky himself let out a scream of brutal pain.

Porky's eyes shot wide open as he awoke with a scream. He sat up in a fit and held his forehead. As he ran his fingers through his hair, he shook in fear. "Oh god…that was not my best plan ever. Taking Ness into the Dream Zone would be a complete disaster. It's as if he's been inside a dream before, fighting and moving freely. He had so much knowledge…" The thought of Ness beating him by actually being smart was terrifying. Porky shook off the feeling and looked around. "At least I'm back in my throne room." He couldn't see anything but darkness. "Perhaps it isn't over…maybe I'm still inside the Dream Zone. Perhaps those losers found a way out and left me to suffer from my wounds in the cold. But it was all just a dream…a dream of what's to come…that's it…nothing but a cold, cruel dream."

"Nope. It all happened Pokey." A familiar voice rang in his head. Pokey turned around to see nobody but Ness' face staring at him. "You dragged my friends into Dream Zone, then lured me into your own dream. Letting me wander was your first wrong choice."

"N-Ness!" Porky was shocked. "You…YOU!" He charged at Ness but ran into something that caused him to fall back. Bewildered, the king sat up. "Wh-what way of Psi are you using?"

"Psi? No, this has nothing to do with MY powers." Ness smirked. "It's all thanks to Jeff's power."

"H-Him? He has no power!"

"A contraire, mon amie." Ness chuckled and snapped his fingers. Blue lights suddenly appeared. Porky shielded his eyes in response. When they adjusted, Porky looked around in disbelief. There was nothing but blue lights and wires that could be seen through a metallic coating.

"No…this can't be. No. No!"

Because Porky had lost to Ness within his own trap, Ness had responded by trapping him.
…back into the Absolutely Safe Capsule.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Well Pokey, old pal. I can finally answer your question truthfully. Which one of us is the cool guy?" Ness pulled his cap over his eyes and smirked. "It's me." The boy then walked away, as Porky screamed in anger and disbelief.

Ness felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to see Tracy looking up at him. "Are you ok?" She asked with a hint of hope in her eyes.

"We did what we had to do." Ness sighed. "I have no regrets."

"Come on, let's treat your wounds." Picky walked up to him. "It's hard to believe all those wounds we got stuck when we broke out of those capsules."

"Yeah…Pokey really was a genius in his own right." Ness looked over to the now broken capsules. Below them was each of his friends, unconscious from the damage they took. Ness looked behind him at the Absolutely Safe Capsule. "Perhaps he is the chosen one…to remain trapped even after the end of time."

Somewhere inside the Ship, Young Pokey and Giegue had watched what had transpired.

"Did I seriously fail like that?" Pokey muttered in disbelief. "I am NOT looking forward to old age."

"So far the heroes lead…" Giegue said in a cold tone. "Which means you must make the last batch lose. I'd offer my assistance, but my wounds would only hinder both of us."

"Where are they now?"

"In the prison chamber, unaware of how this turned out."

"…"

"Surprise attack?"

"More like "Surprise Lying", but no harm will be caused by that." The boy let out the loudest evil laugh he could.

Things don't look well for Lucas and Company. I hope they're all right.*hop* save your game?