Ch. 4: As A Dream Comes True, The Nightmares Begin

The room was absolutely quiet except for the cooing of the togepi bouncing on Snorlax's stomach. Every single pokemon looked at the inhabitants of Space's portal, some looked confused as if unable to comprehend exactly why their guild masters were so surprised. Finally, the silence was broken by Spike's scoff. He scurried in front of the portal on all fours and sat up on his hind legs.

"What's the big deal? I can take him!"

He quickly did a series of quick jabs and punches to show off his speed but Scamper chose to ignore the younger pokemon and turned to the charizard.

"You brought them?" His voice was calm yet just beneath the surface it bristled with anger.

"Yeah yeah, I know, I brought him," Pyras started, taking his head out from under his wing to face the empoleon. "But Scamp, you don't understand, I just had to bring D-..." Pyras stopped and blinked.

"Did you say them?"

"Yes, why did you bring them?" Scamper pointed his flipper at the portal. The bemused charizard turned around only to find instead of the dark specter, there was instead a small alarmed turtle with a sprout on its head. It looked around wildly as though death would pop out from anywhere. The lush green grass, calm blue lake, and colorful flowers did nothing to calm it, rather, it seemed to scare it even more.

"Mama, where are we?" came the turtwig's meek voice, for accompanying it was a large tortoise which towered over the turtle. Unlike its child however, it did not look around, it didn't even seemed surprised. There was nothing but anger, rage, and aggression in her eyes. She looked out the portal and stared at all the guild members.

"Be calm Little Sprout."

Both voices drifted through the gateway, twisted and distorted as they made their way through time and space. However, Scamper kept his eyes on Charizard, his eyelids lowering as a suspicious look swept his face.

"Are you surprised Pyras? Were you expecting someone else?"

Pyras realized that he still had a dumbfounded look on his face and he quickly tried to cover up his blunder.

"W-why n-n-no Scamp! I j-just didn't expect you to find them so soon!"

He laughed and put a claw behind his head, trying to act as though he'd just been caught with a claw in the cookie jar. However, Scamp still kept his skepticism and cocked an eyebrow.

"Then answer the question."

Pyras laughed a little louder as he worked his brain to come up with an answer.

"W-well, it's just... I m-mean...Haha! Scamp! It's just the little guy's so cute! And his mother looked so powerful! I feel they have a lot of potential!"

With that, his guffaws started to fade to a chuckle before they stopped all together, thanks to the icy stare of the empoleon. After a moment of staring Pyras down, his doubtful look started to fade as the torterra trudged out of the meadow's doorway, followed reluctantly by Little Sprout.

"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded, stomping her foot and sending a small tremor through the ground. She glanced distrustfully at all the pokemon in the room. After a moment of complete silence, even from Togepi, the most responsible pokemon stepped forward.

"I'm sorry Miss... Er... Do you have a name?" Scamper asked, his voice absolutely drizzled with courtesy. However, the torterra didn't seem to be swayed.

"Terra, after one of my ancestors." she grunted, glowering at the speaker.

"And a beautiful name Miss Terra, I apologize on behalf of the irresponsible partner Pyras. Though, despite the circumstances, I would like to welcome you to the Coronaqua Guild."

"I wanted to call it Guild Fireburst." Pyras murmured before he was nudged hard in the ribs by Scamper.

"That aside, it would seem Pyras here has recruited you to our explorer guild without asking permission and we sincerely apologize."

He paused, bowing to her out of respect before continuing the oration.

"However, should you wish, you may leave the guild if you please. If you would like to stay, we do have a warm and comfortable place for you to reside."

Terra finally nodded, satisfied for the first time since she'd left the forest.

"Thank you, I'm sure we'd like to return home as soon as-"

"An explorer guild? Wow!"

Little Sprout had finally emerged from behind his mother, his eyes shining with wonder and excitement.

"I've heard about explorer guilds! You guys go on adventures, and find treasures, and do lots of awesome exploring!"

Suddenly the Turtwig ran up to Pyras, looking up at him with newfound awe and respect, though Pyras found this quite amusing coming from a creature that just moments ago, was terrified of his very existence.

"Can we join ma? Can we? Can we?" he asked, bouncing up and down as he turned to look at his mother. Terra looked at her child with worry furrowing her brow. She was so intent on going home but it seemed to Py that the torterra could be swayed just to keep her son happy.

"But, Little Sprout, what about the forest? You remember our friends? They'll miss us."

Little Sprout scowled as if he had a rotten Bluk berry in his mouth.

"You mean like the aipoms who used to throw Colbur Berries at me?" he winced as he remembered the spiky berries and the wrinkles in Terra's forehead deepened from the weight of indecision until she finally spoke again.

"Well...I guess it's ok, but only-!"

"Yay! I'm a dungeon explorer!"

He started to dance, instantly overlapping his mother's conditions with his cries of happiness. He danced around both Scamper and Pyras while humming some little ditty before Pyras stopped him with a gentle push to the head.

"Woah there little buddy, before you become a dungeon explorer, you're going to need this first."

Pyras reached into the bag that was always slung around his shoulder and pulled out a bronze medal with two pink ribbons.

"This is your explorer badge, basically it allows you to leave a dungeon whenever you complete a mission by sending a silent signal to either one of our badges. It also recognizes you as an explorer and displays your rank. Right now, you're an apprentice."

Little Sprout grinned as the charizard pressed the badge against the sprout on his head, the removable adhesive keeping it in place. After a moment of pride, Little Sprout's face slowly turned into a frown.

"Wait, don't I get a bag?"

Pyras shook his head, "'Fraid not kiddo, you're an apprentice which means your team leader's the only one who can hold the bag."

Little Sprout tilted his head in confusion, "My team leader?"

He looked around the room and noticed the room full of pokemon for the first time. Some of the pokemon waved at him such as Snorlax, while a few others, namely Team Velvet, ignored his presence. Little Sprout visibly shrunk back, once again appearing meek and afraid. He seemed to dread meeting the team leader, perhaps afraid that it'd be the enormous Snorlax or the ghoulish Mismagius. When Spike finally scampered forward however, he didn't show any sign of relief.

"I'm the Team Go-Getters's leader, Spike!" He announced boldy, sitting on his front legs to look taller than he actually was. He dropped on all fours to walk around the Turtwig, giving a sniff here and there before walking back in front of him. This time, Little Sprout noticed he had an impish smile on his face.

"And as the team leader, I'm qualified to give you a nickname!"

The meeting was nearly over and Pyras was still chuckling, as were a few of the pokemon in the assembly while Little Sprout had his head bowed forward in shame. Every once and a while, Scamper had to shoot them all a look when they got too loud, his face showing displeasure at their immaturity, it wasn't even funny. When it was time for the meeting to end, Little Sprout and Terra were asked to stay behind. Pyras put a claw under the Turtwig's chin and lifted his face to meet his eyes.

"Relax Sprout, King Doodoohead of Doofusville won't fit on your Explorer's Certificate anyway. Spike will give you a...Well...I wouldn't say good, but a not too embarrassing nickname later."

Little Sprout seemed to perk up though Pyras still had a wide grin on face. Scamper rolled his eyes and turned to Terra.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't find a team to place you in Miss Terra, but after Little Sprout, we're pretty full. And once again, I must apologize about the circumstances. It wasn't a recruiting mission, we never meant to bring you here."

Terra nodded, "I understand, I'm a little too old to be going out on adventures anyway, I'd rather stay and keep an eye on Little Sproud, but I still don't understand why you brought us here in the first place."

Scamper turned and raised an eyebrow at Pyras before the dragon started speaking, "Uh, yeah...It's complicated."

The land tortoise blinked and stared at him, "I just don't understand it, one minute you're flying off with my child, then I see you talking to someone, then nothing. I must have blacked out because when I woke up, we were here."

The other eyebrow on the penguin's face rose to join the other, surprise of the new information clearly noted.

"He was talking to someone? Who were you talking to Pyras?"

Pyras looked around wildly as if someone would jump in at any moment and save him from the situation.

"Uh...I was talking to...Little Sprout! Yeah that's it!"

Little Sprout stared at Pyras and shook his head slowly, "No you weren't."

Pyras swallowed, expecting the turtle to continue as he realized Little Sprout was awake and aware when he was talking to Void, however, the pokemon had nothing more to say and turned his head away. Pyras quickly used the silence to his advantage and thumped his tail, the ribbon tied around it started to glow and made a thin red line in the ground, swiftly disappearing down one of the tunnels.

"Well, tomorrow's a big day for you Little Sprout, I think it's time for us all to get some rest! Just follow the red trail to your quarters."

The two older pokemon stared at him for a minute before Terra gave a simple nod, nudged her child and wandered off down the tunnel with him. However, Scamper stayed behind for a moment, saying nothing at all but stared at Pyras with his cold, hard eyes. After a couple of seconds, Scamper slowly shook his head, as a wary parent does when dealing with an unruly child.

"You do realize you can hide nothing from me Pyras. We will discuss this later."

He turned and waddled off to one of the larger tunnels towards the Ice Floes, his steps echoing down the lone channel before they disappeared. Pyras gave a sigh of relief, turning to head to the volcanic cavern where Spike also resided before he caught something in his periphial vision. He turned around swiftly, his claws raised. But when he saw what it was he slowly lowered the weapons. A shadow in the far part of the area detached itself from the darkness. It came closer and closer until it was right in front of Pyras. It then raised itself up, joining the three-dimensional world. Void stared him deep in the eyes and spoke.

"You are a terrible liar."

And behind the soft, empty eyes, Pyras sensed amusement. He gave an embarrassed rub on the back of his neck, letting out a low groan.

"What I don't understand is how they got here, I didn't recruit them."

Void stared at him for a moment, looking a little embarrassed himself before he spoke again.

'Do you remember how I was regaining energy while they were sleeping?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I assume that while I was 'feeding', they were physically connected to me. So to simply put it, I brought them with me by accident."

"Well...Nevermind that, with all that said and done, you're safe for today."

Though Void didn't have a mouth, Pyras could sense a subtle sense of amusement from the Darkrai.

"If my safety relies on your secrecy, I fear I am in grave danger."

Darkness, nothing but swirling lone darkness. Oh when will the darkness end? There was nothing, nothing at all, not even a ground for him to walk on, at least none that he could see. And as soon as this thought flashed across his head, he was falling. Spinning and spiralling through the air and he tried to flap his stubby legs as if they'd turn into wings.

"Mama!" He cried to no avail, closing his eyes hard, desperately trying to make it all go away. When he opened them again, there were colors, though the way the colors were behaving, he wished the darkness would return. Red and orange flashed around him, twisting and dancing like flames. They appeared to be enveloping something, something larger than he and he strained his eyes to see it.

It was his mother.

"Mama!"

He strained his four legs, swinging them wildly as if trying to swim through the air, and for once, the air cooperated. He was propelled forward, holding back a scream as he swam through the painful flames. But when he finally reached his mama, he feared it was too late. Her legs were sprawled out and she wasn't moving.

"Mama?"

He walked towards the still form, going for her head and saw her body was black and charred. He gently nudged the fallen head of his mother, her beaked head slumped to the side. As he did, her skin fell away, revealing a shining white skull that grinned at him until finally, he was awakened by his own scream.

For the second time that night, the Assembly Cavern was filled with the guild's pokemon, save Team Legend. This time however, they were all frightened and tired as they recalled their nightmares to each other. Even Barrel was in attendance, awake for the first time in two days.

"I had a dream that I was dunked over and over again in water by a human!"

"Ooh! Ooh! Please Spike, you know humans are a myth. My dream was much worse!"

"Uh...I ran out of food."

They all silenced as Scamper waddled quietly in the room. As he stood in front of the room, his stern, angry face seemed to recall something horrible as he said a simple sentence that stirred fear in their hearts.

"I fear that Darkrai is once again among us."