Nyah! I'd Like to thank everyone of my reviewers for staying with me in this story! It really means a lot to me! I can't thank you guys enough! Also I recently went back to some of my first chapters and I was amazed at how bad some of the spelling was! So I went back and fixed it! Also I have a surprise at the end of this Chapter in the author's note for you guys! So I hope you like it! Recommendation time! I recommend "Love and Understanding" by 28nstillkicking.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, but we already know that so lets get on to the story.

ON TO THE STORY! Nyah!

Chapter 14: The Start of a New Adventure!

Lightning and Erica finally calmed down after about 10 minutes of them shaking in fear. Unfortunately, I haven't many clues as to why they where shaking and they didn't seem to eager to tell me. My guess was that they while they were asleep they had what some call Night Terrors.

From what I understand, Night Terrors are a terribly (no pun intended) realistic dreams where your deepest fears come true. It reminded me of Darkrai how could force Pokémon into these Night Terrors. I remember the one time he had done that to me and I had nearly gotten me and Lightning killed because of it. I shook my head and returned my attention to Lightning an Erica.

I tried to say something to see if they were okay but all that came out was, "Are you two hungry?" I mentally slapped myself, but decided to go through with it anyways.

They didn't say any thing but they really didn't need to. Lightning opened his mouth but before a word came out a grumbling sound was heard. Lightning blushed so hard even through his fur you could see it. Erica and I giggled but we were quickly interrupted by a loud growl, much louder then Lightning's stomach. Lightning and I looked around until our eyes came to rest on Erica who was now blushing as hard, if not harder then Lightning. It was then Lightning's and my turn to laugh with Erica soon joining in the contagious laughing.

I calmed down and went over to get them a few berries each. They were still laughing as I got the berries. I smiled to myself happy that they were feeling a bit better, as I took the time too first wash out the Chesto berry juice that was still soaked into my paw into the little spring. I then grabbed six berries and walked back over to them as they started gasping for breath. I rolled my eyes at them and put three berries in front of both of them.

They regained their breath and noticed the berries at their feet. They gave e a quick thank you before eating the berries I got out for them. When they finished I sat crossed legged in front of them and asked, "Do you guys feel ready to tell me what made you two freak out when you woke up?"

Erica shook her head while Lightning nodded cautiously before he began, "In my dream I was walking through a forest that resembled the Foggy Forest because I could barely see in front of me due to the fog. But despite that it looked like the Foggy Forest it was not. Everything seemed somehow dry and devoid of life. But I'm getting off track here so I'll continue on."

~Dream/Lightnings PoV~

As I walked through it, the forest began to clear out but the fog did not. Only being able to see about a foot in front of me I noticed the forest floor became a paved dirt road. As I followed it I noticed some parts of it seemed get darker as if it was wet. I took it as only rain falling from above the fog cover. I continued to walk until I came to what seemed to be a crossroads. It looked familiar until I figured out that it was the Crossroads outside Treasure town. As I looked at the road though, I noticed that the dark spots did not go down two of the ways. As I looked towards where the dark spots led the fog began to clear.

It started to reveal stairs that I thought led to the guild. I wish so badly that I had been wrong. The fog revealed more of the stairs showing tat they were painted a dark red. In actuality, it was the blood of all the guild members that were strewn across the stairs. The corpses of the guild members that Steven and I had come to know and love were all there. I didn't believe it. I looked at the top of the stairs to see I shadowy figure holding something round in it's outstretched hand. It dropped the object and it bounced down the stairs and stopped as it rolled and hit my leg. It was the severed head of Guild Master Wigglytuff.

My whole body began to shake as I looked at Wigglytuff's head. 'That Bastered had killed all of them!' I was overcome with anger and all I wanted was to rip him to pieces for what he had done. Then to add insult to the wound, he laughed. He laughed long and hard in a dry voice that crack with each breath.

I wanted so badly to kill him, but I couldn't move. No matter what I did or how hard I struggled, I could not move from my position. I could only watch as he came down the stairs. He stopped short of me and took his hand and put under my chin and looked me straight in the eyes with a smile on his face. And he said in his cracked voice, "My, my. Your kind of cute. No wonder Steven likes you so much." I still couldn't move as he moved his lips to mine and shoved his Mew-forsaken tongue in. He began to explore my mouth as I could not move. I wanted to bite off his tongue but I still could not move!

I wanted to move so badly, to get away from him. I didn't care about anything other then getting away from him. Then he stopped and took his mouth away from mine and said, "That was tasty." he stopped as he looked into my eyes as I stared at him in a mixture blinding fury and fear. "I love those eyes of yours, so overcome with anger and fear! It just drives me wild!" He laughed his cracked laugh once again and I suddenly felt a weight lifted off me that I didn't know was there. Not thinking about it I tried to whip him with a Iron Tail and to my surprise, it worked. I sent him flying in to the stairs and there was a awful cracking sound as his back connected with the stone stairs.

The darkness started to disappear and fade away, but it left something that made my blood run cold. "Steven?" I asked slowly walking towards the blue and black furred body on the stairs. "Steven?"

"Steven!?" I ran towards the body and sure enough it was a Lucario with out a chest spike. "STEVEN!" I put both my paws on the side of his face and looked into his eyes that were open and staring into space. I looked straight into his eyes as I started to cry. His mint green eyes were glazed over as his mouth hung open ever so slightly. He was dead.

"Oh my." I heard from behind me. It was the voice of that shadow. "I didn't expect you to kill your best friend. To bad, he was just a fool who thought he could have a good and pleasant life."

I didn't move, I was in shock and I couldn't think of anything as I looked into Steven's soulless eyes. "No one can have a pleasant life." The shadow said. "We must all live and die with lives overflowing with strife, pain, and rejection. We all live just to die. So there for you have to die as well Lightning."

I heard what sounded to be footsteps, but I did nothing. I heard the steps stop right behind me but I did nothing as I continued to stare into Steven's lifeless eyes. "And I thought you two were the saviors of this world! What a joke. You two are nothing more then two foolish children. I will be happy to end your pitiful existence Lightning."

My name rang through my mind as he said it. It kept bouncing around as I stood there still doing nothing. "Live Lightning. Make sure nothing like this happens again. Because this world. This world of vast mysteries and adventures is your home. No, our home. Because life goes on. And my life goes on in you."

I whipped around and launch a point blank Thunderbolt into the shadow that had a looked like Steven but was completely black. He was launched back and into a tree right behind him at the sheer power of my Thunderbolt. I continued to use it as he was pushed further into the tree. "YOU ARE THE FOOLISH ONE! LIFE IS FULL OF BEAUTY IN EVEN THE DARKEST OF PLACES!" I screamed at him.

CRACK

The tree snapped and the shadow vanished with a demonic scream. I panted as I turned around to look at Steven's corpse. He lay there dead as I felt tears forming in my eyes. "Steven.."

~Dream End/ PoV Lightning End~

Lightning was crying as he finished telling me his dream and I went over and hugged him to let him know that I was still there. He cried into my shoulder and put his arms around me, making sure I was still there.

Erica watched us but did not attempt to move. She just watched silently as Lightning cried into my shoulder. Because I knew Lightning would be like this for awhile I Sent a telepathic message to Erica.

'Is something wrong? Is it the dream?' I asked.

'Huh?' Erica's ears perked up as she heard my voice. She quickly made Eye contact with me and answered. 'Oh, No it is just... Yea.. I don't want to relive that dream.. is that okay with you?' When she finished her ears lowered and she looked at the ground awaiting my answer.

'Yea, it's alright. You don't have to tell me. But just know that I am here if you need comfort, okay?' I said after a little thinking.

'Thanks, and I'll remember you said that.' She said as she lifted her head back up to look at me with a small smile, giving a halfhearted chuckle at the end.

I smiled back at her and then returned my attention to Lightning who was now simply sniffiling now. He then removed his face from my shoulder and unwrapped his forelegs around me then preceded to back up and look at the ground. He uttered a small 'thank you' as he continued looking at the ground.

Felling the tense atmosphere I decided that we should go down to the beach to at least walk off a bit of the dreams. "Hey, how about we go down to the beach?" They both nodded, both seeming quite happy about going out and doing something.

~Time Skip~

We arrived at the Crossroads without incident even though the town was bustling with activity. I sighed in relief as we stepped into the middle of the Crossroads. I thought we would never make it out of the town. I was about to continue when I heard whimpering from behind. I turned around with a questioning face, but it soon turned to shock as I saw the source of the whimpering.

Lightning was on the ground, hiding his face with his paws. Now why did this shock me? Well because my best friend is acting like a scared little pup, and he's not even a canine! I shook my head and went over to him, while Erica continued on down the path to the Beach. She was too deep in thought to know what was happening.

I put a paw on Lightning's head and he looked up at me with fearful eyes. I gently smiled at him in a effort to cheer him up. He couldn't help but smile as he watched me smile at him. He got back up and we continued on our way seeing Erica ahead of us. I sighed. 'Looks like it's going to be awhile until there back to normal.' I thought sadly to myself.

~Time Skip~ (AN: Another line break! Aren't they fun?)

We all sat on the sand watching the waves rolling on to shore. Lightning was actually lying down, on the sand having calmed down significantly and had started sleeping peacefully. Erica sat on her haunches to my right, still lost in thought. I sighed as I looked from one to the other, it was going to take a while before they fully recovered. As I was just about to get up to tell them it was time to go back, I heard my name called.

"Steven!" I turned and saw Aaron running towards us from the Beach path. Farther behind him was Victor and Ray who were making no attempt to hurry. I got up and turned to face Aaron as he stopped in front of me with a happy look on his face.

"I'm so glad you guys are okay!" He said as if something had happened to me. casting a worried glance at Erica who was still in deep in thought and staring at the waves. "We were worried you guys wouldn't be okay. Last time we saw you and Lightning, you two were covered in bandages watching the contest."

Ray and Victor then arrived with Ray speaking. "No offense, but your sister, Erica, is flipping scary." He said in a hushed tone as if to make sure that said Pokémon would not hear. As luck would have it Erica was still lost in thought.

"No offense taken by me, but be happy that Erica is um.. not really here at the moment." Seeing the look of confusion on there faces I continued, "I'll tell you guys later."

"Okay then..." Ray said, unsure of the situation.

"Well anyways Steven, I want to know what happened after the contest." Victor cut in before anyone else could say anything. "Because didn't we lose?"

They all focused their attention on me making me sigh. It looked like there was no way around this. I began to explain to them the events that took place after they fainted. I told them about the Tyranitar and about what happened the following evening. I left out the part where I went and talked to Wigglytuff. No one need to know that just yet. When I finished a thought hit me, well more like two.

"Wait... Why did you ask me? Didn't the other Pokémon tell you?" I asked curiously. "And how did you find us?"

Aaron and Ray looked at Victor who just sighed and said, "I was the first to wake up. So I looked around and saw Chancy from the incubation stall walking towards me. I asked what happened and she told me it was not for her to say and that I should ask the Lucario with the missing chest spike. And that Lucario was obviously you."

"I really stick out don't I?" I said with a sigh. I was trying to be relatively discreet, but I guess that is kind of hard when you jump into a contest and stop a raging Tyranitar. "But that is besides the point. How did you find us?"

I knew the answer the moment it left my mouth, but Aaron told me anyways. "Well asked some Pokémon around town and they said they saw you guys walking down to the beach!" He said with a joyful voice. 'I wonder why he is so happy?' I thought questionably.

"So Steven.." Said a dark voice behind me, making my skin crawl underneath my fur. "When are you going to tell us about your talk with Wigglytuff?"

The three guys in front of me went from happy, annoyed, and curious to downright terrified. I slowly, very slowly turned around and came face to face with a furious looking Erica. The glare she gave me made me want to curl up and cry like a infant. Then realizing that she had asked me a question I answered as clearly as possible.

"Right now?" I said unsure, not wanting her to get any more up set the she already was. She nodded and just as I was about to start the long explanation, I thought of something to gather thoughts. "Alright then, first off, let's get comfortable because I need to talk to all of you."

Erica's face softened and she nodded along with the other three terrified team members. The four of them sat down in front of me as we listened to the Ocean waves. I felt as if we were missing something but I couldn't place my finger, err... paw on it. "Do you guys feel like we're missing something?" I asked in a attempt to figure out what it was.

The three guys looked completely clueless while Erica looked like she was trying not to laugh. Apparently she couldn't hold it any longer and burst out laughing making all of us look at her strangely.

"What is it Erica?" I asked, completely lost as to what she thought was so funny.

"You-Haha! You really don't know?" She asked between laughs.

I shook my head, but that only made her laugh harder. I would have gotten annoyed and told her off, but I preferred her this way and she would just get mad. I began ignoring her as I pondered what was missing. That is until 'it' answered for me.

"Hey... *Yawn* What are you guys doing?"

I Turned around and saw Lightning looking at us with sleepy eyes. Erica was still laughing as she clutched her stomach. I saw nothing funny about this.

"Oh hi Ray, Victor, Aaron." He said as he noticed them, looking at each of them as he said their name. The all nodded at him before returning their attention to the slightly crazy Mew.

"Sorry Lightning," I said, rubbing the back of my head. "I forgot you were sleeping."

"Hmm..." He said, still being half asleep. "Oh.. Alright.. What are you doing?"

"I was about to tell everyone about my conversation with Guild Master Wigglytuff." This seemed to snap him right out of his sleepiness as he rushed over to sit by the Mew who was finally starting to calm down.

Now with all of my team in front of me I began to tell them of my conversation with Wigglytuff. The listened intently and did not interrupt. They faces each showed shock when I told them that there were other places beyond this region. As soon as I had said that there were places that could be explored beyond this region they all instantly said something at the same time.

Due to not being able to understand them I put my paw up in the air, silencing them instantly. I pointed to Ray who was on the right side of Erica to let him talk.

"I think we should go Explore beyond this region!" He said with great enthusiasm. Everyone else nodded at the statement.

"Before we do that you must know that there is a chance that we won't be able to come back here." I stated. "If we just left, it's possible that none of you would be able to see any of your friends or family here again. Is that really what you guys want?"

They all looked down or away from each other (With the exception of Erica who was looking directly at me). "Don't you guys have family that will miss you if you leave?" I asked, my voice revealing none of my anxiousness.

"I don't really want to talk about that." Ray said with a slight anger underlying his tone.. "I want to get away from this region, that's all you need to know." Before I could even show a reaction to that, Victor spoke up.

"I hate this region and me and Ray are just trying to get away from it okay?" He said with a bit of venom.

Once again I did no get to react as Aaron spoke up. "I have no friends or family that I can remember and everyone I've talked to in this region did not know me. So I'm hoping to find answers elsewhere." He said with no remorse or anything, just seeming like he was stating a fact.

I didn't bother to try and say anything this time and looked over at Lightning. "I don't really want to talk about my family right now Steven..." He said with shame clearly evident in his voice. "But I want to go regardless of the consequences!"

I looked at Erica just to be sure but before I could ask her she just simply said, "I'm going wherever you go brother."

I sighed and looked them all in the eye. "Okay, then we need a ship to travel right now because we are not going to wait til tomorrow." I said with complete seriousness.

They all nodded, not bothering to ask for a answer. "Good." I said upon seeing the confident look on all there faces. "Because there is no ship's in Treasure town we are going to make what we can from the surrounding trees and from our powers. We need to have this done by nightfall. We leave as soon as it is accomplished. Any questions?"

They all stood still and did not move. "Good. First off we need to cut some trees down for the base of the boat. Victor, while we gather wood I need you to transform into Leafeon and make some sheets made out of vines. Erica, I need you to go and get food and water for the journey, but don't stress yourself to much because we are going to need your help putting the ship together. I'll draw out the blueprints for it. Everyone else, gets lumber. Let's do this!"

"YEAH!" They all yelled before we all got to work.

~Time Skip~ 5 minuets til nightfall

We all stood (well some of us) looking at our creation before us with pride. Erica went over and picked up the ship in her paw. "Don't you think this is a bit small?" She said with a straight face as she held the model up. We all laughed as she grinned in triumph.

We then went over to the real ship that Erica had stuck in the water. I was a one masted ship with two floors. The top deck and the lower floor that held a bathroom and our room with three beds and the food and water. We only had three beds because we needed three or more Pokémon on deck to make sure everything ran smoothly. There were several green ropes that kept things in place and the Mast held up a large green curtain to catch the wind.

Erica lifted us all on to the boat and made the ship start moving. We were now on our way to explore the world. I had Erica and Victor go to bed below deck to get some rest once we were far enough out. They gratefully accepted I asked if any one else was tired and needed to rest. Ray held up his paw and I sent him down as well. Near the back of the boat was the steering wheel for the boat in which I took my place behind. I then had Aaron and Lightning watch for any obstacles just in case.

We met with no resistance and continued on quietly into the vast ocean with no regrets. I few hours latter I spotted what seemed to be a wall of clouds in the distance. When we got closer I found that that was exactly what it was. A wall of clouds that reached up higher then imaginable. I Told Lightning to go wake up the others so they could see this. When they came up they let out a audible gasp. From what I could tell this was the barrier that surrounded the region.

"Are you guys ready to enter the unknown?" I asked.

No one said a word, they all just nodded. And so we entered. If only we knew of the horrors that awaited us.

All done! What do you guys think? I spent a lot of thought on this chapter and now it's finally finished! Now you guys/girls are probably wondering what this 'surprise' is! Well the next chapter is going to be a Halloween special as you might have guessed from the last words of this chapter. Before I go though I would just like to say that I'd love it if you guys would tell me if something seems off to you in any way about my story. That's all! So without further ado, Nyah!