"We were the kings and queens of promise. We were the victims of ourselves. Maybe the children of a lesser God, between Heaven and Hell" - 30 Seconds to Mars "Kings and Queens"

34 Second Awakenings

Absol, for some reason, did not receive a nightmare. He had been expecting something truly awful from Tenebri, as she knew him better than any other being alive, but strangely, the attack passed over him.

So, before Tenebri noticed he was still awake, Absol rushed upwards, perching himself on one of the fallen stones. He heard the Umbreon growl as she saw him move, and braced himself for the dreams.

As sleep clouded his vision, Absol fought to crane his neck and send out the calling. Arceus would hear him, certainly. The sound resounded deep in his throat, and became a strangled cry as the nightmares enveloped him.

But Arceus had heard him. He knew it.

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May's plan was simple; jump on Tenebri and knock her out. She recalled the Sky Warriors had managed to hold Yacaeli back, while the nightmare onslaught from Tenebri had passed right over them. Perhaps they could touch her, without being affected by anything she threw at them.

Polevous and Bellemistis received the orders from Avious through telepathy. Paul was left, confused beyond reason, without any instruction.

Tenebri had just taken down the Absol, and was now emitting dark pulses of energy from the air around her, warping the mountain and making time seem oddly slowed. May and the Sky Warriors rushed forward, but it looked as if they were moving through molasses. Tenebri was sparking with purple lightning, her psychic energy too much for her to contain now.

Paul watched in shock as May extended her arms to grab the Pokemon and bring her down. He hoped against hope that it would work, that she could touch Tenebri and win this battle for now. But that was all it was; hope.

May's fingers slipped right through Tenebri, and the Umbreon didn't even notice her. Dismayed, she tried again to grab the creature, but her hand went through her. "No," she whispered.

Polevous appeared beside her and made a grab for Tenebri, but the attempt was futile. His feathered hands made no differentiation between the air and the black creature before them. He turned to May, his red eyes showing signs of distress. "It was a good plan," he told her.

"Why can we touch Yacaeli and not her!" hollered May. She looked back at the bird with fear in her sapphire eyes.

"Perhaps we have a connection with the Sky Cat that we do not share with Tenebri," Polevous said calmly. "She did create us, and only we Sky Warriors touched her. Perhaps you cannot touch her. You do not share such a special bond."

May blinked, the anguish clear on her face. Her plan had failed. It hadn't even had a chance to get started, and it had failed.

Paul, however, was going over what the bird had said. His mind was a whir as he deciphered the meaning of a "special bond." A bond of servant and master? Or creator and creation? What about a bond of love? Or… of memories?

As he began to figure this out, Ash twitched in his sleep. Paul glanced down at his rival, wondering what kind of horror he could be experiencing. His eyes widened to the size of pokeballs when he saw his friend's wrist. The bracelet rested on it, at first appearing to be cool and uninteresting. It wasn't until he looked at it for a few seconds that he saw that the golden bracelet was emitting a gleam of soft, deadly red, like a hot coal.

Or the smoldering ashes of a fire.

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Of course Arceus had heard Absol. He had been waiting since the day he sent the loyal Pokemon on his mission for word of what was happening. He had also expected word from Mew and Shaymin, but those two were so playful and childish that chances were they forgot.

But this cry from Absol hadn't been a simple news update. It had been a distress call. Arceus was fairly certain he and the arrogant Umbreon were in trouble.

"Celebi!" cried the great Pokemon.

In came the twittering little Legendary. "Yes Father?" she said. Her calm nature emanated from her, making the entire Hall feel more peaceful.

He looked at her sternly. "You and Entei," he commanded. "Keep everything in order while I'm gone."

"Not Rayquaza?" she asked, shocked.

Arceus shook his noble head. "No. He's too sporadic. I don't trust him."

Celebi nodded. "Farewell, Father."

The great creature nodded, and he raced away to Yacaeli's mountain.

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"You're doing good, kid," said Cináed. My father had sauntered into my dream like it was a park. "I honestly didn't expect you to get this far."

I looked up at him from where I laid on the ground, broken and weak. I wanted to say something, but nothing relatively audible came out, so I settled for, "Ugh."

Dad chuckled. "You know, it was pretty hard for me to get here," he admitted. "If it hadn't been for Mom's bracelet, I'd still be on the outside."

Blearily, I gazed at my wrist. There were flames, but I couldn't feel them. I blinked and went back to staring idiotically at my father.

"Do you know why that thing is so powerful against Yacaeli, even though she's part water?" he asked, crouching down beside me.

My eyes flicked away from his face and instead focused on the maleficent clouds above. I was drenched in their tears—and not tears of sorrow, no. The clouds were laughing so hard at me, they were crying. They thought it was just plain hilarious that I was as scared as I was.

Cináed smiled. "I guess that's a no," he said. He sat down with a grunt, and he seemed to be genuinely enjoying the rain. "Yacaeli's specialty isn't water," he began, "it's psychic. That fire is the only fire that can penetrate the wall between reality…" He paused to tap his skull, "and mentality." *AN: I know, bad use of "mentality," but Cináed's no grammar major.*

I was in no condition to absorb information, so I just lay there, incompetent.

My father grabbed my wrist around the bracelet, forcing me to look at him. "This is a weapon that can burn minds, Ash," he said seriously. "It is both real and imaginary. Just like Yacaeli."

I blinked. No words were willing to volunteer, so I remained silent.

He shook his head and patted my arm. "Well, you're going to wake up in a minute anyways, so I guess you'll figure it out yourself." Cináed stood and started walking away.

Suddenly, I found my voice. "Wait!" I cried, and it sounded awful and dry.

My father turned and smirked. "Yeah?"

I forced myself to sit up on my elbows. "Will it burn an Umbreon?" I questioned wearily.

Cináed actually laughed. "You mean Tenebri?" I nodded fervently, making myself feel nauseous again. He grinned. "Burn her to a crisp," he whispered.

Suddenly, the world around me burned away like it was paper, taking my father with it. I blinked away the remaining darkness and woke up to an immense weight on my chest. The air was forced out my mouth as I was crushed by an invisible pressure. "Help," I managed. "Help."

Every inch of me was being flattened by some unseen force. I could see, through eyes that felt as if they were popping, those we had rescued from the meadow, and Tenebri cackling as she radiated dark and psychic energy. It was an unheard of combination. Through the purple and black wisps emitting from her body, I could see the glow of the ruby around her neck.

Paul appeared kneeling at my head. "Stand up," he whispered. "I don't think the energy can crush you if you're on your feet."

I pushed against the force while he sat back, watching. "Aren't you going to help me?" I gasped. It felt like my blood was being forced through veins much smaller than it could tolerate.

"I can't touch you," he replied.

With a glare (why on earth would he say something like that now, of all times?) I managed to get my hand behind my back. Fire, I thought. I need fire to propel me forward. And, to my amazement, it worked.

The bracelet exploded in a jet of flames, burning a hole right through my jacket yet leaving my skin unscathed. I was thrust forward, up into a sitting position.

Using my momentum, I jumped to my feet. Paul had been right. The energy from Tenebri now only felt like smoggy air instead of an omnipresent force. Carefully, I raised my arm. "I'm going to hit her," I said quietly. "Maybe I'll catch her off guard long enough to wake up everyone else."

"Pika!" My most faithful partner leapt onto my shoulder and rubbed my cheek affectionately. Briefly I wondered why he hadn't been affected by the nightmares, but I quickly dismissed the thought. Now wasn't the time to worry about that.

I smiled determinedly. "When I hit her with fire," I told him, "I want you to throw her some electricity."

Pikachu nodded. "Cha!"

And with that, we attacked.

Tenebri noticed at the last second that she was under attack. The fire and lightning hit at the perfect instant, creating a wondrous explosion of sparks and smoke. It left me coughing and unable to see, but when it cleared, Tenebri was unconscious. Her body was charred, and I could smell her burnt fur. The ruby around her neck still shimmered with power.

There was coughing, and suddenly Drew sat up bolt right. He was wild eyed and gasping for air, clutching his arm as if he were wounded. After a moment, he seemed to notice he was awake and relaxed.

Leaf woke next. She blinked blearily at the change of scenery, but evidently was unfazed by her nightmare. One of the other people from the meadow ran to her excitedly. I blinked as I noticed he looked oddly like Gary.

May was kneeling by her brother, watching with worried eyes as she waited for him to wake. She reached out, trying to smooth his hair, but her hand went—holy crap her hand went right through him.

I was still reeling after realizing this when Dawn came up beside me, teary eyes focused not on me, but on the shimmering form of Paul before us. "You're alive?" she whispered.

Paul glanced at her, but otherwise did not answer. "We should get out of here," he murmured. "It's not worth it."

"No!" I yelled, and he looked rather taken aback. "She killed Misty!" I pointed at Yacaeli's sleeping form, only to realize that the Sky Cat was no longer sleeping. In fact, she was on her feet, standing over Tenebri's fried body. Her glistening teeth were an inch away from the Umbreon's neck.

She's going to kill her, I thought, and immediately I decided that I couldn't let that happen. I ran at the Sky Cat, gathering flames in my palm, when suddenly, Yacaeli bit down…

…on the ruby around Tenebri's neck. The gem shattered into millions of pieces, and a powerful wind blew from inside it. I was pushed back for an instant, but I was able to see Yacaeli's powers ghost their way from the remains of the stone to Yacaeli's chest. She grinned evilly. "Excellent," she hissed.

Several things happened at once. Yacaeli locked eyes with me and began her assault, while the three birds from the meadow dove at her with furious screeches. Sometimes they hit her, sometimes they flew right through her, but it was enough to hold her off.

The Absol woke up, shaking its head briskly to clear it of fatigue. It launched itself into the fray, determined to do as much damage to Yacaeli as it could. Suicune, Mew, and Shaymin also awakened, and saw the birds as enemies. They attacked them, one for each bird.

Max and Brock came back into the conscious world, while Pikachu decided he was needed in the brawl that was going on before us and joined it himself. Now, mixed in with the occasional purple flash of psychic energy, feathers, and Aura Spheres, there were the telltale lightning bolts from Pikachu.

I had to do something. I couldn't let everyone just duke it out without me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my reflection. He grinned at me, gave me a salute, and pointed to where the cave opened up to the sky.

Wait—my reflection?

Before I could get a closer look at the boy who looked just like me, a great cry brought my attention to the open ceiling of the cavern. There, amidst the rocks, with the moon silhouetting him perfectly, was the most powerful creature in the world.

Arceus.

*AN: Bah, I know it's short, but I had to give myself a starting point for the next chapter. I also apologize if there are any errors in this chapter, but I did NOT want to edit it. And there are tiny bugs buzzing around my computer, and it's bothering me.

Well, my pic of Ophelia the handicap chicken is up and running! I put the Band Aids on her, haha. The other birds really beat her up. So, if you want her saved, REVIEW! You won't regret it! SAVE THE CUTE HANDICAPPED CHICKEN!*