Arc One: Mystery

Chapter Twenty-Six: Decisions


Ah, darkness, my old friend...oh man, I'm getting tired of ending up in here.

I mean, I've ended up here more times than I had dreams about myself. Yes, instead of dreaming, I'm left floating in the black abyss. I know it sounds bad, but when I wake up, I hardly remember how long I was there for. Of course, that happens when I wake up, so right now, I feel like I've been here for quite some time.

I sigh. These past two days have been nothing but tiring me out. Running back and forth, with only a few short breaks in between, but now it feels like we're not going to be having anymore of those in the foreseen future. With Zygarde hot on our trail, there's hardly any time to rest.

I am glad that Zack is able to carry Lucas and I so that at least some of us can rest. I just hope I'm not too heavy for him. Wouldn't want to get him tired too.

Then, all of a sudden, I feel something touch my right foot. I lift them up in shock, as I believe that somemon is trying to drag me downward. Something then touches my other foot, and I lift it up as well. But then when I feel it hit my right foot again, instead of fear, I feel more confused then anything.

It is then when I look down, I see that there's ground like glass that I'm standing on. On one hand, I feel stupid for getting scared by the ground of all things, but on the other one, I've never been able to walk around freely in the black void, so this is a first.

When I look ahead of me, I'm even more shocked as the glass-like ground turns into a path that runs to and through some sort of glass ruins, with walls standing tall...most of them anyways, as there are some the have snapped and crashed down onto the path. I then look on the path and see that the glass is creating it's own light...maybe.

It's weird. Everything looks like it would as if you would see it in a sunny day, but the glass still has a dark reflection. I look behind me and clearly see that there isn't any other path for me to take. So while I am a little scared to walk, I don't really have anything else to do, so forward I go.

As I start walking through the hall of glass, I begin to hear voices from my dreams that I've had, although it all sounds...distorted, which is making me feel very uneasy, like something is going to jump out and attack me. I decide to look at the glass walls and see my life literally flash before me across the glass. I see Eclipse staring down at me, putting my hand on my chest, hugging Lucas after he came back up, and I think you know where this is going. The further I go, the more memories I see, both good and bad, all of which get older as I continue to walk down the glass road.

I then notice a second draw back to walking down here: Cracks start to appear as I get closer and closer to the moment I woke up in the ocean. But that means little to me, as I know that there's a chance. I pick up my pace. I cross my fingers, hoping that there might be a new memory that something's back there. I'm not looking as much at the memories anymore, just giving them the smallest glimpse when I can, while still knowing what they are. I run past me meeting Xatu, reading the legend about humans, my first fight with Zygarde, our first mission with Eve, me and Lucas getting captured by Scar, the night I agreed with Lucas to make a rescue team, I'm sprinting down the path, slowly getting more hopeful that something will be there.

"Come on. Come on. Come on. Come-"

My feet don't land on anything. I look down and see nothing but black as I go into freefall. I look up and see the glass hall getting smaller and smaller as I fall down. I'm scared to look down below me. Last time I fell in a dream, I almost fell into a pit of spikes. I change my thoughts from seeing a piece of my memory to wake up now.

But I get neither, as I crash onto newly appeared glass floor. Not sure if I'm happy about that as I'm in pain. No, that's doesn't sound right. It's more like all of my bone just turned into pebbles, small tiny pebbles that can't move. I cry in pain and put my hands over my face. Oh my gosh, why can't I just wake up now-

Hold on, I...moved my arms? I then carelessly flap my arms like a bird Pokemon. After doing that for a while, I begin to kick legs like I'm swimming.

Huh, I guess I can move my limbs. I then decide to lift myself up off of the ground. I guess I was over exaggerating when I said my bones felt destroyed, though it really did feel like that, so it's confusing to me how I can walk around without a problem. I mean, the pain's still there, but it's more of a sore feeling if anything. Maybe it was just my legs falling asleep.

As I begin to stretch my body, I feel and hear a strange, cold wind howling. It causes me to want to look around to see where it's coming from and where it's going. My head spins as I try to see if anything is in the distance, but I see nothing, and the place where I fell down from I can no longer see from down here. I then get an unsettling feeling when I notice that there's streams of colors that are being blown by the wind, but the said color is some kind of shiny purple that is giving me the chills.

They twist and turn, thankfully, I'm able to avoid it, but it still leaves me with a question. What's going on? I then feel something touch me, this time, I quickly turn to see what it is, and it's the stream of purple. I swat it away, getting a funny feeling while I do so, and not a good funny feeling, a creepy one if that makes any sense.

"Who are you..."

I panic and desperately try to see where that voice came from, but there's nothing down here, and it doesn't sound like an voice I recognized.

"What have you done..."

There it is again, but where is it coming from, and who the heck is saying it?!

"Look what you've done..."

It sounds messed up, but I still can hear what it's saying, and I'm done waiting around. "Who are YOU?!" I yell. "Where are you?!"

"You've left them to die..."

I clench my fists as I yell back. "I SAID WHO ARE YOU?!"

"YOU!" A shadow says just mere feet away from me. In shock, I fall back as I stare at the new Pokemon standing before me. But as I look at him, I recognize him: It's the strange Raboot I saw in my nightmare back at Hot Hot Springs. Although this time, I have a much better view of him, and see more details about him that I didn't catch before, like how his red color looks...alive, as if it's flowing. The outline of it is the same purple color that was just wavering around. In fact, it seems that it still waving on his body. But the most eye catching thing about him are his eyes. Were they always this blue? And why does it feel so threatening?

"You can't run away from what you are, Raboot." He says, with his voice a bit more clearer than what it sounded like before.

Unlike last time I saw him, I'm not scared, but full of determination. "I'm not running away, I'm running towards it."

"LIER!" He yells at me. The wind blows at me, and more purple streams graze my body. "You're leaving everymon to die. You're no hero."

"Do you think I want to let Pokemon die!?" I scream. "I'm trying to do the best I can!"

"And yet your 'best' has gotten you nowhere, but leaves you in the same spot where you started." He says. "Like I said, you can't run away from who you are."

A gleam from his eye appears for whatever reason, but then I feel the air around me get thinner and thinner. I begin to get short of breathe as he stares down at me.

"You stupid idiot!" He says. "You're holding the fate of who knows how many Pokemon in your hands, yet you refuse to believe that one life sacrificed is better than multiple lives thrown away. What makes you better than everymon else?!" I cough as I respond. "I was chosen, you monster. Chosen by Arceus to fix this mess, and told by Xatu how to do it!"

Suddenly, the wind halts, and the purple beam get swallowed by the darkness, as it becomes nothing but him and me as the air returns to normal. He looks down to hide his eyes from me as he says, "...Xatu never told you that you were innocent. He told you that the core was crying out for help, but did he tell you why it is?"

Oh no, not this again! "DON'T YOU DARE TRY THAT ON ME AGAIN!" I yell with tears of rage in my eyes as I feel myself beginning to light on fire. "IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK, AND YOU KNOW WHY? CAUSE I'M GOING TO FIX THIS MESS IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"

I quickly get onto my knees, and then my feet, and then, get ready to jump at him. And at that moment, he lifts his head.

The moment I lay eyes on him, everything hurts, my legs can't hold me up as I crash back down onto the ground. I can't move, I feel just like I did a few minutes ago, and it hurts so bad! Tears fill my eyes, but my ears hear him walking closer and closer.

"You know, I think it's about time you found out a little about yourself, Raboot." He says as he draws nearer. I try to move, speak, crawl! But I'm left lying on the ground, and I can't even shake with fear. "Those voices that you heard down here." He says. "The voices like this one!.."

"GET BACK HERE, YOU MURDERER!" A broken voice cries out in my head, ringing it like a bell. He continues. "That isn't my voice. That's a piece of your memory, and that Pokemon is talking to you."

I want to punch him in the face so bad, yell at him for how wrong he is until he can't take it, but I can't even growl as the purple mist returns and the air gets thinner than it was before.

"You don't believe me, do you?" He asks as I hear the steps stop in front of me. My neck then is grabbed, limiting my access to oxygen even less, as he stares deeply into my eyes. "If there's one thing you should know about me, is that I never lie. I only uncover the dark truth, and the truth is..."

His eyes then burn with a strong blue color as more corrupted voice plead inside my head. "YOU FAILED US ALL!" "A WEAK EXCUSE!" "IT WAS YOUR JOB!"

The only thing I can do is cry from all the pain and voices in my head as I'm tormented. He drops me onto my knees as he takes a few steps back. He then turns his right arm into a sword, a deadly sword dripping with blood. "Red Raboot!" He declares. "For the sins that you have committed against this world!"

I try to move, but my body won't listen to my brain no matter how hard I try. He then leaps at me as I hear two voices. "YoU dEsErVe NoThInG bUt DeAtH!"

"GAHHHHHHH!" I scream as I feel my body get impaled by his weapon. I don't feel anymore pain anymore as I'm left alone. In fact, I don't have any energy at all. Everything's...been...drained... I begin to fall to the ground. My senses leave me, as I lose consciousness.

"Don't give up, Red! We need you!" A female voice cries out.


"AHHHH!" I yell as I wake up. I breathe in and out as fast as a Quick Attack.

"It felt so real!" I say to myself in disbelief. "It all felt so real..." I can hardly move, although it isn't because my bones feel like they've been grinded to dust, as I pull my hands over my face as I cry. I can't be a monster! I don't want to be a monster, but...that Raboot is so close to driving me off the edge.

I slow down my breathing as I recall something. I heard somemon right before I hit the ground. That voice...it's that...other Pokemon I heard in the first flashback. That girl that was with me... Hold on, the flashback I had when I was going down Glass Lake, it mentioned some girl on my lap, and since I've only had one constant female in my dreams...was that her on my lap?

I move my paws from my eyes to right next to my ears. Having no idea who you are is the worst thing that can ever happen to anymon. And...him?! Whoever that black Raboot is, he's definally trying to kill me. "But is he right?" I think.

"What?!" I yell afterwards. Where did that thought come from, he's not right, he's... I sigh.

I guess I can't say he's wrong either, but after what Lucas told me, I know this is the way that it has to be. I'll do anything to save this world. I'm getting that flute, and I'm playing it at the core.

"Because I'm afraid to die."

Again!? A thought that came out of nowhere. Is that him? Is he entering my thoughts when I'm awake? He can do that now?! I take a deep breathe as I look at my two hands. But am I really selfish? Letting fate decide happens to everymon else, while I stay on the sidelines, going on a wild Quaxly chase. Should I really answer that question?

At that moment, I feel something inside me shine, warming me up and making me feel better, as if it's trying to comfort me in my time of need. It strengths me, as I slowly begin to feel the pressure of the world fade from me. Is this the Lucky Pebble? Is this a sign of encouragement? I signal to move forward?

"I believe in you!"

I gasp. Another voice! But it was...different. It also sounded female, but more woman like. "Oh great." I joke. "The stone is alive, and is going to complain about being locked up in my stomach!" I then burst out laughing. Yes, the sunshine and rainbows are returning to me, and I finally feel well rested. Time to go get that Flute and save the-

A dark energy just misses my nose, but with only a few inches inbetween...at most. I then panic. There's something going on! I turn my head to see where the projectile came from, and that's when I see a creepy brown Bug-Type floating in front of my eyes, a Shedinja that's getting ready to attack me again.

My knowledge of Pokemon doesn't skip a beat as I remember that Shedinja have Wonder Guard, meaning that they can't take any damage unless the attack is super effective against them. But luckily for me, I happen to be a Fire-Type.

The Shed Pokemon throws another Shadow Ball at me, and I quickly roll out of the way, I then repay him by using Ember against him. Right when the first piece of fire gets near him, he screeches and falls to the ground.

"Eeeeee! Deh!" It cries as it faints. Thank goodness those Pokemon only have one HP, they're already annoying to deal to with, but I guess a weakness like that balances things out, at least for me.

After that, I look around to see where Team Forever and Lucas are. They're probably fighting another Ghost-Type around here.

"Thunderbolt!" I hear Daisy and Zack yell out. I turn my head to face the noise when I see them attack some sort of ghost snake-like dragon, with a triangle-shaped head. I try to remember the name of it, a Dragapult was it? Something like that at least. But it looks like it's a Dragon and Ghost-Type so I do know that using an Electric-Type move against him won't be very effective, but as I see Crush charging up an Ice Beam, so I think they were aiming for him getting paralyzed.

And when the draconic Pokemon isn't looking, Crush fires her beam at it, but even though she didn't say anything, the Stealth Pokemon manages to do a barrel-err, aileron roll to escape it's reach. And more bad news comes when Zack's bottom half is hit by it, freezing it to the ground and leaving him unable to move.

My ears then pick up something coming the Dragapult. "Comeon!Comeon!Doit,doit,doit!" I then see him aim right at the Ampharos, and that's when I see a tiny little Pokemon inside one of its horns, and another one on the other side.

Oh, wait, I know where this is going. Sure enough, the Dragapult uses it's signature move, Dragon Darts, at Zack as a sonic boom can be heard as two small Dreepy are launched at Mach speed.

"Wheeeeeeeeee!" They shout with joy. In a blink of an eye, they go from the Dragapult to...the lower part of Zack's body, which is the ice block, breaking it and giving the two Lingering Pokemon a headache as Jirachis appear above their heads. They missed badly.

The Pokemon are then lifted by Daisy, who just tosses them away so that they can't be used again. I then hear somemon groan behind me. I turn again, and that's when I see Lucas, sitting against the same rock that I was probably at when I first woke up. I panic. How did I not see him there?!

"Lucas!" I yell, as I worry if he's in pain. I don't know how long I've been asleep, but I hope it wasn't too much.

I'm then given a strange surprise when he yawns. Wait, he was just...sleeping?

He then blinks a couple of times before looking at me. "Hey Red." He says cheerfully, but a bit tired too. I breathe a sigh of relief before chuckling a bit. He really was sleeping. That makes me feel better.

"What did I miss?" He asks. "Everything just blacked-out when I-" An explosion is then heard from where Team Forever was fighting. I turn and see the Dragapult flying away, retreating as another beam of lightning shoots across the rocky plain. He then looks our way, and then changes it's direction to attack Lucas and me.

"Lucas, get ready. That thing's coming for us!" I say as I get ready to use Ember again. Even if it won't do too much damage, it's my only move that will do any. Lucas, however, steps ahead of me, and gets ready to use Metal Claw as our opponent uses Dragon Rush.

He then says, "Come and get it-woah!" Before he loses balance and falls to the ground. Alright, now this time, he's in trouble for sure. I use Ember against our enemy, but it takes my attack head on and still goes towards the two of us. And just as I was about to stop and try to get out of the way, an Ice Beam shoots across my eyes. The ghost dragon gets frozen by Crush's Ice Beam, which was just short of reaching us.

His eyes become spirals, signaling that the battle is over.

"Well, that was cutting it too close." Crush says as she hops down from the rock. "Nice to see you that you two are awake. Did you guys have a good rest?"

Lucas gets up and says, "Yeah, I feel great-wait, you fell asleep too, Red?"

I nod. "Yeah, getting out of the Ground Temple was pretty tricky, but we made it through."

Lucas blinks. Then looks around himself for the first time. "W-wait, out of the Ground Temple?" He realizes. "Hold on, where are we!?"

"On our way to the Ghost Temple." I answer. To which Lucas just stares back at me, as if he doesn't believe me. I then look around at my surroundings.

I haven't taken the time to look where we are, but I soon find out why I wasn't that interested to find out. Nothing's here. It's all just an open plain, with many cracks and uneven plains. There is no life, as only a few dead trees are scattered around the dry ground we stand on. It also doesn't help that the only light source is the moon light, but dark clouds cover most of it up, making everything look darker than it should be.

"There's...nothing left of this place." I quietly say.

"And I'm afraid that's how everything has looked for this whole trip." Daisy says as she appears next to us. "It's good to see you two up, though I'm not sure stepping in front of Red to use Metal Claw against a Dragon Rush was the best of ideas, Lucas. You'll need to be more careful next time."

"Sorry about that." He says as he yawns. "But hey, at least he's out for the count, and you guys listened to me. I knew I could convince you guys to head over to the Ghost Temple."

"No more berries!?" I hear Zack yell out. I turn to look at him, and notice that he has an Oran Berry in his flipper as he looks at Crush. Looking closer at the Light Pokemon, I notice that he isn't in the best shape, and from what he said, it doesn't seem that our supplies are in good shape either.

"Well, you've been taking a lot of damage this whole trip, Zack." Crush says. "You take it."

"But so have you and Daisy!" He says. He then tries to split apart the berry, but thanks to his lack of fingers, he struggles to do so.

"You're not going to eat it until you split it with us, aren't you?" Crush asks. Zack looks at her before reaching out the berry. "Yeah...But, can you split it for me?"

She sighs, but gladly takes the berry from his flipper. She then breaks it into three pieces with little problem. "You're getting the bigger piece, though." She quietly says as she tosses the said piece to him.

He bobbles it, but then manages to get control of it, and starts enjoying his snack.

"Red, are you listening?"

"Ahh!" I yelp. Okay, another voice in my head, but this one I know who it belongs to. Daisy. "Sorry, you took me by surprise." I add. "What were you trying to ask me?"

She looks at me and says, "It's going to be a lot. In fact, you're involved in this too, Lucas."

"Me?" He says. "Well, sure. What do you need us to do?"

She looks at the Rilo before moving on. "So, the compass that Eclipse gave you thankfully works whether you're awake or asleep, meaning that we've been able to continue on our journey to the Ghost Temple without a hitch."

I smile, but I feel like she's hiding something. "You're not being straight with us, are you?"

She puts her hand up. "I'm getting there, be patient." She sighs. "But yes, while we know where we have to go, the path has been...difficult. You two were out cold, so we had to play more of a defense game when it came to fighting off Pokemon."

Well, at least I now know that if I'm having a flashback, I won't get interrupted. "But as I'm sure you noticed, Red. They have been taking a toll on us. We haven't been able to find anything in this wasteland, and we've been forced to take a lot of supplies from both bags."

"Catch!" Crush says as she throws the last third of the Oran Berry to the Gardevoir, who catches it in the air. She then swallows the berry full, and continues, "And that's not even mentioning what's happening back at home." She pulls out her badge and says to us, "We were waiting until Lucas woke up for this, as there's something he needs to do."

Me and my partner look at each other as Daisy talks into the badge. "Wigglytuff, can you hear me?" I turn white. W-Wigglytuff?! What's going on down there?! We all wait a few seconds and then we hear a voice come out.

"Hello? Lucas? Red? Are you two awake?" The voice called out from the badge. Lucas walks closer to the badge after hearing his name, then says, "Yes, Ma'am. We hear you loud and clear. What's up?"

I hear her sigh, which is not making me feel any more conformable. "So, clearly our mission to get the flute has been...revised if you will, without my permission." She says.

I panic. "Wait, you're not-"

Wigglytuff then panics. "Wait, calm down, Red! I've been talking to Daisy for a while now as you were sleeping, and while there are cons to this plan, I do believe that Lucas was right about keeping you alive. I should have worded that better."

I breathe a sigh of relief. Yeah, you could have phrased that better. I got a heartattack.

"But the point I'm trying to make is that there's consequence to that decision. The plan first was for you all to return home and plan out our next step, but now that most of your badges have been used up, so you all won't be coming back here anytime soon."

"And that brings me to what I want to tell you two. Team Current has been working throughout the entire day helping Pokemon out around the Treasure Town area. Ray and I have been busy talking with the Police Squad this entire day as well. But now, it's the middle of the night, and the problems won't go away."

I groan. I'm getting sick of all of these problems. Also, what time is it?!

"The Mystery Dungeons here have been expanding, and the police and myself...well, everyone fears that they might infect our town soon, which is why Officer Magnezone has asked me to make sure everymon in our area is safely secure in the town and in their homes, and to search through the Mystery Dungeon for anymon that got trapped in them earlier this night."

"It's an all in effort, but Team Current is in no shape to help us out, as they need rest, and, after thinking it over and talking to Daisy and Ray about it, we've decided that Lucas should return back to the Guild."

What? So that's why she wanted the two of us up. Both Lucas and I are shocked to hear the news, with the Emanation Pokemon asking the Balloon Pokemon, "Why me, and for what?"

"Ray, the entire police force, and I are going to be leaving the town square to help anymon in need, Team Current is tired out and just arrived to get some shut eye, and Eve...would like to stay inside. So I need you to make sure nothing happens to her at the Guild."

We don't say anything as she continues, but I'm thinking about what she said about Eve. I sigh at that. Is Eve really back to her old quiet self again?

"Lucas, I know it might be hard to hear, but considering the fact that you're running low on supplies, and you aren't that strong against Ghost-Types, it would be best if you came back. It doesn't help that Scar broke out the Stableye and Gengar, so now we have to worry about them sneaking in our town and going after my daughter again. In a strange turn of events, you're the best one that's suited to come here."

Lucas takes a step back. I can tell that he's still thinking about it. He doesn't want to leave me, even if I'm with Team Forever. "...I...uh..." Is all that he can manage to say. I can't stand seeing him like this, but Wigglytuff does make a good point. Lucas isn't best suited to go into a Ghost-Temple, and I'm sure Wigglytuff wants Team Forever to stick together because they'll be stronger that way, not to mention the most experienced.

I don't want to leave Lucas either, but I think it's the right call to make.

"But I need to make sure Red's safe." He says. "I can't just leave him. We're partners. A team-"

"Lucas." Daisy says. "I know you want to see how this journey ends, but Wigglytuff needs you to help her out."

Lucas' ears go down. "Are you guys sure you can make it?" He asks.

Daisy smiles. "We've been fighting Ghost-Types much longer than just this trip. We'll be back with the flute in no time." Lucas looks at the Embrace Pokemon, but doesn't say a thing. He doesn't know what to do anymore.

"Give him your bandana."

What? Did I think that? Why did I think that? What good does that do if I give him my...bandana? I then get an idea.

I listen to the voice and untie my bandana off from my neck. Lucas notices this and asks, "Red, what are you doing?"

I smile. "Can you make me a promise?"

Lucas is confused, but bites anyways, "Sure, but what is it?"

I then toss him my bandana, to which he catches. "Give that back to me when I get back to the Guild."

Shocked once again, Lucas says, "What?!"

"We'll be fine, Lucas. Wigglytuff is asking you to do something for her, to watch over Eve..." I pause for a moment. "Can you do that for me while we clean things up over here?"

He looks down at my red bandana, then looks back at me. There's a moment of silence, but then he says. "...sure. I guess if you don't have a problem with it either, then I'll do my best." He then looks at the cloth. "I still don't get why you gave me this." He mutters.

He then turns to look towards, at least he hopes, where home is. Daisy smiles and says, "Alright, I'm glad that's ok with both of you. And Lucas, we didn't use your badge to teleport you here, or Red's for that matter, so you should be able to get to the Guild no problem."

"Oh!" He says. "That's good to hear. I was wondering how I was supposed to get back home from way over here." He says with a little sweat on his head.

I smile and pull up my hand to do a fist pump with him. "We'll be back. You can count on it."

...

...

...

"What is that supposed to be?" He asks.

I turn white. He's never done a fist bump before. "It's a fist bump. Two Pokemon make a fist, and then bump them together." I say embarrassed.

"Oh! That sounds cool." He says as he makes a fist. "Yeah, fist pump!" We then bump fists, though Lucas was a bit too excited. Why? Because I think he used Force Palm on my hand, or at least hit it really hard. I don't yell out in pain, but I do grab my wrist with my other hand and begin to shake the pain away.

"Sorry!" Lucas says. "I didn't mean to do it that hard. Guess it's because of my first time experience."

"Yeah, first time. Man, this is going to sting for a while." I think as I shake off the pain. "It's fine. It'll feel better...soon." I say.

Lucas then grabs his bandana, and places his paw over his badge.

"Wait!" I say, before he can teleport away. He looks at me as I tell him, "Can you tell Eve that I'm sorry about what I did to her, and ask her if she's feeling better?" He smiles with a little mischief. He then winks as he presses the button. "Sure thing, Red. I'll tell your girlfriend that!"

I turn red as I charge at him. "Oh, you did not just say that!" I jump at him as he laughs, but he disappears faster than my reflexes, sending me down to the ground.

Daisy lets out a giggle as I pick myself back up. "Well, you two do have similarities." She says. I turn red as I grab my bruised hand again.

"She is not my girlfriend." I say angrily towards where Lucas was.

"So, you agreed with Wigglytuff?" Crush asks as she and Zack walk up to us.

I nod. "Wigglytuff was right, everymon's doing there thing, and it makes since why Lucas has to go help her out. But, I would not be lying if I said I was going to miss him."

I then feel Daisy's hand land on my shoulder. "Don't worry, Red." She says. "I'm sure we're getting close to the temple. All we got to do is get there, beat its puzzle, grab the flute, and maybe then we can all get some rest before deciding what to do next."

Zack then yawns. "That sounds good to me." He then takes out a comic book and reaches it out to me. "You want to read this on the way there?" He asks.

I look down at my feet, then look at the cracked landscape ahead of us. "Heh, heh." I start. "I think it's best if I keep my eyes on the road."

And so, we resume on our way to the Ghost Temple. I hope we get there soon. I do not want to have anymore dangerous thoughts like when I woke up.

...and I also hope Lucas and Eve will be ok.


A light appears in front of the Guild. Wigglytuff and Ray are standing right next to the entrance to said Guild as the light vanishes, leaving Lucas in the center with a red bandana in his hand.

"Lucas, it's good to see you." Wigglytuff says as she walks up to him. "It's been a while since you've been here."

Lucas looks at her and quietly says, "Yeah. I guess it has been a long time since we've-well, I been back here." He says, not used to being alone.

Wigglytuff puts her hand on his shoulder. "Lucas. I know it was hard to leave the group, but it makes me happy that you're here for Eve. It's been quite the long day for everymon here, but your job shouldn't be too hard."

Ray then walks to the side of the Guildmaster and says, "Team Current is already sound asleep inside. The townmons have been told to come over here if they need help with anything. Hopefully, it won't be anything too difficult for you to handle, though Team Current has been told that you may wake them up if you need their help."

"About time he showed up!" A gruff voice hollers behind Lucas, which startles him. He turns around to see an Arcanine, who doesn't look too happy.

"The Guildmaster said that you were going to get here much earlier, so why did you take your sweet time getting here?" He yells.

"That's no way to talk to a child, Blitz." Wigglytuff says. "He was resting. Everymon needs that."

Blitz slowly approaches Wigglytuff, "Well, that's something that we need, but we don't have a lot of time for that! I'm sure somemon like you would have known that."

A flying saucers then gets in-between the two and says, "That's enough out of you, Blitz! *bzzzzz* I know you're stressed, but this is no way to let that anger out. *bzzzzz*"

The Arcanine looks at the leading officer, and after looking at Wigglytuff one last time, he turns around to walk down the stairs. "Fine, just don't be late again. We got a lot of ground we need to patrol tonight." He says as he leaves.

Wigglytuff sighs as the Magnezone says, "While his attitude needs work, *bzzzz* we still have to go, Guildmaster. *bzzzzz*"

"Alright then." She says. "Let's go, Ray."

He nods and adds, "Right behind you, Guildmaster."

The two then follow the floating Pokemon. But before they go down the stairs, Wigglytuff says one more thing to the Rilo. "You'll do just fine, Lucas, and I'm sure the others will do fine too."

She then walks down the stairs, away from Lucas' sight. He looks down at Red's bandana once more. He then clutches it in his hand as he heads inside the Guild. It's awfully quiet as he climbs down the ladder. He's done it before plenty of time, but this time it felt different.

When he reaches the ground, he grabs his head. "Stop worrying about Red, Lucas. He'll be fine. Team Forever is the best team on this Guild, not to mention that Wigglytuff needs you to watch over Treasure Town and Eve. You can't get distracted."

He then climbs down the second ladder, but his thoughts about Red are still in his head, as if they can't leave him alone. "It's was the right thing to do." He thinks. "I was just slowing..."

He stops and shakes his head as a tear appears. "No, I'm not slowing them down! I'm just...helping out over here. It's not my fault I almost died, or blacked out, I was just doing what I was told to do."

"LUCAS!" His partner's scream rings in his ears, causing him to let go of the ladder. As he falls, he gets haunted by his fall earlier in the day, the one that he would have died from if it wasn't for Eclipse saving him, more voices flood into his brain. He then lands on the ground on his back, causing him pain, but he keeps quiet, as not to wake up anymon.

But he doesn't move. He just lies down as he covers his eyes with his paws as he relives the horrifying moment in his head. The tears multiply as he says, "Stop thinking about it." Over and over again.

The pain from his back gets worse and worse as he sees himself fall farther and farther. He...he can't take it...he can't watch it all over again...that was the scariest thing that had ever happened to him, even worse than what happened back-

"STOP!" He yells, having enough of the flashback. The small Pokemon was already in a bad enough state. Thinking about home would only make things worse for him.

"You ok?"

"Ahh!" Lucas says, but is then relieved to see that it's just Bolt, who looks very tired. The two look at each other for a moment, before Lucas wipes his tears and speaks up. "Bolt?..I thought you...I thought you were going to be in your room."

He yawns. "Yeah, I should be in there, but I think I fell asleep before I could get there. I woke up when I heard something fall."

Lucas nervously chuckles. "Ya, that was me. You're not mad at me for waking you up are you?"

"Ehhh, a little." The Luxray says. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go into my nest before I fall asleep again. Good night." He starts walking away, but then stops. "And good luck tonight."

He then continues to walk away, once in a while nearly falling back to the ground. Lucas tried to hide his chuckles as he makes his way to Wigglytuff's headquarters. Lucas reached the door leading to Eve when he stopped. Wouldn't Eve be sleeping? Should he knock? Walk in? Just stay out here and guard the door?

The door then slowly cracked open. Lucas looked inside the room, before he saw Eve poke her head out of the crack. She then looked at the Rilo and smiled as she opened the door opened more to let him in.

"Hey, Eve. You alright?" Lucas asks, wanting to see if she's okay.

"I'm fine." She says a little half heartedly. "I'm just glad you're here."

Though there wasn't too much light, Lucas still spotted Eve's mark. "How's that mark feeling. Is it going away?"

But Eve doesn't say about it as she walks back to her nest, lying back down on it as Lucas walks in.

"I take that as a no." He says. "So, it's the same?"

She nods. "Yeah, it doesn't hurt that much, but there are moments where it gets annoying."

She then looks at Lucas and asks, "How was the Ground Temple?"

Lucas smiles, "It was cool. We went on this boat pulled by a Milotic across a lake. It was really cool. Even Red had a flashback about himself." But then his smile slowly fades as he continues. "When we got there, it got a little messy. We got through a puzzle, there was a cool Pokemon called Eclipse, but then we got to the end and that's when we found out that we had to go to the Ghost Temple instead, and it only got worse when Zygarde showed up."

Eve slowly starts to shake as Lucas continues. "But the worse part was when the place was turned into a Mystery Dungeon, and Red was convinced that he was the reason that it happened." He then started to wag his tail. "But then I went all-like BOOM! I felt as if I was one with my aura! I was full of confidence, and I told Red that Xatu told him what to do, so then we should do it the way he wants to, but that's all I remember. I think I fainted after that, but I do know that everymon else is on their way there."

Lucas lifts his hand that contains Red's bandana and says, "I just wish I was there with him."

Suddenly, he feels it being taken away from him. He tries to hold on, but because he was caught off guard, the bandana slips away from him. Thankfully, the reason behind this was Eve, who brings the red clothing to her paws.

"Is this Red's?" She asks, a little frighten. Lucas nods. "Yeah. He gave it to me and had me promise to give it back to him when he came back."

Eve then panics and says, "Wait! He's ok, right? He's fine?!"

Lucas waves his hands. "Yeah, he's good. Don't worry. I guess he gave it to me because he was worried about me I guess? I don't know why he gave me that if I'm being honest."

Eve breathes out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank Arceus. I thought something...happened..."

Lucas notices that Eve is starting to leaning side to side. Getting cautious, he asks, "Eve, are you-"

Eve then falls down onto the ground, but then picks herself up in a snap. "Don't worry, I'm fine. There's-" She then gasps. Her surroundings are different. Gone is the fireplace, cave-like structure of her room, as it's all been replaced by...what is she looking at? It's all black, the ground that she's on feel wet and muddy, and the only thing that she sees are walls that just makes her feel like she's trapped in a box. She looks around for Lucas, desperate to see anything that she recognizes.

"Nononononononono!" She says, slowly getting louder and louder. She knows what just happened to her, but she doesn't want to believe it to be true. She lifts her paw up and bites it, praying that this is just a normal dream that she can wake up from.

"Bleah!" She cries out as her tongue tastes the mud from the ground. She then spits the taste out of her mouth. This is terrible. The worst thing that could happen to her. She was having a dimensional scream, and they can only happen if you touch something that is related to the vision. Meaning that Red could be in-

Her ears then pick up something coming from the left. She turns her head and sees the Raboot, but he has his back against her. She can tell he's talking to somemon, but who. She inches closer, trying to hear what he has to say. It feels like he's saying something to try and cheer up this pokemon, but that's all she can make out so far. If only she can get a little-

But then, something cracks behind her. She looks to see where what made it, but it cases her to freeze. It looks like some kind of ghost Pokemon, but it's aura is messing with it's appearance. But then it suddenly becomes clear. It's a Decidueye, readying his arrow at her. She is frighten and slowly crawls away as the arrow glows brighter and brighter, looking a lot more deadlier.

"This'll finish you off." He-no, she says. The Arrow Quill Pokemon then releases the arrow at Eve. She screams in terror as the arrow hits her...but then passes through her without causing any damage to herself.

Right, none of this is real (even if she tasted the ground). This is only a vision of the future. She's not really there, it's just warning her about something that's going to happen to-

Not having enough time to move, she teleports so she's looking at Red, but it's the worst mistake that she could have done as Vulpix sees the arrow head directly at his back, completely unaware of what's about to happen.

"NOOOOOOOO!" She screams, stretching out her paws as the arrow presses him.

"Eve! What in the world?! What happened?!" Lucas yells.

She blinks. She's back in the Guild. She woke up from that nightmare. She's not sure how long she was knocked out here, but she was glad it was over.

But was she glad it was over? She could have just seen Red die in front of her. Where was Team Forever? Who was that Pokemon?

"Red." She thinks. She puts her paws over her head as the lies on her nest, showing her claws as she's very stressed. But then she feels Red's bandana over herself, as she still had it in her hand.

Lucas, however, is scared. She just fainted by just touching Red's bandana, and now when she finally wakes up, she screams no, and is clearly not fine.

Eve just breathes in and out like she couldn't breathe for hours as she thought more about what she saw. W-w-what is she suppose to do?! Red's in trouble, but there's no telling if what she saw already happened, but she can't just sit here. She can't do anything if she doesn't know what happened next.

She has to do something!

Lucas gets on his knees, and tries to comfort Eve, knowing that has been proven to work with her, but as he reaches out, she disappears. Horrified, Lucas calls out to her.

"Eve...EVE!" He turns and looks around the entire room, but she's nowhere to be seen.

"Will you two be quiet!" Bolt cries out from the door. "We're all trying to get some sleep, is it really that hard to..."

He then trails off. He may be very sleepy, but even with his half-closed eyes, he can tell somemon's missing.

"Uhhh...where's Eve?" He asks, feeling more awake.

Lucas doesn't say anything. He only looks to where Eve was, and notices that the bandana is also gone. He closes his eyes and gulps.

"She's...gone?" He says, shrugging his shoulders.

Bolt looks at the Emanation Pokemon as if he didn't hear him correctly.

"She's what?..Gone? Where?!"

Lucas has no idea where she went is true, but he has a nagging feeling of where she might be.

He puts his arms up and says, weakly, "The...Ghost Temple?"