What a lovely dream this has been.
Pity that anything with Darkrai and Cresselia at once goes from a dream to a nightmare.
:)
Sean stared wide-eyed at the moon hanging far above the sky. Like someone had hung the moon from a string and dotted the stars with flecks of white paint. It was a painting, not the real thing.
"You have… an idea?" Keira asked dubiously. "Are you sure you don't have a concussion?"
"Ask me anything," Sean said, pushing himself up. He wobbled on his feet for a moment, and Dimitri almost grabbed him to steady him, but Sean kept himself up.
"Two plus two?" Keira settled on.
"Four."
"The sun and the…?"
"Moon."
"What's the seventh month of the human calendar?"
"Uh… uh…." Sean began counting on his digits, but he had less than a human, so he wiggled his feet as well. "July?"
"Checks out." Keira nodded. "But one last thing. Who do we both know in another place?"
The vague question paused Sean for a moment, but he worked out what she meant. "Felix."
Keira nodded. "Looks like it's him. That'll be enough to trust him."
"Good because I have an idea!" Sean said dramatically before pointing at the moon. "We have to make the moon a crescent!"
Silence fell, and eyes stared at him, but Sean's enthusiasm didn't damper.
Keira glanced to Mawile and then to Dimitri with a questioning look.
"Okay," Chikorita said, slowly. "Do you want to sit back down for a moment?"
"I'm not crazy!" Sean said.
"How about we ask why he's got this idea before ignoring it?" Dimitri suggested. He looked to Keira. "You told us to make a crazy idea, looks like he's got one." Turning back to Sean, Dimitri asked. "Why a crescent?"
"Darkrai told me to look to the crescent moon if I wanted to go further," Sean said. "Sure, HE said it, but it's some sort of clue, and we know Darkrai plays these weird games!"
"Why a crescent moon?" Mawile asked. "Darkrai are known to have a connection to the new moon, not a crescent."
"Crescent is Cresselia," Charizard pointed out, and different ears flicked. Everyone besides Keira started in place before speaking all at once.
"Cresselia is here too!"
"We know Cresselia is working with Darkrai!"
"Cresselia! That could be our way in, she must know where The Dream is as well!"
"Cresselia is crazy, so maybe or maybe not we could use her knowledge."
Keira began tapping a Bone Rush on a rock until it got loud enough, and the stone started to break, that the shouting and talking settled down.
"Okay," she said. "We're getting somewhere. But how do we make the moon a crescent?" She raised her paws and glanced through them at the moon, trying to shape her paws into a crescent. But paws did not do that, and she dropped it.
"Maybe we can attack the moon?" Dimitri suggested and tried spraying a Water Gun up at it. It did not go nearly far enough.
"Really?" Keira asked, deadpan. "Don't you know how far away the moon is?"
"This is a dream though," Dimitri countered. "Who knows how the moon works here?"
"Perhaps I could fly up there?" Charizard offered. His suggestion was taken up, and he spread his wings and took flight, blowing up a cloud of dust as he went. He rose quickly and began shrinking to the eyes of the landbound pokémon.
He flew for quite a while as the others worked on other means, but no matter how far he flew, the moon didn't seem to be getting any closer, and the air was beginning to get a little thin.
Dream air or not, he liked breathing, and his tail flame was flickering. Charizard returned to earth with a mournful shake of his head. "It didn't feel like I was getting anywhere," he explained.
As he was flying, Chikorita had used her vines to try and make a crescent shape. Dimitri had tried to take advantage of the superliminal nature of The Dream to try and pluck the moon out of the sky. Next he made a clear-water puddle that reflected the moon and tried to ripple the water to make the moon's reflection ripple into a crescent.
Nothing worked.
It was Mawile, careful and more methodical, who came across something. Searching around, she trusted that Sean's idea was right and that Darkrai would have not given them such a task if they could not solve it.
What would be gained out of solving it, she wasn't sure, but they were scrabbling in the dark now and trying to make the moon a crescent was at least something they could try.
She had looked around, and her eyes eventually settled on Natu's house. Inside was cluttered, so she took a look through her belongings. There were a few moon-related objects, but nothing that'd help. On a third look at the house, she left in frustration and had glared at the moon from the doorway.
Right where a small decoration hung from a string. A moon, with a carved-out section of it.
Heart leaping, she carefully plucked it down with her horns and held it up. A crescent carved out of a near-perfect sphere in the shape of the moon.
"I've found something!" she called, not long after Charizard returned and she walked to them, holding up the crescent shape.
"Look at this," she said, passing it to Sean.
Looking over it, his eyes widened, and he grinned at her. "Fantastic work!" He beamed and lifted it up. To map the moon.
It took a few tries to perfectly fit the moon in, he had to spin it a little to fit the celestial satellite correctly, but once he did and he peered through it, nothing but a crescent could be seen.
He waited. Nothing happened. "Is this not it?" Sean asked, lowering the crescent to stare at it.
"Hand it to me," Dimitri asked, holding his hand out. Sean passed it over and the wartortle returned to the puddle he'd made. It had dirtied in that time so he had to make a new one, passing it to Chikorita to hold.
"What do you want this for exactly?" she asked.
"You're going to stick the disc in the puddle, aren't you?" Keira asked, staring down at Dimitri as he dug out a hole.
"Yep!" Dimitri nodded, filling the hole up. Once the water was cleared enough, he took the crescent back and began to angle it, the reflection of the moon bright in the puddle.
It took a few minutes of small changes but he angled it perfectly, the moon a crescent in the puddle.
The moon cracked before breaking apart.
Exiting the garden was easy, but what wasn't easy was figuring out where the hell he was. Scout sighed, annoyed as he searched for any landmarks he could recognise.
Where he was in relation to anything was a mystery. One he did not have the desire to figure out.
"Bloody Darkrai, warping me around and just leaving me," Scout grumbled. He muttered other things and threats of violence, trying to find his way around all these trees.
There was a dirt track, but it was just a dirt track. Not well-worn, it wasn't a traders road. Where it led, he didn't know. Well, there was to the garden, but he wanted to be away from that place.
Misery loves company, however, and his homicidal ramblings were interrupted by the only pokémon crazier than he was.
"Scout?" Saniya asked, flying down from above like a pink angel. "Is that your threats of extreme and bloody violence I hear?"
"The fact you can tell me from my threats is worrisome," Scout said, but he was smiling in relief. "Hey, Saniya!" He waved rapidly, hoping she wouldn't just be a dream that would taunt him.
Saniya floated down to his level, brushed some imaginary dirt off her shoulder, and then squealed in joy. "You won't guess what just happened!?" she said, vibrating in the air in excitement.
"I-"
She did not wait for him to finish.
"I was going in the void like we said and it was absolutely the worst thing! Horrible monsters, then I saw everyone get brutally murdered. You know, the kind of thing that will seriously mentally scar me after all this is said and done."
"Oh, th-"
"But, wait, this IS a dream, so maybe I'll forget it once I wake up? I hope so. But not everything! See, I met Giratina, and it was THE REAL ONE! I know because I asked the big lug a thing only they would know, but I can't tell you even what I asked because they'd eat me. And you."
"That's-"
"So, Giratina told me why they've been ignoring me, and at first it was because all the time juice had gone nasty so the Reverse Distortion was cleaning it up, and then it was because they barely sleep because they aren't the kind for naps, and THEN it was because Palkia's Realm has been distorted and is blocking their world from this one. I KNOW THE TRUTH NOW!"
"Really? That's-"
"And I asked for sure, and I know. Darkrai IS IN THE SPACIAL RIFT! We've got his location down, Scout! We can find him now. In fact, I know exactly where that is because Giratina put the knowledge in my mind. It's here."
She waved her hands, and a vision appeared in the air like an illusion. "Don't mind the headache," she said as Scout winced. "Sharing stuff like this isn't meant for minds other than my own. But this is a dream, you'll be fine."
"Ow, OW!"
"Okay. That's good." She ended it, and Scout coughed and nearly wretched from the experience. "Did you see it? Looks like a nice beach relaxation front!"
"It looked like a set of sheer cliffs with a break, in reality, lurking between the clouds," Scout said. "But sure."
"I know! Beach resort. Palkia can run it."
Scout shook his head before beaming. "So, we know for sure where Darkrai is!?"
"That's right!"
"Fantastic. Saniya, you're incredible."
She waved it off. "I know, I know," she giggled. "You can thank me by waking me up later! And then some shaved ice. I've heard it's a new thing on the Sand Continent! We should totally sell it here too. We'd make a killing and then take over the world with the profits!"
"We will own the world," Scout laughed. "Okay, quick question. Who do you wanna call?"
"Giratina!"
"That's Saniya!" They laughed together. "Okay, can you get us to Evertrail Town! I'll get the others, we'll be ready to wake up, and then we can start to fix this!"
"How are you planning to wake up?" Saniya asked, curiously, as Scout took her hands and they began to teleport. "Mind the bump."
She threw him through a tree on the first teleport, and then she teleported them again, appearing in Evertrail Town. Right as the moon broke.
"That wasn't me," Saniya gasped, the shattering of the moon casting a deafening clang that silenced the entire world.
Scout was half-buried in the ground, and he was kicking his legs to try and get out. Saniya didn't help him, she was stunned.
They had teleported twice to reach Evertrail Town, and upon their arrival, everything went to chaos. The breaking of the moon cast silence across the whole world, a deafening kind of silence as everything went still.
"Oh, no. Nononononono." Saniya repeated as the light turned static and dull and the trees stopped moving. "No. NO. NO!"
Time was freezing.
"Scou-" Saniya froze.
By the time Scout pulled his head out of the ground, he was met only with horror.
"W-What happened?" Sean stuttered, dropping the crescent tool. Mawile was simply aghast, frozen but only out of shock, not out of what had happened.
Sean was already tearing up. "I… I didn't mean," he said, staring at Dimitri, at Chikorita and Charizard. His eyes turned to Keira. "Keira?"
She was simply standing still, an expression of urgency on her face as she had begun to turn, but now frozen.
He saw Saniya, loud and pink and lifeless.
"What happened?" Scout demanded, running up to them. "Why did everything just freeze?"
"The mooooon," Mawile slurred through her horns, her normal mouth just gaping. She had only seen frozen pokémon; briefly, it felt like a short dream that was hardly memorable. But Team Go-Getters, the Legendary Lucario, Celebi. All stilled.
Scout looked up and gasped. "What the? What did you do? Wait." He looked around sharply. "Is this because of what I did to Darkrai? He froze up, and so did everything else for just a moment. But only a moment. This isn't some sort of revenge?"
"You saw Darkrai too?" Sean asked weakly.
"I've got the information we need, too!" Scout said. "I know where Darkrai is, it is the Spacial Rift! Saniya knew she was able to confirm it just before we arrived here. Good thing too…." He cast a sad look at Saniya.
"Then we need to go," Mawile said, rasping out but with her actual mouth. "Before things get worse."
"I think we're too late for that," Sean said, pointing forth. From the crescent moon came a figure, swimming through the air like a delicate swan. It continued gliding until it hovered over the small puddle, where the crescent moon had been formed.
"Wake us up, NOW!" Mawile shouted.
But she was too late.
Cresselia's song reached them, freezing them in place. "Three little pokémon, where did they come from? Three little cuties, where will they go to? Three little pokémon, let us play a game. Three little pokémon, your lives I do claim."
Scout drew his Night Slash, Sean rose to shake fists, Mawile's jaws blazed with energy.
They could not fight the area around them, and the ground beneath them disappeared, leaving them to fall into the deepest, darkest, part of The Dream.
Sean was the first to wake up. As a Fighting-type, he had a vitality that the others lacked. Mawile was roused next, her horns clamping down on a floor of pure darkness to hoist herself up. Scout needed Sean to wake him up, gently shaking him for a few minutes and one or two light smacks to finally get him up.
"Why are we still here?" Scout moaned.
"Why didn't we wake up?" Mawile asked. "Beheeyem was supposed to…."
"We'll work out what's going on," Sean said, having calmed down from earlier. "Just stick together, we're not splitting up again."
"Split you up?" a voice that belonged to no one giggled. "Why-why-why would I do that?"
A light appeared, but it hurt to look at. A searing purple glaze on the nothing around them, sinking into the swirling mists of the void to stick like lavender stains on the deepest part of the collective dreamscape, drawing their eyes like magnets to gaze into the affixture of madness.
It swam like a swan through a river of thought. Images of lovely gardens, of romantic trysts, of adventure in the most exciting of places, all appeared in their minds' eye.
In chorus with them were dreams of harming others, images of taking savage vengeance and absolute domination. The dreams of the sick and twisted were the nightmares to others, but they were still dreams overall.
"Ow, ow, OW!" Sean yelped, and Mawile bit her lip until blood began to trickle. Only Scout was able to look away from it, but even that was nearly impossible as everywhere he looked there was more.
"Like it?" she, Cresselia, for it had to be her, crooned. The light swam into impossible shapes and colours they did not understand. Finally, however, it formed into the stable hologram that was shaped like Cresselia but in the same way that a dark blur might remind one of Darkrai. "You three are strong, your brains aren't oozing out your heads yet."
"What… was that?" Mawile asked, finally clamping her eyes shut.
"All that I am," Cresselia answered. "Something that I can show in this… realm of thought-imagination. The Power that I am. Like it? This like a continuous dream of countless minds."
She was between them, she was around them, she was not them, but she was everything else.
"Where are we?" Scout asked.
"My Area," Cresselia answered. "A piece of all that can be shaped as I see fit. But… I am the guardian and custodian of dreams, I cannot dream of myself. All that I can do, I rely on others. And thus… we shall play a game of thought and dreams."
"We are doing nothing with you!" Sean yelled and tried to attack her. He couldn't get close. No matter how far he ran, she was always out of reach.
"Fool," Cresselia hissed before a sharp crack of lightning speared Sean through the chest. "Do not DARE TO PResUME YOU HAVE A ChOICE HerE! YOU ARE IN MY REALM aND YOU WIlL PLAY MY GAME."
She giggled maniacally. "Oh, but it'll be such a game to play. How smart are you three? Not very, if you've come into The Dream willingly. Into his garden to uproot his flowers. Hee-ha-hee. No. No. Nononononono. You are not smart, so you will be the perfect players in my game!"
Mawile helped Sean up, he had barely gone two feet in his minute-long charge. "What point is a game with useless players?" she growled.
"SILENCE!" Cresselia screamed, and a blade of Psychic energy drew Mawile's blood to mark the void with red. "You will not speak out of turn. For this is a rule of my game. No collusion between your smooth brains, lest you find a wrinkle. My game is pure and simple. I think of something. You have to guess what it is. But you can only ask questions that have yes or no answers, if you take too long to ask, your turn will be skipped, and if you fail to work out what it is within 20 guesses, well~" She trailed off into mad giggles again.
That was a swell sign.
"You want us to play twenty questions?" Scout asked. Cresselia bobbed her head erratically, still giggling uncontrollably.
"Y-Y-Y-Yes, hee-hee-hee, I do! I do! You do too! We all want to play! For you are here, which means you consent to the rules! You have entered the game, you have signed the contract with your thought-blood. You are here in my game now. And the game begins soon."
"We are not going along with-"
Scout was nearly cut in half from a blade of energy. Not Psychic energy, just a regular, but deadly, Slash.
"You. Will," Cresselia uttered, eyes trained on the three as Scout gasped, holding his chest as his dream-self bled. "Or. Else."
"Let's just play along for now," Sean said, and he nodded to her.
"Splendid! You have now agreed in all forms. We begin with you, Sean. Ask me something."
Sean pursed his lips, but Cresselia loomed over them all, so much larger in so many different ways. "Fine. Is it a pokémon?"
Cresselia smiled. "No."
She nodded to Mawile, the next player of her game.
Mawile was smart, she'd played games like this before. "Is it an object?"
Cresselia's smile didn't fade. "No."
Scout frowned, not a pokémon or an object was difficult right from the start. He wondered if she'd be tricky like Darkrai and require extremely specific questions she couldn't use loopholes around. But then he wondered why they were playing this in the first place, what did Cresselia aim to get out of it?
"Is it a liquid?"
She beamed at him, eyes twinkling merrily. "No."
Sean frowned in confusion. Not a pokémon, object, or liquid? He took a deep breath and sighed it out, question number four left his lips. "Is it a solid?"
"No." Cresselia's grin wasn't changing, and yet it seemed to be growing wider like her face was shrinking around the smile.
"Is it a gas then?" Mawile demanded.
"No!"
Scout took a breath of his own, he didn't like this at all. He could feel his heartbeat in his throat, they were having trouble getting even a single yes here. His chest felt heavy. "Is it a person then?" he asked, aiming to be more specific. He saw the other two nod in agreement.
"No."
"Oh, come on!" Sean yelled. He growled but calmed himself with some deep breaths. "Is it a dream?"
"No."
"Is it a concept?" Mawile asked, narrowing her eyes.
Cresselia's smile became fixed for a moment, and her eyes flickered. "Yes."
"Finally, good one Mawile!" Scout beamed. She smiled back before returning to focusing on the game. Scout glanced up at Cresselia as well, she was fluid yet unmoving, and it was really triggering his fight or flight. He could feel his lungs pump air in and out faster in preparation to act.
He tried to work out what tricks she might play, so he asked. "Is it a safe concept?"
The smile was back to elongating. "No."
Sean puffed. "We're about halfway down," he said, frowning at Scout. His question would be the tenth one, but he played it safe. "Is it an unsafe concept?"
"Yes."
Mawile's horns tasted the air before gasping out a shuddering breath. "Can it harm us?"
"Yes."
Scout bit his lip for a moment before he found he couldn't hold his mouth shut like that for long. He needed to catch his breath. "Is it something imaginary?"
"No."
"I," Sean panted. "I… I… ugh, what's going on? Is this concept something you can do?"
Cresselia paused. She could only answer yes or no. So, she settled. "Yes."
Mawile frowned. "Are you doing it to us right now?" she panted.
"Yes."
Scout opened his mouth to speak, but he fell into a hard coughing fit. Sean began to cough as well, as did Mawile. "I." Scout coughed. "C-C." He continued to cough. "Coughing?"
Cresselia's broad grin was one of nightmares. "No."
"W-were," Sean wheezed, he tried to make words, but he just couldn't do it. Soon enough, his turn was skipped.
Mawile was gasping for breath as well but also had two mouths, unlike the other two. "Choking?" she managed to slur out with her horns.
And then they could breathe normally again.
Gasping for their breaths back, the three fell to their knees as Cresselia did a lap around them in naked joy. "Correct! The concept of choking was what I was thinking of!"
"W-Why did it start happening to us?" Scout stuttered out. His heart was pounding his chest like a drum, and he could feel it in his throat. There were few things more terrifying than being unable to breathe, and by the end of that, they couldn't.
"We are in a dream," Cresselia sang. "A dream of thought-imagination. The longer I think of something, as a ruler of dreams, the more real it becomes." She leered down at them. "You accepted the terms of my game, and so you are my little experiments to see if this will work."
She giggled again, head twisting around to stare down at them with wide eyes. "The only way out now is to win. But the longer it takes, the worse you'll be. I can't wait to see how long you'll survive!" She giggled again.
"NOW GET UP!" she screamed, her voice like a shockwave, and the three huddled together, Mawile helping brace the other two. Scout tried to form a Shadow Ball, but his paws were shaking, and he couldn't focus, leading the move to fizzle out.
Cresselia saw it and her eyes flashed, clamping around Sean's neck and lifting him up. "I may not be able to do this to you," she said as Scout shouted after them, Sean kicked his legs and grabbed at his neck, but there was nothing to pry off him. "But I will do it to them."
"Okay! Okay! I get it! Stop!"
She dropped Sean, and Scout whispered apologies over and over. They were all scared now. Cresselia could probably do anything to them here, they could only play along in this twisted game of 20 questions.
"Mawile," Cresselia uttered, the Steel/Fairy shivered. "I have thought of my next choice. Begin."
Mawile clenched her jaws and took a breath, one she didn't need to fight for. "Is it an object?"
"No."
Scout went next. "Is it a concept?"
Cresselia leered at him. "No."
Sean nodded, wordlessly telling Scout not to worry. "Is it a pokémon?"
"Yes."
That brightened them up for a moment, before the suspicion set in again. Why would Cresselia go from choking them to a pokémon? And what did that mean? A pokémon would become real? Scout shuddered at the idea of Sonichu.
"Is it a Psychic-type?" Mawile asked, glaring at Cresselia.
"No."
"Is it a Dark-type?" Scout growled.
"No."
Sean saw what they were asking and nodded. But that confirmed it wasn't Darkrai or Cresselia. "Is it… a Normal-type?" He could feel his heartbeat oddly full.
"No."
Mawile grit her teeth. "A Water-type?"
"No."
Scout guessed randomly. "A Flying-type?"
"No."
"Is it a Grass-type?" Sean asked, glancing at his feet. He felt… heavy.
"No."
Mawile glanced to Sean. They were halfway now. "Is it a Steel-type?"
"No."
"Is it a Fighting-type?" Scout said.
"Yes."
Sean made a strange sound. "Is it… a riolu?"
"Yes."
Mawile's eyes grew wide. "Is it Riolu?"
"Yes."
They cheered, but those sounds of joy faded soon. Cresselia hadn't reacted any further, simply watching them keenly.
Scout put his paws on Sean, he could feel the riolu getting oddly… something. Like he was firming up against him. He took a long time to speak, the moments were counting down. "Is it-"
"Your turn is done, Scout," Cresselia said.
Sean opened his mouth. "It's me. Sean."
Cresselia moved lightning-fast, and Sean staggered back, a slice of red cut from his left arm to his right hip. He gasped, touching the wound as his blood began staining his fur.
It was a shallow cut if anything, but...
"I felt that," Sean said, paw shaking. "H-Holy shit, did that actually?"
"Round three begins!" Cresselia trilled, doing another loop-de-loop in joy. "Oh, I am so excited!" She craned her neck entirely back to smile warmly at them, the rest of her body facing the other way. "You are being such a clever group, I am so happy you are here playing my game."
The rest of her body twisted around until her head and body were facing them normally. "Begin."
Her eyes were on Mawile again, so she girded herself. "Is it an object?"
"No."
Scout chewed his lip. The second thing Cresselia had thought of didn't harm them all, but the slice on Sean wasn't disappearing despite it being a dream. "Is it a concept?"
"No."
"Is it a pokémon?" Sean asked, he wanted to growl it, but his voice was weak and unsteady.
"No."
"Is it a solid?" Mawile demanded.
"No."
"Is it a liquid?" Scout demanded.
"No."
Sean was trembling. The cut wasn't going away. "I-Is it… uh… a thing?"
Cresselia amused, looked amused with that. "Yes."
That wasn't very helpful, but they wouldn't say it. Sean was shaken, they all were.
Mawile glanced around them, it was around this point that whatever their captor was thinking began to affect them. "Not a concept, creature, or matter… wait, no. Is it a human?"
"No."
They cursed as one. It was Scout's turn, and he was a little bamboozled, and his legs were cramping a little. "Okay… is it an event?"
"No."
Sean stretched his back. "Ah, come on. Is it a feeling?"
"Mmm," Cresselia responded. "Yes…?"
Mawile frowned and shifted in place, she noticed her whole body was aching. That was… a different response than they'd ever gotten from her. "A feeling?" she muttered. "Is it something a person causes to happen?"
"Mmm," she responded again, tilting her head. "Yes…?"
"What?" Scout spat, under his breath. "Is it… uh… something you do?"
"No."
Sean was gritting his teeth, feeling their sharpness that he still sometimes forgot was now his mouth. "I don't… ah, I'm so sore. Is it pain?"
"No."
Mawile shifted too. "I feel it too. Whatever is going on, it's not pleasant. My muscles are cramping... this reminds me of paralysis! Is it a status condition?"
"No."
"Why is it… getting hard to move?" Scout asked accidentally.
"No, that's not the answer, Scout."
"Wait, that wasn't-" He got a cut to the chest.
"Sean's turn."
"Is it… dying?" Sean panted.
"No." Her grin was all her face was. "But you'll wish you could."
"I… I can't… move," Mawile choked out. She could barely breathe again, as her chest wasn't rising. Her horns were frozen in place. "I-I-I-I… don't know."
"That's not the answer."
Scout could barely move too, but he could still move a little. He could feel something, like something on the edge of his perception, but the only thing he could see was Cresselia's broad grin. "Is it hell?"
"No," Cresselia drawled, her eyes shining with excitement, past the trio and further back.
"Is… it…" Sean's voice was getting thinner and thinner until he stopped moving entirely, body hardening into… stone.
Scout's heart skipped a beat. And then it could barely beat again. Mawile couldn't answer either, both of their turns being skipped due to becoming stone.
And then it was Scout. And he could only see Cresselia, and he could only hear a terrible, terrible, voice.
"WEeEEe COmE weeeeEE COMe~.
WE enTEr yoUR dREaM~
TAkE YoUR MINd AparT bY THe SeAM~
THInk oF FRienDs As yoUR BODy ReFUsE~
A SoNG ThEY sinG oF YoUR AbUsE~
LiSteN tO ME AS YoU BOiL iN my pOOl~
YoUr FatE WIll Be A THOusanD TiMEs as CRuEl~
Scout was stone. But he wasn't. He forced it out, the name on the 20th guess. "DARK MATTER!"
And then the stones shattered. Sean and Mawile shattered into dust, and Cresselia screamed.
"NO!" she bellowed. "HOW DID YOU? OH YOU, knew. You… knew." Her wings shone white, and Scout couldn't move. "Worthless slime. DIE!"
Scout couldn't avoid her. Not her. Not here.
He felt her wings sever the flesh of his belly before going so much further. He felt the moments as his organs split and his spine was sliced in half.
The last thing he saw before everything collapsed was Cresselia screaming and pursuing a fading orb of darkness.
Then. He awoke.
Scout jolted back, screaming.
The pokémon was ready for that, thankfully. Sean and Mawile hadn't woken up okay either, but Scout blitzed past anyone who tried to grab him and bolted for the road.
He heard shouting after him, but he didn't care. He just had to move. He ran to the crossroads and formed a titanic Night Slash and threw his paw with a scream.
Two trees fell as Rai and Mane caught up with him. Rai tackled him, and Mane wasn't far behind, but he didn't dogpile Scout. He was a cat, he didn't dogpile anything.
"It's okay, it's okay," Rai was repeating as Scout buried his head in his chest and bawled.
Mane rested his chin against Scout as their meowth broke down underneath Rai. He was shaking like a leaf in a gale, claws were out and stabbing into the ground and Rai's side. The worst thing for them was hearing Scout desperately choke in breaths, coughing and retching as he just swallowed air, until Mane pressed on his stomach to push some of it out.
"It's just so… hard," Scout said, as he was winding down. Mane, knowing the seriousness, actually considered whether he should make a joke or not.
He did anyway.
It made Scout give a watery chuckle, so he took it as a win.
"Scout, you've been asleep for two days, and you look exhausted," Rai said, worried. "What happened in there?"
"It's a full-on world," Scout said, voice soft and even now. "Pokémon are getting taken in, and if Darkrai was telling the truth, they could be stuck there forever if Cresselia starts going on a massacre. Almost no one knows they are dreaming, and even those that do, like Striker and Guardian, can't seem to remember it for long. Only Keira, Saniya, and apparently Team Go-Getters seemed able to keep their minds entirely."
"Saniya's in there?"
"Yeah. She's not mad at me for what I did to her. I just got to wake her up, and everyone and it'll all be back to okay. That's all. I have to save everyone, then everything will be okay again. That's what. That's... that's all."
"You're not okay though," Mane said, pushing in. "Don't look at me like that. You're not. You've been all stiff and direct for the past however long."
Scout gave him a weak smirk, but Mane didn't say anything, and it dropped.
Mane settled down next to them. "Darkrai really has done a number on you, huh?" He gave Scout's forehead a lick. He was still stuck under Rai, but he'd stopped hyperventilating.
Rai nudged him with his head, pressing against Scout's chin until he raised his head up to Mane. Mane put their foreheads together, noses touching.
And then they just remained like that. Until Scout stopped fighting the shakes in the first place and then longer until he stopped shaking altogether, his muscles aching.
Rai licked him on the cheek, and so did Mane. He returned the favour and complained about hairballs he was going to get.
So, they teamed up and bathed him. Scout was mortified, but no one was intruding on them even out on the road, and they were relentless with their love and affection until he wore down.
Scout ended up falling asleep, and Mane carried him back to town on his back, the shinx and litleo linked tails as they walked. They didn't re-join the circle of pokémon, already down to discuss what they had found. They were taking Scout back to Sharpedo Bluff.
Sean was sipping a cup of something warm as Team Ion passed by. He motioned to them, and Sunflora called out to them.
"We're taking Scout to bed," Mane called.
"We might not come back until tomorrow morning," Rai added. "Go on without us, Scout's told us what's going on and that Riolu and Mawile know. But if you need something, you can come and ask us."
With that understood, the circle could move onto discussing important things without having to wait for anyone else.
Everyone was here. Torkoal still hadn't woken up, but neither Sean nor Mawile could confirm they saw him in The Dream. They didn't go to the Hot Springs, however. Beheeyem crashed not long after they got ejected from The-Dream, having stayed up the entire time to keep them going, so he had been dragged into a room.
Ponyta, Chimecho, Sunflora, Ampharos, Jirachi, Sean, and Mawile were seated in a circle. There were blankets and cups of something warm in Sean and Mawile's grasp, and they were taking careful sips.
They had already explained most of what had gone down in The Dream to the group while Team Ion was sorting themselves out, and with them off to bed, there was no reason to wait around any longer.
"So, the Spacial Rift, then?" Jirachi asked, only yawning once. He'd gotten a bit livelier the last couple days and had improved in helpfulness. He managed to summon two feathers before crashing, just in case the dream walkers couldn't wake up, the feathers kept in a safe place by Ampharos, unused for now.
"That's what Scout said Saniya said," Sean explained, holding his cup firmly. He had a bandage over his chest, from a cut that had simply appeared on him to the awake pokémon's horror. "But things kinda went to absolute hell before we could learn how she determined that."
"As tough as it is to suggest, we should go wake Scout up and ask him then," Sunflora said.
"I don't know if now is the best time," Sean said, frowning slightly. "I guess Rai did say we can go to them if we need to."
"If legends forbid, something else happens, we need to know now," Sunflora said. She sighed and stood up. "I'll be the bad guy, and I'll be back soon."
She dashed off before anyone could speak up.
"I guess until she's back, what do we do?" Ponyta asked. "Spacial Rift is… nothing I've ever heard of."
"It's Palkia's domain," Jirachi explained, he had an idea of it at least. "At least, the domain of theirs that is reckonable by the world. Similar to the Hidden Land for Dialga."
"Or Giratina's place?" Chimecho asked. Saniya had spoken a fair bit about Giratina, so they all knew a little.
Jirachi shook his head. "Nah, not really. The Hidden Land and Spacial Rift are their dimensions, or their dimensions anchor points to this one, because of all the disturbances and stuff. The Reverse Distortion is its own thing, no 'anchor' point necessary when it IS the anchor. I won't go into specifics, it'll confuse everyone. Including me. And I'm too smart to handle being confused."
"I'm assuming we're going to find it by asking Dialga for help?" Chimecho asked.
Sean nodded. "That's the idea. Now that we know Darkrai is there, we can get Dialga's help and hunt Darkrai down and stop this once and for all." He lacked the usual oomph to his words, paws still shaking a little.
Neither he nor Mawile put much description of what Cresselia had done to them.
Everyone was going to need a lot of therapy once this was all said and done. Azumarill's business would be booming.
"I hear something about a Lapras that can show us the way?" Ampharos asked. "One of Jirachi's summoned feathers should wake them up lickety-split!"
"Lapras might only take me, and Team Ion," Sean pointed out.
"Ah? Really?" Ampharos asked, cocking his head. "My-my-my, they wouldn't make an exception with the world in peril?"
"Maybe… or you could borrow Rai's Relic Fragment, he allowed Mane along when they did that." Ampharos didn't react to any names, but one could be sure he'd remember them.
Sunflora returned and confirmed what they'd been told. "Celebi was able to meet Giratina, ascertain it was the real one, and Giratina was able to confirm that the Spacial Rift was where Darkrai was creating this dream," she explained, reciting what Scout had told her.
"Well, that's good news," Jirachi said, clapping. "It seems a plan is afoot! We wake Lapras, travel to the Hidden Land, get Dialga's assistance and storm the Spacial Rift!"
He paused and rubbed his chin. "Hmm. Palkia definitely would have trapped the place badly, and a dungeon realm like that would go to utter chaos if we entered with too many. Darkrai is a cunning one."
The conversation continued as the sun dipped below the horizon. It was too late to do anything now, but the next morning they would begin the journey to the Hidden Land.
Sean had one thing he also wanted to ask. "Jirachi, are you able to summon a Masterball?" At the curious looks he explained. "It's something that should be able to permanently capture Darkrai."
Jirachi hummed and searched with his powers. His serene expression slowly, but surely, turned to a frown. "N...no," he grunted. "I'm getting a lot of weird balls, but 'Masterball'? No. I think it's too rare. Is it?"
Sean sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I had hoped but you can't summon rare things?"
"The rarer something is," Jirachi explained, frown fading as he stopped searching, "the harder it is for me to specifically hone in on. And things can be protected from me too. I'm sorry."
Before they retired for the night, Jirachi used a feather on Lapras, and once the situation was explained to the groggy, and ravenous, pokémon he was geared up to return to the Hidden Land the next morning.
"If it were a simple trip, perhaps I could bend the rules," Lapras explained as he floated down to the beach, as they discussed who was to go. "But this is not. You seek an audience with Dialga, they will not permit anyone to enter the Hidden Land."
"Can we not simply borrow the Relic Fragment?" Ampharos asked.
Lapras shook his head. "The fragment itself could only be found by someone of worth and trust. Admittedly, yes, I did bend the rules with Litleo, but had he not been nearly killed, he would have journeyed to the Hidden Land with the first lot."
"Can you explain why you can't bend the rules now?" Chimecho asked. "The world is at stake."
"It is not a choice of mine to make," Lapras said. "The Hidden Land is Dialga's seat of Power. It is the location of Temporal Tower. It is kept hidden to protect it, as time is fragile. The more that enter it, the more risk of something else coming through."
"Darkrai already knows where it is," Ponyta protested. "What else is there to protect it from?"
"Do not argue with the understanding that a being like Dialga is rational," Lapras chided. "I understand the stakes, but Team Ion and Riolu are capable of this. For interlopers to enter the Hidden Land, my life and yours would be at tremendous risk. Dialga may not listen, they may smite you without hesitation. With Darkrai's threat apparent, yes I believe that they would smite any that aren't those that have already been. I will not gamble your lives, nor will I gamble mine."
With Jirachi awake, they did consider summoning more feathers and waking up Striker and Guardian, but that'd add more time to explain things, more time to summon things, more time to feed and water them, more weight on Lapras' back, time that they did not have.
"I'm okay," Scout insisted, he'd slept well buried between Rai and Mane.
"I'm okay," Rai insisted, he'd dropped the bandages yesterday.
"I'm okay," Mane insisted, he still had a bandage on but was otherwise alright.
"I'm okay," Sean insisted, as awful as The Dream had been and the actual damage he'd taken from that, it was sleep.
He'd awoken to panic and a new cut on his chest, Cresselia pulling some Freddy Krueger shit on him, but it was shallow and closed up quickly. The real damage was the mental strain.
There was still grumbles of discontent. Sunflora couldn't help but point out something else. "Meowth and Riolu have been through so much and Shinx and Litleo are only just recovered, on top of Riolu's similar injuries. Why can't at least one of us go as well?"
Lapras hesitated, but Sean spoke up. "It'll be okay, Sunflora. It shouldn't be too hard, and we need Dialga to help. Risking pissing it off in any way is too big of a risk to take. I'm tough, I slept, I'm okay."
So, they were seen off. Lapras giving another word of apology for the rules. No matter what; Dialga was too temperamental to risk offending here.
And they sailed. Lapras started off slowly, still a bit stiff from his extended sleep. But as he tapped into the channels of the waves, and the sea of time, they began to speed up.
"I'll go as fast as I possibly can," Lapras said. He'd done it for them when time was collapsing and could do so again now. However, that was still only so fast.
The time taken to reach the Hidden Land allowed the tetrad of pokémon to rest a little more. For the most part, they were okay. Entering The Dream was sleep, even if it wasn't overly restful, and besides the twisted thing that Cresselia had done, they had rested and recovered a bit during it.
It was mostly the trauma that exhausted them at the moment. Rai and Mane had also healed up thanks to rest and Chimecho's tender machinations. They were physically ready to end this.
Rai and Mane were still basically on top of Scout as they travelled and Sean sat on the edge of the shell, feeling as alone as ever.
Scout eventually convinced his partners to get off him, and he sat by Sean, giving some company, and they watched the waves with warmth around them.
Dialga was not so kind as to meet them at the beach when they arrived, and the quartet of pokémon travelled the Hidden Land and Hidden Highland dungeons to reach the Old Ruins.
Thankfully, the ferals of the dungeon were rather docile today. Most didn't react much to their intrusion, and those that did either watched them carefully or ran away. Only a few battles commenced, and they cleared the dungeons in record time.
"This is so much nicer than the first time we were here," Sean commented to Rai, who nodded in agreement.
They did not pause to stare at the artwork in the Old Ruins, running all the way to the Rainbow Stoneship. Dialga was nowhere in sight.
"Oh come on, do we have to go to the tower?" Scout asked, looking up at the floating spire.
"Looks like it," Sean sighed, looking to Rai. Mane looked eager, he'd been this far but never to the power and Rai removed the Relic Fragment.
"Can you cut the string?" he asked Scout, as the Relic Fragment wouldn't fit into place with the string in the way. Scout quickly slashed through it, and the fragment was placed.
The four waited as the stoneship powered up.
"This is kinda cool though," Mane said, prowling around nervously. "Rai's talked about this thing, but I've never actually flown on it before. How, uh, fast does it go?"
"Reasonably fast, I remember," Rai said. At the time, Sean and Scout were a little focused on their imminent erasures to really notice much about the trip up to the tower, leaving Rai to fill in the awkward silence with a conversation with Scout that they hadn't been able to have since their old argument in the guild.
With him being the only one to really notice what had been going on around them at the time, it was he who answered Mane's questions.
Mane's claws came out when the stoneship jolted, and he anchored himself in place as it began to float. "This is weeeiiiird," he said, unable to pull his claws out and not really wanting to either.
The wind brushed their fur as they began to float up. The Rainbow part of the name was reflected in the trail of magic that appeared behind them.
"It's like we're on the Rainbow Road," Scout commented. Sean grinned a little after he got what Scout was referring to.
"At least we're not racing any other storeships," Sean said. "Would have to be knocked off this one."
"Not helping," Mane grit out and Scout chuckled at him. He padded over to Mane and laid on his back until Mane calmed down.
"This IS cool," Mane said, glancing at the floating rocks around them.
"Want to look over the edge?" Rai asked, trotting to one of them.
"NO!" Mane yelped. "Get back from there!"
Rai gave him a cheeky smirk but did step back. They teased Mane a little more as Temporal Tower grew larger and larger.
It seemed like a minute before they were docked, like Lapras docked, at a stone path.
"This brings back memories," Rai commented as they stepped off, Mane needing a few moments to take the plunge.
"Not the most pleasant ones," Scout said, eying the area he was pretty sure he and Sean disappeared him. Rai bobbed his head and paused when they reached it.
"This is where you two disappeared," he said, Mane, taking note of every crack and pebble. "Easily one of the worst moments of my life."
Really, the only thing that compared was losing his family to Manectric, and he could barely remember that.
Scout gave him a hug, and they continued on.
"I heard the tower was a nightmare," Mane said, a little apprehensive all over again. "What do you think it'll be like now?"
"Striker told me a lot of what he, Saniya, and Guardian were doing when they were helping Dialga here," Sean said. "They said the ferals gave them no trouble at all. Didn't attack or anything. They were meant to be more like a final layer of defence than anything. Hopefully, they won't think we're here to damage the tower. Again."
With that thought, they stared up at the titanic doors of the mystical dungeon before entering.
The last time they were here, the tower was falling apart and time was splitting in tune with it. Pieces of the Dark Future could be seen through reflective areas, and it was all sorts of bad.
Today, the tower was a pleasantly lit castle. There were no furniture or decorations, but the rooms were clean, the guardians only watched them, and no porygon assaulted them with endless volleys of Discharge.
Other times could not be seen in the blue crystal of the tower, only their reflections. The tower did not shake or tick. It was not quite, but no finger could be put on any tune that was playing.
The rooms were almost less of a chaotic dungeon and more of an actual tower, finding the way forward without running into any dead-ends.
Frankly, after all the chaos of the past couple weeks, this was a welcome change of pace. There was a lot of patchwork repairs that could be seen. Stones that didn't quite mesh with the rest of the tower and broken areas still, but the tower was far more intact than last time.
With nothing slowing them down, they reached the summit in record time.
"Could speedrun that, that was so nice," Scout said as they stared out at the sky. The clouds above them were thick and fluffy, but not red or spiralling into a typhoon of death.
Of the four, only Mane had never been here. Being nearly decapitated was a pretty convincing reason for his tardiness the first time. Even now, Mane couldn't quite turn his head all the way to the right without it hurting, a scar hidden under his groomed fur.
The pinnacle of the tower had been entirely repaired and cleaned up. The four columns had been placed back up, neat and whole. The rubble-strewn about from the tower shaking itself to pieces had been swept up and removed. And the mental image of Dialga sweeping filled Scout with no lack of amusement.
The damage to the bricks had been undone. And the dais where the Time Gears were placed was pristine and defended.
Rather than exposing the gears to the elements, a blue crystal clearer than the blue of most of the tower was erected in front of it like a glass barrier. Approaching the dais, the four could see all five gears were turning ever-so-slowly.
Scout's eyes couldn't quite pull themselves off the gears. A distant part of him was reminded of the other times he'd seen the gears, but he couldn't quite remember. All he could see were the r.
"Interlopers!" a voice boomed, shaking the ground. It only barely caused Scout to blink, as the other three spun around. Dialga was behind them, somehow it had snuck upon them. Scout pulled his eyes away and turned around in kind.
Dialga was bigger than last time. More so to Scout, Mane, and Rai, who hadn't seen it since Dialga had been approached on the matter of his existence but was still bigger to Sean who was the most recent one here to have seen Dialga.
Still not as big as the previous Dialga, however.
Dialga's eyes bored into them. "What do you four of you have business with here?"
"We're here to ask you for help," Sean said, speaking first.
Dialga didn't react at first, but it slowly raised its head, looking further down at them. "Explain."
And so they did.
"Darkrai has taken over the Spacial Rift, or something, and is manipulating space to create another dimension. One where he rules. The Dream."
"He's trapping waking pokémon in his Dark Void, dragging their minds to The Dream where he has absolute power to do anything he desires."
"Giratina has been blocked from even viewing the world due to this distortion."
"Lucario killed Palkia, so it cannot stop Darkrai. If it's even come back by now, it must be too weak."
"And Giratina confirmed it. Darkrai is in the Spacial Rift. He's being helped by Cresselia, who wants to them murder all the sleeping pokémon to reduce the world to silence."
"Can you open the way to the Spacial Rift?"
All four of them had spoken at least a part to Dialga, speaking directly to it was difficult to even for those who had seen it more often than the others. The eyes of Dialga were impossibly distant, and its sheer aura was detectable even by Scout. Taking over when someone began to falter was simply needed.
Once everything was explained, they waited for Dialga's response.
"I cannot do much for you," Dialga stated impassively. Its presence was large enough that they didn't break into arguments, simply waited for what else it had to say. "To invade Palkia's domain is to invite its retribution."
"Palkia WAS killed by Lucario," Sean pointed out.
Dialga paused, a flicker of something crossed its face. Almost a disturbed expression that was gone immediately. "Palkia would be weaker, yes. Which further explains how Darkrai has been able to corrupt its domain. However, to assist you in any active way is to leave Temporal Tower unguarded. I will not do that, for if this is a trick or just an area of opportunity for Darkrai, I will not play into its hands like the previous Dialga."
It glanced to the Time Gears, protected by what amounted to stained glass compared to another legendary. "What I will do, however, is provide you the gateway to enter the Spacial Rift yourselves."
They brightened. In all honesty, that was the extent of their hopes of what Dialga would grant them.
"Would you be able to open it at Treasure Town?" Sean asked, hopefully.
"I can do this, yes," Dialga said. "I can do what the dark Dialga of the false future did. It granted Dusknoir a one-time ability to open a Time/Space portal to return to that fetid time. I can give one of you the ability, twice, to open up a gateway to the Spacial Rift. The catch being, the one who opens it must enter as well for this portal should not remain open for long. Not with the distortion of Palkia's realm. You will need to open the portal again, from inside the Spacial Rift, to return."
Sean nodded. "I can do it. If Guardian could, I can."
"Sean, what if?" Scout began.
"No. I would be going anyway. If nothing else, I have a type advantage over Darkrai."
"But not Cresselia, which I do without being weak to Darkrai."
They stared each other down for a moment. Sean sighed. "Please?"
Scout frowned but gave a nod. He didn't want to argue, and he would be the first to say Sean would be a better choice than him.
Not that he wasn't going to go anyway.
Dialga waited for Sean to step forth and the others to step back. It leaned its head down, just its skull larger than Sean's entire body, and breathed over him.
The diamond in Dialga's chest glowed, and its fan shivered. The air around Sean blurred as Dialga imparted a gift of aeons past.
"It is done," Dialga said, pulling itself back up as Sean blinked. "You understand how to open the portal?" Sean agreed. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he did.
Sean coughed. "Not as nasty as when Saniya gave me the Dimensional Scream," he admitted.
"You possess that ability?" Dialga asked, curious. It thought for a moment before nodding. "Yes, I can see why. If you have noticed a lack of visions lately, it is due to the restriction on time-based abilities. No time travel and no affecting the time stream, as prophecy is an off-shoot other pokémon capable of it would find their visions clouded at best."
"I haven't really noticed," Sean said, before frowning. "Except I have. I've noticed it's not been going on, but I've been mostly okay with that. It's pretty disorientating."
"The ability would not be lost forever," Dialga said. "Only far rarer in its use and more limited in its reach. Regardless, our business is done here, and time is of the essence."
Dialga made a pun. Scout and Sean had to fight to stop themselves from laughing at that.
And then Dialga gave them almost a smirk. "Begone now, heroes of time. Stop Darkrai for good and be the heroes of time and space."
Leaving dungeons were thankfully faster than traversing them, and they had a quick return trip on the Rainbow Stoneship. Scout was almost permanently attached to Rai on the way down out of that irrational fear of him disappearing again, and Mane joined in, and he was smothered with cat. Scout pulled the Relic Fragment back out and stashed it in his bag, having no string to return it to Rai.
After getting down the stairs and past the murals, they were back at the time dock where Lapras waited.
"How did it go?" he asked as they boarded his shell.
"I can open a portal to the Spacial Rift," Sean explained. "That's all that we need."
"Thus you have been given Dialga's blessing," Lapras commented as he swung them out to the sea of time again. Normally he'd need more of a break, but they had no time for that. "My family was granted something similar; it is why I can bring you here, to a land one second out of sync with the test of time."
Lapras continued chatting as they swam. He needed to in order to keep himself going, and the four got to know their ride a little better.
"Ah yes, I recall hearing Wigglytuff and Audino speaking in Brine Cave. I am not supposed to show myself to those who aren't chosen, at least not there. Thankfully Audino could help, I had wondered about her, however."
"What do you mean?" Scout asked.
"Wigglytuff has informed me of the truth of Audino, but at the time I was flabbergasted that a pokémon had charged straight for the cove. She didn't appear to have been attacked by the foul beast that prowled the cave either. I don't know if she had simply avoided it or what. But I do wonder if she was a Shadow Pokémon...? No, forgive my aimless wonderings. It doesn't matter either way."
Lapras was pleasant and calming, especially in this uncertain time. Riding his shell was a rest that they needed greatly, listening to the waves and his enjoyable conversation.
Scout also let the others in on what Cresselia was doing at the end. Mawile wasn't here, but Sean hadn't found the will to ask what had happened after he and Mawile woke up. All he knew was that Scout remained in The Dream for a few moments longer before completely freaking out.
"The thing she was calling... was Dark Matter," Scout said. He'd spoken very little of the events past Explorer's, as Gates had already happened. "And... Darkrai also told me about something bigger behind Shadow Pokémon called The Shadow. Because Cresselia tried to summon Dark Matter, I can't help but think that they're one and the same."
More conversation needed to happen, but Lapras still needed to rest, and so did they. Still, by the time the four had awoken the next day, they were already moving, Lapras having rested only for a few hours before carrying on.
"We're almost here," Lapras said, voice steady but growing laboured. They could see Treasure Town in the distance. No sign of the Wigglytuff Guild lurking above, but the little beach and the trees bordering the town were a welcome sight.
Even without the guild there it was still Treasure Town.
"When this is all over, you've got to let us make this up to you," Rai said as they neared the beach. Lapras chuckled the offer off, but Rai insisted. "Please. You got us to the Hidden Land in time. You've taken us back and forth and back and forth without any complaint, pushing yourself as well. You're saving the world just as much as any of us."
"That's kind of you to say, Shinx," Lapras said warmly. "But I am merely the carrier of heroes, not one myself."
"We couldn't do it without you," Sean added. And Lapras couldn't entirely refute that point.
"If it eases your minds, I'll think of something," Lapras assured them. "But for now, you've got something far more important to focus on. Riolu, Meowth, Shinx, Litleo. You are heroes, and on behalf of all pokémon, I thank you for this. It is an honour to have helped you in any kind."
"It's an honour for us too," Scout said.
"You saved my life too," Mane said softly. "If it wasn't for the Aqua Ring, I probably would have bled out." He touched his neck. He hadn't spoken much to Lapras on the trip, but it was clear now that he had wanted to say this. "Thank you."
Lapras turned his head, eyes drooping but smile kindly. "Any time." And with that, he blew four Aqua Rings onto the pokémon. "They will last for a few hours at least," he said, the four feeling Lapras significantly slow down, but they were hitting the shore anyway. "Something to keep your vitality as you enter Palkia's realm. I only wish I had thought to give you these during the time crisis."
But he could be forgiven, things were a little in emotional chaos during that time.
They thanked Lapras one more time and ran off, letting him swim off to rest. Ampharos was just making his way down to wait for them when he spotted them.
"Team Ion and Riolu!" he beamed to the running pokémon. "Good news?"
"Yes!" Sean said, gesturing for Ampharos to turn around and run with them. He did, although he was clumsy and knocked Scout over.
"My-my, I am so clumsy. My apologies, let me help you up."
They had no time for hijinks, and Ampharos knew that, helping Scout up without tripping over again. He was genuinely clumsy, and not as fast, so he ran behind them as the four raced into town.
"We've got away into the Spacial Rift," Sean explained as they ran. "But it'll only work once, so I'll explain it to everyone."
"I too have some good news, but also some bad news. The good news is right at the town, the bad news will also be in town, so let's hurry up!"
Well, that was encouraging.
They ran and stumbled, their way into town where about six different things happened at once.
Sean saw Striker.
Striker saw Sean.
Guardian saw Scout.
Scout saw Wigglytuff.
Wigglytuff Yoom-TAH'd in excitement.
Ampharos tripped over.
Striker was a fast pokémon. Probably faster than Scout in a burst, although not quite as agile. Sean knocked the wind out of him with a tackle-hug that fortunately was from a riolu and not a Lucario.
Guardian was not a fast, swift, or agile pokémon. Yet upon seeing his son, he borderline teleported through a shadow to capture Scout in a crushing embrace.
Wigglytuff began to dance as Team Sunrise was, mostly, reformed. Ampharos bit the dust for a moment, but Mawile wandered over to help him up.
Scout had the opportunity to cry earlier with Rai and Mane, this time, it was Sean's turn. He sobbed into Striker's chest and screamed a few muffled things that others pretended they didn't hear.
Striker just held Sean tightly, not caring that they were in the middle of the street and that others were looking. He hardly cared about appearances anyway, only about his own.
They were world-saving heroes, but they were also so young.
Sunflora wiped some tears as the pokémon reunited. Wigglytuff decided to join in and took Rai and Mane up in his arms for some Wigglytuff-brand affection.
They cried, they cheered, they even laughed a little. But even as all moments like this had to be cherished for a long time, they didn't have a long time.
"So, this is the good news," Ampharos bleated as the pokémon calmed down. "It was agreed to use another feather to awaken Wigglytuff. And… knowing how the following conversation of who is to face Darkrai was going to go, it was agreed to then wake up Grovyle and Dusknoir the next day, courtesy of Jirachi."
Jirachi was currently unconscious, taxed after summoning two things today. He was being wafted with some fern leaves by a few random pokémon that were definitely not there when they had left a couple days prior. That attracted some attention.
"Ah yes," Ampharos continued, seeing where Team Ion's gazes were heading. "The bad news."
There were more pokémon around, pokémon with tension in their limbs and fear in their eyes. A southern-voiced seedot gave a shaky hello to Sean, standing with Beheeyem.
Chimecho was waiting in the town square, reformatted as a disaster meeting place. She had food being passed around and injuries being patched up by herself and other capable pokémon.
"There's another problem approaching quickly," Chimecho said as the returned pokémon gathered. "While you've been gone, Seedot arrived with pokémon from Sicilly Town and a dire warning." Seedot, who had been carried along to this meeting by Beheeyem, spoke up.
"R-Right. Ah saw it with my own two eyes I did. A big honking horde of ferals, unlike anything that ah've ever seen before. It's not ma ticket to enter too many dungeons, the excitement is fine, but the danger is a bit scary, yep. So, when I saw this was a horde unlike nothin ah've ever born witness to before, I mean a massive, hungering, venerable army of wild pokémon that is wreckin everything in its thoughtless path, I just went an' scooped up as many rational pokémon as ah could and ran to the only place, ah I could of that was safe!"
"And it's heading our way," Chimecho said, not looking directly at anyone, just trying to focus on counting berries. "From the times I've been able to tap into the Psychic Network lately, this has been seen before. It's heading in this direction—another feral horde. I wasn't awake for the first wave, so I can't say for sure if it's bigger or not. But there are so many vulnerable pokémon here, pokémon that had had to run from their homes to survive."
"This is why I'm awake now," Wigglytuff said. "That, and leadership if that means anything."
"We're glad to be awake now," Guardian said, carrying Scout. "But what a world to wake up to?"
"One without Saniya," Striker commented, sending a brief glare at Scout. The meowth flinched, and Guardian's eye flickered, and his fingers tightened for a moment around Scout.
"So, we have to prepare the town," Wigglytuff continued. "Building off your actions to protect it already, they worked wonders so it's something we can try again. But, putting that aside for now, what have you gained from your trek to the Hidden Land?"
"One where only you four could go," Sunflora sniffed. She still wasn't really over it.
Sean was the one to speak, always the most assertive. "Dialga's given me the ability, like Primal Dialga gave to Dusknoir, to open a portal to the Spacial Rift. I can only do it twice, however, once from here and once from in there. So, when we're all ready, I'll open it, and we can stop Darkrai!"
"How are we going to do this?" Ampharos asked, having parted from Mawile, as the pokémon drew closer into a circle. Not everyone was here, with refugees in town they had pokémon calming them down, treating their injuries, and letting them feel safe. While also watching over them for trouble.
Ponyta and Mawile were the primary pokémon doing this. And with Seedot having said his part, he was sent back into managing the crowd as well. Being a pokémon many of the refugee's had looked to for guidance, he'd led them to Treasure Town, after all, more than a few looked to him first.
Scout could feel eyes on him, and so he found his mouth working. "I learned a lot about Darkrai from The Dream. When I cut his arm off, the shock of that nearly killed him. Cresselia has been treating him for those injuries. I think he's staying with his dream realm because he's unstoppable in there."
Sean gave a sound of amusement at that.
"He can be fought in there," Scout corrected. Sean had explained everything while on Lapras, Scout had returned the favour. "But can't actually be beaten since the world is his. But if we stop him on this site, that's it."
"Killing him is the solution then?" Wigglytuff asked. Scout blinked at that. "I'm not speaking against it, I just want to make sure everyone is entirely clear on this. Killing Darkrai, is this our only way to stop him?"
Scout slowly nodded. "Darkrai has too many outs. If he isn't stopped for good, he'll come back to do it again. And he probably has an escape route planned, and we don't exactly have Palkia or Dialga in any position to blast him while he tries to escape. Dialga said he won't, it won't, leave the Hidden Land because of fears that Darkrai may take advantage of that. Which is fair enough. Darkrai wasn't at the Dark Crater, after all, it was a diversion."
"He's a Shadow Pokémon," Rai said, voice soft but carrying. "I know that if I was a Shadow Pokémon, I'd want it all to be ended. On some level, killing Darkrai is probably a release for him."
Scout gave a weak twitch of the lips, not a smile or frown. "Yeah, that's kinda the vibe I got from him. I spoke to Darkrai alone, and he made his full 'argument' as to why I should just let The Dream take over. Ultimately, I do kinda think that he believes he's doing the right thing. He was talking about stopping some greater evil, the thing behind Shadow Pokémon, but when I pointed out that all this could just be playing into Its wishes since he's a Shadow Pokémon, he freaked out."
Scout shook his head. "But in the end, it could all just be a trick. A lie. Just something to manipulate. He's just too… dangerous. Even if he does want to do good…."
"He can't," Wigglytuff said, softly and sadly. "Being a Shadow Pokémon will always rear its head."
It was agreed then. They had to stop Darkrai permanently.
"Then… Cresselia?" Sean brought up, and she was discussed too.
"Cresselia is entirely insane," Mane pointed out. "Remembering what it was like to be frozen in time. She's just… nuts. She wants to kill everything, and she'll definitely be there too, we're going to be fighting Darkrai and Cresselia at once."
"Not just them," Striker growled. "They have Saniya under their control too. There is no doubt in my mind that Saniya will be used against us." Scout didn't cringe this time, but he looked a little sadder.
"Who is going to be 'us'?" Guardian asked. "That's what this meeting is about, correct? We all can't go to stop Darkrai, for the town will be unguarded and stopping him isn't going to stop the horde."
"Dusknoir has a fair point."
"But it's Dusknoir!"
"He's made up for everything."
"Yeah… yeah, fine. You're right."
"As much as I would love to go," Sunflora said, deciding to start things off. "I won't be. I was vital to protecting the town the first time, I need to be here to do it again." Which was something she was already in the middle of doing, a Grassy Terrain was slowly spreading across town, she would be rooted in place as well soon.
"I too will be staying," Chimecho said. "With what's coming? There are going to be injuries, perhaps even deaths. But I can stop at least some of those, I won't be any help against Darkrai."
"I'm going," Sean confirmed. "I have to before anyone argues. Dialga said that whoever opens the portal, which is me, has to go as well." Guardian nodded, he recalled something like that. "I have to open it again to get us back."
"I do wonder if I should go?" Ampharos asked. "I am, pardon this, quite skilled in combat and mystery! I could be of use against a foe like Darkrai and Cresselia. However, this could be the same for here too."
"One thing that I want to keep in mind," Scout pointed out. "Is that Darkrai doesn't fight a battle he doesn't think he can win. I don't know how it's going to be with Cresselia and Saniya there, on the Spacial Rift home ground, but… I don't think it'll work if Wigglytuff and Ampharos come. As much as I'd want them too."
Wigglytuff frowned but nodded. "I want to protect the town," he said, simply.
"You cannot simply go as Team Ion," Beheeyem said. "No offence, but this has to be done in one shot. We cannot let Darkrai escape again, and a legendary pokémon is no easy pokémon to slay."
"Thus, we'll go," Guardian said, gesturing to Striker. "Grovyle and I were more than capable of holding off Primal Dialga, we can lend our strength. We also were within The Dream and still somewhat aware of that, we know his tricks to a better degree than some."
Rai and Mane both raised their paws. "When it comes to fighting Darkrai, we're ready. Fighting a horde of feral pokémon was honestly even harder than fighting Cresselia, we can take them."
"Is it going to be you again?" Chimecho asked softly. "You proved yourselves. You saved the world. Do you really want to shoulder that burden a second time?"
She received six firm nods.
"I too think I should go," Beheeyem of all pokémon said. He flashed his fingers. "Legendary Pokémon are swift, are they not? Those three are at least. My Trick Room can turn that against them, and I am not weak myself."
"You'd do that for us?" Rai asked.
Beheeyem nodded, just as firmly.
Seven pokémon shared a Look, understanding the other's reasoning to come here.
Sean had to go, but he took that burden intentionally.
Scout was going; Darkrai and him were entwined in ways he didn't know, and so he had to be sure. He had a plan, fragile as it was.
Rai had to go; it was simply in his nature to stop the bad guy.
Mane had to go; Darkrai had hurt too many, too many that he cared about.
Striker had to go; Darkrai had Saniya, and he had to save her.
Guardian had to go; he could see himself in Darkrai, and he would not let Scout take this burden without a guardian.
And Beheeyem had to go; Volt and Cobalt were asleep forever if he did not.
Plus, he was a Psychic-type, filling that void that Saniya left.
The ferals weren't here yet, but Seedot had led a group of pokémon with those monsters at their heels, they wouldn't be far away.
Not entirely sure how this would work, Sean took them to Sharpedo Bluff to open the portal. Guardian, who had been gifted something similar once before, coached him through it.
"It's strange because you know what to do," he said, guiding Sean's position. "But you don't know how you know it. As you've also known the magic of the Dimensional Scream, I imagine the sensation will be similar."
"Now that you mention it," Sean said. "I feel a little woozy, not unlike those moments. Dialga said that I haven't been having many Dimensional Screams because it's a time-based ability and time's all restricted at the moment."
"Take your time," Striker said, holding onto Sean's arm to steady him. "And listen to your instincts."
Sean slowly let go of the control he had. The control that suppressed the aura-sense he possessed. The control that kept his mind human, even though he now had the body of a pokémon. He let himself breathe out, and something lit up within him before growing so blinding that he had to scream.
"Are you alright?" he heard Scout say, sounding so far away. The gentleness of a familiar paw touched his shoulder and Sean [ α] n.
Ash. Smoke. Cinders left by rotting flames. The only place to run was blocked off. Only a few could make it, and they were trapped, with no place to go. She had come. Victory could not have prepared them for Her. All that they had done. Everything that had been fought for. Was this the only outcome? Or can you change it? Sean. Please. Don't let this be the end. When Timber returns with wounds to his body and heart to tell the story, they have to trust him. Listen to him. He wasn't the only one.
/\
Sean gasped as he came back to his senses.
He had a rather concerned group of pokémon trying to rouse him, and he blinked himself back to his senses. "What happened?" he asked, voice quite stable. He blinked a few more times and shook his head, helping himself up by grabbing onto Striker. "I feel fine, actually."
"You just fainted on us," Rai said, concerned. "After the portal appeared."
Sean glanced past them to where a split in space hangs. It was not the same as the Dimensional Hole that Guardian had been able to open up. Rather than a shifting vortex with a thousand different shades of colours endlessly spinning, this was a more bog-standard rip in the air before them.
It opened up like someone had simply unzipped part of the air around them to reveal a dully-lit stony cavern.
"Sean, what happened?" Guardian asked.
Sean shrugged, feeling like he missed something. "I don't know. I think something just gave a little when I opened the portal. Did anything like that happen when you opened the Dimensional Hole?"
Guardian gave a hesitant nod. "It took a great deal out of me, but I wasn't quite as alright as you afterwards. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I have to go," Sean answered instead. "I'm fine, it felt like a Dimensional Scream at first, but I didn't see anything." He paused, the beginnings of a frown touching his muzzle. "Nothing I remember at least."
With little to no choice, the group accepted this and prepared to leave. Team Ion and Beheeyem would enter first while Team Sunrise enters five minutes later. Chimecho hovered anxiously, keeping the time for them."
"We will defend the town while you are gone," Wigglytuff announced. "We'll give you all the time you need!"
"Thank you, Wigglytuff."
Facing the portal, Scout, Rai, and Mane huddled together for a moment to draw some comfort, the Aqua Rings around them blending together for a moment in a watery sparkle. They took a collective breath before nodding to Beheeyem. "Alright," Scout said.
"Try not to engage them in combat before we get there," Dusknoir asked.
"Let's go," Beheeyem finished for Scout, and they entered the Spacial Rift.
It's time.