-chapter 4 (Quiet Valley)-

Nina:"Mom...Dad...wake up..."

-tiredly- Me:" Huh?"

-tiredly-Phoebe: "Nina sweety, what's wrong?"

I looked around, somewhat confused about my surroundings...

Nina: "You're sleeping on the couch..."

-unsure- Phoebe: "Huh?..."

Phoebe: "Oh..."

Phoebe: "hehe...I guess we fell asleep."

Phoebe: "Wait a minute, where's Corina, wasn't she supposed to watch you?"

Nina: "She's in the kitchen...here she comes..."

Corina: "Nina, I told you not to wake them..."

Nina: "But I want to watch tv."

Phoebe: "Nina don't be rude..."

Phoebe: "Where were you last night Corina?"

Corina: "I was upstairs when you got home last night, I slept in your room, I hope you don't mind, when I came down to see you, you two were already asleep on the couch."

Phoebe: "Oh...ok..."

We both got up.

Me: "-sighs-, I don't feel so good."

My back hurt, my neck hurt, my right arm was asleep, and I had a slight headache.

I realized I still had all my pokemon and my pistol on me and for some reason, the sniper rifle I acquired yesterday was propped up by the front door.

-unsure- Me: "Why did I leave that out?"

Phoebe: "I don't know, why did you take it with you?"

Me:"Because, free..."

Phoebe:"-sighs-, you better put it away before Charley wakes up."

Me:"I know..."

I put both of my guns away, then went upstairs to put away my pokeballs. When I came back down Phoebe was talking to Corina in the kitchen, while Nina was watching tv.

Phoebe: "You sure you have to leave so soon?"

Corina: "Yeah, sorry, but I need to get back to Goldenrod."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, ok, thanks for taking care of Charley for us."

Corina: "Anytime..."

She left the kitchen and headed out the door.

Phoebe came out as well.

Phoebe: "So what should we do today?"

Me: "Didn't we have to go see somebody?"

Phoebe: "Um..."

Nina: "The gym leader...?"

-somewhat annoyed- Me: "Nina, no, for the last time..."

Phoebe: "Oh right...we were supposed to go back to the lab..."

Phoebe: "-sighs-, Nina go take a shower...we need to leave soon."

Nina:" I already did."

Phoebe: "Um ok then."

Me: "I'll go take one."

Phoebe: "oK."

So Phoebe and I each took a shower and then Charley woke up shortly after that.

It was kind of a frantic morning as we were running late and trying to get out the door as soon as possible, even going so far as to skip breakfast, once we got outside we realized it was a bit cold, so we all went back inside to get our coats. Because we skipped breakfast we were all hungry by the time we got to the lab. However we quickly found that Dr. Nash was out for lunch, so we went out as well.

-sadly- Charley: "Cawey huhwy..."

Phoebe: "awe...Charley, settle down, we'll get you something to eat in a little bit."

We headed to the nearest fast food place, wanting to get back to the lab as soon as possible.

Charley really was a hungry little guy...

-at the restaurant-

-cutely- Charley: "Mawa, Cawey wa mo foo..."

Phoebe: "Charley I can't give you anymore of my food, you ate almost all of it... you goofball.."

Me: "You want me to order some more for you baby girl?"

Phoebe:" Go ahead."

Phoebe: "I think next time we should just order something for Charley..."

Me: "Yeah, probably."

I got back in line to order more food for her, which she ended up eating on the way back to the lab.

Once we returned to the lab, we still had to wait a few minutes for Dr. Nash to return.

Nina:"Why were we in a hurry again?"

Phoebe: "Nina we were supposed to be here this morning, even if we're waiting for him now, we're still very late."

Me:"I just hope they won't hold it against us."

PPhoebe:"I'm sure Melissa will understand."

Me:"But she's not in charge anymore is she?"

Phoebe: "She's not working at this lab anymore, but she's still overseeing this project."

Phoebe: "But I don't think they'll hold this against us."

unknown man: "Greetings..."

Me: "um..hi.."

Unknown: "I'm Dr. Nash, I was wondering when you would show up."

Phoebe:"We were up late last night."

Dr. Nash: "I know, they told me you might not even show up, it's no problem."

Dr. Nash:"Anyway, now that you're here, let me show you what's going on."

The lab had been renovated a bit since we were here last. A large tv screen had been installed on the far wall, next to the portal. From the looks of things, they seemed to be using a drone to explore the other side of the portal again, with the video feed being displayed on the new screen. The portal was glowing red, indicating its unstable condition.

Dr. Nash:"There's a few others in the main building that have locked on to worlds other than yours or mine."

Dr. Nash:"We have them shut down at the moment until we can investigate them further."

Phoebe:"Locked on?"

Dr. Nash:"They stopped randomly changing, and the code returned to normal, but with new output destinations of course."

Dr. Nash:"Unlike the one in the lab here."

Dr. Nash: "It seems to change it's output destination on its own every day, and it doesn't show any sign of stopping."

Me: "So you want us to explore it or what?"

Dr. Nash:"Not quite, this one is too dangerous, it could change it's destination without warning and leave you wherever it sends you."

Dr. Nash:"That's why we're exploring it with drones..."

Me:"What if we find another portal machine in there?"

Dr. Nash:"There's no guarantee, allthough most of the worlds it has linked us too do contain a portal machine of some sort, which doesn't seem to be a coincidence, but there were other times it has linked to completely barren or inhospitable worlds. "

Dr. Nash:"Instead of messing around with that deathtrap, we need you to explore the ones that have stabilized."

Dr. Nash: "The first of which are now being moved to the lab adjacent to this one."

Some scientists were wheeling a portal machine into the room across the hall. They had the doors removed so they could get it inside, but even then it just barely fit.

Dr. Nash: "Unfortunately we can't fit them all in that room, so we'll have to test just two at a time."

Me:"Why can't we just test them in the experiment building?"

Dr. Nash:" Because we can't risk innocent civilians getting caught in there, aside from that, they're easier to manage when they're isolated from the rest of the system, mind you there's millions of portals, it took us two days to find all the ones that were acting crazy with a team of fifty people."

Me:"By the way, how did you fit that many portals into just a few buildings?"

Dr. Nash:"Not all the portals are big enough for a car to fit through, most of the ones we used for the experiment aren't much bigger than a normal doorway."

Me:"Oh, ok."

Dr. Nash: "You've never been in the phase one building have you?"

Me:"I don't think so..."

Dr. Nash:"Anyway, if you could wait just a few minutes for them to get things ready in the adjacent room...I ...have to get back to my team...I'll be back don't worry.."

He walked back into the lab.

Nina:"Mom...I'm bored..."

Phoebe:"Well...why don't you take Charley over to the lounge and keep an eye on him for us?"

Nina:"Ok..."

-lovingly- Phoebe:"Charley be good for your sister."

-tiredly- Charley: "Cawey tywo..."

-lovingly- Phoebe:"Ohhhh... you're tired?"

Phoebe:"Nina, maybe you should let him rest a little bit."

Phoebe:"He'll probably get upset if you try to play with him."

Nina:"What am I supposed to do?"

Phoebe:"Just hold him comfortably, and hope he'll fall asleep."

-somewhat annoying- Nina:"That sounds boring..."

Phoebe:"-sighs-...well...fine then...deal with it."

-cutely- Charley:"-yawns- Caw..ey ty...wo.."

Phoebe:"I know sweety..."

-lovingly- Phoebe:"I think you may have eaten too much, you little goofball."

Phoebe:"Your sister won't look after you, and mommy and daddy have to work soon, so I don't know what we're going to do."

-sadly- Nina:"mmmm."

Phoebe:"What? You said it sounded boring..."

-obviously awake- Charley: "Cawey es slee.."

-lovingly- Phoebe:"No you're not..."

Me:"Nina come on, we need you to watch him for a bit, there's nobody else around and we can't take him in there with us..."

Nina:"-sighs-, ok ok...I'll take him."

Phoebe:"And you'll let him sleep?"

Nina:"Mhm."

Phoebe:"Ok then."

She carefully handed Charley over to her.

-upset- Charley: "Newa...Cawey no wa! Cawey Tywo!..."

Nina:"What's wrong?"

Phoebe:"You have to hold him like I was...so he can be comfortable, he can't sleep very well when you hold him out in front of you like that."

She carefully showed her how to hold him.

Phoebe:"There you go...see he's not upset anymore."

Phoebe:"Ok you remember where the lounge is?"

Nina:"Mhm."

Phoebe:"Ok, go over there and we'll see you in a little while."

Nina:"Ok."

Phoebe:"Ok now that that's sorted out."

Me:"Mhm?"

Phoebe:"It's been such a crazy day today..."

Me:"Yeah, I know..."

Me:"Hopefully this portal thing won't take too long."

Phoebe:"I hope so too, you could really see how bored Nina was, I don't think she will stay out of trouble for very long."

Me:"Mhm..."

Dr. Nash: "Allright sorry about that, what we need you to do is answer these questions, if you can find someone in there that can talk, ask them, if you can't, try to answer as many as you can yourself."

Dr. Nash:" It shouldn't take too long, but just try to go in and out as soon as possible, you don't want to stay there very long, yesterday, while you were in Sinnoh, one of our other scouts was apprehended by the authorities, and we had to bring agents in to rescue them."

Phoebe: "Why'd they arrest him?"

Dr. Nash: "Long story short, they thought he was an alien and tried to autopsy him...alive."

Me: "Uh...ow.."

Dr. Nash: "Anyway, you'll be provided with a video camera, so you'll be able to properly record the situation."

Dr. Nash:"Also, before we allow you to enter, we'll send in a probe to ensure the conditions on the other side are hospitable."

Me: "Why didn't you do that before?"

Dr. Nash: "It's a new procedure we developed, sorry but, everything is changing so fast, sometimes safety takes a back seat, aside from that, you haven't tested the portals before, every other time you've been through them, you've had a bit of indication what was on the other side, or were sucked in without a choice which is technically not our fault."

Phoebe: "He's right Cj...we've just been lucky this far."

Me: "Well, atleast we're both still here."

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Dr. Nash: "Where did your children go?"

Phoebe: "I sent Nina to the lounge with Charley, she should be fine for awhile."

Dr. Nash: "Ok, I'll send someone to check on them in a little bit."

Unknown Technician:"We're almost ready to send in the probe."

Dr. Nash:"Ok..."

Dr. Nash:"Why don't you two go on into the room, I need to check the other one real quick."

Me:"Um...ok."

He walked away again.

Phoebe:"-sighs-, he's even busier than Melissa..."

Me:"Ehh, I think it might be because he's in charge of both these rooms, I guess..."

Phoebe:"Yeah...he's running two expeditions at once..."

-jokingly- Phoebe:" That may be a new record..."

Me:"I don't know Pheebles..."

We headed into the room, a technician with a laptop was preparing to start up the portal machine they just wheeled in a few minutes ago.

Unknown technician: "It will be a few minutes yet, I have to get this thing running, and then we have to send in the probe."

Phoebe: "Hey I remember you..."

The technician seemed confused...I was confused as well. I've never seen him before.

Unknown technician: "I'm sorry miss, you must have me mistaken for someone else."

Phoebe: "No...you were here when I arrived for the experiment..."

Unknown technician: "We had lots of pokemon here for that...sorry if I don't remember you...""

Unknown technician: "But yeah I was working here back then."

Phoebe:"It's ok."

Phoebe:"How do you feel about all this stuff that's going on with the portals?"

Unknown technician: "It's pretty crazy, it reminds me of when first made contact with the other world."

Me: "You mean the disaster?"

Unknown technician: "Yes, but we didn't mean for that to happen you know?"

Me: "I know, we're as much at fault as you."

Unknown technician: "Anyway lets see if this works..."

He pressed a button on his laptop, the portal then made a loud buzzing noise and then the vortex began to form, looking ready to be used about a minute later.

Unknown technician:"Ok, looks like it's working, now we just have to wait for Dr. Black to get back with the probe."

Phoebe:"What's your name?"

Unknown technician:"I'm Dr. Stevens, but you can call me Bob..."

Phoebe:"Ok Bob..."

Dr. Black arrived with the probe about a minute later, along with Dr. Nash.

Dr. Nash: "Ok so the first test is underway..."

Dr. Black: "Right."

The probe had the appearance of a small metallic sphere studded with cameras and other devices. They hooked the it up to Bob's computer with a fairly long cord and then they threw it into the portal.

Bob:" Oxygen levels appear normal, gravity levels 9.81, so normal as well, temperature is a bit cold, but not dangerous."

Phoebe:"Good thing we brought our coats..."

Me:"Mhm."

Bob:"Let's check the visuals just to be sure..."

He pressed a button, which caused a window to pop up on his screen with a live feed from the camera on the probe, though it was nothing but a black screen at the moment.

Bob:"Hmm, it looks dark, better switch to night vision."

Dr. Black:"It looks like a cave..."

Bob:"Going mobile..."

He plugged a joystick into his computer and began to drive the probe around.

-unsure- Me:"How does that thing move?"

Bob:"It's got tires along the side, and a gyroscope to keep it upright."

Me:"Ok..."

Bob:"Anyway, because it's a cave we'll safe this one later for drone exploration, we don't know what could be hiding in there...and we don't know what the outside world is like."

Bob:"Ok retrieve the probe and start up the next portal...take this one to storage..."

It was another half hour before they got the next portal started up, in the meantime we headed back to the lounge to check on the kids. Charley was asleep, and Nina was extremely bored, so Phoebe sent me out to the car to get her old Nintendo DS and Charley's car seat so Charley could sleep and Nina could atleast have something to do. It's not how she really wanted to spend the day, but we didn't have much of a choice in the matter. We stayed with them in the lounge until Dr. Nash came to get us.

Dr. Nash:" Ok listen up, this next portal appears to be safe for exploration, so get ready to go in."

Phoebe:"Ok."

Me: "Where does it lead this time?"

Dr. Nash: "It looks like it ends up right outside a strangely empty hospital, we think it may be another video game world, but we aren't sure yet. "

Phoebe: "Oh great more zombies..."

Dr. Nash: "No, no zombies this time around.."

Dr. Nash:"It looks like an empty."

Dr. Nash:"Anyway, take this radio with you so you can communicate with us on the other side."

Dr. Nash "And also take these camera pins, and stick them on your shirts so we can see what's going on as well."

Me: "How will we get back?"

Dr. Nash: "There should be a portal machine on the other side, all you have to do is walk back through it."

Dr. Nash: "This isn't like the time you were sucked in, you shouldn't have to go looking for another portal..."

Me: "Ok."

Phoebe: "Allright then, let's go Cj."

Me: "Right, let's get this done."

We pinned the cameras on, and then held hands as we walked through the portal. When we came out on the other side we were in front of hospital, but there were no people, or vehicles around. It was a seemingly nice day as we walked down the street, there didn't seem to be anybody around, but coming from a winter world, this warm, sunny day was a pleasant surprise.

Phoebe: "Cj.."

Me: "Yeah?"

Phoebe: "I wonder why there's nobody around."

Me: "I wonder too."

There weren't any cars driving around..., there didn't seem to be any parked either, and the city didn't look abandoned, all the buildings were in great condition, and there wasn't even a spot of grime or piece of trash anywhere. If there was anything wrong it was that it was too pristine.

Me: "I would guess we're in some sort of video game because everything is all ridiculously pristine...but, there doesn't seem to be any characters or anything.."

Phoebe:"Yeah, it seems that way..."

We kept walking down the sidewalk, looking for signs of life.

Phoebe:"Hmm, you should have brought your staraptor, it would help our search..."

Me: "Yeah, I know..."

-a few minutes later-

Not much had changed, but I thought I heard something in the distance...

Phoebe: "Did you hear that?"

Me: "Yeah, I think so."

We headed towards the source of the sound, which eventually led us onto a highway overpass. However, the actual entrance to the highway was strangely blocked off by some concrete barriers.

Me: "Looks like we landed in some sort of racing game, we must have just been teleported to the background."

Phoebe: "But what game is it? You like racing games?"

Me:" Well I don't know I'd have to see the cars first..."

Phoebe: "Well, here they come."

About a half dozen cars came out of the distance, and passed by at ridiculous speed, with no regard for the speed limit whatsoever before promptly disappearing around a corner. If there was a speed limit anyway. They all seemed to be fictional models of some type, but I couldn't place the game they belonged too. There didn't seem to be anything else going on in this world aside from their race.

Phoebe: "What happens when the race ends?"

Me: "I don't know."

Me: "Is their anybody inside the cars?"

Phoebe: "They passed by too fast, I couldn't tell."

Me:"I'm not sure how we're going to catch up to them..."

Phoebe: "Me neither..."

I thought about it for a while...

Me: "Well...this is apparently a race, so there must be a start line somewhere right?"

Phoebe: "Mhm."

Me: "And when the race is over, all the cars should congregate around there."

Phoebe: "But do you think it's safe to walk around the track?"

Me: "With your teleportation abilitys, I think we'll be fine."

Phoebe: "Um..."

Phoebe:" If they work here..."

Me: "Do they?"

Phoebe: "Let's see..."

She took my hand, and...nothing.

Phoebe: "Nope..."

Me: "Crap..."

Me:"-sighs- We'll just have to walk then."

Phoebe: "Ok."

I started to head down the exit-ramp, towards the barrier.

Me: "Just stick towards the wall, and to the inside of corners, we should be allright."

The cars passed by again before I made it to the barrier.

Phoebe:"Hey wait up!"

She caught up to me as I climbed over the barrier.

It was a long walk, and the cars seemed to passed us every three minutes or so, we had to cover our ears as they passed as they were insanely loud, but this also meant they never caught us by surprise. After awhile we made it to the finish line, a bright checkered stripe across the road under yet another overpass, that couldn't have been more obvious. Then we played the waiting came, and after the cars passed atleast 3 more times they finally slid to a stop, one by one, allowing us to get a closer look.

The windows were tinted, so it was kind of hard to see inside, but the cars did seem to have drivers, all of which were wearing racing helmets with visors, so we couldn't see their faces. I tapped on the window, and tried to get the driver's attention, but they ignored me.

Me: "Are these guys even alive?"

I tried to open the door and get in, but the door handle wouldn't budge.

Me: "I can't even open the door Pheebles.."

Phoebe: "Weird..."

The cars suddenly vanished.

Me: "What the?"

I almost lost my balance.

Phoebe: "Where'd they go?"

-unsure- Phoebe:"They're not ghosts, so...I'm confused..."
Phoebe:"But they seemed to have brain waves...but they only focused on racing."

Me:" It's probably just Ai Pheebles, they're probably not much more intelligent than the zombies..."

-on radio- Dr. Nash: " How strange...you two can come back now, it doesn't look like there is any sentient life here."

Another group of cars suddenly appeared, and began to rev their engines...

Phoebe: "Huh? What the?"

Me: "Another race must be starting..."

Me: "Come on let's go."

Phoebe: "Ok."

We left the track, and headed back to the portal, it was quite a walk, but we eventually made it back, by the time we got back in the lab, they had another portal set up, ready to test.

Dr. Nash: "Ok so that was some strange racing world, we'll have to do more tests with that one, but for now you need to test this next portal over here."

Dr. Nash:"We already checked it out and it's fine for you to enter."

Dr. Nash:"This one seems to lead to another town, there appears to be man-made structures, but we're not sure if it's populated yet."

Dr. Nash: "It might be another game world, might be another world entirely, but we don't know."

Dr. Nash: "Anyway, after this you're free to go."

Dr. Nash: "It will take us awhile to get these portals moved out and a few others moved in."

Phoebe: "Ok."

Phoebe: "Can you send someone to check on our kids?"

Dr. Nash: "Of course..."

Phoebe: "Good."

Me: "Allright then are we ready?"

Phoebe: "Mhm."

We held hands and headed through the portal again, we held hands because we still had the subtlest fears we may be separated. When we came out on the other side we found ourselves just outside a small town. It seemed to be a peaceful, but somewhat foggy evening, but I was immediately filled with dread when I realized that ahead of us was a large road sign that said "Quiet Valley"..

Me:" Oh crap..."

Phoebe:"What?"

Me:"We're in a horror movie..."

Phoebe:" No Cj, the sign says quiet valley not sil..."

-interupting- Me: "Yeah I know, but do you think it's a coincidence they're so similar ?"

Me: "What if this is the same thing, but for a different earth? Like a parralel or something..."

-on radio- Dr. Nash: "What are you two concerned about?"

-into radio- Me: "This appears to be a horror movie universe doc, I'm not sure it's safe to continue."

-on radio- Dr. Nash: "Well if you two can't explore it, nobody can, I suggest you continue, but use extreme caution."

-on radio- Dr. Nash: "I'll also beef up security around the portal in case something tries to escape."

Me: "Pheebles, are your powers working?"

Phoebe:" Um..."

She teleported around a few times..

Phoebe: "Yeah, I think so.."

Me: "Ok, lets stick together, hopefully we won't come across anything strange."

-unsure- Phoebe: "And look out for triangleface?"

Me:" You mean pyra..."

-interupting- Phoebe:" I don't know, it's a parralel isn't it?"

Me:" Yeah, I guess."

We held hands as we walked passed the sign, towards the town, there didn't seem to be anywhere else to go, the fog behind us was so thick we couldn't see anything behind the portal.

-as we were heading towards the town-

I was trying to remember as many details from the movie as possible.

Me:" I hope if triangle face appears you'll be able to match him."

Phoebe:" I can't guarantee that, but I can try..."

Phoebe: "There's a chance he might be a dark type..."

Me: "But he's not a pokemon..."

Phoebe: "I don't think it matters really, I think if any creature is wicked enough, they can become dark type...they develop that kind of resistance, the kind that you have..."

Me: "So I'm a dark type?"

-unsure- Phoebe: "Well...kind of...I guess..."

Phoebe:"No...wait... you're not wicked..."

Phoebe:"Awwwe..you ruined my theory..."

-unsure- Me: "And what does that make Charley?"

-unsure- Phoebe: "Um...cute type.."

Me: "That's not a type..."

Phoebe: "I know...but he's just so cute!..."

Me: "Ok Pheebles, calm down."

Phoebe: "Sorry."

We made it into town, there were a few cars parked around, but none of them looked like they had been driven in a while.

Me:" Uh...-sighs-...this looks just like the movie..."

Me: "Keep your guard up."

Phoebe: "Ok.."

Phoebe: "I don't hear anything yet, I'm pretty sure we're the only ones here."

Phoebe: "Unless there's somebody in the buildings."

Me:" Um, I think it's best to avoid the buildings..."

We heard the sound of thunder...and wind.

Me:" Well that was strange..."

-unsure- Phoebe: "Um...Cj, I think you made it mad."

It became very dark very fast...and then it started to rain.

Phoebe:"-sighs-, now we have to go inside."

Me: "I think we should just go back..."

Phoebe:" Um...Cj, I can hear something..."

Me:" What?"

Phoebe:" It's triangleface..."

-urgently- Phoebe:"Let's get out of here..."

Me:"Ok sure."

I saw him run around a corner, running towards us with a freakishly large blade.

I took her hand.

Me:"Come on, teleport us.."

Phoebe:"Um.."

Me:"Pheebles...come on!"

He tried to attack us, he wasn't accustomed to Phoebe being able to teleport, so we escaped with with ease and made it back to the portal. Phoebe's hesitation bothered me a bit, I knew something was wrong.

Once we got back on the other side they shut the portal down so he wouldn't escape.

After that we headed home for the day, and everything seemed normal, except for Phoebe, she was quiet and seemed a bit distraught. Whatever she saw in that guys giant, triangular head, it bothered her deeply.

Me:"Pheebles you ok?"

She was quietly sitting on the couch, which wasn't normal for her.

Nina was outside working with her pokemon, still trying to get stronger for next weekend.

Charley was playing around on the floor with his blocks.

Phoebe:"I don't know...triangle face...his mind...so screwed up..."

Me:"Well, try not to think about too much."

Me:"Allright, we don't have to deal with him anymore."

Phoebe:"He was more than Ai Cj, he really wanted to kill us, he was as real as you and me."

Me:" How can you tell?"

Phoebe: "Ai brains just think about what they're going to do, and that's the only thing, they don't have emotion, they don't have any thoughts or memories other than what their programming requires them to have..."

Phoebe:"That thing...had the mind of a ...of a demon..."

Me:"A demon?"

Me:"Baby girl, I don't know what you saw, I don't want to know, but, it can't be too bad compared to what we've already seen."

Phoebe:"What if it involves our children being killed?"

Me:"That will never happen and you know it."

Me:" That's the way that town works, it feeds on your darkest fears and emotions, like in the movie."

Me:"Except it wasn't entirely going off of ours, because if it was, pyramid head wouldn't be there."

Phoebe:"What makes you so sure?"

Me:"I have no fear, and as far as know you don't have any guilt."

Phoebe:"That may be true, but I just can't unsee...those images...Cj..."

Me:"Well, maybe we should go see a movie then."

Phoebe:"Huh?"

Me:"It will help you to stop thinking about it.."

Me: "We'll watch some adventure flick or something..."

Phoebe:"What about the kids?"

Me:"We can bring them along."

Me:"Charley, you wanna see a movie?"

Charley: "Cawey dunno."

Me:"Are you sure?"

Charley:"Wha moowee?"

Me:"It's like tv but bigger..."

-cutely- Charley:"moowee es teewee?"

Me:"Sort of.."

Me:"You want to watch a movie?"

-excitedly- Charley:"Cawey wa moowee.."

Me:"hehe...ok."

Phoebe:"Allright, since Charley wants too we'll go."

Phoebe:"Just put him in his car seat, and go get Nina, I don't want him to get too close too me like this, if he picks up on my emotions he could get really scared and upset."

Me:"Ok.. fair enough."

-playfully- Me:"Come on little guy."

Before long we were all in the car on the way back to Goldenrod. Phoebe was still somewhat out of it by the time we got to the theater, but once we bought some tickets to the Legend of the Dragons, a new adventure movie that features lots of dragon type pokemon, including some mythical kinds unlike any seen in the games or even the pokemon world, the amazing part is even the fictional pokemon looked so real, thanks in part to them being portrayed by highly skilled dittos. It was a good movie, it held Nina's attention, and it wasn't too violent or scary so Charley could sit through it without getting upset. My plan seemed to work, Phoebe was feeling a bit better, she even carried Charley out to the car. After the movie we were a bit hungry so we swung by a restaurant and got some dinner before heading home for the evening.

-at the restaurant-

-concerned- Nina:"Are you feeling better now mom?"

Phoebe:"A little bit.."

Nina:"It was a nice movie."

Me:"Yeah it was pretty good wasn't it?"

Me:"What was your favorite part?"

Nina:"When the dragonite fought the hydramance."

Me:"Yeah that was pretty cool, I'm not really sure what mine is, it's kind of hard to choose."

Nina:"No...hydramance was the best.."

Phoebe:"That's your opinion sweety..."

-playfully- Me:"What about you Charley? what was your favorite part?"

-unsure- Charley:"Cawey dunno..."

Phoebe:"-giggles- like father like son.."

Nina:"-giggles-..."

Charley: "Mawa...Cawey huhwhy.."

Phoebe: "I know, you already said that when we left the movie theatre.."

Phoebe:"Even though you've had quite a lot of popcornn.."

Me:" Your food will be here in a little bit, just be patient."

It wasn't long before our food arrived and we had a nice dinner before returning home for the evening. We watched tv for a little bit before sending the kids off to bed, we went to bed a bit later, and I slept well until Phoebe woke me up in the middle of the night.

-in bed-

-loudly, asleep- Phoebe: "No go face...leave me alone..."

-tired,woken up- Me:" Wha..."

-loudly,asleep- Phoebe: "Cj... where ...are...you?"

-tiredly- Me: "I'm right... beside you..."

-sleeptalking, upset- Phoebe: "You're hurt...he hurt you..."

-tiredly- Me: "No I'm fine...-sighs-..."

-yelling- Me: "PHEEBLES!"

-loudly- Phoebe:"-screams-."

-realizing- Phoebe: "-pants-...oh...it was a dream..."

Me: "Mhm..."

Her screaming made me wide awake..

I heard Charley crying from the next room..

Phoebe: " Cj, you woke Charley up..."

Me: "You sure you didn't do that?"

Phoebe: "You yelled at me.."

Me: "You were having a nightmare..."

Me: "Besides, you screamed at me.."

-sincerely= Phoebe: "Sorry..."

Charley continued to cry.

-calmly- Me:" Never mind that, I'll go calm Charley down before he screams his head off."

-disturbed- Phoebe: "Ooooh...don't say that..."

Phoebe: "Wait...I'll come with you."

Me: "Allright."

We both headed to Charley's room and coaxed him back to sleep before returning to bed.

-once back in bed-

Me: "Triangle face still bothering you huh?"

Phoebe:" Mhm."

Me:" You can use your power to affect my dreams can't you?"

Phoebe: "Mhmm, but not when I'm like this, it will just give you nightmares too."

Me: "I know.."

Me: "But, maybe you can use it to let me help you with your dreams."

-exhausted- Phoebe: "I don't know Cj..."

Phoebe: "But we can try..."

Phoebe: "Just hold me close."

Me: "Ok..."

-somewhere around an hour later-

She was dreaming we were in Slabtown, albeit twisted to look like quiet valley.

As usual, I knew I was dreaming, but was still conscious...Phoebe was standing next to me...

Me: "Is that you Pheebles?"

Phoebe: "Cj?"

She looked at me...immediately I knew something was off...

Phoebe: "I don't like this place we should go home..."

Me: "Um...you're not the real pheebles are you?"

Phoebe: "What do you mean?"

Me: "No wait..."

Me: "You are, but you're not aware you're dreaming..."

Phoebe: "What?"

Me: "Weird.."

Phoebe: "What's weird.?"

-urgently- Phoebe: "Lookout!"

She teleported me out of the path of pyram...I mean trianglehead's blade...

Me: "Him again.."

Phoebe:" He wants to kill us.."

Me: "You know this is a dream right..."

Phoebe: "You're bleeding..."

Me: "What?"

Me: "Nonsense he missed."

I felt blood running down my arm, from a wound I was pretty sure wasn't there a moment ago. Stranger still, it didn't match the blade, and it didn't hurt, it just looked bad, and bled...

Phoebe: "Come on let's get out of here before he finds us again."

Me: "Wait up."

It seemed that, despite not being aware she was dreaming, she still had some control over me... and I had very little control over her, she barely even seemed to understand anything I said.

Anyway I ended up following her into a building, which I knew right away was a terrible idea.

It was only a matter of time before I felt like I was in the movie, first hand, the building we had entered seemed bigger on the inside than on the outside.

Me: "Where are we going exactly?"

Phoebe: "We need to save the children.."

Me: "I thought we were trying to run away before he caught us."

Phoebe: "Hmm?"

We somehow ended up in Charley's room, I've seen some strange things, but seeing a dream firsthand, while completely conscious, has got to be one of the strangest. It was like the laws of space time just ceased to exist...and Phoebe, being asleep, was completely oblivious to it...

So we went up to dream charley's crib, but he wasn't there, this freaked Phoebe out, but didn't really phase me because I knew the real Charley was safe in his real crib.

-upset- Phoebe: "Where is he...? Where is my baby boy.."

-upset- Phoebe: "Cj help me, please..."

Me: "I don't know what to say.."

She held me, crying.

Me: "Maybe Nina has him?"

Phoebe: "Oh Nina, we need to check on her."

Long story short Nina was gone too.

Phoebe: "He stole our children..this is terrible!"

Me: "Calm down."

There was a ridiculous amount blood coming from under the bathroom door. Knowing without a doubt where this was going, I tried to divert her attention...

Phoebe reached for the door.

Me: "Um..we were making soup in the bathtub..."

Me: "Charley kind of...made a mess..."

Phoebe: "It looks like blood..."

Me: "It's red food coloring..."

She opened the door, revealing a bathtub full off goopy red liquid, and several empty cans of soup on the floor...

Phoebe: "What a mess..."

Me: "Mhm."

Me: "Ok come on, we need to go kill triangle face, I got a message from James, it's our next mission."

Phoebe: "James messaged you?"

Phoebe:" He never messages you."

Me :"Charley broke your phone remember?"

Me:" We haven't gotten you a new one yet so we're using mine."

Phoebe: "Oh...yeah..I remember, he thought it could go swimming in the sink."

Me: "Right."

Phoebe: "Let's go."

We got in her car she drove away, and we somehow arrived back in quiet valley, with no sign of her car anywhere. I honestly can't explain it, we were driving down the road one second, and the next, I was standing next to her, in quiet valley, as if we had simply skipped over everything in between.

Phoebe: "Ok where is triangleface?"

Me: "I don't know."

Phoebe: "He took my children...he's going to pay.."

Me: "There we go baby girl.."

I realized I was now carrying my pistol, and a shotgun strapped to my back...also the cut on my arm was gone.

-faintly- Nina: "Mommmmmmmy!"

Phoebe: "Nina..."

Phoebe: "I'm comming sweety, don't worry."

I followed her to the source of the sound.

I knew it wasn't real but...watching triangle trying to hurt my daughter really pissed me off.

Me: " You touch her, I kill you.."

He looked at me, in a somewhat confused manner, like I wasn't supposed to be here, and then lunged towards me.

I dodged, and shot him, several times, but the guns felt like toys...of course they did, Phoebe wasn't used to using them. Worse still, they didn't seem to effect him at all.

Me: "Pheebles.."

-upset- Phoebe: "She's dead..."

Apparently Nina had died somehow...

Me: "Phoebe that's not her...it uh...it's one of triangleface's minions..."

Phoebe: "What?"

Me: "That's how he fights, he uses your own fears against you, that's not Nina baby girl..."

Phoebe: "Then where is Nina?"

Me: "We left her with James and Melissa while we we're here, along with Charley."

What used to look like Nina had warped into some twisted, demonic looking thing.

Phoebe: "Wait, how did it die?"

Me: "I killed it...remember?"

Phoebe: "Oh yeah.."

It seemed that triangle face had stopped fighting for a moment while I was talking.

Phoebe: "Cj lookout."

I was suddenly thrown to the side, just barely missing triangleface's blade.

Phoebe: "Hey triangle dummy.."

Phoebe: "Your head might be protected but your body is still vulnerable."

Triangleface: "Hmmm?"

It vocalized in a very deep voice, shortly before Phoebe twisted it's body around backwards and snapped it neck...

Phoebe: " -sighs-, let's go home.."

Me: "Um...rrrright.."

We started walking back, apparently towards the portal, but I woke up before we got there.

Phoebe woke up just after me.

I felt more tired than ever before, and had a searing headache that started to fade away after awhile.

-tiredly- Phoebe:" What a weird dream.."

-tiredly- Me: "You're telling me..."

-tiredly- Me:"You forgot you were dreaming."

-tiredly- Phoebe:"Yeah, ...I forgot to tell you...that could happen.."

Phoebe:"But we beat him.."

-tiredly- Me:"I guess,... by leading you away from all the traps.."

Phoebe:"What do you mean?"

-tiredly- Me:"The bathroom, the thing with Nina...I'll tell you in the morning..."

Phoebe:"Ok..."

She kissed me on the cheek.

-softly-Phoebe:"Thankyou.."

-tiredly- Me:"You ...ok now...baby?"

-softly-Phoebe:"Mhm..."

Me:"Good."

-tiredly- Me:"So...now what?"

-tiredly- Phoebe:"It's not morning yet...we still have ...time to sleep...-yawns-... you need to sleep, you were technically awake that whole time..."

She snuggled up to me.

-tiredly- Me:"Ok..."

-softly-Phoebe:"Also, I'll take Nina to..."

I fell asleep before she finished speaking. I felt like I'd been up all night...

We both fell asleep sometime later, and I didn't wake up again until the next morning.

Phoebe wasn't there, and this freaked me out for a moment, until I realized she probably got up to take Nina to school, and just let me sleep in. I felt so tired, I just stayed in bed, and maybe drifted off a few times...

It was atleast another 15 minutes until she returned.

Phoebe:"You awake yet Cj?"

-just woken up- Me:"Huh...oh...yeaah..I guesss"

Phoebe:"I took Nina to school, I hope you're ok."

Me:"I'm fine sweety."

Phoebe:"I was tired, I shouldn't have let you do that."

-confused- Me:"What are you talking about?"

Phoebe:"Huh?"

Phoebe:"Oh so you really ok then."

Phoebe:"Good, I was a bit worried that could hurt you."

Phoebe"But it looks like you slept it off."

She kicked off her shoes and crawled in bed, kissing me on the cheek as she snuggled up next to me.

-lovingly- Phoebe:" Thankyou Cj."

Me:"Mhm."

Me:"You're cold.."

Phoebe:"It's cold outside.."

Me:"Oh...ok."

We snuggled for a little while until Charley woke up.

Phoebe:"I'll go get him, you can come down when you feel ready."

She kissed me again for leaving to get Charley.

Not really feeling any reason to stay in bed, I got up and went to take a shower.

It was then that I realized I was having difficulty walking.

Regardless, I made my way to the shower while Phoebe was still tending to Charley.

My legs felt like jelly, I had to sit down, I just hoped they would wake up on the their own.

I quickly realized that everything felt numb, I couldn't even muster the strength to get back up.

-somewhat worried- Me:"Pheebles!"

She came as quickly as she could... teleporting in after about a minute or so.

-worried- Phoebe:"What's wrong?"

Me:"I can't feel my legs...I can't get back up...what's happening?"

Phoebe:"Oh arceus...I was worried this would happen..."

-regretfully- Phoebe:"I knew I shouldn't have...but I wanted to sleep so I did anyway..."

-solemnly- Phoebe:" Listen."

She sat on the floor on the other side of the shower door.

Phoebe: "When you were in my dreams last night, even though your body was still here, you might as well have realy been there."

Phoebe:" And, because of that, you might as well have been awake the whole time."

Me:" You already told me that..."

Phoebe: "I know but there's more too it."

Phoebe: "Because we were essentially sharing minds for a moment, your soul has to re-integrate with your body..."

Phoebe: "So, basically, you've lost all your fine motor skills."

Me:"So what? I'm like a baby now?"

Phoebe:"No, it will just take some time before your mind remembers, I know you'll recover Cj."

Me:"How long?"

Phoebe:"I don't know..."

Me:"What if it never does?"

Me:"I'm completely useless like this..."

-crying- Phoebe:"Cj..."

-upset- Phoebe: "It won't, but even if it does, I won't leave you..."

-upset- Phoebe: "It's my fault..."

-calmly- Me: "Baby girl, don't cry.."

Me:"I'm sure it won't last long.."

Phoebe:"You need help don't you?"

Me:"Yeah..."

Phoebe:"I'll be back in a moment."

She used her powers to turn the water as cold as possible.

Me:" What the?"

Phoebe:"It might help..."

Me: "-sighs-, whatever.."

I couldn't really feel it anyway, it felt like somebody just turned a fan on...

Phoebe:"I'll be back in a little it.."

Me:"Ok."

Everything went downhill from that point on...

I never regained my strength, and even though Phoebe stayed with me, I knew she wasn't happy, I watched Charley grow up from the confines of a couch I couldn't even get up from. I couldn't enjoy anything anymore, because I couldn't feel anything, anymore. Phoebe took over for me at Devon, on her own, raising Charley and Nina mostly on her own, at my worse, I tried to convince her to move on, but she wouldn't, and everytime I made that suggestion it made her extremely upset, so, I stopped, The kids grew up, Nina went off on her own as a trainer, sent us letters for a few months and then just fell off the grid, we feared the worse, but we died never knowing what became of her. Charley became an agent, he got his own house in goldenrod , and he visited quite often. His visits were one of the very few joys I had left, after Nina fell of the grid, however, he left Devon and devoted the rest of his time trying to find her, before giving up and then moving away, to Sinnoh, to reconnect with the Gardevoir City he remembered from when he was a baby. We died never knowing what became of them, yes we died, we stopped taking the revives because we no longer had a reason to extend our lives, with my condition. The last thing I saw was Phoebe holding my hand, looking in my eyes, she blamed herself for everything, all I did since then was hold her back, and she never even dared to resent me, this self hatred had broken her, she wasn't the same, and I couldn't blame her for it, she continued to give everything, and I couldn't so much as find a way to get off the damned couch.

The very last thing I remember, was her holding my hand, she kissed me one last time before we passed out.

-hauntingly- Phoebe:"It's all my fault Cj..."