Chapter 13 – Mindpit

Dreams are so weird. They’re just a projection of one’s subconscious, showing thoughts, wishes, goals, or even fears, that sometimes we don’t even know they exist. Others think dreams might be a brief connection to another world, a different reality where everything you know is upside down.

Is it better than your reality? Is it worse? If that were the case… What if you were stuck in that reality and you could never wake up?

Ari had met that terrible outcome, and no one could understand why. Dreams weren’t supposed to be dangerous, right? And yet, there they were. Nimb, Sanah and Mylo had to resort to the strangest methods to save Ari from his own nightmare: going right inside it.

As the world twisted around them, Team Silver minus Ari found themselves in the middle of some garden, filled with flowers and trees that made for a beautiful sight, and not too far away from there, they could see a city.

Sanah was the first to speak. “Where are we? I didn’t expect dreams to look… Well, like the real world.”

“That’s because this specific dream is a memory.”

Everyone jumped upon hearing a distorted voice calling from the sky. “What? D-Drowzee, is that you?” Nimb asked.

“Yes, this is a bit uncomfortable but it’s the only way I can communicate with you since I can’t be there physically. You might not be able to hear me when you go deeper inside Ari’s mind, but at least I can help for the time being.”

“I see…” Mylo said. “We appreciate it. Can you tell us what to do now?”

“You need to find Ari, but that’s not going to be enough. If Ari doesn’t notice you when you talk to or can’t even touch him, then you have to dig deeper. His dreams distort his reality in a way even I can’t comprehend. You just have to find a dream where you can interact with him.”

“Well, that doesn’t make much sense… But we’re literally in a dream, nothing makes sense I guess,” Sanah complained, inspecting the area around her with unease. Her ears twitched and she turned around. “Wait, I think I hear something over there.”

Nimb and Mylo also turned and saw Sanah going further into the garden. They followed her and eventually found a wider area surrounded by tall bushes, flowerbeds and a big fountain in the center. Sitting on the edge of it, there were a Riolu and a Weavile.

“You think we should go back now? It’s been a while…” Ari the Riolu said. He was carrying a few flowers on his paws, fidgeting with them. He also had the appearance of a normal Riolu, which made sense considering the time of that memory.

Nimb gasped. “Ari! It’s us, we came to wake you up!” He ran towards them and tried to grab his arm, but his wing went through it like it was some sort of hologram. “What the…?”

“I think this is what Drowzee meant,” Mylo said, approaching at a slower pace, while Sanah just observed the duo of old friends talking to each other in front of them.

“Is that what you want to do, or are you just trying to be over-productive as always?” Ren the Weavile asked with a frown.

Ari scratched the back of his head, looking down. “Well… I don’t know, I guess I’m doing it again, heh. Honestly, I don’t wanna go yet…”

Ren gave him a gentle stroke on the shoulder and smiled. “Then let’s stay.”

Ari smiled and took one of the flowers he was toying with in his right paw. “Hey, mind if I…?” Ren just shrugged, so the Riolu leaned closer and placed the flower on top of the Weavile’s left ear. “Hehe, you look good with it.”

“It’s just a flower, but… Um, thanks,” Ren said hesitantly, but he couldn’t hide a soft smile forming on his face.

“I just can’t get over the fact that your ears are feathers, it just looks so good on you. And they’re also soft,” he said while he caressed the red feather that held the flower in place, but he then stopped. “Oh, w-wait, I think you don’t like it when anyone touches your feathers, right? Since it’s your species pride and all that.”

Ren shook his head. “I usually don’t like it, but… I don’t mind if it’s you. Also, that means I can do this,” and he reached over to grab one of Ari’s aura feelers and squished it a bit. Ari chuckled and leaned in to stroke Ren’s feathers again. Both were smiling now.

Mylo and Nimb were discussing something nearby, but Sanah wasn’t listening to them as she was watching Ari and Ren. “He looks… happy,” she muttered to herself, smiling as she had her eyes locked on the Riolu, and somehow she found herself unable to look away. She also noticed there was a small tendril wrapped around Ari’s leg.

“Sanah?” She was snapped out of her trance as Nimb called for her. “Are you okay?”

“Uh… Yeah, yeah. I was thinking… Wasn’t this supposed to be a horrible world of nightmares and all that?

“There’s more to it than just this dream, believe me,” Drowzee’s voice reverberated through the realm.

“I see…” Sanah then looked back at the duo sitting on the fountain, just in time to see how the Weavile turned into dust and vanished. Ari’s smile slowly turned into a sad frown, and Sanah tilted her head, confused. “Huh?”

“Okay… Then what do we do now?” Nimb asked, unaware of what just happened.

“This dream will probably change soon, so just wait for a bit until it happens. Then you’ll have to try again and see if Ari notices you,” Drowzee said.

“I see,” Mylo said, scratching his chin. “So this is like being on some guided tour, hmm.”

“That’s an interesting way to see it, but-“

Nimb was interrupted as the air around them distorted and everything twisted like mixing ingredients in a cooking pot. Ari disappeared along with the garden, and now they were surrounded by a large crowd of pokémon in some plaza. Right in the middle, six pokémon stood on top of a round stage.

A Pachirisu and a Machamp were standing on the side while a Typhlosion was on the front, giving some sort of speech with a trophy on his paws. He had a leather belt wrapped around his waist and a red earring on his left ear, and his voice carried a powerful aura without actually being too loud or deep.

Mylo gasped at the sight of it. “Wait, it can’t be… That’s Zohar!”

Nimb tilted his head at him. “You know that Typhlosion?”

“He’s the president of the Exploration Guild Society and the descendant of its founder,” Sanah explained with an amused tone. “What is he doing in Ari’s dreams? Did he get to see that guy for real?”

It was kinda weird to see Sanah and Mylo freak out like that just for one pokémon, but what felt more interesting to Nimb was the ‘Exploration Guild Society’, or rather EGS. Sounded like a funny name and not a good decision for something that was supposed to sound serious.

Zohar the Typhlosion eventually spoke, attracting everyone’s attention. “I’m so honored to grant this award to such a talented and selfless team. These two have helped so many pokémon and achieved the most difficult challenges for any exploration team, and for that…” He turned around and faced the pokémon that stood behind him. “I thank you for your services and offer the highest reward that can be given to any team.”

From the farthest part of the stage, three pokémon approached Zohar. They were two lucarios, one of them being of an unusual yellow hue, both of them wearing purple bandanas, and right beside them there was a familiar Riolu. Sanah and Mylo’s eyes went wide.

“No way… Ari’s parents are…?” Sanah started, and her mouth fell agape. Nimb looked at her in confusion, and she just returned a surprised look. “You don’t know who they are either?”

“Uh… No…”

Mylo stepped in, wearing an uncommon astonished expression. “Ari wasn’t lying when he said his parents were famous explorers… I just didn’t expect them to be Team Valiant.” He then turned to the Archen and explained. “They’re one of the top 10 most renowned exploration teams in the whole world!”

“What?” Nimb exclaimed.

The shiny Lucario then spoke with a deep female voice. “Thank you so much, Zohar. I accept this gift in the name of Team Valiant, and I promise this is only but the beginning of our journey to make this world a better place for all pokémon.”

The blue Lucario added his own words, speaking with a powerful and raspy voice. “We will keep fighting in the name of our ancestors, brave warriors who laid the foundations of our civilization and led us to an era of peace, and we’ll make sure to maintain that peace for many years to come.”

The crowd exploded in excited cheers, and Team Valiant plus Ari bowed and stood there for a long minute waiting for things to calm down. Nimb couldn’t help but wonder about the warriors they mentioned. As a wild pokémon, he didn’t have history classes, so he had no idea about all that lore. Was there some kind of war? Well, that had probably happened a bunch of times in the past, so he didn’t think too much about it.

“Ari must feel so proud,” Mylo eventually said, attracting the looks of both Nimb and Sanah. “Both the Aura Warriors’ and Team Valiant’s blood run through his veins. That’s such an honor.”

Nimb returned his gaze to the Riolu and saw him smiling at the crowd, completely still and head raised. “No… This isn’t right.”

Sanah tilted her head. “Huh? What do you mean?”

The Archen frowned as he stared at his friend’s past self. “Ari’s smile… It’s not right. He’s not happy, I can tell…”

“You think so?” Sanah then looked at the Riolu and squinted her eyes. “It’s kinda hard to tell from here…”

“His smile is different than that. Whenever he’s happy, his eyes look so bright and open. His smile feels forced now…” Nimb explained. Meanwhile, Mylo just pondered Nimb’s words in silence. The Archen eventually spoke again, raising his tone in an attempt to be heard in the middle of the fuss caused by the crowd. “Someone should go in there and try talking to him…”

“Why not all of us?” Sanah asked, but she understood as soon as Nimb cringed, giving a hesitant look at all the pokémon around. “… Oh, I forgot.”

“I’ll go, you stay with Nimb,” Mylo said, and didn’t wait for a response as he was already leaving. Sanah gave him a side eye but didn’t complain.

Even though that was just a dream, it wasn’t that easy for Mylo to approach the Riolu. Some of the pokémon in the crowd were not really there and he could phase through them, but he bumped into some others, strangely enough. Luckily, no one was noticing him, not even the one he crashed into, so he eventually got to the stage.

“Ari, can you see me?” He asked, approaching him slowly. From that close, it was easier to notice what Nimb said about his smile; he didn’t look quite happy, in fact, he looked tired, and there were a couple of tendrils wrapped around his legs. Ari wasn’t looking at him, so Mylo leaned closer and went to touch him. The Riolu seemed to look at the Toxtricity for a moment, but suddenly he disappeared out of thin air and everything around him seemed to distort for a moment.

Mylo blinked twice and looked around. He wasn’t at the plaza anymore… Or was he? Some bits of the stage he was in were now scattered in random spots in the air, including some of the pokémon in the crowd. They were floating there, some of them literally clipping with other pokémon or bits of the floor, and none of them had any expression on their faces. The sky had a slight red hue on it now.

“What…?” Mylo muttered, trying to comprehend the chaos around him. The dream seemed to be changing randomly, but it didn’t even look like a dream anymore. Worst of it… He couldn’t see Nimb and Sanah now. “Guys? Where are you?”

He tried walking in the direction he came, but it was hard to know at that point. All around him was a mix of different pokémon he had seen, and there was even a part of the garden to his left, but it was… Unfinished?

“I don’t care!” Mylo flinched as he heard a voice behind him. He turned around and saw Ren not quite looking at him. “You’re clearly hurt again, and as always, you didn’t say anything.”

“The hell is going on…?” Mylo muttered, slowly taking some steps back, until he bumped into something, immediately making him turn around. This time, he found a different Riolu from the one he knew, and right beside him, a Noivern.

“Are you really… leaving? Will you be okay?” The Riolu said, looking really sad. He wasn’t talking to anyone, or at least there seemed to be just an empty space in front of him.

The Noivern started crying. “Ari, I’ll miss you so muuuuch!” He quickly leaned forward and seemed to be hugging the air.

“These two must be Ari’s teammates from the other guild he told us about…” Mylo deduced but chose not to stay much longer in there. He just wanted to reunite with his team, so he kept walking, avoiding floating stones and pokémon. It looked kinda creepy…

A high-pitched scream then snapped him of his thoughts. That was Nimb! Mylo quickly ran in the direction of the voice, accidentally bumping into some pokémon and phasing through some others, until he saw the figures of Nimb and Sanah not far ahead.

“What’s happening?” The Toxtricity called, and right before he reached the duo, he saw them jumping aside to evade what looked like a bunch of dark blue tendrils. “What is that?”

“Ugh, about fucking time you showed up!” Sanah complained, getting back on her feet. “This dream has gone crazy and it wants us dead!” He could barely finish that sentence before one of the tendrils went for her and she had to cut it with her claws.

Another tendril, now bigger and more resemblant to a tentacle, grabbed Nimb’s leg and he yelped, but Mylo quickly punched the tendril hard against the ground, which made it release the Archen. “Are you okay?”

“I-I already want t-to leave…” Nimb stammered, immediately clinging onto Mylo. He just patted him gently on the back, trying to reassure him. “I don’t understand what is going on anymore…”

Just then, the tendrils reentered the land in a huge bluish puddle that started vibrating violently, and the three of them tensed. Out of the puddle, something emerged, enveloped in tendrils that slowly separated to show what was inside them. A pokémon as tall as Mylo glared at them, but it was wrong.

The red and yellow in its body was somewhat faded, and it had a bluish color mixed with it. It had a white flame in its head, and its eyes were blank.

Nimb froze. “A… Armarouge…”

“No way! Is that the one that attacked you?” Sanah asked, leaning closer to his teammates.

Mylo stood in front of Nimb to protect him. “This isn’t what armarouges are supposed to look like… You were right in the end, Nimb.”

“Y-you didn’t believe me?”

Before Mylo could respond, the armarouge fired an ember at him, which he took hesitantly, but he was sent backwards by the sheer strength of the attack, almost falling on top of Nimb. “Ugh! Why is this painful if it’s a dream?”

“You’re not just dreaming, remember that I got you all in here so… You better fight back or you’ll regret it,” Drowzee said.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Sanah yelled but quickly had to evade another ember thrown at her. “Damn, that’s enough!” She then ran forward and tried to slash the armarouge, but it caught the Zangoose in a psychic grip, throwing her hard against the ground. “Oof!”

Nimb didn’t want to get closer, so he formed some rock shards and launched them, but they were redirected to the side thanks to its psychic power. “It’s useless, w-we can’t even deal any damage!”

As both Mylo and Sanah stood up, the former spoke. “It can’t avoid my overdrive with just psychic,” and as he said that, he brushed his chest organs and produced an ear-piercing sound that made the monster groan in pain, but barely staggered.

Sanah took her chance and tried to slash again, this time being able to land the hit as the monster was still focused on the pain. This time, it did stumble with the attack, but quickly redirected its anger towards Sanah, throwing a bigger plume of fire at her. She was too slow and couldn’t avoid it, being severely damaged and finding herself lying on the ground again.

“S-Sanah!” Nimb called. He wanted to do something, but he was too scared to move. Instead, he just watched as the armarouge approached, preparing another move that was likely incinerate.

“How is it so strong?” Mylo complained, grabbing Nimb and carrying him on his right arm while he jumped to the side to avoid the fire. After going around the armarouge, he let go of Nimb and punched the enemy on its back with a poisoned arm, making it drop to one knee.

However, as Mylo tried to land another punch, the armarouge trapped all three of them in a psychic grip, lifting up Sanah too, who was still trying to stand up after the previous attack. The monster turned around and gave a sinister look at its preys, the three of them floating motionless in front of it as the psychic grip tightened.

“Uggghhh… I can’t… breathe…” Sanah gasped, her claws twitching as she desperately tried to escape. Mylo was the same, unable to move or do anything as his only ranged move required to use his arms.

They couldn’t move, so they kept struggling there while the air escaped their oniric lungs. There was nothing to do… Except for the rock shards that formed on the ground below Nimb, which were launched at the foe without it noticing. It received several cuts from the fragments, flinching in pain and releasing its grip on them.

They landed on the ground, Nimb and Sanah still trying to remember how to breathe again, but Mylo didn’t waste time and produced another overdrive, quickly sending electric waves at the armarouge and severely damaging it. While the attack lasted, everything around them seemed to distort again, and the scenery suddenly changed.

The monster that was in front of them slowly vanished like it was never there, leaving Nimb, Sanah and Mylo standing in confusion as they found themselves in a completely different place. It looked like a luxurious kitchen, with white walls and fancy black furniture and countertop, so clean and brilliant that it could be used as a mirror. There was a big tall table beside one of the three doors of the room.

“What the fuck? Where are we now?” Sanah asked, taking in her surroundings. She almost tripped with one of the stools of the table but tried to act cool afterwards.

“I don’t know, but at least Armarouge is gone…” Nimb sighed, leaning closer to Sanah and Mylo. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do much…”

Mylo shook his head. “If it wasn’t for your attack, we would be dead… Or not, I’m not sure how this dream works.” He then looked at the ceiling. “Care to explain, Drowzee?”

They waited, but there was no response. “Drowzee? Come on, this isn’t funny,” Sanah complained, but again, nothing happened. “Fuck, we’re on our own…”

“Wait… Do you hear that?” Nimb said, looking at one of the doors, and everyone turned as well. “I think I hear voices over there.” He went to inspect the room next to the kitchen, going through the door and finding what seemed to be a dark dining room.

The curtains, white with golden patterns on them, were closed, so it was a bit hard to see inside, but there seemed to be a large dining table with many wooden chairs and some chalices decorating a few shelves on the walls, as well as some candles and figurines.

Mylo and Sanah entered the room after Nimb, squinting their eyes to see better, but luckily their eyes were quickly used to the darkness and they could see three figures near the farthest wall, two of them being taller than the third. They were the source of the voices Nimb was hearing.

“… But the other mission went well! We rescued that Croagunk…” The smaller pokémon spoke in a familiar voice.

Nimb brightened. “That’s Ari!”

“Finally, let’s see if we can wake him up!” Sanah said, and she moved towards the trio on the other side of the room, who apparently were Ari and his parents. Mylo and Nimb followed her.

“That’s beside the point,” the mother spoke. “Did you accept that other mission or not?”

Ari responded with his head down. “N-no, I thought it was too much for our team being only silver rank, a-and we only just finished a tough one so we were exhausted…”

Nimb called as he approached them. “Ari, it’s us! Can you-“

THUMP!

They couldn’t even see it coming. In an instant, the Riolu was lying on the floor, curled into a ball next to the wall, with his dad on top of him holding a bone rush. Nimb froze, while Sanah and Mylo gasped in horror as their eyes went wide.

“How can you be SO USELESS? Do you have any idea how important that client was?” The male lucario yelled.

“S-sorry, I just… I-I…”

THUMP!

Ari received a kick on the belly, and he groaned loudly, his face showing immense pain and distress. Mylo quickly threw a desperate punch at the Lucario but cursed as he phased through it, realizing there was no way to stop that. They couldn’t touch them.

“STOP MAKING EXCUSES! You’re supposed to be the elite of explorers, but you can hardly compare to us in that regard!” Ari’s father scolded.

“N-no…” Nimb muttered, but he couldn’t move, he was terrified.

THUMP!

Another kick and Ari spat some saliva mixed with blood.

THUMP!

It was easier to see the bruises in Ari’s body now, as well as the few tendrils that were wrapped around his body.

THUMP!

Nimb, Mylo and Sanah watched in horror as all of them were unable to do or say anything. That wasn’t real, but it had been at some point, and there was no way to undo that.

“When are you gonna learn? You’re a disgrace to our bloodline, we’re going to lose our status because of you!” The mother spoke.

“P-please…” He coughed for a moment, crying and struggling to speak as he choked on blood. “I’m… S-s…”

The shiny Lucario crouched and gripped Ari’s aura feeler, lifting him brutely as she leaned to speak closer to his face. “Listen, Ari, next time you better do as we tell you and not miss such opportunities again. Are we clear?”

“Y… Y-yes, b-but-“

“Enough!” His mother lifted an arm preparing to punish her child one more time.

“STOP IT!”

Mylo growled, tired of watching, and threw another punch with immense rage, this time directed to the floor. He hit it with such strength that the ground in front of him shattered and the aura trio disappeared along with that part of the room, the air distorting around it. A red void could be seen beyond the hole that had appeared on that side of the dining room.

Nimb, Sanah and Mylo stepped back as the room started falling apart, the collapsing floor getting closer to them. “RUN!” Sanah yelled, and they turned around to escape but found something even worse on the other side of the room.

Dark blue tendrils emerged, blocking the way out, and slowly approached them. They couldn’t escape. Sanah tried to think fast and slashed at the tendrils, successfully cutting through some of them, but they quickly regenerated, making it impossible to cross to the other side.

“Fuck, how are we gonna go through?” Sanah asked, desperately slicing the tendrils that tried to grab her.

“We need to be fast!” Mylo said, but he was focused on the collapsing floor behind them. “Nimb, try with wing attack!”

Nimb tensed. He didn’t want to go anywhere near those tentacles, but he was going to meet a worse fate if he stayed like that anyway. He gulped and prepared to run. “O-okay…” He then raced towards the tendrils with shining wings, extending them and screaming as he used all his strength in the attack.

Fortunately, the attack worked, and he found himself cutting the tendrils and passing through them safely, ending on the other side of the room. As soon as he stopped and realized he was okay, he turned around with a smile.

“Guys, I made it! Quick, come with…!”

However, it was too late for them. The floor collapsed quickly, and both Sanah and Mylo fell to an endless void of red clouds and broken floor tiles. For Nimb, however, the room started stretching endlessly, and he felt himself being sent farther away from his teammates, moving at such a speed that was making him sick, eventually losing consciousness.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!” Sanah yelled, falling through the sea of clouds and being separated from Mylo too. Between the clouds, some more tendrils appeared, trying to grasp her while he continued falling, but at some point she noticed she had stopped falling and floated in place, even if it felt like she was still going down. She looked around, trying to take deep breaths as she watched the tendrils approaching. She couldn’t move, and she was terrified.

From the mass of tendrils in front of her, a figure emerged. It was a small being, one that she had never seen before, but something about it felt strange. She could feel an immense power coming from the creature, even if it looked lost and broken. It was trapped between the tendrils, as if it was draining its energy. Its body looked overtaken by dark blue veins, and its eyes were almost blank.

“W-what… What is that…?” The Zangoose muttered, flailing her arms and legs in an attempt to escape that place, or keep falling, anything.

The creature, barely resembling the beautiful being that once was, spoke with a raspy high-pitched voice, like it had been shouting for hours and couldn’t take it anymore. It was hard to understand what it was saying, but Sanah could make out a few words.

“… G-go… Deep… s-soul… lake… Find…”

Sanah frowned. She didn’t understand what it meant, but she could see that the tendrils were close to her now, and she was about to be caught. She yelled, desperately trying to move, but it was useless. Then, the creature extended its arm and something happened.

A strong pulse sent her flying, the Zangoose being now safe from the tendrils, but still falling in an endless void. She felt everything distorting around her, and couldn’t take it anymore, her eyes closing as she lost consciousness.

 

---

 

As the Archen opened his eyes, he found himself inside some kind of luxurious house. Not as big as a mansion, but still impressive nonetheless. Paintings hanging from some of the white radiant walls, black furniture that combined with it pretty well, and a bunch of sculptures placed in some strategic spots around the room. He deduced that the dining room from before was also a part of that house.

In a way, it looked similar to a museum. Not that Nimb had gone to any of those before, that’s something that he would only find if he visited a big city. It just didn’t look right. Where was all the comfy stuff? The cushions, the tables, the toys… Don’t all houses have toys in the living room? Anyway.

“Hello? A-anyone here? Sanah, Mylo, where are you guys?”

Nimb was alone now. Everyone was lost to the dream, and who knows what happened to them… But it was just a dream, it should be fine, right? Still… How did he even faint in a dream? Whatever… He couldn’t wait for anyone to appear, so he kept going, as scared as he was. He reached a long corridor with nothing but paintings in them, and he was pretty sure he saw one of them changing for a moment.

“I g-guess that’s how dreams work…” He thought out loud. Every painting showed what seemed to be war scenes, and in most of them, there were one or more lucarios portrayed as the main figures, usually triumphant or defiant.

One of them suddenly directed their eyes towards the Archen, which made him yelp and run ahead in fear. This was okay, it was just a dream, just a dream… Everything will be okay, he just needed to find-

“I can’t.”

Nimb stopped. That was Ari’s voice! He was so glad to hear his Riolu friend again, especially now. This was probably his house. That would make sense, knowing his parents were celebrities, of course, they’d have such a luxurious house. Ari sure seemed to live like a rich child, huh? Nimb didn’t envy him though, having witnessed the scene from earlier.

“I can’t do it…”

“Ari, it’s me!” Nimb called as he ran towards the room at the end of the corridor, where he heard the voice.

He opened the door in a hurry, and found what he supposed was Ari’s bedroom. However, it wasn’t what he expected at all. Instead of paintings, cushions, pretty windows, and toys, he found a really small room that didn’t seem well taken care of.

There was a dirty hay bed lying in a corner below a small window, and a cracked wooden desk on the right side that was filled with papers and old books, probably just for studying. Beside it, there was an open cabinet with just a few small weapons: daggers, kunais, shurikens and other weird warrior gear.

Ari wasn’t there. Nimb went further inside, disappointed, but his thoughts were interrupted by something he saw on the floor. There was a dagger, pretty similar to the ones in the cabinet, but there was… blood on it.

Nimb felt chills running through his body and tried to not look at it directly. He hoped Ari wasn’t too hurt. ‘Maybe he had an accident while playing with it?’ He thought. That… had to be it.

Some steps coming from the corridor startled the Archen, who quickly turned around.

“Ari? Is that you?” He said as he went for the door with haste. Right outside of Ari’s room, he found what he was looking for. Kinda.

Nimb froze as a Riolu stood in front of him, with his back turned. He looked… Smaller than usual. He also looked like a normal Riolu, without Ari’s signature features, so Nimb guessed this was a dream of one of his memories from when he was a small child.

Nimb gulped. “Ari, a-are you there?”

There was a moment of tense silence until he could hear the voice again.

“I should be…”

That was wrong. Nimb didn’t recognize Ari in there, and it wasn’t because of the high-pitched voice of a little kid. The voice he heard earlier had the gentle softness in its tone that he liked about Ari. This one didn’t.

“… You’re not Ari.”

“I was… $upp0sed to be…”

The Riolu turned around and Nimb felt his heart stopping for a moment at the sight of it. His eyes were completely hollow, like black holes absorbing the rest of the body, but never quite doing so. It just ‘stared’ without moving an inch, making Nimb feel sick.

“W-what are you? P-please, l-leave me alone!”

‘Ari’ didn’t say anything. He didn’t move, since he was not anymore. Nimb leaned closer to the walls.

“J-just let m-me go… C-come on…”

Still nothing. Nimb was pretty sure that, with each passing second that he stared at those non-existing eyes, the air around him distorted a bit more.

Nimb couldn’t take it anymore and broke into a run, passing by the Riolu while being as close to the walls as possible in an attempt to avoid him, and kept running without looking back. The corridor around him distorted like it was some sort of gum, stretching and turning as everything stopped making sense.

Somehow, Nimb didn’t stop, and the path he was following didn’t change his trajectory despite the distortion. He moved for a long time, just wanting to stay away from all the nonsense. In fact, he was sure he’d been running for quite longer than he should, and the corridor wasn’t that long earlier.

‘Just a dream, just a dream, just a dream…’ He kept telling himself.

Even if it is, are you sure you’re safe, Nimb?

‘What?’

He asked. He was so confused, so scared, because he was alone and helpless. Don’t worry! I can bring you some company.

“W-who said that?”

I said that. Actually, was it you? Oh, nevermind. Look, your teammates are here!

Your teammates. Right in front of you, you see a Zangoose and a Toxtricity talking to each other. They seem to be alright, you’re the only scaredy cat here.

“Sanah, Mylo!” You called, gasping for breath as you felt exhausted for running even if you weren’t actually.

Sanah was the first to react, and she turned to you. “Nimb! For fuck’s sake, you took your time!”

The amped-form Toxtricity spoke next. “Are you okay? You seemed troubled.”

“O-of course I’m troubled! T-this place is messing with my head, a-and I can’t find Ari and there’s some creepy imitator that almost-“

“Relax, Nimb,” Mylo said. “We’re here with you now, so it’s okay.”

Actually, it’s not.

“B-but… I… Well, I guess you’re right, this is just a dream…” You said, pretty much not convinced. “I just can’t stop hearing the…”

%&%&$%/(^”·*^$*^%

Where are you now? You look around, nothing has changed. A luxurious house filled with paintings and sculptures. All has changed. The walls were golden now, but they were melting. The air feels hot. It felt hot.

The paintings are now prettier! Look at those paths that lead to nowhere, right in the middle. You notice somethingone calling for you, deep inside one of those paintings. You just have to go through it, just ignore the fact that the painting is somehow getting closer to you, without it actually moving from the wall it’s on.

“W-what is happening now?” Nimb, you, yelled. “Ugh, shut up!”

“Nimb? What’s wrong?” Sanah asked you. “Nobody said anything.”

“B-but… That voice…”

They don’t care. “We shouldn’t waste more time, it seems like there’s something inside that painting. Let’s jump on it,” Mylo suggested.

Sanah nodded and started moving towards it, it moved towards her. Mylo did too, but you aren’t moving. What are you waiting for?

“Nimb, come on,” Mylo grasped your claw and ran ahead with you. You can’t avoid this, just keep going. You shall %&/(%*^·%·^Ç Wow! You’re smack in the middle of a battlefield. It’s like most of those paintings, this place feels tragic, indeed. That’s what history books narrated, isn’t it exciting?

‘No, it’s not,’ you thought.

The sky is dark, vegetation doesn’t grow here anymore, and all around you, there are… So many bodies. They were unmoving, you are unmoving, watching as you dig deeper into your biggest fears. Mylo grabs your shoulder.

“There’s nothing here, don’t worry. Still, there are no signs of Ari anywhere…” He said.

“I wonder if we could go back to- oh, never mind, there’s no way back,” the Zangoose said as she looked back. “Damn, what now?”

“I don’t know… I just want to find him and leave…” You said, and then let out a deep sigh. You’ve been through a lot already, but it’s okay. You have them now, you’re not alone.

‘I’m not alone.’

They’re here for you. Mylo keeps his hold on your shoulder, but it gets tighter. He’s here for you.

“I’m here for you, Nimb.” You slowly turn your gaze towards him. He’ll protect you, as you wanted. Aren’t you happy? You should stay with him. “You should stay with me.”

You suddenly release yourself from his grasp and step back. You look so terrified, it’s like you’ve seen a zombie… Am I right? Mylo looks different. He’s the same as always, yet he feels the same as you saw him before you started trusting him. His sinister face doesn’t feel friendly anymore.

“Are you scared?” The Toxtricity asked. He’s approaching you. What are you gonna do?

“No… Y-you’re not Mylo… W-what is wrong with this place?” You turn around, desperately seeking Sanah’s support. You want her to save you from this, right? “Sanah, p-please tell me you’re n-not another faker…”

Sanah doesn’t look so happy about what you said. “A faker? Ohhh, I’m sorry if I’m not like your idealized nice Zangoose that you expected to meet when you joined the academy! I’m sure you think that would have been so much better than what you actually got with me!” She scowled.

“What? W-why are you saying this now?”

The Zangoose extended her claws and pointed at you. “Shut up! You think you’re so good, don’t you?”

“You’re acting like you did when we met… This c-conversation doesn’t make any sense! T-this isn’t funny!” You yell looking at the dark sky, expecting this to be some sort of prank. But nobody is going to stop it.

As you look back at your teammates, they’re suddenly in front of you. They’re just standing there, menacingly. It would be a shame if they attacked you, right? They’re both preparing an attack, you can see Sanah’s claws out and Mylo is crackling with electricity…

“G-guys, stop!”

Mylo just shook his head slowly, while Sanah glared and spoke. “You asked for this, you know. We already took care of that guy over there, now it’s your turn.”

You looked in the direction she was pointing, expecting to find Ari, but instead… It’s you. Nimb was lying on the ground, unmoving, like the rest of the bodies. You are lying on the ground, but… You’re also here. You know there’s so many things wrong about that.

Suddenly, you remember.

‘This isn’t my dream, this is Ari’s!’

Mylo and Sanah hurting you… That was one of Ari’s fears! Yes, you guessed it right. Awww, seems like he really cares about you, being more concerned for his cute little bird friend than for himself. Did you ever notice that?

‘I… I didn’t…’

Of course, you didn’t. You’re a terrible friend, Nimb. Ari’s been suffering all this time, and you could never do anything about it. Of course, he didn’t tell you this, but he doesn’t care about what happens to himself anymore, he only cares about you. And yet, what did you do for him?

‘N-nothing…’

You’re tearing up. You can’t hold it anymore, but at this moment there’s a certain duo approaching you. Mylo and Sanah don’t look like themselves anymore. Out of nowhere, dark blue tendrils started coming out from their eyes, reaching for you. Their fur and skin turned somewhat pale, and you could see their arms getting longer and longer.

=mb.. .. Cºm€ h&eere/¿

Their figures twitch erratically, arms now being twice as long as usual and with more elbows than they should. You’re sure bones don’t work like that. Are you scared?

“NOOOOOO! H-HEEEEEEEELP!” You shoutIt do3sn’t matterdesperatelyn0body’s goi#ng to h*ear you. !

You take a few steps back, but you’re frozen in fear. You curl into a ball of messy feathers, shaking. You can’t do anything, they’re coming for you and you have nowhere to run. You’re alone, Nimbus. Are you going to stay like that and let this happen?

“Y-yes… This is just a dream… I’ll j-just have to wake up, I’m done with this…”

You feel defeated. All around you is a huge mess, it’s so confusing and scary. Feels like everyone wants to hurt you, or that you’re going to lose everyone you care for. You’re afraid to call for help again, since they’d know you’re weak for giving up.

Then, you realize. That’s probably how Ari feels. These are Ari’s nightmares, he’s also afraid. He’s so scared and hopeless now, trapped in his own mind, alone. He’s scared of asking for help, of showing he’s weak. He’s scared of his own thoughts.

You wanted them to pull you out from this nightmare. They’re all waiting for you to return safely, especially Maia. But you remember the reason you were here. You wanted to save Ari from the never-ending nightmare that he couldn’t wake up from.

‘What if I’m trapped as well? But Ari…’

You don’t wanna be here. Yet, you wanted to be.

‘I wanted… to save Ari. He’s always protecting me, making sure I’m okay… But he wasn’t okay himself. Now he needs me, so I…’

You… You’re not going to-

“I am. I’m n-not going back without him.” You’re slowly standing up. What are you doing? Stop. “I’m not! Ari was afraid s-so many times, and still tried to be brave just for me. N-now I’m going to be brave for him!”

You don’t know what you’re saying. You’re p̸a̸r̸t̶ ̵o̴f̸ ̵u̷s̵ now, you should have been a long time ago. St0p res#i$tin g!%$&$·&/”)/&%/·$

“I WON’T!”

You step forwardyou bastardbut the tendrils are gripping your legs alreadynowhere to run.

“I’m going to be there for Ari, I won’t let him feel like this EVER AGAIN!”

&/%$”·/·$%”$·&”%&!?=!?

!=?!

. . .

. .

.

As Nimb slashed onwards with a wing attack, he severed the tendrils that were latching onto him, and didn’t stop until he had pierced through the monstrosities that took Mylo and Sanah’s forms. They quickly disintegrated like dust, and Nimb stopped hearing that horrible voice in his mind.

He turned around, his heart racing, and found that more tendrils were rising from the ground, possessing the corpses of the long forgotten warriors, and everything quickly turned into a zombie apocalypse. He was surrounded by countless abominations with tendrils coming from their bodies, and there was no escape route.

But Nimb wouldn’t give up now, even if he was terrified. He knew he could do this, he HAD to do this, for Ari. He was really scared, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t brave; that’s something he once heard from his dear Riolu friend.

So, he would be scared. He would scream whenever something creepy happened, or he would panic if everything’s too much, but he wouldn’t stop. He would go on and do anything that was necessary to save Ari. He had a lot of work to do and many scary situations to endure, but it was okay.

Nimb was not a hero, but he was a good friend.

He generated a barrage of rock shards and launched them towards the monsters, eliminating some of them, but more would come after. He did the same again, but there were too many. He tried over and over again, he was getting exhausted at this point.

The bodies started taking different shapes again. Nimb saw rypheriors, lucarios, arboks, inteleons, simisears, armarouge, and then the creepy duo of zangoose and toxtricity again. The fake duo jumped on him and he could only brace for what was coming. He avoided an attack, but they were too fast and he couldn’t do much.

He just needed to endure this… Somehow…

Slash!

In front of him, a clean-furred Zangoose had sliced the fake one while a Toxtricity punched his own doppelgänger in the face. Nimb brightened at the sight of his real teammates.

“What is going on here? This place is HELL!” Sanah complained. “And still no sign of Ari!”

Mylo turned to the Archen and rested his hand on his back. “Are you okay? I wasn’t expecting to be split up when the floor collapsed earlier.”

Nimb smiled but didn’t stop trembling. “I… I’m okay, I’m glad you guys are here…”

“Looks like this place is throwing all of Ari’s fears to us at the same time,” Mylo said and then destroyed a bunch of enemies with an overdrive. They quickly regenerated out of nowhere, it was useless.

Sanah looked at her creepy evil clone and frowned. “Ari is still… afraid of me?” She stopped, watching with sadness as the monster approached, but she couldn’t allow herself to waste any more time, so she sliced the clone with a fury cutter, dismembering it. However, it regenerated quickly, it was useless.

“They keep coming back! H-how are we going to escape?” Nimb cried, desperately throwing rock shards towards the lucarios and piercing some holes in their bodies, but they always regenerated, it was useless.

“I don’t know… But we have to keep going, no matter what,” Mylo said and got a nod from his teammates. The three of them attacked the armarouge at the same time with a combination of poison jab, fury cutter and wing attack. Every hole that they teared was quickly filled again, it was useless.

From that point, everything was pure chaos. All the walking corpses had them surrounded, attacking at the same time. Nimb, Sanah and Mylo were receiving many attacks directly, and it was painful, but they couldn’t stop. It was a true nightmare.

Mylo desperately overdrive’d every monster he could, Nimb launched rock fragments in every direction, and Sanah was endlessly slashing her foes, but it never stopped, and it was overwhelming. Nimb felt one of the monsters jumping at him and pinning him to the ground, then another one did the same, and Mylo desperately punched them away, releasing Nimb right before he suffered the same destiny.

Sanah tried to slice the mass of monsters on top of Nimb and Mylo, but she had to turn around to protect herself from the horde of zombies that went for her, almost leaving her no room to move.

“AAAAAAAAARGH!” She yelled, cutting everything without thinking. She couldn’t stop to think.

She was going to keep up with the slashes until she couldn’t take it anymore, she had to. Someone needed her, and she couldn’t fail again. She sliced and kicked, she launched more enemies away, it was overwhelming, they were too much. All was tainted in blood, the ground, the sky, the monsters, everything around her. There was no way to escape, she just had to keep fighting and dismembering and slicing and-

%&/^%*^!?*!?¿^!&!?

There was peace. The world around them changed once more and Team Silver found themselves in a beautiful forest, the city from before being visible in the distance, and not a single monster was around.

Clean blue sky, green and pink all around them, only peace and quiet was what they found. Flowering cheri berry trees covered the land in an endless path that invited anyone who sought the peace found on the other side.

“What…? Where are we?” Nimb asked, looking around in awe.

Sanah turned to him and sighed in relief. “Oh, thank Arceus you’re not dead or something…” She then exchanged looks with Mylo, but quickly tensed and looked away.

“Somehow, we survived that,” Mylo said. “But we must remain vigilant, who knows what could happen now…”

“Hey, can you hear me now?” Drowzee’s ethereal voice called.

Nimb gasped and widened his eyes. “Drowzee, you’re back!”

“About time! You disappeared when we most needed you,” Sanah scowled.

“Sorry about that, it’s hard to communicate in such a chaotic dream, but… I saw everything.”

“Everything, huh?” Mylo frowned, thinking of what they saw before they got separated.

“Well, not exactly everything. When you got separated, I couldn’t find you as much as I looked. I’ve never lost anyone inside a dream before, this is nuts… I almost woke you up since this was getting way too dangerous.”

“But then, Ari would stay trapped like this forever…” Nimb said.

“Well, any hint on what to do now? I’d rather not stay for much longer,” Sanah said, looking up.

“I think I can see Ari a bit further through that path of trees, he shouldn’t be hard to find.”

“Great, let’s go!” Sanah brightened and ran ahead. Mylo and Nimb followed without thinking twice.

They didn’t have to go too far as they quickly found what they were looking for. After the path of endless flowering trees, Team Silver saw a stone bridge that crossed what seemed to be a deep canyon. Near the railing, a Riolu stood unmoving, staring at the horizon.

The wind blew gently, caressing Ari’s fur while his aura sensors fluttered. His eyes were dull and tired, his body was covered in scars and wounds that never quite healed, some of them recent. He had some cuts on his arms, he never allowed anyone to see them. Not even Ren.

Nimb brightened. “Ari! Please, tell me you can actually see us…” He said as he ran towards him.

“Yeah, I’m ready for this to end…” Sanah complained but slowly smiled as she approached.

Ari leaned on the railing and climbed on it. Everyone stopped, smiles dropping.

“Ari? What are you…?” Sanah asked, slowly raising her arm. Nimb tensed, and Mylo just frowned as he leaned a bit closer.

The Riolu inhaled, endless thoughts and memories crossing his mind. He exhaled, years of pain and fear escaping his lungs like a suffocating flame.

Ari stepped forward.

“ARI!” Mylo ran like he never did, desperately trying to reach the railing like it was the last thing he would do, while Nimb and Sanah could only watch in horror. He extended his arm, blindly trying to grasp whatever he could to save the Riolu in the last moment, and hoped for the best. He didn’t care that it was a dream, he couldn’t think of that now.

Surprisingly, Mylo could feel something. He had gripped Ari’s left arm, somehow. Mylo gasped for breath as he looked down, making sure to never let go. As he kept looking down, he saw someone else’s claw gripping the other arm. Mylo looked to his right and found a Sneasel.

Ren was panting hard, and tears formed in his eyes as he desperately tried to keep his friend alive, the same way Ari did for him with his endless kindness. Ren wasn’t going to let him go, and neither was Mylo. The Sneasel looked at him for a moment but didn’t say anything as he focused on pulling the Riolu up, and Mylo did the same.

Ari was back on top of the bridge, and Ren quickly pulled him into a desperate hug, muttering some words and begging him to never do that again. The Toxtricity just stepped back and watched, still not getting over what had just happened, while Sanah and Nimb reached his side, both of them trembling.

Ari didn’t move as he was embraced by the Sneasel, and there was a long silence while everyone else watched, until Ren started vanishing along with the whole place, which was slowly turning into an endless grass field. This time, Ari didn’t disappear, he just stood there watching as his old friend vanished in front of him, and he now had his long neck fur and star-shaped tail back.

He looked sad but serene, and they noticed he had now many dark blue tendrils wrapped around his whole body. He turned his gaze towards the group, and they perked up a bit.

“Sorry… I didn’t want you guys to see that…” Ari said.

He had finally noticed them. But they couldn’t celebrate after what they just saw. They couldn’t smile like it was all over and all problems were solved.

“Ari… Why the hell would you do that?” Nimb teared up, stepping closer.

The Riolu looked down in shame. “It was a long time ago. I’m sorry…”

“Stop saying you’re sorry!” Sanah scolded, but her face was a mixture of anger, fear and sorrow. “You’re fucking coming back with us now, okay?”

“I wish I could, but…” More tendrils emerged from the ground and gripped Ari’s body tight.

“Ari, those things!” Mylo leaned closer and tried to tear some tendrils off, but they quickly regenerated. “What the…?”

Suddenly, many giant tendrils emerged from the ground and the sky turned red again. They were back at the nightmare, this time alongside Ari, but he was trapped in the middle, unable to move. Countless tendrils surrounded them, ready to capture their new prey. They started aiming towards Team Silver, and so, the final battle had begun.

 

//Open this link in a new tab to play the song while reading:

 

“What is going on?! These things are vicious!” Sanah said, slicing a couple of tendrils before they got anywhere near Ari.

“I’m sorry…” Ari lamented, his voice breaking. “I made you go through all of this, I’m just causing you trouble…”

“That’s not true!” Nimb said, and he generated some rock fragments launching them at some tendrils. “We chose to come because we care about you! All the good that you did for us is more than enough to compensate for whatever we went through!”

“And you had to see all this. You didn’t deserve to see that, it’s awful…”

Mylo tore off a tendril from the ground and used it as a whip against another one. “But you were suffering so much, we couldn’t leave you like that! Why didn’t you tell us you were going through so much?”

“Because you all have too much going on, I couldn’t burden you with my problems… They’re too small in comparison,” Ari explained, still not daring to look up. He didn’t care about being swallowed by a mass of darkness.

“Us having issues doesn’t mean that yours aren’t important!” Nimb said as he avoided a huge tendril that fell on top of him, smashing the ground. “Everyone has issues, and you can be suffering them more than someone that’s going through something worse, you can’t just downplay anything because of it!”

“Nimb…” A tendril on Ari’s body withered.

“You could have asked for help! We’re not going to ignore you, no matter what,” Mylo said, and he threw a punch with static electricity on the big tendril that almost caught Nimb. Unfortunately, it regenerated and wrapped itself around Mylo’s torso instead. “Uggh!”

“No, I couldn’t… I was so scared. I’m not supposed to be so weak… I was supposed to be the greatest explorer, to make my parents proud, but I was always a failure. I didn’t want you to know I’m so weak, or else you would-“

“Abandon you?” Nimb asked, fighting against the huge tendril that had grabbed Mylo, throwing rocks at it. “We’re not going to do that, no matter how weak you are! And you’re not even weak! How were you holding up all this by yourself without falling apart for so long?” He then managed to release Mylo, who winced from the pain.

“Forget about what your stupid parents wanted!” Sanah added, and he took a chance to try and tear off some tendrils from Ari’s body, only to be interrupted by some more coming from behind, which she had to slice with a fury cutter. “Ugh! They were monsters, you don’t need to be the elite to be great! Isn’t that the whole point of Team Silver’s name?”

Another tendril on Ari’s body withered.

“But… They were right, I’m just not good enough for anything, so I deserved all that.”

“You didn’t! You tried your best, but they didn’t care about that. Good parents don’t do that,” Mylo said as he went to block a horde of tendrils approaching Ari. “Besides, no one deserves such punishments, especially not you!”

Another tendril withered, releasing Ari’s torso.

“W-why not me…?”

“Because you’re amazing!” Nimb yelled, and he destroyed some more tendrils, chaining many wing attacks in a row. “You’re strong and smart, the best in class, and most importantly, you’re my brother! You protected me and gave me courage, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t because you made me a better pokémon…” He stopped and turned around to face him. “I wanted to be there for you like you did for me!”

Another tendril withered, releasing his arm.

“But I owed that to you, it’s nothing special… You could have found someone else like this anywhere,” Ari said, now staring at Nimb with a pained expression.

“But it was you, and it’s perfect like that!” Nimb said right before he stumbled over a huge dark blue bulb that was rising from the ground, countless tendrils coming out of it. Nimb was caught by one of them, slowly trapping him and draining his energy.

This time, Ari had a slight reaction by weakly raising his arm towards him, but he couldn’t move.

“Everyone, that’s the source of those tendrils! Destroy it, quick!” Drowzee exclaimed.

Mylo nodded and brushed his chest organs, generating a huge sound wave towards the bulb, which disintegrated some tendrils, including the ones that had captured Nimb. The Toxtricity then spoke. “Ari, you’re one of the kindest pokémon I’ve known and one of the few that actually tried to get to know me despite my looks. That’s pretty much worth protecting.”

Another tendril withered, releasing his waist.

Nimb went for the bulb too, using rock throw once again as he didn’t want to get too close to it in case he got caught again. Some of the tendrils went for Ari again, so Sanah focused on protecting him while the others attacked the bulb.

“I used to think everyone saw me as a useless deadhead, but you snapped me out of it,” Sanah said as she swiped her claws rapidly, desperately trying to keep the tendrils away from the Riolu, and then she approached him again to tear some more from his body. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be all alone, Ari! All because, despite everything I did, you never gave up on me… So I’m not giving up on you either!”

Another tendril withered, releasing one leg.

“Guys… I…” Ari said, but he was choking on his own words.

“You’re coming with us, Ari!” Nimb said, and he gathered the courage to crash into the bulb with a wing attack, visibly cracking it. He jumped high as a huge tendril tried to grab him, and he landed on the other side, unharmed.

“No…”

“We’re here for you, so you have to resist those thoughts!” Mylo said and charged his fist with an immense amount of electricity. He ran ahead, skillfully dodging a wave of tendrils and jumping on top of the bulb, punching it with all his strength.

The bulb exploded in a mass of a dark blue substance that slowly vanished in the air.

“I can’t…”

“Of course you can!” Sanah yelled while everything around her turned into a spectacle of revolving tendrils that tried to whip them, but she didn’t move and instead focused on Ari.

He just couldn’t understand. “Why do you try so hard? I’m not… You shouldn’t waste your time and energy with me! I’m… I’m not worth it!”

SMACK!

Everyone stopped as Sanah violently slapped Ari on the face. Sanah panted while the Riolu just stood there unmoving, his expression being one of surprise and confusion. He wanted to think of something to say, but he didn’t have time as he suddenly felt Sanah’s fluffy arms wrapped around him.

“SHUT UP! Stop saying you’re not worth it, okay?!” She took a shuddering breath, tears forming in her eyes, and she shook her head, brushing her fur on Ari’s neck in the process. “You… You’re worth EVERYTHING. So just… S-shut up, please…”

The final tendril withered.

Ari gasped, slowly feeling his eyes wet. Tears started welling down his face, and he couldn’t stop them this time. He let out a soft whimper, but then, it turned into a louder one.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Ari let himself cry.

He cried for all the pain he suffered because of his parents, many years of abuse weighing him down and turning him into the insecure pokémon he was now.

He cried for the pressure of being an explorer, never reaching the expectations he had of himself.

He cried for all the fighting he had to endure, even when he didn’t want to.

He cried for the times he had to suffer without telling anyone, afraid of what could happen if he showed weakness.

He cried for Ren, who was his main reason for not giving up, and then suddenly disappeared from his life.

He cried for Sanah and Mylo, who despite their rough start, accepted him the way he was and supported him.

He cried for Maia, who gave him a home, a new life and a bright future.

He cried for Nimb, who gave him a new reason to live and helped him find his new goal in life. Who supported him no matter what, and faced his biggest fears to save him.

He cried.

Sanah didn’t let go the whole time, and Ari kept crying loudly in the embrace. As every last bit of darkness vanished from around them and the world was enveloped in a blinding light, Ari could only say one last thing.

“P-please… Help me…”

 

---

 

Ari finally opened his eyes, and found himself back at Cora’s front yard. The sun was starting to be visible on the horizon, and he could hear murmurs all around him. As his vision focused, he saw everyone around him, staring in concern.

Cora, Romi, Malik, Galia, Brynel, Melly, Drowzee, Maia, Mylo, Sanah and Nimb were there. Everyone was worried about him, but they brightened as soon as he woke up. Ari felt his face wet, and he brushed his paw on his cheek only to notice he had been crying in the real world too.

“Ari, you woke up!” Nimb said, happier than ever.

The Riolu sat and looked around in shock, not expecting so many pokémon to be focused on him, and he couldn’t find the words. After a moment of silence, he said the only thing he could think of.

“I-I… I’m so-“

He was interrupted as he felt Maia embracing him with her soft wings. “No… Don’t talk…” She cried as he pressed him tight against her chest, and Nimb also leaned in and hugged the Riolu as well. Ari softened, more tears running down his face as he closed his eyes and leaned into it.

Cora broke the silence, speaking with a bit of sadness. “Drowzee told us everything…”

“You’ve gone through so much, huh?” Brynel said.

Ari mumbled something, but he was muffled by feathers and it was hard to understand him. Instead, Maia spoke.

“Thank you, Drowzee… Thank you so much.”

Drowzee shook his head. “It’s the least I could do for the trouble I’ve caused. But, uh… My name is Circe. I’ll have to sign with that name either way for when I go to jail…”

Melly approached and patted him on the back, winking. “I guess we can try to lessen your sentence, given how much you’ve helped here.”

“Really? T-thank you…” Circe said, nodding rapidly.

Sanah sighed, arms limping as she remembered she was exhausted. “Damn, those dreams felt so real… and painful.”

“Sorry, that’s probably because of my power, there was no other way,” Circe explained.

“Still…” Nimb added, rubbing his head on Ari’s neck. “It was worth it.”

The hugs and nice words lasted for a while until everyone started moving on. Ari thanked them and exchanged some kind words with Nimb since he felt so proud of him for what he did. He was so grateful he could cry again if it wasn’t because he didn’t have any tears left.

Brynel and Melly took Circe the Drowzee to the police station and made sure to tell the tale so he wouldn’t be in too much trouble, while Cora and her family talked about the events with Maia, Mylo and Nimb. Ari was a bit tired, but so were the rest of Team Silver, so Maia told them to skip classes for the day. She’d talk to the other teachers to make sure they understood the situation. At the same time, she told Ari she was going to have a long talk with him later that day, to make sure he’d never hide his problems again and help in any way she could.

“Now that we’re done here… Shall we go home, Ari?” Nimb asked, now being more clingy than ever with Ari. He wouldn’t complain, though, it was nice to have the Archen around, but this time he had other plans.

“Actually… You go home, I’ll be there soon, okay? I want to have some time to get some air and take care of something.”

Nimb frowned. “Are you sure? You’re not… Feeling bad or anything, right?”

Ari chuckled and patted him on the back. “Yeah, I promise. This time I’m being honest, I want to do something before I go home.” He then looked away in shame. “And… I won’t lie to you ever again. Sorry for last night.”

“Oh… It’s okay, really. And I believe you, so don’t worry,” Nimb said and hugged him tight. Ari returned the embrace, smiling fondly. His brother’s hugs felt like healing magic to him, especially now.

Nimb went home and Ari walked in the opposite direction, going a bit farther from Cora’s house to the outskirts, since it happened to be on the southeast end of town. He wasn’t just going to some random spot, though. Instead, he found himself going in the same direction he saw a certain someone leave earlier.

And so, upon getting to the top of a small hill, he saw a Zangoose sitting on the grass with her back turned, watching the sunrise alone. He took a deep breath and approached, sitting beside her.

“… Hey,” Ari said.

“Oh, it’s you… How are you feeling?” Sanah asked, perking up slightly upon looking at him.

“Much better, thanks. I kinda feel lighter, like some weight I felt on my chest for a long time is gone. It’s hard to explain…”

She nodded. “Oh, I’m glad. That sure was an experience…”

“Yeah…” He went silent for a long moment, admiring the view, and then asked. “Do you come here often?”

“Oh, um… I guess, it’s just a nice place, away from everyone and everything. Perfect for relaxing when I had a tough day…” She grimaced as she said that last part.

Ari sighed but only frowned slightly this time. “I’m sorry you had to go through that…”

She shook her head. “No, we already talked about this, don’t apologize!”

“Hehe, okay…”

They fell silent for a while until Sanah remembered something. “Oh! By the way, I saw something weird in one of your dreams… There was some strange pokémon I’ve never seen, and it said something about Deepsoul Lake.”

Ari tilted his head in confusion. “Huh? What about that place?”

“I don’t know… But it was a bit weird, so I thought I might tell you. Who knows, maybe there’s something there, it could be a premonitory dream.”

“I see… Well, I could go there one of these days and check, it’s not too far away from here, even if… I’m a bit scared of finding a certain pokémon out there.” He frowned and gripped his arm in discomfort.

She knew what he was talking about. She had fought against it in the dream, and it was scary. “Hey, we can go together!” Sanah proposed, turning to face him.

Ari brightened. “You… Would do that for me?”

“Of course! Teammates and all that, you know?”

He smiled and scratched his arm with a bit of embarrassment. “Yeah… You’re right.” Looking at her, he was reminded of something he wanted to say since he woke up, so he closed his eyes, took another deep breath, and looked back at her. “Sanah… Thank you so much for everything. I’ve thanked the others but I couldn’t find the right moment to talk to you. What you did for me in the dream… It means a lot. I didn’t know you cared so much for me.”

Sanah tensed a bit but tried to play it cool. “O-of course I care about you, dumbass.” She then wrapped her arm around his torso and brought him closer in a playful way, pressing him against her side, which caught him off guard. “How could I not after all that we’ve been through?”

Ari was flabbergasted at her sudden playfulness. He didn’t know she had that side, but at the same time, he was glad she showed it to him. He could get used to it. “Yeah, hehe. And, um, does that mean we’re… friends?”

Sanah’s eyes widened at that. Friends… that made sense at this point, but she didn’t expect it to happen ever again, even less with someone she had bullied before. But it made her feel… something. “Oh yeah. Yeah, we’re… We’re friends.”

“Cool. I’m so glad…” Ari said and leaned into her, and he could feel her tensing for a moment, but quickly relaxing again. Sanah’s fur was so soft and warm, and Ari was surprised to notice that she took good care of it. But he wasn’t going to say that, otherwise it could get awkward.

The Zangoose almost released him for a moment out of embarrassment, but in the end, decided to stay like that. She just kept quiet and enjoyed the moment. There were many thoughts in her head, starting with how ironic it was for them to have become friends in the end, to the fact that Ari was the pokémon she had felt most comfortable being herself with. She felt so happy.

And with those thoughts, a new feeling arose.

Both of them kept watching the sunrise for a while without saying a single word. Ari couldn’t stop smiling, and even if he wasn’t looking at Sanah, he could tell she was smiling too.

That night, for the first time in so long, Ari could finally sleep peacefully.

End of part 1.