[X] My Assistant

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

"Good," Omar said. "Let's get going." During his and Tag's brief conversation, Miriam and Ace had picked up the weapons of the three fallen soldiers (Ace held two). When Omar turned around, Ace handed him one and so all three of them were armed. They were, after all, the higher ranked members and were, clearly, better prepared for this very unexpected situation. There was little objection from Nate or Justin in letting Omar take the lead here. Besides, they had their pokemon, and neither of them had used guns anyway.

The group of six made their way through the war-torn city of Helms' nightmare. There were few soldiers simply littering the streets, and it was very clear that the gunshots were all coming from a single direction: The one in which they were heading. Sure enough, Omar stopped them around the corner of another building to take a peek around.

One thing worth noting was that this was no naive or rag-tag group of six in some pokemon adventure. These were adults, and capable adults at that. Ace and Nate grew up in urban environments and were quite scrappy in situations like these. Miriam was particularly observant and thoughtful and, more importantly, knew exactly what to look out for in dangerous situations. Omar had already proven himself uninhibited in the endeavor of taking lives of these "dream soldiers" (an act with which no one in the group seemed to take much issue, if at all) and was somewhat of a badass in his own right. Tag, while he had not made his tactful mind and battle skills known to Omar, Ace or Miriam, was...Well...Taggarty Lee: Furoh's resident badass.

"Okay," Omar turned to the group. "I counted fifteen armed soldiers on the nearest side of the building. They're all aiming on one of the higher floors, but it looks like their goal is simply to put pressure on their target. Ammo doesn't appear to be an issue to them either. Willing to bet it'll be an issue for us and for Helms, though, since that's how nightmares work.

"Anyway, here's my plan. Feel free to disagree or whatever, but I think it's solid. We're outnumbered, right? But, we have the element of surprise, and we can hit 'em fast before they hit us. Unfortunately, we only got three guns, so that gives us three shots and, 'f things go well, three kills, 'fore we grab attention. Element of surprise don't mean shit if it only chips away a fifth of their group.

"But we ain't weak. All of us have pokemon. I wouldn't want anyone's pokemon to get shot I'm just sayin', if we can pull the soldiers close, we got a real good chance of takin' them out."

"So, how do we do that?" Ace asked.

"I'll be the bait," he said. "What I'm gonna do, is I'm 'onna go into the third story of this building right here," he slapped his hand against the wall in which he was leaning against (to reflect on what a jackass he truly was) and continued. "I'll fire the first shot, and I'll take out a soldier in the middle, so they can all notice something's up. I don't expect all the soldiers will wander towards this building and abandon their posts, but they'll send a few to check it out at least.

"After that, we'll have two of you guys, let's say, Tag and Justin, protecting me inside the building. When the soldiers get close, you two will stay hidden, and you'll attack when they get close enough to do so with your pokemon. I recommend using your Shadow Pokemon, since they won't have reserves about killing humans."

Justin sighed at this suggestion. Of course, it was true. Pinsir was a huge dick and didn't have any respect for life. He had killed many young Kabuto during their short stay in the Rock Temple under Starfall Field, and nearly killed Bachi, Tag's Nidoran. Hell, there were times, it seemed like Pinsir wanted to kill Justin, even. For once, this trait was going to help them. "Was your Rhydon shadow?" He asked, mostly out of curiosity.

"No, in fact," Omar shook his head. "But he does what I say regardless."

"Okay," Justin nodded. "So, me and Tag protect you inside this building. What about Nate, Miriam and Ace?"

"Right," Omar continued. "So, Miriam, I want you to hide out in that building across the street here, so you can see into this one without drawing attention. Once Justin and Tag start fighting, you go ahead and help them from a distance. I won't be able to see as much as you can from my perch, so you'll be our eyes. Ace, I want you to take Nate to a hide out somewhere on the other side of this building. Can't see much from here, but somewhere where they can't see you, but you can see them just fine. When they split up and the group that comes to this building leaves your sight, you and Nate make the assault on the soldiers who remained. Cover Nate so he can get close and clear a path for us."

"Aight," Ace nodded.

"Sweet," Nate did too.

[Kamaitachi]

Omar was someone who understood the art of war, and it showed clearly and brilliantly. He most likely knew the battle capabilities of Miriam and Ace, which was why he split them up, trusting them to their ends of his plan. He'd probably read files on Justin and Nate, knowing full well what the two of them were capable of. Tag was also quite sure that he'd shown up in a report or two (especially concerning his last foray in Gigarte), but was otherwise the unknown factor. Knowing the strength of Justin's Pokemon, and Tag's nature as a Pokemon trainer, it was safest to pair Justin with Tag, as Justin would most likely have the most success in keeping him in check.

Since this wasn't some sappy, happy sort of environment, the group didn't put their hands in the middle and swear by their friendship that they would win. They all wore looks of grim determination, knowing that it had the potential to be a life or death situation. At least, it felt like one, due to their circumstances.

The desperate alliance nodded in some semblance of unison before breaking their huddle. Tag and Justin moved into the building behind Omar, allowing him to ascend to a suitable shooting position. Tag was prepared for Pinsir to appear on the field, but he wasn't exactly sure which of his pokemon would be acceptable in this situation. Running through the mental checklist, he knew he had Suzu, Bachi, Kyoko, Tobi, Zuki and Orin. Of his team of six, he figured that two of them had the potential to kill a human.

Orin wasn't prepared for more violence, not at this time. While surprisingly brave in pokemon battle, this was an area out of her expertise. Tag returned her to her pokeball, noting that he didn't want to subject her to this, even in her dreams.

Drawing out two pokeballs, Tag summoned Bachi, his newly evolved Nidoking to the field, and his surprise choice, Kyoko. The flower pokemon was outrageously courageous for such a happy looking thing, and Poison Pin Pokemon now had phenomenal brute strength and the bravery to match.

"We've got to kill them." Tag stared his team down. "Some humans will come in here, and we've got to kill them, or they'll kill all of us." The two pokemon returned his stare, trying their hardest to remain convicted. "Don't worry, they're not really human. They're just dreams."

Tag noted, sadly, that he had just used what was quite possibly one of the greatest, but most horrific strategy that militaries used: Dehumanizing the enemy. But in this situation, it was do or die, and he was a survivor. He'd survived his own suicide, and weathered many a great tragedy (while causing some of his own), and he wasn't about to go down in someone else's dream.

"I won't have the time to issue commands, so here are your orders: Bachi, Horn Attack, Fury Attack and Poison Jab. Shoot to kill. Kyoko, Leaf Blade. Aim for vitals. Eyes, Necks, and any gaps in their armor."

His two pokemon nodded. The tone in Tag's voice immediately conveyed the level of danger they were in, and their loyalty to their trainer erased any cloud of doubt in their minds; he would never order them to do such things unless it was absolutely vital to the situation.

Bachi clapped his hands together, stepping back with Tag to a corner of the room. Anxiously, he clasped and unclasped his new hands, instinctively knowing how to use them, but not sure if he'd be able to control himself once he got started. The newfound power from the moonstone was intoxicating, and it was quite the boon to be able to unleash it so fully, so soon after evolving.

Bold Kyoko, meanwhile, stood in front of Tag, waiting for her chance. She was a brave soul, and slowly, she drew two long, thin blades from her skirt. She fought with the dexterity and agility of a fencer, and learning to use two blades at once greatly increased her offensive potential. She was ready for this fight, and the look of concentration on her face showed it.

Tag looked across the room to Justin, nodding quietly.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Tag wasted no time calling forth the two pokemon he'd be using, while returning Orin (whom Justin had met only briefly, as a little Snorunt) to her pokeball. Bachi, the newly evolved Nidoking, was looking quite ferocious and ready to rip some people in pieces. His pokemon looked so much stronger every time they met, and more and more, he began to be grateful that Tag forfeited during their last less-than-friendly encounter.

He kept Hitmontop in his pokeball and, instead, called out Pinsir. This was a strategy more often than not avoided, simply because Hitmontop was not only much stronger than Pinsir, but far more reliable and loyal. But when Pinsir appeared from his pokeball and the light faded, revealing more than just an outline of his form, it seemed as though everything changed. Indeed, this was not the same Pinsir.

For starters, he was blue. His horns were a little brighter as well and, rather than immediately snarling and looking for the nearest thing to tear apart, he looked somewhat confused. Even humbled. "Pin," it began, looking around. Once it made eye contact with Bachi, it took a few steps back in what could only be fear, but not from Pinsir. Pinsir knew no fear. How long had it been since Pinsir held little Bachi between its two horns and pushed them closer together, trying with all its might to do more than defeat its foe, but to kill the poor poison pin pokemon. Justin had to summon Hitmontop to knock out his own pokemon in order to save Bachi's life. It was entirely possible that, at this juncture, the tables were entirely reversed. Nidoking could crush Pinsir like an appropriate simile. Can't think of one at this very moment.

But again, with the blue thing. This wasn't an entirely new concept to Justin. It wasn't long ago that his Nincada evolved into an odd colored Ninjask (leaving behind the frustratingly apathetic Shedinja). But at least there was some sort of explanation behind why Nincada changed. It evolved from its shell by breaking free. It was always colored differently, but was hidden behind its bland colored shell. He could think of no reason why Pinsir suddenly became blue.

"Uhh," he began. "Are you my Pinsir?" It nodded awkwardly and Justin just looked to Tag and shrugged, then looked back to Pinsir. "This is odd timing. I kinda need you to kill some people." It seemed to ponder the request and then, with some reluctance, nodded his head. "If you don't want to-" It shook its head in protest and then its horns slammed against each other repeatedly. It seemed prepared.

"What the hell happened to you, Pinsir?" he asked. "You're so different."

[Kamaitachi]

At the sight of Pinsir, Bachi immediately tensed, leaning forward. Tag's arm shot out in immediate restraint, but even he knew that if Bachi so desired, Tag's arm simply wouldn't be there.

Growling ferociously, Bachi peered over Tag's tattooed arm, procuring a glare that Hades himself would've envied. There was an opponent who had broken any sort of Pokemon Honor Code, and completely humiliated him in a fight. The intoxicating power coursing through his body had found a source of release, and Bachi wasn't about to let it idle.

"Bachi. Pinsir is our ally. You'll have your chance later." Tag shot Justin an odd look that appeared to be combined with promise and relish in equal parts. There was no doubt that Tag, too, looked forward to a rematch. Bachi visibly deferred to Tag's commands, but from the look in his eye, he was ready to inflict some serious violence on his old foe.

"It's pokemon melanism." Tag sized up the new, blue Pinsir. "Differently coloured pokemon. For some, awful reason, they're referred to as 'Shiny'. Tag never liked the term "Shiny", mostly because, to him, it seemed a child's way to describe a scientific phenomenon. Not that he was a scientist by any means, of course. He simply didn't like dumbing things down to such a level. "There's no explanation as to why he suddenly chose to be blue, unless it's part of his own dream."

This was certainly an odd turn of events. He wondered if their strategy had now been compromised by the sudden change in personality. Then, he blinked, dumbfounded.

"What did Omar mean by shadow pokemon? Why would Pinsir be a shadow pokemon? He's an insect."

It was certainly an interesting question. Tag had always figured that there was something odd about Justin's Pinsir, especially since he had a bizarre repertoire of attacks unbefitting his species. What did the adjective, or code-word 'Shadow', have to do with this bizarre Pinsir.

Likewise, Nate's Teddiursa, back in the Arasam mountainside, had used a bizarre set of moves as well. Tag didn't really hone in to things like pokemon personalities when they weren't his pokemon, so he wasn't sure if Pinsir and Teddiursa were simply cut from the same jerk-cloth. But there was definitely something suspicious about their techniques.

"It doesn't matter." Tag shrugged before Justin could answer, despite the obvious length of time Tag took to process the whole thing. "What matters is that he can fight. We can wax philosophical about this later, I'm sure."

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Omar was the third person in position, after Justin and Tag. All he had to do was go up two flights of stairs and find a nice hiding spot near a window looking onto their target building. From there, he had a nice view of the fifteen soldiers on their side of the building, but he knew it wouldn't last long. The second he fired his first shot, gunfire would be coming in his direction, and he'd need to back up. He was somewhat glad he had a few moments of planning out his exact movements, since he did still need to wait for Nate, Ace and Miriam to get into position. Though he didn't have any way of knowing when they were ready, he had some idea of how long it would take, so he'd give them that plus some grace.

Miriam was the next in position. She did have to cross the street, which was dangerous since it left her somewhat exposed, but she did it quickly and quietly, and with the help of Nate and Ace, who were her eyes as she crossed. Once she was sufficiently hidden, they made their way through the middle building (the one in which Tag, Justin and Omar were) and to the other side.

They had their backs up against the building and Nate was right up on the corner. "See what you can see," Ace said. Nate nodded and took a deep breath before turning his head slightly around the corner of the building to see the same fifteen soldiers at whom Omar was looking. He quickly removed himself from what would be their line of sight if they weren't so focused on Helms and nodded. "Yeah, there's a lot," he said. "But they're not even paying attention to us. No idea we're here."

"You'd think the gunfire a few minutes ago woulda tipped 'em off," Ace shrugged.

"So," Nate began. "We're supposed to hide, right? Is this where we're gonna do it?"

"Seems a good spot for you," Ace said. "Only thing, I won't be able to cover you from here, 'cause I can't see 'em. So, what I'mma do, is I'mma cross the street here and wait in that building, so I can cover you good, and so I can let you know when's a good time to go in."

"Yeah," Nate nodded. "Sounds good." He said this without making eye contact. His eyes were distant as he spoke and he only barely listened. Of the six of them locked in an unknown dream, Nate was the most afraid.

"Nate,"

"Yeah?"

"Calm down, man," Ace said. "You gotta breathe or this shit ain't gonna go down good at all."

"That's helpful."

"I'm being for real," he continued. "What you gotta do is think about the mission. Think about what you're gonna do if something goes wrong. Think about what you're gonna do if nothin' goes wrong. But don't think about how scared you are. Don't think about gettin' shot or failing. Just think about what you're gonna do."

"Okay," Nate nodded. "I, uh. Yeah. Okay."

"What are you gonna do?"

"Hm?"

"Well, when I shoot, you're gonna fight, right? So, what are you gonna do?"

"I'll summon Teddiursa, my Shadow pokemon. Probably Ninja, too, my Sneasel? Since she's really fast, and um. Yeah, I think she'll be good."

"Aight," Ace nodded. "Cover me while I cross the street, and I might go head and prep your pokemon for a battle."

Nate nodded and peeked around the corner again to make sure the soldiers were still preoccupied. "You're good," he said. Immediately after, Ace bolted across the street while remaining very quiet. While he climbed the stairs to get a better view of the situation, Nate took his advice and summoned Ninja and Teddiursa. Unlike Pinsir, Teddiursa looked the same as he always did. There was still something different about him, though.

"Hey guys," Nate said, not noticing the difference in Teddiursa. Ninja looked very confused about her surroundings and Nate just nodded. "Yeah, it's fucked up. Anyway, what we gotta-" He stopped right then when he realized that Teddiursa also showed signs of confusion, which was strange given that the little guy had been virtually emotionless before (Not quite the sociopath Pinsir was, though). "Teddiursa? Are you okay?"

"Ted..." It began, but stopped itself. It wasn't the kind of confusion Ninja was facing. It was a deeper "Where have I been the last two years?" kind of confusion. Nate was unperceptive of the difference, however. What was important, though, was that, in the dream world, neither Teddiursa nor Pinsir were Shadowed.

"Okay. Well, here's the thing. There are some guys out there that want to kill us. I don't mean knockout, like pokemon do. They have guns and they'll shoot. So, I need you guys to not hesitate." He paused for a moment to let it sink in, which it seemed to be doing. "Go for the throat," he said. "And keep moving, as fast as you can, so they can't shoot you."

Without even commanding it, Ninja closed her eyes. The air around her changed somewhat and when she opened her eyes, she seemed far more fierce. She used agility, a normally useless move on such an already fast pokemon, but Sneasel isn't naturally faster than bullets. After an agility, still no, but certainly faster than a human trigger finger. Nate just smiled. "Good job. Nice."

After what seemed to be enough time to get in position, Omar took a deep breath and fired the first few shots. He had an automatic weapon and the accuracy wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be when he could fire multiple shots in a few seconds. There were fifteen soldiers in front of him, all of whom had their backs to him, so the first shot was very easy. He got the one right in the middle, so there were seven to his left and seven to his right. All of them, as soon as the shot was fired, turned to see what happened. Their comrade took a few bullets to the back and quickly fell to the ground.

The soldiers on either side of him turned to Omar's location and open fire into his building, but he had already backed up and avoided the shots.

At that point, six soldiers went around the left side of the building, where Miriam was facing and where Tag and Justin were waiting. Three went around the right side, where Nate was hiding. Nate was unaware they were coming right for him, but Ace saw the whole situation play out and knew that they were coming. He didn't want to give his position away too early, so he just kept his sights on them. If he fired too soon, Nate would take that as his cue to jump out and initiate, but it was still too early.

Once they were right up against the corner (they didn't just jump around and hope the coast was clear, after all) Ace fired, riddling him with bullets. Nate heard the gunshots as well as the grunts of the fallen soldier just on the other side of the wall and nodded to Teddiursa and Ninja. "Okay, guys. Let's go."

Ninja was out first, not wasting any time. Teddiursa was right behind her. She ran past the fallen soldier and straight towards the five who remained shooting into Helms' building. Teddiursa turned the corner and noticed there were still two soldiers right there, some blood splattered on their faces from their fallen friend. They seemed somewhat confused that a small, unarmed teddy bear was what turned the corner, but their confusion grew when so too did the teddy bear.

In a quick moment, a bright light surrounded the pokemon, too bright to watch carefully. By the time it subsided, there stood not a teddy bear, but a ferocious bear with a ring on its belly. Though it still lacked the weaponry of the soldiers, to say it was unarmed would be a grave mistake. Its first act as an Ursaring was to slash at the nearest soldier, tearing open his face. The one behind him moved out of the way and prepared to shoot the bear, but was grabbed from behind by the very small Nate.

He reacted effectively and elbowed behind himself, knocking Nate to the ground, but before he could ready his weapon again, took a few bullets from Ace, who had quickly made his way out of the building to backup Nate. He didn't bother helping Nate up, but rather moved very quickly and shot as many bullets as he could into the group of soldiers, who were also occupied with the Sneasel moving around as her nickname would imply, cutting at the soldiers, climbing them and, when possible, tearing at their throats, as Nate suggested. Meanwhile, bullets were flying in so many directions (Ace and Omar were both shooting into the group), and there was a bear charging them, they could not fight effectively.

While all that jazz was going on, the six soldiers who came around the other side of the building were met with a surprise as well. They waited by the doorway for a few seconds, all the while Miriam had her sights on them, but they couldn't see her. One nodded to the one in front, who kicked open the door and prepared to raid the building. They ran in, two at a time. Once the door flew open, though, Miriam fired her weapon, quickly killing the last two soldiers to enter.

The first two soldiers to enter were met with a flower, a giant rhino and a ferocious looking beetle, as well as Justin and Tag, who, though unarmed, weren't lacking in intimidation. Pinsir should have been the first to make a move, but he hesitated, which, hopefully, Bachi and Kyoko did not do. There were four armed soldiers, who weren't about to not use their weapons in these confusing times.

Nate's evolved into .

This post has been edited by Yzarc Drowsnam: Nov 20 2011, 06:01 PM

[Kamaitachi]

Bachi and Kyoko, the highly trained pokemon that they were, did not hesitate in the least to follow Tag's commands. As the soldiers entered, they flanked out, checking the corners immediately, as they were trained to do. However, the instant they turned towards Tag's side, they were met with the fearsome visage of a growling Nidoking, hungry for battle. As they prepared to open fire on the creature, they did not see little Kyoko, only a foot tall, and that was their fatal mistake.

The normally cheerful flower pokemon was not short on bravery, and her face shone with the grim determination to protect her comrade. Springing up, her first rapier blade shot upwards, into the chin of the first soldier. As he 'urked' in surprise, she slashed horizontally at his throat with her second leaf blade, ensuring that the job was done on the man. As he fell, the other soldier sidestepped out of the way, only to be met with a venom-dripping horn into his chest. Roaring, Bachi lifted the dying dream soldier off the ground and into the air, and with a shake of his head, sent the man across the room. Kyoko doggedly chased the airborne man down, and with a flash of her leaf blade, ensured that the job was done.

Continuing his assault, Bachi's clawed arm, now glowing purple from the venom he was secreting from his body, grabbed the next soldier's face, slamming him violently into the wall. Even Tag, battle hardened and stoic, couldn't help but avert his eyes. He had expected his pokemon to be efficient, but he had not been prepared for the outright brutality that his longtime friend was displaying. He took a brief second to remind himself that this was a dream, but he was now worried that Bachi would display the same violent tendencies back in the waking world. The gurgling scream of the soldier cut short as Bachi tightened his grip, dropping the twitching body to the floor.

This left only one soldier for the odd Blue Pinsir of Justin's. The soldier, however, had been left dumbstruck by the brutality of the flanking assault, and left his back wide open to Pinsir, while he pointed his gun shakily at the King of Poison Pin pokemon's back.

"Justin!" Tag yelled, as Bachi was not agile enough to turn around and attack, and Kyoko was out of range. It seemed the life or death situation now revolved around the normally bloodthirsty Pinsir.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Pinsir stayed back as he, Justin and Tag watched Bachi and Kyoko relentlessly tear into the soldiers. One would think bullets would be far more effective than what were essentially very smart animals, but apparently fear was able to overtake even figments in nightmares. While all four soldiers were affected by the assault, there was only one who remained standing at the end.

As the fight began, that one soldier took a piece of Kyoko's Leaf Blade, causing him to drop his weapon. While Bachi and Kyoko continued to rain terror onto his three comrades, he found himself focused with trying to pick his gun back up. By the time he did, the rest of them were dead, but he refused to hesitate this time. He held his gun up to the Nidoking and got just so close to pulling that trigger.

It was not Pinsir who halted his attack. Justin tackled the trained soldier to the ground, though he kept his weapon with him as he fell. Still, Justin was too close for him to aim and fire, so instead, he pulled out his knife and slashed at the teenager. While Justin was preparing to punch the man in the face, he saw the knife move for his own, and he backed up. The knife, instead, slashed the left side of his left forearm. The soldier got up to charge Justin but, this time, was stopped by Pinsir.

The blue bug pinned the man up against the wall with his large pincers. He tried slashing away at the bug, but his exoskeleton was too strong to be penetrated. He squeezed harder and harder and, finally, pulled the soldier slightly off the wall, allowing his pincers to close in, cutting the man in half. He was too low to know the move Guillotine, so let's call it Vicegrip.

He turned around to face his trainer, whose life he would not have even considered a priority a day earlier. He didn't want to have his first lucid act in a span of time of which he completely lost track to be murder, but for it to be saving Justin was okay. Justin, after all, had taken care of Pinsir since the day they met. Even though the bug pokemon absolutely hated his trainer and actively misbehaved and mistreated him, Justin continued to take care of him. Murder was the least he could do to repay the favor. He only hoped he would remain in this state.

Omar came down the stairs around then and nodded. "Well done," he said, stoically. "Let's move. Ace and Nate finished off the other soldiers and they're waiting in Helms' building for us.

Justin nodded and then looked to Pinsir. "Thank you," he said. "It's nice to finally meet you." Pinsir didn't look pleased or excited that his trainer had thanked him. He still felt down about what he'd just done, but he managed to nod to Justin before being called back into his pokeball.

"Justin," Omar said, approaching him. "You got cut pretty bad, looks like."

He looked at his left arm which had a significant gash in. He hadn't even felt it with all the adrenaline pumping, but once he noticed it, it began to hurt. He'd taken pain before, though, and he was still more concerned for his life and the life of his friends than having to deal with a little bit of pain. "Yeah," he said. "Hopefully we'll save Helms and wake up before it gets worse."

"If not, we'll need to mend it somehow," Omar said. "Laws of physics seem to work pretty realistically in here, which means you could probably get infected. But yeah, lets get to the other building first."

When they left the building they were already in, Miriam was waiting outside with her gun. She nodded to them and they all moved quickly across the street. Though the soldiers in their direct vicinity had all been killed, the coast was far from here. Soldiers were still combing the streets, and there were plenty of soldiers still shooting into Helms' building on the other three sides of it. So, they moved quickly and as quietly as possible until they met Ace and Nate on the inside, who were already crouched down.

Getting into the building caused a whole new set of problems though. Though the soldiers were shooting into the upper floors, they'd still get a stray bullet flying through once in a while. Moreover, there were plenty of glass windows and they didn't want to be seen.

Thus began their trip up the stairs, where more and more bullets would be flying in their direction. Still, they didn't expect to see very many, if any, enemy soldiers as they moved. Just more and more bullets and, eventually, Helms. How'd they get him out was a different plan about which no one had even thought yet.

[Kamaitachi]

"Thank You." Tag nodded to Justin and Pinsir as the latter disappeared back into his pokeball. The Blue Pinsir evidently still held his penchant for violence, but Tag still couldn't place his finger on what was different about him. Well, aside from the colour, of course.

Tag looked to his pokemon, sizing them up quickly. Bachi seemed quite ready for more combat, his heaving breath still in place from the adrenaline rush of battle, while Kyoko quietly sidled back up to Tag, placing her little hands on his leg. The tattooed man thanked the two before recalling them to their pokeballs, before turning to Justin.

Omar had returned to the scene, and after surveying the aftermath of the chaos, noted Justin's arm.

Before long, the entire group had reconvened, and were heading up to Helms' location still in tact. It appeared that they'd best the worst this dream had to offer, and Tag was ready for it to be over. Even as they ducked at the sound of too-close gunfire, he still moved forward with the same intent on finishing this dream and getting back to the real world. Part of him regretted following Justin and Nate in the first place, but another part of him really wanted to thank them for the constant life or death experiences they were constantly putting him in. It was rather exciting, he had to admit, and the warrior blood deep inside him was constantly exhilirated by it.

"So we get to Helms...then...we...do what, exactly?"

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Tag's question was really perfect. It was a perfect question, possibly the best he could have asked, and in no different manner. The tone of confusion and ambiguity truly epitomized the emotions through which every single one of their group was going. The truth was, there was no way to know what happened after they found Helms. It was the perfect question because it simply could not be answered.

Rarely is there a perfect answer to a perfect question, but Omar nailed it. He stopped walking, turned around to make eye contact with Tag for two seconds and then, without displaying a single emotion, turned back and continued moving towards their goal (essentially following the gunfire).

The gunfire grew louder as they approached the next floor, and they even heard some coming from inside the building itself. Omar raised his hand to halt the group as he moved forward to survey the situation. What he saw was a torn apart office with the desks and chairs fallen over to build a makeshift barricade. The scene was off, because the office looked as though it was part of the western world, and it looked as though the carnage was very recent. Meanwhile, outside, it looked like the middle of a third world city. Such is the world of dreams, after all.

He saw Helms, armed and crouched down behind one of the desks. He was alone, and had very many dead companions around him. When he made eye contact with Omar, his first response was to hold the gun up to him. "Helms!" Omar shouted. "Helms, no! It's me. We're here to get you out of here."

"You're-" he began. "Omar! Son of a bitch! When'd you get here? How'd you get here? I'm dreaming, right?"

"Yeah, I think you are. Guys, come out!" Miriam led the rest of the group to the barricade floor. "Stay low," Omar added.

"This seems too real," Helms said. "Did you guys fall into this same nightmare? Or am I dreaming you too?"

"I think we're all here, Sir," Omar said. "I don't guess you have any idea what's going on."

"A little," Helms nodded. "But now's not the time. Look, I know where we are. I can get us out of here, if I know you're all with me. Ace. Miriam." He nodded to the two. "And these three?"

"Unit 101," Omar said.

"90, actually," Nate corrected.

"Oh yeah. That's right. Anyway, this is Nate, Justin and, uh. Tag." While it was true that Tag was not a member of Unit 90 or even of Team Deception at all, that information was directly irrelevant to the situation at hand.

"Great," Helms took a deep breath. "Alright. If you guys can get me out of this building, I'll get us out of this city. Once we're out of Hell, it'll be a little easier to figure out how to get out of the rest of the nightmare."

[Kamaitachi]

Omar's response seemed to quell any doubts Tag had about the situation. The simple, silent answer explained everything to Tag without any cloudiness, and Tag, in turn, dispelled any further questions he had. Those, after all, were unnecessary to their mission at that very moment.

The vision that met them at their end of their trek upwards was one of total carnage. Only Helms remained. That meant, due to the light amount of return gunfire he was sending, that the enemy soldiers would be entering the building at any moment.

Tag's earlier plan of getting a gun was easily fulfilled. He nodded as he was introduced, but immediately picked up a gun and some ammo from one of Helms' fallen men. After all, there was no point in it going to waste. Sure, he didn't know how to use one effectively, but nevertheless, it would potentially come in handy.

Plan-wise, Tag was at a loss. There was no hope for reinforcements, no hope for extraction and no hope of fighting through a horde of enemies. The only chance was to flee, and they had to do that as effectively as possible. He knew that in dreams, one tended to wake up right before one died. However, people didn't normally share dreams, which meant that he didn't know precisely which set of dream-mechanics were in effect here.

Tag chanced a glance out the windows, taking in as much as he could before ducking back down, narrowly avoiding a hail of gunfire exploding around him.

"Once they realize that there's no more gunfire up here, they'll swarm the place to cut us off. Outside fire escape is too exposed; they'd just pick us off. Our best bet is to go down the way we came in."

He looked over the group, realizing that there wasn't much in terms of dissent. With that, he grabbed pair of guns, handing them to Justin and Nate, then looked to Helms for a set of orders. While Pokemon Battles were a forte of his, he was out of his element when it came to real life battles. Helms was the expert on their situation.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Omar took a moment and then nodded. "I'm with Tag."

"Sounds fine to me," Helms agreed. "I'm ready to just get the fuck outta here."

In agreement, the group turned for the door, but not before hearing something fall on the ground near them. "Grenade!" Helms shouted, while simultaneously ducking behind another of the desks. It happened by the door, but he was the only one quick enough to listen for such a sound and respond effectively.

The flash grenade effectively stunned everyone in the room, with the exception of Helms, who avoided the flash. While the rest of his team was undergoing a 5 second blindness, he readied his weapons and aimed them at the door in preparation for soldiers to enter. When they did, they quickly found their target, Helms, who did not waste any time firing away. The soldiers, in kind, returned fire.

Justin shouted and held out the gun Tag had given him in somewhat random directions before opting to just set it down. He was more likely to shoot a friend at this rate. And yet, slowly, the blindness he experienced faded and he got a more clear view of the situation. There was Helms, lying against the desk, riddled with bullets, a pool of blood forming beneath him as he slid to the floor, the life quickly draining from his eyes.

The rest of the soldiers had their weapons on the rest of the team, but had refrained from firing at them as they were stunned. And yet, their weapons began to shake. No, it was the whole room. The building itself was beginning to crumble around them. "Uhhhh, Omar?" Justin asked.

"Just hold onto somethin'!" Omar shouted.

"What the hell is this?" Miriam asked, standing up, for the first time since they entered the building, in an upright position. She walked over to the window looking outside. "It's not the building," she said. "This whole world is collapsing. The sky, the ground. Everything is falling apart."

Justin looked at Nate and then at Tag, if only to communicate the fear through which he was going. He wanted to summon Hitmontop, to thank him for standing by him even through his questionable decisions. Hitmontop was always the better of the two. He wanted to summon Pinsir to apologize for the Shadow which had affected him. Ninjask, whom cared so deeply for Justin. Sudowoodo, whose friendship had slowly become valued. Octillery and Shedinja didn't have the connections the others had with Justin, but hell, he wanted to say goodbye to them too. But how cruel would it be to summon them into this strange new world just so they could experience death?

As the rattling became more and more unbearable, his vision began to fade back out. It was slow, at about the speed it came back from the flashbang, but it was a more unsettling kind of lack of vision. It was an eerie darkness into which they were being swept - the kind from which nightmares were made.

And so, yet again, they lost consciousness.

[Kamaitachi]

"Grenade!"

The iconic line from every war movie and video game was completely lost on Tag, who had trained himself to respond to Pokemon attacks by calling out Pokemon Attacks.

Tag, like Justin, waved his gun around, but the sensation of being blinded and deafened was completely new to him. The entire white world spun rapidly, with only an incredibly high pitched whine of his eardrums going insane could guide him in any conceivable direction. However, all conceivable directions were hopeless, and Tag simply held out his gun in front of him.

As the white faded back into normal vision, Tag snapped his head around, seeing Justin, Nate, Miriam, Ace and Omar...and lastly Helms. They had failed the dream mission, which potentially meant that they were trapped forever. They were about to die in a dream, since there were soldiers facing down on them. Perhaps the trauma of dying in his head would transfer over to his body, back in Gigarte, and that too, would simply die.

Then the world crumbled. Tag had to admit that getting shot was probably the better way to die. Quick and painless, not with the entire world dropped on his head. Either way, death was swiftly approaching once more. It was similar to when the massive meteor hit, except this time, there was no legendary quartet of pokemon to save them. His hand reached down, gently roaming over the smooth surfaces of his six pokeballs. It was a shame that their journey was to be cut short too.

Tag closed his eyes and waited.

* * *

With a low groan, Tag slowly opened his eyes, propping himself up on his forearms. He had been lying on his back, the vision of a crumbling ceiling indicated that perhaps they'd survive the collapse of the dream world. Sadly, with one scan of his surroundings, he realized that he wasn't in the same place anymore.

He caught sight of the other prone bodies around him, laying in their various unconscious positions. The room they were in didn't look like the war-torn office, nor did it look like the apartment. That meant, through a swift deductive process, that they were now in someone else's dream. Helms, now dead, was probably not the owner of this world, and this wasn't the sort of place that Tag dreamed about. (Tag usually dreamed about cute things, like floating in the sky amongst a cloud of Hoppip, or floating on his back while Wooper gamboled about.)

Slowly standing, he checked to see if he was entirely in one piece, and then checked his pokeball inventory. He gave himself a satisfactory nod upon completion of his check before setting about checking the rest of his team. They were all breathing, and they were all still equipped, save the firearms from the office, which had mysteriously vanished.

Looking around the room to see if he could find more clues, he noted that they were in some sort of empty room, with doors at 'north' and 'south' ends of the room. (Tag had no way of deeming which way was actually north, of course.) The only other inhabitant of the room, aside from the team, was something that looked like a wardrobe, standing completely unused.

His curiosity piqued, he figured it was probably something to help them through this segment of dreams. So, naturally, he moved to go open it.

The fatal flaw with his logic is that he thought they were 'dreaming'. While they were doing just that, he neglected to remember that they were in a nightmare. As he pried open the cabinet door, he reeled back in horror. Within the cabinet was a body. While that should've been no surprise, the state it was in was the most shocking to the 'bad-ass' trainer. The body within had been methodically chopped up and pinned to the inside of the wardrobe, with individual body parts completely detached from one another, and labeled. The head had been vivisected down the middle, though the eyes, mouth and everything was still intact in a wide-eyed, horrified, but silent, scream.

Tag promptly vomited.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Though Justin felt some level of consciousness flow back into his body, the world remained black. He was afraid to open his eyes, to see what new world he was in. He was afraid to confirm that he had been killed, most importantly. But, as he heard sounds of movement around him, he opened his eyes.

The room was still dark, but he could see his companions. Notably absent was Helms, who had been killed in his own nightmare. Everyone else was still there, though. Nate was leaning against one of the walls, while Miriam, Omar and Tag seemed to be looking at the wardrobe, the only piece of furniture in this otherwise empty room. Tag, evidently the boldest of the group (or the most forgetful that they were in a nightmare and not simply a dream, which was the case) decided to open the wardrobe.

Neither Miriam nor Omar objected. Why would they? They were just as curious as Tag to see what was inside the wardrobe. They made sure to take one or two steps back as he did it though. They say curiosity killed the cat, but oftentimes it's the pussies who live.

Then they saw what Tag saw. Miriam quickly averted her gaze, as did Justin, while Omar showed no sign of emotion. He stared the corpse (if it could still be called that) down while rubbing his chin, as if expecting a goatee to be there. Nate couldn't quite see what was inside from his spot on the wall, and he seriously pondered whether or not it would be worth it to move just to see what was inside, especially given the somewhat violent reactions from his allies - Notably Tag's.

However, there was one among the group who reacted worse than Tag. Indeed, Tag's response was reasonable given the circumstances. Omar's probably was the only one out of place, but then again, there seemed to be nothing capable of removing his poker face. But Ace didn't avert his gaze either. He didn't move, but his face was far from calm. His eyes widened, his breath stopped and his arm hair stood on end. It was like he was trying to blink or look away or really do anything to get this thing out of his vision, but he couldn't do it. It was like his eyelids were taped open, forcing him to look on this disfigured human as if it were some form of torture in and of itself.

Though Justin's first assumption was that this was Tag's dream, given his vomiting, Omar was the one to notice otherwise. He simply stood between Ace and the wardrobe, but it was clear the image was imprinted in the man's mind permanently, or at least for the remainder of the nightmare, which was clearly his own. Omar turned and closed the wardrobe and turned to face the rest of the group.

"Uh," Nate said. "What was in it?"

"We're in Ace's dream," Omar said, ignoring Nate's valid question. "Everyone here reacted relatively reasonably to the sight we were unfortunate enough to see just now."

"I didn't see it." Nate shrugged.

"But Ace is petrified," Omar continued. "Even before you opened the wardrobe, Tag, Ace was uneasy, moreso than the rest of us."

"It makes sense," Miriam added. "After Helms, Ace was the first to fall asleep. It's hard to make a definite pattern with as little info as we have, but if this is anything like Helms' nightmare, it's gonna target Ace. Remember, the soldiers only really attacked us when we were in their way of killing Helms. When the flash hit us, they only shot and killed him. We were spared."

"Maybe they just didn't have time to kill us before the building collapsed," Justin said. "They looked just as confused as the rest of us."

"Either way," Miriam shrugged. "They only shot one person."

"Yes," Omar nodded. "But Helms was also the only one of us who remained armed after the flash. It's possibly they only shot him first for that reason, and were still planning on killing us before the nightmare collapsed. Assuming any of us are safe just because this isn't our nightmare is fatal. That being said, let's all keep an eye on Ace just in case."

"It's kind of a small room," Nate said. "I say we just keep our eyes on everybody."

"We're not staying in this room," Omar said, with expected reactions of confusion. "Just like in Helms' dream, there's an objective here. If Ace dies, it's safe to assume we failed, the dream ends, and we move onto the next one. I'd rather find out what happens if we complete the objective, though."

"But we don't know what the objective is." Miriam said.

"Same as last time," Omar replied. "Get to safety. This is some sort of torture house or a serial killer type situation. I know I don't want to just wait in this room for whatever's after us to kill us."

"Ace," Miriam said, crouching down in front of him so she was at eye level. His face was still pale and fear was stricken across his face. "Can you tell us anything about this nightmare? There's a reason you're having it. I know it's probably very hard to talk about, but we really need you to so we can get out."

You can have Ace talk if you want. I'm not sure if you had any plan or reason for the setting you chose, so I didn't wanna steal yo thunder

This post has been edited by Yzarc Drowsnam: Nov 27 2011, 03:35 AM

[Kamaitachi]

It took Ace a moment to recover, which was just fine in Tag's book. He took a few moments of his own to finish spitting up the remnants of sick still lingering in his mouth. Even if this was a dream, the taste of vomit was still pretty evident.

"I don't scare easy, you know?" Ace's breathing slowed back down, and the terrified look half-faded from his face. He'd stepped out of his paralysis for the time being, although he was still visibly shaken from the setting. Not to mention, the image of the corpse was clearly still burned into his memory. Even as he continued to look at it, which was when Tag took the effort to close the wardrobe back up. "This horror shit always gets to me. Not the 'surprise-loud-noise' parts, but the really gory, gross shit."

Tag raised an eyebrow at the thought. He couldn't quite bring himself to believe that this was all brought on by seeing a film or two. But, he reminded himself, they were in a dream world. Those horror films were a lot scarier when one was living it. Part of him was still convinced that this was probably some sick fantasy of Ace's, because no normal person could come up with something so grotesque.

There wasn't really much time to ponder the truth of Ace's statement, nor was there really much time to dilly dally.

"Who's our enemy?" Tag asked.

"My guess? A psycho serial killer. He's gonna find us, then kill us in really sick ways." Ace shuddered at the thought, clutching himself as if he were suddenly cold. "Need to get out of here. Now."

That was something with which Tag wholeheartedly agreed. He really wanted to look to Omar for a plan of action, but there were only two doors, so it wasn't really a discussion on how to proceed. Unless Omar had vast experience in these torture house scenarios, then he'd go with his gut.

"Let's go." Wiping his mouth on his sleeve for good measure, Tag moved over to the 'north' door, and cautiously opened it. After a quick peek, he opened the door wider for everyone to see.

The next room was almost precisely identical to the room they were just in, except that the doors were now 'east' and 'west', and another wardrobe was directly in front of them.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Tag sighed. He moved to the center of the room, eying the wardrobe cautiously. More than likely, there was some other poor dream soul locked in that wardrobe in perfectly sliced pieces, so he didn't dare bother with it.

Once the rest of the group stepped into the room, the door they entered from shut violently. Tag ran back over, testing the handle, only to find that it was locked.

"Of course." He muttered dryly under his breath. As he rejoined the team back towards the middle of the room, he eyed the other two doors. "They're probably also identical".

Placing his forefinger and thumb to his temples, Tag made a grunting, unhappy noise. "If we mark the rooms to make sure we don't double back, we might be able to get out faster. On the contrary, we'd leave a trail for the killer, and he'd be able to find us faster. What do you guys think?"

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

"Keep moving," Omar said. "I'd rather take more time getting outta here than give the killer a path right to us." He nodded his head to one of the doors, completely arbitrarily. As they moved, he did his best to look for anything which stood out - A hole in the wall, a crack in the wardrobe - But everything was perfectly perfect. In the real world, there's always something that separates two things, even identical ones, but in this nightmare world, if something was meant to trick them, it was going to trick them. Their only option was to weather through it.

But as Tag's hand touched the next door, the wardrobe began to jiggle, causing everyone to turn their heads towards it. "Oh God," Ace said, taking a step back. Justin's hand went instinctively towards Hitmontop's pokeball, but then he realized that a simple pokemon battle probably wouldn't save them.

The door to the wardrobe flew open and an equally mangled corpse was visible. Then, a Mismagius floated slowly from outside of the victim's body. At that point, everyone else also moved their hands towards their pokeballs. They were, in fact, dealing with a pokemon, but it was still up in the air as to whether or not this Mismagius was a foe.

Then, it released a horrifying scream, which continued on for way too long. Before the end of it, Nate summoned Ninja, his Sneasel, who didn't even need a command. She heard the scream and saw the Mismagius, and knew that the group was still in a dangerous situation. She quickly vanished from sight and appeared behind the screeching Mismagius, and slashed at her. It did a lot of damage - Not enough to KO her, but enough to cause her to stop screeching and turn around. As Ninja readied herself for another attack, though, more Ghost type pokemon began appearing through the walls.

They didn't waste any time shooting Shadow Balls and other attacks against Ninja. These pokemon were extremely aggressive, and Omar didn't waste any time summoning his own Dark type pokemon, Houndoom. "No question here," he said. "We fight."

[Kamaitachi]

The screech was absolutely horrendous. Tag clapped his hands over his ears, attempting to shield them from the atrocious noise. Ninja, a sneasel, could've more than likely handled the Mismagius on her own. In fact, she seemed to be handling it just fine in the initial round of combat.

But this advantage would not last: Several more ghost pokemon began pouring through the walls. A slow realization crawled into Tag's head; The Mismagius had been an alarm. Now everything in the 'house' was alerted to their presence, and more than likely, their whereabouts.

Knowing ghost pokemon to be notoriously tricky, Tag opted to play support for the rest of the team. "Suzu, Safeguard."

Appearing in a dazzling display, Tag's Ledian immediately shot into the center of the room. With an aerial twirl, a thin white veil formed around her, which in turn formed identical ones on the rest of her teammates. In this case, at least Houndoom and Ninja (As well as any other ally pokemon who entered the field). For now, their team would be protected from the various status ailments that ghost pokemon typically provided.

As she finished spreading the party buff, the ladybug pokemon quickly shot to one side, receiving a glancing blow from a Banette's Shadow claw, and immediately floated back over to Tag.

"Suzu, Agility." With a nod, her sunglasses-eyes glinted with understanding, and she immediately buzzed around the room, picking up speed as she went. As she gained the speed, she continued to avoid the various attacks sent her way, but never bothered to retaliate. She had taken a few glancing blows, but due to her evading, had not taken any serious damage.

"Baton Pass." Suzu faded into a field of red light, which shot back towards the pokeball in Tag's belt. Bursting from his side, Zuki exploded onto the field, drastically sped up, and wrapped in Suzu's safeguard technique. "Use Bite." With a nod, the eager Poochyena sped off into the room, leaping and biting ferociously at any of the various enemy ghost pokemon in the room.

"Can we wrap this up?" He asked irritatedly, anxiously watching the three doors in the room for any unwelcome entrances. It was wholly possible that the psycho-killer Ace had mentioned was approaching them, and would arrive in their room to finish them off any second.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Omar was admittedly impressed with Tag's quick reflexes and understanding of the nature of pokemon battles. He had initially taken Tag for more a brute force kind of battler, who would have a plethora of powerful pokemon to do a lot of damage. He had caught a glimpse of Bachi and Kyoko, and though Bellossom isn't typically known for being a powerhouse, the fact that Nidoking was there too was enough implication for him.

But Tag's decision to negate all the Thunder Waves, Hypnoses and Confuse Rays was a welcome one.

Justin was tempted to summon Shedinja, his own Ghost type pokemon, due to its own Dark type attack, Night Slash. If it had access to a Ghost type attack, that would be preferable, but Night Slash was its strongest attack against other Ghosts. However, being a Ghost type itself, it was weak to that very same type. Justin was no expert on pokemon battling, but he had been getting to know the type chart, at least surrounding his own pokemon. Seeing as how Shedinja was extremely fragile, he had to know its weaknesses inside and out, since a single hit from any of those types would take it out.

He opted to, instead, call out Sudowoodo. Ghost being weak to Ghost was a disadvantage to Shedinja, but not to Sudowoodo. He was not a Ghost type, but he had access to a Ghost attack. Well, not right then, but he soon would.

"Sudowoodo, use Mimic on the Gengar's Shadow Ball,"

As he commanded it, Nate looked at his partner with a nod of approval, but he made his way towards Justin while summoning his notably high leveled Eevee, who knew Bite. "Whip, use Bite on the Banette," he said, somewhat casually.

"Justin," he said. "Sudowoodo's physical attack is really low. Shadow Ball isn't gonna do any damage."

"Oh," Justin sighed, thinking his strategy was brilliant.

"Try to mimic a physical attack. Ghost or Dark will work. Whip just used Bite, so you could-"

"Right," Justin nodded. "Dark. Sudowoodo knows Faint Attack."

"You're an idiot, Justin," Nate slightly smiled. "Use it!"

"Sudowoodo, use Faint Attack!"

Sudowoodo nodded, completely foregoing any attempts at mimicking at that point. It was worth noting that Sudowoodo was not one of Justin's overleveled pokemon (a title attributed only to Hitmontop) and so, even though his Faint Attack was indeed Super Effective, it wasn't knocking the Ghost pokemon out instantly.

Miriam had summoned her Scizor, which was getting full use out of super effective technician boosted Pursuit. Ghost pokemon did not have the option of repositioning themselves once Scizor targeted them. They were going to get hit by it, and trying to avoid it only made the damage worse. A Banette learned that the hard way when, as Scizor began charging, it turned to run away and got hit in the back, knocked out immediately.

Omar's Houndoom wasn't wasting any time, either. Its Bite attack was fearsome, and she was a fast pokemon. Omar, however, felt not the need to control his Houndoom. Similar to Justin's relationship with Hitmontop, they fought well without interference from the trainer. Of course, if Omar needed to step in and make some calls, she would obey, but at the moment, dealing damage was enough of an order, and Omar had other things to worry about - Notably, Ace's sudden absence from the group.

Nate, meanwhile, had called back Ninja the Sneasel, as she had taken plenty of damage during the fight (while, of course, taking down a noteworthy number of Ghost pokemon). His damage, at that point, was reliant on Whip, who, while high leveled, was still just an Eevee.

Until, of course, he evolved right in the middle of the battle. A Banette decided to be clever and use Screech on Whip, in an effort to lower his defense and allow him to be focused much easier. As he sound waves reached him, however, a visible barrier appeared in front of him, simultaneously bouncing the soundwaves back towards the Banette and engulfing Whip.

He was shining brightly and, when it was all said and done, there stood a magnificent Espeon, whose ability changed while in the Dream World to Magic Bounce. Nate was unaware of what exactly just happened, but he was smart enough not to let Whip, a Psychic type, stay in the middle of a swarm of Ghost pokemon. Part of him wished it had evolved instead into an Umbreon. "Wait, it's day time?"

Justin just shrugged, still next to his partner. "Fuck if I know, dude. Maybe it's going by the time of day in the real world. Congrats, by the way."

"Yeah, thanks," Nate sighed. "Let's just hope we don't get killed so we can all enjoy how pretty he is."

------

Near the beginning of the battle, when the rest of the team was focused on the swarm of Ghost pokemon appearing, Ace, in fear, backed up against the wall, shakily reaching for a pokeball, any pokeball. Part of him did want the extra protection. Part of him wanted to be useful in this battle. It was his nightmare, after all. But most of him was just scared shitless. Every one of these ghosts represented a dead person, and that was the most terrifying thing of all.

But it wouldn't be a nightmare if crazy things didn't happen. Before he even got a chance to scream, he felt himself being pulled backwards by two large and ghostly hands - Backwards into the wall. He closed his eyes, but never felt himself being shoved or smashed against it. Then, when he opened them, instead of seeing the battle in front of him, he saw solid wall.

He had been pulled through the wall into the next room. Slowly, Ace turned around, his hand still on a pokeball, to see a Dusknoir, cracking its boneless knuckles in preparation for a fight. Ace took a deep breath and summoned his nicknameless Flygon. "Crunch," was all he could muster himself to say. While the Dusknoir pulled back its fist, which was being enveloped in shadowy purple, Flygon let loose a powerful Crunch, which was, evidently, enough to KO the Dusknoir, who fell to the floor, motionless.

Then, Ace had a chance to look around this room, which completely lacked doors. The only thing in the room was yet another wardrobe, which he was justifiably terrified to open. But given that his only other option was to sit in the corner forever, he went for it. What was inside was not a mangled corpse or a beaten body. It was something much more startling, causing Ace to take many steps back and have to actively catch his breath.

It was his father, whose seemingly lifeless and yet fully in tact body fell out of the wardrobe and onto the ground in front of him. Flygon, still out of his pokeball, hovered back to allow Ace to move forward. "Dad," he kneeled down next to the body and moved to roll it over, to see his face. But as he did so, it coughed.

"The fuck!"

His father stood up and dusted himself off in front of him. "Hello, Terrance," the man said, smiling at his son as Ace stood up.

"What are you doing here?" Ace asked.

"What's it look like I'm doing here?" His father asked back.

Rather than answering, Ace asked another question. "Are you the thing I'm nightmaring about? Or are you the thing I gotta protect?"

"Son, why would you be having a nightmare about me?"

"Because you're dead!" Ace shouted. "You died! Ten years ago. You're a ghost."

"But I'm still your father, right?"

Ace looked down, breathing heavily, and then spoke, still eyeing down his own feet. "It wasn't random, was it? It wasn't just a random mugging went wrong."

"Of course not," the man shook his head.

"You were a killer," Ace said. "A gangster. You killed people, and they eventually killed you back. I went all this time thinking that it was just random, that you just died being normal. I never once considered the possibility that you deserved it."

"Why not?" his father asked, grabbing his son's head and pulling it up so they were looking into eachothers' eyes. "Why would you think I was a good guy? Don't you remember what I used to do to you?"

Ace shoved his father's hand away from his face and stepped back, looking away, tears immediately filling his eyes. Memories which he had completely and unintentionally blocked were flowing back. Suddenly, the bad ones outnumbered the good and when he turned to look back at his father, the smile became much more sinister. "There it is," the man said. "There's that hatred. But don't forget, Terrance. This isn't my nightmare."

All of a sudden, that fallen Dusknoir got up. Evidently a single Crunch wasn't enough to take it down and it was just playing faint. Flygon reacted quickly, but not quick enough to avoid an Ice Punch to the gut, immediately knocking it out. Ace charged his father, but Dusknoir intercepted him, grabbing both of his arms and beginning to pull them away from his torso. His own screams of pain and his father's maniacal laughter echoed in this single room, which could not be heard next door.

------

Omar, along with his Floatzel, was exploring the immediate vicinity of the the room in which the rest of the group was battling. He was checking the adjacent rooms and the rooms adjacent to those, while keeping in mind exactly how to get back to the group. Ace was missing, and finding him was Omar's top priority. But, after searching, he eventually made his way back to the group.

The ghost pokemon were still many in number, but they were being handled effectively. The problem was that they just kept coming. Evidently, fighting was not the solution to this particular puzzle. They were meant to run through the place with the ghosts on their tail. Fighting was simply a waste of time. But at the moment, they had more important concerns.

Miriam made eye contact and Omar just shook his head and went to Tag, who was closest to him. "Did you see where Ace-"

But then, a familiar shaking occurred. The ghosts, too, like the soldiers in the office building, were confused at the pending destruction of their home. "Fuck." Omar sighed.

Justin and Nate recalled Sudowoodo and Pinch (Nate's Kingler, who he sent out in place of Whip), knowing that this place was about to fall. Evidently, somewhere, Ace had been killed, but no one knew where he was. Before the blackout, though, the very same Dusknoir appeared through the same wall through which he pulled Ace. The ghost was holding Ace's decapitated head by the hair, doing its best to instill the last bit of horror before everyone's fall into the next nightmare.

Justin and Nate looked away, while Nate rushed his hand to his mouth as he felt he was about to vomit. "Oh God!" Miriam shouted as she fell to her knees. "Ace..."

"Nah fuck that!" Omar shouted. "Lily, use Bite, Tiger use Crunch!" Lily, his Houndoom, jumped forward and used Bite while Tiger, his Floatzel, did the same with Crunch. Paired with Flygon's Crunch from before, it was enough to knock the ghost out just before their descent.

This post has been edited by Yzarc Drowsnam: Nov 30 2011, 08:06 PM

[Kamaitachi]

Tag watched as the battle continued to erupt all around them. His agility-boosted Poochyena charged around after Omar's Houndoom. As the vicious bites sank in, the little dark-pup pokemon would leap overhead, attacking shortly afterwards with his own Assurance attack, which definitely assured that any pokemon touched by Lily was defeated.

Tag couldn't help but shake his head at Justin's lack of understanding about his own pokemon. Part of him felt that it would be his only advantage the next time they squared off (for he knew for a fact that there would be a next time), but the more honourable part of him felt like he should train with the musclebound kid and actually teach him a thing or two. However, Nate seemed to have that pretty much covered.

"Did you see where Ace-"

Tag was about to respond with something along the lines of "Who?", but then the world started to fall apart again. That sort of thing was really enough to keep anyone from talking. Well, anyone except for Omar, who resorted to expletives.

The crumbling of the world was clear indication that they'd failed, once again, in their objectives, and that they were now moving on to the next nightmare. Tag calculated that it was most likely Miriam's, as Omar had been the one to call Justin on the phone, meaning he'd fallen asleep last. Well, last before Justin, Nate, then himself.

As if the insult of losing yet another level of this nightmare, Tag visibly shuddered at the sight of a Dusknoir holding what was left of Ace. Insult to insult. Luckily, Omar marshalled his pokemon into action, and the Dusknoir was swiftly eliminated, which was something of a tiny victory in the grand scheme of things. Well, tiny but worth it.

* * *

Once again, the group inexplicably transferred over to a new location. The pokemon still out of their pokeballs had instantly returned into their little homes, even in that blink of their eyes. Like Helms' dream, they were simply 'awake' in a new scenario. However, the new scenario was nothing like the grim scenes they'd found themselves in earlier. They found themselves standing by a body of water, in the middle of summer. The sun was out and shining gaily, while pokemon frolicked about in the usual way.

Tag, of course, recognized the place instantly. To anyone who'd been to Johto, they stood a chance of recognizing the waterside area near Cherrygrove. A sad look crossed his face as he gazed out over the water.

"We can't fuck this one up." Omar's voice floated over towards Tag, who was barely listening. "Everyone protect Miriam." The authority in his voice was absolute, and there was definitely no denying that sort of voice. "Can you tell us anything about this?"

"Not really." Miriam seemed a bit confused at the incredibly happy settings. The team grouped around her a bit, probably also trying to figure out why they were in such a pleasant scene, despite their earlier nightmares. "Only thing I can think of is that I'm terrified of drowning...but...we're next to the water, not in it."

"Keep an eye on the water guys." Omar nodded, instantly understanding the situation. "Some shit's gonna pop out of there, and we're gonna kick the shit outta it."

"Oh God". Miriam frowned, realization dawning on her face as well. "Something's gonna try and pull me underwater, isn't it?" her pretty face slowly began to pale, and her hands started to tremble gently. Evidently, fear of drowning also encapsulated fear of something drowning you.

With the Dream Team facing the water, surveying it for any signs of life, they evidently did not notice that someone was drifting away from them. Not even realizing that no one was watching, Taggarty Lee slowly walked away from the group, as if in a trance. The man, with unsteady and uncertain feet, simply walked into the surrounding woods. Before long, if anyone turned around, he'd simply have disappeared.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Justin just stood to the side with his arms crossed as the group discussed the next dream, which was evidently Miriam's. Unlike Ace, however, she didn't seem to be petrified with fear. In fact, she seemed to be in complete control and understanding of the situation. Granted, she was much more of a pragmatist than Ace anyway, so it was really hard to gauge. None of them were on solid ground, so to speak.

Omar took a step towards the lake and rubbed his nonexistent goatee yet again. "I'd like to make a motion," Nate said, somewhat casually. "If the lake is the nightmare, let's get away from it?"

"The lake is important," Omar said, not turning around to address Nate. "It represents something to Miriam, and it's our job to find out what. Unless she can tell us."

"I don't even know," she shrugged. "I, uh, I guess I had a bad experience when I was a kid. My dad just threw me in the pool and told me to swim, and I panicked. I just don't think that qualifies as traumatic compared to Helms' war history."

"Trauma is different to different people," Omar said. "If you're afraid of water, then the water is important. I'm not sayin' let's all jump in, but we do need to figure out what to do. Running away from the water is the exact opposite of that, though."

"Why?" Nate asked. "The water's dangerous, so we get away from the danger."

"Nate," Omar finally turned around to address the kid. "If we could just walk away, this wouldn't be a nightmare. More importantly, we wouldn't ever get out. We still haven't found out what happens if you accomplish the mission. Helms failed his, Ace failed his. So, let's make sure Miriam passes hers, and maybe we can get out of here. I don't want to just sit around in the forest in this nightmare world, though."

"Okay," Nate nodded. "You're the boss."

So the group just stood, looking into this very peaceful looking lake. Honestly, the most disturbing thing about this place was the lack if disturbing qualities. There was nothing scary. In different circumstances, this would be an awesome place to hang out. And yet, Miriam refused to look up. She kept staring at the ground. Was she really that terrified of drowning that she couldn't even look at a lake?

"Hey," Justin said, walking to her and putting his hand gently on her right arm. "We're gonna figure this out, alright?"

Nate, meanwhile, just took a step back and rolled his eyes. This was Justin's natural reaction, to be chivalrous and comforting. He wanted so badly to be a hero to somebody without having to lie to them. How many amazing heroics had he performed in front of Pan? It didn't matter, because there was a whole, villainous side to him about which she had no idea. It didn't mean he was hitting on Miriam, but he liked being able to comfort her.

"It's Ace," she sighed. She wasn't crying, but it looked like she wanted to. She fought to keep herself from doing it, to accept the situation for what it was and deal with it like Omar was doing. "I can't get his head out of my," she paused. "Head. That image, you know?"

"Yeah," Justin let go of her arm and rubbed the back of his neck, then moved to cross his arms. "Yeah, that was, uh. That was rough."

"Honestly, I think that's one of the most traumatic things that has ever happened to me," she continued. "Seeing one of my closest friend's decapitated head. I have to wonder why that's not what my nightmare's about. I know the next time I go to sleep for real, I'm gonna have nightmares about that."

"I think we all will," Justin nodded. "Unless your dream just totally blows us away, right?" He forced a smile. "Like. Like, uh, like zombie fish pokemon with, uh, with swords. And trails of blood, but you don't even know where the blood's coming from, like if it's coming from the fish or from the fish it ate. Or from the humans it ate!?" Miriam cracked a smile. "I got high expectations from your dream," Justin added. "I'm gettin' about sick of this peaceful lake crap."

"No you're not," she said.

"No," Justin shook his head and looked up at the lake, his arms still crossed. Miriam joined him in looking out into the water for a few seconds before he continued. "No, I really am not. How could I be? This place is beautiful."

It was during their conversation that Nate found himself looking around. In truth, he wanted to make fun of Justin's romanticism alongside Tag, but Tag he could not find. Omar seemed lost in thought and Justin and Miriam were too busy chatting it up to notice, but Nate noticed. He figured the guy just walked off to get some air or a cigarette or something, so he went into the woods to look around, but kept the rest of the group in sight.

"Nate!" Omar shouted when he noticed the kid was walking off. "What are you doing-Wait. Where's Tag?"

"I don't know," Nate said. "That's who I was looking for."

Justin and Miriam, at the point, both looked back to Nate and also noticed that Tag was missing. Tag wasn't stupid enough to just walk off. Something was up.

[Kamaitachi]

For a brief moment, the world around them faded into black once more. It didn't crumble like they'd failed their mission, but rather it faded like a cut-scene. The group was suddenly in a pool of constructive light, with shadowy figures behind them, and a tall, towering figuring before them. Despite the fact that they were all grouped together, it still felt like each of them was standing at the direct center of the light, directly facing the towering judge before them.

The faces were indistinguishable, but they were nevertheless people. Shadowy voices whisped in and out, but were for the most part undecipherable. The air in the room felt heavy, as if the pressure could at any point topple someone to their knees.

"Taggarty Lee." The tallest figure spoke, his voice booming and loud. "In the eyes of the council, you are found guilty on all charges."

"Nine cases of Manslaughter", "twelve reports of pokemon deaths", "Property Damage in value greater than 500,000", "Violation of the Sacred Code" The rest fell into whispers again, but it was clear that the list of charges had not ended there.

"Your status as a dragon trainer is revoked."

"Your pokemon are hereby confiscated. Deemed as property of Blackthorn City, they are to be placed in the care of the Council of Elders."

"Taggarty Lee, you are hereby exiled from Blackthorn City, never to return."

* * *

With that, the scene faded, and the group was still standing over the placid lake. However, the peaceful scene was beginning to change a bit as the sun set. The gentle, playful wind died down, leaving the air thick and heavy. The water lay still, placid, but ominous. Even the sound surrounding them was suddenly cut off, leaving nothing in the air except the sound of their own breathing.

Then suddenly, a figured appeared at the other end of the lake, on the opposite bank. There, standing in all his glory, was Tag, who had obviously been the person actually standing in the center of the judgment room. He looked up once or twice, but even as he looked at the familiar people opposite him, he didn't quite seem to acknowledge that they were there.

Slowly and deliberately, he stepped forward into the water. While his steps were halting and almost fearful, it was clear on his face that he was going to continue forward no matter the cost. Taggarty Lee was about to Virginia Woolf himself right in front of his comrades' eyes.