Nathan doesn't see any sign of a mega stone.
The flash ball button is blinking, as if a Pokemon needs to be sent to the PC! Houndour is indeed inside!!
Nathan views the hologram - nothing but 3D darkness. Nathan cannot even see himself in it.
Houndour...Houndour was there...the photo was a likely bust (though a picture of darkness when using a bright flash is strange enough in its own right...), and he certainly hadn't grabbed the mega stone...gah, he should have been ready for that eventuality...tried to grab it before the nightmare faded...he hadn't expected Houndoom to throw it, though, and he hadn't been ready even though it had been chucked in his and Valders' direction, since they'd been hanging by the cave entrance and guarding Shiva...
Wait, Houndour. The light on Nathan's pokeballs were flashing blue. Right.
Somehow, the pokemon had made it. He didn't understand how that might be possible, but this alone...it was a spectacular find! A rare subspecies of Houndour! But, just to double check...
He taps the button on the Flash Ball, sending Houndour to the PC, then pulls out his pokedex. Before he gets too excited, he has to make absolutely sure that the pokedex has no data on this psychic type variant of the dog...
The dream collapses.
Darkness grows longer.
Deeper.
Blacker.
Ventus feels his mind numbing.
Decaying, in the fracturing nightmare.
Negativity growing.
It's consuming him.
D E V O U R I N G H I S S O U L.
Fading...
.....
"Hehehe, you are going to let a bad dream Do you in?"
A light. Weak, but growing.
"Nightmares are terrible, but at the end of the night, you always awaken from them."
Brighter. Warmer. A face can be seen, but it's fuzzy...
"Only one of us should be sleeping eternal, and it sure as hell isn't you right now."
A hand extends, grasping his own. Their face become clearer now.
"We've made our mistakes, committed sin after sin, but you don't deserve to wither away. Not when you have repented so Ernesty, tried so hard to be a good person in a cruel world. Unlike me, Venny."
Sans...!
"...Nice to see you again, brother, even in such circumstances. Now, though, it's time for you to wake up. Remain good, Venny. Don't lose youserlf to hatred, like me. You have people to depend on, and they in turn rely on you. Don't let them do, ok?"
SAN!!!
"Hehehe...saying good-bye is always hard, isn't it? We, guess I have to do it this time. Bye bye, little brother!"
The hand retracted, pulling him into the blinding light.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ventus eyes opened, seeing stars illuminate the black sky. Slowly, he leaned up, surveying his surroundings, seeing if there were any predators lurking about.
There were none. Just the pretty pink sand, glimmering in the moonlight.
Well, there was Apsis, fitfully snoozing underneath him. We he reached down to smoothly petted her scales, she relaxed into his touch, and fully drifted off into more peaceful dreams. Pulling away from her, he gazed at his own hands, checking to see if it was all real. If he didn't have some strange, outlandish dream.
The dried blood on his hands sadly confirmed his assumptions.
'So...that did happen. That hellish realm, my friends in peril, those hellhound dream demons... All of that was real. My brother... Did he save me from the backlash of the nightmare, or was it some form of defense mechanism, conjured by my deluded mind? ....Perhaps I will never be certain, but if it was Sans...thank you. I still love you, no matter what. I'll listen to your advice, as I have done in the past. Just like old times....'
As Venus pondered this, staring at his hand, he placed it on the hammock, and lowered himself from it to the ground. Quickly and quietly, he recalled Apsis and packed away his night gear, before scrubbing of all the blood off him with some bottle water. With everything accounted for and remedied, the tired, weary, yet strangely peppy researcher left the beautiful clearing, and returned to town.
Can't let a few bad dreams get him down, eh?
Order: Ventus is going to return to Corsage, stopping only by the trading post to make a quick trade, before remeating with everyone else at the Pokémon Center. Let's hope today is a happy one.
On his way to Corsage, it suddenly occurred to Ventus that he should give his friend Nate a call. If he had awoken safely (Well, sorta) from their goulash dreams, then its only logical that the same could be said for his companions! With causal ease, the researcher pulled his phone from his pocket and flipped it open, then speed dialed Nathan's phone number. When it connected, Ven cheerily responded:
"Good morning, my friend! I trust that your sudden departure from nightmare landdidn't give you such a hard time, hmm?"
(07-13-2017, 09:20 PM)Iron Wrote: [ -> ]Shiva dreams of running from strange purple hounds. They chase her through the Pokemon Center, out its doors into a bleak landscape. She locks the door behind her, and they are trapped inside.Â
In a coppice of burnt trees, another sport is occurring. Two Houndour chase a poor gray cat Pokemon with scared wide purple eyes. It's running straight at Shiva! She finds she can control the dream to a certain extent, at least her own actions therein.
...wait...Â
... The dogs are locked out, you're save, my dear...
What a weird landscape, the trees are burnt, but they once were alive. Did that one twig just move? Is that a dream? It feels weird... But her hands looked all normal. But the clock on her cell showed 57:19, this cannot be. It must be a dream. A lucid dream, although she was not trained to get those.Â
Just as she turned away from the Pokemon Center's door - these purple hounds are now dream-Nurse-Joy's issue - she spotted two Houndour, and a second later that they were chasing a...
And before she was able to summon two of her Pokemon to stop and defeat the dogs, she croached down and opened arms to allow the greyish cat-Pokemon to run into her open arms. She radiated safety, like if silently saying "Don't be afraid. I'll take care of you."
Nathan's pokedex beeps with an incoming call notice as he goes to check it for pokemon data!
"Gaaaaahhh!!!"
It startles him quite badly, and he falls flat on his back. If Shiva's salt circle wasn't broken before, it certainly is now...
It takes him a moment to realize it's just the phone. He looks over at Shiva...phew, she's still asleep...he hadn't woken her...Helios looks rather cross, though...
"Ahem...I'll, uh...leave the room now. No need for me to be in here still, after all...I'll take the extra blankets and pillows back as well..."
Kirlia's chuckling, but he's eager to leave the room before Shiva wakes up too. Mostly for Nathan's sake.
Once outside the room, he picks up the phone. "Hello? Oh, Ven. Yeah, made it out alright. A bit spooked, but that's it. Shiva's fine, Kirlia's fine...I think we all made it out of there okay. Haven't checked on Valder yet, but I don't exactly know where he is right now, so...speaking of which, where the heck ARE you? Where'd you fall asleep last night? I didn't see you come back to the Center..." He sounds pretty puzzled.
(07-13-2017, 10:46 PM)Dragonstrike Wrote: [ -> ]Once outside the room, he picks up the phone. Â "Hello? Â Oh, Ven. Â Yeah, made it out alright. Â A bit spooked, but that's it. Â Shiva's fine, Kirlia's fine...I think we all made it out of there okay. Â Haven't checked on Valder yet, but I don't exactly know where he is right now, so...speaking of which, where the heck ARE you? Â Where'd you fall asleep last night? Â I didn't see you come back to the Center..." Â He sounds pretty puzzled.
"I can tell, from the slight quiver in your voice? Did I accidentally startle you awake, or did interrupt you in the middle of something? Regardless, it wonderful to know that everyone escaped that wretched dreamscape, as hard as it is to believe such a place exists in the first place!" Ventus responded, his voice filled with cheerful concern for his friends wellbeing. He sounded alright, but the empath stilll wants to check up with them in person. Just to be safe.
 "Hmm, where was I tonight...? Oh! As you may have noticed, I have recently evolved my loevely Raphael into its final form! Once that occurred, it literally swept me up and carried me out of town, before letting go and forcing me to chase after them! They lead me to a strange yet beautiful pink sanded beach, and told me that it picked up what was causing Corsage's night terrors! I decided to stake out the location for the night, but that ultimately proved futile, so I ended up setting up camp for the night. One thing lead to another...well, you don't need me rehashing those events, now do we? I'm returning to the port town now, so I should meet up with you in a couple of hours!"
(07-13-2017, 11:07 PM)Lord Windos Wrote: [ -> ]"I can tell, from the slight quiver in your voice? Did I accidentally startle you awake, or did interrupt you in the middle of something? Regardless, it wonderful to know that everyone escaped that wretched dreamscape, as hard as it is to believe such a place exists in the first place!" Ventus responded, his voice filled with cheerful concern for his friends wellbeing. He sounded alright, but the empath stilll wants to check up with them in person. Just to be safe.
 "Hmm, where was I tonight...? Oh! As you may have noticed, I have recently evolved my loevely Raphael into its final form! Once that occurred, it literally steeped me up and carried me out of town, before letting go and forcing me to chase after them. They lead me to a strange yet beautiful pink sanded beach, and told me that it picked up what was causing Corsage's night terrors! I decided to stake out the location for the night, but that proved futile, so I ended up setting up camp for the night. One thing lead to another...well, you don't need me rehashing those events, now do we? I'm returning to the port town now, so I should meet up with you in a couple of hours!"
"Something like that...huh, so you were lead to what Raphael thought was the source of the problem...hmmm...I wonder if that was the trigger for that nightmare...well, not much point in speculating about it, I guess.  Nobody would believe us without proof of its existence or the whole town saying they experienced the same thing, right?  Hahaha (he's not currently in good enough shape mentally to hide the nervous laughter, but at least Ventus can't sense his emotions over the phone!)...Shiva's still asleep, by the way.  Told ya we weren't going to be able to wake her until she's recovered on her own.  Anyways, I need to check on something, and then I need to do some info gathering on the Gym Leader.  Someone in town should know something about him, after all...if you don't see me at the Center, I'll be somewhere in town, doing some prep work for the Gym Battle."
(07-13-2017, 11:19 PM)Dragonstrike Wrote: [ -> ]Lord Windos
"Something like that...huh, so you were lead to what Raphael thought was the source of the problem...hmmm...I wonder if that was the trigger for that nightmare...well, not much point in speculating about it, I guess.  Nobody would believe us without proof of its existence or the whole town saying they experienced the same thing, right?  Hahaha (he's not currently in good enough shape mentally to hide the nervous laughter, but at least Ventus can't sense his emotions over the phone!)...Shiva's still asleep, by the way.  Told ya we weren't going to be able to wake her until she's recovered on her own.  Anyways, I need to check on something, and then I need to do some info gathering on the Gym Leader.  Someone in town should know something about him, after all...if you don't see me at the Center, I'll be somewhere in town, doing some prep work for the Gym Battle."
Ventus raised his eyebrow at the nervous laughter he heard from the young trainer, before carefully responding. "Nathan...are you trying to conceal something from me? I cent detect your emotions presently, but I know the sound of vieled anxiety when I hear it. As for confirming that nightmare world's existence, why would we do that? Bad enough that we had to suffer through its awful designs and prowling demons, but there is no need to spread awareness of it! That might give that ghoulish realm even more power and influence if knowledge of its existence is widely spread, and could lead to less capable people stumbling into it. I say we let sleeping dragons lie, and put those...events behind us, ok?" he said, his own voice full of cautiousness and thinly hidden wariness. No need for them to dwell on their dreams tonight, if they had a choice in the matter!
"I would prefer if you waited at the center for all of us to regroup and await Shiva's awakening, but gathering info on the Gym Leader sounds like an excellent idea for the most part. Anything else I should be made aware of, before you go about and conduct your business?"
(07-13-2017, 11:33 PM)Lord Windos Wrote: [ -> ]Ventus raised his eyebrow at the nervous laughter he heard from the young trainer, before carefully responding. "Nathan...are you trying to conceal something from me? I cent detect your emotions presently, but I know the sound of vieled anxiety when I hear it. As for confirming that nightmare world's existence, why would we do that? Bad enough that we had to suffer through its awful designs and prowling demons, but there is no need to spread awareness of it! That might give that ghoulish realm even more power and influence if knowledge of its existence is widely spread, and could lead to less capable people stumbling into it. I say we let sleeping dragons lie, and put those...events behind us, ok?" he said, his own voice full of cautiousness and thinly hidden wariness. No need for them to dwell on their dreams tonight, if they had a choice in the matter!
"I would prefer if you waited at the center for all of us to regroup and await Shiva's awakening, but gathering info on the Gym Leader sounds like an excellent idea for the most part. Anything else I should be made aware of, before you go about and conduct your business?"
"Hide something?  No no no no no no no.  Not trying to hide anything.  Just a thought, is all.  Never know if the authorities or news reporters might question ya about what's been going on, ya know.  Anyways...I need to check on that thing, and then get started on the information gathering.  Probably going to challenge the Gym later today.  It'd be nice to know the Leader's name at the very least...fun fact, he's a bit of a recluse.  Has no acolytes, and nobody seems to know anything else about him.  I'm hoping someone in town knows more, though.  Well, busy day planned.  I'll meet ya guys back at the Center once I'm done gathering info on the Leader!  See ya then!"
*Click*
Nathan lets out a breath. Â He hadn't been prepared for that...in more ways than one...Kirlia just gives Nathan a worried look.
"What? Â I'm not necessarily going to hide Houndour from them. Â They'll get to meet him eventually. Â Just...not now. Â Now then, where was I...?"
He looks back down at his pokedex..."Ah, right. Â Checking for pokedex data..."
Nathan's going to give the dex a quick look for data on this strangely typed Houndour, and then head out into town to try and find info on the Gym Leader, since the residents are bound to know at least a little more about him than outsiders. Â Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.