Chapter 27
When Andy’s senses returned, he opened his eyes to find himself lazily holding on to a piece of wood. Where it came from, Andy had no idea. His entire body still sore, he slowly turned his head around to get his surroundings. Everywhere was water and the only thing from civilization being the wood chuck he grasped. He tried to get up on the wood piece, but with his body so sore, his arms shook until they fell out from beneath him.
Heh, good thing I’ve got fur, or I would’ve been sun burnt like there was no tomorrow.
Now that Andy thought about it, Andy didn’t feel the heat from the sun. The water wasn’t cold either, but just the right temperature. The waves were subtle, and there wasn’t any form of life besides him around. It was lonely.
Andy suddenly remembered what had happened. The ship exploded, his friends are missing in action, and Vincent, Sam, and the Feraligatr he presumed to be Rufus got away, not to mention with the Cosmoem he was should’ve saved. With these realizations, Andy groaned with the new tasks that daunted him.
Suddenly, a large wave took him by surprise and knocked him off his wooden preserver. He tried to reach out for the wood, but he was so weak that by the time he could lift his arm he already sank beneath reach.
So now, Andy just floated in the ocean, staring up the rippling sun.
The sky looks so beautiful from down here
The view of the sun didn’t last long, though. Soon, a motor boat pulled towards where Andy was. He couldn’t tell if it was Pokextinction or not, but at this point he didn’t care. A figure jumped from the boat, and Andy could clearly see who his pursuer was.
It was a Blaziken, and it was swimming for Andy. Andy was relieved for a moment, but then he had a thought. The Blaziken was effortlessly swimming through the water, and nothing looked fatal or hurting to him.
…Wait a minute.
The Blaziken grabbed Andy’s arm and swam upwards towards the boat. When they both surfaced, the Blaziken almost literally threw Andy on the boat. He jumped in shortly afterwards.
“Wow,” Andy remarked, “Good job.”
“Nothin’ to it. Hold still.” The Blaziken turned and started the boat. He gave it some gas, and off they went. Andy was slightly moved to the wall to avoid being flown away.
“What’s your name?” Andy shouted over the engine.
“The name’s Nephi!”
“Nephi? Like in the Book of Mormon?”
“No, just a guy named Nephi.”
“Well, nice to meet you! My name’s-”
“No need! It’s Andy, I already know. And before you ask, we’re closer than you’d think.”
…What?
“Don’t doze off back there! Stay focused!”
“I’m sorry, I have no idea what’s going on.”
Nephi turned the gas off, and the boat came to a halt. He walked over towards Andy and bent over.
“Think for a second. What was the last you remember?”
“I was sinking in the water.”
“Correct. Any strange phenomenon?”
“Yeah, you survived diving in the ocean, which was warm to begin with, and I can’t recognize where I am.”
“Right. Do you know what that must mean?”
Andy gave it some thought. “Is this a dream?” It sounded stupid, but it was the best he could come up with.
“You can call it that.”
“So, you must be my dream guardian!”
“Doubtful. All I remember was being given instructions and a name. Am I a guardian? Am I just a conscious thought projected to eliminate the bad ones? Who knows.”
He turned towards the boat again and they sped off. Andy was able to gather enough of the strength and endurance to get on the chair. Andy looked from side to side trying to figure out his surroundings. Still no water-based life, nor were there any seagulls or other flying creatures.
“If we’re in my mind, what is this ocean?”
“I call it the Ocean of Thoughts. This is where most things spring up from. Islands, people, ideas, you name it.”
They kept moving forwards until Andy saw a large blob on the ocean, and as they got closer it got bigger. Soon, Andy was able to make out trees, and when they got closer, a castle.
“Here it is.” Nephi called as he slowed down. “Welcome to the Dreamscape.”
When they got to port, Andy saw huts and houses that flowed on the ocean. The scenery was similar to that of what he found in his dream the night before he and his friends embarked on the mission to find the Time Gears. Except in this visit, he could actually see people. Andy looked for a moment before realizing that the people there were very familiar.
“Josh! West! Claire!”
“Don’t bother,” Nephi said as he left the boat. “They’re projections of your subconscious. They aren’t real; they’re just what you perceive them to be.” Andy looked as the three looked down at what was presumably a treasure map before the fake West pointed beyond the hilltop. Fake Josh tolled up the map, and they all ventured uphill, along with fake Claire.
“Not only are your friends here. Some memories also form and take shape as people or ideas. Your family lives here, and they make the best meals every night. Friends you might have seen in your childhood also live here. Characters you make or enjoy also come here. Superheroes are a regular sight, the townspeople are represented by personas, and your memories also take shape here.”
Andy was amazed by all of this. Sure, everyone but him and possibly Nephi were fake, but at least he would be surrounded by projections he’d always imagined to be real.
He looked around at the town as Nephi finished tying the boat down. He was right: His family was there, playing in the sand, Martin Luther King Jr. was playing cards with Abraham Lincoln and Luke Skywalker, and some other original faces were around here, too. Andy recognized some people to be ancient memories of his best friends before either he or they moved away.
“You know that isn’t why I brought you here, you know.” Nephi said. “Are you gonna get out of that boat?”
Andy hadn’t realized, but he was still sitting on the chair of the boat. He stood up for a brief second before toppling over the deck and flopping on the deck.
“Aw! That smarts. Sorry, my entire body is sore…”
“Whatever.” Nephi grabbed Andy and hefted him over his shoulder. Nephi suddenly did a sprint, and they were travelling along the trail of a mountain. They kept travelling until they got to a lonely shack that was divided amongst the rest of the village. Nephi kicked the door open and slowed as he entered the house. The inside was much bigger than it looked on the outside, being an exact replica of Andy’s house, back when he was a human.
Nephi climbed up the stairs and entered the bathroom. He gently rested Andy inside the bathtub, and then turned on warm water. It filled until it got to his neck, where Nephi turned the water off and gave Andy a book.
“Relax a little. Let me know when you’re feeling better.” With that, he left the room and closed the door.
Andy took a few minutes processing what just happened. First, a Blaziken comes to save him, taking him to a place where all the people he’d always wanted to meet and his friends were, and then got him in a warm bath. Andy couldn’t deny, the warm water on his sore muscles felt awesome, but all that stuff just left Andy a little confused. He picked up the book and immediately recognized it as Treasure Island, one of his favorite books. He cracked it open and began reading.
After what felt like hours, Andy decided to experiment. Like a miracle, the water made his body no longer feel sore. He was able to grab a towel and thoroughly dry himself with much more ease than if he had done this just a moment ago.
“Nephi, I’m done!” Andy called, but there was no immediate response. Andy finished drying and went outside of the bathroom. He decided to explore the house. Sure enough, every detail was exactly like before he was captured long ago. Soon he heard the back sliding door open.
Well, that’s certainly not a refence.
“Sorry I’m late.” Nephi called.
“Where were you?!”
"My job. Taking care of you. If I really am your guardian thingy, I need to make sure you don’t get bad things.
“Bad things?”
“Yeah, but I’ll tell you more about that stuff later. You feel better?”
“Yeah.”
“Then take a seat.” Nephi pulled two chairs out from under the table, and Andy took one. Before Nephi sat, he went to the pantry and dug around a few before returning with a bag of oatmeal raisin cookies. Andy’s favorite.
“They’re bottomless, so don’t be shy.” Andy took a cookie and began munching on it.
“I didn’t call you to see the sights. I called you because you’re in trouble right now.”
“How so?”
“Some dark influence has penetrated your mind.”
“It’s Vincent, huh?”
“Yeah. It’s having the same effect as it did with the legendaries you fought. I have a theory that the legendaries were not corrupted by Mr. X, but by Vincent.”
“Sounds like a plausible conclusion.”
“He’s actually gotten a hold of you much earlier. I tried to pull you in twice, but both times you ended up in this chaos realm of sorts.”
“What?”
“It’s like a place where you go to get random dreams. If you were sleeping and we were having this conversation, this would be a lucid dream, and the dreams were random things happen are in the chaos realm.”
“Okay.”
“Anyway, I’d like to direct your attention to the window.” Andy looked outside the nearest window and beheld a broken-down, crumbling castle, with a field of dead grass surrounding it. “That is where the source of the corruption seems to be coming from.”
“That…it doesn’t look inviting.”
“And you found that out without your aura sensors?” Nephi said sarcastically. “Anyway, if we don’t do anything, you’ll end up becoming just like the legendaries. That castle used to be the coziest place in the dreamscape. You would go into it while you sleep, and you look like you enjoy it. But now, it’s just filled with darkness and all the bad things.”
“Like what?”
“Monsters, mostly. Monsters are defined as fears you may have experienced, bad people you’ve met, blah, blah, blah, the like.”
Andy slightly nodded his head. They didn’t sound too bad. The fears he experience most were when he was little, but those fears are ancient and powerless before 16-year old Andy. A simple punch could probably take care of the bad people he’s met.
“I could probably handle the bad things in there.”
“You sure?”
“Of course!”
Nephi gave Andy a look, something someone would give you when they say something like ‘Wow kid, you’re stupid’, or something like that. “Okay, if you say so.”
“…Wait, what? Just like that?”
“Yeah. If you’re so sure, let’s just go already.”
Nephi rolled up the cookie bag and got up. Andy instinctively followed.
They left the house and deviated from the trail. They went around the mountain side, getting closer towards the castle. Andy felt uneasy as they took a step. He felt like something was waiting to inflict some kind of horrible crime bad enough to be considered a battery if laws worked in a person’s dream. He was beginning to wonder if Nephi’s abrupt desire to take Andy to the castle was out of impatience, annoyance, or if he had some secret agendas.
“We’re here.” Now that Andy had a better view of the castle, it was remarkable how much it looked like one of those castles from Ireland, the really old ones. The ones where rocks fell from the towers and vegetation grew on the walls and sides. This castle is just like the one Andy sees in travel pictures. However, those castles invoked an inviting sense of adventure and discovery just waiting to show itself to the next unknowing soul. This castle had a feeling that would make someone turn in the other direction as quickly as they had come. Nobody wanted to see the abominations that lurked in castles like these.
Nephi started walking some more, and Andy followed until they came to some stairs leading down into the earth. At the landing, there was a large metal gate with a wooden door behind it. A torch on both sides of the passage gave a weak flicker of light at the door.
“And now,” Nephi said as he was stretching, “To make ourselves known.” He stomped his foot on the ground with such strength it vibrated all around. Andy heard locks disengage as the gate was slowly lifted, and the door swung outward. Beyond the door was a thick blanket of darkness that almost looked material. No matter how hard Andy strained his eyes, he couldn’t see into the darkness.
“Can I take a torch?”
“I’ve tried. It belongs to the darkness; it’ll only move when it wants to move.”
Andy felt his heart racing. He took back what he said about being able to effortlessly handle this. Apparently, Andy didn’t notice any of the bad things that could’ve influenced this ominous structure when he was awake.
“C’mon, let’s get this over with.” Nephi beckoned Andy, and they walked down the stairs. They stood on the landing side by side as they looked into the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll be here with you.”
Andy nodded as he faced the darkness. If this was necessary to retain his control, defeat Pokextinction, and save his friends, who may or may not still be alive, this was a mandatory evil he must face.
He swallowed down his fear as he and Nephi stepped into the darkness.
Chapter 28: Next
When Andy’s senses returned, he opened his eyes to find himself lazily holding on to a piece of wood. Where it came from, Andy had no idea. His entire body still sore, he slowly turned his head around to get his surroundings. Everywhere was water and the only thing from civilization being the wood chuck he grasped. He tried to get up on the wood piece, but with his body so sore, his arms shook until they fell out from beneath him.
Heh, good thing I’ve got fur, or I would’ve been sun burnt like there was no tomorrow.
Now that Andy thought about it, Andy didn’t feel the heat from the sun. The water wasn’t cold either, but just the right temperature. The waves were subtle, and there wasn’t any form of life besides him around. It was lonely.
Andy suddenly remembered what had happened. The ship exploded, his friends are missing in action, and Vincent, Sam, and the Feraligatr he presumed to be Rufus got away, not to mention with the Cosmoem he was should’ve saved. With these realizations, Andy groaned with the new tasks that daunted him.
Suddenly, a large wave took him by surprise and knocked him off his wooden preserver. He tried to reach out for the wood, but he was so weak that by the time he could lift his arm he already sank beneath reach.
So now, Andy just floated in the ocean, staring up the rippling sun.
The sky looks so beautiful from down here
The view of the sun didn’t last long, though. Soon, a motor boat pulled towards where Andy was. He couldn’t tell if it was Pokextinction or not, but at this point he didn’t care. A figure jumped from the boat, and Andy could clearly see who his pursuer was.
It was a Blaziken, and it was swimming for Andy. Andy was relieved for a moment, but then he had a thought. The Blaziken was effortlessly swimming through the water, and nothing looked fatal or hurting to him.
…Wait a minute.
The Blaziken grabbed Andy’s arm and swam upwards towards the boat. When they both surfaced, the Blaziken almost literally threw Andy on the boat. He jumped in shortly afterwards.
“Wow,” Andy remarked, “Good job.”
“Nothin’ to it. Hold still.” The Blaziken turned and started the boat. He gave it some gas, and off they went. Andy was slightly moved to the wall to avoid being flown away.
“What’s your name?” Andy shouted over the engine.
“The name’s Nephi!”
“Nephi? Like in the Book of Mormon?”
“No, just a guy named Nephi.”
“Well, nice to meet you! My name’s-”
“No need! It’s Andy, I already know. And before you ask, we’re closer than you’d think.”
…What?
“Don’t doze off back there! Stay focused!”
“I’m sorry, I have no idea what’s going on.”
Nephi turned the gas off, and the boat came to a halt. He walked over towards Andy and bent over.
“Think for a second. What was the last you remember?”
“I was sinking in the water.”
“Correct. Any strange phenomenon?”
“Yeah, you survived diving in the ocean, which was warm to begin with, and I can’t recognize where I am.”
“Right. Do you know what that must mean?”
Andy gave it some thought. “Is this a dream?” It sounded stupid, but it was the best he could come up with.
“You can call it that.”
“So, you must be my dream guardian!”
“Doubtful. All I remember was being given instructions and a name. Am I a guardian? Am I just a conscious thought projected to eliminate the bad ones? Who knows.”
He turned towards the boat again and they sped off. Andy was able to gather enough of the strength and endurance to get on the chair. Andy looked from side to side trying to figure out his surroundings. Still no water-based life, nor were there any seagulls or other flying creatures.
“If we’re in my mind, what is this ocean?”
“I call it the Ocean of Thoughts. This is where most things spring up from. Islands, people, ideas, you name it.”
They kept moving forwards until Andy saw a large blob on the ocean, and as they got closer it got bigger. Soon, Andy was able to make out trees, and when they got closer, a castle.
“Here it is.” Nephi called as he slowed down. “Welcome to the Dreamscape.”
When they got to port, Andy saw huts and houses that flowed on the ocean. The scenery was similar to that of what he found in his dream the night before he and his friends embarked on the mission to find the Time Gears. Except in this visit, he could actually see people. Andy looked for a moment before realizing that the people there were very familiar.
“Josh! West! Claire!”
“Don’t bother,” Nephi said as he left the boat. “They’re projections of your subconscious. They aren’t real; they’re just what you perceive them to be.” Andy looked as the three looked down at what was presumably a treasure map before the fake West pointed beyond the hilltop. Fake Josh tolled up the map, and they all ventured uphill, along with fake Claire.
“Not only are your friends here. Some memories also form and take shape as people or ideas. Your family lives here, and they make the best meals every night. Friends you might have seen in your childhood also live here. Characters you make or enjoy also come here. Superheroes are a regular sight, the townspeople are represented by personas, and your memories also take shape here.”
Andy was amazed by all of this. Sure, everyone but him and possibly Nephi were fake, but at least he would be surrounded by projections he’d always imagined to be real.
He looked around at the town as Nephi finished tying the boat down. He was right: His family was there, playing in the sand, Martin Luther King Jr. was playing cards with Abraham Lincoln and Luke Skywalker, and some other original faces were around here, too. Andy recognized some people to be ancient memories of his best friends before either he or they moved away.
“You know that isn’t why I brought you here, you know.” Nephi said. “Are you gonna get out of that boat?”
Andy hadn’t realized, but he was still sitting on the chair of the boat. He stood up for a brief second before toppling over the deck and flopping on the deck.
“Aw! That smarts. Sorry, my entire body is sore…”
“Whatever.” Nephi grabbed Andy and hefted him over his shoulder. Nephi suddenly did a sprint, and they were travelling along the trail of a mountain. They kept travelling until they got to a lonely shack that was divided amongst the rest of the village. Nephi kicked the door open and slowed as he entered the house. The inside was much bigger than it looked on the outside, being an exact replica of Andy’s house, back when he was a human.
Nephi climbed up the stairs and entered the bathroom. He gently rested Andy inside the bathtub, and then turned on warm water. It filled until it got to his neck, where Nephi turned the water off and gave Andy a book.
“Relax a little. Let me know when you’re feeling better.” With that, he left the room and closed the door.
Andy took a few minutes processing what just happened. First, a Blaziken comes to save him, taking him to a place where all the people he’d always wanted to meet and his friends were, and then got him in a warm bath. Andy couldn’t deny, the warm water on his sore muscles felt awesome, but all that stuff just left Andy a little confused. He picked up the book and immediately recognized it as Treasure Island, one of his favorite books. He cracked it open and began reading.
After what felt like hours, Andy decided to experiment. Like a miracle, the water made his body no longer feel sore. He was able to grab a towel and thoroughly dry himself with much more ease than if he had done this just a moment ago.
“Nephi, I’m done!” Andy called, but there was no immediate response. Andy finished drying and went outside of the bathroom. He decided to explore the house. Sure enough, every detail was exactly like before he was captured long ago. Soon he heard the back sliding door open.
Well, that’s certainly not a refence.
“Sorry I’m late.” Nephi called.
“Where were you?!”
"My job. Taking care of you. If I really am your guardian thingy, I need to make sure you don’t get bad things.
“Bad things?”
“Yeah, but I’ll tell you more about that stuff later. You feel better?”
“Yeah.”
“Then take a seat.” Nephi pulled two chairs out from under the table, and Andy took one. Before Nephi sat, he went to the pantry and dug around a few before returning with a bag of oatmeal raisin cookies. Andy’s favorite.
“They’re bottomless, so don’t be shy.” Andy took a cookie and began munching on it.
“I didn’t call you to see the sights. I called you because you’re in trouble right now.”
“How so?”
“Some dark influence has penetrated your mind.”
“It’s Vincent, huh?”
“Yeah. It’s having the same effect as it did with the legendaries you fought. I have a theory that the legendaries were not corrupted by Mr. X, but by Vincent.”
“Sounds like a plausible conclusion.”
“He’s actually gotten a hold of you much earlier. I tried to pull you in twice, but both times you ended up in this chaos realm of sorts.”
“What?”
“It’s like a place where you go to get random dreams. If you were sleeping and we were having this conversation, this would be a lucid dream, and the dreams were random things happen are in the chaos realm.”
“Okay.”
“Anyway, I’d like to direct your attention to the window.” Andy looked outside the nearest window and beheld a broken-down, crumbling castle, with a field of dead grass surrounding it. “That is where the source of the corruption seems to be coming from.”
“That…it doesn’t look inviting.”
“And you found that out without your aura sensors?” Nephi said sarcastically. “Anyway, if we don’t do anything, you’ll end up becoming just like the legendaries. That castle used to be the coziest place in the dreamscape. You would go into it while you sleep, and you look like you enjoy it. But now, it’s just filled with darkness and all the bad things.”
“Like what?”
“Monsters, mostly. Monsters are defined as fears you may have experienced, bad people you’ve met, blah, blah, blah, the like.”
Andy slightly nodded his head. They didn’t sound too bad. The fears he experience most were when he was little, but those fears are ancient and powerless before 16-year old Andy. A simple punch could probably take care of the bad people he’s met.
“I could probably handle the bad things in there.”
“You sure?”
“Of course!”
Nephi gave Andy a look, something someone would give you when they say something like ‘Wow kid, you’re stupid’, or something like that. “Okay, if you say so.”
“…Wait, what? Just like that?”
“Yeah. If you’re so sure, let’s just go already.”
Nephi rolled up the cookie bag and got up. Andy instinctively followed.
They left the house and deviated from the trail. They went around the mountain side, getting closer towards the castle. Andy felt uneasy as they took a step. He felt like something was waiting to inflict some kind of horrible crime bad enough to be considered a battery if laws worked in a person’s dream. He was beginning to wonder if Nephi’s abrupt desire to take Andy to the castle was out of impatience, annoyance, or if he had some secret agendas.
“We’re here.” Now that Andy had a better view of the castle, it was remarkable how much it looked like one of those castles from Ireland, the really old ones. The ones where rocks fell from the towers and vegetation grew on the walls and sides. This castle is just like the one Andy sees in travel pictures. However, those castles invoked an inviting sense of adventure and discovery just waiting to show itself to the next unknowing soul. This castle had a feeling that would make someone turn in the other direction as quickly as they had come. Nobody wanted to see the abominations that lurked in castles like these.
Nephi started walking some more, and Andy followed until they came to some stairs leading down into the earth. At the landing, there was a large metal gate with a wooden door behind it. A torch on both sides of the passage gave a weak flicker of light at the door.
“And now,” Nephi said as he was stretching, “To make ourselves known.” He stomped his foot on the ground with such strength it vibrated all around. Andy heard locks disengage as the gate was slowly lifted, and the door swung outward. Beyond the door was a thick blanket of darkness that almost looked material. No matter how hard Andy strained his eyes, he couldn’t see into the darkness.
“Can I take a torch?”
“I’ve tried. It belongs to the darkness; it’ll only move when it wants to move.”
Andy felt his heart racing. He took back what he said about being able to effortlessly handle this. Apparently, Andy didn’t notice any of the bad things that could’ve influenced this ominous structure when he was awake.
“C’mon, let’s get this over with.” Nephi beckoned Andy, and they walked down the stairs. They stood on the landing side by side as they looked into the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll be here with you.”
Andy nodded as he faced the darkness. If this was necessary to retain his control, defeat Pokextinction, and save his friends, who may or may not still be alive, this was a mandatory evil he must face.
He swallowed down his fear as he and Nephi stepped into the darkness.
Chapter 28: Next
