FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Umm... hi there, I know it's been a while... But I'm back.

In retrospect, this story was too massive of an undertaking for me. I shouldn't have been this ambitious, and I'm a little worried about what I've created. But meh, it's all part of learning.

For those of you who read my most recent journal, I have indeed been dealing with the death of a close friend. I didn't think I could write, but things happened these past few days and I found the strength to finish my work.

I'm probably gonna scale down my next story, Arceus knows when that'll be, but I'm taking a little break for while. This story has drained me completely.

Slight warning before you begin: this story is a tad bit darker than the last one.

I hope you all enjoy this story and brought a snack or something, this is a long one~

** ~~*~~ **

Leaving Trivialities

As weird as it sounds, I liked to watch my trainer sleep.

I just enjoyed looking at him when he was at peace and free from the world. I mean it wasn't the creepy 'I want your soul' sort of watching, you know? Eheh, now that I think about it: please forget I said that. Anyway, I always had trouble staying asleep at night. I mean, it really wasn't too much of a problem falling asleep: that was the easy part. It's just that I would wake up all the time in the middle of the night - sometimes ten or more times in a single evening!

And then there was this one other issue of me being incapable of dreaming.

I'm serious! Since the day I was born, I never got a single mental image after closing my eyes. Maybe it was because I never reached a deep enough level of sleep or something like that, but it made me kinda sad. All those stories of amazing sights and opportunities that I could never experience for myself, all those lively morning smiles and eyes filled to the brim with energy... Maybe that's why I started to watch Everett at night. It was the closest I could get to something as perfect as a dream.

I often wondered what he could be dreaming about while I watched him. Sometimes from the opposite bed in Pokémon Center rooms, other times from my side of the tent, and occasionally underneath a tree during the heat of the day. It didn't matter where we were or what time it was, he always seemed so tranquil and content to be sleeping soundly. Sometimes I prayed quietly to the great creators Mew, Dialga... once even so far as to plead of Darkrai for the chance to dream with him; for our minds to be on the same wavelength and for the two of us to enjoy the bliss of sleep together.

I stopped doing that years ago, because it never worked. I just figured the gods probably weren't too happy hearing from me all the time, assuming they ever heard me at all.

But enough about sleep and dreams, I'm sure you probably don't want to hear me... well... whine about those either.

I faintly remember waking up in his arms around eleven years ago as a fresh out of the egg Cyndaquil. I now know that the really annoying 'whatever' that was keeping me from opening my eyes was the ceiling light in one of the Pokémon Center back rooms. I had absolutely no clue what was going on, but I guess that's natural for all babies, human and Pokémon alike. Still, all the sounds and sensations scared me. I realized I could feel, I could string together incoherent thoughts (but thoughts nonetheless), and I could hear among other things. Also like most everyone else, the first thing I did was cry.

My reason was a bit weird though, and I guess "Put me down, and lemme go back to sleep!" would be a close enough description of what I wanted.

Fast forward many years later to a hotel room right outside of the Indigo Plateau, and there I was: watching the one who held me when I first awoke sleep in the early morning hours. At the time, Everett and I had been journeying through Johto for a grand total of eight years. Along the way our team grew in number and in strength as well. After tearing through an entire region's worth of trainers, we were finally given the chance to challenge the Elite Four. It was a beautiful moment for me watching my all-grown-up Everett proudly and carefully write seven names on a registration form, when eight years prior he was hastily scrawling the names 'Everett' and 'Mia' down on his Trainer's Card.

We were due to fight in three weeks.

And I suppose he wasn't the only one that grew up; I was now a full-fledged Typhlosion. A 'big girl' now, or according to other trainers, "One you don't want to fuck with." I don't really like being talked about like that, but I guess it made me feel a little bit nice on the inside. Being complimented and all...

I'd learned a lot about who I was and what I could do over the years I spent wandering with Everett, and consequently I learned a lot about him too. His aspirations, his attitude - all sorts of personality traits. I liked everything about him, really, everything except how horrible he was at handling other people's emotions. Generally speaking. I mean, he could be really tender and understanding if the right situation came up, but that was beyond rare and almost never happened.

I mean, he just didn't get that when someone is crying (usually me) you don't tell him or her to "Grow up and take it like a Hyper Beam.".You don't tell someone who is frustrated that "If you get it right, then you would feel all better." When it came to Everett, there was no such thing as a tactful middle ground: it was either downright cold, or unbelievably infuriating. He offered two extremes that no one in the world really wanted to hear, and this managed to gain him a somewhat negative reputation among other trainers.

Despite the idiot that he could be, I came to love that part of him. I thought of it as undeniable proof that he was a truthful man, and when you can wholly trust the words someone says to you, can you not trust them with more. Say for example, your heart?

I'd been standing watch over his vulnerable body for years, but it wasn't always out of curiosity. As time went on I found myself doing it more often and less frequently due to my inability to sleep. I sacrificed sleep willingly just to be his angel of the night. I did it because my soul twisted and turned where it lay inside me, tangling itself in its sheets and wailing for release. I wanted to be there for him, to protect him, to admire him.

I came to realize I loved him.

But what could I even do about it? I was pretty sure that whatever I was feeling was one-sided, that it wouldn't be returned by Everett. Maybe even rejected and cast out the window to soak up the rain. I told myself over and over to "Forget it Mia, it'll never happen. Never ever, ever", but that didn't help. The more I fought to suppress it, the more I saw that it was conquering my mind.

Everyone knows that spark of hope enveloped in thick shadows: we all need to have one to consider ourselves truly 'alive' right? I wanted to stamp out that spark, to prevent it from growing into something I couldn't put out and crush into nothingness. I guess that failed because I still loved him in the end, and I felt that love grow just a little more every single night.

Um... am I starting to sound a little too creepy? I'm sorry, I'll be done talking about my stalker-y stuff in just a second. Back to that night in the hotel room. You know, three weeks before the fight and all?

After a night of fighting inside my head, I was just about worn out. I had been staring aimlessly at Everett's forehead for the better part of two hours just working my way through an all-out screaming match in my head. What was I thinking about all night? Whether or not I should tell Everett how I felt about him before our battle with the Elite Four.

Now this wasn't the first time I'd tried thinking about it. I could rattle off several failed attempts in the past where I intimidated myself into not doing it, but time heals all wounds (including self-inflicted ones) and I just kept coming back to that question.

I'll spare you all the details, since they aren't all that great anyway, but what banner do you think I came out waving? Just guess. No? Fine, I planned to spill everything the night before we were due in.

I could feel my heart pounding all over my body, sitting there on his bed right next to his soon to awaken body. I could tell that the sun was already about ready to rise because the curtains were starting to glow, and I felt really tired upon realizing this. I'd never spent an entire night watching Everett in the past, maybe an hour or two tops. But I'd also never felt that good after watching him. I had won a fight against myself! Crazy, but it made me so happy to know I had finally made a decision.

"I'm really going to do this!" I thought to myself. "I'm going to tell him for sure, and I'm not backing out again!"

I guess lack of sleep had something to do with it, but I suddenly felt brave (and a little stupid, though the two usually go paw in paw), and chose to fall onto him and nuzzle his neck deeply. It was kind of a bad idea, I know, but I really didn't care much for anything at that point. What I was planning to tell him in three weeks would most likely bring about a much more feisty reaction than a four in the morning cuddle.

"Hrmm... g'murnin Mia..." slurred Everett, taking a slow and deep breath of air to resuscitate his mind.

I could feel his arms moving to reach for the alarm clock under his pillow (to see what time it was), but I didn't care for that either. I simply pressed myself even more firmly against him, and settled my own mind for much needed rest.

~~*~~

What felt like moments later, I opened my eyes to a brighter room. I could feel that Everett had laid me on my back and covered me with a blanket, and because he wasn't right next to me I knew he had left the room. I judged from the steady, fair light in the room that it was most likely late afternoon. Perhaps around three - no, four? Not too much of a problem for me, since I was sure he would be back relatively soon.

I realized that my mouth and throat was completely dry, and I knew it was because I slept with my mouth gaping open again (please don't tell anyone I do that). Closing up again to let saliva flow, I also shut my eyes. Despite sleeping for the better part of ten or so hours, I still felt tired and pretty unwilling to leave the bed.

"Get up."

A shockwave of fear ran from the tips of my hind paws at the sudden commanding voice, and my ears flitted upwards to a stiff salute.

"Child, do not compel me to ask once more. Get up." the voice boomed. It was a deep, unearthly sound that penetrated into the deepest recesses of my mind, and chilled the fiery warmth within me.

I swallowed, cringing at the unpleasant sensation of sandpapery flesh rub in the back of my throat. "Why would I do that?" I asked slowly, squeezing each word out. I kept my eyes shut tightly and shifted my limbs slowly, feeling for my muscles to unlock and contract fluidly; I reasoned that every fiber might be needed to stay alive.

I didn't end up needing them, because man did things get surreal after that. And by surreal, I mean downright 'what the hell' crazy.

My eyes shot open to a purely black room when a demonic scream pierced the air around me. It was a sound of despair, of eternal anguish; the sound of a living being writhing in pain. Arctic winds from the ends of the world streaked across my body from every direction and tore my blanket away from me before I could even realize what was going on.

Lost in the darkness, the winds quickly subsided and were replaced by the sensation that something invisible had grabbed hold of my entire body. I couldn't even scream; my jaws were forcibly held shut as well. And then an unbelievable pressure was exerted upon me as I felt myself being crushed straight into the mattress I lay on, unable to fight back as the last breaths of air vacated my lungs.

Moments before I felt that I was about to die, the force subsided. As air rushed back into my lungs, blinding light washed over me and forced my eyes shut again. The earth around me began to quake violently, and moments later I felt every inch of my body begin to burn furiously. I was a Typhlosion, the volcano Pokémon, and I felt like I had just been cast into the magma within one.

"Stop! No more!" I screamed, before I was suddenly silenced by the feeling of heat sliding down my throat like water. The evil wailing still rang dominant in my ears, but I swore I heard a single, soft chuckle before the pain ceased.

Curling myself up into a ball, I shivered violently with fear. Please don't look down on how 'weak' that might have seemed: you don't know what it was like. I had just been subjected to unbearable cold, spectral forces, and scalding heat among other things, all in the time space of what seemed to be a single minute. I think earned the right to babble quietly and cry.

Wherever I was, it wasn't in the hotel room anymore. I could feel grass underneath my fur, so I knew I was outside. There was a slight cool wind passing by, but the sunlight was gentle and warm; far more mild and comforting compared to what I had just been through.

The voice returned sometime later, and although still powerful and deep I could hear gentler undertones within. "Are we ready to listen now, my daughter?"

I froze up again. Whatever it was that attacked me was dangerous, and that terrified me. I wasn't hurt, and that was pretty weird considering I felt myself light on fire. But the thing that creeped me out the most was how this guy was talking to me.

"Daughter...?" I asked cautiously, slowly lifting my head just enough to peek at whatever the voice was.

"Well," said the great, white beast that stood before me, "Am I, The Original One, not indeed your father?"

"Arceus..." I whispered, slowly pulling myself up from the ground. I felt myself grow weak as I stood up tall, almost as if I could collapse at any moment. I don't really know how to describe the way I felt, looking at the being that was the master of all that existed. Reactions ranging from adoration to 'oh please don't kill me' ran through my veins, through which blood surged as rapidly as my heart was then beating.

He stood with dignity (as all gods should) a few meters away from me, which was just enough for me to see his whole body without moving my head or eyes. Drawn up to my full standing height, I took a wild guess and assumed he was around two times my own height. Which would have been funny if it weren't for how serious the meeting was supposed to be, because I always imagined him to be so much bigger. Monstrously huge if anything at all. I mean after sizing him up, yeah he was a pretty good height and everything but - oh for crying out loud, this was god I was looking at! Who cares if he was seventeen meters tall, or smaller than the Pokéball I sometimes stayed in?

Still, his figure is still etched into my mind even today. His sleek, perfectly proportioned form, the fine divide between his pure white and soft gray fur, the spokes of the golden wheel that encircled the middle of his abdomen... Above all, the eyes. Oh, those deep green pools that held within each a single red jewel - those were the eyes that beheld the universe during creation, those were the only eyes that stared at and into things that no earthly being could comprehend. I could claim to know what a soul was, but his was the right to know, to truly know what a soul embodied and held within.

So I thought to myself, what did he see in mine?

"A few interesting things in particular, Mia," answered the god unexpectedly, taking a single step towards me with a glimmering, aureate foot. "Amuse me. What do you yourself see?"

I swallowed heavily and forced my eyes away from his and off to the side. I couldn't stand the idea of him leafing through my mind like a Sunday afternoon paper.

"Come now my dear, let us not dawdle. Tell me what you have been 'dreaming' about for so long now. What was it now... a nascent love beginning to reach the tender years of maturity?"

I remained silent, because I really didn't see any point in talking with someone (regardless of who he happened to be) who knew everything I was going to say. My nerves were still tingling with fear, and I focused my eyes on what appeared to be a ring of different colored tablets planted in the ground around Arceus. "Why are you here Arceus, what do you want from me?" I thought as loudly as I could in my mind, clenching my fangs together to prevent them from shaking like the rest of my body.

"On occasion, I find it necessary to interfere with the autonomy of my creation. I do so to correct a few... 'mistakes', if you will." "What kind of mistakes are you talking about," I asked meekly. "You aren't talking about how I feel about Everett are you?" "How is that not a mistake? A wrong that must be righted? I never created my children with the intention of allowing them to bind their hearts to the filth that is humanity." "But that doesn't make sense!" I responded fervently, "Why not just kill all the humans then? Or not create them to begin with?"

Arceus went silent when I said this, and I seriously thought I had just doomed the entire human race for a moment there. Scary thought.

"Quite frankly," sighed Arceus, revealing for the first time a shade of emotion, "Your mother, Mew, would not take kindly to that."

"Oh," I responded, feeling a little flame of affection towards Mew come to life in my heart. "So, um, why are you even here then? Wherever, you know, here is?"

Arceus never said a word, but there was a glint in his eye that just screamed 'I'm not telling - you need to guess first and make yourself look stupid'. So I said what the heck and threw out what I believed to be a fairly logical conclusion.

"Bed. I'm lying on a bed in a Pokémon Center hotel room. Same place I was when I... fell asleep."

"Really now?" asked Arceus, two deep laughs resonating within his chest. "Clever, but what if you are not dreaming? What if everything that is happening to you is real? I created the universe! Wove the fabric together with laws and constants! Who is to say I cannot bend those laws - that fabric? Every last strand of it to my will?"

A sudden whirlwind picked me up, and when I opened my eyes I found myself laid back on the mattress in the hotel room. Warm, comfy, and well tucked in too. Staring at the white plaster ceiling, I saw a misty projection of Arceus' head looking down at me.

"I promise you one thing, Mia... When I next return, you will most certainly be dreaming," said Arceus, his image rapidly fading away with the last few words. And then clearly in my mind, he spoke once more.

"I grant you one hour of respite. I advise you not waste a single second."

I was going to ask why he was leaving if manipulating time and space was a piece of poffin, but a soft click to my left distracted me: it was the door. It began to creak open slowly, and out of the corner of my eye I watched shadow and light slip through the crack of the door and cast itself on the dark wall.

"Mia, are you awake now?" came Everett's voice, and I felt myself loosen at the sound of his warm words. "It's almost half-past... nine now? Night time."

I turned over onto my side away from Everett. I didn't really want to talk to anyone then, nor was I really all that hungry. Maybe something to nibble on later, but nothing really special. A cracker or two would have been good enough.

I heard a sharp clinking sound coming from near the door, and guessed Everett had just tossed the key to the room onto the sink counter. Then he started to walk closer to my bed, and before I knew it he was sitting right next to me.

"You were up early this morning," he said smoothly, stroking a few idle fingers across the side of my body. I resisted the urge to purr and remained silent. For one, I was feeling a little silly about the way I fell asleep on Everett this morning, and second I was still a little woozy from my encounter with... oh that's right: god!

"C'mon, I know you aren't asleep." He laughed, rubbing the nape of my neck softly with his palm. "It's been at least twelve hours since you woke me up this morning. Find it hard to believe you could need much more sleep than that!"

"I don't really wanna go anywhere right now."

He drew his hand away from me after I said that, but didn't stand up immediately. I guess he was thinking about something there, and I suppose the only reason he came back to the room was to come check up on me and take me with him.

A little later he did stand up, and confirming my thoughts he said, "Tch, only came here to ask you if you wanted to do something tonight. Fine if you wanna stay in bed though."

I heard him shuffle across the room and open the mini-fridge. The delicate clink of glass bottles sitting on the door shelves of the fridge reached my ears, and I assume he grabbed a can of soda because I heard a sharp pop and fizz as the door to the fridge closed. He took a few loud gulps and walked back towards me to set the can on my bedside table.

"If you change your mind, you'll find us at the Buizel Blues club in the underground. About ten minutes from here, remember? Catch you later," said Everett. And just like that, he was off into the night again.

I couldn't help but smile at his parting words. "Catch you later" was a sort of inside joke between the two of us, since he had never officially caught me with a Pokéball. Like most other inside jokes, there's a longer story behind it, and no, you probably still won't get it even if I told you.

I flopped over onto my back again and looked at the ceiling. For a moment I hoped that Arceus would come back and answer all my questions, maybe confirm that I didn't go off the deep end earlier. It was easier for me to believe that I actually started hallucinating compared to actually meeting the creator, really. And then, maybe I really was dreaming. That made sense too, it being the first time I had done it. No doubt there was tons of random stuff floating around in my head, it was only logical that something so fantastic could pop up.

I was pretty happy with the answer I came up with, but I realized I still had another problem to deal with: I was alone in the hotel, and going back to sleep probably wasn't going to work considering how much I had already gotten. I started to feel a bit lonely and silly for treating Everett the way I did. He walked all the way back to the room just to bring me somewhere fun and grab something nice to eat; it was an unselfish act that I turned down with a poor excuse.

A few minutes later I found myself in the chilly night air right outside the glass doors of the Pokémon Center, so I stood up tall and summoned out a comforting scarf of flames before starting to walk down the street.

Being the headquarters of the Pokémon League, the city was full of lights and absolutely filled with people and Pokémon alike. There weren't really many cars about, so many people strolled along in the middle of the street and served as the 'traffic' that most urban cities enjoyed. Giant screens advertised everything from products and services, to local events and entertainment. Airy music floated above my head from black boxes hung from the top of lamp posts at the corner of every block, and overall, the entire experience was a lot like going to an amusement park.

I think the best feeling I had was probably pride. There I was, ambling along in a city where so many people would have loved to be. And not as a tourist, but as a part of the reason why those people wanted to come. I realized I was among the very best trainers and Pokémon in the world, and after years of hard training and journeying, it was a club that I liked a lot. In plain English, I felt great. Noticing the entrance to the underground, I extinguished my flames and made a Beedrill-line to it.

I descended the long set of stairs to the underground of the city feeling quite content and caught up in the sights and sensations, and found another side of the city. Compared to the sleek, chrome plated architecture that was the above ground city, there was a more rugged and quaint feel to where I was then. The place was a lot like a mall, maybe a bigger subway tunnel actually, and it was filled with even more people than I had expected. Although not enough to require pushing and shoving, my pace was slowed to match the people in front of me, whoever the heck was in front of them, and I think you get the picture.

Neon signs were everywhere down there that advocated everything from battle rings to gambling establishments, clothing stores to restaurant, and relevant to me: clubs and bars.

The Buizel Blues bar was a water-themed place that claimed to offer 'cool blues' music along with good food and drink all night long. I was a bit skeptical about it at first, but after spending some time there a few days ago came to realize it was a pretty sweet place. When I stepped inside I could tell the place was already starting to come to life. The first band of the night had begun playing, some couples were dancing (I saw a female trainer dancing with her Typhlosion!), and I could smell the scent of wonderful food coming from the double doors that led to the kitchen.

Weaving my way through the crowd of people, being very mindful of clumsy dancers and their stomping about, I started to make my way to the circular bar in the center of the room. When I arrived, I saw my teammate Lenny the Flareon sitting on a stool a couple paces to my left. He was gnawing on a slightly over-charred piece of ham, and I think it was because he applied his own little touch of flame to it before eating.

"Hey there!" I called out over the loud music, stepping over to his side.

I saw his ears flit upward before he looked up from his dish with a piece small piece of meat still dangling out of his mouth. He managed to quip a muffled "Oh hi!"

After he swallowed, he continued and said, "I'm glad to see you came! Ev said you didn't want to." "Not at first, no. But I changed my mind. Know where everyone else is?"

Lenny shook his head once. "I'unno. They all disappeared into the crowd when people started flooding in, but I'm sure they're all in here or nearby."

I nodded my understanding and glanced around. I didn't see anyone I recognized. "Anything new while I was out?" "Heh, you mean asleep? Not much really. Today has been pretty laid back what with you out of working order and all. We did spend some time checking out the other trainers and their teams though, and Everett scheduled us all for a few practice battles tomorrow. If you decide to wake up that is."

"I'm up for it!" I shouted over the sudden increase in noise. The band had reached the end of a song, and their guitarist had decided to go absolutely nuts. Lenny had gone back to eating his food, and all of a sudden I realized that I was a lot hungrier than I had said earlier. Rephrasing it, I'd probably need a few packages of crackers to feel better. Well, maybe not specifically crackers.

"You know where Everett is? I wanna get something light to munch on," I said into Lenny's ear. It felt better not needing to yell; I did plenty of that on the battlefield. "Oh yeah!" he said, perking up suddenly. "Funny story with that. You see, earlier today we bumped into a very nice girl. Think her name was Melissa or something like that, but she's a trainer too, and we went everywhere today. You know what she did earlier? She gave me a big hug and called me adorable! Adorable!" exclaimed Lenny, obviously quite happy. I on the other hand was somewhat disturbed.

"So, uh, where is Everett right now?" "He's sitting at a table with Melissa on the edge of the room. If you ask me, Ev probably thinks she's adorable," said Lenny. He chuckled to himself almost inaudibly with all the music around us, and went back to eating.

I turned myself a full revolution and tried to look through the many dancers on the floor. I spun several times, but each time came back around without a single glimpse of Everett. Turning my nose to the ceiling, I inhaled deeply for his familiar scent. With my eyes closed I spun around slowly once more, but stopped when his scent was most powerful. Opening my eyes, I stared forward to where it should have been.

In an almost choreographed fashion, the crowd of dancers drifted apart far enough to allow me to fully view a table pressed up against a wall. A tall, empty glass was in the middle of the table. It had two straws sticking out of it, and moments later I saw a busboy place the glass on a brown, plastic tray, wipe the table down with a damp rag and walk away. Snapping my head towards the door I just barely saw Everett exit the club: he was being pulled along by a feminine hand.

Around then I would say that I was genuinely disturbed.

"Wait!" I cried out, knowing full well there was no way he could hear me. I half-pushed half stampeded my way through the dancers, almost knocking over someone on the way to the door. I'm sure I got a couple nasty stares, but I didn't care.

Bursting through the doors, I rapidly looked back and forth in hopes that Everett hadn't gone too far. Somewhere in the crowd, I saw his unzipped red coat flutter softly in his wake. From there I took up the chase.

Every single time I thought I was about to catch up to him, something would happen to push him further away. Sometimes people would get in my way, sometimes I would lose sight of him, and I even tripped and fell hard onto the ground once. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs for everyone to just get out of my way, but even then I doubted anyone would care or notice. I had no choice but to keep on pushing, to keep on moving.

I don't know when it happened, but I finally lost track of Everett at some point. I kept on moving forward even after I realized this, desperately hoping for even one more sighting of his red coat, his creamy brown hair... When I finally gave up, I found myself standing in front of a large fountain.

There weren't a lot of people here, and from what I could tell, this was one of the furthest reaches of the underground. Sighing deeply and nearing my emotional limits, I sat down on the edge of the fountain.

I remember it was a grand fountain made of white stone and crusted with silver. It sat in a large, circular pool of water that had lights underneath the water, which shone a soothing light blue. Water overflowed continually from bowls that stacked atop each other, and it created a beautiful, thin veil of water that distorted what you could see on the other side.

With my head turned to the side, I stared into those curtains of water. I considered wading into the fountain and curling up behind those waterfalls so that no one could clearly see who I was, and I wouldn't have to see anyone or anything else. But on the other side, I saw two people standing next to each other.

One of them had a red coat.

Standing up slowly, I began to walk around the fountain. I don't really know where I was when I started circling around to the other side of the veil. I wanted it to be him, but at the same time I didn't because of what it could mean.

When I could see clearly, I was crushed to find out it really was him. And this time, I could see the girl he was with. Gorgeous, dressed sharp, luscious hair... everything about her was perfect.

I can't say I was completely shocked since this was really just a confirmation of my deepest fear. There was my best friend, the guy I loved, spending time with some random chick he met like twelve hours ago!"

I didn't say anything and just stood there for a little bit, watching with jealousy and sadness. One part of me wanted to go over there, pick up Everett and drag him away somewhere safe, but I knew he wouldn't let me do that. I was about to turn away and head back to the bar, when I heard him scream.

Whipping my head around, I saw a flash of silver enter and exit Everett's body multiple times before he crumpled to the ground. Melissa had stabbed him with a knife. I stood there in shock as I watched her kick his lifeless, bleeding body over, bent over and started rifling through his jacket. She was a thief, a murderer!

I completely lost it.

I let out a blood-curdling roar as fire erupted to life around me and the world turned into shades of black and red. Charging forward, I spewed hellfire upon her and tackled her flaming body to the ground. Having dropped her knife when I set her on fire, she was helpless as I roared once more and clamped my jaw down upon her neck. If I was seeing red, now I was covered in it as I ripped her throat open with one violent tear. I held her down as her blood rapidly gushed out, her cries of pain coming out as muffled gurgles that I relished the sound of.

When it was all done and I could see again I was staring down at eyes rolled back into a skull, and the gory remains of a human being. Breathing heavily, I remembered who deserved my attention.

"Everett!" I cried out, scrambling over to his body. But I knew the moment I pressed my nose to his neck that he was gone, as there was no pulse. I helplessly dragged his corpse towards the edge of the fountain which I seated myself upon before cradling his head in my lap.

I tried my hardest to come to terms with the undeniable fact that he was gone forever.

Around then I realized I couldn't see anymore, as my eyes were glossed over with hot tears of anger and utter despair I silently berated myself for being so weak and unable to save him. If only I had been faster, if only I had followed him when he invited me out, oh Arceus, if only I had woken up and stayed with him all day!

Over and over I drilled these thoughts into my head, and I began to rock back and forth slowly where I sat. My consciousness retreated deep within, and I began to feel dizzy. I don't remember when, but I lost my balance and remember falling back into the water of the fountain.

It was strangely peaceful...

It was quiet. My vision was just as blurred as it was when I wasn't in the water...but everything seemed so right. Without thinking, I breathed deeply and let the blue fountain water flood into my lungs.

Moments before everything went black, I realized I had never felt anything so wonderful in my entire life.

~~*~~

"Tsk, tsk... That was most unexpected, my dear..." came a familiar, deep voice. I opened my eyes slowly to a bright world and blue sky. I closed them again and sighed deeply, I was back on the grassy plains.

"Do you now see the consequences of loving a human?" "Maybe with different circumstances it all would have worked out."

"I only granted you one life, Mia. Why would you gamble for something as preposterous as this 'love' you speak of? How many routes really lead to the result you desire? Ask yourself that."

I didn't really have much to say to that. Arceus was right, it was completely unlikely that Everett would have ever come to love me the same way I did him even if I succeeded in saving his life.

"But that chance existed!" I exclaimed, opening my eyes. "And isn't gambling just playing a game of chance? Hoping for the best? Was there something wrong with hoping for the best? Answer me that, Arceus!"

"Humph..." snorted Arceus. I couldn't see him, but I could tell he was annoyed. "You misunderstand. Did I at any time ever imply that you were to gamble with your life? No! You very well could have let that life grow steadily and in the right direction." "So you're saying I lived my life all wrong. All because you don't like what I believed in?" I sat up tall now, unafraid to voice my opinion. There wasn't anything Arceus could do to me anymore.

"No one can live a perfect life, and you are correct in saying that your beliefs are much loathed by me. To an extent, yes, you were living your life incorrectly."

I was furious. Unable to control myself, I felt my rage manifest itself in a roar unlike anything I had ever emitted and flames that could burn shadows into the earth.

"Oh, so you decide to come specifically to me out of the billions of people and Pokémon in the world?! And for what? For holding a harmless love? You're omnipotent, all knowing: you more than anyone in the universe should be aware of the far worse crimes committed every single day! The way you speak to me... are you addressing me with the same tone you would a murderer?! Why are you wasting your time on me?!"

"I shall be honest with you. Because I can. It may seem harsh and unfair to you, but you know not the pain of watching your creation go awry."

I sighed. There was no point in arguing with Arceus; he never gave any answers. He would never agree with me, and he wouldn't stop until I changed my opinion. Some god he was... I lay down on my back and closed my eyes.

"Arceus, you know everything right? Would Everett ever have loved me... if we lived?"

To this, he had no response. At least not for a few moments.

"Do I need to tell you?" asked Arceus, who chuckled softly. "Live on and find out."

"Live... on...?" I asked, opening my eyes. What I saw next made my heart stop.

I was staring at a ceiling, and the light was soft: maybe mid-afternoon sun? I was lying in bed - the hotel room bed. The door clicked open off to the side, and I could smell dark coffee waft into the room along with that other, human scent I knew all too well.

"Mia, are you awake now?"

Hours later I found myself sitting on a bench in a park. I loosely held a half-eaten pretzel in my left paw and stared silently at it. I wasn't even sure at that point if eating the pretzel, or doing anything at all actually, was worth my time. Why? I wasn't even sure if I was awake.

But can you really blame me? For a first dream, every part of it felt so_real_. The part where I walked down the street at night, the sights and sounds of the bar... all of it was still fresh in my head. I snuck a glance at Everett who also happened to have a pretzel in his hand, but seemed much more enthusiastic about eating it.

The two of us were waiting for our team members to come back. Everett told me earlier that everyone else had taken off to who knows where in the city while I was asleep. I opted to follow him around after I woke up because I really didn't have anything else to do, and just a teensy party of me was scared that a real Melissa would show up and take Everett away again. The heck I was going to let that happen again, assuming it even happened in the first place, which it didn't, but if it were to happen I would... I would...

Oh never mind, I'm just confusing you huh?

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked. It wasn't often I got to spend time alone with Everett despite being out of my Pokéball more often than everyone else, and I wasn't about to waste the time reality or not.

"Mhmm," hummed Everett who happened to be chewing at the moment. "Do you love anyone?"

My ears burned after asking this, but I doubt Everett could tell how embarrassed I was. Another reason to love fur, I guess. He looked at me with a hint of amusement before he swallowed and began to speak.

"Ha, fun question you've got. Well, there's Mom, there's Dad, there's you guys, ther-" "Oh come on, you know that's not what I meant!" I exclaimed, whacking the side of his leg with a paw. Not in the mean kind of 'hurt someone' way, you know? "Well you said love, right?" he said, nudging me with a shoulder. "I'm guessing you're not talking about love, but about love with a capital 'L' hmm?"

"Umm, yeah. That would be it."

"I see," he said, leaning back in the park bench to stretch. "Not gonna happen." "I really have to know, Ev," I pleaded. "Just a hint?" "Well, you asked first. You share first, and I'll do the same." "I can't do that!"

"Oh why not? Shouldn't ask people for stuff you aren't willing to answer yourself and all! You can trust me not to tell anyone though," said Everett, a mischievous expression creeping onto his face. "Is it Kainen or Rosh?" he continued, "or how about Lenny? He's a cute little fire type, and I'm sure you two would hit it off as mates perfectly!"

"Fine, you don't need to tell me," I grumbled, attempting to shift as much of the attention off of me as possible. "But I was wondering: would you ever love someone who wasn't human? Maybe an animal, a Pokémon?" I put forth cautiously. I knew it was a huge tip off, and bit the inside of my cheek after I said it.

He chuckled for a moment before saying, "Who knows? Never really thought about that to be honest, and I doubt I ever will."

On one paw, I was glad he was too dense to understand the implications of the question I asked (it saved me from an awkward explanation), but at the same time I was a bit disappointed.

"Really?" I said, faking innocent curiosity, "Haven't ever slept on it at least once?" "Nope," he replied.

I dabbed my dry lips just a little bit with my tongue before summoning up the courage to take the whole thing a step further. "So, uh, let's say you had to think about it. Say a Pokémon came up to you tomorrow and confessed her, or maybe his...?" I said, my voice catching on the last part of the sentence. I quickly bottled up my nervous mistake and quickly followed up with, "Well, confessed love? What would you do?"

I remember the look on Everett's face after I said that so clearly... It was sharp and curious, much like a grimace, yet soft enough to be anything in between. I could sense a hint of amusement, and maybe even a little trepidation. It might have been just my mind, but I recall his sweet, hazel eyes that always betrayed his emotions had gone a murky dark brown that shielded his mind from my own scarlet ones. Averting his gaze from me, he faced forward and coughed. Probably a fake one.

"Would you say yes to a human?"

I hesitated. I started to think about exactly how much I had revealed to him in such a short amount of time, and that sent little spiders of fear crawling down my spine. How much more would he need to piece together what I was getting at? Oh Arceus, what if he already knew?

"Yes. To the right kind of human," I said. We were playing a game of tit for tat, and I knew it reached the point where I wouldn't get away without putting something of my own on to the table.

The only reaction I got from him was a slow, almost non-existent nod. What I really wanted to know, what I wanted to see, was locked away in his mind. What were those taboo thoughts doing to the carrier of his consciousness, to what made him what he was?

"You seem to have put a lot of thought into it," he said slowly, pausing for a moment before continuing. "I'd have to do the same before giving you an answer."

Immediately after the word 'answer' left his mouth, he filled it with a large bite of pretzel. The conversation was over.

Inwardly, I sighed. Putting the pretzel I had been clutching way too tightly right next to myself, I drooped my head to the ground and closed my eyes. I could think clearer when hit by a confuse ray by a Zubat compared to that moment, and I had this deep, dark mass of guilt that dragged my happiness down to the ocean floor with it.

Yeah. I felt pretty crappy after looking at what was possible from that point.

But I realized that's all I had left to hold onto while sitting there in the park: the realm of possibility. It could be overflowing and beautiful, or empty and barren when all was said and done. And really, isn't that what we all live on for? The chance that what we want could come true? The way I saw it, that bright beacon was worth tossing the dice a billion times, and a billion after that, and that's where I drew the strength to lift up my head again.

Because I knew that until it was a definite no, I could keep trying, I could keep hoping, I could try to change his mind...

I could keep on dreaming.

~~*~~

I could feel myself laying on my back in the grassy field with my eyes shut; just like I was when I thought I had died.. I knew I was dreaming immediately, and also knew who would be waiting for me when I opened my eyes.

"Arceus." "Mia."

Pulling myself up, I opened my eyes and did not freeze at the sight of the great, white god. The novelty of confronting the supreme deity had worn off for me, and I figured I didn't like the gods very much if they were all self-righteous pricks like Arceus.

"So what do I need to do to make you go away? Short of being a 'good little creation' and playing by your rules?"

Arceus didn't say anything, but I figured the answer must have been something along the lines of 'nothing'. I growled a little out of frustration.

"Oh come on! You've been making this whole thing seem like a matter of cosmic importance!" I complained without restraint. "So that's why everyone says 'love' is so powerful," I exclaimed, inflecting my voice with undertones of causticity, "apparently it's enough to screw up the 'balance of the universe' so badly, that the maker himself needs to come in and stamp his holier-than-thou hoof on it!"

"Would you rather I killed you? Erased your existence? I doubt that would be 'fair' by mortal standards."

"Uh, no.'Fair' would be not even creating me in the first place if you intended to screw with my life, knowing full well what I was going to do with it. In fact, a whole bunch of crap about what you do doesn't make sense," I spouted.

"I take it you will never see reason? Even after your disastrous encounter with your trainer in the waking world this afternoon? You seem unable to grasp the sheer magnitude of what you did to him, do you?"

I hesitated. I knew it was bad, the whole conversation and all, but disastrous? I shied away from contempt for a moment, and let curious dread course through my veins.

"What... did I do to him?" "That I shall never reveal. It will become evident of its own accord to the observant eyes, which you most certainly are in regards to him."

"Well fine. I still don't care for anything you have to say. You've got an infinite life - I don't. So if you don't mind, I want you to leave so I can live it." I declared sharply, shifting to a more assertive, powerful stance. This was my mind, and I didn't care who he was: he was going to play by my rules because I was sick and tired of playing by his.

The plains were silent around the two of us for a moment, and everything was still. Not a single breath of air stirred, save my slow, deep breathing and that of the god that stood before me.

"Reasonable enough - I shall take my leave" said Arceus, much to my surprise. "But before doing so, I have one last question." "Fire away," I replied curtly.

"What does this human... Everett even mean to you?" "Everything," I said, my answer short, cliché and to the point. Not that I cared, because it was the absolute truth and there wasn't anything else I could say to do my feelings justice.

"Hmph! Everything?" grunted Arceus, and I swore his pupils vanished and eyes flashed pure crimson for the briefest moment. "If that is so, then you can expect nothing in your future!"

The world around me vanished and I found myself standing next to Arceus, high up in the sky. It was a dark night, and we were floating above the Indigo Stadium. Thousands upon thousands of people and Pokémon were in the stands, some seated and some standing, but all of them cheering uncontrollably.

It didn't take a genius, or good eyesight to figure out what Arceus was trying to show me: a battle between me and another Pokémon.

"Is this what you want? To fight eternally?" he asked. The world shifted again, and I saw myself fighting in the stadium against another trainer and another Pokémon. I cringed slightly as I watched that other me being slammed into the ground, and smiled wanly when I jumped up and knocked out the Pokémon that did it with a vicious, fiery uppercut.

Before I knew it, I was watching a slide show. Every few seconds there would be a new challenger and a new battle for me to fight. Over and over I watched myself being clawed, bitten, hit with jets of water and flame, and each time I would rise up just enough to defeat my opponent. Faster and faster the snapshots of each battle continued, each more gruesome than the last, and at one point I could see nothing but a blur. The world was just a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes set to the endless droning of a screaming crowd, and I began to feel nauseous and tired.

"Look at yourself!" exclaimed Arceus, to which I did - I was still fighting on the field. Moments later I was standing on the plains, but I found myself holding back a shriek when I looked down at my own paws.

They were bleeding heavily and looked completely ragged. And then it all went downhill. I watched in horror as a long, deep gash was drawn in real time across my leg, my shoulder grew numb and raw, teeth marks erupted on my side with streams of blood... I ultimately collapsed to the ground and listened to the sickening sound of what I thought to be my bones breaking inside me.

"Is this what you want to become? What you are going to let your 'everything' do to you?" "No!" I shouted, pain that did not exist sudden flaring to life. "Everett would never let this happen to me!"

"Nonsense! By nature, his life is centered on gain through your suffering! Every drop of blood you cough out is money in his pocket, every scar torn into your flesh is fame and fortune to his name!" bellowed Arceus as I lay helpless.

"Maybe, that's true," I said weakly. "But I love him! All of us, his team, his friends! We all love him, and he loves us too!" "When will this filthy stream of lies cease?! Do you honestly think he loves you for who you are, or rather for what you are? Means by which he obtains all his desires?"

All around me, my team members appeared. A Pidgeot, a Floatzel... all of them injured and laid out like I was.

"Oh my gosh... Lenny!" I squeaked, seeing the poor Flareon right in front of me. He was absolutely torn to shreds, covered in massive wounds and soaked in blood. By far, worse off than anyone else in the group including me. But the scariest part was that he was missing an entire leg. I watched in horror as a pool of dark mud was forming around him.

"H-Hey..." he whispered his voice shaky and weak. "How did this happen! The match you were in should have been stopped before anything close to this could happen!"

To this, Lenny forced an almost silent chuckle. "B-But I won! I did it!" "Are you crazy? Look what you lost! Why didn't you stop?!" "Everett told me to keep on going and I trusted him. He was so proud of me... Mia, I'm so happy!" he sighed, closing his eyes.

I was at a loss for words. Honestly, I can't even describe how I felt there, how scared and sickened I was.

"I think I'll sleep for a little bit," he muttered. "Maybe a day, or two, or three. Or maybe... or maybe..." he trailed off, his body slowing fading out of existence.

"Love...pah!" said Arceus, spitting out the last word roughly. "That is where the 'love' you speak of will lead you and all who mean anything to you."

"Shut up!" I shrieked, forcing myself to a sitting position despite the pain. "What do you even know about love? You talk about it all the time, and here you just went and twisted the whole thing into a disgusting mockery. I love a different Everett than the one you are making him out to be!"

"Perhaps nothing I can do will ever prevent you from 'loving' him, but do you honestly think he will ever love you?"

I found myself standing in front of the fountain from my dream, my wounds gone away. Everett was standing there with that thief girl... Melissa.

"Look into your own soul," said Arceus quietly, a sudden gentleness invading his voice. "The very core of who you are acknowledges the truth." "What truth?" I asked. "Why did Everett come here?"

This time Melissa moved towards Everett, but not with an instrument of death: with open arms. I remained silent as his lips melted into hers.

"Because he loved her. A human." "And the truth is?"

Arceus paused. "He will never love you. Not in your dreams, not in the waking world, not even in the afterlife."

And then a warm light and heat came from behind me. I could hear the soft padding of paws on stone, and turning my head I saw a Typhlosion. He was a little taller than me, I could tell his arms and body was strong, and his flames burned with an energy I could never even hope to rival. Upon drawing close to me, he lifted a paw and gently pushed me out of his way and off to the side before continuing forward. He walked on slowly until he reached Everett, who by then had already finished kissing Melissa. I watched Everett smile and grasp that Typhlosion's paw like he would a brother.

"Are you ready for the match tomorrow?" said Everett. "Always up for one. Let's burn!" responded the Typhlosion.

"And finally, when you are no longer of any use to him, he will replace you. Perhaps he will mourn the loss of his favorite tool for a few days, but within a month you will be nothing more than a memory; one that will be buried rapidly and soon forgotten."

"A-Arceus..." I said quietly, feeling myself grow weak. "May I ask you one last question...?" "You may."

"You can see the future: you know everything. There was a chance Everett was going to fall in love me with, right? Otherwise, why would you go through all this trouble? Please... tell me... will he ever love me?"

There was no reply for a while, and the god did not stir nor make a sound. What seemed an eternity later, he uttered two words.

"Live on."

He took slow steps backward and vanished in a cloud of vapor. When he was gone, everything went black and I found myself floating in a dead silent, empty space. I didn't know it then, but it would be the last time I ever came face to face the creator himself.

And you know, those few meetings were enough to break my heart, because I began to sob pitifully and all alone in the emptiness of my sub-conscious. Through blurred eyes, I watched sparking, crystal tears as they floated away into the void.

~~*~~

I was awake.

My eyes opened slowly, and I knew two things: that I was back in bed again, and my nightmare was finally over.

The hotel room was fairly dark; the curtains being pulled and the lights being off, but I could still see most everything clearly. Turning onto my side, I stared out towards Everett's bed. I closed my own eyes again for a while, but it wasn't long before I succumbed to habit and slipped out of bed silently. A few soft pads and a hop later, I was seated next to Everett on his bed.

It was odd. Only now did I feel a sense of embarrassment, a bit awkward if you will, about watching him sleep. I pressed my paws to my hot cheeks as my eyes adoringly traced every contour of his facial structure; every curve highlighted by a stray beam of moonlight that had slipped through hastily shut curtains. I thought he was an angel then, his face drinking in the milky life of the night sky, and at the same time, there was a twinge of doubt.

Everything Arceus imparted to me came crawling to the door of my mind, and scratched like an animal locked out of home. Oh it took me forever to do it, and I could feel my heart pounding against my chest as I did it, but I carefully pressed a paw to his cheek and unthinkingly envisioned blood flowing off of it. Was this the face of the man who would do that to me?

Pulling my paw away, I slipped off the bed. I was about to climb back into my own bed, but something changed my mind. Everything became a fine mist, and every action I made from that moment felt so unreal. Padding over to the side of his bed, drawing his covers just a little to the side, slowly slipping into bed with him... When all was said and done, I was lying in bed, right next to Everett. Barring the night before last, I had never done anything remotely close to this, and the sheer amount of different emotions that whizzed by was just unbelievable. I was scared, excited, nervous, absolutely everything all at once.

When I finally calmed down, I realized it felt pretty nice. Being so close to Everett and sharing warmth made me feel at peace and at a new level of connection with him. I held my breath as he stirred momentarily, and released it slowly when he came to rest once more, still blissfully unaware of my presence.

I closed my eyes and thought back to my childhood then, and remembered that this wasn't actually the first time I had slept with Everett. But I was a Cyndaquil then, still just a few weeks old and Everett was young as well. I would squirm my way up close against him, feel him close his arms carefully around me, and find peace in that little, dark place under the covers of a far away more innocent time. I wanted so much then to feel the way I felt all those years ago. I adored him for being someone I could trust to take care of me, and providing that safe haven that I guess the young of any species needs to grow. Well... I guess I couldn't hold my desires all back. Oh whatever... I couldn't hold any of them back.

I was crying softly into the thin fabric of his sleeve now, hugging his arm tightly to myself and coddling it without abandon. So it wasn't really a surprise when he took a slow, breath of oxygen to the brain and became conscious.

"Whuzza... Unhnn..." he groaned slowly. It took him a moment to slip his other arm across the top of his body and come to rest on the side of my body, and I couldn't help but shiver at his electrifying contact.

"Hi..." I choked out in between sniffles. "Mia, righ'?" he mumbled, running his hand through my fur. I clung tighter to his arm in response and didn't answer. As disoriented as he was, I could tell neurons were starting to fire in his head again; he mumbled something about how he forgot I was the only Pokémon who didn't like staying in Pokéballs.

I was forced to let go of his arm when he turned onto the side of his body, but he ended up turning the tables and pulling me into a closer, deeper embrace of his own. I pressed the side of my against his chest and felt him carefully rest his chin atop my head. He didn't say anything else for a minute or two, and whether he was using the time to fully wake up or make me feel better is a mystery. Whatever it was, he did both.

"I'm curious. Some people like midnight fridge raids, others take walks outside, but crying? What's wrong, Mia?"

"Well, for one, everything I believed in just got shot down by Arceus, who most people don't even believe exists, in a dream vision," I thought to myself, clenching my teeth tightly. Of course, I couldn't ever say that: it didn't take a skeptic to raise eyebrows and find the number for the nearest mental institution. Um - maybe not that far, actually. But you get my point, and I didn't say anything again - I just kept on crying.

Everett was silent for a little bit again. "Come on, talk to me," he said, rubbing the nape of my neck, and bringing back recent, haunting memories. "You came for a reason right? I mean, I'm fine just being here for you, but I want to do as much as I can and all."

"I-I can't," I said, pressing my head against him with more force. "Or won't? C'mon Mia, how many years have we been together? I think we can bare our hearts to each other a little bit. I promise I won't judge."

Hearts...

What felt like three days of torture, our two hearts, and one word. Man, I lost it around there.

"You really wanna know? My problem?" I said sharply, pushing Everett onto his back and rolling on top of him. I pressed my nose to the tip of his, and felt a tear soak into my fur as I said, "You!" My body turned to mush then, and I collapsed down onto him with my head landing right next to his.

"I love you Everett! I really, really do..."

After that, words just kept on tumbling out of my mouth. Most of them probably weren't even words, but I didn't care because it felt so uplifting to have finally revealed the truth. The best way I can put it, was that my heart was doing all the speaking and thinking for me - of course it wasn't going to make any sense in the end. I guess you can say I stopped some time later when the flood of words slowed to an erratic, quieter trickle. Everett hadn't said a thing or moved during the whole thing, save a small shift or two here and there.

"Yesterday... those questions..." he began slowly. "You weren't just curious, were you?" I shifted my head to rest on top of his chest spontaneously, but he gently cupped my face with his hands and slowly steered my eyes to lock with his.

"Hey, hey - look at me. It's alright," he whispered, rubbing softly. I tried to look away a few times out of shame, but each time he coaxed me back, and through the whole thing he never stopped murmuring reassuring words: most of which flew over my head. Then, releasing my head, he closed his arms around my back and cupped his neck to mine.

"Don't cry Mia, talk to me. Let me know what's going on up in your head." "T-Too much," I said, holding onto him for dear life. Suddenly, I began to feel warm. My vision grew hazy, I couldn't think straight anymore, and I slowly began to rub my whole body against his. I found joy being so close to him, and I guess I ran with it. But innocent contact slowly gave way to a more passionate connection, to the beginning of a lustful humping.

I couldn't help myself anymore and began to grind myself against him, my head writhing in adoration within the cup of his neck. I wanted him. I wanted him so much there, and I wanted to give myself to him. I began to lick the smooth skin of his cheek, breathed in the sweet, lingering scent of complimentary almond soap and pressed a paw to his other cheek.

Little by little, everything I did grew faster - more intense. My head was spinning and all I could think of, all I could even perceive as being real was one thing: Everett and myself. When my tongue found its way into his mouth that was where my emotions peaked.

He didn't resist. As a matter of fact I don't think he did anything other than melt in my embrace. My eyes were shut tightly as I felt my heart race off the edge of reality and into a ravine of uncertainty. This was it. Forget anything I said earlier, I told myself, this was the decisive move and I finally made it. There wasn't any uncertainty about what kind of love I had for Everett, but it was there, he knew it was there, and I knew it was there.

So which way did the balance tip? Given my luck, you might as well take a guess.

He threw his arms around me, put a hand behind my head, and pulled me even deeper into the kiss. Yup - my luck turned around.

"Mia..." He gasped, when we finally broke apart. "Everett..." I gushed in response.

The two of us hugged each other for a while. I held him gently, and he did the same for me. Occasionally I would plant delicate kisses on his skin, and he would reciprocate with the same tenderness. I loved every second I was with him, and the sheer joy that coursed through my veins was unbelievable. I had never known such happiness, and it made me feel whole and complete. All those dreams, nightmares, even Arceus himself were just a memory now: a dull one at that.

"Arceus!" I thought emphatically towards the malevolent god, rolling off of his body and onto my back. "He loves me!!!"

"I love you too, Mia," said Everett, his timing uncannily perfect. "And all this time, I thought it was one sided all this time..." "Wait, what?" I asked, a leftover sniffle catching the end of the sentence. "Which side?"

He laughed a little at this. "Mine. I mean, I've always liked you a lot more than you think. When you dropped me that question in the park, I was this close," he said, raising his barely apart thumb and index fingers for me to see, "from tossing my pretzel in lieu of... someone else, so to speak." It was quiet for a little bit as I let the words sink in, but I couldn't bring myself to hold still for all that long.

"Can I... do something, real quick?" I asked, feeling my ears burn because of what I was about to ask next. "Hmm... Yeah. What is it?"

I shuffled around and shifted myself down the bed until my head was at his hip level. Grasping the bottom edge of his loose, baggy nightshirt, I turned myself around and slowly pressed my head under and in between his clothes and skin. I kept my eyes shut as I carefully pushed in, relishing the sensation of his bare flesh against my fur. Then I heard it: his heartbeat.

Lub-dub, lub-dub it went, and I found childish excitement in this simple, yet so meaningful sound. I felt so safe in between his shirt and skin, so comfortable... just like earlier, but somehow more.

But then he started moving, and I felt him start to unbutton his shirt. Starting from the bottom he worked his way up until every single one was loose, and then he spread his arms and let the fabric slide off to the side. "Looking for something?" He asked. "Because there's really not much there." Bringing a hand back around, he tenderly caressed the top of my head.

I scooted myself upwards again and ended with a kiss on the bottom of his chin. Oh gosh... I loved the feeling of every inch of his bare skin. It radiated this weak warmth compared to my own body's, but I could feel it, and knowing it was there was something special for me. Why? Maybe because I needed that warmth from another living being to soothe my wounds from the cold, nightmarish hell I had been dragged through. But that wasn't enough for me; I wanted, almost needed more.

"Everett, I-I really need you right now..." I whispered, dabbing his chin lightly with my tongue. "Well I'll be here for you," he responded just too innocently, looping his arms around the back of my neck. "All of tonight, and until the end, you can count on me to be around."

I bit my lip. One part of me was happy at his sincere promise, and I guess I couldn't really blame him for not catching the... other possible meaning. Swallowing the last dregs of fear I had left, I tried again.

"Not in the way... not in the way you would imagine," I stuttered, pressing my crotch against his. I closed my eyes tightly and rocked my body against his just once, feeling through the fabric for that most tender flesh. "That way..." I breathed out airily.

I could only imagine his face when I said and did that... Maybe an 'O' formed upon his lips, maybe his features froze solid. I kneaded my paws into the fleshy part of his shoulders that I used to support my upper body and felt him tense up to my touch. I had never felt so vulnerable in my life, and I don't think I ever have since. Seriously, this is coming from a 'mon that's been through more than you can ever imagine on the battlefield, taken down some of the most fearsome opponents in two different regions, and dealt with a million other things that would send shockwaves through your teeth just to think about.

And after leaving me to balance on this emotional teeter-totter for an eternity, he finally spoke.

"Mia... I can't. In fact, I shouldn't - that much I know for sure. I love you in the sense that I really care about you, and I wouldn't ever want anything bad to happen to you. You know? Not anything more than that."

You know, I wasn't too broken up by this. I mean, it was reasonable, and I realized how selfish I was being. Ask me any other time in the past, and I would have told you I would die happy just for Everett to love me the way he did at that moment. He couldn't see me blush, but I'm pretty sure I did as I rolled off to his side again and put a little distance between my body and his.

"No, it's my fault." I replied with an empty tone. The shame was really starting to hit me then as I lay on my back, and I covered my dark-adjusted eyes with my paws.

And that was that. The room was silent...

...Until my paws were pinned against the bed and off the sides of my head, and Everett was on top of me and giving me the deepest most passionate kiss yet.

"To hell with that," he exclaimed breathlessly at a brief parting. "Everett!" I cried out in my mind and heart, both of which were flooded with torrential floods of pure elation. All those feelings of shame and regret? Straight out the window is where they went.

The two of us stayed in that sphere for a while, clasping each other tightly and rolling around atop the bed. It's a wonder we didn't fall off considering how lost we were in each other. When we finally stopped he was on top again. We were both breathing heavily into each other's ear to make up for lost air, and my blood was really rushing all through my veins now.

As I stared up at the ceiling, I thought about Arceus. No doubt he was still watching, and I hesitated for a moment before holding Everett tightly and staring defiantly at the ceiling. The hell he was going to do anything to ruin what might be the best night of my life.

But that thought didn't last long before my attention was drawn back to Everett. He was kissing my neck carefully, each contact feathery and fleeting yet so satisfying. He hummed softly as he went about his work, and I cuddled him adoringly like I would a doll or other small Pokémon. My heart swelled as I felt his hand pass through my fur like a comb, tracing little circles, loops and wavy lines as it went along its random path.

Sometimes he would quietly utter my name, repeating it like it was a sacred mantra entrusted to him by a divine force, and I would echo his every word with the attentiveness a student would have for her teacher. We played with each other like that for a while - constantly shifting and sliding in each other's arms, and really there wasn't much more we wanted out of the world or each other.

But Everett seemed to believe there was more and starting pulling away. He slid down my body, and I lay shivering in delight as he passed over my chest, my tummy, down the lower edge of my body...

Oh I knew what he was going for, but I was so nervous. My breathing grew more shallow and erratic as he drew closer to his goal, and I sucked down a breath sharply when I felt his two hands cup the mound of fur and flesh around my most private place. It took all the force I had in my body to hold back that breath and keep a squeak from escaping when I felt him take me into a different kind of... the kind of kiss reserved for lovers behind locked doors, and never spoken of elsewhere.

I couldn't gripping the bed sheets around me into small bundles with my paws as I felt his hot tongue caress the inside edge of my lower lips. And then the other side for a little, and then a swirl around that drove me mad with desire.

"Oh, Everett..." I moaned as he dragged his slick muscle straight up the length of my moistened cleft. I couldn't help twitch when he reached the very top and applied just the right amount of pressure to the right spot as he flicked off and dived smoothly back down for another pass.

He made my head spin with every spin of the tongue, had me crying out his name with every plunge into my depths... The pleasure was so concentrated in a small spot, and my whole body squirmed with his tongue as it searched out every fold inside me and minded every soaked, square inch so carefully. He lapped up my nectar carefully, and I remember squeezing my legs together tightly when he pressed his lips firmly into my flesh and thrust his tongue deeper inside than before. All of a sudden I was feeling new places, new little bits of pleasure ignite inside my saturated passage, and it drove me near the edge each time he thrust it in and out, undulating his tongue steadily like the hiss of an Ekans but much slower.

I could barely handle what he was doing already, clutching my heart with one paw and scrabbling wildly for sheets that weren't there to grab anywhere, but then he changed tactics.

I arched my back violently as his tongue descended down upon the little pea shaped nub at the top of my slit, and felt a finger slip into my tunnel in place of that tongue. I was completely and utterly powerless to stop his treatment, and the heck I would have wanted him to stop. I called out for him so many times as he suckled like a hungry newborn, vocalizing my ecstasy louder and louder with each pant, each groan and guttural projection.

I'd only ever dreamed of feeling the way I did, shamefully bringing to mind an image from a younger time, when I was still a Quilava. I had wandered away from Everett in a forest to go relieve myself after drinking too much water in a river, but on the way to finding a suitable, private location, I stumbled upon one that belonged to someone else. It was a pair of Eevee, and I heard the messy sounds of what was about to be the climax of their lovemaking.

Peeking through out of pure innocent curiosity, I watched a male holding a female to the ground with his forepaws and rutting his member into her furiously. At first I thought she was being hurt, and prepared to charge in to tear the male to shreds. But before I did, her face took on a look of pure joy and she let out a happy cry urging the male to keep going. It wasn't long before their cries were intermixed, and I watched in confusion as they reached their peaks and collapsed to the ground together, tied by the male's knot.

I yelped sharply when Everett began to forcefully circle his tongue around my sensitive clit, and remembered that it would be years before I learned the details of what I witnessed. It was near unbearable to go through heat after I learned, because I never let anyone near me but Everett in those times - I had already fallen in love with him then, and wanted my first and only to be him.

Now I was nearing my own peak. Each pass around was starting to become unbearably sensitive, and an explosive feeling was starting to build up down there. It kept growing faster, rapidly sweeping through my entire body and seizing control of it all the way from my extremities to the core of my body.

"Ah... ahh... ahhh!" I cried out when my body folded and opened the floodgates of pleasure. All of that feeling condensed itself to one point where Everett was tending, and then unfurled back out in a hurricane of ecstasy that battered me into happy submission with its hundred twenty-five kilometer per hour winds.

When I was finally done, I must have looked like a mess. My chest was heaving with the strain of wailing and choking down air, and I felt so much hotter than when we first started. Everett lay on his side next to me now, and he was using a few fingers to continue rubbing away at my crotch, albeit much more slowly, to draw out the last few gasps and moans I had left to give.

"Are you alright? That wasn't too much was it?" asked Everett, his fingers slowing to a halt. "I'm fine," I responded slowly, re-adjusting my voice for more articulate sounds. "And that was wonderful..." "Oh good," he responded, almost as if it were a relief to know he didn't hurt me. Which was a rather funny thought to me at the time, considering how fragile he was compared to me, but hey - I was in a state of euphoria, everything was funny or amazing.

My eyes were closed at the time, but I could hear him moving around. A little bit later, I felt him snuggle against me and pull some blankets up over us.

"Sleep tight - I love you Mia," he declared quietly, tossing an arm around me and burying his face in the fur of my shoulder.

I'll admit it; I was still a little too lightheaded from the treatment I had just received to think very clearly, so it took me a little bit of being in a daze before a few things clicked together.

"Wait a second, we're done?" I asked. Everett shuffled a little bit and held one of my paws with his hand before responding. "Well, um, are we?" he mumbled, sounding a little confused. And you know that really got to me. I knew he was being genuinely honest and unselfish about what we just did, and went in with me and only me in mind. Not himself. Gosh, I couldn't love him anymore if I tried at that point.

Slipping under the covers I pressed a paw to his chest and slid it down, searching. I heard him utter a small "Wha?" when my paw came to rest on his crotch, but I ignored it and reached over with my other paw. I took hold of the hem of his pants and slid them down as far as I could with a rapid tug. I couldn't see what I was doing under the covers and relied on my sense of touch. Feeling a little brave, I moved my head forward towards his crotch with my tongue extended.

I soon realized I pulled down his briefs too in the process, because I came into contact with soft, bare flesh.

"Erm... you don't have to do whatever it is you're doing, you know?" Came his voice from above, which of course I ignored again. Reaching in with both paws, I began to feel him up.

It only took a second for me to make a mental image, there being only two things I was looking for, and after summoning up even more courage started to address Everett's needs the same way he did mine.

I started by taking his flaccid member into my mouth as tenderly as I could, and used a spare paw to fondle his delicate sac. I could hear him inhale sharply the moment I took him into my mouth, and I did my best to apply careful suction without hurting him. It wasn't long before he began to harden in my mouth, and I began to drive my thicker, longer tongue around his shaft in an attempt to coat every bit of it in my saliva. It wasn't long before I could properly go down on him, and it came with a sense of satisfaction for me, knowing that my simple action could give him so much pleasure.

I focused on my breathing as he slipped in and out of my mouth on the soft cushion of my tongue, making sure to exhale and inhale evenly. I was a bit scared at one point because I felt one of my fangs scrape up ever so slightly against the side of his member, to which he gave me a sharp hiss and reassurance that he was alright and I did nothing wrong. Still, I made sure to be much more careful each time I pulled him in and out.

For a moment, I gave in to fantasy with a question. What must it be like for Everett? I started by envisioning the two of us in my mind's eye, starting with a third person view of the bed that we were on. I pictured Everett lying on his side with his eyes closed, head tilted up towards the headboard slightly. His were arms reached down beneath the blanket that covered my entire body, and I imagined him holding the sides of my head in between his hands (which he was, anyway). Pushing the artist in my head just a little further I made the blanket invisible, and in a manner of speaking, watched myself going down on Everett from under the covers.

It was... strangely arousing picturing myself like that; arousing in a guilty but pleasant way.

Then I took my imagination to the limit and put myself in Everett's place. I imagined the heat of a mouth that exhaled fire, the slippery and tight sensation that enveloped his entire member as it went in and out, in and out... And then I imagined my tongue beginning to move - beginning to twirl around that member, leathery enough to provide sharp stimulation on the way around, yet soft and wet enough to balance out the overall feeling like the right spice does to a food's flavor.

Two things snapped me out of my reverie. The first being my sudden realization that Everett was crying out, and the second that a hot fluid was flooding into my mouth and coating the back of my throat. It was a shocking transition, and I immediately stopped moving to wait for the last few spurts of his milk to stop. I swallowed immediately, wanting to do my best for Everett. After all, he willingly lapped up my own juices without complaint, and I figured I ought to do the same.

"Gah..." he groaned as I poked my head out from under the covers. The air was a lot sweeter out there, but I pressed my nose beneath his clavicle and my body against his. I liked his scent better any day and especially then after it had just finished releasing his manly essence. "T-Thanks," stuttered Everett, planting a kiss on the top of my head.

We lay there for a little bit, just holding each other and being quiet as mice. It was uncomfortably hot under the blankets now, and I don't think either of us really wanted to break away from each other and push them aside: I know I didn't. There was thing left for us to do then, and we were both ready for it. I was wet enough, he was still hard enough, and the air was just supercharged with energy. Heh, as if sleep was really a possibility at that point at that point anyway. We both knew that much.

The only 'issue' left was who was going to start something.

I was too shy to plain present myself to him, and really wanted him to take the helm like he did earlier. And I think he felt the same way, because we started dropping hints to each other. I would nibble on his earlobe, he would rub my lower waist - I'd do something small, and he'd take the cue and do something himself. All those little kisses, touches and sounds were pieces on a board, and sadly, the way we were playing was always going to give us a stalemate.

"Aren't you sleepy?" I asked. He responded quietly in just a little bit more of a deeper register than usual. "Hrmm... not really. You?" "Not at all."

Well, that ended up accomplishing next to nothing since we immediately went back to listening to each other breath in the increasingly awkward silence. I capitulated first.

"Are you just too shy to ask?" "Y-Yeah... completely," he responded sheepishly.

I pushed away from him slowly and lay down on my back, my arms spread out slightly to the side with the pads of my paws turned to the ceiling.

"You... wouldn't be too shy to finish taking off your clothes, would you?" I said, spreading my hind legs just a little bit under the covers. He blinked once and shook his head just a tiny bit, as if he were shaking a drop of water off the tip of his nose. First the blanket was drawn away, exposing our bodies to the colder air around us, then I watched him cast off his unbuttoned shirt revealing the lightly toned muscle of his upper torso and arms. I averted my eyes for some reason as he finished slipping off his pants and briefs before casting them off to the side as well. I watched hungrily as he hobbled into position on his knees, and I raised my arms to reach for him as he lowered his body down on top of mine. I felt his member slide across my sex as he descended down upon me, and I craned my neck just enough to take his lips with mine as his head drew close to mine.

He rocked back and forth a little bit, grinding his rod against my soaked slit and into my still sensitive pearl. My tongue found its way into his mouth, and I gently took control as I felt the tip of his penis slip into position right outside the abyss of my body.

I almost couldn't believe it was all happening to me in just one night, in fact I could hardly believe the sensation of him steadily parting the walls of my canal was real either. I shivered as he slid deeper and deeper into me, and squeezed him tightly when I felt it reach the very end.

Our lips parted as he drew out of me, and thankfully they did because I clenched my teeth together tightly when he suddenly thrust all the way back in. It didn't hurt at all, but it was such a foreign feeling for me to have him intrude into the most inner part of my body. Maybe it was just as strange for him, blindly pioneering the way into unknown territory. Well I knew he'd be the only trailblazer ever, and that he'd love the pleasure he'd find.

He started with that unusual pattern of pulling out slowly and pistoning back in quickly for a while, hating to leave and being desperate to return was the name of the game he played with me. I would urge him on with soft whimpers of joy every time his body impacted mine, and clenched tightly around his manhood each time he withdrew to coax sounds out of him in return.

I pressed my head into the side of his neck over and over as he made love to me, and in between those bursts of pleasure that came with each drive inward I found chances to lightly kiss and nibble the flesh of his neck. It meant so much to me that he'd trust me enough to let my fangs anywhere near the major pipelines that carried his life's blood, knowing full well what my powerful jaws were capable of. Not that I had any reason to tear his jugular vein open, but it was the thought that counted to me. Um... ok maybe it doesn't sounds that good now that I say it out loud, but I remember that wonderful feeling of devotion and mutual trust I got from it.

His rhythm changed as our act went on from that staggered one to a more even thrusting, and as I grew more accustomed to the idea and fact that he was inside me, I started to change up my own act as well. I tried varying up when I clamped down around his shaft, switching in between doing it when he plunged in and between pulling out. I wondered what felt better for him: the sensation of needing that little extra bit of power to open me up inside, or was the parting better for him in the sense that every retreat was met by fierce resistance?

From this I learned that like battling, making love together wasn't just a physical war; it was mental, it was emotional, it was a complex system that took time to decode and conquer. And there was that important word, we had to be doing it together. So I went ahead and altered the playing field when I was in control.

I waited for him to fully envelop his sensitive flesh within me, and then taking hold of his body, I rolled us both over so that he was on his back instead of me. I speared myself upon him with gravity's help, and relished the sensation of our flesh slapping together wetly and the terrific feeling waves that flooded from each collision. I tried my hardest to keep my voice down when he started thrusting upward to meet my falls upon him, and I'll admit it was near impossible when I leaned forward and started grating my center of all my dirty joys against him.

"Urgh... you're getting real hot up in there, you know?" Asked Everett, pressing down on both sides of my waist his hands. "S-Sorry," I responded in between moans and soft pants. "You kidding?" he inquired, sitting up, pulling my body against his and thrusting deeply all in one motion, "It's the best feeling ever..."

"Ah!" I involuntarily exclaimed in response to that unexpected push inward. It hit the entrance to my womb just a little harder than I expected, and I ended up feeling the impact make it all the way to my stomach. And that set something off inside me or something, because that feeling that I was going to implode was back again and conquering my body again. My vagina turned into a vice after that, and I actually think Everett liked it because he really upped the pace and was now ramming against the door to my womb with every single push inside.

"Uwahh..." I groaned deeply, falling back into the position the two of us were in when we started. The feeling was spreading with increasing speed and power now, and I didn't care for holding my cries inside anymore. I vocalized my love loudly and deeply, yowling and growling with increased fervor.

Everett was breathing hard and parting my infernal and saturated walls with renewed vigor. The last thing I expected at that time was his voice to join mine. It became a two person choir of passion with no words, a symphony with strings of blood and tissue: a ritualistic summoning of the basest desires created by the melding of two souls... we were about to reach our peaks together.

The energy in the room reached a high in our small room, the air was no longer cold having been warmed by the tandem movements of our bodies, and the sheets were flecked with wet spots from the juices of our love. I focused inwardly from then on, reveling in that blooming sensation that had me writhing in Everett's grasp. I likened that feeling to liquid flame, its heat gushing through every part of my body and igniting every receptor for gratification as it went along.

Every thrust was painfully wonderful now, even to the degree that I began sacrificing breath just to delight in that feeling. How many years had I regarded this deepest desire as impossible, a fantasy that would never come to fruition in a normal world? How many years had I cried while watching Everett sleep because I wanted so much to connect with him on the deepest level I could imagine?

I realized in orgasm's clutches that it wasn't actually the act of physically being one with him that I wanted; it was that connection that mattered the most to me. The idea that despite everything that separated us, our polar different roles as trainer and trained and our biological differences, that we could make that connection. That we had something more important that tied us together than our ability to fight and win. Deeper than an acquaintanceship, deeper than a friendship... And even going against what the world thought, hell, what god thought, that we could do it.

When I could no longer control the feeling, when I heard Everett calling my name, I gave in and came with him. I pressed my lips to his as his hot seed shot into me again and I felt my scalding liquids flooding outward. A raging cyclone of bliss tore through my mind and we were forced to sharply break our lips away from each other to howl and call out our ecstasy.

A little later, we were both gasping for breath. Everett was lying fully on top of me now for support, and I caressed his head which lay on my chest with my paws.

"Thank you so much, my love," I whispered softly, my eyelids starting to grow heavy. "Anything for you," he responded, pausing for a little bit. "Are you ready to sleep, now?"

I laughed weakly. "Yes. Yes I am." "Well then good night, and see you in the morning..." he answered, settling himself down like a blanket on top of me.

And well, that was it. The silence of night quickly fell upon us again, and Everett was snoring softly within minutes.

I didn't quite feel like watching him sleep then, because I was tired too. Besides, I was holding him in my arms now, and the afterglow was so smooth and attractive to give in to... Sleep... yes, I was ready to sleep...

"Sleep... now?" Came a voice that chilled my blood. "My dear, I believe you have had quite enough of this... 'sleep'."

"No... It can't... it couldn't have... no, no, no !" I cried out in despair, finally recognizing the voice.

"Wake up."

~~*~~

There are generally two types of people in this world. Those that believe in a so-called 'heaven', an existence that transcends life itself, and those who do not. For this case, we shall make no such distinction.

Heaven is the place of dreams. The ultimate paradise some believe to be crafted of pure gold and jewels, everlasting and eternal. A bountiful land where all is possible and each day is more wonderful than the last.

Conversely, one can find heaven within his dreams. After all, dreams are not limited by the laws of the universe: one of the greatest promises of a heaven in any form.

In regards to that which disregards the laws of the universe, Arceus was one of them.

The solemn white beast walked slowly through the dreams of all living creatures, observing the heavens or hells his creations created for themselves. To him, it was amusing. Rarely did he find a dream that was not a desire satisfied to an obscene level, or dark emotion amplified to its greatest power. Hunger, lust, anger: it did not matter.

Take a piece of chocolate for example.

It could be the perfect little piece. Maybe it was rich and creamy with a texture so smooth that thousands of chocolates would be worth forgoing to sample it. The taste so delightful that just one would be enough to satisfy a living being on earth until the day it died. Give that exquisitely wrapped piece of perfection to a creature in a dream though, and it became insignificant. More, more, more. In a world of limitless possibilities, why would anyone settle for one when a thousand, a million more could be created? And given that, would 'perfection' even exist? Would 'satisfaction' become an impossibility?

There in the minds of many lay the amusement for the god.

But at that moment in time, he was only observing one stream of consciousness. One he had devoted a fair amount of time to observing for many years. He felt... something that would be called sadness in our world. No, not sadness. Perhaps a little reluctance? He knew he had done the most he could to that stream without causing it to collapse and that it was time to leave it alone.

As he prepared to walk away, a voice came from behind him.

"That was rather mean of you, Arcy dear. You know I hate it when you do that."

The Omega froze with a hoof in the air. Setting it down lightly, he responded coolly.

"Indeed... indeed I do." "Then why d'you keep on doing it? How silly, the big man himself tinkering with his creations like a little boy."

Arceus snorted in contempt. "Do not address me with 'human' terms, Mew."

"That's not fair. Why are you the only one allowed to ignore our complaints?" Whined the little pink legendary, who chose that moment to float lazily past Arceus' head much to his chagrin. "Hmph! And since when have you ever listened to my objections!" exclaimed the god.

Mew giggled at the remark, covering her mouth with her tiny paws as if she were sneezing.

"Aww, is Arcy still sore about the humans? You know you liked them the moment I made them - just admit it deary!" "Is there something you want?"

"Hmm... I just wanna know s'all. Do you have any more plans for that poor Typhlosion?" asked Mew, flying a few loops under and around Arceus' torso.

Arceus gazed down into the stream of consciousness once more. The Typhlosion was crying now in the night, sobbing into a pillow and quite visibly broken. Most likely shattered forever.

"No, I do not. This instance is one of my finer pieces of work and I do not intend to modify again it again." "Oh? What makes this one so special?"

Arceus breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. "This one now lives in two realities, so to speak. She is unwilling to decide which world to call real, as they are both lucid and vivid enough to be considered real. Is it the one where her human Everett does not love her or the one where he does. She wonders if choosing the one where he loves her would really be true and complete love, and at the same time does not know if she could live on in the one where he does not."

"So you might have made her suicidal?" "Not at all. I know she will not end her life out of fear that her life of flesh and blood may be the only time for the rest of eternity that she can feel loved by him in some fashion. Quite beautiful, is it not?"

"I take it back, that wasn't mean, that was just plain sick." "Call it what you will, I am done interfering with her."

Mew floated thoughtfully for a little while, hugging the bulb at the tip of her tail to her chest . Arceus may be the father, but she was the mother and had just as much power as he did should she choose to act. As Arceus walked away, she smiled.

"Then it's my turn to play," she declared brightly, halting Arceus in his tracks. He spoke coldly and slowly, his eyes flashing red. "Mew, I forbid you to touch that Typhlosion. You may act to your heart's desire so long as you obey that one decree." "Gotcha Arcy. Be a good master of the universe and go count stars or something. You've gotta have celestial duties other than being a torturer, right?"

The great beast hesitated for a moment, as if thinking, but ultimately said nothing as he faded away.

Mew was content. She floated about in lazily in the world of dreams with her eyes closed, humming softly. She drifted about until she felt strongly attracted to something, and then she proceeded to fly towards that something.

Another stream of consciousness and a strong one at that. Pressing a paw into the silvery pool of flowing liquid, she slowly entered into the mind of a certain human.

The human was not doing much. It was lying in a wooden cabin upon a white cot, just staring blankly at the ceiling tiles. He did not notice the legendary drift right behind his head.

"Heya! Your name is Everett right?!" exclaimed Mew, enthusiastically suddenly staring down into his eyes.

"Gah!" he exclaimed, his face scrunching up in shock. While he regained his composure, Mew came to a rest on top of his chest. "What the hell are you?"

"Be nice little boy, I'm like your 'mom' if you think about it long enough." "Wait, wha...?" "Sh, sh, sh, don't you say a word," whispered Mew, gently silencing him mid-sentence with a paw. "First things first: you're dreaming." "Obviously."

"Good that's out of the way," said Mew with a giggle.

"We've got a lot of talking to do."

~~*~~

Closing Remarks

I hope you aren't too mad at me for some of the stuff I did in this story, and I'm really sorry if you're in a bad mood now...

I'd like to mention a few things before I go silent for a few months again.

Hugs and cookies to:

:iconNevir:

This guy's music kept me sane while I wrote the story, and I highly recommend you check out his piano work. It's really nice stuff~

:iconXianyu:

Thanks for letting me snoop about on your live writes. They were entertaining and I enjoyed being around to watch a master writer work.

Oh and one last thing:

http://www.sofurry.com/view/337805

That's a link to a journal I'm keeping. Don't know if anyone really cares, but I'll update that every now and then with what's on my mind and maybe start posting little snippets as I go. See you all later!

With love,

-Kione