The sky is blue.

My hand flew up to shield my eyes from the bright daylight. Too blue. Squinting and rubbing my aching eyes with my other hand, I slowly sat up and blinked hard, waiting for spots to stop flashing in my vision.

I was sitting on the flat surface of an endless lake. The water lightly rippled with every moment and I stared at my slightly transparent reflection in the mirror-like surface of the water.

“Am I dead?”

You technically were.

I blinked. The Mountain Lord was suddenly standing in front of me.

“Oh hi…you.” I shot the Mountain Lord a Sahara glare. “Anyways, what happened? Where are we? Where’s everyone else?”

We’re in a dream.

I raised an eyebrow, “A dream? You can enter dreams?” I’m pretty sure neither Zoroark Variant can use Dream Eater or any dream related move.

I had a bit of help. As for what happened, the Lord of Distortion restarted your heart as a reward for returning his property to him.

“That’s awfully nice of him.”

Your allies are in the process of reuniting with each other and you, I have ordered a few messengers to guide them to the right place.

“Oh. How are they? Are they okay?” I asked.

They are alive and conscious. The Mountain Lord replied, then she poked at my forehead with a claw, None of them are as badly injured as you.

I waved her claw away and rolled my eyes, “Yeah, no thanks to you.”

And no thanks to your habit of throwing yourself into dangerous situations. I heard about your other adventures from the Lord of Distortion.

“Hey, I didn’t ask to be chased around by a Hydreigon okay? Giratina was the one who dumped me there in the first place.”

The Mountain Lord gave me a doubtful look.

I returned the look before speaking, “So. Have you finally changed your mind?”

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Yes.

“Really?” I asked in a slightly exaggerated tone. “What’s changed?”

Lord Giratina is concerned about stopping certain villains and has told me that it is necessary to cooperate with humans to succeed in this task.

“That’s not changing your mind, that’s just doing what you’re told.”

There was a long pause and the illusion fox got a really guilty look on her face. She seemed to be trying to find the right words for something.

Fine. It…was the look on that child’s face when he saw your dead body. It reminded me of myself and my need for vengeance when Akari was killed.

I winced and felt a pang of guilt as I imagined Winnie’s devastated face looking at a dead me.

“Oh shit.” Fuck, how the hell will I deal with that? I suck at dealing with emotional shit.

There’s an awkward silence as the mood darkened. I sighed as I made a mental note to have a serious talk with my team when I could. Hopefully I had the equipment to deal with any issues that could arise from someone they knew dying and coming back to life via one Giratina.

The Mountain Lord shifted awkwardly. I will admit… I was in denial in order to justify what I have done in the past. With hindsight, I can see that I have become as blinded and biased as the humans I used to criticize.

“That is…surprisingly insightful.” I noted. Especially considering how unreasonable she was literally a few minutes ago. I sure am glad that killing one more human in front of their team helped open her eyes. Yep. Totally.

The Mountain Lord sighed and bowed her head, I do apologize for what I’ve put you and your companions through.

How the heck should I react to that?

“Uhhhhhh, yeah I guess it’s cool. Besides the fact that you kinda killed me.”

No, it really isn’t super cool cause I fucking died a second time, but there really isn’t a need to antagonize her anymore. Not unless I wanna die in a dream, if that’s possible.

The Mountain Lord tilted her head and gave me a strange look. You are concerningly nonchalant about this.

I shrugged. “Eh, it’s complicated, it ain’t my first time being dead, et cetera.” I rubbed the back of my head as I wondered if I’d end up getting a concussion or some sort of brain damage from oxygen deprivation from being dead.

There was an awkward pause.

Then I broke the silence, “Sooooo what’s gonna happen now?”

Your friends are in the process of teleporting back to human territory. The teleportation lockdown has been temporarily removed so that they can leave.

“Wait, that was pretty fast. Didn’t you just say that everyone was reuniting with each other?” I asked as I tried to estimate how much time must’ve passed.

Time moves differently in one’s mind.

“Oh. Dream logic, gotcha.”

I paused as I caught a glimpse of some blurry yellow and light pastel blue thing floating in the reflection of the lake between our reflections.

“Uhhhhh, what is…?”

Do not worry about that ‘Hunter J’ human. She will be dealt with.

I pointed at the third reflection in the water but the Mountain Lord didn’t seem to notice. “That’s good, but I was, uh, talking about–”

Oh yes, Lord Giratina also wanted me to tell you, he will decline your offer to dinner but he has accepted you as a follower and will accept regular offerings. Food and any precious material will be acceptable.

“Wait, a follower? What? Just a sec–”

The Mountain Lord suddenly vanished.

The mysterious blurry reflection became clearer, like a camera lens focusing. It was Uxie. The knowledge Pokemon gave me an unnerving smile and waved at me, a single eye cracked open. An invisible hand grabbed my brain like how someone would grab a big piece of Jello and my head began to tingle.

“Hello?”

I grabbed my head and furiously scratched my scalp all over as the invisible hands began to massage??? my brain.

“WHAT THE–what the fuck?! Get your grubby hands off my brain! OI! YOU!” I punched the reflection, but it was ineffective. The water splashed and rippled before swiftly reforming into a completely smooth surface.

That rat bastard Uxie didn’t seem to acknowledge my demands. Instead, the lake turned into a bottomless pit and I began falling.

I sighed and crossed my arms as I plummeted and my stomach rose into my chest as gravity took the reins. Yay, I’m falling again. I dunno which one is worse, Ultra Space with a hungry Nihiligo, or Dreamland where my brain gets…touched by a knowledge deity. Are the other Lake Guardians this fucking creepy? I hope not.