Four Paws and One Last Tale

Chapter 15: Ace

"Where... where am I? Hello! Glair?"

She was gone. Darkness stretched out before me; whether all I could see was the black or I couldn't see anything because of the black it was impossible to tell.

"Glair! Tertle! Jacob! Pixie! Hello! Somebody! Anybody..." (Another reference, bit trickier this time)

Suddenly, there was a flash as images rolled through the darkness; truly terrifying images. Three Pokémon of incredible power: I didn't recognise any of them. Rising up behind them a tall yellow temple pierced the sky. The shadows of two smaller Pokémon floated by the temple's base, one silhouette was Darkrai, I didn't know the other. At the very top of the temple floated another Pokémon, this one was above all the others, not because it was more powerful, but because at the heart of this was that Pokémon. The image changed again as it zoomed in on that last Pokémon: It got closer, and closer, and there was piercing cry.

I woke up in a cold sweat as the earth shook and quaked; after a moment longer it settled. I looked around to see Glair sitting upright, sweating bad.

"You had the dream too?" I whispered.

She nodded.

"It was Darkrai, it must've been. I know he said he'd give me nightmares, but this is ridiculous. He must be very childish to seek revenge like this."

Glair was shaking her head before I'd finished speaking. "It wasn't revenge. That was his form of a warning."

"How do you know?"

"Didn't you see them? The temple? All those Pokémon?"

"Yes, but I only recognised Darkrai, I didn't know anything else."

Glair shuddered. "Well I do. Those three Pokémon in front of the tower? I think they're at the root of the problem and they're being controlled or manipulated by the Pokémon at the top of the tower. One of those three was Palkia. The two Pokémon by the temple's base, I think they've been captured and are being held in the temple. One of them was Darkrai."

"Okay, so what about the temple and the last Pokémon?"

"I think the last Pokémon is the one pulling the strings. I fought her once before, it was not fun."

"Wait Glair? You've fought that Pokémon?"

"Yes. In the Madeira Desert, at Sundown Temple, I fought Cresselia."

I gulped nervously in an attempt to process the information. "So, we have to go to this Sundown Temple and free Darkrai and this other Pokémon, so that we can fight Cresselia?"

Then the impossible happened, Glair sat dead still, it looked like it, but it couldn't've been, but it was. For perhaps the first and last time ever, Glair was thinking.

"No. We find Tertle."

"Glair, I know how you feel, but if Darkrai's being held captive we need to save him. He needs our help."

"I can't leave Tertle."

"I'm sure Tertle's fine."

"You don't know that!" Glair screamed.

I frowned; how could I make her see that we needed to worry about Darkrai first? I had no idea, so I did something unexpected, it even caught me off-guard.

I hugged Glair. I pulled her into a tight embrace, she hugged me back and started to bawl.

"Glair, if Darkrai sent us the dream I'm sure he sent it to Tertle as well. He'll meet us there. He's probably already on his way, or he could even be there! I don't know how he does it but he is one powerful old fossil."

After some more tears Glair let go. I didn't break the hug. She pulled her head back to look me in the eye. I smiled sadly at her.

"Thanks Luca, I needed that. Um, you can let me go now."

I blushed and quickly released her. "R-right, sorry!" I stammered.

Glair giggled; my heart pounded. Then I decided, you know what, the world's ending anyway, screw it. I looked at Glair and twiddled my fingers nervously. She smiled sweetly at me. Damn she's cute. If I have any courage at all, now's the time to find it.

"Glair..." I tried.

"Yeah?" She asked innocently.

I gulped and swallowed my pride. For so long I'd thrown up these walls to protect myself, but in my stone fortress it is so, so lonely. I don't want to be alone anymore. I don't want to be trapped within my cold shelter. I want the sun to shine on my face. I want to feel warmth, to see light and to know the gentle caress of the summer breeze. I want to live, and I want to do it... with Glair.

"Glair. You're incredible. I always thought that I was pretty awesome, but then we started our competition to see who's better, and I could never keep up with you. You are the most amazing, beautiful, weird, truly extraordinary Pokémon that I have ever met, and Glair, I wanna see the world with you."

Glair's jaw dropped. A crimson blush slowly spread across her face. She didn't move for a while; I think I broke her, but then, the blush settled and disappeared. She smiled happily and poked me gently in the chest.

"You love me! Aw, that's so sweet! You were nice to me, and sensitive and honest. I'm so proud of you!"

She ruffled the fur atop my head like I was Lillipup or something and she skipped away, all the while humming to herself.

So, in summary; I pour my heart out to her and she treats me like a child? I'm so confused, what the fu- (Pumba! Not in front of the kids) um, I mean, what the, uh, um, what in the world just happened?