Nahna paused on the trail, and lifted a paw to scratch her head. 

The Gardevoir next to her tilted hers, watching the young ‘princess’, so like her father in her mannerisms and movements. He had always been his daughter’s inspiration… and that included getting into trouble when she shouldn’t have…

The Gardevoir held her arm out as Nahna attempted to step forward. Nahna grumbled softly and gripped the arm…

“Gard, please. I’m not a newborn! I’m mature enough to help another Pokemon if I need to… You should see, I’ve sniped Peachas off of a post at…”

A thousand paces, so she loved to say. Even the stoical Gardevoir rolled her eyes and pushed the female back further, and then held her other arm up to spark a tiny, spherical mote of blackness… Even that tiny a conjuring was enough to cause dust to start swirling up from the path below, drawn into that hungry void…

“What the heck are you doing, Gard? You’re going to mercy kill them or what?” Nahna huffed, but her ears twitched as the underbrush rustled….

Suddenly, a form burst from them almost too fast to see, and rushed towards the Psychic bodyguard. The Gardevoir crossed her arms defensively, her gathered power fizzling in favour of ensuring a hole wasn’t immediately blown through her…

She skidded back hard from the impact, leaving deep tracts in the dirt…

Dakarai’s wild sneer was less than an inch from her determined muzzle as she was held against a tree…

“What are you… A mute bodyguard? Did they lobotomize you for loyalty, little freak, because you can’t carry children…?”

Dak licked his fangs as the Gardevoir’s telltale tremble, and the expression waning on her face, was enough to tell Dak that his nose was as accurate as ever…

“Do you even have a womb?”

The response was a pair of burning bolts of acid to his back. He arched and flung the Gardevoir down the path, listening to the satisfying crash and tumble of her landing, before spinning around…

Nahna was posed with both scallops dripping. She flicked them, and even the splattering of the droplets felt like they boiled his gritty flesh where they landed…

“You can insult a woman’s figure all day but the moment you remind her that she bears that kind of burden, especially a worshipper of Mew, you go too far. Now whomever you are, I would suggest you leave down the path quietly…”

Dak arched and howled with laughter…

“Whomever I am…?” he asked, pulling himself up from his weighty slouch into his full height, menacing and terrifying as it was…

“I am the stone-toothed pup who could singularly cause a population boom. I am the wolf they can never capture. The highwaymon who LEAVES something with his victims, instead of stealing! I was named in honour of the King of Nightmares and I carry on his work each and every moonlit evening, inserting myself into the night terrors of those I TAKE…”

He flexed his paws, his stone claws extending worryingly. Nahna took a step back, eyes wide…

“I am DAKARAI… And I have you in my SIGHTS…”

With that odious snarl, he rushed forward. Nahna tensed and went to work, flinging watery projectiles again and again from the razor edge of her scallops. She was not entirely green, having gone on more than one Dungeon Expedition with her father and mother carefully guiding her. She had even experienced the thrill of victory far more often than the bitter pang of defeat…

She feared she was about to start gagging on the taste.

Dak’s made no effort to avoid the oncoming assault of water now. Though it stung and mist curled off of him as if he really was being shot with acid, he appeared almost numb to the sensation, as if it was well experienced and steeled against. Nahna rolled to one side to dodge his paws, as they slammed into the ground and caused a quake that put her off balance. She just barely ducked his relentless onslaught of furious attacks, putting her mother’s ninja training to good use… 

But it wasn’t enough... She was indeed so much less exposed to the rigours of an actual battle. Where Dakarai lacked in training, his raw fury and scarred, toughened body made up. Experience always won out over theory…

Nahna jerked her scallop and Dak’s eye flashed. A blow came down to smash it out of her paw... She screeched as the shell shattered instantly. Her shock made it easy for the other to be grabbed and similarly crushed...

“...M… M-My… My blades…”

She was stunned... but she didn’t have time to lament. Dak’s single, broad paw was enough to cover her entire chest and pin her down…

“You will lose much more than your blades now, my poor little female… Answer me this question… Who are your parents… Whose blood do I scent flowing in your veins?!”

Nahna’s breathing quickened and she looked around, trying to figure out some way to escape the inevitability of her demise…

“...Noah… And Ilianna. Of Team Wellspring.”

Dak’s furious, terrible gaze focused for a moment, and Nahna felt she might have her throat torn out there and then. Instead, he grinned wider…

“I knew it… I knew this the moment you came close enough… You are their daughter…”

“You know them…???”

Dak sneered, then smirked…

“I have KNOWN Ilianna very well. Your father? I merely wish to castrate and leave his pelt fluttering like a grim flag.”

Nahna flinched heavily…

“But…” Dak continued… “This is the greatest boon I could have asked from my dark master… I admit, I have imagined in my fantasies… If Noah was female… If I could impregnate…”

“...Impregnate…?”

Dak’s eyes snapped to hers. His jaw set… The Dewott flinched softly…

“I thought… I thought you were going to kill me…”

“I just might if you continue to SPEAK…” he snapped, his jaws clacking closed a hair’s breadth from her nose. She pulled back, but then stared up with a telltale, inherited defiance… 

“If you just want to impregnate me… T-Then, you should have just asked…!”

“...what.”

The words seemed to throw Dakarai from the cliff’s edge. He blinked stupidly a few times, and then again asked…

“What?”

“I have been raised to follow Mew… If you want to put a litter in me, well… I’d be excited to have it…

“Excited?! I’m going to pin you and mate you until your hips are broken you stupid little water-rat!”

“Well I don’t know about BREAKING THEM…” she snapped up at him… “But you can still try to breed me… Can’t you?!”

“Bre-… BREED YOU?!”

Dak wanted to yank his paw up, but his fighting instinct kept her pinned. He ground his cracked fangs a few times, and his eyes narrowed. He wasn’t sure how to feel about this… He had never had one of his victims submit willingly. Even Ilianna, with the acceptance burning in her eyes, had rejected him on the surface. But here…

Here was Noah and Illy’s daughter, spreading her thighs for him…

He grinned shakily… Then he bucked his hips lightly to unseat his member from its sheathe. It thumped down against her front, directly across her middle…

“Whether this is some bluff or childish innocence from one so damned inexperienced, I will take advantage of it eagerly. I will make you hurt, little female…”

“I am not little… And my name is Nahna!”

“Ohhh… I see… Nahna… Then… I will have to remember that, when I pleasure myself later tonight…”

His paw drew up and down his member, allowing it to harden. His hair trigger constantly kept him inches away from an erection, and occasionally he couldn’t even control it. Now, he shoved aside all thoughts of anxiety to be sorted later. He wouldn’t let his trepidation get in the way of this savoury dream…

Perhaps, he thought as he settled his tip against Nahna’s entrance, perhaps indeed this is a ruse. A trick. Perhaps she was a trap set specifically for me. Perhaps that’s just paranoia talking, or is it that this inexperienced little recruit was too naive to know she had walked face first into a burden she would regret in a few weeks time…?

Yes… It didn’t matter WHAT their lips spoke... It all had to do with what the body said… What it BEGGED for...

He plunged in smoothly, shuddering at the stretch her body was forced to undergo. She squealed at the tightness, their size difference enough to cause her to writhe…

Had she ever even taken a male before? This was not an experienced mother, nor an experienced Dungeoneer. This was merely a play actor, deciding she already knew what the world was like.

Dakarai so did love being someone’s ‘harsh lesson’…

Nahna flailed her paws, scattering the useless pieces of her scallops. She shuddered, out of breath immediately as the breeding tool deformed her front ever so slightly with its sheer size. She squeaked in pain as he thrust and slammed his knot against her entrance…

“T-That can’t…”

“Yes. I know. But it doesn’t mean I won’t have fun trying to fit it…”

It was her turn to feel like the drops splattering her skin were acid, although they didn’t hurt physically. The wolf above was drooling heavily, and each that pattered on her Water-sensitive body filled her with a little more dread. She could sense the pheromones bubbling within this creature, and his overwhelming lust was foreign to her…

Love-making… Mating, breeding, whatever the words you used it was supposed to be something kind and passionate. She had known the kindness would not be in evidence with this terrible creature, but she didn’t assume she would feel such hatred in the place of love…

“I… I…”

“SHUT UP…” 

His jaws again snapped just above her muzzle, to cow her into silence. He thrust hard for good measure too, making her squeak louder as he mated her there on the path, brazenly and openly…

“I have waited for my just reward, for so many years… And this finally is what I have been dreaming of… Nahna… I do not care how many children you bear from me… But as soon as you empty, I will be watching and waiting… I will catch your scent… I will hunt you down… And I will assure you are never without my burden again…!”

Nahna blinked, her eyes widening in surprise and confusion. But if she wanted to say anything, she knew for certain that she shouldn’t…

...still… to someone of her faith… that was an incredibly romantic thing to bark at her…

“AHHHOOOOOWW!” he howled suddenly, arching his back and hilting her. His knot pressed firmly against her entrance, but thankfully didn’t slip inside, lest she be tied and broken at the same time…

She felt, for the first time, a flood of warmth… A shuddering sensation of fullness, and a spark… A distant understanding in her instincts…

She’d gone from a mere explorer to a mama in that instant…

Dak hung over her, panting as he always did… Savouring the sensation of that constant needy ache receding, even if only for a fleeting moment. He yanked out, and though fluids splattered her thighs and softly dripped from her, he knew it wasn’t something to worry over…

For a moment, the two stared into one another’s eyes… Both had confused each other, and…

...both felt an intense urge to learn more…

Dak ducked to dodge the blast of energy that suddenly flew from the treeline. He took a few steps back, eyes locked on Nahna... Then he smirked and turned to flee once more into the underbrush... The rustling receded, and Nahna flopped back, panting softly.

She stared up at the Gardevoir, who was clutching an obviously broken arm, one of her eyes swollen closed. She had apparently been aimed into a thorny rosebush… She looked terrible, but she reached her good arm down to help Nahna up, staring with grave concern…

“Don’t… Ah, don’t fret, Gard… I… I’m okay… It… It stings a little, but I’m…”

She breathed in, then out… She had a lot of feelings roiling through her, not the least of which was the uncomfortable weight in her middle from what still sloshed within. Something in her mind whispered eerily, in Dak’s voice…

‘Better get used to it…’

She shuddered and turned… Staring almost helplessly up at the Gardevoir. The Psychic stared back with a look of shame before her gaze lifted suddenly in surprise…

Nahna turned too, to see that there was a plume of smoke coming roughly from her village’s direction…

“...come on Gard. We gotta go double time to the port city, to get you help… And everyone else too, it seems!”

With that, the complex feelings were swept aside in favour of focus on their mission… Neither of them noticed the stalker in the shadows they now had, a grin spreading his muzzle that he couldn’t seem to wipe away, though he wasn’t entirely sure why anymore…

===

Earlier...

Within the underbrush of the Deep Forest, a Diglett poked its head out and glanced around… It hid immediately when it heard paws fall nearby, knowing that such a dire place as this forest was nowhere to linger…

The bushes were crushed under a marching procession moments later...

First by a set of striding black furred paws that pushed it aside for the others, and particularly the small and dainty paws that pattered through with eerie surety just behind...

A slinking set of amphibian toes came next…

A sure, almost dancing set of paws…

And then, nothing at all... A pair instead dangled above the bent twigs and trampled leaves…

Noah turned and made sure his entourage was in tow. Li paused and leaned against a tree, glancing back at Mua, who had one glowing claw held up to tug the Espathra behind them along as if on a leash…

Ilianna stood behind Tessa, whose arms were crossed and head turned away…

“Alright. This is about the boundary of the forest. From here, we can return to Mew’s Nest and figure out what to do with you…”

Tessa turned to ensure she wouldn’t meet Noah’s gaze. Ilianna’s eyes hardened and she looked up at Noah.

The guilty grin told everything. He couldn’t hide it. He just hoped his mate wouldn’t make a scene…

“...okay, OKAY!!!”

Li snapped suddenly, and rolled her eyes back in frustration… Mua covered her mouth to giggle softly…

“Can we stop tiptoeing around it? Can we stop pretending? We all know what happened to me… And we all know WHY. So just get it in the open, let’s not hold out anymore and…”

She glanced around, realizing everyone was giving her those infuriatingly smug looks, or at least they were in her eyes…

“Yeah yeah. Noah knocked me up. Big surprise. We have a little otter or two coming to the Foo Crew.”

“The… FOO crew?” Tessa couldn’t help but ask, raising her eyebrow…

“Yeah, the FOO CREW. Got a problem with it? They’re Mienfoo, and like, six of them at once. A whole crew.”

“What do you mean ‘like’? Do you not know how many pups you pushed out?”

Li opened her mouth to snap back, and then instead snapped it closed. Her face went utterly red…

“Deo swelled me up in a Psychic dream, what do you want from me???”

Her ears flattened as she heard more than one giggle. Yet, Noah stepped up to her and reached out to put an arm around his companion’s waist. Though she was taller, he didn’t mind. It meant he could squish his cheek directly against her puffy middle…

“Why the heck are you so cagey about it anyway? You’ve already had a bunch and this is just what we do…”

“Come on… I’m not a mommy type. I got thrown into all this, and I’m not quite on the same page as all you… I jus-...”

Mua crossed her arms suddenly… “Oh, really? Because you’re literally a mother, and I had ASSUMED to Orin as well… I suppose the Bandit I fell in love with is more important than the family she made…?”

Li spun and chuckled, almost nervously. She walked over to Mua and embraced her, leaning her deeply back much like Noah would have. He stood behind her, suppressing a chuckle of pride to let them have their moment… 
“Oh, shut up. You know what kinda mama I’ve been to our little ones. All of em…” Li cooed. Mua might have remained tense, but that’s all it took to relax her; that grinning muzzle peering down and aligning with her’s for a...

Smooch~

Tessa stared with equal parts fascination and disgust, crossing her arms more firmly. Noah hopped back to Li’s side and kissed her cheek as soon as she and Mua broke theirs, resulting in a minor scuffle that had the two giggling females pin him down as he playfully cried out for help, while Mua threw silly accusations of ‘stealing her girl’...

“...I will never understand it… How these Pokemon can be so eager for something so burdensome…”

She stole a glance down at her midsection, before her fur stood on end and she spun to saw Ilianna leaning against a tree, peering at her from its shadow…

“...I suppose you could explain, hm?”

“Not to one who doesn’t want to know… Or, do you? Is that why you spread your legs for my mate?”

Tessa flinched and went redder, taking a few steps towards and then past her to leave the laughter behind. Her dour, distant expression didn’t fit that mood at all…

Ilianna turned her head to keep watch, her senses keen as ever. It didn’t take a trained ninja to know that there was so much on Tessa’s mind. She was far younger than any of them, and yet she bore a weight twice as large…

Well… Ilianna smirked at that thought. Hopefully not…

“It’s not as if I mind. But I have a feeling you didn’t do it for love, or pleasure… Your mother is a seer. Noah has told me. So I think you see far, don’t you?”

Tessa held one arm, and then drew her cloak tighter…

“...In my dreams… Yes… In them. I see very far… And I always see one thing…”

Ilianna’s face softened as she listened, and allowed Tessa a long moment of quiet contemplation… The fox pulled her cloak even tighter, and her heart began to pound…

All she ever saw was the flames being snuffed by the raging torrent…

Ilianna and Tessa turned simultaneously, their heads snapping towards a disturbance in the trees. Illy flicked a shuriken so it landed between Noah’s whiskers, and he sat up, immediately attentive. He needed no other warning…

“Li. Mua.”

The two nodded and moved to Ilianna’s side. Noah stepped forward and gestured to Tessa, who indeed backed away behind the rest of them. Causta remained a rag-doll where she had been muffled and ‘fainted’… Too weak to fight, so this threat had nothing to do with her…

Their weapons were drawn and their poses taken as some new foe emerged…

“...Ahhh… Good.”

Noah relaxed, and so did the rest of them with a soft sigh of relief… A scarred Zangoose with wispy fur and fox-like features emerged. When he saw who he had met, he fixed his scarf and bowed respectfully…

“Hello, Toyatsume.” Noah said, replacing his scallops and his paws on his hips… “News from our town?”

“Yes sir.” the Zangoose said. This was one of their more effective town guards, though he had a bit of trouble when it came to anything but fighting… Still, as he learned tact, he had become invaluable to them and their occasional need for his talents…

“We were attacked…” he continued… “A witch.”

“Purgis.” Noah growled, his demeanour dropping instantly to fury. Li blinked in surprise, having rarely seen Noah shift so quickly…

“I knew that if Malla was involved, that rotten gourd couldn’t be far behind… I had hoped that she would be smart enough to stay away…”

Toya nodded and crossed his arms… “She assaulted the village, but Farri defended us. So did a traveller who claims to be one of Mew’s priestesses…”

“Yatzil?” Mua perked… “A marked Heliolisk. Her?”

“You know of her?”

“All those steeped so deeply in the worship of Mew know of Yatzil. She is a boon, but she is constantly travelling to proselytize and help. Wherever Mew needs her, she goes…”

They all listened to Mua practically gush over the female, and Toya even let loose a nervous chuckle…

“She did not come to defend us, I do not believe… She has helped in the recovery, but...”

He curled his claws to fists and growled…

“I had to defend from a swarm of Ghosts, it was difficult. But when the Gourgeist who attacked us was defeated, Yatzil helped us ensure that the town was safe… And then began to make some manner of ritual preparation…”

Noah glanced at Ilianna, who shrugged and looked at Li and Mua. Neither seemed to have a clue.

Tessa was smirking gently…

“Do you have something to say?” Ilianna asked, without turning. It was enough to unnerve Tessa, twisting her stomach a bit… Or maybe that was already morning sickness… So soon?

“...Purgis went there for the same reason… The site of one of Mew’s appearances is a locus of power. That’s why the crystals far below carry her potent energy…”

“The swapstones…” Li said, as she crossed her arms. Mua blushed…

Tessa rolled her eyes and continued… “Purgis wanted to use the site for a reawakening, so she said. A dark summoning. It’s why she began to call the place Mew’s Rest… Her final resting place.”
Noah couldn’t help but chortle at that… The very idea that someone would be foolish enough to challenge Mew. His chuckling died down as he saw Tessa was dead serious…

“Purgis, my mother, Dak… They all worship the King of Nightmares…”

She turned, her face hardening…

“Darkrai…”

There seemed to be a soft shudder all around them at the very name… It seemed as if all Pokemon had felt it at one point or another…

...sinking into dreams… Into the dark… Staring up at that single, unblinking eye of sapphire, deeper than any sea…

“But… Darkrai doesn’t…” Toya began, but Mua shook her head…

“If Mew exists, it’s foolish to deny the existence of other myths and legends. From what I’ve heard, he and Mew have even clashed before…!”

“Who won?” Li asked, sarcastically…

Mua ignored her and continued… “But why would she be doing her dark rituals… here…?”

Her face turned pale from realization, as Tessa’s expression lifted in a wry smirk…

“Yes. Now you are putting it together. The monster that sleeps at the very heart of these woods, who twists the paths until they cannot be navigated, is Darkrai himself…”

Before anyone had a chance to process this revelation, Toya was suddenly lifted into the air, and flung aside. He flew so fast and so far that not even Ilianna’s eyes could keep up with him…

The rest turned, just in time for Mua to be engulfed in flames. She screeched and fell hard to the ground, patting herself out as best she could, trembling in pain. Li snarled and spun, but she too was slammed into a nearby tree, her vision going hazy from the force…

Down the path was an imposing silhouette… She stepped forward, her paw gripping her staff firmly, her sunken, sleepless eyes hardened, determined, and terrifying…

She swiped her wand twice to create a firey symbol, and Ilianna just barely dodged the explosion that burst under her…

“Malla…” she hissed, as she landed on the grass and skidded a few feet…

The fox witch brandished her staff. Though she was metres away, Noah took a step back…

Just a single step. Malla gained a soft, confident smirk…

“Good to see you still remember which of us is the greater of the two, Noah…”

He flicked his arms out, drawing his scallops in one smooth motion…

“Don’t be so sure, Malla. You were barely past being a pup when we last met… And you aren’t the only one whose grown since then…”

She took another step forward, and this time Noah didn’t back off. His wife pulled her hood up for the added protection and moved to his side. Li was struggling to sit up, and Mua was still shivering with the sting of the burns that covered her… 

It was a testament to Malla’s devotion and obsession that she could so easily take down two of the famed Team Wellspring. Even with the advantage of surprise, and even having first to dispose of the poor town guard, who was now limping back to town to get help, she still managed to subdue the pair of lovers with ease…

And still, she stood across from Noah and Ilianna, wand aloft as if to keep them at bay…

The fierce fire in her eyes burned as brightly as the deep conviction of the pair in front of her…

“I do not want to fight you, Noah. I don’t have the TIME, nor the ENERGY. I should be doing things far more important than this…”

“Far more important than what, Malla?”

“Don’t try this, Noah.” Malla cut off the grand speech she knew was coming. The orb at the end of her wand flared with a swirling royal blue and hot pink…

“I’ve heard you tell of a better world and a brighter future. Ha… Brighter indeed, but not in the way you wish. I am the only damned creature in this world who seems to understand…”

“Don’t try this, Malla.”

She pulled up in shock that he would throw her words back at her. Ilianna smirked as Noah spoke…

“Look… you’ve done this again and again. This ‘greater threat’ stuff, and you don’t understand that everyone would be willing to help if you weren’t trying to do something VERY STUPID!”

He swiped his scallops, causing a fine spray of mist to form a rainbow in front of him…

“You can blot all this out with endless night, you can hurt everyone just to avoid the terror you feel when you look forward, but what good is avoiding a scouring heat if you’re just going to sink into a bitter, cold, endless night…”

“We could SURVIVE… We could LIVE A LITTLE LONGER, couldn’t we?!”

“If you call it living.” Noah said, his paw pushing back and tensing against the ground. Malla’s eyes darted from him, to Ilianna…

“You don’t know… The half of what I’ve SEEN…”

“I know that there’s never a reason to give up… Long as you have those you love around you, long as you TRUST the ones you know are GOOD… Then there’s always another step to take…”

He stepped forward, with what was nearly a stomp. The rocks below skipped once because of it. The air around him was humid with the power he was putting off, excess water exuding from his fur and slowly causing it to grow damp and slick…

“And even now, Malla…? I remember what we had… If I could trust you… I wouldn’t have to put you down…”

Malla’s lip twitched into a snarl… But Ilianna could see his words were piercing the tired Fox’s heart… The witch had been without true allies for so long, always watching for a backstab, that she was even considering the outstretched paw of her long hated rival with desperate longing…

“...I am not… Stopping now… I’ve come too far… And the future is already WRITTEN!”

She suddenly swung her staff, and a wall of fire erupted around them. Her eyes burned bright even against the flames, as they caught the trees in such volume that the forest would surely burn to ash…

“You cannot stop us. No matter who has defeated Purgis, no matter who places their faith in Mew… It is always going to be MISPLACED. There is one way forward, and I will march down this path THROUGH YOU IF NEED BE!!!”

“STOP IT!!!”

They all turned as the fire spread. Ilianna was more concerned with trying to determine if she could stop this blaze, but the flames were so hot and hungry that it would be impossible… 

They all focused on who had cried out…

Tessa stood behind Team Wellspring, equidistant opposite her mother… Her hood was down, and her eyes were glowing just as brightly as her mother’s… Though hers cast an azure light…

“Stop it… Mother…”
Noah barely flinched. He’d scented Malla’s blood in her, and if he could sheepishly admit it to himself, it was part of why he was so attracted to her…

“Do not… get in the way, Tessa… You’ve already caused me enough trouble, fleeing as you did… Why?”

“Because it’s today. Today is the day…”

She stepped forward, and withdrew her own wand. It sparked blue as the forest around her was slowly engulfed. The gnarled, still trees of the Deep Forest behind seemed to shudder, groaning eerily as they shrivelled and shrunk away from the fire…

“I have seen it again and again in my dreams, just like you have looked forward and seen the dying world…! Today is the day you fight the Knight in Blue… And it is the day he pushes you UNDER…”

Malla blinked, and her gaze wavered from Tessa to Noah, who looked just as confused…

“Noah would never…”

“NOT UNLESS YOU INSIST!” she nearly screamed… “If you insist… If you keep doing this… if you want to cover the world in endless night, you will have to DIE FOR IT!!!”

Malla grit her teeth. The flames framed her form behind and made her a near shadow in the dancing light…

“I have always been willing to die, Tessa… To save the world for you…”

She flung her arm out and a fireball burst from her wand, slamming into the ground where Noah and Ilianna were just moments before. As the dust settled and the grass quickly caught alight, Ilianna landed on one side of the path, and Noah on the other…

“ILLY! GET MUA AND LI. GET SOMEWHERE SAFER!”

She hesitated for only a split second, wanting to remain by her mate’s side… But she was loyal to all of them, and not just the father of her many children.

She dashed over to where Li had struggled up, watching the flames rapidly draw closer. The two picked Mua up, and then ran from the flames as quickly as the two injured Pokemon could hobble…

Malla strode forward. Tessa backed away quickly, though her expression was one of dogged determination…

“Do not make me do this, Tessa… We need you to open the way…”

“I will never…!”

“We don’t need you to cooperate…”

Tessa spun just a moment too late to avoid Causta’s sharp beak strike. The Braxien arched and gasped, before falling to her knees…

“Go. To the centre of the Forest, to my hut. We end this foolishness now. Finally… FINALLY…”

Causta stared at her sideways, plucked up Tessa in her beak and ignored the struggling, and then turned to run off with haste…

Malla then turned and peered through the roaring blaze to see Noah…

...had already disappeared.

For a moment, she had the brief thought that he was running back to his precious village. But she also discarded it just as quickly, knowing precisely where he had begun to make his way to, doubtless with his entire team…

“Stalwart to the end, dear Noah…”

She looked down at her staff… She wrung it firmly in her paws, and then began to silently stride through the flames as if she was taking a leisurely walk in the sun-dappled woods…

Go, Malla… Go and sacrifice yourself… So that your daughter may live…

The pillar of smoke climbed higher and higher until it cast an ominous shadow over the land… And particularly, over Mew’s Nest itself…

The glittering lake was plunged into a stormy gloom, but the citizens barely noticed. They had already routed any stray dark spirits from Purgis’ attack, and now had a far grander task to ally themselves with…

“There, and there…” Yatzil said, her arm draped over her middle and her staff handily working as support for one who desperately needed it. She glanced back at the plume of smoke and her face hardened a little bit with worry. It wasn’t any better that the sun was now blotted, and her frill lax…

Still. Her faith was more than enough light for them all.

She turned back to point and gesture, and a Rhyhorn mother waddled forward to drag her tail in the dirt, leaving a deep tract. They had just about gotten the lake encircled entirely, and from an ariel view, the lines and patterns that jutted from the great ring around the lake formed a familiar sun pattern…

In the centre of the lake, accessible by a crisscross of floating log bridges, was a tiny island… Just enough room for a handful of Pokemon…

“The dye, come now. It won’t be perfect without the dye.”

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned. Farri looked down at her… The male Farri. The female one was still resting in her hut…

“Now, indulge my academic curiosity why we are pursuing this instead of shoring up defences or trying to go and help our friends. That fire… You said it was nothing to worry about?”

“It isn’t.” Yatzil said, pleasantly… “That forest may burn, but the pair of Water Pokemon there will save it before it spreads too far, yes?”

Farri grumbled and sat down next to her, squinting softly at the pattern…

“This… I recognize this. I have seen this pattern many times before. In fact, you have it painted on your skin…”

“Perceptive indeed to be able to see that from down here on the ground.” Yatzil cooed. She took the opportunity to lean against the male Farri for the moment instead of her bowing staff…

“So… Why? What is so important that we must ignore the danger behind us and instead focus here?”

Farri stepped forward, forcing Yatzil to catch herself. She huffed a soft hiss of annoyance as Farri leaned down and nosed the deep trench cut into the earth…

To his surprise, it nosed back.

“Wha?!”

He pulled back and blinked as the dirt moved and shuddered, before a Sableye face suddenly popped out. The two stared for a stretched moment before the ghostly gremlin grinned…

“Don’t disturb this dirt!”

“WAH!?”

Farri stumbled and nearly fell, but was caught by another pair of arms. Another Sableye crawled out of the earth, and the two phantom sisters giggled as they stood on either side of the very nervous and confused Farri…

“It’s for a ritual, see???”

“Rituals yes, rituals require mud and dirt.”

“Dirt dirt.”

Yatzil grinned gently and gestured…

“Farri, these are my current assistants. Alex, and Quartz.”
“Ah-Ah… Hah, okay…? I suppose you…”

“I brought them to help dig up the various crystals down below, in the mine that Deo had taken over. And of course, they’ve proven invaluable in setting up this ritual circle…”

The two Sableye giggled to one another. One walked back over to the trench and only now did Farri notice that both were just as heavily hefty in the tummy as Yatzil was. They were at least devoted to the cause…

“I don’t assume that their accommodations will be a problem while they perform my mining operation?”

Farri managed a crooked grin as the Ghost types began to pour a rich, red mineral powder into the trench, dying it and making it look even more like the designs that covered Yatzil’s body…

“I have… Seen much…” Farri muttered, watching the Sableye waddle, giggle, and occasionally bicker and snap at one another… “But… I still don’t understand the purpose of these markings. I can assume that they impress Mew somehow?”

Yatzil stepped up beside Farri again. This time the leaning was reciprocated…

“Not impress. Worship. Aside from this mineral’s soothing medicinal properties, they channel her power far more efficiently, allowing her blessing to flow, of the sun, the moon, and the sky.”

“Ah. Her tenants, yes?”

“Indeed, Farri.” Yatzil said in that pleasant, smooth voice… “Shine bright as the Sun for all around… Swell full as the Moon… Spread as vast as the Sky…”

“And these markings… Embody that?”

Yatzil nodded…

“Whether they are necessary or simply what Mew prefers, this is what we must do here, in her Nest, so that she can comfortably giv-…”

“Please…! Listen…!”

Farri turned and spotted Toyatsume down the hill. His ears folded and he dashed off, leaving Yatzil to nearly fall over once more until Quartz ran over to catch her… though she had to drop the barrel of mineral powder she was hefting with her sister to do so…

“...noooo… my precious pretty dirt…”

Toya was arguing with a confused looking Crawdaunt, who was trying to calm him. The Zangoose looked relieved as Farri skidded to a stop in front of them both…

“Speak, and quickly, what is it…?”

“Wellspring! They’re in danger… That Fox Witch has set the whole forest alight! Li, Mua, and Ilianna... Noah…! They ran deeper into the forest!!!”

Farri flinched and his muscles tensed. He had been hoping for a moment of peace, and yet it seemed Purgis’ attack was merely the beginning…

“Go to Farri and explain.”

“Eh?”

“The… The FEMALE FARRI. I’m going to try and… And help.”

He huffed and then dashed off as quickly as he could. Though he didn’t have his side bags nor his scarf, he couldn’t waste even a moment. If indeed Noah was in danger…

...he owed him much. He had to save his leader…!

Malla stepped through the serenity of paths she had walked so often before…

She had been searching for her map… The missing piece of the puzzle, for a long time. It had unfortunately been lost in the very place that she needed to navigate… 

But it didn’t matter now. Her memories guided her deep enough, and her intuition took her the rest of the way. Behind, the flames advanced and engulfed everything, turning it to ash in her wake…

She would not survive this day. Tessa thought she didn’t know that all along, but she was far more aware than her little girl realized. She had been marching towards the crucible in hopes her body would satisfy its overwhelming hunger… 

She approached the centre of the Deep Forest once more, the flames licking the landscape until it was an inferno. Soon, she came to the hut… The closest to the centre she had ever gotten on her own…

She stood there, her eyes closed. She could see the faint sapphire impression of that lidless eye, terrible and unblinking, always watching… Waiting…

Her master would spread his arms… and welcome her home…

Tears drew along the edges of her eyes, welling slowly in a moment of weakness…

She longed for what Noah had extended his paw to offer… The trust, and the warmth… But the end was too near now… 

She embraced the cold…

When she opened her eyes again, Causta was stood in front of her. She set a trembling Tessa down, who pulled her hood up and turned away, arms crossed…

“I’m sorry, Tessa… I’m so sorry…”

Malla averted her eyes as Causta craned her neck, and though Tessa struggled, she was brought under the intense gaze of the Psychic bird… Her deep blue eyes widened… Then drooped…

She fell asleep stood there, swaying softly on her feet…

“Stay here, Causta…” Malla ordered. The bird ruffled and turned to strut back towards the fire…

Malla crouched before her daughter… She traced her thumb softly on the young vixen’s cheek, wanting to remember her looking so peaceful… Hoping she would be allowed finally to rest…

“Lead me.”

She ordered. Tessa turned, and began to sleepwalk… She navigated her nightmare as she always did, fleeing the terrible thing behind her. Malla followed her, being sure to remain as close as possible…

The shifting trees were now like reaching claws, attempting to take and tear… The shadows were hunched monsters, their eyes glinting furiously in the dark… The landscape was confusing, and through the dense roof of gnarled branches, she could alternately see her blazing sun, and a cold moon… None of it made sense, operating entirely on…

...dream logic…

She had attempted to map this place so many times. Her parchment had notes and markings that might have gotten her through, had she the years to study and scrutinize, with a spirit far more young and vibrant...

And instead, she was forced to use her baby girl as a guide…

Her jaw was set and flames licked from the corners of her mouth as she strode forward, swiping aside branches, resisting the insane whispers that tickled her tall ears, countering their sorrow and melancholy with the rage that burned in her heart… The sheer stubbornness that had gotten her this far…

She would… Not… Fail…

Finally…

The trees thinned… Her chest pounded… Her body shook as they emerged unto a clearing…

The centre of the forest itself...

Across from her was a pool of the bluest water… It was endlessly deep… And reflected from above was a new moon, dark as pitch…

Malla gently set Tessa aside, laying her on the ground. She shuddered, as here she didn’t even have to be asleep to see flashes of the darkest, most terrible images at the corners of her eyes…

She walked forward… She stood at the edge of the pool, and looked down into it…

“Malla.”

She spun with a gasp…

Mua floated there, trembling in pain, and yet looking fierce… but not near as fierce as Li, who looked near murderous for what had been done to her lover…

Ilianna crouched next to them and flicked her wrist as she produced a swirling shuriken, her eyes hard and focused…

And in front of them all was Noah… Of all Team Wellspring… His face was the most determined… The only one to fully match Malla…

He tossed the map clutched in his paw, and it landed halfway between them. She glanced at it, and then back. She snarled gently, but… The clearing was small, and the moment Malla made a move, she knew she’d be taken down…

“Don’t. DO. THIS!!!” she snarled. Her paws wrung her staff desperately… “I am… SO CLOSE!!!”

“Malla, we can’t. We can’t let you do any of this… It would just destroy us all.”

The tears at the corner of Malla’s eyes swelled heavier and left softly steaming trails down her firey fur…

“Noah… Please…”

She extended her paw shakily…

“I am doing what’s best for Tessa… For everyone… Can’t you see? I will enter… I will give myself to the nightmare, and we will fix this…”

“We?”

“Come with me… Come with me, if you don’t trust me…! Beseech this dark god to save us, and… And if we… fail… I will send you back… Somehow...”

Malla kept her paw extended… Though she was once intimidating and powerful, she was now hunched… Near feral with desperation…

She looked like she hadn’t slept in years…

Noah stared, and felt his heart ache for the poor female… He looked back over his shoulder at his companions, and then back to Malla…

“They wouldn’t let me come here alone, Malla. They knew that even if I used the map to reach you…”

He let himself trail off. The others nodded in agreement…

“We’re a team… We don’t let any of us go anywhere alone… Especially not into such danger…”

Malla’s paw curled nervously, as she sensed a coming attack. A rejection, her paranoia telling her to simply back away and into the pool…

“Noah…”

He crossed his arms and allowed himself his proud pose, and a gentle smirk… 

And then he stepped forward… And took her paw…

“Noah?!” Li snapped. She stepped forward, but Mua held her sleeve to keep her back. Ilianna strode forward and took Noah’s arm…

“Then I’m coming too.”

Noah glanced back at her, and shook his head. His grin hadn’t faded, though his eyes were deep, and he was obviously fully aware of what he was about to do…

“Stay behind love. It’s just a brief swim… I’ll be back soon.”

Illy, for once, stood straight. She shoved her hood back and pushed herself to his chest, staring up into his eyes for a moment…

And then she let him go… She stepped back and stood beside Li and Mua…

“This. Is. INSANE.” Li snarled in frustration… “You have no clue what going into that pool will do to you…! To EITHER of you…!”

“We’ve gotta try. At this point, we both risk it, or…”

He looked back up at Malla, who had been shocked into silence from the moment her paw was taken…

“Well. Let’s not think about that path, eh?”

Malla drew herself up to her full height and nodded… She was about to say more, but…

“NO!”

Noah whirled, and Malla growled nervously…

Tessa was stood there, her flames as deeply blue as the pool before them…

Her wand was extended, aimed directly at Noah…

“I told you… This was where we were going to be, mama… This was what was going to happen! Did you listen?!”

The flame flared brighter. Li, Mua, and Ilianna stumbled back…

“Tessa, don’t…”

But Tessa had demanded she be listened to far too many times, and ignored... Her mind swirled with nightmares she couldn’t wake up from, even being awake already. She choked back a sob from her ragged throat, hoarse from screaming herself awake every evening…

It was her mother’s fault… And yet… She had tried so hard to fix it… To save everyone… Her love was palpable, and Tessa knew she blamed herself for the girl’s endless nightmares…

Even now… Malla was still her mother… Even after all they’d been through…?

“I... Won’t let you... HURT. MY. MAMA!!!”

She flung the fireball, bigger than any Malla had tossed in the exchange before. Noah’s eyes narrowed, and he acted on instinct. He spun, and tackled Malla…

Splash.

“...no… NO!”

Tessa ran forward as the clearing burst into sapphire flames. She fell to her hands and knees on the edge, peering down into the waters, already unnaturally still of their ripples…

She stared at her own haggard face… In the seemingly endless depths of the pool, she saw nothing else…

She arched and screamed a horrible roar of frustration. She clawed at her face and then spun suddenly, her wand snapping to her paw from where it had fell…

She aimed it directly at Team Wellspring…

“MONSTERS! MONSTERS, ALL OF YOU! THIEF!”

She flung a fireball, and Li had to dance out of the way…

“BUSY BODY!!!”

Mua teleported across the clearing to dodge and held her chest, quivering at the thought of an even worse flame consuming her body…

“DUPLICITOUS… SAVAGE… WHORE!!!”

She flung three fireballs at Ilianna, who shot each down with a shuriken. They hissed and steam billowed…

Tessa panted desperately… And then drew herself up in fury…

She was a silhouette against the flames, her eyes casting an intense, flickering light of their own… The spitting image of her mother...

The Team regrouped, and took their stances against this foe…

“You have taken so much from me… No… NOAH…”

She gripped her wand in both paws until the wood strained and crackled… And then her mad eyes locked directly on Ilianna…

“And I will take it back from him…”

The flames flared brighter… Impossibly high… Obscuring the sky above, and blotting the moon...

“PAID IN FULL…!!!”

Malla tumbled in an infinite void…

As the pool receded behind her, the night sky above faded away... The silhouetted moon formed the image she’d always feared…

The eye…

She heard her daughter scream behind her, desperately wishing she held her once more in her arms… But she could do nothing now but close her eyes and focused on the task ahead…

Noah’s arms had gripped around her waist… And then they were gone…

Her body was gone…?

No ground rushing up to meet her… No sky above. Nothing…

Nothing at all…

“Please… Don’t let this have been a mistake…” she whispered… She focused as hard as she could, and…

Her staff ignited. She gasped, and turned…

She stood in the clearing again, although it was far bigger… Or she was far smaller. The trees grew up and reached towards the glittering stars as immense titans, instead of the scraggly things they were…

The moon was full now… It shone its pale light down on everything, illuminating it with a surprisingly comforting glow…

She wrung her torch in her paws and stepped forward… 

She walked towards the pool there, which was now black as pitch. Trembling, exhausted, she fell to her knees in front of it…

“My god… Please… I beseech you, hear my words… I see forward unto an endless, scouring sun. I see agony, and drought. I have devoted myself to preventing this future…! Please… I beg you your night… I ask you help me… HELP ME!!!”

She trembled as the pool of blackness remained still as the surface of a mirror… And just when she began to despair…

The pool bubbled… And a silhouette slowly emerged…

Malla stared in awe… The shadow swelled into a form she recognized from nightmarish drawings and ancient tableau… He stood on spindly legs and lifted one broad arm in offering to her... From his head unfurled a wispy white swirl of smoke, or hair…? His collar of crimson fangs jutted suddenly from about his neck and shoulders…

In that gloomy silhouette… In that terrible shape… Malla saw a sapphire eye open…

...but it wasn’t the one she expected…

“...Surprise~!”

Mew giggled eagerly as she leaned her head away from where it had been set softly on Darkrai’s shoulder. Her heavily pregnant form was settled in one of his arms, and as the creature of pure darkness opened their own nightmarish eye, it softened as it looked to the pink cat he cradled…

Malla’s jaw was slack and her eyes were narrow. She wasn’t sure what to think…

“You wanted help, right…?” Mew cooed, her voice soothing and wonderful, relieving pain Malla didn’t even know she had… “I’ve long since learned my lesson, dear, and I am not as distant as you think…”

“But… He… The King…”

“Please.” his deep baritone was rich, and a roar from his throat would shake her very soul. But equally, it seemed, he was capable of being warm and soft… “What I was when I was younger should not colour my perception. I wished only to be left alone… That’s why I ushered anything that came into my forest out. I did not want them to be inflicted with the nightmares my aura exudes…”

He tapped his free claw against his ‘chin’…

“I have been watching you for a long time…”

Malla gripped her paws to her cheeks and shook like a leaf. She looked like half mad, and as if she would start sobbing at any moment.

Mew’s eyes softened with maternal concern, and pain… She floated forward and took her face in her tiny paws…

“It’s okay dear… Mama has you…”

With those words, spoken as a soft whisper in the darkest of night, Malla’s shoulders slumped, and she leaned forward to push her face into Mew’s pregnant middle, and weep…

“Shh, shh… Goodness, such obsession is so bad for the soul…” she smiled warmly… 

“I suppose… I have a little explaining to do…”