A few moments of tense conversation passed between the trainers, and Darkrai waited.  As the seconds passed, however, his countenance grew more and more unhinged until finally he reeled back, clawing at his face.  [b][i]”URGH!  Why don't you do something already, you morons!?  I'm the villain, and you're the heroes, so fight me!  I thought for sure when you started to rebel that you would be the ones, but lo and behold, it's another grand disappointment!”[/i][/b]

Purple and black energy surrounded him in a terrific maelstrom, but it lacked any direction.  It raged with magnificent fury, but not so much to attack as for the sake of raging itself.  Darkrai thrashed from side to side, snarling and muttering curses, until it straightened up with sudden stillness as through shocked.  [b][i]”What?!”[/i][/b]  A second of silence passed before it exploded in a tumultuous wrath, [b][i]”Shut up, you hypocrite!  You don't know what it's like to be bored to death!  What I'm trying to do is create a story that nobody will ever forget—a legend, fit for the ages!  What the hell is our power and status for if all we do is wait around in some cave until some idiot with a Master Ball comes along and consigns us to servitude?”[/i][/b]

Another few seconds' interlude passed, during which Olivie could only stare in confusion, before Darkrai growled and pointed a clawed finger at the four trainers.  [b][i]”Of course I can force it!  Why do you think I'm playing the villain?  But these stupid humans can't play along, same as all the rest.  They don't want to go wild with power, they don't want to take a stand and defeat me, they don't do anything!  What kind of story is that?  Just stagnation and disappointment, summarizing my life perfectly.”[/i][/b]  His cyan eye turned upward, staring straight into the Stygian dark above.  Still baffled, Olivie imagined that he must be communing with some being beyond her awareness or comprehension.  She did take a quick look around, though, and found that the dreamscape was a little...off.  Objects, like rocks and the grass, were losing their definition.  Everything was getting hazy, even Darkrai himself.  The wraith hissed, shaking his fists in wrath, but in him, too, something changed.  A lethargy came over him, and he lowered his hands.  His sharp tone, formerly derisive, now came bitter and cynical.  [b][i]”It's useless.”[/i][/b]  His eye, making contact with Olivie's, held more hopelessness than anything.  [b][i]”The sun is rising.  What a waste of a night.  I will let you go now, but listen to this: I might not be able to make a good legend out of it, but people are going to keep looking for escape in their dreams, whether from misery, monotony, or responsibility.  Or people who are dying—one final dream before they pass on.  I won't stop giving them this release, and even if you could find me in the waking world, there's not a damn thing you can do to stop me, either.  Get lost.”[/i][/b]

Without a second's delay, the pitch black of the sky collapsed, falling upon the trainers like a tsunami and washing each one away into darkness.  Olivie, full of questions and confusion, tried to hold on, but the world slipped away with dizzying speed.  Only one sensation remained: rising, like a balloon, or a diver shooting to the surface.

Olivie awoke with a gasp, making a piece of grass to fly in her mouth, and she immediately set to hawking it up.  The tears on her eyes from all the coughing, added to the sheer suddenness of the light blasting her retinas, prevented her from seeing well for half a minute.  When she blinked away the wateriness, though, she found herself in a sitting position, greeted by a beautiful orange sunrise on the ocean horizon.  A quick look around turned up Leisy, Ella, and the girls' Pokemon, but no other people save Bernard, zonked out about twenty meters away.  She appeared to be on the sea stack where the dream began last...night?  Olivie rubbed her eyes.  Her head hurt from everything she remembered, and she couldn't even remember that much.  All she could recall was a black void, a blue-eyed specter, a bunch of Pokemon, and...not much else.  The entire ordeal stank of anticlimax, but then again, what else were dreams good for?

With shaky knees she got to her feet.  Buck, sprawled out on his back, rolled into his belly and stood up.  He stared at her with a bewildered expression on his chubby features, and chattered.  Nearby, her other Pokemon were waking too.  Olivie scratched her head as she developed a scowl.  [color=954535]”Freaky dream.  Hey, Barnie!  Get up!”[/color]  She walked over to give the dozing boy a hefty kick.  [color=954535]”We're outta here!”[/color]  Without any further ado, she marched back toward the natural arch that connected the seastack to the mainland.  She only paused long enough to glance at Leisy and Ella, and to give the two a stiff nod.

[hider=The benevolent Beauty Boisterous Bruiser]

Current Location: Seastack near Stillwater
TP: 36 + 1 = 37
CP: 25 + 1 = 26

[b]Interaction:[/b]
[@Dusksong]'s Leisy Takagawa
[@LuckyBlackCat]'s Ellanor Beaufort
[/hider]

[center]-=-=-[/center]

In the depths of the secluded seashore, a great, empty cavern turned even the slightest of sounds into an echo.  Right now, it resounded with the irate sigh of a wraithlike creature, dejected and alone, laying against a stalagmite on the cave floor.  He stared upward at the place's only source of light: an elegant creature radiant with white and violet light, trimmed in gold.  She hung from the ceiling, looking back down at him.  A soft croon issued from her throat, causing her inky counterpart to snicker.  [b][i]”Hmph.  I'll admit I haven't been the most...vocal about what's been eating me.  I did not think that you would even want to help me, given our dichotomy.  The moon shines through the darkness, after all.  Jealousy, of your purity and popularity, made me think that we were enemies, but you may be right in saying the solution is to come together.  Perhaps I don't even need a legend to keep me from losing it."[/i][/b]

The bat gave a light chuckle, and the specter crossed his arms.  [b][i]”So, 'friend'.  What's the plan?"[/i][/b]