Within the confines of a humble den slept two lovers, spooned together in comfort and intimacy. Paco and Cellin were their names. The both of them had just met the night before, but the male lucario made the bold move to embrace the lonely female leafeon in her home, which ultimately led to an intense and emotional night of pleasure for the both of them. Paco had even offered, albeit casually, to take Cellin under his wing as his mate, an act that so shocked and surprised the leafeon that she had cried in his arms before accepting him. They had fallen asleep soon afterwards, worn out from the mating they performed, and now waited for the morning sun to stir them awake.

When morning arrived, however, the sun didn't wake them. They woke, startled, at the sound of a feminine scream and an intimidating, vicious growl.

The noise up above terrorized Cellin as she quaked in fear against Paco's chest. "Oh, no...he's back," she whimpered.

Paco quickly pieced together what was happening outside, for he immediately recognized the one who screamed. "Millie's in trouble!" he blurted, as his eyes popped with fear for his ghostly friend. He would've rushed out right then and there, but the words of the leafeon gave him pause.

"Wait...who's back, Cellin?"

"Leon," Cellin answered with dismay, the mentioning of the very name making her shrink, "He's a houndoom who was abandoned out here by human trainers. He...he has run of the place wherever he goes. I'm sorry if you know that girl, but you're safer stayi-"

"Houndoom-okay-got-it-be-right-back!" Paco interrupted in a rush. At once he got up to his feet and sprinted out of the den, while Cellin squealed frightfully in response. The terror in Cellin's voice didn't register at all, and he didn't quite remember what a houndoom was, but Millie was in danger and something had to be done.

Once he emerged from the den, Paco skidded to a stop as he immediately saw the scene playing out above Cellin's home. A massive, terrifying hound stood with his back to Paco as he peered down towards a little specter he had just thrashed and gnashed with his teeth, now sprawled on the ground and badly hurt, wavering in and out of existence. He had smooth, black fur, a brown muzzle and underbelly, and was adorned with devil horns, ankle bracelets, and back stripes made of bone, complemented by a ring of bone and a little skull around his neck. His pointed, imp-like tail wagged gleefully as he eyed his ghostly prey.

"Shaddup, punching bag," Leon growled, "Ghosts can't feel no pain, ya can't fool me. ‘Sides, ya got no business in dis world! Ya shouldn't exist!"

"I have business in this world," Millie answered back weakly, glaring at him, "And if you think ghosts can't feel pain, then there's a special hell waiting just for you."

The black canine smirked. "Why don't I sendja ‘long ahead, den? Sigh-a-nara!"

Leon bared his terrifying teeth. The eyes of the misdreavus widened, as if staring down the barrel of a gun, its hammer cocked. The moment the houndoom lunged, Millie squeezed her eyes shut and cried out as she faced the end of her very existence. But as she quaked in fear, those teeth never came. Instead, she heard a sudden yipe, and the cracking of a rib.

The scene fell silent, as if interrupted. Not understanding what just happened, Millie cautiously cracked open one eye. What she saw snapped both of her eyes open as she gasped.

Two canines, one black, one blue, one four-footed, the other two-footed, stood frozen together, staring in bewilderment at each other. The paw of the blue canine, Paco, remained pressed in the very spot where he struck Leon with a palm strike right in the side of the feral hound's chest, while the black canine's head had turned towards the surprise attacker.

"Ah-heh-heh-heh," Paco laughed nervously, cracking a tense smile in a feeble attempt to mask newfound fear. "You sure are tough to take a blow like that. Heh-heh-heh-heh...Hey, Millie...maybe you oughta run."

Left with little other option but to escape, Millie teared up as she phased out of the sight of mortal eyes. "You run too, Paco, while you still can! Don't play hero!"

Too late for that, thought the lucario with dismay.

Paco's strike merely threw fuel upon a fire ready to erupt. Leon's bewilderment immediately gave way to a seething glare directed towards the stranger who dared to challenge his power, his strength, and his very ownership of the woods.

"What the fuck're you doin', you worthless cunt?!" Leon roared.

The hot breath of the houndoom blew right into Paco's face. The lucario flinched as he immediately took a few steps back and raised his arms and paws defensively, just like his pack trained him to do. His eyes kept on the hellhound like a hawk as he watched for the slightest twitch. Any such twitch could be the only warning he'd get of a vicious attack.

"Wh-what do you think I'm doing? I'm trying to save a life!" Paco proclaimed to Leon.

Leon kept glaring on at Paco incredulously, fire deep in his eyes and gathering within his throat. He took slow, intimidating steps to face the lucario directly and close the distance between the two. Paco reacted in turn, taking careful steps in his defensive stance to keep that distance in place.

"No life should just be taken away like that. Let her be! She didn't do anything to you," the lucario went on, "Y-you don't have the right to decide who lives or dies!"

That last statement pushed the houndoom to the brink. "I got news for ya, ya stupid little two-legger: dat chewtoy is already dead! Lemme clue ya in. They ain't alive. They ain't fuckable. They ain't supposedta be here. Only thing ghosts're good for is target practice. Ya should've minded yer own damn business! Now ya made it personal.

"Look at you, steppin' back from me like a coward. You're nothin' but a pussy. Pussies are always gettin' in my way and they're good fer one and only one thing: gettin' fucked ‘til they ain't got the strength to stand. Doesn't matter what's between your legs, two-legger, ‘cause I can fuck over any kind of pussy I want. So if ya got any smarts left in that dreadlocked head of yours you'll bend ovah and make this easy, ‘cause you just earned the fuckin' of a lifetime!"

"Kch!" Paco gritted his teeth as he reacted with revulsion in the face of such blatant, barbaric, sexual aggression embedded deep in the the very soul and aura of the houndoom. "Is sex and killing all you care about?! Unbelievable!"

"That's all that matters to da real males, two-legger," Leon replied with a threatening grin, "Hell, ya just fucked a pussy last night yourself! I can smell it. I bet she's still in dat hole in da ground behind ya, too! Once I'm done fuckin' ya ovah, you can bet your ass I'll fuck'er too!"

Faced with such words, Paco's emotions swelled, disturbed greatly by the monster before him threatening to tear his life apart. "You're not abusing anyone! Not if I can help it!" He yelled.

The lucario broke one of the cardinal rules of his training as he took off in a mad dash straight for Leon and let out a battlecry, eschewing principles of self-defense and even personal safety. As he rapidly closed the distance between them, the lucario flexed one knee, throwing his momentum into the spin of a roundhouse kick aimed square at the side of Leon's head. The speed and ferocity exploding from Paco's foot left Leon mere fractions of a second to react.

"Wha...?" The tables turned swiftly for Paco, and not in his favor. To the lucario's shock, Leon caught the ankle of Paco's foot in mid-kick right in the bite of his teeth. The houndoom eyed his opponent with amusement, as he breathed in deeply through his nose and then let loose his trump card. A hellish fire erupted from Leon's maw, engulfing Paco's foot in a blast of flames. Paco cried out in excruciating pain as he ripped his foot away from the houndoom, only to yank his leg back up. He cringed as he carefully set the burned foot down on the ground and shifted his weight, now burdened with a limp he couldn't stand on, lest he wanted to suffer even more.

"Ya wanna try that with de other one?" Leon taunted, "Ya won't have a leg ta stand on, two-legger, but yer better off on yer paws and knees anyway."

"Kcch!" Paco suppressed his growing fear as best as he could, but the houndoom sensed it all too well. That fear, and in turn a deepening hatred, could be seen all too well in the lucario's eyes. Leon reveled in it.

"Whatsa matter, two-legger, lost your nerve? Thatsa shame. How ‘bout I make ya dance, then?"

Paco at once knew what Leon implied. He yelped as the houndoom let out burst after burst of flame. The fireballs scorched the earth, the shrubbery, and the trees. They chased down the lucario as he leapt to and fro to dodge the salvo. In this manner Leon toyed with Paco, wore him down, and reaped further suffering upon the blue canine that dared to oppose the hellhound. The fire singed the fur on Paco's back as it barely missed him again and again until, at last, the badly injured fighter heaved with exhaustion. Leon ceased his assault then, quite satisfied with the course of events, as Paco glared back at him without saying a word.

"Dere's only two ways this is gonna end for you, two-legger, and I don't hafta say what they are, now do I," Leon stated, "So, ya gonna do what I say? Or am I gonna hafta burn ya to a crisp?"

The lucario's stomach twisted over and over again into knots. As he panted and glared at the smug expression of the houndoom, the hopelessness of his situation stared right back at him, taunted him, and rhetorically questioned if he could even live with himself if he allowed Leon to rip his dignity to shreds rather than go out in a literal blaze of glory. Paco didn't want to answer that question, or the houndoom's. Instead, he stalled. He looked back to the hole in the ground behind and thought of Cellin, no doubt aware that Paco had little chance now to prevail over the hellhound.

Cellin had to escape. But she could never escape if not given the chance.

The arms of the blue canine dropped to his sides as he released all the tension in his body, smirking in self-derision as he realized there never really was a choice. "What was your name again? Leon, is it?" Paco asked.

"The one n' only," Leon answered back, even more smug as he sensed the shift in the lucario, "And yours?"

"It's Paco."

"Heheh, now dat's a dumb soundin' name. Ya might be the only pussy whose name I'm gonna remember."

"You should remember it, Leon, because today won't be the last you see of me."

"Oh? Ya must be a glutton for punishment. Ya know I'd fuck ya over everytime ya try," Leon heckled, "But hey, if yer offerin' yerself like dat, how could I ever refuse?"

"Then what are you waiting for?" Paco shot back, unable to take any more suspense, "You have me right where you want me. Are you just going to talk, or are you going to get this over with?"

Leon chuckled as he started to step towards the lucario. "Well, if yer in dat big a hur-"

"Stop! Stop! Stop it now! Please, please don't hurt him!"

The eyes of the lucario popped in utter shock as a feminine voice rang out from right behind him. Moments later, the very leafeon he was trying to protect ran out from her home and stopped in front of him. She planted her feet right in-between Leon and Paco as she looked up to the towering, black canine with tears of desperation rolling down her cheeks. The thought of abandoning the lucario to the whims of such a monster drove her to an action once inconceivable.

"Well, look who sprouted out of da ground," Leon remarked to the trembling fox, amused by the rustling of her leafy tail. "Ya know, most females run in da other way. Guess you got more smarts than that pussy standin' behind ya."

"Cellin, what are you doing?!" Paco exclaimed loudly, "Get out of here! Save yourself!"

The leafeon cried back, "N-no!  I want to...I want to protect you!"

Leon curled the lips on his muzzle into an insidious grin. "Well, ya don't look like much of a fighter, leafy, so I guess dat leaves ya with not much of a choice." He peered over to Paco. "And ya wouldn't want to try anything funny if I were you. Just watch, and learn, and ya won't have her blood on yer paws."

The injured, beaten, and singed lucario gritted his teeth. He watched helplessly as Cellin's trembling grew with heightening terror along with every step the houndoom took towards her.

"Are ya just going to stand there," Leon asked Cellin, glancing at the lucario close by with taunting eyes, "Or are ya going to show me why I oughta fuck you over instead of him?"

Cellin could barely speak, so petrified she was with fright. "I...I..."

"Maybe ya need a little nudge in the right direction."

Cellin yelped and Paco gasped as the houndoom leaped forward. He pounced upon the leafeon, knocked her off her feet, and pinned her to the ground against her back with his forepaws upon her chest. The towering, dark canine loomed over the trembling, vulnerable fox as he moved to lower his body upon her own.   As Leon began to indulge in the sort of intimacy normally reserved for lovers, Cellin started to cry and shed tears.

"Paco, forgive me," she weeped, as she turned her head away from the houndoom, unwilling to look into the face of the canine soon to leave her dignity in tatters.

Paco's heart sank. What could he possibly do?  His anger boiled in his body, but to unleash it now risked harm to Cellin, who now squirmed beneath the weight of the hellhound as her chest and face were subjected to unwanted licks. The lucario's mind raced for a solution to his and the leafeon's plight, but the longer he thought of their options the more hopeless it seemed. Their fate was dreadfully certain as long as Leon had his hostages without chal-

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

What the hell was that?! Paco, Cellin, even Leon jolted at the sound of a furious, feminine scream. Before anyone could piece together who the scream belonged to, a purple blur bursted from the shrubbery, rocketed straight for the houndoom's pointy tail, and clamped down hard upon its slender length.

"YEEOOW!" Leon cried. He leaped high off of the leafeon and tossed his body around in a panic, yipping all the while as his attempts to whip away the sudden attacker proved futile. "Get da fuck offa my tail! Aieeeeee!"

Cellin scrambled to her feet in the midst of the sudden commotion. As she retreated to stand behind the lucario, she and Paco's eyes widened in disbelief as they caught sight of the stubborn purple blur biting down upon the houndoom's tail as if its life depended on it.

"That's the misdreavus haunting these woods!" the leafeon exclaimed, "How is she doing that?"

"You should be running, Cellin," Paco said urgently, changing the topic as he turned to face her.

"No, Paco. I can't. I'm the only thing between you and that monster," the leafeon protested, still teary-eyed from seconds ago.

"I'm the only thing between you and that monster. Run while you've got the chance!" Paco nearly barked.

"Nobody's gonna fuckin' run from me!" The houndoom, overhearing their talk, brought fire to his maw, enraged at even the slight possibility of losing his captives. But before he could pacify the lucario and leafeon with a burst of flame, the specter latched upon his tail flung her ghostly form upon Leon's eyes before he had a chance to take aim. The sudden blindness did little to quell the houndoom's infernal rage as he now shook his head violently every which way he could to fling off the ghost. The misdreavus tried to hang on with her teeth by one of Leon's horns, but the struggle proved short-lived. As she finally flew off the houndoom's head and tumbled through the air before coming to a stop several feet above the ground, Leon's eyes shot a murderous glare at the little poltergeist, who fearlessly glared back with utter contempt.

Paco smacked his paws to the top of his head, for he couldn't comprehend how any of the females in his midst lacked any notion of self-preservation. "Not you too, Millie!" he exclaimed.

"Show some gratitude, Mr. Hero," Millie remarked back with a smirk. She expected such a reaction from him.

"How da hell did ya recover so fast?! How da hell are ya bitin' my tail?! Ya can't be a ghost at all. Yer a freaky little bag with a death wish!" Leon growled at the misdreavus.

Millie narrowed her gaze at the houndoom. "You were right the first time, Leon. I am a ghost. And so are you."

The lucario and leafeon, still standing a short distance away, stared at Millie and each other and back in turn as confusion struck them. But the houndoom, faced with such an incredulous, outlandish accusation, grinned almost from horn to horn and cackled loudly at the specter. Only two sorts laughed as the hellhound laughed: the oblivious fool or the cowardly fraud.

"Oh, dat's rich! Ya pretend ta be a ghost den ya call me a ghost. I mean, look at me. At dis body," Leon argued confidently, standing tall and proud, "I'm more dan alive, I'm unstoppable. No one can top me. Ah get what I want, when I want it, and yer nuthin' but annoyin' trash trying to stall me from fuckin' my pussies! Well, it ain't gonna work. Get the fuck outta my sight!"

Leon disregarded Millie at that point as he spun to face the lucario and leafeon. Without warning he took off towards them and leapt in a pounce. The leafy fox shrieked in terror as the monster bore down upon them, while the canine fighter stepped with desperation to shield the vixen from the assault Leon planned for his helpless captives. But before the houndoom's paws could slam upon the slim chest of the male, blue dog, a surprise burst struck Leon from behind and sent him tumbling towards the side of his prey.

"Graaaah!" the houndoom scrambled to his feet, his mistake in ignoring the misdreavus acting like fuel to his raging, inner fire.

"You won't lay a paw on them," Millie declared, as she armed another shadow ball above the wavy hair on her head, "I'll put a stop to this sick dream. Then they'll remember. They'll remember how you died!"

Leon had no more words for Millie. Only flames. His fire shot out like the wrath of a demon as his enemy returned in kind with a bombardment of volatile, ghostly power. The two danced around each other as the scene erupted in a salvo of violence that threatened to blow up and incinerate everything in sight. The lucario dove down low to the ground in a not-so-effective attempt to escape the chaos, dragging Cellin down with him in his arms.

"Aaack! Cellin, get back in your den! If you stay out here, you're toast!" Paco pleaded to the leafeon, nearly in panic.

"But what about y-"

"GO!"

Cellin teared up as she licked Paco endearingly on the cheek. "Don't die on me, Paco," she cried, as she crawled back to the shelter of her den.

"I'll figure something out. Stay safe!"

Though the lucario said this as confidently as he could, the strategist in him had already flipped the planning table in gross frustration. The way out of this mess still eluded him, and Millie's sudden, heroic return and incredible claims left him all the more scatterbrained. Leon, dead? How? The ghost could've mentioned how the houndoom died before provoking this crazy fight!
Damn it, Paco! Stop being useless! The lucario cursed silently as his mind raced more frantically than ever for a solution. He watched Millie dart about in the air, hoping desperately not to see her engulfed in the houndoom's fire.

***

Some distance away, a gardevoir levitated as fast as she could through the sickly purple woods of the dreamscape, trying the best she could to chase down a misdreavus driven by a level of vim the likes of which the psychic had never seen.

"How can such a little ghost move so quickly?" Rose thought aloud, "I should've said nothing. What was I thinking?"

Not long after these words were uttered, the dead quiet of the forest jarringly ceased. Explosions rang out in the distance, much like the one Rose narrowly dodged, and the rumble and crackle of wildly burning wood quickly gained volume along with plumes of smoke in the sky.

"Millie, no!" the gardevoir exclaimed with dismay. She pushed herself onward even faster.

***

The battle raged on. Leon's flames kept missing their mark, but that only added fuel to the fire. The hellhound had natural resistance to the attacks of the little misdreavus flung his way, so he pressed his offensive, determined to put Millie back in her place, if not eradicate her outright. The surrounding trees paid a heavy price for Leon's onslaught as they caught fire and filled the area with unpleasant smoke.

The worsening conditions worked against the purple specter, for the smoke brought tears to her eyes and clogged her breath as though she lived and breathed like the normal inhabitants of the woods, making the evasion of the houndoom's fire harder to prolong. That would've tipped any rational being off that something was not right, but Leon proved as stubborn as ever.

"Cough, cough! Dammit, Leon! Hack! Why are you being so thick?" she snapped, as the volley of fire and ghostly energy kept on.

"Shuddup!" Leon growled between fiery bursts, not at all hindered by the smoke, "Hold still and fuckin' burn!"

The smoke soon affected the lucario who lied prone on the ground still. His frustration grew all the more as he saw the battle turn against Millie's favor, in spite of the smoke obscuring his vision and causing trouble for his breath.

I can't let this leg hold me back anymore. If this is a dream, then I can just imagine it's all better again, right? Okay! Focus, Paco...I have a good leg I have a good leg I have a good leg I have a good leg I have a good l- Agh! It's not working!

Paco slapped the palms of his paws to his face. This dream stuff is harder than I thought. He went on in his head, I could've sworn I knew a move for situations like this, but my mind's drawing a blank. Why am I being so stupid?!

"Paco, stop being so stupid!"

The sudden proclamation from a voice beside him caught Paco by surprise. He pulled his paws away from his face. A familiar pair of yellow-red eyes looked right back at him, juxtaposed with a frown of disapproval on a purple mug.

"Millie?" Paco blinked with confusion as he saw the fight continue on in the distance. Sure enough he was seeing double. "Wait, are you her sister?"

"I'm Millie, too, genius. You saved me from Leon, remember?" the second misdreavus reminded him, "But if you and Cellin stay here too long you'll die of the smoke!"

Now Paco was even more confused, "But if we're dreaming, won't we just wake up?"

"This isn't just a dream. If you die, you end up back at square one."

"Square one?"

"Later! I'll get the leafeon."

The second Millie took off in a hurry into the leafeon's den. Moments later, she emerged from the hole with Cellin close behind. Paco could see, as Cellin stood next to him now, that the vixen's eyes squinted and teared up as the smoke treated her just as badly as it did the misdreavus currently in the heat of battle. But while Cellin stayed safe for now, the true Millie's chances of victory turned bleaker by the minute, even as the houndoom began to show the first signs of fatigue from the sheer volume of fire he spewed. Cellin knew this, as she froze up and whimpered in fright at the sight of the violence. Paco knew it as well, as he gritted his teeth. And the second Millie knew it too.

Damn it all. Paco wouldn't flee. He'd rather turn the tide. If this was truly a dream...

"Wait, Millie," Paco spoke up quickly, "You're not the real Millie, right?"

The second misdreavus nodded. "I'm a projection in a shared dream. I only know this because this dream has gone on far longer than you know. The real ghost broke the dream's cycle, but she won't last much longer. We must hurry!"

"I've got a better idea," Paco replied with a bit of a cough, "If we're dreaming, and you're a projection, you can be anyone we want you to be!"

"I'm not sure it works like that," the second Millie said with doubt.

"We won't know until we try. Cellin, quick! Who's a good healer in these woods?"

Cellin stumbled for her words in face of the sudden inquiry. "Um, er, Amber's a good healer. She's an audino."

The mention of that name jogged part of Paco's memory. He didn't know how, but he suddenly remembered the blue-eyed fairylike pokémon and her healing touch. How he didn't remember her before was a mystery. "Okay! Then imagine as hard as you can that Millie here is Amber."

"What?" the leafeon asked, confused.

"Just do it!"

Paco stared into the eyes of the ghost in front of them and Cellin soon followed suit. Their imaginations geared into overdrive as they attempted to transform the projected misdreavus into an audino right before their eyes. The ghost, in turn, looked back at the two uneasily. As the seconds counted away, however, her expression quickly changed to a widened trance.

"I...I feel strange," the projection stuttered.

"Is it working?" Cellin asked.

"We'll find out, keep it up!" Paco replied.

The ethereal form of the projection began to flicker and shake as her very existence entered a state of flux. Conscious and unconscious minds alike fought for the definition of her being in character and in outward appearance. The sight of the impending, violent metamorphosis made Cellin want to turn away, but summoning the healer was too vital to abandon now.

But then, they heard a shriek.

Paco's eyes shot open as he threw his gaze wayward, trying to see what happened. Millie's cry a short distance off tore away his focus from what he wanted to the clear and present danger before him in the dream. His concentration was torn asunder as a result, as fear of the houndoom laying grave harm upon the misdreavus ripped his concentration apart.

"No! What happened to her?!" Cellin whimpered.

Paco thought the leafeon meant the misdreavus close to defeat, but then he turned his gaze back to the projection before them. Its ghostly form was no more. Now, it towered over the both of them on four strong, black legs, staring at them with an unmistakable canine face, complete with demonic horns. The look of concern was gone from the projection. Now it eyed the lucario and leafeon like prey.

Paco quickly realized: Things... just... got...worse.

***

As soon as Rose had seen the billowing smoke and heard the rumble of fire and the bursts of explosions, the gardevoir immediately realized that moving on foot wasn't enough. She resorted to teleporting her way to the scene, but the technique proved not as swift as she hoped. The very dream seemed to oppress her psychic powers in spite of her lucidity to it, keeping her from teleporting more than a short distance. She resorted to rapid teleports, flashing her way forward, taking care not to materialize inside a tree trunk.

By a stroke of good fortune Rose finally made it in haste after many, many swift teleports. She stood on the edge of the scene, unnoticed for the moment since the smoke obscured her presence. In a matter of seconds she took in every detail: sight, sound, even mental presence.

Rose gasped and slipped behind the cover of a tree as soon as she possibly could. What a horrible, awful mess.

"HELP!!!" came a heart-wrenching wail, clearly from the little ghost girl that Rose knew. Further away, the exhausted misdreavus no longer had the strength to return fire and had since fallen to the ground. Leon, abused her, as he bit her with those terrible teeth and tossed her about like a chew-toy. Had he the strength he would've burned the misdreavus to ashes, but he took pleasure in making Millie suffer after the prolonged battle the ghost put him through.

The scene unfolding closer by, however, proved far more shocking. The dream somehow took a life of its own from Millie's intervention and created a second houndoom, purely out of projection, to terrorize Paco and Cellin. The lucario buried his head in the ground, paws over his head, as he lied prone, miserable, and defeated, while the poor leafeon cried tears and muffled yelps of pain and despair as the houndoom mounted her and violated her like many before. The hellhound moved forcefully, caring only for his satisfaction and little for how much the leafeon could withstand.

Somehow the first Leon didn't know about the second. Yet.

"It was bad enough with just one Leon," Rose muttered under her breath. "But I doubt he'd get along with himself!" Quickly she came up with a plan of action. She put her hands to her mouth and took in a deep, deep breath.

Tweeeee-ooooo-eeeeet!

The sudden whistle managed to grab the attention of both males by surprise as both their heads turned in the gardevoir's direction. For a moment it paused the violence upon Millie and Cellin's rape. The misdreavus barely moved from where she lied, while the leafeon stood trembling, still coupled to the male upon her. If things played out right, the Gardevoir's plan would soon trigger a new sort of chaos.

"Who da fuck is- HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!" Leon at once caught sight of the doppleganger making claim to the leafeon. "Hey, you! The one with the horns! What the hell are you doin'? You're stealing!"

He probably never imagined the words to come out of his mouth.  That someone ELSE was stealing from him. It took a lot of guts to do such a thing.  The response back to him, however, threw him off. "Fuck off hornmutt, this is mine and so is all this forest!"

Leon wouldn't have any of it. At once he dashed towards the other houndoom to confront him face-to-face, leaving Millie behind with her injuries. For the moment the presence of Paco and Cellin didn't even register as emotions ran high encountering a male as insufferable as himself.  

"Get off that bitch right now, or I'm gonna tear off dat ugly face of yers!" Leon proclaimed, "You ain't taking what's mine without fightin' fer it!"

"Get ya own greens.  I haven't finished mine and ‘nuning will get me from this!" the other growled, the raging ego of the other Leon clearly showing.

The offended hellhound knew just the answer to such bold insolence. His newfound rage gave fuel for a fiery attack right at the other Houndoom's mug. The other canine reacted quickly, dropping low to elude the flames. Cellin yelped as she was momentarily crushed. She yelped once more as her rapist dismounted and started to charge towards the assailant. And thus, Leon began a whole new fight, not even realizing he fought himself.

"It's working! Now, to get the others out of harm's way," Rose whispered, relieved to not have been attacked for once. As the two Leons circled around each other biting and burning in kind, she quickly teleported over to Paco and Cellin and reeled in Millie with a telekinetic grip.

Paco's eyes widened euphorically. "Rose, is it really you?"

"The one and only," Rose answered, patting his head.

Cellin lied where the houndoom left her, still in pain from the violation wrought upon her. Even so, she looked to Rose with amazement. Millie was singed left and right and probably everywhere inbetween but she shot the gardevoir a smile, glad for the rescue.

"Mille, you look terrible. How could you do such a crazy thing?" Rose asked. She placed her hands on the ghost and focused on healing Millie's wounds.

Millie flinched a bit as the pain softened, but at the expense of feeling it for a bit longer. "I did it for Paco. I had to stall that monster, help Paco remember.  Wouldn't you do the same?" she asked her in turn.

"Not exactly as you would, but I tried to. Several times. But you succeeded where I didn't," Rose said back, smiling at the misdreavus' bravery.

Rose looked upon the battle at hand occurring a few paces off. The two combating houndooms stood on equal ground for now, wearing each other down in a war of attrition.

"We might have the time to finish this," Rose said. "Cellin, hang on for me just a bit longer. We'll get out of this dream. But we need Paco to be ready."

Cellin groaned weakly, "Okay. I'll try."

"Uh, question?" Paco raised his paw, "What is it I'm supposed to be remembering?"

Millie frowned. "How could you forget your signature move, Mr. Hero?" she commented as the clear confusion on Paco told he still needs help. "Why do you think I was throwing all those Shadow Balls at the damn dog?"

"Because that was your only attack?"

"No! Because you've got a move just like it! I just don't know what it's called because you never told me!"

Rose grumbled and put her hands to her face, clearly frustrated for the moment. "Really, Millie. Really. It's called an Aura Sphere. Why don't you let me jog Paco's memory? I am the psychic after all."

"Oh, fine." Millie puffed her cheeks a bit. "My way could've worked," she grumbled.

"You stalled him long enough. Let me take it from here." Rose said, using her powers to help Paco. Millie might've had a thing or two to say about Rose's choice of words, but with all she just went through the misdreavus appreciated the help.

All the while, the fiery chaos raged on as the two fighters have been still at it.  Both Houndooms suffered fire marks, fang bites, and injuries aplenty. But in the end there could only be one victor. Leon found a critical opening in the doppleganger's defense and pounced. The double was knocked right off his feet and pinned upon his back. Leon glared at him now. Normally he'd gloat over such a victory, but instead he was angrier than ever.

"Who da hell are you to come around actin' like you own the place? No one's gonna knock me off my perch! I own everything in dis forest, not you! You ain't taking it from me!"

The doppleganger coughed blood. "Dat already happened, you fuckin' moron. I remember now...da things ya want ta forget."

"Shut up!"

"Ya weren't so unstoppable after all."

"SHUT UP!" Leon lunged for the doppleganger's throat and siezed it in a death grip. The other hellhound began to gasp for air as his neck was on the verge of being snapped.

"How ya...gonna kill your conscience? All ya got now, bub. You ain't got that body no more."

Leon's soul shook at its core. For the moment he was paralyzed, trapped by internal conflict.  Nothing the other houndoom said made sense. Nothing made sense ever since that little ghost picked a fight with him. Unless...that ghost Millie was not telling lies, but...

*KRNCCK*

A sickening crunch of bone rang in the air. The doppleganger's body now laid lifeless at Leon's feet. And yet those eyes stared back at leon knowingly, even mockingly. It disturbed Leon all the more as he now shook visibly.

"Fuckin' crazy! You g-got what was coming to ya, ya hear!" he shakenly said.  Those eyes still stared at him, mocking, taunting, scaring him to depths he never knew could be within him. And just as the culmination of events began to destabilize his composure, part of him sensed a dramatic surge of power in his midst. He knew this power. It sickened him, terrified him.

Leon spun around to face this power. Paco faced him in turn. The lucario's friends had since retreated some distance away, for he now held over his head the strength of his inner power concentrated into raw energy. The aura sphere, as it was called, nearly outsized the lucario itself.

"Leon!" Paco called to the houndoom, "Is it really you that made this world, putting us through this pain over and over and OVER?!"

Time slowed for the houndoom as he looked on, staring at the sphere. He had stared so long upon it he barely snapped out of the trance he put himself in when Paco barked at him once more.

"Answer me! Did you do this?" Paco demanded.

"I..." Leon trailed off. The words of the misdreavus and his double haunted him more than ever.

"I know what this nightmare's all about now. It was that day. You attacked all of us and wanted to rape Cellin! But you didn't succeed, YOU DIED. And I'm holding the very thing that killed you!"

"I...I can't be dead," Leon blurted as he started to step back, "If I was dead, I'd just be gone! Gone, I tell ya! I'd never be a goddamn, fuckin' worthless ghost! Ghosts don't belong in dis world!"

Paco glared at Leon.,With confidence restored, he wouldn't endure the houndoom or this nightmare for a second longer. "You're a ghost for all I care! NOW GET OUT OF MY DAMN HEAD!"

Paco whipped the aura sphere over his head from his grasp. It left his paws with great speed, rocketing straight for the houndoom. Leon's eyes widened with terror, so much so that he froze in place. It was simply too much. At that moment, the dream dropped all notion of belonging to anyone else but him now. The flow of time slowed dramatically for everyone, even the gardevoir, until everyone froze to a halt right as the aura sphere was a split-second from impact.

For the longest time, Leon stared at death in the face. His voice rang in the air, now disembodied. It started to whimper.

No. No, no no. I can't be dead. I can't be dead. I...

...

***

Millie felt her ghostly form violently thrown out of the dream. She was back in the cave again, where she had discovered the three trapped in the nightmare, illuminated by her crimson pearls. She sighed deeply as she looked down at Paco, Rose and Cellin. The three on the cavern floor, lying beside each other, woke up just as jarringly. All four looked to each other quietly, more than a little disturbed.

"That's the worst nightmare I ever had," Cellin weeped, breaking the silence. She leaned her head into Paco as the lucario did his best to soothe her, "And that last part...I felt like I was dying!"

"Shhh...it's over now," Paco said as he stroked the leafeon's back, "Leon's gone now. Rose and Millie got us out, so we're safe now. Please don't cry."

Rose lifted her body up to a sitting position. She looked to Millie and said, "As much as you were a hindrance...thank you."

"Yeah...it was nothing." Millie's response proved quite muted, as she turned to stare down at the lucario and leafeon. The gardevoir understood quite well as to why. Those two suffered a lot far more than they ever could in the real world.

"Paco...are you going to be okay?" Millie asked aloud.

"Me?" The lucario seemed genuinely surprised at the question. "Well...I might not feel like sleeping for the next few nights, but...I know now none of it was real. I'm awake, in one piece, and I got everyone I love right here with me."

Rose smiled warmly at the comment, while Millie's ghostly body momentarily turned a shade of red. The moment felt so touching in stark contrast to the nightmare they all endured.

"Well, good," Millie answered, turning shy as she turned away, "Because I don't want to lose you the way Leon lost hi-"

Millie's voice fell silent. In the direction she turned, the sight that greeted her gaze struck her with shock. Her mouth hung open. Then she erupted.

"You?! I don't beli- YOU?! It has to be you! After everything you said!"

Paco looked to Millie quizzically. "Uh, Millie? Why are you yelling at the wall over there?"

Rose calmly explained with a sigh, "Um, Paco...it's not the wall she's yelling at. A certain someone is still here, if only by lasting will."

The lucario leapt to his feet. He knew who Rose meant. "You've got to be freakin' kidding me!" he exclaimed, "Where is he?! I oughta clobber him even if I can't see him!"

"Leon is still around?" Cellin asked frightfully, as she scrambled to get on her feet as well.

"Yes, Cellin. As a ghost. And you can't clobber a ghost, Paco," Rose further explained, "Save your energy."

It had to be so odd. The ghost in front of them wasn't Leon as they knew it but in the form of a purple, spiny-backed ghost. This kind of ghost was best known for their impish smiles, but Leon wore a depressing frown instead. He hid himself from mortal eyes, though not intentionally. However, he couldn't escape the eyes of another as dead as himself.  This was what he was reduced to after a long time living his former life to dominate in the forest.  This was him now. A mere gengar. He looked pathetic, maybe even broken.  His very existence and sense of being was drastically different, disturbing him greatly for sure.  He became what he hated and only one other could fully sense he existed.

"You..."

Millie shivered as she heard Leon speak up at her in such a manner.  "Wha?"

"It was you that ruined it all!" the new-founded spirit said as he was on the verge of weeping and wailing in anger, though none of this could be seen or heard by those alive.  "if ya weren't there, I'd still be having my bood memoryes...and YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!"

Millie frowned, almost befuddled by the outburst, and responded as best as she could in light of how upset Leon was: "I hate to say this, but...that was just you dreaming."

Leon's eyes twitched feverously.  ALL he enjoyed; All that he loved of that; it was all... "Jit a dream?"

"It's true,"  Millie told him, feeling this is finally it, "You weren't able to touch anyone back then.  Not Paco or Cellin. Paco took you out before you could the same to him in the end."

A moment of silence passed as the gengar felt his spirit quiver. And then, as suddenly as an explosion, he let out his raw, unbridled emotions:

"NNNNOOOOOOOO!!"