Pokemon: Ascension

"Ah, my fucking head,"- The young man whispers, rubbing the back of his head. The pain was sharp, but not so much that Al didn't notice the strangeness of the surroundings around him.

"Uh...Where am I?!"- Al almost immediately jumps to his feet, looking around in a panic. Darkness. Everywhere the guy looked, it was dark, for miles ahead.

"Is this a dream? Yes, maybe it's a dream! Just... uh...lucid sleep? And I'm just too stupid for my imagination to make something else out of this place, or something like that!" - The guy calmed himself with his thoughts as best he could. Not that it was producing results, but he now felt less panic.

"...I'm not so stupid that my imagination didn't come up with anything at all, right? Maybe I should wish for changes?" - Al asked more himself, still looking around, but with less panic, pressing his hands to his chest.

"So...I want the darkness to be replaced by a forest. Or something like that?"- The young man imagined a great picture of the forest in his head, even closed his eyes so that the place around him would definitely change. But when he opened his eyes again, he saw that nothing had changed.

"Am I doing something wrong in mastering lucid sleep, or am I not doing it hard enough?"- Al put his hand to his chin, thinking about it. Eyebrows furrowed, and the guy closed his eyes.

"Maybe I should focus on one thing first? For example, on a stump? This is the simplest, and if I can do it, maybe I'll figure out how to change the space around me on a larger scale? Or even from a twig? A twig is even something simpler than a stump"

Al tried his best to imagine a twig. Thin, fragile, with a dark bark of a tree, under which hides a fairly light wood.

But it didn't work out. When he opened his eyes, he couldn't find a twig, or feel like he had done something.

"Maybe I'm using the wrong tactics? Just don't think about it too much so that it can materialize? But now I have to think about the stump, it will be more convenient to find it in the dark if I succeed"

Al thought about the stump, as if he wasn't interested. But even this tactic was a failure. Nothing appeared

"Apparently I'm really stupid" - Exhaling frustratedly as a statement of fact, he sat down on the floor of darkness. If you can call it a floor.

"So...now it remains just to wait for awakening, and then read on the Internet how to be during lucid sleep. Still, this is the kind of shit that you can't handle the first time," - Al told himself encouragingly, staring into the darkness. 

"But how long do you have to wait?" A fleeting thought, but it was able to instill something...the inexplicable. Shrugging his shoulders, the guy sighed. He did not want to be in the dark, it was oppressive for him

"Imagination, just try to turn a lucid dream into a nightmare," Al thinks threateningly, hoping that this will not happen.

"But knowing my fantasy, I can safely assume that anything can happen! Haha!"-  The young man laughed softly, feeling increasingly uncomfortable.

  * * *

"It's fucking exhausting..."- whispers Al, sitting with his eyes closed. How long has he been here in the dark? He doesn't know, but it's probably more than 4 hours, but you can't be sure about that. And here it is incredibly boring, and this is without mentioning the ominous darkness that has become thicker. Al can't help but feel anxious, but he can't do anything. Even his body is completely tense.

"I'm literally stuck...Hah,"- Giggling nervously, the guy looked around at all the darkness around him. It seems aggressive, although Al isn't even sure why he thinks that.

"Hey, wake up, fucking huge sleeper! I'm already tired to be here!"- The guy said, getting to his feet, clenching his hands into fists. Al feels that someone are looking at his back. From this, goosebumps run through the body.

"You really have to wake up, otherwise..." The thought is interrupted as soon as a terrible roar reaches the ears, straight out of the darkness.

His legs, like springs, abruptly broke into a run, and Al felt how fear made his heart pound in his chest.

Quickly shaking his head, driving away fear, the guy accelerates run. And behind him, an approaching roar is heard, and the sound of a snapping mouth.

"A wolf? What a wolf, a wolf doesn't sound like that! So, maybe a bear! Damn, why do dreams always turn into a nightmare?!" The thought flashed through his brain quickly, Al didn't even pay enough attention to it, closing his eyes in fear. He only accelerated in his run, wanting to escape from the enemy behind him. If he turns around, then death is guaranteed to him.

Others beast from the darkness joined the Al's enemy, they be a new and completely unknown. Al could only hear their growls merging into one cacophony. But maybe he was running fast enough for the enemies to fall behind a little.

Suddenly, Al's foot caught on something and he fell down to the floor with a crash.

The heart sounded in his own ears, it seemed that it would not stand, even if it was a simple nightmare. Quickly getting up to get to his feet and continue running, Al saw a tablet in front of his face.

"W-what?! What the heck?!"-

The guy recoiled from the tablet, narrowing his eyes. Its outlines were bright white, as was the text. It took only a couple of seconds before Al could make out the words

The user is in a dangerous situation. If this is true, does the system need to intervene?

If not, then just ignore this message

"The system?..." - El exhales, being completely in a stupor

"This nightmare is getting weirder and weirder..." The guy thought before he heard the enemies approaching, growling loudly. Literally quite a bit...

"I won't have time to get up, and I'll be devoured!" A panicked thought instantly popped into my head. He didn't know if he would feel the pain of the monsters tearing him to pieces, and he didn't want to check

"Yeah...Yes, I'm in danger, intervense!"- He cry in panic, after which he screamed and closing his eyes in pain, when the monster's teeth clung to his leg.

Literally in a few seconds...everything is gone. Their growling, pain in the leg and the feeling of someone else's teeth. 

Al quickly opened his eyes, looking around in panic. Darkness again...only now...

The system intervened. The system asks the user to choose their view

"What... view?"- Al said a little hoarsely, not understanding what was going on. But he hoped that tablet would give him answers. The system was silent, and the message did not disappear.

"I have to choose...but what?! Explain!"- Al shouted, feeling the anxiety settling more and more in his chest. He didn't like this nightmare...don't like it at all!