Insanity Exposed.

"Safe here... Safe in my own little world... My teammate's room... No one is going to get hurt... No one is going to attack me... I'm not crazy, I'm just concerned..." Aaron muttered to himself, rocking back and forth in a very disturbing manner. Just looking at like this was absolutely heart wrenching. All Alona could do at this point is watch the poor Deino and make sure he doesn't do anything he was going to regret later. "I'll protect them... I'll protect my friends... they give me.. com.. Comfort! They.... They care for me...." The guild has suspicions about Aaron's condition, but haven't confronted him... yet. "This is getting too crazy. Hurry up with that evolution, Aaron. I can't stand to see you like this."

She wanted to tell all of his close friend about his condition, to help calm him down. Joey was one of them, but ultimately she decided against it. This darkness thing might have spooked Joey already. The last thing he needed is seeing his friend suffer. "Aaron? I'm just going to get Pecha berries from the kitchen. You don't mind that, right?" The Deino stop suddenly, having this eerie smile that made the Sylveon chill her bones. "...Don't get hurt... I'm the only one I can protect you." Alona nodded nervously, walking away for a bit to get food.

Joey had been sitting in his room as he stared outside. The darkness still looming all around the sky. It was very certain that this whole ordeal was going to last for a while. A sad expression on his face was visible to those from outside the window. His back was turned towards the room’s doorway.

“When will this end… I hate it.” the Pikachu murmured to himself. He was currently alone in his room, his partner had been gone for a while now. It was another troubled thought on his mind, where she went this time.

Jak was still out there, trying to figure the whole situation out with the darkness. Joey still being kept in the dark about the whole thing. Little did Joey know, the whole situation was getting worse by the day. Joey continued to watch the outside world as something began to happen in the far distance, far out of sight from where Joey was.

Joey flinched as he felt some kind of vibration. He looked around to see no one in the room. That small vibration wasn’t very strong, and was barely detectable by most. He got up and moved to the doorway to look outside. Just before he reached it, the whole room began to shake violently as a large rumble was heard from outside. It was like a distant roar that was completely indistinguishable. Joey quickened his pace to the doorway to see what was going on.

While Alona was gathering food, she could feel rumbling. At first, she looked around to check if there were some big Pokemon stomping around. But she saw nothing and figured that it was her own imagination and went back to gathering food. But suddenly a much bigger rumble occurred. The whole room started to shake, causing the Sylveon to drop the Pecha berries in an attempt to keep her balance. It was as if she heard a roar! "What the hell is it this time?!" Alona shouted as she went over to the doorway to check it out. On her way there, she saw Joey. "Joey! What the hell is going on? Did something happen?"

Meanwhile, Aaron himself panicked when he felt the whole room rumbling. "JOEY! ALONA!" Aaron took off, trying to find his true friends. Whatever happened, he has to protect them!

As Joey reached the doorway, he was met face to face with Alona. She seemed a bit panicked herself as she asked what was going on. The unfortunate thing was… he didn’t know what was going on. Joey shook his head, “I don’t know, where is aar-“ he started but stopped as his ears twitched. He heard aaron’s voice from a couple rooms over. It was just barely audible to him as he looked towards the direction of the sound. As the shaking slowed to a halt, Joey couldn’t help but feel as if something really bad was starting to stir. The clouds in the sky began to turn ever more violently as the chaos that was stirring upon the land grew.

A holy war was about to begin… Joey and the others may not just know it yet.

Joey's voice was cut off when Alone heard Aaron coming down the halls. "Oh no, This isn't good! Why now?!" It was one bad thing after another! Whatever that was, it sounded really bad! And to make matters worse, Joey will find out about Aaron's condition. If She does something about it now, he'll go even more crazy, claiming that she thought of him unimportant! But if she didn't do anything, Joey might react harshly! The consequence was the same thing! She just had to hope and pray Joey understand enough to not piss him off. If he does anything, she had no choice but to pin him down.

Aaron sprint towards the hall, stopping moments before he wrap his head around the Pikachu's body. "You're Safe! You're safe... I was soo worried..." It looked like a friendly hug, but Alona knew better. He did the very same thing to her when he was worried. "Joey... Whatever you do, don't upset him..." Alona plead mentally, Looking at the both of them with great concern.

Joey looked down the hall to see the dark type come dashing out of the room and off towards the two. Joey was slightly panicked at the sight of how fast he was coming down the hall. “Aar—“ he started but was quickly interrupted by the sudden squeezing from the dark type. The dark type kept saying that he was safe and that he was worried. However, Joey wasn’t able to speak at the moment as he felt completely crushed.

“-a—ron- y-yo-u a—r-ee cr-u-shhin—me-“ he attempted to speak, but his words where completely mushed together. It hurt badly and he just couldn’t take it much longer. Seconds going by, and now he was forced to help himself… His cheeks sparked slightly as he let out a small pulse, trying to get the deino’s attention. If it didn’t help, he would have to go stronger.

Alona look at the two with utter horror when she heard sparks coming out of the Electric type. However, when she looks at Aaron, he looked unbothered by it. Dragon types are known to resist electricity, so maybe Joey didn't gave it his all? All the more worrying. "Joey... D-don't..." The Sylveon could only mutter. By the way of her voice, she was hinting to Joey that something wasn't right with him and he should refrain from hurting him, even if he was hurting him.

Aaron on the other hand felt a slight tickle, but not enough to dissuade him from ceasing his crushing hug. "You know what would happen if you were to get hurt? Why? I would feel awful about it! You wouldn't let that happen though, wouldn't you?" Aaron soon nuzzles the Pikachu, Sniffing into his fur to catch his very scent. A scent, that gives him comfort. A scent, that made him sigh in relief. While this was comforting for Aaron, this was very worrisome for Alona. "We're friends, till the very end." the Deino placed more pressure into his hug, crushing Joey even more. "You mean so much to me..."

Joey heard Alona’s voice as he emitted those small sparks. He couldn’t take much more, but as aaron began to squeeze harder… he had no choice. Joey began to charge up a bit, his cheeks started to crackle with the energy at a very low tone. “Aa-ro-n y-you ar-e hurting me” he managed to get out.

The Pikachu was at the bad end of a bad hug at this point. He really couldn’t take it. Joey’s eyes began to tear when he heard the deino speak. Stating that they were friends to the end. Joey finally let loose a bolt of energy straight upwards as part of the energy leaked through to aaron. The attack wasn’t directed towards aaron, but as a last warning… the only warning he had left that shouldn’t hurt the deino. This time it was very visible.

If he is given the chance to speak from the startle, he would immediately restate that he was being crushed to death, and to let go. Tears would still be running down his cheeks.

While The Pikachu's attack did indirectly jolt Aaron a bit, he was too caught up with his hugging to be fazed by it. Yet, he lightened his grip and rubbed Joey's back with his head. "Whenever I'm near you, I feel cared for, loved... It... It's amazing feeling Joey..." After a while he stopped and if and when Joey saw his head, he would see one of the most chilling smiles he would see out of him. "That's why I trust you Joey... They're after me... hehehe... The guild Heheheh." Alona continued to watch over them, swallowing hard with each action Aaron makes. It was nerve wrecking. He has completely lost it, and the reality is going to hit the Electric type hard in the face.

"They know I'm going crazy, Joey. They Know I'm suffering due to this darkness... And they'll make me an outlaw, torturing me like they are with my brother. You would never hurt me, would you?" Aaron went back to nuzzling the Pikachu, but more softly this time. He still sniffs his fur and such, but he's not as rough as he was last time. Once Aaron showed his true colors during the whole thing, Alona quickly whispered into Joey's ears. "Joey, We will talk about this in his room. For now, go with it and don't get him angry."

Joey listened to the dragons voice. What it said absolutely make him freeze with fear. He couldn’t stop wondering what had happened to aaron. Why didn’t alona tell him earlier that he was getting worse… was it possible that he could have helped his friend. At this point now though, he just had the most horrifying feeling that he was in danger.

As Joey remained frozen… Alona quickly spoke into his ear, stating that they will talk about it in his room. She also urged him not to get him angry. All the more making his fear realized. It was true Joey was Aaron’s friend… However, he felt fear… fear that his friend had lost it and may harm him. For the remainder of the time, he remained perfectly silent. At least he wasn’t being crushed to death now..

"Aaron! Maybe we should go to your room, That way you can "Protect" Us better." Aaron finally lets go of Joey, nodding in agreement "...Hurry up, alright?" Aaron urges before going to his room. That took care of that problem, but now she had another problem. She walked in front of Joey and placed her head on his. "Listen to me, he cares for you, understand? He's as much scared as you." Poor kid, he would probably scared for life. This was going to be hard, but she has to make sure she gets Joey to understand his predicament. "Joey, this has been going on for a while now. He knows this, and he avoids you so it doesn't ruin his relationship...." Alona suddenly hugged Joey, tearing up herself. "He might not look like it now, be he's crying for help inside. Every day he has nightmares, a lot of the times he has episodes whenever we get hurt. His fears are us, Joey. He fears that we would abandon him and his friendship. To be useless. And this darkness is taking advantage of that."

The Sylveon held on to the Pikachu tighter, but in a more comforting way. "Joey, we can't abandon him now. It will make it worse for the both of us. We have a plan to get him the help he needs, but I need to ask you something. If you're really his friend, if you're as much concern about him as I am. Wouldn't you help him too? Would you protect him, even in his state?"

Joey looked towards Alona as she approached him. Joey looked towards alona as she spoke, tears visible in his eyes as she spoke. He still remained silent as alona practically hugged him. The Pikachu seriously didn’t know what to say. If only alona knew how he felt, or perhaps she did? Either way, he felt extremely hurt his friend had gotten to such a state.

When alona got to asking whether or not he would help also, protecting him even in such a state. This left Joey in some seriously deep questions about how much he was willing to risk for his friend. Joey… wasn’t the kind of person to abandon someone. This was a new test for him, one that may change him forever. How would he even respond to such a thing?

“I… he… I don’t know” he whimpered as he held onto the Sylveon. His emotions had started to wreak havoc on his mind. The great conflict that came with protecting himself, and helping his friend stirred. The Pikachu was now crying, not knowing what to do.

Hearing his voice, Looking at him cry, it was heart wrenching. This was the exact reason why she didn't want to tell him in the first place. However, what's done is done. It was her job to make sure Joey fully understand the situation and calm him down. She wasn't going to force him to help or anything like that. "Joey, You don't have to decide now. I know you don't want to be hurt by him, or even see him like this. I don't even want this myself..." Alona's ribbons started to send Soothing Aura to Joey, hopefully to give him more comfort. "He won't hurt you though. I've been with him long enough in his current state to know this. The worst he can do is pin you to the ground, but he will scare you more than he will hurt you. And if you still don't feel safe around him, I'll protect you. I won't let him do anything to you."

So far so good, so she thought. Maybe she can seal the deal by telling the Pikachu their plan. "Do you know about his second evolution? A Zweilous?" Alona hinted.

As Alona spoke to Joey, he felt the ribbons she had comfort him with that odd aura. Joey remained still, still not responding to what she had said about Aaron’s state. He still couldn’t believe what he was going through right now. One of his friends had fallen down this path of darkness, one that he was worried about for some time now. It was very disheartening.

Joey looked up towards Alona when she asked him about whether or not he knew about Aaron’s second evolution. She also mentioned its evolutionary name, a zweilous… which Joey really didn’t know too much about. Joey remained where he was as he shook his head slowly, no.

"A Zweilous have a second head. A head that has a mind of it's own, so I've heard. That means while the Aaron we know will still be affected, hopefully temporarily, his second head can take control and help get Aaron back to sanity." She was sure there were flaws in this plan, but it was a more better option than just trying to do this on her own. "Joey, his second head will be a lot different than the Aaron you know now, but this is the best option we can think of." Alona smiled to reassure the Little Electric mouse that everything was going to be OK.

"That's why I asked you if you can help Aaron, even in his state right now. We can still help him, Joey. We can end his suffering once and for all. We just need to get him to evolve. As I take it, it won't be long now." She hoped anyway.