"Asriel!" Brittney yelled, snapping Asriel out of his drowsiness as he looked up, his eyes heavy with sleep as several students laughed. "You tell him, Brittney!" Sapphire called, getting another round of laughter from the class as both Asriel and Brittney laughed. "Sorry Brittney; I just couldn't get any sleep last night," Asriel explained, keeping the reason silent, not wanting to make a fool of himself in front of her and the class as he yawned.

Asriel was forced awake all week, only getting two or three hours of sleep each night, all because of himself. The dark part of his mind always tormented him in his dreams, filling his dreamscape with terrors so fierce it left him awake for hours later; he had to get his baby brother, a Zorua named Jace, to use hypnosis on him to make him fall asleep, but even then he only got him to do that twice out of desperation. Each morning he had to brew a pot of coffee or else he would have been dead to the world; each morning he praised Arceus for letting the substance to come into existence.

"Are you done with your work? Orron needs it to 'check his answers'," Brittney smiled, making air quotes in the air. Wordlessly, Asriel handed over his papers, yawning again as his eyes dropped yet again, sleep tempting him. 'I could step in for a while, you know,' a deep voice said in Asriel's mind, making him jump and swing behind him with enough force to crack the cement pillar behind him. 'Leave me be!!!' Asriel mentally yelled, glaring daggers at the dark Lucario as it sat in front of the classroom.

Soon aware of the class staring at him, Asriel sat back down with a sheepish grin, Nightmare looking at him with a wide eye, remaining silent as he did his work. Putting down his head, Asriel silently groaned; he could hear the rumors spreading about him now, some of which were going to be true... sadly true. A tap on his solider made him snap inwardly, growling as he looked up, stopping when he saw it was Brittney. "Sorry," Asriel said, looking at her in an apologizing fashion at her hurt look. "You are just tired. Here; listen to some music," Brittney offered, giving him her headphones and phone; she knew that music helped him sleep.

As he was about to say 'thank you' to her, movement caught his eyes. Asriel saw himself standing behind Flare, the Flareon wide eyed with fear. "NO!" Asriel yelled, jumping on to the table, diving forward as the shadow Lucario slashed across her neck, blood gushing out. SLamming the creature to the ground, Asriel started to punch the life out of his inner demon.

However, with each punch he landed, Asriel felt immense pain while the creature laughed. 'That is right, you fool... give in to your anger! Feed me y our frustration, your rage...'  the creature crackled. "Asriel!" Nightmare yelled suddenly, fear in his voice as he pulled Asriel away, his scarlet eye wide as he looked over the Lucario, concern for his friend soon mixing with horror. "What?!" Asriel snapped, glaring at the still crackling Lucario on the ground; he stopped when he felt something warm running down his fur; with a paw, he whimpered when he saw it was blood. "Your face- it's bleeding!" Brittney cried, running for the first aid kit.

Nightmare took Asriel out of class before anyone could take a picture of him, making the Lucario sit down on the ground with him following. "Arceus; you should have come to me sooner!" Nightmare said as he began to apply pressure to a gash, ignoring the blood like it were not even there. "What do you mean?" Asriel asked, groaning with a burst of pain in his jaw. "You are going insane, aren't you?" Nightmare asked his friend, his voice barely above a whisper. "What?" Asriel said, snapping his head back, groaning when it hit a brick wall. "I know the signs, Asirel. Insanity is slowly coming back to me too. When you did your aura transplant, it must have affected you more than you thought," Nightmare explained, his concern now understandable.

"I want to get rid of him!" Asriel whimpered, blinking at his friend as blood got into his eyes. Before Nightmare could say anything, Brittney rushed out of the room, a plastic box in her paws before she sat down on the floor. "Thank Arceus that Mom made me take healing lessons." Brittney sighed, opening the box before pulling out an Oran berry ointment tube and bandages, applying a nice amount to the bandage. "This is going to sting," Brittney warned, pressing the bandage to the cut. Asriel hissed with pain before sighing as the pain already started to fade from that wound.

Redoing the process, Brittney quickly sealed up all of his cuts, even using a little fire (healing) on some of the bad ones, making sure that they sealed up correctly before applying a bandage. "There; that is the best I can do. We need to take you to the dentist as soon as we can; I think you might have a broken tooth," Brittney told him, worry for her love in her eyes. "Don't worry about me; I will be fine with what you did. Thank you," Asriel said, giving her a reassuring smile, ignoring a burst of pain from his mouth. "Okay, Asriel... Why did you do that? You were just punching the ground, so how did you hurt your self? Your paw is fine," Brittney said, looking over the said paw thoroughly.

Asriel remained silent, unable to bring himself to tell her what is going on within him. 'I don't know....' Asriel wanted to say, but just hugged her instead, letting a few tears fall as Brittney, slightly surprised by the sudden embrace, hugged him back. Nightmare just looked around; though not for fellow Pokemon, Asriel knew, but for the Lucario's insane counterpart. 'How can I tell her? She will be afraid of me... She will want to never see me again...' Asriel thought sadly, a slight whimper escaping him at the thought. 'I can't tell her' Asriel thought to himself, knowing he would have to keep it under lock and key at all times; since Nightmare already knew, Asriel hoped that he would keep it a secret.

'Dear Arceus.... Why?' Asriel thought, closing his eyes as he suddenly lost all consciousness, lost into the black void amongst a panic filled scream...

Dun Dun Dunnnnn!!!!!!! Asriel has been knocked out, but for what reason? Is it his dark counter part? Was it Nightmare, trying to help ease the pain for his friend? Did he DIE?!? Stay tuned for the next part!

Peace out, mi Pokemans!!!