Red: Adventures in Pokéland.

(The lost days)

As I sat there thinking about that strange fisher, I began to feel my eyes drifting shut. Ever so slowly my thought were growing slower, more lethargic. I tried to focus but everything was getting blurry... and clouded... sounds became... muffles... I jerk awake as I hear a woman's voice say "Rise and shine sleepy-head! You've got a big day today!" For a minute or so, I'm blinded by the sunlight streaming in through the curtains. Once my vision clears, I see an old woman standing at the foot of my bead, giving me an impatient look as she motions for me to get out of bed. "What time is it?" I ask as I stretch my arms over my head, slightly arching my back backwards. "Time to get up!" she responds, laying some folded clothes on my bed. Once she leaves, I get up and look at the clothes she laid out. Deciding that I don't like the shirt, I switch it out for my usual wear: a black teeshirt with a red and white short-sleeved jacket. Once dressed, I walk out of my room an make my way to the dining table. Waiting for me is my favorite meal of bacon-and-eggs. As I sit down, I call out "Good-morning!" to Beverly, the maid who tries to take care of me. "Eat your food!" she calls back to me from the kitchen, where she is preparing breakfast for herself. "I had the weirdest dream." I tell her between chewing, as she sits down at the table. "I dreamt that I was off on an adventure across the region after some stupid Magikarp, and get this, my only human companion was a fisherman who was the reason why I was after the stupid fish in the first place." "That's what happens when you watch tv before bed!" she responds. As I'm eating, I can't help but feel a sense of emptiness, as if I couldn't remember something important. I look up from my delicious meal, and see a Zigzagoon dashing across the lawn outside the dining room window. I became extremely curious as to why there was a Zigzagoon in my yard, because I have a large fence around the perimeter that's meant to keep stray Pokémon out. Quickly finishing my bacon, I dash outside and look around, spotting the Zigzagoon's tail right as it runs around the corner towards the back of the house. I run after it, trying my best because it's so fast and I don't want to loose it. As I round the corner, I spot it running through a hole, just beneath the bottom of the fence. I run up to the hole, hesitating a few moments before curiosity gets the better of me. I lay down on my stomach an begin to crawl into the hole. At first it's really narrow and slow-going, but it quickly widens until it's large enough for me to stand up. What is really confusing me though, is the fact that the ground beneath me stays level with the entrance, while the roof of the tunnel slants upward. I'm so confused because all of the land for miles around my house is flat, so how does the roof slant upwards?! Once I finish gawking at the impossibility of the tunnel, I cautiously make my way forward, and things just keep getting weirder. As I go forward the tunnel roof continues to slant upward until I can't see it, and the tunnel widens into a huge cavern with a temple of some sort in the center. I startle as I hear something running ahead of me, and remember the Zigzagoon I was chasing. I take off at a dash towards the temple, determined not to loose the Zigzagoon. As if things can't possibly get weirder, when I get to the temple entrance I spot the Zigzagoon sitting there waiting for me. I walk up to it and it takes off running again, only this time not as fast. I begin to jog along side it as it slows it's pace to match mine. On the walks of the temple corridor are strange hieroglyphs of ghost Pokémon lining up in front of a strange Pokémon I'd never seen before. I notice that a light is coming from up ahead, and slow down to be cautious. The Zigzagoon seems irritated that I'm moving slow, and it bites onto the bottom cuff of my right pants leg and tries to pull me faster. I decide to do what it wants, and speed up. We enter a well lit room that seems to be at the center of the temple. At the center of the room is a dais with that strange Pokémon I saw on the wall on it. When I look at the Pokémon, I instantly become afraid. I become paralyzed with fear, that is, until the Zigzagoon bites my ankle, drawing my attention away from the strange Pokémon. The Zigzagoon runs over to the left toward a stone arch I hadn't noticed. I quickly chase after him. As we pass under the arch, I look back at the strange Pokémon. It turns it's head and I hear "Fear me. For I am Darkrai!" I wake up in a cold sweat, laying on a bench at the PokéCenter. I sit up, breathing hard. As I sit there and shake out of fear, I try to remember what it was I dreamt that had me so afraid...

All thanks go to my best friend Red, who inspired me to write this late at night. Sincerely Fisherman Matt.