Diverse Nightmares
Like all disturbances in the fabric of space and time, this one was barely noticeable at first.
High above the mountain range of Coronet, a small rift began to spread. At its altitude, no human or Pokémon would have been able to spot it even if such anomalies were visible to the eye of the untrained viewer. Indeed, the only ones to notice were the two dragons that were known to hold reign over such natural forces.
The blue one arrived first. It moved in cautiously, aware of the potential danger that could ensue at any moment. After a moment, it visibly relaxed and began its investigation.
The faintly-pink dragon arrived shortly afterward. Seeing its sibling already present, it backed to a safe distance. The two had had… altercations in the past, and while this rivalry was unlikely to end in the near future, they had long since reached an agreement to allow each other to work unimpeded when faced with matters that warranted their presence.
It did not have to wait for long. The blue one finished quickly and moved away. While the disturbance had originally been of a temporal nature, it was evident to it that some form of spatial turbulence had rendered it stable in that regard. This was a job for Palkia alone.
After the other's departure, said dragon began its own investigation.
This was a particularly odd spatial anomaly. It continued to expand slowly, with no apparent acceleration to the effect. It spread in chaotic directions, guided by a few potential focus points, but clearly with no inherent intent. And yet the center was completely stable. It was as though something had created this rift intentionally, and then given up on it entirely once it had opened.
Even better, it was already correcting itself. There would be no need for direct intervention at all.
After a quick check to ensure that the fabric of space was once again stable, Palkia departed.
Unknown to it or to the other dragon, however, the damage had already been incurred.
On the eastern coast of the Sinnoh region, in the mechanically-advanced city of Sunyshore, in a trainer-reserved room of the local Pokémon Center, a young man was sleeping uneasily.
He thought he would have had more reason to relax. After all, his lengthy journey had just come to its end, and in a favorable manner. It had taken him a great deal of effort and sacrifice, though of a kind that was not readily apparent to the many onlookers he had met, but it had paid off in full.
He had just taken top honors in the Lily of the Valley Conference.
The hardest part, Tobias knew, was making it look easy. That was one of the central goals of this undertaking, and if not for that, he probably wouldn't have been granted such a unique opportunity.
Catching a Darkrai had actually been one of the easier steps for him. He had investigated the rumors of a wild one wandering a certain forest at night. He had assembled a team of five Pokémon, carefully selected from his collection based on such criteria as strength, type advantage against darkness, and most importantly the ability to counteract the inevitable attempt to put them to sleep. It also helped to have multiple Pokéballs, for this Pokémon was unlikely to come along quietly.
It was only after the legendary was in his possession that he had realized the extreme difficulty of the second step. After forcing a powerful and unpredictable creature into nonconsensual captivity, he had promptly nodded off to sleep and found himself unable to awaken for weeks.
It was amusing, he thought. So much had changed in the year or so since the two first met. During the nights before the conference, in fact, he had actually been so nervous about the possibility of tough competition that he had called upon Darkrai to help him sleep. The Pokémon didn't seem to mind, and the lack of particularly horrifying nightmares had reassured Tobias almost as much as the sleep itself. Darkrai's self-control had improved greatly. Even if not for his success in the end, he would still have been proud of that.
As his thoughts continued to grow more positive and his slumber became more restful, the image of Darkrai appeared before him.
"Hey", he casually thought to his Pokémon. "What are you doing here tonight? I don't recall letting you out of…"
The Pokémon's single blue eye suddenly started glowing a bright red. Before Tobias could react, he dashed forward through the aether of the dreamscape and harshly gripped his trainer by the neck.
Tobias suddenly found himself unable to move, no matter how much he tried. His captor's eye continued to gaze at him maliciously. For the first time in a long while since he had developed his relationship with Darkrai, he was genuinely afraid of him again.
And as Darkrai's head moved closer to his body, he suddenly realized that this fear was exactly what Darkrai was hoping for…
Much further west, in the relative area of Oreburgh City, there was a town of ethnic ancestry known as Alamos.
The most prominent landmark in the town was a twin-towered structure with a bell-ringing mechanism, built to honor the very same two dragons mentioned earlier. In fact, the dragons had visited the town surprisingly recently, resulting in a certain... incident. However, everyone involved agreed that the worst had passed, everything had been properly fixed, and there would be no lingering hard feelings.
Less known to tourists, but still popular to the locals, was a beautiful and well-kept garden. Many humans and Pokémon were known to gather there and play with each other. There would occasionally be even more surprising guests.
"Alice!"
At the sound of her name, the town's resident tour guide turned and walked to the nearest window to gaze out from the building upon the nearby road, as well as the bespectacled man that stood upon it. "It's the middle of the night. What's going on?"
"…the garden…" Tonio stammered. "…he's back..."
"Darkrai?" Her voice was now excited. Indeed, a visit from the dark Pokémon was a fairly rare but welcome event for her. He had known her grandmother, it turned out, and while not everyone in the town was fond of him, he was known to spend time at the garden occasionally. To him, it seemed, it was a place where everyone could stay, put aside their differences, and…
"Not just that!" Tonio said frantically. "He's already taken down at least seven Pokémon!"
Her excitement dropped considerably, replaced by concern, as she hurried out the door to the side of her fiancé. "What? A fight broke out? Who started it?"
"Don't know... but he's definitely not trying to end it."
The two reached the edge of the garden as quickly as possible. While Tonio paused to catch his breath, Alice surveyed the damage as well as she could in the relative darkness.
It was as described earlier. A number of fainted Pokémon lay upon the grass, while those that were still conscious had backed away from the figure that floated between them. Darkrai remained silent, his arms raised in a fighting stance.
And he had heard Alice's arrival. He turned his head to gaze at her. His eye was… not angry, but not kind, either. With a single hand, he beckoned the human to come closer.
She moved toward him slowly. "What happened? What are you doing?" Her question was not as rhetorical as one would normally surmise; even past the tendency of most Pokémon to understand the words of humans, Darkrai had made an effort to learn to respond in kind. His vocabulary was very limited, Alice knew, but it had rarely stopped him from making his intents known. Eventually.
He didn't reply, though. His hand moved up in a "stop" gesture, and his eye shifted from direction to direction, examining her closely. After a few moments, he turned away from her and returned his attentions to the other Pokémon.
Alice frowned. "Aren't you going to listen to…"
"Okay, I'm here." The feminine voice had come from behind Alice. "Who needs the most help?"
The girl turned to see a nurse quickly walk past her, followed by a few concerned-looking citizens. With little hesitation, they began to inspect the fallen Pokémon. Darkrai didn't seem to mind; he merely levitated upward slightly and backed away from the group.
"This one's safe to move", one assistant called to the nurse. "He's unconscious and has a few blunt injuries, but it shouldn't compound anything."
"Unconscious?" Alice turned to look at Darkrai's position again. "Not asleep?"
The dark Pokémon was already heading away into the distance. He wasn't even doing his usual shadow stunt, she noticed.
"…what's with you?"
And even further west, on the western coast of the Sinnoh region, there was Canalave City.
Apart from the usual businesses found in a typical large Sinnoh city, it had its own share of landmarks. Chief among them was the canal that divided it into halves, which had once made the city useful for importing and exporting goods, but now was mostly relevant due to the ferry that made regular runs to nearby islands.
The Pokémon that was approaching the city from one of said islands had no need for the ferry. She levitated nearly effortlessly through the air in a manner comparable to that of a swan moving across the surface of a clear lake. Her brightly-colored body and odd shape were particularly striking to those that beheld her, especially considering that she rarely made appearances in the town itself.
If she did, it was usually because a certain other Pokémon was doing the same thing.
Darkrai turned slowly to face her, and his eye winced. (Cresselia), he simply stated in a raspy voice unintelligible to humans, (did you follow me?)
(You are not welcome here), she replied in a more melodic voice. (You know that.)
His eye lit up. (If you say so.) He took one more look around the city before speaking again. (Where am I, anyway?)