Author's Note: I've now revised this chapter to fit with later chapters, as well as to improve the writing style. I'd recommend re-reading it; there's a bunch of new and different details to check out. I've also revised the first chapter, and am revising the third while I continue to work on the thirteenth. Enjoy!


Chapter 2: Meeting with Madame Morpheus

Graham Hopkins wasn't just a friend of Sophia's; no, he was considered a member of the family. A human once, Graham had been whisked into the World of Pokemon by a magical Gameboy he found one day. It wasn't long before he ran into trouble. A Magneton began bullying him, and when he fought back the Magneton brought in its older sibling. The Magnezone was prepared to electrocute Graham to death, but at the last moment he was saved by Sophia, who had just happened to be taking a walk with her boyfriend and saw the whole commotion. Seeing as Graham had nowhere to go, Sophia brought him back to her house, and to his luck after hearing his story Dr. Flarison kindly allowed him stay for however long he wished. The Flarison household soon became Graham's homebase as Sophia and Dr. Flarison began teaching him about the world he now lived in.

The cities and towns and villages in the World of Pokemon were all slightly different than they were in the real world. The countries were slightly different too. In place of Japan were two different countries--Kanto and Johto--which he remembered from the Blue and Silver versions of the Pokemon games. Some continents were massively different, and a few of them were archipelagos with countries for every island. There were some continents he was unfamiliar with, such as one archipelago with the country of Sinnoh, and some that he knew by heart, such as South America. The United States of America had remained generally the same, though it still had some differences. Graham wasn't sure what village he now lived in, but he was certain it didn't exist in the USA of his world. Despite this, some major cities such as Chicago and New York still seemed to exist. Chicago even had mafias left over from the Prohibition, including a particularly dangerous one known as the Don Karasu Syndicate, headed by a feared Italian Honchkrow named Don Karasu.

The village Graham lived in was headed by a pompous and stately Hypno woman by the name of Madame Morpheus. She lived at the extensive Dreamy Estate, up at the top of Sleepwalker's Hill, with her Drowzee children. Madame Morpheus made for a wise and powerful governess of her county (in the World of Pokemon, counties were controlled by regional governors), making good use of all her Psychic powers to keep in check with the town's condition. An incredibly busy woman, she seldom left the estate's grounds; this meant it was always an honor to be in her presence.

As the village's Pokemon Professor, Dr. Flarison sometimes had to pay business visits to Madame Morpheus. Most of the time he made these trips alone, but occasionally he'd take his children with him to keep the governess' three children company. These business trips typically happened once or twice a month, and the time of the month arrived once again for Dr. Flarison to meet with the lovely Hypno. Madame Morpheus allowed him to bring Graham, Sophia, and Danny along; this would be a particularly special visit, as Graham had never met Madame Morpheus before.

"You'll like her," Sophia told him, once the two salamanders and the giraffe had seated themselves on the plushy grey seats in the back of Dr. Flarison's fire-red minivan. Danny sat in the middle because he was the youngest, and Graham and Sophia sat on each side of him. "She can be a bit pompous at times, but you get used to it once you get to know her."

"What about her kids?" Graham asked with deep interest. Psychic Pokemon, he had soon discovered after arriving, were a rarity in the town, so he seldom had anybody to relate to concerning his mental powers. Meeting three children of a powerful Psychic Pokemon therefore was an exciting concept. Graham hoped he would be able to learn a lot from them. "What are they like?" he pressed.

Danny give Graham a toothy smile, revealing his sharp, pointy teeth. Before Sophia could answer, Danny enthusiastically gave his own reply. "Oh, they're great!" he explained, clearly excited to see them again. "You'll love them!"

"Madame has three children, all Drowzees," Sophia explained in a much calmer tone than her younger brother as she opened her window. There was a cool autumn breeze outside that felt good to her warm body. The smell of dying leaves quickly filled the car, but it was a smell everybody liked. "One's almost a Hypno--he's 18. His name is Wink."

Graham blinked in surprise. "Wink?"

Sophia nodded quickly. "Yes, Wink. Strange name, I know. Then there's the middle child, Blink. She's 17, just a year under her brother. And the youngest is Nod, who's 11. Wink and Blink constantly argue, but otherwise they're very fun to be around. And Nod is hilarious, Danny loves him," she added, pointing at the Charmander with her thumb.

"Yeah, Nod's the best," Danny chimed in. "I don't know anybody with a better sense of humor!"

The car turned a curve and started up an incline. "Graham, I'd like you to take a look out the front window," Dr. Flarison instructed. Graham nodded his main head and leaned both of his heads forward to look through the window, his tail just capable of peeking over the dashboard. The two spotted a stately mansion in the distance against the grey clouds in the sky, as well as a red brick fence coming up on the road. The tops of the mansions' towers resembled the sort of hats witches or wizards would wear. As they got closer, Graham could begin to make out a black iron gate in the fence which closed off the estate. To the sides of the gate stood proud golden statues of what looked like real-world tapirs. "We're approaching the Dreamy Estate, Graham," Dr. Flarison explained, thinking it fit that Graham knew a little about where they were going. "That mansion up on the hill is the Sleepy Chateau, where Madame Morpheus lives."

"Are those tapirs?" Graham asked, nodding toward the statues.

"Tapirs?" Danny asked with curiosity, quickly reaching over Sophia to scan the scenery outside the window. His eyes searched the landscape but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. "What's a tapir?" Danny asked, slightly frustrated that he didn't know what he was looking for.

"They're animals from my world," Graham explained, glad to know something that nobody else seemed to know. "They look kind of like Drowzees, but walk on four legs."

Dr. Flarison couldn't help but chuckle. "No, those aren't statues of tapirs, Graham. They are statues of Baku, a prehistoric Pokemon which all Drowzees are descended from."

"Oh, I see..." the Girafarig nodded. Baku, he recalled, was a mythological tapir from the Orient that devoured people's dreams. Nintendo had based both Drowzee and Hypno off of the legend of Baku. He decided not to bring this point up, though, as he reasoned it would only confuse the Flarison family. Instead, he just watched with a bit of amusement as Sophia shoved Danny off of her.

The car arrived at the black iron gate. Though it wasn't anything but pleasant to look at in the daytime, Graham could imagine the gate looking very spooky at night. It was like one of those classic black iron fences that haunted mansions had in horror films. The estate in general had a very Halloween feel to it, and Graham was glad the holiday of horrors had already passed. Near the gate was a kiosk standing guard by the side of the road. It was made of white wooden boards, with a purple witch hat roof like the mansion's towers. In front of the kiosk was a small sign with a large pair of Noctowl eyes painted on it that underneath the eyes read, "NO MISCHIEF; OUR EYES ARE WATCHING!" Inside the small building sat a sleepy-looking Arcanine in a blue security guard uniform. The fire-red canine was resting his head on his hand, leaning his elbow against the kiosk windowsill while lazily looking out the window in such a dreary manner that Graham really couldn't tell whether he was really paying attention to his guard duty. In the guard's other hand he held a strange sort of device that lacked a real world comparison. It was a device specially designed for Fire Pokemon that prevented them from accidentally lighting something on fire while sleeping. It came in many shapes and sizes, and Sophia always carried one with her in her pocket. Shaped almost like a collar, if she ever felt like she might fall asleep she put her device around her neck. The guard's device looked like a radio. The way he held it, he obviously was concerned he would fall asleep on the job. Dr. Flarison rolled down his window and stuck his long neck out. "Hello, Roger," the Arcanine greeted groggily, slowly waving a paw. "Here to see the mistress?"

"That I am, Bill," Dr. Flarison answered cheerfully with a wave back. The striking contrast between the furry red-orange paw and the scaly orange hand caught Graham's eye and reminded him of how strange the World of Pokemon truly was. A year ago he never even dreamed of watching a dragon wave "hello" to an oversized dog in a security outfit, and even if he had the dragon and dog certainly wouldn't have been both capable of breathing fire.

"I'll open the gate for you, Roger," Bill yawned. "Just give me a minute." He set his device down and dragged himself around to a small brown table by the wall. The sleepy Arcanine slowly took a deep breath and used Ember on a few wooden sticks placed neatly underneath a coffeepot. The sticks glowed a warm red and steam shortly began rising from the pot. Bill wearily poured himself a cup of Joe and took a big, long sip. "I hope you'll excuse me," he apologized while wiping the coffee off his muzzle. "I had a long night last night. Jeremey was home with the flu last night, so I had to stand night watch for him. I'm so tired I can hardly stay awake. If the mistress catches me sleeping on the job though, I'll get a Nightmare for sure."

Dr. Flarison just waved his clawed hand and shrugged it off. "Eh, it's no problem. I know how it feels to be up late working. I'm sure you'll sleep well tonight."

"Thanks for the support, Roger. Here, I'll open the gate..." Bill set his mug down briefly and typed something onto a computer on the desk by the window. The iron gate creaked and shook for a moment before it quickly swung open. "You're free to continue," Bill smiled weakly. "See ya, Roger." Dr. Flarison waved good-bye, rolled up the car window, and drove on.

The mansion still being a ways away, Graham decided to look out the window and explore the estate with his eyes. Through the window he saw what he could only describe as Halloween a few days late. He saw beautiful gardens, which despite November's sinking temperatures still displayed several vivid purple flowers, exquisitely designed fountains, and expertly trimmed tropiaries. The tropiaries were all Halloween-themed, designed to look like Hypnos, Mismagiuses, Gengars, Kadabras, and Duskulls. He saw orange and brown forests that looked like abandoned parks, with paths and benches that in the spring or summer would have been shaded by dense groups of trees but in late autumn were dotted with fallen leaves. Wild Chimechos hung from some of the trees, chiming and tinkling in the wind. The car drove over a cobblestone bridge suspended over a crystal-clear moat, and in the water Graham spotted a few Goldeens and Magikarps, as well as a Lotad or two. Every now and then along the road he saw pewter statues of well-dressed Hypnos and other Psychic Pokemon. The eyes of the statues seemed to follow the car as it passed them. Each statue had neatly-cut violets around them. By one of the statues he saw a gardener that looked something like a thick palm tree. The gardener was an Exeggutor, a three-headed Pokemon resembling a coconut tree. "The Dreamy Estate is a haven for Psychic Pokemon," Sophia explained to Graham as they passed by the Exeggutor. "Madame prefers her faculty to have the same mental benefits as she does."

Finally the car stopped at the cobblestone driveway in front of the large, almost castle-like Sleepy Chateau. Dr. Flarison turned off the ignition and smiled as he looked back at the passengers, declaring it was time for everybody to get out. Sophia and Graham both opened their corresponding car doors and stepped out into the crisp autumn air, Sophia moving so that Danny could get out. The bumpy, uneven cobblestone felt weird under Graham's hooves; their bumpiness made it hard for him to keep him balance. He wobbled for a moment, trying to get himself stable. "Anything wrong?" Sophia asked, watching her Girafarig friend with pity.

"Not really, standing on cobblestone with hooves is just a-a new experience for me," Graham explained with a bit of embarrassment. Getting his balance with the help of his tail, Graham took a deep breath and glanced up at the chateau. "Wow," he remarked unusually enthusiastically. "I feel so...so alive here! My head, it feels so...so much clearer!"

"The Titanic is sinking!" his tail agreed.

"That's strange, I don't feel anything," Sophia frowned.

"I'll bet your heads are feeling clearer because of the aura of this estate," Dr. Flarison diagnosed. "Here, let's put that theory to the test. Try shooting a Psybeam into the sky, would you please?" Graham's tail nodded and pointed his round snout towards the cloudy sky. He opened his dangerous mouth wide, and with not more than a blink of an eye a rainbow-colored beam of mental energy fired from his mouth into the heavens. All four of them gasped; the beam was much brighter and larger than was typical for him. Dr. Flarison cleared the smoke off of his glasses and remarked, "Just as I thought. This estate sharpens one's mind. It's only natural that your Psychic powers are enhanced here. Graham, I'm sure that by spending some time here you will learn a lot about yourself and about your abilities. Much more than a Fire Pokemon could teach you at any rate."

Business called however, so Dr. Flarison wasted little time in bringing his party to the double doors of the chateau. He rang the doorbell. A bell chimed throughout the manor to an ominous tune that Graham could only associate to a twisted rendition of the song of a Jigglypuff. Almost at once the door was opened. A Kirlia dressed in a black maid's uniform with a white apron greeted them. She panted a bit, as if she had just been interrupted in the middle of a difficult task, and her voice sounded tense and rushed. Her green hair covered one of her eyes, so she didn't see everybody until she turned her head. "Oh, Dr. Flarison," she exclaimed, noticing the tell-tale lab coat the dragon wore while involved with business. "Uh, glad to see that you've arrived! Please, all of you come in and out of the cold!" The Kirlia stepped out of the doorway and motioned for the visitors to enter while she brushed some dirt from her apron. "Madame, the professor is here to see you!" she called.

Her last sentence took Graham by surprise. His eyes grew wide and he stared at the Kirlia. The Kirlia had not spoken those words with her mouth; Graham had heard them in his mind. Similarly, he heard the answer in his mind. "Thank you, I'll be right there!" called a deep, womanly voice from somewhere above him. The Kirlia suddenly realized Graham was staring at her.

"What? Haven't you ever seen a woman before? Sheesh!" she huffed before twirling around and marching away into a different room, a look of disgust and anger on her face.

"What was that all about?" Sophia whispered as soon as the Kirlia was gone.

"Sophia, she...she talked without moving her mouth!" Graham stammered.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

There was the tapping sound of high heels descending some stone steps, and out through a doorway appeared an elegant woman dressed in a stately silk purple gown covered in frills, fanning herself with a pale white fan from the Orient. The tell-tale yellow fur, thick, ghostly white collar, and the large, proboscis-like nose immediately gave her away: she was a Hypno, a mysterious human-like tapir Pokemon both famous and infamous for its specialty in Psychic attacks related to the subconscious. This particular Hypno, as was soon clear, was none other than the great Madame Morpheus. Her thin, pointy eyes gazed at the house guests with acute awareness, as if her pupils couldn't be fooled by anything. Waved her fan in a very pompous, upper-class manner, fanning ever so slowly so that only the perfect amount of wind cooled her face without disturbing it. A small, disc-like pendulum--the most well-known possession of a Hypno--hung around her neck like a necklace. She wore long white gloves over her hands that gave them the appearance of being the hands of a phantom. The way she walked resembled a spirit bouncing as it floated across the floor towards the guests. Madame Morpheus set her fan on a small table and used both of her hands to hold her dress as she curtsied. "A very good day to you, Doctor Roger Flarison," she greeted with dignity powerfully echoing from her voice. Her manner of speaking was slow and prominent, giving all those in the room the feeling that every word she said was carefully thought out so as to be as meaningful as possible. "And to you as well, Sophia and Daniel Flarison," she continued with a nod to Dr. Flarison's children. Her powerful eyes stopped at Graham. "Well now, it seems we have two extra guests," she remarked in slight surprise, for surely she knew Graham was coming but did not expect him to be a Girafarig. "You two are Graham Hopkins, I presume? It is a sincere pleasure to meet the both of you." With a smile she bowed courteously towards the two-headed giraffe.

"How did you know our name?" Graham gasped in mild surprise himself, though quickly in hindsight he decided the question was obvious--surely, Dr. Flarison had told her.

"Oh, my my my, please forgive me. I assumed a Psychic Pokemon such as yourself would know the answer to such a question."

"Please do pardon him," Dr. Flarison quickly explained, "he's not very in-touch with his Psychic side."

"Oh, I see... How truly bizarre..." Madame Morpheus nodded, trailing off in her usual slow manner. "Graham Hopkins, I knew your name because I read your mind. It is a necessity of mine to make sure I know all my guests' names ahead of time."

Graham jumped as he heard Madame Morpheus call for her children--without moving her mouth. He heard more footsteps on a staircase, heavy thumps compared to Madame's soft taps, and three Drowzees quickly arrived at the entry hall. They were almost the spitting image of yellow-and-brown tapirs (though humanoid in a way similar to Sophia) standing on their hindlegs. Both their three-fingered hands and their four-toed feet were hoofed, and they had large proboscises for noses, resembling miniature elephant trunks. The eyes of all three children were far different from their mother's haunting pair of eyes. The Morpheus siblings' eyes were glazed, looking dreamy and distant, with sacks hanging underneath their eyelids as if they hadn't slept in days. The three were dressed more casually than their mother, though still in very expensive-looking clothes. The three lined up from shortest to tallest beside their mother. The tallest wore a white dress shirt with a carnation in its shirt pocket, and was wearing a pair of brown dress pants. The middle child wore a black silk dress that went from the tops of her yellow shoulders down to just below her chocolate brown knees. The shortest wore a white shirt similar to the tallest though without the flower, and had on a pair of black dress pants. All three Drowzees were barefoot, and their brown feet and yellow hooves clutched the stone floor much firmer than Graham's skinny cloven blue hooves. They stood with their backs straight, still and serious. Madame Morpheus walked past each of them while introducing them to Graham, again without moving her mouth. "The tallest is Wink Morpheus, the middle one is Blink Morpheus, and the shortest one is Nod Morpheus," she said. The three Drowzees bowed in unison. Graham caught in the corner of his eye a look of bewilderment on Sophia's face. He didn't share that look, but he certainly felt it in his mind. He really wished to know what was going on with the voices. "Oh, don't you know?" Madame Morpheus asked with a raised eyebrow without moving her mouth. "I'm speaking with my mind. Only Psychic Pokemon can hear it. I only am required to introduce my sons and daughter to you, so I see no reason to speak with my mouth. You truly are a strange one indeed." The Drowzees chuckled quietly.

"Mother, who are these gentlemen?" Wink, the first to get his act together, mentally asked his mother. Graham's brain was whirling; it was as if all the Psychic Pokemon were linked in a mental channel, something he had been taught in school was impossible. It was like a second sense of hearing completely. Wink's mental "voice" was similar in tone to his mother's, though much more masculine. It was deep and sounded very sophisticated, like he knew what he was doing at all times.

"These two are Graham Hopkins, a friend of the Flarisons. He will be joining us today," she mentally answered.

"Pleased to meet you Graham," Blink mentally greeted with a smile, her trunk-like proboscis turning up in a sort of gesture Graham assumed was a happy one. Blink's voice was very feminine and pretty, especially compared to the rumbling voice of Sophia.

Graham felt it was rude not to answer, so he decided to give this "mental talking" a shot. He tried talking without moving his mouth or sending the air up through his vocal chords. He did everything else he was supposed to do while talking, just none of the physical parts. Weakly, he managed to mentally answer, "P-Pleased to meet you..." Never had he attempted talking with his mind before, not even to his tail. It was a different sort of feeling than the plain, ordinary sort of conversation. He could hear these mental messages with his ears, just as he could with normal conversation; however, the mental words felt more contained and focused than the auditory words.

"Oh, a shy one!" Blink giggled. Her words were mental but the giggle was completely physical, which made the conversation even weirder.

"U-Uh, no, not really, I just haven't really ever spoken with...well, my brain alone," Graham mentally admitted.

"Really?" Nod mentally squeaked in astonishment. His voice was very open and happy, though somewhat high.

"Hey, what about us?" Danny grumpily interrupted. "Quit talking with your minds and let us in on the conversation!"

"Oh, that's what they're doing," Sophia quietly noted to herself. "I should have remembered..."

Dr. Flarison cleared his voice. "Here, how about the six of you go out to the grounds. Madame Morpheus and I have business to do."


The four older children--that is, Wink, Blink, Sophia, and Graham--sat atop a white stone wall-like railing that ran along the side of a sloping, winding path around the backside of the chateau leading down into the forest. A chilly breeze blew gently across their faces, picking up leaves sitting quietly on the path and blowing them away in a swirling manner. In the distance they could hear the jingling of Chimecho as they hung from trees, struggling in the wind to keep a good grip. But no matter how hard the wind blew, the Chimecho always had a tight hold on their branches and never feared losing them. At the foot of the path, an Exeggutor lumbered by, on its way to sprinkle some water on another garden. All three of its heads whistled a merry tune, enjoying the breeze despite the cold. The watering can it held bounced as it walked, water sometimes jumping out of the can and onto the path. Like the forest around it, the Exeggutor's palm fronds had turned a rusty color. It seemed that not even the tropical Exeggutor could escape the autumn season.

Each of the four adolescents sat a different way on the fence, each style in a way paralleling their personalities. Graham sat with his legs crossed, doing his best to keep balance on the railing with his two heads. He wobbled slightly, but whenever the wobbling became major he stuck out his long neck or pulled it back to counterbalance. Sophia wasn't actually sitting but was instead standing, walking back and forth along the railing while sticking her arms out and stretching her long tail behind her to keep her balance. Not content with just sitting around, she had decided to give her active mind something to do. Wink sat with one four-toed foot on the fence, the other dangling to its side. He rested an arm on the higher leg, and he casually held in his opposite hand a strawberry smoothie. He was relaxed and confident about his balance, knowing that he'd be alright if he fell. Blink sat with only her bossom on the fence, dangling both of her legs off the edge and resting her hands in her lap. She looked out at the forest with a calm smile, delicate like a flower but sturdy like a tree.

"Say, have you guys heard about the recent disappearance?" Blink asked casually, having finally found an interesting topic of conversation for them to discuss. When speaking aloud, Blink's voice sounded a bit like she was plugging her nose, probably because of the shape of her proboscis. It bothered Graham that as expressive as her voice was, her eyes were just as vacant as ever. They only seemed half awake, and hardly focused on anything at all. This was the same for the other two Morpheus siblings, though Wink's were the most alert; this was presumably because he was nearing evolution into a Hypno.

"You mean about the Smoochum girl?" Sophia asked, briefly stopping to look back around at Blink. "Only bits and pieces. Dad's mentioned it once. I wouldn't mind hearing more about it." Graham's heads nodded in agreement. Graham was always interested in the news.

Wink took a sip from his smoothie and began, "Well, there's this castle up in--"

"Wink! I wanted to tell them about it!" Blink immediately interrupted. Her proboscis flared up aggressively, though the only change in her insomniac eyes was the frowning of her eyebrows. Wink fiercely retaliated with a stare, eyes actually focused on his sister. Sophia could only guess what then commenced, but as Graham fidgeted with his jacket he could hear them mentally squabbling. He could never have told from their vacant faces, but their mental argument was loud and intense, and ended with Blink giving up the explanation to Wink in return for a smoothie later. As she crossed her arms and pouted, Wink cleared his throat and began the story of the kidnapping. Sophia stopped fooling around and seated herself so as not to be rude. "You see," Wink continued, "there's this castle up in the Rocky Mountains. It's looks almost like it's from a fairy tale, but the cool thing about it is that it is made completely of ice. The county governess--a Jynx--owns the castle, and it seems that her young 6-year old daughter has gone missing. For some reason or another, her bodyguard was distracted and in the confusion the girl vanished. The state authorities have been looking for her for a week now, and still haven't found a single trace of her. It's believed due to the lack of evidence that a Ghost Pokemon must have taken her."

"Well that's terrible," Graham sighed, shaking his main head in pity. "I do hope they find her."

"Well that's about all I know of the matter. Naturally, we learned most of this from Mother, and she has a way of only telling half of a story. Both the governess and her daughter are prominent in the country's government, so our country is in an uproar about it. There are rumors she'll be calling the army soon."

"Would she really go that far?" Sophia remarked in disbelief. Wink and Blink looked at each other for a moment, then looked back at Graham and Sophia and nodded worriedly.


"Doctor Roger Flarison," Madame Morpheus announced, importance and concern in her voice. She stood with her back turned to Dr. Flarison, looking out the window of the sitting room as Dr. Flarison sat down on a velvet couch and spread his papers on the coffee table, as he did on every visit. Dr. Flarison looked up with a worried look on his face, taken by surprise by the governess' tone of voice. As soon as he looked up, Madame Morpheus spun around and with her spectral eyes pointing at him like a laser she declared, "Doctor Roger Flarison, I did not summon you to my estate to discuss the typical business."

"Oh?" Dr. Flarison replied with interest. He removed his glasses and rubbed the smoke off of them. "In that case, what did you bring me here to discuss, madam?"

"It involves the disappearance of the princess of the Dancer's Castle, I'm afraid."

"Are you referring to the Smoochum that's recently gone missing?"

"The same." Madame Morpheus slowly walked toward Dr. Flarison and seated herself in a regal purple armchair across from the Charizard. "Doctor Roger Flarison, the governess of the castle and I are good friends. She contacted me a few days ago in the vain hope that my psychic powers could locate the girl."

"Well, can they?" Dr. Flarison had asked the question to be polite, but he was well aware as a Pokemon Professor that Hypnos lacked the clairvoyant powers many Psychic Pokemon boasted. Hypnos specialized in the subconscious, not in seeing distant images or the past and future like Pokemon such as Xatu could.

"No, they cannot." Madame Morpheus paused for a moment and seemed to drift into thought. "No, and it seems that whatever has kidnapped this girl has blocked off the powers of many clairvoyants as well. I and many other Psychic Pokemon have been unable to locate the girl. Not even a single footstep."

"Well, that could be a problem." Dr. Flarison leaned back on the couch, stretching his blue-and-orange wings to avoid squishing them. He looked Madame Morpheus straight in the eyes and, resisting her eyes' hypnotic powers as best he could, he asked, "What does this have to do with me, though?" His curiosity had risen.

"Doctor Roger Flarison, I require your assistance. You are the county's Pokemon Professor. You should know how to find her better than anybody else in the region. Lady Olga Valkyrie is not the kind of person you say 'no' to, believe me. Not even if you are her friend." Madame Morpheus leaned forward and set her hauntingly gloved hands on the table. "If I myself cannot find her daughter, I am obligated to send some sort of help in compensation. Do you have any knowledge of where or how one could locate the princess?"

"Well," Dr. Flarison thought aloud as he scratched his chin with his sharp claws, "has the mistress tried using some sort of bloodhound? A Growlithe or a Houndoom or... Why, even a Swinub?"

"They have attempted using Growlithes, but their success has been very limited. I don't know if you've heard, but they believe a Ghost Pokemon may have abducted the girl. Not a hint of a scent was left, nor any other physical evidence to identify a culprit. It is also believed..." Madame Morpheus sat up straight and looked Dr. Flarison in the eye even fiercer than normal. Dr. Flarison felt a yawn coming; the eyes of a Hypno were notorious for their ability to induce sleep, and with such a fierce stare he had to double his efforts not to allow her stare to make him fall asleep. "This is classified information, Doctor Roger Flarison; I'm not exactly sure I can tell you..."

Dr. Flarison yawned. With a hint of sleepiness in his voice, he replied, "You can trust me, madam. After all, you have for years."

"That is very correct... Very well, Doctor Roger Flarison, I will confide this information with you--if you can keep awake, that is," she added with a frown, noticing Dr. Flarison beginning to nod. "Do I bore you, Doctor?"

"Not at all, Madam," the Charizard said wearily. "But I must implore you, Madame, you are releasing sleep waves... I can't resist them much longer..." He was beginning to drift off.

"Oh! My apologies, Doctor, I must have accidentally switched them on! Here, let me fix this..." Madame Morpheus got up and hurried around the table to Dr. Flarison. She could feel him losing his grasp of reality, as well as the almost irresistibly delicious aroma of sleep waves flowing into her nostrils. Desperately doing her best to hide the fact that Dr. Flarison's sleep made her mouth ravenously drool, the Hypno sat herself beside him on the couch. Looking deeply into his rapidly closing eyes and clutching her pendulum necklace, she quietly commanded, "By the power of Baku, I commandeth thou Charizard to return to the realm of the conscious! Forsake the vile clutches of the subconscious, and allow the hypnopompus to drag you back to reality! Awake!" Releasing her necklace, Madame Morpheus clapped her hands together. "Awake!" Though it wasn't a particularly loud clap, its sound waves resonated within Dr. Flarison's head like a gong crashing, beckoning him to wake up. At first slowly, then almost immediately, Dr. Flarison went from struggling to stay awake to being alert and feeling fully rested.

"Thank you, Madame," he smiled, bowing his long neck in gratitude.

"Please forgive me, Doctor Roger Flarison. I am sorry for the interruption and for hypnotizing you. Do you feel well again? Can I continue?" Dr. Flarison nodded. Madame Morpheus stood up and returned to her armchair, taking advantage of the brief moment to secretly wipe the drool off the sides of her lips. She could not help it; the only thing Hypnos ate, the one thing that could reduce them to hungry, slobbering animals with food solely on their mind, was the dream waves given off by sleeping Pokemon. It was such an irresistible instinct to feed off of a Pokemon's dreams that a Hypno's mouth would water just by seeing a Pokemon fall asleep. This was incredibly embarrassing to someone with as high a status as Madame Morpheus, and she hoped Dr. Flarison hadn't noticed her salivating. Face clean, Madame Morpheus did her best to forget how close she had been to a savory meal and focus on the more imporant matter at hand. "Well, anyway, Doctor Roger Flarison... It is also thought by some of the authorities that if the culprit wasn't a Ghost Pokemon, it was most certainly a Kadabra or Alakazam."

"What makes them so certain of that?" Dr. Flarison asked, eyes full of intrigue, a characteristic that his daughter had readily inherited.

"Well, with a lack of physical evidence that somebody else was there... If it wasn't a ghost, then the culprit must have used Teleport. And we all know that there are very few instances where something outside the Abra line knows Teleport."

"Yes, very true... Though of course both the Ralts and the Natu lines can teach themselves how to teleport."

"As I said, though, those are very few instances. Neither the Ralts or especially the Natu lines have a significant population in Lady Olga Valkyrie's state. There's been only one Xatu in the state in months, actually."

"Then shouldn't that one Xatu be a prime suspect?"

"The governess refuses to take the idea of a Teleport Kidnapping as a legitimate possibility. Some suspect it is because she wishes to protect her cousin, the Count Yamazaki, from suspicion."

Dr. Flarison rubbed the smoke off his glasses and smiled suddenly. "This is all getting very interesting," he grinned. "Madam, I'll be glad to help Lady Valkyrie in your place. What do you need me to do?"

"Oh Doctor Roger Flarison, I'm so very pleased!" Madame Morpheus happily exclaimed with a clap of her hands. "And here I was worried I'd have to use Hypnosis on you!" she added with a bit of humor, before stopping suddenly and apologizing for the joke, remembering what had just happened. She then continued, spirits raised again, "Doctor Roger Flarison, I need you to go to the Rocky Mountains and investigate the Dancer's Castle. See if you can use your superior knowledge of Pokemon to identify some sort of clue; they need one. Believe me, my friend does not like failure. Oh! Forgive me, I hope I'm not scaring you out of the job."

"Don't worry, you're not. I'm not exactly sure I can guarantee results, but I'll do my best all the same."

"It's official, then," Madame Morpheus announced, stretching her hand out to shake. "I hereby declare you my Official Representative in the investigation."

Dr. Flarison shook her hand, sharp teeth glistening in a smile and tail flame burning bright. "I'm truly honored, Madame Morpheus. I'll head over there as soon as possible!"

"That's very good to know, Doctor Roger Flarison. Just don't forget to bring winter coats; it's much much colder up in the mountains than it is here."

"I'll be sure to let the kids know." Dr. Flarison stood up and hastily gathered his papers. He and Madame Morpheus left the sitting room and went out to the back of the chateau. "Sophia, Daniel, Graham!" he roared. In minutes the three members of his household stood in front of him. The good doctor smiled, excitement boiling in his blood, and announced, "Boys, Sophia, we're going on a little vacation!"

"Alright!" Danny cheered, leaping into the air. "I get to miss my math test!"

"Oh no you don't," Dr. Flarison laughed wickedly. "All three of you are going to make sure you make up everything you miss from school while we're gone!"

"Aw man!" the three children whined.