Chapter 26: Nightmare

It was a dark and stormy night.

Rain was falling heavily, the wind blew with brute force, and lightning flashed every several minutes.

"It's really raining, isn't it?" Andy commented, staring out through the opening in their base. "There hasn't been a storm in while."

It had been several days after Team Galaxy explored with Team Charm.

"Hey you know what?" Steve said, "remember how our adventure to prevent time from stopping?" His partner nodded. "It feels like that happened a long time ago, even though it's only been a few months."

"It does feel that way," Andy mused. "Going into the future with you; fighting Dialga at Temporal Tower; it does really feel like it all happened a long time ago."

Steve nodded. "Now that time's back to normal, everyone can evolve at Luminous Spring again."

"Everyone except us," Andy corrected. "That voice at the spring told us that because space is distorting, we can't evolve."

"But what does it all mean?" Steve wondered.

Lightning flashed outside, followed by the sound of thunder.

"The storm must be picking up," Andy murmured, looking back outside.

"We should really get some sleep now," Steve said, laying down in his bed. "Good night."

In a forest, a shadowy figure hovered around in the heavy rain.

"My plans are proceeding nicely," he said darkly. "I failed to destroy time, but things will be different now."

The dark figure noticed something and turned. "Someone's coming! It's Cresselia… that persistent pest! I mustn't be caught!"

There was a flash, and the figure vanished.

Cresselia soon hovered over to the place where the figure had been seconds ago. She looked around, seeing no one.

"He got away again!" she said, frustrated. "He always slips away before I can catch him!" She took a moment to gather her thoughts.

"I can't give up. He has to be caught. The fabric of space being distorted like this must stop before it accelerates further! I must stop him!"

"I'm having this dream again?" Steve was dreaming of the colorful place again. He felt a presence enter his mind, like last time. It was Cresselia.

"Tell me more about what you said last time," Steve said. "You said that me being here is gonna destroy the world. What did you mean by that?"

"You are a human who came from the future," Cresselia replied. "You are not of this world, and that is creating the distortion in the fabric of space."

"Distortion in the fabric of space?" Steve echoed.

"And if this distortion of space were to expand," Cresselia continued, "the world would be ruined. Both of you are not allowed to exist in this world!" she declared.

"Why not?! We haven't done anything wrong!"

Cresselia flashed, the light causing Steve pain, even in his dream.

"You exist here," Cresselia said coldly. "If you remain…" She flashed again, giving Steve even more pain.

"The world will be destroyed!"

Cresselia disappeared in more flashes, causing Steve to cry out in his sleep.

Yelping, he shot up from his bed. He looked around and sighed in relief. It was just a dream, and he was back in his base. His heart was racing madly in his chest.

Calm down… it was just a dream. But if felt so real…

Wiping the sweat off his face, he lay back down and fell asleep. He wasn't plagued by anymore dreams that night.

The next morning, Andy had woken up before Steve.

"Come on, Steve! Up and at 'em!" the Pikachu chirped, and his partner sat up and yawned, rubbing his eyes.

"Boy, you seem happier than usual," Steve said, noting Andy's cheerfulness. The Pikachu was even more cheerful than usual.

"Ah, you know," Andy said as Steve headed out. The Pikachu's smile faltered a little, before he followed his partner out.

They were just leaving when they heard Marill call out to them.

"Steve! Andy!" The little blue mouse Pokémon ran up to them, huffing.

"Hey, Marill!" Andy greeted. "Haven't seen you in a while!"

"Is there something wrong?" Steve asked, seeing Marill's panicked expression.

"Yes! There's something wrong with Azurill! I don't know why!"

Steve and Andy glanced at each other.

"I brought him to the guild! Hurry!" Marill and the two explorers quickly headed for the guild.

Back in their old room in the guild, everyone was standing nervously over a sleeping Azurill. He was moaning softly in his sleep, as if he was suffering from something.

"What's the matter with him?" Andy asked, worried.

"He's been sleeping for long time," Marill said, "but he won't wake up."

"What?!" Steve exclaimed, shocked. "He won't wake up?"

"Yes," Marill sadly confirmed. "I've been trying to wake him up, but nothing's worked. I got really worried, so I brought him to the guild."

"Urf…" Azurill moaned in his sleep. "Urrrff…"

"He's been like that the whole time he's been asleep," Marill said. "Is he having a bad dream?"

"The way the little fellow is tossing and turning, it looks like he's having a nightmare, hey, hey," Corphish spoke up.

"Hey, Chatot," Steve said to him. "Do you have any ideas on how we can wake up Azurill?"

Chatot thought for a moment, then sighed.

"Unfortunately, I don't know. To be locked in a nightmare, unable to wake for days… I've never heard of such a thing."

"Since he's asleep, we can't feed him anything like berries," Chimecho pointed out.

"Gosh, who'd know a way of waking Azurill up?" Sunflora said.

"Uh, everyone?" Bidoof got everyone's attention. "Can I say something?"

"What is it, Bidoof?" Steve asked.

"I got to thinking… since we can't make the nightmare go away, if we somehow figure out what kind of nightmare he's having, maybe we can figure out why little Azurill can't wake up, by golly," Bidoof explained.

"Are you saying that we should look INTO Azurill's dream?" Loudred asked. "HOW are we gonna do something like THAT?"

"Actually, that might be possible," Chatot spoke up.

"WHAT?!" everyone shouted.

"How?" Steve wondered.

"We find Drowzee," Chatot answered simply. "If anyone can do it, he can."

"Drowzee? Isn't that…?" Andy began.

"He's the first outlaw we've ever caught," Steve reminded him.

"Yeah! I remember him now!" Andy brightened, remembering. He turned to Chatot, a little confused. "But why Drowzee?" he asked.

"This is just a rumor, but they say that Drowzee has the ability to enter other's dreams," Chatot explained.

"Really? He can go into dreams?" Andy cried, surprised.

"This is only a rumor, mind you," Chatot responded. "However, the possibility exists."

"I get it," Steve said. "If we ask Drowzee, maybe he can get into Azurill's nightmare!"

A Magnemite was also in the room. Steve asked him what became of Drowzee after his arrest.

"DROWZEE HAS EXPRESSED REMORSE AND VOWED NEVER TO BREAK THE LAW AGAIN, SO WE DECIDED TO RELEASE HIM," the Magnemite explained.

"You let him go?" Steve said, a bit surprised. "Are you sure he's all good now?"

"It sounds a little sketchy, hey, hey," Corphish added.

"Corphish, now's not the time to be quibbing over that," Sunflora scolded him. "So, where is Drowzee now?" she asked the Magnemite.

"HE HAS GONE AWAY TO CLEANSE HIS MIND AND SPIRIT AT MT. TRAVAIL."

"Mt. Travail?" Chatot echoed. "That would be in the mountainous region."

"So that's where Drowzee is," Steve mused. "We have to go there."

"Come on, Steve! Let's go to Mt. Travail!" Andy said.

"Guys…" Marill sniffled.

"We just need a little more time," Steve told him. "It's gonna be alright, Marill."

"You guys… always help us… Thank you so much," Marill said gratefully.

"It's decided then," Wigglytuff spoke for the first time since they had gotten in the room. "I know everyone is worried about Azurill, but we should let Team Galaxy handle it. Everyone else should go on as usual!" he said in his usual cheery tone.

"Alright, everyone! Time for work!" Chatot announced.

"HOORAY!" everyone bellowed.

"You're in charge of finding Drowzee," Wigglytuff said to Team Galaxy. "We're counting on you!"

"You can count on us, Guildmaster!" Steve raised a paw to his forehead in a salute, and he and his partner headed out.

After a long walk, they finally arrived at Mt. Travail.

"This must be Mt. Travail," Andy said, craning his head up to look at the top.

"We need Drowzee to help us figure out why Azurill won't wake up," Steve said, reaffirming their mission. "There's no time to lose!"

The two of them nodded and went into the cave entrance to go up the mountain.

Mt. Travail was a quite a difficult dungeon. It was much harder than Mt. Bristle, according to Andy. They frequently went into low hanging clouds which turned into fog.

Flying and fighting-types were in the mountain as well. Mankey, Primeape, Hitmonchan, and other Pokémon attacked the team.

Team Galaxy had climbed about half-way up the mountain when they had to rest.

"So, what should we say to Drowzee when we meet him again?" Steve asked, munching on an apple.

"I dunno," Andy replied, eating his own apple. "Just tell him that we need his help, I guess."

Steve was sure Drowzee would remember them after what happened. They would just have to ask and see.

A long, grueling climb up the mountain later, Team Galaxy finally reached the top.

"Hey, isn't that Drowzee over there?" Andy pointed at the yellow and brown Pokémon who was just staring over the edge at the landscape.

"Drowzee?" Steve began. The Pokémon in question whirled around, looking alarmed.

"Wah! You two?" Drowzee cried. "I-I haven't done anything! I haven't kidnapped anymore kids! I've even kept my nose clean!"

"Wait!" Steve raised both paws in front of himself in a sign that he meant no harm. "We're not here to arrest you. We came because we need your help."

"Huh? Me?" Drowzee blinked, confused at why the explorers who got him arrested would need his help. "You need my help?"

"Yep." Andy nodded. "You remember that little Azurill, right? He's been sleeping and experiencing a nightmare and won't wake up."

"That Azurill kid?" Drowzee said.

"No one knows why he won't wake up," Steve said. "Then we heard maybe you can go into dreams, Drowzee. That's why we came looking for you."

Drowzee said nothing, being deep in thought.

"Will you help us?" Andy pleaded, "please?"

Drowzee looked off to the side, a pained expression on his face.

"I… I did a terrible thing to that little Azurill back then," he said. "I don't know if doing this would ever make up for it, but if it would help Azurill even a little…" He turned back to the two explorers.

"I want to make it up to him. I'd be glad to help."

Steve smiled. "Thanks."

"Let's not waste any time!" Drowzee said.

The trio hurriedly went down the mountain and headed back for Treasure Town.

Back in the guild, Steve, Andy, Marill, and Drowzee were looking over Azurill's sleeping form.

"How's it going, Drowzee?" Andy asked. "Can you do something?"

Drowzee looked up from examining Azurill.

"You two," he addressed the two explorers. "I want you to get ready, because I'm going to send the both of you into Azurill's dream."

"What?" Andy was shocked to hear this. "You can do that?"

"That's right," Drowzee confirmed. "It's possible for you to go into Azurill's dream."

Andy turned to Marill, excited. "Did you hear that, Marill? We're gonna save your brother!"

"Yay!" Marill cheered.

"But I want you to be extra careful when you're inside this kid's dream," Drowzee warned. "There's something wrong about it. I just have a bad feeling."

"Well, I don't care!" Steve exclaimed. "We gotta save Azurill!"

Drowzee nodded. "One more thing… I can only send the two of you into the dream. I could go with you, but I feel like I'll only slow you down. I'm sorry if I couldn't do more for you."

"No, you're great." Andy shook his head. "Just sending us into the dream is plenty."

"So, are you two ready to go into the dream?" Drowzee asked them.

"We're always ready for an exploration," Steve said determinedly.

"Good. I'm going to send you into Azurill's dream." Drowzee turned to Marill. "Stand back." Marill stepped back out of the way and Drowzee closed his eyes, concentrating. Soon, a purple wave of energy scooped up Steve and Andy, transporting them into the world of Azurill's dream.

When they were transported inside, they looked around. The floor was a purple color and the walls seemed to be made out of light purple rocks.

The dream was dark. It was also completely silent. It didn't look or sound like a dream a kid like Azurill would have.

"Is this the inside of the dream?" Andy asked.

"Steve! Andy! Can you hear me?" Drowzee's voice echoed from the sky. "It's me, Drowzee!"

"Yeah! We hear you!" Steve called back.

"Good. It's sounds like you're safely inside," Drowzee said. "As I've said before, there's something very bad about this dream. Be careful in there."

"Okay! Thanks, Drowzee!" Andy yelled.

"Let's go," Steve said, and they ran in to explore Azurill's dream.

Team Galaxy encountered many Normal-type Pokémon in the dream. Steve, being a Fighting-type, took them down easily with his Force Palms. But there were Psychic-types too, and Andy defeated those.

"This place is weird," Steve remarked as he took down a Miltank, a pink cow-like Pokémon.

"Yeah, It's creeping me out," Andy responded, electrocuting an Espeon.

"Let's just find a way to wake Azurill up," Steve said. Andy nodded, and they continued on.

Continuing deeper, they emerged into a giant, long hallway after a long exploration.

"It looks like just one long path from here," Andy commented. "Let's keep going some more."

They took two steps when a familiar voice spoke.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here."

"Cresselia?" Steve and Andy said at the same time. Steve glanced at his partner in slight surprise.

"Where are you? Come out!" Andy demanded.

There was a flash, and Cresselia was hovering before them.

"I don't know how you've come here, but I find your visit ever so convenient!" she said, sounding pleasantly surprised.

"Tell me, is it really true that we have to disappear?!" Andy said desperately.

Andy's been having the same dreams as me? Steve looked at his partner in shock.

"What I told you in your dreams is true," Cresselia said. "You two are not supposed to exist in this world."

"Could you explain something, Cresselia?" Andy asked her, "how would the world be destroyed?"

"If the distortion of space expands, so will the power of darkness," Cresselia explained. "Eventually the world will become enveloped within a nightmare."

"Enveloped within a nightmare?" Andy repeated.

"Yes. Do you know where we are at this very moment?" Cresselia said.

"We're in Azurill's nightmare, aren't we?" Steve answered.

"That is correct," Cresselia confirmed. "He will remain trapped by this nightmare, never to awaken again. For now, only Azurill is afflicted.

"But soon, other Pokémon will be drawn in by the nightmare's influence. More and more Pokémon will fall into the unending sleep and ultimately, all Pokémon will be locked in this nightmare without end."

"How can all this be stopped?" Steve asked.

"There is but one way to eliminate the distortion," Cresselia responded. "That is… for you to disappear!"

"What?!" Andy exclaimed. "Why?!"

"I have been waiting for this opportunity," Cresselia said. She hovered closer and the explorers backed up a step.

"Wait a minute!" Steve yelled. "You can't just make us disappear! We want to know more about what's happening!"

"So you would rather see all Pokémon swallowed by the darkness?" Cresselia retorted.

"That's not… that's not what we want," Andy said. "Cresselia. Is this really true? If we disappear, will the world really be saved?"

"Yes, it will be saved," Cresselia confirmed. "For it is only your existence that is driving the world to ruin!"

She hovered even closer to the two explorers.

"I'm very sorry that I must do this… Prepare to disappear!" There was a flash. "It must be done! The world must be saved!"

Steve and Andy screamed as there were more flashes, but something interrupted them.

"Hey! Steve? Andy?" called a voice. "Where are you?"

"Gah! Interrupted!" Cresselia shouted, surprised. "And my work here was nearly finished!" She backed off from the two explorers.

"I was interrupted this time," she growled, "but I will see to it that you two disappear! Of course, if you want to save the world on your own, consider... removing yourselves first. Farewell!" Cresselia's form blinked then vanished.

Andy collapsed with relief, sitting down. "Whew! Th-that was close!"

"Hey! There you are!" the same voice from before shouted. Drowzee came into the room.

"Drowzee!" Andy exclaimed.

"You were taking so long to come back," Drowzee said. "I got worried, so I decided to come look for you." He glanced around, studying the walls and the oppressing atmosphere. "We shouldn't stay here. Let's go back to the guild for the time being."

Steve and Andy nodded, before Drowzee brought the three of them back out of the dream.

Azurill was still asleep, trapped in his nightmare. Steve and Andy explained what they had just seen to everyone who was in the room.

"I see, so you encountered Cresselia," Chatot said. "She's a legendary Pokémon. It's said she represents the crescent moon and her light soothes those in pain."

Cresselia didn't seem all that friendly, Steve thought.

"Did she mention anything on how to help this kid?" Drowzee asked hopefully.

"No!" Andy quickly lied. "She didn't say anything about that!"

The Pikachu's loud and sudden outburst made Drowzee jump.

"Geez, I was just asking," he said apologetically.

The guild members discussed the space distortion issue among themselves. The only thing they had found out was how to cure Azurill's condition, but Steve and Andy kept that information to themselves.

"I'm all tired from the trip," Andy said. "We're gonna go home, now. Uh, thanks, Drowzee."

Steve followed his partner out of the guild.

Team Galaxy returned to their base. It was evening.

"I just lied back there! Andy exclaimed. "I just blurted it out! One big lie!"

"Well, we do know there's a way to stop the distortion," Steve said. "We gotta disappear from the world. But should we have told everyone?"

"I don't know," Andy replied, looking just as depressed as his partner. "What are we supposed to do now? If we vanished, would the world be saved?" He sighed, looking at the base entrance. "In that case, maybe that's the best thing to do…"

"What?!" Steve screamed, making Andy jump. "You would do that? What if Cresselia's lying?! What if there's another way?"

"I don't know, okay?!" Andy snapped. "I just don't know what to think, and I'm tired from all this worrying!" The Pikachu lay down in his bed, miserable. "I just want to sleep…" he whispered.

Steve sighed. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to snap like that, it's just… there's just gotta be another way we can solve this mess."

The Riolu lay down and got comfortable in his bed.

"We better get some sleep. Good night, Andy."

"Good night, Steve," Andy responded.

The two of them drifted off to sleep.

Steve stayed awake in the middle of the night, pondering over the things that had happened.

Ugh… I can't sleep. Steve turned his head towards his partner, who was dozing away. Andy's still asleep, I guess.

But I have to wonder… I get that we're making space distort, but how does that make the world go to ruin? I just can't believe it. I thought it was just a dream the first time, but the second dream… that's when Cresselia told me.

Come to think of it, the morning after I had that dream, Andy seemed more cheerful than usual. But he had just woke from the same dream that I had! Guess he wanted to be extra cheerful around me to hide it. Andy had to be scared, though. He was more worried about me, I guess.

Steve stared at the ceiling. Then in Azurill's nightmare, Cresselia tried to obliterate us. I felt crushed by that, but… but… But that's why I have to stay strong! I have to stay strong… for the both of us.

The Riolu rolled over on his side and tried to get some sleep.

Perhaps a few hours later, Steve woke up again. He looked at Andy's bed, but to his surprise, his partner was gone.

"Where did Andy go?" he wondered. Looking around, he couldn't see the Pikachu anywhere. "Maybe he went outside." Yawning, he slowly trudged up the stairs out of the base.

At the top of the bluff, Andy was standing near the edge, gazing at the horizon. Steve saw him, and walked over.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" Steve said.

"I couldn't sleep at all." Andy shook his head. "Hey, Steve? Can't we stay in this world? Should we really disappear?" he asked his partner.

"I… I don't know…" was Steve's response.

Andy sighed dejectedly. "You don't know? But you're thinking we should vanish, right?"

Steve shook his head at that. "There's something weird about the whole thing."

"Something's weird?" Andy slightly tilted his head in confusion. "What's weird?"

"The whole space distortion idea!" Steve answered. "I just don't get it!"

"I don't really understand it either," Andy added. "But Cresselia told us that we're causing the distortion. Is it really true?"

Steve sighed. "Something is different about disappearing this time around... I know something is different, but what is it?"

Andy thought about it for a moment. Then Steve suddenly gasped, a lightbulb going off in his head.

"That's it! It's the other way around!" he exclaimed. "This time, it's us disappearing to save the world, not disappearing from the world because of it. We actually have a choice this time! What if Cresselia is wrong? Even if we do cause the problem, there must be another way!" Steve said excitedly, his hope rising.

Andy stared at his partner, a bit astonished by the theory.

Behind them, the sun's first rays were shining on the two Pokémon. They turned, noticing the sun coming up.

"The sun's rising," Steve murmured. "It's beautiful… it's another beautiful morning."

"Oh, Steve," Andy said, "seeing the sun come up this way makes me remember that I've seen the sunrise from here before with Grovyle."

"With Grovyle?" Steve repeated.

Andy nodded. "Remember when we first came back from the future? We slept here?" His partner nodded, remembering. "Grovyle asked me something. He said that we both held on, even though we thought it was impossible.

"I didn't give up when we were trying to escape from the future. I guess Grovyle thought that was strange. That's why he asked me why I wouldn't give up. I told him… that you stood by me, Steve."

"Me?" Steve pointed at himself, a bit stunned.

"Yeah," Andy responded. "I managed to be brave because you were always with me. That's what Grovyle asked me about." The Pikachu looked out at the sea.

"If you're not giving up, I'm not giving up either!" Andy said, determined.

"Andy…" Steve breathed, overjoyed at his partner's determination.

"There's gotta be something we can do about this!" Andy cried. "There's gotta be another way of fixing things without us having to disappear!"

"That's the Andy I know!" Steve said, smiling widely.

"Yeah! We have to keep going, Steve!"

"Right on, buddy!" the Riolu replied and the two explorers did their high five in the air.