Chapter 28: The Prison of Sleep

Stacy felt her body go cold, worse than any night at Blizzard Island had been. "Something's wrong with Azeri?"

"Yes, along with all of the other children of Treasure Town," Chiaka chimed sadly. "It's… well, you ought to come see for yourselves."

She took them to a large public building in the south part of town, near the hospital. There, they found Matti watching over Azeri, who was asleep. But the little Azurill seemed to be struggling in his sleep, looking quite afraid. The straw of his temporary bed had gotten scattered about already.

Stacy came right to her youngest brother's side and took his paw. "What happened to Azeri?"

"I don't know," Matti said, sounding upset. "Yesterday morning, I went to wake him up, but I couldn't get him awake. And he seemed like he was having such a nightmare. I kept trying, but nothing worked, so I brought him to Chansey. That's when I found out, all the children of Treasure Town were not waking up, and they're all having nightmares."

"That's terrible," Trey said. "What's causing this?"

"Nobody can figure that out," Matti said. "Kazza's doing research, the Guild is searching all over the place, but we still don't know why."

"Maybe we can go help Kazza out," Trey suggested. "He does have a lot of books to go through, or even just a lot of facts in his head to examine."

Sally offered to go with him.

"I'll stay with my brothers for now," Stacy said. "But do that if you could."

Kip thought, then said, "I'll be going to the library with them." That would leave the little family to be together.

At the library, they found the Alakazam meeting with a pair of Phiones. "Hi Kazza," Trey said. "We were wondering if you needed help with researching what's wrong with the children."

"Good, thank you," he said. "But we've come across some troublesome news. The children of Miracle Sea have been afflicted with the same problem."

"Even them?" Trey asked. Kip's ears drooped on hearing that.

"Right," one of the Phiones said. "Even Prince Manaphy is caught under this curse."

"We had no information on an event like this," the other said. "So we came to see Kazza."

"Dreams are a mysterious force," Kazza said. "They are usually not literal, so I have not devoted much study to them. But I remember what I've read. If you would be my assistants," he pointed to three tall stacks of books, "Begin looking through those for something that could be of use."

"That's a lotta books," Kip said, tilting his head.

"But a big help that you've cut it down to this bunch, Kazza," Trey countered. "We'll start looking."

Trey and Sally willingly took some of the larger and harder books from the stack to begin with. Kip, who felt overwhelmed at the size of the ones they took, picked up the children's books and began looking through them. At least they weren't big enough to be used as weapons. A bit later, the Phiones and Kazza took other books to search through.

An hour later, Kip brought one of the small books to their attention. "Hey, check this out. 'The full moon and the crescents are when Cresselia gives her best dreams, the sweet and light beauties of the moon. The new moon and the three-quarters are when Darkrai gives his strongest dreams, the dark and mysterious depths of the moon. At the halves, their powers are equal and neither nightmares nor oracles can be fully understood.' And if they all started last night, I seem to think that it was a three-quarters moon."

"That's a kids book," Trey said.

"But it does hold some truth," Kazza pointed out. "For instance, Xatu's appraisal shop is always closed on the half-moons, when his oracle powers are weakest. And nightmares are quite prominent on the new moon, while some of the strangest dreams come on the full moon. So we can deduce that the children's nightmares may hold a connection to the power of Darkrai."

"We do not know much about Darkrai, or Cresselia," one of the Phiones said.

"Neither do I, I'm afraid," Kazza said.

"I've met Darkrai," Trey said. "In the era of darkness."

"Really? What was he like?"

"Spooky. He could sense the qualities of dreams of Pokemon that were nearby. But I wouldn't know how to find him in this era."

"And we've encountered Cresselia, sort of," Kip said. "We've been seeing her in our dreams lately, but we each feel that something isn't right about it. It's a weird mystery."

"Hmm. So the children are locked into nightmares and your team is having odd dreams? There may be a connection there. There may not be. But we must solve these problems quickly. We don't want anyone to suffer another night."

Sally snapped for their attention, then showed off something she found in her book. 'It is said that the Drowzee and Hypno clan have the ability to enter and manipulate dreams. However, they do not speak of how this skill works with outsiders. Many of them seem to live under a code of honor that keeps them from abusing this, but signs of manipulation have been recorded as…'

Kazza took the book and looked over it. "If this is authentic, then this is not a case of a Hypno's manipulations. One individual of them would not be able to affect all of the children across two communities and we do not have a settlement of them around."

"But there is one Drowzee that lives around here," Trey pointed out. "Mr. Fred, that first outlaw that we hunted down. He might be able to help us figure out what's gone wrong with the children."

"That would be a reasonable plan," Kazza said in approval.

"Come on, let's go get Stacy and figure out where we can find him."

"I know a quicker resource for that," Kip said. "I'll meet you at that building in a few."

The Skitty went to the police station. After speaking to the Magneton acting as guard, he went in to speak to Mika. She was meeting with another one of the former outlaws that she watched over. When she saw Kip come in, she sparked. "Well you've come in early."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm afraid Stacy's a bit tied up right now to give a report on our last trip, what with her kid brother being in trouble."

"Ah, I see. So long as it gets in at a reasonable time. You don't want to mess up this late."

"I know. I bet you're looking forward to it, huh? Ya only got a couple more weeks to put up with me and my big mouth."

"Well you've shown significant improvement, so I'm glad for you."

"Right, well if that's it, I got a request of you."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Me and my buddies have got a lead in on the nightmare thing going on, but we have to find a former outlaw. Mr. Fred, the Drowzee."

"Mr. Fred, hmm?" Her magnets twirled for a bit, causing a crackling sound. "He was new to the darkness, so his parole time was much shorter than yours. He recovered and was released from being watched some time ago. However, he did tell me that he planned on doing some self-discipline training on Mount Travail. In all likelyhood, he is still there."

"Mount Travail, is it? Well thanks a bunch, hon. It means a lot to us."

"You're welcome, Kip. Take care of yourself."

He snickered as he started out the door. "Sounds like you're starting to get attached to me. Hah hah!" He left the station and ran to where the children were to report his findings.


-+-

Mount Travail was a stark dungeon. Flat rocky paths, not a bit of greenery to be seen, with air so silent that only its faint touch on their skin let them know that this place wasn't paralyzed. The wild Pokemon were very tough, but then so were the civilized Pokemon who chose to live there.

A Medicham stopped them on the seventh floor. "This is not a place for explorers for treasure," he told them. "This is a place for explorers of the self, those who undergo internal journeys into the soul."

"So you guys explore your own guts?" Kip asked, convincingly naïve.

"We…" Stacy glanced at Kip, "Well, most of us respect your devotion to self-improvement. But we're here to find Mr. Fred, as the children of Treasure Town and Miracle Sea have fallen into mysterious endless nightmares."

The Medicham nodded approvingly. "Ah, so that is your business. Very well, carry on. I would hope, though, that you return at some point to reflect on your own selves."

"Do you know of Mr. Fred?" Stacy asked him.

"He would be at the peak as of now, if my feelings are correct."

"Okay, thank you."

"Weirdo," Kip whispered as they went through the passage.

A couple floors along, Kip had been sniffing along the path, eventually coming up with an Oran Berry. "This place is stingy," Stacy said. "It'd be good for those who do need the strictness and quiet."

"Outlaws don't come here often," Kip told her. "There's too many of these contemplative freaks who put up one helluva fight, for one. Lack of decent treasure is another…"

A blue and black Pokemon suddenly dropped in front of them. "Would you respect the quiet at least?" the Lucario growled, tensing her fists.

Trey and Sally caught up from behind. "Lilli?" the Grovyle called out.

Trembling now, she dropped back. "Trey? You…?"

As they just looked at each other for a minute, Kip coughed. "Um, you two all right?"

"Well isn't this awkward?" a voice came from nearby. A Sneasel was standing right by them. Although he should have stood out against the pale brown stones, he had caught them all by surprise.

"What going on?" Stacy asked, worried. She thought everything had been all right, but he had told her that he had been with Celebi or something… not a Lucario.

The Sneasel chuckled and patted her shell. "Now don't you go getting jealous, pretty little turtle. The last time these two saw each other, they were locked in a battle to the death. Trey won that one."

He rubbed his head. "I'm sorry about that, Lilli, but.."

"No, I'm the one who should apologize, Trey. I'm sorry about trying to kill you. I'm not Primal now, obviously." She covered her face with her spiked paws. "Argh, but my discipline's been torn to pieces even since I remembered all that."

"I forgive you."

"My name is Konga," the Sneasel said to Stacy, with a bow. "The three of us were on the same unit in Celebi's forces, in the future of darkness. A lot of those forces have come here, actually."

"Oh you're friends of his? We're his explorer team. I'm the leader Stacy, and this is Kip, and that's Sally."

"At least there can be friendship again," Lilli said, bringing her paws down. Her ears were tilted down, giving her a sad look. "That era punished all attempts at friendship and trust. But it feel so hard to trust this era too, after seeing what could be."

"Which is why a lot of us are here," Konga said, taking Lilli's hand carefully. "Most didn't live long in that era, which is good for them. But those of us who did know those nightmares personally. Like that battle at Amp Plains, which no one survived." He shuddered. "How are you handling it, Trey?"

"Keeping busy doing stuff, mostly," he replied. "And I know I can count on these guys. But, I survived that battle, as did Celebi. It didn't get any better."

"It's nice to know that you accept me despite what happened," Lilli said, wringing her paws together. "But… it's still too much." She ran off.

"I'd better go keep watch over her," Konga said. "We may meet again if things settle for her."

"Right… oh, and have you seen Master Bubbles? She's around here."

He shook his head. "We haven't yet, but it's good to know. Goodbye, for now." He took off after Lilli.

"Having those memories back must be hard on a lot of you," Stacy said, taking Trey's paw.

"At least I know they're okay too," he said, but didn't seem to want to talk on it right then.

At the peak of Mount Travail, they found the Drowzee along with several others who were on similar disciplines. The group went up to him. "Excuse me, Mr. Fred?" Stacy asked.

He looked startled and turned to them. "W-what do you want with me?"

"Relax, buddy," Kip said. "We ain't here to arrest you or anything like that."

"Oh good," he said, putting a paw to his chest. "Some of the others around here distrust my kind, so I was afraid…" he trailed off.

"We're here because we need your help," Stacy said. "You know my little brother Azeri… well he and all the other children of Treasure Town won't wake up."

"They won't wake up?" he sounded curious.

"Yeah, and it seems like they're having awful nightmares as well," Trey said.

Stacy nodded. "And then we found out that the ocean town of Miracle Sea has the same problem; all of their children are trapped in nightmares. We've heard that your kind has special power over dreams, so we'd like you to come back and help us figure out how to help them."

"Huh. That's very strange. I've heard of…" he closed his eyes and thought it over. Then he looked to them again, he said, "If it's what I suspect, with so many involved, this will be extremely difficult to solve. But, I nearly did something awful to little Azeri. If it'll make up for that… yes, I'll come with you back to Treasure Town."

"Thank you so much," Stacy said, shaking Mr. Fred's paw. "It means a lot to everyone."


-+-

Back in Treasure Town, Mr. Fred started off by examining a number of the children there. He entered a kind of trance while standing near them and, while he was doing so, the young Pokemon calmed down for a brief time. After that, he called the caretakers and Team Marmalade into a central hall.

"The children are all experiencing the same dream," Mr. Fred revealed. "I suspect the that children of Miracle Sea are also in the same dream, as I saw a few young ones who weren't in this building there. There are only two beings capable of doing something like this: the dream spirits of the moon, Cresselia and Darkrai."

"So which one is it?" a Chansey asked.

"Um… I couldn't identify the source any further than that. And I'm not certain how to make contact with those legendary Pokemon. I've heard of Hypnos whose power was great enough that they were able find them within dreams, but I couldn't manage."

"We've been seeing Cresselia in our dreams," Trey said. "So, we at least know she's active in this area."

Mr. Fred nodded. "Ah, then it would most likely be her you need to find. As I've heard it, the two dream spirits do not get along very well and keep away from each other."

"So now what?" Kip asked. "We have to find an elusive Pokemon who has the power to enter dreams, when only Mr. Fred here can do the same."

"We could ask Uxie," Trey suggested. "We know where to find him and I doubt he would hide that information from us if we tell him why we need to meet with Cresselia."

"I'll stay here and help the children out as best I can," Mr. Fred said. "At least give them some relief from the nightmares."

With Uxie as being their best option for finding Cresselia either in the dreams or outside of them, Team Marmalade set out for Fogbound Lake. They camped halfway to the lake. But as they were getting up, something peculiar happened.

Sally had gone off on her own to wash up and clean her armor, something she was always adamant about being left alone to do. "I'm not sure why that is," Trey said as Kip and Stacy were just getting up. "She just said it was a human thing the one time I asked. Mewtwo told me that it was best that we respect that."

When she came back, she seemed puzzled. "I saw some strange movements in the air," she signed to Trey.

"Like something was flying about?" he asked.

She shook her head. "It was like something big became small, or something small became big. I don't know what it was."

"That sounds really odd," Trey said, then told the rest.

Before they could discuss it, or their path for the day, something popped near the remains of the campfire. Standing on the ashes was a pearly pink Pokemon, about eight inches high, standing on her hind legs and flexing her small rigid wings. She had an almost reptilian form, except her scales were smooth, nearly polished, into a shell casing. The shell casing surrounded her neck up to her face, giving the impression that she didn't really have a head.

"Oh, hello stranger," Stacy said with a smile. The pearly pink Pokemon was rather cute.

"Hah, I have found you!" she said in a squeaky voice. "You are coming with me."

"Um, why?" Trey asked, not liking the attitude of this one.

"Because I said so!" The air around them shifted as the landscape seemed to melt away. When it returned, they were in a strange dungeon made of marble, in white, black, and many shades of gray. "I am Palkia, and now you will pay!"

The group was a little dumbfounded at the diminutive Pokemon's claim. "Um, you're Palkia, the Being of Space?" Kip asked. "Related to the big guy, Dialga?"

"Yes I am!" she insisted. "I… um… hang on."

The air seemed to warp again, moving in a strange fashion. Then, the little Palkia vanished, to be replaced by one that was fifty feet tall. She roared in a way that was very much like her brother.

"I AM PALKIA!" she shouted, in a deafening and grand voice. "AND YOU LITTLE VERMIN HAVE CORRUPTED SPACE. I CANNOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN, NOT AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BROTHER."

The group braced themselves. "B-but we helped your brother," Stacy tried to point out.

"DON'T TRY TO MAKE EXCUSES. I KNOW IT'S YOU THAT'S RUINING EVERYTHING THIS TIME. AND I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH IT!" She readied an attack.

Trey threw a Stun Seed at her. "Come on, let's get out of here!"

They ran down a hallway, passed three rooms, but found no passage. At the fourth room, Stacy asked, "Where in the world are we?"

"I don't now," Trey said. "Kip?"

"Ain't never been to a place like this before," the Skitty said.

Sally shook her head. She'd never seen this dungeon before either.

"Well judging from the fact that Palkia brought us here," Trey reasoned, "it would seem that we're in Spacial Rift."

"Now how do we get out of here?" Stacy asked. "It's not like anyone back at the guild will know how to reach this place, or figure out that we're here."

"I don't know," Trey said, sounding frightened.

"What the heck is that noise?" Kip asked. "That crushing sound that's going on over there."

As they looked over to the noise source, there was a roar from Palkia, followed by an enourmous crash. The wall to the room had collapsed under Palkia's strength, and now the passage behind her looked like any other hall in the dungeon. "YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME," she growled.

"Looks like we gotta fight," Kip said.

Then a golden flash of a teleport came in between them and Palkia. Dialga stomped his foot down and glared at his sister. "HANG ON, WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS?"

"I AM NOT GOING TO TOLERATE THIS NONSENSE FROM ANYBODY!" she roared back.

"PALKIA! SNAP OUT OF IT!"

"You should know they mean no harm," a third dragon said. Although his voice was more subtle than the other two, Giratina left no illusion of being weak. He appeared to be mostly in the wall, perhaps not to make the room as crowded.

"IT'S NOT…" she wavered for a second. "DIALGA? GIRATINA? WHAT'RE YOU…?" She passed out and collapsed on the floor. It caused a minor tremor when she did, temporarily throwing the smaller Pokemon off balance.

Nervous but puzzled, Team Marmalade approached the three legendary Pokemon. "What happened to her?" Trey asked.

Dialga lowered his head and tried to nudge her. "HMM… SHE'S ASLEEP."

"Wasn't my doing this time," Kip stated.

"It would seem that she has been sleepwalking this whole while," Giratina said. "From the look of things… she's been asleep for a very long time."

"Sleepwalking?" Stacy asked. "But she kidnapped us and brought us here."

"I KNOW. IT'S VERY STRANGE. NONE OF US HAVE EVER DONE SOMETHING LIKE THAT BEFORE. THERE MUST BE SOME OUTSIDE FORCE AT WORK HERE." He lifted his head and looked to his brother. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ANYHOW?"

"I came for the same reason as you, probably," he replied. "She's emitting a strange energy now. I hadn't realized that she'd been asleep for weeks, though."

"YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF YOUR CAVE MORE OFTEN."

Stacy rubbed her paws together nervously, unsure if she was supposed to address such powerful Pokemon as these three. But they might need to know about what was going on. "Um, Dialga, Giratina? We were investigating why all the children of Treasure Town and Miracle Sea weren't waking up. We think Cresselia is behind those dreams, so maybe that's affecting Palkia."

"CRESSELIA?" Dialga nudged his sister again. "THAT SEEMS ABOUT AS ODD AS HER SLEEPWALKING. BUT IT SHOULD BE LOOKED INTO. WOULD YOU MIND ASKING CRESSELIA ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON WITH HER TOO?"

"Sure, we can do that," Stacy said.

"Yeah, once we figure out how in heck to find Cresselia in the first place," Kip pointed out.

"HER HOME IS AT LUNAR FIELDS. I'M AFRAID THAT I CAN'T TELL YOU ANY MORE THAN THAT, ON MY WORD OF HONOR. BUT MORTALS OFTEN FIND WAYS INTO LUNAR FIELDS."

"You might ask Garth about it," Giratina suggested.

"Garth?" Stacy asked, puzzled.

"He's my father," Trey said. "We can find him."

"Good. And thank you, all four of you, for helping us out. And you Sally, my daughter…"

"Your daughter?" Trey asked, shocked.

"Not in the usual sense," Giratina said. "But I had as much to do with her birth as her parents, so in that way, yes. Sally, I'm sorry I've had to stay away from you, but I've already told you why. I would like to talk to you more when things settle down. And don't worry; I know what you want to say."

She smiled and signed, "We can talk later."

"WE'LL STAY HERE WITH OUR SISTER TO MAKE SURE THAT SHE DOESN'T CAUSE ANY HARM, TO HERSELF OR OTHERS. BUT I'LL SEND YOU BACK HOME FIRST." Dialga bowed his head, then teleported them back to Treasure Town.

On Trey's suggestion, they went to the Guild to ask the staff if they had seen Garth the Sceptile around. "Oh sure," Chiaka said. "He's downstairs meeting with the Guildmaster and Splice."

"Well that's lucky," Stacy said. "Thanks Chiaka."

"Anytime," she replied with a chime.

"I thought you didn't know your father," Kip said, not wanting to hold back his curiosity any further.

"I didn't, but I met him a while back," Trey said. "We haven't spoke much, but it's been civil."

After knocking, they were invited into the Guildmaster's office. Bartleby and Charlie were there, along with Garth and Splice. "Ah, it's the nice folks who rescued me!" Splice said.

"Yup," Bartleby said. "We've got old friends, new friends… a great day!"

"Yes, and neither of you have changed one bit," Garth stated. "But the matter at hand…"

"Yes, did you find out anything that could help the children out?" Charlie asked. "You seem to be back quite early from finding Uxie."

"We didn't get that far," Stacy said. "But we did find out some things. We need to meet with Cresselia and we found out that she can be found at the Lunar Fields. And we also found out that Garth knows how to get there."

"Who told you that?" the Sceptile asked.

"Giratina did," Trey told him.

He looked puzzled. "Giratina? Now that's odd. I've never encountered that legendary before. But yes, I do know how to reach Lunar Fields. You'll need a Dream Coin to access it. However, the Coin only works in particular places and the access points that I know of are in other regions."

"Oh, I know of one," Splice said. "It's in a cleverly concealed dungeon that's behind a waterfall nearby. You can use a Dream Coin in the Gem Room to get to Lunar Fields. But, it's been only once that I had a Dream Coin, and I used it. I didn't see Cresselia, although the place was amazing."

"So how do you get a Dream Coin?" Stacy asked.

"Um…" Splice stammered.

"You can only find a Dream Coin with lots of luck," Bartleby said. "Or, in Lunar Fields."

"Oh… that's not good."

"I've got one in storage," Garth said. "I'll give it to you."

"Are you sure about that?" Stacy asked.

He nodded. "It's for the sake of the children. No need to pay me back, just get them back awake and safe."