Imagine Ch.3: Distorted

Author's Note:

And welcome back guys to another exciting chapter of Imagine! I just love this story as I've probably mentioned a million times before, and since you guys like it so much, I'm pushing myself to update it as quickly as possible. The ideas are flowing for this story and I've got a great plot to share with you guys so let's get this started. I know I've received a bunch of questions for my four new friends here, but I'm going to save those for the end of the chapter this time. No prolonging the excitement.

Dream: Ugh, I hate yoga... *laying flat on the floor pitifully*

Serena: Yeah, the yoga pose didn't go well. As usual, he tried something extreme and ended up...well I'd like to say pulling something but honestly that's what I'm hoping for. I don't really know.

Ruby: Umm...you do know you could just imagine being healed, right?

Dream: ...Oh yeah. Pfft, sure I knew that. *body glows and he stands up* I totally knew that. Just putting on a show, ya'know?

Ryan: Riiiiight. Well if that's all we're doing here. Writer, take it away! Bored here...

Me: Not so fast Ryan! We've got more questions!

Ryan: Oh come on!

Me: So Dream, Fabio The Great wants to know if your powers are limited to making objects out of ice.

Dream: Eh, no not really. I can make anything I want out of thin air. It doesn't have to be ice.

Me: Alright then! Serena! Fabio also wants to know how it felt to get flowers from a friend.

Serena: Well, I've never really gotten anything like that from a friend before, so it honestly felt pretty good.

Me: Also from Fabio, Ruby, do you like art?

Ruby: Hah, of course! I love art! One of my favorite things!

Me: Ryan, have you pulled any pranks, and which one was the most destructive?

Ryan: Hmm... The most destructive... I honestly don't know. I've pulled so many. *laughs*

Me: Now for me? Favorite book and genre. I'd have to say my favorite genre is romance, and book...or rather it's a fanfiction to be honest... My favorite is War of the Plates 2 by Mr. mxsyple.

Eve: Hiya! Let's start the chapter! *pushes a button* Yeah!

Me: *face-palm*

Through the dark gloom of the night, the midnight shadow dashed. The city did nothing to illuminate this shadow as it moved along the rooftops, dashing and jumping across them expertly, seen by no one. Dark as moonlight, timeless and scarce... -M

It was midnight in the city of Sudan's Bay, bright lights shone through the darkness of the night, illuminating the empty streets of the now silent boulevard. The moon shone bright in the sky, big and full, seemingly in absence of greeting.

I dashed and jumped across the rooftops with ease with no destination in sight, making sure I wasn't seen as the lights of the city remained unwavering, threatening to expose me.

Landing on another building, I inspected a peculiar skylight tented black, as if the building's owner didn't want any light to come through. I had reached my destination.

I dropped down into the building, inside which was a dim circle of light that only reached three quarters of the room. Judging from the single small light bulb on the ceiling in the center of the room, I guessed that the building hadn't been renovated in the past three years.

"So I see you decided to show up after all. I would think you would've been out of here by now. This place isn't exactly your...preferred venue." A voice sounded out from in front of me just as a monferno came out of the darkness of the other end of the room.

I laughed lightly as I walked out of the darkness of my corner and slowly walked up to him. "Hmm. Why hello Shawn. Always about curiosity aren't you?" I said to him, putting my hand up to his face. "You have no idea... And that's what I'm renowned for." I suddenly pulled my hand away, my expression turning fierce. "I suggest you keep it that way." I said calmly, no anger shown in my voice.

"Besides. This place holds a certain mystical charm at night. In fact, I wouldn't mind staying here for a while if I had to..." I continued, turning around and walking back a few steps.

"So why are you here anyway? You never told me. You're messages are impossibly discrete." Shawn voiced back.

"Why I'm here?" I asked back with a slight laugh, turning back to face him. "Why that's where you come in Shawn. I've been in this city for some time now and I haven't received any information. I'm afraid news doesn't circulate well around here..." I replied, now beginning to slowly circle around him.

"News? Surely you called me here for more than that! I have more important things to be doing. I'm a thief, not a reporter." Shawn responded, slightly irritated. I gave him an amused smile.

"Oh Shawn. If only you understood the importance of worldly concepts." I sighed, stopping mid-walk. "It's been a pleasure working with you."

I took only a moment to take in his confused look before I raised my arm, a black orb forming in my hand. Then, before he could manage more than an utterly shocked expression, I launched the dark sphere at him, sending him crashing into one of the walls. He quickly recovered, shooting a stream of fire at me. I raised my hand yet again, stopping it just as it was about to make contact. With the closing of my fist, the stream of fire crumbled into ash. He just stared at his destroyed attack in disbelief as I pushed both of my hands outwards toward him. The steel of the wall suddenly bent inward and ensnared him tightly.

"Ugh! What are you doing!? Let me go!" Shawn shouted.

I just gave him a sly smile. "Goodbye Shawn. You know, I do think it's time I leave this city. See other places. Thanks for the advice." I said just as I exited the building, ignoring his many shouts and various grunts. I snapped my fingers as I was walking away from the building, and not a second later, the ground shook with the intensity of an erupting mushroom cloud. Flames erupted from the building, but I never turned back to face it.

"Good information is so hard to come by these days." I sighed as I turned onto the path to the outskirts of the city, completely unimpressed by the transceiver and wanted poster I had left behind.

(Earlier) 8:00pm, Dream's House, Serena's POV:

It was pretty surprising that Mom actually let me stay over at Dream's house. I mean, not that Dream was a bad guy or anything. In fact he was rather sweet, but she was always adamant about who I hung out with. Especially if it was a boy. This was certainly peculiar, but I wasn't complaining.

I took a quick glance around the room. Dream's room sure was interesting. It didn't look at all like the rest of the house, so I assumed that Dream never changed any of the other rooms when he was little.

Still, I could hardly believe that I was actually here of all places. I had wanted to talk to Dream for so long but was too skittish to do so for the longest time, yet here I was in his house marveling at his handiwork.

Apparently I had disturbed Dream while I was observing his room. The mere fact that he was awake was enough proof for that, much less the many feats of shuffling I had ignored. Suddenly I felt guilty. "Ugh. Inconsiderate!" I mumbled in frustration.

"Huh? Oh no, it's fine Serena. My room is pretty interesting." Dream replied, laughing slightly. Apparently he had heard me.

"It's fine? But I woke you-" I was interrupted by the raising of his hand.

"Really. It's no problem. I don't usually fall asleep at this hour anyway. The excitement of today must've been a lot to absorb I guess." He laughed. A look of deep thought seemed to come over him as he turned to face me. "Come to think of it, we haven't really had much time to talk. Just a walk through town and the waterfall. Anything else revolved around school and our meeting was just an introduction."

I raised an imaginary eyebrow at that last statement, causing an almost scared but nervous expression to appear on Dream's face. "N-not that it wasn't an important moment or anything." He tried to assure me.

I laughed at the attempt. "I know Dream. I was just kidding. Lighten up some. It's not like I'm gonna leave you." I comforted him. "Now then. You wanted to talk?"

He let out a sigh. "Oh yeah. Well, you said you think Ruby has a crush on Ryan right?" I nodded. "Well what I want to know is, well, how do you figure that?"

I just smiled. "I don't really need to. She's been my best friend since I was in kindergarten. I know how she thinks, and she likes someone who can make her laugh. It's not all that easy either. It takes a special kind of person to amuse her like that."

Dream put on an enlightened expression. "Oooh I can see how you'd get that now. The guy's clumsy enough to make just about anyone laugh, and I'm pretty sure he's great with comedy too... And now that ya mention it, those two as a couple isn't too hard to imagine..." He saw my nervous expression and laughed. "Don't worry, I can't conjure up scenarios...yet, and besides, you can't make people fall in love."

"Well that's true." I agreed. "Anyway, Ruby's also, well, protective of him. Naturally you'd think that everyone would like the funny guy, but it's more like maybe seventy-five percent of the school, more or less, and it's not solid either. Some have turned on him before because of his clumsy behavior. Burn's the problem along with some of the other more troublesome pokemon at the school." I explained. "Ruby would burn anyone to a crisp if they tried to hurt Ryan. That's the gist of it anyway."

Dream looked a bit worried after I had said that. "Umm, Serena? How do you think others will treat you now that you're friends with me? I mean they didn't exactly know today, but once word gets out-" I stopped him there.

"Dream. Do you honestly think that I care how I'm treated at school if I'm willing to make an effort for you? Everyone treats you like some sort of disease, and it's horrible! I'm not just gonna leave you all alone out of fear for what they think. Ruby and Ryan feel the same, and I'm sure there are others. We just have to find them." I put my paw over his hand. "You are important to me, and in some way to the world apparently. Those powers of yours aren't there for no reason." I smiled at him. "Anything else you'd like to talk about?" I wasn't gonna give him any room to contradict, and frankly the subject aggravated me.

He looked at a loss for words for a second before finally cracking a smile. "I knew I hit the jackpot. Thank you..." I simply nodded. "Now tell me... What's your favorite color?"

I couldn't tell from his voice, but something about his expression made me stop and think. "Oh. So we're doing a 'get to know you' thing now? Ok. My favorite color is purple. Yours?"

"Ok, well...I'd say my favorite color is my eye color. Sky blue." He replied. "Hmm...is there somewhere you've always wanted to visit? I mean, I know you want to travel and all, so..."

"Oh umm, a place I want to visit?" I repeated, trying to think of a response. "Oh, I know! I've kinda always wanted to visit the meadows near Golden Gate City...in the spring when everything is lively and beautiful. I've heard the view is amazing." I reminisced.

Dream had his eyes closed, like he was thinking of something, but he opened one of them in interest as soon as I started talking of the meadow. "Golden Gate City huh?" He looked up at the ceiling. "That's pretty far away, even for me..." He looked back down at the bed. "Still, that's one nice scene to dream of..."

I looked at him oddly before noticing a change in the wall. I squinted as it sparkled for a second, shielding my eyes when a bright flash was emitted from it. When the flash ended, I uncovered my eyes and looked at the wall. I gasped at what I saw. Instead of the wall's normal sky blue coloring, I saw a seemingly realistic view of a meadow of brilliantly beautiful flowers being blown around by a pleasant Spring breeze. The sun seemed to be shining warmly down on the entire scene, like a blanket would on someone's bed. The whole thing looked so real... I felt like I was actually there.

I looked all around the room to find the same thing about all the walls, including the floor and ceiling, which portrayed the ever so radiant sky. "Dream...h-how did you...?" I looked at him in awe for a second before laughing. "Oh yeah, right."

"Heh, forgot for a second did ya?" He laughed before laying back again. "Hmm. Maybe someday you can see this in person. Sure is beautiful..." A short period of silence ensued before he turned back to face me. "Ya know, I've been doing some thinking. The main reason people treat me the way they do is fear, or by extension, superstition. They all think I'm some huge source of bad luck, or a monster that hides amongst them in broad daylight."

I raised an eyebrow, not really seeing where he was going with this. "So I've decided that I'm going to fix that!" He smiled broadly, which surprised me a bit. "See, if I become a great hero, they won't have a reason to fear me. Then they'll all look up to me and respect me!" He laughed.

I looked at him in awe. How could he be so optimistic? "Wow. Well when you put it that way, it seems so easy. But becoming a hero? Are you seriously thinking of showing the world your abilities?"

My suspicions proved correct when his smile turned into a smirk. "Well if I didn't, it wouldn't make my argument very convincing now would it? They have to find out at some point. It would be better if they did while I was using my abilities to help people."

I nodded, but a part of me was still worried about this decision. "I guess that makes sense." I glanced back at the sunflower field scenery and all of my worries were lifted. "Thanks for the beautiful scene by the way. I really would like to go there some day." I thanked him. "In any case, we have school tomorrow and I know my mom wouldn't be too happy with me slipping up on my grades because I stayed up too late. I'll see you in the morning Dream." I said good night to Dream as I turned over on my side and closed my eyes.

"Heh, alright Serena. Good night." I heard Dream reply before I drifted off to sleep.

8:00am, Dream's House:

I woke up to the strangest sensation. Warmth. I was a fire type, so naturally my body temperature was higher than other pokemon, but this was different. This warmth seemed to come from the outside. I also felt extremely comfortable. Whatever my head was laying on was really smooth and soft...wait a minute. What am I laying on?

I opened my eyes and looked up, only to freeze upon doing so. 'D-dream?!' I was lying right next to Dream, my head positioned on top of his chest just under his neck. Dream's arm was hanging over my waist, as if to protect me from something. 'How did I get here?'

I nervously took a peak up at Dream to find that he was still fast asleep. My cheeks flushed red. 'Great. Another thing I can't tell Mom.' Not wanting to wake Dream up just yet, I slowly started to move away from him.

"Dream, Serena. Time to wake up!" Shouted someone from behind the door to the room. 'Ugh, too late. His mom.' And I was right. As soon as those thoughts crossed my mind, Dream's mom opened the door and entered the room, only to gaze at me with what I thought to be the most hilarious surprised expressions I had ever seen. Well at least it would have been if I hadn't been the one she was staring at.

"Oh, eheheh. Good morning." I greeted nervously. Dream was apparently a heavy sleeper, for he hadn't woken up yet.

His mom, Jenna, gave me a questionable look. I knew she had seen the blush. I gave her a pleading look in response. "Please don't tell him."

She smiled and nodded, seemingly getting the message. "Go ahead and move. He won't wake up easily."

I nodded and moved away with ease. Dream never moved an inch. I laughed at how heavy a sleeper he was. "Wow. Exactly what does it take to wake him up anyway?"

Jenna smiled and walked over to the bedside table. "This alarm clock is what I've found to do the trick instantly, but it seems that our little dreamer has gotten smart with us and unplugged it." She proceeded to plug it back in and set it to the current time. The alarm went off, and Dream woke up with a start.

"Waaa! Woah woah. What?! I thought I-" He noticed his mother's presence and shrunk back. "Oh...ehehe. Morning Mom."

Jenna just sighed. "I want you to leave your alarm plugged in when Serena's not here. I can tell that she wakes up promptly on her own just fine, so I trust her to wake you up when she stays over." She informed Dream. He nodded obediently and she smiled. "Alright then. If you plan on walking to school like you usually do instead of running, you better hurry up and get breakfast. I'm going out to tend to the garden, so I'll see you after school sweetie. It was nice meeting you Serena." She then exited the room.

Dream turned towards me and smiled. "Good morning Serena! Did you sleep ok last night?" I nodded, causing him to smile once more. "Good, 'cause I think I felt some tossing and turning. It might've just been a dream though..."

I blushed at his statement. Come to think of it, I must've rolled next to him in my sleep. 'Did he actually notice?' My blush deepened at the thought of that.

"So, choir tryouts are today huh?" Dream asked, breaking up my thoughts.

"Huh?" I looked back at him. "Oh, yeah. Right. Guess I forgot. It's not really a tryout though. Everyone who signs up is allowed in. Consider it a showcase of sorts. It's a way of getting to know new members. Old members like myself usually sign up to encourage newcomers."

Dream nodded. "Ahh, I see." He then jumped off of the bed and made a gesture towards the door. "Shall we go then? I was thinking we could take the usual path, except without all of the spying this time." He joked with a smirk. I blushed at his comment, but nodded all the same.

Hopping off of the bed, I followed him out of the bedroom and into the living room, where we each grabbed a couple of berries and headed out the door. I had to shield my eyes for a second as we stepped outside into the bright sun-lit front porch. There was no overcast. In fact, the sky was clear for miles, and the sun was as bright as ever in the sky.

After my eyes had properly adjusted, I took a look around Dream's front yard. I quickly noticed his mother's garden and was amazed by the immense variety of beautiful plants and flowers she had grown for display. The flowers ranged from gracidea flowers to dandelions, to daisies, and a few roses here and there. She also had multiple bushes growing a variety of berries, including what looked to be sitrus berries, oran berries, greppa berries, pecha berries and many more.

"Wow, your mom sure has a beautiful garden. How does she manage to keep it up?" I asked Dream as we turned down the path heading towards the school.

He just smiled, crossing his arms behind his head as he walked. "She's always had a passion for growing plants. It's a talent of sorts. The berries sure did come in handy when I was little though. I got hurt often, and we live pretty far off from the town." He laughed. "Though I suppose experimentation with my powers was the main cause of that problem. Caused Mom a great deal of worry."

"Heh, I bet. Getting used to your powers must've been really interesting. How far have you travelled outside of the town?"

He seemed to think for a second. "Well, there was that one time when I traveled to a lake so far out that I had to camp out and my mom had to track me down and drag me back. You can bet she grounded me after that adventure. I tried not to travel too far afterwards. I don't particularly like to worry her ya know?"

I tilted my head. "Well why didn't you just run back? Certainly you could have made it back in at least a minutes time."

He shook his head. "It had gotten too dark already. Going that fast in the dark wouldn't be very safe, especially since at the time I had just learned how to do that."

I nodded. "Well someday, I want to really travel. First, this continent, but later on I want to be able to travel to other continents and meet interesting new people. I mean, what if there's someone like you out there in the world somewhere?"

Dream smiled. "Well, I'd really like to meet them then. It'd be really awesome to meet someone who I could compete with."

"Dream, I've been thinking. What do you think your power really is? I mean, I know you said that you can do anything with imagination, but is that really it? What exactly is behind it? Do you think it's some kind of magic?"

"Hmm, now that ya mention it, I guess I haven't really put all that much thought into it. People say imagination is connected to dreams, so maybe it has something to do with that? Maybe...ya know, maybe this has something to do with the dream world."

I tilted my head. "You mean the place that they say the pokemon muna can see into?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Do you think that maybe that place could actually exist, and my powers are somehow connected to it? I mean, if it's true, then I could just call my power Dream Energy."

"Dream Energy..." I reiterated. "Yeah. It sounds good. No one really knows about the dream world though. The only proof we have is what the muna tell us and our own dreams, but I guess your powers could be connected with it if it does exist."

Dream smiled. "Well, wondering about it all day certainly won't help. Let's just leave it at that for now. I'm gonna go with Dream Energy until I'm proven wrong. We'll focus on solving that mystery some other time." A smirk formed on his face so suddenly that I nearly flinched. "Perhaps when we start traveling."

'Start traveling? What does he mean by that?' I wondered as I continued to follow him. Soon we reached the familiar sight of Evio Forest.

"So what do you think? Should we go through it this time? Or would you rather run? We have enough time to do both, considering I can run us there quickly after we exit." Dream smirked.

I thought for a second. "Well actually, this time I think I'd like to walk through the forest. I haven't walked through it in a while, so it'll be refreshing to see it after so long."

Dream nodded. "Alright then. Whatever you want." He smiled as he motioned for me to follow, walking towards the entrance of the forest. He made an abrupt stop before turning to face me with an inquisitive look on his face. "Say...you wouldn't by chance have tried traveling through the forest in the treetops have you?" He smirked.

I looked at him strangely. "Well no...why?"

He clicked his fingers and motioned me towards him. "No particular reason." He said peculiarly. "Just climb." He gave me a gentle push, surprising me for a second as I flew forwards, only to land on something soft and...invisible? I pushed myself to my feet and looked down to find that I was floating in midair. Not only that, but it appeared that I was steadily moving upwards on an incline towards the trees. "Hey! Is this an invisible cloud?"

Dream nodded as he quickly jumped up to join me. "It reflects what you'd expect to see above or below you, so no one will see us as we float above the treetops. Call it camouflage if you want. I just thought we'd change things up a bit. If we weren't going to run through the forest, why not float over it?" He smiled.

I laughed. "You just keep coming up with things don't you? Do you still have that pocket watch?"

"Yeah, we have just enough time to take this little trip before I have to run us to school again." His face suddenly grew that smirk again. "It would you rather jump there?"

"What?" I laughed. "What do you mean? You've really got to explain these things better. I don't know you 'that' well yet."

He laughed as well. "Yeah, I guess you wouldn't." He pointed forward. "What I meant was a variation on the running thing. I still go pretty fast, but while I'm moving, I create a bunch of things that I jump on in midair so we don't crash and it gets us there in a rush. It's crazy exhilarating and we wouldn't have to waste time getting down from here."

"You can do that?" I asked him, a little unsure about him being able to do everything he boasted with me on his back.

"Yeah, of course. I do it all the time. If you liked how it felt to go as fast as you did yesterday, then you'll love doing this. Trust me."

Well I did trust him... I smiled back at him. "Ok then. I'll take your word for it."

He pumped his fist into the air. "Hahah! Awesome! Well, until then, we can enjoy the scenery. Just try not to gaze over the cloud too much. We don't want people spotting us up here." He pointed out the boundaries of the cloud. Apparently he could see the cloud if he wanted to.

Something about his enthusiasm made me blush. 'Was he excited just because I actually wanted to do something like that with him?'

"So Serena, your mom... She seemed pretty surprised that you wanted to stay over at my house. What do you think that meant?"

"Hmm?" I shook my head to clear out my thoughts. "Huh? Oh, umm... I don't know, I mean. She's pretty protective most of the time. Normally she wouldn't let me visit another person's house without first meeting their parents. It was all pretty strange for me..."

"Hmm... Ya know, maybe it had something to do with how everyone else treats me. She seemed to lighten up a lot after she saw me, and like you said, she usually meets the parents first. Maybe she's proud of you." Dream suggested.

I mulled over it for a second. "I...I guess that could be it. She's always been funny that way..."

Suddenly the air felt a lot more dense. It sent a chill down my spine as I looked back and forth, eventually tapping Dream on the shoulder to brief him on my uneasiness.

He caught my paw and held it. "I know, I sense it too." He narrowed his eyes and began searching around where we flew. I admit, it might've been a bit cliché, but I clung to him a bit. "Hmm?" He was looking straight ahead of us, with his hand shielding his eyes from the overhead sunlight. I looked where he did and saw something strange. There was a dark figure just ahead, standing on what looked to be a tree, but it was hard to tell because in an instant it was gone.

The second it was gone however, the wind started picking up drastically and our cloud was thrown around all over the place. Luckily, Dream was quick to react as he grabbed me around the waist and jumped from the cloud, landing on the nearest treetop. "Ugh, what was that? The wind picked up as soon as it vanished!"

I wanted to give a reply, but I was too distracted by how high we were. My eyes widened with anxiety. "U-u-uhh Dream! Kind of hanging here!" I shouted desperately for him to hold me some other way.

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" He apologized as he shifted me into a more bridal-style position. I blushed a bit. 'Aww man, it's either embarrassing or terrifying...' "Well then, I guess we can wonder about it some other time. So what do you say? Want to hop across these trees?"

I probably would've said no under normal conditions, but he always made me feel safe somehow. I nodded as I moved myself closer to him. ...Not that I wanted to be closer to him or anything! I just didn't want to fall. I turned over slightly to look ahead.

"Well if you're ready, hold on!" He said as he began racing across the tops of the trees, sometimes springing up and swinging around the taller ones, to which afterwards he'd create a platform of some kind to rebound off of in order to land back onto the trees again. I probably should've been scared, but he was right. This really was exhilarating!

Soon the trees ended and he sprung off of the last one and onto what looked to be a rail that he had created. To my surprise he was able to grind on the rail and hop off onto a couple of other platforms, which he had positioned at awkward angles. He jumped to the first one, landing right side up, before jumping up at an angle to land upside-down on the second one. He proceeded to the next one with a jump that set us right-side up again, landing on the third before repeating the process to another upside-down platform and bounding down from it, flipping and landing promptly on a few clouds that he had created moments before.

Pretty soon the town had begun to come into view. Dream jumped down from the cloud, this time not creating anything at all as we fell all the way down to ground level. I thought we were going to hit the ground, but once we neared it, he grabbed onto what looked to be the bar on the top of a street lamp and used it to stop our momentum slightly, flipping a few times as he let go and landed on the nearest building. I shook my head to get rid of the dizziness that had accompanied it as he dashed across the rooftops, headed for the school.

Once we reached the school, he created another rail that seemed to spiral down to the ground. As he approached it, he jumped onto it and grinded down it, jumping off of it once we reached the ground.

The only way to describe the feeling I was experiencing at that moment was ecstatic. As Dream slowed down and began walking towards the school, I laughed and hugged him around the neck with a huge smile on my face. "Dream, that was so awesome! Haha!"

"Woah, you two are sure getting friendly." A familiar voice rung out from behind us.

I blushed and turned around in Dream's arms. "Oh hi Ruby! Eheheh...What're you doing out here?"

She laughed. "Uhh, it's school. More importantly, what's with all the hugging and the holding, hmm? Is there something you guys haven't told me?"

"Huh? W-what're you talking about?" I looked up at Dream to find him blushing as well. 'Wait. Why is Dream blushing?'

Ruby laughed at us again. "Well whatever. If you guys are a thing, you can keep it a secret if you want. It's not my business." She teased as she began walking towards the school.

My eyes widened. "Hey! W-we are not a thing! If anything, we're...well I don't know, but we're not a thing! Right Dream?! ...Dream?" I looked back up at him to find him frozen in place.

I laughed quietly and waved my paw in front of his face. "Hey, earth to Dream. School starts in five minutes and I think we should follow miss tease-a-lot."

At that, Ruby turned straight around with an annoyed look on her face. "Miss tease-a-lot?! Oh come on Serena! That's low!"

Dream seemed to snap out of it as well. "Huh? Oh, uhh right. School time." He looked over at Ruby. "Hey Ruby, where's Ryan?"

Ruby tilted her head in thought. "I'm not sure. He's usually early to school. You know, doing something stupid. That's why I'm always early. To clean up after him, but I haven't been able to find him."

"Well maybe he's absent today." Dream offered.

Ruby shook her head. "He may be tardy sometimes, but he never misses a day of school. That's the real reason I'm out here. I'm kind of worried."

"Oh, well maybe Mrs. Jade'll let us look for him. She seems pretty nice." I offered, trying to console her. She nodded.

"Yeah, maybe. I guess I could explain it to her." She smiled. "Well, we won't know by just standing here, and if we're late for class it won't look good for any of us. Let's go." Ruby led us towards the school as we began making our way to Mrs. Jade's classroom.

Once we reached the room, instead of taking our seats, we met Mrs. Jade at her desk. Ruby approached her first. She seemed to be busy with a stack of papers that lie piled on her desk, but she looked up when Ruby approached nonetheless.

She smiled warmly at her. "Why hello Ruby, it's certainly good to see you this morning. Is there something I can help you with?" She asked Ruby.

"Well you see Mrs. Jade, I haven't been able to find Ryan this morning and I'm kind of worried. I was wondering if you'd let us go look for him."

Mrs. Jade tilted her head. "Ryan? You mean the jokester who slid into my trash can the other day? Well maybe he's just absent today."

Ruby looked at her with pleading eyes. "Mrs. Jade, he's never missed a day of school, and I know he'd never miss a day this close to the beginning of the year. Can you please let me go look for him? I'm really worried. What if-?" Apparently Mrs. Jade could tell that she was stressing herself out, so she cut her off with the placing of her paw on her desk.

She looked at Ruby intently. "Ruby, sweet heart. Calm down." She sighed. "I'll let you go look for him, and I'll inform the other teachers to keep an eye out, just don't stress yourself out like that. It's unhealthy."

Ruby looked relieved. "Really?! Thank you!" She exclaimed as she hugged Mrs. Jade and zipped out of the classroom.

"I'm thinking you two should follow after her. I don't want her getting into any trouble." She said as she returned to her work. We nodded and dashed out after her.

Surprisingly, she had made it pretty far down the hall before we had caught up to her. "Hey Ruby. So what was with Mrs. Jade? Why'd she call you sweet heart? That's kind of an odd thing for a teacher to call a student isn't it?" Dream asked Ruby when we caught up to her.

Ruby laughed a little when he asked her that. "Not really. Well, at least for me anyway. Mrs. Jade's not just my teacher. She's my mom."

Dream seemed surprised by that. "What? But why do you call her Mrs. Jade? And you act so professional around her."

Ruby laughed again. "That's only here at school. Here, she's my teacher, so I have to act professional with her. I don't really have to call her Mrs. Jade, but calling her Mom would be kind of embarrassing don't you think?"

"But wait...I thought she was married to an umbreon named Dusk." Dream stated, a bit confused.

Ruby nodded. "Yep. That's my dad. I'm adopted. I don't usually talk about it much, so not that many people know."

Dream nodded. "Ahh, I see... So, where are we gonna start searching?"

"Well, I think we should start with the center of town and head out from there. Let's go to the Melodos Tree." Ruby suggested. We both nodded as we headed out.

Melodos Tree Monument, Dream's POV:

The Melodos Tree was the tallest tree in the area, standing in the center of the town just south of the school. I guess you could say it was the town's most important monument, having been there since it was founded and built. It certainly did command attention.

"Man, I always loved this tree." I commented as we approached the massive skyscraper of a plant. "I used to nap under it when I had off periods from class or on hot summer days when I wanted to let my mind drift."

"Oh, so that snivy that I always saw sleeping under the tree was you. I thought you were just an expert sleeper or something." Ruby laughed as we approached it.

"Well kinda. Does expert dreamer count?" We started looking around, but came up with nothing. "Why would Ryan be around here anyway? I've never seen him around here before."

Ruby shrugged. "Well to be honest, I have no idea where he goes off to in the mornings. I just kind of meet up with him."

Serena sighed. "Aww man, what's he gotten himself into now?"

Just then, I felt an all too familiar chill run up my spine. Like before, the atmosphere had taken on a sudden eerie change. "Umm, Serena? Does something seem a bit, off to you?"

"Off? What do you mean?" She took a moment to look around before shrugging. "I don't get what you're-" She stopped when her eyes landed on the tree behind me. "What's that?" She asked out loud as she walked around me and over to the tree, pointing to what looked to be some sort of black circle. "It looks like some sort of shadow, but it's of an impossible shape."

I stared at it with an obvious case of mild curiosity before reaching my hand up and poking it gently. Curiously, poking it seemed to cause ripples to appear in it and move out from the source, a lot like what you'd expect from that of a small puddle. "Hmm... Interesting."

"Dream, maybe you shouldn't touch that..." Serena warned me, trying to dissuade me from touching the black circle again.

I backed away. "Why not? It seems harmless enough, and it's pretty cool."

Serena pointed back up at the tree. "That's why!"

I looked in the direction she was pointing and took a step back in surprise. Dark circles like the one I had touched had started to appear all over the tree, completely covering it from the ground up until it was completely covered. Unlike the first one, these circles overlapped and seemed to emit strange eerie auroras within their usual black coloration. Small black, block-like bits of dark energy seemed to be emitting off of the top of the tree. The tree itself now appeared distorted, as if it weren't a part of reality at all.

"Ok, what just happened to the tree?" Serena asked the question we were all wondering, but before any of us could reply, an explosion sounded out from one of the nearby buildings.

Closing my eyes, I tried to listen to everything around me. Opening them just as fast, I raised my head on alert before springing into the air as high as I could. I heard a voice approach me on the left, so I turned just in time to catch a terrified Ryan in my arms. His impact was a bit more than I had expected, so I had to create a cloud platform to land on, just so we didn't fly off into the next building.

"Woah! Ryan? You ok?" I asked him as I knelt down to check him for injuries.

"Dream? Yeah yeah. I'm fine! But you have to look! Up there!" Ryan insistently pointed up to the top of the building in the direction he had just come from. At the top of which stood a lone, dark figure just staring at us and the now distorted tree.

I frowned, then turned to Ryan. "Think you'll be ok here?"

He nodded as I shot off towards the building, creating clouds as platforms. I landed on top of it in no time at all, looking around frantically for the figure I had seen from down below. I soon regretted that decision as I received a sharp blow to the side of my head, sending me flying off to the side.

"Ugh...note to self. Keep watch for shadow people..." I muttered as I pushed myself to my feet. Right in front of me stood a figure about my height, wearing what looked to be a black cloak with a hood, so as to conceal their identity. "Ok so usually this is about the time in these kinds of things where I'd demand your name, but I'm just gonna take a bet and say you're not gonna tell me anyway... No? Ok!"

I sped off towards the figure as fast as I could, quickly covering them in a thick layer of ice as I did so...at least, that's how I had planned it... Without warning, about midway through my sprint, I suddenly lost momentum and flipped forward onto my stomach, sliding forward a bit.

"Ugh...what happened?" I muttered as I stood up shakily. Surprisingly, the layer of ice was now gone. "Ok..." I pulled back my fist, fire starting to pool up around it as I thrust it forward, sending a decently sized fireball towards my enemy, who quickly held their arm out.

Suddenly the fireball disappeared and my eyes went wide with surprise. "What?!" I looked away for a second only to snap my attention back just in time to dive back as something struck the rooftop, throwing up chunks of rooftop material and smoke. I pulled myself to my feet as quickly as I could, but by the time the smoke had cleared, the figure was nowhere to be seen.

I sighed, defeated as I lowered my hand to my belly where my momentum earlier had caused me to scrape myself up badly. I began to heal it with synthesis before walking over to the edge of the building and jumping off, maneuvering my way down and over to where my friends were waiting. Serena immediately ran up and hugged me.

"Dream! Are you ok?! Why would you chase after that person?!" She questioned me, quite worriedly I might add.

I raised my hands up at her to quiet her concerns. "Serena, I'm fine. There was just something about that figure that didn't sit right with me. I have a feeling that he or she had something to do with what happened to the Melodos Tree. It was certainly strange though. My powers didn't work on her."

Serena seemed surprised but didn't speak. Instead, she motioned outwards with her paw. Getting what she meant, I looked around briefly and instantly knew why she hadn't reacted. Just about everyone in town had shown up already, including her mom. "I think we're in trouble..." Serena whispered.

Melodos Town Hall:

Apparently, since we were the only ones around at the time of the incident, we got the fun task of being questioned. We were all currently seated in the office of Melodos' mayor, who just so happened to be Serena's father. This day sure turned out to be terrible...

Anyway, after spending a few minutes re-organizing the books on his bookshelf, the mayor, a lucario, sat down in his chair and faced us. "So, Dream was it? I don't believe I've met you before, but my wife tells me that you've recently become friends with our daughter, Serena. Correct?"

I nodded, not really having much else to say. I had never really been in the mayor's office before, much less town hall. It was a bit intimidating to say the least.

"Ahh, yes. Well it's nice to meet you. Any new friend my daughter makes is a friend of mine." He smiled warmly. "Now, can you guys tell me anything about what happened to the tree?"

Serena and I exchanged a nervous look. "Well, we decided to stop at the tree to search for Ryan, but couldn't find him. We took a short break, during which Serena noticed this weird black circle on the tree. It wasn't there before, so it's like it just appeared there out of nowhere. I got curious, so I touched it, and it rippled like when you'd tap the surface of a puddle. Then right after that, it became covered in the stuff."

The mayor nodded. "I see... And why exactly were you in the roof. I did receive a report that there had been an explosion in that area."

"Oh, umm. Well...there was this person on top of the roof. I couldn't make them out because they had some sort of robe on, but..."

The mayor raised an eyebrow. "But what?" When I didn't answer, he got out of his chair and paced around a bit. "You know Dream, I started wondering how you got up onto that roof so easily from such a far distance, and then I wondered: 'how could he possibly have made it onto such a building with a roof only accessible from the inside?'"

I looked at him nervously. I didn't like where he was going with this. Not at all.

He suddenly leaned towards me with his paws on his desk. He chuckled lightly. "I know about your powers Dream. Don't be afraid to tell me the full truth."

My eyes widened in shock. "What?! How do you know about that?! I've never told anybody but these guys!"

He laughed. "That's very true, but after the few incidents that happened at your school, we couldn't ignore the fact that there was something very different about you. My wife visited with your parents one day on the topic, and we've helped protect you ever since. The last thing we need is the rest of the world coming after you in search of power."

"My parents told you?! B-but they said they wouldn't tell anyone!" I exclaimed in shock.

The mayor just motioned for me to calm down. "Now now, don't get yourself worked up. Your parents didn't tell just anyone. We've been good friends with them for a long time now. They entrusted us with the secret in order to protect you. Believe me, if they hadn't known us very well, they would've lied us out of the country. Please do not think they betrayed you."

I nodded. "I guess I understand... But I don't understand. Why tell me now? What does it have to do with anything?"

"Dream. Tell me exactly what happened on top of that building."

I sighed. "Well, I confronted the suspicious person that I had seen, and it was so strange. I tried using my powers on her, but every time I did, it didn't work. When I ran, I suddenly lost momentum and crashed, and whenever I tried to hit her with an attack, she made it disappear. It's like she had the ability to counter my powers."

He thought for a second. "That is indeed strange... Well, perhaps we can use this information to our advantage. If whoever this person is can counter your powers, maybe you can counter theirs. Maybe you can cure the Melodos Tree."

My eyes widened. "What?! But then everyone would know about what I can do! I can't do that! They'll all be afraid of me!"

He got down at eye level with me. "Dream, the Melodos Tree isn't just a monument. Its roots are connected to every living plant in this entire area. Without it, this town and everything around it will soon die. Besides, if everyone were to see you using your powers to save the town, wouldn't you think they'd appreciate you?"

Serena gave me an empathetic look. "Dream, you don't have to do it if you don't want to."

"It's ok, he's right..." I sighed. "The town will certainly die if I don't do this. Besides, maybe it's time I come out of hiding and become the hero I said I was going to be." I smiled.

The mayor stood up again. "Right! Well then, shall we make our way to the tree then?"

We all nodded and stood up. "Lead the way!"

Melodos Tree Monument:

Everyone was still gathered around the tree by the time we arrived back at the monument. We had to push our way through the crowd in order to get to the tree, so it's easy to say that a handful of people had already noticed us. Upon reaching the tree, the mayor turned around and cupped his paws around his mouth. "Attention everyone! I have a plan that could possibly fix this tree, but in order for it to work I need your full cooperation!" He gestured towards me. "Now! A lot of you may recognize this young snivy up here as Dream." He scowled. "To some of you, he might be better know as 'Bad Dream'." He sounded less enthusiastic about that name. "I realize that all of you have mixed feeling towards this young man, and to some extent it's understandable, but right now we need him to fix our beloved town monument and heal this town's spirit!"

"And why should we believe that he can fix anything?! He's nothing but bad luck!" Shouted someone from the crowd. I immediately recognized the voice to be Burn's.

"Because he has something that none of us have. The ability to combat the dark power that has overtaken our precious tree. The superstition that you have cast over him his entire life. Everything you have suspected is true, but trust me when I say this. Dream is not bad luck! He is one of the purest people you will ever meet!" He answered back. "Now Dream, if you will."

I nodded and walked towards the tree. Putting my hand to it, I started to pour my energy into it. I looked up at the tree to find that it was shining slightly, before a portal suddenly opened up in front of me. "A portal? That's certainly new."

Serena walked up to me. "Dream, what is that? What are we supposed to do?"

I thought for a second. "I...think we're supposed to jump into this portal. I think it somehow leads to the dream world..." I answered. "Maybe if we go into it, we can fix the tree from there." Serena nodded as we walked over to her dad to brief him on our plan.

He nodded in understanding. "I see... Well then, bring Ruby and Ryan along as well. Something tells me you'll need their help." He suggested.

With that, we gathered Ruby and Ryan with us near the portal, the crowd practically blasting our ears off in complaints behind us, before jumping into it. The world instantly went black.

Dreamy Melodos Town:

"Dream... Dream, come on... Dream! Wake up!" I woke up to a sudden sharp slap to the face.

"Ok ok, I'm up!" I exclaimed, trying to protect my face from yet another slap as I stood up.

I looked to the side to find Serena, who shrunk back as I did so. "I'm sorry about the slap Dream. You just wouldn't wake up..."

I laughed. "Eh, it's fine Serena. It didn't hurt that much." I looked around at our surroundings. "So uhh, where are we."

"I don't know, I think we're in the dream world."

I took a moment to take in our surroundings. We were in a large, colorful grassy area with skyscraper-ish, mushroom like trees. Amongst the grass of the vast area were cyan and yellow colored weeds, along with patches of vibrant red flowers. In the distance, I could see a quite unnatural land structure that rose up like a hill and dropped down, creating a bit of an arch underneath which someone could easily walk through. The sky was it's usual blue color, with a couple of stratus clouds littering it here and there. The scenery was like something you'd expect to come from another world.

"Wow. This place is beautiful..." I commented as I gazed around in awe.

"Uhh, Dream?! Where are Ruby and Ryan?!" Serena asked in a worried tone.

"Hey guys! Up here!" Shouted someone from above us. We looked up to spot Ruby and Ryan hanging from the nearest tree. "Could you uhh, help us down from here?"

Serena and I exchanged amused glances before bursting out into laughter.

"Aww come on guys! Help a brother out..." Ryan complained.

"Heh, I don't know. Maybe we should let the two love birds fly!"

Author's Note:

And that's the end of the chapter! How was it? What'd you think? Do you have any questions for my characters? Do you want them to do ridiculously weird stuff? Then please tell me in a review. Thanks for reading! Oh, and if you're wondering what this portion of the dream world looks like, it's based off of Planet Wisp from Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations. I had originally planned to get through it in this chapter, but it was taking way too long so I'll cover it in the next one.

Ryan: Yeah, then hopefully Dream and Serena will be nice enough to help us down from this tree.

Dream: ...maybe~.

Serena: I don't know. I've been thinking you guys should spend a little alone time together.

Ruby and Ryan: *both blush* Oh come on!

Me: Well isn't that nice? Anyway, thanks for reading guys. You people are wonderful and are a major help when it comes to writing these stories, so thank you very much and I'll see you next chapter!

-SnivyPro18