Dreams of Reality, Chapter 76

I hummed to myself a mysterious melody on the day we were set to arrive in Sinnoh. The previous eight days of travel were far more engrossing than I expected, considering the company I was keeping. Then again, I also had the entertainment onboard the SS Spiral to thank in part. Though I was thoroughly engrossed in learning various mysteries of Pokemon from Professors Oak and Elm, it almost didn't compare to the wondrous spectacles that were Pokemon theatre. Held every night during dinner in the ship's massive dining hall, people got to watch epic tales of heroism as portrayed by well-trained Pokemon.

Though it would be unfair to glance over Professor Oak's lectures, as they would come to have a great foreshadowing on my time in Sinnoh. Firstly, Professor Elm shared the discoveries made in the Alph Ruins. Since my visit, they had deciphered a number of the hidden messages left by an unknown civilization, though Professor Elm believes it was the Unown themselves that left these messages. Having seen the Unown myself, they certainly seemed strange enough as Pokemon, and I wouldn't doubt their ability to do something like that.

"However, Star," Professor Oak told me the night before arriving in Sinnoh, "there are many more mysteries concerning Pokemon we have yet to uncover. There's this one myth that has caught my attention, specifically because of its proximity to our destination."

"Really?" I asked, genuinely curious. Professor Oak showed me a crude illustration of the Pokemon in question.

"The official name according to the Sinnoh League is Cresselia. Apparently, it's a Pokemon whose mythology is traced back to dreams and nightmares. Legends have placed its natural habitat on an island near Canalave City, so I was thinking of arranging a field study of the island before the conference."

"You sure we have time for that, Oak?" Professor Birch chipped in.

"The conference doesn't begin until the day after tomorrow... 'officially' speaking." For once, it sounded like Professor Oak was making things up as he went along.

"Shouldn't we at least contact Professor Rowan? We wouldn't want him to be left out of the loop," added Elm from the other side of the table.

"You place the call then," Oak said to the younger professor, "while I arrange for transport to the island. It goes without saying that we'll be accompanied by our intrepid young trainer, correct?"

"I wouldn't turn down an opportunity to see a rare Pokemon, sir!" I said with a cheerful smile on my face. Vulpix pitched in with her own bark, and the expedition was official. Soon as we landed at Canaclave City, we'd be off again to Fullmoon Island.

So it was that I stood on deck of the ship as Canalave City came up on the horizon. The night before, I had this strange dream, where a melancholic melody rang out to me over the ocean waves. And since waking up, I hadn't been able to get it out of my head. Perhaps I had been visited in my dreams by Cresselia herself?

Before we pulled into the harbor, I was joined up on the deck by Professor Oak. I hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to him one on one the entire trip, so this was a rare opportunity.

"Professor, I want to ask you something."

"What is it, Star?"

"Is it possible for a Pokemon to steal a memory? Or something you hold dear in your heart?" It was almost a ludicrous question, and I very nearly retracted it.

"There's a lot we don't know about Pokemon, Star," he said with a stern expression, one I was familiar with. "Thanks to the Pokemon League's cooperation, we've been able to make great strides in Pokemon Research, but I think we haven't even begun to fully understand Pokemon."

"But, what about everything you've worked for all these years? Hasn't it been a long time of studying and learning?"

"And if I had to put a number on what we know, it wouldn't break the double digits. Plus, as a scientist, it's against my very being to give arbitrary percentages to something we might never fully comprehend. Think of it this way: why are there so many kinds of Pokemon, yet only a few different kinds of humans?"

"Umm..." I gave it a bit of honest hard thought, but I feared saying anything. I didn't want to sound stupid to the professor.

"Don't worry, I'm not quizzing you or anything; just give me your best guess." Not that it made me feel any better of taking a shot in the dark with this.

"Maybe we're all... also Pokemon, too?" I could feel my cheeks and ears growing hot, like the professor was about to laugh in my face for saying something so stupid.

"You know, some researchers, primarily scholars from decades ago, thought as you did. There are humanlike Pokemon even today, and they display higher brain functions you'd normally attribute to intelligent life. Yet only humans have evolved to a point where we take Pokemon and use them for our own personal gains. Truth is, Star, your guess might be right on the nose, or off by a million miles. That's what we're here to find out."

"Oh... I see..." To be honest, he lost me a bit in the middle of the explanation.

"And to answer your original question: I don't think it impossible for a Pokemon to steal memories. There's still much we don't know about memories and dreams as it is, so it's not unlikely spiritual Pokemon, such as ghost types, are capable of influencing memory. It's a bit more complicated than saying 'they steal memories', but the idea is generally the same."

"Is there a way to get them back?" I asked, hopeful. Professor Oak sighed, generally a bad sign.

"I can't give you a definitive answer, Star. Perhaps, if you work hard enough, you can recover the memory on your own. Of course, my first thought would be to find the Pokemon that did this to you." And that was actually not too difficult to manage, in a worst case scenario.

"Thank you, Professor, for the talk."

"You're most welcome, Star. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to gather my things before we arrive at Canalave City." Oak gave me a pat on the shoulder, then returned belowdecks.

I made a promise to myself, right then and there. If my Sinnoh journey didn't help me regain that lost piece of myself, I'd contact Nancy. She caught that Shuppet that attacked me on my birthday, and would most likely still have it. Now that it was tamed, surely she could command it to give back what it stole from me. But until then, I'd work at this problem on my own. I knew, deep down, that the missing memory was important to me. I'd recover it myself.

~o~

Since I started traveling, I always kept an eye open for the cities I visited. It was a treat to see how different every city was to the one that came before it, and ultimately different to Pallet Town. But here was the first time I took notice of the different people. Aside from their dress, everyone looked so different, and we stood out quite a bit against the inhabitants of the region.

Aside from that, Canalave City was pretty typical for a port town. It wasn't as pretty as Vermillion, or as bustling as Olivine, and no where near as big as Slateport. So I guess it was just... typical. What wasn't typical were the Pokemon people seemed to travel with. Though I was tempted to start scanning right away, Professor Oak saw to it that my attention was redirected at the expedition.

"Star, I have a task for you," he said once he caught up with me in town. He handed me a piece of paper and an envelope.

"What is it?" I asked as I opened the envelope. Inside was a bundle of money!

"I need you to secure some supplies for this little field trip. Go to the local mart and pick up everything I've written down, and meet up with us on the other side of town. The smaller vessels dock there, and that's where we'll be departing from."

"Sure thing, Professor." The last time I was asked to do some shopping, I ran away from home. The memory made me giggle a bit to myself.

"Good. We'll be waiting for you, so don't take too long, now." Professor Oak rejoined his comrades, and went their own way. I looked down at Vulpix, who was enjoying herself as dozens of people around us went their own way.

"Let's go, girl!"

Canalave City was divided into two distinct sections on either side of a small channel. While most of the residences were on the eastern side, the western side had the businesses, though this set up wasn't exact. Fortunately, the shop I was looking for happened to be on the western side (where the ship left us), so I strolled right in to get to buying things. The top of the professor's list was the usual things, such as specific foods, camping supplies, and repels to keep the wild critters at bay. However, the bottom end of the list had some really strange articles.

"What's an Elixir? And why does the professor want two of them?" I said to myself.

"The Elixirs are on this shelf, miss," came a voice from behind me. Not one for surprises, I yelped and jumped forward, causing the young man working the shop to laugh. "Didn't mean to startle you, miss."

"No no, I'm just a bit jumpy, is all. Where are the Elixirs again?" The young man took a pair from the shelf and handed them to me. On the label there was list of strange chemicals and ingredients, but I couldn't make out any of it.

"Don't mean to pry, but are you sure you have enough to pay for those?"

"Well, I think so. The professor wouldn't give me less money than I needed for all this stuff." I checked the list again, seeing that the Elixirs were the last things I needed.

"Well, whenever you're ready, I can check you out at the front." He said with a smile. The manner in which he said it made me blush, but Vulpix was quick to snap me out of my romantic fancies with a whack from her half dozen tails. Everything gathered, I went up to the front, where the young man was waiting. I placed the basket up on the counter, and he got to work scanning every item.

"You're not from around here, are you?" He said to me, trying to make idle chitchat.

"N-No," I replied, trying to maintain eye contact. "I'm from Pallet Town, in Kanto."

"That's nice, I've been there myself, actually. So I'm guessing the 'professor' you mentioned back there is Professor Oak?"

"Yeah, that's right. He came here for a conference or something, so I tagged along to explore the region."

"Fledgling trainer? Or did you travel elsewhere first?" I gave the young man a proud smile, putting my hands on my hips.

"I've already explored three whole regions! Sinnoh is going to be my fourth!" I was about to prove myself with my trainer cards, but restrained myself. Wasn't often I had the chance to show off my accomplishments.

"That's cool! I was a trainer as well, recently. I quit to start working here. Your total will be ¥9980, by the way." I emptied out the envelope, but didn't exactly want to count all that money. I handed it all to the young man, and he went right to counting it.

"Why'd you quit?" I asked. He finished counting out the correct amount within seconds, and returned a small portion to me.

"I felt I'd learned all there was to learn from Pokemon training. It's a learning experience, not a way of life. Just a friendly piece of advice from one trainer to another." He bagged up all the items, and handed them to me with a smile. "Thank you for shopping with us."

"Thank you for the chat," I replied. I turned to leave, when something came over me. I turned back to him. "My name's Star, by the way."

"Pleasure to meet you, Star," he said. He pointed to his name tag, "I'm Neil."

There really wasn't anything else to say to him, but I remained stationary, praying something would come to mind to keep this conversation going a bit longer. After a few awkward seconds, Neil was the one to break the silence.

"Is there something else you need, Star?"

"U-Umm, will you be here tomorrow? Or maybe, the day after?" On the spot, I didn't know if I'd be back by tomorrow or the day after, but I could go asking ahead any further.

"I'll be here tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, if you're looking for me. It'll be a busy week with all the new tourists."

"Then, I'll swing by again, okay?" I couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth, but at the same time I couldn't stop myself.

"Come by anytime, Star." Neil saw me off with a smile, which made my heart skip a beat.

Once I was outside, Vulpix scratched at my leg a couple times, trying to snap me out of my lovestruck daze. It was just something spontaneous, and I couldn't believe what I had just done. Still, what was done was done, and I was really looking forward to seeing Neil again. Vulpix was looking troubled, though, which had me confused.

"Don't worry, Vulpix," I reassured her, "I'm sure Neil's a nice person. You don't have to worry about him."

The worry on her face still wasn't gone, but my mind wandered elsewhere on the way to meet up with the professors. I couldn't remember feeling this way about anyone else at the moment.

~o~

"Professor, what're the Elixirs for?" We were on a small ferry, headed north to Fullmoon Island.

"An experiment Professor Elm and myself will be conducting once we're on the island. I trust you were able to pay for everything adequately with the funds I provided?"

"Yeah, there was some money left over, too. Here," I said, handing over the envelope.

"Good work, Star. Now, once we get on the island, we'll have to move about silently. Cresselia is said to be a nocturnal Pokemon, so we don't want to scare her and have her take off on us."

Fullmoon Island was more than an hour from the mainland, so it wasn't long before we docked on the beach. Professor Oak said we had until the following morning to find Cresselia, so I wasted no time in putting Vulpix to the task. Birch would be my companion, while the other two professors would remain near the beach to perform their experiment with the Elixirs. Fortunately for me, Birch insisted on going separate ways, so I didn't have to hang around him.

Vulpix was instantly on the trail of something in the woods, so I followed her as quietly as possible as she sniffed out the critter in question. I sprayed some repel behind me as I went along, making sure to keep an escape route handy. Professor Oak did say Cresselia would flee before attacking us, but I didn't want to take any chances. Finally, we arrived at a small clearing, and there was a large Pokemon bathing in the moonlight. I pulled out my Pokedex, and made sure to mute the thing before scanning it.

Cresselia was the Lunar Pokemon, according to the Pokedex. 'Shiny particles are released from its wings like a veil. It is said to represent the crescent moon.' Just as I was about to ponder the Pokedex's ability to list this information, Vulpix started pushing me away from the clearing. I looked over, and noticed that Cresselia had taken notice of us, and was slowly approaching. Fear overtook me, and I felt my entire body freeze up. Vulpix barked at the glowing Pokemon once, causing Cresselia to flash her eyes at Vulpix. Vulpix collapsed, sound asleep; a Hypnosis attack.

"What do you want?" I asked in a soft whisper. Despite my fears, I felt a strange sense of peace coming from Cresselia. The Pokemon pointed to the sky, and began humming a familiar tune. It was that same melody that had taken over my mind since the previous night!

"You put that song into my head? Why?" The Pokemon just continued to look at me, as if I had the answer I sought. Again, Cresselia began to hum the song, but it still wasn't helping me out.

"I wish Pokemon could talk," I mumbled to myself. Cresselia made a high-pitched squeal, which promptly knocked that bad thought out. She then continued to hum the song. My fears gone, I remained seated on the ground, wondering still what it was Cresselia wanted with me. The humming continued, and before I knew it, I was humming alongside her in harmony. This was actually what she wanted from the start.

With our singing in sync, a mental image began to form in my mind. In it, I saw a dark cloud forming around a mountain. Flashes of light broke through the cloud, leading me to think it was some sort of thunderstorm. But deep within the darkness, I saw a glowing eye, as if staring me down. The dream faded away, and with it, Cresselia. The Pokemon was no where to be seen, yet I could hear the voice of Professor Birch in the distance.

"Star, are you alright? We just spotted Cresselia taking off into the sky. Did you manage to scan it?" He came around the trees to help me up, and made sure I wasn't hurt.

"Yeah, but the strangest thing happened," I said, carrying Vulpix in my arms. She was still sound asleep, so I decided not to wake her. "I think I saw something Cresselia wanted me to see."

"This is quite a discovery! Come, explain everything down by the beach. I'm certain the other professors would love to hear it."

Once we had joined up with Oak and Elm, I explained everything that happened with Cresselia. The dream as well, in great detail. All three of the men were taken aback by this story, but it seemed not a single one of them had any explanation to give me.

"Does it mean anything, then?" I asked, still confused by it all.

"It could be something of great importance, Star," Professor Oak chipped in. "Or it could simply be a nightmare Cresselia wanted to relieve you of. Local legends also say that the Pokemon has the power to vanquish nightmares."

"Speaking of nightmares, I came across these," said Professor Birch, showing us all a pair of green, glowing feathers. "Lunar wings, dropped by Cresselia when she took off."

"I didn't see any wings or feathers on Cresselia," I said, taking one of the feathers in my own hand.

"They're called lunar wings, but they actually have little to do with actual feathers. Cresselia leaves these behind for people to find. They're said to have the same effect for dispelling nightmares, which explains why they lose their glow after you wake up. Superstitions, really, but the people in Sinnoh tend to make lots of business with them."

"No doubt they have some unique qualities on their own," cut in Professor Oak, who took the second wing. "We should take one with us and examine it in depth at Rowan's lab. If it's alright with Professor Birch, you can take the other one, Star."

The professor nodded, which made the small glowing trinket mine. If it was true that it could keep the nightmares away, I didn't want it being wasted anytime soon. Professor Oak didn't seem to believe Cresselia's vision was of any importance, but I did. She showed me that for a reason, and I knew that it would come true eventually. The night was dark, but towards the mainland I could see the shape of a mountain towering over Sinnoh. I was certain that mountain would have something to do with the dream.

~o~

The next morning, we arrived back in Canalave City before breakfast. We were going straight to Sandgem Town from there, which would take the entirety of the day by car. Of course, I managed to sneak away from the professors for a little while to pay a visit to Neil at the store. It seemed to be another slow day, despite his claim the previous day that this week would be 'hectic'.

"Well, hello again, Star. Can I help you find anything?"

"I have a question," I started, making sure to keep up my smile. "What's the mountain in the center of this region called?"

"Mt Coronet, though it's actually just one of a dozen mountains. The range divides Sinnoh into two parts." And that was where the dark cloud would form.

"Has there ever been a storm around the mountain? Like, a huge thunderstorm or something?"

"I'm fairly certain it's happened in the past, but I don't think it was ever as grand you make it out to be. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," I lied, realizing my time was running short. The professors would be pulling up at any moment to pick me up.

"Well, if that's all, I do have to get back to work. Please come again if you're ever in town." I felt my face grow hot at the request.

"S-Sure. Maybe in a few days or a week? I'm going to Sandgem Town from here and-" I was cut off by some honking outside. What a time for the professors to show up.

"Seems like they're calling for you." Neil laughed.

"Yeah, right," I said sadly. "Well, I'll see you again soon, I hope."

"And I'll be here, I hope. Have a nice day, Star."

"You too, Neil."

I ran out of the store, hopping into the backseat of the car with Professor Elm. The small bit of flirting aside, I did learn something important. Mt Coronet was going to be the site of the storm from Cresselia's dream. And the reason she showed me it was because it was going to happen soon. I'd have to spend time in Sinnoh until it happened. Normally I'd want nothing to do with these events, but it felt like Cresselia was counting on me to solve this mystery.

Just what was in the center of the dark cloud? What did that menacing eye belong to?