Chapter 3: Somebody Save Me From This Nightmare

Mew sat contentedly sleeping in the human nest, his dreams full of flying amongst the clouds, not a care in the world. He was having such a good time that he didn't even notice that the clouds were beginning to darken. Before he realized what had happened, his dreamland had faded away, to be replaced with black nothingness.

"What's going on?" Mew asked, shivering as the air around him turned terribly cold.

"I'm sorry Mew, but I had to speak with you." Mew looked behind him to see Darkrai floating there, a concerned expression on his face. Mew shivered again, feeling as if all happiness were being sucked out of the area. "I'm sorry," Darkrai continued, noticing Mew's discomfort. "I know my being here is causing you distress. I will try to be brief."

Mew nodded and floated over to the other legendary, blue eyes sparkling with curiosity. "What's wrong Darkrai? You never enter my dreams unless it's an emergency. Oh! Is this about the time that I threw that Aura Sphere at you? I swear, I thought you'd catch it!"

Darkrai groaned. "No Mew, now can we please get to the topic at hand? I can't stay here much longer without giving you nightmares, and my Dark typing is guaranteed to make them a very unpleasant experience."

Mew nodded, his tail twitching eagerly. Darkrai sighed as the tiny pink legendary became distracted by the furry appendage and began trying to catch it.

Why me? Darkrai wondered, before deciding that it would be best to simply continue. "Celebi has informed me that she has foreseen some rather…strange things in your future. Things that Arceus would not be happy about, should they come to pass."

Mew stopped chasing his tail and turned to look at Darkrai, his expression concerned. "What kind of things? Do I do something bad?"

"She wasn't very specific, you know how her visions are always changing. There are thousands of different time lines, many of which she has visited, and many that she has not. She merely said that your timeline seems to lead to you angering Arceus somehow, and that you are severely punished for it."

Mew shivered, pulling himself into a tight ball. It was getting so cold…

"Mew? Are you alright?"

"Well…maybe you could be a little quicker," Mew muttered, coiling his tail around himself protectively. He didn't blame Darkrai; it wasn't his fault that he gave others nightmares, after all. Still, his body was beginning to feel numb…

"I'll hurry," Darkrai agreed, knowing that the sooner he got out of the pink cat's head, the better. "Celebi did mention a name, though she isn't sure what it means. Tell me, does the name Ken mean anything to you?"

Mew shook his head, curling himself tighter into a ball. "Should it?"

Darkrai looked disappointed. "I don't know, I thought I'd run it by you just in case. I'll let Celebi kn-"

Suddenly, Darkrai faded away and Mew found himself inside some sort of enclosed space, a bunch of humans in white staring at him, evil grins plastered on their faces. He cowered in the corner, tail coiled around his body defensively, body shaking with fright. The humans began speaking, but he couldn't understand what they were saying.

"Begin the extraction."

No, that isn't right! Let go of me!

"Sir, it's beginning to struggle."

"Ignore it for the time being, this procedure must be a success."

Ouch! That hurts!

"Sir, its stress level is rising!"

"Hold it steady! We're almost there!"

Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!

"Sir! It's going to go into shock!"

MAKE IT STOP NOW!

"Sedate it!"

Mew awoke with a start, heart pounding and sweating up a storm. He knew that he'd had a nightmare, but he couldn't remember what it had been about. He wrapped his arms around himself protectively, wishing that the fear would go away.

I wish I had my tail, he thought to himself, burying his face in his knees. There was just something so comforting about being able to wrap his tail around his body when he was feeling sad or scared. Being in a human body just wasn't the same.

Mable opened the door to find the stranger huddled in the bed with his head on his knees, looking downright terrified. "Oh! What happened? Are you all right?" She quickly went over to him and put her arms around him, his body shaking, tears threatening to spill over onto his face. She held him there for what felt like a long time, rubbing his back and whispering soothing things to him in an effort to console him. He sniffled and snuggled into her embrace, seemingly happy for the comfort.

"What's going on?" Arthur asked, spotting his wife on the bed with the lazy freeloader, who seemed to be in a state of distress.

"I don't know Arthur. I think he might have had a nightmare."

Something in Mew's brain clicked at that moment, and he managed to catch the word "nightmare." Unfortunately, this brought forth a new wave of fear, and he nodded, clinging to the women more desperately than before.

Mable took notice of this and began to run her fingers through his hair like she used to do for her own children when they had bad dreams, occasionally making "shhh" noises.

Try as he might, Arthur just couldn't bring himself to be angry. Whoever this stranger was, he obviously had some issues that he needed to work out. Taking one last look at the pair, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Elsewhere, at the Hall of Origin, Darkrai was dealing with a very angry Celebi.

"Now look what you did! I told you to be quick so you wouldn't give him nightmares! You know that he's still dealing with repressed memories! Now his mind has gone and blocked off his entire conversation with you!"

"I'm sorry!" Darkrai protested, as the tiny fairy legendary flew annoyingly around his head. "I didn't think that my presence would reawaken those memories…"

Celebi stopped her circling and let out a sigh, her blue eyes full of regret and concern. "It's not entirely your fault Darkrai, I should have foreseen this, no I should have been able to stop that from ever happening to him!" She floated down till she was practically touching the ground, head in her hands. "There's something strange about his timeline…I can't see it like I can see the timelines of others…" She turned to Darkrai, her expression solemn. "Darkrai…something is going to happen…I can't tell what, but Mew is right in the middle of it."

Darkrai looked into the Timetravel Pokémon's eyes and saw something that he had only seen but a scarce few times in his life: fear. "Is Mew in danger?"

Celebi shook her head. "No, this isn't about Mew…I mean, it is but it isn't. I don't know why, but I can't get the name Ken out of my head."

Darkrai frowned. "This Ken person, are they the one who's in danger?"

Celebi frowned and shook her head.

"Then what is it?" Darkrai demanded, beginning to grow frustrated. Celebi's visions had never been this foggy before.

"They don't exist yet."

Author's notes: Well, looks like Mew's past isn't all sunshine and butterflies after all! I'll elaborate more on his past later, probably within New Species, so hopefully all of you are reading that as well. :) Also, in case anyone was wondering, yes the Celebi in this chapter is the same one that Ken will later meet.

Anyway, thank you all for reading, and don't forget to review, I appreciate it! ^_^