Chapter 18
"That is quite the tale so far," remarked the older woman as she straightened her thin-framed glasses once again with her forefinger and thumb. It appeared to be a habit for her when she seemed to be analysing something. "I am very interested to know what you plan to do now, Chris."
She had taken us back to a rather large tan-coloured tent. It held several chairs of differing sizes and styles, of which Rex, Joleen and I had gladly taken. The walls were lined with long tables which boasted a lot of computer equipment. There was even something that looked a bit like some kind of arcade game with wires sprouting from it and sprawling like a web to connect to various other machines. I couldn't understand any of it.
Raikou walked with me the entire way back to the tent and the new Pokémon, the white and brown tree, had clung to my back the entire time. Even with me now sitting in a chair and having completed explaining how we came to be in the Dreamyard, it and Raikou were making muted noises at each other.
I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to answer to Fennel when Joleen cut across anything I was planning to say.
"We needed to get him somewhere safe away from Team Plasma," exclaimed the girl. "We ne-"
"That will be quite enough Miss Joy," snapped Fennel in stern politeness. "Unless you have legally changed your name to Chris within these last few minutes, I don't want to hear another word out of you. In fact, I'm pretty sure we have some other Pokémon refugees which could use your healing expertise."
Wide-eyed and silent for once, Joleen backed out of the large tent and vanished from sight. I waited a few moments before talking.
"I just wanted to heal the Raikou I caught and see if I can release it somewhere where Team Plasma will be unable to harm it," I said slowly. "I didn't want to cause trouble."
Amanita opened her mouth to speak, but Fennel cut her off.
"It's really no problem at all," the woman crouched down to scratch the ears of the Raikou lying beside my chair. "It seems that this Pokémon has indeed been healed. We have the means to return it to the Johto Region where it came from right here in this tent."
"You 'ave a workin' version o' the Pokémon Storage System?!" exclaimed Rex in loud alarm.
"Not quite," replied Amanita with a grin. "True, Team Plasma hacked into the data storage system I created for Unova and stole all the Pokémon being stored there at the time, but I spited them by creating a new one. My original design was based off the work of Bill from Kanto, Lanette from Hoenn and Bebe from Sinnoh. With Cassius's help from Kalos and an online friend named Bridgette, I was able to create an even better digital storage system completely cut off from Team Plasma's influence. We've been using it to transfer Pokémon from Unova to the other regions so they can escape the cruelty going on here. Bill, Lanette and Bebe each sent over Pokémon that were willing to help us remain hidden as well. You might meet some of them if you know where to go in Unova."
"Like our Swinub horde," said Fennel with an amused nod. "They help maintain the fog surrounding this place. Bill sent most of them over from the Johto Region. He also sent us our Espeon. Lanette has graciously provided us with a Gardevior and if you are lucky, you might meet the Azelf Bebe managed to obtain for us. They each help my Gothitelle and Musharna keep those with ill intentions away. It's how we have managed to evade Team Plasma for so long."
"Not all of our Pokémon here are Psychic types though," added Amanita quickly. "Some of them wanted to be sent over to help however they could. This Snover here was one of them; she was sent though my system from Sinnoh. Some, like the Beheeyem you met earlier, refuse the leave the region they were born to and love."
I nodded slightly as I absorbed the words they had spoken. I couldn't understand most of the names they sprouted, but I could understand what they were doing here.
"Why did you set up a camp here of all places?" I asked. "You could have been anywhere in Unova, why here?"
"This place used to be a facility where Musharna's dream mist was studied before it was levelled by an explosion," answered Fennel. "It was abandoned and became the home of Munna and Musharna."
Upon seeing my confusion, Amanita pulled a flat screen around and angled it at me, with a few taps of some keys, she pulled up a picture of two floating pink Pokémon. A smaller one had small purple flowers on it and the larger had a long plume of mist-like smoke swirling up from its forehead.
"These are the Pokémon she's talking about," said the younger woman. "Munna is the smaller one and Musharna is its evolution."
"Okay," I replied.
"They already kept those who meant them harm away from this area through creating dream-like illusions," continued Fennel. "Once Team Plasma started rounding up the wild Pokémon as well as those belonging to trainers, I decided to come here and ask the Pokémon for their help in creating a place safe from those who wanted to harm Pokémon. What you see here are the fruits of our labours."
"That's quite the operation," replied Rex. "It's a bold stand."
"Nowhere near bold enough," sighed Fennel. "I haven't stopped Team Plasma and now that they have found all the Pokémon they can from Unova, they have set their sights onto the other regions."
"Bill has reported seeing Team Plasma in Johto," replied Amanita soberly. "The champion there has been stretched thin between both Johto and Kanto, and I have no doubt that Team Plasma managed to obtain your Raikou from those regions."
"I believe you now face a crossroads," continued Fennel. "Chris, you know that Raikou is well enough to live on its own. We have the means to return it to Johto for you where it will be able to grow stronger in its home region. You could let it go and go back to being an ordinary citizen of Unova."
I hesitated and glanced down at the Raikou. It stared up at me with intelligent red eyes. The Snover beside it also seemed to be staring at me with a similar expression.
"You don't need to decide now," said Fennel. "I think taking a walk around the Dreamyard might do you some good. Think about it for as long as you need to and once you know what you want to do next, you can come back here and let us know."
A/N: Not much to say except for an onslaught of information about what Fennel and Amanita have been up to in the Dreamyard. I'm looking forwards to finding out what has happened to all the other characters you meet in the Pokemon Black and White versions.
Also, I had to take a little lore from both the games and the Anime about the Dreamyard. This is mostly based on the games with bits and pieces filtering in from the anime as well ... which is why I can't specify it as one or the other.