Chapter 27: The Voice of Dreams and Doubt
After three days of work away from Treasure Town, Stacy, Trey, and Sally came back with the Sheriff's officers and a good number of pirate teams that had remained at large for years. "That was a crazy mission," Stacy said. "But those pirates won't be stealing from the proper explorer teams now."
"Stacy!" Manaphy called out as he, Kip, and Azeri came up to the group. "Trey, Sally!"
The three of them smiled. Stacy patted the infant on the head. "Oh my goodness, he knows our names now? He's a clever one."
"Quite," Kip said, pride coming into his voice. "Hasn't been a dull moment here. How was the pirate hunting mission?"
"Nerve-wracking and tiring," Stacy said. "But it was successful."
"Ah. Well I got a message from Kazza to meet with him. I think he knows what to do with Manaphy now."
They went over to the library and found the librarian sorting through boxes of new books. But he stopped to speak with them. "The ocean-dwelling Pokemon have their own community at a place called Miracle Sea. There, you will find the water fairies, the Phione clan. Take Manaphy to them; they will be able to care for him best."
"So we've got to say goodbye tomorrow," Stacy said.
"It's for the best," Kip stated, but he sounded reluctant.
To their surprise, Team Marmalade found the ship they had used to cross to the Hidden Lands stuck on the beach under Sharpedo Bluff. It made the trip out to Miracle Sea a lot more reasonable, and unfortunately quite faster. Kip still hated the ship method of travel, but endured better than last time.
The oceanic town itself was set into a coral reef, like the one at Surrounded Sea, but more controlled so it was safer to live in. A Gyarados met them at the entrance to the reed. "Land dwellers!" he shouted. "What business to you have poking your dry noses around here?"
Feeling she might get a better reception as a Water type herself, Stacy went up to the front of the ship to speak to the Gyarados. "Please, m'am, we're looking to meet with the Phiones. We found Manaphy…"
"What? You found Manaphy?"
"Me!" Manaphy cried out happily, jumping onto the edge of the boat. "Oooo," he said curiously at the sight of the pseudo-dragon.
The Gyarados growled, but it had a soft edge and was definitely a friendly sound. "Thank goodness. It was of some alarm when the egg was found to be missing. Where did you find it?"
"At the Surrounded Sea dungeon. We were going to leave him with the Phiones."
"That is for the best. However, the village is entirely underwater. You'll be fine, and your little Grass friend will probably be okay. I don't know about the other two, though."
Sally waved it off, then activated her breathing mask. She seemed confident that it would work underwater too. Kip lowered his ears. "Well I kind of hate getting wet, but…"
"If it's just you," the Gyarados offered, "I can take you under and keep you dry. How's that?"
"That should work."
"Fine, then climb up onto my head and stay there."
Once Sally made sure the ship was secure, the group dove into the water of Miracle Sea. The underwater village was exquisite, with houses made of carved coral of a rainbow of sparkling colors. Various seaweeds, anemones, and other water vegetation grew in symmetrical gardens, alongside growths of coral cunningly made to form like trees on land. The residents were just as colorful, and they all seemed to be quite excited and happy to see Manaphy swimming by.
This, of course, excited the infant Pokemon. He darted all around the group, cheerily greeting his new neighbors and blowing his conch shell for fun. It was nice to see him so thrilled and to see that his caretakers would appreciate him. But still, it was also sad that they would be leaving him here at the end of the day.
They came upon a circle of small Pokemon that looked very much like Manaphy. The Phiones had the same basic body shape, although they lacked his markings and their antenna were shorter. Greeting the group with happy whistles, three of them came over to check on the young Manaphy.
"We thank you deeply for finding the prince of the seas," one of them said to Team Marmalade. "Manaphy is very important to those of us in the ocean depths. He reminds us that it is better to seek peace over revenge, to offer love rather than fear."
"We're glad to have helped," Stacy said.
"Yeah, he was a real joy to have taken care of," Kip added.
"And that's saying a lot, coming from him," Trey teased.
The Phiones laughed, making Manaphy laugh too. "He will remember you all his days," the Phione said. "He always remembers the places where he has hatched, and the people that he has met. So you will always have his love."
They spent the afternoon in the underwater village, meeting with the residents and having a nice relaxing day. But then, of course, they had to say goodbye. Manaphy cried, calling out their names to try and bring them back, but they sailed away. The Phiones kept him close. The last thing the team heard was a sad note from the conch shell calling out a goodbye.
Stacy woke up, shivering. It wasn't that cold, though, and there wasn't a draft. But something in her dreams had bothered her.
Are you sure that Trey loves you?
There are things that you know that he won't tell you. And you know that he can deceive and lie. He did so with Team Ebony. How do you know he's not lying to you?
And there's something very wrong with you. It doesn't show up yet… it lies within you like a seed waiting to sprout and grow. You are a leader, but you are weak. You will fail at a vital moment. You will hurt many people you care about. In order to spare them, you must do the right thing, no matter how much it scares you.
But will Trey be there by your side, or will he have abandoned you for another?
Awake now, Stacy tried to push those thoughts aside. She was just getting worried or stressed over something. Being a leader of an independent team came with new responsibilities, and with new scrutiny. She had a feeling that any failure of the team was a failure on her part, so she had to make sure that everyone was doing well.
But Trey still wasn't telling her things.
Sally lay quietly. She hadn't been able to sleep much that night. The past week or so, her dreams had all been disturbing and distressing. As they were just dreams, she didn't want to make anyone else worry about it. But then those dreams seemed to speak of truths at times, very ugly truths.
You don't belong here.
You're a human in a Pokemon world. Few people can understand you. You can make friends, but you can't speak to them freely and they can't be sure of how you feel. Pokemon hold you with fearful suspicion, recalling legends of humans who brought terrible weapons and plans against them in ancient days. You can never find love.
But even if you went away and sailed for the distant shores of the human lands, you would still not belong. You have been raised by Pokemon. You will be an outcast for being deaf and mute, even with the assistant of your hearing aids and hand language. And beyond that, you are corrupting the space around you. If you continue to live, that corruption of space will grow greater and greater, like the corruption of time grew from a small fatal error.
You really don't belong to this world.
It was puzzling and frightening to think that these ideas had invaded her dreams. Was the corruption of space really that bad? And, what could she do about it? Sally wondered also about the distant lands where she had come from. Why did Pokemon and humans have to remain separate? What had happened so long ago to turn truth into myth? But again, what could she do about that?
Kip shook his head, then grumbled as he stretched. "'Mon, I've had some strange dreams over my life, but nothing, absolutely nothing, like the trippy stuff that's been happening this week." He nibbled at a paw to get a bit of straw out. "What about you, Trey?"
There was no answer.
Turning around, he saw that Trey's bed was empty. The hideaway spot at Sharpedo Bluff was quiet. "Trey?"
Having been away since hours before dawn, Trey arrived at Poison Rose Marsh just as light began to tint the sky. His sleep had been disturbed by dreams too real to be dreams, and too disturbing to ignore.
I am Cresselia. I am searching for a problem in the world that threatens our happiness once again. It is a problem in the corruption of space.
You hold the corruption of space.
You exist when you have no right to. You had been called back by the power of love, but you've already betrayed that, haven't you? You have been trained, taught, and formed by an era of darkness which no longer exists. And so, you are a threat to those around you. You have been trained to kill, but you live in an era which does not kill until far too late.
If the corruption of space continues to develop within you, it will become a force of demonic proportions.
You must accept that your fate is to not be part of this world.
Trey knew who Cresselia was. She was one of the dream spirits of the moon, like Darkrai. Her power was that of the Psychics, expressing the light of the moon and the hope of dreams. So if she came into his dreams to tell him that… it made him feel miserable, but it had to be true.
Still, he wasn't sure if he felt ready to take those words to heart, and to act on them. He'd come back to his birthplace instead. He wasn't sure why. It had just seemed right at the time. The Marsh was quiet this early in the morning. A few of the shy wild Pokemon were out eating. If they spotted him, they froze up in fright until he passed by with no interest in them. But most of them didn't see him.
One Pokemon who did see him spoke up without warning. "Trey? Is that you?"
Stopping to look around, he couldn't see who was talking to him. "Yes, but who are you?'
There was a sigh of relief to his left as a Castform drifted into his view. "Oh good, I wasn't sure. Your skin's normal toned, but I recognize the scar."
Pleasantly surprised, Trey smiled. "Master Bubbles? It's good to see you again."
"You too. What have you been doing lately?"
"I graduated from the Explorers Guild, so I'm working with my old team again."
"So you came in with them? It's early."
He shook his head. "No. I'm by myself at the moment. I had stuff to think about. This is where I was born. I was just drawn here. What are you doing?"
"Well after I recalled what happened in the future, I've been uncertain of many things. I wanted to speak to my own master, but being that it's been so long, I had to track him down. That brought me here."
"Right, it's a lot to deal with." But at least his last image of Bubbles wasn't of her being squashed to death.
"And if I was doing things right." She paused, but something seemed to be on her mind, so he didn't interrupt. "You said you were born here? It's an odd place for a Grass type to call home."
"I know, but that isn't something one can really control."
"I wonder… I think you should come meet my teacher, Garth. I told him about my students and he seemed interested in meeting some of you. He should still be around."
"That sounds good," he said. Of course, if what Cresselia said was as serious as she sounded, it wouldn't be enough to just disappear from this area.
"He's elsewhere in this level. Come." She floated off down one hall and he followed.
A short time later, they came upon a large rock that stood above much of the marsh. It was a distinctive one, with a hollow carved out of it to give a nice shelter. Since it was above the water level, the floor of this shelter was dry. There didn't seem to be anyone there immediately, but as they approached, a Sceptile came out of the taller grasses. He was tall and green, but his leafy tail looked much like a tree branch, or a bush.
"Who is this, Bubbles?" the Sceptile asked.
"This is Trey, one of the students I took on in the future. Trey, this is Garth, a traveling master ninja. He doesn't have a particular group he works for, but is officially registered as a top ranked explorer."
"So those strange things are true," Garth said, closing his eyes thoughtfully. But then he came over and shook paws with Trey. "It is good to meet you. Although, this is an odd place for pure Grass types like the two of us to be."
"I know, but I was born here."
He seemed interested to hear that. "Were you? Do you know the locals?"
"From a long time ago, but only several years ago. Yes."
"That makes sense only because of all this future memory mess. Do you know a Pokemon named Jessie?"
"That's my mother's name. She was a Nidorina."
"Was?"
"She got killed by an outlaw Sneasel called Bloody Claw."
Garth flinched. "Hmm. So what happened to this Bloody Claw?"
"My exploration team arrested him. He got executed for being irredeemable."
"I see." Garth crossed his arms over his chest. "I should have suspected something had happened. It's not right…"
"What's not right?" Trey asked. He had a suspicion about what was going on here, but decided to keep from saying it outright. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bubbles drift back, quietly acknowledging that this was rather private to be overhearing.
"I don't know how much you'd understand it. Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn't. Have you ever done something that looked right and seemed appropriate, but didn't ever feel right? The regret stays with you, even overcoming the shame that might have been if you did what felt right, but wasn't socially acceptable. I didn't live long in the dark future, although I did receive a nasty wake-up call as to how selfish I had been. But it seems that the time I decided to finally do the right thing… I was far too late to make up for my mistakes."
Trey felt an inner turmoil. What Garth was saying was eerily close to how he was feeling himself about these weird dreams given by Cresselia. What she said made sense and seemed logical, but it just didn't feel right. He would have simply dismissed those feelings over logic. But then if Garth meant something bad against Trey's mother…
The Sceptile saw his expression and bowed his head. "I shouldn't have left the one who truly loved me, even… even if she was a wild Pokemon when I met her. I made the wrong choice and there's no going back to fix things now."
Realizing how tense he was, Trey forced his posture to relax, at least. "She wasn't completely wild, not as I knew her."
"Probably my influence; I named her, after all. So what are you going to do?"
"I should get back to town," he admitted. "Back to my teammates. Something weird is going on."
"Ah. I came back looking to fix the past, but if that can't be done… Bubbles?"
She floated back over. "Hmm? Sorry for overhearing all that, but,"
"It's fine. I'm sure the both of us trust you enough. Since Trey is here, we ought to confirm how your other students of that time are doing. They might be facing the same troubles you are."
"Right, that would be the thing to do. I think they're all around this area, although we'd have to look hard to find them."
Garth nodded. "So we'll be around this area for some time. If you need anything, Trey, don't hesitate to come find us."
"All right. Thanks for the offer." Smiling, he offered a paw. "I offer the same, should you need some assistance."
"Very well." Garth smiled back and shook paws with him.
Stacy, Sally, and Kip met at the bridge in Treasure Town. "Where's Trey?" Stacy asked.
"I was gonna ask you that." He snickered. "Rather, I was going to ask Sally if you and Trey had run off to elope somewhere."
Stacy gave an embarrassed laugh, even if she did have those doubts. "No, not that!"
"Do you have a problem with that?" Trey asked, from where he was sitting in a tree.
The other two laughed as he jumped down from the tree. "Well, not exactly," Stacy stammered. "But it wouldn't be nice to run off and make people worry."
"All right, I'm sorry for disappearing this morning. I was trying to figure out some strange dreams I've been having all this week."
"So it's not just me, huh?" Kip asked. "What're you slipping into our food?"
"Nothing," Trey replied.
"You guys are having strange dreams too?" Stacy asked. "I've been bothered by dreams… not exactly nightmares, but they're really unpleasant."
Sally knelt down and made some signs. "She's been having odd dreams too," Trey told the others. "When I was thinking about it, I felt something was off about Cresselia's words."
"Who?" Stacy asked.
"The voice in the dream told me that she was Cresselia."
"Well a female would fit what I've been hearing," Stacy said, noting an agreement from Sally.
"But what can we do about dreams?"
"I'm not sure."
"Hmm… well anyhow, I have an idea of where we can explore next. Want to hear about it?"
"Sure."
"If it's got nothing to do with trippy dreams," Kip said, "I'm all for it."
"Right. Well, there's this place called Blizzard Island." She brought out the team's Wonder Map and pointed to a long island to the west of the mainland. "It's kind of like the Surrounded Sea in that access to it comes and goes. But I've heard about this place from my parents. They said that a famed explorer, Splice the Scizor, went missing in that area. Their team went out to find him, as did many other explorers. However, nobody ever found Splice, although they found signs from him. Then the Island became inaccessible and people assumed Splice was dead. But I heard recently that Blizzard Island can be explored again."
"You think we can find somebody that's been missing for years?" Kip asked.
She shrugged. "Well there's no harm in trying. Besides, I always wanted to see Blizzard Island for myself. It was one of those things that if I could explore a place like that, I could be like my parents."
"Well let's make sure we have plenty of stuff to stay warm with," Trey suggested. "I hear that Blizzard Island is pretty big. It might take a few days to fully explore."
After gathering supplies, the group went to their ship and set off for Blizzard Island. It was indeed a very cold place. The wild magic of the area had decided that it was Ice typed now and forever, and made a frigid, almost polar, dungeon in the temperate climate of the area. It got to the point where Trey didn't mind coming close to fire at the nightly camps. "The Ice type works against the Grass type as much as the Grass does against the Ice," he told them one morning. "So I've been a bit more cautious, even though I need to be aggressive too."
"You had one of those creepy dreams again too, didn't you?" Kip asked.
"Yeah," he admitted. "I tried to ask Cresselia about what she was telling me, but she got evasive and wouldn't give me straight answers."
"Me too," Stacy said. "I even called her by name, which surprised her. But she wouldn't answer any of my questions and only stirred up more."
"None of it makes sense to me," Kip said.
"So what is she telling everybody?" Trey asked. "She tells me that I don't belong to this world. It has been something I've thought of from time to time. The era of darkness put me into a wary mindset of paranoia and anxiety, so I worry about trusting anybody. I worry that I might harm somebody because of this, and she emphasizes that a lot. But even if some of that makes sense, it doesn't feel right."
Stacy took his paw. "You wouldn't hurt anybody intentionally."
"I don't want to, but I still wonder if there might be an accident."
Sally started signing, so Trey translated for her. "She tells me something like that, that I don't belong with you Pokemon because I'm a human, but then I won't belong with the humans because I've been raised by and always surrounded by Pokemon. And she says that I hold a corruption of space that will spread chaos and destruction."
"Wasn't a corruption of space the same thing that the springs noticed?" Kip asked.
"You're right, it's the reason I can't evolve," Trey said. "And she's said the same kind of thing about my corruption, that it will spread like the small fault in Temporal Tower nearly ruined all of time."
"She says that I will fail at a critical time," Stacy offered. "She says something is wrong with me that is waiting to appear, and when it does, I could hurt everyone I care about. It frightens me, but I try to ignore it."
"This is odd. What does she have against us?"
Kip flicked his tail. "I dunno. She gives me a lot of conflicting messages. Everything from trying to make me feel like an outcast to things that come dangerously close to luring me back into darkness. And seeing her... she's that gaudy crescent moon shaped chick, right?"
"Um, right, that sounds like the Pokemon I see," Trey said, with the two girls agreeing.
"Right. It doesn't seem right. I don't even know who the heck she is beside what you've told us, her name."
"She's one of the dream spirits of the moon. Her phase is the quarter moon, the crescent, and she's a Psychic type. But I haven't been able to find that resource again or remember what else there was about her."
They continued on. At one point, they split up, Kip going with Sally and Trey going with Stacy. While they were together, Stacy took the time to say, "Trey, Cresselia was telling me something else odd, but I wasn't sure if I should talk about it with everybody."
"Oh? What's that?"
"She asked me if I was sure if you really loved me. Because there's some thngs you don't speak about. I didn't really worry about it until she started pointing it out."
"Hmm." They went for a few more steps until Trey stopped. "Look, I'll tell you something, but I want to get through the whole story before you say anything. After that, well, I'll let you decide what you think of me. Will you let me explain?"
Stacy worried about what he was going to say, but decided to trust him. "Yes, go on."
"I was in love with Celebi for a while. There were many years in the darkness when I thought you all were dead and I was all alone. In exchange for being able to live without the sun, Shaelin made me promise to be loyal to Celebi, who was leading the battles against Dialga. And you heard about that terrible battle we went through. I nearly fell to the darkness, but my promise to Shaelin made me go find Celebi and save her from getting killed with Mew. So we both saw everyone around us being killed.
"She got depressed after that, even moreso after we tried to find Arceus for answers and found her dead. I wound up taking care of Celebi and after she recovered, well, there was a time where we were in love. But then I had to come back and change history. Because of that, we aren't so closely connected to the events that brought us together, so we agreed to cut it off peacefully.
"But then I always felt a bit of guilt because I was still in love with you." Trey nodded, then said, "Well, I do still love you. You were part of the reason that made me question Cresselia's words. But if you don't like me after hearing about that, I understand."
It did hurt to hear that he had been in love with someone else. And a legendary Pokemon, no less, one with which Stacy couldn't really compete against. And her bond with Trey was different than the one he had with Celebi. But then he did tell her when she asked. So… "It's a bit confusing," Stacy said. "I'll think it over."
"All right."
There was one thing bugging her. "But, um, did you two..?"
"What?" When she explained, he explained something back to her.
"Really, that's how it is?" she asked.
"That's partly why they're immortal," Trey said. "They don't have kids."
"Well I guess that makes sense."
"HEY!" Kip's voice carried through the icy winds. "HEY, GET OVER HERE!"
"Coming!" Stacy called back. They followed his voice to where he and Sally were. "What did you find?"
"Take a look at this," he said, pointing to the ground.
There at their feet, there was a large crevice in the ice. It was wide and had a gentle slope down to the entrance of another dungeon. Torches that glowed white sat on either side of the entrance.
"Well that's odd," Trey said. "I don't remember there being records of a dungeon like this on this island."
"So it's one we've really discovered all on our own," Stacy said, getting excited. "Let's go check it out."
Crevice Cave was an icy wonderland. Many of the ice crystals had formed prismatic shapes, sending rainbow speckles all over the walls. The strange white flame torches were placed along the walls, leaving it well lit. Thankfully, the ice wasn't that slick and no one had any trouble with slipping and falling. There weren't as many wild Pokemon down here, but they were all Ice types and seemed to be quite powerful. Team Marmalade lost several Reviver Seeds in exploring the new dungeon.
At the end of it, they came upon a strange sight. In a snowy glittery cavern, there was a giant ice block in the middle of the floor. They could see a red-orange Pokemon trapped inside.
"Could that be Splice?" Stacy wondered.
"Is he alive or dead?" Kip asked.
"I have no idea on either question," Trey said.
"He's alive," a dreamy voice said. When they turned, there was an odd Pokemon floating down to them. She had a willowy body of icy colors. "He's alive, and for ever and ever and ever mine."
"Yours?" Stacy asked.
She nodded. "'Froslass,' he says, 'I did not come for love, but to explore, and I saved you because it was right.' But then I say, he saved me so he must love me, and so he must stay with me. But he tried to get away." Her black eyes flashed with anger, before settling back to the dreamy infatuated state. "So I gave him an argument that he can't counter. So now he's mine for all eternity."
"But if you love him, you shouldn't freeze him solid," Stacy said. "You can't talk to him, or hold his paws, or kiss him."
"I can look at him and admire him. That is enough. Or…" the angry look came back to Froslass' eyes, "or do you mean to take him away from me?"
"Well you should really let him go," Stacy said.
"You're not taking him away from me!" Froslass shrieked in anger and jealousy. She sent an icy wind their way.
Stacy stumbled back, but Kip ran up and tackled her. After passing through, he called out, "Trey, she's part Ghost!"
"Right." The Grovyle leapt over and slashed her with Dark Blade.
At that, she wailed and bolted from the room. Then they were left with a problem. "So how're we getting old Splice outta this ice?" Kip asked.
"Let's start another fire," Trey said. "We'll have to be careful; fire is one of his kind's worst weaknesses."
They started a campfire near the ice block; Stacy dug a few ditches to encourage the water away from the fire. Once it was going good, Sally started picking at the ice block with an Iron Spike that she had found on the way down here. After some time, the block broke up enough to free the Scizor completely.
"He's not moving much," Kip reported as Sally grabbed hold of the Bug.
"Bring him closer to warm up," Trey suggested. "But I would keep a watch on how warm his exoskeleton gets."
Eventually, he stirred and blinked his eyes. "Ooo… where is that crazy Froslass?"
"We scared her off," Stacy said. "Are you Splice?"
"Um… yeah, that's right. My mind still feels frozen up." He lifted a claw to his head, then pulled it back for a look. "My joints too. Thanks for rescuing me. But, how long has it been?"
"About ten years, I think," Stacy said.
"What? Ten years? Oh my goodness. No wonder I'm straving."
"We've got plenty of food to go around," Kip said, nosing a bowl of mixed berry salad to him. "Here you go."
"You guys are great," Splice said before he began eating.
When they got back to Treasure Town, Splice looked around with a sense of wonder. "Wow, it feels amazing to be back home. But I wonder who's still around that would remember me."
"I'm sure there must be somebody," Stacy said.
"Like Kazza, the Alakazam."
"Ah yes, the librarian. I might talk to him. But first, I think I'd better look into the hospital." He flexed his claws. "Make sure I haven't rusted or something nasty like that. I'm afraid that I have nothing to give you in reward right now."
"It's okay, we're here to help," Stacy said.
"I wish we'd not do this pro bono stuff," Kip mumbled.
"We get all the treasure and stuff we found in the dungeons, so don't complain," Trey whispered to him.
Splice nodded. "Oh, but I might be able to do something! If I can get back in contact with some people, I'll see about making sure you get proper recognition. Anyhow, thanks again. Ask me if you need anything, really." He walked off to the hospital to get checked out.
"Well now you've done two things your parents haven't done," Kip said.
"What?" Stacy asked. "Two things?"
"Right. We found Splice, and we saved the freaking world."
Stacy laughed along with the others. "Right, we did!"
"They must be proud of you," Trey said.
"Yeah, that's good."
They went to the guild to report on their trip to Blizzard Island, including the rescue of Splice and the discovery of Crevice Cave. But as they were filling out the report, Chiaka came up to them. "Oh, Stacy, you're back!" she sounded worried, a bit frantic.
"Yeah, is something wrong?" she asked.
The Chimecho nodded by bobbing her bell-like body up and down. "Yes, I'm afraid so. It's your little brother Azeri, something awful's happened to him."
