Hi.
Talking happens in this chapter.
Treasure Town was silent.
The town known for its treasure, its community, wonder, and excitement was as silent as a grave. A carrion stench of burnt fur, roasted flesh, pain and misery hung over the town like a fog, seeping into every crack and crevice.
The wind rippled when two newcomers appeared in town. Almost immediately one of them began to cough and splutter, those sounds being the only ones cresting over the quiet streets.
Jirachi had known stale cave air for eons, he was not prepared for what he'd take in at Treasure Town. The smell of sulphur burned his nose, and the lingering smoke stung his eyes.
Scout was used to it already and didn't react, he turned to watch Jirachi as he coughed and wheezed, waiting for the mythical deity pokémon to acclimate.
The clopping of hooves on pounded ground rung out just as loudly. There was no echo, but no hustle and bustle were obscuring it either. Ponyta had heard the disturbance and trotted out quickly to investigate, anyone new had to be good news.
Nothing else moved as the clops rang out. It was so loud for such a quiet place. Treasure Town was not supposed to be quiet.
Jirachi began to control himself as Ponyta spotted them. "Meowth?" he called, easily recognising the only Dark-type meowth in the world. His eyes flew to Jirachi, and he approached. "Are you Jirachi?"
"Y-Yes," Jirachi wheezed, trying to wave the smoke away. "What is that smell?"
Ponyta didn't really have an answer, none that he wanted to say at least.
"Saniya is gone," Scout said clearly, and Ponyta paused. Their eyes met. Ponyta had already noticed there was no pink celebi flittering about but had hoped she had simply gone ahead.
He took a careful look at Scout, he seemed resigned rather than upset, so he asked. "What happened?"
"I'll explain to everyone," Scout replied, and he began to walk forward, Jirachi floated after him still coughing and Ponyta watched the rear.
Not everyone was still awake when they reached the meeting zone. The pokémon awake had gathered around Wigglytuff's throne, using the guild as their bastion. No one actually sat on the throne though, they only gathered close to it for that feeling of protection it gave.
With the tents up, they were able to place a few pokémon in there, along with having somewhere for them to rest away from the trapped Pokémon.
It was better to put some distance between the awake and slumbering ones, just for peace of mind. Torkoal was still unconscious, Sunflora herself had dropped into a daze, but she was able to be roused.
Rai and Mane had tried to stay awake to wait for Scout but were now curled up next to each other fast asleep. Sean was stubbornly keeping himself awake, however.
It had only been a little over a day since the fight against the ferals was ended. Everyone needed to rest.
Ponyta groaned as he knelt down, even his fire was barely burning now. Rai and Mane were roused by Scout gently shaking them, and the group was assembled once more.
Despite Jirachi's appearance, no one reacted with excitement or amazement, and the small legend hung awkwardly around Scout.
With everyone gathered, Scout began. "Saniya's gone," he started, Sean, who was staring him down, closed his eyes in pain. "She attacked me and disappeared. Jirachi told me she was actually asleep."
"Yes," Jirachi said, feeling like that was the right point to verbally make himself known. "Meowth was asking about ways to wake up pokémon, so I assumed he was referring to her…."
"She attacked you?" Sean demanded, opening his eyes to meet Scout's.
Scout nodded. "I can only assume that the cresselia feather I used was just another trap. I imagine she's probably heading to wherever Darkrai and Cresselia are."
What they'd do to her… no one wanted to think of.
"We've got Jirachi at least," Scout continued. "He can help us wake everyone up."
"Can you?" Mane asked, still not entirely believing the whole wish-granting idea. "Can you just wake everyone up just like that?"
"No." Jirachi shook his head. "Not quite."
That went down well.
"SHUT UP!" Scout shouted after everyone began to argue and yell. "He said he can't wake everyone up at once. I already asked him that. What he CAN do is summon us stuff that can wake some up."
He turned to Jirachi, looking all the more awkward now than yelling had happened. "Can you get us something to wake people up?"
Jirachi nodded, his ribbons shining for a moment as he felt for the parameters of the potential wish. "I can… it would be a cresselia feather, however. That is the only object I can summon for this need."
Things went silent. Scout felt eyes on him, and so did Jirachi. Scout remained calm. "Jirachi, can you summon an untainted cresselia feather that Cresselia and Darkrai can't use to control someone?"
Jirachi was quiet for a moment, ribbons glinting again. Then he nodded. "Yes."
Scout turned to the group. "That's what we should summon, yes?"
"Is there anything we could get that could wake everyone up?" Sean asked. Jirachi mused before shaking his head.
"Anything we could get that could just kill Darkrai right now?"
Another no.
"My wishes are limited," Jirachi admitted. "I can summon from other worlds, yes, but that isn't an infinite number. I can only summon something that exists somewhere, and the more specific the wish is, the harder it is to summon."
With no real other objections, Scout made his wish.
"I wish for a cresselia feather that can wake someone up without allowing Darkrai or Cresselia to control them."
The wish spoken, Jirachi flashed white. Once the light faded, a feather dropped down. Scout picked it up as Jirachi swooned. "Thank you."
"Welcome," Jirachi said before yawning deeply and sinking in mid-air. "Oh, bother. I'm supposed to go back asleep after doing that, but…." He resisted the urge to sleep, slapping his cheeks. "I can't, I can't, I can't."
"We can wake you back up," Scout said as Jirachi continued sinking.
"I know," Jirachi grumbled, his body was curling up into the cocoon again. "I'll just keep fighting until I can't. If I'm going to heelllp…." His eyes closed, but he wasn't asleep yet. "Y-you're going to need to remind me what you want. I never remember wishes, I'm not allowed to or somethiiiing..."
There was a mutual understanding of jealously as Jirachi was able to go to sleep, and they couldn't.
"Well, okay," Scout sighed, turning back to everyone. He pointed the feather up. "Who should we wake up first?"
"The Guildmaster!"
"Armaldo."
"Chansey."
"Chimecho."
"Guardian."
"Everyone!" Sunflora raised her voice. "Chimecho. It has to be her. Think about it." She glanced behind her, to the tent Chimecho was resting in. "Chimecho is our healer, like Chansey, she's got a level head, and she can connect to the Psychic Network to find someone to help us. She's the best choice."
There was no argument there, and a group consensus was achieved quickly.
Scout clutched the feather nervously. There was no sign of black particles on this feather, but he was still nervous after what happened to Saniya.
"It has to be done," Sean pointed out. He was no happier with it than Scout was, he was the closest here to Saniya.
"Saniya didn't seem to lose it until she went back to sleep," Scout admitted. "I noticed something was off with her this morning."
"I thought it was just exhaustion," Sean admitted.
Scout took a breath, but Sunflora lost patience and took the feather from him. "I'll do it," she said and raced off, leaving Scout empty-handed.
"Alright, then."
Less than a minute later Sunflora returned with a groggy Chimecho.
"Well that was strange," Chimecho said, body fluttering as she floated up. "It was like we were all there… but people were missing. You," she said, spotting those that were waiting. "You were all missing, but I didn't seem to notice it."
"Would you like a recap of what's been going on?" Scout asked as she joined them.
"Please."
"Darkrai put the whole town to sleep, Cresselia is evil, and she was the diversion. I fought Darkrai WITH Soothe, who turned up suddenly and cut his arm off. Cresselia saved him. I woke up Saniya with the feather Cresselia left behind and saved the guys. Then we had a feral horde that attacked the town, which happened yesterday. Afterwards, Saniya and I went to find Jirachi, he's that one."
Jirachi mumbled in his sleep.
"Saniya turned out to be controlled or something with the feather, so she's gone. We were able to get Jirachi to summon us an untainted feather to wake you up. Hopefully, it didn't do anything else to you."
Chimecho took a moment and a blink to take that in. Rai and Mane cast worried looks at Scout, that was spoken unusually calm for him.
"I see," Chimecho said, rolling with it. "I assume you woke me up over others for my skills?"
Scout nodded.
"Everyone here is injured," Ponyta said, taking over. "Shinx, Litleo, Riolu all took severe injuries from Cresselia. We only got three days to prepare for the ferals, and they had to work as well. So, your expertise in healing would be greatly appreciated there."
"And Celebi couldn't get into the Psychic Network," Sunflora said. "Although… maybe she could? It's hard to tell when exactly she lost it, she did help protect the town without a hint of anything else so…."
"She didn't sleep at all over the days we were preparing," Sean explained. "Saniya doesn't need to sleep so often, she couldn't risk doing so in the Dark Future with Dialga hunting her after all. She tries to sleep every night now, but she definitely could have gone those days without sleeping."
"And she was asleep this morning," Ponyta added. "I was the first awake, and she was certainly at least appearing to be asleep."
Chimecho nodded. "Very well. What do you want first? Healing?" She looked to Rai and Mane and began to float over, but they shook their heads.
The two leaned against each other. To a casual onlooker, or someone exhausted, it may have come across simply as the two's affection for each other.
Chimecho, with far sharper eyes than most, could see how hard they were breathing, the dark, dried, blood on their bandages, and how they leaned together just to keep each other standing.
"See if you can find someone on the network first," Rai suggested.
"We've survived this long," Mane added. "We can keep going for longer. Find us some help first, the town will die before we will without being able to drink or eat."
Chimecho did feel unusually parched, and she considered the mention of four days. "I see. Get me something to eat and drink then."
Scout was already running off to get her something to eat and drink. Once Chimecho was satiated, hunger and thirst were distracting, after all, she began to tap into the Psychic Network.
Sunflora stuck close to Chimecho. The Psychic-type requested to be left alone, but Sunflora was able to remain outside the tent Chimecho took to focus. She couldn't use the one she had woken up in, there were pokémon in there.
In order to enter the lake of minds, Chimecho needed to empty her own. This was difficult today, and she spent a good few minutes using breathing activities and distraction techniques she had been taught.
The silence that had enveloped Treasure Town worked in her favour. Without the distant sounds of chattering pokémon and movement of the guild, Chimecho was able to slip into focusing on nothing and then take it a step further by blending with the semi-gestalt mindscape that the Psychic Network was.
However, there was another problem.
She entered the Psychic Network and was almost immediately choked by the emptiness there. The Psychic Network of the Grass Continent had been manifested over six decades ago after years of attempts to get it started and always had pokémon coming in and out.
Your average Psychic-type, no matter how powerful, could only go so far with their abilities. Even the legends had limits, and the regular pokémon were by and far not deities.
The Psychic Network spanned the entirety of the Grass Continent and allowed Chimecho to go so far as to contact Cliffs Edge. Where Treasure Town was one of the most western parts of the continent, Cliffs Edge was one of the most eastern. It was the farthest she could go, spanning an entire continent.
But she could only do that by how the network functioned. The myriad of minds each tapped into each other, built and supported, creating a web of directions that spread over the entire continent.
When many minds were using it at once, reaching was much more accessible. One could piggyback off of close minds to draw them along, bolstering themselves with that power. However, when the Psychic Network did not have as many active minds, it grew darker, more difficult to use.
The pathways were long and easy to lose. The network itself wasn't dangerous, it wasn't a risk of damaging your own mind usually or detaching your mind from your body. Myths like that helped no one, but gossip kept them going.
What could be dangerous, however, was the pressure it took to cross a darker area. The more a Psychic-type had to push their mind, the more likely there was a consequence for that. Psychic-type's learned their limits very quickly to avoid such things but could push if truly needed to.
Right now, the network was frightening. Within Chimecho's entire life, she had never witnessed it to be so dark. She could detect some lights in the darkness, metaphorical lights, of course. She could sense some minds connecting to try to speak to someone else, manifesting to her senses as lights, but they were distant, and she had no one close by to bolster herself.
Chimecho was hesitant to try a push. With the network this dark, she wasn't sure if it'd help at all. The reason it was dark was unsettling, for she didn't know. Yet she still remembered the last time she had connected, detecting a mass of panicking pokémon announcing ferals breaking out of dungeons and attacking towns.
The storm had pulled her in too hard, she had tried to exit to warn Wigglytuff, but then Darkrai must have attacked then as she remembered nothing after that. That continental panic attack was almost preferable to this.
The voices were scared, but they were at least speaking. Now things were just… still.
The silence of Treasure Town was unnerving enough, but the silence of the Psychic Network frightened Chimecho in a way she didn't think she could feel.
With no idea of what to do, she began to recede. At the very least, nothing was holding her in, and she slipped out with ease.
"Blossom," Chimecho called, and she popped her head in. Chimecho got a closer look at the Sunflora, noted how the edges of her body had curled from overuse of her core. "You should be resting," she said instead of what she initially asked her in to say.
Sunflora smiled at her. "I got to make sure everyone is okay."
"And what about yourself?"
"I'm fine now."
Chimecho disagreed, but she knew that she couldn't push the matter just now. "The Psychic Network is dark," Chimecho explained, floating out. "I can't contact what few are still there. I'm too far and I don't have the strength to push that far."
Sunflora's expression turned worried. "Oh."
"I am going to need help," Chimecho continued, floating back to the group. "The Psychic Network is too dark for me to pierce by myself," Chimecho explained to the sleepy pokémon.
"So, we're fucked?" Mane asked.
"No," Chimecho replied. "It simply means I require an additional catalyst to go further." She turned to Jirachi. "Multiple Psychics can do what a single one cannot. Wake him up."
It took a bit. Jirachi wouldn't respond to a gentle nudge or even a rough shake.
"We might need to… beat him awake," Scout admitted.
"Do it then."
"He's not responding though," Scout said. "He was talking and fighting in his sleep before… that's assuming he actually was asleep though."
"Why don't we try a chesto berry?" Rai suggested before anyone could attack the sleeping Jirachi. His logic and reasoning cut through the exhaustion and Scout blinked.
"Right." He raced off to get one. They were, honestly, beginning to run low on those. Chesto berries had been used to keep them going during the preparations to defend the town, they were down to a handful.
Scout opened Jirachi's mouth and smushed the berry in his paw before cramming it down his throat.
He got bitten before Jirachi choked and coughed himself awake. "I'm awake! Who's assaulting me now!?"
"Just me," Scout said.
After spitting the chesto berry out, Jirachi slapped his cheeks again. "Of course, you again. I thought I was just dreaming earlier."
"Sadly not."
Jirachi eyed him for a moment. "Do not do that again," he said. "I do not like the taste of chesto berries."
"Leppa next time."
"Do not do that either!"
"Banana?"
"NO!"
"Excuse me?" Chimecho cut in, sweetly and causing both of them to freeze. "May you have your discussion later?"
Scout nodded and backed away, leaving Jirachi to the wolves.
"I am unable to pierce the distance needed in the Psychic Network on my own," Chimecho explained. "As a fellow Psychic-type, I believe you can help me."
"How did you know I was Psychic-type and not Fairy-type?" Jirachi asked.
"I am aware of the legends about you."
"Second question. What is a 'Psychic Network' because I've been in a cave for the last however long."
"A continent-spanning connection of minds by trained Psychic-types. We can speak over long distances with this, but it requires many minds to be active. With… whatever is going on, the network is darkened. There are pokémon reaching out, I simply cannot reach them myself."
Jirachi nodded, following that surprisingly well. He yawned and rubbed his face. "Yeah, okay. Use me as a power boost." Then, to everyone's horror, his stomach eye opened up.
"What?" Jirachi asked, giving everyone a good look at the eye. "If I'm going to be sharing my Infinity Energy I need that open."
"As long as that's required," Chimecho said, the only one unphased by the stomach eye. Scout knew it existed but seeing the giant stomach eye for himself was not exactly something he wanted to see.
Chimecho pulled Jirachi into the tent and tried it again.
"How do you want me to…?" Jirachi asked, uncomfortable at being left alone with Chimecho.
"I presume the eye is something of a focus?" she asked.
"Yes. For my previous, more powerful, wishes and Doom Desire. My most powerful attack. I can manipulate my Infinity Energy better with this."
"I haven't heard that term before," Chimecho said, beginning to empty her mind again. "Is that an aspect unique to legendary or your own name for your inner Power?"
"Uh… the second one, I think?"
"Mmm."
Chimecho began staring into the eye, and Jirachi closed his face eyes to focus himself. He couldn't see exactly from the stomach eye, it was less of an eye and more eye-in-shape. It saw other things.
As he lost focus on seeing with his normal eyes, he began to see with his stomach eye. It saw deeper than others could. It was what pierced the realities for him to find objects farther than this world.
He could feel Chimecho before him. First, it was like an outline of her, and an uncoloured sketch of what she was. Then, he began to see deeper as his Power to meld with hers.
He began to see the pathways of Infinity Energy, of their Power, and the lines of the Psychic Network even though he was not attached to it.
He saw.
Jirachi and Chimecho were suddenly blown back from each other. Chimecho hitting the fabric of the tent and Jirachi getting flung out of the tent entirely.
Sunflora, who had continued guarding the tent, shrieked before racing in as Chimecho began to slide out.
"Oh my... gosh," Chimecho gasped, head pounding from that. She felt Sunflora's leaves close around her and began taking calming breaths.
"What happened?" Sunflora was repeating until Chimecho was aware enough of the words to respond. Jirachi was out cold, not even cocooned but entirely knocked out.
"Some sort of feedback loop," Chimecho groaned, wobbling as she floated out of Sunflora's grip as a few others came racing. "His Power was… far too much, I think this was my fault. Ooh." She sagged again, and Sunflora caught her.
"What happened?" Sean asked, kneeling down with Jirachi, checking him for injuries.
Sunflora was brushing Chimecho's face as Chimecho struggled to answer. "My fault," she gasped out. "I was not capable of handling that much, or perhaps just that type of, Power. He was stronger than any Psychic I've ever met. Including Saniya."
"Saniya's Power is at least halved," Sean muttered, picking Jirachi up now.
Chimecho nodded. "That might do it. I could only just handle Saniya when teaching her how to connect to the Psychic Network. Dammit." She struggled in Sunflora's grip. "Wake him up again! I can try it again."
This was denied, causing an argument, and Chimecho was pulled away by Sunflora while the rest of them tended to Jirachi.
With Sunflora and Chimecho elsewhere, Torkoal still unconscious, Saniya gone, and Jirachi asleep the remaining pokémon came together to talk.
"We're running out of options," Sean opened up with.
"What options do we even have?" Rai asked, soon panting for breath. "Nothing is working!"
"We've got some things still," Scout said, still calm. "We still have Jirachi, we can get more feathers from him."
"Like… one a day?" Mane asked. "We didn't even ask him for a wish that time, Chimecho just dragged him off! One feather a day isn't doing anything."
"We can wake up another Psychic to help Chimecho," Sean pointed out.
"I just wish Alakazam was here," Ponyta sighed, lying down on his side. His flames were out entirely, the meagre amount of energy needed to keep them going not worth it anymore. "A teleporter would be nice." They hadn't needed one previously with Saniya around after all. Scout pointed out Jirachi was a highly-capable teleporter himself.
"Maybe we could wish for Alakazam?" Mane muttered mutinously.
"You still haven't said our options," Rai said, looking to Sean.
Sean, the youngest person here in one sense and one of the oldest in another.
The riolu was deep in thought. "Waiting for Jirachi to be able to grant something is… an option," he said, but he didn't like having to say it. "We could wake up Lapras and go to the Hidden Land and ask Dialga for help."
"Will it even help?" Scout asked.
"Darkrai's doing this and Darkrai is the reason everything went wrong the first time, so I think Dialga might."
They all nodded, it was a fair enough hope.
"That's tomorrow, though," Mane pointed out. "And it'll take another day to get there on Lapras, a day to get back. The Pokémon here aren't going to last forever, every day is dearly needed."
"With Sunflora's Grassy Terrain, they've got longer than they would otherwise," Sean argued back. "And pokémon last. I know that. You know that."
"Not forever."
"I know, not forever!"
"Then, everyday matters."
"I didn't say that they don't, but we're not getting anywhere in the short term! There is nothing that can wake everyone up besides MAYBE stopping Darkrai."
Scout stood up. His limbs had long passed shaking exhaustion, there was just a deep pain that he ignored. "I have one other idea," he said. "I'll go find help, a Psychic-type to help Chimecho. Darkrai was here to put everyone to sleep, and the big 'whatever he did' only stretched so far. He couldn't have put EVERYONE to sleep."
Ponyta got up. "No. Not you," he said. "You're fast, yes, but you're too small to bring anyone back yourself. I can at least carry someone."
"Ponyta," Scout began, unsure. "What if another attack happens?"
Ponyta's eyes flicked to the side, to where Torkoal was resting, before back. It was so fast it would have been missed by anyone not paying close attention. "That's a risk we'll have to take."
The other three reluctantly agreed to Ponyta's suggestion of him going and Scout relented.
It was agreed for him to check out Sicilly first, then Feoira. They were among the closest towns and in the same direction—Southeast from where they were.
The worst part Team Ion, and Sean, felt as Ponyta galloped off with the pervasive feeling of helplessness.
Because they were helpless.
Treasure Town was asleep, their current fix for that would take hundreds of days, and they couldn't even be sure that Chimecho would be able to go back to sleep and wake up as herself.
Ferals had been unleashed. How many? They didn't know. Were more coming? They didn't know. That fear of leaving everyone to the slaughter hampered them greatly.
They were exhausted and injured, some more so than others. Rai, Mane, and Sean shouldn't be allowed to do anything too much unless it was utterly necessary. It left them feeling extra helpless, they had walked right into Cresselia's trap and had only survived with several things going right for them all at once.
Scout was out of ideas. He had lied to Saniya when she asked him in the cave. He didn't want to really talk about it, but he had noticed something was off with her. She hadn't called him on his lie. He had to try and keep Darkrai on his toes, but in truth, it was he who was out of knowledge. They had entered territory he really had no idea about.
They were helpless. Hoping beyond hope that someone else could help. Worse than that, they were hoping someone could merely give them the option to ASK for help. Even if Chimecho was able to contact someone, it was no guarantee they would be able to get help.
And while Scout may have delivered a staggering wound to Darkrai by cutting his arm off. An arm that had disappeared, for the record with just an old patch of blood left. That wouldn't stop him forever. Soothe's appearance, Scout reasoned, was probably the best outcome of that.
Darkrai himself clearly had no idea what to do about her. He was a planner, an over-planner. He planned for everything with backup plans in his backup plans. But Soothe was supposed to be erased from reality, he mustn't have planned anything for her.
Even if he had, he was clearly terrified of her.
Scout considered a few of the ferals that he had seen during the battle, with similar glitter-wounds that Soothe had left on him after turning on him.
He wasn't too game to go looking for her, though. A wildcard she was. He had no idea why she had helped him against Darkrai or why she had attacked him afterwards.
She knew about the magnagate as well. No one else besides Torkoal and Ponyta had known about it, surely.
It was a uniquely disarming feeling, Scout was realising. He had gotten used to having an idea of what was coming, something he could expect, an option he could plan around. Even if he had done it badly, they still had saved the world in the end.
Now, however, he didn't know. He didn't know what was going to happen. He didn't know where Darkrai was, or how to find him. He didn't know what was happening outside of Treasure Town.
He didn't know. He didn't know. He did not know.
As the day was cresting to a close, Ponyta returned.
Chimecho had also been soothed by Sunflora and had re-joined the group serenely. Only Sunflora was happy to be particularly close, however.
Hearing that they were searching for someone less… explosive, to help her, made Chimecho very thankful indeed.
Ponyta's hooves were so loud in the silent town and cheered the exhausted group slightly. Hope in this time was fleeting, clinging onto anything however brief was almost needed for sanities sake.
To their immense relief, he had someone with him.
"Oh… my…"
"Yes we've heard the shock before," Chimecho said, floating out. "I was shocked. Everyone was."
Beheeyem blinked at her from on Ponyta's back. "I cannot fault you for being on edge, I suppose," he said, floating off.
It was Beheeyem, the illustrious leader of Team Gazer. Entirely alone besides Ponyta.
Once Beheeyem had been brought to the campfire, Mane had managed to start one, he told his story in return of hearing theirs.
"Everyone began to fall asleep in Evertrail Town," Beheeyem explained, eyes shadowed in mourning. "First it was just pokémon sleeping in a little longer, then they weren't getting up. The town was getting quieter. By the time we realised something wrong was happening, it was almost too late. Electrike and Metang are both…."
He bowed his head.
"Natu and I were the only ones awake in the end," he continued. "She stayed behind to keep watch while I looked for help. I thought of Treasure Town, what better place to seek help?"
There were a few mirthless laughs at that.
"What happened here?" Beheeyem asked. Ponyta had explained, of course, but hearing it and seeing it was different.
The guild was gone. The streets were empty besides battle scars cut into the flesh of the town and piles of ash.
It stunk of death here, and the sensitive Psychic-type could even pick up echoes of the battle that had occurred so recently.
They told their story again. It was getting shorter each time as details were compressed better and it took Beheeyem just a few moments to nod in agreement.
"Very well. I was able to assist Natu as the Psychic Network had that epileptic fit, I can help Chimecho as well."
"We shall start immediately then!" Chimecho said. "We do not know if I'll be myself after I go back to sleep again. It's a relief you're here so soon."
Sunflora once again guarded them as Beheeyem carefully funnelled his Power into Chimecho, bridging their minds and linking their powers. He could feel her will, quite aggressive, latch onto his own mind and pull.
So, like with Natu, Beheeyem gave. He had already practiced that with Metang, having been teaching them how to really use their new abilities.
The Psychic Network was still dark to Chimecho, but with Beheeyem to pull from she could extend her light further. It was something of a considerable strain, on both of their minds, but she was able to connect to a distant light.
Treasure Town was a distant point, darkened and left alone. The hardest leap was the first.
Once she was bolstered by the next mind, she jumped again and was pulled into the pool.
The Psychic Network was still active!
Chimecho was pulled into the waves she knew so well. Through the psionic information floating around she learned that the range of the network had been restricted considerably when the initial chaos began to amount, cutting off the edges of the continent and concentrating what could be mustered into the middle.
It would have been impossible to maintain at original capacity with that chaos going on. Still, the reduced capacity was just like it used to be, and Chimecho began to speak.
"This is Chimecho of the Wigglytuff Guild. Treasure Town is almost entirely asleep, trapped in a nightmare caused by the Pokémon Darkrai, he is working with his counterpart Cresselia to plunge the entire world in a dream world of his own making. We need assistance badly."
She felt, she saw, she responded where she could. Her message began to spread slowly, it was like shouting into the void and only reserved for times when a message had to get to everyone possible. It'd take a while, but she could spread the message herself.
Minds began to check Chimecho, asking for a connection to speak. She allowed some, giving further details where she could to be spread and understood further. She met with one who soothed the turmoil in her own mind quite nicely, before pressing on.
The response by the large was difficult to parse. Towns were facing their own chaos. Citizens were falling asleep, feral pokémon were attacking, most pokémon needed to protect their own and Chimecho understood that.
Several towns were entirely asleep; this was assumed from some responses and from the minds that weren't connecting and hadn't been even trying recently.
Chimecho's message, her warning, spread and the network flickered with anger. The anger of one person was a candle compared to the psionic fury of dozens of minds at once.
It passed, however. Control over your emotions was something a Psychic had to learn, especially if they sought to join the Psychic Network. The danger of unrestrained bouts of emotion was known well by many.
Finally, after what felt like an age, someone spoke to Chimecho with something she wanted to hear.
"This is Mr. Mime of Shaymin Village."
"Mr. Mime! It is truly wonderful to hear from you."
"It is a relief to hear from you as well, Chimecho. I would ask how the town is in my absence, but I hear it is not good."
"No. The vast majority of the town is asleep. We have some pokémon awake, who were not here when the place was assaulted by Darkrai. Still, they had to fend off an entire feral invasion force and are truly exhausted. There is some belief that we can stop Darkrai but leaving the town entirely at the mercy of more ferals is a difficult prospect."
"I see. The Shaymin Village has avoided much of the turmoil going on. I confess that I have tried to contact you in the last few days since the network was restricted; I have been very concerned. The village has been mostly evacuated, the Shaymin have been flying out to everywhere that they can manage."
"I have been unconscious myself. Currently, I am also using Beheeyem of Team Gazer's strength to reach the network. More legendary pokémon that aren't Cresselia and Darkrai are always welcome. We have recruited Jirachi, that is how I was awoken. He was able to summon a cresselia feather that was not tainted by the actions of the one here."
"I see…."
"Do spread that around, by the way. Do not trust ANY cresselia feathers or Cresselia herself. I may be compromised myself after I go back to sleep as Celebi was, so if things go dark again know that I am a possible enemy."
"I… I see. Yes, I hear what you've spread out to others. The situation is dire, indeed. I'm sorry, but we have no more Shaymin here. I can send some other pokémon as fast as I can, but it will take a while."
"Get them ready. As I said, we have Jirachi. If there is a way to get them to us sooner rather than later, than you'll be seeing him soon. He's bright yellow, has ribbons on his body, somewhat shaped like a star."
"I shall. I'm sorry I could not be of any more help. I'll contact further pokémon for you, If you need help to get to us, you must not be able to maintain this for much longer."
"Correct. Thank you, Mr. Mime."
"Stay strong. We will get through this."
Slowly, Chimecho left the network. It was hard to do in an emotional sense, the comfort of the network in this troubled time was hard to give up, but she pulled back. Once she was far enough it was like a snap of a rubber band and she jolted back into her body.
Beheeyem was rubbing his head once she came back to consciousness, night had long fallen.
"How'd it go?" Beheeyem asked.
"Well enough," Chimecho answered, pulling herself up. "I managed to get into contact, ask for help, warn the network about Darkrai and Cresselia. We have the Shaymin Village getting ready to help us, but all the Shaymin are not present. I don't know who else they'll have to send, but it'll either be a while, or we'll be able to get Jirachi to fetch them."
Beheeyem nodded. "Shall we go to inform them?"
"You shall," Chimecho said, beginning to tilt. "I am about to fall unconscious. Be a dear and catch me."
He darted forwards and managed to grab her before she fell limp. "Sunflora!" Beheeyem shouted, and Sunflora rushed in.
"You go," she said softly, taking Chimecho from him. "I'll watch over her."
"Be… careful," Beheeyem said.
Sunflora smiled at him. "Of course."
He floated off to let who was still awake know, which was only Sean and took over riolu's sentry work to let him finally rest.
Beheeyem was tired for sure, but he knew it was nothing to the exhaustion of those here.
Day came, and Chimecho appeared to be okay.
Jirachi was forcefully awakened and stared blankly at Beheeyem for a moment before going to Chimecho. "You are a strange one," he said, looking her over. "That actually hurt," he complained, referring to last night.
"It seems your feather did the job," Chimecho replied primly. Sunflora had already asked her numerous questions, and unlike Saniya, she didn't seem any different.
Just as terrifying as always.
"Of course it did," Jirachi scoffed. "I wouldn't make a mistake like that." He paused. "What did I summon exactly?"
"You don't remember?"
Jirachi shrugged. "I never remember. It's just a... thing about me. Privacy I guess. I don't know what you asked for, well some feather I guess... cresselia feather? I dunno. I don't remember what the audino asked for last time, or what Mew was nagging me about before that."
"Well, we've got a new thing to ask," Scout said. "You teleported me and you here without needing a wish. So, can you teleport to the Shaymin Village and back? We've got someone willing to help."
Jirachi nodded. "Teleportation is easy," he bragged when it very much was NOT easy. "I'll be back in a jiffy."
Before anyone could say anything else, he was gone.
"Does he… know where he's going?" Rai asked nervously.
"I'd hope so," Beheeyem replied.
Chimecho was asked a flurry of other safety questions until she got mad at them before ordering Rai, Mane, and Sean to sit down while she got the supplies.
The three were finally given some proper medical care. Chimecho had Scout running to the stream and back to get them water and Ponyta to boil it clean.
Mane was not allowed to.
She changed their bandages, applied some oran bandages, gave them a collection of mashed berries and seeds and ordered them to bed.
They joined Torkoal, who still hadn't woken up.
A flash of light announced Jirachi's return and the song and dance of shock and horror of Treasure Town's condition began yet again.
"I heard it was bad, but this is just wrong."
"Well, well, well. We cannot expect things to be normal with the situation afoot."
Scout froze when he saw who was there.
There was Jirachi, floating between two pokémon. He was looking less tired than yesterday. On Jirachi's right stood Mawile, former leader of Team Frontier who had remained at the Shaymin Village to research it.
And because she apparently met a kindred spirit.
Ampharos.
Ampharos waved at the group as they approached. "Do not worry!" he bleated energetically. "We have come to lend our assistance! I am Ampharos, the Dashing Wanderer!"
He refrained from too many poses, the mood of the town was very downcast and he could read the mood. He got a few twitches of a smile, though.
Scout just continued to stare. Mawile. Ampharos, with absolutely no doubt who it was with that entrance, and Jirachi.
He blinked and took a breath. "Alright." And decided to roll with it.
Shelving this Super nonsense for later, he waved them over. "Come on over, we're trying to work out what to do next. We'll explain everything."
And so they did. Again. They were getting awfully good at getting the details across faster and faster, and Mawile and Ampharos listened patiently.
"The main issue at hand," Scout said once things were explained. "Is that we don't know what Darkrai's next moves are going to be and the town has got a clock on it."
"Thankfully no ferals have shown up since the big horde," Sean added, knocking on wood twice. "So, that's something at least."
"May I ask a few questions?" Mawile asked. Her horns opened slightly, drool leaking out from the metallic fangs.
"Go ahead."
"You said you spoke to Darkrai before engaging him in battle. What did HE want to talk about?"
"Darkrai wanted to make me join him."
"Why?" Mawile asked, eyes piercing him. "No offence. I am fully aware that you've saved the world, but with that very thing in mind. You would think he'd seek to remove you at any costs. Did he plan for you to avoid what happened here?"
"He seemed surprised when he first spotted me," Scout answered. "But with Darkrai, it's impossible to really tell."
"Do you have any idea why he'd potentially make this offer?"
Scout considered it. Frankly, there was no point in hiding things anymore. "I knew he was evil from the beginning," Scout said. "And I mean from the very beginning. I have an awareness of the world from an outside perspective. I know things I shouldn't be able to know, and I know that Darkrai has been trying to work out how."
He got a few surprised looks at that from those who knew. Scout was so clammed up when speaking of that, especially in the open. As he said, there was no point in hiding it, though.
Mawile, to her credit, nodded. "I see." She didn't, but it was something at least.
"It seems simple enough!" Ampharos bleated, patting Mawile on the back and avoiding her horns. "Meowth here is blessed, or perhaps cursed, with knowledge. Knowledge of events of the past and future, correct?"
"Right." Scout nodded. He was only a little surprised that Ampharos grasped it so easily. He was the Wigglytuff-sort, rolled with crazy things really easily and was far more intelligent than he behaved. "It's a limited thing, though. I know of a series of 'plots' relating to events. What Team Go-Getters did, Paradise, I thought I knew what was going to happen for us, and one thing in the farther future that..." He trailed off, he couldn't lose track of things too easy.
And with how much had changed here, he doubted Super would be anything predictable. However, he might give Ampharos some tips maybe...
"Darkrai would definitely be wary of such a foe." Mawile nodded, rolling with it herself. "Making an ally of such an individual would certainly be in his better interests."
Sunflora looked to raise her leaf hand in question of Scout but thought better of it.
"And you have no idea what his next move is?" Mawile asked.
Scout shook his head. "No," he admitted. "Although I told Saniya I did." That caused some attention.
"You suspected her?" Sean demanded. "And you still went along with her alone!?"
"I did." Scout nodded. "Not at first, though, it wasn't until we were already there that I noticed something was up. She didn't react to me saying that, so that was just more of a confirmation. It hopefully might have tricked Darkrai though."
"Before we go on," Ampharos asked, calming them down. "May I ask if anything has not quite happened that you thought may have supposed to?"
Scout frowned and thought. There were a lot of things that went differently, but most of the things he knew had happened, just differently.
There was one thing, however. "We enter the nightmare," he said. "Right. Azurill." The others fully in the know gasped as they too remembered Scout mentioning this. "Although… okay, it didn't really help. Azurill was going to be in a nightmare and to try and find out why we used Drowzee's help to enter the dream. Darkrai was in there, pretending to be Cresselia, to trick us into deciding to kill ourselves."
That was a pleasant thought.
"If this 'The Dream' is a real-world, as Darkrai claimed," Ampharos continued. "There might be useful things to be learned there."
Chimecho bobbed. "When I was awoken, I remembered being in that dream. Everything seemed normal, except people were missing and I didn't question it. The people here were the ones missing."
"One problem though," Scout said. "We needed Drowzee to do it. And not only do I have NO idea where he is because he escaped all the way back." He glanced at Rai, who winced. "But he only helped because he had been rehabilitated."
He got a blank look from several pokémon. "Anyone with Dream Eater can enter a dream," Mawile pointed out.
"If you have a relevant Psychic-type you can even bring others in," Beheeyem said. "I hear it's a delicate process, but something of recreational activity among some circles."
Eyes turned to him. Beheeyem realised he was a relevant Psychic-type. "Now hold on! I don't know Dream Eater."
"Jirachi," Scout said, "could you summon a Dream Eater TM?"
Jirachi took a moment and nodded. "Sure, can!"
Eyes turned back to Beheeyem. "I… alright, fine. Great," he muttered, crossing his arms and turning away. He'd used a TM exactly once in the past and swore to never do it again.
Jirachi swiftly summoned the TM and handed it to Beheeyem. He took the disc reluctantly before sighing and holding it up to his head.
"Before you do that," Mawile said. "We should determine who is going into The Dream."
It was a fair enough point. They all couldn't go after all.
"If we're heading into a dream, then we wouldn't be so injured," Rai said hopefully, eyes sparkling.
Scout took a moment to appreciate the fact they were genuinely talking about heading into someones dream before snapping back to reality. "I can go. I do have SOME idea of what it'll be like, although I'm sure it'll be different from what I'm expecting. Plus, if Darkrai is in there, he might want to talk to me."
"I would say three pokémon is a smart choice," Ampharos suggested. "Too many and Beheeyem may not be able to maintain it." Beheeyem glared at him for the small dig at his ability. "Too few and we may not be able to find what we are looking for."
"And their bodies will need to be guarded," Ponyta pointed out.
They discussed the pros and cons for a short time. Scout was agreed upon as a sensible enough choice, to Rai and Mane's annoyance Sean was chosen over them to head in. Citing that his aura abilities might have a use. Lastly, Mawile was elected to go.
"Mawile is incredibly smart," Ampharos assured them. "Inquisitive too. If something can be found, she can do it."
"You speak so highly of me," she said dryly. "Let's hope I can live up to those expectations."
"I have faith in you!"
With it decided, Beheeyem brought the TM back up to his head.
Scout looked in curiously, as did Sean. Neither of them had ever seen a TM being used.
There was a coloured cut in part of the disc that Beheeyem spun, causing the disc to rotate. He channelled some Power into it, and the TM began to glow.
"I remember using the Fire Blast TM," Mane mentioned. "That was the trippiest thing I'd ever felt. Getting that knowledge just… crammed into my head. Didn't like it."
It was not a comfortable process, and Beheeyem grimaced throughout the entire thing. Eventually, with no pomp or glamour, it was done, and the disc became inert.
Beheeyem floated off to throw up before returning. "There," he muttered through a sore throat. Acid burns after all. "I can do it now."
"Oh no, you won't," Mawile said, marching up to him. "You're not doing anything without actual practice first. Jirachi, follow." The woozy Jirachi could not refuse and floated after her. "We'll be back once I am confident he's not going to leave us trapped or some other nonsense."
"You'd just get ejected automatically," Beheeyem complained, but her grip was iron, and he was pulled away.
Ampharos followed them, and they got to know Jirachi a little better. He was very sleepy, drained after summoning the TM as he was supposed to be, but he did his best to remain awake.
"I know a lot about sleep," Jirachi said as they coached Beheeyem. "Thanks to doing it so often. We'll make sure to keep you honest so you won't make some kind of mistake."
"What mistake is there to make?" Beheeyem grumbled. "As far as I know it, you'd just get ejected if the Dream Eater ended."
"Probably, yes." Jirachi nodded. "But Psychic abilities are never entirely foolproof. Things can happen that haven't happened before, minds are so malleable that our Infinity Energy use grows and changes more than any other type of magical creature."
That was an antique term that caused some blinks. All three there had heard it. Beheeyem was a treasure hunter, Mawile liked history, and Ampharos tended to know strange and random things for no apparent reason.
So, they knew that magical creature meant pokémon.
"And this isn't a normal dream. I don't want to be pulled in permanently due to a mistake, we'll need to set up a time to automatically pull us out," Mawile added.
With Jirachi's help utilising Rest, Beheeyem was able to practice manipulating the legend's dreams. Jirachi dreamed of shockingly little, which helped ease him into things. After most of the day practising, Beheeyem was able to put Ampharos and Mawile into Jirachi's dream and out without much issue.
Eventually, Jirachi stopped waking up, but he was a heavy sleeper and continued giving tips for Mawile or Ampharos to impart after leaving his dream.
Had Scout been watching, he would be amazed and almost annoyed at how easy it was for Beheeyem to learn to literally invade dreams and take others in with him. But there were no complaints to be had about that.
TM's were powerful stuff.
Mawile, for her comfort, honestly would have preferred at least a few weeks of training to comfortably go into a dream under the ability of someone else. They did not have a few weeks, so one day would have to do.
The sun was setting, bathing Treasure Town in the dying light. It was still so silent, but the soft chatting of those who were awake filled the emptiness slightly.
They chose to enter Wigglytuff's dream. It was likely that the dreams were all connected into one alternate world, but just in case it was otherwise they picked the Guildmaster.
"You'll need to rest part of your bodies on Wigglytuff," Beheeyem instructed, his fingers flashing, "Just to be close enough. And try to be comfortable, you will be deeply asleep so you won't be moving much."
In order to enter, they had to be asleep, but there was an easy way to do that. Scout performed Hypnosis on a willing Mawile and then on Sean, with Sean using Copycat on Scout before he dropped.
With them, all asleep, Beheeyem closed in himself and began waving his hands. Wigglytuff's dream began to seep and manifest, but rather than drawing it into himself, Beheeyem spread it over the three pokémon sleeping on him.
With Chimecho returning the favour and bolstering him, he was able to draw on their sleeping minds with Dream Eater as well, pulling their dreams out and blending the four together.
From that, he only had to maintain it. But he could be maintaining it for hours. Beheeyem had a big collection of berries that they'd be giving him to keep him going.
Scout, Mawile, and Sean descended into The Dream. It was
It felt like they were . But of course, there was no gravity to fall with and . It was all just part of the mind, a strange trip into something like a lucid dream.
Dreaming in general was a difficult ' ͜ ' at times. Remembering what went down was .
They were falling , but they could ' they survive the impact of landing?
Surely. Surely . Surely they
All the r surroundings were beginning to take shape, their minds beginning t to this new realm.
Scout turned to
Lots of talking that happened and t' went down! :D
I think of this as of a chapter. :D
.
Hope
enjoyed!
:̕D