Clarity was not wanted in The Dream.
The Espurr knew this the moment she stepped inside and felt thick sludge gather around her feet. She knew the moment she could hear the squelching as she took a couple steps forward, that disgusting sound scratching against her sanity. She knew the moment she saw amorphous creatures slowly rise out of the inky slime that covered the ground and watch her vacantly with their hollow eyes. She knew the moment she lifted her ears, threatening to twist the creatures apart with her psychic power, and realized how small her ears had become.
Of course she was not wanted here; she was a Dream Eater.
I'd appreciate it if just one Dream wouldn't turn me back into an Espurr.
"Aww Clarity, you're so cute when you're a little Espurr," came a sing-song voice. "I'm sure that's exactly why Dreams do this to you every time."
Noise. It dug into her ears like nails to a chalkboard. She winced as the sounds rattled in her intact eardrums that the Dream had forced upon her. She held her ears down with her paws, muffling the noise.
Every time. Every time she came to a Dream, they always forced her ears to work. They must have known how agonizing noise was, to suddenly hear when your entire world for so many years had been complete and utter silence.
Which meant she had to talk too. If she could hear, then The Dream stripped her of her telepathy. She'd had to use her voice to speak.
Wonderful.
The Espurr glanced back to see a Clefairy had manifested into The Dream. He wore a smug smirk as he approached her. She scowled as psionic energy creeped out of the ring-like organs beneath her ears. She could feel the buzzing, the rumbling, the threat of an explosion. She took a deep breath as she quickly put her ear flaps down, even if they were far too small for her liking.
"This is the fifth Dream this month that turned you into a Clefairy instead of a Cleffa," she huffed.
Her voice sounded scratchy. Inelegant. Horrendous. Like the mewl of a newly-hatched Espurr. Nothing at all like her regal Meowstic voice she projected into everyone's minds.
She wanted to die just hearing it. Of course, that was what The Dream wanted. It was The Dream's first warning for her to leave. Clarity, of course, wasn't going to let the Dream get to her.
Now if only it was a little easier hearing her horrific voice and having her ears violated every time she entered a Dream.
"Clefairy instead of a Cleffa," she scoffed. "Ridiculous."
"Three stage evolution species are the best for Dream Eaters," he taunted playfully. "Most Dreams are just barely not strong enough to devolve someone by two stages."
"Rubbish. You should devolve into the Pokémon you hatched as, just like me."
"Sorry, but I'm not the one making this Dream."
He stopped in front of her, still wearing that stupid smirk with his singular little fang protruding out of his mouth. Clarity always used to think Cleffa and their evolutions were only capable of appearing whimsical and ditzy. After she met Nibiru, she realized how very wrong she was.
She also realized just how punchable their faces were.
"I figure it's better this way anyway," he then said. "I'm still twice as tall as you when we're both like this. I thought you'd find that comforting, having our height difference be the same here as we would in reality."
She sighed as she looked toward the Figments, watching them carefully and making sure they hadn't moved. They hadn't. They had remained tucked away into the dark corners of the Dream, content to simply stare. Observe.
Good. They knew that though she was an Espurr here, she was not to be taken lightly.
"Hmm. One stage devolution Dream. This isn't terrible in the slightest."
They both looked around to see the final member of their team, a Kirlia. At least, that was how The Dream made him appear here. He approached them on dainty feet, his footsteps silent. It might have been because he wasn't actually walking on the sludge, but rather, a few inches above it, as though there were an invisible barrier between him and the ground.
"Yeah, must be nice not having giant bangs over your eyes," Nibiru chuckled as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Absolutely," he answered, his voice light and airy, a peaceful hum in Clarity's sensitive ears. "I never did enjoy being a Ralts, even when I was one. Too undignified."
The Kirlia joined his group and gave the both of them a quick glance-over. Even in this smaller, weaker form, he had a particular look in his eyes. A look that brought purpose, strength, and calm to the group.
Almost. He wasn't in Clarity's head, and it felt like something was missing. Something vital, something that shouldn't have been taken. It gnawed at her, urged her to seek out what she lacked, but she ignored it. Told herself that this would be over soon enough.
"Alright, we're all here then," Clarity said with a clasp of her paws. "Let's make this quick. I have a book club to attend tonight."
Together, the three went forward, deep into The Dream. They were here for a reason. As Dream Eaters, they had one task and one task alone while here.
They were here to devour the Nightmare within The Dream and awaken the Dreamer.
Black stars with a white sky filled this place. Black, soaring towers stretched up all around them, but were forever beyond their reach, like a mirage in the desert. Wet winds swept past their bodies, leaving behind a sticky, moist film where it brushed against them. Black, gooey sludge made up the floor and clung to everyone's feet like glue. As they pressed deeper into The Dream, the slime slowly crawled up their legs with each passing moment, threatening to encroach their heads and suffocate them.
None of the three grimaced as they kept walking, only periodically stopping when slime enveloped half of someone's body. But even then, there was no panic to be seen as the ensnared Pokémon would effortlessly rip off the gunge and toss it aside before continuing on. Most of the time, the unaffected wouldn't even wait for their trapped party member; they'd continue moving, knowing their companion would catch up to them within seconds.
The ooze would soon come back, of course, and it would once again threaten to overtake them, but they were used to this. This wasn't even the worst Dreams had to offer. Not even close. This was especially true when the Figments stayed away from the group. They hid behind the buildings, the towering spires, cautiously watching the group with their beady, soulless eyes. It seemed the team would not need to engage in much combat during this particular venture.
"Where do you suppose the Nightmare is this time?" the Kirlia asked as he flung a sludgy tendril clinging to his feet without touching it, not even bothering to look at the filth as he did so. "Underground, perhaps, like with that Talonflame we took care of recently?"
"No, I don't feel anything beneath our feet," Clarity said with a shake of her head. "It's probably in a large cluster of Figments."
"So you mean like that one Pichu's Dream?" Nibiru asked.
"Exactly like that," Clarity said with a satisfied little smirk.
"Nah, I think it's gonna be at the end of this 'eternity' we're walking through," Nibiru insisted playfully.
"I doubt it. I honestly do believe this Dream will make us feel as though we're making no progress by making us walk in a hidden loop," she scoffed as she shook a paw that some sludge had been grasping, holding her as a lover might.
"You wanna bet?" the Clefairy taunted with a grin.
"Alright," she said with a snicker of her own. "If I'm correct, then you have to buy me The Anima. I've been meaning to purchase it for some time."
"Ooh ouch, that's a big book. It's gonna cost me quite a bit," Nibiru said with an exaggerated groan before chuckling. "Alright. I can do that. But if I'm right, then you have to buy me a life-sized Dragonite plushie."
"Why do you want that? Do you not have enough toys already?"
"Can always use more. You can never have too many plushies."
The Espurr muttered to herself as she shook her head. She never understood Nibiru's obsession with stuffed animals. He had to own at least twenty of them by now and they filled up most of his portion of their shared living quarters.
"Fine," she decided haughtily as she flicked her tail, her single, pathetically short tail that could barely be classified as one. "But I will win our bet, you'll see."
"And I make a wager that both of you are wrong," the Kirila then spoke up with a smirk of his own. "The Nightmare in this Dream will be in a seemingly innocent chest. I'd like a bottle of Mergo's Merlot when I'm proven right."
"A chest? Preposterous," Clarity quipped as she reached toward one of her stubby, bothersome legs and ripped off a squirming, writhing, sludgy mass.
"Yeah, that only happened one time," Nibiru stated with a toothy smile.
"Then you two have nothing to worry about if I'm wrong," he said with a confident look.
"Oh, I'm not in the slightest, Griffith," Clarity shot back. "I'll very well take your bet. It seems Nibiru's savings won't take such a hit thanks to your contribution."
"You tell yourself that," he said with a refrained laugh.
They continued in high spirits, keeping up their chatter as though they were traversing through a city park rather than within a Dream. The Figments continued to keep away as the team kept an eye out for the Nightmare. Clarity watched for abnormally large clusters of Figments and she could tell Griffith was looking for metallic glints. Nibiru stared on ahead, hoping for an end to this long stretch of existence.
Clarity idly ripped a stringy tentacle of sludge yanking on her tail before rubbing her ears. They were beginning to ache again. Even though Griffith and Nibiru had quieted down and seemed content to search for the Nightmare in silence, noise still violated her ear canals. She could hear the disgusting squelching that was their footsteps, the whispery shriek of the slime when anyone tore it from their bodies, the wet suckling noises whenever the discarded muck hit the ground and was absorbed back into the dark mass. She dug her useless little claws into her head, praying that they would find the Nightmare soon.
She craved the complete and utter silence that awaited her back in reality.
Hello
It was a peculiar voice. It could only be described as an otherworldly creature emulating a mortal, but with their voice warbling and the pitch fluctuating between too high or too low.
Clarity stopped, as did the two behind her. She dropped her paws as psionic energy seeped out of her ears in the form of white wispy waves. Nibiru didn't stop smiling, but his fist took on a metallic, shimmering sheen. Black filled Griffith's eyes, blotting out the crimson and the white, as flickering orange light slowly swirled around the eye sockets.
There, floating beside one of the many buildings of this Dream, was the Nightmare. It had no shape and seemed to be nothing more than an ever-shifting, amorphous blob of brilliant white light. Two small, black eyes that looked more like deep, cavernous holes stared at the trio from within its ethereal, faceless head. Or at least something that Clarity thought was its head.
Welcome
Clarity. Nibiru. Griffith.
Clarity narrowed her eyes. She could attack now, she wanted to go home already, but this Nightmare was odd. Most Nightmares weren't ones for formalities. They always attacked when Dream Eaters pinpointed their locations in Dreams. If they did speak, it was usually endless ramblings about how the Dream Eaters would perish for daring to invade the Dream.
But this one wanted to talk, and that momentarily made her forget about hurrying home.
You have become quite well-known amongst my kind.
The Phantasies, I believe you call yourselves.
Archaic, but fitting.
The Nightmare's eyes stretched open, making them fill up nearly half its body. Clarity could see something within the abyss that was those eyes. Something that stared right back at her with unsettling curiousity to her existence.
You should leave.
It would be wise.
"You already know we're not going to do that," Nibiru chuckled as he smashed a fist into his open palm. "You're a Nightmare, we're Dream Eaters. If all you Nightmares really are talking about us with each other, you know how this always ends."
The black holes shrunk into tiny slits. A strange trilling sound seemed to come from the Nightmare.
You won't listen. I didn't think you would.
But I still wanted to offer
An opportunity.
More civilized. Less barbaric.
"'Less barbaric'. How very rich coming from your kind," Clarity scoffed.
She took a step forward. She expected the Nightmare to flee or fling itself at her, but this one stayed still. It only continued to stare at her, the slits that were its eyes now changing into perfect hexagons.
All of the buildings stretched toward the ivory sky, as though attempting to pierce it. They grew and grew, showing no signs of stopping as they reached into the heavens. It wasn't long before they blotted out the sky, casting the three in darkness.
Griffith abruptly teleported as a large fragment of a building smashed into the ground where he once stood. He reappeared beside Clarity and laughed humorlessly, his eyes normal once again.
"Don't panic," his voice echoed in Clarity's mind.
He grabbed Clarity's paw and teleported again just as another chunk of metal came raining down upon them. They reappeared a few feet away, right beside Nibiru. Clarity let the Kirlia go as she stared down the Nightmare. It still hovered in the same spot as before, its otherworldly body glowing bright in the enveloping darkness like a beacon amidst a storm.
"Strong little Nightmare you are. Been a while since one of you has manipulated a Dream like this," Clarity said in a droning tone as a black, pulsating marble formed in one of her paws and steadily grew.
She launched the ball and within seconds, it closed in on the Nightmare. The creature sprouted a shimmering claw and smacked the orb away, knocking it into one of the nearby buildings. A great, black explosion tore into the structure and severed the building into two. The top half went tumbling down, smashing into all of the skyrocketing towers beside itself in the midst of its plummet. Sharp debris rained down upon the group.
Nibiru snapped his claws and a green, transparent barrier covered the three just as the shards were to impale them. The rubble instead bashed against the dome like deadly hail before disintegrating on impact. The onslaught was relentless, but so was Nibiru. The shield held strong even against massive debris twice his size.
The Nightmare watched this from outside the barrier, unaffected by the debris crashing down upon it. The shards all seemed to go right through it, as though it were a ghost. However, Clarity's attack had done some damage. Half of its ethereal, wispy body was now charcoal black and seemed to be spreading over to its other side. It levitated up and down with jittery, stuttering motions now, as though it struggled to keep its presence within the Dream.
Its hexagon eyes seemed to blink before it turned its body upside down and closed its eyes. A thin, wide line stretched horizontally across its body.
Pontifex gave you so much power. What arrogance it must make you feel. How high must you think you soar.
Never understanding you cannot pierce the sky.
The ground shook. Crevices broke out beneath everyone's feet, and light sprouted from below. There was a loud shattering sound, and then the entire floor fell apart. It fragmented beneath them, as though it had been made of glass. A void now waited below, a vast and vacant void that had no end. It hungered for them, yearned for them, cried for them in a shrill, reverberating voice.
Nibiru's shield fizzled out as the three plummeted into oblivion, finally allowing debris to smash into them. By this point, the debris had stopped being shards and pebbles and had grown into entire chunks of building large enough that Tyrantrum could run across.
Clarity grasped for her teammates' paws and pulled herself into a huddle with them. She focused her psychic power around her body to levitate, but her power wasn't strong enough. It couldn't handle all three of them together. She'd only keep them afloat for two seconds before they continued their freefall into the gaping abyss from which the buildings sprouted from.
"What do we do?!" Nibiru demanded as he grasped both his partners' paws tight.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Clarity hissed.
Griffith teleported himself forward with a burst of psychic energy, taking the two with him just as a huge chunk of building was to slam into all three of them. It went hurling into the void and was swallowed up instantly.
The abyss, as if offended by the clever play, yanked the group back to where they had been a second before. Griffith clutched his companions tight and teleported forward once more, but the abyss only dragged them back just as it did before. Again and again Griffith tried to break free with psychic might, but the pull of the void was too strong.
"Feeble Kirlia body," Griffith spat amongst the teleports.
They were going to fail, they were going to die. This was impossible. They weren't supposed to lose, they weren't supposed to die. Clarity never failed, she always came out on top, she always won. She didn't fail, she couldn't fail, she-
The building that had been sucked into the void reemerged and shot toward them like a missile. It all looked so fantastical. So nonsensical. It all truly was just like a dream.
An absurd thought broke through her spiraling thoughts.
"We need to teleport to that building," she said before she could stop herself.
"What?" Griffith shot back.
"So we can run up it and then get to the Nightmare."
"Clarity that's… that's not how that works!"
She hesitated, not wanting to repeat the nonsense, but she realized maybe this could work. Maybe it wasn't nonsense after all.
"It's a Dream, idiot! Going by our reality's rules isn't working anymore!"
Griffith shot her an appalled glare, but after a few seconds, it melted away.
"Oh, you prefer we act suicidal instead," he said. "Makes perfect sense."
He chuckled in a delusional sort of way as he gripped his teammates' paws tighter. In a flash, all three of them vanished, and then reappeared a second later on the very top of the building. They released each other as their feet touched the metal roofing. What was this Dream's sense of gravity shoved them down, threatening to pin them with invisible binds, but a stronger force pulled them to their feet and let them move freely. Clarity looked to Nibiru to see him smiling at her, hazy wisps of violet seeping out from beneath his feet and entangling themselves around her and Griffith. She could hear childish giggles softly echo in her ears, but it didn't scare her.
"Thanks," she said hastily to him.
He didn't say anything, only smiling cockily.
All of the skyward buildings suddenly arched and dove down toward the ascending group. However, none of the three flinched. They only waited for the buildings to draw closer, then three leapt onto it. They ran up the tower's side as it crashed into the building they had just abandoned, rushing ahead of the impact. Glass and metal exploded all around them, striking at their bodies. Nibiru put up his shield, but the debris shattered it effortlessly. Cuts streaked across their legs, their arms, their faces. There was no blood, but there was a sharp sting with every slice. With just one it was merely irritating, but with a thousand, it was agony.
Clarity held her "breath" as she kept moving with her companions, focusing away from the pain. It wasn't real, this was all in her mind. Pain could be willed away. Pain was fleeting.
More buildings smashed into theirs, but the trio was quick. They leapt onto the oncoming platform before it could collide with theirs, landing poorly. Nibiru fell flat on his face. Griffith tumbled a few feet. Clarity's arm took the brunt of the fall and ached in protest.
In Dreams, it was your will against the Nightmare's. Your feeble, ephemeral mind against the vast, endless, indomitable force that was a Nightmare.
Would you break, or would you conquer?
The three clawed their way back to their feet, dirtied and weary from the impact, and kept moving. They moved more sluggishly, borderline limped their way forward, but still persevered toward the Nightmare, who only continued to watch them from above. It had still not moved from its original spot.
Within moments, they neared the Nightmare. It had no eyes, but they could feel its gaze upon them. Its hideous, resentful gaze that silently cursed their existence.
The three didn't hesitate.
They leapt off their current platform as another building smashed into it. Clarity grasped Nibiru by his swirly tail, did a short spin, and then hurled the Clefairy forward. Nibiru clenched his fist as white, brilliant power flooded over his claws. He smashed the Meteor Mash into the Nightmare's body, hitting it so hard that half of its body caved in from the impact before it went flying.
As it careened through the air, Griffith teleported forward. In a flash, he reappeared directly in the path of the soaring Nightmare and focused psychic energy in his hand. It bent and twisted the air until it formed into a black bident. Shimmering orange light danced around the weapon as he hurled it. A second later, it struck the Nightmare and burrowed deep into its body.
The Nightmare screamed an awful, shrill sound as The Dream quaked. The buildings froze, as if locked in time. Solid ground in the form of marble flooring paved over the void, sealing it away.
The black crept back into Griffith's eyes. The Nightmare started to shrink as its radiance dimmed. Its eyes dilated and pinpointed, shifted between hexagons and gaping abysses erratically, but it didn't move. Griffith's weapon seemed to have paralyzed it.
The stars burned out like dying lights. An eruption filled the sky, driving off the encompassing white and leaving only black in its place. Any lingering Figments burst into wisps before fading away, like smoke from a candle.
And then, the entirety of the Nightmare was consumed by the darkness, and it abruptly disappeared. All that remained was the bident, floating idly, orange light swirling around it.
Silence came over The Dream.
The trio landed on the newly-formed ground, elegantly this time, properly on their feet. They stood there for a few seconds, waiting to see if the Nightmare had somehow survived.
It never reappeared. They looked around to see everything around them turning transparent. That included their bodies. Clarity could easily see right through Nibiru despite his bright coloring. The pain that had been flooding her body had long disappeared. She now only felt airy and light.
She released the breath she had been holding for some time as Griffith's weapon blinked out of existence.
That shouldn't have worked. They all should have died then. Everything that had just happened was nonsense. Why had that-
She pushed the thought aside. No, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that they had won out against the Nightmare and finished their job. She hadn't failed.
"What a shame. Looks like neither of us won the bet," she said with a sly little smile. "Pity; I was quite looking forward to having a copy of The Anima."
"Poor Clarity, having to buy her book with her own money," Nibiru snickered with a waggle of his finger. "Oh whatever will she do?"
"I know I'm buying my merlot regardless," Griffith chipped in as the darkness crept out of his eyes. "Ready to go?"
"It's not as though we have anything left to do here," Clarity said with a shrug.
"Yeah, and Clarity has her little book club to get to," Nibiru teased. "You still going to make that?"
"So long as we speak with the Dreamer's parents swiftly enough," she answered. "Which I intend to do. I've been quite looking forward to tonight's session for many weeks."
The two boys grinned snidely, but said nothing more. Instead, the three held their paws to their chest and muttered a chant beneath their breaths in unison.
"Memento vivere."
Clarity opened her eyes. She was lying flat on a mat resting in the middle of a small bedroom. A white ceiling painted with little flowers and cute renditions of Combee stared back at her. Childish drawings littered the floor on blank pieces of paper. Chests were lined up against the walls and opened wide to reveal toys and scarves within. A little potted plant grew by the window.
Clarity smiled.
She slowly sat up and looked at her paws. They were no longer the stubby gray paws of a frail Espurr; they were the dainty paws of a Meowstic.
She was back in her real body in the real world, but that wasn't what she was most pleased with. It was the silence that made her purr, made her swivel her tails in delight. Her ears, her elongated, curved ears that felt so right compared to the tiny flaps that were her Espurr ears, were still damaged. They still couldn't take in anything from the outside world.
Her teammates were on either side of her. They had both been resting on the mat with her, peaceful and relaxed expressions on each of their faces. As though they had been having pleasant dreams instead of being in the midst of a nightmare.
She sat up and reestablished her mental connection with Griffith. Immediately, her mind was filled with hazy, vague thoughts as the Gardevoir made his way back to the real world. Fuzzy images and soft colors filled her mind's eye, along with a pleasant grogginess that tempted her to close her eyes and fall back asleep. As he woke up, the thoughts became more concrete, more tangible, and the grogginess faded. Alertness replaced the tiredness, and the sounds of the world came with it. Sounds of Nibiru yawning and stretching as he too awoke, sounds of everyone's breathing.
She kept that connection even as he disappeared in a flash and rematerialized a few feet away, next to a Pokemon that had been with them all this time.
There, lying in a bed, was a slumbering Zorua. She seemed to be in the midst of a peaceful dream, unaware of their presence. Griffith put a hand on her head. She smiled faintly, and her ears flicked, but she didn't awaken.
Clarity and Nibiru got off the mat and joined him beside the little girl.
"Her parents will be pleased to know we saved her."
That was Griffith's voice in her head now, his Gardevoir voice. The voice that was smooth, velvety, and deeper than his Kirlia one. He spoke it out-loud, because he was addressing Nibiru as well, but Clarity could only hear the Gardevoir's words as a thought. It felt good to hear words telepathically again after having to endure noise within The Dream. A great relief, quite honestly. It made her purr just thinking about it.
"Let's find them then so we can go home," she said within their minds, her voice once again elegant and dignified, like she was always supposed to sound. That awful cat-scratch noise known as her spoken voice was no more.
The three left the room and after walking down a short hallway, found themselves in the living area. Both the Zorua's parents, two Zoroark, were waiting in gray cushions. They both wore tense grimaces and clasped their claws so tightly, Clarity was sure they'd draw blood. They didn't even seem to notice that the three had entered the room. The Meowstic could only imagine what was going through their heads. Not that she would ever know, of course. Their dark affinity kept her out of their heads.
"Hey, we just finished up," Nibiru's voice said through echoes in Griffith's head, boisterous and deep.
Both of the Zoroark looked up at the trio. They asked something, something that Clarity couldn't hear right away due to the delay between when they spoke and when their words echoed in her teammates' minds.
"Is she going to be okay?" the mother asked.
"Yeah. She might be out for a little bit longer, but we took care of the Nightmare," Nibiru assured with a comforting smile. "Everything's going to be okay."
Tears of relief welled up in the mother's eyes. She buried her claws into her face as the father held her. Clarity couldn't hear the sobbing, but she did hear the little whispers of thanks to Arceus that only Nibiru could hear because of his sharp ears. Clarity took a deep breath as she stood there awkwardly. Even after all these years of being a Dream Eater, she never could find herself comfortable when the family or friends of the Dreamers were told the good news. She always felt tense, guarded, rigid.
It didn't help when they were dark-types and she had no way of communicating with them directly. At least these parents weren't suffocating her in an embrace.
The Meowstic stood there silently a moment longer, then looked toward the home's lone door, the only exit.
"We should go," Clarity told her companions. "There's nothing else we need to do."
"Oh Clarity, wanting to get away from the parents as fast as possible as always," Nibiru shot telepathically to her along with a sideways grin.
"Yes. Now let's go," she insisted.
Nibiru grinned a little wider before waggling his finger at her. He then turned back to the weeping Zoroark pair with a softer gaze.
"Is there anything else we can do for you while we're here?" he asked.
The Zoroark looked up at him. They rubbed their eyes with the back of their claws before muttering something out. Something that looked difficult to say through all of the tears.
"No, you've done everything you need to," the father said. "Thank you. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for saving our little girl. Though, may I at least have all of your names? I want to tell my daughter all about the brave Dream Eaters that saved her when she wakes up."
"Oh of course! I'm Nibiru."
"Griffith," the Gardevoir said with a polite bow of his head. "And beside me, our leader Clarity."
The father stared at her. Stared at her oddly with a weird frown. Clarity didn't need to read his mind to know he was wondering why she had been so silent throughout this conversation.
"She's deaf, she can't hear anyone," Nibiru explained. "At least, not the way you and I do. But, she wanted me to tell you that she's glad everything went well and that your daughter's safe and sound"
"Ah. I see. Tell her I said thank you then. I really do appreciate everything she's done."
"Of course."
The Clefable looked down at the Meowstic with a small, but knowing smile. Clarity shot him a disgruntled telepathic grumble before giving a small wave to the Zoroark family.
The team gave their last goodbyes, bidding the family well, before departing. It was time to go home and relax for the rest of the day, at least until book club was to begin.
Clarity looked forward to the relaxation. Though she loathed to admit it, that Nightmare had drained her energy. She hadn't met a Nightmare as strong and as cunning as that one in some time.
Not only that, but she certainly hadn't met a Nightmare that seemed so eager to converse before. Like it had been looking forward to seeing the team, as though they were old friends it had not seen in years.
The thought sent shudders down her spine.