The prey's mind was a complex, many-layered thing. She relished the influx of energy and the relief it brought her brain. Her snout wriggled hungrily as she held her clawed hand aloft. Psychic power flowed from her hand to envelop the resting human. After a moment of thought she extended a few tendrils to devour the dreams of the prey's companions as well. She knew not the name the humans gave the creatures, but they could not resist her compulsion to rest and relax and have sweet, delectable dreams…
Certain that she would not be interrupted, she grew closer to the prey. It was lost to the waking world, entirely at her mercy. It should not fear. She would not take too much, just enough to slake her thirst and heal her mind of its exhaustion. She did not care for humans, but she was not cruel. It didn't hurt that if she took too much the human-bound would come for her, and she would be spirited away to their cities to be imprisoned forever.
Human dreams were the most filling. She did not know why, nor did her mother before she wandered away one night. They simply held more nourishment for dream-eaters. Perhaps it was due to a certain flexibility of the mind many of her kin did not possess. Humans, wretched plague that they were, held more variance. More ambition. Their minds were structured differently, and they had more experiences.
As such, their dreams tended to be more…flavorful. There was a variety and pleasure within their jumbled thoughts and feelings that she could never find in a resting rodent-thing or serpent-thing.
Many wandered these woods outside their irritatingly bright city. They came in their loud, blaring constructs from the sea and made no end of ruckus. Too many drove away her prey. This was a lucky find. A lone baby human with weak protectors? It had taken only the simplest of mental suggestions to lull them into slumber. Blind, ignorant creatures. They were not even aware of her touch, though the prey's eyes had widened at the sight of her before she forced him to sleep.
She relished the dreams as they fed slowly into her body. Bright and colorful with a precious hint of darkness. Contrast was nice. Simple dreams of silly joy or haunting nightmares could be anywhere from boring to miserable to process. Nightmares could leave her more exhausted than before she had fed if she didn't take care.
With some amusement, she realized the human had constructed some elaborate fantasy in its mind around her. The sight of her must have colored its dreams. She allowed the dream to fill her thoughts, her intrinsic abilities sufficient to translate the jumbled mess of impulses, thoughts, images, and other illusory sensory input into something comprehensible.
Awoken to see a leering Drowzee caught off guard, a brief struggle, a victorious triumph as Ash caught the wild pokemon. Arriving on the St. Anne with his companions, Amelia and Jonathan, and defeating vastly more experienced foes to claim a great prize as he won second place. A chaotic battle as the St. Anne sunk and a Creature out of a nightmare upended his life – Drowzee helped saved him, overcoming her dislike.
Travels. Victories. A strange name chosen for the Drowzee that Ash thought she would like for some reason. Certain traumas and countless important people he'd seen in the news greeting him as a friend and student. Outstripping his rival easily, exploring hidden places with his beloved friends at his side, 'Dazed' chief among them. Professor Oak looked at him like a grandson.
Visions of terror as vague recollections of his mother's stories filled his dream. The Legendaries his mother had whispered tales of into his ear before tucking him in. They came to dominate the dream, and it took on an unpleasant flavor as the boy was lost in a nightmare again.
The nightmare ended. He entered the famous Indigo Conference and tore it apart after learning under the legendary Dragon Master he'd idolized for years. Every opponent was crushed with ease until the last few, when even his dreams wouldn't allow him to win so easily. An offer from two figures he respected above all else, then the two bending backward to accommodate him by giving him both.
Conquering the nightmares he'd faced before, surviving impossible odds with little more than dumb luck and the help of benevolent Legendaries. Traveling to a far off land to learn under Steven Stone as an impossibly young trainer of historic talent. His circle of friends grew every larger, though pangs of anxiety fueled more nightmares from time to time. Yet Ash Ketchum, prodigy and hero, overcame them all and grew stronger at every turn.
A journey through a land he had only visited once after his dream took him to a mansion owned by his mother's kind friend and his young daughter. Meeting the famous Legendary Beasts that nobody knew existed and even greater sacred Legendaries. Visiting places he had heard of but never been able to see and admiring their beauty.
Visions of Blackthorn, a harsh woman with blue hair whose reputation preceded her, and further victories…
She pulled out of the dream, savoring its richness. Her exhaustion lost its edge, and she felt her body's pangs cease. For a time. The hunger would always return. It was a simple fact. Never time she might not be so lucky to stumble across an easily hypnotized human.
As the dream faded away into little more than wispy fragments, she shook her head. Foolish human. Their heads were always full of ambition and glory. They were never content to be average, or just good. They always dreamt of soaring the highest.
It was amusing that her prey had worked her brief appearance into the dream so thoroughly. As if she'd ever bother with a human! She didn't need companionship. She never would. Her lot was to be alone, and it did not affect her.
Her chest panged, and she refused to acknowledge it. In that path lay weakness. In weakness lay starvation and death.
The distraction disrupted her flow of steady energies and the human wavered. She jerked away, surprised, and frantically tried to bring Ash – the prey – back under her control. There was still more to eat…
The human jerked up, eyes wide, and called for his team.
She felt a horrible sense of foreboding. She'd seen this before…
A/N: There you go! Like all the best fan theories, the events of Traveler were just a dream and none of the cool stuff ever happened. I can't believe nobody noticed before. Now, whether the dreams Dazed ate are actually prophetic and evidence of Ash's latent hax psychic powers…well, I'll leave that up to you.
It's a bit of an April Fools chapter, if you haven't noticed already. Something short and sweet that I've had in my head since 2012 as a funny little idea to release on April Fools. This just happens to be the first year I remembered to do it! I hope you enjoyed. I had fun poking at myself a little bit.
Obviously, this isn't canon to the Traveler universe. If you'd like, you can use it as a pretty accurate view of what Dazed was like before Ash captured her. I wouldn't say it's a stretch to imagine that Ash dreamed something similar that she ate – what eleven year old kid doesn't dream of fame, fortune, and everything that goes with it?
Anyways, I hope everybody has a lovely April! As I mentioned in Traveler (which just had Chapter 51 release if you haven't seen it) I'll be trying to update again by the end of this month. I'll also be creating a Discord to help centralize discussion and make it easier for me to respond to people's questions (you'll still be able to PM me, but I won't check it as frequently). I will have information on that link up on m page as well as my fanfiction profile! Keep an eye out for it if you're interested!
Thank you so much for your support! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this little experiment. I've never done anything like this for Traveler before and I'd be curious if anyone would be interested in other non-canon bits in the future.
