Track 6 - Gold Thangs and Pinky Rangs
Leinani had arrived in Striaton City a couple of days after her battle with Poppy. The city was mostly residential, and Leinani was surprised to see just how many people were packed into one area. She imagined that most of the people had to commute to the big city for work, and they chose Striaton City to live in because, while heavily populated, it was still quiet.
Leinani felt eager to battle the gym leaders. She even walked all the way to the gym to see if she could get a look at them.
But, something was keeping her from challenging them immediately.
It wasn't that the loss to Poppy shook her confidence. It wasn't that she felt like she wasn't prepared. On the contrary, she believed that she was overprepared. No matter which one of the three brothers she had to battle with, she knew that DJ could handle them with ease.
When she was in Alola, she didn't have to travel too often. The islands were small, and she could have toured them within two weeks if she wanted to. Had she been strong enough, she would have finished her gym challenge in a week.
But, traveling slowly and seeing everything Alola had to offer taught her to enjoy every town and city she walked into.
Which brought her to the dreamyard. Once an active airfield, it was a wide space that now offered a home to wild Pokemon. Leinani had repeatedly seen the same three or four wild Pokemon on the way to Striaton City, and she hoped she could find something different in the vast space.
"Get back here!" Leinani shouted at a Bug-type Pokemon as it tried to escape from her. "DJ, use Leaf Blade!"
Rowlet took off from Leinani's shoulder and then darted forward. Her wings became engulfed in green energy and doubled in size. She swung around her body, but the Pokemon was prepared. It spun around, and dark green energy surrounded it. With one violent flap of its wings, it unleashed a terrible buzzing sound. The energy swarmed forward and battered into Rowlet, stopping her attack. Rowlet struggled to fight through and instead decided to retreat.
"That's alright," Leinani said as she watched the Venomoth fly off into the woods surrounding the dreamyard. "We don't need it."
"Row," her Pokemon responded as if to say sorry. She perched herself on Leinani's shoulders and looked for any other potential new Pokemon.
Lienani examined her surroundings. Although they were near the edge of the dreamyard and the woods, she found herself in what appeared to be an abandoned and destroyed building. Vines, grass, and different kinds of shrubbery had grown around what was once complicated technology.
"This doesn't look like an airbase to me," she muttered. "What happened here?"
"Moo," a quiet voice replied.
Leinani felt chills run up her spine, forcing her to shake her shoulders violently. Rowlet jumped up, landing on Leinan's purple hat.
"What was that?" Leinani asked. "Who's there?"
"Moo," the voice responded once again. Behind one of the older machines, a large, pink, and purple Pokemon appeared. It floated in the air and kept its body curled, as though it was sleeping. A thin veil of pink smoke emitted from its forehead. It slowly opened its eyes and floated toward Leinani.
"Alright, weird," Leinani said to herself. She pulled her Pokedex from her pocket and scanned the creature.
"Musharna, the Drowsing Pokemon. It drowses and dreams all the time. It's best to leave it be if it's just woken up, as it's a terrible grump when freshly roused from sleep," it chimed.
"Relatable," Leinani said with a grin. "DJ, you down for a fight? Says here that it's a Psychic-type. Should be a good addition to our team."
"No! You can't catch this Musharna!" a voice called from the side. Suddenly, a woman wearing a buttoned lab coat dashed in front of Musharna, putting herself in front of the Pokemon.
"Why not?" Leinani wondered. "It's a free region, ain't it?"
"Huh?" the woman said while tilting her head. She was a tall woman with black hair long enough that it reached her calves. "This is my Musharna! Just because it's a free region doesn't mean that you can just steal things!"
Leinani crossed her arms and sighed. "Damn. Today really hasn't been our day. If we see another Patrat, I'm gonna explode."
"Moo," Musharna muttered. It looked at Leinani and continued forward slowly.
"What does it want?" Leinani asked as she took a step back. "It's freaking me out."
"Oh? She wants to read your dreams! Do you have a wonderful dream? She can tell from just being around you! She's excited!" the tall woman exclaimed excitedly. She started to become red in the face.
"Try reading something else. Stay out of my head!" Leinani snapped back. She held out her arms, but Musharna didn't stop.
The Pokemon inched in closer, and the purple mist became stronger. It surrounded Leinani, and she felt as though she couldn't move. The purple mist morphed around her until they were no longer in the dreamyard. She looked above her and saw a sky of pure black. She looked down, finding what looked like a glass floor.
"Leilei!" someone cried out in the distance.
"Kai?" she wondered.
The glass floor cracked. It appeared as though it was about to give in, but before it could, the mist dissipated. Leinani found herself in the dreamyard once again. She fell to her knees and breathed heavily. Her sweat dripped off her forehead, falling to the grass that had grown through the cracks of the destroyed laboratory tiling.
"Row?" her Pokemon trilled. She slowly waddled to her trainer and looked up.
"I've never seen Musharna's mist turn so black before. It must have been a nightmare!" the scientist exclaimed.
"You have no idea," Leinani muttered. She wiped her forehead with her shirt. She looked at the shirt, black as the night sky in her dream. "I said to keep it away from me."
"I'm sorry. Musharna just gets excited when it can feel a powerful dream, even if it's a negative dream," the scientist said. She ran to help Leinani back up, but the trainer refused, opting to stand up by herself even if her legs shook. The scientist recoiled, curled her fingers, and put her thumbs on her chin. "My name is Fennel! I'm a professor who specializes in Pokemon's dreams. Musharna is my partner."
"Yeah, alright. Thanks. Goodbye."
"I used to work here a long time ago, but as you can see, there was a bit of an incident. I was feeling nostalgic, so we decided to come back to see what's come of the old lab," Fennel continued. She eyed Leinani. "I can't say that I'm sorry enough. Musharna knows no boundaries."
Leinani had nothing left to say to the scientist. Instead, she reached for her headphones, but what Fennel said next startled her.
"I can tell that your Rowlet is unique. It clearly has a strong dream as well."
Leinani's eyebrows raised. "Yeah?"
"I can tell by just looking at it! It's heart-shaped leaf is adorable!" Fennel exclaimed while reaching her hand out to the Grass-type. Leinani hoped that Rowlet would have pecked at the scientist's fingers, but instead, she allowed herself to be pet on the head.
"The leaf isn't the only thing unique about DJ. She's also quite the intense battler," Leinani said. She signaled for Rowlet to get on her shoulder, but the Grass-type was too distracted by the attention.
"Oh yeah? Can I ask something? What is her ability?" Fennel asked.
Leinani cocked her head. "Um, Long Reach. It comes in handy."
Fennel's eyes widened. "Really? That's Rowlet's hidden ability! I'll have you know that it's rare for a Pokemon to have their hidden ability naturally! If they do, then that means that their resolve is strong! I knew it! Your Rowlet has quite the dream!"
Leinani looked down at Rowlet. She couldn't help but smile.
"The Pokemon around the dreamyard all seem to have been affected by the incident from three years ago. Most of the Pokemon in this area have their hidden ability. Did I hear you say that you're looking to add something to your team?"
Leinani signaled for Rowlet to perch on her shoulder once again. This time, the Pokemon complied. "Yeah. If it has a hidden ability, I think I could consider myself lucky."
"Do your best! I hope that you and Rowlet can achieve your dreams together!" Fennel exclaimed excitedly.
Leinani didn't reply.
"And, whatever it is that haunts you, I hope you find healing," the scientist added.
Leinani didn't reply.
Leinani and Fennel parted ways. Leinani continued to search the dreamyard, now determined to find something before nightfall. Unfortunately for her, she continued to find Bug-types that would run away on sight. For every Bug-type she'd run into, she'd find three Patrat. She wanted to give up, but she knew once she was able to successfully catch something, it'd be worth it.
This brought her to the vast barren area of the dreamyard. Patches of tall grass filled the mostly dirt area. There was not a single Bug-type Pokemon or Patrat to be found. Instead, she saw something that looked vaguely familiar to her.
In the distance was a light brown and round Pokemon. It rolled around in the dirt, kicking up dust clouds. Seeing it reminded her of the first Pokemon that she had ever caught.
"Is that a-" Leinani muttered while scanning the Pokemon with her Pokedex.
"Sandshrew, the Mouse Pokemon. When its skin gets wrinkled from moisture, it heads for a volcano. It lies flat on a spot with a lot of geothermal heat and dries itself out," her Pokedex informed her with its electronic voice.
Leinani smiled at the memory of her Ice-type Sandshrew, Shure.
"We found it! This is our new bandmate!" Leinani exclaimed excitedly. "DJ, go! Use Leaf Blade!"
Rowlet didn't wait. She immediately took off from Leinani's shoulder and spread her wings. They began to glow with green energy, and her ability forced the energy to extend twice its regular size. She swung and forced her wing into the smaller Pokemon. Sandshrew flew backward and landed weakly in a patch of tall grass. The attack had been a one-hit KO.
"Oh, wow," Leinani said.
For a moment, she wondered if she should catch the Pokemon if it couldn't even put up a fight. She thought better of it and grabbed a Poke Ball from her belt. She aimed and threw it forward. It connected with Sandshrew and absorbed the Ground-type. The ball shook and then fell to the dirt. With no struggle, it let out its signature ding. Sandshrew had been caught.
"Yes!"
"Row!"
She ran to the Poke Ball and picked it up. It was warm in her hands. She hadn't fought to catch a Pokemon in a while. Even though the battle was short, she was still excited to catch her first Pokemon in Unova.
"We did it!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Now, we gotta name it. Any ideas?"
"Row-let!" her Pokemon responded.
Leinani looked from side to side. "Well, I guess that this Sandshrew also kind of looks like a microphone, right? In that case, how about Dyne?"
"Row!"
"Decided! Dyne it is! Let's get back to the Pokemon Center, give 'em a good rest, and then we'll introduce ourselves properly tomorrow. Sound good?"
"Let-let!"
Leinani looked at the Poke Ball once again. She wondered what kind of dreams her newly caught Sandshrew had.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
A very short chapter, but I wanted to do something with the dreamyard. I remember playing the dreamworld game so long ago, and it was one of my favorite parts of Black and White. I wanted to honor that part of Unova.
In the next Leinani chapter, I think it's about time that she challenges for her first badge!
REVIEWS:
iM 0bLiVi0uS - "Man another great chapter as always. Brandon has won his first badge but still has a lot to learn. Can't wait to see how he improves in the future." - Thank you for reading! Braedon will continue to prove, but it's mostly his attitude he needs to be careful of.