Chapter 12 – Enduring and Daydreaming

Ari and Nimb traversed the streets of Bismuth Town with the early morning sun upon them. They had plans before class, so once again, they went to meet with a certain duo.

In the meantime, Nimb stole a few glances at his canine friend. He didn’t know what to say anymore, he was growing more concerned at each passing minute, but nothing he said would change the situation.

Beside the river, Cora and Romi waited for them to arrive, which didn’t take long, as the cottage was pretty close. The water siblings brightened at them.

“Ari, Nimb! Good morning guuuys!” Cora greeted. “I hope you had a… huh?”

Cora and Romi flinched at the sight of a worn-off Riolu. His eyes were barely open, bloodshot, and with dark circles under them. He looked like he could faint at any moment.

Nightmares.

“Wow, he looks horrible!” Romi yelled, immediately getting an annoyed nudge from his sister.

“Romi! But, umm… He’s right, you kinda look a bit… Uh, are you okay?”

Ari blinked slowly. “Ugh, not this again… I’m alright, really, I don’t want to have this conversation again.”

Cora and Nimb exchanged concerned looks but didn’t comment on it. By the looks of it, they had already talked about it earlier and both Maia and Nimb had tried to convince Ari to stay in bed. There was no way to stop him though.

“Alright… Then, shall we go?” The Brionne asked and only got a nod from Ari and Nimb and an excited yell from her brother, which made the Riolu wince in pain.

“Ouch, not so loud, please…”

“Sowwy!”

 

---

 

The four of them moved onwards, this time with a different place than usual in mind. They weren’t heading towards the academy, or the shopping area, but the police station. It was time to have a proper conversation with a certain someone, and it wasn’t going to be pleasant.

The police building loomed in front of them, with its light orange stone walls and star-shaped shields decorating the front wall. It felt more imposing than ever knowing what they came to do this time, but they agreed to do it a couple of days earlier.

Once inside, they looked around for someone to ask for help, but there were many pokémon they didn’t know and most of them didn’t look inviting enough. There was a Medicham, but he looked a bit scary, and then the Leavanny looked like she was about to have a heart attack due to the stress of having too much paperwork.

Nimb wasn’t willing to take the first step and talk to anyone, so unless they found… Oh look, there was Melly.

“Hey, it’s you guys again,” the Floragato said, looking up from the report she was filling on her desk. She glanced at both Ari and Nimb. “How is it that you two always show up with a different duo accompanying you? And… Wow, Ari, you look like-“

“Yeah, I know,” Ari cut her off. “Anyway, is there any chance that we can visit one of the prisoners?”

Melly frowned. “Oh, I guess you’re looking for… Um, right, you just have to go down there.” She pointed towards a staircase leading to the basement and then arched an eyebrow. “Just be careful not to annoy the jailer, he’s a bit of a soulless jerk.”

“W-with a job like that, it’s n-not a surprise…” Nimb whispered to himself, but the Popplio heard him and giggled.

“Okay, thanks, Melly!” Cora said, already moving again, and the rest followed her while waving at the Floragato. “See ya later!”

“Byeee, and get some sleep, Ari,” Melly said, but didn’t get any answer from the Riolu, who just sighed.

Nimb frowned as he thought how strange it was to see Ari so irritated. It was nothing like him, even if he was sleep-deprived. The worst of it was that he had only gotten worse with each passing day, and they didn’t know how to fix that. What was going to happen next?

As he snapped out of his thoughts, he noticed they were already in front of a door in the basement. There was a Gallade reading a book in front of a desk until he snapped his eyes at them and spoke with a dry voice.

“What do you want.”

“Uh… We want to visit Lyla the Seviper,” Ari said and felt his Archen companion gripping his arm with anxiety. He couldn’t blame him, that guy didn’t look precisely friendly.

The jailer eyed them carefully, staring for a longer moment at Romi. “Aren’t you a bit too young to be here?”

Romi puffed his chest and smiled. “I don’t fear anything!”

“… Whatever. You better behave in there, or I’ll lock you four too.”

All of them nodded rapidly in distress, and the Gallade gave them a nasty look before leaving his desk and approaching the door. He reached for the key in the little pocket he had on his hip belt and opened the door abruptly, gesturing for them to follow.

The four went through the door and reached a wide corridor full of light orange doors, which seemed to be highly inforced. Gallade led them to one of the doors and used another key to open it. Right next to the door, there was a second door, this time a cell-like one which made it possible to see what was inside.

A small window on the bottom wall lit a narrow room with clean white walls, a straw bed, a desk, a built-in closet, and a bookshelf. Lyla the Seviper sat in front of the desk, reading a book, but her attention was redirected towards the door.

“Seviper, you’ve got visit. You better behave, and don’t make me waste too much time. That goes for all of you.” They nodded. “Also, the cell is made out of a special metal, so no moves can damage it, in case you try something stupid.”

“We… won’t,” Cora said with a frown.

The jailer then moved aside and the visitors leaned closer to peek inside. Lyla felt her heart sink at the sight of what she used to call her friends, looking at her with pity. The only thing she could think of was quickly turning around so they couldn’t see her face.

“What… Are you guys doing here?” Lyla asked, her voice lacking the usual brightness.

Brionne, being the closest to her, was the first to talk. “Lyla… How are you doing?”

“What?” Lyla turned her head around slightly, showing a confused eye. “You’re asking me that? Aren’t you angry at me?”

“I can’t deny that I was… disappointed to know what you’ve done, but you did nothing bad to me, and I can tell you didn’t mean any harm, your situation led you to act that way…” Cora thought for a moment before actually turning angry a her. “What were you thinking? Why didn’t you tell me what was happening to you?”

That felt about right. Somehow, hearing Cora being angry at her calmed her mind, like she knew Cora was hiding some hateful thoughts towards her and preferred easing her doubts. Lyla sighed and dropped slightly.

“I guess I was afraid to show that weak side to you… I always had the role of being the emotional support, a role I imposed myself, and whenever I tried to be on the other side of that relationship, it felt… Wrong.”

Something about that stung on Ari’s mind. He looked away and tried to find some words, but eventually chose to just let Cora do the talking. Meanwhile, Romi stayed close to his sister as all that jail stuff was making him feel uneasy.

“Wrong about what?” Cora continued. “So that’s wrong, but working with some criminals and betraying your friend isn’t?”

Lyla winced. “I… I know, I realize now. It was hard for me not to feel like I’ve failed as a friend if I’m not always the one who helps, but I don’t want to reach this point ever again. I’ve already gotten way too far, and I don’t know if there’s a way back…”

“Even if there’s not…” Cora, Romi and Ari turned to Nimb, who had found the courage to speak his mind. “Y-you can only go up from here, I think.”

“You’re right, but…” Lyla sighed and opened her book again, still not daring to look at them. The tension of feeling Ari’s presence without him actually saying anything was making her feel miserable. “The damage is done, and I can’t ask for forgiveness. I know it’s not fair. Also, I’m trapped here now.”

“Come on, you’re not going to be here for that long, your crimes weren’t that serious and you’ll be out in no time! Doing community service, but free! Kinda,” Cora said, desperately trying to find the bright side.

Lyla let out a weak chuckle. “Of course, you see it that way… I’m glad you’re still you.” She then turned a page of the book with her tail and returned to her lecture. “But for now, I don’t think there’s much I can say to you…”

“Oh, I… I understand, I guess,” Cora said, visibly dull. “By the way, what’s that book you’re reading?”

The serpent flipped her book around, showing the cover page. “Oh, this? It’s about psychology and all that stuff, I’ve been interested in it for a while. Also, I guess I wanted something that helped me understand myself a little better…”

“I see…” Cora watched as her snake friend kept reading, and eventually gave up. “I guess we should get going now. We’ll come visit some other day. Take care, Lyla…”

Lyla looked towards the bottom wall, hiding her sadness once more. “Thanks…”

Cora, Romi and Nimb started heading out, but Ari stopped after just one step. “Wait.” They all turned around and looked at him. “You guys wait for me outside, I want to talk to her.”

“Oh, alright,” Cora said. She gestured for Romi and Nimb to follow her, and they left the corridor trying not to look at the Gallade watching them. Nimb stole one last glance at the Riolu, silently pleading for him to be quick.

Once they were alone, except for Gallade, Ari finally addressed Lyla.

“… You know, I didn’t say I don’t forgive you.”

Lyla, who had her back turned against the door, suddenly raised her head upon that, her eyes now wide open. “You… What?”

“I’m still mad, but I know you had your reasons, and somehow I get it. You felt trapped, with no way out of that situation, and instead of asking for help…” He rubbed his arm in discomfort, feeling the irony of his words sink in. “You just swallowed it and made some bad decisions. I can’t blame you.”

“But… Even after I hurt you? I didn’t intend to wrap you up so tightly, I was nervous and I’m so sorry and-“

“I know. I forgive you.”

She couldn’t believe it. “Just like that? Don’t you have any self-respect?”

Ari almost laughed at the parallelism with the other pokémon that told him that.

“Maybe I don’t, but whatever. I just want my friend back, that’s all, and I don’t think that everything before that day was a lie.”

“… No, it wasn’t. Ugh, Ari, I wish I could have done things better with you, it took me less than two weeks to destroy our friendship.”

“You didn’t destroy it, I told you. And we can always start over…”

Lyla smiled sadly. “Damn, Ari… Would you really give me a second chance?”

“I will. I only ask that you’re honest with me from now on, please,” Ari said while crossing his arms.

She sighed in relief. “Alright, I promise. I’m really happy that you-” As she turned around and finally looked him in the eyes, she dropped the smile. “Ari? Are you okay?”

The Riolu shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to talk about that again. “Yeah, I’m okay, don’t worry.”

Lyla approached the cell door and inspected him closely. “You really don’t look like it.” As she got no response from him, she reached her own conclusion. “Ari, are you still having those nightmares?”

“I… Well… Yes.”

“Oh, Ari…” Lyla tilted her head and stared with sad eyes. “All this time you’ve still been dealing with those? But what kind of stuff have you been dreaming of to actually affect you so much?”

“I already told you, it’s about Ren, but really, there’s nothing to worry-“

“Is that all there is?” Lyla cut him off and he froze. “Just Ren? Are your nightmares just that, or is there something else?”

“…”

“Ari, please, you know you can tell me.”

The aura canine sagged, turning around to not look at her. “Really, there’s nothing important in there, don’t worry about me.”

She wasn’t happy with that response. Lyla leaned closer to the right side of the cell door, trying to take a better look at his face. She could recognize his expression pretty well, it was one of hopelessness. Worst of it was that she could do nothing about it from where she was now.

“Please, Ari, don’t make the same mistake as I did. Don’t hide your problems, tell someone you trust. Ask for help, otherwise, you’ll end up in a point of no return. I don’t know if you can be helped once you get there.”

“No… I can’t do that, I’m sorry. B-but really, I can handle this, I’ll manage somehow. You don’t have to worry.”

Lyla frowned. “I don’t know about that… But I’m telling you this as a friend, please, let your friends help you if they want. Don’t put barriers.”

Ari sighed. He was really tired of the topic. “Alright. I guess…”

 

---

 

Everyone was staring at him now, and he tried so hard to pretend he didn’t notice. But he did, and it was getting annoying. The whole class looked deeply concerned for the Riolu, who just sat there trying to not pass out on top of his desk.

Maia coughed loudly to draw everyone’s attention and continued her explanation.

“… So you’ll have to find out who’s responsible for those attacks. Do you have any questions?”

Everyone in Team Riding Star shook their heads.

“Alright, that will be your job today. As for Team Silver, your job this time will be something a bit unusual. Recently, there have been too many pokémon claiming their kids woke up feeling more tired than usual, and most of them mentioned weird noises the same night that happened.”

Ari’s ears perked up at that. It couldn’t be a coincidence, right? Maybe this was his chance…

“Before you get your hopes up, Ari, I didn’t choose this job for you just because I thought it could have anything to do with what’s happening to you. In fact, I doubt that’s the case.”

Ari tilted his head. “What?”

“Well, even if the symptoms are similar, no one mentioned having nightmares, so I don’t think this is related at all.”

Mylo cleared his throat and everyone turned to him. “If this had to do with nightmares… I’d say there’s a chance this has to do with Darkrai.”

“Darkrai?” Velia asked. “Isn’t that a mythical pokémon?”

“Yes. He’s known for causing nightmares whenever he’s nearby. And knowing Ari has been dealing with them lately, I thought that might be a possibility.” Mylo then shook his head and locked eyes with Ari. “However, if those kids didn’t mention having nightmares, I’d take this theory with a grain of salt.”

“It has to be it! This is too convenient to be just a coincidence,” Ari protested.

Maia thought for a moment and then sighed. “You could see it that way, I guess. Anyway, you four are going to investigate this and ask the affected pokémon directly. Any questions?”

Sanah raised her paw. “Isn’t this like… Too complex for us? The fact that we’re dealing with just sleeping issues makes it look like it could be a coincidence, or maybe something that only a psychic type would figure out.”

“In that case, you can ask for help. Louis would gladly help you with your investigation. You’re not expected to do everything perfectly already, after all, you’re investigators in training.”

“If you say so…” Nimb mumbled.

 

---

 

Once the questions were done, each team went for their own mission. Team Silver was directed towards their first destination, this being the home of one of the kids mentioned. Dealing with dreams was something pretty weird for an investigation, knowing this wasn’t about thefts or trespassers, but they were excited nonetheless.

Even Ari, who had almost no energy, found the motivation for this job. He was convinced this was the solution he needed, it had to be. This was going to be related to his nightmares, and he was going to stop them for once.

Nimb was deep in thought as they strolled through the streets of Bismuth Town, so he was caught by surprise when he felt a hand resting on his shoulder.

“Anything in your mind?” Mylo asked with his creepy smile, unintentionally spooking Nimb when he turned around to face him. Luckily, he was used to it and quickly relaxed.

“I’m just a bit worried… Why is it that only kids were affected by this? And what if I’m next?” Nimb pondered.

“In that case, you’ll just wake up feeling tired, there’s nothing dangerous about it,” Sanah reassured, leaning into the conversation. “But you do have a point, why just kids? That’s a bit twisted…”

“We’ll have to find out,” Ari said without turning to them, being the one on the front. He quickened his pace and everyone else followed with expressions of concern.

Eventually, they reached a pretty yellow-colored house in the northeast part of the residential area. Ari knocked on the door and they waited for a few seconds until the door handle turned. On the other side, a Haxorus awaited.

“Are you those investigators that were coming?” He said in a deep male voice.

“Yes, we want to ask some questions and, if possible, have a look inside,” Ari asked, speaking in a bit of a hurry.

The Haxorus eyed them for a long and tense moment until he scoffed. “No ‘good morning’ or anything, talk about manners.”

Sanah frowned. “You didn’t say it either, you f-“

“Right, sorry, good morning!” Ari said, quickly cutting off Sanah.

Haxorus raised an eyebrow and eventually snorted. “Alright, come inside.”

Ari nodded and went inside, followed by the rest of Team Silver. It was surprising how pretty that house looked both from the inside and the outside, knowing who was the one to open the door. Light yellow walls with some paintings here and there, flowerpots on windows, colorful vases with… more flowers on small tables, and a fancy mirror on the entrance.

Going through the corridor to the left there was the living room with what looked like a big brown carpet and big cushions placed in a circle. On a table in the corner, there was a basket full of berries. There were a bunch of brushes piled up beside one of the cushions, and some purple paint dripping from one of them.

Haxorus passed through the living room and approached a door leading to another corridor. From there, he called out. “Yubal, c’mere, the detectives arrived!”

“W-we’re not exactly…” Nimb started but then deflated as the dragon-type’s eyes set on him. “N-nevermind.”

After a short moment, an Axew wearing a green scarf came at a slow pace, almost dragging his feet. Upon seeing the group, he just yawned and glanced at them with sleepy eyes.

“Are you guys going to get the dream thief? That’s awesome…” He sounded like he wanted to jump in excitement, but his body prevented him from doing so.

“Wow, you sure look tired,” Sanah pointed out. “Does this happen to you frequently?”

Yubal the Axew went to grab his brushes while rubbing his eyes and then turned to the Zangoose. “Whah?” Sanah deadpanned.

“You’re an artist, right?” Mylo asked, glancing at the brushes in Yubal’s claws. The kid simply nodded. “Then that could ruin our theory. I don’t know any artist who sleeps more than 5 hours every night.”

Everyone fell silent for an uncomfortable long moment, only interrupted by Ari coughing a couple of times.

“That’s not the case,” Haxorus said, leaning into the conversation. “I ensure he’s asleep at a decent time every night, and he’s usually much more energetic.”

“Then there has to be something or someone causing this…” Ari mumbled to himself and then stepped closer to the Axew. “Hey, did you by any chance have some nightmare last night?”

Yubal blinked twice. “Huh? No, I didn’t. Oh, in fact, it was a great dream!”

Ari frowned with disappointment. “Wait, what do you mean it was a great dream? But that’s not supposed to…”

“Huh, it’s weird, I know it was a great dream but… I can’t remember what it was about.”

“It’s not that big of a deal, dreams are hard to remember,” Sanah said. “Anyway, what do we do with information? We’re literally investigating sleep issues like it’s some sort of important crime. What a waste of time…”

“You can call it a waste of time, but it’s our job,” Mylo said and then turned to Yubal’s father. “Is there anything worth mentioning?”

Haxorus nodded. “There was this noise coming from my son’s bedroom last night. I went to check if everything was alright, and there was nothing. And Yubal was asleep.”

“Right, Maia mentioned that… We should go inspect the room, if it’s okay,” Ari said.

“Alright, but you better not steal anything.” Haxorus glared at the Riolu, who just stiffened.

“I… Uh, we would never-“

The dragon-type waved him off. “Damn kid, you need to learn to detect jokes.”

“… Ah.” He wanted to mention how scary he looked for being joking but chose to avoid the conversation.

Team Silver entered the Axew’s room, and once again found a pretty sight, with fancy decorations, mainly drawings, hanging on the walls. Too bad there were many drawing materials scattered on the floor and the place needed a bit of cleaning. Besides that, there was the usual that could be found in any bedroom.

Ari didn’t waste any time. He picked his GD and started scanning the room in search for fingerprints or traces, not minding the others. They stared at him while he paced around in search for clues, until they decided to search for themselves too.

It was… Not too fruitful. After a while of scanning every single object, Ari had reached his limit.

“Ugh, this doesn’t make any sense! We’ve searched EVERYTHING, and there’s not a single clue!”

“Maybe there’s no culprit in the end…” Nimb suggested.

“But that’s too many coincidences at the same time! I doubt this is… Damn, I sound like Velia now.”

Sanah took her own Gholdevice and turned the kinetic ray on. “We haven’t tried the other functions in the GD aside from the UV light, maybe we could find something with this.”

Mylo shook his head. “It would take us forever if we had to do that with every single-“

He stopped as Sanah pointed the kinetic ray towards the window and a trace of energy started moving upwards, only to go back down after a few seconds. Everyone stared for a long moment until Haxorus poked his head from the door and called out.

“Found anything yet?”

“Uhh… Not sure, but… Hey, when was the last time you opened that window?” Ari asked.

Haxorus scratched his chin deep in thought. “I’m not sure, but that was probably more than a day ago. I always tell Yubal to open it so he gets some air, but he never listens.” He then turned around and yelled. “Yubal, did you open your window recently?”

“No!” He yelled from the other side of the house.

Haxorus faced the team again. “You heard him.”

Ari started connecting the dots and looked through the window. “Then maybe… Wait, how far back in time does the kinetic ray go?”

“A few hours I think,” Mylo said.

The sleepy Riolu suddenly turned around in excitement and raised his tone. “That’s it, someone entered here last night! That’s the noise that Haxorus heard back then!” He then dropped slightly. “But wait, if there was someone here, why didn’t I find any traces on the floor or the window?”

“That sure is weird,” Nimb said with a tilt of his silly little head. “Are you sure you didn’t miss any spot?”

Ari approached him and grabbed his shoulders, opening his poorly rested eyes widely to prove his point. “Do I look like I could possibly miss something?”

Nimb swallowed nervously and shook his head many times. “N-no, of course not! Y-you look s-so capable and in the b-best of shapes for this job!”

“… Good. Thank you, dear friend. You can relax now.” Nimb slumped.

“What do we do, then? There’s nothing more to see here,” Sanah asked.

Ari walked towards the door, passing by the Haxorus with haste. “We’ll keep investigating the other witnesess, come on.”

Mylo followed him, while Nimb and Sanah looked at each other with concern. Sanah shrugged and decided to just go along, waiting for Nimb to come too. It was going to be a long day.

 

---

 

Four times did they go through the same process. Go into a house, ask the local kid, get the same answer, scan the room, find nothing. It was getting frustrating, and it was already the most boring investigation they’ve ever had… Which wasn’t hard, knowing it was the third one.

They had just finished checking the fourth house and it was almost nighttime already. Ari was barely standing, and the rest weren’t exactly full of energy at that point. As they walked, they recounted everything they knew so far.

“And that’s all we know…” Sanah said. “At this point, it feels like we’re wasting our time. Shouldn’t we just give up?”

“Not yet! Maybe we’ll have better luck with the next house,” Ari suggested and quickly ran forward before he was stopped by Mylo, who grabbed his arm just in time.

“We shouldn’t disturb them at this time, it’s getting late. Besides, I might have a theory about who we’re dealing with.”

Everyone turned to the Toxtricity. At that, he scratched his head as he realized it might have been better to mention it earlier.

“Knowing we’re dealing with dream stuff, this might be the work of a Drowzee,” Mylo explained. “They feed on dreams, and prefer the dreams of younger pokémon since those are, apparently, more fun.”

Nimb tilted his head. “There are pokémon that can eat dreams? How is that possible?”

“I’m not sure, psychic pokémon are a mystery even to me,” the Toxtricity said.

“Weird…” Nimb started wondering how dreams would taste like, and that made his stomach growl. He quickly tried to cover it with the sound of his voice. “Ummm, maybe that could explain why those kids couldn’t remember their dreams…”

“That makes sense…” Sanah said. “Also, if it’s a psychic-type pokémon, that could be the reason why we couldn’t find traces. They could have opened the window with psychic and eaten dreams without entering… I guess?” Sanah pondered. She then noticed Ari nervously fidgeting with his aura tassels and addressed him. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Ari gripped both tassels and groaned. “It’s just… Ugh, I don’t want that to be it. It would mean this has nothing to do with…” He cut himself and stared at the others, detecting their concern. “Never mind, I still want to try a bit more, it’s still early. I don’t think anyone would be sleeping so soon, you know?”

Mylo crossed his arms and gave a disapproving look. “I think no one wants to deal with investigators in their homes at dinner time. Also, you definitely need to rest.”

“No! I’m still-“

He stopped as a familiar blue pokémon approached them, doing short jumps with each step. Cora the Brionne beamed at them, while at the same time, her smile slightly dropped at the sight of the Riolu’s face.

“Hey, guuuuys! Are you still working on your case?”

“Hey, Cora,” Ari responded with a paw raised. “Yes, we’re still trying to figure out some stuff.”

“Aww, I see. We solved our case a while ago, so I was going home already.”

“Congrats on solving your case then, heh,” Mylo said. “As for us, we’re stuck on catching whoever has been stalking kids while they sleep.”

“We don’t really know if that’s the case…” Nimb corrected.

The Brionne thought for a moment and a metaphorical lightbulb appeared on her head. “Oh! If you need it, you could use my little brother as bait!”

She said it with such cheerfulness that everyone looked at her in horror and disbelief for how easily she offered her own brother for something like that. It was known that she loved her brother, but she was also a bit malicious towards him at times.

“You… What?” Sanah was flabbergasted.

“I mean it! If we can help in some way, then why not? I’m sure my bro will be okay with it.”

Team Silver exchanged glances as they thought of the possibility. So far they didn’t think about it, but actually setting up a trap to attract the dream thief sounded like a good idea. Also, it was the only idea they had left.

“Well… That doesn’t sound half bad,” Sanah said. “Still, how do we know that the criminal is going to show up at your house of all places? Bismuth Town is kinda big.”

Ari had many thoughts in his head right now. If this wasn’t about a pokémon that caused his nightmares, then it was all for nothing, but there was also the possibility that…

“We need to try!” He eventually said. “We could… Ask the police to patrol around town, but leave the area near Cora’s house clear, so they’ll have to go in there!”

“Really? Ask the police? As if they weren’t busy enough,” Sanah said with a disapproving frown.

“We literally work with the police! We could ask Brynel and Melly, we don’t need a huge unit to help us, and they can pull some strings… I suppose.”

It was Mylo who counter-argued this time, being unsure about the idea. “Ari, I know you really want to solve your problems fast, but this might have nothing to do with your nightmares. You know that, right?”

“I know, I know! I just… I want to finish the job!”

Mylo exchanged looks with Nimb, who had leaned into Ari and had his wings wrapped around his arm. He looked ready to support his best friend, so that was more than enough to convince the Toxtricity.

“Alright… Let’s give it a try.”

 

---

 

It didn’t take them long to reach the police station, and quickly found the two bipedal cats that they were looking for, talking to each other while preparing to retire for the day. Too bad Ari had other plans for them.

“You… Want us to patrol at random spots just for sleep issues?” Brynel asked. “That’s a bit… huh.”

“Please, Brynel!” Ari insisted. “It’s the only thing we have left to do! Just this night, come on…”

“I don’t know…”

Melly leaned in. “You know, we could ask Mark and Reyn, they’re pretty much night owls.”

“They’re Noctowls? Then they must have a great eyesight!” Ari said, visibly struggling to keep his eyes open.

“Uhhh… Ari, I’m concerned about you,” the Zeraora said. “Maybe you shouldn’t be thinking about this now.”

Ari clasped his paws together and bowed. “Pleeeease?”

Brynel felt the pressure of both feeling guilty for letting the aura canine overwork himself and for not helping him with the case. He glanced at his Floragato companion, who just shrugged, and eventually let out a deep sigh.

“… Alright I guess. We’ll help you.”

“Great, thank you so much!”

Melly rested a paw on the Riolu’s head. “But don’t think this means anything, you’re probably searching for a non-existent criminal, and with the help of just four officers on patrol. This is a favor that you’ll have to repay us later, remember.”

Brynel wanted to correct her, but he was interrupted by the Zangoose. “Wait, wait. Ari, don’t get us into more work!”

“No, it’s alright, whatever you want us to do, I can do it all by myself,” Ari reassured.

“I… Whatever, we’ll think about that “favor” any other day. Or not,” Brynel said as he shot Melly a disapproving look, but she just stuck out her tongue.

Having the police involved in the case meant they were a bit closer to putting their plan to work. Now all that was left was arranging the future crime scene and, most importantly, doing some convincing to a certain family.

 

---

 

Night had fallen upon them as they reached Cora’s home. Everyone had reunited in the living room and Cora explained everything to her parents while Team Silver watched. There was a bit of tension in the air for asking a common family to offer their kid as a live sacrifice.

“And that’s the situation! Is it okay if they stay here tonight?” Cora asked. Her parents looked at her with a confused expression, but was better than the reaction everyone else was expecting from them.

“Dear, I’m always more than happy to have your friends stay here whenever it’s a sleepover, but this sounds like a bit too dangerous…” Galia the Primarina said.

“But it will be fun!” Romi cheered.

Malik the Floatzel stood up from the cushion he was resting on in the living room and gave a reassuring pat on his wife’s back. “Come on, the worst that could happen is that Romi wakes up a bit tired if they can’t stop the guy, which I doubt it’ll happen.”

“I promise we won’t let that happen!” Ari exclaimed. “Sorry if we’re being intrusive, we just didn’t have any more ideas…”

The Primarina shook her head. “No, it’s okay, Ari! I’m always glad to have you all here. I guess you can stay and do… Whatever you’re planning to do, but please don’t let anything happen to Romi, alright?”

“Romi is strong enough, if anything it’s the criminal who should be worried, hahaha!” Malik laughed and then approached the Riolu. “You too, eh? Don’t let the little guy bite you, or you’ll turn into a Popplio!”

Ari blinked twice. “Y-yeah, I guess…”

Malik frowned. “Hey, you usually laugh at this kind of stuff, where’s your energy?”

“Umm… I’m sorry, hahaha… ha…” Ari only got more concerned looks after that, but he couldn’t even focus on those since his eyes felt too heavy now.

Sanah and Mylo were standing there awkwardly without saying anything, but the Toxtricity decided it was time to cut the conversation and take the Riolu away from all the attention. He grabbed him from the shoulders and spoke.

“Well, it’s been nice to meet you guys, but we should go prepare ourselves.”

“Oh, right,” Cora said. “You need me to help with anything?”

“Nah, you better go to sleep, this is our case after all, and we don’t know if something’s actually gonna happen or not,” Sanah said.

“Alright then…” Cora turned around, but not before a mischievous grin could be seen on her face, telling everyone that she was, indeed, going to spy on them pretending to sleep.

“By the way, good luck getting Romi to sleep,” Malik said and then chuckled.

Team Silver slowly turned their gaze at the Popplio, who was jumping excitedly from one cushion to another, and doing some sick tricks. Those backflips made them realize how long that night was going to be.

The investigators plus Romi went to the kids’ room. It had a couple of big pillows as beds, Romi’s one being the closest to the window, which was pretty big for anyone to fit in, and there were a couple of toy boxes in a corner, while many other toys were scattered around the place, making it hard to not step in one of those. Cora had to do a bit of cleanup to avoid any accidents.

Something that caught everyone’s attention was the collection of origami figures lying on a shelf, which apparently was one of Cora’s hidden hobbies. One couldn’t help but wonder how she managed to fold that paper with her big flippers.

Not thinking too much about that, Team Silver revised their plan of action. That is, while Romi kept talking excitedly and they had to beg for him to keep it quiet while they worked. It took some time, but he finally relaxed and fell flat on his bed, with Cora doing the same (or pretending to do so), leaving Team Silver to discuss more quietly.

“So we’ll leave the window open and just stay hidden in the bushes out there in the backyard, right?” Nimb asked.

“That’s right,” Mylo said. “We’ll just wait until we see someone approaching the window, and we’ll go for them. Melly, Brynel, and their coworkers are already doing patrol around town, which makes it harder for the criminal to go to any other place aside from here.”

“Alright, I think that might work, but we could have discussed this outside… Huh?” Sanah glanced at the Riolu, who wasn’t moving an inch while he stared at the sleeping duo. “Ari, what are you doing?”

He turned around, his eyes being barely open and his head slumping slightly. “Yeah, s-sorry. Let’s… do that.”

“Dude… Why are you doing this? Go home and get some sleep already, you look awful.”

“No! I can’t go to sleep now, I’ll have nightmares…”

Sanah frowned. She didn’t know what to say to that, but Mylo did.

“And what are you going to do? Never sleep again? This isn’t healthy either, Ari.”

The Riolu shook his head and turned to the window. “I don’t… Care…” He kept walking towards it, but his steps were unsteady. Before anyone could stop him, he froze in front of the window.

“Huh? Ari, did you see something outside?” Nimb asked.

“No… I’m… Uh…”

Ari’s body crumbled like a tower of cards, and he fell to the floor with a loud thump.

“ARI!” Nimb ran to his side, and so did Sanah and Mylo. “Are you okay?”

Cora had also heard that and left her bed to check on him. Nimb held him on his wings and raised him up a bit, but he still looked like he was fighting the urge to close his eyes, despite everything.

“I’m… Okay…”

“No, you’re not. Nimb, take him home,” Mylo said. “We’re not risking you getting worse.”

Nimb nodded and helped the Riolu get back on his feet again, wrapping his arm around his neck to support him. Ari tried to resist, but he was too weak to do anything.

“No… Please…”

“It’s okay, Ari,” Nimb soothed as he started walking towards the door. “We’ll take it from here.”

“Of course, we’re not going to let that criminal escape.” Sanah punched her palm with a fist to demonstrate.

“You don’t have to worry about a thing, just get some rest,” Mylo said, and the Riolu couldn’t find any counter-argument anymore. He could only feel the growing frustration as he was carried away by his bird friend, unable to finish what he started and failing to stop his suffering.

 

---

 

Maia didn’t waste any second when Ari and Nimb arrived home. She gave both of them a scolding for showing up so late without warning her first about the plan, and an extra scolding to Ari for pushing himself to the limit. She couldn’t scold him too much though, since he looked way too bad to take anymore.

They took him to his bed and made sure he was warm and comfy, covered in a bunch of blankets, and Maia eventually went to sleep too. Nimb stayed for a while with Ari, still wanting to make sure he was okay. He wasn’t.

Ari shifted uncomfortably on his bed, trying desperately to stay awake, which made Nimb more upset than anything.

“Ari… Just try to rest already, please,” Nimb begged. “You really need it.”

“I don’t… Wanna…”

Nimb frowned. “We’re all trying to convince you to rest because we care about you, just close your eyes and-“

“LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Nimb flinched hard, looking hurt, and Ari’s angry scowl slowly turned into a pained frown.

“I… I’m sorry, Nimb… I didn’t want to… yell at you… Ugh, what’s wrong with me…?”

Even if Nimb felt bad about that, he quickly shook it off. “It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean it.” He then held Ari’s paw, trying to reassure him. “But that’s why I’m worried about you, you’re not thinking straight.”

The Riolu accepted his paw and held it weakly, but avoided his gaze. “I guess I’m not…”

Nimb sighed. “Ari… Why are you so obsessed with this case? It’s not going to help you, I thought you knew that already…”

Ari shook his head and stood in a sitting position with the remaining strength he had left. Nimb supported him and chose not to force him to lie down. Still, Ari wasn’t spilling the beans.

“Please… I need you to tell me what’s wrong…”

He looked so desperate and worried, and that was Ari’s weak point. Even if a bit hesitant, he decided it was okay to tell his little brother.

“I… Wanted to… Get Drowzee to eat my nightmares…”

“What?” Nimb yelled. “That was your plan all along? B-but you don’t know if that would work, Ari! Mylo said that drowzees like nice dreams, not nightmares, and that’s assuming the criminal is a Drowzee in the first place!”

Ari looked away. “There must… Be a way…”

The Archen shook his head rapidly and spoke with a shaky voice. “This isn’t it! You’re being all weird and I know there’s stuff you’re not telling me… Please, Ari, I just want you to be okay, and I don’t know what to do to help you…”

Ari frowned deeply. What was he going to tell him? Did he… need to know? No, not yet. He could still fix things by himself. “I’m sorry, there’s nothing that…”

He was caught off guard when Nimb suddenly embraced him and pressed hard against his chest. “I don’t care! You’re my big brother and I want to know everything about you, and support you in every way I can…”

The Riolu was speechless. He didn’t want Nimb to suffer like that, yet with all this he was getting to that point anyway. He couldn’t think clearly, the exhaustion was clouding his mind, so instead he returned the hug and rested his chin on top of Nimb’s head. It was a comforting feeling amidst all the suffering, so he leaned into it and said nothing, gently caressing the feathers in his brother’s back.

Ari never had silblings before. Nimb was not related to him in blood, but he was the closest he’d felt to having a family since Noida and Zorio. Yet, this felt like something more. He wanted to see him blossom, to see him overcome all his fears and anxiety and grow strong. He wanted nothing more than to see him happy, and that’s why he forced himself to stay strong.

But now… What was he doing? Was this the right thing to do? He wasn’t sure. He was probably going to regret this, but he only needed too keep this up one more time. Just this once, and it’ll be okay.

After an overly long and comforting hug, Ari leaned back a bit and scratched the side of Nimb’s head. “Nimb… Go help the others. I’ll stay… Here, I promise.”

“What? Are you sure?”

Ari nodded and smiled at him. “They’ll need… Your help. I’ll go to sleep now.”

Nimb looked at him in the eyes for a long moment, until he slowly nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, Ari.” He stood up and went for the door, but he turned around one last time. “Take care…”

As he left the room, Ari’s smile slowly faded. He hated having to lie to him like that.

 

---

 

Mylo and Sanah had been for a while watching from behind some bushes in the backyard, not a single word was being said. Cora and Romi were sleeping inside, or at least pretending to be, in Cora’s case, so it was pretty quiet out there. It’s not like they could talk much, since that would alert the criminal and drive them away.

Still, Sanah was starting to feel awkward by being alone with Mylo for that long in silence, and decided she needed to start some conversation, otherwise she was going to go crazy.

“Well… Nothing happens, huh?”

“Mhm,” Mylo said. A mon of few words.

The Zangoose scratched her head and thought of something to say. “I wonder if Nimb will come back or he’ll stay with Ari like he usually does.”

“Dunno.”

She pouted. There had to be some way of making things less awkward between them. “Uhm… Say, how is it that you know so much about other pokémon? You knew about drowzees and inteleons, and then there’s that time in the mansion…”

“I just know.”

Sanah groaned. “Come on, I’m trying to have a normal conversation! What’s wrong with you?”

“I have nothing to tell to you. Keep quiet, I’m trying to do my job,” Mylo said, but he was visibly angry this time, which wasn’t something usual.

“What? Dude, what the hell? Where does this hate come from all of a sudden?”

Mylo turned to her with a scowl. “Fine. You wanna know? I don’t like you. You hurt Ari so much, and I hate bullies like you. No matter how much you try to hide that fact, you still did it, and that’s not going to change.”

She was dumbfounded. Her chest felt heavy now, and she realized that the feeling of guilt never truly left her. “B-but… I apologized to him, and he forgave me!”

“Those are meaningless words to me. You might have gained Ari and Nimb’s respect, but I don’t think I’ll ever respect you. Learn to deal with that.”

“Why…? Why the hell do I learn about this now? Were you pretending all this time?”

“I did it for Ari and Nimb. They don’t deserve to see me angry, they’re good pokémon. As long as they’re around, I’ll make sure to not make them uncomfortable. But now? I don’t have any reason to be nice to you.” He then turned back to keep watching through the bushes. “You shouldn’t have asked in the first place, you better not bring this up when they’re around.”

Sanah was so angry. And, at the same time, she felt awful. Suddenly, she was hated again, like she was back at the beginning of the school year. Her heart was pounding hard and she couldn’t think of anything to say or any way to solve that situation. She noticed her claws trembling, but she couldn’t show that.

She turned back to keep watch of the backyard, falling silent again. Thoughts were crossing her mind for a long while, and time passed like an eternity as they waited for something to happen.

Luckily for Sanah, Nimb eventually showed up and approached them.

“I’m back! Ari is sleeping at home.”

Sanah brightened. “Oh, c-cool! Come, hide here,” she said, gesturing for him to come with her. She was so glad to have someone around that didn’t hate her.

Nimb noticed something weird in her, maybe in her tone. It seemed good and bad at the same time, but he didn’t comment on that and just hid right beside Sanah. “So, anything worth noting?”

“Not at all,” Mylo said. “I think Cora had fallen asleep, but I’m not sure.”

“Hmmm… I hope this isn’t a waste of time,” Nimb said.

They waited for a long while, and still nothing happened. Even Cora’s gossip nature couldn’t win against the fatigue and she fell asleep, as Mylo thought. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea in the end…

Sanah yawned. “Damn… This is awful.”

Nimb nodded. “Maybe we should just-“

“Ssshh!” Mylo extended his arm in front of his teammates and gestured in front of them. “Look.”

From one side, they could see a figure approaching. The moonlight was barely enough to make it visible, but as it got closer, they could somehow identify some physical traits. Medium size, brown and yellow fur, long nose…

It was a Drowzee.

Nimb and Sanah gasped. In the end, Mylo’s theory was right. They watched as the criminal approached the window and peeked inside without going in. He slowly raised his nose and a pinkish glow started emanating from it, seemingly directed towards Romi.

Mylo took that as his cue to act, and he gestured for his teammates to move. The three of them rushed out of the bushes with the Toxtricity on the front line, charging up his fist in electricity and throwing a punch.

Unfortunately, Drowzee heard them coming and jumped to the side before turning around. “Gah! You got me!”

Nimb and Sanah stood at both sides of the backyard to block any escape route. Sanah yelled. “Are you responsible for all those kids being so tired?”

“I uhhh what? I ermmm don’t know what you guys are talking about!”

Sanah raised an eyebrow. “Right.”

Mylo threw another punch, but Drowzee quickly stopped it with his psychic powers, making him freeze in place. Sanah went to strike him, but he threw the Toxtricity towards her with his psychic, making them roll like bowling pins.

He took his chance to escape, but Mylo was quick enough to use his overdrive to stop him before he went too far though, using the electricity to temporarily paralyze him. Mylo and Sanah went after him.

Meanwhile, the criminal wasn’t aware that the Archen blocking one of the escape routes was actually using his GD to contact Melly and Brynel.

Drowzee turned around and headbutted Mylo on the belly, which made him wince, but Sanah was coming too and swiped at him with a fury cutter. The psychic pokémon was badly hurt by it, but he wasn’t giving up. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

A psychic wave emanated from the Drowzee, and both Sanah and Mylo were caught in it, not being able to look away from his eyes. Instead of feeling any kind of pain, they felt their eyes heavier than before.

“Fuck… Is this hypnosis…?” Sanah said, feeling lightheaded all of a sudden.

“You… Bastard…” Mylo spat. He fell to his knees as he tried to grasp the Drowzee with his remaining strength, but he avoided it.

“I’m sorry!” Drowzee said, and then started running away, not before a bunch of rock shards were thrown at him. That made him stop and turn around, finding an Archen going for him.

“W-wait! Aaaaahhhh!” Nimb charged with a wing attack, but he was far away enough to give Drowzee enough time to react. He did the same trick from before, sending psychic waves towards him, which made him progressively go slower until he stopped in place.

“Are you falling asleep or what?” Drowzee asked, stepping back.

“I… I’m gonna…” That’s the last thing Nimb could say before he fell to the ground with his eyes closed and started snoring.

Drowzee checked for the other two and found that they were asleep already. He had managed to escape from them! Now he just had to go as far from there as possible and everything would be alright. But before that… Having a nice little snack wouldn’t hurt.

He chose the younger one, the Archen and fed on his dream for a short moment. It was nice, this one was about becoming an Archeops and flying around with a Riolu on his back. Kids were the best source for delicious dreams.

Once he was satisfied, he ran, going around the house and checking there was no one in sight. As he was about to leave through the frontyard, he stopped in place as there was a new figure standing in front of him. The figure approached him, wobbling as it struggled to move.

It was a Riolu.

 

---

 

“Come on, wake up!”

Nimb stirred as he heard a familiar voice calling for him. He felt a flipper slapping him and finally opened his eyes. Cora was relieved to see him awake.

“Finally! What happened to you guys?” Cora asked.

As Nimb looked around, he found Mylo and Sanah slowly waking up as well, and Romi poking Sanah’s arm while she ignored it. It was still nighttime.

“Huh? Did Drowzee escape?” Nimb asked.

“Ah, fuck!” Sanah eventually yelled, scaring the Popplio and making him jump. “We have to go after him!”

Mylo stood up and started moving. “If we’re lucky we could still catch him. Let’s go!”

Nimb and Sanah nodded and went after him. Cora watched them go with a confused look, but she eventually reacted. “Uh, wait for me!” She and his brother ran after them.

They ran as quickly as they could, but they didn’t need to go too far since once they reached the frontyard they found what they were looking for. It was a weird and kinda concerning scene.

Laying on the ground, there was an unconscious Riolu, and next to him there was a Drowzee that was writhing in pain. “Owww, my stomach, urgh…”

“What happened here?” Nimb asked.

Sanah saw the inconscious Ari and quickly went for the Drowzee, pinning him on the ground with rage and gripping him with her claws. “What did you do to Ari? Speak!”

“N-nothing, I did nothing! I-I didn’t even use my hypnosis…”

“What is even Ari doing here? He said he would stay at home…” Nimb said with a concerned frown as he approached his brother.

Mylo stared at the dream eater with a terrifying glare. “You better speak if you value your safety. What. Happened. To Ari?”

Drowzee cried. “I swear I did nothing p-please! That guy just stood in front of me and when he came for me he suddenly just dropped to the ground! T-then I just tried to eat his dream, but… It gave me a terrible stomachache, it hurts so much…”

In the middle of the fuss, Cora’s parents appeared from the main door and gasped.

“What is going on?” Galia asked.

Cora went to speak, but before she could, more pokémon arrived. Brynel and Melly, followed by Maia, stepped in clearly agitated, especially the owl teacher.

“Ari! I noticed he wasn’t home and I was so worried!” Maia said, leaning closer to Ari and Nimb. “What happened to him?”

“H-he confronted t-that Drowzee and…” Nimb started, but was interrupted by the commotion of every pokémon in the scene.

Melly’s eyes widened upon hearing that. “Wait, so that drowzee theory was right? You guys weren’t crazy?”

“We came as soon as Nimb messaged us. I can’t believe it…” Brynel said.

Sanah ignored everyone and returned to the questioning, still not letting go of Drowzee. “Then you didn’t touch him?”

“N-no, I swear, p-please… I’m so sorry, I won’t eat more dreams, I c-couldn’t help it, they’re so tasty and I was addicted…” Drowzee was now crying harder, but it was hard to know if it was just because he felt bad about it or because of the stomach ache.

Sanah loosened her grip a little, but she was still distrustful. Melly came to her side and helped hold the criminal in place, while also making him raise to a sitting position. Meanwhile, Nimb kept shaking Ari in an attempt to wake him up.

“Anyway, you’ll have to answer for your crimes,” Melly said.

“If you didn’t do anything to Ari, why is he sleeping?” Brynel asked, and then was reminded of his awful state earlier in the day. “Oh, nevermind.”

“Woah, so this is a true crime scene? It’s so cool!” Romi exclaimed. His mother quickly gestured for him to keep it quitet as it wasn’t the best moment for that.

Then, everyone started talking at the same time, and the scene became a chaotic ruckus, some questioning the Drozwee and others talking to each other, deciding on what to do or commenting how strange all of that was.

It was such a mess that nobody had noticed a certain someone trying to draw attention, until he couldn’t take it anymore.

“GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUYS!”

Everyone turned at the source of the desperate call, and saw Nimb crying while carrying his brother in his wings.

“H-he’s not w-waking up…”

The mood of the whole group suddenly went down. Everyone leaned closer to the sleeping Riolu, all of them showing distress.

“What… What do you mean he’s not waking up?” Maia asked. She kneeled down and tapped his cheek a few times. As nothing happened, the gentle touch turned into a desperate slap. “Ari? Ari, wake up!”

“Oh no, I knew there was something wrong with him earlier,” Malik said.

“Maybe… With a heal seed?” Sanah proposed.

“No, this wasn’t caused by a hypnosis,” Mylo corrected. His usual laid-back attitude had completely shattered and he looked anxious. “I don’t… I don’t know what’s happening to him…”

“I don’t think he’s going to wake up,” Drowzee said between groans. As everyone looked at him, he continued. “I had a taste of his dream… That wasn’t a dream, it was a nightmare, that’s why it made me sick.

“Yeah, we know he has nightmares often, what’s with it?” Sanah demanded.

“That nightmare… It’s not just a nightmare, there’s something really, really wrong with it. I don’t know what it was, but for some reason, there were many memories in there and… Something else. It was terrifying…”

“You think there’s something about it that prevents him from waking up?” Brynel asked, receiving a nod from the psychic pokémon, who kept writhing in pain, even if less than before.

Maia took Ari from the Archen’s grasp and carefully cradled him. She was on the verge of tears. “No… Ari, please, you have to wake up… You’re just a sweet innocent kid…”

Everyone was starting to panic and, once again, a huge commotion invaded the water-types’ front yard. Due to that, a few neighbors woke up and came to see what was happening. That wasn’t helping the situation, and it especially prevented them from thinking of any possible solution.

However, Drowzee was slowly feeling better about his stomach ache and eventually spoke.

“There is… a way.”

Some turned to him, and Sanah spoke. “What do you mean?”

“… A way to wake him up. It’s really dangerous, but it’s the only thing I could think of.”

“Whatever it is, tell us, please!” Maia begged. At this point, everyone else had also stopped talking and were observing the conversation.

Drowzee sighed. “Okay, this is a bit weird, but… I can use my psychic powers to connect minds, and that includes dreams. I can get some of you inside Ari’s nightmare so you can fix whatever is wrong in his mind and, hopefully… Save him.”

Sanah brightened. “You can do that? Wait, why would you do that? You’re not going to pull some trick on us, are you?”

Drowzee shook his head rapidly. “No, no! I’m just so sorry that this happened, I didn’t want to cause so much trouble, so I wanna help with this. It’s the least I can do…”

“Alright then… We’ll go in there,” Mylo said, and he stole a glance at Cora, Brynel and Melly. “If we join forces, I’m sure we can save him.”

“Wait,” Drowzee said. “I can only take two or three of you in there, otherwise it would be too much for me. Also, I must warn you… It’s not going to be pleasant. There was some really messed up stuff in there, it’s terrifying… Whoever goes in there is going to have a really bad time.”

“I don’t care, I’ll go!” Sanah said. She got some surprised looks, but the one who caught her attention was from the Toxtricity, who still looked wary. Still…

“I’ll go as well,” Mylo said. “We’re his team, after all.”

Drowzee nodded. “Alright, I can still take one more pokémon.”

Maia stood up. “Okay, I’m-“

“I wanna go.” Everyone turned to the Archen in surprise. He was shaking and crying, but he looked determined.

“Nimb? Are you really sure about this?” Maia asked, concerned.

“Yes… P-please, I wanna save him… I wanna b-bring Ari back, I don’t care if it’s scary… Please, let me go!”

Maia stared at him, unsure. Their eyes were locked for a long moment until she sighed. “… Okay, you can go. But please, be careful, Nimb.”

He nodded and then approached the Drowzee. “P-please, help us. T-take us in there.”

Drowzee watched as the three volunteers lined up in front of them. They looked scared, concerned, and distrustful. But all of them were determined to do this. He nodded.

“Okay, I need you three to lie beside him and close your eyes.”

Nimb, Sanah and Mylo did as told, and everyone else gave them space without really leaving. Everyone wanted to see this, and they weren’t going to rest well until it was solved, hopefully with a happy ending.

Drowzee sat in front of them and explained. “I’ll be watching whatever happens in there, but I won’t be able to do much aside from talking to you. I’ll try to guide you in any way I can, though.”

They nodded. It was time for the weirdest adventure in their career so far. A psychic wave emanated from Drowzee’s body, enveloping Ari, Nimb, Sanah and Mylo. Weird figures started appearing in their minds, colors going wild with stretching images moving on their eyes, until they completely disconnected from the vigil world.

Team Silver entered the dream.