Dreams

[Shadow Serenity]

I am trying to teach you something – something better learned by realising it for yourselves rather than being told outright like a preacher might explain a moral fable to a child.

Kimiko let out a tired sigh. Not directed at Powehi or anyone else in particular, just an expression of exasperation. "We've already been through so much uncertainty, and no doubt more still to come. I appreciate your ... intent, but sometimes, there's merit in simply being blunt."

Despite that, despite the re-contextualized 'threatening' warnings... it did seem as though this entity was genuinely trying to get them to understand it's perspective, understand why their being here was dangerous. Perhaps the scope was simply out of their imagination.

But I can prevent your hearts closing entirely, so that if the worst comes to pass... you will not be beyond saving.

...And it also seemed, again despite it's previous attitude, to still be willing to help them, at least to some degree. The thought of the shadow overtaking her - any of them - so completely that they'd start turning on each other... it sent a shiver through her body. Gods knew how deep in the mud they had to be already to have some... spiritual... dream god entity... thing... promising a lifeline if things sunk low enough.

"Thank you," she acknowledged. "Can't promise it'll never happen, but... well, we'll certainly be doing our best to avoid becoming that far gone."

 

[Sinderella]

Odette felt bad about the thought that immediately came to mind, but she let herself dwell on it anyway.

Some primordial, eldritch beings sucked fucking mudbray dick.

So they were called forth, into this nightmarish black hole of a realm, just to be told they weren't going to be receiving any help from the very thing that was the root result of the Shadows, aside from some names they could do fuck all with right now, and that if things didn't go well, they'd all be better off killing themselves and waking up back in their normal forms and forgetting everything here had happened.

Yep. This totally fucking tracks, she thought bitterly as she dug the heel of her boot into the black sand. She'd had her arms crossed so tightly she'd started clawing into the fabric of her sleeve, and had to stop herself before she accidentally ripped it. Why did primordial gods just insist on being so informative and so godsdamned cryptic at the same time? Wouldn't it streamline the process if they just swallowed their fucking beef and got with the program? But that was asking too much of such an all-powerful being. She supposed she could have guessed that much.

Still, none of that answered who the hell Betel really was. Or where they came from. If anything, perhaps they were tethered to this Auriga. Or maybe they weren't. Maybe the group would never fucking know why the Intern of All Internal Voices had summoned them here as an apparent knee jerk reaction to crisis.

Fuck. Couldn't she just fall back into her slumber? She wasn't cut out for this lucid dreaming bullshit. She just wanted to go back into the void of nothingness until the sun came back up.

However, if there was anything that came out of this, is the gentle implication that the Covenant might not have been up to the level of villainy they might have collectively assumed. That didn't excuse them, of course, but it made her feel better knowing there was a slightly larger chance she wasn't walking into a group of human-turned-Pokemon that liked boiling newborn native 'mon in the name of human supremacy.

And all of that to end in an additional reassurance that they were doing good. So, they got a mystical metaphorical tongue lashing from literal black fucking water, but they're doing fine. Was Powehi having a fit? Were they okay? Because for fucks sake, that was not a rollercoaster she needed right now. But, she’d give credit where it was due—it was nice to be acknowledged and assured that for now, things were okay.

"Okay. Wreck Cipher. Don't lose. Maybe see if Auriga will be up to chatting at some point. You can prevent us from going too deep into Shadowification. I guess...keep doing what we're doing if it seems to be working so far," she summarized. Nodding once, she gestured to nothing in particular.

"Dually noted, thanks. I'm good to awaken now, if you don't mind."

 

[HelloYellow17]

I cannot stop you from Shadowing so deeply that you turn on yourselves and your allies, if you are careless.

Careless.

The word stung, and not just because it was from this strange, unknowable entity that understood the workings of Shadows. Wes felt shame and guilt burn within him, unable to even feel defensive or angry; after all, Powehi was right. He’d been careless.

Despite all of that, somehow…hearing Powehi, of all people (people? Was he a person? Wes didn’t even know anymore) say that they had at least done some good in this world…it was reassuring, if only a tiny bit. Wes wasn’t sure he deserved to feel reassured—what the hell had he done lately that was actually good?—but it was…nice. It was something.

“Thanks for that, at least,” he said quietly. And he meant it, despite his frustrations at Powehi’s refusal to get more involved. Then he turned his head away and muttered, so quietly under his breath that nobody but Powehi could hear:

“And I’m sorry.”

 

[Namohysip]

The others seemed to cover their protections and they had the information they needed. But she did have one question... She was afraid to ask. But she had to know.

"Does Owen have this same protection? From that permanence?"

She couldn't give in to that fear. She needed to know the truth one way or the other.

"And others not of this world?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"Even if it doesn't, there's got to be a way to save him," Nova said to Mhynt. He hadn't moved from his position. "You sure you'll be okay?"

 

[Tetra]

They'd helped. Koa tried to cling to that but whatever comfort the words brought felt overshadowed by everything else. His thoughts felt sluggish and jumbled.

Emotions simmered beneath his fur like an itch he couldn't scratch. Anger seemed to lap ceaselessly at his thoughts, along with confusion and feeling utterly adrift, and not just from the unnerving sensation of Powehi's endless dark sea.

Feeling desperate he tried to cling to what he could. To not think about how fast he lost himself against Wes, or the suffocating feeling of the other ways he'd screwed up.

Powehi would give them a protection. That was good. And they could destroy Cipher. It would be fine. His anger about Cipher at least give him an anchor. Blinking, he steadied himself.

"Thank you," he mumbled, not entirely thinking much about what he was saying.

"Can you..." He swallowed and bit his tongue. "Please. How do we control shadows. How can we stop ourselves from being lost?"

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt nodded at Nova. "I'll... hold. But I need to know what options we have before I try to pursue one that's already closed off."

She also glanced at Koa, nodding. "Perhaps... I can help some of us control Shadows. It feels... similar to something I'm familiar with."

 

[AdamArtDraws]

She also glanced at Koa, nodding. "Perhaps... I can help some of us control Shadows. It feels... similar to something I'm familiar with."

"Sounds good. I might join, though don't expect me to use the shadows much." Felin glanced at the pool of concentrated negativity and raised a placating paw. "No offense but these shadows feel as pleasant as rotting wurmple carcasses crawling up my fur and oozing all over my face."

She cleared her throat and licked her paw idly. "Anyway, how do we get out of here? We just wake up?"

 

[Hap]

While his companions talked, Ridley had been inspecting the dream world. People liked to say that if you held a seashell to your ear you could hear the sound of the sea trapped inside, but really all you heard was the ebb and flow of your own pulse. Every time the water lapped at the shore, Ridley thought about seashells.

It felt so horribly empty here. No wind, no waves, nothing but calm flat sea stretching off into calm flat distance.

He'd been scouring the beach for a pebble to throw into the water, hoping for a splash to break the stillness but half-expecting that it would only sink soundlessly without so much as a ripple. There were no pebbles here, though, only the fine silvery sand. If Ridley dug down would he hit bedrock eventually, or would he dig his hole straight through the sand and into the black ocean below?

Ridley stopped his pacing and reached a halt right at the edge of the water. Did he dare?

"You might not want to talk to Auriga," he said, "but will you try talking to Betel, at least? They've been doing their best, and it's not their fault that no-one's explained anything to them."

He could feel the waking world starting to tug at the edges of his consciousness. It was now or never, then. Maybe nothing would happen, but -

Ridley stepped into the ocean.

 

[Butterfree]

Wait, why the fuck was everyone talking about them going Shadow like it was a very immediate concern all of a sudden. Dave had the worst nagging feeling there was even more shit he was missing that nobody had told him--

 

[Jackie Cat]

I will speak more plainly, then. People – whether pokémon, human, or otherwise – are more complicated than 'good' and 'bad'. This is not a storybook world where evil is obvious and violent heroism is its answer. Go looking for enemies to destroy, and you will find them, but that is not a reliable way to decrease the net suffering in the world. I would know; I feel it all.

I asked you to destroy Cipher because their use of a portal to their world is tearing open this one. If it continues, the rifts will multiply and grow until the world is swallowed in distortion and normal life becomes permanently impossible.

If it prevents the creation of further Shadow pokémon then that is a further benefit, but it makes no difference to me. As I said before, this is a matter of right and wrong, and no soul deserves to be a Shadow pokémon.
​

The island was swirling more and more, disappearing beneath the gathered spirits. It dropped away below the extremities of those highest-up, who hovered in place, gradually losing consciousness as they returned to sleep in their beds in ordinary reality.

...I cannot promise that Owen can be saved. There are other means, but nothing in my own power.

I do not know your summoner, Betelgeuse, nor how they came to be, nor how to contact them. They are, in turn, most likely unable to contact me.

Now, go. Return to the material plane, and do as you w—

What are you doing.
​

Ridley stepped into the ocean.

The ocean that was the sum darkness of Forlas' entire history of sapient suffering. The ocean that was the body of Dark Matter Powehi. The ocean that was a singularity of Shadow energy.

Shadow energy seeped into his body almost in an instant, flooding his soul with darkness. Osmosis between an un-Shadowed soul and the soul of Powehi, a Shadow too vast to measure, put Ridley at the very limits of what he could bear without his soul melting from it...

And then further still.

Ridley gained unfathomable Shadow.

You should not have done that.

​

 

[Ambyssin]

As Nova was starting to drift away, he vaguely saw what happened. Wasn't that the same guy who thought it wise to try and set the brush on fire while they were fighting Seth? What the hell? Did humans from other worlds just... lack pokémon's basic survival instincts?

Before everything faded back to the waking word, Nova managed to mutter into his mask a, "ᶠᵘᶜᵏᶦⁿᵍ ᶦᵈᶦᵒᵗ."

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt was already fading out and allowing herself to drift away. But she saw fleeting glances at what was happening as she left. Befuddlement came. Then rage. Then more befuddlement. Shadows seeped into her thought process and she shoved it away.

She could be angry later.

 

[Tetra]

Koa tried to cling to sleep for a moment, to stay in this awful place for just a second, to call out. "Ridley!"

Why? Why had he done it? Had he been corrupted by shadows that much he just wanted to be overtaken? But all to soon his paws were slipping away from the dark sand and he couldn't dream any longer. A fact for which some part of him was immensely relieved.

 

[Cresselia92]

So, that was it. Time was up. Goodbye corrupted Dream World, welcome back not-so-less-corrupted Forlas.

There were still plenty of questions with no clear answer, but oh well. Anything was better than nothing, and Silver wasn’t picky when it came to getting more information. Not even if it came from the epitome of darkness, negativity, and all that fun stuff.

At least they had a direction, a goal, a target. That, for now, would have sufficed.

Hence, Silver lay completely flat on the sandy floor, like a Sneasel-shaped carpet. Slowly but surely, his consciousness was drifting off, lured back into the harsh sunlight, and—wait. What the… Did that… huh, What’s-he’s-called just, like, take a bath in some freaking dark matter?! Like an anime protagonist in some beach episode?

W-W-What the hell was he thinking? Did he even know how to think?!

Forget about Cipher and cronies trying to kill them! The Wayfarers’ main concern was making sure that the Cleffa-shaped moron didn’t get them killed first!

Silver crumpled a fistful of sand, his anger crawling underneath his shivering skin. But… no. No. Screw that. It was way too early to get mad at anybody. Though he could do nothing to stop his final whisper of disbelief, “What an imbecille!”

Darkness melted into total blackness, and then there was nothing.

 

[AdamArtDraws]

Felin breathed a short laugh, grinning in amusement at Ridley. "Crazy bastard, guess I'm not the only one."

 

[Hap]

Oh.

This had been a terrible idea.

Ridley hadn't actually thought anything would happen.

The ocean wasn't - couldn't be (could it?) - the actual literal Powehi, but rather some convenient visual metaphor, something deep and vast and existentially terrifying but ultimately no more dangerous than anything else in a dream. Ridley's physical body was still in Forlas, sprawled face-down on his mattress when he'd finally managed to collapse for the day. Nothing here was real.

He'd expected to step into the ocean, get his feet wet, and then feel vaguely silly for thinking something might happen.

stupid stupid stupid this was a stupid fucking idea

He hadn't thought...

That was his problem, wasn't it? He never fucking thought at all.

Imagine a cup. Imagine it filled past capacity but not overflowing, the water trapped in place by surface tension. Imagine a convex meniscus swollen to impossible proportions, an entire planet's worth of water poured into a single tiny vessel.

Standing at the point where sea met sand, the barest inch of water dampening the hem of his tattered disguise, Ridley felt a great tidal wave of black despair come crashing over his head. He was drowning on dry land, his lungs filling with fear and fury and misery and deep bitter self-loathing. He sank into desolation, past the abyssal plain, past benthopelagic and hadopelagic and still sinking deeper and deeper into that endless ocean, crushed by the weight of a thousand atmospheric pressures.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Where the rest of the Wayfarers left the surface, departing for the waking world, Ridley remained. Pulled down by the singularity that he had unthinkingly reached out for, the vessel of his soul filled with Shadow without limit or end.

Stop thinking. Be still. I will fix this.
​

Easier said than done, when a billion times as much Shadow as you'd ever handled in your life was compelling you to vomit up every dark thought and wretched feeling you'd ever had. It was enough to make a person scream their voice out, tear their own body apart, anything to dampen the despair.

Powehi lived like this? All the time?

Be not afraid. It will be alright.
​

How did he stay sane?

To save you, I must alter you. Forgive me.
​

Something unthinkably vast pulled and pressed at Ridley's soul. It felt like drowning, or shallow, fevered sleep, or losing the feeling in every part of himself from excessive chill. But he didn't perish. Not yet.

​

Ridley became attuned to Shadow.
Ridley's Shd was set to 20. Ridley cannot lose the Shadow type.
Ridley forgot how to Focus during battle. He can only Shadow Focus.
Ridley will gain +10 Shd every turn during battle.
Ridley became averse to Radiance. He cannot wield Radiance.

And maybe he wouldn't perish at all.

It is... temporary. But it will last until you have fought with sufficient effort in battle to realign your aura. Be careful. I cannot protect you from becoming a Shadow pokémon in this state.

I... apologise for the nightmares you will experience until this passes. They are unavoidable, but perhaps they are deserved. Do not take such foolish actions again.

Now, get out.
​

And the darkness melted away in a searing flash...

<><><><><>​

 

[Jackie Cat]

Will you and your little star stop taking such reckless actions?

Divine rifts are not to be meddled with in this way.

Take more care in your coming battle...

<><><><><>
​

 

[Jackie Cat]

Though those Wayfarers still in Whisperwind Comb would not receive the message, there were still many in the surface world who would. Whether through true dreaming sleep, or shallow rest that let Dark Matter's voice enter their minds, they would hear Powehi speak. And perhaps they would sense, in their souls, the pull of his bottomless reservoir of Shadow.

Hear me, Wayfarers. The risk you represent is now eclipsed by another threat. This world has need of your service after all...​

Powehi's voice, though time-worn and thick with the bassy distortions of Shadow energy, was as matter-of-fact as ever. Every ill feeling imaginable was faintly discernible in his tone, but such was the nature of Dark Matter.

The hydra-würm Alexander has grown too powerful. In his arrogance, he covets power that would let him consume this world.

I cannot safely expel him from Forlas alone.

I ask now for your aid.​