harleyscars Chapter 470 Nightmare Strikes
Chapter 470 Nightmare Strikes
Chapter 472 Nightmare Strikes
"Let's put N aside for now. Can anyone explain why this uninvited guest is here?"
The rain pattered softly outside the café window. Seeing the atmosphere sinking, Lanju pointed to Cresselia, which was suspended inside the café, and asked.
"Don't tell me it's because the four of us got together to play board games—Wanlong organizes these kinds of parties every few months, and we've never attracted such a bad guy before."
"This is a long story."
The champion sat back down in his chair and poured himself a glass of lemonade to dispel the weariness of the late night. Unlike the other kings, Hugo had already entered a waking state in the middle of his dream and had not gotten enough rest.
However, it was precisely for this reason that he was able to see the details of this tabletop game clearly from the perspective of a higher-level narrator who transcended the dream, and it was also thanks to this that he was able to talk face to face with Cresselia, who had transformed into Count Black Moon.
"Although Cresselia can communicate telepathically on its own, human language has its irreplaceable advantages. For the sake of convenience and to clearly explain the cause and effect, let me, who knows the whole story in the dream, relay it to it."
Once the four Elite Four members and Agent Luna were seated again, Cresselia, perched on a coffee table, dimmed its light. The detective slowly began, "Simply put, this Cresselia came to Unova following the trail of Nightmare."
His finger waved in the air.
"In the urban legends of the Sinnoh region in the past, Cresselia was always portrayed as Darkrai's nemesis, a guardian who forever pursued the nightmare god. It was thanks to the existence of these dream messengers who radiate rainbow light that the evil gods who bring nightmares could not wreak havoc on the human world. But this is obviously a misunderstanding."
Hearing Hugo begin with such a decisive tone, Wanlong, who had heard Cynthia mention a similar topic before, secretly glanced at Cresselia, only to see that this Psychic-type Pokémon did not show any objection.
Hugo's storytelling continues—
"Based solely on existing observation reports of Darkrai, while this Nightmare Pokémon certainly causes great trouble to the residents living around it, it is actually a rather reserved creature. Apart from its strong territorial instincts, it doesn't exhibit any particularly aggressive behavior. Even after searching through ancient texts, there is absolutely no record of Darkrai actively attacking villages in ways other than nightmares."
"That's strange." The Dark-type Elite Four member narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "If it doesn't attack humans, why would Darkrai leave a legend in the Sinnoh region? You know, god-level infamy isn't easy to acquire."
"I believe this phenomenon is related to the expansion of cities in the Sinnoh region since the beginning of the League."
Unified Champions answered without hesitation—
"As mentioned earlier, Darkrai is a Pokémon with a strong sense of territory. The so-called lack of aggression is only relative to its abilities. As human cities continued to encroach on the shadowy corners that originally belonged to Darkrai, conflict was inevitable. Urban legends about them also arose on a large scale during this period."
"So how were these conflicts finally resolved?" Wanlong couldn't help but ask.
Similar inferences are not a secret in the field of mythological research. Many ghost stories have described the terrifying scene of the "god of nightmares" infiltrating the dreams of the entire city. She herself has also conducted research in order to write ghost stories.
However, the final outcome of these nightmares is always ambiguous. They either end with a scare-like ending like a classic ghost story, or after a long dream, everyone almost forgets the ending of the nightmare—as if some force has erased this history from people's memories.
"The situation may vary from place to place, and there may be other solutions in different locations. However, according to Cresselia, who plays the role of Count Black Moon in the dream, it once personally acted as a mediator between Darkrai and the local humans, eliminating the humans' fear of Darkrai while allowing the latter to secretly reside in those newly built cities. Of course, the settlement of Darkrai would cause nightmares for the local residents, and that's when Cresselia's dream power was needed."
He paused briefly, allowing everyone to process this mind-blowing information, then pointed to the psychic-powered Pokémon and said, "Two Pokémon that give completely opposite impressions have actually formed a partnership. People always think Cresselia is chasing after Darkrai to clean up its mess. But at least for it, it's simply making regular visits to Darkrai's habitat, where there was a prior agreement, to neutralize Darkrai's Ame-mu fluctuations with its own dream energy—and the reason those Darkrai are willing to continue living alongside humans is precisely because of Cresselia's promise."
"But why would Cresselia do this? What benefit does it bring them?"
Cattleya frowned. Even for a powerful Pokémon like Cresselia, it wasn't wise to waste its psychic powers everywhere.
"This behavior is precisely to collect more dream energy," Hugo replied.
"Dark-type Pokémon rarely use dreams as a source of power, but Cresselia, a Psychic-type, is different. Don't forget, 'Dream Eater' is a Psychic-type move."
"You mean—Creselia actually feeds on human dreams? But that doesn't match the legend of the 'God of Dreams' it left behind." Lian Wu scratched his head and asked, "If dreams are all eaten, then who can remember beautiful dreams?"
"If I'm not mistaken, although both Cresselia and Dream Eater consume dreams, Cresselia is different from Dream Eater, which devours all dream energy. As the 'God of Dreams,' it doesn't need close contact with humans to absorb energy. More importantly, it can accurately distinguish between different dreams."
The detective held up one finger—
"It's important to understand that, according to modern neuroscience research, humans experience multiple dream stages every night. Those dreams we think last all night are often just fleeting moments before waking up. The so-called 'god of sweet dreams' is essentially a filtering mechanism: it devours boring and thrilling nightmares, allowing pleasant dreams to occupy more of our sleep time. Dreams of similar frequencies resonate with each other, even drawing nearby people into a collective unconscious sleep space."
It seemed that this question hadn't been asked in the dream yet, and as he said this, Hugo looked at Cresselia as if seeking confirmation. The latter nodded slightly in response.
The detective, relieved, continued—
"The reason for this speculation is twofold. First, there's the legend of Pokémon leaving behind pleasant dreams and dispelling nightmares. Only this could explain its motivation to proactively resolve the conflict between humans and Darkrai. Second, it's because of Cresselia's actions tonight—didn't you notice how much your tense minds relaxed after having such a pleasant dream?"
"So, Cresselia roams around Sinnoh during the day, absorbing the dreams of the local residents on the night of the new moon, while Darkrai, which creates a large number of nightmares, alters their diet. Is Cresselia's behavior really like complaining to the chef in a restaurant's kitchen?"
The image of Darkrai turning a pot of soup mixed with various colors black in one go flashed through Wanlong's mind, and she suddenly realized what was going on.
"But what does all this have to do with Cresselia coming to Unova?" Lian Wu pressed. "And why was it with Team Plasma N before?"
"It's the same principle," Hugo said confidently.
"During the urbanization process in Sinnoh, Darkrai corrupted the local dreams, so Cresselia, who feeds on dreams, stepped in to mediate. And now, Cresselia has come to Unova for the same reason."
"Could it be that Darkrai has appeared in Unova too? — No, if it's just Darkrai causing nightmares on a small scale, it shouldn't have triggered Cresselia to travel across the ocean. It must be some event with a much greater impact. What happened that made Cresselia, even in Sinnoh, unable to remain indifferent?"
Wanlong clutched her head. If Zhulan, who was well-versed in mythology, were here, she would probably guess the answer immediately.
"Hiss—" Yueju shuddered. "The recent major event related to dreams, which could potentially cause widespread contamination—hey, Hugo, could the event that attracted this guy be the one I was guessing about? Wasn't that matter resolved smoothly?"
Hugo nodded first, then shook his head: "Oh, the incident with the mushroom was indeed the main reason that attracted Cresselia to Unova—right, now it should be called the exposed mushroom, but the reason is not only that. After it arrived in Unova, it discovered a new anomaly—which is why this Cresselia continued to stay in the Unova region."
"What's wrong?" Lian Wu asked.
"If it were that easy to find, it wouldn't be here now," the detective shrugged.
Cresselia initially thought the problem lay with the king of Team Plasma—after all, if one were to reason, ideals are also a kind of dream. But after observing for a while, it ruled out that possibility. After all, the Dark Stone was long gone from Unova, and even if N used another Light Stone to trigger some miracle, it would most likely be unrelated to dreams. But its communication with N during this time wasn't entirely fruitless; at least the king, who could hear the thoughts of all elves, used his power to point out the possible location of the problem to the Goddess of Dreams.
"He didn't forget to fight me halfway through," Cattleya said in a sullen voice with a dark face.
The remaining Heavenly Kings ignored the young lady's complaints and instead became serious. "So, it's possible that some kind of dream pollution is brewing in this Flying Cloud City?" Lian Wu asked, frowning.
"Is it possible that there's another problem with the Exposed Mushroom?" Blueberry stroked her chin. "After all, that's Arceus's tablet. Could it have left some kind of aftereffect?"
"Theoretically, such a possibility is not possible." Hugo shook his head. "Grass-type and Poison-type slabs do not have a lasting effect on dreams. Moreover, after the Flooth evolved, all the spores in the sea lost their activity. Even Cresselia himself secretly checked the condition of that Pokémon, so it can be confirmed that the problem has now been completely resolved."
"What else could it be?" The Ghost-type Elite Four member tapped his fingertips unconsciously on the table, asking in confusion, "Is there some hidden danger in Flying Cloud City that we're unaware of?"
"Would you like me to do a divination?" Cattleya asked.
"Let's consider this a last resort," Hugo said, still somewhat wary of such irrational power. "Before that, I contacted experts in this field. Perhaps it will be of some help to Cresselia."
"Experts?" Several superstars cast questioning glances at each other in unison.
Just then, the coffee shop door was suddenly flung open with a bang, and a figure soaked to the bone rushed in.
"Where is Cresselia?"
The long-haired woman who rushed in didn't even open her umbrella; she staggered straight up to Hugo and the other Heavenly Kings.
Her long black hair clung to her cheeks with raindrops, and her white coat, slightly damp from the drizzle, though not completely soaked, was blindingly white under the lights, like a ghostly elf who had died tragically in the middle of the night.
"Ah, Dr. Makomo." Hugo calmly rose, as if he had anticipated this scene. "The situation isn't urgent enough to require your hasty arrival. Would you like a cup of hot coffee first?"