Chapter 274: Something's Wrong... It's Cresselia!
After being lulled to sleep by Cynthia, Will slept soundly until three or four in the afternoon.
Lorelei and the others tried to wake him for lunch, but he wouldn't budge.
In his dream, Will felt like he was drowning in the ocean.
Yes.
A Piplup... drowning in the sea!
It was a painful feeling, but Will was just too tired. Even the nightmare couldn't wake him.
When he finally woke up, Lorelei and Cynthia were gone. Carmela said they went training, and Lucario went with them.
The big room was empty except for him, Carmela, and a Spiritomb.
"Oh, by the way, Piplup, I bought this when I went grocery shopping this morning~"
Carmela reached behind the sofa and pulled out an Empoleon plushie, about twenty centimeters tall.
She stuffed the plushie into Will's arms.
Seeing the tiny Piplup hugging an Empoleon plushie almost as big as himself, she couldn't help but smile.
"At lunch today, everyone said they slept really well last night and had happy dreams. Why couldn't you sleep~?"
Carmela poked Will's tummy with her finger.
"Who do you think is responsible for that...?" Will thought, rolling his eyes internally while enjoying the scratch.
"Tell me more about you and Meowscarada."
"You're really interested in Meowscarada?"
"Of course. Meowscarada... was quite an incredible Pokémon. It's just that most people don't know what she did."
"Oh? What did she do?"
Will looked up curiously.
Everything Carmela was about to say must have happened after his death in his last life.
He didn't know about these events. He had forgotten to ask the Tree of Beginning or the others. After all, he had assumed Meowscarada would just travel around and live a quiet life like before. He hadn't expected her to do anything big.
"It happened nearly a hundred years ago. I heard it from my grandmother..."
Carmela turned to look out the window, recounting the story.
In the northwestern sea of the Sinnoh region, there are two opposing islands: Fullmoon Island and Newmoon Island.
These are the homes of Cresselia, the Lunar Pokémon, and Darkrai, the Pitch-Black Pokémon.
Although they seem like counterparts, their nature is different. The former is a Legendary Pokémon, while the latter is a Mythical Pokémon. Both have left legends and fantasies in this world.
Directly south of these two islands lies a town called Canalave City.
Every year, Darkrai would appear there for a period. During that time, the people of Canalave City would suffer nightmares for days on end, leaving everyone in town with dark circles under their eyes.
Later, the people of Canalave sought out Cresselia's feather, the Lunar Wing.
With the Lunar Wing, Darkrai's presence would no longer cause nightmares. So whenever Darkrai appeared, the people would bring out the Lunar Wing to dispel the Nightmare Pokémon's aura.
But sometime nearly a hundred years ago...
It seemed humans did something to anger a Darkrai. That Darkrai chased the culprit all the way to Canalave City. After that, it simply stayed there, not leaving for a whole month.
People went to Fullmoon Island to seek Cresselia's help, but couldn't find her. She wasn't on the island.
During that time, as soon as people closed their eyes, they had nightmares.
Someone dreamed their Pokémon died.
Someone dreamed they lost by one move in the regional finals.
Someone dreamed they stopped right before the climax with their crush.
People couldn't bear the suffering, and more and more moved away from Canalave City.
That was when Meowscarada, traveling the world, happened to pass through Canalave. After learning of the situation, she found the hiding Darkrai in just an hour, beat it half to death, and drove it away.
Meowscarada chased it for a while but lost it.
So she went to Newmoon Island. The moment she saw a Darkrai there, she attacked.
But this time, Meowscarada discovered that this Darkrai was far stronger than the one in Canalave.
This Darkrai was on par with Mew, capable of fighting the smaller Shadow Lugia to a standstill. It was stronger than the Regi trio and the Legendary Birds, though not quite at Lugia's level.
Just in time, Cresselia arrived and stopped their fight.
The three Pokémon talked it out.
They realized the Darkrai haunting Canalave wasn't the one living on Newmoon Island, but a different one from somewhere else.
That other Darkrai probably treated Canalave City as a restaurant. When it was hungry every year, it went there, gave people nightmares, and fed on the negative emotions produced.
Upon learning this, the well-raised Meowscarada immediately apologized to the Newmoon Island Darkrai. The latter didn't hold a grudge; instead, it thanked her for the information.
No wonder it often heard people cursing it from outside the island. Although it didn't care much, being scolded for no reason was still unpleasant. Now it understood. Someone was ruining its reputation.
Through this encounter, Meowscarada formed a bond with the two lunar deities.
A legend of Meowscarada was left in Canalave City, but it was very obscure and never spread beyond the town. Over time, perhaps only a few elderly people in Canalave still remembered it.
Listening to Carmela's story...
A lightbulb went on in Will's head. He recalled the scene he saw in his dazed state last night.
"Full moon... sweet dreams... Cresselia..."
Will muttered, his eyes lighting up.
Last night, he thought he was seeing Carmela's "moons." Turns out he wasn't wrong; there really was a big, round full moon in the sky!
Connecting that with Carmela saying everyone had happy dreams...
Will couldn't help but feel something was wrong.
It felt like the Lunar Pokémon was nearby.
He just didn't know which one.
The two on Fullmoon and Newmoon Islands were undoubtedly the originals, the strongest Cresselia and Darkrai. But the one in Celestic Town might not be the one from Fullmoon Island.
"Piplup? What's wrong?"
Carmela rubbed the little penguin's head, wondering what was going on in that small brain.
Will glanced at Carmela.
He was debating whether to tell her.
Carmela was very strong. Maybe not a Champion, but definitely Quasi-Champion level. Her Garchomp and Sceptile were likely Champion-class. But the Spiritomb by the door was clearly not there yet, still at the Elite Four stage, not much stronger than Will.
"Hm?"
"Carmela, have you considered that Cresselia might be here?"
Will hesitated, then decided to tell her. He told her about the full moon he saw last night.
With Carmela's sharp mind, she immediately connected it to the discussion at lunch.
"...It really does seem like it. When I went grocery shopping this morning, everyone looked so happy."
Carmela realized something was off, murmuring, "I knew it... I haven't had that kind of dream in over ten years. Why suddenly now?"
"Should we go look for her?" Will poked Carmela's chin with the plushie.
"No need. Cresselia's arrival is a good thing."
Carmela shook her head, not planning to interfere. Occasionally letting everyone have sweet dreams at night was actually quite nice.
"..."
Will fell silent.
That was true. But what if Cresselia stayed here for a long time? Would it still be a good thing? Dreaming constantly could cause health problems.
But this was only the first day. So they decided not to look for Cresselia and just observe for now.
Days passed.
Will and Carmela's expressions grew grimmer.
Carmela realized Cresselia had no intention of leaving. After ten days of continuous sweet dreams, she felt herself zoning out during the day.
Will discovered another problem.
Because of Carmela, he hadn't slept well at night, so he often napped in the afternoon to recharge.
But...
Whenever Will slept during the day, he invariably had nightmares.
So...
Will suspected that not only was Cresselia here, but Darkrai was here too.
When he told Carmela this, her expression changed.
"So, nightmares during the day, sweet dreams at night..." Carmela stroked her chin in thought.
After a while.
"I'm going to find them. If this continues, Celestic Town will become the second Canalave City."
Carmela put Will aside and stood up.
The population of Celestic Town was small to begin with. It had been growing recently, and she was happy about that. She didn't want those two Pokémon to drive people away.
"I'm going too."
"Piplup, stay here and be good. It's dangerous!" Carmela tapped Will's head with a finger.
Will was speechless. He might look weak, but he was an Elite Four-level Pokémon. He reckoned his combat power wasn't any lower than Carmela's Spiritomb.
"Piplup~"
[Baby-Doll Eyes]
"Ugh... fine, fine. But you have to stay close to me and not run off."
Carmela gritted her teeth, sighed helplessly, and compromised.
She picked Will up, then took Spiritomb and five other Poké Balls and headed out the door.
It looked like Carmela was planning to go all out.
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