-Blessed by Divinity: Eternity-

Nightmare World IV

Darkrai stared out across the clearing, its azure blue eyes staring deeply into mine. A silence filled the air between us but I felt that no words were needed as I had finally come face to face with the nightmare pokemon.

Slowly, I reached into my bag, pulling out the book I had picked up from the Canalave Library. Darkrai quickly picked up on what I was doing as I flicked through the pages. The nightmare pokemon raised its right hand, a glowing purple page appearing in its hand. As the glow faded, I recognised the page as the same one that I had put together in the dream world.

The tears at one end of the page fitted perfectly into where a page had been torn from the book, the two objects merging into one. There were no seams or evidence that suggested a page had been torn from the book, the page blending in with the others.

As I closed the book, returning it to my bag, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the water beneath my feet. I had to do a double take, unsure I had seen correctly. My right eye was still glowing its usual vibrant gold in the darkness, but my left was no longer glowing the same colour. I knelt down closer to water, seeing that my left eye was glowing a deep amethyst purple, a similar colour to my hair.

I looked up to Darkrai who only kept a blank expression on its face. Dragonite made her way over to us, looking down at her reflection. Both of her eyes were glowing gold in the darkness, still as vibrant as ever when our auras overlapped.

"I don't suppose you know what this means?"

Darkrai didn't seem to know the answer to my question, its eyes fixed on my reflection. After a moment, the nightmare pokemon looked up, extending its right arm forward.

That told me that even Darkrai didn't know why my eye had changed colour but I guessed I'd find out why soon enough. At that, I pulled out a pokeball from my bag, looking over to Darkrai. The nightmare pokemon didn't change its expression, looking over to Dragonite who only had her usual goofy smile.

The pokeball floated out of my hand, covered in an unfamiliar purple light as Darkrai allowed itself to be captured. I reached down to pick up the pokeball, releasing the nightmare pokemon.

There was an air of mutual agreement between the three of us to get the fuck off this island. With that, no more needed to be said as we exited the forest, Darkrai returning to its pokeball as I climbed atop Dragonite as we made our way back to the mainland.

---

"May? Red? Dawn? Can you guys hear me?"

The connection on the line was weak and I was ready to give up hope of trying to reach out to the other three trainers. Dragonite had landed just off the coast of Canalave, cautious not to attract any more attention than we needed.

"Aaron? About time, yeah I can hear you."

Thankfully, May had picked up on her end, the connection stabilising. A white light hologram flashed up from my device, the brunette explaining that she tracked Maxie and Archie down to Eterna City. Before she could continue, the line wavered slightly, another white light hologram appearing.

"..."

Red explained that he was in Jubilife City and that he had tracked the remainder of Team Rocket down to the Poketch building. Once again, the line wavered, Dawn finally joining the call.

"Wow, of course I'm the last one here. Don't worry, Elaine's with me."

"Alright, I'm sure we've all got a lot to talk about so we should regroup at, uh, at..." My words ran dry as I remembered that we couldn't meet anywhere due to the new prices on our heads. Every major city and town would be on notice, waiting for any sign of us.

"Uh, Aaron? You just spaced out."

I shook my head, returning my attention to the three trainers on the holographic device. "Yeah, just so you know, we've all got prices on our heads so meeting anywhere is going to be hard."

There were mixed reactions from everyone, Dawn unsurprised at the news of a bounty being on her head. May furrowed her brow, ready to let loose on the next pour soul who came her way. Red, on the other hand, didn't seem to bothered by the news. I guessed he was already used to it, but I would never know because that boy was a complete mystery.

"I'll explain more when we meet." I paused, thinking over my next words before settling on, "Ok, we'll regroup at Celestic Town. That should be the safest place for us. Don't stay in any big cities for too long and keep moving until you get there. Cynthia's grandma should be able to help us out."

The three trainers were all in agreement, and I guessed Dawn would catch Elaine up on what was next for us. At that, the device went blank, switching off as the connections severed.

I looked over to Dragonite who was sat by the shore, looking out to the sea. I followed her gaze, seeing the slow rise of the sun over the horizon. As I made my way over to her, she looked over to me, an understanding look on her face as she stood up from where she was sat.

She allowed me to climb atop her back once more as we took off, Celestic Town our destination.