Pokémon: A Promised Journey

Chapter Fifteen: Overlapping Worlds

Snapping out of it, Growlithe fired another well-aimed Fire Spin at the moving shadows right in front of it, hitting right on mark and prompting the escaping Darkrai to re-emerge from the ground. Not wasting a second, Growlithe enveloped himself in flames before rolling towards the Dark-type who made several copies of itself to avoid getting hit. 

"Hyper Beam!" Alberto's obnoxious voice rang through the alleyway as his Pokémon's attack landed on the real Darkrai coincidently.

"Do you always have to butt your nose?" Xavier grimaced. The Baron had definitely rubbed the wrong and not just him but the rest of the people whom he is traveling with as well. 

"I will be the one to catch Darkrai so step back." Alberto arrogantly stated, stepping forward to take charge of the battle. "You will be the one getting out of here. Gyro Ball!" 

"Wrong!"

Letting out a cry of protest, Darkrai fired a pair of Dark Voids towards the two Pokémon. Responding quickly, Xavier retracted Growlithe inside the pokéball to save him from experiencing any sort of nightmares. Lickilicky wasn't that lucky and fell down on the ground, snoring. Using this distraction as a chance, Darkrai escaped through the shadows.

"All because of you getting in my way." Alberto grumbled, proceeding to wake up his sleeping Pokémon.

"That should be my line genius!" Xavier rolled his eyes before heading out of the alleyway. Rather than staying here with this pompous rich kid, he would rather continue searching for the Dark-type. He turned to leave when his eyes were graced with the strangest sight he would ever witness. 

"Uhhh..?"

"What is it now?" The redhead grumbled, not taking note of the fact that his voice was changing.

"...How do I put this?" Holding back his chuckling and instead focusing on the seriousness of the situation, he pointed to a nearby window. "Just take a look yourself."

"WHAT'S THIS?!"

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The Pokécenter had become a chaotic place in a span of minutes. Due to all the Pokémon falling asleep thanks to Darkrai's Dark Void and the strange phenomenon of Pokémon floating through the city and passing through walls, almost every trainer had gathered in the Center, demanding for Nurse Joy to check and fix the issues with their Pokémon. Moreover, the Pokémon weren't showing signs of waking up either.

Nurse Joy's workload lessened up even for a little bit when Professor Rowan and Professor Carolina entered the fray and helping out the trainers and their sleeping Pokémon. Not even they could figure out what was going on but the main priority remained on taking care of the Pokémon. Once this clears up, they would devote their time to finding the root cause of this phenomenon.

"Hey Dawn." Lucas poked the blue-haired girl gulping at the sight of a Pokémon passing through the roof of the Pokécenter. "Please tell me I am not the only one hallucinating."

"Rather than hallucinations, I think this is an optical illusion." Cynthia theorized.

"But how can Darkrai's attacks cause optical illusion?" Dawn inquired. "All it does is give its victims nightmares. I mean if that were the case then Xavier would have been floating yesterday."

"You are right. Something is different about today." Professor Rowan added, his usual stoic expression morphing to that of shock and surprise upon seeing Pokémon passing through him. 'I am getting too old for surprises.'

"I don't know whether its optical illusion or not. I mean how are you supposed to explain this." Xavier's voice cut through the discussion. He entered followed by his Machop carrying a sleeping Lickilicky. Following the two was another Lickilicky wearing a yellow sash over his shoulder, similar to how Baron Alberto wore his.