The room was filled with a dark entity, the shadow rising up to the roof. Clemont sat up and struggled to the corner of his bed as his door slowly creaked open.=
"Come on, big brother..." Bonnie's voice echoed as the door opened. No one was there, just a shadow like smoke filling the room. "Lets play together"
"WHAT ARE YOU?!" Clemont screamed into the darkness.
"What am I?" Bonnie's innocent voice echoed once more, two purple eyes flashed from the shadows. "I am your little sister, dear big brother"
There was a flash of lightning that illuminated the room for a second. Bonnie's eyes were purple and her face was scrunched up, a complete mess. A silver knife flashed in the darkness, causing Clemont to get even more scared.
"Time to have fun!" Bonnie cackled, before rushing at Clemont with the knife. Everything went black.
"BONNIEEEEE!" Clemont rushed up from his bed, panting heavily. Birds tweeted softly outside in the forest. Clemont rubbed his eyes and then looked at his hands. "It was just a dream"
"Huh, big brother?" Bonnie peeped in through the crack in the door. "What's wrong?"
"Sorry, I just had a bad dream" Clemont rubbed his head, embarrassed and then sat up, before placing his glasses on his face.
"That's weird, Serena and I had some weird dreams too" Bonnie turned and faced away from her brother. "We decided to make breakfast so come and get it!"
Clemont shifted into the main room and sat down at the table. Everyone gathered up what they wanted to eat from the middle and then started eating.
"So, that weird dream of yours Clemont...What was it about?" Serena sounded a little on edge. Clemont shifted his glasses and then sighed.
"I was in my room and it was dark. Bonnie was there, but she was like some sort of demon and she killed me.."
"That is weird" Bonnie shivered. "Mine was almost exactly the same, except you used me to experiment on one of your inventions and it blew up"
"What about you Serena?" Clemont asked, taking a sip of coffee.
"Well, erm...Hey! This sausage is sooo good!" Serena tried to avoid the question. She half blushed, feeling embarrassed by the question.
"Was it about Ash?" Bonnie asked bluntly. Serena's reaction gave them the answer. "Well, why did we all have nightmares?"
"I think I understand why. We all had nightmares about our biggest fears, this could be some sort of weird trick used by a Pokemon..." Clemont thought carefully about the situation and he even made Bonnie and Serena stop eating so they could think about it.
"Maybe your right...We should ask the others today" Serena said to Clemont.
"I am going to May's house again. Her parents want me to help Max look after some Pokemon!" Bonnie sounded excited, Serena and Clemont both knew that she liked caring for Pokemon.
"Sounds like a plan" Clemont stood up from the table. "Thanks for breakfast you two, I am going to get my things ready so we can head out"
Soon after, Bonnie parted ways with Clemont and Serena. Clemont decided that they should head into the city, because they needed to find out what the final qualifying round is for the battle tournament.
"Hey you guys!" Miette, who was playing catch up, came running across the path in her usual attire. She had her bag on her back, which bounced back and forth as she ran.
"Oh, good morning Miette" Serena said with a polite I-like-morning kind of smile.
"I had the weirdest thing happen to me last night" Miette finally replied once she caught her breath.
"Let me guess" Clemont said with a matter-of-fact tone. "You had a nightmare about your biggest fear?"
"How-how did you know?" Miette's voice was almost a whisper, she seemed a little embarrassed, wanting to keep it between the three of them.
"Well, the same thing happened to us" Serena replied, making Miette slightly confused.
"So, what was yours about?" Miette asked Serena, in a teasing way. "I bet I already know, hmmmm?"
"Shush, I bet you had the same one!" Serena blushed a faint red.
"Wha-? No way, not me!" Miette went red too and she looked away from Serena.
Clemont, who was watching them both tease each other, just laughed out loud.
"Then, what was it about?" Serena asked properly, no teasing involved.
"I won't tell you" Miette huffed like a four year old who couldn't get what they wanted, so they wouldn't give anything in return.
"So, it was the same...ok then" Serena grinned, but also felt a little worried at the prospect of actual 'competition'
"Shut UP!" Miette slapped Serena playfully on the arm and then started to wrestle her down to the ground, like anyone hiding their embarrassment, or trying to atleast. They ended up falling over, struggling to say anything. Clemont just awkwardly watched until someone slapped him on the back of the head.
"It's not everyday you get girls fighting over you" Gary smirked as he watched the play fight unfold, with an uncertain amount of interest.
"Right..." Clemont didn't even flinch at Gary's remark, he just thought about their priorities. "We need to get going, now isn't the time to play around. Lets stop messing around"
"Huh?" Serena looked over Miette's shoulder from the floor, awkwardly.
"Sorry..lets go" Miette said, getting up from Serena. She brushed down her clothes and then slung her backpack up her shoulders properly.
Everyone headed off, Gary for some reason decided to follow them and the events from moments ago were just a distant, awkward, strange memory. It seemed Miette and Serena still had a competition, yet they both annoyed each other for it. There was a sort of mutual respect compared to when they was in Kalos.
"I am actually curious as to what the next round is" Clemont went back on-topic, Serena shrugged and Gary flashed a grin.
"I already know, it is happening today" He said informatively.
"It is?!" The others said in unison.
"Yeah, it is some sort of lottery game. First come first served. If you pick a number over 64, you are out of the tournament. The ones that get the 1-64 balls will be going through to the final rounds" Gary explained.
"Seems simple enough" Clemont nodded once he heard the explanation.
"What about Ash?" Miette was a little worried. "Isn't he still resting?"
"Yeah, I told him and he said he will be there" Gary answered Miette's question. "No need to get worried" He finished with a little smirk. Gary put his hands in his pockets and then continued to walk on.
"So, what do you guys think about these dreams?" Serena suddenly said, referring back to the previous topic.
"Dreams?" Gary asked. "You mean like a nightmare?"
Clemont nodded for confirmation, Gary had a creeped out kind of look.
"I had this weird nightmare, something about Umbreon and the Pokemon League" Gary shrugged. "So, we all had this nightmare then?"
"Well, not the same ones, but they all had our fears inside of them" Serena replied, with a slight shiver. "It gives me the creeps just thinking about it.
"I know what it is then" Gary said this so casually that everyone looked dumbfounded.
"Huh, what is it?" Clemont asked, scratching his chin in thought. Even he couldn't deduce what it might have been.
"Darkrai" Gary replied, simply. "He is a Pokemon that can cause Pokemon and people to have nightmares if he is close by"
"So, what you're suggesting, is that Darkrai is in the Kanto region?" Clemont continued to ask, he already knew the reply.
"Of course, why would we all have these kinds of dreams?" Gary asked rhetorically.
"True, it isn't everyday you all have nightmares" Miette laughed.
"What I want to know is what everyone else had nightmares about" Serena had a tone of interest. Everyone else had it written on their faces.
"It could help to understand what is going on. We have the final round coming up AND the possible Darkrai problem" Gary was thinking straight for once. He stopped to sit by a tree and thought logically about the situation.
"Why are we stopping?" Miette asked, as everyone else sat down. In acquiescence, she just sat down with the others under the tree.
"Because, it is just muddling me up a little bit, there is that one little jigsaw piece that I need to fit it all together. Why would Darkrai be in Kanto..." Gary continued to think, even harder. His face tensed up with concentration, while the others looked around at the people passing by, thinking lightly about the situation.
"Wait..." Clemont looked up and then turned to Gary. "Darkrai is a dark type Pokemon, right?"
"Yes, it is" Gary nodded in reply.
"Well, wouldn't that suggest only one thing?" Clemont's words hit everyone like a grenade exploding. They knew what he meant, only one group of people could be behind this.
"I wonder if they wanted Darkrai to be hidden from us..." Miette then said, creating even more questions.
"No, it isn't possible. Darkrai probably tripped up anyone who was sleeping and I am sure that there will be a ruckus in the city" Clemont replied, sounding more like Cilan by the second. Cilan was the one who liked to solve problems.
"So, if we thought about this smartly, Team Shadow will strike with some sort of plan as soon as they can?" Gary asked Clemont, as if he knew all the answers himself.
"I am not sure. But whatever happens, the whole tournament is probably going to fall into disarray sometime soon" Clemont had a sort of grim expression as his words echoed for a moment. Silent fell over the four of them as they thought about the tournament and the possibility of an enemy in the shadows. Also, a Pokemon as strong as Darkrai was lurking around in their midst, meaning things were not pretty for Ash and co.
On the other side of the city, Ash was just getting out of his hospital bed.
"Come on, Pikachu!" Ash shouted out with excitement, now fully dressed and ready to go. "Lets go pick a lucky number and win this tournament once and for all!"
Ash had not befallen to the power of Darkrai, for one reason.
Parker watched with a satisfied grin across his face. He sat in the largest tree, just outside the hospital. The wind swayed the branch he rested his feet on, but his steady, firm grasp on the hollow trunk gave him enough balance to keep himself steady.
"Don't worry Ash. Soon enough, your greatest fears will come true. There is no need for you to dream, because your dreams are going to be reality"