Chapter Text
The car trudged on the asphalt, the wheels turning endlessly on the road to the life humans had built, the civilization they had borne with their hands… Fine, maybe not so poetic, but Dylan was bored out of his mind, he had a three-hour trip to a warehouse because his boss wouldn't do it himself, the lazy bastard had dropped the news on him the day before. Three hours there and three hours back for a grand total of six hours in which the most interesting thing would be the trees.
And all that for just a few hard drives that his stuck-up boss insisted couldn't be delivered by mail, like any normal sensible person would think of doing first. Really, why send someone when you can pay a company to do that? Someone who makes his employee pay the gas to save money, that's who!
Well, at least he got to get away from the city for a while and enjoy the smogless roads. That was always a plus in his eyes.
Ugh, I should never had moved into the city. Land of opportunity, hah!
He kept thinking of finding a new job, until he realized the pay was decent enough and he didn't want the trouble to go another bunch of interviews. That had not been fun times for him. The drudgery of then day to day had been steadily getting to him thorough the time it had taken him to grow accustomed to the never-ending paperwork, and the reality of that being his life for the foreseeable future only getting to him a bit.
With no other option, Dylan continued to drive past the tress, his mind wandering on its own as it tried to divide the attention between something that would not kill his brain and paying attention to the road.
He heard thud in the distance, the sound of rocks sliding, the only noise that was different to that of passing cars and rustling trees. His head managed to register it for a moment before his car was thrown away, the wall of rock that he had passed impacting it and sending it flying down a chasm below.
The car spun in midair as the seatbelt did its best effort to kept him from flying out of it and into the found, he could hear the strain of the material as clear as water despite his thumping heart drowning all other sounds as he fell and fell. Shards of glass passing past him and leaving his windshield in complete tatters, the air outside whistling past.
The car crashed against something, and he heard a terrible crunching sound, just before green flooded his vision and he was face to face with the remains of a fallen tree entering his windshield.
He couldn't feel anything at all, he couldn't move, he didn't feel any pain.
The branches extended past his vision, and he could see red begin to seep onto the dashboard. He could not move any part of his body.
I am going to die. That was the conclusion he reached after a minute of just staring uncomprehendingly at the blood that was flowing from him. Despite that grim prognostic, he didn't feel sad, nor scared, he just continued to stare as his eyes grew weaker and weaker, the very act of keeping them open so very taxing on his unresponsive body.
His death would be another tally in the statistics that were car accidents, another number that went up, another number that went down. All in all, he thought he lived a decent life, not to exiting, but good. He had made a lot of good memories, and he will miss a lot more.
His family would miss him, or at least he hoped so. The days spend at that rented lake house were surely over for him, never to see them again as he would be in a place beyond reach for anybody except God.
He would be free of the pain of living, of the endless struggle to survive in the demanding society he had lived in.
Were those not good things? Were those not joyous things?
Or perhaps that was just his brain shutting down as he sought a good point of his situation before the end.
There were many things he did not get to do.
He didn't even get to see what the Switch 2 looked like.
With that rather stupid idea in mind, he closed his eyes for the last time.
And then he fell.
His eyes saw again, a mixture of colors illuminating a strange sky, that shifted in red, midnight blue and other multicolored hues. Pieces of rock defying gravity and floating without effort or logic in fragmented pieces of dirt and strange crystal constructions.WHO DARES!?
His body in freefall let him little space to think of anything as it plummeted and changed direction randomly, making it seem gravity had not decided which was to make him go down.INTERLOPER.
He continued in his fall until a piece of rock glass and water welcomes him in a hot and cold impact his body felt all over. He began to sink into water that did not fell like water at all, all his limbs reacting and trying to move in the thick substance that changed density each time one of them moved.HOW CURIOUS.
Once again, he felt his eyes darken, black dots dancing in the corners of his vision.HOW DID YOU GET HERE?
Red dots were boring into his mind, he could feel memories shifting and bubbling into the forefront randomly, a soup of confusion he couldn't grasp enough to give it shape.WHO BROUGHT YOU HERE?
His feet sank even further into something he couldn't describe.I WILL BE WATCHING. YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE ME.
His eyes, heavy and not quite taking out his surroundings feel and darkened his vision in familiar hue.
His eyes prickled.
He opened them, and blue skies welcomed his vision with white clouds passing by, slowly dancing in the air with a lazy current of air that caressed his skin, almost like a loved hand welcoming him home.
His breathing was steady, and he felt grass beneath his hands as he patted the floor to steady himself. Dylan sat up and took the view dazedly.
What just happened?
He stood up, hoping that his mind could make sense of what had occurred, that somehow, he could determine what his mind had experienced in thew last few moments.
His eyes saw green, and he flinched, a hand flying to his stomach and finding nothing there. There was nothing wrong with his body, nor his eyes, but still there was a budging sensation that there should be something there, something wrong.
When he took the views more carefully, he saw trees all around him. He was in a forest.
What?
The forest was big, green trees mixing with flowers he didn't recognize, a symphony of smells he associated with idyllic adds on TV and mountain retreats that had been left apart from the contamination civilization inevitably produced. Something he only had managed to get a glimpse of in those retreats with his family to that nice lake.
All in all, it was a sight to behold for his eyes, almost straight out of a storybook.
But where was he anyway? The last thing he remembered was—ah, what a pathetic way to die—He shook his head to scatter those thoughts away at the same time his right hand clutched his pounding skull. He needed to get his bearing and investigate his surroundings.
Besides the forest, there didn't seem to be anything else to note, save from a stone or two scattered around the base of trees. And that was precisely the problem. He knew he had crashed, that his car had killed him and understood that his life had come to an end. But it had happened when leaving the city, and while a lot of trees decorated the roadside other cars had passed by, not many, but enough to be a number that couldn't be missed, and the asphalt necessary to host them all. Yet, none of it was there. There was a forest when none should be, and no noises he associated with being anywhere near a highway were present. There weren't even any rails or such thing that denoted that civilization was nearby.
Just what had happened? He just needed to think.
Maybe… maybe I crawled out and I am just concussed? Yeah, that must be it. I just need to find help or an emergency phone. Do that. Do that.
His feet began to walk over the grass and earth, his steps taking him in a random direction with no real destination in mind. Not that it mattered anyway, he was very near civilization; he would find someone in time, he just had to keep walking. He just had to keep walking.
There was something off about that fore— that patch of verdant leaves near the highway. It seemed too big, the green stretched all the way to the horizon he could see and even beyond, thick wood mixing with each other creating a sea of vegetation his own mind tried futilely to rationalize each passing minute with increasingly wild theories, ranging from a new expansion from the government to a sudden overgrowth of plants near that fully asphalted road… in an area frequently used by cars…. His brain hadn't come up with logical things at the moment.
His ears caught the sound of a struggle near and his hear soared, what seemed like animal cries. They must be people investigating nearby! Yes, those animals must be police dogs or something. He sought the sound, frantic steps celebrating his survival, his salvation from the jaws of death that had closed around him, a new day that he would treasure like no other. When the light of a new dawn was close, only coldness was in his heart and that stopped him in his tracks when he reached the sounds and saw what exactly was producing it.
It was a purple monkey and a pair of things that looked like deformed beavers mixed with a squirrel fighting over a bunch of strange looking fruits with a grey lizard with a yellow crest protruding from a reptilian snout.
Dylan just blinked. He just stared at the impossibility in front of him, as the four motherfucking Pokémon glared at each other. The Aipom extending two purple hands shielding the two normal types behind him, as a tail that looked to much like a hand made snapping motions at the lizard on the other side of the bunch of berries; a mount of them on the grass that looked like someone got high and drew mutated fruits from a drug-addled memory resulting in things that looked so off he would not even call them edible at a glance. The two Bidoof cowered behind the monkey with fearful eyes that looked at the other Pokémon and behind, seemingly at a loss whenever to fight or flee.
On the other side of the situation was a dragon, a fucking dragon, snarling at them with slitted red eyes and a jaw that gleamed with small teeth as it snapped along with claws that clashed on the floor.
"Holy shit…" Dylan could not help but mutter.
The four Pokémon's attention snapped at once, eight eyes now looking at him. Ah, shit. The Aipom and the Bidoofs' eyes were questioning, but the Jangmo-o's were hostile, as he growled in his direction; seemingly perceiving him as a new threat.
He raised his hands and arms in a placating way, or at least he hoped it seemed that way to the Pokémon. "I'm sorry for intruding, but I mean no harm." I must be dreaming…
The little dragon paused and narrowed his eyes, silently asking him what the hell he was doing there. Meanwhile, the group of Pokémon looked at him with pleading eyes, even the Aipom made waving notions to themselves and then the dragon, before clasping them together and making a little bow.
Dylan gulped and began to speak, desperately hoping none of them will decide that attacking him is better than to listen to him prattle. "I know you are on the cusp of battle now, but why not see if we can find a peaceful solution to this?"
The Jangmo-o now looked at him with the face of someone who doubted the intelligence of the speaker after he said a particularly stupid thing.
The Aipom was looking pretty disbelieving and almost offended he had even asked.
He gulped. Just a Dragon and some Pokémon that could break every bone in my body without much effort, no biggie. "What seems to be the problem here?"
The monkey pointed accusingly at the lizard. "Aipom! Pom!" His arms pointed to the berries before patting at its own cream chest.
Did the Dragon-type steal their food? It seemed like the most likely option. That also meant it was not a good one. Thieves were never judged positively, specially when they take food from others. And Dylan wasn't really sure how Pokémon would act, given he didn't know how strong their instincts were compared to the animals back at Earth.
But given the fact that I am speaking to them and managed to stop, or at least stall, a possible fight, it has to count for something, right?
He looked at the Jangmo-o, who had begun to growl again, and realized that, upon closer inspection, really looked worse for the wear. Its skin was a dirty and the scales were a bit chipped in places; his claws also looked broken in places and marred with dirt, and the back legs were a bit roughed up. All of that accentuated by a body that looked skinny and underfeed, at least based on what he remembered the species looked like.
What that all of that meant was that the dragon was ready to fight for his first real meal in a while.
That also meant he was kinda fucked.
"Well, I see what the issue is," he began, hoping a human-like approach would work, because he was no Steve Irwing, and trying to emulate him would surely make him end with missing limbs. "And I understand why you are angry, Aipom, but I also see Jangmo-o needing the food, as its obvious he hasn't eaten in a while. So, why not be kind and give him a part of the berries?"
He knew he had said something wrong as soon as those words left his mouth as the dragon shot a small ball of fire in his direction, narrowly missing his chest and splattering to the ground with a hiss, scorching the green grass but luckily not spreading past the small black ring it created.
Jangmo-o was now furious, heavily exhaling through its mouth and showing a row of shiny and very sharp teeth. Its face contorted in anger, red eyes glinting.
Shit, shit, shit! The Bidoofs squealed and ran behind him, slotting themselves behind his legs. Why are you hiding behind me!? You are way stronger than me! The Aipom seemed to think the same, but nevertheless it readied its tail to attack.
Think. What did he do wrong? He just said they should share part of their food, if anything the ones angry should be the Aipom and its friends, not the Dragon, who he just had offered a bit… of pity food. Ah, shit. Dragons were supposed to be prideful, weren't they?
He must not have liked that pity, no matter how much he needed it.
That reduced his options quite a bit.
The two Bidoofs nudged his legs forward, and when he looked at them, he noticed hopeful eyes looking at him and his pants. Did they…? "Sorry, but I am not a Trainer I have no Pokémon."
The hope in their eyes quickly shifted to alarm, eyes widening as they nudged harder, noses digging into his pants as they pushed him forward again, perhaps in a vain hope something would be different. "I really don't have any Pokémon, guys!" The Jangmo-o looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and condescension.
Dylan patted his pockets and waist to check and stopped when his fingers found something smooth, small, and round attached to his belt. He took it and looked at him. It was a Pokéball, the red and white he had seen so many times on videogames and TV gleaming in the sun, reflecting all his childhood dreams back at his eyes in glinting nostalgia, held in his tight hand.
He now looked at the wary Jangmo-o, the inquisitive Aipom, and the again hopeful Bidoofs. "I don't know how to use this," he declared.
The Aipom facepalmed.
The Bidoofs' smiles fell into an expression of alarm.
The Jangmo-o looked at him with the face of someone who got told a bad joke.
Such nonsensical things in such a nonsensical situation made his mouth open in a giggle that soon escalated to a titter and then to laugher. His left hand clutched his stomach as his legs grew weak, and he fell to the floor laughing all the way. He didn't notice the now worried look at the faces of all four Pokémon, and the Bidoofs that looked at each other in confusion. Dylan, for his part, wondering if all of this was a complete hallucination his dying brain conjured up to make his last moments pleasant.
He now laid on the floor looking up at the canopy and the bluest sky he had ever seen as the last vestiges of his laugher bubbled up his throat. The Pokéball was still held strongly in his right hand, his fingers absentmindedly tracing the surface.
I must be dying right now.
A pink berry, a Pecha Berry, if he remembered correctly, was put near his head by a gray jaw, red eyes locked on him as he was nudged gently.
He rose to a sitting position, now looking at all the Pokémon who gave strange looks as he lifted the berry in a daze and bit into it. The flavor flooded his mouth; a sweetness that halfway between and apple, a strawberry, and a cherry. All mixed together in what objectively was a delicious fruit with pink skin and equally pink insides.
The Aipom began grabbing berries in his purple hands and depositing them near the Dragon-type, until there was small colorful and delectable pile of them, which the reptile gracefully accepting them and began to eat with abandon.
Dylan realized the Dragon was worse for the wear, now that he was able to look at him up close. His… skin? Scales? Were dirty and matted, his claws chipped in places and some missing entirely, and he though it looked thin. Albeit he had no idea what constituted as thin in a Dragon of all things.
The berries were crushed in powerful jaws and Dylan wondered if they could reduce gemstones to smithereens too.
Still, for a dying dream, it is far too cool. He was ready for it too turn into a nightmare at any moment… But why such pessimism? He asked himself, after all, it is best to enjoy these kinds of things while they last. Yes, that is what he should do, enjoy it until that tree squishes the last of his life out.
He gave a finishing bite to thew sweet fruit before standing up looking over the assembled Pokémon. "Since you shared the fruit at my request, let me help you find more!" He quickly put the Pokéball in place again.
The deadpan look he received wounded his pride more than he would like to admit. "Come on, guys, I am not that incompetent."
The deadpan looks became even more pronounced. Yeesh, would it kill you to be a bit nicer, dream? You owe my brain rent. "Well, lets go!" He ignored the way the Aipom looked at the Jangmo-o and pointed at him with pity in his eyes and the manner in which the dragon snorted and finished the last remains of the pile of exotic fruit in two gulps, Dylan took off in a random direction. Not precisely a bright idea, but it was a dream so it was likely that something would happen sooner or later.
"Ai-Aipom!" The purple monkey overtook him a made motions for him to follow him.
He raised and eyebrow and dutifully obeyed the instructions of the Pokémon, walking behind it and the Bidoofs alongside the small dragon, who had taken an almost protective stance near him, occasionally stealing furtive glances at Dylan when it though he wasn't looking. Is it supposed to represent my guardian angel or something?
The forest itself was magnificent; tall trees formed a green canopy that reflected the light just right to make the colors pop and shine in the air. He saw a group of Cherubi hop past by at the same time two Kricketot and a green Burmy observed him curiously from the branches of trees, all under the watchful eye of a Kricketune. It was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen, and he found himself cheerfully singing a tune along his steps.
The Bidoofs smelled the air and changed directions each time they stopped to do so, while they Aipom followed them close by, occasionally stopping when the Bidoofs said something to it, and Dylan could hear each 'Bidoof' had a slightly different pronunciation than the others, making him think back to that poem in Chinese that was the same word over and over. He missed the glances the Aipom kept stealing his way, too enamored with the sights to notice it.
They continued to walk until they reached a small clearing with a few bushes in it, which had several different berries growing on them. If he remembered correctly, two of those had Oran and Pecha Berries sitting among softly blowing leaves, a sweet and tangy smell filling the air as he approached them.
He was surprised to see the berry trees were a smaller than he imagined, the Oran one being the smallest one by a wide margin, barely reaching to his waist with the Pecha surpassed his head but still was smaller compared the fruit tree on the real world.
He kneeled in front of the blue fruits and his eyes roamed over them, taking into account every detail; from the small indents they had, to the vivid blue color, to the sweet and citric smell that wafted off them, and just stared a bit, lost in a fruit. This dream is really detailed…
He felt a nudge in his right leg and saw the Jangmo-o look at him concerned. "Jangmo-o, Jang?" One his claws gestures to the fruit while his eyes almost expectantly looked at his hands.
He realized the Aipom had come closer when his feels a hand- no its tail- on his own hand and softly directs it to the skin of the fruit, never taking its sight from Dylan. Not even when he dazedly took one fruit from the bush-tree. He stared at the purple monkey until it began to fidget and extended a hand to it, until it touched its head and rubbed against that oddly colored but soft fur.
Despite the Aipom not fighting it, it appeared extremely flustered. "Aipom-pom?" He continued to pet it, taking note of the lighter colored fur near his mouth and hand-tail, and the way there was a small scar near his mouth, very light, but distinguishable up close. This is a dream; I must be in the hospital. This is a dream; I must be in the hospital. This is a dream; I must be in the hospital.
He stood up quickly. "I will search for more fruits nearby!" he announced.
The Pokémon seemed far from pleased with that statement, the Bidoof was nervously eating a Pecha Berry that the Aipom must have gotten it, the clash of teeth audible to his pounding ears.
His feet began to move despite the protest of the Pokémon by his sides as he walked past the trees and into a more shaded area of the forest, where the branches were very thick and little light managed to get to the ground. The small patches almost like shimmering puddles to him.
Why haven't I woken up?
He could feel something in his neck, the hairs on it rose up and he could hear cold lap at them at the same time he swore he could feel eyes on him, but when he turned to look there was nothing except the approaching Pokémon he left behind. He began to pick up speed, the trees pacing past him as he continues to run through the forest, uncaring of his surroundings.
"Jang-Jangmo-o!"
He could see, in the distance, two red dots shine for moment before disappearing from his view. He made his way to them, his steps wobbly. Maybe that's the ambulance, help is coming I won't die oh god thank you
A skull jumped from thin air as two giant and gleaming red eyes suddenly were inches from his.
He gave an unmanly scream as he lost his footing and plummeted to the floor, rather than just stopping, the ground became uneven, and he began to roll over the floor descending quickly as he crashed onto branches that whipped his arms, legs, and uncovered face. He continued roiling until his back hist a solid surface sending a wave of pain through his body.
He was on all fours now, and one hand touched his left cheek and discovered a large stinging cut where once was unmarred skin. He had lost all sense of direction and had no idea where he was.
The skull, a Duskull, was ion front of him again, two red dots emanating from empty eye sockets creating an eerie felling as something cold settled in his gut. "H-hello?"
The Pokémon looked over him. "Duskull." It made a sign towards the hill he just fell on and then towards a small, illuminated patch not too far from his position, before floating upwards to the level of the trees and quickly disappearing in them.
The Jangmo-o is the first to arrive, his eyes wide and continuously speaking, or more accurately, growling, while red eyes dug into his. The Aipom came later, followed closely by the Bidoof. The purple Pokémon wincing when it saw his wound.
The Aipom offered its tail to help him stand and when it realized Dylan wasn't moving on his own, took the job of making him stand on itself, a gesture which he appreciated more that words would convey.
He began to walk towards the patch, his steps slightly steadier than before.
A bush with chromatic leaves, shining with blue and green and red, almost metallic looking, was quietly sitting there with berries that looked like stars growing from stems that were more like glass than plants, five colored petals shining from five different fruits. A smell that was proper of a fully baked dessert softly wafting from them, filling his nose with memories of days with grandma baking in the oven whings his father had forbidden him to eat.
'Our little secret' she used to say, as a piece of pie was put into his mouth.
"I found berries guys! A good one too!" he found himself saying. His vision focused once more. Dreams could be rather vivid, after all. He didn't even need to be dying, all the medicine in the hospital must be doing a number on his brain.
He didn't know a lizard could make a disappointed face that eclipsed everyone he had seen on humans. He even got the 'I'm not angry' part right.
"Don't look at me like that, I found some good berries…" he paused. "These are good, right?" He really had no idea if the supposed lore was the same in a dream.
The Aipom was now staring with wide eyes as the Bidoofs jumped up and down chattering excitedly, even the Jangmo-o seemed impressed with his find, albeit in a 'I can't believe someone like you managed to do that' way. A bit insulting, all things considered, he was doing his best… mostly.
The Aipom went ahead and began to pluck the berries and give them to the eagerly waiting Bidoofs, as Dylan came closer to the bush and delicately plucked the soft fruit, offering it to the Dragon-type, who took it in his jaws and chewed them slowly, never taking its eyes off him. Said eyes widened and a contented smile began to grow on its reptilian face. The other three Pokémon had similar looks of their own, contently savoring the Starf Berry.
The last one was waiting for him on the branch, his fingers felt the texture, smooth and flawless, and took it off in one go. The bush visibly shivered at the same time the colors fled from it draining from the spot he took the fruit and spreading all over the leaves, flooding them with rusted brown, even the patterns mimicked the appearance of worn metal, black spots blooming on the leaves as they shriveled and shrunk, until the whole bush seemed devoid of life.
The change was so sudden he wondered what he did wrong, until the Jangmo-o gave him some reassuring pats on his legs. 'That's completely normal' its eyes seemed to say. He smiled back and bit into the fruit; instantly, an explosion of flavor flooded his mouth, tart, dry, sour, sweet, all mixed together in what was the best thing he had ever tasted, making the Pecha Berry from before seem bland and tasteless in comparison.
Wow, this thing would collapse whole industries if it was real.
He took time to savor the fruit, slowly rolling it over his tongue with each bite, letting the flavors seep deep into his mind. Sadly, the fruit was never bigger than his hand, and it went as quickly as it came.
Just as he Lamented the loss of such a good food, his cheek began to tingle and the slight pain he felt when he moved his cheek faded away until it disappeared completely. His hand reached for his wound but found only unmarred skin, the thin red line no longer visible in his body. He even felt energized, like he was ready to run a marathon and win first place. It made sense, pain could not be readily mimicked in a dream, after all.
The remains of the Starf Berry, a seed, was nestled in his hand, the multicolored juices that shimmered slightly covering what was more similar to a pointed piece of quartz than a seed. He rolled it in his hand, letting the pointy edges grove over his skin.
The Jangmo-o came closer and put its own seed into the floor, staring at him. "Oh, thank you. I will plant it later." Maybe the dream would make it grown fast and he could taste another soon. I am kind of lucid dreaming… I think.
He pocketed the two seeds in his pants and laid on the ground, happy to just watch the passing clouds in the small holes in the thick canopy. He could hear the Pokémon chat between themselves nearby, of course, he understood nothing at all of that conversation.
The sky had grown dark, the day was ending. His dream was surely ending.
Where should I go now?
The Aipom now looked worried.
Did I say that out loud?
The Bidoofs nudged him and aimed their bodied to the right from where he was, their paws patting him and the pointing again in that direction. "Doof, Bi-Bidoof."
"Is there a town there? Thank you, little ones," he said while petting them both. "I will be going, then." He stood up and gave a small bow to the Pokémon. "Thank you for helping me, guys."
The Aipom smiled nervously and the Bidoofs waves him goodbye. The small dragon simply stared at him and gave a small huff. "I can walk just fine, you know?" It huffed again.
He waved at them and began to walk in the direction they had instructed, leaving those fantastical creatures behind.
The forest was identical, each tree just blending into the other making everything seem the same, the colors disappearing as the sky got darker and darker, the light slowly fading from his view. And yet, he still walked.
This dream is really long. He didn't remember any of his dreams lasting that much. Though, it could easily be because that one was a medically induced one.
He didn't know for how long he walked. He just noticed that the moon had come out when the trees cleared and he now stood in front of a precipice, the darkness swallowing the floor, leaving him unable to discern how deep was it exactly.
Why haven't I woken up?
Why? Why? Why?
Maybe he just needed a shock. In the movies that always works.
The abyss looked so deep and hollow.
That's it. Jump and he will wake up.
His feet kept jumping and fidgeting in place, the energy conferred to them by the Starf Berry making it seem they were electrified, jolts wracking them as he inched closer to the edge.
Do it quickly. Now now now now now now now
Without thought, without much of anything, Dylan jumped.
"JANGMO-O!"
Something hard crashed into his chest, claws digging into his shirt and trying in vain to divert his freefall, as a reptilian head plastered itself on his chest. He felt something in his hear churn and extend, an tendril that he didn't knew he had reaching from the small dragon, he could felt it grab onto something, tangling itself with a small flame and he could see a flash of the sun rising over the lines of a canyon that stretched the horizon, before sealing itself away in his head.
In that single moment, Dylan came to a realization he should have had long ago. This isn't a dream.
His body came to a halt, the momentum shaking his body suddenly and roughly. Two grey nubs somehow grabbed the dragon with strength such small frame didn't seem capable of possessing and now held them both in the air, slowly lowering them, the twin red dots of the Duskull, emitting from basically nothing… No, the single red ball floating in an empty space bore into him with an intensity that was almost reproachful, tinged with burning curiosity that was unable to be hidden.
Dylan was finally lowered onto then floor, letting him see the full moon in the distance, a perfect silver disk… and no bunny or man on its surface.
"This was never a dream," he said to the two Pokémon, the Duskull gave no indication it heard but he could feel the vibrations of the Jangmo-o's growl reverberate in his chest.
Having said that, he gave a last pitched laugh that started from a murmur and grew into a panicked scream and promptly passed out for the third time that day.