Pokémon: A Promised Journey

Chapter Sixteen: Palkia

"What do you mean by Darkrai showed you in your nightmare?" Tonio's voice was a mix of curiosity and shock, his eyes still wide from Xavier's statement. The abrupt revelation by the Kanto native brought a hush over the entire group, with the researcher's question breaking the silence.  

Realizing that he owed everyone an explanation on what his nightmares were, he narrated whatever he saw without missing out a single detail. By the end of it, everyone had their gazes fixated on the Kanto native who was leaning by the railings of the bridge. 

"You were able to figure this much out much from just a silhouette?" Lucas inquired, appearing to be at awe at Xavier's memory. He purposefully skipped mentioning anything about the nightmare of Xavier's past which was shown to him. It would open up his old wounds and Lucas did not wished for that. There are a few things which are better left untold unless the person themselves wish to share it to others.

If Xavier wanted, he could have skipped on mentioning anything about his nightmare that included parts of his past. Instead, he chose to trust them and revealed them everything. It helped them understand another aspect of Darkrai's powers. Not only it can show nightmares to a person but can also show the affected person's pasts and even glimpses of future events. The only thing that is uncertain is the point of time for the said future to occur. 

"The silhouette and the way it was shown, send shivers down my spine. I cannot forget something like that in a single night." Xavier admitted with a sigh. "I guess if we find some way to return back to our dimension or world as you put it, things will go back to normal."

Cynthia kept quiet during the exchange of words. While she was listening and registering in, whatever was being said, her mind was somewhere else. Glancing at Xavier, she couldn't help but wonder what all he went through in the past eight years. Having lost all contact with one-another, both had no idea on what happened in the other's life. She wanted to know what happened with him, for him to have that kind of nightmare shown to him but couldn't bring herself to ask that. It felt unfair to her.

"Then shouldn't finding Palkia be our priority?" Dawn questioned. "If it's Palkia that brought us here, then it must also know how to send us back."

"Before doing that, we need to take care of the present matter, Darkrai." Xavier reminded before turning over to Tonio. The latter was in the middle of processing all the newfound information shared by the Kanto native and was trying to match it with his own research data. 

"If that is the case then.." He was mumbling to himself before Alice cleared her throat, in order to get him back to the ongoing conversation. "I too think that Darkrai isn't inherently evil. In my great-grandfather's diary, he mentioned that it was Alicia, Alice's grandmother who opened up Darkrai's heart."

Alice was visibly shocked at the mention of her grandmother in Godey's diary. From what all she remembered about the aforementioned woman, she had seen that wild Pokémon would almost flock around her whenever she went for a stroll in the garden. They would even stop their brawling, only to gather around Alicia and relax themselves.

"That still doesn't explain why it is fighting with everyone here." Dawn commented. If Darkrai truly isn't evil like everyone around is presuming to be, then there must be a reason why it is causing all the chaos around and attacking people out of nowhere.

"I need to look into something. Let's head to my lab." Tonio said before letting out his Drifblim in the open. He took out a device from the briefcase he was carrying around before attaching it to his Pokémon. The device also contained a small camera within it. 

Understanding what his task at hand is, the blimp Pokémon took off into the skies. With Drifblim doing his job, the trainers and Cynthia made their way to Tonio's lab.