Part 4: Alone in Her World

We got to stay in Vermilion city alone at a hotel north of the pokemart. There was one room for each of us, and they were all connected. It had been finished for less than a year by the time we got there. A machoke helped us with our bags, and reluctantly, we settled in, and prepared for sleep. A warm breeze poured through the window as we daydreamed about the amazing adventures we'd have. After a quick good night, I dozed off in no time. I woke up in the middle of the night to find myself alone in a library. The warm, welcoming breeze that I'd smelled before had turned into an icy, bone chilling gale. I looked out the window to look for pokemon and ships bobbing in the sea, but the sea seemed almost motionless and empty, just like the city. Looking down at the city, I saw that we weren't in vermilion city at all. At least, I wasn't. All there were was a few houses, a pokemon center, a pokemon gym, and the usual pokemart. A large bridge connected the two parts of the city. This didn't look at all like the paradise we docked into. Looking out the opposite window away from the city, I thought I saw something in the distance, and just when was going to get a closer look with my binoculars, I noticed an eye catching book on the floor. It was open to a page that had a picture of two islands, each with a picture of a moon. One was full, and one was new. Before I could read the descriptions, a lady tapped me on my shoulder impatiently, asking me to leave. The library was closing. Just then, I thought, maybe Maya and Alex were playing a prank on me. I had heard of Lavender town, a somber little purple city northeast of Vermilion city, and not too far from the ocean. But I didn't think they had a library, or a gym. Or maybe it was just misdreavus again, messing with me with one of her illusions. She'd never messed with me at nighttime though, since she's usually in one of her nightmares. Then it came to me. I had to be in one of misdreavuses nightmares! Maya said that we'd go inside whenever we got the chance, and probably didn't take the time to wake me up. As I was leaving the library, I'd heard someone calling my name. It was a little girl, struggling to swim in the ocean. She wasn't very heavy, so it wasn't difficult to scoop her up. She couldn't have been more than eight. She had the vocabulary of a mature teen however, so I assumed she had been well taught, and liked to visit the library. Her name was Mallory. She was cute, despite her eerie red necklace, her red and yellow eyes, and her flowing gray and black hair that seemed to float in mid air at her command. After squeezing her clothes out for a bit and thanking me, out of nowhere, she grabbed me, and dragged me down the sidewalk involuntarily to give me info about the city, as if she was a tour guide. She slowed down only when she reached what appeared to be an old inn, and told me about it only after she was safe behind me, as if the building itself would attack her if she revealed its secrets. The paint was peeling, it seemed to have one room, and the door was rusted shut, and locked. A sign was on the door that appeared to be a warning sign, but was too blurred and old to tell. She told me how scary and dirty it was inside now, and how she used to play in it when she was little, with the frail old woman who owned it. She was like a second mother, since she didn't know her own. It changed when the old woman disappeared, and a shadow man tried to drag her into the shadows. She desperately wanted to open it again, fix it up, and play like she used to, but the shadow man could come back, or some bulky sailors would escort her away saying it was unsafe. She still shivers from nightmares about him. I turned around to comfort her, and she was gone. No footsteps, no shadow, nothing. It was like she was never there. But weird enough I could still feel her staring at my every move from somewhere with her piercing red eyes at, and it was creeping me out. I turned back around and she was there. When I screamed, a big grin came across her face, and she chuckled. I thought her necklace glowed when I was squealing, but it was probably just shining in the moonlight. Then it seemed like she knew what I was thinking, because right after I was done contemplating it, she pointed to it and told me about it. She says it make her stronger when people are scared or surprised by her, and it gives her energy. I remember reading that somewhere, maybe in a book, or a pokedex entry or something. Then I figured out who she was. Deciding to keep a closer eye on her after that, I asked her how I could help. She paused after that, and a hazy shadow grabbed her and started trying to pull her out to sea. I grabbed onto her too as she wailed helplessly, and I was pulled with her, but the shadow just smacked me away, and I nearly drowned. I drifted deeper and deeper, as bubbles swirled around me that used to flow through my lungs. They weren't going to die with me, but be free at the surface. Eventually I passed out, and felt like I was sleeping, listening to the sound of air bubbles. Suddenly, I could feel my bed, and the bubbles stopped. I was finally awake. Maya's Gengar was cheesing above me, and misdreavus appeared peacefully fast asleep, and ready to awake soon. Maya explained that gengar couldn't eat her dream, and misdreavus didn't want them to go in. She only trusted me enough to come with her, and they didn't want to disturb either of us while we were in the nightmare. But why did she choose me?