"And Dawn wins the Alamos Town Contest!" the announcer called out.
It was the next day, and after a good night's sleep, they moved over to the Contest Hall for the contest. It might not have been an official one for a ribbon, but it was still good practice.
And since they were here, Ash and Dawn both got an evil smirk behind Verity's back. While she thought they were out buying some snacks, they signed Verity up to participate.
Needless to say, when she got back, she almost threw the popcorn she had bought at them, and Dawn dragged her to the back. Since this was a more casual event, Dawn didn't put on a dress or force Verity into one.
But yeah, Verity got forced to participate for the memes. Calling this a contest was generous, though. It didn't even have two rounds; it was just an appeal round. There were no battles.
Needless to say, Verity got a pretty low score because she had literally never done a Contest before. When she finished her round, she marched off, went around to the stands, and sat down a few rows away from Ash because she was grumpy.
But Ash slid over next to her and slowly pushed a candy apple toward her, which she took with a huff.
That led to now, where Dawn had pretty easily won. Even though there wasn't a ribbon on the line, she did win some Pokémon clothes, so she was happy as she walked out of the hall to rejoin Ash and Verity.
She found Ash and Verity waiting near the entrance, with Verity looking considerably less murderous than she had earlier. Probably because of the candy apple.
"Guys! Did you see that?!" Dawn asked excitedly, holding up her prize, "I won!"
Ash gave a thumbs-up, "Of course we saw! You did great!"
"Yeah, you were really good!" Verity added, smiling despite herself, "Though I think I might stick to watching Contests instead of participating in them."
Dawn's smile got a little too wide, "Yeah...sure…"
She glanced at Verity, then at Ash. The two of them exchanged a look as if they were having an entire conversation.
Verity's eyes narrowed, "Stop that."
Dawn blinked innocently, "Stop what?"
"Whatever you're thinking about doing next."
"I'm not thinking about anything!"
Ash nodded solemnly, walking next to Dawn and patting her head, "She's right. For once, there's absolutely nothing going on in that head of hers."
Dawn whipped around to glare at him, "HEY!"
Verity pointed at Ash, "And you! Don't think I've forgotten about you!"
Ash placed a hand over his heart, "Me? What did I do?"
"You signed me up for a Contest without asking!"
"Technically, Dawn signed you up. I merely assisted."
"YOU HELPED HER!"
"Ah, but you see, those are two very different things."
Verity took a step toward him.
Ash took a step back dramatically, raising his hands, "Now, before you do anything you'll regret, I'd like to remind you that violence is never the answer."
"You nearly got me killed by embarrassment!"
"And yet, here you are! Alive and well!"
"ASH!"
He immediately ducked behind Dawn, "Protect me, Dawn! She's gone mad!"
Dawn stared at him in disbelief, "You can't be serious!"
"I'm very serious! Look at her! She's clearly a danger to society!"
Verity tried to take another step, but Ash reached down, put his hands under Dawn's arms, and easily picked her up like a small child, holding her out in front of him.
"Protect me, my human shield!"
Dawn froze as she looked down and saw her feet dangling. Then she quickly started to protest, "ASH, PUT ME DOWN!" Dawn yelled, kicking her legs.
"I'm sorry, Dawn, but I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, my life is in danger, and as my dear friend, I'm sure you understand."
"I WILL END YOUR LIFE MYSELF!"
Ash looked at Verity, "Wow, now you're both threatening me. Do I have no real friends left?"
"The kind of friend who's currently being held in the air like a Piplup!" Dawn snapped.
"Hey, that's actually a pretty good comparison. Should I start calling you Piplup? Or should I bring back 'my lady'?"
Dawn slowly turned her head toward him, "…You wouldn't dare."
Ash smiled while Pikachu and Vee stepped away, pretending not to laugh.
"Traitors!" Dawn yelled at Pikachu and Vee.
Verity pinched the bridge of her nose, "I swear, you two share a single brain cell, and neither of you knows how to use it."
"That's not true!" Ash protested, "I can think of at least three things at once!"
"Oh, really?"
"Yep! I'm currently thinking about how funny this is, how hungry I am, and how much longer I can hold Dawn before she starts biting me."
"I'm considering it if you don't put me down NOW!" Dawn protested again, crossing her arms.
Ash chuckled and eventually let Dawn down. She huffed, crossed her arms, and looked away from Ash, but she crumbled pretty quickly when Ash pushed some cotton candy toward her, immediately forgetting her anger.
Verity, meanwhile, just sighed and dropped the topic altogether. Why was she even surprised? She really shouldn't be. She knew how Ash was, and yet every single time, she still got surprised.
Ash laughed along with them as they made plans, but as things went on, Ash felt something in his Aura. Inside, he frowned as he thought, 'So, it's time…'
Of course, Ash was referring to Darkrai's attack on the city, where it appeared and put people and Pokémon into dreams. While, on paper, it looked bad, the reason it did so was a good one. Darkrai wanted to get the innocent civilians out of town, or at least out of a certain area where the distortions were.
So, it used fear to make people think it would attack them, forcing them to leave so they could be kept safe. It was the only way it could do that, considering that, thanks to Alberto's slander, a lot of people currently hated Darkrai. Besides, it was already too late to leave town…
So, while Ash could go and beat up Darkrai, instead, he suggested to Dawn and Verity that they try some Kalos cuisine at a nice shop in the opposite direction.
And since Dawn and Verity had no reason to think anything else was going on, they agreed. Dawn was even excited to try something from Kalos.
So Ash led the way, away from where it would all happen.
—
In the center of town, Alice was walking down the street with her head down. The incident that had happened in the garden was still on her mind. She sighed, deciding not to dwell on it. Alberto had already said he would repair it, even though it was his fault it had been destroyed in the first place.
She took a small breath, but then heard the sounds of a battle. She looked over and saw that some trainers were having fun battling each other in the central plaza. One guy, Maury, was battling with his Torterra against a girl named Allegra's Infernape.
She smiled slightly and was about to go find a seat to watch the battle when suddenly, a bright, pink light burst into the sky.
People around the area looked up at the light in confusion and awe, wondering what could possibly be causing it and whether it was part of the festival.
But then everyone heard that voice again.
"Get out!"
When they turned toward the source of the voice, they saw Darkrai flying out of the shadows cast by the buildings.
Immediately, some people panicked, while the trainers who had been battling turned their attention toward Darkrai, getting ready to try and drive it away.
Alice, meanwhile, watched on. She gulped, clenching her hand against her chest, and closed her eyes. She didn't know why, but in her heart of hearts, she didn't believe that Darkrai was evil. She didn't know why she thought this way, nor when those feelings had started.
She took a breath and opened her eyes. She quickly stood up from her seat and sucked in some air. She was about to yell at the trainers to stop and not fight when suddenly
"Stop right there, everyone!" a familiar voice yelled out.
Baron Alberto walked out from where he had been standing, flicking his hair and trying to look as cool as he could as he stood in front of the trainers and their Pokémon.
For a moment, Alice smiled, thinking that Alberto also believed Darkrai now, after what had happened yesterday. But that hope popped like a balloon as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Never fear, everyone! For the honor of House Alberto, I will be the one who defeats Darkrai!" Alberto declared as he struck a pose, with Lickilicky jumping out of its Poké Ball and getting ready to follow orders.
The people around them had no reason to doubt their Baron. In fact, some people thought it made sense that their Baron wanted to protect them, so some of them started clapping and cheering.
Alberto had a doofy grin on his face as he heard everyone supporting him. He gave a sideways glance toward Alice to see if she was falling for him yet, but Alice was just standing there, watching the situation unfold.
Alberto took that as his own answer and pointed toward Darkrai, "Darkrai, this time you won't escape! Attack!"
Lickilicky ran forward and charged up another [Hyper Beam], firing it toward Darkrai, but Darkrai easily flew backward into the shadows, dodging it.
As it did, it continued shouting at everyone, "Get out!"
But Alberto scoffed, "You first! Where are you?" He looked around. After what had happened last time, he knew that Darkrai could travel through shadows, so he looked at everyone's shadows. He did see one shadow twitch, but unfortunately, it belonged to someone in the crowd.
Alberto didn't care, though. As soon as he saw that twitch, he grinned and pointed forward, "[Gyro Ball]!"
Lickilicky began spinning like a Beyblade and flew toward where Alberto had pointed. And yes, Darkrai did come out of there, but unfortunately, it was also in the middle of the crowd.
The people who had been cheering immediately stopped and started scattering, screaming in fear at the two threats now in front of them.
Thankfully, they managed to get out of the way in time, and Darkrai was much faster, so it managed to dodge before getting hit. It glared at Alberto for what he had just done, then looked at all the people running in every direction.
All the while, Alberto didn't stop. He kept commanding Lickilicky to attack, following up with another [Hyper Beam]. Lickilicky obeyed and fired the beam.
Darkrai flew backward and around, but it also understood that if it moved toward the civilians, they would get hit because this man seemed to have no regard for anything else. It managed to find a path to dodge the attack, but someone almost got hurt because of how much everyone was running around, and a building ended up getting hit by the beam.
Darkrai narrowed its eyes. This wasn't good. If this continued, someone else might get hurt, and the people just wouldn't stop running around. Not to mention that Alberto himself was endangering everyone, so Darkrai had no choice.
Darkrai raised its hands and summoned a black sphere containing numerous smaller black spheres. It created a [Dark Void] and split it into multiple smaller parts to reduce their effects and hit everyone.
Darkrai fired, and the black orbs scattered from the main sphere, striking the ground in front of people and Pokémon. The orbs erupted, causing people and Pokémon to grow drowsy and slowly fall asleep.
But after it fired, Lickilicky appeared behind Darkrai and shot its tongue toward it. Alberto thought that he had finally hit it.
But then Darkrai disappeared, and Lickilicky's tongue crashed into a wall, breaking it. Darkrai then appeared behind Lickilicky and fired a point-blank [Dark Void]. It exploded, engulfing the pink Pokémon, which then fell backward with a thump onto the ground, immediately out like a light.
Once the problems were neutralized, Darkrai called out one more time.
"Leave!"
After saying that, Darkrai disappeared back into the shadows.
The central plaza fell silent. Only Alberto, Alice, and a few other people were still standing. Everyone else, including their Pokémon, was out cold.
Alberto clicked his tongue and went over to Lickilicky. He tried to shake it awake, "Lickilicky, get up! Come on, this is no time to be sleeping!"
But the sleeping Lickilicky only responded by licking Alberto in its sleep, making him shiver.
Alice stared at the scene for a moment before letting out a small sigh. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do about this situation, but there were far more important things to worry about right now.
She turned away from Alberto and looked around the plaza, seeing people and Pokémon scattered across the ground, all fast asleep. Some were sprawled across the pavement, others had fallen against benches, and a few Pokémon had collapsed right beside their trainers.
Alice clenched her hands together, "Oh dear…"
She hurried over to the nearest person, a young woman who had fallen asleep beside a bench, and gently shook her shoulder, "Excuse me? Can you hear me?"
There was no response. Alice tried again, but the woman remained fast asleep.
Alice quickly stood up and hurried over to Alberto, who was still trying to wake his Pokémon.
"Baron Alberto?"
"Lickilicky, I said wake up!" Alberto gave his Pokémon another shake, only for its tongue to slip out and lick his face again, "Ugh! Honestly, what kind of timing is this?!"
Alice hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Baron Alberto, I think we should get everyone to the Pokémon Center. There are too many people here for us to handle by ourselves, and we need to make sure they're all right."
Alberto stopped trying to wake Lickilicky and looked at her. Then he puffed out his chest, trying to recover some of his dignity, "Ah, yes! Of course! A wise suggestion, Alice!" He waved a hand grandly, "As expected of someone with such a lovely and sensible mind!"
Alice offered him a small smile, although she was already looking past him at the unconscious civilians.
"Thank you, but we really should hurry. If we can get some people to help carry the injured, we might be able to—"
"Indeed, indeed! Naturally, as a member of House Alberto, I shall take charge of this situation!" Alberto declared, striking a pose, "I shall personally oversee the evacuation and ensure that everyone receives the proper care! Once the people of Alamos Town hear of my heroic efforts, they will surely—"
As he spoke, Alice noticed something strange. Alberto's face seemed a little rounder than it had been a moment ago, making her blink and rub her eyes to check whether they were playing tricks on her.
"—and, of course, I shall ensure that the proper authorities are informed of my decisive actions! After all, it is only natural that someone of my standing should take responsibility when the people are in danger!"
His cheeks puffed out a little more, and his stomach began to expand, stretching his clothes as his waistline grew wider. His arms grew thicker, and his fingers became shorter and rounder.
Alice's eyes widened, "Um...Baron Alberto?"
"Furthermore, I shall make certain that the damage caused by that dreadful Darkrai is properly documented! The people must understand that I did everything in my power to protect them!"
His skin began turning pink. Not just a slight blush, either. His entire body was gradually changing color, his face becoming a bright shade of pink as his body grew rounder and rounder.
Alice stared at him in disbelief, "B-Baron Alberto…?"
"Honestly, the nerve of that Pokémon! Attacking innocent civilians and then running away! If only I had managed to capture it, I would have shown everyone what a true hero looks like!"
Then, finally, his tongue rolled out of his mouth and visibly grew much bigger, all while he didn't seem to notice. Alice watched him turn into a Lickilicky.
"And once this entire situation has been resolved, I shall personally arrange a celebration in honor of my victory! Naturally, you shall be invited as my guest of honor, Alice! We could—"
But Alice raised her voice a little, "B-Baron Alberto, what happened to you?!" she exclaimed.
Alberto blinked, "What? What do you mean? Oh, you must mean my bravery and charm, am I correct? Yes, yes, I understand that my bravery must be quite overwhelming, but there is no need to be shy!"
But Alice shook her head. She looked over, spotted the fountain, grabbed Alberto by his sash, which was the only piece of clothing he had left, and dragged him over. Then she pointed at the water, "Look!"
Alberto looked down at the water, still wearing his usual arrogant expression, "Yes, yes, I understand. You wish to admire my handsome reflection. I suppose I can allow that, considering how rare such an opportunity must be for you."
He finally looked down, and that's when he saw his face.
For a moment, he said nothing, staring at his reflection. Then he looked at his hand and saw how pink it was. He looked down at his now-round stomach, then looked back and saw that he had a tail, which he wagged twice.
He blinked twice, then took a small breath. A scream so loud that people on the other side of town could hear it came out of his mouth. If only this weren't a special kind of sleep, otherwise everyone would have woken up.
—
{At the Pokémon Center}
A while later, Ash, Dawn, and Verity walked into the Pokémon Center. They had been inside a closed restaurant, so they hadn't seen the pink light. But after they finished eating, they saw the results and quickly ran to the Pokémon Center to find out what had happened. Well, at least that's what Ash told Dawn and Verity.
As they entered, they saw people and Pokémon lying in makeshift beds, all sleeping. The humans looked normal and were simply asleep, but some Pokémon had some sort of astral projection of themselves floating above their bodies.
There, they saw Alice tending to the body of a sleeping Pokémon. Dawn quickly ran up to her, "Alice, what happened?!"
Alice looked over and saw them, "Oh, it's you guys…" she said before looking down, "I...I don't know. Something strange is happening, and I just don't know what to do."
Just then, Baron Lickilicky, I mean, Alberto, walked up behind them and spoke up, "And I'm the one who's worse off."
Dawn and Verity immediately yelped at the sight of a giant Lickilicky talking, but Alice quickly explained that it was Alberto.
Dawn and Verity looked a bit confused, but then everyone looked over at Ash and noticed that he hadn't reacted.
Ash looked over at them and raised an eyebrow, "What? Do you think this is the first talking Pokémon I've ever met?"
You've got to remember, Ash had been seeing the Team Rocket trio less often. He knew they were in Sinnoh; he just hadn't run into them because they were kind of busy being reporters.
Ash continued, "Also, you guys do remember that Darkrai was talking, right? Why is this so surprising?"
"Okay, I guess that makes sense…" Dawn muttered.
"I...Okay, I want some clarification, but now is not the time. But—" Verity started, but before she could finish, the door burst open, and Tonio ran in looking panicked.
"Alice, are you okay?!"
Alice brightened a bit, looking more relieved, "Tonio, yes, I'm fine, but the townspeople and their Pokémon are both in a terrible state, and Baron Alberto isn't much better." She gestured toward him.
Alberto raised his pink hand and nodded, "Hey…"
"Wha—?!" Tonio was taken aback, but he shook his head and slapped his cheeks.
Alberto quickly moved up to him and grabbed him by the shirt, shaking him, "Tonio, you're a scientist! Do something! Make me normal!"
"Okay, okay! I can try! Stop shaking me!" Tonio protested.
Once Alberto let him go, Tonio took a breather before pulling out his computer.
He looked at the notes he'd been studying. This wasn't something he'd only started doing just now. He'd been investigating these distortions almost as soon as they appeared. He hadn't even slept last night because of how much he was studying, and now it seemed like his hard work had paid off.
"Just as I thought, the integrity of the space around us has become highly unstable. That's what's making Pokémon's dreams come forth," Tonio explained.
"Wait, did you say dreams?" Alice asked, "Does that mean the reason all the Pokémon are doing that is because they're dreaming about it?"
"Seems like it," Tonio nodded as he pointed at one of the floating Pokémon, "Those Pokémon seem to be dreaming that something is chasing them."
Alberto blinked, "But wait, why am I a Lickilicky?"
Tonio pointed at his Lickilicky, "I think your Lickilicky is having a dream about turning into you."
As everyone discussed what to do, Alberto could be seen in the background slapping Lickilicky, trying to wake it up, "How dare you have a dream like this after all I've done for you!"
But then one of the remaining trainers who hadn't fallen asleep, a guy named Kai, ran in and quickly called out to the group, "Hey! Are you guys seeing this?!"
They quickly went outside to see what he was trying to show them, and immediately, they saw that the sky had turned purple and was shifting, while the town itself was surrounded by a ring of mist.
They were all trapped here, and at the moment, no one knew what was going on.