The Lunar Wing Pokémon, whose true name was Cresselia, was a legendary Pokémon that truly brought pleasant dreams to all living beings.
According to legend, Cresselia lived on the mysterious Fullmoon Island, though she never stayed there for long. Instead, she preferred traveling the world, bringing sweet dreams to countless people tormented by nightmares.
Actually, Cresselia's appearance itself wasn't all that surprising.
But Liam still looked up at the sky, his mouth hanging open in astonishment.
Because he saw...
The little girl, Mayoi, who had just tried—and failed—to escape, was now suspended in midair by Psychic, hanging her head while absentmindedly fiddling with her fingers, looking utterly wronged.
Hovering in front of her, Cresselia continuously cried out at Mayoi. Judging from her expression and tone, it was almost as if she were scolding her own child.
"Cresselia~"
After lecturing Mayoi for a while, Cresselia saw that the girl was still hanging her head, only half-listening at best. With a helpless shake of her head...
She flew past Mayoi and slowly descended in front of Liam.
"Cresselia~"
As though apologizing, Cresselia lowered her head toward Liam.
Then she turned her neck slightly, gently plucked a small pale golden feather from her back, and placed it into Liam's hand.
Liam accepted the feather, staring at the softly glowing plume resting in his palm with a puzzled expression. He had no idea what Cresselia meant by this.
"Cresselia~"
Unfortunately, Cresselia clearly wasn't going to explain herself.
After giving Liam the feather, she simply nodded before turning around and flying away.
She returned to where Mayoi, Alakazam, and Chandelure were waiting.
Then, under the guidance of Cresselia's Psychic power, a very unwilling Mayoi was gently placed onto Cresselia's back.
Realizing there was no chance of escaping anymore, Mayoi puffed out her cheeks and turned to glare down at Liam.
"Big Brother! This time it's a draw! If we ever meet again... I'll definitely beat you!"
The moment she finished speaking, Cresselia burst forward, soaring rapidly toward the moon.
Liam: "..."
Garchomp: "..."
Watching Cresselia and Mayoi disappear farther and farther into the distance, Liam stood there completely bewildered.
Even Garchomp looked a little depressed. Their promised battle had simply... ended before it really began.
Fortunately, Liam didn't remain dazed for long, because as soon as Cresselia departed, the system notification sounded.
[Ding!]
[Emergency Mission: The New Moon's Dream Bringer — Complete!]
[Rewards Issued: 2,000 Exchange Points, Mystery Gift Pack opened: 1,000 Exchange Points, Leek ×1, Water Pulse TM ×1, Volt Tackle TM ×1]
[Ding!]
[Item discovered: Lunar Wing.]
[Lunar Wing: A feather shed by the Dream Pokémon, Cresselia. It contains a portion of Cresselia's power. Carrying it protects the bearer from nightmares]
[Evaluation: Extremely precious!]
The Lunar Wing gifted by Cresselia had fulfilled the requirements of the emergency mission.
Although the rewards from the mystery pack weren't particularly amazing—
A leek? Seriously?
—Liam was already more than satisfied.
After all, he'd received so many things for free. What more could he ask for?
"Heh... What a surreal night."
Looking up at the empty sky where Cresselia and the little girl had vanished, Liam smiled helplessly.
"A Lunar Wing... I feel like I got one before."
Looking at the pale golden feather in his hand, Liam suddenly remembered that the system had rewarded him with another Lunar Wing long ago.
He searched through his storage space.
Sure enough, after digging around for a while, he found another Lunar Wing.
[Ding!]
[Item discovered: Lunar Wing.]
After checking it, he received exactly the same description as before.
Liam already knew what Lunar Wings did.
As long as one was carried on the body, the holder would be protected from nightmares.
However, Liam rarely had nightmares in the first place, to the point that he'd nearly forgotten about the previous Lunar Wing.
Now, looking at the two softly glowing golden feathers in his hands, he took out a small unused box from his storage space, carefully placed both Lunar Wings inside, closed the lid, and put the box away again.
After the excitement that had lasted for most of the night, Liam was finally beginning to feel sleepy.
He helped Empoleon to his feet and headed back toward the tent.
When he reached the entrance...
Little N: "..."
Liam: "..."
At some point, Little N had already been awakened by all the commotion.
Holding the Pokémon Egg in his arms, he poked half his head out of the tent and stared silently at Liam.
"Ahem... What are you looking at? Go back to sleep."
Feeling rather uncomfortable under that gaze, Liam twitched at the corner of his mouth before speaking.
"...Bleh~"
Little N simply stuck out his tongue at him, pulled his head back into the tent, rolled over, tucked himself under the blanket, and promptly went back to sleep.
"...Sigh. Come back, Garchomp. Empoleon, you worked hard today."
Having no real way to deal with the mischievous child, Liam could only sigh.
He took out Garchomp's and Empoleon's PokeBalls and recalled them.
Finally, Liam crawled back into the tent.
Lying flat on his back, he couldn't help thinking about the mysterious little girl he had just met.
But he didn't ponder it for very long.
His eyelids gradually grew heavier.
Before he knew it, he had drifted off to sleep.
Meanwhile...
High above the clouds, Cresselia bathed in the moonlight as she glided gracefully through the night sky.
On her back sat Mayoi, Alakazam, and Chandelure, all wearing thoroughly bored expressions.
Mayoi rested her chin in one hand while lazily trailing the fingers of her other hand through the passing clouds.
As they flew...
"Cresselia~"
Cresselia glanced back at Alakazam and Chandelure before calling softly to Mayoi.
"Yeah, yeah, I know..."
She let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Abra, Litwick... change back."
"Alakazam~ ... Abra~"
"Chandelure~ ... Litwick~"
The instant Mayoi gave the order, the fully evolved Alakazam and Chandelure suddenly began changing before their eyes!
In the blink of an eye, both of them reverted to their smallest, unevolved forms.. Abra and Litwick!
What exactly was going on?
Even stranger...
Cresselia was currently flying at roughly the same altitude as most commercial airliners.
At that height, the air should have been extremely thin and the temperature freezing. An ordinary person would have long since begun suffering severe symptoms.
Yet Mayoi showed no discomfort whatsoever. Instead, she happily played with Abra and Litwick as they flew.
In the blink of an eye, it was the following morning.
After packing their belongings, Liam and Little N boarded the elevator leading onto Marvelous Bridge.
Marvelous Bridge was an unusual structure.
Neither end of the bridge connected directly to the ground. Instead, visitors reached the bridge using elevators located at each end.
Sharing the elevator with Liam were several middle-aged women heading across the bridge.
Judging by their familiarity with one another, they were close acquaintances, chatting nonstop from the moment they stepped inside.
"Hey, hey! Did you all hear?"
"Hear what?"
"You know... about what happened a little over a week ago!"
"Oh! That incident? Yeah, I heard. Sigh... what a tragedy. Such a young child..."
"Exactly. Such a sweet little girl... gone just like that. Her parents must be heartbroken."
"Heartbroken or not, what's done is done. She was far too young to be traveling. I heard she ran away from home with only an Abra and a Litwick. And then something like this happened... Who can really say what went wrong?"
"That's right. When I get home, I'm keeping a much closer eye on my grandson. I won't let anything happen to him. Oh, by the way... what was that little girl's name again?"
"Her name? Hmm... I think it was... Mayoi? I'm not completely sure."
Liam: "..."
Listening to the women's conversation...
For some inexplicable reason… Liam suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.