Oleana woke up after what felt like hours. Her eyes were still glowing purple, looking almost like a glowing amethyst.
She looked around her surroundings, waiting for Log or Brandy to appear nearby, maybe even just pranking her to make her feel better.
…They were nowhere to be found.
“Fuck… what did I do…?” The young Galarian woman pulled out her phone to check the location. After a short while, it read out three words:
“Newmoon Island, Sinnoh.”
Oleana groaned as she slumped over back onto the ground. “Fuck… what am I even doing anymore?”
She looked up into the night sky. For some reason, she could only see a sliver of the moon at the moment.
“At least this island lives up to its name.”
Eventually, Oleana felt herself getting tired. Looking around, there… wasn’t really anything to use to keep herself nice and warm during her sleep. And if there actually was, she sure didn’t know how to use it.
She decided to just lay on the ground and close her eyes. It’s not like she had any other options anyways…
Eventually, Oleana felt herself drift off to sleep, everything else becoming an afterthought to her…
——————————————————————————
Oleana looked around the remains of her house. She felt a chill up her spine as she looked around.
It was the same nightmare. The same arcdamn nightmare every night.
”N-No… not again, please… I don’t want to relive this over and over…”
“Relive what?”
Oleana looked over and saw a black, shadow-like Pokémon with a small head, white fog-like head and a red spiky growth around its neck.
It was both terrifying and soothing at the same time somehow.
“W… What Pokémon are you?”
“My name is Darkrai. And from what I can tell… you seem to be having quite the nightmare.”
“Heh, no shit. I’ve been reliving this day after day after day. It’s tearing me apart… and it’s been making me feel crazy.”
Darkrai looked at Oleana, extending a hand to cradle her face.
“You’ve been through many ordeals in your short life, haven’t you, child?”
Oleana felt a tear run down her cheek, smiling nervously as the strange Pokémon comforted her.
“Heh… that’s putting it lightly.” She laughed a little, but there was no happiness behind it.
Darkrai looked at the young Galarian girl with a saddened, almost forlorn look. “Well… how would you like to start coming to terms with those experiences?”
Oleana looked at Darkrai with a bewildered expression “R-Really? But how?”
“It is simple.” Darkrai floated around the destroyed house, flickering here and there in an almost graceful dance. “If you can accept your deepest fears and traumas when they're right in front of you, then you will be able to start moving past them... for the post part.”
Oleana stares at Darkrai, then at the remains of her old room.
There's a framed photo of her and her older sister. It's broken.
“...Fuck it. Why not.” She extends a hand to the shadowy Pokémon. “I... I can't keep hurting people like this. And I know if I don't accept this... I'm going to continue hurting my loved ones.”
Darkrai shakes Oleana's hand, staring at her in a way reminiscent of an old mother. “You've chosen well, young one.”
Oleana felt a chill go up her spine as the wisp-like Pokémon disappeared in an instant.
“I truly hope you can conquer this... my daughter.”
A dark and shadowy aura covers Oleana's vision, catching her off guard as she starts to stumble.
Eventually she falls deep, deep down into the darkness.
She knew what was going to happen next. She knew that she was going to be scared and terrified.
The people on Anville would wake up to a surprise, the town decorated with lights and candles, not much, but something.
Along with that there was equipment set out, a stew that had been heated over a flame. Several other platters kept warm under a metal tin, and several candles that had been hand molded into reshirams shape.
There was a pile of boxes, a lot of them haven't been wrapped, but all of them had names on them, names for the people of Anville.
