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The dream mist that pours from Plum’s snout has turned from gentle pink to a mottled purple. Luka continues to sleep, albeit fitfully, but so far her bizarre dreams aren’t enough for her Musharna to intervene. Instead she continues to observe, watching her trainer’s dreams play out in the swirling mist before her.[break][break]

---

[break][break]
Time is always a peculiar thing in dreams. It shifts like the ever moving tide; years pass in the span it takes for Luka to roll over and clutch at a pillow. She's no longer a girl- her life goes by in leaping stages, from child to woman in a blink, though it somehow feels completely natural.[break][break]

The lunar wing her father had given her remains with her always. It's no mere object of sentiment- she's always felt that there's something special about it. More than just a token, more than just a tether to her father's memory. Something in it is real and alive and it's been calling to her ever since she was small. It's only here in her dreams, where reality is but a distant memory, that Luka can finally understand it.[break][break]

She clutches it to her chest, feeling a peculiar warmth spread from her heart into her extremities. It's hot and sparkling and somehow familiar, thrumming like a second heartbeat. She can feel something else as well, a current running throughout her veins: a kind of power.[break][break]

The feather feels different now. In her hands it's become a gleaming crystal- strong, but hollow at the center. She knows it's shape, can remember what she's supposed to do with it, and the feeling within her surges, as if in agreement. It belongs to her, with her. And what lies at the center is hers by right.[break][break]

With a deep breath, Luka brings the stone to her mouth, breathes in deep, and presses her lips against its glasslike surface.[break][break]

A moment later, the world goes white.[break][break]

---

[break]

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The dream mist continues to get darker and darker. Plum watches on with increasing anxiety.[break][break]

---

[break][break]
She's done this before.[break][break]
This is more remembering than discovering. Luka knows the light that consumes her, embraces it like an old friend. She feels it chittering across her palms, filling her veins with a honey-rich warmth. She bundles it up, compresses it until it's almost burning- and it hurts, or at least it feels like it should hurt, but it hurts in the way a sore muscle aches when massaged. It hurts, but it feels good.[break][break]

The stone in her hands- the lunar wing- becomes part of her. It returns home. When Luka steps out of the light she is changed, but not in any way she doesn't expect.[break][break]

It's just like that day on Fullmoon island, in a dimension which doesn't belong to her. Only now, she's taken back what she's owed. The power of Cresselia flows through her just like it had back then: not as a captured Pokemon, not as an Avatar and their patron, but as two beings sharing a body, their souls intertwined.[break][break]

She feels like herself again for the first time in- for the first time ever, really. This is it: her true state rediscovered. It feels like she is finally back, that she's woken from an endless dream.[break][break]

Memories that aren't hers wash over her and she remembers: she is powerful.[break][break]

Luka's body has been changed. Her skin gleams gold under the light, and her hair undulates around her in impossibly long waves. Her clothes are gossamer and lovely; blue and pink silks as fine and light as feathers. Golden starlight and bright pearls drip from her neck, in her hair, around her wrists. It's everything she's ever imagined for herself: a truly celestial being.[break][break]

But for once, Luka doesn't care about aesthetics. Instead, she revels in this new power and what it means for her. She can use it for good- finally she can help people. Finally, her existence has some kind of meaning.[break][break]

In her dream world, places are a blur. They don't really matter. Luka visits them, helps the people there, and basks in the accolades. Everyone adores her, of course, because they should adore her. She's a benevolent savior, a hero. Those she loves need not ever fear Rocket, or the Triad, or any of the countless dangers that Hoenn faces.[break][break]

For her, every crisis is a paltry thing, easily solved with a wave of her hand and a surge of psychic energy. She no longer has to cower in fear or rely on others to help her. She doesn't feel weak or helpless or stupid. She's powerful, and this is the way she's meant to be.[break][break]

---

[break][break]

In bed, Luka hugs her pillow tightly and giggles, smiling more happily than she has in months.

---

[break]

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Dark tendrils of inky purple continue to spill out around the bed, nearly obscuring the woman sleeping below. Concerned, Plum tries to wake Luka, but she remains fully immersed in the dream that consumes her.[break][break]

---

[break][break]
Luka has everything she wants.[break][break]
She has power. Strength. The abilities she's so often yearned for, to actually make a difference and impact change. She's important and her existence has meaning.[break][break]
But it isn't enough.[break][break]
She's looking for something else, but she doesn't find it among the featureless faces of the crowds that adore her. She doesn't find it in battle or victory. In her desperation, she becomes frantic, more violent. She tears down enemies with abandon and hopes that this is what the masses want. That they'll shower her with more praise, more blind devotion. More, more, always more.[break][break]
But it's still not enough. Never, never enough. She wants more, needs more, because she's still missing something and her chest feels so empty and her hands are so, so cold, and she's so sad and lonely and nothing can actually manage to fix the hole in her heart that's been there since she was a child.[break][break]
No amount of power or might can bring her what she wants. The shameful thing she craves more than anything else, more than the ability to help the weak and save her home.[break][break]
I never loved you, comes Remiel Calcifet's whispered voice, haunting her ever still. Even here, she can't escape those words.[break][break]
"Please," she mutters desperately, clutching her skirts and falling to her knees. In this moment, despite the power that courses through her, she's pathetic.[break][break]
"Please," she repeats, a true plea. "I just want to be loved."[break][break]
She speaks into nothing, and it's nothing that answers her. Cresselia might be part of her, but she does not love her. Perhaps she had deluded herself into thinking the two belonged together in the first place. Even bonded like this, she's still so alone.[break][break]
Her hands clench. She feels like a child again- perhaps she still is. A little lost girl who's never been able to find what she's looking for.
[break][break]
But after what seems like an age Luka looks up, tears stinging her eyes and running hot down her face, and stares into the pitying gaze of her father.[break][break]

---

[break]

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The dream mist that Plum desperately tries to consume is almost dark as pitch.[break][break]

---

[break][break]
Her father doesn't say anything.[break][break]
But he doesn't have to. Luka can see everything in his face, and the pity in his eyes is almost unbearable to witness. It's not supposed to be like this- she's the one that should be mourning him, he's the one who's life was stolen far before his time. That he instead has to contend with her silly, selfish desires is almost too shameful for her to bear.[break][break]
"I'm sorry," she says, her voice small and weak. "Y-you gave me...such a gift and I...I-I'm just wasting it. I t-thought this is what I wanted, but—"[break][break]
Her voice is cut off as solid arms engulf her. Luka jolts in surprise, but she soon melts into the embrace, clutching her father desperately, sobbing an infant's endless wail.[break][break]
When they separate, she isn't reburst bound with Cresselia any longer. She isn't the little magical goddess she wanted to play pretend as. Her father's gift is on a chain around her neck as it's always been, and she's a girl again, taking simple comfort in a father's embrace.[break][break]
"You've always been enough for me," Eugene says, finally breaking his silence. "You always will be."[break][break]
"But—"[break][break]
"And you'll be enough for them too," he continues. His embrace grows weaker as the sleep loses it's grip on Luka, but she holds onto it tightly, like trying to grasp smoke. "I believe in you, my buttercup. It's time you start to as well."[break][break]

---

[break][break]
When Luka finally jolts awake, the dream stays with her. Just fragments, but enough for her to know that it had meant something, whatever that might be. She groans, feeling a dampness on the pillow under her head, and looks up to see her Musharna staring down with clear worry.[break][break]
"Hey, hey. It's okay," she murmurs, stretching her arms out to her tapir. Taking the cue, Plum floats down to settle in her embrace. "Don't worry...I'm fine. It was just a dream."[break][break]

---

[break]

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Luka isn't good at video games.[break][break]
Oh, she's very well proficient in the slice of life variety; her Pokemon Crossing island is a virtual paradise, and she's racked up a frankly embarrassing number of hours in Stardew Valley and countless dating sims. RPG's have always appealed to her, because the player characters are usually cute, but she's never been very good at the combat part of them.[break][break]
Upon entering this dream-game world, she first laments the lack of character customization. But very quickly, she's cursing her lack of any fighting game skills.[break][break]
She dies pretty quickly the first night. Unable to figure out how to access her menu and abilities, she doesn't have any idea what to do upon wandering outside. Open and vulnerable, she's a perfect walking target. A shadow absol takes quick advantage of that, and she's down within seconds, waking up in a cold sweat and an odd ache in her legs.[break][break]
The next day, she manages to ask a few other avatars for help. Eventually she figures out how to access her ability, but it hardly seems useful:[break][break]

[break][break]

Huh? How is that supposed to work? She's already sleeping- is it even possible to have a dream within a dream?[break][break]

She's never watched Inception, so she really isn't sure.[break][break]

Worried about the implications of double sleep, Luka doesn't try to use this seemingly useless ability for the first few nights. After all, she doesn't have anyone to kiss her! But on the last day, after dying over and over again, she finally gives in. She manages to convince another avatar to give her a smooch after she falls asleep, and gingerly reaches towards the tip of a knife that another player must have dropped. Squeezing her eyes shut, she places her fingertip against the edge—[break][break]

The dream within a dream is a strange, blurred thing. More feelings and colors than actual substance, everything rushes past her in a strange, kaleidoscopic blur. She makes out the vague shapes of sweets and the smell of sugar on the air, but it doesn't last long before she's yanked out of it by a stranger's lips on her cheek.[break][break]

Apparently, her avatar had simply been idling while she slept. It's embarrassing to have to have asked for a kiss from a stranger, but Luka thanks her partner nonetheless and closes her eyes, waiting for whatever power she had summoned to manifest...[break][break]

At first, nothing noticeable happens. Luka cracks an eye open and waits, but still doesn't see anything. Maybe she has to activate it somehow? She adopts a fighting stance, and feels rather silly doing it...and still, nothing happens.[break][break]

However, a sweet scent has started to permeate the air. Luka purses her lips and focuses on the smell, and her dream...and finally, her ability manifests! Except all that happens is that she generates a large pile of pokepuffs, which plop uselessly on the ground in front of her.[break][break]

Biting back a shout of frustration, Luka paces in a little circle around her pile. However, the generated sweets aren't as useless as she'd thought. Drawn in by the mouthwatering scent, a pair of familiar pink ribbons appear around the treeline, and Luka is quick to recognize her missing Sylveon.[break][break]

At first she forgets all about her dream ball and simply races towards her angel, though Sugar's reaction is far from ideal. The shadowed Sylveon's hackles raise, and she growls— a sound Luka's never heard from her before. Teeth sink into her lip before she remembers the ball, and Luka prays her aim is true as she grabs it and lobs it towards her beloved companion with all her might.[break][break]

It hits, and just in time, for the pokepuffs have attracted a crowd of shadow pokemon! Luka chucks a few of the sweets at the crowd before fleeing, and just barely manages to escape before she dies for the seventh time in a row.[break][break]

When given the choice between purifying Sugar and allowing her to remain shadowed, Luka doesn't think twice. Power means nothing if it means her darling partner might suffer, and she continues on with her now purified sylveon's ribbons wrapped happily around her arm. The change has manifested in her avatar as well: she now sports a sylveon themed magical girl design, which is so on the nose for her that it's almost painful.[break][break]

---

[break]
- sylveon becomes purified[break]
- sylveon's ability becomes pixilate[break]
- sylveon learns sweet kiss

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It takes her a bit longer than she'd like to admit to figure out how to use the item menu. But when Luka is finally able to access and use it, she manages to upgrade her navi pretty easily:[break][break]



She's pleased to find that Sugar's new arsenal isn't as useless as her own ability was. The moveset of choice is...a bit embarrassing, given the context it's tied to, but it's fine. After all, she certainly has no combat prowess here, so it's all up to Sugar to keep them safe during their dungeon crawl.[break][break]

When it comes to choosing teams, she's immediately worried about being left alone. Watching others pair off gives her a kind of uneasy nostalgia; the feeling of being chosen last during gym class. However, she finally manages to convince a few others to join her. The avatars of Isaac Merlo, jayden cross, and paxton concordas might have joined her party because they know her, or because they're taking pity on her— she doesn't mind much either way. At least she won't be going through this alone.[break][break]

However, once they're inside the dungeon she almost wishes she were. It's the same dreamscape she'd experienced a few weeks back, and with it comes all the doubts and insecurities that had come with it. It feels almost shameful to put her desire for power on display for others— even more so now, when she can't actually do any of the fighting herself. In her dream, she had taken on enemies and saved people with her own strength. Here, she has to rely on Sugar and her other party members again.[break][break]

It almost feels like cheating— but then, isn't this how it's always been? She's never really had that much strength on her own. She's always relied on other people, on her Pokemon. Despite her desire to change, she seems to be stuck in a loop, unable to change or improve herself...[break][break]

Her party members, perhaps sensing her distress, offer their support: words of encouragement, earnest kindness, and gentle smiles abound. Which, funnily enough, is her first indication that something is wrong. paxton concordas usually gives her an earful for her irresponsibly, and she isn't sure she's seen jayden cross ever smile.[break][break]

At least Isaac Merlo seems true to form, but as they continue to descend deeper into the recesses of her dream, all their mannerisms becomes more automatic, almost robotic. They move more stiffly, and every bit of dialogue seems stilted and sounds like a pre-recorded message on an answering machine.[break][break]

It's only when they finally reach the last part of the dungeon and her party members disappear that Luka realizes they'd been nothing but NPC's all along, and she's truly alone again.[break][break]

But not completely. When they come to face her Musharna, Plum, in the last room of her dreamscape, she still has Sugar by her side. The gigantic Musharna towers over them, dream mist pouring from her snout in waterfalls. At first Luka balks, but there's no way to go now but forwards. She has no choice but to confront her oldest, dearest companion.[break][break]

Plum seems immune to the effects of the attract that Sugar tries using first, which isn't surprising. What is is the dream mist that swirls around them; if Luka squints, she can see remnants of her dreams inside them. Old dreams, ones she doesn't remember. Some peaceful, some horrifying— it occurs to her then that the mist contains all the dreams of hers that Plum has eaten, and now they're being turned against her.[break][break]

She doesn't want to see any of it. They need to end this quickly.[break][break]

"T-try using bounce!" Sugar leaps high into the air, just high enough to gain a position above Plum. But the Musharna simply rises to meet her, and instead of delivering a powerful blow, the Sylveon simply lands safely on her back. She tries again to jump and attack, but the result is the same; and this time, her jump doesn't get nearly as much air. It's clear that being surrounded by so much dream mist is causing her to become drowsy, her movements slower and more sluggish.[break][break]

Plum, appearing annoyed by the disturbance on her back, shakes Sugar off with a soft huff of annoyance. But as the Sylveon falls, she manages to twist her body and blow a sweet kiss towards her partner-turned-advisory.[break][break]

The effect of confusion takes hold slowly, and the battle continues as Sugar starts to stumble and falter from drowsiness. But Plum is feeling it as well. In her confusion, her attempts to put Sugar to sleep are aimed towards herself instead, and within a few minutes the gigantic Musharna is full and truly asleep, her own dream mist taking it's toll against her.[break][break]

It's an anticlimactic victory, but it seems to count. After a moment, Plum vanishes in a puff of pink mist. Left behind on the ground is a single feather, one Luka knows rather well by now. She bends to pick up the lunar feather left behind: a virtual copy of the one she keeps safe at home. With a wry smile, Luka twirls it between her fingers before she sticks it in her hair for safekeeping, and together with Sugar leaves the dungeon for their next adventure.[break][break]

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Clutching the false Lunar Wing in her hands, Luka opens the portal into her dream world.[break][break]

One the surface, it’s the same warm and cozy place she’d dreamed of before. Her childhood bedroom, just as soft and comfortable as she’s always remembered. But this time, Luka looks on into the memories of her past as an outside observer. The lens she seems to view them with is tinted rose.[break][break]

Even so, there’s a sense of unease that sparks within her as she watches the toddler version of herself play with her father. She glances to the side at her Sylveon, who’s ribbons curl and undulate around her like seaweed in a current. Sugar looks up at her and nods solemnly, reaching out with one ribbon to tap the glass they’re staring through.[break][break]

Instantly, it shatters.[break][break]

They find themselves falling, this time through a kaleidoscope of memories that move so quickly they make her head spin. Childhood and adolescence whizz past her until they’re thrust into a part of the dream that diverges from the one she remembered. It doesn’t follow her discovering hidden powers and saving the world— instead, it’s the parts of her past that she had tried to shut out before.[break][break]

Sugar wraps a ribbon around her wrist and quickly urges her forwards. They’re inside a long corridor that Luka doesn’t recognize, but she understands that they’re headed towards whatever it is they need to fight in order to destroy this world.[break][break]

As they walk, her unease grows. She can recognize the winding corridors of Lysandre Labratories, the suits bustling to and fro until the crowd thins and other figures, far more sinister, emerge from the shadows.[break][break]

They don’t acknowledge her as a threat, instead treating her as one of their own. A chill runs down Luka’s spine, as deep and cold as a spear of glaciate ice, as she realizes where they’re headed towards.[break][break]

There are no grandoise battles to light their way. This feels less like a dungeon crawl and more an inevitable match towards doom, though Luka quickly understands that it isn’t her own. When they open the door at the end of the impossibly long corridor, she’s distressed to find that she isn’t surprised by who awaits them at the end.[break][break]

Her only blessing, if she can call it that, is that her father doesn’t recognize her. She imagines that the arm she raises, which trembles with the effort of such a simple movement, looks far different to the one attached to her torso.[break][break]

She’s never met her father’s killer, so she doesn’t know what they look like. They probably weren’t sobbing when they pulled the trigger, the way she does now. But the look on her father’s face, of betrayal and anguish, is one she’d imagined hundreds of times before.

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Luka hadn’t wanted to return after her last venture in the dreamscape.[break][break]

But she does, more out of obligation than anything else. She feels hollow and numb, prepared for the worst- though her little avatar remains as smiling and cheerful as ever. Her pixelated body doesn’t even display the blood on her hands.[break][break]

So their next adventure, if one can even call it that, is met with much trepidation. And when they emerge atop Mt. Pyre, Luka is fully prepared for the worst. The mountaintop is covered by an eerie purple mist, and in the distance she can see the small headstone that she'd erected for the Pokemon she'd lost back during the Darkest Day.[break][break]

She grits her teeth and steps forwards as the fog continues to surge. It becomes so thick that she can almost taste it. But all of the sudden, as though a gust of wind has just blown over the mountain, it clears.[break][break]

Standing in front of the headstone is her Mienshao. Luka would know her anywhere: the same pink fur, the same haughty expression. Only this time, the ermine seems more melancholy than Luka remembers.[break][break]

"Marjolaine?" Her voice is soft. There's no reason for her to hold onto hope like this here- this isn't real- and yet a bubble rises in her chest anyways.[break][break]

"I-I'm so sorry, I-" Before she knows it, she's already blubbering. The words come out between thick, gasping sobs: so many apologies and pleas for forgiveness that eventually, the words all blur together. Eventually, she finds herself embracing her deceased Pokemon, and even though this is a dream world her former partner feels solid and very, very real.[break][break]

Luka buries her face into soft pink fur, and after a moment, feels long paws wrapping around her in turn. There are no words exchanged between the two of them- there never have been- but in that one gestures resides an understanding, forgiveness, and a promise.[break][break]

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