Chapter 1337: Super Nightmare

Is there something in the sky?

Baimu and Shinjiro raised their heads in unison, but all they saw was the bright moon and dim stars.

As the two were puzzled, Lei Lei Jiqi raised both arms high.

"Lei!! Ji!! Zhi!! Ka!! Si——!!"

It suddenly unleashed an unprecedentedly loud roar, its golden-glowing claws clenched tight, instantly filling the surroundings with eerie cracking sounds.

Pale golden cracks abruptly appeared, spreading rapidly toward the heavens.

Boom—!

With a tremendous bang, the "moon" violently exploded!

Twisted black monster clouds slowly emerged, occupying the entire island's sky, from which a thick ominous aura seeped out.

Baimu and Shinjiro stared dumbfounded—the former couldn't believe how spacetime rifts kept appearing in the Sinnoh region, while the latter wore a thoughtful expression.

"Lei~ Ji~ Zhi~ Ka~ Si~"

Lei Lei Jiqi tilted its massive body, as if reminding them of something.

Through the relay translation of Lei Ji and the multifunctional phone, Baimu learned that the black clouds above were not the spacetime rift he had thought.

"An entrance to another world?"

"Yes, and it seems impossible to enter directly—Lei Lei Jiqi can't do it, so it says it can't help."

As the multifunctional phone explained, it kept confirming with Lei Ji, finally obtaining an accurate answer.

The black clouds above appeared to be a passage between two worlds, but in reality, they functioned like a spirit realm entrance, requiring a special "ritual" to enter.

At this moment, Shinjiro spoke: "What it leads to should be some kind of alternate dimension—a special world distinctly separate from reality."

As an archaeologist and explorer, he had actually visited such utterly different bizarre worlds more than once, and each time managed to turn danger into safety and escape.

Frankly speaking, he is an expert in this regard!

Shinjiro turned and said: "If I'm not mistaken, it's likely the dream world created by Darkrai that abducted you and Zhulan."

"Do we have to sleep on the spot?"

The multifunctional phone quickly dismissed that idea.

Trainers are originally abducted and deceived by Darkrai in their sleep—sleeping again would be like walking into a tiger's mouth!

Baimu fell into deep thought.

Shinjiro then had Lei Ji support him as he flew toward the sky to touch the strange black clouds.

He is a man of practice, more inclined to rely on bodily sensation.

However, just as Lei Lei Jiqi said, direct entry was impossible—the "black clouds" seemed nonexistent, merely a vague, indistinct illusion.

If a normal alternate dimension can be entered through an "entrance," why can't this one?

Shinjiro recalled why Baimu and Zhulan had entered.

"Perhaps only the soul can enter there—the body cannot pass through this 'door'."

He returned to the ground and voiced this hypothesis.

Shinjiro added: "Let's return to the Jin Zita first—perhaps we can borrow other powers."

He intended to order people to develop a dream-traversal ritual that would guarantee his own safety.

"We can indeed borrow other powers, but we don't need to go back."

Baimu shook his head, looking at Hu Pa amid Shinjiro's puzzled gaze: "Hu Pa, can you help?"

Hu Pa pointed blankly at itself: "Me?"

"Yes! Your aura ignores spatial boundaries—you can bring Giratina from the Reverse World, and also Dialga and Palkia from the realms of time and space, so you can definitely let us enter this alternate dimension!"

Baimu declared firmly.

This is still just based on the anime's portrayal; in the games, it's even more exaggerated—in the Pokémon Masters EX mobile game, Hu Pa can fetch people from various parallel worlds.

Letting Red, Satoshi, and other characters from different works gather together, it has even rescued many champions who caught legendary beasts from numerous parallel worlds.

It definitely can!

Shinjiro glanced at this strange Pokémon: "Can it?"

Hu Pa remained equally confused: "Can Hu Pa?"

"..."

Baimu pinched its cheeks and kneaded them back and forth: "All you know is to act cute! Don't forget this isn't your true form!"

Hu Pa finally realized, tapped its palm with its small hand, and exclaimed: "Oh right! Hu Pa has another form!"

Taking the sealing bottle from Mei Mei Yali.

Under the curious gaze of Lei Lei Jiqi and Shinjiro, Baimu unscrewed the bottle cap and returned Hu Pa's source power to it.

Instantly, the majestic six-armed giant appeared!

Liberated Hu Pa raised its arms and roared: "Hu Pa~ Full of power again!"

"Buzz buzz buzz——Lei~ Ji~ Zhi~ Ka~ Si!"

Lei Lei Jiqi's matrix flashed wildly, its cry sounding somewhat urgent, as if Hu Pa's form had triggered some memory.

Baimu blinked slightly, then realized something and shouted: "Hu Pa! Apologize quickly!"

"Huh? Why?"

The earnestly liberated Hu Pa scratched its face in confusion: "Apologize to whom?"

Baimu hurriedly said: "Don't you recognize it anymore? Before Gulis sealed you, you summoned it to fight!"

"Fighting…… Ah! It's you!"

The liberated Hu Pa recalled: back then, it was in the Desert City receiving human offerings, believed someone's slander, and summoned various legendary Pokémon to fight.

Among them was Lei Lei Jiqi's existence!

And back then it took on three at once, fighting to its heart's content!

"Hahahaha! Hu Pa almost forgot! Hello there!" Liberated Hu Pa greeted them in its usual carefree manner.

Baimu shouted again: "Hu Pa! You woke someone up while they were sleeping and dragged them off to fight, then just casually tossed them back! That's terrible behavior! Apologize right now!"

"Doot doot doot——"

Lei Lei Jiqi could barely hold itself back.

If not for Shindai being present, it would most likely have started a fight with this hateful guy.

Fortunately Liberated Hu Pa was obedient enough — since an apology was all it took, and it had indeed been in the wrong during that time, "Sorry oh, Hu Pa was wrong."

"... Le~ji~qi~ka~si~"

Lei Lei Jiqi retreated two steps in a halting manner.

One could tell the Giant King was quite reasonable — as long as you apologized it would forgive you.

Shindai more or less understood.

He realized the unknown Pokémon before him might possess power he could not comprehend at all.

"Good boy, I'll reward you with a basin-full of donuts when we get back."

Baimu breathed a sigh of relief inwardly, smiling as he raised his hand.

Liberated Hu Pa also obediently lowered its head to let this person who didn't even reach its knee pet it, "Really? A basin of donuts? Mei Mei Yali won't get mad?"

"We'll send Mei Mei Yali away and eat them in secret!"

"Yay!"

Liberated Hu Pa cheered happily, then flung a ring of light toward the dark clouds in the sky — it had already realized what Baimu wanted it to do, "Passage! Open!"

Anomalous light shone brilliantly, sprinkling across the entire island, enveloping Baimu, Shindai, and even Lei Lei Jiqi entirely.

"Le~ji~qi~ka~si?"

Amid the Giant King's puzzled humming, the light devoured everything.

——

Alternate Dimension: Nightmare New Moon Island.

Baimu opened his eyes to find himself still on the beach, with Shindai, Liberated Hu Pa, Lei Lei Jiqi and other Pokémon beside him.

"Everyone made it in?"

"Looks like it."

Shindai struggled to his feet, instantly feeling a chill run down his spine.

This was his instinct as an explorer, sensing that the place before him was extremely dangerous.

Baimu lifted his head to gaze at the moon, remembering that when he was swallowed by Mega Gengar, the moon had turned into a giant eye, exceptionally gloomy and terrifying.

If the moon was Darkrai, then they should currently be under its surveillance.

Is a battle about to start?

Before Baimu could prepare himself, the Pang Yan Guai he had brought in poked its head out from the rocks.

"Zha wa!"

It seemed to sense something, attempting to pull Baimu over.

Is it Zhu Lan?

Baimu looked at the moon in the sky again, seeing no reaction, then prepared to follow the Pang Yan Guai's guidance to search for Zhu Lan.

Lei Lei Jiqi was clearly very surprised that it could also enter this wondrous world, the holes on its face flashing non-stop.

"Le? Ji? Qi? Ka? Si?"

The Giant King, originally planning to go back to sleep, lost all drowsiness and followed Baimu's steps forward.

They circled around the beach and soon stepped into the island's mountain forest.

Baimu said to Shindai: "I think Zhu Lan and the others should all be trapped somewhere. Next I'm going to shout, trying to lure Darkrai over as much as possible."

"Huh?"

Shindai's face showed shock and confusion, "Why would you directly call Darkrai out? Shouldn't we first quietly confirm Zhu Lan and the others' safety?"

Baimu didn't speak, just turned back to look at Lei Lei Jiqi and the Eight Divine Pillars, Liberated Hu Pa, the already-arrived Black Horse Queen Leiguanwang, Mi Le Dun and the rest of the Pokémon.

He turned his head back again, looking at Shindai.

Shindai: "... Alright then."

The current lineup indeed didn't need that much consideration — just catch Darkrai and gang-beat it.

The two passed through the dense forest.

But the search was faster than expected; guided by the Pang Yan Guai, they found a cave in under two minutes, inside which were shockingly Zhu Lan and some other hotel guests.

"Lie Yao Lu Sha! Baimu!"

They likewise saw Baimu and the others approaching.

"Ka pu!"

Lie Yao Lu Sha excitedly pounced over, but pounced into empty air — it passed straight through Zhu Lan's figure.

Zhu Lan, arms spread wide, was stunned; fortunately she managed to catch the Pang Yan Guai that jumped over afterward.

Lie Yao Lu Sha didn't understand.

"Her physical body is still at the hotel, so it's normal you can't touch her." The Polygon Phone explained.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Lan spoke to confirm: "Our bodies are still at the hotel?"

"That's right, everyone don't panic, this is the dream world, you'll be able to leave soon."

Baimu took the lead in calming the others who had gathered around.

After learning the specific situation, the hotel guests all breathed sighs of relief; someone asked: "What about those people who were taken by Lei Jiaisi — uh, who were taken away?"

There will always be a way.

Baimu believed that as long as he defeated Darkrai, all problems would be solved.

And Zhulan also told him what had happened after he left—

Basically, the hidden Darkrai, cornered, reversed the three divine pillars into black and captured them.

Zhulan led some people to escape, but many more were still taken by the three divine pillars.

"At that time, the moon turned into a huge eyeball, and Darkrai stood beneath it, staring at us."

She pointed to a towering mountain rock in the distance.

Baimu looked over, nodded, and said: "Understood! I'm going there now!"

"Now?"

"No delay—we've already wasted too much time on the road. I must finish this before dawn!"

He stepped forward without hesitation and ran toward the mountain rock.

Zhulan watched his back, suddenly heard the cry of Gabite, and when she turned her head, she saw it holding a lipstick.

"... Mr. Shindai! Please help us, everyone!"

"Eh! Wait! I want to go too!"

Shindai realized Zhulan's intention, but she had already raced far ahead with Gabite and the stone monster.

He was left staring at the helpless and frightened hotel guests, scratching his head in distress: "Well, well, even great adventurers sometimes have to do logistical work."

Elsewhere.

Baimu quickly reached the base of the mountain rock, leapt up in three steps, and suddenly saw a depression.

Inside the pit lay fallen people, surrounded by the black three divine pillars, doing nothing, just standing silently there.

Baimu concentrated for a moment, but Darkrai did not appear. He frowned and shouted: "Hey! I'm here! Darkrai, where are you!"

This shout successfully drew the attention of the black three divine pillars below.

Unexpectedly, they did not attack but instead instantly dissipated, and immediately, a mournful groan began to echo in the air.

"Uuu... uuu..."

"Save me... save me... save me... save me!!"

The final sound seemed to explode beside his ear. Baimu leapt backward and nimbly sat on the back of the snowstorm horse.

Meanwhile, at the spot where he had just stood, a strange humanoid figure with its back to the full moon appeared before everyone's eyes.

——Darkrai!

This finally confirmed its identity as the true culprit.

But what puzzled Baimu was Darkrai's cry toward him just now...

"Save me?"

Could it be that Darkrai is still not the true mastermind, and there is actually someone else behind it?

He stared at the opponent charging toward them and declared decisively: "Everyone! Attack now!"

"Aima! Charge!"

"Leave it to Hu Pa!"

"Lei~! Ji~! Qi~! Kao~! Si~!"

"Dudu—"

"Aga si!"

"Boni o~!"

Countless Pokémon responded, rushing forward in waves to attack Darkrai, releasing various energies instantly, and in a moment engulfing that ghostly apparition!

Boom—!!

After the tremendous sound, Darkrai and the mountain rock both vanished completely, leaving only a ring-shaped depression.

When Zhulan and Gabite arrived, they saw exactly this scene.

"Is it over?"

"No, it's not over. That is its true form!"

Baimu pointed to the moon on the horizon.

The surroundings suddenly turned into a dark blood-red hue, as if fallen into some kind of netherworld space; the moon in the sky became a huge pupil, followed by the stars also turning into countless large and small eyes.

Under the gaze of the two and the countless Pokémon, the eye formed from the moon protruded a head.

It was none other than Darkrai's skull!

Baimu widened his eyes: "This?"

"Save me—"

Darkrai's voice rang in his ears, filled with unbearable pain.

Immediately, its head retracted, and fierce light shot from it and the sky full of eyes toward everyone!

Lei Lei Jiqi and the freed Hu Pa rushed forward together—the former using his flesh to hard-block, the latter using a halo to redirect the beams.

Baimu stared at the "moon," sucking in a breath of cold air.

Is this still a Pokémon!?