Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 357 Interlude - Poisonous Dreams

Chapter 359 Interlude - Poisonous Dreams

Just as Feiyun Police Station was busy deploying officers and spreading the word about the appearance of Poison-type Pokémon around the city.

In the sanatorium of a seawater bathing pool on the west side of Feiyun City, Mia slowly opened her eyes.

"How are you? How are you feeling?"

Dr. Zhenyan and her assistant Songlu from the Dream Institute immediately stepped forward and draped a bath towel over the female patient.

Truffle removed the simple vital sign detection device from Mia and wiped her damp hair with a towel, while Dr. Shin took out his notebook to take notes.

As soon as Mia uttered the word "I," tears slid down her cheeks and into the pool water.

The introverted girl choked out a complete sentence: "I saw—my oh dear mushroom."

"Oh, Agaric? Is that the Pokémon Detective Hugo mentioned, the one you released back into the wild?" Zhenyan's pen hovered over the paper.

Mia nodded, splashing tiny droplets of water.

"It seems it's just a recurring dream."

The truffle slumped its shoulders in dejection—

"It's a shame that the detective spoke so seriously, talking about underwater signals and unknown creatures, but even after we deliberately changed to a marine environment, we still didn't make any new discoveries."

"No, this time is different." The girl, her tears still wet on her face, shook her head urgently. "It's not like the dreams I've had before."

She reached out and tightly grasped the Dream Doctor's sleeve: "Just now, I felt Aya's emotions—this is the first time since I met that Pokémon that I've felt its thoughts and feelings so clearly. It's like my long-cherished wish has finally come true! Why would I see a Pokémon I released in the past in the sea? That doesn't make sense. Could it be that because the strange dreams of the past have disappeared, Miss Mia has started having her own dreams?"

The assistant scratched his bun in confusion and offered his hypothesis.

"No, I don't think this is just a simple dream."

Dr. Zhenyan tapped the notebook lightly with her pen cap. "Don't forget the brainwave data we just saw with the testing device. That's not the kind of reaction you see when you're falling asleep normally; it's closer to the indicators of a successful dream connection. And looking at Miss Mia now, what she saw in her dream is clearly significantly different from what she's seen before. Miss Mia, can you clearly recall everything you saw in your dream just now?"

"Yes, it is. It's as clear as if it happened right before my eyes, I would never be mistaken," Mia said with certainty.

The doctor nodded: "Now that the person involved has confirmed the anomaly, let's not jump to conclusions. Let Miss Mia calm down for a while, and then we'll hear the specific details later."

?

"That's not for the professor, who's been sitting there with his notebook since before the sea bath was over, to say," Truffle stuck out her tongue.

He complained to his older sister.

After changing their clothes, the three of them moved to the rest room provided by the bathhouse.

The paid lounge is filled with a warm atmosphere, with soft lighting in every corner.

Truffle thoughtfully handed Miss Mia a steaming drink. She held the cup with both hands, feeling the warmth of the steam from her palms, and continued slowly, "Unlike the strange dreams I had recently, in this dream in the sea, I didn't see any fragments of past memories. Instead, I truly saw the long-lost Ayakashi. It stood in front of me, wearing its round cap, waving its tiny arms, calling out, 'I'm here, I'm here!'—At first, I couldn't believe it was the Ayakashi from the past, because it seemed so lively, whereas when it was with me, it was always quiet and reserved."

"So how did you finally confirm it?" Dr. Zhenyan asked, opening her notebook again.

"It's the pattern on its head. You know, the top of a Shroomish cap usually has a pattern similar to a Poké Ball, right? The Pokémon I saw in my dream had a small black dot on the white part of its pattern. This feature is exactly the same as the Shroomish I released in the past," Mia replied earnestly.

However, Zhenyan secretly thought that it was possible that Mia had projected the image of the elf she released into the character in her dream.

But she suppressed her suspicions for the time being, and continued, following Mia's lead, "Did you communicate with the elf you met in your dream?"

"Well, I immediately asked it about the reason for releasing it back then, why it disappeared in the woods the day after that. I wanted to know if my act of abandoning it in the forest was just wishful thinking on my part... and alas, Mushroom told me an answer I never expected."

"So what's the answer?" Truffle asked, blinking her curious eyes. "By the way, do you communicate in human language in your dreams?"

"I don't remember the exact words we used, but every thought is like it was imprinted directly in my mind," the girl said.

My fingertips unconsciously rubbed the side of the cup.

"Back then, Aiya Mushroom told me that it had made up its mind to leave me because it felt it was a burden to me. Aiya Mushroom saw that I couldn't make friends at school and thought the reason was because of its closed-off and weak nature. So, after I released it that day, Aiya Mushroom dug a hole in that forest and buried itself in the soil in order to completely leave me. It cared about me so much."

But I abandoned it.

The newly shed tears dripped into the drink, turning into rising nitrogen and argon mist in the air.

"What a heartbreaking misunderstanding—" Dr. Zhenyan sighed, shaking her long hair.

"One of the most important reasons we are committed to developing the Pokémon Dream Connector is that we hope to allow humans and Pokémon to openly share their inner thoughts with each other in a free and unrestrained dream world, thereby preventing such regrets from happening again."

"So, can we rule out the possibility that Miss Mia was simply dreaming?" Truffle asked Doctor.

Dr. Zhen nodded. "That's right. There's a significant difference between what you see in a dream and real memories, and few people would confuse the two. Unlike the fragmented memories obtained after a typical dream experiment, Miss Mia's narration this time was clear and organized, and through the dialogue in the dream, she also learned things she had never known before. The only reasonable explanation is that there really is some kind of medium that, through the seawater, connects Mia and Aya Mushroom."

"Oh dear, if what Mushroom said in her dream is true, it's so sad—"

Truffle felt deep sympathy for Mia and Aiya Mushroom's plight, and then asked Mia, "Since you met Aiya Mushroom in your dream, did you ask where it was now? Since you missed it once, why not just find it again?"

"I asked it, but the mushroom said it didn't know the location either." Mia blinked in confusion. "It said that not long after we separated, it was dug out of the ground by a scouting mouse searching for rare mushrooms, and later it was taken in by a group of humans dressed in white."

Finally, one of the people in that group took him out to sea.

"White clothes—could they be members of Team Plasma?" Truffle guessed. "Did you get any other information about their location?"

"I asked, but Aiya Mushroom told me not to go looking for it." Mia lowered her eyes, her expression somber. "It said it lives on a bottomless sea and is doing well. It has many human companions with it now, and told me not to worry about it."

"Living at sea—did you go out to sea by boat? Or did you end up on some island? How exactly is this unusual form of communication over the sea achieved?" The research assistant pondered, eyes closed. "Ms. Mia, have you and Aiya Mushroom discussed anything else?"

"I couldn't control my emotions. After asking all those questions, I hugged Aiya Mushroom and cried, constantly apologizing to it until I finally woke up." The woman lowered her head deeply and said apologetically, "If I take a sea bath again, will I still dream about Aiya Mushroom?"

"It's best not to do that in the short term," Truffle said, shaking her head. "The Doctor and I discussed this before. Frequent high-intensity dream experiments might disrupt the body's natural biological clock. Moreover, although the principle is not yet clear, long-distance communication like yours and Aiya Mushroom's must come at a cost. If you meet frequently in dreams, it could be a burden for both of you."

Mia nodded dejectedly, her expression disheartened.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. If we were in the same situation, we'd probably react the same way. But with only this level of information, we really can't hold our heads high and report the progress to that detective."

With her arms crossed, Truffle sighed like an adult and turned to the Dream Doctor beside her, "Sister, why have you been so quiet since earlier?"

Dr. Zhenyan raised her face and slowly said, "I've been wondering why Aiya Mushroom is so quiet and introverted when she's with Miss Mia, but so lively in the dream?"

The assistant gasped, "That's definitely suspicious. Could it be that the Pokémon's latent personality has been awakened?"

"Even if it's a latent personality, it's still not normal for someone to be so silent in everyday life. Truffle, don't you think that Aiya's past behavior is somewhat similar to a certain kind of mental disorder in psychology?"

The professor frowned and said, "In the real world, Agaric is emotionally detached, prefers solitude, always deliberately avoids social activities, keeps its distance from its companions and its own species, reacts coldly to external stimuli, and lacks vivid emotional experiences. However, in dreams, it's no different from a normal Pokémon. It cheerfully waves to its past trainers, can freely express its thoughts, tells Mia that it actually cares about her, and even specifically tells her not to come looking for it so as not to cause her any trouble. Doesn't this contrast seem familiar to you?"

"Indeed, it feels like I just saw something similar somewhere not long ago!"

The girl suddenly opened her eyes wide.

"Sister, you're not referring to the split personality disorder that the detective mentioned before, are you? But if it's a split personality disorder, wouldn't the person with the disorder do some abrupt and strange things at the same time? But before this dream appeared, Aiya Mushroom didn't show any contradictory behavior at all, and I've never heard of split personality disorder making people mute."

"So, it's not a case of dual personality disorder, but rather multiple personality disorder," the doctor said slowly, carefully choosing his words.

"Humans and Pokémon have vastly different biological structures. Sometimes, the difference between a human and a certain Pokémon is even greater than the difference between that Pokémon and wild grass. Truffle, do you know how mushrooms grow?"

"Well, the mushrooms we usually see and eat are probably the fruiting bodies of some kind of fungus, right? In order to spread spores, these fruiting bodies differentiate into structures such as caps and stipes—is that correct?"

The sisters, Truffle and Zhen, both have names related to mushrooms, so Truffle made a point of reading related science books when she was in school.

Unexpectedly, it came in handy at this moment.

The doctor nodded in agreement—"Another point is that before fungi grow fruiting bodies, they first grow hyphae. These hyphae absorb and decompose organic matter to obtain nutrients, and through continuous branching and extension, they form a vast network. It can be said that every part of every mushroom is evolved from the growth of hyphae—and Pokémon like Mushroom and Agaric also have similar hyphal structures. So, compared to us humans, Agaric might actually be more similar to these fungi."

"Wait, wait! Sister! You mean to say—" Truffle suddenly covered her mouth, her face full of disbelief. "This is impossible, it's too absurd!"

"I believe all the clues point to this conclusion, and it's not difficult to verify. We just need to wait until Mia conducts her next seawater dream experiment and ask the 'Aiya Mushroom' in her dream in person."

After speaking to her sister, Dr. Zhenyan turned her gaze to Mia—

"Miss Mia, would you like to hear my speculation?"

The woman nodded quietly.

From Truffle's hesitant expression, Mia could guess that Dr. Zhenyan was about to reveal a shocking conclusion. But regardless, she longed to understand more deeply the ayaka mushroom she had once released.

"Normally, most Agaric Pokémon, like most others, have a unified, singular mindset. But Miss Mia, your Agaric Pokémon may be different. Whether it's a congenital mutation or some other factor, it differs from its kind on a mental level."

The doctor's voice was like the sound of wind blowing through a window, both chilling and subtly reassuring.

However, her next words were like a gust of wind that could completely smash open a window—"In the body of the Aya Mushroom, which is differentiated by a structure similar to mycelium, your Aya Mushroom consciousness has not been integrated like that of its kind, but has maintained a differentiated structure—that is to say, multiple self-consciousnesses exist within it at the same time."

Dr. Zhenyan continued, "This phenomenon is not uncommon in Pokémon. Weezing can have two consciousnesses at the same time, while Pokémon like Dugtrio, Hydreigon, and Dodrio have three. Exeggcute and Strike have even more—this is a common phenomenon in their respective species, but it is an exception for Aurafolk."

"Does having too many conflicting thoughts in your mind cause you to appear dull in daily life?"

Mia asked cautiously, her past experience of being affected by strange dreams giving her some understanding of the situation.

The doctor nodded slightly and continued—

"I also cannot know for sure how many consciousnesses exist within the Ayak Mushroom. Maybe it's five or six, maybe it's a dozen or so. If each mycelium that makes up the mushroom has an independent consciousness, then the number could reach an astonishing tens of thousands. In that case, no matter what the Ayak Mushroom intends to do, it will be difficult to proceed due to the disagreements between the numerous consciousnesses within its body; no matter what ideas it wants to express, it will ultimately have nothing to say because countless consciousnesses hold their own opinions."

What Miss Rice encountered in her seascape dream was merely one of countless consciousnesses. It was precisely because it lacked the constraints and conflicts of other consciousnesses that it was able to display its lively side like a normal living being.

"But if that's the case, how do you explain the disappearance of the mushroom in the forest?" Truffle asked, her face full of doubt.

"After all, aren't these consciousnesses often contradictory? How could they possibly coordinate to perform such a relatively complex action as digging a hole in the ground and burying themselves?"

"This precisely demonstrates that, on this particular issue, those consciousnesses have reached a rare consensus."

Dr. Zhenyan's expression was complex as she looked at Mia, who stood there stunned, and slowly said, "Every single consciousness within Agaric's body truly felt the Trainer's love for Agaric during their time with Miss Mia. Perhaps because their originally complete soul was divided into many parts, each of their thoughts seemed particularly clumsy. When these consciousnesses sensed the predicament Miss Mia was facing, they all hoped to do their best to help. However, the unique nature of their mental state made it impossible for them to complete any complex actions or behaviors. It is precisely for this reason that it, or rather they, ultimately made the decision to leave you."

At that moment, a gentle evening breeze softly rustled the glass of the beach lounge. Inside, Miss Mia could no longer contain her emotions and burst into tears.

"This is not abandonment," the dream scholar sighed, "but rather the gentlest farewell, formed by the convergence of countless sentiments."