Pokemon Dawn

After exchanging the contents of each other's dreams, the two stood silently under the dim light before dawn, without speaking for a long time.

After freezing for half a minute, the two men took out something from their pockets in very unison.

The two items, the card and the stamps, lay quietly in the palms of their hands, arranged together. The two crying and laughing masks, one large and one small, seemed to be staring at each other, making Tongye shiver for no reason.

"Yes, this is the mask that appeared in my dream." Kiriha seemed to be holding something hot, as if he wanted to throw a high-speed straight ball to keep it away from him, "But why... is this

Is there any curse on it?"

"Wait a minute." Xiaoye suddenly thought of something, "Speaking of masked monsters and subway stations..."

"Kiriha, have you heard of the urban legend that has spread throughout Mihara City recently?"

The sky is gradually getting brighter. As the soothing music of the Pokémon Center plays, the young trainers wake up one after another and pour into the cafeteria hungry.

Today, Xinghai and Xiaotian did not eat with everyone, but left early. It was said that they were going to meet Xinghai's junior brother. The golden retriever brother and sister who felt that the three-person dinner was not lively enough saw Tongye who was talking to Xiaoye and immediately couldn't help but say

The ground pulled him over.

——Obviously this is just the first meeting, but it can be said that it is an invitation in the style of a free trainer.

Tongye once spent a week together with Xiaoye and Xiaotian in the same archery dojo, and was also Xiaoyun's travel companion. He and the golden retriever brother and sister never had to worry about having nothing to talk about. Even if there was really nothing to say, those two noisy guys would probably

You can also conjure up 800 ways to start a topic out of thin air.

It just so happened that Xiaoye also wanted to ask them something.

"You mean, you two had the same dream, in which you were both eaten by masked monsters?" Xiaojie and Xiaoling looked at each other in surprise.

"Yes." Xiaoye put the card and stamps printed with the Mask of Crying and Laughing back on the table, "The scene in the dream seemed to be an abandoned subway station, so I thought of the urban legend you mentioned yesterday. Can you tell me in detail?

Would you like to talk about it?"

Xiao Ye thought that Xiao Ling, who loved weird things, would be very excited, but the blonde girl's expression didn't look happy, and even showed a hint of worry. She nodded and started her story.

"Although there are many different versions of the details of the urban legend I found, the main content is basically the same." Xiaoling said, "It is said that if someone takes the subway at 6:30 in the evening, get off the train after arriving at the terminal.

, you may encounter a strange train you have never seen before. When the rider walks in out of curiosity, he will be taken to an abandoned subway station that does not exist on the map, where there are monsters with masks who will

Uninvited guests eat it. There are two opinions about the subway line, one is to take the Hibiya Line or the Asakusa Line. I haven’t had time to explore it myself, so I don’t know which one is correct.”

Tongye pondered for a moment, then turned his head to look at Xiaoye, "Xiaoye, I remember seeing the subway station number in my dream. Can you remember the content on it?"

After being reminded by Tongye, Xiaoye also vaguely recalled the vague scene in her dream, "I did see it. It seems to be...h19?"

Xiaojie opened the subway line map that he had prepared and pointed to the legend in the lower right corner, "Mihara City has a total of eleven subway lines. Among them, the one that can be abbreviated as h is this one, the Hibiya Line."

"Ah, this corresponds to the urban legend!"

After Xiaoling finished speaking, the four people looked towards the gray Hibiya line in the picture. Xiaojie, who had the best eyesight, was the first to find the end of the line, but he hesitated for a few seconds without speaking.

Then, others realized something too.

——The terminal station of Hibiya Line is H18 Minami-Senju Station, there is no H19.

The air fell into a brief silence, until Xiaoling fell down on the table and punched the table twice in confusion.

"Ah ah, although I am very interested in this kind of urban legend, if it appears in this way, it is better not to exist at all..."

Xiao Ye and Tong Ye immediately looked at each other. The golden retriever brother and sister had no intention of showing off. When Xiao Ling beat the table in grief and anger, Xiao Jie picked up the card and stamps with the mask pattern on them.

"Your dream is definitely not a coincidence." Xiaojie frowned, making Xiaoye feel for no reason that he seemed to want to use his telekinesis on the cry-laughing mask pattern, "We have heard similar incidents from family members before, I think

There may be something attached to these two pieces of paper. Mental power, emotion, memory, or even resentment - although I can't detect the abnormality, you will see similar nightmares at the same time. It should be affected by

The influence of external spiritual power."

"Like Pokémon's nightmare move?" Tongye immediately accepted this unfamiliar statement.

"That's right, now I don't know if it's humans or Pokémon, or what they want to do." Xiaoling sighed, "Slimy things like this are the most troublesome, I hope you will do it.

Don’t get caught up…”

The expressions on Xiaojie and Xiaoling's faces undoubtedly reflect some problems. They are not timid children. To be able to put them in such a difficult situation shows that this kind of invisible and intangible enemy is really difficult to deal with.

On the contrary, the two parties involved were a little out of state. After all, it was just a strange dream and no substantial harm was done.

"...Okay, the matter is not that serious yet." Tongye took the lead to break the dull atmosphere, and raised the corner of his mouth easily, "If it just allows us to have weird dreams occasionally, I would quite welcome 'it' to visit us.

"Ah, what will happen if you throw them away?" He pointed to two pieces of paper, one large and one small, on the table.

"Hmm... maybe nothing will happen, or maybe it will piss off the thing attached to it?" Although he still looked serious, the smile in the corner of his eyes revealed that Xiaojie was actually making random guesses, "

Maybe no matter how many times you throw them away, you'll find them on your bedside, and the number of masked monsters in your dreams will increase by one every day!"

Xiaoye: "..."

With the size of the monster in the dream...if it really grows like this, it will blow a hole in the subway station in a few days, turning the nightmare into a comedy.

"In short, now we have found some clues." Xiaojie's eyes scanned every part of the subway map intently, "Let's try it this evening and arrive at the terminal station of the Hibiya Line at half past six.

, maybe we can find something."

Perhaps every freelance trainer has an explorer's heart. While waiting for the arrival of 6:30 in the evening, the worry has long since turned into curiosity and eagerness to try. Although Xiaojie and Xiaoling both know it from their families.

Similar incidents have happened, but they still can't guess what will happen next.

And "can't guess" itself is the biggest motivation for people to want to find out.

The four of us got on the Hibiya Line subway with enthusiasm, calculated the time, and arrived at the terminal Minami-Senju on time at 6:30.

Then he stood there for more than an hour, looking around furtively, and was almost thought by the patrolman to be someone with evil intentions who came to check on the location in advance.

Subway stations are always the most crowded in the evening, and there are still many people walking around even in remote terminal stations. In this case, if a strange and strange train really comes by... I think the police station will

Dozens of police calls were received at the same time.

Even with your knees you can imagine that it is an absolutely impossible scene.

Xiaoling reluctantly left the subway station like an eggplant beaten by frost, feeling that adventure shouldn't be so boring. Xiaojie looked relaxed and contented - "It's better than actually encountering a masked monster and being eaten."

Well."

It just so happened that Xinghai and Xiaotian had said in advance that they would not come back for dinner today. Without the constraints of meeting at a fixed time, Xiaoling even wanted to try staying in the subway station until midnight. Of course, this great plan made her stomach growl.

Abandoned when cooing.

It was almost nine o'clock when the Urban Legend Adventure Team returned to the Pokémon Center. They missed dinner time, but they were able to catch the midnight snack. Xiaotian was also dragged out by force, and was caught off guard and stuffed with a mouthful of snacks.

He didn't even bother to ask when Kiriye arrived in Mihara City and how he met the two annoying golden retrievers.

Until they said goodbye to each other and said good night, everyone felt that the expedition into the urban legend would end peacefully without any results and be forgotten in a few days.

——Then, when they looked at each other with splitting headaches and dark circles under their eyes in the early morning, everyone suddenly had the urge to cover their faces.

June 13th.

"..." Xiaotian never spoke much when eating. Even though he was feeling confused now, he just looked at each other in confusion with his father.

The usually lively golden retriever brother and sister both looked distracted and absent-minded. Xiaoling almost poked a spoon into her nostril. Tongye also seemed to be distracted all the time. Only Xiaoye seemed normal... No, it was abnormal to be calm and composed in the face of such a situation.

Bar.

"What's wrong? Didn't you sleep well yesterday?" Xinghai asked with concern.

Before Xiaojie could say anything, Xiaoling had already spoken with a serious look on her face, "Mr. Xinghai, that urban legend is indeed true. I decided to continue the adventure today where I left off yesterday and try to catch the monster alive and sell it for a high price.

"

Xiaotian: "..."

Xinghai: "Oh..."

Xiaotian's doubts all turned into speechless. He ignored Xiaoling's bright eyes asking "do you want to join us?" and went to train with his father after eating.

When Xiaotian and Xinghai's backs had completely disappeared, the remaining four people exchanged "planned" looks.

"At least it can be inferred from the current situation -" Xiaojie's fingers flexibly played with the card, "People who have come into contact with cards and stamps with crying and laughing masks, or have studied urban legends in depth, may dream of abandoned

Masked monster in the subway station.”

"It's okay if I just dreamed about it..." Xiaoling held her head in frustration, "Now my headache feels like I stayed up late playing games all night."

After being awakened by the nightmare, they met in the Pokémon Center lobby with tacit understanding and described the details of their dreams. There was no doubt that the content of their dreams was exactly the same, even the realistic pain and fear when their bodies were bitten by monsters.

same.

Perhaps this ominous content indicates that the existence that gives them nightmares is most likely to be malicious.

And the next moment, they realized at the same time that if Xiaojie and Xiaoling were included in the attack scope of Nightmare because of their involvement in this matter, once they told the matter, the listeners might also be affected——

There is never any strict logic in the judgment of enemies by this invisible existence.

After a brief discussion, they decided not to tell Xiaotian and Xinghai the truth for the time being to prevent "nightmare contagion", and first tried to find clues on their own. I have to say that Xiaoling's nonsense skill points are very useful, obviously she is talking

The truth can still make Xiaotian speechless and not wanting to delve deeper.

The first priority now is to find out what the Crying and Laughing Masks symbolize and why they are printed on cards and stamps. The best place to conduct this investigation is undoubtedly the place where they were found -

Union National Library.

====================

Small theater:

System prompts: The progress of the side mission [Mihara City·The Masked Monster Sneaking into Dreams] has reached 10%.

Mission goal: Investigate the true identity of the enemy.

Xiaoye: Well, since it can make us have nightmares, maybe the enemy is a dream monster?

System prompt: No, the enemy may be a masked spirit that gives people nightmares.

Xiaoye:...Are you infected by a virus?