Evolved Episode 28: Dreams

Zach opens his eyes. He stands from the floor and looks around the dark room. “Hello?” There is no answer. “Melissa, Tom, Nick, Nerelia, Alex? Where are you guys?” He walks to a stone wall and grabs a torch from its scorn. Then he drags the tip against the ground, producing sparks which ignite the flame. The firelight reveals his location. “What is this place?” He hovers his torch by his reflection from a mirror. His eyes widen to see the brown fedora on his head along with a matching color leather jacket, with tan safari pants, and brown leather shoes. “Why am I dressed like Indiana Jones?” He spins around to the sound of a stone door lowering into the ground, revealing a passageway to his next point. “Well, it’s not like I’ve another other choice.” With his torch lighting the way, Zach strolls down the path. He enters a room where a small, gold statue of Commando sits on a pedestal. Zach approaches with ease as he uses the torch to aid him scan his surroundings. “Hm, no traps. That’s odd. Why would some Pokémon leave a statue of me without guarding it? Unless, the statue itself is booby trapped.” His paw reaches toward the golden statue. He swipes it from the pedestal and flinches. “Nothing.” Zach’s eyes widen as a blue ball of light appears in front of him. “Huh?” The ball stretches out into a portal, opening another dimension. Zach stares into the hole and lets out a deep breath. “Well, this looks like my only way out.” He wanders through the portal as it closes behind him.

***

Melissa sits up, her eyes open. She looks around to find she’s in a bed with an iron frame. Pulling back the covers, she gets out and strolls toward a mirror. Her mouth opens when she sees herself wearing a blue dress over a white shirt. She looks down to find she’s wearing sparkly, red shoes. “Where did this dress come from?” She whips around to the door, steps toward it, and opens it with ease. She’s drawn to the middle of a big circle with red and yellow bricks that swirl from the center. She looks around and notices the village surrounding her and the bi-colored road. “I have a feeling I’m not in Polam anymore.” Melissa turns her head toward where the yellow and red brick paths meet. “Hm, I think I remember this from a movie; follow the yellow brick road.” She steps along the yellow bricks and follows it around the circle to the entrance of the village. The Lopunny walks past the gates and continues down the yellow-bricked road. She stops before a small, blue orb floating in the air. “What is that?” The orb extends into a portal that opens to another world. “Only way to find out is to walk through.” Melissa steps into it before it closes behind her.

***
Tom jumps up from his seat. He scans the room and sees he’s enclosed between metal walls and marble floors. “W-where am I?!” His reflection appears on a long, polished, copper tube and he notices he’s wearing a white shirt with a black vest and navy blue pants. Heavy black boots cover his feet. “Wow, wait until Nerelia checks me out.” He looks up. “Wait, am I in the Millennium Falcon?!” He sprints down the ramp into a hanger and stops after exiting the ship. “Whoa, cool! Wait, where is everyone?” He scans his surroundings. “Am I all alone?” The Dewott proceeds into a hallway with metal doors lined on each side. He sprints to the end of the hallway and presses the button beside the last door. It slides open and reveals a blue vortex that leads to somewhere else. “I guess this is the next step.” Tom wanders through it before it seals.

***

When Nick’s eyes open, he is sitting at a desk. “Wh-what happened? Where am I?” The Shiftry rises from his chair to look out a window. He stares outside at a large building with a driveway beside it. “Whose compound is this?” Nick turns toward a mirror and gasps. He notices that he wears a black suit and tie. He chuckles. “I look like Don Corleone.” He clears his voice. “I will make him an offer he can’t refuse.” Nick turns to the door. “Well, enough of that. Time to get out of here and find out what’s going on.” He exits the room, walks through a hallway and opens the door to the outside. His eyes fix on a black 1941 Lincoln continental coupe. “Huh, I wonder whose car this is.” He gets into the driver’s seat and turns the key, but the engine doesn’t turn over. “Nothing.” Nick gets out and looks beyond the opened gates of the compound. “I guess I’m walking from here.” He wanders past the gates and notices a blue ball of light before getting into a ready stance. The ball opens into a portal. Nick lowers his stance. “Hm, I wonder where this thing leads to.” He walks through before the portal closes him out of the compound.

***

Nerelia looks around. “Huh? What happened?” She leans over the railing of a bow and notices it cut through the water. “Oh!” The Dewott backs away and stumbles to the ground. She realizes she’s wearing a white evening gown. “Why am I wearing this dress?” As she stands again, she turns to see the front of the ship with four orange funnels and a large bridge. “Whoa! Just like in the movie I saw last night. But, where is everyone?” Nerelia walks away from the bow and along the outside corridor of the huge ship. “Agh!” She almost trips, causing her to lift her gown from her feet. “How did that woman in the movie walk like this?” Approaching a door, she pushes it open and enters a grand stairway with marble statues, wooden walls, and a clock. “Wow, so pretty.” She trots down the steps to the floor and pauses. Before her, a portal opens. “Is this the way out?” Nerelia stares closer. “Hm, if it is, then I’m walking through it.” As she does, the portal separates her from the world she woke from.

***

Alex rubs his eyes. “Ugh, that was some night.” He opens them and finds himself sitting in a grey DeLorean DMC-12 on a railroad track. “What? What’s going on?” The Charizard adjusts his mirror and notices that he wears a red shirt with a matching color vest with blue jeans, white shoes, and a grey cap. “Whoa, I look cool in this outfit.” He feels a sudden push from the back. “Hey, what’s the big idea?!” In his mirror, he notices a steam locomotive in the rear. “Oh, this can’t be good.” The train pushes the car forward along the tracks. “This definitely can’t be good.” He grips the wheel as the locomotive speeds up. “Whoa!” His stares at the speedometer and his eyes open wide to see his speed increase. He clutches at his heart as it beats against the inside of his chest. In front of him, he notices a blue portal open before he is drawn into it. After he is in, the vortex shuts.

***

Zach emerges on the other side from his portal. He looks around. “Nothing? This is what was on the other side?” He notices a portal opens above him and Melissa falls from it. Zach catches her before she can hit the ground. “Whoa! I got you!”
Melissa clutches onto him. “Thanks, Zach!” She stares at him. “Honey, you look hot.”
Zach sets her on her feet. “Heh, you too.” Melissa looks away blushing. Another portal opens in front of them and Tom stumbles out before it closes. “Whoa! Tom?”
Tom stands and rubs his head. “Ow, that hurt.”
Nerelia appears from a portal next to him before it closes. She notices the three Pokémon. “What’s with the get up?”
Melissa shrugs. “I don’t know.” Nick and Alex drop down from the last two portals.
Zach and Tom run toward them and help them up. “Are you two okay?”
Nick rubs his head. “I think so.”
“That was a nasty fall,” Alex says. He looks at the rest of the gang. “You guys are dressed up too?”
Tom nods. “Um, yeah.”
Nick looks around the empty room. “Where are we and why are we dressed like this?”
“Is it possible that we’re dreaming?” Nerelia asks.
“I think we are,” Zach says. “There is no way I appeared as Indiana Jones in a hallway of a tomb.”
Melissa nods. “Or Dorothy from the ‘Wizard of Oz’.” She turns to Tom. “Are you Han Solo from ‘Star Wars’?”
“I think so,” Tom responds. “I look cool, don’t I?”
“Not too sure of that,” Nick adds.
Tom turns to him. “Oh? And what are you supposed to be?”
“I think I’m Don Corleone from that movie, ‘The Godfather’.” Nick examines his outfit. “Yep, I am.”
Nerelia looks at herself. “I think I’m that woman from that movie last night I watched with the girls.”
Melissa turns to Nerelia. “Rose from ‘Titanic’?” Nerelia nods.
Tom stares at her. “You look beautiful in that dress, Neri.”
Nerelia blushes. “Thanks, Dear.”
Alex looks at his outfit. “I must be Marty from ‘Back to the Future’.” He turns to the gang. “So, what do we do now?”
“Hm.” Zach rubs his chin. “If this is a dream, then we can control it.” He shuts his eyes for five seconds before a silver 2014 Honda FR-V appears. He opens his eyes. “Nice! Come on, guys.” He gets in the driver’s seat with Melissa next to him in the passenger’s. Nick and Alex squeeze into the back by the trunk entrance. Tom and Nerelia take the seats between the Pokémon. “I remember this car.”
“Isn’t this the car you drove in Metropolis?” Alex asks.
“Yep!” Zach responds. “Comfy, just like I remember.”
Tom leans closer to Zach. “And what do you plan to do?”
Zach smiles. “Take it on a test drive.”
“Oh, let’s make this dream more fun!” Nick shouts. “We’ll drive around an abandoned Metropolis!” The city streets of Metropolis appear before them. Zach pushes on the gas pedal and accelerates around the city on the road.
Nerelia leans back against her seat. “What will happen when we wake up?”
“Don’t worry,” Zach says. “When we do, it’ll be our happy day; bells ringing, flowers falling from an arch, and we’ll be walking down the aisle.”
“Yes,” Melissa adds. “The day we get hitched.”
Tom crosses his arms at the back of his head. “But right now, we’ll enjoy this dream like there’s no tomorrow.” Zach drives the vehicle into the sunset.