Pokémon Detective Case Files.

It was Miss Mia, her face streaked with tears.

She opened her eyes to herself.

.

Azure opened her eyes.

She woke up.

Chapter 334 Stay Calm When Poisoned

"Truffle, this note... seems a bit ominous."

Outside the laboratory, Dr. Makomo, the director of the Dream Research Institute, held a dictation record in his hand and frowned as he spoke to Matsuru, his research assistant who was responsible for maintaining various instruments in the Dream Research Institute and was also his younger sister.

"Really? I think it's pretty ordinary. Although the green stone tablet and purple mist sound a bit strange, isn't that what most people's nightmares are like?"

Having just listened to Bilan's story, Truffle was somewhat confused. Having participated in dream research with her sister, she had also read some classic dream analysis cases. Compared to the dreams of those case patients, Bilan's dreams didn't seem particularly unusual.

“But here’s the problem.” The doctor shook his dictation notes and said seriously, “Miss Azure is conducting a dream connection experiment this time, but how many elements related to dream connection do you see in this notebook?”

"Um...the scene where we finally see Miss Mia at the beach?" Truffle tilted her head. "There was indeed a bit little interaction, but it's still within the margin of error."

"It's not just a matter of the level of interaction. Don't you think it's very unusual for dream connections to intersect in this way? You see, under normal circumstances, when one person wants to intervene in another person's dream, in what form will the two dreams intersect?"

"It depends on the situation... Based on our past Pokémon dream experiments, sometimes two completely different dream scenes are spliced ​​together, and the two dreamers can meet and communicate with each other like two players in a multiplayer game; sometimes there is only the scene of the dreamer's own side, and the two players can also interact; in addition, there is the soul possession type of dream connection, where the party intervening in the dream will possess the original dreamer's body. In this case, it can be divided into several categories, roughly distinguished by whether the perspective and spirit can be freely controlled by the self in the dream, and whether the soul can leave the body, etc..."

The doctor's sister took a sip of coffee and continued—

"Finally, there is a rather exceptional case, which is when the one who enters the dream can observe the dream from all angles with an omniscient and omnipotent perspective, like a god. This situation requires the intervener to have very strong mental perception abilities. If the mental strength is slightly weaker, it will become the situation of soul possession mentioned earlier, except that the perspective is more free, and one can fly around like a ghost that has left the body."

"So, in your opinion, which type of connection mode does Miss Azure belong to?" Dr. Makomo pressed.

"From the initial narrative, it seems to be a player mode where one side enters Miss Mia's dream. However, starting from the middle, Miss Azure's perspective begins to change rapidly, and she develops a strong intuition that transcends cognition. In the end, she even experiences a God's perspective that keeps zooming in, like an overhead view of the sky. This seems to be very close to the special case of the God mode... It is indeed a bit strange."

Truffle pondered for a moment, then looked at Azure, who was still half asleep beside her: "Miss Azure, you wouldn't actually be a superhuman, would you?"

"Huh?!"

While still dazedly looking at her own dictation notes, Azure was suddenly asked a question that caught her off guard, leaving her momentarily speechless: "No, that's not true at all. Why are you asking that?"

The Dream Doctor's assistant shook his head to himself: "No, no, judging from your performance when switching from player mode to god mode, your mental strength must have suddenly increased in the middle of the dream. Maybe Miss Azure suddenly awakened superpowers in the middle of the dream!"

"Huh?" Azure stared in disbelief, while Dr. Makomo's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Wait, wait, wait, this can't be right. I just had a dream, how could I awaken superpowers so easily?"

"That's really hard to say," Dr. Makomo said, raising her index finger with great enthusiasm.

"Many Pokémon awaken their hidden abilities in their dreams. Although the exact mechanism behind this phenomenon is not yet fully understood, it might have a similar effect on humans—this is a huge discovery, and it could even ignite a passion for dream research among ordinary people! Truffle, quickly get a spoon, let's test whether Miss Azure can use telekinesis right away!"

"No, please calm down, both of you. I feel that even if I wanted to bend the spoon, I would most likely not rely on telekinesis, but rather on cheating methods such as using special metals or magic tricks... If I claimed to have awakened superpowers, I feel like some superpowered gym leader would chase me down from the Kanto region—besides, I really don't feel like I've awakened any superpowers at all."

Azure tried her best to defend herself—

“You see, when Pokémon awaken their hidden abilities in their dreams, they can all notice the change immediately after waking up, right? But for me, I just felt like I had a strange dream. To be honest, even now when I reread my dream report, it feels as unfamiliar as reading someone else's story. I've almost completely forgotten what it felt like to dream.”

"That is indeed a problem. If she insists on this, Miss Azure might not have awakened any superpowers at all... In the end, that situation is only a low-probability phenomenon. Using it as an explanation for Miss Azure's strange dreams is ultimately not rigorous enough."

Having probably calmed down from her initial fervor, Dr. Makomo apologized to Azure, saying, "I'm sorry, Ms. Azure, I got a little emotional for a moment."

"It's alright, it's good that the misunderstanding has been cleared up."

Only one person was very dissatisfied with the situation. The doctor's sister walked up to the two of them with her hands on her hips, holding a spoon in her hand: "Then I've just taken this spoon for nothing."

Perhaps awakened by the noise of their conversation, Mia, who had been sleeping in the lab, stepped out of the room at this moment.

"Miss Azure, Dr. Makomo, that experiment... I think it was called the Dream Connection Experiment, right? Is it over? Why am I having this strange dream about memories with Aya Mushroom?"

Makomo took nightmare patients who came to her door very seriously. She immediately went to Mia's side and said, "Miss Mia, the experiment can be considered complete. Putting everything else aside, what do you remember about the dream you just had?"

“It’s no different from the strange dreams I’ve had before,” Mia said, shaking her head.

Upon hearing her speak, Miss Truffle immediately put down the unused spoon and began to record Mia's narration in the notebook that was filled with Azure Oral Report.

"I dreamt of fragments of memories related to the past and the 'Aiya Mushroom,' and just like before, those fragments played out in my dream like a movie flashback, without any rhyme or reason..."

"No, that's not specific enough." Seeing that Miss Mia's description was becoming increasingly vague, the doctor promptly reminded her.

"It doesn't matter if it's chaotic, and it's okay if you can't remember some of the dream details clearly. Please be sure to share every scene and every detail that you think of and see in your dream as specifically as possible. I think those details might be related to the source of the strange dream."

“Okay then.” Mia nodded and began to recount the memories she had experienced in her dream, albeit in a fragmented manner.

First, there's the scene of releasing the Breloom, then the scene of spending the Breloom's childhood with it, the scene of college, the scene of staring at the motionless Breloom, the scene of holding it and walking around happily, the scene of talking to the Breloom before going to sleep, and the moment when the Breloom was put into a Poké Ball and brought home by the father...

Countless fragmented scenes, because of Aiya's quiet and reserved personality, may not contain many particularly heartwarming elements, but you can hear a faint sense of nostalgia in Miss Mia's tone.

However, the expressions on the three people's faces turned strange as they listened to Mia's story.

"Miss Mia, did you see any recent memories in your dream?"

After Mia finished recounting her story, the Doctor carefully asked her questions. She avoided mentioning Azure's description of seeing Miss Mia at the beach at the end of her dream, fearing that her words might mislead Mia's memories.

"I don't think so," the woman shook her head. "Releasing the ayak mushroom was something that happened several years ago. The scenes I see in my dreams are all related to it, so it's impossible for something to happen recently."

"Hey, Doctor, the two of them are dreaming completely different things. Is the dream connection device really working properly? Could it be that Miss Azure and Miss Mia are actually having two completely unrelated dreams?" Truffle looked at her sister suspiciously and asked in a low voice.

"It ran perfectly smoothly, and all the connection parameters were within normal limits. Moreover, according to the principles of the dream connection experiment, if she doesn't connect into the other person's dream, Miss Azure won't see any scenes in her dream." The doctor answered firmly, his brows furrowing even deeper.

"Was there something wrong with my strange dream?" Mia asked somewhat guiltily, seeing the three people in front of her all looking somber.

Azure glanced at the professor and saw Dr. Makomo nod helplessly at her. Then, the detective's assistant explained to Mia the reason for their confusion—

“Miss Mia, you should also know that when you entered the dream, I also used Dr. Makomo’s dream connection device and used it to intervene in your dream—but the dream we experienced seemed to be completely different.”

"Completely different? Miss Azure, didn't you see those memories of the 'Aiya Mushroom' in my dream?" Mia asked, puzzled.

“I didn’t even see a shadow of the Aya Mushroom,” Azure said definitively. “Not only that, at the end of the dream, I also saw you, Miss Mia, crying on the shore. And according to your description just now, that scene also never appeared in your dream.”

"Is this phenomenon strange?" Mia, who didn't fully understand the mechanism of the dream connection experiment, still didn't get the situation right.

"This is really strange; it's never happened before in Pokémon dream connections," Professor Makomo replied.

"If it were that parts of Miss Mia's dream didn't appear in Azure's dream, that would be somewhat understandable. It's possible that Azure connected relatively late and missed some of the dream content. But your situation is the opposite, which is inexplicable."

“Moreover, people generally have the most vivid memory of the last dream they have before waking up, so it’s hard to explain it by the fact that Miss Mia just happened to forget that dream,” Truffle added.

"It seems even here, we can't find a reason why I'm having these strange dreams..." Mia said dejectedly.

"By the way, Miss Mia, do you still have that... urge to end your life?" The detective's assistant asked cautiously, looking at Miss Mia's expression.

Mia nodded helplessly: "I know this is illogical, but people are trapped in that kind of depressed mood, wanting to end their own lives. But don't worry, I can control myself now and won't do anything dangerous like trying to commit suicide at the beach anymore."

Azure sighed, "Looks like we've reached another dead end, just like with the poisoning incident... By the way, Hugo, why haven't you said anything? That's not like you at all—hey! Detective Hugo!"

"……Um?"

After a brief silence, the detective looked up from the chair he had been sitting in since entering the room.

"Have you finished your experiment? Sorry, I was thinking about other cases..."

"Is it that series of cases you said were incredibly serious?" Azure asked.

"Yes," said the detective in the white coat, completely absorbed in deduction.

"Leaving aside the Akroma situation, there's a clear connection between Selvik's poisoning and Voodoo's poisoning, but a central thread connecting the two events is lacking. The fact that two criminals, both notorious for creating toxins, could successfully go into hiding suggests the support of at least a Team Plasma-level organization. However, Team Plasma used the Voodoo incident to distance themselves from these criminals, and other organizations have no reason to send their recruited subordinates to Unova. The reason for their bizarre behavior and subsequent poisoning must be related to the potent poison they were ingested. They might even have been aware of their poisoning long before their deaths, and their strange behavior was likely carried out with their impending demise in mind. But what common ground exists between the widespread poisoning around Castelia City and the killing of wild Pokémon along the way? I still don't understand that."

"Hahaha."

Hearing this long, densely packed statement, the detective's assistant gave a wry, resigned laugh.

"I see. So another criminal named Voodoo has been poisoned? And it's related to Group Plasma. I understand now that the case is extremely serious. But Hugo, you may not have noticed, but almost two hours have passed since you came in. Staying still and engrossed in thinking like this isn't a good idea. How about we think about something lighter to clear our heads?"

"I feel that Miss Azure is quite remarkable for being able to understand this long string of case analysis in one go. I must say, she truly deserves to be called a detective," Miss Truffle whispered to her sister.

At that moment, the detective stretched his shoulders, which were stiff from sitting for so long, and stood up from his chair: "An easier case? You mean Miss Mia's dream? So you've encountered some difficulties?"

"Well, it's like this..."

Next, Azure told Hugo about the strange occurrences that had happened during the dream connection experiment.

"I understand. The two people whose dreams are connected are dreaming of completely unrelated scenarios, yet the dream connection experiment itself was undeniably successful. You believe there is a contradiction between these two phenomena that needs to be explained, right?"

“Yes, Detective Hugo, that’s exactly it.” Dr. Makomo looked expectantly at the detective in the white coat, hoping he could provide a reasonable explanation for the bizarre results of this experiment.

"Hmm... Although it's a low-probability event, and even as the answer to a detective novel, it's a bit too cliché, there is indeed another possibility that can explain the current situation." Hugo rubbed his neck and said in a tone as if he were calculating the probability of a deduction.

"Could it be that my superpowers suddenly awakened in my dream again?" Azure asked warily.

“No, that doesn’t explain the difference between the two dreams,” the detective said.

Truffle couldn't hold back any longer and asked Hugo directly, "So, what exactly is that possibility?"

The detective in the white coat coughed twice and slowly spoke amidst the surrounding gazes of the crowd—

Have you ever heard of the psychological term "dissociative identity disorder"?

Chapter 335 Stay Away from the Source of Infection to Avoid Secondary Infection

Multiple personality disorder is sometimes referred to as dissociative identity disorder, dissociative disorder, or loss of self-identity disorder. While there seem to be subtle differences between these alternative names, they are essentially minor branches of the same broad category. Whether to add suffixes like "disorder" or "symptom" to the name, depending on the severity of the specific symptoms, requires careful consideration by a professional psychiatrist.

Although the actual prevalence of this type of mental illness is only about one in a thousand, it is not uncommon in many literary and film works due to its extreme abnormality.

"It's the kind of personality disorder where the brain simultaneously possesses two kinds of consciousness."

Upon hearing the term mentioned by the detective, Dr. Makomo showed a thoughtful expression—

"Each personality possesses unique characteristics, memories, and behavioral habits. Under normal circumstances, the original personality is unaware of the existence of another personality, while the newly emerging personality has a considerable understanding of the original personality."

"I see, is that the pattern?" Truffle nodded in sudden realization.

"Because two different ways of thinking coexist in the mind, the dreams they have are different from each other. The one who connects with Miss Azure in her dream is the newly emerged personality. In this personality's dream, there are huge stone monuments and coastal scenes. Miss Mia, on the other hand, is unaware of the existence of the new personality. In her own dream, she only sees scenes of her past life with Aya Mushroom."

"But do the two personalities in the brain really dream at the same time during sleep?"

Azure looked at Hugo and asked a question—

"Besides, multiple personality disorder is a rare condition, occurring in only one in a thousand people. Has Miss Mia shown any symptoms of this condition so far?"

"Although it's just personal speculation, I think that strange dream might be an early sign of dual personality disorder."

Hugo said—

"When I first saw Miss Mia on the shore, she was in a dazed state. She later explained that this was an unconscious action driven by suicidal impulses caused by a nightmare—a phenomenon that is actually very close to the intermittent amnesia symptoms of dissociative disorder."

"Based on the content of the dream, this split is probably caused by guilt over releasing the Pokémon Agaric. Ms. Mia's personality is introverted and sensitive, and living alone in Castelia City while looking for work must have accumulated a lot of pressure over time. Such a lifestyle is more likely to cause psychological problems."

“But when it comes to life pressures, everyone experiences them, right?” Azure said, standing beside the bewildered Mia, expressing her opposition.

Hugo understood the assistant's intention in contradicting him at this moment—anyone, upon suddenly hearing signs of mental illness, would instinctively begin to fear. Having someone else take a negative stance at this point would prevent Miss Mia from falling into complete panic. It would also make it easier to guide her to accept the other facts derived from the reasoning later.

The detective spread his hands: "I don't support the idea that 'everyone has mental illness' as some psychologists claim; that's making a mountain out of a molehill. But regarding that strange dream, there is indeed an anomaly that we can't ignore—that is, ordinary dreams cannot directly affect the dreamer's real life, yet Miss Mia really did have the thought of 'wanting to die' because of that dream, and unconsciously put it into action."

Hugo turned his gaze to Dr. Makomo, who was standing to the side, and the dream expert nodded in agreement.

“This is indeed very strange. I thought of this when Miss Mia was conducting her dream experiments, but I couldn’t figure out the cause of this phenomenon at the time. Now it seems that those strange dreams might not be real dreams at all.”

"What does this mean?" Mia asked cautiously in a low voice.

"That so-called 'dream' may be a trace left by your other personality when it tried to control your body."

The doctor slowly uttered chilling words.

“Mature multiple personality disorder does not arise out of thin air. In the early stages of this condition, the newly formed personality will only lie dormant in the depths of the patient’s subconscious and gradually gain control of the body at a speed similar to that of a crab changing its shell… Ah, that does not mean that a strange entity is invading your body.”

Noticing Miss Mia's terrified look, Dr. Makomo revised her statement—

"Multiple personality disorder is essentially still a mental phenomenon. Rather than a new self appearing in the body and beginning to take over the control of the body, it is more accurate to say that the part of the brain responsible for self-cognition has become abnormal, causing certain emotions that are usually suppressed to be released. In Miss Mia's case, it would probably be the feeling of guilt towards the released spirit."

"Like most psychological problems, multiple personality disorder is also treatable. Sometimes, it's not even necessary to go to the hospital. As long as Ms. Mia changes her lifestyle, relaxes her mind and body, seeks help from family and friends, and relieves her recent tension, the excessive emotions she expressed will return to calm."

Is...is that so?

Mia seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and Miss Truffle patted her arm beside her.

"Don't worry, no matter what psychological problems you encounter, our Dream Research Institute will do everything we can to help you. Did you know that our institute has just invented solid dream smoke, which has a stabilizing effect comparable to the psychiatric treatments in major hospitals?"

"Let's get back to the issue of reasoning—the hypothesis of multiple personality disorder can simultaneously explain the bizarre nature of strange dreams and the anomalies that occur in the connection between dreams. And if we take multiple personality disorder as a premise and re-examine Miss Mia's series of behaviors, many questions can be answered logically."

Seeing that Miss Mia had calmed down, the detective continued in a gentle tone—

"First, there was the inexplicable suicidal impulse that Miss Mia experienced, which may be a manifestation of the self-destructive desire inherent in the newly formed personality. The new personality originated from Mia's feelings of self-condemnation and self-reproach, so she herself understood that her birth was a mistake, and in order to eliminate her mistake, this personality instinctively developed a self-destructive tendency, but not to the point of taking overly violent suicide measures. All these factors combined to create the strange scene of Miss Mia holding sleeping pills and standing on the beach."

“Hmm…that does make sense.” Azure nodded.