Hello there~ I'm AFeralFurry, and this is one of my fics. A Difficult Choice, a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fic that explores something of another possibility at the ending. Note that this fic contains heavy spoilers for the game, so avoid it if you don't want spoilers. Also, a minor thing, but there's going to be light swearing. Just saying.

"Alright, are you ready for this, Claire?"

"I am. We have to do this, to save everyone... Eve, we can do this. We just have to..."

"...Put the Time Gears in place, Claire."

I looked at my partner, Claire. She was once a human, but now a Pokemon. A Vulpix, to be precise. She had helped me overcome many things since we met, and this would be no different. I liked her a lot, I actually...

...I loved her, though I can't tell her that. ...After all, we're both girls, and girl Pokemon are expected to have children, to continue their bloodline. I don't even know if it's normal to like another girl Pokemon like that, but... I do.

I, on the other hand, aren't that special. I am just an Eevee, named Eve. I'm not particularly special in any way, but I was still chosen to come to this Hidden Land, for some reason. Claire had taught me to be brave from my cowardly self. I still get scared, but... As long as she's here, I can do anything.

We're right in the middle of a Hidden Land, nearing the peak of the Temporal Tower. We were trying to save the world from the planet's Paralysis. Time was slowly beginning to stop flowing. Places, even Pokemon were being frozen in time. And it is spreading, too. The Paralysis can only be stopped by returning the Time Gears, an important tool made to stabilize time, to the Temporal Tower, where they belonged.

We had gone through hell getting here. We had lost friends, we had made enemies, we had been betrayed. But everything came down to this...

Ahead of us, we could see light streaming from an exit. This was the way out onto the Temporal Tower peak. This was what we were all waiting for, this is what we had lost so much, and risked so much to do. Ahead of us, possibly our very last battle was waiting...

As we exited through the doorway, we could see that were high up. We could see the ruined columns surrounding us, and we could see... Something else. With a stairway leading up to it, there was... Something was up there. It looked like some sort of wall, that was glowing, and had indentations in it. Apparently for...

"The Time Gears!" I exclaimed, "The Time Gears go into those slots!"

"Tha- That's right!" Claire exclaimed, as well, "Let's hurry, before-!"

Flash, flash of lightning. I could feel us being forced back, away from the... Pedestal?

"What the hell was that!?" I exclaimed, wondering just what would-

And suddenly, we heard a roar. A roar of fury. This... It couldn't be...

"SO YOU HAVE COME! DO YOU WISH TO DESTROY THIS TOWER?."

"We mean no such thing," my partner Claire said, panicked, "We mean no harm!"

"We're here to save time and this tower, not destroy it!" I yelled.

"TIME... STOPPING? ...YOU LIE!"

Suddenly, the thing that had been talking to us appeared. Just as I feared, it was...

"Dialga!" Claire exclaimed.

Dialga roared, a terrifying roar of fury. I knew he was serious, knew this was going to be the greatest battle of our lives.

"YOU DARE ATTEMPT TO RUIN THE TEMPORTAL TOWER?" He roared.

"No," said Claire, "We're trying to SAVE the tower!"

"SILENCE!" Dialga roared once more, "FOR THOSE THAT ATTEMPT DESTRUCTION OF THIS TOWER... THERE WILL BE NO MERCY!"

And he roared again, a great, huge roar that made the tower itself shake. ...It's a good thing we're so far from the edges...

"This is pointless," said Claire, in a quiet voice, "He's completely lost it. We're going to have to fight him to get through."

"He isn't like the future's Primal Dialga... But we still can't reason with him," I whispered, "We will do what we must, to save everyone."

"Come at us!" Claire and I yelled in unison.

He let loose a final roar, and then it began...

He was right in front of us, looking furious. We knew we had fight him. Claire let loose a Flamethrower, hitting him on his chest-jewel. I rushed forward, trying to follow up and Bite him. He used Dragon Claw, however, and flung me away.

"Damn!" I yelled, "That hurt!"

"Are you alright, Eve!?" My partner Claire called in concern.

"Just fine!" I called back, reassuming a fighting stance.

Dialga moved towards me, and prepared to hit me with an AncientPower. ...Dammit, I was-

"No, you don't!" Claire yelled, throwing something into his way.

...It was our Explorer bag. ...Dammit, there goes our items. ...It took the hit from the rocks, and flew off the tower. However, and I'm alive, so...

...Wait. The Time Gears.

...Damn.

"Claire, the Time Gears!?" I yelled.

"I have them!" She replied.

..Alright, then, time for a new approach. I start charging a move I had recently learned, Shadow Ball, while Claire hit him with another Flamethrower. He recoiled, obviously having taken some damage, but no one expected-

Another Roar. a worse roar, more terrible than anything I had ever heard. I saw time distort, I saw it fall apart around us. It was a Roar... of Time... I tried moving, but... I was stuck. Stuck in time. Claire broke free, however, and launched a Flamethrower. Dialga turned towards, her, and aimed a Metal Claw at her. She took the hit, and... Fell. She couldn't fight any longer.

"CLAIRE!" I yelled, as I felt fury run through me. I broke free of the trap Dialga had kept me in, and charged at him, a Tackle. He hit me mid-lunge, however, with a Dragon Claw, and I was thrown down. I couldn't move...

"So... This is... How it ends..." I quietly said, looking towards Claire, who was passed out in front of me, and waiting for Dialga to kill us the rest of the way.

He started towards us, but, before he could let loose a final Roar.

...The tower started shaking.

"No... No... No..." I mumbled.

"IMPOSSIBLE! THE TOWER CANNOT FALL!" Dialga yelled, as he seemed to let out a lot of effort keeping it up. He was being strained, it was-

...The tower started falling, we started falling, I couldn't move, Claire is right below me.

"...Claire..." I whispered, "I love you..."

...She couldn't hear it, but I had told her.

...And now everything fades to darkness...

AN: Yes, a cliffhanger. Don't you hate me? What happened? What's going to happen to the world now that Temporal Tower collapsed? Just what is going to happen to everyone? These questions, and more, will be eventually answered.

AFeralFurry, out.

Di.