"Grovyyyyle! Grovyyyyyle!" I shouted, my breaths coming in gasps and my feet thudding against the cold ground like the pack at my side. "Grovyle! Where are you?!" Nothing answered but my own voice echoed off the cliff walls towering over me.
The fog was rolling in behind me and I didn't think I could survive this place without him. If only I had kept sight of him when he ran off. These Dungeons were labyrinths inside, each run through different than the last. Damn it all! If only Grovyle would listen to me when I told him to stay close!
"Grovyyyle! I swear to God, I'm going to kick your ass when I find you!" I shouted out into the crags. A short breath alerted me to the enemy behind just as my aura sense lit up in alarm. I dove to the side, just dodging a Shadow Ball the size of my head. My head whipped around to see what I faced now.
I felt my blood run cold as I looked into the ice eyes of Darkrai, the one Grovyle and I had been trying to avoid this entire time. Tendrils of fog seeped across the rocky ground, reaching out to cloak us in its freezing embrace. His aura screamed of murderous intent and derangement edged at the corners, the same derangement I felt whenever Dialga appeared anywhere near.
"Oh dear Lord," I breathed. Darkrai chuckled ominously, shaping another Shadow Ball in his hand.
"I've been looking for you," he said. His voice sent spikes of cold fear down to the marrow of my bones. "Where's your partner, weakling?" He blasted his Shadow Ball at my head, giving me only a fraction of a second to dodge it.
Darkrai's a dark-type. One good fighting-type move and it should be good enough to stun him, I thought rapidly, backpedaling through the fog to buy myself a few seconds. All I need is time to run. He can't possibly see through this fog. Really, it was thick enough to cut with a knife. I could hardly see his dark form just a few feet from me. The only reason I knew it was him and not a rock was because of his lethal aura.
"Come out, come out, little pup," Darkrai teased. "It's time you and I settled things." Another Shadow Ball rocketed through the fog, straight for me. I tightened my muscles in an Endure just in time to be blown backwards by it. It felt like he had hurled a boulder at me. My body bounced and rolled across the rock, my breath taken from my lungs by the initial hit. I scrambled to my feet, hoping for even the smallest opening to counter.
His aura approached, dark and sinister. I knew he couldn't see me, so I gathered the energy I had left in my paw, shielding the light it cast with my other. As silently as I could, I climbed the nearest boulder, waiting for him to pass. He neared and my legs trembled. I would only have one shot at this. The minute I heard his breath, I launched myself off the boulder, Force Palm aimed straight for his chest.
I wasn't quick enough. I felt the minute he noticed and I yelped when his inky fingers grabbed my wrist, the Force Palm sputtering out with my fear. He laughed as I tried to squirm from his grip, making his squeeze tighter.
"You're a fighter," he commented. "I love doing things the hard way. It gives me so many options." My heart leaped into my throat. I was certain that I was not going to survive anything that he was planning. In his other hand, he grew a black ball that glowed with poisonous violet light. "How about I turn your every memory into a nightmare? Oh, yes, that sounds fun. Sweet dreams, pup."
He forcibly shoved the ball into my face. It felt like pins and needles that were on fire, melting through my fur and into my skull. I screamed a scream that rubbed my throat raw, the pain unbearable as it stabbed at my brain. My muscles went slack as I felt the will to fight leave them. My eyes started to close as if drawn by lead weights. The last thing I saw were Darkrai's ice eyes tainted black at the edges, just like his aura.
Everything ached, from my head to my toes to the tip of my tail. I let out an involuntary groan as I surfaced out of that inky darkness that I had been forced into. I heard someone's voice argue with another, lighter voice. The lighter one was holding its ground while the other growled and changed in volume as I assumed it paced back and forth. Opening my eyes to the gray, fog clouded sky above me, the lighter voice squealed in joy.
"You're okay!" Celebi said, wrapping her little pink arms around my neck. I hugged her back, propping myself up on my elbow and looking straight into Grovyle's golden irises. He nodded, the only acknowledgement of genuine care I'd get from him. "My poor baby! That nasty old Darkrai picking on you so harshly. Ooh! I should go and teach him a lesson!"
"I'm okay Celebi," I laughed. "I'm a bit sore, but otherwise I'm good. Where are we?" Grovyle peeled the fairy off of me and raised a hand to the left. A swirling portal of blue and white and navy seethed and crackled with power.
"We made it to the Vortex," Grovyle said bluntly. "We should hurry. Darkrai's probably called in Dusknoir by now." I pushed myself off the ground and rolled the pain out of my shoulders.
"We should get going then," I said, cracking my knuckles and grabbing the strap of my bag. "Don't want to wait until ol' Jack-O-Lantern catches us sittin' on our thumbs." Celebi's big green eyes started to water but she swiped the tears away.
"I guess. Now, no talking with strangers, no accepting free candy and don't you tell anyone about this, okay?" I saluted her mockingly with a smile. Grovyle rolled his eyes, grabbed my tail, and dragged me towards the Time Vortex.
"I'll make sure we stay safe, Celebi," I promised her. "We can't lose when we're a team!" She waved at Grovyle and me as he pulled us into the portal.
It took my breath away, literally. We shot into it so fast that I couldn't get any air into my lungs until Grovyle turned me forward. I gasped in a large breath and laughed at my own stupidity. With my paw wrapped around his elbow, we hurtled past the centuries, our Time gone behind us.
"Don't let go of me," Grovyle yelled over the wind rushing past us. I thought it strange that there was wind in the first place, but who was I to question something I had no experience of? "Celebi said if we separate, we might not even end up in the same century, let alone the same place." My grip tightened and I nodded in understanding.
The longer we fell, the stronger the wind got, like it was trying to push us back to our own Time. It buffeted at us and sent us in circles more than a few times. One especially strong gust slapped at my face and I felt my grip go slack. Grovyle's eyes went wide as he tried to grab my paw, but it was too late.
My grip had been lost and I flew backwards, lighter than my reptilian friend. I screamed and I heard Grovyle curse. "Don't panic!" he shouted, just loud enough for me to hear as I flipped head over heels. "Go find the Gears and I'll find you!"
"Don't get yourself killed!" I shouted back, hoping that those words reached him.
Curling around my pack, I rode the wind as it jerked me back and forth and all around. It felt like being in an airplane turbine. For the first time since I met Grovyle and Celebi, I wished I had never been dragged here. But that thought didn't last long, because the last jerk to the left shot me out of the Vortex and into a star filled sky.
Hey all. This is a PMD story, so feel free to send in any OC guild characters, or even shopkeepers if you'd like. Really anything would be acceptable. Just no villains. I have more than what I know what to do with!
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