So I've been really hooked on my Pokemon Explorers of Time game again and, all I can say, is I really hate the fact that you get stuck with your partner, who is annoyingly whiney, and Grovyle…well, if you played the game, you know what happens.

So, I have had this idea for a while because the game inspired my actual Pokemon OC. This takes place in the future before Grovyle and his human partner go back in time to get the time gears. I hope you guys enjoy! (PS: I realize the pairing is initially a pokemon and a human, but since the human becomes a pokemon, I figured it shouldn't be too weird)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or the premise of "Explorers of Time." I merely own the specifications of my OC and the particular plot of this fanfic.

The Gears of Time Move Forward

Chapter One: The Meeting

Every day is the same…

The sky is a cloudy shroud of grey nothingness, forever casting the hard, stone ground in foggy darkness. The rocks hang in the air, pleading to finally fall to the ground but never able to. The flowing water is a frozen wave, almost like ice but not cold or glittering.

There is no color. There is no light.

Everything hangs lifeless in the abyss that was once the world…our world.

"GET BACK HERE!"

Rustle. Rustle.

Thump.

Crack.

Rustle. Rustle.

"You fools, do not let him escape!"

"Yes, sir!"

He could hear the shuffling of their footsteps and quickened his pace. They continued to chase him through the forest and he skidded to a stop at the edge of a cliff and peered over the edge. It was a long fall down…but they were getting closer.

Summoning his courage, he shut his eyes and leapt over the edge of the cliff. He opened his eyes and could see the dark purple Sableye freeze at the edge of the cliff and they watched him fall down.

Smirking, he held out his arm and used his leaf blade move to slow his fall, digging the attack into the face of the cliff. Unfortunately, a large stone jutted out and disrupted his attack, causing him to tumble down and hit the ground fairly hard. The Sableye would not have the nerve to leap after him and it would take a good few hours to scale down to this level.

He winced as his brain seemed to register the ache of his entire body and he shakily tried to stand up. Considering the damage…perhaps that had not been the best of ideas. He could imagine that wretched monster, Dusknoir, commanding those wicked ghosts to give chase. The mountain would take some time to climb down, but he would not be able to hide if he did not get moving.

Unfortunately, his legs did not seem willing to agree with his request to move and he lay there painfully, gripping at the hard ground uselessly.

"I can't…let them catch me…" He clawed at the ground, forcing himself to move, even if it was only by a few inches. There were trees up ahead; he might be able to lose them in the forest.

Groaning, he forced himself to stand and tested his legs carefully before walking away from the mountain. Once he felt confident, he began to run towards the trees, despite the pain in his legs.

"Almost there!" He stumbled into the forest and continued to run, entering the first chamber of a mystery dungeon and panting.

The area was empty; no pokemon or items anywhere, so he needed to hurry up and find the way to the next chamber. He continued moving through the dungeon, his body growing weaker as he fought off wild pokemon that came into his path.

At last, he saw an end and stumbled out of the forest, panting hard with sweat beading along his green flesh. Surely the Sableye were far enough for him to rest a bit…

His HP was surely low and he had no items to heal himself.

"Whee-hee-hee…" His eyes widened as the sound snapped him from his thoughts and he looked behind him.

How could they have caught up to him so quickly?

"I have to…get out of here…" He crawled away from his spot and looked around for a good hiding spot as the sounds of the Sableye grew louder. Eventually, he spotted a cave and managed to crawl towards it, slumping up against the wall with a pained gasp.

A movement in the darkness immediately captured his attention and he moved his head, narrowly dodging a rock that shot hard enough to chip the stone wall.

"Who are you? Why have you come here?" a female voice asked from the shadows.

"Please, I mean you no harm."

"You must be working for him. I won't let you lead him here!" He dove forward, dodging another barrage of rocks.

"No, no, you don't understand, I am not trying to lead anyone here. I'm trying to run from-" He moved away from a series of rocks shooting at him and rolled forward to the mouth of the cave. "Please, listen to me!" he pleaded.

"Whee-hee-hee! There he is!" He gasped and turned his head to see the six Sableye surrounding him at the mouth of the cave. He stood up weakly but knew he was in no condition to fend off six pokemon.

"You're coming with us, Grovyle!"

"Master Dusknoir wishes to speak with you…"

"You'll never take me back! I'll die before telling you fools anything!" Grovyle growled, using his leaf blade on the closest Sableye who dodged easily.

"Unfortunately for you, we were told to bring you back alive." A Sableye used fury swipes and Grovyle grunted as he hit the ground, his vision growing dark as the monsters approached him.

"So do yourself a favor and stop struggling now while you still can…" Grovyle's eyes closed and the Sableye cackles, pulling out some rope.

"Come on, let's hurry up and bring him back before he can regain his senses."

"Yes, let's-OOF!" One of the Sableye fell over and the others looked around frantically.

"Who's there? Who dares attack us?"

"You leave that pokemon alone!" They looked into the cave and heard footsteps as a figure moved in the shadows. The pokemon growled and bared their claws.

"How dare you defy us!"

"We will teach you a lesson!" They all leapt into the cave and saw a shiny, blue sphere that began to glow.

"Oh no, that's-!" The six pokemon froze and grit their teeth.

"A foe-hold orb!" The figure walked out of the shadows and wore a black, hooded cloak that covered their face entirely and a satchel draped over their shoulder with a slingshot stuffed inside.

"I'll be taking this with me," she said, stooping to pick up Grovyle and the Sableye hissed but were unable to move their bodies. She walked away, carrying Grovyle on her back with a heavy sigh. "Looks like I'll need a new home again…"

"Sableye!" Grovyle sat up, gasping a bit and looked around. He expected to find himself in a jail cell or tied up to a rafter somewhere, but was surprised to find himself lying on a bed of straw with his injuries tended and a small fire burning nearby.

"Oh? You're finally awake?" He looked to the side and saw someone standing nearby, carrying a basket with apples and berries. The first thing that he noticed was the fact that it wasn't a pokemon…it was a human.

She was a girl with large, silver eyes and porcelain skin, wearing a black, turtleneck with cut-off sleeves that were trimmed with red and had a design that looked like red arrow heads striped on her entire shirt. Her pants were plain and dark with black and red shoes, but her hair was probably the most interesting thing about her.

It was long and blue, kept in the loose braid with wavy locks that were orange in front of her ears.

He blinked and she looked at him, quirking a brow slightly and he realized she wanted him to address her.

"How did…I get away from the Sableye?"

"I used a foe-hold orb and carried you away from them. Thanks to you, I had to leave behind my home again," she said, setting down the basket and sitting on a second bed of straw, biting into an apple.

"I'm…sorry…" She shrugged.

"It is what it is." She chewed the apple and looked over at him before gesturing to the basket. "You're probably hungry. Go ahead and eat as much as you like." Grovyle hesitated before taking an apple and some berries and eating them slowly.

They sat there in silence for a while, eating the fruit, until Grovyle finally cleared his throat a bit.

"Thank you for helping me."

"Sure thing. Why were those Sableye after you in the first place?" Grovyle frowned a bit and stared at the wall in front of him.

"They caught me looking up information about the collapse of Temporal Tower and the time gears." She stared at him in mild disbelief and shook her head.

"You'd do better not looking into that kind of stuff. You're really lucky you managed to get away, otherwise Primal Dialga would have had you eliminated."

"I'm well aware…" Grovyle muttered bitterly.

"Why are you even looking into that kind of stuff? What's happened is in the past, it's far too late to fix it."

"The answer lies in time…and therefore it is never too late."

"Sounds like a sense of false optimism to me," she said, eating a cheri berry. "Dialga is the pokemon of time, and he is beyond reason. What makes you believe you can reverse the damaging effects of the past?"

"Dialga is not the only pokemon associated with time." She paused and looked at him.

"Do you know another pokemon like that?" she asked.

"…perhaps."

"Hey, I saved you from the Sableye; I would think you would know I'm someone you can trust."

"I'll answer your questions if you will answer mine."

"Alright, fine."

"What's your name?" he asked. She threw her apple core into the fire, her eyes darting to the orange flames.

"I'm Kaya. And your name is Grovyle, right?" He nodded.

"Yes."

"What's your other question?"

"…how are you still alive? I mean, I thought…"

"You thought humans no longer lived in this part of the world?" she finished, giving him a sideways glance and Grovyle nodded slowly. "Well, you're almost right. I'm the last human in this part of the world…that I know of. Primal Dialga eliminated my family when I was a little girl when they tried to uncover the truth about Temporal Tower and the Time Gears. I barely escaped."

"How did you escape?"

"It was a pokemon who saved me…it helped me hide in the mountains until Dialga gave up his search for me in favor of pursuing others who threatened his existence."

"I see…"

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"Do you have any friends or family?"

"…no. I never bothered with it."

"I see." They were silent again except for the occasional crackling of the fire.

"Any more questions?" Kaya asked, tossing a stick into the fire.

"Not right now."

"So…does this pokemon you know have the ability to go back in time and eliminate this future?"

"…well…she has the power to go back in time, but she alone cannot hope to reverse the collapse of Temporal Tower."

"And you believe you can accomplish such a task alone?"

"I have to try." Kaya observed Grovyle for a moment and sighed a bit.

"Well…alright, I'll let you in on a secret. When I was first running away from Dialga, I came across a forest that was filled with fog. And in the forest I found a statue of Grodon almost completely buried. When I touched the statue, I received a vision…"

"A vision?"

"A vision of a bright red stone called the Drought Gem. And placing it in the heart of the statue lifted the fog of the forest and revealed a large plateau that was home to a great lake. In the middle of that lake, was a time gear."

"Wait, where was this forest?" Grovyle asked, sitting up.

"Don't upset your injuries," Kaya warned.

"Where was this forest?" Grovyle asked again.

"Beyond the mountain ranges in the east. It was a long journey, at least two days."

"I don't care! This could be a clue I need!"

"Grovyle, that's only the possible location of one time gear. You need five gears." Grovyle shook his head.

"I refuse to give up hope that I can change this future to a brighter one! Even if I only know where one time gear is, I will find my way to all of them and stop Temporal Tower from collapsing." Kaya tilted her head.

"You really are a hopeless optimistic, aren't you?" she asked. Grovyle forced himself to stand and looked at her.

"Thank you for your help, but I must be going now. Take care of yourself, Kaya." He walked towards the entrance of the cave they were in and she watched him with a small frown. Sighing in frustration, she grabbed her satchel and ran after him.

"Grovyle!" He stopped and looked over at her. "If you're planning on fixing this mess of a future, then let me help you!"

"Really?" She nodded.

"I believe my ability to locate the time gears can be invaluable to you."

"But are you certain it will work in tracking all of them?"

"It's worth a try! I know this ability has worked for me twice before, but I only remember the time I told you about. My parents told me it happened when I was really young and they called it the Dimensional Scream."

"Kaya, you do know that if we work to reverse the collapse of Temporal Tower, we will cease to exist in this world anymore." She nodded.

"I'm aware of that fact. This future will no longer exist, and neither will the residents of it. But this world is hardly worth living in, and I'd be happy knowing I could do something to spare others of this fate." Grovyle smiled a little.

"Then we share the same feelings."

"So what do you say, Grovyle? Partners?" She held out her hand and he placed his on top of hers.

"Partners."

And so ends the first chapter! I hope you all like it.

I love anyone who takes the time to write constructive criticism, I absolutely despise anyone who pointlessly bashes like a mindless buffoon.

Just a bit of advice guys; if you don't like something and yet you sit here and pointlessly ramble about not liking it without explaining why, it really just makes you look like an ass.

Ok, I shall step down from my soap box and apologize for the rant. See you guys next chapter!