Chapter 1

Grovyle ran through the gloomy forest, his eyes well-adjusted to the darkness. He paused momentarily in his stride, turning around to check if Celebi was behind him. He could hear that there was something chasing him, but unsure as he was about whether it was friend or foe he couldn't halt without risk.

"Celebi?" he called out into the gloom, "Are you there?"

When there was no reply he sped up, desperately hoping it wasn't Dusknoir. Or a Sableye. Or a hostile Pokémon. In fact there was very little it could be that wouldn't be dangerous. Now that he knew it wasn't Celebi he just hoped whatever pursued him was weak enough for him to defeat.

"Wait!" an out-of-breath voice called, "Grovyle!"

He wasn't tired although whatever called out to him seemed to be. He stopped and turned to face his pursuer. He blinked. Before him stood… a human. He knew what they were as much as the next Pokémon but he'd never seen one before, only heard rumours that one had come through, alone, from some sort of dimensional anomaly.

The one who stood before him was female. She had green eyes and long brown hair, but she seemed far less strong than him by her panting. Waving a hand in his direction, indicating he shouldn't run, she wheezed,

"My name's Delta. Celebi told me to find you, I can… see stuff. Together we can," her eyes met his, showing him her desperation, "end this. This darkness."

She came too late, Grovyle had heard it spoken a thousand times that if the darkness was reversed he would die. Celebi would die. They would all die, but worse than that, they would all have never existed. Even the heroes who had reversed it would be forgotten; that kind of thankless job wasn't one Grovyle looked forward to. Celebi was always trying to help him see things her way but he refused, he would be her friend and her ally but the darkness had to stay.

"What does Celebi want?" he asked her, ignoring the end of her sentence, "Surely she can find me herself?"

For a second he laughed that his time-travelling lifelong friend would be captured. She could always teleport away, always… and yet with the human before him he felt deeply worried for her.

"She is fine, hiding but fine. She couldn't risk coming out here to warn you since she's being tailed but she told me to tell you that Dialga has finally made the connection between you and her. Dusknoir will have sent a pack of Sableye out to find you already."

"What?" Grovyle snapped, annoyed and very tense. He had been careful never to involve himself with that side of Celebi, her resisting side, but it looked like it hadn't mattered in the end. She had warned him to distance himself from her but he had needed to stay close. Without her he would have been alone and in this world that meant succumbing to the darkness like so many he had seen had.

"You have to run." Delta stepped towards him, the time she had spent stationary had helped her recover her strength, "I should come too. I'm sure if they hadn't figured out my relationship with Celebi yet they will have now. Plus I'm human, that's enough to make them want to kill me."

"Fine." Grovyle muttered, running and not caring to check whether or not Delta was following. He wasn't sure whether to trust her or not, but running never hurt in this dark world.

"Wait for me!" she cried out. When he didn't halt or slow she sighed and started to follow him, a long gap between them.

Glad for the company, even though he didn't show it, Grovyle slowed slightly.

"Where is he?" Dusknoir snarled, preparing to release another bolt of energy on the exhausted Celebi.

"He's not important," she spat, wishing she had the energy to teleport, "he's just a friend. He knows nothing; he doesn't even want to end the darkness."

"Oh, so he doesn't want to die?" Dusknoir released the shadow ball, it hit Celebi and she moaned almost inaudibly, "He doesn't want to kill all of us? You can't fool me; you wouldn't have taken an interest in him if he wasn't important."

"I had a plan, once," she sighed, "I was going to use him to end your darkness. It didn't work out, I'm not like you; I don't force people to do things they don't want to. He's just a friend now, that's all, a friend."

"And the human?" Celebi didn't reply. Dusknoir stepped away from her, turning to face his Sableye so that she couldn't hear his whispered words, "We can't hold her for much longer, soon she'll have enough energy to teleport away," he told the Sableye.

"We could always kill her, sir-" the Sableye was cut off by a sharp slap across the face.

"Idiot!" Dusknoir roared, "She's important to Master Dialga, as well as our only lead on any resistance organization, no matter how fragmented and disorganized it may be we still need an insight!" realizing that Celebi could hear him he cursed under his breath, "Idiot Sableye. We'll just have to let her go and bring her in when we have more leads. Follow her when she breaks out. And find them. The Grovyle and the human."

"What shall we do with them when we find them?" the Sableye whispered.

"Bring them in," Dusknoir called over his shoulder, not caring whether Celebi heard him or not. A
Pack of Sableye scurried off, ready to track Grovyle and Delta down no matter what the cost.

"How do we know we're running in the right direction?" Grovyle asked Delta, pausing slightly in his sprint.

"We're running into the forest, at the centre we should be the most hidden." She replied, struggling to keep up with him.

"But what if Dusknoir's running from the opposite end? We could be running towards him!" Grovyle stopped, breathing hard.

"Dialga's main fortress is at the end we ran from. I doubt it." She stopped next to him, clutching a stitch in her side.

"And I have to take your word for it?"

"Trust me," she laughed, "It'll be easier that way. We should still rest here, though."

Grovyle nodded to her and quickly climbed onto a low-hanging tree branch where he sat back for a while. The trees had no leaves to speak of like that which was on his head, they weren't even brown but instead a dull grey. Even wood was dead, not soft like dry wood, but hard as stone. The barren branches themselves were twisted into impossible shapes, as though writhing in agony since there was no light to grow towards even if they had been alive.

Delta rested at the bottom of the tree on the solid water-parched ground. No rain had fallen since the fall of Temporal Tower which had strangled the tree and compacted the ground. In some places it was just hard like it was under her but in others it was in thin layers and would collapse like pitfall traps. The worst was when huge tremors opened and swallowed up Pokémon, then just staying there, never healing over, the ultimate statement of the broken landscape.

If Grovyle and Delta hadn't always lived in it they would have gone insane. After living in it alone for years many did succumb to the darkness, but the Pokémon that bonded with others to survive managed to forge their own light. Even then, ultimately, it was a hopeless battle with a foe that could never be defeated and the eventual brokenness could only ever be delayed.

Grovyle was living on borrowed time.

Nearby the duo a twig snapped. Instantly on his guard, Grovyle jumped down, looking for an escape route. Delta jumped up beside him, watching him closely so she could mimic his every move. When Grovyle sprang into a tree she attempted to climb to meet him, but couldn't make it. He ran off without looking back, perhaps a bad habit after living years alone or with a companion that could look after herself.

"Grovyle!" she shouted, fear overcoming her, "What about me?"

He halted, looking back at her. This human could easily be one of Dialga's agents, probably a shape shifter. That was far more likely than any other alternative, but he still hesitated in his flight. If she was an agent she wouldn't be harmed, but if she was really sent by Celebi he had everything to lose. While Celebi tried to let him know nothing for his safety and he didn't make an effort to learn about the resistance movement, there were a lot of Pokémon that would die if he let a member be captured. But what was he thinking? The darkness, the impenetrable darkness… if it was lifted surely he would die? They would all die, the resistance shouldn't matter to him.

He jumped from tree to tree back towards her, landing next to her. To his surprise the Pokémon that had been about to attack her weren't even lead by Dusknoir, just a pack of Sableye. He withdrew a foe-hold-orb from the pouch he wore around his neck, paralyzing his foes.

"Come on," he told Delta, "If we attack them the paralysis will wear off."

Even when she ran he had trouble leaving the Sableye to that terrible fate, being frozen in a dark forest until they starved to death. Shuddering when they were further away he went back and mobilized them again, but by that time it would take them too long to find them again. They would come back with their leader.

Hoping against hope not to have to ever meet Dusknoir, Grovyle raced back to where Delta was, although he still wasn't sure whether she was an agent of Dialga or not. Even if she was, he wasn't worth following. This time Delta lead the way although she seemed to know it disturbingly well.

At one point along their journey she reached out and touched a tree. Her body went tense, her eyes closed and a barely noticeable tremor ran through it.

"Left." She murmured so quietly that Grovyle could barely hear her, "Time Gear… Treeshroud Forest."

Turning to the confused Grovyle, Delta started walking again. For a while he just stayed where had been standing, before racing after her to catch up.

"What was that?" he hissed, glaring at her, "Time Gear? Treeshroud Forest?"

"I… I see things sometimes." Delta fumbled over her words, "Celebi called it the Dimensional Scream ability, something I picked up when I came through to this dimension. I get visions, of a sort anyway, relating to finding these things that if found and used in the past… could… could prevent this future. They're called Time Gears and this is Treeshroud Forest. Or it was, before the darkness fell and it was renamed."

"So what?" Grovyle snapped, "You're crazy, delusional and we're not even escaping. We're just going towards something that will eventually stop us all from ever existing." At least she's not an agent, was his afterthought, she'd come up with a better lie if she was.

"No she's not crazy, Grovyle," a new voice, feminine and cheerful chimed in. Delta and Grovyle turned around quickly to see the source and found themselves faced with Celebi, "Although it is good to see you two together."

"Where were you?" Grovyle demanded, "I haven't seen you for days."

"Does it really matter?" Celebi replied, "Now come on Delta, lead the way. We have to find that Time Gear. Well, actually rather you two do. I've got to work on the Passage of Time, just thought I'd pop by and give out some encouragement." She winked, "Bye then! Well actually there is one last thing." She turned to look at Grovyle specifically, forcing eye contact. "Why don't you want to end the darkness?"

"We'll all never have been born." He whispered back, looking at his feet.

"When you die, I die and Delta dies," Celebi shot back, "Who will remember that you have been born? It will be the same. You'd do better to fight for a cause, even if you'll never get credit for it."

"Fine. I'll fight it." While Grovyle wasn't entirely sincere, Celebi could tell he was winning him over. Soon he'd fight with the passion they did.

"Well nice chatting to you!" with a puff of pale pink smoke, Celebi was gone.

Grovyle turned to Delta for an indication of which way to turn.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This was written for somewhere where I couldn't post italics, from about chapter 3 italics come in for thoughts. Reviews are appreciated.