"So Axle, how are you feeling today?" Chimecho asked the next morning.

Axle woke up to the sound of Chimecho's voice. After a few groggy seconds of figuring out where he was, the riolu got up off his bed and sat down in the hay, taking care not to use his damaged arm. After a couple of sleepy seconds for Axle to fully wake up, he looked at Chimecho.

"How are Eon and Shaymin?" Axle first asked, completely ignoring Chimecho's inquiry.

"They're still fine," Chimecho said. "Neither of them have gotten out of their coma yet, but at the same time their health hasn't gotten any worse either. I believe Alakazam told me that they're working on Eon and Shaymin's burns today. That should help get rid of a lot of the pain their feeling."

Axle looked to the floor, memories of yesterday still fresh in his mind. "Chimecho, do you Alakazam was right?" Axle asked the wind-chime Pokémon. "Do you think Eon might actually…be unable to explore again?"

Chimecho looked down. "Honestly Axle I wish I could assure you," the psychic-type said. "But…Alakazam is an expert at diagnostics. He's able to detect things that no other Pokémon is able to." Chimecho shook her head. "But remember, he said she has a chance of being crippled. That means she has a chance of being healed! There's still hope for her yet! Don't give up yet, Axle!"

Axle didn't look convinced. He instead stared wide-eyed into the floor without any noise. Chimecho looked over him, hoping for some reaction, but she ended up getting nothing from the shell-shocked fighting-type. Chimecho sighed before floating higher into the sky.

"Well, I have to go now," Chimecho said. "I have work to do. Between my normal work and helping out with the Federation's healers, I don't have much time to stick around."

Axle finally looked up again. "Is there…anything I can do to help?" Axle asked. "Anything at all?"

"I'm not the Pokémon you want to ask that," Chimecho said with a shake of her head. "You'd have to try asking the healers when they're not working on your friends. But…considering your arm…"

Axle looked at his still fully cast right arm. "Give that about a day or two more and you'll be able to use that arm again, but until then, your dominant arm is useless," Chimecho said. "You won't even be cleared for exploring until then, maybe a bit later depending on your health."

"So…I'm pretty much useless then?" Axle asked, still looking at his arm. "Great."

"Don't think of it that way," Chimecho said. "Think of it as a time to rest and relax. Your friends will be fine. We've got the professionals working on them. So don't worry, sit back, relax a bit. Maybe take a walk through town if you're feeling up to it. Chat with a few of the locals and take your mind of things."

Axle was silent, so Chimecho took that as an excuse to make her leave. Once Chimecho left for the room Axle looked back up at the hallway she left through. He sighed, continuing to stare at that spot long after Chimecho finally left his vision.

"Rest and relax," Axle mumbled. "Yeah right. I wish. After seeing those two…there's no way I can do anything even close to resting or relaxing."

Felling restless, Axle got out of his bed and walked off to the infirmary. Like yesterday, his steps were long and slow, though he made it to the infirmary on the other side of the guild a bit faster than he did previously. Unfortunately, as the riolu noticed when he got close to the room where his two friends were held, the alakazam from earlier was standing directly in front of the door. He had his eyes closed, a frown on his face, and his arms crossed around his body, arms clenched around his spoons. Axle hesitated, memories of Alakazam's cross nature from yesterday still fresh in his mind, before walking up to the door. The riolu wasn't about to let that stop his inquiry.

"Alakazam," Axle said when he got close enough to the PSI-Pokémon.

Alakazam opened his right eye and looked down at Axle. "Your friends are currently being treated," the psychic-type said. "Nobody, including you, are allowed in while the doctors are working."

"That's not why I'm here," Axle said. "I want to know if there's any way I can help."

"Stay quiet, stay out of the way, don't get hurt to divide our attention," Alakazam said. "That's how you can help."

Nonplussed, Axle took a step back and thought about what to say next. "I mean…do you have anything I can do?"

"I just told you what to do." Alakazam once again closed his eye.

"I mean something active!" Axle yelled, his left paw clenching. "I can't just sit here while my friends are in danger! So please! I need to do something!"

"No, you really don't," Alakazam said, still calm despite Axle's badgering. "I'm doing nothing but waiting here, yet you don't see me badgering anyone."

"What if it was your friends in there?!" Axle asked.

"Then I would do the same thing I'm doing right now. Wait calmly and patiently. Making a fit of things isn't going to help anybody, certainly not your friends."

Axle reached the edge of his patience. "So if that's what you think then who the heck let a heartless creep like you become a doctor?! Why would you even want to become a doctor anyways if you don't care about anyone but yourself?!"

"Listen kid," Alakazam said, both his eyes finally opening up. The psychic-type straightened himself up, returned his arms to his sides, and glared down at the riolu below him. "I've been in this job for years. I have told Pokémon that their loved ones are pretty much dead and there's nothing we can do about it. I have told Pokémon for longer than you've been alive that their only hope is to wait for a miracle. I've had to diagnose Pokémon and then wait not knowing whether they'll live or die. Pokémon trust us and we can't always help them."

"Nothing you say will faze me. Nothing you can do will affect me. If I let the little things bother me then I would have snapped years ago. I have been called worse things by more influential Pokémon than you and I took it all. Compared to that, you're just a two-year-old throwing a little tantrum at things that they can't control."

"So you know what: you're just going to have to live with that. Whether your friends live or die or become crippled will depend entirely on stuff outside of our control. Unless you find some sort of magic medicine that can cure the toughest of wounds, there is nothing you can do but let fate decide what to do with your friends. Until then, you sitting here complaining is not helping them at all. So unless you want me to forcefully remove you from my presence, I'd recommend going off and recovering yourself."

Alakazam returned to his earlier position in front of the Infirmary door, slumped over, arms crossed, eyes closed. Axle clenched his left arm, ready to use a Shadow Claw on the psychic-type, feeling the dark claws already forming, but after a couple of seconds, Axle thought better of it. He unclenched his hand and the claws of darkness dissipated as well.

"Just…try and make sure they're alright," Axle said. "I don't care if you're not directly in charge of them! Just…do what you can."

Without waiting for a response from Alakazam, Axle walked away.

The feeling of helplessness engulfed Axle as he walked through the guild back to the crew rooms where he would spend another night with his friends still in the infirmary. The riolu punched the dirt wall of the guild with his right fist, though the attack didn't make him feel any different. If anything, it just increased the headache he already had. He eventually sighed before continuing to his old room in a slump.

As Axle entered the room, he looked over it in detail for the first time since he had been staying in it after the accident. The crew room looked pretty much exactly how he first saw it when he and his partner first joined Wigglytuff's Guild. The two hay beds where Eon and he used to sleep looked the same, the window showing the clear blue sky was the same, even the vines that crawled around the top of the room was the same. Axle felt a slight tear come to his eye as he looked over the room.

"So…this is our room, is it?"

Axle immediately turned around when he heard the familiar voice. There he saw her. Eon, looking wide-eyed as she glanced around the room, as if this was her first time seeing it. Axle's mouth dropped open when he saw her, completely fine, no hint of bandages or battle damage or anything of the sort. She almost looked exactly the same as when he first met her.

"E-Eon?" Axle asked as he reached his right paw out to her.

Eon walked forward…and went directly through Axle as if he wasn't there. Axle's extended right arm pulled back to his chest and he stood there for a few seconds, unable to comprehend what just happened. He immediately turned around to see Eon standing on her old bed, inspecting it with her paws with a smile on her face.

"Oh cool, we even get our own beds," Eon said cheerfully.

Axle's ears twitched at that line and it was at that point he realized it.

This…I'm remembering the day we first came to this guild, Axle thought. When Eon and I first came into this room.

"We should probably get some sleep now," Eon said. "Tomorrow's going to be a big day for us Axle. Our first day as trainees for Wigglytuff's guild. Do you know what that means Axle?" Eon looked him in the eye and gave him a big smile. "Tomorrow we're going to take our first step to becoming explorers! Soon we'll be able to explore the world, learn new things about ancient civilizations, find lots of treasure! It'll be great!"

Yeah, I remember how exited Eon was, Axle thought as he continued to stare at the non-existent eevee. That night she could hardly sleep. She kept tossing and turning in her bed. That was probably the only time her bed has ever been messier than mine in the morning. Heh…that was also the morning we discovered that we are forcefully waken up by Loudred at the crack of morning.

The memory version of Eon dissolved into nothingness and in its place he saw two figures. Eon was once again there, standing just a couple steps away from her bed. When Axle saw her he noticed that she looked a bit older, if only just slightly. She had a little more maturity in her eyes when he saw her, but at the same time that came with a little more weariness. At this point, she was closer to the Eon he knew.

Axle followed her eyes and noticed Shaymin. He was in his Sky Forme and looking outside the window of their room. The gratitude Pokémon's eyes were wide and bright as he watched the sun outside of their room. He had a very mystified look in his face, one that brought a pain to Axle's heart.

"So, this is where you two slept while you guys were at this guild, huh?" Shaymin asked as he turned back to look at Eon.

"Yeah, pretty much," Eon answered him. "It was pretty nice and cozy around here, though it could get really damp during rainy days. That and being woken up by Loudred wasn't really that fun."

Shaymin smirked a smirk Axle was all too familiar with. "Yeah, I bet you two got real nice and cozy here. Being alone. In a room together. Unsupervised. Yep, bet you two got nice and cozy."

Axle groaned at that. In hindsight, he kinda regretted Eon's decision to give Shaymin a tour of the guild. Since then Shaymin would not be deterred in his idea that Axle and Eon were mates. Though Axle quickly changed his mind when he saw what happened next.

Shaymin was once again looking out the window. "Anyways, thanks you guys," he said. "You know, for letting me join your team and all. It's just, the way you guys explored, how you were friendly to everyone you could on the way despite simultaneously competing for the treasure, the stories you told me on the way there. It reminds me of someone I used to know. And you know what? It sort of put a spark in me for adventure." Shaymin turned back around to look at Eon. "Seriously, I can't wait to go out there and explore the world with you guys. See new places, experience new things. It's going to be a blast out there, and I'm glad you guys are giving me this opportunity."

"We're glad to have you," Eon responded happily.

The vison in front of him once again dissolved and Axle fell to his knees. Eon…Shaymin…I'm so sorry, Axle thought. Our team might not every be able to go out exploring the same way ever again and there's nothing I can do about it. I can't do anything…but wait here and let fate take its course.

Fate.

Axle clenched his hand at that word. Fate. It wasn't a word Axle thought about that often, if at all. It didn't even really register with him when he heard Alakazam say it. But as he actually put some thought into that word, his mind tunneled back through his memory to when that word meant the most to him.

Fate. It was once this world's fate to be covered in darkness, time completely stopped and the planet slowly dying, Axle thought as he thought back. I came from that darkened future with the idea that it needed to change. I wasn't content with the fate of the world before, being completely willing to risk my life to change it. And I did, with the help of my partner from the future, Grovyle, and my partner from this time, Eon. We changed fate and now all the Pokémon of this world have a bright future to look forward to.

Axle got off his knees and stood up straighter. It was also my fate to disappear after changing the fate of the world. The future I come from no longer exists, so I should have faded to existence along with it. But, thanks to a miracle, I'm back. That fate was averted too. I may not be able to evolve, thanks to the fact that I'm a living time paradox, but I can live here.

So why should I care about fate? It doesn't matter what fate has in store for my partners. I can change it, and I will. I don't know how, nor do I care. I'm not going to just sit here helplessly and wait! I'll save you guys!

With that, the riolu turned around and walked out of the crew room, a plan forming in his mind.