Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Pokémon series.
With a flash in her mind's eye, Christy could no longer see the dark forest. Instead, she could see brown trees, green leaves swaying in the breeze, and dewdrops dropping off of the leaves. Despite her dizzy feeling, the brunette wanted to smile. She hadn't seen this in a long time, and it just felt wonderful.
But, it didn't take her long to realize that what she was seeing looked familiar. In fact, if time would stop flowing normally, it would look a lot like the dark forest they were in now. Except for one thing which looked very out of place.
There seemed to be a glowing green stone floating in the deepest parts of the forest. The way that it was shaped made it look like a gear. For a moment, Christy seemed to focus on that item, which was beyond her control. Then, as quickly as this vision appeared, it vanished.
Christy suddenly gasped, looking around her in surprise. Instead of seeing the beautiful woods, she was once again within the dark forest. Truthfully, she'd never left, and she knew this. But, that didn't make what had happened any less surprising.
Grovyle gave the human girl a look of concern. "Christy? Are you okay?"
"I think so," the brown haired girl answered slowly. "But… what was that?"
The grass type Pokémon tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean? You looked really dizzy. That's all."
"Yes, I was dizzy," Christy agreed. "But, there was something else. I thought I saw something. The forest around us looked normal, and there was this weird looking green, gear shaped stone floating off of the ground."
Grovyle looked puzzled. "Maybe you were daydreaming about what the world used to be like," he suggested.
"I don't think so," the brown eyed human said, shaking her head. "I've never gotten dizzy before while having a daydream. And I've never seen that strange stone before."
Grovyle went silent as he tried to figure out what the girl could have seen. But, he couldn't think of anything. He had never heard of someone getting a dizzy spell, and then seeing something they had never seen before.
The human girl was equally puzzled. She had never experienced anything like that before. And it happened right after she touched the tree. She had no idea what it meant, but she was almost filled with hope. Maybe what she had seen was an important clue to return the world back to the way it was used to be. But, as she thought about it, she didn't know how that could be.
"If only I knew what I just saw," Christy murmured slowly.
"I can tell you," answered a mysterious voice.
The human girl gasped in surprise, looking around. "Who are you?! Are you with Dusknoir?"
"No, I am not," the unknown voice responded. "There is no need to be so jumpy."
"Honestly, I can't blame her," Grovyle remarked, looking around, trying to find the one who was talking. "She's been running from Dusknoir and his minions for a long time. Why don't you show yourself?"
Silence hung in the still air for a little while, and then the mysterious voice spoke again. "Very well. If you wish to see me, then here I am." A small, pink pokémon floated out of the gray leaves. "I am Mew. And, I know exactly what happened to you."
Christy found herself surprised for more than one reason. The first was because she didn't expect anyone to explain what she'd seen so quickly. The second was more of a shocker than anything else. She remembered hearing about Mew before. They were usually very rare to see. In fact, that was really all she knew. She didn't know how most Mews were like, and even if she knew, it wouldn't have mattered. Because of time stopping, and the planet becoming paralyzed, some pokémon were affected by it.
"What you have experienced is called a Dimensional Scream," the physic type explained. "It's a rare ability that some humans have. What you had seen was what the world used to look like. And that stone you saw is called a Time Gear."
"A Time Gear?" the brown haired human repeated. "What is that?"
"It's a stone that actually belongs in a place called Temporal Tower," Mew answered. He floated closer to the human and pokémon. "Have you ever wondered what caused the planet's paralysis? It's because the Temporal Tower began to collapse. The tower is connected to time itself. If it was to fall, then time would stop completely, just like it is now."
Grovyle looked at the human girl, and then back to the Mew. "And the Time Gears are connected to Temporal Tower?"
"Correct," the physic type said with a nod of his head. "No one knows how the Time Gears were removed from the tower itself. But, that didn't matter for a little while. Thanks to the Time Gears, time was still able to flow. But, when Temporal Tower began to collapse, it didn't matter."
"So, how can we stop that now?" Christy questioned slowly, feeling her earlier hope fading away.
Mew noticed the look in Christy's eyes and gave her a reassuring smile. "You have the Dimensional Scream. I'm sure you could use this ability to find out where the five Time Gears were in the past. Then, you could find a way to go through time, back to the past."
"Back to the past?" the human and grass type repeated in surprise. He was talking about time travel, right? What were the chances of being able to do that?
"That's right. There is a way back to the past. If you were to go back to the past, and return the Time Gears back to Temporal Tower before it collapsed, then time itself will flow on, like it's supposed to."
Christy gasped in realization and a smile crossed her face. "You mean, we really could fix this?"
"That's right. There are two things to remember however. First of all, in order for your ability to work, you need to have a pokémon partner by your side. So, as long as you remain friends with Grovyle, and he is close by, your ability will work."
Grovyle nodded. "That won't be a problem," he assured the physic type. "I've determined to stay close to Christy."
"But, what is that second thing you were talking about?" Christy questioned curiously.
Mew sighed a little bit. "Well, you may not like this," he said to her. "But, if you want to save time, this is something you have to accept. If you succeed in saving time, then this future will no longer exist, meaning that you will disappear."
Christy's eyes widened in shock and horror. "W… what? I'll… disappear?"
"We all would," the Mew said nodding his head. "The humans and pokémon in this time would no longer exist."
The human girl shook her head. "But, that can't be. I mean, I just can't stop existing. I was around when time used to…"
"Calm yourself, human girl. That is not what I meant," the physic type interrupted holding a paw up. "The humans and pokémon who live in this world would not exist in the way they are now. For example, you wouldn't be on the run from the agents of Primal Dialga. Instead, you would be living your life the way that always wanted to."
Christy found herself a little nervous, but she couldn't help considering what she was being told. What the physic type pokémon said made a lot of sense. Truthfully, she didn't like the idea of disappearing. But, if doing so would save the world, she was willing to make that sacrifice.
"It is up to you, but I am tired of living in this bleak world," the Mew said softly before turning around and floating away.
The two watched as the physic type went away and then they looked toward each other. Christy sighed as she gazed at the grass type in front of her. "Grovyle, if I have to be honest, I don't like the idea of disappearing. But, I do want to change the world back to the way it used to be. So, I've decided that I have to do this. Dusknoir and his Sableyes are after me anyway, so I guess I may as well give them a reason."
"I see," Grovyle said with a smile. "As for me, I am curious to what this world used to be like. I would very much love to see it. I say we have nothing to lose, so I will join you! We will be partners in this quest to save time!"
The human girl smiled a little. "Partners… I like the sound of that."
Grovyle nodded his head in agreement to his human partner. "According to Mew, you have found one of the Time Gears. It must be in this forest back in the past. That means we need to find four more Time Gears! And your Dimensional Scream is the key to finding them!"
"Yeah, I know. But, after we figure out where all of the Time Gears are located, how are we going to go to the past?"
"Mew said there was a way," the grass type reminded her. "We'll figure it out when the time comes. Until then, I think we should concentrate on figuring out where the other four Time Gears are."
The two partners had no idea how much time had passed. It could have been weeks, maybe months, but it was really difficult to tell. They were as careful as they could, hiding and running whenever possible. As Grovyle once said, Dusknoir and his henchmen were so clingy, and they refused to let the two wander free.
Christy secretly wondered if Primal Dialga had known this all the time. Did he know that she had the Dimensional Scream? Did he know that it could lead her and her pokémon partner to the Time Gears and that they could save time? But then she wondered what the odds of them knowing that might be?
By this time, the duo had located three more Time Gears. Each place they visited, Christy got a strange sensation, and when she would touch something in that place, it would trigger her Dimensional Scream. And every time she got it, she would see another Time Gear, along with a clue to finding it.
One of the Time Gears seemed to be at a lake where there were many crystals, and another seemed to be under the desert sand. The fourth Time Gear that the brunette was able to see seemed to be deep inside a cave of some sort.
Now they needed to find the fifth, and final, Time Gear. But, Christy was getting rather frustrated, because she couldn't sense anything. It was rather annoying, because her Dimensional Scream seemed to work only when it was connected to a Time Gear. It would be nice if it had other uses as well.
"I haven't had a Dimensional Scream in a long time," the human girl murmured, looking discouraged.
"Don't worry," Grovyle reassured. "We'll get through this somehow."
With those words, the two friends fell silent. At the moment, they were grateful to have each other. They were willing to watch each other's back. During the time they spent together, their friendship had strengthened. They had been through some pretty rough times.
The grass type pokémon could feel his partner's frustrations. After all, she knew what the world was like before, and she really wanted to change it back. She was even willing to disappear in order to return the world back to its original state.
Christy found herself shivering. "Why do I feel like they are close, Grovyle?"
Grovyle looked over to his human partner. "It wouldn't surprise me. They continue to come after us. That means we need to figure out where the final Time Gear is so we can go to the past."
AN: I don't know if this seems rushed or not. But if I have to be truthful, I didn't want to write out finding all of the Time Gears. That is why I skipped ahead as I did. I do apologize if it takes a bit away from the story. I really didn't want to write it out, I don't know why.
I think part of the reason is, a part of it seemed too boring and a little repitive for some reason. But, just because I skipped ahead doesn't mean I don't have anything up my sleeves!