Step into the Past
Claire wasn't prepared for how much shaking the time machine—the box called a TARDIS—endured as it began to travel. She couldn't tell if she was actually traveling through time or not, but she did know her spine was going to relocate if the rattling didn't stop soon. The grinding noise was getting to Claire, too, but she couldn't cover her ears and brace herself simultaneously.
"Is it supposed to shake like this?"
"Time turbulence," the Professor explained curtly. "Makes for a bumpy ride."
"Are you sure you didn't leave the parking brake on or something?"
The Professor didn't respond. A moment passed, and suddenly the grinding noise stopped and the turbulence went away. Claire no long felt like a school of wailmer was colliding with the box in mid-flight.
Ignoring the fact that she was right, despite having no experience inside this box, the Professor said, "Certain eras are prone to distortion. Which reminds me: Don't go interfering with the timeline. We're here to observe the construction and origins of the Temple of Alph and nothing else!" He waved a thought from his head as he mumbled the addition, "And possibly eat a meal fit for an emperor's guest."
"What do you mean about not interfering? Aren't we interfering just by moving through time?" She put on a puzzled look as she tried to understand all the incomplete theories of time travel she'd heard through school and television.
"Not really. You see, time has a little bit of a bumper. Certain things are going to happen whether we're here or not. By keeping below the radar, we'll be sure our effect is minimal."
"So answer this conundrum for me," Claire requested. "If we really did go back in time, and suppose we changed something big…"
"We won't. We'll stay below the radar."
"If… is it possible to change something so that I'm never born?"
The Professor made a face. "Why would you want to do that? Usually I have to talk people out of self-serving time changes, but that suggestion is truly depressing."
Claire sighed deeply. "I'm not trying effect that change. I would very seriously like to avoid that change at all costs!"
"Good. No changes whatsoever. We don't make a scene." Almost exactly at that moment, a soft thud gave the impression of the box landing somewhere and the TARDIS engines shut down. He put on that goofy grin again. "We're here." He quickly hopped down the stairs to the front door of the box. "Shall we go take a look?"
Struck with sudden hesitance, Claire paused before joining her pilot. "What's out there?"
"I never quite know until I open those doors."
Something about the way the Professor acted really struck Claire. He seemed intelligent and skilled, but also eccentric and clueless. Was it really possible for someone to have a time machine and have only a marginal understanding of it, or was he just clowning around? She chose to follow him and find out. The front door opened to a scent of air Claire never smelled before.
"What is that?" she asked.
"Mice," the Professor answered. "Mice and rocks. Rocks, mostly. Lots of rocks around this time period. Very mountainous region. It's helpful if you're trying to build yourself a brand new temple devoted to yourself but not so helpful if you have sensitive feet." With a sigh, he added, "Take a warning from a longtime traveler. Don't take anything for granted—not even comfortable shoes."
The TARDIS was situated on top of a tall, somewhat flat cliff side. The Professor stepped out so eagerly he would have toppled straight over the cliff if he had not whipped an arm back and immediately grabbed the door of the TARDIS.
Now Claire was convinced the Professor had no idea how to operate his own time machine.
"Perhaps I can find a slightly less hazardous place to park," he suggested as he pulled the doors shut and reengaged the controls. Moments later, the TARDIS rested at the base of the cliff, only to disappear once more and reappear fifty meters from the base. When Claire pointed out the importance of understanding geometry when parking near an avalanche zone, he opted for a safer distance. Now the TARDIS sat at the edge of the grasslands in the shadow of the mountain cliff.
"That's much better," the Professor suggested. Without another thought, he looked toward the southeast and said, "Now, let's go see who's here."
"Hold on," Claire objected. She looked at the TARDIS—the big, bright blue box sitting in the middle of nature—and asked, "Are you just going to leave it there?"
"You expect me to tuck her into my pocket?"
"No, but you could at least camouflage it somehow. I mean, it does kind of draw attention to itself. Why not turn it invisible again?"
"If I turn her invisible, I'll never find her again. At least not until the batteries run out, and then we'll be stuck here. She'll be fine there by herself. I locked the door on the way out."
Claire made a face. "You're telling me that a time machine with the ability to turn invisible doesn't have some kind of camouflage? What about just a tarp or a tree branch?"
"Are you mad? I don't see how a big tarp in the middle of nowhere is going to attract less attention, and I'm definitely not covering the TARDIS with a tree branch. And I already told you she has a camouflage chip, but it broke ages ago. She's been a big, blue box ever since."
"Why not fix it?"
"Landlines and comfortable shoes," the Professor stated, turning away from her and beginning his journey around to the south end of the mountain. "A whole, great world outside the TARDIS. Are you coming?"
Claire knew he was right, and the reason she joined was to see if time travel was truly possible. "The TARDIS is already a whole, great world to me. Sue me for wanting to know more about it."
"Be careful who you say that to. We're in an era where all lawsuits end in death. Or else someone loses a chicken."
"Speaking of someone," she said, ignoring his non sequitur thoughts, "how often does it usually take for you to find someone on one of these journeys?"
"Well, it depends. The TARDIS brought us to the exact site of the Temple of Alph. Of course, there seems to be a mountain here right now, so perhaps I miscalculated a bit and we arrived too early for the groundbreaking." He didn't even make it completely around the end of the mountain's base when he was grabbed by an armored man who pushed him to his knees and pressed the blade of a large knife on the back of his neck. "Or perhaps we were right on time."
Claire shrieked when she saw the blade, but also because three more armored men charged past the Professor and targeted her with Japanese swords ready to strike. Almost instinctually, she reached for her belt and dropped a pokéball. Energy poured from the open pokéball with a red light; the energy began immediately shaping itself into a roserade—a three-foot bouquet pokémon that looked like a short, green woman wearing a rose as a dress. The roserade whipped her frond cape around her chest and poised her hands—two rose bouquets—to protect her trainer.
"Nice choice," she muttered to herself. "A flower pokémon against a bunch of swords. No way this can end badly." But the roserade didn't back down. She swung her arms forward, one after the other, and flung razor-sharp leaves at the men dressed as samurai, who deftly deflected the leaves with their blades, yet resisted furthering their attack. They now kept their distance. She surmised the warriors weren't too interested in tangling with a well trained pokémon.
"Let him go," she tried, referring to the captive Professor.
"Really? You're going to use a big flower to threaten men with swords?"
Her concern faded rapidly. "I could just leave you there, you know."
Suddenly a look of realization crossed his face that she was right.
"Professor?"
The professor couldn't easily turn his head to see who was calling him, but Claire thought he might have recognized the voice.
"Alph?" The blade on the back of his neck pressed harder as the warrior holding the Professor responded poorly to his disrespect. "Ahh! I meant to say, Emperor Alph?"
Claire caught sight of the man who spoke from behind the armed warriors. He wore purple, silk robes that were loose in the torso but wide enough in the arms for ten men to fit. His pants were equally loose, almost like a giant skirt. And he was definitely aged—maybe sixty. When he moved, everyone kept their distance to avoid accidentally touching him, but they all stayed close enough to leap to his protection as needed.
Himself unarmed, the man certainly looked the part of royalty. As he approached the Professor, Claire didn't get the impression he intended harm; after all, the Professor was pretty well detained. The man simply leaned in to look at him more closely and carefully, the same way one might look at a three-dimensional puzzle.
"It really is you," the elegant man spoke with surprise.
"Hello, Emperor," the Professor said with a short little wave of the fingers—enough to signal friendliness without causing his captor to react violently.
"But it's been thirty years since I saw you last, yet you haven't aged a day."
"Thirty years, thirty years," the Professor chanted to himself. "Ah, yes, of course. Well, I just happen to have one of those young-looking faces. I don't suppose you might consider letting me stand up on my own power, preferably without a sword pinned to my neck."
With a nod and a soft chuckle, the old man said, "Yes, perhaps I could." He motioned to the samurai, who immediately grunted affirmatively and stepped away from the Professor, assuming the same battle-ready stance as the other bodyguards.
"Much better," the Professor said as he stretched his back and rubbed his neck. He gave the old man a big smile. "Now. It's great to see you again, Emperor. Sorry I was gone for so long." He extended his hand and immediately pulled it back when six swords flashed in front of him and threatened his fingers. "Right. No touchies. Got it."
Emperor Alph waved his hand downward and his guards sheathed their swords once more, still ready to strike again if needed. He bowed lightly to the Professor, who returned the gesture.
"You are looking well," the Professor told him.
"You are a terrific liar," Alph replied. "Have you come to spoil the unveiling of my temple?"
"To spoil it? Heavens, no. I'm here to witness it. How could I miss such an auspicious event as the celebration of the greatest emperor the country has ever seen?"
"Perhaps this way I may truly live forever."
"Oh, stop it. You've got years of strong leadership ahead of you. You are young yet."
Alph held his smile consistent and gave a humble nod. "Your lying is worse this time." That prompted a return smile from the Professor. "Forgive my forthrightness, but please introduce me to your foreign companion." Claire might not have felt so ignored if the Professor didn't have to follow the Emperor's gaze before he remembered she was there.
"Of course. Pardon my rudeness." The Professor walked right past the three samurai and moved to pat the roserade on the head; the pokémon recoiled before any direct contact was made.
"How does he know I'm foreign?" she asked the Professor.
"You've summoned a pokémon from the Sinnoh region. He's never seen one before. I don't suppose you could provide yourself a lower profile and call only a pokémon from the Johto region?" He looked hopeful as he made the request.
She tried to think about the timeline. If they really went back in time by sixteen hundred years, then people in the Johto region wouldn't know about the Sinnoh region for another ten years, give or take, when the empire expanded to the east under the rule of Alph IV. The only pokémon these people were currently accustomed to seeing were from the Johto and Kanto regions; that meant using only her sudowoodo while she was here.
Claire recalled Croft—the roserade—and placed the pokéball on her belt. "Fine. I can't believe I'm wearing blue jeans and flannel and you think my pokémon are what draw attention to me."
"You look fine," he told her. Making a face that conveyed little, if any confidence, he added, "Don't be surprised if they accuse you of being underdressed, though. Luckily, the emperor loves the ascot." He grinned widely when he spoke.
"You look ridiculous," she asserted.
"Right. So let me introduce you to Emperor Usimare Alph III."