AN: Back to current events! HUGE cliffhanger, I know. XD You're gonna have to put up with it for a little, you know how my younger self loved to time jump. XD Please don't forget to tell me want you thought by sending a review or a message! ^^

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the exasperation at having to write about how I own nothing every single chapter.

Temporal Tower, present day

Lapras jumped as the doors to Temporal Tower flew open with a bang.

Dialga stormed inside, Palkia following close behind. Dialga didn't even look in Lapras's direction when the doors slammed shut and he said, "Gather the troops and prepare for war."

Lapras floated towards Dialga, the shock evident on her face. "War?" she echoed. "What's happening?"

He didn't answer, but shot a glare in Palkia's direction. "As him that," he growled.

Lapras noticed Palkia for the first time. "Palkia! What are you doing here?" Lapras was both happy and nervous to see her old friend; happy because she hadn't seen him in almost three hundred years and nervous because of why she hadn't seen him in almost three hundred years. Also, Lapras realized, if Palkia was here, things were really, really bad.

Palkia grinned at Lapras and gave her a quick nod. Lapras relaxed a little.

"Official business," he said gruffly. He paused. "It's good to see you again, Lapras."

Lapras smiled back, then sobered. "What's going on?" she asked again.

"Giratina has broken the treaty and declared war," Dialga said, shooting a glare at Palkia's back. Palkia wisely chose to ignore it and Lapras didn't notice.

"Giratina?" she said, surprised. "I thought he was dead!"

Palkia shook his head. "Not dead. Imprisoned. Dialga and I sent him to The Abyss after the dimension incident." He looked at Lapras curiously. "Didn't Dialga tell you?"

"No," she said, giving Dialga a look. Dialga cringed.

"We're getting off topic," he said, not meeting Lapras's eyes. "Lapras, gather the troops. I want my council to meet me here in three hours to talk over battle strategies, as well as go over food, water, and weapon supplies. We need to find a way to beat this guy."

Palkia snorted. "You can't."

"Excuse me?" Dialga shot his brother a look.

"You can't beat Giratina. It's impossible."

"Really?" Dialga said dryly. "And why is that?"

"Because no matter what you do, Giratina can just change it for the worse. He controls our world, you know. All he needs to do is mess around with his own."

Silence met that simple truth. Dialga realized that Palkia was right, but he didn't say it. Instead, he said, "Well, what are you going to do about it?"

Palkia shrugged and spread out his hands, palms up, in a defeated gesture. "What can be done?"

Lapras looked at him, appalled. "You're giving up?"

"I see no future in resisting. We can't win, and thousands would die in the attempt. It's better to just accept it. Yes, I know that I was the one who antagonized Giratina," Palkia said, catching the look Dialga was giving him, "but it was because I was angry. Some of my sense has come back since then, and now I realize that it's hopeless."

"What sense?" Dialga said under his breath.

Lapras looked Palkia in the eye. He stared back and was surprised at the anger he found there. "You would just submit to him?" Lapras bristled.

Palkia started to answer, but Lapras cut him off.

"I can't believe that you're not even going to try!" she huffed. "All of that power and you chose to just give in! You control space itself and you still chose to do nothing!"

Now it was Palkia's turn to bristle. "I'm trying to save lives-"

"No, you're not! You're enslaving them!" Lapras snapped. "Are you even going to give anyone the choice to fight? No," Lapras answered her own question, "you won't. All of those Pokemon together under a leader as strong as yourself might just have a chance at freedom. A small one, granted, but a chance! And you're taking away their one shot at living because you're too weak!"

"I'm not weak!" Palkia roared. "I'm saving their skins!"

Lapras calmed down a little. "I know that you think you're helping them by trying to avoid danger. But think about it this way: if you submit, many Pokemon will become imprisoned or dead. They'll have no chance of survival, not with Giratina. But if you choose to fight, you'll give them a chance to live. Many Pokemon will still become imprisoned or dead, but if they die, then they die knowing that they tried. That they tried to protect their families and friends. That they tried to fight for their freedom and that they didn't give in. And if you do win the war, then some will survive, and the others will rest easy knowing that they had done well."

Lapras paused, sensing that Palkia was wavering. She said gently, "If you don't fight, you take away that one comfort."

Palkia was silent. In his heart he knew that Lapras was right, but five hundred years of being obeyed instantly and always getting his way struggled with his heart. Lapras smiled, certain that she had won. She reached out to him, but he pulled back.

Emotions played across his face, trying to decide on a single, solid feeling and finally settling on anger. Five hundred years topped the seventeen he had spent in Lapras's company and he turned on Lapras, whose expression switched from gentle to surprised.

"Don't think that you can boss me around just like that! You're not my mother!" he hissed. "I'm the one who rules space, not you, and I decide what to do with it!" Then, turning on his heels, he strode out onto the balcony and flew away, stiff with anger.

"Wait!" Lapras cried, but Palkia ignored her.

Dialga looked at his old friend, his expression unreadable. "That went well," he said, and his voice was without emotion.

He turned away as well, going back to his desk to truly work. Lapras stared after Palkia for a moment longer, then followed Dialga with a sigh.

"He can be so stubborn," she muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Dialga to hear. Dialga raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"I'll get to the plans for the war," Lapras said to Dialga. She flew off o attend to her duties and left Dialga alone at his desk, a smile just barely touching his lips. Reminding himself that this was a grave time of war, he sobered and went back to work.

Dark Crater, present day

"Ah, it feels so good to be home!"

Darkrai floated into the crater's pit, followed by Dusknoir and the two Houndoom. Darkrai took a deep breath of the hot, graveyard tinted air and smiled. No blue sky here, he thought cheerily.

Dusknoir released the two Houndoom and gave the order to relax. 'Relax' meant that they could drop their guard and do whatever they wished. The two Houndoom went running through the tunnels, barking and chasing the smaller Pokemon around with delight.

As the barks faded in the tunnels, Darkrai turned to Dusknoir, face serious. "We have some catching up to do," he said.

"Yes, yes," Dusknoir said hurriedly. Darkrai gestured for him to sit and Dusknoir took the invitation gratefully, finding a comfortable position. Darkrai waited patiently.

Once he was settled, Dusknoir began speaking. "Well, as you know, the human Yukio and the Pokemon Grovyle went back in time to stop your plan to destroy time and plunge the world into paralysis," Dusknoir said, ignoring Darkrai's curse at the mention of their names. "Yukio had the Dimensional Scream, an ability to see the past or future of an object by touching it. They used the ability to find the time gears in advance so they knew right where to find them when they went. But while they traveled through time, you disturbed the time stream with a blast of power. As a result, Yukio and Grovyle were separated, and Yukio became the Pokemon Shinx and lost his memory."

Dusknoir paused, unwilling to continue lest he upset his master. Darkrai shot him a dangerous look and Dusknoir hurried to continue.

"Yukio teamed up with the Pokemon Turtwig and they joined Wigglytuff's Guild as apprentices. Together, they found Grovyle and discovered the truth about Yukio's past: that he was a Pokemon from the future come to save the world. Unfortunately, they stopped your plan to destroy time just in time, if you will excuse the pun. Yukio was then supposed to disappear from existence, like all the Pokemon from the future, but Dialga sensed Turtwig's sadness and brought him back. Afterwards-"

"What happened to you?" Darkrai interrupted. "You're a Pokemon of the future."

"Ah, yes," Dusknoir smiled. "I had planned an ambush for them at Temporal Tower, as you well know," - Darkrai gave a slight nod in recognition of the fact - "but they managed to defeat me and the Sableye."

Dusknoir cursed at the memory, then continued. "Grovyle brought me back to the future with him. Just as I started to disappear, I made it to Dialga, who was beginning to regain his sanity thanks to the alternation of the past. Seeing his kingdom disappearing, he used his powers of time to restore everyone."

"What happened to Grovyle?"

Dusknoir grinned. "He's dead, sir. I shook off the effects of the time travel first and I killed him."

Darkrai nodded. "One less Pokemon to cause us trouble later," he said thoughtfully. He gestured for Dusknoir to continue.

"Soon after Yukio returned, he and his friend graduated from Wigglytuff's Guild and became a full fledged exploration team. They caught wind of your plan to envelope the world in a nightmare when a friend of theirs fell asleep and couldn't wake up. They teamed up with Cresselia and stopped you, with Palkia's help, defeating you in this very room."

Darkrai cursed again. "Move on," he growled.

"Yes, of course." Dusknoir started to speak, stumbled, gathered his thoughts and tried again. "You managed to escape through a dimensional hole, but Palkia sent a blast of energy after you. Everyone thought that you had lost your memory and no longer poised a threat, and that's the last I heard of you. I came back here to discover what really happened and used the Houndoom to track your scent." Dusknoir caught the glare his master was giving him and added hurriedly, "But not after following your orders and setting up for the next plan, of course, sir."

"So everything is set up for my return?"

"Yes."

Darkrai allowed a brief smile. "Good."

Dusknoir cleared his throat. "So, what happened to you?"

Darkrai mumbled something that Dusknoir didn't hear. He leaned in closer, asked, "What was that, master?"

"I got stuck in Tilly Village," Darkrai growled.

Dusknoir stared at him. "Tilly Village?"

"Palkia trapped me there, blast him!" Darkrai seethed. "I will get him back for that!"

Dusknoir was inwardly laughing at Tilly Village, but seeing his master's fury, he let it pass. "How did you get your memories back?"

Darkrai calmed down a little. "I never lost them. I made it out of the dimensional hole just in time."

Dusknoir nodded. "Ah. I see. So what do we do now?"

Darkrai gave an amused look to Dusknoir. "First, you need to stop asking stupid questions," he said. Dusknoir opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it shut and nodded.

"Second, we move on with the plan."

Darkrai saw the unasked question in Dusknoir's eyes and snapped, "We're going to The Abyss, you fool! Get it straight in your head!" He floated off, muttering under his breath something about his stupid henchman. Dusknoir wisely pretended not to hear.

As he followed his master out of the crater's pit and into the twisting hallways, Dusknoir spotted the two Houndoom playing in the lava puddles. He whistled a high note at them. The Houndoom prickled their ears and bounded towards him, barking and snarling viciously.

"Guard," Dusknoir said, and the Houndoom obediently bolted to the entrance of the crater's pit. They sat stiffly, on their guard with their ears pinned back, growling softly in their throats and baring their fangs. Dusknoir knew that anybody who came within five feet of them who wasn't Darkrai or himself would be ripped to shreds without a moment's hesitation. Satisfied, he turned back to the tunnels and followed after his master.

Not a lot really happened in this one. Guess I thought you needed a break. XD Please review if you liked!