Hello, I have updated! I I don't own pmd, nintendo does. Btw, ya know how I said this entire story would be in Grovyle's pov? I lied, this chapter is in Kitten's pov because, as you can guess from the chapter title, this chapter is kinda really important to Kitten's character, that and the next one.

I hope you enjoy!


Over the next few days, Grovyle, Umbreon, Ralts, and I traveled from Apple Woods, into a mountain range, through a forest which made way to jungle, and finally we traveled along a mountain to the northern shore.

"Are we almost there, Umbreon?" I asked.

"Yes, it's just a short swim from here to the island." Umbreon replied as we came to the beach.

"What's this?" Grovyle asked. I looked back at him. He was staring, transfixed on some suspended crystal in the air.

"It's rain, suspended by time and frozen by the cold." Umbreon explained. Grovyle touched it, held it in his hand, and then opened his hand, the crystal rain was gone.

"It's water." Grovyle observed. I looked at another nearby raindrop and ate it...it was water! We hadn't been near a good water source in a while, and we were horribly dehydrated. I gathered a few and swallowed them, they melted and I felt the drops slide down my throat. It wasn't much, but it felt very refreshing. I jostled Ralts, who was asleep in the crook of my arm, awake so I could give her some water. She drank it quickly and fell back asleep.

I tried to keep things happy, at least a little, but truth was...things were bad. It had been forever since we had had a decent amount to drink, or to eat. We were weak...weaker than normal. We had been in the mountains for a few days. The mountains could provide enough to sustain people...after all I had lived in the mountains for so many years. The diet up there consisted of roots and the like, and that didn't agree with Pokemon that weren't used to it. It took me a few days to get Ralts to eat anything at all. The forest had more food, but a lot of things looked poisonous, so we didn't eat them.

After drinking, I walked to the edge of the beach. The ocean that lay ahead was all twisted up, like it was around the Hidden Land.

"Is there a time barrier here, too?" I asked, taking the Relic Fragment out of my treasure bag in case we needed it.

"No, no time barrier. It's only a storm. Rainstorms churn up the ocean and cause it to look like this." Umbreon replied, she knew so many things, it was kind of daunting. I guess it was because she lived near a library. Umbreon said there weren't any live Pokemon or humans on the island, so it must have been awfully lonely for her...she must have read the books in the library in lieu of talking to people.

"And...we have to swim across?" I stood there...I didn't want to swim.

"Yes." Umbreon answered, then, in a lower voice. "Is something wrong with her?" she asked Grovyle.

"She can't swim."

"I can too swim! You saw me at Fogbound Lake!"

"Yeah, and I also saw you pass out on the way to Treasure Town." He chuckled but then I glared at him and that shut him up. "I can carry you across if you'd like." I knew he was teasing me, but I decided to take him up on it anyways.

"Sure, I'd love that!" I exclaimed. Grovyle raised an eyebrow.

"Alright then." he replied, then waded into the water and positioned himself so that I could climb on his back.

"I'll swim Ralts across, then?" Umbreon asked. I looked down at Ralts, still sleeping. "You know...you are going to have to part with her. You said yourself your mission is no place for a child that young. The entire point of coming here was to give Ralts a better place to live. I need to start taking care of her or she'll never let go of you."

I bit my lip and looked down at Ralts...I didn't want to give her up. I had grown attached and I guess that was my mistake. I knew I would have to give her up from the start but I grew attached anyways. I couldn't help myself though...there was only so much to hold onto in this world, and an innocent child to care for was more of a treasure than any jewel.

"Yeah...ok." I placed Ralts on Umbreon's back, then hopped onto Grovyle's back. We started to swim.

"You're only doing this to annoy me." Grovyle said.

"Yep." I smiled. I could feel him rolling his eyes at me.

We swam, the water was even harder to deal with in this ocean than the one between the Hidden Land and Treasure Town. The waves were all messed up, water kept splashing in my face, and saltiness of it stung my eyes and made my wounds burn. Grovyle tensed up too...swimming wasn't a pleasant thing. The only good news was that if it was this difficult to swim through this bit of water, the chances of anyone coming to hurt Ralts were very low.

Finally, we reached the shore. Umbreon and Grovyle rested on the sand for a bit. When we were all rested we walked on through a forest, eating some of the leaves on the trees as we went. We got to a clearing...a path...with a sign on it. There was something carved into the sign...they must have symbolized something but...I couldn't read it.

"What's it say?" I asked, pointing at the sign.

"Welcome to Eilian Pentref, the human village." Umbreon gestured towards the path ahead. It was mostly deserted, except for a few humans. They looked west with a horrified expression. There was no doubt in my mind they had seen the time freeze coming. I looked away from them...they...were my people and they had died afraid. Some of them were on their knees, their hands clasped together and eyes closed.

"What...are they doing?" Grovyle asked, pointing at one of them.

"I've never been entirely sure." Umbreon answered. "I think they might have been praying."

"Oh..."

We walked on, on the side of the path there was a Slowking standing on a pile of pebbles and sand shaped like a time gear. He held some sort of rake. He didn't look afraid, just kinda confused. There were buildings unlike any I had ever seen.

"Human homes, such a technological achievement, don't you think?" Umbreon commented, seeing that I was gaping at the buildings. The pathway was lined with them, all more or less the same. Some had fencing around them, there were a few Milktank, and fruit trees everywhere. All of us instantly grabbed the fruit and ate it.

After eating we walked through the village. This island seemed even more silent with the people here in such a concentrated number. Since it was so secluded nobody had messed with the bodies, nobody had eaten the meat. The moment was perfectly preserved. I could almost hear the echoes of the past. My eyes shifted from house to house...but one in particular caught my interest. It was made of stone, like all the the others. I turned and slowly walked through the doorway.

There were some furnishings...a few couches, the kitchen stove, tables, it was all very rustic. There was a blonde woman stirring some soup. I put a finger in the soup and tasted it...salty...different. Everyone ate such different things...they had time to make meals rather than just scavenging for food and scarfing it down.

I saw a blonde and pink haired girl of about 10 writing in a book. I looked over her shoulder...I couldn't read it.

"Grovyle, it's in Footprint Runes, you read it." I said.

"Huh?" Was the only response I heard. I looked up and saw Grovyle looking at a small boy, probably only around 5 years old, his hair blonde with wisps of purple. Grovyle glanced back at him, the boy's eyes were fixated on the window. Poor little boy, he had seen his death coming, without even knowing what it was.

"What is it?" Grovyle asked, sliding next to me.

"I don't know. I think it's a journal." I replied. "Now what does it say?"

"Give me a minute!" Grovyle snapped, then looked at it, concentrated, and began to read.

Diary of Eliza, entry 27. I've taught myself to write in Footprint Runes so nobody else can read this. William read this and told mother as well as half the village that I fancied Liam. It understandably caused quite some embarrassment. Anyways...I am worried. Storm clouds are gathering, Ryan says the Time Gear's been acting strangely. He and the other guards aren't sure what to do. Mother goes on as if nothing's wrong, though in my opinion shes just keeping herself busy to distract herself. As for father and Melanie, they've gone to-

"It cuts off there..." Grovyle said. "I wonder where her father and Melanie went..."

"They went to Apple Woods..." I trailed off. Grovyle looked at me.

"How could you know that?"

"Flygon told me that my ancestors, a long time ago, were traders from some far off human settlement...he had befriended the girl with pink and purple hair who had come with her father. He said I reminded him of her. Her name was Melanie..."

I closed my eyes, and felt a tear fall down my cheek. Then heard Umbreon and Ralts come in.

"What have you found?" Umbreon asked.

"Her family." Grovyle answered.

"I see...let's give her a moment alone..."

"No. It's alright." I said, opening my eyes, my expression blank. "Let's see that library...shall we?"

Umbreon stared at me for a moment, then gave a slight nod.

"Right this way."

We left the house and continued down the main path which headed west. Eventually we got to a cliff on the far west coast of the island. There was a spray of sea water in the air from a wave crashed against the cliff. I looked around.

"Where's the library, exactly?" I asked. Umbreon gestured to a staircase carved into the rock.

"Down there."

"Neat." Grovyle and I said simultaneously.

We walked down the spiraling stone staircase and got to a small foyer and a set of stone doors that had been blown open by some unknown force. There was also a man with dark purple hair, he was in his 20s maybe? He was armed...this had to be Ryan...the guy who guarded the library. He was on the floor, probably pushed back by that same force. We went into the library...rows and rows of books and scrolls everywhere. There were artifacts too. The whole thing was lit by torches that burned light purple...my breath quickened. Purple white flames...

I quickly calmed myself down...Umbreon must have used Will-O-Wisp...or something.

We moved on to a separate room with pictures of Time Gears everywhere...and on the other side a cavern entrance.

"This is the most extensive research on Time Gears...ever." Umbreon announced. "The Time Gear is through there." she pointed to the cavern. I picked up a book off a shelf...there were the same markings as the entrance to the village.

"What is this?" I asked Umbreon. She walked over to me to see what I was talking about.

"It is the language of the Unknown. A written language that humans used...the entirety of this library is written in it."

"Well...we can't read it...could you teach us?"

"It would be my pleasure."


Silly Umbreon, you took them to a library but they can't read.

Anyways, I know most pmd fanfics that cover this pregame stuff have Hero and Grovyle traveling around the entire world trying to find all the time gears and figuring out how to get past the traps, but instead I'm just having them read about all of it so the story doesn't get too long xD

In 2-3 chapters we're gonna get to where the actual game starts c: