Happy New Year! Hope you all had a fun winter break.
I don't own the Pokémon or any characters in Mystery of Time, and I don't own any of the game characters or plots either.
This may be random, but has anyone played Pokémon Pearl, Diamond, or Platinum games and explored the Old Chateau? That place is cool, and I liked exploring there, but it was creepy at the same time. I looked the Chateau up on Youtube and found out that ghosts appear in the game. After that I played Pearl and saw them for myself. It was spooky. The Old Chateau could be a Creepy Pasta all of its own. Creepy Pastas are basically gaming urban legends that people make up. I used to be too scared to read them, but I've been checking them out lately. Some are scary, and some make me laugh but only because some Creepy Pastas try too hard to be scary and end up being a little weird.
Discovery
I started moving a little faster, and before I knew it I was running towards our the waterfall, and I could hear Shiloh keeping up behind me. Looking back at her I saw her catching up and laughed.
"Enjoy your lead while you can!" She yelled. "I only look slow!"
"Hey," I panted, grinning, "I was pretty fast when we were fighting Drowzee..." Shiloh suddenly pulled ahead of me and got a good lead.
"Only because you used absorb and got some extra energy," she called back to me as she ran. "Now I'm gonna win!" I tried to force my legs to move faster, but only caught up a little bit, and when I reached the waterfall Shiloh was sitting down on a platform of rocky ground that stretched up to the waterfall and put the cascade right within arm's reach. I noticed as I got closer that Shiloh was grinning smugly while she chewed an apple. Panting heavily, I jogged up to her and breathed out a long sigh.
"You win," I gasped, then sat down cross-legged in front of her. The roar of the waterfall made it hard to hear, but the noise was nothing compared to when Ran yelled.
"Of course I won!" Shiloh laughed. "I didn't train for nothing." Shiloh rummaged around in her satchel and pulled out another apple, offering it to me with a grin. "After this we'll investigate."
"Thanks." I'd been getting a little hungry during the trek to the falls, and my stomach was now growling loudly. I was thirsty, too, but the only water around was the water that came from the waterfall, and getting closer to drink from it probably wasn't a smart idea. Standing up, I moved closer to the edge of the rocky platform and looked down; there was a pool of water down below that had collected from the falls, but it didn't seem like there was any way to reach it except jumping, which would definitely be a bad idea. Shrugging, I headed back to Shiloh while I munched on the apple.
"Do you think you'll get a vision?" She asked once I'd sat back down.
"From the apple?" I asked, and she nodded. "I don't think so." I looked dubiously at the apple I held. "I think it would have started by now. I don't feel dizzy."
"That's alright," Shiloh said with certainty. "We'll test it out soon enough." I finished up my apple, set the core down, and saw that Shiloh had also left her apple core behind and was now looking over the edge into the pool below the waterfall. As I approached she shook her head and stepped back. "It's hard to stand close to it for very long." I nodded in agreement and moved aside so Shiloh could get away from the misty spray.
"It is really big..." I said, gazing up at the waterfall. "I don't think I've seen one this big." Shiloh shot me a curious glance.
"You've probably at least seen a waterfall. They're all over the place. Well, more than some things."
"Like what?" I wondered, and Shiloh looked up and frowned in thought.
"Um...like...uh..." She snapped her fingers. "Like colorful lights in the sky at night, shooting stars, funny-shaped rocks...that kind of thing. I've seen lots of cool stuff."
"Rocks shaped like funny?" I asked, pretending to be confused. "What's funny look like?" Shiloh narrowed her eyes and smirked, and I returned a smile, knowing a likely conclusion I'd pushed our conversation towards.
"Your face."
"Don't say that around other Treecko," I laughed. "You'll insult them too."
"I probably would, but it's just you I meant," Shiloh said, her smirk still in place. "Why don't we explore now?" She approached the large cascade of water again. "I really want to find something. Come on, Gale." We approached the waterfall, moving closer until we were just close enough to reach out and touch the sheet of water that was pouring down. The cliffs that surrounded the falls were made of light, smooth rock, just like the rock platform we were standing on.
"Hmm," I murmured, squinting my eyes against the spray. "It doesn't look like there's anything here except the waterfall."
"I can swim," Shiloh mumbled, "but not through a waterfall." I turned towards her and held up my paws in a shrug.
"What now? I could try touching the waterfall, but I think it'd hurt."
"Yeah. Maybe not a good idea." Shiloh faced the waterfall, tilting her head back as she gazed upward. Folding my arms, I decided to quickly give it a try, then stepped closer to the falls and tentatively reached my left arm out. I lightly brushed the falling curtain of water with my paw. I stumbled a bit as the waterfall's current dragged at my arm, and I felt myself unbalancing.
"Gale!" I heard Shiloh yell, and felt her grab my shoulders. "Got you!" I felt a strong tug and fell backwards onto the rocky ground. My body was shaking because of the the close call. "Are you okay?" Shiloh asked, looking me up and down. "That current's powerful!"
"I'm fine," I gasped, breathing heavily as I tried to calm down, "and I won't do that again." I looked at Shiloh gratefully, giving a weak smile. "Thanks."
"That's good." Shiloh held up her paws and lifted her shoulders. "So, what do we do?" She wondered. "Maybe there's something on the other side."
"Of the waterfall?" I asked, looking hard at it. I couldn't see through the water, but I doubted there was anything on the other side and I didn't think we could safely find out. Shiloh was shaking her head.
"No, on the other side of the cliffs." Shiloh glanced dubiously at the falls. "Even if there is something, I don't know how we could get through to find out. The waterfall is too powerful." There was a slight buzzing in my head, and I shook it a couple times, but swayed as my body started to feel light.
"Shiloh," I said, closing my eyes and holding my head, "I feel dizzy."
"Is it a vision?" Shiloh asked urgently. "You touched the water; I bet that's why!" I waited for images or sounds to come, and after a bright flash I saw the shadowy figure of a Pokémon standing in front of a waterfall. It stood still for a moment, then turned and walked away, only to spin back around and run straight for the cascade. At first it looked like the figure had been pushed under the falls to the pool below, but the images changed a second later and the figure was tumbling head over heels into a dim cavern. The Pokémon stood, shook itself, and strode deeper into the cavern. With another flash the images stopped and I opened my eyes to see Shiloh standing in front of me. Her expression was concerned, but there was a flicker of interest in her eyes.
"What happened? Did you see or hear anything?" Shiloh helped me stand, and I nodded.
"I saw a Pokémon standing right front of the waterfall."
"Really?" Shiloh looked perplexed. "Someone's been here before, then." She frowned in annoyance. "I wonder if Chatot knew that. But then he wouldn't have sent us."
"Maybe he didn't know about it, but whoever came here knew what to do. They jumped through the waterfall and into a cavern behind it." Shiloh's brown eyes widened.
"They did?" Her expression became uncertain. "Think we should jump and see?"
"We could just go back and tell Chatot that there's a cave or something behind the falls." I glanced anxiously at the looming waterfall. "I don't really want to try it out."
"We came all this way, though." Shiloh turned quickly and began to approach the falls at a run.
"Wait!" I yelled urgently, rushing forward and grabbing Shiloh's shoulders. She stopped abruptly and I pulled her back. "There's no way to get back up! What if you get hurt?" Shiloh whirled on me and I stepped back a couple steps; there was a challenge in her eyes.
"Come with me, then, if you're so worried," she told me sharply, and I grimaced.
"Okay...but how should we jump? At the count of three?" Shiloh grinned and nodded firmly.
"Sounds good to me. I'll count." She took my right paw and I looked at her in surprise. "It'll be easier to stay together this way. Get ready." Gulping, I gazed ahead at the falling water and hoped there was a cave behind the falls, otherwise we'd hit a wall of rock and get dropped down to the pool below. "We can do it. We'll stick together, no matter what happens." I nodded but kept my eyes on the falls, and prepared myself to move at Shiloh's count. "One...two...three!" I jumped forward and felt Shiloh tugging at my paw. The wall of water got closer and I felt the spray getting stronger, pelting me with stinging beads of water. "JUMP!" I heard Shiloh yell, and I tensed my legs as we reached the end of the rocky platform, then pushed off the ground with every bit of strength I had, hoping fervently that we would make it through.
Suddenly the noise of the waterfall wasn't just ahead of me, but it was around me and inside my head. I couldn't see or hear anything, and the strength of the deluge made it seem like I would be pushed underwater and held there until I ran out of air. I couldn't feel Shiloh's paw gripping mine anymore, either, and began to panic. If I was in the pool, I was going to try and at least swim out, so I waved my arms and hoped it would get me somewhere. My lungs throbbed but without warning the noise of the falls was behind me and I could breathe again. I frantically wiped the water out of my eyes and gasped in mouthfuls of air as I tried to see where I was. It was dark, but my eyes adjusted a little and I could see dripping stalactites hanging from the ceiling.
"Shiloh?" I coughed out a bit of water, then rolled over and shakily got to my feet. My body felt like it was bruised all over, but other than that I felt fine; I hadn't drowned, so that was good. "Where are you?" There was a chance she could have fallen, but I didn't want to think about that. I could look for her first, and then jump back through if she wasn't here. "Can you hear me?"
"I got through," her voice sounded from nearby, and I heard her cough a couple times. Whipping around, I spotted her in the gloom of the cave and hurried over to her. She was crouched near the back of the cavern, shaking her head and spitting out water. I took her arms and pulled at her a little.
"Can you stand up?" She nodded and I pulled her to her feet. "You okay?"
"Fine, for the most part," she answered breathlessly, nodding and letting go of my paws. "How about you?"
"I'm alright." I stared around the dim cavern. "Looks like we made it."
"Yeah!" Shiloh exclaimed loudly, sounding bewildered but excited. "Your vision was right." A path snaked off through the cavern, and two small bodies of water surrounded it. "Let's go!" I trailed after Shiloh, stopping to dip my toes into the water on the left side of the path, and I could easily feel the bottom. The water was frigid, so I stepped out and shivered a little, deciding not to test the pool on the right. Catching up with Shiloh, I wrapped my arms around myself and sighed.
"It's cold in here," I muttered, shivering as chills swept through my body, and Shiloh glanced at me.
"It is a little cold," she agreed. "Maybe walking faster will help." I rubbed my arms and nodded, then started moving a little more quickly through the cave's corridors, but it was still a chilly as well as dark. My eyes could make out some obstacles in my way, but most of the time I had to really squint to not bump into anything. It looked like we were in a large room with an opening at the far end. Without warning the ground below me dipped and the next thing I knew water had closed over my head and I came up coughing out water. In the gloom of the cavern I'd stepped right into in a large puddle, one that reached from the beginning of the room to the end. It thankfully hadn't been over my head, since I could stand up and only have the water come up to my waist. Glancing upward I saw that Shiloh was reaching out to me, and I took her paws and started to climb out. Something slimy brushed against my tail suddenly, and a shiver ran through me.
"Something's in the water!" I grunted as Shiloh helped me clamber out of the puddle. Whipping around, I stared into it, and Shiloh moved up beside me. A long, gray form suddenly splashed into the air, causing Shiloh and me to lurch backwards. Before I could catch a glimpse of what Pokémon it was, the gray figure fell back into the water.
"It was a Barboach, I think," Shiloh stated, still looking into the puddle. "Let's go before it decides to fight." I nodded quickly and set off again beside Shiloh. "There are probably lots of water types here. You can work on absorb here."
"I'll try. I mean, I think I still know how I did it." While Crest, Shiloh and me had been fighting Drowzee, I'd grabbed him and been able to steal some energy from him and move faster because of it. I'd been a little desperate then, but I think I just had to concentrate and will the move to work.
"Though I guess it's nice if we get through here without being attacked," Shiloh added as we walked steadily through the opening at the end of the room and into the next area. Instead of another large room, there was just a hallway that curved off to the right. "It's a nice place."
"Maybe for water types," I said with a shiver. "It's too cold for me."
"Maybe we'll go to a volcano next or something," Shiloh said, catching my eye and grinning. "That'd be warmer."
"Hahah...no thanks." I looked back ahead and noticed that the ceiling was getting lower. The only way out was to crawl through a little opening that looked just big enough for Shiloh and me to fit through. "Wonder what's on the other side."
"I'll go first," Shiloh said, and peeked through the hole. She crouched but lurched back with a startled yelp. A small blue Pokémon darted through the small tunnel and leapt forward. Shiloh jumped out of the way, then took a breath and sprayed the Pokémon with a water gun. "Darn! It's a Surskit!"
"I'll try absorb!" The Surskit glanced in my direction and lunged, knocking me backward, but I grabbed two of its legs and concentrated. My paws warmed and I stood quickly, spun once and tossed the Surskit away. It flew a short distance and landed on the ground in a heap, then stood weakly and stumbled a few steps before glancing swiftly at us. Without warning it dashed away, back the way we'd come and disappeared from sight.
"Nice going," Shiloh remarked, approaching the tunnel again. "That was pretty good."
"Thanks," I said, a little out of breath and surprised that I'd been able to fight like that. "Absorb really works."
"I think you're getting better at battling," Shiloh said with a nod. "There probably are lots of Water-type Pokémon here, so you watch my back."
"Should we really count on me to fight?" I wondered, feeling a little apprehensive.
"You can do it. And if things go bad, we can just run away." Shiloh crouched to all fours and began crawling through the tunnel. "If I can get through even with my shell then you'll be able to, no problem." As Shiloh edged into the hole, her shell just barely scraped the sides, but she finally crawled out onto the other side. I hurriedly slipped through as well, not wanting to be left alone, and straightened up when I saw Shiloh standing. The ceiling of the chamber we were in stretched far above our heads, and I could barely see the stalactites that were dripping water into the various pools dotting the area. I jumped a bit when Shiloh grabbed my left paw and pointed excitedly ahead at a distant speck of light. "There's something shining in the next room!"
"You're right," I said in realization, just noticing that I could make out more things in the cavern, "and it's colorful, whatever it is."
"Maybe it's treasure," Shiloh wondered, and let go of my paw as she started running towards the far end of the cavern, and I took off after her as fast as I could. I noticed Shiloh's footsteps faltering, though, and heard a splashing noise coming from somewhere nearby. Before I could stop and look around a yellow shape had slammed into Shiloh, knocking her to the ground. Startled, I stopped running, then rushed forward and reached my paws out to grab the figure's shoulders. Shiloh had fallen on her back and was having trouble getting back up, but she was kicking her feet furiously at the Pokémon, keeping it from getting close to her. I tackled the yellow Pokémon and saw it stumble away from Shiloh. Now that I was closer I could tell it was a Psyduck, and it shook its head a couple times and faced me, opening its beak. A stream of water shot from the Psyduck's mouth, catching me in the face. I rubbed my stinging eyes, unable to see, then tried to move so I wouldn't be struck by an attack again. Something slammed into me, making me fall heavily, and I gasped as the breath was knocked from me. I rolled onto my side and managed to push myself to my feet. I rubbed my eyes, blinked a few times, and my vision cleared.
Shiloh had gotten back to her feet and was rushing towards the Psyduck. The Pokémon turned towards her, but hadn't been fast enough to avoid her charge, so Shiloh was able to tackle and push the attacker to the ground. Psyduck were Water-type, so if I could use absorb again, I might be able to beat it. I ran forward and reached both paws out to grab the Psyduck's shoulders. I took a breath and focused like I had when fighting the Surskit and felt my paws tingling and getting warmer. A surge of energy filled my body and I knew the attack had worked.
"Get off!" The Psyduck shouted, and I hopped backward just in time to avoid getting struck in the face by the Pokémon's webbed paws. Shiloh rushed forward and tackled the Psyduck, causing it to stumble away and then collapse to the ground on its back.
"Let's get to the next room!" Shiloh called to me, and I nodded, taking off after her.
"Whoa!" I yelled, and Shiloh glanced back, looking surprised.
"What?"
"I've never run this fast!" I panted back to her as I tried to run straight for the opening to the other room that was almost within reach. Shiloh laughed.
"You must have absorbed a lot of energy because you had a type advantage. You still can't beat me, though!" Shiloh disappeared through the hole in the cavern wall, and I ran through a moment later, then came to a skidding halt. I hopped towards Shiloh, wincing a little; I'd scuffed my feet up on the rocky ground from my sudden stop, but forgot about the stinging pain when I got a good look at my surroundings.
"Wow," I breathed, gazing at the fist-sized, colorful gems that were embedded in the rocky floor. Some were even stuck in the walls, and because of a bunch of holes in the ceiling that were letting in light, the gems were sending colorful sparkles of light throughout the room. A dizzying rainbow of bright green, blue, yellow, orange, purple and red lights shone along the ceiling, walls and floor. Some of the gems were partly submerged in shallow water surrounding the stone path that stretched through the room.
An unsettling feeling of dejá vú had settled in my chest, and I frowned as I glanced around the cavern. This wasn't the first time I'd experienced that sensation; it had happened a couple times before. Shiloh reminded me of someone I couldn't remember, and then there was the way a couple of the other Pokémon I'd met made me feel—as if I'd met them before, or at least someone like them. I felt like I had met someone like Doctor before, but couldn't place who, and I felt confused around him because of it. The things that had washed up on the beach had confused me even more, the picture of the human family most importantly. Shiloh and I were keeping the backpack we'd found in our room even though it didn't have anything inside it. I didn't really like getting visions but I'd given in to curiosity and had touched the backpack a couple times, wondering if I'd see something, but each time nothing happened.
I didn't know why this cave was familiar to me. I might have just seen a similar place as a human. Taking a deep breath, I shook my head, then let the breath out in a loud sigh. The sight of the gems was making my heart beat faster, and not just because they were nice to look at. I'm supposed to remember something but I don't know what.
In the game I don't know if the character ever remembers his/her human life, but I think it's possible for the memories to come back, even though I think it's hinted that the main character won't (because of the whole Darkrai thing). I decided that if there were enough clues then eventually the main character could remember, so that's why I made up things like the picture of Gale's family.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
