Darkest Before the Dawn
Chapter Nine:
Shards of crystal flew past us as we fell. Right as the crystal sheet had broken below us, I had noticed that Celebi flew down from up above. She dove down alongside Cinder, Trennivon, and I.
"Celebi!" I yelled above my human friend and the Scyther's screaming. "Can't you do something?"
The Time Traveler's wings buzzed rapidly as she flew to catch up with our descent. "You're all too heavy for me to carry!" she shouted, "And you're moving too fast for me to Teleport us all out of here!"
"Then what are we gonna do?" Cinder yelled. "How does this tunnel end?!"
"How am I supposed to know?" Celebi yelled back.
"We passed pools of water on the way to the cave full of crystals." I still had to raise my voice, even though no one was screaming anymore. We were falling fast, and the rushing sensation was taking my voice away.
"Wouldn't all that water be frozen in time?" Trennivon shouted in.
"So we're just gonna land on the hard ground?" Cinder's yell was full of panic.
"Sure hope not!" Celebi answered. She glanced down. "Look!"
The whole conversation had taken place over a number of seconds. I just noticed at that moment that the crystal that we had broken though wasn't only part of the thin, mirror-like sheet. It covered the tunnel walls that we were falling down though. The thin blanket of crystal seemed to be melted over the rock, creating a smooth surface. And below us, the tunnel began to curve.
"It's just like a slide!" I realized what Celebi was talking about.
"Right!" the pink Pokemon answered. "Everybody! Brace for impact! See if you can slide up against the wall and use the momentum from the fall to keep moving forward!"
"WHAT?" Everyone except for Celebi yelled back.
"Use the tunnel as a slide!" Celebi shouted.
I pushed off the wall closest to me and jumped through the air. Brushing up against the smooth, crystal wall, I kept one claw on the side, still falling downward. Cinder and Trennivon followed my lead.
I grabbed Celebi's hand and smiled, despite the situation. "Woudln't wanna lose you." I said, and she smiled back.
Finally, the tunnel curved, and my team of four slid down the wall and down the next tunnel.
The tunnel slowly started to become an incline as we picked up speed. It also started widening out. Cinder was behind me when she shouted, "Look! Up ahead! The tunnel splits!"
"Wha-!" I frantically looked to where she was pointing to, and saw that she was right. The crystal-covered tunnel forked further down the tunnel, and we were quickly approaching it.
"Which way do we go?" Trennivon shouted out. No one answered.
It was too late to decide. The passage split, and I was forced down the left way. I felt Celebi's hand wrenched from mine as she was sent down the right.
"Celebi!" I yelled, and I could barely hear her answer, the shout of my name echoing down the other tunnel.
Something suddenly bumped into me, and I turned around.
"Cinder?"
"Guess we're stuck together again, huh Grovyle?" my human friend replied. "I think I saw Trennivon go down the other tunnel right as I went down this one. 'Least your girlfriend won't be alone."
"She's not my girlfriend." I muttered automatically.
"Whatever you say, pal." Cinder said.
Somehow, Cinder had kept a hold on her torch, and I saw that the crystal tunnel continued at a gentle incline, so we kept sliding down the passageway.
I was about to ask Cinder where she thought this would let out, when the cave widened up ahead.
Finally! The slide ends! I thought in delight. But then, I found that I was wrong. The crystal covering ended so abruptly. That couldn't be the end of the tunnel. It would have spread out naturally. The crystal up ahead looks almost like it-
Oh no.
I dug the claws on my feet and one hand into the crystal and turned around, trying to slow down. Grooves appeared in the grey crystal as my claws raked down the smooth surface. I grabbed the back of Cinder's jacket with a free claw.
"What are you doing?" Cinder yelled.
"You'll thank me later!" I shouted. Finally, I gained enough friction to stop with a halt. Good timing too. One more second and-
"WHAAAAA!" Cinder was dangling halfway over the ledge. Blackness opened up beneath her, and Arceus knew how deep that crevice was. The torch was flung out of Cinder's grasp and it tumbled over the edge, lighting up the canyon as it fell. The light blinked out of sight before we heard a sound that would say it hit the floor. The sound never came. Cinder scrambled back up and scurried back into the crystal tunnel.
"Why?!" Cinder was breathing heavily and her word came out high-pitched. "Why did you NOT feel the need to TELL me about THAT HUGE LEDGE!"
"You wouldn't have believed me." I said simply, brushing myself off. My claws ached a bit from that close scare, but they didn't seem to be damaged in any way.
"You could have at least screamed CLIFF! or something!" Cinder cried out, but she seemed to be calming down.
"Well, the important thing is that we survived-"
"For now," Cinder cut in. Her legs were swung over the drop off.
"But the tunnel's ended so..." I continued, ignoring my friend's cryptic comment. "Where do we go now?" I turned around, pointing back up the chute we had just slid down. "It's too steep and slick to climb back up and try to go down the other passage."
"I think I might have seen another tunnel on our way down." Cinder pulled herself up, and I thought I saw a grimace flash across her face for a second. I hoped the wild sliding endeavor hadn't caused her wound from the Sabelye attack to get worse. I hadn't noticed it while we were going down the tunnel, but the scars I had obtained from the same battle had started to burn to a dull ache. Though the crystal-covered cave was smooth, the friction might have rubbed my skin raw.
I walked behind Cinder so she couldn't see and wouldn't worry.
Following Cinder around a corner, I saw how the tunnel we had slid down previously had a sort of 'cave' protruding from one side that I had missed on the way down. It must be a way forward!
"Onwards and upwards?" Cinder asked, gesturing down the new passage.
I leaned into the mouth of the tunnel. "Looks like we're going down, actually."
"Whhatever," Cinder stepped forward and I went along after her.
The cave we were now walking through was more like the original part of Crystal Cave that we had seen when we first entered. It was rocky and random crystals jutted out of the walls, though they were smaller and less impressive than the ones in the mirror-floor chamber. Also like before, time-frozen water pooled up between spikes of rock, ripples still visible from when the last drop fell before the Tower did.
Cinder's feet made a slapping noise echo down the tunnel as we went along. Those hard things humans wear on their feet (Cinder had called them 'shoes') made different sounds depending on what Cinder stepped on: a slapping sound on the rock floor; a sort of ringing sound when she stepped on a pool of frozen water.
Time passed (or didn't, actually) with few words shared between us. Only walking. I occasionally kept an eye on Cinder, finally remembering how she got bored easily. My human friend seemed to be entertaining herself by looking through different crystals at me. I saw her distorted face through the glass-like structures and tried to unsuccessfully hold back a laugh. Cinder grinned back at me through the crystal, her smile becoming wide and warped in the reflection.
I quickly pushed the thought out of my mind: how for a second, Cinder's smile had looked like one of the Sabelye's wicked grins.
As we moved along, and Cinder kept looking through crystals, I was thinking. This tunnel seems to be going on forever. I hope the Time Gear actually is here...
But there was a way I could check. I only hoped it still worked.
"Hey Cinder... do you think-"
"Yeah, all the time, actually." Cinder answered, cutting me off.
I groaned. "Could you be serious for a moment here? Please?"
Cinder didn't reply, but looked at me like she was actually interested in what I had to say. I took a deep breath and continued. "Do you think the Time Gear's close? Or even here?" that didn't come out like I had wanted it to. I needed to get to the point. "I mean... I know your Dimensional Scream doesn't-"
'Wait." Cinder halted suddenly and turned to face me. "Were you about to say 'doesn't work? As in my Dimensional Scream doesn't work?" she must have seen it on my face that that was indeed what I was about to say.
Cinder looked confused. "Why would you think my ability wouldn't work anymore?"
"Celebi told me," I said, "that the Dimensional Scream needs a trusted partner to be able to function. And I thought that because of the time at Boulder Quarry when I yelled at her for not getting the Time Gears and because of when we were in Foggy Forest and that Pinsir almost killed me and... well-" I sighed again, "I thought that... we weren't partners anymore."
Cinder had been watching me in rapt silence the entire time. We still hadn't started moving again. She looked at me for a second longer and started... laughing?
I said nothing as she did this. Eventually, she tried to speak through giggling. "Grovyle-! You're so-!" more laughing, "You're just-!" after a bit more of this, Cinder finally calmed down and stopped laughing enough to talk clearly.
"Grovyle, you're so... dense!" but she said this with a smile on her face, so I really didn't know what to make of that comment. "If I had wanted to leave, I would have. And believe me, I have thought about it! You guys are way too serious." Still, something in the way she said it made me wonder if she was kidding or not.
"But no. I stayed." Cinder sat down against the cave wall, between some crystals. I sat in front of her, seeing no space on the wall and not wanting to get impaled. "Because... you guys need me. And not," she held out her hands, as if she could stop my thought from already going straight to only needing her for the Dimensional Scream. "Not because of my ability. I'm not that conceited. It's because... because of what I just said. You three: you and Celebi and Trennivon are way too serious. I think that you all would be fighting and arguing... well a lot more than we do now."
"So, yeah, that's why I stayed. And why I joke around all the time." Cinder was absentmindedly scribbling in the dirt floor. "And yes, I know our team fights. Especially you and I," she gave me a pointed look. "But... I think that's what being a team is all about. We fight, but we stick together."
"And Grovyle," she looked at me again, completely serious. "No matter how much we fight and argue and disagree, you will always be my partner."
I was so touched at her statement, that I was at a loss for words. Luckily, I didn't need them, for the next thing I knew, Cinder was pulling me into a bone-crushing hug.
"Ah- ah, Cinder?" I managed to squeak out. "You- you're kinda squishing me!"
"Oh! Sorry." The girl put me down. "So... are we good? Partner?" Cinder stuck out her hand.
With no hesitation whatsoever, I took her offered hand and shook it. "Partner."
A moment later, Cinder was searching for something to touch to start the Dimensional Scream.
"How 'bout one of the crystals?" I suggested.
Cinder shrugged and went with my suggestion. She reached out and grabbed one of the crystals that was pointing out from the wall. It was small and rugged with many flat fractal surfaces. The dying light from Cinder's torch reflected off these planes and made the clear, grey stone shine.
My human friend touched it for a second and then let go. She lowered her arm and waited.
"Anything?" I asked tentatively.
"N- ah!" Cinder started to reply, but then cried out, grabbing her head in pain. A moment later, she stood up straight, completely still and looking forward, unblinking.
I waited for her to start falling forward, like she usually did. But it didn't happen as quickly. This must have been an abnormally long vision.
There was a sharp intake of breath as Cinder finally did fall. She must have expected it, after having been through this multiple times before (though not recently). Her hands shot out in front of her and Cinder caught herself before hitting the ground.
"What did you see?" I asked, coming over to help her up.
"I didn't see anything." she must have seen my confused look, so she clarified. "I mean, I heard something instead, like back at the entrance to Boulder Quarry."
"Well?" I egged her on, impatiently. Like the times before, Cinder's statement here could affect our whole mission: if the Time Gear was in Crystal Cave or not was crucial information.
"Sorry," Cinder was apologizing for some reason. "I mean, it's just... confusing. Here, I'll repeat what I heard best I can."
Cinder cleared her throat. "I see.. Of the three spiritual elements of knowledge, emotion, and willpower... Azelf is the Being of Willpower. Willpower is the motivation that drives us. It's a unifying power. To unify is to make one. So if the colors of the crystals were made one... the path should reveal itself. What is the color of Azelf's spirit? That is the question. Azelf lives at Shining Lake. Then Azelf's spirit must be affected by the crystals..."
When Cinder finished, she looked at me confusedly. "What the-... what the heck does any of that mean?" I asked desperately.
"I don't know!" Cinder cried. "But that's not even the weirdest part! It seemed like... I was saying it."
"What?"
"I mean-..." Cinder struggled, "I mean that the other times... that I heard only a voice, it was someone else talking. But I think that this time, I was hearing myself."
"But that doesn't make any..." then I stopped myself. It did make sense, or at least it could. "Time travel..." I muttered.
Again, Cinder looked confused. "What do you mean?"
I shook my head, trying to clear it of this weirdness. "I don't know if this is right, but I think that maybe you did hear yourself talk. Just... in the past."
The girl seemed to be putting it together. "You mean... after we get all the Time Gears here and go to the past to get them all again?"
"Ugh," I rubbed my temples. Time travel is so confusing. "Yes... I think. You must say this in the past somehow and you're hearing it now with the Dimensional Scream."
"Geez." I could tell Cinder was getting weirded-out as well. "I have no idea what any of that was about. I hope it doesn't stop us from getting the Gone Pebble now. My life must get even stranger than it is now in the past. Well, actually, its our future, probably. But it's in the past...? I- I just don't know anymore. This is Celebi's area. Let's just go."
We only had to walk for a few steps before we came to a large clearing. It looked a lot like the mirror-floor chamber, as it was covered in crystals. Only one thing was different.
In the middle of the room, stood one gigantic, towering crystal. A smaller, pointed crystal was on either side of it and even smaller crystals jutted out of the bottom and sides of the huge, middle crystal. The oddest part though, was that there was a jagged, gaping hole in the front of the ginormous crystal.
"This must be the way forward." I muttered, squinting at it. It shouldn't have been this easy. Boulder Quarry had a puzzle to solve, and I'm sure Foggy Forest had one, though we weren't able to get it. Could this riddle have already been cracked?
Cinder seemed to have been thinking the same thing. "Maybe it's like you said earlier about time travel. Do you think past me might have solved this?"
"Or past me." I mumbled.
"Yeah..." Cinder trailed off. "Perhaps this puzzle had something do to with the 'crystal-spirit-lake-color-crystal' stuff."
"Well, we'll deal with whatever it is later..." I grumbled. "Or... in the past. Or-" I sighed in exasperation. "Whatever! Come on!"
I was about to take a step forward, when I heard someone call out: "Grovyle!"
Turning down the passage Cinder and I had just came from, I was surprised to see... Celebi and Trennivon coming out of the shadows!
We all came up to meet each other; I hugged Celebi tightly, ignoring another pointed look from Cinder. Cinder appreciatively clapped Trennivon on the back, nearly knocking him over.
"So what happened to you guys?" I asked once the happy greetings were finished. Celebi jumped into a fanciful tale about what happened once she and Trennivon had gotten separated from Cinder and I. The other tunnel had apparently led down a crystal-covered passage looking something like ice. The Time Traveler described nothing incredibly dangerous or exciting; just interesting. Huge crystal structures had surrounded Celebi and Trennivon as they moved forward, down winding corridors and wide cave tunnels. The crystal walls were apparently very tall and reflective.
As Celebi finished, Cinder took up telling our side of the story, very incorrectly, might I add. Cinder described a giant, fire-filled volcano canyon as the cliff she almost fell over. I filled in some parts, correcting all of Cinder's imaginative escapades. When she got to the part about her Dimensional Scream, Celebi glanced at me discreetly. I nodded back, as if to say "We worked it all out."
As I had thought, Celebi did know more about the time traveling issue Cinder and I had discussed. It turned out that I had been right in saying that perhaps Cinder had said what she had heard in the Dimensional Scream in the past. She also cleared out something else that had been bothering me.
"You mentioned that you heard the word 'Azelf' in your vision, right, Cinder?" Celebi asked.
"Yeah," Cinder answered, "But I don't know what it means."
"Azelf is a legendary Pokemon." Celebi stated. "I've heard that in the past, there were special Pokemon that guarded the Time Gears. All of them must have left after the Tower fell, though. We didn't see anything at Boulder Quarry that might have been protecting the Time Gear."
"So Azelf was guarding the Time Gear in the past?" Trennivon clarified. I had almost forgotten that he was there, only now speaking for the first time.
"I believe so." Celebi replied. "And others were guarding Time Gears in other places. As I said, it's lucky we don't have to deal with them now. But we'll have to once we go to the past."
Trennivon paled, not seeming to like that idea. I wasn't too keen about it myself. But it was what we had to do.
Cinder clapped her hands together once. "Well, shall we go on?"