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Enjoy.
PMD 2: A Novelization
Chatper 20: Reunion
The quicksand cave held many more residents than the surface of the desert had. This made sense, as some pokemon would obviously prefer the cooler chambers of the underground than being up in the blazing sunlight.
This made Alex and Eve's journey into the cave that much more difficult as they repeatedly encountered unwelcoming residents of the cave.
Perhaps the biggest threat Alex saw down there at first was the evolved sandslash. The yellow and brown pokemon resembled a hedgehog, even on two legs, with very sharp tunneling claws. Sand would often fill the air like a sandstorm in the cave and the sandslash seemed to blend into the flying sand at times, making them annoyingly difficult to hit.
This, combined with the fact that they were ground-types, made them a dangerously common threat to Alex.
There was also bizarre, cocoon-like pokemon made of rock that Eve told him were called pupitar. Fortunately, these were often asleep, apparently storing up energy to evolve and… hatch. If they had been awake, Alex would've also found them aggravating from their overall extreme toughness.
The air remained warm even after they had gone several floors down. Once again, Alex felt the stamina band he was still wearing saved him from a lot of trouble with getting hungry. The cave had no food to offer, except bits that were rotten and decayed from their time in the dry heat. Alex had no desire to try eating any of that.
Both of them were relieved when they reached a spot that seemed to be clear of enemies and could take a while to rest up.
"How deep does this go anyways?" Alex wondered aloud.
"We're already a good ways in, I think if there's a time gear here, it's not too far ahead." Eve responded.
"Better hurry up before Grovyle beats us there. He might've already been through here." Alex said, having had a snack and gotten up his energy again to continue.
"Alright, let's find that time gear!" Eve nodded and they continued on their way down.
o0o
The deeper parts of the cave proved to be cooler now that they were well away from the surface. However, there were hippopotas, which as the name somewhat implied, were hippo-like pokemon that seemed to be made of sand. Through some method Alex couldn't determine, these pokemon walked in a personal sandstorm that swept the corridors of the cavern. Sandslash weren't any less common this deep down and with the hippo-generated sandstorms, they were nothing less than very annoying to even hit.
Eve even took out one of the hippo pokemon but the sandstorm wouldn't subside.
"Ugh… let's just find our way down and get to that time gear before I scream out of frustration…" Alex groaned and they plodded on through the flying sand, withstanding the sand-blaster treatment.
Then they encountered the king of the quicksand caves: tyranitar.
These were massive, rocky dinosaur-like pokemon that apparently had come from the pupitar they had seen earlier on. They weren't any happier to see Team Long Ears trespassing in their home than any other pokemon.
First one they came across and needed to get past, Alex threw a sleep seed at it and they didn't bother fighting, they went around it while it snoozed.
Another one they encountered later on Alex used a wonder orb on and, despite its size and tremendous weight, the orb's power launched the tyranitar backwards and was slammed it into the wall behind it. Alex and Eve fled down to another floor before it could chase them down again.
"I'll be grateful never to come here again…" Alex panted as they arrived at the next floor to be confronted with a Monster House, where several residents of the cave rained down on them from the ceiling. Alex noticed that most weren't ground-types through some stroke of fortune and decided to take advantage of that. Summoning up his electricity, Alex unleashed a blast of electricity all around and Eve ducked down to avoid it. The ground-types in the group of enemies winced from the slight amount of pain this violent shock gave them but others weren't so durable and went down fast. Eve helped mop up the rest, biting and slamming with all the force she could muster.
They left that room, worn out but determined to get to the end of the cave.
o0o
They headed into another passage that went down and a sight they didn't expect in quicksand cave greeted them.
They stepped into the room and saw a wide, pristine lake, sitting tranquilly underground.
"Wow…" Eve murmured "this is so beautiful…"
It wasn't Fogbound Lake, Alex had to admit but the deep yet beautiful contrast of the lake to the cave held a certain charm. They soon noticed the light shining from the center of the lake.
"Is that it? Is that the time gear?" Eve said, glancing at her partner.
"Probably…"
"Let's get a closer look."
They stepped forward and immediately halted as someone spoke.
"What? Who's there?" A female voice yelled, and it sounded like it was in their heads.
"Huh?" Both explorers halted and looked around for the source.
"Who are you and what are doing here?" The voice said after a moment.
"We're Team Long Ears and we're looking a time gear." Eve explained to the air.
"Go back!" the voice yelled.
"Wait! But-!" Eve started. There was a loud splash as a pokemon burst from the lake.
"I'm Mespirit! I won't let you take the time gear!" she yelled and charged.
Alex realized quickly that Mespirit had to be a guardian like Uxie. They looked much alike.
Mespirit was also predominantly teal, was about the same size as the two of them, and she had two tails. However, Mespirit's head was a shade of magenta, wasn't so dome-like, and her golden eyes were wide open and almost enchanting. Her head trailed several tendrils like dreadlocks, giving her head an appearance of wearing a headdress of some sort.
Alex barely had time to take in this appearance before Mespirit was in their faces and Alex's mind was slammed hard by psychic force. He cried out from the sudden pain.
Eve quickly reacted in his defense, biting Mespirit who yelped and recoiled from the attack.
"Wait!" Eve yelled but Alex reacted to the previous psychic attack by unleashing an electric shock at the guardian and Mespirit withstood it. Eve cried out as she also experienced a psychic attack and, trying to get Mespirit to stop, she threw some sand from the ground at her. Alex jumped and slammed Mespirit over the head with his tail, and the guardian was knocked straight into the ground.
"Will you wait a minute?" Eve yelled desperately at everyone present "We're not here the steal the time gear!" she said to Mespirit.
Mespirit hovered back into place in front of them, panting and already worn down from the frantic fight they had just gone through.
"Don't…lie!" she said fiercely "I know what happened at Fogbound Lake! Uxie told me through telepathy!"
Both explorers blinked, astonished at this news.
"Uxie told you… through telepathy?" Eve said, blinking. Fogbound Lake had to be clear across the continent from here and they were underground too. The fact that they could evidently communicate like that was nothing short of amazing.
"He told me the time gear from Fogbound Lake had been stolen! That was you two, wasn't it?" Mespirit said, very accusatory.
"It wasn't us!" Alex said immediately.
"Then who's the one responsible?" Mespirit said, thoroughly riled up and still breathing hard. Alex had been about to answer when someone behind them did it for him.
"That… would probably be me."
Alex and his partner whirled to face the figure of Grovyle directly behind them. In person, the grass-type was rather imposing and they stepped back. Mespirit hovered forward though.
"That was you?" she said, evidently looking for confirmation.
"Yes…" Grovyle said calmly "I have no quarrel with any of you so if you'll just move out of the way…"
"No!" Mespirit said as fiercely as before and got ready to fight, even though she was already worn out.
Grovyle sighed.
"Very well…" he then suddenly lashed out with one hand and smacked Mespirit aside. The guardian toppled aside and fell to the ground, unable to put up a fight.
"You already lost one fight… don't push it." Grovyle said bluntly and started toward the lake. Alex and Eve both stepped into his path.
"You're not getting past us!" Eve declared.
"Alright… sorry about this…" Grovyle said calmly. He lashed out at both of them and Alex couldn't react fast enough to avoid the blindingly-fast attack. They were both knocked sprawling to the ground.
"He's too fast!" Eve grunted, unable to get up quickly enough as Grovyle walked to the edge of the lake and dived in.
Mespirit was still working herself up off the ground.
"Sorry I accused the two of you…" she said, she sounded very sincere "He must be the thief that stole the time gear from Uxie."
Moments later, what felt like an earthquake started as all three managed to get to their feet.
"Oh no…" the guardian said quietly.
"What's going on?" Eve yelled over the rumble.
Then they saw a wave of energy sweeping the walls of the cave, leaving everything a dull gray in color behind it.
"That thief has taken the time gear! Time's freezing rapidly here!" Mespirit yelled "Run! Or you'll be trapped in time!"
They all fled as quickly as possible and managed to escape before the energy-wave overtook them.
o0o
Any chance to catch Grovyle lost, Team Long Ears escorted Mespirit to the Guild and Magnezone took her into protective custody as well after hearing out where they had found the time gear and how it had been stolen. Everyone at the guild watched these proceeding and Chatot hopped forward afterwards.
"There was a lake under the desert? That's simply amazing!" the bird said, mystified.
"Yes… but we failed to protect the time gear, which isn't any better than we were before." Eve moaned.
"It's amazing though that you found a time gear there of all places!" Sunflora commented, sounding impressed.
"A shame we're back to square-one…" Corphish said sadly.
"Yes… we have no idea where Grovyle will strike next…" Dugtrio said gravely. Dusknoir, who was also present, hovered forward.
"Maybe not…" he said, looking thoughtful "We know the location where two time gears were stolen. In both cases, they were at lakes and those lakes were in highly unusual locations. One deep underground in a desert, and one high up on a plateau in the forest."
"Oh yeah!" Eve said, remembering their conversation with Mespirit "Mespirit told us that Uxie had told her what happened at Fogbound Lake. They communicated through telepathy!"
Everyone was astonished at this news and some were amazed at the ability. Dusknoir nodded though.
"It is said that Uxie and Mespirit represent knowledge and emotion respectively… but there are three pokemon that represent the spiritual world. I believe the third one's name is Azelf. It is my belief that wherever the last time gear is, Azelf will be guarding that one and it too, will be at a lake."
"Ooh, ooh!" Sunflora hopped excitedly as she picked up the train of logic "And that lake will somewhere unusual as well, right? So maybe there's a lake hidden in one of the locations we explored already, like Crystal Cave or the Forest!"
"Ah…" Dusknoir had a wide smile "That gives me an idea. Bidoof."
Bidoof looked a little startled, being called upon by Dusknoir but he responded confidently.
"Yup yup… what'cha want with me?" he said, curious.
"That crystal you picked up at the Cave… could I borrow it a moment?"
Bidoof stepped back.
"Oof! My crystal? That's my personal little treasure from the cave!" he said as if Dusknoir were going to mug him for it. Dusknoir gave a sympathetic smile.
"I understand… rest assured I'm not going to take it from you or anything of the sort. All I want… is for you, Alex to touch it."
Alex's eyes flashed as he realized what Dusknoir was after.
The Dimensional Scream…
"If there is a time gear there, touching that crystal may trigger the Dimensional Scream. It may trigger a vision!"
The guild as a whole being unaware of Alex's ability, this drew a few confused looks from the group.
"The Dimensional SCREAM? What's THAT?" Loudred said. Eve coughed shyly to get attention and explained, again about Alex's occasional dizzy-spells that were followed by visions of the past or future.
The confusion turned to wonderment.
"So Bidoof, will you let us use your crystal?" Dusknoir asked again, ignoring the amazed murmurs. Everyone turned and stared expectantly at Bidoof who crumbled under the pressure.
"Oof! Well, I can't go against a reason like that." he muttered and walked over to Alex and held out the small crystal that had been his prize from the cave.
Alex breathed deep, trying to calm himself as he braced himself for a vision from the crystal.
Here goes… what will I see? I'd better concentrate…
He placed one paw on the crystal and immediately the dizziness set in.
Here it comes… a dimensional scream…
A flash.
He was watching a scene at a location filled with crystals. There was a figure that looked much like Uxie and Mespirit, only with a blue head, panting and weak on the ground as Grovyle walked up to the water behind him.
"No… you can't…" The figure grunted weakly
"There it is! The time gear! I'll take it!" Grovyle said determinedly.
Another flash abruptly brought Alex back to the guild.
"Did you see anything, Alex?" Eve asked as Alex blinked and recovered from the vision.
Alex nodded and related to the entire guild how he had seen Grovyle walking past a downed figure, about to steal the time gear.
"Oof! I find it hard to believe you got all that from this little crystal…" Bidoof said, amazed.
"Do you think the figure you saw was Azelf?" Sunflora asked.
Reflecting on what he'd seen, Alex was pretty sure with the similarities he'd seen, the figure had to be Azelf. He nodded.
"I have a question too, Alex." Chimecho said "Was that vision you had one of the past… or the future?"
Alex found himself stumped at this point.
Come to think of it… it's never clear at the moment whether the vision is of the past or the future.
I only ever figure it out from context and some guessing.
"Sorry, I don't know…" Alex said shaking his head.
"If that's the case…" Dugtrio said sadly "It may very well be a past event. That time gear may have already been stolen."
Worry swept the guild members. Dusknoir "stepped" up again though.
"Perhaps… or perhaps not." he said confidently "Eve, you said that Mespirit had been contacted by Uxie and told her that the time gear had been stolen, correct?" Eve nodded in response.
"Did she mention anything about Azelf?"
Eve shook her head this time.
"No, the first time I heard about Azelf was right here from you Dusknoir, sir."
Dusknoir pounded his fist into the palm of his hand as he recognized the implications.
"Then there's still hope! If that were a past event, then Mespirit would have mentioned Azelf. Since she didn't, the time gear must still be there! Furthermore, and this is a sure thing, since that crystal triggered a Dimensional Scream, there must be a time gear related to Crystal Cave! If we move out now, we might be able to stop Grovyle before he steals that time gear!"
Alex didn't completely catch all the logic of the statement and if he had, he might've questioned some of it. However, he and everyone else was preoccupied with the main point: there was a time gear at Crystal Cave and they needed to move out to find and protect it!
With an excited clamor, the apprentices immediately made for the exit, Crystal Cave their destination.