Chapter 25: Back

I heard the gentle crashing of waves, I smelled saltiness, I felt the sun shining above me and the sand below me, and I felt like shit. I knew that my body was sprawled out on the sand. Very uncomfortably so.

I slowly got up and complained, "Time travel's a bitch!"

I looked around and saw I was at the beach. The first thing I saw the first time I was here. Well, other than Val. Back then I knew nothing.

Now I was painfully aware of everything.

I racked my memories of what had happened to bring me here, and remembered.

"Val? Grovyle?"

"Urk."

Val was in a heap next to Grovyle. She looked okay, but her bandages needed replacing. Grovyle looked a little worse, but he didn't seem to be hurt by the travel. He was also wearing bandages, something I hadn't noticed until now.

Randy, err, I? No, I'll just keep calling him, err, future me, Randy. He must've bandaged him up.

I examined myself and saw I was fine. Gauze might need to be fixed up, though.

"Chris, where are we?" asked Val.

I smiled. "Take a look."

She looked around and brightened up immediately. "Oh! We're back! We're home!"

I corrected, "You're home. I'm as far as possible from where I came from."

She seemed a little down at that. "Oh."

Grovyle began to stir. "Ugh."

I went up to him. "Hey, Grovyle. You alright?"

"I'm fine," he said as he stood up. I was around his size, now that I was a pokemon. He was actually somewhat taller, though.

I said, "That's great! If you haven't noticed where we are, we're at the beach. This is the first place I was at in this world. Val found me here."

She said, "Yup!"

"We made it!" I said.

Grovyle said, "So we did."

I said, "In fact, we're only a couple yards from where I washed up the first time. Right over near Beach Cave." Beach Cave was only a few meters off from the beach.

"So that's what happened is it? I landed in the sea during a wicked storm. I had to swim to shore and waited it out in Beach Cave."

Val said, "That storm, it couldn't have been the one the night before Chris showed up, could it?"

I said, "Probably. That typhoon brought me into shore, somehow. Had you waited another day before leaving, Grovyle, you'd probably have found me."

Grovyle said, "You're kidding!"

Val said, "Nope! Hey, I'm still confused by all this time travel. Can you explain it to me? I know! We can talk at the Guild! We roomed there, so they'll know us, and you can explain everything there! Let's go!"

She began to go, but Grovyle said, "Wait."

She stopped, and asked, "What?"

Grovyle explained, "I don't think I'd be very well received at the Guild. I am an outlaw, after all."

I said, "That does seem like a problem doesn't it? I'm not even sure you could go into Treasure Town without causing an uproar."

Val sighed. "That's a good point. Everyone at the Guild would try to capture you. Then what can we do?"

She then perked up as if she had an idea. "Oh! I've got it! There's a place we can go to," she said, but then she lost her perk and continued, "but we'll need to go through Treasure Town."

Grovyle said, "If we sneak through and don't get caught, then it should be fine."

"Yeah, it's not illegal if you don't get caught, right?" I said.

Val looked at me and said, "That sounds like what a thief would say."

"Thieves are what Grovyle and I agreed to become," I responded.

Grovyle nodded. "Although you've changed so much, you're still the same, Chris."

I said, "You know it."

We went through the town without being detected. It was still early morning, so that might've helped. Val took us out to a cliff.

"We're here, and nothing seems out of place," she said.

I asked, "Where exactly is here?"

"This is Sharpedo Bluff, named so because it is in the shape of a Sharpedo." She went over to a bush and moved it aside, revealing an entrance.

"Well," I said, "That's smart hiding."

"After you."

I went down some stairs after Grovyle and looked around.

It was a homey place, underground, but still well-lit because the room had half of its walls missing, offering a view of the sea.

The view was amazing.

Grovyle said, "I see, a hollow space in the cliff."

As Val came in, I said, "This is a great place you've got here."

She looked around and sighed contently. "And no one's been around to mess it up, either. Phew. That goes to show how far out of the way this place is."

I said, "So, we can stay here?"

"It's probably best," said Grovyle.

We set up some beds and started a fire. It took quite some time, and by the time we were settled in, it was night.

"So, Grovyle," I said as I threw a stick onto the fire, "What did I miss?"

Val said, "Could you start from the beginning please? I still have no idea what's going on."

Grovyle said, "Chris and I were investigating the stopping of time."

I said, "I distinctly remember there also being a mad Professor."

Grovyle laughed, "Yes, you took a liking to him, I think."

"Yeah. He said the world's fate rested on the shoulders of a boy and his pokemon. But in this case, I really think I was your human." I chuckled.

Val said, "So you remember?"

I said, "Yeah."

Grovyle continued, "Chris had, has, a special ability."

"The Dimensional Scream," I said.

"Yes. If you remember, Chris, that ability was vital in locating the Time Gears. But, there was a drawback. It required a trusted partner to be useful. That's why we worked together."

Val said, "But, if it needs a trusted partner, then why did it work shortly after Chris and I met?"

"It just shows how much he trusted you," said Grovyle.

She sighed, "It's a little embarrassing if you put it that way..."

"I think it's kind of cute, actually," said Grovyle.

"If that's how you see it..." I sighed. "So, I don't think we have any Time Gears."

Grovyle sighed. "No. Unfortunately, they were all taken when I was captured."

"So, we're going to need to get them again?" I asked, adding, "This time without killing each other, maybe?"

Val said, "Please."

"Ugh, fine. We'll go in the morning. But, I don't want to hurt either of you, I hope you understand that," said Grovyle.

I chuckled. "We know that. We're just messing with you. But, I think there's something a little strange going on in this universe."

Val asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, Grovyle, back in my world, didn't the Scream work only with Time Gears?"

He nodded. "Yes. It was a sure-fire indicator. Without a Time Gear involved, it wouldn't go off."

Val said in realization, "Wait, but, it worked without a Time Gear loads of times!"

"Really?" asked Grovyle.

"Oh yeah, near Drowzee..." I started.

"...Waterfall Cave..." continued Val.

"...and there was that one time at Fogbound, but I guess that was in the area of a Time Gear," I finished.

Grovyle thought a moment. "The Scream must work differently in this time period."

"Or possibly this entire universe," I said, "You did say your universe was separate from mine. Different universes, different laws."

"You may have a point," said Grovyle, "Anyway, we worked together to find the Gears, and then we traveled to Celebi to travel through the Passage of Time to save time."

"You know what our plan was, Val," I said.

"Yes," said Val, "Steal the Time Gears and take them all to Temporal Tower."

Grovyle nodded. "Good. Now, when we traveled through time, something happened."

I shivered. "I can barely remember that part, but I think it was an attack from Dusknoir's combined with in-flight turbulence."

Grovyle said, "We were separated, and I went on, by myself. You clearly met Chris, and you know the story from there."

"Oh boy, it all sounds so crazy telling it, doesn't it?" I said.

Grovyle said, "I know that you've changed, but that doesn't change that you're my friend. I worried about you, constantly. I'm glad to see you're okay." This was clearly directed towards me.

I said, "Grovyle, I'm glad to see that you're doing well, too. Let's get some rest, okay?"

Val said, "Okay, good night everybody."

Grovyle said, "Good night."

We all got to sleep.

Welcome to Val's Head

I woke up early the next day. It was twilight and the sun hadn't even risen. Chris and Grovyle were still asleep. I got up and went onto the clifftop. I looked out and thought for a while about everything that had happened. Had it happened, or was I just dreaming?

"Already up?"

I turned around to see Grovyle. I said, "Yep."

"What are you doing up here?"

"Just thinking. About everything."

"It helps to think about things."

Suddenly, the world began to light up.

I said, "Oh! The sun's rising!"

The sun rose, but it was over the land. My house overlooked the sea to the west, so it got a view of the sunset. It was still beautiful though.

"Wow, I never thought a sunrise could be so refreshing! Guess our time in the future did that."

"Yes. Valerie, the first time I saw the sun rise, I cried, it was so beautiful to me. It showed me what I was fighting to protect and renewed my resolve."

"It must've been life changing."

"It was. Seeing this sunrise, it reminds me to never give up. I'll never give up like I did when we faced Dialga."

I said, "I'll never give up, so long as I have Chris."

Grovyle turned to face me. He wore a doleful smile. "Enjoy your time with him. You never know when it might end. Like the sun, nothing is permanent."

I sighed. "Let's go wake up Chris. He hates waking up alone."

As I walked down the stair, Grovyle said, "You really care for him, don't you?"

I stopped, and said, "Yes. I care for him."

As I started again, Grovyle said, "As a friend, or as something more?"

I kept walking, because I was afraid to answer.

I walked up to Chris's bed and gently shook him up.

"Wake up, sleepy-head..."

Welcome to Chris's Head

After we got ready, we started planning.

"So," I said, "Time Gear thievery. What's our plan on that?"

"Before we do anything," said Grovyle, "We need to decide on a Time Gear to steal."

"Let's check the Wonder Map," suggested Val.

"Got it." I opened the map and laid it out on the floor. Val pointed out Fogbound Lake.

"I think that's the Time Gear closest to us right now."

Grovyle shook his head. "The one in Treeshround Forest is a better bet."

I said, "Where's that on the map?"

Grovyle pointed somewhere north of Fogbound in a bunch of trees. "Here. Treeshroud's Time Gear is unguarded. This would mean that fewer pokemon would notice if it's stolen."

"Yeah, fighting someone would definitely catch attention," said Val.

"So, are we going to Treeshroud?" I confirmed.

"Yes," said Grovyle.

Treeshroud Forest: Entrance

As we walked up, Grovyle said, "We're here. This is the entrance to Treeshroud Forest."

I looked around. We stood in a clearing. A path led deeper into the forest we were walking through, presumably off of the path and into a dungeon. There was no way to really tell. To our right, there was a Kangaskhan Rock.

"Oh?"

Val asked, "What is it, Grovyle?"

"It's probably my imagination, but something seems different..." He shook his head. "It's nothing. We'll go when you're ready."

"If you say so," I said.

I went over and dumped all but the essentials and took out what I needed at the Rock.

"I'm ready, you all ready?"

Val said, "Yeah."

"Let's go," said Grovyle as he led us into Treeshroud Forest.

This was the first conventional mystery dungeon I'd gone through in a while. It took a while for me to warm up to conventional combat again. Plenty of grass types and some dark and psychic types. The only notable thing was that Grovyle was amazingly powerful. Unfortunately, he let me and Val do most of the work.

"You need the training," he would say whenever we asked for help.

He'd help out, but only when I or Val absolutely needed it. Unfortunately, according to Grovyle, that was only when we were about to faint.

Val had a close call with a Ninetales, but Grovyle refused to go near her, so I had to help out. I thought it was funny because Val would become one, eventually, but she didn't share my view on it at the time.

Anyway, when we got to he deeper part of Treeshroud, something shocked us.

"T-that's impossible!"

"But there it is..."

Time was at a standstill.

"But," said Val, "before we were dragged into the future with you, didn't they put the Time Gear back?"

"It might not be there..." I said, "Grovyle, where was the Time Gear the last time you were here?"

"Just ahead," he said.

We all ran behind Grovyle to where the Time Gear was, and were shocked to see that the Time Gear was right there.

"If the Time Gear's returned," said Val, "Then why hasn't time been restored?"

"Time is supposed to go back to normal," said Grovyle.

I said, "Maybe you need to bring the Gear to Temporal Tower first, or maybe there's something else. Either way, we're taking it, right?"

"True," said Grovyle. He went up to the Time Gear and reached out for it.

Suddenly, I heard some rustling behind us.

"Someone's coming," I said, "I think we should hide!"

We all jumped off the path and into some bushes. The Time Gear was left in its place.

Two pokemon walked up the path. A Treecko and a Bagon. I knew who they were, but they seemed older than I remembered.

"Dammit, Flora," said Steele, "Why is time stopped here?"

Val gasped, but I quickly clamped a paw over her mouth.

Flora whipped around. "Did you hear that?" asked Flora.

"No, what was it?" asked Steele.

Flora sighed, "Probably some grass types. It's nothing, I hope."

"Good," Steele said as he relaxed, "So, can we go now? Time's stopped. We've figured that out, let's go."

"But we still need to figure out why..." Flora seemed as if she had lost hope.

"I don't think we'll ever figure that out! Let's go!" Steele seemed angry, and tired.

"Checkmate wasn't always like this. But.." Flora sighed. "Ugh. Fine, let's go."

They walked away.

A few minutes later, we went back out. While Grovyle grabbed the Gear, Val and I discussed what happened.

"Wow," said Val, "How long were we gone? They seemed older."

"I don't know," I said, "But I think you should ask around Treasure Town about what happened after the incident when we get back. Discreetly too."

"Huh? What do you mean by discreet?"

"Well, you can damn well go around asking, 'Hey, what happened after that thing in the square?' That would obviously be you. You'd need to ask in a more casual way, like, 'Yeah, I how long has it been since the Time Gears were placed back?'"

"You know what you're doing, why don't you ask around?" bargained Val.

"Brown eyes," I said, "I'd go, but I don't look like a normal Riolu in conversation. You, however, appear relatively normal. And Grovyle's out of the question, for obvious reasons."

She sighed. "Okay, I'll go. When we get back, I'll go out into town and ask around."

"Make sure no one knows its you," I said, "You'd cause an uproar if everyone found out you're back. We're missing, remember?"

Welcome to Val's Head

When we got back to Treasure Town, Chris and Grovyle sneaked back to the Bluff while I walked into Treasure Town. I wore Chris's headband as a scarf by his request and left my treasure bag with him.

"You can't go in dressed as you were, can you?"

He was right, I guess. I walked into the intersection leading from the Town Square to the Guild and went up to the well. There was only one pokemon there. Corphish was loitering there, as usual. He looked at me, and asked, "Val?"

I looked around as if I were searching for someone. I then said, "Who's that?"

"If anyone mentions you, act as if you have barely any knowledge you exist. Act as if you're someone else."

"Hey, hey, hey," said Corphish, "sorry about that, you reminded me of a friend of mine."

"Oh," I said.

"Hey, hey. You see, Val was a Vulpix, just like you, and she went missing last year with her partner, Chris. He was a Riolu.

"Were they nice?"

"Oh, they were the up and coming stars of the Guild. Wigglytuff's Guild. Just up there." Corphish pointed towards the Guild.

"What happened?"

"It was huge. You ever hear of the great explorer Dusknoir?"

I almost cringed at his name. "Yes, he was pretty cool."

"Yeah, he had just apprehended the Time Gear thief Grovyle, and he was about to go to the future, but then he called up Val and Chris."

"Then what?"

"Everyone says they fell in, but I'm tellin' ya, he pulled them in to the Dimensional Hole."

"No way!"

"Yes, swear on my soul, be damned by Kyogre. Those two, they weren't the kind to just trip. Chris though, he was a little, well, odd."

"How so?"

"He swore half the time he was human." Corphish chuckled. "Kind of tragic, really. No idea where he was from, and the kid had amnesia."

"That's so sad."

"Yeah, even worse, after the square, when Uxie, Mespirit, and Azelf-"

"Who?"

"Hey, hey, hey! Almost forgot! They're guardians of the Time Gears. Anyway, after they returned the Gears, time didn't keep going."

"What?" I shrilly asked.

"Time stayed stopped. They returned the right Gears and everything, but time refused to go again. Even worse, is that the stopping is spreading, pokemon are being uprooted as time stops in their homes. Been seeing a lot of new pokemon pass through Treasure Town."

"Really?"

"Yes. Hey, hey. You look just like Val. I mean, you could be her younger sister!"

"How old is she?"

"Now, she'd be around a year older than you look. About thirteen. Her partner's probably ten, but no one ever figured out how old he was."

"Wow," I said, "I need to go."

"Hey, hey, hey! I didn't even get your name!"

I started walking away. I said, "I didn't get yours!"

"Corphish!"

Crud, now I need to tell him a name. "I'm-" Quick - think! "Sal."

"Hey, hey, hey. That's a nice name, see you later!"

"Good-bye, Corphish."

After I left Corphish, I dived into Spinda's Cafe.

It was more crowded than usual. I walked up to Spinda's counter and looked around.

"Can I help you?" asked Spinda casually.

"Oh, I don't have anything with me," I said.

A familiar voice from behind said, "If you want something, maybe I can help you out."

I turned around to see Flora. She was looking at me. "Uh, no, really, that's okay."

"Please, be my guest," said Flora. She pushed three apples Spinda's way.

Spinda mixed up three apple juices in record time and gave them to Flora. Spinda quickly wheeled around to faced some other customers.

"Come on," said Flora, "I have someone waiting for me."

I sighed. "O-okay.

Flora led me to a small corner table where Steele was lounging impatiently. As Flora set the apple juices on the table, he looked at me intently, but shook his head.

"Flora," asked Steele, "who's this?"

"Oh, this is just someone." She turned to face me. "Well, come on, I got you some juice. Why don't you take a spot at the table?"

"Uh, okay. Thanks." I sat at the table.

"You look just like somebody I used to know..." said Steele.

"That's what Corphish said. Do you know him?"

"Yeah," said Steele, "we know him. You look just like this Vulpix called Val."

Flora said, "She'd be a bit older than you today. If she's still around. She's been missing for over a year now."

"She and her boyfriend," said Steele, "Kid was too young to be dating someone twelve, I mean, he was only, what? Nine?"

"He never said how old he was," said Flora, "Anyway, what's your name?"

I took a sip of apple juice. "Sal."

"Nice name," said Flora, "I'm Flora and this is Steele."

Steele looked at me over his juice.

"Steele, don't be a jerk."

"Well, sorry," he said, clearly annoyed. "It's just the world is ending! Excuse me if I'm not the nicest pokemon in the world!"

Flora sighed. "The world's not ending..."

"Time is stopping! I can't even go to my own home anymore!"

"I'm sorry," I said.

"You're not sorry! Your home wasn't-" He turned away. "I'm leaving." Steele downed the rest of his juice and stormed out of the cafe.

"Steele! Come back!" Flora went to chase him.

I stared at my drink, and decided now was a good time to leave.

Welcome to Chris's Head

Val came down the hatch, and recounted everything.

"Wait," I said, "Everyone thinks I'm ten?"

"Uh," said Val, "Yeah."

"I'm fourteen!"

Grovyle coughed, "You seem younger as a pokemon."

"Hey!"

Grovyle quickly said, "We have other things to worry about. If time's not restarting, then Temporal Tower must be collapsing."

I quickly sobered up. "That's not good."

"Even worse is that the stopping is spreading," said Val.

Grovyle frowned. "The problem is accelerating. We need to hurry up. I'll need to collect the Time Gears, alone, while you two search for the Hidden Land."

This was new. "Okay. I'm not entirely sure what that is."

Grovyle said, "Temporal Tower is said to be in the Hidden Land."

"Great!" I paused. "Where is it?"

"I don't know. Hidden Land, remember?"

"Oh," said Val, "I guess we'll have to search for it."

"Grovyle, if you're leaving, then can we enlist the help of the Guild?" I asked.

Grovyle thought a moment. "That would probably be best. We have no clues as to the Hidden Land's location, so getting as many resources as possible would be wise."

"So," I said, "You're leaving, Grovyle?"

"Yes," he said, "You can't come, I'm sorry."

"That's okay," I said, "So, Val and I'll search for the Hidden Land while you get the Time Gears, right?"

"Right," said Grovyle, "Goodbye, you two."

And with that he was gone.

Val said, "We should probably go, too, Chris."

"Okay, let's head to the Guild."

Fifteen minutes later found us standing in front of the Guild building. We were about to walk over the grate.

"Do you think they'll believe us, you know, if we tell them everything?" I asked.

Val looked at me and said, "I'm not sure if they'll want to. I know I didn't."

"Well, then, let's hope for the best," I said, "Ladies first?" I extended an arm towards the grate.

She smiled and walked onto the grate.

"Footprint detected! Footprint detected!" Deja vu.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is Vulpix's! The footprint is Vulpix's!"

"I heard there's a VULPIX in town. ARE YOU SAL?"

I smiled and nodded at Val.

"That's what I told everyone!" she said

I walked onto the grate without prompting, and said, "But I told her to lie!"

"WHO'S THAT?"

"W-what? I-It's-!"

"Diglett! Where are you DIGGING?"

Suddenly, Diglett popped up next to us out of the ground.

"Val! And Chris too!"

I smiled, and said, "Ding-ding, we have a winner!"

"HOLY-"

I heard a slight rumbling as the doors to the Guild opened. Loudred stood there and said, "You two are ALIVE!"

The rest of the Guild followed out and they were instantly on us. Everyone was asking questions, and Bidoof was blubbering, and it was all a whole lot.

Everyone stopped when Chatot came out, followed by Wigglytuff.

Wigglytuff smiled, and said, "Welcome home!"

I smiled back and said, "Well, home is where the heart is. But I think we'll need to save the reunion for later; we have serious news to share with you."

Fifteen more minutes found us in the commons room. Chatot was staring at us disbelievingly, along with pretty much the rest of the Guild. I had asked them to save reactions for when we're done.

"-and that's all we have to say about that right now," I said to finish up.

"SQUAWK! What?" said Chatot at the first chance he had, "What was that?"

"Ahem. Allow me to summarize what you just said and straighten out anything you may have gotten wrong," said Chatot.

"OK..." said Val.

"First, you say Grovyle's actually a good pokemon, and that he was collecting the Time Gears to save the world?"

I said, "Actually, a couple of universes."

"Ri-i-ight. And the Dusknoir, he was only pretending to be nice and helpful, but he was actually a terrible, wicked villain?"

"Well, I wouldn't've used that vocabulary, but, you see, he was only helpful and friendly because that helped him to his terrible goal."

"And, Chris, you were Grovyle's partner, and you too are from the future?"

"And also that parallel universe."

"So, Dusknoir was trying to get rid of Chris and Grovyle, and therefore took them to the future?"

"Actually, a step further. Into the other universe. And, Val was dragged along too."

"Then you managed to escape-"

"Barely."

"-and you met a future version of Chris who helped you back? And you say that its only been a few days for you two even though you've been missing for a year?"

"It sounds crazy, but, that's time travel."

"And you say we need to find the "Hidden Land" so that we can get to Temporal Tower to save the universe while Grovyle's out collecting the Time Gears again? Is that everything?"

I nodded and said, "That's about it, yeah. Minus some unnecessary details."

"..." After about two seconds, Chatot started laughing, "Bwah-hah! Hee! Hee-hoo!"

I sighed. I knew this would happen.

"Chris! Val! You must be exhausted," laughed Chatot, "You must've had a terrible dream!"

"Why don't you head to your room and get some rest? We kept a couple of beds ready for you all this time."

I said, "Now, that's really thoughtful of you, but we're not lying."

Val said, "Yeah, we're telling the truth! All of that was true!"

"Of course you are," said Chatot in a way that was incredibly disbelieving, "You two must be suffering from exhaustion! I don't know where you've been all this time, but you've clearly had a terrible year. A good nap will fix that!"

I yelled, "We don't have time for this! Temporal Tower is going to collapse!"

"That's ENOUGH!" yelled back Chatot, "Is there any part of your story that's even remotely possible? You've mentioned all these places, New York City, Paxico, the Hidden Land, I'm the Guild's head of intelligence and I've never heard of these places! Dusknoir's too kind to do any of these things you've accused him of!"

"I know," said Val, "I couldn't believe it either. It's a hard thing to accept, but you need to-"

"STOP! I don't care what you say," yelled Chatot, "The great Dusknoir, the villain? I cannot believe that! Don't you two feel the same way?" He looked at Val and me. "How can you think of him as evil?"

"We think of Dusknoir quite highly," said Dugtrio, "We can't believe you."

"See? Everyone shares this opinion! Why don't you just stop this ridiculousness?"

I stepped back from the crowd, looked everyone in the eye and said, "I, personally, think he's a right jerk who can go jump in a lake. He dragged us into that portal! You all saw! He jumped forward, grabbed me and Val by our necks, mind you, said a one-liner, then pulled us in!"

"Hey, hey," said Corphish, "I've been thinking that too. I mean, I'm still not sure if Dusknoir's evil, but I saw those two get pulled in. You've all been saying they tripped, but I swear that's not what happened!"

"Now that you mention it," said Sunflora, "Omigosh! They were dragged in! Why would Dusknoir do that?"

"HEY! Maybe what they said WAS TRUE!" said Loudred.

"What?" said Chatot, "Are you believing them now?"

"..."

"Well, what's your answer?"

And here we are on Final Jeopardy, and the contestants are about to give their answers!

"Um, I believe them," said Bidoof, "I really looked up to Dusknoir, and, golly, the whole thing seems pretty crazy, but I think that the whole idea seems sound."

"So, you're believing that Dusknoir's evil?" said Chatot.

Bidoof shrunk back a little. "Golly, well, I think that, Val and Chris are more important than all this, so I believe them."

"Wh-what?"

"Hey, hey, hey! I believe them too!"

"I'M WITH THEM!

"Omigosh! Me too!"

"Oh, Corphish, Bidoof, Loudred, Sunflora, thanks!" said Val.

Everybody began saying they believe us.

I smiled, and looked at Chatot, who had quickly realized he was losing control.

"SQUAWK!"

"Well, hiya!" said Wigglytuff, "It seems we all agree!"

"Eh?"

"We all agree our friends, that's great! Let's start searching for the Hidden Land!"

"Now HOLD ON, Guildmaster!" said Loudred.

"What?"

"I'm not sure Chatot here BELIEVES these two!"

Chatot sighed. Wigglytuff said, "Oh no, I'm sure he believed their story from the start, right?"

Chatot seemed like he was under a lot of stress.

I looked over at Chatot and said, "Hey, don't stress if you were a skeptic, who wasn't? You can't automatically believe just anything, can you? Even if it is from a friend. You need to consider all the facts and come to a conclusion." I walked over and placed a paw on his wing. "Besides, you're the head of intelligence, right? Need to-" But I was cut off by a vision, or something, because I suddenly began shivering.

Chatot looked at me and said, "Chris? Are you all-" but then he started shivering too.

Suddenly, everything fell away, and Chatot and I were left floating in a white void.

"SQUAWK!"

"What the hell?"

"What's going on?"

I looked around and saw that Chatot was fine, but we weren't anywhere. I looked at myself, but my form seemed more smoky, as if it wasn't sure what it was.

"What's wrong with you?"

I said, "I think that this might be a side effect of the Dimensional Scream ability. An overload or something."

"But that doesn't explain why you're growing."

It was true. I was getting taller. My incorporeal self. Either that or Chatot was getting smaller.

"It's just a vision," I said, "Nothing's going to hurt us here, I think."

"Are you alright?" asked Chatot.

"I'd ask you the same question," I said as I sat down, "Just relax, these visions usually don't last long, but this isn't a normal vision."

"What do you mean?"

"Normally, the Scream is a solo experience, nobody comes along, and you don't have a form."

My form in the vision stabilized.

"SQUAWK?"

"What?" I looked at myself, and saw something crazy.

I was human. I was wearing my jacket, and my jeans, and I was holding a picture in one hand.

"The fuck?"

"Chris! SQUAWK! Are you Chris? This isn't normal! What's wrong with you?"

"This is who I was. Before Dusknoir," I said, as I leaned back and outstretched my arms. I looked at the picture. It was of me and Grovyle. I showed it to Chatot.

He looked at it, and said, "The thief, Grovyle, and-"

"Me."

I was a Riolu again. The vision faded, and Chatot and I were back standing in the Guild. Everyone was looking at us, and Val said, "Chris why were you and Chatot shivering just then?"

I looked over at Chatot. "Did you see-?"

"The vision- Squawk..."

"Do you believe me and Val?"

"Yes," said Chatot.

"What happened, friends?" asked Wigglytuff.

I said, "I'm not sure, but if I explained it, I think that no matter what I said you'd think I was crazy. Just, let's get on with this please. Is it all right if I tell you later?"

"Okay." Wigglytuff was an understanding kind of pokemon. "Friends!" he said to everyone, "Time is stopping in more and more places. From the story of these two, we know that the world is in danger. This means we need to take action. Now is the time! In the name of Wigglytuff's Guild, we will discover the Hidden Land!"

"YEAH!"

"Chatot!"

"Y-Yes sir!" Chatot got ready to tell everyone everything, but then two pokemon came down the stairs. Flora dragged Steele into the commons room.

"Oh no," said Flora, "We missed something. I knew you shouldn't have run off, Steele."

I said, "Don't worry, you haven't missed all that much."

Steele said, "Holy- Val! Chris! You're back!"

Val said, "Hey."

I said, "Did you miss us?"

Steele went up to me and tackled me. He couldn't do much other than that. "Of course we missed you! You two are our teammates!"

Flora hugged Val, "You're back!"

I chuckled. "Chatot's about to explain what we need to do, you two. We can explain everything afterwards."

The four members of Team Checkmate got into the crowd of guild members. We were back at full strength again. Chatot got ready to explain our goals in detail.

But best of all, we were back.

A/N: Right, I really have no excuse for taking this long for an update, you know? I decided to make this chapter end more softly because it was the quickest way to end and well, I really want to get this chappy out. Well, enjoy, read, and review the chapter if you would like writing similar to this. Anyway, for those of you keeping count (this one's really cool), W/C: 6666

This is CrizBN, signing off.