AN: School has already started back up. With all the time that takes out of my day, I'm sure that writing will take evem longer, which is why I rushed to get this one done today. Another long one; your patience has been rewarded!

Figured I'd start doing this, since I value my supporters: Thanks to WanderingPenguin16, elfqueen13, THomassun300, and NeroSwordhunter for Following or Favoriting. Doing that really helps get my stories the traffic they need to improve my own skills.

Again, shoot a review down at the bottom to help me be a better writer!

"After all these years… I can't believe it."

Thali held her relic fragment in her paws, awed. She looked back and forth between her fragment and the emblem on the wall repeatedly, as though she were afraid it would vanish before her eyes if she didn't constantly keep watch.

It's so strange; we've finally discovered the truth behind that fragment, and we can't say anything, Aru thought. Thalli must be even more shocked.

The Eevee in question looked like her heart had stopped. She approached with a dumbfounded look, touching the painted stone lightly. "Incredible."

"Pretty cool, huh?"

From the entrance of the inlet, Wigglytuff entered. "Told ya that was the right symbol!"

"G-Guildmaster!" Chatot squawked, flapping his wings. "How long have you been there?"

"Just barely made it," Wigglytuff announced excitedly. "I had to stop by and pick up a friend."

Thali turned to him, awakened from her stupor. Aru and Accalia glanced over, and Wigglytuff stepped aside. Standing behind him was Grovyle, toting a new, red handkerchief around his neck.

"Grovyle!" Aru shouted, running up and tackling the older Pokémon. The gecko jolted and took the hug casually.

"I told you that I would find you, didn't I?" he reminded them. He pacified Aru with an affectionate pat. "Don't seem so surprised."

Accalia looked between them. It was obvious Wigglytuff had helped. "But guildmaster, how did you…?"

"Trick of the trade," Grovyle said mischievously, winking at Wigglytuff. The guildmaster winked back.

Frustrated, Thali huffed and stamped her foot on the ground. "Come on! What kind of explanation is that?" she asked.

Grovyle laughed, finally unsticking Aru from him. He rubbed Thali's head fur chuckling. "Don't worry so much. After all, this is a big moment for you, isn't it?"

Thali blushed and nodded. She'd acted so inappropriately. "Yes, right…" she mumbled. She returned to the symbol on the wall, looking up. Now that the initial wonder had passed, she didn't know what to do with it. "So, am I supposed to activate it somehow?"

"Hold aloft your relic fragment to the symbol on the wall," Grovyle directed her. "That will suffice as proof."

Accalia came up beside her and patted the Eevee's shoulder, smiling enthusiastically. "Go on, Thali," she said.

Nervously, Thali nodded. It was time at last. She lifted the pendant attached to her neck, revealing the relic fragment.

The symbol ono the wall shone with a pale blue light when exposed, and the symbol on the wall glowed a bright blue in response. The center of the wall shot a beam of blue light out toward the horizon, disappearing after a three second pulse.

"And now, we wait," Grovyle muttered.

Wigglytuff giggled and clapped his hands together exuberantly. "Congratulations you four!" he said. "Now come along, Chatot. I think it's time for us to go."

Chatot blinked. "But guildmaster, do you not wish to see this for yourself?"

Wigglytuff just shook his head, a confusing gesture to Team Unity. Since when did he back down from a discovery? "No, no, now isn't the time for greedy exploration," he told Chatot. "Our friends are going to save the world. And, for as long as we can, I want to preserve the secret of the Hidden Land."

Aru immediately understood why. So that nothing like this ever happens again, he thought ruefully. If the wrong person could go to the Hidden Land; if Team Skull had gone—

"I'm leaving, Chatot~!"

The guildmaster's singsong voice pulled Aru out of thought. Chatot was squawking right behind him, and the two friends disappeared into the dark, leaving the dungeon.

They waited at the entrance for the longest time, it felt. Every passing second was an awkward moment of waiting for something to happen. It was one of those quiet moments—the ones where the weight of waiting hung on all of them.

Then lo, a silhouette on the horizon. "I see something coming!" Accalia shouted excitedly.

The silhouette approached, hidden by the contrast with the sun until it finally entered the cave. It was a massive creature, with a neck like a pillar and a shell like a coral reef. It had large eyes like pearls, and fins like oars for a longboat.

"A Lapras…?" Thali speculated.

Lapras approached them at the inlet, smiling when it saw them, as though it had some secret prescience of their arrival. "Good evening, explorers," she said with a ringing voice like a bell. "You have produced proof. Now, I shall show you to the Hidden Land."

^/\^|v\/v

Beyond the Sky

Chapter 25

The Hidden Land

^/\^|v\/v

Out at sea, the wind blew with eye-watering strength. There were no trees or grass to confirm visually that the wind was moving, but Aru felt it as coolness flowing through his fur and burning needles in his eyes. Water splashed onto his calf from the wake that Lapras created, rousing him from his unfocused drift.

Out in the open sea, where only water and sky stretched in each direction, Team Unity mounted the massive shell of Lapras. The seafaring Pokémon swam out to the vast ocean, seemingly to nowhere. "How did you manage to find us, Grovyle?" asked Aru. "And be serious this time."

Grovyle sat opposite him, dangling a toe in the water to feel the cool rush. "Your guildmaster was waiting for me in Mesprit's dwelling. He had us teleported to Brine Cave," he answered. "Don't ask me how he was able to find me so quickly."

Trick of the trade, I bet, Thali mused. Instead, she turned to the head of their guide. "Lapras."

"Yes, little one?"

Thali climbed closer to the thick trunk of a neck to speak more clearly. "Why is the relic fragment the key to the Hidden Land?" she asked. "Couldn't any other Pokémon pick it up and use it? What if a bad Pokémon had done it?"

"Ah, you are a resourceful one. Just as I expected from master Dialga," Lapras observed with a dainty giggle. "Astute question, but one that is difficult to answer. Time is master Dialga's domain, little Eevee. He sees past, present, and future all as one. I suspect he had that fragment placed before you, because he knew the crisis that would befall the world, and he knew that little fragment that you picked up would lead precisely to this moment."

"Omniscience over time," Grovyle concluded. "You must know why we are here then? And what we have seen?"

"It is not I who knows," Lapras reminded slyly. "Though, I have been told. You have seen much and have been imparted with a weighty task."

Accalia sat beside Aru, leaning on him. She had been exhausted from all the fighting, so Aru coddled her and laughed. Grovyle didn't have a second to rest, in his mind. "Then the future that I come from, why was that allowed to exist?"

"I cannot claim to know the reason behind master Dialga's actions," Lapras replied. "What I know is that you and those other three were gathered for this singular purpose: to share a story with the world."

Not to save it? Peculiar, Aru speculated on what he overheard. What does she mean by that?

Still after all this traveling, there was nothing to be seen on the horizon. "Where is the Hidden Land, anyway?" Thali asked.

"Patience. The Hidden Land is concealed inside of a tear in time, a place where all other reality ceases to be. It is a pocket dimension, if you will."

"Just like the legends say," Thali muttered.

Lapras guffawed, amused. "You are very well read," she said keenly. "I am swimming to a particular spot where the Hidden Land can be accessed. In fact, we're almost there."

"We are?" asked Accalia, coming out of her tired daze. She peeked over Lapras' right shoulder.

"Yes. Look there, just in front of us," Lapras said. It was hard to see at first glance, but before them lay a strange, warped part of the ocean where the water sparkled, and the horizon line twisted. "That point of warped space is the entrance to the Hidden Land."

Lapras entered the point and jerked forward at increasing speeds. The wind howled forcefully; the water rushed right by them until it was all a blur of blue and orange. The horizon and the sky collapsed as they accelerated towards a singularity in the distance, as if they were in a tunnel.

And then, slowly, Lapras lifted out of the water. "We're flying!" Accalia exclaimed, clutching onto Lapras' neck for fear of falling.

"No, it's not quite that," Grovyle mumbled as he looked around. Color wisps surrounded them, along with distant, faint images. "Lapras is swimming through the sea of time."

They approached the singularity. The rushing wind and crashing waves reached a crescendo of sound that assaulted their ears. The rainbow colors rushed past them in one final, blinding moment.

They passed the singularity, and the world revealed its majesty. High in the sky, far above the remote realm of their own world, a floating island hung in the sky, ignoring gravity. From their distant perspective, they could see teeming forests, sharp mountains, low rivers, and specks of snow doting the land. Above it all, swirling red clouds loomed ominously, forming a spiral pattern centered about a point in space.

That point drew Team Unity's attention, a point where catastrophe lay dormant. Thali started, "Is that…?"

"Temporal Tower," Lapras said. Floating above the island even higher, surrounded by stone and rubble, was that great blue pillar with ribbed layer and crumbling supports, a mountain unto its own, an obelisk for the god it housed, a monument to time itself. Temporal Tower: their final destination.

"I can take you as far as the island's edge," Lapras said as she drifted downward toward the forest at the eastern edge of the island—if east still had any meaning in this place, of course.

The forest came to life as they approached. Wild Pokémon could be seen scurrying around deeper inside, and exotic plants with larger-than-life flowers and umbrella leaves. Thali leaped off first, followed by Aru, Grovyle, and finally Accalia.

As they headed off into the hilly forest that was popping with danger, they remembered Lapras' last words to them. "Deep in the highlands, you will find a temple for the old legends. Go there, and you will find a vessel that will take you to Temporal Tower."

There was a cool breeze that ran over the highlands, like the inhalation of a cosmic lung of the land. With the breeze, the trees straightened, and the flowers stretched closer to the sun. Aru could feel the breath within his own lungs, filling him with energy and courage.

Strangely though, despite the breeze, the forest was silent. "Weird. Where are all the Pokémon we saw earlier?" Thali asked cluelessly.

Accalia was keen enough to provide an answer. "Look carefully in the dense woods and bunkers," he instructed her.

Thali did so. Hidden through shrubbery and hill crests, the Pokémon of the Hidden Land watched them. The usual red of rabid, animal wilds was not present in them, and upon meeting the gaze of a Dragonite over a hilltop, Thali could see analytic sentience behind their eyes. "They are watching us," she concluded.

"Correct," Grovyle murmured.

"But why?"

Aru took another look, not at the Pokémon, but at their aura. Rather than the calm purples he had expected, there were vibrant tinges of yellow and white. "They're tense," he said, watching the wild Pokémon in the same way they watched the foreigners. "They do not know whether we are friends or foes."

"Should we say something to them?" Accalia suggested.

Grovyle denied, "I doubt they would understand us."

So, they continued ignoring the gazes. Over the peaks of hills, they could see a stone pyramid with a flat top and step-stone levels—though those step-stones, they would soon realize were at least three meters to the step.

As they neared the temple, the Pokémon converged, crowding in deeper. The contagious tension rose like a fever in Team Unity as well. If we are attacked by this many Pokémon, there's no guarantee we'll make it out alive, he thought. There must have been thirty—no, forty Pokémon gathered. They weren't pushovers either; Dragonite, Garchomp, and Tropius were swarming the clearings ahead, all gargantuan Pokémon. Those Pokémon must be thinking the same though. No one of us wants to fight, to risk an unnecessary death.

Over another hill, then the next. The sky was infinite, and the dusk had persisted for hours due to the nature of the pocket dimension, a snapshot in time. They had no way of telling how much time had passed, or even if it was passing. Not one of them dared speak, either in awe or in fear.

The next ridge folded under them. Dwarfed by the towering monument, they looked up from the shadows to witness the real magnitude of this colossus. It stretched up tens, maybe hundreds of feet, and nothing about the inside was revealed by its exterior.

In front of a ramp that led downward into a pillar-framed archway stood a Bastiodon and a Rampardos. Bastiodon's face and Rampardos' skull were painted with red and blue war patterns. It seemed odd to Thali that these once extinct Pokémon were here, working together. They stood guard at the opening and glowered at the travelers.

They weren't getting out without a plan, Aru knew immediately. These Pokémon were from a different time, a different dimension all together. How could they possibly communicate with each other? We need some sort of proof that we come in peace, he thought, scratching his head.

The Rampardos and Bastiodon approached and split. They began circling them, examining them carefully. There was clear deliberation in every step they took, as if even the pattern of their footsteps was measured in some calculating way.

Anything we can use, some way to communicate. Proof… proof… That's it!

Aru nudged Thali. "Show them your relic fragment."

"What?"

"Just do as I say," he assured her.

Thali nodded and reached into her mane to retrieve it. Seeing the motion, there was a moment of panic that flooded through them. Rampardos reared back his head and cried; Bastiodon stamped a foot and began grinding he dirt, preparing a charge.

Then, Thali revealed the relic fragment. Its blue glow from earlier had persisted here.

A collective cry from the wild Pokémon assaulted their ears. The Rampardos and Bastiodon stepped aside as they and their allies surrounding them knelt to the ground. Some of the surrounding ones bowed deeply and ungraciously.

"Good thinking, Aru," Grovyle admitted, sighing now that the tension had faded. "These Pokémon probably worship Dialga and are familiar with this symbol. They must think that we are saviors."

Thunder crackled in the skies. Every Pokémon looked up, saw the flashing flood light into those dark red clouds that swirled high above. It was a forecast for danger, clouds that incited fear in all their hearts. "We should go," Thali suggested. "And quickly."

They entered the temple. At first, it was dark, but upon passing certain tiles and stones a set distance away, flames appeared in charcoal sconces on the floor, providing dim light in the wide passageway through the heart of the temple. They could see now that the walls were lined with set stone tiles that formed mosaic images of legends long gone. Groudon and Kyogre's battle over the earth and sea, Dialga and Palkia's creationism, the seasons as portrayed by the birds and beasts.

"This look exactly like the Hall of Legends," Thali mused. It was there that they first saw painted images like these in abundance, and it was also there, she remembered keenly, that they had met Accalia. The little Snivy seemed to remember it with fond expressions, both good and bad.

Grovyle hummed and examined the unaged stone. "It has been preserved well," he said. "Perhaps the Pokémon here are record keepers."

A laugh bubbled out of Aru. "I wonder if what we do today will be set in stone here," he mused. They neared the end of the long hallway of history where a stair led up to the center of the temple.

Light poured in and the ceiling disappeared. Though they were surrounded by walls, above them was the sky. At the end of the stairs was a flat area with a circular, stone inset that bore the symbol of the relic fragment. To the left of that was a black, stone obelisk three feet tall with inscriptions born upon it.

Aru and Thalli went to investigate the stone inset. "Peculiar," Aru mumbled. It was incredibly flat and level, the surface perfectly smooth, except for a single divot in the center.

Thali stood on top of the divot—more of a chip than anything—and analyzed it. "It almost looks like something could be set in here."

Accalia and Grovyle went to the stone obelisk. Grovyle peered it up and down; it was marked by different footprints of Pokémon. "What is this?" Accalia asked, confused.

"In ancient times, cuneiform footprint script was the primary form of written communication," Grovyle said. "I lived on the future Hidden Land, so we used this script too. It reads: 'The Rainbow Stoneship lies dormant. Set the proof within to reach Temporal Tower.'"

Thali, having overheard that, compared the cone-bottom of the relic fragment and the cup-inset of the divot. Those two halves were destined to meet, and that monumental purpose was felt in her heart again. She set the fragment in, and waited…

She didn't wait long.

The Rainbow Stoneship flared to life. The symbol pattern began to glow, and a whirring noise like the charging of an engine thrummed beneath. "It's working!"

They gathered on the Stoneship, ecstatic. "Nice work!" Accalia said, clapping her hand on Thali's back. All they had to do now was wait for the ship to finish charging, and they could take to the skies. Their quest was nearly at its end.

They should have known that would be too easy.

Purple creatures trekked up the stairs and surrounded them, chuckling a familiar "weh heh" cackle: the Sableye, eight of them.

"What the hell? How did they follow us here?" Grovyle grunted as they were outnumbered.

The Sableye surrounded them and smirked. One sported a pernicious grin, said, "You four, down the stairs. Let's hurry."

They could fight back, they knew. These Sableye were nothing special. Suspicious of what was in store for them, Grovyle signaled for them to stay calm and follow orders. They descended the stairs on the opposite side of the plateau with calm, deliberate steps, hurried along by the jibes of the Sableye.

Down on another plateau was a Dimensional Hole, the same kind of portal used by Froslass to jump back and forth through time. Aru immediately recognized the dizzying, non-Euclidean curves of the warped space, felt his eyes bulge from witnessing it.

And speaking of Froslass, the ghostly Pokémon waited before the portal, clapping and laughing. "My dear Grovyle, you must be determined to have come this far," she appraised. "But you must be astonishingly foolish to think I would not intervene again."

"How could you have known?" Grovyle mumbled, wracking his brain. "How could you have known when we would be here?"

Another demeaning laugh from her. "I didn't have to know anything," she claimed. "Isn't it obvious, Grovyle? Don't you get it? All I had to do was time travel directly to the Hidden Land and lie in wait with a trap."

Grovyle fumed with frustration. He should have thought of that possibility, but it didn't even cross his mind.

This time though, he did not feel the same sense of dread and defeat. In the company of his friends, he felt instead an overpowering determination. "Don't sound so confident," he said, and Team Unity pressed their backs against each other. "You still need to defeat us first."

"With pleasure. Capture them, Sableye!"

The Sableye rushed in, claws bared. Froslass said capture, but Aru could tell by their black aura that they lusted for blood. There wasn't time to plan this time, only time to react.

There were two Sableye to each of them. Aru lunged quickly to his own two, slashing with a Shadow Claw at the first one. It bled from the strike and cartwheeled back; the second one took its place, swiping its own ghostly claws at Aru. Working in pairs allowed the Sableye to be much more efficient hunters.

Aru took the return strike severely, wincing from pain. It had nicked his side, and blood leaked from it. He glanced to the right; at least he had taken the first Sableye down quickly. The second was approaching again, faster this time, so Aru jumped away, right by Thali.

Thali glanced sidelong, saw Aru struggling, and knew she needed to hurry. But the Sableye were coming faster, and she couldn't handle them simultaneously. "Accalia! Rope these ones up!" she shouted.

Accalia, who had was attempting to bind her two Sableye with a whip, was experiencing more trouble than she expected. Each time she lobbed a Vine Whip strike, they responded in sync: one slashed the vine, and the other closed the gap of distance. "A bit busy!" she shouted, doing her best to keep them at a distance.

Thali muttered a curse and turned back to her Sableye. She'd have to take care of them now. They were coming closer; Thali rolled to the side to dodge a strike. She used the momentum of the roll to pivot acrobatically, whipping an Iron Tail around to send one of the Sableye flying.

The other one was coming quickly, filling in the gap left by its comrade. Thali tried to think quickly; something, anything she could use to shorten this fight. "Protect!" she shouted when the Sableye came close to strike. Its claws deflected off the green ward she produced around her. Now's my chance! She realized quickly and reached into a satchel she kept on her side for something small, the perfect chance to end this quickly.

She threw her opportune item into her mouth just as the Sableye were come again. Just as they jumped to strike her down, she crunched down on the item, a blast seed. Feeling the explosion coming, she opened her mouth and let the blast escape. While it did little more than char the Sableye's skin, the blast was powerful enough to fling them off the altar area, deeper into the temple where they would be vulnerable to the local island Pokémon.

Thali whipped her head around and looked for Aru.

The Riolu had recovered somewhat from the strike and was fighting the Sableye. He swiveled to avoid a Shadow Ball from the Sableye, retaliated by concentrating and firing a Focus blast. The Sableye was swift though, faster than he had originally anticipated. It sidestepped the blast and rushed in for another Shadow Claw.

It was a feint. Aru stepped back to avoid the claw, but the Sableye kept rushing. Its forehead was charged with blue, psychic force. Zen Headbutt! Aru panicked, but there was nothing he could do. The brunt of the attack intersected his gut, sending him flying back in pain.

The Sableye mounted Aru's body, its claws charged with ghostly energy. He knew how this would play out, and he felt the prediction in his mind in slow motion: He was too slow after the hit to do anything, and his arms wouldn't be fast enough to block the strike. The Sableye was vicious and bloodthirsty; it would swing for the throat to quickly and cleanly kill him.

The claws came down. Aru still attempted to bring up his arms, despite the futility.

"Shadow Ball!" Overhead, an orb of energy screamed in, throwing the Sableye off. It struck the Sableye's head—a critical hit—rendering it unconscious. Thali rushed over and sighed. "Careful there," she whispered as she fed him an oran berry to restore his health.

Aru coughed and sat up. "Thank you," he mumbled.

Together, their gazes turned away to the sound of more struggle. Across the battlefield littered with Sableye, Grovyle could be seen challenging Froslass finally. He had dispatched the Sableye with professional ease, and now stood opposed to his archenemy. "Standing behind your henchmen as always, I see," Grovyle jeered.

Froslass scoffed. They watched each other carefully and began circling each other. The ice witch was silent. "Thali," he ordered. "Help Accalia, then go back to the Stoneship. Make sure that it doesn't depart until we return."

"Right!" She ran off immediately.

They drew around each other. Grovyle hated Froslass' float; she had no gait to give away her leading side. "Can you stand, Aru?"

"I can fight," The Riolu remitted. Standing was no challenge, but the wear from the slash was still painful.

Now joined to Grovyle's side, Aru examined Froslass, watched her for subtle movements. Her aura was unconcealed to him, and he saw the killing intent, but also a bated patience. She was a careful fighter.

Grovyle took the first strike, rushing forward for a Quick Attack. Froslass threatened to counter, but feinted instead, producing a Substitute. After the hit, the substitute exploded into a thick steam that was impossible to see through.

"Tricks again, Froslass? You always did fight dirty."

"Only because I fight to win!"

From further away, Froslass raised her pendulous arms in the air and summoned an Icy Wind. The chilling blast contained shards of ice, cutting like an abrasive even though Aru shielded his face.

Grovyle tried to strike again but couldn't move his feet to cooperate. He looked down and cursed; they were frozen to the ground. "Aru!" he shouted.

"Gotcha!" the Riolu already understood. Froslass is ice type, he though, so that means…

He rushed forward, a metallic sheen on his fist. Accelerating with blinding speed, he closed the distance between him and Froslass in a fraction of a second.

Froslass had just enough time to duck under the Bullet Punch—a unique move, she thought briefly. He swung again, this time connecting with her side, but only by nicking it: a near miss.

She swung to counter with an ice punch, but Aru's vision helped him see it, as well as the feinted Shadow Sneak she gathered below her. He jumped high up, away from the punch, but the shadows stretched out from the ground to attack him. Damn! He cursed as he held his still bleeding side. He didn't have the strength to dodge

Froslass smirked. She had him now.

A slash at her side proved her wrong, and she gasped in pain as a purple ichor welled from the cut. Grovyle, with anklets of ice still thawing out, had the leaves on his arms sharpened for a Leaf Blade attack that cut Froslass deep.

The shadows receded, allowing Aru to land unharmed.

"Curse you, Grovyle!" she winced, clutching her side.

Grovyle just shook the blood off his leaves. "I thought we fought to win, Froslass," he said critically.

"I still don't understand; why are you doing this?" Froslass shouted, floating unsteadily. In her rage, she pointed with her finger and fired an Ice Beam at Aru immediately, who was winded from the jump and still recovering from his injury.

Aru watched as he was saved for the final time. Grovyle put himself between Aru and the beam, intercepting it with his arms crossed. He howled a war cry to get through the pain.

When the beam had finished, Grovyle's arms were covered in freeze-dried burns. "To save the world," he responded, grimacing in pain. "To change to future… for everyone."

"You will never see this new future!" Froslass screeched, firing another beam that Grovyle stood his ground for. This one was weaker. "Don't you get it? Aren't you scared? I am, Grovyle. I don't want to disappear!"

Grovyle shivered from the blasts. He was barely standing, maintaining his stance. He was ready to accept defeat now knowing that they had secured passage to Temporal Tower. But that one key word of hers struck him painfully, and a looking in his eyes betrayed the hidden knowledge there.

"Disappear?" asked Aru.

Froslass held onto her side and stopped, a suddenly morbid look crossing her face. "If you go through with this; if you place the Time Gears into Temporal Tower, you will save the world from paralysis, yes. But the future that you and I and Grovyle come from, the future of darkness, will change. Everything from the future will disappear, replaced by the new future."

Aru paled. It couldn't be… his mind slowed down, tried and failed to understand what she meant. Or maybe it did understand, and he battled with himself to accept it as truth. "I… you don't mean."

Grovyle was silent for a while. Aru looked at him for reassurance, stumbled back onto his rear, forgot about the bleeding in his side for a more mortal issue. "It is as she said," Grovyle finally spoke. "When we change the future, you and I will disappear. We will cease to exist."

Aru was silent for a long time, so long that Grovyle feared the Riolu may have fainted. "When we first started this journey, you and I knew the consequences, and agreed to complete this duty, even though we would cease to exist," he said. He swallowed past a heavy stone in his throat and trembled. "However, I cannot hold you to promises you no longer remember. I can understand if you no longer wish to go through with this."

Froslass smirked despite her injuries. This could be her chance to turn this battle around. If she could get Aru to betray Grovyle, securing Temporal Tower was as good as done. "That's right, Aru," she said fiendishly. "You will cease to exist if this madman gets away with his plan. You can't help!"

There was a silence for a time. Aru stared down at his feet, clenched his fist, said nothing, and neither did the other two. The clamorous fighting had all but stopped. "I…"

"Join with me, and we can end this threat right now," Froslass encouraged him.

Grovyle said nothing. He knew it was not his place at the moment. Whatever Aru chose, he could not fault him for it.

"Do I look stupid to you?" Grovyle and Froslass looked up, surprised to see a more intense determination in him.

Froslass was flabbergasted. "A-Are you not afraid?"

Aru thought of memories of home, the Guild. He remembered Pokémon they had saved—Phi the Vulpix, the Manectric clan. He remembered his friends—the members of the guild, the townsfolk, Accalia. He remembered his partner, his confidant, his… Thali.

"Of course, I'm afraid," he said. "Of course, I don't want to disappear. But to save this world and everyone in it, that is a sacrifice I am willing to make."

Grovyle felt a tear in his eye. That's exactly what you said when we first made that pact.

"You damned fool!"

Froslass began to charge up what seemed to be a final move, something dangerous that would be impossible for the Riolu to dodge, but too dangerous for Grovyle to block. He didn't know what it was; he just felt his feet move underneath him as he charged. He knew what he must do.

Grovyle grabbed Froslass' chilling arms, locked them and pinned them back. "You fool! W-what are you doing?"

"Aru!" Grovyle shouted suddenly over Froslass' struggling. "I'm going to take this fiend back to the future with me!"

Aru stood shocked by the implication behind that. "Grovyle, you can't!"

"I must!" he shouted. "I will keep him at bay in the future. You must go on and finish this!"

"But… But I don't know how!" Aru didn't know he was crying till the tears were blinding him. He felt like he had just gotten to know Grovyle after so long. This couldn't be the end.

Grovyle began shoving Froslass closer to the portal, and as he did so, he bit the strap on his satchel, using his teeth to shear the fabric and drop the pack. The flap flopped open, and five glowing cogs slipped out.

"The Time Gears!" Froslass exclaimed, increasing her struggling.

"Take them!" Grovyle ordered. "At the pinnacle of Temporal Tower, you will find an altar. You must place them in the altar before it is too late!"

Grovyle knew from his silence that there was something hurting in Aru. He knew it himself, felt a tear in his gut. "It won't be easy. Dialga will be waiting for you. But freedom is close… so close I can taste it. I know you can bring it to us."

He steeled his resolve. It was time. "I will never see you again, old friend," he said, fighting back his own tears harder than he fought Froslass' wriggling, cold limbs. "Parting is such sweet sorrow, isn't it? Goodbye Aru. I loved you, my dear friend."

Aru knew what he meant in those words, words that English could hardly convey. Not like a lover or like a food; Grovyle loved him as a comrade, as a best friend. A trustworthy partner in dire need for whom he now sacrificed himself.

He didn't get to say goodbye before, stumbling and gripping with all his might, Grovyle and Froslass tumbled into the Dimensional Hole, and it closed.

Grovyle wasn't dead, Aru knew. But just then, Grovyle died a small death in Aru's heart, for he knew he would never see him again.