Chapter 24: Healing What Was Broken
Time passed, uncertainly at first, but it began to get the hang of things again. Stacy and Kip passed on the story as they knew it. When they spoke of Trey and Sally, some people didn't recognize the names at first. But as they told the story, people began to remember bits and pieces. The librarian Alakazam offered to help them write it into a book, which they accepted gratefully.
Team Marmalade, now down to two members, continued its apprenticeship. In particular, they looked for places they hadn't been. They wondered if they might find Kip's treasure, his light of the darkness. "You know, it might be that purity of soul that Trey talked about," the Skitty said one morning. "The opposite side of wild magic. But then I'm almost certain that it's an actual treasure too."
"Hey, look at this place." Stacy pulled off a paper on the wall. "Whistling Thicket."
Kip's ears twitched. "Whistling Thicket?"
"Does that sound familiar?"
"Yeah, it does. I can't quite place it, though." His head tilted as he thought, then his tail went still. "Maybe it was the place I came from, before I fell to the darkness."
"We should check it out then. Let's see… this Venonat reports that he got attacked and has lost his way. Distress call picked up by Chiaka; she even figured out that he's on the twelfth floor. Shall we go?"
"We shall."
Whistling Thicket was a wetlands, but not marshy. It was made up of many paths along shallow and small ponds. Wet-loving grasses like rice and cattails grew in the ponds, thriving happily. Many trees grew in clumps where there were no ponds. At the end of each level, the passages were formed like vine covered wooden bridges. And giving the dungeon its name, there were tall stone pillars spread throughout the area. Holes in these pillars made the wind whistle when it passed through, at any speed.
"This is a nice place," Stacy said.
"If I remember right," Kip told her, "Those whistling pillars were here long before the place became a Mystery Dungeon. Dunno who put them there, though, or why."
"Trey could have told us, probably," she replied.
"Probably."
On the twelfth floor, they searched carefully until they found the lost Venonat hiding in a patch of reeds. "Oh, you've been sent to find me?" he asked. "Thank goodness. I got hungry and tried to eat one of the mushrooms around here. That was a mistake."
"We'll send you back home to be safe and find some good stuff to eat," Stacy told him in a friendly way. "We'll see you later."
"Yes, thank you." He was teleported away when Stacy sent a signal from her badge back to Guild headquarters. But the two decided to explore deeper in the thicket.
On the seventeenth floor, they ran into a Delcatty. She was looking over the ruins of some buildings made with rushes, like an abandoned community. "Hey stranger," she said. "What name?"
It was a wild one, but had some elements of a civilized Pokemon. "Hey there, I'm Kip," he said.
In a second, her mood changed wildly. She moved her ears back and hissed. "You! Why come back? Bad Pokemon!" She hissed again and ran away.
"Oh," Stacy said, putting a paw to her face. "Maybe that's why you left?"
Kip lowered his ears in embarrassment. "Um… well crud. That was part of it."
"Maybe we'd better move on before she comes back with anyone."
"Good plan." He shivered and they headed for the passage in the next room.
At the next level, Stacy said, "Well she was half wild, so she might not understand that you've changed."
"She wouldn't accept it," Kip replied. "I think I remember now more clearly what happened. See, I was born under some very bad signs."
"Bad signs?"
He nodded. "I hatched with a twin; my brother was dead as I came out. And our egg hatched at night, a stormy night where the rising moon glowed orange, almost red. My mother may have appreciated me, but everyone else in the Thicket believed that I was born of the darkness itself. When she died, I was branded an outcast and everyone ignored me. I wound up turning to the one thing I thought I had, the darkness."
"That's sad."
"You guys really were my first true friends."
After the nineteenth floor, they came upon a small area with a warp panel. There was a pretty yellow box on the floor. "That's very nice," Stacy said, picking it up. "But I don't see how to open it."
"You gotta take it to a guy back in town first. Those gift boxes can turn ugly unless you know what you're doing in opening them. But then they usually have rare treasures inside if they're opened right."
"Do you think maybe your treasure is inside?"
Kip sniffed it. "I don't know. Maybe. Let's go back and see."
They went in, made the report. They met with the Venonat, who thanked them with 1500 Poke and a Max Elixer drink. Then, as evening started to arrive, they went to see if the appraisal shop was open.
It was. They had to wait as another group was checking out a red box. Then they entered the strange little shop. It was lit by blue candles and staffed by a Xatu who wore a crystal on a band around his head. "Welcome to my humble shop. Do you have something that needs appraisal?"
"Yes, this box," Stacy said, handing over the yellow box.
He rubbed a wing over it. "Ah yes, a Pretty Box. It's 150 Poke per appraisal."
"All right." She handed over the money.
"Hmm, then let us see." After putting the money in a box, the Xatu turned the sealed box around in his wings. He slid his feathers into certain slots, then, in a rapid motion, undid the folds of the strange box. He pulled out a round yellow berry. "Now this is a rare breed. You have a Sitrus Berry." He handed it back to Stacy. "It can heal you back up like an Oran Berry. However, they say that it can make powerful drinks. Or, if you consume it while healthy in a Mystery Dungeon, it can make you slightly more energetic for the rest of your life. Decide well in how to use this fruit."
"Okay, thanks." They left, looking it over. "I guess it's a good thing, but probably not what you're looking for."
"Well you keep it, then." He looked around. "It's a bit early to head back to the guild."
"Want to take a walk to the beach?"
"Sure, why not?" He smiled as he walked along. "Just so you know, I have no romantic intentions with you."
She chuckled. "We're not exactly compatible, you know."
"I know," he said, batting her arm playfully. "Just teasing you."
They walked south of town until they arrived at the beach below Sharpedo Bluff. The Krabbies were out this evening, sending their multicolored bubbles everywhere. And the sun was sinking at a regular pace. It wouldn't be suddenly hanging there like it used to.
When Stacy sat down, she said, "It seems like a long while since I've seen the Krabbies out here at night. I used to come out here a lot when I was kid."
"Wasn't the last time we saw this after our first dungeon exploration?" Kip asked. "When those pirates stole your lucky charm and none of us understood Sally."
"Right, it was back then. And Trey told us about how time was corrupting in the world." After a moment of just the tides rolling in, she sighed. "I just don't understand why it had to end like that. They were good people. Maybe a bit misguided at times, but then, so is everybody. They were just trying to make things better, so why did they have to die?" She cried.
Kip blinked a few of his own tears away from his amber eyes, then looked to Stacy. He came to sit next to her and rubbed his head against hers, letting her know that he was there with her. For a moment, it was just the two of them in a shared sorrow.
West of Sharpedo Bluff, in a place where the sun was just touching the horizon, Dialga watched over the repairs of his tower. There was a flash of golden light as a small group teleported there. He turned his head and saw a smaller quadruped legendary Pokemon. With her were the three triplet pixies. "ARCEUS, WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE?"
"Checking up on you," she replied. Her voice seemed like a graceful musician, gentle but powerfully touching. "Communications have been terrible lately. How's the repairs coming?"
"I'M NOT GETTING TREMORS ANYMORE. I'M JUST ABOUT FINISHED, BUT THERE'S STILL A BIT OF INSTABILITY SOMEWHERE. DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON?"
"We're looking into it."
"Someone fooled us with a mirage," Uxie said, with a touch of shame. "We thought Arceus had given us the Time Gears to guard, but they were the ones stolen from here. We're sorry; we didn't notice."
Dialga bowed his head. "I'M ASHAMED THAT I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE THAT THEY WAS GONE. AND SOMEONE THREW UP ALL THOSE LITTLE LOOPHOLES IN TIME TO DISTRACT ME. I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED."
"We're here to ask about that," Arceus said. "We're interviewing everyone."
"AH. I UNDERSTAND. I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I KNOW. MY MEMORIES OF THAT TIME ARE MUDDLED BY INSANITY, I HOPE YOU KNOW."
"Who's crying?" Mespirit asked, distracted from their intended mission. The distraction seemed to annoy her brothers as much as the crying bugged her.
"I'VE HEARD THAT TOO," Dialga admitted. "THOSE ARE TWO OF THE HEROES WHO SAVED ME FROM RUIN. THEY LOST TWO OF THEIR OWN, WHEN THE TIME TRAVELERS ENDED THEIR OWN EXISTENCE TO END ALL POSSIBILITY OF THE ERA OF DARKNESS COMING."
"They knew what would happen to them," Uxie said. "I've gotten small reminders of them. I can't remember much, but I remember that."
"THEY DID. HOWEVER, THEIR SELFLESSNESS CAUSED THEM MUCH PAIN, BOTH TO THEMSELVES AND THEIR ALLIES. BUT I BELIEVE I HAVE ENOUGH SLACK IN THE LOOPHOLES TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT." He focused his power for a moment, then called out across the fabric of time. He found the souls of the two heroes and pulled them back into reality.
Arceus observed, sniffing the air. Then she added a call of her own, like a trumpet calling out to the heavens.
"What did you do?" Azelf asked.
"He restored the heroes, which is good," Arceus said. "I restored the memories of those who were connected to the era of darkness. It is certainly something that should not be forgotten. Although, it may cause you and many others great pain at first."
"What kind of…?" Uxie started to ask, then suddenly had a memory of a time when he died. "Oh… ugh."
Dialga rolled his eyes. "SHOWOFF."
Mewtwo was working with Mew on a project. As he recorded statistics from the experiment, his mind found itself drifting off on strange tangents. It was like there was something he should remember, but he couldn't. But he was certain that he didn't have amnesia or the like. Maybe it was just the transfer out of a life of imprisonment and solitude messing with him.
Then, without warning, he heard something like a trumpet call in his mind. That had to be Arceus, doing something. And when she did, Mewtwo found himself with years of new memories, not of the past, but of the future. He stumbled upon a memory of a human girl called Sally and found himself smiling. So it hadn't been fully forgotten.
"Oh my gosh, I died?" Mew asked, freaking out. "What kind of cruel person sets up my death like that?"
"Someone who no longer exists?" Mewtwo suggested.
On the beach, Stacy and Kip noticed a bright golden light appear near the tides. When it cleared, there were two beings standing there: an albino human and a pale Grovyle.
"Trey! Sally!" Stacy got up and ran over to them, Kip soon behind her. The Squirtle hugged Trey. "Oh my goodness, where did you come from?"
"Huh?" Trey looked up at Sally, who looked just as bewildered. "We're not sure."
"But you're back." She put her head on his chest. "That's what matters."
"Yeah, somehow." Trey put his arms around her.
"Do you think they won't notice us if we quietly stay here?" Kip asked Sally slyly, causing her to laugh and the other two to get embarrassed. But they were soon laughing too.
Things were set straight now. Everyone had come back home.
Everyone had come back home.
It was a night of a million stars, the night of the new moon. It was a dark roadside, quiet save for distant cries of wild Pokemon. It was still. At the crossroads, a shadow stirred and came to life. He had white hair falling down part of his face, back behind his black wings. Even Darkrai had come back.
His heart was racing. One moment, he was enjoying the coming glory of his beautiful realm of darkness. The next moment, it all came crashing down around him. So much effort had gone into it that he thought it was secure. His memories showed that the era of darkness had been as he desired, a dark, untrusting, more real version of the world he was now in. But had it all been a house of cards, ready to fall at any moment?
Looking up at the starry sky, he felt a small comfort in being under his moon phase. But in several hours time, the hated sun would come out and force him into the shadows once again. He had mechanisms that should still be at work in this era. Did he have the chance to pick up some abandoned plans and set things back to how he wanted them?
As he thought, he became aware of an incoming teleport. Multiple Pokemon were coming in. He could go away and hide. However, sensing who it was, he decided he'd best stay where he was. It was time to face the music. A sense of fear and dread crept into his heart. Although it had been a long time since the last incident, he wasn't the only legendary Pokemon to have broken the rules. And the punishments inflicted for such behaviors? Incredibly stiff and harsh. Getting put to death would be a light sentence for what he had done.
Arceus and the triplet pixies appeared at the crossroads. Darkrai gave a gracious bow, trying to keep any doubts and fears hidden. "Good night, Lady Arceus."
She nodded. "Good night, Darkrai. What are you doing?"
"Admiring the stars," he admitted. "Thinking." He was also thinking that, between Azelf, Uxie, and Mespirit, it would be almost impossible to lie or avoid the truth. Almost. It was time to see if his practice had worked.
"We need to ask you about certain events that have recently been remembered," Uxie said. "The future of darkness remains a puzzle to be solved."
"Does it? You may find it hard to find those willing to speak on it."
"Did you survive long into it?" Arceus asked.
"I did. It was a lonely and cruel time. No stars in the sky. They seem more beautiful tonight, now that I have remembered it." Which was, in a way, true. If he could find a way to have endless night, he would take it in a heartbeat over endless darkness.
"Do you know what caused the collapse of time?"
And now… for the first complete lie. "No."
Not a single one of the four reacted. Arceus went on. "Did you become one of the Primal Pokemon?"
Darkrai had to restrain a feeling of glee. So far, so good. "No." That was true; he couldn't stand the thought of losing his mind by giving in to wild magic.
"Did you work with the rebels gathered by Celebi?"
"No. I would not have been much use to them. It's not easy for me to live around others who try to have peaceful nights." That was a truth he would rather have told as a lie.
There was a smile of sympathy from Mespirit; she at least was fooled. Arceus continued the interview. "Did you witness the major battle when the rebels brought Temporal Tower to Amp Plains?"
"No." It had been such a magnificent display. Darkrai couldn't have orchestrated a greater horror with his nightmare powers, but everything came together in one gory moment of glory and pain.
"Did you have any contact with Celebi, Mew, or Mewtwo in the era of darkness?"
"No. I don't have contact with them normally." In fact, he couldn't think of any of the other legendary Pokemon with which he had normal regular contact with.
"Did you have any contact with the human Sally or the Grovyle Trey?"
He paused, deciding on what to tell. "I do not know this Sally you speak of. However, I met a Grovyle named Trey in that time."
Arceus nodded slightly. "What happened?"
Darkrai put his hand to his chin. "Hmm… oh, perhaps I did come close to Celebi then. I am still relearning those memories. I met Trey in Treasure Town. We spoke for a little while; he did not trust me much, but I traded him some TMs in exchange for food, which I was running direly low on. While I was there, I felt some nightmares from Celebi. But I didn't stick around long enough to see or speak with her. The Grovyle may have been assisting her."
While he was paying attention to them, someone else approached the group on the road. It was another one of the legendaries, but one Darkrai tried hard to avoid. Cresselia floated over to them. "There you are," she said, a touch hostile. "I've been looking for you."
He narrowed his eyes in irritation. "Oh have you, pretty spirit?"
"Let's not fight right now," Azelf said.
"He is cooperating with us," Uxie stated. "He has been honest thus far in our interview."
Hearing this, Darkrai felt an immense sense of relief. He could get away with his abandoned plans. The era of darkness would return. He continued answering their questions, denying having made a mirage of Arceus so cunning that it fooled the mirage masters in the triplets, or having done anything to Dialga or Palkia. Then, as the group turned their attention to Cresselia, he slipped away into the shadows.
He would hold control over the world and remake it to his wishes once again. But first, he should probably do something about the fools who undid all his careful work. He moved to Treasure Town, to discover more about the ones who restored Temporal Tower.
A/N: I finished the main game in twenty-four chapters! hehe. But it's not the end of the story, not yet.