Chapter 28: Dusknoir's Redemption

Meanwhile, the meanie-butts just stood there, scratching their heads. "But I can't even make any X Parasites that turn into parasitic spiders," complained Zoroark.

"So whut teh heck r Wii supposed 2 do now?" wondered Zark.

Zork stared at us and remarked, "I dunno. But lookin' at dem n00bs like dis reminds me of somethin' Wii did a while back…now whut wuz it…?"

We were still clamped to the wall, restrained from using any of our attacks to escape. Kirby's mouth was still sealed, so all of his shouts were muffled. Finally, Big Amy couldn't take it anymore. "Quit fighting and get us out of here!" she shouted to them.

"Yeah…What she said!" agreed Chikorita.

Zoroark glared at them and replied, "Too bad for you, Amy and Chikorita," spitting out their names like it was a vile cuss word. "Queen X gave us strict orders. We'll have to torture you until you tell us everything. Now, what kind shall we do?" He then paced back and forth, thinking. "Should I make you eat worm guts? Pour acid on you? Test out that new yanking machine? Bring in one of our Space Pirate generals? Trap you in one of your tragic pasts again? Or maybe—"

"Ooo, I know, I know! Pick me, Boss-Man! Pick me!" shouted Zork in enthusiasm, jumping up and down.

Zoroark sighed and replied, "Yes, Zork…What is it?"

"Let's dissect 'em like Wii did last time!"

My face paled as those horrific memories came flooding back. "No…"

I should've held my mouth. Oh wait, I couldn't. My arms were tied. Right then, Zoroark snapped his head in my direction and smiled nastily. "Of course. You are a genius. So. Boys?"

They saluted him. "Yeh, Boss-Man?"

"Prepare for dissection!"

"w00t! w00t! w00t! w00t!"

They followed him up a sloped walkway to a command terminal hanging above the door that Queen X just left through, laughing evilly. Zark and Zork sniggered such things as, "I call teh probe!" and "No, I wanted teh scalpel!" My heart raced again. How could we barely escape one torture method, only to fall into another? Samus hissed at me in disappointment, "Amy!"

"I'm sorry! It was involuntary!" I desperately explained.

The meanie-butts activated the command terminal. A load of sharp-looking implements popped out from the command module, all attached to a table-looking thing that was attached to a metal arm. The arm moved the table full of sharp implements so close to us, we were worried that we'd get poked. Luckily, it stopped. The meanie-butts stepped down and walked right up to us, looking scarier by the second. Zoroark surveyed us all and asked, "Hmm…now who should I work on first? Perhaps Team Pecha? Or maybe that blasted Grovyle?"

Zark cut in, "Teh has-been-famous-but-now-n00bish Bounty Hunter Sa-moose! U've gotta pick her!"

"Yeh! Dem non-human n00bs have reelly weerd biology thingies dat make no sense!" added Zork.

Zoroark thought for a few more seconds and suggested, "What about…HER?" His eyes aimed straight at me, and I gasped again. "After all…she probably has more of that resurrection fluid."

The two Space Pirates started jumping up and down in excitement. Zork raved, "Yeh, yeh, Wii seriously need more of dem l33t 1-Up froot joose drinks! Man, dat wuz gr8! &, &, our l33t homies still wanna know sum' of their bio…biololo—whut wus it again?"

"Biologies, Zork," explained Zoroark.

"U're a genius, Boss-Man! U r so l33t!" agreed Zark.

"I try, Zark, I try." He pulled out a dissection implement and flashed it to them. "Well? Shall we? Watch…and learn." He stepped towards me.

"N—now wait…hang on a second here…!" I panicked. "Let's be reasonable!"

He leaned right into my face and hissed, "Reasonable? Weren't you listening to our grand mistress? 'All's fair in love and war', remember? This is most definitely war. The Clone War. No, the clone war to end all clone wars!" He stepped back, but only for a bit. "Well, well, well. Amy [you know who]. I still clearly remember the day I pulled you out of your home dimension. You have no idea how long I've waited for this day…for you to be at my mercy…instead of the other way around! Now, I shall give you one last chance. How did you get here and what were you doing these last four weeks?"

I glared and shot back, "I never even knew you, Zoroark. But I have a feeling that even if I told you, you'd still go through with it, just like Queen X. You're bluffing."

He glared. "Fine then. Suit yourself. I really hope wherever you came from actually prepared you for the trauma of probes. There will be no anesthesia this time. Oh and by the way…we're filming this right now so that all the Space Pirates can watch and learn." He pointed to the video camera in a corner of the ceiling.

"WHAT?" I shouted in dismay. A video camera? No one ever told me about that! Not only did I have to go through this embarrassing (Ugh! I hate that word!) humiliation again, it had to be made public? But he wasn't taking no for an answer. I shut my eyes. I couldn't look. The dissection needle was aimed straight for my heart. When it was mere inches away, I shouted, "No, no, no, no, NOOOOOOOOOO!"

Suddenly, another ripple of invisible energy ripped through the air, knocking the dissection implement out of Zoroark's hand. "Ow! What the flagnog…?" he exclaimed.

At the same time, Samus exclaimed, "Ow, ow! Owowowowow! So THAT'S what it was…"

"Samus? What is it?" asked Grovyle, genuinely concerned.

"It's this thing here—OW!—poking me in my side! OW! Probably some Flux Capacitor!"

We all stared in confusion. "Flux capacitor?" asked Zoroark.

"Yeah! That's what's been making those ripples of energy whenever you guys get too close. Queen X must've forgotten to take them out of here. Wanna see?"

I was really confused by this point, but I just watched as Zark and Zork ran up to Samus, rubbing their claws in anticipation. Zoroark was just as confused as I was, but he followed them anyway. "It's right down there," she explained, trying to move her waist away from the confines of the titanium band. Zark peered down and simply replied, "I don't C nothin'."

"Of course not, you idiots. It's wedged between the band and this wall. Really tiny, too. Open it up. You'll see what I mean."

Zoroark narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Now wait a second here…!" right when Zork smacked one of the many buttons on the wall. Instantly, all of Samus' shackles popped open, and she leapt into action. She karate-chopped Zark, kicked Zork in the jaws, and shoved them against Zoroark. Then she unleashed a flurry of martial-arts moves so fast I couldn't describe them fast enough even if I wanted to. She moved so quickly, she might as well have kicked up a cartoonish cloud of dust. After she pummeled them all, she kicked out her laser whip, wrapped them up, and threw them against the table of dissection stuff, snapping them all off the table. They slammed against the far wall with all of those implements on their backs. Ouch.

Apparently, she had already swiped Zark and Zork's hexagonal Star Fox-like reflector shields. She threw them like ninja stars into the video camera in the upper corner of the room, shattering it. Finally, she picked up the Suit Deactivator Beam gun off of the floor where Zoroark dropped it and cracked it in half against her knee. Instantly, her Power Suit and my spacesuit reactivated.

"Whooooaaa…" we gasped in amazement.

She walked up to the wall with the load of buttons on it and pressed them all. We were released. Right when I was about to congratulate her for coming up with such a genius plan, she explained, "I have more experience with these kind of situations than you guys. There was no such thing as a Flux Capacitor. At least, none that I'm aware of," she explained. We stared.

"Huh?" asked Kirby.

"I made that up. I actually have no idea what was causing those disruptions, but judging by how Queen X reacted, I'm guessing it was because of that Arceus guy. Now let's go."

Samus led the way. We ran through the hallways and rode up elevators. There was the occasional Space Pirate that stood in our way, but Samus dispatched them all quite easily. Finally, we arrived at the place where we crash-landed. Samus' ship and all four Air Ride Machines were still there, and so was the giant hole in the roof we made.

"Sorry, Lady. You know I can barely move in a place like this," apologized Adam.

Samus somersaulted in and quickly replied, "That's fine. I wasn't really counting on you to crash into that torture chamber. Now we've gotta get to Planet Portania before Queen X."

"Planet Portania? AGAIN? Why?" he asked, exasperated.

"To save Arceus," I explained. "I'm pretty sure he saved us all back there. If Queen X gets to him first, and captures us all again, we'll be screwed."

"Hurry it up already!" shouted Grovyle, blasting off on his Jet Star.

I activated my Ylla wings and took off after them. As soon as Samus and Adam cleared the Space Pirate ship, they started charging up the hyperdrive. "You guys might want to hang on, okay?" suggested Adam. So we did, all five of us. Big Amy on the Slick Star, Kirby on the Winged Star, Chikorita on the Warpstar, and Grovyle on the Jet Star all hung on to various handholds on the ship, while I grabbed onto a handhold right above the cockpit window.

The hyperdrive activated. Turned out that we didn't need to hold on as tightly as I thought we would. But at the same time, I thought it'd be a bad idea to let go, so I didn't. I enjoyed the sight of the wormhole as we sped down it, taking in the rainbow colors of lights from billions of stars as we traveled many times faster than the speed of light. It was only 30 minutes before we exited hyperspace and saw the entirety of Planet Portania below us, once again.

Grovyle explained for us, "Okay. Arceus lives in a secret place called the Sky Temple, and getting there won't be easy. We need both Dialga and Palkia's permission so that they'll open the entrance for us."

"So we have to visit them both at Temporal Tower AND Spatial Rift?" asked Chikorita.

He looked pained, but he told the truth. "…Yeah. That's pretty much it."

"GAH! If only they taught us how to use Teleport…" groaned Big Amy.

"There's no other choice, is there? Grovyle, point us to where we should go first," ordered Samus.

"Temporal Tower is this way," he replied, pointing in the direction of the sea to the west. "Follow me."

He flew on ahead of us, along with Chikorita and Big Amy. I surveyed the scenery along the way. The continent and the ocean looked just as I remembered it in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, but there were a lot more futuristic-looking villages scattered along the way. But as I remembered Temporal Tower, a little detail unnerved me. "Hey, Grovyle? Since Temporal Tower is hidden between split-seconds and all that, don't we need to ride on Lapras or someone like that?"

"I don't think so, Amy. These Air Ride Machines—and you—can fly on water, right? We should have no problem at all." He looked ahead and shouted to us, "Over there, where the waves are all twisted up! Follow me!"

He swooped down to sea level and hovered right above it, heading to an odd distortion ahead. We all followed suit. Just like in the game, the sea receded farther and farther from us, until we were flying again. We flew thought the wall of light and ended up in a place with yellow clouds surrounding us. Purple lightning coursed through the clouds, and a giant floating island that I remembered as the Hidden Land floated right in front of us.

"Whoooooaaaa…" uttered Samus and Adam in awe.

"I remember this! I remember this! It's just like in the games!" I shouted in excitement.

"We're flying! We're flying! WA-HOOOOO!" cheered Big Amy and Chikorita.

Kirby piped up, "It's fwoating! It's fwoating! I wuv fwoating islands!"

"Never thought I'd live to see the day I'd ever come back," whispered Grovyle. He then angled his Jet Star up and shouted to us, "There's Temporal Tower! Follow me!"

Chikorita stared in disbelief, "What are you talking about? Don't we need the Rainbow Stoneship—Oh yeah! We can fly! WE CAN FLY NOW!"

Big Amy and I couldn't help but laugh. Samus, Adam, and Kirby were just confused. Nevertheless, we followed Grovyle to the top of the tower on a rock formation floating high above the Hidden Land. I looked down at it to see the forest below. Then the rocky ruins, and finally the square pyramid Mayan-inspired altar thingy where the Rainbow Stoneship was. Looked like it hadn't changed at all in 500 years. "Oh yeah…where we all said goodbye…" whispered Big Amy. She and Chikorita silently began to cry.

Grovyle looked behind at them and whispered, "I know, I know. I really missed you guys too." As I looked ahead at Temporal Tower, thankfully without a red thundercloud hanging over it, I realized this whole place gave me a sense of déjà vu. I mean, this was where the final battle took place for them. And now, our final battle with Queen X seemed to be coming on fast. It felt sort of fitting, yet sad at the same time.

Finally, Grovyle took us in for a landing on the column-lined roof. The one and only 17 foot tall Dialga (not Primal Dialga!) stood in front of the Time Gear altar, waiting for us. They hopped off of their Air Ride Machines, and I slowed down to the yellow-brick ground, deactivating my wings. I followed my friends' lead and bowed to the guy in reverence.

"AMY, CHIKORITA, AND GROVYLE, THE HEROES OF TIME. WHAT BRINGS THE THREE OF YOU HERE?" he boomed in a hollow voice I always imagined him using. "OH? AND WHO ARE THESE LIFE FORMS?"

Grovyle introduced us. "This is Amy [you know who], a human very much like Amy here. This blue puffball is Kirby, a Star Warrior." He then turned to the orange ship and introduced them. "And in there are Samus Aran and Adam Malkovich. They helped bring Amy and Chikorita here from the past. We're all friends here."

Big Amy stepped forward and explained, "Dialga! We need your help! There's this evil lady called Queen X that's coming here to kill Arceus, and she looks exactly like my friend Little Amy here!"

"ARCEUS?" he asked.

Chikorita continued, "You know him, right? Little Amy said that he's the one that's higher than you, and that he's the one who brought Grovyle and everyone in the future here back to life, right?"

"THAT IS CORRECT. I PRESUME YOU ALL ARE HERE TO REQUEST MY PERMISSION TO OPEN THE SKY TEMPLE?"

"Yeah yeah yeah!" agreed Big Amy and Chikorita.

"THEN I DO NOT SEE WHY NOT. PERMISSION GRANTED." He then stepped back to issue a mighty roar into the sky. "GRROOOOOAAAR!" It sounded just like the roar in the games, but at 100 times the loudness or so. He really blasted my eardrums.

He then showed us a projection with a view of the world outside. There was a mass of pure-white clouds high in the sky. Right then, at its base, a tiny pinpoint of blue light lit up. Adam remarked, "That was it? That was all we had to do?"

"CORRECT. I TRUST THAT YOU ALL SHALL SAVE THE WORLD ONCE AGAIN. GOOD LUCK, CHILDREN."

So after we thanked him, we flew out of the Hidden Land. I strongly suspected that the main reason he trusted us so readily was the fact that Team Pecha thanked him like crazy all the way back then. Palkia, on the other hand…I wasn't so sure about. We followed Grovyle to a place to the far east of the continent, where Spatial Rift lay hidden. But I didn't recognize the way at all, and neither did Big Amy nor Chikorita, since they were warped there by Palkia himself. But just at that moment, Palkia himself warped right in front of us in a ball of yellow light. "AMY! CHIKORITA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? I THOUGHT YOU WERE JUST EXITING MY DOMAIN."

Samus and Adam reacted badly. "Zoroark!" gasped Samus. Adam charged up the ship's lasers and growled, "You won't get away this time, you sadist!"

I flew right in front of them, motioning for them to stop. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa WHOA whoa! Time out, guys! I'm pretty sure he's the real Palkia!"

"HUH? WHAT ABOUT THE REAL ME?" he asked. So of course, after setting the Air Ride Machines to hover in place, we had to explain everything to him, especially the part about how Zoroark liked to morph into him. "…UH-OH. SO YOU ARE SAYING THAT THE TWO OF YOU I MET BEFORE…WAS PROBABLY ZOROARK?"

We heard a keening noise and looked up. The cloud already had a pink light lit up to the blue one, and right below it, a red light lit up. The three lights combined to shoot a beam down to the ground far away. "…I think you mean Queen X," I replied. The rest of my friends looked at Grovyle in confusion.

He smacked his forehead. "Of course! Sorry, guys. I forgot. We needed Giratina's permission, too."

"SOMEONE ELSE GOT INTO THE REVERSE WORLD, APPARENTLY," explained Palkia. He then turned to us and barked, "WELL? HURRY UP AND RESCUE ARCEUS BEFORE THIS QUEEN X OF YOURS FINDS HIM FIRST! JUDGING HOW SHE FOOLED ME EVEN AFTER DARKRAI PULLED THE SAME TRICK ON ME 500 YEARS AGO, HE WILL DEFINITELY BE IN TROUBLE!"

We changed course and did what he said.

Turned out that we had to land on the ground first and take the warp up to Sky Temple, as it wouldn't let us enter via the air. By that time, a crowd of Pokémon had already seen us and was following our shadows around. The warp point was in the middle of a crowd of mountain, in which Samus explained to me, "That's the place where I crash-landed! …500 years in the past, at least." Big Amy replied in excitement, "Maybe Quartzite Cave is still there!"

We landed right outside the mountain range. There was a path through the mountains this time. Samus somersaulted out of the ship. Grovyle led the way, followed by me, Big Amy, Kirby, Chikorita, and Samus, in that order. Unfortunately, a whole crowd of Pokémon seemed to choose that moment to swarm in front of us, blocking our way.

"His Royal Awesomeness, Prince…GROVYLE!" It was that same Exploud guy with his welcoming committee of trumpet-like Pokémon that I still had no idea who the heck they were. Kirby was absolutely stunned. "You're a PWINCE?" he exclaimed.

Grovyle slapped his forehead in exasperation. "Not now, guys!" he groaned. And then, to our surprise, he sharpened his Leaf Blades and smacked the entire welcoming committee (with the blunt edge, of course) into the stratosphere. In response to our bewildered expressions, he replied innocently, "Hey, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do, right?"

The crowd of Pokémon noticed me next. "Look! A human!" one of them shouted. They charged. We gulped. The sight of the stampede froze me in place. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. This was just like before. I started to panic.

And right when I would've turned back and run for my life…something inside me snapped.

My wings shot out. My arms glowed with energy. An energy shield materialized around me. Everyone stopped, about 5 feet away from me, and stepped back a bit. And I shouted, as loud and as angrily as I could, "That's IT! I've HAD it with you guys! All we need to do is get UP there before my EVIL TWIN kills Arceus and destroys your whole freakin' world! And what do you do? You try to play the same STUPID tricks on me since Day 1! It's always 'dissect this!' or 'probe that!' Where is your sense of CONSIDERATION, people? You're all supposed to be civilized Pokémon, for crying out loud! Do you have ANY idea what I've BEEN through? DO YOU? Now get out of our way before you make the same STUPID mistake you almost made 500 freakin' YEARS ago!"

It was deathly silent, except for when Big Amy whistled, "Wow…You're good, Little Amy!"

And then the crowd went wild again. "AMY?"

"There's ANOTHER Amy?"

"Lemme see! Lemme see!"

Then I heard a poisonous warbling voice that I remembered. "Hey! I know her!" Yeah. It was Toxicroak.

"GAH!" I couldn't take it any more. I smashed right through the crowd and followed Grovyle, with my friends right behind me. Any misgivings I might've had about kicking Pokémon butt were quickly drowned out by just how ticked off I was about how I was constantly being experimented on. I could barely hear a member of the crowd shout, "Hey! It's the legendary Team Pecha!" nor Big Amy and Chikorita constantly apologizing, "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" over and over again. At least they didn't have to hit anyone, thanks to my help. Grovyle whispered to Dusknoir ahead of him, "Now she knows how I felt."

Wait.

Dusknoir?

The 7-foot orb-like Ghost Pokémon happened to catch up to us, leading the way through the mountain pass into the valley where the warp point was. "Grovyle, my good fellow, you HAVE befriended some amusing compatriots during your recent sojourn!"

"You can say that again!" They laughed. By that point, the rest of the crowd ran away in terror, having never before seen a really ticked-off human demonstrating the full extent of her Ylla powers. Except Dusknoir, of course. He never seemed to be afraid of anything except dying. Seeing that the threat was gone, I calmed down, having my wings retreat into my back. Dusknoir was still staring at me oddly, and I suddenly felt a bit embarrassed (Ugh! I still hate that word!). "Um…hello, sir," I muttered sheepishly. "Sorry about that." I pointed my thumb to the retreating crowd behind me.

"Oh! Please, don't trouble yourself on my account, young miss! Nice to make your acquaintance! And you are—?"

"AAAAAAH! DUSKNOIR!" screamed Big Amy and Chikorita, finally noticing the guy. Samus sprung into action and somersaulted right over our heads, shouting, "YOU!"

Luckily, Grovyle had fast reflexes, and defended Dusknoir in time, knocking Samus back. "Jeez! Control yourselves, people! Can't you guys take ONE STEP here without freaking out or hitting someone? I keep telling you—he's a good guy now!" he groaned in exasperation.

"I know, right?" I then turned to Dusknoir and apologized, "I am SO, SO sorry about my friends, sir—"

"No offense taken, miss. Address me as Dusknoir, if you may! And you are…? Wait…If I recall correctly, Grovyle had already mentioned you. Of course! You are undeniably that same omniscient Amy [you know who] that they were debating over whether you were malicious or not!" Then he noticed Samus. "And you! You must be that cybernetically enhanced human, the Bounty Hunter Samus Aran! I believe it was your ship they all stowed away on."

I stared, dumbfounded. "Grovyle mentioned me to you already? When did that happen?"

"After he…you know…" explained Big Amy euphemistically.

"Inconceivable! You two have the exact same radiation frequencies emitting from the coronas of your very souls! How can you two exist in the same temporal and spatial locations? This defies the very laws that govern the fabric of the universe."

Grovyle couldn't take it anymore. "Oh…give me a break, already!" He smacked his forehead again, and even though I caught him in time, he still fainted, for the first time in his life.

So I was stuck in the uncomfortable position of carrying along the unconscious Grovyle while following Dusknoir and leading my three friends who didn't exactly trust him very much. We didn't have long to walk until we saw the warp point, but in the meantime, Dusknoir quizzed my omniscience ability by asking me random Pokémon trivia questions. I knew the answers…to about half of them. Looked like the Pokémon world changed a lot within the past 500 years. He also asked Samus to provide details about her job as a Bounty Hunter for the Galactic Federation, and Kirby to explain what he did as an official Star Warrior.

"So we just step in that glowing area, and it's supposed to beam us up there?" I asked.

"That's correct. At least, that's what I presume. I wonder if Grovyle will require the services of a Reviver Seed…"

He didn't. Right then, he just had to wake up. "Amy? What do you think you're doing?" he asked me suspiciously.

I overreacted again. "AAH! Nothing! Sorry!" I sputtered, dropping him.

"Calm down, calm down. I knew you were just trying to help me. Thanks." He then turned to the glowing circle. "Well, let's not waste any more time." So we all stepped in.

"Whoooaaaa…!" we all exclaimed. We felt our bodies being stretched up for a second, sending a really ticklish feeling down our spines. The next thing we knew, we felt ourselves being scrunched back to normal, and found ourselves suddenly standing on a mass of clouds. "So it COULD beam us up!" I concluded while looking up at the Greek-like temple-tower surrounded by a cylinder of white clouds in the shape of a hurricane. It glowed with the sparkling golden majesty of the sun's rays, nearly blinding us. It reminded me of a combination of Sky Tower from the first PMD games and Destiny Tower from the second. Who knew? Maybe it was Destiny Tower in the future.

"This is Sky Temple. It is Destiny Tower 500 years into the future," explained Dusknoir to Team Pecha. Hey! I was right!

Chikorita shivered as she looked down to the ground that must've been at least a mile below us. "W—w—w—w—w—we're pretty high up, huh? S—scary…" It was true. We could see the entire continent below us. The wind howled as it swept my hair along with it. It felt refreshing, yet really chilled me to the bone at the same time, despite my spacesuit. No wonder Chikorita was chattering.

"C—c—c—cold…" chattered Big Amy. Looked like I wasn't the only one who thought so.

"I know," replied Grovyle. Though he did his best to hide it, his face revealed all.

Dusknoir stared at us in confusion. "I fail to comprehend your discomfort. Grovyle, you and I endured much more chilling temperatures at such places like the Icicle Forest."

I just realized the reason, so I explained to Dusknoir. "Samus saved us all with Metroid DNA. It makes us immune to X Parasites, but makes us weaker to heat and cold. Speaking of which, Queen X might come any minute now. Why are you coming with us, Dusknoir? If she finds you, you're toast."

"Me? To bear witness to the exploits of such valiant children as you! No supposed 'parasite' can scare me away from the opportunity to assist in any way I am able. Even if I cannot comprehend what this 'Metroid DNA' you speak of."

"Okay…Suit yourself," I conceded, shrugging my shoulders.

With that, we finally entered through the tall open gates of the first floor of the temple, bordered by the glowing blue, pink, and red lights. I looked all around myself in wonder. There were massive yellow brick walls all around us, peppered by brilliant white clouds. I swore that some of those walls actually moved around sometimes. I uttered, "Wow. I just realized this. This is my first time going through a mystery dungeon, ever!"

"And mine," agreed Samus.

"Me too! Me too!" Kirby added.

Dusknoir turned to me and replied, "Oh, really? Well then. Allow me to explain. Mystery dungeons frequently materialize upon this planet. They are fluid spaces in which the walls are in flux at the constant rate of 3 feet per minute, and Pokémon that reside in such spaces have their brain chemistry temporarily altered. Their synapse speeds powering their aggressive instincts in the neocortex region of their cranium are amplified by a factor of 5.03, therefore spurring them to attack strangers on sight within .52 seconds, and—"

"LOOK OUT!" I shouted, pushing him out of the way of a bat-like creature that looked like an enemy from a Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game, except that it had a heart for a single eye. Dusknoir simply responded with a Shadow Punch, dispatching the little bugger in one shot.

"No need for concern, Amy [you know who]. I am able to defend myself with more than enough sufficiency. Conserve your energy. Allow me to defend you too."

"Hey! Count me in, too!" Grovyle added.

"Okay…? I guess…" They seemed pretty dead-set on it, so I figured, why not?

So we ended up walking in this order: Dusknoir was the leader. Then Grovyle, me, Big Amy, Chikorita, Kirby, and finally, Samus. She could handle threats from the back just fine. I looked all around for stairs to the next floor, although I personally couldn't see how stairs could possibly reach the high 30-foot ceiling. Finally, we saw it. It wasn't actually stairs—it was a smaller version of the yellow warp circle that beamed us up here in the first place. "Now, the objective is to locate these devices on each floor quickly. Usually they take the form of stairsteps, but this time, this is what we are given. If we fail to locate these within the time limit, usually ten minutes, the dungeon shall eject us to the outside."

Right then, we all tried to pile onto the little circle, but Dusknoir held out an arm to stop us. "One more word. Only one of us needs to step in. Then we all move on to the next floor." To prove his point, he stepped in, and we all felt that warping sensation again. Then we found that we rose 30 feet in the air and landed on the 2nd floor.

"H—hey, Dusknoir? How many floors does this dungeon have, anyway?" I asked.

"I actually do not know. However, it cannot be more than 99."

Samus' jaw dropped, I think. "Ninety-nine? We don't have time for that! What if Queen X is here already?"

"Relax, ma'am. If I could execute a group of humans—no offense, young miss—frighten one of their own, pursue Grovyle for five years straight, endure two Roar of Times from Primal Dialga, survive his rage and a thrashing, become the most respected entrepreneur worldwide, AND handle the first extraterrestrial encounter, I am certainly most able to hasten your journey through this mystery dungeon before said female parasite. Don't you concur?" He spoke all of this while floating backwards and shooting Shadow Balls at each and every Pokémon that came our way, many of whom I suspected were Ghost-types.

"O…kay…?" she replied, in complete awe.

So we continued on like that, following Dusknoir through the shape-shifting mazes, defeating aggressive Pokémon, and finding the warp points to the next floor. It sort of felt like going through the Tower of Salvation from Tales of Symphonia, only it was a lot easier, more cheerful, and not quite as religious.

Along the way, Dusknoir just wouldn't stop talking. He claimed he could "exercise [his] vocal chords perpetually and it would only superficially damage [his] esophagus", and I believed him. He didn't even need water bottles, berries, or anything! It must be lucky being a Ghost-type. I didn't complain, though. I paid close attention to every word he said, and wished I could speak as intelligently more often.

Meanwhile, Big Amy and Chikorita were starting to get restless. "Hurry up already!"

"Girls, I am already moving with as much haste as I can muster. This is my maximum speed—"

Just then, Samus interrupted him. "I am so STUPID! My Speed Booster!"

"Oh yeah!" I agreed. Why didn't I think of that?

"Speed Booster?" asked Dusknoir in confusion.

"Yes. Sir Dusknoir—may I call you that?" He nodded. She continued, "—I happen to possess a miniature engine in my Power Suit that can multiply the velocity of my top speed by a factor of 10.32, provided I have a 20 meter running start. Perhaps I should demonstrate it for you?"

We all stared at her in awe. "Whooooaaa…I didn't know you could talk like him, Samus!" whispered Chikorita in awe. I suspected that she just wanted to prove that she was on his level, too.

"Why, certainly, ma'am," he agreed.

She ran up to 20 meters behind us and called out, "You six better hold onto something." Then she charged right at us, and right when she reached us, her Speed Booster kicked into action. She ran right into us and pushed us as one giant ball of mass, with Dusknoir in the center. He was flabbergasted.

"In—inconceivable! Monitor your speed, ma'am! We're on a collision course—!"

"TELL ME WHETHER TO GO LEFT OR RIGHT!" she ordered.

"Right! I mean, left! Left! Right! Straight! Right! Straight that way, into the warp device—!"

It probably would've been lots of fun if I wasn't scared half to death, hanging on for my life, though I quickly got used to it thanks to that practice with riding Air Ride Machines that one time I was in Big Amy's body. Samus pushed Dusknoir along, and we all hung onto him, mostly on the front where we could expend the least effort. The Greek-like scenery sped by so fast; even the wild Pokémon couldn't catch up to us.

Even in the midst of all of that insanity, I was still able to check my watch from under my spacesuit from time to time. I lost count of how many floors we were beamed up, but two hours had passed by the time I could tell we were getting close to the end. By that time, Samus was finally starting to tire out.

"So…this tower really is…99…floors…?" she gasped.

"Do not let up hope now! See that exit?" Dusknoir pointed to a warp point that was twice the diameter of all the normal warp points we went through. "That probably means that this is the 99th floor!" He then threw a few Oran Berries and Max Elixirs at us. I wasn't sure if we needed them, but I politely accepted them and ate and drank. I was thirsty! Turned out, they actually tasted really good, and my energy level shot back to the max!

The 99th floor. Wow. So there were 100 floors in total? Who cares? We ran for it and landed in it at the same time. Even Samus found the energy to make that final leap.

We were beamed to an impressive-looking altar on top of the tower. Four massive arches converged to a single point 50 feet above us. The wind howled, and it was even colder than usual. We walked to the center, wondering where the heck Arceus was, or for that matter, Queen X. "Are we…are we too wate?" worried Kirby.

Just then, we heard a hollow voice boom out. A very familiar voice to me. "SHEENA…?"

We looked all around, but I grew excited, while everyone else was just confused. "Sheena? Where?" I asked. Was Sheena from the movie Arceus and the Jewel of Life here? I was used to all of these crazy crossovers now, but this one didn't make any sense. She lived in Michina Town, for goodness sakes.

"Who is this…Sheena?" inquired Dusknoir.

Right when I was about to explain, a bright light materialized in front of us. We shielded our eyes. It was Arceus! Dusknoir and Grovyle saluted him in reverence, and Big Amy, Chikorita, and I followed suit. He floated down and whispered again, "SHEENA…? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Looking at me.

"I'm Sheena?" I asked, dumbfounded. Then I came to my senses and corrected him. "No no, wait! I'm not Sheena! My name is Amy. Amy [you know who]."

He then took a closer look and apologized, "OH. MY BAD. YOUR AURA HAPPENS TO FEEL EXCEEDINGLY SIMILAR TO HERS…" Just then, I thought back to the movie and remembered that Arceus made the same mistake with Sheena herself when he mistook her to be Damos for a second. Okay, now this made more sense. Without warning, though, he grew angry, and boomed at me, "WAIT A SECOND! YOU'RE A HUMAN! HOW DID YOU GET HERE?"

"It's them, Arceus! Help!"

We gasped. "No way…" whispered Chikorita.

She was already there. Queen X fell down from the arches and landed right next to Arceus. We reacted immediately. My wings shot out, and I aimed a ball of energy right at her. But just at the last second, surprising all of us, Arceus set up a shield and blocked our attacks!

"Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Arceus!" exclaimed Queen X bowing up and down. To my dismay, I realized that she looked exactly like me this time. Same age, same height, same outside personality…she even wore the exact same spacesuit as me! "I told you Queen X would be coming with her nasty army soon. She wants to kill me! I would never have gotten away from that torture chamber of yours had it not have been for your help."

"HEY, ANYTHING TO PREVENT THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM FROM COLLAPSING. TRICKY PARASITE, THOUGH. SHE REMINDED ME OF SHEENA."

We couldn't believe our ears. "WHAT?" we exploded.

"She's lying, Arceus! She's the real Queen X! She wants to kill you!" I argued.

"LIARS," he huffed. "SHALL I DISPOSE OF THEM?" he asked Queen X.

"No wait, stop! The X Parasites will try to infect you once you defeat them! Just stall for time so I can get back home!" she pleaded with my trademark panicking skills. What hurt me the most was how perfectly she could emulate my personality. If I were in her position, I'd react exactly the way she would.

"HOME?" he asked.

"Yeah, let me explain! Queen X over there said that only you had the power to break through the shields she placed around this dimension! She trapped me in here so she could kill me! And when you saved me back there, she went out to kill you so I can't escape! Now come on! Open up that portal so I can get out of this place and go home! I don't wanna die here…I just wanna go home!" With that, she started crying.

Big Amy gasped, "Wait, wait! Arceus, you can send Little Amy back home so Queen X can't kill her? She can live?"

My heart soared. "I don't have to die?"

He started to open up a wormhole that would surely lead back to my home dimension, but he kept the shield up that prevented me from moving any closer. I pounded on it over and over again, "Let me go! Let me GO!"

Dusknoir added in, "Lord Arceus, don't you recognize me? I am the world-famous Dusknoir! You personally resurrected Grovyle and me and everyone else who otherwise would've vanished when Team Pecha here altered the course of history!"

He paused. "DUSKNOIR…?"

"Yes! Hear me when I assert that I am 100% positive that this human here is undeniably the real Master of the Universe, and that human there is that female parasoid, Queen X!"

Arceus stared for what felt like a long time. He muttered to himself, "I CAN FEEL IT. IF THAT IS THE REAL DUSKNOIR…AND WHAT HE SAYS IS TRUE…WAIT! THERE ARE TWO AURAS?" He took a closer look at Big Amy and me, and at the same time, the barrier started to falter a bit. "IMPOSSIBLE. HOW CAN YOU AND AMY OF TEAM PECHA HAVE THE SAME—? AAAAGH!"

Queen X struck him.

"Noooooo!" we all shouted. The wormhole closed before the barrier disappeared. We all leapt into action, but each of her wings snaked around us, binding us tight and sending waves of powerful energy through us.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" gasped Arceus, with one of Queen X's wings strangling around his neck. "DON'T YOU WANT TO GO HOME…?"

Queen X smiled nastily as she morphed into her preferred 22-year-old form. Her wings changed accordingly, now sending pulses of dark energy through us. She whispered nastily, "You chose wrong, Arceus. I am Queen X! And there is no way I shall ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER allow you to let the Master of this Universe escape and plot my doom. She's mine now! MINE! You hear me?" To prove her point, she then sent waves of X Parasites into him, sealing his fate. She let out an evil laugh as he fainted. "Long live the X Parasite Empire!"

"You murderer…you murderer!" I screeched. I finally built up enough energy to shove my way out of her viper-like grip and blast her with an explosion of Ylla energy. Though it looked like she took some damage, it didn't slow her down at all. She unleashed a swarm of X Parasites that morphed into various other Pokémon.

"The Pokémon from the Forgotten Plains!" gasped Dusknoir. "So you were the mysterious monster!"

While my friends were busy fighting off those Pokémon-X's, I leapt straight for Queen X and continued to fight her. "How could you? How COULD YOU?" I continued shouting. I was desperate. It was just as I feared. Queen X infected Arceus like it was nothing, just like the parasitic monster she was. Furthermore, I promised Dialga and Palkia that I wouldn't let anything happen to Arceus. How could I face them now, knowing that I failed so miserably?

"Don't get so worked up over the death of a fictional character, you Metroid crybaby," she sneered.

I screeched, "He's not fictitious! He's real! He's real! And you killed him!" I was beyond being reasoned with at that point.

She dismissed me with a flick of her wrist and smirked, "So? He's not real in your home dimension. Besides, it could always get worse. Much, much worse."

"No it can't!" I retorted.

"Oh, yes it can."

She surveyed the battle below and found that all of her Pokémon-X friends had already been dispatched and absorbed. Before I could ask what she meant, she swerved right around me and shot straight for… "Dusknoir! Look out!" I shouted.

Luckily, he turned around in time and stopped her with a powerful Shadow Ball. Grovyle swung into action and used Leaf Blade on her as well. Even Big Amy and Chikorita pitched in. But it was clear that Dusknoir wanted to finish her off himself. "Don't do it, Dusknoir!" I panicked. "If you beat her, she'll infect you!"

He didn't seem to listen to me. "I shall prove that I am worthy of fighting alongside you…you, the Heroes of Time!"

"We're the Heroes of Space now, you idiot!" I probably shouldn't have complained over a trivial little mistake like that, but I was desperate to get him to stop. He didn't. With one more black hole beam from his stomach, he…actually beat her!

Unfortunately, she wasn't the massive mess of Core-X's fused together, like I expected her to be. She was actually a slightly larger-than-normal X Parasite, but not big enough to warrant the need of an outer shell like a Core-X. We could only watch in slow motion as she enveloped his body and entered, seemingly strangling him in the process.

"NOOOOO!" I shouted. Not again. Not him!

"Dusknoir! Dusknoir!" Big Amy and Chikorita screamed over and over again.

He struggled to hold onto life and barely choked out, "Amy…Chikorita…I must apologize…I hurt you two…all this time. Can you…ever forgive me? Did I…do the right thing?"

"We forgive you! We forgive you!" gasped Big Amy.

Chikorita added, "I always knew you became a good guy! I just…didn't want to believe it. I'm so sorry! If only…I could've done something…"

"Relax, child…I am glad…I could finally put you…at peace. Master of this Universe? I am glad…I finally got to know you. Promise me you shall always fight for the life you've always wanted."

I nodded, even though I couldn't stop the tears. "I promise, Dusknoir. I'm glad I got to know you too…"

"Good luck, Heroes of Space...and goodbye." With that, he lost consciousness. Probably forever.

Big Amy and Chikorita ran up to me, and I hugged them close just like last time. I didn't know if we'd ever stop crying that time. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. I didn't care what Queen X said before. Nothing was fair in love and war. Here Amy and Chikorita finally forgave Dusknoir for his crimes…and now he just had to die. And after I swore I wouldn't let anyone die like this in my universe ever again, too! But for me, the horrible things he did to Amy and Grovyle in the past just could not compare to the treachery that Queen X unleashed on all of us. I knew how he honestly had a change of heart and tried to do the right thing. Just by calling us the Heroes of Space…he truly had redeemed himself.

Just then, I heard Queen X's nasty voice whisper in the air. "I told you. I can always make it worse. You vowed to never kill off another character in your universe ever again? You make me laugh. Once you start, it's fiendishly addictive. I should know. In that nearby universe, I've personally slaughtered over 900,000 life forms in the past 4 weeks, and that was without the help of my loyal subjects! It really is quite an art form. You like art, don't you? Why don't you try it?"

My friends all looked around. Seemed like they could hear her too. I screeched out to the air, "'Art form' my butt! Where the heck ARE you, Queen X?"

"My, my. Such vengeance. You could become a natural at this. Nevertheless, this was all a diversion."

Samus gasped, "Of course! You can copy yourself over and over again. We only killed one of your subjects, didn't we? There are probably 100 of you running around the galaxy…if not 1,000!"

"Very good, Samus Aran. But I'm sure you already knew that, Amy [you know who]! I'm sure you also knew that Sky Temple was also the name of Dark Aether's version of the Great Temple, where the Emperor Ing lives. You DID know that, right?"

I lost my breath. I didn't know that! Guess it went to show how much I played Metroid Prime 2: Echoes...absolutely none, even though I really wanted to.

"You didn't know that? You're supposed to be the expert on foreshadowing! Where is your storytelling instincts, girl?" She cackled up a storm before continuing on. If only I could punch her...! "Anyway, I'm waiting for you here, talking on a brain-wave device that only you and your disgusting Metroid friends can hear, in the city you love most, preparing my final attack on all of galactic civilization…in the Galactic Federation. Soooooo many leaders of soooo many life forms! Can you taste it? You'd better hurry, Metroid child…to Captial Planet Earth!" With a deep, maniacal cackle that sent shivers of anger up my spine, her voice faded away.

We were speechless. "Why didn't I figure it out sooner?" I groaned.

"Uh, yeah, Captial Planet was actually short for Capital Planet Earth. A lot of species don't like to use the full name, especially if it implies that one species is superior to another," explained Samus.

"No, not that! I mean, her plan makes perfect sense. You were right, Samus. If the X Parasites ever escaped, galactic civilization would end. And where better to start than at the place where representatives from every planet meet?"

"You're right…" she agreed, her face paleing.

"We'd better hurry," replied Grovyle.

Looked like that was where the final battle would take place. On Capital Planet Earth.

To be continued…

Coming up next: We hurry on over to Capital Planet Earth to stop Queen X's dastardly plan. But she was right about one thing. She always manages to make things worse. How much worse? Well, for starters…she turns the city of my dreams, Gaijin City, into…The City of My Nightmares.