"I just don't see why we can't at least try to talk to them."

Just as in every still moment since I came to this world, Lira's face appears within my mind. I try to focus on my mission—or even just small, basic tasks—all I can, but somehow she always returns to haunt my thoughts. Beyond that simple fact that I can't stop worrying about what happened to her, her memory is quickly becoming a strange sort of conscience for me.

Heh… Even when she's not around, she's still has a maddening way of demanding to be heard.

Circumstance had forced my hand. In order to make the quickest and safest route to the third Time Gear, I chose to cross what had historically been known as severe terrain even before the Planet' s Paralysis. I thought I could manage it, but I didn't account for the heat being a problem of its own—it was never an issue in the world I knew. Now I find myself at a watering hole among a cluster of strangers. This is one of the last situations I wanted to run into on our mission.

I'm not actually all that far from the Limestone Caverns, so I guess the mines were so isolated that news about the second Time Gear hasn't spread yet. But it will. Sooner or later, someone will wonder what happened when those Pokemon don't return to their homes and then come looking. And they'll see what I—what happened to them and that the land itself has frozen still.

The people here are clueless about there being any sort of problem. They go on about their business like everything is normal, so I'm not even sure if the news about Treeshroud Forest has reached this side of the continent yet—or if just this sparse area is oblivious. Even still, I can't help remaining on edge as I sit among them. If they—any of them—knew what I was doing or what was tucked away within my satchel, then these faces that smiled so naively at one another would turn on me with hatred in their eyes in an instant.

And somehow I'm still able to keep a still expression. After all, so long as they don't see what's in my bag, here I'm just as nameless as any of them are to me. Kneeling by the water's edge, I splash some of the cool liquid in my face and on my shoulders before lowering my head to take a drink.

"Fine then," I can still see her smirk with knowing mischief, "then I'll do the talking. You can do what you do best and sulk in the background like a surly bodyguard."

Maybe this is part of what's driving me crazy, and what's making me think of that moment. As we were packing for our mission and the day drew near to take the Passage of Time, Lira had argued with me in private as she had a handful of occasions on just how confidential our mission would have to be once we came to the past. We both knew the panic and damage we would cause because of our work, how many innocent people would suffer because of us. We both knew it was also a huge gamble, but she wanted to try to work with the Pokemon of the past in order to protect as many of them as possible, even if it risked putting ourselves in danger by telling them the truth.

After we've lost so much, and knowing that all of this will only be a temporary cost to them in the end, of course I refused it. Even if we told the truth, it would sound insane to even the most tolerant of minds. And either way we would risk playing the villains in their eyes. Keeping them in the dark and hiding our identities is the best way for our mission to succeed. I wasn't the only one who thought so either: The other resistance leaders also weren't found of her idea.

"Half the time, the Council has to lecture you for unleashing that fiery tongue of yours when you shouldn't," I had countered.

"And yet they still know that I can improvise a speech enough to throw me to the Mightyena whenever they see fit."

I blame Ri for sparking that in her, causing her to place ideals above reason when her wellbeing was at stake. He always put her first, just as I did, but he had also led by example. I know his sacrifice—and the loss of other rebels under her command that followed after his death—pushed her into thinking she had to become that same kind of martyr.

She meant everything to us and nothing to herself… I guess if I had any one regret for bringing her to the Resistance, it would be that: At least when it was just the two of us I could teach her to be selfish enough to survive.

"Grovyle, we can't just keep things a secret from them. Even if we're doing the right thing in the end, we can't just turn ourselves against innocent people who don't know any better. Even if they don't believe us, there's no harm in telling the truth."

"No harm in it until they try to drag us to an asylum or unless Primal Dialga sends one of his agents after us."

"So what are you thinking we should do then? Just avoid everyone we run into? You know we'll probably have to stop in a town eventually, or we might even need to get help."

"If we're forced to take that kind of risk, then we'll take it, but we won't throw away everything we've worked for just to comfort them! We're already throwing our lives away for them as it is!"

I should have taught her to be more selfish, but I'm not cut out for this like she was either. We both signed on to save these people and the world they're taking for granted, but she could bring herself to really care about them. I can't. If I'm honest, I'm scared of them. I just know that what we're trying to accomplish is bigger and more important than any of us in the Dark Future combined.

Or even any of them. I'll keep secrets, I'll lie, I'll fight them if it comes to it all to see this whole mess through until the very end.

I start to fill the water skin I had brought with me. If I keep along my current route, I should eventually make it to Craggy Coast. Given how unforgiving the territory I'm now in is though, there's no guarantee how long that will take. Not to mention if I avoid the main trails once I reach it, just like when Lira and I did when she was little, it'll take even longer. If things like this keep happening, I'm not going to have much of a choice but to run through the more densely populated areas in order to save time.

It's so hard to think that I'm actually going toward that side of the continent alone. The last time I had travelled so far east was when the resistance had made its attack upon the Stockade. I didn't even think about it before, but that horrible place won't even be standing yet this far back into the past. The entire layout of the land will probably be different than in the world I knew. Will I even be able to recognize it?

A shrill scream snaps my gaze upward, but I calm down soon enough when a small chorus of playful laughter follows it. It's just some kids splashing each other in the shallows of the water on the far opposite side of me.

I can't maintain my nerves here. I need to get going.

Rolling my shoulders back in a long stretch as I get to my feet, I seal the cap of the now full water skin and tuck it back into my bag. The water I had splashed on myself has already evaporated, and I'm just left with a lingering cool against the burning heat that sears down from above. Despite it all though, I still can't help but feel renewed from the light. I shouldn't be the one enjoying it, but whenever I do feel the sun against my scales it hardens any wavering resolve I might have.

As I pass the smiling, oblivious strangers that encompass me, a part of me wishes that they actually were in some sort of panic over the missing Time Gears. If that was the case, than maybe I'd have some idea of how far the news had spread, maybe even far enough to reach my missing partner. Because from this point forward, a fight for the remaining Time Gears will be nearly impossible to avoid. Each of the last three will be protected by the Lake Trio: Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit. While they were frozen in time in our world, they're going to be as active as ever here in the past—and I highly doubt I'll receive a warm welcome from any of them. I don't know if Lira's Styler would work on a legendary, but at least the two of us would've stood a fair chance against any one of them in a battle. However, from the looks of things, it doesn't seem like I'll have any choice but to stand against them on my own.

Fighting together would've been our best chance. More than just for the sake of my worries, I need her now more than ever. But I can't do anything except move forward. Maybe I'll even have to give up on the hope that she's even still—

I curl my hands into fists at my side, shaking my head. I can't afford to think like that. This is what we've both staked our lives on. Even if I never find her, fulfilling our mission is the only thing left that I'll ever be able to do for the both of us. And besides, she's too stubborn to die easily: She has to be alive.

Arceus, be with us… I'm not one to pray often, but I silently do so now. From here on out, I'll need as much favor from the divine powers that be as I can get.