Chapter 29: I Don't want to Say Goodbye
Welcome to Chris's Head
For all that was happening at that moment, I think it was justified to have a swarm of butterflies in my stomach at that point (Or maybe Butterfrees? I mean, it does fit the world, I guess).
The more I wanted to tell Val what was about to happen, the more I couldn't bring myself to say it.
"Chris, we're here," said Val.
I was too absorbed in my own thoughts to even notice.
"Chris! I can't do this without you. Come on, we need to hurry," said Val.
I was pulled out of my thoughts and looked up at her. "What?"
"Now isn't the time to be absent-minded. Please, for everyone, try to focus," said Val.
"I-I, can't focus... I, need to tell you something."
"What is it?"
Now I know how Grovyle felt! "It's just, I-" My tongue kept beating itself up.
"If something's wrong, just tell me, please." She had no idea.
"It's nothing important," I said. Yes it is, you sodding fool! TELL HER!
"Come on," said Val encouragingly, "We're partners, you can tell me."
"I-I-" I couldn't. So I decided to try saying the next hardest thing. "I-I kinda like you."
"Oh, really?" asked Val, "What do you mean 'like?'"
"Uh... Um... I, uh,-" She suddenly tackled me with a kiss.
I closed my eyes and almost wished the moment would last forever. But before I could, it was already over.
"That was the first time I kissed a guy," said Val.
"Same here." I suddenly realized, "I mean girl!"
She hit me lightly. "I know what you mean, stupid. Can we go now?"
"Y-Yeah, sure."
"Besides, didn't we already establish that five minutes ago?"
"Err, I dunno?"
She laughed, "You're so stupid. Come on, we need to hurry."
She stepped off of the Stoneship. Before following, I looked around. We were at the end of a floating stone pathway leading up to-
"So that's Temporal Tower," said Val.
"It looks kind of like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, minus the lean of course."
As if on cue, a tremor shook the ground, and the tower vibrated. It's quite a thing to see a stone tower over two-hundred feet high oscillate. Very, very unnerving. Temporal Tower gained a little lean.
"Well, someone up there really likes proving me wrong."
"Let's hurry! Temporal Tower might already be collapsing!" yelled Val.
We ran up to the base, and very quickly restored our supplies at the Kangaskhan Rock very conveniently placed there.
"Ready?" asked I.
Val said, "Yep!"
We began to scale Temporal Tower.
"This is some incredible architecture," I observed.
"How many floors are there?" asked Val.
"I saw a sign at the bottom saying it's 13 floors to the spire, which goes on further."
"And the spire?"
"They say that's where they were defeated."
"Oh dear."
We marched onward, sometimes backwards because of a Confuse Ray from a Bronzor, but we mostly kept going up and up.
The Tower was very modern, almost like the interior of a futuristic office building, but it was also very broken.
The ninth floor was blindingly bright, and then the tenth was dark and flooded with water.
It was just our luck that the stairs were surrounded by a pool of water.
"Well," I said, "Looks like we'll have to swim."
"Swim?!" panicked Val, "Maybe there's a way around..."
"Hey," I said, "Look at me."
She looked at me with panicky eyes. "I can't swim."
"As long as you're with me and I'm with you, nothing can hurt us, okay?"
She nodded.
"So, just follow me."
"Can you even swim?"
"Yeah. Just follow my lead, and don't panic."
I jumped in.
"Come on," I said while I treaded water, "the water's fine!"
"You know, I think I saw something over in the corner where it's dry..."
"Val, trust me."
She jumped in.
"Chris!"
I grabbed her and helped her to shore.
"Just keep kicking, alright?"
When we got to shore, she said, "Never make me do that again."
"Only if we need to-?"
"NO. Never."
Val got her inner flame up and got us all dry again, and then we walked up the stairs.
We went on until we came to a lobby on the thirteenth floor.
"Let's rest a little bit," I said.
We each had an Apple, but then there was another tremor. This time, I could see pieces of the tower falling outside.
"We need to hurry!" insisted Val, "If Temporal Tower collapses, then time will stop!"
On the sixteenth floor, we were ambushed by a Porygon, a Porygon 2, and a Porygon Z.
"Get 'em!" said Porygon 2.
Porygon charged at me, but then he was knocked off course by Porygon Z, who had charged at him.
"THEM! Not us, you crazy shit," said Porygon to his crazy cousin.
I Aura Sphere'd Porygon while Val Flamethrower'd Porygon 2.
Porygon Z shrugged and floated away.
"Something tells me he's crazy," I said.
"How do you know it wasn't a she?" asked Val.
"Do you want it to be a she?"
"Now that you mention it... no."
We kept going.
By the twenty-second floor, we were pretty beat, and then just to our luck, we stumbled into a Monster House.
"Crap!" I exclaimed.
"Oh no, I don't think we're going to make it!"
A Metagross who seemed to be head of the horde said, "Heh, you two are gonna make pretty good trophies.
We were about to be demolished, but suddenly, someone came to our aid.
He got between us and him. Whoever it was spread out his red and blue tentacles, and they suddenly became hands.
"Deoxys?" asked Metagross in shock.
He turned to us. "Get out of here, the staircase isn't far. You need to save time."
"Wha- why?" I was stupefied.
"I got the message from Celebi. GO!"
We turned and ran for the staircase.
When we made it up those stairs, we were on the roof.
"Holy shit," I said, "We made it to the top."
"Temporal Pinnacle," said Val, "This is it."
Suddenly, there was a loud boom.
We looked up and saw a red swirling maelstrom of thunderclouds. Lightning was jumping from cloud to cloud and the whole thing looked very fierce.
"The sky's going crazy!" said Val.
"We need to figure out what to do!" I stated.
We looked around, and eventually, my eyes settled on a stone decoration with the intricacy of a stained glass window.
"Check that out."
We walked up to it. It was on top of an elevated platform with almost a full flight of stairs. It was very ornate.
"That's an odd circle design," observed Val.
It was very odd, but it looked as if there were five slots. Five Time Gears.
"Val! This is where we need to put the Time Gears!"
"Do you think so?"
"Definitely! Check it out! Five slots, five Time Gears!"
"That makes sense. Let's try it."
I had just taken one out of Grovyle's satchel when everything went dark.
"Crap," I said, "That's never good."
A force blasted us away from the stairs.
"WAH!"
We flew through the air and crashed to a halt twenty yards from the platform. The Time Gears were scattered around its base.
"YOU HAVE COME TO DEFACE THIS PLACE?!" Bellowed a voice.
I muttered, "It was like this when we found it..."
"Chris!"
Someone appeared in front of us when the lights came back on.
"Dialga!" we yelled.
He was incredible, almost eight times our size. His diamond glistened, and there were orange lines tracing down his blue and white body. He stomped his front foot and bellowed, "LEAVE THIS PLACE IMMEDIATELY!"
"Hang on," I said, "We need to put the Time Gears in their place!"
"YOU HAVE NONE!"
"But if you look behind you-" I was interrupted.
"LEAVE OR DIE!"
"He's going crazy," said Val, "We can't reason with him."
"Alright, we have no other choice. We'll have to beat some sense into him!"
"We're going to fight Dialga!?"
"We have to."
I led in with a Quick Attack. Val used Flamethrower.
Neither attack did anything and Dialga responded with something much more powerful.
"RAAAAH!"
He roared and it was almost as if we were being crushed by an 18-wheeler. And you don't want to know how that feels like.
Dialga used Roar of Time.
We were both immediately on our knees, so to speak.
"Shit! He's strong!" I said.
"What do we do?"
"Find cover!"
We ran behind some pillars, and Dialga started firing powerful Water Pulses at them.
"Good thing he's lost some intelligence along with his reason," I said. He could easily walk around the pillar.
"These pillars aren't going to hold for very long," said Val, "We're doomed!"
"There has to be something we can do!" I insisted. Suddenly, I realized something. "We don't have to beat him."
"What?"
"We only need to put the Time Gears in that thingy over there!"
"So? We can't get there while he's attacking us."
I thought a while longer. My mind drifted back to my last night at the Guild.
"...they're Hollywood blanks! ... Their loud report and especially large flash are very useful for distraction."
"I have an idea," I said.
"What is it?" asked Val hopefully.
"I'll distract Dialga, and you'll go put the Time Gears in their places."
"That's suicide and you know it!"
I wasn't afraid. I was already told I was going to die, so that was old news. I instead retorted, "Not doing it will get us both killed. Besides, I have a few tricks up my sleeve."
Val said, "Just- please don't kill yourself. I don't know what I'd do without you."
That one caught me off guard. I put the consequences out of my mind, and said, "When he comes at me, run."
I ran out, waved, and yelled, "HEY ASSHOLE! OVER HERE!"
Dialga came over and fired a Water Pulse at me.
I dodged and taunted, "Come on, you big ugly bitch."
Behind him, I saw Val start running. Dialga realized what we were trying to pull, and turned around and went for her.
Val screamed.
I pulled out my Glock and fired it at Dialga.
A little known fact about firing blanks is that they can still injure out to 2 meters.
They sting quite a bit.
"ARGH!" Dialga turned around and charged at me.
Val was shocked at my gun, but she kept running.
"You want some more?!" I said as I ran. I fired more shots at Dialga.
The rounds kept him busy.
"YEAH! Take that!"
I was leading him around, and even getting a little cocky.
Then the slide locked back.
"Oh, shit!"
Without the blanks to hold him off, Dialga was able to catch up to me.
I hope I bought Val enough time...
Welcome to Val's Head
I made it to the platform even though Dialga scared me.
I was a little shocked with Chris's gun, but I ignored it and collected all the Time Gears.
The Gears were scattered everywhere, so it took a while to find them all.
I finally got all five into Grovyle's satchel, and I hauled them up the stairs.
I was just about to start putting them in when I saw something that really scared me.
Dialga had caught up to Chris, and he was crushing him with his foot.
"Chris!"
I ran up to them and launched a Blast Burn. It was enough to get Dialga away from Chris, barely.
He was bruised all over, and I think he might've had some broken bones, but he managed to cough, "Val! The Time Gears!"
"I couldn't leave you!"
"Go!" he yelled, "I can hold him off a little longer!"
"But-"
"GO!"
I left Chris and went to put in all the Time Gears.
I counted off each one I put in. "One, two, three, four- where's the fifth?!"
I looked, but I couldn't find it.
Suddenly, someone flew at me.
"WAAAAH!" Chris landed in a bloody heap.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"The Gears," he moaned.
"I can't find the last one!"
He reached into Grovyle's satchel, and pulled it out.
"Oh..." I said. I felt really stupid.
He tried to stand, but he couldn't. He fell, and the Gear rolled to my paws.
I picked it up and slotted it in the last hole.
"We did it!" I yelled.
Chris softly repeated, "We did it. Holy shit. We did it."
Suddenly, the biggest tremor yet striked.
"What's going on?" asked Chris as he struggled to get up.
I fell down. "I don't know! Were we too late?"
The tower was struck by lightning, and it was beginning to fall apart.
Everything was consumed by a white flash, and we both fainted.
When I came to, Chris was shaking me.
"Damn it, this place is a war zone. Wake up, Val! I can't have you die on me, not after- everything," said Chris. His voice had cracked a little. "There needs to be at least one of us left."
I opened my eyes. "Hey, are you crying?"
"N-No! Just, something in my eyes," he said.
"You were crying, weren't you?"
He hugged me. "Just shut up."
"What did you mean by 'there needs to be at least one of us left?'?"
"I-I don't know." He was lying.
"What happened?"
"YOU ARE AT TEMPORAL TOWER," called Dialga.
"Whoa!" said Chris, "D-Don't kill us!"
"Don't worry," he said, "I've got my wits about me this time. Temporal Tower has taken heavy damage, but it survived. Now observe."
He placed a foot against both of us, and all of a sudden, I saw a field.
"Uh," said Chris, "I'm sorry, what the hell?"
"Dialga must be using telepathy to show us this." I said.
"Hang on, this- this is Treeshroud Forest! Time's been restored!"
"Now that Temporal Tower is safe, time has been restored everywhere." explained Dialga.
Then, the view shifted to a view of Treasure Town.
"Hey, everyone's alright!" I said.
The market was bustling, and I could even see Marill chasing Azurill to Kecleon Market.
"Wow," said Chris.
The view shifted over the sea to the Hidden Land, which had been ravaged. It had been torn in two, almost. Lapras could be seen doing laps around where we got off.
"Heh, she's working hard," said Chris.
"What happened to the Hidden Land?" I asked.
Dialga explained, "It was ravaged as time tore itself apart. Fortunately, you two got the Time Gears in their place just before it passed the point of no return."
"Oh," said Chris, "that reminds me. Why was time screwing up in the first place?"
"Um," said Dialga, "That's, err, sensitive information."
He coughed.
The view shifted to Temporal Tower. It had large chunks missing (floating away, actually) and it looked like it shouldn't have been standing.
"Whoa," said Chris, "Do you not have gravity here, or something?"
"It will be repaired, don't worry."
Our views returned to normal.
"The Time Gears have been returned to their rightful places, and time has been restored where disrupted," said Dialga, "You should go, now. Lapras is waiting."
"Okay," I said.
We scaled down the tower. All the time, Chris seemed, I don't know, fidgety. As if he felt something terrible were about to happen.
We were walking back to the Rainbow Stoneship when a weak tremor struck.
Welcome to Chris's Head
With all these tremors, you'd think I'd have gotten used to it by now.
However, this one felt as if it was meant for me.
I lost my balance and fell forward.
I quickly stood up before Val could notice.
"Wow," she said, "Things must still be settling down. Let's hurry. Lapras might be getting worried."
"Yeah," I said. Something told me she was only worried about one of us, though.
We kept walking, and I kept thinking: Why am I still here? When will I be erased?
"Come on, Chris, hurry up!" said Val, "If we hurry, we might make it back in time for dinner."
She knows me so well. I picked up the pace, but it was hard; my legs felt like they were made of lead.
I wonder what death is like. Is it maybe what I'm feeling now?
"Chris, seriously. You're usually the one who's begging me to speed up. What's wrong?"
"I-I've kept a secret from you," I admitted.
"What?" Val's eyes went wide, and she suddenly asked, "What's that light?"
A light was beginning to envelop me, but it wasn't like how my aura flared when I got emotional. It was, different.
"I-I think this might be it..."
"This might be what? What haven't you told me?"
"I never told you what Dusknoir told me, and what Grovyle confirmed," I said.
"What are you talking about?"
"When we changed what happened here, the future will disappear."
"What?! Why?"
"Without what caused it to happen, it never will happen. The only reason I'm here, right now, is because time was destroyed. And now that everything's settling down," I began to tear up and my voice cracked, "There's just one thing left to fix."
"No," said Val.
"Me."
"No! You can't go! You- You're the only reason I was able to become an explorer in the first place!"
"I'm not that important, cosmically. Everyone'll get on fine without me around," I insisted.
Val yelled, "Don't say that! You're important to me! You matter to everyone back at the Guild. They care for you!" She sniffled. "I need you."
I said, "Please, don't cry. If you cry, then I'll cry, too. And I promised myself I wouldn't cry."
"But, you're my partner. You can't go."
"I don't want to go, either. Val, if there is an afterlife-"
"Don't talk like that!"
"-then I'll never forget you. Can you promise me you won't forget me?"
"You know the answer to that."
"Thank you." I chuckled wryly. "You know, at the beginning of all this, I couldn't wait to leave. But, you know what?"
"What?" asked Val.
"Now I don't want to say goodbye."
"Neither do I," said Val through tears.
"But, even though you gave me the best time of my life, I have to say it." I tried to smile as I said it, but I'm still pretty sure I cried. "Goodbye, Valerie."
Suddenly, the light became unbearably bright to me, and I lost all feeling.
Welcome to Val's Head
And all of a sudden, when the light was gone, my partner, who had come to mean so much to me, was gone.
And then, I did the only thing left to do.
I cried.
A/N: I always have a soft spot for ending like this. I really hope I didn't butcher the emotional scene up. I can never get anything other than humor or soft feelings in because I'm a callous bastard who can't cry when sad things happen in books. Except for that one time, in Bridge to Terabithia, when-
Oh, God. *sob*
Alright, maybe I do have a heart. But I'm still pretty sure I can't evoke those kinds of feelings. Anyhoo, I'm almost done here. I'm going to make the next chapter a rush order. If we're lucky, I can get it out later today.
Okay. *insert review request here* This is CrizBN, signing off.
