Chapter 27: Carrying on the Mission

I heard a groan and turned to Grovyle as he got up. I asked him if he was okay.

He rubbed his head, "Yeah, I'm fine. Such a vast trip through time really takes it out of you."

I nodded, "Well… we're back in the past. This is the beach where Meowth found me." I walked towards the cave and found the spot, "It was right around here where I washed up."

He looked over at the spot, "So that's what happened. That trip through time sent me into the Eastern Forest. That means we reached this world far away from each other."

Hearing that, I said, "Actually, Grovyle, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask a few questions. There's a lot that I don't remember and more that I don't understand about the situation."

"Very well. But this place isn't exactly private; we should find somewhere else to talk."

I nodded, "All right, how about Wigglytuff's-" The look that he gave me stopped me midsentence. I rubbed the back of my head, "Oh, right; wanted for stealing Time Gears."

"Correct. They would try to capture me on sight."

"Yeah." I gave it some thought and remembered something from earlier. "Wait, there's one other place that we can go. But we'll have to go across Treasure Town to get there."

"That shouldn't be a problem if we lie low and sneak through. Lead the way."

I led him to the crossroads and he found a route through the trees behind the shops until we reached Sharpedo Bluff.

I think that he reached under… here. I reached down and lifted the fake bush to move it out of the way. "Here we are. Meowth showed me this place shortly before we got pulled into the future. He lived here before joining the guild." We went down the stairs and I placed the fake bush back over the hole.

Grovyle looked around, "I see. A hollow chamber in the face of the cliff. It seems to be in pretty good condition. It would be better if we stayed here for a while." I looked around in the crates and found some food inside them. After setting up some hay beds, I found some wood in the corner. Using the rocks next to them, I started a small fire to keep the place lit while Grovyle and I started talking.

We sat down and I started the conversation, "So… Grovyle. You said that we were working to stop the planet's paralysis, but could you elaborate on that?"

He nodded, "Of course. You and I were jointly investigating the planet's paralysis. We worked side-by-side to find the cause by using your special ability, the Dimensional Scream, to look into the past. It played a vital part. It wasn't perfect, however. It had a drawback. The Dimensional Scream requires the presence of a trusted Pokémon partner. Without one, the ability cannot be triggered."

I tilted my head, "A trusted partner?"

"That's why we worked together. The Dimensional Scream is set off by triggers tied to places where the Time Gears are hidden. We needed to find the locations of the Time Gears by looking into the past. With your ability, we accomplished that."

"Wait, I understand the 'trusted partner' part, since I worked with Meowth and trusted him. But… the Dimensional Scream triggered even if the object had nothing to do with the location of the Time Gears. There were times before we were looking for the locations of the Time Gears that the ability triggered; our first rescue mission and our first exploration."

He raised an eyebrow, "Oh? That never happened in the future. I don't know why that would be different here. Perhaps the ability is different in this world due to time not being stopped yet. Anyway… Like I was saying, we were investigating the planet's paralysis. With your ability, we could identify where the Time Gears were."

Wait… When we were searching around Fogbound Lake…

"That's it! Here! A Time Gear is here!"

"I see! Place the Drought Stone in Groudon's Heart. That lifts the fog! Very well done! Good job, partner!"

And at Crystal Cave… That was Grovyle's voice!

Grovyle continued, "After identifying the locations where the Time Gears would be in the past, we took the Passage of Time. That brought us from our world in your future to this world. However… while we were crossing through, we encountered some sort of turbulence; as if there were a storm taking place right in the passage. We were unable to hold onto each other and we got separated after we were struck by a massive lightning blast. Thus we were separated. Somehow, the experience gave you amnesia and turned you into a Pokémon."

I crossed my arms as I processed the information. So that's how I wound up here… I was trying to change history and prevent the planet's paralysis alongside Grovyle. It's so unreal…

"I understand that you may not remember any of this, but… You were my closest friend. I worried about you when we were separated. I'm glad to see you're safe. You're appearance may have changed, and though you have lost your memory, you're still you. And none of this alters the fact that you remain my friend. Oh, Rio, I'm glad to see you again." He seemed to mean those words, but his words…

"You're still you, wit' or wit'out your memories."

I fought back the tears that threatened to spring to my eyes and nodded, "Thank you, Grovyle. I'm glad to finally know about my past again. So, we should probably plan out what we're going to do next. Meowth is still here in spirit, and he'd want a plan before doing anything."

Grovyle nodded, "We'll get him back, Rio. I assure you that. Now, we have to decide our next course of action. I'm sure that you've figured it out, but we'll have to collect the Time Gears again. Are you okay with that?"

I cringed a bit, "It doesn't sit well with me that time stops in the region where they're removed. You're absolutely sure that that's temporary, right?"

He nodded, "That's right. As soon as the Time Gears are set in place at Temporal Tower, time will be restored to its normal state everywhere."

"Okay then, we'll collect them together. Taking the Time Gears will cause trouble for Pokémon that live in those areas, but… we have to stop the planet's paralysis!"

"Very well. We'll go together. But the hour is late. We're also exhausted from all the running we've done. We should rest up tonight. We'll leave in the morning."

With that said, we laid down and I fell asleep almost instantly.

-The Next Day-

I woke up to the sound of rustling and saw Grovyle making a crude bag out of some of the fabric that Meowth had lying around. When I asked why, he said that it was quite inconvenient to carry the Time Gears in his arms, and that Dusknoir had taken away his last bag when he was captured.

After he shouldered the new bag, using a string to carry it over his shoulder, he said, "All right. It's agreed that we will collect all of the Time Gears. First we have to decide which Time Gear we should target. Do you have a map?"

I started rifling through the Treasure Bag, "Yeah, it's right he-… Wait… What's this?" Something in the bag felt out of place, which was odd because Meowth always insisted that everything be organized in the bag to get what we needed quickly. I slid the bag off my shoulder and opened the flap all the way and looked inside. After pulling the map out of the side pocket, I looked in closer. Then I jumped back like I had seen a ghost, because, in a way, I had.

Grovyle stepped forward, "What's wrong?"

I moved slowly back to the bag, to confirm what I had just seen. How could this have gotten in here?! It couldn't have…!

I reached in and pulled it out. In my hands was the Relic Fragment. Meowth's Relic Fragment.

Now I was thinking out loud, "How could this have gotten in here…? Meowth would've never let this out of his sight. And he had it tied to his- wait!"

Meowth pried one of the loose rocks off of the wall and started sharpening his claws with it.

"He had another rock the same size… Could he have switched them? I never got a good look at-"

"Rio!" Grovyle's shout startled me out of my reverie. Then he asked in a calmer tone, "What are you going on about? What is that? And why are you acting like it's something we shouldn't have?"

Turning to him slowly, I said, "This… is Meowth's Relic Fragment… Next to his life, it's probably the most important thing to him. Our first mission was getting this back from a couple of thieves. It's no exaggeration to say that this is his reason for forming an exploration team. For him to have misplaced it… It's just not possible! His mission for himself was to find where it belonged. There's a pattern on it too."

I held it forward and he looked closely at it, "I've never seen anything like it, even in all of our research about the past. This pattern is new to me."

I pulled it back and looked down at it, "The point is that Meowth would misplace the charm on his forehead before he lost this."

"Maybe he didn't misplace it…" I looked up at Grovyle and he continued, "Meowth sees more than he lets everybody else know. He may have realized Dusknoir's intentions soon after he was captured and switched it out. My guess is that he left a message for you, saying that he's trusting his mission to you."

I looked down at the stone in my hand. Wait. But that means that he thinks that he's not going to come back.

"I can't take on this mission." Grovyle's eyes widened, but I continued. "I'll hold onto this until Meowth is ready to take it back." Grovyle smiled, "Well spoken."

I put it back in the Treasure Bag and picked the Wonder Map up off the floor and unrolled it. Filled with new determination, I looked over it and pointed, "From here… the closest Time Gear is at the Underground Lake."

"True, but Mesprit will be there guarding the Time Gear. If we went there, not only would we have to fight her, but everybody would be alerted to our presence. How about Treeshroud Forest? That's where I got my first Time Gear when I was here last."

"Where's that?"

He pointed to the far right of the map in the forest area, "It's a little far from here, but there are no guardians there. Only the distance and vastness of the forest kept that one a secret."

I looked up and nodded, "All right, then. Let's go." We left the hideout and I made sure to replace the bush again before we snuck back through Treasure Town and got on the road.

-Two Hours Later-

We arrived at the entrance to Treeshroud Forest and we stopped at the start of the path. "This is it," Grovyle said, "This is the entrance to Treeshroud Forest." Then he perked up, "Oh?" He leaned forward as if looking for something.

I looked in also, "Something wrong, Grovyle?"

He narrowed his eyes, "The atmosphere somehow feels different than the last time." Then he shook his head, "No." He turned around, "I must be imagining it. We'll go in when you're ready."

I moved over to the Kangaskhan Rock and wrote in the journal before the base opened and I reorganized the items in the bag. Unfortunately, I didn't know what most of the orbs or seeds did (except for the Reviver Seeds) so I focused on food and recovery items.

I looked at the Relic Fragment and considered putting it in storage before I took the fabric that Meowth had stored earlier and tearing a strip. Using it, I tied it around the Relic Fragment and made a loop through the strap of the Treasure Bag, fastening it there.

Testing the fabric with a good pull, I found it to be secure. After that, I closed the compartment at the base of the statue and walked over to Grovyle, telling him I was ready.

"Good. There should be a Time Gear at the deepest part of this forest. I've been here before, so I'll lead the way."

Grovyle took the front and led me through swiftly and quietly. I quickly found out how somebody could be lost in this forest. After following Grovyle and taking several different directions, I could hardly tell which way was up anymore. Especially since the leaves of the trees around us seemed to knit together, blocking out the sun. Grovyle, however, kept moving forward like he was in his own backyard.

Something I noticed, though, was that the forest seemed to get… grayer as we went deeper. At first I thought that it was just because of the lack of sunlight, but then the trees widened into a glade. The sun was shining down and everything still had a gray tinge to it.

"Wh-what is this?!" Grovyle questioned aloud. We looked around and everything was frozen. There wasn't a breeze to be felt and dewdrops hung off of the leaves in mid-air.

"Time… is at a standstill here!"

I looked at him, "That can't be! Just before Meowth and I were dragged in with you, Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf promised to return the Time Gears to their proper places."

"But time remains stopped here…"

I was grasping for straws, "Maybe… they didn't put them back yet…?"

Grovyle turned to me, "We'll see about that. The forest's Time Gear was over there." He led me forward and the Time Gear was right there, hovering in the air, surrounded by its characteristic green glow.

I felt my hopes deflated, "A Time Gear…"

Grovyle looked up at it, nodding, "There's no mistaking it."

I crossed my arms, wondering aloud, "If the Time Gear is here, then why is time here still stopped? Everything is still as Chatot first described it."

Grovyle just gave me a glance and, without another word, he reached up and took down the Time Gear, slipping it into the bag he had. The pattern that the light created faded away and the area grew darker.

Shocked, I said, "Grovyle! What did you do that for?!"

He turned to me, "Time has already stopped here. It won't make any difference if I take the Time Gear now. There's also something that's more worrying…" He looked at the spot where the Time Gear had been, as if it would have some answers.

Unable to bear the silence, I said, "What's that?"

He shook his head, "Forget it. Let's leave." He turned to me, "Rio, there's something I'd like you to do."

"Yes?"

"Before you go back to Sharpedo Bluff, I'd like you to gather some information in Treasure Town."

"Won't they recognize me? I did disappear in front of everybody…"

"It shouldn't be a problem if you talk to Pokémon you've never met personally. Here's what I want you to find out. Learn everything you can about what's happening in the world right now."

"Got it."

"I'm counting on you."

We left Treeshroud Forest and I mentally went through a list of the citizens of Treasure Town that wouldn't be able to recognize me at a glance.