Eventually the cavern tunnels open up into a larger chamber. Arcesian glyphs adorn the right wall while the left reveals a passage out to the open sea. And in the center of the room was the pedestal I saw in my dimensional scream.

"This is it." I say. "This is the place."

"Smaller than I expected." Thunder comments.

"Guess whoever set it up didn't need a whole lot of space." I walk up to the pedestal and look it over. "We probably shouldn't waste time. Thunder?"

"Got it." He walks up to the pedestal, relic fragment in hand. "Here goes nothing." Thunder lifts the fragment up, lowering it into the rough hole on the pedestal.

The stone piece fits perfectly into the hole. And once in place the glyph on its surface starts to glow. The mural follows suit, the light pulsing gently but growing faster and faster as time progresses. Above the pedestal a ball of white light starts to coalesce, hovering a few feet above us. The pulsing from the mural reaches a fever pitch. And from it a beam of white light shoots out at the orb, which in turn shoots out a pulse of light out to the sea. We watch as it speeds off, eventually disappearing behind the horizon.

"Well that looked cool," Thunder comments. "but what did that do for us?"

"Perhaps it's a signal beacon or something?" Grovyle suggests.

"Could be." I say. "Hang on. Something in the water. Coming this way. I think you may have been right, Grovyle." I squint off in the distance, trying to identify it. Blue with a grey back and a tan underbelly. Its head is held up by a tall neck.

"That's a Lapras, isn't it?" Thunder says.

"It is. I guess the light summoned them." A short while passes before the Lapras makes landfall, gently floating her way up to the rocky shore within the cave.

"Wait a minute, you aren't the lake guardians. How did you summon me?" She asks in a soft voice.

"Who are you?" Grovyle asks.

"I asked first."

I speak up. "My friend here used his relic fragment and set off the beacon. What is this used for?"

"This is where I am summoned when the time comes to reset the Temporal Tower. But by my count, that time hasn't come yet."

"You must have noticed how time is starting to unravel, right? Something is happening. And we need to stop it."

"I have, but I have little reason to trust you." Augh... one of these days I want to meet someone who will take me at my word.

Grovyle steps forward with our team bag. He opens it to reveal the five time gears. "We need to reset the tower. Millions of lives are at stake. Don't be the one who stopped us."

Lapras idly bites her tongue as she thinks, looking between us and the gears in our bag. A tense silence fills the empty cave as we await her reply with bated breath.

"Well... alright. Don't make me regret this." I sigh in relief. If this had turned out to be a dead end this late on...

"Thank Arceus." Thunder sighs. "We should leave now. We are on the clock. How fast can you get us to the Hidden Land?"

"If I hurry, I'd say 18 hours at best." Oh frick... that is cutting it way closer than I'd like.

"18 hours is better than never." I say.

"Then hop on and get comfy. It's going to be a long trip." Grovyle gets on first, setting himself on her shell with the bag in his lap. Lapras bobs slightly in the water as she compensates for the extra weight. Thunder and I hop on as well, nodding to her to let her know we're set.

"Let's go." Lapras turns herself around and pushes off the shore, headed back out to the open sky. "If you don't mind my asking, how exactly do you know so much about the Hidden Land and Temporal Tower?"

"Long story. But we've got the time." I reply.

Night has fallen once again. The three of us try to rest in preparation for our coming mission. But my sleep is wrought with nightmares. Memories of the dark future where the Pokemon frozen in time scream and cry; Begging me to save them. The Raiders of that wasteland finding and killing us; Roasting our corpses over a fire as I watch like a ghostly observer. Treasure Town being blasted to pieces by the shockwave of the planetary paralysis. I am constantly being woken up from these nightmares. I'm getting no rest.

I jump as I wake from another dream. I sigh in exasperation as I look out to the ocean that surrounds us, listening to the gentle rolling of the waves. Deep breaths, Alex. Deep breaths.

I know what the problem is. I'm scared. Scared of what will happen if we fail. The fate of Pokemar rides on what happens tommorow. And I think the pressure is getting to me.

Grovyle has said that I am from New Hope. And that they have fought in a similar situation. So while I can't remember it, I've saved Pokemar before. And if I did it before, I can do it again.

Clinging to this thought I try to rest once again. I can do this. We can do this. Whether we call ourselves Shock-Leaf or New Hope, we will stand tall and fight whatever we must to save what we love. We've done it before. And we can do it again.

A sharp jolt shakes me awake as my head slams into Lapras' shell.

"Ow! What the frick?!"

"Sorry," Lapras replies. "transitioning from the ocean to the Sea of Time is always a bit bumpy."

"Sea of Time? What are you-"

"Alex, look down!" Thunder yells in fear and awe. "We're flying!"

"What?!" I look down and sure enough we are soaring a good ten feet above the waves. And we're only getting higher. "Lapras, what's happening?"

"Welcome to the Sea of Time, gentlemen. We sale not on water, but the currents of time itself. They just so happens to be invisible to the naked eye."

"Is this why the Hidden Land is so hard to find?"

"Yup. Only a select few can access this place. I am one of them."

"Alex! Straight ahead!" Thunder points to something in the distance. An island? An island floating in the sky!
The island stands stationary, littered with ancient and crumbling ruins. But the one eye catching thing is an obsidian tower standing high above the rest of the island. But that's not all...

A storm rages above the tower. Reddish purple clouds swirl above in a vortex that shadows the entire island. Crimson bolts of lightning flash in and out of being, crackling with unnatural energy as they lash out across the island, but are especially drawn to the four prongs of the tower's top. And the tower itself looks like it could collapse at any minute. Severe structural damage litters the building, worsened by each strike from the storm.
We stare at the terrifying display in silence. We are running out of time...