Jak didn't feel the despair and hopelessness her teammates felt. Such emotions slowed one down, drained away any motivation and left behind useless, tear stained husks. If Jak allowed herself to fall into that trap of self pity, then there truly would be no hope.
So instead, Jak took all those soul crushing emotions and converted them to anger. Not the intense explosion of rage that she was known for, but into a low burning anger that simmered below the surface. Instead of a bonfire, her anger was like a bed of coals, the heat more contained and controllable.
Jak had sat in that cold cell for a long time, trying to figure out a way to escape. When she had first awoken, she had rammed her shoulder against the door and spat bursts of fire everywhere. That had done nothing but tire her out and leave her covered with bruises. She needed an actual plan.
The formally wild Charmander didn't know much about locks. How they worked, how they kept things closed, why keys fit but nothing else. There was no handle inside the cell, leaving only the thin cracks of the rectangular outline as evidence that there even was a door. Jak had tried to peer through these cracks, to get a look at the whatever held the door closed, but the space was too small and dark.
Through the small, barred window Jak had been able to see the cell door opposite hers. She could see the metal handle, and could only assume an identical handle worked her door.
Jak didn't know much about a lock's inner mechanism, but she did know fire and heat. So she crouched down to the height where she estimated the lock was on her door, and, very carefully, blew a stream of intense heat through the crack between the door and the wall.
Jak wasn't sure if it was doing any good. For all she knew, she could have been damaging the lock so it never opened. But it was the only plan she had, and trying was better than doing nothing.
The metal door became hot to the touch. If not for her Charmander skin her lips would have been scorched and burned from when they brushed against the surface. She would stop periodically, both to take gasping breaths of cooler air and to slam her palm against the door to check for any progress.
For hours she breathed concentrated heat through the seam. She didn't need to melt the mechanism, Jak wasn't sure that it would be even possible for her to do that, just weaken it.
For what felt like that thousandth time, Jak pushed against the door. She didn't expect anything to happen. But, miraculously, she felt the door shift, if only slightly. After hours of work there was finally tangible progress.
Excitedly, Jak blew more heat through the seam, pushing her weight against the door at the same time. Ever so slowly it inched forwards. Jak wasn't disheartened by the slow progress, instead choosing to interpret each millimetre as a victory.
She was Jak of the exploration team Wanderers, pack mate of Sol and the Eevee, born to the harsh wilds, a guardian against lies and deceivers, and she would not be caged!
With a triumphant roar, Jak slammed open the cell door. She jumped into the corridor and swiveled her head around. No guards patrolled the hall.
"Jak!" The Charmander saw the Eevee's widened eyes as he peered out the barred window of his cell. "What happened? How did you get out?"
"Quiet!" Jak hissed. She tensely waited for several moments, seeing if any guards would be drawn by the noise. None came.
With careful steps, Jak approached a door on the end of the hall. Unlike the metal doors of the cells, this one was made of dry, grey wood, as if it had been leached of all life and colour. There was no window for Jak to see through to the other side. She slowly cracked it open, just enough to see that there was no one there.
"Don't leave us here!" the Eevee cried.
"What do you expect her to do?" a voice snorted, calm and collected with more than a hint of condescension. "Rip the door's off their hinges? How about magically teleport us all away?"
The Grovyle. It made sense that he would be locked up too. Though Jak supposed the Dusknoir would soon take care of him permanently.
"Patience, Eevee. Lashing storms and shrouded nights breed fear. Fear in turn breeds hysteria. A calm mind can weather the tumultuous and chaotic, while the hysteric crumble and prove to be their own undoing."
It figured Dhiren would get dragged to the future too. The Cubone was like a stubborn bur stuck in Team Wanderers fur that even a jump through a dimensional hole could not dislodge. They were no longer in the desert, so why couldn't he have just left them alone? Jak couldn't understand how Eevee and Sol put up with him, but then decided they were just too soft hearted to tell him to leave.
Jak crept into the room. It was a small space, not all that much bigger than her cell. Its only furnishings were a worn wooden table and a stool that may have been a chair at some point, judging from the splintered pieces of jutting wood where the back once was. More importantly, affixed to the wall, was a plank of wood with rows of pegs. Hanging on the pegs was a series of iron keys.
Jak gathered them all up and went back to the cells. She chose one at random and stuck it into the lock on the Eevee's door. It wouldn't fit. She dropped it on the floor and picked a second one.
Through trial and error, Jak managed to free both the Eevee and Dhiren. After a moment's consideration, she began trying to fit the keys into the Grovyle's door.
"What are you doing?!" the Eevee exclaimed. "You can't let him out!"
"Why not?" Jak asked, trying another key.
"He's a criminal!"
"Jak will not leave him here without a fighting chance."
Jak scooped a discarded key off the ground and fit it into the lock. With a click the door was unlocked and the Grovyle stepped out. He regarded Jak coolly.
"I can't say I'm not pleased about your choice, but I wonder of your motive," he said.
"Does it matter? This one suggests we leave, quickly."
"Wise advice," the Grovyle said and left the cell block. The members of Team Wanderer followed.
The Grovyle poked his head out of a door leading to another hallway. He glanced around, then turned back to the others.
"I've been here before, only briefly, but I know the way out."
"We can't leave yet!" the Eevee cried.
"Humph. If this is about the Riolu, forget it. She'll be kept on the opposite side of the castle, away from where we need to go, in a section crawling with Sableye. Even if we were able to get to her, which we wouldn't, she can't be trusted."
"What are you talking about? She's my friend! Of course we can trust her!"
"She's working for Dusknoir," the Grovyle growled. "And I'd be willing to bet this has been going on before you came to the future. It certainly didn't take her long to give in. I'm sure thay by now she's liking the comforts being Dusknoir's pet seer certainly brings, and won't be wanting to give it up."
"You're wrong! And Dusknoir would never act like that!"
"Is that what you believe?"
"Eevee, think," Jak hissed. "We cannot reach her. We need to take care of ourselves first, otherwise we'll be right back where we started."
"Tested by fire, tempered by battle, there is a reason why a Riolu leads the charge into the unknown rather than a Charmander or an Eevee. A warrior carries their own weapons and armour, capable of raising their own shield when an enemy strikes."
"Speak plainly," Jak snarled.
"He means the Riolu can take care of herself. You can listen to him and escape with me, or you can run off and get yourselves killed. I'm not going to waste time trying to reason with you."
The Grovyle turned left down the hallway and ran, feet landing softly on the ground to make little noise.
"We must leave," Jak said, dragging the Eevee down the hallway. He resisted at first, then accepted what had to be done. The sorrowful, guilty look never left his eyes, however.
They found the Grovyle waiting around the next corner. He gave them a nod then continued down the twisting halls. Several times they encountered groups of Sableye roaming the halls, but the purple
Pokémon made enough noise to give them plenty of advanced warning. They were able to hide themselves and avoid any conflict.
"Something isn't right," the Grovyle whispered. "There should be a lot more Sableye around. It's possible that they were sent on a mission, but I find it hard to believe we would be so lucky."
"Does not one test an object before investing in it?" Ren asked. "To have the mysteries of time lain out before you is a marvelous advantage, but you would have to first ensure there is no deceit to be wary of."
"I suppose Dusknoir would take the seer out to test her loyalty... and he would have a large number of Sableye scattered around to catch her is she tried to run..."
"She wouldn't try to escape without us," the Eevee declared.
"You mean she wouldn't do the exact same thing you're doing now?" the Grovyle smirked.
The Eevee glared at the grass Pokémon, anger and hate evident on his face.
"We need to focus on getting out of here, not what might be happening elsewhere," Jak whispered.
"Agreed," the Grovyle said and set off once again.
"So, Grovyle..." the Eevee began, after a moment. "Is this... is this really the future?"
"Well don't you catch on fast," the Grovyle replied with a hint of sarcasm.
"Are we... are we going to be able to return to our world?"
"Who knows? We just need to get away for now. If we get caught, returning home will be the least of your worries."
That was true enough, Jak thought. The Charmander wasn't one to worry about the future, instead always choosing to focus on the present. Wild Pokémon don't think in the long term.
They continued down the stone halls, trusting the Grovyle to know the way out. It bothered Jak that they had to leave Sol, her alpha, behind. But it was necessary. Sol would understand that, and if not, she'd get over it eventually.
Then, the Grovyle turned a corner, straight into a group of Sableye. The patroling
Pokémon were too surprised to react at first, giving the Grovyle the time he needed to strike first. The grass Pokémon's strength was its speed and agility, which allowed him to dart into the center of the group. He spun in a tight circle and lashed out with his Leaf Blade attack. Jak joined in with a burst of fire. After all that had happened, she was all too happy to take out her frustrations on the Sableye.
It was over quickly, but Jak heard shouts coming from not far away. Other Sableye had heard the commotion and were on their way to investigate. The time for sneaking was over.
"Run!" the Grovyle cried and dashed down the hall.
The three explorers ran after Grovyle. Without hesitation he chose his path and Jak hoped he knew where he was going. Soon the hallway began to widen, the walls turning from rough rock to smooth, clean stone. They had made it into the main part of the complex.
"Come on, this way!" the Grovyle yelled back at them. "We need to keep running until we hit the exit! Faster! Pick it up!"
"I'm running as fast as I can!" the Eevee cried. "Don't boss me around!"
"This sight before me, like a half forgotten dream remembered only for the joy it brought, is such a fragile thing easily stolen away."
"What?!"
"The exit and path to freedom is right there!" the Grovyle translated. It would seem that, like Sol, he was fluent in bullshit.
The Grovyle ran up to the large, metal doors. With great effort, he removed the large beam of wood barring the exit. He pushed the doors open, revealing a dark grey sky over a desolate wasteland of barren rock.
"What... what is this?" the Eevee asked in disbelief of what his eyes were seeing. "This is... our world? In the future? It's as if... all movement... It's as if everything's stopped..."
"Exactly," the Grovyle said, matter of factly.
"What?!"
Alarmed shouts from behind, and they all spun around in a panic.
"We have to keep running!" the Grovyle cried and charged across the bridge. At the end he veered sharply left to follow the ravine.
With no better options available, the explorers followed after him. They ran along the edge of the drop off of the steep cliff. After a while, the ground close to the edge began to slope downwards while the ground off to the right began to slope upwards. Soon they were running down a narrow ledge with the gorge on one side and a sheer cliff on the other.
And still they ran. The Grovyle barely seemed winded while the Eevee was gasping for breath. Ren wasn't doing much better. Ground Pokémon weren't built for running.
"Grovyle, I can't go any further," the Eevee eventually wheezed. "I'm dead tired."
"There's no time to rest!" the Grovyle snapped. "If they catch us, we're done! Tough it out and run!"
"I can't go any further! I have to rest."
"Fine," the Grovyle snapped. He looked around, then found a spot where the cliff wall dipped in. "This forms a natural alcove that will shield us from view. After a quick rest, we'll have to get moving again."
The Grovyle sat down in the alcove with his back resting against the wall. The Eevee narrowed his eyes at the Pokémon.
"W-wait a minute! When we escaped from the castle, we cooperated with you because we had to... But we never promised we'd go with you afterwards! A bad Pokémon like you... I can't trust you!"
Jak could only shake her head at the Eevee. What was he thinking?! After all that had happened, could he not see that things weren't like what they were back in Treasure Town? The Grovyle wasn't their enemy now! In fact, he was the closest thing they had to an ally and their only chance at getting home!
"Humph! So I'm the bad guy, and that Dusknoir is the good guy?" the Grovyle glared at the Eevee. "Then how about explaining all that happened earlier?"
"But... That doesn't mean I can trust you, Grovyle..." the Eevee's words came slow and hesitant.
Jak was beginning to understand now. This wasn't about the Eevee truly distrusting Grovyle. This was about him clinging to what he knew amid all this confusion and fear. And what he knew was the Grovyle being the enemy. Even as the evidence to the contrary piled up around him, the Eevee couldn't bare to give up that one familiar thing.
That didn't mean Jak like it, however. The Eevee's fumbling for something to cling to was going to wind them all back in those cells. Or worse.
"Earning your trust isn't an easy task, it seems." Oh, the irony. It was in Jak's experience that the Eevee trusted far too easily. "I thought that having allies would help, but there is no point continuing together without trust. We'll go our separate ways. I'm staying on the move. You two should get moving as soon as possible."
"Wait a second!" the Eevee said, causing the Grovyle to pause. "It's dark out now, and hard to see where you're going. Shouldn't we wait until morning?"
The Grovyle laughed. It wasn't a happy sound, instead filled with dark humor and bitterness. He put a hand against the rock face to steady himself against the laughter.
"You really have no idea what's going on, do you?" he finally asked. "Look around! Does this look natural to you? We can't wait until morning because morning never comes. This world... Your future... It's a world of perpetual darkness. The sun never rises, so morning never comes. The darkness persists forever."
"Why?!"
"Isn't it obvious? The planet has been paralyzed."
"But how is this possible?! The Time Gears have been put back in their rightful places!"
"You are free to believe, or reject, what I'm telling you," the Grovyle said with a hint of venom entering his voice. "Either way, I suggest you leave as soon as possible. I'm going. Don't let the Sableye catch you."
The Grovyle ran off, leaving the explorers behind in the alcove.
"What are we supposes to do now?" the Eevee eventually asked.
"Run. Hide. Evade Dusknoir until we can retrieve Sol," Jak said.
"Ignorance is the most dangerous of enemies," Ren said. "It was unwise to push our source of knowledge away."
"But you can't really believe we can trust Grovyle, do you?"
Jak stared down at the ground and thought about that question. Did she trust the Grovyle? She certainly didn't get the sense that he was deceitful and manipulative like the Dusknoir. The Grovyle was brutally honest and would say what was on his mind. He wouldn't plot and conspire. Jak could respect that.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Ren said.
As a Pokémon born in the wild, Jak knew that wasn't true. A more accurate saying would be 'The enemy of my enemy is my temporary ally who will most likely turn on me the moment we've taken down the bigger threat'. But Grovyle wasn't a wild Pokémon.
After some consideration, Jak decided that she didn't distrust the Grovyle. He had been nothing but honest so far. Jak trusted her instincts, and they were telling her the Grovyle was her best shot at getting back to her own time.
"This one believes we should find the Grovyle, discover how he got to our time. Perhaps we could find a way back the same way."
The Eevee seemed conflicted. "But what about Sol? We can't leave without her!"
"If we wait to get her, me may never find the Grovyle again. We must talk to him, learn the way back, then get Sol."
"...Ok. But I can't go any further. I need to rest."
"A short one," Jak said. "We need to move quickly."
The first time I played this game, I seriously thought the reason Dusknoir dragged them to the future was because they would eventually commit some major crime in the future, or cause some disaster, so Dusknoir was stopping them before it could happen. I'm not sure if I would have liked that story line or the game one better. So I'm curious, what did you, the readers, think was going on when you first played the game?