FINALLY!

I can get revenge on that idiotic, double-crossing, traitor that is DUSKNOIR!

Or at least that's what I was thinking when I played this part of the game.

Chapter 36: Battle Against Dusknoir

In an instant, a plan formed in my mind: take out the Sableye, then focus on Dusknoir. But we couldn't have Dusknoir bugging us while we tried to put the Sableye out of commission. Luckily I had just the thing to fix that.

I found a Sleep Seed in my Explorer Bag and threw it at Dusknoir. He caught it and ate it, and he was snoring in an instant.

I turned my attention to the battle behind me and found Jade was getting assaulted by the Sableye's Fury Swipes. Grovyle was nowhere to be found, but there was a small lump in the ground that indicated that Grovyle was in the middle of using Dig.

I advanced on the Sableye, and some of them turned their attention to me, giving Jade time to eat an Oran Berry out of my bag. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grovyle dig up out of the ground and hit one of the Sableye. The Sableye screeched and collapsed on the ground.

Dusknoir was still sleeping like a baby.

I used Force Palm and somehow paralyzed the Sableye I hit. Jade used Giga Drain, and another Sableye went down.

Grovyle used Leaf Blade and took out another Sableye. It groaned and staggered a few steps before fainting.

Dusknoir was still snoring through all the chaos.

Jade and I focused our efforts on one Sableye while Grovyle single-handedly mowed down Sableye after Sableye. Soon we only had one left, and it didn't stand a chance.

There was a groan, and we found that Dusknoir had finally woken up.

"Finally. I can get my revenge…" I thought about how many times Dusknoir had "helped" us, but in reality… he was nothing more than a servant of an insane Pokémon that wanted us dead.

I walked to Dusknoir and prepared to use Bite. Grovyle and Jade also gave Dusknoir wary looks.

Dusknoir punched me with shadow cloaked fists. I stumbled back and almost knocked Jade over, but I quickly regained my footing. I rushed up and used Bite on him, causing him to cringe in pain. Jade followed up with Energy Ball and Grovyle used Leaf Blade on the ghost. He was so surprised that he didn't attack us.

I continued to Bite him and Grovyle used his Grass type moves, but I noticed that Jade wasn't attacking. I looked over at Jade and found that she was charging up an attack of sorts.

"Jade's about to use SolarBeam," Grovyle whispered. "Get out of the way."

"Kame… Hame… SOLARBEAM!" Jade cried. She released the energy that she was charging up in a brilliant green laser that slammed into Dusknoir. The attack was too strong for him, and he collapsed.

"Nice," I said.

"When did you learn SolarBeam?" Grovyle asked.

"I knew it for quite a while, actually. I just held off on using it for a while because the enemies were too weak," Jade said, flipping the leaf on her head back.

Dusknoir groaned. "I… I… I…" He suddenly pushed himself up with his great hands. "I REFUSE TO LOSE!" The "mouth" on his stomach opened up, and a strange shadowy ball began to gather in it. It steadily grew larger as we watched in awe.

"What's he…" I said.

"It looks like he's about to charge up an attack…" Grovyle said. "If he hits us with that, we'll be finished for sure…" He sounded defeated, and I was reminded of the time in the future when we were surrounded by the Sableye, Dusknoir, and Primal Dialga. Grovyle just sounded so… defeated. He had abandoned all hope. But then Jade came up with a plan…

That's what we need. A plan, I thought. But what can we do?

I began to think. Hmm… It seems as if his mouth thing is charging up his attack… That's it! We have to disable his mouth! But how…?

"Grovyle! Jade! When he releases his attack, deflect it back at him," I said in a whisper.

"What? What do you—" Jade asked.

"Use an attack on it!" I said.

"Um—" Jade began.

"We have to try it! Or else we're done for!" I said urgently.

"You're finished!" Dusknoir roared. He released the energy ball. It came hurtling toward us…

"NOW!" I cried.

Jade, Grovyle and I raced forward to take the incoming attack. We rammed into the energy ball and somehow managed to deflect it back at Dusknoir.

There was a blinding flash of light, and when the light cleared, Dusknoir was lying on the ground, gasping. His "mouth" on his belly was wide open and crackling with black energy.

"Ugh… Ugggh…" he groaned.

The Sableye around us seemed to be recovering from our battle. They stood up and looked around at each other as if they had forgotten why they were here.

"Wheh? Heh?" they said. Then their eyes fell on Dusknoir. "D-Dusknoir!"

"Ugh…" Dusknoir groaned.

"Wheh! Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh!" the Sableye cried. The Darkness Pokémon raced up to the Dimensional Hole and jumped into it. Now only Dusknoir, Grovyle, Jade and I were left…

"Shall I activate the Rainbow Stoneship?" Jade asked.

"Sure. We'll just be here, cleaning up the garbage," I said, looking at Dusknoir.

"Okay." Jade began the long climb up the stone pyramid.

Dusknoir began to groan some more. "Urk… You… Is this really what you want, Grovyle?"

Grovyle was silent.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You really want to stop the planet's paralysis?" Dusknoir asked.

"Yeah. Sure. And we're gonna do it too. We're not gonna let some half-baked villain like you stop us," I said coolly.

"Do you even know what happens if you change the future?" Dusknoir asked.

"Um…"

"If you were to change the future, everyone living in the future would… disappear," Dusknoir said. "Oh, not just me! Grovyle would disappear too! And so would you, Emile!"

What?! If we stop the planet's paralysis, then everyone in the future would disappear?! I thought. If Dusknoir's telling the truth…No. It can't be. He's lying. He's just trying to discourage us from saving the world. I won't disappear.

"Ooh, someone looks a little doubtful! Grovyle, tell this Riolu: are we going to disappear if you rewrite history?" Dusknoir said, a smile on his face.

Please be lying. Please be lying… I prayed.

"Yes. If we were to change the future, we would disappear."

What the—He's not lying?! We'll really disappear if we save the world?! As soon as the words left Grovyle's mouth, my whole body went numb. I guess I should've been angry at Grovyle for not telling me earlier, but all I could feel was sadness.

"Yes. We will disappear from time if we change the future," Grovyle said slowly. "I'm sorry for not telling you earlier, but if I did tell you, would you go on this journey?"

"N-no…" I said numbly.

I just couldn't believe that I would disappear if we were to change the future. I guess it makes sense; if the future disappeared, anyone from the future would disappear with it, but that didn't make me feel even better.

"Hey, Emile… You don't remember this, but as a human, you knew what would happen once we changed the future. You knew we would disappear. Back then, you had nothing to lose. But now, you've made a new friend. Jade. She'll be heartbroken if you disappear," Grovyle said.

Jade. I had been so busy worrying about myself that I had forgotten to think about Jade's feelings. She had grown so attached to me. If she found out that I was going to disappear, she'd be crushed.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything but just think about our predicament.

Well, we've gotten this far. I guess it's too late to go back even if I wanted to… We'll have to keep moving.

"No. We've gotten this far. I'm not gonna give in," I said bravely.

Grovyle smiled. "I'm glad that you still have your resolve."

The top of the pyramid suddenly began to glow with a bright blue light. Jade cried, "Yes! I got the Stoneship working!"

"Sweet!" I said. I turned to the pyramid, failing to notice that Dusknoir was now struggling up…

"No! I will not let you go up there!" Dusknoir charged out at me, his hand curled into a large fist. Just before Dusknoir could hit me, Grovyle raced out in front of me and took the attack for me. The punch was too much for him to take, and he slumped down to the ground, defeated.

"Grovyle!" I cried.

Dusknoir chuckled. "Too bad, Emile! He's down for the count!"

Turns out Dusknoir was wrong. Grovyle groaned and unsteadily got to his feet.

"Urk…" Grovyle caught my eye and shook his head. Before I could figure out why, he charged at Dusknoir.

Instead of attacking the ghost, Grovyle pinned Dusknoir's arms to his side and began to push him back… back toward the Dimensional Hole that had been swirling throughout our battle.

"Grovyle?! What—" I cried.

"I'm—no, we're going back to the future!" Grovyle said.

"G-Grovyle! No! What are you thinking?!" I asked.

Before Grovyle could answer, Jade appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Okay, team! The Rainbow Stoneship is ready for—what the?! Grovyle?! What are you doing?!"

"We're going back to the future!" Grovyle said.

"Guh… Unhand me, Grovyle!" Dusknoir bellowed. He tried to worm his way out of Grovyle's grasp, but Grovyle just squeezed him tighter. There was no escape for him now…

"Quit your struggling, you oaf!" Grovyle said harshly.

"Grovyle! Why are you going back? We need you!" Jade said, pausing to wipe away a tear from her face.

"You two are great explorers! You don't need me!" Grovyle said. He reached into his small leather satchel and tossed out five green-blue gears; Time Gears. "The rest is up to you now!"

"Grovyle…" Jade sobbed. "Please… Don't go…"

"Emile… Jade… I have complete confidence in you two! You two are the greatest of combinations!" Grovyle said.

Dusknoir and Grovyle were almost at the Dimensional Hole…

"Jade, don't worry about me. Just worry about yourself and Emile. And Emile—" Grovyle focused his large yellow eyes on me. "Though the parting hurts… the rest is in your hands!"

"Grovyle! Please don't!" I yelled.

Grovyle turned to the struggling Dusknoir. "Sorry for the wait, pal! Here we go!" He shoved Dusknoir into the hole, and with one last look at us, he too jumped into it.

"No!" Jade cried. She ran toward the Dimensional Hole, but I held her back. The hole began to glow and shrink… and then it was gone.

"Nooo! Grovyle!" Jade sobbed. "G-Grovyle… I… why? I…" Jade collapsed into a fit of sobbing.

If this is how she reacts when Grovyle leaves, then I'd hate to see her reaction when she finds out about me…

"Jade… don't worry. Grovyle will be fine," I said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Jade sniffed. "E… Emile… I…" She continued to cry, her body shaking with sobs.

"Jade, we have to keep going. Grovyle wouldn't want you to just give up here," I said.

Jade looked up at me. "You're right…" She took a moment and brushed her tears away. "I'll go get the Time Gears."

I watched as Jade unsteadily got up and began collecting the green Time Gears that Grovyle left. She picked each one up and looked fondly at it as if she were remembering all our adventures with Grovyle. All the time she cried.

"Grovyle was right when he said that the parting hurt… I knew it would be sad to see him leave, but I didn't know it would be this sad…"

"Though the parting hurts…" Wait! He wasn't talking about him and us. He was talking about me and Jade… And it's true. It will hurt for Jade…

"Jade… Grovyle wouldn't want you to be sad. He would want you to be brave. He would want you to go forth and stop the planet's paralysis," I said.

Jade took a deep breath and pocketed the last Time Gear. "You're right, of course." There was a strange noise from the top of the pyramid. The blue light at the top grew brighter. "Oh! I think the Rainbow Stoneship is gonna lift off soon! Let's go!"

Jade raced up the pyramid.

I took one last look at the spot where the Dimensional Hole was. We will save the world. For you, Grovyle. Even if we disappear, we will save the world.

I turned back to the pyramid and followed Jade up it.

XxX

MAH FEELZ T_T And the fact that Emile has to disappear isn't that much better... TT_TT