That 49 was bugging me, so here's a short something to bring the chapters up to an even 50.
She was no longer a person. She was just a possibility, brought forth through a random occurrence of events. But a shift had twisted those events to the point where that possibility would never come to pass.
So she was condemned to oblivion.
She could feel herself slipping away, like water cascading through fingers. Everything she had done, said, experienced, all ceased to be. She could feel the growing holes in her memory. It left her with a cold feeling for she knew it was only a matter of time before she was as empty as the dark void she inhabited.
And she was afraid.
Of what exactly she did not know. Of the unknown? Of being forgotten? Of never having existed in the first place? She wondered what she had left behind, for surely she had been somewhere else before the void, even if she couldn't remember it. Why did her awareness persist as all else disappeared? It would have been more merciful had she not known what was happening.
Suddenly, she was no longer alone.
"We never did fit into the timeline. Ours is not to disappear, but to forget."
There was a long pause.
"I suppose that's not fully true. We will both forget, but only you will disappear. But you never should have existed in the first place."
She began to panic. Her fear intensified as she realized the voice was her own. Sad, weary and more than a little condescending, but her own.
She tried to scream, but she had no voice. She tried to fight, but she had no form. She couldn't stop the void from consuming her essence, her soul.
Finally, it was over. Into the nothingness she had fallen and now she no longer existed.
...
Temporal Tower would take a long time to fully repair. But what was time to one such as Dialga? He would replace every crumbled stone, fill in every crack, and he would do so willingly and without complaint. But there were things he was not so content with. Palkia yammering in his ear was one.
"It is your task to ensure the flow of time stays on its proper course. Your only job, and you managed to screw it up! Have you seen any rifts in space lately? Any structures suddenly warping? No? Because I actually do what I was created for!"
Did Palkia ever let anything go? The past was the past, and technically it never even happened. But while Dialga could clearly see how time twists and changes, the spatial
Pokémon's mindset was trapped in the present, making it difficult to see past grudges and perceived wrongs. Hopefully if he was ignored long enough he'd take the hint and leave.
"And with the planet paralyzed, all my defenses were rendered useless! You let Wanderers, Wanderers, Dialga, slip in! And one managed to reach it here to Temporal Tower?! Do you have any idea the damage that little abomination could have caused?"
Dialga's eyes narrowed and he broke his silence.
"That 'abomination', as you put it, was willing to sacrifice herself to save others."
Palkia snorted. "Only because she could not remember who and what she truly is. All of her kind are the same. Had she not lost her memories, she would have sat back and laughed as our world was turned to ruin. Self righteous cretins," Palkia growled. "Thinking they're superior to even me, a Pokémon deity! They deserve all the ills that befall them, trying to usurp my power."
Dialga was really starting to get annoyed. "Is a Chimchar usurping Moltress when it makes a flame?"
"THIS IS DIFFERENT!" Palkia roared. Temporal Tower shook under the force of his anger and several stone blocks were knocked loose. Dialga sighed. Yet more repairs that would need to be done.
Palkia struggled to calm himself. "They are unnatural creatures, worse than the Porygon, even worse than the Mewtwo. I have seen what they can do, what they have done, but you have not. It is fortunate that Wanderer," he hissed the word like an insult, "is gone. If she had returned to her people with what she had seen, they would have certainly have deemed us as a threat. They never allow threats to exist."
Dialga was getting angry now. It was one thing to express dislike for Sol's people, but it was something else entirely to take such joy in her disappearance. She pressed on even after she was told it would mean being stricken from existence. Her actions were something to be admired, not so blatantly disrespected. But Palkia didn't care. His hatred of them was personal.
"I have work to do," Dialga growled and lept off the top of the Tower, leaving Palkia behind.
He surveyed the damage done to the Towers middle. It was barely intact. Had Sol and Eevee arrived even an hour later...
He owed them so much. Yet how had he shown his gratitude? Sol had faded away and Eevee had his best friend stolen from him. Guilt gnawed on Dialga. It was within his power to warp time and bring Sol back, yet he did nothing.
Why? Because Palkia was right, at least in some things. Dialga had never personally met Sol's people before. Though he doubted it, it was possible Palkia's anger was justified. Even as a Temporal Pokémon, he couldn't see all the consequences bringing Sol back would bring. Not to mention what Palkia's reaction, which would surely be disastrous.
But the guilt still preyed upon him. What should he do?
Just what is a Wanderer? I'll never tell...
The true start to part 2 will still be a little while.
