Chapter 16

A New Dawn

Grovyle, Chimchar, and Piplup, whose real name was revealed to be Leon during the close encounter with Dusknoir, Primal Dialga, and the sableye minions, were back at the world of the past. The beach itself moved, as time within the area, and that of Treasure Town and Wigglytuff's guild, was still flowing smoothly. The beach still had waves of water splashing onto the sandy surface, the sun still shone brightly with the blue sky, and the palm trees still blew from the wind. Leon the piplup was the first pokémon to wake up. He looked around to see if he and the others returned to the past.

This must be the past…

Leon turned to see that his best friend of the past, Chimchar, was groaning in pain a bit, but he managed to get up and turned to him.

"Is this...where I met you, Piplup, I-I mean Leon? It's like...that beach… That might mean…!" He finally realized that were back from the dark future. "It is true! We are in the past! We made it back to our world!"

Team Poképals ran to each other to give each other a hug, while they hopped around in circles, laughing in joy. A few seconds later, they heard Grovyle groaning. They separated from the joyous hug and turned to him, as he got up.

"Hey, Grovyle!" Leon said.

The wood gecko turned to him and Chimchar, as they approached him.

"Look! We made it home! We made it back to our world!"

"So...we did it?" questioned Grovyle. "I guess so...we made it back."

"Yup!" Chimchar said. "This is where I met Pip- I mean Leon! Boy, I'm gonna have to get used to calling him that!" He and the others laughed for a bit, then the fire monkey pokémon looked around for the spot on where he met his best friend from the future. "Let's see..." He found the spot, and went over there. "It think it was riiiight here, where I met him." He turned back to the two. "This is where I found you out cold, Leon."

"So that's what happened," replied Grovyle. "That trip through time, meanwhile, sent me into the Eastern Forest. That's why Leon and I both reached your world far away from each other."

"Oh, that's right!" exclaimed Chimchar. "There's a lot I don't understand, like the whole concept of time travel! Will you please explain it to us?"

"Not right now," Leon insisted, "this isn't really the place to talk."

"You're right! We'll go to Wigglytuff's guild and talk there." Chimchar turned to Grovyle. "Before we went to the future, Grovyle, Leon and I trained and lived there. It'll be the perfect place! Let's go over there!"

He started his way toward the guild, but Grovyle stopped him!

"Hold on!" Chimchar and Leon turned to the wood gecko. "Will I be well received if I go there? After all, I'm a wanted outlaw in this world. If I went to the guild...won't everybody be shocked that I'm back, and that they'd try to capture me then?"

"Whoa!" Chimchar exclaimed in realization. "Come to think of it, you're right! What should we do, then..." He thought for a few moments. "Oh, there's a good place I know we can go to, but it'll involve going through Treasure Town..."

"It shouldn't be a problem though if we lie low and sneak through," insisted Grovyle. "Lead the way."

"OK, this way!"

Leon and Grovyle followed Chimchar.

After the three pokémon managed to avoid rousing attention in Treasure Town by sneaking through as promised, they arrived at the base of a cliff.

"This cliff is known Sharpedo Bluff," Chimchar said. "The name comes from the fact that the cliff itself is shaped like a pokémon named sharpedo. As far as I can tell...nothing seems out of the ordinary."

They followed him to a big patch of grass, and he removed it to reveal a stairway leading downstairs.

"The place where I lived before I joined the guild is down here. Let's go in."

They did as they were told, and followed Chimchar into the hidden home within the Sharpedo Bluff.

Chimchar's home in Sharpedo Bluff was one room that had a natural spring for drinkable water, some barrels to put some things in, and a few plants for decoration purposes. It was shaped like a hollow chamber, located at the face of the cliff. Chimchar was relieved that nobody had damaged his home or came here, proving how little the place attracts. He suggested that he, Leon, and Grovyle stay there for the time being, to which they agreed on.

Later that night, they set up a campfire in the middle of the room, while they were sitting on their respective straw beds. They discussed about Leon's origins, and how he turned into a piplup.

"I just never expected you to be the very same Leon when I first met you," Grovyle said.

"Can you tell us more about that, Grovyle?" questioned Chimchar.

"Yes. Leon and I...jointly investigated the planet's paralysis."

"A pokémon and a human paired together, now that's almost unheard of..."

"Yeah, but that's the truth. Leon had...or has...a special ability like no other. We relied on his ability alone to investigate the planet's paralysis, playing a vital part as a result."

"By special ability...you mean the Dimensional Scream, don't you?"

"Exactly. But it has a drawback, meaning it requires the presence of a trusted pokémon partner. Without that partner, the ability cannot be triggered. That's why he and I worked together to enable that ability. The Dimensional Scream is set off by triggers tied to places where the Time Gears are hidden. We needed to find out where they were in the past, so we relied on the Dimensional Scream to accomplish that."

Chimchar realized something. "Wait a minute! You said that there has to be a trusted partner nearby for it to work…"

"...but the Dimensional Scream was being triggered not long after Chimchar and I met!" Leon inserted.

"That just shows how much both of you trusted each other from the start," insisted Grovyle.

"When you say it like that, it's kinda embarrassing!" Chimchar said.

"In addition, Leon developed amnesia. When he met you, Chimchar, he had someone to turn to...perhaps he grew to trust you very quickly because of that."

"There's something else I don't understand! Is the Dimensional Scream triggered in response to only Time Gears?"

"Right. The opposite is also true. It isn't triggered in places not connected to Time Gears."

"Hmm...really? That's not how I remember it..."

"He's right!" Leon said. "The Dimensional Scream also went off that time during our encounter with Drowzee, during our first exploration, and many other times, too! Those events seem to have nothing to do with Time Gears, yet the Dimensional Scream got triggered other ones like that, too!"

"Are you sure?" questioned Grovyle. "That never happened in the future, though! The Dimensional Scream was never triggered by places that had no ties to Time Gears whatsoever. If that's true, well…I don't know why it would work differently here. Perhaps things are just different in this world, and perhaps the nature of the Dimensional Scream is altered in the past."

"So in the future, it doesn't work in places that have no connection to Time Gears? That might explain why the Scream didn't work when Chimchar and I got near a frozen waterfall in the future, and I tried to touch it that time. Maybe I couldn't envision anything then when we were in the future, because we were in a place not related to a Time Gear! Maybe that's why my Dimensional Scream failed to work! Maybe you're right, Grovyle, about the future and past being different, or at least different enough to make my Dimensional Scream ability work differently."

"That might be true, but anyway...like I was saying Chimchar, we were investigating the planet's paralysis. We used the Dimensional Scream to identify the locations of the Time Gears in your world while we were in the future."

"Wait!" Leon said. "That voice that I could only hear in some of my visions I had sounded like your voice, Grovyle! I get it now! It definitely was you that talked to me for the locations of those Time Gears to look for in the past!"

"That's right. After we identified them, we took the Passage of Time that brought us from our world in your future to this world, Chimchar. However...we encountered turbulence while we were traveling through time, thus Leon and I became separated. For some reason, he got amnesia and turned into a piplup like he is right now. I can only guess that it had something to do with our accident while traveling in time."

"So I came from the future, then..." Leon said. "And not just that, I came with the mission of preventing the planet's paralysis! When I think about it though, I just don't know… It seems so outlandish...like it doesn't feel real, somehow..."

"So, Leon," Grovyle said, "you may not remember any of this, but you were my closest friend. I remembered that you told me that Piplup was your favorite pokémon, and that you wore a set of clothes to resemble its appearance. From what I've seen you wear, it almost looked like a costume. Although your appearance had changed to completely look like a piplup, and though you have lost your memory...you're still you. None of this alters the fact that you remain my friend. I'm very grateful to see you again, Leon."

Leon himself, however, felt no bells ringing in his head to remind him of his lost friendship with Grovyle.

After a brief pause, the wood gecko pokémon resumed their talk.

"Now we must decide on our course of action. Like I've told you before...I'm going to collect the Time Gears again. What are both of you going to do, though?"

"First of all," Chimchar said, "I'm a little worried about how time stops in the region where its Time Gear is removed. Are you sure it'll only be temporary?"

"Correct. As soon as the Time Gears are set in place at Temporal Tower, time will be restored to its normal state everywhere."

"OK! It's decided, then! We'll go with you too, Grovyle. Taking a Time Gear will badly affect the pokémon living in that area...but we have to prevent the planet's paralysis!"

"OK, then. We'll go together, but for now, it's getting late. We're exhausted from all the running we've done. We'll rest tonight, then we'll leave in the morning."

Leon and Chimchar agreed, and the three pokémon laid down on their respective beds to sleep.

Early morning arrived, but the sun did not rise just yet. The night sky still remained at Sharpedo Bluff, as Grovyle got up to notice his old friend Leon was still sleeping, but Chimchar was not in his bed. The wood gecko pokémon must have thought that the fire monkey was anxious to get the day started, so he went upstairs to find that Chimchar was standing near the edge of the cliff to take in the view. He went close to him and started talking.

"What's wrong?" Grovyle said. "Can't sleep?"

"Yeah. Just thinking," Chimchar replied as he turned to him.

"Thinking about Dusknoir, still?"

"No, that's not it. Sure, finding out that we were being deceived came as a total shock, but after hearing your story earlier, Grovyle...it really drove it home. What Dusknoir said in the future really was true, after all. It made me realize that my closest friend Leon really did come from the future. I was busy mulling over things like that..."

Chimchar looked away from the cliff, and to where Treasure Town was, above its skyline.

"Look, Grovyle! The sun's rising!"

The wood gecko turned to see the sun indeed rising from the mountains. Daylight had arrived.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Chimchar said.

"Yes, it is..." answered Grovyle.

"Maybe it's because we were in the future for so long...but I didn't think that a sunrise could ever feel so renewing! The sun rises...then it sets. It's only natural that we take that for granted, but things like those we take for granted are the most essential and precious things we can ever have."

"All I'd ever known is the future's world of darkness...but upon coming to this world...and seeing the sun for the first time...is staggering. Seeing it now strengthens my resolve to turn history away from a future of darkness." Grovyle turned to Chimchar. "There is one more thing I wanted to ask you, Chimchar."

The fire monkey turned to him as he continued.

"It's about that time in the future when we were confronted by Dialga… Frankly, we were in a no-win situation with no hope on our side. But when all seemed lost...you refused to give up. Even I had given up. What compelled you...to continue staying strong?"

"I wonder too… I really don't know..." Chimchar turned to the ocean. "But maybe...it was because Leon stood by me."

"Leon…?"

Chimchar turned back to Grovyle. "Take a look at this."

He removed his necklace containing the Relic Fragment to show it to the wood gecko pokémon.

"What could this be?" questioned Grovyle. "There's an odd pattern inscribed on it. It's all new to me..."

"It's my Relic Fragment," Chimchar answered, "my personal treasure. I have this dream of one day solving the mystery behind it. But I was such a coward back then...I couldn't work up the courage to go to the guild and apply as an apprentice. It was then...that I met Leon. He gave me all the courage I needed so that I can feel like I could overcome any challenge. That's how I came to feel over time, and maybe that's why I was able to keep going without giving up!"

"...I see. I think I understand what you're saying. He's got a special quality that makes others feel that way. The same way that I cared for Leon as a friend, you too, Chimchar, must also feel the same way about him."

The fire monkey, with a wide smile on his face, nodded in agreement.

"He's lucky to be blessed with a friend like you..." Grovyle continued.

They paused for a moment without talking. Later, the wood gecko pokémon continued their talk.

"Well, it's morning. We should be leaving soon."

"Yup. We'll go wake my best friend up now."

Grovyle gave back the Relic Fragment to Chimchar who put it around his neck, and the two went back downstairs.

Hours later in broad daylight at Chimchar's home in the bluff, Leon was awake, and Grovyle briefed Team Poképals on their crucial objective for today. They all agreed to collect all of the Time Gears, but they had to decide which one they would get first. They opened the team's Wonder Map, and pointed to the spot where the trees were on the northeastern part of the Grass Continent. The area there is called Treeshroud Forest, and it was where Grovyle initially took the first Time Gear in his prior attempt to collect the rest of the Time Gears. It was quite far from Treasure Town, the guild, and Sharpedo Bluff, but they since no one like the lake trio of Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf guarding the Time Gear at Treeshroud Forest, they had little choice but to agree on it. Leon and Chimchar packed up their things for the journey, and followed Grovyle out of their temporary home within the bluff.

When the three pokémon arrived at the entrance of Treeshroud Forest, Grovyle noticed that the atmosphere somehow felt different from the last time he was collecting his first Time Gear here. Heeding his warning about that specific possibility, Team Poképals stocked up on their item supply from the nearby Kangaskhan Rock, before they headed into the forest's dungeon.

The dungeon of Treeshroud Forest had twenty floors of mostly psychic-type pokémon, which would trouble the water, fire, and grass type trio by very little. This was beneficial for their crucial race to collect all the Time Gears for them to save the world from paralysis.

At the end of the dungeon, Team Poképals and Grovyle were deep within Treeshroud Forest. They were alarmed that time was still at a standstill within the area itself. Trees blowing from the wind were frozen in time, along with plants, the grass, the dewdrops, and the wind itself.

"Grovyle, just before we were dragged off to the future with you," Chimchar began, "didn't Uxie and his friends make a promise to return all the Time Gears back to their rightful places?"

"Yes," Grovyle answered, "but time remains stopped here..."

"That might mean..." said Leon, "...that the Time Gears may not have been returned to their rightful places yet."

Grovyle turned back to the team.

"We'll have to see about that, and find out if the forest's Time Gear is over there."

He turned back to the front and went to the location of the Time Gear, with Leon and Chimchar following him. When they got there, they discovered that the Time Gears had indeed been returned by the lake trio.

"The Time Gear has returned here after all," Leon said, "but time here still appears to be stopped. The wind's not blowing, and the leaves are fixed in place!"

"Yeah!" replied Chimchar. "The Time Gear's back to its rightful place...but why is this happening?!"

Grovyle gave it a little thought, but ignored it as he went up to the Time Gear to take it from its pedestal! Team Poképals seemed to be alarmed by his action, as the pedestal itself stopped glowing green, and the light in the area went dark.

"Hey!" bellowed Chimchar in alarm. "What are you doing?!"

Grovyle turned to him.

"Time has already stopped here, so it won't make any difference if I take the Time Gear now." He turned to where the Time Gear was. "There's also...something that's more worrying."

"M-more worrying?" questioned Chimchar.

"Forget it, let's leave," responded Grovyle. He turned to Chimchar again. "Also, Chimchar...there's something I'd like you to do."

"What is it?"

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

"Gather information...in Treasure Town?"

"Yes. Here's what I want you to find out… Learn everything you can about what's happening in this world right now."

"OK. I'll go find out."

"Everyone will still think that you've gone to the future, however..."

"Yes, I understand. If they found out I'm back, there would be an uproar, so I'll keep low and get some news."

"Good. I'm counting on you."

Team Poképals and Grovyle made their way out of Treeshroud Forest.

Later back at Chimchar's home in Sharpedo Bluff, Leon and Grovyle waited for Chimchar to return. He had promised to the wood gecko that he would gather vital information on what was happening around the world, while keeping a low profile so that he would not raise any suspicion.

"I hope my pal's doing well..." Leon said.

"Me too..." Grovyle replied.

Just then, Chimchar arrived from the stairway. They turned to him.

"I'm back! I've got some news, just like you wanted, Grovyle."

"What's the word?"

Chimchar had a somber look.

"...It's not very good. After we went to the future… Uxie and his friends returned the Time Gears to their rightful places. Everybody was happy because they thought time would return to normal...but the time remained stopped in those places. Even worse, it's spreading. Time is stopping in more places."

Leon and Grovyle were understandably alarmed at the news.

"Is that true?" they both said.

"Yes," answered Chimchar. "Everyone's upset and concerned because no one can figure out what the problem exactly is. Do you know what this means, Grovyle?"

The wood gecko pokémon gave it a careful thought, then he answered.

"If time is stopping in a spreading area...it can only mean one thing. Temporal Tower is starting to collapse."

"It's...collapsing?"

"Correct. Temporal Tower gives structure to time. If it is starting to collapse...time itself will collapse in ever-widening areas."

"Oh no!" exclaimed Leon. "This is very bad!"

"Yes," replied Grovyle. "The problem is accelerating. The planet's paralysis is coming on fast."

"Then we have to hurry!" insisted Chimchar.

"That's right. If we don't hurry, the planet will become completely paralyzed. There's only one way to stop the destruction of time now...gather the remaining Time Gears, and put them in place at Temporal Tower where Dialga lives. There's one problem, though...the tower itself is located in a place called the Hidden Land. As the name suggests...no one knows where the land is."

"But...there isn't any time!"

"Correct. That's why I think we need to split up for now. I'll go collect the Time Gears, while both of you will search for the Hidden Land."

"Understood!" both Leon and Chimchar said.

"OK then," Grovyle said. "Both of you are now in charge. The Hidden Land is supposedly somewhere in this world, unfortunately, there are no clues as to where it is exactly. Considering that nobody discovered it yet...we should probably assume that it's quite far away. We must even consider crossing the sea, and discover the means to do so!"

"Cross the sea, huh..." Chimchar said.

"I'm sorry that I don't have knowledge about how to do that, but I'm counting on you to find out! I'm off now to gather the Time Gears. Good luck."

Chimchar moved aside so Grovyle could leave up the stairs, and out of the bluff's home. The fire monkey turned to Leon, who in turn paid attention to him.

"OK, Chimchar!" Leon said. "We gotta do some searching too! Let's go find the Hidden Land!"

"Yeah, but..." Chimchar replied, "...where do we begin looking for it?"

"Let's consider how we can cross the sea first!"

Team Poképals went up the stairs and left Sharpedo Bluff.

Leon and Chimchar later arrived at the beach outside of Treasure Town. They looked out towards the sea to wonder how they could cross the sea itself. They thought for a few moments, but were unable to come up with an idea of doing so. They turned to each other.

"...This is hopeless..." began Chimchar. "We just can't come up with a way to cross the sea..."

"Yeah," Leon said. "We agreed to search for the Hidden Land, but...where should we start looking? There's very little time! We've just got too little information to go on!"

"If we can't get that information, our planet will become paralyzed soon! We just have to stop that happening, somehow!"

Leon turned away from Chimchar and gave it some thought.

We'll need everybody's help from the guild…

He turned back to him.

"What are you thinking now, Leon?" questioned Chimchar.

"Let's get back to Wigglytuff's guild!" answered Leon.

The fire monkey jumped up in alarm.

"What?! You wanna go back there?! Wh-why?! We vanished right in front of everybody, remember?"

"Yes, but everyone could still be worried about us! They need to know that we're OK!"

"I guess that's true… I miss everyone too...but after everything that we saw in the future...about Grovyle...and Dusknoir...and even about your past, Leon… If we tell it all to the guild, how will they believe us?!"

"They will believe us! I know that they will!"

"Well...you may say that, but...is there any chance that they'll believe us? After all, everyone in this world is still convinced that Grovyle is the villain, and Dusknoir is the hero, right? They even think highly of Dusknoir, still! I saw the future...but I still didn't want to believe the truth about him. Even if we were to tell everybody the truth, I wonder if they would be able to accept it."

Leon gave it a careful thought.

"...It's true. What you're saying is true, Chimchar. Maybe no one will believe us if we tell them the truth, but...we have to tell them anyway!"

The fire monkey jumped in alarm again.

"What?! Wh-why?! They might not believe us, but should we tell them anyway?"

"Yes! We have to tell them!" Leon replied with a tone of urgency.

"Why though?!" questioned Chimchar. "Why do you think so?!"

"We need everyone's help!"

Chimchar, alarmed by Leon's loud but urgent tone on his last response, thought about his best friend's suggestion.

"...OK. I understand. We cannot find the Hidden Land on our own, so we do need everyone's help for that. If we don't get their help...we'll run out of time to prevent the planet's paralysis."

He turned towards the sea away from Leon for a moment, then he turned to him again.

"...You're right, Leon! It's a tough choice for us, but it's the right one! Let's get home to Wigglytuff's guild!"

The piplup had tears in his eyes while he smiled.

"Thank you so much for agreeing with me, Chimchar!"

Leon ran to Chimchar to give him a hug. The fire monkey was caught off guard a bit, but he smiled and returned the favor by appreciating it. After a few moments, they separated from their hug.

"Now let's get back to the guild and tell everybody the truth!" Leon said. "I'm sure that they will be shocked about it, but I know they'll understand!"

"You're right, pal! Let's go, then!"

Team Poképals made their way off the beach and towards the guild. They know that they would have a lot of explaining to do to their fellow members, but they knew it would be the only way to take one step closer to stopping the planet's paralysis.