Author's Note: Ah, special episode five... It's probably one of my favorite additions to Sky, and I have some very special things planned for the ending of this. Until then, I think I got Leaf's distrust of Dusknoir down pretty well. I also kind of allude to a personal hand-wave I have for why there's so much to do in this episode despite the fact that it's presented as happening all at the same time as the player's climb up Temporal Tower at the end of the game.

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Future of Darkness

Leaf awoke to a dull-but-persistent throb in the back of his head and a shooting pain throughout his limbs.

That was…odd. He wasn't supposed to have woken up at all. Maybe he was dreaming. Then again, that didn't make sense, either. He couldn't dream if he didn't exist, could he?

Groaning, Leaf forced himself into a kneeling position and fully opened his eyes. He was greeted by a small outcropping of rocks and a large cliff face positioned under a dark, cloudy sky—all the same dull gray he'd been so familiar with before. That made sense, at least. If he was going to come back, of course he'd be here, in the future he'd come to know so well.

But did that mean—no, it couldn't. Claire couldn't fail, wouldn't fail. Leaf knew better than that. But then, why was this world still here? Maybe it was just a few "days" ago, and the effects needed time to catch up, or…something. Dusknoir had said he'd been waiting for them for a while, hadn't he? So maybe it went in reverse, too.

That…wasn't too much more logical, but it was the only thing he could think of. Still, Leaf had to figure things out, get his bearings and—

His thoughts were cut off by a startled yelp. Several feet to his right, there was the prone form of Dusknoir; a few feet beyond him was a cowering Sableye. The smaller ghost stared at him, mouth slightly agape, before he started babbling awkwardly.

"Wheh… you're awake?! We haven't had time to…" He took a few steps backward before shaking his head. "No, I'm gonna get out of here. Bye!"

With that, Sableye turned around and fled. Leaf made some kind of ambiguous shout of annoyance as he tried to stand up. All he got for his efforts was a face full of dirt, as he promptly tumbled over the second he got into something resembling a standing position.

…Well, then; that was embarrassing. Leaf grumbled to himself as he tried to get up again. Of course; it was just his luck that one of the Sableye would still be hanging around. Still, if he could just hurry up, maybe he could leave before Dusknoir regained consciousness.

Leaf wasn't that lucky; his legs started cooperating just when Dusknoir began to stir. At the very least, Dusknoir looked to be in almost as bad of shape as he was, if not worse. He grunted, rolled over, and barely pulled himself into a sitting position. Leaf could see that his stomach was still smoking lightly, and he couldn't quite seem to close its mouth all the way. His eye narrowed as it settled on Leaf, and Dusknoir tried—unsuccessfully—to drag himself towards him.

"…you," he groaned, wheezing from just a few feet's effort. "What are you doing here? Stayed around to see if I'd make it?"

Leaf snorted. "I'm not that petty; I just woke up. I was trying to get out of here, if you don't mind."

"Ha! And what do you think you'll do in your condition?"

Well, Leaf supposed Dusknoir had a point. He glanced down at his body; it was still heavily bruised and decorated with scratch marks from that last fight. Maybe he'd have a difficult time getting around, but…he had to do something. Leaf had to at least try.

"I'm…not sure." Leaf paused, taking a deep breath before going on. "But maybe…if I can figure out how close we are to Temporal Tower…I could find out where Primal Dialga is."

"Please." Dusknoir leaned against a nearby rock, folding his arms in obvious disapproval. "I doubt you could take on Master Dialga even if you were in good shape, never mind how you are now."

"I know that. But even if I'm just a distraction…it'd be better than nothing."

Dusknoir's eye managed to narrow further. "And what exactly does that mean?"

"It means what it sounds like." Leaf shrugged. "I have to make sure that Claire finishes our mission. And if I can slow Primal Dialga down, even if it's just a little, then it might keep him from sending someone else after her."

"Someone…else? Why would Master Dialga ever need to do that?"

Another snort. "Really, I know you're smarter than that, Dusknoir. Look at you; you've already failed twice, and you're in even worse shape than I am. Even if Dialga takes you back, you're in no condition to stop me."

"But I will, and I must," Dusknoir shot back. "I told you, I'm not going to sit back and let you kill us all."

"Will you let that go already?!" Leaf's temper flared, and he kneaded his forehead as he went on. "The research team found enough Pokémon who were okay with this for it to be worth it. None of the sane ones want to keep living like this. You've seen how it is, but you keep clinging to it anyway—it's almost sad."

He sighed, straightened up, and managed to take a few shaky steps. It wasn't great, but he was better than before; that would have to be good enough. Leaf took one more glance over his shoulder before he approached the crevice in the nearby cave wall.

"So…sit there and think about what you're doing," he said.

And then he was gone, too quickly to hear whatever Dusknoir's reply was. Leaf had to go, and he had to go now.

Well, he still wasn't quite as fast as he would've liked. Leaf growled as he tried to make his body move properly. Trying to run just made him stagger and fall, and it was infuriating. But, no—he couldn't let himself get too caught up in his emotions. Not now, not when he had to figure out what was going on and outrun Dusknoir while he was at it.

And, unfortunately, he did run into wild Pokémon every now and then. The Flygon and Lunatone weren't too bad; Leaf could handle them reasonably well, particularly the latter, with enough shots of Leaf Blade and Absorb. (He found himself relying on Absorb often anyway; it wasn't much, but any little bit of energy he could get back helped.)

Still…he did run into a Toxicroak and a Honchkrow or two fairly late in. And those fights didn't go nearly so well. Leaf found himself staggering away from the Toxicroak, wheezing and clutching his arm. He didn't think it was broken, but the frog had slammed him into the wall after hitting him with some Poison move, and he'd hit his arm pretty hard.

Leaf could only be grateful that he'd thrown the Time Gears to Claire instead of tossing out his whole bag. He had a few healing items available (though fewer than he'd really like), and he managed to dig out his sole Pecha Berry after a few seconds of fumbling. Then, an Oran Berry—and, after Leaf ate both of them, he almost felt something resembling "normal" again.

It was another small mercy that the dungeon itself wasn't too long. Leaf came out into a small clearing, and he took a second to rest and get his bearings. If he looked closely, he thought he could see a small shape in the sky, floating up above the plains in the distance. Was that Temporal Tower? If so, he'd at least gotten lucky enough to arrive in the Hidden Land. If he could just find a way to get up there, then Leaf could see whether or not Primal Dialga was still there. And that would be a start.

Leaf nodded to himself and started walking again. If he set out now, he might be able to get there in a decent amount of time. After a few seconds, though, Leaf thought he heard something behind him. It would be best to take care of that now, just in case he ran into more trouble later. He turned around, eyes widening when he was met by…

"Dusknoir? How did you follow me all the way here?"

The Ghost-Type was breathing heavily, and he paused to rest an arm against a nearby tree. He really didn't look like he was in any shape to be moving, never mind catching up with Leaf so quickly. But he'd managed it somehow. At least it might be easy to knock him out in his condition.

"I told you," Dusknoir snarled, or at least attempted to snarl, "that I'm not going to let you do this!"

Leaf sighed, but before he could formulate a decent reply, he was cut off by more noise. There was a particularly loud rustling, and suddenly a bunch of Sableye surrounded them. Four altogether, it looked like. This…wasn't good. Leaf might've been able to fight Dusknoir by himself, but he wouldn't be able to handle that many Sableye, too…

"Wheh-heh! We found him!" one of them said gleefully. "We found Lord Dusknoir!"

"We found both of them!" another corrected. "Lord Dusknoir and Grovyle both!"

"Let's go, wheh-heh!"

One of the Sableye dashed towards him, and Leaf didn't have time to think as he rolled out of the way. All he could concentrate on was getting rid of one enemy at a time. The ghost staggered around comically as his attack missed, and Leaf took the chance to tear into the ground beneath him. He arose several feet away, startling a couple more Sableye as he crashed into one of them. Dig—then he spun around and struck another with a Leaf Blade, finishing off his target with an Absorb.

There, that took care of two of them. Leaf would've thought that was far too easy if he weren't so exhausted. That had taken too much out of him; he was still vulnerable. There were two more left, and—

"What do you think you're doing?!"

—one of them had just taken a slash at Dusknoir. Leaf's eyes widened again; this was his chance. If they were splitting their attention, he might be able to do this after all. Sure, Leaf had no earthly idea what was going on, but he wasn't going to argue with the opportunity.

One was now distracted with his…possibly former boss, and Leaf dove towards the Sableye who'd tried to attack him earlier. He slammed into him, and Sableye responded with a sharp Fury Swipes of his own. Leaf grunted as he staggered back; that left too many cuts on his body to count, and he was stinging all over. If he wasn't careful, the imp would have him. Sableye darted forward again, and Leaf quickly stretched out a claw, holding Sableye in place at the end of it.

"Wheh, let me go!" he cried, arms flailing wildly.

"Sorry, can't do that," Leaf grunted.

He closed his eyes as a pale green light surrounded his claw. It spread to Sableye, and Leaf could feel the ghost's movements slowing down. A few of his cuts started to heal up, and some of his energy started returning. One more pulse of Absorb, and then Sableye crumpled to the ground. Whew—Leaf could move considerably better now, and he turned around to look for Dusknoir.

Somehow, he'd taken care of the Sableye harassing him as well, though he looked far worse than he had before. Dusknoir glanced around, taking in the unconscious Sableye scattered around them, and his eye fell on Leaf. He hovered towards him, but he cringed from the effort and had to rest again.

"I believe I owe you, as much as I hate to admit it."

"I wasn't trying to help you," Leaf replied disdainfully. "I was just trying to keep them off me. Why were they attacking you?"

Dusknoir sighed, glancing aside before he went on. "Perhaps…you may have been right… Maybe they're listening to someone besides me now."

"See?" Leaf couldn't help feeling satisfied at the admission. "Now that we've cleared up, maybe my trip will be easier now. You won't follow me knowing that, will you?"

"Actually," Dusknoir said coolly, "I would still like to make my way to Temporal Tower. I need to speak with Master Dialga and see what's going on."

Leaf folded his arms. "Well, whatever makes you feel better… Just don't try and tag along with me. I don't need you causing trouble."

"Are you sure about that? We both want the same thing, at least for now. And you know you wouldn't have gotten through that on your own."

Leaf scowled. It sounded like Dusknoir was, in fact, trying to pair up with him. That wasn't something Leaf was comfortable with, even in his current state. Besides, even if Dusknoir was willing to cooperate for now—and that was a very big if—there was no telling what would happen after that.

"I think you'll have to forgive me if I don't trust you," Leaf said eventually. "As much as I'd like the help, you'll probably just turn on me as soon as we get there."

"I'm not doing anything until I actually talk to Master Dialga. Surely you realize that."

"Yes, and then what?" Leaf snapped. "Provided he takes you back, then it'll be me against both of you! And that will hurt my odds of—"

Dusknoir sighed. "Yes, yes, you need to help your dear human. Or your dear Meowth, in this case. But I suggest you make your decision before the Sableye get up—then you'll have to deal with them again. Shall we go together or not?"

Leaf narrowed his eyes as he looked around. Dusknoir was right about that, at least; they couldn't afford to dawdle. He ground his teeth and closed his eyes. The situation was terrible no matter how he looked at it, but Leaf didn't really have any options right now. Finally, he darted towards the edge of the clearing, glancing over his shoulder at Dusknoir.

"Fine; you can come along as long as you can keep up," he said. "But keep in mind that the instant you do anything suspicious—"

"You'll cut me down; yes, I know." Dusknoir sighed again as he started following Leaf. "But…I suppose I should thank you, nonetheless."

The second round of thanks caught him off guard, but Leaf chose not to reply. Maybe Dusknoir was trying to mess with him by acting…almost polite. That had to be it. Leaf wasn't going to let Dusknoir confuse him like that. He wouldn't. No, he wasn't going to at all.

…All right, maybe Leaf was being a little petty, at least for now. As long as Dusknoir didn't do anything, they'd be all right. There always was the possibility that Primal Dialga really had replaced him with someone else. And if that was the case, Leaf would probably be okay.

Still…he didn't like not knowing. And, as they approached another dungeon, Leaf thought grimly that now was really not the time to be unsure. But what choice did he have? With one more glance over his shoulder—Dusknoir was still following him, silently and warily—Leaf shook his head and kept going.

Just before they slipped inside, Dusknoir broke the silence. "You're sure you're up for this?"

"Don't pretend to be concerned," Leaf muttered. "Besides, we don't have much of a choice, unless you know a faster route there?"

Dusknoir shrugged, and Leaf frowned before darting ahead of him. At least now he could move slightly faster, for whatever that was worth. Still…he'd felt rather childish with that response. Leaf had admittedly always had an impatient streak, but getting so snappy was…a little embarrassing. He shook his head; he was sure he'd get over it eventually, but there was a nagging sensation in the back of his head nonetheless.

As they rounded a corner in the next hallway, Leaf stumbled backwards. He stopped himself just short of bumping into Dusknoir, but he hadn't seen the Solrock coming. Dusknoir's hand was on his shoulder, steadying him—Leaf flinched at the touch, rolling aside to avoid Solrock's Psywave attack. Ugh, why had that gesture unsettled him so much? He could still feel the hand on his back.

Still, Leaf scrambled back to his feet, swinging his leaves down on the Rock-Type for a Leaf Blade. Solrock spun around, attempting to launch another psychic move. It clattered to the ground a few seconds later, however, and Leaf could see a few remaining wisps of a Shadow Ball in Dusknoir's hands.

"You must be careful," he admonished. "You may be getting faster, but that's not enough."

"I'm fine!" Leaf snapped. "Don't lecture me!"

Dusknoir sighed gustily. "Fine, if you insist. Just watch where you're going."

Leaf huffed in response and picked up his pace. So much for calming down; now he felt even more foolish. Still…Dusknoir was helping him, and that was something. Wasn't it? He couldn't shake the feeling that Dusknoir just wanted something from him, but…well, this was going marginally better than he'd expected.

They managed to get a decent way through the wasteland without too much trouble. Leaf handled the Solrock and occasional Onix well enough, while Dusknoir took care of all the Gastly and Shedinja. While they went, Leaf watched Dusknoir out of the corner of his eye. Even when he wasn't in the best of shape, Dusknoir was still plenty strong. It might be something he had to watch out for later, but…for now, it was helpful.

Finally, they approached a wide clearing, and Leaf sighed as they slipped out of the dungeon. He sank down to the ground, pulling another Oran Berry out of his bag. While he'd scavenged a few half-wilted berried and seeds from Dark Wasteland—as most of the food here was—his assortment of items was still rather motley. Leaf would make do, but he couldn't help frowning as he ate the berry nonetheless.

His eyes drifted up to Dusknoir again; the ghost had an odd look on his face. "…What, do you want one?"

Dusknoir raised a hand to silence him. "No, I hear something. …Hide."

Leaf nodded, claws digging into the ground as Dusknoir slipped behind a nearby tree. Once he'd dug a sufficiently deep hole, Leaf paused to listen. He heard footsteps that were accompanied by minor clicks. Something with sharp nails or claws of some sort, probably.

Leaf craned his neck, shifting around to get a better look at whatever was coming. Then, he saw a flash of purple on the edge of his vision. It was a Sableye. Abruptly, Leaf leapt out of his hole and whipped a claw out towards the little imp. It wasn't enough to hurt, but it did its job of surprising Sableye well enough; he yelped and tried to scramble away from Leaf with little success.

"W-wheh! Grovyle! Let me go!" he wailed, flailing around uselessly.

Leaf's grip on Sableye's arm tightened. "Sorry, can't let you go. I want to ask you something."

"And so do I."

Dusknoir floated out from the shadows, and Sableye's agape mouth indicated that his eyes would be widening if they were capable of such. Instead, he just kind of whimpered pathetically as Leaf glanced around for a more convenient conversation spot. Soon, Leaf noticed a small alcove in a rock wall up ahead, and he dragged Sableye over to it.

He let Sableye go when they got there, and Dusknoir was close behind them. Sableye looked between the two of them, probably wondering if he had a decent chance of fleeing. Leaf crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, and Sableye jumped at the expression before backing up against the wall. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to get him to talk if he was so easily-intimidated.

"All right, let's not waste any time here," Leaf started. "You're listening to someone, aren't you? And it's clearly not him—" he jerked a thumb towards Dusknoir as he went on— "so who is it?"

Sableye huffed and looked away. "I'm not gonna tell you! Why should I tell you?"

There was a loud thud, and a few pebbles crumbled from the rock wall, floating out awkwardly about an inch or two from their previous resting place. Sableye shrieked, and even Leaf jumped at the noise. Dusknoir had rammed his fist into the wall, and he left it there as he glared at the smaller Pokémon.

"Tell us, unless you would like to be next," he growled.

"Okay! Fine! I'll tell you, wheh-heh!" Sableye's voice had risen an octave or two, but he went on nonetheless. "M-Master Dialga…he told us to go after Lord Dusknoir! I swear! W-we didn't want to, but…Master Dialga is e-even scarier than Lord Dusknoir, so…"

Dusknoir's arm fell to his side, and his eye widened. Leaf paused, shrewdly looking him over. He knew Dusknoir was a decent enough actor, but the shock seemed real. He'd been so dead-set on speaking with Primal Dialga that the idea of being cast aside must have genuinely seemed absurd to him despite Leaf already having brought it up.

"Master Dialga would never abandon me! That's absolute nonsense," Dusknoir sputtered.

"I-it's true! I swear!"

Leaf eyed the Sableye next. "All right, then. One more question. If Primal Dialga has turned on Dusknoir…does he have anyone else following him now? Anyone he might try to…send back in Dusknoir's place?"

The Sableye was quiet for a while. It almost seemed like he wasn't going to answer, and Leaf growled at him in annoyance. When that didn't do the trick, Dusknoir swung at him again—and he rolled out of the way just in time to avoid having his head smashed into the wall.

"Okay! Okay! I'll talk, wheh!" Sableye took a few deep breaths, looking away as he went on. "There's…someone else who wanted to, but…Master Dialga says she's not strong enough. So…he's looking for another one. He picked out a new henchman, and…he's gonna send them back to the past next!"

"What?" Leaf's eyes widened. "How could he have picked out someone else so quickly?"

"That's all I know! I swear! Now lemme go!"

Leaf sighed. "Fine. Get out of here. Just hurry up and go!"

The Sableye scrambled away, whimpering all the while. Leaf stared at him as he went, trying to process all of that information. So he was right about Dialga wanting to send someone else after Claire, at least. But to have picked someone out already…they might not have as much time as he'd hoped. Leaf had to get to Temporal Tower, and soon.

One thing had struck him as odd, though. Leaf glanced over at Dusknoir as he attempted to sort out his question. Dusknoir still had his hand against the wall, but the other had come up to rest weakly against the side of his head. He'd started shaking, and Leaf wasn't sure if he was paying attention. He cleared his throat loudly before going on.

"Wait, what did he mean, there's one other who tells them what to do?" Leaf asked uncertainly. "And why would Dialga go to all the trouble of picking someone else out when he could just send her back?"

"I…can't say." Dusknoir took a deep breath. "There is someone else who works with them, but she's not as highly-ranked as I am. Perhaps Master Dialga really didn't think she was strong enough. However…" He shook his head. "Me, being replaced…it's…completely ludicrous! We need to go and…"

"Go and what, exactly?" Leaf raised a brow. "You really think Primal Dialga will speak with you if he's already picked out your replacement?"

"I have to be sure!" Dusknoir snapped. "Besides…you still want to see if Master Dialga is at Temporal Tower, don't you?"

"I guess you're right there." Leaf sighed. "We have to hurry, though. Are we close?"

Dusknoir nodded. "The tower isn't far from here. And we should have enough of a pathway for you to get up there as well. Let's go."

"Lead the way, then."

Dusknoir silently beckoned at him, and Leaf hesitantly followed. There was still something nagging at him—the other Pokémon Sableye had mentioned. He knew Missy had to be working for Dusknoir in some capacity; she'd told him where to find Michelle, and she'd been at the stockades. The Misdreavus had almost slipped his mind for a while, but…now she was coming back. And Leaf had a pressing sense of wrongness about the whole thing.

But it was a wrongness that he couldn't quite name. Missy really didn't seem like the type to do things herself, after all. Maybe Sableye had meant it when he said she wasn't strong enough. In that case, it'd make sense that Dialga wouldn't want to send her on a large-scale mission.

But if it wasn't Dusknoir, and it wasn't Missy…then who was this new henchman? It had to be someone, but—

"We're here."

Leaf blinked; he'd been so distracted that he hadn't noticed they'd almost reached Temporal Tower. It seemed they really had been close after all. There were several frozen boulders leading up to the tower itself, and Leaf jumped from one to another on his way up. Dusknoir was close behind him, and he paused as he gave Leaf a look over.

"It seems your agility is coming back," he commented idly. "I take it you'll be able to make it up there just fine?"

Leaf shrugged. He still wasn't at full capacity, but he was starting to feel better.

"I suppose. How about you?"

Dusknoir looked himself over. "Well…I'll manage. Shall we go on, then?"

He responded with another shrug and a nod. Well…it was time. Leaf took a deep breath as he stepped through the crumbling doorway of Temporal Tower. They entered into a narrow hallway that emptied out into a larger room, and Leaf couldn't help thinking of Claire as he walked.

Was she climbing Temporal Tower in the past right now? If so, then things would start changing soon enough. He might not have 'needed' to do this, in that case. But Leaf couldn't sit back and wait, not when they were so close.

Besides…if Leaf was right in assuming that Dusknoir had spent a few days waiting for them, maybe Claire hadn't reached Temporal Tower yet. For all he knew, maybe it was still a few days ago in the past. In that case, maybe Claire and her friends were still in Brine Cave—or it could've been even earlier. And in that case, he did need to hurry.

Ugh…thinking of all of these possible temporal paradoxes was giving Leaf a headache. Regardless of what Claire was doing right now, he needed to concentrate. His thoughts had carried him a little ways into the tower, and Dusknoir was still quietly following him. The silence was almost more unnerving than a conversation would've been, and Leaf curiously cast a glance over his shoulder.

"Oh, do you not like having me behind you?" Dusknoir commented dryly. "Unless you trust me to lead instead…"

There was a faint tingling sensation on the back of his neck, but Leaf chose to ignore it. "No, it's fine. Let's hurry."

…If Dusknoir was trying to make him nervous, Leaf wasn't going to fall for it. That could've been his attempt at a joke, but it was hard to tell. Either way, Leaf shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

And just in time—they'd arrived in another large room, and a Golbat fluttered down towards them. She screeched as she dove towards Leaf, and he swerved to the side. He didn't entirely dodge her—Golbat's wing clipped his side, and he grunted as he stumbled backwards. Nonetheless, he recovered and rammed into her with a Quick Attack, and Dusknoir finished her off with an Ice Punch.

Leaf sighed as Golbat crumpled to the floor. At least Dusknoir was cooperating with him, and he'd take it. The rest of the climb was relatively uneventful, barring another encounter or two with the tower's residents. Leaf could only hope things stayed that way; he didn't know what to expect at the summit, after all.

They found a decent place to rest about halfway up Temporal Tower, and Leaf idly rubbed his claws over his legs as he sat down. His limbs had a lot more life in them now, and any injuries he'd sustained from his earlier fight with Dusknoir had reduced down to a dull throb, if that. Leaf hoped that meant he'd be in good enough condition to fight, if necessary, but potential three-on-one odds weren't promising…

He spared another look at Dusknoir, who was currently resting against a wall with his eye closed. Even if Primal Dialga didn't take him back…would he fight against Leaf anyway? Leaf wasn't sure. He stood up and strode towards the way leading forward. Dusknoir seemed to have heard him approach, as he opened his eye when Leaf got closer.

"Are you ready to go on?"

"As much as I can be." Leaf frowned. "Listen, though…you don't think we'll find this new follower up at the top, do you?"

"I can't say." Dusknoir shrugged. "Though I can tell you that I do not intend to be friends with them. Should anything happen up there, I will prioritize them over you."

"Well, that's…comforting."

Leaf snorted as he turned around and kept going. It was comforting to some degree, but in some ways it wasn't. He wasn't sure if he should be look for any deeper meanings in that, but Leaf figured he should concentrate on what was ahead of him first.

The tower's guardians got tougher the further in they went. All of the Crobat and Alakazam proved difficult, and Leaf was glad they mostly encountered them one or two at a time. It could've been much worse, but he was antsy when they finally arrived at Temporal Tower's pinnacle.

At first, there was nothing but silence. Leaf was greeted by a stretch of empty, damaged flooring that faded out into darkness in the distance. Broken pillars decorated the ground ahead of them, and Leaf carefully stepped around the damaged pieces of one near him. There were deep cracks past that, and they got bigger further back. Finally, they were met with a large gaping hole, and Leaf squinted at it—he couldn't make out the floor below, so who knew how long of a drop it was.

"…Is this where Primal Dialga usually is?" he asked.

Dusknoir nodded. "Yes, I thought he'd be here. But…he doesn't seem to be…"

Leaf waited, taking a step or two backwards. He couldn't be too sure; maybe Dialga was just…hiding somewhere, or…something. Maybe the Temporal Pokémon would teleport in at the single most inconvenient time. It could be some sort of trick.

But when he was met with nothing but more silence, Leaf believed that Dialga really wasn't there. That begged the question of where he was instead, though. The encounter at Dusk Forest, back when Team Shadow had been in this world with him, was one of the only times he'd ever heard of Dialga personally leaving the Tower. And if he wasn't there, then…Leaf couldn't shake the idea that something very, very bad was about to happen.

"If he isn't here, then…where do you think he is?" Leaf asked slowly. "What reason would he have to leave this place?"

"Well, I can think of one good reason." Dusknoir frowned. "If I was Master Dialga, and I was worried about how things were going in the past…I would want to make sure no one could get back there, don't you think? Perhaps he thought it wise to check the nearest Passage of Time and make sure no one was there."

The observation was a simple, logical one, but it hit Leaf like a sack of rocks. His eyes widened as he brought a claw to his mouth. The only Passage of Time he knew of was the same one he'd used both times he'd gone back to the past—the one in Dusk Forest. And that was one of Celebi's favorite places to stay anyway, when she wasn't with someone else.

So that meant—

"Celebi," he whispered. "We have to make sure Celebi's all right—"

Dusknoir nodded. "Here—let's go. I can take us part of the way."

He rested a hand on Leaf's back and closed his eye. Soon, dark streaks began to envelope them, and Leaf had the rather awful sensation that he was being melted. It was so different from teleporting with Celebi or Jirachi, but somehow even less pleasant.

Then, the shadows completely swallowed them up, and Leaf's vision was too blurred for him to focus. His heartbeat rapidly sped up as they began to fade away from Temporal Tower. He should've been grateful they had a convenient way of getting to Dusk Forest more quickly, but…

Leaf could only hope that his fears would be unfounded. Celebi had to be safe.

…She had to be.