a/n: Life really has a way of working out, huh?
About a week ago, a school that I applied to sorta as a joke reached out to me. It's one of the top colleges in my country and known internationally.
I was expecting a rejection
I was mistaken
I GOT ACCEPTED TO AN AMAZING SCHOOL THAT'S BETTER THAN MY OLD DREAM SCHOOL
HA!
Omg this feeling
Wow
Oh yeah,
Greninja's return was confirmed in the new opening. Told ya so
And Paul. I swear if I called the final Ultra Class battle against Paul all those months ago when I wrote Usurper I'd die laughing.
—-
Timeless HQ:
"So how exactly do we enter this Labyrinth of Time?" Ashley asked
Adult-Ash smiled, "There's a portal at HQ, we'll depart as soon as possible, any other members want in?"
"I think I'll pass," Selene said with a guilty expression
"Same here, I think this job needs to be in your hands, so much of this whole situation is tied to you Ash, I think the universe is trying to tell you something here," N said
"I agree with N, this is a job for YOU and your counterparts Ash, not us. That being said, I think we'd be crappy teammates if we didn't help you out even a little bit," Zinnia said
"Helping with what?" Lucas asked
Calem held up a special poke ball, "I understand you may have reservations about this, but please heed me,"
Adult-Ash looked around, surprised. "Is that?"
Ashley took a step back, "That's the…"
The purple poke ball gleamed and the room paused to stare at it for a few moments while Calem thought of what to say
"Well, I know that'll be hard but use this Master Ball to capture a god if you get a chance, they may be powerful but the technology exists to help, and it's our fault if we don't even use it at all," Calem said as he extended a friendly hand to Adult-Ash who shook it firmly
"Any last takers?" Adult-Ash offered one last time.
"I think we'd rather stay as a final wave, just in case worst comes to worst," Nate told Adult-Ash
Adult-Ash nodded, "I understand,"
Nate offered his hand, "Best of luck,"
Adult-Ash shook it, "Glad to hear you're supportive,,"
Nate rolled his eyes, "Stay safe out there old man,"
Adult-Ash motioned for the group to walk away, and so they did towards their final destination.
"WAIT!" one more voice cried out and the group turned around to face it
Alternate-Red finally spoke up, "I'd like to come! I know I'm here to help you guys, I know I'm here for a reason, and I think it's to help you guys excel!"
"The more the merrier, come to join!" Alola-Ash said happily
Ashley smiled, "Sounds great! Just pull your own weight!"
Red smirked at her, "Lady, I'm the last person here who needs to worry about pulling their own weight."
Ashley rolled her eyes, "We'll see,"
XYZ Ash looked at JN-Ash, and they both spoke at once trying to address the group as a whole
"So umm we just got to the portal? Where will we go?"
Adult-Ash sighed, "It's an individual experience, each person will face unique challenges and struggles. You may have to kill a loved one, or even yourself! But you can never hesitate, because it's a simulation, it's not real. But if you falter in this maze, you'll never wake up,,"
"So what you're saying is to be vicious?" Ashley asked
Adult-Ash nodded, "Yep!"
Rocket-Ash smirked, "Well that will be no problem at all, I can certainly arrange that,"
"Hey, we're here!" Adult-Ash exclaimed as they reached a large door
Adult-Ash opened it, and a black portal was spinning slowly
"Ladies first," Rocket-Ash said jokingly
Ashley, not one to back down from a challenge, just walked forward and entered the portal.
She vanished entirely
Rocket-Ash followed her soon after
XYZ, JN, Alola, and Sinnoh Ashes all jumped in the portal, one after the other
Ashton and Adult-Ash watched Red follow them eagerly before walking in slowly themselves
The portal closed with a loud hiss, and Adult-Ash gulped. Here they were, entered into the
The Labyrinth of Time.
—-
Meanwhile in the distortion world-
Red woke up coughing, feeling as if nothing made sense and he was in an alternate plane of reality where the laws of physics didn't function the way they were supposed to.
Oh.
Wait.
Red scratched his head, feeling horrible.
A cloaked figure stood over him, and offered a hand
Red heard a croaking whisper around him
"Follow me if you want to survive,"
Red thought for a moment
His options were to take the hand, and face an unknown fate, or stay here and be at the mercy of well… an alternate plane of reality where the laws of physics didn't function the way they were supposed to.
After a long moment, Red made his decision. He was as good as dead to the outside world, he let Cyrus get the jump on him and he paid the price for his idiocy.
Red accepted the hand, it felt warm. But not warm like a human hand, more like warm water. Not boiling and painful to the touch, but probably not something you'd want to hold all day.
Red stood up, and took in his immediate surroundings. He knew he was in the distortion world, but this seemed like something resembling a field. The grass was up to his ankles, and the cloaked figure above him was very very tall. The figure must have been at least twice his height.
The figure motioned for Red to follow it, and he did.
"You're lucky to be alive, the plains are the most forgiving area of this world."
"Is that where we are?" Red asked
The figure nodded, "The distortion world as you outsiders call it is vast, our lord is merciless, and outside of a few areas, few ever return. And the tales they bring with the few who survive make you worry all the more,"
Red didn't even respond, choosing to watch the scenery around him
Stone islands flipped upside down, the sky seemed to be falling and there was a waterfall flowing up a bit further back.
"I don't understand, how do you guys survive here?" Red asked
"That's why I'm showing you how we do." The cloaked figure responded with some annoyance
Red didn't say anything more, choosing not to make him unnecessarily mad.
Eventually, they reached a clearing with nothing inside of it
The figure looked around before whistling slowly
The noise resembled… well to an ordinary ear, it'd sound like awful screeching. But Red recognized the melody, it was the same melody as the azure flute!
The ground beneath them collapsed, and Red watched as the island turned upside down, yet his gravity stayed the same. The figure motioned for him to follow him yet again, and he pointed towards a ladder carved into the rock.
Red grabbed a hold of the rungs and started scaling the rocks. After a few moments, he pulled himself up and started climbing, all the way to the top.
Somehow, the figure had beaten him.
Red stopped for a moment and looked around.
There was a whole city, carved of stone. Buildings, roads, grass sidewalks and the streets were empty. Dead silent.
The leader motioned for Red to follow him
"We don't have the outsider concept of day and night, but we do have breaks from work every day. This is one of our breaks, now hurry inside before anyone sees you."
The figure pointed towards a building and Red followed him inside.
"Okay, we're safe now, so can you please explain?"
The figure took off its hood, revealing a human, only massive and with glowing gold skin.
"Wha…. What the heck are you?"
The figure seemed sad, "I'm a human. Just like you, only I was born and raised in the distortion world."
"Why did you save me?" Red asked his mysterious rescuer
"Because….. Well, I'm sorta the leader of the resistance group against Giratina," The figure explained to Red
"What?" Red asked in shock, "I'm sorry, can you clarify what exactly that means?"
"Well, life here in the distortion world isn't exactly nice. And our lord Giratina is responsible for so much pain and suffering here, he has the power to make this place a flourishing place of beauty, but he chooses to leave it barren and dry and leaving us miserable," The figure said
"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I…. I guess I never really considered what exactly the distortion realm was other then Giratina's prison,"
"Prison? He can leave whenever he likes," The figure said
"Oh, really?" Red seemed surprised, assuming Cyrus freed him or something.
"Yeah, I know it's surprising considering he never leaves," The figure said with crossed arms
"Well about that, do you know how I even got here?" Red asked the figure
"Probably the way most humans do, falling through the portal in turnback cave," The figure said
"Actually, no," Red said almost embarrassed
"What? Then how?"
"Well, long story short a very bad man from my dimension gained power over Dialga and Palkia and allied with Giratina, he's trying to take down Arceus and create a new world from scratch, presumably one with him at the helm," Red said
The figure stayed silent, processing this
"I went to the Throne at the Hall of Origin to confront him, but I was beaten back by Giratina after I took down Palkia,"
"You took down Palkia?!" The figure seemed shocked
"Well, I'm something of a leader myself," Red said
"How so?" The figure asked
"I'm the leader of an organization called the timeless, a collective group of the strongest and most upstanding trainers across time and space,"
"So it'd be smart to get you back into the fight then?" The figure asked
Red nodded
"Well, that can be arranged, I have been looking to strike back at Giratina, and if you and your friends can stop his rampage, we might just have a chance at fixing our problem here," The figure said
"So, what exactly is the plan you propose?" Red asked
"Oh it's simple, we travel to the badlands and use the same portal Giratina does to exit. I'm the strongest trainer in this dimension, and I can't make the journey successfully, but with your help, I bet we could make it out of this dimension, stop Giratina and make the distortion world a paradise!" The figure seemed ecstatic
"Well, that doesn't sound so bad, how bad can the "badlands" actually be?" Red asked
The figure shook his head, "Oh you'd be surprised, that area may as well be hell. You think the laws of physics being broken over here in this area are bad? You should see it over there, no one makes it out alive unless you know the area and have the strength to deal with whatever happens," The figure said
"Well, I don't really have a choice in the matter, do I?" Red said, "I need to get back to the Hall of Origin and bring the timeless with me, but knowing what I said Ash and his group are probably on their way right now," Red muttered to himself
The figure shook his head, "Doing the right thing sometimes requires you to be brave, but life without leaving your comfort zone is a sad existence,"
Red seemed thrown back, "Well, that was oddly profound for a fanfic,"
Both looked confused,
"What?","What?" they said at the same time
"Well, I suppose you should rest up before tomorrow when we make our move on the badlands,"
"What? It'll be too late by then!"
The figure shook his head, "Time works differently here, I've been alive for almost 3000 years in this dimension, but in your human years I'm only two,"
"What?"
The figure shook his head, "Get some rest, you'll need it,"
"I never got your name!" Red said
The figure turned around and looked at Red, sighing and giving his answer
"The name's Nyx,"
—-
Back on the throne:
Cyrus was impatient tapping his foot and looking around the throne room.
"Cyrus! He's gone! Please focus on the task at hand, we're almost through," Reukra said
"How much longer?" Cyrus asked
"Perhaps a day or so, but if you shut up maybe less!" Reukra said frustrated
Remi nodded, "I…. Cyrus is Red dead?"
"Why do you care?"
Remi paused for a moment, "I…. I wanted to end him myself, that's all,"
Cyrus looked at her suspiciously, but shrugged
"You missed that chance, accept it and move on,"
Remi scowled. She was starting to feel more and more guilty about her betrayal of Red, and every time Cyrus spoke it disgusted her.
Remi was just unsure of what to do.