Disclaimer - I don't own Pokemon or any of its characters; only the idea belongs to me.
1 - The Time Clock
Viridian Forest, 11th November
"How much longer?" Goh whined as he followed an over-excited Ash through the Viridian Forest.
To think that even after growing up in the vicinity and having been crossed the same forest for more than hundreds of times; Ash still lost his way while navigating the damn forest!
"Just round that corner and we will be home in no time!" Ash exclaimed as he kept rushing over the corners in the forest with Pikachu hot on his heels, Goh barely managing to keep up with his companion.
After their amazing Journeys around the world for last few months and an upcoming Champions tournament looming over their heads; Ash decided his visit to his mom was long overdue. And so, they were making their way to Pallet Town for the weekend; after which they must report in Unova.
After another 20 minutes they finally found a way out of the messy Viridian Forest and stood atop the hill – looking over Pallet Town.
"There is no place like home, right Pikachu?" Ash asked his partner who exclaimed an all to energetic "Pika!" along with him.
Goh joined them after a few minutes looking over the serene town
"You weren't kidding when you said it was beautiful at this time of the year" he said. The whole town looked like a paradise right out of a novel, covered in a thin layer of Snow. Still the breeze was calming and pleasant, it was just the onset of the winter and it felt rather amazing by just looking at it all from afar.
"Told ya!" Ash grinned big "C'mon! I can't wait to meet my mom. I miss her so much" & just like that they were off again.
By the time they reached Ketchum household it was almost dinner time and Mr. Mime was wrapping up the last gardening equipment's that were used earlier that day; but seeing the newly arrived trainer – he left all the supplies to greet them.
"Mime mime Mr. mime!"
"Hey Mimey, good to see you still take good care of those flowers." Ash patted his head and passed him to the front door.
"Chloe and Yamper said hi, Mr Mime." Goh smiled at the house-Pokémon as he passed him.
"Who is it, Mimey?" the delicate voice of Delia Ketchum rang through the house
"It's me, Mom!" Ash was off again to greet his mom who dropped her spatula and rushed to pull her son into a bone-crushing hug.
"Oh Ashy! What a surprise! I missed you so much!" She exclaimed; a few tears slipping her eyes
"Oh Mom, don't cry. I missed you too; so, thought I did visit you" He gave her a big smile.
"Pika!" Pikachu agreed as he hopped in Delia's arms who wasted no time to cuddle the small rodent all the while having her son wrapped by other hand.
There was a time when he used to run from his mom's hugs and all the embarrassing stories she had to share with his friends; but as he kept travelling farther and his visits home became lesser and lesser – he missed her more and more. It came to a point where he was almost homesick and almost wanted to leave everything just to come and spend downtime with his mom and her garden – and of course Mimey.
The keyword being – Almost
"Hello Mrs Ketchum" Goh greeted making his presence known to the emotional mother-son duo.
"Oh Goh, it's so good to have you here. You came just in time for dinner! I was making spaghetti today – just something different than usual" She walked back to the kitchen, other two following her
"It's been so long I have one of your servings Mom! I'm so hungry" as if on cue his stomach grumbled making his mother laugh at him.
The evening was spent with talks and laughter and many stories. At some point, Professor Oak and Tracey also joined them for the mini reunion.
"So, where is Gary now a days?" Ash asked as they settled around the living room for ice-cream.
Though he and his childhood-friend-turned-rival-turned-friend-again had left on good terms after their last meet; neither got to keep in contact with each other, Gary was busy with his researches and projects too much to care while Ash was simply bad at communication and keeping in touch. All information about the whereabouts they got of each other was through Prof. Oak and Tracey.
"What kind of mission is he given now?" Goh asked; Gary was after all, the highest token holder amongst them.
"After his last mission, he shifted to one of sevii islands for some new research – he is keeping it all under-wraps; even I don't know what it is all about" Prof Oak explained
"Oh man! I was looking forward to see him" Ask said
"Well, I'm going to visit him tomorrow early with a few supplies, if you have time, I won't mind some company" Tracey suggested
Ash paused for a moment and weighted his options. They were in no hurry, but he was not sure Goh would like this detour or not; plus, he was planning on spending this weekend with his mother who he rarely sees. Will it be okay to leave so early? She never says anything to him, but he knows she misses him too much.
As if sensing his distress Delia said "That would be great! I'm sure Gary could use some off time from all the research. I'll even pack a batch of cookies for him, poor boy must be carving something homemade."
"But mom; I came to spend time with you"
"Don't worry about it Ashy; I've seen you more than Gary. Go ahead" She smiled at him
Ash then turned to Goh and asked, "Do you mind a small detour?"
"As long as I get to see some awesome Pokémon I won't mind" Goh shrugged, then muttered to himself, "Plus, I get to know what he's up to, so it's a win-win"
"Gary has a large number of Pokémon on Sevii Islands, there he used to works with fossils, so we will have a great time. No doubt about it!"
And so, the conversation continued.
.
.
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Sevii Islands, 12th November
Next day early in the morning Ash, Pikachu and Goh were off towards Sevii islands following Tracey to the Pallet Town docks. There was a small speed boat that Tracey had learned so he could easily navigate for any errands he had to run for Prof. Oak. It took them a couple of hours to reach their destination and after reaching there they were greeted by hoard of Pokémon
"Woah! So many ancient and supposedly extinct Pokémon" Goh looked around
"Gary spent a lot of time on those, after he revived the ancient species and came back from Sinnoh he had something on his mind. He made this island his sanctuary of sorts. He only gets out of here if he gets a new mission" Tracey explained
"That's so unlike Gary" Ash muttered
Soon they reached a small rock formation in the middle of woods. As they reached the door, it swung open to revel the brunette assistant professor looking ready for a long journey. The two parties looked at one another for a few seconds, registering the events.
"Gary!" Ash was first to snap out and greet his childhood friend. "Pika!"
"Ashy boy; what a surprise. I did not expect to meet you here. Hey Pikachu, looking good there" Gary said after he finally caught on his new guests. "Oh, hey Goh, even you are here?" Gary asked looking at Goh
"We came to see you" Ash replied and started making his way inside "Geez, which storm hit here?" Ash asked as they entered the make-shift lab that was there only for namesakes. He was completely ignored by the occupants of the room.
"I was bringing you the chemicals you asked for but looks like you are leaving" Tracey said as they all followed Gary inside.
"I almost forgot about those" he sighed "I'm at the breakthrough of a very important mystery and I have very less time to solve it before it gets reset"
"You solve mysteries now? Like detectives?" Goh asked, he wasn't well acquainted with the brunet, only met him a couple of times through Ash, so he was curious about this professor.
"Not quite like them, but this is a big deal what I have found. And I would like to personally check this out before it's too late" Gary said
"What is it?" Ash asked
"Now Ashy-boy; this is not something you ask a researcher. This is a confidential information" Gary said
"C'mon Gary. It's just us."
"You won't understand it anyway"
"Try me!"
Tracey and Goh sighed, this was getting nowhere; Ash was stubborn and so was Gary, they both can go on arguing for hours without a problem.
"Why don't you brief us about it Gary, while I fix some breakfast. We can maybe drop you by where you want to go" Tracey suggested
Gary contemplated that a bit; it won't hurt to share the information – it's not like they would reveal it to anyone; though they might think he was crazy. 'Eh, like that ever stopped me before.' Thus, he agreed to share his research with them
The breakfast was set in no time, with addition of Delia's cookies in the mix and as they all gathered around the small table; Gary began to explain
"When I completed my study in Sinnoh, I came across a book that intrigued me. It was an old script about 'Time Clock' – something that is lost to our world. Or so we think"
"What is Time Clock?" Ash asked
"Okay first thing first – No interruption; You do that again and I stop right there" Gary warned and in turn Ash raised his hands in surrender
"So, as I was saying, this 'Time Clock' is region-based entity that is clubbed together in a spherical form having eccentric rings; each of which represents the nine regions we have and time them accordingly where they are in tune with each other all the while reciprocating others orbits and maintaining their own; like a miniature solar system – only there will be rings instead of planets revolving."
Gary looked around at his guests only to find very confused faces and sighed
"Gotta speak English, right. To put it simply, this time clock is a big sphere that has rings that each represents our nine regions. These rings show how the time in each region is moving; for example – Sinnoh is a few hours behind Kanto and thus the rings that represents Sinnoh and Kanto has some lag between them. Now do you get it?"
"Not completely, but I guess we get the gist of it" Tracey nodded
"But you said it was lost to our world, like some old legend. So, why should this be of any concern?" Goh asked
"That's the thing, it was a legend – supposedly only in books; but the events are such that suggest someone has meddled with that clock. And I need to find it to know what exactly the case is and how to correct it"
"What events?"
"Where is it?"
Goh and Ash asked simultaneously, now eager to know about this supposed mystery.
Gary paused for a moment; this was hard to explain. But if he knew Ash like he thought he did – then the best way to explain anything will be either putting it straightforward or using some Pokémon analogy. He did not have any of the said analogy so he will have to put it straight into words. But even that was a challenge. Thinking for another minute he came up with the best way possible,
"Ash," Gary turned towards his childhood friend "How old are you?"
Ash frowned and looked at Gary dumbfounded; why was that even a question? Was Gary mocking him again with such questions?
"Is this your way of teasing me?" he huffed
"Just answer the question!"
"Fine! I'm 10" He threw up his hands in surrender
"Right, and which year were you born?"
"1998"
"Goh, when were you born?"
"2005"
Ash looked at Goh like he had grown a double head. Gary could see the confusion etched on his face and even Tracey seemed to be scandalized. Pikachu on the other hand was already tired with the word games of the humans and decided a nap would be a better option.
"You are kidding right?" Ash asked Goh
"Why would I?" Goh countered
"Because it's 2008! That would mean you are only three years old!" Tracey exclaimed now understanding the strangeness of all this
"That's ridiculous! Stop messing with me okay." Goh rolled his eyes, these guys can't fool him "It's not 2008, it's -" he paused to think which year they were in but ended up with nothing. It felt all too blank; did he not look at the calendar? Now that he thinks of it – he has not encountered one for a long while
"Bingo!" Gray exclaimed as he placed his plate down and got up
"That's exactly what the mystery is. After 2008, time seemed to stop. But not at once – it's like a slow poison. It's stopping region wise; one region per year. And as this stop; the living beings originating from those regions – their life cycle comes to a standstill."
"You are making no sense Gary!" Ash said making Gary sigh
"Let me put it this way, Kanto completed 2008 and on the move towards 2009, they became standstill – so while 2008 prolonged in Kanto; Johto continued to have 2009 but then joined Kanto, while being stuck in 2009; gradually Hoenn in 2010, Sinnoh in 2011, Unova in 2012, Kalos in 2013, Alola in 2014 and Galar in 2015 fell into standstill one after another with a year's gap among them. The last Paldea region is still in moving, that will also fall into Standstill after the new years – that is Paldea will be stuck in 2016 forever. So, essentially what is supposed to be 2016 for everyone, all regions are stuck in their own time zones"
"This is a bit of reach; don't you think Gary?" Tracey tried to put it nicely
"I'm not gone mad if that's what you are saying Tracey" The assistant Professor glared at this grandfather's assistant
"I'm not saying that. But this is not possible! Time cannot stop – specially not region-wise or something" Tracey said
"But that's exactly what has happened!"
"I think you need to check this out once more" Goh meekly added "This is fascinating and all; but these are all assumptions."
"I know these are only assumptions as of now, but I have enough proof to prove it otherwise; I have been working on this since what is supposed to be 4 years, damnit!" Gary's voice raised a bit; this is the reason why he never tries to explain anyone what he was researching
"Gary, calm down" Tracey said
"Don't tell me to calm down! It wasn't me who wanted to know what I was researching but now you won't believe me!"
"I believe you Gary" Ash said, instantly silencing everyone. All three looked at him as he stood in front of his friend "I completely believe that this is the case or could be. So, what next, are we to do something? Because I assume the whole world coming to standstill can't be good?" he asked
Gary gratefully smiled at him, till now he tried to explain his theory to five people excluding these three and out of them only one believed. So, Gary really appreciates Ash believing him; that just puts his conscience at ease.
"Absolutely!" He said as he turned towards the window. "Time is like a flowing river; It has to keep moving no matter what." He looked towards Tracey "What happens, Tracey, when water stops flowing and comes to a standstill?" He asked
"The water turns stale" Tracey replied instantly
"So, what will happen to time?" Gary asked
"It can't grow stale, that's for sure" Goh replied
Gary walked towards his bag and pulled out an old worn-out paperback book. He went through a few pages and finally landed on one he was searching. Placing it on the table he motioned others to look at it.
The page contained an image of a complex device. There in the middle was a small sphere, surrounded by nine solid rings in orbits of their own, they were aligned in different planes looking like entangled wires. It took them a few seconds to realise they were looking at the 'Time Clock' that Gary had explained to them. What they were imagining till now came into reality as they saw the black and white picture of the clock.
"This is what the Time Clock looks like." Gary said as he pointed to the bottom of the page where something was written which neither of the three could understand. But Gary started reciting it like he knew it by heart
"The assortment of orbits rest for all masses of land, circumnavigating the sphere of living; only to maintain the harmony within them and assure peace for the wheel of pulse. Beware though, for if the flow is disturbed and the clock shall fail to revolve under influence of thy magical elements; only the counterpart of the disturbed could help till the last orbit ceases. For even after that the crisis push forward - the world shall turn to Ash"
Fin