AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have written up to chapter 6 of this fic and have no plans to discontinue it so up to chapter 6 will be posted over the next few weeks and after that should come soon. Basically it won't remain unfinished for ages :) (also another chapter with no italics)
EDIT: I apologize for the grammar horrible horrible removed, the speech marks are back now
Chapter 2
The crimson angry eyes of Dialga glared out of the wreckage of TemporalTower. Dusknoir stood before him, frail in comparison to his massive frame.
"Yes, we've found out about Celebi's latest work. No, not really a threat," Dusknoir spoke quietly as though not to disturb all of the ghosts that could inhabit the ruins, "We'd still like to allocate the most resources on her, however. She's still the only real Pokémon that could stand a chance against us, although even then only with some sort of army. We have information that she has several followers; we shouldn't take her down until we can take them all. If even that."
Dialga roared his reply. He then nodded at Dusknoir, although his eyes still held a certain wild lack of control which haunted the place.
"Isn't it better to have a resistance we know about, one that lives under our feet, so to speak, one we could crush at any moment, rather than annihilating it? This way no new one will spring up, we are in absolute control."
As thought to affirm this, Dialga growled and rose up out of the ground.
"I know Celebi could do some damage, but we can counter anything she could do, if we fall because of her the responsibility will lie with me alone. Unless incompetent Sableye have let me down yet again."
This time when Dialga growled a reply it was words rather than raw rage which only Dusknoir could translate,
"Don't trust her," he snarled, "Do not leave it too late." Then with a crash as yet more of the ruined tower fell, he teleported away to somewhere he couldn't be followed to.
"There it is," Grovyle said, feeling stupid as he stated the blaringly obvious. The Time Gear was broken, the mesh it had rested on crippled. He could just imagine it in its glory, glowing. Looking at it now strengthened his new resolve to lift the darkness slightly, although if he had seen it before the feeling would have been greater.
"It's broken," Delta muttered, sounding very disappointed, "This makes things harder." She tried to pick up a piece, but when her fingers touched it the Time Gear dissolved into dust. How it had deteriorated when there had been no wind or weather it was impossible to tell, probably something to do with it being linked to the current state of the world.
"Makes what harder?" Grovyle asked, "What's your plan, then? Celebi and you behind my back?"
"It's not like that," she replied, "Just an idea I had. One backed up by research, but no plan yet. Celebi knows I have this abstract idea, but I haven't told her, I think she figured some of it out herself."
"And? What is it?" Grovyle snapped, impatient and annoyed that she had kept this from him.
"I read somewhere that the planet's paralysis could have been prevented by taking the Time Gears to Temporal Tower, I just thought somehow Celebi could take up back and we could bring them from here. But maybe we could find them there… I'm not sure if it would work, but it's something. I don't even know who'd go back, I wouldn't fit in." suddenly Delta averted her eyes.
"That's my role, isn't it?" suddenly his anger abated, dulled by the thought that he could be useful, "That's why Celebi came for me when I was younger and helped me."
"As I've said before, I'm not sure if she knew the plan or not. I didn't tell her, but she could have had a similar idea in mind."
So Celebi brought us together, Grovyle thought, her to find the Time Gears now so I could go back into the past and place them in Temporal Tower.
For some reason the fact that Celebi could have only befriended him so that she could use him to end the darkness chilled Grovyle to the bone. His one friend, always seeming so cheerful and light-hearted, could she be the centre of a rebellion? Did she have the ruthlessness she'd need to succeed? The more he thought about it the more it all fell into place. He wondered if he could still trust her.
Reaching down he tried, like Delta, to pick up a piece of Time Gear. It felt smooth under his touch before dissolving, but before long all he was left with was a handful of dust. He let it sprinkle through his fingers, wondering why no dew fell when it did.
"So… if it comes to that…" Delta seemed uncertain how to word what she wanted to ask. After a while more of struggling with her words eventually she hastily spat out, "If it works you'll do it?"
"Do I have a choice?" Grovyle smiled, "Of course I will." But not for you, he added in his head, for the Pokémon who endure this darkness. "Do you have any hints on the locations of the other Time Gears?"
"Celebi told me that they're many, many Time Gears but only four were essential to halt TemporalTower's collapse. For some reason my Dimensional Screams only seem to be related to those four, at least according to Celebi. We should just set out and see where my ability takes us. Right now I'm seeing this cave…" Delta faltered, "I think it's that way. There's … this sand and desert… it's hard to explain."
"Nice to know you have a concrete plan," Grovyle laughed in reply, "lead the way then. Let's pace ourselves this time, we have a long way to go and I'm sure we'll run into trouble on the way. Still, not too slowly, we still have Dusknoir to contend with."
"Follow me then," she replied, her body sagging with the relief that Grovyle was definitely coming, that he trusted her.
At a slow but steady pace the pair began to walk through the forest once more, heading an angle slightly different to the one they had come from. There was a silence between them- although not a happy one. Everything in the darkness had endured too much lonely silence for it to ever be comfortable; it just brought back bad memories. Any awkward chatter was better, but Grovyle couldn't think of anything to say and Delta seemed absorbed in her thoughts.
Since there was no sun to sink so they would know it was evening, they kept walking for a very long time, each too stubborn to admit their exhaustion. When they were on the edge of the forest Grovyle finally, grudgingly, broke the silence,
"We should rest here, on the edge of the forest. We need to sleep or we'll be too tired to continue."
"Yes, in the forest where we have shelter." Delta nodded vaguely, still deep in thought, "Wake me up when you wake up."
As though avoiding conversation, Delta curled up on the ground abruptly, although even after the few minutes Grovyle then spent watching her she didn't seem to be sleeping- her muscles were too tense. Sighing, he scurried up a tree and looked at the black sky, wondering if the lights in the sky Celebi had spoken of really existed. After a while he dozed off.
Later he awoke refreshed, although there was no way of telling how long he had slept. Delta was in the same position on the floor, as tense as ever. He yawned.
"So you're awake now," Delta stated, alerted by his yawn, "Do you have any food? I'm hungry." After the rest they'd enjoyed –or at least one of them had- Delta seemed far less abrupt and tired, now talking to Grovyle in a kinder, more companionable, way.
"Not much," he replied as he tossed her an apple and picked one for himself out of the bag over his shoulder, "We should try stopping by a Mystery Dungeon if we see one, they're the only place to really get food." Why did I tell her that? He asked himself, everything knows that here.
"What do you have in that bag then?"
"One more apple," he peered inside, grimacing, "One oran berry, two pecha, an evasion orb, an escape orb, a sleep seed and a pass scarf. Not much, I'm afraid; it certainly won't last us very long or aid us very much if we do need to take on a Dungeon."
"And we will need to take one on," she mused, "for food even if one doesn't present itself, although I've seen a few in my visions. I was hoping to avoid them, you see," Delta looked down at her fists and clenched them, "I'm a bit of a burden when it comes to fighting. In a Mystery Dungeon I'm useless. Can't fight and the slightest thing mortally wounds me, I've avoided them all my life and only gone in one or twice with Celebi because she can teleport me away from harm. If we find one I have no idea what we'll do."
"Well…" for a moment Grovyle was speechless, realizing the huge burden she would be. After a few awkward minutes he pulled himself together, "I have a pass scarf, take that. It means all of the attacks that hit you are passed to Pokémon near you; it's really good for solo travellers. It tends to make you hungrier, for some reason, but we'll pick up all food we see."
"I can't use that, it'll probably pass at least half of the attacks onto you…" she trailed off, still staring at her fists guiltily.
"Don't worry about that," he reassured her, "I'm strong, and I can take it. If I'm in trouble you can throw an oran berry at me or something. I'm guessing you don't fight, either?"
"No," Delta replied, miserable. Suddenly she perked up, looking at him for the first time in ages, "but I can throw gravelrocks!"
They laughed at that, and then with just a few more words exchanged, started walking again.
Celebi sat alone, in the forest grove where she had first seen Grovyle, thinking about him. She wondered again why she had noticed him in the first place, one egg among rocks of similar hues, and why she had followed him. Even if she followed him because she had stubbornly clutched at an inkling of the plan she had today that wouldn't explain why she had only talked to him later, letting him grow up in the darkness alone.
Maybe she had wanted him to know what it was like.
It could have been what she needed, someone who truly understood the darkness as opposed to someone who she had shown light from an early age. Once the light had been seen there was no going back, she knew that now, the darkness was intolerable in comparison, but in some ways more endurable. At least then you knew there was light. Had Grovyle even ever seen light?
Delta had been something else entirely, Celebi mused, she had practically been sent like a request, probably from Arceus or maybe Palkia in some alternate dimension. Maybe they had travelled to the future like Celebi had; seen at first the same broken Pokémon, before eventually everything faded, leaving only Dialga. Even then he eventually died too, alone. She didn't know of her death, she didn't really exist at one point in time. She had no present apart from the one she chose.
In her childhood she hadn't retreated to the past, she felt wrong there. While she had the power to exist in the light, she couldn't save everyone from the darkness; that was why she could never stay there properly. Even then she attracted attention, she could never go back with Delta, that was why Grovyle… did it count as Grovyle when she was… the thought trailed off. She suddenly laughed at the notion that what she was doing could be "wrong". In the darkness there was no wrong, anything would be worth it. Anything, even him… even him… even…
She shut her eyes, hating the thought that so frequently entered her head arriving again. Her time was running out, before long nothing would live in the darkness. She had to stop it now, failure wasn't an option, and yet somehow direct intervention never seemed to be an option… still, if she had no choice at the end…
But before she would have to make that choice, there was Grovyle.
She opened her eyes again, gently, focusing on surviving for the minute. It didn't take much of her attention, but she had to be careful not to forget basic things like eating. There was a mystery dungeon nearby, probably the best food source, and she definitely had Sableye on her tail. Smiling, she started fluttering towards the dungeon, knowing the Sableye wouldn't follow.
The thought of the broken Pokémon she would have to defeat didn't bother her, not any more. Once they had disturbed her, then she had felt pity, but the darkness had eroded that to nothing. Before long they wouldn't be there, anyway.
And then there would be light.
