Chapter 5

When he was younger sometimes Grovyle's mind had been overcome by the darkness. He would sit there muttering,

"So cold. So cold. Socold. Socoldsocoldsocold..." until his words became illegible.

Then he would quietly get up and move on, shivering and inside crying the tears his body couldn't spare. That didn't happen anymore, not since Celebi had come and shown him light.

Yet now, in the darkness, even while having Delta with him, he felt like sinking down onto the floor and screaming inside again. He dismissed the thought as abruptly as he could and as though to compensate he stepped far too hastily around the corner he'd been approaching.

Delta, worried about falling behind, rushed next to him and suddenly they faced what they had been dreading inside all along. Mesprit was staring at them, floating, behind it the Time Gear. Grovyle stepped back, preparing to flee, but in the process opening up Delta for attack.

"Wait," she whispered, even though it was too late for them to be unseen now, "we need to know how it fights-"

She broke off gasping in pain and sinking to her knees. Mesprit had used psybeam on her, using a range attack the pass scarf wouldn't deflect to Grovyle. Delta was breathing heavily; Grovyle could tell she'd die soon if he didn't somehow find something to heal her with. He began fumbling in his bag but Mesprit cut him off,

"Stop, or I'll hit her again." he froze, shocked at Mesprit's clarity now compared to how insane they had been earlier.

"I'm stopping," Grovyle replied, frowning and slowly withdrawing his hands from the bag.

"Hah, so here we are, roles reversed," Mesprit cackled, "I the one with the power now! How does it feel, then? To have your closest friend, the one you care about most, in mortal peril" they broke off into even more insane laughter.

"I know you may see me as a threat," Grovyle tried to continue cautiously but Mesprit was so unreasonable. It seemed to be completely consumed by the darkness. He continued, "But I mean you no harm."

"No harm! No harm!" at first Mesprit echoed him mockingly, then they suddenly frowned, speaking resentfully and seriously, "You, you did this! How does it feel for you to suffer how I did? All of this darkness, my friend, the world! You broke it, then you let it eat at me, eroding me, breaking me. All because of you. And now you can suffer as I did, I will break your friend as you broke the world. You can wait here and watch them suffer then leave as I did."

"I didn't break the world," Grovyle tried to sound calm, "You must be mistaken."

Mesprit laughed again and then started crying. This whole experience was unnerving Grovyle, he had seen Pokémon broken by the future before but this was extreme. Mesprit was insane, unstable and seemed to have no grasp of anyone any more. He guessed that Mesprit would have had to have been around longer than any other Pokémon.

"You. All of you, the same," they sobbed, "It doesn't matter. This world broke me, so now I'll just return the favour," they began to laugh again although tears still seeped from their eyes, "That's how things work, yes? Something breaks me, I break another, a vicious cycle. Oh this world, this dark broken windless world. Someone tortures me, I pass on the favour. If I have to live forever at least I can get someone to empathize with me, why not you? Any of you, for there are so many."

Despite the darkness that lay immediately ahead of him Grovyle felt a surge of pity run through him. If only they hadn't known the light so they couldn't have missed it, if only Celebi could have helped them too, because that was what Celebi did, made it bearable, right?

Delta stirred slightly wheezing,

"Mesprit, you have two kindred to you, do you not?" she was cut off by coughing but then managed to continue, "how are they? Could you not make some light between you?"

Of course, Grovyle thought, because that is it, isn't it? We're all held together by our own fragile spider webs of light. Those born in the darkness have more resilient ones, and we can all survive alone for a while. But eventually the darkness will start snipping the threads, one-by-one in the cruellest way and then that Pokémon will fall. Between friends the spider webs can be reformed and strengthened and you can survive for a while longer, but in the end we all just fall anyway.

"Hah, them," they spoke resentfully, "they mean nothing. Gone crazy, retired to their tiny pathetic hideouts to guard their treasure. No use to a sane mind." then they laughed, "They drive a more unstable one completely over the edge. You know, I was the being of emotion, once, now I have no control over my emotions. Hah hah hah, isn't that funny? The wilful one became a slave, the wise one became a brainless monster; the darkness has its way with things."

"Once though, in the light-" Delta was cut off brutally,

"THE LIGHT?" Mesprit roared, suddenly angry, "The light has no power here. The light is nothing, a tool to make you weak so the darkness can get you. Hope only so you can feel despair."

"There must be something left inside of you," Grovyle had heard enough, "Something which tells you to let us go and return to your mind, some mercy-"

"No. No. No no no nononono…" Mesprit trailed off and then was suddenly pleading, "Don't make me go back there. I'll do anything, anything…" Back there? Were they referring to their mind? Grovyle could only guess, but he had to take advantage of this one chance,

"I won't make you go back there if you let us go, teleport us out of here and leave us alone," he tried. Mesprit had become despondent, staring at the floor. Then suddenly they burst out,

"You. You have her, your light… it burns… GO AWAY! GET OUT OF HERE! LEAVE ME! No, don't leave me, don't leave me to my mind, no, don't go…"

With a wave of regret that he could do nothing for Mesprit Grovyle clutched Delta's arm, dragging her away while Mesprit was in the grieving state and couldn't stop them.

"Help it," Delta managed to say, despite difficulties from her wounds, "help it by stopping the darkness, there's no other way."

Grovyle only just had enough willpower to drag her away from its screams. Guiltily, he entered the dungeon and used an escape orb, heading back to the entrance.

No Sableye were there, maybe it had been some sort of thank you from Dusknoir for giving them an escape route by distracting Mesprit.

Grovyle delved into his bag, wondering if any of his medicines would work on Delta. She had a huge bruise where the gravellerrock had hit her, it looked serious. He offered her an oran berry, she nodded. He put it in her mouth quickly and it seemed to have instant effects, the bruise becoming a more faded colour although it didn't disappear like it would have on a Pokémon. It seemed items did work on her, just less powerfully.

Delta finally sank unconscious. Grovyle looked at her, had Mesprit been right? Was she his light, his hope? Whatever happened, he needed her now. They were bound, and he doubted even Celebi could replace a partner who he could trust so deeply so quickly.

Grovyle crouched by her side, guarding her until she awoke.

-

"GROOOOOH!" Dialga roared in fury, hitting Dusknoir with a vicious metal claw.

"M-master Dialga," Dusknoir sobbed in agony, "Please, stop. I failed you, but I can redeem myself, I can and will make it bette-"

Another cruel attack cut him off, leaving him gasping for breath. Dialga paused, glaring at him with his cruel red eyes,

"I. DO. NOT. FORGIVE." Dialga seemed to be struggling for words at this point, "IF. YOU. DISOBEY. YOU. WILL. SUFFER."

"I'll never let them escape again!" Dusknoir pleaded, "Never give them a chance, I'll chase them to the ends of the Earth!"

Dialga withdrew his attack,

"I. SENSE. YOUR. INTENTIONS." each word sounded like an arrow pulled from a wound, painful to utter and hear, "DOUBTS. NOT. FORGOTTEN."

"I seek only to serve you, master," the ghost-type begged, "and doubts are now erased. I only wish to preserve the darkness, without the darkness I would die."

The legendary nodded, but even that seemed strained and painful. Dusknoir wished desperately for some privacy in his thoughts now he had found out that Dialga saw everything… there was a chance, but…

He quickly started gliding away. In the distance Dialga roared, but more in pain than from wanting to stop Dusknoir's plan. Gathering Sableye as he went, he finally made his way to a cell where a shiny Espeon lay. Her eyes were dull, her fur green and her stance hopeless.

"Sianté," he commanded. She looked up at him, slowly and weakly, "I need you to hide something for me, put up a barrier around my head to keep him out."

"I'm his prisoner," Sianté sighed, "and yet you know I don't even need them for persuasion anymore. I'll do it." Her gem gently glowed, a ray of light shot out of it and surrounded Dusknoir for a short while before fading away. "It is done, no one can see your thoughts but you now, and me, I suppose."

"You had better not-"

"No fear, I know what isn't my business."

Dusknoir smiled, turning his back on her. The Sableye would lock her up, it was useful to have a psychic around. Especially one who had contact with Celebi…

Now his mind was free, he finally let himself think what he had been supressing. A song he had heard mothers sing to their young,

Your face is as barren as the valley you see,
Nothing left to combat this Darkness in me.
Do you have a needle to repair Time's lie?
You are my Thread, my Light I sew by.

It was so beautiful, so true. Even he could see that.

But he had no thread and no light, just a barren face and a heart filled with darkness.