Chapter 4

Time and Space

"This battle is truly down to the wire. With Tyrogue on the scene, it looks like Doduo, a flying type, has a tactical advantage. But Tyrogue has serious fighting skills, and is managing to control the battle with ease. With mere seconds remaining, who will win?"

"Doduo! Sand Attack!" Doduo kicked its feet and sand went flying towards Tyrogue.

"Tyrogue! Avoid it with Agility and use low kick again!" Selena ordered.

"If this hits, Selena will win this contest!

"C'mon Selena…" Kazo and Felix said in the audience. Tyrogue charged at Doduo. The bird could not dodge it with the speed that it was coming at. The thing was, there might not be time. The timer was ticking. There was one second left! Tyrogue, with only instants left, slammed both its feet into Doduo, who toppled over. Just as the timer finished ticking, Mika's points were reduced to zero and the crowd broke into cheer. Selena's mouth fell to the floor, and she stammered. Suddenly, as she was going to receive her ribbon, she felt a rumble in her bag. She opened it and found her lucky rock! But it seemed cracked. "Aaw…" she said, frowning. She put her rock back in her bag and proceeded to go get her ribbon.

"That's Selena Duncan, first place winner of the Verdanturf Contest! Let's give it up for Selena!" Everyone cheered.

Selena, Kazo and Felix met outside the contest hall.

"You were great out there Selena!" Kazo said, patting her on the back.

"You sure did! You even beat the toughest of the tough!" Felix added to the compliment.

"I'm just glad I didn't have to face May or Drew… That would have made it really tough." Selena said, admiring her new ribbon.

Suddenly, a man wearing team-magma scheme clothes ran towards them. "Selena? Kazo? Felix?" He said looking at them, and then nodding as if to reassure himself. "I'm Jason. A Team Magma Administrator. Listen. Maxie and Archie are in trouble. They're being held against their will. You need to see someone by the name of Eli Sratt. He lives here and is very knowledgeable, my boss and his brother say to see him, and he'll tell you everything you need to know.

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"Hello?" Felix said, opening the door to the decrepit old shack that Mr.Eli lived in, supposedly.

"Who are you? If you are not supposed to be here, leave now." came the reply from deeper inside the dark shack.

"Maxie sent us!" Selena blurted.

"He did, did he? Then enter." Kazo, Selena and Felix did as they were told, and as they walked deeper into the shack, it actually got brighter.

"You wish to know of Team Galaxy's evil plot, do you? Then listen closely, and watch these slides."

Mr.Eli was shrouded in darkness as he pressed a button and a screen came down from the roof of the shack. He began telling a story as slides appeared on the screen.

"Order in the universe is controlled by the Space Time Continuum. With me so far?" They nodded, and he changed the slide to a scene of two caves, seen from outdoors. There was a diagonal slash separating both caves. "Diaruga and Parukia are the controllers of Time and Space. Their English names were lost long ago, so they are known by their original names. The first cave is Diaruga's lair. From there, time is controlled. The second one, Parukia's lair, controls space. It was all peaceful, until that ill-fated day."

"I'm sure, as you must know; there is another legendary pokemon that is allied with time."

Selena spoke up now. "Yes! Celebi, the Time Travelling pokemon! My mom used to tell me stories about it all the time! Legend has it that luck awaits us if we are ever blessed to see a Celebi." Eli changed the slide to a picture of a battle between a small, green, alien type pokemon with a large blue pokemon with spikes on its back. "Celebi and Diaruga got into a cataclysmic battle, using time as their common ally. In the end, Celebi destroyed Diaruga's cave and fled in a last ditch attempt to survive. It did, and never messed with Diaruga again."

"So what's the problem?" Kazo asked.

"Darugia was caught. It is being held hostage at Team Galaxy HQ. They can now control time."

"Then what can we do?" Selena said, panicked.

"Well, they can only control it to a certain extent. They cannot make anyone age. They can go back in time for about… three seconds. You see, their goal now is to capture Parukia. When they do, then they will have ultimate control over everything. But that's only the first piece of the puzzle… It appears another group of people is working to free Parukia as well, so they can pit Diaruga against Parukia, and do a "winner takes all thing." What they don't know, is that if Parukia and Darugia ever touch, the space time continuum will be reset. In the snap of a finger, the world will become what it was millions of years ago. Prehistoric pokemon ruling the Earth… and no one would exist."

"Okay… But where do we come in?" Felix asked, nervous.

"It is said that only four determined kids can stop them. I think you are three of them."

"If this is all true, then who's the fourth?"

"Oh, he's been eavesdropping on us ever since you three got here." Eli pointed to the window. A green haired kid's eyes got big, and Selena, Kazo, and Felix saw him too. He was about to turn and run, when Eli invited him in.

"This is Drew. You may or may not know him."

"Listen. There is no way I'm getting mixed up in this. I'm a coordinator, not a hero!" Drew argued.

"It is not stated that you must always be involved, but you must be there at the worst point of time, when Diaruga and Parukia touch. You, along with Kazo, Selena and Felix must stop them."

"Fine. But I'm outta here now. Here's my pokecell number. Call me if you need me." He threw a piece of paper on the floor, flicked his hair, put his hands in his pockets and walked out, seemingly unphased.

"Now, there is only one person that knows about the second organization, and he lives in Slateport. Go and find Nicolas O'Dell in Slateport city… and hurry." Eli ushered them out and shut the door.

"Well, this is weird." Felix said.

"You said it… but if what Eli said was true… then the fate of everyone depends on us."

"It seems easy enough… keep two large legendaries from touching!" Selena added, optimistically.

"We better head to Slateport… fast."

So the three began running towards Slateport city, and they passed the lush, grassy route beside Verdanturf, when a man shrouded in black popped out from behind a tree. He took out a walkie talkie and began speaking.

"Operation Time and Space begun. They are heading towards Slateport."

"Excellent… It is only a matter of time…" came the voice from inside the walkie talkie. The man turned off his talkie and took a pokeball from his belt, and stealthily began following the three.