In the game, the forest where Celebi lives is in the Hidden Land, but in my story, it's part of Unova. I've already changed things besides that, as you'll see. In the game, the Hidden Land was an island in the sky, least that's what it looked like, so I think Grovyle was just born there maybe, like the main character, or got there some other way...I'm not exactly sure. I don't know how the planet's paralysis didn't make Grovyle and the main character freeze, though, but maybe I'm thinking too much. They might not have been born yet, but their parents would have been frozen in time if the planet's paralysis affected them...uh...I better stop there. Yeah, I don't know. But that's okay, I like making up my own theories anyway.
Phew, anyway, this chapter was also fun to write. I'm really liking my decision to start this story. I want to finish off this story, and I do want to write about the main story, but I'm still not completely sure if I will. Most everyone knows the main story, anyway. Eh, I better stop talking and let you read. Enjoy! The only characters I own are Gale, and his parents and friends. I don't own anything in the Pokémon franchise, but I'm just glad I had a chance to play the games and write about them. I wish I could draw Pokémon-related stuff , too, but I'm not good. I'm not being modest either; I'm really not good. XD I have drawn animals, people and Pokémon before but it's mostly for fun.
I don't own the game or the plot, or the characters either, except Gale and his parents and friends. I don't own their Pokémon because I didn't make them up, as you know. Enjoy! :)
Weaving
By the time the sun rose the next day, Grovyle and I had already been walking for a good couple of hours in our attempt to distance ourselves from Dusknoir as much as possible. It was a little cooler today, and the sky had been overcast ever since dawn this morning. Grovyle had set the pace as usual, but I seemed to be getting the hang of keeping up with him. I had gained some determination to run because Dusknoir had attacked people in Striaton City, and I didn't want that to happen again. He'd also attacked Grovyle and me, and if he found us again, we'd be held up or maybe even stopped for good. I knew by now that Grovyle had the will to avoid Dusknoir at all costs, and slowly, I was adopting that will too. I wasn't going to do anything that would get us caught or separated.
Even when Grovyle had showed up suddenly after ten years, and then started leading me somewhere, I hadn't really believed our journey to be anything serious until Dusknoir showed up and started attacking us. All of what was happening was more than I'd expected to happen. According to Grovyle, If we found Celebi, went back in time to locate the Time Gears, then used them to restore balance to time...Grovyle and I would disappear. Celebi would, too, and so would everyone else in the present. I shook my head, trying to push the thought away. I didn't have to think about all of that now. I was getting ahead of myself.
Because the Time Gears could be anywhere it would likely take a long time to gather them, so I would have a while to spend with him. According to the old photo of me and Grovyle before he'd evolved, I'd been happy having him with me, but for some reason he'd been taken away. I wondered if my parents had done it. Grovyle could have been kidnapped by someone, but that didn't seem right. But I knew that I didn't want to experience losing Grovyle again, even though I'd be disappearing with him as well. It didn't seem like there was a choice though, unless I wanted the planet's paralysis to happen.
Well...I knew there was the choice of turning back, but if I did that I'd really be abandoning Grovyle—as well as betraying his trust—and Dusknoir would definitely find me. I might be home by that time, I might not. If I was at home, he'd not only get me, but my parents, friends and possibly everyone else in Nacrene City. I shook my head quickly, astonished and guilty that I was thinking that far into what would happen. The thought of going back home had crossed my mind before, but that had been when I thought that I'd just go home once I figured out where Grovyle wanted me to go. I thought that he'd come home with me too, but I now knew why he hadn't wanted to.
Only now did I know that I would never leave Grovyle, not after he'd just found me, and not when we'd disappear after we got time back to normal. I was going to stay with him for however long we had left, no matter what. I did have a choice, but I knew I'd always make the choice to remain with Grovyle until we found all of the Time Gears and returned them to Temporal Tower. After that...I guess time would take care of the rest. That reassured me a bit, though I wasn't sure why...
I shook off my left backpack strap and slung it around to my front, wincing when I pressed it too hard against my bruised stomach, then unzipped my backpack and dug the map out. A large expanse of forest was between us and the next town. Glancing up, I saw the forest in the distance, but knew that it was slowly looming towards us. "Is Celebi in that forest?" Grovyle nodded once and I lowered the map slightly as I compared it to the landscape around us. "We're almost there, then. We just have to watch out for you-know-who." Grovyle smirked haughtily and turned his attention back to the path ahead. I folded the map quickly and put it away, then slung my backpack on again. We traveled in silence for a couple minutes until a thought struck me. "There have been more earthquakes lately, Grovyle. Is that because of time going out of control?" The Pokémon nodded and I swallowed heavily. My stomach growled, and Grovyle twitched his head towards me, obviously hearing the noise; it would be hard not to hear something that loud. I guess I was getting my appetite back.
Eventually, Grovyle veered off the path and sat against a tree. I sighed in relief and pulled a handful of Oran berries out of the first-aid kit for Grovyle, and he took them eagerly. After he started eating I picked a granola bar and started munching on it. "Where do we take the Time Gears once we have them all?" Grovyle swallowed a berry and drew some footprints in the ground with his right paw. I studied them intently, trying to remember my translation notes, and managed to translate enough of it to understand. "To Temporal Tower? So once we do that, time will get back to normal?" Grovyle nodded and began munching on another Oran Berry, and I did the same with my granola bar. I ate a slice of cheese, too, and offered one to Grovyle but he refused it. "Is that enough food for you?" I asked, and Grovyle licked his lips in satisfaction after finishing his Oran Berries. "Alright." The Pokémon seemed to chuckle as he stood up, and I brushed the crumbs from the granola wrapping and tossed it into my backpack. "How much longer until we meet Celebi?" I questioned, hoping it wasn't far, since I was starting to get eager about meeting Celebi and experiencing Time Travel.
Grovyle glanced at the sky and pointed at the sun, then gradually lowered his arm down towards the horizon. I snuck a peek at my wristwatch and saw that it was just about two in the afternoon, and nightfall in late summer usually came around eight-thirty or nine. "A while, huh..." I sighed, and grinned nervously when Grovyle gave me a warning look. "Yeah, yeah, no complaining. I get it." His eyes narrowed, and he smirked a bit, but turned without doing anything more. I hurried up beside Grovyle so I would be walking beside him instead of trailing behind. I looked down at his right arm and touched it lightly with my left. "How's your injury?" Grovyle glanced down at his arm and nodded once. "Good," I said, relieved, then waited a while before speaking again.
"You know..." I said, surprising myself at how calm I sounded, "if Dusknoir shows up again, I'll do more this time to help you. I probably won't be very good at fighting a Pokémon, but I want to help you." Grovyle stared up at me with wide yellow eyes, as if unsure of what to think. "If Dusknoir gets me, then you should get away. You know more about all of this than me, so you'll still be able to find the Time Gears." Still Grovyle gazed at me as we walked. "But I won't let Dusknoir kill me. If we get separated before we find Celebi, I'll go try and find her, and get to the past. After that we can look for each other while trying to find the Time Gears." I grinned, feeling unexpectedly confident, even as I thought about facing Dusknoir alone. "How's that sound?" Grovyle didn't react for a bit; then he nodded, a smile spreading across his face. "But...I'll try my best not to get separated. I don't want to be apart again. And we'll be together when we...disappear." Grovyle nodded firmly, though his eyes looked a little distant. "I almost never knew about you...but I'm really glad that you found me."
Grovyle was silent. I pulled the picture from my pocket and held it tightly, wondering if I'd get a vision, but minutes passed and nothing happened. With a sigh I put the picture away. "I can't control them," I muttered, a little annoyed. "Wish I could..." Grovyle caught my gaze, an astute glint entering its yellow eyes. "What's it for, anyway?" I sighed irritably. "I wish someone else had it," I grumbled, but immediately felt guilty for saying that. The visions were infuriating when all it took to set a one off was to do something as simple as open a door or shake someone's hand. I wouldn't want someone else to have to deal with them. "I wonder if anyone else gets visions like this, too, Grovyle," I mumbled distantly, then shook my head. "We're almost to the forest," I remarked as I saw the trees stretching out in front of me. "That's good. Soon we'll meet Celebi and get away from Dusknoir." Grovyle brightened and nodded, quickening his pace, and I did the same. So far I'd managed to keep up, and hoped I'd keep doing that. My injuries were feeling a little better, which meant I wouldn't have to slow Grovyle down as much anymore.
A couple hours later, Grovyle pushed his way through the trees at the edge of the forest, and I struggled to make my way through after him. I wanted to ask a lot more questions, mostly ones about Grovyle, but hesitated. It suddenly hit me that I should be watching out for Grovyle and listening in case Dusknoir showed up, or anyone or thing else thing might be dangerous. As I watched Grovyle, somehow I knew that we had to be getting close to Celebi. "Grovyle...where do we start looking for the Time Gears once we're in the past?" Grovyle glanced at me sharply, and I gulped. "Well, we can find out later. You'll probably ask Celebi, right?" He looked away from me, putting his attention back towards the task at hand. I guess I'm nervous, I thought.I can't help asking questions. Grovyle glanced at the sky, then sniffed at the ground a bit, and continued on through the trees as he followed a slightly-worn path. It seemed we were on the right track.
At this point, all I could do was follow Grovyle, since I had no idea where Celebi was. The sun was starting to sink, I noticed as I glanced skyward hopefully, but it would be a while yet before it got dark. I wondered if Celebi was near, or if we were going to stop and rest soon, but Grovyle didn't seem intent on stopping. I glanced behind me and knew that we were probably still in danger of being caught. "Sorry for all the questions, but why do we have to go to the past to get the Time Gears? Don't they exist now?" I received a head shake in response. "No, huh..." I mused, crossing my arms in thought. Suddenly Grovyle stopped, his body stiffening, and I halted immediately. "What's wrong?" Just as the question slipped out of my mouth, I felt the ground start to quake and heard it, too. "Uh-oh." A particularly strong tremor jolted Grovyle to the ground, and caused me to stumble backward into a nearby tree. I caught myself with both hands, and tried to keep myself steady, but that didn't seem to be helping. I suddenly felt even unsteadier on my legs, and shook my head a couple times as I leaned on the tree, but the shakiness still didn't go away. Then a sound crackled in my ears; a groaning, creaking noise, followed by a splintering of something that sounded like wood. I glanced up at the tree when the noise stopped and then around at the others in the forest, but they seemed fine. Suddenly I glanced up in alarm and knew what was going to happen. Grovyle was standing right where the tree was going to fall...but any one of the trees could fall. I couldn't tell which one. It was better to just get out of here.
Without thinking I rushed Grovyle and hugged him around the middle, then held him over my shoulder and ran ahead as fast as I could. I heard Grovyle give a cry of protest, and I could just imagine his bewildered and probably annoyed expression. "A tree is going to fall!" I exclaimed, and I hoped that I was doing the right thing. It was probably the tree that I'd touched that was going to fall, but others could, too. The tremors began to die down as I ran, and I began to run a little straighter and faster because of it. With relief I spied a clearing up ahead and sprinted for it. Just as I was about to reach it, I heard the same creaking, groaning noise that had been in the vision, and managed not to look back as it grew louder. Speeding into the clearing, I finally glanced back and saw a tree far behind us toppling to the ground. It seemed like the one Grovyle had been by, but I couldn't tell. Without warning my foot caught on something, and I stumbled, but managed to set Grovyle down. I braced myself to fall but felt a tug on my shirt and saw that Grovyle had grabbed hold of it with both paws. I planted my feet and was able to catch my balance. Panting heavily from the sudden dash and from the shock of the quake, I gasped, "I heard something...this time...instead of...seeing." Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm down and lowered my head in relief, then stood up and grinned awkwardly at Grovyle. "Are you okay?" He nodded and pointed to me, his yellow eyes questioning. "I'm fine. Just...startled. I don't think I've had a vision that was just sound before." Grovyle crossed his arms and began tapping a foot. I rubbed the back of my neck uncomfortably. "We should go. More trees could fall." Grovyle shook his head and knelt on the ground, scratched away some tufts of grass, and began to write when there was enough bare dirt visible. I moved closer and knelt beside Grovyle, trying to envision the footprints on the pages of my notebook instead of looking at it.
You saved me.
"Yeah, of course!" I exclaimed once I'd mostly translated the footprints; I wouldn't have exactly passed a footprint writing test. Without my notes, I'd just filled in the blanks. Grovyle met my eyes steadily and I let out a breath. "We're friends, so whatever little time we have left, I'll stick with you and help." Grovyle looked encouraged, I thought, but he turned quickly so I couldn't catch what else might have been in his expression. "Let's eat something, Grovyle, and then go. Sound ok?" I rifled through my backpack and got a handful of Oran berries for Grovyle. He took them and tossed one into his mouth, then looked at me as I pulled out a water bottle and slipped my arms back through the backpack straps. "I'm not hungry now," I explained with a shrug; truthfully though my stomach was suddenly hurting too much for me to think about eating. "You thirsty?" Grovyle shook his head and walked on ahead, leaving me to follow. I took a long drink from the water bottle and had to force myself to put the cap back on after I'd drunk half of the water. We had enough water if I was careful, I thought, putting the bottle into the mesh holder on my backpack. I'd never been this thirsty, and it wasn't all that hot out. The day had been mostly overcast, and the clouds were getting a bit darker, though the sun had been visible a little while ago. Maybe it would start raining soon.
"Hey, Grovyle...there have been more earthquakes lately," I stated, and felt a rush of relief when the Pokémon nodded, an understanding look in his eyes. I was starting to learn that, despite the fact that Grovyle's body language usually suggested otherwise, he seemed to like it when I asked questions. It was a nice change from how my questions were normally reacted to. Whenever I brought the earthquakes up to my mother, she would usually fall into a bad mood and not talk to me for the rest of the day, and sometimes even for a few days. My father often calmed her down, and would console me and advise me not to mention the visions again (though I just couldn't help it sometimes). But after my father talked to my mother, she would usually seem to feel better and would talk to me again. Grovyle's yellow eyes always seemed to be lit up, a sign that he was listening, I knew now. His attentiveness was probably because of Dusknoir. Grovyle was always paying attention, always listening and looking interested, and it seemed that he knew everything that was going on. But somehow, even if Dusknoir had never come into the picture, I think Grovyle still would have been a focused Pokémon. I probably hadn't needed to save him from the tree at all, since he had sensed the earthquake before me, but I didn't regret that I had.
"Are they happening more often because time getting out of control?" Grovyle gave a little murmur and nodded his head. "You know...my mother never wanted to hear about the earthquakes, because they were usually connected to my visions..." I shook my head and felt my hands curl into fists. "And she never liked hearing about them. It was hard for her, and for my father, I know...but I'm really the one who had to deal with them. I had to deal with tests, and with people treating me like I was...dangerous or scary." With a deep sigh, I uncurled my fists. "If I could use the visions to help people, then maybe they wouldn't be afraid of me." I smiled, liking the sound of my imagined future. "I'd just always be the one that was different, but I wouldn't be a bad person." Grovyle straightened his back and gave me a confident smirk and nod as we walked side by side. I smiled and my chest felt a little lighter. A couple hours later, I felt like we had to be reaching the middle of the forest, and I glanced around eagerly when Grovyle came to a halt. He motioned towards me and I followed him through a final cluster of trees and into a clearing. I stopped, my breath catching in my throat. A mist was hanging low over the clearing, and in the fading light of the sunset, the mist was tinted a dusty purple.
The sight brought me back to a day a few years ago in the winter when my friends, their Pokemon and I had been finishing off a snowball fight. It had been Sam, her Eevee, nicknamed Wisp, and me against Brandon and his Pachirisu, Cloud and Sam's Meowth, Gold. Brandon had been short one team member, since Fire Pokémon didn't cope well with the cold, so Gold had agreed to be on the enemy team. Brandon's little Torchic, Cinder, had stayed inside, something I'd wondered about but the little guy hadn't seemed too broken up over being left out. According to Brandon, Cinder liked staying inside during the winter and drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies that his parents made. The snowball fight had been really heated, but eventually we'd declared it to be a draw, though to this day Sam loved claiming that Brandon had actually lost. Our group had been heading inside to warm up when Brandon had stopped us. We'd played until the sun had started to go down, and since that day had been particularly cloudy and snowy, the sun had a lot of weather conditions to shine through. The effect had been something that I'd never forgotten, because of my friends and the fun we'd had, and because of how the scenery around us had looked for a while.
The sun filtering through the clouds and snow had turned everything around it a soft purple. Sam, Brendan, Wisp, Cloud, Gold and me had stared as much as we could without looking right into the sun. Eventually it became too dark and cold for us to stay outside, so we'd rushed into Brandon's house before Cinder could finish off all the hot chocolate and cookies. The fire Pokémon had a big appetite, just like Brandon, though Sam and I could never get him to admit it.
That memory helped me look forward now, even though I wouldn't see my friends or their Pokémon again. I watched quietly as Grovyle stepped into the clearing and glanced around, first into the trees, and then at the sky for something. Carefully I stepped up beside him and mirrored what he was doing, but even though I guessed that Celebi was supposed to be here, I didn't know where to look or what to do. Grovyle gave a quiet call into the misty air and waited, so I walked over towards a towering tree and leaned up against it with a tired sigh. Grovyle strolled towards me, then stopped and smiled in amusement.
"What is it?" He pointed behind me, and I twisted around to the right and jumped in alarm. A small, pink Pokémon was fluttering right beside me, two little antennae on its head twitching as it watched quietly. "Celebi?" I ventured cautiously, and the Pokémon's mouth opened as a chittering laugh issued forth. I studied Celebi quickly and noted her rounded head that tapered off to a point at the top. She was light pink in most places, but the pointed top of her head was a darker pink, as well as her midsection and below. Her wings were small and rounded, dyed pink and purple as the sunset's light shone through them. I stood and reached my right hand out to her, and she grasped my pointer finger in both of her tiny hands. Happiness seemed to dance in her vivid yellow-green orbs. I glanced at Grovyle, who now looked a little disgruntled, and then back at Celebi. She giggled, did a little twirl in midair, and fluttered off as the spin ended. I watched her pull something from the knothole of a tree, and then fluttered quickly back. When she offered the object she held towards me, I curiously put out my hands and watched the object as she placed it in my palms. I studied the small thing, and noticed it seemed to be a broken part of something. It was light blue, and gave me a faint sense of remembering, but it was too broken for me to guess at what it had once been part of. Looking up, I saw Grovyle studying me intently; he was close now, and I could see in his eyes that he was anticipating something. Catching Celebi's eye, I noticed she had the same expression, too, but wasn't sure what I was supposed to be saying or doing.
Then, as sudden as a lightning flash, a wave of dizziness overtook me and I watched the forest floor rush up to meet me as I collapsed, the blue fragment still clutched in my hands.
What happened next was more like a dream, but because of the many visions I'd had I knew I was now having another. Somehow, all the others hadn't seemed this vivid, even the one about Temporal Tower.
Countless landscapes were floating past me, and I only managed to catch snatches of certain ones: a pristine lake sat on top of a vast green plateau while a bright, multi-colored geyser of water spouted high into the air; a damp underground lake with stalactites and stalagmites jutting from every inch of the ceiling and floor; a bright underground cavern with a kaleidoscope of crystals embedded in every inch of the walls; a lone, untouched mossy clearing in a forest drizzled with rain, and finally, another cavern with sharp rock formations glowing a bright yellow-gold. The locations were all different places, with just one thing in common...all of those locations had a small but steadily glowing gear-like object at their heart. What are those? I heard myself wonder in awe. The places where the gear objects rested were amazing to look at—I wanted to learn more about them if I could—but the objects themselves...they had their own strange enigma. I gazed at them, but the objects faded away into blackness.
My hands clenched around the broken object as I slowly came awake and pushed myself to my knees. I'd been asleep for a long time, I noticed drowsily. The forest around me was dark, and I could barely see my hands, but as I gazed into my palms I suddenly knew what the fragment Celebi had given me had been a part of—a Time Gear, the very ones that Celebi was going to help Grovyle and I go back in time to find. I clenched the Time Gear fragment and knew that Grovyle needed to go back in time to find the Time Gears because the present time gears had been destroyed somehow. When I stood up and got my balance a little pink blur shot across my vision, then returned to hover in front of my face. I took a breath, still a little overwhelmed by the vision. "Celebi, I saw the Time Gears. I saw where they are." She nodded seriously, her cheery smile fading to a thin line. Grovyle marched up, his face grimly set in determination.
Quickly pulling out my notebook, I began to write the places where the Time Gears had been, making up names for them as I did. Geyser Lake, Underground Lake, Crystal Cavern, Forest Clearing, Limestone Cavern. I faltered suddenly, looking up at Grovyle. "I saw where the Time Gears are, but how do we find them? I've never been to any of those places." Celebi and Grovyle glanced at each other, looking confused, and I noticed Celebi looked a little worried. "But...I think that we'll be able to find them," I told them, wondering if that was what had bothered them. "Maybe my visions will help." Celebi tilted her head at Grovyle, who sighed a bit before glancing at me. "So, are we going to Time Travel now?" Grovyle reached for my notebook, and I passed it to him, along with the pen. He took it in his right paw—were both were right-handed, I noticed—and wrote down some footprints after flipping to a blank page. When Grovyle finished writing, I took the notebook and studied it closely. Grovyle's writing with a pen was a little less neat than when he wrote in the dirt, but it was still good. Flipping back and forth between Grovyle's sentence and my translation notes, I finally got the meaning.
Celebi can't send us to the past just on her own. She has to use the Passage of Time.
"What's that?" I asked immediately, curious, and Grovyle took the notebook and wrote a quick explanation.
Celebi Time Travels short distances on her own, but the Passage of Time will help send us back a lot farther.
"So, that's our next destination then, right?" Grovyle and Celebi smiled, and I felt a little spurt of determination. "Then let's go. We're almost there. I'm kind of excited to see what the past is like." Celebi tittered a little, holding her hands to her mouth, and Grovyle seemed to shrug and roll his eyes. "Who's leading?" Celebi raised her hands, then glanced at Grovyle and hovered over towards him with a mischievous smile. "Yeah, you both lead. I have no clue where to go anyway." Before we started walking I got some berries for Grovyle and Celebi out of my backpack. "Let's eat something on the way." Dividing up the Oran berries, I held out my hands to the two, and they took them with grateful nods. I reluctantly took a drink from my water bottle, still not wanting food because of my aching stomach. A couple seconds later my stomach growled, and I decided to eat another granola bar despite not having much of an appetite. I was obviously hungry. While I ate I asked if Celebi and Grovyle wanted some water, but they shook their heads. I guess they liked getting water other places. Grovyle had reluctantly drunk from the bottle once, and it wasn't hard to see that he didn't like it. The water tasted fine to me, but maybe it had tasted strange to Grovyle.
Since we couldn't stop to write out questions and answers, I tried to ask Celebi and Grovyle yes-or-no questions. "Have you known about for the Time Gears for a while?" The two Pokémon my eyes and dipped their heads in unison. I lifted my right hand and looked at the blue fragment that had once been a Time Gear, then slipped it into the pocket that held the picture of me and Grovyle, my heart beating a little quicker as I thought about going to the past and finding the Time Gears.
Along the way through the dark forest, it was a little hard finding my way, even though Grovyle and Celebi were leading. Their eyes were probably better than mine in the dark, but when I detected light shining from above I glanced up and saw that the moon had risen. It was a first-quarter moon right now; I could tell that it was getting bigger from right to left, and it was glowing a pale yellow-orange, helping me see in the dark a little better. Some time later, we exited the trees, and I felt the ground start to angle up in a slight incline. In the distance I could make out a large hill, and I wondered what it would look like on the other side, but a short time later Grovyle and Celebi came to a halt in the shadow of the hill. Grovyle reclined against a tree, one of the few ones located outside of the forest, while Celebi fluttered up into the branches and rested in one of the branches. I approached the tree and gazed up at her; she was staring out across the horizon and looked to be in deep concentration. Yawning a little, I sat cross-legged next to Grovyle, then rummaged in my backpack for the tin of dried fruit. My stomach was feeling a lot better, though it still hurt enough to be a little annoying. I withdrew my notebook and flipped it open, then studied the footprint writing as I munched on a banana chip. Grovyle leaned over, and seemed to be sniffing at me. I smiled over at him and held out the tin; after a pause, Grovyle reached in and came away with a medium-sized handful of raisins and banana chips. As we ate, I took a look at the footprints in my notebook, and was a bit startled when Grovyle pulled it from my hands and started writing writing with the pen. When he finished, my eyes widened at what he'd left on the page.
I've known about the Time Gear locations for a long time...and so have you, Gale. But maybe you were too young to remember. Grovyle's expression was slightly perplexed. Suddenly the concerned expressions he and Celebi had exchanged earlier made sense; they might have been wondering why I didn't remember.
"So...you mean...you and I looked for them together?" Grovyle nodded insistently. "It must have been before I moved...and that means some of the Time Gears are in Hoenn." I sighed, but felt impressed that Grovyle's memory was that good. "You remember, so that means we'll definitely find them." Grovyle stood up and returned the notebook to me, and I dropped it into my backpack and rose to my feet, fitting my arms through the backpack straps. Celebi's tittering laugh floated down to us, and we glanced up to see her floating down from the tree, and as she reached us she did a playful little twirl. "Ready to go, Celebi?" I asked with a laugh, and she bobbed her head eagerly. Grovyle tugged on my shirt and jerked his head towards the hill behind him. "I'm coming," I told him, and Celebi crossed her arms and sighed out something I couldn't understand. Grovyle turned back and seemed to give Celebi a sharp response. But I caught a slight grin on his face as he turned back.
I snuck a sideways glance at Celebi, then jogged ahead when she started flying after Grovyle. Despite her sigh, there was a faint smile on her face as she watched Grovyle. "What was that about?" I asked curiously. Celebi turned her face quickly away, and I crossed my arms, wondering what they'd said to each other. They could understand me with no problem, and I wanted badly to understand their speech, but the footprint writing was as close as we were going to get to communicating with each other. I wondered if any other humans knew about the footprint writing; if they did, then it would be a good way to talk to Pokémon. If anyone knew about it, they were probably a researcher, since there were lots of them trying to invent something that would let people talk to Pokémon. Judging from the stories on the news, though, there still hadn't been much of a Pokémon communication breakthrough. But if there ever was, then I'd definitely wanted to be a part of it.
My parents had jobs where they were around Pokémon daily-my mother worked at the center and my father at the Nacrene Museum-and even though they weren't too interested in keeping Pokémon, I think because of them I wanted to be a Pokémon researcher someday, one that helped raise Pokémon as well as study their behavior, and maybe I'd even learn to take care of them if they got sick or hurt. I had realized that I'd like treating them because of the way I'd taken care of Grovyle's injury earlier.
I had some experience with looking after Pokémon. I'd house-sat for my friends a couple times before when they and their parents had been away, and that meant taking care of their Pokémon, too. I'd taken them over to my house, sometimes, but mostly my friends and their families had been alright with me staying at their houses temporarily to take care of everything. I'd even gotten paid a bit for it, and that had been the majority of my job experience over the years. For a short time this summer I'd made pretty good money working at a Pokémon salon, but had quit a couple weeks ago since school would start soon, but my big reason for quitting had been because I'd had enough of getting scratched up by Pokémon that hated water—Skitty, Meowth, Delcatty, Persian and Glameow mostly. Those Pokémon were alright, though, and I liked taking care of and playing with Sam's Meowth a lot, but don't even get me started on Purugly. That Pokémon was usually as mean as it was unattractive, and while trying to give any Purugly a bath, I'd gotten scratched, bitten and generally beaten up more times than I cared to count. I'd also gotten chewed out by a couple of customers who'd wanted me to give their ground or fire Pokémon a bath. Some fire Pokémon could swim and didn't mind water, but others-like Charmander-couldn't get in water at all. Some ground Pokémon were the same way, but avoided water a big chunk of the time. I had tried to explain patiently why I couldn't do what the customers wanted, and eventually they had understood. They'd been first-time trainers, and I was glad I hadn't gotten annoyed back at them, because had I been a trainer I probably would have slipped up like that.
My parents knew nothing about it, but I almost had enough money saved up from that summer job to adopt a Pokémon. Instead of going out to catch one, which was something mostly trainers or breeders did, I wanted to get one that needed a home. I wasn't interested in battling with Pokémon, but I did want to keep one, and there were lots of them in Nacrene City that needed homes. There was a business in the city that caught Pokémon that wandered into town and lived there. Sometimes they got into peoples' houses and caused a lot of trouble. After they were caught, some Pokémon would become tame, and from there they were adopted. If a Pokémon remained wild, though, the people at the rescue center would take them back into the place they'd come from, but far from the city so they wouldn't find their way back. Back in Hoenn, I remember learning about Fortree City, a place where the people lived in tree houses alongside wild Pokémon. They were able to live with them without any problem, but in a place like Nacrene City the people were pretty separate from wild Pokémon.
If my parents were against me keeping a Pokémon, I'd give them a convincing argument that I'd been working on, and I was pretty confident that they'd go for it. But if that didn't work I would have shoved the recently-discovered picture of my younger self holding the pre-evolved Grovyle in their faces. That had been a brief idea, though, because it was looking less and less likely that would happen. Soon I wouldn't even exist.
I couldn't help giving a little sigh as I trudged up the hill, and Celebi glanced back at me sharply. I smiled quickly, trying to hide it. "I'm just a little out of breath," I told her, but it was obvious by the way she pursed her lips that she wasn't buying it. "Celebi..." I began in an undertone, glancing at Grovyle, who was a fair distance ahead and had almost crested the hill by now, "don't tell him, because it's not a big deal...not when we have something this important to do...but I've been thinking a lot about having to disappear." Celebi hovered closer and I held out my arms; she nestled in them and I stroked the top of her head a couple times, then stopped in case she didn't like it. Most Pokémon seemed to like being petted but I wasn't sure about how Celebi would feel. The little Pokémon looked up at me with her big yellow-green eyes and smiled, nodding once, so I gently resumed stroking her head again, and she seemed to be happy. Had she been a Meowth she would have been purring. "It'll be fine. I'll keep going, no matter what happens. I've only just met Grovyle after ten years, Celebi, and I'm not going to leave him now." I still was feeling uneasy about causing the end of everyone that lived in Unova...but I doubted they'd want to live in a frozen world. I wouldn't, and I knew that my friends definitely wouldn't. They were interested in new things, always eager for things to change, and managed to always have a good time despite their troubles. If the planet was paralyzed, they would probably do anything they could to make time go forward again.
Celebi bumped her head into my chest, then patted my bandaged right arm gently. The way she'd nudged me just now reminded of the way Sam's Meowth would gently head-butt me when he was happy. I'd read in one of Brandon's books that when most Pokémon headbutted someone, it meant they liked that person. I guess I'd spent enough time with Meowth to get headbutted, and apparently Celebi, even though I'd only known her a short time. Considering the time we had left, though, I wondered if maybe it was enough.
I looked up and saw Grovyle had planted his feet on the top of the hill and was gazing down the hill at us. The yellow-orange half-moon was directly behind him, and the light framed his body and made him look like his body was glowing. For a moment, it looked like tiny orbs of light were lifting off his body, but I shook my head and knew that it was probably motes of dust lit up by the moonlight. I felt Celebi flutter free of my arms and watched her start flying up the hill before I started jogging up rushing up the side of the hill. I took a couple breaths after my dash upward, then looked down at the plateau that stretched down from the hillside. The grassy expanse was lit by the moon above and I could see that the grass changed to a rocky landscape about halfway out. "Almost there," I said quietly. The three of us stood quietly for a moment, looking into each other's eyes, and together we nodded before setting off down the hill towards the plateau. There wasn't much to say at this point. Dusknoir was still after us, and could be anywhere. He had been held up in Striaton City, but even with the lead Grovyle and I had gotten on him, I guessed that he wasn't too far behind. I thought of the people he'd attacked and felt a clenching of sympathy in my stomach, and hoped fervently that they were alright. Dusknoir had been looking for me, and had hurt those people in Striaton City in the process.
I still didn't know what to make of Time Travel, of the Time Gears, or of the planet's paralysis, but I was planning to learn more from Grovyle once we were in the past. I trusted him, and Celebi, since they were the only ones I could trust at this point. Again, I thought of how Dusknoir's attack on the both of us had first spurred me into believing that something bigger than I thought was going on. I stumbled a little on the uneven ground and broke out of my thoughts. The grassy plateau was gradually becoming more rocky and dangerous. I tried to make my way carefully through, constantly eyeing the ground to avoid losing my footing or tripping on large rocks that were in the way. Grovyle's pace suddenly quickened and Celebi started flapping her see-through wings harder. I was startled by their sudden dash, but began running harder to catch up, jumping over rocks or dodging around them to avoid falling. A couple times I thought I was falling behind but I managed to keep up somehow. Looking into the distance, I squinted as my eyes caught sight of something in the distance. It was glowing a bright, neon blue and as the three of us gradually neared it, I saw that an archway of dancing blue light was waiting before a sheer cliff face.
"So is this...the Passage...of Time?" I panted after getting a bit of my breath back. Grovyle and Celebi didn't respond; they were approaching the glowing archway, so I walked towards it too and came to a stop between them; Grovyle was on my left and Celebi was on my right. I watched silently as the small pink Pokémon flew up and hovered closer to the archway, raising both of her delicate arms towards it. A moment later, the flowing blue light glowed brighter, and a curtain of light flowed down from the archway, creating a glowing spiral that seemed to lead into the depths of the cliff. Celebi lowered her arms and turned in midair, gazing down, blue light from the Passage of Time reflected in her determined eyes. Grovyle pressed up against me, edging me towards the Passage of Time. I realized that I was hesitating, and felt my legs quaking slightly, so I gripped Grovyle's right paw and took a breath through my nose; Grovyle squeezed my hand tightly.
"Whatever happens," I told him, "we'll make it." I dimly heard Celebi speaking as the light from the portal intensified. Even if I'd been able to understand her speech, I don't think I would have been able to catch her words. But maybe they were only for Grovyle, I realized, intrigued. Grovyle and I moved forward as Celebi fluttered above the Passage of Time and hovered there. The light was even brighter up close, and I narrowed my eyes against it as we got closer. I turned my head to meet Grovyle's eyes, and saw him looking up at me. I nodded almost at the same instant he did, and we looked up to see Celebi waving down at us. We raised our arms to return the gesture, then took a step forward into the flowing curtain of light.
A powerful force caught hold of me and without warning I felt like I was falling through the air at a speed that made my skin tingle. There was no ground or sky around me; the only things my eyes could see were spears of white light penetrating a bright blue tunnel of light around me. A flash of green made me flinch, but I realized it was Grovyle falling beside me. I was still gripping his paw tightly, and I grit my teeth and held on with all my might as I felt Grovyle clenching his fingers even tighter around my hand. A sound like a thunderclap accompanied a blinding flash of light and I jolted in surprise, wondering if this was a part of the Time-Travel Process. As a powerful shock spasmed through my body, I let out a sharp gasp. Feeling Grovyle's body tense through our clasped paw and hand, I knew that he'd had the same sensation as me. When the shock came again, it was more powerful and sent waves of jolting pain through me.
"Shoot!" I yelled as my hand slipped and tore free of Grovyle's grasp, but I faced him and lunged, trying to grab his right paw again. I made it and got a good grip on him and brought my other arm around so I could grab his remaining paw. Grovyle's eyes were narrowed with concentration as he tightened his grip on my hands, but I saw that the attack—or whatever it had been—was making it hard for him to hold on. His body was shaking the same way I imagined mine was, since my body felt painful and weak. "Don't let go!" I yelled, and grunted as I heaved Grovyle towards me. A flash of darkness shot past us, and I was jostled violently; my hand slipped again. "No!" Grovyle yelled back at me and swiped for my hand. I ground my teeth and yanked Grovyle closer. "Just a little more...come on...!" Something in the corner of my eye made me turn my head and I gaped in fear, a cold trickle going down my spine when I saw a spiral of darkness slowly coming nearer. The way we were positioned, it would hit both of us, but a last-ditch thought flashed in my mind and I went with it. With all my strength I clutched Grovyle to my chest and hugged him tightly as I tried to shield him from the dark spiral that was heading for us. "Don't move," I grunted, trying to push my fear and panic away as I imagined the darkness hitting me. "Everything will be fine." I felt a cold, burning pain strike my back, and the sensation grew to a fiery sting that soon was burning through my entire body. It was the worst pain I'd ever felt, and I could hear myself screaming in reaction to it. Numbly I felt Grovyle shaking my shoulders and crying something but by the way my body felt leaden and my thoughts distant I knew that I couldn't hold on anymore.
The grip I had on Grovyle loosened and I felt him being yanked away by the force that had first pulled us deeper into the Passage of Time. I could barely hear Grovyle shouting, and dimly felt something snatching for my arms. With an effort, I forced my eyes open and saw Grovyle, but he was too far away for me to reach him. I tried to lift my arms and stretch my hands towards him, but I couldn't even twitch a finger. "I'm...sorry..." My words slurred and I could barely hear them. "I can't...reach..." I suddenly felt like I was falling even faster, and the sensation was painfully dizzying but I couldn't do anything to stop it. The last thing I heard before my eyes fell shut was a last cry from Grovyle. I tried to summon up the thing I'd told him we'd do if we got separated...I never thought we would be parted so violently like this, because of an attacker I couldn't see. I'd been expecting Dusknoir to attack Grovyle and me again. Grovyle...where are you?
A blast of white light cut through my eyelids, and I felt a powerful crash that battered my body heavily, and now instead of falling, I felt like I was sinking into cold depths. Even as I tried to make sense of what had happened, my feelings and thoughts started fading. Something buffeted me again and again, and each time, I felt colder and weaker, and the pain in my body was starting to fade. I didn't know when it would end, but it couldn't be long now.
I dimly felt my body dragging up against something, then desperately and instinctively pulled at it, and felt some of the coldness leaking away. I wasn't falling anymore, and it didn't feel like there was anything left to fight, so I let the exhaustion win. There was something I had that seemed important, and things in my head that I felt I should remember, but those thoughts were all too far away for me to catch. A tired thought surfaced in my dazed mind before I blacked out.
What...happened...
So, there we have it. The heroes have Time Traveled, but as you know, something's gone wrong. I don't know if I went overboard with the descriptions in this chapter, but I had fun. It was good to try and explain things as descriptively as I could, especially the Time Gear and Passage of Time part. It was also fun writing hints in the story about Grovyle and Celebi. Those two are sweet. 3
Next chapter will probably be the last of this story, and then I may go on to write about the main story. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is a really good game, so I might not be able to stop myself from writing more about Gale, Grovyle, and the Guild Buddies.
Anyway, almost there! Thank you for reading!