Chapter 8: Homecoming
Leo Hanson stared down at the finned water-type Pokémon. Did he hear right? Was someone playing a prank? It had moved it's mouth…and actual words came out; human words! "You…can talk?" Glancing to Grovyle, he saw his partner nearly drop his sack of food.
"Yes," the swampert answered with an unidentifiable accent, fixing it's pale green eyes on him.
This was…unheard of! Apparently the dimensional distortion wasn't the only unusual thing about this Pokémon? "Ahh…" He stammered, trying to find some appropriate words. Locking his own his own eyes onto the swampert's for a moment, something felt…familiar? No, that was absurd; he'd never seen it before. But there did almost seem to be an usual intelligence about them, no doubt influenced by it's ability to speak! "…how?"
It seemed to smile in replying, "I won't say here."
So it was some secret? That stirred his curiosity, enough to chip away some of his shock. "Your name is also Leo?"
"Yes."
"Well…I guess there were some questions I was hoping to ask…uh, you, then." Since it could talk, he supposed he could go right to the source, so to speak, on asking it about the circumstances surrounding it's distortion. Of course, he had a few things to reveal too…now both to it's trainer and it.
The white-bellied Pokémon nodded, making it's head fins sway slightly. "I know, and I have a long story to tell you. I'm sure you'll have a lot more questions when I'm done."
Of the things he least expected when he walked into the gym, a talking Pokémon was certainly near the top. But darned close behind was the said Pokémon or it's trainer claiming to have a long story to tell him. They only just met!
"And I have a few myself," the blonde-haired trainer Chris added, glancing to the both of them. "Look, would someone please tell me what's going on?" Facing the swampert, "You're acting like you know him. Do you two actually know each other or not?"
"I've never seen this swampert before," Leo Hanson answered, surprised again at the question from it's own trainer. If he had ever encountered a Pokémon that could talk, he without doubt would have remembered it! "First swampert I've seen in person, actually." The creature was, obviously, a water-type, and nearly man-sized, though somewhat shorter. But it's appearance was the least thing on his mind at the moment… other than the fact it was a Pokémon! "But I'm getting the feeling you know me somehow. Sally said you her you've been looking for me…"
"Like I said, it's a long story," the swampert interrupted.
Whatever the swampert knew, he was getting a distinct impression it was more than he did. "I guess I'd like to hear it then," Leo replied. But like it said, the gym wasn't the place for him to reveal anything either. "How about we go to my house for the afternoon to talk? Besides, you can help me eat this lunch." He smiled slightly, raising the bag of deli goods he still was holding, Grovyle doing the same. Food always made for a good ice-breaker, too.
The swampert nodded with a smile, "That would be good." The infernape next to it whispered something, the swampert answering in the same Poke language.
"We can take the subway most the way," Leo continued. "It's only a twenty minute ride." As they left the gym and it's puzzled employees behind, he had the strange feeling what this swampert wanted to tell him would be at least as interesting as what he had to reveal to it and its trainer.
"We're going to your human home?" Blazed whispered in his ear.
"I think so," Leo answered. His human self lead them outside after Chris absorbed Electabuzz and Wartortle back into their Pokéballs and said goodbye to Eric and Josh. Shortly after, he would've marveled more at the underground 'subway' boxes that moved them great distances, but he was in the presence of…himself! It seemed ethereal. This would have been him if the time paralysis never happened…no, it was him! Two difference versions of himself, with he being from a future that had been altered and now didn't exist, except in his and Blaze's memories.
As soon as the subway got moving, Grovyle quickly faced his snout toward them, "What did you mean about going to your human home?"
Blaze's face became one of surprise. "You overheard?"
The green Pokémon who had helped saved the Poké world in the Future That No Longer Exists folded his arms, waiting.
"I'll explain when we get there," Leo answered, hoping to avoid any further discussion until he had the chance to explain 'everything'.
"I don't trust you; you will explain things to me now!" Grovyle insisted.
That was a switch! At one time in the Future That No Longer Exists, it was he and Blaze that had trouble trusting him. Although it was difficult to realize, this was not the same Grovyle. Yet, it still was good to see him again and he ached to tell him so. Judging from the struggle on Blaze's face, his friend had the same desire.
It would be pointless though, since like his human self, this version of Grovyle had no knowledge of either of them or of any of the events that led to their meeting. Not that it made the desire any less, though. "The story is too long to tell here," Leo finally answered.
"And if we simply told you the answer to your question, you won't believe us," Blaze added.
Grovyle at first seemed to accept that, but with a quick move dropped his bag to whip an arm up to Leo's neck, pinning him against the side of the subway car with his leaf blades sharp against his throat! "Ever since we started looking for you, I've sensed danger surrounding you! If you intend to hurt Leo, I will hurt you worse!"
With his own quick move, Blaze wrapped an arm tight around the Pokémon's slender neck, causing his mouth to partially open as both Chris and Leo Hanson whipped around trying to get their hands and arms between all of them and shouting to stop, all to little avail.
Blaze fought off the attempts, keeping his arm firmly around Grovyle. "You have it all wrong!
Bringing up his one good arm, Leo tried taking some of the pressure off his own neck. "If we intended to hurt him, he'd already be hurt!" he spat out as Grovyle's leaf blades started to cut just a little from all the struggling. He wasn't liking this side of his former partner, yet he also couldn't be too unhappy with seeing how he wanted to defend his human self either! "We're here because we need his help! The whole world needs his help!" Locking eyes with the smaller green Pokémon for a moment, it felt like he was seeming staring straight into his soul with a piercing glare; in a couple heartbeats, the intensity in his eyes faded and he allowed himself to be dragged back.
Leo Hanson chided Grovyle for his actions before apologizing for them, and the two humans soon continued in light conversation, one of the top questions to Chris being what happened to his swampert's arm. Among the Pokémon there was only silence, Leo figuring it best not to say anything in front of Grovyle at this point. They all needed some time to get used to each other…again.
With little to see out the windows except passing walls of concrete and lights, he grabbed one of the vertical metal posts, settling in across from his human self so as to see him better. It felt like watching a ghost. He wasn't sure if it was mere flashes or more substantial memories, but he swore he could feel more coming to the surface of his mind, as if all he had to do was reach and grab them, but yet were still just out of his grasp.
In turn, Blaze was watching him carefully. He seemed concerned; no…that was too strong a word. He appeared cautious, despite his relaxed demeanor while hanging on to his own post.
Humans got on and humans got off at the various stops, passing between them up and down the isle. It wasn't long before his human self led them off into the semi-busy underground labyrinth that was the station. A couple set of stairs later, they were back on the surface, passing various shops and houses in a somewhat more crowed part of the city then was around Chris's apartment in Jade River. Although he didn't recognize anything specific, it felt familiar nonetheless.
Unfortunately, Blaze seemed to not be enjoying all the concrete they'd been walking on, letting out an "Ow!" at least a couple times after stubbing a toe on edges of the concrete path. Concrete was not something found in the Pokémon world, and perhaps for good reason!
With each passing house, Leo felt his heart beating just a little quicker; it was close, and he knew when they arrived even before they stopped.
"Here's my place," Leo Hanson announced quietly as he pulled out a small card-like thing from one of his pockets.
Shading his eyes from the bright afternoon sun, Leo looked the house over: two floors, narrow light blue front interrupted by only the door and two windows, one on each floor. Bulbous trees with thin, wispy leaves appeared to be growing from the roof along with various shorter plants along the edge. "Perennials…" he mumbled, earning Blaze's glance before he too looked above at the roof.
Up the short walk to the front door, his human self whipped the card in front of something to the side, producing a quick sound of something clicking. Then pushing the door open, waited to the side for everyone to enter. "It's small, but I have a great patio on the roof."
The memories that had been merely teasing him before now were growing restless. Inside the house that he used to call home were all things that stood as reminders of everything he was before becoming a Pokémon. From the table just inside the door, to the small items on shelves, to images on one of the walls. His eyes froze on one of a human woman…
"Leo…Leo…my little Leo! How's my little baby today?"
He was happy and giggled as the pretty woman picked him up and hugged him.
"Guess where we're going to go? We're going to the market and buy some candy! You like chocolate?"
"Yes!" he burst out, feeling so excited. He loved her, she was everything, she was…
"Mother…"
"Leo?"
He snapped out of the memory, discovering Blaze right next to him in the crowed hall.
"More memories?"
There was no doubt now - he was remembering some his human past! "My mother," he whispered.
Blaze looked at the picture again, much more intently.
"That's my mother," his human self said, apparently noticing how he and Blaze had been staring at it. "And the next photo is of my father."
Leo looked it over, but it didn't seem to trigger anything.
"He died just before I was born," Leo Hanson explained.
"I'm sorry," Chris replied.
His human self shrugged, "I never knew him. Anyway, how about we go up the roof and I'll get lunch set out. I assume none of you have eaten yet?"
Leo answered in the negative with everyone else, acutely aware suddenly of his stomach growling in response to the delicious smell from the paper bags. As his human self led them up some stairs, Grovyle gave him a serious stare with narrowed eyes as he passed them on the way up. No doubt with his obviously sharp hearing, he heard what he told Blaze.
The area on the roof looked very nice. Several trees growing out of large pots were arranged in a large circle around a group of chairs and small tables, giving some semblance of privacy as well as decent shade. With some non-Pokémon birds in the trees chirping away, his human self soon had the food from the paper sacks spread out across one of the tables.
"You can let your other Pokémon come out and eat too if you want," his human self told Chris. "I was actually just picking it up for my coworkers when Sally called to tell me you where you were." Briefly disappearing back downstairs, he soon returned with a pitcher of water and more food in the form of chips and other stuff Leo couldn't immediately identify.
Chris took the offer, releasing Electabuzz, Wartortle, Elekid and Pikachu. All four went right for the food without question…
Of course, they were just a hair slower than either Blaze or himself, which Leo felt glad about since the four other Pokémon practically cleaned off everything!
His human self waited until he got himself settled with his plateful, then: "OK, now that we can talk in private, why were you looking for me?"
Leo glanced around to Chris and the other Pokémon, seeing all the questions they had on their faces despite the face-stuffing.
"Guess it's time to explain everything, Leo," Blaze said before swallowing a mouthful from a large sandwich. With a grin while still chewing: "I've been looking forward to hear how you're going to tell all this."
"Thanks," Leo replied sarcastically, then to his human self: "Can I ask how you were looking for us first?" He didn't mean to be adversarial, but ever since his human self said he had been looking for them at the same time they were looking for him, he wondered how that was possible. Surely Dialga, Palkia or Celebi really hadn't found and told him, had they? "I mean, how did you even know about us?"
"Interesting coincidence, huh?" his human self replied. "Especially since the only reason we were looking for you or even knew of your existence was because we detected this… well, it's a small distortion around you." Using his hands, he shaped out a small, round imaginary object. "It's hard to explain, but it's…"
"A what?" Chris asked with a full mouth.
Leo nearly gagged on his sandwich, as did Blaze. "You already know about that?"
His human self now looked just as surprised. "You know about it?"
Leo nodded along with Blaze.
"Ah…in that case, I've got a virtually identical one around myself, you see. It's been around me for at least three years, but yours only showed up a few days ago. We heard about an incident involving a Pokéball that wouldn't capture a Pokémon, so we put two and two together and started tracking you guys down. What happened on Sunday evening and just how do you know about your distortion?"
Chris appeared to swallow quickly. "What are you talking about; what's these distortions?"
"It's…" Did he want to say what it was the result of before he had told the full story yet? "…the result of some events."
If any more surprise was possible on the face of his human self, he expressed it. "Are you saying you know what's causing them?"
"Yes. And as for what happened a few days ago…" Leo braced himself, hoping they wouldn't immediately dismiss him, "that's when we," indicting Blaze and himself, "arrived here from a different planet. We came here to help avert a potential disaster that could effect not only the world we're from, but this one too." Glancing around the group, he feared their sudden dead silence and faces that ranged from deadpan to shocked to disbelief.
"You know how to leave them speechless," Blaze commented with a wry smile before crunching on a chip.
Leo Hanson barely avoided dropping his plate of food, such was the sudden surge of thoughts he got. This swampert knew what was causing the distortions? He was from a different planet?
Unbelievable. No, really unbelievable!
Yet…
…if true, that held all sorts of implications for the project, including proving some of the theories they had.
But more importantly, how did they get here? And what this "potential" disaster?
Next to him, Grovyle was shaking his head.
Chris Urbason coughed, quickly reaching for some water. After: "I thought you a strange Pokémon, being able to talk and all, but…come on!"
Somehow, Leo felt that they hadn't even heard the half of it yet…
"Are…you…joking?" Wartortle asked, his brown eyes wide in his roundish blue head.
Leo returned a "No I'm not" before replying to Chris: "That's not the only thing different about me." To the entire group: "I think it's best if I start at the beginning, about three years ago when my first memories also begin as a mudkip. That's when I woke up on a beach, where Blaze, who was a chimchar then, found me. I was at once disorientated and lost and I couldn't remember anything, except for two things: My name was Leo and second…I used to be human."
The face of his human self become one of…disbelief?
Chris was motionless for several heartbeats before almost shouting: "That's impossible! Humans can't be turned into Pokémon!"
"I had the same thought when you first told me that, ha ha!" Blaze admitted. "But I quickly grew to believe you."
"What kind of crazy story are you trying to tell to us?" Electabuzz said angrily. "That you're crazy? That you're both crazy?"
"Are you sure you're feeling all right, and the pain medication isn't making you imagine this?" Chris seemed to further. "Maybe I should get you back to the Pokécenter right away."
It was more or less the kind of reaction he expected, and he sighed as Wartortle and Pikachu came plodding over. Jumping onto his back, Pikachu planted a hand to his forehead while Wartortle gave him a good poke in his white stomach. "Hey!" Right in the sensitive spot, too!
"Nope, you're a Pokémon," Wartortle announced. "Humans are softer."
Hopping down a few seconds later, Pikachu shrugged. "No fever," announcing in his higher-pitched voice.
"He's not sick!" Blaze told them sternly, making them both back up a little. "Neither am I."
"Maybe not physically," Electabuzz replied snidely.
All this while, Leo noticed Grovyle merely looking on, not giving any sort of reaction other than a few twitches of his wrist leaf blades.
"What you say is physically impossible," his human self said with the tone of someone ready to dismiss it out-of-hand. "Your body's DNA sequence would have to be changed in every cell and your existing physical form altered drastically…all without killing you. No such technology exists that I've ever heard of. Not even close."
Leo took a drink to gain a few seconds to think; what did he know or remember of human technology? "Maybe not here." Just what kind of technology would a Pokémon's attack fall under? "It is possible, whether you believe me or not. But maybe things will start making more sense if you let me go on."
Chris was shaking his head, but leaned back in his padded chair anyway. "Are you sure you're feeling OK?"
"I'm fine, except for this broken arm of course!" he reassured, raising his left arm and cast.
If it wasn't for the swampert being able to talk, Leo Hanson would've written the story off immediately as the product of a wild imagination. A human becoming a Pokémon? Certainly impossible! The technology necessary would be…mind boggling.
Yet…there were aspects of the swampert's story which lent it at least a little credence. "Well, your explanation of why your dimensional distortion suddenly appeared on our detector at least seems as plausible as any other…I guess."
Chris appeared to regard him for a moment in obvious surprise. "You mean you think they're really from a different planet?"
"I'm saying right now this swampert's explanation is as good as any other. At this point, I have no better explanation."
Indeed, he really didn't. In fact, the spike they detected that preceded the steady waveform, could that have been the result of a dimensional portal opening? If was it, then the nearly identical distortion around him would mean that…he also was from a different world?
That absolutely couldn't be true! He'd been on Earth all his life like everyone else; given the current state of space travel, otherwise simply wasn't possible yet. But if being from a different planet wasn't the reason for his own distortion, what other explanation could there be? Did it have anything to do with the swampert's distortion either?
The form sat in front of the screen, watching the live satellite feed on his screen in the darkened room, showing the individuals that held his interest on some rooftop. He didn't need the video to tell him they were there though, or at least in the area - he could feel them as anomalies. For three years there had only been one, and now there were two.
Still, there was some relief in that what he knew would happen was at last beginning.
A smile crossed his thin lips, thankful he'd prepared for this a while ago and had taken steps recently to speed things up. Which wasn't to say he wasn't still worried. Now was the most dangerous time, given Dialga's and Palkia's arrivals, but the trap was nearly ready and would be baited soon.
Yet for the moment, other than making sure tabs were kept on the two anomalies, there was little else to be done. Though that could prove to be a crucial task.
Turning off the monitor, he only wished the others could see how much effort he was going through for them.
Leo continued the story through some of their early adventures at the Guild and his first experience with the Dimensional Scream. That he noticed in particular, seemed to have an effect on his human self, though he said nothing. His human counterpart had the ability - Grovyle had said once it was the reason they could investigate at all in the Future That No Longer Exists, but did it work the same way for his human counterpart in this future?
Going through their meeting Uxie at Steam Lake and the beginning of the theft of the time gears, "It was then Dusknoir told us the thief was a grovyle…and that he was a criminal from the future who was trying to steal the time gears." He was careful not to look Grovyle's way but others did, if only for an instant. "Dusknoir went on to reveal he also was from the future, and came to apprehend Grovyle."
"Time travel?" his human self asked. "That's possible?"
"At the time he didn't say how he did it," Leo pointed out.
"That wasn't till later," Blaze added with a slight puff of his mane and twitch of his red tail. Of course, only the other Pokémon understood him.
"At first, Grovyle was able to steal more time gears, even after Blaze and I confronted him twice. Dusknoir stopped him from gaining the very last time gear however, and apprehended him. Then from the middle of Treasure Town, a time portal opened and we all gathered to see him take Grovyle back to the future with him. But just before leaving, Dusknoir had a special goodbye gift for me and Blaze, though. You see, he grabbed and pulled us into the time portal with him!"
"Uh…why?" Chris asked.
"Into the future?" Leo Hanson asked. "How far?"
Leo looked to Blaze for an answer, who shrugged from where he was laying on the floor. A couple times they had discussed that very question between them, but could do little more than guess. "We aren't sure; a few years we think. It didn't matter anyway. We woke up in a prison cell and when we were let out, we were blindfolded and lead out somewhere before being tied to posts. When the sableye removed the blindfolds, we found Grovyle tied to a third post next to us. He told us we were all about to be executed."
If nothing else, he certainly had their full attention now, even earning a few gasps as he continued through their escape and subsequent discovery that the world had fallen deep into the stoppage of time know as the Time Paralysis. "Although I tried to use the Dimensional Scream to gain some clue as to what to do next, after touching the waterfall, nothing happened, as if it didn't work anymore."
"Then, it worked differently in the past?" Leo Hanson asked, apparently choosing his words carefully.
"Grovyle told us after we met back up that the Dimensional Scream only worked if the object touched had something to do with the time gears…but obviously, it worked differently before."
"So it…changes in what it sees?" It was almost more of a statement of fact rather then a question.
Leo nodded to confirm what his human self asked. "Grovyle told us another thing. The Time Paralysis wasn't actually caused by the removal of the time gears, but rather by the collapse of Temporal Tower."
"And what's that?" Electabuzz asked. Although his tone implied he was feigning interest, his rapt attention right along with the other Pokémon said otherwise.
"It's the tower that helps Dialga regulate time."
Chris nearly jumped out of his chair. "Dialga? He's…real?"
"The Pokémon that can control time itself?" his human self added calmly, eyebrows raised. "No one's ever seen him. Only old fables that few believe tell of him."
"He's real," Leo insisted. "And the collapse of his tower caused him to degenerate. He became more primal, concerned only with his own preservation; more like a mere animal. Dusknoir was his servant, sent to prevent anything in the past from changing, and hence changing him. That was why Dusknoir tried to have us killed – we were apparently considered a threat to the events that caused the Time Paralysis. Of course, we weren't entirely certain we could believe Grovyle yet, but I convinced Blaze we needed to at least go along with him and find out if it was true."
"I'm very glad you did, Leo," Blaze responded, laying onto his side in a more relaxed position. "We would still be there in that world of darkness if you hadn't."
"Grovyle also knew of a way to get us back to the past. It was the same way he traveled to the past the first time: with Celebi's help."
Chris opened his mouth a good moment before anything came out: "First Dialga, now Celebi? Oh man…"
"Celebi's been seen recently, Chris," Leo Hanson pointed out. "If you believe the accounts. There was a write-up in the paper a couple months ago. It's more believable than Dialga."
"I read those accounts," the sandy-haired human. "Seems there's always someone looking for her, but very few who claim to actually find her. Naturally, I wouldn't mind having her on my team myself, but…"
"A lot of people would give anything to time travel with her, but I thought the ability was just another fable."
"Ha ha, she can do it, no doubt," Blaze said. "Believe me on that!"
Leo took the opportunity to stuff his mouth again before continuing: "With Grovyle leading us, we marched on and eventually found her. She was very agreeable to helping us, and Grovyle yet again, but in order to return to the past we had to go to a special place where a temporal rift existed that she could open."
"And that's how you got to the past again…" his human self said.
Nodding, "But Dusknoir found us just as we reached it, blocking the entrance. And he brought help: Dialga in his primal form."
Blaze rose and standing on both his hands and feet, tried giving a fair impersonation of Dialga, going so far as to give a almost Dialga-like growl.
"We were outnumbered and out powered, badly, and Grovyle saw only one outcome: he offered to surrender." Indicating both Blaze and himself, "We wanted to fight, but…" lowering his head, the thought of surrendering hurt even now, "Grovyle had a point; it was hopeless. Yet he said even though we may have failed, there was still hope, and revealed he hadn't gone into the past alone. You see, he had come to the Poké world and traveled into the past the first time with a partner, since what had been happening in the Poké world was also affecting the human world. They became separated while they were traveling back in time and he hadn't seen him since, but he was certain his partner was working to secure the time gears and complete the mission."
"So, where was he? Who was he?" Wartortle asked.
Leo paused for effect. "Dusknoir asked the same thing…" and for the humans benefit: "…who Grovyle's partner was. Wanted him to say his partner's name. Grovyle did, and it was…Leo."
Blaze settled back down. "That's when I pointed out Leo was right there, behind him."
After translating for Leo Hanson and Chris: "But Grovyle said the Leo he knew was different…because his partner was a human." After letting that sink in for just a few heartbeats, "Dusknoir then told him I used to be human but somehow became a Pokémon with a near total loss of memory, something he had learned while in the past and grown to believe. Grovyle naturally was shocked at the news; Dusknoir only laughed. It all made sense: I had been trying to stop Dusknoir right along with Grovyle. Only I didn't remember it! He had used my memory loss to his advantage to gain our trust and use us against Grovyle. After he captured Grovyle, he pulled me and Blaze into the time rift with him since I was Grovyle's partner, and his mission all along had been to eliminate both of us. It looked like he was going to succeed."
Leo Hanson shifted in his chair; the swampert's story was becoming uncomfortable. It's story was intricate enough that he was finding it hard to not believe it, or at least some of it.
But that wasn't what was starting to trouble him.
The number of coincidences was growing. He and this Pokémon not only had virtually identical dimensional distortions and the same first name, but also had a Grovyle as a partner, both were from the human world, and both had the ability to see visions of either past or future events – the "Dimensional Scream" the Pokémon called it.
Could it actually be…conceivable?
Yet, the time line…even if it could be possible, something didn't make sense. They couldn't both exist at the same time! But what other Leo had a Grovyle partner, had visions, and would have traveled to a Pokémon world? Who else would have the ability?
Heart pounding, "Leo…who were as a human?" He had to know even as he feared the answer.
Leo imaged Blaze's expression as asking if he was going to tell his human self right then and there. He very nearly blurted it out, he wanted to, but he couldn't tell him. Not just yet, not without telling him about the change of futures. Yet he certainly had to suspect by now. "Have any chocolate candies? I really have a taste for some." Asking not just because it was true, but to partly to give his human self another nudge toward his own conclusion. But really, he could of used something sweet after taking a long drink of water to quench his growing thirst after so much talking.
"No…all out," his human self answered guardedly, though his eyes grew just a bit narrower, full of thought.
Continuing his and Blaze's story, he revealed how they were able to escape Dusknoir's and Dialga's trap and get back to their world in the past. With Grovyle's help, they got the first time gear, but…as he predicted, the Time Paralysis was already starting. Even replacement of the time gears had no effect; time was rapidly beginning to slow anyway. After agreeing to split up in the interest of time, Grovyle continued to gather time gears while he and Blaze started to investigate just where Temporal Tower was. But the task was near impossible.
With the Guild's help they managed to find Lapras, who knew where the tower was, and after Grovyle had retrieved all the time gears, headed off for the Hidden Land.
"Eventually we reached the ancient ruins Lapras told us about, where we saw many murals painted on the walls of legendary Pokémon like Mew, Dialga and Palkia. We also found the Rainbow Stone ship, a platform that was supposed to take us to up Temporal Tower. A stone plaque with Unown symbols had instructions, which Grovyle revealed he was able to read."
Grovyle flinched…
"It turned out the relic fragment Blaze had been carrying with him all this time, was in fact the key that would activate the ship."
"I was right: it was valuable!" Blaze said with a smirk. "Ha ha!"
An understatement if there was one! "Dusknoir though, had been waiting for us with his sableye henchmen, and ambushed us before we could get the ship moving. With yet another time portal, he intended to take us back into the future where we could no longer threaten change to it. We had no choice but to fight…and together we were just able to defeat them. While Blaze went to the stoneship to activate it, Grovyle and I guarded Dusknoir to make sure he couldn't interfere. But he a strong Pokémon he was, and he recovered quickly. In a last act, he tried again to take me down; with a leap, Grovyle took the attack instead, and with all his strength, charged at him to push him to the very brink of the time portal."
Leo swallowed; the story from this point would be difficult. There were certain things painful to remember, much less have to tell to others. "Before Grovyle pushed him in, Dusknoir made a last plea. The fact was, if we succeeded in preventing the collapse of Temporal Tower, those of us from the future…we would cease to exist. The future would change and since Grovyle, Dusknoir and I were products of that future, when it ceased to exist, so would we."
Blaze was suddenly quite still, as was everyone else.
"I didn't want to believe it; I asked Grovyle if that was true, and he said yes. He also told me we both knew that would happen when we left the future for the first time, and we had both accepted our fates as the price to pay for saving the worlds from a bleak future. When Blaze returned from activating the stoneship, Grovyle gave him the time gears, said goodbye, and pushed Dusknoir and himself into the time portal, sacrificing himself right then and there to give Blaze and I a chance to complete the mission. Grovyle was…truly a brave and selfless Pokémon, and we still miss him greatly."
He barely fought off some tears as he looked to his partner. "I…regret not telling Blaze what was going to happen to me as we were traveling up to the tower on the stone ship; I just wanted to spare him the news for as long as possible."
"I remember you looking sad on the way up, Leo," Blaze replied quietly, moving to rest his head on his knees, "but I couldn't figure out why at the time."
"I'm sorry, I didn't want you to be sad."
"I know."
It was hard not to feel a sad foreboding for where the swampert's story was going, Leo Hanson realized. A suicide mission… He was fairly certain the talking Pokémon was correct about what would happen if he altered the future and prevented the very events that caused him to become a Pokémon, at least according to current time theory.
Could he himself have accepted a suicide mission? Would he have been brave enough to go through with it and sacrifice himself to save both worlds like this unique Pokémon had? He had doubts.
The Pokémon hadn't yet answered his question of who he had been as a human…at least directly. Well, so he also liked chocolate…who didn't? Surely, there had to be another human Leo somewhere! One who had a Grovyle for a partner.
Or this Pokémon was just plain lying about some of the facts…
…for what reason?
Even if it were possible, how he could exist in two forms at the same time anyway? Not that he had any logical explanation it couldn't be possible, but…he had no way to explain it either. It just struck him as being not possible. Which really didn't mean much, considering humanity's current state of temporal physics understanding.
Leo continued: "Temporal Tower was already starting it's collapse by the time we reached it. Dark red clouds were swirling around the top like a hurricane, making it plain something bad was happening. Fighting our way past Dialga's Pokémon guards as fast as we could, we were in a race to reach the top as sections of the tower were crumbing; by the time we got up there, it was swaying badly. We appeared to be just in time. At one end we found a large stone mural with five indentations in it; Blaze figured out they were for each of the time gears.
"Though before he could put them in place, Dialga appeared and started accusing us as causing the tower's collapse! We tried reasoning with him, but it was impossible – the impending collapse and disruption to time was already having too great an affect on his mind. As tired as we were, we were forced to fight him and no doubt if he had his full mind about him, we wouldn't have been able to knock him unconscious."
"But in just the few minutes it took for us to do that, the unsteadiness in the tower had gotten far worse. Blaze hurried getting the time gears in place, and as soon as they were in their proper places, the tower stabilized. Dialga woke up shortly after. He thanked us for saving both him and the tower…before promptly sending us on our way."
Leo paused to get his breath, his heart pounding at essentially reliving the events as he was telling them. Everyone was looking at him expectantly, fully engaged in the story. Except Blaze, who was looking down, eyes closed; he couldn't imagine how painful this was about to be for him.
"With our mission complete, we left the tower and started making our way back to the stoneship. There were still tremors shaking the ground, occasionally making walking difficult, but even with that I began noticing I was in trouble. I felt suddenly tired, heavy, barely able to walk…and within a few more steps, I could no longer move at all; a light started surrounding me. During our climb down inside the tower I was wondering when it was going to happen, and now it was - my existence was at an end. I finally was about to join Grovyle, Dusknoir and everyone else who were from that dark future we escaped from, and cease to be."
"Blaze came running back and immediately noticed the light. At that point, there was no putting it off any longer, I had to tell him the truth I'd been keeping from him, that when we completed the mission, we changed the future and by doing so, those of us from the future were destined to disappear forever." Feeling his voice wavering, "I just wanted to…tell him…"
"You told me to be brave and go on living," Blaze said solemnly, still looking down. "To tell everyone what happened when I got back, so that it would never happen again. I kept your last wish."
Hesitating, Leo breathed deeply, fighting to not get overwhelmed by the emotion of the memory before translating for the humans. "I was glad we trained together…went on adventures together…and became friends. It was an adventure I would…never forget. I would never…" He couldn't help it; a tear ran down his face. "…forget him. I didn't want to go, but I had no choice! The light around me became blinding, then…nothing. There was nothing."
Looking to Blaze, he was at once overjoyed his disappearance wasn't permanent! But the sorrow of that day he knew was etched into both their souls for all time. "Blaze had done as I asked, telling what had happened when he returned to Treasure Town, telling everyone who would listen over the next several months of our and Grovyle's actions to save the world."
His human self cleared his throat. In a quiet voice: "What you two did was noble and brave. But to point out the obvious, if your existence ceased because you altered the past…"
"How am I here now?" Even through the clouds of emotion, he realized it was a question he would be asking at this point too! Actually, he'd been waiting for it.
Chris seemed like he finally took in a breath before leaning back in his chair from it's edge. "Well, I'm happy you're both here as part of my team. And I think I'm following everything, but I never thought a Pokémon would have it all over me on…whatever this time knowledge is."
"Time theory," Leo Hanson filled in.
Noticing his human self hadn't stopped staring at him at all, Leo continued: "I did disappear and there was nothing of my existence for several months. But from my point it was instantaneous. After disappearing, I suddenly found myself standing on the beach, on the very spot where I had awoken as a Pokémon for the very first time. Blaze and Bidoof were a few paces away, and Blaze was…" Glancing to his seemingly life-long partner, he wondered just how 'un-tough' he should make him sound, but then his friend was a chimchar at the time and somewhat more prone to such emotion. And Blaze's eyes were already watery anyway. "…sobbing."
His friend formed a weak smile. "I had come to the beach to watch the sunset that evening for the first time in a long while, but ended up remembering you and everything we did together. Losing you was...hitting me a little hard after that."
Despite having been two years and having became an infernape since, he could still see the hurt on his friend's face. Leo translated again, continuing: "It didn't take Bidoof long to get Blaze to notice I was there behind him. He was…rather happy to see me…"
"Maybe a little more than that," Blaze quipped with a lively twitch of his tail.
"…while I was a little disoriented, wondering how I had come to be there all of a sudden after having just disappeared from the base of Temporal Tower."
Wiping his red face with the back of his hand, "You know, you had the most astonished look on your face," Blaze said in a tone more like his usual self.
"I'm still surprised you could see with how wet your eyes were," Leo returned with a good-natured grin. "He and Bidoof spent the rest of the evening filling me in on everything that had happened in the months since I disappeared, and the rest of the Guild members were quite surprised when I came walking in unannounced with him and Bidoof the next morning. I don't quite remember such a party like we had afterward."
"Ha ha, that was the best party ever!" Blaze shouted with a good laugh.
OK, so he came back into existence somehow, Leo Hanson thought. How? "OK, but how did it happen?"
"The party?" the swampert asked with as best a grin as a swampert apparently could make.
He swore the Pokémon knew what he was asking, but was just toying with him…in a good-natured way though. "No, how did you come back into existence? Was the future changed again?" He sure hoped not; he was already fighting to keep all the time traveling straight in his mind!
"At first we didn't know, and neither of us were going to argue with it. I was just happy I was back, whatever the method. Several months later we returned to Temporal Tower to met with Dialga to see how things were going, since time was still slowly getting back to normal in many areas. He then told us he used his powers of time to bring me back, as a gift and thank-you for saving him."
Dialga again? The old legends about that Pokémon weren't real specific about what powers he had, but if he had the ability to resurrect someone from a future that had been erased… "If he did that, he is one…powerful being, then."
"He is."
Blaze appeared to second that in Poké language.
Reaching past the infernape, Chris took the last of the chips. "Leo, if all of this is true, then when I said you were special before, I was more right than I knew. I mean, wow!"
"Special" didn't even begin to describe this swampert, Leo thought. Still, there was yet one important question the Pokémon had yet to answer: "Who were you when you were human?" He needed the confirmation, and noticed Grovyle moving closer to stand beside his chair. Perhaps his partner did too.
"I think it's obvious," Grovyle said, his first words in a while.
Leo hoped so, so it wouldn't come as much of a shock. Fully facing his human self: "Leo Hanson, you and I…are the same person." Although Chris froze, he concentrated on his human self's reaction. There was no surprise, just an… Acceptance? Confusion? Disbelief? Definitely a look of someone's world being turned upside down…
"This is confusing," Wartortle eventually said from where he was sitting near Chris. Pointing between the two of them, "You say you're the same person, yet you look like two different people to me."
It took only a minute to explain how the change of futures didn't affect his birth, and when Dialga brought him back into existence, that didn't erase his other, still human, self. "That's how there are two of me and we really are the same person, but the point where we saved Temporal Tower is where our pasts became different and we became two different people, since that's where the time lines separated."
"I…ah…think I understand," Wartortle replied with a brief shake of his head.
"Uh…un…huh." Although Pikachu nodded, his face said something different, while Electabuzz and Elekid merely stayed silent.
"Don't worry, I didn't really understand it at first either," Blaze confided. "It just takes some…time, to sink in. Ha ha."
"But now, we're only half done with our story," Leo said.
"There's more?" Chris asked, leaning forward and reaching for his now empty glass.
"Oh yes. Because the attempted sabotage of Temporal Tower was only the first attempt to control the world."
Wartortle and Pikachu fell on their stomachs, seemingly already exhausted.
Leo Hanson was glad everyone took his suggestion of a break; not only did he need a good stretch, he just plain needed some time to absorb everything! Two of him: himself…and a Pokémon! The concept pretty hard to take.
Bringing out a couple bowls, he started assembling a mix of more chips and other snacks while going over the swampert's long tale to make sure he understood it all.
Basically, in the other future some events on Earth were supposedly happening due to the Time Paralysis taking place on some Poké world, a world inhabited only by Pokémon. He traveled there with Grovyle, investigated, got turned into a Pokémon himself while traveling back in time in order to prevent what had already happened, and did end up saving the world at the sacrifice of both him and Grovyle, leaving a terribly sad Pokémon friend behind at the end. The timeline was changed and the events on Earth due to the Time Paralysis never happened. Therefore, he continued on with his life as normal as a human, but on the Poke world, Dialga brought his other Pokémon self back into existence. Therefore, there was now two of him, each as a separate being…and each obviously very different physically.
It was completely absurd!
Yet the swampert's explanations actually made sense. From what he knew of time theory, changing the past like it supposedly had been would carry the consequences the Pokémon spoke about. Also, Celebi was rumored to have time-travel abilities, and Dialga also did exist according to ancient legend, having some undefined powers around time.
As for traveling to another planet… Well, he already knew how that could be possible, which brought up the question of when or if he should bring the Pokémon to the lab for study of the dimensional distortion.
Wait…the talking swampert hadn't explained what that was yet, did he?
Leo finished up assembling the food and turned to head back to the roof patio, finding Grovyle had come down into the kitchen at some point. "Well, what do you think of all this, buddy?"
His partner replied with his usual "Groverrryle…," indicating perhaps acceptance, though his green eyes indicated a lot of deep thought going on, similar to when we was reading his books on Unown research.
"It sounded like your study of the Unown language paid off in that other future," he found himself saying. But shaking his head, "You know, it's hard to believe I could have done all that stuff, though."
"Gro…vyle."
There was something else about his expression that he couldn't quite read, though. A certain…sadness? With a talking swampert around, maybe he could translate. "Let's get back up there and hear the second part of this swampert's story, huh?" He almost wanted to say their story, but it was still hard to overcome his doubts, whether well founded or not.
Handing his partner a bowl, he lead them back to the roof.
The next half of the story was easier for Leo to tell, since neither he nor Blaze died during it (almost not withstanding). He described the impostor Cresselia who tried to use Palkia to kill them, Darkrai's plot to use the spatial distortions around them to control the world, and how it was Darkrai who not only had been the one who set the events in motion to cause Temporal Tower's collapse, but also accidently turned him into a Pokémon through an errant attack on Grovyle.
"After we defeated him at the bottom of Dark Crater, Darkrai created a spatial portal in an attempt to escape, but Palkia destroyed it just as he entered, causing him to be transported to somewhere else, and erasing his memory in the process."
"A fitting ending since he was the one who caused you to lose yours," Blaze added, making no obvious attempt to hide his satisfaction.
He couldn't disagree with his partner. "So, that's basically the end of everything that had happened to us over the last three years."
"So you two lead pretty dull lives then," Chris said, hiding whatever expression behind a sip of water.
Leo glared back until he understood the human was only joking. "Things calmed down some after Darkrai was defeated. Guess you could say it started getting dull then."
"Did Darkrai explain exactly how he transformed…um, you into a Pokémon, though?" his human self asked.
"No. And since he lost his memory, I don't think there's any going back either. And this brings us to why we came here. After we had been parted for a long while, Dialga returned from Temporal Tower several days ago with some alarming news. He said he was starting to sense some disaster that was going to happen in the future, and…" pointing between him and his human self, "…it somehow involves the two of us and the distortions we have."
His human self appeared to regard him with carefully while leaning forward just a little. "Then, what is this distortion around me, exactly? You explained what the one around you is, but I haven't travel through time…"
"First, the distortions around Blaze and I have nothing to do with this, as they are from him and I being to the future. But Dialga told us I have a second distortion around me that's a result of me being from a future that no longer exists. And because I still exist in my human form, it is mirrored around you as a way of keeping things in balance. This second distortion is a combination of time and space, and can appear as if it's a different dimension. It's these additional distortions that Dialga believes are involved."
"So that's what we've been detecting…"
Chris shook his head, "OK, I'm not a physicist, but what kind of disaster is heading our way and just how are you…and uh," he gestured to Leo Hanson, "him, involved?"
His human self nodded, indicating his desire to know too.
"Dialga doesn't know," Leo admitted. "All he could sense was something bad was going to happen at some point in the future, and believes it involves me and my human self. He doesn't even know the extent of the problem yet, just that it has the potential to be very serious, perhaps worse than the Time Paralysis, and that it could happen on this world as easily as the Poké world. Palkia created a spatial portal to get both me and Blaze here, while he, Dialga and Celebi came here their own way…"
"Whoa!" Chris was suddenly sitting up very straight. "Are you kidding? Dialga and Palkia are here, now?"
"Yes. They're staying hidden while they investigate to find out more about what's going to happen. Celebi is also helping and delivering any news to us they might have." More to Chris: "She's the Pokémon who told me that my human self was in this city."
Chris's eyes widened.
Leo continued: "Our mission is to try and prevent what's going to happen."
"And…it has to do with the disruptions around us…?"
"That's what Dialga thinks," Leo confirmed to his human self. "How did he put it…"
"He said it was like they were becoming unbalanced," Blaze said.
"Right, the distortions around us felt like they were becoming unbalanced somehow. Again, he didn't know if that was the cause, though."
Suddenly snapping his fingers, "Wait, what was that thing you said you had, Mr. Hanson, that thing you detected Leo's arrival with?" Chris asked. "The thing that detected the distortions?"
"A DV detector. Dimensional Variation detector. We built it about three years ago."
"And you said these mirrored distortions around the two of you are like sort of dimensional, right?" Chris furthered, directing this question to Leo.
"That's what Dialga said," Leo answered, not sure what the human was getting at. Neither was Blaze, judging from his puzzled expression.
Chris continued, but to Leo Hanson again: "So, if you have the ability to detect these dimensional distortions…and there's supposed to be a problem with these dimensional distortions in the future…uh, pardon if this isn't any of my business, but what's that detector for?"
With shock, Leo thought he realized Chris's line of thought. The one memory he had with that silver ring…why was that object feeling familiar all of a sudden? Addressing his human self, "Are you doing something with dimensions?"