Chapter 16: Journeys
"I think she likes you," Blaze whispered, sounding half-asleep as they lay next to each other on the floor.
Leo shifted a little to get more comfortable on the blanket, the thick layer of fuzzy cloth not quite adequate against the cold, hard floor of the shop. It had been too late to go to the Pokécenter for a room, but the human Harry had graciously offered them some space in his boat shop. Thankfully they had camping gear with them.
"She's not my type," whispering back after a moment, hoping she didn't hear him. In fact, he feared her. He risked a glance across the room to the door leading into the living quarters. Problem was, she hadn't gone through it when their two hosts retired for the night, but was staying in the shop, also laying on the floor on the other side of the room.
She seemed to sense his gaze, quickly turning to look right back at him.
In the dim light shining through the windows, he could just see that same intense stare she had given him in the tub. Why didn't the human Christina put her back in her Pokéball? he wondered before feeling a nudge in his side opposite Blaze.
"You should go over there," Grovyle whispered.
At least Celebi was sleeping…
Turning away and closing his eyes, he hoped to shut it all out. "She beat me like a punching bag!" he whispered back. "I'm still sore from it." And not just physically; there was a certain amount of pride he felt he lost too. It might had been a different outcome if he was her size… Certainly, Pokémon of the same species had slight variations between individuals, but the size difference between him and her was greater than just "slight", and from what both Harry and daughter claimed, she was the one who was of proper size. That meant he was undersized for some reason. And walked more like a human…
Was that it? That he had been a human somehow influenced not just his size but how he walked? Now that he thought more about it in this new light, he was about as tall as his human self up to the top of his head fins when standing fully upright, and he guessed maybe weighed about the same. Lonny, on the other hand, was at least a foot or more taller than him, if she ever stood up straight so he could find out for certain.
"She's coming over here," Grovyle suddenly warned with an annoyed sigh.
Blaze groaned. "She ever hear of sleep?"
His heart jumped and he started dreading what she wanted, but knowing he was going to have to deal with her nonetheless. Sighing himself, he finally turned forward again, opening his eyes after he sensed her settle in front of him. She was laying head-first to him, but had it propped up by her hands, one on either side of her wide chin.
"You really used to be a human?" she asked inquisitively and in her somewhat lower voice that Leo figured came from her larger size.
"I used to be Leo Hanson," he answered. "I changed in a different timeline that no longer exists, as we said in the story."
She appeared to nod. "Well, you do walk kinda like one. Maybe that's why you aren't like any other swampert I've met. I find you interesting. Too bad I didn't get the chance to knock you out…"
"Hey!" Blaze hissed. "You had already won! There was no need for that!"
"Hush, pipsqueak," she said no longer in a soothing tone, as someone does when shooing away a fly.
"Don't tell me to hush!" Blaze growled back.
"Or what? I'll just sit on you."
The whites of Blaze's teeth were in full view as he starting getting himself up.
"Come on Blaze, take it easy," Leo said, trying to calm him also with an hand on his back, but narrowing his eyes at Lonny.
She at once seemed to soften. "I was going to say: it was too bad I didn't knock you out because I wanted to carry you somewhere." Now smiling and much more quietly: "I know a beautiful spot out on the beach nearby."
For some reason, her words felt like they should hold some special meaning… Feeling Grovyle suddenly tense next to him, "What?"
From his back, Grovyle stared back, wide-eyed, before sitting up and looking over his back. "Blaze, we should go somewhere for a while."
"Don't you dare," Leo insisted, somewhat afraid of being left alone with her. Although, he was beginning to suspect what her words meant… More than suspect.
Grovyle was looking uncomfortable all of the sudden as he started moving his two-fingered hands through his leaf blades.
"Why?" Blaze asked him, raising himself up enough glance between Lonny and Grovyle.
Leo hoped his expression conveyed the same question without him having to ask. Just for confirmation.
Lonny was smirking. "Maybe you should tell them green boy, since you seem to be the only one who gets the obvious."
The green skinned Pokémon glared at her momentarily. "Swamperts make nests on beaches," he finally said. "You can figure out the rest. And it feels strange I have to tell you, Leo."
Leo faced her again, feeling sweat starting to form on his skin. It was suddenly very hot inside the shop… "You…uh, sure are…"
Reaching a hand over, she brushed the side of one of his head fins.
"…bold."
"Sweetie, when you've been through as much as I have, you learn to take what you want when you can and not be shy about it. Besides, you're so small and cute." Turning her smirk into a broad smile on her wide blue face, her light green eyes became very insistent.
"I'm, ah…not that small," Leo stammered, fighting his pounding heart that was threatening to make him pass out. How the heck was he going to tell her he felt no interest in her whatsoever…and live? In a passing thought, he wondered if it was because of his human traits and memories that he felt no attraction to her. Or maybe it was her aggressive and intimidating manner. Or the fact she really beat him around pretty good in the battle. Or all three. Well, there was a fourth reason…
Looking for support, a glance to his partner showed him rather wide-eyed and stunned…with the deepest shade of red he'd ever wore on his face, obvious even in the dim light. On the other side of him, Grovyle was busy looking at something in the opposite direction….while slowly slinking away.
"Small enough that you're not getting away…easily," the female swampert answered. Her voice was non-threatening enough, but her eyes were like the hunter about to launch the killing strike. "It's been a long time since I've seen another swampert; Christina doesn't let me wonder around very much."
Maybe it would have been better if she had put him in the hospital…
Leo Hanson woke, staring at the reflected light on the ceiling coming off the water and through the windows from the sunrise. Although he still felt tired, Sally and Chris appeared to be elsewhere already and he probably needed to be up too. Alone, save for Blaze and his Pokémon counterpart still sleeping on the floor, he quickly changed himself into something clean and left the shop for the kitchen, where instantly the smells of good things hit him.
"You slept late," Sally said in a quick greeting from the table where she was sitting alone, though looking about to get up.
Grimacing before a yawn, "The Pokémon kept talking last night; woke me up a couple times."
"Huh, I didn't hear anything. Guess I'm a sound sleeper."
"Of course, they're still sleeping," Leo continued. "Or at least Leo and Blaze are." After looking around for a second, "Where's Grovyle?"
"He and Lonny are on the dock helping load our stuff from the truck. Harry, Christina and Chris are getting the boat ready. I'm about to go out there myself and help. There's some breakfast left here, still hot. Harry said we can just help ourselves to whatever."
"You should've woke me up," Leo protested, feeling suddenly guilty he wasn't doing his part.
Sally returned a shrug before opening the outside door to the dock. "Don't worry about it; the stuff from the truck isn't that much. And I thought you needed the rest anyway…sweetie." And she was out the door while flashing a quick smile and a wink.
Well, it'd been a while since she last called him that. Definitely one of the 'normal' things he missed from the lab. Sitting down, he started picking a few of the quicker things to eat, forcing himself to down them as fast as he could while reflecting on what happened last night. It was…interesting; Leo and the other swampert were talking for a while, he was sure. Hm. Two swamperts, one male and one female.
Glancing to the door where both Blaze and his counterpart were still sleeping, he wondered. Late night indeed…perhaps.
Too bad he as a human was still looking for someone. Well, not that he'd been looking all that hard – he still valued his independence - but at least one of them perhaps found someone.
Grinning briefly to himself, he crunched into the last slice of toast before thinking about what lay ahead. Beyond getting to the island, he really didn't know what they were going to do exactly once they got there. For that matter, he didn't even know what awaited them there.
At least there was little doubt about where they needed to go. From the rumor Harry had mentioned about an accident occurring there a few years ago, it was easy to assume the island was the sight of the previous gate project he and his counterpart had the vision about. Certainly what they had seen in that vision could qualify as an 'accident'. So, if Derganio had their first gate there, why not the second?
There yet was another unanswered question about that vision which he was still struggling to make sense of: why did he get such an feeling of fear? A feeling from one of the people who was there, or something else? In either case, it was making him feel…uneasy.
"Well, that should'a about do her," Harry announced in his unique accent from inside. "We're packed, fueled and ready to go. Just need to wait for Christina to lock everything up at the house."
Leo looked over their belongings, having just got on the boat a few minutes before after being woken by his human self. Blaze too. And he was still feeling tired; it'd been a long, uncomfortable night. Lonny looked energetic enough, noting while dispassionately watching her travel up the dock and back into the house after Christina. Almost like she had a spring to her lumbering gate.
He was the prey, and on the boat there going to be few places to hide from her.
Sally, Chris and his human self waited at the railing to one side of the two-deck boat, while Blaze, Grovyle and Celebi were milling around near him close to the door to what Harry called the 'pilot house'.
It was yet another new experience for him, he reflected; he'd never been on a boat before. It was very different from a Lapras - the boat was bigger, roomier, and they could carry a lot of stuff on it, though Harry called it only a small boat. He could only wonder what a large one looked like! Still, it was showing many signs of being old and well-used, from the peeling paint to the numerous wear marks in the floor boards. Idly, he started playing at one of the peeling paint curls on the wall of the pilot house where a particularly deep gouge was.
"Don't worry, she's quite sound," Harry reassured, now standing in the doorway. "I give her a complete check-out every few months."
"Her?" Leo asked, perplexed. "It's alive?" How could that be? It didn't feel as such…
"Ha!" Harry shouted, nearly doubling over. "Well…in some ways she is, but in the end, she is just a machine, I guess. But don't you for an instant think she doesn't have a personality!"
Cocking his head, he was finding the old human just a little strange. From beside him, Blaze even commented as such. Eventually though, he looked out over the area in front of them where the barrier islands from the map were hazy in the distance, the vast sea beyond eventually disappearing below the horizon. Somewhere, out there, was where the disaster was going to happen if they didn't stop it. "This feels familiar."
His partner nodded, looking out over the same vast expanse. "Just like when we left on Lapras's back to head for the Hidden Land. It feels like a long time ago now."
Sighing, he remembered how he felt at that time. He hadn't been scared yet, since he hadn't yet learned what would happen to him if they succeeded in preventing the tower's collapse. Instead, he remembered feeling excitement and determination to do what it took to save the world.
This time around, it wasn't just him who could disappear. Looking to his infernape friend, he wondered if they truly had a chance if they had to face Kol. Dialga and Palkia…he considered them friends too. Were they still alive?
Taking a second to recognize it, he whipped around as the muffled female scream was still coming from the dock house…just before someone came crashing through the closed door amid flying wood and splinters! The human, wearing dark grey clothes, landed on his back on the house's porch as almost as quickly, Lonny was rushing out after him, letting out one loud angry-sounded roar with Christina right behind, looking both frightened and angry.
"What the…!" Harry yelled, rushing out from the pilot house.
Three more men in dark grey clothes quickly appeared from around the house, heading straight for the dock…
"Who are…" Sally started to say.
"That one, it's…him!" Chris shouted, pointing. "He's the blastoise trainer!"
Leo's felt his heart jumped as recognition of the human set in, who this time wasn't alone!
"Harry, get the engines started!" his human self shouted.
The old man was glancing between the approaching men and the house, looking briefly caught between two directions before moving for the dock. "Christina!"
Rearing up, Lonny was about to deal the one man a good smack, but the blastoise trainer released his Pokémon behind him and the large, blue tortoise-like beast began charging straight for her! The blastoise wasn't alone either: the three other men soon were releasing a machoke and a sceptile, both of whom instantly took to rushing down the long dock in lockstep with the humans…
Grovyle screeched, backing up from the boat's railing.
"Oh…hell!" Harry exclaimed, nearly skidding to a stop at the opening in the railing just before the dock.
"We have to go now!" Sally shouted while Chris released Pikachu, Elekid, Electabuzz and Wartortle onto the boat's deck.
Leo didn't wait to be asked, releasing a water pulse straight at the rushing group. The distance was a little long for it and the machoke easily took most of it, shielding the others from the worst. Which worked, as the others kept coming!
"Lonny's protecting her!" Sally was yelling behind him. "They're coming to stop us! We've got to leave!"
Glancing behind, Leo saw the old man looking torn, but quickly retreated to the pilot house. At the house, Lonny was locked in a pitched battle with the blastoise…looking evenly matched.
"Electabuzz, thunderbolt!"
The yellow and black Pokémon did as Chris screamed, releasing the said charge at the humans and their Pokémon. Alertly, the group dived onto the wooden planks, avoiding most of the electrical energy and one of the humans even reached to his belt, releasing yet another Pokémon.
Leo couldn't believe it… Of course, it had to be an electric type, and a electivire no less!
"This isn't good…" his human self said with fear as Sally backed up from the (metal) railing.
"I'll take him!" Electabuzz shouted, releasing another bolt at their new adversary, this time joined by bolts from Elekid and Pikachu. The bolts hit the new yellow and black Pokémon squarely…making him barely flinch!
With an initial jarring shake, the boat started vibrating, a huge, but thin cloud of smelly black smoke instantly rising from the rear.
"You people, stop!" the blastoise trainer yelled gruffly.
Leo forced out another water pulse, hoping to have some or any effect, only finding himself hitting the floor of the boat as a bolt brighter then anything he'd seen thundered through the space inches above him! Even his rear fin was left tingling painfully!
Springing up immediately, Blaze fired out a flamethrower, but it was too weakened by distance to have much effect. Instead, the sceptile came bounding over the others on the dock to race down what distance was left to the boat… Blaze tried again, only the quick green creature jumped over his attack, proving it was too fast for him to direct the fire to!
"We can't hold them off!" his human self shouted to the pilot house.
Through the engine smoke, Leo caught sight of Lonny giving the blastoise a solid whack, knocking him backward enough that she and Christina got by him to start running down the dock themselves. Letting out a primal, enraged scream, she got everyone's attention, briefly stopping the sceptile.
The engines below deck suddenly went from a low rumble to a loud roar, sending out a huge volume of thick, black smoke and the boat literally lurched forward away from the dock, sending everyone to the deck. For a moment, there was only engine noise and smoke blocking all view, and for just a second, Leo thought they were going to get away…just before a green leafy form came flying through the smoke, landing on the deck beside him!
Hissing, the sceptile tensed it's limbs in taking a quick look at everyone, it's large dark-green leafed tail glistening in the morning sun.
"Everyone attack!" Chris yelled.
The sceptile immediately proved itself strong and quick, jumping and avoiding nearly every attack and shrugging off those he didn't, while dealing out his own leaf-cutter and tail hit attacks. Even Grovyle took a hard hit to his head, clearly knocking him out.
Unable to see all of the action in facing the side, Leo kept still on the deck, fearing to add to the confusion or to draw attention from evolved form of grovyle. His heart pounding, he instead waited for a chance…and saw it coming as Blaze pushed their attacker closer with a flamethrower. Finally…the green clawed foot was planted right beside him…
Quick as a thunderbolt, he grabbed the foot with his good arm, yanking it up and toward him with all his strength. Even before the sceptile went flat on the deck, he leapt up and using his momentum and full weight on the way down, landed a punishing fist to the creature's stomach.
That had to finish it, thinking as the green skinned Pokémon was left groaning and curled up. Then all at once, after only the merest of moments, he threw up his own clawed fist!
The blow came crashing against the side of his chin like a boulder, but his sudden movement provided a quick glimpse of the entire deck. Shock joined the pain: except for Blaze, all the other Pokémon were down! This sceptile, having been on board less than a minute, had already taken almost everyone out, including frail-looking Celebi! Even Chris didn't look untouched…
As his side hit the back railing, he felt instantly enraged!
Bracing his cast-covered arm against the top rail, he barely held himself back as Blaze took a hit himself from the still fighting sceptile. But with it's attention finally on his partner, he pushed himself off, covering the few feet before the sceptile could turn and dodge his fist. Refusing to give the creature any time to recover, he shot a water pulse in its face, following up with yet another rage-fueled punch straight to it's stomach as he let out a roar.
Backing up and trying to defend itself with arms in front, Leo instead grabbed them and leaping up, forced the Pokémon on his back while using his full weight as he landed on top. Several deck boards cracked; the sceptile rose his head up to screech once before finally laying still.
Was that it? Was that all it had? Picking himself up off the green Pokémon, panting…he was still seeing red…still wanting to punish the creature that had not only was trying to stop them, but had also nearly taken out all his friends! Raising his fist, he readied another punch…
"Leo! He's down!"
Barely hearing, he still stopped at Blaze's pained words.
More quietly: "You got him. He's down."
Looking to his partner, he found him on his hands and knees, panting and shaking as a good-sized bruise was forming on the side of his face.
"I'll live," he said quickly.
Around him, Sally, Chris and his human self were immediately attending to the other Pokémon.
"Hey, you get that thing?" Harry shouted out from the pilot house. "Then I'm going back!"
No sooner had he said it then there was what sounded like something whizzing by at high speed, followed by the sound of a small explosion coming from the dock.
"They're shooting!" Sally screamed, pointing back.
Still in rage, he felt in no mood for anything else. Facing back to the dock, he noticed the men seemingly pointing small black things at them. The things flashed right before several more whizzes, more quick explosions, and a couple of whaps…
"Get down you two!" his human self yelled. "Those'll kill you!"
Another whizz and suddenly broken glass in the pilot house…
"Damn!" Harry yelled out.
Through the now shattered glass, Leo could see the old human yank at the wheel, lurching the boat hard to one side and sending everyone on the deck to the other side of it, only to do the opposite a few seconds later as the whizzes continued going by.
Bracing himself right next to Blaze at the railing, he watched three of men following them with whatever it was they were holding while behind the group, Lonny and Christina were still fighting with the remaining Pokémon and the fourth human. Eventually, she jumped into the water followed quickly by Lonny's head-first dive. The female swampert seemed to yank the young woman away from the dock before pulling her under as the human turned his weapon on them, only to quickly give up without doing anything.
Leo held tight to the railing as the boat continued in it's zigzagging course for several minutes, the whizzes slowly decreasing until there were no more; Harry finally stopped jerking the wheel around but kept them going at what felt like full speed.
His human self cursed loudly. "Derganio isn't playing around anymore!"
"Chris?"
Sally's strained voice got everyone's attention.
It took a few seconds for Leo to realize what had happened; when he did, he couldn't race to his human friend's side fast enough.
"Don't move!" Leo Hanson ordered the blonde-haired trainer, shaking after everything and now with fear for Chris. "Let us see it!"
"Reeabay!" Celebi said with obvious worry while doing several quick circles over them, covering her tiny mouth with her hands.
Chris grimaced, keeping his hands over his left lower leg and rocking back and forth, blood seeping through his hands and clothes and onto the deck. "God-damn, it hurts!" But he did slowly move his hands…a little.
"Side of the leg I think," Sally said, getting in closer to look as the engines went from full-roar to something less and reducing the shaking of the boat.
Harry was suddenly over them, first aid kit in hand. "One of you, take the wheel! Just keep us straight. I'll got some medical training."
Leo nodded to Sally and she raced into the pilot house, while he followed Harry's instructions to start cutting a slit down Chris's pants leg with the scissors suddenly in his hand.
The old man seemed confident, first getting the wound covered, then giving Chris pain killer before cleaning and stitching the small hole up, even getting his Pokémon counterpart something to do in holding the leg steady and having Blaze check on the other Pokémon. In wasn't long before the trainer was quickly patched by the old man's competent hands.
"You're lucky," Harry said after finishing. "Darned near just a scrape; bullet went in and out without hitting anything vital. But you'll be limp'n for a week or two."
Blaze said something to his counterpart, but no translation was needed as the other Pokémon were up and about already, though all looking a little worse for wear. Grovyle especially looked like he was going to be sporting a massive headache for a while.
"What do we do with that…thing?" his counterpart asked in obvious anger, pointing to the still unconscious sceptile near the rear of the boat.
With some shock, Leo realized he'd forgotten all about it and started looking around for an option before it woke up, but water completely surrounded them for at least several miles, the barrier islands now behind them. Unfortunately, that didn't change the facts. "It's too dangerous to leave on board."
"Got that right," Chris agreed from his back, head propped on his jacket. "I think it took a swipe at me, too. Look at these cuts in my jacket."
Harry nodded, putting things back in the first aid kit. "I certainly won't mess with tying it up, you know. It'd just cut through anything with those blades of it's."
"Just throw it in the water?" his counterpart asked, before shaking his head, seemingly reluctantly. "No, he'll drown unless he comes to."
Seeing the float ring on the side of the pilot house, he started debating whether to ask to use one for the Pokémon that nearly got them all, perhaps even to kill. The way it had been savagely attacking the other Pokémon, he wasn't so sure it wouldn't have… "Just might deserve drowning," he found himself muttering, before reminding himself Pokémon wouldn't become that way unless they were taught that…in most cases.
In the end, they watched the sceptile receding behind them, bobbing in the boat's wake within the white rescue ring and still fully knocked out. It probably needed a Pokécenter, but he didn't really care. It should be lucky to even still be alive after the last hit his counterpart gave it. Any human would have been seriously injured from something like that, if not worse.
Harry didn't watch beyond helping to give the creature the heave-ho overboard. Setting his face like stone with a few twitches, he slowly returned to the pilot house. It wasn't hard to figure out what he was thinking of. Or rather who.
Looking back past the rapidly receding sceptile and toward the now too-distant-to-see landmass they left, he hoped Christina was OK. But what could he say? This was, after all, his fault this episode was happening. Maybe just a simple apology…
Resolving to do that, he turned for the pilot house just as his swampert counterpart stepped in front of him.
"Let me talk to him."
Leo intended to tell the old man what he saw, but Sally beat him into the pilot house. She and Harry were already arguing by the sound of it…
"We can't go back!"
"Hey, my daughter is back there! We're going back to some other dock, and…"
"Those men are probably waiting for us, and watching all the docks! We go back, we might not be able to leave again, and we'll never be able to stop Derganio! Use your radio to call the police and…"
"I already did that! And you people keep telling about this great big disaster! Well, what thee hell is it, exactly? You tell me you know for a fact that it will end the world, or for a fact that it will happen! So far, you've shown have damned little proof of anything!"
"Dialga and Palkia…"
"Yeah, them too! I only got your word they even exist!"
Sally let out an exasperated sigh. "Going back isn't going to change anything; there isn't anything we're going to be able to do back there. They had guns!"
"Yeah, I kinda noticed that, lady."
"They were trying to stop us from going to that island. Maybe you should ask yourself why that is!"
"Maybe 'cause you're terrorists?"
Leo peeked in through the door's broken glass window; Sally was bracing her hands on her hips, looking furious.
"You listen here, mister! We're exactly who we said we are and we've leveled with you right from the beginning! If saving the world, or even just a small piece of it is just too much for you to handle, then just say so! We can go back and let whatever it is happen then and see if we somehow manage to survive it!"
The former red-head came storming out and slammed the door behind her, causing several of the remaining fragments of glass to fall out. Quickly retreating to the furthest corner of the deck, she leaned on the railing, looking out.
He felt torn between going to her and talking to Harry. Both needed comforting…
"That didn't sound good," Blaze said with a frown and a tail twitch as he moved beside him to also look in, his red and yellow mane puffing slightly.
"We can't turn around," Grovyle added, still rubbing his head.
"No," Leo sighed, answering both of them and wondering if he should give Harry some time before he went in. Although he hadn't yet turned the boat around, he feared the longer he waited, the greater the likelihood he would.
"You looked about to go in there anyway," Blaze continued.
"I was going to tell him I think Christina is safe."
"Then you saw what Lonny did too?"
Nodding, "I think I know how he feels, leaving…someone behind." He almost said "someone you love," but thought better of it. Instead, he opened the door and carefully avoided the broken glass on the floor in approaching Harry, where he was holding the boat's large spooked wheel at the front of the room with an apparently tight grip.
The human merely paid him a quick glance before resuming his steady stare straight ahead, his grey-bearded weathered face set in a rough frown. After a moment, "So, how's the amazing talking swampert?" It wasn't in the most friendly of tones, but considering he just got done shouting, he sounded calmer at least.
Leo gave a shrug, wondering how to answer in light of everything and how Harry was probably feeling. Rubbing one of his gills and the still-growing bump from the sceptile's blow right under it, "Could be worse. That sceptile was quite skilled."
Harry grunted.
"I…just wanted to tell you. As we were leaving the dock, I saw Christina and Lonny fighting. As those humans started attacking us with…" What were they called? "…guns, I think Lonny pushed Christina into the water, and she followed. Lonny then got Christina away from them. I think they're probably safe right now. You already know Lonny is very strong; she can protect Christina." He waited several moments for the old human to respond.
Finally in a half accusatory tone: "You lying to make me feel better?"
That response he hadn't anticipated and it stung. "I wouldn't say I saw it if I didn't!"
Huffing, he shook his head before sighing, "You never lie, huh?"
"Not often, and not now."
The old human didn't answer, only keeping his gaze on their heading.
Deciding to let him think about what he said - anything more at this point probably wouldn't help - he moved to leave before the man hesitantly reached his arm over, giving several good pats on his back.
"Thanks for telling me. It does make me feel a little better knowing that. And for a Pokémon, you act very human. Shouldn't be surprised, eh?"
Leo left him, finding he suddenly had his own thing to dwell on; just how human was he acting?
Back outside, Grovyle and Blaze were busy handing out oran berries to the other Pokémon in an effort to help them recover from the sceptile's punishing attacks. The satchels he and his partner brought with them from the Poké world were starting to look like something less then completely overstuffed, finally.
After checking on Chris and making sure he was relatively alright, he found himself at one of the railings, looking out over the sea. Blaze joined him after a few moments, his long red and yellow mane blowing around in the ocean breeze. With little lead-in, he decided to just ask his partner what was on his mind: "Am I acting more and more human?"
His friend whipped his head around, though it was several seconds before he actually answered, "I think you've changed, some. I'd be surprised if I haven't, too."
That wasn't quite what he meant… "It's just…as I remember more and more of who I used to be, I can't be sure anymore that I'm simply not just a human inside a Pokémon body. I think I'm losing myself and becoming what I was before." The prospect…scared him all of the sudden.
"Leo, you've always had what you were inside of you. Whether you act as a Pokémon or a human, I don't think it matters that much. It's still you no matter what, with the same heart. What makes you you won't change." Grinning, "Just so you don't stop being fun to be around."
He smiled, briefly heartened by his friend's words, but there was another consequence to remembering more of his former feelings and personality. He really hadn't thought it would reassert itself as much as it was, but the last few days was proving otherwise. And he was afraid to tell his friend, for it would directly contradict what he'd already told him.
Carefully, he looked past Blaze's white hair-framed red face to Sally, where she still stood on the opposite half of the deck.
"We followed them to the dock, but we were…slightly too late and weren't able to prevent them from leaving. We couldn't follow, either."
Kol felt his heart skip a beat at the news, gripping his cell phone just a little tighter. "They're heading here?"
"I presume so," Gerald's gruff voice answered. "We found a map in the dock house of the boat's owner. Your island is on it, circled."
"I…see." Grimacing, he started fighting to keep his anger in check. "Can you get a boat and intercept?"
"No sir. It seems there aren't any available. We'd have to get to the next port, and by the time we would get there…"
"Then stay out of sight, if you can manage that." Abruptly terminating the connection, the small phone started cracking as he slowly constricted his hand around it. Then wasting no further time, he walked quickly through the large, brightly lit concrete-walled room that was busy with activity from a dozen white-robed technicians. Tapping the shoulder of the lead, he forced him to extract half his body from the bowels of one of the large cooling units. "How long before everything is operational?"
"We should be ready for final testing late tomorrow, if all goes well. If that turns up nothing serious, maybe another day before we can generate the first portal."
"And if everyone works around the clock?"
The older man opened his mouth slightly. "Um…maybe tomorrow morning, assuming we don't make any mistakes from fatigue."
Thinking quickly, Kol wondered it if was worth the risk while still fighting to maintain control of himself. It wasn't so much his agents he was angry at, but himself. Taking a deep breath, he held it for several few seconds before slowly letting it out, making the lead technician back up a step. Loosing control would be…bad for productivity. "Inform our…guest expert, this gate must be fully operational in 18 hours or we risk never getting the chance to use it. And have someone keep the coffee hot."
Although he mostly trusted his team to make it happen, he fully intended to be as personally involved as was required. He did possess enough hard-won technical knowledge to be more than useful, though he still had some work to do on his own little project…
After taking a last look at the large ring-shaped device filling one end of the high-ceilinged room, he left, chiding himself for not paying more attention to the others. He fully believed the threat was Dialga and Palkia, and indeed they proved it when they showed up to destroy the University's dimensional gate; but he thought the threat was limited to them. Now it was becoming obvious the swampert and infernape who had arrived with the two dragons, along with their companions, may just be as much of a threat. If only he had dealt with them too when he had the chance, instead of thinking they were mere assistants to the two life-givers.
Yet it puzzled him: how exactly were they were able to figure out there was a second gate and where it was? Presumably, they also figured out by now the University's gate was a merely a decoy to protect the real gate. Although he had the foresight to keep his agents trailing them just in case they decided to be trouble by, say, going to the police, he hadn't exactly anticipated them coming to the island. No doubt, his agents were caught off-guard and were perhaps lucky to have been in a position to attempt to stop them. Still, he expected them to be successful.
Since they weren't, his chance for failure went up from slight to something more than slight, though probably still low. Sitting back down at his terminal in his small office, he resolved to see the risk didn't increase any further once the 'guests' arrived - there were too many lives at stake.
Leo Hanson slowly closed the cover of his cell. The Professor was still not home. Even his wife expressed a little worry; she'd hadn't expected him to be gone so long. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to be able to make any further calls; with the phone only showing a single bar for signal strength, in another few minutes they'd be no more calls.
"How are you doing?" asking Chris as he kneeled by his side. Still sitting on the deck with his back against the side of the pilot house, the trainer at least looked a lot better than he did just a half hour ago.
"OK, I guess. Leg hurts, but I guess I'm lucky, huh?" Holding up one of his Pokéballs, he absorbed the last of his Pokémon who had been sticking close. "They should heal faster sleeping."
"There's some bunks below deck, if you want to lay on something more comfortable."
"I'll stay up here for a while," the young blonde-haired man replied with a shake of his head. "Have to say, there isn't a dull moment being around you, Sally, or those two Pokémon from the other planet, is there?"
Leo couldn't resist a chuckle. "Sure seems that way lately. I'm hoping at least the rest of this little cruise will be dull and boring. We won't be at the island till late tonight."
"Lot's of time to rest." Chris closed his eyes and seemed to relax a little easier.
He gave him a pat on the shoulder before getting up. Time to see how Sally was doing; hopefully the little while since her argument with Harry was long enough for her to cool down.
"Grovyle?" Grovyle said, appearing from the other side of the pilot house.
"You're looking better already," telling his green friend who followed him to Sally.
"Guess we haven't turned around yet," she said as he leaned on the railing next to her.
"My counterpart had a little talk with him. Dunno what he said, but I think Harry's gonna still take us to the island."
Letting her head fall, she stared straight down into the water rushing past. "I feel so callous. His daughter could have been hurt or… I acted like I didn't care. But if the end of the world is at hand and we don't stop it, what's it going to matter?"
"That is true," replying matter-of-factly. "Honestly, I probably would have been a little less diplomatic."
"I was diplomatic?" looking up curiously.
"Oh yes. You could've told him if he took us back, we'd fail, the world would end, and it'd be all his fault." Grinning, he hoped he was putting a somewhat humorous spin on it. "And it'd absolve us of any blame."
The former red head shook her head, sighing. "Nothing like turning the screws. If this disaster is of the world ending type, at least we'd die with clean conscious's either way."
"Rather not die at all." It really kind of hit him now that things were settling down, everything they'd been through the last twenty-four hours. Twice, they could've been killed! That was twice more than he'd ever experienced in his life. He was starting to seriously fear what was waiting for them ahead…
With the last of his adrenaline faded, he began shaking at the combination of no energy and fear.
"Grovyle?"
In the first instant, he didn't know what Grovyle was asking. Then he noticed it: the engines were changing pitch; they were slowing.
"What, are we going to turn around after all?" Sally exclaimed, whipping around toward the pilot house.
"Hey!" Harry yelled out through the broken glass of the door. "The bilge pumps are run'n for some reason, I'm going down for a look!"
"What are bilge pumps?" his Pokémon counterpart asked from the other side of the deck.
"Water pumps for getting water out of a ship," Leo explained, at once knowing the implication. Harry wasn't acting like it was normal or expected, either.
With the boat going a lot slower, Sally leaned well over the railing, apparently getting a look below at the hull. Over the next moment, she moved along the railing, doing the same thing every few feet.
"If there's water inside this boat, does that mean we could sink?"
Leo nodded to his counterpart. "If there's too much, yes. Hence, the bilge pumps for getting out any that gets inside."
Blaze started mimicking Sally on the other side of the boat as she finished at the corner of the railing, having gone along the entire twelve foot or so width of the rear end. "I think we have a problem…" she started to say before the engines cut out completely.
"We got a problem!" Harry yelled out from the pilot house.
Leo fought to keep steady as the gentle ocean waves were moving him up and down behind the boat, Celebi watching carefully above him. With a finger, he pushed the water-proof and hardening fiberglass putty back into place before trying again to smooth it with the spatula.
Being a water-type Pokémon and able to float and swim with little effort, he was the obvious choice for doing this work, not to mention he could speak in human language and understand technology. The instructions given by Harry were straightforward enough: using his large fingers to force the putty into the long, large crack wasn't too difficult; using the spatula to smooth it was much more problematic. Unfortunately, the putty had to be smoothed before the thick adhesive plastic tarp could be put over it, fully sealing the water-line crack and completing the hull repair. The small waves moving him up and down wasn't helping matters, right along with the whole action-reaction thing – he had nothing to push against except water!
Exasperated, he finally looked up to where everyone was leaning over the rear deck railing. "I can't use this thing!" holding up the spatula.
"Why not?" Harry asked, scratching his grey beard.
Waving his hand with his three blue fingers wrapped the around handle, the reason should have been obvious! "No thumbs! I can't hold it properly."
"Then one of us will have to do it," the old human replied, but more to Sally and his human self.
Leo looked to Blaze, who's hand just-so-happened to possess four fingers and a thumb like humans, but his partner was quickly shaking his head, his mane puffing a little even as the breeze played with it. "Come on, Blaze, you've been in water before. You even take showers."
"This is the ocean!" he said, eyes widening and gesturing around them.
He wasn't sure what the difference was, but then fire-types generally didn't like water (for good reason) and could be peculiar about it. From observing other fire-types, Blaze actually was one of the braver ones, so he wasn't about to push his friend too much.
"So who of you brought swimming clothes?" Sally asked, facing both his human self and Harry.
"Well, I don't have swimming shorts, but I'm used to getting wet," Harry replied.
His human self merely replied with a "I didn't think of that."
Chris, of course, was out of the question.
Grovyle held up one of this hands, but he only had two fingers, making him even less able to do the work. As for Celebi…well, she could float in air well enough, but her hands were simply too small for anything but the smallest of objects.
"Well, I'll do it then," Sally said, disappearing from his view. "I brought swimming clothes; never know when you'll need them crossing the ocean. Hope Leo doesn't mind me riding on his back…" Her voice trailed off as she apparently went inside.
"Looks like you'll be giving Sally a ride," his human self told him, facing down to him again.
Swimming around to the side where the gap in the railing was, Leo set the container of putty and spatula on the deck next to where the large pre-cut piece of plastic tarp was waiting. "All the putty is in place," he told the two remaining humans. "Just needs to be smoothed."
"I'm surprised two bullets re-cracked that entire section," Harry said after a moment while pacing. "When I bought this boat ten years ago, that area was damaged and the main spar cracked from a collision. I thought I patched her pretty good, but maybe the repair was just getting old. Then again, I didn't know I had to make it bullet proof, either," his tone holding slight annoyance.
His human self grimaced, turning away from the man. "Well, can only say we're sorry. None of us were thought we'd be getting shot at either. Will the patch hold?"
Frowning, "Those are some mean Joes after you, no doubt. I'd think about raising the fee to you lot, but right now I'd settle for just hearing from Christina that's she's alright. If she got hurt…"
Leo caught his stare, getting the full implication of the old man's expression.
Continuing: "Anyway, the patch will keep the water out so long as we're gentle since we can't fix the main spar out here. I don't think it'll take much pounding without flexing the fiberglass and reopening the crack, maybe even extending it. We'll have to take her easy the rest of the way, so it's going to take longer to get there."
"Ready!" Sally's voice called from behind everyone before she appeared at the side.
Leo's heart jumped at the sight of her, almost letting out a gasp. Once again he was glad his blue skin masked quite well any blush he might get!
Letting out a low whistle, Harry's eyebrow's went up. "Wow, a blonde beauty in a two-piece bikini! You sure know how to get an old man's heart going."
His human self was only smiling, though obviously trying not to.
"I'm a red head, actually," Sally told the boat owner as she sat on the edge of the deck and started lowering herself down, holding on to the ends of the railing. "Alright Leo the swampert, get yourself underneath me, unless you want me to sit on your fin."
Leo moved himself immediately; such a thing would be painful for both concerned! Positioning himself underneath her, he held as still as he could in the face of the minor ocean swells until she put a leg on either side of his upper back and settled down on top with a final "plop". He instantly realized was the first time he'd ever had anyone ride on him, and he could tell right away he wasn't used to it, nor was she. A lapras, he wasn't! Increasing his feeling of embarrassment was the fact that his first 'passenger' was Sally (in a bathing suit no less!); clumsily, he struggled to get them around to the rear of the boat, doing his best to ignore her tightening grip on his head fins.
As she started working on the patch, he sorely wished he could be watching. Instead, his mouth and nose were slightly below water with Sally's weight and were rubbing right up against the boat, so he had to rely on his gills to do the breathing and not move too much. It wasn't easy, given he had to paddle slightly to provide enough force to keep them against the boat. Fortunately it didn't take her long once she was handed the spatula, and soon the thick plastic tarp was stuck in place over the entire crack.
"Sure hope we don't get any more of those," Harry commented once they were both on deck again, "'cause that was the only hull repair kit I had. Now, we aren't going to have people shooting at us again once we get to that island, are we?"
"Well…uh, honestly, we have no idea," his human self said while Sally headed back below to dry off and change.
Leo noted several pairs of eyes following her, and he couldn't say that he wasn't sorry to see her go below either, though Blaze was staring at him curiously.
His human self continued after she disappeared: "I think we should be prepared for anything."
"That's what I was afraid of," Harry replied before plodding off after Sally into the pilot house, the engines soon firing up.
After some lunch, (Chris insisting he do the cooking just to make himself feel useful), Leo found himself at the front of the boat, or "bow" as Harry called it, Blaze beside him. The breeze from the movement of the boat was refreshing with the hot afternoon sun overhead beating down, although the view was only of endless ocean. Although his partner sat quietly with his feet and tail dangling over the edge of the deck, he sensed something was on his mind.
Which would make two of them. Actually, he had more than one thing on his own mind, not just Sally. "I wonder how much this really will be like Temporal Tower."
Blaze looked over, but only raised his brow ridge.
"That human Kol, could be a lot like battling Dialga. Only…" He didn't want to bring it up, but it was something they had to discuss. "Although I still don't remember it, Grovyle said he and I both knew if we succeeded in stopping Temporal Tower's collapse, that we'd change our own pasts and erase ourselves from existence, and that we both accepted that fate. What I'm saying Blaze, is we might be faced with that choice again…both of us this time. Obviously we don't know what will happen or what it will take to stop this disaster, but given that human made both Dialga and Palkia disappear, maybe we might be facing the same thing."
Closing his eyes, Blaze only rested his chin on the bar below the railing.
He started feeling uncomfortable with his friend's silence. "I'll understand if you're scared. I am."
Blaze stayed silent for a long moment longer before finally answering. "Actually, I've been thinking that same thing, ever since we knew we had go to this island. I didn't bring it up then; I was hoping there would be a way you wouldn't have to face something like that again, Leo. It isn't fair."
It actually surprised him the infernape had been thinking that far ahead of him! "Then, maybe it's just our fate to face disappearance every once in a while. Either that, or no one else is brave enough to do the job." At once, Blaze broke into laughter, which only got him going.
After a moment to calm down: "Haven't we become the brave ones!" the infernape exclaimed.
Leo redoubled his laughing, remembering what his friend used to be like back in his chimchar days. "Yeah, we now face down death…as if it was… an everyday occurrence!" And after he was able to talk again: "Actually, it is just about an everyday occurrence lately!"
Blaze was doubling over as much as the railing allowed, finally ending up with his back flat on the deck.
It took them a good minute to get themselves under control, during which he was grateful for the momentary release from the pressure they've been feeling. "Still, we should probably tell Grovyle what could happen. That also isn't fair. He was erased once and not brought back. Now this version could face a similar fate."
"And the humans, including your other self," his partner added.
"Harry, Chris, my other self and…Sally." Which reminded him of the other thing on his mind. "Blaze, there's something else I need to tell you." Now that he said that much, he had to plow through. It didn't increase his confidence any that it was the wise thing to do, considering how Blaze took it last time when he only thought it was true.
Still laying on the deck, his friend cocked his head, his red and yellow mane spreading across the wooden boards a little.
"Memories…haven't been the only thing that have been coming back to me. But former feelings as well. One of those feelings is…" He wasn't sure if he should be embarrassed at admitting it or ashamed that he had told Blaze one thing several days ago, and now it was the opposite. "…that I guess I still really do love Sally. When I was human in the Future That No Longer Exists, we fell in love during the final months of the project. We were working so closely together, maybe it was inevitable, but we loved each other very much. It was hard when I had to leave, but there was no choice. Now that I'm back, and remembering all this…" He bowed his head, letting his shoulder sag at the obvious hopelessness of it. "Maybe love isn't something one forgets so easily."
Blaze stayed still on the deck, blinking for a good moment. "So…that's why you gave Lonny the brush-off last night. Ha Ha."
Of all the things he thought his friend might say, that wasn't one of them! "I told her it didn't make sense to…" Go to the beach? Become attached? Make an egg? "…continue unless we could save the world first. I never said no…exactly."
"You didn't say 'yes' either."
"Look, I said she's not my type! She's too aggressive, and…"
"Sally." Blaze sat up, sighing. "I suspected you maybe still had more feelings toward her then you said. Especially earlier when she was on your back. You looked rather…" He shrugged. "…I don't know."
"Blaze, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say; I just didn't really realize all this before. As I recover more of who I used to be, things are coming back to me. I can't help it and I'm sorry. But my promise to you stands: I'm not going to leave your side. Ever."
The infernape faced him with his white-hair framed red face. "And I make the same promise to you, as always. But…I'm sorry too, for before. I was being selfish not wanting you to be in love just so you wouldn't leave…"
"Blaze…"
"…and stupid, for fearing you would. We've been through too much together and too good of friends to ever split up, right?"
Leo smiled, nodding. He was certain of that.
"But Leo, I'm now worried about you. Does she know?" jerking a thumb behind them toward the rear of the boat where Sally last was. "Like you, this human is different from the one you knew."
He looked behind them, but the pilot house blocked most of their view. "This Sally never fell in love with me…or my current human self, I think."
"And…well, she is human, Leo. Different species of Pokémon do fall in love all the time, but…"
"Humans are just a different species, right?" Was he grasping at straws?
"I don't think they're Pokémon."
At once he made his decision. "I'm going to talk to her."
Sally had gained a light colored wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses and a chair, and was sitting quietly on the deck near the rear railing, while Grovyle was on a blanket next to her, apparently getting a nice dose of sun.
"Leo down below?" Leo asked as he came up beside her.
Nodding, "He and Chris are taking a nap, I think. Celebi is having fun with Harry."
Looking behind them where Sally pointed, he saw that sure enough, Celebi's light green form could be seen in the pilot house, flying around Harry, the two of them appearing to chat as she pointed to various things. Likely a one-sided conversation for the human, he thought.
"How's the view up front?" Grovyle asked.
"Lots of ocean," replying to the gecko-like Pokémon in Poke speech. Then: "Would if you mind if you gave me and Sally some time alone?"
He raised his eye-ridges as a stronger breeze briefly blew his long head-leaf forward. Simply nodding a reply, he got up and headed forward.
Sally watched him leave before glancing over curiously. "I was about ready for a nap too, after everything. Is he coming back? Otherwise, if you're looking a for a place to lay down," indicating the now vacated blanket.
"I wanted to talk to you."
"Oh?"
Now that he was about to tell her, he wondered just how to start.
"Alone, I'm guessing," she furthered, adjusting her chair to be more upright. "Is something wrong, I mean, more than things are now?"
He wouldn't term things as "wrong", exactly. "It's just something that I think…that I wanted to tell you something." Taking in a breath, "Remember when I said in the Future That No Longer Exists, that we all worked hard to get the gate working before this world was destroyed?" After waiting for her nod, "There was a little more to the story that I left out, and in the days since, I've continued to remember more bits and pieces of it."
He watched her brush some of her long, temporarily blonde hair out of her face as the breeze blew it around. She looked so…beautiful.
"OK, you've got my curiosity going."
Looking off to the distant receding horizon, "I still don't remember everything, most things really, but I know this: in the last year of the project in the other timeline, things were starting to get…bad here. All of us: George, Naomi, Ticonamo, Professor Warner, you and me, we worked really hard to get the gate completed and working, since we knew it was our world's only chance at stopping what was going to destroy everything. We had to battle power outages, frequent storms, earthquakes, food shortages; toward the end, we all were living at the lab with transportation getting difficult." He hesitated at what he was going to say next, but he had to continue. "The two of us, under the pressure of working and trying to keep some semblance of hope, we…fell in love."
"Huh?"
"We gave each other the strength to keep going in the face of everything, and I don't think I could've continued without you. I…still feel that way. I still love you." Finally, he faced her, and she seemed…was it shock, surprise…bewilderment?
"Leo, I…don't know what to say."
"When I had to leave with Grovyle for the Poké world, it was the most difficult thing I ever had to do. We both knew one of us had to go and had known it for some time. That didn't make it easy and I had to leave you in tears. I'm sorry. Up until I was turned into a Pokémon and lost my memories, I always kept hope I could return to you, even after finding out I had to change the past." Remembering those things again threatened to bring tears. Still so painful…
"I…"
"I know you know nothing of this; this was all in the Future That No Longer Exists. But you are still Sally, and…I thought you deserved to know what happened between us under different circumstances. For my own sake, too."
Her lips…they were trembling slightly.
There was one thing he had to know, though. Turning to face her fully, "Sally…I'm sorry for asking something personal, but do you…feel anything for my human self?"
Opening her mouth, she slowly shut it again. Then: "I…don't know. We're good friends, and I'd be lying if I said I haven't thought about a closer relationship. I certainly like him…a lot, I guess, but neither of us have really made any moves. That's as honest as I can be."
"You aren't in love then…"
Softly: "No."
Looking back down at the deck, he let out a slow, pained sigh. "Then that Sally truly no longer exists," he whispered. "She'll never know that I made it safely, that Grovyle and I did stop the distortions, or that Dialga brought me back from non-existence. She will never know…how much I still miss her." A tear fell from one of his eyes, down his face…and there was a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm so sorry, Leo. At least this Sally knows now."
He couldn't fight it anymore as the full impact of all his feelings hit him hard at once. Quickly embracing her, he finally let himself break down and cry at the pain of everything and everyone lost.
"Oh, my poor Leo…"
Leo Hanson hulled himself out of the cramped bunk, past a still sleeping Chris and after a quick stop in the head, up the stairs into the pilot house. Getting close to sunset, he noted through the windows. He also noted Sally, Grovyle, Blaze and his Pokémon self still out on the deck.
"I was about ready to get you," Harry greeted. "I need someone to take the helm for a couple hours. You know, those pesky things like food and sleep and such. Normally, I'd have Christina take over, but…"
At once, he felt bad again about what happened. "Any news over the radio yet?"
"Actually, yes. Christina and Lonny got back safe and the police are investigating. By God, someone at Derganio is gon'na be answering for this! Of course, they'd be wanting statements from all of us at some point…soon. In fact, they wanted us to get back there ASAP."
Leo felt his heart skipped a beat. "We haven't…"
"We're still go'n to Fore-Nine island. Don't worry, I got it's importance the first time 'round. World will end if we don't get there immediately, right?"
"Very well could." Might still end anyway, but he wasn't about to go into the finer details of altering the known future with the old sailor.
"Should be there early tomorrow morning, around 5am I figure, give or take favorable breezes and currents and such. Before sunrise in any case."
Which should be as good as arriving at night. Right from the start, they wanted to get there in darkness so any 'welcoming committee' would have a harder time of it. After the send-off the Derganio people gave them that morning, he was doubly sure it was the right decision. But with a nearly moonless night, finding a place to dock without damaging the boat could be a problem…at least without using the boat's spotlights which would defeat the purpose of landing at night.
Harry continued: "So as soon as I get rested, we should go over that satellite photo of the island and pick a place to beach her." After giving some quick instructions to keep them heading in a particular compass heading, the old man started going down the stairs, leaving him the wheel. "Oh, I almost forgot, I need to saw that cast off your talking swampert friend's arm yet while there's still light." With that, he disappeared below.
That was right, the nurse said several days ago the cast could come off today, provided she had a final examination of his arm. Well, that wasn't going to happen, at least anytime soon, he mused. And perhaps never.
Harry was quickly back up and on the rear deck with a hand saw and bolt cutters in hand; the entire operation took only a few minutes, and his Pokémon counterpart seemed to be quite happy about losing the cast. Quicker than the first time, Harry went down below to stay, presumably for the next long while.
Keeping the boat on course wasn't hard; he barely had to touch the wheel, but he could see if someone wasn't there, the boat would soon drift off course slowly, but surely. The more difficult aspect was fighting off the monotony that started setting in almost as soon as the old sailor left. The drone of the engines was nearly hypnotic as he found out below during his nap, with the effect nearly as great at the wheel.
He finally had to force himself to think what lay ahead. Let's see: they needed to find a place to beach the boat, find where the gate was, figure out a way into whatever structure it was in, then destroy the gate and try to stay alive the entire time by avoiding getting either shot, or made to disappear by some perhaps genetically altered human who could make things disappear. Yep, that about summed it up. And who knew how many Pokémon would be there waiting to stop them.
It was going to be difficult not getting himself worked up in the many hours before they got there; in fact, he was already getting jumpy. Suddenly conscious of it, he forced himself to relax his grip on the wheel and try and get his heart rate back down. Still, there was no use in even pretending to deny it: he was scared, pure and simple.
The door to the deck opened again, Sally walking in. "So, Harry got you to take over for while."
"Yeah. Anything happen the few hours I was out?" He couldn't help noticing in golden glow of sunset, she was even more beautiful.
"Harry heard from Christina. She's safe, thank God."
"Yeah, he told me. That's a relief."
She came forward to stand near him for a while.
In the continuing silence, he finally had to look over to her; she responded with a slight smile, seemingly just staring at him. "What?"
"Oh, nothing." Finally, she went back to the rear to pull out a light jacket. "It's starting to cool off," she commented, before pulling a small crinkly plastic bag out of one of the pockets.
He instantly recognized the dark colored pieces inside it as she held it out. "Oh…chocolate pieces!" She dropped a handful into his hand before leaning against one of the side counters, pouring herself a couple. "Thanks!" It was the first bright spot of the now ending day.
"Just remembered I had some left. Leave some for the other Leo," she said with a wink, setting the small bag on the counter. "I don't know if your other self told you yet or not, but he's been remembering a number of things."
"Oh? Like what?" asking between chocolates.
"Like what everyone was like in that other timeline."
"Guess he never really mentioned much about it," immediately wondering just what it was his counterpart told her. "But the last he talked about it was several days ago." Silence. "Alright, what did he say?"
"Maybe you should ask him."
He glanced behind him at the touch of her hand sliding across his shoulders on her way to the stairs below.
"He really misses everyone. He was taking it kind of hard."
With that, she disappeared below, leaving to him ponder what all that was about. Yet as he thought about it, since the last three years were different for each of them, of course it would be different too for everyone working on the project. Yes, he could see his other self missing them. It made sense. And since that other timeline no longer existed, must be like they had all died from his point of view…he couldn't go back to them…ever. Oh hell, why hadn't he fully realized that before? How would he feel if he had to suddenly leave the world behind, and everyone he knew ceased to exist? Just like his other self was feeling, obviously.
He stared at the last chocolate piece in his hand before popping it in. It didn't seem quite as sweet…
The rear door opened again, only this time his counterpart came in.
"Good evening," Leo greeted, trying to sound cheerful and hoping he wasn't sounding inappropriately so. "How's the arm?"
"Feels lighter," the swampert replied, rotating his newly freed arm and flexing his three large blue fingers. "And unprotected."
"I can imagine." Pointing to the bag of chocolates on the counter, "Sally left some for you."
The swampert stared at it for just a split second before retrieving the said bag and using a finger to fish several pieces out and straight into his large waiting mouth.
"How's everything else going?" he asked, do a little fishing himself for what Sally referred to.
Bringing his blue and white form up to stand next to him, his counterpart stared out the forward window where the last of the light from the setting sun behind them was giving the gently rippling water a deep, golden reflected sheen. "Do you love Sally?"
He just about choked. It wasn't exactly the response he'd been expecting! "What kind of question is that?"
"A simple one, I thought."
Giving the swampert a good, long stare, "Well, maybe."
"You maybe love her?"
"No, I mean it's only maybe a simple question. Why are you asking?"
"I fell in love with her in the other timeline. I thought, maybe you perhaps here too. Only the last three years of the timelines are different."
Oh…now he was beginning to see, especially in light of what Sally told him. "Then…you miss her, don't you?"
"Very much. Not just her, but everyone else too. Seeing their faces again when we went to the lab…triggered a lot of memories, I think. I was glad to see them again, even if they were different people from those I knew and worked with."
"Well, we'll do our best to get you back so you can get to know these ones a little better. I'm sure George, Naomi, Ticonamo and the Professor wouldn't mind working with you. Heck, they put up with me!" It was meant it as a joke, but he saw the waiting look still on his counterpart's face instead. Sighing, "I like Sally…a lot. But love? I don't know. She's, I guess to be truthful, grown on me a little the last couple weeks," which was as truthful as he could be in the face of his own uncertainty, now that he was being forced to face it.
The swampert didn't sound uncertain at all in his reply: "Don't wait. One never knows when you'll never be able to be together again."
Leo thought he finally understood something: "When you left for the Poke world, that meant having to leave her, and when you discovered you had to change the timeline…" He felt doubly bad for him now; being forced to change the timeline meant not just losing friends, but erasing his lover as well. There was a decision he did not envy at all! While trying to think of something comforting to say, both Blaze and Grovyle decided to walk in from outside at that moment.
Both saying something in Poké speak, his counterpart replied back in the same, impossible-for-humans-to-understand language.
Then smiling slightly, "They're hungry," the swampert announced.
Which reminded him that he also hadn't had anything to eat for a while besides the chocolate.
"Another earthquake!" George yelled, grabbing his laptop off his desk and diving under it like everyone else in the lab as the lights started swinging and the low moan of the earth's movement came rumbling through every wall.
Leo hung on to Sally, protecting her under the large, heavy assembly table in waiting for it to pass. The shaking was stronger than any they experienced before, but thankfully was over after a few more seconds, only causing a few things to fall off the table and shelves around them. Still, the lab had seen better days…
Finally, he let out a sigh of relief at not only the earthquake being over, but also the lights remaining on and nothing collapsing. Too many precious days of work had already been lost due to power failures, and he had pretty much lost hope they'd ever get the backup generator they ordered months before, due to such strong demand for them. Not that diesel was that easy to get anymore anyway.
George apparently was thinking along the same lines in asking about the small used portable generator Naomi mentioned the other day and was currently trying to procure.
"The guy was asking a lot for it," Sally pointed out as Leo helped her crawl from under the table. Looking at her longingly, he gave her a quick hug to help her feel reassured, which she returned. "And it won't supply much power anyway."
"Well, Derganio is giving us unlimited funds these days, and every bit of power will help," Ticonamo said, brushing his work area (and himself) off after readjusting his glasses. "I'm surprised we can't get anything bigger. Oh, damn, I'd better call my parents and make sure they're alright."
"The Professor is still working on it, but the military and cities are getting them all," Leo replied, "and they can't get the parts to make many of them these days. Too much infrastructure is collapsing." Adding: "like the phone network," when Ticonamo slammed the lid of his cell phone shut, apparently not getting any signal.
George huffed. "Tell me about it, I haven't had a shower in days, thanks to the broken water lines."
Grovyle let out a hiss as if reinforcing that comment, before grabbing a towel and starting to wipe off some of the parts now scattered across the table.
It was obvious to all of them the Earth was slowly being destroyed by something far away, even if the general public didn't know that detail yet, and the rate was accelerating. The big questions were, from where and what was causing it? What they did know was it had something to do with time/space dimensional distortions, and Ticonamo was working as hard as he could to bolster the DV detector's range and sensitivity to try and pinpoint the source. Once they knew that, maybe the dimensional gate they were building might be able to counteract it…somehow. The greater hope was the source would turn out to be an actual place the gate could send them to, though that was a long shot in itself considering how theoretical it all was. Still, he already knew what had to be done in that case, and in looking across the table to his Sally, he both hoped for and feared that scenario.
"Hey, give me a hand here, honey," she told him in the sweet voice he loved. He couldn't help a smile and spared a hand to gently brush her hair back in leaning over the table next to her. The coil and it's integrated cooling unit tended to get a little tricky in it's final assembly…
Leo woke in dim light on the floor and with the dream still vivid, it took him a few seconds to remember where he was. That's right, he was a Pokémon now, on a boat heading to Fore-Nine Island to stop another disaster from happening.
Yawning, he wondered how close they were as he got himself off the floor and up the stairs. Everyone else was in the equally dim pilot house, with Grovyle apparently having a go at the wheel along with Celebi, the others gathered around one of the counters under a dim red lamp. A glance at the clock told it was early morning.
"Hey, look who's finally up," Chris exclaimed and Blaze whipped his tail in greeting.
"Sorry," Leo replied, realizing he slept far longer than he intended.
"Don't be," Harry said. "Considering what you folks are going to try and do, you need all the rest you can get."
Going to the counter, the others made room for him.
"We decided to try to dock here," his human self said, pointing to a spot on the satellite photo at the edge of the island.
Looking closer, Leo noticed the barely discernable object appeared rectangular.
"The main facility looks to be on the other side of the island. We're thinking this is an abandoned dock. And if you look here," his human self now pointed to what looked like some half-disguised artificial shapes not far inland, "these might be some buildings. It looks like the roofs are caved in, judging from the vegetation inside."
"The destroyed lab we saw in the one vision?" Leo asked.
His other self shrugged. "Maybe. But in any case, that dock, if that's what it is, does look unused compared to the other on the opposite side of the island."
"It'd be great if it's useable," Harry said. "If we have to beach this boat, we could have difficulty getting her unstuck."
Leaning back against the counter on the other side of the pilot house, "Whether it'll be unguarded is another matter," Sally pointed out. "Surely they also know about it, and if they're expecting us…"
Harry scratched at his grey beard for a few seconds. "We'll go in nice and slow, with no lights. The GPS should be able to get us within a dozen feet, assuming no underwater hazards. Hopefully by then, we should be'er to see something. Hey, which of you Pokémon has the best night-vision?"
"I have good night vision, at least a little better than humans," Grovyle said.
"And I can see as well as you," Celebi replied to him.
Knowing his and Blaze's vision was also about as good as a grovyle's: "I think we're all about equal," Leo replied, gaining a nod from Blaze. "We'll do our best."
His human self and Sally soon retired to the bunks below to rest the couple remaining hours, while Grovyle stayed at the wheel and Harry busied himself with a 'well-past-midnight' snack as he called it, offering some to each of them, which they all readily accepted.
But the dream was still on his mind, to the point where Blaze asked him if anything was wrong. After telling him about it: "I wish I could get the opportunity to say goodbye to all of them one last time."
"Maybe Dialga could arrange…" His friend stopped with a silent gasp, his eyes wide.
Leo knew instantly what he must have just realized.
"If Palkia doesn't return…we can't go back to our world, can we? We're stuck here forever!"
Grovyle turned his head, apparently listening.
Blaze was correct, except… "The dimensional gate can get us back. It got me from here to the Poké world once already."
"Wasn't that a different gate?" Blaze returned. "And wasn't the one here destroyed by Palkia?"
"It looked only damaged to me," Leo said, trying to calm his friend and hoping his scarcely educated assessment was correct. His bigger worry was if the team would be allowed to repair and continue working on it. His human self and Sally had both hinted they were skeptical they would be able to do so after all that has happened and was about to happen. That was assuming they even wanted to. There was mounting evidence such a device was a little too dangerous to play with… "Don't worry," he continued. "If such a gate worked once, it can again. And this time around, we have more time to make sure it works correctly." That at least was most definitely true.
"Leo, you know how to make me keep hope."
He smiled, but remembering his life in the other timeline still made him sad. "I'm starting to think it was a mistake to ask Uxie to unlock my memories. The more I remember, the more…difficult it's becoming. I miss them all a lot, like a wound that just keeps getting bigger with everything I remember. Maybe having my memory erased was really a blessing."
"Leo, we wouldn't have been able to be where we are without what you've remembered!"
"The versions here of everyone, they're leading better lives to be sure, assuming we prevent this disaster, but those I had to leave…they were different people. Those three years really made a difference in making who they were."
"How different was I?" Grovyle suddenly asked. "Certainly I sounded a lot braver than I feel right now."
"Well, you did push Dusknoir into the time portal, giving me and Blaze the chance to save Temporal Tower," Leo replied. "Nothing less than what I did, and I'm scared right now."
"That wasn't me," Grovyle countered.
"Same heart and soul," Blaze countered. "And isn't that what mostly makes us what we are? Only three years of experience are different."
From Blaze's glance at him, Leo knew his answer was meant for him as well as Grovyle.