Chapter 3: Back to the Future
"Uuugh..." My head... After we were pulled into that hole, we must have all blacked out while we were in the time tunnel. At least, I thought it was the time tunnel; I couldn't imagine what else that light-blue void with stars and giant yellow beams lining the walls could be. "Wha...what happened...?" I groaned. I still couldn't believe it. Did Zoroark really pull us all into the future as Dialga? Why? What did he want with us? What did he want with me? ...Where was he, anyway?
Adam's voice piped up from the ship's speakers. "That wormhole really spun us around. You all fainted from the dizziness. I've been trying to wake you guys up all this time."
Samus reacted swiftly. "Wha—I did too? Where's that Dialga—?"
"He's not here anymore, Samus. Don't worry."
Not here anymore? Sneaky guy...I really hoped we wouldn't run into him again. But on the other hand, my storytelling instincts were practically screaming at me that this wouldn't be the last time we crossed paths with him. Not by a long shot. I shuddered and tried to forget about it right then and there. After all, he never actually talked to us yet, so why worry about it? Maybe it was nothing.
Big Amy and Chikorita started asking questions at once. "So are we in the future? Are we? Are we? Are we?"
"I guess we'll find out when we reach Planet Portania!" said Adam.
Team Pecha just stared. "What's Planet Portania?"
Adam stifled a chuckle, and right then, I had a feeling I knew why. Samus addressed them, "Well, girls, let me ask you...Do you know what your home planet is called?"
Big Amy started jumping up and down. "I know! I know! It's...uh...uuuuhhhhh... "
"Amy? I don't think they ever...gave it...a name...hahaha..." Chikorita weakly finished.
Adam explained it to them. "Well, there you have it. But we at the Galactic Federation needed to name every single outer rim planet for reference. News flash: To us, your home planet is called PN-502, otherwise known as Planet Portania. And for the record, I didn't come up with that name. The Ylla did. They're good at giving planets names that sound good in all the major languages of the Federation."
They still stared. "Por-tah-nee-uh?"
"Well...maybe except yours..." he conceded.
The ship lurched, and the scenery outside the front window changed. We could see outer space, and a planet below. I pointed at the vaguely Earth-like planet and asked, "Is that it?"
"That's it," said Samus. "Just hang tight, though. It'll be a while before we can take you back home, okay?"
I replied, "Yeah, but…what if I don't want to go back home yet...?" After all, how often did I—did anyone—get the chance to meet fictional characters in real life?
Big Amy reassured me, "That's okay too, Little Amy. We can show you around! That is, if we're still in the present…"
As the ship entered the atmosphere, I thought back to the previous conversation and began to wonder...What if the planet actually had a real name, and what if Big Amy knew it? Would Adam go into the registry and change it, or would he leave it as Planet Portania? But...in truth...I thought up that name first. And if I remember correctly, the Ylla (I think it's pronounced "YIH-luh") are supposed to be one of several extremely intelligent and peaceful species in the galaxy, much like the Chozo. So who ARE they, exactly?
Meanwhile, below on Planet "Por-tah-nee-uh", there's an amazingly revamped Treasure Town. It looks like a metropolis on a mountain, with businesses everywhere, stairs (and elevators) leading to about 99 floors worth of residence areas, shopping centers, etc. In an area near the tippy-top resides the former Duskull Bank, now the Dusknoir Bank. A Sableye and a Snorunt are sitting at the top, animatedly chatting away, when they simultaneously see the tiny little speck of a purple spaceship in the sky. They stop and look at each other.
Sableye: Wheh-heh?
Snorunt: GIGIGI?
Sableye: Me see something.
Snorunt: Me smell it too.
Sableye: We tell Lord Dusknoir?
Snorunt: Yes, we do.
Dusknoir: No necessity for such measures, boys.
The one and only Lord Dusknoir strides up from behind them.
Dusknoir: Our recent temporal-spanning adventures have sharpened the antenna on my cranium. It has become acutely aware of any alteration in the temporal fabric...regardless of location.
Snorunt: Oooohhh...Me see!
Dusknoir: Boys? Shall we investigate these interlopers and attempt all measures necessary to prevent them from threatening the welfare of our fair planet?
Sableye and Snorunt: Yeah yeah yeah!
The two of them jump on Dusknoir's back, while the other five Sableye overhear, drop what they're doing, and follow. He heads off to intercept the ship.
Sableye: But Lord Dusknoir! It very scary, maybe. Sure you be okay?
Dusknoir: Relax, Sableye. If I could execute a group of inferior beings—I mean, humans, frighten one of their own, pursue Grovyle for five years straight, endure two Roar of Times from Master—I mean, Primal Dialga, survive his rage and a thrashing, AND become the most respected entrepreneur worldwide, I am able to handle any extraterrestrial that might emerge. Don't you concur?
Sableye: Yeah, you right, Lord Dusknoir!
He really does understand. I'm still not sure why. Anyway, not just the seven of them, but almost everyone from Treasure Town saw it too. They drop whatever they were doing and run with Dusknoir's group. Meanwhile, deep in what used to be Apple Woods, now Apple Jungle, we see an awesome-looking tree house resting on top of the tallest tree in the "jungle". It's facing east; a perfect view of the sunrise. A familiar 2'11'' tall Wood Gecko Pokémon opens the door and enjoys the light for several minutes before finally seeing the spaceship slowly coming down.
Grovyle: ...? (Wait a second... )
He dashes back inside and goes to a bookcase, ripping all the books/scrolls out. His thrashing wakes up a pink Celebi on the nearby leafy "bunk bed". She falls out of the top canopy.
Celebi: Ooow! Grovyle, what are you—?
Grovyle: Celebi! Where's that story about Team Pecha's space adventure?
Celebi: It's right there. Why?
She points to where it is. Its location was so obvious that Grovyle slaps his face. He picks it up and flips it to the right page.
Grovyle (reading aloud): "...And then they came across our planet Month 6, Day 23, at 6:55 in the morning, purely by accident. Apparently they fell into the future shortly after visiting their first planet..." This is it! This is it!
Celebi (annoyed): What?
He runs out of the house, jumps down into the trees, and swings through the jungle as fast as he can, just like Tarzan—no, even better than Tarzan. Celebi flies after him.
Celebi: Grovyle! Where are you going?
Grovyle: LOOK UP, CELEBI!
She does. She sees it and gasps. Grovyle looks up too, and the sight of it strengthens his resolve. He swings even faster to the site where everyone's gathering.
Grovyle: (If I'm not mistaken, this is my only chance to see Amy and Chikorita again! I just know it is!)
I craned my neck around Samus' seat, totally transfixed by the sight through the window. Sure, the landscape and infrastructure was complex and beautiful, but what really got me was the crowd below. Pokémon of all shapes and sizes came out to greet us, but I recognized...only half of them? Wait, so there were over 1,000 Pokémon in total?
"Whoooaaa...Everything's so different and...futuristic-looking!" said Big Amy.
"Yeah, looks like the future to me too," agreed Chikorita.
Samus announced, "Understood. Okay, so here's the plan. Puffball and Dinosaur Girls, you go out there and see if it's really the future or not. If it is, great, if not, you go back home and never come back."
Chikorita was outraged. "WHAT? But we didn't even go anywhere yet! What kind of adventure—?"
"I'm not done. Either way, you find this Dialga person, appeal to his better nature, and ask him to send you and the kid back to the past. After the three of you go, we'll leave and go back to the Galactic Federation. Life will return to normal, the end, goodbye...and we'll continue working for the Galactic Federation like we always do. What do you say?"
"Fiiiiine... " we grumbled. It was against OUR better nature, but we didn't want her to give us another super-long lecture.
Then we felt another lurch. The ship landed. Chikorita ran to the elevator first, saying, "C'mon, guys! Let's go!"
Big Amy wouldn't let go of my head, so I thought it'd be okay to step in there with Chikorita, but I didn't realize how cramped it would be until I stepped right in there.
Samus objected, "Wait—" and tried to pull me back, but she stepped on the elevator just as the door shut and started moving. It was really cramped. Obviously, it was made for Samus only, and we could barely move with the four of us stuffed in there. She hissed at me, "Listen to me, kid. Whatever you do, DO NOT MOVE until I tell you to." What the heck did she mean? She was crushing me against the wall. There was no way I could've possibly been able to move. And it shouldn't have taken this long for it to reach the bottom, should it?
The elevator hit the ground and stopped, so that all we could see was steam. Funny. I didn't remember steam coming from Samus' ship in the Metroid games.
A deep, baritone, scary voice emitted from the outside. "Hoo-hoo-hoo-ha-ha-ha! Greetings, interloping extraterrestrials! Your ambiguity is quite amusing; you have the temerity to intrude upon our homeland, yet you are timid enough to cloak yourselves in a blanket of water vapor!"
Big Amy and Chikorita squeezed closer to each other. Samus charged up her Power Beam, sucking up some of the steam. I was just plain terrified, mostly because I already had an idea who was talking, and fervently wished I stayed on the ship.
"It should be lucid by my tone of voice that we shall not welcome belligerent acts, and that if you were to even insinuate subjugation of our peaceful populace, we shall reciprocate with necessary force!"
More steam cleared up, and we could make out several shadows in the distance. It was the crowd. In front of us was another source of where the steam was being sucked.
"If your disconfigured gray matters misconstrue our intentions as exactly the opposite of what we mean them to be...well, then, I cannot assist you. This is your final opportunity to display any peaceful intentions you may harbor. If not...prepare yourselves for instant, excruciating annihilation!"
The steam eventually cleared to reveal...a Dusknoir charging up a black-hole laser beam in his stomach, aiming right at us!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHH! DUSKNOIR!" It wasn't just Big Amy and Chikorita, it was me too. Samus was so shocked that she accidentally jumped forward and kicked them out of the elevator area, but regained her composure and rolled out of the way to face him. But that left me in the path of the blast!
But I needn't have worried. Dusknoir sputtered, "What the—? Inconceivable!" and lost his focus. The stomach on his chest snapped shut around the dark energy and squelched it, making a funny noise winding-down noise. Then it exploded inside him and made him collapse. It almost reminded me of the time Tarzan tried to scare his mom with a roar, but because she knew he was coming, he was forced to blow it out in a raspberry. As for the crowd, they finally seemed to have snapped out of it and started shouting something like, "Ohmigosh, it's them! THE Team Pecha! It's really them, see? Can I have your autograph? How did you feel when you saved the world twice?" When they started swarming, it looked like even Samus couldn't restrain herself from shooting anything any longer.
"Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait WAIT WAIT!" shouted a voice from a forest (or jungle?) behind us. It was faint, but it elicited a massive reaction from the crowd. They all froze in place. Then they started whispering stuff like, "Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, it's...him."
The four of us just stared at them in confusion. "...Who?" But I had a feeling that he was who I thought he was, especially since Dusknoir was here.
The one and only super-famous grass lizard emerged from the forest (or jungle?), leapt over every single Pokémon (including us and the ship!) in one bound and landed perfectly in front of a twitching Dusknoir. Everyone suddenly became eerily silent. With a glare from the guy, they stepped several paces back in reverence. Obviously, they all respected the guy, and even Samus did too. She lowered her Arm Cannon and...I think she turned on her Scan Visor or something. Or maybe she was just staring in awe. But what I really wanted to see was what would come next…the one event I wished would always happen.
"G...Grovyle?" gasped Big Amy and Chikorita.
He slowly turned his head around, eyes widening in disbelief. I didn't think he even bothered to look when he leapt over everyone. "...Amy? Chikorita?"
"...GROVYLE!" they cried. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as they raced toward him. I know the three of them should've reached each other in half a second, but it felt like five slow ones, ones that I enjoyed every moment of. Big Amy and Chikorita jumped and bowled him over; hugging him like their lives depended on it. "You're back! You're back! YOU'RE BAAAAACK!" they shouted, crying uncontrollably at the same time.
"Okay, I get it! It really is you guys! Now can you just let go...please?" he gasped.
"AAH! We're sorry!" They did. Big Amy was the first to talk, but she kept hiccupping between sobs. "I—I thought I'd...never s—see you again...ever..." Right then, it hit me like a pang. That was exactly what I sounded like in elementary school whenever I tried to talk while crying.
"M—me too...I missed you..." gasped Chikorita.
A subtle change flickered across Grovyle's eyes. Was he looking...tenderly at them? "I...I guess...I had no idea how much I missed you guys too." This time, he voluntarily picked them up and hugged them. They looked just like Tiana's happy family... "Aww..." I sniffed. It was the reunion I always wished I could have.
But, the problem was, that became a mistake.
Grovyle heard me. No one seemed to notice me, so I thought it was safe to inch out into the open. Boy, how wrong I was. The moment he opened his eyes and saw me, he blanched. Then he dropped Big Amy and Chikorita, pointing a finger straight at me. And to make matters worse, Dusknoir also woke up at that time and saw me too. They both gasped, "A human!"
Big Amy and Chikorita swiveled around. Their gazes followed Grovyle's finger...right to me. "A human?" they shouted in disbelief.
And guess what? So did everyone else in the crowd. "A HUMAN?"
...Uh-oh.
Samus whispered in my ear, "Run."
She dragged me into the elevator and made it retract. Big Amy and Chikorita gasped and ran, climbing on as it lifted off the ground. And when that happened, Grovyle shouted, "NO!" and ran, sliding in just as the elevator went into the ship. The force of his jump slammed us against the back. "Ooowww..."
We all jumped out of the elevator as fast as we could, and ended up sprawled on the floor of the spaceship. It really was getting too crowded. Samus leapt into her chair and shouted, "Adam! Get us out of here NOW!"
"I'm on it, Lady. Where to?"
"Galactic Federation! Right now! No more holdups, okay?"
As the ship lifted off the ground, all the Pokémon in the crowd suddenly snapped out of it and started trying to shoot us down with Flamethrowers, Ice Beams, Hyper Beams, and all sorts of insane attacks. Luckily for us, Adam was an expert in dodging; I was amazed we weren't even hit at all.
I was stunned. Grovyle was stunned. Big Amy and Chikorita were also stunned. But the biggest shocker was to come. "GROVYLE!" shouted a voice from outside. It was a pink and shiny Celebi. She slammed against the window, looking really ticked off.
Grovyle groaned and slapped his face. "Oops. I forgot. Sorry, Celebi! It was an accident!"
"Whaddya think you're doing? Get back here, or I'll—"
Adam announced, "Hey. The hyperdrive's fully charged. Buckle up—oh wait, I forgot. You guys can't."
Samus just stared at Celebi with a disturbed look on her face. "That crazy alien pixie girl's not going to follow us, is she, Adam?"
"Not if I shake her off the window." Apparently, he did just that.
I just realized something important. "Hey wait, wasn't she the only other Pokémon that could send me back to the—?"
The hyperdrive activated and sent Big Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, and me crashing into the back wall. "WA-HOOOOOO!" shouted Big Amy and Chikorita. Again.
After about 30 seconds, the ship settled into hyperspeed, and we could finally talk again. Samus apologized, "Sorry about that, kid. You gonna be okay?"
I was still scrambling to connect the dots. "Yeah, but…what was that all about?" I asked.
"Funny thing, really. Most of the time, you would've been okay. It's just that Planet Portania is one of those few planets where they've heard of humans, but none live there. So they get curious. Really curious. And you have to get out of there if someone identifies you. I mean…how should I put this? You wouldn't believe what kinds of things sentient beings could doto study creatures they've heard of but never actually researched before. That's kind of why I wear my Power Suit all the time, just to be safe. But now it'll be much harder to go back there and ask that Dialga to send you back home."
"Oooooh…I gotcha," I replied. Looks like I'll be here for a bit longer. Who knows? Maybe that was a good thing.
Meanwhile, both Big Amy and Chikorita started peppering Grovyle with questions at the same time:
"Grovyle, is that true?" asked Big Amy.
"She's a human? Really?" shouted Chikorita in disbelief.
"How do you know that?"
"What just happened back there with you and Celebi, anyway?"
"Did I look like that when I was a human? Did I? Did I?"
Grovyle couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, okay! Shut up and let me explain. First of all, yes, she's a human, it's true. Second of all, I know because I've been around seven of them including you when I was a Treecko, and you should've remembered that, 'cause I told you. Third of all, Celebi gets really clingy around me and I just can't stand it anymore. Finally, Amy, you did kinda look like that, but shorter. Now can I ask something? Okay! Who the heck IS she?" he shouted, pointing at me.
"Uuuuh...Amy?" I replied tentatively.
He didn't react wildly; instead, his eyes narrowed. "Amy? Really... " The way he started thinking hard made me cringe. He was almost as scary as Samus.
"It's—it's not the same as hers!" I quickly explained, pointing to Big Amy. "At least, I don't think." So I told him my full name.
"You have THREE names?" shouted Big Amy and Chikorita.
"Yeah! On Earth, there are loads of Amys running around, and even those with the same last name as me. So we have to have three names to minimize the chances of another person having the same name, but...I really hope one of them doesn't have the same middle name as me, too... "
"But I'm still Big Amy, and she's Little Amy! See?" announced Big Amy, bouncing back on my head. Apparently, she still hasn't forgotten our agreement thingy.
Grovyle stifled a laugh. "Even though she's way taller than you? How does that work out?"
"Because, I'm on her head, so I'm taller! And besides, I'm tired of always being the little sister to you guys!"
"Uh...Yeah! What she said!" I conceded, feeling a bit weird. "I mean, I wanted to see what it was like to be called 'little' for once, 'cause no one ever called me that in my life—see, I was always the big sister, so...it kinda worked out, and..." I pointed to her on my head to see if I could make my point, but...
"Wow. Amy…that is so very, very you…*pfft!*…" He actually laughed for a bit. After he recovered, he turned to Samus and Adam. "I believe you two run this...starship, correct? What are your names?"
"Huh? What? Oh, you're talking to us." Samus thought it over for a few seconds. Then she rebuffed, "Sorry. That's classified. I'm the most famous bounty hunter in this galaxy, and the fewer enemies know about me, the better."
"Uh, yes. What she said," agreed Adam.
Even though I practically acted the same way in 6th and 7th grades as a result of watching too much Yu-gi-oh, I still had to restrain myself from blurting their names out loud to Grovyle. I thought he'd be a bit frustrated at the lack of trust, but instead, he just nodded his head and sympathized, "I understand. Telling our names too freely to too many Pokémon back in the dark future got us into heaps of trouble, what with Primal Dialga and his minions ambushing us everywhere we went. But our motto always was, 'There's no point in working together without trust.' How can we work together without trusting each other... and how can we trust each other if we don't even trust each other enough to tell us our names, classified or not?" Big Amy, Chikorita, and I just stared in stunned silence. I bet we were all amazed by his persuasion.
Luckily, Samus and Adam were convinced, too. Samus conceded, "Well, when you put it that way...I don't see why not. We only have two names, though. My name is Samus Aran, and this brain-in-a-computer here is Adam Malkovich."
"I'm still her superior officer!" interjected Adam.
"You can call me Samus. Nice to meet you, Mr...?"
"Grovyle. Just call me Grovyle."
"Interesting. I'm guessing you creatures are all one-namers?" inquired Samus.
"Us Pokémon, anyway. My name's Chikorita!"
"And I'm guessing you're called Big Amy, Puffball Girl?"
"Uh, yeah, but—"
At this point, Grovyle cut in, "Actually, she used to be a human, and her full name is Amy Vee Purima. Three names, like the human. Maybe you guys might know something about her."
Big Amy's, Chikorita's and my jaws all dropped. "How do you know THAT?"
"Just another thing you forgot when you lost your memories..." he sighed. He then looked around at us, one by one. "So here I am on Amy Vee Purima and Chikorita's outer space adventure. My two best friends there ever were."
"Awww...thanks!" they gushed.
"And I'm with a human with exactly the same first name...*sigh*..."
"Hey, I can't help it!" I complained.
"...a bounty hunter who's just as cautious as me..."
"Uh, cautious?" she asked, not quite agreeing with the adjective.
"...and a brain-in-a-computer with an attitude."
"Hey! Why don't you people ever understand that I have a name?"
Grovyle looked around at us one by one again. A realization came to him, and he groaned and slapped his forehead. "D'oh!"
"What? What is it?" we asked.
"I'm surrounded by girls. Again."
To be continued...
Coming up next: Hang in there, Grovyle...at least you're not with Team Charm! Besides, we'll finally see what Capital Planet looks like, and have lots of fun! Huh. It says here that the chapter title is called: F-I-R-D. I wonder what it stands for?