Chapter 11: Out of the Frying Pan…

No one, except me, had any idea about where the next warp point might be. I suggested that we follow the Planetary Exploration Team to their secret base so that we could at least see what happens next, so we did. We were sitting in an underground base with the team members all around us, sometimes even walking through us, and we watched as Masquerain led little Amy Purima and Grovyle to the center. And what do you know? Celebi was working with them too! She saw them and flew right up to them.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes several times. "My dearie Treecko? Is that really you?"

Grovyle sighed. "Yeah, it's me. Y'know, Celebi, that name was amusing back when I was a Treecko, but now that I'm a Grovyle, you think you mind calling me something a little more respectable now?"

"Oh, I see!" she exclaimed in triumph. "You are now dearie Grovyle!"

He smacked his forehead in exasperation, while we stifled laughter.

Celebi then glared at the little Amy Purima. "I see. Well, dearie Grovyle here might've taken pity on you, but I'm warning you, little miss alien…don't take advantage of it!"

The little girl just stared in confusion, and looked a little intimidated, too. I couldn't help but get the feeling that Celebi would've reacted really differently if she were talking to a little boy instead, like maybe Kyumu or Peter or anyone like that. She was practically radiating jealousy all over.

"Okay, Celebi, calm down. Now why don't we fill them in on what they know? Since you know them, they could be valuable allies."

Everyone around us finally quieted down. Grovyle and the little Amy sat down in front of us and watched the performance given by the members of the team. It was about the history of the world and how it became paralyzed thanks to the collapse of Temporal Tower, Dialga going mad and turning into Primal Dialga, blah blah blah blah blah. The only one of us who took it all in completely was Samus, probably because we never told her the whole story. But for us, it was all ancient history. Grovyle spent more time bugging me about where and when the next warp point might be, and I half-seriously told him it would probably be after the two of them took off on their quest to save the planet.

Then the talk came to Amy's vision of the Time Gear, and the possibilities they saw of finally being able to save the world. They deduced that it was from the scientists' time experiments, and that just by touching where a Time Gear was, they could pinpoint its location. Finally, there came the question of what would happen if someone did go back in time, find the Time Gears and put them in Temporal Tower. "We…would disappear too?" gasped the little Amy Purima.

Masquerain took a vote: All who were willing to disappear, raise their hand, otherwise say no. Every single Pokémon in the room enthusiastically raised their hands, and no one said no. Even Celebi, who could send them into the past, said, "I would devote my whole life to it no matter what!"

"You see?" said Masquerain. "Everyone here is willing to sacrifice themselves if it means making this world right again. It's against Primal Dialga's ultimate law…and it certainly won't be easy…but this right here is proof that it'll all be worth it," he said, while pointing to the picture.

Grovyle explained, "There's no way we can live in peace, anyway. Dusknoir won't stop pursuing you no matter what we do. I think we should try to find rest of the Time Gears, if only for your parents' sake…if only to prove that you ever existed in this world at all. Well, Amy? What do you say?"

Tears welled up in both the little Amy's eyes, and I think even Samus' too. She was really into this drama. "O-okay. We'll try."

Everyone in the room cheered. Grovyle had one more question. "But didn't the Pokémon in the past believe that removing the Time Gears would cause the world to end like this too?"

"That's right. We're looking into it right now."

"Uurgh…stupid system. This won't be easy…"

Masquerian said, "We'll assist you two in any way we can. It'll be dangerous for us too, but you, Amy Vee Purima, are the one we've been waiting for all this time. We won't fail you. We promise."

They took off running. They began their quest to save the planet! That looked like a good place for a scene change. I half-seriously announced to everyone, "Okay. We should have a scene change in three…two…one…"

"Try it here, Amy. Maybe…"

"Grovyle, we've tried everywhere on this island. I'm starting to wonder if this Dimensional Scream was a one-time-only thing…"

The scene changed in front of our eyes before we knew it. It was so abrupt that we all gasped out of shock. The little Amy looked just a bit taller, and her hair was a bit longer, too. We were in a grayscale limestone cave, where the water droplets dripping from the stalactites hung frozen in midair. It must've freaked Samus out at least a little bit. Our Grovyle looked at me in amazement. "You were right," he whispered.

I let out a whistle of amazement. "Wow. I'm good." Well, actually, I couldn't whistle at all. I could only make a noise that was reasonably close to sounding like a whistle.

"So when's the next one?"

"Um…after this, I think."

We saw a minor flash, this time one of a fully colored limestone cave with a Time Gear spinning in the middle. I wondered why we could see little flashes of the Dimensional Scream until I remembered that these were Big Amy's memories.

"Well…?" asked the Grovyle from the past.

Amy Purima just stared for a long time before finally saying, "…It's here! It's here! It's here!" The two of them jumped up and down in excitements.

"So what did it look like?" asked Grovyle.

Amy Purima started to describe the scene, but then remembered her crayons and paper. She started drawing the scene, but I think her drawing abilities improved a little. Samus watched in awe, Big Amy pulled out her own copy of the exact painting, and our Grovyle just said, "Well, Chikorita? Now you know how I was able to find the Time Gears so quickly."

As if to prove his point, the past Grovyle said, "You know, I don't know what I'd do if you didn't know how to draw so well. This'll be a big help once we get to the past."

"I'm still not sure where it came from…but thanks. 2 down, 3 to go! You think you'll remember to find that invisible door in the center?"

"I don't think either of us could forget something like that." As they turned to leave, Grovyle asked, "Oh yeah, and Amy?"

"Yeah?"

"…Thanks for being there for me. If it weren't for you…I don't know what I'd be like by now."

Aww…! How sweet! But it also broke my heart when I remembered that—

"Yeah, unfortunately, I actually did forget. It was so long ago…and I was so worried about her when we were separated…" said our Grovyle. Hey! That was exactly where my thoughts were going.

But it looked like time for another scene change. I whispered, "Three…two…one…"

The scene changed again. Chikorita looked at me in amazement. "You know when it's going to change?" she asked.

"Uh…yeah. Part of my storytelling instincts," I explained.

This time, we saw a colorful underground desert lake. Another Time Gear floated in the middle of it. And right at that moment, we saw a pink-headed pixie with a purple body and two jeweled tails fly right in front of us, shouting "I'm Mesprit, the underground lake and Time Gear's awesome guardian! Oh, and by the way…YOU…SHALL…NOT…PASS!"

It was a Dimensional Scream that abruptly ended. Big Amy said, "Oh yeah, I remember that! She said the same thing to us!" We looked around and saw that we were in the same desert lake, only it was grayscale. The little Amy, who was slightly older, freaked out. Grovyle tried to calm her down.

"Who the heck are you two?"

Oh yes. The classic scene where they meet up with Grovyle's parents, Papa Garchomp and Mama Sceptile. After a little scuffle, they explained all about the trio of Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, and where the other lakes were. I glanced at our Grovyle and wondered why he wasn't overjoyed to see his parents again, until I remembered that since everyone from this dark future got to continue living, he probably saw them all the time for the past two years.

"3 down, 2 to go!"

This time, Big Amy, Chikorita and I all counted, "Three…two…one…"

Yeah. The scenes were changing faster than we thought. We were in the middle of a ton of fog, and none of us could see where we were. But then, we heard their voices.

"Ooo…pretty." The little Amy picked up a glowing red triangular stone. The Drought Stone.

"I wonder what that is…" said Grovyle, before crashing into something and exclaiming, "OW!" Amy ran up to the object and found it was a huge statue of some sort. I already knew what it said. "Reignite the [blah blah yeah yeah whatever…]"

Amy noticed the indentation in the statue's chest and placed the Drought Stone in there. An earthquake occurred, knocking all of us off our feet. Big Amy and Chikorita kept shouting things like "I remember this! I remember this!" The fog lifted.

Samus probably sensed it was a beginner's puzzle, but was still staring, speechless. So was Amy and Grovyle. Amy finally snapped out of it and said, "I see! You're supposed to place the stone in Groudon's heart! That lifts the fog!"
Grovyle said, "So that's how! Good job, Amy!"

They then looked at each other. After a few seconds, they couldn't take it anymore. They started laughing like crazy, sputtering something about how obscenely easy it was to solve compared to how long it took for them to find it.

Suddenly, another scene change. We were at Fogbound Lake, or what was left of it. The usual Time Gear vision, blah blah blah. I could swear that the scene started going in fast-forward, because their voices became really fast and high pitched as if someone suddenly pressed the fast-forward button. Four down, one to go…yeah…

Our Grovyle was clearly getting bored. And fidgety. He hissed at us, "Hey! Don't just stare! Look for the exit!" Well, we were looking all this time, but so far, we hadn't seen anything that remotely looked like one. And how would we know if we saw one, anyway? It was up to Grovyle to pay attention to anything that seemed out of place. After all, he was the only one who still remembered all this stuff, even if it was all coming back to Big Amy.

"Three...two...one..."

We suddenly saw the entrance to a cave that looked like it was made entirely out of pink crystals once, but the color had almost completely faded away. "Huh? I don't remember this part…" I said.

"What do you mean?" asked Samus.

"I mean, I never wro—I-I mean, this…was…never…in the game! Yeah!" I quickly caught myself. If I told them I never wrote this in The Heroes of Time…I shuddered. I needed to keep a lid on my mouth. Team Pecha might've been okay with that, but I still had no way of knowing how Grovyle or even Samus would react.

The little Amy Purima dashed inside as fast as she could, looking completely distraught. By then, she wasn't quite so little anymore. Her brown hair was insanely long; down to her waist, and she looked 10 years old—no wait, she was actually 9, so her 10th birthday was coming quickly. Not that I knew which day it was…April 25? It's not like anyone can really tell on this planet.

She shouted, "Grovyle! Grovyle!" in every direction possible, then muttered under her breath, "Where the heck did he go?"

Right then, the sight of the cave made her drop her jaw in awe. There were glowing pink crystals across the ceiling, wedged into the walls, and scattered around the floor, all in unusual brilliance. But that wasn't the most shocking development. Because inside the cave was a whole hidden colony of…Jigglypuffs. Yes, Jigglypuffs! There were a few Igglybuffs, Wigglytuffs, Cleffas, Clefables, and others, but mostly that of Jigglypuffs. In fact, there were so many Jigglypuffs, I would've lost track of where Big Amy was if it wasn't for the red bow on her back. "Awww…!" she and I involuntarily squealed at once.

"This is Quartize Cave! I love Quartzite Cave! We played in here all the time!" shouted Chikorita, jumping up and down.

"Me too! Me too!" agreed Big Amy.

"Ah, no wonder I don't remember this. I wasn't here," mused our Grovyle. "This must've been day that Jigglypuff became her most favorite Pokémon in the world. Besides me, of course." He grinned.

I shushed them. "Everyone stop talking! I've gotta see this."

All the Pokémon in the cave started to panic, but the biggest Wigglytuff said to them, "Shushy, shushy! I'll handle this nicely. You'll see." He then turned to the lost girl and said, "Friendly friend! You don't look to scary. Come, sit down, and take it easy!" Team Pecha and I gasped. Was that Master Wigglytuff?

She did what he said, too stunned to respond.

"Master Wigglytuff the 7th, that's my namie! I got that Master title thingy from my daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy! Long genealogy. What about you?"

Her eyes darted around the place as though worried that someone could be watching. "Uh…um…h-how do I know I can trust you, Master…?"

"What? You can't trust me, a friend? Booo! Booo! You meanie!"

She became increasingly flustered. "N-no wait, it's not that at all! It's just that…whenever I told anyone else my name, they would try to kill us—"

"We won't kill you, just you see! Right, everybody?" he asked the Jigglypuff colony behind him.

They started discussing the matter among themselves, until one said, "Maybe we should tell her about us first, Master Wigglytuff."

"Oh! Rightie right." Master Wigglytuff the 7th sat down and began to explain the story. "Okay…so it all began when time stopped and everyone began to become meanies from the darkness, and…" He then explained how he had to hide the whole group into this place, Quartzite Cave, to protect them from attacks from those dangerous Pokémon. As he told the story, Amy became more and more relaxed.

"My name's Amy Purima. I'm trying to find my friend Grovyle right now. See, we're trying to find places where these things called Time Gears would be…here, have a look…" She pulled out her four Time Gear pictures, and everyone started ooh-ing and aah-ing. She explained her whole story (someone turned on the fast-forward button again), and even demonstrated her drawing abilities by creating another picture. It brought a smile to my face; it was a picture featuring such adorable things as Pecha Berries, more of those red bows, and dominating the center of it all was the cutest Jigglypuff I ever saw.

"We're trying to find a hidden lake around here…do you know where it is?"

"Oh, oh, THAT lakie! It's in Crystal Cave, right next to herie!" He pointed to a tiny entrance into the wall at the end of the cavern. "Wanna come with us to see?"

"Really? You can take me there?"

"Really really!"

"Thanks, uh…Master Wigglytuff!"

He and lots of other Jigglypuff's led Amy though the cavernous maze on the way to Crystal Lake. Soon enough, they were all chatting and having fun, occasionally smacking down some darkness-crazed Pokémon along the way. Amy ended up in a conversation with another Jigglypuff.

"Wait a second, uh…Amy "Per-EE-muh". A human's not a Pokémon, right?"

"Yeah. It really stinks. I always have to let Grovyle handle all the fighting, because whenever I try, I always lose. Always."

The Jigglypuff's eyes went wide open, and she gasped, "Hey, me too!"

Amy suddenly stopped. "You too?"

"Yeah! I can never win against anyone either. By myself, anyway. I don't know how Master Wigglytuff does it. He must be, like, immortal or something."

They both segued into silence, deep in thought. Finally, the Jigglypuff asked, "Well…if you were a Pokemon…who would you want to be?"

"I dunno…I've thought about it for a long time, too. I want to be someone strong…but someone cute, too…and someone like me. Someone like…like…"

She thought for a long, long time. She then stared hard at the Jigglypuff. Finally, a look spread across her face. I knew that look. That must've been the look that I had when I discovered what I truly enjoyed in life…the look I drew myself having in the picture during the art competition in the Pokéathlon Contest.

"…You."

The Jigglypuff stopped. "Me?"

So did Master Wigglytuff. "A Jigglypuff?"

And so did everyone else. "Us?"

The next thing she knew, everyone cheered. They then started singing songs to a tune I recognized as the same tune I heard from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, except that it was longer song from the credits. I loved the epic, upbeat, and deeply moving tune; I never knew that it actually had lyrics…that I quickly forgot. See, I'm no audio learner at all. If someone were to give me a lecture, everything would just go in one ear and out the other. I was worried how I'd do in college. Anyway, as they danced along, I could just tell that Amy Purima felt that for once, just for once…she finally found what was right for her.

Finally! The Crystal Cave! When they reached it, they parted ways and said goodbye, although I could feel that Amy really didn't want to. A few minutes later, Grovyle ran in, shouting, "Amy? WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Grovyle! I'm here! I'm here!"

They ran and hugged each other, both extremely relieved to see each other okay. "Where were you?" they asked each other. Turned out that some crazy Glalie or something a while back held up Grovyle for a bit. Amy then explained the Jigglypuff colony she came across, and Grovyle seemed visibly amazed to hear the revelation she learned.

Anyway, they figured out the whole turn-all-three-crystals-blue solution and found it pretty fast. As the past Grovyle and the almost-10-year-old Amy celebrated their success, our Grovyle winced. I wasn't sure why, until the two of them came out...and Dusknoir and the Sableye ambushed them!

We were suddenly at the stockade again. The two of them were already tied to the same column in the middle. We watched as Dusknoir tried to execute the almost-10-year-old Amy himself but miss and slash the ropes instead. We watched as they engaged in an epic battle as Amy stood up to Dusknoir for the first time. Even though Amy lost, we watched as Grovyle secretly cut the rest of the ropes and throw a Luminous Orb at Dusknoir. The scene changed. Grovyle was desperately dragging Amy away from the stockade…when Primal Dialga cornered them!

Luckily, we saw Celebi's daring rescue in which she Teleported in, left decoys of the two, and Teleported them out just as Primal Dialga unleashed his Roar of Time.

We were back in the Planetary Exploration Team's secret hideout. Masquerain and the Pokémon there (a some of them were missing all of a sudden) all cheered and threw a party for their safe return. To our surprise, a lot of the Jigglypuffs from Quartzite Cave were suddenly there. They explained that Amy inspired them to join the cause, and besides, they were pretty bored.

Amy looked around and smiled. "Thanks, guys. Lately, I haven't been sure who to trust anymore."

The Jigglypuff from before came up to them and said, "We made up an epic poem about your adventures. Want to hear it?"

"Yeah yeah yeah!" agreed Amy enthusiastically.

"Okay. Here we go. One, two, three, four!"

They say that one day, a spaceship flew by,
Dumped seven humans, went back to the sky.
See, they wanted to experiment with time,
But back in their world, it was a high crime.
The smallest was her, about one year old.
Yet she learned our language (and stood the cold!).
He was just a Treecko when he met her,
And she saved his heart from the dark…Thank you.
You played around for four years and such,
But her parents didn't like me very much.
The Dimensional Scream idea was bad,
It made Primal Dialga really mad.
So he sent mean Dusknoir to drag them all
To punish them for breaking his main law.
At the stockade, they tied up three by three
The Sableye went on a killing spree!
Good thing they saved her for last—
He wouldn't have made it if he weren't fast.
Somehow he evolved—we don't know how,
But it let you escape and be here now.
They made her watch, she were scarred so bad,
She couldn't stop crying—it was just that sad,
Then her Dimensional Scream finally worked
She saw where the long-lost Time Gear lurked,
Then new friends found you; it was like a dream;
The Planetary Investigation Team!
We saw her picture of the Time Gear,
And told you the thing you wanted to hear;
How the planet got paralyzed. Now you know,
There IS a way to solve this! So…
For a long, long, time, they say about five years,
You ran around the world to find those Gears,
Solving puzzles, dodging Dusknoir's "army",
You even got lots of help from Celebi!
She hated how enemies snitched on us,
So you made a motto to deal with the fuss.
"Only work with those we both trust."
And he still remembers that, if know you must.
In the world of the past, can you possibly
Complete your mission—and change history?
The odds certainly won't be on your side,
Where stupid systems and beliefs reside.
No matter what happens to everyone here,
You all truly know there's nothing to fear.
You'll all fight through to the end of the strife,
To give everyone the gift of a new life!
So never forget who you are, or this rhyme,
You are, forever, the Heroes of Time!

Both Amy Purimas and Grovyles danced to the exact same music with the exact same moves. In fact, it was so catchy, even Chikorita and I joined in. The only one who wasn't dancing was Samus.

Everyone applauded at the perfect ending pose. Masquerain said, with a smile, "Now if you perform that in the past there's no way anyone can forget your story!" They all laughed, but I could tell that what he said had a much deeper meaning than what they were letting on. It would be really hard to convince any Pokémon from the past that taking the Time Gears was right, and it would only be possible to sing that song to the ones that by some miracle they did convince, such as Master Wigglytuff and the guild's ludicrous crew.

Celebi led the way. Amy Purima and Grovyle followed, and so did Masquerain and a few others. As they went through Deep Dusk Forest to get to the Passage of Time that I already knew was at the end, they had time to discuss things.

"So have you figured out what would happen?" asked Grovyle.

Masquerain replied, "We've researched extensively into the possible results and came to one conclusion. Once the Time Gears are placed in Temporal Tower, time will restore to normal everywhere."

Celebi added, "Yeah. We found that the tower is what really regulates time around the planet, not the Time Gears. Of course, it won't be easy to convince everyone otherwise. I recommend keeping a low profile."

The two of them groaned.

Amidst all of this, I noticed that Amy Purima was acting furtively. She pulled out a certain picture only when she was sure no one was watching. Curious, I glanced at it. It brought a smile to my face; it was the same picture that she drew in Quartzite Cave. The only other ones who noticed were both Grovyles, but they smiled and didn't say anything. Finally, Amy sighed and slipped it back in her pockets.

The party arrived at the Passage of Time, a glowing blue door embedded into a cliff face. We emerged from Deep Dusk Forest in time to see them say their last goodbyes. Grovyle stuffed every single Time Gear drawing into his Treasure Bag, but he allowed Amy to keep that super-secret one. (I imagine the Planetary Exploration Team gave him that Treasure Bag in the first place.)

"You ready, Amy?"

"Ready when you are, Grovyle." She gulped. "S-so this is it, huh? What do you think the past might be like?"

"Don't be scared. We have nothing to go back to…and absolutely nothing to lose."

"Nothing to lose, huh?"

"Don't worry. No matter what happens, we're going to do this together. I promise."

We heard some commotion behind us, but neither of them noticed. Celebi just whispered, "Goodbye, Grovyle…" as the two of them stepped—no, leaped—into the Passage of Time. Right when we decided to follow them, the screaming and destruction sounds got much louder, and we turned to see Dusknoir, the Sableye, and a really angry Primal Dialga destroying stuff in the forest below. With a pang, I realized that they all found where the Planetary Investigation Team was hiding, and that they were killing them all. I gasped and so did Big Amy and Chikorita.

"So that's why we never saw them ever again…not in the games or anything…" I mumbled.

"It's just like a Space Pirate massacre…" whispered Samus in horror. I could tell she was remembering her tragic past when at 3 years old they killed her family and everyone on Planetary Colony K-2L. No way I'd mention that out loud, though.

Grovyle just pushed us to the Passage of Time and said, "There's nothing we can do. Let's go. You guys still have to see how it all ended for us." With heavy hearts, we stepped through.

We were floating though the starry blue void with yellow lines receding into the horizon, the same scene that we all went through when we went back to the future. We fell through thresholds of translucent walls of light at regular intervals with no apparent effect…at least, not that we'd see yet. Our trip seemed to go smoothly, until it suddenly slowed down and got darker…and darker…and darker. Winds started to blow. We could hear sounds of rain and thunder, getting louder and louder. A movement caught our eye. It was a billowing, familiar Dark-type Pokémon in the distance. Big Amy and Chikorita blanched and whispered in shock, "Darkrai."

"So that's Darkrai…" whispered our Grovyle. Darkrai flew closer and closer, charged up a Dark Pulse attack, and threw it right at the almost-10-year-old Amy and past Grovyle. It missed, but just barely, and spun them around instead.

"AAAH! Wh-wh-whoa! Wha-what's going on?"

"Are…are you okay, Amy?"

"Yeah, but…what was that?"

We held our breaths as Darkrai launched another Dark Pulse. It also barely missed, but it grazed them instead, getting more accurate and threatening to tear them apart. The wind and sounds of rain and thunder increased, adding to the maelstrom.

"No! Don't let go! Just a little longer…Come on! Hang on!"

"But…I can't…"

By that time, Darkrai had gotten so close that Amy could finally see him. He charged up one final Dark Pulse, clearly aiming at Grovyle. Only Amy saw that, though, and she gasped, "LOOK OUT!"

She swung around to take the blow, and I couldn't watch. "NO!" shouted the past Grovyle. I opened my eyes and saw that the attack had wrenched them apart. Darkrai chuckled in evil triumph and flew away.

"Grovyle!" she shouted, flying away. She started to glow, and I realized that this was the moment she was starting to turn into a Jigglypuff. The impact from the blow spun her around and around, and each threshold wall of light we passed made her glow even brighter. Her arms, legs, hair, and her whole body in general slowly shrunk, from her original height of 4'3" to a new height of 1'8". The only thing that wasn't affected was the super-secret cute Jigglypuff picture, and I could swear that the magical light was actually drawing upon it to assist in the transformation. I almost missed all of these observations since the light was shining so brightly. It reminded me of a magical girl transformation sequence, albeit one that I personally thought would be really cool for me experience.

"WAAAAH!" they both shouted as the tunnel ended and darkness from the past's night engulfed them.

We were falling. Falling through a storm of wind and rain. A thunderstorm. We could see the whole continent of Planet Portania in the past. We saw the anguished look on the past Grovyle's face as he fell towards the intended destination—Treeshroud Forest. We saw, with horror, Amy (now a Jigglypuff) plunging straight into the stormy sea, spinning out of control. We saw the past Chikorita sleeping in Sharpedo Bluff, illuminated by the lightning. (Our Chikorita pointed and shouted, "Hey! That's me! That's me! I can't believe I was actually sleeping at a time like that!") And tears came to my eyes when I saw the how the storm shredded whatever remained of the super-secret cute picture.

And it was exactly then when we saw it. A glowing whirlpool in the sea, emitting rainbow-colored light, almost like a shining spot from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. My instincts told me that was it. Odd. Unlike the Ben 10 episode, that was exactly where I most expected it to be. "Look!" I shouted. "The exit!"

Four pairs of eyes followed my finger. "Hold on!" shouted Grovyle. I grasped Big Amy and Chikorita, and Samus and Grovyle held on to me. Samus helped aim us straight towards the whirlpool. I squeezed my eyes shut. Whether it was an illusion or not, my stomach felt tight and queasy at the sensation of falling.

After what felt like an eternity, we finally fell through. We braced ourselves. There could be any kind of horrible experimentation on the other side. But I knew what we'd find for sure: Zork, Zark, and most importantly of all, Zoroark.

To be continued…

Coming up next: We just came out of the frying pan …and Into the Fire. Do any of you know how to defeat Mother Brain—whom for some reason happens to speak like GLaDOS—with no Ice Beams, Super Missiles, or any of Samus' traditional weapons whatsoever? No? Well, NEITHER DO I!