Layne lay on a bed. His eyes hurt due to the fact that the room was lit with torches. He remembered Grovyle at one point talking about how it was impossible for them to make fire without specific pokémon. Layne could only suppose that certain pokémon, capable of producing fire, dwelled here, wherever here was. But, he was able to see his surroundings. It was deep underground. Yet again, sounding familiar in the sense with Torkoal and the survivors of Treasure Town. Layne sighed and lay back. He was trying to remember what exactly had happened. The stuff they gave him while they treated his wound must have really been strong. He still felt lightheaded.

Grovyle and Celebi entered the room. Layne managed to sit up. Grovyle leaned against the wall offering a small smile. "You're looking better."

Layne returned that smile as he draped his legs over the bedside. "A little lightheaded, but yeah. I have said it before, and I'll say it again, you guys can really work miracles."

"It's nothing out of the ordinary." Celebi said, floating to Layne, as she usually did.

"For you, at least." Layne said.

A pink pokémon entered the room. The pokémon was round, and had an egg pouch. "Are you feeling better?" she asked.

Layne popped his neck and stood up. "A little dizzy, but feeling better."

"Please sit down," the pink pokémon said. "It wouldn't be a good idea to walk around in your current state. A bit more rest would benefit you greatly."

Layne sat down. "Doctor knows best," he said.

The pink pokémon asked, "Are you hungry?" Layne shrugged. "I could go with or without food to be honest."

"I'd eat." Grovyle said. ""Your body will need the energy."

The pink pokémon chuckled, and said "I'll go fix something for you" and left the room.

Celebi then also floated up, and said, "I might as well go get ready for our hearing. I'll see you both later." They both nodded as she left.

As she left, Layne stretched himself out, and finally managed to ask, "Where are we?"

Grovyle looked at Celebi, then back at Layne. "We are at the main headquarters of the Union of Planetery Investigation."

"What's that, some planetarium thing?" Layne asked.

"The Union is the main branch in Celebi and my rebellion against Primal Dialga, and Dusknoir."

That was the first time Layne had heard the term "Primal Dialga." Remembering Palkia's words from a few weeks back, he could only guess that regular Dialga was much...nicer. Who knew?

"Where exactly are we?"

Grovyle shrugged. "I can't put it more bluntly. We're miles underground, In our headquarters."

"Underground? That's all I needed to know." he said offering a small smile.

It was then that another pokémon entered the room. Layne could only look at it, and wonder even more about the world he lived in. The pokémon was large, yellow and black, and had antenna. Simply being around it made Layne's skin crawl. That was probably because the pokémon's body had electricity sparking around it. The pokémon ignored Layne and looked at Grovyle. "There will be no mercy for you now, Grovyle. The Union will carry your sentence full."

"You've said that the past three times, Electabuzz." Grovyle said simply, crossing his arms. "In a few hours, I'll be out there again, doing what I always do."

The pokémon yelled in rage, and made a fist, which was now charging full of electricity. It threw it's punch at Grovyle, who simply avoided it, and let the pokémon punch a hole in the wall. The two pokémon glared at each other for a minute or two before Layne finally said, "What's this all about?"

The new pokémon looked at Layne. "You have been assisting Grovyle."

Layne gave an obvious stare, and said, "Uh, yeah?"

"Assisting in ways that have been forbidden by the Union." the pokémon said.

"Forbidden?" Layne asked Grovyle.

Grovyle looked at Layne. "It's a very long story. Let's just say that the Union has always been in constant turmoil as for seeking solutions to restore time."

"Your plan is a mission of suicide, not only for yourself, but for us all!" the yellow pokémon said in anger.

Layne looked at Grovyle, "Your Union doesn't like the way you roll? Ouch."

"You yourself," the pokémon said in anger at Layne, "Will have a hearing of your own. The Union has many questions for you."

"Yeah, I'll bet they do." Layne said, crossing his arms.

The pokémon growled and left the room, discharging electricity in his fists as he left.

"Who the hell was that joker?" Layne asked.

Grovyle leaned back against the now damaged cave wall and closed his eyes. "That was a rather selfish pokémon of the Union, but none the less, rather strong. Mostly muscle, no brains. His name's Electabuzz, but he calls himself, 'The Fist.'"

"How original..." Layne said hinting more sarcasm.

Grovyle sighed and looked down.

Layne saw this and asked, "What's up?"

"It's just the hearing, on my mind." Grovyle said.

"You just told...Electabuzz, you'd be out in a few hours doing what you always do again." Layne said.

"The Union is not made of fools. These pokémon that run the Union are some of the wisest pokémon that have ever lived. They will not be so easy to deal with."

"Wise? Then shouldn't they see the logic in your mission?"

Grovyle shrugged, "They do, but it's not as simple as it would seem. They look into this stuff deeply. If even one thing seems like it could bring danger to the Union, they forbid it. This Union has remained hidden from Dialga for a long time, and they wish to keep it so."

"And you've already been caught once." Layne said, remembering how Grovyle and Celebi first met.

"Yeah, they're aware of that."

"What do you reckon they'll do?"

Grovyle once again shrugged, "I never really worry too much about it, but I'm beginning to imagine their patience on me is wearing thin. But you yourself will have one. That's what worries me."

"So, I be honest, and try to make them see the point. Easy."

"You would say that..." Grovyle said. He stood straight when the pink pokémon returned with Layne's food. "You should eat. I better go get ready.

Layne watched Grovyle exit the room before turning to the food that was brought to him. A very tasty egg.

Dusknoir paced. His Master was in the room beyond, and he had summoned him. What would he tell him? Dialga was already aware of the intruder, but did he know it was a human? Did he know that Grovyle and Celebi knew the location of three Time Gears?

The sound of a low growl entered Dusknoir's ears. He was well used to the growl, but still whenever he heard it, a small chill went down his back. He entered the room. In front of him was a cave. Two red glowing eyes were suspended in the darkness of the cave.

"You summoned me, Master Dialga?"

Dusknoir listened to his Master's telepathy. Dialga rarely spoke anymore, which was probably the effect of his Primal stage. A small price to pay for such power, Dusknoir thought to himself. Dusknoir straightened, as he heard the mental command, "REPORT."

Dusknoir thought quick on where to begin. "You were right. There is indeed a stranger here in this world. A human. Not just any human. This human possesses the Dimensional Scream."

At the mention of the Dimensional Scream, Dialga growled loudly. Dusknoir didn't sweat, and he was glad he didn't, because making this report was not easy, and he would be sweating up a storm if he did sweat.

"He had joined with Grovyle and Celebi, and I am dishonored and ashamed to report, they have discovered the locations of the Time Gears in Treeshroud Forest, Limestone Cavern, and Fogbound Lake. My Sabeleye and I are doing what we can to prevent them from discovering the locations of the other two."

There was silence. Dusknoir was beginning to think Dialga would finally just destroy him. Bt a low growl simply entered his ear again. Dusknoir was silent for a moment, before he said, "I await your command, Master Dialga."

The two Sabeleye greeted Dusknoir as he exited Dialga's chamber. They approached and said, "Is everything okay?"

Dusknoir looked down at them and said, "Fine. Don't worry about it. We've been given a very important mission. Assemble all the Sabeleye you can. Dialga's detected power nearby. It just might be the human."

Grovyle and Celebi stood before the Union's Council. The head of the Council, an Alakazam who was called by others, Prospero. Grovyle called him by that, though sometimes names confused him. Very few pokémon gave themselves, or were given names.

Prospero sighed and shut his eyes. "Grovyle, you once again have disobeided orders of the Union. You disappoint me. You are a warrior of this Union of great skill, yet you are rash, and stubborn. You will put us all in danger!"

"Council members, if you would just listen-"

"Be silent!" another member, Dragonair, said. "We have all heard your claims, and if it weren't for your reckless ways of getting into trouble with Dusknoir, we might actually listen better to your claims."

Celebi looked at Grovyle and shook her head sadly. Prospero raised a calming hand to Dragonair, and turned his attention back to Grovyle. "Dragonair raises a point. Your continuous reckless actions will one day put the Union at serious danger. If the Union vanishes, so does all hope of restoring time."

"Prospero, I am begging you to listen. I believe we have found hope."

Prospero sighed. "You have claimed to have found this many times, Grovyle."

Grovyle shot back, "If you knew what I had found, you'd think differently."

Prospero simply said, "You are talking about the human companion, are you not?"

Celebi lightened up. "Yes! Layne! He's been helping us out!"

There was silence.

Prospero continued. "The human's presence in this world will be investigated. We will be talking with him soon. We trust his wounds from earlier have cleared for the most part."

Grovyle sighed. "His story is certainly interesting. We've learned much from each other over the past few weeks. Once you talk to him, I think you will see why I think it is imperative that we continue what we've been doing."

The council members murmered amongst each other at that statement, before Prospero spoke up, "Why would you say that, Grovyle?"

Grovyle simply looked at Prospero and said, "Perhaps you should find out for yourself."

Layne was led down a dark cave. Up ahead he could see very dim white light. He was told earlier that he'd be attending a hearing of his own. Perhaps it had come. Layne sighed. They entered the bigger room. He couldn't see any of the council member faces, but he knew each one was staring down at him. Upon entering the room, the council members murmered at each other. Obviously, they were a bit surprised to have a human standing in their presence.

A voice said, "State your name."

Layne was a bit weirded out by this. "Uhh, Layne. Can I ask-"

"Please...Layne. We understand you most likely have some questions, but you should also be aware that we have many as well."

"That figures," Layne said feeling around, and finally feeling a chair he sat on.

The main council figure's eyes glowed as he spoke, "We'd very much like to know, how it is you came to this world."

Layne sighed. "I've told this story already."

"Not to us you haven't. Layne we understand that you've probably answered many of these questions before, but it is essential that we know. Depending on your answers, we may have to discipline Grovyle and Celebi for their continuous disobedience toward our orders."

"Grovyle and Celebi mean you no harm." Layne said. "I've been traveling with them for three weeks. Grovyle's helped me survive this hellhole of a world."

"You are a bit more unique than most other human visitors we've had." the figure said.

At that, Layne's eyes went a little wide. "What do you mean, 'other human visitors?' You mean there have been-"

"Other humans before yourself? Yes. Human visits, though as rare an occasion as they are, are not unknown in this world. My great-great-great-great grandfather once knew a human, which had turned into a pokémon to help save the world from a giant comet collision. And like that human's visit, there have been other human visits in the past as well. Though the nature of their visits, greatly differed."

Layne's mind was blown away right now. "I don't understand. How far away are we from Earth?"

"Earth?"

"It's where I came from. I didn't know other humans visited here."

"It is quite possible that humans exist elsewhere other than your Earth home you speak of." Another figure spoke.

"Humans in other places? Wow. Maybe they managed to fair better than the ones where I came from did." Layne said, crossing his arms, skeptical to this whole conversation. "Whatever happened to the human your...family encountered?"

"Eventually he returned to his own world. We never heard from him again."

Layne sighed, "Well where I came from there was never really some lunatic ranting about Pokémón worlds. Which offers some backup to what you say about other humans, I guess."

"Lucario did mention your aura being different. I too feel a different...presence to your self. Indeed, you have come from a further off world than we are aware of. Which brings me back to my first question. How did you get here?"

Layne sighed and popped his neck. "I was transported here by some pokémon who called himself, Palkia."

The council members muttered amongst themselves at this. One council member said, "You speak of the pokémon that no one has seen since Time's Paralysis!"

"The pinkish Space Godzilla pokémon? Yeah, that guy." Layne said, remembering the pokémon's odd shape.

Another council member showed disbelief in Layne's story. "Palkia has been in absence for far too long. And he just appears to you?"

"He told me he had been searching other worlds for help."

"He certainly took his time then." the member said.

Layne was getting annoyed. "Look whether you choose to believe me or not, is not my interest, or my concern! All I know is, I'm here now, and I didn't come here to be insulted by pokémon I can't even see!"

"Listen to yourself!" Another council member said. "If I were thinking right, Palkia made a poor decision."

The main council member who had been doing the speaking, finally said, "Enough!"

There was silence for a few seconds. "Bring in Grovyle and Celebi."

A few seconds later, Grovyle and Celebi appeared right beside Layne. Layne looked over, and just shrugged. Grovyle gave him one of the 'it's okay' looks and looked to the center. The center member of the council spoke, "Your human companion tells some very strange stories, Grovyle."

Grovyle spoke, "None the less, he has been a great help to us."

How?" another council member asked. "This human is a fool! A creature with a sharp mouth and an unneeded sense for sarcasm! How could he even benefit you, or the Union?"

"He has helped us find the location of three Time Gears, in a matter of weeks."

The council erupted into a series of discussion, until the center figure once again rose a hand. The center figure once again spoke, "You speak again of the Time Gears. There is no sure way we can confirm their once rumored locations. And though you've been searching for years for these, you say you've managed to discover three of their locations. How can you be so sure, Grovyle?

Grovyle gave a look of confidence. "Because he possesses the Dimensional Scream."

At those words, the center figure rose up out of his chair immediately. The rest of the council erupted back into discussion, only not of disbelief, but almost fear. Layne looked at Grovyle and Celebi, who also looked rather confused.

The center council member said finally, "We must leave this area immediately. If what Grovyle says is true, Dialga could have easily detected such power and-

It was about then, that Electabuzz ran in. "Pardon my interruption, council members, but we are under attack by Dusknoir and his Sabeleye!"

There was silence. The attention seemed to shift towards the center council member.

"They've finally found us...after all these years. They've finally found us..."