Note: Hey guys! I got good news, bad news, amd worse news. The bad news, is that my room has no access to Internet. The worse news, is thto I'EV been hunting for shiny Larvesta since the plane ride. But the good news, is that the lobby has Internet... Here you guys go, thanks for waiting... Here's another chappie!
Rose's POV:
"T-this place is... huge!" I frantically panted, running along from a group of Bronzong.
"I wouldn't say it's hospitable though..." Celsus screamed as he fluttered along.
"It feels... kinda cold..." Claire muttered.
We had finally arrived at our main destination for this expedition... Temporal Tower... Unlike the Temporal Tower that was portrayed in illustrations on books about legends, this one seemed drastically different. However, it may be because of what Lapras had told us about Temporal Tower having changed a lot.
The tower gleaned a sky blue color. Fragmented now into different floating segments held together by webs of ice, the tower creaked ominously as hailstones entered and exited through its almost visible skeleton.
Inside the tower, however, was an entirely different environment compared to its exterior. Once inside, we saw that there was little to no sight of the sky despite the fact that the tower seemed half-wrecked from the outside. Inside the tower, there was a dark atmosphere present. The floor was coated with thick ice, as of it lay frozen in the many years it was unvisited. The floors of the tower all seemed like a frozen piece of ground suspended in mid-air, looking down from the non-floor areas, there was no evidence that previous floors ever existed as we saw only murky darkness for as deep it could get.
"Hey!" I groaned as I skidded across the icy floor, "S-stop, I think I- Umph!"
I looked up and much to my horror, I had accidentally collided into yet another sleeping Bronzong. The angered bell awoke from its slumber and began to float, chasing us down.
Before it could get to us, though... A huge comet slammed down towards it, knocking it out.
"Everybody okay?" Sandra panted, exhausted from the recoil of her Draco Meteor.
We all nodded in silence, just glad that the Bronzong was defeated. Our short-lived peace was interrupted when we heard the metallic scraping of the Bronzong that were still after us.
I tried launching Psychic, but it didn't do much, considering that the bronze bells had the type advantage. Angered by my attempt, one began to spin as it charged at me with Gyro Ball.
"Ugh..." I coughed as I rolled through the sheet of ice.
My body slid through the sheet of ice until I felt it fall. My mind snapped open, being aware that I was about to fall into eternal darkness. Desperate, I climbed on to the edge of the ice sheet.
"Go and help Rose! I'll take care of this... Please..." I heard Claire call.
"Huh? Claire?" Sandra weakly muttered, "Are you sure you can manage? You might get hurt! These Bronzong aren't exactly weak..."
"Just do it!" Claire commanded, "I'll take care of this... I hope..."
I began to hear the whipping of Sandra's wings and the faint buzzing of Celsus's as I could feel them approach me.
"Okay... Trust me on this one... Just let go," I heard Sandra say.
"What? Did you just tell me to let go?" I returned with a nervous laugh.
"Yes," Celsus returned, charging his body against my hand, "Don't waste any time!"
With a terrified yelp, I fell through the darkness... At least, until I felt my bottom land on something smooth and warm.
"Yeowch... I think my back's gonna break with this kind of weight..." I heard Sandra silently yelp.
I would have said something if I wasn't hugging onto Sandra's neck and sweating like mad.
Soon enough, I felt Sandra's body become motionless, indicating that we were back on land. I still refused to let go of her neck though, as my hands were mashed together like glue.
"Rose... Can you please... let go?" I heard her gasp, "I can't breathe..."
Despite hearing her, my arms refused to move... At least until Celsus knocked me off his partner.
"Sandra? You okay? I hope Rose's weight didn't do anything to your back," he frantically questioned in concern, ignoring my presence.
I would certainly have smacked him if I was not breathing heavily while trying to remember the feeling of being on solid land once more.
"Oh no!" Sandra suddenly shot up, her wings jutting out, "We forgot about Claire!"
Sandra immediately whipped her wings and propelled herself away. Celsus and I frantically followed after her. When we saw Claire again, she was calmly floating at the center of several knocked out Bronzong.
"Are you guys okay?" Claire asked in concern.
"C-Claire?" Sandra gasped in surprise, "Y-you did this?"
"Yes... I hope I didn't do badly..." Claire shyly bowed.
It took a couple of minutes for her answer to sink into me. When it did, there was only one word echoing in my mind. Unbelievable...
"Y-you did pretty well... Are you sure y-you aren't hurt?" Sandra weakly looked back at her.
"No, I'm perfectly fine," she replied, "It's you that looks hurt, Sandra... Are you okay?"
"I'm fine... We should probably get a move on..." Sandra coughed.
"Okay then... Just don't push yourself," I advised, concerned on how sickly Sandra was looking at the moment.
Before we continued to head up the stairs, Sandra suddenly collapsed to the ground.
"Sandra!" Celsus screamed as he fluttered to her side immediately.
I immediately began to wildly search my bag for anything that might help the fallen Flygon. When I found a Reviver Seed, I immediately handed one to Celsus.
"Here, give this to Sandra," I frantically warned.
Celsus didn't wait for me to repeat it as he immediately stuffed the seed into Sandra's open mouth. She opened her eyes soon, her eyes now filled with energy compared to the fatigue awhile ago.
"I hope you can still continue?" I silently told her.
"Hey! I can do better than this!" she smiled back, dismissing Celsus's worried questions as he fluttered about her.
I smiled. These were my friends. I began to feel thankful that they would continue to stay by my side, even if this was not their fight.
All if a sudden, I began to feel something heavy weigh down on my chest. It was not their fight... I dragged them into this... Sandra got hurt, not because of Celsus, but me...
I turned back at them to see that they were evidently tired, but they still continued on for my sake.
I stopped walking.
"Are you sure you all wish to continue?" I warned, not looking at any one of them for fear of guilt, "After Sandra going through all that pain, I do not wish any more pain to befall any of you."
"Huh? What are you talking about?" I heard Celsus ask.
"I'm sorry for dragging you all into this mess," I continued, "I just realized that you're all in this, all because of me... If you were to get hurt even more, it would be my fault... If you think that this is too much for you to risk, it's not too late to turn back..."
"We didn't ask for an apology," Sandra warmly said, "But for you to show this kind of concern... It's actually doing the opposite of what you intend to show."
"Huh?" I turned back to face them.
They all smiled back at me.
"Rose, do we look like we want to go back?" Sandra smiled, "We're still here, Rose... Your pains... Well, we'd be glad to help you through it... Just the same as you helped us..."
"Although, I'd have to say," Celsus gave a sly laugh, "For an uncaring thief like you to suddenly show concern like this... It's... kinda fun to see."
My guilt slowly evaporated into a smile... Then that smile slowly curved into irritation.
"Oh really? Says the little Masquerain who childishly enlisted me just to win the heart if his love interest..." I retorted.
"H-hey," Celsus blushed, "I wasn't thinking clearly that time!"
Everyone burst into laughter, save for Celsus, who was busy hiding his face from Sandra.
We continued to scale the tower, skidding through brittle icy floors. Soon enough, we had made it to the midpoint of the tower. As we entered the mid-point, I began to note that the floors weren't made of ice anymore but steel.
"Something tells me we're getting close," Claire murmured.
"What makes you say that?" I asked her, while looking at Celsus trying to impress a fatigued yet amused Sandra.
"I... just keep feeling these vibes..." Claire shyly muttered, "Oh... You probably think I'm stupid now..."
"Na..." I continued, "I just hope that you take it easy, Claire... Don't be too serious, I wouldn't want your fragile state of stability to break back into the shadows..."
She stared back at me seriously...
"R-rose... About that... I've been feeling these... odd sensations..." Claire began to sulk, "They're just really huge... feelings of negativity... It just makes me go... angry and all..."
"Then just relax, Claire," I comforted her, "You're with us now, don't take things too harshly..."
"Are you two done chatting?" Celsus barked out, "Sandra's done with... whatever business she has and if she's done... So am I... Are we going, or not?"
Claire immediately took my hand and led me to them.
"Yeah, let's get a move on," she shyly nods.
The rest of the tower was pretty easy, compared to the lower floors. It wasn't inhabited much, but we noticed holes from the wall wherein the cold winds blew in.
The floor was slightly more metallic now, although some spots were still covered by ice. We managed to make it through, not disturbing anything.
When we reached the top, we breathed a sigh of relief.
"The view looks much better from up here," Sandra cheerfully stated.
I walked over to the edge and looked down. We were above the clouds which carried the hail and on the golden roof of the tower itself. From up here, I could see the segments of Temporal Tower that weren't damaged. It seemed a little more like the old Temporal Tower drawn in the books depicting the legends.
"Uh... Now that we're up here... What do we do?" Celsus suddenly called out.
I turned back to him and noticed one thing. The pinnacle of the tower was completely desolate. Save for some rocky structures jutting out from the ground and a half broken altar with several gears frozen in place, there was nothing else there. No Dialga, no nothing.
"Hmm... Rose would probably know what to do," Sandra looks up at me.
I stepped on the center, expecting something to show up.
...
...
Nothing happened. Only the hollow wind greeted us.
"Please don't tell me we scaled this entire tower for nothing," Celsus cursed.
"No! I'm sure there's something I'm missing," I began to frantically search through my bag, "Lapras said that this was where Dialga resided..."
All of a sudden, something fell out of my bag. It was a rock shaped in the fashion of an Unown-G. Then, I began to remember what Miles had said.
"Should you come across runes that prevent you from going any further, use this Unown Key."
... Or something along those lines.
I took the small rock and set it on the center of the altar. Then, I sat down and waited.
...
It was probably going to work... Probably.
After a few minutes, Celsus began to squirm and he was about to open his mouth and complain when all of a sudden, a huge flash of light suddenly struck down at the altar.
When the light had faded, the Temporal Pinnacle had changed. It seemed... less desolate... Much more... younger... The gears on the altar seemed to be glowing now.
"Hey..." a small voice called.
I looked around for the source of the voice, only to find no-one.
"Look down..." it commanded.
When I did, I found the source of the voice to be the key itself. It had become a live Unown-G.
"Woah!" I gasped as I edged away, "It's alive!"
The Unown seemed to giggle a little at my surprise.
"Oh, sorry if I had scared you," the small floating symbol continued, "But I have a message for you... This is the Temporal Pinnacle in the past... Dialga no longer resides here in the present... However, this recreation of the past is merely an illusion... The gate to Dialga's home now lies in the middle of the illusion of the last and reality..."
I began to wrinkle my chin. Everything seemed different... until I saw that the altar was slightly faded, that some part of it still looked broken or something like that.
I carefully walked towards it and touched it, only for it to suddenly ripple as if I was touching water.
"Hmm... I suppose you have managed to find the entrance," the Unown continued, "I guess there is nothing left to do now other than prove yourself to Dialga... I am sorry that I can be of little use to you, but allow me to wish you all the best of luck."
I looked back and saw all my friends staring eagerly at me.
"Well, I guess this is it," Sandra smiled.
"Hmm... I hope you can fare well against Dialga alone..." Celsus smiled, "Are you sure payout aren't taking us with you?"
"Thank you all for helping me make it this far..." I smiled, "For that, I won't let you all down."
"Don't be stupid!" Celsus suddenly shot out as they all charged towards me, "We're not letting you take Dialga on alone..."
"Let's do it! Together!" Claire nodded, and with one final push, we dived into the ripples.
Time... is being agitated... Threats have been detected entering the mainframe... Prepare... Prepare for elimination!
Note: Well, I guess they're up against Dialga now... Will they make it? Or not... That'll all be revealed in the next chappie, of course... Don't forget to leave a review... I haven't been able to sleep much since my plane ride... So I guess I'm going now... Seeya guys then... Till the next chappie... (or when I get a shiny Larvesta...) Bye~