The black, white, and grey orb appeared again as it's voice echoed all around. "Hello Rigel. I did not expect to be speaking to you again so soon."
"Yeah, well we are speaking again," Rigel said. "And I want answers, who will I need help from, why would I hate them? And what if I don't want their help?"
"You do not have a choice." the voice said. "If you do not meet them and help them, then much of the world will become like what you see below. Everyone that you love may perish, along with countless others you will never meet."
"But why me?" Rigel asked. "What makes me the one who has to do this? I'm sure there is someone that could do it far better than me."
"I do not know." the voice replied. "I did not choose your fate, I have only given you a way to see it. It was your destiny even before you found the monolith."
"How do you know these things? Just what are you?"
"I am merely an observer, watching the tides of time as they wash across the shores of eternity. While that may not seem like a satisfactory answer to you, it is the only answer I can safely give, because if I explained fully, then I doubt you would understand. Now our conversation must end, but remember that I am always watching you. Wake up, Rigel."
As Rigel awakened from the world of his dreams, he was met with a sight that was far better than anything he could see there. Even though he felt some pain in his leg, a smile spread across his face as he looked up to see Sapphire standing over him, who's worried expression quickly changed to one of relief as Rigel began to move.
"Oh, you're finally awake." Sapphire said before calling to the others. "He's awake everyone."
"Uh, y-yeah, I'm awake." Rigel said as he looked around, seeing his friends gathering around him, but there was one that was different. Tarazed was now almost two feet taller, with piercing red eyes and a red tipped crest growing from his head. "So, you evolved again Tarazed? What happened to that human?"
"We chased it off." Tarazed said. "After all of it's pokemon got knocked out, it ran away. Coward. Anyway, it pretty much abandoned it's pokemon. They're still out cold."
"Ok," Rigel said before starting to try and stand up. "If they were only following orders like the Ludicolo said, then they shouldn't atta- agh!" Terrible pain shot through his right hind leg as he put weight on it, causing him to fall back down.
"Rigel, are you ok?" Meissa asked. "What's wrong?"
"Agh, my leg." Rigel said through the pain. "Something's wrong with my leg. It must have been that Sableye's rock."
"Let me see." Aludra said as she kneeled down to inspect Rigel's leg. She closed her eyes as the four growths on the back of her head began to rise up, and she moved her hand back and forth above Rigel's leg as it began to glow with a pink energy. After several seconds of doing this, she opened her eyes and stopped movingher hand. "Ok, try standing up now."
Rigel tried to get up again, but fell as soon as he put weight on his leg. "Agh, that didn't help at all."
"Well, sorry." Aludra said. "Apparently I still haven't got Heal Pulse down. Hey rustbucket, can you figure out what's wrong?"
"This unit's designation is-" Gauss said before being cut off by Aludra.
"We know, Gauss, not rustbucket. Can you figure out the problem or not?"
Gauss focused it's eye on Aludra for a moment before speaking. "Negative. This unit is not equipped for medical scans, so diagnosis can not be made. Please refer to your nearest memory file not found."
Aludra looked at Gauss in confusion for a few seconds before turning her attention back to Rigel. "Alright, rustbucket can't help figure out what's wrong and neither can I. What should we do? We can't leave him here, but we can't just stay."
"This unit can transport Rigel." Gauss said. "Scans show he is below this unit's weight limit."
"Uh, ok Gauss." Meissa said. "I'm kind of surprised that you're volunteering rather than waiting for someone to ask, but I guess it doesn't matter." She then used her shadow to pick Rigel up, careful to not move his leg too much, and place him in one of the spaces between Gauss's main body and a side unit, facing backward.
"Well, this isn't the most comfortable place I've been," Rigel said. "But it will have to work. Where exactly are we going now?"
"Hmm, good question." Aludra said before walking down the path. "I doubt we could easily find an Audino or something around here, so we should probably just keep following the road and hope we get lucky. Let's go."
"This is not going to be a good experience, I just know it." Rigel thought as Gauss began floating after Aludra. "Why did Meissa put me on here like this anyway?"
"Are you comfortable Rigel?" Sapphire asked as she was walking behind Gauss.
"No, not in the least bit, I have a nice view though." Rigel thought, but he would rather not say that. "Uh, y-yeah, I'm fine."
"Good," Sapphire said. "I, uh, we don't want to see you getting hurt any more."
"That's n-nice to hear. Uh, Sapphire, would you mind staying h-here and, you know, talking with me? Things would get pretty boring without someone to talk to."
"Um... sure, I'd be glad to."
Rigel and Sapphire talked about many things while traveling on that road, completely distracting Rigel from the pain in his leg. Even though he often stopped and stuttered, he enjoyed every minute of the conversation, but in the back of his mind he could still hear the words of the strange voice, telling him that it was always watching him.
