Chapter 19: Closing the Loophole

There was the wild static rainbow again, Trey thought. But he wouldn't be seeing it again. This time, he was going to make sure that things went right. He was going to fix Time once and for all, even if Time then decided it would not let him exist. Then, what would happen to Stacy and Kip?

As long as they were allowed to live in a sun-lit world as it was meant to be, it was good.

The static began to clear, so they must have crossed enough time. But when it grew increasingly black, he grew alarmed. He gripped Sally's hand tighter. "We can't let go," he said.

She nodded.

"It's a nice sentiment," a warped voice replied. "But I can't let this little plan of yours to continue."

Trey felt a rapid growth of energy, but Sally located its source first. She grabbed him with her other arm and pulled him closer. Before he could resist being protected, there was a loud bang. The burst of dark energy struck them both and they had no way of avoiding the attack in the Passage.

She had taken the brunt of the attack, Trey realized with horror. "Hold on! We'll make it through…" she shuddered. "Come on!"

Sally seemed to be fainting. Trey tried to grip her tighter, but the Passage was breaking up. As the tamed magic of Celebi turned wild, it pulled at them in a hundred different directions. The human got pulled away from him. He had to use all his strength!

"I… I can't…" But no matter how he tried to rally his will, the wild magic was stronger.

What's the use of this struggle? The wild magic tapped into his darkness and made its voice louder than normal. This would only end in oblivion, for both of them. No one would remember them, not Kip, not Stacy, not Celebi, no one would be allowed to remember a paradox. But he didn't want the dark future to be the only future.

Their attacker did not like this struggle and blasted them again. Sally got ripped from Trey's arms; both were thrown into a maelstrom of energy. "No! Whaaaaa!"


That should fix things. Darkrai was satisfied. He turned around and headed back to the era of darkness.


There was a massive roar. Dialga was not happy.

Drakken felt afraid. When Dialga wasn't happy, Pokemon tended to die. So far, he had been safe. But what about now? Although battered and bleeding, he came up to Dialga's platform and bowed to him. "Master, what is it?"

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"

He paused a bit so he didn't sound so winded. "I encountered Mewtwo in the Hidden Land; he hit me with a surprise attack. Celebi joined him later, but they teleported away after that. They must have been up to something."

"OF COURSE THEY WERE UP TO SOMETHING! I DETECTED UNAUTHORIZED TIME TRAVEL WHILE YOU WERE GONE."

That was bad, enough that Dialga might take his anger out on anyone. Drakken deflected such an outburst from killing him by redirecting it. "The Grovyle and the human?"

"MOST LIKELY. I WANT YOU TO GO AFTER THEM AND BRING THEM BACK BEFORE THEY DO IRREPARABLE DAMAGE. HISTORY MUST REMAIN AS IT IS."

"Of course, Master." He bowed, relieved.

"TAKE SOME TIME TO STUDY, THEN RECRUIT A SQUAD OF SABLEYES TO GO WITH YOU. I WILL SEND YOU BACK TO THE POINT THEY WENT. I DO NOT APPOVE OF TIME TRAVEL IN ANY DIRECTION BUT FORWARD, BUT WE MUST STOP THESE REBELS."

"I will do so."


"A rum-tum-tum, yum-tum-tum, boom boosh bah!"

Sally heard the voice over the steady ocean waves. Who was that? She searched her memory…

A thousand images crashed together, scattered all about her mind, then rolled off into dark corners, maybe never to be seen again.

"A yum-tum-tum, bah-domp-pah-chi!" There were footsteps, like some Pokemon was hopping down stone steps.

Sally started to sit up, but her head swam with pain. She looked over her yellow shirt and black pants. They didn't seem to be damaged or dirtied, aside from a bit of sand. But then why did her body feel like it had been blasted with enough power to ruin her memory too?

The hopping footsteps paused. "Oh, who's this?" The Pokemon ran over to her.

When she looked over, she saw a round pink Pokemon with long ears that stuck out of the sides. It had saucer-like bright blue eyes that looked over her curiously. A confused thought wandered into her consciousness, believing that the pink Pokemon should have been smaller and thinner. Or maybe taller. But that wasn't who was in front of her.

The Wigglytuff patted her. "A human! How rare! What's your name? Will you be my friend?"

She brought a hand up and signed, "Sally." Then she realized, maybe he wouldn't know. But then, she didn't know much either.

"Oh, it's been a long time since I've seen that. What was it? The language of the deaf? But you seem to hear, so?"

She pushed back her hair, showing off her hearing aid. Then she signed her name slower. If he wasn't familiar with it, the slower signs might help him understand.

"That's… S A L L Y. Sally?"

She nodded.

The Wigglytuff grinned. "Hi Sally! I'm Bartleby. I hope you'll be friends with me. What are you doing here in Beach Cave? It's going to be a nice morning, but most everybody else is sleeping."

She signed that she didn't know, then held her head. Maybe that would work.

"Oh, you got hurt and you don't know? Was it an accident?" When she shrugged, he asked, "Do you remember anything?"

She shook her head. What she did remember was all broken up and she couldn't make sense of it.

He looked sad. "Aw, that's too bad. I'll take you to the hospital, okay? We'll make sure that you're not any more badly hurt."

Standing up slowly, she managed to keep her head from swirling enough to follow Bartleby out of the dungeon and to the hospital. As she got settled into her room, the first rays of dawn came in through the window. It was beautiful and, somehow, seemed exotic and new. It also stirred up many questions in Sally's mind. What had happened to her? And could she figure out anything?


Trey tumbled along a grassy path. His bones seem to throb with pain. However he got up on his knees and looked around. His head felt faint, but he got to behind a bush before lying down. Then he waited and watched for his attacker.

It remained quiet.

But not silent. A cool breeze rustled the leaves, sending green fragrences into the air. In the trees around him, he heard chirps, calls, and song from various wild Pokemon. They were content; they felt safe. It felt so different. It reminded him…

His mind suddenly got confused. What did it remind him of? The rebel base, although housing many Pokemon, had not been so peaceful that Pokemon would feel free to sing in the halls. He looked up through the trees and saw stars and a full moon. A moon… he was in the past! He was out of the era of darkness.

He opened his bag and pulled out an Oran Berry and a Wonder Map. After eating the berry, he checked on his location. According to it… he was in Treeshroud Forest. That had been one of their goals.

Trey felt horrible, though. He had failed to keep Sally safe. They were supposed to use her Dimensional Scream to get the Time Gears, but he had lost her. Looking over the friendship bracelet she had made, he wondered where and when the collapsing Passage had tossed her. As he traced the orange threads, he also came to wonder when exactly she had given it to him. Trey knew it had been made by her, and he knew it was a sign of their friendship. But his mind seemed to come up with a blank on when she had given it to him. Maybe coming to an era when time flowed had confused his memories.

Well, his goal was still the same: get those five Time Gears and return them to Temporal Tower before it collapsed and brought about the era of darkness. Once he recovered from the attack, he would go further into the dungeon and get the first.

He wound up falling asleep before he realized it. A hoot from nearby woke him up. As he jumped to readiness, he saw a Hoothoot in the tree above him. The wild Pokemon looked down at him, blinked, then took off, showing no interest in battle.

"How strange," Trey whispered to himself. The past was very different.

He leapt into the tree himself and climbed up to get a look at the dungeon layout. The sky was an odd silvery-violet. Wondering, he stuck around. The silvery-violet lightened and lightened, turning to blue. The brilliant orange sun crept above the horizon. A new day had started.

The sight gave Trey a giddy shiver. He couldn't recall seeing so many bright and lively colors in one sight. It was a magnificent treasure, one that he could only hold with his eyes and memory.

A treasure only held with memory… the phrase seemed important, but Trey wasn't sure why. Had the accident affected his mind? He rubbed his head, but found no blood, no wounds, no sensitive spots. Something was off, though. It couldn't be as important as his mission, he reminded himself. He jumped to the next tree and began making his way through Treeshroud Forest.

Some time later, he began to feel uncomfortably hot. Especially on his skin. He paused in a shady spot by a river, trying to cool himself off. Why was he so hot? The sun was warming things up, true, so it was warmer than he was used to being. But somehow, even as he soaked his leaves and drank deeply of the clean and flowing water, he was still hot.

He changed his paths so that he was only traveling in shaded areas. However, even this did not help him. He collapsed in a hallway.


When Trey woke up, he found himself in the Treasure Town hospital. A salt-tinged breeze came through the window. There was a music box playing nearby, but it didn't seem to be in his room. And this place was truly one of hope and healing. It seemed especially foreign.

A Blissey came into the room. "Hi, stranger! Don't panic. We'll send you back to your home when you are better."

Trey tensed. They would send him back home? How did they figure out that he wasn't from this time?

"Someone took pity on you, wild one," she went on. "And good thing. There is something very strange about you. But I'm here to help. Oh, and your bag is over here. Such an old thing, but I guess it's lucky for you that you found it. I'll let you take it back."

Wild one? Oh. Trey realized that some explorers must have found him and assumed he was a wild Pokemon of Treeshroud Forest. It was quite a risk for explorers to take, to send a sick wild Pokemon into town to be healed. Wild ones varied in intelligence and constraint. He decided to use the assumption as his cover. Keeping his posture wary, he watched and listened quietly as the doctor chattered on. He noticed that she was a little cautious in dealing with him, but cared enough to go ahead and heal him.

"Some mishap in your hatching gave you your pale skin," she said. "It absorbs the sunlight like the skin of any other Grass type Pokemon, but your skin seems to be working much too well. It absorbs so much sunlight so quickly that it becomes dangerous to you. Perhaps you've noticed this isn't the only time you've fainted in the daytime? It's a tragic handicap."

So that was it. The adaptation that allowed him to survive in the era of darkness when the other Grass types fell to anemia was now working against him. He would have to operate at night or under the cover of caves, spending the day by using Dig to be out of harms way. But the sunrise had been so beautiful. It was a shame that he had to avoid the sun, especially when he was trying to save it along with time.

"But you would need some sun to live a healthy life. You should take refuge in a dark and cool spot whenever you start to get too warm. I brought you a berry drink to help you recover." She put the bottle, opened, near his bed. "When evening comes, the explorers that found you will come back to send you back to your forest. Just stay here; I forbade anyone else from coming in here." She then left the room.

After she left, Trey drank the berry smoothie. It tasted better than anything he'd had in the future, much richer and fresher. He stayed in the room, waiting. While there were a few books on the shelf, he had to resist reading them. They thought he was an uneducated uncivilized Pokemon, after all.

Instead, he watched out the window. There were a great many Pokemon out there, of a great variety. They seemed happy, peaceful, cooperative, and good. Most of them had probably never fought off inner or outer darkness. They openly trusted and loved each other. Trey felt jealous of them. At the same time, he felt an affirming of his responsibility. He had to make sure these good Pokemon could continue their happy peaceful lives.

He got a surprise, then, when he spotted a human walking on the paths outside. And not just any human; it was Sally! She was there in her loose yellow shirt and long black pants. She had that pale albino coloration. And she seemed safe, happy.

Trey smiled and considered sneaking out to go see her. He looked over the group with her. There was a Squirtle, a Treecko, and a Skitty. The group seemed quite close, but that didn't surprise Trey. Sally was so friendly, even in the era of darkness, that it was easy to get close to her.

He heard their conversations through the window. "That was a tough fight," the Squirtle said. "But I'm glad we arrested him."

"Tough?" the Skitty asked. "You weren't the one who had a type weakness against him. Oo, my head is still tender." He rubbed it with his paw. "I hope I didn't forget anything in that."

The others laughed. The Treecko then tugged at Sally's pants. "Hey, speaking of forgetting, did you remember anything yet, from before you joined the Guild?"

The human shook her head and signed, "It's all still a mess in here." She tapped her head.

She didn't remember? Trey gripped the friendship bracelet he wore. If he got out of here, there was a chance that she didn't remember him? Or their mission? And then what of his memory? He couldn't remember when Sally gave him this bracelet. And, as much as he tried to think about it, he couldn't remember back to when he was a Treecko. But he must have been one, at one point.

The group passed on. Trey wound up slipping the bracelet back into his Treasure Bag. It was only making him upset as he couldn't remember something related to it. In the evening, a Zangoose was allowed into the room. "You might do better in an area with caves around," he said. "Did you want to go elsewhere?"

He shook his head.

"All right, fellow. Well, take care of yourself. I don't want to see you passed out again." He took him to a Kadabra, who sent him back to Treeshroud Forest.


He had to do this at night. Trey went deep into the forest. As he made his way through the tree lined path, a storm burst overhead. The rain fell in cold droplets blown about by the raging winds. Lightning flashed across the sky, followed by great claps of thunder. In the era of darkness, there weren't any storms. While the local Pokemon hid to remain dry, the Grovyle relished the wild weather. One could not fall into an endless unvarying routine in this era.

When he got to the final clearing, he felt wary. The storm had quieted, leaving the ground muddy and damp. Was there a guardian of the Gear in this time? He moved around the trees silently, but encountered no one. If there was one, his Opal Band was keeping him from being noticed. So Trey turned his attention to the Time Gear itself.

It was a marvel, a simple metal gear that emitted a green glow. It was slotted into a circular depression. Despite having no teeth to push off from, the Gear ticked and steadily turned around to measure the time. There was no nut or bolt keeping it in place. Perhaps it was tied in with aura, or something a regular Pokemon like himself could not see.

Trey had no idea how powerful it was, or if there was some way it was kept securely in place. He would imagine it to be so; even in this time of relative safety, no one would be idiotic enough to just leave it free to be taken. Right? He reached down and grasped the Gear, then pulled with all his strength.

He wound up falling over backwards as the Gear came out easily. In disbelief, he got up and looked at the Gear. At regular intervals, it seemed to tug at something. It was still working, even as he had removed it. And he felt it tug at him once, like it linked to his soul.

"You don't belong here," he said quietly. "Do you know what I'm… no, that's ridiculous."

There was a flash of strange energy that erupted from the depression where the Gear had been. He felt that tug again. Treeshroud Forest was going to freeze and if he didn't get a move on, he would freeze with it. He whipped out an Escape Orb and smashed it at his feet.

When he appeared outside the entrance to the dungeon, he waited a moment. He saw the wave of energy run out of steam at the edge of the forest. Looking inside, everything was frozen in time. But not paralyzed. The whole place seemed grayer than before, but it wasn't filled with darkness like the planetary paralysis had caused. It was only temporary and would be fixed once he got the Gears back to their proper location, Temporal Tower.

Trey placed the Time Gear in his Treasure Bag for safe keeping. He had to plan for the next theft. But even with it put away, he could feel the Gear ticking away to itself.


Trey waited just inside the entrance to Limestone Cavern. It had been several days since he took the Treeshoud Gear. Although it wouldn't have a guardian legend at the end, the one here was the most difficult of the five Gears to reach. So, against his wishes, this part of the plan had to rely on luck. He held onto the first Time Gear. "I need to encounter an explorer team in order to get through this place," he said softly.

It continued ticking and tugging.

He hard a noise, so put the Gear away. A moment later, he heard a voice. "I hope there's bright shiny treasure inside!" a female voice said.

Another female replied, "Um, yeah… I just hope we get something useful this time."

"Shininess is its own reward."

A Murkrow and a Shuppet came along. Trey waved to them. "Hey."

"Good morning," the Murkrow said cheerily, to an eyeroll from her ghostly partner. "You another explorer?"

"Kind of." He pointed into the dungeon. "You going in there?"

"Of course. Are you? We can compete for treasure!"

He shrugged. "I'm thinking about it. That place is said to be tough, and very deep. But something special seems to be at the end of it."

"See?" the Murkrow said to her partner. "I told you that this place had to be special."

"It's not like any of the dungeons are really mundane," the Shuppet argued. "But, this place is supposed to be extra dangerous?"

"Seems so," Trey said. "I wasn't sure about going in alone."

"Why don't we take him with us?" the Shuppet asked. "Extra help is good."

"All right. We're Team Ebony. I'm the leader Marcy and this is my good partner Sybil."

He felt surprised, expecting Marcy the Murkrow to put up more of a fight. They were too trusting. He, though, he wasn't going to make this more a risk than it was. "I'm George," he told them. "I'm a wanderer, more or less. Good to meet you."

"Good to meet you too, George," Sybil said.

"But we spilt any treasures fairly, all right?" Marcy said. "Okay, let's head on in for adventure and treasure!"

Limestone Cavern was lit by wooden torches on the wall. There seemed to be something magical about them, as a touch could turn the fires on or off. The walls were, of course, limestone. They were mostly a creamy white, but tints of green, blue, and yellow could be seen within individual rocks. There seemed to be an awful lot of dark and deep looking pits. Tossing a stone down them revealed that there was mud at the bottom, or nothing at all. Marcy and Sybil had no problem with the pits, as they could rely on wings or ghostliness to move through the air. Trey had to cling to walls or stick to paths.

"Did you hear that somebody stole a Time Gear from another dungeon?" Sybil asked Trey at one point.

"No, I hadn't," he lied. "That's a pretty audacious theft."

"No kidding," Marcy said. "I've seen the Gear before. It's real pretty. And it doesn't just shine, it glows! But even I know better than to take the Gear out of place. I still think the thief is somewhere in Treeshroud, frozen due to being an idiot."

"But the Time Gear can't be in the dungeon," Sybil pointed out. "If it was, then time would be moving very slowly and the magic would be trying to put it back in place. And the thief can't be an idiot, or a weakling. The Gears are kept in place by a tremendous force. You can't just pick one up and take off with it."

Maybe the Gears were aware of him, Trey thought to himself.

"Oh wow, look at that sparkly!" Marcy flew over to a coin on the ground. Sybil sighed.

There was a movement above the Murkrow. Trey noticed the rockfall just as the pieces began to slid. "Marcy!" He threw his leaf blades at the rocks, pulverizing them into less harmful small pieces.

She squawked, then flew away with the coin. "Oh my goodness. Thanks, George! It was a good thing we ran into you."

"Be more watchful," he told her. "Random happenings in a dungeon can kill you."

"No need to be so dramatic," she said, fluttering her wings.

"It's true, although deaths are rare," Sybil noted. "That would have hurt you badly, though."

"I'm fine. Let's keep going."

They trudged onward. There were many wild Pokemon in this dungeon, often trying to combat the trio in small rooms or on narrow walkways. And there were a great many loose rocks and mud pits. Add that to the sheer length of the dungeon, and Limestone Cavern was not a place to take lightly.

Eventually, they ran into a dead end level with a warp panel. "Oh my goodness, that was a long exploration," Marcy said. "My wings are beat."

"I almost solidified myself in a wall," Sybil said. "I'm exhausted too. But at least we found many good treasures."

"And a shiny box!" the Murkrow cheered, still crowing over her find of a sealed red container. "I can't wait to find out what's inside."

Trey couldn't risk the two of them talking about him, even if they didn't know his real name. "You two are really good explorers," he said. "You might have gotten away with the Golden Apple."

The word 'golden' hooked Marcy immediately. "Golden Apple?"

Sybil seemed interested too. "Isn't that the mythical fruit grown by Mew herself? There are many powers supposedly associated with it."

"I almost saw it a few weeks back," he told them. He hadn't, but he had read some explorer journals that made him fairly confident of its location. "It was to the north of here, at a mysterious place called Mount Fuji. I ran into locals who screamed at me to stay away, or else the guardian of the Golden Apple would devour me. I was by myself, so I didn't do anything about it."

"Why don't we go check the place out?" Marcy suggested.

"Marcy, Mount Fuji is a long distance to the north," Sybil pointed out. "We'll be gone from Treasure Town for at least a month if we try to find it. But then…" she glanced aside, thinking.

"I'm afraid that I have other business, so I can't head back right now," Trey said. "But I keep thinking about it. Having a Golden Apple would be a treasure to boast about."

"I think we should go check out Mount Fuji!" the Murkrow stated, with a deep desire to claim this treasure for her team.

"I agree," Sybil said. "Well, George, it was nice knowing you."

"Yeah, you're a hotshot explorer yourself," Marcy agreed. "Maybe we'll see you around later."

After saying goodbye, Team Ebony took off. Hopefully, they went straight for Mount Fuji. Smaller towns along the way could give them supplies and even identify that shiny box Marcy had. Now that they were gone, Trey settled down and took a rest. Once his energy was back up, he turned his attention to the dead end level.

It was a trick, of course. He uncovered the hidden switch and opened up a doorway disguised to look like part of the limestone rock face. There were a few more dungeon levels to pass after that, but not many. And now that he was alone, he could travel unnoticed along the walls and ceiling, avoiding encounters with the local wild Pokemon.

Deep within Limestone Cavern, he found another dead end. But this was a magnificent room. Stalagtites and stalagmites covered the ceiling and floor with delicate natural sculptures. These crystals were of all sorts of colors and forms. There were even rocks that looked cunningly like flowers. And they were just as delicate. Trey could remember Mewtwo saying that the slightest touch could cause them to crumble into dust.

Knowing this, he gingerly made his way across the room to where the Time Gear lay. He didn't pull on it as hard as he had the other, and it came out just as easily. He felt it tick and tug in unison with the one in his bag. Taking an Escape Orb, he smashed it in the depression the Gear had been in, so it didn't harm the limestone flowers.

That was two. The next three would require different tactics and force.