Chapter 22: Finding the Hidden Land

Team Marmalade, now with one evolved member, arrived back at the beach below Sharpedo Bluff. The sun was setting, but a cold wind kept the Krabbies from coming out. "So what's the plan now?" Kip asked.

Trey brushed some sand off his skin. "I was retrieving five specific Time Gears to stabilize Temporal Tower, and thus Dialga."

"Who is Dialga?" Stacy asked. "You started to explain before, back in the jail cell."

"It's from the creation story," Trey told her. "Everything began when Arceus awakened. She called forth three beings. When Dialga came, all time began. When Palkia came, all space appeared. And with Giratina, balance came between the two. Dialga is the Being of Time, and his instability is why time is unstable in this era."

"All right, then where's Temporal Tower?" Kip asked. "I've never heard of the place."

"It's in the Hidden Land, across the Sea of Time." Trey shook his head. "But then Celebi didn't tell me exactly where that was or how to get there. She said that there is a way there, but past that, I don't know."

"Maybe we should ask around town," Stacy suggested. "And Charlie might know something."

"That could be a problem," Trey said. "I'm still considered a terrible outlaw in town."

"But you're Trey," she said.

"Yeah, but he doesn't look like what people remember Trey as," Kip stated.

"Look, I'll go back and get the gears," Trey suggested. "I just hope I'll be able to get the triplets to listen… in the meantime, you guys go back into town and try to find the Hidden Land, or even just more information on it. We've got approximately a month before the Tower collapses. But then, time is unstable and that month might be shorter than we think."

"All right," Stacy said. "We'll be sure to tell everyone the truth about you, though. We'll fix things up to be right."

Trey smiled. "Good, thank you." Then he took off.


Stacy, Sally, and Kip came up to the Guild building. "Well, here goes nothing," Stacy said, and stepped onto the security grate.

"Pokemon detected!" Junior called out from below.

"Who is it?" Larry called back.

"It's…. um… uh…"

"Who is it?"

After a second, Junior popped up by them. "Oh my gosh, it is you guys! Hey, it's Team Marmalade!"

"WHAT?"

The Diglett ducked back into the ground and his tunnel. "It was Stacy!" he called back.

"IT'S TEAM MARMALADE!" Larry shouted, in excitement. Probably loud enough to alert the whole building.

"Yes, now let us in already, loudmouth!" Kip shouted down the security grate.

The gate lifted, allowing them inside. As it was so late, there was no one on the second floor. But when they got to the third floor, it seemed everyone was there. Including Stacy's brothers. "Stacy!" Azeri cried out as he bounced over and hugged her. "You're back! I missed you." He cried a bit.

Stacy hugged him back. "Aw, I missed you guys too."

"Oh my gosh, that was so scary," Flora said. "I freaked out when Drakken took you away."

"I think everybody did," Charlie said.

"But where's Trey?" Bobby asked.

"It's a long story…" Stacy said.

"We'll tell it to you after dinner," Kip said. "It seems like seventeen lifetimes since we've had a decent meal."

"Well good timing then," Chiaka said. "Dinner's ready and we should have enough for everybody!"

There was enough food to go around and it seemed like everyone wanted to talk to them. About a week had passed, they found out, since Drakken had kidnapped them. "Everybody thought Drakken was a hero," Senior Dugtrio said. "But a true hero wouldn't take someone away by force like that."

"And then something else bad happened," Flora added. "Azelf, Uxie, and Mespirit went to put the Gears back, but then they didn't work!"

"They didn't work?" Stacy asked.

"That's true," Charlie said. "Putting them back in place did nothing. Those areas are still frozen in time. And, their freeze is spreading to surrounding places. It's slow, but many explorers have noticed it. And no one can figure out what to do about it."

"We know of something," Stacy said. "Trey's already working on it. Let me tell you what happened to us in the future." Then she told them about how Drakken had dragged Sally away, and Trey had gotten sick. Then she described the execution where the Grovyle had saved them and then turned out to be Trey after having lived in the future paralyzed world for twelve years. She finished by explaining about Celebi and Mewtwo's plan with Sally and Trey to return the Time Gears back to Temporal Tower to stop it from falling apart.

"That story sounds far-fetched," Charlie said.

"But it makes sense of what's happened," Larry pointed out. "And can you believe it? We helped to get Trey arrested!"

"Well if we'd known it was Trey, we might have asked more questions about it," Flora said.

"So now we have to find the Hidden Land, huh?" Bartleby asked.

"That's right," Stacy said. "And we don't have a lot of time to do it. Do you know anything about it?"

"Um…." Bartleby thought. "No. Charlie?"

"I've heard about Temporal Tower," Charlie said. "It's over the Sea of Time. But where those places are, I don't have a clue."

"Oh," Stacy said, disappointed. Trey was their best researcher, so if no one knew…

"You can ask Mayor Torkoal, though," Bartleby suggested. "He's the oldest Pokemon of Treasure Town. He's at the Hot Springs a lot."

"We'll go there tomorrow," Stacy said.

"So how did Sally get away from that Primal Dialga?" Matti asked.

"I don't know," Stacy said.

Sally smiled, then showed Stacy what happened so she could tell it.


Drakken pushed Sally through a teleport pad which led, not to the entrance, but to the very top of the tower. The floor was uneven; the rocks that made up the floor seemed to be falling away, but they were stuck where they were. Columns were either already gone or leaning over at impossible angles. In the midst of this ruin, Primal Dialga watched them enter.

The Dusknoir let her go and started to speak, but Primal Dialga roared. "YOU, A TRAITOR TOO?"

"No, Master Dialga," Drakken said; a showing of fear appeared on his face, as his skin paled. "I-I have brought you the human with the Dimensional Scream, as you asked."

"WHAT ABOUT THE OTHERS WHO SEEK TO CHANGE HISTORY?"

"They're being held below, master."

"THEN GET RID OF THEM ALREADY! LEAVE THE HUMAN WITH ME."

"As you ask, master." He bowed, apparently relieved to be let go. Then he went to the teleport pad and left.

Sally stood there, still in the her armor's offline mode. The legendary Being of Time lowered his head. With his glowing red eyes, he looked her over as if she were a dangerous weapon, set to strike at any time. She felt afraid of him, but curious that this being several times larger seemed to be just as afraid.

And looking into those eyes, she remembered fires, glowing red in a thick fog of smoke. There were other humans, but they were being killed by each other and small shadowy Pokemon, Sableyes whose giggling could pass through telepathy and torment a little deaf girl. And when there seemed to be no one left in her world, her blue-eyed guardian appeared, along with another blue-eyed Pokemon who was… Mew.

A snort from Dialga brought Sally's mind back to the top of the tower. "YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE MUCH MORE THAN ANY OTHER STINKING HUMAN. BUT THERE MUST BE SOMETHING… WHERE IS GIRATINA?"

Sally remembered being told that her ability was connected somehow to Giratina. However, she only knew the name of that legendary Pokemon. She had never met him.

His eyes narrowed. "TELL ME! WHERE ARE YOUR HELPERS? GIRATINA, CELEBI, PALKIA, MEWTWO… WHERE ARE THEY?"

Mewtwo. That was her guardian's name, Sally recalled. He was the one who made her armor. But as for where he was… where any of them were, she didn't know. She shrugged.

"SPEAK! ALL ARE TO OBEY ME, BEING SILENT WHEN I ORDER IT AND SPEAKING WHEN I ORDER IT. WHERE ARE THE REBELS?"

She patted her throat, then signed, "I can't speak."

"DON'T PLAY NONSENSE WITH ME! YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE, REBEL!"

Sally reached into her Bag and pulled out a seed to throw at him. Luckily, it turned out to be a Sleep Seed, forcing him asleep. She changed her armor to be active, then went for the teleport pad. It brought her into the midst of a Mystery Dungeon maze. Her teammates were around somewhere; she had to find them.

A few levels down, she heard Dialga roar loud enough to shake her bones.


The next day, Stacy, Kip, and Sally went to the Hot Springs. They found Torkoal where they had found him last time, at the highest pool of the springs.

"The Hidden Land and Temporal Tower…" Torkoal thought uncomfortably long. "I've heard of it. It was an old story when I was a lad. They say that an adventurer found a human device on a beach, called a ship. The ship was supposed to be able to cross any sea, but it had holes in it. So the adventurer fixed the holes, then set out to explore the seas where Water Pokemon held secrets. He came to a strange place, the Hidden Land. And towering above it was a fantastic tower that he wanted to climb.

"However, no matter where he searched, he found no entrance to the tower. He found a flying Pokemon and talked him into flying him up into the tower. A mighty wind kept them from finding a higher entrance. Finally, they discovered that there was a place where you could enter the tower. You needed proof, though, proof of the approval of the master of the tower."

"Proof?" Stacy asked. "What kind of proof?"

"The adventurer was able to find someone with that proof." He paused again to think. "I don't quite remember, though."

"When the master of that tower goes all fruity," Kip stated, "he's gonna fly off the handle and destroy everything if we don't find this place and proof."

"Fly? Oh, that's right! There is said to be a place, now a dungeon, where you can see this proof. I went there as a young fellow to see. It was an odd pattern, like a wheel with four wings."

"A wheel with four wings?" Kip asked. "Haven't I seen…?"

"Oh, you mean this?" Stacy said, pulling out her small Relic Fragment. "I've been holding onto it as a lucky charm."

Torkoal smiled. "Yes, yes, that's it! That's probably the proof you need to enter the tower from the Hidden Land."

"Great!" Stacy felt happy; this made their quest seem much easier.

"But how did you get approval of the Being of Time?" Torkoal asked.

"Well, I don't know. I just found it one day, before I joined the guild. I don't remember much about what I was doing then… I do remember that my head hurt." She rubbed the side of her head.

"So what about this ship thing that can take us to the Hidden Lands?" Kip asked. "Is there any chance it's still around?"

"I've heard that it is," Torkoal said. "The place where that pattern can be seen is said to hold it in a secret chamber. But, I don't quite remember where it is. The increase of Mystery Dungeons has muddled my sense of direction these days."

"Maybe we ought to show it to people around the Guild," Kip suggested. "Some explorer must have seen something like that."

"You're right. Thanks for everything, Mayor Torkoal."

He nodded. "You're welcome, young ones. Good luck."


Trey made his way back through Steam Cave. The first time they had gone through, he recalled, none of them had ever wanted to climb it again. But this was his fourth time through. It was still nasty, but only in its weather conditions. Anything else wasn't too bad.

At the landing below the lake itself, he met with Uxie. "It's you again," the legend said, in a neutral tone.

"Yes, me again," he said. "But it's important."

"Normally, I'd refuse to listen to someone who meant to take the Gear. However, there have been far too many contridictions lately to ignore. Explain yourself. And don't lie or hide anything from me. I will know the moment you turn false."

Trey nodded. "I know. This will take time, but I'll tell you freely."


For the rest of that day, Team Marmalade went around the guild and quizzed the explorers around. Most of them didn't seem to recognize it. But when they showed it to Bartleby, he brightened. "Oh yes! I know where that is."

"Where?" Charlie asked.

"Brine Cave."

The Chatot shuddered. "B-Brine Cave? That place? Are you sure you want to send apprentices in there?"

The Wigglytuff put his paw to his cheek. "True, it is a tough place, and tough outlaws tend to gather there. It's a restricted access dungeon too." He clapped his paws together. "Then, we'll go with you!"

"We?" Charlie asked, a bit pale.

"Well I could just go with them, but why not you? It'll be more fun with more people!"

"Um, right." A look of determination came to his face. "It is for the sake of everyone, after all. Okay, we'll escort you into Brine Cave."


For most of the story, Uxie simply listened. Every now and then, he asked something. Trey remained patient, although he found it hard to remain stoic for some parts. He had thankfully been allowed to skip exact information on the mass battle against Primal Dialga. In exchange, he did inform him that it had been Mewtwo who trained him to take down legends, in particular Psychics, with the help of that Opal Band.

At the end of it, Uxie stated, "He doesn't lie in this."

Unexpectedly, he found himself being hugged by Mespirit. "Aw, that's some awful things. It sounds horrible."

Azelf appeared nearby as well. Apparently they had all been listening. Trey patted Mespirit. "It was. I did mean my apologies to you; I wanted to avoid hurting you, but things didn't work out."

"We can understand that. So, those five Time Gears actually belong on Temporal Tower?"

He nodded. "Right, according to Celebi."

"She would know," Azelf said.

"We were given them many years ago," Uxie said. "They weren't original to these areas, as you noticed. But we were instructed to guard them by someone we trust. She said to keep them safe from anyone who wanted to take them. We didn't realize they had been taken from the tower itself."

"So?" Mespirit asked.

"Right," Azelf said.

Uxie nodded. "We'll help you get the Time Gears back. There isn't much time and you have some problems with outdoors dungeons."

"Yes, that is a problem. Thank you."

"Take this one, then head for Crystal Crossing. We'll retrieve the other three."


Bartleby and Charlie joined Stacy, Kip, and Sally on the trip through Brine Cave. It was a damp cave with a shallow water floor, something that Stacy was fine with; Kip kept grumbling about wet sand getting into his paws and fur. The Pokemon in there were strong, but Bartleby was stronger. Charlie was pretty good too, but not as good as the Guildmaster.

"What's got you all nervous, Charlie?" Stacy asked.

"Last time we came in here, we got attacked by some outlaws," the Chatot said. "Very strong and very fast outlaws."

"They were hiding on the ceiling," Bartleby said.

"Like Trey does sometimes?"

"Right. Charlie was brave, but the leader had him out in one clean blow."

The group went on until they ran into a group of Kabutops and Omastars. Kip got a good nick on his left ear, Bartleby took a hard punch to his side, and Charlie had been nearly knocked out with a deep gash. "I knew I'd get hurt again," Charlie grumbled.

"I'll take him back," Bartleby said. "The symbol is just ahead at the next level. You guys go on."

After they made sure that Kip wasn't bleeding, Stacy said, "All right. Thank you both for bringing us here."

At the next level, they found a hidden cove of a tiny beach, a formidable cliff face, and the vast ocean. On the cliff face, they found a large image that matched Stacy's lucky charm, of a four-winged wheel. "Try going over there," Kip said.

"Okay." She went up to the wall, taking her charm out. The pattern on the wall lit up, along with the charm. For a moment, energy gathered at the spot, causing Stacy to back up a bit. Then a beam of light shot out. A strange warm glow surrounded the witnesses as the light pointed west, towards the setting sun. In the distance, they saw a faint image of something towering over the ocean.

"So that's where it is," a voice from above said. Trey dropped down onto the beach.

"Hey, you're back already?" Stacy asked.

He nodded. "I met with the triplets. They've forgiven me, and helped me to gather the Gears. So where's…"

He was about to ask where the ship was, but then there was a groaning crumbling sound. Near them, part of the rock face moved out, then slid aside. After waiting a minute for it to stop, they looked into the hidden cave. There inside was a strange device, a wooden ship twenty feet long and eight feet wide, with a triangular sail that stretched up ten feet.

"That's a ship?" Stacy asked.

Sally nodded, then stepped into the three feet deep water. She untied a few ropes acting to secure the ship, then pulled it out. It had pale blue paint with white trim. The sail was white with the winged wheel pattern on it.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive," Kip said, hopping onto the deck. "So how's this thing work?"

"I'm not too sure myself," Trey said, looking over it.

Sally made some signs. "I know how to sail it. Mewtwo and I had to sail across an ocean to get here; it was a long and tiresome journey."

"Is it safe for use?" Stacy asked. "I'd be all right, but the rest of you…"

Sally signed that she had a number of things to look at first, so they encouraged it over to the beach under Sharpedo Bluff. The wind caught the sail a few times, which helped some. But it also made the boat try to go off west.

Later on, she instructed Trey on the shape it was in. "She says it needs a few repairs and such to make it fully seaworthy again," he told the others. "Like the sail; it's weak in a few spots and would be better replaced. We will probably need help to get it all done quickly."

"Everyone knows what's going on and how important it is," Kip said. "Let's go recruit people to help us fix this ship up tomorrow."

The next day, a good portion of the townsfolk showed up at the beach to help them out. Bethany, the Buneary who ran the craft store, helped Sally and a few others make a new sail after studying the old one. Kazza the librarian Alakazam had managed to find a book of a sailing ship much like the one they had, and used it to help the Kecleon Shopkeepers and Electrabuzz rework all the ropes. Kip, Trey, and still others worked on fixing some of the woodwork, with Stacy, Matti, Azeri, and some of the other small Pokemon patched up holes with a substance that Kazza had identified as waterproof and good for that purpose. At the end of the day, Sally and Kazza looked over the ship and agreed that it was safe for the trip.

Trey had been thinking over something all day. But he waited until he had the opportunity to act on it. As the sun began to set, he noticed Sally on the beach, sitting by herself. She was watching the ship move on the waves and was probably thinking about the trip, or reminding herself of how to sail it Trey went over to her. "Hey, can we talk for a bit?"

She smiled and signed, "Sure. You're the only one I can talk to without a translator, you know."

"Right. How much do you remember of the era of darkness? Not when we were just there now, but back before you came to this time?"

She stopped smiling and seemed uncomfortable. "Some," she signed. "I remember good things, like Mewtwo. And meeting you; you asked me about marmalade. It seemed like a silly question then, but I understand it now. But there were also bad things. There was the time my village got attacked and burned down. And there was the time when Mew died."

"You and Mewtwo weren't there," Trey said. "I was. I saw it."

She closed her eyes. "I saw it too." She tapped her head, indicating it had been a Dimensional Scream. "And Mewtwo felt it. He acts tough a lot, but he was deeply upset that day."

"Do you remember what Celebi told us just before we went to the past?"

After thinking it over, Sally opened her eyes and shook her head. "Not that."

"I was afraid of that." He clasped her hand. "Sally, the truth is… even if we succeed, the two of us will never return to Treasure Town."

She looked confused. "Why would that be?"

"We're going to fix the problem that caused the era of darkness so that it never comes about. It's the right thing to do, and yet it has grave consequences for us both. You were born in that era, and I spent so much time there, and it changed me a lot. Once we erase the era of darkness, we will be erased along with it."

Her eyes widened. "So it will kill us?"

"Yes, it will. We both knew it and we both agreed to it. And Mewtwo and Celebi, I don't think they'll be completely erased, but they will both forget entirely about us and the era of darkness. That hurt them too, but the darkness had hurt us all so deeply. We will save the world if we get the Time Gears back in their proper places, but, we're going to be the ones to pay the price for changing history."

They were quiet for a moment. Now that he had said it, Trey felt that doom as horribly near. They had to do it. But he couldn't deny a feeling of dread.

"It does frighten me, deep down, knowing that the two of us will die," Trey said in a quiet tone. He was trying to reassure her, or maybe himself. "But the other path will end in darkness, the slow oncoming of madness and death in everyone. It's for the good of the world."

Sally patted him gently, then brought her hands together. She hesitated a moment longer, then signed, "What about Stacy and Kip?"

"They should live. They weren't in the future for long. But this will be hardest on them. Still… I'm reluctant to tell them about this. If they knew the price, they might not want to do it. But it must be done. There's no time to waste."

After a bit of thought, Sally signed, "Let's not. We need hope for this mission to work right. If we told them, they would worry and be slower."

"Okay." Trey let go of her arm. "Come on. If we want to say goodbye to anyone else, we have to do it tonight, and without them knowing as well."

She nodded, and then got up to go visit with people with him.

The townsfolk all turned out the next day too, to wish them luck. Stacy, Trey, Kip, and Sally then sailed off towards the western horizon.