..Dusknoir..

Treeshroud Forest
3:00 AM

Treeshroud Forest, once known for its miraculously lush forest, filled with tall trees and a natural habitat full of energy stood lies ahead of them. However, all they can see in front was a completely grey-turned area, a shell of its former glory.

The forest provided no color, no signs of life. All the Pokémon were frozen in their places, as if stopped by an otherworldly power. With the eerie atmosphere surrounding them, they were worried. Ash looked around once more to see if he can find any life in the forest. However, his searches were fruitless.

"This is absurd." He said with great concern. "I could have never imagined that such an important piece of artefact exists."

"Neither have I." Carmine added. He grabbed a leaf from a tree branch. The leaf was gray in color, like everything else. It disintegrated shortly after he detached it from the branch. "What the hell just happened?"

Ash, who had been watching, did the same. He took a leaf from a nearby branch, and the leaf followed suit. Disintegrating, like it had never existed before. "This is.. Scary, to say the least." He looked closely at a falling water droplet from a nearby tree. "It must have been early in the morning when you took the Time Gear out."

"How did you know?"

"This water bud right here.. It formed on the leaf. Usually the only time natural condensation happens is at dawn, or in the mornings." He explained. He touched the droplet, and like the leaves, it disintegrated quickly. "Let's not touch anything unnecessary and let's not try to move anything from their places right now. We might interfere with the flow of time."

Carmine raised an eyebrow, although not visible as it is hidden behind his helmet. "The flow of time?"

Ash nodded and started to walk again. "I believe it's not natural to take out the Time Gear. This wasn't supposed to happen. That's why this place is so hidden, out of man's reaches. I have no idea how the man that wrote the research report managed to pinpoint the location of this place. Even we had a hard time getting to this place and we knew the location already." He continued. "I'm just saying, that by taking out the Time Gear from its rightful place, we humans have distorted the natural flow of time."

Carmine turned his head to take a better look around. "I didn't really pay attention when I took that Gear.. But it's scary all right. Looks like someone paralyzed time and space."

"Hence the name Time Paralysis, no?"

"Time paralysis?" Carmine asked.

"That's what the report called it." Ash answered casually.

They continued to walk in the forest for some time, before finally reaching the spot where Carmine had taken the Time Gear. They stopped in an open clearing, a circle formed by the trees around them. A rock was located in the middle.

"Is that where you found it?" Ash asked while investigating the rock.

"Yeah, I found it floating above the rock." Carmine replied.

"Floating?"

Carmine nodded. "As if the rock is the opposite side of a magnet."

"Well, I guess I can't be surprised anymore, considering the things that have happened." Said Ash, sighing. "So, go ahead. Place it back."

"Will do." Carmine walked up to the rock and took out the Time Gear from his pack. He held it above the rock, just like how he found it days before. He let go of the Gear, only to be answered with the Gear falling down to their feet.

"What just happened?" Ash asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Well.. It's not staying up." The other answered.

"Yes, I can see that. Try again?" ash suggested.

"Sure." Carmine picked up the Gear and held it above the rock again. "Maybe I have to put the bottom on the rock?" he said to himself. He lowered it gently and let the bottom of the Gear touch the rock. He let go, with the same result. "Well.. shit."

"What the hell! Let me try." Ash stepped up and tried to return the Time Gear to its rightful place, however, with the same result as Carmine.

Carmine tilted his head to see the Gear had fallen to Ash's feet. "Well, this place is royally screwed, isn't it?"

"What the hell! Now what are we supposed to do!" Ash snapped. He sat down on the rock to give himself some space to think.

Carmine followed and sat down on the grass. "Do you still have that report? The one you found in that café." He asked. "Maybe it has some answers in it."

Ash snapped his finger and reached for his pack. "You're right. I haven't read the whole thing." He took out a stash of paper and started reading while Carmine laid his head down to catch some rest.


Ash let out a sigh and placed the papers down. He looked over at Carmine, who seemed to be sleeping. He came over to Carmine and slapped the helmet the other had on. "Wake up, I'm done reading."

"Huh..? Right, right." Carmine groaned in protest as he tried to sit up. "I haven't been getting much sleep recently." He crawled to a nearby tree and rested his back against it. "So, what have you got?"

"Good news or bad news first?" Ash offered.

"Bad." The other answered.

"Actually, I kind of have to start with the good news." Said Ash while scratching his head.

"Then why ask?"

"Alright. According to what I've just read, once you remove the Time Gear from its original place, returning it back won't do anything good." Ash explained. "But, there is a way to return time and lift the Time Paralysis." He continued. "Are you listening?"

"I'm all ears. Go on."

"Right. So what we have to do now is gather all the Time Gears and bring them to the place where the Primal Keeper of Time resides." Ash said while nodding to himself.

"..And? What's the bad news?" Carmine asked after crossing his arms.

"Well.. It says in the report that the Keeper of Time resides in a place hidden by the Rainbow Bridge, as it is located in another dimension." Ash picked up some pages he dropped earlier.

"Okay, I still don't get how that's the bad news. We can just go to the Rainbow Bridge and go to that place, right?"

"Yes, but not quite. To get to the Rainbow Bridge, we need some sort of.. Key."

"Yes.. And that would be..?" Carmine inquired.

Ash threw some pages from the report he had read earlier to Carmine. "That part was covered by a blood stain."

Carmine looked over the pages. "Are you kidding me? What kind of a sick bastard is the guy who wrote this?" He frantically flipped over the pages a couple more times to make sure the other pages contained no information about the key. "No good, the other pages never mentioned anything about the key." Said Carmine while tossing the papers back to Ash.

"Well, I guess now the best thing to do is to figure out what the key is.." Ash got up from the rock he had been sitting on the past hour, and stretched his back. "Let's head back. Might as well collect the rest of the Time Gears while we try to figure out what the key is, no?"

"Won't that stop time flow?" Carmine spontaneously said.

"Damn it, you're right.. I guess we can't just freely collect the Time Gears. First we have to be sure we have the key to the Rainbow Bridge. And it also says there were some kinds of trial before the bridge. Geez, what a hassle." Ash packed his things and started walking towards the exit of the forest, with Carmine following him. However, Ash had caught something moving from the corner of his eye, something following them. "Do you hear that?"

"No, hear what?"

Ash looked around to confirm his suspicions, but all he could see was the lifeless scene of the forest. He shrugged off his worries, and continued walking. It might be the time he spent alone for most of his life the past four years, but he could definitely sense something tailing them, something ominous. He prayed that it was nothing. "Do you seriously not feel that?"

"Feel what? Maybe you're just tired. You haven't slept in two days. The fatigue is getting to you, I say." Carmine answered.

Ash looked around once more around them to find nothing. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. "Maybe it was just my imagination running wild." He reluctantly turned around and exited the forest. Going home to rest was his next stop.


Celestic Town
12:30 PM

Ash still had two days left until the third round of the Grand Conference, and after asking around, he learnt that Cynthia has taken the opportunity to go back to her hometown in Sinnoh, Celestic Town. "Man, It's been a while since I had gotten a haircut." He muttered to himself, checking his appearance in a nearby window. He had gotten himself a haircut after thinking about how troublesome it was to have long hair. "Man, I don't look half bad." He said to himself while looking at his reflection on a window outside a stranger's house. "Pika Pika!" His Pikachu agreed.

He noticed that a girl inside was looking at him. "Mama! There's a weird person outside smiling to himself after looking at me~!"

After some apologies being said, Ash continued on to the Celestic Town Historical Research Center, where Cynthia's grandmother worked as the head. He figured that if Cynthia were to come home, she would visit her grandmother first.

The Research Center was close to where he ran into trouble. Celestic Town was a small town that preserves Sinnoh History and the old ways of life. Located at the back of the center was the Celestic Ruins.

Ash arrived at the research center and rang the bell. And old lady with gray hair wearing a lab coat came to answer the door. "Ah, Professor Caroline, how do you do?" he greeted the head of the research center. "Pika!" Ash's Pikachu also greeted the Professor.

"..Do I know you?" the Professor asked.

"Ah, sorry. My name is Ash Ketchum, I believe we've met erm.. about four years ago? Four and a half? My friends and I tried to help you regain possession of the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs during the incident that time with Team Galactic." Ash explained.

The Professor thought to herself for a second before finally remembering who Ash was. "Ah of course! You're that young Pokémon Trainer from back then with the Pikachu!" She offered her hand for a shake, which Ash gladly returned. "Pardon me for asking, but.. Aren't you supposed to be dead? At least, that's what I heard years ago when that villain from Team Galactic was thrown into jail."

Ash smiled and gave a casual response. "Well, I managed to survive. Just barely, though."

"Ah, is that so? That is quite the surprise." the Professor smiled back. "That's good to know. Please, do come in."

"Ah, thank you." Ash lowered his head as a sign of gratitude. "How is the center doing these days?"

"Same old, same old. There is nothing really new and exciting going on currently." The Professor led Ash to the waiting area of the center. "So what brings you here today? I doubt it is just to visit the center." She asked.

Ash looked around the center to see no signs of Cynthia. "Actually, I heard that your granddaughter was in town. I came here to see her." He answered.

"Ah, really? Cynthia is currently out in the ruins. I'll call and tell her that she has a visitor. Wait here." Said the Professor. She turned to walk towards the ruins in the back of the center.

"Pardon me, Professor, but do you mind if I just come with you to the ruins? I don't think she would mind the surprise."

"Sure, if you say so."

During the walk to the ruins the Professor were greeted by her co-workers. The employees seemed very enthusiastic working in the center. "This place has got a positive working environment, hasn't it?" Ash commented.

"Oh yes, certainly. We are mostly joined by people who have great interests in the field, so I'd imagine they all enjoy their works. And it's also lunch time." The Professor explained. Not long after, they arrived at the back of the center. "There it is, she's in the main hall of the ruins." She said while pointing at the biggest hall. "By the way, young man."

"Yes?"

"If you don't mind me asking, what business do you have with Cynthia?" she asked.

"Well, I don't have any business per se.. We're not really strangers to each other." Ash answered.

"Then may I ask what kind of relationship you have with her?"

"I believe you should ask her yourself, ma'am." After saying words of gratitude to the Professor for taking him to the ruins, Ash entered the main hall. It seems the place was cleaned up after the incident four years ago. "What am I thinking? Of course it's cleaned up. It's been four years." He chuckled to himself at his seemingly irresponsive logic at times.

"Who's there?" Cynthia turned around to see the source of the noise.

"It's me, it's me." Ash said nonchalantly.

"Ash? Why are you here?" she asked in confusion.

"What? I'm not allowed to see my girlfriend? I'm hurt." Said Ash jokingly.

"No, that's not it. It's just.. Unexpected, that's all. You always disappear somewhere, I thought I wasn't going to see you until the third round." She explained. "Did you cut your hair?"

"Glad you noticed. What do you think?"

"It looks good. It makes you look.. cool." She said with a smile.

"Well, thanks." Ash walked up to her and leaned on the base of the Dialga statue. "So what are you doing here? There are only two days left before the third round."

Cynthia turned to look at the inscription on the wall about the three lake trio. "I just felt like coming here to see my grandmother. And well, I always come to this ruin when I'm here. I've been doing that since I was a child."

"Ah, I see." Ash looked at the inscription in the center of the hall. However, his eyes caught the attention of something else. "Hey, Cynthia. What's that piece of rock over there? It has a funny symbol carved on it. And is it.. glowing?" said Ash while pointing at an artefact close to Cynthia's feet. The object was about a foot long in width and height, with a jagged bottom.

"Oh this?" she said while picking the object up. I found this Relic Fragment when I was a child, playing in the ruins. This very hall, actually. But I never found out what it was for." She answered.

"So it's a Relic Fragment, huh.. Looks interesting." Commented Ash while looking at the stone. "Anyway, I did come here for a reason." Ash stood up and turned towards Cynthia.

Cynthia placed the Relic Fragment back on the place it was before. "Oh? What is it?"

"Well, the last time I came here I didn't actually get a good look at this town. Care to show me around town?"

"Show you around? But.. There isn't really anything in this town."

"That was just an excuse for a date, you know that right?" said Ash while grabbing her hand, leading her out of the hall.

"O-of course I did!"


A/N: Another apology for the long breaks between the updates from me - Sowwy =3