Plot-Scorbunny 10: Fractured Time Part 2
Emerald wasn't sure how long she'd been out for.
Last she remembered, she'd been sobbing her heart out and the next, she was suddenly waking up. So she'd managed to cry herself to sleep in the end. That was OK. She felt more refreshed now she'd had a chance to regain her strength. Emerald sat up and stretched. She'd slept funny and now had a crick in her neck. Her shoulder still hurt from when she and Kerchak fell down the bank during the mob chase. But she was still alive, and that was the most important thing for her. As long as she was alive, there was a chance this nightmare could end. Emerald rubbed her shoulder and neck and turned to Kerchak. He'd fallen asleep too so she nudged him gently awake. Kerchak opened his eyes, yawned and looked up at Emerald.
"Feel better now you've had some sleep?" he asked.
"A little." Emerald said glumly, "I wish I could've woken up back in my bed at home and this whole thing was nothing but a nightmare but no such luck. At least now we've rested, we can get a move on. I may not know how to fix this, but sitting around moping won't help us. We'll figure something out I'm sure."
"We sure will." Kerchak agreed, "So where shall we start?"
"No idea, but it'll come to me…" Emerald said thoughtfully, "Now which way should we go?"
She observed her surroundings for a minute. She was still in the industrial park she'd run to after being chased by the mob. So where to go from here? Emerald was sure she vaguely recognized the area. Now it was a little lighter, she sound see more of where she was. There were a lot of lorries, spilled oil cans and shipping crates all over the park. The crates themselves had a logo on them. It was white in colour and said "Galar Shipping Co." Emerald thought about that logo. She was always seeing it on lorries going by so that didn't tell her anything special. But then she noticed a sign nearby. She walked up to it to read what it said. The sign said in large black letters against a white background:
Steelix Industrial Park
Then it hit her. Emerald recognized where she was. While she hadn't been to this park in person, she did remember seeing it on her train ride to the Wild Area back when her journey began.
"The train to the Wild Area goes by this park. I definitely remember that!" Emerald said excitedly, "So if I'm here, then the Wild Area's probably in that direction…" she guessed, pointing to the east, "And if we can get there, then we'll be able to walk to either Motostoke or Hammerlocke City. I'm sure either of those places will have survivors."
"Preferably ones that won't try to kill us this time." Kerchak muttered.
"Oh yes. Hopefully any survivors we find there will be more willing to listen to me." Emerald agreed, "OK Kerchak, here we go. It's going to be a long walk so make yourself comfortable."
Kerchak sat on Emerald's shoulder as his trainer set off on her long journey to the Wild Area. The duo had no idea how long it would take to walk there but it was a place to start. Emerald wondered if her Rotom phone could help out. She took out the device and to turn it on but nothing happened. The Rotom possessing her phone couldn't pick up any signal at all. Any phone signal would've been long dead at this point. Emerald imagined Dialga had even destroyed radio stations and towers in its rampage.
"Great. No phone service so now I can't check the map app to see how far away we are." Emerald sighed, sounding more annoyed than anything else, "Well, we'll just have to play it by ear. I hope it won't take us too long to get there…"
And so she began her long walk. Emerald left behind Steelix Industrial Park and headed east towards the Wild Area. Kerchak clung tight to her shoulder. While he could've given Emerald an easier trek by going back into his Pokéball, he didn't really want to leave his trainer alone. He wanted to be beside her at all times for in a post-apocalyptic world like this, danger could be anywhere.
Emerald's walk took her out of the park and into a nearby forest. Most of it had been destroyed by Dialga but some trees had survived the attack, giving the forest some green left but not much. Emerald could see many of the survive trees were looking to be on their last legs for the lack of sunlight wasn't giving them much strength to grow. It wouldn't surprise her if any of these trees were going to collapse any day soon. Fifteen minutes later, she and Kerchak came across a clean lake and stopped for a moment to have a drink. Emerald didn't even realize how thirsty she actually was until she saw any sign of water. Her throat felt like sandpaper and she was relieved to be able to get some water down it. Feeling the cool, fresh water trickle down her throat felt like a godsend after her chase yesterday. She and Kerchak drank as much as they felt they needed and moved on. It was lucky for them that in spite of everything, Dialga hadn't wiped out clean water in its rampage.
They walked on for a couple more hours. In that time, they didn't seem to be getting much of anywhere as all they were doing was roaming through half-dead forests and climbing over large rocks. What made the whole trek feel even worse for Emerald was the lack of any actual life in the forest. Two years ago, these forests would've been teeming with life with all kinds of Pokémon living in them. There would be trees bearing fruit or nuts everywhere for both humans and Pokémon to eat. Now there was barely anything at all. How could a world so full of life, colour and beauty be reduced to this dull, grey, nightmarish wasteland so easily? If her friends and family were still alive, how were they coping? Well enough hopefully. Emerald was still worried over the possibility that they might be dead along with her parents. It made her grimace to imagine Ruby and Sapphire being killed by Dialga. And what about her boyfriend? Was he dead too? That was enough to make Emerald feel like crying again. She hadn't saved his life by helping him pay for his medical treatment just to die all over again at the claws of Dialga! He had to be alive as well, he just had to!
As she walked on taking in the destruction around her, Emerald couldn't help but feel partially responsible for it. If she hadn't been blasted into the future by Dialga, none of this would've happened. Her sisters wouldn't have given up out of grief and Dialga would've been stopped. But she reminded herself that at the same time, none of this would've happened if that evil Team Rocket Elite Officer hadn't tried to capture and control Dialga in the first place! It was his fault this had happened! As Emerald thought this, she suddenly realized something: what had happened to the Iron Masked Marauder? Had he been sent into the future as well? If so, Emerald hoped that the mob that had chased her would try to kill him instead. HE was the one they should be after, not her!
It was around noon when Emerald and Kerchak finally stopped to have a rest. They'd been walking all morning and so far they hadn't found anything worthwhile nor did they seem to be getting any closer to the Wild Area. Emerald grimaced as her stomach growled angrily at her, desperately demanding food. She patted her tummy and sighed. If they didn't get anywhere soon, she was going to starve to death, one of her biggest worries in life alongside her claustrophobia. Kerchak felt the same way.
"What I wouldn't give for a nice bunch of Nanab berries right now." he muttered.
"I'd give anything to taste mum's flapjacks again." Emerald complained, "Gosh, I've never felt so hungry in my life! I really hope the Wild Area's still got food when we get there."
"More like if we get there." Kerchak sighed, "I don't think we're getting anywhere near it. Are you sure you know where you're going?"
"To be honest…not really." Emerald said meekly, "I was hoping I remembered where the train went but I forget, the journey on foot always feels so different when you're there and not seeing it through a window as you ride by."
"Well that's helpful." Kerchak said sarcastically.
"Oh yeah? You got any better ideas?" Emerald retorted.
Kerchak thought for a moment and then shook his head.
"So the best we can do is walk and hope we find something soon." the Pokémon coordinator declared, "Though even I have to admit it kinda sounds like a fool's errand at this point. I only wish my Rotom phone was still working so we'd have some inkling of an idea where we are…"
Emerald soon found herself steered in the right direction as to her's and Kerchak's surprise, they saw the first sign of life they'd seen all day in this forest. A Corvisquire was flying overhead and it had come in to roost on a tree to rest after a long flight. Emerald saw the black and blue coloured bird and had an idea. Maybe Kerchak could communicate with the Corvisquire and see if it could lead them to the Wild Area. Kerchak thought the idea was solid and gave it a try. He ran up the tree and spoke to the Corvisquire. He told the Flying-type Pokémon that he and his trainer were lost and wanted to find the Wild Area. Could it lead them there? The Corvisquire squawked back in response. Yes, it did know where the Wild Area was and would take them there once it had had a rest. Kerchak told Emerald the news and the two waited patiently for Corvisquire to rest up.
A few minutes later, Corvisquire squawked down to the two. The message was clear: "Follow me." It flew off from its tree and headed east. Emerald and Kerchak followed it. It was lucky the Corvisquire had come otherwise Emerald would've continued going straight, which turned out to have been the wrong way for Corvisquire was heading in another direction. She and Kerchak had narrowly missed getting more lost! Corvisquire flew slowly so Emerald and Kerchak could see it and keep up with it. The walk lasted another hour until eventually, they found it. At the top of a hill stood the train station for the Wild Area. Emerald and Kerchak beamed excitedly. They'd found it at last!
"Thank you so much you sweet little Corvisquire!" Emerald cooed graciously, "Goodbye!"
Corvisquire just squawked in response.
"It says you're welcome." Kerchak translated.
The two headed straight up to the train station. Emerald wasn't surprised to see that it too was a total wreck. The entire station was a pile of debris with hardly anything left standing after Dialga's rampage. Much of the debris even blocked the tracks so no train would've been able to get through it even if there were any still in operation. Emerald climbed over the debris and ran ahead to see the Wild Area. To her amazement and relief, the Wild Area looked to have been spared most of Dialga's rage. Some damage had clearly been done with craters signifying where Dialga had fired its Roar of Time, some felled trees and much of the manmade structures around the area had been obliterated but other than that, the area was mostly intact. There was still green grass, some trees were still alive and growing fruits on them, the water looked clean and there were still Pokémon living there. Maybe Dialga had launched a few attacks here and moved on, thus sparing the Wild Area the worst of its wrath. That was lucky for the Pokémon living here for they still had a home whereas any surviving humans hardly had a place to call home anymore. At least she and Kerchak were here. Now they were at the Wild Area, they had a solid path to follow. They had two different cities nearby to check and see if they could find any survivors, as well as a way to fix this whole mess. But first, they needed to eat.
Emerald and Kerchak had quickly seen that there were some trees still standing and they looked to still be alive. They ran up to one tree and to their excitement, it was not only healthy and growing but its branches were full of berries. At last, they could get some food in this empty world! Emerald ran up to the tree and gave it a shake eagerly. Berries rained down onto the ground as she shook it. There were all sorts of berries from Wiki berries to Tamato berries and even Sitrus berries. They weren't Emerald's ideal lunch but anything was better than starving to death. Once Emerald was sure they'd shaken enough down, she and Kerchak tucked right in. They scoffed as many berries as they could no matter what flavour it was. Emerald enjoyed the Sitrus berry the most. Its sweet flavour and ability to restore a Pokémon's health made her feel like a whole new person again and like she had energy to spare. Kerchak enjoyed the Nanab berries to the point Emerald let him eat most of the ones that had fallen. In this brief moment, all their worries about the end of the world were gone and they could feel happy and content at last now they knew they weren't going to starve in this current timeline.
But their lunch was interrupted by a low rumbling roar that made them jump a foot into the air. Emerald grabbed Kerchak and wheeled around in shock.
"W-w-what w-w-was that?!" she stammered.
"I think it might've been that!" Kerchak exclaimed, pointing ahead with his paw.
Emerald looked in Kerchak's direction and screamed as a huge Onix loomed above them both. The huge rocky snake looked furious at the two for whatever reason. It also looked larger than average for an Onix, probably about five feet taller than their usual height. It bellowed angrily at Emerald and Kerchak. The Galarian girl stepped back nervously.
"K-K-Kerchak, w-w-why is it s-so angry with us?!" she whimpered.
"No idea, but I'm guessing we've stumbled onto its territory!" Kerchak exclaimed, "And I bet that berry tree is something it was keeping for itself!"
"Well if that's the case, we can handle it!" Emerald cried hotly, "Onix are wimps when it comes to Grass-types so you can take it! Use Razor Leaf!"
She knew that Kerchak couldn't use Drum Beating anymore as he was no longer a Rillaboom so she'd called a Grass-attack he remembered him using back as a Grookey. But unfortunately, it seemed Kerchak didn't know that move anymore. He looked to Emerald and shook his head sadly.
"Sorry Em, I don't know Razor Leaf. Dialga must've devolved me so far that I'm back to before I knew how to use Razor Leaf."
"Oh no!" Emerald shrieked, "Well then, use Branch Poke instead!"
"I can't! I lost my stick when I used it to make the train move during the mob chase! I've got no branch to poke it with!" Kerchak cried helplessly.
"Well that's just great!" Emerald cried in fright, "I've got no Grass-type moves to fight that Onix with!"
Onix lashed out with its huge tail and tried to crush Emerald and Kerchak. The two leapt to one side to dodge the attack. Kerchak screeched defensively and leapt onto Onix's face. He may not have any Grass moves to use but he was going to protect Emerald no matter what! He used Scratch on the Onix's eyes, momentarily blinding it and causing it to flail around in pain as it tried to shake Kerchak off. But Kerchak couldn't hold on forever and eventually Onix threw him aside with a flick of its head. Kerchak crashed into another tree nearby, the impact smacking the wind right out of him and stunning him. Emerald backed away on her hands and bottom. She stared at the Onix in terror, her brown eyes wide and unable to look away. Her heart pounded. Onix growled furiously at her.
"Please don't kill me!" Emerald pleaded, "I didn't mean to invade your territory, honest! Please let us go and we won't bother you again!"
Onix was in no mood for a compromise. It bellowed again, the sound making Emerald's skeleton feel like it was about to be shaken to pieces. The terrified teen screamed again and curled up into a foetal position. She couldn't bear to watch her own gruesome demise. Onix raised its tail up high and prepared to smash her into smithereens. But just as Emerald's life was about to end, Onix suddenly found itself getting squired in the face by a jet of water. Emerald heard the Onix bellow in agony and looked up to see what had happened. Where had that Water Gun come from? She looked to her side and saw that there was a blue-haired girl with a Sobble just a few feet away. The Sobble had saved her life! Onix wailed in pain and roared at the girl and Sobble but the girl was taking none of it.
"I understand that you're upset buddy but I'm not having you going around smashing any remaining humans to bits! There's few of us enough left as it is, so beat it! Don't make me give you another Water Gun!" the girl growled.
"Yeah, you won't want another soaking!" her Sobble said firmly.
She paused as she suddenly realized something. She knew who this girl was! To her utter amazement, she was staring at Sapphire Silverlock! Sapphire was the first solid proof Emerald had received that this was indeed two years in the future for the Dojo Master looked older now. She was 16 years old now and clearly looking closer to the woman she was becoming than the girl she had been. She was a little taller than before, her body had developed more and her hips seemed to have become wider. Sapphire was dressed in a tattered old long coat, ripped jeans with holes in the thighs, thick walking boots and fingerless gloves. Some of the blue in her hair had faded, showing some of its natural black colour. It seemed that she still had James Pond with her but he'd suffered the same fate as Kerchak for he was back as a Sobble. Sapphire was staring back at Emerald, her purple eyes wide in disbelief. Emerald understood completely. To her, it was like she was seeing a ghost.
"Em…? Emerald?!" Sapphire gasped, her hands clasping over her mouth in shock, "Is it…is it…?"
"Yes Sapph! It's me! I'm alive!" Emerald cried, her eyes already streaming with tears, "And you're alive too! Thank Arceus!"
"But…but that's impossible! No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! This can't be! You died two years ago!" Sapphire exclaimed, her head spinning from everything that was happening, "You can't be my sister! You're a fake! You must be!"
"No Sapph, it's no trick! I really am alive!" Emerald insisted, "I swear to Arceus that it's me! I didn't actually die as you and Ruby thought! Dialga didn't kill me, it teleported me into the future! Or in your case, the present I guess. Please Sapph, you must believe me!" she begged, "It really is me!"
Sapphire took in everything Emerald had said and took a moment to herself to mull over what she'd heard. She came to accept Emerald's story and even seemed to express annoyance and anger with herself as she groaned loudly.
"Of course! It's so fucking obvious! Me and Ruby immediately assumed the worst and as a result, we doomed the entire world when it should've occurred to us that that's what happened!" she ranted, "Dialga's the Pokémon of Time! How did we never consider that it sent you through time instead of killing you?! We let this world die for nothing! HOW COULD WE HAVE BEEN SO FUCKING STUPID?!"
She punched at the ground angrily, making everyone jump. Emerald began to shake nervously. It was clear her absence had left a nasty impact on her sister for it wasn't like Sapphire to explode in anger like this. Sapphire panted heavily and James jumped onto her shoulder to nuzzle her cheek and comfort her. The blue-haired teen sighed loudly and patted James softly.
"Thanks mate. Sorry if I scared you." she whispered.
"It's OK." James said kindly, "I think I'd be feeling that mad if it turned out I'd gotten upset over nothing too."
Emerald approached Sapphire. The world-weary teen looked back to Emerald and put her hands to her sister's face. To Sapphire, just feeling Emerald again was enough to tell her that everything was going to be OK. The twins hugged each other, relieved to be in each other's arms again.
"Oh Emerald, we've missed you so much!" Sapphire wailed, weeping heavily into her sister's shoulder, "We really thought we'd lost you that day! I just can't believe that you're alive after all this time!"
"I can't believe it either!" Emerald cried, "I'm amazed I didn't get vaporized when Dialga shot me! But it's OK Sapph. I'm not dead and we can fix this mess together now! How about Ruby? Where is she?" the girl in green asked.
"She's alive…barely." Sapphire muttered grimly, "Your "death" broke her more than anyone else. It was like when you died that day, a part of Ruby died with you. Me and her just lost the will to fight anymore. We were so distraught over your loss that we just couldn't fight Dialga and so…well, you've seen what the result was." she said grimly.
"I know, it's horrible!" Emerald wept, "Dialga's rampage has left Galar in utter ruin! Oh Sapph, you and Ruby should've stopped it instead of grieving for me!"
"I know we should!" Sapphire snapped, "But with you seemingly dead, it was like "why even go on anymore"? We just couldn't live without you. Without you Em, our team dynamic just didn't work anymore. We fell apart and it got worse for me and Ruby for she blamed herself for your death. I tried to comfort her…and that just caused us to fall out. We haven't been in contact since that day." she said sadly, "I've been roaming by myself looking for survivors these past two years. Who knows what Ruby's been up to since then?"
Emerald couldn't believe her ears. Her sisters had fallen out and weren't on speaking terms anymore?! This couldn't be! Her sisters NEVER fell out and would never break up like this! Was she really so special to the two that her disappearance really caused things to go so bad between them? Emerald started to feel once again that it was all her fault this had happened. Her legs began to feel wobbly as her emotions started to overwhelm her.
"Oh Sapph, this is all my fault!" Emerald wailed, "If I hadn't been so careless, I never would've got sent to the future and then this wouldn't have happened!"
"Don't give me that bollocks Em. You're completely blameless here." Sapphire said dismissively, "You didn't start Dialga's rampage. That dick from Team Rocket did. Don't ever say that about yourself again, you hear me? I'm not having my sweet twin sister taking responsibility for what somebody else did."
"I understand Sapph, but I still shouldn't have let this happen to me." Emerald protested, "If I didn't get sent into the future, you and Ruby would've stopped Dialga and we could've prevented all this. I'm at least partly responsible for this mess."
"No Em, you're not. Not even partly." Sapphire said, refusing to back down, "Anyone of us could've gotten blasted by Dialga's time beams. Please don't think this is your fault Em. I think you've had enough crap to deal with as it is. Don't make it worse for yourself."
Emerald still felt as if she was partially at fault for all this but she understood Sapphire's words. And her sister was right too. She had dealt with more crap than she would've cared to take! The brunette girl hugged her twin in response.
"Thank you Sapph. I really needed that." Emerald whispered.
"Anytime Em. I'm just so relieved to have you back again…" Sapphire whispered back.
The two shared a tender hug for a minute before Emerald spoke up about something else.
"Is anyone else alive?" she asked anxiously, "You know…anyone we know and love? Or are they all dead like mum and dad? Please tell me they're not dead too!" she pleaded.
"Aww bless you! You know about that?" Sapphire said solemnly, "Oh Em, I'm so sorry you had to discover that. But don't worry, there's more of us left. Not only did me and Ruby survive, but Hop, Tony, Ashley, Marnie, Leon and Gloria are all still alive. They're living with Ruby now, or at least they were when I left. I hope they're all still together now."
Emerald felt a wave of relief rush over her. Thank Arceus, Ruby and Tony were alive and to her delight, there were other survivors too! This news couldn't have come at a better time for her!
"Can you take me to them? Please?" Emerald begged.
"Of course! Everyone will flip their lids when they see you're alive!" Sapphire said happily, "Luckily, I remember where Ruby set up camp. After Dialga's rampage, she sought to use what's left of the Rose of the Rondelands hotel in Wyndon City as a base to be stationed in."
"But that's MILES away from here! We'll be ages getting there!" Emerald complained.
"Not so." Sapphire said with a sly grin, "I've found a handy way of travelling around the world for the past two years. I managed to catch a Corviknight and found a Flying Taxi cab that's in good enough condition so I've been using that to get around."
"Oh? That's super handy!" Emerald cried, "We can get there in no time! Let's go Ker…"
Her voice trailed off as she looked to the tree Kerchak had been flung into by Onix. Emerald gasped as she saw that Kerchak had fallen unconscious from the blow. She began to feel wretched. Here she was yakking with Sapphire for the past few minutes and she'd not once thought to check if her Pokémon was alright?! She ran over to Kerchak and scooped him up.
"Kerchak! Oh I'm so sorry buddy! Please tell me you're OK!" Emerald pleaded.
Sapphire rushed over to him and checked his pulse. She put a hand over his mouth to see if she could feel his breathing.
"He's fine Em, just knocked out." Sapphire confirmed, "Once we get back to Ruby's place, we can give him medical treatment as soon as possible. He'll be OK."
"Thank Arceus!" Emerald sighed, "Let's get going then. I know my sister, my boyfriend, my cousin and some friends of ours will be happy to see me again…"
The twins headed off together with Sapphire leading the way. At long last, things were looking up for Emerald and she felt that maybe there was some light in this dark future after all. Now she was back with Sapphire, she'd soon be back with Ruby and then the three of them together could put an end to this nightmare…
Sapphire hadn't been kidding when she said Ruby was barely alive.
Ever since Emerald's disappearance, the Champion had become an absolute wreck, both physically and emotionally. In the two years that had passed after Dialga's rampage, she hadn't smiled once and had regarded every day that passed by with a disinterested sigh at most. She even doubted why she was even alive anymore. She had nothing to live for at this point with one sister dead and the other estranged from her. Ruby supposed a part of her still held out hope that she could fix all this so maybe that was why she kept on going. She was also grateful to still have Hop, Tony, Ashley, Leon, Marnie and Gloria in her life so maybe sub-consciously she was keeping on going for them more so than herself. She and the others had spent the past two years living in the remains of the Rose of the Rondelands Hotel. Half the building had been destroyed but half still remained and so Ruby and her friends used the remaining half as a living quarters. It was all they had after their homes had all been destroyed and it was at least a somewhat comfortable place to stay in this post-apocalyptic world.
Ruby hadn't taken care of herself well in those past two years either. She barely ate or drank as a result of her depression and she spent most of her time slouching indoors. This resulted in her becoming thinner and paler in appearance, making her look almost like a living skeleton as a result. Her eyes were sunken in and seem to lack much life in them and she looked much greyer than before. She dressed in thick layers, wearing a bulky black coat, a thick red scarf around her face, chunky shoes and fingerless gloves. She looked like a hobo as a result of this get-up. Hop had been trying to encourage her to take better care of herself instead of letting herself waste away like so but Ruby hadn't taken his advice to heart.
Today was no different from the past two years for her. She was once again slumping on a sofa and awaiting any news on Dialga's whereabouts. She was hoping to find Dialga and get it to send herself back in time and prevent this current status quo. But there'd been no luck in that regard. As Marnie came into her room, Ruby could see that nothing had changed again. Marnie's face said it all.
"Still no Dialga?" she muttered.
"Fraid not, mate." Marnie said solemnly.
Marnie was still wearing her usual outfit although her jacket had become battered and worn over the years, her hair had fallen loose and her dress was permanently stained. Her boots also looked worn out. She still had her Morpeko with her. Ruby took Marnie's report in with a disinterested roll of her eyes.
"Figures." she muttered, "No doubt Dialga's content to just leave us to our fate while it goes screwing around with time any other time it fancies."
"Well we'll keep looking Ruby. Maybe someday we'll find Dialga and get it to undo all this." Marnie declared, "I'll try contacting any survivors in Sinnoh again and see if they've found anything."
"Good luck with that." Ruby sighed, "We haven't been able to communicate with anyone outside of Galar for two years now. What makes you think this time will be different?"
Marnie frowned in annoyance.
"At least we're making some effort to try and fix everything! All you've done these past two years is mope about feeling sorry for yerself!" she snapped, "Do you really think being a cynical stick-in-the-mud will make everything better for us? It may seem hopeless now but if we keep on to hope, we'll succeed in the end, you see if we don't!"
Her Morpeko cried out in agreement.
"Puh…hope. What's that ever done for us?" Ruby grumbled, "Two years we've been hoping for a way to fix this and nothing's changed. There's nothing left to be hopeful for."
"Well if that's your attitude, I'll leave you to mope to yourself. At least SOME of us around here can be arsed to be productive with our time!" the Goth girl shouted.
And she stormed out, leaving Ruby to herself. The silver-haired girl sighed to herself. Marnie was right. What was she going to achieve if she just lay here feeling sorry for herself? She may miss Emerald terribly and feel there was nothing left to be hopeful for, but that was no reason to give up. Ruby sat up and rubbed her eyes heavily.
"Hope…it's all we've got driving us forward at this point." the Champion muttered, "The least I can do is hold onto it a little more."
"Oh definitely. Our pals are workin' round the clock to try and undo Dialga's mess and yer not helping. I say ya should get off yer miserable keister and actually do something fer once!"
Ruby turned to her faithful partner, whom like Kerchak and James Pond was no longer a Cinderace. Bugs had also devolved thanks to Dialga's attack and was back to being a Scorbunny. He had a carrot in his hand and he chewed on it while looking at Ruby in what might be either disapproval or disappointment. Ruby nodded.
"Yeah. I should. The problem is, I don't know what." Ruby mumbled, "How do we even FIND Dialga? It's the Pokémon of Time! It could be anywhere in time! We don't know if it's in the past or the future! Even in the present there's no telling where to find it! We may as well just sit on our asses and hope Dialga shows up one day. It's as good a plan as any other."
"Yeah, and look how well dat's worked out fer us. Two years by and we're still in a ruined world." Bugs retorted, "We need to act if we have any chance if finding dat Pokémon. Waiting fer it won't do anything fer us."
"I know, but just…WHAT?!" Ruby shouted, crashing her fists down angrily on her knees. It was the most amount of energy and emotion she'd displayed in years.
Bugs wasn't sure what answer to give. Nothing he said would be of any use. Ruby was about to lay back down again until her door opened up again.
"Go away Marnie." she sighed in irritation.
But it wasn't Marnie. It was actually Sapphire. The Dojo Master had returned to what was left of the hotel after so long. Ruby sat up on the sofa and stared in amazement as she saw her sister standing awkwardly before her. The two hadn't seen each other since their fallout two years ago yet Ruby felt as if it had only been yesterday when she'd last seen Sapphire. The blue-haired girl was thrown by the appearance of her sister.
"God, look at you! You're a bigger wreck than last time we saw each other!" she exclaimed, "Seriously woman, do you even bother to eat anymore?"
"What do you want Sapph?" Ruby grumbled, "Got any more shit to throw at my face after last time?"
"For your information, actually, I've got the best news you could ask for." Sapphire retorted, "Ruby, you'll never believe this…but look who's back!"
She ushered for Emerald to come in. Emerald entered the room and stared at Ruby. She was even more thrown by her sister's haggard appearance than Sapphire was. Sapphire at least bothered to look after herself but Ruby looked as if she was halfway between life and death! Ruby's eyes widened in shock as she found herself staring at her other sister, the one she thought she'd lost two years ago. Ruby leapt up from the sofa and rushed over to Emerald. Her eyes twinkled with amazement, showing more life than they had done in years. She reached out to Emerald with pale, withered hands.
"Emerald…is…is it really you? Is it REALLY…you?!" the Champion exclaimed, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Yes Ruby! It's me! I'm alive!" Emerald whispered back, her eyes flooded with tears.
"It turns out that our sister wasn't killed, just teleported through time." Sapphire informed, "She was flung two years into the future and it's taken us till now to find her! Isn't that wonderful?"
Ruby was no longer listening. She was so overwhelmed with happiness that she picked Emerald up off the floor, swung her around and hugged her as if worried she'd lose her again and never wanted to let her go now she had her back. New life seemed to surge through Ruby as the pain and loss of those two years finally melted away and all she could feel was joy now that Emerald was back in her life.
"THANK FUCKING ARCEUS!" Ruby screeched, "You're alive after all! Oh Emerald, this is the best news I've received in two years! I can't believe you're actually back!"
"Well believe it Ruby because it's true!" Emerald cried, "I'm so sorry that I disappeared for so long and left you all thinking I was dead! Really I am! I didn't mean to get blasted into the future! I…"
"Just stop OK, Em? You're ruining the mood." Ruby said sharply, "Nothing matters anymore! You're back and I can't express my joy enough that you're here again!"
"What's all that noise Ruby? You haven't been this lively in ages!"
The door opened up and in came Hop. Emerald could see he'd grown in these past two years as well, looking more muscular and broader in the shoulders than last time. He'd grown his hair long and he had a thick busy beard on his face. Hop saw Emerald and gasped in astonishment.
"No way, is that Emerald?!" he cried, "But I thought she was killed by Dialga?"
"I wasn't!" Emerald piped, "Dialga sent me through time, it didn't kill me at all!"
"Wow! That's incredible! All this time we thought you were gone but no, you're still alive and back with us after so long!" Hop shouted in amazement, "Holy crap, this is just…I've gotta tell everybody about this!"
"Please do baby." Ruby insisted, "They have to see this for themselves!"
Hop ran out the room to do just that. Minutes later, the entire group gathered together to welcome Emerald back after her two years of absence. Everybody expressed immense joy over getting to see her back and actually alive after what they'd initially feared. Ashley, Leon and Marnie were gleeful to see her again and Gloria nearly broke Emerald's spine in half after hugging her so tightly in relief.
"I cannae believe it cuz! Ya didn't die after all! Sakes alive, this is too good ta be true!" the Tundra girl hollered.
"It's great to be back but I won't be back for long if you don't stop crushing me!" Emerald gasped weakly.
"Oops! Sorry lassie!" Gloria said sheepishly, "Just overwhelmed with joy, is all."
But the one who expressed the most joy with Emerald's return was of course Tony. The brunette girl was overjoyed to see her boyfriend was alive and well and just feeling his arms around her again felt like the best present she could've asked for. Tony hadn't changed all that much over the past two years, more or less looking like his old self except he looked more tired and drained and he was starting to grow a beard. Emerald imagined he'd been emotionally wrecked by her seeming death and now he saw she was alive, he'd become completely reenergized and had new life in him again just like Ruby.
"If this is a dream, I hope I never wake up again. My little gem is alive after all!" Tony cried happily in-between sobs, "It's a bloody miracle! You're finally back after so long!"
"I've really missed you Tony!" Emerald cried back, running her hands gently through his long hair, "I was praying so hard that you weren't dead and I'm so relieved that you aren't! I wouldn't have wanted to live without you or my sisters or any of my friends in this world!"
"I thought that when Ruby said you'd died, I was going to die with you." Tony said solemnly, "It really felt as if somebody tore my heart out that day. The only thing that kept me going was the hope that maybe we could get Dialga to undo its damage and then you'd be alive again. At least we don't need that step of the plan anymore."
"Absolutely. And I promise that I'll never leave you all like this again, time travel or not!" Emerald swore.
With the happy reunions over with, the survivors all gathered together to have a celebratory feast in Emerald's honour. At the same time, Kerchak was given medical treatment to recover from Onix's attack. Luckily, potions were still around in this post-apocalyptic world so Kerchak was soon feeling better again after a few sprays from a potion. Emerald saw that her friends and family had taken care of themselves well in terms of supplies, and not just medical supplies. Tony still had Flossy, although she'd been devolved back into a Milcery, so they had a Pokémon that could make milk and cream for them, they gathered berries whenever possible, they'd been able to find the occasional bit of meat and to Emerald's delight, Baker the Daschbun was still alive and part of the group, though she too had devolved back into a Fidough but had been able to provide yeast for the survivors to make bread for the past two years. Any Water-type Pokémon they had provided them water to drink so they never went thirsty. As such, the group remained well fed in spite of everything that had happened. Emerald only wished other survivors could've been this lucky.
Not only was Baker still alive, but all of Emerald's Pokémon turned out to be alive as well and they along with Ruby, Sapphire and everybody else's Pokémon had been living with them these past years. Every single one of them had been devolved back to their first stages but Emerald didn't care about that. She was relieved to have her Pokémon back at all, though she noticed that none of the Legendary Pokémon she, her sisters or Hop owned were about. Ruby had the answer to that question.
"Dialga devolved our Pokémon so nobody could be a threat to it." Ruby explained, "That's why everyone's at the stages they are now. Our Legendries proved to be a bigger threat so Dialga used a time portal to warp them away. They're probably still sealed away in some alternate dimension right now."
"That's so sad to hear." Emerald murmured, "At least Dialga didn't try to kill them. So why didn't it kill our Pokémon?"
"We dunno." Ashley put in with a shrug, "We guessed that sub-consciously, Dialga didn't want to hurt anyone during its rampage so it went for devolving our Pokémon instead of killing them. Not that we're ungrateful of course as it's great we still have them alive! So I think maybe that's the reason it teleported you into the future instead of blasting you to bits. It didn't want to kill you but it saw you as a threat so it simply sent you away so you couldn't fight it anymore."
"That makes sense." Emerald agreed, "So maybe with any other humans out there, they're not actually dead but displaced through time and what we refer to as "survivors" were merely ones who didn't get teleported away."
"With you being here now? I can believe it." Sapphire concurred, "But I'm sorry to say that won't be the case for everybody. Our parents were two unfortunate examples of that. They really were killed when Dialga blasted our house to pieces." she murmured sadly.
Emerald grimaced. So that was how Annie and Michael met their demise. They never stood a chance against anything like that!
"We must find a way to undo this mess!" Emerald declared, "We can't let humans and Pokémon alike just live in a ruined world! We have to restore it to what it was before!"
"You think we haven't tried?" Ruby scoffed, "We've been trying to find Dialga for the past two years and we've found nothing. Dialga's our only hope for undoing all this but we have no idea where it is or how to find it."
"We've tried everything." Leon sighed, "We've even tried reaching out to the Sinnoh region but there's been no way to contact anyone outside of Galar. Dialga wrecked everything so we're on our own."
"But maybe there's another way?" Emerald suggested, "Maybe we can reverse all this without Dialga?"
"How so?" Hop asked, "Dialga's the Pokémon of Time. No other Pokémon has that kind of power."
"True that." Emerald muttered, "But isn't there another Pokémon that can time travel too?"
Her eyes widened with excitement as something clicked in. What was it that Sapphire had been reading about the day Dialga's rampage had occurred? That day only felt like yesterday for Emerald but for the others, it would've been a life time ago.
"That's it! Sapph, remember that book you was reading the day Dialga attacked?" Emerald squealed excitedly, "You was reading about Celebi, right?"
Sapphire smiled as she caught onto Emerald's plan.
"Of course! Em, you're brilliant! We've been too overly focused on Dialga that we never considered an alternative solution!" she exclaimed, "Gosh we're thick! We never considered that we could ask Celebi to undo everything!"
"But Celebi can only time-travel. It doesn't have control over time itself." Marnie noted, "That won't undo everything."
"Yes it will!" Emerald shot back, "If we get Celebi to send me back to the past just seconds after I disappeared, then Ruby and Sapph won't be grieving for me and we can fight back and stop Dialga's rampage!"
"I think it would be better to send you back a little further." Ruby suggested, "Maybe to just before you confronted the Iron Masked Marauder. If we do that, you can jump on him and break his Pokéball he used to catch Dialga so that'll free it and then we won't have to fight it anymore. It'll be free from his control and won't continue its rampage."
"That's even better! We'll do that!" Emerald cried.
"But how will we find Celebi?" Gloria asked, "I dinnae mean ta sound like a Negative Nancy but aren't we pretty much stuck with the same problem as Dialga? Celebi can time travel, so it could be anywhere in time and we'll never find it!"
"Yes, but Celebi often appears at the Forest of Okoye." Sapphire informed, "We at least know where to find it. And given the forest was badly damaged by Dialga, I wouldn't be surprised if it's been helping to restore the forest all the time we've been trying to find Dialga. I could be wrong but we've got a place to start at least."
"We should try it." Leon declared, "We should go to that forest and find Celebi! If we can get it to send Emerald back to the past, we can prevent this from ever happening at all!"
"Then let's waste no more time." Ruby agreed, "We've wasted enough of that already. Let's go to the Forest of Okoye and hope for the best."
"And if Celebi's not there?" asked Marnie.
"Then we wait for it to show up." Ruby insisted, "If Emerald managed to show up again after disappearing for so long, we can afford to wait however long we may have to for Celebi to appear."
With the plan settled, the group headed on out of their living quarters to go to the Forest of Okoye. They would need to sail there as Sapphire's Flying Taxi didn't have enough room for everybody. Sailing wouldn't be an issue for luckily there were still Wailord living in the ocean. They would get on a Wailord and have it swim to the island where the Forest of Okoye was. And with any luck, they'd find Celebi and get it to help them prevent this nightmare from ever becoming a reality. Emerald felt her stomach tingle with excitement. She couldn't get too hopeful but at the same time, it felt good that things seemed to be going her way at last. Reunited with friends and family and on their way to save the world, it was like old times again. She only hoped that they wouldn't be stuck waiting for goodness knows how long to see Celebi. The sooner this wrecked future was gone, the better…
The gang's back together and they have a solution. They just have to hope they even find Celebi in the Forest of Okoye. Will they find Celebi? Will this bad future be erased? Find out in the grand finale next time...
Trivia: I was going to end this chapter with everybody at the Forest of Okoye but it was getting pretty long and I thought ending the chapter with them making their way to it would be better pacing.
Also there was originally going to be a scene where Ruby and Sapphire would bicker and Emerald would put a stop to it, which is when they see that she's alive and they welcome her back but I couldn't find a way to have it work without it feeling forced and the story just didn't play in a way that would've flowed naturally into such a scene so it had to be dropped. Besides, I think we've had enough misery already so why not lighten the mood and leave that crap on the cutting room floor? ^^