[Incoming Transmission]

Alright, this is actually going off on a completely different timeline from the main story. While the previous chapter was more of a version of how Special Episode 5 would go in my AU, ths is actually a completely different timeline. Sort of. It'll become obvious once you read the chapter title. So, without further ado, I give you...

Alternate Ending 2: Bootstrap (Part 1)

"No, nono, nonono, no!"

"While I won't say it like that, I do have to agree with you."

"But this is so screwed up! We're in the past!"

"Yes."

"And the town square doesn't exist yet!"

"Yes."

"That means I haven't killed anyone yet!"

"Yes."

"So we can keep that from happening! And I won't have to live an ostracised life."

"And that's where you're wrong."

"What? Why not?"

"Because if we deviate from what happened in our past, then the series of events that brought us to this point in time may not ever happen, thus meaning we never make it here and never make your life better, in which case the series of events would happen, and we would end up here and have the same argument we are having right now."

Kurama's eyes crossed in confusion as she tried to follow the explanation. "My head hurts. And when did you get so knowledgeable about causality, anyway?"

I shrugged. "Had a little talk about it with Celebi while we were in the future. It was really rather enlightening. Also, she said about the exact same thing to me to make sure we didn't do anything stupid if we ended up arriving before we left."

Kurama grumbled half-heartedly.

"In any case," I continued, "how far back do your memories go? We can use that to place where we are in your history, and thus what we can and can't do."

"Well, the Wigglytuff Rescue and Exploration Guild didn't form until after time started going wrong, and that didn't happen until at least after the… incident. Timing was a coincidence, of course, but it was just another thing to blame me for."

"Do you remember how long it was between the fire that took out the village and that day? Because the entire layout is wrong, not just the lack of the town square."

"I was only a month or two old when the fire happened, and that was… at least two years later. It was a long time coming. Then we met about five years after that."

"Wait, you mean to tell me that you're well over the age to evolve but still haven't?"

"For some, it's a choice not to evolve; but ever since time started breaking, nobody's been able to evolve. Ooh! It's before time started to break, so we can get evolved and stuff!" Kurama's jaw dropped. "It's before the fire. We can meet my parents, and I can see Uncle Sceptile again."

"...Wait, what?"

"Uncle Sceptile. Okay, he wasn't my actual uncle, but he was my parents' best friend, and part of their rescue team, too! He took care of me for a while after my parents disappeared, and told me stories about the cool stuff they did together…" Kurama's face fell suddenly. "...but then he disappeared, too."

"Kurama, what species were your parents?" I asked carefully, my unease growing.

"Huh? What kind of silly question is that?"

"Just answer the question. It could be a matter of life and death not just for us, but for the universe as a whole."

"Geez, no need to get so dramatic about it. My mom was a ninetales, obviously, and my dad was a lucario. They were an exploration and rescue team with Uncle Sceptile, and…" She trailed off as I began pacing nervously and cursing up a storm. "Whats wrong?"

"What's wrong?" I let out a hysterical chuckle. "I'll tell you 'what's wrong'! We're in the past, right? And we're from before your remembered timeline as well. That means that neither of us know the details on what happened at this time in the past."

"I don't see where you're going with this."

"What species were your parents' rescue and exploration team? Ninetales, lucario, and sceptile. What species are we? Vulpix and riolu. We have a friend who is a grovyle. Are you following yet?"

"Oh…"

"That's not even the worst problem!"

"It's not?"

"No! The worst problem is that we don't know where Grovyle is." I began pacing. "We know that your parents' team showed up out of the blue one day, the three of them together, and began to kick ass and take names shortly afterwards. That means that if we walk into town without him, we obliterate our original timeline and cease to exist. If we make a name for ourselves trying to find Grovyle, we obliterate our original timeline and cease to exist. If the two of us don't at the very least adopt a child - who will happen to be you - we obliterate our original timeline and cease to exist. If we meet up with Xelk'ithi to try and get this sorted out before we met up with her in our subjective pasts, we obliterate our original timeline and cease to exist. Hell-" I threw my hands up in the air in a gesture of futility. "-we could probably give an absol a heart attack just from coming within a few miles of them due to the magnitude of world-ending paradox potential surrounding us. For all we know, the reason that Dialga went nuts in our subjective pasts is because we've created a closed causality loop around ourselves! This is an absolute nightmare!"

"Xi, calm down."

"Calm? I am completely calm!" I shouted, eyes wild and breathing heavily.

"Xi, if you get locked up as a nutcase to protect the rest of the population, then 'we obliterate our original timeline and cease to exist,' right? Because we'd enter town without Grovyle and we wouldn't make the rescue and exploration team."

I hate it when other people are right, especially if they're using my own words against me. I closed my eyes and took a few calming breaths. "Okay, calm. I am calm. Picture of serenity." I took a final deep breath, then let it out while opening my eyes. "Alright, we need a plan."

So basically, Xi and Kurama find themselves back in time a little bit farther than planned after meeting Celebi in the future. Due to the fact that genetics don't really matter that much in the Pokemon universe, it at least means that it won't end up as a compiling paradox that leads to Kurama becoming a riolu. Of course, unless they adopt, it does count as incest... which is really weird. So they'll end up adopting, because I do not condone incest! But like always with this compilation of stories, these are only possible ways that the plot could have gone and in no way reflect the actual plot of the story. Nah, that's even more confusing... just wait until you see the Dialga fight! I'm about a quarter of the way done with it right now, and it's giving me a headache even trying to think about it right now!

Oh, and as always, R&R. It always makes me so happy to see somebody give me a review. But please log in first so that I can actually reply to your reviews. It annoys me to no end when I can't explain my reasoning to you. Yes, I realise that stories dealing with time-travel/time-jumps can be hard to understand, but everything will work out in the end! I promise!

[Transmission Terminated]