BOOOOOM!
A black wall was blown apart by Keldeo's Focus Blast.
No matter what we say or do,
Keldeo activated his Secret Sword and swung it, causing the screen to burst.
It's never up to me and you,
Victini rose into the air, his ears glowing with the power of V-Create.
We smile now and sing a cheer!
Keldeo and Santa Paws screamed in horror as huge burst of dark purple energy erupted in front of them.
Ghost Pony Rider roared.
Kyurem and Cryogonal the Critics both screamed as a zombie Lucario with a chainsaw appeared on their TV.
Keldeo screamed in horror, but sprayed himself with water to snap out of it.
Imperator Justinian was seated behind a desk in his study, with Keldeo standing on the other side.
The show must go on!
"FORESHADOWING!" Munna exclaimed.
"NO SHIP, SHERLOCK!" the Intoxiquer shouted.
"SPOILERS!" Zorua exclaimed.
The show must go on!
Jack Storm sprung awake in shock.
Matthais Unidostres and BrickBrony1894 bro-hoofed.
Meloetta sat down with Madoka the Fennekin and Damian the Meloetta on either side of her.
A Greninja stood ominously next to a Lucario with red Aura.
Keldeo and Ryan the Lucario fought on a cliff top, Secret Sword and Bone Rush clashing over and over.
Never fear . . .
Button Mash and Sweetie Belle bonked heads as they tried playing Wonderbolt Free Fliers.
Keldeo burst out of the ice encasing him in an explosion of light.
The show! Will! Go! On!
Keldeo reared up on his hind legs, his expression serious and his Secret Sword raised and glowing brightly.
Keldeo the Critic
Season 4 Episode 7: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: To Live by Traveling Trainer
tinyurl: ouvhm4y
"It's me! Keldeo the Critic! I review it so you don't have to!" Keldeo said, "American science fiction writer Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. once said 'There is no real ending, it's just the place where you stop the story.' Now, I am a firm believer in that mindset. Just because a story ends doesn't mean the characters and places in that story are gone. They still live on forever in our hearts and in our minds. Especially when the story is as good as the one in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of and Sky."
Keldeo smiled and said, "Who could possibly forget how Grovyle continued to fight, even when he was trapped in a paralyzed planet. Or Celebi, who did all she could to restore the flow of time. Or even Dusknoir, who was driven to acts of evil due to his loyalty to Primal Dialga, but then slowly began to see the monster he had become and finally broke out of his evil ways, reuniting with Grovyle. Together they defeated Primal Dialga, finishing what the player and partner started and restoring the flow of time."
Keldeo became thoughtful and said, "But what happened to those three after the world was saved? What adventures did they have? What lives did they live? Well, one writer thinks he has the answer to that!"
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: To Live
By: Traveling Trainer
Flung into a future where time flows freely, Grovyle, Celebi and Dusknoir find themselves in a lively land of ice and snow. Given a second chance to live, how will the trio readjust to a normal life in a new world after years of battling against the darkness? With new friends and foes around the corner, it may not be as simple as they think.
"This is a story with a lot of potential. These three characters are so different from each other, so putting them all together in a slice of life/adventure story sounds promising. So let's not waste any time . . ."
Keldeo chuckled, "Heh-heh. See what I did there. . . eh. . ."
Keldeo cleared his throat and continued, "This is Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: To Live."
"So our story begins right after Primal Dialga is defeated and the flow of time is restored."
Grovyle brought his hands to his mouth, yelling out as strongly as his lungs would let him, his triumphant call rising even above the breathing of the god of time behind them. "Bill! Rose! Can you hear me!? We are alive! We are alivugh-"
The lizard's eyes widened as a jolt of pain rippled through his body, and he felt himself crumple to his knees, digging his claws into the icy ground with a wince. He heard Celebi gasp, and a large hand lifted him back to his feet; he sent the ghostly Pokemon a short nod of thanks as Dusknoir firmly grasped Grovyle's shoulder.
"Steady yourself, Grovyle…" He said, a note of concern evident in his low, gruff voice. "What's wrong?"
"We just fought an evil version of the Legendary Pokemon who rules over time, what do you think is wrong?"
"Master Dialga-" The ghost started, but the temporal Pokemon cut him off with a curt stomp of his feet, the ice audibly cracking underneath his steel-toed legs. Dusknoir moved back as Dialga stepped off of the slight incline, turning to face them. Underneath his gaze, one that no longer held any malice, Grovyle couldn't help but feel quite small.
"NO." The reply was short, but held just as much force as the wind that buffeted them. "YOUR MASTER WAS… A PRIMAL BEAST. I AM DIALGA, AND I AM NOT YOUR MASTER."
Keldeo jerked backwards and said, "Biscuits, Dialga! I don't blame you for being made at Dusknoir, he was a sadistic creep after all, but you don't have to use the Royal Canterlot Voice on him."
Keldeo sighed, "Alright, to be serious for a moment, I know the powerful Legendaries always speak in all caps in the Mystery Dungeon Games, but can you blame me for finding that kind of stupid? We know they're powerful, they don't have to scream at the top of their lungs. Imagine if they did that in the anime movies?"
Kyurem stared down at Keldeo, thinking long and hard. Then he said:
"YOU HAVE A FINE SWORD!"
Keldeo, the other Swords of Justice, as well as Ash and his friends all stared at Kyurem in shock.
Kyurem blinked in confusion.
"WHAT!?" he asked in confusion.
"…Dialga," Dusknoir began again. "What is happening to-!"
Without warning, Dusknoir collapsed mid-sentence, not even trying to push against the ground as he lay awkwardly atop the peak of the mountain.
"Yeah, you stink!" Keldeo shouted sporadically. He then looked around awkwardly and said, "Sorry, but the guy was just so sadistic in that game!"
Grovyle sucked in a breath, feeling woozy again as his vision began to blur. He could still make out Dialga's shape, nodding his head slightly as the two Pokemon eyed each other.
"DESPITE RETURNING TO LIFE… WE STILL BATTLED, IN ANOTHER TIME, IN A DARKER PLACE," Dialga's voice boomed, making Grovyle's ears ring, and the grass type instinctively glanced at his arms and his sides – the feeling of blood, trickling from innumerable cuts and punctures, seemed so close yet so far away. "THE GREAT PARADOX OF A WORLD OF FROZEN TIME."
"A paradox!?" Grovyle sputtered, lurching as his strength gave out, and he rolled onto his side, focusing all of his effort on keeping a hold on one of Celebi's arms. Dialga began to walk around, moving past the trio as if he was unaware of their plight. The grass type stared weakly at the dragon's feet, blinking away tears of pain. "W-what… how is that possible?"
"TIME IS NOT SOMETHING THAT SIMPLY STARTS AND ENDS," The god continued to explain, forlornly sitting down on the ice and bowing his head. The warmth of the sun finally seemed to cut through the wind, and Grovyle sighed in slight relief as the heat staved off the numbness that had begun to creep up on him. "THE PLANET WAS PARALYZED, BUT THE WORLD ITSELF CONTINUED TO MOVE. TIME FLOWED ONWARD, EVEN WITHOUT MY GUIDANCE TO MAKE IT SUPPORT THE LIFE IT CARRIED."
Keldeo face hoofed and said, "Wow, it's like Doctor Who merged with the Architect from the The Matrix: Reloaded."
"T-that-" Grovyle paused. "But then where are we? I thought that Bill and Rose were able to stop the planet's paralysis…"
"THEY DID," Dialga answered, unable to keep from chuckling, and Grovyle frowned deeply at the dragon, who quickly coughed to clear his throat. He turned his head towards the path leading down the mountain, seemingly smiling to himself as his body began to shimmer and fade. "DO NOT FEAR. SOMEONE COMES, EVEN AS WE SPEAK."
"ARCEUS, THE DUES EX MACHINA POKEMON!" Keldeo shouted in imitation of Dialga. He coughed a bit from shouting so loudly, and then said, "Okay, now do you see why speaking in all caps is so stupid? . . . Unless you're the Alicorn Princess of the Night."
His vision blurry, Grovyle tried to reach out towards Dialga with his other arm, his hand trembling as the dragon's figure vanished from sight. "Wait… Dialga, wait… I don't understand!"
"LIVE, GROVYLE." Everything began to sound like it was coming from further and further away, Dialga's voice almost deafening in its volume, and Grovyle felt his muscles tense; at this point, he couldn't tell if it was from the noise, the wind, or his own exhaustion. "THAT IS HOW YOU WILL UNDERSTAND. YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE FUTURE."
"Dialga… Dialga…" Grovyle muttered under his breath as the presence of the god finally seemed to disappear, the cold finally biting through his body as he let his arms fall limp. The wind, sun, and sparkling ice passed into darkness as he closed his eyes, unable to keep the leaden lids open anymore. All he could do was listen, stuck between staying awake and letting himself drift into sweet oblivion.
"So our heroes pass out, but are rescued and brought to a nurse and her assistant."
"Pansear! His breathing's changed! Maybe he's starting to wake up!"
"Sorry, nurse, ma'am!" Someone young. "What should I get? Oh, wait, you need more aspear ointment like you asked for before, right?"
"Maybe!" The nurse repeated herself. "Maybe, how many times have we gone over what each berry does? Yes, please bring me the aspear ointment… no, maybe the distilled oran medicine…"
"You got it, ma'am!" The boy's feet pounded against the wood as he ran off, and Grovyle groaned, feeling something roughly grab the leaf on his head and rub vigorously. The barest hint of strength seemed to return to his body, and he tried to reach up to the intruding Pokemon, only to have his hands smacked away. Something underneath him itched profusely, but when he tried to scratch his back his hands were smacked away again, and he grumbled.
"I can see what you're trying to do, and maybe you should stop, because you need to just lay still!" The nurse scolded him, and he couldn't help but feel mildly embarrassed, letting his arms rest at his sides as the Pokemon worked away, moving from his head to his shoulders, to the leaves on his arms. "You and your two friends are lucky you were just suffering from exhaustion! Fainting on the top of Mount Avalanche, honestly, maybe!"
The sound of rickety wheels rolled into the room, and Grovyle heard a rattling as something was set nearby. "Nurse Audino, we've got what you asked for right here! Should I apply the ointment first, or give him the oran medicine?"
"Oh for Arceus' sake, Pansear, maybe…" Audino left away from her patient briefly. "Hmm, maybe… maybe…"
"What…" Grovyle croaked out, wincing at the sound of his own voice, and he arched his back as he tried to find the source of the irritating itch. "Where… am I…"
"Nurse Audino, ma'am, you give him some oran medicine and I'll do the ointment!" Pansear said, upbeat and chipper as could be, and something cool and sticky was suddenly dabbed onto his chest, sending the grass type back down onto… whatever he was laying on. Audino grasped his nose, forcing his mouth open, and a thin, overpoweringly flavorful juice ran down his gullet, making him cough and sputter as he tried to swallow the strong-tasting liquid. "Ma'am, could you help me hold him down?"
"Yes, maybe, I can see that!" The nurse replied crabbily. Grovyle heaved as he felt the two Pokemon hold his sides to keep him still, and he snapped his jaw shut, smacking his lips as the taste of the oran medicine seemed to fill his entire mouth, from roof to bottom. "Just let the medicine go down without a fuss!"
"Have…" Grovyle tried to speak, though it came out as more of a hoarse cough. "I have!"
"Then just go back to sleep!" She replied forcefully, and someone started to spread the chilly, sticky ointment around his body, the goop suddenly feeling very warm against his belly, and the grass type let out a pleasant sigh, suddenly feeling very tired again. Had the struggle to gulp down the medicine really taken that much out of him?
"I'm… ugh... I'll… live," He mumbled under his breath, letting his head rest as he finally began to feel like he could really fall asleep. Everything started to sound far away again, one of the Pokemon humming to himself as he applied the ointment to the leaves on his arm. "Live…"
"Yes, just go to sleep, like you're doing, maybe," The nurse reassured, still grouchy, but sounding far less annoyed than before. "Maybe you'll feel better with more bedrest, once the ointment fully sets in!"
"…live…" Grovyle felt himself slip into slumber, finally falling fully asleep after what had felt like forever.
"Umm. . ." Keldeo looked around awkwardly, "Not sure why we needed to see this. . . Well, anyway, Grovyle wakes up the next morning to see that the sun has finally risen."
Everything was pain.
Grovyle groaned as his eyes fluttered open, scrunching them back shut as light flooded his vision, making him grimace in pain as dull patches of color faded in and out of the darkness. After a few moments, he let out a loud yawn, stretching his arms and legs as the bed creaked underneath him, and he brought a hand in front of his face as he let his eyelids open just a crack. Blinking a few times, everything came into focus as daylight streamed in from a window across the… the…
Daylight?
Daylight!
"It's morning!" Grovyle yelled, jerking upwards into a sitting position, and he gasped as a sudden grogginess pounded at his skull. Clutching his forehead with his claws, he grunted as he felt bile in the back of his throat, and he took deep breaths in and out, staring wide-eyed at the frosted window across the room. As his nausea and lightheadedness began to fade, the lizard glanced at something that tickled his side: a yellow blanket, kicked askew when he'd shot up. Looking down, he could see bits and pieces of thin, dry grass, piled onto a wooden frame. "Ugh?"
He glanced around the room, taking in the unfamiliar sight of cut logs and the unfamiliar scent of resin. Other beds, adorned with the same set of wood, feather pillow, hay and blanket, lined the walls, a small table sat next to each one. Looking to his side, Grovyle noticed the table next to his own bed, a small candleholder sitting atop it to make up for the lack of windows on his wall. He reached out to feel the cold metal, the candle halfway melted and its wick blackened from use. "Where… where am I…?"
"A Delibird comes in and tries to ease Grovyle's mind."
"Hoho, slow down there!" The bird wiggled his flippers at him, letting his tail sit atop the bed as he calmed down the panicking grass type. Grovyle took a deep breath and sighed, letting his own blanket fall away as he rested his hands against his knees. "Good, just relax. You've been through a lot in the past day or so, hoho!"
"The last… day?" Grovyle repeated, more to himself than to the speaker. The very concept still sounded foreign to him. "What… what happened?"
"Well, I was hoping you'd be able to tell me that," The penguin answered, stifling a laugh with his flipper. "You and your two other explorer friends slept through just about the entire day and night, hoho!"
"Slept… the whole… what?" Grovyle flinched, reaching over to stroke the leaves on his arms. "I remember being on the summit of the Vast Ice Mountain when the sun was rising, and then-"
"Where did you say now?" The other Pokemon interrupted, and Grovyle looked over at the bird, confusion evident in his dark-ringed eyes. "Sorry to cut you off, hoho, but I've never heard of a place called Vast Ice Mountain."
"You haven't?" Grovyle asked, sitting still for a moment as he glanced outside the window. The white things, the falling snow, had disappeared… "But… then… huh?"
"You must still be a little out of it from the exhaustion, hoho, don't be too worried." The bird smiled at him, stroking his beard of feathers. "Why don't we start over from the beginning, hoho? We'll probably make a little progress that way."
"I… alright," Grovyle conceded, nodding gently as he scooched a little further up the bed. "I guess I'll start with… who are you?"
"Hoho, well, my name is Delibird!" The red penguin patted his beard before reaching a flipper outward, and Grovyle took it into his hand, giving it a firm shake. "I'm the master of the Delibird Rescuer Guild stationed here at Snowrest Village!"
"Snowrest… Village? T-the Guildmaster?" Grovyle blinked in surprise, stuttering a bit as his thoughts were derailed. Amidst his muddled words, Delibird chortled heartily, rocking back and forth against the bed, which creaked from the movement.
"Hohohoho, what's with all the fuss?" The Guildmaster asked nonchalantly, a grin plastered on his beak. "Come on now, no need to be all uptight. Just 'Delibird' or 'Guildmaster' is fine with me, hoho. It's what most Pokemon call me, anyway!"
"As you can see, I'm a much better character than Wigglytuff!"
"S-so…" Grovyle said, managing to think of another question to change the subject. A Rescuer Guild? The Guildmaster? It was starting to become too much to take at once. "Am I being kept here in the guild, then? How did I get here? And where are Celebi and Dusknoir?"
"Yes you are, hoho," Delibird confirmed with a nod, hopping off of his bed and moving over to Grovyle's side, and the lizard helped the elderly Pokemon up next to him. He held out the blanket to the Guildmaster, who then took it and wrapped it over his shoulders. "A couple that lives down in Snowrest Village was having a climb up Mount Avalanche when they found you and your friends up on the summit. Celebi and Dusknoir…?"
"Yes, that's them," Grovyle replied, instinctively tightening his grip around the blanket he wore. "Are they okay?"
"Yes, hoho, they're doing just fine," Delibird smiled warmly, patting Grovyle's back, and he let out a sigh of relief that felt like a weight being lifted from his mind.
"Oh!" Delibird's eyes lit up, and he turned to Grovyle. "Lin and Yama are the couple from Snowrest Village who I mentioned before, hoho! They're the ones who found you and your friends at the peak of Mount Avalanche!"
"They are?" Grovyle said lamely, and both Delibird and Arcanine nodded. "I see… I guess they'll be happy to hear I'm up and about."
"So Grovyle does some thinking, and decides to put us through another mind screw! Good gosh!" Keldeo said unhappily.
He smiled softly as he thought of Treasure Town, wherever it might have been, if it still existed at all in this future. Bill, Rose, the Wigglytuff Guild, he could see them all clearly in his mind's eye as he thought of the grassy fields and flowing rivers he'd seen while searching for the Time Gears. Even though it had apparently been only a day since stopping Primal Dialga, his time in the past felt like it had happened years and years ago. Then they'd encountered Dusknoir, and gone back to the future of darkness, leading to them coming to…
"Wait!" Grovyle said to himself, sucking in a breath. "Dusknoir… you said that this place was called Blizzard Island in the past, right?"
Without the ghost in the incorporeal-flesh around to say so or not, all he could do was wonder, crossing his legs as he continued to talk to himself. The remnants of the Exploration Team Federation had been able to give him a little information about the past, but to forget about an entire village? A guild? How was it possible? "Is this what Dialga meant… about a time paradox?"
Dialga's words echoed in his mind as he recalled their conversation atop Vast Ice Mo… Mount Avalanche. The world flowed onward, even without his guidance to make it support the life it carried… the great paradox of a world of frozen time. "Dialga…what did you mean? Live to understand? Given the future?"
Keldeo scratched his head and asked, "Uh, is this gonna be on the test?"
"From what I gather, it looks like Grovyle, Celebi, and Dusknoir were thrown into or out of an alternate timeline when the the player and partner characters prevented the planet's paralysis, which caused the paradox. Why this matters or if it even does matter, I can't really tell as of now, so let's just save it for later."
"Meanwhile . . . or at least, I think it's meanwhile, it's difficult to have any sense of time considering the nature of this story. . . sometime at Temporal Tower, we get a. . ." Keldeo frowned, ". . .pointless conversation. . ."
"Master Dialga?"
"HM?" The dragon craned his neck to look behind him, and he nodded at the Pokemon that sat behind him. "GOOD MORNING, LAPRAS."
"Stop yelling at me! Do I look like Dusknoir the Sadistic to you?"
"Good morning, Master Dialga," Lapras said, raising a flipper in greeting. Dialga walked over to the water type, slowly sitting down in front of him as the two silently acknowledge each other's company. "If I may ask, where were you earlier? I visited the tower at sunrise, but you weren't here. Were you in the Hidden Land?"
"NO, I WAS NOT," The temporal Pokemon answered, looking out at the featureless horizon as he continued to speak. "THERE WAS SOME OUTSIDE BUSINESS THAT I NEEDED TO ATTEND TO."
"Outside business?" Lapras replied curiously, cocking his head in thought as he followed his master's eyes out towards the unnatural sky. "Master Dialga, is there something wrong with the flow of time again? There is no danger, is there?"
"STAY CALM, LAPRAS." Dialga gingerly tapped his foot against the tile. "THERE IS NO DANGER TO THE FLOW OF TIME. THERE WAS SIMPLY SOME POKEMON ELSEWHERE THAT REQUIRED MY PRESENCE. THAT IS ALL."
The two Pokemon grew silent, watching the clouds shift and shudder as they floated along, a refreshing wind blowing across Dialga's hidden domain.
"Master Dialga… does the outside business involve the Temporal Crisis that happened before?"
The dragon god of time only smiled.
"WHAT WAS ONCE SPLIT IS WHOLE AGAIN."
"Yes, yes, we know, time was fixed and you saved our three main characters, we didn't need to see you play the vague game with Lapras," Keldeo said in annoyance, "Actually, this first chapter really is kind of repetitive. We know Dialga is back to normal, we know time was fixed, we know our heroes are okay; so we can we please stop repeating what we've already seen and get some new developments?"
"Oh, you've only been napping for a couple hours, sir!" Arcanine said with a strange amount of enthusiasm, raising one of his forelegs to his head in a salute. "It's almost noon now, and I don't think the Guildmaster brought you anything when you woke up this morning, so I figured I would bring you lunch, sir!"
"Lunch?" Grovyle muttered under his breath, looking skeptically at the thin metal dome that sat atop the plate. Slipping his claws around the edges of the cover, he lifted it up and off, turning away to place it on the bedside table, next to the melted candle. Looking back, he held his breath as his eyes widened a tad. On top of the plain plate sat an odd bit of food, a couple dark tan things that looked like cones without their tips, dotted with bits of pink and brown. Next to them sat a small canteen, which Grovyle picked up and shook; the liquid inside, hopefully water, sloshed around. "This is lunch?"
"Is something wrong, sir?" Arcanine tilted his head slightly, scratching against the wooden floor. "Oh, wait, I forgot we never got a chance to ask you, sir, chestnuts don't make you sick or anything, right sir? I can bring you a different kind of poffin, if you'd-"
"Poffin?" Grovyle interrupted, picking up the still-warm pastry and looking it over, shaking it lightly as a few loose crumbs fell onto the tray. Arcanine blinked, raising his head a bit in awkward surprise as the strange gesture. "This is a poffin?"
"Um… yes, sir," Arcanine answered. "It's a nanab-and-chestnut poffin, as simple as it can get, sir. There's nothing wrong with that, is there, sir?"
Grovyle leaned forward and took a quick sniff of the food, nodding as the savory smell hit his senses, and with a small amount of trepidation, he opened his mouth and took a small nibble out of the poffin, setting it back down as he chewed, then swallowed. "This…"
"Sir?" Arcanine said, standing rigidly at attention, thoroughly confused by the lizard's odd behavior. Grovyle's eyes widened to the size of the plate his meal sat on as he beamed incredulously, taking a huge bite out of the poffin and letting the mix of sweetness, bitterness and nuttiness meld on his tongue, his mouth quickly beginning to water as he practically in haled the pastry, chomp after chomp, pausing only to take a quick swig of the fresh water from his canteen. Arcanine stepped back a bit as the dog watched the grass type go at his meal with unexpected gusto. "Slow down a bit, sir! I wouldn't want you to choke on my watch, sir!'
"M-mm, mmph!" Grovyle grunted in response, his mouth still full of food, and he gulped down some water, letting the drink wash the delicious meal down. Setting the leather bottle back onto the tray, the wood gecko Pokemon took a deep breath, still wearing a rather-dazed smile as he stared at the plate in shock; in the span of nary a minute or two, he had polished off two whole poffins and most of his water. How could food taste so good? "Sorry. I've never had something like that before."
"You know, I'm actually surprised Grovyle didn't start crying, I mean, I'd hate to think of how bland and terrible food must have been in an eternally dark world where time has stopped! I mean, if that was his reaction to a Poffin, imagine what he'd do if he came in contact with a Pokepuff!"
Grovyle: "Well, I am feeling a bit hungry. Oh, what do you go there in that box? A Pokepuff? Well, I've never heard of that. Let me take a bite. Nomnomonm- OH ARCEUS, WHAT IS THIS?! WHAT IS THIS!? OH ARCUES, THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! I MEAN, I'M AMAZING AT WHAT I DO, BUT THIS. . . THIS IS JUST BEYOND MY COMPREHENSION! OH ARCUES, WHAT IS THIS!? AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Grovyle opened his mouth to respond, but Arcanine hopped onto his hind legs, his eyes brightening as his tail began to wag enthusiastically. "Oh! But since you're awake, I could probably show you around the guild, and then we could ask together, right?"
Doug: "I love you, and I just met you!"
"Oh come on, Arcanine, have some pride," Keldeo said.
"You mean… like a tour?" Grovyle stood up straighter, putting his hands on his hips, and Arcanine nodded vigorously. The wood gecko rubbed a claw under his chin, thinking aloud. "Hmm… I guess that would be a good idea… especially if I can walk."
"Who said anything about walking around the whole guild, si- Grovyle?" Arcanine replied, and Grovyle sucked in a breath as the dog bumped him into the air, and he winced as he landed on top of the fire type's fluffy back, getting winded in the process. "Like a former guild member used to tell me, 'why walk when you can ride'?"
"Former guild member?" Grovyle asked hesitantly, taking a few deep breaths as Arcanine walked over to the door, carefully biting onto the doorknob, twisting it, and letting the door slide open, scratching against the floor. "What do you mean by former?"
"Oh, she graduated from the guild a few years ago, heh," Arcanine said with a chuckle, walking out into a small hallway before turning around and closing the door behind him.
"FORESHADOWING!" Munna shouted.
"Alright… I'll follow your lead, then, Arcanine," The wood gecko said, and as he thought back to his meeting with Guildmaster Delibird, reached forward and slipped his claws into the fur close to one of the dog's ears, scratching gently. He smiled as the ear flicked forward as if it had a mind of its own, and Arcanine broke into a sudden gallop, forcing Grovyle to hang on, wide-eyed, to Arcanine's thick mane, struggling to keep himself from tumbling backwards. "W-woah!"
"ZUUL, MAGIKARP, ZUUL!"
"So after a tour that seems to go on forever. . ." Keldeo began.
"That's it?" Grovyle said, leaning back against the dog's fluffy tail, its tip still wagging as he walked towards Grovyle's ward. The tour was that short?
Keldeo had a confused looked on his face, but then shook it off and said, "Okay, so after a tour that goes on for a length of time which I shall not comment on, we get a huge, big, enormous shock."
"It's… smaller than I was expecting, I guess."
"Smaller?" Arcanine asked. "What do you mean, smaller? We're no bigger than the Wigglytuff Exploration Guild back on the mainland, or so I've heard, Grovyle!"
"The Wigglytuff Guild!?" The lizard exclaimed in shock, wobbling precariously as he jerked forward, and he yelped as he lost his balance, falling onto the floor with a thump. Grovyle stared outside the bright window as Arcanine left away from the doorknob, walking over and sticking his face above his charge's. "It still exists!?"
Arcanine quirked an eyebrow upward as he continued to stare at Grovyle, his incredulous expression saying everything it needed to. "Wow, the Guildmaster was right when he said your memory was kinda iffy, huh? Of course the Wigglytuff Guild's still around, Grovyle! How could it not be?"
DUN-DUN-DUUUUNNNNNNN!
Grovyle felt his breath catch in his throat as he tried to register the very idea. Wigglytuff Guild. Treasure Town. The mainland. It was all still here. Bill and Rose… he, Celebi and Dusknoir… they really had changed the future… "Hey, Grovyle, what's wrong? Say something, you're looking all surprised!"
He fainted.
"Our hero, ladies and gentlemen," Keldeo groaned.
"Well, while that's going on, Guildmaster Delibird is relaxing and having a conversation with his friends as they watch."
"Before I forget, how is Erin doing, hoho?"
The Mienshao that sat across from him shook her head, taking her small reading glasses and setting them onto the table before reaching over and taking a small slice of apple from a platter, her thin, graying fur pulled back to keep from falling onto the freezing furniture. "She's doing well, Guildmaster. She sent us a letter just a couple weeks ago, saying that she and her friends were going on a mission somewhere… up north, I think."
"And she said she misses us and she wants to come and see us soon, like she always does, eh, hun?" A Hariayama added, the heavyset Pokemon licking his fingers clean as he shuffled around on the floor, too big for any proper seat. "Glad yer still asking about her, Guildmaster. We haven't gotten to talk in a while, so I was wondering if you'd forgotten about her, eh?"
"Hoho, I doubt anyone at the guild could forget someone with as much boundless energy as she had, hoho!" Delibird laughed, staring into the grey, overcast sky as his mind drifted to the ever-cheerful rescue graduate, quieting himself as he smiled in fond reminiscence. "If you don't mind me saying, she truly was your child, Lin, Yama."
"Yeah, yeah…" Yama replied as a soft blush formed on his cheeks. "It's what you always -"
"EX - PO - SI - TION! EX - PO - SI - TION! Rush - it - out! AS - AP!" Keldeo and Munna sang.
"We started over and I introduced myself as the guildmaster of the guild here, which seemed to just confuse him further, hoho. I mentioned that he was mumbling some during the night and he asked me if he'd said anything understandable, hoho. I wonder if his memory was affected from his exhaustion."
"Mumbling?" Lin perked up, blinking behind her glasses as she cocked her head in thought. "Now that you mention it, Grovyle was mumbling when we found him atop the mountain, too…"
"Hoho, yes, you told me before," Delibird replied, reaching down to grab his bag-like tail.
"Yes, though I didn't think he said anything understandable… Yama, dear, you said you heard something, didn't you?" The graying mink turned to her husband, who had switched back to his sitting position, his legs crossed and his hands on his sides. The large fighting type rolled his eyes upward, thinking. "What was it you thought he said? Something about…"
"Dialga!" Yama yelled with a snap of his fingers, shrinking back a bit as he noticed the odd stares that both Lin and Delibird gave him, and he chuckled sheepishly, reaching back to scratch behind his head. "Eh, heh, sorry about that. But yer right, hun, I heard him say something as clear as that morning was, and he said 'Dialga'!"
"Dialga?" Delibird repeated, frozen in his seat. "Dialga… and Grovyle, Celebi, and Dusknoir…"
The four names sent a chill down everyone's spine as the three Pokemon quickly pieced the puzzle together, the all-too-familiar tale running through their minds. Lin was the first to speak, carefully taking her reading glasses into a trembling paw. "G-Guildmaster… y-you a-aren't t-thinking…"
"Lin… Yama…" Delibird said in reply, an anxious edge in his voice as he dropped to a whisper. "You found them… yesterday?"
The husband and wife both felt their eyes widen to the size of platters, Delibird's implication not lost on them for a second.
Keldeo stood up tall, suddenly looking very invested. "Oh? Is there some kind secret legend or prophecy going on here? Well, come on, give! Give!"
Yama swallowed dryly, unconsciously reaching over to the empty fruit platter to grab some food, only pulling back when he realized there wasn't any left. "Lin… hun… we forgot in the panic... we were climbing up the mountain yesterday because it was-"
"Guildmaster, sir!"
The yell broke their combined train of thought, and Guildmaster Delibird looked over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing as he shuffled around on his stool. As Arcanine galloped up to the three of them, the dog took a few gulps of air before bowing his head. "Good morning, miss Lin, mister Yama. Guildmaster, sir?"
"Oh, bad dog!" Keldeo shouted, pointing an accusing hoof angrily.
"So. . . next morning, I guess, Grovyle regains consciousness and- Oh yeah! Celebi is in this story! I almost forgot!"
Portal 2 Announcer: "Sarcasm Self-Test Complete."
The soft moan snapped his attention back to the fairy, and he watched in silence as Celebi pulled a face, let out a massive yawn, and peeked one of her eyes open. The green orb flicked about before settling on him, and he gently squeezed her hand. "Gro… Grovyle…"
"I'm right here, Celebi," Grovyle replied, letting out a quiet breath of relief as the pink Pokemon rolled herself onto her side, hesitantly opening up her other eye as she stared at the wood gecko, and as she yawned again, she laughed a bit at her own tiredness. The pleasant sound made the lizard smile, and he looked back out the window, idly reaching up with his other hand to scratch and itch on his nose. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm… okay, I think," Celebi said, slowly scooting up as she pushed herself into a sitting position against her pillow. "Where are we? Is this… the Frozen Island?"
"I think it's called the Blizzard Island…" Grovyle sighed, and he turned his head to look at Celebi as she let wriggled her hand out of his, scooting out from under her covers and tentatively stretching out her limbs. "We're in the Delibird Guild."
"A guild? Like the Wigglytuff Guild?" The fairy whispered lightly, her eyes going wide in surprise as she hovered into the air. Her flight didn't last long, though, as she quickly flung her arms around herself, her two antennae drooping as she began to shiver. Grovyle blinked, briefly glancing at his blanket before looking back at his friend. "How did we get here? I remember… I remember you suddenly collapsing, and then…"
"There was a couple from a village nearby that brought us here, or so the Guildmaster said," Grovyle replied, gesturing towards the door with his head. That reminded him – had the guild finished its meeting? He and Celebi had been talking for a good few minutes… "I woke up earlier this morning and had… a couple naps afterward. The guild's cheer woke me up again…"
"Oh for the compassion of Dialga, enough with the exposition already! What is this, Jupiter Ascending?" Keldeo said incredulously, "I understand our characters are confused and disoriented, and I know we're in a new location, but this story just gets soooo redundant."
"I mean, just look: Dialga says what's gonna happen, then we see our heroes saved, then their rescuers talk about what just happened, then the nurse says what happened, then Delibird says what happened, then Dialga says what happened again, then Arcanine says what happened again, then the Delibird tells his friends what happened, and we can't even get any new information without Arcanine interrupting!"
Keldeo shrugged impatiently and said, "And then Celebi wakes up, so of course Grovyle has to explain everything again! Can we please learn something new this chapter?"
The wood gecko trailed off as Celebi let out a quiet gasp, and the duo looked out the window, watching the sky go from orange to dark blue, a multitude of stars beginning to wink into existence. Celebi's expression of wonder sent an amused expression onto Grovyle's face, the quiet only broken by the low hum of the pink Pokemon's fluttering wings. He narrowed his eyes, trying to find the far-off landmass, but it was to no avail, and he settled for his friend's soft-spoken reaction. "You got to see this during your adventures in the past…? I'm… a little jealous."
"You know, we get to see it every day now," Grovyle pointed out, and Celebi absently nodded in response. "The future… from the Pokemon I've talked to, Bill and Rose really were able to stop the future of darkness."
Keldeo sighed, "We know this. Next."
"Those two really pulled it off, didn't they?" Celebi smiled, clasping her hands together as she turned towards Grovyle, who exhaled gently, his warm breath turning to mist as it found the chilly room. "And we helped out too, right?"
The grass type was silent for a moment before answering. "Yeah. We helped them just as much as they helped us."
Keldeo groaned, "We know this. Next."
Celebi finally seemed to notice the missing member of the trio, and she scanned around the hospital ward, her head tilting lightly in confusion. Her friend watched as she flittered from one end of the room to the other, returning to his side after a moment. "That's right, Dusknoir! Where is he? I was wondering why he hadn't made some kind of comment yet."
"Arcanine… er, one of the other guild members," Grovyle hastily explained, suppressing a yawn as he spoke. "He said that the Guildmaster had set the three of us up in different parts of the guild in case we woke each other up."
Keldeo clenched his teeth, "We know this. Next!"
The fairy seemed to laugh to herself at this, and the lizard frowned, tapping his foot against the floor. "What?"
"W-well, if we weren't supposed to wake each other up, I guess you waking me up means it didn't really work, did it?" Celebi giggled brightly, and Grovyle flinched before smiling sheepishly, looking at his feet in mild embarrassment. The pink Pokemon floated a short ways away, whispering to herself. "Not that I minded, though…"
"Huh?"
"O-oh! Nothing, nothing," Celebi replied alongside a short loss of altitude,
"We know they're in love too! NEXT!" Keldeo shouted.
The two of them jumped in dampened shock from a repeated tapping on the wall, and they turned towards the old-fashioned log wall as it slowly swung open. Grovyle let go of the breath he was holding as Guildmaster Delibird waddled his way into the room, holding his tail in his flipper as he nudged the door closed.
"Finally!" Keldeo shouted, "So now we finally get to check on Dusknoir. It's about time. This story is seriously dragging."
"He looks… peaceful," Celebi put plainly. Grovyle had to agree; Dusknoir seemed to sleep quite soundly for someone who'd had a crisis of conscience just a few days earlier. "Then again, we were always enemies, so we can't really say for sure…"
"He's probably needed more time to recover than either one of us," The wood gecko replied as he took hold of the corners of his blanket and tossed it over Dusknoir's body, covering him up as best he could. Celebi wordlessly moved to the other side of the bed to help, tugging on the corners of the wool. "I guess… he's the one who deserves to rest the most, if anything."
For a few moments, the two Pokemon stood solemnly at the ghost type's side, thinking to themselves as they watched their newfound friend snooze the night away. Dusknoir seemed to shift in his sleep, rolling onto his side and grunting from the warmth of the cover, and Grovyle and Celebi sent each other a mutual smile.
"Weh-heh-heh!"
The laugh cut through the quiet like a blade through a berry, their muscles tensing up as the smiles dropped from their faces. Grovyle looked around the hospital ward, eyes narrowed, and tried to keep his teeth from chattering as the cold nipped at him again. "That was…!"
Celebi shut her slackened jaw as she spun around, her green eyes glowing slightly as she tried to find the source of the noise. "Sableye?"
Whatever it was, it was drowned out by the squeaky hinges of the door as it was opened up again, and the pair of Pokemon snapped their heads towards Guildmaster Delibird, his feathers lit up somewhat by the wavering candles that he and Pansear held up into the air. "Hoho, you know, I also hope you'll be able to stop disappearing on me like this!"
As Pansear scampered over to Dusknoir's bed, Grovyle and Celebi walked over to the Guildmaster, the mild light from the candle enough to illuminate their faces, and the elderly penguin tilted his head in confusion at his patients' concerned expressions. "Oh? Is there something wrong, Grovyle?"
"Huh? Er, oh, no…" Grovyle shook himself out of his trance, looking over his shoulder at Dusknoir before turning back to Delibird. "No, nothing's wrong, Guildmaster."
"SLAPPY!" Keldeo shouted.
Slappy Squirrel: "That was pointless."
"I mean, so what? There's a Sableye following them? Okay. . ." Keldeo looked around, and then shrugged, "So what? That's not even worth a 'foreshadowing' meme."
"Well, it turns Dusknoir's Sableye grunts are hiding inside a mystery dungeon for some reason. . . not really the safest place to hide. . ."
An angry growl interrupted the Sableye's meeting, the trees shaking from the reverberating sound, and the first Pokemon let out a cry as he fell to the floor with a thump. With wide, fearful eyes, the six Sableye looked into the darkness, their teeth chattering as chills ran down their spines. A steely pair of eyes stared back.
"S-scatter!" The leader ordered, and they split off in all directions, leaving the forest silent.
"Who's dumb idea was it to hide in a dungeon full of dangerous enemy Pokemon!"
Keldeo sighed, "So Dusknoir finally wakes up and-"
"Good… morning, Dusknoir," Grovyle said after a moment, walking across the room and stopping at the edge of the bed. Celebi flew over, her wings humming as she lowered herself onto the nearby table next to the melted candle, and Dusknoir looked at his food thoughtfully.
"Yes… that's right. It is morning, isn't it?" He murmured, twisting around to look outside his window, his suspicions confirmed by the gentle light that reflected off of the snow outside. His single red eye narrowed at the sight. "So… the future has been changed after all. This guild must still on the Frozen Island, then."
"I think you said it was Blizzard Island in the past, right?" Grovyle reminded, and the ghost nodded in reply. The wood gecko stroked his head-leaf a couple times, drumming his two toes against the floor as he continued. "Some villagers below brought us here."
"Yes, the Solosis told me already." Dusknoir gestured towards the psychic type nearby, who quietly busied himself with retrieving the empty meal tray before bringing it out of the room, leaving the trio of Pokemon alone to talk. Celebi briefly jumped up to look out the window, peeking shortly at the pure white fluff coating the ground outside, before returning to the table. "He said-
"Skip!" Keldeo said bluntly.
The wood gecko thought back to Dialga's parting words, and he looked at Celebi, the gears in his head beginning to turn. "Celebi, before I fainted, Dialga said something about a 'time paradox of a world of frozen time'. You know more about time than either Dusknoir or I… do you think that it could be nobody remembering the dark future?"
"I think… it's a stretch, but I think…" Celebi trailed off, looking from Dusknoir to Grovyle before continuing. "It could be that the future is actually-"
Keldeo suddenly became invested again. He leaned in and said, "What? The future is actually what? What is it?! Tell me!"
"Hey, you guys?" Arcanine's voice cut through their musing,
"Be quiet, be quiet, BE QUIET! Oh my gosh, Arcanine! What the heck is wrong with you?! Please, just be QUIET!" Keldeo exploded before walking away in frustration.
"Master Dialga?"
"YES, LAPRAS?"
"You've been somewhat melancholy today."
"…"
"If you don't mind my asking, is this related to the outside business you mentioned before?"
"…I AM ALRIGHT, LAPRAS. I AM JUST DWELLING."
"…dwelling on what, Master Dialga?"
"EVENTS THAT… COULD HAVE HAPPENED, IN ANOTHER TIME, IN A DARKER PLACE."
"Biscuits!" Keldeo said angrily from off screen.
Keldeo the Critic
We'll be right back!