-Chapter XXIII: Try As You Might-

-Connor-

Well… So much for stealth…

As he sailed through the air, he grabbed hold of his mega stone and was enveloped in a purple sphere of light. His body grew larger, his arms elongating and becoming much more muscular, and he slammed into the ground with earthquake, collapsing every building within a three hundred yard radius. The ground around him rippled like the ocean, the very earth swallowing the intricately made wooden huts and tents, as well as many pokémon, buried in the shifting earth.

He turned his attention to the nearest pokémon still standing. An Abomasnow, it looked like. He smirked and readied focus blast, holding the orange sphere of energy in one outstretched hand. "Tell me… What is your name?"

"My name is Masaru… I see that you are the alpha Swampert."

"Nah. Just a human-turned-pokémon."

His eyes widened slightly, but he stifled a laugh. "Hmph. So Team Firestorm's leader is a liar, as well as foolish… You mean to tell me that you came here by yourself? And better yet, thought you could win?"

"Of course. I don't do something if I don't think I can succeed."

"I see." The Abomasnow smirked and slammed his fist on his chest like a drum. "Then allow me to show you my power!"

*Flashback*

"Briar, are you sure-?"

"This plan has the highest chance of success. Connor, you will ride into the heart of the village using Ancient Power..." She pointed to the center of the drawn-out map. "You will mega-evolve in mid-air, then use earthquake as you land on the ground, drawing all attention in the base directly to you."

He stared at her incredulously. "And what happens then? I have every pokémon's attention on me! I can't fight them all at once!"

"Who said you have to?" Briar questioned. "We will be there shortly afterwards. Grovyle first, followed by Basileus. Any threats posed will be nullified by these two."

"So who's going to get Alice?"

"That will be Tyranitar's duty, as well as… Galvantula's."

At the mention of his name, he sat straight up as an electro-ball detonated behind him. "What? Me?"

"Yes. You are the primary hostage-rescuer, correct?"

"I am? I mean, yes! I am! Totally!"

Connor did a mental face-palm. Galvantula really doesn't seem like the type to be a Temporal Guardian…

"Oh, but I am. You see, it's one of those things where I'm lowkey a kick-butt master. I just like having fun, that's all." Galvantula grinned.

Grovyle smiled and nodded slowly. "Amber... You can tell him now. I think it's a good time."

It took a second for him to put the pieces together, and when he did, his jaw dropped. "No way… Grovyle… You're-?!"

He nodded and did a bow with his hands spread out. "Yes. I am the Twelfth and final Temporal Guardian."

*Reality*

As the Abomasnow said this, the wind picked up around him as snow began falling. Connor narrowed his eyes and gasped as the Abomasnow was surrounded by the same purple sphere of light. When it shattered, he was absolutely massive. Easily ten feet tall, and just as long, on all fours, being much more bulky, resembling a wall of white and green fur. Pillars of ice sprouted from his back, and they pulsed white, the pure glow washing over the now dimming sun. Connor felt a tap on his shoulder, and when he looked, a chunk of ice the size of an oran berry bounced off of the ground. He looked up to see a swirling maelstrom of ice forming above him, completely blocking out the sun. As more and more ice chunks fell, the village was torn further and further apart by the baseball sized hailstones. Connor shrugged and called out to him. "Are you sure Mordred is alright with you wrecking this place any more than it already is?"

The Abomasnow laughed. "Oh, don't worry. We have others that can clean this up in a matter of minutes. Right now, it's you and me… No holds barred!"
Connor smirked, then flinched as a hailstone as big as an oran berry fell right in front of him. Oh… This is bad.

The Abomasnow rushed forward with astonishing speed. Connor tossed the Focus Blast in the air, then hit it with a power-up punch, sending it hurtling towards the ice-and-grass type. Connor stared at the smoke while it dissipated, but much to his surprise, the Abomasnow barreled through, not even affected. He gasped and stumbled backwards. That was a focus blast! How did he shrug that off like it was nothing?!

"That would be because he's the alpha Abomasnow." Grovyle knelt next to him, and time seemed to slow to a halt as Basileus walked out from behind the debris of the nearest building.

Connor stared at the Abomasnow that was frozen in time, then diverted his gaze to the countless hailstones in the air, devoid of movement.

Grovyle whistled quietly. "These are some big hailstones… You're lucky you're so thick-skinned, otherwise this hailstorm would beat you unconscious in seconds."

"Why are you telling me this, Grovyle? I already know about the Alphas, and mega-evolution!"

"I am telling you to let us handle this. And please use rain dance to clear up this hail."

Us…?

Grovyle stood up and turned to his father. "Now, please."

Basileus' eyes flashed turquoise, and the entire landscape unfroze. Hail began falling, and Grovyle immediately formed a giant fist out of vines that erupted from the ground and stopped the Abomasnow cold in its tracks. He smiled and turned to Connor as a hailstone the size of his head fell inches from his face. "Can you please hurry with that?"

"R-Right!" He still had trouble processing this… Grovyle had been a Temporal Guardian the entire time. But what he told him back at he forest base…

*Flashback*

"Are you serious?"

"Yes… I'm guessing this comes as quite the shock to you and your team… Well, those that knew me before, that is."

"Yes, it is! How long have you been a Temporal Guardian?!"

"After our future became one of light. In that world... I thought our lives were over. Celebi's… Mine… I was just a normal pokémon, trying to do the right thing. But I knew that if I disappeared that day… That surely my memories would live on with you two."

Dusknoir grunted in agreement, and Grovyle smiled, "After I brought Dusknoir to the future with me… We were attacked by Sableye."

"We? You mean, you and him both?"

"Yes. After his second failure, Dialga sought to eliminate us both. So we joined forces and fought the lord of time itself, in his primal rage. It took us a long while… But Celebi can confirm it."

The pink fairy floated forward nervously, but put on a brave smile. "You and Vulcan fought Dialga at the same moment as Grovyle and Dusknoir, four hundred and seventeen years apart… Your joined efforts across two different time periods allowed you both to succeed in your missions."

Connor nearly collapsed from that statement. "So… Even separated by time, our victories were tied together…"

"Furthermore, after restoring time… Dialga was restored to his rightful self. When we asked him about what happened… He never gave a straight answer. He always said that 'time was not a fluid thing, it was a solid construct, the overseer of all things'… Then Dusknoir and I… We travelled from the Hidden Land, back to Immanis. We journeyed together for months. Then, one day, Dialga came to me. and he told me… that he was proud of me. In spite of everything I'd been through… I had been willing to sacrifice everything to restore the balance of time. He… He offered me a position as the Twelfth and Final Temporal Guardian."

"So you accepted…"

He nodded slowly. "Yes. I gained partial immortality, control over time itself… As well as an enormous responsibility for each branch of reality that involves my alternate selves."

"Alternate… what? There's more than one of you?"

"Of course. My mother explained the temporal web to you in the form of a tree. Your branch of reality… That is, the one where you, Connor, a human, travel back in time with mine and Celebi's help… That is one of many nearly identical realities."

"What's that supposed to mean? This Temporal Guardian stuff is confusing."

"There are other teams just like yours… With different pokémon, of course. One team with a human named Rio is a good example. (1) He transformed into a Riolu and was aided by a Meowth from Concordia, in opposition to you turning into a Mudkip and Vulcan, a pokémon native to Varius, aiding you. Team Righteous… Their story is nearly identical to yours, up until recent events. A human from the future washes ashore on a beach, transformed into a pokémon. They have no memories other than their names. Then, their fated partner finds them unconscious on the beach. They have a relic fragment that ties directly to stopping the destruction of time, each one acquiring it in a different way. Vulcan obtained his from his father. Another reality is that the partner found it by chance. Team Skull, the Time Gears, Wigglytuff's guild… Everything is the same, other than how you handle yourselves in each of those scenarios."

"I… Grovyle… How can you bear knowing so much…?"

"It was one of the many things I accepted in exchange for this position. Connor, this is one of the highest honors you can receive as a regular being. I was willing to sacrifice everything to disappear from existence. So, I was also willing to give my new life to Dialga and serve to the best of my abilities."

He took a moment to clear his thoughts. This information was too much to think about at once. "So… There are other Grovyles that travelled to the past with a human partner?"

"Essentially, yes. However, I am the only one that is a Temporal Guardian."

"But how? If every Grovyle did the same thing as you-"

"My story is different with every branch of reality as well… In one, I am a slave, in another, I meet the Insurgo. In one, I was a brother to Dusknoir, fated to become enemies after Dialga took us both in as his apprentices. In another, he and I have been sworn enemies as long as we've known each other. And there was even one in which Dusknoir was a double spy. An agent sent by us to serve as Dialga's right hand and acquire information. I don't claim to know why Dialga chose me out of all of my counterparts, but-"

"It's because of your parents." Amber spoke up.

Connor hadn't noticed, but everything around them was frozen in time. Nobody else was moving. Amber had just started moving, and Grovyle tilted his head and sighed. "Is that it? Goodness, why didn't I think of that? Both of my parents are Temporal Guardians, so that makes sense. My alternate selves' parents are different in every other reality, too."

Connor looked around at everybody frozen in time, and shook his head slowly. "This is weird…"

"It certainly took me long enough to figure out that you were talking to him, Grovyle." Amber stared at him with an unamused glare.

"Why did you lie, Amber?" Connor asked.

Grovyle smiled and stood up. "Because I asked her to. Please don't be angry... I didn't want you to think of me any different until the time was right."

*Reality*

The rain was intense now. Connor could see fairly clearly due to his typing and ability, but the Abomasnow was struggling. He saw flashes of green and red, moving as fast as the light itself. The Abomasnow roared in defiance and used blizzard, blasting away the pouring rain and freezing Grovyle and Basileus solid. The Abomasnow reared up, about to crush their frozen silhouettes, and Connor planted his hands in the ground, preparing the most powerful water-type move: Hydro Cannon. The torrent of water rushed from his mouth, blasting the Abomasnow through an entire row of tents and buildings. He caught his breath after the attack and nearly collapsed. That was seriously an exhausting move.

After a moment, he saw Basileus' icy prison become enveloped in a purple sphere, then shatter, sending ice shards everywhere and making Connor shield his eyes with his arm. When he looked back, Basileus was a full foot taller and had a much longer tail. His leaf blades on his arms were longer, and he had several red stripes, as well as more prominent ridges and pointed fins on his face and shoulders. He shook the ice off of him and looked at Connor. "Stand back, please…"

Connor did as instructed, and Basileus was enveloped in a blue glow. He radiated so much pure heat and energy that it could compare to Vulcan's flamethrower, which was incredible for a grass-type. The ice around Grovyle instantly melted, and Basileus de-evolved after assessing the situation silently.

Grovyle shrugged and shuddered once. "How did he hit us?"

"I'd presume it's because we approached this opponent with overconfidence. Regardless, let's find Alice." he turned to Connor and glanced into the village. "This is unnaturally exciting for me. Let's find out what other challenges await us."

-Alice-

Vincent laughed nervously as Victor and Nagini closed in at an alarming pace. Alice grasped the Mega stone and closed her eyes, but she was unable to evolve for some reason. The incantations over the room… That works for mega evolution?

Vincent turned into a Smeargle and closed his fists. "Come on, guys… Can't we work this out?"

Nagini snaked across the ground and coiled up, preparing to strike. Vincent sighed and said, "Alright, fine. You got us…"

Victor stayed back while Nagini moved closer, and at the last second, Vincent smirked. "Psych!" He opened his hands and close to a hundred oran-berry sized purple orbs of energy bounced around the room almost faster than the eye could follow. Once they hit Nagini, he was enveloped in an indigo sphere and collapsed to the ground, sound asleep. Victor dodged the first few projectiles, but eventually he was hit, and the attack had the same result.

"Let's move, Alice! This isn't going to keep them for long!" Vincent grabbed her hand and ran through the entrance, then transformed into Nagini again. "I can't transform out of Smeargle form in that room. But I can transform into myself for some reason..."

Alice walked beside him, doing her best to look scared, which wasn't very hard. "Since when did you know that move?! That's amazing!"

"I picked it up from Darkrai back when I kicked his butt as a Hariyama. I didn't know how to use it at first, since it takes some practice, but I'll tell you what, it's freakin' sweet once you do know how to use it." Vincent whispered as he slithered through the crowd of pokémon.

A Krookodile walked in front of him, and he snapped at him, getting into the role as the Seviper. "Move! I'm transporting the prisoner per master Victor's orders!" He eyed a storm forming overhead about a kilometer to the west, and Vincent nodded. He leaned close to her and whispered, "I'm gonna lure them off. That storm cloud looks suspicious."

He looked at the gathering of pokémon and called out, "Alright, make yourselves useful and go see what that commotion is! I bet it's team Firestorm, come to reclaim their teammate! No doubt they've got new allies! And I heard Master Victor is paying thirty thousand a head to whoever kills them!"

The mafia members ran off with a cheer, and Vincent winked. "Well, they're gone. But now's not the time for chit-chat. We've got to haul tail and get as far away as we can."

The Seviper's skin turned from purple to a dull shade of green, and he transformed into a Scyther. "This'll do."

"What about your rainbow paint when you transform?"

"Oh, I picked up some cool tricks from the other Smeargle here. Ends up he's a pretty cool guy. Too bad he's working with the Mafia. I'd like to put him on the team."

"Hey!" A lone Heracross pointed to them, "That's Alice! Who are you?"

Vincent looked at her with a smile. "Would you like to do the honors?"

"Of course." She grabbed onto her mega stone and closed her eyes as the mega evolution took place, now that she was outside of the . Her muscles expanded and her senses were heightened. She could sense the Heracross even with her eyes closed. When the shield shattered, she rushed forward, only to be met with a mega-evolved Heracross' megahorn attack.

In that moment, time seemed to slow down, and before the attack could connect, Tyranitar dropped from the sky onto the bug-type, crushing it underfoot. He kicked its stiff body aside with a crunch from its exoskeleton. "Ugh… I hate bugs." He looked at the Scyther and opened his mouth slightly, a blue flame trickling from between his fangs, and Vincent backed up, "Whoa! Chill! I'm with you guys!" He transformed into a Smeargle, and Tyranitar tilted his head. "Who are you?"

"I'm Vincent the Smeargle! One of the first recruits! Who are you?"

"Tyranitar. Alice… Is he-"

"Yes! He's with us!" She replied with a grin. She leapt into the stone colossus' arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh, thank you… Thank you… But isn't Galvantula your best friend?"

"Oh." Tyranitar let out a short laugh. "Heh. Yeah, I mean, besides him. Sorry if that came out wrong." Then he looked around for a moment and crossed his arms. "Where is he, anyways? It's not like him to miss out on a rescue mission."

"So…" Vincent began, "Are you two a thing, or…"

"No!" They both replied at the same time. Tyranitar shook his head rapidly, and Alice glared at the Smeargle. "You know Atlas and I are still together, right?"

"Pfft, yeah. As long as you guys didn't die, I knew nothing would break you two up. I was just messing with you."

He looked around at the empty space, and Tyranitar pointed towards the stormclouds. "Grovyle, Basileus and Connor are over there."

Vincent laughed nervously, and Alice gasped. "Vincent… You-!"

"Yeah… I might have sent everybody here over there to investigate… My bad. I was just trying to get these guys out of here."

Tyranitar shrugged, "They're fine. Basileus could take them all on and still win. And he's got Grovyle and Connor."

-Grovyle-

He ducked beneath the swing of the Sawk's fist and jabbed its chest with a power-up punch, sending it crashing into a Rhydon. He used grass knot on a Drapion that tried to sneak up on his father. He felt a slight breeze behind him and whirled around in the blink of an eye, only to come face to face with an Absol. Its horn nearly sliced the tip of his snout off, but he leaned backwards and slowed down time. Everything slowed to a halt around him until it was like the air itself was moving through honey. He slammed the Absol's head into the ground, then proceeded to lop off another Scolipede's horns after leaping off of a Rhyperior's back while placing a seed bomb in one of the stone protrusions. Soon after, Basileus joined him in the frozen time, and before long, they had disabled every enemy around them. They both smiled as time returned to normal and the seed bombs all around them detonated at once, and Tyranitar stopped in front of them, carrying Alice. She smiled and stepped onto the ground, and Connor rushed forward. "Oh, thank Arceus!"

He embraced her, and she smiled even wider. "Connor… Guess who I found!"

He tilted his head in confusion until a familiar voice interrupted, "Actually, it's more like I found you. And now is not the time to talk. These guys won't stay down for long. And might I just say... wow. Grovyle and Basileus, the two Temporal Guardians, father and son, taking down every member of the mafia single-handedly! No better way to bond than bathing in the blood of your enemies with your old man! Although, from the looks of it… You didn't actually kill anyone. I'm guessing you meant to do that, though."

Basileus narrowed his eyes slightly. "Old?"

A familiar Smeargle landed on the ground, two bright blue wings wrapping around him like a cloak. He stood up and winked playfully as the paint dissolved into the ground. "You heard right, you wood gecko. Miss me yet?"

Bam! So, did you guys miss Vincent? I know I did. That being said, I hope you are all having a wonderful week! Oh, and Grovyle's the final Temporal Guardian! And did you guys like Grovyle's explanation about the Alternate Realities? Was it good? Confusing? Not really? Let me know with a Review or PM! And as always, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Go ahead and leave any questions, comments, concerns and theories in the form of a review or PM, and I will see you all in the next chapter!

(1.) That was a small shoutout to one of my favorite authors on , Aerojester203. The Meowth from Concordia is actually in one of his stories, called A New Life. It's about Meowth from Team Rocket meeting Rio the Riolu and making the base PMD story with a bunch of twists similarly to mine. His story actually inspired my first two stories since they came first, and without him, I don't think I'd still be writing, to be completely honest. So... yeah. He didn't ask me to do this, but I will anyways, because he truly has a gift in that department. So if you guys want to read some kick-ass PMD stories, go check out his profile. You won't be disappointed. (This actually turned into a big shoutout without me meaning to. Lol) Much Love!

-PL