Prompt: The protagonist meets another version of themself.
"Ah, there you are." came from a familiar yet slightly different voice as Blazewind and Summers arrived on the other side of the portal.
"Sorry, what?" Blaze asked the stranger, as the sceptile approached them.
"You were expecting us?" Summers inquired.
The grass type chuckled as he observed the two. "Well, yes. We really needed you to arrive so Blaze can stop yapping about ensuring the timeloop remains stable."
"She yappers, but not about something like-" Before Summers could finish, Blaze smacked his leg.
"Not me... Well, it is me, but not, right Summers?" She addressed the sceptile.
"Spot on. And before you ask, future you is not here. She is off elsewhere. Doing something else. Alone." Summers-F(uture) said, being oddly vague about how he worded it, Summers-P(resent) noted.
"So where and what, exactly?" He asked. "Because she should then know that there would be specters here."
"It's complicated." said Summers-F as he scratched the back of his head. "Personal problems, and an injury on top of that. Not really fighting fit." The younger duo went somber by the mention of injury. "Wait, why are you... oh, right... Sear. This portal opened during that time..."
"Everything seems gloomy currently." Summers-P said to avoid a dour silence.
"A feeling of weakness, of needing to do more. I know. I lived it." Summers-F replied.
"I've been thinking on how to avoid this... to toughen up better." Blaze could still see the unconscious and bloodsoaked Sear limply in Robin's arms.
"You are thinking about evolving for a shortcut." Summers-F said. "Something that you will decide to do at the end of day."
"Is it a good idea to say something like that if you want to preserve the timeloop?" Blaze was pondering if Summers-F had thought of the consequences of telling about future events.
"Well, the future Summers for me said that to us, and she did it, heck, I'm just repeating what he told us back then... Which I guess is now?" Summers-F had seemingly confused himself, while Summers-P seemed to not have wrapped his head around the situation. "Anyway." Summers-F continued. "Let us head towards the Crystal Ruins before the specters show up. We can talk on the way." He turned around and motioned to the duo to follow him down the hill and into the forest.
Meanwhile, in a different timeline, a similar yet different pair of vulpix and grovyle was surrounded by enemies.
"Just where they said you would appear." The froslass gave off a wicked smile as an all too familiar dusknoir appeared from the shadows.
"Crap, this is bad." Summers uttered as Blair went into her battle stance.
"How cute, she found herself a grovyle to partner up with. Let me handle the weed, then you and the fox can be..." Dusknoir paused as he cackled at his yet undelivered punchline. "acquainted."
"I don't get it." Blair said as she shot a warning flame towards the approaching sableye.
Dusknoir laughed yet again. "You will soon enough. Don't be too kind with your new toy, Blair." he said to the froslass.
"You know I love to break mine in." the froslass replied before dashing towards Blair, grabbing her and throwing her up the cliffside, the two being on top of the plateau.
Blair got up on her feet and stared down the ice type. "So you're called Blair as well? I guess that is a funny coincidence."
"Oh, it is no coincidence." the froslass laughed. "I used to be a miserable human, living in this dark wasteland. Then I was found by a pokemon, and we became partners ready to save this world. Sound familiar?"
"Wait, then you're... What happened to your partner? Why are you working with Dusknoir?" A chill went down the vulpix' spine as the froslass brought back its slasher smile.
"Oh, silly little alternate me. Dusknoir IS my partner! The two of us, under Lord Dialga's command, have swept this world of any who dare to 'fix' it, bringing it to unchanging perfection." The ice type rushed towards Blair who could barely react before she was grabbed yet again, getting dragged and tossed all over.
Blair got back up, shaken, but not beaten. "Then why are you not human?" She shot a Flamethrower towards her evil self, but her counterpart danced to the side, gracefully dodging the attack.
"A gift from my Lord." she cackled. "A form to imprison his enemies in ice. To be perfectly preserved, unchanging in their icy prison. Forever!" She rushed forward and punched the vulpix to the edge. "Poetic, don't you think."
"You're as broken as the time god." Blair replied, her body shaking in pain. She threw a barrage of flamethrowers towards the froslass, but at best she barely graced the icy ghost.
"That was what that defiant grovyle said." the froslass mused. "Right before Dusknoir broke his spine and tossed him off a cliff. His broken body is the jewel of my collection." She looked at the weakened fire type. "You would look nice beside him. Two wannabe heroes who tried to change this perfect world."
"Baha..." Blair fell over, her body pulsing. "Bahahahaha, oh man, I get it."
"You're laughing? That is new." the froslass Blair looked at her fire type counterpart in confusion. Never had she seen anyone starting to laugh at the notion of being frozen forever.
"Oh, it's just..." She took a deep breath. "You're getting played. Hard. We are here for the cloaked creatures." She then continued laughing. It apparently ticked off her evil self as cold winds started to pick up.
"EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" the froslass yelled as the bitter winds descended upon them.
Blair didn't care. She wasn't sure whether it was her fire typing or the fact her body was that numb, that she couldn't feel anything. "We have been foiling those cloaked creatures for a while." She tried to compose herself, but a giggle was leaving her every now and then. "They probably gained your trust, then fed you a lie to get rid of some of their enemies, while probably trying to do the thing they are accusing us of doing."
Froslass Blair went and picked up vulpix Blair staring her dead in the eyes. "And why should I believe YOU?"
Vulpix Blair returned the look. "Because despite how different we are, you can tell I'm telling the truth."
They both stared at one another before the froslass dropped the fire fox. "FUCK!" She then dashed to the edge and looked down towards the fight between Dusknoir and the grovyle. "Partner, leave him, we've been had! She told me."
Dusknoir looked up at his partner in disbelief. "And you just believe her?"
"I could FEEL it! Those cloaked things are not to be trusted. We need to get to our Lord, fast!"
Dusknoir looked at the beaten grovyle, then back up at his partner. "If you say so." He turned to the sableye group. "Men, I and Blair are going to our Lord. You are to find and keep track of the cloaked creatures. Don't let them out of sight at any cost, and call for us when located. Now, go!"
With that, the ghost types left, and Summers slowly got up on his feet and climbed up to Blair, lying in front of a newly opened gateway. "You okay there?"
"No... No I'm not. I got beaten... Hard! If I hadn't convinced her, then... Then I would become another casualty like Sear. I need to get stronger." Blair tried to get up, but her legs refused.
"Don't worry." Summers said. "I'll get you." He picked up his partner, and they left the dark world.
"But seriously, just a 'hi'." Blaze insisted as they stood in front of the portal leading back to the Nexus.
"Sorry, but you would just evade yourself until you would give up. Another of those timeloop things, she said." Summers-F replied as he shook hands with his past self.
"What could I possibly see or say that would break the loop?" Blaze wasn't sure if she was more pissed on future Summers or her future self.
"If I told you, then the loop would definitely break." Summers-F said.
"Give it up Blaze. But I guess you will find out some day." Summers-P said to quell his partner's anger.
"Fine..." Blaze resigned. "At least tell her that she's an asshole from me, would you?"
"I will." Summers-F smiled as the duo went home. The portal closed, he breathed a sigh of relief and then turned towards the nearby bushes. "You can come out now."
The gray ninetails looked as ticked off as her past self did as she showed herself from behind the trees. "God I hate myself for this."
"Then why not appear?" Summers asked.
"Because, then past me would ask why I look like this, realize why, and I KNOW what I would then do to avoid getting all burned out." Blaze sat down and looked at where the portal had been. "Past me needs to think of that stunt, not knowing that she is going to be stuck with this color scheme forever."
"I dunno. I think you look pretty good like that. You are practically the shiny coloring." Summers said to try and appease his partner.
"I mean, it's not bad, but I really, really miss my original colors and that would be a fact that I would most likely slip." Blaze shook her head. "For how much I'm going to curse myself out for being such an asshole to myself, this is for the greater good."
Back at the arrival plaza in Hub Town, a particularly angry vulpix just arrived. "Screw the timeloop. I refuse to be an asshole like future me is!"
"Are you going to be like that for the rest of the day?" Summers asked.
"No, I'm gonna be like that for the rest of the week. Fuck my alternate future self."
"Amen to that." said Blair as she and her Summers came out from their portal. "Evil me didn't even hold back."
"Evil you? We just met future Summers without future me because future me didn't want me to see her for some reason." Blaze then took a look at Blair. "Okay, what happened to you?"
"Transformed evil me as a froslass, most likely empowered by Primal Dialga, really wanted to pummel me." Blair giggled as she said it, finding some dark humor in the situation.
"Please say you aren't even a fraction as injured as Sear." Blaze's Summers begged.
"The only thing truly injured is my pride. I just felt... weak. Helpless." Blair replied.
"I've been feeling like that for a while now..." Blaze muttered. "Fuck, he was right, I've decided. I'm going to look for Fire Stones. I know I can still get stronger in this form, but I need a lot of power faster than any training would do."
"I'm going to help you." Blair chimed up. "Evil me has shown that this form and power just doesn't cut it anymore. I need to evolve."
AN: And so, the pixes will become tales.
Also, what is up with Sear?