"Are you awake?"
A voice from behind wakes Lucario from his slumber. His steed, Whiskey, is sound asleep. Lucario looks over his shoulder and spots a pair of verdant eyes staring from behind the radiant blue tree.
"Now I am." Lucario groans, flattening his back against the bark. "Who are you? Friend of 'M?"
"Is that what you call Cole?"
The voice laughs. A pair of tiny wings flutter towards Lucario, and a tiny, pink creature lands on his lap. She is about the size of a younger Rei, grinning at him as though he were one of her closest friends. He could not resist smirking back, showing off the crass message carved into his metal teeth.
"Oh my!" She laughs again, staring at Lucario's big ugly maw. "That's one way to treat someone about to heal you.."
"Everyone gets the same treatment." Lucario closes his trap with a loud snap. "Now who are you exactly?"
"Celebi."
She flutters off of him, then lifts up one of his legs in both of her arms. The pain is immediate, shooting through his brass bones like lightning. Not using them for the last hour has made him numb as he barely feels her tiny little hands poke and prod at his muscles. It could be worse, he reminds himself, he could be rapidly aging right now.
"If you're buddy with him, then you're a friend of mine." He winces. "Call me Lucario."
"Lucario?" She glances at him, confused. "I know what a Lucario is, and I've met a Riolu before. Don't you have a name I can call you by? It's rude not to use someone's name, you know?"
"Not calling me what I wanna be called is more rude. Is your name even Celebi? I've never seen anything like you."
"My name is Celebi. I'm the only one of me. Have you not met, you know, one of us before?"
Lucario blinks. "One of who?"
Celebi laughs him off, lifting his leg up and onto one of the tree's gnarl roots. She holds up a hand, and a green, magical chime appears between her tiny fingers. It looks like a bell. When she gives it a ring the sound echoes all around, passing through the leaves above and into the gardens below.
She places a hand over his leg, shutting her eyes. The bell rings a second time, and the sound reverberates through Lucario, gushing around his body like ichor. She rings the bell a third time, and sensation comes flooding back to his legs. Then with a flick of her wrist her chime dissipates into glowing specks.
"There, all better." Celebi dusts off her hands. "You should be able to move it fine. Just in case though, you should maybe sleep on it."
Lucario gives his legs a kick. He can move both of them just fine, and amazingly, it does not feel like someone is stabbing him. This Celebi person is a healer alright, whatever she had done to him is working like a charm.
"Thanks, girl." Lucario flashes her a strained smile, and wriggles himself back up against the tree. "I didn't want to come here in the first place, but it's nice to get something out of this stupid detour."
"Detour? Cole didn't even know I was here. I thought you two came along for a break. Do you have something to do in the Grass Continent?" Celebi looks at all the invisible faces listening to them, and giggles softly. "I can keep secrets, you know."
"You're a stranger to me." Lucario grumbles. "Besides, we don't know each other. You're still M's friend, but I can only trust you so much."
"That still makes us friends, doesn't it?"
"Technically…" Lucario deflates, giving in. He glares at the sprite. "Alright pinkie, obviously you wanna talk. So go ahead, shoot. I guarantee I'm not as interesting as our friend down there."
"Don't talk yourself down, I'm sure you have something we can at least talk about." She flutters up onto Lucario's lap again, looking up at the criminal-turned explorer with eager eyes. "Cole's sleeping away down there. Poor guy fell asleep instantly, I think he's still shocked by my being here. Instead of keeping him awake I wanna keep you up instead."
How nice of her to wake him up, fix his leg, and only ask to annoy him in return for performing what seems like a miracle. Maybe after talking for an hour he will be tired enough to fall back asleep.
"What are you, nocturnal?"
"No, I only sleep when I really wanna. Helps with everything up here." She points to her round, onion-shaped head.. "Would've gone to sleep in Cole's arms if he didn't tell me about your leg problem. Couldn't go to sleep without checking you out, you know?"
"You're sleeping with Masters?" Lucario spits.
"He's a great cuddler, you know." Celebi waves it off.. "I don't know how to tell you other than spell it out, but I'm kinda - y'know - ageless? I don't age, I'm here forever. I knew him since he was a little Cyndaquil saving us all from some timey-wimey problems, and I came back from the future to give him a friendly surprise!"
All of this nearly whizzes past Lucario's groggy head. Lucario is speaking to an immortal, time-travelling fairy who slept with his buddy and who knew him since he was a wee little fire-type exploring the world. Time was already proven to be a malleable thing thanks to the discovery of these gears, time travelling immortal pokemon should not be out of the question, he just did not expect the however many year old ghost of an explorer to be best friends with any of them.
And if this little pink lady was supposed to be immortal, then by all means the pokemon sitting on his lap right now falls under the same banner as Winter herself. Articuno and Celebi are of the same breed of ultra-powerful beings, and here is one of these fabled beings wanting to chat away with him as if they were two fellows at the bar. His whole existence has been nothing but strange turns since finding his first gear.
He squints at Celebi on his lap, who comically squints back. She is nowhere near the all powerful, awe-inspiring deity he imagines these sorts of pokemon to be. She's just a tiny little thing who is as bored as he was waiting up here on top of a pyramid hundreds of feet off the Sea.
"You're right about him." Lucario pats his thighs. "Legs would've frozen over if he didn't cud-"
Lucario slaps himself and the thoughts out of his head. His cheeks flare red hot as she laughs at him.
"L-Look!" Lucario barks. "If you've got any questions about what he and I have been doing, then go ahead and ask! We've been at this for like two weeks now."
"Only two weeks?"
"Only two. I've been at it way longer. I found a gear-thing when I was sent out to a place by my boss, lost it, and on the job after that I got busted." Lucario explains. "My boss, the genius Noivern she is, decided to put a bounty out for the time gears and I went looking for one to pay off my debt. 'M was there, beat some sense into me, and since then we've been looking for the gears together."
"I found someone who can pay off my debt." Lucario lifts up his ragged cloak, revealing the gear tied to him by a scrap of purple cloth. "'M gave me this one, he's got the rest."
"He gave you this?" Celebi shuffles up Lucario, reaching for the cold iron tied to his neck. "Cole told me these have all sorts of powers. Can you let me take a look at them, please?"
Of course, knowing she is some kind of ultra-powerful pokemon means he cannot possibly turn her down without incurring the wrath of the almighty. Lucario lifts his neck up, and she tugs on his gear, then pulls her hand away, gawking at the neat little bow around his neck with sudden intrigue.
"Huh" She whispers to herself, prodding at the cold metal. "Now who did this?"
"The Bow?" Lucario taps the piece of fabric. "A fortune telling ghost gave it to me, the same lady who paid off my bounty."
"A fortune telling ghost, you say? It must have been a mighty ghost, are you sure you didn't happen across a Legendary?" Celebi pulls her hands away, folding them in disappointment. "That little thing of fabric on your neck is as strong as the gear it's holding down. I'm not touching it."
"She looked like an ordinary ghost to me. What's the matter?"
"Well, usually big powerful pokemon - legendaries like me and others - give people under them a token. For me, I gave my darling in the future a flower. For Winter, I imagine she would have given someone a feather of hers." She taps the cold metal, making sure not to lay a finger on the purple silk. "Somebody - I have no idea who - has made you hers."
Lucario touches his gear, sensing nothing other than its cold metal in his fingers. He touches the fabric. Nothing about it screams "I own you", but if a friend of his friend is to be trusted, then he has been owned from the second he said yes in Halfway Rock. The cloth may as well be a shackle. Fun.
"I don't know any all-powerful ghosts she could be in disguise, so maybe it's just an ordinary everyday curse." He drops his cape, draping it over his gear. "It's the least of my worries. I just want those gears, she wants them, 'M wants them, so I want them."
"Do you trust her?"
"The bow doesn't hurt, it doesn't feel wrong, if it's her idea of telling others that I'm working for her then I couldn't care less. She paid off the Magnet boys, so I owe her." Lucario raises an eyebrow. "What, do you think she is evil?"
"I'm a psychic-type, I'm naturally wary of phantoms. If this is what you signed up for then who am I to keep you?" Celebi slinks down onto her folded, her antennae rattle in trepidation. "You're a grown up, right? You can make all sorts of decisions yourself, you don't need me to guide you and tell you what's good or bad."
Never had he ever come across someone who could scry like the phantom or have similar abilities. The Mismagius had a way of words he cannot describe. She was sly, cunning. She may not be a liar but she most certainly had all the qualities of a trickster. Mysterious as Mismagius is, Lucario had agreed to work with her, and it's a grave he will happily lie down in.
Mismagius was not the first weird pokemon in a hat he agreed to work with, but he did not exactly have a choice in both circumstances. Honchkrow, the criminal he is, did have a sense of honor to him. He would be here if it were not for the Krow.
A tide of memories washes forth, which Lucario bats away with a deep sigh. He focuses on his one real goal.
"Celebi, you have time powers or something right?" Lucario leans forward, engulfing the petit deity in his shadow. "My goal's to get all of the gears. When we got our third 'M told me to take a break while we're ahead. I'd like to believe him; however I have no idea how many there are. If there is anyone I know of who could magic up an answer you'd be my first."
She puts a hand up her mouth, keeping it shut as she hums quizzically. Her tiny body quivers as she dwells. Slowly, Celebi lifts one of her small hands and pushes it into the bark of the tree, drawing a circle into the tree with psychic force.
"You're gonna have to follow me, okay?" She tells him.
Lucario nods.
"There are two sets of gears." Celebi says, dragging her hand along the circle, occasionally marking her path. "The one I know had six until a really bad person destroyed one of them and caused time to fall apart. There were six "Time" gears, how many "Dark" gears are you aware of?"
"We have three, there are two out there somewhere. Five so far?"
"I believe you either are in the lead or you are very far away." She draws two lines in the centre of the circle, one notably longer than the other, both pointing in opposite ways. "Do you know what gears are, right? Do you know why they are related to time?"
Lucario pauses.
"No."
Celebi takes a deep breath. "Gears are used in mechanisms, and way into the future and way in the times of powerful beings we had and have things called clocks. They are devices which tell time, and which work through a complicated series of gears, so y'know - Time Gears."
"If there are six 'Dark Gears', then you only need to find one more of them." She traces her hand around the circle, creating little indents every inch or so. "I have been around time gears for a bit now. The Dark Gear you have does not give off the same strength as the others, so if each one is weaker than the Time Gears, then…"
Her hand returns to where it started, having made twelve individual marks around the circle. Twelve marks, twelve…
"There are twelve hours in a day, unless there are six, then there has to be twelve."
"Are you kidding me? Twelve?" Lucario spits, looking at the weird dial k in utter disbelief. "I nearly lost my life getting two of them, how are we gonna get all twelve of these things? Are you sure these aren't as strong as your actual Time Gears?"
She nods solemnly.
"There can be six, or there can be twelve." Her antennae flick with frustration. "If I could just have a good look at one of these, I might be able to-"
"Tell Masters to give you one of his. He has two, he can spare the one!" Lucario looks down the pyramid where a Typhlosion slumbers under the canopy of bright pink leaves. "When he's up, tell him I'm not leaving unless he gives you yours, and tell him we're leaving tomorrow morning. If we're this far ahead, I'm not gonna wait around on this island for our competition to catch up. If we're that far behind, I won't let us be dragged behind!
Lucario's slumbering steed grumbles in his sleep. He feels his heart raging as he takes a moment to quell both himself and his voice. Celebi lowers her voice..
"If Cole agrees, I'll take his gear and try my best. I need to trust you." Celebi speaks, leaning in. "Why do you want the gears?"
He has to fight back the laughter. It should be obvious, right?
"I want my freedom; enough of these gears to be left alone. I want to be strong, that's it. At one point I only wanted the gears to pay for my bounty. Now with it paid, if anyone gets the funny idea for revenge I want to be able to beat them silly. Supposedly collecting them all lets you do something, but I don't care, I want to be strong enough to be left alone for good and the gears are my ticket to freedom."
"You want to be stronger?" Celebi asks sheepishly.
"Yeah, real simple. No funny business. The lady who gave me the bow and pointed me towards the gears wants them for her own reasons, 'M has to have his own too. I am not about the big picture in the slightest. I would honestly quit this stupid thing if I didn't agree to help someone who helped me. It's a good thing I did, I wouldn't want to tick off the lady you say is as strong as you are."
"If 'M has someone as nice as you on his payroll, I doubt his reasons are selfish." Lucario groans, smothering his forehead. "If there's actually twelve gears, then I got my work cut out for me."
"What happens if, say, you become strong enough, Lucario?" Her using his supposed name makes Lucario shake. "Are you going to leave Cole to go on your own?"
"I'm not leaving him. I wouldn't have gotten on my knees and begged to tag along if I planned to leave him in the dust." Lucario puffs up his chest. "I owe it to them both. The ghost showed me the easy way and I said no. It's not like I can go back, Honchkrow won't forgive me.."
"I thought you already had a boss."
"He is Underboss. The real Boss is this rich bat lady I mentioned, she likes treasures and I'm assuming she wants these gears to just have them. She doesn't matter, Honchkrow does. I don't think I would be around if he didn't find me."
A feeling rises up in Lucario. He glances at Whiskey, and seeing him sound asleep gives him the courage to push those feelings down. He is alone with Celebi - a complete stranger, he is free. Strangers forget.
"Honch was basically my dad. I didn't know my real dad, but Honchkrow was the one who let me into his little family after my mother…after she." Lucario tugs on the hat. The two ears protruding from it keep it firmly in place. "He gave me this dumb hat because wearing this hat means you're part of the Krows, part of his 'family'. I don't think he got around enough for all those Murkrow to be his actual kids."
"I took up after my mom. I did 'readings' to fill the Family's pockets. If you tell people just enough of what they wanna hear about their futures, they will always come back for more. My mom made the mistake of telling the truth to the kid of someone powerful, someone with lots of money. She gave me to the 'Krows because I was safer off than with her. The kid must have gotten a pretty damn bad fortune if she trusted me to the mob."
"Never saw her after that. Grew up surrounded by nameless Murkrow, evolved sometime after messing with this Fraxure girl some. She is the one who stole the gear from me when I first found it. I gave up on ever coming back to Honchkrow after I failed an important job, worse was me stealing the Big Man's gear." He taps the cold metal under his cloak. "This one is his. Has the ability to transfer youth from one to another, crazy stuff."
Why is he telling her all this stuff? Because he is absolutely sure after their second meeting catching up with this gears fiasco, they will never speak again. There is no way someone as important as she was is gonna tag along with them on their quest to get stupid pointless gears. A stranger like Celebi, especially with her age and supposed habit of travelling through time, is bound to forget what some random Lucario told her. She is the perfect wall to talk to.
"Pops is out of the picture, I don't even know what the girl is up to. 'M is the only guy I have left. I'm not gonna leave him, we have to stick together. I didn't give myself a choice."
"You gave up your dad like that? For Cole?"
"I didn't think joining your friend was such a big deal." Lucario looks at Celebi, scowling. "Maybe when this is all said and done I might leave. He's my friend, saved me twice. The ghost has nothing on him!"
All of this was bubbling up inside for days now. Saying it was a load off of his chest, a load only a stranger like Celebi could ease. With a deep, mournful sigh, his eyes close shut. It took all of his strength to toss off these feelings, and he was ready to sail off into the world of dreams. He turns his head away from her with his eyes shut tight as he lets out some kind of defeated gurgle.
"If you're worried about the criminal ruining your friend's life, I kindly implore you to throw those thoughts in the trash. I'm not that kind of criminal. We got honor too, you know? It wasn't a choice."
"Oh don't you worry, my Husband is a time thief. I know all about it, Lucario."
Her giggling lifts the whole weight of his shoulders. Who would have guessed the time travelling immortal pokemon is partnered up with a time-stealing pokemon? Not him.
Her wings beat as she flutters up his chest. He opens his eyes and sees her face-to-face. She leans one of his big ears, giving him a stern, serious look. It really does not belong on a person like her.
"If you're so into power, and you're never gonna leave my Cole's side…I think I may know something which could help you dearly."
"For free?"
She chuckles, turning her voice down until it is an impish whisper.
"Have you heard of Mega Evolution?"
The fire-type threw hundreds of thunder punches at Honchkrow, one of them was bound to paralyze Honchkrow. He has come under the influence of an immobilizing Stun Spore before, but nothing compares to the sheer damage the Typhlosion inflicted upon him just in those few seconds. Who was that guy? Where did Thunderpunch, and how did Lucario happen to join him? These are the sorts of questions racing in his mind as he spent the last day sipping his boys' reserve of Cheri Wine.
With every bottle downed, the feeling in his talons and wings return to him. His family occasionally stops by, asking questions they should have answers to. The boys are probably using it as an excuse to check in on him. Give or take two nights of drinking cheri wine Honchkrow is able to move, and thus, able to report back to The Boss.
His weary wing pushes open the door to the Noivern's offices. She is already here, waiting for him by the roaring fireplace longside two of her subordinates. Sitting on one of the couches is Bisharp, a general enforcer who he is all too familiar with, and then there's this other creature. Blue and white, this avian-shaped thing floats by his Boss' side, its bright yellow eyes flash in Honchkrow's direction.
Something is off about the guy. The blobby, floating looking thing has multiple irises, looking like a series of rings. He swears he can hear a weird click in the distance as a film shutters over them. Its limbs do not seem to be even connected to its rotund body.
"Ah, welcome!" Noivern steals Honchkrow's attention, calling out to him and taking a swig from a glass of red ichor. "Take a seat my dear, we have much to talk about since your absence."
She motions at an empty seat next to her which Honchkrow reluctantly accepts. Honchkrow sits himself down, sitting in the shadow of one of his business partners - the aforementioned steel type who goes by Bisharp. The second he settles into his seat, the Boss turns to him.
"So, Honchkrow, did you find The Gear you were looking for?"
He did find it, he had it in his hands, and if he had not made a fool of himself by challenging Lucario to a duel he would have not lost it. Honchkrow clams down on his beak.
"I'm sorry, miss. I hadn't found it. It was stolen prior to me coming there."
"Oh really, Honch?" The grating voice of Bisharp speaks up. "Your Krows told me you got beat in by somebody. Why else would you come back looking like a body?"
"Does it matter?" Honchkrow hisses back. "It was a Tyhphlosion, a complete stranger, probably one of the fellows who came forth as a result of our boss announcing the bounty to the world. The circumstances are not important. At the end of the day, it is lost. That is that."
Honchkrow sighs, looking between Bisharp, the floating stranger and his boss. The bird looking thing keeps staring at him. He swears he can see each rings of its eyes move on their own.
"I had lost it, miss." He turns to her. "It won't happen again."
"People learn from their mistakes, Honchkrow." The Noivern sips pensively from her wine glass. "You can consider yourself resigned from any Time Gear-related duties. I can't afford another Time Gear to slip away again, I'm sure you can understand."
By 'slip away' she means she could not stand another one of her subordinates to lose a gear due to their arrogance. His regrets shackles him and Honchkrow exhales a deep sigh, turning away in shame yet bowing his head in subordinance.
"I understand, Boss."
"Good." The Noivern smiles, her wine-stained fangs glistening. "Now, as for all of you, I'm sure you're aware of why I have brought you forth, yes?"
Honchkrow looks up at Bisharp, who grins back.
"Yes, of course, the Time Gears." Bisharp answers on their behalf. "I'm aware of these time-distorting artifacts. Honchkrow has failed you, I won't."
She nods her head, and waves the bird's way. "Although you may look for the gears on your own, your priority is keeping this business afloat. I should not have to remind you how much I rely on your family. Those poor boys need someone to lead them."
"Of course."
"Good, then you are relieved." The Noivern sips from her glass. The fireplace's orange flow lights her grinning visage. "Please do not fail me again, Honchkrow. Punishment is just not my forte. I won't blemish your perfect record because of one mistake, but if this keeps up, I may have to reconsider, love."
"I understand."
Obviously he understands, there is no way Honchkrow gets to walk away from this without nodding his head and agreeing to every word Noivern says. In terms of the hunt, he had royally botched everything by alerting Lucario to their search. But his job still remains, his family still has a hold of Noivern's mailing empire. Were it anyone else failing her, they would most certainly be replaced, but Honchkrow cannot possibly be thrown out of the picture without the mail business covering her less than favorable deals.
The exhausting work of dozens of his sons are saving him from a fate worse than death, and for this he could not be more thankful. With a tip of his hat, Honchkrow bows himself out of Noivern's chambers, walking out the door he came from whilst in the eyes of his boss and leaving her to discuss all the important things a boss discusses to their subordinates. The door shuts behind him with a loud thunk. A familiar Murkrow sitting by the couches chirps at his arrival.
"Hey Boss!" The Murkrow with the flask around his neck squawks. "How did it go?"
"I won't get into details" Honchkrow responds, walking up to the cushions. "Your job, as well as mine, aren't in jeopardy. If I were you, I would return to my duties and be thankful nothing worse has happened."
"Huh?" The Murkrow blinks. "What do you mean? Did you really mess up?"
"Yes." Honchkrow plods up to the couches, sitting himself on the largest of them. "I don't think she realizes who I had lost the gear to yet."
"Does she? Shouldn't she know Lucario is mis-"
"Her connections are numerous, if she loses one little mook I doubt she cares. My Son's my problem, not hers.." Honchkrow taps the armrests, and the Murkrow flutters onto it, letting the bigger 'Krow swipe the flask around his neck. He takes a well needed swig, the distilled Cherri contained within floods through his weary body. "At the end of the day, I'm the one who took Rei under my wings."
"So, what are you gonna do?"
"Do only what I need to do." He glances at the Murkrow, the boy's ruby red eyes stare at him with anticipation. "I gave you the chance to take revenge and we failed tremendously. You can't make getting back at someone, especially someone who was once our own, your entire purpose. You have better things to do."
"But what if he is-"
"Still out there?" Honchkrow swigs again, the spicy sensation clears his throat and his thoughts. He hands the empty flask back. "If you have any problems, take it up with me, not her. If you're so keen on getting back at him you can abandon the Family and go do it yourself.. Got it?"
Murkow leans in, letting the flask be dropped back around his neck. He bows, putting subordination first before his pettiness.
"But what about everyone else?" Murkrow chirps, his eyes darting around the office space. "Everyone knows you went missing for a day, they're bound to ask questions."
"Then let them ask these questions, and allow them to be directed back to their father." Honchkrow grumbles. "If my boys have any problems with me taking a break for a day, tell them they are welcome to take it up with me one on one. My office is open."
The Murkrow bows its head again.
"Got it, boss."
"Alright, son." Honchkrow chuckles. "Now go on and tell the folks to keep on working. Nothing's changed. They gotta keep it up if we're gonna get ourselves our own manor, got it?"
"Got it." Murkrow repeats. Flashing its wings, it flutters off into the many nooks and crannies of halfway rock, crawling out of sight into the dozens of small passageways leading through the Halfway Rock.
Before he can fully understand the predicament Honchkrow has gotten himself into, the door to Noivern's door opens. Out walks Bisharp, clad in natural armor trimmed in brass, and wearing a scowl which could stop a pokemon in its tracks. Bisharp immediately marches towards him, his metal boots clanging across the room. He leans over Honhkrow's chair. His brass eyes are devoid of sympathy as he asks his one and only question:
"Who has the Gear?"
"Why does it matter to you?" Honchkrow spits.
"Because if I find it, all of my family shall reap the rewards of your failure. If you don't want to give it up, then fine, I'll force it out of your sons.
Whether or not he thinks it, Rei was his son, and he would sooner lose his life than allow himself to betray his sons. Backed into a corner with none of his sons to yell at the Bisharp, he sighs, resigning to a fate he cannot out-fly
"I know how your family works, I know what you do. I want one thing from you, and you're gonna promise me this or else I'm bringing this entire rock down on your head."
Bisharp does not change his expression.
"Don't you dare kill my Son."