Author's Note:
So much for having an upload schedule. It's been a while, mostly because I've been busy TASing and kind of forgot about everything else, but PCW is back with another long chapter!
"So, another time gear was stolen, and you failed to stop it?" Chatot chastised when we returned to the guild.
"I couldn't," I defended, "the rest of my team was already down. If I fought Grovyle and lost, none of us would have made it out of there." Although most of the guild had assembled to share their findings from today's explorations, Jolt and Gligar were absent. Their injuries were not too bad, especially after Chimecho's Heal Pulse, but they needed to rest.
"Judging by the state your teammates returned in, you made the right call," Dusknoir agreed. "But that also means there is only one time gear left. Mesprit, do you happen to know where the last one is?"
"Unfortunately, I do not. I only knew the location of the gear I was meant to protect," Mesprit explained. "If one guardian knew where multiple time gears were, then multiple gears could be compromised by a single attack. The last thing any of us want is to be tortured for information."
Chatot was disappointed. "So, we once again have no leads?"
"Not necessarily," Dusknoir corrected. "Brandon, may I ask what led you to the time gear under the desert?"
"I just… had an odd feeling about it when my team went there yesterday. The same feeling I had in Foggy Forest, actually," I explained. "I thought I might find something about my past, and we had nothing else to go on anyway."
"That's what led us to the desert," Crest added, "but while we were there you had another vision, right? That's how we found the cave."
By now the guild members were distractedly talking amongst themselves. I heard several voices questioning our story, mostly due to the fact that I had never explained my amnesia or visions to the rest of the guild. "So, you are a psychic. I had my suspicions, but it seemed impossible before now," Mesprit pointed out.
"A Dimensional Scream led you to the time gear?" Dusknoir asked.
"No, it only revealed the cave," I answered, leaving out the more personal details of the vision. "More importantly, you were correct when you suspected the desert housed a time gear. Our best bet would be to check the other locations you suggested again."
Chatot readily agreed with the idea and looked to Wigglytuff for orders. "Well, Guildmaster? Should we divide the guild into two teams?"
"I'm not sure if half the guild is enough to stop Grovyle," he answered, not bothering to disguise his demeanor since most of the guild was distracted. "Is there any way to determine exactly which location has the remaining gear?"
"Brandon's vision led him to my time gear," Mesprit thought aloud, "Perhaps he could use another vision to locate Azelf's gear?"
"I would need something to trigger the vision. Unless you have something related to the time gear, or at least the area around it, I can't do anything," I said. "Why don't you just ask the other guardian?"
"I have been trying to contact him, with no success. Azelf must be focusing all of his Psychic abilities on something else," Mesprit answered.
Suddenly, Chimecho cut in using telepathy. "If I may interrupt, I do have an item related to Crystal Cave."
"Bring it over then," Dusknoir ordered. Chimecho went to the crew rooms and returned with a crystal levitating beside her.
"This crystal is from Crystal Cave," she explained aloud this time, "and it's filled with Psychic energy. I made it into a charm to enhance my own abilities, but maybe you can use it for a vision. If Brandon really is a psychic, then he probably needs this more than me anyway."
"You guys keep calling me that, but I only have the one ability, and I can barely control it anyway," I said.
"Don't worry too much about that, you probably just need training. I could teach you some basic Psychic tricks," Chimecho encouraged.
"Regardless, you should attempt to trigger a Dimensional Scream using the charm. If you see anything useful, Wigglytuff can mobilize the entire guild," Dusknoir reasoned.
Chimecho handed me the crystal. "I'll try it, but I can't guarantee anything," I warned before starting to focus. I closed my eyes, and the noise around me began to fade away. Eventually, it was replaced with a ringing sound accompanied by a blinding light as the vision started.
I saw an underground lake, surrounded by crystals, with a familiar blue glow coming from its center. In front of the lake, a small platform jutted out from the crystal-lined shore, and on the platform were two pokemon, battling.
"They are already fighting," a voice echoed, catching me off guard. "Does that mean we are too late?"
"Not necessarily," I thought back, realizing the voice was Mesprit. "My visions don't show the present. Just the past or future."
"Which one is this?" Chimecho asked, apparently also reading my mind.
"Which one?" I repeated, suddenly realizing there was no way to tell. "I don't-"
"The vision is fading! Chimecho, get out of his mind!" Mesprit cut me off. Refocusing my attention, I realized she was right; while I was distracted, the vision had blurred to the point of uselessness. I tried to maintain it a bit longer, but the usual ringing and flash of light brought me back to reality.
"Are you three okay? You all awoke from the vision quite suddenly," Dusknoir asked.
Crest wasn't worried though. "That was actually pretty tame compared to the last few times he came out of a vision."
"We didn't destroy it, did we?" Chimecho asked.
"Even if you did, I think we saw enough," I assured them.
Mesprit was worried about what she saw. "Azelf was losing. We are too late, correct? That is why I am unable to contact him."
"Unless it was a vision of the future," Dusknoir reminded her. "Is there any way to tell?"
"No," I answered, "there was nothing that indicated when the vision took place."
"Then we'll just have to assume it's from the future!" Wigglytuff cut in using his cheerful personality. That was when I noticed the guild was quiet. I guess they were watching me have my Dimensional Scream.
"That was definitely Crystal Cave," Chimecho confirmed.
"Then that's where we're going," Chatot agreed. "Guildmaster, your orders?"
Wigglytuff appeared thoughtful for a moment but quickly hid it. "Alright everyone, tomorrow we're going to Crystal Cave. YOOM…TAH!" Everyone cheered at the announcement.
"Are you certain we should not leave immediately?" Mesprit asked.
"Many of the guild's members need time to rest after their explorations today, especially Team Strength," Chatot explained. "You need to rest too, Mesprit. We'll achieve nothing if fatigue gets to us before Grovyle does."
"So, the last time gear is in Crystal Cave?" I confirmed after my teammates joined me in our room.
"That's right, at least according to Brandon's vision," Crest clarified. "We'll be going there tomorrow morning to stop Grovyle. Will you be ready for it?"
"As if I have a say in that," I answered. "Even without the Guildmaster's orders, Brandon would make us go." To my surprise, Brandon didn't respond to that. He was just staring at the ground in front of him, seemingly oblivious to our conversation. "Hey, did you even hear me?"
"Huh?" he responded, "Um, I heard that you were talking."
"What were you thinking about this time?" Crest asked, mildly annoyed.
Brandon still hesitated though. "Are you going to tell us or are you saving it to be an inconvenience later?" I pressured him.
"I'm not trying to hide anything," he defended, "I just… haven't figured it out yet…"
"Just tell us what's bothering you," Crest said. "Is it about Grovyle?"
"No, it's the vision I had back at Quicksand Pits," Brandon explained. "I didn't just see the cave. A human used magic to reveal it. Then something attacked us-"
"What do you mean, 'us?'" I cut in.
Crest seemed to have my answer, "Was that vision a memory?"
"I think so," Brandon agreed. "After the initial attack, I fled the battle while the other human fought back."
"Who was the other human?" I asked, suddenly curious.
"That's the thing; I don't remember," Brandon said. "He felt vaguely familiar to me, but that was it. And while I don't know anything about him, I can't imagine he won the battle. Humans don't have the defenses to fight for very long."
"So, whoever it was, you're worried about him?" Crest suggested.
"I don't know," Brandon replied. "It feels like, without my memory, it's hard to really care."
An eerie silence fell over us as we considered what Brandon said. "Well, maybe it's best not to overthink the past," I suggested.
"What do you mean?" Brandon asked.
"Sometimes bad things happen, and you don't know what to think," I said, "but eventually you'll figure it out. It's what you do then that matters. At least, that what I tell myself."
I was reminded of when I first left Luxray's pack. I had known for a long time that something wasn't right, that Luxray encouraged excessive violence toward outsiders. For a long time, I was silent about my concerns, unsure of what to do. His control over his pack was absolute, to the point that nobody dared defy him. Nobody, that was, until me. When we traveled to Luminous Spring several years ago, I was the only Shinx who refused to evolve. I couldn't bring myself to be more like him, even if I didn't know anything else. Had it not been for my natural speed I'd have been kicked out of the pack right then, but Luxray thought I'd be useful to him. It was my decision to abandon the pack, and I haven't looked back since.
"That's actually pretty reassuring," Crest responded. "No matter what happened in the past, we're all here now."
"Exactly," I agreed, slightly surprised that he felt the same way. Maybe Crest's past wasn't as cozy as I thought.
Brandon seemed to have cheered up by now. "In that case, let's just focus on now, or rather tomorrow. We have an important mission we need to be ready for."
"Do you actually think we can stop Grovyle?" Crest asked.
"Like I said before, it doesn't matter what we think," I answered. "We have to."
"Alright, it is decided then," Dusknoir said, explaining the specifics of today's mission. "We will break into small groups to speed up preparations and travel to Crystal Cave. Given their recent successes, I would like Team Strength to forgo any unnecessary preparations and instead travel immediately to the dungeon to ensure we reach the time gear before Grovyle. Mesprit and I will follow close behind in an attempt to trap the thief, while everyone else should join us as soon as they can. Are there any questions?"
"Actually, I've got a few," I spoke up. "Are you sure my team should lead the exploration? The last time we encountered Grovyle, we barely slowed him down."
"That may be true Crest," Dusknoir explained, "but I believe we can use that to our advantage. Though I admit it's dangerous, you are the perfect bait to catch Grovyle with, and your team is strong enough to stall him if necessary. Moreover, your team is the best equipped to mobilize quickly and solve whatever mysteries hid the time gear from Chimecho's exploration."
"We're bait?" Jolt asked nervously.
"It's a desperate thought, but it could work," Brandon contemplated. "If the dungeon is full of Rock types like you said, we should easily be able to navigate it safely and be battle ready if we face Grovyle."
"Exactly. Though I hate to put such pressure on mortals, my power will be more useful if Grovyle does not see it coming. This is our last chance to stop him," Mesprit agreed.
"Hold on, you're not suggesting that we might die are you?" I blurted out.
"He's right, if that's what we're risking then doesn't it make more sense for you to act as bait?" Jolt hastily added.
"My immortality does not come from an immunity to death," Mesprit explained, "I merely reincarnate when I die, and the process takes time. If the last time gear is stolen, then I will be no less mortal than any of you, aside from aging of course. For that reason, it is more important to maximize our chances of stopping Grovyle than to focus on any individual's safety."
"We can handle it," Brandon said. "And if you're so worried, think of it this way: if we fail today, then everyone dies, not just whoever fights Grovyle. So, in a sense, we have nothing to lose. Now, I suggest we stop debating this and head out already."
Chatot seemed to agree with that. "Everyone is dismissed. Finish your preparations and leave for Crystal Cave immediately."
Our team left the guild in silence, ahead of everyone else. Dusknoir and Mesprit followed us to the mystery dungeon before splitting off when our team entered it. Just as expected, our exploration went smoothly, though it was plagued by a suffocating dread.
"You know, you really weren't kidding when you said emotions weren't part of your plan," Jolt said, finally breaking the silence.
"What do you mean?" Brandon asked.
"You said that if we fail today everyone will die and expected it to motivate us," Jolt explained. "I just can't stop thinking about that. We're risking our lives and you don't seem to care."
Jolt had a point; while the two of us were clearly terrified to face Grovyle again, Brandon was calm. Maybe he was just hiding his fear, but I had a feeling there was more to it than that. He had already acknowledged how dangerous our mission was, so why wasn't he worried?
"If I didn't care, I wouldn't lead this exploration," Brandon replied, his tone noticeably more serious than his choice of words. "We are the best suited for this job, and like I said before we have nothing to lose."
"But we do though," I argued. "Even if we stop Grovyle, we could still be killed in the process. Unless you think we're the only ones who can do anything against Grovyle, we absolutely have a lot to lose."
"I'm confident he won't kill us. I can't say the same for anyone else," Brandon argued back.
"You're that confident we can win?" Jolt clarified.
"We can't win," he answered plainly. "But we'll survive."
We would have questioned him further, but we were interrupted by the dungeon's rest floor. At least, it should've been a rest floor. There was nobody there, and there definitely wasn't a time gear. I could only assume there was more dungeon ahead of us, but this appeared to be a dead end. Just a crystal-lined room with three much larger, colored crystals in the center.
"This must be the puzzle that stumped Chimecho's team," Brandon reasoned.
"There's nothing here," Jolt noted.
"These larger crystals look important though," I thought aloud. "I bet they're important enough to trigger a Dimensional Scream."
"I suppose we don't have time to waste on solving the puzzle normally," Brandon agreed as he approached the red one. "Let's see what I can see…"
Brandon touched the crystal, but he jumped back before a vision could occur. The crystal had changed color, from red to green, in a sudden flash of light. After confirming we weren't in any immediate danger, we went back to examining it.
"It changes its color when you touch it…" Brandon considered.
"It's not just the color," Jolt noted. "Look, there's writing on the inside. I think it started glowing after the crystal changed."
We read what was written inside the crystal and discovered it was another riddle:
Within these depths the crystals grow,
And with a touch their colors glow.
Unite them like the water's flow,
So to the depths the cave will go.
But if your heart should wish for blight,
To strike down all of natural light,
You're sure to meet willpower's end,
The timeless treasure I'll defend.
"There's no doubt that this dungeon is home to Azelf's time gear," Brandon reasoned. "Why else would there be a riddle? It even says you'll 'meet willpower's end.'"
"That second verse certainly isn't subtle. I guess it makes sense that Mesprit's riddle was the most poetic," I joked.
"In any case, that second verse is useless again. Just another warning," Brandon said. "Which means we should focus on the first one. We already know how to change the color of the crystals, so we just need to 'unite them like the water's flow.'"
"Obviously we have to make them all the same color," I thought aloud, "but what about the water's flow? Should I try Bubble Beam on the crystals?"
"Or we could just turn them all blue, like water," Jolt answered. "No need to overcomplicate things."
As Jolt cycled through each crystal's colors to try his idea, I was a bit annoyed. Sure, his solution was simple, but water isn't blue, it's clear. Despite my disagreement, the crystals reacted when Jolt finished, resulting in a much brighter flash of light and some tremors.
"Um, should we be worried about this? I didn't set off a trap, did I?" Jolt asked, startled by the reaction.
"I don't think it's a trap, but…" Brandon paused as something caught is attention. "There's something below us! Everyone, move away from the center!"
We ran to the edges of the room just in time to see a massive, hollow crystal emerging from the ground. When it finally stopped, it revealed an entrance that led further underground.
"Is that the second half of the dungeon?" I asked cautiously.
"It must be," Brandon answered, "so we should keep going. It's still our job to reach the end before everyone else."
We wasted no time continuing our exploration and quickly discovered that the Rock type hostiles that had made our progress so easy in the first half of the dungeon were nowhere to be seen in the second half. I ended up taking the lead for this stretch, and while we managed to find a reviver seed and oran berry, a group of particularly aggressive Bagon cost us our slumber orb. I also saw an Absol wandering one of the lowest floors, and if the legends I've studied are true then that couldn't have been a good sign. That was what led us to use our luminous orb to speed up our search for the end.
Luckily, it didn't take long to reach the dungeon's exit. Upon reaching the last floor, we found ourselves in a large cave. Most of the center of the cave was filled with a lake, with the exception of a single peninsula that led to a circular, flat island.
"This is where my vision took place," Brandon explained. "The time gear should be in the lake, right where the glow is, and that circle in the center was where Azelf was fighting Grovyle-"
"I see them!" Jolt cut him off. "They're already fighting, we need to get over there now!"
We ran toward the center island, which was when I realized just how fast Jolt was. I was running as fast as I could, but there was still a quickly growing gap between us. That turned out to be a good thing though, as Jolt managed to land a surprise attack on Grovyle long before Brandon or I could have. Of course, that also meant there was nothing we could do to stop Grovyle from retaliating with a Leaf Blade.
Still, Jolt did distract him long enough to keep the battle going. Brandon ran ahead of me to help Jolt while I stopped to check on Azelf, who had already been defeated by Grovyle and was too tired to even levitate now. "Are you okay?" I asked when I reached the legendary pokemon.
"I will be fine, but who are you? No, never mind that. The time gear…" Azelf trailed off.
"It hasn't been taken yet," I confirmed as Brandon's Reflect barrier appeared around us, "but I don't know how long we can hold off Grovyle."
"There is no need for that," Azelf explained, beginning to focus. "Now that he is distracted I can finish my plan."
As Azelf finished speaking, I heard a rumbling sound from all around us. A moment later, the surrounding lake was overcome by hundreds of sharp crystals that shot out from the ground. The water was completely covered, and as I looked out at the new sea of crystals I realized the time gear was safely trapped underneath.
The battlers noticed the sudden change, too. "What was that?" Jolt shouted, probably thinking that something just used Earthquake.
Grovyle's confusion didn't last long though. "No, the time gear! What have you done?"
"Stopped you from reaching it, obviously," Brandon taunted, catching on to what happened. I found it hard to see why he would do that, given how much damage he and Jolt had already taken. I could only imagine how many items they had already used.
"You fools! I need the time gear, and I will take it, no matter what it takes to do so," Grovyle shouted angrily. "Do you really think this changes anything?"
"I know it does," Brandon argued back. "And you do too. So, before you admit defeat, why don't you explain why you let us go back at the underground lake? Surely you understand what would happen without the time gears, so what was the point of letting us escape?"
Grovyle scowled at him. "As if you would believe a word I say. Why bother explaining? Let's just say I intend to minimize casualties and leave it at that. Now, give me the gear!"
Grovyle lunged at Brandon with a Leaf Blade just as all of us realized the Reflect barrier had faded. It seemed we wouldn't be getting a new one either, because when Brandon tumbled away from the blow it was clear he would be staying down for a while. Jolt tried to retaliate with Tackle but was interrupted and overpowered by a Quick Attack. Struggling to hold on to my courage, I fired a Bubble Beam at Grovyle. However, he responded with an Energy Ball that both blocked my attack and left me reeling. As I staggered from the blast Grovyle crashed into me with another Leaf Blade, and the battle ended just as quickly as it started.
At least, that's what I initially thought. As Grovyle turned his attention to Azelf he was blasted by a burst of Psychic energy, which I recognized as Mesprit's Future Sight. Struggling to locate his assailant, Grovyle was knocked down by a Shadow Ball. With Grovyle temporarily down, Mesprit flew in to check on us.
"You?" Grovyle asked, clearly surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Dusknoir called out, revealing himself. "We're here to stop you."
"A Dusknoir?" Grovyle responded before noticing something else. "And more on the way, too."
"That is correct," Mesprit answered. "Surely you understand you cannot defeat all of us."
"No, I can't," Grovyle agreed, "but you don't understand. I need the time gears-"
"Don't even bother," Dusknoir cut him off. "I already know everything about you, and I do mean everything. I know where you're from, your motives, and even who you're working with, and I'm not about to let you ruin our timeline!" He fired another Shadow Ball at Grovyle, but this time Grovyle was ready to dodge it.
"That's… impossible…" Grovyle said, finally sounding defeated, "and I can't fight all of you. Fine then, but don't think this is over!" He threw something on the ground, and the blinding flash that resulted identified the item as a luminous orb. When the light faded, Grovyle was gone.
"He got away," Azelf noted.
"But the time gear is safe," Dusknoir reasoned. "And now that the guild has reached this place, he won't be back anytime soon. Now, come on. We need to get you four to a healer."