Meanwhile, back at the area with the Groudon statue, Wigglytuff was next to Team Skull and kept an eye on them, but the trio were deciding to take him out with their noxious gas special, but weren't able to agree on which time was the best to attack.
"Why are you making such creepy faces at me, guys?" he asked, which Skuntank frowned at.
"This guy's tough. Real tough," he said quietly, and Wigglytuff then smiled happily.
"Now I got it! You're trying to make me laugh with silly faces! I bet I can make you laugh, too! Bleeoeboeloblop!" Wigglytuff said after making his silly face, which the trio then decided it was the best time. And, after Wigglytuff made a face with his eyes closed, Skuntank and Koffing proceeded to unleash their noxious gas at Wigglytuff, him looking around in confusion, but then, he shook it off and gawked at how the trio then tried to attack him, which was enough for him to unleash his wrath.
"OOOOOOOOO... BWWEEEEEEEAAAHHHHHHH!" Wigglytuff shouted extremely loudly, a whole slew of explosions that utterly decimated all three, Wigglytuff then responding by searching the trio and then growling when he saw that they still had a Perfect Apple on their person. "You are not my friends. Stay here, or I will be very unhappy," Wigglytuff pouted at them, before then picking them up and throwing them further away, which the trio of bullies were unable to do a thing as all three were too banged up to move a muscle.
"Ack... Erk... Ork..." they groaned when they hit the ground. And with that, let's get back to the main characters.
The enemies in the Steam Caves ranged from easy to handle to difficult, as it had Slugma, Magby, and even Numel. And then the tougher enemies consisted of Gimmighoul, Kricketune, Litleo, and Drilbur. And then, finally, we reached a halfway point, which I looked at with the others before we then felt the ground start to quake beneath us... but I also felt something in my head. That it wasn't real.
"Hey, you feel that?" Kiba asked.
"Yeah, and it seems I'm not the only one with illusion powers. It's something trying to mess with us," I said, him looking confused before we heard a distant roar, which made the duo look concerned, but I sighed. "It's definitely Uxie, I can say that much. He knows we're here and he wants to keep us away from the lake," I said, the duo's confusion being palpable.
"W-What if he tries to take our memories?" Diancie asked.
"When he shows up, let me do the talking. I need to make sure that he knows that we're not a danger, while also letting him know of the real danger," I said, them nodding at that. We then got on the way to the upper floors, where we encountered some tougher Pokemon like Granbull, Shuckle, Magmar, and even Gholdengo! And after all of this, we finally reachede a big room at the top, where I then felt the ground shaking some more as well as the sounds of a roar, which we were then joined by a Groudon. Diancie looked very scared and hid behind us, me then speaking.
"Uxie. We both know I can see through this illusion. I need to talk to you about something important," I said, that making the Groudon illusion look surprised before it spoke.
"How do you know about me? Have you come to steal the treasure of Fogbound Lake?!" he asked, me sighing.
"No, we aren't. We're here to give you a few warnings, specifically about something called Temporal Tower. Do you know what it is?" I asked, the illusion then fading away and for Uxie to appear instead.
"How... how do you know about Temporal Tower?" he asked, me being surprised he knew about it, but I kept it hidden.
"Because of something bad that's going to happen. It's in danger of collapse, the exact date being November 23rd of this year. If it does fall, then the entire world will be frozen in time and the future will be dark, the planet paralyzed completely," I said, Uxie frowning before then looking at my mind, me then frowning at how he saw... well, everything. I forgot he was a mythical... of course he'd be able to see everything without permission. And afterwards, Uxie gasped before then sighing.
"You... you mean that the only way to save us from a future so horrible... is that the Time Gears need to be taken there?... But... what would become of this place after that were to happen?" Uxie asked, me sighing at that.
"If the Time Gears are used to help save Temporal Tower, then time will be restored to every single place. But for now, we can't very well ask for it, as we're with a big expedition of other Pokemon that doesn't know a thing about this plan. So, instead, we must ask that you wait until another Pokemon comes by, it being my future partner," I said, Kiba looking at me in surprise.
"I see... which Pokemon should I wait for, then? I need to know," he said, me then speaking to him.
"The Pokemon is a Grovyle. Ask him if he knows a human. And do not let up until you get an answer. If he says yes, then tell him he can take the Time Gear, but only if you can get all the Pokemon out of the vicinity," I said, Uxie smiling at that.
"You care for the Pokemon, despite being a human... very well, come with me," Uxie said, us then following after him and me seeing that he was also looking at the thoughts of Diancie and Kiba and seeing that they were aware of most of the things, but not that my future partner was the time gear thief that had been going around and that he was my partner in the future... wait, how did I know what he was thinking?
"I'm sharing the thoughts with you, that's why," Uxie said, me smacking my face with a conjured hand, because it was warranted. And then, Uxie showed us the lake, it looking extremely beautiful, especially now that it was nighttime and the fact that, in the center of the lake, laid a brightly glowing Time Gear.
"It looks so beautiful... so that's what a Time Gear looks like?... It's so very mesmerizing..." Diancie admitted.
"It is the sole reason I am here, to protect the Time Gear... as for your friends... I trust that they're able to keep this place secret from others? Because I can sense that there may be a villain in your future that would prevent you from saving Temporal Tower," Uxie asked, me nodding at that.
"A villain? You mean the shadow guy?" Kiba asked.
"Not the same villain. He simply works for second-in-command in the future. First in command is the shadow guy... but that's the reason I made that riddle. I don't know who it is, all I know is that's who turned me into a Zorua and made me forget almost everything of my life when I was human," I admitted, being 100 percent truthful.
"I see... then we'll be sure to be careful and make sure none of them say a word, Uxie. But as for the bad guy, who is it?" Kiba asked.
"I'll tell you when he appears. He's never heard my voice before, all he knows is what I look like as a human, that I have gold hair, and that I wanted to save the world. I'll show you when he appears," I said. But then, we happened to see something moving in the water, me then looking closer and seeing that... it was a human! A female one, too. And she looked to be about 14 years old and looked to be dressed in grass-knit clothes, looking to be quite thin, and having brown hair that had some moss and twigs in it. And she had a couple cuts on her arms, too.
"Who's that? Can I meet them?" I asked, Uxie smiling at that and shaking his head.
"Unfortunately, she may not be too keen on saying hi. That's Gir, a human companion of mine. She's always swimming in the lake and she doesn't even know how to talk our language. She's quite nice, but she doesn't like talking to strangers. I protect her and she helps protect the Time Gear," Uxie said, me then deciding to do something daring and turn into my human form, which made Gir look at me and she then gasped and then swam for me, her then looking at me in confusion and poking me. And then she spoke.
"You... hooman? Not Zorua?" she asked in human English, me nodding at her.
"Yes, I'm human... I was just turned into a Zorua from a strange attack," I said, which made Gir gasp when she understood me. "Would you like something to eat? You look thin as a twig," I said, handing her an apple, which she then immediately took it and ate it like a ravenous beast, her then looking at me and smiling.
"Thank... me come with?" she asked, me smiling at her.
"If it's okay with Uxie," I said, the Psychic Pokemon looking at me with a smile.
"So long as you treat her nice, I'll allow it," he smiled. And after that, Wigglytuff then appeared from behind us, him looking past us and gawking.
"A Time Gear? A Time Gear? Well, too bad. We can't take a Time Gear," Wigglytuff smirked, him then running past Uxie and looking at the lake with eyes of wonder.
"And who may this be?" Uxie asked.
"Oh, this is our Guildmaster, Wigglytuff. Wigglytuff, this is Uxie," I smirked, him smiling at him. "Gir, this is Wigglytuff," I said, Gir then waving his hand hi and Wigglytuff smiled at her.
"Hello, human friend!" he said, which made Gir surprised.
"He... speak my tongue?" she gawked, and Wigglytuff smiled happily and then turned to Uxie.
"Hello, friend, amazing friend! I'm so happy we came! Ladeeladeeladee!" Wigglytuff sung, us staring at the lake and waiting until our other Guild friends showed up, them looking at the awe-striking sight of the lake making a giant spout of rainbow-colored water, which they all looked at with eyes of wonder.
"Wow... it's so pretty!" Bidoof smiled widely with a blush.
"It's beautiful... I... I think I'm about to cry," Sunflora admitted with a sniffle.
"Yes, the water spouts here and there from the abundance of carbon in the water. If you want, you can take a drink of it," Uxie admitted, Kiba then doing the daring and taking a drink of the water, him being surprised at the taste before he then burped out loud.
"Eheh... sorry," he admitted.
"No need, the water here is filled with carbon. Drinking it makes you burp," Uxie smirked.
"The treasure of Fogbound Lake... it must be the view for sure! I call this expedition a success!" Wigglytuff smiled happily.
"I will not take your memories of this place. All I ask in return is that no one knows of this location. I've been told by Team Rainbow Illusion that a thief has been stealing Time Gears. He must not know of this location," Uxie said.
"But of course! We'll all keep it a secret!" Chatot smiled, everyone being in agreement as I noted that Team Skull were nowhere to be found. They must've gotten beat up badly by Wigglytuff. And about time it happened, too.
"Well, everyone, this expedition was a success! Let's return to the guild with our heads held high!" Chatot shouted, everyone then cheering at the same time.
"HOORAY!" we all cheered before using our Rescue Team badges to return back to base, us then opening the Guild before then locking back up and removing the boulder over the grate (which I tried to turn into a different thing, that being a giant machine called a bulldozer... and still, no dice!
"Okay, new request, Wigglytuff. I wish to know your secrets to those insane hidden muscles," I said, him giggling after.
"Maybe if you manage to stop whatever you were talking about with Uxie, then I'll teach you," he smiled, me smacking my face again, this time with a conjured tentacle. "Don't worry, it's a secret, friendly friend... miss hair gold," he giggled, me sighing at that.
"Hushies," I said, him nodding as we then finally finished our trek and then went to bed for a well-deserved rest after all the excitement.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, a certain ghost type was making a name for himself and spreading word and knowledge of his exploits all over the place. Heck, it even managed to reach some of the members of the Guild on the trip over to Fogbound Lake! And he was trying to find out everything he could about if anyone had happened to see a human. None of the ones he asked claimed they'd ever seen a human, aside from the few that were in complete solitude in certain areas, and none of them had hair that shined a golden hue. And he also found a rumor about someone named Misses Invisible, and they described both the human that had traveled back in time... as well as a Pokemon that Dusknoir had never heard of before. A shadow guy? Who was that?
"I don't know who the shadow guy must be... but if he is the cause for the planet's paralyzation, he must stay alive. I cannot fail Master Dialga... and Misses Invisible... it's undoubtedly the human female by that description. Surely she's jesting me, she must have known I'd come back in time to find and detain her, so why would she invite me like this? Maybe she was in disguise?" Dusknoir thought to himself before then seeing a sign for a place called Treasure Town. "Ah, maybe I can find some answers here. A bustling town full of helpful people? Maybe they can give me answers... just need to be cautious as to who to ask about the human," Dusknoir admitted as he then went into the town, just as the sun began to rise in the distance. "A shame I'll never see the sun again, though... it looks so pretty, but the future must stay as it is..." but deep down in his heart, Dusknoir felt guilty. But he didn't want to disappear should the future be changed. He was upset about the beauty being snatched away, but he would only do this if he would be able to save his own skin... and his Sabeleye.
After a dreamless sleep, I then woke up to Loudred's scream and I groaned awake alongside Kiba and Diancie, but also our new registered member to the team in Gir, who was so startled by the loud noise, she almost attacked Loudred before I held her back.
"Easy Gir, easy! That's just how we wake up in the morning," I said, her then breathing in and out before then melting into my embrace. She had to be taught a lot of things about how a human had to live, because she was more like a cave woman than a human.
We then went to morning cheer and after the cheer, we then looked at Gir and smiled at her.
"Okay, Gir, we're going to teach you how to help others, and we'll teach you other things, too," I smiled at her, Gir smiling at me speaking to her in her language.
"Thanks... new friend," she smiled at me.
"WHAT?! Whaddaya mean you CAN'T identify?!" Loudred shouted through to Diglett, him then responding through the microphone.
"I'm sorry, I can't identify what I don't know," Diglett admitted.
"Is there a problem going on?" Diancie asked.
"There's someone at the guild's gate, but Diglett can't identify them! Normally he's perfect at his job, but he's been having issues as of late, particularly with the paradox Pokemon, Liz's footprints, and Diancie's," Loudred explained, being quiet for a change.
"Wait, you wish to speak to our guildmaster?" Diglett asked through the microphone accidentally. "Your name is... DUSKNOIR?! Oh, hang on just a moment!" Diglett said in surprise, which ended up with Loudred letting him in and for Dusknoir to come down the ladder with a smile on his fake face, which was where his eye was at.
"Who's that guy?" Kiba asked.
"That's Dusknoir! He's become quite the famous explorer in the past few days, and he seemingly came out of nowhere!" Corphish admitted.
"First, he does all his exploring SOLO! He's gotta be pretty SURE of his SKILLS to do THAT!" Loudred smirked widely (which was very wide).
"But even more impressive is his vast knowledge, which he has used to get through numerous tough dungeons and do some impressive investigations. He even managed to find a place called Happy Meadow and find a trio of humans that could speak Pokemon tongue! They're actually in town as we speak," Croagunk smirked, me frowning at that.
"I see... Kiba, Diancie, Gir, come with me, please," I said, leading our quartet to the mess hall for a single reason. Privacy.
"What's the matter, Lisette?" Kiba asked me.
"That Dusknoir, right there? He's the agent I mentioned at Fogbound Lake. The one that wants to stop me from saving the future," I said, the trio then gawking at.
"R-Really?... This isn't good, then. He's making a reputation so others will trust him... heck, even I was about to trust him until you said that," Kiba admitted to me.
"We're safe so long as he never knows that I'm a human. He knows only that much about me, as he never heard me speak nor does he know my name. All he knows is that I'm a human with gold hair. We need to stop at nothing to hide that from him until the time is right. Otherwise, we'll all be in danger," I said, which the group nodded at me.
"Dusk-nor bad... got it... no trust Dusk-nor," Gir said, me smiling at her and turning my hair into a vine to pat her head with.
"Let's just focus on our work for now. Maybe we can get some special items for Diancie with the treasure chests we got? Then we'll go do some jobs," I smirked.
"Good idea!" Diancie giggled as we then proceeded to look at the job boards and we decided we'd do some work at Craggy Coast, which meant we were doing A and B rank jobs. And after getting the work from them, I then had us go to town and, finally, swapped Kiba's crown with Twilight, which she looked at us with a smile when she saw our new human friend.
"I'd heard you found a new friend. Does she speak Pokemon, per chance?" Twilight asked.
"No, only human. So I can translate for you, if you want," I smiled, Twilight smirking and going into Gir's mind to speak, me seeing that she was confused and looked around before looking at Twilight.
"Um... me Gir... nice meet you," she smiled shyly, me nodding as we then proceeded to get our treasure chests opened by Tinkaton, me finding that we'd gotten 10 items EXACTLY to trade with Croagunk so we could get Diancie her tiara.
"I can't wait to feel like royalty..." Diancie smirked, us then getting to Klink Link and me deciding that I'd link two of my own moves, those being Dark Pulse (learned from TM) and Shadow Claw (also TM) so I could deal a lot of damage to any opponent that was either a ghost type or Psychic type. I'd definitely need it in case of getting on Dusknoir's bad side too early. And we also ended up meeting the other three humans, me seeing that not only were they a group of three, they were also children, male, and they were triplets! All three of them looked the same, but they had different hair colors... and one of them had blonde hair, but it was more platinum blonde.
"So, what are your names, per chance?" I asked them, the trio then speaking after.
"My name is Bag, the oldest. This is Hole and this is Pick, the youngest," the one in the red hair said, pointing out the order of which they were born with Pick, the platinum blonde, being the last one. And as for Hole, he had blue hair and I smiled at how he and the others had gold irises, too.
"Nice to meet you all, I hope that we can get to know each other more... oh, and this is Gir," I smiled, Gir shyly going over to the trio and then sniffing them all over, me smacking my face.
"No, Gir, you just say hello," I smiled calmly, her then retreating to me and then speaking.
"Um... hel...lo..." she said as best she could, and the trio smiled at her.
"Hello, Gir. I can tell you've been alone for a long time," Bag smiled in human tongue, which Gir was smiling at before giving him a hug. "She's got a good grip, too. Anyways, we should get going," Bag smirked as I had to help Gir get off of him and then led our group to the east, where
After all of this was done, we then returned to the guild and got the items traded to get Diancie's new tiara, which is also where I learned one thing about Gir. She actually was able to use Pokemon moves, too!
"How? How is a human able to use moves like Ember and Fury Swipes?" I asked.
"Um... you not able to?" Gir asked me.
"Back where I come from, humans have no such powers. I was very fragile as a result, unable to fight back against anyone," I admitted.
"Hmm... odd," she admitted as Croagunk then looked at her with a smile.
"Not only that, meheh, but she could also get something special to wear. But in order for that to happen, you'd need 20 different items to trade me," Croagunk admitted.
"Dang. Gotta get more of those treasure chests, then. Need to get you that item, in case you need the extra firepower, Gir," I smiled, her nodding as we then went to the Cafe finally and, when we did, we then got to the bulletin board and saw that my request was still there and had been taken up by at least 50 other Rescue Teams! So my plan had DEFINITELY worked! And there were other jobs nearby, one that I decided to take, as it was for Craggy Coast and was 1 star difficulty. It required us to go alongside Team Ebony in order to find a super rare treasure known as a Miracle Flute. If you were to play it during a dungeon, then the next Pokemon you knocked out would automatically want to join your Rescue Team! Only downside, it had only 20 uses before it would break apart and disappear. Regardless, we then joined with Team Ebony, them being a Murkrow and a Shuppet, and proceeded to the cave to try and find the flute, as it was going to be either on Floor 4 or floor 8.
"When we find it, you should definitely take it, Rainbow Illusion. We're not really ones for agreeing on if the loot is worth it or not," Shuppet admitted to us.
"Thanks, we'd appreciate it a lot," I smiled at them. "But we're still helping find an item for the Pokemon, right? How would we keep it if we need to find the item in question?" I asked.
"Simple. The client just wants to see it and commemorate it on film. Once that happens, we get to keep it. But finding it is the hard part, as we can only find it in a hidden alcove that's hard for most Pokemon to get to. So we're going to try to find out how to get there. And lucky us, I'm a Shuppet, meaning I can go past any terrain," the ghost smirked, me nodding at that. We then proceeded to our jobs, me having to hope that the triplet humans wouldn't get joined onto Dusknoir's side. Kids were very impressionable at that age, after all.
Meanwhile, at Temporal Tower, the force that was creating the darkened skies began to attack the tower, fueled by nothing but chaos and power.
"HAHAHA! Finally! I've been waiting for CENTURIES for this to happen! Ever since that stupid Rose girl tricked me, I've been longing for this moment! Once this tower falls, I'll be able to rule over everything in this world! And best part, I get to hide myself as a simple Darkrai! Nobody will know a single thing about who I really am at all! And the future will be my canvas!" said the voice of horror and calamity itself. He had, indeed, been waiting for centuries to build enough power.
After all, he'd been thwarted in the past in a different dimension by a stupid human with too much mind powers. He knew he had to stop underestimating humans. But he also knew that almost none of the Pokemon in the world could stop him. By November, he'd be able to break the barriers of time and space enough to let the universe be his and for time to halt the world over. And then, he'd have all the time in the world to usurp the god of this stupid universe.
"And when that stupid llama falls, I will be the new god of all! OMNIPOTENCE, THY NAME IS BILL CIPHER! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHAAAA! ! !"