PMD: Warped Skies

by Team Ion

Playing the part of the hero sounded fun at first, until he took a meaty punch to the face. Stranded in a world reminiscent of a game he once knew, a human-turned-Meowth struggles to retain his humanity while filling the shoes of the game's protagonists. However, this is not a game. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers, SI-OC/Isekai. Cover by Bograbbit!

34. Bonus 2: A Time That Now Never Was

Happy New Years!

We've seen how Chatot and Wigglytuff (and Soothe) came to be a team. Why not go a step further?

You may be happy to hear that the edits of the earlier chapters are going well and will begin to be posted after this. Only the first chapter has any real major changes, nothing that changes anything down the track, so don't worry about that! But you should all read it. I will be start posting it on Tuesday the 7th, the one-year anniversary of this fic! Can you believe it's been a year already? I can hardly fathom it.

Other than that, enjoy!

---

"Ow! Crap!"

It was shocking, really, just how horrible leaves could be when immobile, indestructible, fixtures in space.

The edges of the leaves, so soft and gentle, were like razor blades. Sean finally understood the move Razor Leaf.

If being hit with a Razor Leaf was anything like walking into a frozen plume of leaves that had been once carried along by the wind, then he felt bad for any pokémon on the other side of that.

His pants were now half-shredded, and blood was oozing out from many stinging cuts on his legs. He rubbed his pants for a moment, wincing at the increase in pain for the moment, before just trying to forget about it.

There was no thread or needles in sight, not in the long expanse of dull, greyed-out, land.

It had been… he wasn't even sure anymore. Based on how many times he'd gone to sleep, maybe a week?

"Last time I just run on ahead," Sean scoffed. He rubbed his hand through his hair and looked around. Yep. Same as usual. He was stuck in a dulled-out nightmare land infested with monsters that dared to so much as LOOK like pokémon.

Part of him wished he could say same old nightmares, same old as in the weirdest dream he'd ever had, but this was quite alarming. If he didn't wake up soon, he might have to confront the fact that this was real and obviously happening, and that was simply no good.

Did this usually happen when one set out to become a trainer? He had heard of some funky stuff happening before, nothing quite like this, however.

Already his clothes were in disarray, his hat was long gone, his gloves were fraying and torn, and he was nearly faint from thirst.

Eating grimy apples and other… unmentionable things that gave him stomach aches barely helped.

Sean's day continued to grow worse when he came across an idealist spring of water, lush and clean and completely frozen.

The spring wasn't even cold, and the frozen water was not even ice. It was simply… still. He couldn't shift it, and he couldn't break it or melt it. The water just sat there, tempting and mocking.

He licked his lips, dragging a sandpaper tongue along cracked lips. There was nothing for him here, so Sean continued dragging himself through this hellscape.

Hanging heavily on his shoulders was his backpack, filled with a change of clothes, a few pokéball's, a couple thousand Poké, his identification, a pokégear, a water bottle, a pocket knife, and some food. That was what he had as he set off on his journey, finally leaving his home even though he could have been out and about two years ago.

The idea had been simple. Get to the professors, get a pokémon, and a pokédex.

"How did it come to this?" he muttered. The entire world was frightfully silent, and the only time there was noise was when one of the monsters found him, or he started hearing voices. Talking out loud helped. "I'm so thirsty."

Part of him wished he could cry. The prospecting trainer in him knew that losing any more fluids was bad and should be avoided.

He had already used the five pokéball's he had brought along with him, to hold some of the monsters off to give him time to run. He didn't know if he had caught any of them, he hoped so. They'd be less likely to come after him if that was the case.

He had eaten the food and drank the water. Possibly seven or so days was hell when you only had so much. He had tried to ration it, but he'd run out of water two nights ago. And the food he wondered if he had any, to begin with.

There was just the bag, the few clothes that still remained in there, his identification to give to the professor, the pokégear now flat, and a few of the pretty glass beads he had picked up through this hellscape.

He wasn't sure how, but they had special uses. Blasting the monsters, providing distractions, he was pretty sure the sparkly yellow one caused Paralysis, he knew that was a status condition Electric-type moves could do. He had done his research dammit! His parents had been sure to make him.

Sean was angry at them. If he had just been allowed to leave when he was ten, he might not have been grabbed by the tentacle monster and dragged into this nightmare. A much bigger part of him missed them so much. He had tried to call them with his pokégear. He tried to call the emergency services, his friends, anyone.

There was negative service, and the pokégear soon ran out of power. He wasn't sure why. It was supposed to last up to a month without charge. Something about this place drained it of electricity, he figured.

Or he had been wandering for over a month. He wasn't sure which prospect scared him more.

The world was dark and grey and still. Sound carried very easily. Sean had begun to learn that talking out loud while helping to maintain his sanity, wasn't so great and keeping him hidden. Each ambush he'd walked into, each rabid monster that had attacked out of nowhere, had been drawn to the sound of the human's voice.

But, where his voice carried only as loud as he dared to speak it, screams carried like glass shattering.

In one moment, there was an unnatural silence. The next, a desperate, piercing scream rippled through the air. The air even shivered visibly, shaking in worse ways in the direction of the scream.

Sean was many things. Twelve years old. A human. Tired. But he was also an optimistic, brave person. So, when he heard something that was nothing less than a despairing plea for help that would never come, he did not hesitate.

Launching into a run caused Sean to forget, however briefly, about the dryness of his lips and the aches in his legs. He followed the visible ripple as the cry fell silent, the world once again becoming static and unmoving, and he hoped he was not too late.

He ran up a worn track, it was almost a road but with only dirt to pave it and found himself in an outcropping above a clearing. Down below in a ruddy moor was a horde of the monsters, all snapping and shooting at a terrified treecko.

Sean knew what the pokémon was immediately. He may not have been from Hoenn, but the treecko-line was an awesome pokémon!

One of its arms was injured, and it was swiping out with its other one, dead silent now. There was terror in its eyes, something Sean could see even from the distance he was. Something he hadn't seen from the monsters around.

However, it has happened; he was confident that this treecko was not a monster like the rest.

Not hesitating, Sean leaped out and began running down with a battle-cry, pulling some attention away from the treecko. A few of the monsters hesitated upon seeing him, almost confused.

It didn't take long for them to begin attacking. But Sean didn't survive this by being a complete, reckless idiot. In one hand, he clenched one of the beads until it melted into his skin.

He didn't know how they worked, but the beads made him feel awesome. It made him feel almost like a pokémon himself. From his core, he pushed out a wave of energy, stunning everything in the rocky, red, moor.

Continuing to run, he leaped over the closest of the monsters and landed by the treecko. He snatched the poor thing up and began to run before the stun wore off. He didn't know how long it took, and he had no intention of finding out.

His rough handling and the jolting of running downhill eventually caused the Paralysis Orb's effects on the treecko to break, and it began to struggle desperately against him.

Sean nearly tripped once it began to struggle and yelled out in pain when it bit him.

"Hey!" he gasped, dropping the treecko. It landed on its wounded arm and gave a sharp gasp, biting its lip to hold anything louder in. "What was that for?"

Treecko began to run from him immediately but soon stumbled. It had been fighting to the death, and it wasn't getting out of that either. It was burned, cut, and very badly hurt.

"Hey," Sean said again, this time a lot gentler. He covered the bitten arm with his hand; it stung quite a lot and had drawn blood. "I saved you."

Treecko turned to him, a warring expression in its eyes. It was good to see, frankly. Sean had seen nothing but hunger and madness in the monsters' eyes, to see a pokémon's expression again was wonderful.

They weren't all driven to be monsters by this place.

The moment stretched from a solemn meeting of the eyes to an awkward silence. Sean's arm still stung, and the treecko was beginning to sway on its feet.

"I, uh…" Sean begun, finding himself uncertain of how to progress. He coughed.

"Treee…cko." The treecko fell over, and Sean jumped. It didn't get back up.

"Oh no, oh no-no-no," he said, rushing forward blindly. Thankfully he did not get bitten again or attacked, and Sean turned the treecko over very gently.

Too gently. It took him nearly two minutes of terrified nudging to turn it over.

The treecko was out cold and not waking up. Sean opened up his backpack and dug his clothes out. Everything else fell out with it, and he left them there as he wrapped the treecko up and stuffed it, gently but clumsily, into his bag.

There wasn't space for his papers of pokégear, but Sean failed to care as he ran off in search of help. He made sure to keep the knife and water bottle in there, safely so that the treecko wouldn't be hurt by the former.

He didn't have any potions or berries or anything. All the stuff was going to be bought after he received his first pokémon. He still had the money, at least, and there had to be somewhere there were humans he could buy stuff from.

Surely…

######

It would be a little gauche to say that time passed. Sean wasn't all too certain, but the day never came. The winds didn't blow. And things were clearly frozen in time.

He knew the legends of Dialga and Celebi; they were able to manipulate time. He wondered if one of them was behind this or could fix it.

There were a lot of things Sean knew now, and still many more that he did not. He did not, for example, know where the other humans were. He hadn't seen a scrap of the implication of the history of humans anywhere. It was like they had never existed in the first place.

He also did not know how he got here. He did know that he was from a place where there were humans, he knew that for sure and clung onto the hope of getting back there eventually. All he remembered was setting off to the professor's laboratory and looking into a glass window, eying his reflection.

After that, it was chaos, and then he was here in this nightmare land.

He didn't think this was a dream anymore. He never really thought it was in the first place, simply had hoped that was the case.

Most importantly, he knew he wasn't alone. In a horrible place where death lurks around every corner, being alone was a bit unsettling, and NOT being alone was far, far, worse. But he was not alone because he had a friend, not that he had a monster breathing on his neck.

That too, but mostly the good part of it.

With a flurry of sharp leaves that left Sean almost feeling sorry for the monster it cut up, Striker forced the beast to decide if it was worth trying to pursue them for food.

The answer was that it was not. Sean may have looked large and tasty, but he had a mean right hook, heavy stick, and orbs. And that was ignoring the protective treecko.

Which was what most monsters did and paid the price for.

"Okay, let's go," Sean said, picking Striker up. "Before the blood attracts more of them."

Striker, he had named the treecko after they had bonded, kept a sharp, yellow, eye on their surroundings as Sean ran. He was a bit clumsy, even now, but when carrying Striker, he was a mite more careful, so the treecko accepted it.

The less his human friend hurt himself, the better.

Things weren't always too tough. Striker was able to guide Sean through the weird distortions in place that held the worst of the monsters, but also food and the beads he coveted so much.

Sean shared the beads with Striker and even taught him how to use them. It felt quite good to teach a pokémon something like that. Striker liked to be hanging onto them in times of peace, but Sean was the one who relied on them the most, so he usually had a few at the ready.

It wasn't the easiest, either. Striker made things far more tolerable, but Sean dearly wished he could talk to someone and actually have a conversation. He knew Striker could understand him, but all he heard in kind were varying combinations of 'treecko.' It left things to pantomime and frustration for Striker to convey meaning.

One thing that couldn't be denied, however, was that they made a good team.

"Jump!" Sean yelled as Striker did battle with three monsters at once. Sean was both a trainer as well as a fighter on his own terms. With his stick, he lashed out at the feet of one of the monsters, toppling it and avoiding Striker as he had jumped.

With a first glowing green and forming a sabre, Striker did as his namesake implied and struck another of the monster down. With a seed, Sean stunned the third one, giving Striker the time to take that one down as well.

"Great work!" Sean cheered and gave Striker a high five and a fist bump.

"Tree ko eek treeo," Striker chirped, giving his own congratulations. Sean smiled, he may not have known the words, but he gathered the meaning. Was this what the books and internet said about bonding with pokémon? Sean thought it might be something like this. Understanding, even if the words themselves were missing.

Most of the time, however, Sean was scared.

"I miss home," he said, huddled up close with Striker. The treecko blinked at him, not grasping the meaning of 'home' at all.

"Every morning, my mother would wake me up, and I'd watch cartoons," Sean said, again Striker didn't understand what most of this meant. A cartoon? Mother?

"She'd always make me have a shower, and I'd hate that. Now all I want is a shower, and to see my mother and my dad, and talk to my friends and-and-and…" he trailed off, pain gripping his chest.

Striker cuddled in closer. Sean was warm, which was rare in the world, but he was also sad, and both of them felt comforted with physical contact that didn't hurt.

Sean continued to shake and hugged him, a few hot tears hit Striker, but he didn't move or flinch away. Sean talked a lot about the place he had been before, Striker couldn't imagine a world as nice as the one Sean spoke about, but he believed it was true. He wanted to believe that they could find a way there; it kept them both going.

They had to keep going.

---

Hello, can you hear me? It's the horns. Always has been.

I'm here. I'm here. I'm here.

"Lalalala."

When the wheels of the charjabug burn and glow, flow and grow, churn and skurn-

Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-ehe-he-heh-hee-heee-hhh-he-

"Leave me alone."

Leave you alone. Along. Alone to the trip along to Long A.

"Stop."

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of Number 4 Private Drive were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

Run along, Scout ahead, you know you want to. You must. Must. Mustard.

"Gah. AH!" A dusclops fell to his hands and knees, the voices, the words, the madness was burning his mind, dissolving his thoughts, his hopes and dreams and lives and turnips and-

"Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop."

A child's whimpers cut through the madness overcoming him, and Dusclops moaned. Now he was hearing the dying cries of infants. He would take the inane words and maddening limericks over sobs of a child any day.

Dusclops wished he could cover his ears, but he had none. It was all in his head anyway.

The whimpers continued, and the sea of voices was not returning. He startled, eye clearing up as he realised who he was again.

"Dusclops," Dusclops said, getting to his feet. "I am Dusclops. Dusclops. Dusclops." He shook his whole body; the madness was receding, and he wasn't sure why.

He stumbled forward. If he were granted a chance, he would take it. He would not devolve into one of the broken shells of a pokémon like so many others had.

His leg was somewhat wispier than normal, he had taken several nasty blows to that limb, and he staggered several times.

Dusclops was alone. He had not always been alone. He had, in fact, had companions until very recently. A difficult battle, an argument, and a violent incident had left him alone.

Cast out by everyone he had ever known, which wasn't really that many, to be honest, and left to die or submit to madness.

He thought the madness would take him, and perhaps it still would. But he had a chance now, and he'd take it with both hands.

Ignoring the pain in his leg, Dusclops ran forward. The madness would eventually return. It took everyone who was alone for too long, but if he could find someone, anyone, in time…

The infant's cries were still sounding out, and Dusclops realised that it wasn't in his head at all.

He paused, looking left and right. He moved to the left, but something tugged him to the right. He hesitated a moment longer, before trusting it and running along. He was moving out of the dry plains and into the mountainous region. There were many dangerous creatures in those places, but sometimes there was civilisation as well.

He continued to wander. The distant sound of whimpering didn't grow any quieter or any louder. As he went, Dusclops continued to follow the feeling he had. He began to grow suspicious, however. The sounds were so very distant from where he had started to hear them, yet he could still listen to them as vaguely as he had before.

"Am I mad?" he asked out loud. "Is this what it's like?"

With nothing else to do, he continued but at a slower pace. He walked up a hill, then down, then up again, then down once more.

He did this a great many times until something changed again.

Change was often welcome in these times since it meant some new advantage could be found. It was also unwelcome at the same time, as the move could bring about the changing of your status as alive to dead.

Or sane to mad.

This change was a bit of both.

Dusclops froze as the stench of death permeated everything. He, more than his former compatriots, was always the one looking out for this. As a Ghost-type, he was far more sensitive to death than others.

The wisp on his head began to flutter faster as he approached the grisly scene. He did not wish to linger, and he did not want to draw any closer at all. But something pushed him forward. Part of him wondered if that was literal, he could almost feel something pushing him.

But what he could hear more than explained it. Far-clearer cries and whimpers of some poor creature. Unbidden to his reluctance, Dusclops stepped into a small rocky grove. There was almost a roof to shelter this place, darkened with a few shadows. One with horns, another with spikes, but mostly with just black.

In the grove, he found two persian. Both were motionless.

Dusclops didn't wish to look any closer, but he walked in anyway. His eye moved over one of the persian and to the other, further in. He tried to step around the blood, but there was a great deal of it. He didn't look too closely at what was missing from the two persian, although he could still see there was a lot.

What was important, however, was the tiny meowth buried into the stilled paws of the further persian. Dusclops could see that it was the mother. The meowth was the one crying; it was alive.

He wasn't sure how. This place stunk of more than just the stench he could pick up, even his muted sense of biological smell could tell these persian hadn't been dead for too long. A day or two, perhaps?

Dusclops stared at the meowth for some time until it noticed him. Turning squinted, reddened, eyes upon him, it gave a pathetic yowl and a weak whimper.

He walked forward, stepping over the meowth's father. It hissed at him, barely. He knelt down and picked the starving kitten up. It tried to resist him, digging its claws into its mother. Those claws were weak, however, and Dusclops had no trouble prying it away.

"Shh…" Dusclops hummed as he stepped back, shielding the meowth from the image of its parents. From its size and weight, he gathered this was only a few weeks old, young enough that perhaps it wasn't feral.

He felt better holding it regardless.

The meowth cried as he took it away from that place, reaching out behind him. Dusclops didn't look back as he went; the shadow with horns moved.

Dusclops began to stroke the meowth to calm it down, and slowly it did. His hand was cool, but not unpleasant, and being held was all the kitten knew it wanted.

It quickly fell asleep as Dusclops began to decide on what to do. He would care for this meowth until it was his new companion. The others had hurt him, and tried to kill him, tried to dampen his spirit forever.

This one wouldn't. This one would never hurt him, and he would never hurt them in kind.

Mind made up, Dusclops walked through the expanse of grey and misery until he was able to find something he could feed the tiny thing, thin and starving as it was. The fact it was still alive impressed him. That, more than anything else, gave him hope. He respected the will to survive.

######

"Okay," Dusclops said, kneeling to be closer to eye-level with Meowth. "We're going to try something riskier today, but I have faith that you can handle it."

Meowth beamed up at him, eyes sparkling in joy. He loved it when his father trusted him, and he would not let him down. "What are we going to do?"

Dusclops' eye quirked in a smile, and he gave Meowth a scratch behind the ear. "We're going to get some more food today. Does that sound good?"

"Food!" Meowth jumped for joy. He was thin, so much thinner than Dusclops wished he was. But there simply was not a lot of food around. He did not need to eat much or very often, and he could eat almost anything. So everything went to Meowth, what little they could get.

"Save your energy," Dusclops chastised, and Meowth calmed down. He nodded happily. "When we get food, we can celebrate, okay?"

"Okay!"

Smiling again, he began to explain what they were going to do. Or, at least, as much as Meowth needed to know.

"We're going to go to the road. You know the one that leads to Shardtown?" Meowth nodded to show he was listening, but he also noticed something shiny and was distracted for a moment. "When we get there, we're going to stop at the corner, and you're going to go out and pretend to take a nap on the road."

"Why?" Meowth asked, cocking his head. "Won't someone step on me?"

Dusclops shook his head. "I wouldn't let someone step on you!" he said, putting a great deal of emotional emphasis on the final word. Meowth giggled at his overacting. "What kind of father would I be if I just let anyone walk all over my boy?"

"A naughty one!" Meowth beamed.

"That's right." Dusclops nodded and gave him another scratch behind the ear, Meowth purred in glee. "Before anyone steps on you, I'm going to come out and scare them away. But first, and this is the most important part, you are going to use your super-strong Scratch attack to break one of their bags. Okay?"

"Why?" Meowth asked again.

"That way, we'll be able to get food," Dusclops explained. "No one will be hurt, just scared a little. It's okay if you're scared too."

"I'm not scared!" Meowth protested, and Dusclops smiled again.

"Of course not. You're very brave."

"Yes."

"So, can you do this for us?"

"I gotta…" Meowth paused to think hard. "Sleep on the road and scratch the bag? You won't let anyone step on me."

"That's right!" Dusclops beamed, and Meowth giggled happily. "You're too smart for slow old dad sometimes."

Meowth grinned and ran a few times around him. "I've got to get tired," he explained. "And I need my blanket." He looked around for the old scarf. Dusclops thought it was a scarf, at least. The thing was old and ratty, but he had needed something to keep Meowth warm.

"You won't be actually sleeping," Dusclops said. "You'll be pretending."

"Okay," Meowth said. He continued to run around Dusclops anyway.

He gave Meowth a fond look, and the two set out.

Their first highway robbery didn't go so well. No one showed up.

"I'm bored!"

And that was it.

The second time went marginally better. Meowth panicked when the pokémon, a nuzleaf, jumped in surprise, and Meowth tackled him out of response. This led to a small fight where Dusclops was forced to knock out a roselia, and Meowth absconded with the snatched bag.

He didn't actually cut it. He forgot he had claws and just lifted it off the nuzleaf before running. He came back quickly, realising that Dusclops was not following.

"Run to our place!" Dusclops called when he noticed Meowth returning, and Meowth obeyed, running for their small encampment. Dusclops joined him a short while later, somewhat winded but pleased.

"Good job today," he said warmly, sitting down with a quiet groan. Meowth sniffled, tears glinting in his eyes. "What's wrong?" Dusclops asked, concerned. He felt a flash of fear that Meowth had been hurt in the scuffle.

"You're hurt," Meowth said, shifting in place with a crushingly guilty expression. "I'm sorry."

"Come here," Dusclops said, opening his arms. Meowth bowed his head slightly but ran for him quickly and was wrapped up in a hug. "You did fine. It's okay to be scared sometimes. Being scared is how we keep fighting to survive."

"Were you scared?" Meowth asked, muffled slightly by Dusclops' chest.

"I was, but for you," Dusclops replied, leaning back to look down at Meowth. "But you are alright, and that's what matters. Okay?" Meowth nodded. "Good. Now let's see what we got."

"Are those pokémon going to be okay?" Meowth asked after they had gone through their bounty. Dusclops didn't hesitate in nodding.

"They will be perfectly fine after you left I talked to them, and we all came to an agreement. That's what adults do and why I was able to come after you so quickly."

Meowth nodded happily and went back to their new items, playing with a berry. Dusclops leaned back, ate an oran berry for his injuries, and tried not to dwell on the feeling of guilt. Those pokémon would probably be okay, they were close to the settlement, and the commotion should bring some attention.

Not the attention of the maddened ones, no. It wouldn't. It wouldn't.

And if it did… Dusclops looked to Meowth, who pulled out a plain seed with a gasp. "This is so big!"

"You can eat the whole thing," Dusclops said, and Meowth gave him an amazed look.

"Is eating this much okay?" he asked, fiddling with the seed.

"You can have two."

Dusclops smiled as he watched over Meowth, with a full belly for once, playing happily. He'd take the burden of guilt if it meant Meowth could be happy.

With word of their actions definitely going to spread soon enough, Dusclops began planning where they would go next. Shardtown was nice, as nice as a town in the Rubblebelt went at least, but they may have better luck in Broken Quarter, or preferably Orb Town.

He began to plan.

---

Striker rubbed his face, all the way up to his chest. The green of his tail was bleached slightly and curling at the edges.

All across his body, his vibrant green was somewhat washed out, the red on his throat and stomach was more pinkish than red.

He wasn't well. He wasn't sick, not with a disease or anything. The problem was more insidious.

"Grass-type's need sunlight," Sean constantly muttered under his breath. There was no sunlight in the hellscape. Occasionally they fought a pokémon that used Sunny Day, but it was nowhere near enough for the treecko.

He was beginning to wilt from the lack of sunlight. Part of Sean was amazed he had lasted this long; the rest of him was furious that he hadn't thought of it. Of course, Striker needed sunlight; he was a treecko, a Grass-type!

That was one of the most basic lessons taught in school since so many people started with a Grass-type. You had to give them plenty of sunlight to maintain health. Striker hadn't received any besides the simulated light of Sunny Day.

The days were constantly dim and grey, but not black and dark. The world was still visible, so Sean reasoned the sun had to be somewhere. If the world was frozen, then surely one half was dark, and one half was stuck facing the sun.

There had to be a sun. If there wasn't…

He didn't want to think about it.

So they didn't really talk about it. They couldn't even if the inclination was there. Sean had just started muttering about finding the sun, and Striker went along with it.

"I've never seen the sun," Striker said, as they walked. Sean may not understand him, but that didn't really matter.

He said it a few times, but Sean eventually gathered what he was asking and began to speak in kind. "The sun is this huge, burning, ball in the sky. It's really bright, and you're not supposed to look directly at it. It's actually millions of kilometres away, but it's so hot that it warms the world. Grass-type's like you can use sunlight for, uh… pho-photo-photograph? No… photo-something to do… something. I don't know, but you need it! So, we're going to find it."

Striker travelled dutifully with him. They fought and scraped and jumped and ran across the frozen world. Hundreds of dungeons barred their way, but the two of them fought their way through as the light on the horizon began to increase.

Day by day, it would remain the same, but as the weeks progressed, the light began to shine brighter. Soon, rather than endless dusk, they were approaching dawn.

It was something that Sean never told anyone else. Not Saniya, Guardian, or Scout. Even in times to come, telling a shinx and that meowth he knew so well, yet so little, he lied when telling them he'd only seen Striker cry once.

Basking in the gentle glow of the sun was the first time Sean had seen Striker cry. Not particularly hard, but enough that he carried him the rest of the way.

"It's not a sunrise," Sean said sadly as he walked, hoisting Striker up onto his shoulders as if to bring him even closer. "Not even close. But it's the sun. You're going to be alright."

It was still quite dim, the light was barely touching the ground here, but with light shining, Striker was able to photosynthesise, and the green and red began to return, his leaves stopped wilting, and he stood straighter.

Sean, too let himself have a good cry. This, for once, of relief that his partner was going to be okay. He had not seen a single real pokémon this entire journey, only monsters pretending to look like pokémon. If he lost Striker, he doubted he'd be able to continue.

He was dirty, his clothes were filled with holes, and there was a terribly thin excuse for facial hair beginning to sprout. Sean wasn't sure how long he'd been in this world, he was sure nowadays that he was in a different one to his own, so it was a great shock to him once he came across the writing.

It wasn't anything he could read; Striker too was puzzled by it. But it was clear, a wooden structure propped up with a bunch of symbols that looked like feet.

"What do you think this means?" Sean asked, looking the thing over with a sense of blooming excitement.

"I have no idea," Striker answered, putting as much puzzlement into his voice so that Sean knew he didn't have a clue.

"Let's follow this," Sean said, and Striker nodded, walking alongside his friend. The road they were on, as it was clearly a road, was wide and surprisingly well-travelled.

As if someone travelled it. It didn't appear to be frozen; dust could be kicked up. Sean hoped it wasn't more monsters, and Striker began to think about beings like him.

He knew that sane pokémon still existed, but it'd been so long since he had lost them to madness. Sean had found him just in time.

Striker couldn't read the footprint runes, only a very hazy memory of their existence still lurked in his brain. But he did know that it meant that sane pokémon might be close by.

Whether that was a good thing would be seen, but Sean seemed excited, and Striker would follow him anywhere.

As they made their way in, everything seemed to change.

The world remained still, but the ear-popping silence was slowly filled with noise — wonderful, incredible sound.

Sean and Striker's pace picked up, drawing closer to the sounds of life. Normally, the sound was bad. It meant something dangerous was around, and the two were still guarded as they walked, checking around them more often and stepping a little closer.

One of Sean's hand gripped several orbs, and Striker had his Power bubbling in reach at the slightest provocation.

But unlike the hissing, snarling, grunting, and all-together unsettling sounds of danger, this was the sound of something the two had nearly forgotten.

Community.

They were almost running now as something that could only be described as a town came into view. The road widened massively into an oval, leading towards a ramshackle bridge. Past the bridge were walls.

Rickety, thrown-together, and built with scraps of junk the walls were, but they were walls with pokémon guarding them.

Two of them, neither Sean or Striker, knew what, barked out a warning.

To Sean, he only heard "Cram." From the blue avian and "Sala sal lama lance!" From the large dragon.

To Striker…

"Stop!" the pokémon he would learn to be a cramorant snapped.

"What business do you have here?" the other pokémon, a salamence, growled.

Both froze, Sean held his arms up, concealing an orb in one of them. Striker copied the motion and began to explain. "We're travellers," he said, quickly as the two seemed very inhospitable. "We came looking for the sun for me."

The two guards exchanged a look and a quiet word. After a moment, in which Sean and Striker exchanged their own glance, the two turned back to them.

"Strangers aren't welcome here," Cramorant snapped.

"But traders are," Salamence added.

"Do you have trade items?"

"If not, you must leave."

When they finished, Sean cast a nervous look to Striker, who looked up at him. This was one of those moments he really, really, REALLY wished Sean could understand him. He didn't know why he couldn't, Sean had said he was human, and humans can't understand pokémon, which seemed silly in so many ways.

"We have powerful beads," Striker answered, deciding he had to give some answer. He climbed Sean like a tree and dove into the backpack as Sean hissed.

"What do they want?"

"These!" Striker said, pulling some out and showing the orbs to the two. They were far, not daring to get too close, but both pokémon were guards for a reason.

Excellent eyesight.

"Orbs," Cramorant breathed.

"Only found in dungeons," Salamence muttered. "These two must be powerful to have so many."

They whispered a moment longer before nodding.

"Very well," Cramorant squawked. "You may enter Shardtown. Do NOT cause trouble if you want to leave in one piece."

"Thank you," Striker called back and climbed down Sean's leg. He tugged the human along, giving a pleasing smile. Sean slowly lowered his arms; they were aching by this point and smiled back.

They carefully walked over the bridge, Sean especially flinching when it creaked, and glanced over the edge as they went.

There was water down there. Water that wasn't frozen either, it wasn't running, however.

Other than keeping a nervous eye on the two pokémon guarding the entrance, the two made it in with no stress.

Within the confines of Shardtown, Sean and Striker found pokémon of every shape, size, and colour.

"I knew there were still pokémon," Sean breathed before laughing and giving a whoop. He got more than a few curious stares as the pokémon began to notice two faces they hadn't seen before.

One was a treecko, but the other none of the pokémon had ever seen before. Tall and thin, bipedal, with oddly loose and frayed fur. Was it some kind of bald delphox?

No one was eager to find out in case of retribution, and the two were unbothered as they began to look around.

Shardtown was one of the furthest settlements in the confines of The Rubblebelt, a series of towns created out of rubble.

All civilisation existed within Alo, the stretch of land across the world where the temperature and climate were actually liveable. The Rubblebelt was built out of the ruins of the old world, causing the entire area to present like a manicured junkyard.

The travelling pair found themselves staying in Shardtown for some time. It was safe there. The pokémon weren't exactly friendly, but in comparison to the monsters in the wastes, they might as well been singing sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows.

Everything was wonderful as long as they were together.

While Sean found himself struggling to ascertain meaning from the pokémon around them, he didn't know these ones like he knew Striker, Striker talked. He learned what he could and bartered occasionally to justify their residence of the area.

Striker learned that this was not the only settlement. There were quite a few, each with dangerous dungeons between them, but a few safe paths.

"The closest town to Shardtown is Broken Quarter," a mienshao told him, crossing her arms. "If you're going to leave, you'd better avoid a dungeon that appears like an archway made of boulders. Also, keep an eye out for meowth on the roads. Don't get fooled. It's bandits."

Ultimately, with the information he needed, they left. It took some coaching from Striker to get the meaning across.

"Hand, pointing, flapping… talking?" Sean said as Striker pantomimed what he was trying to say. He nodded quickly and switched. "Me. You. Them. Others? Pokémon? Talking. Pokémon talking?"

Nodding again, he continued. "Me. You. Us? Walking. Walking? Food. Does No… drink? Both? Strawberries? What are you trying to say?"

It took a while. A long while.

"You heard that there are other towns like this and think we should be checking them out to find any information?" Sean summarised nearly an hour later. Striker breathed in relief and nodded. "Well… it is safe here, but… yeah, you're right. We're not going to make any more progress if we're literally staying in one place. Let's leave tomorrow."

Striker kept the warnings in mind, coaxing Sean well away from the rather interesting looking archway, although he did not see any meowth.

There were only three other pokémon travelling as they walked, going towards Shardtown rather than away from it.

They didn't talk as they crossed paths, only careful eyes on each other.

The two of them found life a little more bearable in Alo. With pokémon being around, safety in numbers, and the ability to buy and sell, things were looking up.

Striker could not find any information on the world Sean came from, and he took them out of there when pokémon began expressing too much interest in his partner.

He wasn't risking the human. He kept that word zipped up and away from any conversations. More than one pokémon had asked if Sean was human, and Striker didn't want to learn what would happen if he confirmed that.

Broken Quarter was somewhat more run-down than Shardtown, there were three dangerous dungeons that monsters emerged from rather than just one, but the pokémon were stronger and wiser.

Ruined Sentiment, Lavish Pit, and A Town were much of the same. Pokémon, with tired eyes, narrowed into suspicious looks giving reluctant help or eager help when offered beads, which Striker learned were actually referred to as orbs.

It was fun trying to explain that to Sean.

Things didn't change until they began to make their way to Orb Town.

It'd been close to a few months since they had entered the Rubblebelt, and Striker had almost forgotten the old warnings he had received.

But upon spotting a crying meowth on the road, well. Even if he hadn't, he was no fool.

Sean, on the other.

"Oh no!" he gasped, speeding up. He did take a careful look around. He hadn't survived so long in the Dark Future by being completely reckless. Sean was, in the end, a bleeding heart, and so when he saw an injured pokémon, all he wanted to do was help.

It had led to them getting scammed a few times in town already.

"Sean!" Striker barked and latched onto his leg and tried to pull him back.

"Striker!" Sean yelled and tried to shake him off. "Come on, look at it." Striker didn't let go, so he turned to the meowth, who was staring at them pitifully. "I'm so sorry. He's a bit jumpy. Are you able to walk?"

Meowth hesitated, but slowly nodded and uncurled. It began to limp along, left hind leg unable to brace their weight, although the other three legs seemed okay.

"Can you help me?" Meowth asked, pleadingly. Even Striker hesitated in his distrust for a moment.

That hesitation was what someone else was waiting for.

Behind them, their shadows cast by the weak sunlight deepened, and from it emerged Dusclops. "Boo," he said, and Striker jumped.

He spun around, letting Sean go, and Dusclops socked him right in the jaw. He was thrown into Sean's back, knocking the human sprawling.

Meowth immediately leaped forward, all injuries vanishing, and a sharp claw slashed through Sean's backpack. He grabbed on and tugged, but there was more than one strap.

Striker pulled himself together and leaped at the Dusclops, tackling him back before arms lighting up with green and slashing. Sean palmed a Blast Seed, but Meowth knocked it out of his hand and went for the other strap.

"Dammit, that's mine!" Sean yelled as Meowth cut through the other strap. All this time, his bag had avoided the worst of damage, and NOW is when something goes for it?

They hadn't encountered bandits yet.

Meowth sprinted off with his bag. It wasn't too heavy, although it was comically oversized for the meowth, and it had a slight bit of trouble keeping hold of it. Sean pursued as Striker fought Dusclops behind them.

"Sean, NO!" Striker yelled, spotting the human running. "There could be others, SEAN!"

"There aren't," Dusclops grunted, holding a hand flat and generating a Shadow Ball. "Just relax; no one needs to be hurt."

"Coming from the bandit who ambushed us and attacked?" Striker snarled, wiping his mouth. His lip had been split from the fight.

"I have no interest in hurting you further," Dusclops snapped. "Give up, and you can return unharmed, I'll even lead your companion back."

"I trust you as far as I can throw you," Striker growled, arms lighting up again. He threw himself at Dusclops, and they began to battle.

Leaf Blades were caught by the Ghost-type's chilling hands, and cold flames were blasted at him. Striker avoided the tricky attack and was slammed by a fist wrapped in shadows for his trouble, knocking the wind out of him.

"You can't win," Dusclops said, unbothered by his assault. Striker staggered and caught himself on all fours, foot touching a seed. The Blast Seed!

"Sure I can't," Striker said, snatching up the seed and tossing it at Dusclops with all his strength. It was caught, at the other attacks were, but detonated with a huge blast.

Dusclops roared in pain as his balance was knocked out of him, giving Striker the opening to slash a deadly Leaf Blade into the ghost's mottled chest, leaving a line of green.

"Gah… ah… no," Dusclops groaned, falling to one knee. Striker came back around for another swing, but Dusclops pulled himself up and generating numerous balls of flame around him. The ring of Will-o-Wisp's forced Striker to swerve around him, and Dusclops' shadow turned physical and slammed into his chest.

Back in the bushes, Sean sprinted after the meowth. It was fast and sneaky, but also carrying a large bag, and he was able to keep in view.

"Stop, stop!" he yelled, trying not to fall into any traps that the meowth was leading him through. He knocked on his knees and face a few times but refused to slow down.

It cast several frustrated looks back at him before trying something trickier.

"Just give it back," Sean yelled. "Give it back, and I'll go."

It didn't so much as give him the time of day before a bellowing roar of pain rang through the quiet plains. Meowth froze, that wasn't the treecko's cry.

"Father," it whispered as Sean neared. Changing plans entirely, it shot back, zipping between Sean's legs and running back the way they came.

Sean groaned and turned around, but it was easier the second time.

"Stop hurting my father!" Meowth yelled as he burst into the bend in the road they had laid this trap. His claws shone white, and he slashed out, striking the treecko on the leg.

"Meowth, what are you doing back here?" Dusclops demanded, forcing Striker back and guarding Meowth.

"He was hurting you," Meowth replied, glaring at the treecko.

"You are hurting US!" Striker yelled, Meowth flinched, and Dusclops stood between them as Sean arrived on the scene. "Give the bag back NOW!" Striker demanded.

"Uh, Striker?"

"I'm afraid we need this," Dusclops replied.

"Striker?"

"We need to eat," Meowth said.

"Dusclops and Meowth!?"

"This is OUR bag and our items," Striker growled. "You will give it back or-"

"EVERYONE!" Sean yelled, quietening everything. With the attention on him, Sean pointed up. "WATCH OUT!"

Striker looked up and gasped before leaping forward. It seemed he could throw Dusclops a good distance, as Striker grabbed and threw the larger pokémon behind him and snatched up the meowth.

Dusclops began to roar in anger at being duped, but then monsters descended on them.

Meowth screeched in fear, and Striker kicked him behind him as Sean ran up.

Numerous monsters, more than any of them had ever seen at once outside a dungeon descending from the cliff. Some were broken by the fall, but others landed on the broken ones, crushing them further before throwing themselves at the four.

The mood of everyone changed from anger to desperation, and Striker was pulled back by Sean to a safer point, spitting Bullet Seeds to slow them down. Meowth shook, and Dusclops tried to find an exit, but they were surrounded.

"We need to work together," Sean said, seeing the looks on the other two's faces.

Dusclops nodded to Meowth, and the bag was opened. Sean grabbed what he needed, his gnarled stick, and several items. They were running low on orbs, Sean having sold quite a few to hopeful pokémon, but he felt better-having something in hand.

Striker's leg was injured from Meowth's surprise attack, so Sean stood closer with him as they beat the deadly monsters back. Meowth was mostly protected by Dusclops, but he did grab a stick of his own and proved that it was not a mere stick at all.

A Blast Wand drove the encroaching horde back, and Dusclops was able to strike several of them down as the wand ran out of power.

Striker and Sean tag-teamed a monster that dared to look like a grovyle, knocking its legs out with the stick before a blow to the back of the head knocked it out.

Something changed when a creature looking like a gabite, went for Sean's throat. Striker leaped forward and tried to tackle it back, but the dragon was too heavy and too strong. Sean scrambled for his items, but Meowth had used several of the better ones already.

"Striker, get away!" Sean cried, but Striker didn't listen, slamming repeatably into the gabite who was swiping at him to snatch him up and tear him to pieces.

It landed a hit, knocking him back with a deep wound in his shoulder. The treecko yelled out in pain as the gabite charged him, descending with hunger and a dripping maw.

Striker burst into green light and recoiled, kicking out and breaking the gabite's jaw. It howled, reeling back, as he got up and tackled him again, before creating another Leaf Blade bursting with green energy.

One slash and the gabite fell.

Striker breathed hard before yelling out and shining even brighter. But where before it was a green glow of an Overgrow boost from his dire situation, this was pure white light.

By the time it faded, Striker was bigger. He had a long leaf on the back of his head, a band of green between the red on his stomach, and more leaves on his wrists.

"Grovyle!" Sean gasped, recognising it. "Striker, you evolved!"

Even with evolution, it still took some time. With Striker protecting Sean and Dusclops protecting Meowth, the horde was able to take advantage multiple times, and both of the protected figures had blood drawn.

With gabite's defeat, Dusclops and Meowth had an opening to escape with, but neither fled and continued to fight.

Soon enough, it became apparent that this was not worth the struggle, and the monsters broke ranks and began to flee.

"Get lost!" Sean yelled, shaking his stick at them.

"That's right!" Meowth yelled, shaking the powerless wand at them.

Striker and Dusclops groaned in relief, and both fell back, accidentally pressing against each other, back to back.

They were closer in height now, although Dusclops was still a fair bit taller. Sean stared at Striker for a moment, taking the time to adjust his thoughts and perception of his treecko partner.

He was a grovyle now. He'd evolved to beat that gabite. His shoulder had closed up, the evolution helped, but it was still bleeding, so Sean dug a scrap of cloth out that used to be a shirt and began tying it around Striker's arm.

Meowth crawled over to Dusclops and began talking. Sean still couldn't fathom a word, but Striker smiled slightly at what he was hearing.

It was strange. He wasn't feeling quite so mad at the two anymore. Fighting a life-or-death battle put smaller grievances out of mind, it seemed.

"Are you two okay?" Sean asked once he was sure Striker would be okay. Dusclops' eye narrowed in confusion, flicking between him and Striker for a moment before replying. "I'm sorry," Sean said, pursing his lips. "I actually can't understand you. Human and all, we don't understand pokémon."

Dusclops leaned up in shock while Meowth cocked his head at him.

Striker groaned. Of course, Sean would.

"He's telling the truth," Striker said tiredly, turning back to face the two. "Doesn't understand a word. He came here from another world. We're trying to find a way back there."

"I see," Dusclops said, sounding like he didn't see at all.

"He looks nice!" Meowth said, trotting over to Sean with no fear. Dusclops reached out to snatch him back, but Sean happily leaned down to pet Meowth. "He's got fingers too!"

Meowth began to put, and Sean slowly sat down. Took about three seconds for Meowth to crawl into his lap and continue getting petted, purring a storm.

Striker stared at the two in silence. He had a feeling Sean was going to do something reckless again.

"Would you two like to come with us?" Sean asked.

"Yep. There it is," Striker thought, rubbing his face. He felt different, taller, or everyone seemed shorter. Sean was still taller than him, however.

Meowth beamed at Sean and looked over to Dusclops, hope shining in his eyes. "Can we? Please?"

Dusclops, who had gone to refuse, hesitated.

His son was too spoiled, but…

Striker shook his head at Sean, but it was a fond kind of shake. He turned to Dusclops again. "You laid a trap, attempted to rob us, but you also stayed to fight even when an opening to flee arrived. So… you are strong, and I can see you're not bad. We are searching for a way to leave this world and get to a better one, would you be interested in that?"

Dusclops stared at him for a while as Striker outstretched a hand. He glanced at Meowth, who gave him a bright and hopeful look. Slowly, but surely, he took the hand offered.

---

"Oh. My. Giratina. Where the hecking heck are you sending me?"

"Very funny, Celebi."

She giggled. "Tee-hee-hee. I know. I'm hilarious."

Staring through an ancient, but well-kept, mirror, Giratina's massive eye-rolled. Celebi rolled her eyes right back at the great, gargantuan, grump, and continued fluttering along.

"The place is called Avanstar," Giratina repeated, it wasn't sure why that caused such offence in Celebi, "I think you should find at least a clue to their whereabouts there."

"Coolio." Celebi beamed and increased her speed. "It's only been ten months, sixteen days, thirty-two hours, somehow, and four minutes twelve seconds since you wouldn't stop going on and on and ON about it."

"You made that up," Giratina huffed.

"Probably." She shrugged. "I can't remember because boredom has KILLED me."

"Tell me again what you've done to save the world."

Celebi scoffed. "Just because YOU don't like Soothe doesn't mean she's not awesome. Maybe even more so."

"You are petulant," Giratina grumbled, "and you still weren't supposed to send anyone without at least discussing it with me first."

"I still did~" Celebi sang. "I asked you plenty. When to send, where to send, all the good stuff."

"You claimed it was theoretical!"

"Well, it was. I just turned that theoretical into retical."

"That's not a word."

"Well, it is now!"

Celebi had crossed vast deserts, frozen oceans, choked forests, and more inhospitable locations in order to carry out Giratina's grand plans.

Find the human, they said. Give them the scream, they said. She'd give them the scream all right, one heck of a scare should do it!

Celebi giggled. Giratina, who was always listening, frowned at her. "What are you thinking?" they said, before adding. "Don't tell me. I don't think I want to know."

"Oh boo, what shall I do?" she hummed, flying up high and then down low.

Celebi continued entertaining herself with Giratina until, at long last, she approached Avanstar. For a township in this terrible dark frozen future wonderland of death, despair, and disturbing lack of decency, Avanstar didn't look too bad.

It was a little on fire, but you know… how bad was fire when everything was a little nippy.

She decided to give Avanstar a pass for now and headed off into the wilderness. Humming along to herself, creeping Giratina out, she followed.

Celebi was no fool. By whatever means Giratina had dragged this human into their little slice of hell, it left a certain mark.

"Don't tell the human I am responsible for them being here." Giratina had ordered.

"Why?"

"They may not take it well."

"How DID you drag them over here, anyway?" Celebi had asked. Giratina wasn't forthright with an explanation, but she did glean something about 'contacting another-reality Giratina' and 'this better work out' and also 'am I really that much of a dick?'

Celebi confirmed it, and Giratina didn't speak to her for two whole days.

But now they were here. She was following the sense, and she could tell she was almost there. She wondered what the human looked like? What were they like? It was also good to confirm they hadn't died yet. That was nice.

She approached as the sounds of an argument reached her ears.

"You were not supposed to set that basket on fire, what is wrong with you?" That voice was dreamy and, despite chastising someone, was incredibly level, almost casual.

"They were going to attack; did you even see their eyes?" The other voice was quite nice too, not quite as nice as the first one, but also keeping the same casual tone.

How odd.

She drew closer and glanced in, hiding behind a tree. A grovyle and dusclops sat, arguing amicably while a meowth was petted by the human.

"You are too violent, Guardian," the grovyle with the wonderful voice said. He said it almost happily, and the human was unperturbed by the argument.

"Ah." Celebi realised. "That's it. They don't want the boy to know they're arguing."

"You are too trusting," the dusclops, Guardian, said without letting Celebi hear the moniker the grovyle owned. Maybe they were just called Grovyle?

"Company!" the meowth snapped suddenly, rising on all fours with his fur puffing out. The two immediately stopped their argument, and even the human braced himself, knowing the meowth had detected something.

"Hello everybody," Celebi said grandly, coming out of hiding. "My name is Celebi, and today I'll be explaining the truth to life, the universe, and everything."

Four sets of eyes blinked at her.

To her endless, eternal, disappointment, the grovyle wasn't the first to speak and croon his dulcet tones to her again. Instead, it was the human who spoke.

"You… you talked."

That caused everyone else, besides Celebi herself, of course, to blink again.

Grovyle spoke, but it was drowned out by the others. Strike two.

"SHH!" she hissed. They quietened, and she nodded to Grovyle, but he seemed too stunned by her beauty to speak further. How disappointing, if lovely to the ego.

The human managed to recover first and speak. "N-no. I… uh… am I going crazy, or did you just…"

"I talked," Celebi said, and he seemed to sag like someone just let the air out of him.

"Finally," he whispered, nearly falling to his knees. "FINALLY!"

"Okay…" Celebi glanced around. This was a little weird and not in a good way.

The human recovered and pulled himself up. "I've been here for… ages now, and I haven't spoken to anyone who I could actually understand."

"Hm?" Celebi asked she had been distracted by the leaves on that grovyle. "You say something?"

"YOU DID TOO!" the human laughed. "This is wonderful."

"Well… cool. Anyway, Gabriel, I'm here to give you your quest and finally explain what the tosh is going on. Isn't that nice?"

"Gabriel?" The human frowned. "My name is Sean."

Celebi froze. Her wings too. She went so still, everyone got a little concerned.

Slowly, with the same Psychic power holding her frozen, she pulled out her mirror. "Excuse me for one moment," she said, before yelling at the mirror. "YOU LIED TO ME! I LOOK FOOLISH! FOOOOOLISH!"

Screaming into a mirror was concerning, and everyone backed away closer to Sean. Then the mirror responded, so this day was just one of those.

"That's not right. The other told me they'd be getting some 'Gabriel.' Good grief, I really AM a dick!"

"I TOLD YOU, YOU WERE!" Celebi howled, before slapping the mirror. "Bad, Giratina."

"It's not my fault."

"Well, if you think about it."

"Not MY fault."

Celebi rolled her eyes and tossed the mirror over to Sean. "Anyway, this is the big guy. He, uh… helped me find you." She bit her tongue, almost saying too much.

Sean caught the mirror on reflex and looked down, reeling back from the giant eye peering at him.

"Do not be alarmed, human," the eye said, alarming Sean. "I am Giratina, and we are here to help."

"Oh." Sean swallowed. "Okay."

"Celebi is here to answer questions and begin guiding you to your purpose."

"How did you know I was here?" Sean asked, holding the mirror as far from him as he could. Scout glanced up into it and batted at the mirror, catching Giratina's attention.

"Hello, young meowth."

"Hi!" Scout beamed. He loved meeting new people.

"You? Me? Here? Hello?" Sean asked, trying to pull things back. While he and Giratina began to speak, Celebi cozied up over to that handsome Grovyle with the wonderful voice.

"Hey," she said, starting things casually. Eternal bonds could come later, best get his name first.

"Hello," Grovyle replied, frowning at her. That would not do.

"I am Celebi. The local time traveller and the only one that's the good kind of crazy! The five of us are going to save the world!"

######

Having Celebi around was a massive relief, but only ever a temporary one.

Upon their first meeting, she had done her best to explain what she could. "The world is frozen because a place called Temporal Tower was damaged in the past, and Temporal Tower is the physical manifestation of Dialga's power. When it collapsed, so did Dialga. And, well, Dialga basically IS time. So when it went kaput, so did the normal flow of time."

She babbled a lot about incredibly confusing things relating to time often, but upon realising she really was just confusing everyone, tried to hold it in.

Sean found her presence a titanic relief. Not only was he getting some explanation as to what was going on and directions, trying to fathom saving time itself was a little too much for him at the moment, however, but Celebi could also facilitate conversation between him and his teammates.

It was wonderful to converse with Striker and Guardian and Scout. She complained about having her awesome powers be used for translating, but upon seeing how happy Striker was as well, she happily offered her services in any shape or form.

Sean was able to learn that Striker spoke with great optimism, that Guardian was a bit surly, and that Scout was utterly precious.

"I think you're really cool," Celebi translated for Scout as the meowth blushed, barely able to keep her squeals of adorableness down. "You are big and kind, and you're really cool even though you don't have powers. I want to be like you."

Celebi couldn't stay around for long, however.

Two days after their first meeting, she shared the news.

"Well, I'm afraid I have to go," she said, frowning deeply. She quite liked this little ragtag group of misfits. And Striker too, she liked Striker quite a bit more.

"What?" Sean gasped.

"Why?" Scout asked.

"You are leaving already?" Guardian frowned.

"For what reason?" Striker questioned.

She giggled at their near-unanimous response and smiled sadly. "I can open a portal to the past, and I have the ability to change this future to a better one. But Dialga doesn't see it that way, so I'm easily the most hunted pokémon in this time. If I stay too long around you, you'll become targets as well. And you need to be able to find the Time Gear locations without being hunted. I still have no idea where they are, and Giratina is no help either."

There was some resistance, but Celebi made it clear she had to go.

"I do have something to give you. Two things, actually." She faced Sean, pulling out her mirror with one hand and simply raising the other.

"The mirror?" Sean asked, somewhat warily. Giratina had been nice, but still unsettling. He felt like there were things it wasn't telling him either. He had asked if Giratina knew how he got here, and Giratina said no, but mostly evaded the question.

"First, this, because I have another one." She pressed it into his hands. "You can use this to contact the big guy who can also contact me. If you're using me as a glorified translator, then you can use Giratina as a quick-postage system."

"Using Giratina as a phone…" Sean muttered. It seemed sacrilege, but why not?

"Second. Take my hand." He didn't give him a choice, grabbing his larger human hand with her dainty one. "You're on the right track now, get to Capim Town and start searching that continent. But to be sure, I'm going to give you something."

"Okay… and the handholding?"

"Is necessary."

Celebi breathed in and then out. Giratina had coached her through this a hundred damn times, and she could do it for real once.

Sean jerked violently as Power was pressed into him. Something very few humans ever knew on their terms. It didn't hurt, but it still felt like something was being pushed through his skin, eyes, brain, and into something deeper.

"Khkhkh, wha?"

Celebi breathed out and pushed, and Sean screamed. Scout and Striker nearly jumped for him, but Celebi pushed them, as gently as she could, back. She let go of Sean, and he stumbled back, being caught by Guardian.

"How do you feel?" she asked nervously but covering it up with casualness.

"What? Was… what?"

"You'll need to tell me later if it works," Celebi said, glancing around. It was time for her to go; Sean had been quite loud. "It's a special ability. It'll help you figure out if a place held a Time Gear. You'll need to be with a trusted partner, but." She nodded to the three. "I think you'll be fine. Catch you later!"

She sparked and disappeared in a flash of light, being spotted once or twice more disappearing into the distance.

Sean needed to be held up for a moment, as the pokémon babbled. Already, he wished he still had someone to translate them for him.

"I'm fine," he gasped, managing to stand by himself. It hadn't hurt, it was merely to bizarre to register as pain.

Sean looked at his hands. Celebi said many strange things, but this was taking the cake. Still, they had a map, a mirror, and a mission to save the world.

There was no time like the present.

---

Scout's life was a curious one.

In terms of the situation, he had an incredibly easy life for much of his time. Being protected by his father to the point of excessiveness, he never felt the gnaw of true desperate hunger or misery.

In terms of a pokémon of the past, his life was a brutal one filled with darkness, danger, and lack of hope.

Despite it, he was a happy meowth.

He had a happy time with his father. He was completely aware that they were not actually related, his father was a big dusclops, and he was a little meowth.

He had asked his father, exactly one time, what happened to his parents.

"I found you," Dusclops had explained. This was well before they met Sean and Striker. "I found you in a terrible place. Your mother and father, they… they were lifeless, and you were barely holding on yourself. There was no way I could leave you, so I took you along with me."

Meowth nodded; his father was always honest with him, so he believed the words. He remained curious and asked one more question. "Did you know them? What were they like?"

Dusclops hesitated, but again he was honest. "I did not know them; I'm afraid. All I know is that they were both persian, your evolved form. Your father, perhaps he was brave? He was in front of you and your mother. You were nestled with your mother, so I believe she cared for you greatly as well."

Meowth accepted that and chose and go play. His father seemed sad, and he hated it when he was sad because it made him feel sad too. So he didn't ask another question, it was a silly question anyway.

He had a few memories of his mother; he knew he did. He remembered horns and deep brown eyes.

So it didn't matter that he only had Dusclops because Dusclops was enough for him.

It didn't mean, however, that Sean, Striker, and Celebi, who eventually bugged Sean into giving her the name Saniya, weren't cherished as well.

"Um, father?" Scout asked, peering up at Guardian with the cutest look he could do without trying. Guardian, who had been practising his aim with Shadow Ball, paused to look down at his son.

"Yes, Scout?" he asked warmly.

"Can… can you teach me?" Scout asked, blushing to his ears.

"Teach…?" Guardian asked, glancing down at the half-formed Shadow Ball.

"I… I want to be like you," Scout admitted, shifting uncomfortably. He was on two legs, having started standing upright in an attempt to copy everyone else, most especially Sean. "Can you teach me Shadow Ball? It's your favourite move, isn't it?"

Guardian needed to take a moment, slowly collapsing the Shadow Ball, to prevent an embarrassing wave of emotion from sweeping him up and carrying him away to the lake of tears.

"Of course," he said, a little choked up. Guardian knelt as Scout brightened like the dawn they hadn't seen.

"Thank you!" He hugged guardian as best as he could, and Guardian gave him a hug back. Across the field, Striker smiled at them but shifted to a teasing smirk when Guardian looked up at him.

"Very well," Guardian said as Striker went off to give them privacy. "The first part is a bit difficult, and we'll be doing this in moderation, but…"

Scout loved to trail the others. He claimed it was practise in pouncing and tracking, but he wasn't good at pretending that he wanted to copy their actions to be like them.

He'd pose like Striker did when he summoned his Leaf Blade. Or shake his head in time with Sean. Scout would even run and sprint across their camps as fast as he could when Saniya was around or had been around recently, mimicking how she would flit from place to place in a rush.

His speed was how Sean had given him his name. Even before Saniya, he was easily the fastest of their little team, and constantly excited, running ahead without a care in the world.

Being reprimanded by Guardian many times, but Scout was too curious about the world to take his words completely to heart. Due to being able to spot many things on the horizon with his excellent eyesight and being small and swift enough to run ahead without being seen, Scout became their scout.

Where Guardian received the name for being an excellent guard, protecting everyone with his own body, if it came to it, Scout was their eye.

"Your Leaf Blade is so cool!" Scout cheered, watching Striker cutting down branches to act as firewood. "The way you go shing and swang and swoosh!" He did slashes and kicks as he said the words, copying the coolest moments he could remember seeing.

Striker laughed and handed him some sticks to carry back, which he did in just a minute. Upon returning, he asked. "Could you show me how to do that?" he asked, cocking his head cutely.

He was a little bolder, less embarrassed to ask, since learning Shadow Ball. Guardian instructed him not to use it often since he didn't want Scout bleeding at all, let alone frivolously, but knowing he had succeeded left him a little cocky for a while.

"I'm not sure if you could learn Leaf Blade," Striker said, not quite dismissing him yet. "But, you might be able to learn something else with those claws of yours."

Scout was eager for any help and attention, and he began to help Striker with collecting wood. His Scratch attack wasn't quite enough to sever or chop up branches, but Striker had a few ideas of what might be able to.

He intentionally pushed and frustrated Scout for weeks, getting into more than a few arguments with Guardian over the matter as well.

The day Scout nearly cut through a whole branch with a blade of darkness made all the frustration worth it. For a moment, at least. As it still took him another two months to properly get a hold of it. Scout hadn't experienced enough things, positive or negative, to easily draw on for Night Slash, and the cheerful meowth wasn't prone to anger very easily either.

Scout was a cheeky little bugger at times.

"Where are we going?" Guardian asked, rather confused. Scout had dragged him into Treescent Village even though they'd be leaving the area tomorrow.

"You and Striker have been arguing a lot," Scout said, explaining nothing.

"I… I'm sorry, I hope you haven't been put in the middle of it."

"Nope! But arguing isn't good for friends, but Saniya says you argue like an old couple. So, you're going to go on a date with Striker!"

Guardian paused, Scout tugged him along, and he found himself being pulled. Scout was a lot stronger nowadays, not enough to pull him if he seriously was resisting but still.

"Excuse me. I must have misheard you."

"Nope!" Scout beamed. "Sean is bringing Striker too. We planned this together."

"How?" Guardian spluttered. He was still being led along.

"Secret."

"Did Saniya help you?"

"Do you really think she would let Striker go on a date with anyone else?"

Guardian cursed. Point one to Scout. Before he could begin mustering a list of reasons why this wouldn't be happening, they were there.

A shop ran by an elderly aggron was the closest thing to a nice place for a date. Scout dragged the resisting dusclops to a table in which sat a puzzled grovyle.

"Have fun!" Scout sang and departed.

"What… is this about?" Striker asked, turning to raise an eye to Guardian. At that moment, Guardian realised Sean hadn't been so forthright with the purpose of this meal.

"I…," he paused, wanting to end this charade before it even began. The words got stuck between layers of horror and embarrassment, and he choked out. "Sorry." Instead.

Striker's puzzlement only increased as food began to be delivered. Guardian was visibly blushing and squirming in place, Scout had a truly knowing look on his face, Sean was tight-lipped, and he had the lingering feeling of doom in regard to thinking about Saniya.

Away from the table, outside the establishment, Sean and Scout eavesdropped as best as they could. The human still drew attention, but mostly pokémon were curious at what they were looking at, and a crowd began to form.

No one was entirely sure what the spectacle was, but when a pair of mr. mime began to narrate whatever conversation the grovyle and dusclops were having, and the spectacle became something new.

Later on, Sean and Scout would get quite the talking to from a pair of furiously embarrassed pokémon. But for now, it was dinner and a show.

"There's something I've wanted to ask you," Striker said, staring intently at Guardian.

"Ask away," Guardian replied. They had broken the ice. Striker still didn't know what this actually was, and discussed why they've been angry at each other.

Now, it seems, Striker had something different to discuss.

"I heard from Scout that you once were with a different group of pokémon," Striker said, Guardian stiffened. "Before you found him. I confess, I've been curious for some time."

Guardian stared at him, eye flickering for a moment, and Striker began to rethink asking.

"If you don't want to talk about it," Striker began.

"We were a group of seven," Guardian interjected, Striker closed his mouth. "My earliest memories of being a duskull were with them. We were all Ghost-type pokémon. Banette, Misdreavus, Mimikyu… I don't want to think about them anymore."

Striker wet his lips and decided to ask anyway. "What happened?"

Guardian gave him an angry look, eye glowing slightly, Striker met it with a cool expression and Guardian huffed. "Why must you know? Aren't the memories painful enough for me?"

"You've been acting reckless, dismissive, and pushing everyone besides Scout away," Striker replied. "That is what's causing our arguments, for me, at least. So, I want to know, did something like this happen with them?"

Guardian was silent for a long time. Striker had enough and was prepared to leave.

"Yes and no," Guardian said, and Striker paused. He sighed deeply. "Whatever their issue was, it was never discussed. I only know the breaking point, the day we lost Shuppet and Banette lashed out at everyone. She blamed me, maybe it was my fault. You're not the first pokémon I have been a 'guardian' of."

Striker nodded sadly. "I'm sorry."

Guardian shrugged. "It was a long time ago. I don't particularly care about it anymore."

"Look. If you need someone to talk to, or even just to vent to, I'm here."

Guardian's eye flickered slightly, but it was not in anger but something else. "Thank you."

Out of the building, Scout cupped his mouth and yelled. "Now, kiss!"

He and Sean had to run away and run fast.

######

"Good MORNING!" Saniya cheered.

"What's so good about it?" Scout asked mutinously. He loved to sleep, and he did not love to be woken up.

"It's great because I'm here!" Saniya replied, and Scout couldn't find the fault in that argument.

Saniya was fun and, once he'd shook the sleepiness off, they were causing trouble.

"Swap it for this, and we'll see Sean breathe fire!" Saniya giggled, handing him a very red berry.

"Is that true?" he asked, gazing at it in wonder.

"Let's find out."

They tried it. Sean apparently enjoyed spicy food and thanked them afterward.

"Totally the plan," Saniya said, gifting Scout a fist-pump. Sean rolled his eyes at them, he was fooled exactly 0 percent, but let them have their fun.

Sean ended up giving Scout a good scratch behind the ears that left him meowth-coloured-goo, so Saniya drifted off to find other partners in crime.

While Scout snoozed, she found herself in the presence of Striker and Guardian. It seemed to be the perfect time to broach the conversation.

"So, I heard you two had taught Scout a little something?" she asked, already knowing the answer as Scout had bragged about it to her and even demonstrated.

"He asked me to teach him Shadow Ball," Guardian said, eye a little misty. "Said he wanted to be like me."

"Aww."

"I've managed to show him how to use Night Slash," Striker added, smiling proudly. "Took a while, but he got there."

"Incredible job. Absolutely outstanding," she said without a hint of mocking as it was completely genuine. "You are so amazing."

"Thank you!"

Guardian shook his head at Striker, who was merely happy with the compliment.

"Ah, well, not everyone can be as gorgeous and intelligent as me," Saniya mused before spotting an interesting flower. "Ooh!" She buzzed over to it and smelled it, sneezing immediately after with her eyes watering.

"That doesn't smell nice," she coughed, plugging her non-existent nose.

"Are you thinking of teaching Scout something yourself?" Guardian asked, feeling like that may have been Saniya's idea.

"Oh, my Giratina! That's a fantastic idea!" she squealed and did several loop-de-loops around them. She grabbed Guardian's head and shook him a little. "How are you so smart?"

"I… raised him?" Guardian said, dizzy from the sudden shaking. She waved her hand, and the dizziness faded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Oh, what should I teach him? I could teach him to open holes in time and space! Or how to grow a flower! Or how to heal the world! Or even to control minds and shatter their wills under dominating command! Ahahahahahahaha."

Striker picked a flower and handed it to her, cutting the maniacal laughter short and causing her to blush. "Oh… could you put it here." She pointed to her right antenna, and Striker fixed the flower there, not noticing her blush.

"Perhaps stick to teaching something Scout can actually learn," Guardian advised widely. "I'm not sure he could do any of that."

"Well," Saniya hummed, twirling her other antenna with a finger. "Probably not the time/space hole, flower magic, or world healing. The supreme domination of the mind, however? Yeah, I think meowth can learn Hypnosis. That's the plan!"

"Wait," Guardian said, raising a hand to stop her, but Saniya was already flying away in giggly glee. He lowered it reluctantly.

"She probably won't teach him something as dangerous as she claims," Striker said, and Guardian nodded. Saniya tended to give melodramatic declarations of simple things.

And painfully simple declarations of mind-boggling things.

"Hey, so you're going to change time and save the world," she had said not long after first meeting them.

Verses.

"Cast your eyes upon the eternal foe, writhing in flames and burning, burning, burning. The tip, you must pierce, and devour with the endless hungry maw of a thousand-thousand screaming seconds," she had said when explaining how to cook an apple.

"Scout!" Saniya sang, circling Scout like a particularly loud fly. "I heard, I heard that you've been learning some stuff from Striker and Guardian!"

"I told you that!" Scout said, equally as excited. "Will you teach me something too?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Saniya beamed and immediately teleported herself and Scout to somewhere private.

"You're so cute," Saniya sighed as Scout was taking some time to shake the effects of the teleportation off.

"I'm NOT cute!" he immediately snapped, fur puffing up adorably. It made her giggle.

"Now," she said, smacking a stick she had materialised into her palm. The sound would cause shivers in Scout eventually. "Time to learn."

"I… need an adult," Scout said, regretting his decision immediately.

"I am an adult."

By the time she returned him, Scout could crush wills with the… well, not worst of them. He could cause a bit of sleepiness. Or, perhaps, he himself was so tired it was being projected onto everyone else.

Scout liked to claw at Sean's clothes but also restrained himself from plucking at the threads. Saniya was able to help repair the worn-down travel clothes, but it was still only holding off the inevitable. Scout wasn't supposed to hasten it.

"I'm going to keep using Scratch," he declared one day, after a battle all five of them needed to join in. Even Saniya was a little winded afterwards.

"Why is that?" Saniya asked.

"Because its what I can do!" Scout declared, puffing his chest proudly. He then gave Sean a shy glance. "Don't tell him, but it's for Sean too. He can't do any of the moves we can, but he can scratch and kick if he needs to. He's so brave. I'd like to keep it for him too."

Saniya smiled and kept her lips shut when Sean gave her a curious look.

Shrugging it off, Sean started a fire for the five of them. Guardian's flames were cold, so Sean was the only one who could, using his nimble fingers and humans smarts to rub sticks and leaves into fire.

Scout was amazed every time he did it, and it was so warm as well. He had learned not to touch the fire, however.

While Sean began to prepare to roast some fruits for them, Scout crawled into his lap and curled up to sleep.

######

"That's it!" Striker cheered as Guardian steadied Sean. "It's here! It's here!"

"There's more to it," Sean slurred. His Dimensional Scream heavily shook him. His eyes were rolling and unable to focus.

"What do you mean?" Striker asked.

"There's… the statue," Sean managed, sagging in Guardian's hands. "A… this thing… red stone. Drought Stone. It needs to be placed in Groudon's heart. That lifts the fog."

"Very well done, Sean!" Striker beamed. Scout crawled up Guardian's back to press a gentle paw onto Sean's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Scout asked, coming in closer to rub his face against Sean's.

Striker stopped celebrating, noticing finally just how out of it his partner was. "Sean? Sean? What's wrong?"

"I feel sick," Sean mumbled and pushed himself out of Guardian's grip suddenly to throw up.

Striker came to his side and began rubbing the human's back. Sean shook in place for a while before relaxing.

"That was weird, awful, and unpleasant," he moaned. "I don't want to do that again."

"I think we should contact Saniya," Scout said, pulling Sean's mirror out. "She should have said something if it was going to be like that."

"Good idea," Guardian said and tapped the mirror. "Giratina? Giratina?"

The mirror swam, and Giratina appeared. "Yes?"

"The Dimensional Scream has worked," Guardian explained as Scout climbed him again to stare into the mirror. "But Sean has had a severe reaction afterwards. We were hoping to speak to Saniya about it."

"No need," Giratina rumbled. "I can answer your questions."

"Oh." He glanced at Sean, who was being steadied by Striker. "Very well. Sean has become severely dizzy, his words have slurred, and he vomited."

Giratina considered it for a moment, and Guardian turned the mirror so that it could observe Sean. "Humans are not inclined to abilities like pokémon," Giratina said after some thought. "His body will need time to adjust to it, and the only way is through further Dimensional Screams."

"Yay," Sean groaned.

"It will not affect you so much in the coming times," Giratina said. "Eventually, all you should feel is the dizzy spell leading up to the moment."

"I get it," Sean said, standing up. He swayed slightly, needing to hold onto Striker. "Alright. There's nothing that can be done, I'm hearing?"

"No."

Sean sighed, and Scout climbed down Guardian to rub against Sean's legs, hoping to help in some small way.

Later on, the four of them rested. The first Time Gear's location had been found, and Sean had experienced his first Dimensional Scream.

Scout purred on Sean's lap, hoping to give some level of comfort; he was still feeling a bit off.

He loved Guardian because Guardian was his father; he was kind and fair and would never let them get hurt.

He loved Striker, he was swift and cool and always did his best to keep their spirits raised.

He loved Saniya, she was quirky and crazy and was so fun, she gave them their job and the hope that they could save the world.

He loved Sean. He was so brave and strong, and even though he wasn't a pokémon like them, he still fought to keep them safe.

Scout wanted to be as kind as Guardian, as cool as Striker, as fun as Saniya, and as brave as Sean.

These thoughts lulled him into a kind sleep, curled up in Sean's lap, as the others winded down from the day.

The time Scout slept, which was the most out of everybody, was the time it was the least safe. He had the sharpest eyes and ears out of everyone.

It was only when Scout was asleep did they have a visitor.

---

The future that never was; yet affected so much. We saw very little of the Dark Future in the games, but I definitely believe that not all civilisation imploded. It was a dying realm, however, one way or another.

What did you all think of the five? Sean's entry? Baby Striker? Guardian as a dusclops and adorable baby Scout? Scout especially. I certainly hope I answered ALL of your questions about him and that there isn't a bunch more questions that have been spawned from this. Surely not.

Saniya is about the same as she was in the normal story. Not that that wasn't expected.

Also, I have a question! An actual one, not a coy, teasing, trolling question like abo- I mean — just a question.

Who'd be interested in seeing a… Deleted Scenes and Other Stuff additional story? I've had one in planning for months now. An extra story that shows stuff that the main series does not, either because there wasn't a place for it or there just wasn't the time, or I hadn't thought of it yet. The 'Other Stuff' part of it is something more experimental. Stuff like a humorous 'blooper reel' and other stuff that is VERY MUCH NON-CANON, but could be fun to write anyway?

I intend to write it either way, but I'd be interested in seeing what you all think. I could even take advice/requests of stuff you'd like to see, either a scene that happened but wasn't shown or the random non-canon stuff. Probably would mostly stick to my own stuff, however. Requests could probably get out of hand.

Either way, yeah. This is the last Super Special Bonus Chapter for now. I will write and release more way down the track, but at least not until I start writing Arc 2. I can't say for certain when I'll properly start Arc 2 (Although I do have a new blurb in the works for it. It'll still be posted to this story, I'll just add the blurb to the first chapter of Arc 2). But it will probably be somewhere around February or March.

Who knows? I might write sooner, I'm beginning to itch to sink my teeth into Arc 2, so you may be able to convince me ;)

Hahaha. But in all seriousness, be eager for what's coming! I've got some wild plans.