Author's Note: There's an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny Easter egg/lore drop I did for this chapter that further connects this fic with Temporal Platinum. Juuuust a heads up.

Chapter 2: Echo

The sky over the Obsidian Fieldlands was darkening, and it made Dialga feel sick.

It was not like the sky of the near-apocalypse - it was a light shade of purple, a stark contrast to the ruby-red of that day. Dialga had to remind himself that this was because he and Rei were actually inside the distortion, and that it hadn't even formed yet. As far as he was aware, the sky was still as blue as it was when he and Rei entered the bubble.

If Rei was affected by the distortion, he did an excellent job of concealing it. Rather, he had taken to throwing blue capsules at any Pokemon he saw within the distortion's range. Dialga knew that this was Rei's ultimate purpose; to 'seek out all Pokemon,' but he was strangely determined to clear out the entire area. What could be so important?

A rumbling could be heard from the distance, and there was only one wild Pokemon remaining; a Zubat. No matter how hard Rei tried, he couldn't seem to capture the bat Pokemon. With each attempt, he seemed to be more agitated.

"C'mon, please work," he muttered, as he threw one more capsule. The distortion solidified as the capsule flew through the air, and the Zubat disappeared just before collision. Rei cursed, immediately switching his focus to some stones that had appeared out of thin air.

Dialga said nothing as he followed. None of the Pokemon that appeared in the distortion seemed to notice Dialga's presence, or even care; not when Rei was around constantly throwing things at them. When he wasn't picking up shards and items that had appeared, he was fighting the Pokemon that appeared within. Mori and Rei's other Pokemon fought bravely against the threats, and Rei even managed to capture some of the Pokemon that appeared.

Despite all these accomplishments, Rei didn't seem happy as the distortion finally faded away. He took note of the artifacts in silence, and Dialga found he could not contain his curiosity any longer; "Rei. Before the distortion fully formed, you did everything you could to clear out the area of Pokemon. Why?"

After a moment, Rei answered; "It's this theory I have; do you know about a Pokemon named Porygon? I found one in a a distortion in the Mirelands, and the Professor and I think that they were brought here from the future."

"I am aware of that," Dialga answered, "for that is how these distortions caught my attention in the first place."

With a half-hearted nod, Rei continued, "Since what happened in the Temple of Sinnoh, I've been thinking. If these distortions can bring Pokemon from the future into this time period, who's to say that it wouldn't work in reverse? That is, bringing Pokemon from this time period into the future without any way of going back? I don't have any way of proving that it works like that...but I don't have proof that it doesn't, either."

"Yes, that could very well be the case." Dialga had to give Rei credit; he was intuitive for one his age. That was something that Dialga had thought about, but it hadn't crossed his mind to actually check until now. "So, what do you suppose will happen to the Zubat you failed to catch?"

"I don't know," Rei said, and Dialga was surprised that he had become distressed at the very thought. "I mean...that Zubat had some kind of home, right? A family, friends - only to be ripped from them because of a phenomenon it barely understood? Finding yourself alone like that just-"

Rei stopped himself, rubbing the back of his neck. "Never mind. Just...forget I said anything. I'm going to count the shards I found."

Dialga was puzzled...and a little concerned. He knew enough of Rei's past to realize that he empathized with the Zubat. It hurt him to not be able to save the Zubat from possibly being displaced...if the Pokemon was displaced at all.

With that in mind, Dialga decided to look into the future. He would not admit that there was some concern regarding Zubat's fate - he mainly wished to know the scope of the distortion's power. If If these distortions could truly bring Pokemon into the future, that would allow him to confirm some of his own suspicions regarding the nature of the phenomena.

"Wait one moment."

Thus, Dialga closed his eyes. While searching for a specific incident in the future would be like finding a needle in a haystack, Dialga would be hard-pressed to miss a Zubat appearing into thin air. Fortunately, he was proven correct - the incident would happen in only a few centuries.

( "Waugh! Hey, watch where you're-! Oh, it's just a Zubat...What's it doing? Does it even want to fight?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say it's looking for a place to hide...or something to eat."

"Wha-?! It's not getting a drop out of me!"

"Barry, I think the little guy would have taken some blood already if that's what he wanted. Looks like he's too distressed to even think about eating."

"Well, it's warming up to you real quick. You gonna catch it?"

"Hmmm...If it's okay with Zubat, I think I will." )

Dialga opened his eyes, and Rei stared up at him with a quizzical expression. The boy questioned, "Did you just look into the future? What did you see?"

( The Lord of Time thought nothing of how two of the children he saw in the future were the spitting image of Rei and Akari. With how far into the future Zubat would land, the two could very well be descendants (or even reincarnations) of the two. Aura was not something that could be perceived through future vision, so he was able to put it in the back of his mind with little effort. )

"Unfortunately, your hypothesis is correct," Dialga said, deciding to go with the bad news first. "The distortion took Zubat several centuries into the future."

With how Rei shrunk, Dialga was reminded of a Drifloon that had lost some air. "Oh..."

"However," Dialga interjected - before Rei could ruminate on the words further. "He will appear next to a group of kind travelers. It will not take long for one of these travelers to accept Zubat as their companion. So...I would not worry. Even with the unusual circumstances, Zubat will manage to find a place to call home."

Rei said nothing for a few moments. He then smiled - it was small, but still there. Was it strange that Dialga felt a bit of relief to see that?

"Thanks, Dialga," he said. "I think I really needed to hear that."

Dialga couldn't help smiling. "Of course."

One week, three days, two hours and thirty-seven minutes passed before Rei - for the second time - brought up the idea of Dialga adopting an alias.

Much like last time, Dialga answered; "I told you before, I do not need an alias."

"So you really want to go around telling people you're Dialga?" Rei deadpanned. "The Diamond Clan's patron deity? While you're in that form?"

Dialga looked down at himself. While it was true that he had taken to his human form more often than not while in this realm, that did not change the matter of his true identity.

"I do not see a problem with that."

"Well, there is a problem!" Rei threw his hands into the air. At this point, Dialga had known him long enough to recognize the movement as a sign of his exasperation. Dialga's expression must have shown how the comment offended him, because Rei quickly added; "Just hear me out; do you remember when I told you that I can count the number of people that nickname their Pokemon companions with one hand?"

"You realize you're asking me if I remember something?"

"...Right. Lord of Time," Rei conceded, dragging a hand over his face. "But that's not the point. I only brought that up because there's more to it than what I told you before. I don't know if you know this but most people in Jubilife Village are too afraid of Pokemon to even get close to them! I don't even want to imagine the chaos that would unfold if they learned about a Pokemon that can take a human form! Professor Laventon made a joke about that once - mind you, a joke - and the entire village was up in arms for a whole week! I'd rather not have a repeat of that, thank you very much!"

Dialga was aware of Jubilife Village's caution on the subject of Pokemon, but he was not aware that it was that bad. As much as he hated to admit it, Rei's reasoning was solid. It only made sense that he would have the safety of his home in mind when bringing the subject up.

"But I do not frequent Jubilife Village the way you do," Dialga pointed out. "Whenever we examine these distortions, we simply meet at the point before it forms."

"That's the thing..." Rei rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a weak chuckle. "Some of the other Galaxy team members have asked me about you. I can't keep dodging the question forever, especially if Captain Cyllene or the Commander start questioning me..."

Now Rei's concern was starting to make more sense. Dialga had assumed that his human form looked like an average mortal man, but it would appear that he was mistaken in some way. Had he done something wrong, that he would stand out in this way?

Rei seemed to be put off by Dialga's silence, so he continued, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to guilt you into taking an alias-"

"I will consider it."

"The last thing I want to do is...Wait, what?" Rei stared up at Dialga with wide eyes. "You'll...Really?!"

"You bring up the subject twice, and you are surprised when I actually start to consider it? Make up your mind."

"No, I just-!" After a moment, Rei admitted, "I just thought...I dunno. I didn't think you'd be willing to change your stance on that."

Dialga supposed that was fair; steel was rigid, as was the forward flow of time. But the nature of time itself was not in the fact that it can only flow in one direction, it was the potential for change within that flow - the very nature of time itself. It was surprising how few humans outside of the Diamond Clan seemed to miss that.

"If the knowledge of my true identity would only serve to complicate things, then I must admit that adopting an alias would be wise," Dialga conceded. Immediately after, he continued, "But I will be the one to choose my alias."

"That's fine!" It was almost comedic how Rei seemed to brighten - was he truly not expecting Dialga to budge on this matter? "Just let me know when you do, okay?"

As Dialga agreed, he already found himself dreading the process. Using his future vision did not guarantee that he would succeed - for all he knew, it would create an endless cycle of searching the future for an answer that may never come. He knew he needed to put at least a little thought into this before anything else.

Dialga found himself wondering; how was it that Mother came up with names? Did They just give Their creations the first names that came to mind? Or were the names derived from some celestial language that only They knew of?

Regardless, the Lord of Time realized that this process was going to prove to be a challenge.