The light burned away and a floating, vibrantly pink pixie floated there. She was a stark splash of colour against the varying shades of lifeless grey around them. She turned back with a grin. "How's THAT for an entrance?"
Sean raced over to her in delight. The other three just stared, hackles raised and energy burning with nowhere to go.
"Huh?" Scout managed and Celebi giggled.
"Very astute of you," she said, covering her mouth. She zipped in close to Sean, grabbing his face and tassels. "My gosh, they did a number on you. Who did this to you, Sean?"
"Dunno," Sean answered, face somewhat smushed with her hands on his face squishing him. She released him and flicked his nose. He rubbed it with a grin, saying, "Good to see you, Saniya."
"Well, it's TERRIBLE to see you," she replied, pouting and turning away. "You come here, all different, with no Striker. You've changed, Sean. You've changed bad."
She found herself facing the other three and squealed. "And Scout too! You brought Scout and not Striker! Come on, Sean. What's a lady to do? Him?" She pointed to Mane who laughed.
"I think I like this one."
Chatot hopped forward. "So you are Celebi, err... or, uh?"
"Saniya too," Celebi answered, giving a shrug. "If you want the down and the low of it. My name is Celebi, but everyone else got names from Sean so I made him give me one too! I like it, very creative teehee." She covered her mouth, eyes dancing with humour of a hidden joke.
"She's very persistent," Sean said, smiling freely for the first time since he'd returned to this time and place.
"How are you here?" Scout asked, pulling things on track. "I thought you were in the forest?"
Saniya raised her hand before examining her fingers curiously. "I was. But I got a call and came rushing, Sean said it was important. Some shadow monsters bent on devouring your souls or something." She yawned dismissively. "Same old, same old."
"This is normal to you?" Chatot squawked.
"Yes. I thought you would have figured that out by now."
Scout was still puzzled. He was still wondering what the hell just happened. They began to move, still eager to leave the town. "Is it safe?" he asked. "Also, how did you get a 'call' exactly?"
"Not safe at all," Celebi answered cheerfully. "They could come back at any moment. I'd like to see them try." She punched a fist into her palm and squinted suspiciously at the bushes.
"To answer the second," Sean said, pulling out something. "I was spending the time you three were dealing with whatever you were dealing with, finding some reflective glass to call our benefactor on."
"Excuse me, what?" Scout asked.
Sean waggled the glass, but Saniya was the one who answered. "My gosh, you really HAVE lost your memory. Ol papa tendrils said you were acting odd and said that Sean said you didn't know up from down, but this is bad." She then gasped and grabbed her face. "Do you remember me old buddy, old pal, old friend old chum ol' buddy ol' pal?"
"Uh…."
The celebi gasped in horror, wailing, "NO!" She leaned back, crying to the heavens. "I have been forgotten! The final death is upon me!"
At Scout's building concern, Sean slid over. "Don't mind her," he said. "Saniya is crazy." He said this in full volume.
Saniya seemed surprisingly okay with it. "Crazy With a Capital Kuh in human language he says!" She laughed. "I didn't hear the capital, Sean. Where was it?"
"Saniya is Crazy," Sean corrected and she nodded in agreement.
"Good." She looked to the other two pokémon with them and blinked. "Who the fragarolie are you two? If Sean transformed into a riolu, did Striker transform into a frumpy chatot!?"
"You say fragarolie?" Sean asked as Chatot puffed up furiously. "Since when?"
"Since you wouldn't stop saying it," she replied, sticking her tongue out. "I just never said it around you in words you could understand. The others got so confused, it was hilarious." She nudged Scout, who was still confused at the inside joke she seemed to want to share with him.
"This is Chatot and Litleo," Sean said, moving past Celebi's behaviour as if it was normal and introducing them. "They were pulled into the past by Dusknoir but are close with Scout. We're working together."
Celebi nodded. "Swell. So, anyway, the boss. The big lug. Tentacles and terrible plans that somehow work, but then DON'T because the planned peeps end up coming BACK." She glared at Sean, losing track of her words. "Without my sweet Strikee-wikey even. Is he okay?"
"He should be."
"Hmm." She narrowed her eyes but then blinked it off. "So, the big boss," she explained to Scout, not turning away from Sean. "Is something you should know, Scout. You talked with him all the time! You talked with him today, you silly yungoos."
"Pardon?"
Sean lifted the glass again. "Once I got into contact, he was able to find you. Do you actually have some glass on you or something?" he added, almost mad but too happy that Saniya was around to really commit to the anger.
"In my bag?"
"For the love of-" Sean grabbed his nose and breathed hard. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know it was important!" Scout protested. "Why didn't you ask ME? The amnesiac. If I had any glass?"
"Well, it is important," Saniya said, slotting back into the conversation. "Giratina can't do much, but the old lizard thing can still look and talk through mirrors. It's how you found me in the first place! Way back when. Ah... memories." She shook the thoughts away and stored them for later.
"Giratina?" Scout asked, reasonably calm.
"GIRATINA?" Chatot shrieked.
"First of all." Celebi held a finger up, then stuck it in her ear. "Ow, volume travels really far here. Second of all, got a problem with the One with Tentacles and Bad Ideas that Somehow Work But Then DON'T BECAUSE YOU CAME BACK?" she yelled, at a similar volume. Sean was unphased and she giggled.
"The Renegade Pokémon?" Chatot managed. "You have contact with it? Preposterous."
Once more, Sean lifted the glass. The image swam and a great, golden, eye stared through. "Preposterous am I?"
Chatot made a weak sound, looking ready to just lie down. "This day is just too much."
Mane stared blankly.
"Don't scare them," Sean said, turning it away. "I really don't need that here and now." Giratina rolled its giant eye at him and the mirror returned to normal.
"Giratina?" Scout managed as they fell into silence. Treasure Town was left behind them, and he wished to leave everything in it behind him.
"This day," Chatot repeated, again.
Mane nodded. "Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Anyone want to explain everything that just happened in the past… however long?"
"I really would rather not think about Treasure Town," Scout said, grimacing. Both Mane and Chatot cringed in agreement.
Sean shrugged. "I got up to some interesting stuff involving fire, thirteen pieces of gold, and an inexplicably fat shadow monster. But sure, we can just forget it."
"You seem to be missing that YOU are used to this kind of chaos," Chatot snapped, pointing a wing at Mane and Scout. "We are less prepared for surviving this hellscape."
"Betcha glad you came with me in the end," Sean said with a grin. "But seriously, I'm impressed with how well you're all handling it."
"Scout's not doing well," Saniya pointed out, getting a concerned and annoyed glance from the pokémon at hand.
Sean shrugged. "It's really not his fault," he said. "He really doesn't seem to remember much."
"Does he at least still ACT like the adorable meowth I knew and loved?" Saniya whined and Sean laughed.
"A little, don't worry, he's not all gone. Just a bit different."
Scout turned away. This was bordering uncomfortable territory he really didn't want to be thinking about. Who was Scout? Was he Scout, or did he… replace Scout?
He hadn't dared to consider if he'd 'replaced' the human in the earlier months, but now the thoughts were intruding upon him. Who was he? Was he Scout or had he…?
The idea was horrific, so he pushed it out of his mind with a question.
"Giratina?" he asked. "Again. What? And how? And what?"
"Do you really want another set of rambling?" Mane snarked. "He'll drone on for hours if you let him."
"That's true," Celebi giggled at Sean's expense. "So, I'll explain! I know the most anyway."
"Go ahead." Sean shrugged, smiling much more than he had been up to this point. It was nice to be back around Celebi. With Striker gone and Scout different, he'd been feeling somewhat alone.
He might be letting her silliness affect him a little too much, however.
"So, even I'm not sure where to begin," Saniya sang, fluttering back and forth. "Sometime after time went kablooie. Sometime after time. Heh, that's a fun thing to say!"
Saniya immediately lost track of what she was asked.
While Celebi began to ramble on about pointless things that weren't Giratina, Sean sidled back to take a closer look at the other three. All of them were doing a little better now that they had rested, Scout seemed able to move his right arm now, but exhaustion and tenseness were still apparent and that chain was still around his leg.
It looked sturdy, he pondered if they'd be able to remove it, but it didn't seem to be affecting Scout so he decided to ponder more important things.
He hoped they'd get through this last dungeon without too much trouble. All five of them should.
Sean paused. He wasn't human, at least not in body.
"Hey, Saniya?" he called, interrupting her third tangent about apples. "How are we going to get through Dusk Forest with five of us?"
She gave him a puzzled look. "Same as always. You, hmm." She paused like he had. Eyes widening slightly. "Ah. Yeah, that might be a problem."
"The who now?" Mane asked, taking Celebi's manic attention.
"Do you not understand?" she cried, grabbing his face and smushing it tactically shut. He couldn't blast her with fire this way. "Sean's in the body of a cute little riolu! He might even be useless as a bag carrier now!"
"Hey," Sean snapped, without any heat. "I did more than just carry the bag."
"Gave Striker a fetish for orbs and not ME!" she snapped back. "That's what YOU did."
No one was quite sure how to respond to that. So, it was ignored.
"What is the problem?" Scout asked. "About him being a riolu now?"
"Well." Celebi rolled her eyes. "Beforehand he didn't show up on dungeon's weird little radar thingy so all five of us could enter without any spooky, scary, problems seeping up from the cracks in reality. He just didn't 'count' to that arbitrary number. But now that he's a pokémon he just might! Oh dear, oh my, oh gosh! We're going to have to split up and search for clues, Yampee Doo!"
"What?" Chatot squawked. "What? Stop talking like that."
"Craazzzy," Saniya sang and poked his beak. "Means I get to say what I want."
Chatot began building a tongue-lashing, but Sean shook his head. Chatot gave a world-weary sigh and held it in.
"So, we're going to have to split up?" Mane asked, just to clear the air. "Because that'll end well."
"I call dibs on Scout!" Celebi said, raising her hand.
"Hey!"
"I call double dibs!" Mane shot back.
"Excuse you?"
"Triple dibs," Celebi said, a superior smirk on her face. Mane met her eyes with a glare, and they stared each other down for a moment.
"Okay." Mane smiled. "That sounds fair."
"What?" Scout spluttered.
"She called triple dibs," Mane answered, speaking slowly. "Can't beat that."
"Ah, you're alright," Celebi said, grinning at Mane. She looked over to an amused Sean and added. "Can I keep him?"
"No." Sean shook his head.
"Fine." Celebi pouted. "I've got Scout to play with anyway."
"Now listen here," Chatot began, puffing up again. "What gives you the right to dictate who goes with who?" Celebi opened her mouth. "And if you say it's because you're crazy, so help me."
She closed her mouth.
"It is for the best," Sean said, nodding to a pleased Celebi. "She's a mythical pokémon and very strong. She'll be able to get Scout through with no issues."
"Why can't she just go alone then?" Chatot snapped.
Celebi gasped. "Alone? Me? How could I survive without my Scouty-wouty?"
"Then you are unfit to protect him!"
"Uh… hello?" Scout asked. He felt very passed around at the moment.
"Alone, sure, but we power each other up!" She did some bicep pumps. "I skip leg day, not arm day. Plus, he's my friend. I've known him for a lot longer than you have. And I know how long he's been in the past, so I KNOW I've known him longer than you."
"Wait?" Mane asked, disregarding everything else. "How is that possible? I thought you couldn't keep track of time here?"
"Well sure." Celebi rolled her eyes. "But I'm literally Celebi. Time is my thing. It's nasty old Primey-Whiny-Dialga's thing too. And he's even crazier than I am! So, it's up to me to make sure time still exists a little bit. And keeping track of it's just a thing I do automatically. Although it CAN be tricky to keep track of time exactly since I get random numbers at random times."
"How long?" Scout asked. Sean smiled, he knew what Celebi was about to pull.
She grinned. The bait had been taken. "Well," she began grandly. "It has been sixteen years since I sent the first person into the past."
Scout blinked.
Chatot blinked.
"Huh?" Mane asked.
Sean and Celebi laughed. "The look on your faces!" she giggled, covering her face. "I am serious though," she said between fits of laughter. "Not you guys though, my best buddy Soothe was sent first!"
Chatot stiffened before releasing a weak sound.
Sean's smile became fixed. He forgot that little titbit. Mane flinched away from Chatot and Scout looked between them worriedly.
For the first time, Celebi's radiant cheer paused. "That's an odd reaction," she said, puzzled.
Chatot covered his face with a wing. "Sixteen years ago was when I was saved by an audino named Soothe. Fourteen years ago is when Wigglytuff and I first began to consider settling down and forming the guild after Soothe herself suggested it."
Celebi grew very still. "You knew Soothe?" Her voice dropped to a quiet tone, almost fragile.
Chatot shook his head. "No. NO! This is impossible. If you sent her sixteen years into the past, from here, then that would imply this time is mere seconds after time did collapse. That cannot possibly be true!"
Celebi raised a hand. "Mind if I explain the wonkiness of time travel?"
"Here we go," Sean said, holding his head. "Last time she did this my head nearly exploded."
"Go ahead," Chatot said primly, angrily staring down the celebi.
Scout felt himself getting dizzy again.
"Okay." Celebi shrugged. "The full explanation is, uh… too tricky to put into language. Even I don't really understand it, but I'm a part of it all so I know it, even if my mind doesn't. The previous Celebi might have known it, but he died so whatever."
She shrugged. The casual blasé nature of speaking of someone who was deceased stunned Chatot, Mane, and Scout. Sean didn't even blink.
"So, when someone travels into the past through the Passage of Time," Celebi began to explain, "it opens a link between times for as long as someone is in the past. One second there is one second here and it muddles up trying to time travel further. Because paradox's can't exist or BAD STUFF happens, it wouldn't work if, say, you wanted to travel back to a year before you came here. Because you already exist there, you cannot exist in two places in a single time or BAM!"
She clapped her hands, and everyone jumped. Then she shrugged. "Well, I dunno, actually, if there is any BAM. It just doesn't work, rules of time travel. If you tried to travel to that time, it just wouldn't work and you'd go nowehre. It also complicates stuff since due to the existence of someone from the future in the past, it keeps the times connected. It's why Sean, Striker, and Scout went to the time they did. Because of the link, they had to travel to the same moment in time that Soothe was still in because of the link between times."
"That's impossible," Chatot muttered and Celebi beamed.
"Sure is." She grinned. She did love seeing the headaches form. "For normie pokémon. We deities are a bit more special! Or, at least, before the split we were. Ugh, Giratina won't tell me nothing about that. Just that 'oh this is why you are weak and basically useless' bleh. I want the power! But I can't have it, sadly. Oh well."
"Does that mean that there's only one chance at stopping all this?" Mane asked. "That if time falls apart in the past, no one will be able to travel back again?" Sean nodded quietly to him.
"It is impossible," Chatot snapped, ignoring Mane's question, "because Soothe is no longer…," he trailed off, suddenly fearful. Celebi was pleasant enough, if annoying, but she was admitted to be crazy and had called Soothe her friend.
She seemed unconcerned. "Go ahead." She waved a hand. "Tell me Soothe died. Hahaha. You're wrong."
Chatot girded himself. "I am sorry," he said, taking a heavy breath. "But I saw it happen."
"Did you kill her?" she asked, curiously.
"WHAT? N-no."
Celebi cocked her head. "Did you help do it?"
At that. Chatot paused.
Celebi shrugged. "We all knew you past pokémon would take offence to the Time Gears getting snatched. You're silly, but it's no biggie."
"No. Biggie?" Chatot managed, before the stress of it all finally snapped the camerupt's back. From Scout's arrest to stress in the guild to arguing with Rhythm to being thrown into this nightmare he couldn't wake up from, nearly being executed, running for his life and suffering through a fake mimic of his closest partner he just erupted. "NO BIGGIE? I HAD TO FORCE MYSELF TO ASSIST THE DESTRUCTION OF ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS AND THE POKÉMON WHO SAVED ME LIFE!"
"Oww."
Chatot turned away, eyes pricking with tears. Scout and Mane, stunned, had no idea what to do. Scout stepped forward, thinking to lend some comfort.
"If Soothe was dead," Saniya said with unexpected sharpness. "Then I would have been able to send the guys to whenever I wanted. Well, probably not literally whenever, but I would have been able to choreograph it a bit more than just 'here's the portal. Jump in'. You've got a couple months at best. Good luck."
"How can you be so sure?" Chatot spat. Celebi gave him a stern look.
"I'm literally the 'Time Travel' pokémon. The only other one with nearly the same amount of 'sure' would be Dialga. And while he's a stupid face who get's to BREAK HIS OWN RULES!" she shouted at the sky. "Seriously. Sending Guardian back earlier into a time Soothe had already lived through? How idiotic of a beast is he?" she trailed off, muttering. "The timeline can barely handle this," she muttered angrily.
Now, it was Chatot who hesitated. "Are… you are certain?" He studied the look on her face. "You… really are."
"Yep," Celebi said, back to happy. "Now, IF you had killed Soothe, also what luck is it that someone who knew her ended up here?" she asked, turning to Sean. He shrugged, so she turned back to Chatot. "I would be a bit less perky pixie and more fae monstrosity on you. But you didn't, so there."
Chatot's eyes flooded with tears and he slowly stopped walking. Roosting down, he covered his face. "Oh, thank the legends," he whispered. "I… I think? But he, he had to have? What has she? Gah, where has she been?"
"You are welcome," Celebi, taking herself to be one of the thanked there.
"You tried to kill the chick?" Mane asked. Chatot lowered his wing with a thunderous expression.
"Do. Not. Dare."
Mane took the warning and actually backed off.
Chatot sighed and stood up, he could shake another self-shaking revelation off. "With the issues with Time Gears going missing," he begun, "Wigglytuff and I couldn't help but think of Soothe. Even though we were both certain it was impossible. Now… well, I know it was Grovyle and Sean, but… if Soothe really is still out there?"
"Better apologise quickly," Celebi advised. "Once you get back. Don't worry, she's pretty chill and great with a joke!"
Chatot gave a weak laugh. "Yes. She always was until Treeshroud Forest." He sighed and shook his head. "This explains a lot. It places things into perspective, but…." His eyes hardened. "Perhaps her goal was noble, but her actions remain disgraceful."
Celebi paused, giving him a warning look. "Be careful, little chatot," she said, more serious than she had been up to this point. He met her eyes fearlessly.
"I understand that this place is a nightmare," he replied, "but attacking the Guardian of Treeshroud Forest so brutally was beyond sense."
Celebi paused. "She attacked a Guardian? Why?"
"I do not know, that is the thing!" Chatot answered, eyes moving away from Celebi and to the past. "One moment the three of us were journeying and excited, hoping for some grand discovery. She had been a little distant that day, but it was nothing I had not seen before. We would talk and all would be resolved."
He shivered, eyes reflecting a moment of deep sadness. "Then, upon reaching the end, she went for the Time Gear as if... well something had changed within her. The Guardian, some… thing. I don't even know what it was. Tried to intervene. And upon spotting it, she… she…"
Chatot's throat closed up and he closed his eyes. "She savaged it! Using the iron thorns I gifted her to defend herself, she stabbed it in the chest many times and when it tried to crawl away she chased after it and continued mauling it! What explanation can you give for THAT? She killed it!"
Celebi paused completely. Everyone did.
"Huh." Celebi frowned. That did not compute. "This 'Soothe' what was their species?"
"An audino with lavender fur," Chatot answered and Celebi's frown deepened.
"I don't…what?"
"I tried to intervene," Chatot continued, "and she turned on me. Wigglytuff barely managed to save my life, and took a stab wound of his own. For some reason, she seemed to had gone completely feral. But almost." He cringed, a word dancing on his tongue but he couldn't say it. "Worse," he finished lamely.
It was clear to everyone he hadn't said exactly what he was thinking. "We only meant to knock her out, calm her down, find an explanation, but she continued to fight. Ultimately, W… I… I-I don't want to finish that. I cannot."
Celebi pursed her lips. "We're here," she said, tone of voice determining the conversation to be over. Oddly, similar to exiting the other dungeons, reaching this one seemed to come out of nowhere.
The five of them all stared up at Dusk Forest. It appeared similar to the Foggy Forest with the types of trees and low hanging mist, but only slightly.
"So." Celebi clapped her hands. "Scout with me, you three with you three. Deal? Deal. Cool, let's go. No time to waste~"
"We're just gonna move on after THAT?" Mane asked, disbelieving this could just be smoothed over and ignored.
"Yep," Celebi said, without turning around. "We are."
Mane opened his mouth to object, but Celebi seemed to be giving off a warning aura. He closed his mouth. Mane and Sean glanced to Chatot, who seemed determined not to look at anyone without looking away from anyone.
"Uh… about this plan," Scout began.
"Scout," Saniya said, voice clipped. "Please."
He hesitated a moment longer, but no one was saying anything. "S-sure." He quickly trotted up next to her. Saniya gave him a stunning smile.
"Okay! We'll go in first. You guys wait a minute or three. Count to 180. Then follow in. We should hopefully reach the middle at around the same time, but whoever gets there first, wait for the other party. Okay?"
"Sounds good," Sean answered for his team.
"Perfection. Let's go!"
She grabbed Scout and danced her way into the enclosing trees.
"So," she said, the moment they were out of sight. "What's goss?"
"Goss?" Scout asked, uncomfortable.
"Gossip!" Saniya said, flying around him in circles. "Come on. You and I always shared the juiciest of gossip! I mean, sure, there wasn't much here. But you've got to have met some interesting pokémon in the past!"
"She'd get along with Sunflora," Scout mused before saying. "Well… uh... what kinds of things do you want to hear about?"
"I dunno!" Celebi said, unfairly thrilled about that. "Whatever you think is interesting."
"Tell me about Giratina," Scout asked. "You never did get around to that, when you were talking earlier."
"I didn't?" Celebi gasped and crossed her eyes. "Let's see kaplooie, the time Sean made Striker and Guardian go on a date, the flower I found that died when I touched it… ah yes! So, I didn't! Hihihihihi, sorry."
Scout smiled to placate her. "It's alright. Now, Giratina?" he asked, somewhat desperately.
Celebi buzzed in mid-air. "Okay, but then you have to tell me whatever I want to know. Deal?"
He saw no reason to be afraid. "Sure."
"Swell! Okay, could you get out that piece of glass?"
Scout was still holding onto it, so Celebi didn't have to wait long. "Mirror-mirror in my palm," she began before smacking it. "Giratina! Wake up!"
Scout jumped at the sharp, almost aggressive, tone. She laughed at his reaction. "You are so easy to startle," she sighed fondly and turned the glass around. "Wotcha?"
Scout couldn't help but lean back. The glass no longer reflected his face, poorly as it was, instead a void opened, and the eye of the void stared back.
"This isn't as funny as you claimed it would be," rumbled the voice of a thousand shards of shattered glass. Giratina drew back from the mirror, so its kaiju-sized eye was no longer staring straight through Scout.
"But it was still funny to begin with," Celebi giggled. "Okay, anything you'd like to say?"
Scout looked back and forth. They had stopped focusing on the dungeon. "Uh… we have company."
Celebi immediately tossed the glass to Scout, who barely caught it, before she zipped after the maddened pokémon that dared to approach.
She removed them from their sight.
"Phew," Celebi breathed, Scout couldn't help but edge away. She brushed some dust off her shoulder. "What were we talking about?"
"I… uh… G-Giratina?" Scout asked, flipping between staring at Celebi and staring at the mirror. It felt very heavy to be holding Giratina's view and he was sorely needing to know what and the what and the what of what was going on.
"What?"
"First off. Mirror. How can Giratina see and speak through it?" Scout demanded hotly. He was done dancing around the subject.
Celebi shrugged. "I dunno. Ask it yourself."
Scout glanced down at the mirror he held and felt existential dread. The mirror chuckled.
"I don't think he wishes to speak to me," Giratina said, greatly amused. It could see the mirror shaking from its end.
"Well, fine," Celebi sighed, rolling her eyes. "I guess I'll start from the top."
"I'll just leave you to your conversation," the whispery, rumbly, glassy voice of Giratina echoed before the eldritch weight of the mirror seemed to cease.
Celebi turned the crazy eyes on Scout and a part of him wished for Giratina to come back.
"In the beginning," she began dramatically, "there was… well I dunno. This is the boring part, I'll just skip ahead to time collapsing."
"Thanks."
"I don't know much, to be honest." She shrugged. "All I know is that the previous Celebi did… something which stopped time completely collapsing and died. From him, came me! An upgrade, one could say."
Scout cocked his head slightly and didn't reply.
"At first I didn't know up from down. Well, who does in this time and place? But I found some water that wasn't frozen and Giratina was there!" She outstretched her arms like preparing for a hug, or to say she caught a fish THIS big.
"On the other side of everything being terrible was that. Old tentacles basically raised me, told me what had happened, and even begun guiding me with some 'Plan' to fix this." She gestured rudely at the concept of The Plan. "Around that time I also met Soothe! But this isn't about her, so eh."
Celebi lowered her arms and looked expectantly to Scout. "Is… that it?" he asked, carefully.
"Yep!" Celebi beamed. "So, gossip?"
"Wait, wait, wait," Scout said. "That barely answered anything! How did Giratina know where you were. How did Giratina know how to fix time? Why hasn't it done anything itself?"
"Third one is that Giratina can't," Celebi answered. "Wow you REALLY are forgetful, huh? When Dialga went bonkers a bunch of the more powerful pokémon tried to stop it or return it to normal. During this apotheosis of annihilation, Palkia got frozen in time and Dialga left a reality-wide web to catch and freeze Giratina if they try and leave their own world. Giratina can't leave."
"Oh," Scout said, feeling like he knew this already. Sean mentioned something about Palkia earlier, he remembered.
"Yeah." Celebi frowned but perked up quickly. She zoomed ahead and obliterated an onix before fluttering back to Scout. "Giratina says that its world is the only thing keeping this time somewhat stable, and me of course. Anyway, I need the goss."
"What do you want to know?" Scout asked, leaning away as Celebi got really close.
"What's the past like?" Celebi asked, softly. Scout blinked. She leaned away from him and began leading him, speaking without facing him. "I've only seen it in… glimpses and pieces of broken memory of my predecessor. Giratina has told me about it too, but I just can't quite imagine it."
Scout thought deeply. Celebi's sudden swerve sobered him back to the here and now. He considered the many wild changes between here and the past, but he knew what he had to say.
"You ever see a sunrise?" he asked. Celebi shook her head. "It's stunning. The way the light lifts over the horizon, bathing the world in a cool, gentle, light. It's like the world saying good morning."
Celebi smiled and turned back to him. "That's worth fighting for, right?"
Scout nodded.
"I wish I could see one," Celebi sighed, turning back. "But I can't leave the future. Who knows what would happen to time if I left?"
"How do you know something bad would happen?" Scout asked, curious. He relaxed.
"I don't, not really," Celebi admitted. "Giratina told me. And I do trust Giratina. Plus, it does make sense, I'm the only time-manipulating being left that hasn't gone COMPLETELY insane. I'm crazy, sure, but I'm cute-crazy. Have you seen Primal Dialga? Not cute at all. A pink bow would do it some good, I think."
Scout chuckled, before snorting with genuine laughter. The image was absurdly funny to him. Celebi shot him a grin. "And pigtails, and a frilly scarf."
"Stop or I'm going to choke," Scout gasped.
Celebi giggled. "Okay. She fluttered forward, missing a beldum flying at them. Scout saw it and blasted it with Shadow Ball, Celebi startling in the process.
"Woah… nice one!" she cheered and gave him a fist bump, on his damaged paw. Scout hissed in pain and recoiled, and she paused. "Oh, wow," she said, grabbing his arm.
Scout grabbed her arm with his working one. "Don't," he hissed. She relaxed her grip but didn't let him go.
"I'll be gentle," she said and began to lift his arm. "Hmm…" she felt along his radius and ulna bones and then his shoulder bone, the scapula. "I think you've broken this arm just a little," she surmised, and he pulled back.
"Yeah, I fell pretty far."
"Sean definitely set this." She nodded, grabbing his paw. He hissed again and tried to pull back, but her grip with very firm. "This is definitely infected," she said, pulling his paw up. "You broke your claw?"
"Days ago," he grunted. Celebi placed her other hand around his paw and he gasped sharply in pain.
"What are you doing?"
"Just doing what I can," she said as a soft light began to glow. He fought to keep himself from recoiling further, the tensing of that arm hurt even more than it being grabbed. He ground his teeth again and took several deep breaths.
Celebi, thankfully, released his paw quickly. "Infections are serious, Scout," she said, sternly. "But… I would guess you didn't really have much of a way to deal with it."
"Is it fixed?" he asked, letting his arm hang again. Trying to ignore the stabs of pain.
Celebi shook her head. "I cleaned it," she said. "But I can't just magic the infection away. You're going to need some actual care."
"I don't exactly have time for that," Scout grunted, shouldering himself back into place. "Once we get back to the past, we're going to go straight into the end game. I… I actually picked up something in Treasure Town!"
He was so tired and overwhelmed that it had slipped his mind. He dug into the bag and unveiled a grimy stone, Saniya took it with a grimace.
"A rock, joy."
"Can you clean off the grime?" he asked urgently.
She shrugged and waved her hand with some more sparkly water, dissolving the muck and slime to reveal-
"It looks right," Scout breathed, taking the fragment back as Saniya blinked at him.
"What is it?" she asked.
He looked up, surprised she didn't know. "The Relic Fragment?" he asked, she blinked again. "It's needed to get to the Hidden Land in the past," he explained, remembering what Striker had described and swiftly adding. "Sean and Striker worked it out, I guess you… didn't know?"
"No," she said, still frowning. She poked the pattern on the rock, not understanding. She shrugged though. "Whatevs, if that's what you need then ain't you lucky?"
Lucky. Scout frowned, his heart doing a strange dance in his chest. If this really was… then that luxray….
Celebi frowned in concern. "Scout?" she said, before sighing. "I suppose there isn't much more time left before we erase this timeline anyway."
She managed a smile at his deeply uncomfortable look. "Don't destroy yourself too early trying to do everything yourself," she said gently, laying a comforting hand on his non-damaged shoulder. "Even if we are all going to disappear soon, you need to be strong enough to actually get there. Alright?"
Scout shrugged weakly.
Her grip tightened. "Alright?"
"Alright," Scout said, moving out of her stern gaze. "I'll ask Chimecho to take a look."
"Good." Celebi nodded. "This 'Chimecho' a healer then?"
"The guild one, yes."
"Cool. Sounds evil."
Scout smirked slightly, almost giggling at the reminder of his own joke. "Heh, I agree."
Saniya grinned at him and they continued onwards. Her words came back to him a lot as they walked and chatted, however. Trying to do everything himself. Oddly enough, he could see where she was coming from.
Mane's words from Treasure Town began to ring through his mind and he began to withdraw himself. Saniya would have none of that.
"Hypnosis!" she shouted, sending a vileplume to bed before laying it to rest. "Now you do it!"
"Pardon?" Scout gasped, he didn't want to kill anything.
"Hypnosis, duh," She shook her head at his obliviousness. "Come on. It'll be fun! Saniya and Scout's Hypnosis prowess again!"
"I… what?"
Celebi paused. "You used Night Slash and Shadow Ball," she said, cocking her head. "I assumed you still had Hypnosis too." She then gasped, covering her mouth. "Did you GIVE IT UP?"
"N-no!"
She calmed down and wiped her brow. "Phew. So why aren't you using it?"
"I didn't know I could use it," Scout explained. Saniya paused.
"But you're using Night Slash and Shadow Ball," she repeated.
"Because Grovyle and Dusknoir taught me!" Scout defended. She rolled her eyes..
"Duh. Like I taught you Hypnosis."
"What?"
"What?"
They stared each other down for a moment. "You… seriously. This memory stuff is weird, Scout," she complained. "Fine. I'll reteach you."
She began leading him to a safer area before smirking as a thought hit her. "Let me guess. Striker and Guardian retaught you those moves in the past?"
"Yeah…?"
She laughed. "They taught you those moves in this time as well! Mwaahahaha. This is perfect, to finish the trifecta!" She paused. "You still remember Scratch though, right? If you don't, Sean will be very sad."
"I… yeah."
"Good. Now." She pulled them into an alcove and grabbed his paw with his own. "Hypnosis is ALL about eye contact. You're going to need to meet their eyes and overpower their feeble pond-like will with your own sea of determination. Get it?"
"Not in the least," Scout answered. Saniya smirked at his answer. "Could you at least demonstrate?"
"On you?"
"How long will I be asleep for?"
"I'm a master of my powers," Saniya answered. "I can just make you a little drowsy. Now, look into my eyes…"
Scout met her eyes. Celebi's green eyes bored into him and he began to feel things going light. A distant part of his mind questioned why he trusted Celebi so easily, another part was happy to be with her again. Yet another reminded himself she was an ally in the games, nothing implied she wasn't here.
"And there we go," she said, leaning back. Scout took a slow blink before he jerked back into sense. She giggled, yet again, as he shook it off.
"That was weird," he said.
"Well, yeah," Saniya said, coming back in close. "Doing a weaker Hypnosis can leave someone more suggestible, or at least dazed enough to make an escape. Smacking them tends to break them out though, so unless you can finish it in another hit, retreat. Kay?"
"Sure." Scout nodded. She smiled and came in close.
"Now you do it."
"How?"
"Just stare into my eyes and picture a clash of minds and wills, try to overcome mine. Don't worry, I'll hold back."
This still didn't seem to answer anything, but he decided to try. The emotion of the Night Slash and the sacrifice of Shadow Ball were both odd to his logic, but he grasped them quickly.
The quiet revelation he already knew the moves left him feeling somewhat confused, yet pleased, and disappointed as well, but there wasn't time to dwell on that.
"Do we really have the time for this?" Scout asked, suddenly aware of them just standing around.
"Not at all," Saniya answered. "So, hurry up!"
"Are you sure?" Scout asked, breaking eye contact. "Maybe we should-"
"Scout?" Saniya asked, bringing his head back to hers. "Dominate my will."
Now he was just uncomfortable. Saniya yawned.
"Ah… ah! See, nice work!" She beamed, flitting back.
Scout blinked. "Are you sure that wasn't just-"
"Nope. Definitely Hypnosis. Not very good, not like you used to do, but it's a start. Now, break everyone's wills as we go along!"
Celebi continued to chat about breaking wills, Striker the grovyle, and the intricacies of the Planetary Investigation Team, as they continued on.
She was easily distractible, thankfully, and still blasted most opponents away before long. Scout did try and follow her, rather poor, instructions as they went, however.
Scout found a question he wanted to ask, as they were nearing the safe zone of the dungeon. "So, you taught me Hypnosis?"
"I did," Celebi said.
"And Grovyle and Dusknoir taught me Night Slash and Shadow Ball?"
"Right. Right."
"Why?"
Celebi gave him a strange look. "Because you were the baby of the group!" she said as if it was obvious. "Guardian may have raised you, but you were just adorable and wanted to be like everyone!"
She sighed and smiled, looking off into a distance that wasn't there. "It was so cute. You wanted to learn Shadow Ball because that's what your dad used. Guardian cried the night after you asked him that because you said you wanted to be like him."
Scout smiled slightly. He felt strangely warm to hear that. Sean and Striker hadn't really told him much about how things were, besides them being terrible. To hear that there were some good times, hearing that made him smile.
"After learning Shadow Ball, you wanted to learn Leaf Blade. Heh," Celebi laughed. Less giggly than normal. "You were so damn stubborn in trying. Ultimately, Striker helped you learn Night Slash instead. Have your own slash attack."
Celebi shook her head. "I taught you Hypnosis after that when you asked me. And you kept Scratch. For yourself, and Sean really." She looked up at the dungeon sky. "Yeah, Scratch represented both of you in a way. A basic attack, something even Sean could 'technically' do. You're probably the cutest thing in this time, wanting to learn from us."
Scout smiled. He couldn't help it. Celebi grinned back at him.
"Anything else?" she asked, airily. "You look like you have something else you want to ask."
"How well did you know me?" Scout asked, eagerly. He'd asked Grovyle, he'd asked Sean. Neither of them gave him the answer he wanted. He really hoped he wouldn't have the chance to ask Dusknoir.
"Pretty well," Celebi answered. "But not as well as the others. I wasn't always around, after all, sticking too long with the team could be dangerous since Dialga was always after me. But it wasn't until recently that they were after you guys too. Not until Guardian betrayed us, really."
She frowned, an expression that looked wrong on her face.
"Did I ever…" Scout said, trying to put it into words that weren't insane. Although Celebi was crazy herself, perhaps…?
"Did you… what?"
"Ever sort of… know things were going to happen?"
Celebi cocked her head. "…No," she answered. "Knowing stuff like that was really up to me, Sean as well to the most limited degree. The Dimensional Scream works differently in the past, Giratina said, but… hmm."
She stroked her chin and got really close, their nonexistent noses were nearly touching. Somehow, Scout wasn't overly uncomfortable with this.
"I heard from Giratina who heard from Sean that you thought you were Sean," Celebi said, musing on it.
Scout blinked. "How much did he say?"
"Pretty much everything," Celebi replied before rolling her eyes. "Or at least to be really boring. Either/or."
"How did he have enough time."
"I hear that YOU were napping." Celebi poked her tongue out at him. "Sean gets a lot done when he needs to."
"Oh."
She giggled at his expression and returned to flitting around him. "Yeah. So, I heard that you thought you were him and all that. Which is really curious. You WERE pretty damn obsessed with Sean though, so if you took a bad head blow with all the timey whimy nonsense going on, I can kinda get why you might think you were him. Kinda. You certainly pretended you were him enough times that you could probably pull it off for a short time. But, hmm… could it even be possible for you to somehow share his Dimensional Scream?"
"I don't think so," Scout said, disappointed. He was beginning to accept an uncomfortable possibility. Scout and him, something had changed when he travelled through time. When Scout travelled through time.
Saniya observed him for a moment. "That's not really what you wanted to talk about, was it?"
Scout frowned and composed his face. Saniya snorted at him.
"Please don't think you have to hide stuff from me," she said. Scout met her eyes for a moment before looking away. Saniya sighed. "You don't trust me."
"I don't really know you," Scout said, rubbing his aching arm uncomfortably. The chain around his leg clinked. "I feel like I do at times. Really comfortable, like we're old friends. Then I blink and we're back to having first met. And you're really friendly, and I'm just… not."
Saniya nodded. "I understand," she said, turning away to blast an enemy, "you don't know me anymore, so I won't expect you to tell me what you really want to ask." She turned back to him with a knowing smile. "I can say, however, that you are Scout. Plenty of differences, a bit of Sean mixed in there somehow, but you are him."
Scout smiled, nodding gratefully.
"But whatever IS eating you up," Saniya said, turning back with a smile. "You're going to need to tell someone eventually. You don't want to disappear with regrets, after all."
Scout's stomach dropped, he hated being reminded of that, but he nodded. "Th-thanks," he said. "For not asking."
"I wish you would trust me," she replied softly. "But I understand."
They didn't talk much further as the dungeon began to melt away.
The path widened up greatly as the wall-like trees faded away. They walked into a somewhat cosy clearing, a few rocks floated around and one tree had been in the middle of falling. Otherwise, it appeared to be a safe place.
"We'll wait here," Saniya said, coming to a stop with a grateful sigh. "Past there," she said, pointing forward, "we'll eventually reach the plateau that leads to where the Passage of Time is."
"Was it there before?" Scout asked, before sighing. "Sorry, stupid question?"
Saniya giggled. "Actually that was a clever question," she said, shaking her head. "It's been there since I sent you all to the past. If everyone sent to the past had returned, I would have had to find it again. Since Soothe was sent, it's been there. All these years…."
He looked forward. "And no one else has moved through it?"
Saniya shook her head. "No. Between Dialga and I, no one sapient has even come close to the Passage of Time. And the monsters in the dungeons will never leave them. So, it's been left quite safe. Even if someone did come close." Saniya shrugged. "I still need to open it manually again. It's not just left open all the time, it closes pretty quickly."
"Dialga…?" Scout asked, cringing.
"The big mambo jambo occasionally flies around here, but Dialga is a bit too weak nowadays to do much more than sit in the broken remains of his own mind." She pointed to where, somewhere in the distance, Temporal Tower floated.
"Dialga is weak?" Scout asked, confused. Saniya half shrugged.
"Weak for a literal embodiment of reality is still stronger than pretty much anything else," she explained. "But yeah. After time collapsed it's been a lot weaker. It's why it relies on Guardian to do the work for it. If Dialga actually somehow died, well. Time would probably completely unravel and that might damage the past as well."
That was a lovely thought. "Oh."
They tucked themselves out of sight and waited for a short time. It didn't take long for the sounds of argument to reach them.
"I'm just saying," Mane whined, flicking his tail into Sean's face multiple times.
"Well don't 'just say'," Sean snapped, brushing the tail out of his face. It seemed without Celebi to pep him up, he was finding Mane annoying again.
The third member of that group groaned. "Children, please," he pleaded, exhausted.
"Hey, guys!" Celebi called, zooming out of their hidey hole and nearly blitzkrieging the three. "You're FINALLY here. We've been waiting for weeks!"
"Seriously?" Mane coughed, suddenly horrified.
"She's joking," Sean said, shaking his head. Mane nodded wisely.
"I knew that."
"Just about ten minutes," Celebi said, honestly. "Well. Here at least. Who knows where else?"
"You do?" Chatot asked, tentatively.
"Yeppers!"
Celebi turned around and pointed. "At the top of this plateau is the Passage of Time. It'll take the four of you back to the past."
"The four of us?" Mane asked, stepping forward to check Scout over. "So, you really aren't coming?"
Celebi shook her head. "Can't risk it," she said. She glanced back to where she knew Temporal Tower floated ominously. "It sucks, I know. I really do. I'm amazing and incredible and very beautiful. But it's the way things are. I'll come with you up to the end, though."
"Damn," Mane said, finishing looking Scout over for injuries. "He seems in one piece though."
"I don't break my pals!" Celebi sang, fluttering around Chatot and Sean. "Plus, Scout is pretty tough. He doesn't look it, but he is. Like me!"
Mane smirked. "I gotta agree there." And stepped back from invading Scout's personal space.
"We're almost there," Sean said, panting slightly. He nodded to Chatot who swallowed thickly and nodded back.
"This nightmare is ready to be awoken from," he said as dramatically as he could.
Saniya giggled, and everyone else smiled at Chatot.
"Okay," she said, clapping her hands. "While stopping and having a good old chinwag would be fun, we really should get going as soon as we can."
Everyone nodded and began the walk to leave this stable zone. Five pokémon here wouldn't cause any dungeon distortions quickly, but they had to split up again before continuing.
"But first," Saniya said, flying to a stop. "We need to work out who's going with who."
"What do you mean?" Sean asked, frowning. "The same as before?"
Saniya glanced to Scout with a Look, Scout swallowed. "I wouldn't mind going with Chatot," he said quietly.
Sean frowned some more, glancing at Saniya. She also seemed a little surprised, but quickly nodded. He narrowed his eyes, wondering what they were planning.
If it was another plot to turn his hair pink again; this time he would be ready for it.
"Me?" Chatot squawked.
"Him?" Mane scoffed.
They looked at each other, then to Scout who now wore a mixture of guilt, worry, and something a little harder to pin down. Nervousness?
"Chatot is probably the strongest after Saniya," Scout said, rubbing his right arm. "And, uh… yeah. We're almost there, this last stretch shouldn't be too bad."
Mane looked ready to protest and Sean looked a little hurt. But the litleo took a breath and nodded.
"Yeah that makes sense," he grunted. "Chats is surprisingly strong. And if that means I get to go with Celebi for a bit then sure!"
Sean too nodded to that. "It'd be nice to spend some more time with Saniya before we leave," he said, and she cooed at him.
Chatot was still rather surprised, but the three others nodded to the idea and he stepped forward. "Very well," he said, ruffling his feathers. "I will accompany you, Scout."
Scout smiled. "Thanks, Chatot," he said. Chatot couldn't help but notice that Scout was trembling occasionally.
Chatot and Scout stepped into the dungeon first, melting away from sight. They walked quietly at first.
"It seems somewhat strange to me," Chatot said, a mixture of pride and confusion in his voice. "That you'd choose me. Celebi seems… odd, yes, but Riolu and Litleo? I would have thought you close with them by now?"
Scout smiled bashfully and shrugged. "Well… the thing is. Well," he repeated, not quite sure how to phrase it. "With Sean, it's just… I know. I know he's the real Sean and all that, and I'm Scout and the meowth. Always have been, always will be. But… even though I know that, I still think of myself as Sean. As 'the human'. I know that's weird and stupid, but I can't help it."
Chatot nodded, he could understand where he was coming from. "You spent some time thinking of yourself as Sean. I suppose you still haven't recovered much memory?"
Scout didn't really respond to that. "And, Mane… he and I. Well, we didn't get off to the best beginning. I helped knock him out. Then he started flirting with me, and then he nearly died. And he and Rai have such a history together."
The meowth's eyes lit up, that was it. "That's what it is! Sean and Celebi. Mane and Rai. Everyone has such a history, and even I have history with Sean and Celebi. But I just don't remember it. It feels awkward at times. But with you! All the history is recent, it's stuff I know and remember."
Nodding in understanding, Chatot stepped out of the conversation to blow a vileplume away before returning. "Understandable," he said. "Building new bonds and memories. I would have thought, by now, you would have built enough of a rapport with them at least. It isn't like this with Shinx, is it?"
Thankfully, Scout shook his head. "Nah. Shinx and I get along great. I miss him. I really… really miss him."
Looking downcast, Scout turned away to help ward a pair of leafeon away.
"I have seen you two together," Chatot said, softly. Scout cringed, he really didn't want to talk about this. Chatot took the hint and dropped the subject.
There was silence, Scout continued to cringe. His stomach was flipping, what was he thinking pondering this thought?
"Litleo and I had an argument just recently," Scout admitted. "In Treasure Town. Just earlier. He brought up some… good points actually."
Nodding, Chatot asked. "Like what? If I may ask?"
"Like everything I've been doing," Scout replied, smiling weakly. His lip was quivering, but his eyes were going firm. He closed his eyes and took a heavy breath.
Chatot couldn't help but tense slightly.
"There's something I… I-I really want to say," Scout said, voice wavering and filled with fear. "Something I should have said. Something I really, really, should have said a long time ago. It's, uh… not very good, but… but I sh-should have. Earlier. Ages ago."
Chatot waited patiently. "Whenever you're ready," he said when Scout gave him a fearful look. The meowth swallowed and nodded weakly.
They continued walking.
"I… I really don't know where to begin," Scout barked a laugh and covered his face. "Where could I possibly begin that makes sense?"
"The beginning, perhaps?" Chatot joked.
Scout snorted. "Everyone says that. I don't- I don't even know, not really, where the beginning even is." He rubbed his face and dropped his paws. "Okay. Okay. Okay, uh… okay."
Chatot warded a vulpix off to give Scout some time to breathe.
"Okay," Scout said. Chatot turned back and saw that Scout was quite physically shaking. "P-please don't. Don't… I don't even know. I feel like I'm going to be sick, what is this?" His stomach was turning so much and he was suffering terrible thoughts.
It felt like there was a soft hand on his cheek, laying like a comforting touch yet the feeling was making his skin crawl so terribly he wanted to start tearing his fur out.
'Thank you.'
'You're… welcome?'
'Not yet.'
PainpainpainpainpainPAIN-
Chatot stopped to extend a gentle wing to Scout's shoulder. "Take your time," he said soothingly, and Scout nodded. He was still shaking, however.
The touch soothed him and he breathed. What he imagined Chatot would do was not what he would do, he knew this. He knew this. He fought the irrational terror gripping every part of him and forced it down.
"I am human," Scout choked out, voice filled with a mixture of fear and regret. Chatot's wing was still on his shoulder. They both stopped walking. "B-but not the same as Sean."
Chatot gave a slow blink and retracted his wing, cocking his head. "Are there other kinds? Like pokémon?"
Scout shook his head. "No. No. N-no. I-I mean, like… the world that, that, Sean is from. I'm not... I'm not from that world. The world I'm from, well, it doesn't have pokémon."
Now that. That, Chatot had to blink at. A world without pokémon? Preposterous. This world had next to no humans, however, so he considered it.
Scout was staring at him fearfully, but he was gathering his nerve to continue. His mouth felt like ash. "At. At least not… real pokémon. We have pokémon, but they're made up. Not like… not like myths and l-legends. It's more like… uh… games? Stories? But ones people know are made up. No one believes pokémon actually exist somewhere, or well… most wouldn't."
Chatot blinked again. "Stories?"
Scout managed a weak smile, rubbing his face. He wasn't shaking as much now, but it was still visible. "Yeah, um… how do I explain this. Um… you know like… made up games and stories? Or, actually, do you have plays or theatre in this world?"
"Yes."
Scout nodded, rapidly. "A little like that! You can play these games, or stories, by yourself though. You don't need other people. Well, you can play with other people, but you don't have to. And, uh… anyone with this… this, uh… porygon-like device, thing, can play it. Or, well, I'm just going to confuse us both at this rate."
Scout watched Chatot's expression keenly. The bird was digesting this slowly, thoughtfully. He wasn't saying anything, however, and the nerves caused Scout to continue unprompted.
"O-one of those stories was, uh… this one." Scout flinched. He said it. He finally said it. Out loud. To someone else. Chatot frowned. Well, he was on a roll now. "Called 'Pokémon Mystery Dungeon'. It's, well there are a bunch of them, but this story I knew really well. Or, at least, I thought I did. Things have gone way off track and I don't even know what to think anymore."
Scout began to laugh, a near-hysterical sound. Chatot needed to adjust to hearing everything up to this point. He took a breath and released it. He ruffled his feathers.
"What does that mean?" he asked, and Scout stopped laughing. Still shaking, however.
"It means I'm a terrible person," Scout said and immediately shook his head, almost laughing at himself. "I'm doing it again, deflecting like Mane said. I'm… I knew. I knew. I knew what was going to happen before it happened. I knew Dusknoir was the bad guy the whole time. I knew Grovyle was trying to save the world. I knew this dark future would happen!"
Scout then shook his head and exploded. "BUT IT'S ALL GOING WRONG!" he cried and covered his face, falling back and trying to look small so Chatot wouldn't hurt him. "Everything I thought has been warped. There was no meowth character. Dusknoir and Grovyle were never teammates. The human was supposed to end up on that beach, not me at the bluff. SKUNTANK WASN'T MEANT TO BE IN BEACH CAVE!"
Chatot started back as Scout got up and threw a Shadow Ball at the wall. It popped harmlessly. He was bleeding. "I don't know what's going on. I thought I did. I thought I had to keep the story how it was, but stuff was different before I even woke up at Sharpedo Bluff! What is happening and why is it happening?"
"Scout, calm down," Chatot snapped, putting his authoritative voice on. Thankfully, Scout listened, desperate for any guidance. "Blaming yourself for… 'this' is malarkey."
Scout gave a weak laugh. "I knew Dusknoir was going to drag us into the future," he admitted, Chatot paused. "And I was doing nothing to stop that. But not you. Not Mane. Mane wasn't even a character in the story! It was supposed to be me and Rai. But I'm not even the human, Sean is! But I'm Sean. I don't know anything anymore, but I did. I thought I did."
He buried his face in his paws again. "I've been lying to everyone. Thinking I had to keep the 'story' that might not even exist on track. What if I'm just crazy? But I DID know so many things, but I DIDN'T know so much more and this is all my fault."
He got up and started pacing back and forth. "Time is literally collapsing. If I've screwed things up this hard already, what if we fail? Celebi's already said we only have ONE CHANCE at this. There's no safety net, and I've dragged us all down to this point with my fucking stupidity! Do you know how many problems I could have prevented if I just TOLD SOMEONE already?"
Scout buried his face again and screamed. "I've lied to Rai all this time. You, and Mane, and Grovyle, and everyone. I don't even know why? To keep some story on track? It was never on track to begin with!"
Chatot hopped over. He didn't see a freaking out meowth revealing the web of lies that had been strangling him slowly. He just saw his small, young, scared apprentice finally admitting he was way in over his head. He rested his wing on Scout's back and let him begin to shake and cry.
He didn't speak. Scout didn't need to be told not to feel emotions.
Chatot waited until Scout was finished, and once he uncurled to stand and rub his face, he spoke. "To be frank, that is difficult to believe," he said, and Scout snorted. "But… I don't disbelieve you. I don't think you could bare such an emotional breakdown so falsely. You, at least, believe what you're saying."
Scout nodded and shakily said. "I-I can prove it. Maybe. At the end of this dungeon, Dusknoir, the sableye, and Primal Dialga are going to ambush us. Celebi has to teleport us closer to the Passage of Time and we jump into the portal."
Chatot reared back at the mention of an ambush and Scout cracked a weak grin. "That's if I'm not crazy and things haven't changed again. I don't know. That's what was supposed to happen, with a different party. If they aren't there, we can just go. But if they are, one of us needs to tell Celebi to do it."
Chatot gave a slow nod and Scout pulled himself up and away. "Uh… sorry for unloading that on you. I've been holding it in since day one." He shook his head in disgust. "I really don't remember this place, being 'Scout'. So, I don't know even what I am. I'm afraid I've somehow taken over this body or something and k-killed the previous personality. I just don't know."
"You're not a killer," Chatot said, firmly and decisively. Scout smiled gratefully at him.
"Celebi said I was Scout too. Thanks for not… hating me or something else that I definitely deserve. I'm going to do everything I can to fix these mistakes. But… Chatot?"
"Yes?"
Scout took a breath and sighed, he hated to ask this. "Please don't tell anyone this. I WILL tell them all," he explained at Chatot's troubled expression. "But I want to do it. Explain it. All myself." He rubbed his eyes. "God, I'm an idiot. But please, I have to explain this myself."
Chatot nodded. "Very well. Once you have the chance… you do need to tell others you trust. I can see this has been weighing you down greatly, for quite some time, right?"
Scout smiled weakly and nodded. "Right. Okay. Thanks again, and uh…?"
Chatot stretched a wing, gesturing forward. "Let's go."
Scout nodded and they began fighting their way through the dungeon.
Feeling Celebi's disappearance, Scout had a bit of a tougher time fighting through the Deep Dusk Forest. With Chatot's expert skills, however, nothing managed to reach him.
Razor-sharp leaves were met with sharper air. Sand from hippowdon was blown back. They just turned around and left a steelix and an aggron alone to their fight.
"How old are you, Chatot?" Scout asked when they were nearly through. Smaller topics, completely ignoring Scout's little reveal, had been discussed to keep their heartbeats from talking to them.
"Hm? What a question to ask," Chatot scoffed. "I am twenty six cycles old."
"Oh."
The cuff around Scout's leg caught on something and he stumbled with a shout of alarm.
Chatot helped him up, holding back some hearty laughter at the expression of mortification on Scout's face.
"You'd think being a cat would let me land on my feet," he groaned, rubbing his chin. He had gone flat on the ground.
He shook the leg chained and gave it a glare. "Wish I had a damn key for that," he grumbled.
"How DID you break free?" Chatot asked. "It only occurred to me now, did anyone ask you that?"
"I… think?" Scout said, frowning. "Well, either way, I used Night Slash through the links of the chain and extended it until it broke." He lifted his left paw to look it over. "Almost broke a claw, again, but got free. The cuff itself was way too strong to break, though. Maybe I should have asked Celebi if she could do anything about it..."
Chatot nodded. "I'm impressed," he said, and Scout felt warm. "Critical thinking with the tools you had available."
Blushing, Scout brushed it off. "All thanks to the guild," he said.
Chatot smirked and flapped his wings proudly. "But of course! Only the best come from Wigglytuff's Guild."
Scout laughed and nodded. They smiled at each other as the dungeon began to change again. Scout's smile faded.
"Chatot," he said, quietly. "I really want to say thanks for listening to me and putting up with me all this time. And sorry, again, for dragging you into this."
Chatot shook his head. "Blaming yourself for mistakes only throws you into a never-ending cycle, Scout. Don't let the past rule you, or you'll continue to make those mistakes over and over and over again."
Scout nodded, smiling in thanks. He had been doing exactly that. "I'll keep that in mind," he said, as the dungeon began to change. Both of them tensed slightly but kept going. "Before we join the others, just remember. In Brine Cave, Kabutops attacks from above."
Chatot flinched. "What do you… how do you...?" he began, before nodding. That centred Scout's story in his head. Scout nodded back and they sped up.
"Hey, guys!" Scout called, running forward. Saniya, Mane, and Sean stood around looking anxious, but brightened when they spotted the two.
"Still in one piece, eh?" Mane called, running up with a beaming grin. His tail wagged a bit before he got it under control.
The plateau was flat, as expected.
The land was almost unremarkable. Flat, grey, stone. Flatter, greyer, stone. Raised areas, equally flat, equally grey.
There were no floating rocks, curiously enough. Surrounded by dark and grey, just spires of stones surrounding them like a bowl.
Glimmering as a gem of colour amid endless grey, of life in the lifeless future, the Passage of Time shone with the soft glow of hope.
In contrast to the bleak greyness of its surroundings, the Passage of Time was a brilliant, luminous, blue. Glowing with the same light as the Time Gears, flashes of colour, images, voices, and smells were experienced as they drew closer.
"We should be careful," Chatot advised, glancing around. "We don't know what might be here. If we are alone or not."
"You weren't waiting too long?" Scout asked, also glancing around worriedly.
Celebi opened her mouth and declared, "For. Ev. AH!"
The last of that was not her emphasising the word, but Celebi's reaction to the appearance of Dusknoir.
Chatot hissed a breath and Scout's claws came out.
Mane's mohawk burst into flames, and Sean's tassels rose.
Saniya simply stared at Guardian with a mixture of sadness and anger.
"Stop there," Dusknoir said, grandly, holding his palm up like an officer. "That will do."
"Dusknoir!" Chatot and Mane yelled.
"Greetings," Dusknoir said, nodding. "It has been some time. Scout, Sean, Saniya, Chatot, and Litleo."
"Guardian!" Sean and Saniya yelled.
"Your scurrying carried you far," Dusknoir said, travelling forward. "But sad to say, that's all over now. This is the end."
"Wheh-heh-heh." Came a sinister chuckling, claws snapping and eyes gleaming, the sableye appeared from the shadows to surround them. They had tracked them skilfully, and they were hungry.
Lead Sableye with the chewed claws nodded to Second Sableye, she nodded back.
"The sableye too," Sean grunted, gritting his teeth. "Shit."
"Language, Sean," Dusknoir said, shaking his head.
"Fuck you," Mane growled. Dusknoir raised his head.
"That… is expected from someone as crass as you." Dusknoir shook his head. "I was impressed at your will to survive in Amp Plains, but perhaps I should have left you to the electrike."
The sableye edged closer, the five of them stepped back until their backs were hitting each other.
"So," Mane begun, refusing to show his reaction to Dusknoir saying that.
"Who's ready?" Sean continued, glaring holes through Dusknoir.
"To bash some," Celebi giggled, she was always having fun.
"Face in?" Chatot finished. The other four looked to him in surprise. "What? None of you heard me in my younger years. I could shit-talk with the best of them."
"You'll need to save the stories," Scout said, claws melting into darkness.
"Yeah, bore us all later," Mane laughed. "Or not, who knows? Could be interesting."
"Gotta survive this first," Sean growled.
"Or tell them anyway, just for me," Celebi laughed.
"Spare yourselves the effort," Dusknoir said, eyes narrowing as the sableye looked nervous. "You have no chance of succeeding."
"You're so dramatic, Guardian," Celebi giggled, she changed her voice to a growl. "You have no chance of succeeding. Ah, classic Guardian."
Dusknoir's fingers twitched. "You have no right to call me that," he growled.
Celebi stuck her tongue out at him. "Is that so? Well, Sean had a funny story to tell on the way here. About one of your goons stumbling in the act, how he had to force you to stay. Not so tough are you?"
Dusknoir froze, staring at them in an expression tantamount to horror. His eye flicked from Saniya to Sean to Scout and then back to Sean. His fingers twitched.
He took a breath. "It doesn't matter. Anything you or your Planetary Investigation Team tries doesn't matter."
"We won't know," Sean said.
"Until we try," Mane finished.
"Get ready," Chatot squawked, wings going metallic.
"We'll fight," Scout concluded.
They all lashed out at once and sent the sableye flying. Once they were clear, all five of them turned to Dusknoir.
"Are you such fools to think I'd come here alone," Dusknoir scoffed as the world blinked.
"Oh, by the legends. I'm BLIND!" Mane screamed.
"The sun went out," Celebi said, alarmed. "That… that's foreboding."
"Really?" Scout growled. "Everything going… dark," he said, trailing off as things began to lighten again. "I would have preferred if everything stayed dark," he whimpered, as red eyes lit the world in a ruby glow.
All five of them froze. Beyond the Passage of Time, above the perfectly flat rocks, stood a monster.
Scout slowly shook his head. There were few words he could even begin to gather to believe how different it was to see a monster through pixels and a monster in the flesh.
Dialga's formerly soft blue scales were now a dark navy blue, its streamers were a magma-like red, the diamond on its chest was as red as a rotting heart.
These were all true to Dialga's appearance, but nothing to the gravity its presence brought with it. Nothing to the timeless, eldritch, madness in its eyes. Nothing, to the monster that Primal Dialga was.
To stand within its presence invited madness, esoteric whispers that screamed to leap into the void. Every thought to walk off a cliff or intrusive idea to take a weapon and dig it into someone's skull.
The pressure that descended upon the world was akin to the sky falling upon them. Lightning crackled around Primal Dialga, it was not merely in front of them but above them, behind them, below them.
It was time gone mad and it was looking straight them.
It roared, Mane and Chatot's legs give out, Scout and Sean buckled. The sableye collapsed and Dusknoir braced himself on the earth with a hand. Only Saniya seemed mostly unaffected by the pressure, but even she was silent, staring only up at Primal Dialga.
Primal Dialga roared again. The sound was inconceivable, and Celebi threw her arms out like a guard. A green shield appeared around the five of them, but she nearly wilted from the effort of maintaining it.
"What… do… we… d-do?" Celebi gasped.
"Hoo-Hoo-Ha!" Dusknoir laughed, holding his belly as he rose up. Primal Dialga's aura seemed to lesson as the instinctual dread that gripped them all began to pass for purely rational mortal terror. "Look at you now, formerly so brave, now you tremble as you realise what foe you have gone up against! This could have been your ally Sean! Saniya!"
Sean's lip curled as he steadied himself. "A pathetic slave to a mindless beast," he said softly, but in the stillness of the ruined world it was the most audible shout in the world. "That is what you are, Guardian."
Dusknoir twitched again. His eye flickered and he looked past them, to where Scout was helping Chatot and Mane up.
"Scout," he called, head twitching. "You've played your role well. You've got us all here, you may drop the act now."
Scout nearly flinched, his breath hitched. Mane met his eyes before rolling them.
Chatot scoffed and steadied him.
Sean raised an eyebrow. Saniya tittered.
Primal Dialga loomed over them, the greatest anchor in the world. Scout stepped forward, meeting Chatot's eyes and moved his lips, hoping Chatot could remember.
Dusknoir's eye lightened as Scout came forward, he stepped forward as Celebi lowered the barrier. Dusknoir's eye went dim again.
"If I was ever on your side," Scout began words as soft as the blanket tied around Guardian's arm. Scout's blanket, that he held onto all this time. "If I ever did care for you, then I see now that once seeing you as my father was a mistake."
Guardian flinched. Hard.
"Celebi?" Chatot hissed. "Can you teleport us past them?"
"What?"
"Teleport us. Past Dusknoir."
"Dialga controls time. It'll break anything I do."
"Can you do it? Even for a moment?"
"Yes. I can."
The sableye all exchanged glances, holding onto each other as they stood. Dusknoir wasn't moving forward, he was only shaking. Dialga growled something unearthly, and even that barely roused Dusknoir.
He raised his head and Scout's eyes widened. Tears streamed down Dusknoir's face, bluish liquid seeping from his one eye.
"I only do this," Dusknoir began, voice shaking along with his body. "To protect you."
He raised his hand, and a Shadow Ball formed.
"We shall be rid of this danger!" Dusknoir roared as shadow tendrils burst around them. "I will not allow us to disappear, Scout. This ends now. Sableye, attack!"
The sableye leaped. For the future. For Master Dusknoir. For their own lives.
"Time to travel," Saniya sung and the five of them disappeared.
"Master Dialga!" Dusknoir cried, turning back up. "Quickly!"
Even outside of the current time stream, flying in an endless ocean of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, even sensations. Even when experiencing all and nothing. Even then, Dialga's scream reached them.
The spokes on Primal Dialga's back widened and the gem glowed a sickly red.
It roared again, and time shattered.
From the hole in space and time, five pokémon tumbled.
"G-gah," Mane groaned, coughing for breath after that.
"Get up!" Saniya snapped, pulling them all up with a pulse of Psychic power. She activated the Passage of Time and it lit up in a stunning stream of power. Even Primal Dialga cringed away from it.
"THERE THEY ARE!" Dusknoir roared and he and the sableye surged forward. "YOU WON'T GET AWAY!"
"Tee-hee, Guardian," Celebi giggled and flew forward to meet them. "Get to the past!" she called back. "Change history!"
She blasted the seven with Magical Leaf and staggered the sableye. Dusknoir, however, was not nearly as moved.
He blasted at Celebi with the formed Shadow Ball and she zipped away as her charges leapt into the Passage of Time, preparing to close it to even Dialga as they began to disappear.
"NO!" Dusknoir bellowed and desperately shot a shadow tendril at Scout. "SCOOOUUT!"
The Ghost-type move passed harmlessly through his body.
Then hooked onto the shackle around his leg.
Dusknoir yanked.
And Scout was pulled back.
"AHH!" he screamed and slammed his paw into the ground, claws coming out to try and pull himself back as his bag fell into the portal. Saniya cursed something terrible and went to break Dusknoir's tendril. Dialga leapt down, roaring again. She gave Scout an alarmed look filled with regret. She had no choice. She closed the portal.
Saniya tried to reach him but was forced to disengage and disappeared as Scout was pulled back completely, Dusknoir's heavy hand closing around him.
He looked up as Dialga landed and he was forced behind Dusknoir, one hand clamped hard enough to nearly crush his bones while the other held up, shaking, pleading for Dialga to show mercy.
Scout tried to move, as the sableye joined Dusknoir in pleading for forgiveness. "Be silent," Dusknoir hissed, forcing Scout back further. "Don't let the master see you or even I can't protect you."
Scout froze up as Dialga began to rumble an eldritch gurgle. Hearing it felt painful, and Scout hung his head. Protect him? PROTECT HIM?
The metal around his leg hung innocently and Scout was forced to hold in sobs of disbelief, as his friends escaped the dark future.
They escaped.
But he remained.
Oh. Oh, dear. Oh no. Dusknoir… Guardian… what have you done?
Scout tells someone the truth! And is trapped in the Dark Future. Which is the bigger twist for you in this chapter? These cats. Rai misses the jump in, Scout fails the jump out.
Saniya is very fun to write.