The Human and the Grovyle (pmd2 story through Grovyle's eyes)

One chapter will be posted a day until I've posted all of them.

CH 1: Meeting

"Hey, don't you know better than to hang around here?"

I jumped and spun around and saw a...creature. I backed away, in my short experience...other creatures weren't a good thing. Other creatures caused pain. The creature frowned and reached a hand out to touch me. I slapped her hand away with my tail. I needed to defend myself or I'd get hurt again. The creature rubbed her hand and looked at me in the eyes, as if trying to decide something.

"I won't hurt ya little fella." She said, I could tell the creature was female by her voice. I just stood there...my instincts said she wasn't lying...but I was young and my instincts weren't fully developed. They could be wrong.

"...Can you talk?" she asked.

"Y-yes..." I replied, my eyes wide. She smiled.

"Ok, good. Now why are you here? Didn't your parents ever tell you it isn't safe to go to the Old Ruins? It's too close to Temporal Tower."

"I don't have parents..." I said.

"Ah...to come into this world full of darkness with no parents there to comfort you, that must be rough." She said, I nodded my head slightly, hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

"Nobody was there when I hatched." I said, a little louder than I'd been before. She sat down so that her eyes were level with mine.

"That's horrible...My parents were there when I was born, but we got separated a while ago. Who knows what happened to them...It seems everyone's abandoning each other nowadays. I guess they're too concerned with their own survival to care about others."

For a minute we were both silent. She looked up past me to the wall behind us.

"They're pretty aren't they?" She said, I nodded.

"I come here sometimes...to look at the pictures. They're...different. Different than the rest of the Pokémon I've seen, and not because they're a different species. They're...." I trailed off.

"From a different time. They're from a time when there was time...moving time anyway...when there was light and wind and sound..." She paused for a second, tilted her head, I did the same. Now that I thought about it, it was quiet...there was absolutely no sound besides the two of us talking.

"They weren't afraid." She continued, pointing to the Pokémon on the wall. She stood up, went up to the wall and put her hand on the pictures of Pokémon, tracing their outlines with her fingers. "I try to follow their example."

"You said this place was dangerous...It looks fine to me. What makes it so dangerous?" I saw a movement in the corner of my eye and at the same moment she jerked her head so that it was tilted, then she looked in the direction the movement had come from.

"That." She jumped in front of me as five purple cat things...Sableye, that's what they were called. I'd heard the whispering about the Sableye "police" that went around attacking anyone and doing whatever they pleased. "Stay behind me." She instructed, then roundhouse kicked all five of them.

"Hehehe So it's a fight you want, eh?" One of the Sableye said, the leader of the gang.

"I don't want it, but you seem to insist." She replied, that didn't make them happy. They lunged at her. She ducked underneath the first, grabbed the arm of the second, swung it into the first and third and threw him into the fourth then punched the fifth in the face. They were all sprawled on the ground. "So can you guys please just leave us in peace? We aren't doing anything wrong."

The Sableye all jumped up and tackled her at once, pinning her to the ground as I watched in horror. Four of them held each of her limbs and one scratched her all over. She screamed in pain and then she was yelling at me.

"GO IN MY BAG! FIND THE YELLOW GLASS ORB AND THROW IT ON THE GROUND, CLOSE YOUR EYES, AND RUN!" The Sableye were too busy laughing at her pain to notice what she said, but I heard. I felt like I was frozen...the Sableye...had attacked me too...in a similar way...not this gang but...I was scared.

Then I saw the look in her eyes...the pain and urgency, she was depending on me to do this. I snapped out of it and did what she said. The moment the orb hit the ground it shattered and a really really bright light flooded the area. I don't know why she told me to close my eyes, because they closed on their own out of instinct to the sudden change in brightness. Just before my eyes closed though, I caught a glimpse of the pictures on the wall again. They were...beautiful...more beautiful than anything I'd ever seen. The light made the colors more vibrant...they stood out and I could see clearly for that instant, but only that instance. My eyes closed and my legs ran as fast as they could go. The light only lasted for an instant and then faded. My feet no longer touched the ground and I was being picked up. I opened my eyes and saw her. She was looking straight ahead, breathing hard...it looked like this gave her a rush though, the running, as though if the situation weren't this serious, she'd be laughing. The whole experience had me tired out, so I fell asleep in her arms.

When I woke up we were in a cave. She was at the mouth of the cave, looking up at the sky, smiling faintly. She was a very strange creature...pink hair that turned into purple by the time it reached the end. A pink thing on the top half of her body and a ripped blue thing at the bottom and bandages on her arms and legs. Her eyes...one was blue and the other green, bright shades of those colors that seemed to radiate their own light. I yawned and she turned around then stood up and went over to me.

"I see you woke up. We haven't been properly introduced. My name is Naomi, but you can call me Kitten."

"I...I don't know that I have a name..."

"Well...you're a Treecko...why don't I call you that?" Kitten asked, I nodded in response. "Thanks for the help back there, by the way."

"The help...?"

"Yeah, with the Luminous orb?" Then it came back to me, the Sableye, the pictures.

"No problem. You're the one that did everything." I said.

"Ah, but if you hadn't helped out, neither of us would be here right now." She smiled. "So thank you."

She walked back over to the mouth of the cave and sat, one leg dangling off the side of the cliff and one tucked near her body. I sat next to her. How did we get all the way up here, why not a place safer that was closer to the ground.

"You can see everything from up here." Kitten said, answering my unasked question.

"Would it be bad of me to ask...what you are?" I sat down next to her. "I'm not trying to be rude...It's just I've never seen a creature like you before." Kitten laughed.

"I'm a human."

"Human...what kind of Pokémon is that?" I asked, she laughed harder. "What? What did I say?" She calmed down and explained it to me.

"Human isn't a type of Pokémon. It's a different species all together. Humans can't use attacks like Fury Swipes that Sableye used or, say...Leaf Blade, like you'll be able to use someday. We have to rely on physical abilities or weapons. On the inside though, how we act and stuff, in that respect humans and Pokémon are the same."

"Are there any others like you?" I asked.

"I don't know. Since my parents left me I haven't seen any others. I think my race is nearly extinct, either that or I'm just not looking in the right places."

"You're one of a kind..."

"So are you."

"No, there are other Treeckos around here. I've seen them."

"That's not what I meant. Most Pokémon here have given in to darkness, but not you. You hit me out of defense, I could tell by the look in your eyes, it was only out of defense and fear of being hurt. You weren't attacking just to attack. You're a little scared, everyone is, even me...though I try not to be. The difference is that despite all this darkness and fear around you, your spirit still shines just as brightly as the luminous orb...and I like shiny things." Kitten looked out at the scenery the whole time.

"Speaking of the Luminous orb...just before I started to run when I used the orb, I saw the pictures in the light...they were beautiful." I said, Kitten nodded, then gestured to everything outside.

"Now...imagine if you could just see everything else like that..."

"What do you mean?" Kitten looked wistfully at the sky.

"The world used to have light. When time moved...a long time ago...there were these things called day and night. During the day a big ball of light would fly across the sky and light the whole world up and make it warm. Night...well, that's where we are now, stuck in eternal night with no moon...the moon was also a ball of light...but it was much dimmer and didn't give off heat. See those rocks? They would be a light gray...a nice earthy feel...I mean, they're gray now, but light would take the menace out of it. And see the water? If there was light, it would be a beautiful sparkling clear blue." She gestured to the rocks and the water which were both dark gray and dull.

"How do you know so much about the light and how things were?" I asked, she smirked a bit.

"I saw it." Kitten responded.

"What do you mean? Time stopped so long ago, you couldn't possibly have been there to see it."

"I wasn't there...but I saw it. I saw it in a dream. Ya see, when my folks abandoned me I wandered for a long time, like you. I found a lake on top of a plateau in the middle of a forest. I climbed up because I like high places, for the view mostly, and to be away from things. When I got to the top I found a rock with a pattern on it just lying on the ground. I went to pick it up but then I became dizzy and blacked out. While I was blacked out I saw the lake as it had been in the past...There was a big group of Pokémon I later identified as members of the Wigglytuff guild. Er...lemme see if I remember...there was Wigglytuff of course, the head of the group. Then there was a Chatot, a Corphish, a Loudred, a Sunflora, a Croagunk, a Diglett, a Dugtrio, a Chimecho, a Bidoof, a Skitty, a Turtwig, and a Uxie. They were all gathered near the shore of the lake looking at something glowing turquoise in the center of the lake and suddenly water spouted up in turquoise and purple and blue and there were Pokémon called Volbeat and Illumise that light up and they were flying around...That's when I found out this world's true potential...how beautiful it could be."

Kitten paused for a moment and looked outside as though she were trying to see past the dark dead things to what they might have once been, I was silent, then she spoke.

"When I came out of the dream I wanted answers. I took the rock because I'd seen the Turtwig from the dream wearing it around his neck...I thought it was just really neat to have something that belonged to someone in the past. Then I swam to the center of the lake cause I wanted to know what had made it glow like that, and what I found...it was really cool. It was a Time Gear."

"Time Gear?" I asked. She nodded.

"It looked kinda like this." Kitten took a switchblade out of her pocket and carved a picture of a Time Gear into some of the loose dirt inside the cave. "It was used to regulate time...I'm not really sure how it worked yet. Anyway I wanted to know who the Pokémon were and why they were there, I wanted to know what the thing in the center of the lake was, and most importantly...I wanted to know how something as beautiful as that...could turn into something as dismal as it is now."

"Did you find out anything?"

"Yeah, I actually found Wigglytuff's Guild, it's still standing. They had records in there, turns out what I was seeing was an expedition they were on to find Fogbound Lake, but the record said they didn't find anything. So I looked around and grasped at anything, rumor, folktales, anything that would help me understand what I saw. It brought me here to the Hidden Land. Treeko, have you ever tried to get out of the Hidden Land?"

"No."

"Well you can't. The place is trapped between the fabric of seconds...sort of...outside time. The only one who'd be able to possibly get in and out is Celebi, a Pokémon that travels time. Well, turns out the rock I found can make a hole in the barrier and allow someone to cross." She took out the rock. "Here, hold it." Kitten put the thing in my hand, it had a sort of world worn feel to it, as opposed to the rest of the rocks in the world, which felt dead. "I haven't been here for very long, but I've already learned a lot. Something went wrong with Dialga, he was alive when time was still flowing, but something corrupted him...I don't know what...I think after he became corrupted he may have been the one to cause time to stop. I don't know though...I don't know much of anything, it's mostly guesswork right now, haven't even figured out why I had the dream...I don't think it's a normal thing for humans though."

Kitten leaned back, thought for a moment, and sighed.

"All I have is a dream...a dream to restore this world to it's former glory. I've seen the hatred and suffering in this world...and I'm tired of it...I want it to end...it's an impossible dream, I know, but I'm willing to dedicate my life to trying, and if by the end of my life, I haven't managed to succeed, I'll pass on what I'll have accomplished so far, in hopes someone will see it through."

I looked at her, stone, and the outside. For a moment, I thought I could almost see how things might be...emerald leaves and sapphire lakes...flowers of all colors...the smell of the earth and the plants and warmth.

"I...I want to help." I said, she looked at me strangely.

"Are you sure? It'll be dangerous...Dialga...Something tells me he doesn't want things to change. He's very powerful and has hundreds of Pokémon loyal to him at his disposal...like the Sableye, for instance. I don't know if you could handle it."

"...Then help me to be stronger." She raised an eyebrow. "I want to help...but I couldn't even get myself to fight a few Sableye. You're right, I wouldn't stand a chance, not like this. You...I saw what you did...you're amazing...what you did to the Sableye."

"I'm not as amazing as you make me out to be. I've just been around a bit longer than you have. All you need is some training...We can train together, and make each other stronger, and work our way towards a world where the sun rises and time flows, make the world better for everyone." Kitten said.

"Nobody's ever been there to watch our backs. We can be there for each other." I held out my hand for a handshake to say it was a deal, but she took my arm and pulled me into a hug which after a second, I returned.

"I would like nothing more...partner."

 

Ch 2: Evolution

"It hurts!" I exclaimed.

"Just a little more, Treecko! I have an Oran berry, hang in there!"

For the past two weeks we'd been training hard.

"Are you sure this is safe?" I asked, pushing a boulder at least ten times bigger than me over to a tree which I then had to jump to the top to in one leap. I looked over at Kitten who was about 100 yards away, on top of a hill. I could hear her perfectly despite the distance. Since the world was so silent, all noise was magnified tenfold.

"Pretty sure..." Kitten laughed sheepishly. It wasn't reassuring. "Anyway, I keep telling you the imbalance of the world represses evolution. A sudden burst of gained experience might break through the repression! Just run over here at top speed and you're done."

"...Right..." I took a few deep breaths and took off. My legs were on fire as the scenery condensed into a single gray blur with Kitten at the end. It hurt...it hurt, but I was going impossibly fast.

Only an instant passed and then I was next to Kitten...and then I was passed Kitten and hurtled into a cliff. Normally I would have ended up on the ground with a throbbing headache. However, my legs pushed against the rock and I jumped so high that I could almost touch one of the frozen clouds in the sky. Then I did a flip and landed next to Kitten.

"Nice reflexes!" She said, handing me an Oran berry and a big apple which I ate quickly. The pain faded away as the Oran berry took effect, but fatigue took over my body and I collapsed.

"I...I didn't even know it was possible to do that..." I trailed off

"I told you it was only a matter of training." Kitten said.

"...Speaking of that...You said we would train together...but you've just been sitting there...watching me."

"It's more of a priority to train you. You're a Pokémon and will evolve if you train which will open whole new possibilities to you. The only thing that will happen to me is I'll build some muscle."

"But Kitten..."

"Listen Treecko, I'm not going to put you through anything I wouldn't do myself. I'll start tomorrow and you can just sit back and watch me, ok? Right now though, you need your rest. Can you stand up?" I tried propping myself up on my elbow but couldn't even manage that.

"Nope...looks like I worked myself pretty hard..."

"Alright, then I'll carry you!" Kitten said, then she picked me up, walked back to the cliff, and climbed the cliff into our cave, and set me down on the softer ground that we slept on.

"I really hope all that wasn't for nothing..." She took the inscribed rock, that we'd taken to calling the Relic Fragment, out of our messenger bag and closed her fist around it. "Once you're evolved, I think we're ready to start finding Time Gears."

"I'll try my best not to let you down..." I said, then drifted off, I couldn't stay awake any longer.

"Ah...now's as good a time to sleep as any...See you in a few hours Treecko." Kitten said, and soon I could hear her snoring softly. Once Pokémon had only slept at night, and woken during the day, but here where everything was dark all the time there was no universal sleep pattern, and Pokémon slept whenever they pleased, it made no difference.

That was when it started, while my thoughts were drifting about the things we'd found out about during our research. My body started to become very warm, uncomfortably so, like I was sick. A dull aching started all over, it gradually became worse until the pain was immeasurable. Was this evolution? It couldn't be, Kitten had said there would be a flash of light and then it would be over. Then it hit me, in a world of darkness...there was no flash of light...no natural evolution...and when it was forced...one had to change shape without the help of the light. Kitten had told him of evolution knowing only what she had read, and what she had read was how it worked in the past. It wasn't her fault...she didn't know...

Over the next few hours the pain became so much worse...My bones, they were breaking, turning into putty, rearranging, and solidifying. My head shrunk but my brain grew...my eyes shrunk. Muscles from other parts of my body moved to my legs. My middle digits disappeared and the remaining two became long and gnarled. Things grew out of my arms, tailbone, and skull. My bones were growing and multiplying faster than my skin so that it stretched incredibly thin...but it never broke...it just stretched. My heart beat erratically, trying to supply enough blood to keep my body alive.

The worst part of the whole thing...I couldn't move. Kitten was just lying there, sleeping. She was completely unaware of what was happening to me and I can't tell her. I just had to sit there and suffer through it.

Eventually the pain faded away and a I woke up. I could see everything sharper...I felt stronger. Kitten was still asleep. I looked at my arm, my hand was a claw with two fingers...How was I supposed to pick things up with these? I tried picking up a few rocks and soon got the hang of it. I climbed down the cliff and took a look at myself in the pond. I looked...well...like the picture of a Grovyle we'd found in Diglett's footprint archive at Wigglytuff's Guild. Diglett was part of a sentry team with Loudred, he had to identify footprints of Pokémon that wanted to come into the guild, then Loudred would determine if they were safe to let in and open the gates if they were. We memorized the footprints, it really helped to know what Pokémon had come through or were nearby, especially Sableye.

There were a few other Pokémon at the pond to have a drink. They were all fairly young and harmless. A Ditto came up to me, looked at me curiously, and transformed to look like me. I laughed a little at the imitator and it did the same. Something poked me from behind and I whirled around and saw a Treecko.

"Oh...hello." I said, somewhat awkwardly. I was used to looking level with Treeckos, but now I was considerably taller. In fact, now that I thought about it, I was just about the height of Kitten now.

"You look like a bigger me." the Treecko said, it's voice a rough whisper.

"I am...this is what Treeckos grow into."

"Will I look like that someday?"

"Hopefully not...it wasn't the most...pleasant experience to get this way. It's better you stay as you are."

"Were you...the Treecko with the human?" He asked.

"That's right. Why do you ask?"

"It's just human's aren't really seen around here. I've heard you talk about the world of the past."

"Oh you have, have you?"

"Mhm, and I'm not the only one. The Sableye have heard of you too, and they might go back to their master Dusknoir and tell him..."

"Dusknoir...?" I asked.

"You haven't heard of Dusknoir? He's Dialga's henchman, his right hand Pokémon. Be careful with what your doing...you don't want him coming after you."

"Hey Treecko, did it work?" Kitten called, running up to me.

"Listen, kid, here's a Reviver Seed for your troubles." I tossed him one of our valuable Reviver Seeds.

"Wow, thanks. I hope you two succeed...good luck." With that he ran off. I hadn't known people had heard of us already, but I guess anything having to do with a human would be something to talk about.

"Well take a look, did it work?" I turned around so Kitten could see me, she gasped.

"...Just like the pictures, but I didn't see any light?"

"There wasn't any light, I just transformed. I like how I am now, I know there's another evolution after this, but it worked once, let's not try to force it again."

"Sure thing, Grovyle. Now if you excuse I have a large boulder to push around." She smiled.

"Grovyle?"

"Well you aren't a Treecko anymore, can't very well call you that."

"Oh, right." I said, absentmindedly. Kitten nodded and ran over to where we'd been training and tied rocks to her ankles then started to climb a very tall tree.

"Listen Treecko, I'm not going to put you through anything I wouldn't do myself."

Kitten's words came to mind, and I knew that I could never tell her about what I'd gone through during evolution...because I knew she would somehow try to put herself through that same pain, and that was something I could not allow.

 

Ch 3: Dusknoir

"None of the other places worked. What makes you think this place will be any different?" I asked, Kitten sighed.

"You're right. I'm just grasping at straws here and we're making absolutely no headway!" Kitten kicked a rock in frustration. We'd been looking for Time Gears, but so far only knew the location of the one Kitten stumbled across accidentally at Fogbound Lake.

"We should take a short rest, get our thoughts together, maybe eat a little." I opened up the bag where we kept things and tossed her an apple, then I took one for myself, climbed a tree, and took a bite. Kitten followed, she was almost as adapted as me to climbing trees and running through the treetops. In fact, we traveled that way as much as the environment allowed. Unfortunately there weren't that many places where the trees were thick enough to get anywhere jumping from tree to tree.

"Ya know...I once read about a time when the world was hit with a barrage of natural disasters. It was a totally different part of the world, anyway, the world was saved by a Guardevoir and an Absol..."

"Hm, this world has a lot of problems, doesn't it?" I commented, Kitten nodded.

"Absol was a Pokémon that could sense nature and energy and stuff. I'm pretty sure it's an ability they all have. Just wondering how that Absol would react if he were here now. I mean, would he freak out over all the imbalance or be lethargic over total lack of natural movement of anything...or maybe some other third thing...?"

"I don't know, Kitten."

"Didn't think you would, just thinking out loud. What's the point of having a friend if you can't tell them what you're thinking?" She took a bite of her apple. "What are you thinking, Grovyle?" That caught me off guard.

"What?"

"What are you thinking, what's on your mind. We spend so much time together but your so quiet, so tell me, what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing really."

"Nothing?" Kitten looked over at me with her bright and somewhat prying eyes. "You can't be thinking nothing. What about what we're doing, the Time Gears, the darkness, just like, life. What do you think about it?" We both ate some of our apple and chewed in silence.

"I think...your visions are the most interesting thing I've ever heard of."

"Huh...really? What about all the things we researched? My visions are the most interesting?"

"It was your vision that led you to go do all that research, to come to the Hidden Land, and to find me. So yeah...Something troubles me, though. In your vision...you saw a Skitty and a Turtwig as part of the guild...but when we actually got there, there was absolutely no mention or trace of either. It's weird, don't you think?"

"Yeah..." she finished her apple then stared at the sky for a long time. I finished mine and looked at her. I didn't want to interrupt her thinking, but it was time we moved on. Suddenly she jumped up. "I GOT IT!" she tripped and fell to the ground. I jumped after her and offered a claw, she took it and got back up, laughing sheepishly.

"You were saying?" I chuckled.

"Oh, right. We should go to Fogbound Lake, maybe if I touch the Time Gear itself I'll get a vision and we'll have some leads!" Kitten exclaimed.

"Alright, let's get moving." I replied.

We made our way to the edge of the Hidden Land, broke through the time barrier using the Relic Fragment, and went into the Sea of Time. No matter how many times I would make this trip, I would never get used to it. We would jump, and instead of falling to our deaths, into the twisted, frozen ocean, the Relic Fragment would glow, and suddenly we would be floating. We would be propelled forward without any effort on our part. I was used to having sure footing, and being suspended like that made me...uneasy. Then we would be through, slowly descending and finally landing with a splash into the ocean.

Then we swam for what seemed like forever. The Hidden Land was in the middle of a vast ocean. I could keep up better than Kitten. I still held her in the utmost awe and respect for what she did to the Sableye, but found that I quickly surpassed her physical ability. She still tried to keep up, and worked herself to exhaustion sometimes. This was one of those times.

"I-I'm sorry Grovyle, I can't swim anymore." Kitten sputtered. On our previous trips Lapras had been able to carry the both of us to the mainland, but this time we couldn't find her. Perhaps the darkness had finally clouded her wise old mind, or maybe she had been captured. Once Lapras had been a loyal servant of Dialga, she told us, transporting supplies to the Hidden Land and giving a ride out to anyone who had approved business on the outside. However once Dialga went mad, she no longer served him, but was caught inside the Hidden Land when Dialga put up the barriers. Perhaps she had simply rolled over and died.

I looked at Kitten, she was breathing hard, and struggled to keep afloat. I went over and let her put her weight on me, I swam on. She was heavy...

"Kitten...is there any way you could swim on your own for a bit?" She was asleep...I sighed and trudged on. Then something rose out of the water...a Pokémon...I couldn't remember the name, Kitten would know. It spoke in a low, grumbly voice.

"You are...Grovyle and the human, yes?"

"We are."

"The ones who travel the Sea of Time...I've seen you on Lapras. You seem weary...allow me to give you a ride. Where is your destination?"

"Fogbound Lake, at the center of Foggy Forest."

"I'm afraid...I cannot take you there, but I can bring you ashore near Aegis cave. There is a mountain near there, and past it Foggy Forest." The Pokémon went underwater and resurfaced underneath us, lifting us up a great deal. It began to move.

It would swim level, through the frozen waves. The waters here were quite different than those near the Hidden Land. Around the Hidden Land the ocean was all twisted up...it reminded me somewhat of a Pokémon's fur being affected by the static electricity of a passing Magnemite. Out here, though, the waters were like tiny hills, going up and down, sometimes tiny hills, sometimes very large. The Pokémon that carried us swam level, and even if you moved through it, the water would remain frozen. When the height of the water hill came up over the head of the Pokémon, we would go through the water as well, and I had to hold Kitten to make sure she wouldn't float off. One of the times I tried to drink the water, but immediately spit it out, it was salty beyond belief and burned my throat and nostrils.

It was while going through one of the hills that Kitten woke, coughing and sputtering water.

"What...where?" She finally asked.

"This Pokémon is giving us a ride to shore." I told her, she blinked sleepily a few times, yawned, and looked down.

"Wailmer." She said.

"Yes?" The Wailmer said. "Human, have you woken up?"

"Call me Kitten. How much farther?"

"Not much. Look, you can see the peaks of the mountain range from here." I could see it, on the horizon, a small peak over the ocean. Kitten squinted her eyes.

"I don't see it..." she said, I guess her vision wasn't as sharp as mine.

Soon we got to shore, and after thanking Wailmer, we made our way over the mountains separating us from Foggy Forest. It was good we'd stocked up on food, because the mountains were bare. There were some throwing rocks and spikes of iron lying around, but that was about it. This time it was I who struggled while Kitten climbed with ease.

"How come you can climb so well, but you can't swim?" I asked.

"I swam just fine, ok? I've traveled on this mountain range before, I lived here for a while when I was wandering. In fact, to the north next to this mountain range is the forest where I was born, Apple Woods. I'll take you there sometime if we're ever in the area and have the time."

We climbed on, there were a few territorial Pokémon we had to fight off but most Pokémon hid from us, the strange intruders. None of the Pokémon there had heard of us as a team, but a few looked at Kitten as though they recognized her. We got to Foggy Forest, which wasn't foggy, by the way, traveled to the center, and went to the top of the plateau. All of this happened without anything significant happening.

"Ok, you wait here, I'll swim down and touch the Time Gear." I nodded. Kitten took a deep breath and dived. I looked at the water...Kitten had seen Uxie...I wondered what happened to him. Suddenly I was punched in the back of the head and blacked out.

~

When I woke my head was pounding and my back ached. I'd been thrown against a stone wall...We were in a prison cell. Kitten was sleeping next to me. I poked her, trying get her to wake up, she stirred.

"Stupid Dusknoir..." Kitten muttered.

"Dusknoir...? As in...head of the Sableye...?"

"Yes, that would be me." A voice said. A ghost Pokémon, Dusknoir, appeared from thin air. "You know, from the stories I would have thought you much more impressive. Ha! You two are mere children." Kitten looked at Dusknoir, I could almost literally see rage burning inside her. Not only had we gotten bested and caught, now we were being mocked.

"Kitten, I'm sorry. The Treecko warned me about this I should have told you..."

"Ah, so my reputation precedes me. Well so does yours. Grovyle, one of the very few Pokémon that dare to evolve against the suppression of the darkness, and Kitten, one of the last humans alive, a human that possesses the Dimensional Scream ability, no less! A rather odd pair who are interested in Time Gears and the origin of the planet's paralysis. It's even been rumored that they can come and go between the Hidden Land and the rest of the world freely...using this." Dusknoir held out his hand for us to see, and resting on his palm was the Relic Fragment...

"GIVE THAT BACK!" Kitten jumped up and tried to swipe at him but a dark pulse emitted from his hand and knocked her back into the wall.

"This doesn't belong to you, it is the property of Master Dialga." Kitten looked like she had a retort but stopped herself and shut up. "I get it. You two are idealists, you see this world of darkness and feel compelled to change it. I see Pokémon like you all the time, it's the reason why half the Pokémon here are in this prison. However all of you are ignorant, and I will tell you something that will completely derail your attempts at changing the world. You want to make a better world for everyone, no? Well to prevent the planet's paralysis, to have time flow again, you would have to alter history, and if you change history, all creatures living now, Pokémon and human alike, will cease to exist. You think by changing history you will help the Pokémon of the world, but in reality, you'd be killing them." Dusknoir finished his speech, a smirk on his face as he watched our shocked faces.

"Hee hee, and that's my cue to leave!" A small somewhat high pitched voice called out. I looked at where the voice was coming from, which was the cell across from us. There was some tiny pink flying thing that had taken the Relic Fragment from Dusknoir when he wasn't looking. He whirled around. I only saw it for a second, because it disappeared in a flash of light.

"Blast, not again!" Dusknoir cursed under his breath.

"Grovyle, quick, use dig, through the wall!" Kitten called. I reacted immediately and did as she asked. I dug through the wall and it opened up to the outside. Then we ran.

"YOU FIND CELEBI, I'LL TAKE CARE OF THOSE TWO!" Dusknoir yelled. Celebi...?

We ran and ran, neither of us dared to look back but we knew Dusknoir had to be right behind us. There was no way we could simply keep running and get away, he was fast and since he only had to float, he had to have much more endurance than either of us. An item, our only chance was using some item that would stop him...a seed...a Sleep seed or one that stunned or warped. I looked through the bag, Dusknoir had stolen everything in there.

"Hahaha! There's nothing in there to help you, give up now!" He was wrong, though. In the corner of the bag, tucked away, he'd missed one seed. I could identify seeds at a glance, an X-Eye seed. I turned around, hurled it, turned back, and kept running in case it didn't work, all in one motion. I heard a loud crash and turned around. Dusknoir had ran into a cliff, his vision was totally blurry, things looked like other things and he couldn't tell a Pokémon from a cliff. Kitten saw what happened, took the cue, and sprinted away as fast and as quietly as possible.

~

We came to a place we could rest. It was well hidden from view, but it still wasn't safe. Nowhere was safe from a ghost. We could talk here, though.

"A Treecko told me Dusknoir knew about us...We have to get the Relic Fragment back from that Celebi...without it we're stuck here and as good as dead. Where do you think she'd be, Kitten?" She was silent, staring at the ground. "Kitten...?"

"...We'd be killing them, Grovyle..."

"Huh?"

"Thousands of people...we'd be killing them..." I stopped and sat next to her, putting an arm around her shoulder.

"Come on, now, Kitten, Dusknoir was only trying to scare you."

"I know, but it makes sense. The stopping of time froze millions of Pokémon and that along with Sableye, search for food, and other stuff drove all the rest of them to places they'd never have gone. Pokémon and humans that never would have been anywhere near each other, met each other. It's likely almost every creature alive now was born because of the displacement the Pokémon...We'd be killing them if we changed it."

"But...there were millions of Pokémon and humans that got frozen by time stopping. We might lose the creatures alive now...but there'll be so many more." Kitten sighed.

"True...but still, is it right to just take the lives of all those alive today?" I thought for a second.

"What about Lapras? If it weren't for the darkness, she'd be alive. Is it really worth it to live in this darkness?"

"That isn't for us to decide!" She exclaimed, standing up. I clamped my hand over her mouth.

"Shhhh. Listen, for now, how about we try finding that Celebi and getting the Relic Fragment back. Without it we're stuck here and it won't be long before Dusknoir catches us. We'll see where things go from there, ok?"

"Ok..." I thought for a second.

"Where to start...?"

"Celebi...is known as the guardian of the forest...the only major forest I know of here is Dusk Forest. So let's start there."

"THEY'RE OVER HERE!" I could hear in the distance, it was the scratchy voice of a Sableye. We got up and ran, Kitten had that glint in her eye again, she loved the chase.

 

Chapter 4: The Chase

"So what did you see anyway?" I asked.

"Hm?" Kitten asked.

"When you touched the Time Gear, what did you see?"

"Oh, a series of flashes and voices...couldn't make much sense out of it."

"So we're back at square one?"

"Er...no...I did see Time Gears, 5 of them...in some kind of circular stone altar and red swirling clouds and lighting...So, that's something."

"Do you know anything else? Try to remember." I asked, trying to get any information out of her I could so we had some sort of lead.

"...No, sorry. How much further to Dusk Forest, you think? I'm getting tired of walking on the ground." Kitten complained, I chuckled.

"The entrance isn't far." I said. We walked until we got to the edge of the forest. There was a giant statue that I'd never seen before. Then again, I'd never entered the forest from this direction before. I looked over at Kitten, knowing she'd have something interesting to say about it. Instead of saying anything, she jumped up onto the statue and touched it's forehead. Her eyes closed for a minute, then turned to me.

"It's a Kangaskhan statue. Exploration teams used it mostly, it was for storing and taking out items from their local Kangaskhan storage...There was one in Treasure Town, remember?" I nodded. The Kangaskhan who ran the storage had been frozen in time along with the rest of the town. She was sitting in the corner of her shop, holding her baby tight, trying to protect it...She must have loved it very much...

"Let's keep going."

Kitten froze and tensed up.

"There are Sableye here..." she whispered. I looked where she was looking and saw a trail of Sableye footprints. They ended abruptly with pressure on the front of the foot.. They'd jumped into the trees.

"They're after Celebi, she must be in there." I said.

"My thoughts exactly. I just hope she's ok."

We jumped and ran through the treetops. The Sableye did too, I could see their shadows, but I wasn't quite sure if they could see us or not.

"MASTER DUSKNOIR, MASTER-" Kitten punched the Sableye in the face, I guess at least that one had seen us. The Sableye fell to the ground, hitting his head on one of the floating boulders on the way down. He was out cold and probably had a concussion. Kitten and I looked at each other...was Dusknoir actually here? I held the bag close in case we might need something from it, and we ran until we got to a clearing. Celebi was floating there...and so was Dusknoir...with six Sableye, scratching at...the air?

We kept silent and looked at Celebi. She spotted us and mouthed the word "jump." We jumped and landed right next to her. Dusknoir saw us and his eye went wide, he shouted something we couldn't hear and the Sableye scratched harder, and Dusknoir began to punch at the air.

"How are you doing that, Celebi?" Kitten asked.

"Dialga isn't the only one who can make time barriers, ya know." Celebi giggled. "Now let's get out of here before Dusknoir calls on his beloved 'master' to break it."

Celebi flew off, and we followed, traveling on the ground this time.

"Where are we going?" Kitten asked.

"Up the plateau." Celebi pointed. "There's something I want to show you."

"Can we have our Relic Fragment now?" I asked.

"Oh, how silly of me to forget! Of course you can, Grovyle, my dear." She floated down and handed it to me.

"Thanks." I responded.

We climbed up the plateau, when we got to the top there was a glowing blue thing.

"Ooooo...shiny..." Kitten said.

"What is it?"

"A Passage of Time. I thought since you had the Relic Fragment, and you're interested in Time Gears, you might be interested in this too."

"What's it do?" I asked.

"It'll send you back in time. It's too late to save Temporal Tower now. It's completely collapsed beyond repair, plus Dialga's minions'll be all over you before you even set foot in the tower. If you want to save anything you'll have to go back in time."

"Temporal Tower?" Kitten asked, getting over the shininess of the Passage.

"That is what your trying to do right? Restore Temporal Tower so that time moves again?"

"I guess..." Kitten said.

"Why else would you be looking up Time Gears? You're going to put the Time Gears in the altar on top of Temporal Tower to restore time, right?"

"Oh, that! That's what that was."

"You...really don't know much about you're doing, do you?" Celebi asked.

"...No, but that's why we're traveling around to find out."

Celebi nodded, then tilted her head.

"Dusknoir broke through, we better run. Come back here when your ready to go back in time, ok?" and with that she vanished.

We could hear the Sableye in the distance, so we started to run. We weren't looking where we were going, and I tripped over something. I looked down and saw it was a baby Ralts, it's egg shell was only a few feet away. It started to cry. I tried to shush it but then there was a blue light and I blacked out.

 

Chapter 5:

When I came to I was on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

"Where...?" I looked down, Kitten was still knocked out cold. I shook her gently. "Kitten, wake up."

"Ugh...what's going on, where are we?" She muttered sleepily.

"I tripped over a Ralts egg. It hatched and used teleport. I have no idea where we are." I answered. My head was pounding, I supposed that was a side effect of teleportation. There was a path heading east from here and a sign with words written in Footprint Runes.

Sharpedo Bluff
---> Treasure Town

"We're back in Treasure Town, or just outside it, anyways."

"Great, we gotta go all the way back..." Kitten said. "Hey, did you say baby Ralts? Where is it now?"

"How should I know? I blacked out just like you." Just then a nearby bush began to shudder and crying noises came from it. "I'd guess in there."

Kitten went over to the bush and reached into it, and then...knocked it over? The bush wasn't even anchored to the ground, and underneath was a stone staircase leading into a cave.

"Well that was unexpected. I guess Ralts is down there." Kitten said, then proceeded to climb down the stairs. I followed her.

At the bottom of the staircase appeared to be a home of sorts carved out of a cliff with jagged rocks on the top and bottom of an opening that looked out to the ocean. It looked like a Sharpedo's mouth, I supposed that's where the name came from. Standing near the opening, looking out at the ocean was a Turtwig, a very sad looking Turtwig.

"Grovyle, There's something written here in Footprint Runes, can you read it for me?" Kitten asked. I turned around. Kitten was holding the shivering, silently sobbing baby Ralts in her arms. Kitten was looking at a grass bed with a letter on top. I picked it up and read it.

Dear diary,

I'm getting more and more worried that bandits are going to come and steal my things and kick me out of my home. Chatot came into town yesterday while I was buying some food and announced we were now on high criminal alert. More and more bad Pokémon keep showing up because of time crumbling. I don't really understand what one has to do with the other. Maybe balance is disturbed and they're sensitive to it, maybe because they believe that since the rules of time are breaking, other rules don't apply. It doesn't really matter why though, the fact is that criminal Pokémon are everywhere nowadays, and the police struggle to keep up. The world is descending into complete anarchy. At least, from what I've heard it has, around here it isn't that bad. We have one of the best guilds on the planet here to protect us. Wigglytuff's Guild...If I have any regrets, it's that I didn't try to join Wigglytuff's Guild. They accept all applicants, all I had to do was walk through the door, and I could have trained with them. But countless trainees have run crying from the guild...I'm such a horrible, horrible coward.

If only...if only I had a friend, just one friend. Then maybe...maybe we could have formed a team. We could have helped each other to be brave. We could have gone on amazing adventures...but that will never come to be. I've run out of time, and it doesn't matter anymore. The past is the past and the future isn't coming. Now, there is a way to avoid getting frozen in the Planet's Paralysis. Running to a place that's already frozen, and staying there. If a place is already frozen, it can't freeze you. I've talked to Xatu about this...he's seen what the future has in store, and frankly it isn't worth surviving for. I'm going to die here, alone. It's the cowards way out. I'm not even going to face my killer. I'm going to face out to sea. So that when the Planet's Paralysis catches up to me, when my time is finally up...I won't see it coming. Goodbye world.

-Eric, a Turtwig

I finished reading and looked up at Kitten who teared up along with Ralts.

"Poor guy..." she said, going over to hug the frozen Turtwig. Ralts mimicked Kitten and hugged him too.

"Well, that explains why the Ralts is crying. That species is very in tune with emotions. That's unfortunate because it won't find many good emotions in this world. Why are you crying though, Kitten? There are probably hundreds of stories exactly like this one. Besides feeling bad won't help anything." I said.

"They deserved to live! Grovyle, if we don't have sympathy and only think of our objectives, we won't be any better than anyone else. We won't be any better than the people that abandoned us!"

"I know they deserve to live. We're going to make that happen, remember? At our own expense. Now come on, we have to stock up on supplies for the long trip back...Do we have any new leads?" I asked.

"No, we don't. I guess we could look at Pokémon's expressions to pinpoint the location of a Time Gear. But first we need to find a safe place for this Ralts. On the run from Dusknoir, trying to find Time Gears is not a place for a baby." Kitten said.

"Treasure Town seems pretty safe, plus there's food." I replied.

"Maybe but there's nobody to look over her."

"Where are we going to find someone willing to take care of her?" I asked.

"I'd be glad to offer my services." A voice said, I jumped, cursing my instincts for not sensing somebody's presence. I spun around but nobody was there. I tensed up and charged up a Leaf Blade, ready to attack. I couldn't see anyone there, but then a figure emerged from the shadows, a female Umbreon.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you." she said.

"Why are you here? Are you one of Dusknoir's cronies here to drag us back to the Hidden Land?"

"No, I'm an Umbreon who was getting food from Treasure Town, saw a flash of light, and went to see what was going on. Who are you?"

"Grovyle."

"You're evolved."

"So are you, what of it?"

"Why did you want to evolve? As an Eevee the darkness suffocated me, so I put myself through the pain of evolution in order to be a dark type. But you're still a grass type, wouldn't it have been better to just stay a Treecko?"

"Pain of evolution?" Kitten asked.

"Yes, evolution is quite pain-" I covered Umbreon's mouth with my hand but she shook me off.

"Is that true?" Kitten asked. I turned around to face her.

"It is...but please don't blame yourself." I turned back to Umbreon. "I evolved in order to get stronger so Kitten and I could fight off the dangers during our travels."

"And Kitten is?" Umbreon asked.

"Me." Kitten said, Umbreon looked past me at Kitten, noticing her for the first time.

"A human..." she said, awe struck.

"Yes, I'm human...is something wrong?" Kitten asked. Umbreon shook her head.

"I've been surrounded by humans for most of my life, but I've never seen a live one." she turned around. "Let's stock up, I have something to show you, and it's a long trip."

"Wait, what do you want to show us?" Kitten asked, Umbreon looked back.

"A village of humans, on an island to the far north. I thought perhaps you'd like to see how your kind used to live." Umbreon said.

"I would like to know..." Kitten trailed off.

"Kitten, we have no time to make a side trip, especially if it's far out of the way. We have to find a home for Ralts and then continue with our mission." I said.

"Oh, right, may I ask what your mission is?" Umbreon asked.

"We're going to go to the past and collect Time Gears in order to stop the Planet's Paralysis. We have to find them first, though." Kitten said.

"That's a noble cause. You are aware it will kill us all, correct?" Umbreon asked.

"Very aware. But it's for a good cause. Are you willing to sacrifice yourself so people like him can have a second chance at life?" I asked, gesturing towards the Turtwig. Umbreon thought about it for a minute before replying.

"...Yes, I am. Well, luckily for you this trip isn't out of the way. There's a Time Gear alter in a forest on the way to the island and another one on the island, and in town there's a library with research that should help you find the rest. As for the baby Ralts, as I said I'd be glad to take care of her myself. There are forest and mountain barriers on the path to the island. It's a very safe place. So what do you say, can we travel together?"

"Yeah, sure, let's go!" Kitten exclaimed. Ralts smiled and punched her fists in the air. I was a bit reluctant to trust a Pokémon that came out of nowhere and now wanted to become traveling partners, but I went along with it. Kitten and Umbreon went upstairs, out of the cave, but I hung back for a second, and looked over at the Turtwig.

"Good luck, Eric. I hope you make something out of your second chance."