#Legend!Grovyle has only three goals.

[oblonger]

Wanted to make this after imagining a few lines from it.

Celebi and Pine are out of options

Pine felt like screaming.

He felt like running away.

He wished that Celebi was wrong. That she had to have missed something.

But if Celebi was saying that there were no options left.

Then he needs to heed her.

Blood was dripping from the claw that he pierced into his palm from clenching his fist.

Pine choked on his tears. He wanted to tell Celebi that he loved her too. And that he wished that a miracle would happen so that he didn't need to do this.

Celebi sobbed as Pine raised his arm. His leaves become as sharp as blades.

He needed to make this as painless as possible for her.

Pine was about to do the deed when his skin started prickling. He opened his eyes, and the air around him was shimmering. Celebi's eyes were wide. Her face was wet with tears.

“I- I didn't see this happening.” She muttered to herself.

Pine spun around after hearing the passage of time open up behind him.

Shoot. Okay. CALM DOWN. He needs a plan RIGHT NOW.

Maybe he can attack? No, if he dies then-

What about running? Maybe. But Celebi said-

Pine flinched when the person that stepped out of the passage, was him.

Wait no. Obviously it's not him. He's not the only grovyle. It's just another grovyle.

One that is obviously working with or for Dusknoir. How else could he open a passage?

Pine sprinted forward at the newcomer. Preparing to attack with a leaf blade.

The newcomer raised an arm. The leaves on it, likewise becoming sharp as swords.

He casually blocked Pine's assault and reached forward with his other hand and put it on his chest.

Shoot. He underestimated him.

He needed to be prepared for what was going to happen next. Was he going to grab him? Or tear open his chest with his claws? Maybe he will-

Pine was caught completely off guard by the newcomer just shoving him backward. The lack of any kind of pain or real retaliation stunning him to the point where he stumbled and then fell on his rear.

“Re-lax.” The newcomer said. His voice was rough, tired, and irritated. “I'm not here to fight you.”

Pine tilted his head. Staring at the newcomer. He was now given a chance to really take in what he looked like.

He is a grovyle. Or, maybe was? It looked like he'd gone through an incomplete evolution. The yellow seeds that Sceptiles have on their backs were on his. The leaves on his arms and head were much longer than on a normal grovyle's, and it seemed like he had a strange combination of a Treecko's, Grovyle's and Sceptile's tail.

Wait, was his skin shifting between shades of green? And are those antennas on top of his head? And why did that worn, dirty satchel over his shoulder look like Pine’s?

“Who are you?” Pine asked as he pushed himself off the ground.

“Grovyle.” He responded. He folded his arms as the passage behind him closed.

Celebi hesitantly fluttered forward. “Are you that-”

“Yes I'm that Grovyle.” he interrupted. “Look. I'm here to help you. Not to tell you my life story.”

Celebi flinched. “But, W-we don't have anything left we can-”

The stranger interrupted again. “Have you even bothered looking ahead since I showed up?”

Pine felt a tinge of anger. Celebi flinched again and backed away. Covering her mouth with her hands as her eyes widened further.

A beat of silence passed.

“Look. Introductions are out of the way, so just listen to me because I know how to keep you three from kicking the bucket.”

Grovyle narrowed his eyes. “How do we know we can trust you?”

The stranger grit his teeth. “Because if you don't, you'll make the biggest mistake of your existence.” he growled.

Pine glared at him. “We don't know if that's even remotely true!”

Grovyle angrily sighed. “I know a lot that you don't. Now. Do you, or do you not, want to kill your Celebi?”

Pine and Celebi recoiled at the question. Grovyle pursed his lips. “Good answer. Now go get Twig and come back here.”

Pine tilted his head “Twig?” He asked.

Grovyle sighed. “The human?” He asked with a harsh bite.

Pine's expression soured. “Her name is Lilly.”

Grovyle flinched, his eyes widened in anger and he turned his head to glare at the ground. “Just go get her.” He growled.

Pine glared at him for a few seconds before walking to where Lilly was sleeping nearby. Keeping his ears strained in case Grovyle or Celebi said anything.

Pine gently woke Lilly up from her sleep. Holding her hand in his as the two walked back to the clearing where Grovyle was at.

Lilly’s eyes widened when she saw Grovyle. Glancing between Pine and him. Before pointing at Pine and then him.

“Pine?” She asked.

Pine shook his head. “Grovyle.” He responded. She looked even more confused but didn't try saying anything more.

“Alright. Good job.” Grovyle said as Pine entered the clearing with Lilly. Grovyle pinched the space between his eyes. “Ugh, we've already wasted so much time.” He muttered.

“Alright.” He said after giving a quick sigh. “We need to get moving. I know a place where you can…”

Grovyle trailed off as the prickling feeling returned.

Grovyle spat out a curse word as another passage opened up some distance away, near where Grovyle had created his. Pine instinctually pulled Lilly closer to him.

“For Arceus’ sake.” He growled. “Okay. Change of plans.” He said loudly enough for them to hear clearly. He turned to face the passage before swiveling his head to look at them.

“You three stay behind me. Do not run, and do not try to fight or help.”

“What?!” Pine shouted. “What do you mean-”

“I meant what I said!” Grovyle snapped. “Just stay there. I've dealt with them before.”

Grovyle faced the passage as several Sableye poured out from the passage, their wicked grins falling into confusion upon seeing that there are two grovyles now.

Dusknoir then exited the portal. “Opening many passages is a foolish idea when you are trying to run from us.” Dusknoir stated. His eye widened when he saw Grovyle.

“I see that you have found yourself a new ally Celebi.” Dusknoir did what looked like a grin. The Sableye followed suit as the passage closed behind them. Dusknoir pointed forward at Celebi. “Unfortunately for you, it doesn't matter how many allies you collect. It will not change the outcome. Your fate was sealed when you defied-”

“Oh for Arceus’ sake!” Grovyle interrupted. Dusknoir blinking in shock. “Would you quit monologuing and get on with it already!? I've wasted enough time here as-is!”

Dusknoir stared at him with an unreadable expression as the Sableye exchanged glances and muttered words to each other.

Dusknoir then narrowed his eye. Glaring at Grovyle. “It's a shame that you are so eager to die, interloper. I would have considered giving you a painless death had you not-”

“ARCEUS DANG IT.” Grovyle shouted. He pulled the satchel off of him and pulled out a blue orb. The Sableye and Dusknoir tensed up when they saw it, and then somewhat relaxed in confusion as Grovyle tossed it aside, onto the ground. “You Dusknoirs just have no idea when to stop talking do you!?” Grovyle dropped the satchel onto the ground next to him.

Grovyle began walking forward, and took in a very deep breath, held it in for a few seconds and then released it as he did so. Pine saw the way that Celebi's eyes widened in complete horror in the corner of his vision.

Dusknoir's eye narrowed. “Kill him.” He ordered.

All of the Sableye sprinted forward at Grovyle, breaking off from the group, some flanking, and others gunning it straight forward.

All of the sableye prepared their own separate attacks. Some creating a ball of Dark energy, others flexing their claws with eagerness.

All of them were going to attack Grovyle.

Pine wasn't sure if he was even going to do anything as some leapt forward at him, and others fired forth their projectiles.

At the last second, Grovyle shot forward his arm and grabbed the wrist of one of the Sableye, and swung him around, colliding with another Sableye that also leapt at him. Grovyle shifted his legs, and spun the other direction. The shadow ball that one Sableye had launched at him collided with the Sableye he held at the same time he let go. The one he had hit before, also getting hit by a shadow ball launched from another sableye on his other side. Grovyle crouched down as the two were launched into each other's backs above him.

Grovyle grabbed the ankles of the two, and swung them downwards onto the ground. Then he prepared a leaf blade, and blocked the slash that a sableye was trying to use from behind him, not even looking at them as he did.

He deftly spun around, slashing two more with his leaf blades, Instantly KOing them. quickly jumped upwards to dodge another Sableye that had sprung out of the ground with a shadow sneak.

Pine saw the way Dusknoir's expression was one of disbelief and fear. An expression that he didn't know such a heartless monster was able to make.

Pine was about to shout and warn Grovyle about the shadow ball that Dusknoir had quickly sent hurtling towards him, but stopped when Grovyle instantly shot him a venomous glare.

He spun around in mid-air and hit the shadow ball with his leaf blade at an angle, ricocheting it towards a Sableye that had broken off from the group.

Grovyle swung a leg downwards as he fell. Colliding with another Sableye that had just leapt out of a shadow sneak to attack him.

Grovyle landed, slashed the back of the Sableye that missed earlier, and then charged an energy ball. Throwing it at the final sableye that had just thrown his own shadow ball. The two collided with each other right in front of the Sableye. Creating an explosion that launched the Sableye backwards into a tree. Falling to the ground unconscious.

Dusknoir stared at Grovyle in abject terror as he straightened his posture. Taking in, and releasing another deep breath.

Dusknoir steeled his expression and shot forward when Grovyle began to slowly walk towards him.

Dusknoir swung a fist covered in dark flames, a shadow punch, that Grovyle sidestepped, retaliating with an X-scissor.

Several light blue flames surrounded Dusknoir and hurtled themselves to Grovyle as he swung another Shadow Punch at him again. Grovyle jumped towards Dusknoir and grabbed the antenna on his head, Grovyle kicked a leg outward and used his and Dusknoir's momentum to throw Dusknoir forward. Dusknoir, getting hit with the Will-O-Wisp in the process. Grovyle slashed another leaf blade across Dusknoir's chest, while grabbing the orb that he had tossed on the ground earlier. Grovyle held it out in front of him while Dusknoir was reeling from the attack and crushed it in his hand. A gust of wind burst forth from in front of Grovyle and sent Dusknoir hurtling backwards. Slamming into a tree and falling to the ground. Defeated.

Grovyle dropped the pieces of the orb onto the ground and approached Dusknoir. His eye widened as he did so.

Grovyle grabbed Dusknoir by the frills on his neck and raised an arm. His leaves, sharp as swords.

Dusknoir winced as Grovyle hesitated.

The leaves on his arm drooped and softened.

Why wasn't he doing it!?

Grovyle took in another, and released another, deep breath. Dusknoir's eye slowly opened, staring at Grovyle.

He didn't seem tired, why was he doing that?

And why was Celebi covering her mouth with her hands, looking horrified and ready to vomit?

“I know you aren't the same person…” Grovyle growled. He slowly reached forward and held one of his hands against Dusknoir's head. Right above his eye. “But I have wanted to do this for so long.” He said, his words dripping with hate.

“What are you-” Dusknoir began before his eye started staring off into the distance. Wider than Pine had ever seen. His body started shaking.

“No! STOP!” He shouted. Dusknoir's shaking hands shot upward and clasped around Grovyle's entire arm. He looked like he was trying to scream, but couldn't.

Tears immediately started flooding down his face, his body shook like he was experiencing an earthquake. His breathing, quick and short.

This went on for several seconds, before finally, Grovyle let go and took a step back. Dusknoir fell forward onto the ground. Tears falling from his eye. His entire body was shaking. Muttering something that sounded like apologies.

Grovyle stared down at him. His wrathful expression fell into pity.

Grovyle reached forward and started to pull his arm down. Getting caught on something invisible. He slashed downward, seeming to cut through the air and open a passage of time.

Grovyle crouched down in front of the quietly sobbing assassin and began talking.

“Listen closely. Dialga won't kill you for this failure.” Dusknoir lifted his head to look at him. “So long as you describe me as an interloper. Tell him about how I was able to open a passage without a time gear. You, and your Sableye won't be killed.”

Grovyle stood up, and did a motion. A pulse of pink energy fled from his body as he did so.

Pine noticed that the sharp pain in his hand quickly disappeared. He looked down at his hand.

The blood was still all over it, but the wounds he'd created from his grief earlier were completely gone. Replaced with tiny scabs.

Heal pulse?

But that would mean!

Pine's head shot upwards to see the sableye stirring. Pushing themselves off the ground. Muttering in pain as they looked around.

What is he doing!?

“Master Dusknoir!!” One of them shouted.

All of the others sprung into action, sprinting towards Grovyle as they registered what he'd done to Dusknoir.

“SABLEYES!” Dusknoir suddenly shouted as they closed in on Grovyle. They all stopped dead in their tracks.

Dusknoir rose up from the ground. The tears wiped away, and his hands clenched to try to keep them from trembling.

“We are leaving.” He ordered.

The Sableye recoiled in shock. Rising into a cacophony of confused protest.

“Now.” Dusknoir growled loudly. All the Sableye flinched, hesitated for a moment, and one by one entered into the passage. Glaring at Pine's group, at Grovyle, and giving concerned looks to Dusknoir.

Dusknoir moved to enter into the passage, turning his head to look at Grovyle.

“Are you sure that Dialga-” He began, his voice shaking.

Grovyle interrupted by nodding. “He'll make you wish you were dead, but all of you will live.”

Dusknoir stared at him before his vision fell to the ground.

“Okay… Th-… Thank you.” He muttered.

Dusknoir turned and entered into the passage. The passage quickly disappeared after he entered.

A long minute passed as the three stared at Grovyle while he stood in the same spot. Slowly tapping his foot, his unreadable expression shifting rapidly with his eyes shut tight.

“Okaay.” Grovyle broke the silence. He started walking towards his satchel. Keeping his eyes locked onto it. “Well that was fun. Now you three won't-”

“H- How in arceus’ name did you do that?” Celebi asked, her voice quivering in fear.

Grovyle looked at her as he bent down to pick up his satchel. “Ah. Making a time loop is surprisingly easy. And I've had practice breaking them.”

Pine turned his head back and forth to look at the two. “Wait, wait. Time loop? What does that have to do with how Dusknoir acted?” He questioned.

Grovyle made a tsk sound. “Right, you don't know what I did, do you?” Grovyle slung the satchel over his head and paused for a moment. “Well, I just gave Dusknoir the clarity to remember what I did to him.”

Pine recoiled in disgust.

Arceus, he hopes he's not this person.

Grovyle turned his back towards them and slowly started walking back to where he initially opened the passage.

Lilly pulled away from Pine and started following him. Her expression one of determination.

“Alright. I looked pretty far ahead. The timelines where you need to kill your Celebi are so infinitesimally unlikely to happen, that worrying about the possibility would be a waste of breath.”

Grovyle stopped near where he opened the passage.

“Just so you know, this is a one time thing. I'm not going to…” He trailed off when he turned to look at them and noticed Lilly standing next to him.

“... Can I help you?” He asked with a dry bite.

Lilly walked forward and hugged Grovyle. His eyes widened in shock, his mouth hung open, and his arms flung outwards. For a few seconds, he stood there frozen. His eyes rapidly looked at her, and forward, at the ground, at Pine, at Celebi, before finally settling on Lilly.

Grovyle reached down and pushed her away while taking a step back. Lilly looked at him with a dejected expression. Anger rose in Pine's chest as Grovyle stared at her like she had just tried to attack him.

Grovyle's head dropped and he gave an exasperated sigh after a few seconds. He pulled his satchel in front of him and rummaged around inside of it.

Grovyle stepped towards Lilly, crouched down and pulled out a huge apple. His claws pierced into it so he could hold it steady, and offered it to her.

Lilly's face lit up brighter and happier than Pine had ever seen. She shot her little hands out and clasped the sides of the apple that was almost bigger than her head. She shouted something happily to Grovyle before turning and jogging back to Pine and Celebi. Excitedly chattering and laughing in a language that Pine didn't understand.

Grovyle stood back up, a small smile tugging at the edges of his mouth. Grovyle sighed and the smile disappeared. An act.

“As I was saying.” He started. “I'm not going to come back and save you from whatever problems you've got. You're gonna have to figure out a lot of stuff on your own.”

Grovyle turned and did what he had done earlier. His claw getting caught on the air. Only this time, he strained harder. He grabbed the arm that he was cutting the passage open with his other hand and put his entire body into swinging downwards. Cutting open the air and creating a passage. He remained crouched down for a few seconds, panting heavily.

He stood back up and looked at them.

“It won't come easy, but just trust your instincts and you'll survive. Do what comes naturally.” He stepped inside the passage and leaned backwards to look at them. “But for the love of Arceus, Pine. If you are fighting an explorer team with a Pikachu on it; Don't kill either of them.” Pine flinched as Grovyle stared at him for a few seconds.

Grovyle started leaning back in.

“Wait!” Celebi shouted.

Grovyle leaned back out the passage. His brow furrowed. “Make it quick.” He replied.

“Well…” Celebi responded, fidgeting her hands together. “When all this is said and done, could we maybe, talk for a while?”

Grovyle's eyes very slightly softened. He stared at her for a few seconds before narrowing his eyes.

“No.” He said. Completely monotone.

Grovyle leaned back into the passage fully, and it closed before Celebi could say anything more.

[catflowerqueen]

What if...?

So… I ended up doing this instead of working. It, uh… it kind of got away from me a little… or a lot… I meant for it to only be a quick little thought, but it ended up as a whole outline. Some of it is spoilery.

I’m going to post a small part 2 as well, for if a slightly different scenario takes place even within this already AU scenario.

In regards to some of my commentary on a previous post…Now I’m imagining a scenario in which the Treasure Bag swap did happen, and, in order to avoid being identified so soon as the time gear thief, Grovyle just straight up kidnaps Laura and starts dragging her around with him. Probably in this scenario he manages to do it without witnesses—or else he moves fast enough/is just disguised enough that no one could tell for sure who he was or what his motive was.  

He feels really bad about it, but it isn’t as though he can just let her go after taking his bag back, because then she would just tell everyone else what she saw, and possibly what his next plans were. This wasn’t quite as big a deal to him in canon, because by the time Uxie managed to identify him, he was already 3/5 of the way to his goal. But here, the only time gear that everyone knows for sure is gone is the one from Treeshroud Forest, since Ditto is still keeping quiet about the one from Limestone Cavern being gone.

So he’s basically got her tied up like Pikachu from the original pokemon anime, or like he himself was in canon after finally being caught by Dusknoir (but without the muzzle, because he’s not a total jerk) and is just dragging her along behind him. She’s a surprisingly non-hostile captive, to be honest, even though she is really obviously upset at him. This may be in part because she’s realized that that the direction they are headed is in the same direction that Chatot alluded the expedition would be, so she figures that she will be rescued along the way. Or, if this takes place after the expedition, she recognizes that they are headed to Foggy Forest, and, thus, Fogbound Lake, and figures that she can make her escape once they reach Uxie. Grovyle, of course, has no idea about any of this, as he hasn’t heard about the expedition/might not know she’s from the guild, depending on where he took her.

Her docility has the unexpected effect of making the few people they come across think they are related to each other, though, which is both a blessing and a curse as far as his keeping hidden goes, because the first group they met was highly concerned by his “parenting/older brother-ing” tactics when they saw that Laura was tied up and pouting. So he had to mostly untie her for a while. Probably he just, like, tied their hands together and then pulled her close enough to hide the rope when they came across anyone else.

Grovyle thanks Arceus for the fact that Laura—whose name he doesn’t actually know at this point—can walk on two legs, even as he is insanely jealous of this fact, remembering his own time as a treecko, as it means that dragging her along with him is a lot easier than he thought it would be. Not that he actually planned for this to happen.

Eventually they will loosen up enough around each other that they will start talking. Grovyle is likely going to be the one to start, given that the way she’s acting—silently following him—is going to make him forget at times that it isn’t his partner following him (even though it totally actually is). So he’s probably going to slip up one day and start addressing his “Partner,” using her as a sounding board, etc. And Laura is going to pick up on this. And then start questioning him about things when they stop for the night—with the first question being whether he had a partner, since his use of that term along with some of the things he said is going to remind her about the dimensional scream she had at the groudoun statue (again, assuming that this happens after the expedition). Grovyle is probably going to slap himself for forgetting himself the way he did, but will reluctantly tell her about what she’s actually doing. He’s going to be surprised by her attentiveness—and how really, really into the story she’s getting, as he is likely going to tell her at least an abridged version of the Time Gear Legend—and also by the way she is apparently reserving her judgement on the situation.

He probably won’t actually tell her anything about his partner, though, beyond maybe “yes I have/had one.” Unless I want to do another scenario where he does tell her—but she would likely be at least a little skeptical at this point. Or even if she does start to think that she fits the bill and likely was actually his partner, she’s not going to tell him yet until she ascertains whether or not he’s telling the truth about his goal. If he is, then great! She will totally help! If he isn’t… then she is totally going to turn to the good side and stop him—because she’s come to like the world the way it is—and then will probably turn herself in to the authorities once the crisis is resolved and the time gears are back in their proper places.

But going with the assumption that they both remain unaware… Grovyle still doesn’t know what she’s actually thinking or whether she’s now sympathetic to the cause or not, so when they eventually make it to the Foggy Forest he starts looking for a place he can safely stash her while he goes on ahead to collect the time gear—because even if by now he has completely forgone actually tying her up any more, there is no way that he would be able to keep track of her if things came to fight (which he knows is likely, since Ditto pretty much confirmed that the other guardians had no clue anymore why they were guarding the time gears, and are almost definitely going to fight him) and he still can’t guarantee that she won’t be a hindrance to him. Also, he doesn’t want her slowing him down when time stops after the gear is taken, nor does he want to risk her getting caught up in that in general since, again, he isn’t heartless and feels really, really bad about kidnapping her.

So he probably, like, drugs her with sleep seeds and then ties her to a tree at the edge of the forest—or maybe forgoes tying her up, since after this point it probably won’t matter if she does get rescued/escapes and tells other people who the thief is, because Uxie is unavoidable and will probably tell everyone anyways. He just hopes that in that case she starts heading back the way they came, rather than trying to find help by way of the forest/steam cave. Wherever the perimeter is.

But if this is after the expedition… he doesn’t realize that she already knows exactly what to do in order to get to the time gear—and she has the advantage over his knowledge in this case since she was literally just here a little while ago, vs. him only knowing a route in the paralyzed future which probably doesn’t look quite the same, with the added bonus of things like flowing water/magma and weather conditions which would hinder him a bit, even if he is more used to them now.

So she gets there way ahead of him, and has the chance to talk to Uxie. Or else—and the slightly more amusing option—she gets there just as they’re about to start their climactic battle and yells out something like “So did Relatia really leave the Time Gears in order to stop Temporal Tower from falling?”

And then everyone just… freezes. Grovyle in shock over how quickly she managed to get up there, Uxie over the new information he has been presented as he tries to re-evaluate things and remember the legend. …And then sheepishly recall that, yes, that is actually what they are supposed to be doing with them. And the fact that Laura now knows about this legend when she didn’t before, either means that she remembered on her own… or Grovyle told her. So he asks where she learned about that—still without revealing her name—and when the answer is Grovyle, he figures that Grovyle is probably taking the gears in order to fix the Tower. Grovyle is still baffled by this turn of events, but also hopeful that things will get a little easier now that he apparently has support from the lake guardians. And possibly the apprentices, too, if they aren’t too mad at him about kidnapping her and all that.

So now basically all that’s left for Grovyle to do mission-wise is figure out where the Hidden Land is. Laura suggests that they go to the guild for that, which grovyle almost agrees to… until she also ponders whether the all-knowing Dusknoir might know anything. Upon which he adamantly refuses to go anywhere near that place, and lets slip about what Dusknoir is actually doing in the past. Which of course just makes Laura worry about her friends.

But Uxie still thinks it’s a good idea to seek help from the guild, so he hands the time gear to grovyle (and all three of them are slightly befuddled that time doesn’t stop—see my previous posts for an explanation of why) and then sends a message via telepathy to whichever of his siblings is closest before sending Grovyle their way while he escorts Laura back to the guild. She gives a surprisingly warm goodbye and good luck to Grovyle—or surprising to him at least, since, you know…. He kidnapped her, and everything. He probably sacrifices his Plain Seeds to her as an apology, even as he was, and still is, baffled by the fact that she likes them when it came out at some point during their travels and his heart aches at the fact that he is giving up the “treats” he had saved for his partner. They do remind him to tell Uxie to inform his siblings about the fact that he had a partner who travelled with him, though, just so they don’t accidentally attack her. …But he likely also forgets to give them much in the way of identifying features.

But in any case, Uxie takes Laura back to the guild, everyone is thrilled at her return and Dusknoir is left more or less in the dark about what actually happened. He may or may not have figured out Laura’s identity at this point—since the guild probably sought his help and Paula probably talked to him/them about what little they knew about her past in an attempt to figure out a motive—but whether he has or has not, he is thrilled by her return and doesn’t suspect grovyle’s involvement at all. All Uxie was willing to divulge was that Laura’s kidnapper ended up dragging her all the way over to his Lake, so he elected to bring her back after the problem was “taken care of.” The assumption is left that he erased the kidnapper’s memory—and no one really questions why law enforcement wasn’t involved, because the more pragmatic members of the guild realize that, unfortunately, proper time flow is more important that seeking justice, and the others are just glad that Laura is back. Dusknoir… may or may not actually know for sure the exact locations of the time gears, even though the legend heavily implies that Uxie kept one—after all, he may not have hidden it in his actual home—and since no one knew for sure who the kidnapper was, he may have just assumed that the motive was simply “this is a newer member of the guild, so she is probably therefore weaker than the others, but she still went on that recent expedition, so I can probably easily make her guide me to the treasure that is supposedly in Fogbound Lake.” So Grovyle’s involvement is completely hidden, and so far as Dusknoir knows Uxie’s time gear is still in its usual location.

The second he leaves, however, Uxie informs the guild about what has actually been happening, and who Dusknoir actually is, and asks them to start helping him search for the Hidden Land.

Grovyle, meanwhile, has made it to either Mesprit or Azelf’s Lake and is taking a little time to rest and chat with them before he heads on to the next location. Possibly they are even waiting for the other lake sibling to join them with their gear, but more likely they’re just chatting/waiting for an update since for all they know time no stopping in Fogbound Lake after the gear was removed was just a weird fluke, even though they are probably aware that a guardian taking it out and holding it for a while is fine so long as its still in the general vicinity.

But eventually the lake guardian hears an update and is like “you will be pleased to know that Uxie and Laura made it back safely, and Dusknoir is none the wiser.” And then Grovyle is going to freak out upon hearing that name, demands more information, and then it finally comes out that Laura is actually his partner turned into a pokemon. …Who is now in close proximity to Dusknoir. …And probably still has no clue who she is, unless they use telepathy again to pass that message on.

So that whole thing ends up being kind of a big mess, but Grovyle does rush back to Treasure Town and with everyone’s help they manage to subdue Dusknoir and the others before they get the chance to time travel or drag anyone into the future. And Grovyle and Laura have a somewhat awkward reunion. But Grovyle does get to hang out with the guild for a while, which is cool.

…The fact that the pokemon from the future will disappear will inevitably come out during this time, as a las-ditch effort by Dusknoir to salvage things, which is significantly less cool, and will likely give the others something of a pause as they digest all this, but it ultimately won’t matter much in the long run. As sad and heartbroken as everyone is about it. They are determined to give Grovyle and Laura the best times possible with what time they have left, though, and there is likely some frantic research going on in the background as they try and find a solution to this.

They run out of time to do so, however, so it is with a rather heavy heart that Team Rainbow and Grovyle head out to Temporal Tower to fix things… and then extreme shock, confusion, and anguish when Laura is the only one who ends up disappearing. Things only get more confusing and anguish filled when they return to Treasure Town sans Laura and find out that Dusknoir and the sableye, currently in prison, also still exist—which likely means that everyone else in the future does, too. Things only get more confusing and anguish-filled when they react with absolute horror upon finding out Laura’s fate, since, surprise! She was never supposed to be in danger of disappearing since she wasn’t even from this planet in the first place.

They may or may not decide to actually go back to the future. I’m guessing that they probably will, eventually, but they can’t do it right away since Dialga is too busy to help them and they don’t have any celebi/time passages handy. So it isn’t going to happen until Laura makes it back—because of course she will make it back. But she’s not going to remember anything past the night before they set out for Brine Cave, as in The World’s Treasure.

And then the post-game stuff is going to happen, delaying Grovyle’s trip back to the future even more, and he’s going to have an extremely interesting reaction to the revelation that Darkrai is the one who set everything in motion… Assuming Darkrai even follows through with that plan he had in the post-game, since he is probably more than aware of the fact that Grovyle is still hanging around…

[lovepmd]

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Timeline EXPLAINED!

Once upon a time, a Pokémon named Zoroark and his human partner set out to train Zoroark in the art of illusions. During their journey, the human and Zoroark found a Pokémon named Xatu. Xatu told the duo that there will be a betrayal among the two. As Zoroark transforms into more and more forms, he slowly began to lose his mind as the emotions of the wild Pokémon battle with his own for control, and his faith in humans, and thus his partner, was shaken. The Zoroark witnessed his human partner capture a Gardevoir, which the human striked up a friendship with much more quickly than he did with Zoroark. Jealous of the attention Gardevoir was getting, along with his fractured mental state, Zoroark fled from the group and lead them into a cave. At the end of the cave, the human and Gardevoir met a Pokémon named Ninetales. Curious, the human grabbed one of Ninetales’ tails, causing it to lay a curse on him. In his stead, Gardevoir stepped in and takes the curse. The Zoroark began to fear his human when, seeing his chance, the human abandoned Gardevoir and fled, not knowing that Zoroark feared this same scenario happening to him. Ninetales noticed Zoroark, and asked if he had any business in his cave. When Zoroark responded with a negative, Ninetales banished him. Zoroark realized that the human now has his undivided attention with Gardevoir gone, but he didn’t feel any satisfaction. Along their travels, the two witnessed a horrifying transformations of two Kyurem into Black Kyurem and White Kyurem at the hands of cruel humans. Zoroark was finally driven to hate his human partner after the human attempted to battle the curse out of the two Kyurem instead of simply capturing them. Zoroark watched the human be defeated and fled the scene, becoming just as bad as the evil he’d feared. Zoroark lead the Kyurem to a human town, and solidified his hatred of humanity by taking a perverse glee in watching the Kyurem kill the humans. Zoroark made it his goal to kill every human he possibly could. He managed to transform into a Psychic-type and worm his way into the Kyurems’ minds and convincing them to serve him and call him “The Master.” The three made their way through the world, killing any humans they came across and leveling any and all of their monuments, recruiting as many distrusting or outright hateful Pokémon as they can. Pokémon were manipulated into rebelling against their masters. Eventually, Legendary Pokémon get involved with the incident, that would soon be dubbed “the Great Pokémon Rebellion.” As each Pokémon finds their sides of the Rebellion, the world’s balance is thrown into turmoil, and mystery dungeons begin to crop up en mass. Eventually, the Master’s army’s hatred and bitterness of humans, and the humans’ own hatred of the Rebels, manifested into a force ultimately dubbed the Dark Matter. The Master found the Dark Matter’s core, and convinced it to eliminate humans. The Dark Matter, never intending to go through with the plan the Master had in mind, agreed. The Dark Matter began to enact it’s plan of uprooting the Tree of Life, sending the world catapulting into the sun. A human and their Mew partner attempted to fight against the Dark Matter, but the damage was done, and the Dark Matter was only rendered dormant by their efforts. The world had returned to its orbit, but the Master, infuriated by the Dark Matter’s treason, sent his forces against the human and Mew, refusing to believe that a human could do good or that a Pokémon could be friends with a human, as well as needing a punching bag. The human and Mew, fearful of their fates, fled to a place that lay beyond the reaches of time and space, believed to never return… In response to the crawling chaos that the world had been consumed by, Arceus, the Lake trio, and the Creation trio all worked together in an attempt to quell the Dark Matter’s remaining agents and save the world’s remaining humans. They saw that they’d stepped in too late, watched every remaining human die before their eyes, and lost their will to continue fighting. Eventually, they sent out the truth that all of the humans are dead. The Master, convinced that he had fulfilled his purpose, withdrew and/or released his soldiers and allowed the Pokémon in the world to live in peace, and the memories of the Rebellion faded into mere legend. The Pokémon managed to recoup and build towns ironically similar to human settlements. The mystery dungeons, originally believed to have disappeared after the end of the Rebellion, sprang back up in full force. Dialga and a Celebi crafted the Time Gears and Temporal Tower in an attempt to stop, or at least slow, the flow of the mystery dungeons. This failed, and the world became dependent on these artifacts as a side effect. A few other legendaries, inspired by this, built their own domains and artifacts in the world to see if that could slow down the spread of the mystery dungeons, but these plans failed, too. The Pokémon Exploration Team Federation was founded to create guilds, which were used to train Pokémon to explore and possibly chart patterns in mystery dungeons. One of their most esteemed guilds was the Wigglytuff Guild. Due to its reputation, Pokémon flocked to join the guild and were either rejected outright, gave up on the training, or convinced themselves to pull through. One of the Wigglytuff Guild’s apprentices, Bidoof, met a Mythical Pokémon named Jirachi and wished to have new apprentices at the guild. Unbeknownst to him, this wish had the very sinister consequence of the Master coming out of hiding and taking the form of a Darkrai. Due to a combination his insanity and Darkrai’s powers, the Master came up with a plan to make a dark world for him to rule over. Darkrai attacked Temporal Tower, causing it to collapse and the flow of time to stagnate. A shiny Celebi managed to go through time just enough to find a human who existed during the Rebellion, and yanked them through time to her own. In the dark future, they met a Pokémon named Grovyle. Grovyle explained to the human that he’s searching for the Time Gears in order to prevent the very future they’re in from happening. Grovyle and the human found a strange rock while trying to find Celebi. Grovyle wondered what it could be for, until the human solved the puzzle and put the stone into a Groudon statue. A telepathic voice from the statue then informed them of Celebi’s wherabouts. The duo advanced through the dark world, unknowingly being pursued by a Pokémon named Dusknoir and his six Sableye companions. Eventually, Grovyle and the human encountered Celebi, who informed them of what’s going to happen when they went back in time. Dusknoir and the Sableye caught up to them and attempted to attack, but they escaped through the Passage of Time. This is when the events of Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky happened. We’ll just skip that to save time. Many centuries later, when the events of Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky had become a mere legend, a Pokémon named Lucario discovered another region that had been relatively peaceful since the Rebellion. Unfortunately, Lucario was rather vain and a little narcissistic. So, when the Pokémon questioned him on who he was, where he came from and what he’d done, he greatly exaggerrated the tales. Soon after his stories were over, he asked the Pokémon of the land why they’d hadn’t heard of him and his Team Pearl. That’s when the Pokémon revealed to him that they were ignorant of the Exploration Team Federation, exploration teams, and guilds. Indeed, they only knew of the mystery dungeons and lived in fear of them. But the Pokémon of the new region weren’t just afraid of the mystery dungeons. There had also been the recent rash of natural disasters. Seeking to fix this, Lucario and the rest of his Team Pearl formed the Pokémon Rescue Organization. This organization sought to save Pokémon from the natural disasters and mystery dungeons by funding rescue teams. Unbeknownst to them, all of their theories were wrong. None of the things they’d theorized were to blame for the natural disasters. Indeed, the Gardevoir who was cursed in the place of her human master sensed that the Master was afoot, and had come up with another mad scheme. Realizing what must be done, she went through the spirit realm to find a human who existed during the Rebellion and proposed that she wipe their memories of their life. Due to the Rebellion’s effects on humanity, they agreed. This is when the events of Red/Blue Rescue Team happened. We’ll just skip that. A rough estimate of eight years later, three Pokémon brothers, all named Slowking, discovered a set of areas in a region entirely ignorant of the Rebellion. In truth, this place had thrived as a Pokémon haven, free from the reach of humans for countless eons. One was a beach, another a volcano, the last a grassland. The Slowking brothers started up the Adventure Squad Association, dedicated to exploring this new region. This is when the events of Blazing/Stormy/Light Adventure Squad happened. We’ll skip that. After a good three decades, humans had become nothing but myths. A few Pokémon found a new region, which had the appearance of a society regressing into more animalistic tendencies due to isolation. In order to address this problem, the Pokémon formed the Institue for Doing Innovative Operations and Travels, or IDIOT, whose purpose was to allow these feral Pokémon a chance to see the outside world. They were successful, so IDIOT’s focus shifted to allowing friends to form alliances with each other for whatever the purpose may be, and rebranded themselves as the Helping Adventurous Pokémon Prosper Institute, or HAPPI. Despite HAPPI’s positive reception, Pokémon were still bitter. The Voice of Life, embodied in the form of a Hydreigon, saw that this negativity was going to lead into the premature awakening of the Dark Matter. Due to said awakening being early, this incarnation of Dark Matter was simply called “the Bittercold.” Hydreigon took to the time stream to find a human from who was pure of heart, before the Rebellion corrupted everything. Unbeknownst to him, the Master was the one who triggered the awakening with the very first feeling of hatred, with the hopes that he’d get a second chance with the Dark Matter. This is when the events of Gates to Infinity happened. SKIP IT! The Master learned from his mistake last time, and decided to be patient to get his second chance with the Dark Matter. Only about a year later, the opportunity presents itself. Little did he know that two old foes are going to return… Now, we’re here in Super Mystery Dungeon. If a new Mystery Dungeon comes out, I’ll have to expand the timeline… Or this whole thing could be jossed with the next release…