I'm In A Mystery Dungeon Mood Again

I'm in a mystery dungeon mood again

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An Untimely Reunion

“The passage of time should be just up ahead! Let’s hurry along now.”

Clay, Leo, and Grovyle followed Celebi into the clearing. Sure enough, the passage was just across the way. Grovyle took a deep breath. He was exhausted, but there was no time to rest. When Dusknior had taken him back to the dark future, he thought for sure that he had failed his mission. Now he had a second chance, and there was no way he was going to let it slip.

“So this will really send us back home?” Leo asked. “Can we finally go back to our time?”

“Yes,” Grovyle responded. “The passage of time will allow all three of us to return to the past. I used it when I came to your time originally.”

“That’s right!” Celebi added, nodding. “And I’m the only one with the power to open it! Isn’t that fun?”

Clay let out a long sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. I was worried we’d never see our friends at the guild again. They must be worried sick about us right now.”

As the group approached the passage, Grovyle took one last look around. If everything goes as planned once returning to the past, this will be the last time he sees the dark future. He turned his gaze to Celebi. He knew she could fend for herself, but he couldn’t help feeling a tinge of sadness about leaving her alone here yet again.

“You’re sure you’ll be ok here on your own?” he asked her.

“Yes of course, Grovyle dear! How many times do I need to tell you that I can’t ever be caught?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” a familiar voice sneered.

Grovyle felt a crushing wave of dread come over him. He looked back towards the passage of time to find Dusknior waiting in front of it. He had a smug grin on his face.

“You…” Grovyle muttered.

“You’ve grown careless, Grovyle. I already knew you’d be coming here, but you were also unexpectedly easy to follow. You’re usually cautious enough to not let that happen.” He chuckled. “That sudden change will spell your demise. Now Sableye! Seize them!”

Grovyle groaned. “Shit, we’re surrounded. Looks like we were followed. I’m sorry everyone, but we’re going to have to force our way through to get out of this.”

“That’s fine,” Clay said, readying himself. “Team Sunspark has faced far more difficult battles than this before.”

Dusknior smirked at them. “Oh, you lot won’t be going anywhere. NOW, MASTER DIALGA!”

The ground trembled beneath them. The group looked on in horror as the enraged legend slowly appeared on the mountain in front of them. Clay turned to Grovyle, who wore a distraught look on his face. “Is that-?”

“Yes. This is Primal Dialga,” Grovyle said through gritted teeth. “Dammit. It looks like this might be the end for us.”

Leo looked at him, shocked. “But we can’t give up! Not when we’re so close!”

“Don’t you get it? Primal Dialga is just far too powerful for us to face in our exhausted state. There’s simply nothing else we can do.”

“I see you finally grasp the gravity of your situation,” Dusknior sneered. “The dark future will never be changed. How does it feel knowing that you failed the one thing you devoted your entire life to?”

“I might have failed, but the cause isn’t lost. You seem to have forgotten that I didn’t go to the past alone. My partner is still there, and I have faith that he’ll succeed. I may fall here, but you haven’t won!”

“So you’re still desperately grasping to hope then. If you don’t mind, would you be so kind as to share the name of this beloved partner of yours?”

“Stop toying with me,” Grovyle growled. “You know who Clay is, and you know I’ll never forgive you for what you tried to do to him.”

Clay jerked his head towards Grovyle. Did he hear that right? “Did- did you just say his name was Clay?” he asked. “Because MY name is Clay.”

Grovyle scoffed at him. “Must be some sort of twisted coincidence. I wish you could have met my Clay. You two probably would have gotten along. Not that it matters now.”

Dusknior chuckled. “Oh, I can assure you that the similarities extend well past sharing a name. You see, our good friend Clay here used to be a human! He washed up on the beach one day as shinx with no memories of his past.”

Grovyle’s eyes widened. “Wha- What are you trying to say?”

“And it gets even better! Clay also happens to possess a very special ability. When he touches certain things, he sometimes has visions of events from the past or the future. Does a power like that sound familiar to you?”

Grovyle’s heart dropped. “The dimensional scream? No… there’s no way. It can’t be true. You’re lying.” He turned to Clay and grabbed his sholders. “Please Clay… please tell me he’s lying.”

Clay looked back at him, terrified. “I’m so sorry Grovyle, but everything he said is true. As hard as it might be to believe, I really was a human. It’s the only thing about my past that I’m certain about. And I don’t know why, but I also can use the dimensional scream. It’s helped Leo and I complete tons of rescue and explorations. I told Dusknior about this in the past before we were taken here.”

“It’s true,” Leo added. “His dimensional scream has helped us locate main outlaws and points of interest during our guild work.”

Grovyle’s heart dropped. Tears began welling up in his eyes. He slowly turned back to Dusknior. His voice trembled as he spoke. “No… This is really?”

“Do you finally get it Grovyle? CLAY is your partner! He’s even wearing the same scarf YOU gave him; I don’t even know how someone as perceptive as you could miss that! I found him before you in the past and took advantage of his amnesia to convince him to fight against you. It made capturing you two laughably easy. The unwavering faith in him you so foolishly clung to won’t matter. The timeline will not be changed, and I’ll eliminate both of you here to guarantee it!”

Celebi went pale. “What? There’s simply no way. I could sense that the temporal distortion around you was stronger than Grovyle and Leo, but I thought nothing of it. To think you were Clay the whole time…” She trailed off.

Clay didn’t know what to think or how to feel. He felt a rush of tears beginning to form. He was from the future? And Grovyle was his partner? But he had spent the past few months desperately trying to take down Grovyle! Was he really just being used all this time? The thought of it infuriated him. He glared at Dusknior through his wet eyes. “So thats it then? Was I nothing more than a pawn to you?”

Dusknior gave him a dejected look. “Trust me Clay, it wasn’t anything personal. I took no joy in this. You clearly had no knowledge of your previous mission, but I couldn’t risk your memories and motivation returning. I HAD to make sure the future remained intact. Taking advantage of your memory loss was the only way for me to guarantee that.”

“HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?” Clay screamed. “None of this was personal? Bullshit! Everything you’ve ever said to me was just a lie! You turned me against my own family! You made me HATE him! You nearly made us KILL each other! And now you have the nerve to say you DIDN’T want to do it? Pfft. Yeah, sure. Ok. I hope it was worth it then. I hope your life is better once Leo and I are dead and gone, because apparently killing us is the only thing that will let you sleep at night.” He took a shaky breath before adding, “You’re the most pathetic pokemon to ever walk this earth.”

Leo thought he saw Dusknior cringe at Clay’s last comment. “What? Is he actually upset by this?” He quickly shook the thought. Right now he had to focus on finding a way out of this. Surely there was something they could do. “Wait. We just need to get past these sableye and we’d be able to make a run for it. Could Celebi send us forward in time to achieve that?” He slightly nudged her to get her attention. “Yes dear?” she asked.

He leaned closer to her and whispered, “You can travel through time right? That’s how the passage of time works, I’m assuming. Are you able to send us slightly into the future?”

“I can, but not by much. Especially with Dialga here. His command over time is significantly stronger than mine, so he could interfere with anything I try to do.”

“That’s fine. It only needs to be a few seconds. Just enough to let us get past these sableye.”

“Oh, that’ll be quite easy. A few seconds is nothing.”

“Good. Just wait until the moment right before they attack us. I’ll let Clay and Grovyle know.”

He turned back towards Clay, who was an absolute mess. He was still sobbing, and his front paws were soaked from trying to wipe away his tears. It killed him to see Clay like this. He had never really even seen him sad before, so to see him crying this much was heartbreaking. He wasn’t sure if he would ever forgive Dusknoir for doing this to him. He kneeled down next to him .“Clay? Hey Clay listen–”

Clay looked up at him. “Leo?” he said quietly, voice breaking. “I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry. You’re here because of me and my past. It’s my fault we’re going to die. If you weren’t–”

Leo cut him off. “Look at me Clay. None of this is happening because of you. Dusknoir said it himself. But we don’t have the luxury to think about that right now. I know how difficult this is for you, but you have to keep fighting. After all, we’re both still here! Team Sunspark hasn’t been defeated yet!”

Clay’s eyes widened. He sniffled and wiped away his tears again. “You- you’re right,” he croaked. “I think I’ll manage for now. But Grovyle…”

They both looked over towards him, where he stood frozen in place.

—

Grovyle' stood frozen in place's thoughts were racing. His vision was blurred. His ears were ringing. His heart was pounding. He could barely breathe.

“This is my fault,” he thought. “I did this to him. I’m the reason why he went to the past. I’m the reason why he lost his memory. I hurt him. I hurt his friends, and I didn’t care. I didn’t even bother to learn anything about him. And now he’s going to die because of me. The future won’t even be changed. ”

“Grovyle…” a quiet voice called out.

“Clay?” He turned his head to make out a familiar figure. A young human boy with dark, messy hair stood there. He had bright green eyes and a blue scarf wrapped around his neck. It was Clay. “What- how did–”

Clay’s voice called out again. “Grovyle!”

He blinked hard and rubbed his eyes, only to find that Clay was gone. In his place stood a shinx with the same eyes and scarf. “That’s right. This is what Clay looks like now. It’s because of me. It’s because I couldn’t–”

“GROVYLE!!!” Clay screamed. Grovyle jolted back to reality, regaining his senses. He looked around wildly. They were still cornered by the sableye, and Dusknior remained a few meters behind them. The passage of time was still out of reach. He looked back over to Clay. His eyes were filled with tears, and his whole body was trembling. His fur was sparking with electricity. Grovyle opened his mouth to speak, but he could barely get any words out.

“Clay,” he stammered. “I- I’m sorry. I couldn’t- this is my–”

“Grovyle please!” Clay cried, voice cracking. “I understand how you feel! This hurts for me too! More than you could imagine. But we can’t think about that right now!” He gestured towards the passage of time. “We can still escape! Despite everything, we’re all still alive! You haven’t lost me yet! So please… I’m begging you! Keep fighting! Don’t give up hope!”

“But what could we possibly do? We’re outnumbered, and we’re up against a legendary. With our injuries we don’t stand a chance.”

Leo put a hand on his shoulder. “We don’t need to win! We just need to escape. And we have a plan to do it! Just wait for my signal, and be ready to run for it.”

“Hey!” Dusknior shouted at them. “Done saying your goodbyes? Good. Now Sableye, finish them off. Be sure to kill them this time.”

“YES SIR, MASTER DUSKNIOR!” the sableye cheered. They flared their claws and leapt at the group. Just before they struck, Leo called out: “NOW CELEBI!”

Suddenly, the four of them disappeared. “WHAT?! This can’t be” Dusknior screamed. “Reveal them, Master Dialga! They cannot be allowed to escape!”

The legend let out a monstrous roar. The air began to ripple a few meters in front of the passage of time. A moment later, Clay, Leo, Grovyle and Celebi reappeared.

“SIEZE THEM SABELEYE! DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE!” Dusknoir screamed.

Celebi winced. “I’m sorry, but it looks like this is as far as I can take you.”

“This is enough! We can make it from here!” Leo responded.

Grovyle hesitated for an instant.”But what about you, Celebi? I can’t just leave you! Not when-”

“Grovyle, we have to leave now! This is our only chance!” Clay yelled. “Celebi said she’d be fine, so we have to trust her!”

“He’s right,” she said. “Go on now dears! Change the future for all of us!”

Grovyle took one last look at her before turning towards the passage of time. With tears still in his eyes, he nodded at Clay and Leo. The three of them sprinted in, leaving the future of darkness in their past.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed :D

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