Chapter 21 – DREAMS
by acti_nerdingtonSilence. Gray. Stillness. The once vibrant, glowing Underground Cave was now a dulled husk of what it once was.
“Mnnrghh…” Lexxi, finally coming back to her senses, quietly groans as she manages to crack her eyes open, her whole body sore and aching a fair bit after being knocked out by Glyph. She blinks a few times, squinting before rubbing her eyes, wiping the stray particles of sand away.
She slowly stands back up, eyes analyzing the area, a complete and total contrast to how it appeared just a short while ago. Her ears droop against her head and she sighs in disappointment. The Time Gear was stolen, they’d let both Mesprit and Uxie down and Glyph was still on the loose.
Her eyes land on the Riolu, still laying in the sand as he too slowly begins to stir awake. He lets out a groan as he slowly sits back up, holding his head. He weakly glances over to Lexxi, sharing an equally disappointed look with her as he shakes his head.
Lexxi walks over to Rickety, offering a paw out to him. “You okay, Rickety?”
“Physically, yeah. Everything else? Not so much.” He takes her paw, getting back up onto his feet as his eyes sweep the area. “So this is what it looks like when time has completely stopped in an area, huh? It’s freaky… Everything’s so quiet, I don’t even hear anything other than my heartbeat.”
“Well… We tried.” Lexxi sighs, ears drooping against her head. “We’re sorry we couldn’t stop Glyph, Mesprit.” She turns her head to where she’d seen Mesprit get knocked away… Only to notice that Mesprit was no longer there. “Mesprit?”
Rickety notices this too, eyebrows furrowing as his expression drops a bit. His eyes dart around, trying to search for any sign of Mesprit anywhere, but she doesn’t seem to be anywhere at all. “Mesprit, are you there? Are you okay?”
Lexxi quickly walks over to the lake, taking a quick breath and dunking her head below the surface, as if Mesprit had fallen back below the lake, but still, nowhere to be seen, not even a silhouette. She pulls her head back out, shouting in hopes that she’ll hear a response. “Mesprit?!”
“ZZZT! We’re pooling as many of our resources as we can into aiding with Mesprit’s search, but our teams have already been stretched thin trying to catch Glyph. ZZZT!” Finally back at the guild, but regrettably having to be the bearers of bad news, Rickety and Lexxi watch with the rest of the guild members as Magenzone speaks with Uxie, who had arrived after learning of Mesprit’s disappearance.
The guild had a gloomy air to it, tension able to be felt in every corner, everyone feeling the weight of the situation having just gone from bad to worse. “I understand.” Uxie responds with a slow nod. “I can’t even begin to imagine the stress you and your team have been under these past few days.”
“ZZZT! It has admittedly been rather hectic, but we made a promise that we won’t stop until Glyph is caught and put to justice! ZZZT!” Magnezone’s attention is redirected back at the guild. “ZZZT! Thank you all for helping in the search. If you learn anything about Mesprit or Glyph’s whereabouts, please, let us know. We must all cooperate together if we are to put this criminal in its place. ZZZT!“
“ZZZT! That is all for now. Please, excuse us. ZZZT!” Exchanging a brief glance with Wigglytuff, Chatot and Uxie, Magenzone and his fellow Magnemite make their way out of the guild, floating up the ladder.
Uxie watches them leave, staying silent as they turn back to face Team Void with a saddened expression, slowly drifting towards the ground. “I’m truly, truly sorry for all of this. If I had only been a little clearer when I had sent out my initial warning, Mesprit would have known not to attack you, and then maybe…”
“You shouldn’t blame yourself for this.” Dusknoir speaks up, offering a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “You were injured and you were in a rush. It’s likely you weren’t thinking clearly. You were simply doing your duty as a guardian, trying to ensure that the Time Gears remained safe.”
“If anything, we should be the ones who are sorry.” Rickety says, stepping forward a bit. “If we were a little stronger and more prepared, we could’ve taken on Glyph and nothing would’ve happened to your sister.”
“…Thank you.” Uxie says, smiling solemnly. “But you needn’t apologize. It seems as though we’ve all made a few mistakes in handling this situation.”
“It doesn’t really feel like we did anything at all.” Lexxi says, shaking her head. “We couldn’t stop Glyph or even slow it down.”
Bungie perks up, peeking over his peers. “You both gave the best you could! That counts for something!”
“Still…” Corphish huff, pinching his claws. “This whole situation is rather sour. We don’t even have a clue of what to do, or where Glyph will appear next.”
Uxie stays silent for a moment, deep in thought as they float in place, seemingly thinking about something hard and deep. “…I think I might have an idea.” They direct their attention back to the guild with a newfound confidence. “I know the location of another Time Gear, one Glyph may be likely to strike next.”
“Oh! Well- Do speak up!” Chatot flaps his wings rather frantically as he turns to face Uxie. “Where is this other Time Gear?!”
“Normally, I wouldn’t divulge such precious and important information, but given our situation, keeping secrets will only hurt our efforts to hunt Glyph down.” Uxie continues. “There are three of us. Mesprit, Myself, and our brother, Azelf, who too, guards a lake, hidden deep within Crystal Cave.”
Chatot blinks, staring blankly at Uxie. “Er- I’m sorry, did you say Crystal Cave?”
“So there was a Time Gear hidden in Crystal Cave after all.” Dugtrio mutters, brows furrowing. “But how come we hadn’t found anything while we were there? We had searched so extensively, yet came up empty handed.”
“To potentially throw off the trail of those who seek to steal them, I presume.” Dusknoir speculates, one hand rubbing the top of his head. “One wouldn’t expect a lake to lay at the top of a plateu hidden deep within the fog, or to be buried below mounds of quicksand.”
Uxie nods their head in response. “That would be correct. We chose these specific locations because we had assumed that they were completely safe. But it seems as though we have been proven wrong.”
“Yeah, cool, but there’s one thing though.” Zorora speaks up, peering over the rest of the guild. “How do we know he’s gonna strike there for sure? What if we get there and it turns out he’s just bumbling around stealing a Time Gear somewhere else?”
Uxie turns their head in Zorora’s direction. “It’s a calculated guess. Glyph told me it knew of Fogbound Lake for a long time, and judging by its trip to the Underground Lake, it’s safe to assume it’ll know of Crystal Lake as well.”
“…Mesprit told us that she got word of your warning via telepathy, Uxie.” Lexxi speaks up, looking over to the lake guardian. “Can’t you communicate with Azelf and ask them if the Time Gear is safe?”
“Well… Therein lies the problem.” Uxie sighs. “With Mesprit missing, our connection to each other has been severed. I’ve been trying as hard as I can to link my mind to Mesprit and Azelf, but the thread we’d once woven has completely vanished. I can’t get in touch with either of them at all.”
“Perhaps there’s one way to know whether or not Glyph will strike.” Dusknoir’s eye gazes over towards Bungie. “Bungie, do you still have that crystal you picked up from the cave?”
“Whuh?” He tilts his head, but nods nonetheless. “Yup yup, I do, whatcha need it for?”
“Could you hand it over to Lexxi for a few moments so she could examine it? Perhaps the Dimensional Scream could show the truth of all this.”
“…The wha?”
Lexxi’s ears perk up, turning her attention to Bungie. “Oh! It’s an ability I have! If I touch something and focus deeply, I can see the past or future tied to that object, though it’s never really clear which one it is…”
“Now how long were you planning on keeping that a secret from us?” Xero asks teasingly, flashing a smirk in Lexxi direction. “That’s something beyond what even most psychic Pokemon are capable of doing.”
“Now THAT would’ve been useful to have at some point or another!” Loudred says, stomping a bit jealously.
Rickety tilts his head to the side at Dusknoir. “So you’re saying that depending on what she sees from touching the crystal, it’ll determine whether or not Azelf is in danger?”
“Precisely.” Dusknoir nods. “Now, may we?”
Bungie walks over to Lexxi, reaching for the crystal, handing it over to her, if not a bit hesitantly.
Lexxi can feel the eyes of everyone on her in the room, sitting nervously as she holds the crystal in her paw. Drawing in a slow, deep breath, Lexxi closes her eyes and toucher her paw to the crystal, concentrating and focusing as deeply as she can.
The first wave of dizziness comes.
“Okay, here we go…”
Another wave of dizziness, Lexxi’s head beginning to feel faint.
And everything goes white.
A giant crystalline platform deep, deep within a cave, a vast lake overlooking everything else.
Blue crystals, much like the very one Lexxi is holding, are all over the place, the whole cave is practically covered in them from top to bottom.
She sees a Pokemon she’s never seen before, a Pokemon that looks just like Uxie and Mesprit, a blue mesh covering its face, though this one seemed to stretch upwards, almost like a hat. This had to be Azelf, it had to be.
He’s floating in place shakily, injuries covering his body, and Lexxi is able to make out a familiar culprit standing right in front of Azelf. Green and red body, yellow holographic leaf, Glyph.
“Now, I’ll be taking what I came here for.” Glyph says, pushing past Azelf, who weakly looks back at Glyph.
“N-No… You can’t take the Time Gear… Never…”
Before Lexxi can see anything else, the vision fades.
Lexxi gasps as she’s brought back to reality, panting heavily as she nearly drops the crystal, beads of sweat matting her fur as she tries to recompose herself, rubbing at her head with a paw. “I-I got something-” She stammers, shaking her head. “Lake, surrounded by crystals, like this one, Glyph, Pokemon I’ve never seen before. Looked like Uxie and Mesprit, but blue.”
Uxie nods their head. “That would be Azelf, yes.” Their expression grows a touch worried, floating over a little closer. “What else did you see?”
Lexxi tries to recompose herself, rubbing at her head. “He looked… He looked like he’d been injured badly, Glyph must’ve fought him. Just before I got kicked out, I saw Glyph getting ready to steal the Time Gear.”
“You saw all that just by touchin’ the crystal?” Bungie inquires, his eyes wide with wonder. “That’s incredible! I can’t imagine what havin’ that kinda ability is like!”
“But you said it yourself, didn’t you?” Loudred speaks up. “You don’t know if it’s of the PAST or of the FUTURE, right?”
Lexxi shakes her head in response, handing the crystal back over to Bungie. “No. I really, really wish I could tell, but it’s never clear which one it is.” She glances down at her necklace. “Not unless it’s blatantly obvious, anyway.”
“If it really is impossible to tell,” Dugtrio says, staring at the ground. “Then it may very well still be a past event. It’s possible that the Time Gear has already been stolen, and we might be too late.”
Rickety frowns, stepping up. “Whether it not it’s a past vision or not doesn’t matter, because we should be acting on the case that it’s a vision of the future! If we don’t even bother trying because we think it’s from the past, then we’re giving Glyph all the room it needs to steal the Time Gear!”
“Rickety is right.” Dusknoir says. “Whether or not Lexxi’s vision is of the past or future is irrelevant. The situation is too dire to waste time speculating, and even if the Time Gear has already been stolen, Azelf might still be at risk of going missing as well, if Mesprit’s case is anything to go by. So long as there is a chance that we still have time, we MUST take it!”
Chatot flaps his wings, clearing his throat to catch the group’s attention. “So it’d been decided! We all have one thing to do, and it’s to head to Crystal Cave and beat Glyph to the Time Gear!” He gives an affirming nod. “I rescind my previous gesture of not leaving the guild empty. This will be a group effort! It’s the best chance we’ve got of catching Glyph!”
“If you’re all planning on going to Crystal Cave,” Uxie speaks up, a determined expression crossing their face. “Then I will accompany you. I refuse to stand by while Glyph is out there, hurting my brother and potentially keeping my sister hostage. We’ll catch that abomination and bring it to justice for everything that it’s done.”
“And rightly so!” Chatot nods affirmingly, glancing over to Wigglytuff. “Guildmaster, if you would please issue the call to duty!” Everyone turns to face the Wigglytuff, but all Wigglytuff seems to do is just… Stare blankly ahead, unmoving and not doing anything. Chatot brows furrow in confusion. “Guildmaster?”
He walks over in front of Wigglytuff, waving his wings and feathers all around him. “Guildmaster! Hello! Chatot to Guildmaste-“
“Zzzzzzzz…” A loud snoring sound suddenly comes from Wigglytuff. Everyone shares equally confused glances with each other, beginning to chatter amongst themselves.
“Sleeping at a time like this? Is the Guildmaster serious?!”
“Can you blame him? I doubt he’s exactly gotten the best sleep, yup yup.”
Uxie sighs quietly to themselves, rubbing at their temples as they stare down at the ground. “Arceus, please reassure me that my hope has not been misplaced.”
Chatot nervously glances back at the guild,, at at Uxie as he starts lightly smacking the Guildmaster’s cheeks around with his wings, occasionally grabbing him and shaking him. “The things I do to put up with him. Guildmaster! GUILDMASTER!!!”
“Whuh?” Wigglytuff blinks, staring blankly ahead at Chatot with a dopey smile on his face. “Hello Chatot!”
“HELLO GUILDMASTER!” Chatot instinctively shouts, before realizing he’d still had his voice raised, before awkwardly shuffling to the side. “Er- Hello, Guildmaster. If you would please take it from the t-“
“We’re going after Glyph!” Wigglytuff suddenly exclaims with a determined expression on his face, nodding affirmingly. “Let’s all head to Crystal Cave, right away! YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM…TAH!”
CLAP!
“Hooray!!!”
The entrance to the cave looms over the guild, all the members stand out in front, all finally gathered together, chatting amongst each other for a brief period before Chatot speaks up to the rest of the guild. “Alright, everyone! We need to make the most of our situation and give ourselves as much of an advantage as we can!”
Everyone in the guild redirects their focus to Chatot. “We need to try and get to the deepest part of Crystal Cave, so to be efficient, we should all split up and take different paths! Surely, at least one has to lead us to Azelf and the Time Gear! Now, let’s move!”
With the whole guild splitting up, that left Rickety and Lexxi entirely on their own. Having little to no aid was hardly a matter at this point, though. Traversing through these Mystery Dungeons was slowly starting to become the same song and dance from dungeon to dungeon. Hardly a trouble anymore.
Aside from the looming threat of the dungeon suddenly changing into something else entirely and the threat of one of those vortexes appearing and sucking them in, but other than that, smooth sailing, really!
The dungeon was covered head to toe in those blue crystals like the one Bungie had collected, which was why when the two had finally made it to what seemed to be the deepest part of the cave, they were left rather confused.
They’d made it to a large, open room, completely closed off from the rest of the cave. Three giant crystals sprouted up from the ground in a triangular pattern, one purple, one red, one yellow. No more paths, no more hallways, it seemed like this was the end of the road.
Seemed like it. But was it?
Rickety didn’t seem to think so. His brow furrows as he takes a step closer, eyeing up those crystals. “…This can’t be all there is to the cave.” He glances back at Lexxi, gesturing her to come forward. “Something feels really weird about this room.”
“Hmm?” Lexxi hums. The room does seem… Odd, but it didn’t really seem like anything other than that. The crystals were unlike anything they’d seen during their trip through the cave, different colors… Come to think of it, it really does stick out.
“I guess I must’ve picked up on that sorta instinct you’ve been having.” He chuckles softly, grinning back at her a bit. “Think about it, all the places we’ve found the Time Gears, the ways we found them. The Groudon statue at Fogbound Lake, the quicksand pit in the Northern Desert. They were all secrets, right?”
Lexxi’s brow furrows as she thinks back to those things. Gut feelings, times she’d sworn she’d been to those locations before. Knowing something was lurking, but not knowing what. Sure, she’d been right most times, but those were just that, gut feelings… Right? But even so, Rickety did have a good point. She nods her head in response, muffling a laugh to herself. “You’re really getting good at this whole exploring thing, huh?”
Rickety smiles happily to himself, glancing back at one of the crystals. Curiously, he walks up to it, placing his paw on it. The crystal suddenly begins to glow brightly, Rickety quickly backing up in surprise, and right before them, the crystal changes color! From purple to orange.
Their eyes widen, darting to both of the other crystals in the room now. “Okay, there’s DEFINITELY something here.” Rickety says. “…But what do we do now? We know what the puzzle is, kinda, but we don’t know how to solve it.”
“…I was beginning to wonder if I’d run into you two.” A voice, familiar voice. Lexxi and Rickety turn around, greeted by Uxie peeking their head around the corner! “You were the only Team I hadn’t seen while making my way through. I’d assumed you had either gotten lost or had gone deeper than the rest. Seems the latter of my guesses was the correct one.”
“Uxie!” Lexxi exclaims, walking over closer to them a little bit. “You think you can help us with this? We think we found a way deeper into the cave! Do you know any hints? Any clues? Anything?”
“Hmm…” Uxie floats on past Lexxi, taking a gander around the room, what little there was to see other than the crystals. Much to Lexxi and Rickety’s worry, Uxie didn’t exactly seem all too confident about the room itself. “I suppose I should mention that the three of us haven’t seen each other in person in quite some time. We rarely visit each other’s lakes, if at all. The last time I had visited Azelf was much too far back for me to remember, but I can at least be sure he didn’t have this in place yet.”
Rickety tilts his head to the side curiously. “You mean he set this all up himself?”
“I would assume so.” Uxie nods. “Fogbound Lake and Underground Lake provided extra layers of protection due to their natural environments. Crystal Lake had no such luxuries. My best guess would be Azelf constructed this to give himself and the Time Gear some much needed protection. Only problem, he had never informed me that he made this at all, and I’m afraid I don’t know the solution.” They shake their head apologetically. “It is rather… Embarassing, being revered as the Being of Knowledge and not knowing where the key to your own brother’s room is.”
“Well, there has to be some way to solve the puzzle.” Lexxi walks over to another one of the crystals and places her paws on it, changing it from yellow to a deep blue. “Three crystals, all of which change color, all laid out in a suspicious manner, there’s gotta be something to this, there-” She feels a wave of dizziness wash over her. “There… Ohh, of all the times…”
“Lexxi?” Rickety rushes over to her, Uxie staring from the sidelines.
“Guess it’s not… All bad.” She chuckles weakly, stumbling forward a bit. “When it doubt… Dimensional Scream it out.”
Lexxi’s vision goes white, everything having gone blank.
There’s nothing. It’s only darkness.
She doesn’t understand why some visions come out this way. Like Azurill’s apple, or the Groudon statue. Oh, why can’t it at least be consistently inconsistent?
She hears voices, though. She’s not sure who’s speaking.
“So, of the three spirits of Knowledge, Emotion and Willpower…Azelf is the being of Willpower, the motivation that drives us, unifying us. Unifying, meaning to make one, so perhaps if all the crystals were the same color…”
“But which color is it? Could it perhaps be the color of Azelf’s spirit?”
“Maybe! But what is the color of Azelf’s spirit to begin with?”
“If Azelf lives at Crystal Lake, perhaps Azelf’s spirit is affected by the crystals themselves.”
“Oh! I see! Then that means-“
The vision fades before Lexxi can get any more information.
Lexxi awakes with a gasp, holding her head. “Hoooohh… Didn’t see anything, heard a lot, though.”
“That power of yours is still so fascinating.” Uxie remarks, floating closer to Lexxi alongside Rickety. “Did you gleam anything from your vision like last time?”
“…Gimme a second,” Lexxi stands back up on all fours, albeit a little shakily, Rickety keeping her from falling down. She stares at the blue crystal, then redirects her attention to the rest of the crystals. “Being of Willpower, unifying, becoming one, making the crystals all the same color…” She mumbles to herself.
Rickety blinks a few times, tilting his head. “What? Lexxi what’re-“
Before Rickety could finish, Lexxi starts making her way to another one of the crystals. “The vision said that these crystals are likely to be the color of Azelf’s spirit, since supposedly, it’s been influenced by the crystals.”
“Has it?” Uxie mutters to themselves, rubbing at their head. “I don’t think that’s exactly how it works. I’ve lived in Fogbound lake for years but I haven’t been influenced by the fog.”
“And what are the colors of the rest of the crystals in this cave? Blue.” Lexxi explains, touching the yellow crystal multiple times until it turns the same shade of blue as the other one. “So if my guess from the vision is correct, then the crystals need to be that same color!” She says, finally setting the last crystal to that same blue.
…
But nothing seems to happen.
Lexxi’s expression grows a touch nervous, feeling rather awkward as she rubs her head. “…Is that not it? I was really sure from the vision that-“
All of a sudden, the room begins to rumble, and all of the crystals begin to glow brightly. Without warning, electricity begins to crackle from the tips, all pooling into the center of the room, surprising Lexxi and Rickety.
“Everyone get to the back of the room!” Uxie calls out, motioning for Lexxi and Rickety to run back to them as the whole cave keeps rumbling.
Slowly, the ground begins to split open, the tip of another crystal slowly sprouting out from below. And then it begins to sprout up faster, and faster, growing bigger and bigger until it almost reaches the ceiling!
The crystal splits wide open in the center, the shape becoming violently distorted and mangled as the hole in the crystal seems to act as a doorway, leading somewhere else entirely.
“What the…?” Rickety arches an eyebrow, walking up to the crystal doorway, peering inside briefly before walking around to the back of the crystal, seeing it still solid and hollow. Even though in the front, it led to another location. “Whoooooaaaa, this thing acts like a weird portal! That’s awesome!”
A small smile creeps up on Uxie’s lips, muffling a quiet chuckle to themselves. “Making use of non-euclidian spaces? Flexing your psychic abilities quite a bit there, aren’t you, Azelf? Such a showoff…”
Lexxi and Rickety are about to head on through, but they notice something dangling from the top of the crystal that had jutted out from the ground. It was hung by a chain, and it looked like some kind of… Bird thing? That’s what they got from it. Three long, black divots, one down the center, two on the sides. It was another one of the necklaces!
“Uxie!” Lexxi shouts, glancing back at the lake guardian. “Can you float up there and grab that for us? We need that!”
Uxie, while a touch confused, was also fairly intrigued as they floated up to the top of the crystal, examining the necklace as they lift it off. “…What’s a curious little thing like this doing all the way down here? It most certainly isn’t Azelf’s.”
“We don’t know exactly what they are either, but we’ve been finding them all over the place.” Rickety explains, reaching out for the necklace as Uxie hands it over to him. “We think they might hold some sort of secret, and every time we’ve found one, they’ve held some visions too!”
Uxie glances down at Rickety and Lexxi’s necklaces, noticing they’re of the same build quality, the same materials and everything. “Interesting… Such objects are foreign to me, and I can certainly assure you both that I’ve never seen nor heard of them in my life.”
Lexxi leans over closer as Rickety flips the necklace over, revealing the name of the necklace on the back. Sure enough, it was written in that same style of writing that the other two necklaces had. The word “DREAMS” was engraved onto the back of the necklace.
“As fascinating of a discovery as it is, though,” Uxie says, peering into the crystal. “We have to keep going… I can see the lake just up ahead! It seems as though we’ve made it!”
“Oh!” Rickety and Lexxi exclaim, Rickety stashing the necklace in the wonderbag. He and Lexxi could probably learn more about its secrets later. They’ve got a thief to catch!
The lake itself was an incredible sight to behold. All over the cave,, from the walls, the surface of the lake, everywhere they could look, there were hundreds, if not thousands of those beautiful blue crystals, all of varying shapes and sizes.
Lexxi, Rickety and Uxie stood at the edge of the lake, all looking out across the horizon. “Man…” Lexxi sighs. “I wish we could’ve been here under better circumstances. This place looks so pretty, but with the way things are…”
“I suppose these places really are photogenic, come to think of it.” Uxie smiles softly. “We’re often so focused on our roles as lake guardians that we tend to take for granted how truly wonderful the places we watch over are.”
Rickety squints as he leans over the lake, seeing a faint, green glow off in the distance. “…Hey, over there, on that island thing… I see someone! Two Pokemon!”
“That’s probably them.” Uxie says, expression becoming determined once again. “So Glyph did come here after all… There’s not a moment to waste, let’s move!”
Azelf hovers in place, his whole body shaking and trembling, injuries marring his body as he glares angrily at the machine in front of him, staring it down intensely with a fierce stare.
“Now, I’ll be taking what I came here for.” The machine says as it pushes back Azelf, its bright green metallic body reflecting off the crystal floor.
“N-No… You can’t take the Time Gear… Never…” Azelf stammers, turning his head back to face Glyph even as he hovers in place.
Glyph leans over the edge of the platform, its glowing eyes staring down into the murky abyss, only brightened by the glow of the Time Gear below. “I believe your name was Azelf, yes?” Glyph glances back at the lake guardian. “I apologize, but I must take that Time Gear.”
“I won’t.. Let you take it!” Azelf shouts, his yellow eyes beginning to glow with a bright white color, the whole cave beginning to shake and tremble. Glyph clambers back from the edge of the lake, and just in the nick of time too. Dozens of sharp, jagged crystals rise up from the floor of the lake, all surrounding the Time Gear and blocking off complete and total access to it.
“…Sealing it away for good, just to prevent me from getting access to it.” Glyph frowns, turning back to face Azelf, who had since managed to completely turn around as well, though his body was still weak. “You’ve connected your soul and spirit to this cave, which means taking you out will remove the crystals.” Glyph takes a step forward, its glowing eyes staring into Azelf’s. “I won’t hesitate to do what I have to if it means getting access to that Time Gear.”
Azelf manages a weak smirk. “You’re a strong one, whatever you are. You put up a fight, even for me. If you were just a normal Grovyle, I’d have held back, conserved my energy in the case that I’d lose. But you… I’ve got one more trick up my sleeve if you dare to try something. I won’t hesitate to self destruct.” His eyes narrow, panting heavily as he smirks. “I mean it.“
Glyph scoffs, its eyes narrowing. “You would destroy yourself just to destroy me? You’re bluffing.”
“Am I?” His eyes narrow, laughing weakly. “You’re nothing but a threat. I would gladly bring this cave down upon myself if it meant taking you down with me, just so you could do no more harm to anybody else… Though perhaps, there is one bargaining chip.” His gaze narrows further. “Give us back our sister. We know you’ve taken her somewhere. Maybe, just maybe… You’ll be given the Time Gear.”
The machine blinks, having to process what it had just heard. “Your sister?” It replies, a perplexed look crossing its face. “I haven’t-“
“That’s enough!” A voice shouts from behind, coupled with two pairs of footsteps running up to the extended island, much to Glyph’s surprise. An equally all too familiar Uxie, Riolu and Skitty. “You won’t be taking my brother or the Time Gear, Glyph! We’re putting a stop to you!”
“Heeeeeeeyyy, Uxie,” Azelf chuckles, weakly turning around. “Couldn’t have picked a better time to visit your big bro, huh?”
Uxie scoffs softly. “Impeccable timing, I know.”
Rickety and Lexxi both step forward in front of Uxie and Azelf, both ready to fight at a moment’s notice. “It ends here, Glyph!” Rickety shouts, fists clenched tightly. “We won’t let this continue any further!”
“You’re going to pay for all the pain you’ve caused, one way or another!” Lexxi shouts, tail all puffed out and ready to strike.
Glyph’s eyes narrow, the leaves around its arms slowly beginning to spin. “I already told all of you, I have no quarrel with any of you, yet you still try to stop me.” His gaze turns towards Uxie. “Even you, who came all the way from Fogbound Lake, just to confront me with them?”
Uxie’s gem begins to glow, steeling themselves for battle. “Anybody who hurts my siblings is my enemy. After learning what you did to Mesprit, I refused to stand by guarding that empty lake any longer! I’ll take you down, for my sister’s sake!”
“So that’s what you truly believe, hmm?” The machine huffs, his floating arms reattaching themselves. “If that’s how you wish to settle this, then very well.” It quickly thrusts its body down to the ground, its leaves spinning rapidly. “Just try and stop me!” Glyph slams its hands down to the floor, causing it to crack, and dozens of vines to sprout up from the ground, all going for Lexxi, Rickety and Uxie.
“Get behind us!” Uxie uses their psychic abilities to pull Azelf away from the incoming vines, floating above in an attempt to be out of reach, but the vines begin to reach up in the air towards them, trying to fly around and maneuver themselves out of the way.
Lexxi and Rickety, meanwhile, on the ground, have to make a run for it, splitting up and doing their best to get out of the way of the incoming vines. Lexxi notices a clump of vines all intertwined together and decides to take advantage of it. While Glyph is focusing on controlling the vines, she hops on the tangled clump, jumping off of it and making a beeline straight for Glyph, smacking it with her tail.
It makes direct contact with Glyph, who has to pull its vines out of the ground in order to regain control of itself, stumbling back as its arms detach one again. Even as it’s stumbling back, it manages to quickly go for another attack, swiping at Lexxi with a strong, synthetic leaf-like blade.
Lexxi, manages to narrowly avoid it, thanks to her small size as she ducks down under it, giving her enough time to make another attack, smacking Glyph with her tail once again with an upwards strike.
But Glyph seemed to have anticipated it this time, as one of its detached arms rushes towards Lexxi, grabbing her with an intense force. It throws her to the ground, sending her tumbling as her back strikes the wall, weakening her significantly.
Uxie attempts to strike Glyph next while it’s distracted with Lexxi, rushing down at it and swiping their arms, unleashing a fury of swift stars at incredible velocity.
Glyph flinches as its pelted, deciding to strike back with its own flurry of attacks as well, swiping its arm and letting a torrent of leaves fly out towards Uxie.
Unable to dodge out of the way in time, Uxie can only watch as the leaves cut through their stars like its nothing, getting pelted with leaves, leaving a few scrapes and cuts in their skin, causing them to fall down to the ground, weakened. They try to attack once more with a psybeam as they guard over Azelf, who had since collapsed from exhaustion due to his injuries.
But Glyph is too quick to get hit, it’s detached arm gripping Uxie by the face, thrusting it down into the crystal floor, leaving a Uxie-shaped indent where their head lay. Unconscious.
While Glyph was distracted with this, though, it gives Rickety the perfect Opportunity to strike. He runs up to Glyph from behind, thrusting a form palm right into its back.
The force is great enough to throw Glyph completely off balance, the LEDs in its eyes going haywire and flashing a plethora of different color, causing the machine to skid forward, but it’s able to retaliate, swiping back at Rickety.
But Rickety puts up his guard, countering the attack, striking Glyph with another blow to the face, a quicker attack than Glyph could handle.
Letting out a grunt, Glyph decides to headbutt Rickety, making him stumble back and wince in pain. But in that brief period of time, it’s enough for Glyph to try and strike with another attack. It stretches its hand out forward, a vine bursting out from the center of its hand and rushing towards Rickety.
Rickety, acting purely on instinct, tries to duck down out of the way. But something odd happens. All the sounds around him grow muffled again, and as he looks up, he can see that the vine has slowed down. But it’s curving downwards, he’s not out of the blue yet, it’s still coming after him, though…
He looks down briefly, realizing that his necklace was glowing once again. Time was slowed. He felt focused, concentrated, in the zone. This was his chance! Not wasting another second, Rickety rushes right up to Glyph, wailing everything he could into him. He lands punch after punch, one after the other, his attacks growing more aggressive, less coordinated, acting on pure rage alone.
This change in demeanor, however, seems to break his focus, the necklace losing its glow, time restoring back to normal, and Glyph quickly managing to recover from Rickety’s assault, landing a blow directly to Rickety’s jawline, sending him stumbling back and crying out in pain, just in front of Uxie and Azelf, now both unconscious.
Realizing where he’s standing, and given the state he’s in, Rickety just stands over the two lake guardians, his arms outstretched to block Glyph, still trying to keep an offensive position, even if it was too weak to keep fighting. Even if it was just two blows, they were strong. He was even seeing stars dancing in his vision.
Glyph slowly begins to walk towards Rickety, its heavy footsteps thudding against the crystal floor, coupled with the faint sound of mechanical whirring. “Get out of the way.” It plainly commands, the leaves around its arms still spinning.
Rickety growls angrily, his jaw still sore, making it incredibly hard for him to find the strength to speak. “N-No!” He shouts, panting heavily as his whole body shakes. “W-Won’t let you… Hurt them!”
Lexxi watches in horror as Glyph slowly approaches Rickety, unable to do anything but stare. At that moment, though, something clicks in her. She can hear a faint heartbeat, like the beating of a drum, thumping in her ears. Waves of strength slowly wash over her body, giving her enough energy to stand up.
Unbenknownst to her, her necklace was glowing, flickering with the same rhythm of that heartbeat.
“I’m giving you one last warning.” Glyph says, continuing to walk closer and closer. “Move out of the way. Now. Or I’ll make you regret refusing to listen.”
Rickety simply shakes his head, undeterred, hands clenched tightly into fists, teeth bared, glaring at Glyph even as his vision begins to darken around the edges, stars dancing in front of him more frequently. “I-I won’t… Listen to you… N-Never!”
Lexxi manages to find the strength to walk, her footsteps incredibly shaky, moving through sheer determination alone. She had to get to Rickety before Glyph did, she had to! The heartbeat gets louder in her ears, the necklace continuing to flicker with that same rhythm.
“Hmmf.” Glyph huffs, its eyes growing dim. “Then you leave me no other choice.” Glyph draws its arm back, the leaves around it spinning at a speed unseen before. “This is for the Time Gear! Forgive me!”
Rickety scrunches his eyes tightly shut, flinching and recoiling, fully expecting to be struck with a finishing blow right then and there… But it doesn’t come. In fact, he can hear Glyph grunting in surprise, rather. He slowly peeks his eye open, breathing shakily, seeing the backside of a familiar ghost Pokemon looming over him.
“D-Dusknoir…?”
Lexxi pants heavily, still trying to make her way closer to Rickety. Glyph might’ve been stopped by Dusknoir for now, but she needed to make her way over to him, she had to, everything in her mind right now depended on it.
“Are you okay, Rickety?” Dusknoir briefly glances back at Rickety, before pushing Glyph forward, sending it skidding across the crystal floor. “Stay back, I’ll handle this crook!”
Glyph makes a recovery, shaking its head as it stands back up, its leaves spinning at a rapid pace. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d show up at all. So you finally decided to stop being a coward after all, huh?”
“Only because you’ve been a thorn in my side for far too long, Glyph.” Dusknoir looms closer towards the machine, his words leaving Rickety confused, perplexed. “Figured I had to come searching you for myself when you started throwing me for a loop.”
“…Heh.” Glyph laughs quietly to itself. “You had to resort to meeting me personally? That means you’re getting scared, huh? I’m winning, and you’re afraid.”
“That’s what you think.” Dusknoir lurches forward, ready to strike. “You won’t be getting away this time, you wretched machine! I’ll dismantle you piece by piece if I have to!”
“Well, if the offer is presenting itself…” Glyph smirks, making a dash towards Dusknoir, but not before pulling out a flash seed and striking down at the ground, blinding everyone with light in the room.
By the time the light has faded, Glyph has completely vanished, left without a trace. Dusknoir huffs in annoyance. “Of course he’d pull something like this. He won’t get away, though. Not when I’m this close…” Dusknoir’s body too vanishes, disintegrating into the ground.
“W-Wait… Dusknoir…” Rickety stammers weakly, his legs shaking. “Need…” He collapses to his knees, eyes growing dim, the darkness finally overtaking him as he succumbs to his injuries, collapsing to the ground, falling forward.
Lexxi had hardly process everything she’d just witnessed, everything just a muffled mess of noise in her ears that was drowned out by the heartbeat, only able to make out a few key, important things. Finally, she makes it over to Rickety, draping herself over him.
“You’re safe now…” She whispers to him, her body going limp. The glow of her necklace had faded, the heartbeat in her ears having completely vanished. Her eyes droop closed, her own vision beginning to fade. But there’s a sense of dizziness that comes with it too. She catches a glimpse of the necklace, having partially fallen out of the bag when Rickety collapsed.
She swears she can hear someone’s voice calling out for them. Is that… Zorora? She… Can’t tell… Everything is too blurry, too muffled…
Everything goes white.
Everything goes blank.
…
It’s the Traveller again.
There’s a strange sense of comfort to this vision, almost like Lexxi had missed them.
After everything that’s happened, to be lost in a vision like this again is refreshing. A welcome escape from the reality of the world.
Even the place where the Traveller seemed to be now was comforting.
A beach, a desolate beach, but a beach nonetheless.
It… Feels familiar.
Why does she feel this sense of deja vu?
Wait a minute.
The cave to the left.
The cliffs in the distance, shaped like a Sharpedo.
This is the exact same beach she woke up at. The same beach Rickety found her unconscious.
Home.
It looked so barren, now. The sky had turned from a vibrant blue to a sickly green, having an uncanny eroded look to it, able to see the stars in the sky, even though that, just from the feelings in the visions, it should be day, or at least close to the afternoon.
The Traveller’s hand reaches up, fiddling with a few things on the side of their head.
They lay back, looking up at the sky, and in the corner of their vision, Lexxi can see words being displayed.
“Dream Mode Activated…”
The Traveller’s vision slowly grows darker and darker until everything goes completely black.
…
This feeling of weightlessness overcomes her senses. Floating. Drifting.
Floating, in this green, misty void.
A figure looms over the Traveller. Tall, imposing.
It’s dressed in what looks to be black leather, whole body covered head to toe, not a single shred of skin visible.
It wore a helmet, one that bore a striking resemblance to the necklace she and Rickety had picked up…
“Who are you?” The Traveller asks. “What is this place?”
“It makes no difference who we are.” The figure says, its voice tinny, echoing throughout the void. “Our dreams are what matter.”
The figure looks the Traveller dead in the eyes. “And I know what you dream of.”
The Traveller seems saddened, head lowering down. “I am starting to think that what I dream of doesn’t even exist…”
“And it never will if you stop dreaming.” The figure says, reaching into its coat, pulling out that same necklace.
“This pendant will guide you to the gates. Just make sure you have it when they open.”
The gates?
Is that what these necklaces are for?
They’re keys? All keys…
“I.. I think I understand.” The Traveller says, reaching out for the necklace and grasping it within their hand, staring down at it.
The dream begins to fade, as does the vision.
Everything is black once again.
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