Rickety and Lexxi sit down on their cushions, Lexxi having laid down, Rickety having stared at the floor with a blank expression on his face for a bit too longer than Lexxi was emotionally comfortable with. She glances up at him with a worried look in her eyes, scooting over a bit closer to him. “Rickety?”

He briefly turns to face Lexxi as he hears her, then turns back away. “I’m scared.”

Lexxi tilts her head to the side. “About Glyph? Dusknoir, Uxie and Azelf seem to have it covered. I don’t think he’s going to be-“

“About the future.” Rickety interrupts, shuddering in his seat. “I can’t stop thinking about what Dusknoir said. About almost every Pokemon having some kind of Android counterpart or whatever it was.” His brows furrow, muzzle scrunching up. “Why? What happens in the future that warrants making that many Android Pokemon?”

Lexxi’s ears flick, turning away for a moment to think. “Uh… That’s a good question, but I wouldn’t really know.”

Rickety rubs at his like, eyes looking out the window. “Like- Your visions, the ones from your necklace. You saw humans that had that some kinda look that Glyph did, but you also said that you didn’t see any Pokemon in these visions either. There’s something weird going on- It just, freaks me out the more I think about it.”

“It’s really silly too, you know?” His expression grows rather sheepish. “We have this giant, over-looming threat of Glyph stealing all the Time Gears to cause this “Planet’s paralysis” thing and stop time flowing all together. But what I’m more scared of is if everything goes back to normal, of there just being more… Things like him in the future.”

Lexxi gives a soft shrug. “It’s not like Pokemon like us will all die out in the future. Dusknoir still exists, after all, and he’s not an Android. It’s not like every Pokemon gets replaced with an Android. I’d like to think Pokemon and Android Pokemon live together peacefully in the future, but,” Her ears droop a bit. “But if the whole ‘pro-bots and robophobes’ thing I’ve seen in my visions is anything to go by, it seems like there’s still some kind of tension…”

“It just messes with my head. Can you imagine seeing a robo-you? This thing that looks like you but isn’t really you? I-I just- I don’t know.” Rickety groans, burying his face in his arms as he slumps over his knees. “I know I’m probably just overthinking it, but the idea is messing me up more than I’d like to admit.”

Lexxi wraps her tail around Rickety and gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Try not to worry about it too much for me, okay? I don’t think we’ll ever have to worry about this future, or the other potential future if Glyph takes the Time Gears.” She gives an awkward smile. “As, uhh… Weird as it might be to say, at least we might not live long enough to see that happen?”

Rickety chuckles softly, peeking at Lexxi. “You know? Yeah, that is weird to say, but at the same time, I guess you’ve got a point there.” He lets out a sigh, slumping down onto his back. “Yeah, you’re right… It’ll be fine. Glyph’ll be captured, Uxie and Azelf will get their sister back, and we’ll finally get back to doing stuff in the guild again. No more having to worry about the future, or doomsday, or anything like that. I’m just… Gonna try to get some sleep and take my mind off it.”

He shuffles in bed a bit, letting out a sigh as he closes his eyes. “Goodnight, Lexxi.”

Lexxi smiles softly as she lays down in bed as well. “Goodnight, Rickety.”

---

CRASH!!!

“WAKE UP! EVERYONE’S GATHERING IN THE CENTRAL HALL! IT’S IMPORTANT!”

Lexxi and Rickety fall right out of bed, being startled upon waking up as Loudred stomps out of the room as quickly as he came in, eyes wide both, staring at each other as the morning sun shines through the window

“…I see we’re skipping the formalities today.” Lexxi mumbles to Rickety as she gets back up, shaking herself off.

“You say that as if this hasn’t been the standard for the past couple weeks.” Rickety jokes, brushing his hair out of his face as the two leave their room, heading out to the central hall, seeing everyone gathered around the entrance to the sentry post. They can hear a voice coming from it. It’s Magnemite’s voice.

“Zz-Zzt! This is a message from Officer Magnezone! We are pleased to report that Glyph has finally been captured! He has been subdued by Dusknoir, Uxie and Azelf! Zz-Zzt!”

The guild all collectively cheer amongst each other, many of the members overjoyed.

_{“Already?”} Lexxi mumbles to Rickety. _{“I knew the three of them could do it but I didn’t think it’d be done overnight.”}

Rickety chuckles softly. _{“Well, I guess that’s just how cool Dusknoir is, eh?”}

“Zz-Zzt! There is more!” Magnemite continues Dusknoir has also informed us that he will be returning to the future with Glyph for an undetermined amount of time to handle everything after the fact! Zz-Zzt!”

“…Oh.” Rickety’s expression saddens, his shoulders slumping. “He’s going home? But there’s so much I wanted to learn from him…”

“Uhh… How’s he gonna go BACK?” Loudred asks confusedly.

“Zz-Zzt! I do not claim to understand the process.” Magnemite responds. “I do believe they’re going to be traveling through a ‘tunnel’ of sorts! He called it a Dimensional Hole. Zz-Zzt! He wishes to say goodbye to everyone in Treasure Town Square before he leaves, where the Dimensional Hole will be located! Zz-Zzt!”

“In that case,” Rickety perks back up. “What’re we waiting around here for?! C’mon, let’s go see him!”

---

Just like the day before, it had seemed that everyone had gathered back up in the square. This time, though, something quite obviously different, the big, gaping vortex just in front of the square. It… Almost looked like one of those vortexes to the strange dimension as the ones that appeared in Mystery Dungeons, only much more stable and controlled.

Lexxi and Rickety gaze at it for a moment, curiously, before their eyes land on Uxie, Azelf… And a noticeable lack of Mesprit. While everyone is gathered around the Dimensional Hole and asking question to Magnezone, having noticed that Dusknoir hasn’t arrived just yet, they head over to the lake guardians, wiggling their way through the crowd.

“Are you two alright after last night?” Lexxi asks, brows furrowed with concern. “Did you learn anything about Mesprit?”

“We’re fine, thanks for asking, but…” Azelf shakes his head, sighing. “Glyph says he doesn’t know anything about what happened to Mesprit, and he keeps saying he had nothing to do with her disappearance.”

“I wish we could tell for certain whether he was lying or not, but I personally don’t believe him.” Uxie frowns, face scrunched up angrily. “I just know he had something to do with her disappearing, he was the last one with you all.”

Lexxi sighs, ears drooping against her head. “I’m so sorry to hear that. I’m sure with Dusknoir’s help, your sister will turn up soon, but if he’s going home for a while…”

Azelf tries to give a reassuring smile. “We’ll find her on our own if we have to. I don’t think anybody’s gonna be stealing the Time Gears again after this any time soon.” He gives Uxie a pat on the shoulder. “Besides, it’d give us a little more time to bond with each other for the first time in a while. It’s only been, what, a hundred years since we last spoke to each other face to face?”

Uxie chuckles meekly, rubbing the back of their head. “Give or take a few.” They turn back to Rickety and Lexxi, nodding. “We’ll find her. I’m sure she’ll turn up eventually. Should be easier without Glyph around.”

“Well, I wish you the best.” Rickety gives a sad, but reassuring smile. “Hope something comes up sooner or later.”

“What about the Time Gears?” Lexxi asks. “Are they safe?”

Uxie nods. “Dusknoir helped us return them all back to their original spots. We wanted to take them back ourselves, but he insisted he do it himself so we can get the rest we needed after taking Glyph down.” They chuckle quietly. “It amazes me how polite he is, truly.”

“Huh?” One of the townsfolk speaks up. “Hey! I think I see Dusknoir coming from over there! Let’s all make way for him!”

Dilligently, they all begin to make room for Dusknoir to walk by, but as he walks forward, everyone in the crowd slowly becomes… A little more than shocked and surprised, to say the least. Rickety’s face nearly goes pale when he realizes what the Pokemon that are accompanying Dusknoir are.

Flying- No, floating- Maybe hovering? It was too hard to tell, in front of Dusknoir was a Pokemon that resembled Volcarona, but there were a number of odd quirks that made it stick out. Its wings were totally detached and separate from its back, and its body seemed a lot more slim and sleek than a Volcarona was. The absence of fur in exchange for metal platings and coatings probably added to that.

And in front of that robo-Volcarona was a Pokemon that resembled Hariyama. Its differences were more apparent, namely the complete and total absence of arms, leaving a pair of big, floating hands, which were tightly grasping what looked to be a de-powered Glyph, his eyes darkened, his body limp an unmoving.

“…Should we be more scared of Glyph or the Pokemon holding Glyph in custody?” One of the townsfolk says.

“Is it just me, or are their bodies glowing? They’ve got some kind of sparkly liquid inside of them.”

Rickety has to force himself to turn his head away, his body shaking as he breathes rather heavily. _{“Nope, nope, don’t wanna look at it, don’t wanna think about it.”} Lexxi just gives him a comforting pat on the shoulder.

“I can assure you, they mean no harm. Unlike this cretin.” Dusknoir says, gesturing to the de-powered Glyph. “He’s rebooting, won’t be powered off long. We’ll need him awake for questioning after all. But, I digress.”

The ghost Pokemon clears his throat, placing his hands behind his back as he stands off to the side of the portal. “Everyone! Today, I would like to share some excellent news with all of you. At last, after all this time, Glyph has been captured.” The crowd all cheer unanimously with each other, although there is an awkward discomfort with the added presence of the synthetic Pokemon.

“This was all made possible thanks to your assistance, your selfless support and cooperation. Truly, I can’t thank you all enough for the good deeds you’ve done. While there still may be a few unresolved issues…” He slowly glances at Uxie and Azelf, a solemn expression briefly crossing his face before addressing the crowd once again. “Glyph’s capture should hopefully result in lasting peace for your world.

“…I can kinda see what you mean, Rickety.” Lexxi says, looking at the de-powered Glyph in the robo-yama’s hands. “He does look sort of… Uncanny when he’s powered off like that.”

“Better powered off than awake.” Rickety says uncomfortably, crossing his arms over his chest.

“But I must also deliver a piece of sad news, as well.” Dusknoir says, taking a deep breath. “It is time for me to return to the future. Now, I may potentially return once or twice to let you all catch up on what’s happening, but with Glyph captured, there’s a lot of work to be done, so I likely won’t have the time. I bid you all farewell.”

Dusknoir gives a bow, and everyone begins to say their goodbyes. The robo-yama ruthlessly tosses Glyph into the Dimensional Hole before stepping through, the robo-rona floating in after it. Dusknoir is about to step through the portal as well, but he suddenly stops. He glances over his shoulder, eye landing on a certain duo. “…But before I go, there’s a few Pokemon I need to see first. Lexxi, Rickety, would you two care to step up?”

Rickety and Lexxi exchange a glance with each other, nodding to one another before they walk up to Dusknoir.

“…I guess this is goodbye, isn’t it, Dusknoir?” Rickety says, voice still shaky. Whether it’s from getting emotional or still being partially scared from the robot Pokemon is up for debate. “Uggh, man, I wish you could stay longer. There’s so much I wanted to ask you, so much I wanted to learn from you.”

“We understand, though.” Lexxi nods. “You’ve been incredible, for all of us. It’s sad to see you go.”

Dusknoir slowly nods. “Perhaps this is goodbye…” His expression suddenly changes, squinting, the mouth on his stomach curling up into a smile. “Or is it?”

Rickety’s face goes pale once again, both his and Lexxi’s blood running cold. _{“W-What…?”}

The mouth on Dusknoir’s stomach suddenly opens with a jerk. “Perhaps it’s too early for goodbyes!” He reaches out, fiercely grabbing both Rickety and Lexxi and holding onto them tightly, them squirming in his grip. “You two are coming right back with me!”

Rickety and Lexxi, confused and terrified, try their absolute best to break free from Dusknoir’s grip, but he’s far too strong. The last thing they see before they’re pulled through the Dimensional Hole is the confused looks of the townsfolk and guild members watching them get pulled away.