Chapter 31 – Time We Have Left

Things were quiet back at Sharpedo Bluff. Glyph had gone into standby mode to rest up while the group waited for Rickety to return. The sun was starting to set, the sky having turned a vibrant orange color as it reflects off the rippling waves down below.

Lexxi was laying down, silently, staring at the ground, still thinking about everything from the night before, still thinking about those peculiar words that Glyph had said to her. _{“Your appearance might’ve changed, and though you’ve lost your memory, you’re still you…”} Lexxi says quietly to herself, letting those words bounce around in her mind for what had to have been the dozenth time just today.

“Still down in the dumps, Lex?” Pixie calls over, resting in the water once again.

Lexxi visibly jumps a bit, startled by the sound of Pixie’s voice breaking her out of her stupor. “Whuh- Huh? What?” She turns to Pixie, still looking rather surprised, and a little silly. “What do you mean?”

Pixie flashes Lexxi a playful smirk. “Come on, don’t act like I can’t hear you mumbling things to yourself. You’ve got something on your mind, don’tcha?~”

Lexxi’s ears droop against her head a little, rubbing at her head, embarrassed. “You, uh… You heard that?”

“Well, you don’t exactly try to hide the obvious.” Pixie giggles softly, sinking down a bit lower into the water. “I guess old habits die hard, even when you’ve turned into an entirely different species.”

Lexxi’s ear flicks, lingering on the implications of that statement. She takes a deep breath and sighs, scooting over a little closer to Pixie. “I wouldn’t really say I’m ‘down in the dumps,’ I think a better term would be emotionally numb.”

“Oooh, that’s a pretty nasty one, yeah.” Pixie shifts in the water, leaning her head over as she drapes her arm over the side. “You wanna talk about it, Lex?”

Lexxi tilts her head to the side. “…How come you keep calling me Lex?”

Pixie blinks a few times, staring at Lexxi in confusion before realizing. “Oooohhh, right, right. Sorry, it’s a nickname I gave you back when you were still human. I guess it makes sense you wouldn’t remember that.”

Lexxi winces a little, her ears drooping lower against her head. “See- That’s the thing. You guys remember all these things about me, but even after I’ve found out who I really am I still don’t remember anything myself.” She shakes her head, turning away. “I’m a human from the future, I worked with you and Glyph to try and stop Dusknoir. That’s who I am. But what am I supposed to do with all this information?”

Pixie thinks for a moment, sinking down a bit deeper into the water, up to her neck. “Well, you’re happy that you at least found out who you are, right?”

Lexxi pauses, looking down at the floor. She lifts a paw, staring at it, a part of herself where a hand once was, the hand of someone from the distant future, the hand of someone who was trying to save the world. “…I don’t know.”

Pixie just glances over at Lexxi quietly. She doesn’t say anything, not yet. She lets Lexxi decide what she wants to say, waiting patiently and listening.

“I think I just feel… Disconnected. Glyph says he still thinks of me as a friend, and I’m having a really hard time processing that. He knew me, you knew me, but as far I know, I never knew either of you. I know now that I did but it doesn’t feel like it. ” She glances back. “You understand what I’m saying, Pixie?”

“Mmmn…” Pixie’s brows furrow, rubbing at her head. “I think I do? Is it that you don’t feel as emotionally attached to us that you feel like you should be?”

Lexxi thinks for a moment, and then nods. “I guess that’s one way of putting it.” She turns away again, spawling across the floor. “I might’ve learned who I am, but I don’t have my memory back. I’ve apparently done all these things together with you two, and you treat me like I’m the same Lexxi that used to be a human.”

She looks down at the floor, ears drooping against her head. “…But I’m not that same Lexxi.”

“Oh come ooonnnn.” Pixie playfully pouts, pushing her lip out and crossing her arms over her chest. “You know that’s not true! Well- Not entirely true, I guess. Just because you don’t know all the same things you did as a human doesn’t mean you’re an entirely different person.”

“Does it, though?” Lexxi says, still looking away. “I’m not Lexxi, the human who built a time machine with her robot friend and Celebi friend. I’m Lexxi, the Skitty, an apprentice of Wigglytuff’s guild. I’m not the same person. I’m not-“

“That’s just all the different things you’ve done!” Pixie exclaims, leaning out of the water a bit. “What about who you are as a person, hmm? As far as I’ve seen, you’re still that same kind, compassionate Lexxi you were before you turned into a Skitty! Everything you’re saying is the same as I’d expect Lexxi, the human, to say, doing things I’d expect Lexxi, the human, to do.”

Lexxi turns away, brows furrowing. “…How can you be so sure of that, though?”

“Because even if you don’t remember all of the little things about yourself, I do. Glyph does. We both do. One look at you, Glyph and I both know that you’re still that same goofball we loved and cared about. That same goofball who believed that every Pokemon, regardless of whether or not they’re a machine, deserved to be loved, deserved to be treated like everyone else.”

Lexxi stays silent, glancing back at Pixie just the slightest bit. She… Does think those things, yes. Even back at The Veil, she knew that most of those Pokemon meant no harm- Aside from the obvious, of course. Current, Uni, Miraidon…

“Even if you’ve forgotten everything else, you’re still the same person that you always were, deep down. Please, just, trust me on this one… Okay, Lexxi?”

The Skitty takes a slow, deep breath. “…Okay.” She turns back to Pixie, nodding, smiling a bit. “I guess I just needed an extra bit of reassurance. Whole thing just left me shocked… Just needed to process it, is all.”

Pixie nods, smiling back. “We’ll get through this. All together.”

Glyph smiles off on the sidelines, casting a glance at Lexxi and Pixie out of the corner of his eye. He muffles a quiet laugh to himself, his attention being turned when he hears Rickety making his way back down the steps. Rickety’s eyes land on Lexxi and Pixie, then back to Glyph. “I’m back. I miss something or…?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Glyph shakes his head. “Did you find anything out?”

Rickety nods, expression falling into a more nervous one. “I have. None of it good. Everyone was expecting things to go back to normal after the Time Gears were placed back in their spots, but it seems like things have gotten even worse. Time is still stopped- Or suspended, more of those rifts have been popping up, and the Mystery Dungeons keep getting transformed into those freaky labyrinth, even in places that aren’t connected to the Time Gears.”

“You’re serious?” Pixie suddenly perks up, sitting up in the water, her gaze quickly shifting towards Rickety.

Rickety nods again. “Everyone is confused and upset because they have no idea what’s going on, what the problem is or how they’re even supposed to fix it. Do you-“

“Temporal Tower is starting to collapse.” Pixie says, voice laced with seriousness as she steps out of the water, quickly shaking herself off, to which Lexxi tries to shield herself from the water with her tail, the Celebi nervously flying back and forth. “This is bad, it’s accelerating even worse than I thought it would. We need to find the rest of the Time Gears and get back to the past, fast.“

Lexxi shakes herself a bit, standing back up. “But- How’re we gonna go back? We destroyed the time machine and you can’t use your powers because everything is falling apart. I can’t think of anything that’d work…”

“There is one option.” Glyph says, turning to face Lexxi and Rickety. “The Control Panel.”

Lexxi blinks a few times, tilting her head. “…The what?”

“The Control Panel.” Glyph repeats. “Little is known about it, but it’s said that if one finds it, it’ll grant them a single use, to allow them to travel to any point in time they so wish. If we can find that and use it to travel back to Pixie’s time, we might be able to get to Temporal Tower before the timeline falls apart.”

Rickety arches an eyebrow. “I thought that kind of technology didn’t exist in our time period. Why would it be here?”

“It’s suspended in time, but in a different manor, supposedly.” Glyph says. “It’s in a fixed location, sealed within a time pocket. No matter what time period it is, it should always be there.”

“But… We don’t even know where it is! Let alone where to even start looking for it!” Lexxi exclaims, pacing back and forth a bit. “Where would such a thing even exist? If it’s even real to begin with? It sounds so outlandish, but so has everything else we’ve experienced.”

Pixie takes a slow, deep breath. “Hooo, alright, okay. We’re not gonna get anywhere if we just panic like a Torchic without its head. If we’re gonna get back to the past in time while also getting all the Time Gears ready, we’re gonna need to split up for now.”

“Pixie is right.” Glyph nods his head. “Pixie and I will collect the rest of the Time Gears together. Lexxi, Rickety, you two find out whatever you can about the Control Panel and its location.”

Lexxi and Rickety glance at each other, giving a firm, understanding nod. “We’ll do the best we can, Glyph.” Lexxi says in response.

“I wish we knew more so we could point you in the right direction, but the Control Panel is elusive… But we believe in both of you.” Pixie gives a reassuring smile, beckoning for Glyph to follow her up the steps. “Good luck! We’ll be off!”

Glyph follows Pixie out, leaving Lexxi and Rickety in silence. The two look at each other, and Rickety walks over to Lexxi, sitting himself down beside her. “This is already looking hopeless. No clues, nowhere to even begin considering looking, time is going to fall apart… We can’t possibly do this.”

“…Not alone.” Lexxi says, ears perking back up.

“Hmm?” Rickety turns to Lexxi, tilting his head. “What do you mean?”

“We have to go back to Wigglytuff’s Guild.” Lexxi says firmly. “It’s the only way we have a chance at finding it in time.”

“Uhh…” Rickety shifts nervously, scratching at the back of his head. “You sure that’s a good idea, Lexxi? We disappeared in front of everyone, they think we’re gone. What are we even going to say to them? How are we going to tell them everything about Glyph? About Dusknoir? Everything we saw, everything we know, how’re they gonna believe us?”

“We’re going to make them.” Lexxi says, her expression growing more determined. “I know how ridiculous everything is, we lived through it and even I’m still having a hard time believing it. But we have to at least try, Rickety. There’s only two of us. If we had the help of everyone in the guild, we’d have a better chance of finding the Control Panel in time.”

Rickety stays silent for a moment, before eventually letting out a breath, nodding his head. “You’re right. There’s no way we’re gonna be able to find the Control Panel on our own. I’m really not looking forward to how everyone in the guild might react, but… The sooner we get it over with, the better.”

“Like ripping off a band-aid.” Lexxi muffles a quiet laugh, standing up with Rickety. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

---

The fire of the lit torches crackles loudly as Lexxi and Rickety stand before the entrance to Wigglytuff’s Guild. It’s just the same as they’d left it. Big tent in the shape of Wigglytuff’s head and all.

“…Man.” Rickety chuckles nervously. “I haven’t been this anxious about stepping inside the guild since before I first joined.” He looks over the tent again, the surrounding area, feeling a sense of nostalgia as he takes it all in. “Even though we’ve only been gone a few days, it feels like it’s been forever since we’ve seen this place.”

Lexxi glances up at Rickety. “Still scared?”

“A little.” Rickety smiles meekly. “I mean, what’re we gonna do, just walk up onto the grate and say, ‘hello, we’re back from the future, had a wonderful time there, how are you guys doing?'”

“Yes.~” Lexxi casually saunters on up to the grate, Rickety stammering in surprise as Lexxi just goes for it, his body seizing up a bit, but at the same time, he probably would’ve taken longer to step on it than she would’ve.

“Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!”

“Whose footprint?! Whose footprint?!”

The familiar sound of Diglett and Loudred’s voice brings a smile to Lexxi and Rickety’s faces, Lexxi’s tail idly swishing back and forth. Rickety, though, admittedly felt his heart pounding his chest from the anxiety he was feeling.

But…

He’s fine.

Lexxi’s here with him.

“The footprint belongs to…” Diglett’s voice suddenly grows shaky and wavery. “The f-footprint… Belongs to…”

“Sentry Diglett?! What’s the matter?! RESPOND! …WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?!”

“The footprint belongs to Lexxi!” Diglett shouts, his voice echoing throughout the sentry post, and presumably throughout the rest of the guild, too, evidenced by the loud, unanimous “WHAT?!” coming from the grate and the entrance.

Diglett sprouts his head out from the ground, briefly startling both Lexxi and Rickety, the most overjoyed expression on his face. “And Rickety, too! They’re back, everyone!”

“Uhh- Hey! Happy to see you too, Diglett!” Rickety chuckles awkwardly, feeling the ground rumbling as the door to the guild slowly opens. _{“Ooooooohhh boy.”}

Practically everyone in the guild comes rushing out to see them, all clamoring around them one after the other, all talking over each other, but all their voices could still be made out, all distinct from one another.

“I was beginning to think you two just left without saying goodbye! Where the heck have you been?!” Zorora shouts, trying to push herself over the other guild members.

“I-I-I didn’t think we’d ever see you again!” Bungie says, his voice choking up. “G-Golly, I’m so happy to see you’re both okay!”

“YOU’RE ALIVE!” Loudred shouts, his voice easily the most audible of everyone else in the crowd.

“It’s such a relief to see that you’re both alive and well.” Xero can be heard. “Welcome home, both of you.”

“Oh my gosh…” Lexxi says, smiling, muffling a laugh to herself. “You’re getting me all emotional guys. It’s great to be back, too!”

“S-Same, heh…” Rickety chuckles softly, eyes slowly looking over everyone else. Just past the crowd, he can see Chatot staring them them, dumbfounded behind everyone else, the guildmaster right beside him, just smiling away like he always does.

---

“So… Let me get this all straight. I’m still trying to wrap my head around all of this.” Chatot says, the guild having gone back inside, gathered around, listening to Lexxi and Rickety explain everything.

“Dusknoir grabbed you two and pulled you into the future. There, you had found out that Dusknoir has not only kidnapped Mesprit and turning her into a robot for his own nefarious deeds, but he also used the Time Gears to harvest their… Data, while we weren’t looking.”

“Uh-huh.” Rickety nods, allowing Chatot to keep going.

“And not only that, but it turns out that Glyph is actually a good Pokemon, and he was trying to stop Dusknoir from getting the Time Gears all along, so that he and Lexxi- A human from the future, I might add, can go back into the past, place them into this… This thing, in Temporal Tower, to stop all of time from collapsing?”

“Yup.” Lexxi responds, also nodding.

“And Dusknoir tried to kill all of you, because he’s trying to change the future, but it won’t work, so the timeline itself is collapsing? And if we don’t stop him, everything will be destroyed? So you two are looking for something called the Control Panel so you can go back in time to get to Temporal Tower?”

“About the gist of it, yep.” Rickety nods again.

Chatot mulls over everything, furrowing his brows and rubbing at his head with a wing. “…Lexxi, Rickety, no disrespect to you, truly, but… Are you sure you didn’t just accidentally eat some Allure Seeds and dreamt the whole thing up? It sounds utterly ridiculous!”

“We lived through it and even we think it’s ridiculous! We’re aware of how crazy it all sounds, but it’s all true!” Lexxi exclaims, taking a step forward.

“Do you seriously expect to take this all at face value?” Chatot flaps his wings. “If you had simply told me that everything with Glyph was a misunderstanding, I could accept that! But making Dusknoir out to be this cartoonishly evil bad guy who was secretly evil the whole time is ridiculous! And to claim that he is the reason Mesprit is gone! Why that’s simply and utterly insulting!”

“We’re telling the truth, though!” Rickety shouts. “We know it’s absurd, but we couldn’t make this up even if we tried! You have to believe us! The whole world is in danger! Past, present and future!”

“What’s going on is you two have been overstressed from exhaustion and your brains are likely working overtime to cope with all of the events that have been happening!” Chatot squawks angrily. “Do not waste the guild’s time with this utter nonsense! Who would believe such a story in the first place?!”

_{“I would.”} Bungie quietly whispers, breaking the sudden silence after Chatot’s squawking.

To which Chatot, Lexxi and Rickety, along with the rest of the guild, all turn to face him. “…You really believe this, Bungie?” Chatot asks, dumbfounded. “You truly believe in everything about this demented fairy tale these two have spun?”

“I-I know it sounds hard to believe, but if you think about it… It sorta makes sense…” Bungie shuffles awkwardly in place. “Why did Dusknoir grab Rickety and Lexxi like that? We saw him pull him into the Dimensional Hole, didn’t we?”

“He di-” Chatot clears his throat, ruffling his feathers as he tries to recompose himself. “I’d- err… I’d assumed they’d simply fallen in themselves! That’s what it looked like to me! _{From afar, anyway.}“

“Nuh-uh.” Bungie shakes his head back and forth. “I was the closest one to the Dimensional Hole when it happened. I saw it clear as day!”

“What’s even WEIRDER…” Loudred speaks up. Very clearly. Hard to miss. “Didn’t Uxie and Azelf say Dusknoir insisted on returning the Time Gears HIMSELF? Without their help? Doesn’t that seem kind of SUS?“

“W-Well… I admit I hadn’t considered that…” Chatot clears his throat, shaking his head.

“Dusknoir’s behavior, looking back, does seem rather odd with all this new information to consider.” Dugtrio says, three heads speaking up. “It’s simply too strange to brush this all off. As much as we respect Dusknoir, this is all rather alarming, and makes sense when you put everything into perspective.”

“…So what you’re all saying is, that you all believe their story?” Chatot asks, dumbfounded, watching in shock and horrible embarrassment as everyone seems to nod in response. _{“Errr…”}

“Of course we all believe it, Chatot!” Wigglytuff speaks up, walking up to Chatot and placing a hand on his head. “Their story is a wild one, yes, but they’re our friends! We shouldn’t distrust our friends!” Wigglytuff leans in close, his face mere inches away from Chatot’s face. “Right, Chatot?~”

_“Meep.” Chatot shakily nods his head in response. _{“I-I suppose there are a lot of things I hadn’t factored in, t-that might’ve made my judgement a bit rash at first…”}

Rickety and Lexxi sigh, practically collapsing on the spot. _{“Thank you, everyone.”} Lexxi mutters, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Now then!~” Wigglytuff turns his attention back to the guild. “Everyone! We’ve all heard what Lexxi and Rickety had to say! Our world is in danger, and if we’re to stop the timeline from collapsing, we’ll all need to work together to find the Control Panel! We’ll focus all our efforts on searching for it!”

“If Glyph is back and he’s collecting the Time Gears,” Xero starts. “Then it’s likely Uxie and Azelf might still try to stop him, if they’re unaware of what’s going on.”

“Well, let’s go warn ’em, then! We know where their lakes our! Let’s drop by and pay ’em a visit!” Zorora follows up.

“I’ll head over to Treasure Town too and let everybody know what’s going on!” Bungie exclaims.

“It’s great to see everybody so eager to help! We’ll find the Control Panel together!” Wigglytuff exclaims, quickly and firmly clapping his hands together. “YOOOOOOOOM-TAH!” He smiles, turning his attention back to Lexxi and Rickety. “I’m sorry that I don’t know anything about the Control Panel myself. Even in our many years of exploring, we’ve never heard of such a thing! But Torkoal, the town elder, might know something!”

“Torkoal?” Lexxi’s ear flicks curiously. “You mean that guy at the hot springs? I guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask him.”

“However…” Chimeco interrupts. “It’s far too late to be doing any running around. And besides, you must be starving!”

“…It is true we haven’t had anything to eat in the last few days, yeah… Most we’ve had were just a couple of waffles.” Rickety chuckles awkwardly. “We should proooooooobably eat, yeah.”

---

Once again, back in the safety and comfort of their own beds, at long last. The moonlight shines through the window, the quiet sound of the waves crashing against the cliffside down below. Lexxi sprawls out onto her bed, letting out a long, contented sigh. “Feels like I haven’t slept in a proper bed in forever. It feels so good to finally be back home.”

Rickety lays on his back, staring up at the ceiling. “…I’m still amazed everyone believed us. Heh. I mean, I’m grateful, I’m really, really grateful and relieved, but, man, the amount of faith our friends have in us to believe something as crazy as what we went through… Now it’s just a matter of finding the Control Panel and stopping Dusknoir in time.”

“We’ll get him, Rickety.” Lexxi nods. “We’ll stop him, and make him pay for everything he’s done. To us, to Pixie and Glyph, to Mesprit.”

Rickety sighs, sitting back up, staring down at the floor. He stays silent for a few moments, the only accompanying sound of the waves roaring outside. “…Lexxi?”

“Hmm?” Her ear flicks, glancing over. “Yeah, Rickety?”

Rickety stays silent for a few more seconds, the Riolu brushing his hair out of his face as he turns to Lexxi. “…Can I have a hug?”

Lexxi blink a few times, confused by the rather sudden request. “Huh? I mean- I’d be happy to, but-“

“Please? I just… Really need one right now.”

Nodding understandingly, Lexxi walks over to Rickety, wrapping her little stubby arms around him as best as she could, her tail coiling around his body snugly, as Rickety wraps his arms around her, hugging her closely against his body, resting his head on top of hers.

_{“Please tell me that everything will be okay.”}

Lexxi rests her head against his chest, keeping herself nice and close. “Everything will be okay, Rickety.”

_{“Thank you.”} Rickety says through shaky breaths, closing his eyes, sitting there with Lexxi in his arms, feeling her warmth against his body. _{“…Lexxi?”}

“Yeah?”

_{“Do you like me?”}

Lexxi muffles a giggle. “I wouldn’t have stuck around with you this long if I didn’t, would I?”

_{“Uh- N-No- That’s not what I mean- Ahh, it is, but-“} Rickety stammers embarrassedly. He opens his eyes, looking down at her, her pink-orange fur softly shining in the moonlight. “Lexxi, I… _Uughh, I need to tell you something, okay?”

Lexxi tilts her head curiously as she looks up at him. She nods her head, waiting for Rickety to continue.

Rickety takes a deep breath, steeling himself. “…I know we might not have a lot of time left. In the case that Dusknoir wins and everything is destroyed because of his actions, I need to tell you now. Because if I don’t, I’m gonna regret not saying it for the rest of my life. _{And afterlife…}“

“You mean the world to me. More than anything else in my life. I feel like with you, I could take on anything the world has to throw with me. The optimism you have, the way you’re just willing to jump into anything if it means helping someone else, the compassion you show, i-it…” He takes another deep breath, staring down into her eyes. “I want to share the love you have for the world with the love I have for you.”

Lexxi stares up at him, expression unchanging, her body still as she simply listens to him, taking it all in, word after word, one after the other.

Lexxi snuggles up closer to him, a smile slowly curling up on her lips as her tail coils around Rickety tighter, nuzzling up against his chin as she leans into him, slowly easing him down onto his back so she has a better means of cuddling up with him.

_{“You could’ve just said ‘I love you,’ you big dork. But that’s why I love you too.~”}