Chapter 8 – TIME

“Well, that’s, er…” Chatot clears his throat and ruffles his feathers, his body shaking slightly. “A peculiar and rather… Admittedly horrifying recounting of events. I’d normally find such things incredibly hard to believe and think of it as just some heat stroke induced fever dream, but that look in your eyes, I know you believe you’re telling the truth.”

“Not like we’d have much of a reason to lie about this anyway.” Rickety says, still visibly shaken up a little from having to retell everything that he and Lexxi had gone through today. “Heck, we lived through and even we still can’t believe what happened. “

Chatot’s eyebrows furrow, humming in deep thought. “Mmnhh… It would align with the information we’ve received today.” He mutters to himself quietly to himself. “And if that’s true… Things might be even more dire than we could’ve imagined.”

Rickety and Lexxi glance at each other, then glance back at Chatot. “What was that?” Rickety asks, leaning forward.

“Uh- Nothing! I mean-” Chatot’s feathers flap frantically, squawking a bit before he calms himself down. A single feather lands atop Lexxi’s head. “I can’t quite tell you right now, it’ll be revealed during tomorrow’s morning routine. For now, I’d recommend you two get some rest, it sounds like you’ve been through an awful lot today.” His brows furrow in thought some more. “So strange that you happened to end up at the waterfall, though.”

“Huh?” Lexxi tilts her head, the feather slowly sliding off and floating down to the ground. “How come?”

“Well, that’s where we were going to assign you to go tomorrow!” Chatot exclaims as he flaps his feathers some more. “The Guildmaster has been taking note of how hard you’ve been working and he was planning on having you go on your first real exploration mission at that very waterfall! But since it seems you’ve already wound up there and discovered what lies within, that sullies the surprise quite a bit…”

Lexxi tilts her head in confusion as she thinks back to that vision she saw back in the cave. “That doesn’t make sense though. I saw Wigglytuff pushing the gem in one of my visions. Hasn’t he been there before?”

Chatot blinks. “I beg your pardon?”

“I had another dizzy spell in the cave, and I had a vision after that where I saw a shadow that looked suspiciously like the Guildmaster’s.” Lexxi explains. “Is it possible that he’s already gone to the waterfall?”

“I… Well… I suppose that would be very strange, indeed!” Chatot stammers, pacing back and forth a little bit. “I can’t confirm or deny it myself, but I suppose I could consult the Guildmaster fairly quick to be sure.” He hops back into the Guildmaster’s chambers. “Be back in a moment!~”

Rickety turns to face Lexxi, arching an eyebrow. “You didn’t tell me that you had a vision in the cave.”

“Well, we were too busy being washed away to tell you, and we were already exhausted enough as is. That, and you’d already pushed the gem before I could warn you.”

“…Yeah, fair point there.” Rickety’s cheeks flush red in embarrassment, running a paw through his hair as he shuffles in place slightly. “Hmm… Y’know, Lexxi, I think I’m starting to pick up on a pattern with your dizzy spells.”

Lexxi’s ear flicks as she turns up at Rickety. “You have? What?”

“It’s-” Before Rickety can continue, Chatot exits the Guildmaster’s chambers with a rather bewildered expression on his face. “I’ll tell you later.” He says, before turning back to Chatot. “What’d he say?”

Chatot unfurls a wing and rubs his head. “Well, he mulled it over for a little bit, and then he said,” He spreads his wings out, slowly spinning around and swaying, putting on a totally convincing Guildmaster impression. “Oh memories!~ Sweet memories!~ YOOM-TAH!~” He stops spinning around and clears his throat. “Then after that, he danced around for a bit and said, “Yes, yes! When I think hard, I do believe I’ve gone there once before!”

Lexxi stares, confused, tilting her head inquisitively. “So… He was going to send us on a mission in hopes to discover something new, when it… Wasn’t new in the first place?”

“On one hand, I guess it saves us the disappointment we would’ve had if we learned about this after we’d already been sent, but on the other hand, why would he have sent us off there in the first place? Did he forget or something?”

Chatot shakes his head, shrugging with his feathers. “I wish I could tell you I understand what goes on in that head of his sometimes. All these years of working with him and I still can’t quite figure out what makes him tick.” He huffs, gesturing to the crew quarters with a wing. “Nevertheless! Off to bed you two, get some rest. We’ve got a lot happening tomorrow!”

Rickety scratches his head. Probably best not to think too much about this. Wigglytuff is too much of an enigma to figure out. “Good idea…”

---

Much like last night, Lexxi and Rickety found themselves laying back in their beds, staring up blankly at the ceiling as the thoughts of today’s events ran through their minds, playing on loop, repeating over and over.

“Ugghh… I can’t get those faceless things out of my head.” Rickety shivers, sinking back deeper into his cushion. “I thought yesterday was weird, but this? I-It can’t get any worse than this, right? This is as bad as it’s gonna get?”

“I hope so, as long as we don’t get sucked into one of those holes again we should be fine. I think.” Lexxi shuffles a little against her cushion, she too sinking deeper into it. She glances back at Rickety with a tired, but curious expression. “…You’re not having any doubts about becoming an explorer because of all this, are you, Rickety?”

Rickety stays silent for a good while, the air in the room quiet, the only sounds to be heard are the waves just outside their window. Rickety finally responds, letting out a quiet chuckle. “You know that’s a loaded question, Lexxi. Heheh.” He stretches his body out against his bed a bit, letting his arms go limp. “I think I just had a very different idea of what being an explorer is really like. I had all these preconceptions of what life an explorer would be, I thought it’d be awesome!”

Rickety chuckles again, head tilting back as he glances back at Lexxi. “Not that it hasn’t been awesome, and I wouldn’t really consider what happened today fun, but… I feel like we’re actually making a difference. Like we’re doing something important that most other exploration teams haven’t done yet. Nobody knew why Pokemon kept disappearing, and today we learned it’s because of those weird rift thingies that keep cropping up and sucking Pokemon in.”

Lexxi pauses for a minute, muffling a laugh to herself. “You always seem to look on the bright side of things, don’t you?”

“I feel like I made the right decision by coming here.” Rickety smiles, leaning back a bit as he glances at Lexxi. “I’ll be honest, though, I don’t think I’ve ever would’ve made this decision if it weren’t for you.”

“Me?” Lexxi blinks a few times. “What did I do?”

“On the day I met you, I’d been considering signing up at Wigglytuff’s guild myself. I got as far as stepping on the grate, but… I dunno, I just didn’t feel like I could do it. I mean look at me, I’ve got a lot of knowledge and read a lot of books about exploring and ruins and stuff, sure, but I’ve never actually done any of that. I thought that maybe I could if I really put my mind to it, but I just… Couldn’t get myself to go through with it, no matter how much I tried.”

Rickety sighs, sinking back into his cushion some more. “But when I met you, when we went after those jerks that took my necklace, when you encouraged me to go after them with you I think that’s when I finally realized that I was just, holding myself back. I needed a push. And you gave me that push to follow my dreams like I’ve always wanted.” He smiles softly at Lexxi, red eyes staring warmly at her. “I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but thank you, Lexxi. Really.”

“Awwhh…” Lexxi chuckles softly, her heart fluttering a little bit. “Rickety, that’s really sweet. Thank you too. It’s worth it, even if we haven’t really gotten closer to figuring out who I am yet.”

“…Oh shoot- Right! I almost forgot!” Rickety quickly rolls over onto his stomach as he faces Lexxi, leaning over the side of his cushion. “Your ability! Y-Your dizzy spells, whatever they are, I’ve noticed something. Whenever they’ve happened, it’s always happened after you’ve touched something.”

Lexxi blinks a few times, brows furrowing. “Now that I think about it, you’re right. Azurill’s apple, Drowzee bumping into, attacking that Shinx, touching the gem, it’s too much to be some kind of coincidence.”

Rickety nods his head up and down a couple of times. “Uh-huh. And it seems like you not only see visions of the future, but visions of the past, too.” Rickety gets out of bed and begins to pace around the room, his paw pressed against his chin. “I don’t know if humans naturally have that ability or not, but maybe that could be another step to finding out who you are! Maybe you were some kind of special super human!”

Lexxi’s eyes follow Rickety around the room, her tail swishing back and forth slowly. “That could be, but we still don’t have any definitive proof of that, do we? It’s a start, but it’s still not much to go off of.”

The Riolu hums for a bit, tapping at his chin. “Mmnnhh, yeah, you’re right.” He does smile a little as he glances at Lexxi. “On the bright side, though, can you imagine how useful this could be? Not just for exploring, but for so much else! There’s so much we could learn and so much we could do! And all you’d have to do is…” Rickety starts to slow down as a look of realization slowly starts to cross over his face. He stares down at the necklace around his neck, his voice lowering to a whisper. “Touch something…”

He glances back at Lexxi, then back to his necklace. He can feel his heart beginning to race as he begins to put two and two together. Lifting the chains over his head, he holds the necklace out to Lexxi. “I-If it’s not much to ask, could you maybe…?”

“Uh-” Lexxi stares dumbly at the necklace, then back up at Rickety. “Rickety, it’s not like I have one of those visions every time I touch something. And I already held your necklace at the beach when I first met you. Remember? Nothing happened then.”

“We didn’t know you even had that ability back then. This completely changes everything.” Rickety says, kneeling down closer to Lexxi as he holds it out a bit closer to her. “We finally have a chance to learn something new! Something nobody else has heard of before!”

Lexxi’s ears droop against her head a little, shuffling in place a bit. “I don’t even know if it’ll work. As much as I’d like to control when I have these visions, they just happen whenever they feel like it.”

“Don’t you think it’s worth a try, at least?” Rickety’s breaths grows a little shakier as he glances back down at his necklace. “Even if you don’t think you’ll see anything, I’ve just… I just need to satisfy this one part of myself that’s been gnawing at me ever since I found this thing. I know it’s selfish of me to ask, but I need to know.” He glances back up at her. “Please, Lexxi? For me?”

Lexxi’s eyes flick back and forth between Rickety and the necklace. She swears she can see tears beginning to form in his eyes a little bit as he becomes more emotional. Is that happiness? Sadness? Joy? He did call it his personal treasure, after all…

With an understanding nod and a small smile, Lexxi reaches out and takes ahold of Rickety’s necklace, placing her little stumps on the front and back, trying to concentrate.

Rickety kneels down closer to her as he eagerly waits in anticipation, his tail swishing back and forth behind him, creating little gusts every time it sways.

Lexxi closes her eyes and tries to focus on… Something. Maybe the smooth texture of the back of the necklace? The little bumps and indentations across its pattern on the front? The soft, smoothness of the blue highlights the necklace bore?

“Mmnhh…” Lexxi’s ears droop as she sighs in disappointment. “I don’t know, Rickety, I’m not picking up on anythi-” A wave of fuzziness and dizziness washes over her suddenly. “T-Thing…” It’s back. That dizzy feeling was back. Her head begins to pound as she drops the necklace onto the cushion, which slide down onto the floor. “Nngghh…”

Rickety leans forward and picks up the necklace, his eyes locked on Lexxi as his expression shifts to concern. He watches in silence, trying to at least comfort her and put a paw on her shoulder.

Lexxi mumbles something unintelligibly, and in a moment’s notice, her vision goes completely white once again.

---

…Where is this place? It doesn’t look like anything she recognizes. The environment is completely unfamiliar. It feels cold, harsh. The walls, ceilings and floors are all made out of metal and steel. It’s some kind of establishment, she thinks? She can hear drinks being poured, there’s some chatter amongst everyone but-

Those aren’t Pokemon.

A lot of them are bipedal, tall.

Those-

Those are humans.

“-so called Pro-Bots and Robophobes have now taken their differences to the streets.” A voice speaks from some kind of… What is that? It’s a moving display, images are being shown and played over it. “The anti-android robophobe propaganda has escalated to violence in Deltar, resulting in…”

The vision suddenly pulls away from the screen. Everything is playing out on its own, from someone’s perspective.

What did that voice say? Androids?

This… This isn’t even Earth, isn’t it? Where is this vision taking place?!

She can hear another voice, a news broadcast, it seems.

“-breakout from the infamous XR-87 prison system on Helion. There have been rumors and speculations, as well as inside sources from the prison itself, that this was carefully planned and executed, and an undisclosed number of augmented humans have escaped.”

This is all so much.

Where are all the Pokemon? Lexxi doesn’t see even a single Pokemon in here!

“These cyborgs, often referred to as “plug-ins,” were part of an Atirian faction, originally imprisoned for protesting against cybernetic inequality. The escapees are still at large and considered-“

Attention is drawn away again.

A voice calls out, speaking in a tongue she’s unfamiliar with.

A holographic screen appears in front of her- The person she’s viewing this vision from.

ALIEN LANGUAGE
AUTO-DETECT MODE
“Over here.”

She’s turned around and-

Oh sweet Arceus

There’s some kind of tall, gray, pale figure sitting at one of the tables. Its body is almost completely white, with tons of hard parts extending out of it. Is it some kind of armor?

Its face is almost completely featureless, with two dark imprints where the eyes should be. She wishes she didn’t have to be forced to look at this… Thing. But she’s not given an option, as the person sits down at the table with them.

“You seem troubled, Traveller. Your search for the promised land has yet to bear any fruit, has it not?”

“You… You know what I’m looking for?” Lexxi hears the person speak for the first time. Their voice has this sort of tinny echo to it.

“I know many things.”
“I know what you are.”
“I know who you are.”
“And perhaps most importantly…”

The figure lifts its hand up, revealing a familiar necklace. One in the shape of a clock, highlighted with blue markings and etched with intricate indentations.

“I know that you will be needing this.”

“What are you talking about?” The person asks. “What is that?”

“Trust me, Traveller.” The figure reaches out as the person outstretches their hand, the necklace slowly setting down within their hand, glowing faintly. “You will know… In time.”

The vision fades as the person, the Traveller, gazes down at the necklace in their hand.

---

Lexxi gasps as she suddenly comes back to her senses, her eyes wide as she pants heavily, eyes darting back and forth. Dirt- Dirt floor, rocky walls, she’s back home, back where she should be. What was that? What did she even just see?

“Lexxi?” Rickety’s voice is enough to break her from her haze. He’s gazing down at her, leaning forward with an intrigued, curious expression on his face.

“You’re not going to believe what I just saw.”

---

“Humans?!” Rickety’s exclaims, his eyes wide as he leans forward against his cushion. “You saw humans?!”

“I think I did.” Lexxi nods, rubbing at her head as she tries to think back. “I’m still reeling from everything, because nothing I saw made any sense to me at all, not from what I know.” She frowns a little, stirring some things around in her mind. “They called some of them Androids. Do you know what Androids are, Rickety?”

Rickety blinks, then shakes his head. “First time I’ve ever heard that time, that’s for sure. What did they look like?”

“I don’t know, they had like… Metal, they had metal built in with all their skin and flesh, like if you were to mix a normal Pokemon with a Magnemite, that’s what they’d look like.” She says. Rickety’s muzzle visibly scrunches up with intense discomfort as she describes this. “I didn’t see any Pokemon at all. Only humans and this weird pale figure thing that gave the necklace to some person he just called ‘Traveller.'”

Rickety stares down at his necklace intently. He flips it over, his paws slowly tracing across the word “TIME’ etched into the back of it. He stays silent, mulling over everything himself.

Lexxi’s ears droop as she sighs, sinking into the cushion. “I’m sorry, Rickety. I know you really wanted answers, but now I feel like we know even less than we did before. All it did was leave us with even more questions and just left me even more confused. Now I’m wondering if I was an Android instead of just a normal human.”

Rickety’s paws trace over the watch’s patterns, rubbing over the smooth blue highlights. “Hmm… So it’s a human thing, huh?” He says to himself, placing the necklace back around his neck. “Wherever this “Deltar” or “Atiria” is, it seems like this little thing has travelled a long way to end up in Treasure Town. Honestly?” Rickety perks up a bit, smiling. “I’m not bothered by it at all.”

“Huh?” Lexxi’s ears perk back up, glancing up at Rickety. “Really?”

He nods, his smile growing. “Yeah. We might not have gotten any answers right away, but it still adds to the mystery, don’t you think? And if this thing really is connected to humans, maybe the more we learn about it, the more we could figure out about who you are.” He chuckles softly. “This necklace has such a deeper history than I originally thought… And we’re going to figure it out together!”

Lexxi pauses for a few moments. She can’t help but feel a warmness spreading throughout her, seeing Rickety still be so excited despite everything. “Yeah.” She nods. “Yeah, we will.”

She sees someone standing behind Rickety, leaning to the side and glancing behind him. Chatot is standing in the doorway, leaning forward. “You two are still awake?”

“Huh?” Rickety turns around, then nods in response. “Uh- Yeah, why?”

“Ah, that simplifies things.” Chatot gestures them to follow with a wing. “Come along. The Guildmaster wishes to speak with you.