Swole-POV:
No. "Z-Zoey?!"
No way. No, no, no! "Zoey!" That's impossible!
She disappeared right in front of me! In the blink of an eye, she was gone!
A hole in the roof and another in the ground. Where Zoey stood. Palkia and that other pokemon can be seen battling against each other through the hole.
Her pokemon call out for their trainer in distress. She's gone. Killed in an instant... No. Please!
That can't be what happened!
Oh Arceus! It's her hand! Zoey's hand! I'm still holding her hand!
It's dripping blood from the stump. A clean cut half way up to the elbow. Already losing her warmth.
Buneary, Salandit, Riolu, Dawn... Barry, Ash, Brock, Alice and Tonio... Nurse Joy nearby. Nobody else is hurt. J-just Zoey.
This can't be real.
This must be a nightmare. Perhaps I was hit by one of these orbs?
That must be it.
Any moment now I will wake up...
Any moment...
...
Why am I not waking up!?
Dawn is a sobbing mess on the ground. Panic floods the air and fills my heart. This is really happening, isn't it?
What the fuck! What was I supposed to do!? We should have just left this Arceus forsaken town!
Stupid town! Stupid tours! Stupid contests! Stupid legendary pokemon!
Dawn! I need to get her out of here! Back to our world!
She relies on me, just like my pokemon do. Just like Zoey did... Damn it!
But how? How can I save them?
Darkrai... Palkia... That other one. Dialga? I think I remember reading about them.
We can't win.
A pokeball? No. A strong pokemon can just choose not to enter a pokeball.
Aura? ... What am I going to do? Fight them with my bare fists? Fuck!
Wait, aura...
"This piece is called Oración. When played right, it can move hearts and souls alike."
Oración. Alice's music can calm people down.
"T-this is the calamity my grandfather foretold!" Those were Tonio's words.
"He's a scientist and it was his grandfather who designed the garden." And Brock's tourist brochure said it was the same person who designed the garden and the towers!
Tonio's grandfather was Godey! The man designed and built the Space-Time Towers for this moment! To play Oración!
"Guys. I figured it out. How we can win." My voice sounds nasally and I wipe my face to clear my vision again.
My statement catches everyone's attention.
However, I only have it in my heart to care for my own pokemon and Dawn right now. She's on her knees in front of the hole, sobbing uncontrollably.
I wipe my own face clean of tears once more and put on the best mask of confidence I can muster. "Dawn. We're going to get out of this. I swear. And I'm going to get Zoey back."
It is a lie. I'm forced to clench my jaw up to keep the facade of confidence on. It's going to be a miracle if my plan works before those pokemon can destroy us all.
And Zoey... I have no idea how to fix her. Only her arm is left! Arceus damn it! But even if I need to figure out time travel, I will bring her back!
"Will you really?" Dawn has her voice filled with hope.
"Of course. But we need to get into the Space-Time Towers. There has to be a music plate for Oración and with it, we might be able to calm them down."
"Sniff. Oración? You mean the song that Alice played?"
"Yes. If Godey had a vision of this very moment and built the towers to stop it, then the towers must be the key. Why else would it be the largest instrument in the world, if it isn't supposed to play Oración?"
"That must be it!" Alice shouts. "But I have never seen the disk for Oración before. If it exists, it is not placed with all the others."
"If I built something that was still supposed to work 100 years later, then I'd hide the key-part with some hints to find it when you need it. Because it would be terrible if someone stole or misplaced it. Alice, do you have some kind of clue on how to find it?"
"M-me? What?"
"Yes, you. Your grandmother taught you to play it. Did she leave anything behind for you?"
"I-... I have a picture of grandma Alicia, with the notes for the song on the back." She pulls a folded, Polaroid picture out of her wallet.
An older man and a young woman can be seen holding hands inside the public garden in faded, yellowish colors.
"That's my grandfather in that picture!" Tonio is a little thinner and brittle looking than the man in the picture but they look to be around the same age. "And that woman looks exactly like you, Alice!"
"My mom looks like this too."
Sinnoh women do that sometimes.
"Alright, so your grandparents knew each other. Another indicator that we are on the right track. Can you show me the backside?"
She does and on the back are 9 blocks of music notes. Way too short to be the whole thing. But below it is a symbol. A sideways S with a line going through the middle.
"What's that symbol?"
"I think it's supposed to be a leaf whistle. It's also used as the clef at the beginning of the notes, see?" It doesn't really look like a leaf at all. "I think it's cute."
"What is a clef?"
"It tells the musician what pitch the song is supposed to be played in."
"Doesn't that mean that the notes can't be played correctly because the pitch-symbol is made-up?" She nods. "Then that must be the hint we're looking for. We need to get into the towers and find that symbol. Easy."
Difficult. And far fetched. Just getting past that war zone out there will be dangerous enough. Then we need to find a random symbol, if that's even really what we need.
Oh, fuck me, we're so dead if I'm wrong!
"I-I don't want to go out there..." Dawn admits what all of us are thinking. Her eyes are wide open and her skin is much paler than usual. Her hand grasps at the pendant of her necklace.
"We need everyone to look for that music disk. The faster we can find it, the sooner this is all over."
I place my hand on her cheek to try and reassure her somehow. The confident smile on my face feels strained. "Besides, we're not really safe here, are we?"
As if to validate me, a pink light flashes through the pokemon center and another hole appears in the ceiling and ground. Only a quick recount of everyone allows me to keep my stomach content inside.
This is terrifying. I really want to go home!
But I must stay optimistic. If not for myself, then for Dawn and for my pokemon.
We're going to do it!
---
"It looks really bad out there." Dawn says. Mascara streaks have ruined her beautiful face.
"It's fine. We will just need to run through there and get to the towers. Easy." Not easy.
Out there is worse than a war zone. Craters litter the ground. Holes leading into the void. Burning buildings. The screams of civilians. Two giants fighting in the sky and Darkrai is nowhere to be seen.
Every second, the ground shakes as attacks rain down somewhere or a battle cry pierces the air.
"Buneary, if something comes at someone, kick them out of the way. Don't hold back but make sure you don't get hit yourself."
Could Protect do anything against these moves? "Only use Protect together with Salandit and Riolu as a last resort."
I give all of my pokemon a hug and a kiss on their foreheads before doing the same with Dawn.
"I-... Swole..." Dawn tries to say something but her breath catches in her throat. Her hand clutches at her chest, eyes dilate, skin pales.
She needs another hug. "Dawn. We're going to get through this. I swear it. And I love you."
"M-me t-too." Her body shakes in fear. "I-I l-love you. C-can I-I stay h-here?"
I wish I could let her stay somewhere safe, but nowhere is.
"I need your help. I need everyone to look for the disk. Misdreavus and Glameow, I'm counting on you both too. Burmy, you keep your eyes peeled as well. If we want to have any chance of getting your trainer back, we will need to survive first."
Despite the impossibility of the tasks ahead, they nod back at me in determination and it does fill my own heart with hope. At least a little bit.
Past the glass sliding doors of the pokemon center is only carnage. A single glance is all it takes to kill any motivation to leave the shelter. Even if the shelter is actually useless.
"Guys? I don't want to cause any pressure..." Tonio says. "But we are running out of time. We are currently inside a pocket sub-dimension in-between the real dimensions. This space is not stable. Alamos Town is literally dissolving at the edges right as we speak."
"He's right. Procrastinating won't do us any good. On 3 we will sprint across the plaza and start looking through the towers."
I don't dare to ask if they are ready or not. Nobody will ever be ready for this.
"1." We get close enough for the doors to automatically open. "2." Some attack explodes in the distance and topples a few trees. "And 3!"
Everyone begins to run. Past craters, rubble and holes possibly leading to instant death.
The next attack strikes down like a meteor shower somewhere near the festival street. It could have been Power Gem but each rock was the size of a volleyball and the impacts blast a couple of roofs to smithereens.
Not even a second later and the ground rumbles from another unseen impact further off in the distance.
I keep running as fast as I can but we aren't even halfway across the plaza. A look behind shows that Dawn and Tonio are lagging behind.
Fucking shit! I told her to work out for exactly this kind of moment!
Just as I look forward again, Palkia and Dialga rush past us just a few meters over our heads. As fast as a train but deceptively silent until the wind blasts into our ears.
They were already halfway across the town after I caught my stumble. And Palkia is turned towards us, shooting a pink sphere at Dialga.
"Watch out! To our left!"
The sphere adds another crater to the ground a few dozen meters to our left and rocks, soil and a metal pipe rains down on us. Water sprays out of the hole.
The halfway point is just ahead but that's when I see Darkrai on the ground. He lies there. Battered, broken and exhausted but not KO.
His eyes trace us but he doesn't move a muscle.
Alicia...
His gravelly voice sounds out and carries a tone of deep shame within it.
The ground shakes again as we pass him. He struggles to get up but ultimately fails.
Alicia... I just can't keep going... I'm sorry...
I keep running.
The towers are nearing ever closer when a rush of wind tells me another attack struck nearby.
I don't dare to look back. As long as I don't look back, all of my friends are still going to be there.
The blood rushing in my veins mute out the sounds of our footfalls. The terrifying screeches of the godly pokemon become silent. In their place I begin to hear the familiar rhythmic splashing and the flapping of wings.
I blink and I'm back to where it all started.
But I'm not losing myself. We have come too far to give up. I pull myself together and enter the towers. The inside remains undisturbed. Clean. Pristine. Not a single sign of the chaos outside.
A pair of boobs impacts my back and Dawn wraps her arms around me.
Relief. I can't describe how relieved I am to feel Dawn's presence.
"I-I s-saw it coming right at meee-heee!" She begins to sob again. "T-that pink attack t-that made Zoey disappear!"
A warm liquid soaks into my sweater. Tears? Coppery smell. She's bleeding!
I turn around to inspect her. A thin strip of her shoulder is missing. The attack was a graze and cut a slice out of her skin and muscle.
She doesn't even notice it.
"Hold still. And close your eyes."
She doesn't see me pull out my emergency potion. And she doesn't feel the usual stringing sensation on her wound. Tears just continue to flow through her clenched shut eyes until I kiss her mouth.
The potion healed her but it couldn't restore the missing flesh. A scar remains where the cut went the deepest into her muscle.
"We're going to win. Alright? Now I need you to help me look for that symbol."
"I c-c-can't... my legs won't s-s-stop s-shaking."
"I will carry you. You just need to look."
"A-alright. I will do my b-b-best!"
"Good, hop on--"
---
"Everyone!" Alice shouts from somewhere deeper inside the building. "I found it!"
I pick up Dawn and as fast as I can, I hurry to catch up with everyone else. I'm such a stupid, fucking asshole! I spent so much time caring for Dawn even though every wasted moment could mean the end for us all!
Following her voice, I find Alice near the central staircase, bent over the massive Celebi-themed mosaic. Barry is with her, struggling to pull something from the ground.
They are trying to pull a music disc out, it's set into the trunk of the tree where the brown color of the metal fits into the browns of the tree's bark.
The disc doesn't budge. Only after Brock, Ash and I joined and we all worked together did we pull it out of the tight fit.
It's heavy. About as heavy as two of my pokemon.
"Swole, you're the fastest!" Barry shouts out after feeling the weight. "Take the disk and run up the tower! Ash, Brock and I will follow you as fast as we can in case something happens to you!"
"Got it!"
I leave Dawn behind and run up the stairs with the music disk. My pokemon run right beside me and keep up but the other guys are already falling behind.
The stairwell extends out of the towers' base and continues further up into the air.
Everything and nothing at the same time is shown in the sky above. The two... gods still fight.
Oh fuck, is that really what they are? Palkia, the pink one who can erase space, then the other one, Dialga who must be able to control time!
... He could bring Zoey back!
But how could I make him do it? Capture him? If I could become a strong enough trainer and maybe with a lot of help... I don't think that's impossible.
Yes! I will become the champion! I will defeat these assholes! And I will bring Zoey back!
Palkia bends another blue beam aside and a mere instant later it disintegrates the stairwell just a few meters below me.
The heat makes my stomach flip and my skin crawl. It almost fucking got me!
I look in the direction the beam shot and see it hit the public garden. It punched a hole clean through it!
In the very center of the hole... "Argh!" I turn my head to look away again. A strange headache. But what I saw... Impossible...
Another gust of wind and the stairs wobble because they are only connected to the observation platform above.
Barry! He was supposed to be right behind me! "Barry! Are you alright?!"
My feet won't continue to move. I need to get moving again! Damn it! Barry! Not you too man!
Fucking shit! No! "Baaaryyy!!!"
No! Please! You fucking asshole, don't do this to me!
"Swole! We can't get up! We'll look for another way!" It's his voice!
He's alright! Haha! Yes!
Buneary pulls at my hand and I continue to run.
But he's fine! He didn't die!
Only a few more meters and I will reach the observation platform with the music machine!
A sudden turn in the fight wrests my attention away from my goal but I don't stop running.
Palkia has her back turned to me and charges an attack, while obviously preparing to dodge whatever comes at her.
But that's not all. Darkrai challenges the gods again.
Palkia! Dialga! Stop this!
With a battle cry, he puts himself into the center of the next clash of their attacks and uses Protect.
The attacks that manage to erase everything in their path are blocked off completely and he follows it up by putting everything he has into a final counter attack.
A dark purple sphere, like an anti-supernova swallows him up and spreads out over the battlefield. It expands too fast for even the gods to dodge and they become captured inside as a result.
Then, as if it solidifies, the sphere turns into a pitch black hole. Nightmare manifest.
This garden belongs to everyone!
He has put them to sleep... This is our chance!
I hurry as fast as I can to reach the top and finally make it.
The room didn't survive their battle without issues. Decorative elements from the ceiling have broken off and litter the ground.
But the machine in front of me seems to be fine.
Darkrai is stalling for time behind me as the town turns to nothingness all around.
But how does the machine work?! Dawn operated it before! How did she do it?
Ah! A sign tells me how to do it.
First I take out the current disk by pushing this lever.
Next I need to-- The ground shakes again and the air shimmers in that weird light again.
The black sphere breaks. It shatters like glass into a million pieces before the fragments dissipate into thin air.
Darkrai slowly falls down to the ground. He is KO.
Palkia and Dialga immediately fire Aura Sphere and Hyper Beam at the falling interloper.
They hit.
A huge explosion lights up the sky.
Darkrai's body flies off from the attack. Past the edge of the town... Past the edge of the sub-dimension. And his body turns to light before disappearing forever.
Darkrai... has died. He was murdered by Palkia and Dialga. But his sacrifice bought me enough time to swap out the music plates. All that is left is to pull this lever and...
Nothing happened. The gears briefly spin but then stop. Nothing happens!
The sign doesn't show any other steps! I did everything!
Did the machine break?!
There! I see it! A metal rod is stuck inside a cog! Shitty steam-punk design!
Godey! Why did he design this with exposed internal machinery!
I climb up the device. Using cogs as footholds that would crush my bones if they were running right now. But I cannot afford to care.
With all my strength, I pull at the rod...
"I'm too weak!"
I can't believe it!
Nooo! No matter how hard I pull, it doesn't budge! All my muscles are wasted! Why!?
~"Move over!"
Buneary climbed up after me and Riolu and Salandit were right behind her.
I make some space. I pull at the rod near the top, carefully avoiding the sharp edge at the very top and my pokemon take a hold of the rod closer to the cog where it is solidly stuck.
We pull at the same time... But still, the rod doesn't budge at all.
It's a thick, solid metal rod and the cog practically chomps down on it.
It can't be done... It's all over...
Don't give up, my darling. I believe in you.
She needs me.
Zoey needs me.
Dawn needs me.
Everyone needs us to get this done.
"Let's try this again. Everyone ready?"
~"Yes."
~"Yess."
~"I am ready."
Ready.
"Pull!"
I pull as if my life depends on it. Even if it tears my muscles apart, I bite through the pain and pull ever stronger.
They bulge, my veins pop and I clench my jaw as hard as I can.
It budged! "Mooore!" Just barely, but it moved! We can do this!
I don't let up. Sharp pain in my shoulder. I pour everything I have into it and then...
The final part of the rod slides out and with a loud clang, it pops free.
The resistance is gone and like a spring my taut legs shoot me up in the air.
Spinning gears! I hear the cogs turning! It worked! They spin as I fall past them!
"Oof." My back impacts the ground.
3 more thuds fall down next to me and suddenly a hot, searing pain comes from my hand but I couldn't care less!
The machine runs!
Gong
Oración plays.
"We did it." My voice sounds broken and strained. Droned out by the bells of Oración. "We fucking did it!"
The song continues to play and all the worries in the world just fade away.
A gentle hand touches my face and I snap my eyes open.
A vision of a naked Zoey appears before me. Her good hand caresses my face before she leans down to kiss me.
I want to cry. I want to rage against the unfairness of it all, but I cannot.
From the corners of my eyes it appears as if the Space-Time Towers have grown golden wings made up of billions of shining arms.
Dialga and Palkia are nowhere to be seen.
I return the kiss. This might be the last one I can share with her until I can bring her back.
The only tears I can manage to shed are tears of happiness for this moment.
Zoey... I am so sorry.
"You did it." Her image says. "You really saved us all."
It hurts so much! But the moment I feel the pain, it fades away like dust in the wind.
"Ha... haha..."
How can I not laugh at the unfairness of it all!?
"Zoey... please... come back..."
"I am." The vision lies straight to my face. "I really am back. I think. I can touch things again, at least!"
What a weird vision.
"I'm real."
... "No way."
As if to prove me wrong, she holds me again and gently kisses my lips once more.
Her hand caresses one side of my face and a healed stump holds on the other.
I reach out to grab her face as well.
One healthy hand on one side... And a hand with a missing pinky finger on the other. Also healed.
I lost a finger but I can't find myself to care.
Zoey feels real.
Her face feels warm. Her cheeks feel soft. The tears of happiness flowing down her face feel wet.
"Y-you're really back?"
She nods. And then I hug her so tightly that the breath is pushed out of her lungs.
She struggles for a moment before I loosen my hold on her. Then she hugs me back.
The final note of Oración plays and it's like a switch is flipped.
Seeing Zoey in front of me, her stump for an arm, my missing finger next to the metal rod that is stuck in the ground just centimeters away from piercing into my torso instead.
All the memories come back with a flood of emotions.
It's too much. Tears stream from my eyes. Sobs come out of my mouth and I hold on to Zoey like a drowning man to a lifeline.
Outside is a normal sky. Not a single cloud in view.
"We made it!"
Despite the tears, I am so unbelievably happy. Unless my mind is completely broken, then I fucking won! And Zoey even made it back somehow!
More tears drip down from Zoey but I have never seen such a bright smile in my life before.
My pokemon wiggle themselves into our hug and that prompts Zoey to notice something.
"Where are my pokemon?"
"They should be with Dawn." I brush her hair out of her face, ignore my missing finger and kiss her again. "But where are your clothes?"
"My... clothes... Darn. Please don't look."
"As long as your face is in front of me, sure. But after... No promises."
"Haha. Alright, you can look. You are the best boyfriend ever, after all. Hehe, my hero boyfriend..." Her finger pokes my nose and I kiss it.
I can't see much of her body anyway, with it pressed against me and her being partially covered by pokemon.
"I'm content with watching your face for now. I really thought I'd never see your beautiful eyes again."
Her face begins to match her eye and hair color. "Really?"
"Nah. Not never. I thought I had to figure out time travel first."
"Hah!" She kisses me again. "I knew you were going to find a way to get my body back." And again. "It was so weird as a ghost, ya know?"
... "No? How in Arceus' name would I know that?"
"... Well, it was weird. I was floating and couldn't even see myself. And it was like I was connected to you. Could only go where you went. Couldn't touch anything either. Stuff like that... Well, now you know but it was just a figure of speech! ... You're such a dork, ya know?"
"I know."
"Haha!"
I kiss her some more.