Darkest Before the Dawn: Chapter 1

Darkest Before the Dawn

Chapter One:

    "GIVE UP. EVERYTHING IS LOST. DARKNESS HAS RISEN WHILE THE SUN HAS NOT. THERE IS NOTHING LEFT."

    I shuddered as I read the words. It had only been a few hours since... the burning at the pillars. No. Don't think about that. I forced the thought out of my head. I had traveled through the night, or what counted for it, anyway. At that moment, I was just trying to find a place to rest, and a former town sounded like a good place to start.

    I turned down the westward path and watched the scenery go by as I walked. Rocky formations rose out of the earth on both sides. They were dark grey, and the trees below were a lighter shade. Grey. Like everything else.

    I'll change this. I promise.

    I'd never been so far from home before. Father had taken me into the castle ruins we lived by once to study the human language, but that was the only time I had ever left. I had been told it was a temporary settlement, for us to live in while Mother and Father looked for the Time Traveler, but we had never left in the few months I lived there. 

    Finally, I came to the end of the path. It branched off of a larger, dusty clearing in four directions. The ground was scuffed up, and random items were strewn about. Perhaps fights went on here? Mother told me that Pokemon were angry and vicious because of the darkness. 

    I stepped out into the clearing and was suddenly greeted by a voice.

    "HEY! What're you doing here?"

    An orange and white Pokemon scuttled out from the southern path. It had long, spindly legs and walked sideways with its two claws in the air. The Pokemon's eyes were narrowed and looking straight at me with malice.

    "Um, I'm trying to find the town." I muttered. 

    The Krabby clacked its claws. "Oh yeah? And why'n you wanna do that?" 

    "Listen, pal," I said, a little fiercer than I planned to, "I've had a long day. I'm just trying to find a place to rest. Then I'll be on my way."

    "Whoa now!" the Krabby raised his claws in mock surprise, "Little Treecko's gettin' all tough! What're ya? Level two? I c'n take ya down, one second flat."

    "I'm level five." I growled through clenched teeth. I had battled a few Pokemon along the way, and had grown two levels.

    "That's what I thought." the Krabby snapped, "Now get movin' runt. No one's left here. Hightail it outta here and find some other Pokemon to bother."

    The Water-Type scuttled off, not before snapping its claws once more near my face. It left down the path I came on. 

    I decided to take the northern path, wanting to stay as far away as I could from where that Krabby had come from. Mother certainly hadn't been kidding about corrupt Pokemon.

    To the north, there was a tall, stepped, rock formation. It didn't look naturally carved, so someone must have lived up there. Maybe they were still there.

    I climbed the grey stone stairs. The rock mesa rose up higher above the others. I could see similar, cylindrical, flat-topped stone towers in the distance.

    At the top, I looked out over the land beyond. Dull, lifeless color dominated the landscape. There was a large forest dotted with stone mesas. Not a single leaf moved. Even from up this high, I couldn't feel any wind blow. 

    In front of me, there seemed to be a huge tent. Huge holes were ripped through the fabric, and the whole formation sagged on one side. I walked forward and read a splintered wooden sign that had fallen on the ground.

    "WIGGLYTUFF'S GUILD."

    So this place used to be an explorer's guild. Mother and Father told me they got their maps and supplies in similar places. I could probably find the same things here.

    I started to step through an opening in the fabric, but then stopped. I moved out and looked at the shredded tent one more time. Then, I noticed something else.

    Words were formed out of deep scratches in the material. Like someone had written with claws.

    "FOLLOW YOUR HOPE. FIND YOUR SUNRISE."

    Hope... Sunrise... I thought. In a world like this, who could have the audacity to even try to look for Hope? Only myself. I was the only one who believed a better future could be possible. Other Pokemon were mad, corrupt with darkness. I realized that these were the only words of encouragement I had seen so far, and probably the only ones I would see. 

    Maybe someone else still held on to the small thread of Hope that I believed remained. The Hope for a better future. One where the sun still rose. Maybe I wasn't alone in my quest.

    I walked under the dilapidated tent and found an opening in the ground. It was a hole that led downwards. Looking down it, I could see small indentations going straight down in the wall. There must have been a ladder there at one time. I'd have to find some other way down. Luckily, I had a way.

    Because I was a Treecko, I was very adept at climbing. Mother told me that we have special paws that have little hooks on them, and these help us stick to things. On a couple of occasions, I had stuck to the cave roof upside-down! Getting down this tunnel would be no trouble at all.

    I crawled out into the hole. Sticking to one wall, I climbed down, headfirst. The tunnel was completely dark. I couldn't see anything, but I figured the hole must end somewhere, so I kept heading down. 

    Finally, the tunnel ended. I ducked out of the hole, and found that I was still a few feet above the ground. The ladder must have begun here and continued up to the surface. I climbed down the back wall and onto the ground. 

    The room was completely empty. Short grass covered the ground, and the stone walls rose up and around into a large room. Looking around, I found that, despite being underground, there were windows carved into the rock. The building was built into the side of a cliff.

    I decided to explore the rest of the place later. I was too tired to keep going. I walked over to the corner of the room, curled up, and tried to fall asleep.

    But whenever I closed my eyes, all I could see was what I tried hardest to forget.

    Roaring of the monster. Claws. Fire.

    My whole body shook as I cried myself to sleep.

***

    Someone shook me awake. They seemed to be muttering something; I couldn't quite understand.

    I opened my eyes, and I saw something I had never seen, and had never expected to ever see.

    There was a human girl standing before me.

    "Ahh!" I cried as I backed away, but I was already in a corner. It was no use. 

    The human said something in a garbled language. She held out her hand in a caring sort of way. 

    Though my body was frozen in fear, my mind was racing. What was a human doing here? Didn't they leave when time fell? Are humans dangerous? What does this one want from me?

    More garbled language came from the human. I realized I could understand some of the words she was speaking. Of course I couldn't understand her! Humans spoke the human language. I remembered Father taking me to the ruins to learn it.

    "Why... you here?" I choked out the words of a tongue I hardly knew.

    The human looked surprised. "You speak like a person! But you're a Pokemon! Pokemon don't talk!"

    I recognized the words about Pokemon not speaking. "I learn... human. Not well." My mouth contoured awkwardly to form the human words. 

    The girl looked thoughtful. "I know some of the Pokemon language. I could talk like that if that'd be easier for you."

    I picked up "Pokemon", "language", and "you" from what the girl said. I translated that to say that she must know how to speak in the language of Pokemon. That was a relief. "Yes!" I said in Pokemon.

    "Okay," the girl said the word in Pokemon. Strangely, the word sounded nice coming from her voice, not like the garbled human tongue. "So, what are you doing here, Treecko?"

    I must have looked odd right then. I was a low-leveled Treeko out on my own, with no family to go to and no place to call home. And then there was the fact that I was invading this crumbled guild just to sleep.

    I tried to explain, "I needed a place to rest. I don't have a-" I had to stop myself from saying 'family'. "-home... anymore."

    "Then I guess we're one in the same." the girl said. "I'm guessing we both came to Treasure Town, or at least what's left of it, for the same reason, right? Trying to find some way to live in this dark world."

    I was surprised about ho much this human's words reminded me of my mother's. I nodded my head, agreeing with her.

    The human came an sat down next to me. I realized she was much bigger than I was, but perhaps a bit shorter than Father. The girl had short, dark colored fur- or were those feathers?- on her head. She was wearing some sort of material like the Explorer's scarves. The upper half of her body was covered in a black colored fabric with a thicker, brown one on top of it. Her lower half was wearing a long, lighter brown material that covered both of her legs. She even wore some hard, thick objects to protect her feet. Perhaps all these items heightened her abilities like an Explorer's scarf did?

    "My name's Cinder, by the way." the girl explained. "And you're Treecko, right? I'm just making sure you don't have a different name or something."

    "No, I'm just Treecko." I said. I'd heard of some Pokemon that had names other than their species. But I was content with my name.

    "Well, Treeko," Cinder sighed. "We're in the same boat, so to speak. We both have nowhere to go and nowhere to go back to."

    That's where you're wrong. I thought. I do have somewhere to go. Something to do.

    "What do you plan on doing, Treeko?" Cinder asked, like she read my mind.

    I weighed my options in my head. Telling her certainly wouldn't make any difference, right? A human couldn't help me in my quest. She probably wouldn't even want to come along anyway. Why would a human want to meddle in Pokemon affairs anyway?

    It's her world too, I realized. 

    And before I could stop myself, the story was pouring out. I told the girl all that had happened. I told her everything. The battle. My parents being taken. Awakening to see them tied to pillars. The claws... and then the fire. I could hardly keep talking through the tears. 

    Cinder didn't say a thing throughout the whole story. She listened with interest at the start, and later seemed as though she would cry herself. 

    I suddenly felt her arms wrapped around me.

    "Treecko..." Cinder breathed, "I'm so sorry. I can't believe that-... Oh, Arceus..."

    I was shocked at this embrace. I barely knew this human! I suppose I should have expected it, for me spilling my guts like that. It just felt so good to have someone listening.

    Cinder pulled away from me, and I watched her eyes light up. "Hey! I know something that you have to see. Come on!"

    The girl got up and backed away from where I was still sitting. She took a running start, leaped up and grabbed the edge of the hole up above. Cinder braced her hands and feet against the walls of the hole and spidered her way up until finally grabbing another ledge and crawling in. She called down, "Come on, Treecko!"

    I hesitated in following. I was still pretty shaken up after telling the girl all that had happened to me. If I could trust her with that, I could trust her with anything. She was probably just trying to cheer me up, anyhow. I climbed up the side of the wall to follow after her.

    The ledge that Cinder had crawled into split two ways. The first went out to the side of the cliff. I looked into it, and it seemed lighter because of the windows in the sides of the cliff. But the girl had gone the other way, so I did as well. The other path led down a darker tunnel and it finally spread out to a small, windowless room. I stepped in and looked around. Oddly enough, there was still light in the room. On the walls, torches were lit. Their flames were frozen in place, but they gave off dim light. I watched Cinder walk towards the center of the room. Tall bookcases were lined up on one side of her, and a short table with stools was on the other side. 

    Cinder moved towards the bookcases. "I came here yesterday as well, before you. I found this place while climbing down the main tunnel. This seems to have been the guild's head of knowledge. You gotta look around, Treecko. There's so many interesting things here!"

    Is there anything about the Time Gears? I wondered, as I walked over to the bookcases. There were titles like Explorer's Guide, Foods and Gummis, and How to find a Perfect Apple, but nothing about Time Gears. I was just about to check the other side when Cinder came over and shoved the cover of a book into my face.

    "Look at this!" Cinder said excitedly, "This book is about the Unown language!"

    I had never heard of this. "The Unown language?" 

    "Yeah!" Cinder beckoned me over to the table, sat on one of the stools, and placed the book on the tabletop. I climbed onto one of the stools as well and I looked a the book's cover. The Unown and the Unknown was the title, and it was covered in intricate designs and strange markings.

    Cinder opened the book. The main text was written in two languages. The first text was in Footprint Runes, which is what Pokemon wrote in, and the second was the same thing, except written in the human language.

    "What is the Unown language?" I asked Cinder as she read the book, her finger tracing underneath lines of the human text.

    "It's an ancient script written in letters that look like a Pokemon called Unown. I've seen the inscriptions one time, but I had no idea what they meant." Cinder looked up from reading, "If I were to study these runes, I could go back and read what they said there."

    I looked at the text written the book. I found the Unown letters were quite easy to comprehend. The Unown turned out to be Pokemon that were shaped like letters of the human language. All I had to do was translate the Footprint Runes to the human text, and then use that to read the Unown language. 

    "Why do you think the Guild had a book for just learning the Unown language?" I asked.

    "Apparently, it's not just for the Unown script." Cinder started, as she flipped through the pages, "There are other things written here. It's not called The Unown and the Unknown for nothing. Look at this!"

    Cinder pointed to another page in the book. "The book seems to be all on the topic of unsolved mysteries. This section talks all about Mystery Dungeons, and there's even one about humans! Oh, and look! This chapter is about mysteries of time and space!"

    I was immediately interested. This could be what I was looking for!
    I grabbed the book from Cinder and started flipping through the chapter she was talking about. 

    "Whoa!" Cinder said, surprised, "Something interest you, Treecko?" 

    "My parents were investigating the planet's paralysis." I explained while skimming through the chapter, "They had a plan to go back in time to prevent Temporal Tower from collapsing. For it to work, they had to find the locations of the Time Gears in the past. My parents had all the research done; they knew where all the Time Gears were. The last part of the plan was to find a Pokemon that can travel through time. But all their research was destroyed, so I'm out of leads. I was hoping to find information in this- oh, look!"

    I pointed to the page the book was opened to. On it, was a drawing of a Time Gear. I reached into the pouch I wore that was slung around my neck and shoulder and pulled out the burnt piece of paper. I unfolded it next to the picture in the book. The two were identical.

    The drawings were in color, so I could see what the Time Gears looked like. They were relatively small, if the drawing represented the actual size. The relics were light blue colored with darker blue indentations. There were six spokes circling a hexagonal hole in the middle. Each of the spokes had a darker blue straight line carved into it, ending in a diamond shape. In between these were smaller, thin marks; dark blue like the rest of the indents, that were marked at each interval where a spoke did not extend out of. Though it was just a picture, I still felt awe-inspired to look at such a wonder.

    "So you're trying to find the locations of the Time Gears as they were in the past, so they you can go back in time, collect them, and then do whatever to stop Temporal Tower from crumbling?"

    "That pretty much sums it all up." I said. "Placing the Time Gears in the Tower would stop it from collapsing and thus stop the planet from becoming paralyzed."

    "But what about this Time Traveler?" Cinder asked. "I've never heard of a Pokemon that can travel through time."

    "Maybe there's something in the book," I said, already beginning to flip through the pages. 

    I finally came to the page. Mysteries of Time Travel was written across the top in Footprint Runes and then the human language. On the first page, there was a picture of Dialga. My eyes narrowed in anger and a growl rose from deep in my throat. I reminded myself it was just a picture, but still.... 

    The picture of Dialga had writing underneath. It stated that Dialga governed time from Temporal Tower. The Tower itself controlled time. According to the text, Dialga could travel through time by itself for short trips across only a few years. To span generations, Dialga had to be physically at Temporal Tower. He could tap into the structure's power for himself to use. After doing that, Dialga had to remain dormant for a while to regain power.

    The other page had another picture of a Pokemon. It was one I had never seen before. This Pokemon was green colored, and it had translucent wings. It had large, black-rimmed eyes, and two blue-tipped antennae. Surprisingly, I felt myself blushing. This Pokemon was very pretty.

    "Celebi, the Time-Travel Pokemon." Cinder read the text below the drawing. "She seems like the one your parents were looking for."

    "Yeah," I nodded. The text read on to explain more about the Pokemon. It had similar abilities to those of Dialga, except Celebi didn't physically control time. She could only travel through it at will. Like Dialga, Celebi needed a bigger power source to travel over multiple generations of time. She apparently used something called the Passage of Time. 

    "So you're going to locate all the Time Gears in this world, find this Celebi Pokemon, travel back in time and find the Time Gears again, put them in Temporal Tower, and you're going to do this all on your own?" Cinder listed off my whole plan, and finished by giving me a sideways glance and raising one eyebrow. 

    "Yes, I am." Even as I said it, I realized that it sounded impossible. I was just a level five Treecko, for Arceus' sake! How in the world was I going to do this?

    Luckily, I didn't have to think of another way, because what Cinder said next gave me the answer. "Well, I'm coming with you."

    "What?" I cried, perplexed. 

    "You couldn't possibly do this on your own." Cinder stated, "I can help. Two heads are better than one, you know."

    It was unheard of!  A Pokemon and a human working together?

    "Come on!" Cinder pleaded, "I want to change the world too. I'm tired of this darkness, and if I could do something to change the world for a better future for everyone, I'll do anything to make that happen."

    "We may need to fight." I said, hoping for her to change her mind. "If Dialga and his cronies find out that we're doing this, they'll be after us for sure."

    "I can fight!" Cinder said forcefully. She reached behind her. For the first time, I noticed Cinder had something made a metal strapped to her back beneath her bag. The girl pulled on the handle and  the SHIING of metal-on-metal filled the air. 

    Cinder stood back and braced the weapon out in front of her. Father had told me that humans don't use moves and attacks like Pokemon did. They made their own weapons and used those to fight. 

    Cinder's sword was made of grey metal. It was about as long as two of me combined, and it was completely straight. A line was carved straight down the middle. A bigger metal piece was fixed on top of the handle below the blade and there was circular blue gem placed in the middle. The rest of the handle was made of a darker grey metal than the rest of the sword. 

    My eyes widened, "Couldn't that..." I gulped, "Kill someone?"

    "Normally, it would." Cinder said, turning the blade around in front of her, "But the edges are blunted so it doesn't hurt too much if you get cut. I use it mostly to whack enemies away." She traced her finger down the edge of the blade, and pulled it away without a scratch, to prove her point.

    I nodded and then turned back to the book. "So where do you want to go first?"

    "So I am coming?" Cinder slid her sword back into its scabbard. 

    I sighed. "You're right. A Pokemon and a human working together is better than one little Treecko on his own. So I guess you're going to help me save the world."

    "Great!" Cinder said as she came back over to the table. "Do you remember where any of the Time Gears were located? You said your parents had some maps."

    "And they were burnt." I scowled. "But yeah, they did have them. The locations were all marked and everything. I only looked at them a few times; I didn't think I'd actually need them!"

    "It's fine!" Cinder placed a hand on my shoulder. "We can find them again! Maybe there's a map in the book."

    I flipped back to the chapter about Time Gears, and it was there that I found a map of the Pokemon World. It looked like the colored one that my parents had. The one from the past!

    "All I remember is that there were five of them." I said, studying the map. There was nothing marked on it to indicate where the Time Gears might have been. "They were pretty spread out around the world as well."

    "Here, let me try something." Cinder leaned closer to the book. She closed her eyes and hovered her finger above the map. She placed it down randomly and it landed where a drawing of the ocean was. Cinder opened her eyes and waited a moment. Something must have not worked like she wanted it to, so she tried it again. The second time, Cinder's finger landed on the drawing of the eastern forest. 

    Cinder's face immediately consorted in pain. She bared her teeth and moaned. 

    "Cinder!" I cried. What was going on?

    "No!" Cinder yelled out through clenched teeth, "Treecko! It's fine! It's just-..."

    The girl's eyes suddenly went wide. She stood stone-still for a moment, until she finally breathed again and fell onto the table.

    "Cinder!" I cried again. The girl picked herself up and rubbed her head.

    "It's fine, Treeko." Cinder said. "I'm fine."

    "What was all that?" I asked. 

    "I have this strange... ability, I guess you could call it." Cinder explained, "I don't really know much about it myself, but sometimes, when I touch certain objects, I see a vision. And I get a bad headache."

    "A vision?" I echoed. "What do you see?"

     "They're of the past or the future." Cinder said. 

     "That's amazing!" I exclaimed. "What did you just see now?"

     "I saw a forest. It was horribly dull and grey, so it must have been not very far into the future or past." Cinder said, as she looked back at the map. "And according to this, what I saw must have been Treeshroud Forest!"

    "Well, come on, then!" I said, jumping up. "Let's go!"

    "It looks like Treeshroud Forest is a while away from the Guild, but if we go now, we should get there in a few hours." Cinder said. 

    "That's what I'm saying!" I sighed.

    "Right. Let's go." Cinder put the book into her backpack. Then, she went over to the bookcases and came back with a map.

    "It'll be easier to use this one," Cinder explained, putting it away as well. "And also so we don't ruin the book."

    "Is there anywhere in the Guild where we can get supplies?" I asked.

    Cinder thought for a moment and then said, "I think there's a storage room on the lowest floor."

    We exited the book room and climbed back down the tunnel we came through earlier, entering into the room on the lowest floor of the Guild. I followed Cinder to a hallway on the left. We came out in a large room. It had an oblong, wooden table set up in the middle, surrounded by multiple stools. Everything that was needed for a big dinner was still laid out on the table. It was like whoever had lived here had to leave in a huge hurry and din't bother cleaning up.

    "Ooh, creepy." Cinder said. She walked over to a corner of the room. There were large baskets of fruit there, and the girl started taking some and placing them into her backpack.

    "Okay, we got Oran Berries, Pechas... some Rawst... oh look! They even have Seeds here! Those'll be helpful."

    I walked over to where Cinder was to see what she was packing. She grabbed a handful of pale-colored Seeds with red marking and poured them into a pouch on her bag. "Those were Blast Seeds. They make you spit fire! And humans can use them too!"

    As Cinder grabbed more items, she named them off. "X-Eye Seeds, Heal Seeds, Quick Seeds... Iron Thorns? What are those doing in the food section? Oh well. We could still use them. Here are some Apples. Definitely need those."

    I looked around where Cinder was gathering supplies, and found something she hadn't packed yet. They were some kind of Seed. Like other Seeds, these were pale colored, but these had light green and white markings.  

    "What are these?" I asked, holding one up for Cinder to see.

    "Oh, good! You found them!" Cinder said, smiling. "Those are Reviver Seeds! I was looking for those!"

    "What do they do?" 

    "They wake you up if you get knocked out." Cinder explained. "These'll certainly be useful."

    I packed some items in my own pouch, and Cinder got a few more things. Finally, we were ready to set off.

    "Treeshroud Forest's in the east, right?" I asked as we walked down the stairs in front of the Guild.

    "I'll check one more time, just to be sure." Cinder said, pulling out the paper map. She looked over it and then said, "Yep! We have to go east from here. We can probably skirt around dungeons if we waver our path a bit. That'll probably be better. We'll have to go through some fields first and then start heading northeast over some rocky terrain near Mt. Bristle."

    "Well, that'll give me the perfect time to train and grow more levels!" I said. "We have to be strong if we're going to save the world. What level are you?"

    Suddenly, Cinder started laughing so hard, she could barely put the map away. She tried to stop, looked at me again, and then laughed some more.

    "What?" I said, confused. "What's so funny? Really, what level are you, Cinder?"

    "H- Hu-" Cinder tried to speak through her giggles, "Humans don't grow levels, silly!"

    "What? They don't?" I exclaimed. "That's so weird! How do you know how strong you are?"

    "I guess we just don't." Cinder finally calmed down enough to talk normally. "But we do have ages, if that counts. Humans get older each year. That could be a kind of leveling up, I think."

    "I guess so." I shrugged, and we continued down the stairs. At the bottom, we turned right and left Treasure Town.

***

    "Hey, could you touch that?" 

    Cinder and I had walked for hours after leaving Treasure Town. It was a long journey, and there were quite a few Pokemon we had to battle along the way. I'd grown almost ten levels in only a few hours! Cinder said it was because the Pokemon in these areas were stronger than I was. She actually fought pretty well with her sword. We were just arriving at an odd formation of rocks that stood off to the side of the path we were following to Treeshroud Forest. Looking past the rocks, I could see Mt. Bristle in the distance to the east.

    "What?" Cinder asked. "You want me to touch a pile of rocks?"

    "Sure, why not?" I shrugged. "Maybe it'll trigger one of your visions."

    "It's worth a try." Cinder reasoned.

    She followed me as we walked over to the rocks. They were darker grey colored than the sandy ground beneath them. The rocks were flat on all sides, like cubes, and they were cemented on top of each other into a pile that was at least three times as tall as Cinder was. 

    Cinder came up to one of the blocks that was sticking out further than either one on the top of bottom of it. She laid her hand on the flat surface. 

    "Anything?" I asked, hopefully. 

    Cinder waited a moment, and then stepped back. "Nope. Guess not. Maybe it only works on things associated with Time Gears?"

    "Guess so." I said, and we left the rocks and continued walking.

    The path turned to the left and we entered a ravine with mountains on both sides. To the south, Mt. Bristle loomed over us. Its grey peaks reached up and seemed to pierce the sky. I looked to the other side of the ravine, and a lighter-colored series of mountains towered up into the sky and left us in the shadows. I was glad when Treeshroud Forest finally came into view on the horizon. 

    Despite being a Grass Type, I'd never been even close to a forest before. Mother told me about them, though. They were supposed to be havens of green plants, beautiful flowers, gentle breezes, and sunlight dappling through the treetops. What I saw in Treeshroud Forest was the complete opposite.

    Not a single leaf on any tree even quivered. The ground was a dusty grey. All the flowers that had once been beautiful were closed up and dull colored. There was no sunlight, so the woods looked dark and spooky. It didn't seem like a haven at all. Just somewhere that you definitely didn't want to go into because of the fear of getting lost.

    Cinder unsheathed her sword as we stepped through the trees entering the forest. She braced the blade out in front of her and walked forward locked in a fighter's stance. I moved in after her, walking sideways to cover behind us. My eyes were wide open, looking for anything that moved, and I kept myself in a fighting position.

    Suddenly, a growl came from the bushes in front of us. Cinder stopped moving, and I stepped up beside her, ready to fight.

    There was a flash of red as a Pokemon sprang at us. It landed out in front of Cinder. The Pokemon's body had coarse, black fur with a brighter orange color on its muzzle. Two, bone-white horns curled around its head and similar features covered its back and paws. A thin, pointed tail snapped out behind it like a whip.

    Fire licked at the Houndoom's jaws as it barked, "Get out! Get out of here! This is MY territory!"

    I unconsciously took a step back. When I saw that fire, all I could think of was... a purple flash. The ropes igniting. No screaming. Nothing. Just silence.

    "TREECKO!" Cinder's panicked scream jarred me out of my thoughts. 

    I realized what was happening just in time to dodge the Fire-Dark Pokemon's Flamethrower move. The Houndoom leaped at me again, its claws withdrawn. I dodged again and it him straight in the middle of his head with a well-placed Pound. The Fire dog backed up with a few dazed steps, and this gave Cinder a chance to move in. 

    The girl swung and hit the Houndoom with the flat of her sword. She spun around and kept the Fire-Dark Pokemon in the air; it was brought up against her blade with the momentum of the movement. Cinder stepped forwards and the Houndoom found itself with his back pushed forcefully against a tree. Cinder had her hand at its throat, holding tight, but not enough to choke the Pokemon. The girl put the tip of her sword under the Houndoom's chin, and it whimpered and shied away.

    "I won't hurt you," Cinder stated in the Pokemon language, so the Houndoom could understand, "As long as you get out of this forest and never bother us again." 

    "I- I'll leave!" The Fire-Dark Pokemon yelped as its eyes darted to Cinder's sword. The girl lowered her blade and dropped the Houndoom to the ground. It scrambled to pick itself up and then bounded away with its tail between its legs.

    "That was impressive." I never got tired of watching Cinder fight.

    "Not too bad yourself." Cinder replied, "That was a nice Pound you did there."

    I shrugged. Truthfully, I wished to learn stronger moves. Pound was good for the situation we were just in, and Quick Attack was excellent for attacking swifter foes. My Absorb move certainly wouldn't have helped against that Houndoom. I thought back to my father's Leaf Blade move. I still couldn't wait to be as powerful as him.

    Cinder kept walking, with me along behind her. She reached up to grab a tree branch that was in the way, when she suddenly cried out and doubled over, clutching her head in pain.

    "Cinder!" I yelled, rushing to her side.

    "Ju- just a vision!" Cinder moaned through clenched teeth.

    I relaxed a bit at her words. It would be better if Cinder could get her visions without headaches, though. I'm scared for her every time. 

    Cinder grunted in pain. She suddenly froze and stood straight up with her eyes wide open. A moment later, she fell forward, but recovered just in time to place her hands out in front of her to break her fall.

    "What did you see?" I asked, grabbing her arm as she knelt on the ground.

    Cinder rubbed her head. "I didn't see anything. There was just heard a voice. It said something like 'I've finally found it! A Time Gear!'," Cinder mimicked a deeper voice when she said what she heard. "That means it must be here somewhere! Come on, we must be close!"

    The girl picked herself up and took off running, with me racing behind to keep up. Cinder pushed branches out of the way, dodging around bushes and rocks as she ran. It was hard for me to run so fast; her steps were a lot longer than mine, so she covered more ground. I lost sight of her through the tree cover. 

    "Cinder!" I called. There was no answer. 

    I decided to climb a tree to see if I could spot her from above. The special hooks on my paws assisted me in clinging to the bark. But even when from my advantageous viewing point, Cinder was nowhere in sight. 

    I looked ahead of me through the grey leaves of the tree I was crouched in. Some branches from the next tree reached close to the one I was in. Would I make it if I jumped? I resolved to take the chance. The drop wasn't too far, anyway.

    As I got ready to spring, I found that my natural instincts kicked in. Somehow, I unconsciously placed together that this was something Treecko and their evolutions did all the time. My instincts told me exactly where to place my feet to jump, how far I would fly, and where I would land. This all happened in mere moments, and I suddenly found myself on the other branch that I had just been looking at seconds before. This would certainly be faster than running on the ground.

    I let my instincts guide me as I leaped from branch to branch in the treetops. The leaves and limbs of the trees seemed to bend out of the way for me. I was moving so fast, it felt like flying! I was flying! The feeling was unlike any I had experienced before. It was euphoric. I felt at peace with the world. Like I had finally connected a missing link with what I was.

    There was the sound of footsteps on the ground below me. I stopped moving, grabbing onto a branch to slow my speed. I listened.

    Thump thump. Crack. Thump thump.

    It was the sounds of two feet hitting the ground at a run. No Pokemon in Treeshroud Forest walked on two legs. 

    Cinder.

    I resumed jumping through the treetops. The branches barely quivered as I landed on them. I made no sound. I soon heard the footfalls that Cinder made behind me. I stopped again and looked down. The thumping of feet was closer, but still behind me. Cinder was coming. I just had to...

    "AH!" Cinder screamed as I dropped suddenly in front of her from the branches above.  "Treecko! What in Arceus' name?"

    Tears of mirth formed in my eyes as I laughed. "Got you!"

    Cinder's eyes were wide as she breathed heavily. "Goodness, Treecko! You got me alright! Where in the world did you come from? I thought you were behind me!"

    I relayed my experience in the treetops to the girl. She agreed with me that jumping through the trees must be a natural thing for Pokemon of my species. I decided to walk beside her as we continued through the woods. Cinder insisted that the Time Gear was close. 

     Cinder crashed through the bushes into a clearing. I came up behind her, and we both stopped. 

    There was a greenish glow coming from up ahead. 

    Cinder and I both walked forward slowly in awe. Thoughts raced through my mind. Is that light the Time Gear? What if it's not? What if there really isn't a Time Gear here?

    I walked beside Cinder as we moved closer to the glow. The clearing narrowed as the trees on both sides of us grew thicker. Their trunks were wider and vines of ivy clung to the bark. This part of the forest must be more ancient than the rest.

    "Look, Treecko!" Cinder cried out. 

    I looked ahead, and saw what she was indicating. 

    The clearing ended abruptly. A few flat stones with rounded edges stood upright where the trees stopped. Curly vines swayed out above them. The ancient trees on both sides entwined their branches together and formed a gap in the plants surrounding the grey stones. But what was floating in the middle of the gap that was the most intriguing. 

    A small, metallic-grey, hexagon-shaped pebble was suspended in the air between the vines. An intricate pattern of green light surrounded the stone. It certainly wasn't a Time Gear, but what exactly was it?

    Cinder came closer to where the pebble was suspended. The light green glow reflected off its six edges. The girl looked at it with an odd expression.

    "What is this?" She finally asked. "We were looking for a Time Gear! What in Arceus' name is this?"

    I didn't have an answer, so I said nothing. I was just as confused as Cinder was. I moved up beside her, closer to where the strange, hexagonal stone floated, fixated in green light.

    This isn't a normal pebble. I thought, looking at it. It wouldn't have that light. And it surely wouldn't be floating! But what is it? Does it have any significance? 

    I examined the pebble more closely. Six sides... That fact kept coming back to me, but I just couldn't place what it meant.

    Wait.

    Six sides...

    Six sides!

    "Cinder!" I yelled, whirling around at her. "This pebble is part of the Time Gear!"

    "What do you mean?" the girl asked.

    "Look at it!" I said, pointing to the pebble. "It has six sides! What else has six sides?"

    "A Time Gear!" Cinder's eyebrows shot up as she realized.

    "Yes!" I answered, "A Time Gear has six spokes! And the middle of it has a hexagon carved out of it! A hexagon has six sides so..." I waited for her to finish my thought.

    "This is like the middle of a Time Gear!" Cinder realized, piecing it together. 

    "And that must mean there was one here in the past!" I didn't actually know if that fact was true or not. It sounded correct. "These pebbles must be all that's left when a Time Gear disappears, and when Temporal Tower fell, these were left here in the planet's paralysis!"

    "That sounds about right," Cinder speculated. "But I think I could prove your theory.  Think this'd trigger a vision?"

    "What're you waiting for?" I said.

    Cinder reached out and grabbed the pebble. I watched her as seconds ticked by. 

    "Maybe it's not- AH!" Cinder didn't get to finish her sentence. She fell to her knees, still clutching the pebble. She grabbed her head with her free hand. 

    I winced. Cinder always seemed in so much pain with her visions. I couldn't imagine how that felt.

    Cinder suddenly was completely still, her eyes wide. I realized that she was seeing the vision each time she reached this stage. Cinder was already close to the ground, so she had no time to catch herself when she fell forward. She didn't fall far or hard, so she picked herself up and sat cross-legged on the grey forest floor.

    "What did you see?" I asked. Her answer could be the most important thing in this quest. It all counted on if the Time Gears really were in the past or not. And Cinder was about to answer this question.

    "It's here." Cinder breathed. "The Time Gear! I saw it! It was here!"

    "Was it in the past?" I queried. 

    "Oh, Treeko." Cinder's voice was full of emotion. "I saw the past for sure. I saw this same forest, but it was green! Full of life! There was sunlight through the branches! Wind rustled the leaves! There were flowers of every color! I can't believe it now even after I saw it! Oh, Treeko! It was amazing!"

    I tried to picture what she described in my head, but I found it to be impossible. I simply just hadn't seen anything like she said. When I pictured a forest, I saw the one we were in at that moment. A grey, lifeless, unmoving place. No color. No sunlight. I was suddenly filled with jealousy directed at Cinder. Why did she get to see that, and I didn't? Why did she get to experience something I could never even dream of seeing? I immediately felt guilty at these thoughts. I should be feeling excited, not angry! Cinder just located the Time Gear! My parents were right! There is Hope for the future!

    Cinder looked down at the pebble. It had dissolved in her hand, not even leaving any dust behind. "I guess its purpose has been served." Cinder reasoned. 

    "So where to next?" I asked.

    "One down, four to go." Cinder said.