Chapter Text
“Grovyle! Grab them and get to the time portal, i don’t know how much longer i can hold them back!,” The voice belonged to Celebi, who was currently projecting a large psychic barrier to keep Dusknoir and his group of Sableye lackeys away long enough to allow them both to escape to the past.
The grass type gave a pained nod and quickly ran over to and kneeled down beside them, gently putting one of their hands on the human’s arm.
“..Can you stand by yourself?,” He asked, a look of concern forming on his usually stoic face as he saw the very rough condition they were in.
Though, given they both had just unsuccessfully tried to fight Dusknoir and his six Sableye lackies before Celebi had intervened, it wasn’t a surprise that they both were as injured as they were.
“L-let..let me try,” The human replied, to which Grovyle gave a small nod.
After taking a few seconds to gather what strength they could, the human tried to push himself up off the ground though they let out a loud yelp of pain and fell back down into a heap.
“..N-no..no i cant.” They said, which was followed by the pokemon reaching their other hand out to them.
Getting the signal, the human reached their own hands out and took the pokemon’s into them, gripping hard enough to make sure they didn’t slip out.
“Ready?,” The grass type questioned, glancing at them.
They gave a soft nod. “Yea, let's make it quick. I don’t think Celebi’s barrier is gonna last forever,”
Grovyle nodded, before pulling the human up onto their feet then looping their left arm around their back for support in a single, fluid motion.
The human winced as the distinctive iron-y taste of blood filled their mouth, though they quickly spit it out onto the ground before they looped their right arm around them.
“You good?,” The pokemon asked, having noticed them wincing.
“Yea..let’s just get going already,” the human answered before wiping their mouth off with the sleeve of their ruined jacket.
Giving a hesitant nod, the pokemon continued to lead the way towards the portal, being careful to not go too quickly just in case.
Celebi’s barrier, however, had already starting to crack in several places, this causing the time traveling pokemon to let out a noise of distress as she focused more of her psychic energy in an attempt to hold it together for a few minutes longer.
As she did so, the two were getting closer to the time portal, which was glowing brightly like a beacon of hope against the bleak gray of the world around them.
However, they stopped in their tracks as the human suddenly went limp in the pokemon’s arms, who quickly pulled him close to stop them from falling onto the ground.
“Grovyle..you’re going to have to go on..without me,” their human companion stated, as they coughed up more blood, the drops pooling onto the dirt beneath them.
The grass type pokemon’s eyes widened in surprise, though rather than respond with words he simply picked up the human into their arms bridal style.
This action made their face turn a bright pink, arms immediately moving to wrap themselves around the grass type’s shoulders for support.
“We’ve worked too hard to give up now, so like hell am i leaving you behind, got it?,” Grovyle stated, his grip tightening but not enough to actually hurt them.
To this, the human gave a rapid nod. “O-okay,”
The grass type then continued on toward the time portal, stopping when they were in front of it.
“I’m gonna have to put you down onto your feet, can you handle that?,”
The human gave a soft nod in response, though they was uncertain if they actually could, given they could barely pick themselves up off the ground moments earlier.
“You can lean on me if you need to,” which was followed by Grovyle gently setting the human down onto their feet.
It was by some miracle that he managed to stay standing, though he gently leaned against the pokemon and wrapped their arm around them for support, which made the grass type give a rare smile in response.
Grovyle then reached into the bag that was still somehow hanging off their shoulder, rummaging through it before they pulled out a dirty looking glass bottle that contained what looked like melted gold.
“You first,” he said, uncorking the bottle and handing it to them.
The human took it from them and drank half of it in one gulp, grimacing hard before handing it back.
“Eugh, i swear to Arceus, we gotta find something else to make this with besides old apples and sitrus berries,” he said, wiping his mouth on his sleeve again.
The grass type drank the rest of it and shivered due to how sour it was. “We’ll figure something out once we’re in the past,”
However, a yell at the same time as the sound of what could only be described as glass shattering came from behind them, making both Grovyle and the human turn around towards it.
“CELEBI!” The duo yelled as they saw that her barrier had been shattered and that the Psychic type had been tossed to the side, laying in a heap on the ground like a tiny ragdoll.
Standing where the time traveller pokemon once was was Dusknoir, whose hands were sparking with dark energy, and even though the pokemon had no mouth it was clear he was smirking in triumph.
“..I guess the old saying is true, ‘if you want something done right, you’ve gotta do it yourself.’” He said.
The ghost type then turned towards the duo, Grovyle stepping in front of the human and using Leaf Blade, his body shifting into a protective stance.
“You go on ahead through the portal,”
“W-What? What about you?,”
Grovyle turned his head back to them. “I’ll be right behind you. NOW GO!,”
They gulped and did as Grovyle ordered them to, the pokemon then rushing towards Dusknoir, who retaliated by launching a large Shadow Ball into the air, which split itself into several smaller ones.
These smaller orbs then fell back down towards the ground like meteorites, quickly gathering speed in their descent.
The grass type barely managed to dodge them, dust flying into the air from where they impacted, though this proved to be a boon as it allowed Grovyle to get close to Dusknoir without risk of being seen.
Before the ghost type could even attempt to counter the grass type, the latter leaped forward from the massive dust cloud, his elbows making contact with the former’s body.
He managed to slice into Dusknoir’s body in several places, all of which immediately began to bleed with some even getting on the blades themselves.
This was followed by an ‘X’ slash across Dusknoir’s face, which caused the reaper pokemon to yell in pain.
Though before he could react, the ghost type grabbed him by the throat, choking him before he tossed them to the side.
They slid across the ground for a few feet, coughing up some blood once they came to a stop and letting out a soft groan after.
The human meanwhile had ran into the time portal, though turned back when he heard Dusknoir yell and his eyes widened in shock as he saw his companion get grabbed and tossed away.
“GROVYLE!” He yelled, tears forming in his eyes as he saw them lying on the ground in a heap, unmoving.
Dusknoir chuckled darkly as gathered more dark energy into his hands, forming it into another Shadow Ball.
The human would’ve run into the time portal if he wasn’t completely paralyzed by fear, the tears that had formed in his eyes when he saw grovyle beginning to fall down his face.
At the same time, Grovyle let out a groan and raised his head up to see what was happening, his eyes widening as he saw his companion frozen in place.
“Goodbye, human.”
The ghost type then launched the orb of dark energy straight at them, whizzing through the air and exploding after it hit him square in his chest.
The human’s sight went completely white as the sound of what he recognized as the swirling of the time portal filling the air around him, before he felt himself slam hard into something or someone and he fell into deep unconsciousness..
—————————————————————————
It was a sunny afternoon in the area known as Tiny Woods, pokemon of all kinds coming and going between the tall trees, grass and shrubs.
It was then that a Froakie hopped forward through some tall grass. They were wearing a dark blue bandana around their neck as well as a pair of small fingerless gloves.
He hopped a few steps forward, before the water pokemon let out a yawn and stretched it’s arms out, the joints popping softly.
“Phew..we finally made it!” He said, though he sounded a little out of breath.
He was followed after by an Infernape wearing a red bandana around their own neck, with a pair of worn looking aviator goggles.
Likewise, the fire monkey pokemon looked tired, having darker cicles under her eyes and who looked alot more roughed up than the water type did.
“We would’ve gotten here alot sooner if you didnt keep going after every item in this place, ya know,” She said, which made the froakie rub the back of its head with one of its hands.
“Wait up guys..!,” A voice called out from behind them, and they both turn towards it, seeing a Smeargle come running towards them.
She was wearing a bag on their back and as well was wearing a light green bandana around their neck. Though, she suddenly stopped short and bent over, looking completely out of breath.
“I swear to Arceus, you guys HAVE to slow down..!,” she said, giving a soft glare to both of them as they were catching their breath.
After a few minutes, the painter pokemon stood back up, fixing the straps of the bag back onto it’s shoulders with a small huff before fixing the bandana around her neck.
“Sorry, Smearg. Here, take this,” Froakie said as he hopped over to the painter pokemon, holding out its hand to them.
The normal type pokemon looked down, seeing that he was holding a plump looking Oran Berry, which they took and bit into.
“Thanks,” Smeargle said, before taking another bite of the berry.
“Here, Fern. You should eat one too,” the water type said, holding out another large oran berry, which he tossed into the air for her.
The fire type caught it in her hand, giving a soft smile to the Froakie before taking a bite, some juice getting onto her face after she did.
She quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand. “Come on, let’s look around for what we came here for,”
The other two nodded and each went in a different direction to cover more ground, all being careful in case they encountered anything hostile.
Some time passed in relative silence, until it was broken by Froakie speaking up. “..Hey guys, i think i uh, found something,” he called out from within some tall grass near the treeline.
“What did you find? Is that what we came here for?” The Infernape asked.
“No, not exactly..I think you should just come see it for yourselves,” he replied.
It took them a minute or so to get to where their teammate was, but once they did, the two were completely stunned by what they saw.
Lying in a heap on the ground before the trio was an unconscious Frogadier, the usual dark blue complexion one would expect to see was instead a very pale blue one.
They also looked to be covered in scars, as well as what seemed to be fresher wounds, with small traces of blood having oozed out around the edges.
With some hesitation, the infernape stepped towards them, kneeling down and placing two fingers firmly against their neck after moving the water type’s head to the side a little with their other hand.
“Are..Are they, y-you know..?” The frog pokemon asked.
After a few seconds the fire type felt the unmistakable beat of a pulse against their fingers and she let out a soft sigh of relief.
“They’re alive, but only just barely,” she replied before she then lifted the Frogadier into her arms with shockingly little effort.
‘Frogadier definitely should weigh more than what I'm feeling right now..No, let’s just get him to the medics back at the guild. We’ll worry about finer details later.’
She pushed this thought to the side for now before suddenly running past her two teammates, both of them running after her.
“H-hey! Where are you going, Fern, we still need to find what we came for, remember?!” Smeargle asked, gripping the straps of her bag a little tighter.
“..They’re barely alive, Smearg. I’d rather come back another time to get the job done then let someone die when we could’ve helped them,” She replied, not slowing down as her grip on the smaller pokemon tightened.
The trio, after some time exited Tiny Woods and kept on running until they finally reached their destination, which was revealed to be a large building at the top of a cliff that was shaped like the head of a Wigglytuff.
“Oh thank Arceus, we’ve finally made it..!” Froakie exclaimed before he collasped onto the ground, heavy panting following after.
Infernape and Smeargle were in no better shape, the latter having fallen onto her back out of exhaustion, while the former fell to her knees while still holding tightly onto the injured pokemon, not wanting to cause anymore harm to them than what had already been done.
Before anyone else could say anything, a Diglett popped up out of the ground in front of them, and seemed rather surprised to see them.
“Hey guys! You’re back early..-,“ they said, before they then noticed the injured pokemon that their friend was holding.
“Oh dear! W-what happened?! A-are they okay?!,” The ground type asked, panicking.
“Diglett..just get the medic’s, and HURRY!,” Infernape snapped, breathing heavily still.
The ground type pokemon then quickly popped back into the earth and hurried back inside as quick at they could, leaving the three by themselves.
“How..How is he, Fern?” Smeargle asked as she picked herself up off the ground and into a sitting position.
Glancing down, she put two of her fingers onto their neck and inwardly sighed in relief as there was still a pulse and it seemed like it had gotten a little bit stronger in the time they had left Tiny Woods.
“He’s hanging in there, Smearg. Surprisingly enough,” The fire type replied, to which the normal type pokemon nodded.
At that moment, the Diglett popped back up from beneath the ground in front of them, shaking itself off afterwards.
“They’ve got a room ready for him, but you’re gonna have to bring him down to them.” They said, before popping back down into the ground.
“..Go on ahead, Fern. We’ll wait right here.” Smeargle stated.
Infernape gave a nod in response before she slowly stood up, making sure that the unconcious frogadier wasnt going to fall out of her arms before she walked into and then jumped down the hole that lead into the Guild.
And a few moments later the two landed at the bottom of the hole, the fire-type letting out a small noise of pain as she did.
Not wasting any time, she made her way to the Medical Wing, barely taking a step inside before an Audino ran up to them.
Without saying a word, the Fire-Type handed the unconscious pokemon over to them, the Audino cradling them in her arms before speaking.
“..We’ll do our best to make sure he makes it, don’t worry.” She said, though it did little to soothe the Infernapes' worries.
The healer pokemon then ran down the hall and headed into one of the rooms, the door to said room shutting closed a few seconds after they went in.
She should’ve felt some form of relief now that the frogadier was in the proper care of the medical staff, but the fire type only felt her concern growing every second she stood in the hallway.
Letting out a sigh, Infernape turned on her heels and walked out of the medical wing, accidentally bumping into Lucario as she stepped through the door.
“Oh! Sorry,” she said, though inwardly cursed herself for it.
“No need to apologize, accidents happen sometimes,” the aura pokemon said as he brushed it off with a simple hand wave.
“..Though, are you alright? You seem to be upset about something,”
“Huh? Oh yeah, I guess you could say that,” Infernape replied, the question catching her off guard a little as she tensed up involuntarily.
Lucario hummed to himself in response, his curiosity peaked. “Do you wanna talk about it?,”
The fire type’s concerned expression softened a little, though it was followed by her letting out a sigh. “Sure,”
The two then walked together down the hallway and took a right turn, entering into what looked to be a meeting or common area that was decorated with a couple of couches, tables with chairs and what looked to be a fireplace set against the farside wall.
It was thankfully mostly quiet, with only a few other guild members hanging out and talking amongst themselves.
Lucario and Infernape walked over to one of the tables, the latter taking a seat in one of chairs while the former going over to a nearby cabinet and rummaged through it, pulling out a bottle of liquor and two small glasses, bringing them over.
He set the bottle and glasses on the table before taking a seat himself, pouring them each a drink afterwards.
“So, what’s bothering ya?,” he asked, before taking a sip of his drink.
The infernape took a drink of her own before speaking. “We found an injured pokemon while out on a job,”
He gave a soft nod before he took another drink. “Well, that certainly explains why you were coming out of the medical wing, at the very least,”
She nodded, taking another drink. “Yea, poor guy was in pretty rough shape..,”
“Did he tell you what happened to him?,” he asked, finishing the last of his drink then pouring himself another.
The infernape shook her head. “He was unconscious and barely had a pulse when we found him, i was surprised he was still alive to be entirely honest,”
“Well, he’s in good hands. There’s no one better than Blissey and her nurses at taking care of injured pokemon,”
She let out a soft sigh. “I know that, it’s just..something doesn’t feel right about this,”
He raised an eyebrow “And what exactly would that be?,”
Infernape took another drink before she spoke. “Well, he looked like he got swarmed by several hostile pokemon at once, and it looked like it happened more than once give all the old scars he seemed to have,”
Lucario gave a solemn nod, sighing. “Dear Arceus..i can’t help but wonder how long he was running and fighting for before he ended up in the state he’s in now,”
Infernape gripped her glass tighter. “I don’t even wanna think about it,”
The fire pokemon then let out a sigh, gulping down her drink and setting it down before standing up. “I’m gonna see if some more jobs are available, but um..thanks for this, i really needed it,”
“I'm glad I could help, but just be careful. You know how dangerous it’s been getting out there as of late,” he replied.
She nodded and then left the room, leaving the Lucario by himself at the table, who simply poured himself another drink.
—————————————————————————
“Hey, Fern’s back!” Froakie said as he noticed her come up the ladder, the water type hopping over to her and being joined by Smeargle.
“So, how..is he?,” Smeargle asked, looking up at her teammate who let out a soft sigh.
“They took him in for treatment, but I haven't gotten any updates so far,” Infernape answered, her two teammates nodding softly.
It was then that the fire type noticed that it was now very late afternoon, nearing sunset as the sky was a mix of blue and orange with some soft purple shades mixed in.
‘I guess we were talking for longer than I thought..though, the alcohol certainly helped I suppose.’ she thought as she stared at the setting sun ahead of her.
“Maybe we should head back inside, it is about time for dinner,” Smeargle said.
“Yea, I'm starving,” Froakie replied.
Infernape gave only a nod in response and followed her teammates inside, giving a final glance back at the setting sun behind her before she climbed down the ladder into the guild.
Dinner was soon after served and went by as it always did, some small arguments interspersed through but these were thankfully snuffed before any actual fighting broke out.
Though she wasn’t really focused on any of it, something that several other guild members caught onto but didn’t bring up as they didn’t want to bother her.
Thankfully, after dinner the guild started to slowly wind down for the night, the many members shuffling off to their rooms to rest and prepare for whatever missions awaited them tomorrow.
But, Infernape didn’t join them. Or rather, she wouldn’t be doing so yet. She just..she couldn’t.
Not until she knew for certain.
Walking into the medical wing, she saw that the small nurses station was empty, though it looked like someone had been there pretty recently.
Which confused her a little bit as usually Blissey herself was usually the one manning it during the night.
She then noticed that a door was open on the left side at the far end of the hallway, and she began to make her way towards it, seeing as it was really the only option she had.
Stopping in the doorway, the Infernape saw that the Frogadier was lying unconscious in the bed, an oxygen mask placed onto his face and his upper arm was connected to a Rotom that had taken the form of a large monitor on an i.v. pole.
Speaking of, there was an i.v. placed into his lower arm, leading up to a half-full bag of clear fluid.
“You came to see him too, huh?,” a voice from behind her asked.
She turned to face who was speaking, letting out a soft sigh of relief when she saw it was Lucario from earlier, who had a soft smile on his muzzle. “Fucking Giratina, you scared me..but yes i am,”
“They said he’ll make it, though there’s something else..,”
Infernape raised an eyebrow. “And what exactly would that ‘something else’, be?,”
“Well..He woke up after they finished treating him..,” Lucario said, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.
“He did? What happened? Did he say anything?,”
He sighed. “He started freaking out, saying how he shouldn't be a pokemon and all that. They ended up having to sedate him to keep him from hurting himself,”
“Dear Arceus. Wait, do you think he’s..?,” The infernape pondered.
“If you’re thinking he may be a shifter, then you aren’t the only one,” he answered, letting out a small yawn.
“What do you mean by that?,”
“Cause all of the nurses are thinking the same thing. Especially Blissey,”
Infernape gave a nod and let out a small sigh. Her feelings about something not being right were correct, it seemed, but she couldn't help but feel like there was more to it than just that.
She glanced over at the unconscious pokemon before speaking. “Any idea when he’ll be awake?,”
“Probably sometime in the morning, if I had to guess. Let’s just let him sleep,”
The fire type nodded in agreement and the two prepared to leave, though a groan made them stop in their tracks and both turned around at the same time.
To their shock, the frogadier had awoken and was sitting up in the bed, using one hand to keep themselves propped up as they used their other hand to remove the oxygen mask.
He then raised the same hand to eye level, a look of disappointment on his face as he then let out a sigh and shook his head.
“..Hey, are you alright? Do you need anything?” The infernape asked, making the frogadier turn his head towards her.
“Can…can I have some water?,” they asked, their voice barely above a whisper.
Lucario gave a look to the infernape before he spoke up. “Let me go get Miss Blissey, she’ll want to look you over before she lets you drink anything, ok?,”
“O-ok..,” they answered, and the aura pokemon then swiftly left the room, leaving the two of them alone with one another.
“You..You’re the one who saved me..?,”
The infernape smiled and nodded. “I was, yes. I guess you heard the nurses talking when you first woke up?,”
The frogadier nodded, his eyes moving down to his hands and he let out another sigh. “It just..feels so weird,”
“I’d imagine it would. But, you aren’t alone, we’ll help you figure all of this out, ok?,”
The water type nodded, as the lucario came back into the room with another pokemon in tow, him assuming this was the Miss Blissey the jackal pokemon had mentioned.
“Ah, good to see you’re finally awake,” She gave a small smile as she walked over to him, setting some things on the bed next to him. “I’m just gonna take your vitals and check how your injuries are healing, ok dear?”
The water type nodded and let her begin to check him over, the rotom taking the form of the monitor transforming into a pulse reader, which she slipped onto one of his webbed fingers.
“Ok, your blood pressure is a tiny bit below normal, but given the circumstances I'd say that is fine.”
The pulse reader then beeped, and she looked at what it read before writing it down with what his blood pressure was.
“Now, i’m going to remove your dressings and check your injuries, then dress them with clean ones, is that ok?”
The frogadier gave a nod, and let the Blissey get to work once again, with her beginning to remove the dirty dressings and toss them into the nearby waste bin.
“What’s your name? Can you remember your name at all?,” she asked as she tore open a small alcohol pad, before she gently rubbed it across the injuries on his arm, which made the frogadier flinch a little bit.
Taking a small breath in then out, he closed his eyes and began to think, the sound of his heart slowly thumping in his chest. My..My name is..Al..My name is..Al..e..My name is..Alex,”
‘So, his name is Alex.’ Infernape and Lucario thought at the same time.
The head nurse smiled and wrapped the injuries up in clean dressings. “There we go,”
“Can i have some water now, please?,” Alex asked, clearing his throat as his voice was still somewhat quiet.
“Of course,” Blissey answered, leaving the room to get him what he asked for.
Once she left, the two pokemon were getting ready to leave, but they stopped when Alex spoke up. “Please..i don’t want to be alone. Not right now,”
Both of them looked at each other, though lucario was the one who nodded and walked over across the room, taking one of the seats near the bed. “I’ll stay with you. Infernape, you go rest, alright?,”
The fire type wanted to argue, but she felt her tiredness finally catch up to her and could only give a nod before she left the room.
She quietly made her way to her bed, being carefuly not to wake her teammates, closing her eyes and soon falling peacefully into sleep..