#Chatot is the Guild's Dad and I for one support him

[totallycorrectpmdquotes]

Backfire? OwO

Backfire uwu

(Chapter 1)

Uxie’s powers aren’t just limited to his lake, and affect all memories which could be traced back to the Time Gears. It’s easy to imagine the mental catastrophe this could cause in the mind of someone who’s spent nearly their entire life looking into them. In his defense, Uxie was really mad at Grovyle.

-

2.

The chairs in Officer Magnezone’sstation were stumps that had been cut for Pokémon much smaller than Dusknoirwas. Still, he grabbed one, set it down outside the cell Grovyle had beentossed in, and settled down to wait.

The hallway with cells wasnothing like the stockade Grovyle and Breanna should be in right now. It lackedthe proper atmosphere of crushing dread and was far too bright. When Grovyleawoke, he might still have hope of escape – although, if Uxie was to bebelieved, it would still be several hours before they had to worry about that.Dusknoir had been unwilling to admit he wasn’t entirely sure how long an hourwas, and he refused to take any chances. While the legendary trio went toreport their victory to the townsfolk, he did his best to make himselfcomfortable in his self-imposed guard duty.

He’d never liked guard duty.

When he had first joined MasterDialga’s ranks, there had been an abundance of pointless little rebellions.Irritating as they were, humans were persistent. When time had frozen, they hadcreated ways to grow their crops despite it and continued as if nothing hadchanged. But survival was never enough for them, and when one man stumbledacross ancient information on the Time Gears, the humans had stood with him anddecided they had a right to destroy everyone’s lives. They brainwashedthe Pokémon who weren’t smart enough to flee their insanity into acting asfirepower and set out to end the world.

Dusknoir had leant his strengthto Master Dialga as soon as he could. With his team, they had captured so manyof the morons who thought history owed them something. Afterwards, theywould have to guard them while the execution chambers were being prepared.Dusknoir could still hear so many voices in his ears that echoed faintly and promisedthat there was a way to save them, to save everyone, if they’d just letme go, please, I can help you.

There was a face in the knots ofthe wood that made up the prison floor that looked like a concerned human man.

Dusknoir jumped and drove hisfist into the image. Shards of ice curled through the gaps in the wood as itsplintered. Dusknoir waited several long moments before he pulled his fistback. His breath came in heavy, shallow gasps that shook his whole body.

The x-eye seed should be out ofhis system by now. He shouldn’t still be seeing false faces everywhere helooked. Dusknoir pulled a sliver from one of his knuckles and turned back toGrovyle’s cell.

He’d shifted in his sleep and hadhis newly-bound hands pressed against the side of his head. His face wascontorted in pain, and his breathing was much more ragged than Dusknoir’s. Helooked pitiful.

Dusknoir scowled and turned away.He pulled the remaining slivers from his hand and kept one eye on the crumbledpatch of wood. There was no hint of the face he had seen.

He looked up at the sound offamiliar footsteps. “Have they finished?”

The sableye gave a short nod anda nervous laugh. “The bird and pink one want to talk to you.”

“The what? ”

Dusknoir nearly wrapped his handaround the sableye’s throat. Instead, he stuffed his anger away and tried tolook pleasant as he focused on the small form poking her head around thecorner. “Ah, Miss Vulpix. You’re looking well.”

The human-turned-vulpix lookedgenuinely horrible. Breanna had dark circles around her eyes which stood outdespite her short fur. There was still a notch in her right ear from the fightwith Grovyle, as well as several bandages across her chest and front legs. Oneof her tails was still scarred with an electrical burn from the misadventure inAmp Plains.

Breanna frowned. “…Thanks.” Shepointed a paw at the sableye. “Was your friend talking about the Guildmaster?”

“I believe so,” Dusknoir saidevenly. He held a particularly large wooden shard between two fingers andsnapped it in front of the sableye’s face. “You’ll have to excuse him, he wasraised in a mystery dungeon. He doesn’t mean to be rude.”

Breanna tipped her head to theside, and the curled tufts of fur atop her head bounced against her ears. “Ithought mystery dungeons were caused because time was out of balance – whywouldn’t putting the Time Gears back fix that?”

Dusknoir clenched his fisttighter, and the sableye gave another nervous laugh. “There are some questionseven I can not answer. I have theories, but no facts to back them.” He forced asmile, “Perhaps you and your guildmates will find those yourselves, one day.”

Breanna shuffled and focused onher paws. “Maybe,” she said. Her fur fluffed out, and she looked back up. “Uxietook away Grovyle’s memory.”

Oh, Dusknoir recognized thattone. He hated where this was going. “He did, yes.”

She glanced at the sableye andtook a long breath in. “So, he’s like me now?”

“That is not a comparison I wouldmake,” Dusknoir said. “You are a good person. He is still a criminal who nearlykilled you and your friend.” He put on a look of concern, “How is your partner?Have his injuries healed at all?”

Breanna huffed. “That’s not thepoint.” She shuffled again, still clearly nervous. “D- Riolu’s fine. He’s fine.We’re both fine.” She looked up and focused on Dusknoir with a hard stare. “Iwant to talk to Grovyle.”

“No,” Dusknoir saidautomatically, “absolutely not.”

She growled. It was adorable.“Why not?!”

“Among other reasons, he is stillunconscious. It’ll be a few hours still before he wakes.” Dusknoir said, “Beyondthat, and please believe me when I say this comes from a place of genuineconcern, he nearly killed you. I cannot leave you alone with him in goodconscience.” Especially while there was still a chance he remembered her.

She huffed once again, and Breannapadded over to his side. She sat down between him and the sableye, her furstill fluffed out as she looked up at him with familiar eyes. “Then I’m notleaving you alone with him, either.”

Dusknoir broke eye contact andhoped his flinch was subtle enough. The x-eye seed should be out of his systemby now. This didn’t make any sense. “If you insist,” he said. Thesableye laughed nervously once again.

For several minutes Dusknoir satstock-still, and a human-turned-Pokémon with a dead man haunting her expressionleaned against him. He refused to look her way. He refused to focus on anypatch of wood for more than a few seconds. This shouldn’t still behappening.

He didn’t even really know what washappening.

The abrupt end to the sableye’slaugh alongside the approach of hopping footsteps brought an end to the briefpeace, and Dusknoir forced away his moment of weakness. He glanced down at thesableye, who was focused on Breanna. She’d pulled away from Dusknoir and turnedto watch Grovyle. His breathing was rough again, and he trembled in his sleep.Breanna took a small step closer to the bars.

Dusknoir placed a hand on hershoulders and gently turned her back around.

Chatot, Wigglytuff, a Magnetonofficer, and finally the lake trio turned the corner to join the group.Dusknoir barely withheld his scowl. Chatot took one look at Breanna andsquawked.

“Vulpix!” He said, “Get away fromthat cell!” He flew over, landed between her and the sableye, and startedtrying to shoo her away from the bars. “My apologies, Dusknoir, sir. Thisimpudent child was told to stay in her room and rest.”

“It’s quite alright,” Dusknoirsaid, forcefully casual. Breanna fluffed up her fur and sidestepped away fromChatot. She gave Dusknoir the same hauntingly familiar look she had before asshe moved to join the larger group.

“Is it?” Mesprit asked and made asmall gesture to draw her brothers’ attention to the damaged part of the floor.

Dusknoir, very slowly, droppedthe slivers of wood he was still holding and floated off of his seat. “Ofcourse. She was merely worried, don’t fault the girl for that.” He turned toWigglytuff, who’d been watching them with an… unreadable expression. “Have youbeen fully informed of the situation?”

Wigglytuff hummed and skippedover to Dusknoir’s side, slipping in between him and the sableye. Grovyle hadcalmed down somewhat, and once again looked pitiful. “A bit, but just thatmuch! He hurt my friends, and I want to make sure he won’t do it again.” He turnedaround and looked down at Breanna. “Did your partner follow you, my dearfriendly-friend?”

Breanna’s fluffed up fur fellflat, her ears drooped, and she tucked her tails between her legs. “…Maybe.”

Chatot squawked, offended. “Hiscondition is worse than yours! What were the two of you thinking? Where ishe?!”

The floorboards creaked, and twounfortunately familiar faces poked their heads around the corner. Dusknoircouldn’t help but smile; these unobservant fools had walked right pastBreanna’s partner and their bidoof guildmate. That could have been an ambush.They could have been killed.

“Riolu!” Chatot squawked andfluttered over to the other heavily bandaged Pokémon. “You were confined toyour room for a reason, young man! And Bidoof, they are your juniors! Youshould have known better! What were you thinking? Go back to the guild, theGuildmaster and I will be having strong words with the three of you when wereturn!”

Bidoof pulled back. Riolu, whowas using him as a crutch, nearly fell on his face. “W-well gee, golly sir,”Bidoof rambled, “I didn’t realize this was so severe. And, ya see, they weremighty worried about the great Dusknoir.”

“Please don’t put yourself indanger on my account,” Dusknoir said.

“A ladder and some stairs are not‘danger,’” Breanna said.

Azelf raised a hand. “I’d likethem to stay if it’s not too much trouble.” He smiled at Riolu, who still had aheavy patch of gauze on the wound on his throat. “We don’t want to do this ifit’s too much for you.”

“Do what, dear friends?” Wigglytuffasked, humming again as he rocked on his heels. He was still watching Grovyle.“In the meeting, all you said was that all his memories were gone and he’d bestaying in this time for now.”

“Not all his memories are gone,”Uxie said as Breanna opened her mouth. “I could only take away those involvingthe Time Gears. However, those were most of them.” He glanced at Mesprit andAzelf, who nodded in sync. “From the amount I took from him, and how freshthose memories were, it’s likely he was forced into this life of crime as achild. It’s unfortunate, but curious – I’m sure you understand how strange thismystery is. Why would a child spend years on a quest to paralyse the planet? Ifsomeone else set him on this path, then we may have a bigger problem on ourhands.”

“Wait,” Breanna said. She turnedto Dusknoir with a frown. “Was Grovyle working with anyone?”

A weaker man would have laughedat the irony. Instead, Dusknoir simply shook his head and lied. “Aside from thePokémon he enlisted to bring him to your time, no. I have associates dealingwith her in my own time. She isn’t a threat to any of you.”

The sableye gave yet anothernervous chuckle. When he caught sight of Dusknoir’s disapproving frown, hecoughed.

“And besides that,” Mesprit spokeup, “we’re now dealing with a young man who has no idea what he nearly did. Youcan see why we’d have a bit of an issue with just sending him back to thefuture for trial.”

Now that was somethingDusknoir nearly laughed at. The idea of Master Dialga leaving his tower tojudge a trial was simply too amusing of an image. The lake trio finishedrunning over the previous night’s argument and let Azelf have the last word.

“Given the circumstances,Dusknoir suggested that your guild lead the investigation into how thishappened.” Dusknoir pointedly ignored the shocked expression on Chatot’s face.“And my siblings and I agree. If anyone can uncover this mystery, it would bethe Wigglytuff Guild.”

“No,” Chatot said, “absolutelynot! We will not put our apprentices at risk like this! He’s already nearlykilled two of them, I will not allow the others to be put in this level ofdanger.”

Wigglytuff hummed louder. “Idon’t know… Chatot is right. He hurt a lot of people. But this is reallysad.” He frowned and looked at his associate with wide eyes. “I don’t want himto be alone.”

“Guildmaster,” Chatot said, “thisis far too dangerous. You can’t agree to this.”

“Don’t we get a say?”

Riolu’s voice was still quiet,hoarse, and raw. He sounded horrible and winced with every few words. Breannahurried over to his side and pressed up against him.

“Dusk - Riolu,” she winced andcontinued, louder, as if that would get everyone to ignore her social taboo.“Is right. We’re the ones he hurt. We should get an opinion.”

Wigglytuff clapped. “Yes! Youshould! What do you think, Team Relic?”

Riolu swallowed and glanced downat Breanna. She replied with a determined nod, and they both turned back toWigglytuff. He took a long breath in, “If he doesn’t remember being a bad Pokémon,we should help him.”

Dusknoir’s heart hammered andplunged from his chest. “Pardon me?” Something was wrong. Breanna shouldn’t besupporting this.

“We should give him a chance,”Breanna added. “Right now, he’s not a good person or a bad person – but he willbe a scared person. He’ll know something’s missing, and he’ll want tofind out what it is. We don’t have to tell him he’s a criminal. We can just lethim be Grovyle.”

“I – I think you may havemisunderstood,” Dusknoir said, and held up a hand. Breanna had total amnesia -she shouldn’t have any attachment to Grovyle. “Just his memories of theTime Gears are gone. He is not entirely amnesiac. He may still be a threat toyou all. Honestly, the safest option would be to simply let me take him back tothe future.”

Wigglytuff whistled a brief tune.“But we could just let him be Grovyle.” He clapped again, “This soundsexciting! Let’s make him a room!”

“Guildmaster!” Chatot said, “Youcan’t be serious! Shouldn’t you at least take some time to think about it?”

“Oh, I did!” Wigglytuff replied,“I thought about it lots while everyone was talking, and I decided that Guildshelp Pokémon in need. Besides, Team Relic also wants to help. They’ll havesomething to do when they’re resting at the guild all day besides sentry duty –doesn’t that sound great?”

Chatot opened his beak, gaveWigglytuff a curious look, and then nodded. “Right, then.” He turned to thesilent Magneton officer, “Tell the rest of your unit what we’ve decided,please. The Guildmaster and I will go set up a room for him. Vulpix, Riolu, Ipresume you’ll need some assistance making your way up the stairs?”

“Bidoof can help us,” Breannasaid, a bit harsher than necessary as the magneton quietly left the room.

“I’m sure,” Chatot said dully.Wigglytuff raced past him as he began to direct the others out of the hall.

“We should be getting back to ourlakes,” Azelf said, “And return the other Time Gears as well.”

Uxie sighed. “I suppose we’ll seeeach other during the next apocalyptic disaster, then?”

Mesprit threw her arms around theother two’s shoulders. “Well, I’m not ready to give up on family time just yet.There’s a cute little café just outside of town, let’s go get some brunch.” Sheturned to Dusknoir, “You should join us! They had a sign out front advertisingpurple gummi juice.”

Dusknoir sat back down and gavethe trio a neutral look. “I appreciate the offer. However, I must stay here.Amnesia or not, I can’t simply leave him unguarded.”

The three of them frowned at him.“We’ll bring you one back before we leave, then.” Azelf said, and with one moreuncomfortably long look Dusknoir’s way, they left as well.

Dusknoir took a long breath inand counted to twenty-five. He let the breath out. The sableye chuckleduncomfortably and inched away from him.

Dusknoir lunged for his lackeyand pulled him close. “Let me be perfectly clear,” he hissed, “not one word ofthis exchange reaches the ears of your brothers or anyone in our future. As faras any of you are concerned, we are staying due to complications with thedimensional hole. Is this understood?”

The sableye nodded. “Y-yes! Yes,I -”

A low, disappointed voice cutthrough the sableye’s and drowned out his words. Dusknoir could feel the breathon the back of his neck. “Murderer.”

Dusknoir dropped the sableye andwhipped around. He stared down the empty hallway.

“Master Dusknoir?” The sableyeasked, “is something wrong?”

Dusknoir waved him off. “Returnto your post,” he said.

The sableye backed up andhesitated for several seconds too long before he scurried away.

Dusknoir scowled and put his headin his hands. “This is getting ridiculous,” he groaned and glanced back atGrovyle. He was twitching once again. “What in Dialga’s name did you attack mewith?”

“Murderer,” the empty hallwhispered again, and Dusknoir shuddered.

“It’s the wind,” he said with ascowl. “It makes horribly irritating noises in this time. I don’t know how I’msupposed to enjoy history with it always whispering like that.” He turned backaround. For a breath, there was the image of a human man in front of him, fullydressed in the regalia of Primal Dialga’s army. A dark cloud of shadows wrappedaround his lower ribcage, obscuring any injuries. He raised a hand.

Dusknoir dared to blink, and theimage was gone.

In the cell behind him, Grovylegave a high-pitched wheeze that almost sounded like a scream.

.-.

Chatot didn’t need theGuildmaster’s subtle but pointed ear twitch to tell him to stay; he’d plannedto do so anyway. Wigglytuff hurried the younger three back up towards theGuild, he stayed by the station. The timing was quite convenient: when theywere far enough down the road that they were out of earshot, Uxie and hissiblings exited the building. They nodded to Chatot.

“Grovyle had a bag of items onhim,” he said, “what happened to it?”

Azelf pulled a smaller, nearlyworn-through treasure bag from his own. He held it up to Uxie, who carefullyremoved the four Time Gears from a side pocket before his brother handed it toChatot. “Be careful, we haven’t had a chance to check it for traps.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thankyou.” He took the bag and gave it a brief examination. There was a pocket onthe inside which was clearly supposed to be a secret, a surplus of reviverseeds and other healing items, and several orbs meant to assist monster houses.The truly odd part was how familiar the contents were to those carried by TeamRelic. While there were more food-based items, which was common enough whentraveling alone, the ratios and sorting were otherwise nearly identical to TeamRelic’s treasure bag.

Chatot dismissed the strangenessand returned his attention to the lake guardians. “The Guildmaster and I wantedto ask you about the great Dusknoir. He seems…” he took a moment and struggledto find the right word. “…unwell.”

“We’ve noticed,” Mesprit saidsoftly. “He was hit with an X-eye seed during the fight, and he’s been having abad reaction to it. We’re not sure why the effects haven’t worn off by now.”

“He’s still troubled by whateverhe hallucinated,” Uxie added. He gave a deep frown as Azelf glanced over hisshoulder. “Frightened, even. We’re worried about him. He’s been acting like adifferent person.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine in time,”Chatot said. He adjusted the strap on Grovyle’s bag so it would fit his smallerform. “However, I’ll pass that along to the Guildmaster. He’ll be able toarrange something so our medical officer can check on him.”

The three relaxed. “Thank you,”Uxie said, “you should talk to that sableye as well. There’s six of them total,and he said they’re associates from his time. They might be able to helpidentify what’s upsetting him.”

“That’s useful, I appreciate it.”He flapped his wings and slung the bag over a shoulder. “Will you be departingsoon? It’s a long way back to your lakes.”

“Unfortunately,” Azelf sighed.“We’ll have to contact the guardians from where the other two were taken, andthe sixth one as well. It’s worrying that we haven’t heard anything from any ofthem.”

“Well, I wish you the best ofluck.” Chatot said cordially, “I trust you will keep myself and the Guildmasterupdated in case there are any other noteworthy events?”

“Of course!” Mesprit said, “Aslong as you’re willing to do the same for us. I know it’s a bit of a journey,but I’d be willing to teleport any messenger back to town.”

Her brothers nodded. “I’d do thesame since mine’s the farthest out,” Uxie said. “Azelf?”

“Of course!” Azelf said, “and ifDusknoir’s, well, condition worsens we’d appreciate if you sent one soonerrather than later.”

“I give you my word,” Chatotsaid, and gave his goodbyes. The trio continued towards the crossroads, and hetook to the sky and back to the Guild. He passed by the Guildmaster, stillhelping the injured teammates up the hill, and landed beside the sentry grate.One of the bag’s straps pinched his feathers, and he craned his neck to adjustit. As he did, he caught sight of something.

There was a small patch onGrovyle’s bag, on the same side as the supposedly secret pocket, which wascompletely worn through. In it, Chatot could see a few bound pieces ofparchment. With a significant amount of difficulty, he maneuvered them out andinto his wings. They were held together with a few braided strands of a ratherplain string, which he barely noticed slip out of his feathers.

The first was a simple, grayscalemap. It had the location of every Time Gear and several other dungeons marked –including the Beach Cave. Curious.

The second was what appeared tobe a reference sheet between footprint ruins and some sort elaborately curvylanguage. The third was another reference sheet, this one between what appearedto be the Pokémon Unown and that curvy language once again. Finally, there wasthe fourth – this was a letter, written in the curvature.

Chatot tapped his foot on thegrate and shuffled between the four pieces of paper once again. “Fascinating.Absolutely fascinating.” The Guildmaster would love to see this. He wentto rewrap the string, which was no longer in his hand, and frowned. He glanceddown as a gust ruffled his feathers, picked up the string, and dropped it rightdown the sentry grate.

Chatot huffed. “Very well then,”he rerolled the parchments and returned them to their pocket. It was a simplepiece of string; it wasn’t like one of the worst thieves the continent had everseen would miss it.