Chapter 47
Char beheld the form of the fallen time god, its slumped head lying just before his blazing eyes.
For a few moments, he savored the flavor of euphoria a hunter feels when it has brought down an opposing hunter, triumphed in a battle of strength and wits. He still wasn't sure how he had done it, how the plan had come to him after all the clues clicked into place, but it was done. He had risen to Dialga's challenge, a challenge he suspected he was never meant to win, and he and his four teammates stood in a circle around the sleeping giant. Just as Char had predicted.
But when those few moments were over, the good feeling was replaced with a simple thought:
What now?
Before he had time to consider answers to the question, or speak it aloud to his friends, the fallen form of the diamond dragon vanished.
Dialga's body had merely popped out of existence, or become invisible, in a single instant. The Pokémon warriors were left alone in the wrecked temple chamber.
"OH, GOODNESS!"
There was a high-pitched voice, one which didn't belong to Dialga or any of Char's friends. It came from above, echoing through the chamber like the voice of a child calling into a canyon. It gave Char a horrible start; it was the last thing he expected to hear.
"Oh, goodness gracious!" The voice called loudly. "What in the world is going on down here?"
The five Pokémon tensed, prepared for another battle with an unknown Pokémon. Their last winds had not yet faded away, so they knew they still stood a chance.
"It's coming from the staircase!" Scythe hissed, still enraptured with his swarm reaction.
Char dropped to all fours and faced the stairs which led up to the very top of Temporal Tower. Indeed, the voice was coming from the stairwell, though he heard no footsteps or anything to indicate that a Pokémon was headed their way. He hoped that whoever it was, whatever it was, it did not want a fight, but he prepared for the worst with the last throbs of strength he had left.
What greeted him was a very small, green creature with large blue eyes. It flew on tiny, tireless wings which looked like they belonged to a fly.
Upon seeing the distressed Pokémon warriors and the crumbled room they stood within, the little creature gave a shrill shriek.
"AIIIIIEEEEEEE! What a mess!" it cried, covering its mouth with a tiny hand. "And visitors! We weren't supposed to have visitors now! What happened? Oh, my! Oh, dear! What is going on?"
"Who are you?" Saura asked it, speaking the question that was on everyone's mind.
The strange fly-like creature jerked in mid-air, giving a curt, humble bow before zipping around on its tiny wings to survey the damage. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I should have introduced myself first, but my, oh my, what have you done to the place? This is going to take ages to repair, even with Palkia's help…"
"We just defeated the creator of time itself in battle," Scythe told it. "And I second the notion; who are you?"
The little creature stopped again, turning its full attention to Char and his team. "Oh. I'm Celebi. Rather, I'm a Celebi, as there's more than one of my kind, but we're a very rare species, so I never needed to have a nickname I guess. Lord Dialga has given my kind a share in his power over the time stream. And of all the Celebi, I'm the one with the largest share in his power, because he has chosen me to be his personal servant and stewardess of his home! On behalf of Lord Dialga, welcome to Temporal Tower!"
There was an awkward pause.
It's a bit too late to welcome us, Char thought. A few minutes ago, your master wanted us dead.
"Um… we just knocked out Lord Dialga," Lily told the fairy Pokémon. "It wasn't pretty. But Dialga wanted a fight…"
"Oh, don't be silly!" Celebi giggled nervously. "That was a fake."
There was a unified cry of astonishment.
"A… fake." Char stammered. "A fake Dialga. We just spent all of our energy, and nearly died, just to defeat a fake Dialga?"
"How is that even possible?" Lily demanded. "It looked pretty real to us. Its roar of time… hurt. A lot. And as soon as my overgrow ends, I think I'm going to pass out right here…"
"Well, uh," Celebi said, "You see, uh, it's like, a security system! See, sometimes Lord Dialga isn't here in the tower, so we made a big scary projection to scare away all the visitors. It's supposed to be impossible to defeat and just send you running, but wow! I think you're the first group of visitors to actually defeat it!"
There was another, very awkward moment of silence. Celebi seemed overly cheerful, as though she didn't quite comprehend the gravity of the fight her visitors had just won.
"What are you saying?" Prince said after the prolonged moment. "Dialga isn't home?"
"He's home! He's certainly home," Celebi reassured him, eyeing the ceiling. "Lord Dialga and I were just taking a nap up on the pinnacle. The lord sleeps very deeply, see, and I didn't wake up until I heard that great crash! We don't usually leave the projection active while we're home, but… I had no idea the tower was visible to earth! It wasn't supposed to be visible right now. I thought it was hidden! But, oh well. Mistakes are mistakes!"
Celebi zipped closer to the weary warriors, looking them over.
"Oh, dear. You have gotten yourselves tattered up, haven't you? Let's get that fixed… I owe you at least that much."
Just as Char felt that his blaze was nearly out of fuel, Celebi flew close to him.
"Hold still!" Celebi told him gently. "Just relax…"
Char winced as the fairy Pokémon placed one of her tiny hands onto his forehead. Soon, he felt a heavenly wave of relief, pleasure, and strength come from that tiny touch. The wonderful feeling seeped into his bloodstream, filling his exhausted limbs and soothing his aches from the inside. Though it dowsed out the powerful drive of his blaze and made his inner fire subside, he didn't want it to end. It felt like he had just jammed thirty Sitrus berries down his throat and was basking in the drunken relief they brought.
He thought he faintly perceived the sound a soft bell chiming in his head as Celebi's power nursed him back to full health.
"There!" Celebi said about thirty seconds later, withdrawing her hand. "Good as new! How do you feel?"
"Perfect," Char replied, trying his claws and feeling his body for the wounds that were no longer there. "I feel perfect. Thank you…"
"My pleasure!" Celebi said with a huge grin. "Now! Who's next? Oh dear, you all look so beaten up… The projection can put up a real fight, can't it?"
One by one, the little green fairy Pokémon healed all five of Char's teammates to full strength. Her healing touch was even able to restore Scythe's broken blades. Scythe's speed brace was removed and put back in the bag.
When she had finished working her miracles, Char and his friends were in very high spirits. They congregated around the tiny legendary creature, eager to ask her all sorts of questions.
"Hey, um, sorry for breaking your tower," Ray said sheepishly. "It was really pretty, you know, before the battle."
"Ahh, don't worry about it!" Celebi said. "It just means you put up a good fight! Besides, the spatial distortion is just going to work its magic and put everything back together. It'll be done in no time! Well, no time for me, that is. Eons for you. It's… hard to explain the way time works here in this tower…"
"Wait, so this tower is supposed to be a Mystery Dungeon?" Lily wondered. "I thought Mystery Dungeons were… curses."
"Well, yes and no," Celebi told her. "Mystery Dungeons exist wherever your reality brushes up against the outside of reality. Well, the outside of reality, we call the Hall of Origin. You might have heard of it. It's just this massive… um… sky, I guess you could say, where realities are born! Hard to explain… But if you poke a hole in the side of reality, it's like opening a window in a house during a blizzard. Some of the snow and the wind gets in, right? Well, dungeons are like that. Reality and the Hall of Origin swirl together and it makes a place where space and time aren't consistent. And see, in other places it happens by accident, but in here it's supposed to happen! See, the top few floors of Temporal Tower actually go outside of the time stream completely!"
"…Really?" Saura gasped. "So we're…"
"You guessed it! You're in the Hall of Origin right now!" Celebi said cheerfully, enjoying the look of amazement upon the visitors' faces. "Just outside of those walls is the sky where everything exists! And when we go to the top here in a moment, you'll be able to see it for yourself…"
"Dialga is… up there too, right?" Char asked eagerly. "Can we talk to him? He won't be like… like that projection, will he?"
"Oh… no, no, no!" Celebi told him, brimming with seemingly endless excitement and energy. "Lord Dialga will be happy to talk to you! He loves visitors… Really, it's my fault that I didn't disable the projection since the last time we got home… But don't you worry, he's a very kind and agreeable dragon! I'll just have to go upstairs first and wake him up. Just wait until he hears how hard you fought to get here! You'll be guests of honor!"
Char released a long sigh. The revelation hit him so hard, it nearly took away all the energy that Celebi had just given him back. He felt so happy… their journey was complete. The battles were all over with. And Dialga… was agreeable? Would he hear out their pleas? Would he assist them in the war? And failing that, would he at least give them some kind of hope, or power to take with them, to help them in the eternal struggle against the Master?
Still standing upon all fours, he shut his eyes for a moment and let his nerves finally relax. His anger, his resentment against the projection of Dialga for insulting him and disregarding him, was fading fast.
"This is the happiest day of my life," Char uttered to no one in particular. "At least, the part of my life I can remember."
"Aww!" Celebi said, giving Char a pat on the head. "You know what? You look very eager to see Lord Dialga, so I won't waste any time. Not that there's any time to waste here in the Hall of Origin anyway. But we mortal creatures still perceive time, even though there isn't any. Strange, isn't it? Why not follow me up the stairs? I can introduce you properly to the great lord!"
Following behind Celebi, the team began their very last procession up the final staircase of Temporal Tower… the one that would lead to the summit. The pinnacle. The platform upon which the real Dialga perched. The stairs were numerous, as they had been on every other floor, but the longsuffering Pokémon climbed them cheerfully, chatting with the fairy Pokémon along the way.
"So, you can travel through time?" Lily asked Celebi. "I think I've heard of your kind before."
"Yeah, we can!" she answered. "It's easy to do. Going back in time is like… flying in a different direction. We just turn around and fly backwards and we can see where things came from, or we fly forward and see where things are going to go. It's natural for us! Though… it's easy to travel time, but not so easy to change time. In order to change things, you have to understand something called fate."
"Fate…" Char spoke, wondering about the word, the same word the demon in his dream had spoken. "Fate? Do you mean… things that you can't change? Things that are inevitable?"
"Not exactly," Celebi said. "Nothing's set in stone, dear. Fate isn't such a dark and foreboding thing as you're probably making it out to be. Fate is just a word we use to describe the general direction things are heading, and things that probably will happen as a result. See… it's really hard to explain … fate is just like gravity. Almost exactly like gravity. It's like time's version of gravity. If you push a big huge rock off of a cliff, gravity takes hold, and that rock's fate becomes hitting the ground. But it's not impossible to stop that rock from hitting the ground! It's just very hard to do if the rock is so big and heavy. You'd need a huge dragon to catch it. See?"
"Um… I think so?" Char replied, trying to follow the logic.
"Couldn't you just go back in time and stop someone from pushing the rock?" Lily wondered. "Then you could change history."
"Well, again, see, that's harder than it sounds," Celebi said. "If that rock is sitting at the edge of a cliff, there are lots of things that could push it off! Animals, the wind, and earthquake… you'd have to go back in time and prevent all of those things from happening if you didn't want the rock to fall. Just because you prevented the first cause doesn't mean you stopped all the other causes that could take its place."
"Um… why not just go back in time and move the rock away from the cliff?" Saura offered. "That would stop it from falling, right?"
"Not if the rock is very heavy!" Celebi answered. "Yeah, it would be easier than trying to catch it out of thin air, but still not very easy."
"What if the rock was small?" Ray offered, interested in the insights Celebi offered. "You could stop it from falling more easily, right? It would be a lot easier to change its fate."
"Well, of course! If you could just pick up the rock and throw it somewhere it wouldn't fall, yes! But then again, it wouldn't make such a powerful dent in the earth if it did fall, now would it? Because it has less weight. You wouldn't fear a pebble falling the same way you fear a boulder, so why even go through all the trouble of trying to change it?
The little fairy Pokémon sighed whimsically. "Ahh, but the analogy is going a little too far… All of that is all just an example, anyway. Fate is just a word we use to mean that things are headed a certain way. Things happen when the circumstances allow them to happen, so if you want to prevent something from happening, or cause it to happen, you have to change the circumstances, rather than the event itself. And that's hard! Because it's so, so, so complicated! For a little Pokémon like me to try to see all the circumstances surrounding an event, it is just too much for my tiny little mind! But that's why Lord Dialga is so powerful, because he sees everything! All at once! If you want to change fate, he's the Pokémon you will want to talk to… Which reminds me, why are you here to see Lord Dialga, anyway?"
"We're here because of me," Char said, crawling up the stairs on all fours as he spoke. "…But actually, when I think about it, we're here because of all of us, in some way. If it wasn't for all six of us, we wouldn't have ever gotten this far. We come from Ambera, where there's been a long war going on. Our land is under control of someone we call 'The Master', and he's really oppressive, but he's really strong so he can't be overthrown. But we have a big resistance movement going on, too, trying to defeat the Master and free the all the people. The Pokémon, rather. We were wondering if Dialga could help us."
"And failing that, if Dialga could enlighten us as to how the Call works, so we may utilize it as a force for the Master to reckon with," Scythe added.
Celebi visibly hesitated. "Um… the 'Call', you say?" she uttered oddly. "What do you mean by that?"
"It's… a psychic power. We think," Char said. "Only some Pokémon have it. We can use it to mind-control lots of other Pokémon, but we can never use it on purpose. It only happens when we least want it to happen, it seems. But Lily the Bayleef here and I both have that power."
Celebi pondered it for a second, looking very confused.
"Uhh… I'm still not following you, honey," the little legendary Pokémon sighed. "I'm sorry. Maybe you're talking about something else? We might call it something different. Ask Lord Dialga, he might have the answer for you! Hmm, the Call, the Call… No, I've certainly never heard of it. It's not a common name for a Pokémon's ability. It's not a rare ability, either. I mean, I've heard of the 'Dimensional Scream' before, but not the 'Call'…"
That's very weird, that the legendaries don't know what the Call is, Char thought to himself. Maybe we've been getting it wrong this whole time and had no idea. Maybe it's something else completely. Like the projection said, maybe there are cosmic forces at work we can't grasp…
I hope the real Dialga will be able to clear this up for all of us…
"Okay, okay!" Celebi suddenly shouted, swerving in front of Char so he couldn't go any further. "We're here. Now just let me go and wake up Lord Dialga, and I will be right back!"
Flitting her tiny wings, Celebi zipped up through a trapdoor in the ceiling which marked the end of the staircase. Eagerness tingled all through Char, both to see the Dialga he'd hoped to meet in the first place, and to witness what the Hall of Origin looked like. He turned around and glanced at all of his teammates one more time, greeting them with a beaming, childish grin. They exchanged wordless expressions of congratulations and awe with one another.
This was it; the very end of the journey that had started that long, long day ago in the Gold Division…
They had soared upon Dragonite wings, braved the Watchers, trekked across the snowy plains of Zerferia, and endured the horrors of Temporal Tower's dungeons, and brought down a dragon fifty times their size…
And it was all for this. There was nothing left to do but wait and see what fate had in store for them.
Celebi peeked over the rim of the opening for a moment before jumping into plain view.
"He's ready for you," she advised them. "Come on up, and don't be afraid!"
Char took one last attempt to breathe deeply and calm his jittery nerves, then began to climb the last dozen stairs which led to the top of Temporal Tower.
Temporal Pinnacle
It was as though Temporal Tower had risen far beyond the clouds, the skyline, the atmosphere, and opened up into infinite space. Twinkling stars and gorgeous nebulas painted a pitch-black sky with palettes of exotic colors, glowing with purples and oranges and blues and many colors he thought stars would never have. It was as though the void of space had been filled with the colors of the sunset. The ground below, the world of Zerferia and Ambera, was nowhere to be seen.
Char's mouth gaped in deep awe and reverence, captivated by the beautiful sight and trying to take it all in. This, he knew, was the Hall of Origin, the fabled space which existed outside of time, the place where the gods themselves dwelled…
It was an honor to behold such a visage. He wondered if every twinkling speck he perceived was some kind of alternate, far-away reality inhabited by entire worlds of Pokémon, or perhaps other kinds of creatures…
"Children…"
The voice was mighty, but soothing and welcoming. It filled the air and confused Char's perception, prompting him to scan the spacious rooftop of Temporal Tower for its source.
And there, sitting at the base of a tiny mechanical monument, sat the figure of a magnificent blue dragon.
The moment Char set his eyes on the temporal god, he knew all his prayers were answered. This incarnation of Dialga was different than the soulless beast they had battled. The dragon's form was slightly smaller in size, making him much less intimidating, though it was still impossible to not feel humbled in its presence. It sat regally like a contented lion, its tail curled around its front, exhibiting a calm and relaxed posture. Its voice was no longer overpowering and brash, but subdued and sensitive. Its blue and turquoise scales glittered with the mixed light of the many suns overhead, its shards of steel gleaming like the moonlight on a still pond.
A warm, amused smile formed on the god's face, beckoning to the visitors.
"I welcome you," it spoke, ever-so-slightly bowing its head to signify its heartfelt candor.
Char's heart simply melted. He approached the temporal god upon tiny steps, drawing himself nearer to the breathtaking figure.
Dialga gave a perceptive, gentle laugh. "Do not fear," he assured them. "Unlike my warmongering twin, I do not bite. Come close, so I might hear you when you speak."
Char did. He bounded forward to the great dragon, not stopping until his head was planted firmly against its great diamond hide.
And there, for what seemed like several minutes, he took refuge in the shade of the beast. He felt Dialga's armor against his cheek; it was firm, but warm. He could feel the layer of steel somewhere beneath the outer armor. It surprised him that Dialga's hide was not covered with scales, like most dragons, but by some kind of smooth, unbroken layer of firm flesh. He savored its feel, pushing against it with his face and his claws, relishing the security it brought him.
Tears streamed down his muzzle, trickling onto the dragon's hide.
Dialga was visibly touched. He looked down at the little Charmander, curling its tail closer. "You are safe here," it said. "Have peace."
"Th…th…thank you…" Char whimpered, his body trembling.
Peace. It was all he had ever asked for, really.
Unbeknownst to Char, his friends approached the time god. The great dragon nodded and lifted its tail, welcoming them into the embrace. Celebi flitted down from high above, coming to rest her wings and relaxing against Dialga's front paw.
Once Char was empty of his tears, he withdrew from the dragon, turning to see that his friends had all solemnly joined his side. Dialga's body and tail had curled around them, in a tender, motherly way, and the dragons' head loomed above them like a mother-bird gazing upon her nest.
"Celebi tells me you have journeyed far to speak with me," Dialga said. "I am listening. Ask me whatever your hearts may desire, and I will answer every one of your questions… to the best of my knowledge. It may surprise you to know that I am not omniscient. There is much I do not understand about the Hall of Origin, or the world in which you have journeyed from. But still, my knowledge is vast, and I believe I can help you. First… may I know your names? I wish to address you personally…"
Char let his body slump, sitting down right next to Saura against Dialga's great tail.
"I am… Char," he told the temporal dragon. "At least, that's what everyone calls me. I have another name, I… just don't know it. I'm… actually a human. I was turned into a Charmander and sent to Ambera without any memories of my life as a human. I'm… searching for… answers about my past. Not that they matter, really; I'm happy living in Ambera and I'm pretty sure I don't want to go back to being a human. But my past has been bothering me. I'd just… I'd like to know how I got here. And I'd like to know what my name is. It would help me feel better."
"A transformed human!" Dialga hummed. "I know and understand your kind. Unfortunately, without telling me details about your past, I have no way of identifying you, or determining what kind of life you led before you became a Charmander."
"I… think I have seen you before," Char admitted to Dialga. "In memories. Or dreams. Or something like that. I remember meeting you. Palkia was there too. He was holding a Poké Ball."
"Hmm. It means I may have had a hand in your transformation," Dialga said. "But I have helped many humans become Pokémon through the course of your history, and it is difficult for me to remember each soul. I am very sorry, little Char. Perhaps you will remember more shards of insight that will help me remember. Until then, there is no shame in being called Char. Your soul is the same, regardless of your name."
"Okay…" Char said, his gaze hypnotized by the temporal dragons' red eyes. "Okay…"
"I'm Saura," the Bulbasaur spoke up sheepishly. "I'm just… an everyday Bulbasaur. Nothing special about me. I'm just Char's friend. He helped me run away from home, so I promised I'd help him until he found out why he was transformed. And here I am, I guess… I have a family, but…"
Saura winced painfully. Concern shone in Dialga's eyes.
"I… don't know if they're still alive. They might have been killed… but I just don't know for sure. Could you look back in time and tell me if they're alive or not?"
"Your mind is clouded," Dialga said in a saddened tone. "You have been struck with a curse of corrupted memories. I am not a skilled psychic, but it is plain for me to see what has happened to your mind. Tell me, little Saura, how did this happen?"
"I got… caught…" Saura said, wincing as more headaches tortured him. "By a Watcher."
"A Watcher?"
"Yeah…" Saura said. "They're ghost Pokémon that come out at night. If they touch you, there's no telling what they will do to you. They could kill you on the spot, or they could make you go insane… anything, really… But this Watcher gave me a bad memory… and I don't even know if it's true or not."
"Ghosts… which come out at night…" Dialga repeated thoughtfully. "Are you perhaps referring to… the newborns?"
"Newborns?" Saura echoed.
"Newborn souls of Pokémon who have yet to live, or hatch into the world of the living," Dialga explained. "They exist without identity, without destiny, without purpose, because their Pokémon forms have yet to be conceived. In fact, they are not Pokémon, but they are destined to become Pokémon. They normally exist deep in a place known to you as the 'Reverse Realm', which is my brother Giratina's haven. They are created there, where they are meant to incubate until conception. However, lately I have heard there is a break in the barrier between your realm and the Reverse Realm, and many of the newborns have escaped into the world you inhabit."
"Then… why do they look like ghost Pokémon, if they are not Pokémon?" Lily wondered. "And… I'm Lily. I won't tell you my story yet. It's a bit long."
"Here, in the Hall of Origin, we have all the time we need, little Lily," Dialga hummed to her. "To answer your question, we creators of your realm have altered your perception in many ways, allowing you to swallow what could not have been otherwise comprehensible to you. For instance, do you see the stars above you? You see only a simple representation of what I see, when I look upward. And you may believe you feel the passage of time here where no time exists. That is another courtesy my brothers and I have afforded you. So, too, have we altered your perception of newborn Pokémon souls. It is because Giratina intended for the newborns to appear as ghost Pokémon to the eyes of mortals, in the event one would escape into the world of the living. Their behavior is not unlike ghost Pokémon, and Giratina determined it to be easier for a mortal to comprehend an encounter with a newborn, if it resembled a ghost Pokémon."
"Alright, so… they're not Pokémon, they just look like ghost Pokémon for our sake. That makes sense, I guess," Lily said, cocking her head and staring curiously at the colored nebulas which streaked across the sky. "But why are the Watchers, or the Newborns, evil? Why the heck do they corrupt whatever Pokémon they touch?"
"Because, for reasons unknown to me, they, themselves, are cursed," Dialga explained, a stern dissatisfaction ringing in is voice as though it spoke of a tragic truth. "The Newborns which have escaped from the Reverse Realm have been tainted by the flow of a foreign power. It causes them to act upon an unnatural will. Untainted, they are powerless and innocent. But something has caught hold of them, and even I have yet to determine the cause."
The great dragon sighed, setting its sights on the little Bulbasaur again.
"Brave Saura, I mourn your curse. It is something I cannot repair without fundamentally changing your identity. I read your heart and know you would not want that. But let your heart be at peace for now; I have good news. Your whole family is safe, and they dwell in the same den where you were raised. The nightmares given to you by the corrupted Newborns are utter lies."
A tremor shook the Bulbasaur. He bit his lip hard, digesting the news.
"I'm… glad…" he said simply in a sigh of relief. "I… I'm so… glad… for them."
Char and Ray congratulated their friend, giving Saura a subdued little cheer. Saura smiled wide.
"Um… I have another question for you," Lily submitted with a twinge of awkwardness. "It's a weird question, but it's been killing me for a long time."
"I fear no question," Dialga told him. "Tell me."
"Are you… male, or female?" Lily asked carefully. "It's always bothered me…"
"Neither… yet, both," Dialga replied simply, giving an amused twitch of the tail. "In the literal sense, I cannot make eggs, so I have no gender. But I am both a mother and a father to creation, and I have traits of both. Therefore, do not feel ashamed of calling me 'he' or 'she'; it is simply something which your verbal language requires. I understand that. So do my brothers, Palkia and Giratina. So does Arceus. The same applies for all of us."
Lily smirked. "Hah! I knew it…" she cheered. "I always knew it didn't matter. But everyone I ever met in the Emerald Division always told me I was wrong for always calling you a 'he'. Hah, you know what I should do? I should talk about you, and call you a 'he' and a 'she' every other sentence, just to mess with them. When they call me crazy, I can say that Dialga told me I could!"
Dialga chuckled. "Clever little Lily, but beware of sowing confusion to your brothers. They would reprimand you for it. Now… who are you, little thunderous mouse? What is your name?"
"I'm Raikouun!" the Raichu shouted proudly, happy that Dialga took notice of him. "But everyone calls me 'Ray'. It's an honor to talk to you, Lord Dialga! I never thought in my life I'd get to do something like this!"
"Fate surprises all," Dialga said warmly. "It is equally an honor to meet you, little Ray of light, conqueror of the highest tower and friend to the gods."
"Wait… can that be my actual name now? Can I keep it?" Ray gasped. "Aww, hahah, I'm kidding. But… I had a question of my own. Do you know about the 'Master' at all?"
Dialga visibly frowned. "Somewhat," he replied.
"Well, uh… is he a Pokémon or a human? And if he's a Pokémon, what kind?"
The great temporal dragon sighed deeply. "The Master, as you call him, is at the center of several anomalies. He has gotten himself wedged within… loopholes…of space-time rules. But to answer your first question… the answer is both."
"BOTH?" Ray gasped. "What do you mean, both?"
"Simply, the one you know as 'The Master' was once a human, but now is a Pokémon. Like little Char here, the Master was the subject of a transformation."
Char's friends were collectively shocked at this revelation.
"I… did not know that," Prince said. "I doubt many Amberans have even suspected such a thing was true. The Master has a human soul? That is… hard to swallow. I can barely begin to consider the implications…"
"No wonder the legends were all mixed up!" Ray responded, his mouth gaping. "Because they were both true! So the Master was a human, then he got transformed. Maybe he was the only human in Ambera! He was a Pokémon trainer. No… he was a Pokémon Master! I bet that's why he got his name! So… what kind of Pokémon is he now? What was he transformed into? If we knew, it would really help us when we go to fight him!"
"I don't know."
An even heavier wave of shock resounded through the group.
"You don't know?" Ray echoed. "How can you not know? Can't you just… go look?"
"I was not involved in the transformation of the Master," Dialga explained. "My brother, Palkia, caused his transformation. When he did, he did not choose which form the Master would take as a Pokémon. Instead, Palkia triggered a symbolic transformation; meaning, the Master took a form which reflected the character of his soul. Shortly after the transformation, the Master became… hidden from our sights, and so, no one, mortal or god, truly knows which Pokémon form the Master has taken. This is the extent of my knowledge about the identity of the one you call 'The Master'. I am sorry I cannot tell you more.
"However, if you were to ask for my opinion on the matter, I might speculate, based on what I know of the Master, about which Pokémon he became,"said the Temporal dragon, tilting his head and momentarily staring at the sky. "His lust for power… may have caused him to become… Mewtwo. If I am right, it is a legendary irony that his transformation, which was designed as punishment, became the greatest source of his power."
"Mewtwo!" Lily repeated. "That would make a lot of sense, actually! That's why he was able to brainwash so many slaves!"
"Uh… this might be a dumb question," Saura said ashamedly, "but… what's a Mewtwo? I've never heard of a Mewtwo before. Is it an evolved Mew?"
"Saura, Mewtwo is one of the most powerful legendary Pokémon on the face of the earth!" Lily replied. "Human scientists once tried to make a clone of Mew and use it as a weapon. But they made a psychic-type Pokémon so strong, they couldn't contain it, so it escaped into the wild. I'm really surprised you haven't heard of it before."
"Uh, I haven't, either," Ray admitted. "It sounds really dangerous, though. But if it's true, at least we know what kind of Pokémon we're up against… We'll have to take lots of dark Pokémon to that battle. And bugs, too. Wouldn't that be epic, Scythe? You could deliver the finishing blow to the Master with your fury-cutter."
Scythe didn't respond. He didn't appear to be paying attention.
"Are you troubled, noble Scyther?" Dialga beseeched, noticing that Scythe was remaining stoic and silent through all of the revelations. "What is your name? Tell me what is on your mind, so I may put your worries to rest, as well."
Scythe appeared lost in thought. He absentmindedly responded to the dragon's words.
"My name is…"
He paused.
"Scythe," he told the dragon. "It is what every Pokémon calls me. And I am afraid you cannot put my worries to rest as easily as it might seem. I once served the Master with my own blades. I hold remorse for the days I spent within his halls. Though, I have come to terms with what I have done. You need not help me with that."
"I see," Dialga replied solemnly. "You have suffered much, but you are strong, and you work to repent for the deeds you have done. I respect you, honorable Scythe. But I have something to tell you as well. I consider it a secret, but you might be pleased to learn it."
Scythe scoffed. Char thought he looked angry.
"I live and die by the secrets you gods hold, but so be it," Scythe sighed. "If you insist, tell me."
"Hear me, Scythe. You feel the weight of the world on your shoulders. You feel it is your duty to lead the resistance against the Master's forces, and you feel that without you, there would be no hope for your people. But do not fear; for I tell you, the fate of Ambera does not rest only upon you! In truth, there is already a plan in place to remove the Master's influence from Ambera… a divine plan. One that I helped to conjure."
"Is… that so?" Scythe uttered, his eyes widening. "What do you mean? How can I trust you?"
The lord of time smiled warmly and wide. "I am your god! The very notion of change, of cause and effect within your realm of reality, was my design. If my words are not trustworthy, whose are? Of course, as fate dictates, there is a small chance our plan will not succeed in the end. But we have done our best in weaving the threads of fate so that the Master's influence will be destroyed. So, do not take the world upon your shoulders, brave and noble Scythe. Never give up the fight, but know, through it all, that your gods have not abandoned you in your darkest hours. We… are here to help."
A very strange emotion flashed in the Scyther's eyes upon hearing the news. Char thought that Scythe looked vulnerable for a moment; like a hatchling looking up to its mother. It was gone soon enough, but Scythe replaced it with a peaceful smile that made Char happy to see.
"Well met, lord Dialga," Scythe replied, bowing his head reverently. "Forgive me for doubting you. The resistance shall have heart to know this news."
Scythe chuckled. It was a happy laugh, a sound Char hadn't heard from the old Scyther since the days they had trained together in mystery dungeons. Char knew that Scythe might have forgotten what happiness felt like, but was quickly remembering.
Char saw that his friends were all beaming in joy, restraining cheers of happiness at the news. So much good news! Saura's family was safe, the Master was destined to fall… but though their spirits soared, it was difficult to speak out of line. No one wanted to interrupt the temporal dragon as it spoke, as it had personal conversations with each of them. Everyone waited their turn.
"And what about you, strong Infernape?" Dialga spoke, addressing Prince. "What is your name, and what answer does your heart seek?"
"I am Calamar, but I am called 'Prince'," he replied. "I think, the question which burns brightest on my heart is this: if you are so powerful in spirit, why do you choose to limit yourself by taking a mortal form?"
Dialga nodded. "Impressive question, good Prince. While it is true that my powers are limited within this body, and that I no longer have access to my original powers which I used when I first spun the time stream, this body is the most important aspect of my existence. Without my flesh, I would hold no influence over the mortal realm."
Prince looked thoughtful. "How so?" he asked. "Are you saying that your incorporeal soul can't interact with the corporeal world?"
"Correct," the dragon told Prince. "I designed the time stream this way. Understand, I believed that if the gods were given free rein to change whatever they desired, reality would become confusing and inconsistent to mortals, and no mortal would feel happy. Therefore, I devised a mechanism to place a fair limit on the authority the gods hold over the physical realm. This mechanism… is called 'fate'. If a god wishes to intervene in the affairs of mortals, they must themselves become mortal. Only then do they hold the power to influence the world's fate. Thus, the flow of cause-and-effect remains intact, and the rules of reality retain consistency. In fact, there is, and will forever be, but one Pokémon who holds the power to change things at utter will, even in corporeal form."
"Arceus," Char spoke. "Arceus is the one who can do whatever he wants."
"Indeed," Dialga spoke, reflecting reverence of his superior. "When a god breaks the laws of the mortal realm and changes something without cause, it is called 'mutation'. Only the Great Original One, Arceus, harbors the power of mutation. However, Arceus refrains from using the power at all costs."
This struck Char as odd. "Why is that?" he implored. "If you can change whatever you want, without risks or consequences… why don't you?"
Dialga sighed whimsically. "Ahh, little Char… you are now inquiring about the deep, core natures of the universe. Understand, there are principles which I cannot explain to you as a mortal child. But I will try to explain. The power of mutation comes at a price: the more it is used, the less coherent reality itself becomes. Consider this; I will tell you a story. 'Once upon a time, I swam in the ocean. But I did not swim in the ocean.' This makes little sense to you, correct? It is a paradox. A contradiction. Mutation, when it is used, creates these errors in continuity. If many errors are created, the world which we labored to create may come to lose all meaning."
"I believe I see what you mean," Prince responded. "If Arceus breaks the rules of reality and changes something that wouldn't have changed on its own—essentially, if he works a true miracle—the laws of the universe become neglected. So if a god wants to change something, they've got to get into their own bodies, come down, and change it themselves. I'd dare say it; that is brilliant. And you say you invented this rule?"
"I did," Dialga said proudly. "It seems to have worked out well, hasn't it? Mortals such as yourself do not fear inconsistencies. You do not fear sleeping one night, and waking up two days prior, in another city. You do not fear growing young instead of old. And you do not fear slaying a foe and having it return to life minutes later. You take comfort in knowing that actions have predictable causes and consequences. Therefore, I believe I have succeeded at my work. However, it hasn't always been an easy rule to live by, for us gods…
"This body is very physically powerful, and retains many of my innate temporal powers; I am able to stir up the time stream in any direction I choose. However, sometimes, even my own might is inadequate. Some tasks, such as the overthrowing of the Master's reign, are too complex to change all at once, even for me. These complex tasks require strategy and planning, and intervention throughout many stages of history, all to arrive at the final result. But since I have the power to leave the time stream and view it as a whole, and since I also have the unlimited opportunity to deliberate before acting, I can manipulate fate in ways which mortals can't – not due to my power, but due to my perspective."
That makes perfect sense,Char realized, still thinking about the dream which the demon had given him. I get it now! Fate is just a word for what will happen if you don't act to stop it. But the hard part is… knowing how to stop it. That's what Celebi meant when she said that Dialga can see everything. He can see causes and effects all throughout history! So he has more knowledge, and he's better than mortals are at changing fate when he wants to. That's really what makes the gods superior to mortals, isn't it? It's not necessarily their powers, because their powers don't mean anything if they don't know how to apply them. It's the fact that they know why everything will happen! That's the key to changing fate! It's not brute power! It's knowing why something happens, so you can manipulate something else to happen!
In that way, Dialga and the other gods have to follow the same rules we all do. They can't just wish things into existence. They have to learn it and study it and change it themselves.
But… what does this mean? The demon said that it's trying to change fate, to prevent an anomaly from happening…
It's trying to change something… it's trying to alter a series of causes and effects to change something…
But what? Something far in the future? Something I can't see yet?
Prince seemed delighted at the answer he was given, too, but Char knew he couldn't quite wrap his head around the mechanics. It would probably take him a few weeks of puzzling.
"I have a question," Scythe suddenly said, almost interrupting Prince's next comment. "This should have been the first thing we asked, in hindsight."
"What is it, great Scythe?" Dialga answered, appearing surprised at the Scyther's abruptness.
"How does the Call function?"
The dragon blinked. "The 'Call'… What do you refer to, great Scythe? I do not understand this term."
"It surprises me," Scythe said, "that neither you, nor Celebi, nor the projected version of yourself knows of the Call. It has been a ubiquitous subject among Amberan history for over two centuries, at the least."
"Forgive me, good Scythe, for I must not have been paying attention at the proper points of time," Dialga uttered in polite shame, bowing its head. "Please, humor me. Explain 'the Call' to me, and I will try to interpret your words."
"It's a power which a Pokémon can rarely get," Lily said, deciding to speak up. "It's a psychic power. It grabs the attention of any other Pokémon in a big radius."
"It doesn't make a sound," Saura said. "It's completely subconscious. If you hear the Call, you probably won't even know it, you'll just do that it commands. Like you're brainwashed."
"We can't control when it happens, either," Char offered. "It happens all on its own. And if there are any Pokémon nearby, it sends them all into chaos."
"Some psychics have learned how to detect a latent Call in a Pokémon's mind," Prince said. "They say it resembles a second voice deep within the subconscious mind, one that does not follow the Pokémon's thoughts."
"Huge battles have been fought over the Call! Every time it appears, both the resistance forces and the Master's forces struggle to take control of it for themselves!" Ray submitted. "It's because the Call is so powerful, everyone thinks it could single-handedly win the war if we knew how to use it. But nobody ever figured out how… it's too random!"
"It seems to come in varying degrees of power, as well," Prince added. "One Pokémon's call can be more powerful than another's. Char and Lily both have the Call, but the strength of Char's call seems to be vastly louder than Lily's."
"It was determined by historians that a Pokémon with a Call of great magnitude would appear in Ambera once every twenty-seven years," Scythe said. "Indeed, Lily here represents the Call of the previous generation, and Char has the Call of the new generation. It seems strange that such a phenomenon could appear at such fixed intervals throughout history."
The six Pokémon paused, waiting for the attentive temporal dragon to think their words through and reply.
"Everything you have said to me, regarding this 'Call', is fascinating," Dialga said. "Truly, fascinating. But new, utterly new to me. I am deeply sorry, good travelers, to say that knowledge and understanding of this force is beyond my recognition. Immediately, as soon as you leave, I shall investigate what you have reported, and come to an understanding… Surely, unless divine mutation is somehow involved, there must be an explanation for this."
Char and his friends collectively released a sigh of disappointment, relinquishing their built-up expectations.
"Still, this fascinates me," the temporal god said again. "Tell me… does this 'Call' have any other properties than what you have described?"
"Actually… yes," Lily said suddenly. "Yes… it does."
Char winced. It was true. In the moment of heightened emotion from talking to the god of time, he had completely forgotten about the Call's other quality… perhaps its most important quality.
He exchanged a worried glance with Lily.
"Should we… tell them?" Lily asked. "We'd be letting out the secret… but maybe Dialga can help us if he knew…"
Char bit his tongue, glancing up at the curious gaze of the temporal dragon.
"Tell him," Char decided. "It's our only chance to get answers."
Lily nodded. "Alright, here goes nothing… Dialga, the 'Call' has another, more powerful ability," she explained. "It… well… it can be used to communicate."
"Communicate…?"
"On a deeper level than just telepathy, yeah," Lily continued. "It… if you have the Call, the Pokémon around you… start to change. They start to think like you, act like you, feel like you. It's as though… you're giving them parts of your mind. And this always happens, even when the Call isn't activating. And some Pokémon are very sensitive to it; they'll change faster. "
Lily paused. She looked at Prince and Scythe, wary of their reactions.
"Why… why didn't you tell me about this…?" Scythe uttered, looking shocked. "So, am I to believe, Char, and Lily, that through this whole journey, you have been… changing me, from the inside out? That my head… has been filled with your feelings, your thoughts, your beliefs…?"
"Scythe… yes," Char told him, almost reluctantly. "It's… something we figured out right before we found Temporal Tower. We never told you because you were already getting worn out by the journey, and we didn't want to make it worse…"
Scythe closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "In some ways… it has helped me," he said, his voice breaking a little. "My mind became clearer during the final leg of our journey. It became easier to focus on my thoughts. If this is true, that you were giving me your thoughts, Char, Lily… I thank you for remaining steadfast and resolute… Though, other times, I felt… lost… disoriented… and I just… didn't understand why. I'm used to listening to my subconscious mind… it guides me. I trust it. It always has the answer. I wish… I wish I would have known this truth earlier…"
"Scythe… I'm sorry…" Char said quietly.
"Don't apologize," Scythe snapped back, his voice darkening. "You had no control over it. Nobody… nobody has ever been able to control the Call… I see now… all those times I heeded the Call… my greatest hope is, was, has always been… hopeless…"
"Not as hopeless as it might seem, great and noble Scythe!"Dialga spoke warmly. "Because of this new information, I know of the phenomenon you refer to, now. It is called… Heart-speak."
Char tensed in excitement. So did Scythe, and the rest of the team.
"Heart-speak is a force which mortals were not meant to gain awareness of," Dialga explained. "It is a secret. Like your breath, or your heartbeat, it is meant to silently help you, without drawing attention to its nature."
"Heart-speak…" Lily uttered, testing the word. "Char…"
Char nodded, trying to contain his amazement. "Yeah… that's exactly what we discovered," he told Dialga. "It lets you share feelings, but you never even realize it's happening. How… does it work?"
"It is a type of deep telepathy, communicating emotions and ideas, and rarely, words, Dialga explained to the astonished little Charmander. The Original One is responsible for its existence. As he watched the world, he found that Pokémon could communicate well with one another, but Pokémon and humans were distant. So he altered the soul of every Pokémon, giving them Heart-speak, so that they might get along with humans more easily."
"Wow! That makes… so much sense!" Lily said, almost squealing. "But, but… if that's true, why do only some Pokémon have it?"
"Generally speaking, every Pokémon has capacity for Heart-speak, little Lily," Dialga said. "But Heart-speak only grows and strengthens when a Pokémon has spent a sufficient amount of time among human company. But once it has grown, it allows humans to share their hearts with Pokémon, and also allows a similar connection between Pokémon and Pokémon. I am impressed that you were able to discover the existence of Heart-speak on your own; as I have said, it was intended to be a secret."
So… being around humans makes the power grow! Char followed. That explains why I have it… and why Lily has it. But… why not Prince? Didn't he come from the human realm? And what about Saura? He's never been to the human realm, but he has it… What about all the other Pokémon who sailed here from overseas? Why don't they all have it?
"Are you saying, Lord Dialga, that his 'Heart-speak' is completely involuntary?" Scythe asked. "The Pokémon itself has no control over the power?"
"Indeed. The effect is constant," Dialga replied. "It cannot be stifled, it cannot be controlled voluntarily. The only way to change its effect is for the Pokémon to gain discipline, and learn to control what they think and what they feel. This will change the emotions that seep out into the hearts of others, but nothing can ever stop the flow, once it has started. Do not fear, though; this is by design. Heart-speak, even at it strongest, is still a weak force. Its effect is exceptionally subtle. It does not guarantee friendship; it only guarantees that a thought or a feeling will be shared every so often. It creates… a temptation to be open-minded, and to understand those around you. That is all."
There was a moment of silence as Char and his friends took in the information. Char had just barely begun to scratch the surface of the profoundness of this Heart-speak, of what it could accomplish and what it meant…
…But the moment didn't last very long, as Saura broke the silence.
"…Wait," Saura cried in confusion. "Then why does it explode?"
"What do you mean, little Saura?" Dialga asked oddly.
"The Call. Or, Heart-speak. Whatever you call it," Saura rambled. "You say it lets you share your heart with everyone around you. I get that. But nobody ever knew about that before. Like you said, it was secret! But… we all knew about the Call because it explodes. Why does it explode, Dialga?"
Dialga stared blankly at him.
"Yeah!" Char chimed in. "That's what we were talking about earlier! Sometimes you could just be sitting around, minding your own business, and then it will explode! And all the Pokémon in a mile's radius will just be sent into panic! I'm pretty sure that's not how Heart-speak is supposed to work! And that's what Ambera knows as The Call!"
"Heart-speak is not supposed to explode," Dialga said, looking quite confused. "I have never before learned of Heart-speak exploding. I assure you, this was not an intentional effect of the power. I will investigate…"
Char winced. His heart skipped several beats.
Dialga's words didn't sound right.
Something about them…
Something… surreal?
Dreamlike.
A dream…
"I can't," Char uttered to himself. "I'm powerless."
"What was that, little Char?" Dialga spoke.
"That's what you said," Char told the temporal dragon. "Those were your words. You said that to me."
"I do not understand…"
"The Call activated," Char said. "It was an explosion. It got through to all the Pokémon in the Gold Division. And, it got through to you. You said, 'I am here.' – you answered me. And I said, 'help me, Dialga!' and you said, 'I can't, I'm powerless!'"
"This is not an exchange I remember…"
"Of course you don't remember," Char growled at it, now seething in anger. "You don't remember because you just said that you've never heard of Heart-speak exploding before. Even though you were there when it happened. And you heard it. You heard my call."
Against his better judgment, Char rose to his feet. He stared defiantly at the temporal dragon.
"Easy, easy, little Char!" Dialga cried. "Let your heart be still. There is no need to feed your flame here…"
"WHY SHOULD I be still?" Char demanded of the dragon. "Even after all we've asked you, you've still not given us ONE CONCRETE ANSWER. Not ONE! You told me I wasn't the only transformed human, but you wouldn't tell me my name. You told us the Master is a transformed human, probably a Mewtwo, but you couldn't tell us about him. You told us the Watchers are newborn Pokémon, but you couldn't tell us why they're psycho. And now, you told us about the Call, but you say you've never heard it explode before."
Char's claws started to glow.
"And I know why, Lord Dialga. I know why you won't give us the answers we need! It's because…"
"It's because you don't know the answers! Because…"
"YOU'RE FAKE, TOO!"
Releasing his rage, Char closed his eyes and slashed his metallic claws against Dialga's hide as hard as he could.
*Clang! Clang!*
His glowing claws slid right off the impenetrable steely hide of the temporal dragon, but he didn't stop attacking.
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
Finally… Char's claw connected with nothing, swinging through empty air. The momentum threw him forward onto the floor.
Dialga was, once again, gone. Simply gone. Vanished from reality.
Char panted hard, feeling the adrenaline of unfathomable rage and discouragement filling him.
He looked at his friends. They stared blankly at him, frozen in shock. Motionless.
…All except for the little green fairy which cowered nearby, averting her gaze into the floor.
Celebi's body trembled so violently, Char thought she would self-destruct… Tiny tears fell from her eyes.
"Celebi?" Prince said, breaking the silence with a calm, plain voice. "Celebi, what is the meaning of this?"
"I'M SORRRRRRRRRRRRRRY!" She shrieked, bounding toward Char and latching onto his legs, sobbing and crying profusely. "I'm SO SORRY, SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY… I'm SORRY, I'M SORRY, I, AHHHHHHHHH! NO, no, no, no…."
"Celebi…" Char spoke in a low, threatening tone. "What just happened?"
"IT'S TRUE, IT'S TRUE!" She wailed, looking up at Char streams of tears pouring from her large blue eyes, before throwing herself back onto the floor in a humiliated bow. "It was ME all along! There was no security system! I… I made that fake Dialga to scare you away! And when it didn't work… I… I made you another one! I tried to make him act like Lord Dialga would really act! Because… Lord Dialga's NOT HERE! He's gone! And I… I just wanted you to… to be happy! I'm SOOOOO SORRRRRRY!"
Blades drawn, Scythe pounced at the tiny legendary which had latched onto Char. In his anger, he nearly bludgeoned her on the head, but Celebi projected a psychic barrier around herself that bounced it back. The barrier threw Char to the floor.
"You lied!" Scythe growled. "You deceived us, you witch…"
"No! No, no, no, no! NO! No, I, I, I didn't lie!" Celebi stammered. "Really! I didn't! I answered all of your questions as best as I could! Those answers were all real!"
She paused for a second, shuddering at the sight of the displeased eyes which fell upon her.
"I'm serious!" she cried. "All those things I told you, about the Newborns, and Heart-speak, and the Master... they're all true! Honest-to-Arceus true. They're all things Dialga taught me, see. Um... well, except for maybe one. Maybe... maybe there was one little fib I told..."
She turned to look at Saura, who had a broken expression on his face.
"Saura, I have no idea what happened to your family…" She admitted painfully. "I read a little shard of your memory, and I just made it up from there. But… but I just didn't want you to feel awful, over something you couldn't change! I wanted you to feel happy for once! It was… … the best I could do! I'm… I'm sorry… Please… don't kill me!"
"Then where is the real Dialga?" Scythe demanded bitterly, backing down from his attack. "WHERE IS THE GOD OF TIME?"
"I TOLD you, he's not home!" Celebi yelled, sniffling and letting down her barrier. "He's… he left a while ago, and… hasn't come back."
Char's heart dropped even further into his gut. All along, Dialga wasn't even in Temporal Tower?
"I've been calling for him… For such a long, long time, I've been calling for him… But there's… always been no answer," Celebi rambled humbly. "And I suppose I may have left the tower's entrance tied to the physical world, because, well, it has to be anchored in the physical world if I want to try calling to Dialga, and I… suppose I may have forgotten to make it disappear again… And then you all came, and… and I… I couldn't dream of tarnishing the legacy of Lord Dialga! I didn't want you to know he wasn't here. So I… I panicked! I used the tower's energy and made a projection, and I pretended to be Lord Dialga. Twice. The first time, I… I… wasn't quite sure how to act, because, well, I don't really know how Lord Dialga acts when he's angry! I've never actually seen him angry before… He's always so fearless and reassuring."
"You were quite convincing, I'll give you that," Prince spat in the Celebi's direction. "Any idea where we could find your missing lord?"
"I don't know! And I can't go looking for him," Celebi said, regaining her composure somewhat and flying back off of the ground. "I'm… stewardess… of Temporal Tower. If I leave… something could happen, and… the tower might fall. If it falls… time stops everywhere. So I have to stay here, and watch out for the tower, and… and I'm just scared, okay? I'm terrified. I'm terrified of you, and of whatever happened to my lord, and… And I don't know how much longer I can watch out for this tower. My own strength might fail… I just… I'm sorry…"
She drifted upon her tiny wings, back to the tiny monument which held several gear-like objects.
"You can just… forget about little old me, okay? I have been a liar, and a failure to you…" she sighed in dejection, dropping back down out of the air at the monument's base. "Go on, tell the world what kind of an awful witch little Celebi is… I'll understand…"
There was a solemn, burning silence. The six Pokémon warriors stood frozen in place, their hearts wading through all their broken hopes and disappointments…
"We forgive you…"
Ray had spoken. He hesitantly approached the little green fairy.
We… do? Char thought to himself, his fists still clenched in frustration.
Ray stood over Celebi, sympathy shining in his eyes.
"You did your best," Ray told her. "I'm sorry Dialga wasn't here. You had no control over it. I understand why you pretended to be him. You did the best you could…"
Faster than lightning, Ray pounced toward the Celebi. She tried to deflect the Raichu with a psychic barrier, but only managed to trap Ray inside of it with her.
Ray gave her a hug.
"Thank you," he told her warmly. "Thank you for making us feel happy for a little bit. And thank you for making this an epic adventure for us. We'll never forget you."
Celebi smiled sadly, letting her barrier fizzle away.
"It's okay," Ray whispered to her. "You did your best."
Char's heart was in turmoil, but he tried to calm himself. Ray was right; Celebi never meant any harm. It was why the violent projection of Dialga was mostly just taunts and show; it never actually wanted to destroy them in battle. Celebi just wanted them to leave without knowing her secret.
And she had given them a few answers, and failing that, many hints that would surely lead them in the right direction.
But his heart was still unsettled. It was just… too much of a disappointment, to have come all this way and have nothing to show for it…
"I guess that's it," Char muttered, turning to Saura who had come to stand at his side. "This is all Temporal Tower has to offer us. Time to turn around and go back, and tell Ambera that we didn't really learn much…"
"Well, we know about Heart-speak now," Saura offered, "But not the Call. And we know that the Master was a human once, but we don't know what Pokémon he is. And…"
"And we still don't know about your family," Char sighed. "Yeah… I guess that's it. We've reached the end. Time to turn back…"
Char began to wonder how he and his friends would descend Temporal Tower. He hoped it would be easier than the climb. Once they were done, hopefully Nameless would still be waiting for them outside, to calm the eternal blizzard of Zerferia and guide them back towards home…
…the long, long journey back home…
CLANG.
Scythe had loudly rapped his blade against the roof of Temporal Tower. Startled, Ray broke his embrace with Celebi, and Char snapped to attention.
"Wait. Wait for one moment," Scythe commanded. "There is something you said, Celebi… and it didn't sit well with me."
"Huuh?" Celebi gasped, turning her attention to him, and looking like she was about to raise another barrier.
"You said you called to Dialga," Scythe said. "And that there was no answer."
"Uh-huh!" Celebi responded, fidgeting. "Why? It's really the only thing I can do, from up here…"
"How, precisely, did you call to him?" Scythe asked, hostility raising in his voice, and fire burning behind his eyes.
Celebi backed away slightly. "I, uh… I, um… Well, see, I used the Time Gears over here… I touch them, and I'm able to draw upon their energy, and…"
"AND it would take a powerful signal to call out to your lord, would it not?" Scythe pressured. "After all, you don't know where he is. So you would have to send that signal far and wide, in order to hope to contact him."
Char's jaw dropped.
He was following the Scyther's chain of logic, and he would have never, in a million years, believed in the conclusion it was leading to.
Yet… there it was.
"Call to him," Scythe demanded powerfully.
"W—what? Now?" Celebi squeaked.
"Yes. Now." Scythe insisted. "Call to him. Right now. You have put us through great turmoil, Celebi. The least you can do is humor my one final request."
"Um… uh… okay! Fine!" Celebi stammered. "Alright, alright. The tower's still anchored in reality, so… I guess I can just… do it…"
She hesitantly flitted over to the monument which housed the shining, rune-engraved gears. Though they had cogs, they sat motionless in their grooves, glowing with an ethereal, turquoise-colored energy.
Celebi placed her hand upon one of the time gears. She reluctantly glanced back at Scythe, then shut her eyes tight, cringing tightly…
There was a humming noise.
Except, it wasn't a noise.
It was all in Char's head.
It was so painfully loud, Char screamed in agony and dropped to the floor, rolling onto his side and clutching his head tightly.
The hum became a roar.
The roar exploded into a full-blown, soul-shattering feeling that made Char feel like he was being blasted away at high speed. With each pulse of the soundless cry, Char could have sworn his entire being had been ripped into a million tiny pieces. To call it overwhelming would not even come close to describing it. And it wasn't just an overwhelming feeling, but it was an overwhelming emotion. Some sort of all-consuming emotion flooded Char's being, soaking through every crevice of his soul. It was the feeling of despair, of hopelessness.
The roar, then, became a voice.
DIALGA!
I AM LONELY…
I HAVE WAITED SO LONG FOR YOU TO RETURN…
PLEASE COME BACK SOON…
I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITHOUT YOU…
PLEASE, HELP ME!
"ENOUGH!" Scythe screamed. Swatting Celebi away from the time gears so she could not continue the torturous call.
Celebi lay on the floor, her barrier shining brightly around her.
"It was you!" Scythe proclaimed at her, his voice breaking into a triumphant laughter. "YOU ARE THE CALL!"
Celebi blinked.
"M-me?"
"We've solved our mystery," Scythe declared. "Celebi, you have been calling to Dialga, but your call has been reaching others instead: Lily, and Char, and all the rest of the Call-bearers throughout Ambera's history. Tell me, since Temporal Tower lies outside of time, you do not need to know just where to call, but when to call as well. Is this true?"
"Well, yes," Celebi responded, looking mortified. "I don't know what time period to search for Lord Dialga, so I, uh… I tried to spread them out. If I didn't get a reply, I'd try again a few times, then I'd move maybe a decade into the future…"
"TWENTY-SEVEN years apart, correct?" Scythe cried, swinging his blades at his side. "You're calling out at fixed intervals across time, hoping to catch wind of your missing lord, and creating a very noticeable pattern for the mortals down below!"
"Oh, uh… twenty-seven years? Really? That far apart?" Celebi croaked. "I thought it was a bit closer together! I, uh… I must have atrocious aim!"
"And furthermore," Scythe shouted to her, "With such a powerful signal you send, how do you know other Pokémon will not hear it?"
"Because it is only meant for Lord Dialga!" Celebi replied defensively. "Other Pokémon aren't supposed to hear it! It's… I suppose it's an intelligent signal, you could say? It searches for Lord Dialga, or whatever Pokémon I happen to be calling for, and calls only to them! It's a call that's only supposed to have one target."
"And what, do you think, would happen if the signal could not find its target?" Scythe said. "What if the target was there, but it was simply… too far away, so your signal couldn't reach it? What would happen then?"
Celebi tried to think. "Well, I suppose in that case, it would… Oh, by the hooves of the great Arceus, you're right. It would still try to find Lord Dialga, but it would send the message through… whatever other available means it can. A path of least-resistance. It would re-route itself to another Pokémon, but only one, if it could get to Lord Dialga by doing so!"
"Which is why the Call only hits one Pokémon at a time," Scythe finished. "Well, we've done it. We've finally figured out what triggers the Call. It's a lost and lonely little legendary Pokémon trapped at the summit of time, awaiting her master's return!"
Scythe began laughing. "I… I have never before witnessed fate playing a prank upon me, before," he breathed. "This is… so ridiculous… yet, here it is. We finally have one concrete answer."
"There are still some unanswered questions, however," Prince offered. "In particular, why does the Call mind-control nearby Pokémon, when it is only meant to be sending a message? And why does the Call only echo through particular Pokémon, like Char and Lily?"
Shakily, the little green fairy Pokémon lifted herself into the air again. "I… might be able to help you answer that…" she said meekly. "I have my suspicions…"
She fluttered over to Char, who was still reeling on the floor. His head was spinning with the strange and powerful imagery the psychic pulse had delivered. He barely recognized Celebi when she drew close to him, putting her hand on his head.
She soothed him, washing away the pain of his headache, while searching his mind for answers.
"Char's Heart-speak is very developed," she noted. "Very strong. He has either spent many decades in the company of humans, or it has held over from before his transformation into a Charmander. Either way, his Heart-speak is strong. Hmm, oh dear. Yes, I don't think I've ever encountered a Pokémon with Heart-speak quite as strong as yours… And see… I believe my signal reacted with his Heart-speak…"
"So, that means… I didn't do it?" Char said, groggily. "You were just speaking through me?"
"No, I believe the Call came from you, dearie. See, I'm looking into your memory of the event just now. I believe you acted in reflex. The great call did, indeed, come from you. But you needed my signal to stimulate it. Once you heard my signal, you translated it into Heart-speak and sent it out from your own mind."
"So… I can't control it," Char concluded. "So I have really loud Heart-speak, but it won't explode unless I hear a powerful signal, like the kind you send out from Temporal Tower?"
"That… would be my best guess," Celebi said.
Scythe laughed again. It was a frightening kind of laugh, sounding as though he was losing his sanity. "Am I to believe that the Call will stop happening now, now that you are aware of the repercussions?" he cried at Celebi. "Now that you know you're causing chaos in Ambera by calling to your Lord Dialga?"
"Um… no, I'm afraid not," Celebi told him sheepishly. "I don't know what time period you are all from, exactly, but… I have already sent out many calls. They'll keep on happening at regular intervals throughout your history."
"So, just so we are all clear," Scythe said, "The Call will simply happen several times every twenty-seven years?"
"I suppose you are right," Celebi replied.
"But not precisely every twenty-seven years, only approximately, because you are bad at aiming."
"Yes…"
"And we don't know for sure who the Call will be delivered to. It will merely land on a random Pokémon who happens to have strong Heart-speak, and channel through them."
"Sounds right…"
"And at the end of the day, there's no way to manipulate it, to withhold it, to silence it, to time it, or to use it as a weapon against our enemies. It is merely pure chaos, falling upon those with poor luck."
"I'm afraid so…"
Scythe laughed again. It wasn't a joyful laugh.
"Trivia!" Scythe cried. "This is all trivial knowledge. Even knowing this, we are only back to where we began: knowing the Call is unpredictable and useless as a weapon. Our journey here was for naught!"
"Look," Celebi said, hovering close to him, "I'm sorry –"
"I figured you were," Scythe replied bluntly, "After the first twelve times you apologized. But your sorrow is not going to fix the state of affairs in Ambera."
Scythe growled at her, and turned to walk away, picking up the bag of items which had been left sitting on the floor near where Dialga had sat.
"We have wasted enough time on this pointless detour," he said. "Come, everyone… it is time to leave. Ambera is burning while we sit and watch. We must return to our duties."
Before Char could object, there was a tremor.
Boom.
Boom.
The tower shuddered, as though some mighty creature was pacing across one of the floors.
"Oh, my," Celebi said, noticing the tiny quakes. "What was that?"
"We felt that before," Ray remembered. "Back down when we were at the relay point. We thought it was Dialga pacing on the top floor, waiting for us."
Boom.
Celebi shook her head. "Couldn't be," she said, dropping out of the air so she could feel the ground shake. "I didn't start that projection until you were about just a floor away. Because I didn't know you were here until then. No, dearie… this feels like… something is hitting the Tower… from the outside?"
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
The tremors increased.
The sky, dark and starry and beautiful, suddenly turned white.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom!
Boom!
In mere seconds, the tremors came harder, accompanied by the sounds of explosions.
"What… what's happening?" Celebi demanded to no one. Her face was panic-stricken. "Oh, no! OH NO NO NO! NONO! NONONO! Please, Arceus no! RUN!"
She waved at the Pokémon before her. "RUN! GET OUT OF HERE! AIIIEEEEEE! No, No! Wait! You'll never make it! I'll teleport you out!"
But there was no time.
The sound of anguished Pokémon shrieks and cries filled the air as the ground beneath them shattered.
The sky became a blinding white, blocking out everything, as though a sun had descended upon them from space.
For the last few moments, Char felt his reality falling apart. Nothing made sense.
And then, with a sudden tearing pain, everything was gone.