76This part has been a long time coming, and now it's here. Nothing much to say except the signature quote of one of my favorite authors. Hobey-Ho, let's go.
Chapter 34: For the Fate of the World
The rainbow faded and the platform rumbled slightly as it came to a stop. Meowth and I jumped onto the floating rock path. We walked up to Temporal Tower in relative silence and when we were halfway up the path, Meowth pointed up and said, "Rio! Take a look at dat!" I followed his gaze and saw a vortex of red storm clouds above the tower.
Meowth clenched his teeth and said, "We better hustle! Every second counts now!" We ran the rest of the way until we reached the base of the tower. The entrance loomed ominously in front of us. Suddenly there was a tremble and we both shouted in surprise while struggling to keep our balance. After a while, it stopped, but it didn't bode well for the amount of time we had left.
Meowth turned to me, "It's stopped for now… Temporal Tower must be about ta fall. 'S probably as delicate as a house of cards right now. We need to get these Time Gears to the top, right now!"
I nodded and we both got ready at the Kangaskhan Rock. Meowth quickly added in all kinds of seeds and orbs to the items that I had, along with a fresh supply of Iron Thorns. He wrote in the Adventure Log and then we both nodded to each other before entering Temporal Tower.
We tried to move through as quickly as possible through Temporal Tower, but the enemies didn't make it easy for us. Psychic-types were everywhere. It made me grateful to have Meowth back, since he could cover me now. With his Shadow Claw move, he was able to stand on par with any of the Psychic-types. Also, he told me which orbs or seeds to use, to tip the odds in our favor with each fight. We fought hard to get up as swiftly as possible, but it still seemed to be taking too long.
Even though it was difficult, it was nice to fight alongside Meowth one last time. With him beside me, I felt like we could take on anything and anyone. We reached the waypoint after a while and we both practically fell to the ground, resting for a few minutes, since we had made good time up the first half of the tower.
"Rio…" Meowth panted, "We gotta get up…"
"I know…" I pushed myself up, despite my aches, and walked over to help Meowth up. He popped his neck and groaned.
He sighed, "We're halfway there, Rio. We just gotta push on." He slowly walked forward and took the Adventure Log out of the Kangaskhan Rock. He wrote in it and then pushed it back into the mouth.
Suddenly another quake, stronger than the last, started up. I caught myself from falling with one hand while Meowth crouched to all fours. After it stopped, we looked at each other grimly.
"It's gettin' worse. We can't rest anymore, Rio. We gotta tough it out. I heard from Dusknoir that Temporal Tower collapsing can't be undone. The Time Gears disappear and nothin' reverses the process."
Another quake seemed to emphasize his point, and Meowth continued after it stopped, "So let's get a move on, Rio! It needs ta be done here an' now!" I nodded and we left through the exit, continuing our climb up the rapidly weakening tower.
The Temporal Spire had evolved forms of the lower tower's enemies. Even between the two of us, we had to sneak by and avoid area-of-effect moves like Discharge. Using Endure literally saved my life a few times. It gave me enough time to counter or use an item or run away. Meowth was starting to tire out, and my using Endure so many times was taking its toll on my body, but we were saving our Oran Berries for emergencies only. We had to rely on our natural healing ability in order to fix most of our injuries.
-Meowth's POV-
When the top of the tower was in sight, we each ate an Oran Berry and used the energy burst to start running. When we reached it, lightning struck right next to us.
"Yikes!" I looked up and the storm clouds above the tower had gotten more violent. Another earthquake shook the tower and I dropped to all fours to keep my balance. After it stopped, I said, "Rio, this tower will come crashin' down any second! We gotta hurry!"
We moved forward and we saw some sorta shrine on a raised platform. We moved to the bottom of the staircase leading up to it and I saw a round stone with five holes gouged out. The patterns flashed red, like a warning that it was broken.
Rio said, "Meowth, I think that that's where…"
"Yea. Dat's where we gotta put 'em."
We stepped on the first step and a thunderbolt hit right in front of us, knocking us back. The entire tower went dark and a deep, angry voice growled before shouting out, "SO! IT'S YOU! YOU SEEK THE DESTRUCTION OF TEMPORAL TOWER!"
Crap! Dat can only be one guy! I said, "Wait! Dat's not it! We came here to prevent time from stopping!"
"TIME… STOPPING… TIME…" Then the voice roared before Dialga appeared in a flash of light.
"J-just our luck…" I moaned.
Dialga roared again and said, "YOU! YOU DARE BRING RUIN TO THE TOWER!"
Rio stepped forward, "No! You've got it wrong! We want to prevent the tower from falling apart-"
"SILENCE!" Then Dialga let out another roar before going on, "FOR ALL THOSE WHO THREATEN TEMPORAL TOWER… I WILL SHOW NO MERCY!"
Dialga roared and I said, "It's no good, Rio! He's not listenin'!"
Rio said, "Dialga is losing control because time is breaking down!"
I shook my head, "But… He's not all gone yet! I saw dat one personally and we might be able to get through ta this Dialga!"
Dialga stepped forward, shaking the floor. We both crouched down, and I said, "Here he comes, Rio!"
Dialga roared again and started coming for us. We stood side-by-side and got ready to fight him. His claws glowed blue as he readied Dragon Claw and we dodged to the side, barely avoiding it. Not missing a beat, Dialga turned and nailed us with Ancient Power. We were knocked to the side and Rio jumped back to his feet, using Quick Attack to get in close, where Dialga's size wouldn't help.
"Let's see how you like getting that damage back!" He slid between Dialga's front legs and fired a Reversal up, hitting his stomach. Being stunned by the explosion, that gave me time to jump up his legs and use Fury Swipes on the side, where there wasn't any steel. But Dialga shook me off and started stomping around, flushing Rio out. He growled as his eyes glowed orange. The diamond on his chest glowed blue while his tail thing grew out.
Dat charge-up… I've seen it… at Alamos Town!
"Rio! Set up Endure! He's goin' for the big gun and he can't move after that! Use that time!"
A deep blue ball of energy formed at his open mouth.
He set up the red aura, but turned to me and said, "What about you?!"
The ball started growing larger.
I grinned ruefully, "I'm a big boy; I can look after myself."
Using just one of these really takes it outta me, but I got no choice if I wanna live ta tell da tale.
Dialga fired the Roar of Time, blasting the entire half of the tower platform we were on. I quickly played my card and shut my eyes.
-Rio's POV-
I crossed my arms and shielded my eyes as the attack blasted us. I felt the force of the attack blasting against my Endure aura, draining my strength, but letting me just hang on to consciousness. The force raged forward for a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. After it stopped, I dropped my arms and saw Dialga quivering from the aftershock, unable to move.
I looked to my side and saw Meowth on the ground, three burned up Substitute clones on top of him. They each vanished away and Meowth struggled to sit up. He glared at me and said, "What're you waiting for?! Go, now!" Then he passed out. I ran forward as a Reviver Seed floated out of the Treasure Bag towards him. I fired a max-power Reversal at Dialga's face while I kept running. Pressing on, I charged in as the smoke cleared and used Force Palm on his leg, causing him to take a knee.
With his head lowered, I ran up the stairs to gain some height and made the jump to his face. But he started to move again as I was flying forward. He raised his other leg and was about to use Dragon Claw to bat me out of the air. Time seemed to slow down. I thought I had failed to use the opening I got to end this, but a shadow hand appeared from the ground, sinking its claws into Dialga's hand and holding it back. Still appearing to move slow, I looked to my right and saw Meowth still healing, but with one paw on the ground, sending the shadow. He nodded. I nodded back.
Time moving regularly again, I closed the final distance, and used Force Palm right above Dialga's right eye. His head shot to the side and he caught himself but trembled, still growling. I landed and retreated some distance, in case he wasn't finished. He let out a faint roar and fell to the ground. He was trying to move but could only growl.
I heard a loud groaning noise and saw Meowth painfully pulling himself up, the Reviver Seed not done healing his injuries.
"Meowth! You need to rest and recover!"
He shook his head, "Don't got… time for dat! The Time Gears… I gotta put 'em in!" There was another tremor, worse than all the others, but he kept trying to move forward. I helped him, by holding him steady while we moved up the stairs. A fissure opened in the ground behind us, but we kept going. When we reached the top he wordlessly handed me two Time Gears and started putting three of them in the bottom slots. I reached up and put the two I had into the top slots.
He smiled, "We… we did it!" The entire altar flashed for a moment and the patterns turned green, the round tablet whole again. But the floor suddenly heaved and threw us down the stairs. The tremors seemed to be getting worse and worse.
Meowth grimaced, "Wh- what da hell?! We put them in! Dat shoulda fixed everything!"
I thought the worst, "It can't be… Were we too late?! Is Temporal Tower going to collapse anyway?!" Lightning from above started striking everywhere. There was an intense flash of light and I fell unconscious.
-Some Time Later-
Urrggh… Wh-what? Is… is this?
I struggled and opened my eyes. I looked around and saw the peak of Temporal Tower as I last saw it. I turned and found Meowth nearby. I ran to his side and was relieved that his injuries were healed and a Plain Seed sat at his side. I shook him and he mumbled, "Don wannah getuuup… Five more minuuutes, ma…" I shook him harder and he woke up.
"Hubba, wha, wha?" Then he shook his head and looked around. "We're… still here."
"THIS IS… TEMPORAL TOWER."
We turned and Dialga was standing again. We both yelped and jumped back a bit. He shook his head, "YOU HAVE NO CAUSE FOR ALARM. I HAVE REGAINED MY REASON." We both slowly walked a bit closer as he continued, "TEMPORAL TOWER HAS TAKEN HEAVY DAMAGE… BUT IT HAS SURVIVED. NOW, OBSERVE." The gem on his chest gleamed white. There was a flash of light and suddenly a green forest appeared before my eyes.
Dialga must be using telepathy to show us this.
I heard Meowth say, "Th-this is… Treeshroud Forest. Time's moving again! We did it, Rio!"
Then the forest disappeared and we saw Treasure Town. Everybody was talking happily and going about their usual days. It was such a relief to see everybody okay.
"Everyone! They're okay! Everybody's fine!"
The image switched again to the Hidden Land. The land looked worse for wear and Temporal Tower had a few pieces missing from it, but it was okay. It was still standing.
"And Temporal Tower! It looks like it's seen better days, but… We brought it back from the brink!"
The images faded and Dialga said, "TEMPORAL TOWER SURVIVED THE CRISIS. TIME HAS RETURNED TO NORMAL HERE… THUS, TIME HAS RESUMED IN PLACES WHERE IT HAD STOPPED. BECAUSE YOU STOPPED THE RUIN OF TEMPORAL TOWER… THE PLANET'S PARALYSIS HAS BEEN PREVENTED. THE WORLD'S PEACE… HAS BEEN RESTORED."
Meowth jumped for joy and said, "Ya hear that, Rio? We did it! We saved da world!"
"ALLOW ME TO THANK YOU. I THANK YOU FOR REACHING THE HIDDEN LAND… YOU HAD THE COURAGE TO STAND UP TO ME, EVEN AS I RAGED OUT OF CONTROL… AND YOU PREVENTED THE RUIN OF TEMPORAL TOWER IN THE NICK OF TIME. THANK YOU. ALL OF THIS, I OWE TO YOU."
Meowth rubbed the back of his head and said, "W-well…"
"BUT ALL IS NOT YET AS IT SHOULD BE… IT WILL TAKE TIME. I MUST SEE TO THE REPAIR OF TEMPORAL TOWER." He turned to the side and said, "THE HIDDEN LAND, TOO, HAS BEEN RAVAGED… BUT THE RAINBOW STONESHIP SHOULD STILL BE OPERABLE… AND LAPRAS SHOULD BE AWAITING YOUR RETURN."
Meowth nodded, "You got it." He turned to me, smiling, "C'mon, Rio. Let's go home!"
Posting this WAY late, but I don't care! I finished this and I simply HAD to post it in the wee hours of the night!