Dungeon Explorers: The Time Mystery (Editing)

Ch 9: Time Gears...and a Memory?

"Hey Pattie, Blazie, are you two still awake?"

Pattie turned around, laying down on her stomach. Elyon was looking at her and Blazie. "Yeah, I'm still up," she said. "What about you, Blazie?"

Blazie sat up and stretched. "Tired, but awake," she said sleepily. "What's up, Elyon?"

"I've been thinking about those visions Pattie had earlier today," said Elyon. "Maybe it has something to do with you personally, Pattie."

Both Pattie and Blazie stared at Elyon. A flash of lightning went off in the distance, illuminating her face. Elyon's purple eyes were glazed over, and she looked thoughtful.

"What do you mean?" Pattie asked.

"Well, I'm not completely sure," Elyon tried to explain. "But I never heard of a Pikachu who could see the future. Or a human finding themselves as a Pokémon, for that matter. It's for those two reasons that I find them to be connected."

'For it to unlock my memories... maybe that's the key,' Pattie said to herself. 'In those dreams from today.'

Then Pattie thought of something. "But Elyon, how does that relate to anything else?"

Elyon was quiet for a minute. "I don't know," she said finally. "But it does make me think it has to. Especially seeing how the visions gave you a clue that Drowzee was a wanted criminal."

That reminded Pattie of what Charap had said the other day when they got their first assignment. "Charap said that there are more and more bad Pokémon popping around because of time going out of whack. What did he mean by that anyway?"

"Time is getting a bit messed up all over the world, and no one knows why," replied Blazie. "But everybody believes that Time Gears are involved."

Pattie sat up, her brow creased. Even though she had no idea what a Time Gear was, it sounded familiar for some odd reason. "What are Time Gears?"

Both Blazie and Elyon sat up themselves and started to explain.

"Time Gears are hidden in secret places all over the world," Blazie started. "Like there's a rumored Time Gear deep in a forest, one in an underground cavern, and another one in a hidden altar inside a volcano."

"In the center is a rare treasure known as a Time Gear," Elyon added. "They serve an essential function. Each one protects and keeps time flowing properly in their specific area. If a region loses its Time Gear...well, some Pokémon guess that the flow of time in that region will stop. It's why everyone makes sure to never disturb the Time Gears. Everyone's quite certain that disaster will come if that happens. Even the most hardened criminal wouldn't dare to go near it and mess with it."

A tall Pokémon almost tripped over a tree root as it crept over to a glowing blue object. A flash of lightning illuminated the object in the forest's grove.

"Is it really..?" the Pokémon said aloud. It crept even closer to the object. "Yes, it is!"

Another flash of lightning went off, illuminating the body of the Pokémon. It was green with a pink belly and a lone green stripe. It also had yellowed eyes, a dark green leaf on top of its' head, and wore a wristband on its right wrist, and a small bag on a string around its' neck.

"A Time Gear...the first of many..."

The Pokémon stared at the Time Gear, then glanced at the bag around its neck. It held the bag in its hand. "The start of our mission. For you..."

"GET UP!! UP AND AT 'EM! IT'S MORNING!!"

Pattie woke up, startled. Once again, Exploud had interrupted her dream before it was finished. And once again, Pattie had forgotten what had happened in the dream. The only thing she remembered was that there had been a forest grove. It had been a very unusual dream. If it was a dream anyway. She still had no idea if it was a dream...or a memory.