Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The Keepers of Time

Chapter 7

"Rose? Rose, are you okay?"

Rose was stuck in a trance, one she thought she might never get out of. Was it a move? Nah, it was Grovyle's presence, his aura... His eyes... They kept her rooted to her spot. Grovyle hadn't spoken, he just... Stared back at her. Did Rose put him in a trance too? When she tried to read his eyes, they didn't show anything.

"Rose! Snap out of it!"

Rose blinked, surprised to hear Jet's voice. It was so far away, yet close, in reality. She turned to Jet, "What?"

"You were staring into Grovyle's soul, and it was creeping me out. No, you both were staring into each other's soul. It was creeping me out nonetheless!" Jet rambled.

A low, soft chuckle sounded. Rose turned, to see that it was Grovyle who chuckled. It wasn't evil-sounding, like you would normally think from an outlaw, no. His sounded calm, and no hint of evil or mischief whatsoever.

"Anyways, you do know he's going to steal the Time Gear if we don't stop him, Rose," Jet pointed out to Rose.

Rose stared back at Jet. She couldn't do it. No matter who he was, what he was, something inside her just couldn't bring her to attack him.

"Do you really think you can stop me?" Grovyle asked. His voice... "I really have no time for quarrels."

Me neither, Rose thought. I have no time for anything, really. I need to think all this through. No way Jet's going to let me do that. Or Grovyle, for that matter.

"Rose?" Jet looked at her impatiently, "What's wrong? Ever since you saw him, felt his aura, you've been acting strange. Way too strange. Not to mention this is really urgent. Like, really. Rose?"

"I-I-" Rose looked from Jet to Grovyle, back to Jet and back to Grovyle again. "Something we-went off, Jet, m-my..."

"Your memory?" Jet gasped.

"I-I mean..." Rose stuttered, "L-Let's Con-consider the audience here, Jet. Does he really have to know?"

"Right." Jet turned to the Thief, remembering he was in the room with them.

Rose then caught a glint of shock in Grovyle's eyes. And then he mumbled something under his breath. What? Was it something I said? She barely heard the words, "Rose. My partner..." Rose then realized something. Wait. Grovyle... Has a partner... He's looking for too, right? But so am I. Something is linking us together, I'm sure. But then again... He is here... And Jet wants to fight him pretty bad... Should I go and attack him? Should I..."

Decisions swirled in her mind. Rose couldn't think straight. And when she looked up, she barely saw the move Leaf Blade hit Jet square in the chest, knocking him out cold.

Rose gasped. She spun towards Grovyle, "W-Wha-"

"Someone's coming," He whispered. Sure enough, Rose could hear the sound of another Pokemon approaching.

"If- If they see you with me, they might get suspicious," Grovyle continued, "I'm giving you an excuse."

Rose realized all he did was knock out Jet, not really try to kill him. She nodded, "Do it," And braced herself for the coming Leaf Blade attack.

...

Rose groaned as pain from her chest greeted her as she came to. It didn't hurt that bad, though. Rose looked up to see Chatot and Vine watching the two worriedly.

"So Grovyle beat you up, then?" Vine said shakily.

Rose knew it was actually for a different reason than what Vine thought, but she nodded anyways, "Yes he did."

"He is a very strong Pokemon," Chatot admitted, "I am not surprised you didn't defeat him first try."

"He stole the Time Gear, didn't he?" Jet asked from his nest.

"He did, but you were able to stall him while the guild and the lake's guardian, Mespirit, came up with a plan. Mespirit knew what was going to happen if she left the lake, but she knew it was for the better. The last place with a Time Gear is Azelf's Lake, and we have decided to set up a trap there." Chatot explained.

"That's sure to get him!" Jet said, determined.

"You will stay behind, this time," Chatot said, "We will handle the trap ourselves. The guild, Mespirit, and Dusknoir."

Rose felt a chill run down her spine. She had no clue why she didn't trust Dusknoir. It was just something about how he looked at her, maybe it was his appearance, maybe it was just him overall. Rose just didn't trust him. But... When Rose thought about in that lake, with Grovyle...

...

Jet was woken up by Rose, who was looking out the window, deep in thought. He pretended to be sound asleep, but he still listened to hear what she was saying.

"I'm pretty sure I know the real villain in this," She whispered, then wailed quietly, "I bet he's just misunderstood. That's all. Just misunderstood." She looked around, her gaze landing on Jet, who made a fake snore, to convince her. Rose sighed, and settled into her nest again, to sleep.

Jet thought about what she had said, and then a question came into his mind, she's not talking about the Thief, is she?

...

Rose sat under a tree, looking at the Pokemon passing by. She saw the Caterpie that had been stealing from the Kecleon Shop crawling by slowly, holding an Oran Berry in its mouth. Rose waved at him, and the Caterpie perked up. "Hi," He called, voice muffled by the Oran Berry. He ran off, and Rose smiled. She then heard someone calling her. She turned to see Chatot waving her over. She ran over to him, and said, "Whats up?"

"Well," Chatot said, "You might want to see this announcement. Long story short, our trap worked. He has been caught."

A/N My bae. Darn. Anyways, I did tweak a couple things in this story, just to show off Rose's personality a little more, as well as Chatot not being a total jerk. Meh, that one was unintentional. Yes, I will cut off some things from PMD: EOS. I don't want this story being too long XD If this story ends up being a little too short, I might make a PMD series. Maybe~ So yeah, see you guys next time!