Pokemon: The Paralyzed Planet

Chapter 3: The Hidden Land

Disclaimer: I only own Haley, and her mom. I just realized that I can’t own personalities. Hahaha. Still, don’t plagiarize me!

Chapter 3: The Hidden Land

          We traveled long and hard over the next few weeks, weeks being a relative term here, as the sun didn’t shine. We were climbing a large, steep hill, and as we got to the top, I let out a gasp. The view was amazing!

          Even in the half-light that was our day, I could see for miles around from the top of the hill. Below us was a long, grassy valley, few trees as far as I could see, with barely any inhabitants, by the looks of it. As my eyes traveled upward, I let out another gasp. Far ahead, a large tower dominated the skyline. That wasn’t what had surprised me. What surprised me was that the tower seemed to be floating in midair!

          “Dusknoir!” My voice was sharp with surprise and disbelief. “Is that tower floating?” Dusknoir looked up.

          “Yes, it is. That, my friend, is where we want to go. That is Temporal Tower. From here on, this land is what people call the Hidden Land.”

          “The Hidden Land? Why is it called that? And is that really Temporal Tower?” I broke in. Dusknoir smiled.

          “Yes, that is really Temporal Tower. People call this the Hidden Land, because before time collapsed, Dialga hid the Hidden Land from the world, fearing that outsiders would bring ruin to the tower. But now there is no point to hide Temporal Tower, so Dialga revealed Temporal Tower to the world, to make it easier for me to come and go.” Dusknoir continued, while walking down the steep path, “We should be safe from here on, because the pokémon of the Hidden Land know me.”

          Dusknoir and I walked on, carefully traveling down the slope. Soon the land leveled out and we walked in silence for a time. Dusknoir suddenly stopped.

          “Haley, do you hear that?” He asked me. I stopped as well and listened for a while. As I was shaking my head no, there was a rustle in the bushes to my right. “I thought so! You, whoever you are, come out!” Dusknoir commanded. There was a moment’s silence, and then a pokémon stepped out of the bushes. It was smaller than me, probably only 4 feet tall, and had purple skin, with eyes like gems. Dusknoir looked shocked. “A sableye! What are you doing here? Where are the rest of you?”

          The sableye avoided Dusknoir’s eye, as if it was afraid of Dusknoir. It mumbled, hardly loud enough to hear, “I’m lost. The others went off without me, and I don’t know where they went.” It hung its head in shame. I felt bad for it, but I was confused.

          “Dusknoir, do you know this pokémon?” I asked, bewildered. Dusknoir sighed.

          “Yes, the sableye are my underlings. They listen to my orders. And I told them to be somewhere.” He added menacingly to the sableye. The sableye squeaked in terror and fell trembling at Dusknoir’s feet.

          “I’m sorry Lord Dusknoir! Forgive me! I didn’t know!” It shrieked from its position on the ground. I glanced at Dusknoir.

          ‘Lord Dusknoir?” I questioned. Dusknoir looked uncomfortable.

          “That’s what they call me.” He sounded embarrassed, and he continued to the sableye, “Sableye, go to the Stone Tower, and wait there for the others.” The sableye nodded miserably, got up, and ran in the opposite direction.

          I watched the sableye run off for a while, and then turned to Dusknoir. “We need to talk.” I told him.

          “About what?” He asked, looking wary.

          “Need you ask? What was that all about? He looked terrified of you! And what was with all that Lord Dusknoir stuff?” I demanded. Dusknoir still looked uncomfortable. He replied,

          “Like I said, that was a sableye, one of my underlings. And yes, he was afraid of me. They all are. You haven’t seen me when I’m angry, and I have to admit, I am scary when I am angry. And again, they call me Lord Dusknoir. It is a term of respect; I assure you I did not tell them to call me that.”

          “Still, it just seems weird. Not just that. This whole thing. Seriously, what does Dialga want with me? Just because he knows that I see things, what does that have to do with wanting to meet me?” I asked.

          “Well, the fact that you can see things is what intrigues Dialga. He wants to meet you, maybe ask you about them. To be completely honest, I don’t know why he wants to meet you. But Dialga’s word is law, to me at least, so I must bring you to him.” Dusknoir explained. I was unsure how to respond. I shook my head, trying to shake the unpleasant thoughts in my head out.

          ‘What if Dusknoir is lying to you? What if Dialga gets mad at you and attacks you? How does Dialga know that you can see things? What if he knows what you’ve seen!?’ Unbidden, these thoughts ran through my head. That last thought made me tremble to think about. I had seen terrible things in my visions, things that didn’t put Dialga in a respectable light. My most recent visions had been about Dialga. In one of them, Dialga had been attacking two pokémon standing on a pinnacle. In another, Dialga was assaulting a prone figure, surrounded by ice and sharp pillars. In both of the visions, I had not been able to discern the other pokémon in the visions, but Dialga had been as clear as day.

          I pushed the memories and thoughts from my mind. Surely, none of that could affect me. Dusknoir had turned back to the path.

          “We have to keep moving.” He said to me. Shrugging, I turned to him, and we continued on our way. By mid-afternoon, we had traveled a long distance. Turning back, I could barely see the hill that we had topped only that morning. Though we had traveled a long way, and had made good time, we still had a long way to go. According to Dusknoir, once we made it past what he called the Arch of Lapras; we still had two dungeons to go through, as well as through Temporal Tower itself.

          “Let’s rest for now, and get an early start tomorrow.” Dusknoir told me, stopping. I nodded in agreement, and brought out our food. We ate in silence, each harkening to our own thoughts, paying each other no heed. I fell asleep almost immediately, holding a rock Dusknoir had shown to me earlier, which he claimed had come from Temporal Tower itself, and started to dream.

          I was floating above a ruined pinnacle, pillars broken and scattered about the pinnacle. Dialga sat in the middle of the broken wreckage, apparently awaiting someone. But Dialga looked … wrong. He was dark, darker than he should have been, and he had a cruel, primal energy radiating from him. A pokémon came up from the staircase, opening large doors to get in, but was hidden in shadow, so I could not tell who it was.

          “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting, Master Dialga. While I encountered more difficulty than anticipated, I finally succeeded … in the capture, yes.” The voice sounded familiar, but I could not place it. Dialga rumbled,

          “YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN BACK BEFORE NOW. DO WHAT MUST BE DONE, BEFORE I GET ANGRY.” The figure shrunk back a little.

          “I fully understand what must be done. Those who seek to alter the course of history must be removed from history. I will see to the elimination immediately.” The figure told Dialga.

          “THEN DO IT. DON’T FORGET I’LL BE WATCHING YOU.” Dialga threatened. The pokémon nodded.

          “I understand. As you wish. I take my leave.” Then the vision went dark. The next thing I knew, Dusknoir was shaking me awake.

A/N: Well that chapter contained major spoilers! Game players will know what Haley’s visions refer to, and hints at one of the special episodes in Explorers of Sky! Oh, by the way, from now on, I’m going to have some random facts about the characters from here on out, and don’t forget to REVIEW!

Random fact# 1: So maybe you’re wondering about Haley’s mom, she’ll show up later in the story. Anyways, her name is Gina Roane, and she has always been a good mother to Haley, but she used to dream of solving the planet’s paralysis herself, but she met Haley’s dad, and all her plans fell apart, so she just contents herself with being a good mother to Haley.