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Author's note: Although this fic is somewhat AU (alternate universe) it does contain spoilers for the first ending of Mystery Dungeon Time & Darkness.

Mystery Dungeon 2: Grovyle's Finale

By nightdragon0

"No! Shinya!" Grovyle dove straight into the blast of dark energy.

BOOM!

"Garrghh!"

"Grovyle!" Shinya, the human-turned-Chamander gasped in horror.

Grovyle was now on his knees, having taken Dusknoir's Shadow Ball to the chest. The tree-lizard was already bruised and battered from the earlier scuffle, but now he had new burns from the flames of dark energy as well.

Grunting and clutching his chest in pain, Grovyle barely moved as Dusknoir approached.

"Shielding your friend, Grovyle?" Dusknoir sneered. "Well that's taken quite a toll on you. I'll just have to eliminate you first then…"

Grovyle's claws clenched, digging deep into the stone flooring. The tree-lizard's head turned up, eyes blazing with fury.

"Something Shinya always told me was that…the past should give us hope for the future!" Grovyle suddenly sprang forward, the Leaf Blades at his wrists extending and glowing.

Now it was Dusknoir's turn to scream as Grovyle's energy blades sliced into his body. But Grovyle didn't stop there, he continued on, grabbing hold of the weakened Dusknoir's arms and shoving him back towards the Dimensional Rift.

Even though he was a Ghost-type, Dusknoir didn't have the energy left to phrase out of his opponent's grip. That left him in his physical form…and vulnerable to Grovyle's move of desperation.

"W…what are you doing?" Dusknoir yelled.

"Dusknoir…I'm taking you…with me…" Grovyle grunted. "Back to the future!"

"What?"

"Shinya!" Using his jaws, Grovyle ripped the strap of the leather bag he wore and tossed it behind him. Five shimmering blue gears spilt out, rolling onto various positions on the ground.

"Gargh! Those are…" Dusknoir gasped.

"The Gears of Time!" Shinya finished.

"Hey guys, we're ready to…" A Treecko approached from the stairs nearby. "Wha…what's going on?"

"Kelac, this is it for me!" Grovyle called to the Treecko. "I'm taking Dusknoir back to the future with me. And…"

Grovyle released one claw and drove it into his struggling foe's face.

"I won't be able to come back here again!" Grovyle grabbed and restrained Dusknoir's arms again. "Promise me…you'll watch Shinya's back!"

"Me? But…" The stunned Treecko staggered. "I can't…I can't take your place Grovyle!"

"You must and you will!" Grovyle roared. "Promise me!"

"Ugrrooohh! Unhand me!" Dusknoir howled. "Release me this instant!"

"Shut up!" Grovyle head-butted the weakened ghost. "Kelac!"

"I promise!" Kelac shouted.

A smile crept across Grovyle's face. It was the first time either of the two could remember the solemn warrior actually smiling.

"Grovyle!" Shinya was back on his feet, having recovered sufficiently from the earlier attack.

"I was lucky to have known you, Shinya." Grovyle spoke. "Though parting hurts…the rest is in your hands!"

"Grovyle!"

"Sorry for the holdup, Dusknoir!" Grovyle turned back to his foe. With a final burst of strength, Grovyle threw his weight forward, shoving Dusknoir through the Dimensional Rift.

"Gwaaaahhh!"

Having experienced spinning through the void of time before, this trip was no different to Grovyle. The most painful thing was landing back on the cold, rocky surface.

The only world he'd ever known…the world of eternal darkness, where neither the sun shined nor the wind blew.

"You fool!" Dusknoir was several feet away, and hovered into an upright position. "Why…why would you want to disappear? Why would you not be afraid of fading out of existence?"

"That's where you have me wrong, Dusknoir. I am afraid…but…" Grovyle staggered to his feet. "When I was back in the past, I felt the wind against my scales. I watched the sun rising and setting. The rain that brought life to the earth beneath…those are things no living being should be denied of. Those were things you never appreciated in your time there!"

"I've had enough of your preaching!" Dusknoir hurled a Shadow Ball.

Grovyle didn't move, but extended his Leaf Blade and slashed at the energy attack. It did disrupt the attack, but not without causing a great deal of pain to his already battered body.

"I should say the same about you." Grovyle gritted his fangs, breaking into a charge. "It's time we ended this, once and for all…"

Dusknoir tossed another Shadow Ball, but Grovyle didn't try to avoid it. He moved straight in, his Leaf Blades slashing away at the dark energy.

"No! No!" Dusknoir cried as he continued his assault. "Stay back! Stay back! Stay away from me!"

With a roar of fury, Grovyle leapt right in front of Dusknoir as the ghost brought up a final ball of black energy. Crossing his Leaf Blades in front of him, Grovyle blocked the Shadow Ball, and forced it right back into Dusknoir's body.

"Uggghhaaawww!" The ghost howled in pain.

"I truly believe it now…" Grovyle forced his glowing Leaf Blades into Dusknoir body. "The past…should give us hope…hope for the future!"

Grovyle drew his Leaf Blades in two different directions, slicing Dusknoir's body apart as he did. The cloth-like remains of the ghost slowly floated to the ground…and lay still.

Panting, Grovyle dropped to his knees.

He didn't have much time to rest however. A thunderous roar immediately caused him to snap up. The ground shook as a massive Pokemon stomped into view.

"Primal Dialga…"

The next thing Grovyle saw was a bright beam of energy shooting straight towards him. As the tree-lizard instinctively drew back in shock, a tiny shape darted into the path of the beam.

"Celebi!"

Even though the tiny psychic had put up a barrier, it was still no match for Primal Dialga's power. The resulting explosion sent the pink colored Celebi crashing into the ground.

"Celebi!" Grovyle darted to the fallen Pokemon's side. "Celebi! Celebi!"

"Tehehe…" Celebi's eyes flickered open. "Did they make it, love?"

"They'll make it." Grovyle squeezed her paw. "I know they will."

"That's good tehehe…" Celebi smiled. "My dear Grovyle…"

"Celebi…I'm glad I met you too."

"We could've been something so much more special." Celebi whispered. "Can I use your name, just for once…Kelac?"

"I guess that doesn't really matter any more." Grovyle chuckled. "That name…belongs to the other me."

"So, did you know?"

"I figured it out eventually." Grovyle replied. "I suppose something about our time traveling delayed the collapse of Temporal Tower. So he never really experienced what I did. Or maybe, the circumstances changed, so he was hatched earlier than I was."

"Well who knows, time travel has always been complicated."

"I know…" Grovyle nodded. "But, no regrets?"

"No regrets." Celebi agreed.

"That's good." Grovyle placed her paw on the ground, and stood up, turning to face Primal Dialga.

Gritting back the pain between his fangs, Grovyle extended his Leaf Blades.

"You're lucky, the other me." He whispered. "My sacrifice means a brighter future for you. Well, that's good enough for me."

With a roar, Grovyle charged at Primal Dialga.

Another energy blast shot across the field, smashing into Grovyle's body. Grovyle staggered slightly and continued with his charge. Again and again, the blasts came. And Grovyle took them head on, not once letting his roar waver.

He knew he'd fallen at some point, but Grovyle was not sure when. Everything was already fading…

"Hey Shinya!"

"Rargh!" The Charizard jumped.

"Did I scare you?" Kelac asked.

"I admit that you did." Shinya scratched his head. "I thought you were going to evolve into a Sceptile."

The pair was standing at the top of the ruins of Hidden Land, right next to the Rainbow Stoneship. Neither had been back in months, but now had just seemed like a good time. It was a special time too, being the anniversary of their great adventure there.

With everything that had been going on recently, in addition to evolving into new forms, it was hard to imagine that it had only been a year since then. Shinya had never regained his memories of the alternate future he'd come from, and had given up at trying. However, he knew he had made much better ones in this timeline.

"Well, I thought I'd stay like this for this event." Kelac scratched the leaf-like mane on his head. The Treecko had evolved into a Grovyle, and hopped over to Shinya's side. "I owe him a lot too, and I thought this would be a good way to honor his memory."

"You come up with the strangest ideas Kelac." Shinya grunted.

"You're not offended, are you?" Kelac gasped.

"No, of course not." The Charizard replied. "It just makes me sad that I'll never remember anything else about him. Especially since we're here to place this memorial for him."

Digging into his belt pouch, Shinya came up with a stone slab that had several words carved into it. Shinya was now much larger, and Kelac had to tiptoe to look over his shoulder.

"The past should give us hope for the future." Kelac read out loud. "That was one of the things you used to tell him, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it's one of the few things I can recall, especially after he told me…" Shinya stopped short.

"Shinya?"

"Kelac, how did you know that?"

"Huh?"

"How did you know that Kelac?" The Charizard repeated. "You couldn't have known that. I've never told you, and you were up at the Rainbow Stoneship when he reminded me of it."

"I…I...I just…don't know." Kelac muttered. "I just…well…huh?"

The Grovyle brought a paw up and wiped the side of his face. A single tear had been running down his cheek.

"Kelac? Are you all right?" Shinya asked.

"Yeah, I just…have no idea what came over me."

"Heh, you always were a little sensitive." Shinya smacked his partner on the shoulder. "Anyway, Grovyle would be honored that you're a Grovyle too."

"You think so?" Kelac glanced towards the stone slab.

"I know so partner." The Charizard laughed. "I know so."

END

Author's note: I always felt Grovyle had the role of the unsung hero in Mystery Dungeon Time & Darkness.

While this fic has some alternate dialogue, and the characters based off those I played in my game, I wanted to give Grovyle an ending that was more fitting, but leave it open for thought at the same time.

The catchphrase used also comes from another show that involved time travel, but I felt it fit in nicely with this context too. No prizes for guessing though, heh.