Thank you for the feedback, I've been playing the game again so I'm inspired to write a new chapter.

By the way, Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or the premise of "Explorers of Time." I merely own the specifications of my OC and the particular plot of this fanfic.

Chapter Three: Searching for the Light

"Kaya, where exactly are we going?" Grovyle asked. They continued through the pathway into the forest's winding, maze-like mystery dungeon and avoided as many pokemon as humanly possible by throwing stun seeds at anything that moved toward them.

"Hold on, we should be there soon." Grovyle struck a Steelix with his leaf blade and followed after her. They climbed up the stairways and moved through the numerous levels of the dungeon, finding some berries and even a few TMs lying around. "Alright, I think the dungeon ends on this next floor."

They climbed up the stairway and exited into a large clearing and Kaya looked around.

"Yes, this is it."

"Where exactly are we?"

"Well, I don't know the name of this forest, but I remember hunting for various roots and herbs here before. It's pretty out of the way, so there should be at least something left. Who knows? Maybe we'll even find the root we need." Grovyle sighed a bit and looked around the clearing.

"It seems pretty barren…"

"Of course, we're still on the path. The trick is to look near the trees where less pokemon tend to wander. Come on." She walked into the thick grass growing on the side of the path between the trees and knelt down, groping the hard soil for roots and mushrooms.

Grovyle awkwardly approached her and knelt down as well, mimicking her movements and touching the ground. He felt some small pebbles and weeds, but nothing of use and she continued to search the area, a look of determination on her face.

"Alright, this area isn't looking very promising. Let's try the clearing up ahead," she said, dusting off her clothes and moving out of the grass to the forest path again.

"Do you really think we'll find an energy root around here?" Grovyle asked skeptically.

"Aw, come on, Grovyle, don't you trust me?" she asked, gesturing to herself.

"Well, I do…but I'm just wondering if you were really sure we could find it."

"If I didn't think we could find an energy root here, I wouldn't have brought you here. Now come on, let's go look in this clearing up ahead. If we can't find anything, we can go back and think of a new plan."

"Alright, fair enough." They moved farther into the clearing and approached a grassy alcove surrounded by trees and Kaya crawled on the ground, feeling for roots or weak soil that she could dig.

"Have you found anything?" she called to Grovyle.

"Just a tinymushroom. Not much help."

"No…well, just keep looking." She continued feeling the rough, grey grass and she stopped as her head began to pound and she felt a familiar wave of dizziness. "W-what?" Her hand immediately flew to her temple and she blinked rapidly, attempting to focus.

"Kaya?"

"I-I'm getting…" Grovyle moved to her side instantly and she shut her eyes, grabbing the sides of her head. "It's here…there's a time gear here."

"What?!"

"Right in this spot, there is a time gear. I can see it." The dizziness subsided and she let out a short sigh of relief and looked over at Grovyle. "This must be the forest Celebi was telling us about. I could see the time gear, but nothing guarding it."

"Incredible…"

"This is a stroke of luck. I just don't know what this forest was called."

"I'm certain we can find out. You knew the way here, surely we can mark it on a map."

"You're probably right. But we'd better find that root before we get too excited."

"Yes, let's keep looking. But do you want to rest a bit?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Grovyle looked slightly unconvinced but nodded and moved forward, searching for the short, purplish root in the grass. He began using dig in a few spots where he found a number of herbs and Kaya dug at the ground with a rock.

"Kaya!" Grovyle called, climbing back up to the surface with a root in his hand. "I found one!"

"Perfect! Now we can barter for the map." She placed the root in her bag, beaming, and they were able to use an escape orb to get out of the forest and took the old road back to the markets. Without the sun, the passage of time is exceedingly hard to determine, but the journey took about half a day.

They climbed down the ladder and pushed through the pokemon to the Noctowl's stand.

"Still looking for an energy root?" Grovyle asked and Noctowl nodded a bit.

"That I am. Have you come across one?"

"It wasn't an easy task, my friend." He took the root from Kaya and held it out to Noctowl and his feathers ruffled a bit and he took the root in his wing.

"Thank you! I'll bring it to my friend at once."

"Ah, but let's not forget the map."

"Of course not. Give me moment." Noctowl began digging through a bin of scrolls and parchment for a few minutes and pulled out two scrolls and set them before Grovyle. "This one here is a wonder map that's been filled out by an old exploration team. It should serve you well. This scroll here is a blank map you can use to help charter the world as it is now. Few souls are brave enough to venture away from their homes, so there isn't much written on it yet. But, perhaps, it could help you."

"We greatly appreciate your help."

"It is I who should thank you. Perhaps we will meet again."

"Perhaps." Noctowl closed up his shop quickly and flew away with the root and Grovyle smiled slightly.

"Hoping for his friend's recovery?" Kaya asked and he nodded a bit.

"Yes."

"You know, for a pokemon on your kind of mission, you're surprisingly benevolent towards other pokemon here." He flushed slightly and shrugged uncomfortably.

"It's not like I'm so bitter I've become heartless…" he mumbled.

"I don't know, I guess I pictured you as an emotionless anti-hero who single-mindedly attempts to achieve his goal."

"I guess you pictured me wrong, then," he said with a short shrug. "Anyway, we need to get out of here. We don't want to gather too much attention."

"Yeah, you're right." She followed him out of the market and they climbed up the ladder and decided to go and hide in a cavern near the beach to observe the map. Grovyle started up a fire and Kaya gathered some apples for them to ear and they unrolled the Wonder Map. "Oh wow! I know he said they filled out the map, but I didn't expect so many different areas."

"These spots are all mystery dungeons," Grovyle said, pointing to the yellow tacks.

"And we should be right here," Kaya said, pointing to the yellow spot that read "Beach Cave."

"Now, the question is where was the forest you had the Dimensional Scream kick in?" Grovyle asked and Kaya pursed her lips.

"Well, it wasn't close by, so I'd say any one of these spots." She pointed to three dots and Grovyle looked over this.

"This one is Fogbound Forest, we know a time gear is there. What about this one?"

"It's called 'Treeshroud Forest.'"

"Do you think that's the forest we were in?"

"It's possible, but there's really no way to know for sure unless we go there again."

"Very well, we can travel there again tomorrow. But let's try and narrow down a few other areas to explore."

"Alright. Well, I think it's safe to say that there isn't a time gear in any of these places," she said, tapping her finger against the beach cave and craggy coast. Celebi said that the two time gears hidden in the lakes were in a place of shifting earth, and the other in a place of exquisite beauty."

"Well…shifting earth might actually be the easiest one."

"So…perhaps in the mountains?"

"That's certainly a possibility. How many mountainous areas are on this map that aren't already near the other time gear?" Grovyle asked.

"Let's see…there's Mt. Horn, but that's close to Fogbound Forest, so I doubt there will be a time gear there."

"There's Mt. Bristle and Mr. Travail."

"What about this island? Mt. Mistral?"

"I really hope there isn't a time gear there. How are we supposed to cross the ocean?"

"Good point…"

"So why don't we visit Mr. Bristle and Mt. Travail before going to see if that forest is Treeshroud Forest?"

"Yes, that sounds like a smart plan. We'd best gather some supplies before leaving on this journey."

"Agreed." They rolled up their map and put it away in Kaya's bag before getting up to go to the market in hopes of finding some useful equipment for travelling. They were able to get their hands on a couple of Reviver seeds, some Oran berries; a few heal seeds, and even some orbs.

"I think we should be alright for the journey."

"Which mountain is closer?"

"It looks like Mr. Bristle would be about…here," Kaya said, pointing to a spot on the other map.

"Alright, it shouldn't take us more than a few hours to get there."

"Right. We'd better get going." He nodded and they began walking down the road toward the mountain, taking care to stay as hidden as possible in case Sableye happened to be patrolling the area.

Any pokemon they happened to see along the way dove back into their hiding places and watched them fearfully. They continued on, trying to avoid capturing too much attention and they finally found the mountain. The boulders were suspended in the air and there were old signs that were broken and hung in space, the writing long destroyed and impossible to make out any more.

"Not exactly welcoming…" Kaya sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Let's get to it."

"Yes." They entered the mystery dungeon and began wandering the large rooms, avoiding the rocks that lay around the room. Various Lileep, Ghastly, and Graveler wandered the rooms and occasionally attacked them. Grovyle stayed in front of Kaya and protected her from the pokemon while she scouted out the staircase.

The mountain had only about 8 rooms before they found themselves at the peak. It was a large, crater-like area, surrounded by sharp pillars of rock that were partially crumbled with pebbles lying around the ground.

"There certainly doesn't appear to be much here." Kaya walked around and touched a few of the rocks, waiting to see if anything triggered a Dimensional Scream.

"Are you getting anything at all?" Grovyle asked and she shook her head.

"No, I'm afraid not."

"That's too bad."

"May as well cross Mt. Bristle off." Grovyle opened the map and made a small mark next to Mt. Bristle.

"Well, it looks like Treeshroud Forest is closer than Mr. Travail, so shall we try there next?"

"Sure."

"Whe-he-he-he." They both perked up at the familiar laugh.

"Sableye?!"

"Did they see us climb up here?" Kaya asked.

"I don't know, but we'd better get out of here before they can corner us. Come on, follow me." They ran through a path that cut back into the mystery dungeon and used the escape orb to flee.

"There they are!" They both jumped as a group of three Sableye ran toward them, claws bared.

"Run!" They took off down the road, not really caring which direction they were running and the Sableye chased after them, laughing wickedly.

"Don't let them escape!"

They leapt down from some small, rocky ledges and moved off the path toward a small forest near the mountains when three more Sableye leapt in front of them and circled the two.

"We're surrounded!"

"Urgh, it can't be helped. Looks like we'll have to fight back," Grovyle said, taking a step forward. The Sableye cackled and moved in towards them. Kaya threw a stun seed at the closest one and it became petrified as Grovyle used leaf blade on another, knocking it out.

The Sableye to Grovyle's left used night shade, the one to his right used fury swipes and dealt a good amount of damage. The Sableye to Kaya's right used growl, and the Sableye to her left tackled her.

She pulled out a small sling-shot she'd made and flung a series of sharp thorns at the Sableye, effectively knocking one out while Grovyle used leaf blade.

Before long, they managed to defeat the six Sableye and they took off running. Kaya sighed in relief and pulled out a couple of Oran berries.

"We really lucked out…" she said.

"Heh, guess it shouldn't surprise me that they're still hunting us down." They each eat the berries and regained some HP before opening the map. "Alright, we'd better get moving now. If we hurry, we might reach the forest before all of the ghost pokemon become more active."

"Mm-hmm." They began walking down the path and Kaya locked her handed behind her head. "Hey by the way, thank you for helping me out whenever we get attacked by wild pokemon. I know a human partner isn't the most ideal in these mystery dungeons…"

"You don't need to thank me. Despite not being a pokemon yourself, you hold your own just fine." She smiled sheepishly.

"I guess it pays off to collect iron thorns and geopebbles whenever I can."

"Besides, your Dimensional Scream ability is invaluable. If it weren't for you, I'd be wandering around aimlessly, trying to find information that is all but lost."

"I wonder if we can really do it…change the world."

"There's no sense wondering. All we can do now is keep trying until we succeed or until we are destroyed."

"I'd prefer the former."

"As would I." They continued walking along the road in relative silence, both pondering what it would be like to know that this future wouldn't have to exist. Time would flow normally, Dialga would not revert to his Primal state, and there would be light and color in the world again.

"I wish we could see a sunrise," Kaya finally said.

"What?"

"A sunrise. I've read about them. It's something I'd like to see if we go back and collect the time gears."

"I'm sure we'll get to see it. We'll get to see what the world was like before this mess began." She nodded.

"That'll make this all worthwhile, I think."

"Really?" She nodded again.

"If we can see what this world lacks, what it really means to live in a world of light, then I can cease to exist without any remorse. I'll be happy to know we spared so many pokemon and people from suffering this fate." Grovyle gave a small smile and nodded.

"It's too bad there aren't more who feel the same way."

"Yeah…but it isn't surprising. The idea of never existing is frightening. But all things come to an end anyway."

"Very true." They continued on toward the forest and finally passed through the large field in front of the forest and Kaya beamed.

"Yes! This is the same forest."

"Well that saves us a bit of trouble," Grovyle said, unrolling the map and marking Treeshroud Forest. "Two time gears down, three to go."

"Should we camp out for the next few hours?" Kaya asked.

"I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea." They scouted out a cavern and started up a fire to eat supper around.

"Do you suppose Celebi is ok?" Kaya asked.

"I would be surprised if she wasn't. She's quite elusive. I know for a fact Dusknoir has been hunting her for a while, but she always escapes them."

"That's really good to know. I'd hate to see her captured; she seems like such a nice Pokemon." Grovyle nodded and continued eating his dinner. The heard a soft noise from the pit of the cavern and Grovyle leapt up, leaf blade at the ready, when a couple of baby Skarmory peered out, making soft noises.

Grovyle lowered his arm and Kaya walked over to the baby pokemon cautiously.

"They look like they haven't eaten for a while. I wonder where their mother went."

"No telling…" Grovyle said. Kaya picked up her remaining dinner and offered it to the babies and they slowly began eating the berries. Grovyle watched the two pokemon eat up the food hungrily and sighed a bit before offering them what remained of his supper as well.

"What should we do about these two?"

"Nothing much we can do. They're too young to go with us, and their mother may return soon so we can't take them away from the cave."

"Yes, you're right. I still feel bad…"

"Try not to. Come on, we ought to get some sleep." They began making beds out of straw and Grovyle went to lay down and was shocked when he felt something snuggled up to him and looked to see one of the little Skarmory beginning to fall asleep.

Kaya merely gave him a small smile as the other curled up next to her and mouthed "good night" before closing her eyes. Grovyle sighed but rolled onto his side and, as their fire began to die out, he began to fall asleep.

Hooray, new chapter! Only three more time gears to go! Will they find them?

And, before I am asked, no, the baby Skarmory aren't gonna be a serious plot point. Just a cute little moment to include. I thought a baby Skarmory would be adorable to see cuddling up to Grovyle.

Reviews are nice, flames are not needed.