Luna and Nacht proceeded to move onwards into the forest for a few more hours, the trees growing larger and more closely grouped together as they went on, so much so that they blocked out the moonlight and eventually, the light from the quickly rising sun, save for a few beams that managed to break their way through the thick canopy. Neither spoke a word, until they came across a small river, which created a small break in the tree line, allowing the sunlight to catch the water, causing it to gleam.

Luna set down the Vulpix, who sighed tiredly as she touched the warm ground. He turned to Nacht, who for the first time acknowledged the presence of the small fox Pokemon with a raised eyebrow. "Watch her for a moment, will you?"

The Absol gave a small nod, and proceeded to walk into a large patch of sunlight, before stretching out and laying on his stomach, but choosing to keep his head up and remain alert. Satisfied, Luna trudged over to the bank of the river, dipping his head down to the cool water and quickly lapping up a small amount. It smelled crisp and clean, which unfortunately served the purpose of also alerting the Umbreon to the stench of blood that clung to him. He shuddered at the smell, gagging slightly. Arceus, did he reek, he wondered how he had managed to tune out the stench for so long, or better yet, how Nacht had put up with it.

He took a quick glance down at the water, which was clear enough that he could see his reflection gazing back up at him. With the sunlight shining down directly down at him, he was able to to instantly pick out the darkened and matted patches of his fur that were covered in blood. He sighed to himself. The water looked pretty damn cold. Oh well, there really wasn't any way he could get around it. He took a deep breath and dived in. Okay, correction. The water was fucking freezing.

Nacht had closed his eyes for moment when he heard a light splash over the sounds of the river. He opened them, squinting in the sunlight, only to be rewarded with the rather amusing sight of Luna's head breaking the surface, gasping raggedly and cursing. The Absol allowed himself a small chuckle before closing his eyes once again and continuing to bask in the warm morning sunlight.

Luna vigorously shook his head, trying to dislodge what he had labeled in his mind as the "freezing fucking demon water" from his ears. That settled it, no more close range combat. No, scratch that, no more dismembering his opponents and handling the loose body parts. Seriously, no amount of shock value was worth freezing his balls off. OH, and speaking of balls, Luna was now almost positive his testicles had permanently receded into his body. Seriously, the only words that came to mind were "epic shrinkage".

 Luna took a quick glance downward and was relieved to see the last of the blood was now mixed with the water and traveling downstream. He quickly hopped back onto the bank and began to manically shake himself dry, the water droplets catching the sunlight, creating small flashes of rainbow. He was about to turn and go bask in the sunlight next to Nacht so he could completely dry off, when he felt the most curious sensation. A quiet whispering in his the back of his mind that urged him to travel downriver.Â

But why would he want to do that? It wasn't like there was anything interesting that way, right? He knew his way around this forest, and he was positive there wasn't anything worth mention that way. I mean sure, he hadn't traveled quite this deeply into the forest before, but he was sure after staying in the area for six months he would have heard about anything out of the ordinary, right? He tired to shake his head clear, but that didn't seem to work. Eventually, curiosity, or whatever you wanted to call it, won out, and sighing to himself, he grudgingly began following the river.

Nacht's brow furrowed, it had been oddly quiet for a while now. It shouldn't have taken Luna that long to wash off, but the Umbreon could take care of himself, and keeping a constant watch would have only served to annoy him, so the Absol had allowed himself to doze off slightly. He raised his head and opened his eyes, and could hardly hide his shock when his eyes beheld one river, absent one Umbreon that at the very least, should have been in his field of vision. After getting up and glancing around for a moment, he was quite sure the Eon wasn't in the immediate area.

Nacht stretched quickly and lightly trotted over to where Luna had been, and quickly spotted a set of footprints traveling downstream. He was just about to begin following them when the he heard a indignant voice call out to him from behind.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Luna had been traveling the length for the better part of an hour when suddenly he came upon a cross road. The river veered off to the left, while the right path opened up into a rather large clearing. Not sure what to do, the Umbreon sat down for a moment. He closed his eyes, letting the sun warm his fur. Suddenly, or after a little while, he wasn't quite sure, he heard the vague whispering at the back of his mind again. He couldn't quite make it out, but it seemed to be urging him to the right. He stood, shrugged, and walked into the clearing. He glanced around. From the looks of it, it was an ordinary meadow. Fluffy white clouds drifted along the sky casually, occasionally blocking out the sun for a moment. A light breeze brushed past him, weaving it's way through the leaves of the various bushes and trees that encircled the meadow, knocking morning dew off some of them.

Quite perplexed at what he was supposed to do next, he merely contented himself to walk forward towards a cluster of trees at the southern end of the meadow, where there appeared to be a small stone path under a shaded depression at the edge of the clearing. As he neared it, a sudden wave of nausea stumbled him. The unexpected dizziness caught him off guard, and as he stumbled again, he felt vomit brush against the back of his throat. A buzzing drone filled his head,eventually rising to a din, causing him to clench his eyes in pain for a moment. The sound of shattering glass assaulted his ears, and darkness overtook him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Nacht raised an eyebrow as the Vulpix rose shakily to her feet, teeth bared, an odd mix of fear and anger adorning her face. Her voice quivered,"Who the the hell are you? Where am I? What do you want with me?" She took an unsure step backwards, and suddenly let out a yelp of pain, dropping to the ground and curling into a ball.

Nacht shook his head and sighed. He was not a babysitter, and even more irritating was the fact that he had absolutely no idea who this Vulpix was or, even more importantly, why Luna had been carrying her around in the first place. He began to take walk towards her when she began whimpering quite piteously. "No, stay away from me!"

The Absol rolled his eyes and continued forward. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you, but if you keep moving around like that your only going to aggravate your injuries even more."

The fire type obeyed his command, lying still, but still whimpering lowly. She glared at him through one open eye. Nacht huffed in annoyance."Relax, I already told you, I'm not going to hurt you. Besides, it looks like someone already beat me to the punch, huh?

She said nothing. The absol stared at her for a moment, noting how she wrapped her paws gingerly around her chest. Broken ribs, then? Nothing all that hard to fix, given enough time, or even when the right items were about, which raised the question of why Luna hadn't dressed the wounds. Surely he had noticed them too? Nacht would make sure to ask him when he found him.

He quickly glanced around, searching for a certain kind of tree. He wasn't sure if they grew around here, but it never hurt to try. He scanned the treetops, some of which bore fruit, though not what he was looking for. A soft rustling brought his attention upward, as a sky-bound Pidgey took flight, it's movement causing a hard, yellow berry to land in front of him. He looked back up. "Well, that was easy."

 Nacht bent his knees slightly before leaping nimbly up into the air, using his claws to slash off one of the tree's branches. After he had landed, he slowly trotted over to where it had fallen to examine it. The branch still had most of its leaves, and there was still a good amount of berries on it. "Perfect." He bent over and picked up the branch with his mouth. Despite the berries appearance, the branch smelled strongly of mint. He began walking over to the Vulpix, who despite her condition, bristled at him. "What are you doing? What is that?"

Nacht set the branch down. "Will you please calm down? These are sitrus berries, they'll help your injuries heal faster, and the leaves are pretty good for dressing wounds. Besides, you're looking a bit peckish, and a little food in your stomach will help relax your body and allow it to heal faster." He tore of a leaf. "May I?"

 She glared uncertainty at him for a moment, before closing her eyes and nodding. He set a berry on the leaf, before stepping on it, the berry's juices saturating it. He then bent over and picked up the leaf, bringing it over to her leg, where the largest cut was. He hesitated slightly, before setting the leaf down and pressing it to her leg, causing her to hiss in pain. After a couple of seconds, he removed his paw. He lowered his head to the leaf and lightly blew on it. When it failed to budge, he nodded, satisfied. It wasn't a permanent solution, but the juice would hold it in place for now. With that, he turned back to the branch, tore off another leaf, and crushed a berry on it. This time setting it to her back.

After he had finished, she glanced up at him."So...you're not with them?"

The Absol shook his head. "By them, I'm guessing you mean the Machamp and the Medicham?"

She nodded again. "Where are they?"

"Dead."

Her eyes widened in shock, and she began to shake mildly. "D-dead? Then y-you-?"

Nacht smiled softly."No, at least I didn't anyway. No, that was my friend. And from the looks of it, he must have been justified in the act, right?"

The Vulpix's look turned sour for a moment."They...well I needed help, getting something. It was really important, you know? And they said...well they told me that they had been sent there to find something themselves, but they...they said they would be willing to help me...for a price."

Nacht's eyes hardened. Oh yes, he could guess what those bastards had wanted from her. And she was so young. Slightly too old to be called a child and yet they had demanded such things of her. He lightly ground his teeth in irritation, maybe Luna was right after all. "And I'm guessing you refused?"

The Vulpix nodded. "But..they-they-"

Nacht finished the sentence for her. "-Wouldn't take no for an answer."

She nodded. "Yeah. Well as you could guess, they didn't like that, and when I fought back, they knocked me out." She looked distressed "Did they? I mean...well did they...you know?"

The Absol shook his head. "I don't think so, if they had, I'm sure you would know, and knowing the Pokemon who saved you like I think I do, he wouldn't have allowed it."

Her posture relaxed. She began glancing around, a perplexed expression on her face "So, where is he?"

Nacht chuckled softly."That...is a very good question. It seems he wandered off, but I think I have a good idea of what direction he went. Would you like to come with?" He asked, nudging a berry towards her. She took it and bit down, a little juice dribbling down her chin. After she swallowed, a surprised expression came over face. She stood up and stretched, her joints lightly cracking with a soft, muffled pop."Better?" She nodded.

Nacht turned back towards the river. "All right then, let's go."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Luna groggily opened his eyes. Damn, his head fucking hurt. Seriously, it felt like he'd been bitch slapped by a Hitmonchan. He attempted to shake his head clear, and to his surprise, the pain immediately dispersed, although he still felt dizzy. He glanced around, trying to get his bearings. Well, it looked like he was still in the meadow...at least he thought he was. There was something distinctly 'off', about where he was. He glanced up at the sky, and his eyes widened in shock.

The clouds stood frozen in front of the sun. It wasn't that they were moving slow, he would have be able to see it if they were. He looked around, staring in disbelief. Dew hung frozen at the end of leaves. No wind was blowing, not even a stray gust. And the color's of everything around him seemed almost...lackluster, as if some one had injected a shade of gray into the world. "What...the hell?"
What in the fuck was going on? He was damned if he knew, but there was something so primal, so instinctively wrong with this situation, that he couldn't help but fail to suppress a shudder. Movement ahead of him caught his eye, causing him to jump.

Three figures were making their way towards the depression in the trees he had been moving towards before this whole fucked up experience. For some reason that he couldn't understand, Luna couldn't make out any of their features. Instead, they appeared as black silhouettes, shrouded in shadow. He called out to them. "Hey!"

All three kept walking, ignoring him, or maybe they hadn't heard him. "HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!"
Again no response, Luna sprang forward , trotting quickly towards the trio, who had by now disappeared into the shade of the depression. As he darted in between the trees, he realized that depression was much deeper than it appeared from the outside, forming a cavern about fifty feet across and a hundred feet deep. Ahead of him, the trio had halted, and stood before an odd glow. Luna attempted to get closer, but felt his legs lock into place. He couldn't move. He began to panic, an unnatural curiosity spurning him to try to get at close as possible, despite the reality of his current immobility. In his desperation, he strained his ears, seeing if he could pick up any strands of conversation.

"-Didn't Uxie and his friends make a promise...? That they would return the Time Gears to their rightful places?"

Luna shook his head in disbelief. No way...no fucking way.

"Yet time remains frozen here."

It couldn't be, it wasn't fucking possible, there was just no way.

 One of the smaller figures was hopping up and down animatedly now. His voice hopeful. "That could mean...the time gears may not have been returned to their rightful places yet."

The largest figure shifted slightly. "We'll see about that. The forest's Time Gear was supposed to be over here."

With this the trio walked forward, and Luna's vision began to turn hazy, the dizziness returning. He stumbled forward, and his vision turned black.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Nacht and the Vulpix had wandered along the river bank for almost an hour, and had reached the fork. He turned to her, his eyebrows furrowed. "What do you think?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, I thought we we're following the footprints?"

Nacht nodded. That was the truth. They had simply followed what he suspected were Luna's tracks that he had left in the muddy bank. It had been working out just fine up until now. "Well we were, but the tracks end here, I could try to sniff him out, but it's probably too indistinct now for me to get a good bead on it."

The Vulpix sat down, for a moment, contemplating. "We should go right, then."

"What makes you say that?"

She shrugged, a sheepish smile on her face. "Well...I always go with my my right."

Nacht stared in disbelief at her for a moment, before shaking his head, chuckling. "What the hell, why not?"

Both Pokemon walked into the clearing, Nacht glancing around, when he spotted a limp form at the opposite end. "LUNA!"

They ran forward, Nacht sliding to a stop when he reached his friend. He placed a paw on the Umbreon's chest, lightly shaking him. "Luna? Wake up! Luna, what's wrong?"

ÂThe dark type's eyes shot suddenly open. "Nacht?" He shakily got to his feet, an incredulous look on his face. "Nacht, I saw it."

The Absol looked at his companion worriedly. Did Luna hit his head or something of that sort? He didn't exactly look strong on his feet."What? Are you all right?" What do you mean, you 'saw it'?"

Luna shrugged irritably, worrying Nacht even further. When he saw the look on his friend's face, the Umbreon shook his head and frowned. "I saw when the time gear was removed from here."

Nacht let out a nervous chuckle. "I think the sun's gotten to you. There's no way you could have seen that, it happened fifty years' ago!"

"Exactly."

Nacht stared in confusion at Luna for a moment, before his eyes widened. He started shaking his head. "No...Luna, that's not possible."

The Umbreon's frown deepened. "I don't like this anymore than you do."

"Luna-"

The Umbreon let out an irritated growl. "Dammit Nacht, stop trying to deny it, I can use the dimensional scream."
Chapter End Notes:I was thinking about making this chapter twice as long, but that's not really my thing. I seem to have this problem where my mind tends to wander after I sit in front of the computer typing after extended periods of time, and I think that starts to show at the end to this chapter. Bah, it came out well enough I think. Reviews are appreciated. Peace Out