Chapter Thirteen: Timey-Wimey



Terra's POV



The next morning the whole story comes out. Earth, the Unown, the red-haired man, Saffron City, everything. I even tell them the thing about Pokemon being a video game franchise in my world, and I don't care how crazy it sounds. I just have to tell someone about it.



But when I'm halfway through the part about the Unown telling me I have to save the world, Wes starts laughing out loud.



"Excuse me?" I scold. "I'm serious here!"



Wes nods and grins. "Sure, I believe ya. Jus' ask 'Lima and Glad what they know 'bout folks comin' from other worlds."



Gladion makes a face at Wes. Ilima looks quietly amused. "It's true," the latter says. "You're not the only one to come here from another world."



I blink in amazement. "Wait, what?"



"What the Unown said about saving the world is true. If Team Rocket is allowed to go on as they are, they will trigger a chain reaction that destroys this planet's ecosystem and leaves Pokearth completely uninhabitable." (Notably, Ilima pronounced it po-kay-arth, not po-kay-erth as I would have assumed.) "The surviving humans and Pokemon will use the Ultra Wormholes to flee to another dimension, Ultra Space, and take up residence there."



"The Pokemon that came to Ultra Space will adapt to their environment," Gladion goes on, "and become Ultra Pokemon." He reaches into his pockets and pulls out two Poke Balls, releasing their contents. "These are Sasha, my Ultra Sneasel, and Twan, my Ultra Riolu."



The two Pokemon materialize, and I immediately notice they're not the Sneasel and Riolu I know. Ultra Sneasel is golden brown, with gleaming metal scythes for claws and a skirt-like covering over her hips, not unlike Weaville's. Ultra Riolu has scruffy, light tan fur, and looks something between a cocker spaniel and a coyote pup. I have to resist the urge to hug it.



"So, wait," I say, confused. "If this is going to happen, then how come you already...?"



"We're not just from Ultra Space," Gladion explains. "We're from the future. A future where this planet and everything on it are destroyed completely. We're trying not to let that happen this time."



"But we don't yet know completely how to stop it," Ilima admits. "Stopping Team Rocket has been our first priority, but even then, the chain reaction might still occur. And we don't have all that much time to work with."



Gary snorts. "You're time travelers, right? Then you oughta have plenty of time! Just go back if you mess up and try it again!"



"It's not that easy," Ilima explains. "Every time we go back or forward in time, it affects the fabric of spacetime. Too much manipulation of spacetime can cause a hole in the fabric of reality, something that an Ultra Beast or something even worse might come out of. And given the sheer scope of the time paradox we're about to create by saving the world, we can't risk overdoing things before we even get the chance to do so."



"And what does this have to do with saving my family?" Gary asks.



"I should think that would be obvious," Gladion says bluntly. "Saving the world means saving the part of it your sister and grandfather are standing on."



"We need to stop Team Rocket," Ilima says. "If we want to rescue your family, we're going to have to figure out where in Saffron City they're being kept, and how to break in, break out, and get everybody out of there."



Gary starts to pace. "Team Rocket agents showed up yesterday right outside my house. Not outside the lab, or Xanadu Nursery, or Pallet House restaurant -- outside my house. There's got to be something inside my house that they want."



"Or something they couldn't find anywhere else in Pallet Town," Shu offers.



"We need to double back to Pallet Town," Gary says. "Whatever this thing is, it's got to be important if they brought along a Rayquaza looking for it. If we encounter any Team Rocket grunts, we'll just have to beat the truth out of them."



"Are you suicidal?" I ask. "If Team Rocket's there, we won't stand a chance!"



"Oh really?" Gary asks. "Your Hoopa seemed confident enough to tie that Rayquaza into knots."



"Which is why we CAN'T go back against them this time," I explain. "Team Rocket knows that one Rayquaza wasn't enough to stop us. So if they head back to Pallet Town, they won't just bring one Rayquaza. They'll bring more. More firepower, more agents, and more legendary Pokemon. They'll wipe us off the map!"



Gary takes this all in. Not happily. But he takes it in. "That... is a fair point. We need to catch them somewhere where they won't be expecting us."



"Not this forest, certainly," Ilima says. "We've already worn out our welcome, and I don't think Mew is happy with us busting up the shrine, wrecking the ruins, and letting giant Totem Pokemon loose to rain down havoc."



Gladion gives Ilima the "No shit, Sherlock" look.



"Time travel!" Wes announces suddenly.



"Wait, what?" say... pretty much all of us.



"That explains th' strange carvin's in th' ruins," Wes goes on. "The clock an' th' bathtub an' th' schooldesk an' all... Whoever built them ruins must've had time travel!"



"Excuse me?" Gary asks. "Is this supposed to make sense?"



Wes takes a deep breath, then explains to all of us what he found in the ruins of Pokemopolis. The Dratini, the horned creature with rings, the carvings of modern life that were hundreds, possibly thousands, of years old. "An' guns, too," Wes points out. "Didn't see much o' how it ended, 'cause that Gengar interrupted me..."



"If the people of Pokemopolis knew about time travel," Ilima said, "they might well have known how to stabilize a paradox. We could use that knowledge."



"But not if gaining it causes a paradox itself!" Gladion puts in. "We know the temple gets its front kicked in by Gengar. We can't risk causing a dimensional anomaly at the ruins just to save our own skins!"



"Save your skins?" I ask, confused. "What do you mean, save your skins?"



Ilima sighs, and can't seem to look Gladion in the eye. "Have you heard of the grandfather paradox?"



"Yeah..." I say nervously. "If you go back in time and kill your grandfather, you erase yourself from existence, but if you never existed, you can't kill your grandfather... that's the paradox, right?"



Ilima nods. "Now, imagine if you came from a human civilization in Ultra Space, which never would have existed if the human civilization on Pokearth hadn't come to an end. And you're trying to keep that human civilization on Pokearth from coming to an end. It's pretty much the same principle when you think of it."



"Oh?" I think about this a moment... "Ohhhhhhhh. Explorers of Sky paradox... I'm so sorry."



"I don't know what that means," Gladion says, "but I think it's pretty clear that whoever lived up in those ruins way back when had experience with Ultra Wormholes. Not one, not two, but three totem-sized Pokemon... and at sizes far beyond those previously found in the Alola region."



"Currently found," Ilima corrects him. "Present tense."



"Oh, believe me, this present is tense." There's no humor in Gladion's voice at all. "Even if we somehow find the solution to saving our collective butts there, we could wind up opening a door to Ultra Space that even multiple Mew can't close. And we've already caused the Mew living here more than enough trouble."



"Yeah," Gary said, "I'd say we gotta leave this forest before Mew puts a dead Gloom in my underwear drawer. Boy, do those things stink!"



"What?" Gladion snaps.



So Gary tells the story of the dead Oddish in his sock drawer, and Ilima looks like he's going to be sick, and Wes makes a comment on what to do with a dead Oddish, which involves smoke inhalation. Which Gary isn't thrilled with at all, and things escalate from there.



"You know," Ilima says after the dust settles and Gary and Wes stop throwing verbal barbs at each other, "maybe time travel is the solution to all our current problems."



"What," Gary asks, "you mean throw Street Rat and Edgelord here back to the Rampardos Age?"



"Okay, not all of our problems." Ilima has the patience of a saint, and it's quite clear he needs it. "We need to find a way to get information on where in Saffron City the people of Pallet Town have been taken. We know a group of Rocket grunts were in these woods yesterday. If we travel back through time, we can intercept one of them as they're fleeing and interrogate them."



"Or we could, y'know," Gary says, "go back to where the whole damn thing started and keep it from happening?"



"First off, that would cause a grandfather paradox. If Team Rocket had never kidnapped your family, you likely wouldn't have been in the woods when you were, and we would have never met. Second, the six of us can't possibly stop enough Rockets to kidnap an entire town. Third, the Rocket grunts that stole your family were able to Teleport. The ones that hassled me, Wes, and Gladion couldn't. If they could, they would have done so instead of merely running off."



"Great." Gary clearly knows he's had his argument handed to him, and he doesn't like it. "So, who all remembers what time it was when Gladdy here was an edgy edgewolf?"



"My NAME is GLADIO--"



"He knows that," Ilima says quickly. "Don't let him get a rise out of you; that's just what he wants."



Gary smirks at Gladion, who makes a rude gesture.



"So," Ilima says, "if we want to explore the ruins, we should probably go back at least a week. When we're done, we can go forward to the spot of time when Gladion scared all those Rockets off. But it's generally best not to make a series of short time hops backward, to avoid the risk of a multi-layered paradox."



"What's a multi-layered paradox?" I ask.



"It's when a series of small time paradoxes layer in on each other, causing a serious snarl in the fabric of reality. Thankfully it's only theoretical at this point, but we don't want to be the ones to prove the theory, do we?"



"I should say not," I answer. "You sound familiar with all this."



Ilima rolls up his sleeve, revealing a bracelet resembling a Poke Ball watch face, with one half golden and the other half silver. "I helped my friend Clemont with ironing out these chronometers -- they're what lets us travel through time. Before we could use them, he insisted we study the theory."



"Clemont, huh? I've heard of him." I grin. "Let me guess... 'the future is now...'"



"'...thanks to science,'" Ilima finishes just as I do.



Gladion looks at me curiously. "You seem to know a lot about our world from what you've experienced in ours. Did you know anything about me?"



"We-e-e-e-ell," I say, "nothing I've heard about you said you lived in Ultra Space, or showed anything about Ultra Pokemon. So I can't say anything for sure on you. You still have a sister, right?"



"Lillie? Yes. She's been on one of the Seafoam Islands with Clemont and the others for a while. We came here to see Mew, but we left the, shall we say, less combat-oriented members behind. In case of Team Rocket."



"Or worse," Ilima adds.



"Yeah -- or worse."



"What's worse than Team Rocket?" I ask.



"Time snarls, Ultra Beasts, enraged Totems, reality breaking around us," Gladion answers. "That's what's worse."



---



After some consultation between the group, Ilima decided that we would travel back to one week before the kidnapping of Pallet Town. While Ilima strongly cautioned against attempting to prevent what had already happened, Gary was adamant that we do something to stop it, so in the end Gladion decided to stay back in the present with him.



Gary did not like this idea one bit, and neither did he like Gladion relinquishing his chronometer to Ilima so Gary couldn't try to fight him for it. Gladion did agree that if there was anything Team Rocket wanted inside Gary's house, someone should head back there and look for it, so I guess that's what those two are doing.



Shu decided, to no one's surprise, to go with us and have timey-wimey adventures rather than to stick around and have to deal with Gary and Gladion's grumbling.



We had to walk all the way back to the ruins to activate the chronometer. The least amount of time we spent in the past, Ilima said, the better. Less chance of us starting a crippling paradox through a butterfly effect. Ilima explains to us -- Wes, Shu, and myself -- that the chronometer works on whatever the user has direct contact with at the time of its activation. Which meant that the four of us have to hold onto each other while Ilima operates the chronometer.



I'm holding hands with Ilima, I think to myself gleefully. Well, he's asexual, but he's still cute.



So now the journey begins.



---



Light. Green-blue light, all around us. Like a scene from the Celebi movies, the four of us were engulfed by the time ripple, sending us back through time in an instant.



It felt weird, like my foot falling asleep, only over my entire body. I never really thought about it, but where is my body in that instant when I cross over from one time to another? Is it in the past, or in the present? How does it cross? What takes up the space in between?



Then we make our landing in the past, and I realize that my questions aren't just metaphysical anymore.



Because we aren't the only ones in the ruins.