“Carine, look! There’s five indentations in the tablet. I bet those are for the time gears,” A young cyndaquil by the name of Dust exclaimed to his Eevee partner, pointing towards the glowing tablet before them.
“You’re probably right,” Carine agreed. “I better get these in quick,” she began to make her way towards the stairs leading up the tablet, with her partner Dust in tow. Before they could even step foot on the stairs, a bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of the duo, sending them flying backwards. They landed several feet away with an audible thud, still sliding back from the momentum of their flight.
Dust was the first to recover, the flames on his back becoming more fierce and defined. He scanned the area, searching for who could have launched that bolt at him and his friend. Carine soon joined him in his search for their mysterious assailant.
The clouds soon began to darken, as if a threatening storm was just rolling in above them. Dust took a step back, worried for what awaited him and his partner. He took a moment to look towards his partner, making sure she was okay. She seemed to be just as worried, if not a bit shaken as well. Can’t say I blame her, really
“So it’s you!” a voice yelled out to them, seething in anger. “You seek the destruction of Temporal Tower!” The voice accused.
Dust’s eyes darted back and forth once again, searching for where the voice had come from.
“What do you mean destruction of Temporal Tower? We’re trying to prevent time from stopping!” Carine tried to reason with the voice.
“Time… stopping… ” the voice roared out, shaking the very foundaries of the tower itself.
A bright light flashed before the duo, effectively blinding them for a short time. They brought down their arms only to find a large deep blue being that resembled a dragon with slabs of what looked like metal covering its body, along with a blue gem embedded in its chest. Its eyes were glazed over a deep red. It stared down at the Cyndaquil and Eevee in front of it.
“You dare bring ruin to this tower!?”
“Dialga, please! We’re trying to prevent the tower from collasp-”
“Silence!” Dialga ordered, cutting off Carine plea. “For all those who threaten the tower.”
“I don’t think he’s gonna listen. There must be something corrupting him, and I can only imagine there’s one way to go about this,” Dust called to his partner.
“As much as I don’t want to fight him, I don’t think we have much of a choice,” Carine responded, uneasiness clear in her voice.
“I will show no mercy!” Dialga finished as boulders began levitate around him. Dust and Carine knew full well what would come next.
“Bail!” Carine called out to Dust. They jumped to opposite sides of each other as the boulders came crashing down where they once were. Dust sprinted towards the rampaging dragon, flames beginning to cover his form. He continued to dodge the onslaught of boulders careening towards him until he got close enough to Dialga. He sprinted up one of the boulders and leapt off it, ramming Dialga in the chest with a flame charge. Dialga stepped back but otherwise seemed fine. Dust stared, dumbfounded that he had effectively done nothing, or at least seemingly so.
“Dust! Move!” he heard Carine scream at him. Snapping back to attention he jumped back, just barely dodging Dialga’s large claws. The force of the impact alone causing Dust to lose his footing, tumbling to ground.
“So much for a graceful landing,” Dust said to no one in particular.
Dialga growled nearby, prompting Dust to get up and move, and fast. Using his quick attack to get a good distance between him and Dialga before he started the circle the corrupted dragon.
Before long Carine ran towards Dialga, using her double-team to throw him off. Dialga threw more boulders and random debris towards what he thought was Carine, only to hit a decoy each time. In the final stretch, Carine charged Dialga at full speed, recklessly crashing into the side of him. Dialga grunted and stumbled, nearly losing his balance from the impact of the attack. Carine landed several feet away from Dialga, struggling to keep on all fours due to the recoil of her attack.
“You alright?” Dust called out to her, hoping she wouldn’t be in too much pain, the dragon was partly steel after all.
“Never better,” she managed to reply back. Dust nodded, despite knowing she wouldn’t see it. He turned his attention back to Dialga; the dragon hardly looking like it took much damage from their attacks. How are we supposed to fight this thing?
“I don’t suppose you’re ready for a duo attack now would you, Carine?” Dust called out to his partner again. The dragon inching closer to them.
“Should be,” Carine answered after catching her breath. She breathed in, a large ball, the colour of the night sky, began to form. Dust took in a deep breath, holding it in for a second longer while his partners shadow ball was ready. Carine then exhaled, releasing the shadow ball, and following soon after, a trail of fire. The fire from the engulfed the shadow ball, enlarging the attack as it flew towards Dialga. Dialga noticed the incoming projectile, planting his feet into the ground and bracing for impact.
The attack hit home.
The flamethrower covered shadow ball connected with Dialga’s face, creating a large explosion on impact. Smoke covered the area where Dialga had once been, debris falling from nearby towers finally giving out. Dust and Carine looked on in awe, hoping they had finally defeated the steel dragon. They looked to each other, large smiles adorning their faces. Dust opened his mouth to speak but was abruptly cut off by a booming roar, accompanied by a bright blue light shining through the smoke, that seemed to shake the world itself.
“W-what is going on?” Carine managed to ask before seemingly being struck by something invisible, as if something was attacking her from the inside, and falling to the ground. She brought her arms to her temples and screamed. Dust tried to move to her but was stricken with seemingly the same fate as his partner. Dust fell, screaming from the pain as well, unsure of what to do, if he could possibly do anything at all. Dust managed to open a bloodshot eye, seeing something he never thought he would in his life.
Time was at a near stand still. For what seemed like hours, everything slowed down. Debris slowly made their descent to the ground, the clouds above barely moving in the sky. His partner was also moving in slow motion. Even Dust had troubles moving like he had been able to before.
Moments passed and everything soon went back to normal, as normal as things could be that is. Debris fell, clouds continued their trek across the sky and Dialga made his way towards them at a normal pace.
Dust attempted to get back on his feet but to no avail. He tried and tried but only kept collapsing. He growled in frustration, lifting his chin and eyeing his partner who lay motionless on the ground. Dust had resorted to dragging himself closer to her, but only managed a few inches before Dialga was towering above him.
Dust looked up at Dialga, staring into those near emotionless eyes. A glint. Dust had seen it in the dragons eye, a glint that inside, the real Dialga was so sorry for what he was about to do. The dragon lifted his right leg into the air, the claws beginning to glow a brilliant white.
So… this is it. Dust thought to himself, a single tear running down his face. This is how it all ends. I’ve failed. Dust managed a glance at his partner, no, not just a partner. A true, great friend.
“I’m sorry,” was the last thing he said before everything faded to black.
***
Dust awoke with a start.
He sat up, bringing a deep purple claw to his head. What… what happened? He thought to himself. He then realized his body, a deep purple coat with arms that ended in three claws as well as legs that ended similarly as well as what looked like a gem embedded in his chest. He brought his claw down to feel his facial features. A mouth that wasn’t always there apparently with two spikes that poked out the back of his head, as if he had an ear that split in two and then facing the wrong way on both sides of his head. He then noticed that his eyes were seemingly never able to close, as if he had no eyelids and large hexagonal shaped eyes.
Everything seemed… wrong. He felt as though he didn’t belong in this body despite his current situation. It felt completely off and alien to him.
He waved it off for the moment and took in his surroundings. He was in a forest filled with seemingly dead yet alive trees that looked like they bore unsettling faces. Lifting his gaze upwards he noticed that the canopy of the forest was extremely dense, so much that he couldn’t tell if it was day or night. He brought his head back down and got to his feet. Upon getting up he noticed a slight glint of light to his right, an object of some sort, probably made of some type of metal.
Dust made his way towards the object of interest, getting a good look at it. He picked it up, examining it. It was a brilliant gold with no sign of wear or tear. It looked brand new.
“A badge if I’ve ever seen one,” he stated to himself. He had no idea what the badge symbolized however. Turning the badge over he noticed that there was some writing etched onto the back of it. A name.
“Hang on… that’s my name,” he trailed off, unsure of what to think or say at the find. A gold badge with his name etched on the back of it? There must be some explanation for this, but what? No matter how hard he tried to search his mind, nothing turned up. He couldn’t find anything relating to this badge.
“Your mission is not yet done, Dust,” a voice sounded out, seemingly echoing in the the area Dust was at.
“My mission? What do you mean? I don’t understand!” Dust cried out, looking around him in hopes of finding this mysterious entity.
“A being trapped within a stone. Achak. Find him. He will help you see through your destiny, but first, you must recover your memories before he can be of any help,” the being answered, its voice being carried through the air.
“Trapped in a stone? Lost memories? But how do I go about all of this?” Dust asked the strange being. He waited several moments in silence before he concluded that he wouldn’t get another response from the entity. He let out a sigh and looked back down to the badge clenched in his claw. The badge was slightly cold, no doubt by being out in the forest for who knows how long before he had claimed it.
He couldn’t remember prior events but he could remember species. Pokemon, to be more precise. what his kind was referred to as. He also managed to remember his own name, but aside from that, he couldn’t quite place a claw on anything else.
“H-hello?” A feminine called out behind Dust, knocking him out of his stupor. He turned around on spot to find a small creature that almost resembled a ponyta, however not at the same time. The creature had a yellow coat with a red mane and tail and a bow accompanying it’s hairstyle. Her big orange, with a tint of red, eyes staring at Dust. In that moment, he realized that something was very wrong with what was going on. He doubted he was in the world he was supposed to be in.
“Uh, hello there,” Dust managed to respond back. Creature seemed taken aback by the response, whether it was because he effectively had no mouth at the time being or if it was because she wasn’t expecting him to actually talk, he didn’t know.
“A-ah heard somepony talkin’ and came to c-check it out,” she stammered out. Dust simply nodded as a response. The creature took a step closer to Dust, curiosity starting to overcome her fear. Dust just sat there, unable to comprehend what was going on. Something happend and he ended up in a forest he didn’t know in a body that felt completely alien to him and quite possibly into an area that wasn’t where he should be.
“ah haven’t seen anythin’ like ya’ll before…” she trailed off, bringing Dust back to reality. He must have gotten lost in his thoughts once again. He noticed that the creature couldn’t be much taller than him in his current state.
“I can’t say I’ve seen anything like yourself either, young one,” Dust responded.
“Are ya’ll an alien!?” She suddenly exclaimed, catching Dust off guard.
“Well…” he trailed off, thinking of what he could say. This young creature could help him out immensely. He wouldn’t want to scare her off by accident. He decided to go with a more truthful explanation.
“I suppose I could be, but I’m honestly not sure how to put it,” He answered. The jaw of the creature before him was locked open. He wasn’t sure what she was about to do at that very moment.
“That’s so cool!” She exclaimed, walking in circles around Dust, getting a good look at him. She doesn’t seem to be so afraid now. Dust smiled at this, however, after doing so the creature backed off, seemingly shaken by something now.
“What? Is there something around here?” He questioned.
“Y-yer teeth… they’re all sharp and pointy,” she said, quite noticeably shaken by this fact.
“I’m sorry. I’m not quite… familiar with this body,” Dust responded, putting claws in the air as a sign that he would not attack. The creature seemed to calm down slightly by this.
“What’s your name?” Dust questioned the young creature in front of him, hoping she wasn’t too frightened to answer.
“Mah name’s Applebloom. What about yers?”
“You can call me Dust.”
“Dust, huh? That’s a bit of a strange name,” she said, giggling to herself. Dust only shrugged in response.
“I suppose it is. Do you know where we are and what kind of a creature are you?” Dust asked, hoping to get as much info as he could out of Applebloom. She tilted her head, confused about something.
“Well we’re in the Everfree forest in Equestria, and I’m a pony!” she exclaimed. This definitely confirmed some suspicions. He certainly wasn’t where he was supposed to. He brought a claw to his head, deep in thought, until Applebloom broke the silence.
“Hey, ah was just on mah way to Zecora’s hut! Would ya like to come with? Maybe she’ll be able to help ya’ll,” Applebloom offered. Whoever this “Zecora” character was, maybe she could have some answers as to what is going on. At the very least, she may be able to give directions.
“Lead the way, Applebloom,” Dust responded, extended a claw to his, signifying for her to go ahead.
They walked together in silence, well, except for Applebloom’s humming a song that Dust had no idea as to what it was. In that moment he noticed that the forest seems to be a very, very quiet place, and that was unsettling. He buried the thought as he saw lights coming into view in the distance.
“There’s Zecora’s hut, we’re almost there,” Applebloom called over her shoulder. Dust nodded, acknowledging her statement. Soon enough they were standing in front of the door of a hut seemingly made out of a tree with a small window near the door with light pouring out of it. Applebloom rapped on the door with her hoof multiple times until a creature similar in stature to her, but with a grey coat and black stripes with white stripes in her mane and tail. She had gold rings around her neck and her right hoof as well as a couple earings of gold.
“Hey, Zecora, guess what I found in the forest! His name is Dust!” she burst out, pointing a hoof at Dust. Remembering what happened last time, he tried not to smile. Instead he lifted a claw and waved it in a greeting manner.
“Hello there.”
“What an interesting creature young Applebloom, his appearance resembles one of gloom,” she responded skeptically, looking Dust up and down.
“Yes, well, I seem to have recently just woke up here in this forest with no memory of what has happened up to that point. Applebloom offered taking me here in hopes that maybe you may know more,”
“Do come inside, take a seat and bide,” Applebloom trotted in, a bit of a spring in her step, Dust following in after. The inside of the hut was covered in things ranging from masks to herbs and other plant life and vials filled with lord knows what.
Dust took a seat on a chair in the corner of the room next to a bookcase, just taking in the environment. He looked over to see Applebloom standing over a cauldron of some sort while Zecora was rummaging around some old books. Unsure of what to do he decided to just sit in silence until Zecora found something of interest that may or may not help him. That is, until he spied a mirror in the other corner of the room near Zecora. He had to know for sure.
Dust shot out of the chair he was seated in and made his way towards the mirror. Once to it, he stared intently into the mirror, finally realizing what he was.
“I’m a… Sableye,” Dust whispered, placing a claw on the mirror, it replicating his exact motion. He looked over to Zecora who looked confused as ever, staring at her strange house guest. Dust took this as a time to explain some things.
“I’m a Sableye,” he said louder this time. “That’s what the species is called, at least. The darkness pokemon they’re common referred to as. They mostly live in caves and scavenge off gems and such alike. But this changes so much more than I could have imagined. I knew something felt alien and wrong,” he explained, his claw dropping from the mirror.
“Whatever do you mean? What could you have unforeseen?” She responded. Dust looked down at Applebloom, who had joined the conversation not long after he started his explanation of what he was. He then turned to Zecora, letting out a sigh.
“It means that I’m dead.”