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Sacrifice

'What!?' the Dusclops gasped, the Grovyle beside him widening his eyes in shock. 'S-say that again!?'

The room they stood in was dark and small, even more so considering that most of the available space was taken up by a large desk in the middle of the floor. The two Pokémon stood side by side at one end of this table, looking across it at another figure in the room. This figure was sitting in a straight-back wooden chair, face shrouded in shadow so that it was hard to make out any defining features, and was hunched over the table, looking defeated.

"We've only just recently found out about this," the tall, shadowed figure said in an authoritative, masculine voice, acting as though he didn't hear the ghost-type's outburst. "After much deduction and theorizing, it's come to the point where we've finally figured out the most probable reason why no one before us has tried to do something about the planet's paralysis."

Pushing the chair back, the figure stood and rose to full height, clasping his hands behind his back. "They became scared, and immediately stopped looking into the prospect of trying to reverse the planet's paralysis...when they found out that doing so would make this world - and everyone on it - disappear."

The Dusclops and Grovyle looked to each other, both registering the same amount of shock on their faces, before looking back to the tall, shadowed figure. 'S-so you're saying...' the Dusclops muttered as he did a series of elaborate hand gestures. 'If we continue investigating the planet's paralysis, we'll be paving the road to our own demise!?'

The tall, shadowed figure did not answer immediately, but waited until the Dusclops finished waving his hands around. "...You two are not the first who've been told this," he said, sounding more authoritative than earlier, "nor were you the last. Everyone will be revealed to this information, then left with some time to think it over. And then, once that is completed..."

He turned his back on the two Pokémon and said, his voice straining a little, "It will be put to a vote: Should we continue living in darkness, or should we sacrifice ourselves to prevent that darkness?"

------

It had been a long-shot, but Dusknoir could immediately tell that the vision his touch activated had been at least one of the ones he wanted her to see. "I knew it." Turning his gaze to Kain, Dusknoir laughed loudly, slightly maniacally. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I knew you didn't have the guts to tell her the truth! And you're so far along in your mission, too! For shame, Grovyle! For shame! Ha-ha-hoo-ha-ha!!"

If her brief vision hadn't spooked her out enough, the ghost-type's laughter unnerved her even more. "Wh-what is he talking about?" she demanded her partner, voice shaky. "Kain??"

Kain did not answer. Refusing to look her in the eye, he turned his head away, and kept a stiff upper lip.

Dusknoir appeared to relish in the Grovyle's refusal to talk. "Hah! Still not brave enough to do it I see! Alright then, let me spell it out for you, you naive child." He turned his stare on the Eevee, smirking slightly to see her confusion and fear. "If history is changed, what will happen to us - to all living beings from the future - will be far worse than death. You, me and Grovyle, we will all disappear; vanish into nothingness without leaving as much as a footprint behind! Our lives, our entire existences, will be stripped completely from reality! It will be like we never existed in the first place! Absolutely no one will remember us, because it will be like we'd never been born at all!"

Every statement the Dusknoir spouted was said with more maniacal glee than the last. "Are you sure you want to do this, little Ivy? ARE YOU REALLY SURE YOU WANT TO SACRIFICE YOURSELF FOR THIS!?! HA-HA-HOO-HOO-HA-HA-HA-!!"

With a quick, precise jab of his elbow to the ghost-type's neck, Dusknoir's crazed laugh abruptly stopped. Ivy watched as his head dropped back to the ground, his body becoming still and his limbs limp. Truly freaked-out by his show of dementia, Ivy looked back to Kain. "I-it's not true, r-right?" Her voice shook, though there was a tiny glint of hope in it. "H-he's lying again; t-trying to throw us off our game, right?? A-and my vision; i-it must've gotten messed up somehow! Th-there's no way it can be true! Please, tell me that it's all a lie?!"

Kain breathed deeply through his nose, still turned away. Almost reluctantly, he looked at Ivy out of the corner of his eye and met her fearful gaze. His eyes closed almost immediately after that, his face pulled down into a grimace.

"...He was telling the truth, Ivy," he solemnly said through clenched jaw. "If we stop the planet's paralysis...we will disappear."

The Eevee stopped shaking, feeling like her blood had run dry. Color drained from her face, eyes round and wide with terror. Changing history...will kill us?!

"Why didn't you tell me...?" Fear giving way to anger, the terrified Eevee stomped over to her forgotten partner. "Didn't you think I ought to know that I was taking on a suicide mission!? I have amnesia, remember?! How could you not tell me something this important before now!?"

Her voice cracked with hysteria. She was directly beside him now, breathing heavily in and out of her mouth. Kain took another peek at her out of the corner of his eye, still avoiding looking directly at her. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he looked away again.

"I thought you knew," he quietly admitted, his hands clenching into fists. "It may have been wishful thinking, but I thought, based on all the information you were given so far, you may have figured out that saving the world didn't come without a price..."

Her breathing calmed down a little, and her mind raced, trying to recall everything Kain told her about their mission, to see if his reasoning held up. She thought and thought, racking her mind until it hurt and, after a few moments, realization dawned on her.

How he once said all Primal Dialga thought of was self-preservation. How obsessed Dusknoir was on stopping them from completing their mission. How Celebi knew Kain had failed his mission the first time he traveled to the past, just because she saw him again. The way Kain and Celebi spoke and looked at each other, almost like they knew it'd be the last time it would happen.

It finally dawned on the Eevee that, leading up to this point, the fact that changing history would make a significant impact on the future of darkness was incredibly obvious.

Ivy slowly sat on her haunches, running a paw through the short, thick hairs atop her head. "It is true, isn't it?" she muttered, her breathing shallow and weak. "Stopping time's destruction...will snuff out our existences, won't it?"

His fists clenching so much it started to hurt, Kain stiffly nodded. "Forgive me, Ivy. I should've told you all this earlier, should've asked you if you realized how much the consequences of our mission would affect us, before..." He looked scathingly at Dusknoir, who still lay unconscious on the ground. Of course he had to tell her this in the most brutal, straight-to-the-point way possible; it wouldn't be Dusknoir if he'd done it any other way. And yet, though he knew that Ivy needed to know the full and honest truth before it was too late, he wished with all his heart that this hadn't been the way the truth was revealed to her.

Looking away from the fallen ghost-type, Kain straightened his spine and wore a brave face. "But, tell me, is it really all that important?"

Her eyes, previously downcast, swiveled up to him. "Huh?"

"Does it really matter that turning the world away from a future of darkness will mean the end of us?" He turned around, finally looking Ivy in the eye. "If it means that time will continue flowing, and that the Pokémon of this world will be able to live in peace, there's nothing I wouldn't give to make sure that happens, not even my own life."

Ivy's paw slowly dropped to the ground. She blinked once, eyes stinging a little from being so widely opened for so long a time. "Kain..."

"I know that this must be coming as quite the shock, considering that you lost your memory and all that," Kain gently consoled, "but the truth is that you and I traveled through time to save this world from destruction, already fully aware of what would happen to us if we succeeded. Even Celebi knew she would disappear if we changed the past, and she still helped us, in every way she could, to prevent the planet's paralysis."

A memory stirred, faintly and briefly, of when she first met Celebi (as a Pokémon, anyway). She had spoken of being tired of living in a world of ruin, and asked Kain to spare them from the agony living in the paralyzed planet created. So that's what she meant, when she said she'd devote her entire life...

"Ivy..." Kain took a small step towards the Eevee, resting a hand on her shoulder. "In the future, we've all lost the desire to live. But, it was the hope that the future's world of darkness could be changed that gave us the strength and resolve to risk our lives to reach that end. We both came here, knowing that we would disappear, because you and I believed in a brighter future." He sighed, and lightly shook his head. "I...I know you don't remember that resolve, but-"

"No. No, I get it." Her voice a little hoarse, she looked down. "Right from the start, you and I were willing to stake our lives on this chance. We didn't even have a choice in the matter either way, did we? If we didn't act, time would've still been destroyed, and we would still be living in a dark, dying world. We were the only ones that could've prevented the planet's paralysis, and we knew that, in order to prevent that...we had to disappear."

Kain slowly removed his hand from her shoulder. "Ivy..."

"I came to this world with such a resolve, and even though I've lost my memories...I know I still hold that resolve within me." Mouth a firm line, Ivy tilted her head up and looked Kain dead in the eye. "This world of the past, which is so full of light and life and hope...it is so beautiful, and I just can allow such beauty to be lost. Even if it means that the friends I've made in this world of the past, all the lives I've become a part of, won't remember me...I'll do it. I'll do everything I can to stop the planet's paralysis, even if it means I won't be around to see the new world my sacrifice created."

Kain gasped slightly, foot taking a small step backwards. His hand reached up to his mouth, which was stretched into a sad smile, and his eyes gleamed in what appeared to be a mix of pride and heartbreak. "Oh, Ivy..." he whispered through his fingers. "Don't you think you're forgetting something?"

The Eevee blinked, head tilting to one side. "Huh?"

He spent a second to compose himself before elaborating. "The truth is that when we traveled through time, knowing what would happen to us when we completed our mission, we did so also in the knowledge that we had nothing left to lose, and nothing to go back to. But, Ivy, when you and I got separated...something changed. You turned into an Eevee, and lost all your memories. And then, you met Aden, finding a friend and partner in him right from the moment you met."

The Eevee frowned. "How does that change anything? Yeah, he'll probably be not too happy if he finds out his best friend will disappear, but it won't last, right? He'll forget all about me, just like everyone else will, so it's not much of an issue, right?"

Kain sucked in his bottom lip, looking away and tightly shutting his eyes. "Ivy...he's been to the future you and I were born into. He's seen what the destruction of time caused with his own eyes... That's something I believe someone just can't forget, even if that world no longer existed."

Ivy felt her jaw drop slightly, her face going pale. "Y-you don't mean...?"

"You don't realize the true extent of this, Ivy, but Aden has more feelings for you than that of a best friend, and I know you do, too. If he were to find out that you would have to disappear, that he would never see you again...I don't think he'll just be 'not too happy'." Mouth a thin line, he stared at Ivy in muted somber. "He'll be crushed, beyond heartbroken, and left completely alone. Do you still think you have the conviction to erase yourself from existence, if it means that you and Aden will never see each other again?"

Ivy felt her body go numb. The thought never occurred to her until Kain had to spell it out for her. Now that it did, the true extent to which her transformation and memory loss changed everything hit her like a sack of bricks.

She turned to the left, casting her eyes towards the peak of the temple. Though she couldn't see him, she knew he was up there, and it truly devastated her to know how clueless he was to what was happening down below. She turned her head down, lower lip quivering. Her paws dug into the soft soil, and she closed her eyes, her insides feeling very, very cold. Aden...

------

The wind had picked up by the time Aden reached the top of the stairs, making it difficult to hear much else than the wind and his thoughts. Not letting it bother him too much, Aden set to work; clearing away the vines, revealing more of the symbol, searching for the indentation. A few minutes in, most of the vines were gone, most of the symbol could be seen, and Aden found a small hole in the very middle of it, one just big enough for his Relic Fragment to fit in.

"Well," he muttered to himself as he removed the twine from around the small rock. "Here goes nothing."

Carefully, he deposited the Relic Fragment into the small hollow spot in the floor. It fit perfectly, without any margin of error. Suddenly, the symbol lit up, and the floor gave a small lurch. After steadying himself, Aden watched in awe as the entire pattern lit up - much like the pattern in Brine Cave did - and pulsed with white-blue light.

"Hey, guys?" he called over his shoulder, keeping his eyes on the floor in the off-chance that the vessel would leave without him. "Guys, I think it's working! Get up here!"

No answer. The pulsation steadily grew brighter, and the symbol started letting off a 'vween-vween-vween' sound. Perhaps they couldn't hear him from up here? Groaning, taking one last look at the pulsating, 'vween'-ing symbol, Aden turned and made his way back towards the eastern stairs.

That's when he heard a scream, saw an explosion, and started running like a madman.

------

A distant 'vween-vween-vween' sound made Ivy and Kain look up, and they saw a white-blue light radiating from atop the temple. "That sound..." Ivy muttered.

"It must be the Rainbow Stoneship activating," Kain guessed, a small hint of triumph in his voice. "Aden's done it!"

Mostly, all Ivy could hear was the sound coming from atop the temple. However, the sound of something shifting nearby reached her ears. She turned and, to her horror, saw that Dusknoir had not only regained consciousness, but was hovering directly beside her, cold fury all over his face.

With more speed and strength she expected him to have, the ghost-type swung his arm around, striking Kain in the back and sending him straight into a distant boulder. She didn't have even a second to yelp in shock, much less get out of the way, before Dusknoir's other arm swung down at her, making his fist collide directly into her ribcage.

A grunting gasp left her mouth as soon as the punch made contact. Her body was so small, and his fist was so big, that she was knocked back several feet, tumbling along the ground until she came to a skidding halt several meters away. She gasped and sputtered, feeling disoriented as she tried to rise to her feet. She winced as she felt the area where Dusknoir had hit her swell and burn, but then it felt oddly cold. Extremely cold. Almost numb, even. Confused, she looked down.

What a shock it was for her to find that the entire left side of her body was now trapped in ice.

Her eyes went round. Instantly, she tried to free herself of the frigid ice encasing her legs, but to no avail. She jerked and pulled and even tried biting the ice off, but all her effort wasn't enough to free herself from the frozen snare; the ice even looked like it was starting to spread!

"You..." Her head jerked around, and she briefly saw Kain clutching his head and staring at her in horror, before her eyes rested on the one addressing her. Dusknoir, still hovering in front of the dimensional hole, was breathing heavily, looked to be in pain underneath all the crazed fury on his face, and was preparing a Dark Pulse. "You...will not change history!" He aimed the dark, pulsating energy straight at the frozen Eevee. "Now DIE!!"

The attack was launched. She was trapped. She did her best to defend herself, which amounted to nothing more than closing her eyes and throwing her free foreleg in front of her face. A blood-curdling scream erupted from her throat.

An explosion ensued on the small plaza near the base of the temple steps.

Whimpering, visible clouds of breaths left her mouth. Her left legs were completely numb from the knee down. Though she could no longer feel her toes, she did not feel any kind of pain indicating that Dusknoir's attack made any impact on her body. Shaking from the cold that was slowly encasing her body, she moved the leg covering her face down a quarter inch, and hesitantly opened her eyes.

They widened to full size in less than a fraction of a second when she saw what had happened when they were closed. "Kain!!"

The Grovyle lay on the ground just a few feet in front of her, on his side and completely unmoving. The smell of burnt flesh reached Ivy's nostrils, and she saw in horror that there was a large, fresh, bleeding wound on his left side.

"Hah...hah-hah..." Clutching his stomach, Dusknoir laughed weakly to see the grass-type lying on the ground. "So, you finally get to own up to that dead man's promise, eh, Kain? With such a wound, I wonder how long you'll last as to your precious Ivy's shield before you finally break! Ha! Ha-ha! Ha-hoo-ha...!"

It was clear that his last attack sapped Dusknoir of most of the strength he had left. His laughs got weaker, and the altitude at which he hovered over the ground steadily decreased with every word he spoke. Ivy took note of this, and of the increasing frigidness stealing her body heat, but most of her attention was still on Kain, who was starting to stir. "Kain...!"

Pain, labored breaths hissed through his clenched teeth as he struggled to his feet. He clutched his wound, blood seeping out between his fingers, and managed to get up onto one foot. He paused here, supposedly catching his breath. Suddenly, a snarling outcry leaving his mouth, Kain bounded forward, throwing his arms wide, and caught Dusknoir in a restraining hold.

"Wh-what is the meaning of this!?" Dusknoir bellowed, outraged by the vice grip Kain had around his arms and torso. "Answer me, Grovyle!!"

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Ivy shrieked, voice rising an octave. "Kain!?"

"Dus...Dusknoir!" Kain grunted strainedly, firming his grip on the ghost-type's arms and torso. "You and I...We're going back to the future!"

"What?!" Dusknoir thundered.

"Kain, no!" Ivy gasped.

"What happened?!" Hastily clambering down the last of the steps, Aden finally reached the plaza, looking bewildered and out of breath. "I heard a scream, and then-Kain what are you doing?!"

"Never mind me!" the Grovyle argued, struggling to keep Dusknoir - who was now squirming - restrained. "Help Ivy!"

The Pikachu snapped his head around, the urgency in Kain's voice making him nervous. He soon spotted his partner, and instantly saw that half of her body was trapped in ice, which was slowly making its way up her neck. He instantly rushed over to her, making his tail become metallic silver as he ran. Once he was by her side, he swung his tail around and, slamming it into the ice with such force that it shattered, freed her from the frigid trap. "Are you alright?!" he immediately asked once she was free.

Though the ice no longer covered her body, being free did nothing to help her with the aftermath of Dusknoir's Ice Punch. She still felt very cold, and she had lost all feeling in her left-side legs, to boot. Her limbs numb, and her posture wobbly, it became a chore to stand, let alone walk. And yet, she took a few, staggering steps forward, toward where Kain was holding Dusknoir down. "Y-you, y-you c-can't leave us, Kain!" she yelled through chattering teeth. "Th-there has t-to be another way!"

"Leave?" Aden repeated in confusion. Then, studying the situation more carefully, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Y-you're seriously not thinking about leaving us, Kain!?"

"I have to, Aden!" Kain yelled over his shoulder. "And there is no other way, Ivy! If I don't deal with Dusknoir now, he'll just try to stop us again! I know this means that I'll never be able to come back to this world...so it's up to you now!"

Straining himself, gasping sharply at the pain in his side, Kain lifted his left foot up and grasped the small drawstring bag hanging from his shoulder. The strap had been damaged when he had shielded Ivy from Dusknoir's attack, which made it easier for him to jerk his foot back, tear the damaged area apart, and fling the bag away from his body. It landed less than a foot from where Ivy and Aden stood, its contents spilling out in front of them. "Th-the Time Gears!"

"I'm counting on you two!" Kain continued, wincing as Dusknoir's thrashes caused strain on his bleeding wound. "Get onto the Rainbow Stoneship, and take the Time Gears to the top of Temporal Tower! You'll know what to do with them once you get there, I know you will!"

"Unhand me!" Dusknoir roared, his thrashes becoming more violent. "Release me!!"

"Quiet, you!" Kain barked, inching both closer to the dimensional hole. "I just need a little more time, and then we'll be off!"

"No, no you can't!" It looked as though she was walking again to collect the Time Gears, but with this outburst, Ivy continued staggering forward, stepping over where the Time Gears fell when she came to them. "Y-you just can't!"

"Ivy, wait!" Though he was just as confused and upset about this turn of events, he still remained level-headed, more level-headed than Ivy, at least. He saw that Kain was hurt and losing strength, and he figured it was just a matter of time and bad luck before Dusknoir would be able to break free, at least partially, anyway. If Ivy were anywhere near him if that happened, since he was so close to the dimensional hole, he could very well drag her in with minimal effort. Before she got too far away, he ran up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, holding her back. "I-I don't like this anymore than you do, but we-"

"Let me go!" Ivy snapped, weakly trying to break free of her partner's hold. "Aden, let me go!!"

Kain saw the pair's struggle out of the corner of his eye, and it filled him with mixed emotions to see them like this. "Aden!" he called to the Pikachu, causing both his and Ivy's heads to turn back to him. "Be sure...to watch Ivy's back for me! Promise me that you'll both look out for each other!"

Aden stared wide-eyed at Kain, feeling shivers run down his spine. The way he talked really did make it sound like he wasn't planning on seeing him again. "I-I will," he vowed, trying to keep a level voice. "B-but...there's no way I'll be able to take your place, Kain! I just can't!"

Kain looked back to where Team Sky stood. He saw the way Aden was holding her back, saw how firm yet gentle his grip on her shoulders was, and knew in his heart that Ivy was in good hands. "You can, you must, and you will, because you already have. You've done such a great job already; all I'm asking is that you just continue that for just a while longer!" His smile widened a little bit. "You'll do great, Aden. You both will. For you two are...the greatest of combinations."

The compliment hit Aden close to home, probably more than it should have, given the situation. He soon found that his eyes were stinging. Kain...

"NO!" Taking advantage of Aden's distraction, Ivy broke free and took a big leap forward. Aden recovered quickly, and grabbed hold of her again before she could take another leap. "Y-you don't stand a chance against Dusknoir on your own! He'll kill you!" she pleaded with Kain, voice wavering. "Don't...don't do this! Don't go...Ani, please-"

"Don't ever call me that again!"

The Eevee froze, feeling like she had received another Ice Punch to the ribs. Aden became very still, too, eyes round with shock. Even Dusknoir looked mildly surprised that Kain had snapped in such a manner. All eyes looked to the Grovyle, who was keeping his as tightly shut as his mouth.

"Ivy..." When he finally did speak again, his voice was much softer, kinder, and there was sorrow in his eyes, and in the smile that curved his mouth. "I was so lucky to have known you, and I am so, so happy that I got to see you again. Though the parting hurts...the rest is in your hands!"

Inhaling a deep breath that made his chest puff out, Kain turned his attention back to the task at hand. "Sorry for the holdup, Dusknoir!" he mockingly apologized. "See you on the other side!"

With a simple push of his legs, Kain sprang forward, making him and Dusknoir dive head-first into the dimensional hole. Even then, Dusknoir did all in his power to free himself, but was only able to free his right arm, which clawed and grasped the empty air in a futile attempt to keep himself from being sucked in, all while screaming, "NOOOOOO!!"

There was a split second between when Dusknoir's enraged howls cut off, and the ghost-type's body completely disappeared into the gateway between times that Kain remained fully visible. It was also during that time when his voice muttered a set of softly spoken words, which were just barely audible over the whooshing of the portal and the 'vween'-ing of the stoneship:

"Protect the sunrise." He closed his eyes, causing a single tear to slide down his cheek. "Bring back the sky."

And Kain, too, was whisked away to the future.

"Kain..." Head shaking side to side, Ivy released herself from Aden's hold and raced toward the dimensional hole in reckless abandon, denial, and heartbreak. "KAAAIIIIN!!!"

It was useless. Completely useless. She knew this. And yet, she didn't stop until the dimensional hole blinked out of existence, right before she was able to reach it.

Numbness crept over her, covering every inch of her body, inside and out. She sank to her knees, feeling small, weak, and like something vitally important had been ripped out of her chest. Kain...

------

Aden stared at Ivy in speechlessness, a horrible sense of déjà vu overwhelming him. If everything Kain had told him the day they watched the sunrise was true, then his parting held much more sacrifice than he was letting on.

And Ivy - poor, amnestic Ivy - had no idea just how much it grieved Kain to leave her. And never would.

His feet unwarily carried him towards her, stopping just inches away. Swallowing back the lump in his throat, his saliva feeling like sand, he extended an unsteady hand toward her, reaching for her shoulder. "Ivy..."

"Why?" Her voice came out so tiny he almost didn't hear it. "What is wrong with me?"

He stopped reaching for her, the tips of his fingers only an inch away from her shoulder. "Wrong...?"

"I remembered him, at least a little bit of him. He shielded me, got hurt trying to protect me. He was...my best friend, and now, he's gone...!" She stamped one foot, which she curled up into a fist, on the ground, crying out in anger and remorse. "Shouldn't I be crying right now!? Mourning the fact that he's gone for good!? There's this horrible, aching pain in my chest...Why am I not crying over the fact that I'll never see him again?!?"

Tearless whimpers passed through her mouth. She hid her face in her paws and curled up into a little ball, muttering, "Why...?" over and over again.

Aden retracted his arm, letting it fall to his side. His paws balled into fists, nails digging into his palms. Seeing her like this broke his heart, so he looked away and shut his eyes, feeling them go wet around the edges. His teeth bit into his lower lip, mind uttering a million curses for not being able to think up what he should say to ease her troubled heart.

"Sometimes..." he finally said, with much difficulty. He swallowed, his throat feeling rougher than bedrock, before continuing. "Sometimes, when really bad things happen...you feel so sad that you just can't cry, no matter how much you want to..."

Still curled up into a ball, Ivy's dry sobs lessened to noisy sniffles. "It still hurts, Aden..."

He blinked a few times, feeling tears starting to trickle down the sides of his face. Far above them, the 'vween-vween-vween' of the Rainbow Stoneship grew louder, more harmonic. It would only be a matter of time before the vessel charged up to full and made off for Temporal Tower. He quickly wiped away his tears (seeing him like this would just make her feel worse), and set his face into one of firm determination.

"I know, Ivy." He breathed deeply through his nose, trying to make it not sound like a sniffle, and spoke in a brave voice. "But, we can't just sit around here feeling sorry for ourselves, or for Kain. He didn't...he wouldn't want us to give up, just because he's not with us anymore. He believes in us; we can't just let him down now."

Uncovering her eyes, Ivy looked to her partner in slight surprise. "Aden..."

He didn't even look her way. Taking another deep breath, he walked to the spot the dimensional hole once stood, cupped his hands around his mouth, and yelled, "Wait for us, in the future, Kain! We'll stop the planet's paralysis, and we'll make a better world for you, and Celebi, and everyone else to live in! So just wait for us, Kain, and make sure you live long enough to see the sun light up the sky once again!!"

The sound of his yells reverberated around the plaza. He dropped his hands, curtly nodded, did an about-face, and marched straight past Ivy, back towards where the Time Gears lay. Once he was sure she couldn't see his face anymore, it dropped, and he bit deeply into his lower lip, guilt and sorrow seeping into his heart.

To know more than she did about her own past, it made much more sense to him the meaning behind Kain's last words, and why he snapped at Ivy the way he did. That name was the sign of a very special bond he and Ivy shared; one that he believed was lost when the colony was. He must have been so glad to hear that she remembered what she used to call him, especially after he thought he'd lost his dear partner, the only thing he had with him when he traveled through time.

And then, when he was forced to leave her, and realize she still didn't know the full meaning behind that name... "So that's what he meant...when he said 'the parting hurts'..."

Back on her feet, Ivy turned to look at Aden - who had his back to her and was busying himself with re-collecting the Time Gears - and heard him whispering to himself. When she listened to what he said, the ache in her chest worsened. Oh, Aden...if only that were true. Kain wasn't talking about him and me...he was referring to me and you.

Her head turned toward the ground, her paws lightly digging into the dirt. You don't know that, should we succeed, the world of the future will disappear...I along with it. I'll have to leave you, Aden. Our time together is ending. This is...our last adventure...

The sound of footsteps drew near. She looked up, and her eyes met Aden's. Despite herself, despite the ache, it gave her a rush of joy to see him, just as it always had. His face was one of determination, though his eyes hid the grief of loss, and she knew that Kain's departure affected him as much as it did her.

"Let's do this." His voice held the same determination his facial features did. "For Kain's sake."

Violet eyes blinked once. Then, the Eevee's jaw locked, and she gave her partner a firm, accepting nod. Yes, Kain... Ivy thought as she and Aden made their way up the temple steps, towards the bright blue light radiating from its peak. I'll do this for you, and for Celebi, and for everyone in the future, and...I'll do this for you, too...Aden.

Description
Sacrifice

'What!?' the Dusclops gasped, the Grovyle beside him widening his eyes in shock. 'S-say that again!?'

The room they stood in was dark and small, even more so considering that most of the available space was taken up by a large desk in the middle of the floor. The two Pokémon stood side by side at one end of this table, looking across it at another figure in the room. This figure was sitting in a straight-back wooden chair, face shrouded in shadow so that it was hard to make out any defining features, and was hunched over the table, looking defeated.

"We've only just recently found out about this," the tall, shadowed figure said in an authoritative, masculine voice, acting as though he didn't hear the ghost-type's outburst. "After much deduction and theorizing, it's come to the point where we've finally figured out the most probable reason why no one before us has tried to do something about the planet's paralysis."

Pushing the chair back, the figure stood and rose to full height, clasping his hands behind his back. "They became scared, and immediately stopped looking into the prospect of trying to reverse the planet's paralysis...when they found out that doing so would make this world - and everyone on it - disappear."

The Dusclops and Grovyle looked to each other, both registering the same amount of shock on their faces, before looking back to the tall, shadowed figure. 'S-so you're saying...' the Dusclops muttered as he did a series of elaborate hand gestures. 'If we continue investigating the planet's paralysis, we'll be paving the road to our own demise!?'

The tall, shadowed figure did not answer immediately, but waited until the Dusclops finished waving his hands around. "...You two are not the first who've been told this," he said, sounding more authoritative than earlier, "nor were you the last. Everyone will be revealed to this information, then left with some time to think it over. And then, once that is completed..."

He turned his back on the two Pokémon and said, his voice straining a little, "It will be put to a vote: Should we continue living in darkness, or should we sacrifice ourselves to prevent that darkness?"

------

It had been a long-shot, but Dusknoir could immediately tell that the vision his touch activated had been at least one of the ones he wanted her to see. "I knew it." Turning his gaze to Kain, Dusknoir laughed loudly, slightly maniacally. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I knew you didn't have the guts to tell her the truth! And you're so far along in your mission, too! For shame, Grovyle! For shame! Ha-ha-hoo-ha-ha!!"

If her brief vision hadn't spooked her out enough, the ghost-type's laughter unnerved her even more. "Wh-what is he talking about?" she demanded her partner, voice shaky. "Kain??"

Kain did not answer. Refusing to look her in the eye, he turned his head away, and kept a stiff upper lip.

Dusknoir appeared to relish in the Grovyle's refusal to talk. "Hah! Still not brave enough to do it I see! Alright then, let me spell it out for you, you naive child." He turned his stare on the Eevee, smirking slightly to see her confusion and fear. "If history is changed, what will happen to us - to all living beings from the future - will be far worse than death. You, me and Grovyle, we will all disappear; vanish into nothingness without leaving as much as a footprint behind! Our lives, our entire existences, will be stripped completely from reality! It will be like we never existed in the first place! Absolutely no one will remember us, because it will be like we'd never been born at all!"

Every statement the Dusknoir spouted was said with more maniacal glee than the last. "Are you sure you want to do this, little Ivy? ARE YOU REALLY SURE YOU WANT TO SACRIFICE YOURSELF FOR THIS!?! HA-HA-HOO-HOO-HA-HA-HA-!!"

With a quick, precise jab of his elbow to the ghost-type's neck, Dusknoir's crazed laugh abruptly stopped. Ivy watched as his head dropped back to the ground, his body becoming still and his limbs limp. Truly freaked-out by his show of dementia, Ivy looked back to Kain. "I-it's not true, r-right?" Her voice shook, though there was a tiny glint of hope in it. "H-he's lying again; t-trying to throw us off our game, right?? A-and my vision; i-it must've gotten messed up somehow! Th-there's no way it can be true! Please, tell me that it's all a lie?!"

Kain breathed deeply through his nose, still turned away. Almost reluctantly, he looked at Ivy out of the corner of his eye and met her fearful gaze. His eyes closed almost immediately after that, his face pulled down into a grimace.

"...He was telling the truth, Ivy," he solemnly said through clenched jaw. "If we stop the planet's paralysis...we will disappear."

The Eevee stopped shaking, feeling like her blood had run dry. Color drained from her face, eyes round and wide with terror. Changing history...will kill us?!

"Why didn't you tell me...?" Fear giving way to anger, the terrified Eevee stomped over to her forgotten partner. "Didn't you think I ought to know that I was taking on a suicide mission!? I have amnesia, remember?! How could you not tell me something this important before now!?"

Her voice cracked with hysteria. She was directly beside him now, breathing heavily in and out of her mouth. Kain took another peek at her out of the corner of his eye, still avoiding looking directly at her. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he looked away again.

"I thought you knew," he quietly admitted, his hands clenching into fists. "It may have been wishful thinking, but I thought, based on all the information you were given so far, you may have figured out that saving the world didn't come without a price..."

Her breathing calmed down a little, and her mind raced, trying to recall everything Kain told her about their mission, to see if his reasoning held up. She thought and thought, racking her mind until it hurt and, after a few moments, realization dawned on her.

How he once said all Primal Dialga thought of was self-preservation. How obsessed Dusknoir was on stopping them from completing their mission. How Celebi knew Kain had failed his mission the first time he traveled to the past, just because she saw him again. The way Kain and Celebi spoke and looked at each other, almost like they knew it'd be the last time it would happen.

It finally dawned on the Eevee that, leading up to this point, the fact that changing history would make a significant impact on the future of darkness was incredibly obvious.

Ivy slowly sat on her haunches, running a paw through the short, thick hairs atop her head. "It is true, isn't it?" she muttered, her breathing shallow and weak. "Stopping time's destruction...will snuff out our existences, won't it?"

His fists clenching so much it started to hurt, Kain stiffly nodded. "Forgive me, Ivy. I should've told you all this earlier, should've asked you if you realized how much the consequences of our mission would affect us, before..." He looked scathingly at Dusknoir, who still lay unconscious on the ground. Of course he had to tell her this in the most brutal, straight-to-the-point way possible; it wouldn't be Dusknoir if he'd done it any other way. And yet, though he knew that Ivy needed to know the full and honest truth before it was too late, he wished with all his heart that this hadn't been the way the truth was revealed to her.

Looking away from the fallen ghost-type, Kain straightened his spine and wore a brave face. "But, tell me, is it really all that important?"

Her eyes, previously downcast, swiveled up to him. "Huh?"

"Does it really matter that turning the world away from a future of darkness will mean the end of us?" He turned around, finally looking Ivy in the eye. "If it means that time will continue flowing, and that the Pokémon of this world will be able to live in peace, there's nothing I wouldn't give to make sure that happens, not even my own life."

Ivy's paw slowly dropped to the ground. She blinked once, eyes stinging a little from being so widely opened for so long a time. "Kain..."

"I know that this must be coming as quite the shock, considering that you lost your memory and all that," Kain gently consoled, "but the truth is that you and I traveled through time to save this world from destruction, already fully aware of what would happen to us if we succeeded. Even Celebi knew she would disappear if we changed the past, and she still helped us, in every way she could, to prevent the planet's paralysis."

A memory stirred, faintly and briefly, of when she first met Celebi (as a Pokémon, anyway). She had spoken of being tired of living in a world of ruin, and asked Kain to spare them from the agony living in the paralyzed planet created. So that's what she meant, when she said she'd devote her entire life...

"Ivy..." Kain took a small step towards the Eevee, resting a hand on her shoulder. "In the future, we've all lost the desire to live. But, it was the hope that the future's world of darkness could be changed that gave us the strength and resolve to risk our lives to reach that end. We both came here, knowing that we would disappear, because you and I believed in a brighter future." He sighed, and lightly shook his head. "I...I know you don't remember that resolve, but-"

"No. No, I get it." Her voice a little hoarse, she looked down. "Right from the start, you and I were willing to stake our lives on this chance. We didn't even have a choice in the matter either way, did we? If we didn't act, time would've still been destroyed, and we would still be living in a dark, dying world. We were the only ones that could've prevented the planet's paralysis, and we knew that, in order to prevent that...we had to disappear."

Kain slowly removed his hand from her shoulder. "Ivy..."

"I came to this world with such a resolve, and even though I've lost my memories...I know I still hold that resolve within me." Mouth a firm line, Ivy tilted her head up and looked Kain dead in the eye. "This world of the past, which is so full of light and life and hope...it is so beautiful, and I just can allow such beauty to be lost. Even if it means that the friends I've made in this world of the past, all the lives I've become a part of, won't remember me...I'll do it. I'll do everything I can to stop the planet's paralysis, even if it means I won't be around to see the new world my sacrifice created."

Kain gasped slightly, foot taking a small step backwards. His hand reached up to his mouth, which was stretched into a sad smile, and his eyes gleamed in what appeared to be a mix of pride and heartbreak. "Oh, Ivy..." he whispered through his fingers. "Don't you think you're forgetting something?"

The Eevee blinked, head tilting to one side. "Huh?"

He spent a second to compose himself before elaborating. "The truth is that when we traveled through time, knowing what would happen to us when we completed our mission, we did so also in the knowledge that we had nothing left to lose, and nothing to go back to. But, Ivy, when you and I got separated...something changed. You turned into an Eevee, and lost all your memories. And then, you met Aden, finding a friend and partner in him right from the moment you met."

The Eevee frowned. "How does that change anything? Yeah, he'll probably be not too happy if he finds out his best friend will disappear, but it won't last, right? He'll forget all about me, just like everyone else will, so it's not much of an issue, right?"

Kain sucked in his bottom lip, looking away and tightly shutting his eyes. "Ivy...he's been to the future you and I were born into. He's seen what the destruction of time caused with his own eyes... That's something I believe someone just can't forget, even if that world no longer existed."

Ivy felt her jaw drop slightly, her face going pale. "Y-you don't mean...?"

"You don't realize the true extent of this, Ivy, but Aden has more feelings for you than that of a best friend, and I know you do, too. If he were to find out that you would have to disappear, that he would never see you again...I don't think he'll just be 'not too happy'." Mouth a thin line, he stared at Ivy in muted somber. "He'll be crushed, beyond heartbroken, and left completely alone. Do you still think you have the conviction to erase yourself from existence, if it means that you and Aden will never see each other again?"

Ivy felt her body go numb. The thought never occurred to her until Kain had to spell it out for her. Now that it did, the true extent to which her transformation and memory loss changed everything hit her like a sack of bricks.

She turned to the left, casting her eyes towards the peak of the temple. Though she couldn't see him, she knew he was up there, and it truly devastated her to know how clueless he was to what was happening down below. She turned her head down, lower lip quivering. Her paws dug into the soft soil, and she closed her eyes, her insides feeling very, very cold. Aden...

------

The wind had picked up by the time Aden reached the top of the stairs, making it difficult to hear much else than the wind and his thoughts. Not letting it bother him too much, Aden set to work; clearing away the vines, revealing more of the symbol, searching for the indentation. A few minutes in, most of the vines were gone, most of the symbol could be seen, and Aden found a small hole in the very middle of it, one just big enough for his Relic Fragment to fit in.

"Well," he muttered to himself as he removed the twine from around the small rock. "Here goes nothing."

Carefully, he deposited the Relic Fragment into the small hollow spot in the floor. It fit perfectly, without any margin of error. Suddenly, the symbol lit up, and the floor gave a small lurch. After steadying himself, Aden watched in awe as the entire pattern lit up - much like the pattern in Brine Cave did - and pulsed with white-blue light.

"Hey, guys?" he called over his shoulder, keeping his eyes on the floor in the off-chance that the vessel would leave without him. "Guys, I think it's working! Get up here!"

No answer. The pulsation steadily grew brighter, and the symbol started letting off a 'vween-vween-vween' sound. Perhaps they couldn't hear him from up here? Groaning, taking one last look at the pulsating, 'vween'-ing symbol, Aden turned and made his way back towards the eastern stairs.

That's when he heard a scream, saw an explosion, and started running like a madman.

------

A distant 'vween-vween-vween' sound made Ivy and Kain look up, and they saw a white-blue light radiating from atop the temple. "That sound..." Ivy muttered.

"It must be the Rainbow Stoneship activating," Kain guessed, a small hint of triumph in his voice. "Aden's done it!"

Mostly, all Ivy could hear was the sound coming from atop the temple. However, the sound of something shifting nearby reached her ears. She turned and, to her horror, saw that Dusknoir had not only regained consciousness, but was hovering directly beside her, cold fury all over his face.

With more speed and strength she expected him to have, the ghost-type swung his arm around, striking Kain in the back and sending him straight into a distant boulder. She didn't have even a second to yelp in shock, much less get out of the way, before Dusknoir's other arm swung down at her, making his fist collide directly into her ribcage.

A grunting gasp left her mouth as soon as the punch made contact. Her body was so small, and his fist was so big, that she was knocked back several feet, tumbling along the ground until she came to a skidding halt several meters away. She gasped and sputtered, feeling disoriented as she tried to rise to her feet. She winced as she felt the area where Dusknoir had hit her swell and burn, but then it felt oddly cold. Extremely cold. Almost numb, even. Confused, she looked down.

What a shock it was for her to find that the entire left side of her body was now trapped in ice.

Her eyes went round. Instantly, she tried to free herself of the frigid ice encasing her legs, but to no avail. She jerked and pulled and even tried biting the ice off, but all her effort wasn't enough to free herself from the frozen snare; the ice even looked like it was starting to spread!

"You..." Her head jerked around, and she briefly saw Kain clutching his head and staring at her in horror, before her eyes rested on the one addressing her. Dusknoir, still hovering in front of the dimensional hole, was breathing heavily, looked to be in pain underneath all the crazed fury on his face, and was preparing a Dark Pulse. "You...will not change history!" He aimed the dark, pulsating energy straight at the frozen Eevee. "Now DIE!!"

The attack was launched. She was trapped. She did her best to defend herself, which amounted to nothing more than closing her eyes and throwing her free foreleg in front of her face. A blood-curdling scream erupted from her throat.

An explosion ensued on the small plaza near the base of the temple steps.

Whimpering, visible clouds of breaths left her mouth. Her left legs were completely numb from the knee down. Though she could no longer feel her toes, she did not feel any kind of pain indicating that Dusknoir's attack made any impact on her body. Shaking from the cold that was slowly encasing her body, she moved the leg covering her face down a quarter inch, and hesitantly opened her eyes.

They widened to full size in less than a fraction of a second when she saw what had happened when they were closed. "Kain!!"

The Grovyle lay on the ground just a few feet in front of her, on his side and completely unmoving. The smell of burnt flesh reached Ivy's nostrils, and she saw in horror that there was a large, fresh, bleeding wound on his left side.

"Hah...hah-hah..." Clutching his stomach, Dusknoir laughed weakly to see the grass-type lying on the ground. "So, you finally get to own up to that dead man's promise, eh, Kain? With such a wound, I wonder how long you'll last as to your precious Ivy's shield before you finally break! Ha! Ha-ha! Ha-hoo-ha...!"

It was clear that his last attack sapped Dusknoir of most of the strength he had left. His laughs got weaker, and the altitude at which he hovered over the ground steadily decreased with every word he spoke. Ivy took note of this, and of the increasing frigidness stealing her body heat, but most of her attention was still on Kain, who was starting to stir. "Kain...!"

Pain, labored breaths hissed through his clenched teeth as he struggled to his feet. He clutched his wound, blood seeping out between his fingers, and managed to get up onto one foot. He paused here, supposedly catching his breath. Suddenly, a snarling outcry leaving his mouth, Kain bounded forward, throwing his arms wide, and caught Dusknoir in a restraining hold.

"Wh-what is the meaning of this!?" Dusknoir bellowed, outraged by the vice grip Kain had around his arms and torso. "Answer me, Grovyle!!"

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Ivy shrieked, voice rising an octave. "Kain!?"

"Dus...Dusknoir!" Kain grunted strainedly, firming his grip on the ghost-type's arms and torso. "You and I...We're going back to the future!"

"What?!" Dusknoir thundered.

"Kain, no!" Ivy gasped.

"What happened?!" Hastily clambering down the last of the steps, Aden finally reached the plaza, looking bewildered and out of breath. "I heard a scream, and then-Kain what are you doing?!"

"Never mind me!" the Grovyle argued, struggling to keep Dusknoir - who was now squirming - restrained. "Help Ivy!"

The Pikachu snapped his head around, the urgency in Kain's voice making him nervous. He soon spotted his partner, and instantly saw that half of her body was trapped in ice, which was slowly making its way up her neck. He instantly rushed over to her, making his tail become metallic silver as he ran. Once he was by her side, he swung his tail around and, slamming it into the ice with such force that it shattered, freed her from the frigid trap. "Are you alright?!" he immediately asked once she was free.

Though the ice no longer covered her body, being free did nothing to help her with the aftermath of Dusknoir's Ice Punch. She still felt very cold, and she had lost all feeling in her left-side legs, to boot. Her limbs numb, and her posture wobbly, it became a chore to stand, let alone walk. And yet, she took a few, staggering steps forward, toward where Kain was holding Dusknoir down. "Y-you, y-you c-can't leave us, Kain!" she yelled through chattering teeth. "Th-there has t-to be another way!"

"Leave?" Aden repeated in confusion. Then, studying the situation more carefully, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Y-you're seriously not thinking about leaving us, Kain!?"

"I have to, Aden!" Kain yelled over his shoulder. "And there is no other way, Ivy! If I don't deal with Dusknoir now, he'll just try to stop us again! I know this means that I'll never be able to come back to this world...so it's up to you now!"

Straining himself, gasping sharply at the pain in his side, Kain lifted his left foot up and grasped the small drawstring bag hanging from his shoulder. The strap had been damaged when he had shielded Ivy from Dusknoir's attack, which made it easier for him to jerk his foot back, tear the damaged area apart, and fling the bag away from his body. It landed less than a foot from where Ivy and Aden stood, its contents spilling out in front of them. "Th-the Time Gears!"

"I'm counting on you two!" Kain continued, wincing as Dusknoir's thrashes caused strain on his bleeding wound. "Get onto the Rainbow Stoneship, and take the Time Gears to the top of Temporal Tower! You'll know what to do with them once you get there, I know you will!"

"Unhand me!" Dusknoir roared, his thrashes becoming more violent. "Release me!!"

"Quiet, you!" Kain barked, inching both closer to the dimensional hole. "I just need a little more time, and then we'll be off!"

"No, no you can't!" It looked as though she was walking again to collect the Time Gears, but with this outburst, Ivy continued staggering forward, stepping over where the Time Gears fell when she came to them. "Y-you just can't!"

"Ivy, wait!" Though he was just as confused and upset about this turn of events, he still remained level-headed, more level-headed than Ivy, at least. He saw that Kain was hurt and losing strength, and he figured it was just a matter of time and bad luck before Dusknoir would be able to break free, at least partially, anyway. If Ivy were anywhere near him if that happened, since he was so close to the dimensional hole, he could very well drag her in with minimal effort. Before she got too far away, he ran up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, holding her back. "I-I don't like this anymore than you do, but we-"

"Let me go!" Ivy snapped, weakly trying to break free of her partner's hold. "Aden, let me go!!"

Kain saw the pair's struggle out of the corner of his eye, and it filled him with mixed emotions to see them like this. "Aden!" he called to the Pikachu, causing both his and Ivy's heads to turn back to him. "Be sure...to watch Ivy's back for me! Promise me that you'll both look out for each other!"

Aden stared wide-eyed at Kain, feeling shivers run down his spine. The way he talked really did make it sound like he wasn't planning on seeing him again. "I-I will," he vowed, trying to keep a level voice. "B-but...there's no way I'll be able to take your place, Kain! I just can't!"

Kain looked back to where Team Sky stood. He saw the way Aden was holding her back, saw how firm yet gentle his grip on her shoulders was, and knew in his heart that Ivy was in good hands. "You can, you must, and you will, because you already have. You've done such a great job already; all I'm asking is that you just continue that for just a while longer!" His smile widened a little bit. "You'll do great, Aden. You both will. For you two are...the greatest of combinations."

The compliment hit Aden close to home, probably more than it should have, given the situation. He soon found that his eyes were stinging. Kain...

"NO!" Taking advantage of Aden's distraction, Ivy broke free and took a big leap forward. Aden recovered quickly, and grabbed hold of her again before she could take another leap. "Y-you don't stand a chance against Dusknoir on your own! He'll kill you!" she pleaded with Kain, voice wavering. "Don't...don't do this! Don't go...Ani, please-"

"Don't ever call me that again!"

The Eevee froze, feeling like she had received another Ice Punch to the ribs. Aden became very still, too, eyes round with shock. Even Dusknoir looked mildly surprised that Kain had snapped in such a manner. All eyes looked to the Grovyle, who was keeping his as tightly shut as his mouth.

"Ivy..." When he finally did speak again, his voice was much softer, kinder, and there was sorrow in his eyes, and in the smile that curved his mouth. "I was so lucky to have known you, and I am so, so happy that I got to see you again. Though the parting hurts...the rest is in your hands!"

Inhaling a deep breath that made his chest puff out, Kain turned his attention back to the task at hand. "Sorry for the holdup, Dusknoir!" he mockingly apologized. "See you on the other side!"

With a simple push of his legs, Kain sprang forward, making him and Dusknoir dive head-first into the dimensional hole. Even then, Dusknoir did all in his power to free himself, but was only able to free his right arm, which clawed and grasped the empty air in a futile attempt to keep himself from being sucked in, all while screaming, "NOOOOOO!!"

There was a split second between when Dusknoir's enraged howls cut off, and the ghost-type's body completely disappeared into the gateway between times that Kain remained fully visible. It was also during that time when his voice muttered a set of softly spoken words, which were just barely audible over the whooshing of the portal and the 'vween'-ing of the stoneship:

"Protect the sunrise." He closed his eyes, causing a single tear to slide down his cheek. "Bring back the sky."

And Kain, too, was whisked away to the future.

"Kain..." Head shaking side to side, Ivy released herself from Aden's hold and raced toward the dimensional hole in reckless abandon, denial, and heartbreak. "KAAAIIIIN!!!"

It was useless. Completely useless. She knew this. And yet, she didn't stop until the dimensional hole blinked out of existence, right before she was able to reach it.

Numbness crept over her, covering every inch of her body, inside and out. She sank to her knees, feeling small, weak, and like something vitally important had been ripped out of her chest. Kain...

------

Aden stared at Ivy in speechlessness, a horrible sense of déjà vu overwhelming him. If everything Kain had told him the day they watched the sunrise was true, then his parting held much more sacrifice than he was letting on.

And Ivy - poor, amnestic Ivy - had no idea just how much it grieved Kain to leave her. And never would.

His feet unwarily carried him towards her, stopping just inches away. Swallowing back the lump in his throat, his saliva feeling like sand, he extended an unsteady hand toward her, reaching for her shoulder. "Ivy..."

"Why?" Her voice came out so tiny he almost didn't hear it. "What is wrong with me?"

He stopped reaching for her, the tips of his fingers only an inch away from her shoulder. "Wrong...?"

"I remembered him, at least a little bit of him. He shielded me, got hurt trying to protect me. He was...my best friend, and now, he's gone...!" She stamped one foot, which she curled up into a fist, on the ground, crying out in anger and remorse. "Shouldn't I be crying right now!? Mourning the fact that he's gone for good!? There's this horrible, aching pain in my chest...Why am I not crying over the fact that I'll never see him again?!?"

Tearless whimpers passed through her mouth. She hid her face in her paws and curled up into a little ball, muttering, "Why...?" over and over again.

Aden retracted his arm, letting it fall to his side. His paws balled into fists, nails digging into his palms. Seeing her like this broke his heart, so he looked away and shut his eyes, feeling them go wet around the edges. His teeth bit into his lower lip, mind uttering a million curses for not being able to think up what he should say to ease her troubled heart.

"Sometimes..." he finally said, with much difficulty. He swallowed, his throat feeling rougher than bedrock, before continuing. "Sometimes, when really bad things happen...you feel so sad that you just can't cry, no matter how much you want to..."

Still curled up into a ball, Ivy's dry sobs lessened to noisy sniffles. "It still hurts, Aden..."

He blinked a few times, feeling tears starting to trickle down the sides of his face. Far above them, the 'vween-vween-vween' of the Rainbow Stoneship grew louder, more harmonic. It would only be a matter of time before the vessel charged up to full and made off for Temporal Tower. He quickly wiped away his tears (seeing him like this would just make her feel worse), and set his face into one of firm determination.

"I know, Ivy." He breathed deeply through his nose, trying to make it not sound like a sniffle, and spoke in a brave voice. "But, we can't just sit around here feeling sorry for ourselves, or for Kain. He didn't...he wouldn't want us to give up, just because he's not with us anymore. He believes in us; we can't just let him down now."

Uncovering her eyes, Ivy looked to her partner in slight surprise. "Aden..."

He didn't even look her way. Taking another deep breath, he walked to the spot the dimensional hole once stood, cupped his hands around his mouth, and yelled, "Wait for us, in the future, Kain! We'll stop the planet's paralysis, and we'll make a better world for you, and Celebi, and everyone else to live in! So just wait for us, Kain, and make sure you live long enough to see the sun light up the sky once again!!"

The sound of his yells reverberated around the plaza. He dropped his hands, curtly nodded, did an about-face, and marched straight past Ivy, back towards where the Time Gears lay. Once he was sure she couldn't see his face anymore, it dropped, and he bit deeply into his lower lip, guilt and sorrow seeping into his heart.

To know more than she did about her own past, it made much more sense to him the meaning behind Kain's last words, and why he snapped at Ivy the way he did. That name was the sign of a very special bond he and Ivy shared; one that he believed was lost when the colony was. He must have been so glad to hear that she remembered what she used to call him, especially after he thought he'd lost his dear partner, the only thing he had with him when he traveled through time.

And then, when he was forced to leave her, and realize she still didn't know the full meaning behind that name... "So that's what he meant...when he said 'the parting hurts'..."

Back on her feet, Ivy turned to look at Aden - who had his back to her and was busying himself with re-collecting the Time Gears - and heard him whispering to himself. When she listened to what he said, the ache in her chest worsened. Oh, Aden...if only that were true. Kain wasn't talking about him and me...he was referring to me and you.

Her head turned toward the ground, her paws lightly digging into the dirt. You don't know that, should we succeed, the world of the future will disappear...I along with it. I'll have to leave you, Aden. Our time together is ending. This is...our last adventure...

The sound of footsteps drew near. She looked up, and her eyes met Aden's. Despite herself, despite the ache, it gave her a rush of joy to see him, just as it always had. His face was one of determination, though his eyes hid the grief of loss, and she knew that Kain's departure affected him as much as it did her.

"Let's do this." His voice held the same determination his facial features did. "For Kain's sake."

Violet eyes blinked once. Then, the Eevee's jaw locked, and she gave her partner a firm, accepting nod. Yes, Kain... Ivy thought as she and Aden made their way up the temple steps, towards the bright blue light radiating from its peak. I'll do this for you, and for Celebi, and for everyone in the future, and...I'll do this for you, too...Aden.