Rescuers Event 7: A Letter from the Past

PMD-Explorers Event 7 Prologue

Back home?

Marston felt his body as light as air. It seemed he was travelling along some tube, lined with the seven colours of the rainbow, all changing at the same time. Images also flashed past him, images he could not discern very well, but the more he tried to focus, the clearer they seemed to be. Were those... images of what happened between that time in the past and the future? The Mudkip didn't have the time to look into more of them however; the giant tube somewhat began pulsing and a bright light appeared at its end. He brought his arms in front of him to shield his eyes, but it was becoming so intense that he also had to close his eyes.

When Marston opened his eyes, he was no more in that tube. Around him were some trees and he could hear the chirping of Taillows and Pidoves in the trees. He looked around to get his bearings, and that's when he found, among other Pokémon who were here, the guild leaders, half of them that is, and Jasmine. Well, the only one missing there was a representative of the Rescuers guild... or was that Charmeleon, who looked so familiar, Mike? Marston decided to assume so for the time being.

It was no more night, but more like sometime late in the afternoon judging by how close the sun was over the horizon. However, there was no sign of Damyah, she was really left back in the past.... Looking across the trees was Tao Village, with the Rescuers club and the overlooking Merchants hut. They were finally back! Marston heaved a sigh of relief and stepped towards the village, however....

"Jasmine!"

Marston froze in his movement and saw PK catch Jasmine in her arms before the latter could fall down.

"What's wrong!? I thought you were all right!" PK shouted. From the tone in her voice, she was worried, and she had reason to be. "We need to get her to Tao, to the Doctor's hut! Now! Let's go! Grab her, Iceburg! And be careful!"

With that, Iceburg, who Marston had noticed only now, delicately took Jasmine with his vines and followed Devonshire. The Rogues Leader was leading the way to Tao Village, and everyone else followed closely.

Marston felt the pang of anxiety build up in him again. Would Jasmine be okay to restore the forest? But a thought then suddenly struck him. If they all were back to their time, why were they in a forest which seemed to have been untouched by Sorbet's rampage. Something... something was not right!

The Mudkip quickly dashed behind the Pokémon heading to Tao Village, while keeping a look on what was ahead of them. As they drew closer to their destination, Marston's fears were confirmed. The Tao Village he knew, it wasn't the one standing before him! The Rescuers club was nothing like the one rebuilt some weeks ago, nor was the Merchants HQ, and that's not even mentioning the missing tenements and other buildings around the fountain or the fountain itself.

"Is... is this an earlier version of Tao Village?" Marston mumbled in disbelief.

In the centre of the village, PK, accompanied by Mike, a green and bizarre Kecleon and Iceburg who was still carrying Jasmine, got in a pink building having the shape of a Chansey. That was probably the doctor's hut.

Marston decided to look around for a bit, as curious as he was, it sure made him wonder how things were in this village at that period in time. The Merchants HQ was more like a hut, a bit smaller than what he was accustomed to; the fountain was adorned with the statues of two Horseas facing opposite directions and from the mouth of which water was continually coming out.

He proceeded towards the Rescuer's club, to see how it looked like back in that time, but to his surprise, it appeared mostly abandoned. The wood of the treehouse was in a bad shape, and it was looked more like a play area or something. Marston wished that he could go inside, but the only way in was by climbing a rope which led to the entrance of the treehouse and with no thumbs, he knew it was hopeless for him.

His next thought was when was Chill coming here to start the Rescuers guild.

"It isn't like the one we know, is it?"

Marston recognised the voice, in fact, he was sure he could recognise it anytime now. "I really thought that we might meet Chill, Rose," he replied, his sight not leaving the treehouse.

"I could try to get a look if you want to know what's inside," Rose suggested. "That entrance isn't big enough, but I think I could try to see inside from the windows."

"That'd be great!" Marston exclaimed. He watched the Beautifly flutter upwards and look into the first window.

For a moment, Rose frowned and came as close as possible with the window, but she quickly left it to look through another window where the same thing happened. Soon, she hovered back down, not looking too pleased.

"What's wrong?"

Rose looked aside, frowning. "I can't see anything inside. It's too dark and the glass is too dirty from the inside to see anything. And with the setting sun, it's even worse!"

"Oh... I guess we can't do anything about it, huh?" Marston heaved a sigh of disappointment. "Let's have a look at how the Rogues guild looks like then...."

The two didn't have much to walk (or fly) and they found themselves in front of the Devonshire Law Firm. Surprisingly, it was the only thing which appeared exactly like how they knew it. It only looked more desolated and abandoned, with the planks still blocking the way inside.

"I guess that's it around this part..." Marston said. "Let's have a look at— Hey! There's a commotion near the fountain. Let's check it out!"

From what they could hear, the weird green Kecleon was called Micle, or could be also called Grand Kec. He apparently had found a way to 'fix that little onion', which Marston assumed referred to Jasmine and it involved an adventure of some sort. The 'adventure', on the other hand, had to wait until his messenger got back, which could be anytime from that night. He proceeded to give orders around so that the night meal could be prepared.

***

As much as Marston was keen on listening to the stories that Micle had begun, he was so tired and sleepy that he barely was able to keep his eyes open. After all, he hadn't closed his eyes for sleeping for a very long time now thanks to all those time travels. Until, PK chased all his drowsiness away by shouting at the top of her voice.

It looked like the stories of Micle, or part of it, weren't completely true, according to the Merchants Guild Leader.

"I wonder whether it's bad or not if Micle knows we come from the future..." Marston whispered to Rose. "Well, for one, he doesn't seem too...trustworthy."

"I guess not, but he's the only one who can help us right now," Rose replied. "It's night and his messenger hasn't shown up yet. I guess we'll go tomorrow morning."

In the meanwhile, Micle had moved to something else and was discussing with Devonshire about Zoroarks. Surprisingly enough, the only reason behind the attacks according to Micle was that they coveted his treasure. He mentioned that he and someone named Brooke would fight them off each time the new moon came, and that there was one tomorrow.

Marston grimaced at the thought of having dead corpses around the village. It surely wouldn't look good.

Not too long after, the one named Brooke brought Micle a cape, having various shades of purple on the outside and being green on the inside. From what Marston understood from the consequent exchange of words, that cape was one of the magic artifacts that Micle talked about in his story, although it appeared to have some negative effects on the one wearing it.

Micle shrugged the warning from Devonshire and quickly changed the subject to a time box. Marston wasn't sure what that was; was it a box which could travel through time, like Jasmine?

"G-Grand Kec?" Marston said, catching the attention of the Kecleon. "Can we just get into that time box and go back to where we come from?"

Micle looked at him with a puzzled look, before bursting into laughter. "Bwahahahaha! The time box does not work like that kid! And, you wouldn't fit in there, really. Just write a letter to the one you want to and let the time box do its thing."

Marston raised an eyebrow. He wasn't still wasn't sure how that time box worked, but he guessed he could let Peter know about how things were doing here. He didn't want him to be more worried than he already was, and what's more, was that they found a way to heal Jasmine. Hopefully, they wouldn't end up in some other time where they'll have to find a way to help Jasmine get back her powers....

Marston followed the crowd which got up into the Merchant's hut. One by one, they were handed sheets of paper on which they would be able to write their letters, and quills to write with. The Mudkip stared at the two tools for a while, knowing well that he wasn't one to be able to write legibly. But after some time, he grabbed the quill and with a determined face, he put down the paper and readied the quill, its tip imbued with Grepa berry juice as ink.