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catflowerqueen · 3 years

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Logistics of a “Speed Run”

So, this is probably going to end up on my what if…? List eventually, so I think I’ll just do some vague outlining here.

Starting Premise: The original expedition members are the only ones who go on the expedition to fogbound Lake.

1st Time Gear Located: Mesprit’s

Dugtrio rationalizes his not being chosen as Wigglytuff and Chatot deciding he needs more quality time with his son, but Diglett is not yet at the level where he could handle a full expedition. He… might be right? At least partially? Like I said—I don’t think they would have separated the two long-term quite yet, but, in all honesty, Diglett does seem to be the more responsible of the pair at this moment. However, he also seemed to be leaning on his dad quite a bit during the actual expedition itself (looking to him for approval, for example) once they hit Base Camp, so it is also possible that his confidence is only because of his familiarity with the Guild and Treasure Town.

Whatever the case—Dugtrio decides to take this bonding opportunity to mentor his son on the complexities of the move Dig, and upon realizing/remembering that Laura also knows this move (or her expressing interest in learning it) decides to take her along, with Paula as a spotter. For some reason he decides the best place to do this is around the Northern Desert—likely as an intermediate sort of lesson, for how to deal with loose soil and cave-ins? Or something? Or, like, there just so happens to be a lot of jobs for that area, so he just decides once they finish them to start working on Dig lessons.

Croagunk remains behind to watch the guild and his Swap Cauldron.

The group ends up accidentally tunneling into Quicksand Cave and either decide to take the opportunity to explore, or have no other choice because the tunnels collapsed and they can’t get out otherwise. This is possibly Laura’s fault, if her feelings of déjà vu and familiarity for the place (which she did canonically feel there in canon, but to a somewhat lesser degree since she was comparing it to her experience at Foggy Forest—meaning that she would be feeling it even more here) distract her to the point of making some digging mistakes. The result either way is that they end up meeting Mesprit and seeing her Time Gear. She doesn’t really have good defenses like Uxie does—she can sort of project feelings of disinterest, fear to make others leave her alone, but only if she’s paying attention and considering that Laura is in the party, it might not work. So, they’re going to have to try and get through to her via words.

Team Rainbow may or may not reveal the whole “human” thing to Mesprit—unlike in canon where the stories about Uxie made them think he was directly involved in the amnesia, there isn’t really a correlation between Mesprit’s powers and Laura’s situation that they can tell, in addition to the fact that they are not alone here, and might feel awkward about bringing it up around Diglett and his dad.

Either way, Mesprit extracts a promise from them not to tell, and they go home. Croagunk remains oblivious.

2nd Time Gear located: Azelf’s

Probably at some point they’ll run into Grovyle—who has a little more freedom of movement since he hasn’t been identified yet. He may or may not go into the guild itself at some point to gather news, but at some point he and Laura will spend some time standing next to each other—or she just happens to be in his vicinity for some reason, like if he’s on the Beach muttering to himself and she overhears and wanders over to listen.

We already know he has somewhat of a habit of talking to himself—which probably stems from how quiet Laura was while travelling with him, so he would basically just soundboard off of her whenever they were planning/he felt it was relatively safe to talk (because he was a bit more socialized and had parents who would have encouraged him to talk/theorize/ask questions when the environment is safe. Not to mention he had a friend in Celebi before she was forced to relocate). But because he got in the habit, he sort of forgets at times that his partner isn’t actually around at the moment, resulting in him, well, talking to himself. And then when, unbeknownst to him, Laura is around… well, he would sort of sense the familiarity and just fall back into those habits even easier.

The result of this is that she catches him debating which Time Gear location to go after next (though he wouldn’t actually say that part out loud) and she picks up the name Crystal Cave before he finally catches on to what he’s doing and makes a hasty exit. The name sounds familiar/intriguing, though, so Laura suggests that Team Rainbow go there next if they can find some jobs on the board. Which they do, so they do.

In the course of their work and exploring, they stumble upon the Crystal Lake. They are extremely nervous/panicked/general freaking out about finding another Time Gear when that was in no way their intent, and Azelf is curious/amused enough by the spectacle that he comes and investigates. He can tell they are determined to keep things a secret, and probably heard about the situation from Mesprit, so he’s actually pretty chill about the whole thing, and they probably even chat a little bit before the duo leaves. Laura probably gives him a warning that there might be a Grovyle coming to sight see or something in the near future, since that’s where she got the idea from to explore the place. So she unintentionally gives him the warning to be on the lookout, even though they still think at this time that his travelling plans were innocuous.

3rd Time Gear located: Uxie’s

The guild finally returns, feeling a little bummed that their expedition was a failure—because, as I’ve said before, I think it is unlikely Uxie would have let the group (minus possibly Wigglytuff) see the lake if not for the hero and partner accidentally stalling for time and seeking unrelated information in the game, which would have endeared them to him more and made him more willing to risk it. Without them there—and without the partner finding the drought stone, since that may or may not have happened if they weren’t there (because, privately, I think the reason they found it in the first place was that everyone stampeding to explore accidentally unearthed it [and Uxie probably just goes and deposits it in a random place in the forest whenever it is successfully used and he has to resort to Groudon/memory wiping to drive them away] and then the partner just happened to look down at the right moment. But with fewer people in attendance, that part might not have happened).

Though, it is entirely possible (and likely) that Bidoof might have managed to find the stone if he got lost in the Forest Path loop one too many times, and then just decided to take it with him as a treasure, the way he did that random crystal in canon. And maybe they could successfully find the statue, but have to wait for Chatot or someone to decipher the footprint runes (because I get the feeling that’s an uncommon skill, but is one of the things the partner learned in preparation for fulfilling their dream), and then no one has any idea what the drought stone is. Possibly Bidoof doesn’t even pick it up until they’re leaving, and the group might not have had the cohesiveness they did in canon to all go and share their finds since Dugtrio wasn’t there to suggest the apprentices work as one. That left the group each holding a bunch of different puzzle pieces, but not being able to put them together.

Anyways, they return, life gets back to normal, Dusknoir shows up, yadda yadda. At some point Bidoof lets Laura look at the pretty rock he found, and she has a Dimensional Scream about its purpose (though she doesn’t yet know what her ability is called). This… probably gets shared with the guild at large? Especially if Dusknoir still happens to be hanging around when Bidoof is showing off? …Or if it happened the night they got back (before Dusknoir arrived), and then all the apprentices got excited and caught Chatot’s attention.

So, Wigglytuff decides that Bidoof, Paula, and Laura should go back there the next day to figure things out—since they’re the ones with the most pieces of the puzzle. And he probably lets them go alone, at that, so Bidoof can actually get another chance to fulfill his wish and actually teach his friends things. So they do, and find Uxie and his Time Gear. And probably also ask him about the memory thing (since I feel like Bidoof’s presence is less awkward as far as spilling that goes? He is kind of their teacher, and the one that they’re probably closest to, even if he doesn’t generally get to do as much for them as he’d hoped). More conversations ensue and promises of secrecy are made—as well as some vows to look into things since it is extremely weird that this duo keeps finding Time Gears when they aren’t even trying to do so—though Uxie is going to be vague about it with Bidoof’s presence, only mentioning that they’d made contact with his siblings without bringing up what they guard.

Uxie either gives them a random treasure or helps them come up with a cover story to tell everyone else—probably something like “it turns out that the legendary lake is just what happens when the fog “lifts.” Or, more “accurately,” what happens is all the fog and water vapor condense and absolutely drenches and waterlogs the forest. The groudon statue is, therefore, somewhat of a misdirection.

…Laura probably comes up with that explanation, purely because of how complex it is and how many logical leaps it requires. But they just let her have her fun with it, considering the personal disappointment she just went through.

Also—Grovyle’s timeline is a bit delayed from what it was in canon since he got a bit scared off by that brush with Laura and decided to lay low for a little bit. So he either shows up a day after they leave, or they happen to see him on their way back—but don’t pick up on the fact that he’s there to steal the Time Gear. Uxie does not think they told Grovyle about him both because of just how quickly he appeared after the trio left and because Azelf probably told him about Laura’s tourist warning.

Fallout:

There is awkwardness among the Dugtrio family, Bidoof, and Team Rainbow when the news breaks about the Limestone Cavern gear being missing, and then even more when Grovyle is finally revealed as the thief—especially since that particular revelation comes with Laura blurting out about how she saw the guy earlier, and how he was making travel plans—so now she feels guilty that she didn’t think to question him about it. …And then with that comes the revelation that the remaining Time Gears’ locations are already known. Which does make it a little easier to actually go and fortify them, since they don’t have to spend time searching.

The end result is probably that they catch Grovyle at whichever lake he targets next, and the whole “getting dragged into the future” thing happens a lot earlier, and without the massive injury and illness from the Crystal Lake fight that gets alluded to in Missing Scenes. This also means that the Town Meeting scene probably doesn’t happen, since Dusknoir doesn’t actually need to utilize all those resources. Though there would have to be a scene or something that happens afterwards with the guild, at least—and probably Officer Magnezone—where Dusknoir would have to explain why he should get custody of the criminal.

This… leads to some interesting possibilities as far as whether or not the whole “the hero and partner get dragged into the future” thing would even happen. Because at the very least Dusknoir would have to give a reason for why Laura would need to come with him, and depending on where they do all this planning, and whether or not Grovyle happens to be in earshot for this…

Well, I’m imagining a scene or something where Dusknoir “suggests” that Laura (and probably Paula) guard Grovyle while he goes and gets all the sableye ready to prepare for a return trip (because that way he can keep the two of them close together if he needs to quickly grab them and run). Laura probably would accidentally touch him at some point and set off a dimensional scream, which would reveal, if not everything about her own personal history, then at least some inconsistencies in Dusknoir’s story. So Grovyle’s innocence would probably get sorted out fairly quickly, and then the issue would become how to protect him and the Time Gears from Dusknoir, as well as how to find the Hidden Land. …Or that dimensional scream happens right before Dusknoir drags him to the future, so Laura is still reeling from that revelation when she and Paula get dragged there as well—which would endear Grovyle and his efforts to them very quickly, and they would be on board with his plans from the start.

In any case, they would have a lot more time to plan, bond, and search for the Hidden Land after that. Which means discussion of Laura’s past and history would become inevitable, and the whole “we will disappear” thing might get figured out. But I don’t see this particular “what if…?” scenario being one where Relatia actually gets called to fix things, simply because Laura wouldn’t have quite enough time here to figure all of that out.

#pokemon mystery dungeon #explorers of sky #what if...?#fanfiction #major spoilers #feel free to ask questions!

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