Sean cleaned and wrapped up Nate's leg wound as best as he could. He always carried a first aid kit for emergencies in his backpack. Working around the caves was always hazardous. Unrolling his aluminum bendable splint, he wrapped it firmly against the fracture. With it in place, Sean let out a sigh of relief and sat back on his heels to tell the others. "I've done what I can... but I'm no doctor." Mark patted a recovering Dragonite, saying hopefully. "Can we try digging out? Or do you think it will be waiting on the other side?" Sean slowly rose to his feet, dusting his legs off as he replied cautiously. "If my Noivern wasn't injured, he could shatter them... but even with him, I wouldn't try it. Look." Sean pointed to the crack over the cave in. Moving closer to examine the crack, he reluctantly huffed out with disappointment. "Those rocks are supporting the ceiling... We move them and much more of this tunnel is going to fall in on top of us. I wouldn't risk it." The Masked Man gave up on his fire, tossing the small rocks aside as he snapped out. "You know. We wouldn't be in this mess if you all had just listened to me in the first place."

Sean rolled his eyes, growling back sourly. "Oh, get off your high horse. We don't even listen to each other. Why the hell would we listen to YOU?" Mark crossed his arms, asking the Masked Man curiously. "What kind of Pokemon was that? Why was it chasing us?" The Masked Man ignored his questions, storming past as he stated aloud. "Have any of you been in this cave before? Is there a way out?" The man was so anxious that it gave Sean a bad feeling, but he answered honestly. "No. But most of the caves on Shamouti have been excavated. So, this tunnel might link up to one that will lead us out." The Masked Man nodded, boldly suggesting. "Good. Then let us be on our way." Mark rushed between them, holding up a hand to gesture for the man to stop as he asked Sean nervously. "Wait a minute. I don't like the way you said that... 'It might?' For the sake of argument, what if it doesn't?" Sean was hoping they hadn't caught that. Taking a deep breath, Sean told them softly. "If it doesn't... We're in trouble. We are not packed for travel. With no food and no fresh water... and with the cave sealed off... We may run out of oxygen. Which will be quick if Pokemon like Rapidash are left out. Since Fire types eat up lots of oxygen to survive."

Mark bent over to put his hands on his knees, taking slow jagged breaths. Sean licked his lips, before adding in reluctantly. "That's not the worst of it though..." Mark lifted his head, chuckling out half-heartedly. "What could be worse than that?" Sean shuffled his feet, mumbling out. "Well... We've found that cave Pokemon can be quite aggressive. Specifically, the Zubat. In large numbers they can drain you dry... And if we just sealed ourselves in with some..." Mark slowly straightened up, chuckling out. "You're just full of good news." Sean shrugged, openly saying. "You asked." Mark waved a dismissive hand, firmly retorting. "Forget I asked." Sean walked back to Nate, hefting up his backpack as he added lightly. "If we are going to explore. We should do it quickly. At the very least, we should move from this entrance." Mark started to shake his head, looking rattled. Sean stayed calm and rational though as he pointed to the crack in the ceiling upon saying coolly. "If that thing or anyone hits those rocks, it will bring this place down. We can't stay here. Our only hope for rescue is to find a safer place to hole up. Or we find another way out." Sean then pointed to Nate, asking Mark hopefully. "Help me put him on Rapidash."

The Masked Man groaned, grumbling out. "We should leave him and come back for him. We are wasting time and resources." Sean glared at the man, informing him dryly. "We need Rapidash for his light. The last thing you want to do is wonder blindingly in these caves. They can go on for days and are built like layered mazes. One wrong turn and you could end up deep within the earth or so high that you walk off a mountain." The Masked Man waved his hands dismissively at them but stayed within the dim light. Mark helped him lay Nate over Rapidash. Mark flipped Rapidash's reins over its head, getting ready to lead him as he told Sean. "We'll have to go slow. Otherwise, he could fall off and hurt himself more." Sean nodded, then took the reins of the two Dragonites to lead them on. Chad zig-zagged across the floor, before climbing up Rapidash's leg to sit behind Nate. Mark narrowed his eyes on Chad, snapping out. "Hey! Get down!" Chad's costume shook its head and Mark pointed to the ground, growling out like a stern parent. "Chad... I'm going to count to three."

Chad's ghostly hand slipped out from under the costume to pet Rapidash lovingly. Sean chuckled to himself, listening to Mark tell Chad bluntly. "I don't care. He's not mine. You don't just climb up on strange pokemon you don't know." Chad's ghostly finger rose rather smugly to point at the Dragonites. The color drained from Mark's face and Sean chuckled a bit louder. Mark mumbled something under his breath, starting to lead the way reluctantly. Sean followed along by his side, lightly informing him. "Chad has a point. You can't enforce something you are guilty of doing." Mark rolled his eyes, stating over his shoulder to Chad bluntly. "Do as I say, not as I do." Sean looked Chad over, before asking curiously. "Why is it wearing a Pikachu costume? Did you do that to him?" Mark shook his head, but before he could answer, the Masked Man interjected dryly. "If you were to look at Mimikyu's true form, you would die shortly after from a strange illness. Every professor that has tried to uncover it has died. Even in my time. It made the costume to look... friendly. However, its costume doesn't compare to the real thing. So, it gets jealous and often tries to kill Pikachu."

Sean slowed a bit to look at the man, questioning him gently for information. "How do you know that? Have you seen one before?" The Masked Man removed a red device from his pocket, answering a bit numbly. "It's called a Pokedex." Sean blinked, uttering out. "What does it do?" The Masked Man stopped short, taking a deep breath before informing them. "Look. I don't have time to explain every little thing about the future. Ok. So just... Get me out of here so that I can go home." Mark stopped walking, glancing back at the man now too as he said seriously. "I think you owe us an explanation. Cause whatever that pokemon was... It was pissed off. And I think you know why." The Masked Man slipped his Pokedex back into his robe pocket, grumbling out under his breath. "Just lead the way out. And we can all go our separate ways." Mark shook his head, snapping back. "No. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me why a pokemon like that wants me dead." The Masked Man shrugged, sternly snapping back. "I don't know why it would want you! You have nothing that it wants."

Sean's hand drifted to his jacket pocket to feel the scale within. The Masked Man took notice and suddenly asked in a curious tone. "Or do you...? What have you got?" Sean dropped his hand, defensively retorting. "Nothing. Let's just keep moving." The Masked Man rushed up to grab Sean's arm in a loose grip, asking suddenly fascinated. "It was after you, wasn't it?" Sean yanked his arm from the man's grip, saying sternly. "I don't know what you're talking about." The Masked Man looked Sean over before asking them curiously. "Tell me. Was there a strange meteor shower here? Did it rain what looked like stars?" Mark shook his head, but Sean didn't answer. The Masked Man pointed at Sean, chuckling out. "Now who knows something." Mark looked at Sean, asking him with concern. "Sean? What's he talking about?" Sean felt backed into a corner. Backing up from the Masked Man, Sean told Mark truthfully. "A few months ago, something did fall from the sky. It looked like shimmering purple dust. A few of us were out late and collected it. We called it 'Stardust.' While collecting it, one of our Team Members fell into a hole. We spent days digging him out. When we got him out, he told Blanche a strange story about some scales he found down there."

Mark moved around Rapidash to get a better look at him as he said softly. "The scale fell from the sky?" Sean shrugged, answering honestly. "We didn't believe that... but I'm starting to think that it did now. According to Blanche, touching the scale made a Feebas evolve. Turned it into the most beautiful pokemon I have ever seen. It called itself Milotic. We tried to get other scales, but the pokemon started snatching them up and running off with them by the time we got down there. We don't know much more than that." Mark pointed to the pocket, saying a little confused. "You think the scale attracted it? Like a power source?" Sean shrugged, but the Masked Man huffed lightly and began to talk to himself as he paced the width of the long tunnel. "That's the piece that's missing. Holy shit... It's so obvious..." Sean and Mark shared a strange look, before Sean asked him a bit sternly. "Care to fill us in?" The Masked Man stopped pacing to tell them excitedly. "That's the link. That is what pierced the hole in this dimension." Mark rubbed his temples, mumbling out. "I'm lost."

The Masked Man kneeled down, picking up a rock to draw six lines in the dirt. Pointing to one line, he told them as clearly as he could. "Ok. Look. Let's say that one of these lines is a single timeline. You are at the top of this line. I am at the bottom. You are living in my timeline's past. I'm from your future. Got it?" Sean nodded, but Mark shook his head. The man pointed to another line, continuing on. "This line is a timeline from a different dimension. Similar to our own but with key differences." The man drew squiggles between each line, telling them. "This is the Time Vortex. This is what allowed me to travel through time. Each dimension has its own Time Vortex. Allowing you to go forward or backward in time only for that SINGLE timeline." Sean blinked, slipping in curiously. "Then how did you get that ring from another timeline if you can only go along that one timeline?"

The Masked Man raised a finger, carefully saying. "I'm getting to that. From what I've gathered, something BIG happened in one of these other dimensions. An event so drastic that it cut a rift in time itself." The man drew a line from the last line straight across to the far line, informing them gently. "This rift in time allows all the Time Vortex's to leak into another. Spilling events from the Big Event to everyone else. And thus... leading to a devastating future for us all." Mark looked to Sean, asking nervously. "Is he saying that pokemon is going to destroy the world?" Sean didn't know how to answer that. Instead, he asked the Masked Man seriously. "Alright. Start talking, Stranger. What do you know?" The Masked Man rose up to his full height and removed his ice mask. The man was surprisingly an older man in his mid-forties or early fifties. Flipping his hood back to reveal his short white hair, he told them honestly. "My name is Pryce. I'm a Gym Leader from Johto... but not the Johto you know today. I come from years into the future. As a young man, I watched a Great War come to an end after nearly tearing this world apart. That same war... will start soon in your time."

Sean wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. He didn't feel like a war was coming. The Teams battled and bickered, but none of their fights ended badly enough to cause some Great War. Mark hugged Rapidash's neck, mumbling out. "What proof do you have of this?" Pryce locked eyes with Mark, answering in a serious tone. "I can't give you proof. I just know. I've been trapped in a Time Vortex for five years. I've seen multiverses from all over time and space. And I think I know why this Great War starts... Because of me..." Pryce covered his mouth and moved to slump against the wall. Sliding down to the floor, Pryce sniffled out in a choked voice. "I didn't mean for this to happen... I just wanted to save my Pokemon... But this rift... It sent me all over and now I feel like I'm being punished by the universe for my crimes..." Sean kneeled down in front of him, trying to be sympathetic as he said gently. "I'm sorry. I truly am. But you need to tell us exactly what is happening."

Pryce wiped his eyes with the sleeves of his blue robe, before starting off in a more collected voice. "The war starts with three Teams. Your teams. No one knows how it started. But as the war grows, your teams with draft others into the war. Both Men and Pokemon. The war will last for years. Then in the Kalos region, King Azoth of the Azoth Kingdom will build a machine. In my history it is said that King Azoth made the machine and revived his pokemon that died in the war. However, because the lives of thousands of Pokemon had to be taken to revive it. His revived Pokemon left him out of guilt. Leaving King Azoth distraught and heartbroken. It was said that the King turned the machine into an Ultimate Weapon that he planned to fire on the world to end the war as violently as it had began... but he didn't. At the last minute, he changed his mind." Mark shrugged, saying relieved. "That's good then. It never-" Pryce's pained eyes silenced him, before saying softly. "I said in OUR timeline it didn't happen. But I saw a timeline when he did fire it, and I believe it is this event that has caused the rift in time and space."

Sean shuffled his feet, feeling goosebumps spring up along his arms as he mumbled out. "There is no way to know that for sure." Pryce tilted his head back against the wall, telling them gently. "I'm not finished. See... The Ultimate Weapon was so strong that the beam shot straight up into the sky... but the beam never came back down to earth like King Azoth had planned. Instead... it hit something. Whatever it hit was said to have caused strange things to rain down from the sky. Colorful stones, glittering scales, meteorites, and more. Every dimension seemed to get something different, but they all came from the same thing. Throughout every multiverse that I've seen... these mysterious things rained down across the land. Wherever they landed, they emitted powerful energy unlike anything that anyone has ever seen." Pryce removed his pokedex, flipping it open as he told them in a numb voice. "In the future. We have these to try calculating how many pokemon are left after the war... When I went into the Time Vortex. My Dexter picked this up from one of the databases of the multiverse. Dexter, read the last entry for them."

The light on the Pokedex blinked as a casual male voice, stated aloud. "Necrozma. The Prism Pokemon. Also known as the 'Blinding One.' A Space Pokemon of unknown origin that fell to earth from another world in ancient times. Was believed to be the meteor that almost ended all life on Earth. Its fall forced it into a deep sleep underground for thousands of years. Necrozma was once a colossal dragon of pure light energy. However, Necrozma can no longer hold the light it once did due to its injury. It is believed that this Pokemon searches to become whole again by devouring all light and energy. Necrozma is capable of opening and traveling through wormholes in space. This Pokemon should be considered extremely hostile." Pryce closed the pokedex, locking eyes with Sean as he told him grimly. "It has been following me through the Time Vortex for years... I can't shake him. If I had not tried to go back in time... I never would have brought him here. And now because of me... the most catastrophic war in history will start." To Be Continued...