Volcarona was dead. 

I was left there facing her shrine and the embers floating around, hovering above the dusty floor and carrying the egg that once belonged to her. 

Almost at once, another mythical burst in out of nowhere and immediately flew up to the shrine, repeating, "No, no, no, no, no... did I miss it?" It was Meloetta. She turned around and faced me, saying, "So I have... Celebi, why are you holding Volcarona's egg? Why are you down here in the first place?" 

I tried to come up with something until I gave up and said, "Look, it's a long story... Volcarona entrusted this egg to me, by the way." 

She was surprised to hear that, replying, "She said I would would be the one to care for that egg... I suppose she was desperate. She was running out of fuel by that point, anyway." 

Looking at the egg, and then back at Meloetta, I offered, "I'm not sure I would be able to take care of the egg anyway. You can have it if you want." 

She actually declined to my surprise, saying, "I would gladly take it off your hands if I could. However, I've got a performance at Celestial Tower soon, and I can't exactly bring an egg with me." 

It didn't take too long for me to work out a compromise, "I can look after the egg in Pinwheel Forest until you get back. You can take it from there." 

Meloetta seemed to like that, and she flew out of the shrine, somehow disappearing without a trace. Unfortunately, none of this solved the fact that I still couldn't get out of here. The entrace was still buried with sand. It really left me wishing Mew wasn't the only mythic that could teleport. But then a crazy thought came to me.

If I couldn't jump across space, why not jump across time? I had never done it before, yet it seemed like I already could do it as an innate skill. But by now I had no other choice. I tried to concentrate on how I would pull this off, but then it came to me almost instantaneously. Without even trying, I could feel my antennae start to glow and hover higher than they normally would and a iridiscent aura formed around me. At least that's what I assumed, because I could literally see nothing but rainbow. Soon, I felt myself warping in a whole new, weird way. It was a bit like teleporting through Mew's wormholes, but at the same time it was completely new, unlike anything I've ever experienced. Eventually the weird feeling ending, and I could finally see normally again. 

Somehow a reflex in me told me how far back I had traveled; 2,500 years. It only made sense I would think of this time, as the egg I was holding was a constant reminder of this era. I was in the same shrine room I was in before, but everything was... newer. There was no sand at all. The numerous decorations were actually decorative and not faded out. The walls were more refined. By far the most obvious difference, though, was that there were several rows of people, all staring in my direction. Volcarona was still treated as a goddess. 

I didn't know what I was expecting from the crowd, but at once, they all starting cheering, with some of them saying," It's a sign we'll have a good harvest!" and things like that. I couldn't just zip out of there, with everyone expecting me to do something. So I did the smart thing and slowly hovered above everyone in an unassuming manner until I reached the door... then I zipped out of there.

Before anyone saw me, I found a rather large rag and placed it on top of me, using Psychic to keep it from falling off. Carrying the egg again, I darted past many people and pokemon who looked on with suspicion but shrugged it off. It astounded me how much cleaner and nicer this place was this long ago, only becoming more apparant as I got closer to the surface. When I finally made it past the door, I immediately went to hide from the huge crowd outside, before taking off the rag. 

Buildings were everywhere, as far as I could see. This was the so-called empire... it lived it to its name. But what caught my attention was the sky. It was darkened and full of smog. It made me queasy. There was also that really bright object in the sky that I could barely stare at. It hurt my eyes but felt great everywhere else. At once I knew it was Volcarona. She was doing a great job, far more powerful than when I first met her. No wonder she was treated as a goddess.

While marveling at this ancient city was really cool, I of course had to get back to my own time. I had screwed with this one enough already. Luckily, it seemed my little system had already hard-coded my own timeline for easy access. It was awfully convienient, but after all, I was the only one who was supposed to have this power (no offense to Dialga). I as I flew up into the sky again to avoid unnecesary attention, I concentrated and used the same power I used before, once again covering myself in an iridiscent glow, antennae levitating. By the time I reached Volcarona's altitude, I had practically already teleported away to my own time. When the glow faded, I immediately noticed the smog was gone, the atmosphere being much more clean. In place of Volcarona was the actual sun. Looking down, just about no buildings were left, only a small part of the Relic Castle. All this assured me I was back where I belonged... sort of.

I still had to get back to Pinwheel Forest. The height advantage I already had helped me evade detection as I flew back to Castelia City looming in the distance. Once again the view of it was magnificent. The huge river that surrounded the city had a whole new feel to it as I followed the Skyarrow Bridge back to the forest I was just beginning to call home. I saw the usual scene I expected to see, as I flew into the clearing where I usually met everyone. Again, N was the first to greet me, saying, "There you are, Hano. You just vanished on us, we were starting to get worried. Also, what's with the egg?" 

I just realized I had it and felt stupid for forgetting I had while I was carrying it. Regardless, as I placed the egg near N, I replied, "Volcarona told me to watch it for now. Meloetta's supposed to pick it up soon." 

"Don't tell me; you were at the Relic Castle?" he replied. 

"Actually, you'd be right," I admitted. "How'd you know?"

"Just a feeling," N told me. 

I knew that wasn't true, but there was no point arguing. For the first time, I actually took a good look at the egg as everyone gathered around to do the same. It was brown and hard, with a few red dots scattered around, and it was cracking... wait, what? I did a double take proving that the cracks were really there, and only spreading. As everyone tried to get closer while I pushed them back, more and more cracked open until I saw a small pokemon climb out. 

It resembled Volcarona a lot, but as a grub. Instead of wings, it had five red spikes around its neck. As it wriggled free of its new eggshell, it gazed at the first pokemon it spotted, which was... me. Of course. It immediately squirmed across to me and looked up at me. I could only guess it wanted affection. I put my hand out to pet it, if that would work, and as soon as I touched it, I recoiled and pulled my hand back. I guess it still had the scorching heat of its mother.

Soon, I heard something in the trees that apparently no one else did. I looked around I saw a familiar figure who was rapidly getting closer. I panicked when I saw that it was Meloetta. What would her reaction be to the egg hatching? She came into the clearing and started, "Sorry, I was in a rush! Now, whereeee's the..." she trailed off as she spotted the baby pokemon snuggling up with me. My eyes were wandering as I was trying to figure how I would say this, but apparently I didn't need to. The baby pokemon jumped off me and ran up to Meloetta, who was more confused than ever. It seemed like it knew her already... 

I told Meloetta, "The egg started hatching as soon as I set it down. You think it's because the energy I provided upon entering the forest incubated it?" It was the best answer I could come up with. 

She replied, "That's plausible. Larvesta seems to have grown attached to me already." So that was it's name. Would've been nice if Volcarona told me.

I asked, "So are you going to take Larvesta?" 

Meloetta answered, "I think it's the best idea. Though maybe I could take it to Pinwheel Forest every so often. It seems to like this place." 

With that, we reached an agreement, and Meloetta flew off with Larvesta. 

With that, I took a moment to calm down from the resulting confusion, before a Water Gun hit me in the head out of nowhere. I shook my head and looked around to see where it came before thinking of the nearby creek. I flew over quickly to hear a voice say, "It's been a while, huh, Hano?" Seeing where the voice came from brought me to a familiar friend. It was Kingdra.