Author's Note: I really would have loved to see how Grovyle's side of the "end game" went, so here's Leaf's point of view. It's fairly short, but I enjoyed this chapter...

Chapter Thirteen: Cooperation

Leaf was decidedly uncomfortable by the time he arrived at Limestone Cavern again.

It wasn't because he'd had to fight through the other dungeons on the way again; they had actually been a bit easier than last time by virtue of experience. Rather, it was because Leaf still felt guilty about what had happened the last time he'd been here, though he knew there was little he could do about it now.

Sighing, Leaf entered the cavern. After Treeshroud Forest, at least he was expecting the area to be paralyzed; it didn't make him feel any better about it, though.

Leaf hurried through the dungeon, having to fight quite a few more of its residents this time. Despite the fairly short amount of time the area had been paralyzed, it had quite the impact on them; it was really no wonder why so many of the Pokémon in the future were the way they were… That was yet another reason for Leaf to make sure he did things correctly now.

He allowed himself a short break upon reaching Limestone Cavern's branching area. Fortunately, Rin had packed him a good deal of Oran Berries, and he sat down to catch his breath as he ate one. Claire really was lucky, he mused, to have met such good teammates; despite the fact this was a simple convenience, it was something he appreciated nonetheless.

Leaf stood up quickly, passing through the false wall again. He quickened his pace, trying to avoid fights whenever possible; he was lucky Limestone Cavern was a relatively small dungeon.

When he reached Ditto's chamber, Leaf felt his heartbeat speed up… He wasn't quite sure what to expect. Slowly, he walked forward, and his stomach hitched when he reached the back of the room.

Ditto was frozen in place in the same area Leaf had last seen him. His formerly bright-pink skin had a rather dull hue to it now, and he was so stiff that had Leaf not known better he would have assumed Ditto was merely a statue. At the very least, it seemed Ditto had had the time to eat the Oran Berry Leaf had offered him, as the guardian's injuries were all healed.

"I'm sorry," Leaf said quietly. "I know you probably can't hear me, but…"

Suddenly, there was an odd gleam in Ditto's eyes, and he seemed to be looking straight at Leaf. Had his eyes just moved? Leaf inhaled sharply; despite being frozen, it was possible Ditto was still conscious.

"Can you hear me?" he asked hesitantly.

Ditto's eyes shifted again; his barely-distinguishable pupils moved to the side before focusing back on Leaf. Biting his lip, Leaf looked to the side before going on.

"I owe you an explanation, I suppose," Leaf murmured. "Have you heard of Temporal Tower? I need to take the Time Gears there to… to fix the tower. Things will go back to normal here once I've been there. I promise you that."

Ditto's eyes shone with tears that were unable to fall. As he forced himself to walk away from Ditto, Leaf had to close his eyes for a moment, though for an entirely different reason than the previous time.

When he entered the Time Gear's chamber, the gear was sitting uselessly on its pedestal, just as the one in Treeshroud Forest had been. Leaf sighed as he picked it up and put it gingerly into his bag. This time, there was no rumbling, no fear of being frozen, and no swarm of panicking Pokémon, and yet Leaf almost wished there was. It would have been far preferable to the way the cavern was now…

Before he could berate himself further, Leaf fled from the chamber, more motivated than ever to finish his mission.

Out of the three lakes, Fogbound Lake was the closest, and Leaf immediately set out for there. It was still a somewhat long trip, but at least this time he wasn't stopping back at Treasure Town each time he collected a gear…

The fact that the temporary paralysis seemed to be worsening did little to comfort Leaf. When he arrived at Foggy Forest, there was a dull, grayish tint in the air that he knew couldn't be fog; time had stopped shortly after he'd lifted the fog, after all. Scowling, Leaf proceeded through the area as quickly as possible.

Leaf couldn't help heaving a rather gusty sigh when he reached the clearing. While it wasn't quite as bad as its future counterpart, the waterfalls were stopped in place and the sky was somewhat dark. He couldn't let it get any worse.

Steam Cave's residents were much more aggressive than they'd been the previous time, unfortunately. Not that Leaf blamed them, but it made getting through the dungeon even more difficult than it had been before.

He dreaded reaching the top, knowing what awaited him… However, when he arrived at the plateau, Leaf stood there in complete silence for several minutes. This time, there was no rumbling to indicate the Groudon illusion's heavy footsteps.

Confused, Leaf cautiously took a few steps forward. He then jumped a bit higher than he would have cared to admit when there was a bright flash of light a few feet ahead of him.

Uxie was suddenly waiting for him in the gap between the hills in the distance. Surprisingly, the Psychic-Type merely beckoned towards Leaf before heading towards the lake. Leaf followed him warily, wondering what exactly was going on.

When Leaf approached him, Uxie was quietly observing Fogbound Lake. There was a geyser mid-eruption in the middle, held in place by the area's paralysis just as the waterfalls had been. After a sigh, Uxie turned towards Leaf with a small smile on his face.

"You know… You could have told me what you needed the Time Gear for last time," he chided, though there was a hint of humor in his voice.

Leaf raised an eyebrow. "What…? You're saying you would have listened? And why the change of heart now?"

"Perhaps I would have, though it's hard to know for sure." Uxie paused, though his smile grew a moment later. "And you'll have to thank the Guild later. They sent recruits to tell Mesprit, Azelf, and me what was going on, though one of us could have told the other two…"

"I see." Leaf nodded. "So… You do know why I need the Time Gears, then, yes?"

"I do. It's strange…" Uxie sighed. "The other guardians and I were told there was some other purpose the gears served, but we were never told what, precisely, that purpose was. Dialga told us he'd let us know 'when the time was right,' but…"

"This certainly seems like a good time to fill you in," Leaf answered pointedly.

"Precisely, and that's been worrying me." Uxie frowned. "It makes me wonder if…"

As the guardian trailed off, Leaf felt a flash of worry himself. How had Uxie intended to finish that sentence? It could have been something that Leaf needed to know, especially if it was something about Dialga…

Uxie quickly shook his head, having caught Leaf's nervous look.

"I apologize; I'm likely just thinking too much. Just a moment."

Uxie vanished, and his silhouette was temporarily visible in the middle of the frozen geyser. A few seconds later, he reappeared in front of Leaf, and he was holding the Time Gear. He handed it to Leaf, who carefully put it in his bag with the other two.

"Good luck," Uxie said. "And remember, we're on your side this time."

"Thank you."

With an appreciative nod, Leaf hurried away, feeling relieved.

The Northern Desert was just as paralyzed as Foggy Forest was, Leaf observed. The quicksand pits were frozen in place, causing him to merely slide down them instead of being pulled in.

Leaf ran all the way through Quicksand Cave, once again having to fight many of the dungeon's residents. Despite the area having been paralyzed for a slightly shorter amount of time, it was affecting the local Pokémon just as much as, if not more than, the paralysis in other areas was.

Perhaps they wouldn't have had to be this way at the moment if Leaf had done things correctly the first time… Now was no time to guilt-trip himself, though, so Leaf hurriedly pushed that thought out of his mind.

Mesprit was waiting for him when he reached the lake, and she was actually grinning at him. She waved excitedly, and Leaf approached her with a curious expression.

"Hey, there!" she called. "You'll be wanting this…"

Mesprit was already holding the Time Gear, and Leaf darted up to her.

"Indeed." Leaf nodded. "I'm a bit surprised at how quickly you all are accepting this, but…"

Before she handed him the Time Gear, Mesprit paused and suddenly had a more serious look on her face. Leaf was a bit taken aback; Mesprit was staring at him rather intensely.

"It would have been nice if you hadn't attacked us last time," she said. "Why didn't you tell anyone what you were really doing?"

Leaf sighed. "I'm… not entirely sure. All I knew was that I hadn't been able to trust anyone before, and, well… You know what everyone's reactions were to me taking the Time Gears."

"You have a point there, I suppose."

Mesprit's serious tone dropped, and Leaf felt an extreme wave of relief washing over him. The guardian was abruptly cheery again as she floated towards him. Leaf wondered offhand if her mood was affecting his at all as some kind of side-effect of her emotional powers.

Nevertheless, he assumed it didn't matter too much. As long as Mesprit was willingly giving him her Time Gear, Leaf wouldn't object to any of the minor details.

"How many is it that you have now?" she queried.

Leaf secured the gear in his bag before answering.

"Four. I'm almost finished, so your lake will be back to normal soon, I promise you."

The two of them stared out at the frozen water. Large waves sat in place further back in the lake, while the water near the shore refused to move any further or closer away from them. Mesprit frowned and closed her eyes for a moment before looking at Leaf.

"That's… that's been the worst part, to be honest," she admitted. "I know it was necessary and only temporary now, but…"

"But you still felt responsible at the time?" Leaf finished. "Well… I felt similarly when I failed before. We're making up for it now, so don't worry yourself anymore."

Mesprit's eyes were a bit bright as she gave him a nod in confirmation, and yet her grin was a bit wider, too. Giving her a quick smile of his own, Leaf hurried away, determined to keep up his deal this time.

Now was as good a time as any to leave a message for Claire, Leaf decided.

He headed towards Treasure Town rather cautiously. Despite the fact that Claire had to have told everyone the truth about him while explaining the current situation, going about in public made him a bit nervous. It would likely take everyone some time to fully accept him, so Leaf restricted himself to sneaking along the edges of town again.

When he reached the bluff, Leaf quickly glanced over his shoulder and scurried inside. Interestingly, all five of the beds were still set up… More importantly, though, there was a scrap of paper sitting on the one he remembered Claire had slept on. Leaf curiously picked it up, recognizing Claire's handwriting quickly enough.

'Dear Leaf,' the message started, 'I hope this message finds you safe! I'm not sure how many of the Time Gears you'll have by the time you'll read this, but we told the guild to warn the lake guardians so they don't fight you again. You may want to wait a little while just to be sure the recruits have time to get there… Of course, if you've already been there by the time you see this, you'd already know that…

'Anyway, while it's a bit slow, we're making some progress on finding the Hidden Land. Be sure to let us know how many Time Gears you have when you get here! Oh, and I don't know if you have any paper, but just in case, we left you some. From, Claire.'

Leaf smiled absently as he tucked the note into his bag. He took one of the sheets of paper lying near the middle of the cavern and quickly penned a reply, being sure to thank them for the messengers. When he finished, Leaf started to walk towards the stairs, but then paused and turned around again.

Claire had asked him about her family when they'd returned to the past together, and she deserved to know. Leaf grabbed some more paper and raised the pen again, but then he hesitated suddenly; he doubted letting Claire know this would really be a good idea. The fact that most of her family was dead could put quite the damper on her determination, and the idea of getting to see Andrew again would likely give her a sense of false hope. Leaf just couldn't do that to her.

Sighing, Leaf abandoned the idea and left the bluff. There was one Time Gear left, and now was not the time for dwelling.

When Leaf arrived in the final chamber of Crystal Cave, the crystal puzzle was already open. It confused him for a moment, but he supposed Azelf was expecting him, and this time it was a good thing.

It certainly helped that Crystal Cave wasn't paralyzed. After seeing so many Pokémon suffering from frozen time, it was quite refreshing to see the "normal" ones here.

He assumed Azelf would be waiting for him near the lake as Uxie and Mesprit had. When he reached the final chamber, Leaf was proven right, although Azelf didn't turn to face him immediately. Instead, Azelf was staring intently at the lake.

Leaf couldn't blame him; unlike Fogbound Lake and Underground Lake, the water was actually moving as it should be. It was one of the many minor yet beautiful things that had driven Leaf's resolve even more… He wouldn't let this lake get frozen.

"It's quite beautiful, isn't it?"

Azelf jumped when he heard Leaf's voice. He smiled as he turned around, however, and the guardian nodded as Leaf approached.

"It is," he replied softly. "It's surprising how little I thought of it before now, but…"

He looked away quickly, though, and Leaf cringed. Although Azelf wasn't showing it much, it was clear he was a bit nervous.

"Look, ah… I'm sorry about last time," he mumbled.

Azelf chuckled. "No, don't worry about it; I was being too stubborn. You were only doing what you thought you had to do."

It was a weak justification; they both knew how badly Leaf had hurt Azelf. There was nothing that could be done about it now, of course… Leaf still shuddered, though, thinking about what he'd done to Team Shadow as well.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Azelf vanished abruptly. He then reappeared in the middle of the lake, fetching the Time Gear. As he handed it to Leaf, a deep rumbling sounded from the back of the chamber as the lake stilled. Leaf had to steady himself as he quickly put the Time Gear in his bag.

"I warned the dungeon's residents that this would happen," Azelf shouted over the din. "Let's get out of here!"

He put a hand on Leaf's shoulder, and his eyes started to glow. After a few seconds, they materialized outside the cave, and Leaf sighed in relief. Though he'd gotten plenty used to teleporting, between Celebi, Jirachi, and his fondness for Escape Orbs, Leaf wasn't exactly fond of it.

Azelf waited until he saw some of Crystal Cave's Pokémon exit the dungeon before he looked back to Leaf. Despite the fact that they'd been prepared, Azelf was clearly relieved to see they were making it out safely.

"Go," he said seriously. "We're counting on you."

"I know. I won't let you down!"

Leaf nodded over his shoulder as he bounded away. Anticipation ran high as he started making his way back towards Treasure Town.

He was finally doing what he was supposed to have done last time, and now there was only one thing left to accomplish.

Author's Note x2: Oh, Ditto… I like needlessly torturing characters. And seriously, did Dialga just never bother to tell the lake guardians what the Time Gears were supposed to do? And yes, I know the hero never leaves Grovyle a note, but hey, you should have.