Chapter 28: Miracle of the Crystals
Everyone stared at the cliff wall in dismay. Sunflora had covered her mouth with her leaves in horror, and Loudred was frantically shaking his head in denial. Diglett and Dugtrio were burrowing along the edge of the cliff, trying to find a way through. Chimecho turned to Croagunk with a lost look on her face, but he could offer her no comfort; all he could do was shrug and shake his head grimly. Bidoof gulped in fear while Chatot spluttered and flapped his wings. Silent tears trailed down Mason's face, and Paula patted his arm, trying to comfort him, but failing because she was barely restraining her own tears. Wigglytuff approached the wall and tried to break through with a "YOOM-TAH!"…but it had no effect. At seeing that, everyone began to babble frantically. Their voices grew louder and louder along with their fear and dismay:
"Oh no!"
"What do we do NOW?!"
"Did anyone see any crystals on the way here? Maybe we just missed the entrance…?"
"Eek! Oh my gosh! This is horrible!"
The noise caused Laura to stir. "What's… going on…?" she murmured sleepily, her eyes still closed.
Upon hearing her voice, everyone went silent. Mason frantically scrubbed the tears from his eyes and turned his head so that he could look at her.
"Oh… S-sorry Laura, did we wake you?" he asked, unable to stop the quiver in his voice.
Laura frowned and struggled to open her eyes and focus on him. Mason smiled at her, but she wasn't fooled. She could see how red and puffy his eyes were.
"What's… wrong?" she asked. "Why… were you… crying?"
"I wasn't crying!" Mason insisted unconvincingly. "I was just…"
Laura's frown deepened when he just trailed off sadly like that. She realized by Mason's reaction that no one was going to tell her what was going on, so she struggled to straighten up a little and blearily observed her surroundings. It took her a few moments, but her brain finally lit up with recognition and she happily sighed, "Oh… we're here…"
Paula frowned. "What do you mean, 'we're here?'" she asked.
"The entrance to… the cave is… in this cliff wall," Laura replied sleepily as her energy became spent and she snuggled back down into Mason's back.
"WHAT?!" everyone exclaimed, faces alight with both hope and confusion.
"B-but… hey, hey! I don't see any cave entrances!" Corphish spluttered.
Laura mumbled something too low for Corphish to hear. But Mason heard it just fine and relayed the message, blushing sheepishly, "Ah… she said something along the lines of, 'It's hidden. I told you that only Mistress and I could get in.'"
Everyone else joined Mason in his sheepish blushing.
"S-so if it's hidden… then what should we look for?" Paula asked.
Mason searched his thoughts. "Um… Probably a symbol of some sort. I don't know which of them would have put it on there, so I can't say for certain what it would look like… but it would probably be at eye-level."
"Eye-level?" Bidoof repeated before squinting and looking at the wall again. He frowned, "Oof… I'm looking at eye-level, but… all I see is moss and rock…"
Mason rolled his eyes and sighed, "Human eye-level, Bidoof."
There was a pause before Paula timidly asked, "And, uh… where would that be…?"
Mason stared at her, and she blushed before explaining herself, "It's just… I've heard of humans before, but, aside from some of Laura's paintings, I've never actually seen one. How tall are they?"
Mason blinked before mentally slapping himself for assuming that everyone knew a lot about humans. He sighed and kneaded his forehead, trying to think of a good description. "Okay, well… the height can vary. It depends on things like age… but I'm pretty sure that a human adult would be taller than everyone here. Wigglytuff and Loudred might rival a young child, but…"
Everyone's jaws dropped and they stared at him in shock. Loudred was the first to come out of it, and he whistled, "WOW… humans must be REALLY tall up CLOSE…"
"Meh heh heh… It's hard to believe when you look at how tiny a former human can be…" Croagunk said, giving a pointed look at the still kind of out-of-it Laura. Chimecho giggled in agreement, and he glanced at her and grinned.
Mason rolled his eyes again and floated upwards. "Anyways," he began, trying to get everyone back on track, "if a symbol were placed at a child's eye-level, it would be around here…" He floated upwards again and said, "And if it were at our Mistress' eye-level, it would be around here."
Mason turned around and looked down at the group, frowning when he noticed how everyone had their heads craned upwards. He glanced back at the spot he had indicated and reluctantly admitted, "Hm… This is pretty high up… this isn't going to be easy…"
Everyone began looking for symbols on the cliff wall. Chatot and Chimecho proved to be the most help, as they could float and fly. They could easily reach the higher-up areas of a human adult's eye-level. Chimecho was the one who finally spotted it.
"Oh! Over here!" she exclaimed, causing everyone to rush over with hope. "I think I've found something! It looks like… a Time Gear!"
"WHAT?! A TIME GEAR?!" Loudred demanded. "So… so Dusknoir WAS right? There really IS a Time Gear here?"
"Not necessarily," Mason said, studying the symbol. "The Time Gear is also the symbol of our Mistress." He paused, fondly fingering the symbol, before adding, "Well… technically her symbol existed long before the Time Gears were created, but… I'm getting off-subject. Laura!" he suddenly called, causing her to sleepily look at him. "Can you open the cave for us?"
Laura nodded and he brought her closer to the symbol. She placed her hand on it before closing her eyes in concentration. The symbol began to glow, and then everyone heard a subtle click. Everyone was briefly alarmed when the ground started to shake, but they quickly relaxed when they realized that it was caused by a section of the wall opening up.
"Oh my gosh! It worked!" Sunflora exclaimed, clapping her leaves together in excitement.
Corphish shared in the excitement by saying, "Hey, hey! What are we waiting for? Let's go in!"
They headed in, but they all had to stop abruptly at the entrance and shield their eyes because the rainbow glow, which had been faint from the outside, was almost too overpowering in the cave itself. But their eyes soon adjusted and they all stared in awe. The cave… it was breathtaking. Aura Crystals were glimmering everywhere, on the walls… the floors… the ceiling… Occasionally one would glow brighter before disintegrating, and sometimes a glow would signify that a new crystal was coming into being. But the rate of disappearance seemed to be faster than that of new formation...
A strong glow from the back of the group made everyone turn in surprise to see Laura absorb a crystal that was beneath her outstretched hand. Laura seemed to glow as well, and when the light died down she blinked in slight surprise before smiling.
Mason anxiously asked, "Laura? How do you feel now?"
"I'm not… so tired anymore," Laura hesitantly admitted. "But… I still feel a little…"
"Don't be shy, Laura. Take as many crystals as you need," Mason insisted. Then his eyes creased in worry when he noticed that Laura's smile had turned into a frown of confusion. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
Laura shook her head. "No," she assured. "It's just… I think that there used to be a lot more crystals the last time I was here…"
Mason frowned at that, but Laura offered no further explanation and simply reached out to absorb another crystal. Everyone else set off to help too by looking for the biggest crystals in the cave and bringing them back to Laura. With each crystal absorbed she showed marked improvement. She was less lethargic, and even her eyes seemed brighter.
"Ooh!" Wigglytuff suddenly exclaimed after giving her a crystal. "I bet this is how Mew feels when he returns the Gift to the Treasure!"
"Mew?" Laura thought as she absorbed the crystal. "Why does that name sound familiar…?" Once the crystal was gone, Laura thanked Wigglytuff before saying to Mason, "You can put me down now."
"Are you sure?" Mason asked, even as he lowered himself closer to the floor so that she could climb off.
Laura nodded, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I can walk now."
Laura got down and took a few steps. She stumbled briefly, causing Mason and Wigglytuff to reach for her in order to steady her, but she waved them off and absorbed a few nearby crystals. Then she wandered around on her own, albeit unsteadily.
Meanwhile, Paula was searching for good crystals deeper into the cave. She looked along the ground and paused when something caught her eye. She bent down to inspect it and gasped before calling back, "Laura! You've got to see this!"
Laura walked over with wobbly steps. When she saw what had Paula so excited, her eyes widened. "This… isn't this the same flower design that we saw in Brine Cave?" she asked.
Indeed, it was. Even though it was a little scuffed up, the white outline of the flower could be clearly seen. It was also the only spot in the cave that was completely devoid of crystals.
Paula nodded "Yeah! I wonder what it's doing here…" Then she paused. "Wait… it was a flower?" she asked in surprise. Then she paused again as she realized something. "Wait a minute! You remember seeing this design in Brine Cave? Then… gasp! Laura! Is your amnesia going away?!"
Laura blinked and her eyes widened. "I… I think it is!" she exclaimed. "I remember… We saw this in Brine Cave! And then… at the end, Grovyle met up with us! And then we rode on Lapras! But…" she frowned and sighed. "That's all I can remember…"
"Still! That's an improvement over before!" Paula said happily. "I bet it's because of the crystals! They're replenishing your aura… so, as part of 'knowledge,' they must also be improving your memory!" she deduced. "I bet if you absorb some more, your memory will get even better!"
She looked around to see if there were any big crystals nearby, and spotted Bidoof balancing some on his back. "Bidoof!" she called out. "Can you please bring those over here?"
"Yup, yup!" Bidoof called back, heading over.
He had to move slowly in order to keep the crystals from falling off his back, so Laura took some time to further study the design on the floor. For some reason, looking at it caused something to nag at the back of her mind…
"Here you go!" Bidoof said cheerfully as he neared them. But he stumbled just before he reached them, and the crystals fell off his back. One of them rolled over in Laura's direction just as she was taking as step back to get a different view of the design. She accidentally stepped on the crystal instead of the ground, and it caused her to slip and fall face-down, right into the middle of the design.
"Waah! I'm sorry, Laura!" Biddof said frantically. "Are you okay?"
Laura sat up and turned back towards him, flashing an understanding smile. "Don't worry," she assured. "I'm f—"
She was cut off when the design beneath her began to glow. The rest of the crystals in the cave followed suit, and everyone stopped what they were doing to look around in shock. When they realized that it was coming from Laura's direction, they immediately hurried over in worry.
As they did so, the glowing crystals all dissolved into balls of light which shot off to surround Laura. She began to glow brighter and brighter, and the light soon became so intense that it outshone the light given off by a Luminous Orb! There was a big flash, and then the cave was shrouded in darkness. Everyone began to chatter in fear.
"Eek!"
"Squawk!"
"WHAT THE-?!"
Slowly everyone's eyes readjusted to the dark, and they became aware of a distinct lack of Aura Crystals in the cave. They all looked around in confusion, and a sudden groan made their eyes jump back to the middle of the design on the ground. Where Laura had once been there was now a heap of gray, only distinguishable from the surrounding rocks that made up the floor and walls of the cave because of its contrast with the white of the design. The heap stirred, and everyone realized that it had been the source of the groan. It groaned again before it seemed to… unfold. With a start, everyone realized that the gray heap was a living being! But… most of them hadn't seen anything like it before.
The creature sat up slowly before kneeling on all fours. The gray… it appeared to be some sort of cloth. It covered the creature's torso, but, aside from small strips on its shoulders, it left its arms bare and contrasted greatly with its pale skin. The cloth covered its legs down to its calves, leaving only a few inches of skin bare between it and the cloth covering its feet. There was also a second layer of cloth tied around its waist that fanned out around its knees. The creature had a gray bandana on its head, but beneath it was long, brown fur that reached the middle of its back. It had blue bandages on its arms, and, with a start, Paula realized that they must have been soaked in Oran Berry juice. It also wore a Time Gear bracelet and Time Gear embroidered ribbon tied around its wrist…
Slowly the figure sat up, and everyone jumped back when they saw how big it was. The creature stretched its arms above its head before rubbing its closed eyes. As its hands dropped back to its sides, the eyes slowly blinked open. They shone with the brilliance of a rainbow that was so very familiar…
Mason was numb with shock, but everyone else gasped in a strange mixture of disbelief and realization, "L-Laura…?"
The creature blinked and cocked its head before innocently asking, "Yes?"
