Author's Note: Since Crystal Cave got glossed over from the hero's point of view in the main fic, why not have it here? This is mainly for the sake of tweaking how the Dimensional Scream went, but having some fun with dramatic irony is always a nice bonus, too.

Crystal Clear

Claire frowned when she and her team arrived in the far chamber of Crystal Cave. This place felt familiar to her, too, but she'd put that thought aside while they'd traversed the dungeon. The nagging sensation was getting stronger now, though, and it was harder to ignore.

It really had been pretty, though; Bidoof was right about that. And this chamber was even better. The walls were covered in gemstones, and three large crystals were arranged in a triangle in the middle. Claire heard Felix gasp in amazement behind her, and she nodded in agreement as she looked around.

"Wow, no wonder Bidoof wanted to take a crystal from this place," she commented. "I just wonder what we need to do here…"

Rin tilted her head to the side as she thought it over. "Well, in the other two lakes…the path was hidden, right? So we probably have to do something special here, too…"

"Yep!" Iris nodded. "I don't see anything too obvious. Now we just need to figure out what the trick is."

Claire nodded as well as she took a few steps forward. Those big crystals seemed pretty important, so maybe they had to do something with them? Her question was answered when she heard a crackling sound, followed by a yelp of surprise from Felix.

He'd curiously touched one of the crystals, and there were a few sparks flashing around it. There was something odd about the crystal itself, too… It almost seemed to be brightening. No, it was brightening, Claire realized—it had been orange before, but now it was yellow instead.

"W-well, I guess now we know what this does," Felix muttered, eyes still wide. "I wonder if the others do that, too…"

"I'll try this one," Claire offered.

She walked over to the one closest to her and rested her paws on it. This one changed, too; after a few seconds, it faded from blue to purple. Iris eagerly ran over to the third one and tapped it as well; it quickly changed from red to orange. Well, that confirmed that all three crystals did the same thing.

However, she was soon distracted by an all-too-familiar headache. Claire gritted her teeth as the edges of her vision went white. She was getting another Dimensional Scream—which was quite handy, all things considered.

"It seems they all need to be blue. That opens a path to the lake."

"A lake? There's a lake here, too?"

"Yes, there is. Here, why don't you see what you can find?"

That one had just been voices, much like the one she'd gotten back at the Groudon statue. But there was something different about them… These voices belonged to different people (or Pokémon), Claire could tell.

And yet…there was something familiar about them. It was right there on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't quite name them, either. There was an almost wistful feeling accompanying the not-quite-memory, and Claire closed her eyes and shook her head.

She'd just gotten something helpful—so why did she feel sad all of a sudden?

"Oh, Claire! Did you see something again?"

Claire opened her eyes and blinked. Iris was looking at her intently; the Cacnea had obviously realized she'd gotten a Dimensional Scream. At her comment, Felix and Rin glanced over at her as well.

"Yeah, uh…I think I know what we need to do," she replied.

Curiously, she touched the crystal again and waited for it to turn blue. Then, she walked over to the other two and tapped them a couple of times. Finally, they all became the appropriate color. A loud rumbling sound echoed from somewhere deep beneath them, and the tips of the crystals started sparking with energy.

"W-we should all move!" Felix shouted over the din. "Hurry, Claire!"

She nodded as everyone scrambled back towards the chamber's entrance. Once the rumbling died down, she looked back over at the crystals. A larger gemstone with an entrance carved into it had appeared in the middle of the room, and there was a staircase beneath it. That probably led further into the dungeon, and Claire carefully took a few steps forward.

"I was right!" she mused aloud. "They did need to be blue."

"Yeah!" Iris cheered. "Now let's hurry and get to the lake. Come on!"

Everyone grinned as they headed towards the crystalline doorway. Claire's heart was pounding in her chest now; they were so close to Azelf that it was hard not to be nervous. She could only hope that they didn't get there too late…hopefully Grovyle would still be there.

At least now she had something else to focus on, and it was easier to put the lingering sense of sadness in the back of her mind. Claire didn't know what could've possibly happened to make this place upset her, but…she would do her best to ignore the feeling.