Author's Note: This was initially intended to be the final side story, so I wanted to have something that was both mostly lighthearted and provided a few bits of world building. While I've got a couple more now, I figured I'd go ahead and post this now anyway.
Mundane Utility
"Hey, Dialga…" Claire said. "I have a question for you."
He blinked down at her. "Yes?"
It hadn't been too long since Claire had come to visit the future—or the present, really, if she thought about it. This was her original world, after all. At any rate, Dusknoir had taken her (along with Leaf and Celebi) to visit Temporal Tower so she could see how much it had been fixed up. Dialga had greeted her upon their arrival at the summit, and, after a brief conversation, an idea had struck her.
"Can you tell how long everything was…well, like it was?" she asked. "You know…paralyzed."
He tilted his head to the side as he thought it over, but then he nodded. Claire supposed it was kind of an odd question, or at least a sudden one. At any rate, Dialga was willing to figure it out. He closed his eyes, and the gem on his chest plate faintly glowed. There was a quiet ticking sound for a few seconds, and then Dialga nodded again.
"About three hundred years," he replied. "To be honest, it's something I'd wondered about as well. I suppose I could've checked before, but it hadn't occurred to me. Most of it simply…blurred together."
Well, that had taken an…awkward turn. Though to be fair, Dialga hadn't meant it in a depressing way; his answer had been more matter-of-fact. Claire shrugged as she thought about it, and then another idea occurred to her.
"Ooh, I just thought of something," she said eagerly. "Could you also tell how old we all are? Celebi's made guesses about how old I am before, but she's never really been sure about it."
Dialga blinked again. "You would ask for something so…mundane? Well, it's within my power to find out, but…"
He shrugged before closing his eyes again. His gem glowed, and the ticking noise started up. Finally, Dialga opened his eyes and looked down at her.
"Seventeen years," he commented. "Nearly eighteen. Most humans consider that to be an adult, from what I've heard."
"So, I'm almost an adult, huh," Claire mused. That applied to Andrew, too, then. And that, in turn, got her curious about everyone else. "Oh, how about everyone else? Leaf and Celebi and even Dusknoir!"
The three of them blinked at her before turning to each other and shrugging. Claire knew it wasn't a big deal, but she wanted to know anyway. And if Dialga didn't mind answering, then why not? He nodded again before looking at Leaf, and, after a few seconds, Dialga spoke up again.
"Sixteen," he answered. "Slightly younger in plain numbers, but a bit more mature by Grovyle standards."
"Interesting," Leaf mused. "I guess I have been curious about that…"
"So, you're younger than me, huh?" Claire grinned. "It's like you're my little brother or something, then! That's kinda cute."
"H-hey!" Leaf sputtered. "What did you say? I'm not…"
"You do have your cute moments, you know," Celebi teased. "Like how flustered you are right now!"
Leaf just huffed and looked away from everyone. Celebi had a point, Claire thought with a giggle. Before anyone else could speak up, though, Dialga had finished processing Celebi's age.
"And you are…approximately a hundred and twelve," he said, nodding to her.
"Wow, really?" Claire blinked. "You're that old, Celebi?"
"I am not old!" Now it was Celebi's turn to get huffy. "I'll have you know that my species can live for several hundred years, or so I've been told. Sometimes even up to a thousand! So that's actually pretty young."
"Indeed," Dialga agreed. "And to me, you all are practically infants. Now, let me see…" He looked at Dusknoir, paused, and then said, "Forty-eight. Fairly young for your species, as well."
"Hm." Dusknoir nodded. "Interesting. Maybe next time I'll bring Missy along—I'm curious about her age, as well."
Generally, the Misdreavus stayed at Temporal Tower, just like Dusknoir did. Today, she'd gone on a trip with the Sableye, though. Dialga had apparently spent the weeks following time's restoration creating a new set of Time Gears, and the Sableye were in charge of setting them out in appropriate places. And since Dusknoir was there with the others, Missy had gone along to supervise them.
"Yeah, I guess I am, too!" Claire nodded. Then, she looked up at Dialga and added, "Thanks, by the way."
Dialga laughed and shook his head. "It's no problem. Even if it was something so simple…I'm glad I could be of help."
"Besides!" Celebi chirped. "It's nice to see you in such good spirits, Dialga, dear. We should have little chats like this with you more often."
He snorted in amusement. "Well, if that's what you would like…I suppose I can oblige."
Yeah, Claire thought when it finally came time to leave. This had been fun, and it really was nice to see a more casual side of Dialga, too. After how much he'd suffered—and for so long—he deserved to relax just as much as anyone else did.
Mundane as it may have been, it was another sign of how much better things were now, and Claire decided she'd appreciate every little improvement she got to see.
