Chapter 3: …And Reappear!

Months passed, but Paula never really recovered from her sadness. One night she went for a walk on the beach where she and Laura had met, and she became overcome with grief. When Bidoof came to check on her, he was clueless about what to do to calm her down. He frantically looked for something to distract her, and something behind her caught his eyes.

It was a bright light. It started out as a small pinprick, but it gradually grew into a large orb. As Bidoof watched it expand he thought he saw something green in the middle. Something green that was alive! He quickly pointed it out to Paula, and they both watched as a miracle occurred. The green thing… it was Laura! She was back!

The light vanished and Laura fell to the sand, moaning. Bidoof and Paula rushed over, and Paula scooped her up into a hug and buried her face into Laura's chest.

"Laura!" Paula cried out with joy. "I missed you so much!"

"…I missed you… too…" Laura said with a far-off voice. "I'm so… so sorry that I had…to leave…"

"That's f-fine!" Paula sobbed. "You're back now!"

Laura's voice was faint as she replied, "Yes… but I'm still… drained…"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Paula asked as she looked up, startled by the tone of her friend's voice. Her shock increased when she noticed Laura's eyes.

"Laura! Your eyes! They're… they're like rainbows!" Paula exclaimed.

It was true. Laura's eyes reflected the brilliance of a rainbow. The colors were more pure than anything Paula had ever seen before. Well, anything except for the phenomenon that had occurred that fateful day many months ago… With a sharp gasp Paula realized that Laura's eyes looked exactly like the sky had on the day she returned from Temporal Tower!

Laura's weak chuckles broke Paula out of her thoughts. "Yes… but they won't remain… like this… for long… and… I'm sorry… but I'm not sure… that my memory will… either…"

Her friend's cryptic words left Paula confused and worried, but her emotions turned to shock when Laura's body suddenly became racked with tremors and rainbow-colored sparks. Paula and Bidoof were terrified and frantically called out to her.

Laura groaned as the sparks continued to fly and rack her body. "Sorry… but I probably won't r-remember this… when I wake up… ugh…"

With that, Laura collapsed. She continued to spark and tremble for a few moments, but quickly ceased and became motionless.

"Laura? Laura?!" Paula cried out in fear.

Bidoof rushed over and exclaimed, "Gosh! Is she okay? What was with that sparking?"

"She's cold… Bidoof, she's really, really cold…" Paula said with worry as she felt her partner's forehead. Bidoof noticed the lost expression on Paula's face and decided to take charge.

"We need to get her home," he stated with authority. Then he grinned as he realized something. "Golly! I reckon everyone's going to be real happy to see her!"

Paula broke into a wide smile and shed tears of happiness as she realized the same thing. "Yeah! I can't believe she's really home!"

Bidoof and Paula carried the unconscious Laura back to Wigglytuff's Guild and Bidoof stood above the sentry post. As usual, Diglett and Loudred gave their little spiel.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"

"Are you SERIOUS? At THIS time of night? Grr… Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"It's… Bidoof's! It's Bidoof's!"

"What? BIDOOF! You're LATE! We can't start eating until EVERYONE'S here! Paula had BETTER be with you!"

"Oof…" Bidoof cringed at the scolding. "Yup, yup. Paula's here. Sorry for being so late, but we ran into a… a problem on the beach…"

Loudred opened the gates and stomped out to give Bidoof a piece of his mind. "WHAT problem could POSSIBLY be more important than DINNER?" he demanded.

Bidoof turned towards something behind him and tried to find the words to explain, "Well…"

Loudred looked as well and was shocked. "NO WAY! Is that… LAURA?!" he shouted in surprise. His voice echoed into the guild, causing the other apprentices to scream out in shock.

"WHAT?! LAURA?!"

Laura was brought inside and set down on her bed in the room Team Rainbow shared. Everyone except Wigglytuff was present and gazing at her in wonder. She was still asleep, but, instead of being curled up as usual, she remained motionless, flat on her back. This made everyone uneasy; if Laura was asleep and not curled up, you knew it was a bad sign.

"Hey, hey!" Corphish exclaimed softly, being careful not to wake her. "Is it really Laura?"

Diglett glanced at her feet once more before responding with confidence, "Yes! That's definitely her footprint!"

"Oh my gosh!" Sunflora squealed. "Where do you think she's been all this time?"

Dugtrio frowned, "I am not sure… but she does not seem to be hurt. Just tired… and cold…"

"Oh! Guildmaster!" Chatot suddenly exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention to the door where Wigglytuff was entering the room carrying a thick blanket.

"Welcome home, Laura!" he crooned as he arranged the blanket over her body.

"Guildmaster," Chatot sighed in exasperation. "She's deeply asleep. I doubt she can hear you. She hasn't even moved once since she was brought in…"

Wigglytuff just got a silly grin on his face as he replied, "That's all right! I know she'll be fine! She just needs a good, long rest! Let's just let her sleep tomorrow."

"Meh heh heh… Doesn't the fact that she suddenly showed up and started sparking with energy concern you?" Croagunk asked, cynical as ever.

Wigglytuff shook his head. "Nope! I'm sure it's fine!"

Everyone else merely cast a concerned look in Laura's direction.

"Chatot!" Wigglytuff suddenly exclaimed, bringing the focus towards the guild's head of intelligence.

"Y-yes, Guildmaster?" Chatot questioned.

"We should have something to eat! It's way past dinner time!" he said, giving Chatot a meaningful look.

"… Of course! Yes, Guildmaster!" Chatot responded, catching the look. "Squawk! Okay everyone! Time to eat!"

Every apprentice but Paula suddenly remembered their hunger and exclaimed "Hooray!" before dashing off to the dining room. Paula merely sighed and looked back at Laura.

"Paula? Aren't you hungry?" Wigglytuff asked.

"…No… not really," Paula lied before her gurgling stomach gave her away.

"Paula. You should eat something. You have a full day of exploring tomorrow," Wigglytuff said gently.

"I know… but…" Paula sighed and glanced at Laura.

"Don't worry. Laura is strong! She'll be all right! What she needs most now is peace and quiet so that she can get plenty of rest," Wigglytuff assured as he guided Paula out of the room.

"Yeah… you're right…" Paula agreed. But it didn't stop her from casting Laura a final worried glance before she left.

That night, around midnight, Laura began to glow with rainbow-colored energy. It wasn't sparking, though. It was softer, like an aura, and rather than coming from within her body, it seemed to be coming from the world around her. Even though she was asleep, Laura still moaned and scrunched her eyes tighter together. Her body seemed to absorb the energy, and the aura soon faded away. Laura sighed and curled into a ball as she slept on…

The next morning Laura was still sleeping soundly in her little ball while the other apprentices gathered for the morning meeting.

"All right, everyone," Chatot began in a low tone, "let's stay quiet today so that Laura can rest."

"YEAH! Everyone needs to KEEP IT DOWN so we don't WAKE her!" Loudred added authoritatively.

"Oh my gosh, Loudred! You're the one whose ridiculously loud voice is going to wake her up!" Sunflora chided.

Dugtrio growled in exasperation, "Sunflora! You are not helping!"

The apprentices continued to squabble and ignore Chatot's demands to quiet down. The sound carried all the way to the sleeping quarters and into Team Rainbow's room. Laura stirred at the noise and groggily blinked her eyes open. She glanced around and her eyes widened before she bolted up. She used the wall to stand on two legs and dizzily staggered towards the meeting area. When she was met with the sight of an argument, she was, understandably, confused. She spotted Paula on the fringe and staggered over.

"P-Paula… what's going on?" she asked in her usual, quiet voice.

"They're trying to keep everyone quiet so that we don't wake—" Paula began before realizing who it was that spoke. Her eyes widened and she whipped around in surprise. "LAURA! You're awake!"

Everyone froze and turned towards the young treecko. "Laura? Gasp! Laura!" they all cheered as they converged upon her.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so glad you're okay!" Sunflora squealed.

"We're so relieved that you're alright!" Chimecho added.

"Oof! I'm mighty glad you're back!" Bidoof cheered.

"I missed you so much!" Paula exclaimed, practically sobbing.

Laura, who had been backed up against the wall, was confused and, honestly, a little frightened as she asked, "Wh-what are you talking about? I just saw you yesterday! And why didn't you want to wake me? Aren't we supposed to be going to Brine Cave today?"

"HUH?" Everyone asked in shock.

"Laura… what are you talking about?" Dugtrio asked with concern.

Laura was frowning as she shuffled her feet. "Y-you know… to find out the secrets of Paula's Relic Fragment…" she trailed off as she took in the mounting expressions of fear and worry on the Guild members' faces. Her frown turned deeper as she uncertainly continued, "S-so we can find the Hidden Land…?"

"Squawk! Laura! Please tell me you're joking! You can't seriously have forgotten everything!" Chatot exclaimed, frantically flapping his wings.

Laura was clueless. "F-forgotten what?"

"NO WAY! Are you SERIOUS?!" Loudred yelled, causing Laura to flinch and press herself further into the wall.

"Oh my gosh! Laura, we went to Brine Cave months ago!" Sunflora explained. "That was the last time we saw you and Grovyle before you both-" She froze up, uncertain of whether or not to continue.

Laura was trembling as she whispered with fear, "That was the last time you saw us before we both… what?"

Paula, finally noticing that the others had practically caged Laura against the wall and knowing that it wasn't doing anything to help her friends distress, shoved the others away, saying, "Come on, give her some space!" Once the others had complied, she sighed and explained, "Laura… we stopped the collapse of Temporal Tower months ago. After that, you… you vanished. You just reappeared last night!"

Laura blanched. "What?" She whispered, sinking to her knees. "But, I… where was I? Where did I go? I can't… I can't remember any of that…"

"By gosh! Is it amnesia?" Bidoof wondered aloud.

"But… Laura already has amnesia," Diglett spluttered before turning to his father and asking, "Dad? Is it possible to have amnesia on top of amnesia?"

"Well obviously, since that's what just happened," Croagunk took the liberty of answering. "Meh heh heh… hey, Laura, you must be the amnesia queen!"

Everyone shot him a dirty look before turning their attention back to Laura when she muttered, "But if I… if I vanished… wh-why? Wh-what happened to me?"

Paula sighed before launching into an explanation of all that had occurred during Laura's memory blank, realizing the irony of the fact that she was fulfilling Laura's last wish even though Laura had no memory of issuing said wish in the first place.

Once the story was done Laura took a moment to absorb the information before asking, in a voice that, while quiet, was now much calmer, "So I'll… I'll never get to see Grovyle again…?"

Everyone glanced away.

Laura's eyes filled with tears. "But why… why was I the one to come back? N-not that I'm not glad to be back, but… I can't remember my past. I don't remember what it was like to live on a paralyzed planet. Grovyle… Grovyle could remember everything! He deserves to be here so much more!" Laura was struggling to reign in her tears at this point. She buried her face in her hands as she continued, "I can't… I can't even remember his farewell… I must be a truly awful creature…"

"What are you talking about, friendly friend?" Wigglytuff asked in confusion. "You're not awful! You're wonderful! We're all so glad you're back!"

He pulled her into a hug, but Laura, who still wasn't convinced, was silent.

"…But, hey, hey! So you really don't know where you went?" Corphish couldn't help but ask.

Laura sighed and shook her head. "No…" she frowned, "But… if I think really hard about it…"

"Yeah…?" Corphish prompted.

Laura got a faraway look on her face and said, "…It was dark… but at the same time… there was color everywhere…! I was connected to everything… but I… I was so… so lonely…"

Laura began to clutch her head, as if she was in pain, and Wigglytuff quickly stepped in. "Don't push yourself, Laura," he ordered. "You're still recovering. You should probably spend the rest of the day sleeping…"

Wigglytuff's voice faded out, and the world started to shimmer before melting into blackness.

"Sleeping… sleeping…" Wigglytuff's voice repeated, slowly changing into the timbre of a young girl's.

"…Sleeping… sleeping…" the voice repeated. Then the world started to shake.

"…Sleeping… Paula, it's time to quit sleeping. Wake up…"

Paula's eyes blinked open, and the world came back into focus. She looked around to find herself in her home on Sharpedo Bluff.

"Good morning, Paula!" Laura's cheery voice rang out above her. "I'm glad you're finally awake. We have a lot of exploring to do today!"