Chapter 7: Everyone's Birthday Shock

One night, a few months after Wigglytuff's party, Laura and Paula were sleeping in their base like usual. But the night turned out to be a very special one…

Around midnight, Laura started to glow with rainbow-colored light. It was as though the world had decided she needed a recharge and was supplying her with energy. It was eerily similar to what had happened to her a year ago, on the night of her return from… wherever she was when she disappeared after the Temporal Tower incident. In any case, as the energy poured in, Laura began to have strange, disjointed dreams full of faces and voices that were strange to her, but, at the same time, very familiar…

Soon, the glow faded. But the dreams continued…

The next morning, Paula woke up cheerful and completely oblivious to the strange event that had occurred during the night. She looked over to Laura and noticed that her sleep was fitful. She quickly went over to awaken her.

"Laura?" she asked, shaking her friend's shoulders. "Hey, Laura? Come on… it's time to wake up…"

Laura groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning, Laura!" Paula greeted cheerily.

"Good morning, Paula," Laura replied, slowly opening her eyes. The second Paula saw them, she froze in shock.

"What's wrong?" Laura asked in concern.

"L-Laura! Your… your eyes…!" Paula stammered, her shock barring her from forming a complete sentence.

"M-my eyes?" Laura stammered, beginning to grow worried.

"They're… they're like rainbows!" Paula was finally able to say.

"What?" Laura exclaimed in confusion before going over to their water basin. She peered in… and froze at what she saw in her reflection.

Her eyes had, indeed, changed. Her pupils were still black, but where the irises used to be yellow, they now showed a rainbow of colors, all pure and beautiful. It wasn't just confined to the normal seven colors, however. The whole spectrum was displayed. The reds varied in hues from the lightest of pinks to a crimson color reminiscent of blood. Blue steadily darkened until it was indistinguishable from black. Then the black lightened into gray until it disappeared into white. What's more, the colors, instead of remaining stationary, almost seemed to swirl around… sometimes a few would seem brighter while others dimmed. Other times it almost seemed like a color would disappear entirely while another took its stead. Overall the effect was as beautiful as it was mystifying.

Laura was frozen in front of the basin, unable to believe it, especially as her eyes steadily widened with shock and allowed her to inspect them even more fully. Paula was shocked as well, but the silence gave her ample time to investigate a notion that seeing the eyes had prompted… a notion that she had seen them that way before…

"Oh!" Paula gasped as she suddenly remembered. "Laura! This was the color your eyes were a year ago when you returned after the Temporal Tower incident!"

Laura did not respond. In fact, she didn't even seem to realize Paula had spoken.

"…Laura?" Paula asked, beginning to worry.

There was still no response.

Paula became frantic and ran over to her, shaking her in the hopes of breaking her out of her catatonic state. "Laura! Laura!"

Paula's actions and worried voice seemed to snap Laura out of her daze. She blinked and looked over at Paula. Paula gave a shaky sigh of relief, but her friend's pale complexion did little to assuage her worry.

"Laura… what's wrong?" she pleaded.

Laura paused before glancing back at the basin. "It's just… I don't understand. My eyes…" She trailed off and turned back to Paula with a lost look before continuing, "Paula… these are my human eyes. This is what they looked like before I turned into a treecko!"

Paula then understood Laura's extreme shock, as it mirrored her own. "WHAT?!" she yelled. "But… but how is that possible?! And… and why have they changed back now?"

"I don't know," Laura muttered, looking back at the basin. She frowned for a bit before a look of realization began to dawn on her face. "Unless…" she whispered before abruptly turning towards Paula and demanding, "What's today's date?"

"Huh? The date?" Paula repeated in confusion. "It's March 20th, the first day of spring." She cocked her head. "But what does the date have to do with anything?"

Laura frowned again, crossing her arms. "I see… maybe that's why…"

"I still don't get it," Paula muttered.

"Today is my birthday," Laura explained, looking back to Paula. She seemed a lot calmer.

Paula was still confused. "Okay, so it's your birthday. But what does that have to do with—" Paula cut herself off when she realized what she had just said. "Wait! Today is your birthday?!" She exclaimed, jumping up to her feet in surprise. "But… but how would you know that? Unless… gasp! Your amnesia! It must be going away!" Paula smiled happily before frowning again in sudden confusion. "But… why now?" she asked.

"The memory—and the eyes, I suppose—must be returning because it's this birthday," Laura said, nodding to herself in satisfaction. "She always told me that this would be the year I would learn many things… and remember many things. Whatever that meant…"

"…Who said that?"

Laura looked startled before frowning. "…I don't know," she admitted. "I still can't… I don't know…" Tears began to well up in Laura's eyes. "B-but I should know!" she stammered, growing frantic. "She was… one of the most… if not the most… important—" Laura began to moan and clutch her head in pain.

"Whoa! It-it's okay Laura!" Paula tried to soothe her friend. "You're just beginning to get your memories back. There's no way you'll remember everything right away. Don't push yourself."

Laura nodded her head slightly and followed Paula's orders. Soon, the pain dimmed to nothing. She sighed in relief.

Paula smiled, glad that her friend was out of pain, before frowning in thought. "But… hm… today's your birthday, so we should do something special," she reasoned. "You know, instead of just doing some jobs from the guild." Paula paused, and her eyes lit up in realization as she exclaimed, "Hey! The guild! I bet they'd want to throw you a big party!"

Laura paled instantly, remembering Wigglytuff's party and all the anxiety it caused her. "I… I think I'd rather not tell them," she said gently, thinking to herself, "Explaining my eyes is going to be hard enough. I don't need to deal with all that too…"

Paula frowned again, but respected her friend's wishes and tried to come up with something else. "Hm… okay then… oh! Why don't we go to the Hot Springs? That would be perfect!"

Laura considered this before giving a broad smile and nodding in agreement.

"Okay then! Let's go!" Paula cheered as she helped Laura up and the duo headed to the door.

The two had just left their base and were preparing to head into Treasure Town when they heard a voice calling them. "Paula! Laura! Wait!"

The duo looked over to see Marill and Azurill running towards them. Suddenly Azurill tripped and began to cry. Laura and Paula rushed over.

"Azurill! Are you all right?" asked Paula.

Marill began to freak out. "I-I think he's bleeding!"

"Huh?" Paula exclaimed, checking him over. Sure enough, there was a small scrape on his belly with a bit of blood. "Oh dear… don't worry. We'll take you inside and get it cleaned up," Paula assured.

She picked Azurill up and carried him back inside, Marill following close behind. Laura was about to take up the rear when she noticed a white piece of paper on the ground. She concluded that Azurill must have dropped it when he fell, and went to retrieve it for him. The moment she picked it up, however, she became dizzy.

"H-huh?" she thought, clutching her head. She got another dizzy spell. "B-but… how can this be?!"

Her eyes glowed brighter and got a faraway look…

Drowzee was wrapping something up, like a present. He attached a card to it.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed with a smile. "I hope they like them!"

Laura's eyes snapped back to normal, and she stood in shock. She glanced at the piece of paper in her hand: it was the same one from her vision.

"That… that was a Dimensional Scream!" Laura's thoughts became frantic. "But… how can I have had one when Paula wasn't around…? Maybe… maybe I'm just imagining things…"

She headed back inside just as Paula was finishing bandaging up Azurill.

"There you go, Azurill!" Paula said. "Try to be more careful when you run, okay?"

"…Okay… sniffle… thank you," Azurill said.

"No problem! So what were you two doing out here?" Paula asked.

Laura surprised everyone by holding out the card and asking, "…Did you want to show us this? You dropped it outside…"

"That's right!" Marill exclaimed. "And this too!"

He pulled out a package, and Laura froze when she realized that it was the same one from her vision.

"They're from Drowzee!" Azurill added.

"So it was a Dimensional Scream…" Laura thought to herself.

After handing Paula the package, Marill and Azurill got ready to leave.

"Thanks again," Marill said.

"Yes! Thank you!" Azurill repeated. Then he frowned and took a closer look at Laura's eyes. He broke into a wide grin. "You know, your eyes are really pretty, Laura!"

Laura blushed furiously as they left. She handed the card to Paula, who opened it and started to read.

"Dear Paula and Laura," she read. "How are you? My travelling is going well. Currently I am exploring the Chilly Valley. As the name suggests, it can get very chilly over here. I hope you enjoy these souvenirs! I have one of my own, and it's very useful! –Your Friend, Drowzee

"P.S. Paula, the yellow one is yours, and the other one is Laura's. I'm pretty sure it will be obvious once you see them, but just in case…"

Once Paula finished, she opened the package. It contained two blankets: a yellow one with lightning bolts for Paula… and a sky blue one with clouds and rainbows for Laura.

"Ha! That's perfect!" Paula giggled. She noticed that Laura was unusually quiet… even for her. "Laura…? What's wrong?"

Laura took a deep breath, "Paula… I just had a Dimensional Scream."

"Really?" Paula perked up. "Just now? What was it about?"

Laura shook her head. "It was about Drowzee wrapping up the blankets… but I didn't have it just now. I had it when I was outside. Alone."

Paula's jaw dropped. "What? But… how is that possible?" she asked in shock. "Grovyle said that you needed the presence of a trusted partner for it to work!"

"I don't know…" Laura admitted. She frowned and shook her head. "I think… I think I'm forgetting something about the ability… but I'm not… entirely…" she trailed off, grimacing and rubbing her head in an attempt to ward off the headache that she was beginning to get.

Paula frowned, noticing her friend's discomfort. "Well, we'll have time to worry about it later," she reasoned. "For now, let's go to the Hot Springs to celebrate your birthday!"

Team Rainbow began to make their way through Treasure Town. Laura kept her head down to avoid awkward questions about her eyes. Paula thought it was ridiculous, but she didn't say anything until they reached the crossroads by Spinda's Café.

"Laura," she began, "there's no point in hiding your eyes. Everyone is going to find out eventually."

Laura sighed. "I… I know… but I'd rather not deal with it today."

Paula was about to respond when a voice interrupted, "Hey, hey! Team Rainbow! What good timing!"

Paula and Laura looked towards the voice in surprise and saw Corphish running towards them, having come from the guild.

"Corphish!" Paula greeted with a smile. "What's up? Did you need something?"

Corphish nodded his head. "Yeah! We need your help with something at the guild. It shouldn't take too long," he assured. "I was just coming over to get you…"

"It's a good thing we happened to be walking by, then!" Paula said, laughing. She turned to her partner, "Laura, do you mind making a quick stop?"

Laura quickly glanced up at Corphish before looking back down and shaking her head.

Corphish proceeded to lead them to the lowest level, where everyone was waiting.

Upon their arrival, Loudred exclaimed, "WOW Corphish! THAT was fast! MUCH faster than when we send Bidoof!"

"H-hey!" Bidoof exclaimed, affronted.

"We were already outside, by the crossroads," Paula explained, trying to mollify Bidoof. "So what did you need our help with?"

"Guildmaster got a package in the mail," Dugtrio stated, indicating towards a square package wrapped in brown paper and tied with string that was on the ground by Wigglytuff's feet. "It seems suspicious, and since the guild often receives threats from outlaws… we were hoping that Laura could use her Dimensional Scream ability to determine its nature."

Laura eyed the package while everyone looked at her expectantly. "I can try," she said. "But I can't make guarantees that it will work."

She knelt by the package and put her hands on it. Immediately she began to feel dizzy… but it was different than normal. This level of vertigo was higher than with any other Dimensional Scream she'd had so far.

"H-huh?" she thought, grimacing. "It's… it's so strong…!"

Her eyes glowed brighter and took on a far-away look as the vision began…

Everything was so clear… clearer than with any other vision she'd ever had. The guild was standing around the box. She and Paula were there too. Everyone was panicking, and the box began to tick. It started to shake madly, and then it exploded. Pokémon were screaming as the room became engulfed in a cloud of dust and debris…

Laura's eyes snapped back to normal and she stared at the box in horror. "It's a bomb!" she yelled. "Take cover!"

"WHAT?!" the others screamed. The box began to tick and shake.

Laura pushed Wigglytuff to the ground and everyone else ducked for cover just before the bomb exploded. Pokémon screamed as thick cloud of dust and debris filled the air. After many tense moments of ominous silence, the smoke began to clear and pokémon began to cough and call out to each other.

"…Erg… Is everyone all right?!" Chatot demanded, flapping the smoke away from his face.

"Yes!"

"I'm fine!"

"Hey, hey, we're okay over here!" came the various voices as everyone made their way back to the center of the room.

Wigglytuff and Laura were still lying in a heap. Wigglytuff gingerly extracted himself from beneath her and helped her up.

"Laura! Are you okay?" he asked with concern.

"Urg…" Laura moaned, rubbing grit out of her eyes before cautiously blinking them open. "Yes… I think so. Sorry for knocking you down."

She looked up at his face, confused to see that he wore a surprised expression. She looked around and saw that everyone but Paula was mirroring him and staring at her. She frowned in confusion.

"Oh my gosh, Laura! Your eyes!" Sunflora exclaimed.

Suddenly Laura understood what the problem was, and she blushed furiously and tried to hide her eyes from sight.

Wigglytuff stopped her, exclaiming, "Wow! They're so pretty! Why try to hide them?"

Laura shuffled her feet. "They… weren't a normal eye color when I was a human, and they're even more abnormal now that I'm a treecko," she explained with a sigh.

Paula suddenly chuckled. "Wow, Laura! It looks like you're having an exciting birthday after all!"

Everyone's, including Laura's, jaw dropped as they stared at her. But unlike everyone else, whose jaws had dropped in surprise, Laura's jaw had dropped in horror.

The stares confused Paula. "Uh… what's with the weird looks…?" she asked. She glanced over to Laura and noticed her horrified expression. She cringed when she realized what she had just said. "Uh… oops? Sorry, Laura…" she apologized.

Loudred snapped out of his surprise. "LAURA! Today's your BIRTHDAY?" When Laura timidly nodded, he asked, "Why didn't you TELL us?"

Laura glared at Paula, a silent demand that she do the explaining because it was her fault that Laura was in this mess in the first place. Paula got the hint and nervously began, "W-well… she only remembered it this morning…"

"Really?" Croagunk asked with a mischievous smirk on his face. "That seems a little suspicious… Meh heh heh…"

Sunflora rolled her eyes. "Silly Croagunk. Laura isn't the type to lie about something like that." She blinked and her face brightened when she realized something. "Oh my gosh! Do you know what this means? You must be getting your memory back! Isn't that great?"

Laura was less than enthused. That level dropped even further when Wigglytuff said, "Ooh! This means we can have another party!"

"N-no! That's okay!" Laura exclaimed in terror, remembering all the awkwardness and unease she felt during Wigglytuff's party. "It… it really isn't necessary!"

"Huh?" Wigglytuff asked, his eyes filling with tears. "B-but…"

The room began to shake. Laura sensed the danger that was Wigglytuff's Rage attack building, so she quickly tried another tack. "Please understand, Guildmaster. This birthday… among my people, this is one of the most important events in a person's life. It marks a person as ready to fully join the community. It is a time for celebration, yes, but for a quieter, more… contemplative one. A big party wouldn't be appropriate… especially for me, with my position… I think…" she trailed off, seeming a bit confused, before looking around and noticing the expressions of surprise over the fact that she had said so much in one sitting. She blushed.

Wigglytuff looked mollified. "I understand," he said, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief that the crisis had been averted.

"But… hey, hey! What do you mean by 'your people'?" Corphish asked.

Laura opened her mouth to explain, but then she blinked and closed it in surprise when she realized something. "My… my people?" she thought. "That's right… I did belong to a 'people,' but… I can't quite remember…"

She looked up at Corphish's expectant face and tried again. "Um… yeah. My people. We were… um…" she crossed her arms and frowned, trying to remember. "What were we called…? I think… I think it had to do with something that was important to us…" She grimaced as a headache began to form. "I know… we had a leader, but… who was…?" she began to rub her temples as the pain mounted. "Ugh… my head…"

"Hey, hey! Okay! Okay!" Corphish exclaimed in worry at seeing Laura's condition. "Don't push yourself if you can't remember right away. You should take it slowly."

Laura nodded and did as he said. To her relief, the pain slowly began to ebb.

"Perhaps if we tried a simpler memory?" Dugtrio offered. "How about your age? Can you remember that?"

"Yeah!" Paula exclaimed, suddenly realizing something. "You never told me how old you are!"

Laura's headache had, by this point, mostly subsided, but she was still wincing a bit as she answered, "Of course. That's easy." She removed her hands from her head and grinned. "I never thought I'd make it to this birthday… but I'm finally thirteen."

Chatot nodded. "All right, so you're thirteen," he repeated. Then he blinked. "Wait… what?! Squawk! You're only thirteen?!"

"NO WAY!" Loudred exclaimed, equally shocked. "I thought you were WAY older than that!"

"Yeah," Paula agreed. "You act more mature than I do… but you're actually about two years younger than me!"

"Oh my gosh, yes!" Sunflora exclaimed. "You certainly don't act like a thirteen-year-old!"

Chatot was in a state of shock. He grimaced to himself, muttering, "There goes our guild's reputation… how can we claim to be the best when a mere child can pass our graduation exam after training with us for barely over a year…?"

Laura frowned, feeling a little hurt by that comment. Chatot noticed, realized his mistake, and immediately tried to back-track, frantically flapping his wings. "Oh! No! I didn't mean… there's nothing wrong with being a child! Er… that is…"

"Oh! It's like Guildmaster Wigglytuff! You must be an exploration prodigy too!" Chimecho suddenly exclaimed, saving Chatot from digging himself any further into a hole.

"Yes!" Chatot grabbed at the save. "Yes, that's exactly what I meant!"

Laura didn't buy it, but she merely shook her head and turned her attention to Croagunk when he said, "Meh heh heh… not to mention that you probably got a lot of practice running for your life from Dusknoir in the future…"

Laura frowned and looked at her feet.

Noticing Laura's quickly souring mood, Wigglytuff stepped in. "Well, hi there!" he said, causing everyone to turn their attention towards him. "Laura, it doesn't matter how old you are, or whether you're an exploration prodigy or not. You're our good friend either way!"

Laura gave him a small smile.

"Now, I know that you don't want a big fuss," he continued. "But it's still your special day, so I hope you'll accept this. Here!"

To everyone's shock, Wigglytuff presented her with a Perfect Apple. This was a big honor; Wigglytuff never just gave away his "precious" Perfect Apples.

"Th-thank you!" Laura stammered. She gave him a little curtsy, and everyone laughed.

Eventually Paula and Laura made it to the Hot Springs, and Laura all but melted with pleasure at the feel of the warm water. She sighed and closed her eyes, becoming completely relaxed.

"Sorry, Laura," Paula apologized. Laura opened her eyes to look at her. "I know you wanted to have a quiet day today."

"It's all right," Laura assured, smiling. "But I still don't get why they were all making a big fuss about me only being thirteen…"

Paula rolled her eyes; clearly Laura didn't see just how big a deal it was to graduate from Wigglytuff's Guild at all, let alone, as Chatot said, when you were still a child.

"Hoh hoh hoh… ah, youth!" Torkoal exclaimed from his usual place on the rocks.

"Oh! Hello, Torkoal!" Paula greeted. Laura turned around and smiled at him.

"Oh?" Torkoal questioned upon noticing Laura's eyes. "Those eyes… they remind me of that legend…"

Paula and Laura perked up and glanced at each other before moving closer to the elderly pokémon.

"What legend?" Paula asked, curious.

"That's right… that legend…" Torkoal nodded. "Let's see… how did it go…? Ah, yes! A long time ago there was a goddess with two companions. One was a boy with eyes the color of… er…" Torkoal paused and turned away, frowning and muttering, "What color were they again…?" He shook his head and turned back to Team Rainbow, continuing, "Well, in any case, the goddess' other companion was a girl with the eyes like rainbows. The goddess came to this world with her companions to…" Torkoal paused again and turned away. "Er… why did they come…?" He turned back around and frowned. "I'm sorry; it seems to have slipped my mind…"

Paula sighed, not really surprised, but still a little disappointed, by his forgetfulness. That story seemed like it would have been really interesting! "That's all right, Torkoal," she told him.

Laura frowned in thought. "A…legend? About a girl… with eyes like mine…?" She winced. "Ugh… my head hurts… What am I forgetting…?"