Chapter 16: Reintroduction

Back in Treasure Town everyone was unaware of Dialga's troubles. Life went on as normal for them, only with the introduction of a new friend: Mason. He would come by every couple of days, sometimes to just hang out in the town, but more often to hang out with Laura. Paula and Laura offered him a spot on Team Rainbow, but he refused, saying that he had other important duties to attend that would interfere with exploration work.

A few weeks after Mason's introduction, Team Rainbow had plans that differed slightly from the norm: Paula was going to be doing solo missions while Laura went to stay with Mason for a few days. Paula and Laura decided to walk together to the crossroads, where their paths would split. On their way, they stopped at Kecleon Market.

"Good morning, Team Rainbow!" Verde, the green kecleon, said in greeting.

"Good morning!" Team Rainbow responded.

"You girls are looking as lovely as ever!" Murray, the purple kecleon, complimented.

Paula giggled and Laura blushed.

"Do you have any Luminous Orbs for sale?" Paula asked. "I want to explore this super-dark cave today!"

"Luminous Orbs?" Murray repeated, turning around to rummage through his wares. "I think so… let me just take a look… Ah, yes!" He turned around and handed Paula two Luminous Orbs. "Here you are!" he said cheerfully.

"Thank you!" Paula said as she made the transaction.

"Oh!" Verde suddenly exclaimed before he started to look for something under the counter. "That reminds me, Laura! Someone was here the other day selling off their extra supplies, and they happened to have a lot of these…" He pulled out a box and handed it to her. "I thought I'd save them for you."

When Laura opened the box, her eyes widened and her mouth started to water at the contents: Plain Seeds!

Verde took in her jubilant face and smiled. "I knew you'd be happy! Would you like to buy them?"

He chuckled at Laura's enthusiastic nod as she hurriedly pulled out the money needed for the purchase.

"It's a good thing that you like them so much," Murray noted. "Pokémon are always selling them to us, but before you came to town, no one would buy them and they would just end up collecting dust on the shelves for months before we were finally forced to throw them out!"

Paula nodded in understanding. "Laura loves Plain Seeds, but we usually have trouble getting them. That's why we have a stockpile."

"It's probably because you two are so strong that you never need to use Reviver Seeds in dungeons," Verde theorized. That made everyone—even Laura—laugh.

Laura hugged the seeds to her chest and smiled at them. Murray noticed and commented on it. "You seem especially pleased with them today. Is there any particular reason?"

Laura blushed and glanced away before shyly explaining, "Now I have some to share with Mason…"

The Kecleon brothers shared a knowing look and a grin before Murray said, "Your celebi friend? I had the chance to talk with him the other day; he's very polite!"

"Yes," his younger brother agreed. "He's kind, as well!"

"Yeah, Mason is great," Paula said, grinning at Laura's embarrassment. "Laura's actually going to go stay with him for a few days. We're going over to the crossroads now to meet him."

The Kecleon brothers were slightly surprised by this information, but they sent Laura off with warm wishes to have a good time, and a promise to tell them the details when she returned.

With that, Team Rainbow headed for the crossroads.

Meanwhile…

Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf were slowly floating towards the crossroads, having come from the beach. The three siblings displayed similar expressions of worry and fear.

Mesprit sighed. "I wondered what had been making Dialga so upset these past few days… I guess now we know."

"Yes," Uxie agreed with a frown. "But that doesn't help us. Even I, with all my knowledge, am clueless in a situation like this…"

He sighed mournfully. Suddenly Azelf blinked and looked sharply at his brother. "Hey! I can feel your willpower wavering…" he told him. "Don't give up! We'll find a solution!"

At that moment, Team Rainbow exited Treasure Town and caught sight of them.

"Uxie! Mesprit! Azelf!" Paula called in surprise before she and Laura went over to talk with them. "Wow! We haven't seen you guys in forever!"

The Spirit Trio jumped in surprise and turned to face them. "…Oh! Team Rainbow! Hello!" Uxie said. "It has indeed been a long time…"

Paula quickly noticed that the trio's demeanor seemed darker than usual. "Huh? Is something wrong?" she asked with concern.

"Oh, no. Not at all," Uxie assured her before glancing at his siblings and opening a telepathic channel. "Let's keep this a secret from them," he suggested. "At least… for now. There's no use in worrying them prematurely…"

His siblings nodded in agreement.

"You just seem… a little off…" Paula noted with a frown, not picking up on the trio's silent conversation.

"We do?" Mesprit asked. "You needn't worry. We were just admiring the scenery. We didn't really get a chance to do so the last time we were here, what with all the worry about time stopping and the Time… Gears… er…"

Mesprit trailed off when she realized that she had chosen a poor topic. She attempted to cover her tracks by using her powers as the Being of Emotion to send out feelings of ease.

"Oh…" Paula said as the worry vanished from her face and was replaced with a grin. "Yeah! It is really pretty around here! Don't you think so, Laura?" she asked, turning around to face her partner. It was obvious that Paula was completely under the influence of Mesprit's power.

Laura, however, was not. Mesprit's attempts didn't seem to have swayed her in the slightest, and she was still frowning with worry. Nonetheless, she nodded in agreement with her partner. The Spirit Trio caught sight of her rainbow eyes and gasped in shock.

"L-Laura…! Your eyes…!" Azelf stammered.

"Oh! Right!" Paula exclaimed. "You haven't seen them yet! Aren't they pretty?" she asked, turning towards Laura with a smile. "Apparently they were this color when she was human! They just turned back on her thirteenth birthday."

The trio looked dumbfounded.

"You're… you're thirteen?" Mesprit asked slowly. "When… when was your birthday?"

"…March 20th," Laura replied, uncertain about why the spirit Trio was acting so strangely.

Her uncertainty only grew stronger when that remark was met with more shock.

"No way… it COULDN'T be…!" Mesprit telepathically exclaimed in disbelief.

"But if it IS… then shouldn't she remember by now?" Azelf questioned.

"Not necessarily," Uxie said. "We don't know what caused the amnesia of her human life. It's possible that whatever happened could still be suppressing her memories. I'll ask them."

"Laura, did you ever find out the source of your amnesia?" Uxie questioned aloud.

"Yeah!" Paula piped up. "It was because Darkrai attacked her as she was travelling through time. She still mostly has it, but the memories are slowly returning. Re-encountering Mason has also helped a lot."

"Mason?" Mesprit asked. "Who's Mason?"

"That would be me," a voice said from behind her. The Spirit turned around to see that a celebi—apparently Mason—had just arrived. "Who's asking?" he questioned.

The trio observed him. They took note of his bracelet, his bag, his headband… and his golden eyes. Something registered in their minds, and their own eyes widened in terror as they began to freak out.

"Wh-what?" Mesprit stammered. "B-but you're…!"

Mason frowned. "I'm what?" he asked. Then he frowned deeper as something nagged at the back of his mind. "Wait a minute… I know you three…" he said in slight confusion. Then it clicked. "You're the three that were guarding Time Gears at your lakes!"

Azelf audibly gulped. "Th-that's right," he stammered. "We—"

Mason cut him off and practically exploded at them in anger. "What were you morons THINKING?!" he demanded. "The reason you were given the Time Gears in the first place was so that you could ensure their safety in case the vision ever came to pass and they were needed to protect Temporal Tower!" he raged.

The members of the Spirit Trio (and, honestly, Team Rainbow) were shaking in fear, but Mason still continued, "WHY would you attack the one that was trying to fulfill their purpose?! And why didn't you three take them to Temporal Tower yourselves when you realized that something was wrong with the time stream?! Did you forget? I find that hard to believe, especially for you, Uxie! Part of 'knowledge' is memory! How could you three do something so STUPID?! You three nearly caused the world's ruin! And you put Laura in danger! You're lucky that Team Rainbow was around to fix your screw-up!"

Mesprit, though still terrified, finally had enough of his insults. "H-hey! Wait a minute!" she indignantly demanded. "We're not the only ones at fault here! You didn't do your job either, Mr. I'm-going-to-stay-here-so-that-I-can-summon-her-if-she's-needed!"

At that, Mason instantly deflated. "I tried," he admitted. "But something caused the orb to become black a few years ago… I haven't been able to contact her since…"

He sounded so sad that Mesprit began to feel guilty for the low blow.

"Um…" a small voice interrupted. Everyone turned in surprise when they recognized it as belonging to Laura.

"I'm not… I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about…" she began, "but it's not just their fault—or yours, for that matter, Mason—that the world was almost paralyzed. Virtually no one in the past remembered what the Time Gears were for. And I'm just as guilty as anyone. I attacked Grovyle too…" she finished, looking at the ground in shame.

Mason rushed over to her and pulled her into a hug, causing their bracelets to glow on contact. "No, Laura, you had amnesia. You couldn't help it!" he assured in a soothing voice.

Paula frowned. "But… didn't you just get mad at them for forgetting?" Paula asked, pointing at the Spirit Trio.

Mason cringed in chagrin before sighing. "…You're right," he admitted. He released Laura and turned to the Spirit Trio. "Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf… I'm sorry," he apologized. "Truly, I am. It's just… when I finally see Laura again, and then I learn what she's been through… I… I just…!"

"…It's all right," Mesprit assured with a sigh. "I can feel your regret," she informed him, placing a hand over her heart. "You are forgiven," she assured.

Mason gave her a small grin. "Thank you," he said. Then he took Laura's hand. "Come on, Laura; let's head over to my house."

Laura nodded eagerly and showed him what she had bought earlier, saying, "I bought some Plain Seeds for us to eat!"

Mason was less than enthusiastic—he despised Plain Seeds as much as everyone else. "That's right… I'd nearly forgotten how much you adore those things…" he said, giving her a false smile.

After saying goodbye to everyone, the two set off. Once they were out of sight, Paula turned to the Spirit Trio. "Well, it was nice to see you again," she said. "But I should probably get going too."

She headed off to the guild, and the Spirit Trio was left alone.

"…So it is her," Uxie said.

"I thought I had sensed something familiar about her when we first met!" Azelf exclaimed.

"But… what is she doing here?" Mesprit questioned. "Shouldn't she be… you know… over there? With her?"

"Who cares about that? This is good!" Azelf declared. "We needed a solution… and here she is!"

"But she still can't remember anything about that!" Mesprit retorted.

"Perhaps she just needs a little boost in the right direction," Uxie suggested. "Paula did say that her memories were returning."

Mesprit gave him a strange look. "Uh… I think she needs more than a 'little' boost," she said. "You heard her; she had no idea what we were talking about!"

Uxie sighed. "Yes, I know. This isn't going to be easy…" He paused as something nagged at his mind. "What was it that Mason said? Something about 'memory being part of knowledge?'" he asked.

Azelf nodded his head in confirmation. "Yeah, that's right. Why?"

Uxie sent a telepathic thought to his siblings, and they blinked in surprise and incredulity.

"Is that even possible?" Azelf demanded.

Uxie sighed again. "I don't know…"

"Well if we are going to do something like… like that, then we'll need to be wary of Mason. I could sense his feelings; he cares about Laura a lot. I mean, a lot-lot. And, although he is genuinely regretful for what he said, he's still a bit… 'put out' with us. He's going to be very protective of her…"

"We have a lot of research to do," Uxie said. "I hope that she can remember on her own, but if she can't… we'll need to be fully prepared." He glanced around before looking at his siblings. "We should discuss this elsewhere," he said in a serious voice.

His siblings nodded their agreement and the trio floated off, all of them feeling uneasy…