Chapter 18: The Trio's Plan

Mason and Paula were brought to Team Rainbow's old room to rest and have their injuries tended to. They were unconscious for the rest of the day and through the night. The members of the guild took turns sitting up with them. It was Chimecho's shift when Paula began to stir in the morning.

Paula moaned as she slowly blinked her eyes open and sat up. "Huh? Where… where am I?" she asked as her eyes scanned the familiar room. She was startled when she spotted Chimecho sitting a few feet away from her.

"Paula! You're awake!" Chimecho exclaimed happily. "You're in the guild now," she explained. "We found you two injured on the beach, so we brought you here."

"Us 'two?'" Paula asked in confusion. Then she looked to her left and saw the unconscious form of a celebi. "Mason!" she gasped.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine," Chimecho assured. "What happened to you two? It looked like there had been a fight…"

Paula jolted as she suddenly remembered what had happened. "That's right! Laura…! Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf… they…!"

The conversation moved to the main area, so as not to bother the still unconscious Mason. When Paula's tale ended, everyone's mouths were gaping in shock and disbelief.

"Squawk! What?!" Chatot demanded. "The Spirit Trio kidnapped Laura?! That can't be true! Why would they want to do something like that? You must be have been mistaken or… or tricked, or something!"

"But…" Sunflora began uneasily, "it's true that no one has seen them since yesterday… and they did insist on going after Laura alone, so…"

Bidoof gulped. "Golly, then I reckon they really did kidnap her!"

Just then, Mason's voice was heard from the crew rooms.

"What the—? Where am I?" he asked. Then everyone heard him gasp, "Laura! Where's Laura?!"

Mason zoomed into the main area and spotted Paula. "Paula! Where's Laura?!" He demanded. "Don't tell me that those three…!"

Paula's sad face confirmed his fears, and he became even more frantic. "No… no! Those three… why?! Why would they do something like this?! What could they possibly want with her?! Why would they…"

Mason's frantically roaming eyes caught sight of something on the ground, and his expression became one of horror.

"No… no no no no no…!" he whispered as he floated closer to whatever he had spotted. "Please tell me those aren't what I think they are!"

"What are you…?" Sunflora began in confusion before she followed his gaze and realized that he was looking at the energy-depleted Time Gears that the guild still had in their possession. "Eek!" she exclaimed. "We forgot about the Time Gears!"

"Time Gears?!"Mason repeated. "No… oh no…! This is bad… this is so, so bad! Those lunatics… are they insane?! Why did it have to be something like this…?!"

"Wha…? Mason, what are you TALKING about?" Loudred asked in confusion.

"Those traitors…" Mason moaned as he slumped to his knees and pounded his fists on the ground. "I know why they took Laura…"

"REALLY?!" Everyone asked.

Mason nodded despondently. "Laura and I… to our people, time and space are very important. And the Time Gears… they have a big impact on our history. We have so many legends about them… and that one in particular… it helped shape us into what we are today…"

"So… they wanted Laura to tell them about a legend?" Paula asked in clarification. "Why didn't they just ask you?

Mason shook his head. "No… the part that they want… it's the part about how the Time Gears were first charged. Very few people know it. I'm not one of them, but…"

"…Let me GUESS," Loudred said. "Laura IS, isn't she?"

Mason nodded and buried his face in his hands.

Diglett frowned. "But… Laura still can't remember much about your people. S-so what are Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf going to…?"

Mason took a shaky breath and, in a horrified whisper, explained, "They're going to try to force her memories!"

"Oof… Th-that sounds bad…" Bidoof gulped.

"Of COURSE it's bad!" Mason exclaimed, pulling his face from his hands and glaring at Bidoof. Bidoof flinched and everyone else cowered in fear as Mason continued, "You know how when Laura tries to force herself to remember something—even the tiniest, most recent or insignificant thing—she gets an intense headache? Well imagine that, only a million times worse! The memory that they want to retrieve is so deep that even under normal circumstances, if she didn't have amnesia, she probably still wouldn't remember it!"

Mason's eyes began to fill with tears and his head bowed again. "Laura… she's never had an easy life," he whispered. "I promised that I would protect her! But I… I failed. Laura, I… I…" he heaved a sob and buried his head in his hands again.

Everyone was at a loss for what to do to comfort him until Wigglytuff stepped forward, knelt beside him, and put his hands on his shoulders. "Mason," he began, "you didn't fail. We'll find her! Don't worry, Laura will be fine!"

Mason peeked his tearful eyes from out behind his hands. Wigglytuff smiled at him before standing up and turning around to face his apprentices (and Paula and Chatot). "Now listen, everyone!" he ordered. "We're going to rescue Laura, no matter what! YOOM-TAH!"

"HOORAY!" Everyone cheered.

"Meh heh heh... Unfortunately, we don't have any idea where they took her, now do we?" Croagunk asked, totally bursting the bubble.

"Oh… yeah…" everyone agreed with a sad sigh.

"Well," Chimecho piped up after a moment of thought. "We know that they probably aren't at their lakes. That would be too obvious."

"Hey, hey! Good point!" Corphish agreed.

"Yes… but we should probably still search there… or at least at Uxie's lake," Mason said in a contemplative voice as he got back up.

"HUH? But if we know that they won't BE there, wouldn't that just waste TIME?" Loudred asked.

"Not necessarily," Mason said. "They obviously had this planned out. What they're attempting to do… it will take time to set up. They need a place where they can keep Laura secure. I know Uxie; as the Being of Knowledge, he's fond of thorough research. Sometimes he'll become so obsessed that he'll neglect everything else, like eating or—more importantly—cleaning up his research materials. If that was the case this time, then it's possible that he may have left some clues at his home," he explained.

"That makes sense!" Paula exclaimed.

"Hey, hey! In that case, I'll handle the Underground Lake!" Corphish offered.

"I'll take Fogbound Lake!" Sunflora chimed in.

"Oof… I guess that leaves me with Crystal Lake," Bidoof said.

"Mason, can you think of anything else that could help?" Dugtrio asked.

Mason stroked his chin in thought. "Hm… well, I know that 'memory' falls under Uxie's domain… and that this undertaking would need an insane amount of power… so they'll probably be somewhere where Uxie's power is amplified," he reasoned. "Also," he added, "they'll need some way to view the memories once they've been… extracted."

"Hm… I can't recall any places like that," Chatot mumbled before turning to Wigglytuff and asking, "What about you, Guildmaster?"

Wigglytuff shook his head. "No… but maybe Torkoal would know!"

Everyone groaned, and Mason looked confused.

"Who's Torkoal?" he asked.

Paula shuffled her feet and tried to think of how best to describe him. "Uh…" she began, "he's, uh… well he's… he's very old and wise… and he-he did help us find the Hidden Land… sort of… but he's really forgetful. I mean, really forgetful. He's always at the Hot Springs."

"Okay," Mason said, still feeling a bit confused. "So why don't you be the one to go there? I'll head home and see if I have any books, texts, or… other things, that might help."

Paula nodded and then blinked when she was struck with inspiration. "I just thought of something else! We should let Officer Magnezone know what happened too so that he can start a search of his own!"

"I can handle THAT!" Loudred assured.

"All right, pokémon! So we're all clear on what needs to be done?" Chatot asked. Everyone nodded in affirmation, and Chatot exclaimed, "All right, then! Let's get to it!"

"HOORAY!" Everyone cheered before heading off to do their appointed tasks.

Paula arrived at the Hot Springs and searched for Torkoal. She spotted him in his usual place and rushed over.

"Torkoal!" she called. "I need to talk with you!"

"Hm?" Torkoal asked, looking over to her. "Oh! Hello there, young one!" He was surprised to see that she was alone and decided to comment on it. "Oh? Laura isn't with you today?"

"That's what I need to talk to you about!" Paula confessed. "You see, Laura…"

"…So can you help?" she asked desperately once she finished her explanation.

"Oh my!" Torkoal exclaimed in shock at her tale. Then he frowned. "Let me think… a place where a Psychic-type's power is amplified…? And a place where memories can be viewed…?" he shook his head. "I'm sorry. I can't recall any places like that…"

"Oh…" Paula sighed in disappointment.

"Truly, I am very… oh! Wait a moment!" Torkoal exclaimed as something clicked in his mind. "If I recall correctly, there's a special type of crystal that can amplify psychic powers. I believe it is known as the 'Thought Crystal.'"

"Really?" Paula asked, her face lighting up with hope. "Where can we find some?"

"Er…" he said, looking away. "Where was it?" he mumbled. He shook his head before turning back to Paula with a frown. "I'm so sorry," he said. "It seems to have slipped my mind…"

Paula's face fell. "N-no… that's okay. Thank you," she said with a sad sigh.

"I truly am sorry," Torkoal said. "If I remember anything else, I will be sure to come tell you."

Paula offered him a weak smile. "Thank you," she said as she turned and headed back to the guild.

"WHAT?!" Loudred demanded once everyone had assembled in the guild to report their findings. "NO ONE found anything? Grr… this is JUST like the Hidden Land all over again!"

"I looked all over Fogbound Lake," Sunflora began, "but there was nothing there."

"Oof… it was the same at Crystal Lake, yup, yup," Bidoof added.

"A 'Thought Crystal?'" Chatot mumbled to himself. "I have never heard of such a thing…"

Mason looked very despondent. Chimecho noticed this and tried to comfort him by saying, "Don't worry. We'll find her."

Mason just sighed.

Chatot echoed the sigh before saying, "All right, everyone. We'll try again tomorrow."

Everyone nodded silently before heading off to do their evening chores. Paula suggested that Mason stay the night at Team Rainbow's base, and, after a moment of hesitation, he accepted and they headed off.