Author's Note: You know, this chapter felt a lot more original when I first conceptualized it. This one's pretty experimental, but that just made it more fun to write :)

'By distortion, Brandon. You'd better survive out there, because I am in desperate need of a Pokesh-to-Knownun translator right now,' I thought, absentmindedly paging through an old journal. The humans tried to explain as much as they could to me about what was going on, but our one-way communication barrier prevented me from asking them any clarifying questions. For now, I decided to wait in the orphanage run by the human Elder. If Brandon and Grovyle were still alive, they would surely reach this place eventually. Until then, I had to find some way to communicate with my new allies.

I figured this book would be a good place to start. I knew enough Unown Runes to read the language, so having a written reference may be enough to write out my questions. Failing that, I hoped to learn some things about the humans' history. For that reason, I was only half disappointed when I discovered the old book I found stashed away was a journal.

The writing was sloppy, at least in the earliest pages, and I quickly realized this was the writing of one of the orphanage's children. Still, with nothing better to do, I began reading the entries:

5 Summer 1
The Elder gave me a new journal today! She said I should write and write and write in it, so I am.

5 Summer 2
Everyone keeps making fun of my new journal. I don't care, though. I like writing in it.

The earliest entries weren't very insightful, only revealing a bullying problem and, from what I could tell, that the writer was very young. I noticed a pattern in the headings, with each note labeled to have a season followed by a number indicating which sequential entry I was reading. The first number took much longer to change, not updating until the next "Summer" began. I skimmed through the journal until I found a more interesting note.

6 Summer 1
I'm learning magic now! I made some dirt move, but I can't use any spells yet.

6 Summer 2
I still can't use spells. The bullies keep saying it's easy, but that's just because they're mean.

The magic theme continued for a while before a new one became apparent:

6 Winter 5
I heard the elder talking to the other grown ups today. They said lots of people are getting sick. I hope I don't get sick!

6 Winter 6
We were told to stay away from the farms. They said we would get sick if we didn't.

…

6 Winter 12
One of the bullies got really sick. He never listens to anyone, I bet he went to the farms. Now he's too sick to be mean.

…

6 Winter 31
A new kid came to the orphanage today. The Elder says he came from the farms. He's not sick though.

6 Winter 32
The Elder told me the new kid will be staying at the orphanage. He doesn't talk much.

It seems the writer was too young to realize the implications of that last entry. Despite how long ago this had been written, I found myself feeling sorry for the as of yet unnamed child.

6 Winter 33
I showed the new kid my magic today. I'm still not very good at it, but it was a lot of fun! He tried to show off the healing magic his mother taught him, but it didn't work.

6 Winter 34
Brandon showed me around the garden today. He knows a lot about plants.

'Wait, Brandon? Is that who the new kid was?' I thought, realizing what I had just stumbled into. 'This is your friend's journal then. Maybe I can find some of those answers we've been looking for.'

Flipping through the pages, there didn't seem to be much of note. The writer was still too young to offer much insight, and the apparent plague that had hit the village slowly became less prevalent in the later entries. The bullying and magic-ineptitude continued, though over time both Brandon and the writer learned at least some control over their respective elements:

8 Autumn 91
I've finally mastered the Stalagmite spell. I'll practice a new one tomorrow.

8 Spring 52
The Elder gave Brandon a light band to help focus his magic. He managed to cast Illuminate with it.

8 Spring 103
I've begun practicing Stalactite. It's kind of like Stalagmite, so it shouldn't take too long to learn.

9 Summer 81
Something strange happened today. Brandon had a vision. The Elder says that's a very rare kind of magic. Not just that, but the vision was of the past. No one has ever done that before.

Evidently Brandon's Dimensional Scream was a unique ability. Though I still didn't fully understand magic, if the Elder said these kinds of visions were rare I was inclined to believe it. At the very least I've seen firsthand how useful those visions could be.

9 Summer 94
Celebi visited the village today. I overheard her arguing with the Elder. I think Brandon might be in trouble.

9 Summer 95
Celebi left the village. The Elder wants to teach Brandon more battle useful spells, but I don't think that will work. He's even worse at magic than I am.

…

14 Winter 59
Celebi returned to the village. She told us stories about the distant past, a time when the color we see in our spells was just a part of the everyday world around us. A world where time flows freely, with sunrises and sunsets casting brilliant colors across the sky every day. Apparently, she has a plan to bring that light back to our world.

14 Winter 60
Brandon and I have joined Celebi in her quest to restore the flow of time. Tomorrow, we will begin our search across the continent for five ancient relics. Brandon's Dimensional Screams will reveal the locations of the time gears in the past, and once we've found all of them, Celebi will take us back in time to before the planet became paralyzed. We'll use the time gears to prevent the collapse of Temporal Tower, ensuring that time never stops flowing and bringing color back to our time.

14 Spring 51
The search for the time gears has grown more dangerous than we had hoped. Brandon and I are going to train within the safety of the village for now while Celebi looks for more battle-ready allies.

14 Spring 52
Ever since we joined Celebi's mission, the bullies have been much more friendly toward us. They offered to help us train until Celebi rejoins us.

14 Spring 100
Celebi finally came back, and she managed to find a new ally. A Grovyle, albeit one who isn't fluent in Knownun. We're staying in the village until he learns the language.

Every entry I read reinforced what the human elder had previously told me: Brandon really was the other time gear thief. Between what the humans had told me and what I saw at the prison, I already knew that Grovyle and Brandon used to know each other. Still, I suspected the writing from this point forward was relatively recent.

15 Summer 90
Grovyle finally knows enough Knownun to communicate. We'll resume our search for the time gears tomorrow.

15 Autumn 32
We found our first time gear in the Deep Forest. Brandon's Dimensional Scream triggered on some sort of pedestal in the forest's clearing, so we'll search for similar structures from now on.

15 Autumn 86
Another time gear was found today, this time in Limestone Cavern. It should be easy to reach this one when we go to the past, since the mystery dungeon surrounding it is quite small.

16 Summer 5
We finally found the third time gear. Or rather, Celebi found it. The gear was hidden in Chalice Springs within the Fogbound Forest. We suspect it will be difficult to navigate this area in the past, but now that we know it exists we should be fine.

16 Summer 47
We've decided to split our group in two to search for the remaining gears. Grovyle and Celebi are searching the outer edges of the continent, and Brandon and I will search the desert to the north. There is a suspicious rock formation out there that my Stone magic should be able to manipulate.

As I turned the page, I noticed something strange about the journal's paper. There appeared to be some sort of water damage, but only on the next few pages. It didn't take long to find out why, because the handwriting suddenly changed from this entry onward.

15 Summer 51
This journal's owner was killed on our last outing. I don't even know what to write here, but I shouldn't have left you behind, no matter what you said. I keep overthinking what happened, and find I blame myself for it. But the worst part? No one else cares. When they found out what happened, they didn't care that you died. They just wanted to know if we found a time gear. Who cares about the time gear! Someone died! Why have we risked so much for people who don't care about us?

15 Summer 52
We held Sam's funeral today. I haven't felt this alone since I first came to the orphanage.

15 Summer 54
Hey, Sam? Remember that cave you revealed? The one under the desert? We found a time gear there. I know how much you wanted to see time restored, so I've decided that's what I'm going to do, no matter what. I promise I won't let your sacrifice be in vain.

15 Winter 7
We found the last time gear. My Scream revealed that this one controls the flow of time on both our continent and the Sea of Wonders. We didn't realize this before, but we have to collect this one last. The time gears regulate the flow of time in the past, and removing them will begin the planet's paralysis prematurely. Since this gear controls both the locations of all the gears and temporal tower, we will have to act fast once we've collected it.

15 Winter 8
We've begun our preparations for our journey to the past. Once everyone has had time to rest, we'll leave through the passage of time on Lost Island. That means we'll be walking right into Dialga's territory, but we don't have any other choice.

15 Winter 10
We're leaving today. If the rest of these pages are blank, it means I died in the past. If that's the case, then I implore you, mystery reader, to learn from our mistakes and restore time yourself. The time gears are all at the ends of mystery dungeons: Deep Forest, Limestone Cavern, Chalice Springs, Underground Cave, and Crystal Depths. Go to the past and collect all five gears, ending with the Crystal Depths gear, and take them to Temporal Tower. If you act quickly, Dialga won't have time to stop you.

That was the last journal entry. Though I knew it wasn't true, I still found its contents eerie. Sure, Brandon didn't die in the past like it suggested, but by the sound of it he was prepared for the possibility. Even after everything I'd seen, I just couldn't wrap my mind around the idea that he was a time gear thief, or that the thieves were the good guys, or even just hearing my home described as "the past." This was all so surreal, but I was sure of one thing: I might not have started this mission, but I would see it through to the end.

"Hey, Grovyle! You're back!"

"Did something happen in the past?"

"Who's the Chikorita?"

As we entered the human village, Grovyle was hounded with questions. The humans all knew that, if our mission had gone well, they would see the results before our return. At this point, I was just hoping to keep some level of anonymity.

"Looks like you lost your entire team."

"If only that were true…" Grovyle mumbled. Apparently, Grovyle had already disliked me before we had traveled through time. He said that I was the reason Celebi didn't follow us to the past, and that he blamed me for everything that went wrong on our mission. From what I'd gathered, I wasn't well liked within the village either. I decided not to press him for more details after that.

"Where's the elder?" I asked.

"The largest building. It acts as both a town hall of sorts and an orphanage," Grovyle explained. "And just relax, will you? I have no intention of drawing any attention to your identity."

"Good to know," I answered, albeit still unable to relax. The rest of our walk was left to relative silence; despite our shared history, we had nothing to say to each other, and the villagers slowly dispersed as we approached our destination.

We entered the building and were greeted by an elderly woman. "Ahh, Grovyle. I suspected I'd see you back here soon."

"Surely you didn't know we'd fail?"

"No, I merely sensed your return. And Brandon, it's good to see you back here too, given the circumstances," she continued.

"You recognized me?" I asked.

"Be slow in your explanations, Elder," Grovyle interrupted, "he lost his memory."

"That is… certainly not good," the Elder said, "but before anything else, let me heal your wounds. Grovyle, would you mind making a visit to the upper floor? There is someone there who would like to know of your return."

Grovyle quickly left, leaving me with the Elder. "You can heal me?"

She chuckled at that. "You really don't remember anything, do you? Healing magic isn't my specialty, but my abilities should be sufficient for those wounds." As she spoke, her hand began to glow with a faint, purple color, and the gash on my forehead quickly closed up.

"Brandon?" I heard Crest's voice behind me. "You're okay?"

"Crest? What are you doing here?"

"Use Knownun, Brandon," Grovyle said, "You have human allies. Best not to leave them in the dark."

"Oh, right. I didn't think of that…" I said.

Grovyle then turned his attention to the Elder. "I was expecting Celebi."

"Now, don't be selfish, Grovyle. She'll be here soon, I'm sure," she said. "First you need to share information. You have a new ally, after all."

"Right. Crest, how did you get here?" I asked.

"Well, I managed to break out of my cell, and eventually one of the prison's walls. After that, I ran as far as I could, swam farther, and was found by some humans."

"You were found by humans?" Grovyle translated. "Elder, can I assume that was your doing?"

"I suppose that much would be obvious. I had a vision upon your return to our time."

"A vision? Does that mean your powers are the same as mine?" I asked.

"Not quite, young one. My visions only show the present. Your Dimensional Scream is a far more powerful spell."

"Could you ask her how magic works?" Crest asked. "She tried to explain it earlier, but I couldn't make much sense of it, and with the language barrier I couldn't ask."

"Why are you interested?" Grovyle asked. Then, without waiting for an answer, he added, "Never mind, I don't really care. I'll just translate…"

The Elder smiled at the relayed question. "Oh, piqued your interest, have I? I can give you a brief overview on magic, if you'd like."

"Do we really have time for this?" Grovyle complained.

"That Piplup has an unusually high capacity for magic. It's only natural that I teach him," she answered before explaining, "Magic is divided into nine elements, and those elements are usually divided into three trios: the Nature Trio of Water, Stone, and Air, the Mana Trio of Fire, Thunder, and Ice, and the Cosmic Trio of Light, Dark, and Mystic. The element you can use is Ice, which is a Mana Element. That means it excels at combat magic."

"What about me?" I asked.

"Your primary element is Mystic, and your secondary element is Light. Those are both Cosmic Elements, which excel at supportive magic."

"I can use Light magic?"

"Don't get your hopes up," Grovyle cut in. "Your magic proficiency is so terrible you could never hope to cast a Light spell. At least, not without this." He removed a fluffy white accessory from his wrist. "This light band used to be yours. You lost it when we were separated, so I've been using it to amplify luminous orbs."

"Oh yeah, you used to be a team, right? How did you get separated?" Crest asked.

"The passage of time, which is the gate we used for time travel, let out in the middle of a storm somewhere in the ocean," Grovyle explained. "The current pulled Brandon under, so I could only assume he drowned."

"But he's clearly alive now," Crest argued.

"Whether I like it or not…" Grovyle muttered in Pokesh.

"The specifics of what happened don't matter," I said, "We need to plan for now. What should we do first?"

"You should rest," the Elder answered. "Magic can only heal so much. You need time to regain your energy."

"We can't return to the past until we regroup with Celebi. The best way to do that is by waiting here," Grovyle explained.

"That doesn't seem like a good use of our time," Crest thought aloud.

Though I agreed with him, we were in no position to do anything now. "Maybe not, but we should rest while we have the chance. I suspect that we won't get another one once we leave the village."

"Why are we at the hot spring? You don't even like water."

"Well, you seemed to like it here before," Gligar reasoned.

"I had sand in my fur before," I answered.

"Um… It's the thought that counts?" she tried.

"I guess…"

"Now, Jolt, you know she's just trying to help," Torkoal said from his spot near the water. "From what I've heard, you've been through a lot. It might not be much, but the spring can still help you relax."

"Thanks, Torkoal."

"Hey, Torkoal? What's up with the Shinx? Did something happen?" an Omanyte asked.

"You haven't heard, Spiral? There was an incident in Treasure Town," Torkoal explained. "The poor Shinx lost his entire team, and right when they were celebrating the capture of the time gear thief too."

"Oh, that's awful," Spiral said, "but it is good to hear that the thief was captured. That means time will return to normal everywhere, right?"

"It should," I answered.

"I hope it does, I'm worried about home," Gligar added.

"Oh, really?" Spiral asked. "Are you from somewhere that got paralyzed?"

"I'm from the Air Continent."

"Well, that must have been scary," Spiral reasoned. "I've seen what the paralysis does. Luminous Spring wasn't exactly 'luminous' when I last went there."

"Is that why you're not evolved?" I asked.

"No, I didn't actually go there to evolve," Spiral explained. "A while ago I met an explorer who lost his memory. We went to the spring to see if it was related. Crest was disappointed that he couldn't evolve though."

"Crest?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, he's a Piplup-"

"I know, he's my teammate," I said.

"He is? But that means Crest and Brandon are…"

"Missing," I finished, refusing to even acknowledge the alternative. "They were kidnapped and taken to some distant future."

"Arceus, those two are accident-prone," Spiral muttered, "and now Brandon is the center of yet another mystery. That doesn't feel like a coincidence."

"You're not the only one who thinks so," Torkoal spoke up. "There are rumors going around that Wigglytuff's Guild is hiding something about this whole mess."

"I haven't heard anything, or at least nothing meant to be kept secret," I said.

"Well, I still don't trust that they're not hiding something," Spiral said. "I think I'll poke around a bit, see if there's anything we can do to get your team back."

Though it was meant to be comforting, Spiral's comment only made me more aware of my grief, the loss of my teammates becoming physically painful as the crushing weight of helplessness set it. "Well, thanks, I guess…"

"Are… you okay?" Gligar asked.

"I just want to go home," I said. 'And I want my friends back…'