I woke up, and Treecko was free of Confuse Ray. It seemed he had been for a long time. "Do we know how to fix the Spring yet?" I asked, sitting up. Celebi had just thrown her arms into the air and let them fall in disappointment as I did so. Treecko was shaking his head before he addressed me.

     "No. We can't figure it out. It's dead, as is time. We should move on soon, those serpent Pokémon will be on our tails soon."

     I wasn't ready to give up evolution. I reached into my bag and pulled out my Pokéflute, in a pouch I had bought from Unova. It wasn't the best protection for the scratched, aged instrument, but at least the flute still worked.

     After a moment, I brought it to my lips and played the song I was taught years ago, the song I played to wake the Snorlax. I didn't worry, I played it softly, as was normal. I looped through the tune a few times, until I got an idea. I stopped playing. "I will fix the spring."

     "How?" Celebi asked.

     "Impossible," Treecko said, at the same time, with scorn to hide his dissapointment. "If Pokémon can't fix it, you can't. Oh, don't glare. You know it to be true. Humans are without movesets."

     I stood up. "I will fix the spring," I repeated. Entering the center of the clearing, I did something. I played, but it wasn't normal music. In line with my goal, the flute's music sounded watery, and mysterious, like this forest. I kept playing, and I went on for quite a few minutes. When I thought nothing would happen, I was about to stop, but light caught my eye. Light!

     "What in the name of Arceus...?" Treecko was speechless.

     Slowly, I moved out of the center of the clearing smoothly, like part of an acient ritualistic dance. Light cascaded down from the trees, originating from Arceus knew where. I motioned with my Pokéflute for Treecko to enter the center, and after a brief hesitation, he did.

     I heard a smooth voice, as if it—she, he?—were in tune to my music perfectly. It's as if this was how the Spring worked all along; music needed to be played to awaken the ancient power of evolution.

     Treecko responded in kind, keeping with the music I've been repeating. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another glow, and I realized it was him. Turning, almost faltering, I watched as Treecko evolved into a Grovyle. It was beautiful.

     Once he stopped glowing, Grovyle left the center pillar of light and ran to Celebi. I let my tune trail off, and I realized I was sweating slightly. Nothing can energize while wearing out like music, I thought to myself.

     "Celebi!" he cried, happily. "Look! I've done the impossible!"

     Celebi watched her friend happily, tears of joy even making her eyes shine. I joined the group hug. Grovyle turned to me, and he hugged me. "Pearl, thank you. How did you do that? How did you know that would work?"

     I couldn't come out and say I was part Pokémon. "Let's just say we have some musical Pokémon teaching humans music. Some people have the ability to use music, almost like magic, but more like a Pokémon's moveset. I've always loved music, so I learned."

     "Too bad we don't have any of your music moves here. They could have been useful... when Temporal Tower was collapsing..."

     "Treecko," Celebi started.

     "Grovyle," he corrected.

     The time travel Pokémon laughed. "Grovyle," she continued. "We shouldn't dwell on negative things like that right now."

     I moved over and sat down against a tree, glancing at the fading light of Luminous Spring. "Actually, there is something I should tell you guys," I said, quietly. "Something a bit more negative than Temporal Tower's collapse."

    As I gathered my thoughts, Grovyle and Celebi watched in silence. "Once we go back in time, and once we fix the world, this future will cease to exist due to the fact that the world will continue to live as it should have. We may not exist anymore. In fact, that is most likely the outcome we face." I lowered my head in shame. "Do you still want to revive the world?" I glanced back up at them, especially Grovyle. His eyes held conflict, as did Celebi's. But it was quickly sorted out.

     "The world deserves to live. This is no life, and, as Mew said, there will be many who would give their lives of worthlessness to see that the world lives once again. I am in." Grovyle grabbed my shoulders, though not hard. It was in reassurance. "We suspected this from the begining. I hoped it not to be true." He let me go and stepped back a few paces and looked at Celebi. "Celebi?"

     "Yes. This must be done." Her answer was simple.

     "Thank you," I said, grateful. "I think we should name ourselves, don't you think?"

     "What do you mean? That won't help us." Grovyle, as always, the one to see the pointlessness.

     "Let's give ourselves a name. One that Dusknior will learn to hate, and one others will learn means hope," I urged.

"There did use to be exploration teams," Celebi said, "and they had names. We are this future's last team. We should make a name, but not now. Those serpents are on our tail. We must keep going." Grovyle and I nodded in agreement as one, and we headed out, the fading Spring behind us.

     When we made it through the jungle in a day, we didn't expect to see a desert of all things. Nor did we expect paralyzed quicksand, which is faster at sucking one in than normal. Luckily, Celebi noticed the latter before it became a problem.

     "We must be careful," I said, stating the obvious. "Do either of you think there is a Gear in this place? It doesn't seem like a normal desert... it's like there's a large path to its heart. Right?"

     "This is dangerous," Grovyle agreed. "It's worth a search. We have nothing better to do, no lead anywhere else."

     I nodded. "Then let's go. Into the desert."

"Wait," Celebi said. "Do we have provisions? I know you have food, Pearl, but do we have water?"

"There was a stream we passed just a little while ago, wasn't there?" Grovyle gazed into the forest, trying to remember. "Pearl, give me a container of some sort and I can go and get it."

I didn't remember it, but there turned out to be another canteen in my bag. Kevin must have slipped it in there. Or Bill. Either way, thank Arceus someone did. I handed it over and Grovyle hurried off. Man, I forgot how fast Grovyle were. Then again, I never went to Hoenn, so...

"I'm glad Grovyle decided to go and get the water. Now we can talk about... Ditto." Celebi broke through my thoughts, and I flinched.

To cover it up, I replied, "You think I can sense the Gears' power?"

She nodded. "Legendary Pokémon have become accustomed to sensing each other's power, in case an attack was approaching. Time Gears were made for this world, and their auras are like nature. My main focus is time travel, Pearl. But there are so many other nature Pokémon who depend more than others on Time's stability. Other Legendaries, even.
"So yes, I do expect you to have some inkling of where a Time Gear is. Is there one here, in this desert?"

"I-I do feel... something. I'm not sure if it's a Time Gear or some other relic, but it does give off an aura."

"Alright," Celebi said. "Do you really plan not to tell Grovyle? We are a team, after all. Distrust doesn't lead to great things."

"No! And I don't distrust any of you. It's just easier to think of me as a lesser threat, isn't it? Especially with Dusknoir and the Sableye. Not to mention Primal Dialga. If either of them somehow get me to work for them... or corrupt my mind into fighting you two... I couldn't bear it. I don't want to hurt you two. I'm already leading you two to ruin, to nonexistance, and that is hard enough.
"I don't doubt that he'll find out eventually. It's pretty inevitable. Wouldn't it be easier to just know me and then get used to my ability, rather than know me based on what I can do? How has it been for you, Celebi? Can you tell me that you would know me the same if you had no knowledge of it?"

For the first time, Celebi scowled. "I don't think of you, talk to you, or take over the guard shift from you and think of you as a power, Pearl. I don't see you any different than when we first met, and after we exchanged trusts. We are all on the same side, Pearl! If it's such an enevitability, when not let him find out and get used to the idea? You can battle easier, and if you ever do that he won't be caught off guard in the middle of a fight. That would be when you decide to let it out, isn't it?"

Her words stung, since she was fine with it ever since we last talked about it. Celebi must have been thinking about this for quite some time. The worst part about her words, though, was that they were true. I would have waited until a losing battle to use my ace, and it would have confused Grovyle, but only for a moment.

A moment is long enough to get overtaken.

"You're right, Celebi. I'm sorry for making you lie to Grovyle on my behalf. When he comes back, I will tell him. All of it."

"Tell me what?" Grovyle's voice came from behind me, and I spun around, heart pounding. "What have you two kept from me?" There was danger in his voice, and it was aimed at me. I could see it in his eyes. Whatever we had kept secret, it was my fault, and I must have threatened Celebi to make her keept the secret.

Celebi did nothing to deter Grovyle's hostility.

"I have an ability to use Pokémon moves and take on their forms," I said. My secret flooded out of me then, as if the dam was broken and the water could rush through without restraint. I explained fighting Dusknoir, burning the bindings, faintly sensing the Gears, escaping the serpent Pokémon, and briefly reviving the Spring. "I never wanted anyone to know, but Celebi sensed it," I finished, and looked down at the ground in shame. "I'm so sorry." My eyes stung, but I had to keep myself together. I never enjoyed lying, and this felt like the ultimate lie.

"On the bright side," I said, after blinking my tears from my eyes and facing them, "battle training won't be easy for you now, Grovyle. You've got a Ditto to train with."

Grovyle said nothing throughout. He still gave me a death glare before he looked to Celebi for confirmation. "Is this true?"

Celebi nodded, still silent.

"Great Arceus, Pearl! We could have destroyed Dusknoir if you had become Dialga or some other Legendary—"

"No, I wouldn't have been able to. My bones break and reconstruct every time I shift, and ligaments and tendons reshape. It would have been painful, noisy, and at that point I would have been very vulnerable to any attacks. It's not something I plan to do when I can just as easily use moves in my human form so much more conspicuously.
"Plus, there is the problem with Primal Dialga and Dusknoir figuring it out. We, Team PokéFriends, don't need the extra attention."

"That's our exploration name, is it?" Grovyle said, still sour. He just wanted to pick a fight, it looked like.

"We are friends, Govyle," Celebi said, softly. "So it will be our name, so all know we are one."