We had a few days to relax and train. Treecko wanted to get right into it, since he knew we each needed to improve in our combat, and I agreed for the same reason. Without a real threat, I didn't use any Pokémon move sets to fight Treecko, though it definitely made battling harder. I also gained a few new bruises.

Celebi started getting into the training as well, and when Treecko rested, I versed her, one-on-one. Since she knew of my ability, I let myself use simple moves that wouldn't attract attention from Treecko. I need to be careful with future encounters of psychic-type Pokémon. I'll block my ability, or focus on keeping it to myself, or—

While I was thinking of hiding my ability from other psychic Pokémon, Celebi caught me in the middle of a Magical Leaf, and I felt all the cuts on my arms, legs, and face, the bits of blood seeping from the cuts. "Pearl, you should be more aware! Sableye won't wait for you to leave your thoughts!"

"I know," I said, before I ran at her to Tackle. I hit, and, because I'm about fourteen times her body weight, I sent her flying back. "My thoughts are a dangerous place," I joked. Then I went back to the serious, battle-centered part of my mind.

Celebi and I exchanged blows quite a few times before we both couldn't keep going. I had found out after the battle that she also knew Recover, so she didn't have to wait a long time before she was at one hundred percent again. I, however, couldn't use any move to heal myself, so I waited as I healed. My cuts would be annoying, so maybe within a few days from now I could heal them quick. Besides, Treecko won't know how fast humans' wounds can heal.

As if the thought called him, the gecko Pokémon walked over to me. In his eyes shone an idea. "Pearl, I'd like to see your books again. I think I missed something while I was gawking at the color a world can, and is supposed to, have."

"Sure," I said, somewhat confused. I grabbed the book I had shown him before, and he took it, opening up to a random page. He murmured something to himself, his eyes calculating. "What's up?"

Treecko glanced at me. "Your land's writing is an ancient language here. Does that mean you know how to read it? The ancient words?"

The question took me by surprise. "Of course. Everyone where I come from does. I noticed you have the normal text we do in Dusknoir's library. Why does the Unknown script interest you?"

He hesitated a moment. "Temporal Tower is as ancient as time itself, as is Dialga. At that time, the ancient script, or the Unknown script, as you call it, was all the Pokémon used. I've thought that if anything were written in Temporal Tower, it would be in the ancient script."

I nodded. "That is reasonable. The Unknown script is fairly ancient where I come from, but because it is still used in ancient ruins that humans stumble into, we are taught it. I can teach it to you, if you'd like. It's not all that different from the normal script, but the differences are unreadable to those who don't know the script."

"It would be good to know how to read an ancient language if I must."

     I nodded, and we talked about the Unknown script. With the rest of the day, we focused on nothing else. I had Treecko write in the dirt the letters, telling him to spell certain words. Even though we spent the next few days doing separate activities, him studying the Unknown script and I endurance training, we were fairly productive. I ran through the caves, as silent and as fast as I could for as long as I could push myself, which, at first, wasn't very long at all. Every morning I woke up sore, and every morning I had a letter to answer for Treecko, since he could only remember so many at once. And every morning I stretched long until the soreness was almost gone before I ran again. Deeper and deeper into the caves I ventured, before I found the lake. When I did, I checked the maps. None pointed the lake out.

For a while, I stayed silent about it, returning every time after watching the still, gray water, glancing at a skeleton. Disturbingly, it looked like Uxie. The head bones seemed to me that it would fit his normal look, and the first time I found it, I was appalled. My body rejected the skeleton, and a shock of, well, probably shock coursed through me for a heartbeat. Once I got over the initial disturbing sight of the skeleton, I mourned. Even though I didn't know this Uxie, I mourned, since I knew how great legendaries were, and how dependent the environments around them often were.

The sixth morning, I was incapable of standing at all. My legs felt like jelly to me, but when I tried massaging them, the muscles felt hard. I needed to let them heal, I thought, chastising myself. I'm lucky I didn't get a charlie horse in them. I laid back, daydreaming for the first time in a while. I wanted to visit the lake again, but I couldn't walk without noticeably staggering. Treecko had memorized the Unknown alphabet, and was now trying to read the few books I brought with me to get better.

I daydreamed, thinking over recent events. I needed to do something, and at the moment that was figuring out how to defeat Dusknoir. This would hardly be our last encounter.

First, I thought about type weakness. Dusknoir, a ghost-type, would be immune to normal- and fighting-type moves. It must have been a fluke when I attacked him in the library, that or the fact that I'm a human-Ditto with no type and all types. With a shock of realization, I thought of Dusknoir's surprised look when I had Force Palm-ed him. That must have been why. He didn't know why I of all creatures would be able to hit him with an attack like that. Maybe that was also why he didn't return when we were tied up. Does he...fear me? A devilish grin fought its way onto my face. Dusknoir, a huge Pokémon at least two feet taller than I, with far more experience and training, afraid of me? The thought pleased me, but I knew it to be false. Nothing but wishful thinking.

Later in the day, when I was actually able to walk, I took Celebi and Treecko with me, to the lake above. I showed them the skeleton of Uxie as we walked past to sit on the farthest part of the peninsula. Bending toward the water, I placed my hand in, swirling the gray, lifeless water.

    Suddenly, my head felt dizzy, my vision brightened and turned to static, and my stomach did rolls. I grimanced, baring my teeth. I feel faint! I realized, fear seizing me. This doesn't make any sen—

    My thoughts got cut off as something forced itself upon my mind. A picture.

    Illumise and Volbeat flew around a fountain, lit up against an inky blue sky. The water was living crystal under the bug-types' light, and on the rocky peninsula where I, Celebi, and Treecko sat was Uxie, wonderfully alive. He was watching the light show. His gaze, though, was too intense to just be watching. I looked at the water fountain closer, and inside I saw a Time Gear, blue with a green light-aura around it. The Time Gear of Fogbound Lake! I thought, frantically, trying to retain the beauty of the image.

    "Pearl!" I heard two voices yell. My face felt wet, though with blood or water I couldn't tell. I didn't smell the metallic scent of blood, that was for sure. My neck felt like something had been hit against it, my throat just hurt from being forced to hit it's own inner walls. I coughed, sending water from my mouth, and pulled my hand out of the water to help the two Pokémon get me out of the water. "Are you okay!?" the two voices asked in unison.

    I gasped. What had happened? "I... saw something. An image, a vision, call it whatever you like. It was of the lake," I gestured to the still water, "alive. Uxie was here, watching a light show that Illumise and Volbeat created as they flew around a water fountain. But in the water fountain, Treecko, Celebi, was a Time Gear."

    We were all silent. I pictured the scene, the beauty unmatched in this dead world.

     "And you said you've come here before?" Celebi asked, breaking the silence.

     I nodded. "And I've touched the water before. The only thing I haven't touched was the skeleton." Treecko was still silent, and I could see it in his eyes that he was thinking. "Treecko?"

     "While in the library," Treecko started, slowly. "I saw something on an ability called the Dimensional Scream. It was vague, and at the time it didn't make any sense. It still doesn't. From this, right here, though, it must be some kind of foresight, or hindsight."

     "That doesn't explain why it didn't trigger until now. The first time I came here, I was sweaty and hot, and I rinsed my face in the water. This little touch, though, triggered it," I said, trying to figure this out.

     "Maybe you can use it only in the presence of others, since it would have been dangerous if you had drowned," Celebi suggested. "This might be what we need to find Time Gears. That probably means there isn't one at the Stockade, Forgotten Coast, or Dry Bluff."

     I stood up. "Well, whatever triggers it, it seems Time Gears are the major one. That means we have quite a bit of ground to cover. I'll mark it on the Wonder map when we get back. Maybe there is some kind of pattern, like they can only be found on the east side of the land." I looked down at Uxie's skeleton. I wonder why, and how, he died. Legendaries are extremely hard to capture, much less kill, and he is a psychic-type, too. I led the way out of the lake and back to our makeshift camp.