I remembered the tracker bracelet that was on my arm.

By this time, Grovyle, Celebi, and I had already set out from the stream yesterday. As he had said, the serpent Pokémon were on our tails, and we could afford no more setbacks. More Pokémon could be on our trail after losing the serpents. The Spring was an exception, since it made Grovyle evolve. But staying any longer would have been folly and asking for trouble—something we needed no more of.

As we were walking, I remembered the bracelet with a jolt. I hadn't looked at it all, really. I grabbed it from my arm, to notice a little, blue light flashing faintly. Why did Bill program it to flash? What is that purpose? I snapped it back on to mess with it while we walked, and suddenly I saw Bill, Kevin, and a young woman—a girl, really, no older than me. She had light brown hair and bright blue eyes. The background looked to be mountainous -- probably Mt. Coronet. I would have thought it was a picture if Bill hadn't suddenly begun to talk.

"Crystal, whenever you get this, this was sent a week after you jumped dimensions. The portal was a success, though you briefly went off our radar. Partway through, the BraceTrak reported that you shifted back to human, so that is what happened.
"Kevin and I didn't call for just a minor detail. It's more than likely that you won't see this immediately, due to passing through the dimensions and also whatever it may be that you're going to end up doing. I'll let him take this over then introduce our new ally here."

Kevin then took up the topic from there. "Though the portal was a success, we couldn't keep it open. It only opens randomly, and with surges of power. We, ah, borrowed Zapdos from you. He came willingly, of course, from Kanto, but he is right now creating a power surge so this can get recorded live and sent through. Even though this is live at the time of sending, you wouldn't be able to talk back unless you somehow found devices to do so on your end and hooked them up to a portal frame which you'd have to construct—obviously not an easy task." I then heard Zapdos' call, which I understood to be Be careful.

Kevin indicated the third member of their party. "This here is Amber, the head of technology advancements for Team Sky. Don't worry, as Bill mentioned, they are allies. They aren't like the typical Teams we encountered before. And... soon you will be able to talk to her, face to face. Team Sky is working on helping us, and they made the device that accumulates the electricity Zapdos is outputting and sending it in a surge to the portal. Now, we've taken a long time with this message even though it might not seem so. The portal can only remain open for so long, and we are getting to that limit soon. We are working on a portal that can target your location, and if your heart rate picks up to a level where adrenaline is running, then it won't activate for obvious reasons. We hope to see you soon. And Lidin—"

I didn't realize I was seeing them as if I were there until the recording cut off. They must have hit that time limit Kevin mentioned sooner than they expected. But what of Lidin? Will he be coming, along with Amber? I do miss him, I wish I could have versed him in a Pokémon battle before I left. I hadn't seen him since after the battle in Celadon City. I hoped he would be safe here, and maybe even bring some of his and my Pokémon.

"Pearl? You okay?"

Grovyle's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Celebi and he were looking at me with concern.

I nodded. "Fine. Let's keep going."

"Pearl," Celebi said softly, "what was that? Why did you stop for a few minutes? Is something wrong? Do you sense something?"

Celebi never got this concerned from when I traveled with her. She must have sensed something I didn't—I couldn't sense Bill, Kevin, or Amber. "No," I responded truthfully. I didn't sense any of them. "I... my brother just checked in with me using a device a friend created to keep in contact."

     "You have a brother? Yet you want to help fix this world and destroy your existence when you have a family?"

     "I—" I took a breath. I had thought about this a few times, but I didn't ever like it. "It's complicated, Celebi. Let's just focus on getting to the heart of this desert for the Gear."

     Lonely Desert, or Northern Desert, had very few living Pokémon, but many skeletons. They stuck out of the sand near the quicksand, and sometimes got pulled back in.

     At it's heart, there was nothing. Just a huge quicksand vortex, but this one had no bones around it. In fact, I could sense the aura from before. I could identify it, now. "Time Gear," I whispered.

     "What?" Grovyle asked, worry in his eyes. "Don't tell me you want to jump in that."

     "Look, Grovyle. There is no bones, it's the heart, and I sense the Gear. And if I get trapped I can shift and get free. What could really happen?"

Grovyle crossed his arms with a huff. "It's your death sentence. I know I can't stop you until you try."

Celebi looked at me. "Just be careful, alright?"

"Please," I said confidently, taking a step towards the sand, "I've got this."

My foot sunk almost imediately, and I felt the first stab of fear. "I smell your fear," Grovyle said. "Regretting yet?" It sounded like a challenge.

"Of course not," I scoffed. "It just surprised me, that's all." By this time, I was closer to the middle, and I was falling faster. That was a good and bad sign. But if the good was right, and there was a cavern under here...

I took a big breath and held my nose as I submerged. Sand was in my ears, clothes, and everything. It was very irritable. It almost felt like I was being swallowed... Don't let your imagination scare you to death, Crystal, I told myself. You're in sand, and you're about to fall into a cavern any second. Be ready to—

Mid-thought I crashed to the ground. It wasn't a hard landing, or even very long, but just unexpected. The cavern was dark. I stepped out of the sand shower so I could de-sand myself and think of a way to let the others know. "Maybe... Double Team?"

I used Double Team, and I imagined myself jumping into the sand. I was about to change to a Charmander when I remembered that the tail-flame, the very thing I was going for, could easily get killed by lack of oxygen or sand, killing me in the process. Instead I changed to a Purrloin, with a moveset of fire- and dark-type moves, such as Ember, Flamethrower, Shadow Claw, and Crunch. I hoped that was good enough, and set myself to wait in the darkness.

It was only a few minutes before I heard Grovyle and Celebi land in the sand. One of them spit—I assumed it to be Grovyle—before I breathed a small plume of fire to be Ember. "About time you guys got here," I said, my voice a purr from the Purrloin's vocal cords. "Thought I'd have to find the Gear's place without the Scream."

Grovyle gave me a glare that I saw when I blew another plume of fire. "Would you rather us be reckless and more likely to die?"

Another plume, and I shrugged. "I can sense you, you know. Either way, let's get moving. At least we should be safe here for a while, right? None of Dusknoir's Sableye would want to jump into quicksand unless they were thrown, and even then they'd probably panic."

Celebi nodded. "You haven't looked around here, have you?"

"I was waiting for you."

Grovyle grew impatient. "How about we stop chattering like Starlys and get a move on? We found three locations already, once we find two more then we can start the race against time's demise."

     He started off into the sandy fortress, at least I assumed it was a fortress, and Celebi and I followed. We kept going lower and lower, and I was straining to hear or sense any other life here. Strangely, there wasn't. It was much worse looking for nonexistent enemies than actually finding them. I voiced this, but Grovyle, set on his task, brushed it off.

     "All the easier for us. Now come on, we have to see the end of the path."

     We never slowed down, and I almost regretted having a bag. It was nearly as big as me, or I was just about as small, as a Purrloin, but I managed to keep up. A few times I considered shifting to a Liepard, but I never did.

     Finally, we reached a dead end. From the entrance to the final cave, it looked like it was just a bunch of sand, and that nothing could possibly be here. I let myself drop to the ground beside the tunnel, slipping out of my bag. "Okay, time for a rest before we head out again," I said.

     Grovyle didn't stop. He kept going farther than the mouth of the tunnel. "Hey!" he called back. When only Celebi moved to his call, he rushed back and practically carried me over to where he was.

     "Hey!" I yowled indignantly, trying to push myself away from him. He dropped me and, being the cat Pokémon I was, I landed on my paws. "What's the big idea? Can't we rest?"

     Grovyle sighed, letting his head drop and closing his eyes in exasperation. He fixed his gaze back on me and pointed behind me. "Pearl, look, would you?"

     Turning around, I noticed the lake first. "What the—? How is this here in the middle of a des—"

     Then I noticed the skeleton. I hissed and looked away. "Mesprit," I said, distaste in my mouth. "Mesprit is dead."

     Grovyle said nothing for a minute, perhaps giving his respect to the guardian. "We need to check the water, Pearl. Come on." He led the way over to the paralyzed water with me following. I couldn't look at the skeleton again. It was too unfathomable.

     Grovyle motioned to the water and I carefully dipped a paw in. Immediately the Scream made me feel terrible and took my vision to another time.

     From the gray sand of the dead desert, the world exploded into the color of sand and water. Mesprit was singing to herself, with her eyes close, facing out at the hidden lake. In the distance, without the flash and flare of Uxie's Gear, was the green-blue light that indicated it was there. Mesprit was the only one there, not even water-tpye Pokémon in the lake.

     With the music, the Gear's glow was fading and pulsing, and I understood: the being of emotion was expressing her own emotion, and it was so powerful that it effected the Gear.

     The vision faded, and everything was gray once more. "It was here," I croaked. "Mesprit's Gear was here."