We packed up on the seventh day, each of us thankful to go to Dusk Forest after our long absence. I wish we could have gone back sooner, but I was glad we didn't stay. Tracks of Sableye were all over the place.

By now, though, we've set up camp and I dragged out our moss beds. We were settled in by the time of nightfall.

"So we should just look for places, right?" I asked, breaking the silence that settled over us during dinner. "We don't have any choice, I don't think."

Treecko nodded. "Seems we know what trio guarded the Gears, hm?"

I nodded, as did Celebi.

We spent the next five days searching up the coast. I carried the map, and the next place I had what Treecko called a Dimensional Scream in a cavern of purple-tinted rock. I marked down the estimated location, and we moved on. The locations dwindled until we had no more near Uxie's lake and the other Time Gear. Eventually, I voiced an idea I had been carrying for a long time.

"There's a forest to the west. It turns into a jungle of sorts, and they are called Treeshroud Forest, or Nightwood Forest, and Mysterious Jungle, or Skull Forest. Do you think there might be something
there?"

Treecko halted. "Skull Forest is a natural labyrinth. It could have something, if not the Gear."

So we continued on, westward. The jungle started abruptly, as if it had been placed there, on top of whatever was there before. I led the way, trying to keep my direction straight. We spent the rest of the fifth day there, camping in the middle of a clearing that had no Pokémon in it. Not that there were many willing to fight, one-on-three.

Along the way, I picked berries frozen in time. Once my hand touched them, they lived once more. I didn't have a clue as to how the Pokémon of the future survived, no berries growing anew. A second option entered my thoughts, but I thought it too disturbing to dwell on it too long. Instead I focused on cooking the berries.

Then a voice boomed, "You dare enter my jungle? My home?" It was high pitched, and sounded female and small, but I learned long ago to never underestimate a Pokémon, no matter how small. At the voice, I stood from my moss-bed, as did Treecko and Celebi. While Treecko had his back turned, I used Harden and Swords Dance, struggling to keep it quiet. He was too focused on the voice's source, however, which was still hidden. "How awfully rude."

Before Treecko could retaliate in words, I said loudly, "We are sorry for tresspassing. We have been traveling for the near equivalent of a week's time, and we plan to stay until we have rested and eaten. I invite you to share our food, though there is little more for a guest. We wish you no ill will, and we hope you wish the same."

The voice went silent, like it was debating our offer. Then it said, "I will join you," and Mew floated from the trees. She let her tail twitch and her small nose quivered as she breathed our food. "What are your names?" she asked as she floated closer.

Treecko sat back down, as Celebi and I followed suit, and I continued to cook the berries. "I'm known as Pearl, and this is Treecko and Celebi." I pointed to each in turn and they greeted Mew as I held out a handful of cooked oran berries. "Here."

Mew hesitated, looking at Celebi as if surprised a fellow legendary dare visit, then took the berries gratefully. She picked them up with Psychic and munched on one. "Thank you, Pearl the human, Treecko, and Celebi. Now, I ask you why you are here. This is my home, the heart of the jungle."

Celebi answered. "We are searching for Time Gears. Does your jungle have one?"

At the mention of the Gears, Mew stopped eating. "You three know that Dialga destroyed the gears and their guardians, don't you? They no longer live in their bodies or exist, respectfully."

Celebi, Treecko, and I exchanged glances. In the end, we decided Mew didn't like how her jungle was turned into a paralyzed, dead place when it used to be full of life and activity, and trusted her. We told her the whole story, from when I arrived to the finding of two Gears. I brought out the map in the beginning, tracing our travels as we told her about our plan to change the past, and showed her the bag the Gears were going to be stored in when we went back in time for them. In the end, Mew was quiet, though she had commented she was impressed we had done so much in the last four and a half weeks of time. We left out the Passage of Time, however. Celebi didn't want it to be common knowledge. "So again, is there a Gear in your jungle?" I asked.

Mew laughed. "If there had been, I myself would have been the guardian and Dialga would have sought my destruction. No, you are right. Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf were the guardians for three of many. Knowledge, Emotion, and Wisdom were the guardians of life. Uncounted other Gears were left unguarded. It sounds like you have found one of the unguarded ones, so that leaves the many others. It's not in this jungle, but Treeshroud Forest has what you seek, though now it is named Nightwood Forest.
"I wish you luck on your quest, and I know many of the Pokémon here would give up existence if it meant restoring time to this broken, dead wasteland of a world."

     The rest of the night, Mew kept watch for us. She declared she never had anything important to do, anyway, and that we would soon need more rest than we were likely to get. I, however, needed to keep up the defense that protected my aura from being detected as an abnormality. That was another thing we didn't tell Mew, since only Celebi knew. I entered a very restless sleep, and the third time I woke Mew sighed.

     "Pearl," she had said. "Please rest. Most Pokémon aren't as generous as I am now, to assure you protection as you sleep. Do you distrust my word?"

     I had shaken my head. "No, I appreciate your hospitality. I just—" I didn't know how to say it. "I have something, and if any others were to know, Dusknior and Primal Dialga may find out and hunt us down with renewed vigor."

     At my vagueness, Mew had tilted her head in confusion. "And what does that have to—"

     "It can be sensed by psychic-types," I had blurted. "Treecko doesn't know, but Celebi does. I hadn't meant for any to know."

     Mew had gone silent. "I understand. Then you are keeping up whatever mental or psychic guard to keep me from knowing." Her words had sounded somewhat hurt, but her eyes held understanding. "You can rest easy, you know. Many legendaries don't agree with Dialga. Many would do what you do now. Please, for your sake, rest easy and get the sleep you need. I will try not to pry, and no one comes here out of fear, in any case. Please, Pearl."

     I finally gave in, and slept the rest of the night. It wasn't easy, to trust Mew with such a secret, even if she didn't want it, but I did, and when I woke up again it was time to head back out.

     We headed south, and then east. Along the way, Treeck was silent. He kept glancing at me, taking a breath like he was going to say something. Even though curiosity started to begin its very slight burn, I pushed it aside. It was not my place to pry, nor was it important. If it were, Treecko would voice it in time.

Once we entered Nightwood Forest, the vines and such woven jungle tres thinned until there were no more. Only normal oak, birch, and maple trees. In the forest I was the one to lead, and it was as if either the Dimensional Scream led me to the heart, or my own Ditto-gained sense, and we spotted a place that looked empty. It was missing something, something that should have been between two trees, framed by the bushes below and open to the sky. I stepped forward toward the natural frame, and touched the bush.

I immediately felt the Scream run through me. My vision went static, my stomach churned its rebellion. I tried to stay standing, but my sense of balance was gone, and only when I could sense myself falling with my limited sense did I realize I actually was falling. Before I landed, though, I had the vision.

     A dark figure, not human but Pokémon, ran through Treeshroud Forest, not Nightwood Forest, but the living Treeshroud Forest. Once it got to the heart of the forest, where they three were now, it came across the Time Gear of Treeshroud Forest.

     "Do my eyes deceive me?" the Pokémon said, male in tone. It sounded almost like Treecko. "Could it be...? Yes, it is!" Lightning struck, and for a moment I saw a Grovyle, glancing at the sky, and he had a small pouch. One that looked similar to the one we'd shown Mew. Was there another, in the past, working for their goal? Or was that the Treecko she knew, only evolved? If it were Treecko, I would be with him. I pushed the thought aside as the Pokémon continued talking. "I've finally found it! Treeshroud Forest's Time Gear!" He reached for it, and hesitated. "But...this is only the first of the five..."

     Two more strikes of lightning lit the clearing up, with the Grovyle looking once more at the sky, for a moment drowning the Time Gear's green light. Then the Grovyle grabbed it, murmured something while looking around—looking straight at me as he did so—and, when he didn't find what he was looking for, he growled, "I guess that was a lost cause. I have yet to find her here." He then sped out of the area as it turned gray and lifeless, as it was now.

     I woke up with Treecko and Celebi waiting patiently. Neither looked worried, but they both noticed once I was awake. "Well?" Treecko inquired. "What did you learn?"

     I told them what I saw, including the Grovyle. "He darted off once time started to stop," I finished. "That was it."

     Celebi was silent the whole time. "Perhaps we need you to evolve, Treecko."

     Treecko snorted. "Luminous Spring has been dead since before the world's time stopped. It must have been some other Pokémon."

     "Luminous Spring?" I echoed. "What is that?"

     "A place where, if a Pokémon is strong enough or has the needed item, can evolve," Celebi explained. "Though, even in the past when time flowed, it didn't work for a long time."

     I stood up. "Well, that is what we need to find. A Gear might be there, too."

Treecko shook his head. I guessed he wanted to evolve—who wouldn't?—but never had any hope of it. Now, since we are going there, I think I woke the hope up again, even if he decided to hide it.

We headed southeast again, through the forest, over some hills, and past a mountain in three more days.

We then entered Bewildering, or Mystifying, Forest.