After Arya

After Arya: Part 4

Soon, the days began to blur together. They passed by, one after the other, until things began to resemble some sort of normalcy. I suppose it was comforting that I had a routine, but it didn't mean I was happy. Still, I found comfort in my friendships with Bidoof, Loudred, Sunflora, Diglett, and many others at the guild. They were there for me even on my especially bad days when I didn't want to talk to anyone. I appreciated their patience and understanding.

A few weeks passed. One day, after our morning chants, Chatot and Wigglytuff called me into Wigglytuff's office. Worried I was in trouble, I entered apprehensively. "What's up?" I asked, my eyes darting between Wigglytuff and Chatot.

"Don't worry Ben, you aren't in trouble. It's just that the guildmaster and I had an idea..." Chatot trailed off, waiting for Wigglytuff to jump in.

Wigglytuff, who was staring happily into space just moments before, suddenly snapped his attention to me. "Ben! My good friend! We were thinking of having a memorial for our friendly friend, Arya!" he said in that sing-songy voice of his.

I took a step back from shock. "Really? A memorial? That's..." I couldn't quite finish the sentence.

Chatot flapped his wings, looking uncomfortable. "We know it's a difficult topic, and we understand if you are uncomfortable. We just thought it might be nice to honor her...memory," Chatot forced out.

I felt my eyes fill with tears. "Th-thank you," I sputtered. "It's just so hard to acknowledge that...that she's gone," I tried to explain.

Wigglytuff's normally cheerful face suddenly crumpled. "Ben...friendly friend...I know how it feels to lose someone you love and trust. I am truly sorry that you have to go through something like this..."

And suddenly, both Wigglytuff and Chatot had enclosed me in a hug. I almost collapsed into both of them, but they held me up. Eventually, I somewhat regained my composure. "A memorial...would be very nice. It would give me a chance to spread our adventures to a wider audience, which was her last request." I had told everyone at the guild what had happened, but most of Treasure Town probably didn't know all of the details yet.

"Perfect, Ben. We were thinking our town elder, Torkoal, could sort of lead the service. But of course, you would have time to speak as well," Chatot said.

We worked out the rest of the details and decided that the service would be tomorrow at sundown at the beach.

The evening came quickly on the next day. I didn't know if I was mentally prepared, but I knew that this was something that needed to happen. I walked to the beach with Bidoof and Loudred. They were both quiet and reverent, which I was thankful for.

When I got to the beach, I was stunned by its beauty. I noticed that there were beautiful flower arrangements surrounding a lime green bow. I realized that it was the bow that had washed up on the beach with Arya. She had worn it for a while, but I suddenly remembered that she had taken it off before we left for Temporal Tower. Though she couldn't have known then what was going to happen, it still seemed like foreshadowing to me. I later found out that Sunflora had done the floral arrangements, which added splashes of color to the beach.

It seemed like all of Treasure Town was there. In fact, I was certain that if I were to go to the square, all the shops would be empty, and the streets would be deserted. It made me happy that everyone had shown up to remember Arya, and I smiled faintly.

Eventually, everyone had gathered around, and we were ready to start. I saw Torkoal slowly make his way up to the front of the crowd.

"Thank you all for coming today," he said in his wizened, gravelly voice. "I don't think any of us will ever forget the Exploration Team, Retrograde. Arya and Ben are the Pokemon who are responsible for saving our world today." He paused for a moment as everyone clapped and cheered. When it died down, he said, "But, that does not come without a price. Ben's partner, Arya, had to disappear...to return to the future from whence she came. Her time with us was short, but meaningful. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I will do my best to make sure this heroic story is never forgotten. This is why I would like to invite Arya's partner and best friend, Ben, up here to speak. But before I do, I would like to leave you all with some wise words that I've heard before. I'm not sure where I heard them...perhaps from an old friend long ago. However, they speak of Dialga, who was instrumental in both the problem and solution to our planet's paralysis. I thought we could all take comfort from these words."

Torkoal paused a moment for dramatic effect before saying, "The creation of Dialga...the giver of time. In laughter, there is tears...and likewise it is with time. The same time flows on, for it is the blessing of Dialga."

Everybody puzzled over the meaning of those words. When I thought about it, I had to agree with them. In laughter, there certainly was tears, and the passing of time brought those. However, time always flows on, much like tears. And maybe that's a good thing, so we know that the world doesn't end even when ours feels like it will.

After a moment, I began walking towards the front. I looked at the crowd and saw their sympathetic smiles. I tried to return it as I began speaking. "Thank you all for being here tonight. I can't tell you how much it means. As Torkoal said, Arya was not only my best friend, but my partner. We had countless adventures, but our greatest one was undoubtedly stopping the planet's paralysis. I'm going to tell you all about it, and more, but I want to say this: never take time with your loved ones for granted. It is the most precious gift you'll ever have, and it's one that you'll never get back."

And then, I told our story. I told them how I met Arya, and about her mysterious past of memory loss and humanity. I told them about our adventure to Temporal Tower, our fight against Dialga, and how I hadn't known she was going to leave me until the last moments. Something that had always bothered me ever since she left was on my mind, but as I told the story, I found the answer.

"Until now, I was never able to understand why Arya had waited until our last moments to tell me that she had to go. But now, I think I get it. I think she knew that if she told me, I would never go through with our final mission. And even today, I don't know if I could've stopped Primal Dialga had I known that it meant Arya would have to leave. But I guess what's important is that it happened. I had hoped long before I met Arya that I would become courageous and save the world through an Exploration Team. I got that, and so much more, because of Arya. And for that, I will never stop being thankful."

When I finished, there wasn't a dry eye in the room, including my own. That was precisely when I made the decision that I wasn't giving up. I was going to see Dialga and I was going to make him bring Arya back to me. If anyone could do it, he could. And if not him, then Arceus himself...though I wasn't entirely sure where he lived. I wanted Arya back. She deserved to come back. That was all the drive I needed.