Howdy do, howdy do, hooowdy do! We have the next installment in the Legendary series up for the reading! This one focuses on the mystical Time Traveler Pokemon, Celebi. Well, more like Time Wanderer, which will be explained as the story progresses. Hope you guys are ready for another crazy adventure, because it begins now!
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any material related to the series. All rights belong to Nintendo and Game Freak.
And now, enjoy.
Fear coursed through her body as she darted through the woods. The night sky and full moon adding to the ominous nature of the situation. What was she to do? The howling Houndour was growing closer by the second. Fearing for her life, she hid in the treetops, and watched as the Houndour passed her by. Shortly after, the shadow of a teen rushed underneath her, unaware that his prey was right above his very head. Sensing that they had passed, Celebi crept out from her hiding spot to make sure she could proceed. Her tiny, green figure fluttered to just below the branches. With a giggle, she made her way to the time-warp point.
In a clearing, marked by only a few trees, with a stone that held the picture of a tree in the center. This was the only area where time barriers were weak enough to where Celebi could use her powers to travel to another time. It was also her only means of escaping that hunter she evaded earlier. The Time-Warp point.
Channeling her power, Celebi focused her energy into the stone tablet. As she did, the trees around her began to glow, and the stone shot out a beam of light into the night sky. Then, the light condensed until it became a portal. Celebi's time-vortex.
But the process had attracted the attention of the hunter and his Houndour, and Celebi narrowly missed a Flamethrower that was shot right at her. She turned to face the attacker, and saw the dark body of the hound Pokemon along with his master. A skinny, rough looking boy who wore only a leather vest and pants. A bow rested in his hands, with an arrow being notched into place.
"I've got you this time." the boy growled. But Celebi merely giggled, and started flying into the vortex. Just before she entered, an arrow whizzed by her, cutting her arm as it passed. The pain caused Celebi to fall to the ground, but she was already inside the portal. And so, it closed behind her as she traveled through time. The hunter's prey had escaped once more.
'Leone's log. Date: Unknown.
She got away from me again. For the umpteenth time, She got away just as I was about to get her. The blasted time wanderer! If only I hadn't been given this curse.
It was in another time that it all started. I was hunting with my Houndour for food for my family when it happened. We found a strange grove on our trek, and saw her lying in the grass, face down and unconscious. At first, I thought she was just some forest girl, a nymph maybe, and that she was hurt and needed my help. So Houndour and I cared for her, and worked to nurse her back to health. She told me about the grove, that it was a place where time wanderers could traverse time without hindrance. But I was too curious, and touched the stone needed to travel. The result was that for me, time stopped. I could not age. And whenever Celebi traveled, I was doomed to follow. So I figured that, to fix this curse, I had to capture her. Time and again, I have tried to catch that elusive fairy. But every time, she always gets away. One day, someday, I will trap her, and release myself from these chains of time. I swear it!'
As Celebi stumbled through the vortex, she cried out in agony at the wound she received from the hunter's arrow. Time travel as difficult enough to do while she was all well. But with a wound, it started to drain more of her energy. As she neared the end, the pain began to become too much, and she passed out before she exited the vortex.
As Celebi came to, she could hear voices around her. Concerned ones, for reasons she could figure. But, they still sounded strange.
"Do you think she's going to be alright?" One voice wondered.
"I hope so. Good thing I've had a lot of practice with healing him a lot." another assured.
"Him? You mean Darkrai, right?" a third said suspiciously.
"Yes. That him. After all, he had been injured before humans decided to accept him."
"Shh! Both of you! she's waking up." Celebi groggily awoke to find that she was in another forest, this one covered in a dense fog. The only patch of sunlight that came through was through a canopy just above her, in a break in the fog. She looked down, and noticed that she was in her human form. Her arms were longer, and covered in skin instead of grass. She looked above her, and found three humans looking over her. Three very strange humans. One had dark, pink hair, a pink sash around her neck, and she wore a light, pink dress. Another had on a red and white jumpsuit, and her hair was red. The third wore a gold, colored dress, with blue and purple sashes tied around her, and she had golden-blond hair.
"Who... are you?" Celebi asked.
"We wanted to ask you the same thing." the pink girl spoke first, "But we can go first. My name's Mew."
"I am Latias." the red girl said next.
"And I am Cressalia." the third one told her, "But you can call me Lia, if you want."
"Mew, Latias, Cressalia." Celebi repeated. Then as she got up, she introduced, "My name is Celebi. I am a time wanderer."
After she introduced who she was, Celebi was taken to a nearby pond to wash up. She looked like a total mess. Her short, light-green hair was filled with brambles and twigs from her fall; her grass-green dress was covered in dirt; and her legs looked a little scratched up. As she knelt down, Celebi pulled back a bit of her hair to examine her pointy ears, the only part of her that was not entirely human. They had remained unscathed.
After glancing over her messy figure, Celebi set herself in the pond to wash up. As she did, Tympole and Wooper came up to examine their newcomer. Feeling playful, Celebi dove into the water, and began to swim with them. Very rarely did Celebi get to enjoy herself with company. Swimming with the Tympole made the chore of cleaning herself more like a game. And she always loved to play games. And it seemed the Wooper and Tympole did too. Being in the water, Celebi felt free.
But eventually, she had to come back up and out of the water. Finding herself washed off of the stuff she tumbled in, Celebi shook off the remainder of the water, and said good-bye to her new friends. Then she went over to the other three.
"So Celebi, tell me," Cressalia asked as Celebi approached, "What do you do as a time wanderer?"
"Cressalia, we already told you!" Mew pouted, "A time wanderer is-"
"It's okay Mew, I can tell her." Celebi offered. She turned to Cressalia and told her, "Time wanderers are beings who travel through time, and get to explore many great places that often get forgotten by time. And because of it, we don't age. So we don't have to worry about dying. But, to travel through time, we need to find these places that we call Time-Warp points. Places in the world where the barrier that keeps time flowing at its appropriate pace is weaker, and where we can go through time. Where we go, someties we never know until we arrive at the destination."
"Amazing!" Cressalia remarked.
"So Celebi, how is it like to travel across time and see so many wonderful places?" Latias asked.
"It's great." Celebi chipperly replied, "I get to meet so many wonderful people and Pokemon where I travel. And I get to experience such great adventures with them too."
"Celebi, have you ever encountered me in my human life during your travels?" Cressalia inquired.
"What do you mean?" Celebi asked.
"I mean, has there ever been an era where you and I met in the past before?"
"No. Sorry Cressalia. But I've never met you in your human life."
"I see."
"Why do you ask though? Are you curious about something?"
"Cressalia doesn't remember her past life." Latias explained, "She has no memory of who she was before she became a Pokemon. So we are going to the Legendary ruins to help her recall her past life."
"I see. Well, might I join you? It would be great to travel with friends for a while before I venture through time again."
"Great! We have a new friend to play with. Yay!" Mew cheered. And she and Celebi skipped further into the woods.
"And I thought Mew was a little too energetic." Latias mumbled.
"We'd better follow them, or they'll run into trouble." Cressalia advised.
During the trek, all four girls transformed back into their Pokemon forms. As Cressalia and Latias worked on clearing a path through the woods, Mew and Celebi floated around and played a few games during their trek. Mew was so excited to have a new partner to play with, and especially one who was eager to play with her, that sometimes she and Celebi would run into the other two by accident. And even though Latias got mad at this, Celebi and Mew made a game out of that too when she tried to catch them. Cressalia, however, just giggled and enjoyed the moment.
By nightfall, the group was starting to notice the fog clearing up somewhat. They were entering a patch of woods that was very different from the rest of the forest.
"We're almost there." Celebi spoke.
"Almost where?" Mew asked.
"The Time-Warp point. No matter what time we find ourselves in, these areas always remain the same. No matter what." Once they cleared the last few trees, they saw what Celebi was talking about. Not even Mew and Latias knew about this part of the woods, and they lived on Mystery Island. But to Celebi, it was the same as the first Time-Warp point: A clearing in the trees, with runes and a stone tablet in the center of the circle they created. It was where Celebi needed to go to continue her trek through time.
"Now what do you do, Celebi?" Cressalia inquired. But before Celebi could answer, a net swooped over her and pinned her to the ground, just a few feet away from the time-stone. And from the woods, a Houndour came bounding out, growling at the other three Pokemon present. And behind it, the hunter who had been pursuing Celebi appeared.
"I have you now, you accursed time wanderer." he roared, "Now you will release this curse you have put upon me."
"Who are you?!" Cressalia demanded, floating in front of Celebi.
"I am Leone, the famed hunter of my time. I was cursed by that Pokemon you guard, in a place very much the same to the one we are standing in now. So I must use Celebi to remove this curse, and go back home."
"Why?" Mew wondered, "What's so bad about traveling through time and meeting new people and Pokemon?"
"I'll tell you! I must endure the hardship of being out of my own time! No matter where I go, no matter who I meet, I always end up being chased by those who fear people like me, people who are brought out of their own time. But Celebi, she can go whenever, and everyone welcomes her with open arms. I'm tired of it! I want it to end!"
"Then you'll have to get by us first." Cressalia warned, standing alongside Latias and Mew.
"No, Cressalia. You don't need to fight him." Celebi tried to warn.
"Leave him to us, Celebi." Latias assured.
"You just worry about making your escape through time." Mew suggested.
Groaning, Leone growled, "I grow tired of this. Houndour, take them down!"
Leone didn't give any commands to Houndour after that initial call. But he didn't need to. Houndour knew its mission was to capture Celebi for its master, and take down anyone that stood in its way. But Cressalia and her friends were not to be underestimated. Cressalia, having had many battles with Darkrai before, knew how to battle a Dark-type like Houndour. As for Mew and Latias, they had their Aura Sphere and Dragon Pulse attacks to make up for the lack of being able to use their Psychic attacks. Houndour was used to having to try and pin down flying foes, but fighting three of them was difficult. It's Flamethrower never hit it's mark, the three fighters kept well out of range of its Crunch attack, and these three were just too speedy for any of its other attacks.
While that was going on, Celebi tried to use the same method of opening a time vortex like she did many times before. It would require a change in where she would call the portal to open at, but she could compensate for it. But she needed to hurry. For her friends began to grow weary from the battle with Houndour. So tired, that they began to drop lower to the ground. Sensing the opportunity when it arose, Houndour Crunched down on Mew's tail when it was low enough. The attack caused Mew to wail, and Houndour threw her over to Leone.
Drawing his hunting knife, Leone shouted, "Stand aside, and give Celebi to me, or your friend pays the price." Mew struggled to break out of his grip, but Leone would not let go. His grip was stronger than a steel-clamp. Cressalia didn't like the situation she was being put in, and Latias was beginning to panic. But it was at that moment that Celebi made her move.
The time-stone shot a beam of light towards the ground where Leone stood. The action startled him, and Mew managed to escape as his grip loosened. Houndour retreated to its master, and both were sucked into the wormhole that opened below them. With it, the fight was over.
Once Cressalia lifted the chain with her Psychic attack, Celebi told them, "Thank you for your help. I'm sorry that I got you into this mess."
"It's alright. We were happy to help." Mew said chipperly.
"This coming form the one who had a knife to her throat." Latias chastised.
But before that could escalate, Cressalia asked Celebi, "Will we ever see you again?"
"Who knows?" Celebi replied, "Maybe, maybe not. But no matter where I go, I know the friends I've made will linger forever in my heart. And I will always treasure them."
"And us with you." Cressalia assured.
"You bet. Friends for life." Mew added. Celebi was so glad to have such great friends, even if it was for a short time. But she knew that, maybe in some other time, they would all meet again. She was sure of it.
"You'd better get going." Latias urged, "That portal looks like it's going to close. Unless, you want to stay with us."
Celebi shook her head, and told them, "No thanks. I actually need to find that hunter, Leone. There's something I need to tell him. I kinda need to fix things up from when we first met, and why he became a time wanderer, like me."
"Farewell." Cressalia bade.
As she neared the portal, Celebi winked back at them, and promised, "Until next we meet." And she disappeared into the time vortex.
Leone's log. Date: Unknown. Again.
She got away from me again. Just when I had the chance to capture her. If those three other Pokemon hadn't gotten in the way, I would have been able to get her and remove this curse. Now, I have to begin my search all over again. Where could she be? Or rather, When could she be? I must find her. I must find that Time Wanderer!
Well, talk about starting off with a bang. We already meet the main antagonist of this series: the hunter Leone. Dude really doesn't know when to let things be. Then again, getting dragged through time probably doesn't help much. Let's hope Celebi can find some way to help Leone out, or at least grant his wish to be freed from his so-called 'curse'.
Don't forget to review, and will see you next chapter.