After 45 reviews, 67 followers, 50 favorites, and +15,000 views, a titan has fallen. Yes, it is official: A Time Traveler's Destiny has officially been discontinued so that its new form can take its place.
Okay, enough with the sappy intro, real-talk time: it is also now official that my laptop is broken. This, along with about a month of no internet access, has been the reason why I have been seemingly dead for so long. Also, to the reviewer from my Spectrobes story, I hope the next time you call me a (CENSORED), you actually have the balls to create a profile so that you can message me and we can discuss this privately-rather than putting it in a review that I can't reply to and where everyone can see it.
Sorry, had to get that out of the way. Moving on!
I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter, and I'll see you at the bottom.
""- normal speech
''- thoughts
Bold- pokespeech
Bold Italics- telepathy
It was a normal day in Azalea Town of the Johto Region. Pidgey flocks were flying overhead, humans and Pokemon were playing in the streets, and the world they knew was at peace. But unknown to several of the people who live there, the trees of Ilex Forest hides a powerful presence: the legendary pokemon capable of time travel, Celebi. The small sprite-like pokemon was flying through the forest, feeling the wind rush past her and listening to the sounds of the untamed wilderness around her.
Unfortunately, a new sound reached her ears which made her stop to listen. Ignoring the natural forest sounds, Celebi could hear a human woman crying out in fear. She resumed flying, this time in an attempt to find the source of the noise, and eventually found the woman as she was running through a cleared path leading to Azalea Town. Behind her Celebi could see an entire swarm of Beedrill chasing after her, apparently enraged.
Celebi knew about these Beedrill: they were very territorial and would even attack her when she flew through their territory. At that moment, Celebi decided to aid the woman; flying down to the clearing, Celebi flew in between the swarm and the woman, unleashing a powerful Psychic towards them. Many of the Beedrill who got hit were flung away like ragdolls, hitting the trees and causing further damage, but all of them began to flee after realizing what exactly attacked them.
Once they had all gone, Celebi turned her attention to the woman. The woman looked to be in her late 20s to early 30s, had short, choppy brown hair, and wore a white overcoat over khaki clothing. The woman was in a sitting position, facing away from Celebi, and the sprite cautiously flew over. Once Celebi flew in front of her she could see the woman was using one hand to hold a small, somewhat bloodied bundle while the other hand was putting pressure on a bleeding wound.
Her breathing was shallow, and Celebi could sense that she was slowly dying. The woman looked up, finally noticing the green sprite hovering before her, and released a shaky breath. She almost lost hold of the bundle, and a small noise-almost like a whimper-came from the folds of the blanket. The woman looked down once again, and the sprite hovered closer to look as well; the face of a human infant greeted her, a boy and hardly older than a year.
The woman looked back up at Celebi, and the sprite did the same. The time traveler could sense the woman's feelings, sensing sadness and worry in her mind. Celebi already knew these feelings were for this infant, that it would be left alone if she died. With little hesitation, Celebi used her psychic abilities to take hold of the small bundle and began to pull it away from the woman. She felt this, and held onto it as if she would die the moment it left her arms, but this caused the infant to cough and start crying. Celebi stopped and looked at the woman, whose face was full of pleading-"Don't take him away from me" it read.
Celebi then reached out to the woman telepathically and said, "It's alright. I'll care for him, and give him everything he needs to grow big and strong."
The woman almost lost her grip-both on the bundle and on her life-when she spoke. The woman stared at Celebi for what felt like an eternity before she finally set the bundle on the ground. She kneeled over the infant, crying as she did, and gently kissed its forehead. The woman pulled away and looked back at the sprite one last time.
"Jason," she said weakly. "Jason…Gilman." With her final breath used to say what Celebi assumed to be the infant's name, she gradually collapsed face-down and passed. The infant began crying harder, as if it knew the woman had died, and Celebi began to hover over the infant. The infant continued crying, not even noticing the sprite until it reached out telepathically. She knew human infants were unable to comprehend words but she also knew that they responded to emotions; by sending calm and happy thoughts, the infant gradually began to calm down.
Eventually the infant had drifted off to sleep, and the silence enabled Celebi to hear the sounds of other humans approaching. The sprite grasped the child with Psychic, her eyes glowing a soft blue, and flew away from the path and into the thick forest. Hiding among the trees she saw a group of humans arrive, finding the body of the woman. A few went further down the path while the rest began to do something with the woman. Celebi saw them pick her body up and then set it back down, followed by the sound of a zipper. The humans who went further soon returned, the four of them carrying a large black bag. The ones who stayed picked up a similar bag, and Celebi continued to travel deeper into the forest with the infant.
As the years passed, Celebi had kept her word and took care of Jason to the best of her ability. Raising a human child was much more difficult than she thought, but every time she came close to giving up she would remind herself, via future versions of herself, of the woman and her promise. Jason grew quickly, and soon the years began to feel like months.
The residents of Azalea Town had grieved over the deaths of Janet Gilman and, something Celebi found out on one of her secret trips, Janet's husband. However, they were aware that they had their son with them at the time and he was nowhere to be found when they retrieved the bodies.
Jason was able to walk before he was two, and although he would stumble and fall Celebi was there to bring him back to his feet. By age three, he had spoken his first word and interacted with the forest pokemon for the first time; Celebi had also begun to give Jason human clothes to wear. At the age of seven, Jason was very curious about the world outside the forest.
"Meema, when are we going to the nearby town?" he would ask. After the first few times of replying "Not yet", Celebi changed tactics.
"If you ask again, I'll put it off for another year." That quickly silenced him and he learned to wait patiently.
Unfortunately, there would be times when Jason accidentally came into contact with other humans. The first was when he was close to turning eight, when he was sitting by the forest shrine. An elderly human, who took care of the shrine and kept it from rotting away, spotted Jason and yelled at him. Jason was curious at first, running over to him and examining him, but then he got a bit mischievous.
"I've never seen a human before," he said with a devilish grin, "why are you here?"
"I should be asking you that," the man angrily said, "don't you know this place is sacred?"
"Oh I know," he said, grinning wider, "I come here all the time."
"If you defiled this shrine-"
"I wouldn't think of it!" Jason's grin had grown to an ear-to-ear smile. "After all, my Meema would be very angry if I 'defied' her shrine."
The man gasped at this, hardly even noting the mistake he made. "Y-Your, what?"
At that moment, Celebi began to call out for Jason. Jason heard his name plain as day, but all the elderly man heard was "Biiiiiii! Biiiiiii!"
Jason looked at the man, still smiling, "You might want to run, Meema sounds angry." All the man could do was nod and run off screaming, dropping all of his equipment in the process. Jason ended up falling to the ground, clutching his stomach as he laughed. By the time Celebi arrived and noticed the elderly man's equipment, Jason was gasping for air, still slightly laughing.
"Jason! What did you do!?"
"Oh," Jason said, finally calming down, "some old human came up to me and started yelling. When you called out for me I told him you were angry."
"That human was responsible for maintaining the shrine." Jason looked at her curiously before he could start laughing again. "He's probably too scared to even retrieve these," she motioned to the equipment, "and may not come back."
Jason had noticed the tone of Celebi's telepathic voice, his smile fading away, and she sighed angrily. "I guess I have no choice. As punishment, you will now be responsible for taking care of this shrine!"
Jason's jaw dropped as he cried out in disbelief. "And, furthermore, I will be postponing your trip to a human town until I know that you are responsible enough." Jason felt like he had been stabbed by a Beedrill completely through, then fell to his knees and then collapsed completely. Celebi flew down to his side, noticing his head was turned to his right and tears were streaming out of his eyes.
"I'm sorry Jason," she said, starting to fly off, "but this is for your own good." After flying off into the forest, Celebi stopped to check on Jason's mentality. From her current position she could sense anger, sadness, and most of all guilt coming from Jason. After a few seconds, the two former emotions suddenly flared up and she could hear Jason yelling and screaming as he began a tantrum.
This continued for what felt like hours to Celebi-she didn't want to enforce this kind of punishment on him, but she knew he had to take responsibility for his actions. At last, she could no longer sense the flared up emotions and knew he had finally burned out. She began to fly back, and hid behind a tree as she found him standing in the middle of the clearing. He just stood there, standing in front of the shrine and the man's equipment between them. He then moved over to the supplies, gathered them up, and started on his new responsibility.
By the time he reached 11 years old, Jason had been cleaning and maintaining the shrine ever since the incident with the human. It was a weekly chore that he performed at the start of each week, first thing in the morning. Celebi figured this out a few months after the incident, and would often watch as he worked. Jason's new duties required him to clean the shrine of debris-leaves, fallen branches and the like-and wipe down the wood with a cloth and some water.
He also went the extra mile by cleaning the area around the shrine, and every time Jason finished he looked tired and ready to collapse. Celebi knew that he had been working hard, but when he came back this morning he looked terrible.
Jason and Celebi had been living within a large, fallen tree at the very edge of the forest-about a ten minute walk to the shrine-and Celebi had crafted furnishings for Jacob out of vines and branches long ago, so when Jason came back he first went to his bed and flopped onto the soft mattress, the frame starting to creak under the sudden weight.
"Good morning, Jason," Celebi cheerfully said as she flew over to him. His only response was a groan and turning away from her. Celebi frowned at this behavior, believing that he was still upset about his new responsibility. "Jason, I know you're upset, but-"
Jason began to hack and cough, interrupting her sentence. He then turned towards her and began to cough even more, his face pale and his breathing labored. "Jason!?"
Jason's next cough was interrupted harshly, and he vomited. This sent Celebi into a panic, and Jason began to throw up even more, the substances coming out having a gravy-like texture. "Jason, hold on," Celebi said, flying close to her adopted child but not close enough to accidentally be threw up on.
A flash of light alerted Celebi to a new presence, and she turned to see another Celebi-one of her future-selves, no doubt. She flew up to her and the future version of herself immediately began to explain the situation at hand; "Jason came into contact with some Pidgey droppings during one of his clean-ups. He didn't mention it, but right now he needs a human doctor."
Celebi was grateful to these future incarnations of herself. Whenever she needed assistance-even before she began raising Jason-they would always come to her and lend her advice or inform her of the right solution. She trusted the judgement of this version as well, but it still meant taking some risks.
"You'll need to go to Goldenrod, their hospital treats humans in addition to Pokemon, and you'll also need to disguise yourself. I'll give you everything you need, but you'll have to hurry." Celebi nodded and the future version gave her the information she needed via telepathy. Celebi then created an illusion for herself-a middle aged woman with short, very dark green hair (almost black), wearing a tan blouse, jeans and sneakers. Lastly, the future Celebi gave her a plastic card, explained what it was for, and gave her a four digit number. With this, she gently picked up Jason and teleported to Goldenrod City.
The two ended up in a secluded alley, and she began to run for the hospital. Thanks to her future self, she knew exactly where to go and went into the building with the red roof and the letters "PC" above the door. The doors slid open automatically, and she called out for help.
A woman with pink hair came out through another door and, upon noticing the boy in her arms, called for a stretcher. Two Chansey hurried out with it, and the pink haired woman told Celebi to set him down on it. She did so gently, and the woman told the two Pokemon to take him to the back. She then turned to Celebi, still in her human disguise, and asked, "Please, can you tell me what happened?"
Using telepathy and lip synching, Celebi said, "My son started to vomit this morning, and I believe that he may have come into contact with some Pokemon droppings."
The woman nodded, and asked her to wait in one of the chairs while she went into the back. Celebi watched as the woman left, and then went to sit down as she was told. As he minutes passed, Celebi's mind was racing; would Jason be alright?
That was the only question in her head, yet it kept repeating itself over and over again. There would be brief moments where she would remember the face of that woman, and how she made the promise to take care of Jason. It filled her with a strong sense of unease to think what would happen if Jason never recovered, or worse.
The door opened, and Celebi looked up to see the pink haired woman walking out. Celebi had to hold herself back from dropping her illusion and flying up to the woman, and merely stood up as the woman stopped in front of her.
"Your son, you said he may have come into contact with Pokemon droppings?" Celebi nodded, and the woman continued, "I see. It seems that your son may have contracted a virus that's been found in the droppings of Pidgey and Hoothoot. We've administered a vaccine, but we won't know if he'll recover right away. If you'd like, I can give you a room to stay in for the night."
Celebi nodded, and the woman directed her to the desk near the back of the room. She began to type something into the computer, and then pulled out a sheet of paper as it came out of a printer. "Please fill this out," she told her as she placed the paper and a pen in front of Celebi. She quickly began to fill it out, using the information her future-self had given her, and did so as if Jason would get better the faster she completed it.
Once she finished, she handed it to the woman, who thanked her and handed her a key. "Thank you, I've put you in room 4. There's a phone in there, and I'll contact you through it when I have news about your son's condition."
Celebi thanked her, and she began to walk towards the stairs that led to the rooms. After finding her room, she unlocked it and stepped inside. She had never been outside the forest before, and the experience of being outside it was suddenly catching up with her. Anxiety hit her like a stampede of Tauros, and her illusion faded. She floated to the ground and sat on her legs as thoughts of possibly losing Jacob began to race through her mind once more.
When she next woke up, a sudden ringing jostled her awake as she realized she was no longer in her home. Finally remembering where she was, she floated up, reapplied her illusion, and went over to the phone. "Ms. Gilman?"
"Yes," she said, still needing to use telepathy to speak.
"If I could have you come down to the front desk, I need to speak with you for a moment." Celebi hung up and quickly made her way there. Once she had arrived, the pink haired woman walked out from behind the desk holding a clipboard.
"Ms. Gilman, I need to ask if you had any relation to Janet Gilman."
Celebi didn't panic, but instead replied, "Yes, she was my cousin."
The woman nodded, and Celebi silently thanked her future self for planning that far ahead. "Okay, I just had to ask for curiosity's sake. As for your son, Jason, I am happy to say that he has been recovering very well." Celebi let out a shaky breath, glad that her fears had finally been put to rest. "You came at just the right time, too. Had you waited any longer, his body wouldn't have taken the vaccine."
She then asked if Celebi would like to see him, to which she nodded and wiped her eyes. She led Celebi into the back, down a short hallway, and into the last room on the right. Jason was asleep on the bed, and when they walked in he began to stir from his sleep. His eyes opened slowly, and Celebi had to restrain herself from dropping her illusion once more.
"Good morning Jason," the woman said, "How are you feeling?" Jason replied with slow nodding, and the woman turned to Celebi. "I'll let you talk with him for a few minutes. I need to get a few things and I'll be right back." Celebi nodded and she left, closing the door behind her.
Celebi, still keeping her illusion up for the time being, walked over to Jason's bedside and said, "Jason, how are you feeling?"
Jason looked over at her and whispered, "Meema?" Celebi smiled and nodded her head, tears already starting to form in her eyes. Jason was silent for a moment, just looking at her, and finally said, "I had a nice dream. I was just like you, Meema-I was the protector of the forest."
Celebi couldn't help but smile widely at that. "That is a nice dream, Jason." Jason smiled back at her, and her head turned at the sound of the door opening. The pink haired woman walked in once again and said, "Okay, Ms. Gilman. I need you to come with me again." Celebi nodded and, sparring one more glance at Jason, stood up and left the room with her.
As they walked down the hallway once more, the pink-haired woman said, "Your son needs a little more rest before we can send him home, so head back to your room and rest. I'll call you in the morning when he's ready to leave."
Celebi thanked her once more and she opened the door. As she made her way to the stairs, she noticed that it was completely dark outside-save for the electric lights coming from the lamp posts outside-which meant that she had been asleep the entire afternoon she was there. After reaching her room and going in, she hesitated for a moment. Dropping the illusion, she went to the bed and laid down. She didn't go to sleep, since she was already wide awake, but instead began to think about Jason.
Before he came into her life, she was alone; the only one of her kind. She had friends among the Pokemon of the forest, but they always revered her and always acted nicely to her. The only pokemon that treated her as an equal were the other legendary pokemon-Lugia, Ho-Oh, Arceus, Mew-but they weren't truly her friends; she hardly saw any of them, and when she did those moments were brief.
Then there was Jason. Not only was he one of the few humans she ever interacted with, she had promised his real mother to take care of him. A few hours ago she had been scared-terrified, in fact-that she could lose Jason. As she thought more on this, she began to question if this was because of her promise to Janet Gilman, or if it was because of something much deeper.
Was it because she was alone before this? Was she afraid of losing the one person that had come to mean so much to her? Jason was like a son to her, but not because of her promise-it felt like, to her, he was another Celebi. With that thought on her mind, Celebi began to fall asleep.
The next morning, Celebi woke up mere minutes before the phone rang; the noise officially waking her. She disguised herself once more and walked out of her room, not even bothering to answer the phone. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, the pink haired woman noticed her and hung up her phone.
"Good morning Ms. Gilman. I'm happy to say that Jason has made a full recovery." The door to the back rooms opened up, and Celebi turned to see a Chansey leading Jason out of the hallway.
"Jason!" Celebi ran over to her adoptive son as he turned to her, and she dropped to her knees as she pulled him into a hug. Jason-as well as the woman and the Chansey-was a bit surprised by this action, but he returned the hug nevertheless.
Celebi pulled away from Jason and said once more, "Jason, I almost thought I could lose you."
"It's okay Meema," Jason replied, "I'm fine now." Celebi nodded and looked to the woman, who had a mixed look of happiness and confusion.
"I'm sorry," Celebi said, remembering to sync her lips, "I worry about him, quite a lot."
The woman nodded, understanding, and said, "It's quite alright. Now, I just need you to fill out a couple more pages and we can let you go." Celebi nodded and walked over to her. After a few minutes of writing and waiting, followed by the swipe of the card Celebi's future-self gave to her, the two were finally allowed to go.
"Jason," Celebi said as they began to leave, "I've been doing some thinking, and I think it's time we visited a human town."
Jason looked at her in disbelief and excitement, "Really? When?"
They reached the sliding doors and Celebi replied, "Right now." The doors opened, and Jason got his first look at Goldenrod City.
Over 4,000 words for this chapter (including author notes), dang. I really managed to stretch this one out.
This, all of this, is why I chose to rewrite ATTD-because back then I was younger and inexperienced as a writer, but I've grown and learned how to write better stories. It may not look like it in some of my earlier stories, but with each chapter I write I try to improve my skills as a writer. Thus, when looking back at older stories and chapters, I began to see several mistakes in my writings. Some I wanted to do but couldn't finish because I didn't feel inspired enough, others I simply didn't know how to express in a different way.
But with this story, I intend to make it the best story that it can be-but to do that I will need your help. I'm not asking for any sort of collaboration, but any useful advice, constructive criticism, or positive review is enough to fuel my inspiration for the long haul. If I don't know that you guys don't care about this story, or any of my stories for that matter, I may end up getting more focused on the most demanded story.
Until next time, this has been Madness King bringing you "Child of the Time Traveler" (last question, any opinions on the new title?)
