There was a great void the little time traveler couldn't identify. An emptiness that rested over the whole universe and smothered out some great point of power he'd come to depend on. He was adrift in the here and now. Just as confused and helpless as he'd been on his first solo trip through time. His antennae curled up. The altered form wasn't fun, either. He wasn't fond of being this big. Not one bit. It was awkward and longer than he was used to and came with a number of parts he couldn't determine the value of and was overall not recommended. Zero stars out of ten, would not suggest to Ether or Anikitos. He kicked his heels against the rotten stump. He wasn't even supposed to be here, Elian told him not to go so far into the future the day he was made. Now, here he was, stuck and he was such a stupid, dumb plant, he should have never come to the-

Kh-tunk!

An aspear berry bounced off the celebi's head and knocked him backwards off the stump. He hit the ground with a crunch as his wings crumpled under him. His vision went dark and his ears- the modified form was so weird!- rang as he lay on his back. His antennae drooped. He should get up, but it was so much easier to lie on the cool forest floor and mope among the old leaves. Soooo much easier. Ten times easier. He squeezed his eyes shut. The berry hurt more than he wanted to admit. One tiny berry. What else was there to sulk about, again? There had to be more. His antennae twitched in agitation as the full extent of his problems returned and hit him as hard as the-

Kh-tunk!

A second aspear berry hit his forehead, followed by a third. The celebi scrunched his face up and squirmed in mild to moderate pain. He had zero interest in being pelted by hard, sour berries. None at all. None!

"Leave me alone," he said, "I don't even want those!"

"Uhh, no duh you don't want those," said the voice. It was a pleasant voice that reminded the celebi of wooden wind chimes. Clear and mellow with a solid rhythm and beat. He'd like the voice a lot more if it didn't come with physical violence in the form of berries.

The celebi pressed his hands against his face. His antennae weren't at the top of their game in this shape, but they worked well enough to give him a good idea of his assailant's location. This pokemon was close by. Really close by. Probably on the stump and watching him close by.

"Then, stop," he said, his words muffled.

"Stop doing what?" said the other pokemon.

"Throwing berries at my head."

He shifted his position so but the change didn't help his wings as much as he'd hoped it would. Why did life have to be this complicated? Another berry hit his head.

His antennae twitched and he opened his eyes. The berry situation had gone on long enough. It was time to put a stop to... Time to put a stop to... A lady stared down at him. A lady with bright yellow eyes and white hair that floofed out all around her round, dark face. Her blue horns caught his gaze, as did the tensed position of her arm. There was a berry in her hand, aimed at his face. His antennae curled and he let out a soft, bii.

"Good," said the whimsicott, and lowered her hand. "Verrrry good, look at that, I can see your face now! You're looking less pathetic by the second! Come up, on your feet"

She reached down and snagged both of the celebi's hands and gave him a solid tug. It wasn't a forceful action, but, the celebi wasn't a sturdy creature. The pull got him back on his feet and off the ground. clumps of dirt and torn pieces of leaves clung to the time traveler's soft green clothes. He looked from the lady's face, to their hands, and pulled his fingers out of her grasp. Enough of that.

"Now, come on, come on, what's got you all worked up. That was some pretty great sulking you had there and most folks don't sulk for nothing." The whimsicott stood up on the stump and stared down at the celebi. "Unless that is legitimately your hobby. If it is, I mean, wow. I know it's your time to waste, but, there's got to be something better you could do."

"I am not wasting time." The celebi narrowed his eyes. "I do not waste time. I had a very important situation to consider before you knocked me off the stump."

"Ooooh, an important situation. Care to share what kind of important situation is keeping you busy?"

She leaned down to stare square into the face. To stare at him with those intense, yellow eyes. Those sparkling, intense, yellow eyes that reminded the celebi of blossoms on berry trees.

He gave his head a shake and shut his eyes. This was a terrible time to exist. He should have never come this far into the future. Hadn't he learned last time? It was too far. Way too far, and put him out of his element. He didn't know how to handle mortals. Now here he was, stuck with a whimsicott with yellow blossom eyes and hair that looked softer than anything he'd ever seen, and he had no idea what to do. No idea at all, other than the passing thought that he should hide in this lady's fluffy, soft hair, but, problem! He was too big to do anything like that outside of his natural form.

"An important one."

He folded his hands together. That is all the information the mortal needed and that was all the information the mortal would get. All of it. It was none of her business. She couldn't do anything to help him out of his situation. Nothing at all, it was well out of her hands.

"Yeah? That's cool, I guess." She hopped and landed cross-legged on the stump.

A silence fell over the forest clearing. Wind blew through the branches of trees and shook the sun-dappled leaves. They shimmered and whispered and murmured in the honeyed light of the afternoon sun. The celebi opened one eye and watched the mortal. That wasn't an impressive attempt at prying information out of him. In fact, it was entirely lackluster. He wrung his hands, both eyes open and locked on the other pokemon. He wanted her to pry. He wanted her to ask why the celebi, the assistant to time itself, was here in the forest. He wanted her to pry into his business like Ether did. He wanted to tell someone else why he was upset and what happened.

"It's not. It's really bad." He couldn't keep his mouth shut. He just couldn't keep himself quiet, ugh, he was such a dumb plant, so dumb, so, so stupid. "I messed up a whole lot, and now Elian is going to be mad at me and I can't go home because I lost it and. And. You know. I just don't know what to do?"

The whimsicott shifted her position. Their eyes met and she smiled. The celebi rubbed at his nose and blinked. She had a nice smile.

"Hey, it's okay. Tell you what. I've got some free time. I'll help you find what you're looking for."

"I can't tell you what it is." He had some standards to stick to, no matter how upset he felt.

"Well, I guess I won't be much help, huh?" She grinned and leaned closer, eyes still on the celebi. "What's your name? I go by Idril, myself."

Idril. The celebi thought about the name and how it sounded when he rolled it around his green haired head. It had a nice flow to it, but, what did he know about names and how they sounded? He thought back to Ether and Anikitos, the other two assistants created at the same time as him. One day, he talked to his friend, who announced that, rather than deoxys, the celebi should refer to him as Ether.

It was a strange point in his life. He always assumed that, while the rest of the world and universe changed around him and aged and molded itself into new forms, the three of them would stay relatively the same.

Turns out the trio who worked with the victini decided it wouldn't do for him to go around without a true name and assigned him one right on the spot. Ether was impressed by this change and ran off to Brahm to ask for a name of his own. The name related events happened centuries ago from his own perspective, but, unlike his friends, the celebi remained nameless. He never asked Elian for a name and the dialga did not offer one up to him. It was a mutual acceptance of his nameless state of being.

The celebi realize that kind of answer wouldn't satisfy a mortal. Mortals liked names. It helped keep track of specifics, which made sense, now that he thought about it. There were more creatures in each species when it came to mortals. He could get away with being the celebi since there was just him.

"I am the celebi."

Idril raised an eyebrow at him.

"The celebi? That's not really a name, kid."

He knew it. He knew she would fuss if she had to call him the celebi. Entirely, one hundred percent knew it. He straightened himself up with all the dignity he could muster.

"It is enough of a name for me."

"No, seriously, you kind of need a name. I don't want to get my celebis confused, after all."

He blinked, caught off guard once again. That wasn't something the celebi expected to hear from the whimsicott. Idril. Whatever.

"There aren't any other celebi."

"Oh, there sure is another celebi. I saw one years ago. The kid was pink as a pecha berry and stressed as all else."

Idril crossed her arms and nodded her head, as if that was the end of that matter. The celebi waited for her to elaborate on whoever this other guy was, but, the grass fairy held her ground and her silence. His antennae drooped and he wrung his hands together with more urgency. She couldn't leave him with that piece of information then stay quiet. That was unfair and cruel to his sense of curiosity. He had to goad her along.

"A pink celebi?"

"Mmmmhm! Pink. Very, very pink."

"What was he doing?"

"Woaaah, listen to that! You sound all stressed out now. He was getting his friend some help, actually. It was pretty cute. Little pink guy and an entirely spent fluffy orange dude. I helped him out a little bit. Got him into a town. My friend's cousin figured out the worn out guy was a victini and gave the celebi some advice on what might be wrong and what to look into. He thanked him, gathered up the victini, and disappeared off to who knows when. Never saw him after that, but, makes sense, I guess."

The celebi wasn't sure what to make of Idril's story. She seemed confident of its authenticity, but none of the details matched up. The largest hole was the pink celebi. He was positive he was the only one. Entirely certain. Elian would not make a new timekeeper. And the part with the victini being out of energy? Entirely implausible. He wasn't even sure if mortals were supposed to know about most legends. It wasn't a question he'd ever asked Elian before. Come to think of it, this was the second time he'd sat down and talked with a mortal. He tended to keep away from them under normal circumstances.

"Very impossible. Did it say it was a celebi? If it didn't say it was a celebi, then it probably wasn't. You can't jump to conclusions like that, okay? And, besides, why would a celebi spend too much time with a victini? That would be fire and grass, and no! No, that is very dangerous and not good at all, and no! No, just thinking about that is enough to put me on edge. Carrying around a combustible pokemon, the very idea-"

Idril tucked a tuft of hair behind one of her horns and cut him off.

"Okay, how about this. Alonzo."

She swept her hands in a wide arch when she said the name. The celebi blinked, uncertain how to progress from here. Her statement had nothing to do with his concerns. Nothing at all. It was entirely unrelated.

"What does that have to do with-"

"Nothing, I was just tired of hearing you freak out about something that happened to me ten years ago. Anyways, it means 'ready for battle' and whatever."

His antennae curled. Fine. Fine, that was just fine. It was okay. He would let the topic rest. He had more important things to worry about than some fake celebi and- wait a second. Ready for battle? What kind of pokemon did she take him for? He went out of his way to avoid all conflicts in general. He frowned and narrowed his eyes.

"Hey, wait! Wait, wait, wait, no! I don't want a name like that! Take it back!"

The whimsicott shrugged and gave him a pat on the head.

"Sorry, kid, it's too late now. You're stuck with it."

Just like that, the timekeeper got a name. Alonzo. Ready for battle. He looked to the side. Maybe he could win over her sympathies with being polite. It couldn't hurt his chances of getting a less related to violence name.

"Please? Please can I have a different name?"

"Well, I dunno," Idril said, a wide grin stretched across her face. "You're kind of saddled with that name now. It's how it works, you know? Out of my hands now. Buuuut, I guess I could give you a nickname if you want."

"Yes, please, give me one of those, I'll take it!" Okay, so he was a little bit desperate. Ether and Anikitos had names that fit their jobs and abilities so well. If the celebi took on a name, he wanted it to match him at least a little bit. Even if it was just a nickname that didn't directly contradict his life values.

"Oookay, you can be Lonnie. Lonnie, Lonlon, Lonners."

"...I changed my mind."

The whimsicott laughed and put and arm around his shoulders.

"You're stuck with Lonnie, now."

Lonnie scowled at his hands. Lonnie. His name was Lonnie. He wasn't sure what kind supporting evidence Idril had to support her claim that he was stuck with this name, but, she seemed to know what was going on. There was only one thing to do now. Accept the fact that he had the worst name of his friends and come to terms with his life as Lonnie.

"Fine, fine, okay, I'm Lonnie, are you happy?" he said, and pressed at his antennae in an attempt to flatten them against his hair.

"Kinda happy. I'll be happier once you tell me what you're missing. You know, the thing you were sulking about?"

"It's just the Time Flute, okay, I-"

His mouth snapped shut and he flushed red. Right! Riiight, wasn't he not going to tell her what he lost? Hadn't he made up his mind to spare some of his dignity around Idril, the strange whimsicott who gave out names? He pressed his hands against his face and slumped. He needed to follow through with his convictions. He needed to not blurt out his secrets to near strangers. He needed to find the one relic Elian trusted him with that he'd managed to lose within the hour he'd spent in the here and now.

Idril tugged his hands away from his face and made eye contact with him once again.

"Time Flute, huh? Sounds like there's a bit of a story behind it, Lonlon. Why don't you tell me what happened and we can get looking for it."

Lonnie wrung his hands together. Well. It wasn't like he had much of a choice anymore. He had nothing to hide from the fluffy mortal. Even if she didn't know what was so special about the Time Flute, she must have guessed it was important. He exhaled and scuffed his boot against the detritus.

"All right, fine. But, it's going to take a little bit of exposition first if I want it to make sense."