Chapter 29: Branching Off

"They're gone," Adelita said, staring at the makeshift wooden shelter at their campsite, which now sat empty.

The shelter itself was pretty much all that remained; though the supplies that she and Jimmy had packed in were still there, there was no sign of Sylveon's group or even of Fatheade himself, who had built the shelter and who would usually have torn it down afterward rather than leaving it standing in the middle of the wilderness. Jimmy walked over to the now-extinguished campfire ring and snorted in annoyance.

"Damn," the buffalo muttered. "Woulda thought Fatheade would stick around a little longer... almost ten years since he's seen us, y'know?"

The Hawlucha hopped off of his back and sighed. This wasn't like Fatheade at all, leaving his old friends behind to rush off someplace with those he'd only just met. It seemed that the leader of the DeStaav Pokémon Investigation Bureau had changed in ten years' time. She walked past the remains of their campfire and into the shelter, digging through her pack for a moment before a sudden realization stopped her in her tracks.

"Is it just me," she said, turning back toward the Bouffalant, "Or did Fatheade seem a little... off? When he came out of the tree with the others, I mean. He didn't say a word to either of us... I don't think he even glanced over to us for a moment. Even if he'd just made it through a tough fight and could barely stand, that's not like him at all."

Jimmy's eyes widened slightly.

"You ain't sayin'..."

She nodded and sighed.

"I wish I didn't even have to consider it," she said. "But I can't help but wonder after what Xerneas said. Fatheade was up there with Sylveon the whole time, and there's no way he'd just go along with something like that. They must have... changed him."

There was a moment of silence between the two; Adelita went back to rummaging through the pack she had brought, making sure everything was intact. Aside from a bag of sweets she had brought along being empty (and conspicuously lying on top of everything else, as if hastily tossed back in at the last minute), nothing was missing.

"Wonder if there's a way to change 'im back," Jimmy said. "I mean... Xerneas said this fairy stuff can't be stopped now that it's started, but I dunno if I buy that. Maybe there's somethin' out there even Xerneas doesn't know about... bet you'd miss a lot sleepin' in a tree for a thousand years, y'know?"

Adelita nodded.

"Yeah... there has to be a way."

She strapped on her backpack and then picked up Jimmy's with some effort, walking over to the larger Pokémon and strapping the pack onto his back for him (as his hooved feet weren't exactly suited for such a thing.) For a moment she thought about disassembling the shelter that Fatheade had built, but decided against it; it was Fatheade's last contribution to the world when his will was still his own, after all. Tearing it down so soon just didn't seem quite right when she looked at it that way.

"And we're going to find it," she said, heading southward out of the camp, "Even if it's the last thing we do."


Ed, Varney, and Lopendra walked out of the Shuckle family's restaurant for what could very well be the last time, each of them carrying a good bit more in their backpack than they had come back to town with the previous day. The three had spent much of that day visiting various shops around town, loading up on any supplies they thought might be useful for the trip into the north that they had planned; Ed now had a cloak wrapped around his shell (loosely at the moment, as the sun was high overhead and it wasn't all that cold in Polunk that day) and had draped a piece of water-repellent fabric over his backpack, tying it on in several places so as to make sure it wouldn't fall off or flutter about too freely in a heavy snow. Lopendra's backpack had been similarly protected, though she chose to wear a sweater-like garment (not the ratty Weedle-silk one that Varney frequently joked about, but a much warmer one she had found in a Polunk shop) and one of Varney's scarves instead of a cloak. Varney, of course, wore the remaining two scarves... though he had also added two more to his collection now, one of which was wrapped around his lower body already in preparation for the frigid weather they expected from the northern lands.

They had loaded up on food too, of course; Varney's backpack was now home to much of the lighter dried foodstuffs, while Ed and Lopendra split up the drinks and a few containers of fresher food that would need to be eaten early on in the trip. An assortment of tools and other random things that one of them thought might be useful rounded out their supplies, especially considering that Fatheade would not be with them on the trip northward - fire-building materials, a couple of small knives, a length of rope... each of these and more basically took the place of one of the many obscure techniques Fatheade DeStaav had learned during his many years of life.

Ed sighed and scratched one of his ears as he reached the outskirts of Polunk, nearing the fork in the road where Sylveon had set off on her own when they had first arrived. This was, of course, also the road Fatheade had taken much later on. The Wartortle glanced off the side of the path for a moment, noticing that the old sign had actually been repaired since the last time he had seen it; the post that formerly held it in place was rotting away off in the fallen leaves, a brand-new one taking its place.

"Well... Are you guys ready?"

He turned to Lopendra, who stood at his side, and then glanced upward to the other side toward Varney; both nodded in agreement.

"Good," he said, nodding along with them. "Because it looks like there's a long road ahead of us..."

Almost as soon as the last of those words had left his mouth, a strange buzzing sound filled the air all around the three investigators. At first its source could not be determined; then, a pale greenish-blue light began to shine from somewhere behind them, and all three turned to see what it was. A tiny sphere of light had appeared in midair, growing rapidly larger with each moment that passed; the edges of it almost seemed to be vibrating, and the larger it grew the louder the buzzing sound became. Finally, with a flash of light that caused Ed and Lopendra to close their eyes and a rush of wind that sent Varney crashing into a tree trunk (and forced the other two to brace themselves to avoid tumbling backward), the buzzing stopped and the glowing orb was replaced by a Pokémon that none of the three had ever seen before.

"What is that?"

"Maybe... some kind of bug?"

With his echolocation Varney could only discern the creature's general shape, but based on the presence of antennae and wings he thought that Ed's description sounded about right.

The little green creature before them narrowed its eyes and frowned slightly down at them, putting one hand on each hip. As it turned out, the buzzing sound was still present, albeit much quieter now and produced by the mystery Pokémon's wings rather than the vibrations of the energy sphere it had arrived in.

"A bug... I am not."

The little creature slowly descended, remaining out of reach of the two landbound Pokémon but hovering at about the same height where Varney was flapping in place. The blue-green glow had completely faded from his body at this point, revealing the mysterious Pokémon's true appearance-though it was of a species that none of them recognized.

"The three of you… listen closely to what I'm about to tell you," the pale green hovering creature said, floating just a bit closer to the ground. "I've traveled here from the future… fifteen years from now, to be exact. In my time… all is devastation. The town at your backs is no more. The north is ruled by roving bands of Jigglypuffs and Wigglytuffs. No, not Jigglypuffs and Wigglytuffs anymore… fairies."

One of Lopendra's eyes twitched slightly.

"Okay, did I hear that wrong, or did you just say… 'fairies?'", she said.

He nodded slightly, causing his antennae to bounce up and down for a few moments afterward.

"And you came back fifteen years… from the future," Ed said. He scratched one ear and squinted up at the newcomer slightly. "How is that even possible?"

The newcomer sighed.

"I… suppose I'll have to explain everything, then," he said, floating down and lighting on the ground. Varney followed suit shortly afterward, perching on the sign nearby rather than wearing himself out constantly flapping in place. "My name is… ah, my name isn't important, I'll tell you that later. What is important is that I am a Celebi, you see-a species of Pokémon that naturally possesses power over time. Most of my kind can only perform minor tricks, of course, but in every generation there is one blessed by Lord Dialga with the ability to travel back and forth."

Noticing the blank looks on Ed and Lopendra's faces, he blinked and then continued before any of the investigation team could say a word.

"Anyway… I traveled to this point in time because this is when it all begins. This is the first day of what the fairies call the 'new world.' Things will only get worse from here, but if we act now… it should be possible to accomplish something."

Ed blinked. Most of what the Celebi was saying was strange and unfamiliar, but that one phrase stood out - "new world." He remembered some of the strange Pokémon they'd encountered talking about a "new world," about how the world would change and how others would become like them. Just when Lopendra was about to speak up again, undoubtedly snarking at him about the whole "fairy" thing and how ridiculous it all sounded, Ed took a step forward and interrupted.

"We've heard people talk about this 'new world' before," he said. "Pokémon that were… not their usual selves, with weird blank looks and constantly smiling. We've run into a few of them during our investigation and they all mentioned something like that."

The Celebi nodded.

"Indeed… it's not surprising that you've encountered those who've fallen under the fairies' spell, moving about this far north," he said. "They are the ones of whom I speak when I say the word 'fairies.' Ordinary Pokémon who absorb the power of the Fairy Realm are changed, transformed into beings… not of this world."

Varney nodded slightly.

"Yeah, and then they won't shut up about it!"

Lopendra snickered slightly, while Ed cracked a smile for a moment, quickly shifting his expression back to a more neutral one when he noticed the Celebi glaring at the three of them.

"This is nothing to joke about!", he shouted, fluttering up off the ground again and drifting closer to the group. "One year from now, the Fairy Wars will begin. The Pokémon who have transformed will band together, forcing their power upon those who haven't yet changed completely and driving out those who will not from each town they reach. Within a decade, entire species will be wiped off the face of the earth. By my time, every settlement you've ever known has been abandoned or entirely overrun by the fairies-ordinary Pokémon like you or I are forced to live on the run, never staying in the same place for long, always ready for battle. Only one city I know of, far to the south of here across the sea, remains safely outside their grasp."

He paused, eyes wide and panting for breath as he fluttered back down to the ground; all sorts of horrible memories were running through his mind, and he needed a moment to tuck them back away before he broke down entirely. The knowledge that the Fairy Realm's incursion had only just begun in this time helped, and within a few minutes his breathing had returned to normal and he let out a deep sigh before looking up at the Wartortle standing in front of him and continuing.

"Fortunately… we've discovered a way to stop it," he said, reaching into the pouch at his side, which was held on by a belt-like strap across his chest.

He rummaged around in the pouch for a few more moments, then produced an odd little device, colored black and green. It seemed almost spherical at first glance, but on closer inspection it became clear that it was a many-sided object that only approximated a sphere. On one side was a small hole; it seemed to be hollow on the inside.

"There is an ancient Pokémon with an ability that we believe will be able to reverse this if we act quickly enough," the Celebi continued, holding the strange little orb out for everyone else to see. "That Pokémon is known as Zygarde."

The Celebi waved one hand through the air, causing a flurry of fallen leaves to rise up off the ground and swirl around him.

"However, Zygarde is more of a collective than a single entity-its body is made up of hundreds of smaller creatures we have come to call 'Zygarde Cells.' Alone they are nearly powerless, but if our calculations are correct, with all of the cells gathered Zygarde's power should exceed that of any known Pokémon."

As he spoke, the leaves gathered around him, forming into an enormous snakelike creature; then, with another wave of the little Pokémon's hand, they scattered in all directions, each leaf fluttering to the ground far from all others.

"In my time, things went on unchecked for far too long... the Fairy Aura's rampant spread across the world caused the weaker Cells to die off, and Zygarde would be incapable of reaching anything near its full power even if we gathered all the remaining Cells. But in this time..."

The leaves suddenly gathered again, first condensing into a sphere and then expanding outward into a shape even larger than the towering snake that they had formed originally. Varney flinched slightly, his echolocation picking up on a massive unidentified shape hovering over them, but Ed patted him on the back and reassured him that it was just leaves before he could take off in a panic. A few moments later, the leaves fluttered to the ground in a heap.

"In this time... Zygarde Cell population should be at one hundred percent. Even the frailest among them should take months of exposure to the Fairy Aura to shrivel away."

"So... that weird ball you're carrying," Lopendra asked, antennae twitching slightly in its direction. "That's to store the Cells until we find them all, isn't it?"

The Celebi smiled.

"Correct," he said. "This Zhedron shrinks any Zygarde Cell that enters it to miniscule size, then locks it into a sort of stasis, protecting it from the Fairy Aura or any other outside force that may cause them harm."

He sat the sphere down on the ground and pushed a button, then just waited, tapping one foot impatiently as he watched. For a few minutes, nothing happened; then, suddenly, a flat, pale-green shape slithered out from a nearby bush, burrowing up through the topsoil at first and then inching its way across the path toward the sphere. As it reached the sphere, it crawled up toward the hole and then vanished in a flash of green. A formerly black strip surrounding the hole lit up for a moment, and when the light faded there was a tiny sliver of red.

"It also functions to attract the Cells to its location… and keeps track of what percentage of the Cells have been collected," he continued, pointing to the red line that had just appeared. "We've theorized that some percentage of the Cells will have already congregated to form an incomplete Zygarde by this time, so filling it to one hundred percent is unlikely to be necessary... but it should have the capacity to do so if needed."

Ed scratched his head for a moment.

"Wait a second," he said. "Why won't all the Zygarde Cells come together on their own? If... whatever's going on now is bad enough to bring the world into the kind of state it's in where you come from, and Zygarde's supposed to balance things out, why wouldn't it act on its own?"

The Celebi sighed.

"What's happening now is something that has never happened before," he said, tucking the Zhedron safely back away in his bag. "Zygarde is always watching, through the unblinking eyes of its scattered Cells, for any sign of certain forms of imbalance-imbalances between life and death, all tied to the 'Dragon Pulse' that flows through all Pokémon and gives them power. What the fairies have done is introduce an entirely new force to the world, one which is not meant to be part of that cycle in the first place."

He paused for a moment, glancing at the three Pokémon in front of him, then continued.

"It's entirely likely that Zygarde still slumbers somewhere beneath the surface of the world, unaware that anything is going wrong aboveground. Only when the balance between life and death begins to tip will Zygarde begin to move and act on its own accord... unless, of course, someone is able to seek it out and awaken it ahead of schedule."

Ed nodded.

"I guess what you're saying is… you need us to help with that, right?"

The Celebi nodded back.

"Indeed. As you said shortly before I arrived… you three have a long road ahead of you!"

Lopendra's antennae twitched.

"Yeah," she said, taking a step toward him. "We're headed further north to check up on the leader of our investigation team… maybe you've heard of him. He's a Ji- well, a Wigglytuff now-named Fatheade DeStaav."

The Celebi flinched.

"A… a Wigglytuff," he muttered, turning away from the group and hovering off the ground a bit higher than before with one hand held to his chin. "Don't recall the name, but they don't use names after they've turned, and… that far to the north… there's no way he hasn't…"

He spun around in midair.

"If this Fatheade was near the Great Tree in the north when the Fairy Aura began to spread… there is nothing you can do to help him," the Celebi said. He pulled the Zhedron out of his pouch again and tapped it with one finger. "The only hope of returning him to his usual self now would be to gather the Zygarde Cells and repair the damage that has been done before things go to far. Wandering north at this time of year would only be wasting valuable time!"

Lopendra growled.

"Says the guy who can travel back in time," she snapped. "What's stopping you from taking that thing and going back even further?"

He sighed and hovered low to the ground, setting down the Zhedron for a moment and leaning forward with his hands placed against it.

"I'd hoped I wouldn't have to explain this any further, but… traveling through time is not as simple as merely going back and forth at will," he began. "One cannot change one's own past. As a result, any trip back in time is not, in fact, a trip back into one's own past at all - the act of traveling back in time creates a new timeline, branching off from the previous one, where things could happen differently from that point forward."

He hurriedly tucked the Zhedron away, as if only just now realizing that he had set it on the ground, and then continued.

"I refuse to go about time-traveling carelessly, creating a dozen new timelines, each with their own altered versions of the events that lead up to the Fairy Wars. My mission here is to branch off a single timeline where as many of these events as possible do not happen in the first place. A world that never has to see the things I have seen."

"So you're abandoning your timeline, then?", Lopendra asked.

"I… well, I cannot rule out the possibility," he said.

Lopendra glared at him and he just sighed in response, as if he had known that was exactly the sort of reaction his admission would get.

"But only as a last resort. If there is any way that the world I know can be repaired… I intend to return to my own time and do exactly that."