Pokémon: Masters
Chapter Fourteen – A Hero Once More
"Misty?" Ash asked the little girl playing with Pichu.
"Yes, sir?" she replied.
"What happened?"
"Uncle Mike, why have you shrunk?" she asked in turn.
"Uncle Mike," he whispered to himself. "She must think I'm Dad."
"Pichu," she said to the pokémon, "would you like to play?"
"Pi," he replied.
As the girl and pokémon began to chase each other, Ash picked up the egg and placed in his backpack. He had to find Bill and Brock.
"Misty, we have to go," he told the girl.
"Okay," she shrugged. "Where's Mom and Dad?"
"Uh," he replied. "Actually I was going to take you to them."
"Can we go out for ice cream?"
"Sure," he answered as he took her hand.
Bill and Brock had managed to find a few Abras and Ghastlies but not a trace of Serebi. They were heading back to the camp when they saw the bright flash.
"I wonder what that was," Brock commented.
"Let's check it out," Bill said as he headed in the direction of light.
As the got closer to the spot, Brock noted that several flowers had bloomed in the last few minutes.
"Bill," a voice called. "Brock."
"That's Ash," Brock said when he recognized the voice. "Over here!"
Bill and Brock saw Ash come out behind some bushes.
"Where's Misty?" Brock asked.
"She doesn't like strangers," he weakly replied.
"Huh?" Brock questioned.
"Perhaps you should see for yourself," he replied. "Misty, come out. They're my friends."
Brock watched as a little girl slipped out of the bushes and hid behind Ash's legs.
"Why doesn't he have eyes, Uncle Mike?" she asked when she pointed to Brock.
"It's a mystery," Ash replied. He looked up at his two older companions.
"This is Misty?" Bill asked. He got on his knees and looked at the girl who shied away.
"Make the bad man stop," she cried.
"It's okay, Misty," he said as he picked her up. She smiled when she felt safe in his arms. "He won't hurt you."
"This is amazing," Bill commented.
"What exactly happened?" Brock asked.
"I'm not sure," Ash replied as he sat down with Misty still in his arms. "Misty wanted to head back to camp, but I felt something pulling me on. She said something about flowers, and then a light blinded us. I found Misty, Pikachu, and Togepi like this."
"Where's Pikachu and Togepi?" Brock asked not seeing them around.
"Togepi is the egg in my backpack, and Pikachu is that Pichu over there," Ash replied pointing to the small pokémon in the bushes.
"You mean," Bill said as he looked at Misty and Pichu, "they were all made younger?"
"I guess 'reversing the sands' meant the ones in hourglasses," Brock commented. "Still, Misty said something about flowers?"
"Yeah."
"Bill said that Serebi was plant type," Brock continued. "Maybe it had something to do with this."
"You be on to something," Bill agreed. "I think I read something about Serebeii being considered the herald of spring by the older cultures."
Actually, a voice replied, they called me the flower child.
The three males turned toward the voice and saw a little green fairy.
Let me introduce myself, it continued. I am Serebi, the Pokémon of Time.
He looked at Misty and frowned.
I do believe I've really made a mess of things this time, it sighed.
It was late, and Tracey was the last one in the lab. Prof. Oak had already gone out for dinner, and Gary was off competing in the Orange League. Tracey was mostly putting the finishing touches on his report of Ampharos and Quagsire from the information he received from Rob at the League Competition. He hoped to see the pokémon when he went on a research trip next month.
He was about to leave when he noticed a noise coming from another part of lab. Thinking that it might be a loose pokémon, he went to investigate. Finding nothing, he turned out the lights and left to find his own meal in Pallet Town.
It's so good to see you again, Ash, Serebi greeted as she floated closer to the trainer.
"Have we meet before?" Ash questioned.
Oh, this must be when we meet for the first, she replied. You must forgive me about that. I sometimes get time periods confused. Anna found it every annoying.
"You mean Destiny?" Ash commented.
I find it easier to refer to them by their names, Serebi laughed. Otherwise, I get you all mixed up.
"There are more than two?" Bill asked. He was interested in the Destiny legends he had uncovered in his research. He wanted to ask Ash more about it, but he always refused to talk about it.
You have no idea how many timelines there are, Serebi replied. But that's another discussion for another time. I better fix the little mess I made first; then we'll talk.
She closed her eyes and began to glow. Everyone watched in amazement as Misty began to grow back to her fourteen year old self.
"Where am I?" she asked a bit confused. "Last thing I remembered was that light, and now I'm in Ash's lap."
She looked at Ash's face. "Not that I'm really complaining," she blushed.
"Togepi," a muffled voice in Ash's backpack called.
"Togepi, is that you?" Misty said as she jumped off Ash and opened his backpack. "Mommy's here."
"Pikapi," Pikachu cheered as he leapt into Ash's now vacant lap.
"Now care to explain what happened?" Ash asked the pokémon.
Just the temporal surge that occurs when I entered a time period, Serebi replied. It really messes up the ages of things at point zero.
"How come I wasn't affected?"
You're the Destiny in this time period, Serebi replied. You're immune to it, for the most part.
"What is it we have to talk about?" he asked.
Not here, she told him. There are others we have to talk to.
"Then where?"
More like, when, she replied.
Serebi slowly began to glow again and exploded in a burst of light. When her eyesight returned, Misty saw that Ash and Serebi were gone.
"Not again," she sighed. "Maybe I should start dating people who won't constantly disappear on me."
"Where are we?" Ash asked Serebi when he saw his surrounding. He was in a white circle of light surrounded by darkness.
Where time is not, Serebi replied. I must get the others. Please don't leave the circle.
Serebi disappeared this time without the light show. It was not a long wait until she returned with someone in a forest green cloak. After both were appeared, Serebi vanished again.
"It is good to see you again," a female voice greeted Ash.
"Anna," Ash replied. "I thought you said you were finally going to rest now."
"This is the last time we can meet," she told him. "But we must wait until the other one gets here."
"And who is that?" Ash asked.
"You," a voice from the darkness replied.
Ash looked and saw a forty-year-old version of himself emerge with Serebi.
"I'm confused," Ash admitted when he saw himself.
"You'll grow out of that," older Ash laughed. "But Misty will never admit to it."
We have more important things to discuss than your wife, Serebi snapped at both Ashes. Young Ash here is about to face HIM.
"Him?" the younger Ash asked. "Who is 'him'?"
"HE is a monster I had to deal with in the beginning," Anna replied. "A pokémon of tremendous power."
Almost as much as Time itself, Serebi continued. Mew and I are the most powerful pokémon, and even combined, we couldn't stand up against HIM.
"Does he have a name?" younger Ash asked.
"HE doesn't have one," older Ash replied. "HE simply calls himself by HIS host."
"Host?"
"He doesn't have a body," Anna answered. "He generally takes whatever human is available but sometimes searches for one."
"And they are always human," older Ash continued. "Pokémon are not affected by his mind control."
We can't tell you too much about him, Serebi interrupted. Time is a risky thing to alter. Just informing you of it is dangerous.
"How am I going to defeat HIM?" Ash asked them.
"I can't tell you that," older Ash replied. "But Serebi can do this."
This may sting a bit, Serebi told Ash.
"A bit," older Ash caustically repeated. "I was sore for a week."
Don't scare the boy, Serebi snapped back as she shot younger Ash with a bolt of energy.
"Ouch!" Ash screamed at the top of lungs.
"Told ya," older Ash said to the pokémon.
Your full powers are now unlocked, Serebi told young Ash while ignoring his older self. I would suggest you practice before HE shows up.
"When will HE come?" Ash asked as he clinched his side in pain.
I can't be definite, Serebi replied. HE will find a body when you return. When HE challenges you, I don't know.
"Good-bye, Ash," Anna said as she hugged his neck. "The world needs you again."
"I sometimes wish the world could just leave me alone," he sighed as he disappeared from the rest. But I at least got to know that my wish from last night came true.
Ash soon found himself back among Misty, Brock, Bill, and Pikachu.
"That was quicker than last time," Misty smirked. "And no sleeping bodies to deal with."
"But this message isn't a pleasant," he replied. "I have to save the world again."
"What else is new," Misty sighed. "And just when I thought things were getting boring."
When Tracey returned to the lab, he heard the noise again but much louder this time. He followed the noise until he came to Prof. Oak personal research lab. He turned on the lights and saw the GS ball had rolled off the table.
"So it was this all the time," he commented as he picked it up.
A weak body, he heard a voice say, but it will do.
Tracey watched as the gold and silver ball opened and a dark shadow emerge. He tried to scream when it soon began to cover him.
The less you fight, he heard the voice say, the more likely you will survive once I'm through with you.
Tracey fell to his knees, clinching his chest. Soon the shadow submerged itself in him. He opened his closed his eyes to with a flash of red light.
"I must find Destiny now," he said as he stood up. "Her end is near."