Chapter 21: Bridging the Time Gap
"No!" As soon as the bridge gave way Ash bolted to the edge of the chasm. He looked down, hoping to see some indication that Nikki and Team Rocket had somehow managed to save themselves. The dark void threatened to draw him in as he stared down at it, but thankfully he spotted Nikki and Team Rocket hanging on to the bridge.
"What a relief," he sighed. "You guys okay down there?"
"For the time being we are!" Nikki replied.
"You two can talk later! Now hurry up and help us!" Jessie demanded. Looking down Ash saw they were quite a ways below him, at least a good ten feet, well out of his reach. Not only that but many of the planks were broken due to the impact with the side of the cliff, so asking Nikki and Team Rocket to climb up was out of the question.
"It's going to be tough getting them up here. If only I had some rope or something. Then I could lower myself down there to them… wait! I have something better!" With a plan set in his head and grabbed one of his Poké Balls and threw it out.
"Bulbasaur, we need you!" Moments later the Seed Pokémon appeared.
"(What's going on?)" he asked, sensing that something was wrong.
"Nikki and Team Rocket are down the side of this cliff. I need you to lower me down with Vine Whip and then pull us all up when I give the signal," Ash explained. "Think you're up to the task?"
"(I'll do my best,)" Bulbasaur vowed. With a nod Ash looked down to Nikki and Team Rocket.
"I'm coming down to help! Just hang tight!" he called.
"Like we have a choice!" Nikki replied. Ash then turned and nodded to Bulbasaur. The Seed Pokémon nodded back and wrapped two vines around Ash's waist. After making sure Bulbasaur had a firm grip he began to make his way down.
"(Be careful, Ash!)" Pikachu called. Ash gave him a thumbs up before continuing down the cliff. Nikki and Team Rocket watched with bated breath as Ash made his way down the side of the cliff, supported by nothing else other than Bulbasaur's Vine Whip. After a few agonizing moments he was within arms reach of Nikki.
"That's far enough, Bulbasaur!" he called. As soon as Bulbasaur stopped lowering him he reached out towards Nikki.
"Take my hand!" he shouted. Nikki slowly reached out for Ash's outstretched hand, but as she did she made one critical mistake.
She looked down.
"Oh my…" As she stared down into the chasm she became even more hesitant than before. Noticing this Ash tried to get her focused on something else.
"Listen, focus on me! Don't worry about what's below you!" he called.
"I'm not worried about what's below me! I'm worried about what's not!" Nikki replied.
"I won't let you fall! Just take my hand and I promise you'll be okay!" Ash said. Nikki finally managed to look at him.
"Y-You promise?" she asked.
"I promise," Ash answered. That seemed to do the trick. With a bit more confidence Nikki reached for Ash and grabbed his hand.
"Okay, Bulbasaur! Hold tight!" Ash shouted.
"(You got it!)" the Seed Pokémon responded. Moments later Nikki released the bridge, letting Ash take on her entire body weight.
"How are you doing?" Ash questioned.
"About as well as expected," Nikki answered.
"How about you, Bulbasaur?" Ash called.
"(I'm good,)" the Seed Pokémon answered. Despite having to support another person's weight now he remained strong.
"Hey! What about us?" Jessie shrieked. "We're still down here!"
"You can't just leave us hanging here!" James pleaded. As they begged for help Ash and Nikki stared at each other.
"I wouldn't be against leaving them there just to keep them from following us everywhere we go," she commented.
"I know what you mean, but we can't," Ash said.
"I know," Nikki sighed. With Team Rocket still a ways below them Ash asked for Bulbasaur to lower them a bit further. Once they were close enough Ash called for him to stop.
"Grab my foot!" Nikki shouted. Jessie looked up and saw Nikki right above her holding her leg out. She reached out and latched onto Nikki's ankle, holding on for dear life. Ash had to tighten his hold on Nikki to make sure he didn't drop them. Up above Bulbasaur had to dig in a bit. Jessie's extra weight was a bit more than he was expecting.
"Okay, Bulbasaur! Lower us down so we can get James!" Ash instructed.
"(O…kay,)" Bulbasaur grunted. He carefully lowered them until Ash told him to stop.
"Come on, James!" Ash called. The male member of Team Rocket looked up and saw how close they were, but he was too afraid to let go of the bridge.
"Hurry up!" Nikki shouted.
"I… I can't! If I let go I'll fall!" James cried.
"If you don't we'll leave you down here! Now come on!" Jessie demanded. That was all the motivation James needed. He reached out towards Jessie and wrapped his arms tightly around her legs.
"Okay! Pull us up!" Ash shouted. He waited for Bulbasaur to start bringing them up, but that moment didn't come.
"Bulbasaur, what's wrong?" Ash called. Up above Pikachu and the other Pokémon could see that Bulbasaur was not only having difficulty pulling them up but he was also slowly losing ground.
"(Come on! He needs some extra muscle!)" Pikachu shouted.
"(If we don't hurry he's going to lose them!)" Buneary urged. The four remaining Pokémon rushed to Bulbasuar's aid. Pikachu and Meowth grabbed one vine while Buneary and Celebi grabbed the other.
"(Okay! Everyone pull!)" Their combined strength was enough to keep Bulbasaur from losing any more ground, but now they had to muster even more strength to pull the trainers back up.
"(Come on! Put your backs into it!)" Pikachu urged.
"If I put my back into it any more I might break it!" Meowth complained.
"(Oh, quit your whining and pull!)" Buneary demanded. The Pokémon increased their efforts and eventually began to pull Ash and the others back up the cliff.
"That's it! Keep it up!" Ash cheered. With Ash urging them on the Pokémon continued to pull them up. After a long, agonizing struggle, Ash's hand appeared at the top of the cliff, holding on to the ground as he hoisted himself up. He then helped Nikki and Team Rocket up to the top of the cliff, successfully removing them from danger.
"Whew… that was a close one," Ash gasped.
"(Ash!)" The Pallet Town trainer looked up in time to see Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Celebi rush to his side.
"(Are you okay?)" Celebi asked.
"I'm fine, thanks to all of you," he replied. "In fact we all are." Glancing to his left he saw Nikki hugging Buneary, doing her best to comfort the small Pokémon.
"(I thought I was going to lose you!)" the Rabbit Pokémon cried.
"Shh… it's okay. I'm okay now," she soothed. At the same time all three members of Team Rocket embraced each other.
"We almost had our final blast off!" Jessie cried.
"Yeah, and I couldn't handle this gig solo!" Meowth added.
"That'll never happen! Team Rocket sticks together no matter what!" James stated. While all this was going on Ash was thanking Bulbasaur for his help.
"We were in a really tight spot there, but you and the other Pokémon came through," he praised.
"(I'm just thankful we were able to get all of you back up here safely,)" Bulbasaur admitted.
"So am I," Ash agreed. He then returned Bulbasaur to his Poké Ball for some rest. Then, once Pikachu was back on his shoulder, he stood up.
"Come on. We need to hurry up and find Celebi's healing spring," he said.
"Yeah, and the sooner we do that the sooner we can get back to our own time," Nikki added. There were no objections as the group got up and continued on.
"Come on. How much further is it?" Jessie whined. It had been close to half an hour since the incident at the bridge, and so far there was no sign of the healing spring they had been searching for.
"If we knew we wouldn't be searching now, would we," Nikki retorted.
"Well you don't have to be so nasty about it," Jessie griped.
"If you've forgotten it your fault we're in this situation in the first place," Nikki argued. While the two of them went back and forth Ash was looking around.
"(Something wrong, Ash?)" Pikachu asked.
"Have you noticed that we haven't seen a single Pokémon since we got here," he commented. That remark got the attention of the others.
"Now that you mention it we haven't seen any Pokémon," Nikki agreed.
"Quite the curious case," James commented.
"Do you have any idea why, Celebi?" Nikki asked.
"(Depending on what time period we've landed in this could be long before Pokémon started living here or long after,)" she explained.
"(Well, judging by how your shrine looked back there I think it's a safe guess to say we're in the future, which means this is more than likely long after Pokémon have been here,)" Pikachu assumed.
"That does sound like a safe guess," Nikki agreed. "I wonder what happened to them."
"Who knows," Ash replied. The group continued on, still searching for the healing spring that would restore Celebi's powers.
"(Hey! I'm starting to sense something!)" Celebi stated.
"Is it the spring?" Nikki asked.
"(I think so,)" Celebi said.
"Come on. Let's hurry." The group followed the Time Travel Pokémon as she headed towards what they hoped was the healing spring. As they got closer something was watching them from the shadows.
"(It's not far now! Just as few more… ah!)" A sudden explosion in front of them stopped the group in their tracks. As everyone shielded their eyes one question was on everyone's mind.
"What was that?" Nikki shouted.
"I think something attacked us! I don't know what, but we need to get ready for it to attack again!" Ash said. He had Pikachu take a position in front of the group while Nikki asked Buneary to do the same. As they waited a white four-legged Pokémon with a scythe-like horn on the side of his head appeared in front of them.
"What's that?" James shrieked.
"An Absol!" Ash gasped. Nikki immediately took out her Pokédex and scanned him.
Absol, the Disaster Pokémon. It has the ability to foretell natural disasters. It's life span is over a hundred years.
"What's an Absol doing here, especially since we haven't seen any other Pokémon," Nikki wondered.
"(Leave! You are not permitted here!)" the Disaster Pokémon demanded. This caught everyone by surprise, but at the same time they knew they couldn't just turn and leave, especially with what they needed to do.
"I'm sorry Absol, but we can't do that. We have to get Celebi to the healing spring," Ash explained. Upon mentioning Celebi the Absol's eyes grew wide.
"(Celebi? She is with you?)" He looked all around trying to find her. Eventually he saw her hovering in the air next to Ash.
"(C-Celebi! P-Please forgive me! I had no idea you were traveling with them!)" he apologized.
"(It's okay,)" she told him. "(Do you know if the healing spring is nearby? I need to restore my powers so I can bring these people and their Pokémon back to their own time.)"
"(Of course. Follow me and I'll lead you to it,)" Absol offered. Everyone was in agreement as they filed in behind Absol and let him lead the way to the healing spring.
"So… are you the only Pokémon here?" Ash asked. Absol sighed and lowered his head.
"(Sadly yes. The other Pokémon who used to live here left a long time ago,)" Absol answered. "(I've been here alone for Mew knows how long.)"
"Don't you get… lonely?" Nikki asked.
"(More than you know,)" Absol replied. The sadness was evident in his voice, causing everyone to feel for him.
"(We have arrived,)" he announced. Looking up everyone saw a small pond in front of them. Despite the bleak and dreary look of the rest of the forest the spring itself was a sight to behold. The water was crystal clear, and there were a few flowers growing on the bank.
"Talk about complete opposites. This spring looks nothing like the rest of this forest," Jessie commented. While everyone else marveled at the beauty of the spring Celebi flew over to it. Once there she lowered herself into the water, letting it come up to her waist. Shortly after that the water in the spring began to give off a slight greenish glow.
"What's happening?" Ash wondered.
"(The spring is restoring Celebi's powers,)" Absol explained. "(Soon she'll be able to bring you and your friends back to your own time.)" Hearing this everyone got excited.
"Alright! I'll be able to get back to challenging the Legenda Gyms!" Ash exclaimed.
"And I can keep competing in Contests!" Nikki added. Within seconds Celebi's Psychic powers had been restored. Fully energized she flew around the group, giggling happily.
"(Yay! My powers are back!)" she cheered.
"Great! Now you can bring us back to our own time," Nikki said.
"(Yup!)" Celebi agreed. As she prepared to open the Time Travel vortex Team Rocket huddled together.
"Now that we're going back to our won time that little truce we had with the twerps is ancient history," Meowth said.
"Which means we're free to snatch up Celebi and go back to our time while leaving the twerps high and dry," James added.
"And while we're at it we might as well take Pikachu too," Jessie concluded. As they schemed Absol glared at them. His senses were picking up on the negative vibes they were giving off.
"(One Time Travel vortex, coming right up!)" Celebi announced.
"That's our cue to leave!" Ash said.
"And our cue to get ready to snatch," Jessie silently added. With Ash, Nikki and their Pokémon focused on Celebi's Time Travel vortex they had no idea Team Rocket was approaching them, looking to steal Celebi and Pikachu.
"(No you don't!)" Absol growled. He jumped in front of Team Rocket, stopping them in their tracks. Unfortunately by doing so he put himself in range of Celebi's Time Travel vortex.
"(Time travel in 3... 2... 1... here we go!)" In a bright flash Celebi and the others were drawn into the Time Travel vortex on their way back to their own time.
Just like before it took only a brief moment for Celebi to bring everyone through time. The next thing everyone knew the vortex closed, leaving them in a much different, and very familiar location.
"Alright! We're back in our own time!" Ash cheered.
"It feels so good to be back home!" Nikki shouted. The two trainers and their Pokémon were all glad to be back in their own time, but the celebrating was brought to an abrupt end by a loud growl.
"What was… huh?" Needless to say they were both shocked to see Absol standing behind them, casting an intimidating glare at Team Rocket.
"Absol? What are you doing here?" Ash gasped.
"(These three were up to no good!)" he growled.
"How absurd! How dare you accuse us of such a thing!" Jessie scoffed.
"We weren't up to anything!" James added.
"(Don't lie to me! I could sense your evil intentions!)" Absol barked. Both Ash and Nikki cast accusatory glares at them.
"Not that we need to ask, but is Absol right?" Ash questioned.
"Of course not! Remember our truce?" James reminded them.
"Of course we do. The question is do you?" Nikki retorted.
"What do you…"
"Who cares? We're back in our own time so that truce is null and void!" Meowth announced. "Now let's get that Celebi!"
"Right!" Jessie and James agreed. The three of them charged towards the Time Travel Pokémon, but Absol was quick to cut them off.
"(Stay away from her!)" he barked. In defense of Celebi he quickly formed an orb of dark energy and fired it at the charging trio.
"That's a Shadow Ball!" Nikki shouted. The orb exploded upon impact and sent Team Rocket flying through the air.
"First through time and now through the air! How much traveling are we going to do today?" Jessie griped.
"I'm starting to get travel sick!" James groaned.
"And I'm getting sick of both of you!" Meowth whined.
"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" they cried.
"Well, that takes care of them for the time being," Ash commented. "Thanks, Absol."
"(You're welcome,)" the Disaster Pokémon replied.
"Well, now that our adventure through time is over I think we should get back to our journey," Nikki announced.
"(In that case I think it's time Absol and I were on our way. No doubt you want to return to your time as well,)" Celebi stated.
"(Of course,)" Absol replied. Though he agreed there was a tinge of sadness in his voice, something that didn't go unnoticed.
"(Alright then. Here we…)"
"Wait!" Ash shouted, stopping Celebi before she could reopen the Time Travel vortex.
"(What is it?)" she wondered. Ash approached Absol and knelt down in front of him.
"Do you really want to go back? Didn't you say you get lonely being the only Pokémon in the forest?" he asked.
"(I get very lonely there, but where else would I go? It's the only place I've ever known,)" he retorted. It didn't take Ash long to come up with an answer.
"Why don't you come with us," he offered.
"That's a pretty good idea," Nikki agreed. "If you come with us you'll never be lonely." This was a bit of a shock to Absol. The offer was tempting, and he would love to accept, but there was one thing that concerned him. Almost as if she knew what was on his mind Celebi nodded.
"(If it's really what you want then go ahead,)" Celebi said. With her blessing Absol looked back at Ash and Nikki.
"(I… accept your offer,)" he acknowledged. With Absol agreeing to join them there was one question that needed to be answered.
"Who's going to catch him?" Ash wondered.
"I think you should. He looks like he'll be a better battler than Contest Pokémon," Nikki said.
"Are you sure?" Ash asked.
"Of course, but this means that the next one is mine," Nikki stated.
"Fair enough," Ash agreed. With that he grabbed an empty Poké Ball and enlarged it.
"Welcome to the family, Absol," he said, tossing the ball in Absol's direction. The ball bounced gently off Absol's head and drew him inside. Te indicator on the front of the ball flashed three times before a 'ping' was heard, signaling a successful capture. Ash walked over to the ball and picked it up.
"Alright! I've got an Absol!" he cheered.
"(Oh yeah!)" Pikachu added. Seconds later the ball began to glow white. Then, it vanished.
"Off to Professor Oak's. I'll have to call him and ask for Absol when we get to the next Pokémon Center," Ash said. "You wouldn't happen to know where one is, would you Celebi?"
"(As a matter of act I do,)" she replied. "(There's one not too far from here in that direction.)" She pointed to the north, the same direction Ash and Nikki were traveling when they first entered the forest.
"Perfect! We were heading that way already," Nikki stated.
"In that case let's get going," Ash declared. After bidding farewell to Celebi Ash and Nikki continued on through the forest. Once they had left Celebi engulfed herself in a ball of green energy and vanished using time travel.
Not long had passed since Ash, Nikki and Celebi had parted ways. The clearing where they had returned had remained undisturbed, but that soon changed a large helicopter began to descend, landing in the middle of the clearing. Seconds after landing a group of people in white lab coats came pouring out, each one holding a strange device in their hands. They were son followed by a man in a grey leather suit with a crimson "C" on his back.
"Begin the search! Leave no area unchecked!" he ordered. The others saluted him and began combing the area, keeping an eye on the strange devices they had in their hands.
"Sir! I've detected her!" The man in grey approached the one who had called him and looked at the device in his hand.
"How long ago?" he asked.
"According to the scanner not long, maybe half an hour," the other answered. Looking at the scanner both men saw traces of energy flowing in the air.
"Can you pinpoint her location?" the man in grey asked.
"Unfortunately no. She vanished using time travel shortly after arriving in this time period," the second explained. This cause the first man to let out a frustrated growl.
"So Celebi managed to elude us once again," he groaned.
"Sir! I think you should come see this!" another one called. Judging by the urgency in his voice the man in grey assumed it was important. He hurried to his side.
"What is it?" he questioned.
"There appear to be other energy signatures mixed in with Celebi's. I think she was time traveling with a group rather than alone," he explained. This bit of news piqued his interest. They didn't find Celebi, but with any luck they would be able to find those who were traveling with her.
"Can you track them?" he wondered.
"As long as their energy trail remains we can track them wherever they go," he replied.
"Then make sure you do not lose their trail," the man in grey ordered.
"Yes sir." While the man in the white coat continued to trace the energy trails the man in grey took out a small radio.
"Headquarters… Yes… We've found the location, but Celebi is no longer here… We may have a way of finding her… Yes, but I'll need more men… Yes… Understood. Ares, out." The man known as Ares put away his radio and awaited the backup he requested.
"Soon… we'll have what we need… and the world shall bow to our power…"
Ash and Nikki have finally returned to their own time, with Ash obtaining a new Pokémon along the way. However, their escapades have garnered the attention of a mysterious group. Who are they, and what do they want with Celebi? Find out in the next chapter of Search for Power!
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