Chương 154: Chapter 148

To Sam's surprise, it wasn't Brock who carried Sammy back. Out of everyone, Ash was the one to pick up the boy, bring his arms and legs up to wear him like a backpack, and then carry him the whole way to Arborville. Everyone else had already seen this town once before, but this was Sam's first visit here. Arborville wasn't the usual village he expected. It had its small houses and other buildings, but the place was not built on the forest floor.

Instead, the people here had made use of the Ilex Forest's large trees for the base structures of their homes. Buildings had been assembled between large branches, and the trunks supported the cores of their homes. The ground itself was clear of any construction, left bare and open so that any wild Pokémon could safely pass by. This place wasn't located too far from the road that passed through that fallen tree, but it was just far enough that the trip back was awkward.

Ash was fine, mostly, but he'd send Sam an occasional half-hearted glare when he thought he wasn't looking. Misty could not stop frowning, Sammy was unconscious, and Richard never spoke. For Richard especially, over the course of the entire trip back, it was like the world didn't exist for him. He would acknowledge the occasional warning to avoid a potential tripping hazard, but he otherwise spent his time deep in thought. Sam was very thankful Brock was around.

Brock stayed on alert and kept a watchful eye on the forest around them, unaware of Haunter keeping guard in the shadows. He might not have noticed their stalker, but he was trying to stay on task. He truly seemed like the most normal person here. But, of course, that thought was quickly proven wrong.

"Diana, my beautiful Diana!" Oh, come on.

"We need your help!" Brock shouted up to one of Arborville's tree houses.

"We require your wonderful assistance; we have an unconscious person down here!" From atop a wooden balcony, a pair of faces peeked out to check on their small group. Sam immediately recognized one of them as Diana, the young woman who had first warned him of the Voice of the Forest, and next to her was an older woman who carried such a strong resemblance that she had to be Diana's grandmother. Right away, Diana dashed over to her home's rope ladder, which she jumped down more than she descended.

The old woman, meanwhile, rushed back into their house to grab their stored medical supplies. Diana helped them bring Sammy inside. Once everyone was up, she laid Sammy on their main room's couch, giving her and Brock the chance to look him over. The old woman stepped into the room carrying a basket of medicines, but the moment she laid her eyes on Richard and the unconscious boy, she went through an almost imperceptible stumble, but she didn't trip and pushed through to bring the supplies over.

Since Sammy was unconscious due to exhaustion more than anything else, there wasn't much Brock and Diana could do other than give him another once-over. The air in the room was tense, with Ash uncomfortable in the back and Richard having collapsed into a cushioned chair to watch the scene in silence. It felt oppressive.

"I'll be outside if anyone needs me," Sam said, but no one paid him any mind. He stepped back out to that balcony without being bothered, and he leaned against its railing while Misdreavus moved up to float by his side.

"This sucks," Sam said as he dropped his head onto his arms.

"There's just... too much going on. How much did you catch, Misdreavus? I blacked out when everything with Celebi happened, but you—" She shook her head. She'd seen nothing; she had briefly fallen unconscious, too.

"We've been thrown through time," Sam said, sighing.

"That's it. That's the explanation. And I've been thrown through time again. My team... I'm sorry. I'm not from your time period, Misdreavus. I'm from the future, or at least, I guess I'm this present future's past?" He brought his head back to stare into the branches of the canopy. Out here, the leaves were thin enough to let through plenty of light. The gleam was enough that he couldn't quite make out the sky, but he could at least tell there wasn't even a single cloud.

He had to wonder where his team was right now. Was he able to find his way back? Was there a version of himself out there somewhere, still traveling with all of his friends? Or had everyone been out here for two full years, just waiting for the day he'd return?... But that wasn't something he could fix in this immediate moment. No, his comments had been the first time he had truly mentioned time travel to Misdreavus, even as brief as they were.

Despite the news being suddenly dropped on her, she went quiet for only a second. She faced Sam and puffed up with a smile to express her confidence. She didn't even need to think. Misdreavus was already promising that she'd help. Her complete faith in him only made him feel worse.

"Whew!" Diana's voice came from the entrance of her home as she stepped out to join Sam.

"Brock does good work, but the moment things lighten up... I don't have anything against the guy, but man, can he make things awkward." She swiped her hands together as if cleaning them off after a long day's hard work. She walked over to the railing as well, leaning her back on it while facing in.

"How are you holding up?" Diana said, speaking to Sam at her side.

"I haven't seen you for... what, two years?"

"You remember me?" Sam asked in surprise as he looked up.

"Sure," she said.

"How many people do you think come out here?"

"A decent amount."

"Eh. This group is a little unusually sized, but we don't get too many people. Definitely not anyone who smiles when I warn them about the Voice of the Forest." She chuckled to herself, but Sam's eyes flicked to the forest floor. There were a few bridges between the buildings here to allow people to move between the trees, but down there, on the earth itself, there was nothing. He could even see where a few sections of tall grass rustled to mark wild Pokémon moving around within. He grimaced before he next spoke.

"The last time I saw you was less than a week ago," Sam said quietly. Diana opened her mouth as if to respond, but she closed it to take a moment to think.

"... The Voice of the Forest." Her realization was quiet and in wonder.

"Its real name is Celebi," Sam grumbled.

"It's a Legendary Pokémon, apparently." It took Diana only a moment to truly understand the implications, but instead of doing anything to maybe comfort Sam, all she did was laugh.

"So then you never completed your crazy little training trip? I could have sworn—" She stopped herself.

"You didn't take my warning seriously?" Sam joined her in her backwards lean against the railing. He didn't stare inside, however. He didn't want to. He couldn't quite call himself a fan of everything that was going on.

"I did take it seriously. I didn't go toward any voice that cried out, but it wasn't like there was ever one to lure me close. No. An archway appeared next to my campsite, and when I approached it—" He had to briefly stop himself to prevent his voice from cracking.

"My Pokémon pushed me in." Diana shifted around awkwardly. She couldn't look at Sam.

"So, uh, Celebi, huh? I didn't know the Voice of the Forest was a Pokémon. We always just thought it was a spirit, but then again, no one ever really encountered it. Most we ever hear are rumors of someone falling victim to its effects."

"Then what was the point of the bread?" Sam stared until she let out an amused snort.

"The bread? Oh, the berry loaf! It's a tradition that started way back when, even before my grandmother was born. If I remember the story right..." She tapped her chin.

"A man visited Arborville, and he was given bread as part of the usual hospitality. When he continued into the forest, he came out years later, saying the bread was the only thing that kept him alive."

"... I don't think it 'keeps the Voice of the Forest at bay,'" Sam grumbled.

"I think he just ate it after getting lost." That was what Sam had done, after all.

"Sure, but you can't deny its effects! Traditions exist for a reason. I bet it helped you, right?" She grinned at him even through his grumbles. Diana didn't talk much after that, choosing to just quietly lean back and use this peaceful moment to relax. That left Sam alone with his thoughts, and he couldn't stop thinking about the implications of Celebi and all of its powers. Time travel was confusing. It was simply too much. But then again, is Celebi why I have the New Pokédex?

Did it bring someone from the future back to the past? So then, if my grandfather is here, he must have met someone. The New Pokédex is old. Are we about to meet some random Professor from the future?... I kind of doubt that. Unless I was the one to give it to him, but even that doesn't make sense. I don't have the New Pokédex on me, and I do not have all that information memorized. No one can memorize that. The level of detail is too extreme. Stolen story; please report.

His only other thought was that it was maybe connected to Sammy since the boy enjoyed sketching Pokémon. His influence would help explain all the drawings in the New Pokédex, but that still didn't feel right. But as Sam fell into his thoughts, a few shouts came from inside. Sammy seemed to have woken up, and he lashed out about no longer having Celebi in his arms. That was when Sam heard his grandfather step in, and with Richard's presence, the other boy calmed down.

Whatever altercation that had been about to happen between him and Ash was stopped by the sudden, familiar face. After that, the conversation quieted to the point that Sam could no longer hear what was happening, and Diana used the moment to head back inside.

"Before you go." Sam pushed off the railing to face her.

"Have you... Did you see a team of Ghost Types nearby? Or maybe just a rare species or two? Anything like a Typhlosion, Annihilape, or a Trevenant? Anything at all?"

"Typhlosion? Annihilape?" She blinked at him.

"I don't think I've heard of anything like that recently. A Trevenant, though? Hm. Maybe? But I don't think any have wandered in from the deep woods for at least the past decade."

"... Okay. Thanks anyway." Sam fell back down. Diana tried her best to send Sam a reassuring smile, but she had to step back inside to help out with whatever was going on. Sam was left alone on the balcony with just him and Misdreavus. (And Haunter in his shadow, of course.)"I don't know what to do." Sam turned to collapse onto the railing and stared out into the forest once more.

"My team is out there, somewhere, or maybe even some when. I need to find them, but Celebi— Gah. At this point, we're years apart." He didn't know if they were still in the woods. He didn't know if he'd been missing for all this time or if a future version of himself had managed to return to the past. He considered leaving Arborville to head somewhere more connected, but would finding out more right now just mess with his future?

Would that somehow set in stone a reality in which they'd truly spent a full two years apart? In more ways than one, Sam hated this. But through everything, he could still trace the source of his problems as well as his only viable solution: Celebi.

"I can spend all this time sitting around and worrying, or I can actually do something," Sam said as he pushed back up.

"Sammy's awake. I'm just wasting our time out here. More than anything else, if we want to fix this, we need to find Celebi." We need to find Celebi and make it help us. At his side, Misdreavus bobbed in the air to show her eager support. Having solidly decided on his next steps, Sam marched back into Diana's home, standing in the door frame to look around at everyone here. He somehow managed to time his reappearance with a lull in the conversation.

The old woman from before was now kneeling in front of Sammy, and the boy was now sitting up and staring at a much older version of his sketchbook that he held in his hands.

"I've come to a decision," Sam announced, and his words drew the attention of everyone in the room.

"We can't waste any more time. We need to take action—be decisive! So I've made a decision: I am going to hunt down Celebi, myself." In the back, Richard frowned.

"I'll be leaving as soon as I can," Sam continued.

"Misdreavus and I are going to find it. If anyone else wants to join—""I'll come." On the couch, Sammy looked up.

"Celebi is still out there. I remember it flying away. Except, it barely managed to do even that. It was hurt. So if we're going to find it, then... Then Celebi needs our help!" He stood, still clutching his sketchbook in his hands. And that action garnered another shout.

"If there's a Pokémon in need, then we have to help it!" Ash yelled. His Pikachu shouted its name in agreement.

"I'll come, too," Misty said.

"And I'll help!" Brock added. Then, turning to the only person who was yet to speak, Sammy looked Richard in the eye.

"Celebi was being hunted by a poacher when we first saw it," he said. Each word he spoke was slow and felt as though it had been carefully selected.

"That poacher... would have seen us vanish. And that was years ago. If he was hunting Celebi, he would know about its powers, and who knows how much he's spread that knowledge around?"

"So what?" Ash glared at Richard.

"If anyone gets in our way, we'll just beat them in a fight!" But Richard just sighed.

"I'm trying to say that we should be wary of people expecting us. So we'll have to be careful. There's no telling who or what will be waiting for us to make an appearance—""But we'll win," Sammy interrupted.

"We'll win like we always do." The boy smiled at Richard, and Richard breathed out. Sam could tell he was unconvinced by Sammy's words, but he'd also already made his decision. He would be joining the hunt. With that, everyone had agreed to help Sam—the difference in objectives aside. Looking toward Sam, Sammy grinned and asked him a question.

"When are we leaving?" Sam wasn't going to pass up a chance to be dramatic.

"We're leaving now." The full party was Sam, Ash, Misty, Brock, Richard, Sammy, and all of their Pokémon. Diana and her grandmother stayed behind for now. This group was practically a full-fledged expedition. Some researchers delved into ruins and explored the wilderness with less support than this. Sam took to the front, and no one questioned his decision to lead the way. However, it wasn't exactly him who guided everyone through the woods.

Haunter was a far better lead, but he kept to the shadows and sent Sam silent signals for where to go. He was able to use the forest's plentiful shade to zip around, and he did his best to search for hints of anything related to Celebi's pain. As for the Pokémon that were out, Misdreavus kept to Sam's side, and Pikachu sat on Ash's shoulder. Though she hadn't bothered to release any other team members, Misty carried an unfamiliar Pokémon that looked like a spotted egg.

Thankfully, no one seemed to notice Haunter's presence, but once in a while, Brock would send a glance to the woods. He was sharp, acting as if he had detected some trace of something nearby, but he never once pointed Haunter out.

"We already checked that stone shrine, and Celebi wasn't there," Sam said as the group hiked through the woods.

"That's where it started, and it's injured. It might be a Legendary Pokémon, but bringing three people—""It's a Mythical," Richard interrupted. Sam ignored him.

"But bringing three people would have seen it expend a lot of energy," he finished.

"With it being so injured, I doubt it managed to go through another jump, which means it can't have got far."

"A-also!" At the back of the group, Sammy spoke up.

"When it happened, I was awake. After the 'jump,' I mean. Celebi pushed out of my arms and flew off, but I didn't get to see where it went since I passed out and only woke up in Towa's home." So we're on the right track. Sam nodded to thank him—Towa was the name of Diana's grandmother. If Sammy had seen Celebi fly off, then Sam knew it had to be nearby, given it would require rest to recover. Haunter continued to lead their party, and Sam continued to follow Haunter.

After all of his experience searching for Pokémon, the hunt ended up being surprisingly fast. Sam shouldn't have been surprised when Haunter found their target in almost no time at all. Not too far away from that stone shrine, Haunter escorted their group to the nearest, largest source of pain. No wild Pokémon bothered them along the way, and they arrived where two of the Ilex Forest's massive trees had fallen to the ground.

Right where one trunk had landed on the other, the impact had formed a dent in the bark that'd serve as the perfect hole for a den. Seeing that hole didn't confirm Celebi's presence, but the group of Grass and Bug Type Pokémon—all species that normally wouldn't tolerate one another—watching that den in worry certainly did. Only a Legendary Pokémon could cause them to act like that.

Sam was ready to finally confront Celebi and get what he needed, but when he took a single step forward, all of the Pokémon in front of that hole turned around, saw him, and then went still out of utter fright. He had to go still, himself, after seeing their reaction.

"I don't look that scary, do I?" he asked, asking around.

"... Have you ever looked in a mirror?" Misty mumbled under her breath. Sam frowned, and though he finally wanted to face Celebi, it was Sammy who ended up stepping forward.

"No," the other boy said.

"I'll go. If you try to approach it now... Um, I don't think it'd work?"

"Thanks," Sam said flatly.

"Sorry. You just look mean."

"I'm not mean!" The boy awkwardly shuffled in place, and Sam didn't know how to respond to that, but it did give Sammy the chance to move ahead. With Sam staying behind, the other boy grabbed onto a vine hanging off the bark to begin to climb, and then with a shout, Ash ran up to join him as he climbed the tree's fallen trunk. Misty mumbled something about how Ash resembled a Mankey when he climbed. The two boys reached the top at the same time, leaving Sam and everyone else on the forest floor below.

The various Bug and Grass Type Pokémon moved back to allow those two to approach the den, and Sam could already hear the pair of boys whispering among themselves about how best to approach Celebi. Which meant that Legendary Pokémon was in that den.

"You're.... Sam, right?" Richard suddenly said. Sam blinked in surprise; this was the first thing Richard had said since that speech back in Diana's home.

"You, uh, don't think this is suspicious? Like we're finding Celebi way too easy?"

"Why would it be suspicious? If anything, it's expected. I'm used to searching for Pokémon. I've done it plenty of times before." Richard repeated Sam's words under his breath, but he shook his head to move past the thought.

"That's not what I meant. I'm talking about the forest. You really don't think it was too easy? How no Pokémon bothered us even though there's a Legendary Pokémon ahead?"

"So?"

"So..." Richard continued.

"Pokémon can sense things like that. There are too few of them here. Given the crowd around where it's hiding, shouldn't at least one Pokémon have tried to defend it?" Sam opened his mouth to try to reply, but he didn't have a counterargument. Weirdly, Richard had a point. Right away, Sam began searching through the woods, scanning the trees to identify any looming threats. Above, on that tree, thin ivy whipped out to try to get Ash and Sammy to step back.

Pikachu crackled with electricity, preparing an attack, but Sammy motioned for those two to stay back and then carefully crawled into the hole.

"... Do you see anything?" Sam asked on the forest floor below. Misdreavus was now staring out into the woods as well. Brock was doing his best to help. Meanwhile, Misty only continued to watch the exchange going on atop that massive, fallen log. Sam saw nothing, no matter how hard he searched. Finally, he heard the sound of Sammy pulling himself out. Climbing into the den had seen the vine attacks continue, but they were all incredibly weak.

His touch had calmed down the hiding Pokémon, and, standing up, he carried that green Legendary Pokémon in his arms. Celebi shook from its ongoing pain.

"There." Despite having already succeeded, Richard was not looking up. He was staring into a certain part of the distance forward, and Sam followed his gaze.

"What's that?" Sam could see some kind of glow in the distance, with the light seemingly familiar and growing. He wasn't sure what to make of it at first, but it kind of reminded him of Ursaring's—"Get down!" He grabbed Richard to throw himself and the other boy to the ground, and Brock and Misty were thankfully off to the side enough to not be hit. A full-on laser pierced through the air—a Hyper Beam.

As it blasted apart the bark of that massive fallen tree, the earth shook, and a large creature stormed out of the trees. Following it was a grinning man in a yellow mask that obscured the upper half of his face. He walked through the forest as if he owned it, and Sam did not fail to note the bright red "R" on the chest of the man's jacket.

"Ha! I knew you kids would lead me right to it! I'll be taking that Celebi now!" Richard has been right since the start. I never noticed anything, but he somehow knew someone would be waiting for us. Except, how did Haunter not detect him? Whoever this was should have been sensed, especially with the massive Pokémon standing next to him. Towering over their group was a spiked body covered in stone plates—a pseudo-Legendary Pokémon. Tyranitar.

That was already terrifying enough, but this one had a strange tint to its stone body, and there was a rage in its eyes that saw it snap its stone-crushing jaws into the air. It looked half-crazed.

"Give it up, kiddos," the man said.

"No use fighting. I've already won." He doesn't know I have Haunter, but... The Tyranitar didn't scare Sam. What scared Sam was how the man had completely avoided all of Haunter's detection.

"... I know you," Richard said, slowly picking himself off the ground to return to his feet.

"You're the Iron-Masked Marauder. A poacher for Team Rocket." The so-called Iron-Masked Marauder replied with a grin, and he confidently stood with his arms crossed behind his mad Pokémon.

"Got it right in one, kid! For that, I'll let you go—Well, I'll let you go as long as you hand over all your Pokémon, first." His expression was far too smug. Brock and Misty glared at the man out of defiance, and at the top of the log, Ash helped Sammy stand back up. That Hyper Beam hadn't hit anyone, but it had shaken the fallen tree and caused all of the wild Pokémon to scatter. It was a miracle that the two boys hadn't been knocked off themselves.

"Hold on," Sam said, standing up as well.

"Wait, wait, wait. Before we do this, there's something I have to know." Sam had faced Team Rocket before. He had encountered plenty of Ghost Types. He had even fought through a horde of wild Pokémon. And he and his team had handled real ghosts before. That Tyranitar might have been terrifying, but the man behind it was just a man. Sam had seen worse, and if he really had to, he could just take on a more Redi-like demeanor to make sure he could properly pull off this plan.

"I get following us. I get knowing about Celebi and wanting to capture it. And, you know what? I get working for Team Rocket! Clearly, you're an awful person that doesn't have an ounce of empathy to him," Sam said. Even through his mask, a vein throbbed on the man's head. Sam recognized he might have been channeling Redi a little too much. But he kept going, anyway.

"Except, there's one big part of this that I really don't understand," Sam continued.

"Out of everything... Your name? You chose 'The Iron-Masked Marauder?' Really? That's what you're called? You're supposed to be some terrifying, dangerous criminal, but you don't even realize how stupid—""Hyper Beam!"

"Now, Misdreavus!" His delay had been just long enough. Misdreavus managed to position herself to land a Confuse Ray right between the Tyranitar's eyes. Because of that, Sam barely avoided the second attack fired at him, and the bark of the tree behind him exploded once more. Ash and Sammy used this opportunity to slide down the other side of the fallen trunk to make their escape, and Brock and Misty dashed off to make sure they had room to carry Celebi away. Sam stayed behind, and Richard stayed next to him.

The horribly-named poacher faced the two of them, glaring at them with a scowl. Though the Tyranitar was trapped by Misdreavus's illusions, it was not lashing out, even with its strange rage from before. The poacher himself retrieved two darkened Pokéballs. This was a fight he was prepared to escalate, but even at a disadvantage, both Sam and Richard were prepared to hold him off to ensure everyone else could escape.