Chương 159: Chapter 153

Sam was still behind that fallen tree, but he could only describe his presence as if he had taken a half-step left through reality. The world was black and white around him. Nothing moved, but he could still see, so he immediately threw any of his preconceptions about physics out the window. The sun might have been shining, but nothing else was moving past that. There was no breeze, no slight wave to the grass, and all forms of life lacked their usual animation.

Also, there was a conspicuous lack of pressure on his arms.

"Misdreavus?" he asked. Misdreavus was gone. So was the Iron-Masked Marauder. Gengar was no longer behind him, and he wasn't in Sam's shadow, either.

"You—!" Celebi didn't even blink when Sam tore his head up to send it a glare. The Legendary Pokémon was hardly paying attention to him, only watching the motionless scene taking place in the clearing before them.

"Follow." The Legendary Pokémon then flew off ahead, and Sam had no choice but to grit his teeth and bear it. It had already promised him that it would help Misdreavus, and something deep in his gut was telling him that a promise from a Legendary Pokémon meant something—even if Celebi was just a 'mystical' or whatever Richard kept trying to call it. Celebi ended up hovering above the dead center of the space between the fallen trees, drifting around where Ash and the rest faced off against the Iron-Masked Marauder.

Sam followed, and the trio of boys remained perfectly still even as Celebi poked at them. An identical yet moderately injured Celebi floated behind their heads. It was also perfectly still, but Sam somehow got the sense that it was merely playing along.

"Friends!" Celebi said cheerfully.

"Sure, but you only like them because they saved you. You had to have only bonded over, what, last night? Well, sorry. I wasn't there. You see, I got separated because I went off to fight the Iron-Masked Marauder on everyone else's behalf." Sam crossed his arms. Celebi looked at him just to stick out its tongue.

"Sour!" it called him. One of Sam's eyes twitched. Looking over the motionless group before him, Sam couldn't say he knew Ash or even Sammy that well. He had talked to them a few times, but he'd either been focused on Celebi, dealing with his tumultuous thoughts, or trying to get a handle on Richard. His grandfather. The boy who would eventually raise him alongside his mother. Sam found himself stopping in front of the familiar young boy's face.

Richard knelt on the ground, frozen in time, his body half-covered in dirt and ash. Splinters from the trees had caught onto the legs of his pants—he'd likely taken a few falls—but he glared at the Marauder with such a defiance on his face that his true hatred of the man was bared so that the whole world could see. Now that I'm looking, I'm surprised no one saw the resemblance. I can see a few parts of his face that look like my mom's, and I bet there are other parts that look like mine. Redi would have noticed.

His team members would have noticed. But none of them were here right now. Sam sighed, picked himself back up, and glanced over to Celebi. The Legendary Pokémon had paused in front of Ash.

"Special," it said.

"So what did you want to show me, exactly? I figure you didn't pull me away from everyone just to show these three off." Celebi blinked, bringing itself away from Ash, and then it smiled at Sam and flew over to the Iron-Masked Marauder. Though the poacher and that threatening Tyranitar remained frozen, Sam still gave them a wide berth. And, as he moved around them, reality changed to adjust to what he saw.

As if walking to the other side of a flat painting, a shape unfolded into existence above and behind the Iron-Masked Marauder. A body covered in purple fur caught his attention, and Sam realized he was looking at a Gengar— his Gengar. Gengar's hands gripped the sides of the Iron-Masked Marauder's head.

"Possession," Sam mumbled, identifying the effect.

"I always knew Ghost Types could do that, but I never thought... Ugh. It's nasty." He shivered.

"Needed help!" Celebi said cheerfully.

"Story continues!" It gave the motionless Gengar a firm nod, but Sam just sent the Legendary Pokémon a flat look. Celebi had told Sam it would explain, but at this point, its lack of comprehensive answers was getting annoying. At least, it saw his unsatisfied expression and replied with a huff.

"No fun."

"Hey, I'm not the one separated from his friends and then told one of them would be subjected to decades of solitude." He paused for dramatic effect.

"Oh, wait! I am." Celebi stuck out its chin at him, but Sam didn't look away, challenging it to prove him wrong. Without backing down for even an instant, he eventually managed to cause the Legendary Pokémon to slump in the air.

"Sorry. Had to," Celebi chimed.

"Then tell me—why was this necessary? Why drag me away from my team? And why did you need Gengar to possess him? We already won, but twice now, you said the story had to continue. Why, and what story? What's even the point?!" Realizing he had started to yell, Sam exhaled through his nose, cutting his shouts off to force himself to calm down. Honestly, the perfect stillness of the world around him was putting him on edge. It was unnatural in a way that even Ghost Types couldn't match.

But as his onslaught of questions came to an end, Celebi looked at him, and it seemed to truly do so rather than just sending him a smirk as if to brag about a prank. For a second, its large eyes wavered. From its wobbling expression, Sam could tell there was a genuine guilt there, and he almost felt bad for his testiness. Almost.

"Story is... time," Celebi said while struggling to speak in its halting, child-like voice.

"Time is always... story. First story... Not good. Did not like first story's end." Sam remained quiet for a moment.

"My grandfather mentioned that," he said, almost whispering.

"Richard, I mean. He told me what would have happened without us—what was supposed to happen without us. So then, based on what he told me, all of that really happened? And you set all of this up because you knew that you would... die?"

"Not happened. Never happened!" Celebi replied cheerfully.

"And now live! Through trick! Story changed—can wiggle! Will be big show!" It spiraled up into the air, lifting an arm at its peak. It flexed as if to brag, using a hand to pat at a muscle that wasn't really there.

"So all of this..." Sam said, his voice lowering.

"It's all been just a big show? You threw us through time and forced Misdreavus to suffer just because you didn't want to die?" Celebi opened its mouth as if it wanted to continue to brag, but then Sam's words seemed to truly settle in. Its expression fell once again, and it slumped down in the air even further than before.

"Sorry." Sam could understand why it had done this, but that didn't mean he was happy about its methods. As he stood there, basically stewing in place, Celebi flew down to try to rub its cheek against his face, attempting to cheer him up. However, Sam just waved it away, not wanting to be comforted. At this point, the only comfort he wanted was the comfort of having all of his problems end.

"But why me?" Sam asked, looking back up at Celebi.

"Why all of this? And... and why my grandfather? He said he was from... elsewhere. Another world. If you planned all of this, did you make that happen, too?" Celebi cocked its head to the side, staring at Sam to observe his reaction.

"Wanted to," it said.

"You or him?"

"Him."

"Did he know?"

"No."

"So then you were the one to bring him?"

"Yes. No. Yes! Someone else fell. Sneaky! Grab when not looking. Brought here instead." Celebi gained another cheeky smile, proud of its heist of a lifetime. Sam had to genuinely take a moment when he heard that, falling back to sit on the splinter-covered ground. Thankfully, since the world was frozen, the destroyed terrain didn't stab into him or his clothing. He still pressed down on it, but there was no effect. Neither he nor the world seemed able to interact with one another while outside normal time.

Slowly, Sam breathed in. Then, he let a long exhale out.

"So the New Pokédex—" Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Spoilers!"

"And Misdreavus—" A wince.

"Will you at least tell me how this all ends?" He looked up at Celebi, searching for an answer. So far, an onslaught of questions had earned him an onslaught of revelations, but nothing else had been going on. Yet now, after everything else, Celebi regained its smile. It buzzed down to hover directly in front of where Sam sat.

"More!" it said.

"Show you." It then held out its hand, giving him the chance to grab on. Sam stared at it for a long time before letting out a final sigh. Screw it. And upon grabbing it, he was then whisked away, far, far up into the sky. The world regained its colors, and he witnessed a flurry of movement below. Ash beat the Marauder. Somehow, his Pikachu managed to defeat the Marauder's Tyranitar—in a suitably dramatic fashion, of course.

Gengar fled from the clearing without anyone noticing, and Sam watched another Celebi appear in the woods just to whisk him away. In the clearing itself, things did not progress well. Sammy collapsed, exhausted to the point of injury, and the Celebi from before inspected him even as Richard screamed. When Celebi—the one Sam was with—mentioned a show, Sam did not expect one like this. But the Celebi in the clearing seemed to come to a decision, and Sam could only watch the entire world rewind.

Fallen trees pulled themselves back up. Splintered wood merged with where it had broken off. Leaves re-attached to where they had been blasted away, and a dirty brown faded to be replaced by the forest's vibrant green. But it came at a cost. The rewind was not an act easily done. At the end of it, the injured Celebi had no more energy left. It looked withered and practically ancient. When Ash carefully picked up its fallen form, it almost seemed as if the Celebi would crumble in his arms.

Through the gaps between the forest's trees, the wild Pokémon slowly returned. They took one look at the exhausted group and gestured for everyone to follow, beginning to lead everyone away. Richard carried Sammy. Ash carried Celebi. The Iron-Masked Marauder was dragged behind them, unconscious. As they walked, both still-conscious boys wore serious yet mournful expressions. From where he was being held in the sky, Sam tried to ask a question, but he found that his voice didn't work.

In an instant, reality flashed, and then he was above that lake from before. Its crystal-clear waters stretched out beneath him, and both boys placed who they were carrying into the waters below. Sammy healed. Something about the water allowed him to regain his energy, though Sam couldn't see exactly how due to a sudden, dense fog. It wasn't the same for the Celebi, however. Floating on the lake's surface, it stayed just as withered as it had been before.

"Why?" Sam asked. He was surprised to hear his voice work.

"Now," came Celebi's simple reply. The show it had mentioned had not been a reference to what happened before. Instead, from nowhere, motes of light appeared just to float up into the sky, and the clouds themselves seemed to peel apart. From within, Celebi of all kinds poured out, and the withered body rose just for its eyes to creak open for one last smile. Of course, this "story" had to have its happy ending, and the mass of Celebi commanded the light to surround the withered member of their species.

The Legendary Pokémon became obscured from view, and when the light dimmed, it was seemingly healthy again. It had enough energy to cry out its name, zip down to the shore, and everyone began celebrating its apparent return to life. But Sam had his suspicions. The light show had simply been too much. Celebi began to bring him back down into the forest, and he caught the briefest sight of a tearful goodbye taking place. Richard kept sending glances to Sammy—he couldn't just leave him.

Despite everything, he seemed to choose to return home regardless of any of his previous desires, and he started to look around. Unfortunately, he was searching for someone who wasn't there.

"So you were brought back?" Sam asked once they touched down on the forest's floor, a suspicious tinge to his voice. Celebi could sense Sam's doubts, and it shook its head to admit to the negative.

"Then what happened?"

"Was me. Future me," it answered.

"Swapped twice. Wanted to see friends one last time." Above the trees, the light of all the Celebi swirled together as each one began to return home. However, as he watched the many time-travel Pokémon disappear, Sam had a realization. Despite all of the individual differences, and despite all of the differences in behavior, the Celebi he was witnessing here were not unique. They were less of a species and more of a variation of a single Pokémon. There was no such thing as a"Celebi." There was only one"Celebi."

"You swapped yourself out twice," Sam realized.

"Once to replace your injured self with your oldest self, and then once more to fake being brought back."

"Yes."

"This was the moment your plan was for. You needed to give yourself just enough wiggle room to pull off that swap."

"Yes!" Sam looked up at Celebi— truly looked up at Celebi. Instead of glaring at it in hatred, he did his best to gather as much understanding as he could. It existed outside time, and it could influence time. It could see the potential of the future and then adjust accordingly. Though there were clear limitations to that, he could also tell that its influence meant it could ensure certain people and Pokémon would meet.

"One last question. And please, just give me the answer," Sam said tiredly.

"Misdreavus. Why would you do that to her?"

"Planned it. Saw you. Thought you could be friends."

"As a payment?" Sam said incredulously, his voice increasing in volume.

"After all of this, you saw some lonely Pokémon, wanted to pay me back for my 'help,' and thought you could do that by putting her on my team?"

"No. Yes. No. She—""You had Misdreavus suffer for years!" Sam yelled.

"She wandered the Ilex Forest for decades! And... Ah. Even now, you're manipulating things. There was a reason she wasn't there when you pulled me out of time, huh?" Celebi was unable to look Sam in the eyes. He could tell it had wanted to brag, but now, his words wouldn't let it. He had promised Misdreavus that he would help. Now, he had to make sure Celebi would do the same.

"Help. Her," Sam demanded.

"You promised."

"Can't. Story continues. Time doesn't change."

"So this is how it ends?" he asked.

"So this is how it was always supposed to happen? You get what you want. I get Misdreavus on my team. And since that pays your 'debt,' and since we're apparently 'fine' in the future, you also get a clear conscience. So it doesn't matter that Misdreavus's reward is to be alone for years!" He shut his eyes when he realized his voice was cracking, but then he opened them back up just so he could stare. Unrelenting, he waited for Celebi to act. It still refused to look at him, but he refused for this to be the end.

"No. That isn't going to happen," Sam said, his voice low.

"If you send me back—if you send me back without doing anything for Misdreavus? I'll fight you. For every year you make her suffer, I'll make your home suffer ten times over. I promise you. Unless you help her, I will burn the Ilex Forest to the ground." His gaze was even, and he did his best not to crack. Celebi finally looked up at him, its eyes went wide, and he did his best to hold a shaky stare. Sam tried to put everything into making sure it believed him.

He felt as though he meant what he said, but honestly, with how bold his claim was, he only half believed his own words.

"You... do that?" Celebi asked. It then stared off into the distance.

"You actually do that!"

"I do?" Sam blinked at it.

"Yeah! I mean, of course I do! I told you, I promised, didn't I?" Despite his threat, Celebi didn't back away. And, despite the apparent fact that Sam could do something that awful in the future, Celebi just clutched its stomach and started to laugh. Leaning back, it bellowed out its name, and it almost looked like it was struggling to breathe from just how hard it was laughing.

"You!" it managed to squeak out through its giggles.

"Follow through! Mean it! Would destroy Celebi's home!"

"Of course," Sam said, crossing his arms to feign as much confidence as he could.

"I'd do anything for my team." And with that statement, the Legendary Pokémon wiped its eyes.

"Okay. Will help. For a good friend."

"Just like that?"

"Yup!" It smiled.

"Have wiggle room. Can use. And... Needed to check." Without explaining anything else, Celebi brought up its arms, and the world suddenly changed around Sam. Seasons flashed by, and the trees grew and shifted. He found himself back where Celebi had first brought him away, where he had first woken up in the forest, but it wasn't Sam who was coming to this time around. Instead, in the same spot he had first pulled himself off the ground, Misdreavus rose into the air.

She blinked rapidly to regain her bearings and then looked around. When she saw no one was with her, her expression fell. In reality, Sam was only a few feet away, but Celebi had done something to ensure he wouldn't be seen. He opened his mouth to speak even though he knew he wouldn't be heard. But he changed his mind about what he was going to say when he saw something flutter to the ground.

"You're cruel," he said to Celebi.

"Am not!" He sent it a look as Misdreavus stared at the piece of paper on the forest floor. Sammy's sketch was face up, prominently displaying that drawn moment of her and Sam laughing. Water touched the corners of Misdreavus's eyes. Quickly using her telekinesis to store that sketch in her hair, Misdreavus took off, determined to find where Sam had gone. Given that she had fallen unconscious, her last memory had to be of her using Shadow Ball to take out the Iron-Masked Marauder.

She had likely felt Sam pick her up, but past that, she had been too out of it to tell what was going on. From there, Sam could only watch as time passed, but he didn't get to experience any of it. He was simply a passive observer as Misdreavus tore through the woods, weaving between and through the trees, checking the stream, checking her home, and checking every possible place they had visited when Sam was traveling south. But there was nothing. There weren't even footsteps in the dirt from where Sam had walked.

"Was this really..." Sam let his voice trail off when he saw Misdreavus yawn. Ghost Types didn't need to sleep. They could, but their rest tended to be closer to a form of torpor more than anything else. But here, bereft of options, the exhausted Misdreavus found a small nook to settle into, and then she closed her eyes and went still. Above her head, something new popped into existence. Another Celebi, the same one yet separate, came into being right above where she slept.

It looked directly to where Sam and Celebi were watching, and it sent them a wink. The Celebi next to Sam waved in reply. Drifting downward, the new Celebi tapped Misdreavus's head, and the world changed around her. Seasons passed. Years came and went. Misdreavus woke up, not yet in Sam's time, but now conscious a significant number of years sooner.

"Needed first moment," Celebi said next to Sam.

"Important. Defining. Rest? Like dream." Misdreavus would wander, but she had a dazed look on her face. There was a loneliness to her expression, but she also wasn't fully there. She would spend a while searching, but she would always float down to rest after a while, and then a new Celebi would appear. With a tap to her head, that condition would be maintained, and then another set of years would slip by.

"How long is her search?" Sam asked.

"Months," Celebi answered. Not decades, Sam came to understand.

"So does she truly experience this? Will she remember this?"

"Only as much as dream." The feelings were there. The vestiges of an experience were there. But what she actually went through? Nowhere as extreme. This might have been better, but she was still alone. Sam could never be happy about what she had to go through. Still, Celebi let him stay as he was. He experienced no passage of time, and though Misdreavus could not see him, he made sure to stay with her for every second of her search.

"I'm still not happy about this," Sam said.

"I don't appreciate how you still subjected Misdreavus to all of this time on her own." Celebi didn't blink.

"But at least..." He awkwardly rubbed his head.

"Thank you for minimizing it."

"No choice," Celebi said.

"Must have search. Otherwise, how meet?" Eventually, the time came. One day, when unconsciously wandering through the woods, another Celebi appeared behind Misdreavus's head. With one last tap, the Celebi broke Misdreavus out of her dream-like state, and it made a noise to have her immediately snap around in surprise. It vanished before she saw it, but that turn meant she was facing the right direction. She was in the perfect position to hear a certain noise. Voices.

And with that, Misdreavus rushed off, eager to meet Sam. Behind her, fluttering out of her hair was that same sketch from before. Sam slowly walked over to pick it up.

"From here, we meet, and all of this starts," he said quietly, staring at the sketch.

"After that first misunderstanding, she gets the chance to join my team and actually be happy for once. But then again, at some point in her future, she'll also make sure that I'm sent back to meet her in the first place." He paused.

"Hold on. If this is all a circle, which of us—""Me," Celebi said.

"Of course," Sam replied sarcastically.

"Can't have a paradox when you exist outside time." He didn't have the energy to put much meaning behind his words. He just stared at the yellowed sketch of him and Misdreavus laughing on the forest floor. At this point, it seemed like it had happened ages ago. Yet, from his perspective, less than two days had passed. He pocketed the drawing and looked up at Celebi. It was finally time for all of this to reach its end.

"So what's next?" he asked.

"You bring me back to my team? I hope you aren't going to have Gengar wander, too."

"Will be in shadow!" Celebi replied cheerfully." But payment, first."

"... Payment? This didn't count?"

"Not payment for you," it said, shaking its head.

"Payment is for him." And Sam froze, not due to Celebi's influence, but due to his realization that something was behind it. He was unable to do anything as Celebi drifted to the side. There, growing out of the forest floor, was yet another one of those vine archways. It had always been there. Was always there. Will always be there. But this time, Sam couldn't see the forest through it. There was no trick to its opening like the time he had fallen through.

No, it was an entrance, and he saw a hallway, sterile and white, stretching out toward a door. A sound echoed out. It was one that had haunted his nightmares for years. Beep. Beep. Beep. It was slow. Consistent. Medical.

"No," Sam whispered.

"Not like this." But he willingly walked through the archway anyway. He remembered this hallway. He'd never been able to forget it. He wasn't in Ilex. He wasn't in Johto. This wasn't even Dewford, but Petalburg. After all, Petalburg had a proper city. It was the only place with the most advanced facilities they could reach in time. Around him, people in white uniforms hurried through the hallway even as Sam walked past. Despite the rush of their duties, their pace had been slowed to a glacial crawl.

Not one ever looked at him, and he didn't look back. His gaze never left that far door. When he reached it, a label plastered to the door's front stated a name, and a boy and his Cyndaquil slept in a chair to the door's side. Sam knew what they were waiting for. They wanted to hear the good news that would never come. He let his hand grip that cold, metal handle, and he wasn't sure how long he stood there. But he couldn't wait forever. He braced himself and entered a room full of whirring, unfeeling machines.

A pair of eyes opened when the door creaked. Behind them, a man in a bed smiled. A voice that Sam had not heard in years spoke to greet him.

"Samuel," it said. And only one, shaky word left Sam's mouth in reply.

"Grandpa."