A Tale Of Time Travel Part Two

So I have no excuse. Good news? I have lots of new ideas to write out. Now it's just a matter of getting it all down. I think I've also figured out these movies. They are going to have to be in parts. Sorry. There's a lot in there to cover. On the plus side that means lots and lots of chapters. So here's part two, and I promise I'm working on part 3.

Ash popped his knuckles in anticipation. "Now we get to the more exciting bits. When we left out I told you about meeting Mr. White. Turns out he owned a raft/glider service, and he offered to give us a ride to his hometown Arborville. He told us all about several unusual Pokémon that you could find in the forest nearby. As we were talking, my little buddy spotted something off in the distance. I turned to look, and this blue Pokémon with a majestic purple mane was staring at us. The light made it look like it was made of crystal."

"Succine." Randy breathed.

Ash grinned. "Yup. It wasn't the first time I had seen that Pokémon. In fact I'm pretty sure that one could give an Absol, a run for its money in predicting trouble. It always seemed to show up on my Johto journey right before I had an encounter with one Legendary Pokémon or another."

"That's ridiculous." Gary countered, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Absol bring catastrophes, which is why they are known as the disaster Pokémon."

The older Oak shook his head, and raised a hand to cut off Ash before he could respond. "That's not accurate either. It was assumed that because there was an Absol howling right before several catastrophes that they were the cause. Now, we realize that most Absols have a measure of prophetic ability, and were trying to warn both people and Pokémon of approaching danger. I've had many academic debates with other researcher on changing their title in the Pokédex."

"Really? Is that true?" Roxy asked the room. Gary looked disgruntled. Randy and Tracy just shrugged. The Professor nodded, and the Pokémon looked bored. Ash though, his eyes were blazing with an inner fire.

"I know it's true." He told the others. He didn't raise his voice, but the room was captivated all the same. The words might have been quiet, but they burned with passion. "I've met several upon my journeys. Not a single one has ever been vicious or cruel. Instead they are defenders for those they have chosen to protect. I met one who was the guardian of Forina."

It's a relief when Ash's somber attitude is broken by a familiar grin. Roxy relaxes a bit. A serious Ash is kind of hard on her nerves.

"He was fierce, and incredibly strong. Most Pokémon don't like to leave their territory, but this Absol tracked a stolen charge for months just for a chance to get them back! And from what I've seen? That's the rule for Absols, not the exception. They're not heralds of disaster." Ash snorted, which made his partner giggle. "They're more like misunderstood guardians."

Tracy clapped his hands together. "I've got it! Instead of the Disaster Pokémon, Absol should be called the Guardian Of Portents!"

"Huh?" Ash looked at his friend like he was crazy.

Not like that would stop Tracy when he was on a roll. "You know portents, omens, warnings, fortellings of natural disasters and such. Absols are slightly prophetic. So they get portents. Instead of doing nothing about what they see, they make sure to warn the inhabitants. Ergo they are also guardians. So put them together and you get a Guardian Who Uses Portents, or Guardians Of Portents. OrmaybeGuardiansOfOmens,butIthinkGuardiansOfPortentssoundbetter. Whatdoyouguysthink?" He finished in a rush, not noticing when his words began to blend together.

Professor Oak was well used to Tracy's rambles when he got excited. So while everyone else was still trying to catch up, the Prof was already considering his assistant's arguments. "I think you are onto something there. I definitely agree that the entry on Absols need revision. So far Guardians Of Portents sound a lot more accurate than calling any Pokémon a Disaster."

Gary didn't agree. "No way. It's too long. What about the Portent Pokémon?"

"Cool. I like it." Ash settled back into his seat with a sigh. "Does that mean that in the next update we should expect the Absol entry changed?"

"If not the next, then the one after." He assured the trainer. Then the Professor laughed unexpectedly. "By the end of this, I expect several entries will have to be updated."

Roxy was torn. This was all so interesting, but, but…"I hate to interrupt, but we are getting off track. Again."

Ash scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "Yeah. That seems to be happening a lot. Okay. Right. Succine. I'm pretty sure it was the same one that I kept running into right before I met a Legendary Pokémon in Johto. Like the time with Raikou, but that's another story. So there was Succine, being all majestic. Right before he ran off into the forest. You know that really should have been my first clue that trouble was on the way." Ash paused to consider that for a moment. "Maybe on some level I did know that, because when Mr. White, the guy who kept me from falling into the river, offered to show us his hometown I jumped at it. After all, he did tell us that we could find all sorts of unique Pokémon in the forests nearby. We got to our next stop, and Mr. White took off to get the transport to his home ready. Meanwhile my friends and I decided to check in with the Professor."

Roxy raised a hand to get Ash to pause for a sec. "Why? I get that the Professor is an old friend, but it sounds like checking in was a part of your daily routine."

Ash blinked, and answered. Was it really that weird? "It was. He has the best communications set up in all of Pallet. Mom's got a video phone, but it can't always connect with the phone set ups in other regions. Professor Oak's always does. So if I can't reach mom, he can do it for me. Besides, how else would I get paid?"

Roxy froze. She had just stumbled upon a goldmine of information. Oh, the absolute scandal! Ash's information on Legendary Pokémon wasn't being offered, but paid for? That means other researchers could also have been let in, for the right price. Had Ash also worked with other researcher? Or did the Professor have a monopoly. If she played her cards right, this might turn into a series of news reports, instead of a just one and done. She need clarification. Pronto. "Paid? Are you saying that the Professor Oak regularly pays you on your Pokémon journeys for information?"

Ash frowned at the continued questioning. Why was she so interested? "Sort of. The Professor pays out to several trainers for updating the research on the Pokédex. Each Pokédex is connected to the Professor's network. The machine measures the Pokémon through the camera, and then that data is sent to the Prof. That way it stays current, and more accurate I guess. Trainers get paid for how much they update the system. I just happen to run into more Pokémon than most. Now a days it's just habit to check in whenever I reach a new destination." He stopped to grin at Professor Oak. "Plus he's an old friend."

Roxy visibly deflated. If this wasn't exclusive to just one trainer, then it wasn't much of a scandal. The others stared at the suddenly despondent girl.

"What's the big deal? Others professors do it too." Gary defended. He stared at Roxy for a moment before his face hardened in understanding. "Oh, I get it. It would make a better story if you could find some controversy to boost rating. Well I'm so sorry." Roxy thought he sure didn't look it. "No scandal to be found here. All the major professors in the regions make a deal with the local trainers. Some provide money, special equipment, or some other payment for trainers making a milestone in updating the Pokédex. It's nothing new, and has been going on for years. In fact, didn't my grandpa tell the whole world about it in the lecture that started this whole mess?"

Roxy sank further into her seat.

"Some reporter that can't be bothered to do basic research." Gary sneered. The Professor looked disappointed in Roxy too. Ash and Tracy shared a look, but the Pokémon Watcher just shrugged. He didn't get it either.

"So, can I get back to the story now?" Ash asked the group. Randy gave him a thumbs up. Roxy straightened up, but didn't look at anybody. Gary huffed. The Professor just waved at him to continue. Ash just shrugged it off, and continued the story. "So yeah, Brock, Misty, and I called the Professor to let him know about the strange Pokémon in the woods. Come to think of it. He was acting suspiciously even then. He immediately knew what Pokémon I was talking about right off the bat. He was unusually concerned with our location at the time. Plus he dropped a major hint when he admitted to actually seeing one of the rumored powers a Succine has."

The room's occupants were sitting on the edge of their seats now, even Roxy "What power is that, Ash?" The reporter questioned, still refusing to look Gary in the eyes. Ash just grinned, ignoring the tension in the room, and pointed to the Professor. The elderly man rolled his eyes, but Ash knew that the topic would be enough to pull him out of his weird funk.

True to form, the Poké Prof didn't disappoint. "According to folktales Succine personifies," but Professor was interrupted by Randy.

"I'm going to need clarification for the viewers Prof." He told the scientist with a shrug.

Gary rolled his eyes. "Personification, the embodiment of an abstract concept, like the sun, moon, earth, or anything not thought to be alive."

"Thank you, Gary." The Professor told his grandson with a smile, completely ignoring the snarky tone. He winked at his grandson. He knew that the teen's prickliness was just because he cared. "As I was saying, Succine is thought to be the personification of the North Wind. It is also believed to have the power to purify tainted waters. Those tales are definitely true."

Ash grinned, and cuddled his partner. "Yeah and the three of us," he pointed to himself, the Professor, and Pikachu, "have seen it in person. It was really cool."

"Yes. Yes, but we are getting ahead of ourselves. Come to think of it, I pretty much outed myself with admitting to seeing that didn't I."

Ash didn't bother to deny it.

The elder Oak sighed. "Yes. I can see it in your eyes. To be fair I really did have a lot on my mind. As soon as you mentioned where you were, I knew that this particular adventure was about to happen. I really debated with myself on whether to warn you or not. It was a tough decision. In the end, the desire to not mess up and cause more of a disturbance in the flow of time won out."

Ash snorted, and Pikachu looked disgruntled too. "That doesn't explain why you didn't tell us after!"

For the first time in his life, Gary Oak watched as his grandfather blushed. He didn't like it. At. All. "Whatever. I'm sure your delicate feelings will get over it. Didn't you have a story to finish?" His grandfather sent him a grateful look. Gary pretended that he hadn't seen it.

Ash sighed, and let it go. "Yeah, well eventually I figured it out." Suddenly, the trainer grinned. "Betcha Misty and Brock never caught on though. I wish I could see their faces when this gets televised."

"Focus Ash." Tracy admonished his friend.

"Okay. Okay. We talked to the Professor, got a little info on some of the legends surrounding it. Would've asked some more questions, but we got called away by Mr. White. He was ready to show us the way to his home. We cut the call, and hurried over. Turns out the guy had his own smaller boat to carry us up river. We hopped aboard, until we reached a waterfall. Totally thought we were stuck. Then Mr. White pulls a lever, and suddenly these big orange balloons off both sides of the boat start to inflate. Next thing I know our boat is floating in the air! Not sure how exactly, but the thing was some kind of boat/dirigible."

Roxy was astounded. All the past tension forgotten. "That sounds really cool."

Ash smiled at her. He seemed a lot more relaxed now. "It really was. He floated right through the treetops. The view was amazing. What was even cooler was that some of these trees sported houses and walkways. There was a whole village built into the treetop. Talk about living with nature. Mr. White called the place Arborville. You should totally visit if you get the chance."

"Anyways, Mr. White dropped us off. Brock wanted to explore the town, but I really wanted to check out the local Pokémon. Brock gave in, and the tree of us headed off towards this big huge log with a big hole to let people through. Basically a really big natural gateway. We were about to go through, when this little old lady told us to halt. She had a warning about the Voice of the Forest."

Then the Professor chimed in. "Incidentally, this was the same woman who intercepted my younger self, one Miss and later Mrs. Towa."

When everyone but Ash and Pikachu looked confused, Ash clarified with a shrug. "Time travel."

"It is very complicated. Even I sometimes have trouble keeping the tenses straight, I've had a lot more time to contemplate it." The Professor admitted.

Ash shook his head. "Think I'll just stick to what I've seen and heard. Seems a lot simpler. Anyways, there was this little old lady standing guard over the entrance to the forest. She tells us to beware the Voice of the Forest. That if we don't want to be swept away, then we needed to stay still when a strange sound echoed through the forest." Ash's statement seemed to have upset the wild Pidgey. It leaped into Ash's lap, cooing in distress. Pikachu tried talking to the small creature, but it didn't calm until Ash started petting the chick. "Don't worry girl. The Voice of the Forest isn't anything to be scared of. It might sound scary, but really they are very nice." Pikachu nodded in agreement.

Roxy took the break in the story to ask a question. "What did the woman mean by being swept away?"

"Well…" Ash said with a shrug. "It's just that when Celebi, otherwise known as the Voice of the Forest, time traveled it would make that particular forest react weirdly. That's where the whole voice thingy came from. If you got too close, you could be pulled into a different time with Celebi."

With the revelation of the identity of the Voice of the Forest Pidgey calmed down. She didn't move off Ash's lap though. It seemed the trainer knew just the right way to fluff her feathers. It was nice. Pikachu vacated the lap to lay on his trainer's shoulders. He didn't mind. Much.

"So kind of like the Professor here?" Tracy pointed out. Both Ash and the older Oak nodded in agreement.

"Yup. That's when a girl came up behind us. She had hair similar to the gatekeeper, and was kind of pretty. Which of course meant that Brock had to hit on her." The teen rolled his eyes, and he could hear his partner sniggering in his ear. "Then again, that's what he always did. The girl's name was Diana, and it was her grandmother that gave us the warning, Mrs. Towa. Turns out that the old woman had been watching over the entrance since a teenager."

"I can attest to that." Professor Oak supplied.

Ash didn't bother to respond to the comment, but kept going with the story. "Diana didn't get to tell us much more. Brock wasn't letting up with the flirting, and Misty was getting annoyed. She dragged him off by the ear."

Roxy was concerned. "Wouldn't that hurt?"

Ash shrugged. "If it does it is his own fault. He hasn't stopped in all the years I've known him. Plus, it wasn't just Misty. I've done it, my friend from Hoenn, Sinnoh, heck even his own Pokémon have done it. So I don't feel sorry for him. He has to learn some time." That got him a few chuckles from the peanut gallery.

Tracy could remember several stories about the man during their travels in the Orange Islands. He could even recall a few instances of Brock getting dragged off over the vid phone. "Yeah, he's really incorrigible. A great friend though." He shook off the memories. "What happened after that Ash? Did you make into the forest?"

"We did, but not very far. We saw some Nidoran, a gathering of Butterfree, but then something weird happened." Ash paused for dramatic effect. He smirked as everyone waited with bated breath for the next part of the story. Pikachu poked him in the cheek, telling him to get on with it. "A loud ringing broke out. It sounded like a cacophony of bells. Then the trees began to glow. Like really glow. So bright they were almost white. They rippled too, which helped us figure out which way the 'Voice' might be coming from. Brock wanted us to wait, but Misty and I took off."

Pikachu poked him in the cheek again.

"Alright. I ran off. Misty just ran after me, with Brock not far behind. Satisfied?" He said to his partner, that wasn't bothering to hide his laughter. Ash rolled his eyes. "We followed the glowing trees to a moss covered shrine, and laying in front of it was an unconscious boy."

"The Professor?" Roxy asked to clarify.

Ash nodded. The Professor did too. "Yeah, but we didn't know that at the time. He was just some kid who could be hurt. We were of similar size, so I carried him back to town. Brock and Misty ran ahead to get help. We had just made it back to Mrs. Towa and Diana when he, "Ash pointed to the Professor, "managed to wake up. Of course the first thing he does is shove me to the ground."

The Professor blushed. "To be fair, the last thing I remembered was someone attacking me. Then there all these strange people surrounding me. I think anyone would've lash out."

"Maybe," Ash said with a sniff. Pikachu covered his eyes in embarrassment. Seriously, his human could be such a drama queen.

Tracy tried to defuse the situation. "I think we can all agree that there mitigating circumstances. How did you find out that the kid you found was from the past?"

Ash huffed, but let it go. "It was Mrs. Towa who figured it out first. She recognized the younger Prof right off the bat. She practically hug/tackled him. She just was so excited. She explained that she still remembered him, even if it had been 40 years since she had last seen him. She told us all about how he disappeared from the forest. Her granddaughter didn't believe it at first, but the older lady had proof. Then Sam recognized her, and the rest of us followed to get the entire story."

Then the Professor decided to chip in. "I recognized the older woman's clothes first. Her style was pretty much the same from the day I traveled through time. I suppose it is some kind of uniform of sorts. It kind of threw me when the girl I met all those years ago had wrinkles, and had somehow shrunk. Those eyes though, they were the same. Still a warm blue color, just like when she gave me the loaf of bread."

From the room's skeptical looks Ash decided to elaborate. "That's not the proof by the way. It turns out the gatekeeper had saved the younger, should I call you Sam or Professor now?" Ash asked the Professor. It was getting confusing differentiating the younger Oak with the one currently present.

The Professor smiled softly. "I believe back then I did tell you to call me Sam."

"Right." Ash acknowledge with a grin of his own. "Well, when Sam disappeared over 40 years ago he left behind a notebook. Mrs. Towa kept it, hoping someday he'd be back to claim it. It was full of sketches, and Sam immediately recognized it. It seemed to be the proof he needed to believe that he really was in the future."

"I still have that notebook, which is currently in Tracy's hands at the moment." The Professor told the group. Tracy glanced down at his hands. He carefully traced over the cover of the nearly a century old sketchbook. It was so amazing.

"Then Sam seemed to remember something important. He began asking about a Pokémon called Celebi. He was really worried about it. He asked us if we remembered seeing a hurt Pokémon anywhere nearby. Unfortunately, we hadn't seen anyone but Sam."

"Was the Pokémon injured?" Roxy asked. Both Ash and the Professor grimaced. That was answer enough.

Ash glanced at the Professor, but the older man just waved at him to continue. "Yeah. The bounty hunter from 40 years ago had really left his mark. Except we didn't know that for sure until we left Mrs. Towa's place, but first we needed more information. Diana had to explain that whole Voice of the Forest thing was just a title for Celebi. Then all about how Sam got to the future was because they both were in danger. Of course, this made Sam even more determined to check on Celebi. He was all about to charge out on his own, so all the four of us decided to go with him. Which means we all had to introduce ourselves. I also remember that you," he pointed to the Professor, "introduced yourself twice."

Professor Oak sniffed, but eyes betrayed his amusement. "Once to the humans, and once to Pikachu. You of all people should know how much Pikachu demands respect."

Ash laughed, and Pikachu grinned from his perch. "Yeah, or you get the shock of your life."

Roxy was a little miffed. First she had lost her scoop, then got berated by the Professor's grandson, and now the conversation was getting off track. Again. While this bantering was entertaining and all, she really wanted to hear more about Legendary Pokémon. You know, the meat of the story. "That's wonderful for you all, but what about Celebi?"

Ash snorted, but the Professor was more understanding. "Yes, of course. We we're just getting to that."

"Yeah, hold your Ponyta. We're getting to the actual meeting Celebi part." Ash told the eager reporter. When she settled down Ash picked up the story. "So we all rushed out of Arborville, and headed to the forest. We headed back to the shrine where we all found Sam, but there was no sign of Celebi. We uh, kind of just wandered around after that. Celebi can fly, so there wasn't really any track we could follow. We just picked a direction, and got lucky. We found a couple of clues right off the bat."

"Like what?" Roxy asked.

"Well, there were all these Pokémon gathered around this huge tree. And I do mean huge, like taller than a skyscraper huge. There were several different kinds of Pokémon all gathered around a tiny hole where two collapsed tree met. Several were all peering in at whatever was hiding in there. They don't usually do that." Ash told the group.

The Professor could tell Ash was starting to get frustrated, so he took over the explanation. "You see, while most Pokémon are social by nature they don't tend to stray from their species overmuch. Of course there are cross species friendships. However, it is very rare to see several types of Pokémon gathered together except in emergencies. For instance you might see several types of Pokémon gathered together in a cave during a snowstorm, or if something is threatening their habitat. So, to see several different types of Pokémon gathered in one place is a good indicator that something significant is afoot."

Ash grimaced. "Yeah like a Legendary Pokémon getting hurt, and shivering in a little hidey-hole. That would gather quite a bit of attention." Pikachu let out a mall moan, and the trainer paused to comfort the creature.

Tracy looked about ready to cry. "Was Celebi really hurt that bad?"

The Professor considered the questions for several long moments. "Maybe not too badly physically hurt, but definitely exhausted. Celebi was also very obviously frightened after the way the poacher had hunted the poor thing."

The trainers in the room all grimaced at that.

"So we figured that Celebi wasn't doing too well. We were going to have a find a way up there to help it. Now way it was coming out on its own. I found this sturdy looking vine that looked like it would hold. Brock and Misty stayed on the ground, but Sam wasn't about to be left behind. It was a bit of a rough climb, but luckily the truck evened out closer to the top. That made it a much easier climb. Sam almost fell off though." He grinned at the Professor.

The elder Oak huffed. "I remember you actually did fall off."

"Did not!" Ash protested. Pikachu mumbled something, and Ash tweaked the yellow mouse's nose. "Celebi used a psychic blast to push me off. Guess at the moment it wasn't too trusting of humans."

Gary snorted. "Can you really blame it?"

Ash waved his hand in dismissal. "Nah. Not the first time something like's happened. Won't be the last either. I caught myself on tree trunk, and got right back up. No harm no foul."

The Professor unexpectedly sniggered. "Didn't Misty call you a Mankey during all of that."

"No-pe," Ash enunciated with a pop. "That was earlier, and it was Brock that claimed I must've evolved into a Primeape." The room broke out into chuckles. Ash rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Yeah. I climb like a Pokémon. That's not actually a bad thing ya know. I can't tell you how many scrapes that ability has gotten me out of it."

Gary just couldn't resist. It was too good of an opening. "Always knew you were primitive, just didn't realize that others saw it too.

Ash opened his mouth, but the Professor intervened. "Now. Now. Let's not forget why we are here. Now psychic blasts weren't the only thing Celebi used to protect itself was it."

Ash glared at the Professor before giving in. Pikachu crept up to whisper in his ear. He smiled at his partner, and scratched in that one special spot that turned his little buddy into a gooey mess. He was right. They could always get revenge on Gary later. "Yeah, and boy did those vine whips hurt. It took a lot of convincing to get Celebi to lay off, and let us help. Although they got a lot more cooperative once Celebi saw younger you's face."

"Good thing too. Otherwise we might not have been able to help them in time." The Professor admitted with a sigh.

"Yeah, but you're forgetting something Prof." Ash told his old friend with a grin. "We weren't alone. The whole forest was more than willing to help us help Celebi."