Back with the main gang, Ash was charging up his fist as Pryce was laughing with the GS Ball. Once he charged his fist, he called out, "Stand back!"
Then he began to punch the ice again, then again, then again, slowly creating more cracks after each punch.
Over in the other ice block where the legendaries are, in case you're wondering why they aren't immediately breaking out, the answer is simple: they can't. Pryce had prepared for this situation. Normally, he wouldn't be able to, but now that he caught Celebi, he could.
Just having Celebi in the Poké Ball was enough. On his watch there wasn't just a clock, on the other side there was a thermometer. Using Celebi's power and his ice, he was turning the ice where the legendaries were into absolute zero and going lower. And whenever they cracked their ice, he could reverse time to before they attacked.
In other words, if he didn't like an outcome, he could now choose that it never happened by abusing time itself. How did it work? Don't ask Ash, maybe ask the one that spent ten years preparing for this.
As long as he had Celebi in his hands, he was effectively unbeatable. He chose any action that could and would happen.
It was simple action and reaction. The world moved forward, step by step. Every action had an outcome that was set. But with Celebi's power, Pryce could change that. For example, if someone shot a gun at Pryce, the bullet would fly and hit him, the outcome being a hole and bleeding, and the rest left up to chance.
However, with Celebi's power, he could change it and rewrite how the story went, making it so that the bullet never left the muzzle. In other words, if something happened that he didn't like, then it no longer happened. Now, that doesn't mean that something couldn't occur in the moment of occurrence, but he could effectively disconnect cause and effect, nullifying events in retrospect without regard to time.
You may think this sounds complicated, but that's just how Celebi's powers work. Celebi doesn't care about what happens with its time travel like, say, Dialga. Dialga has to follow a strict set of rules when it controls time. Celebi works more like a living paradox.
As Pryce finally stopped laughing, he looked to the ice and smiled. "Well, it was annoying to say the least, but don't you worry, we'll no longer live in the same time from now on," he said as he rolled his chair back and raised the Poké Ball in his hand. "Now, Celebi, guide the way!"
As he said that, the shrine started glowing again, but this time it looked more like a doorway. He smiled and started rolling toward it.
Meanwhile, in the ice, Ash was punching harder, so hard that if he wasn't using Aura to infuse his hands, his knuckles would have been broken by now. As he raised his fist one more time, he punched through the ice, making a hole.
Pryce looked back and scoffed. "You still don't understand. Even if you break them free, it won't matter. Time itself bends to me now." As he said that, the ice began closing and this time caught Ash's fist, as the shards of ice dug painfully into his wrist.
While everyone else was worried, Ash looked down and then smiled. "Too bad, you fell for it." The punching wasn't to break the ice, although he could. Why would Pryce just let that happen? He would obviously stop him. But that's what Ash wanted, because now Pryce's focus was on them, and not on the ice where the legendaries were.
"Now!" From the sky, through the clouds they split as something orange came flying down at Mach 1. It was Charizard. Abby had left to go get him, and now he was here, smirking a wide toothy grin. As he flew, he raised his fist, igniting it with a [Fire Punch] directly onto the ice dome the legendaries were in, starting to spread the cracks.
Once Pryce saw that, he began trying to undo it, but from the inside all six of the legendaries began blasting even harder. They started to break it faster than Pryce could force Celebi to return, because even Celebi was trying to fight back.
With one final push, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Suicune, Entei, and Raikou broke free, glaring forward toward Pryce.
Pryce felt a bead of sweat drop from his brow, but he still smiled. "No matter. After all…" he raised the Poké Ball, "you can't follow me through time. Farewell, hahaha!" he said as he rolled backward and tilted his wheelchair, falling into the light of the portal. Raikou lunged, but was just barely too far away for his bite to reach, letting Pryce escape.
By now, with Entei and Moltres blasting fire, the gang was freed. Ash collapsed, rubbing his arm where it had been stabbed. "Darn…"
Yellow didn't wait for permission this time. She ran over, grabbed Ash's hand, and held it as it began to heal. She was too worried to even think about what she was doing.
Silver clicked his tongue and walked toward the portal. "Darn him. We have to go after him."
As he reached his hand out to try and enter, Green yelled, "Wait, don't!" but she was too slow.
When Silver put his hand in, it stretched and warped unnaturally. His eyes widened. "W-what!"
Kris, who was closest, ran up, grabbed Silver from behind, and yanked until he fell back out. His hand was, more or less, fine.
Green ran over to check Silver's hand, making sure it was okay. Meanwhile, Gary walked up and studied the portal. "Looks like the dimensions are twisted. If we go in there, we'll get spaghettified."
"What, what?! No fair! Then how did he get in without that happening to him?!" Ethan shouted, stomping his foot.
"It's because he had the GS Ball," Ash said, as Yellow finished healing his hand. "I talked to Kurt. He told me the GS Ball had the Rainbow Wing and a Silver Wing inside it."
"Ah… so we can't go after him without getting hurt by… whatever this is," Green said, pointing at the warped doorway.
"Well… guys, I know this looks bad, but hear me out. What if we… just let this go? I mean, if he's going to another time, that isn't our problem anymore. So can we just… leave?" Lyra suggested.
Suddenly, as she said that, the air grew colder. Jagged spikes of ice shot out around them and began spreading. It looked like Pryce's actions were effectively creating a second ice age.
And if that wasn't bad enough, massive cracks in the air itself began appearing in the sky.
Everyone slowly turned to Lyra with blank expressions. Lyra looked around nervously, then down at her feet. "Yeah… that one's on me. Not gonna lie."
Silver turned back toward the portal. "So how are we supposed to stop this if we can't even go after him?"
They didn't have much time to think, the ice around them was spreading quickly. They had to step closer to the portal or risk being frozen. As Yellow took a step forward, her hat began to glow.
Everyone's eyes turned to her. She looked back nervously, shifting her gaze between them. "I—er… what?"
"Yellow, your hat," Green pointed, making Yellow look up. She grabbed her hat, took it off, and blinked.
"What about it?" Yellow asked, then finally noticed it was glowing. She peeked inside, blinked a few more times, and said, "Huh… what's this?" She reached in, tugged a little, and out of her hat came two feathers, one rainbow, one silver.
"What?!" almost everyone said collectively, minus Ash, of course, because he already knew.
"Since when did you have those?" Kris asked.
Yellow shrugged. "I dunno. I didn't even know I had them."
"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Ash said as he reached into his bag. From it he pulled out pairs of Rainbow Feathers and Silver Feathers. "'Cause remember, one pair was the one I stole from the Masked Man, and the other was the one I've had since, like… since Kanto."
"Why do you have these things?!" Gary yelled at Ash.
"Why not? Maybe you should get good, and maybe you'd get them too," Ash teased back as he walked over and held his hand out for Yellow's feathers. Yellow had no reason to refuse, so she handed them over. In total, they now had six.
With that, they had enough for all of them. Well, technically there were eight, not counting Pokémon, but as long as one person had them while riding their legendary, they'd be fine. Yellow would be fine since she was riding with Ash.
Kris looked down at the feather in her hand. "So… we're doing this?"
"Looks like it," Ash said, holding out his feathers. "But it won't work unless we do it together."
Gary sighed as he took a feather. "You know if we do this… we'll be chasing him into his own battlefield. Pryce has Celebi. He can undo everything we try."
"Not everything. He just thinks he can. I've got a plan for that," Ash said as he looked over at Charizard. He smiled, raising Charizard's Poké Ball. Charizard smiled back before returning inside, ready for his part in this.
Silver smirked faintly as he reached forward and took a Rainbow Feather. "Fine. We'll just have to stop him once and for all."
Lyra raised her hand nervously. "Um… but one question. What happens if we fail?"
Ethan grinned as he grabbed a Silver Feather. "Then we make sure we don't."
Ash kept passing out the feathers. Then he jumped onto Articuno, holding his Rainbow Feather. "Alright, we don't have much time. Let's do this."
Gary muttered under his breath, "This is insane…"
"Yeah," Ash said, helping Yellow get on, along with Vee, Pikachu, and Chuchu, "but that's kind of our thing."
"I mean… he does kinda have a point," Green said with a shrug.
"Let's do this! Into the crack in time!" Ethan shouted, charging forward with Raikou first. Everyone else rushed in behind him, leaping into the gate and disappearing from the Pokémon world.
—
Back over with Giovanni
Giovanni stood across from Archer. His Beedrill hovered calmly, not even in Mega form, just base. His other Pokémon lingered nearby, looking more unamused than anything.
Archer stood opposite him, all of his Pokémon already knocked out, except for his Mega Houndoom. Yeah, he had a Mega Stone, of course he did, but it wasn't helping. Giovanni was still crushing him.
Houndoom roared, unleashing another desperate [Flamethrower], flames so intense they scorched the stone pillars around them. Beedrill darted once, just once, so fast it was almost invisible. When it stopped, Houndoom froze mid-breath, the fire choking out in its throat. The Mega Pokémon collapsed, reverting back to base form.
"Enough." Giovanni waved dismissively. "You've lost. Withdraw your Pokémon."
Archer fell to his knees, his hands shaking as he reached for his Poké Ball. But instead of recalling Houndoom, his hand froze unnaturally. Just as it looked like he was about to do something, Giovanni snapped his fingers.
In a blur, Beedrill vanished and reappeared behind Archer, wiping its needle. Archer didn't move for a moment, then the mask on his face split cleanly in half. He himself was fine, but he collapsed to his hands and knees.
He blinked rapidly. "I… what, what's going on?" He looked up with dazed eyes. "S-sir? What are you… where are we?"
Giovanni nodded slightly. He was about to explain the situation now that Archer was free, but stopped as he sensed people approaching quickly. Turning, he saw Lance and Cynthia landing behind him with their Pokémon, rushing over.
"Giovanni, what's going on?" Lance demanded immediately, glancing at Archer.
Giovanni wasn't stupid. He cleared his throat smoothly. "It seems this person was under a type of mind control. But I destroyed the mask, so he looks to be back to normal."
Archer wasn't stupid either. He might have been disoriented, but he was still Giovanni's right hand for a reason. Putting on his most pitiful act, he stammered, "I-uh, w-wow, what an honor to see the Champion a-and Mr. Giovanni! O-oh right, um, sorry, I-uh…" He stuttered on the ground like some overexcited fanboy.
Lance nodded. "I see. Well, you need to get out of here. This is official League business. Get to safety, we'll contact you later to ask what you saw."
"I-uh, o-of course!" Archer replied like he'd just been given the greatest quest of his life. "I-I'll make sure to help in any way I can! Even if I don't remember much…" He scrambled to his feet and hurried off, playing the role of a harmless, bumbling fan. Needless to say, he was very good at acting.
Giovanni watched Archer go. He would need to speak to him later. Then he looked back at Lance and Cynthia. "So… is the situation in the stadium handled?"
Cynthia nodded. "We believe so."
"That's good. I suppose you have a question, don't you?" Giovanni asked, turning his gaze on Lance.
Lance hesitated, then nodded. "You know something else, don't you?"
"I know a lot of things," Giovanni replied coolly. But then he lowered his gaze, his tone sharpening. "But I understand what you're referring to. I believe the Masked Man is after Celebi. It is the only logical conclusion."
Lance raised a finger as if to argue, but lowered it again, thinking it through. He had to admit, it was a sound theory. Still, it raised new questions. Why were the Ho-Oh and Lugia clones involved?
Before he could say anything, Cynthia's eyes widened with realization. "Oh, I see. It makes perfect sense. I've read ancient Johto legends that say Celebi is connected to Ho-Oh and Lugia."
Lance blinked, caught off guard. "I—err, yes, you are correct," he said quickly, trying to play it off. After all, how could the Champion not know the history of his own region? "I just… needed to make sure you knew. But I guess it's no surprise, since you're an archaeologist as well."
Giovanni rolled his eyes and turned away. "We need to move. I think I saw where the kids went."
"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Lance asked, frowning. Giovanni didn't answer. He just started walking, Cynthia following close behind.
"What kids are you talking about?!" Lance pressed, but Giovanni ignored him.
It wasn't far. Giovanni led them to the place where the crystal dome had been. There, they found the bodies of Misty, Blaine, and Surge, sitting and nursing their wounds, with a Clefairy and Clefable supporting them.
"Hey, I know you. You're Misty, right?" Cynthia said first, stepping forward. Since remember, she did meet Ash and the gang back in Johto after all
Misty looked up weakly. "Cynthia? What are you doing here?"
"I could ask the same about you," Cynthia replied back.
"What does it look like, we got our asses handed to us," Surge said bitterly, glancing at Giovanni and Lance. "But… we know who the Masked Man is."
Lance's eyes widened as he rushed forward. "Who is it? Tell me."
Blaine was the one who answered. "Pryce. Gym Leader Pryce is the Masked Man."
"What…" Lance whispered, eyes wide.
"I know it's hard to believe, but it's true," Surge said firmly. "He's the Masked Man. And we weren't strong enough. Some Gym Leaders we are, huh?"
"Yeah…" Misty muttered, looking down. "I guess we were just never good enough…"
"Where is he? And Giovanni, you said kids. Misty is the only kid here, so there are more. Where did they go?" Lance demanded, looking between Misty and Giovanni.
Misty looked up and was about to speak when the ground shook.
A deep rumbling grew louder, cracking through the forest floor as the air turned colder and colder. Everyone turned as massive jagged icicles erupted from the ground, shredding through trees like paper.
"Damn it, we're too late!" Giovanni shouted as he whirled toward his Nidoking. Nidoking charged forward, leaping in front of them as the ice spread rapidly.
"Tch—Dragonite!" Lance called, releasing his partner.
Together, Nidoking and Dragonite unleashed a blazing duo [Flamethrower] against the advancing ice. For a moment, the flames held it back, but as soon as they stopped, the ice began spreading again.
Surge forced himself to his feet, wincing in pain. "We can't just sit here doing nothing. And the brats are still in there!"
"What?! They went in alone? Who? Who are they?!" Lance demanded.
"It was… they… Ash, Silver, Ethan, and more. There were eight of them," Misty answered weakly. "They had Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Suicune, Entei, and Raikou with them. They said they'd handle it."
"They were the only ones who could," Blaine added. "We're in no shape to fight. And you all took too long to get here."
"I can't believe this… they're in there, and we can't go after them because we need to deal with this first? Just great…" Lance muttered, pacing.
But Cynthia looked at Misty and knelt down beside her. "Tell me, do you think they can do it?"
Misty opened her mouth, then closed it. She wanted to scream no. She wanted to demand they pull Ash and the others out. But she couldn't. Because when she thought about it, she remembered her adventures.
She remembered the good times, the bad times, the fights against those idiot villains. And she remembered Ash's promise that he'd finish this.
So she looked up at Cynthia and said, "Yeah. I do think so."
Cynthia gave her a small smile. "Then I'll believe in them too." She stood up. "For now, we should focus on preventing this ice from spreading."
"Agreed," Giovanni said, his eyes narrowing at the frozen landscape. "We can't get to them with this ice. And I won't abandon my son. He was also in that group."
Lance covered his face with his hand and sighed. "Fine. Let's do this. But we need to move fast. If we spread out, we can get more coverage."
"Wait, you're not leaving us out. We're helping too," Surge said firmly, standing despite his injuries. "We may be beat up, but we're still Gym Leaders."
"He's right," Blaine agreed. "If we're doing this, we're doing this together."
Lance wanted to argue, but he knew it was pointless. "Fine. But don't push yourselves."
Misty was the last to rise, bracing herself against the icy wind as she looked up at the approaching spikes. "We won't. Not anymore."
–
{In the time portal}
The gang moved through time. As they drifted, scenes from their past flickered all around them, memories, battles, and moments from their journeys.
They saw the Johto gang's first day meeting Silver, with Ethan immediately accusing him of stealing.
"He… oh right, wanted to forget that…" Ethan muttered, scratching the back of his head.
Silver said nothing, only giving him a side-eye. Ethan looked down. "I know I said this before, but… I'm sorry. For saying you were a thief…"
Silver still didn't respond. He only turned his head, looking at Ethan again as the boy continued.
"It wasn't fair. It's a shame… maybe we really could have been friends, if only I didn't open my big mouth. You must think I'm a jerk, right? I don't blame you…"
Silver lowered his eyes and looked away. It wasn't that he didn't hear him, it was just that he didn't know how to respond.
On the other side, memories of the Kanto squad appeared: their old adventures, their childhoods… especially the time Ash helped save Green and Silver.
They watched as seven-year-old Ash punched his own face, rubbed dirt on his clothes, and then started fake crying to trick Dragonite into coming to their rescue. It would've been fine, if not for the fact that Ash had never told anyone how he managed to get Dragonite there.
Green's eyes went wide. "Wha-THAT'S how you did it?!"
Ash rubbed the back of his neck, laughing nervously. "Eh-heh… yeah. I kinda forgot to mention that one."
Green groaned, burying her face in her hands. "You idiot! I hate that you're like this! Why are you so willing to hurt yourself just to save us?"
"Why wouldn't I? I care about you guys. If I had to, I'd do it again," Ash said, completely serious.
"Why do you have to be like this?! Just let me have a reason to be mad at you, you dummy!" Green groaned again. "And why didn't you tell us it was on purpose?!"
"Well," Ash started, "you were already scared when it happened. I knew that if you found out I hurt myself to save you, it would've made you feel worse. So I kept it hidden. Besides…" he looked at her with a small smile, "why would I need validation, if I'm doing it for the people I care about?"
No one could answer that. Green opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She closed it, turned her head away, and muttered so quietly Ash almost didn't hear:
"I hate you sometimes… but I also can't imagine this journey being as fun without you either. So… thank you. For everything."
Before anyone could respond, new flashbacks rippled across the portal.
This time, it wasn't about them.
They saw a young man with black hair, commanding two Lapras as they shattered mountains with icy beams. A snowstorm raged around him.
"That must be a younger Pryce…" Yellow whispered, realization dawning.
The scene shifted. The mountainside crumbled. Pryce and his Lapras fell, their screams swallowed by the storm.
The memory jumped again. Pryce was pinned, his legs crushed beneath a block of ice. But the pain wasn't what made him cry. In front of him, a boulder had crushed something precious.
He reached toward it, tears streaming down his face. "La Pris… La Prus…" His voice cracked.
Clutched in his arms was a single egg. He pulled it close, trembling. "Forgive me… I used terrible judgment. Forgive me… I never wanted this…"
"What… is this?" Lyra murmured, shaken.
Then, a voice cut through the memory, "Huh. So you're here too. And you've seen it…"
The group spun around. Pryce stood before them, older now, his eyes hard and merciless, the GS Ball glowing in his hand.
"Wait, so the past you're trying to change is…" Gary began.
"Yes." Pryce's voice was heavy, almost breaking, yet fueled by fury. "I'm changing time for La Glace's sake. I'm bringing back the two I lost… La Pris and La Prus."
Kris stepped forward, her fists clenched. "All this evil, for something so small?!"
Pryce's eyes sharpened into slits, "Small? To you, maybe. But for me, it's the only reason I've continued living. That's why…" He raised the GS Ball, his voice echoing with rage.
"All Pokémon but mine are just tools. Tools to get back what I love. And I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO STOP ME!!"