"So, Celebi huh?" I started slowly, watching Sam for a reaction.
Sam chuckled. "Celebi indeed. I didn't learn that was its name however until… well… years later when I was working to unite Indigo as Champion." He shook his head.
I started slotting that into the mental time frame I'd assembled. "That… makes my brain hurt, like I need to plot it out or something cause it just… urgh time mechanics is crazy," I muttered.
"So that's what happened?" Sabrina asked carefully. "You were sent back in time, truly?"
"Haaaaaah," I replied. "I'm not sure. It wasn't like I had any control over it. Was I just cast into another dimension where things run slower? Or was it out and out time travel?" I asked.
"Hoh? Now that is an interesting point of view!" Sam replied, perking up and drawing out his notepad, which I saw a few more images in, causing me to chuckle.
He paused, blinking at my reaction. I waved a hand towards the notepad. "You still do that?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied with a fond smile before leaning back in his chair, "I don't have to ask if you still apprentice young trainers."
"That… huh," I considered what he'd said. "It was kind of natural to take you… The younger you under my wing back then. Sorry for cutting and running on you like that."
"No, don't. I understand now." Sam grinned at me. "Oh, I won't say it vexed me, but there were times when I would stop and wonder… What happened back then? Where did he go? Was it something I said?" he laced his fingers together. "Learning that it was the work of a Legendary Pokémon after the fact… Well, I had a much better idea of when I might be seeing you again."
"Urgh, fucking Celebi," I growled. "That little prick threw me through time three times!" Just to emphasise my dislike, I held up three fingers. "Three times!" I repeated.
"Truly? So you were there during one of the raids upon Pewter City?"
"Yeeeeeah, I'm honestly a bit surprised that Celebi didn't pull me out earlier than it did."
"What makes you say that?" Sam asked while Sabrina watched on, her hand softly squeezing mine in a show of support.
"Well, I'm a bit of a blabbermouth," I offered. "Got talking with Captain Nate and ended up letting slip on how to find berry groves in Viridian, along with how to perform certain search and rescue procedures."
"Captain Nate? Ah, interesting, he's a good man. Shame you never met your namesake," Sam mumbled.
I shook my head. "That, or my slip-ups and rescues of those people were what Celebi had been wanting me to do, but again…" I gave a helpless gesture before shaking my head. "It's not like Celebi wanted to talk to me about it. Most of the time, it just warped me into that time period before ditching me."
"It stuck around when you were training me," Sam pointed out.
I gave him a look. "It was probably faking it. It might have also been making sure I didn't give too much away."
Sam tilted his head and opened his mouth to question me, only to pause and blush. "Hmm, thank you still. Your advice helped me greatly, as did giving me Dragonite back then."
"Hah! I knew it! Things lined up so well it had to be a Dratini egg!" I crowed, thrusting my arms into the air, only to grimace as monitors started to shriek in protest at my dislodging the various probes on my wrist and chest.
Sabrina's eyes flicked towards the monitors, and they fell quiet.
"Sorry," I offered with a sheepish chuckle before locking back onto Sam. "Daisy… what…" I wasn't sure I should ask that question, as in all the time I'd known Sam Oak, I knew that he only had his grandchildren living with him these days.
There was never any mention of his wife or children in any of the conversations I'd had with him, or about him.
Sam reached into a pocket of his coat and drew out a worn golden pocketwatch that he popped open. Within a picture of a much younger Sam and Daisy stared back at me. Sam was in an obnoxious white tuxedo while Daisy was wearing a formal wedding dress. She had a noticeable bulge in her stomach.
"Haaa, good for you!" I offered.
"Thank you," Sam replied tightly, causing me to look up to find him staring out the window. "We had a wonderful life together, and we had a beautiful baby boy." His smile turned a little wobbly before he took a breath. "I'm sorry. Sometimes it still catches me out. It's an old pain but still hits home."
He looked back at me. "It's rather different knowing that you knew her," he replied, locking eyes with me.
"She… seemed spirited back then?" I offered diplomatically.
Sam threw back his head and roared with laughter. "Oh, she was, wasn't she? She beat me so many times back then! When I first beat her, you should have seen the look on her face! She thought she had the perfect team, but we won through with grit and daring! Ha!"
Shaking my head, I could only chalk up the idea of a pokemon world seeing rivals fighting each other so often turning into lovers and then husband and wife, as such a common trope.
Sabrina prodded me. "I think I need to see things from your side of the story now Brock. Care to let me in?" she asked.
Sam blinked, only to perk up. "Oh! That's right! You can view memories! What I wouldn't give to experience that!" he gushed with all the innocence of a young boy.
Sabrina gave him a flat look before turning to me and offering me a raised eyebrow in question.
Pausing, I gave it a moment of consideration before nodding. There wasn't going to be anything too out of the ordinary, so I offered up my hand to her.
She accepted it and then took Sam's in her other hand.
"Relax your minds," she commanded as I drew back my darkness aura and cast my mind to the moment before I was sent into the past.
Like a skilled storyteller, I felt Sabrina carefully paging through my memories of the event. In truth, it was more like watching a video back, only much faster, with impressions leaking through.
I was aware of Sabrina and Sam the entire time the memory ran along but through silent agreement, none of us said a word or reacted initially. We just watched as my misadventure through time began.
This lasted right up until I broke my grandfather's hand on my chestplate.
Sabrina paused the memory and shot me a look. "Gemheart was your mother's maiden name, was it not?"
I nodded and Sam blinked before his face went through several shades of red. "Oh… oh dear," he murmured.
When a much younger Sam helpfully tried to set me up with my grandfather, he put his head in his hands. "Oh dear," he muttered, curling into himself as understanding of the full situation took hold.
"Yeah," I merely replied with a flat look. "Imagine how I felt."
Rather than glaring at the memory of my grandmother, Sabrina observed her and shook her head. "She was a pitiful thing, wasn't she? So desperate for affection… it explains a few things as well," she murmured, to which I could only nod while Sam gave me a furtive look.
The rest of the adventure thankfully played out much smoother until the first timeskip happened and we came to my encounter with a much younger Flint.
"Celebi certainly didn't pull its punches," muttered Sabrina.
"Yeah," I repeated, still feeling a little numb as I watched the memory play out only to grimace as Flint got blown up.
When the final time skip occurred, Sam's breath caught loudly as New Bark Town came into view. Instead of talking, however, he watched the fight play out with a steely focus.
When all was said and done we returned to the hospital room with Sabrina by my side as I lay in bed and Sam turned from us to the window, his hands lacing behind his back.
"So it was Blaine," he muttered, his gaze locked on the setting sun. "I always suspected that he'd attacked a civilian target in Old Bark Town, but I could never prove it. You know that no one saw who or what you were battling back then?" he asked over his shoulder.
"I find that hard to believe. There were multiple survivors," I pointed out.
"Blaine typically started blazes within cities and then used Smokescreen to choke populations out. Seeing it in action…" Sam looked down to his hands. "It is rather disquietening to know that he played with anyone who might have tried to fight him. He wa setting up for something big there at the end."
"Yeah, I figured. It's why I kept moving around and trying to evade him rather than stand and fight."
Sam hummed. "Still, it was never proven because if it had been, I would have nailed him to the wall. It was one of the reasons he could never become Champion. I made sure of that," Sam stated, his gaze distant.
"I'm guessing he knew?" I replied, the information slotting into place like a puzzle of the past. It matched up to other information and allowed me to fill in a few more gaps.
"Yes, I suspect he did, but he had ways to shape legislation. He was dangerous both as a pokemon trainer, polotitican and as a scientist. I had to keep him close, and it wasn't until Pryce ousted him from the Elite Four upon taking over as Champion that he was sidelined." Sam gave a short bark of a laugh. "One of the best things Pryce did I think, even if it freed Blaine up in other ways."
Ho? Oak was admitting to Blaine being one of the Elite Four purely as a method to keep potential enemies close? How Machiavellian of him.
"Makes sense," I replied. "Any signs of him?" I asked.
"None," Sam stated, "Otherwise I'd be falling upon him with Pryce and Agatha at my back in an instant."
"Hmmm, well if you need more backup, you have my number," I suggested.
"Mine too," Sabrina reminded.
Sam blinked and finally turned away from the window to look at us both. "Heh, the messes made by old folks should be cleaned up by the elderly."
"Hmmm well that's all good and well, but I doubt Blaine is going to make it easy, or clean from the brief exchange I had with him," I offered.
Sam nodded. "Yes, you were rather lucky with that… I will keep both of you in mind," he replied before sighing and slumping. "I think I've indulged in my curiosity enough. I have a family to see to and a pokemon lab that won't run itself."
He considered Sabrina and I for a moment before grimacing. "Just in case you do, not that I think you will, but… There will be another event with Ceelbi occurring in…" he bobbed his head back and forth. "Will another few months. I must ask that you not share what happened with your family. The incident with Sir Boulder wasn't the only time I encountered Celebi."
I blinked at that. He was alluding to the events of the fourth movie, wasn't he?
"Does everyone make it out alright?"
"Better than alright, I should think, and the 'bad guys' will be punished as well so all is well that ends well!" he declared.
I hummed. "Odd to think that way with something that has yet to come to pass, but with Celebi," I shook my head.
Oak nodded. "It's not all powerful, as you know, but it does seem to make sure the best possible outcome occurs, for all involved."
"Hmmm, if you say so," I replied, giving Sabrina a look.
Sabrina hummed. "Celebi's powers are rather mystical, aren't they? I will say that I am disappointed in not being able to… meet with it and talk about its recent actions," she stated.
Sam and I shared a look. Both of us understood that she really meant she wanted to intercept and punish it for what it had done to me.
He coughed. "Well, with that said I best be off. I might have said more than I should as it were. I shall leave you to rest."
As his hand hit the door handle, I called out, "Sam!"
He gave me his attention, and I smiled. "You mentioned Samson Oak, your cousin? It's gonna be pretty wild when the other regions open up, and you meet him again, no?"
Sam stared at me, his face flashing through a mixture of surprise, realisation, sadness, then a small flicker of hope. "I think I'd like that… When the region known as Alola returns to the world stage, I might just have to go see what became of him."
"Hmmmm, if Alola is the one that is all islands and sunshine, then he's probably become a surfer," I offered as a joke.
"Hmmm you're no doubt right, Samson was a bit like that even as a child," Sam replied fondly. Nodding to me he opened the door. "Well, you've certainly given me something to look forward to! You two enjoy your evening, perhaps do as I used to do, and slip out while the nurse isn't looking! Two young people like you shouldn't be cooped up here!" he shouted, only to turn and find one of the nurses giving him a highly unimpressed look.
Sam scuttled around her, laughing awkwardly before vanishing from sight.
The Nurse huffed. "Don't do that. Let us run some observations and then if you're up for it, you can go," she offered.
As much as I might have wanted to throw caution to the wind and take off, Sabrina's hand lightly pressing down on me made me pause and nod. If it helped her feel even a little more assured that I wasn't about to keel over, I'd do it.
It cost me thirty minutes to be cleared officially and to be out on the streets of Saffron City. "Dinner?" I suggested right before my stomach growled in protest.
Sabrina curled into me, happy I was once more up and about. "Dinner," she confirmed.
"Also, you were right," she stated as we sat down at a nearby restaurant.
"Hmmm? About what?"
"Celebi is the worst Legendary pokemon, bar none," she offered.
I threw my head back and laughed before drawing her in for a kiss that she happily returned.
For the rest of the evening, we didn't discuss what had happened. We were instead quite content to just bask in each other's company.
After dinner, we retreated to Sabrina's house, where we made love slower than ever before. It somehow made it more intimate to feel it out, and when we were both done, we didn't try for another round, we merely curled around each other.
"I want more than one child," Sabrina announced, causing my dozing mind to jerk into alert at the suddenly important topic being raised.
"Oh?" I asked carefully.
"Yes, but I don't want ten," she continued. "Ten is far too many. If they are like us… well they will likely be gifted with dark or psychic powers, and I can't think of a more worrying combination," she offered.
"Hmmm, they'd be quite rare," I suggested.
"Hmmm, so you've mentioned. Only two that you know of?" she asked.
"Yeah, Inkay's line, and Hoopa unbound who we don't want to deal with at all," I stated.
"Hmmm, still, I'd like maybe three or four children," Sabrina said, returning to the earlier conversation.
"Hmmm, that would be a nice, simple number of kids," I replied, earning myself a small laugh.
After having to deal with my own siblings for so long three to four kids would be a breeze.
For the rest of the evening, we spoke of distant possibilities, such as potential names, if we'd prefer them as twins, or staggered, or even where we'd like to raise them.
It was nice, and after the last few days I'd had it helped me relax back and fall asleep.
"No more adventures for a while Brock," Sabrina murmured to me.
"Not a one planned," I replied easily.
"Good, if they come looking for you, call me, I'll find a way to your side," she offered.
Somehow, I suspected she would, even if Celebi tried something again. It was nice knowing I was about to marry such a terrifying woman.
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My return home wasn't announced, but despite that there were several reporters stalking the front of the Gym causing me a mild headache as I sat in the kitchen.
"No Lola, while it is private property the front of the Gym comes under public access," I pointed out. "You can't go an murder them, or assault them, or fling mud at them."
Lola pouted, drummed her fingers on the counter top and gave me a smirk. "But I can challenge them to poke battles to drive them off, right?"
Sighing I could only nod. It was the most pokemon method of answering an issue but I couldn't dispute it. It'd probably be the best method.
"Just make sure you don't coerce them into the match. If they agree they're all yours," I answered.
"Ha! Just watch your mother work Brock baby! I'll have them run off in no time!"
I worked my jaw, considering if it was worth rejecting her calling me baby. Instead, I just waved her off. Rather than sprint away, she lingered, observing me as one would a sick child.
"Are you sure you're feeling alright Brock?"
"Tired is all," I replied. When she didn't relent, I waved a hand. "Yesterday ended up being longer than I planned for, I guess you could say." Which was one of the biggest understatements, I think I had ever uttered.
Lola departed and I watched her. It was a bit harder to resent her now that I had a glimpse into how she must have grown up. Her mother would have been a bit of a doormat, and her father… well, toxic didn't begin to describe him.
And that was my grandparents.
Ignoring the sounds of combat originating from past the front gate, I began flicking through my schedule for tomorrow, only for Sylveon to dart in and start attacking my transceiver, causing the projected screen to start glitching out.
"Hey! No! Bad Sylveon!" I growled, booping her on the snout only for her to growl back at me and keep tugging.
"Urgh! Am I just a target for fairy types at the moment?" I muttered.
"No," announced Yolanda. "I just thought you should rest up. Tomorrow will come soon enough."
"Urgh, am I being babied?" I asked only for her to smirk at me. I reached out and tugged her in to give her a hug. "So, how's your pokemon team looking? Ready for the circuit to start?" I asked.
"You know it!" she crowed. "I got Flappy to evolve into Pidgeotto the other day after winning a fight against one of the Gym's Geodude! It was awesome and Slash is also starting to really settle in! I've been going to the battleclub and winning a bunch of fights. I think Terra might be ready to evolve if I want to go for it. What do you think is the best move?"
"Hmmm," I paused to consider the question. "I think you've got the moves that you need for Terra. You just need to consider if evolving her right at the start of the circuit might set you back at all."
"It might be perfect for later on, though," pointed out Yolanda. "Imagine if I can roll into the Indigo tournament with a Tyranitar!"
"That, would be a statement," I replied before grimacing. "Just be aware that you might not be the only one. Other people who spent a considerable sum acquiring Larvitar last year might be about to emerge."
"Why this… oh cause it takes a while to train up a pokemon like Larvitar," she said, answering her own question.
"Precisely. Now, don't be surprised if some of these rich kids are the sort that… didn't use legal methods to acquire their pokemon." Tapping my chest, I grimaced. "My victory over Lance made Tyranitar's a lot more popular and this is a side effect."
"And they probably covered their tracks with the purchase I'm assuming?" Yolanda asked.
"Yeah. We caught a few people out with last year's raids, but some of them only faced fines and got to keep their pokemon under certain restrictions." I made a face at this and Yolanda gaped at me.
"But! These are Larvitar stolen from Mt Silver! They're supposed to be limited due to the dangers they pose!"
"Oh trust me, a lot of people are being very highly scrutinised this season. I have five on my watch list that I know of attending the Kanto circuit. Which isn't to say all of the eight on the list are sticking around."
"What are they doing?" Yolanda asked.
"The other three are heading to the Orange League, or Hoenn, for the next season to avoid oversight."
"B-but! They broke the law!" Yolanda stammered. "They want to get away with no oversight after doing the wrong thing?"
I gave her a sad look, knowing that I was about to shatter her innocent view of the world. "Rich and powerful people are the ones to write laws Yolanda. They can change them or find exclusions when they need to. There is also the issue of the Larvitar's having bonded with the trainers. That was the only thing stopping the trainers in question having their pokemon stripped from them, otherwise…" I made a vague gesture.
"So the ones who are running off are the biggest risk of abusing the Larvitar, right?" she growled.
I nodded. "Yeah, that's the gist."
Yolanda pursed her lips. "I don't like it at all. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with it like that."
"It won't be that simple for them," I remarked. "They are going to have a permanent black mark on their record going forward that will impact much of their life through small ways. They will be able to overcome that with money I have no doubt, but by doing the wrong thing, and then seeking to evade oversight, they're going to have a lot more hurdles placed in their way."
"Alright," she quietly muttered. After a few moments, she looked up. "How many Larvitar did they find?"
"From the raids? There were fifty-three eggs, and eighteen Larvitars."
"Oh, and only ten proved that they had a bond?" Yolanda asked.
"A bond sufficient to qualify for fines and oversight only," I stated.
Staring at me Yolanda continued. "So the three that are leaving… why is the League not stopping them? Legal red tape?"
"Indeed," I replied. Deciding that was enough of a rather depressing topic I drew her in for a quick hug. "Let me worry about that alright? You focus on doing amazing in the next few months. What are your plans for shows?"
"Well my agent wants me to try and go big fast but I want to build up naturally so we've agreed to start with doing small shows at dining facilities, bars, and small stages that are open to the public. He's gotten a letterhead and a pokenet page set up for people that want to buy my music to listen to. We're going to do a review by the time I reach Saffron, which I've budgeted about three months for."
"That's a solid pace," I replied. "Is that just to physically pass through or for you to mount a challenge against Sabrina?"
"Hmmm, it depends, I'm hoping the latter," Yolanda replied. "But for that I think I will need to build up Slash and Terra's powers a lot. Say, how do you evolve a Sneasel?"
I chuckled. "I think it's best you learn that yourself instead of coming to me."
"Hmmm, in that case I'll just ask Salvadore," she replied. Only to pout when my smirk grew.
"He doesn't know?"
"He knows the theory of how various pokemon evolve. So he's not a bad person to talk to about methods of evolution. I'd have a sit down study session with him and then once you have your first six do another refresher on it to see what you need to include."
"Hmmm, I already know Spot needs a firestone which I have thanks to dad," Yolanda mused. "Terra needs time and attention which will increase with her Pupitar phase, while Flappy is the same but to a lesser extent."
"But?" I prompted.
"But I won't just be running towards that as I need to make sure certain milestones for growth are achieved," she replied with a roll of her eyes.
"So proud of you. You're going to do so well!" I gushed. Then I tapped her on the nose. "I'm not holding back when you come to challenge me for the Bejewelled badge, expect to get crushed!" I growled while baring my fangs in a mocking look I'd perfected over the years.
Rather than be intimidated Yolanda smirked. "Oh, I have the perfect counter prepared for you," she said.
I narrowed my eyes. "Yeah you think you do."
Instead of locking eyes and denying it she giggled and gave me a hug. Which, conversely, made me feel more worried. She was that confident?
"I want you to take me to the top of Mt Moon this afternoon like you did with Forrest. I know it wasn't meant as a send off trip but I still want to climb Mt Moon with nothing but a few safety ropes."
That drew a snort out of me. "And Selene and Zephyr who are both more than capable of catching you," I pointed out.
"Yeah, so after lunch!" she called before skipping away with her smirk still in place.
Shit, she really was that confident she'd found a chink in my armor. Titan and I were going to have to be doubly ready. No way I was throwing a match against Yolanda. We'd have to log some video sessions to check our fights.
Hmmm, would it be too much to use a Mega-evolution against her?
There was no doubt in my mind that Yolanda was going to demand Titan as her challenge.
I stood prepared to double my training time with Titan only for a thump on the window to cause me to twitch around, fist raised to deliver a knock out punch only to find myself staring at Don of all pokemon.
"Screeee!?" he demanded and it took me a moment to recall that we'd been in the middle of his mega-evolution training when I'd had to depart for the Battle Frontier.
After that I'd focussed solely on Rhyhorn which led to our time escapades.
As such I was overdue to train with him.
"Right! You're right! Let's train!" I called back to him as I slipped on some shoes and jogged out, glad to have something to do for the morning.
It was difficult, trying to grasp the feeling of soaring on the wind while being part of it and yet dense like a rock, but I liked to think I got back to where I'd left off and made some progress. Thankfully, I had an extensive journal of notes which Alakazam had demanded that I keep to reference for moments like this.
There was of course a lot of documenting my thoughts, notes of progress and other observations for Alakazam's ongoing study into Megaevolution.
"Broooooock! Enough paperwork! You said you were going to relax!" Yolanda whined when she discovered me in my office.
"Ah! Sorry, I was doing some mega training with Don and needed to get my thoughts down," I offered as apology.
A flicker of interest sparked only to be crushed. "Well enough! We're going mountain climbing!"
She then marched around the desk to girlhandle me out of the chair and out the door. I had to give her high marks, she'd built up a lot of strength. Not enough that if I'd resisted her she would have been able to get me moving, but certainly more than other girls could manage.
Rather than a sedate walk to Mt Moon we set off at a jog, Titan and Terra at our respective sides.
The run through Pewter City, especially after seeing it in ruins, was a bit surreal. I hadn't seen it yesterday due to teleporting around but now… It was weird running through cratered streets and destroyed buildings.
A few familiar, if older faces appeared during or jog and I realised that for all that it had been annoying and a pain in the ass… It had been worth going back there and saving those people.
"You alright Brock?" You're slowing down?" Yolanda queried.
"Ha, yeah I'm fine," I replied, speeding back up and focusing on the climb.
We made it up Mt Moon just as the sun started to set, causing the western face of the mountain to be a bit hotter than I'd have liked and for there to be a bit of ice melt.
"Hmmmm, conditions aren't ideal," I muttered, inspecting the climb.
There was a straight section that was clear but I still held Yolanda back. "Make sure you're paying attention to how it feels and—"
"I…" she started to whine only to sigh. "No, go ahead," she offered, understanding that safety checks like this were still important.
Nodding I continued to point out any issues we might have. Winter had lasted a little longer this year, but it was still manageable. When I was done with my spiel, I looked to her.
"Anything I forgot?" I asked, opening the door for her to participate.
"Huh? You're the expert though."
I shrugged. "And sometimes there are things I might miss. Maybe you've heard something from a hiker, or perhaps you attended a course that I don't know of." I waved a hand at the climb. "One day you or the others might be the ones leading the safety brief instead of me you know?"
"That…" she glanced up at the mountain as though just seeing it for the first time. "I hadn't considered it that way," she murmured. "But no, I haven't heard anything."
"Right, then we climb!" I announced, and we put words to action.
Yolanda, once again set a new sibling record for her ability to scale the mountain, which was an unfair comparison to Forrest as Yolanda had been training a lot longer and a lot more seriously. Still wasn't going to stop me from sending him a picture of Yolanda with her arms raised, roaring her triumph to the valley beneath us.
"New Sibling PB, she smashed your time," I messaged him with a smirk, knowing he'd take that as a challenge, and the next time he was back, he'd scale Mt Moon just to try and beat her time.
I chuckled only to gape when Yolanda knelt next to Terra who'd also made the climb.
"You're ready Terra," she announced quietly, plucking an everstone necklace from around Terra's neck.
Terra erupted into the light of evolution, her form shifting as spikes reoriented themselves and her form grew taller.
When she emerged she tottered slightly only for small jets of air to erupt as Terra squeaked in shock. The blast however was far too strong and she almost projected herself over the edge of Mt Moon.
Yolanda snatched her out of the air. "I got you—" she started to say only to realise that inertia was a hell of a thing. I grabbed Yolanda to add my weight but it wasn't until Titan put a paw on Terra to stop her momentum that we stopped sliding towards the edge.
We all exhaled in relief and I shot Yolanda look while she bowed her head. "Sorry! I got too caught up!"
Sighing again, I lightly bonked her on the head, eliciting a small 'ouch' from Yolanda and a squawk of protest from Terra.
"Well, that's certainly one way to end the—" I was about to finish my statement when a soft chime rang out.
Turning I found myself looking at an elderly Clefable that was being assisted towards us by a pair of Cleffa.
"Oh my gosh, they're adorable!" she squealed.
Heh, seems some people's responses to small Cleffa were universal. "Yeah, they are," I replied, kneeling down to greet the smaller pokemon while Clefable made its way towards us.
When it got close, it held out its hand in a quiet demand and I allowed it to put its hand on my face.
It's hand quested around and I felt its energy surging through me and then around, mapping out my body. When it reached the darkness within me it didn't recoil or hurt me, it just nodded.
"Cle…" it intoned slowly only to chuckle. "Clefable!" it rasped off to the side.
I blinked as another pair of Clefable appeared. Huh, that was the most Clefable I'd seen in one locatio… my train of thought disappeared when they stepped to the side, revealing a Clefairy holding a softly glowing stone above its head.
To the uninitiated, it would appear to be just another Moon stone, but the pink glow and the helix pattern were far too familiar to me.
The old clefable tapped itself on the chest and then turned an open hand towards me.
I stared at it for a long while in disbelief. "You're… you were there when I helped Sam and Daisy, weren't you?"
The old Clefable nodded, pointing towards the Cleffa dancing around Yolanda and Terra.
"Oh," I replied as the Clefabilite was deposited into my hand.
I hadn't been expecting to get a reward from what I'd done… decades ago, but here we were.
It still didn't mean I liked Celebi in any way, shape or form. This was the Mt Moon Cleffa line's decision after all.
Heh, Don was going to sulk like crazy if Link got to mega evolve before him.
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A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support!
It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!