Chapter 155: "History"

[Who are you? Are you a gift?] Celebi was also curious as to why something inside the "gift" was communicating with it.

[Careful! They have been blinded by greed! Watch out for a sneak attack...] Elm hurriedly warned.

[Huh? Your "time"... is so strange.] Celebi seemed to have noticed Elm's "time travel."

Only, it was impossible to know which layer of time travel it had detected...

At the same time, the sounds of battle suddenly rang out from outside!

"Cele—bi!" Celebi cried out in angry realization that there were actually ambushers all around.

And in Celebi's heart, taking priority over anger was the desire to stop them from fighting here... Doing so would disrupt the unsoothed ripples of time, and that was dangerous!

Unfortunately, the members of the Kato clan did not understand Celebi's intentions. At this moment, completely focused on launching a sneak attack and sealing Celebi away, they failed to notice anything unusual about Celebi's emotions.

Gengar, Mismagius, Dusknoir, Sableye...

A host of Ghost-type Pokémon appeared from all directions, immediately unleashing a barrage of [Shadow Ball] and [Shadow Claw] attacks right at Celebi!

Ghost-type moves are super-effective against Psychic-type Pokémon?

Theoretically speaking, that was indeed the case; it was "basic common knowledge."

However, another piece of high-level common knowledge was that after reaching Level 100, a Pokémon's stats and abilities could continue to gain levels!

A Level 1 stat could already offset a portion of type effectiveness, and upon reaching Level 2, ordinary type disadvantages were completely negated.

As a mythical Pokémon—even if it wasn't a deity holding an exclusive domain—Celebi's inherent "Psychic + Grass" typing long ago surpassed what ordinary types could compare to.

Moreover, "Psychic + Grass" couldn't truly encapsulate Celebi's attributes. Its essential attribute was "Time"; it was simply that time was driven by "Psychic power," and since time outwardly manifested as the propagation of life and the surging of vitality, it was expressed as the "Grass-type."

At this moment, Elm opened the box just a crack and peered outside. He saw...

Celebi looked just like a tiny sprite, small and delicate, its emerald-green body radiating a faint, soft glow.

Yet this tiny body possessed immense energy!

Faced with shadow energy attacks coming from all directions, Celebi was initially caught off guard and took a few hits head-on, but then directly erected thick [Light Screen] and [Reflect] barriers.

They should be... [Light Screen] and [Reflect], right?

Normally, when [Light Screen] or [Reflect] are used, a certain kind of force field is deployed around the body, and when corresponding attacks hit, this force field offsets a portion of the attacking force.

However, the "walls" erected by Celebi were practically tangible, and more importantly...

Celebi's "wall" was simultaneously defending against both special attacks and physical attacks!

Using two moves at the same time?

No, even for a mythical Pokémon... at least a mythical Pokémon of Celebi's tier, it should still be bound by the rule preventing simultaneous move execution. Elm suspected that the opponent had fused the two moves, [Reflect] and [Light Screen], into one!

The "thick" and substantial wall completely blocked the surrounding attacks. Then...

"Bi!"

Celebi's entire body flashed with light, and then, phantom afterimages resembling a shiny variant of Celebi split off from its body one after another, instantly melting into the surrounding space-time.

The next moment, injuries inexplicably appeared on the bodies of the surrounding Ghost-type Pokémon!

This was...

[Future Sight]?

Ordinary [Future Sight] sends a Psychic-type attack into the future after a certain delay—it packs heavy power, but demands precise prediction!

Generally speaking, the vast majority of Pokémon that learn this move cannot truly "foresee the future"; instead, they have to force the opponent's movement and trap the target in the zone of the delayed attack.

Only Pokémon like Alakazam could truly catch glimpses of future scenes...

As for Celebi's [Future Sight], there was no telling which "layer" it belonged to, or what level it was—after all, levels were merely numerical definitions arbitrarily assigned by humans.

In any case, Celebi's [Future Sight] was truly an attack originating from the "future"...

Those energized afterimages had slipped into the currents of time to attack these Ghost-type Pokémon in the "past," causing injuries to "magically" materialize on them in the present.

Only three Elite-level Pokémon remained standing on the field...

Just then, Kato Hirosuke and Kato Yama rushed over, accompanied by other Elite-level Ghost-type Pokémon!

"Kaze! Hang on!"

"Celebi, wait! Everyone, stop!"

Kato Yama wanted to put an end to all of this, but he wasn't about to watch Celebi wipe out the Kato clan either—though Celebi hadn't actually intended to do so, if Kato Kaze continued making trouble, casualties were bound to happen...

Meanwhile, the ripples of time were growing increasingly unstable.

If the ripples of time failed to be absorbed by Celebi, what would happen?

Humanity had no idea...

Seeing this, Celebi no longer cared what these humans were up to and immediately turned, hurtling toward the epicenter of the time ripples!

"Watch out!" Elm shouted as he leaped out from the box.

To his shock, Kato Kaze paid complete disregard to whatever consequences might ensue and directly launched an attack targeting the time ripples and Celebi within them...

Celebi's battle experience was evidently abysmal, as it had completely failed to keep its guard up!

Staggering from a direct hit mid-air, the time ripples were simultaneously affected and began to distort violently.

Elm, who was also caught in the center of the time ripples, now felt his consciousness beginning to lag behind the outside world, and everything around him seemed to slow down...

"Ce-le-bi————" Celebi's cry sounded exceptionally prolonged and deep.

[How are you holding up?] Elm caught the stumbling Celebi as it fell, asking frantically through [Animal Sense].

[Oh no... The time ripples... have gone berserk...] Celebi wasn't actually injured, but was still worrying about the time ripples.

[Can you... fix it?] Elm asked uncertainly.

[I... am still just a child.]

Elm: ......

The meaning was painfully clear!

[What's going to happen?] Elm hurriedly asked.

[If left unattended, this place... not just this small island, but everything around here too... will become a lifeless wasteland where vitality can never flourish...]

Elm suddenly realized something: up to this point in "history," seemingly nothing had changed yet?

Perhaps the space-time rules of this world were such that...

[Listen to me! Don't panic, Celebi. First, try your best to calm the abnormal space-time here, and don't worry about the vitality for now. Later on, someone... a woman, will assist you in restoring this place to normal... except for this island!]

Just as Elm was wracking his brain over how to make Celebi trust him, Celebi took the initiative to ask: [Is this... the future?]

Elm was startled for a moment before realization dawned upon him—of course! Celebi could sense that his "time" belonged to the future!

Right after that, a wave of anxiety washed over him...

By the way, how was he supposed to get back?