Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 270: Celebi Appears

Gengar let out a smug cackle, feeling it had won the age competition. "What’s wrong, Mom?" the old woman asked, seeing her elderly mother’s stunned expression.

Rio also frowned, puzzled by the centenarian’s sudden shock. Why would a Gengar calling itself "Old Ghost" be surprising?

"Nothing—it just looks very much like a Gengar I saw in Ilex Forest when I was nine years old. That Gengar was also this color and also called itself ’Old Ghost,’" the elderly woman said, shaking her head. "That was the first time I ever saw a Ghost-type Pokémon—and a shiny one at that, so I remember it clearly. For a moment, I felt like I was back a hundred years ago, meeting that Gengar again."

"You were here a hundred years ago?" Rio turned to Gengar.

"No—I’ve never been here. A hundred years ago, I was definitely with Gus. And back then, I was still a little ghost. I only started calling myself ’Old Ghost’ after I met you a hundred years later," Gengar replied telepathically while drinking. "And more importantly—have you forgotten? I only evolved after meeting you. A hundred years ago, I was still a Haunter."

Rio’s brow relaxed. That’s right—a hundred years ago, it was a Haunter, which doesn’t match Gengar’s appearance. And when I first met it, it called itself ’little ghost’—like ’Gus, where are you? I’m your little ghost! Have you abandoned me? I miss you so much!’ Now it’s more like ’Rio, you bastard—you never think of me for anything good, but you always drag me into the dirty work.’

Must be a coincidence—another shiny Gengar must have appeared in Ilex Forest a hundred years ago and happened to meet her.

But the next second, Rio’s brow furrowed again.

"Gus? Did you just say Gus?" the elderly woman exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah—I said Gus. What about it?" Gengar didn’t understand her reaction. Then it smirked. "Don’t tell me you were a fan of me and Gus a hundred years ago? That’s right—I’m the Gengar who helped Gus win the Orange League championship! Wait... no, I was a Haunter back then, not a Gengar."

Its smile faltered as it, too, realized something was off.

"The Gengar I met a hundred years ago said its trainer’s name was Gus. When we parted, it said it was going to find him," the elderly woman added.

Silence fell over the room. Even Mewtwo stopped drinking and looked at Gengar in confusion, finding the story bizarre. Only Munchlax remained oblivious, focused solely on its rice.

But Rio quickly pieced it together: Gengar had successfully gone back in time. That was the only explanation that fit everything the elderly woman had just described.

In that moment, Rio’s eyes dimmed slightly. So this old ghost and I were never meant to be together after all.

Gengar, however, had the opposite reaction—its eyes burned with excitement. This meant it could finally go back to the past and meet the Gus it had longed for.

"Come on—let’s have a drink! There won’t be another chance after this. Tonight, we drink till we drop!" Gengar cackled, using Psychic to clink glasses with Mewtwo and Rio before downing its drink in one gulp.

One day later, Rio woke up from his drunken stupor. Just as the old woman had said, the wine from last night was potent but left no headache. After breakfast, he brought Gengar back into Ilex Forest.

After what the elderly woman had said, Rio no longer worried about whether Celebi would appear. What he was experiencing now was clearly already set in the timeline—otherwise, he wouldn’t have let himself get so drunk the night before.

What he didn’t know was that two parties were watching him as he sat before Celebi’s shrine. One was Team Rocket; the other was Pryce, the strongest Gym Leader in Johto. Unlike Team Rocket’s high-tech surveillance, Pryce used simpler methods—lying in a distant bush, observing through binoculars.

And he watched for an entire day. Only when Rio left the forest again, hungry, did he relax. Both he and Team Rocket hoped Celebi would appear while Rio was gone—but it didn’t work out that way.

Celebi finally appeared at noon on Rio’s fifth day in Ilex Forest. Rio was sitting in front of the shrine, eating a rice ball, when the shrine suddenly trembled. A brilliant blue light bloomed from within.

"Finally—is this it?" Rio raised an eyebrow, set down his rice ball, and looked around. The blue light radiated outward from the shrine, making the already dense forest grow even more lush—accompanied by an indescribable sound that reached his ears.

"Is this the so-called voice of the forest?" Rio muttered.

The voice also reached Pryce and Team Rocket. Both parties immediately realized Celebi was about to appear. Pryce rose from the bushes, now wearing a different outfit and a mask. Athena and Lance, along with their subordinates, also moved toward the shrine—approaching from the opposite direction to Pryce.

When they were within a hundred meters of the shrine, they held their positions, waiting quietly for the forest’s voice to end.

The voice lasted five minutes. When it stopped, temporal ripples emanated from the shrine. After the ripples came a blinding white light. Rio closed his eyes involuntarily. When he opened them, a cute little Pokémon with tiny wings hovered before him.

This Celebi looked different from the one in Rio’s memory—it was pink.

[Pokémon: Celebi (Shiny)]

[Level: 60]

[Talent: Legendary]

[Friendship: 0]

[Ability: Natural Cure]

[Moves: Leech Seed (85%), Confusion (85%), Heal Bell (85%), Safeguard (85%), Magical Leaf (85%), Ancient Power (85%), Natural Gift (85%), Future Sight (85%), Leaf Storm (85%), Perish Song (85%), and more...]

[Description: This is a legendary mythical Pokémon with the ability to travel through time. It wanders across eras, appearing only in times of peace. Wherever it appears, the vegetation grows lush and abundant.]