Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 272: Back to the Past

Rio shouted, commanding Gengar—who was closest to him—to intercept. Gengar quickly used Psychic to try and stop the black Poké Ball. But its psychic power seemed far weaker than the force controlling the ball—after only a brief pause, the ball resumed its rapid flight, landing back in the hands of Lance and clicking shut—capture successful.

The sudden fortune caught Lance completely off guard. He stared at the black Poké Ball in his hands, utterly bewildered. Beside him, Athena was equally stunned, staring at the ball in disbelief. One thought echoed in both their minds: Heaven is on Team Rocket’s side!

Though neither understood how this had happened, Lance couldn’t contain his joy—he burst into laughter. "Hahaha—you’re finished, Rio! You’re finished! Do you know what Team Rocket’s first priority is now that we’ve caught Celebi?"

With a flash of black light, Celebi was released. But it had changed—corrupted by the dark Poké Ball, its body now bore black markings, and a dark aura surrounded it.

"Celebi—send me back in time!" Lance shouted eagerly.

"Bii~" Celebi let out a cry, its body glowing as temporal ripples spread outward. Rio’s pupils contracted—a bad feeling welled up in his chest.

"Quick—stop him!" Rio yelled. Annihilape, Raikou, and Greninja immediately attacked Celebi.

"Hold them off!" Athena reacted quickly, ordering her Pokémon to block the attacks with their bodies.

As for Mewtwo, it tried to use Teleport to intercept, but the temporal ripples caused the move to fail. Two seconds later, a blinding light appeared behind Lance—so bright that everyone and every Pokémon had to shut their eyes.

When they opened them again, Celebi and Lance were gone.

Rio’s expression darkened. He could already guess Lance’s purpose in capturing Celebi: to travel back to a time when Rio was still weak and eliminate him. There was no other possibility. If he were in Lance’s position, that would be his first thought too.

He looked down at his own hands—still here, still real. But if that were the case, wouldn’t Lance be rewriting multiple timelines? Rio would no longer be the League Champion. Charizard and the others would never have been his. Gengar would never have met him—nor would it have had the chance to return to the past.

Then he remembered Celebi’s words when it first appeared: "Trying to catch me? That’s still a little early."

"Did it fail to travel back?"

"Or is the timeline it’s rewriting just a parallel world?"

Rio’s mind raced, flooded with possibilities. Finally, he looked at the Poké Ball lying on the ground—the one that had been knocked away. Who was the Pokémon that stopped me from catching Celebi?

"Celebi—take me back two years."

Inside a bizarre, shifting time tunnel, Lance shouted. Before him was the corrupted, shiny Celebi, wreathed in black energy.

"Bii~" Celebi cried out, and moments later, they dropped out of the tunnel into a specific point in time.

When Lance opened his eyes, he was standing in a peaceful forest—Ilex Forest. But this was not the same Ilex Forest he’d left—there were no Rocket allies, no Rio, no Pryce. Only a tired Celebi.

"I’ve made it back two years, haven’t I?" Lance said, his voice trembling with excitement. He had obtained this timeline information from Team Rocket’s internal files. According to the data, Rio at this time was still a nobody. When Team Rocket first encountered him, he only had a Charmander—showing no signs of the future League Champion he would become. It was only after that point that his strength began to grow at an inexplicable pace, foiling Team Rocket’s plans every time they crossed paths.

"You’re finished, Rio—I admit I can’t beat your future self. But your present self? You’re no match for me. Just wait—I’m going to thoroughly enjoy this." Lance recalled Celebi into the dark Poké Ball, eagerly anticipating the moment he’d see the fear in a still-weak Rio’s eyes.

A day later, Lance arrived in Lavender Town. Though physically exhausted, he was mentally exhilarated. "Little Rio—where are you? Your big brother Lance is here to see you!"

The moment he set foot in Lavender Town, Lance wore the expression of a hunter toying with his prey. Disguised as an ordinary person, he soon made his way to the Pokémon House—but Rio wasn’t there. All he saw was a Charmander lying in a corner like a useless lump, and a Munchlax frantically scratching at the kitchen door.

"How did these two ever get trained up?" Lance muttered. He couldn’t see any of the future power in those two.

"Forget it—I’ll find Rio first." Lance left the Pokémon House and began searching the town. Eventually, he found the figure he’d been looking for in a park—sitting alone on a swing, tears streaming down his face.

"There you are, my dear little Rio—you were so hard to find." Lance looked at the scrawny, crying boy with a grin. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he’d never have believed that this weakling was the same Rio who would one day make him a laughingstock.