Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 276: Gengar’s Century (Part 1)

One hundred years earlier, in Ilex Forest.

A little girl in a red hat was walking through the forest with a Chikorita. She carried a bamboo basket filled with food. Her name was Posy. She had heard from the adults that the forest was growing unusually fast, and that the Forest Guardian might appear soon. Filled with curiosity, she had been sneaking into the forest for days, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mythical Pokémon.

But each day, she returned empty-handed.

"Still nothing?" Standing before Celebi’s shrine, Posy was disappointed to see that the offerings she’d left the day before were untouched. The forest Pokémon were well-behaved—they’d snatch any food outside the shrine, but never touched the offerings placed at the shrine itself. It was as if they, too, recognized its sacredness. That only made Posy more curious about the Forest Guardian.

"Here, Chikorita—you eat this." Posy pushed the day-old food toward Chikorita and placed the fresh food she’d made that day on the shrine.

"Chiko~" Chikorita shot her a look—it didn’t appreciate being fed leftovers again—but it lowered its head and ate anyway. After finishing, it sat beside Posy in front of the shrine, enjoying the breeze.

They’d been sitting for about ten minutes when the shrine suddenly began to glow. A beautiful, unfamiliar melody emanated from it.

"Is the Forest Guardian coming?" Posy was thrilled. The adults all said the Forest Guardian was the cutest Pokémon in the world.

A moment later, a flash of white light appeared, and Posy instinctively closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was stunned.

Before her floated a plump, pale-purple Pokémon with a fierce expression—nothing like the adorable creature the adults had described. It looked more like a demon that ate children. And it was laughing—a harsh, grating laugh.

"Hehehe... Gus, I’ve come back! Your little ghost has crossed a hundred years of time to return to your era!" Looking at the Ilex Forest, far less lush than it would be a hundred years later, Gengar laughed triumphantly.

"Thank you, little Celebi!" Gengar turned to thank its escort, but Celebi was already gone.

"Boring—leaving right after dropping me off. I wanted to share my joy and have you pass a message to Rio," Gengar muttered. Then it noticed a little girl with a pained, tearful expression.

"What’s the matter, little girl? Is Old Ghost that scary?" Gengar said, annoyed.

"Are you the Forest Guardian?" Posy asked nervously. If the Forest Guardian looked like this, she swore she’d never bring offerings here again. She’d never trust what the adults said again either.

"The Forest Guardian? You mean Celebi? No—I’m Gengar, the most powerful Ghost-type Pokémon in existence, and the ace that helped Champion Gus win the Orange League!" Gengar cackled proudly.

Hearing it wasn’t the Forest Guardian, Posy breathed a sigh of relief. Good—good. As long as it’s not the Forest Guardian, my mental image is safe. I can still bring offerings.

"Have you seen the Forest Guardian? What does it look like? Can I meet it?" Posy quickly realized what this meant.

"Of course I’ve seen it—it’s the one that brought me here." Gengar was a little jealous that Posy was only interested in Celebi and not at all curious about itself. "But it’s way uglier than me. You wouldn’t want to see it twice."

"That’s impossible! The Forest Guardian is the cutest Pokémon in the world!" Posy shot back.

"Believe what you want. I’ve got to go see Gus—no time to waste with you. Bye-bye!" Gengar stuck out its tongue, made a face, and floated away without a second glance, leaving Posy standing there in a daze. Its mind was entirely focused on reuniting with Gus after a century apart.

A day later, Gengar crossed mountains and seas, traveling from Ilex Forest to Blaze Island. At that moment, Blaze Island was battered by storms, and countless waterspouts rose from the sea.

The time it had arrived at was the day before Gus’s accident. It wanted to change what had happened back then. So Gengar searched the vast ocean for the ship.

Finally, it found it. Due to the harsh weather, the ship was being attacked by a sudden waterspout and was sinking.

"Gus—I’m here," Gengar said to itself.

Inside the ship, a bearded middle-aged man was packing his things to escape. But the moment he opened his door, seawater rushed in, knocking him off balance. A Poké Ball fell from his pocket. The man noticed and tried to retrieve it—but the ship suddenly lurched violently, slamming him into the doorframe and knocking him unconscious.

Soon, a passing crew member found him and carried him out to swim to safety. But no one noticed the Poké Ball left behind in the room.

Above the surface, Gengar tried to reach them, but one waterspout after another blocked its path.

"Why—why is this happening?!" Gengar’s face twisted in frustration as it watched the ship sink beneath the waves. It couldn’t understand why, every time it tried to approach the ship, a waterspout would form to block it—or a group of Gyarados would swim by and fire Hyper Beams at random, just enough to obstruct it, forcing Gengar to watch helplessly as the ship went down.

It was as if some unseen force was preventing it from changing history.

Soon, a familiar figure appeared in Gengar’s sight. Gus... Seeing the man it hadn’t seen in a hundred years, Gengar felt a surge of emotion. Gus was on the back of a Lapras with the crew member, unconscious.

Gengar rushed toward them. Unlike its attempts to reach the ship, nothing stopped it from approaching Gus. It appeared right in front of the Lapras, startling the crew member and the Lapras. The Lapras, thinking Gengar was about to attack, prepared to strike back—but then Gengar’s voice echoed in its mind:

"I’m Gus’s Pokémon. His little ghost."

The Lapras and the crew member froze. The crew member stared at Gengar in shock. He was an old friend of Gus’s and knew all of Gus’s Pokémon. Gus often spoke fondly of his Ghost-type Haunter.

But this... Gus, you two-faced bastard—you got yourself another ghost behind my back.