The next morning, after breakfast, the group refilled their water supplies, said goodbye to Towa and Miku, and headed into the enchanted forest.
The entrance to the enchanted forest was also very interesting. It was a long tunnel formed from a giant tree that had fallen countless years ago, with a large hole carved through its center.
The tunnel was at least twenty meters long. One could only imagine what a spectacular sight the tree must have been before it fell.
The log entrance separated the village from the enchanted forest. Although it was only a few dozen steps, as the group walked into the forest, they sensed the surrounding atmosphere change, whether it was psychological or not.
Wild Pokémon were everywhere. Pidgey, Pidgeotto, and Butterfree flew in the sky. Hoothoot, Spinarak, and Heracross were in the trees. Rattata, Sentret, and Nidoran were on the ground. They had only taken a few steps into the forest, and already they saw so many—it was incredibly dense!
Perhaps because they were rarely disturbed by outsiders, the Pokémon weren't afraid of the intruders, merely tilting their heads and observing them curiously.
"There are so many Pokémon here, aren't there?"
Seeing a few Weedle crawling on the ground, Misty shivered and quickly moved closer to Natsui.
"There are a lot, or rather, the density is very high," Natsui said, shielding Misty, knowing her fear of Bug-types. He then said to Erika and Ash, "But speaking of which, there's a wide variety here. If you want to catch anything, now is the time."
Erika and Ash both shook their heads. They had already caught the Pokémon they wanted; nothing here particularly caught their interest.
They walked for over half an hour, continuing deeper into the forest. Suddenly, they saw an endless cyan light sweep towards them from the horizon. In an instant, it enveloped the nearby forest, dyeing all the treetops in color.
As the cyan light flashed, an ethereal sound resonated in their ears.
"What is this?"
Ash looked around in confusion. After the initial surprise, he realized the light wasn't harming him, and he relaxed.
"This must be the 'voice of the forest' Towa mentioned," Natsui said, looking around. He pointed in one direction. "The light and sound are coming from over there. Let's go take a look."
With that, Natsui led the way, and Ash's group quickly followed. Only Erika remained behind for a moment, wanting to remind them of Towa's warning not to move when they heard the voice.
But on second thought, she knew her reminder would be useless. They were trainers, inherently curious about the unknown. They wouldn't rest until they investigated.
Even she couldn't help but want to see what it was.
Shaking her head helplessly, she saw they had already gone far ahead and hurried to catch up.
They crossed a stream, climbed a slope, and after another ten minutes or so, they arrived at a moss-covered shrine.
It was less a shrine and more a simple pile of stones stacked up, with a small stone tablet placed on top.
Just as they arrived, a bright light flashed. A boy, clutching a peculiar Pokémon, appeared out of thin air and fell to the ground in front of the shrine!
The moment the peculiar Pokémon appeared, it struggled free from the boy's arms, flew into the air, darted into the nearby forest, and vanished.
Although it was just a glimpse, Natsui saw it clearly: the mythical Pokémon, Celebi!
It really is this plot!
In that case, this boy who suddenly appeared must be the young Professor Oak!
Beside him, Ash and the others had already run to the boy's side and were helping him up.
"Wake up, are you okay?"
But no matter how Ash called, the boy remained unconscious.
Looking around, Erika frowned and said, "He's breathing, but he seems injured. Let's take him back to the village first."
With this turn of events, the group couldn't continue. They decided to return to the village first. Since the boy was unconscious, Natsui had to summon Tyranitar to carry him.
They retraced their steps, passed through the forest, and returned to Arborville.
Towa and Miku were very surprised to see the group return after only being gone for just over an hour.
"What happened?"
"We found an unconscious person in the forest!"
Hearing this, Miku quickly grabbed a first-aid kit. As the two women came down from the treehouse, the boy on the ground began to stir and woke up.
However, the boy was clearly terrified from before he passed out. The moment he opened his eyes and saw Ash close by, his first instinct was to push him to the ground.
"I won't give you Celebi!" he shouted.
"What are you doing!?" Ash, who had been inexplicably knocked over, was clearly angry. He jumped up, grabbed the boy's collar, and they started scuffling.
"Hey, hey!" Brock and Misty rushed to pull them apart. "Calm down, stop fighting!"
Perhaps snapping out of his shock, the boy calmed down. He looked around in confusion, wondering how he had gotten here.
"Wh-what happened?" he asked.
By this time, Towa and Miku had arrived with the first-aid kit. When Towa saw the boy's face, she first let out a small "Oh?", then rushed forward in astonishment.
"You're the one from that time... Thank goodness... thank goodness..."
Everyone was startled by her reaction. Miku couldn't help but ask, "Grandmother, do you know this child?"
Perhaps having calmed down, Towa turned back to Miku and said, "Do you remember I told you about a boy who disappeared in this forest 40 years ago?"
"Huh?" Miku asked, surprised. "You mean... this is that child?"
Towa nodded. She turned back to the boy and said with certainty, "Yes, absolutely. I remember him clearly. It's him."
Hearing their conversation, the boy also seemed to realize something. He looked at the elderly Towa and said faintly, "You're... the lady who gave me bread..."
Their fragmented conversation completely confused Erika, Ash, and the others. Only Natsui wore an expression that said, 'just as I expected'.
Towa led the group back up to their treehouse.
As they sat on the sofas in the living room, Towa retrieved a thickly wrapped object from a nearby cabinet and handed it to the boy.
"See if this is yours."
The boy took the object and unwrapped the thick cloth, revealing a worn-out notebook inside.
"This is mine... how..."
The boy looked at the familiar notebook. It was definitely his, but he didn't understand how it got here, especially since it was yellowed and dark, looking as if it had been stored for a long time.
He looked up at Towa. Before he could speak, Towa said first, "I think... you must have traveled through time."
This statement caused an uproar. Erika, Brock, and Misty all looked shocked. Although this world was full of wonders, time travel was still unheard of.
Only the boy and Ash still looked blank.
One hadn't accepted this reality, and the other simply didn't understand.
Ash glanced at the boy, tilted his head, and asked, "What does that mean?"
Miku placed cups of tea in front of everyone and said, "It means this boy traveled 40 years through time and appeared here. He looks exactly the same as when I saw him 40 years ago."
Ash finally understood. "No way!?" he yelled.
He turned to the boy beside him, unable to see how he could be from 40 years ago. He was about to ask if they were mistaken, but then he remembered the cyan light in the forest, and the words died in his throat.
The boy, staring blankly at his notebook, suddenly snapped back. "Celebi!" he shouted. "Where's Celebi!?"
"Celebi?"
Ash's group looked bewildered and shook their heads. Because they had arrived a few steps behind Natsui, they hadn't seen Celebi fly away.
"There was a Pokémon with me, right?"
Misty frowned, thinking hard, but still shook her head. "Sorry, we didn't see anything. We only saw you lying there."
Natsui sipped his tea, looking unconcerned. He was like a player waiting for the plot to advance, just needing to listen and trigger the next event.
Only Towa asked gravely, "You saw Celebi?"
The boy hesitated for a moment, but nodded.
Seeing them both mention Celebi, Ash couldn't hold back and asked, "Who is this Celebi you're talking about?"
Towa's expression was complex. She said, "Celebi is a mythical Pokémon, also known as the voice of the forest. It gives life to the forest and has the ability to travel through time."
Brock looked at the boy and asked hesitantly, "So you're saying... he came to our time because of Celebi's power?"
Towa nodded. "Yes, only Celebi could do this."
Misty's eyes widened. "That's why we saw that light and heard that sound in the forest! It was Celebi!"
Towa frowned and said, "Legend says Celebi lives in the Lake of Life, deep in the enchanted forest. But no one has ever actually seen it travel through time. I don't know why it brought you here."
"It's because Celebi was badly injured! I saw someone hunting it, so I..." At that, the boy suddenly stood up and said, "That's right! I have to go now! That person might still be chasing Celebi! I have to save it!"
"I'll go with you!" Ash jumped up, seemingly having forgotten their earlier scuffle.
"That's right, you can't count us out!" Misty also stood up and said to the boy, "We're very strong trainers, you know. We can't just stand by!"
"Thank you..." The boy was touched, but then realized something. "Ah, I'm sorry, I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Sammy."
"I'm Ash! My goal is to become a Pokémon Master! This is my partner, Pikachu."
"I'm Brock. I used to be a Gym Leader, and now I'm a Pokémon Breeder who fancies himself pretty good!"
"I'm Misty! Remember, the world-class beauty!"
Seeing Sammy look at him, Natsui finished his tea, stood up, first introduced himself, and then pointed to Erika.
"I'm Natsui. As you can see, also a trainer. This is my partner, Erika."
Knowing time was short, after the introductions, they didn't delay. They said goodbye to Towa and Miku and left the treehouse.
Sammy wasn't actually injured. He had fainted from the shock and the side effects of time travel. After the short rest, he was fully recovered.
As for who Sammy was, Ash and the others might never know, but Natsui knew very well: it was the young Professor Oak.
Professor Oak's full name was Samuel Oak. Right now, he was just a boy, still looking very young, traveling alone to sketch during his school holidays.
Of course, Natsui wouldn't tell Ash or the others this. He wouldn't even tell Erika.
Time travel was an unnatural event. Getting too involved could lead to irreversible consequences. The fewer people who knew, the safer it was.
Leaving the village, they once again passed through the log tunnel and into the enchanted forest.
This was their second time here today, but no one was impatient about the repeated journey. On the contrary, Ash and the others were thrilled about the prospect of seeing a mythical Pokémon, and their steps became lighter.
They walked deeper into the forest, looking around, but found no trace of Celebi.
Just then, Pikachu's ears twitched, sensing something. It darted into the bushes and ran in another direction.
Knowing Pikachu was particularly sharp in some ways, Natsui and the others followed close behind. They soon arrived in a wide clearing, where two massive logs, as big as the one at the village entrance, lay crossed. From a distance, they saw many wild Pokémon gathered around a hollow in one of the logs.
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