Chapter 24: Visitors from the Moon

"'Trick room'? What's that supposed to be?" Entei growled as it rose to its 
feet.

Mewtwo gazed down at its own figure and noted the black grime and red burns. 
It waved its arms in a brushing motion down its body and a blue light 
appeared: recover. The burns slowly closed and some of the black grime 
disappeared.

The plains around them were still glowing a faintly warm purple. This 
combined with the fact that much of the grass was now charred and gave the 
area a distinctively ethereal appearance. Normal green grass gave way to 
black death; it wasn't hard to believe one was staring at the border between 
the worlds of the living and the dead.

Off in the distance a Miltank raised its head inquisitively, it studied the 
bizarre seen before dropping back to sleep.

Entei tested its front limbs gingerly. Nothing seemed broken, so it quickly 
leaped forward, trying to catch Mewtwo head on. Only, it found itself again 
going ridiculously slow. It looked almost placid, leaping into the air only 
to find itself slowed down oppressively.

Before it, Mewtwo smirked. It easily sidestepped Entei's slow descent and, 
with amazing agility, delivered an astoundingly fluid kick to Entei's ribs 
that sent it soaring in the opposite direction.

Trick room is a nifty little technique,Mewtwo explained as it gracefully ran 
forward and kicked the downed figure of Entei yet again. It creates a strange 
area around the user in which reality itself becomes warped. For the 
remainder of the effect, the slowest pokemon becomes the fastest and vice 
versa.

Your speed was a problem before, Mewtwo said. But now. You're greatest asset 
has just become your weakness.

Entei slowly rose to its feet. It tried to lash out and surprise Mewtwo with 
a bite but it found what should have been a quick attack slowed down 
unbearably. Again Mewtwo fluidly side stepped the delivered yet another 
devastating kick, only this time to the great dogs face.

Entei was sent backwards again and this time was met with a fist. Entei 
attempted to jump backwards but was far too slow. Mewtwo unleashed a wave of 
agile kicks and punches, quickly capsizing the great dog.

Mewtwo raised an arm: bright electrical stream materialized along its cupped 
hand and arm.I don't know how you managed to evolve into a legendary pokemon. 
I know enough about legendary pokemon to know that none of them evolve. But 
frankly, I don't really care. Goodbye.

Mewtwo reached outward and touched the great dog with its electric covered 
arm. Surprisingly, nothing happened. The electric current disappeared upon 
contact with Entei's body. Mewtwo lumbered backwards, surprised written on 
its face. What?

Entei looked up, a smug smile on its face. Mewtwo's eyes widened as it saw 
that Entei's limbs were dug snugly into the earth. The fiery dog had grounded 
the electrical current by jamming its extremities into the ground.

Before Mewtwo even had time to react, Entei was upon it. Now it moved with a 
speed that was superior to even its prior agile gait, and it landed a 
succession of devastating blows upon the psychic cat's humanoid frame. Mewtwo 
attempted to flee by sprinting sideways but Entei was able to keep up with 
its enhanced speed. Eventually, Mewtwo was forced to teleport across the 
purple clearing but Entei was already turning in its direction. Mewtwo 
couldn't forget that the mutt could somehow tell when and where it would 
teleport to.

How? How'd you get your speed back, doggy?Mewtwo practically fumed. Trick 
room should be impeding you!

"Oh, I just figured it out," Entei said calmly. "It seemed weird. I wasn't 
slow until I actually tried to run.Before that point, my speed was normal. So 
I was thinking about it and I realized what that must mean. 'Trick room', 
itself didn't make me slow and you fast, it just reversed 'slow' and 'fast'. 
So if I try to run, I slow down...but if I instead try to just walk..." Entei 
crossed the distance between itself and Mewtwo in an instant, "I speed up. 
The trick to go slow if you want to go fast."

The humanoid feline threw up a barrier around itself but still found itself 
forcibly flung into the air by the force of Entei's collision into its 
bubble. It steadied itself in the sky and gazed down at Entei. The great 
canine peered up at it alertly, studying it silently. Mewtwo sighed and 
raised its arms. The warm purple light that surrounded the field disappeared. 
Trick room dissipitated.

Having accomplished that, Mewtwo smiled graciously and lowered itself, 
leveled with Entei. Entei hesitated slightly, now cautious; Mewtwo was 
planning something. In one fluid and quick motion, Mewtwo formed a cupped 
fist and a bright yellow and blue current of electricity appeared. It tossed 
the electric bolt straight into the sky and with a deafening boom, a slim 
blast of lightning flashed downward from the illuminated heavens, above 
Entei's position: shock wave.

Instinctively, Entei grounded its legs into the ground in the few seconds it 
had before impact in order to ground out the electrical blast. It worked: 
Entei's body was purged of the charge as soon as it hit, but a second later, 
Entei gave out an earsplitting scream.

Entei arched backwards, its eyes shut in pain, its maw wide open, spewing out 
a jet of flames into the sky. Below it, the earth had suddenly crunched and 
cracked autonomously. Blood gushed out from the cracks in the dirt. Entei's 
four legs had just been shattered.

Mewtwo grinned before Entei. When the great dog had dug its paws into the 
ground, it had used earthquake, and crippled Entei by crushing its leg's 
bones.

Entei pulled and crawled out from its semi-buried position and collapsed in a 
heap. It was no longer capable of walking.

Its breathe became ragged and haggard, its legs jutted out in weird angles 
and were coated in brown dirt and dark red blood.

Mewtwo approached the downed figure and laughed haughtily. It was over, 
Goodbye, doggy.

A bright orange light appeared in its cupped fist: hyper beam. It lowered its 
arms and prepared to blast the broken figure of Entei into kingdom come.

"Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

What?Mewtwo cried out in surprise. It turned around, towards the source of 
the cry, and found a single point of bright green and white light had 
suddenly formed behind it.

Mewtwo jumped away from it in self-defense as the point of light intensified 
and widened. The light became a solid 'wave' like formation. That annoying 
high voice kept yelling, "Piiiiii!" And then, three new figures appeared at 
the center of the light. The light subsided as the four separate figures 
stepped forward in unison.

Foremost among them was a small floating figure. It was green fairy like 
pokemon. It had antenna, a pointed head, and dark ringed eyes.

Behind it stood three quadrupedal pokemon. An Entei was among them, it looked 
identical to the one Mewtwo had been recently battling. Another was blue, 
with a large crystal crest, and a long wavy mane that seemed to whip out 
randomly as if the wind was flowing through it. Beside it stood a yellow 
beast, it looked distinctively more feline than the other, had a pair of long 
fangs and a ferocious snarl to accompany it, and something that looked like 
purple storm clouds running from its back.

Mewtwo's mouth dropped open with the sudden arrival of these unexpected 
guests. The floating fairy gazed happily at it, and behind it, the red, blue, 
and yellow beasts surveyed the scene calmly. Their gazes turned, from the 
blackened land, to the pile of ice near the road, to Karma's corpse, to 
Entei's downed figure, and finally, they rested on Mewtwo.

Silently, they studied Mewtwo, then they glanced at each other, nodded and 
darted out. Each of the three pokemon went in a different direction; Entei 
dashed towards the fallen Entei, Suicune sprinted towards Karma's corpse, and 
Raikou ran towards the ice Chris was buried under.

What are you doing?! raged Mewtwo, it rose into the air but was shocked into 
silence by what it saw.

Entei laid down and placed its head on the fallen Entei's (Greg's) body. It 
began to glow a rhythmic red and orange that spread to the second Entei's 
body. Suicune laid down and placed its head on Karma's corpse. It too began 
to emanate a rhythmic blue and green that spread to Karma's body. Raikou 
approached the clump of snow on the road and placed its head against the ice. 
It began to shine yellow and white that suddenly cracked the ice, exposing 
Chris, and spreading to his body.

Mewtwo was blinded as these points of light suddenly dazzled a multi-colored 
energy, and slowly dissipated. What?!

Karma's eyes fluttered open. Her limbs were no longer pointed oddly, she was 
no longer covered in blood, she looked fine. She coughed slightly and lifted 
herself into a sitting position. She gazed in awe at the Suicune as she 
climbed to her feet, her purple eyes shinning oddly.

Chris climbed out of the shattered ice, he felt fine now, his hand was no 
longer broken. He stood atop the pile of snow and stared at the Raikou, 
wonder printed on his face.

Entei too rose to its feet. Its legs were no longer crushed, it no longer 
looked tired; it yawned and blinked in surprise at the accompanying Entei 
which had apparently revitalized it.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! Mewtwo practically exploded.

Raikou motioned for Chris and began to walk back, towards Entei, Suicune, and 
the dancing fairy. It purposely kept its gait at a slow speed so Chris could 
keep up. Chris scratched his head for a second, but shrugged and followed; 
running besides it. He stopped solid when he saw the green dancing fairy in 
the middle of the field. "Celebi?!"

"Piiiiiiii!"

"That's Celebi?" Karma asked as she walked beside Suicune towards Chris. 
Confused, she asked, "What's going on?"

The two Entei's approached as well, leaving an angry floating Mewtwo to glare 
and motion behind them.

"You three have to go," said Suicune from besides Karma.

Chris, Karma, and Greg turned towards the blue beast. They hadn't been aware 
these pokemon could talk.

"Don't worry about it," spoke up Raikou. Its voice was considerably gruff. "I 
know it seems weird, but you guys don't have the time to worry about that 
now. What with mister peaceful-kitty-cat over there." It motioned back 
towards Mewtwo.

"You need to hurry, Celebi will take you back," Suicune explained. "Please, 
just hurry and save my brother."

Karma, Chris, and Greg turned to Suicune at that. "What do you mean...save 
your brother?" asked Chris.

"You know damn well what I mean, klutz," said Suicune.

Chris' mouth dropped open. His eyes skipped between Karma and Suicune, 
"You...you're...Karma?!"

"Geez...was I always that dense?" said the Raikou while rolling its eyes. The 
newer Entei laughed at that.

Chris turned to Raikou with his mouth open, he looked a little pale. Weakly, 
he said, "No...way...you...you're..."

"Yeah, I'm you. Suicune is Karma and Entei is Greg," Raikou finished. 
"Surprise, surprise."

Karma was taking the news fairly well. She didn't look like she was about to 
faint like Chris, but she eyed Suicune with something more like 
disappointment. Suicune picked up on it right away, "You're wishing I was 
purple, huh?"

Karma looked surprised, "Wha? No...I..."

Suicune laughed, "Relax, I wished the same thing when I first saw myself. 
Blue really isn't my color."

Entei eyed itself with amusement, "I don't get it. You're us, but how...?"

"Celebi brought us," the newer Entei answered. "We're from the future."

"From the future?" asked Chris, turning towards the dancing fairy as it 
floated up and down happily.

"500 years to be precise," answered Raikou.

"But...why are you...why are we...pokemon?" asked Greg, his brow raised.

Entei, Suicune, and Raikou looked at each other before Suicune answered. 
"Well...we probably shouldn't tell you...but...you're about to lose your 
memories soon anyways, so..."

"Humans don't naturally become pokemon when they die, don't think of it like 
that," the newer Entei explained. "It's just Ho-Oh..."

"Ho-Oh?" asked Greg.

The ground shook beneath them and glowed a dark blue. Behind them, Mewtwo had 
grown impatient and was soaring above them, blue energy now radiated off of 
its cupped hands. Enough talking! It fluidly motioned towards Entei, Raikou, 
and Suicune, I'll crush you all! Anyone who dares disrespect me!

Entei, Suicune, and Raikou stepped forward. Suicune looked back at the trio, 
"We'll deal with the cat, you three just go with Celebi." It turned its head 
but added quietly.

Chris wanted to say something then. Almost automatically he inched forward, 
mouth opening to express his wishes to not be split from his friends, but 
before he could, Suicune added softly: "I know you don't want to separate but 
relax alright? You'll meet up again eventually. I should know right?"

Chris, Karma, and Greg stared in amazement at the beast trio, words seemed to 
fail them.

Celebi appeared above them and gave a long cry: "Piiiiiiiiiiiii!"

Karma, Chris, and Greg huddled together, as a wavy green and white light 
began to flow out from Celebi, encompassing the trio and blotting out their 
senses. As everything was blocked out by the light, time seemed to slow, and 
sounds echoed, almost as if they were entering a tunnel. Eventually, all they 
could hear was Celebi's cry. The last thing they saw was Entei, Suicune, and 
Raikou charging the enraged Mewtwo, and then they disappeared into time.