Chapter 25: Return to Death Time Chris plopped down on his knees. He breathed out heavily and sighed. Things were happening too fast. Around him the green and white light was dissipating; slowly, the background became visible. It was dark now; night time, a large clear full moon illuminated the plain that stretched out around around them. There were no Miltank within view now, the grass of the plain now pristine, the dark and burned area was gone, and the mound of ice had disappeared from the road. Mewtwo, Entei, Suicune, and Raikou too had disappeared. Chris had been the one planning to go back in time, but even he found it a little hard to believe they had actually just done it. Was he himself, somewhere at this moment, sleeping at the Cerulean Pokemon Center? Was Entei, no Greg, about to be murdered? Beside him, Karma looked down at him. The moon made her purple eyes beautiful he thought. She sighed and said, "They weren't lying." "Hmm?" asked Entei behind them. "Their auras. Suicune, Raikou, and the other Entei...they all had human auras: blue." Karma explained. Chris glanced up. Celebi was no longer dancing in the air, now its eyes were closed. Its attention seemingly turned toward the sky, its breath now deep and a little ragged. "I don't get it," Entei said bluntly. "I thought we were doing this so that we could undo everything and make sure I didn't end up as a pokemon. But in the future we're going to be pokemon anyways?" Karma looked unsure and Entei's brow was darkened. They were deep in thought. Oh sure, the situation probably warranted at least a little thought. In fact, the very nature of reality probably required a little re-thinking at this point. But Chris was tired: "Enough!" Entei and Karma looked down at him, and even Celebi lifted one eye and peeked down. Chris sighed and laid outstretched on the grass. "Whatever happens, will happen. I don't think there's any point worrying about it now. Let's worry about the future when it comes." "Pii!" Celebi peeped out happily above him. Then it closed its eyes again, facing the sky again. Karma shook her head at Chris and sighed at Celebi: "Figures, a time- traveling pokemon would like that sort of mentality..." Entei grumbled something inaudible and lay down as well. Karma glared at him but she too quickly sat down as well. Not as carefree as Chris, but crossed legged. About twenty minutes passed like this; the trio surrounding the green fairy as it floated in midair quietly, its dark-ringed eyes still closed. Then those eyes popped open and it floated down to ground level between them. "Pii!" it cried as it motioned out to them. Chris looked unsure, until he remembered that Sabrina had made physical contact with them before teleporting them. He rose slightly and reached out, grabbing Celebi's small hand. Karma too had gotten the point and she reached out as well. Entei got it last, but he imitated the two humans and lumbered forward, its large front paw placed on top of the others. Everything became white and blurry. Chris stumbled slightly and fell back when the land seemed to lurch upward and suddenly, they found themselves facing a hedge. The night was clear. The moon's light now seemed much brighter, and the verdant green scenery was highlighted nicely. Celebi was gone. It hadn't time traveled away however, the usual green and white light Chris now associated with that action wasn't present. Evidently, it had simply teleported there in and teleported itself away. Chris got up and brushed himself off slighly. His hands were wet from the dew on the grass. Beside him, Karma too rose and glanced up at the moon: "The moon, hmm? Alright, but what about 'fire' and 'bird'?" Chris shrugged. He didn't think it mattered. Ho-Oh is a Fire and Flying Type pokemon Chris suddenly remembered. His eyes widened at that; he was a native of the Johto region so he knew about the legendary Ho-Oh, he had visited the Tin Tower Shrine as a child. But he hadn't made a connection to Ho-Oh until now, now that the other Entei had mentioned the mythical phoenix. Ho-Oh brought the first legendary beasts back to life as legendaries. Another thought hit Chris, this one like a brick. Ho-Oh was a 'phoenix', it had the power to rebirth not only itself but others. Suicune, Entei, and Raikou... Things were beginning to connect. He didn't say any of this out loud, but some of the weirder corners not came together in his mind. Like a loose puzzle. Yet the center still wasn't clear. Even if Ho-Oh had brought Greg back to life, why it had done so was unclear. Or at what time even, after all, it didn't appear that Ho-Oh was around here. And why were the three of them still pokemon in the future? Chris sighed. It was a jumble. Entei stood beside them, its face turned to the hedge. Its face rapt with attention. Karma glanced at it: "What's wrong?" Entei sniffed the air and suddenly bounded outward. Its large body instantly cleared the hedge, and it ran headlong into the area beyond. Chris and Karma cried out and followed. Their hurried paces however were no match for that kind of speed and they fell behind immediately. They saw Entei bound into another hedge and then heard its bark. Quite a cry it was, the quiet of the land was shattered, in its place an explosively furious sound raged. The great fiery dog's cried filled the air as Chris and Karma proceeded forward. They reached the hedge together (Chris substantially out of breath; Karma didn't look quite as perturbed) and found Entei was stationed between two people. The moon filled the clearing and the scene was bathed in silver. Entei's body was turned towards a man. The man backed away quickly from the large dog, but tripped and landed sprawled on the floor, his knife spilling into the grass. "Greg," Karma muttered beside Chis, her eyes focused on the second person. Chris turned and found the second person in the clearing. An elder boy, he was dressed simply enough, shirt and jeans. Although Chris noted he had blond hair and, Chris could have sworn, in the light from the moon, that purple sparkled in the boy's eyes. Then Chris felt stuffy. It was unnatural and he glanced around. Entei's large barks were slowly becoming more drowned out by a large humming. The noise echoed as if they were entering a tunnel. The dark of the night was becoming brighter and brighter. Chris' thoughts were becoming un-cohesive but he guessed accurately enough about what was happening: he was un-becoming. Entei's intrusion into the events on the other side of the hedge had changed the time line enough. Greg would no longer die, so he would never become a Growlithe, and they would never meet. They would never embark on their quest to return Growlithe to human form, so Chis theoretically shouldn't be back in time to stop a murder. Since now it hadn't happened. Chris turned to Karma. Noise was no longer audible to him. But he reached out and pulled at her to get his attention. He told her how he felt. Of course she couldn't understand him at this point, but she seemed to get the message clear enough. For the first time, she smiled at him. She hugged him, and elation filled his entire being. Or rather, the little he could still feel. He could have floated away then, and he did. His consciousness disappeared into time. On the other side of the hedge, the Entei had leaped unto the man in the over coat. The strength of the beast (and the sheer fright) had sent the dirty man into stumbling; unconscious. Entei had then proceeded to maw his legs, its intent on leaving him crippled. Yet this was for naught. Greg witnessed the fiery dog seemingly kill the man, and he too had drawn a pokeball for protection. Yet before he could even call out a companion, the Entei suddenly disappeared. As if it had never been there at all, the dog vanished into the night. Quiet returned to the clearing and Greg stopped to look around nervously. He approached the downed man and was surprised to find no hint of crimson blood, shattered bones, or orange sinew. The man's legs were fine, he laid there sprawled on the grass. Greg swore he had seen the beast rip through his legs and now he was even more confused than before. A knife gleamed out from the grass and Chris remembered. The man had been following him, approaching him with that knife just when the brown beast had barked out. Had his life been saved? he wondered somewhat numbly. He kicked the sprawled man and a moan escaped his lips. A pokeball clutched in his hands, he intended to immobilize the man and take him to Bill's house. Bill was his distant cousin, he had been on his way to visit him before the events had unfolded. He was genius. A crazy genius. He was also prone to nights of insomnia and nocturnal activity, staying awake to obscure hours, so it was usually best to visit at night if you wanted to catch him awake. Greg's pokeball was tossed and opened, the red light flashing outwards to reveal a large dinosaur like pokemon. It was green, a sauropod, with a long neck. Its body was bulky, and it had great green leaves sprouting down its back. Below its head lay a clump of seemingly ripe bananas: Tropius. The great pokemon trumpeted and turned to its trainer. "Hey yourself, Forestwalker," Greg said. He pointed to the downed figure of the man: "Grass Knot!" The over coat man had awakened to the large Tropis' bellows. He groggily cried out and crawled backwards. Forestwalked rose slightly to its hind feet and slammed downwards. The green of the grass and hedges suddenly glowed a bright verdant light and the plants came to life. They grew wildly and grabbed at the man, wrapping around him, leaving him completely tied up. His body wriggling wildly, his voice muffled by plants that had tied around his mouth. Greg patted Tropius and scooped up the fallen knife. Reflecting mentally on the shiny metal, he sighed. It had been one strange night. Back at the Cerulean City Pokemon Center, Chris Gemport rose from a troubled sleep. His bed covers tossed messily, his eyes opened groggily and he yawned. Silver light danced in from the window and illuminated half the dark room. He glanced at the wall clock and found it read 4:59 AM. Beside his bed, his pokeballs lay clumped together. He yawned again and plopped back unto bed. He needed his rest, he planned to challenge the Cerulean City Gym later that day. Memories of whatever he might have been dreaming disappeared as he fell back into slumber. Karma had spaced out. Noche yelped at her and she jumped. That was so unlike her, Karma was a little unsettled. She never simply drifted off mentally like that. She looked around and saw the clearing she and her pokemon were in. They were performing their usual early morning training. It was still dark out, but in some minutes, the first hints of sunlight would appear behind the mountains. She had already forgotten was she had been day dreaming about, and saw Absol staring at her from above a ridge. She had been challenging her pokemon to improve its jumps and it had cleared it, only to find its trainer had spaced out on it. It yelped again. "Sorry, sorry," Karma coughed. "Good job though, your jumps are really improving." Noche beamed and Karma turned to Piedra and Cuerno. They were sparing further off in a make shift clearing. Karma turned upward and caught sight of the moon. It was truly large this night and it basked the forested clearing in a nice light. The moon- Karma blinked. For a second the moon had seemed significant to her. But then the thought had passed, and her trail of thought had become hazy. She shook her head and turned her attention back to her pokemon.