“You okay, Mabosstiff?” Arven asked his partner, who hid under the lab’s kitchen table.

“Woof,” he whined, and he glanced at the window, where the flowery curtains had been pulled back.

“I know. That was weird,” Arven said. One minute, he and Mabosstiff were eating their sandwiches, and the next, the lab’s interior glowed infrared due to some strange phenomenon outside.

Arven went to close the curtains, but he stopped when he heard a small tinkle beside him. It sounded like wind chimes. Before he knew it, a light flashed in his face, and a figure appeared deep in its green core.

The Pokémon looked like a fairy. It flapped its tiny, white wings, and its large, sky-blue eyes met Arven’s.

“What in the world?” he asked. “It’s a Celebi! What’s a Celebi doing in Paldea?” He remembered reading about Celebi, the Time Travel Pokémon, in his Biology class. It was Mr. Jacq’s favorite non-Paldean Pokémon.

“Bi, bi,” Celebi said. It tapped Arven’s arm and gestured for him to follow it.

“Look, I don’t know what kind of Pokémon you are,” he snapped. “And I sure as heck ain’t gonna let those big, blue eyes pull me into your trap.” He crossed his arms and turned away from Celebi.

It waved its little hands and said, “Bi! Bi!” Celebi quickly flew in front of Arven’s face. It pointed at his chest and then it soared over to a box of old photos mixed in with all the lab supplies. It dug through it and pulled out an old, dusty picture of Arven and Professor Sada.

Arven was three. The picture showed him cuddling a Mastiff (the pre-evolution of Mabosstiff), with Sada smiling at him in the background.

Grunting, Celebi dragged the photo to Arven, but its weight caused it to lose altitude.

Luckily, Arven caught the picture before Celebi could drop it.

“Wait a minute,” he said, while he studied the photo, “are you saying that I can see my mom again?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Bi! Bi!” Celebi replied with a quick nod. It again gestured for Arven to follow it.

For a second, he didn’t move. He merely stared at the photo, lost in thought, and then he yelled. He chucked it at the table Mabosstiff hid under.

The dog Pokémon moved off to the side, allowing him to narrowly avoid the photo.

Collecting himself, Arven inhaled and exhaled—inhaled and exhaled. “I’m sorry, Mabosstiff,” he finally said.

“Arf.” Mabosstiff’s tail wagged behind him. He crawled out from under the table and approached his partner.

Arven faced Celebi and asked, “Are you sure I can trust you?” After what his mom did to him when he was a child, did he want to see her again? AI Sada’s words echoed in his brain:

“Your mother truly loved you.”

Did she? She forced Arven to grow up all by himself, soon after she got him Mastiff. It had been thirteen long years. Thirteen! Yet, Arven still couldn’t help but feel needy.

“Okay,” he finally said to Celebi. “How can you help me?”

Smiling, Celebi waved him along. It took him to the deepest section of the lab—the section that had Professor Sada’s old research materials: handbooks, supplies, and even safety goggles.

From where it hovered, Celebi held its hands up to its mouth and giggled, “Bi, bi, bi!” At its command, the wall behind the research materials cut into two halves, revealing a single small room with a Gimmighoul-like chest in it. It was red with gold trimming and was light to the touch.

“What the—?” Arven asked himself. In the thirteen years he had been living alone, he never found this secret chamber. But why?

Bewilderment held Arven down like hands, but he shakily removed the chest and set it on his lap.

Celebi landed on his shoulder and pointed at it. “Bi,” it ordered.

Arven peered over his shoulder at it. Celebi’s big blue eyes mesmerized him all of a sudden, and he gave it a weak smile. “I can see my mom again?” He almost choked on his words.

Celebi propped up on its perch and bounced a little. “Bi!”

Slowly and carefully, Arven opened the chest’s top. As soon as he did, a new kind of infrared—a violet one—flashed in his face. To Arven’s surprise, he found no Gimmighoul coins in the chest, but a violet book that looked identical to his Scarlet one. Instead of Koraidon on the cover, though, it was something else. It was a creature that looked like Koraidon, but at the same time, different.

Something huffed behind Arven, and he gasped. Dropping the book, he whirled around… and saw a Pokémon he had never seen before.

The creature’s slick, violet body shimmered like a brand-new machine, and it rolled the wheel on its chest forward. “Agia,” it seemed to laugh.

“This is Miraidon,” a sudden, wise voice explained in Arven’s head. “I brought him from the future, and he’s going to help you.”

“Wait a minute!” Arven said, glancing at Celebi. “Did you just…?”

“I certainly did,” Celebi answered telepathically. “Don’t you just love us Psychic Pokémon? But enough of that. It’s time, Arven, for you to return to Area Zero.”