Chapter 156: Wherever She Was, He Was Never Far
It was summer, and the sun was bright.
When Will saw the two humans having a barbecue by the lake, he was a little surprised, because one of them was a beautiful woman with long, golden hair. At first glance, he thought he had run into Cynthia. But then he remembered: in this era, forget Cynthia, even her grandmother hadn't been born yet.
Maybe it's her grandmother or great-grandmother, Will mused. If that were the case, things might get interesting.
"Turtwig~" Turtwig called out from a distance.
A young man beside the blonde woman turned his head, his gaze immediately falling on the largest of the group, Will.
"Budew~" The Budew saw its trainer and quickly ran over, pouncing into the woman's arms.
Oh, so they have different trainers, Will thought, realizing his mistake. He had assumed Turtwig and Budew belonged to the same person.
"Well now, aren't you a clever one, Budew? You went out and made two big friends," the woman's voice was magnetic and gentle. She reached out a slender finger and gently stroked the Budew.
"Dew!" the Budew nodded proudly, as if it were the most amazing Pokémon in the world.
"They look like two powerful Pokémon! Turtwig, you must be dying to battle them, right?" the stern-faced young man asked, looking at his Turtwig with a passionate fire in his eyes.
"Turtwig," the Turtwig rolled its eyes. It knew its trainer would be like this.
"Hello! My name is Shigeru Rowan, but everyone just calls me Rowan! Big guy, let's have a red-blooded Pokémon..."
Smack!
Before the young man could finish, the blonde woman smacked him on the back of the head. "I'm sorry. This one gets a little carried away when he sees a strong Pokémon or trainer. My name is Celestia," she said, looking apologetically at Will and Meowscarada. Who challenges someone to a battle the moment they meet? It was too rude.
Celestia didn't know that over a hundred years from now, this would be a common occurrence among Battle Trainers.
"It's fine," Will said, giving a calm wave, though his heart was in turmoil. The two people standing before him seemed to have extraordinary identities.
In the future, the most authoritative Pokémon Professor in the Sinnoh region would be Professor Rowan. And in the Hisui region, centuries or millennia ago, the leader of the Galaxy Team in Jubilife Village was named Kamado. His full name was likely Shigeru Kamado Rowan. This young man was probably his descendant, and Professor Rowan's ancestor.
As for the other one... Celestia. The name itself wasn't special. But when connected to two other names, it became extraordinary. Celestia, Cynthia's grandmother, and Cynthia. That, combined with her signature long, straight blonde hair, made it impossible not to see the connection.
"Meow~" Meowscarada gave a natural wave of her hand, greeting them. She had no idea and no interest in who these two were.
"Celestia, what kind of Pokémon are they? I've never seen them," Shigeru asked.
"You can't even recognize a Budew. It's no surprise you can't recognize a Sceptile from Hoenn or a Meowscarada from Paldea," Celestia said, shaking her head. She knew her childhood friend all too well. He was a simple, straightforward brute who acted on pure passion and was sorely lacking in basic Pokémon knowledge.
"Whoa! Pokémon from other regions! Are they strong?" Shigeru's eyes lit up.
"I don't know about others, but these two... yes, they're very strong," Celestia said, sizing them up and nodding with certainty. "Where's your trainer? I see you have a small bag; you must have one, right?"
"No," Will shook his head decisively. They would likely be traveling together for a while; it wasn't good to lie.
"Then why are you carrying a bag? Haha, how interesting," Shigeru laughed, looking at the small pack on Will's back. Generally, unless a Pokémon had a particular interest in fashion or its trainer required it, most wouldn't be willing to carry extra things.
"? You're wild Pokémon? Then you must be incredibly strong," Celestia's face showed her shock. "If they're wild, that means they came to Sinnoh all on their own, from Hoenn or Paldea. Do you think they could have made it without being strong?"
Shigeru was completely stunned.
Turtwig and Budew then explained Will's request to their trainers.
"Huh? Of course, that's no problem! Right?" Shigeru immediately turned to Celestia, afraid she would refuse.
"Yes, it's a small matter. It just so happens that Shigeru's family lives in Jubilife City, and I've been staying with them recently," Celestia nodded.
"That's great!"
"Turtwig!"
Shigeru picked up his Turtwig and spun around in circles.
"He's over twenty years old, but he still acts like a child," Celestia sighed, giving him a helpless look.
Just then, wisps of black smoke drifted past them, carrying a burnt smell.
"Oh no! My barbecue!" Shigeru's face changed. He dropped Turtwig and ran to his grill.
"Hehe, sorry about that," Celestia said, scratching her head awkwardly. She sighed, "Come and sit down over here. It'll probably be a while before we can eat."
"Okay," Will said politely. He followed her to the grass by the river and sat down, his eyes falling on the book in her hands.
Turtwig, Meowscarada, and Budew ran to the riverbank to drink.
"Are you interested in this? Can Pokémon even read human writing?" Celestia asked, holding up the book.
"Hmm," Will grunted. He reached into his own backpack and pulled out a book. It was the biography of Liz that Milo had given him.
"Oh? You have one too?" Celestia was surprised to see the book in his pack.
"It was a gift," Will explained, though she couldn't understand him.
"Someone must have given it to you. Although there aren't many copies of this book left, it's quite famous in the Sinnoh region," Celestia said, opening to the first page. There were no words, just a simple hand-drawn illustration: Liz, pressed against a Dragonite's large belly.
It was drawn by one of them, Will thought, memories surfacing. The picture was an almost perfect depiction of the moment he had returned to the capital and reunited with Liz. It could only have been drawn by someone who had been there.
"In the past, when Sinnoh was still called the Hisui region, the relationship between humans and Pokémon was quite hostile. But around the same period, on the southern continents of Kanto and Johto, humans and Pokémon were already able to help each other and develop together," Celestia began to summarize the story. "And it was at that time that a queen came from the south. Starting from Jubilife Village, she brought about a great change to the land of Hisui."
Will was stunned. The content she was describing... seventy to eighty percent of it was the exact plot that the player was supposed to experience in Pokémon Legends: Arceus!
Liz, in the Hisui of a thousand years ago, had become the "player character"!
"After that, the relationship between humans and Pokémon changed dramatically. And Professor Laventon, with her help, made great leaps forward in his Pokémon research," Celestia said, closing the book. No matter how many times she read it, she never got tired of it. "I'm very interested in the past, and in the special Pokémon mentioned in this book. I want to find out everything I can about them. That's my dream."
Will looked at her. That was not an easy path to walk.
"Why is he on the cover?" Will asked, pointing at the picture of himself. If the book was about Liz's time in Hisui, there shouldn't be anything about him in it.
"Hm? That's Lan. What's wrong?" Celestia asked, not understanding his meaning. But then she remembered something else. "Speaking of which, Liz and Lan are the ideal for many trainers."
Will tilted his head, confused. The ideal? Did they want to leave their names in history like he and Liz had?
"Although Lan wasn't Liz's husband, wherever her name appears, his is never more than three sentences away," Celestia said, stroking the cover with a sigh. "This book doesn't actually talk much about Lan's story. But in Liz's own words, he is never absent. It's as if he was always by her side. In the entire book, Liz's name appears 1,314 times. Lan's name also appears 1,314 times."
Will couldn't help but turn his head and look north. The phantom of Liz was standing there, as if looking back, searching for something.
"That bond is something that countless trainers and Pokémon aspire to," Celestia sighed.
"...Anyone can achieve it," Will murmured, looking at her. Sola and Skitty, Tom and Corphish, Gunther and his Slowpoke... In this era, where the strength of a Pokémon was no longer the most important thing, how could a trainer and a Pokémon who had chosen each other ever fail?
"That bag of yours... it seems very important to you. It's so worn out, but you haven't thrown it away," Celestia said, her gaze shifting to the small pack in his lap. After two years of wind and rain, the small cloth bag was tattered. And for a Sceptile as large as him to carry it... it must be very uncomfortable.
Will looked down at the bag and stroked it. It was very important. He couldn't throw it away.
"It seems you also have a cherished experience," Celestia said.
Will smiled and nodded. Although their time together had been short, he had indeed made unforgettable and precious memories with those people.
"When we get back to Jubilife, let me help you repair that bag. You want it to stay with you a little longer, right?"
"...Thank you. I'd appreciate that," Will said, looking down at the bag and nodding heavily.
"Hey~ Food's ready!" Shigeru's voice called out. Everyone gathered to eat.
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