When Celebi prepared to attack, Mitchell wasn't afraid—on the contrary! A satisfied smile appeared on his face.
He slowly pulled a special device from his pocket that looked like a watch.
Seeing Mitchell's movements, Steven frowned. "He's up to something! We can't just stand here and watch! Metagross, let's go!"
Next to him, Phoebe also became alarmed. "Dusknoir, you too, go!"
Cain remained where he was, watching the two charge forward, without stopping them. Mitchell thought he knew Celebi well enough, but compared to Cain, he was far from understanding her.
Cain shifted his gaze to Drake's battlefield, where at that moment he was commanding his six dragon-type Pokémon, launching constant attacks against Tabitha and Shelly.
Even though Mitchell's Pokémon had stayed behind to help, without a Trainer to guide them, how much power could they really unleash?
Even with their best cards in play, Tabitha and Shelly, with only two more allies beside them, were forced to retreat in the face of Drake's solid strategy. They couldn't escape—only take the hits.
Suddenly, Cain communicated with Slowking with a glance. Slowking understood immediately and expanded his psychic powers toward the battle between Tabitha and Shelly, briefly touching them.
Although they were repelled almost instantly, Slowking managed to make contact.
"Yadon!" said Slowking, nodding toward Cain. He smiled and stopped worrying about that battle.
He looked back at Celebi.
As he had predicted, Celebi, although not good at direct combat, had completely dominated the two opposing Pokémon.
If not for Shedinja barely holding on thanks to its Wonder Guard ability, they would have already been defeated.
Meanwhile, the attacks from Steven and Phoebe on Mitchell kept him so busy he couldn't activate his device in time. Finally, in desperation, he called out another Pokémon, which slammed Metagross and Dusknoir into the ground.
With both of them out of action, Mitchell finally activated the device, aiming it at Celebi, who was not far away.
"Got you!" he shouted with a crazed expression on his face.
This device, created by the Hunter's Guild along with other underground organizations, was specifically designed to capture Celebi.
A shockwave of enhanced bug-type energy spread out in buzzing circles, completely surrounding Celebi.
Steven and Phoebe could no longer intervene. Drake, seeing the situation, wanted to help, but Cain stopped him.
"Mr. Drake, keep fighting—everything's fine here."
Though he sounded unconcerned, Cain was already moving with Tyranitar and Slowking, slowly approaching Celebi.
Mitchell, seeing that Cain wasn't paying him any attention, just sent a Pokémon to block his path.
Cain didn't move forward any further. Instead, he shouted to Celebi, "Celebi! Stop playing around, if you keep this up, they'll catch you!"
His tone was mocking.
"Cele~!" Celebi, who had seemed to be suffering, immediately perked up upon hearing Cain's voice, looking at him with her big round eyes.
She showed a face like, "Really? Are you messing with me?"
Seeing her, Mitchell—who had just started laughing—was left speechless, his laughter cut off abruptly.
Not just him: everyone present, except Cain, was stunned.
What!?
Wasn't she suffering just a second ago?
You don't even study acting—why are you so good at it?!
Cain just shook his head, resigned.
Celebi stuck out her tongue, as if to say "Got it!" For the first time, her cheerful expression turned serious.
She gave Mitchell a hostile look.
"Gulp..." Mitchell swallowed.
Even though his device was at full power, Celebi didn't seem affected at all.
Cain looked on with scorn. "What kind of trash is that? If Celebi were that easy to catch, give me a dozen!"
"Ceeleeecc~!" This time, her voice sounded angry.
Suddenly, the air tore open. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of spatial rifts appeared in the sky, like stars scattered all around.
Through each rift, a different scene could be seen, but all shared one thing:
From each one, a Celebi emerged.
One...
Two...
Three...
Thousands... tens of thousands of Celebi appeared in the hollow tree.
They all seemed to know each other. They greeted and laughed with one another. Then, they all looked at the one who had called them.
"Cele~!" the original pointed, with a victim-like face, at Mitchell, who was still holding the device.
"Cele~!"
"Cele~!"
"Cele~!"
The cries rose in chorus.
Even Drake, Tabitha, and Shelly stopped their battle. They looked up, swallowing hard at the endless wave of Celebi.
Mitchell didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or faint.
Would crying help? Maybe they'd forgive him if he did?
Steven and Phoebe, once the shock wore off, looked at him with... pity?
And he was their enemy!
But seeing how the Celebi lifted him into the air like a volleyball, the reaction was inevitable.
It wasn't long before Mitchell disappeared into one of the spatial rifts.
The Celebi wouldn't kill him; it wasn't their style. But they had likely exiled him to some desolate, inhospitable place. Without Pokémon, it was unclear whether he'd survive even a day.
Once satisfied, the Celebi began to say goodbye to each other and returned through the rifts they had come from, without getting mixed up, in order.
When only one remained, no one had moved yet.
Celebi turned her gaze toward Tabitha and Shelly.
"Gulp..." both of them swallowed hard, forced very awkward smiles, and recalled their Pokémon, surrendering.
Celebi, compassionate, seeing that they were being reasonable, did nothing more.
(End of chapter)