Chapter Text
The elite four was a struggle, but he managed to win. There’s a celebration, big and flashy. He hears they’re going to throw a parade, which makes him cringe internally. Being the center of attention doesn’t feel good right now. He wonders if they’ll make him give a speech.
On his way to his date(!!!!) with Silver, he decides to walk from Azelea town.
“Hey Champion!” Lyra’s voice cries out. “You finally asked red-hair and probably parental issues on a date, huh?”
“Hello to you too, Lyra.” He groans, but there’s no malice to it.
“Is that a yes?” She sings.
He pauses before staring at her, and takes a resigned deep breath. Lyra holds her breath in suspense. “It’s a yes!” He yells, and the two cheer, and jump up in the air to high-five.
Ethan smiles and rubs the back of his head. “I feel bad though. I don’t want to betray my soulmate, but being near him just feels…right.”
Lyra sighs. “Are you sure you didn’t just meet as kids or something and forget?”
“I dunno. You think that could have happened?” The two walk towards the forest’s shrine. Ethan leans on the side of it.
“Biii!” a voice rings out from nowhere in particular.
He hears the Pokemon cry surround them, as a green, fairy-like Pokemon fades into view in front of the duo.
“Is that the forest guardian!?” Lyra cries. The pokemon lets out a cheerful cry in response. “Oh no! We weren’t being disrespectful were we? I’m so sorry Celebi!” She frantically falls to her knees and bows.
Ethan stands still, in awe of the tiny creature. All the legendaries he’s met have been so intimidating, but the mythical Pokemon seemed different. The creature flies around to Lyra and chirps reassuringly, trying to calm her down. It seemed like a happy little onion fairy.
Celebi flies up to Ethan and lets out a cry, as if it heard his thoughts.
“Psst-.Ethan!” Lyra hisses as she jabs him in the side. “You’re being rude! Bow!” She whispers-yells at him, and Ethan scrambles to his knees. The Pokemon lets out what sounds like a giggle.
As they both rise, Celebi flies in a few circles around the two, before stopping in front of Ethan.
“Biiiiii!” It cries, as the forest around them seems to glow with luminous green light. Is Celebi using a move? Ethan reaches for his Pokeball.
The room begins to spin as Ethan and Lyra float in the air, light consuming their vision as the forest vanishes around them.
“Oof!” Lyra hits the ground with a thud, and Ethan lands on his feet shortly after. Celebi is spinning in circles.
The two look around, examining their surroundings. It looks like any other route in Kanto, but they were just in Johto. Could Celebi have teleported them?
“Woah. Where are we?” Lyra grabs her Pokegear from her bag and cracks it open.
“This looks like Viridan…” Ethan says. Lyra hums for a second, staring at the Pokegear before her jaw goes slack.
“I don’t think we’re-” She pauses. “No, this is definitely Viridian!” Ethan snaps his fingers, interrupting. Lyra shoves his Pokegear in his face and jabs a finger at the date.
“3 o’ clock pm? 2005?” Ethan reads aloud. “That can’t be right!”
Lyra is shaking slightly as she speaks. “There’s a rumor that the forest guardian makes people disappear who mess with the shrine!
You don’t think..?”
“We time travelled!?” Ethan cries out. Celebi cheers, as if to confirm. “But why did you take us to Viridian?”
Celebi tugs on his sleeve, which makes him lean forward.
“Maybe it wants to show you something?” Lyra muses, “You don’t think we’re stuck here, do you?!” She slaps her hand to the side of her head.
“I’m going to miss my date!” Ethan turns to Celebi. “You have to take us back!” The Pokemon continues to tug on his sleeve, trying to pull him forward, if it understands his panic, it shows no sign.
“If you’re in the past, and the date is in the future, are you really missing it? ” She puts her hand to her chin, clearly thinking. Ethan’s glad she’s done freaking out, but he’s still panicked!
What if he misses the date with Silver! Silver would never speak to him again, and then who would Ethan battle? Joey with the Rattata?
“Ethan.” Lyra says.
Ethan doesn’t care that Joey’s Rattata is in the top 10% of Rattata, he can one-shot it with ember. If Silver goes away then-
“Ethan!” Lyra yells as she snaps her fingers in front of his face. “Get it together! We’re never going to get out of here if we don’t see what Celebi wants!”
He lets out a groan of frustration, and then a resigned sigh. “You’re right.” He pokes Celebi as he walks forward. “But you better take us back afterwards!” Celebi cheers as the three walk towards the road to the city.
“Hey, do you guys hear voices coming from ahead?” Ethan tilts his head and listens. He can make out yelling, but it seems distant.
“Yeah, let’s check it out!” Ethan begins to take a step forward.
“Wait!” She grabs his arm. “Should we tell them we’re from the future? What if we like- ruin the timeline?”
Ethan pauses, she might have a point. He nods, “If we just don’t say anything at all, we should be fine, right?” Lyra nods back, and they run towards the noise.
The three make it to the location where they heard the yelling, and reach the entrance to Viridan City. An important looking man stands in front of the pavilion, buttoned up in a suit that seems slightly disheveled. The man looks stressed.
As he tilts to the side, he sees a young boy standing next to him.
No.
That couldn’t be.
The redhead looks angry, fist clenched. Is this what Silver looked like as a kid?
“You told me… you were the number one trainer in the world!” He yells at the man, voice breaking.
The younger Silvers chest heaves as he struggles for breath.
“Are you gonna quit? What are you going to do now?" He looks up at the older man, who Ethan presumes is Silver’s father. He supposes Lyra was right about the daddy issues.
The older man sighs, “One must acknowledge one's defeat before he can move on... I will go solo...for now. So that one day I will be stronger.” He pauses.
"Putting together the potential of many is how you produce the most power. That's what an organization is… its strength! I failed to make the best use of my subordinates' potential. But you shall witness one day the revival of me and Team Rocket!"
Ethan gasps. Was the older man Giovanni? Ethan knew little about him, outside of that he was a gym leader, and secretly the leader of Team Rocket. It really brought into perspective how little Ethan really knew about Silver.
The younger Silver is quiet, and shaking. Is it with rage, fear, resentment? Ethan has no clue.
“...One day, you will understand." Giovanni says after a tense silence between the two.
The younger Silver begins to cry, as he shakes his head.
"I don't want to understand you! I will never become someone like you. A coward when you're alone and acting like a tyrant when you're in front of other cowards! I will become strong! I will become a stronger man than you by myself! All by myself!" He turns around and takes off into a run, Giovanni reaches a hand out, presumably to call to him, but he pulls back, and turns around towards the road's end.
Silver is going straight towards him, but all Ethan can do is stare, thinking about comparing this Silver to the Silver he knows. He’s proud of him.
Wiping away tears, the younger Silver tilts his head up to see Ethan and Lyra blocking the path.
“...What are you looking at?”
Before Ethan can say anything, SIlver shoves him and Lyra out of the way and runs.
Lyra’s eyes are wide.
“Oh.” She says quietly.
“Oh.” Ethan needs to sit down.
It was him all along. It was always him.
Celebi appears from the woods, and begins to chirp, as it loops around him once more. Ethan’s head hurts. He doesn’t know if he feels better or worse. He’s ecstatic that Silver is his soulmate. A part of him always knew that. But he feels like he just walked in on a part of his life that he shouldn’t have seen without asking.
It certainly makes their first meeting make a lot more sense, at least.
He doesn’t know what to do, or what to think. How does he tell him? He turns to Celebi; he needs to get back, now.
“Celebi…thank you. Can you take us back now?”
Celebi gives him a nod. The area around them begins to glow and spin once more, as the area begins to vanish.
The area fades back into the familiar deep green woodland of Ilex Forest. Celebi isn’t there anymore.
“Well.“ Lyra sighs.
“I guess the world works in funny ways. Sometimes those ways are just time travel to see your soulmate's dad leave your soulmate on the side of the road.” Ethan chooses to ignore that and whips out his Pokegear to check the date.
2008. He sighs, glad. He's happy they made it back on time.
5pm. He is no longer happy about making it back. He should've told Celebi about his date!
It’s a 20-minute walk to Goldenrod! He’s totally going to be late! He frantically flips through his contacts, before realizing he’s never actually gotten Silver’s number. He takes off towards Goldenrod, not bothering to say goodbye to Lyra.
All he can do is hope Silver is still there before he leaves.