Celebi Like Them (17)

Quinn shifted, groaning as pain racked through his body. His head pounded, and distant voices magnified until they were shrill screams. "Just a little quieter, please."

He tucked his knees up close, wrapping his arms around them. This was exactly why he didn't drink anymore. Because of mornings like this. 

"Can you please..." But no one was listening to him. He massaged his temples, or tried. But this new body didn't have the same parts. He was a plant now. Might not even have the same circulatory system. "Water."

But no one came. Eventually the pain got bad enough that he had to move. Quinn sat up, squinting until his vision cleared. He was underground, in a space lit only by orange firelight in the distance. Bits of broken machinery lay scattered on the floor, along with huge chunks of dead wood.

Quinn nudged one piece of plastic nearby, and found more or less what he expected; old fake grass, ripped up from the cave floor.

We're alive.

His mind swam, thinking back to that desperate jump forward in time. I didn't need anyone to train me. I know how Celebi travel. Not any of the nuances of course; nor did he imagine he could've done it so successfully without Victini there to share her power with him. 

Even so, he could do it. With enough determination and practice, he could probably get himself and Avery home.

I saw Dialga. That being was more than any Mythical, even more significant than meeting a Mew or any of the other creatures here. Quinn had stood before a god, and survived.

"You're up!" Cedrin spoke from nearby, and Quinn looked. The Celebi was in better shape than last time; the gaps in his wings were gone, looking shiny and freshly-molted. His body was less wilted now too, almost identical to Quinn's.

In health, anyway. He still looked far smaller. "We weren't sure how long you would sleep. Thought you deserved your rest, after..."

"Actually pulling it off?" Quinn suggested. "Told you we could travel through time."

With only the distant fire to light the space, Cedrin remained an outline as he approached, settling on the stone floor next to him. "None of them saw," the Celebi added, silent. "I dunno what that thing was, but it was so strong!"

"Dialga," he thought back. The headache was fading now, leaving only full-body soreness behind. Time travel might involve crossing unseen dimensions to intersect with the linear flow of cause and effect, but it still exerted a measurable, physical toll. "God of time. It's more complex than that, but you get the important parts."

Quinn stood, testing his wings cautiously. Both worked. He could still focus enough to levitate, but kept on the ground for the moment. He needed time to recover.

"What he showed us... is that what your home was like?"

Quinn laughed, cold and humorless. "Nothing like that. I think that's why Dialga warned us. By bringing you all, I was... changing things. The time I came from is wonderful, filled with plants and Pokémon and people. Not what we saw."

"So how do we stop that future from happening?" Cedrin asked. "That's what we're supposed to do, right? You and me."

Quinn patted his shoulder. "I'm the one who caused this. I came back here, interfered in the timeline of my own planet. None of you would be—"

"None of us would be alive if it wasn't for you," said another voice. Victini, radiating her own glow from the red fur on her ears. It was warm, though not painful. Like Quinn, her features were still visibly weakened by what they'd just been through. Her feathers were disheveled, and she had bags under her eyes.

"I put you in danger," Quinn argued. "Teaching you about things you didn't know. If I didn't ask Cedrin to make all those trees—"

"We would've died in treatment," Victini cut him off, annoyed. "Sooner or later. Don't let me hear you doubting whether you did the right thing, fairy. It's always right to help, even when the consequences are painful."

She lifted off the dirty ground, gesturing around at the empty hospital. "It's good to see this place rotting away. No more prisoners." She landed next to him, paws on his shoulders. "We did good, Quinn. Someone had to break it."

He said nothing for a long time. Yes, he was making blind changes without consideration for the potential consequences. But at the same time, the "hospital" was a horrible place, one that shouldn't keep existing.

"I don't regret it," he eventually said. Hopefully that doesn't change. "What's the plan? We're still down here."

"Sable is scouting," Cedrin said. "Since he's a ghost and all. When he gets back, we'll decide what to do."

"We already know what we want to do," Vitari said. "Find those rebels you talked about, get as far away from Starfall as we can. Hopefully it's not on this continent."

He found the others gathered around a campfire on the naked stone. They'd built it over the opening in the ceiling high above, using scraps of the now-dead forest to sustain its heat.

Aster rested near a single red flower a little further away, tucking her head under the leaves. Manny sat on a plain tarp in the dirt, occasionally pawing at nothing. His frustration at the dry pond was obvious in his face, though he spoke little.

Eventually, Sable did return, condensing from the shadows until he obscured a section of the campfire completely.

"There's no one left up there. No nurses, no guards, nothing. Whole compound is deserted. Antigrain missing from the reactor, emergency solar only. No ships left in the hangar."

"We shouldn't take a ship anyway," Vitari said. She sat in the flame more than next to it, apparently comfortable surrounded by the carbonizing wood and the flickering orange. "They could track it. Or remote pilot us into a cliff at the speed of sound."

Sable shrugged. "We have weak Pokémon among us. It would be better if they did not have to carry themselves any great distance. Assuming this rebellion even exists anymore."

They'd moved forward centuries, far enough for only dried wood, carbon residue, and plastic to remain of the old hospital. Avery is dead. Sirius and Baast are gone too.

Not permanently. They're still alive in the past, I just need to find them.

How long did Mew live, anyway? If anything, Avery had a few more years to spare, since she'd been a tiny kitten when he left. Maybe there's a way I can send her a message.

"Resident time traveler is awfully quiet," Vitari said, emerging from the campfire next to him. She shook still-burning embers from her fur, sending them tumbling to the stone in front of Quinn. "Is that rebellion still around? I assume they won by now, and the Admiralty either surrendered or changed their minds. Otherwise, why'd we stop?"

There was no water here, not even a false sun. Maybe that was why Quinn felt so sick. "Sorry. Hard to think in the dark."

"We went as far forward as we could," Cedrin said, putting his small body between the Victini and Quinn. "It's not just about being strong enough. Some time-travel stuff happened."

"Time-travel… stuff," Aria said. "It's not my area, I will assume the two of you know what you're doing."

The Jirachi hummed, her voice an imperfect imitation of the melody Quinn now associated with traveling through time. "But if there are... concerns for our safety, we need to know what you did. Are the Admiralty hunting us? Do they still rule from Starfall? Important questions."

Quinn stood up. "I don't know!"

He must've been a little louder than he thought, because they all fell completely silent, staring at him. Even the Marshadow's eyes dimmed at his sudden energy.

"I don't know a damn thing about this time. I didn't know anything about yours, either. I was only here long enough to melt my best friend with radiation, then turn her brain to fluff. I was barely here two days before a ship came for us. I've never been here before."

He floated above them all, towards the open visitor door. "I'm gonna find the sun. I guess if I get killed, you'll know it's dangerous."

Quinn accelerated away, not listening or caring about anything they might say. He reached the broken metal door, where soldiers had once poured in to try and kill them all. No soldiers remained now, just a visitors' center full of old furniture.

But without the light of the campfire to see by, even Quinn's enormous eyes did him little good. He could feel the minds behind him, but walls and doors and old furniture didn't have thoughts.

Do Celebi know any attacks for this?

He shuffled around in the dark, feeling his way to the elevator. But a sound drew his attention back to the door.

"Anywhere built by Starfall has an emergency kit near all the doors," Cedrin said. "See?"

He couldn't see very well, at least until something bright white radiated from behind him, making him turn. 

Cedrin stood beside a cloth pouch on the wall, holding a strange-looking flashlight in one tiny hand. But strange Mew tech or not, it was still basically just a handheld device with a piece on the end that got bright.

Quinn flew over rather than walking. He kept far enough away from the open doorway that the others wouldn't see him.

"Can I borrow that?"

Cedrin held it close to his chest. "No. But you can borrow me." His wings buzzed, and he lifted up into the air on his own, floating over. "It might be dangerous."

"Exactly the reason you shouldn't go, Cedrin. You're like—thirteen? However old you are. I've already put you in enough danger just getting you involved with all this. That's all I do lately. Put my best friend in danger, left my Pokémon behind, now all of you. Dialga could've erased us. I felt its power. We were... less than nothing."

"But they didn't." Cedrin gestured with the flashlight, pointing at the elevator. "Thirteen, come on. My mother wasn't that cruel. At least finished weaning me before she..." He sagged back to the ground, landing in the rubble. "Can't have the flashlight unless you have me. That's the rule."

He said they had emergency supplies in every room. Quinn could force this if he really wanted. But could he watch the kid's face as he refused an obvious act of solidarity and friendship?

"Fine. But if we see any sign of trouble, you come back down here."

Cedrin beamed, floating quickly back over. "No one's staying down here, it sucks. Sable already scouted, so... everyone's going up. We'll just be first."

Quinn grumbled, but didn't argue. The elevator door was already open, leading to a shaft ascending through the stone into darkness above. So long as it didn't come back on while they were flying through there. 

"Let's get out of here. I think we've both been stuck inside for long enough."