Fannon, Pokemon Satire: The Keeper of Time

 The Keeper of Time

While searching in the forests of the Univa region Gary and his crew started to notice an odd trend. The trees were getting progressively younger and younger. This forest had existed for over two hundred years and had never been cleared, nor had any forest fires occurred. It was as if the forest was getting younger, the further back he went into it. One of the scientists cored the tree and found something astonishing.

“Get a look at this Gary,” he said.

Gary ran over to him to get a look at the core. “What is the matter?”

“This core, it is as if the rings of this tree just keep doubling back on themselves.”

He looked at the core to see what looked like a fifteen lines, but each line had had several tiny lines within it, as if the tree were almost a century old but had not aged beyond that of a sapling. Gary looked very surprised. “I need you to go and core one of the older trees that we past.”

He ran back and cored one of the older trees; this time he was even more surprised than before. The tree was nearly three times the diameter of the previous one yet it only had six extremely thick rings. “That’s impossible,” he said.

“What is?” Gary overheard.

“This tree is considerably younger than the other one”.

Gary ran over to examine the core and asked in shock, “Where are we Professor Cedar?”

He looked on ahead to notice the rest of his team had continued walking forward. Gary and Cedar ran to catch up to them when they came to a clearing. Several dozen pokemon eggs lay on the ground. One of the scientists was already on the ground examining an egg with a stethoscope. “I cannot find a heart-beat,” he said in shock.

“This one is like that too,” said another scientist with an egg.

“Are they all dead?” Gary asked.

“Not quite,” Said Cedar, “I don’t think they are dead; it is as if they are all frozen in time.”

“Should we take them to a pokemon centre?” Gary asked.

“I think that would be a logical idea,” replied Cedar. “Everyone, grab as many eggs as you can carry”.

“I’ll stay here and keep looking for anything else odd,” Gary declared.

With one egg under each arm Cedar nodded.

Just then all of the eggs started glowing at once. The crew could feel the infant pokemon moving inside of them and immediately dropped them to the ground. The eggs cracked and you could hear the sounds of hundreds of baby pokemon as they hatched from their eggs. “What just happened?” Gary asked stunned.

“Who dares to disturb my forest?” Came a roaring voice from every direction.

“Who are you?” Gary cried.

Suddenly all the crew members accept for Gary began to glow like the eggs did moments before. Cedar’s grey hair turned brown and his wrinkles began to fade. Gary looked around to see that the same thing was happening to everyone else. He looked at his hands to see that nothing was changing with him.

The glowing stopped and the entire crew had been reduced to that of teenagers, barely older than Gary.

“Teleport,” the voice uttered a single word and the entire crew vanished from the clearing and landed in the laboratory of Professor Oak.

Gary slowly got up to see a surprised look on his grandfather’s face. He jump, startled by the old man, “Grandpa? Where are we?” he questioned while vigorously looking around.

“How did you get into my lab? And who are all these people?” He asked still half in shock.

“They are your researchers. This man to my left is Professor Cedar,” Gary pointed to the man standing next to him in the white lab coat that now draped him. Once a middle-aged man now only looked a few years older than Gary.

“Cedar?” Professor Oak asked.

“That’s me, but I’m no professor. You must be thinking of my father; the pokemon doctor. How did I get here?”

“We were all teleported here from the Univa forest by something,” Gary explained. “Do you remember anything?”

The man shook his head.

“Kurt, what is the last thing you remember?” Professor Oak asked Cedar. He and him had been friends for a very long time and had even gone to the same academy together.

“I remember playing with Charmander in a large field,” he said.

“You haven’t seen your Charmander since you were,” he paused to think for a moment, “a teenager. He’s now a Charzard and you gave him to your son.”

“I have a son?” he asked in confusion.

Professor Oak glanced around the room at what used to be his colleagues to see a bunch of kids of a similar age to his grandson. “Do any of you remember anything that just happened?”

They all shook their heads in dismay.

“Gary, did anything else strange happen to you in the forest?”

Gary quickly reached into Professor Cedar’s pocket to pull out the two tree cores.

“Hey watch it!” he yelled.

“Sorry,” said Gary. He showed his grandfather the cores as he began to explain. “The trees started looking younger and younger but when we checked their rings; the younger ones were really old on the inside and the large older looking ones had only a few rings”.

Professor Oak picked up the cores to examine them more closely.

“There’s more, once we got to a clearing. There were all these pokemon eggs. None of them had a heart-beat, so we all picked up as many as we could to take them to the nearest pokemon centre. But as soon as we picked them up...” Gary continued to explain the rest of the events.

Professor Oak nodded, “Gary, I want you to take out your pokemon.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">He nodded and tossed his three poke-balls into the air. Ever since Gary abandoned training to become a researcher he, for the most part, only carried around his Blastoise, Umbrion, and his Electrovire. The poke-balls opened to release a Squirtle, an Electobuz and an Evee.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Professor Oak, the only one who could remember what pokemon his grandson actually had (apart from him of course) stood there in shock.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Gary was just as shocked as well, “How could this have happened?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Does anyone else have pokemon on them?” Professor Oak asked.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Everyone but Cedar shook their heads.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Kurt,” Professor Oak asked him to open his poke-ball, and out popped a Shinx, a Marril and a Cyndaquil.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Ah, Professor, what did I used to have?” asked Kurt.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Kurt, do you remember the legend your father told us? About Chronojin?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“You mean the time pokemon?” Kurt asked back.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Professor Oak nodded.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“What’s a Chronojin?” Gary asked.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“It’s only a legend,” Professor Oak began, “but... a long time ago there was a man who was very old and his only wish was to be young again. One night he wandered into the forest and when he looked up at the sky he noticed the moon was moving in the opposite direction. Suddenly a strange pokemon appeared. “I will grant you your wish,” it said, “but you must give me something in return. The old man nodded. Chronojin lifted his arms and clocks on his hands began to glow. I will grant you eternal youth, but in exchange, you remember nothing of the life you once new, you will begin life anew. With every year you will remain the same age. As well, everyone around you will be sucked into a time warp in which they will not age as long as they are near you. You can call this... the time curse. When you leave this forest you will walk out as a ten year old boy and you will not remember me at all. Don’t worry; a kind young woman will take care of you; I have used psychic to convince her that you are her son. And the man slowly walked out of the forest. He could feel his back straighten, his skin unwrinkle and the colour return to his hair. He walked out of the forest as a young boy. Chronojin’s curse stays with him to this day.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Do you know who this guy is?” asked Gary.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">His Grandfather simply shook his head.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“So how do we undo the curse?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“You need to go back to Chronojin’s forest and walk past the valley where time stands still to the river that flows uphill.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“A river the flows uphill?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Professor Oak nodded.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“What if Chronojin zaps us back again?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“It is the only way.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Gary looked at his crew. He was afraid that they might end up even younger if they went back to the forest, or that Chronojin would find some other way to mess with them. “It is worth a try,” he said finally. “Here, take these,” Gary passed his grandfather his poke-balls. “We can’t risk anything else happening to them.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Professor Oak nodded in agreement.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Do you have any pokemon that can perform teleport in the lab?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Professor Oak shook his head, “you’ll have to get there on your own, Chronojin will just reverse any teleportation attempts. Univa region; kind-or-think-of-it, that is where Ash is about now.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Meanwhile

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Ash, Pikachu and friends were out strolling through a forest. “The trees seem really strange here”, Iris exclaimed.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“What do you mean?” asked Ash.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“They are all kind of spooky,” she replied.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">The branched grew this way and that and fluttered in the wind; such a way that it seemed like it could attack you at any moment.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“It is just the wind,” said Silon.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Suddenly Pikachu jumped off from Ash’s shoulder and sniffed the grass. It then began to sprint ahead.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Ash bolted after him when suddenly a soft white sound started to trickle through the forest. “Is that water I hear?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Pikachu had stopped at a clearing to notice a long and winding river.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Suddenly, one of Ash’s poke-balls started glowing and opened on its own, as it always does. Oshawat popped out and ran towards the stream. Being a water type, Oshawat felt right a home and jumped right into the water for a swim.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Ash smiled, “Pikachu, want to join in?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Pikachu shook its head and slowly backed away from the water.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“What’s wrong?” said Ash. He followed the stream with his eyes and noticed that at the end of its meandering course were a series of rapids, but instead of flowing down the rapids as you would expect a river to; the water leapt up the rapids and kept on going. The force of the water was even enough to send Oshawat right up the rocks and he kept on going. “Swim Oshawat”, Ash paused for a moment and then said, “Iris, grab my hand.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">He and Iris locked hands and Ash slowly stepped into the water. “Oshawat,” he yelled, “turn around and use water gun!”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">His pokemon slowly kicked to turn itself around in the current. It aimed its water gun into the river and fired it with all its might. The force of the jet sent it catapulting right into Ash’s chest with one free arm open. As Ash caught Oshawat he lost his balance and fell backwards into the river, taking Iris with him.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Ash, no!” Iris cried.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Just then the sky went black and the three of them appeared to be floating in space.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“So you have had enough I take it?” said a voice that sounded as if it was coming from all directions.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Gary and his team had reached the Univa forest, this time from the other end and came to the river first, which would have been at the far end of the forest from the way they first came.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Silon, still shocked at seeing his friends disappear turned around and asked, “Who are you?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Gary, completely ignoring him looked down at the river to see that it was indeed flowing in the opposite direction. “Now what?” he asked himself, are we supposed to drink from it?” Gary caught his breath from running and finally acknowledged the green-haired man’s presence. “Any idea how this thing works?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Silon shook his head and merely said, “My friends just disappeared.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Disappeared? What were they doing?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“They fell into the water,” Silon answered.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Gary looked back at his research team and then at Silon again. His entire research team nodded with him. “Stay here in case anything happens,” he said to Silon. Gary slowly stepped into the river, followed by the rest of his team.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Silon could only watch in awe as each one of them vanished before his eyes as the current swept them up hill.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Ash opened his eyes to be standing in a black space all around him. “Where am I?” he called out hoping for an answer. Just then, Gary and his research team appeared in the void as well.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Gary looked around in a panic, “Ash? What are you doing here?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Gary,” he said with a sneer.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“So you have finally returned,” said a loud and omnipresent voice.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Ash turned around two times to try and figure out where the voice was coming from. “Where are you? Who said that?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“After all these years; you finally came back; do you regret your decision. Oh wait; you don’t remember anything do you?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“What’s going on? Who are you?” Gary asked; everyone was unsure of who the voice was talking to.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“I am the master of time; they call me Chronojin. You have been disturbing my forest by cutting my trees and picking up the sleeping pokemon. What brings you and your crew here this time?” the voice became loud and angry towards the end.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“I came here to ask you to restore my research team; as well as my pokemon.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“What does this have to do with me?” Ash asked still confused.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Fine; if you insist.” Chronojin began. Suddenly a figure appeared before them. The body was that of a large hourglass with a clock for a head and two long stick like arms stretched out from the pillars of the glass; each one with a small clock on them. At a closer look you could see that clocks on each hand were moving in opposite directions with the right clock moving to the right and the left in the other direction. Everyone stared at the apparition before them. “Many years ago an old man came across my river in the wishing to be young again. He was withered and frail; he looked as though he only had a few days to live. So I granted him his wish but at the cost that I would play with his mind and the people around him wherever he went. To keep up the illusion I would simply overwrite his memory every few years so that he would not remember anything. You, Ash Ketchum are that man.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“I am what?” Ash asked; failing to grasp what Chronojin had just said.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“You have been living as a ten year old boy for almost forty years. You asked to have eternal youth and I gave it to you!”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“I did?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Yes you don’t remember.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“You mean I will never grow up.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Well...”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“But,” Ash cut Chronojin off, “how will I become a pokemon master if I never grow up?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Chronojin chuckled, “you don’t remember all your adventures do you? You have been travelling for many years training and learning new things about pokemon. I think you mastery level is quite high.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Yes, “Ash conceded, “but I am not a master.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“Mastery is an illusion,” Gary spoke out, “My grandfather once told me that. He said it’s because it implies that you know all there is to know about something. Becoming a master takes all the fun out of learning and out of the adventure. You should not strive to be a master; or strive to be the best; you should just strive to learn and to challenge, because the best masters are those who still have a lot to learn.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Ash looked at Gary and ten back at Chronojin. “I have travelled so far and learned so much. I think it is time that I shared my experience with other trainers. I know what I have to do. Chronojin, I want to grow up again.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">“You want me to take the eternal youth spell off of you?”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Ash nodded, “It is time I started a new journey.”

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Chronojin slowly moved over towards Ash. He had no legs; he would tilt to one side, pivot slightly and then lower himself again, inching himself forward very slowly. He reached out his right hand to Ash. “Give me your hand.” Ash reached out his hand. The clock on Chronojin’s hand began to glow. He lifted his hand away from ashes to giving him a small clock. The clock on his right hand simply regenerated. I am giving you your clock. But I warn you that I will no longer be able to tamper with it. It will move forward only from now on.

<p style="text-indent:36.0pt">Chronojin returned all of Gary’s researchers back to their original ages and sent everyone home. Ash later moved back to Pallet Town and opened up his own gym where he now offers advice and coaching to new trainers through pokemon competitions. Did he ever become a master? Mastery is an ongoing process.