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Visions

Part Twenty

Ash stares at the Pokeball in his hand as the team pats him on the shoulder and congratulates him. It is quite a rare catch indeed. A Suicune. There had been no fight, only compliance. It was as if Suicune knew who Ash had become and was willing to bow to the Pokemon Master.

Caught up in his own thoughts, Ash hears a woman's voice distantly.

"Ash!" The sound of his name being screamed wakes him from his thoughts. His head whips around to look into the forest.

"You alright, bro?" Michael questions while trying to peer into the forest where Ash's gaze remains.

"Did you hear that?" Ash asks trying to listen closer, trying to hear that voice again. Did I imagine it?

"Hear what?" Max's eyebrows furrow beneath his glasses.

"I could have sworn I heard..." Ash trails off, the woman's voice replaying over and over again in his thoughts. "Nevermind."

His teammates look at him with concern, but decide to drop it.

"What next?" Max asks the group.

"We were hoping to find Celebi, but we've been searching long enough. We won't find it unless it wants to be found." Michael says feeling a little hopeless.

"I think that all there is left to do is to train and plan." Wes concludes. They had been scouring the forest for a week, but had not come across any sign of the Voice of the Forest. They had finally found the Lake of Life and Suicune. Suicune was even more important in their plan to infiltrate the Rocket Headquarters than Celebi anyway.

"Where should we do that?" Michael asks.

"The toughest and most secluded training area in all of Kanto." Ash reveals, his eyes burning with determination. "Cerulean Cave."

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Misty pumps the pedals of her bicycle as she races through the forest. She is excited that she had the opportunity to see that Ash is alive, even though questions of his disappearance still haunt her. The fact that Celebi is laying in her bike basket refusing to move from it has Misty in a tizzy. The small fairy must have some kind of agenda, she believes. Why would it choose to come with me? She wonders.

Upon leaving Arborville, Misty reaches Ecruteak City at the peak of the day. People hustle in and out of the buildings and pay no attention to her or the green fairy in her basket.

Misty nearly crashes her bicycle when Celebi floats out of the basket and flies overhead.

"Celebi! What are you doing?" Misty begs the little fairy not to attract attention. "Someone might see you."

Celebi isn't disturbed by Misty's fear. It dances in the sky above her. She looks around panicky, but it seems no one notices.
Suddenly, Misty feels a familiar feeling and her reality morphs. Not much has changed other than a few homes and buildings look a little shinier and newer than they had a moment ago. She realizes that she has been thrown into another vision of the past for the third time when the world around her is silent.

"Bii, bii." Celebi points toward a large dilapidated building.

"That's the burned tower." Misty states looking at the crumbling infrastructure, remembering it from many years ago when she travelled through Johto.

She suddenly spots Ash, Brock, and younger self trudging towards it. She shouldn't be surprised by the vision, but she can't get used to seeing her old pals so young nor herself as a child.