"Deer~"
The Deerling was completely shocked, its face a mask of disbelief.
According to ancient legend, the Fountain of Life was ford by the collected life energy shed by all the living beings in the Veridian Forest. Its ultimate purpose was to sustain the Forest Guardian, allowing it to recover its strength and abilities.
But the Forest Guardian had not appeared for a very, very long ti—so long that many Pokémon had forgotten it even existed.
And now, the Forest Guardian had returned.
"Exegg-utor."
The Exeggutor nodded, a sharp light glinting in its eyes.
The Fountain of Life was, by right, an offering for the Forest Guardian. Now that the guardian had returned, the offering could no longer be shared with outsiders. This was a sha, as the Exeggutor had been very curious about the Pokémon known as Lileep.
"Deer-deer~"
The Deerling sighed, its eyes full of disappointnt. It had been hoping to go ahead, win over the Exeggutor, and then return to claim its reward. As a common Pokémon with no right to the Fountain's waters, the Deerling was still very tempted by Basalt's nutrient fluid.
But now, it was all for nothing.
Looking closely, it could indeed see that the Fountain of Life had dried up considerably. And according to the rules of the forest, ordinary Pokémon were absolutely forbidden from partaking of it.
...
Back in the forest, the once-confident Basalt and Lileep were quickly growing dejected.
Even though they had confird their direction and were walking in a straight line without deviation, they couldn't seem to get any closer to the Fountain of Life. It was as if they were trapped in a maze or a haunted wood.
It felt so close, yet it was impossible to reach.
"Damn it all!"
Basalt finally snapped. A naless fire burned in his chest, and ignoring his exhaustion, he started shouting curses. "What kind of useless ruler is this? Have you got no eyes? My Lileep is a Pokémon from millions of years ago! It's exceptionally talented, with powerful life energy! And you're still not impressed?"
According to Director Sheldon, although the ruler of the Veridian Forest was stingy, it would make an exception for truly top-tier geniuses and extraordinarily gifted Pokémon. Over the decades, a number of trainers had succeeded in gaining access.
Based on his and Lileep's credentials, both the Weather Bureau and the Life Energy Bureau had felt their chances were quite high. Basalt had been confident too.
But now...
"Nee-nee~"
Lileep's face was also full of anger. It was exhausted from "slithering" all this way.
And so, countless roots suddenly shot out from its base, plunging violently into the soil.
Storm Drain, Ingrain, and Giga Drain—all activated at once.
In an instant, Lileep was enveloped in specks of erald light, and its stamina began to recover rapidly.
But as a consequence, all the vegetation within its root domain began to visibly wilt. While not quite withering away, the simultaneous loss of water, nutrients, and energy left the plants looking as if they'd been completely wrung out.
As a gifted fossil Pokémon and a student of the ga Venusaur, although Lileep wasn't overwhelmingly powerful, it had absolutely mastered the art of energy absorption. The effect was devastating.
And as Lileep exerted its power, the change in the forest's vitality imdiately attracted attention.
In a large tree hollow not far from Basalt's location, the green antennae with blue tips on a certain creature's forehead twitched slightly.
It was a small, green being. Its head was round, tapering to a point at the back. It had large, light-blue eyes with thick, black rings around them, round, toeless feet, and three-fingered hands.
If Basalt had been there, he would have instantly recognized it. It was the Forest Guardian—Celebi.
"Cele-bi~"
As the guardian of the forest, Celebi's sensitivity to life energy was extrely acute.
Slowly opening its sleepy eyes, Celebi, though awakened, was not angry. It just used its antennae to carefully sense the changes in the forest.
When it realized that the vegetation hadn't been permanently damaged—that a Pokémon was just using Ingrain to absorb so energy—it relaxed.
"Cele-bi~"
Because it frequently traveled through ti, Celebi's energy consumption was imnse. The Fountain of Life was its most important source of energy, its personal refueling station.
Just a few days ago, Celebi had absorbed a portion of the Fountain and was now in a deep sleep to digest it. Although it was playful by nature, it was too tired to move right now.
Just as it was about to close its eyes and go back to sleep, it finally noticed sothing was wrong.
A Lileep?
Isn't that a Pokémon that went extinct millions of years ago? Even if it could be revived, shouldn't that be many years from now? What's going on?
As a Pokémon that had traveled the river of ti, Celebi could see into the past and future. But today's situation... it couldn't see through it.
And so, Celebi was wide awake, instantly alert.
It flew out of the tree hollow, turned invisible, and quickly arrived at Basalt and Lileep's side. Neither of them could sense its presence.
anwhile, by the Fountain of Life, the ruler Exeggutor had also sensed Lileep's drain on the forest. It was furious, mainly because it was afraid Lileep's actions would disturb the guardian's rest.
The Exeggutor was just about to use its power to punish Basalt and Lileep and drive them away. But just then, it sensed Celebi's presence.
So, the guardian had been disturbed.
Damn that human trainer, and that Pokémon! the Exeggutor cursed inwardly.
But sensing that Celebi seed to be very interested in them, the Exeggutor didn't dare to act rashly.
Back in the forest, Basalt had no idea that Celebi was silently watching him.
Seeing Lileep venting its frustration by sucking the life out of the forest, Basalt quickly stopped it. "Lileep, this isn't going to help. It will only make the ruler even more displeased with us, and then we'll have no hope of getting to the Fountain. Besides, do we really need the Fountain of Life to get stronger? Don't be ridiculous!"
"Nee-nee~"
Hearing this, Lileep lowered its head, rembering the ga Venusaur's teachings.
Energy absorption must be done in moderation.
And so, through its roots, Lileep began to channel so of its energy back into the ground. Before long, the surrounding vegetation slowly began to recover its vitality.
"Cele-bi!"
A look of shock appeared on Celebi's face. It tilted its head, studying Lileep carefully.
Absorbing energy was sothing every Grass-type Pokémon could do. But returning that energy... that was a high-level technique that was extrely difficult to master. It never expected this "unremarkable" Lileep to have mastered such a move.
But when Celebi turned its gaze to Basalt, it was truly shocked.
Because it couldn't see through ti. It couldn't see Basalt's distant past.
"Cele-bi?"
A big question mark appeared over Celebi's head. This didn't seem to conform to the laws of the universe.
Celebi's interest in Basalt and Lileep instantly grew stronger.
Especially Basalt... he was definitely hiding a huge secret.
Could Lileep's premature appearance be related to him?
This required careful investigation.
At the sa ti, Celebi seed to understand their predicant. They were looking for the Fountain of Life.
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