Pan, the Boy, and the Mystery of the G.S Ball

"There you are! Kami was looking for you earlier." Miki flitted over to the celebi that had just appeared from the greenish aura she used when she traveled through time.

"Where were you?"

Closer inspection revealed a mysterious item clutched tightly in Pan's arms.

"Reclaiming something of...mine. That's all."

Pan's eyes seemed focused on the ground, but Miki could easily tell that the grass legendary was looking well beyond that. Curious by nature, the victini tried her best to bite her tongue and drop the subject there since Pan didn't seem to want to talk about it.

"Miki."

"Yeah?" The fiery legend jolted at the sound of her name.

"Would you mind telling Kami that I will talk with her later? I'm a little tired. Time travel takes a lot out of me." Pan eked out.

The celebi had ceased floating, landing on the ground with wings and antenna drooped.

"Sure!"

Pan started to slowly edge her way towards her "nest" to take a much needed nap, but Miki's curiosity could no longer take it. She zipped over to the tuckered out johto native.

"P-Pan? I know you are tired a-and you didn't look like you really wanted to talk, and you still don't have to if you really don't want to, but what is that strange orb in your arms? It almost looks like a pokeball."

The Celebi stopped in her tracks. Though she didn't face her legendary cohort, Miki could tell she had broken her down.

"It is...."

Miki tilted her head, puzzled.

"This is the pokeball I was imprisoned in for 125 years." Pan stated as she finally turned and faced the perplexed Unovan pokemon.

"But wait! Aren't you Ayumi's pokemon?"

"I am now yes."

"Then how is that your pokeball?"

Pan let out sad sigh.

“Miki, I-I’m tired”

Miki’s ears dropped, but she nodded in understanding. As Miki began to head to leave, Pan couldn’t help but feel as though maybe it was time to finally tell someone. Perhaps this would help her?

"Do you really wish to know?"

Miki nodded her head enthusiastically, saddling up beside her senior resident.

“A little over a hundred and fifty years ago, I took up residence in the Ilex forest in the Johto region, not far from where I had been born some ten years earlier. I acted as the forest's protector and over all the pokemon within it. I enjoyed my time there and all the pokemon within it, but what I enjoyed more was the people who would come by to admire the forest.”

Pan paused for a moment to gather her breath and Miki implored her to continue.

“It happened one day. A young man came to the forest with his father to build a shrine in my honor! I was flattered, but also incredibly curious. I knew that I was supposed to hide from humans, but something about the young man made him feel like I could trust him.” Pan chuckled. “He and his father returned every day for nearly a month to build my shrine, and on the final day I realized that I wanted to actually meet with the boy. I stole his hat using psychic and forced him into a deeper part of the forest. Although initially annoyed, his disposition changed to awe when I revealed myself.”

Pan hesitated, clutching the G.S. Ball tightly.

“So, what happened then?!” Miki inquired as she tried to keep Pan going.

“We became friends after a while. Sometimes I would visit him at his father’s masonry and other times he would come to the forest to collect apricorns for his apprenticeship with Kurt’s grandfather. He would come by the area I chose to reside and work on his sculpting and I would watch. Sometimes he would tell me stories about his goals and his dreams and I wanted to help him achieve them by any means.

One day, he brought his ‘finest’ creation with him. A beautiful gold and silver plated pokeball, the likes of which I had never seen! It was a device ahead of its time. He blathered to me about how this would revolutionize what it meant to be a pokemon trainer…and then he offered it to me.

He asked me if I wanted to join him on his journey to help others experience the bond of friendship between that of humans and pokemon. I considered it, but eventually agreed and became his pokemon. He didn’t keep me in the pokeball, and I continued living the way I had, but any human that saw me later and tried catch me were unable to because I had a trainer. Occasionally we would travel around, but for the most part, life remained almost the same.

I was with him through his first crush, the girl he claimed he wanted to marry. He wanted me to meet her to see if I approved….”

Pan trailed off again, her face sullen.

“Did you?” Miki questioned.

Pan shook her head.

“I don’t know. I never got the chance to meet her.”

Miki’s eyes widened. She knew where this story was headed.

“One night, there was an awful storm. The maelstrom wrecked the neighboring town and destroyed a good part of the Ilex forest. I did my best to protect the forest, but the storm was worse than I had thought. A fire broke out and I put out as much of it as I could to protect the pokemon, but even a legendary cannot defeat nature at it’s worse. The rain wasn’t even making that big of an indent on the flames!

I was losing hope and considering going back in time before the storm to evacuate everyone, when he showed up. Blastoise in tow, he began to put out the fire which allowed me to get the other pokemon to safety.”

Another pause and Pan’s antennae drooped further.

“Then…there was a crack of thunder and a brilliant light filled the sky. A tree slammed into me and pinned me to the ground as a new fire started. He came over in a panic and tried to free me. I was too weak to do much else since I had been fighting the fires for nearly three hours. I decided to quickly flash back in time to avoid the tree hitting me and did so. However, this made the situation worse.

When I reappeared, the light caught his attention, and when the tree fell he ended up in its path. Now I was definitely too weak to do anything. I tried using psychic, but barely managed to free him. He could tell I was drained and…he…h-he tried to protect me. He picked up the G.S Ball and recalled me!”

Tears were now streaming down her face as she dropped the G.S ball to cover her eyes. Miki’s heart sunk. She gingerly picked up the precious item, pushing it towards Pan with a soft and remorseful look on her face. Pan received it and cradled it gently, looking into her reflection.

“This pokeball was the only thing that survived the fire. No one knew what it contained, so I was sealed away, handed from person, to person, to person until I was far from the home I loved. My pokeball wound up on the shores of an island in the Orange Islands, where I finally broke free. Even though the pokeball was well ahead of its time, I was able to break free of it and once again became a wild pokemon. I went to collect my pokeball, but heard voices coming from nearby so I fled, leaving my only memento of him behind.”

“Why…” Miki hesitated wondering if she should even ask, “why didn’t you just go back in time and undo it all after you were free?”

Pan looked up with tears still in her eyes before fluttering over to the pond adjacent from them. She didn’t respond at first, just sat over by the water. Miki soon joined her, first looking at the water, then back towards her friend. Pan moved her hand touching the water and sending a ripple through the calm glassy surface.

“I didn’t stop it, because changing something so small could ripple out and affect the surroundings.” Pan finally explained.

Miki had no idea how to respond. She wanted to reach out and comfort the celebi, but she ultimately remained still.

“If I had…stopped that, the town wouldn’t have banded together and become the thriving town we know today! Who knows what life would look like. It wouldn’t have been what he wanted.” Pan furthered.

The small grass/psychic legendary stood up and flitted over towards a grassy nest and clambered into it, clutching tightly to the golden ball that remained her only memory of the boy. As Miki turned around to leave, glancing over her shoulder at the celebi who seemed lost in her thoughts, she seemed to recall a small singed shrine in a forest next to a statue of a young man with a celebi lovingly at his side.

“Perhaps things do happen for a reason.”