"Cele!"
Celebi's voice appeared clearly beside Cain's ear.
He slowly opened his eyes and saw that the little Pokémon, whom he had not seen for a long time, had appeared in front of him again.
"Celebi, it has been a long time," Cain said to Celebi with a smile.
Hearing this, Celebi's large eyes immediately narrowed, and it nodded repeatedly.
"Yes! Yes!"
Seeing Celebi's happy appearance, Cain unconsciously stretched out his hand, patted its little head, and gently rubbed it, feeling that natural aura that came from the deepest part of its being.
"Celebi, I spent more than three months in that period of time. How many days have passed in this period?"
Hearing Cain's question, Celebi opened its eyes and looked at its own hand.
One, two, three... one hand was filled. Celebi then looked at its other hand. One, two...
After counting, Celebi raised its five fingers in total and placed them in front of Cain.
It only had six fingers in total. After much effort, it finally managed to count the number five within the limits of its ability. It could be said that it had used all its strength.
"Pff... Hahahahaha!"
Seeing Celebi's movements and behavior, Cain truly could not hold back and began laughing loudly. But in that laughter there was no mockery or sarcasm, nor any bad intention. Celebi had simply amused him, a pure laugh.
Celebi, for its part, looked at Cain laughing loudly without understanding why he was laughing so happily. Clearly, there was nothing funny.
Celebi tilted its head curiously, and its two large eyes shone.
Seeing this scene, Cain laughed even more.
He laughed for a long time, until he finally managed to calm down. He inhaled deeply, rubbed his stomach, which hurt a little from laughing so much, and with great effort stopped that endless laughter.
However, the smile on his face did not disappear.
"Then, although I spent more than three months in the past, only five days passed in this period of time."
"Not even with Celebi's ability can this temporal fold be completely smoothed out?" Cain thought silently.
But thinking about it carefully, in reality, it was also reasonable.
After all, Celebi was not the god of time. As a Mythical Pokémon, it was already extremely extraordinary that it could control time and space.
With that ability alone, if it were controlled by a person, it could change the entire Pokémon world and even influence its course.
If a situation unfavorable to oneself appeared, one could return to the past through Celebi and directly eliminate what was harmful to them, changing the present and even the future.
However, doing that would probably harm Celebi quite a bit.
Changing time and altering the course of history required paying a great price. Even Celebi could not use the power to change history and its course without limit or cost.
Moreover, if it really did that, Dialga and Palkia would probably appear at the first moment. Even more so with Arceus, the creator god, constantly watching around the Pokémon world!
"Celebi, how did you know I came to find you in order to return to the past? To return to that period of time?" Cain asked, looking at Celebi.
Hearing Cain's question, Celebi placed a small hand by its mouth and thought for a bit. Then it said with complete naturalness, "Because Cain had to return to that time! If Cain did not return, the impact would be very great, and Celebi would not have the ability to do it either!"
Besides, the first time Celebi met Cain was also at that time. When Celebi perceived Cain then, Celebi knew what its responsibility was and what Cain's responsibility was!
Celebi had an expression as if all of this should not have been otherwise from the very beginning, which gave Cain a feeling difficult to describe.
"Then... Celebi, do you know when exactly this temporal cycle began? Or rather, which temporal version of me was the first to ask to return to the past?"
Cain's words were a little tangled.
But this was precisely the doubt that confused him most right now. Since the cycle of this temporal paradox had appeared decades ago, then who was the first person or Pokémon who made him return to the past and caused this temporal paradox? With what purpose?
But this was already a circle in itself, a closed loop. Without the past, the present and future would not exist, but without the present, the past would not exist either. What was the insertion point? What was the node that caused this change to appear?
Cain felt that perhaps he had grasped something related to the final secret of this world.
The flow of time was like a long temporal river. It had many branches, and even every second, a secondary current could separate from the river of time. Every action of any person influenced the direction of that river. It was like an insignificant person sneezing or eating a piece of bread; everything brought consequences.
The difference lay only in whether that influence was large or small.
But around Cain, a circle had appeared. Among all the branches of the temporal river, it was the only one that surprisingly turned back upon itself.
Then, the reason this branch appeared was very important to Cain.
But hearing Cain's question, Celebi only stared at him, not understanding at all what he meant.
Seeing Celebi's expression, Cain felt dejected for a moment. He knew that this matter, in reality, did not have too much to do with Celebi. Perhaps even Celebi did not know why it had to do it; it had simply done it naturally.
Now, from Cain's point of view, the only conclusion he could draw was that the appearance of this temporal paradox very likely had a great relationship with the fact that he could be reborn in this world and live a second time.
"What is Cain saying? Celebi does not understand."
Celebi's soft and tender voice sounded beside Cain's ear again. That innocence was very pure. Perhaps it was the purest existence Cain had ever come into contact with in his entire life.
(End of chapter)