Chapter 1193: Warning from the Future
Chapter 1193: Warning from the Future
Yuga hadn't expected Erika to say that; it seemed the Kanto League's promotion had been effective.
"We would be delighted to welcome you to Verdanturf Town, Ms. Erika. I'll be looking forward to your arrival," Yuga replied with a smile.
As Yuga left the Celadon Gym, he noticed it was getting late, so he decided not to wander further and headed directly to the Pokémon Center to stay for the night.
The next morning, after having breakfast at the Pokémon Center, Yuga received an invitation from Erika to join her for tea at the Celadon Gym. Reflecting on their pleasant conversation the previous day, he accepted.
Yuga stayed at the Celadon Gym until nearly noon. Erika wanted him to stay for lunch, but Yuga, eager to make the most of his time exploring Celadon City, politely declined.
After leaving the Celadon Gym, Yuga found a modest yet well-recommended restaurant known for its flavors and decided to have lunch there before exploring the city.
Seated at the restaurant, Yuga ordered a few Kanto region specialties and was about to enjoy them when he keenly sensed someone watching him. Glancing around, he noticed a bald man in a black suit sitting not far away, someone strangely familiar.
The man looked about twenty, quite handsome, and even sitting down, Yuga could tell he was tall—probably at least as tall as Yuga himself.
Realizing Yuga was looking at him, the bald man didn't seem bothered; instead, he smiled broadly at Yuga.
Yuga was baffled.
Filled with curiosity, Yuga finished his lunch. But as he stepped out of the restaurant, the bald man followed him outside.
Not wanting to jump to conclusions, Yuga walked a bit further, but the man kept trailing him at a steady distance. Yuga stopped and asked, "How long are you planning to follow me? Do we know each other?"
The man grinned and approached him, saying, "Guess who I am?"
Hearing the familiar tone, Yuga was stunned. Was this really someone he knew?
Seeing Yuga hesitate, the man prompted, "It's me, Gon."
No wonder! Yuga suddenly realized—this bald man did resemble Gon. But why did Gon look so much older all of a sudden?
A moment later, Yuga understood. This wasn't the Gon of today; it was Gon from the future. Having experienced time travel himself, Yuga quickly grasped this possibility.
Noticing Yuga's comprehension, Future Gon smiled and asked, "Surprised to see me?"
Yuga looked at Gon, dressed in a suit, and couldn't help but say, "Why are you, a monk, dressed like this?"
Gon blushed. "My usual attire isn't suitable for going out, so I just threw this on."
Since they were in the middle of the street, it wasn't a convenient place to talk. Yuga hurriedly pulled Future Gon into a secluded spot for a private conversation.
With a frown, Yuga asked, "Why are you here?" Time travel wasn't something done lightly. For Future Gon to be here, something major must have happened.
Future Gon's expression turned unusually serious as he said, "I was only able to come here thanks to your help."
Yuga instantly realized that the "help" Future Gon referred to must have come from his future self. Given Yuga's connection to Celebi, helping someone travel through time wasn't impossible.
After a pause, Gon continued, "I traveled from the future to this time because the Bell Tower is about to face an unprecedented crisis. I need to get to Johto as soon as possible.
"I'm here now because Future You asked me to remind Present You to go to the Sasaki household immediately. If not, Windy's life will be in danger."
Windy's life in danger? Yuga's expression changed at Gon's explanation.
For Future Gon to have come all this way to deliver a message, the situation must be extremely urgent. If Yuga went directly to Pallet Town for the exhibition instead of visiting the Sasaki household, what would happen to Windy?
Future Gon didn't know the specifics of what was happening with Windy. He was simply following the instructions from Future Yuga to warn Present Yuga.
After explaining everything, Gon was about to depart immediately for Johto. According to him, the situation with the Bell Tower was so urgent that if he didn't arrive in time, the tower might be destroyed.
The disappearance of the Bell Tower could impact the relationship between Ho-Oh and humanity.
After a hasty farewell to Future Gon, Yuga immediately dialed Professor Birch's number.
"Hello, Professor Birch, this is Yuga. I might not be able to make it to the exhibition tomorrow on time. Could you help me handle things over there?"
"I can't explain everything right now, but please cover for me."
"Yes, yes, don't worry. Once I resolve this, I'll get there as soon as I can. Sorry to trouble you."
...
After ending the call with Professor Birch, Yuga took a deep breath. Although he didn't fully understand the situation, he decided it was best to head to the Sasaki household first.
Originally, he had planned to visit them after attending the exhibition in Pallet Town. However, judging from the vague hints from his future self, it might be too late by then.
Though missing the exhibition was irresponsible, priorities had to be set, and Windy's safety was more important.
Yuga wasn't the only one the Hoenn League sent to represent them at the exhibition. Several others, including Professor Birch, were attending as well; they simply hadn't departed together.
Wasting no time, Yuga immediately rode Dragonite toward the Sasaki residence.
The Sasaki family is a prominent clan in Kanto, didn't keep the location of their main estate a secret. As a place where Windy had once lived, Yuga was familiar with it.
The Sasaki family's base wasn't in a major city; much like the Temple clan had Celestic Town as a residential area for their ordinary members, the Sasaki clan had its own small town.
However, they do not have the foundation of the Temple Clan, so they do not have something like Michina Town where all the key members resided, the Sasaki clan's key members all resided in their base town, Sasaki Town.
Sasaki Town lay on a fertile plain not far from Saffron City. Since Saffron and Celadon were neighboring cities, it took Yuga only half a day on Dragonite to reach Sasaki Town.
Sasaki Town was small, mostly inhabited by members of the Sasaki family, with the few remaining residents relying on the Sasakis for their livelihood.
In this little town, the Sasaki family's grand, luxurious manor stood out prominently, and Yuga spotted it immediately.
Yuga directed Dragonite to land before the main gate of the Sasaki family's manor, where two stern-faced guards stood watch.
As soon as they saw Yuga approach, they didn't ask any questions. Instead, they barked, "This isn't a place for you. Leave at once!"
Yuga was taken aback. That couldn't be right. As one of Kanto's most respected families, the Sasaki clan's guards shouldn't be so rude.
Noticing Yuga's confused stare, one of the guards shouted again, "What are you looking at? Leave now, or I won't be so polite!"
With lingering questions in his mind, Yuga walked away.
On his way out, Yuga summoned Gengar, and using Gengar's invisibility, he doubled back to the gate.
Those two guards gave him a bad feeling.
As he returned, he overheard the guards whispering to each other, heads close together.
"Did you see that? That was a Dragonite!"
"The guy must be an acquaintance of the Sasaki family. With all their wealth, it's not surprising for them to own a Dragonite."
"Should we report it? Maybe we should just capture him. A Dragonite would be worth quite a lot of contribution points!"
...
Hearing their conversation, Yuga was now certain that something had happened to the Sasaki family, and these two guards definitely weren't Sasaki family members.
With rising suspicion, Yuga and Gengar quietly sneaked into the Sasaki manor.
Inside, the guards were even more numerous, posted at nearly every few steps. This only made Yuga more puzzled.
Although a prominent family would naturally have tight security, this level seemed excessively over-the-top!
While invisibly scouting around the manor, Yuga observed that aside from the guards, there was no sign of the Sasaki family's legitimate members anywhere.
At that moment, a short man appeared out of nowhere. As he passed, the guards all bowed their heads in greeting.
"Greetings, Lord Carr!"
"Greetings, Lord Carr!"
...
Carr? Yuga looked at the man in surprise. His height barely reached Yuga's waist; this wasn't a child, so he must be a dwarf.
(Note: In this story, Carr is a member of Team Rocket's secret elite trio, unknown to the public, including the League. That's why Yuga doesn't recognize him.)
Now Yuga could be completely certain that these people occupying the Sasaki manor weren't part of the Sasaki family.
Ignoring the saluting guards, the dwarf walked away arrogantly, with the guards unfazed by his attitude.
It seemed this dwarf had a high status! Thinking this, Yuga quietly followed him.
Passing through rows of courtyards, the dwarf Carr headed straight to the depths of the Sasaki manor.
In a large hall, Yuga spotted the main members of the Sasaki family, including the current head of the clan and Windy.
But they were all either unconscious or injured, lying scattered across the floor.
Seeing Windy lying there unconscious, Yuga finally understood why his future self had urged him to hurry to the Sasaki household. Any later, and Windy might truly have died.
A large wound slashed across Windy's abdomen, and the blood had soaked his clothes and the floor. His face was pale, and his breathing was extremely weak.
Beside Windy was a girl who was still conscious, though injured, though not as severely. She was crying as she tried to press her hands against Windy's wound, but blood continued to seep through her fingers.
Apart from the guards outside and Carr, a tall, muscular man stood in the hall. The girl bit her lip in fear of the muscle-bound man, stifling her sobs.
To Yuga's surprise, the girl beside Windy looked exactly like Jessie! He had met Jessie before!
This reminded Yuga of the original story, where James indeed had a fiancée who looked just like Jessie, though he couldn't remember her name. It had to be this girl next to Windy.
"Orca, how's it going? Got anything out of him?" Carr asked the muscular man.
The muscular man, Orca, replied angrily, "Nothing! This old geezer really doesn't seem to know anything, even though I tried hypnosis on him!"
He then furiously kicked the already unconscious Sasaki family head, who groaned in pain, his face twisted, clearly injured badly.
Yuga was confused. The Sasaki family was a large clan with an Elite level trainer guarding it. How could they have fallen to this group, and so completely at that?
It seemed these people were trying to obtain something from the Sasaki family.
Seeing Windy's breathing grow weaker, Yuga knew he couldn't wait any longer.
With that thought, he summoned Mismagius and Dusknoir.
At this moment, Yuga was very grateful that he had brought Dusknoir with him.
"Gengar, Mismagius, Dusknoir, cover this mansion with your Space."
He instructed them carefully: the Sasaki family members would be excluded from the space, so only the intruders would be contained. This way, their battle wouldn't endanger the Sasaki family, and no intruder would escape.
Once Gengar and the others created the spatial field, it would be isolated from the outside world. Unless the space was shattered, those inside would be unable to interfere with the outside.
Since the intruders and the Sasaki family wore different attire, Yuga wasn't worried that Gengar and the others would make a mistake.
As soon as Gengar left Yuga, his invisibility wore off.
"Who's there?"
Yuga's sudden appearance instantly caught the attention of Carr and Orca.
But they didn't notice that Gengar and the others had quietly created the space, enveloping them inside.
Recognizing Yuga's face, Carr and Orca immediately knew who he was. After all, Yuga was a special target of interest for Team Rocket, and as members of Team Rocket's elite trio, Carr and Orca couldn't possibly not know him.
"What are you doing here?!" Carr's voice cracked with fear.
Recalling Yuga's rumored abilities, Orca, knowing he was outmatched, instinctively tried to grab a hostage nearby. However, when he reached for the Sasaki family head, his hand passed right through him.
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Orca was stunned, and Carr's eyes widened as he shouted in disbelief, "What did you do?!"
Meanwhile, Chimecho and Bellossom, whom Yuga had left outside the Space, had already begun healing the injured Sasaki family members with Heal Pulse and Grassy Terrain.
Carr and Orca tried to stop them, but they found that the Sasaki family members before them seemed like illusions—visible but untouchable.
Little did they know, although the Sasaki family was only a few feet away, they were now in a different space. Unless they had Champion-level strength to break through the space, there was no way to reach them.
And clearly, they didn't.