HS13: Difference between revisions

[[Ritchie]] continues to pursue his goal to become a [[Pokémon Master]], along with his trusty {{p|Pikachu}}, [[Sparky]]. After traveling through a dense forest, an enormous city called [[Marion Town]] envelops them, and they stop to take in the sights and smells of urban life. Of course, it is a city, so their first smell of urban life is a cloud of truck exhaust. While searching for a place to rest, he comes across an older man polishing a pedestal of some kind. Inside that pedestal is a statue of the [[Mythical Pokémon]] {{p|Celebi}}. Ritchie asks the man where this town's [[Pokémon Center]] is, and he explains it's not far...that is, if it's still there. The city is planning to tear the Pokémon Center down!

At the center, which appears to be an older style, an elderly Nurse Joy is standing with her arms spread out, refusing to let the workers pass. A younger Nurse Joy comes out, wondering why the demolition team is there when the demolition wasn't supposed to start until next week. The workers explain that the Mayor ordered that it had to be tore down today. Apparently, they're planning to build a modern Pokémon Center that needs to be done in time for the holidays, so this old building's got to go down. The Nurses still refuse to budge, so the workers send in their Pokémon, a {{p|Scyther}}, a {{p|Machoke}}, a {{p|Rhydon}}, and a {{p|Pinsir}}. However, a {{m|Thunderbolt}} interrupts the proceedings, and Ritchie and Sparky are there, saying they shouldn't be attacking two Nurse Joys. So the workers decide to attack him instead, and send the Pokémon after him. Ritchie retaliates by sending out Rose, who uses Double Team to trick the enemy Pokémon into colliding with each other. Zippo and Sparky finish the job with a Flamethrower and a Thunderbolt. The workers and their Pokémon flee, saying "Wait until the mayor hears about this!" The Nurse Joys thank Ritchie, but he brushes it off, saying who really deserves thanks is the Pokémon. The Nurse Joys invite them inside for some delicious Pokémon food. As the camera zooms out to looking out a window from a building across the way, Celebi can be seen peeking out.

Inside, the older Nurse Joy explains that she's about to retire, and she's leaving her granddaughter, the younger Nurse Joy, in charge. They explain that tomorrow is an important day; it's both Grandma Joy's birthday, and the {{tt|50|Japanese}}/{{tt|75|dub}}th anniversary of the Pokémon Center opening. They moan the fact that Marion Town has been growing into a city, and they don't want to leave room for an old Pokémon Center like this one. It wasn't always that way, though. Grandma Joy explains that it used to be a peaceful and quiet town. She even explains that Celebi used to live in the town before it was overtaken by skyscrapers and concrete. This revelation surprises Ritchie. Grandma Joy goes on to explain about Celebi, and how its presence indicates a harmony between humans and nature. Grandma Joy explains that she saw Celebi the day before the center opened 75 years ago. A day of joy and tragedy, because the day the center opened, there was a landslide that took a dear friend, Nick, away from them. She can only sigh, "If only he had come to my birthday party, he might still be alive with us."

That night, Ritchie is talking about how this building is filled with memories, but if they tear it down, all those memories will just disappear. He wishes there was something he could do to help, but he doesn't think there is. Or at least, not until they're surprised by a bright green light which reveals Celebi! Ritchie is amazed, but Celebi flies to a dresser and points at a drawer. Sparky pulls the drawer out, and Celebi flies inside, coming out with a hidden drawer with a Celebi carving inside. Ritchie wonders what it was doing back there, but Celebi answers with another green glow... which leaves the Celebi carving dropping to the floor, and Ritchie and Sparky standing in a forest.

Ritchie and Sparky are suddenly confused, but they suddenly hear someone calling for help. They find a young girl Joy hanging from a cliff, and manage to save her and pull her back up with some help from her Ponyta. Joy explains that she saw some flowers that she wanted to pick for Celebi when she fell. She explains that legends say that a Celebi lives in this forest, and she thinks it's true. To prove it, she shows them a Celebi Shrine that was put up in the forest a long time ago. A young boy named Nick is working on fixing the doors, but one of them falls off while he's showing off his work. Ritchie's attention, however, is on something else. That's the same Celebi statue he saw earlier, in the city! Nick grudgingly admits that when it comes to carpentry, he's still not nailing it. Joy calls him on the bad joke, and this is the first time Ritchie catches his name, and remember the photo Grandma Joy showed him earlier.

While they're walking back, Joy comments on Ritchie's odd clothes, saying he must come from really far away. She wants to travel when she grows up, though her mother wants her to run the Pokémon Center. When Ritchie asks Nick, he explains that he helps his father.

However, Sparky interrupts, pointing out the Pokémon Center ahead. It's still under construction, but almost finished. Joy heads in, hoping to see them at the party. Ritchie looks confused, but Nick explains that it's a two-in-one party: celebrating the opening of the center, and Joy's birthday. Ritchie suddenly realizes that everything he's seen today is tying in perfectly with what he's heard just earlier.

Later that night during a thunderstorm, Nick's father is informed that Joy ran into the forest. As Ritchie and Nick head out to look for Joy, they find her unconscious near the shrine. As a fire starts near them, Celebi appears and protects them.

 

Upon arrival, Ritchie sees the same demolition crew and their Pokémon at the Pokémon Center. At first, Ritchie thought they were going to demolish it, but they were restoring it. Ritchie then meets an elderly Nick who is the mayor of this town. Afterwards, Celebi makes itself known. What used to be an overcrowded and polluted city has been regressed to a normal city that still embraces Marion Town's old traditions to this day.