Sensing some new presence behind them, Red and Green quickly turn around, and are surprised to see Koga, the former Fuchsia gymleader and also a TR executive, standing alongside with Bruno, one of the Elite 4 trainers they faced on Cerise Island. Without a word, Koga releases a Tentacruel while Bruno calls forward a Tyrogue, and Red hurriedly sends out his Espeon, Vui, to fight.

The psychic Pokémon charges towards Tyrogue for a tackle, but Tyrogue unleashes a double team, and adeptly evades the attack. Red grunts in frustration, and tells Vui to match its foe’s evasiveness by psyche up. Sitting in a small pond of underground water, Tentacruel goes offensive and hurls its tentacles forward, but Green retaliates with its spinning drill, and blocks off the assaults. With a grin on their faces, Bruno and Koga remark that it’s been quite a while since they saw each other, and Tyrogue all of a sudden throws itself towards Vui again. Red quickly prepares to defend, but to his surprise, Tyrogue leaps past him, and delivers a punch on the heavy rocks behind him instead.

Bruno puts on a grin, and says by cracking through the tough boulders there, Red and Green can take a shorter route to reach their destination. The two boys get baffled, and wonder what Bruno and Koga are up to. Koga says things don’t always appear as they look, and Bruno laughs that they have actually come to help them and not to start a fight. Red and Green gasp in disbelief, and say they thought the two men were sent by the enemy to deter them from heading to the Ilex Forest. Koga grins that he and Bruno don’t work for anyone anymore, and that they only train and fight for the sake of themselves, which is in fact something the boys taught them before.

Softening his hostile stare, Green says he’s relieved that Koga is alive, and recalls how the man slipped away from the crumbling stalactite cave by Muk’s escape trick back on Cerise Island. Koga explains that he actually thought he would not survive when the powerful quake of the earth crust closed in on him, but Bruno came to his rescue just in time, and the two of them have been training together ever since.

As Tyrogue continues to smash the hard rocks and Tentacruel helps but lifting them away, Koga remarks that he should perhaps thank Green, and says the one thing he learnt from the boy while fighting alongside with him against the Elite 4 is that the satisfaction of training up for oneself is far more rewarding than doing it for someone else. In the past, his life and everything he did were for his master, Giovanni, but after the Cerise incident, he knew better. Having met Bruno who also shares the same views of him, they have become friends and constantly help each other in improving themselves.

Bruno says their motivation was in fact to battle Red and Green again some day, and reveals that they actually planned to face the two boys at the Pokémon League Tournament, but unfortunately the event seems messed up by some twisted-mind people now. The big man admits that they have every urge to challenge Red and Green right there in the underground tunnel, but they also know that there are more important things waiting for the boys. Koga wishes them good luck, and says for the sake of their pending rematch, Red and Green must defeat the enemy and return.

Bruno then delivers a punch to clear up the last bit of the tough boulders, and tells the boys not to disappoint them. Thanking the two men, Red and Green climb onto Rhydon to resume moving, but Bruno suddenly stops them just before they take off, and wonders if they know about the Pokémon Celebi. Both boys shake their heads upon hearing the unfamiliar name, and Bruno explains that it is also known as the time travel Pokémon, which is said to possess the power to travel freely between the past and future. He remarks that whoever captures this Pokémon will be able to control time, and Green wonders why he is telling them about it. Bruno says from what he learnt from Lance before, the Ilex Forest which the boys are heading to is the place where the legend of Celebi orginates from, and he has a gut feeling that it might be connected to the cause of everything that’s happening now.

Keeping Bruno’s words in mind, Red and Green decide that they don’t have more time to lose, and hurriedly tell Rhydon to resume its drilling. As they bore their way through the earth crust, Red suddenly notices that the Spoon of Fate has bent towards another direction again, and hollers that it is pointing straight up. Green quickly commands Rhydon to return above ground, and the two boys soon find themselves standing amid a forest packed with dense trees and bushes.

Red remarks that this should be their destination, and Green immediately spots a glowing shrine behind them. Red reads from the wooden plank erected in front of it that it is the Ilex Forest Shrine, which offers protection to the forest, and realizes that it must be related to the legendary Pokémon Celebi Bruno told them about. Just then, Green hears a continuous beep from his pocket, and notices that their Pokédexes are giving off the resonance sound which is only induced when all three Pokédexes are close to each other while being held by their authentic holders, indicating that Blue must be somewhere near.

Speaking of Blue, Green recalls seeing Red with a Blastoise earlier, and wonders if it belongs to the girl. Red explains that he encountered Blue while on Mt. Silver, and when Blue knew that he had to climb higher for stronger healing springs and the atmosphere up there was not possible for Charizard to fly, she lent him her Blastoise which is capable of aero travelling by the propelling force of its giant water cannons. Red says he was worried at the time that Blue would lose her means of flying, but the girl assured him that she had other ways.

Recalling Blue’s words, Red wonders what Blue was referring to, and Green suddenly understands when he looks up into the sky. Red quickly shifts his gaze up and the two boys gasp in surprise at what they see. Up in the air, Blue is fighting the legendary Ho-Oh and Lugia with the help of the legendary bird trio, Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno...

Thanks To Coronis For Writing this for us