Cover Photo

I know this isn’t our usual kind of post, but the other night as I was overlooking the Monthly Pokémon GO AR Photo Showcase entries, I came across something special. Not only did this one writer/photographer send in multiple photos, but they outlined an entire story-line with individual parts, surrounding the Mythical Pokémon Celebi and the story about the birth of Entei.

In summary, I was stunned. I have seen many AR Photo entries in the past, and many of them telling long stories, but nothing like what this Trainer had done. So instead of doubling the size of my regular Showcase, or trashing the entire storyline and photos, I decided to put them together to form this article that you are reading.

Resurrection of the Lost Beasts: Birth of Entei

Ladies and gentlemen, this is ‘Resurrection of the Lost Beasts: Birth of Entei’, an original AR-Story by Agnimitra Sutradhar. Enjoy!

Part I

After months of searching, I arrived at one of the world’s most bio-diverse mountain ranges -the Western Ghats. The peaks covered in lush greenery, swirls of clouds hanging around the mountain-heads, the chirping of hundreds of known and unknown birds. An earthly scent filled the air. I could smell and hear the whole mountain breathing life into the surroundings. Legends speak of a temple dedicated to Celebi, hidden well in these misty mountains, I was here to find it. It says that Celebi visited these forests from age-old times and that this lush greenery that withstood the test of time was its proof. I spent the past three days searching for this temple but all in vain. Then I thought of one Pokémon that would possibly make this easier: I brought my Metagross with me. That day, we traveled deep into the forest and before we knew it, we were lost. The sun was going down and I had no idea where I was.

I saw the last golden glow of sunlight trickling through the thick blanket of leaves as I felt a sudden chill… the moist ground was now covered in swirling mists, the visibility was dropping by the minute. I picked up my phone but it was dead. I held onto Metagross as it glided through the thick fog. After some time, the surrounding mist started to give off a green glow. As we inched forward, I saw within the thick mists a ginormous stone structure. It started to dawn on me, I was standing in front of ‘The Temple of Time’. The walls of the Temple were covered in ferns from the prolonged ages of abandonment. The walls were inscribed with ancient texts which were beyond my deciphering ability. But, I was not going to leave all this until I saw Celebi. The stone doors were tightly locked so I counted on my partner Metagross. As I expected, its swift and precise movements were successful in opening the stone door.

As we went inside, I found a stone tablet with the same inscriptions that were on the walls. As I held the tablet, the temple started rumbling, Metagross held me and zoomed out of the temple. As we were floating ahead I could see the temple crumbling into pieces behind me.

DAYS LATER…

Back in my city I took the stone tablet and placed it in front of Metagross… it started deciphering with its superfast computational abilities, its eyes lit up, holographic binary decoders and mapping tools started appearing around its eyes… I couldn’t miss this opportunity, I took out my phone and took this photo:

Part II

As Metagross finished, the holographic deciphered text floated in the air and read:

“The Time Legends warn the wielder of this authority not to misuse its power, the paradoxes that come with it are unforgiving, they create ripples in time in the weirdest of ways & any simple change in the frame of time will cause chain reactions that will alter the course of history and future.”

As I finished reading it, an unprecedented calmness filled the air. I was certain that the trees around me started budding new leaves, the buds started flowering and there was a green glow surrounding me. As I looked around, I saw visions of time, clocks, sundials, hourglasses, then a blinding light covered the entire area.

As my vision returned to normal, I saw Celebi floating in front of me. After pondering on the implications, I was indecisive. As I looked towards Celebi, I think she felt my confusion and desire. She looked into my eyes and extended her hand. As I touched her finger, I could feel the whole space around me warping.

I could see people walking backward, raindrops rising from the ground and going up towards the clouds, disharmonious melodies that I am sure would make sense if they were not backward, dead trees coming to life, fruits turning into flowers, flowers to buds, and finally vanishing into thin air. After that, all I could see was pure darkness, only Celebi was visible in a soothing green glow as visions of clocks and rings swirled from it… I could see my mobile start to vanish from my hand so I took one last picture with it… my body felt numb… and everything darkened…

Part III

As I came to my senses, I couldn’t recognize anything around me. Everything was so… old school. Homes made of wood, people wearing kimonos and working in the fields, reaping their spring (what I could make out of the season) crops in knee-deep mud, and women coming home with earthen pots filled with water from the wells. They spoke in a different language and had a different accent. Eventually, it dawned on me: I was not only in a different place… I was in a different time.

I stood up brushing off the dust from my clothes when I saw people staring at me. As I stood up I saw in front of me two tall towers, one had crystal bells adorned all over it, the other had a polished metal body that had a coppery sheen to it. It was a gloomy day, dark clouds hanging over the village as people were preparing to finish up their work outside and ready for the imminent thunderstorm.

As I was thinking of asking someone for a temporary shelter, I heard rumbling within the dark clouds. I saw some people running towards the crystal bell tower, so I followed them. As I was running, I heard a mind-numbing blast, the whole area lit up in a blinding light. For a second, I lost all my senses and fell to the ground. Someone rushed towards me, picked me up by my hand, and took me to a shelter. As I awoke, I saw a terrifying image before me, everything was ablaze in a red hue, as I traced the source, I saw a huge pillar of fire that was rapidly engulfing the metal tower. People and Pokémon were running out of the tower, many burnt and injured. Others were running with pots filled with water trying to put out the flames… all in vain. The tower was fully ablaze… I could hear cries emanating from the burning tower, what a terrible sight it was, the whole sky turned a crimson red on the dark clouds as they were spewing lightning from time to time. I grabbed a pot of water and ran towards the fiery sight, I heard rumbling. To everyone’s horror, the top portion of the tower crumbled down. People were now praying for a miracle… when I felt something drip on me, as I looked up, rain started to pour.

Eventually the fire accepted defeat, but I saw people crying and trying to claw out the sizzled debris, apparently, someone was trapped inside the tower still. After a couple of hours of digging out debris in the pouring rain, they brought out three burnt bodies, which appeared to be dogs burnt to the bones. People were sobbing over their bodies, apparently, they were the guardians of the tower. Suddenly there was a deafening cry that reverberated across the sky. As I looked up I saw a ginormous body in a golden hue, people stood up. As it descended from the heavens above, clouds began thinning out and there it was, adorned in seven golden colors it became prominent. It was Ho-oh.

It perched on the burnt tower and gave out a deafening cry, a bright aura started emanating from its head and its feathers started glowing, which soon caught fire. Ashes started falling from them, they flew everywhere. Wherever it touched someone that was burnt or a wounded Pokémon, it healed them. It was a breathtaking sight.

Part IV – Finale

Ashes flew over and above me; it started to dawn on me, Celebi had taken me to that historic phenomenon that I had always wanted to witness deep within my heart. I was, in fact, witnessing the resurrection of ‘The Lost Beasts’.

As Ho-oh looked down, it gazed over the perished beasts. It gave out a sharp, deafening cry and flew down from the tower on top of the bodies. It was now still as a stone, eyes closed, feathers glowing in 7 vibrant colors, as a rainbow formed around it… it’s hard to remember if I had ever seen a rainbow that was so prominent and vibrant like this one. As it opened its eyes, it tossed one of the burnt bodies up in the air. As it flew high, a blinding bolt of lightning struck it in midair, and within seconds the body was spewing off bolts of its own. It started moving as if it was alive, as lightning bolts covered our vision, it came crashing to the ground. From the ball of lightning rose a body, it was Raikou.

Next Ho-oh gave out another cry, I could now feel my skin drying up, water droplets rushing towards Ho-oh, within seconds water was rushing from every direction possible, the rain puddles, the lakes, the wells; everything seemed to have come to life. Streams of water flowed towards the second burnt body and started covering it entirely. The water started swirling and twisting… sparkling splashes oozed out of the ball of water and then with a splashing explosion the bubble burst open. Clear as the crystal waters there was a body glowing inside. Soothing blue waves of water swirled around its tail, it was Suicune, brimming in blue light.

As Ho-oh now perched over the third body, its wings lit up in sizzling golden flame. Its fire started to engulf the body as the sky started clearing up. Rays of sunshine now reaching the two bodies engulfed in golden flames. It seemed as if Ho-oh was merging with the body, they swirled and twirled around each other as if they were dancing in harmony. The body was now sparkling in red velvety flames as if the body was creating new strings of embers now and then. As both of their flames merged it formed one singular ball of fire. The ball of sparkling embers slowly rose above the ground, dancing on the rays of sunshine coming through the tattered clouds. Within seconds the ball of flames exploded into golden light as Ho-oh released the body from its grip, the ball burst and with a thundering roar, Entei landed on the roof of the burnt tower.

As Ho-oh looked down, each one of the beasts took off one after another in their majestic elemental glory into the horizon as far as my eyes could trace. As people bowed down to Ho-oh, it took off beyond the clouds leaving behind a rainbow. As I saw that, I felt numbing darkness engulfing me again. As I looked down, I saw my body becoming transparent, the people stared at me… then everything went dark… next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground where I was before, Metagross eagerly looking at me. I was a little bit concerned as all of it had seemed very real, a dream that never happened. Whether it was a dream or reality, as I looked at the sky, it made me feel more alive than ever before and left me appreciating life more than ever.

Final Notes

Once again, I understand that this sort of post is not for everyone, but when something like this comes along, I feel the need to share it with all of you. Although I may have loved to have come across this once, please don’t assume that you can do the same in the next Showcase entries. I am making an exception here since this is the very first instance of it that I have seen.

Now, putting that aside, if this is actually something that you enjoyed reading, would like to see more, or would like to write something yourself and send in your attached AR Photos, then be sure to make noise in the comments and let me know. If it gets a positive response we might start a new segment featuring your fellow Trainers with their stories and AR Pictures!

Have fun, and stay safe, Trainers!