In the leafy Celebi shrine of Ilex forest, there lives Megumi. To the residents of Azalea town, they’re a mysterious figure of the forest who’s quite friendly and sociable, but in the grand cosmic scheme of things, they’re known as the messenger of time, Celebi.
Originally the child of a monk, Megumi looked up to their father – but failed to follow his footsteps. After their death, Megumi was revived as Celebi and now lives under the duty of that role. While they were taken under the wing of Ho-Oh directly, they don’t take it too seriously, and use their powers to spread good spirits throughout their domain.
Despite their godhood and immortality, they’ve never seemed to let it get to their head, and vastly enjoy being with the people – while keeping their identity a secret.
Appearance
Megumi is 5’11”, with an average body type. They have dark pinkish hair tied into a ponytail, and green eyes.
They usually wear a light pink hakama, overlayed by a pink flower-pattern haori coat. They wear a necklace with large jade beads, and have a smaller jade bracelet on one hand.
The relaxed forest dweller
| Nicknames | N/A |
| Gender | Nonbinary (They/them) |
| Age | ~228 |
| Birthday | May 2rd |
| Occupation | Shrine keeper & legend |
| Ethnicity | Johtoan |
| Birthplace | Violet city |
| Orientation | Bi |
| S/O | N/A |
| Legend affiliation | Celebi |
| Theme |
Personality
Megumi is definitely relaxed, but not too relaxed. They know when enough’s enough, and take offense to those who disregard their efforts and call them laid-back.
They prefer to take things day-by-day, and they’re generally optimistic about the future and those around them.
They’re very social, and despite living in solitude, an extrovert. They enjoy the company of others greatly, no matter who or what they are.
Story
This section is old and outdated. It currently only goes up to the in-universe year of 2027 and is due for an update!
Early life
Born in Violet City sometime in the 1500’s, Megumi had a fairly normal childhood for the time – with one exception. Their father was a monk, spending most of his time at Sprout Tower learning and teaching the ideals of coexistence and cooperation, and worshiping Celebi. While he was mostly absent from Megumi’s life, they still looked up to him and aspired to be a monk like him some day.
They got to training early, but Megumi never seemed to quick ‘click’ with any of the bellsprout they tried training, and many of them ran away. They faced defeat after defeat while trying to train in the tower, and they were eventually told by their own father that they weren’t cut out for the life of a monk at Sprout Tower, and was told to seek training elsewhere so they could understand what cooperation meant. Megumi was mad, but instead of allowing their anger to hinder them, they used it as a means of motivation to move forward.
Megumi set out for Goldenrod city, in hopes of finding a trainer that could help them.
Initial death
Route 32 was long and tiring, but Megumi managed to pull through it. Eventually, they came to a fork in the road, and were tasked with choosing between two paths – the longer, more wild path to the west, or the path the utilized a rotting bridge to the east. Being tired from forging through seas of tall grass and not wanting more, they chose to risk their luck on the old bridge.
The bridge already had some broken sections and didn’t look safe by any means, but Megumi thought if they planned their steps right and moved slowly, they’d be able to cross just fine.
Despite their careful steps, a section of the bridge collapsed beneath them, causing Megumi to plummet into the waters below.
Revival and Ho-Oh
Megumi woke up in a warm bed to see an older man and two children staring at them, causing them to panic and ask what had happened. The man got up and told them it was alright, and that he had found Megumi washed up on the shore, unconscious, so he took them home in hopes they would wake up. He offered to get Megumi something to eat, which they politely agreed to. Megumi waited around, and answered some of the questions the man’s curious children had.
Looking around the room, Megumi noticed several objects they couldn’t quite identify, as well as realizing the father and his children were dressed rather strangely. Still, they didn’t ask anything of it, only asking of their location – which they learned was Azalea Town. After eating, they thanked the man dearly and waved goodbye to him and his children.
Still unaware of their true fate, Megumi was glad they at least made it to Azalea Town and proceeded to make their way through Ilex Forest. While their intended destination was Goldenrod City, they noticed a dilapidated shrine in the forest that seemingly called to them. While investigating the overgrown building, Megumi heard a loud noise behind them, and jumped to look – standing behind them was what appeared to be a woman, but with large, rainbow wings. She seemed to be glowing, and spoke in a deep and melodic voice;
“I’ve been expecting you. You’re the new emissary of Celebi, correct? Allow me to assist you.”
Obviously, this all caught Megumi off guard. The woman, ’emissary’, Celebi, it didn’t make sense. But despite Megumi’s silence, the woman introduced herself as Ho-Oh, and that she’d come for Megumi – as Celebi had always historically been an assistant of the bird god. Megumi also learned of their death and that they were revived in the year 1809, explaining why everything was so different. Ho-Oh offered to mentor Megumi, and while hesitant to accept her offer, they figured they couldn’t change their predicament and that Ho-Oh could be the ‘trainer’ they had been looking for all this time.
So, Megumi would work under the mentorship of Ho-Oh, learning how to use their powers and care for Ilex Forest, which they made their home. They also became quite social around the nearby Azalea Town, particularly with the family of the man who picked them up in the first place.
While the idea of being a god sounded intimidating at first, Megumi quickly got the hang of it, and it almost felt natural to them.
Ho-Oh’s death and Sen
Thanks to the isolated nature of Ilex and Azalea, the area was able to mostly avoid the toils of war that had been spreading through the region. Megumi lived the same life as ever – caring for the shrine, going about town, the usual.
It was just another normal day when Megumi was met face-to-face with a large, strange pokemon they’d never seen before. Megumi was unsure if they were a threat or not, but was surprised when they found the pokemon could speak.
The pokemon introduced herself as Entei, or ‘Sen’, as she had named herself. She was one of three revived pseudo-legends that Ho-Oh created, and she had come bearing grave news: Ho-Oh had been killed by a rogue god causing trouble in the area. Megumi was shocked and devastated to learn that their friend and mentor had been killed, but Sen was there to lend an empathetic ear and mind.
Over time, it became evident that a new Ho-Oh wasn’t coming anytime soon, so Sen and Megumi teamed up to do their part in protecting Johto.
Through this, the two became close friends, and when not watching over the region, they would often relax at Megumi’s shrine together. While the loss of their mentor still stung, Sen was at least there to help take the pain away.
Present day
Ever since they met Sen, Megumi’s days have been spent in mostly the same way. They take care of their shrine and forest, as well as mingle about with the people of Azalea Town, and that’s how it’s been for as long as they can remember. They live to the tune of the forest, and they’re perfectly content in doing to.
They still follow the family of the man who saved them to this day, and are currently good friends with one of their descendants, Kurt.
Though, recently, Sen has relayed news of a new emissary of Ho-Oh coming to be. While interesting on its own, it seems that Ho-Oh’s new emissary seems to be together with Lugia’s new emissary – something that hasn’t happened in the region for hundreds of years. While Megumi wants to examine the situation directly, both Sen and themselves feel unsure of how to do so, so they’re currently waiting to make the right move – hoping to unite Johto’s legends for good.
Skills
Emissary of Celebi:
- Navigation of the time stream:
- Or, time travel. They might not be able to manipulate time like Dialga, but they can certainly travel throughout history, and bring others along. This has its limits:
- They cannot interact with anyone in human form, only pokemon form.
- Those they bring along are also unable to interact, only spectate.
- They cannot travel to the future.
- Or, time travel. They might not be able to manipulate time like Dialga, but they can certainly travel throughout history, and bring others along. This has its limits:
- Guardian of forests:
- Shrines for Celebi are often built in forested areas to grant protection and stability – Megumi uses the shrines as a quicktravel system to travel to forests and ensure their wellbeing – which can mean anything from ensuring the wildlife populations are balanced to waving a stick and yelling at poachers.
- Conditional immortality:
- Legends stop aging physically at age 21, after that, they do not age and as such, cannot die from old age, though they can be killed through other means.
Gardening:
- If you told them their shrine was overgrown, they’d just get annoyed and tell you to look closer. Their primary shrine in Ilex forest also serves as a lush garden and testament of their skill.
- They allow pokemon to come and go freely within the shrine, and many have been reoccurring residents for centuries.
- They grow their own food and will give away the excess at farmer’s markets in Azalea
Relationships
Sen – Non-romantic partner
While they have vastly contrasting personalities, Megumi and Sen and very good friends who live together in the Ilex Forest shrine. Megumi enjoys how Sen can keep a conversation going for hours, even if she doesn’t look it.
Kaguya – Near stranger
Despite her ascension, Megumi only vaguely knows Kaguya. They’ve only seen her in the Kimono sister’s garden while visiting in pokemon form.
Haru – Friendly legendary retainer
Haru tends to do most of the divine message-passing for Kaguya, and as such, Megumi is more familiar with her. She notably visits Ilex forest out of her own volition sometimes, too – and Megumi can’t seem to figure out why.
Trivia
- They always beat Sen in chess – which might be mostly due to Sen not having hands most of the time.
- However, Sen always wins when she takes human form for the purpose of board games.
- Their secret is known among elders of Azalea town – Kurt in particular.
- They’re still a bit unfamiliar with modern technology.
- They’re comfortable with any honorifics, save for those relating to divinity, despite their role. It feels awkward to them.
- They’ll give someone a hard lesson with time travel if you bribe them. Think ghost of the past style.
- All donations to Celebi shrines are collected by them. They occasionally collect donations to Entei’s shrine as well.
