Pokémon: Knight of Order

by Darkevony

Rating: everyone
Tags: Pokémon, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Alternate Universe, Human, Main 6, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Spike, Other, Adventure
Length: 64879

Facing the end of his world, a long-time Pokémon Master fights the very odds themselves in order to save everyone he loves, ultimately resulting in a cataclysmic event that brings about an unexpected possibility as he is cast to an unown world.

With all life in his world at stake, a long-time Pokémon Master challenges the progenitor of the fateful prophecy that threatens it. The resulting outcome of that event throws him across realities where he'll find even more world-ending calamities ahead of him.

The life of our would-be hero is not an easy one. But alongside a special little Eevee and a group of kind ponies who are used to saving the day, he might just be able to redeem himself of the sacrifices he had to make in order to save his world.

His adventure has more in store for him than just redemption, however, as it'll prove to be the stepping stone he'll need to grow as a person. If he is to save anyone in the way he truly wants to, then he'll have to learn to rely on others.

Published 2012-02-26 04:34:02 UTC
Last updated 2023-03-21 01:50:43 UTC

Chapter 2: A Race Against Time

"Emile...? Are you alright?"

The boy was unresponsive as if frozen stiff. In his head, a thousand different thoughts and questions raced through his mind. His Leafeon turning into an Eevee... his voice... his physical coordination... the scar on his back gone... Well, there really was only one good explanation for it all wasn't there? Their Time had been rewinded. Fifteen years in fact, since that had been the time he'd first met his Eevee. Was this Arceus' doing? Why had he kept his memories then? Eevee's battle senses were still intact, so then why not its memory? And... what had happened to his original world...?

Had he managed to save it?

"Emile!" Applejack shook him out of his trance.

"I-I'm..." He mumbled.

"You're what? C'mon, sugarcube, stop making us worry like that." Applejack placed her hoof onto his shoulder, calming him again.

"It's just... I'm a kid again."

Rainbow Dash cracked up at this. "Well, you could've fooled us. You know. Us knowing nothing about humans and all." She got quieted by Applejack digging a hoof into her side.

"Were you an adult before? How were you supposed to look? If you don't mind me asking." Twilight was equal measures of intrigued as she was worried for him.

"I'm supposed to be much taller, and my voice is supposed to be deeper. I was turning twenty-five today."

"I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this doesn't usually happen to your kind, right?"

"No, not at all... I'm sorry. This is a lot to take in."

"Don't ya worry about a thing Emile. From what my gals recounted; you've had a hell of a day. It's okay if you need some time to process this." Applejack tried comforting him.

"You're amongst friends now. If there's anything we can help you with, just ask." Twilight followed up.

"Y-yeah... thank you, guys. Truly" He looked down at his Eevee who was resting on his lap. Before he had a chance to slip into some less-than-savory thoughts, Fluttershy started petting him on the head. It was quite an embarrassing way to get comforted, but he didn't mind it one bit.

"Um... excuse me. Emile?" The yellow Pegasus said as she got closer.

"Yes?"

"You said today was gonna be your 25th birthday right? Happy Birthday." Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash followed suit having just realized it too and cheered him on.

"A birthday is it?" Rarity's voice filled the room when she entered at that moment, magically levitating a bag towards Emile. "How fortuitous. Then consider this my gift, darling. This way, you don't have to think about repaying me." It was most likely the clothes she said she wanted to make for him earlier. He left the gift for later having felt embarrassed to change in front of everypony.

"Thank you, Rarity. I sincerely appreciate this gift, but I still want to repay you if you'll let me." She sighed and shrugged in hesitant agreement. "And thank you, guys, for the well-wishes... I'm not entirely sure how old I am now though so I can't say for sure that I'm having my birthday today."

"How old do you think you are?" Twilight took out a notebook as she readied to document her new findings on humans.

"I look as young as I was when I first began my journey. I was ten at the time."

Before he could even turn around to see who it was, a cake slid into his view having appeared from behind him. On it, it read "Happy Birthday, Emile!" with a crude frosting drawing of a stick figure human and ten candles lined up neatly around the edges.

"♪ Happy happy Birthday! From all of us to you! I baked you a yummy cake, so make sure you don't drool! We'd like a piece too, to celebrate all cool! ♪"

It was a little sappy, but quite the happy tune. First the revelation and now this, it had all happened so fast that he didn't know how to feel. If he had to choose, he was definitely feeling a warm and fuzzy feeling inside much to his surprise. In his life, as he'd kept most people at arm's length, hardly anyone save for his mother had celebrated his birthday. Among his many adventures, he'd only ever met rivals. There was the occasional friendly face that would remember him and send him postcards, but pleasantries were hardly a thing to celebrate. His only real friends were the Pokemon he trained, and although they would've been happy to celebrate it for him, he never made a show of it for himself as at this point in his life, it had just become a day as any other. But now...

"Is... something wrong? Don't you like it?" Pinkie Pie asked having noticed the drop in his expression.

"I love it." He smiled, in between a tear that he had let slip involuntarily.

Without a word, he looked over at the other ponies who were now looking at him with worry. Even if they were vastly different creatures on the outside, on the inside it seemed they were very much the same as any human, as they could instantly recognize the sadness and joy he was expressing on his face while he held back more tears. The emotions he was feeling now were undoubtedly caused by more than just the cake and the celebration of his birthday. It had been everything until now. Every effort, every hope, every sacrifice he'd made up until that point... He and his Pokemon had braved the most harrowing trials of their lives for the sake and future of the world. A world that he might never be able to see again. There would be no one to cheer for his accomplishments or even to call his name. He couldn't even have known if his world was safe or not. It was an incredibly sobering and sad thought, and it all had rushed to him when he looked upon the teetering flames on the candles dancing on their stems.

But here and now, so very, very far from home.... there were a couple of ponies wishing him a happy birthday. His heart was filled with melancholy and happiness, all in one.

The mood had definitely grown awkward while he rubbed away at his eyes.

"It's nothing. Really, it's nothing. I'm overjoyed in fact, so I don't know where to place all this feeling." He had tried to dissuade their concerns to no avail. "Hey, Pinkie Pie, how did you bake a cake so fast if you barely knew it was my birthday?" He asked, finally doing the trick to lighten up the mood as the excitable mare was only happy to follow along.

"I work at a bakery. I can make a cake faster than Dashy can fly." She beamed.

"You want to bet on that?" Followed up the hothead.

They shared a jovial moment while eating the cake, talking more about humans and pony society, and momentarily forgetting about any issues at hand.

It hadn't taken long for the peace to be disturbed when a small waist-height purple lizard barged into Fluttershy's home out of breath and holding onto a scroll in one hand. Surely it had to be a Pokemon, no? But he guessed not as the little dragon-type did a double back as soon as he saw him.

Twilight did her best to fill in the purple dragon and told Spike all about him in a few short words, following up her explanation with the most obvious question.

"But what's wrong, Spike? You came running all the way here, I'm guessing it's an urgent request from the Princess?"

"Exactly right, Twilight." He said as he opened the scroll he had on hand and read it to every pony. "This is a state of emergency. To my dear Twlight and her friends, I request your assistance on a vital matter. Please depart to Canterlot with utmost haste."

The words written on it spared no expense for trifling pleasantries and it served well to heighten the urgency of the situation. Judging by Twilight's expressions, this was a serious matter indeed considering how much she contemplated what to do next.

"Emile, as this is an urgent summon, we'll have to depart soon. But I was thinking you should come with us." She had said after analyzing the circumstances.

"To meet a princess? Royalty? Are you sure?"

"If I think about it logically, or maybe just call it a hunch but... Your arrival here and this summons seem correlated. Besides, even if it isn't, we can directly ask Princess Celestia for help on matters concerning you. She's the wisest and most magically gifted of us all. If there's a pony that might have a clue as to the circumstances that led you here, it might be her. I say it's a win-win."

"Y-yeah. Seems like the smart thing to do." He said and looked down at his Eevee again who still slumbered in a deep sleep. He was feeling a pang of guilt welling up since he understood well why he was here to begin with, or at least, he knew a bit more than them in that regard. But he kept that topic to himself, still wishing not to burden them with the truth of his world. What he fixated on was the first thing Twilight had said. If there was something serious happening to this world that involved his coming here, then it was only right that he should lend a hand as well. "If there's something I can do... I want to help you guys."

"Please, darling, you just don't know when to graciously accept a gift, do you?" Rarity said in a pseudo-mock. "We wouldn't be good hosts if we involved you in our issues, dear."

"But I-"

"But nothing. You would sully my reputation if I allowed it." She was incredibly gracious and kind, despite her harsh words. But even she wasn't made of stone after she looked at Emile's expressive concerns. "Very well." She sighed. "If the situation calls for it, we'll call on your aid. But know that we've saved Equestria from dire straits many times, so we won't have much use for you."

"Besides, we're strong. You know it from firsthand experience." Rainbow Dash said as she flexed and made a playful grin.

"Alright, then I'll leave it to you." He smiled back at her.

"Since there's urgency in her message we have to depart as soon as possible. Are the rest of you set on heading out immediately?" Twilight asked the others.

"I'm good. Not like I have anything to attend to back at my house in Cloudsdale." Rainbow Dash was the first to be ready.

"No harvestin' today either, so I'm set too." Applejack came second.

"The tots are with Mr. And Mrs. Cake, and the shop is closed. I am set and ready commander." Pinkie Pie said while she bolted upright.

"Already closed the boutique when all this hullabaloo started, so no problems here." Rarity followed.

"And you, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked her, seeing as she was the last left.

"Almost, I already asked Angel to look over the animals while I'm gone. I just need to get something." Fluttershy flew upstairs to her bedroom.

"Rarity, could you get us a carriage?"

"Of course." Rarity stepped out into the outside and whistled at a few stallions that happened by. "Well hello there. We're in a bit of an emergency and I just wanted to know if you could give us a lift to Canterlot." She said in a flirtatious way. They immediately dropped everything to go fetch a cart, Emile couldn't help but think that it was rather strange. Was she using charm? He sighed as he was still thinking like if they were Pokemon. He had seen that type of effect before both on humans and other Pokemon without the use of Charm, but he had never really understood it himself. His interactions with the fairer sex throughout his life had only ever been in the way of fierce Pokemon battles with one-track-minded people. There had never been much room for him to think about these things. If anything, he felt a little embarrassed having witnessed it in front of him so close, and couldn't help but feel a little empathetic to the poor little purple dragon when he crossed his arms and huffed smoke from his nostrils with indignation.

"I'll go hold down the fort, Twilight. Send for me if you need anything, I'll be there in a jiff." He saluted Twilight in some strange show of strength while he shot glances at the white unicorn from the side of his rigid stance. Even if Emile hadn't been too familiar with that kind of feeling, all he could think was... Pretty obvious little man, good luck.

In the meantime, Emile went to go change into the clothes Rarity had prepared for him. She was truly an expert craftsman, as all the clothes she'd given him were well-suited for his body's size and somewhat replicas of his tattered ones with a unique flare to them. She had even remade his trusty red and white hat and jacket. The only thing he was missing now was shoes, but that would've been a stretch to expect from a seamstress since running shoes from his world were special and a technological advancement of his kind. Still, he felt great in his new clothes. In thanking her, Emile could physically feel her pride emanating from her attitude at his praise.

As the two stallions returned with a carriage in almost no time at all, he wondered how transportation worked for these ponies since the stallions looked like they would be the ones to pull it. He didn't let it bother him much after everyone began to board in with no hesitation. He was just about to get in himself when Fluttershy finally arrived with what she had gone to fetch.

"Wait for me!" The quiet voice shouted from behind, hardly audible.

He felt a chill crawl all through the length of his spine as he looked at her. In her saddlebag, she carried a familiar large pure white egg.

"Fluttershy... Where did you find that egg?" Emile stumbled through his words, making it almost visible that he was astonished by the mere sight of it.

"Oh, this? I found it in the Everfree Forest near my house this morning. Since all the animals had kicked up a fuzz, I went to go check it out and found this egg there. None of my hens want to go anywhere near it for some reason and they aren't big enough to incubate it anyways so I'm personally handling it myself. I figured I'd bring it along with me."

"Emile, what's wrong?" Twilight asked after she noticed how pale he'd become.

"That egg... it was with me when I awoke in this world..."

There was a foreboding feeling in the air itself with even the trees swaying in their direction, almost like if they were following the carriage. The tension in everyone was palpable even as they did their best to hide it. Perhaps because of his Time being rewinded, he was weaker at being able to hide his own feelings than before. His heart beat in rhythm like a clock and he envisioned that it clicked and clocked in his chest, further driving the growing pressure he was under. He did his best to calm his nerves by petting Eevee who had still been stuck in a deep sleep.

They had talked only a little bit about the egg after they had departed. Emile gave them all the information he himself knew, which was only that the egg had appeared with him in this world at the time of his arrival. Despite the conversation he had with everyone about the egg and all the time he spent theorizing about it, he was no closer to figuring out what that egg was. Emile could only think that it was a bad omen of things to come... he could feel it in his gut.

Emile flinched at a sudden high-pitched sound that rang out of his rucksack and whose vibration could be felt on his back. Reaching into it, he pulled out the Pokeriss he'd stowed away before, now having completed its task of transforming an apple. Inside, the familiar reds and whites of a Pokeball could be seen on a tiny sphere the size of a fingernail.

"Finally. It's done."

The six gathered around with the kind of eager excitement that comes from wanting to shake off the seriousness of those events, and likely just genuine curiosity as this all might as well have been magic to them having never seen the technology from his world.

"What's it supposed to be, sugarcube?"

"This? It's perhaps one of the most advanced pieces of technology and craftsmanship of humankind. A Pokeball. These little things go hand in hand with our ability to interact, train, care for, and maintain our Pokemon." If it hadn't been there before, now there was real excitement in the air as their eyes followed it with intense curiosity. "And if you can imagine, like I mentioned before, Pokemon were originally known as pocket monsters because of the invention of these tools since they are able to fit into it with ease."

"That's soooo small! It's smaller than my hoof." Pinkie chimed.

"How does it all work?" Twilight was practically trembling right about now.

"We haven't gotten so far as to know how or why Pokemon shrink, but I can tell you about the inner workings of the Pokeball itself." He cleared his throat, purposely delaying it for dramatic effect. "Well, you probably won't fully understand my whole spiel on the virtual and computational aspects of the ball, so I'll try to simplify it as best I can. Imagine if you will, that Pokemon can shrink to such an infinitesimally small size. A size so tiny, they become invisible to the naked eye. With this idea in mind, also understand that when they do, their weight becomes as close to zero as any material in existence can get. Lighter than a feather, a cloud, or even the air around you. At this stage, we're able to encapsulate them in a protective bubble via the Pokeball's functions. This bubble helps to do a number of things. From sending them to long distances like halfway across the world in an instant to even making pseudo-worlds for them inside the Pokeball, allowing them to graze, sleep, and recuperate in a simulated environment that they'd be most comfortable with."

"Whole worlds...? That's insane..." Twilight said what they were all thinking, as he spotted a few mouths agape.

"So inside of their Pokeball, they get to be in habitats created specifically for them?" Fluttershy followed up.

"Indeed, and it's all maintained by the Pokeballs. These little things are the culmination of human ingenuity, and centuries of work by the brightest minds in order to give our Pokemon companions the best of the best." He smiled mischievously since he had saved the best for last. Physical proof that what he was saying wasn't all nonsense. "But there's still one more thing left. Now witness!" He said in a grandstanding way after pressing the button that protruded from the center of the small marble. He sincerely wished he had, had a camera on hand to have been able to take a picture of that very special moment after every pony basically jumped at having his explanation be realized with it growing ten times its size, to fit the entirety of his palm like a large softball. While he shrunk it back to its original size and then back again for the entertainment and research of the ponies present, he had just about forgotten his worries altogether in this touching moment.

"Wowow! Amazing!" Squee'd the pink one.

"It's absolutely incredible, Emile! I would love to look at it in closer detail if you'd let me." Twilight remarked.

"Sure, I'd be delighted to make you some. It'll just take a while to make more. For now, though, I'll need to keep this one."

"You can make them, Emile? You must be quite the talented craftsman yourself." Rarity added.

"Oh no, it's not me. It's the work of this machine actually." He said as he gestured to the Pokeriss. "It's a one-of-a-kind created by a good friend of mine from a long time ago. He used to be a traditional craftsman until he decided to automate the process for fellas like me, but to little success, as he was only able to craft this one here. Took too much time and effort he said, and he preferred to have hands-on when making the balls himself. Specifics aside, it uses a special organic material to construct the casing of the ball and the internals, it then puts them together, and viola! I pretty much do nothing here." He noted, a bit ashamed for having been praised for doing nothing. "These are just basic pokeballs. Some of the ones he used to make were special and had varying effects for both catching and raising Pokemon. There really is no substitute for a true craftsman when it comes to quality."

In Rarity's eyes, there was a bright glint of interest as she eyed the ball curiously. He hadn't pegged her for the studious type like Twilight, but he guessed that she was interested in all manner of craftsmanship. "I'm beside myself. It's so beautiful like a jewel when it's small and doubles down on its usefulness when grown. Form AND function. Yet you say there are even better works of art out there? Makes a girl swoon at the idea."

The others had also taken quite an interest in the Pokeball after his theatrical display, and he just about guessed what they wanted to say. "Now now, I can make some for everyone. I didn't have the materials originally to make any since it used a particular nut from my world, but it seems I'm able to make more with apples from this world. I used some apples just outside of Applejack's farm to make them and they turned out pretty great."

"Only natural. Every pony knows our apples are special." The orange cowboy said with gleeful pride. "Feel free to take some from our ranch next time, sugarcube."

"Thank you Applejack, I will accept your gift." He said in a stiff manner as he eyed the white unicorn from the corner of his eye after she smiled at him with a smile that hid her scolding, unspoken words. "More importantly though." He tapped the end of the Pokeball gently to Eevee's body. "This should do it."

The fully grown Pokeball split into two to reveal its internals. Inside, a red light formed in the very center of it. The red light then shot forward at Eevee and engulfed it in a red light to everyone's surprise. Yet, after only a bit, the light dissipated, and Eevee remained having not gone into it. The ball had rejected Eevee.

"Should do what?" Pinkie asked, confused.

"Was it supposed to go inside, you reckon?" Applejack followed up.

Tried all he might, the ball continued to reject his Eevee. He could tell that the Pokeball the Pokeriss had made was fully functional since it was behaving as any normal one would. After each rejection, its button blinked in specific patterns to form an error code, and in slowly remembering what they meant, he felt his stomach drop when he carefully eyed what this one was saying. Its code meant one of two things and either of them spelled out the worst-case scenario. One possibility for the ball rejecting Eevee was because it had already been registered to a different Pokeball. One he'd likely left behind or had been destroyed in his old world.

This was a particularly difficult issue to solve since a PC registry would be needed to reissue the Pokemon a new Pokeball. This essentially meant that so long as he existed in this world, his Eevee would have to go without one. It wasn't unheard of for some Trainers and their Pokemon to choose not to use one, but overall, Pokemon were sensitive creatures whose stress piles up if not in their natural habitat. As for this Eevee? He didn't know. Leafeon certainly never minded being in one or not, so he couldn't safely make an assumption for his buddy that had been reverted to a pre-captured state.

The more troubling thing the Pokeball's error code spelled out was... There was the possibility the Eevee was already registered with someone else.

He couldn't help but think that it was impossible, but considering his situation, it was a possibility to say the least. Their Time having been rewinded might have messed with the Pokeballs authentication system. Or maybe even the shift to this world had. There was any number of reasons to think that there was a deeper issue at play here, and he would not be able to find out unless he could meet with the PC's regional admins, the geniuses behind these systems.

He sighed a deeply frustrated sigh, wishing he'd been smart enough to know how it all worked like they did. Looking over at his pony friends again after having tried and failed so miserably, he shrugged in defeat.

"What's wrong with it, Emile?" Twilight asked.

"Nothing is wrong with the ball itself, it seems. The problem is with Eevee and me. The ball has its unique ways of identifying who it belongs to and what it belongs to. That's what this blinking light is saying here." He said as he pointed to the button. "Somewhere, those wires are getting crossed. Maybe because we came to this world?"

"What does this mean for Eevee then?" Fluttershy asked in her worry for the little fox.

"Eevee never minded not being in the ball for long periods of time before, but because it's likely that its age has been reverted like mine had I'm... not too sure what this means for my buddy. Just gotta hope for the best, right?" He said with little confidence. There was a bit of a silence in the carriage at that point as the topics of conversation had died out. Not from disinterest, since they had all a million questions to ask, but because it was hard to follow up that less-than-ideal talk. Having eyed their destination, Emile found a good topic in order to break the serious atmosphere that lingered. "So uh, question for you guys." Everyone perked up at this.

"Go ahead." Twilight ushered him.

"We're going there, right? To that castle?" Twilight nodded in response to his question.

"It's both a city and the location of Princess Celestia's castle. Quite something huh?" Twilight took the helm on this one, probably because she'd had the most experience with it. "I spent the better part of my youth there studying, though admittedly I didn't make many friends until I was sent to Ponyville by the Princess herself. I'm glad she did because I got to meet my best friends there." She said, prompting everyone to smile at her. "A-Ahem. Right."

"It's absolutely incredible. For a good second, I thought humans lived there since in my head I found it impossible that you guys could've made that. But, since seeing your magic and your town, I've come around to the idea." In the past, he'd only heard tales of such intricate castles from regions he still had yet to visit like in Kalos or even from the more hushed whispers coming from Unova about some moving fortress. Unova... that had been his next destination before everything went sideways. He sighed a bit at the sight of Canterlot castle and turned to the purple unicorn. "Are you sort of like the Princess' confidant? An officer of the peace kind of thing?"

"I'm just her apprentice for the magical arts, really. But when it comes to magic, all sorts of things happen around Equestria. She's entrusted us six with the great power of the elements of harmony, so we do our best to respond to these types of calls." She stated proudly. "It's a great honor to help out the Princess who has already done so much for every pony." Everypony nodded their agreement.

"She sounds like a great person, err, pony."

"Did you have anyone like that in your world, Emile?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Like what?"

"You know, like super duper awesome and always helping out the world and stuff. Like a hero! Someone everyone looks up to."

He tipped his hat down to hide his face at that. "Uhm. No, not really, not in my time at least. Maybe in the past." He said dismissively.

With the conversation became jovial again, they were now just a few short paces from Canterlot castle. Somehow, the talk had been spearheaded by Rainbow Dash as she began to explain to every pony what had happened when they first met.

"And then uhm... Yeah, he just knocked out. Totally not my fault. So I flew over to Twilight to ask her for advice and she told me to carry you to her house."

"You know, Dash, if you had been a Pokemon, you could've gone to my world and boasted to everyone about your victory over me and you'd be applauded by everyone."

"What, you were some sort of hotshot? I doubt that." She snickered.

"Aw, come on. Remember how I said Trainers compete in massive tournaments, yeah? Well, I've won a couple of those." Was he actually lauding himself? Or was this some childish pride speaking? It was like looking at himself from the outside because he found it amusing all the same.

"There's no way!"

Their talk eventually got floated around with all sorts of topics. Eventually, Emile had gotten distracted at one point and once again contemplated the egg. The ponies had agreed it was best to take it to the Princess just in case it offered any relevance to Emile's appearance in Equestria. But he had a sense of unease just staring at it. His intuition was usually correct and considering what Fluttershy had said about her animals and hens avoiding it, there was a real possibility that the egg, or whatever was inside it, was incredibly dangerous. Still, he'd decided to press on with their decision to show it to the Princess, as he wanted to believe that she was as powerful as everyone said she was, since they had told him about her powers and her ability to raise the very sun.

Surely, if even the worst-case scenario happened, she could do something about it, no?

And if this egg had something to do with the events that happened to him before, then it could spell his ticket back to his world. Or at the very least... he'd get to see what the results of his decisions had been. His greatest longing at that point was just to see if he had changed things for the better. If he'd managed to save everyone like he wanted.

While thinking about these things, suddenly, his Eevee who had still been in a deep sleep began to tremble in pain again and started to cry out. At first confused about what was happening to it, Emile himself began to feel something was terribly wrong too. His vision began to contract, churn, and tilt with increasing intensity as the world around him felt distorted. His body's coordination followed along with it this strange sensational bombardment and he felt sick to his stomach in the nauseating effect. A ringing in his ear had grown so loud at this point that it had become physically uncomfortable, and he could not hear the words of the ponies beside him. The moment they had called for the stallions to stop the carriage. Emile made a grab for the door and immediately stumbled to his knees after it flew open, now holding onto Eevee for dear life as it too struggled with whatever was happening them.

It seems the ponies had not been affected by whatever this was. Looking back at the mares, from the corner of his eyes he could see the egg pulsing with light within the shell itself as though the creature inside could feel what was happening too. The ponies hadn't noticed it since their attention was fully focused on them. It took all the strength he had on him to push himself weakly off the ground, and as he did, he spotted a peculiarity in front of him in the direction of the forest surrounding the road. It was a small blue and black figure hiding behind the tree line. An animal of some sort? Or perhaps... a Pokemon?

At this thought, it began to run from tree to tree further and further away from him. Somehow, it felt like the figure had attached strings to his heart. He felt an immense and heavy pull towards its direction. Physically, mentally, and emotionally... With his vision twisting everything around him, he couldn't make out what it was at all, and the logical part of his brain was yelling at him not to run towards it. But... he was less than rational right now, and so he ran after it with all he had with his Eevee in tow.

It vanished altogether before he could reach it. As his mind and vision cleared, he found himself in the middle of a small grotto of trees, with half of his pony friends panting for breath behind him. The other half being the more physically fit of the six

"*huff* Emile...? *huff* You back yet, buddy?" Twilight panted, struggling to form the questions.

Before he even had the chance to compose his thoughts and respond, an incredibly powerful and blinding white light filled the grotto in that instant. The light was coming from in-between his arms and he could feel a powerful rush of energy sweep all around his torso.

He knew what this was. He had seen it so many times before. That familiar mystical power that no amount of science had ever come close to comprehending. Eevee's very shape and form was changing in his arms, and they were all now witnessing the most miraculous thing about Pokemon.

"Emile! What's going on?! Why is Eevee..." Twilight tried calling out to him while fighting against the bright light overpowering her vision.

When the light finally died down, they were left with a very different creature than what Eevee had been. Emile looked at every pony present and fell to the ground, his legs giving out from the sheer wildness of what had just transpired.

"It's... an evolution."

The worry of seeing their friend run off in a panic again, the terror of not knowing what that light had been, the awe-inducing effects it had on the Eevee and now Emile's laughter as he somehow found the reactions on their face funny had confused the ever-living heck out of them. Though Emile himself had been just as confused as them for other reasons, he found it incredibly comical that they were a bundle of nerves and bewilderment.

"It's one surprise after another." Rainbow Dash said and plopped onto the ground defeatedly while everyone let out a stressed sigh of relief.

"What in the heck was that, Emile? Evolution you said?" Twilight asked as she touched the fluffy red, orange, and yellow coat of this new creature.

"Um, how about we walk and talk about this as we get back to the carriage?"

"Y-yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Turning back to where they came from, Twilight was quick to follow up with; "You have so much to explain to us right now. Start talking, buddy."

"Now hold on, Twi', I know he's got stuff that needs explainin' but give him a little room." Applejack told her.

"Yeah but..." She was still eager to pursue the subject.

"It's okay! It's okay. Haha. I'm sorry. I'm sure that must've been quite the experience for you guys. Look closely, everyone. Eevee has evolved into a pokemon known as Flareon." Emile pulled out the pokedex from his jacket's pouch. Everyone except Fluttershy cluttered around it to see its dex entry since the yellow pegasus nuzzled up against the firefox content with just listening rather than looking.

Flareon, known as the Flame Pokémon. Flareon has a flame sac in its body, and can also shoot powerful flames that have been known to reach a maximum of 3,100 degrees Fahrenheit. Flareon fluffs out its fur collar to cool down its body temperature, which can reach 1,650 degrees. Flareon's internal flame ignites its breath, which is exhaled as fire. When it finds berries to eat, it breathes fire on them until they're well done.

"If you recall Eevee's entry, you'll remember that it said Eevee's species has the unique ability to adapt to its environment via evolution. What you guys just witnessed was exactly that, an evolution. Gotta be honest though, even for us humans, Pokemon evolution might as well be an enigma. Each and every one of them is a little packet of mystery and wonder."

"Well now ain't that the truth." Applejack chimed in. "So then why did Eevee decide to evolve into a fire Pokemon in the middle of the forest? Seems a bit like a conflict of interest."

"Yeah... that's the thing. I don't know. Honestly, I was pretty confused when the evolution happened too. You already guessed right that it's not the kind of environment an Eevee evolves into a Flareon. In fact, Eevee's evolution conditions are incredibly specific, and can only evolve under the right circumstances and sometimes with the right items. With a Flareon, it needs to be in contact with something known as a firestone."

"So they have conditions to evolve? I'll have a pick at your knowledge later, Emile, mark my words." Twilight muttered.

"I'd be happy to give you all that I know." He was silent for a bit as his expression dropped.

"What's wrong Emile? You're making such a frown at Flareon, is it okay?" Fluttershy asked after noticing it when she looked up from having petted the still-sleeping fox in his arms.

"Um, yeah... I wasn't showing it at first but I'm actually beside myself with worry." He said sheepishly, swallowing his pride. "An evolution is a big deal for a Pokemon, since they can't revert to what they used to be. For Eevees, evolving once means they'll be permanently stuck in their new forms. Because both of our Times were rewinded, it made sense that my buddy had become an Eevee again, but originally, he had once evolved into a different evolution type known as Leafeon. We had adventured together for so long after that, seeing my buddy become something else is um..." He tried to bite back the words he wanted to say because it felt selfish to say them, as though he was saying them just for himself. "A bit sad, I guess..." He quietly muttered the words to himself.

Fluttershy petted his head again like she would an animal in trying to comfort him. "I can see it. It feels like you're growing apart, right? It's okay. I've had similar experiences with animals that I had let loose and seen after years when I visited the woods on my walks. The transition between cub and fully grown... it feels like you've missed so much."

"Yeah..." She was such a gentle pony, that was for sure. Her empathy helped the turmoil in his heart immensely. "I'd already felt this way once before when I arrived in this world and it had become an Eevee again. Worse still, it had forgotten all about me and our adventures. It took a bit of doing but I got its trust again and it was like our friendship never left, but..." It's never an easy thing to open up to others, was it? "It didn't feel the same. Even though I still remembered for some reason, Eevee didn't. It felt, um... well it felt lonely. I suppose."

"Well of course it would, darling. If I had been in your shoes and it had been my sister to forget me, I'd be a right mess right about now. I envy your strength." Rarity spoke up first.

"Yeah. For me, if it'd been with anyone in my family, I'd be heartbroken." Followed Applejack.

"Even if it happened with anyone in our friends, it would be such an awful feeling." Said a very uncharacteristic and serious Pinkie Pie. Emile could easily see that she too was quite prone to loneliness and had felt the sorrow of that feeling.

"Thank you..." He said meekly. "I'm not used to... you know, talking like this. With others, I mean. It feels like I'm making quite the habit of thanking you all. I'm sorry you have to deal with all the baggage I'm bringing with me."

"Perish the thought dear. You're our friend now. Besides, we got to experience all sorts of wonderous things, haven't we?" Rarity said, addressing everypony present which prompted them to agree.

At that moment, Emile made a vow in his heart to help these ponies with all his might, come what may.

It had been on the side of the mountain, he thought. It made sense, he thought. How else would they get up to the city? He thought very hard about all of this as he felt his legs buckle a bit halfway across the long, long winding stairs. He hid his embarrassment by giving a thumbs up to the ponies who had noticed this, signifying that he was okay. His childlike body and short legs were making the climb that much more difficult. To his dismay, they had yet even more stairs to climb upon reaching the castle gates.

He looked back at the city he had just walked through still perplexed at the thought that there were creatures capable of building all of this. What a world, he thought.

Emile held his stomach and climbed the stairs. He was getting that cold pit again, and he tried to focus his mind on something else. It felt as though there was an Ominous Wind blowing when the stairs to the castle reminded him of the ones he'd seen on Spear Pillar... At this point, he was trying incredibly hard not to let his trauma show by doing his best to control his breathing. Thankfully, the ponies in front of him had just seen this as him being out of breath.

Then it happened. Chaos, all at once.

That same nauseating feeling from before had forcibly rendered him to his knees afraid that he'd be knocked down the stairs and brutally hurt in the process. He held onto the side railing and the edges of the stairs when the feeling became more intense. Yet despite the intensity of the situation, all he could think was to help his buddy when the Flareon cried out in pain within his arms.

"Hold... on... buddy..." He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes now that the ringing in his ears had become so powerful, it made it hard to even think.

In Flareon's desperation, it began to Flail in his arms while it clawed away at his clothes and skin. Then the unthinkable happened. Flareon shot from its mouth a weak yet still incredibly hot stream of flames by using Ember. His clothes ignited, he could see the ponies recoil in fear. He saw as Twilight readied a water spell, only to be met by the familiar light of a Pokemon evolution.

No way. Emile thought in that instant. Slowly but surely, Flareon transformed into a Vaporeon in his arms.

The flames on his jacket were almost immediately put out as his entire upper body became engulfed in water from Vaporeon's attempt to heal itself using Water Veil in unconscious self-defense. Gasping for air, Emile refused to let go of his buddy and continued to take step after step up the stairs again. It seemed the ponies could understand to some extent what was going on as Twilight worded something out to Rainbow Dash. At this, she flew away towards the direction of the castle as fast as she could. He felt his consciousness slip from the lack of air, and before he could pass out altogether the bubble burst. Vaporeon began to change again.

"Emile! Are you alright?!" He finally heard Twilight's voice now that he was coughing up the water in his lungs.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. I'm alright!" Emile said as he staggered a bit before regaining composure again.

"I thought you said Eevee could only evolve once?!" Twilight asked in a half shout, recalling back what Emile had mentioned.

"It shouldn't be possible! I don't know what's going on, but I can't let Eevee suffer alone."

"We can't continue to watch this. You're getting seriously hurt!"

"Please, don't worry about me. I'm alright. I'm okay. We need..." His teeth began clattering as a chilling cold began to freeze the moisture on his clothes. The light had faded to reveal a curled-up Glaceon emanating its Icy Wind with all its might. "We n-need to find the P-princess."

In reaching the end of the stairs to a circular courtyard, they were met with multiple armored stallions pointing spears at them. Twilight and her friends rushed over to them to explain the situation. He felt his fingers frostnip halfway through the courtyard before the Glaceon began to glow again. Now the Eevee's forms were beginning to change faster and faster.

The light gave way to a Jolteon this time. He felt his very muscle fibers rend at the electricity that the yellow-quilled creature outputted in its distress by using Thunder Shock, made stronger by the moisture that still clung to his body and clothes. He could not continue forward from the paralysis of the shock, falling onto his knees almost dab center of the palisade.

He fought for breath as Eevee switched forms quicker and quicker, thankfully not giving it much room to use moves before it switched in and out. From Umbreon, to Espeon, to a white and pink form he had never seen before, and finally into Leafeon whose form remained as Eevee's evolutions came to an end with it. In his emotional shock, he let down the now-calmed Leafeon onto the ground. It slumbered peacefully now that the nauseating feeling and sound from before had gone.

Just what was going on? What had this all been about?

Staring at his buddy in its Leafeon evolution, he felt his nose puff up and his eyes water as he remembered all of their adventures together. When he looked around, he looked at the chaos of what had transpired. His pony friends were desperately attempting to hold back the royal guards who had been spooked by the spectacle. It really felt like he was outside of himself as if in a daze. He wobbled from side to side, feeling the dizziness of exhaustion. Then he spotted Rainbow Dash alongside a very tall, very commanding figure twice the size of any of the ponies present. A white Alicorn with a pastel rainbow mane and tiara atop her head. The guards finally stood down when she raised one front foreleg to signal at them to stop their advance.

He could feel it. Sense it in the very air. The trembling of the earth. The stomping and rumbling and rushing of animal-like creatures. He didn't need to put an ear to the ground like he first did when arriving in this world to know it either. He could hear the very heartbeat of life from where he knelt. And in that sound, something was terribly amiss. That ominous feeling from before...

"Twilight, Rainbow Dash has informed me of what's been going on." Princess Celestia turned to glance at Emile. "It seems the situation reached you as well."

"What do you mean, Princess?"

"Problems all over Equestria have started surfacing. Both Luna and I have been noticing powerful distortions all across the land. But this isn't the place to talk about specifics. Please, come inside to our inner chamber. We have guests much like your friend here. They'll be able to tell us more."

Emile hadn't been processing the conversation too well. He felt pangs of fear well up in his chest as he eyed the egg in Fluttershy's saddlebag. Inside of it, a light was beginning to glow stronger and stronger. Stranger yet, he could almost see the light all around it grow dimmer. In that moment, he could clearly picture a clock now in his mind. It clicked, then clocked. Click, clock, click, clock. Then, silence.

Time had run out.

"Fluttershy, drop the egg!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, which startled just about everyone, not just the poor shy yellow pegasus. She complied with haste as she noticed the urgency and panic in his voice, and he felt time almost quite literally stop as everything around them grew silent and still. Everyone else could now feel what he had been so panicked about. The egg had become something like a gravity well as it pulled into it the energy, willpower, and even the life of everyone around it. He saw every pony drop to their knees. Even the commanding presence of Princess Celestia had vanished as the color in her mane began to fade.

"Princess..." Twilight called out to her weakly, trying to reach out to her with one hoof.

Finally, Emile's worst fears embodied themselves when the egg imploded with a sheer amount of energy. A tremendous pressure and anger replaced the very air they breathed.

All of their surroundings became engulfed in a white light that seemed to strip at their very existences, and as everyone yelled out in pain, the boy knew he had felt it once before.

It was Judgement.

The massive form of a horse-like creature with golden rims adorning Its side materialized slowly in the light when it finally died down, having weakened every living thing present. The red of Its eyes were filled with the unmatched fury of a red giant. The power and pull of Its presence like that of a black hole. It truly was a cosmic entity of unfathomable strength.

It eyed the crowd of creatures carefully as It looked around its surroundings, analyzing the situation of Its resurgence at a speed incomparable to mortal terms. Then, Its eyes landed onto Emile. The very ground tremored violently and the palace walkways cracked open towards the creature in Its anger. The world around them shook with the strength of a magnitude six earthquake, and in this, Emile was quick to take notice that Arceus had lost a considerable chunk of its power.

You would not understand what you have done, human!!! Its voice tore at his ears and head as It spoke directly into his mind and into the air, traveling far and wide in Its rage.

Despite everything he'd been through, Emile found the strength get to his feet to confront It.

"What I did..." His voice trailed off. He looked all around him at the now broken scenery. It had been pristine only moments before, but now it lay in ruin. The guilt in him was immeasurable. He felt entirely responsible for having caused all of this. For having brought ruin to a far more undeserving peoples. Arceus only stared at him with a fury as if waiting to hear the reason behind his actions. "What I did, I did with love for my kind and every Pokemon alive. I wanted to save them. In this, you and I should be thinking alike!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Arceus simply stared at him as though that answer alone was not enough. Like an unfeeling sentinel, it stood awaiting a better response.

Emile's blood boiled at this thought. His reason should've been everything. Every ounce of motivation, every drop of blood. It was the only answer Arceus should've accepted. But It refused it. Who cared if this creature was akin to a god? It did not concern Itself with the lives of him or his Pokemon. It judged as It pleased without a thought to spare for those that stood to suffer from Its actions or even inactions.

Emile's own anger reached a boiling point and he laid it all out for Arceus, sparing no amount of breath to make sure he was being heard.

"Now you're here with me in a reality not your own! It was me. Just one man. I brought you down to the ground. I stopped whatever eternal design you thought you had. O' Hath the Mighty Fallen! And I can bet my life that I had better reasons to doing so than you did for nearly destroying our world!" In his hysteric rage, Emile was taking quite a gamble, as he couldn't have known that Arceus' plan had truly been sidelined or not. He could only guess from what he remembered of the final moments in their confrontation at Mt. Coronet, and from seeing it hatch from the egg.

He didn't have the time to even think when Arceus sent a Hyper Beam his way, destroying a great deal of the courtyard in the process. Thankfully, Arceus had only used it as a show of intimidation and it hadn't so much as grazed him, but Emile hadn't flinched either way eve as the power of that attack had left an intense heat of crystalized marble behind him.

"Judge only me! Arceus, it is I who you want! This world... these ponies... they are underserving of your Judgement! This is not justice!"

What do you know about justice?! You, that demon, and the humans of the past. Do well to understand your place in insignificance. It said almost as if spitting the words at him.

"So long as I stand, I will fight you at every step to protect those important to me. In that, I find my significance!" Emile said with every bit of defiance in his voice.

As if to force him to kneel, Arceus casted a Judgement once again. Yet... something was wrong. Terribly wrong. The beams of light from Judgement hadn't filled the very space around them like they had done so before. This time, they hadn't even reached Emile let alone touch him. Arceus had been severely weakened. By this world? By the shift in their Time perhaps? He could not hazard a guess.

This is not my domain... I must... gather myself... Fortune finds you for now, human.

In a gleam of golden motes, Arceus' form vanished. Every bit of Its presence disappeared into the very winds. In the devastating silence of his surroundings, his heart beat heavier and heavier in his chest while he processed everything that had happened and everything he'd done now that his hysteria had ended, having acted outside of himself almost entirely.

Fortune indeed. He had been seconds away from eating his own words during that confrontation. His strength failed him and he passed out in that instant.

Author's Note

The artist for the art on this page can be found on DeviantArt under the name Ishmam. He makes a lot of wonderful power portraits of Pokemon that I was graciously allowed to use. Go check out his art by clicking the link on his name!

Chapter 3: The Knight of Order, in the living flesh.

He ran as fast as he could through the dense underbrush of the forest near his home, the veil of night made darker by a bevy of clouds raining down a wild storm. His foot kept snagging at every turn of a tree by the numerous branching roots that felt like they were grabbing at his leg. Sliding down muddy hills, he could feel the sharp rocks jabbing at his back from beneath the debris layer of leaves and plants. He could clearly hear the yells of his parents behind him desperately calling out to him while they tried to chase him down, although being unable to keep up due to the ever-shrinking jungle of branches and impassible walls of overgrown ivy.

Only his small body allowed him to navigate those treacherous conditions. Only he could help the voice that cried out in the middle of the storm, faintly yet desperately asking to be saved. This was something he needed to do.

Since he'd been born, the boy had always had a strong sense of justice. A physical desire to be the one to help others. But it hadn't been until that very night that his resolve had been truly tested for the first time.

The rain and wind pushed against him with all their might. With his vision obfuscated by the forces of nature, it was becoming more dangerous by the second now that the trees began to bend heavily at the strength of the storm, threatening to snap on top of him. In the distance, he heard one of them break altogether, creaking from its fibers ripping apart.

At that moment, the cry from before had grown bloodcurdlingly pained.

The boy just about flew through the mess of trees in his haste, pushing his body to the limit from the adrenaline. Finally, he found the source of the voice. It was a small brown fox. The tree had fallen atop one of its legs rendering it stuck underneath the impossibly heavy trunk. Yet somehow, the boy had found the strength to lift it enough to allow the fox to pull itself out and escape.

As if by some divine providence, lightning struck there and then, surging through the tree before he could let the log down again. The electricity passed through his arm and he would've been done for had he allowed himself to pass out from the pain of charred flesh that had run down the length of his entire back, but he remained... still standing.

Standing. Standing... and standing he remained for almost ten minutes.

It had been the little Eevee he had saved that ended up saving him in turn, having traveled far on its broken leg to find the adults in order to guide them to where the little hero had been petrified.

Emile awoke to the final part of the dream where he saw the boy being rushed into the hospital alongside that little Eevee. He knew how that story ended. The one of the would-be hero and his bid to save the world.

He sighed a rather heavy sigh. What good did it do to remember the past? The past was gone, and the future was uncertain. He needed to learn how to live in the now.

He looked around to see the room he was in. Two familiar faces greeted him in the way of Fluttershy who had been tending to a now fully awake Eevee, and Twilight as she paced up and down muttering to herself. Emile wondered how many more times he'd have to black out and reawaken in front of them before he could get a grip on himself.

Eevee was the first to notice that he had awoken and ran up to him, crying its little distinct cry to get his attention. The two ponies sprang up in their surprise having not noticed it themselves until he had finally removed the white silk sheets in order to hug the little fox. Twilight had been beside herself with concern and she teared up at the sight of him sitting up. Before either of them could say anything, however, Emile was the one to ask a question first.

"Last I saw Eevee, it had become a Leafeon again... I missed out on a whole lot while I was asleep, didn't I?"

"A day and a half worth of stuff, yeah." Twilight said sheepishly, quickly rubbing the moisture out of her eyes. Seeing this, Emile couldn't tell which one of the two mares in the room was the more delicate one. He had a pretty good idea of why this had been her reaction, and not Fluttershy's.

He guessed that Eevee had awoken much early than he had, and his buddy was able to tell better than anyone there that he was going to be okay. It was logical to think that Fluttershy had understood this too from Eevee's easygoing attitude towards Emile's recuperating unconsciousness. While it all sounded too specific to 'guess' at, this had happened before on a number of occasions. You could just as easily say that Eevee and him were just that danger prone. It's not like he sought out danger. Dangerous stuff was just happening around him all the time, and if his dreams of the past were anything to go by... it was that he had a pension for sticking his nose where it didn't belong as a reckless wannabe hero.

On the flip side of the coin, Twilight was the type to get inside of her own head and not come out. Much like he was, funny enough. She certainly hadn't so much as factored in Eevee's clues. In part because of her lack of experience being around animals and the fact that she clung to her own preconceived conclusions. She had come to expect that Emile would awake shortly after being passed out from the anecdotal evidence of the past two times he had gone under, so you could imagine her worry as almost two days passed by and nothing. She was definitely the type to keep worrying even after being comforted and reassured by her friends.

More than that, however, he sensed that there was something else she was deeply concerned about, and Emile being under for as long as he had only served to make her that much more anxious. As he recalled the events from before, Emile remembered seeing her reach out towards a weakened Celestia. It seemed the Princess meant a lot to Twilight, so he couldn't imagine why she was here with him now. Especially now that he was extrinsically linked with the creature that had almost brought ruin to everyone she loved.

"How is everyone? Your friends and the ponies of Canterlot, that is... And the Princess." He asked quietly, making sure to be extra gentle with the topic.

"Nobody was hurt except you Emile. You were severely injured you know." She sniffled back the remaining tears and composed herself again. Her words were a huge relief, since he disregarded the topic of himself entirely. "The Princess had a lot of her power sapped, but she is recovering steadily. Much faster than you, at least." She smiled cheekily.

"I see. I'm glad. That's a huge relief." The moment he said it, Twilight's face furrowed into a stormy disapproval. This was the first time he was seeing her seriously angry about something. That something being him.

"No! You could've died, Emile! What were you thinking?! We told you didn't we? If you ever needed our help with something... you could've relied on us. You should've let us handle it. That power of that thing... Do you have ANY idea how scared I was when it tried to attack you?" The kettle inside Twilight had boiled over in fever-pitch. At that moment, Princess Celestia walked into the room alongside the rest of the familiar ponies who were helping her walk. You could see how much she had been affected by Arceus' resurgence. Even the color in her mane had yet to return. But even in this state, her grace was undeniable as she stood tall above everyone.

"Well met, Sir Emile." She bowed to the boy who was still in the middle of being chewed out. Twilight didn't even so much as flinch at her arrival and just kept on staring at him angrily yet remaining silent in respect of the Princess. Every pony had overheard the conversation possibly from a room right beside them, and they all silently nodded their approval at Twilight's words. Even Fluttershy's brows had creased to show her displeasure as she had been nodding to everything the purple mare had been saying.

"Hello, your majesty." Emile tried sitting up for her only to be hit by a dense wave of sore muscles and a whole lot of other pain he couldn't pinpoint. He was immediately forced back onto the bed by several pairs of hooves and even the two paws of his little buddy.

"Please, rest up, Emile. We have a lot to discuss so it's better if you're comfortable. Besides, I don't think my little ponies will let you do anything too reckless at this point."

"You've certainly got me there, your highness."

"You can also drop the formalities too. They're stifling, are they not?"

"I suppose so, ma'am." He finally answered with something passable, allowing her to continue on with the conversation.

"I just hope you understand where Twilight was coming from when she yelled at you. It's an important lesson you'd be wise to learn."

"I get it. But you think I would've learned this lesson by now after having lived nearly two lifetimes."

Not a single pony laughed at this joke. In fact, they were quite annoyed at it. Tough crowd.

"Like it or not, you're their friend now, Emile, so they care about you. They want to see you be okay, to see you come out of something okay."

"Yeah..." Emile became quiet as he recalled what had happened in the courtyard.

In his head, the scene that played was the one he had seen right before he had confronted Arceus... seeing everything destroyed, and all the ponies and his Eevee defeated... The guilt had not left him for even a second. He had every reason to feel like this was his fault. If he had just told them all about why and how he got to this world, maybe he could have prevented it. What would it have changed? He had his suspicions before, maybe if he trusted his gut, he could've known what the egg was. How would he have known? Maybe... maybe if he had never tried to face down Arceus to begin with, then this world would've remained safe. Then who would save his world?

He began to sit up right only to be met with some resistance from the ponies. He waved them off by shaking his head and signaling with his hands for them to stop. This is what he wanted.

"But that's the thing right? Are we really friends? Do friends hurt one another? Are friends walking cataclysms we have to constantly look after? Did you shut your eyes and close your ears at what just happened? Did you not listen to what It said? To what I said? You should have understood by that." His teeth clattered at the growing feeling welling up inside. "The curse that I put you under!" His voice shook in his throat as he yelled out those words with all the frustration and hatred that he had for himself. He could not look at anyone in the eye, even his Eevee. He forced his eyesight onto the ground below where his feet met the floor.

His Eevee cried out its concern and licked his shaking fist in the silence of that room while he trembled all over. They had inadvertently tripped the biggest landmine that had been cooking in his heart. The self-hatred that came with a failed hero. It was not the fault of the poor ponies in the room. They already had their hooves full dealing with the disaster that had befallen them, and now they were having issues with his unreasonable self.

He understood well that he was not helping matters at all by being this way. And maybe he could've blamed his new child-like mind, or forgiven himself after having dealt with so much sorrow that no one could've expected him to continue to be reasonable... But Emile was fully intent to shoulder every single burden before him. To accept the responsibility for his failure even if he had to do it alone. Just like that reckless little boy who had nearly lost his life during that storm. Just like that reckless adult man who had faced Arceus not once, but twice now.

It was just like him. Haunted by the scene of ruin at the courtyard. Haunted by his Eevee's suffering. Haunted by Luca's sacrifice...

"I'm sorry." He said in a quiet hushed voice after finally calming down, still too afraid to look at every one. "I'm so sorry. It's not your fault. I don't have the right to admonish any of you. Or question you. But it's the truth, you see? The words I said to Arceus... that creature... I fought It before alongside my buddy here in order to save my world. But it seems I doomed yours as a result..." He pushed himself off the bed so he could stand. Although a bit awkward at first, he found his footing. He got to his knees and extended his arms their entire length to support his body as he put his forehead to the ground in the absolute most sincere way he knew to apologize, the ultimate sign of regret from his hometown, a dogeza. "I'm truly, deeply, sorry. This is all my fault. This is my responsibility to fix. I will do everything in my power to protect this world, even at the cost of my life."

It was a bit of a shame Emile hadn't the capacity or the practice with dealing and learning from other people's emotions, as far removed as he had been from social situations like this. He hadn't really understood at all what had made the ponies angry to begin with. The life of a wannabe hero was a hard one, and needed the kind of conviction and mentality that spoke "I'll take responsibility. I'll sacrifice everything for this. This is all on me." It was exactly this kind of thinking that they had been trying to tell him to drop and forget about as it was a dumb idea to begin with. But you can't change a person's heart overnight. It would take a lot of effort and patience in part of the multi-colored friends. This talk had made them painfully aware of that.

Getting up off the floor, he still refused to look at anyone in his shame. "Well, uh, if you don't mind, I'm going to go cool my head outside for a bit." He said awkwardly and very gingerly now that he was feeling the piercing stares on the back of his head. He got to the door with no one stopping him and turned the handle slowly, then stepped outside almost robotically. Looking back to close the door behind him, he caught a very quick glimpse of some many rather fuming faces. He exhaled a very long breath he had inhaled after the door closed entirely.

"Well, that went well." He patted his thighs and looked over at his Eevee trailing behind him. His Eevee let out a happier cry while it wagged its tail in amusement. "I just hope this break for some fresh air does everyone some good, ey Eevee?" The little fox was now picking up on everything Emile was saying and seemingly snickered at his little joke.

The castle was big, and the inside might as well have been a labyrinth of its own. He had to ask for directions from the royal guard stallions stationed around the castle multiple times to find where the garden was so he could go outside.

Once they got there, Eevee immediately made a dash for the fountain at the center of the garden so it could play in the water. The greenery and decorations painted quite a pretty picture all throughout the garden's clean walkways, only occasionally broken by debris and rubble that had been broken off from Arceus' Magnitude 6. He sat down on a marble bench overlooking where his Eevee was playing and let his mind drift into the cold musty wind of the clouded sky. Weather had a mysterious way of reflecting how he felt, he thought as he lost himself in the billowing fluff.

Then he heard silence. Not a single breath from any pony. Not one splash from his Eevee. Not even the faint howl of wallowing wind. He tilted his head to look at Eevee to see what was going on. Eevee was deadly still like a statue, with only its ear twitching in a consistent pattern. It was trying to hear something in the long distance.

All at once, the nauseating feeling from before hit both of them instantly. But this time they were not driven to their knees or felt the immense pains of the feeling from before, as though they had overcome it for some reason. Perhaps adapted to it?

Subtly, as if there was something wrong with reality itself, there was a slight shift to the very space before them. Emile knew he had felt this once before... back in his world...

Three ripple-like holes formed in front of him. Holes that reminded him of the Celestial Trio, yet something was distinctly different about them. For starters, they were too small to house the Trio. About as tall and wide as him in fact. There was also the way the holes bent the space around them. He couldn't say he was remembering it very well since that was a phenomenon he had only had the chance to see less than a handful of times from the Celestial Trio themselves, but theirs bent space around them like a gravity well in a funnel-like pattern. These holes, however... they we're twisted every which way. Like a massive tied-up knot full of chaotic energy. Eevee had already made it a point to return to Emile's side since they could both tell that something was terribly wrong with them.

Sure enough, what eventually crawled out of the holes was nothing like the Trio either. Out came three distinctly different human-sized Pokemon engulfed in the fury of the chaotic energy from the portal that swirled all around them too. One was a large green serpent with two yellow patterns across its body. To its side was a red boar standing on two feet with the mane around its neck made of pure fire. And lastly, there was a large blue quadruped with a horned shell covering the length of its back and arms that reminded him of blades in the way that it wielded them.

The chaotic energies themselves looked as if they were affecting the Pokemon too. They stared menacingly at him and his Eevee while preparing to battle. His Eevee stood its ground in front of him, ready to protect him. It felt like he was repeating history with Rainbow Dash, and he hesitated to call out to the Eevee because of it.

They could both tell this was going to be a very serious battle by the energies of these Pokemon. The intensity and bloodlust in the air were palpable... They intended to fight to the end. He felt himself gulp in fear, and a cold sweat formed on his hands. He wiped them on what remained of his shirt. He hadn't noticed that he was missing a lot of his effects, so he didn't even have his Pokedex on hand to see what these Pokemon might be. No doubt the events from before had destroyed his clothes again and his stuff had been confiscated by the ponies for safekeeping. He cursed this terrible state of affairs at such a dire time.

The best he could do was guess that these Pokemon, based on their colors and design, were Grass, Fire, and Water types respectively. Again, he opened his mouth but ultimately hesitated to call out to the Eevee in front of him as he felt the pangs of fear and regret well up in his chest. Emile didn't think his heart could handle being rejected by Eevee here and now again.

Then the serpent Slash'd at Eevee. The little fox hadn't the time to process the speed of the attack, taking the hit head-on and being sent back a few feet yet still standing.

"Eevee! Are you okay?!" The little fox responded back to him with a confident yelp. Emile slammed both of his open hands to his face in order to slap himself out of his fears. "Eevee. You with me bud?" It cried out in response, finally and truly, recognizing him as its master.

Both he and his Eevee dodged backwards in unison when the serpent made another swipe at them using Dragon Tail. The boar immediately followed upthe green one's attack with a fire punch that they only barely managed to avoid when it connected with the ground and sent a flurry of flames all around it. When they finally got some distance, Emile could see that the blue one hadn't budged one bit. It was as if it were waiting for the fight to be over from either side so that it could step in. It was powerful. More so than the other two.

"Eevee, Sand Attack on the green one!" The little fox followed his command. Emile understood that the blue one would not involve itself in this three-way fight, so he'd asked Eevee to debilitate the green serpent as he considered it to be the bigger of the two threats. It was far speedier and more accurate than the boar. Unfortunately, the serpent didn't even flinch at the attack. Instead, he could see its eyesight become sharper the moment it used another Dragon Tail with far more precision, with Eevee only avoiding it by using a Quick Attack to get away. He had seen a similar ability on the likes of Shuckles and Spindas, and he guessed that this was something known as Contrary. The power to reverse the effects of stat changes. He bit his lip as things had now become that much more difficult. "We're in a bit of a pinch, buddy..." His Eevee looked over at him with worry in its expression. "These Pokemon are powerful, possibly in their final evolution. If only we could take out that green one... Maybe with a bit of fire moves. Think we can get them to attack each other?"

The little fox nodded its agreement to the plan as Emile commanded it to use Quick Attack to bait and provoke the boar. Eevee gauded the red boar to Fire Punch this way and that until it became so infuriated that it lit its entire body in flames in order to use Heat Crash.

"Now Eevee!" The fox quickly dashed over to the serpent as the boar chased after it in a fury.

It was seeing red. It had not stopped its advance even near its ally and collided with it, creating a big explosion made of flames. Eevee had already been several feet away when it happened, and what came out of the smoke was a now defeated and fainted serpent and a severely weakened boar. He knew Heat Crash was the kind of move that left recoil damage on the Pokemon that used it, but not to this extent. Emile laughed when he realized that this must've been the effect of an ability known as Reckless. "Sorry bud, but there's only one room for the reckless type." Emile said when it only took Eevee a single Tackle to bring it down in a faint.

At that moment, the blue one let out a deafening roar. Its voice shook its long, mustache-like whiskers. It was strong no doubt, and incredibly intelligent having learned from the trickery they had used earlier. It let the pointed shells on its arms fall to its grip and grabbed them like blades. As it prepared for battle, the tension was unbearable. When it finally did start the battle, the speed and power of its attacks were far too much for the little unevolved Eevee to handle. It got caught on a few Slash'es and Aqua Jets, only remaining standing out of sheer willpower in doing its best not to fail Emile, despite Emile's shouts telling it to run. Emile could tell that this was a battle they didn't have a chance of winning like this.

Before he could formulate a plan of escape, however, the horned shell atop the blue pokemon's head began to glow in the very distinct light of an incredibly powerful move. A fighting-type move that would no doubt severely hurt his Eevee. He found himself running over to the little fox without thinking much of the consequences. The blue pokemon brought down the full might of a Sacred Sword down onto his crossed arms from having shielded the little fox. He felt the bone in his left arm shatter in the impact, and he held back the pain. Thankfully, that was as much as he had gotten away with since the blue pokemon moved away from him. It was only interested in fighting his Eevee, it seemed.

His Eevee immediately started crying out in its worry for him, noticing Emile holding back the hurt in his arm with everything he had. The fight was still not over evident by the blue pokemon roaring its frustration at having its battle interrupted. Eevee itself had been wounded and tired from the attacks earlier, but it turned to it once more to face it down. This time, incredibly angry. So much so that you could feel the little fox's anger itself. As though it was materializing in the form of a blinding white light all over its body.

For all the strange hands that fate had dealt him... For all the seemingly impossible things that had happened in just a short moment since his arrival to this world... Even meeting Arceus for goodness' sake! None of them felt as impossible as the moment he witnessed his Eevee evolve into a Jolteon at will in front of him.

Emile could only watch in stunned amazement when the quilled yellow creature sent out a lightning bolt towards the blue pokemon. It roared in pain and it struggled to compose itself after having been struck and paralyzed in that move. As a testament to its intelligence and battle prowess however, when Jolteon sent another round of lightning its way, it caught it with the tip of its shelled horn and redirected the lightning down into the ground just as quickly, even through its paralysis.

This Pokemon was immensely powerful considering how much off the paralysis it was shrugging off. It closed the gap between them with an Aqua Jet only to immediately cancel the move right before it connected to follow up with two simultaneous Slash'es from both of its arms, making a dust cloud when the two attacks landed on the Jolteon.

The boy was being taken for quite the emotional roller coaster, for when the dust parted, it showed an Umbreon having sustained the brunt of that attack by casting a wall of green light from the move Protect. Umbreon sent it reeling backwards with a Dark Pulse in order to gain some space. In the silence of the showdown between the two Pokemon, Emile could now feel the blue one's confidence waver as it realized this fight wasn't going to be so straightforward. It charged at the fox with another Sacred Sword, and the Umbreon began to change again.

When the light of Eevee's evolution died down, he could see the blue pokemon's glowing horn be parried by the familiar green glow of a Leaf Blade... Emile really couldn't believe what he was seeing. It flew in the face of everything he'd ever known about Pokemon. Sure, there had been thousands of mysteries still surrounding Pokemon and especially the Eevee species with its unique and numerous evolutions, but to see it change at will like this was... Impossible. Had the events with Arceus caused this? Was it some strange effect of this world? There was no way he could guess as to the reason for this. The only one that could have a clue as to why this was happening... well that one was now fighting as a Leafeon, meeting the shell blades of the blue pokemon at every strike with its own Leaf Blade.

Emile snapped out of his trance when the two pokemon managed to connect an attack on each other, sending them both backwards and severely weakening them both. By the damage they had sustained, both of them only had one clean hit before being KO'd. At this moment, Emile finally took the rein again and he shouted at his Leafeon for his attention. "Alright buddy! This is the final stretch. You ready?" It howled back at him in Leafeon's distinct cry.

He felt his heart elate at the response and he couldn't help the great big smile on his face form. As if reflecting his mood yet again, the cloudy sky parted and rays of sunshine began to fill the courtyard. He whispered to the fox his next set of commands. The little fox began to gather energy into its body in preparation. Having noticed this, the blue pokemon immediately made a dash for Leafeon with another Sacred Sword only to be met by another Leaf Blade. With the two pokemon struggling to break through each other's guard, Leafeon's tail began to glow in a familiar rainbow hue. The plan they had made was almost to its fruition, but he could tell his Leafeon's guard was dropping exponentially faster than the blue one's in its exhaustion, and it was only a matter of seconds before it'd be defeated. Without warning, a very small sphere of energy exploded onto the blue pokemon from behind. A miracle? There was no way to tell, as the heat of the moment did not allow him to look away. Whatever it was, it had given them the precious seconds necessary to finish this.

"Now, Leafeon! Solar Blade!"

There was no guarding against a sword made of pure energy to the dismay of the blue pokemon. His Leafeon brought it down on top of it, and just like that, the battle was over now that the three pokemon lay defeated. The legs of both him and his Eevee gave out and he fell down onto his butt. Emile began to laugh the heartiest laugh he'd had in so long and made a reach to grab his little fox friend to hug him. The feel of its leaves and fur... it was like he had never left.

However, even between the jovial, playful moment as the two bounced with celebration, the Leafeon began to glow again and reverted back to an Eevee. Emile didn't let it bother him. For some reason or another, he now had a very special Eevee on his hands. Its form didn't matter at all since it was the same little creature he had always loved inside. The two flopped to the floor and Emile was left to contemplate what had just happened. Those strange wormholes, the pokemon that came out of them, his Eevee's new power, and the miracle that saved them at the end of that battle...

"Man oh man, I had always heard the stories but...! That was certainly unlike anything I've ever witnessed, even on TV! Not even considering Eevee's special powers, those moves were stunning! I almost felt my heart drop when you took that Sacred Sword yourself."

Emile turned to the unfamiliar voice as quickly as he could and sat back upright. It was a rather high-pitched voice, as though it had come from an adolescent girl. Sure enough, he was met by some distinct bright blue eyes, a puffy curly looking hairstyle tied up in a ponytail, and a hat very reminiscent of his like if Rarity had been the one to craft it. It was a human girl.

"Huh?! I-I uh..." She had startled him from being up so close, and from the way she looked intensely at him with stars in her eyes. Her knees were bent to reach his height from where he sat up from the ground.

"Oh! Sorry for the scare. Uhm... Can I say? I'm a huge fan!" She grabbed his hand forcibly and shook it.

"Who... are you?" Emile said, still very much startled. Only seconds ago, he thought he was still in the world of Ponies. So what was another human doing here?

"I'm Hilda. Absolutely wonderful to meet you! I came here with my Pokemon Professor a few days ago, then I heard about what happened from the uh... Ponies, right? Yeah. Oh yeah, the professor was the one that uh, helped the ponies heal your wounds and stuff. When she told me she had a suspicion of who you were I was totally like 'No way not possible, that kid?' and she was like 'Yeah way, I mean, look at what happened to us. It's possible.' and THEN I saw you battle and I was like... Oh yeah, it's gotta be."

Emile was not keeping up at all. She was talking a mile a minute with things he didn't quite understand. Thankfully, at that point, she was interrupted by some familiar voices.

"There you are, Hilly!" Pinkie said when she spotted the girl. It seems they had gotten acquainted while he had been under.

"Emile!?" A lot of them said in unison, with Twilight's voice being the most prominent as the anger in her voice gave way to concern when she looked him up and down to see his broken arm. "What happened? What is all this..." Twilight's voice trailed off at the scene of a rather messed up royal garden. Some of the grass had been burned to charcoal, slashed at by blades, and slammed by the serpent's tail.

"Okay... I know this looks bad, but uh... Eevee and I managed to calm down some Pokemon that appeared out of nowhere."

"Oh! I saw it all go down! I even took video of it! Look look, girls, come over here." Hilda beckoned all of them over to a device she had used to record everything. Probably a phone. As they began looking at the video, Princess Celestia and another human walked over to him. This one was a much older one, a woman around her thirties he guessed. She wore a long white lab coat like those of Pokemon Professors and her hair was tied in a big swirly bun. Emile hadn't the strength in his legs yet to get up, and Celestia signaled him to stay where he was when she saw him make an attempt.

"Um. Can I ask what's going on, ma'am?" He said and bowed his head to the two before him.

"Emile, was it? It's good to meet you. 'At long last' I should say." The human woman said while tilting her head in a respectful bow back at him. "Pardon my assistant, she is quite excitable. As for me, you've probably heard my name before. I am Professor Juniper. We've met once before via video and call."

A sudden realization struck him. The Unova region's Pokemon Professor... Professor Juniper... "Say, do you happen to be one of Professor Oak's contacts? But... you don't look as old as..." He said it carefully as if not to offend her. She smiled and nodded.

"Emile!" They were interrupted by an involuntary yell of both anger and concern from Twilight. Her eyes were still glued to the screen of Hilda's phone a distance away from them. They must've reached the part of the video where he likely thought they'd disapprove of his actions.

"You might not remember this, but Twilight and Princess Celestia here helped me heal your wounds back at the castle earlier yesterday. Magic is quite something, isn't it? I'm sure our world could have all sorts of useful applications for it. But, I would be remiss for bringing it over to our world, as there are all sorts of unsavory types that would misuse it."

"Come Professor, our world is not without its share of woes." Princess Celestia followed up. "For now, we don't have to worry about that. Luna and I have studied the anomaly extensively. The flow of energy seems to be one way." Emile and the Professor looked towards the direction the Princess had now set her eyes on as she eyed the three Pokemon that had appeared before.

The portals were now gone but the energies of the portal still clung to them, albeit much fainter now that the portals themselves had dissipated. At that moment, the three Pokemon began to glow and change. They began to shrink in the white light of evolution. What was left behind were small pokemon reminiscent of the ones from before. A small little snake, a pudgy little piglet, and a speckled white and blue otter.

"Ah, that's another phenomenon we've been seeing from the transition over." The Professor chimed in after they watched it happen. The others had finished watching the video and they too started to funnel into their conversation, everyone looking at the enigma of De-evolution. "It seems that for anyone who crosses over, their age reverts just like that. You noticed that I wasn't the old woman you saw in that video call all that time ago, right? Never felt sprier than I do now. I feel like I'm back in my twenties."

"Me too! I turned twenty myself a few months ago and now I feel like I'm thirteen all over again!" Hilda cut in.

"It seems like it differs from person to person then... I think my time reverted to ten years old, Professor Juniper." Emile said as he pulled up his shirt to show her his back. "I was supposed to have a large scar from when I first started my Pokemon journey at ten years old, but it's not there anymore."

"Oh my gosh! It really is him professor!" Hilda cut in before Prof. Juniper could say anything with all the excitement in the world in her voice.

"Guess you weren't kidding about being famous, ey?" Rainbow Dash hit him on the shoulder of his good arm.

"Are you kidding, Dashy?! He's only like the most famous Pokemon Trainer of my lifetime! He's THE Knight of Order! The legendary hero, Red!"

Emile felt himself become deaf at the sound of that name as Hilda continued to talk about all the times he'd won the Pokemon Leagues throughout the many regions. It seemed like he only needed someone to address his name directly to finally unlock that part of his memory. In that moment, he realized that maybe he had placed a lock on it subconsciously as that name was associated with every failure and sacrifice he had endured in his attempts to be that 'legendary hero' everyone said he was. Now though, as he heard it come out of Hilda's mouth and the mouth of every pony present, it felt so distant and lonely, like it was no longer who he was as a person.

"So uhm, what did... Red, do to be considered a hero?" He heard Fluttershy ask after he finally came back to his senses.

"I can take it from here, Hilda, if you don't mind," Emile spoke up. She nodded in approval and sat down on the ground next to him. The others followed suit with the exception of Princess Celestia and Professor Juniper.

"The first-time people thought Red was a hero was back in his home region, after he had single-handedly brought down a nefarious organization known as Team Rocket!" Emile's theatrical style of storytelling was back in full swing and he gestured with his arms the story of how he had fought against the boss of the corporation and ousted the villains at every turn. He felt quite embarrassed as everyone listened in intently at his own achievements, especially Hilda since you could FEEL her starstruck excitement. She could've given Pinkie Pie a run for her money. "And that is when Leafeon and Red faced off against their most powerful Pokemon, an artificial lifeform known as Mewtwo!" The oo's and awe's allowed him to continue despite his shame. Still, though, their reactions entertained him endlessly. "It disappeared after being defeated the first time, but he met it again at an island. It had called many powerful trainers and previous champions onto the island in order to copy and test the power of its new artificial Pokemon army, but after a very difficult ordeal they were finally able to convince it to live in peace in our Pokemon world with the help of a rather special Pokemon."

"Really? What Pokemon was that?" Hilda asked, seemingly not having heard of this part of the story despite how much she idolized him. For some reason, as he recalled that part of the story, there was another mental block in his head since he couldn't quite picture what that Pokemon was... A cat perhaps? It hurt just to think about it so he decided to continue on.

"It was so long ago now that I don't really remember, sorry. But it definitely happened! I think."

"If anyone's testimonies of those stories is true, it's mostly likely his no?" Professor Juniper backed him up.

"Anyway, after that..." He recalled the tales of his misadventures in Johto and his showdowns against the legendary dogs and birds, the illusive Ho-oh in all its might, and the mystic Lugia. He spoke of the times he had gone against Team Magma and Team Aqua back in Hoenn, and how he faced the forces that ruled over the very land and water. Then he described his fight against the mass of power that was Rayquaza, as he had met it on a number of occasions. Like in the time that it chased after a panicked Deoxys through a metropolitan area. Then he described one of the most harrowing parts of his entire journey as he spoke about the Sinnoh region.

"Even after calming down the Celestial Trio, the damage had been done..." His tone dropped now that the story was coming to a conclusion. "The past has a way of catching up with you it seems. The villains of the past... They found, copied, and perfected the blueprints that Team Galactic had made. The red chain..."

They could all feel the seriousness in the air by the shift Emile's voice.

"Red he... if only he had been smarter and made sure to destroy those blueprints earlier... if only he had been a little faster at dealing with all of that then maybe..." They were all a little afraid of tripping another landmine, so they stayed quiet as Emile composed himself enough to tell the rest of the story. "What resulted was the red chain being abused all over the world. They were used to incarcerate and control the very guardian Pokemon themselves and all of their power. In the madness that ensued, a friend of mine and I poured over every bit of literature we could find in order to stop the impending catastrophe. A prophecy had foretold those events in the glyphs and markings of some ancient tablets. Tablets made up of the very essence of Arceus..."

The mood had turned very serious indeed now that the story was pointing directly at all of them. They could all feel where this story was leading...

"In the end, all the would-be 'hero' Red managed to do was shorten the lifespan of the very world since he was the one to bring the prophecy to life. It was Arceus' original plan to destroy the world to take back the power the humans had stolen from it. The power that their Pokemon companions had helped the humans steal. Those very same tablets of prophecy." He sighed. "Tried as I might, I could not find all sixteen of them, as they were all seemingly scattered throughout the world in ancient coves so far forgotten. When the chaos and madness struck all around us, we could feel the world's time running out. I made the desperate decision to confront Arceus about it with the few tablets I did have on hand. They allowed me to weaken it enough to try to make him change his mind, but to no avail. One thing led to another, and I found myself here, in Equestria with all of you. Hell... I don't even know if I managed to save the world. I'm no hero, alright? I should've never involved your world in this..."

"Stop that this instant! This isn't your fault!" Twilight stomped her hoof as she got up. It had been too unreasonable to hear him shoulder all of that burden himself. Everyone else got up too, leaving the boy looking up at their frustration. "You're an idiot if you think you alone should have to handle all of that!" She yelled and finally told it to him straight.

"It doesn't need to be your responsibility, dear. You did what no one else would've done and tried to stop it. How is that fair?" Chimed in Rarity.

"Yeah! It doesn't make sense! If it's anyone's fault, it's the humans of the past. And those meanies who took advantage of the chain!" You could almost see Pinkie Pie's fumes coming from her ears.

"Pinkie is right! Also, that thing whatever it was, Arceus too! Unreasonable! Talk about overreaction much? Next time I see him I'm gonna give him whats for." Rainbow Dash followed.

"You love your Pokemon and you did your best to save everyone multiple times... uhm, I don't think anyone like that could be bad. So don't blame yourself... please." Fluttershy said as loudly as she could, trying to yell but failing.

"Fluttershy's got you dead to rights, sugarcube. I think you need to get your head on straight since you can't see how not in the wrong you are here." Applejack might've been the calmest of the bunch, but she was definitely expressively annoyed with his mentality.

Hilda was the one to speak next, her voice fragile with emotion. "I've looked up to you since I was three! Since I could first walk, I watched you on TV. I started my Pokemon journey because of you. You're everyone's Knight of Order! Our hero. So please don't say such sad things like this being your fault. You have no idea how many times we were all saved by your actions! Do you know how glued we were to our TVs? Do you even know how anxious we all were? How hard we prayed and hoped for you? When they broadcasted what happened to you before you left for Spear Pillar... We mourned with you." It seems it wasn't just his pony friends that felt this way. This information took him aback. He didn't realize that he had been in the public's eye back then... "You probably don't even know how devastated we all were... Me, my family, my friends, my town, the whole of the pokemon world! When we watched Mt. Coronet explode, it tore at everyone. All that was left was a massive crater. Then, nothing. No word from you. For two years, the world believed you were dead!" Hilda brushed away her tears as she had let the emotion of the moment get to her.

Emile fixated on her words particularly. There was a lot to process, but the chronological order of the pieces where finally beginning to click in his head. He turned to look at Professor Juniper wide-eyed. She just smiled and nodded at him.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. I would've told you sooner, but it didn't seem like the right time to intervene." Professor Juniper said. "It's as you can guess. If two years happened to pass by after that event, then the logical answer and the truth of it is that you did indeed save the world."

Emile slowly laid his back down on the ground to look up towards the sky. There was nothing going through his head. No thoughts, emotions, nothing. He was just... staring at the clouds, unable to even feel anything about all the talk that had transpired. He felt his body relax and he exhaled every bit of breath that had built up in that moment. As his Eevee, pony friends, and Hilda crowded around his face, they blocked his line of sight to the clouds, and he slowly began to let his thoughts seep in again.

He found the strength to stand back up again and pushed himself up with his one working arm. Standing. Standing... and standing he stayed for a solid few minutes until someone finally spoke up.

"How are you holding up, Red?" The Professor asked.

"Uhm. Dandy. Emile is fine, actually. In fact. I'd prefer it." He said, the muscles on his face rapidly twitching to form all sort of expressions since he couldn't find the right way to FEEL again. "Princess? Professor?" He asked the two.

"Yes, Emile?"

"Yeah, I think I need some more rest after all." The boy said and blacked out again.

Author's Note

The artist for this piece of art is Crayon-Chewer, which I’ve been allowed to use. We now have a very special Eevee on our hands! Bit of a cheat admittedly, but it’ll make for some interesting things later on...

This next artist is Ishmam. His power portraits are so clean and action-y, I’ve looked up to him since he first started making Pokemon art. I would’ve embedded them into the story but the action was back to back and that would’ve cheapened the experience! Still, I wanted to include the power portaits of the action here. Here’s the art in question:

Chapter 4: The Task at Hand

"Luca!" The boy got up with a start. His eyes struggled to adjust to the light of the same room he had just been in not moments before. For all the good news he had received, there was still a deeply rooted regret in him. Even if everyone moved on with their life, even if everyone lauded him for his work, and even if his old world and now this one kept turning for eternity... It seemed as though he would never be able to feel truly happy in the face of his sacrifices. That was the awful truth about a hero, no matter how successful. Always eternally haunted by the ones they weren't able to save. Honorable and inspiring as that title was, the reality of it had always been a curse on those who had earned it.

The boy looked around the room only to find a quiet emptiness in its solitude. No humans, no ponies, not even that familiar brown fox. His intuitions had always been very good, so he hadn't felt the need to panic. In fact, this felt like the first moment of quiet respite afforded to him in a long time. His broken arm had been adorned with a silk sling and cast, and he figured he would take what he had asked for from the Princess and the professor earlier. Even reckless would-be heroes like him knew when to take the opportunity to rest and recuperate. He let his body relax again into the incredibly soft bed and his mind began to drift.

As the day went by, all he could do was think on all the information he had on hand. There were still many mysteries even he had yet to figure out. What had Arceus meant about not realizing what he had done? Had It a more important reason for running out his old world's clock?

Despite all the literature and the preconceived notions he had on the almighty being Itself, at the end of the day, the boy couldn't help but think how incredibly vain and prideful It had been. During his confrontation, It had been akin to that of a child whining of its defeat. Now that was a funny thought that endlessly amused him to no end. Arceus as a newborn child...

Or wait, perhaps there had been some logic in that? It was possible to think that Arceus' own Time had been rewinded as well. Maybe even to the extreme end. It wasn't hard to imagine that because of this... It had just been born into this world after hatching from that egg. And it was very possible, after that train of logic, that this was the reason why Arceus' strength had only felt like a fraction of what it had been in his world and why it was forced to retreat at that time...

These were all just speculations on his part. The only one that could know the answer to these questions was Arceus Itself. Thinking about the answers was pointless, since it was no doubt Arceus had kept all of Its memories of Its interactions with him and his world. It was still angry at humans and It still intended to take its revenge even if It had to destroy this world to do it.

The only real question that mattered now was... How much time did they all have left?

A strange thought filled his mind when he began to wonder why if, even after having fought Arceus at the Hall of Origin, there where humans and Pokemon still making their way into this world two years later. He had originally thought that it had been the energies of Arceus' Judgement that had cast him to this world. But his doubts had already begun to form when Arceus had first showed up at the courtyard. The events at the garden had only served to put the nail in the coffin.

He couldn't help but think that the wormholes from before had not been random. That Arceus being here and the strange events happening around him weren't just a coincidence of their showdown atop Spear Pillar... Something big was happening to both worlds. He could feel it. But then... If even the almighty Arceus had been taken for a fool... What could be so powerful as to have done this? Some sort of unimaginable cosmic event or...?

What do you know about justice?! You, that demon, and the humans of the past.

His body trembled all over and a massive chill ran down his spine at the thought. Demon... If Arceus was the one saying it... He could not imagine what that demon would be. The events of the past and Arceus Itself... Cynthia and him had never been able to solve the entire mystery of the prophecy. They had been banking on the little knowledge transcribed on only two tablets and whatever other documents they could find. Perhaps he really had been too hasty to save his world. Or perhaps this had been part of the prophecy all along.

It was no use thinking about it. From where he stood, there was little he could do without the help of those tablets. And for all intents and purposes, those were stuck in another world. Besides, there were more immediate problems at hand. Considering Princess Celestia's emergency summons and her words at the garden, he could easily guess as to what kind of problem Equestria was facing. He only needed to confirm it.

The boy got up from his bed feeling well rested for the first time since he had made his way into that world. To his side on a mahogany dresser, he found a new set of clothes likely crafted by the expert seamstress herself. The clothes seemed different this time around. Almost one to one on design, but namely, the material of the cloth was sewed with something extra. Like a sheet of luminescence. A magic of some kind as it fortified the threads and made them harder to cut or rip. There were quite some many layers of magic in that clothing from what he could see. It seemed that the the white unicorn had likely been mortified at having watched him take all of Eevee's panicked attacks and then the video of that blue Pokemon having broken his arm. Thankful from the bottom of his heart, he adorned the new clothes and walked out into the hall.

Almost immediately, he could hear the commotion in the opposite room to his. The familiar voices of all of the girls chattered away while his Eevee was running around and occasionally scratching the door, possibly signaling that it wanted to see him. He couldn't help smiling as he envisioned those little paws making those desperate attempts which would then be carried back into someone's arms or forelegs on occasion. But man, that castle had some crazy good one-way sound proofing. Probably magic, he thought. When he made a reach for the door into their room, he was stopped by a conversation he overheard them having that he found he could not interrupt in that moment.

"So why where you guys so angry with him anyway?" Asked the bright voice of Hilda.

"How could we not be? That dummy just won't get it through his head." Pinkie followed up.

"He's just so... reckless! That boy." Sounded the angry tune of Rainbow Dash.

"Well that's quite funny coming from you two." Twilight said to almost universal laughter.

"You're one to talk, Twilight, you were the angriest out of all of us!" The cyan Pegasus defended herself. "We all thought you seriously started hating him for a while."

"He's our friend, of course I don't hate him!"

"Eh? I'm with Dashy on this one. Why did you refuse to heal his arm with magic then?" Hilda thought to ask.

Princess Celestia spoke up on Twilight's behalf on this one. "Sometimes the best way to teach a loved one a valuable lesson is to show them that their thoughtless actions have consequences. We shouldn't enable him to feel safe endangering himself with the idea that someone will always be behind him to heal his wounds. He's the kind of boy that needs to value his own life better, and he won't realize it with just pretty words. It's something you'll have to show him every day, little by little until he understands his own worth to those around him."

"It's as the Princess said. We agreed on this beforehand for his sake. Gotta put our hooves down at some point." Twilight sighed. "Argh, just remembering his words make me so... angry! Why would he even offer to sacrifice himself? That's just so sad... No one could possibly want that!"

"I hope you girls do take it a bit easy on him though." Professor Juniper intervened. "I don't look it, but I've lived a long time for a human. I've lived through all sorts of things, good and bad. Unova has had its fair share of troubles. So, I can tell you from experience that he means well. You see... he's had to deal with the pain of someone else sacrificing their life for him. I'm sure his actions are a result of that. It's very likely he's afraid of repeating the past, and he's throwing himself in first to avoid that. The mind has a way of messing up how you should see things. Instead of valuing the life he had been gifted, he's using it to gift to others what's left of it. It's our job to teach him not to, but we should also show some understanding for the plight in his heart." The room grew very quiet and the girls were left to contemplate the wisdom they had been told.

As for Emile, he had been left with a veritable mix of feelings. So far, everything had been just one stupid desperate move after another in an attempt to save his world, his friends, and his Pokemon. He hadn't seen anything wrong with his actions, having been glad to have pushed himself to help his Eevee during that fight, to save his friends from Arceus, and having fought against the pain during his buddy's struggle. But now that he had heard Professor Juniper's words and that of his friends twice now... He began to realize just how truly sad having to live with someone else's sacrifice for you was. Even just the thought alone hurt when his mind drifted to Luca. He still very much felt that his life's purpose was for the benefit of his friends and the protection of this world that had welcomed him with open arms, but at least now he could understand their frustration and their sadness at his words.

A wall of pastel green light all over the door from a magic spell dispersed shortly after the conversation had become silent, leaving no more room for words to be heard from within. He smiled sheepishly at no one in the corridor as he realized that this was most likely Princess Celestia's doing. The Princess had a very direct and indirect way of teaching someone a lesson, it seemed. He had heard it loud and clear. His thoughtlessness needed to change. He took a moment to compose himself before finally knocking on the door to be let in by the Princess' voice.

As he entered the room, everyone save for the Professor and the Princess awkwardly exclaimed his two names in surprise. First retracting them, then using the other, and then becoming a mumbling mess as they finally quieted down to look for his approval to see which was the definitive one.

"Even after finally remembering my real name, it still doesn't feel right to be called Red anymore. Coming to this world... I really feel like I want to start anew. If you all don't mind, I would like for you to keep calling me Emile."

"Gladly, Emile. Nice to meet ya." Hilda said and extended a hand to shake his again. The ponies all agreed without issue since this was the name that they had associated the boy with until now.

He had many reasons to want to change his name here and now. Beyond the idea of adapting to this new world, he had still been haunted by Luca's memory. In some strange way, he felt that he could keep moving forward if he shed his past all together. As he reached out to grab Hilda's hand, Emile finally made peace with his identity.

"So how are you holding up, Emile? Not gonna faint on us again I presume?" The Professor jeered at him from behind.

"Oh goodness, I hope not. It's quite scary and such an awful feeling every time." He looked over at Princess Celestia's unnerving, knowing smile, her eyes looking like they were saying 'now is the time to apologize' in no uncertain terms. He cleared his throat at this and proceeded to bow his upper body as far downward as he could while standing, trying to make a perfect right angle with his body. "After having thought about it, I wanted to apologize for all the reckless things I've done up until now. It must not have been easy to watch those things go down. From here on I promise, I'll do my best to be better."

The girls and especially Hilda felt rather awkward receiving such a formal and sincere apology. For the ponies, it just wasn't a gesture they were used to seeing from humans but they could feel the emotion in that expression. For Hilda, it was seeing her long-time role model so genuinely apologize in her direction even though she hadn't felt as strongly about his actions as the ponies had.

"It's alright Emile, so long as you underst-" Twilight was cutoff from her meek reply when he continued with the second half of his apology.

"I still think it is my duty to protect this world, as my actions caused this even if they were indirectly." The room tensed up once more and you could almost hear the kettle begin to boil again. "But... if can ask you for one thing... I would really like to ask for your help in fixing my mistakes. Assist me in my duty. I ask that you please look after me!"

What a mess he had made of everyone's emotions. Even his own since he wasn't used to acting like the ten-year-old he was. When was the last time he had asked anyone for help outside of his Pokemon? Ages ago, he presumed.

"There is just no winning with you, sugarcube." Applejack was the first to chime in. "But you can count on me." She said while putting a hoof out.

"Are you kidding? I'm totally in!" Hilda said as she put both of her hands into the mix with Pinkie Pie following suit, the excitement from both of them almost physically overwhelming. The rest of the ponies pooled their hooves into a pile to signify their new comradery. Even the Princess and Professor Juniper joined in, having cast their lot into the mix.

"I speak on behalf of my sister Luna and I, Equestria is our home and we'll defend it come what may." The Princess said proudly.

"Those burdens are ours too, as fellow humans from the same world. You can count on Hilda and I." Professor Juniper followed.

Even a pairs of little paws from his Eevee joined in by getting on top of the pile. With Emile joining his hand in too, the only hoof that had yet to enter the ring was the distinctly purple one of a brooding mare with her face in a pout.

"Don't think I'll forget this, Emile!" She said, reluctantly joining in at last. Everyone except Emile and Twilight laughed as they chuckled to themselves at the thought that they were both almost equally stubborn.

When the moment had passed, Princess Celestia was the first to begin speaking about the important matters that lay ahead.

"Now that everyone is feeling better and well-rested, it's time discuss the task at hand. Equestria is facing an imminent danger in the way of the wormholes you all witnessed earlier today. We've been getting multiple reports from all over that creatures unlike anything any pony has seen before are appearing in varying amounts. From swarms to single, powerful entities. Professor?" She signaled to the professor so as to pass the baton.

"Yes. Considering the description of those testimonies, the sketch art, and the energy signals of the wormholes in part of our own equipment and the Princesses' magical foresight, we're 100% sure that these creatures are Pokemon. We have yet to confirm other humans, but we're sure that these wormholes are the same that got Hilda and I here when one formed on top of our lab by coincidence, pulling us in." It was hard to imagine that Professor Juniper could ever make an expression other than cheerful considering she always had a bright smile on her face. Her expressions probably served to ease them from the dire situation. "Though, as you can imagine from what happened yesterday, these Pokemon are appearing into this world initially aggressive. Most likely due to the chaotic energies of those wormholes. Even if some aren't, a lot of these Pokemon are reverting to pre-evolutions or even much weaker states of being. It isn't hard to guess that they're finding it difficult to cope with these new changes in both their body and environments. Pokemon being the instinctual creatures that they are, they'll likely be stressed to their limits by being in unfamiliar lands."

"This is where I ask of your aid, my little ponies and our new guests from the Pokemon world." Princess Celestia bowed to them all. "The ecological disaster that they present to this world and the harm that they can do on others and themselves needs to be contained from the ground. While Luna and I study the magics and energies of these wormholes with the Professor to try and stop them from resurging, I need you all to take control of the existing Pokemon that have made their way over. For now, we've had no major incident reports and no citizens gravely injured, but the damage is already piling up and this lukewarm reception could change at any time. Like they did at the garden."

"Especially now that we also have to take Arceus into consideration." The Professor's expression finally turned grim as she frowned and furrowed her brow. "Emile, we'll do everything we can to think of a way to counter Arceus' power. While you're out there, we need you to always be on alert. Find anything on your end that could help us fight It."

"You needn't ask, I had already resolved myself for this."

"And girls?" The Princess looked over to the ponies. "This goes for you, too. Keep the Elements of Harmony on hand. Twilight, bring Spike with you so you can send immediate word to Luna and I if anything were to happen. We saw the type of communication devices our friends have that could fill us in on those things just as quickly, but I would feel much better knowing we took all manner of precautions for the road ahead."

"You got it, Princess!" Twilight said with enthusiasm.

"When you all are ready, you should head back to Ponyville via the Express. Our initial reports saw a few of the wormholes appear near the Everfree Forest there. It'll also serve to pick up the little dragon too. Speak to the royal guard I had sent to investigate, they can tell you the specifics in more detail."

There was a clatter of excitement from everypony, Hilda, and his Eevee as they got up to leave, only to be stopped by Professor Juniper after half of them had already spilled out into the hall outside.

"Oh! Whoops, almost forgot to tell you. Emile, Hilda, head on over to Princess Luna's chambers. There's something waiting for you there." She beamed. "You should follow along with them too, girls, I'm sure it'll be mighty interesting."

Twilight and Hilda were the ones leading the pack as they took the turns through the castle. He hadn't a clue how they'd gotten familiar with these numerous halls in such a short time, but then again, he had been out for quite a while. Twilight was probably quite knowledgeable from her past, and Hilda had likely been in this world for quite some time already even before he had arrived to Canterlot if he remembered what the Princess had said.

"I'm quite excited for whatever this is, aren't you, Emile?" Asked Hilda in trying to make conversation.

"I've been through a lot of surprises lately so I don't know if excitement is the right word for what I'm feeling."

"What? Never took you for the nervous type. Well, not until you fainted that is." Emile felt his face flush with embarrassment. He didn't really have a good excuse for that last one so there was nothing he could say.

"Say, Emile..." Rainbow Dash floated in-between them upside down nonchalantly. "Before in the garden, Hilda said something about you being uh... What was it? Knight of order?" The boy got into a coughing fit at his embarrassment and surprise after having heard of that title once again. The little cyan tomboy had just dug up his dark past without a care in the world.

"Well well, Dashy, listen to this..." Said a snide Hilda as she noticed that Emile refused to answer. "Emile was so world-famous back then, that the Universal Pokemon Association apparently wanted to give him an honorary Knighthood at one point or another in the Galar region." Hilda snickered when Emile turned his face away, trying to ignore the story. "Oh, but woe. There were whispers that he turned it down, yet there was no public statement about it so the rumors were just left to fester into urban legend. Eventually, it just became a joke and a fad to call him 'The Knight of Order' in service for everything he did, and it just kinda stuck."

"No way I would take such a name! I'm no knight, okay?" His ears were hot.

"But that's such a cool title!" Said the rainbow pony having noticed his dislike for it.

"It's quite honorable, dear. Nothing to be ashamed of." Followed up Rarity.

"Emile certainly didn't think so. Every time he went on camera he was always like 'I don't deserve that title' and 'that title is the kind of thing kids think up of, for kids' and stuff. You ask me? He's just being dishonest with himself." Goodness, Hilda really didn't have a filter on her words did she?

"Oh, oh! So that means it's okay for him to have that title now that he's a kid again?" Pinkie said innocently not understanding his shame.

"Please don't." He said, finally turning to look around at them red as a tomato. He could see a few cruel smiles in the mix of those girls as he hid his face with his hat. He felt a little outnumbered here. This journey wasn't going to be so easy, was it? He hoped at that moment that Spike would make all the difference for him in this group of all girls.

It only took a few more jeers at his pride to finally reach the Night Princess' chamber. As Twilight knocked on the door, however, they could hear the distinct sound of books being flung, tables being flipped, cloth being torn, and breaking. A whole of breaking. They quickly opened the door to spot Princess Luna curled up in a picturesque Fibonacci spiral on the floor resting up against a shredded chair with the torn silk drapes of her bedroom window covering a portion of her body, her head tilting back into empty space as though she was passed out. That single snapshot was as much worrisome as it was elegant, like if it had crawled straight out of a museum gallery of the old warring era of their pokemon world. Before anyone had the time to react to the scene with unsavory thoughts, Luna brought her head up and tilted it towards them immediately.

"Oh hey guys, we've been expecting you." She said nonchalantly and adjusted her shattered, round glasses on the bridge of her nose while getting up from the floor as though nothing was wrong. "You must be the human in Twilight's entourage that stopped that massive walking energy signature earlier! Wonderful to meet you." She took off her glasses and set them down on a turned-over nightstand, then proceeded to set a hoof out towards Emile for a handshake, hoofshake? Princess Luna, despite the strange scene, had her own grace and air about her. She was beautiful to behold and conducted herself as such but... She definitely had her quirks. He found endearing himself to her was much easier, as Princess Celestia had been without fault any which way he looked at her.

"Do you mean Arceus?" Emile asked.

"Oh yes, that thing too. Quite quite powerful those creatures are. So interesting. But no, we meant the space holes from before. Their structure is incredibly complex although not very elegant. They're being forced open by a mass of power! Easy to close. We just need to focus, and with my sister's help we will have no problem sealing them back up. Some are too complex though. Probability of success so far has been 78%. If you need more details, ask Professor Juniper."

"Thank you for the information, Princess Luna, but why were you expecting us today?" Hilda asked shortly after Luna had stopped.

"Need to focus, human Hilda. We asked for your assistance today to take these little guys off our back. Their ruckus is distracting." She said as she pointed behind her to the mess that was her room.

With everyone finally peering into the rest of the room, they saw the distinct colors of green, red, and blue from the Pokemon who had de-evolved at the garden. The snake, the piglet, and the otter. Right about now, the piglet and the snake were having a battle of their own and were trying to tackle each other into the furniture, making a mess and a lot of tiny tracks from their uniquely shaped feet. The snake had likely been angry at the little piglet for having lost to its rage and attacked it. The otter just looked on with a serious expression on its face, as though it were judging their battle from a distance.

"So small yet so powerful. Pokemon are incredible creatures, are they not?" Luna asked the two humans, not looking for a response before going back to handle the untouched paperwork in the corner of her room.

"Hey! You two! Stop that." Hilda immediately made a lunge for the two battling Pokemon and secured them both underneath each arm, separating them via the length of her torso.

Eevee ran into the room and got up near the otter, stance ready to fight it again. The otter took the shell from his belly and got ready too as he eyed the little fox down. Before Emile could tell them to stop and much to his relief, the otter walked over to Eevee rather calmly and placed his shell on the little fox's head. This prompted his Eevee to lick its cheek in response. The otter itself didn't flinch much while still looking at Eevee with a deadpan serious look on its face.

"Wow! Look at that. One battle and they're already friends." Smiled Hilda, looking on at the two.

"How can you tell?" Fluttershy asked, not understanding the otter's signs of affection.

"I've never met these type of Pokemon before. Can you tell us more about them, Hilda?" Emile asked.

"That blue one there is an Oshawott from Unova, a pure water type. They say that an Oshawott's shell is its most prized possession since it uses it for everything from battle to everyday life, and it hates to part with it for any reason. I hear that the utmost sign of respect that they can show to others is by physically handing them their shell momentarily, as a sign of friendship."

"Then I guess the little man prides himself in battle if that's true. He must've recognized Eevee's strength." Emile smiled at the scene of the serious-natured little otter finding respect for his Eevee. The rest of the pony girls were quite entranced at the scene, especially Fluttershy. Then, the otter picked up its shell off of Eevee's head, and slowly waddled its way up to the boy to place the shell on top of his shoe, only for it to look up at him to stare into his eyes.

"It's so cute!" Fluttershy said and petted the Oshawott, who remained unflinching with its unyielding gaze. "Seems like it really likes you too, Emile."

Emile understood what came next. He had done this so many times before, and he could understand the look in the little Otter's eyes. It wanted to fight. To become stronger. It knew that it would get to see many strong battles if it stuck with him. There was mutual respect in both of them as their battle together had shown them everything they needed to know. This was the start of a new friendship.

Emile took hold of the shell from his shoe, and sat down on the ground in front of the little otter to be as close to it as possible. The boy held out the shell for it so it could take it back, and in doing so, Emile took out his own item. A small little sphere that he had been safekeeping for a while now. As he held it out for the little otter, he enlarged the ball with the button facing it. Oshawott looked him in the eyes again for one last look of whatever it was eyeing up before, and then pressed the button voluntarily. The ball cracked open, and the light consumed its form only to shut again. The ball shook three times, and then no more.

A new friend had been made.

Hilda and the ponies looked on in awed silence.

"That was quite the magical moment! You really have a way with Pokemon, Emile." Hilda was the first to say something.

"It wasn't just me then, right?! That felt like quite the special scene." Twilight exhaled the breath she had kept in as the rest followed suit and nodded in agreement.

"Uhm. You know. That's how it is between Pokemon and Trainers I suppose. It's all about making friends." Emile said meekly. "But at least you guys got to finally see what these bad boys can do." He said gesturing at the now fingernail-sized ball in his palm.

"That... was... AMAZING! Ooo, ooo! Make some of those for me pretty please, Emile. I want hundreds of Pokemon friends!" Pinkie Pie practically exploded.

"A bit at a time Pinkie, my Pokeriss still takes a long time to make one. It would be nice if we could all get you to make some friends with Pokemon. That way we could increase our fighting capabilities." He said while pulling his Pokeriss out to check it. He had prepared another apple into it after the first one had been done, and now a second Pokeball lay inside. "Hilda, are you gonna need some as well?"

"Oh! That's a device that can make Pokeballs on the fly?! How handy is that, huh? I'd only heard rumors of that thing too." She beamed at the sight of it. "Since most Pokeballs were mass-produced in our world, it wouldn't have had a real use there but now it just solved our biggest problem in this world! The Professor and I were honestly so worried because we only came over to this world with ten Pokeballs on hand."

"It still takes quite a bit of time to make just the one, so I would like to start teaching some crafters to make them. Do you think the Professor would know how?" He could see Rarity's eyes sparkle at the mention of this.

"No but we were transported to this world with a lot of our equipment since a huge chunk of our lab came with us. I bet we have some manuscripts and materials in there somewhere." She said as she began texting in her phone, presumably to ask the professor.

"For now though, we should think about what to do with these two little fellas." Emile eyed the two figures within Hilda's arms. The piglet seemed perfectly content in the purse-bag hold it was under. In fact, it looked almost downright happy. The little girl was snorting the occasional snort of satisfaction, probably in amusement that the snake writhed opposite to her in Hilda's grasp. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Hilda, but I think the piglet likes you.

"Hmm? The Tepig?" She took hold of it like a football and brought its eyes to her face. Tepig proceeded to give her a very messy lick on the face, confirming Emile's suspicions. Instead of being grossed out like Emile naturally expected she would, Hilda beamed and said, "Well, we're friends now you know that?"

Understanding these words, the little pig jumped up by her belly in Hilda's open palm in jovial response. The snake broke free from her grip and dropped to the floor, where it scurried over to Luna again who had been much too busy to notice.

"Hmm?" The Princess of the night looked over to it, then the group of friends.

"Ehm. Sorry, Luna. I think Snivy took quite the shine to you." Hilda gave her a meek smile as the grassy serpent dug itself into her starry mane and appeared on top of her head.

"..." The Princess thought for a bit. "Troubling, but we think we can handle the mess of one of these little critters. Don't worry. We shall keep it well fed and loved." She said while petting the green snake on her head.

"Oh! Emile, does the Pokedex have anything to say about them? You know, before we leave..." Twilight let her curiosity get the better of her. Emile was happy to oblige her and pulled it out of his coat jacket. Hilda also pulled out hers with her own distinct color and markings on it, beating him to the punch as she showed it to Twilight first.

Tepig, the Fire Pig Pokémon. Instead of breathing fire from its mouth or ears, Tepig does so from its nostrils. When ill, it will spout thick, black smoke. Tepig will roast berries before eating them, but occasionally gets overexcited and burns them.

As Hilda ran the girls through the more specifics of the Pokemon's details, Emile let out his Oshawott from its Pokeball. The little otter had already fallen asleep inside of it in that short time evident by coming out with its eyes closed and a rather big snot bubble on its nose. Everyone was sure to be quiet while Emile scanned him.

Oshawott, the Sea Otter Pokémon. Oshawott attacks and defends using the schalop that can be removed from its stomach. The scalchop on its stomach isn't just used for battle--it can be used to break open hard berries as well as any other day to day need. It cannot rest if it is missing its shell.

Finally, everyone crowded around Luna much to her surprise to read the final entry that was available to them.

Snivy, the Grass Snake Pokémon. Cool, calm, and collected, Snivy uses photosynthesis to collect energy with the leaf on its tail. It is very intelligent and often likes to play tricks on others. Being exposed to lots of sunlight makes its movements swifter.

How odd, everyone thought. Why had it chosen Luna if it was more partial to sunlight? What little mysteries some Pokemon were.

Hilda had been busy making the pact of a lifetime in the background, using a Pokeball to befriend the little piglet. Her capture a resounding success, she brought the Pokeball to the sky and yelled in victory and happiness. With everyone saying their farewells and thank yous to Luna and moving out into the hall, there was now that much more jubilation and excitement in the air.

"I can't wait to make a strong Pokemon my friend!" Said Rainbow Dash.

"There's plenty of strong flying types that would fit you perfectly dashy!" Assured Hilda. "What do you suppose would fit Pinkie Pie, Emile?" She said having noticed the Pink one's excitement abound.

"Hmm. Spoink maybe?" The two laughed between themselves.

"Okay yeah I see that."

"I'm just excited to get the chance to learn more about Pokemon." Twilight said.

"Remember what the Princess said, Twi'. We can't expect for things to be smooth sailing from here. I reckon we're going to have a lot on our hands." Applejack mused.

"I guess you're right..."

"Don't look so down, girls!" Hilda brought them right back up. "This is your very own Pokemon Journey you guys a starting! This is an adventure!"

Author's Note

The artist for the art on this page can be found on DeviantArt under the name Crayon-Chewer. She makes wonderfully colorful illustrations that I’ve been graciously allowed to use. Go check out more of her stuff on the link I’ve included in her name!

Chapter 5: Moving On

Little pitter patters of paws could be heard on the metal roof of the train, drowned out by the rattling of the wheels while moving along the mountain tracks towards the familiar town of Ponyville and puffing out pillowy white smoke from the engine's blastpipe. No one had paid the noise any mind. There was excitement in the air while the group of friends chatted amongst themselves on what they would find ahead. Past the cheerful veneer, there was also a sense of dread since no pony or human had forgotten what their purpose for this trip was. The confrontation against Arceus was still fresh in everyone's minds, and there was the very real possibility that it could appear at any moment. Twilight was the first to realize everyone's questions when the topic of conversation had shifted from talking about the history of humans living together with their Pokemon.

"So Emile, Hilda. Um... I know we got a rundown from Professor Juniper about what kind of Pokemon Arceus was, and why it's so dangerous, but we're still mostly in the dark about it. Is it okay if I ask you what you know?" She asked them sheepishly, knowing that it was a very sensitive topic that only invited worry and concern. Every pony quieted as she had asked this question, indicating their troubled curiosity.

Strangely, while Hilda looked uncomfortable touching up on the subject since she had the same mindset as the ponies in thinking of it as a heavy topic, Emile on the other hand looked at them with a smile that eased them up a bit. He realized that keeping any more information from them would hinder their ultimate goal going forward, and now was a perfect time to discuss what he knew of It with them.

"What do you know about Arceus, Hilda?" He asked her nonchalantly, which allowed her to feel comfortable speaking about it.

"Not much honestly. After your disappearance at Mt. Coronet, I got to studying the ancient history of Sinnoh and Pokemon since there were rumors that your work there had something to do with It. But there was very little information available to the public, so all I really know is kid's tales about It being the first Pokemon and the creator of the world. The Professor told us as much when you were under." She said, gesturing to herself and the rest of the ponies.

"That thing was beyond powerful. Even the Princess was no match for it... Are you sure we can fight that thing?" Rainbow Dash shuttered.

"I'm sure that big ol' meanie just needs a friend and a few laughs!" Pinkie was the only one unfazed by the topic of conversation.

"Now that's an idea I can get behind. Imagine how easy it would be to quell the Pokemon outbreaks in Equestria if we had a god's help!" Laughed Emile, seizing on the opportunity that Pinkie Pie had made for him to lighten the mood. "Tell you what though, it's not that powerful. I mean, I fought against it and I'm still alive to tell the tale, right? I bet I could take him on no problem with my little super pal Eevee here." He said, gesturing over at the Vaporeon sitting on the opposite seats across the isle.

Vaporeon was making bubbles towards Oshawott using Bubble Beam, with the little otter Slashing at them with its schalop. They were playing and training at the same time. They were both quite skilled, as they had held their moves back enough to not cause any damage to the train whatsoever. Discipline and precision was the name of the game this time.

"If that's not enough, we've got a mighty Oshawott to back us up. Not forgetting the indominable Tepig!" Emile pointed to the cute piglet on Hilda's lap who had been dozing off thanks to the rocking of the train.

The little piglet had pretty good timing, having sneezed immediately after being addressed and shooting a tiny fireball at the empty train chair in front of her and scorching the seat black. It was fortunate that the seat's original owner was not in her chair since she was overlooking the other two Pokemon's training. Her eyes widening beneath her pink curly mane. The mood picked up again at the sight of this as everyone laughed at the piggy's antics, with Hilda being left apologizing to the train's steward since he happened by in that moment to witness the damage. Though Twilight made short work on fixing it with magic, the steward looked none too happy still.

"See? Nothing to worry about. You all saw how powerful even just that tiny fireball was right? We train our Pokemon up right and we'll match Arceus' power in no time." His words were very reassuring to the group of concerned girls who had almost forgotten the topic in that moment. "Myths are often just that, myths. Since Arceus is by far the most mythical, powerful, and rare Pokemon in our world, very little is known about it so it's very possible that it's all just tall tales." His brows furrowed a bit as he tried very hard to keep smiling for their sake. "But every story has truths to it too."

"What do you mean, Emile?" Twilight was the first pick up on the shift in mood.

"Arceus is unequivocally as god-like as any creature in our world gets. I studied directly with the leading expert on Its origins, the long-time Sinnoh region champion Cynthia. What we know of It, and what I can guess from the ancient glyphs and texts we found, is only that Its nature and strength are unfathomable. I can say it with certainty after having fought it once before. I really do think it was sheer dumb luck that I found myself unharmed here in Equestria."

He explained to them in greater detail about Arceus' troubled past with humans. About the tablets the humans of the distant past had stolen and why It looked to sunder the world into oblivion to find them, as it was believed that they were Its very essence and life force. And he also told them about the prophecy that lay within them.

"I do feel a bit sorry for Arceus I must admit, even after everything we've seen it do." Rarity spoke up, with every pony sharing that sentiment. "I don't agree that its reaction was very forthcoming of it, but it is a very sad thing to be betrayed by those you love and then being left almost to wither away because of their greed."

They had all caught onto the fact that these tablets being stolen from Arceus had almost killed It in the process. He had explained to the ponies how ancient scriptures talked about a time where It once walked among men and pokemon, protecting them from galactic and seismic threats like meteors and earthquakes during the early lifespan of the world. How It had used the power of Its tablets to nurture the barren land they lived in. How It had once loved them all unconditionally. And how in their avarice, they had used the power of Pokemon to rend the tablets away from It, leaving it for dead to recover for millennia in a realm outside of time.

"This whole dang thing is all messed up, sugarcube. I don't even feel like fighting it anymore... But I can't let it hurt my friends like this! Some pony has to beat some sense into it." Applejack said and stomped both her hooves with defiance.

"I think so too. It's why I wish Pinkie Pie's idea could work. Maybe all It really needs is a friend and someone to love it back. But it's hard to fix such a broken relationship." Emile rustled his hair in thought. He sighed defeatedly. "I tried everything in my power to find and return those tablets back to it in my old world, but to no avail. I didn't have the luxury of time the first time I faced it and I've been running on pure hysteria ever since. I wish I had been more rational and calm when I confronted Arceus honestly. It took me getting to know you guys to realize that I really want to try to find a better way of fixing things. I hope you're all there with me next time we meet it again, since I don't know if I'm ready to confront It in earnest."

Emile looked down at his legs in his shame at his weakness. He felt Twilight's hoof and Hilda's hand on top of his, and the rest of the pony friends joined in by resting theirs on his shoulders.

"If it's for our Pokemon friends or even just for you, Emile, we'll back you up no matter what. But this time, I won't tell you to ask because I can't trust you to do that. We just will." Said Twilight with a bit of sass and smiled at him.

"Honestly I don't know if I could handle it either! But I'm with you, Emile. Together, we got this." Hilda beamed.

The moment having passed, the topic of conversation shifted to lighter topics as they discussed the creatures of Equestria. Emile was curious to know of the kinda of fauna they'd be meeting and their habitats. Fluttershy answered enthusiastically by recanting her knowledge on her little critter friends. Twilight gave him a bigger history lesson on Equestria and its sentient races. Finally, it was a very boastful Rainbow Dash that spoke of all the dangerous monsters of Equestria that they had met, like the massive four headed hydra or even some of the dragons who could billow so much smoke from their nostrils that they could cover all of Equestria in a veil of darkness in their sleep if not careful. As dragons were mentioned, what followed next was talking about the little purple dragon he had met before.

"So what kind of abilities does Spike have as a dragon?"

"Other than laze around and goof off whenever possible?" Twilight snickered. "As far as abilities go, he has superior magic resistance thanks to his scales and dragon vitality. He can also send messages to Princess Celestia in an instant with his fire breath."

"It's always good to have more able-bodied hands. Err, claws in his case. He seems like a nice kid from when I met him."

"Of course, Spike is a little darling. A bit crude around the edges but he's always looking out for others and he hardly ever complains when I ask the unreasonable from him." Rarity was somehow oblivious to the knowing smiles of all of her friends and the obvious affection of the little dragon.

Twilight seemed to ponder at this a bit. "I guess I hadn't really given it much of a thought. Spike has been a part of my family since we were both young, and he's put up with a lot of my magic experiments and training. Even if you don't consider the work he puts in to help me at the library and on my research, he's been a major help throughout my life. I daresay I wouldn't be half the mare I am without Spike." This was quite introspective of Twilight. After having gone through the ordeals they had over the last few days, everyone was now thinking deeper about the blessings afforded to them.

"What about you guys? Any family to talk about?"

"I have loads! I'd love to introduce you to 'em next time the family reunion comes around. They all have their own apple orchards all over Equestria so it'll be hard to meet 'em this time of year. As for my immediate family, I've got Applebloom, Big Mac, ol' Granny Smith and not to forget my faithful companion Winona! She's a real workhorse for roundin' up herds." Applejack was quite happy to talk about her family.

"That's nothing! I've got the fiercest most daredevilish of all the pets in Ponyville! My buddy, Tank. He's a tortoise after my own heart." Rainbow Dash said as she nudged Applejack out of the way.

"Oh please, Dashy. The barbaric stunts the two of you pull is hardly impressing anyone. Now my elegant and beautiful, Opal, on the other hoof is the greatest feline alive. She rivals my own beauty." She dismissed Rainbow Dash's taunting expression of putting her tongue out with one harumph. "I also have my lovely yet troublesome little sister Sweetie Belle. Oh how I do wish she'd behave. She's always out with Applebloom and Scootaloo making a mess of Celestia knows what."

"Love that little filly like a sister. She's always looking up to me." Rainbow Dash said, talking about Scootaloo. "Didn't they form some kind of group? Eh, what was it?"

"Cutie Mark Crusaders, if I remember what Applebloom said." Applejack's brow furrowed. "Can't help but worry 'bout the tots. They've got quite the adventurous spirit and are always walkin' into dangerous caves and dungeons and such."

"Mystery dungeons?" Emile asked.

"Hm? What was that, sugarcube?"

"Nothing, just a bit of fictional media from our world." Laughed Emile, with Hilda giving a knowing smile. "What about you Pinkie, Fluttershy? What's your family situation like?"

"Oh uhm, I've got my hooves full with all my critter friends at home. My trustiest companion is a little rabbit I've known for the longest time. His name is Angel and he's quite adorable." Replied Fluttershy, happy to talk about her friends.

"Quite mean, you meant to say." The cyan one said from the sidelines.

"He's not always mean. He just gets a little cranky sometimes. He's a good rabbit on the inside. He just finds it difficult to show his affection, is all." A tsun? Thought Emile.

Emile found it strange that Pinkie Pie was the last to talk about her own family. He half expected her to jump on the chance, but he guessed that anyone could have a troubled relationship with their own blood, even the Pink ball of laughter herself. "I come from a grumpy family full of sour-faced miners if you'd believe it." She said, giving Emile an uncharacteristically weak smile. "I've got three sisters and my parents who refuse to smile like if their life depended on it! Humph!" She tilted her head away to hide her own frown. She came back with a very bright expression on her face almost as quickly. "But I do have my loyalest, friendliest, cutiest, special-ist friend, Gummy. My pet alligator!"

An alligator? Now that was quite something, Emile thought. Spike having sentience and being a good-natured kid really took away from the shock factor on how dangerous he could be as a dragon, and everyone else's pets were pretty standard all things considered. But alligators were quite unheard of. Even in his own world, alligator animals and alligator-type Pokemon like Feralligator were quite infamous for their aggression.

"Is it dangerous at all, Pinkie?"

"Don't mind it too much, Emile. It's very small and it has no teeth. Though it still bites pretty hard with its gums so watch out for it if you see it close to you." Twilight spoke up before Pinkie could, having dug her hoof into the pink one's mouth.

"What about you, Hilda? Anything you wanna talk about?"

"Hmm? Me? Oh! I guess I do." She had been pretty distracted listening to everyone's story to think of her own. "Ahem well, hello guys I'm Hilda, nice to meet you." She said in a pseudo-reintroduction, which prompted every pony to greet her again. "I've had my mom and the professor growing up. They've always looked out for my antics!" She beamed. "My friends Cheren and Blanca always told me I had a bit of a black personality. Something about my words not fitting my appearance and how gung-ho I was about being the best Pokemon trainer. I mean c'mon. They weren't even remotely surprised when I won Unova's Pokemon League against Alder the first time around. Isn't that so mean?"

"Whoa, for real? Unova's champion?" Emile exclaimed with surprise.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I guess I didn't mention it, huh? Teehee." She said cheekily.

"Are Pokemon Leagues really that big a deal? Didn't you win like a whole bunch, Emile?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeah. They really are. If you remember what I told you guys, those championships are a tournament for the best trainers in all the land competing to see who the strongest is. The trainers and the Pokemon who battle there spend their whole life training, constantly fighting anyone who will give them an opportunity in order to inch their strength towards being the best."

"It was... SO HARD." Hilda rested back in the chair defeatedly. "You guys have like, no idea. It's not even so much the winning part either! Being a Champion is exhausting business. I remember how confused I was at seeing Alder so happy and content at having lost the battle for the championship. The old man had been waiting a long time to finally pass down the title AND the responsibility, that wicked schemer! I mean, when you're champion, everyone wants a piece of you! It's battle-central. Even getting on the subway I couldn't escape it!" She sighed. "It's also a lot of stress maintaining the appearance of a champion you know. They tell you that you shouldn't show any weakness. Trainers from all over look up to you. 'If you're going to be the very best, act like the best.' They say. I have no idea how Emile put up with it for so long!"

"That does sound kinda stressful, yeah." Rainbow Dash admitted. "I wonder if that's how the fastest fliers in Equestria, the Wonderbolts feel. I've always wanted to be like them."

"Any kind of public gig comes with that hassle I think. But don't let my words stop you, Dashy!" Hilda responded to her. "That wasn't my scene though as I learned, so I just handed off my championship title to Cheren and let him handle all the heavy lifting for a few years while I went back to my hometown to help the professor instead!" She laughed. "I got to have lazy days hanging out with my Pokemon team as I researched Unova's Pokemon with the professor..." She got quiet and her expression dropped at those words. She had tripped her own landmine. "You know, I kinda miss them actually. I know my friends Amanita and Fennel are taking good care of my Pokemon in my PC but... I don't even know if I'll get to see them again. They were family too, you know." She petted the tepig on her lap slowly while she said it, the little piglet looking up at her with concern and trying to comfort Hilda by nudging at her.

The ponies all hugged Hilda in a mess of hooves, wings, and horns until little was visibly left of her in order to comfort the aching girl. As they pulled away, what was left was a giggly bright-eyed youngster with tears in her eyes, brushing them away with her arms. The little piglet reflected her mood by dancing on the girl's lap in a happy dance, knowing that she had recovered.

"It's okay. Worst comes to worst, I know my Pokemon are strong and wise enough to find new lives out in the wild after they're eventually released. Besides, it's not just me going through this. The Professor no doubt shares in this too, as she had her own Pokemon that were left behind." She paused and then looked up at Emile, who had been a little beside himself in wondering how he should comfort her. "And Emile too. You've been a trainer for longer than I can remember. I wanted to be champion initially to follow behind you, so I know you must've seen your fair share of your Pokemon friends come and go. How do you deal with it, Emile?"

"I'm sorry to say, but there's no Full-Heal for that kind of thing." He said, giving her a half smile. "If there is, I certainly haven't found it. I've had to release a lot of my friends over the years as I traveled to new lands, and it never got easier. Pokemon are living creatures, and they deserve to be free and happy. Or so I think. That's why I never kept any of them for too long, except my little Eevee here since he would refuse to leave my side every time." He said gesturing over to the Eevee that had transformed into a Leafeon in the interim during their playtraining session. Oshawott and it had returned to him after hearing this. "Best we can do is continue to step a foot forward into the future. For their sake and for ours too. That's the way I see it. Even if it's a little hard for me to do it. It's why I wanted you guys keep calling me Emile. My own little weird way of wanting to move forward, I think."

Leafeon cried a little yelp at this as if to agree, suddenly changing back into an Eevee.

"Hmm. Is that right? It'll be a little weird ya know." Emile was now somehow having his own private conversation with Eevee. The rest of them looked at the two in quizzical confusion. "Well alright. But you can't complain if you don't like what I think of." He put his hand to his chin to think of something.

"You can understand what it's saying, Emile? I didn't know it worked the other way around when you said Pokemon could understand us." Fluttershy had a glimmer in her eyes.

"Well, sort of. It's something like... intuition, I guess. You've never felt that way with your own animals, Fluttershy?"

"I see what you mean, and oh yes, I have. But I can only discern their feelings and make assumptions. It looked like you were having a real conversation with Eevee just there. I'm a little envious."

Emile and Eevee stared at each other in silence, then they both turned to look at her. "Well, it's something like that too. But you'd be correct in assuming we were talking in specifics. Eevee was saying how it wanted a nickname too. Something to match my own. What do you think, Fluttershy, got any names floating around? Girls?" He said as he looked to the rest of them. Everyone shook their head after thinking about it for a bit in silence.

"It's sorta like when we found out your name was Red. It's kinda hard to choose something new after associating you with something else." Mused Twilight.

"Uhm. How about an abbreviation of its name? That way it won't be too unfamiliar. I do that all the time with my animal buddies." Fluttershy gently picked up the little fox into her forelegs. "How about Eve?" She said as the little fox cried out in contentedness at the new nickname.

"Well, that seals the deal!" Emile petted Eve from Fluttershy's grasp. "At least now it'll be easier to address you when you change forms." He said in its directions as it twirled its tail in amusement.

"Nicknames! Now those are customary for a lot of trainers and their Pokemon." Hilda brought the little piggy back up into the air to meet her face. "What do you think of... Teah. Sounds nice, right? Tea-ah?" She said to the little piggy. Sure enough, if it was Hilda, the piglet had no qualms and basked at the new name.

The little otter got up onto Emile's lap and just stared at him for a solid while, as though it were saying 'What about me?' with the look in its eyes. It was hard for the others to tell from this as its deadpan serious expression made it hard to discern what it was thinking, but the bonds between trainer and Pokemon were strong and Emile was able to figure the little guy out, no problem.

"What do you think, Oshawott? Osha or Otta?" Emile said, holding the two names in each hand respectively. It didn't budge. Not because it didn't understand his gesture at allowing it to choose, but because it didn't know what to choose. Eve made a lunge for his left arm to chew on it as if choosing Osha for its nickname. "Well, that's what Eve thinks. You okay with that?" The little otter nodded. "Then welcome aboard, Osha. We've got a lot of adventures ahead of us." He said with a smile and held out one finger towards it, allowing the Otter to grab at it with its tiny paw.

"Look look, everyone, Ponyville is coming into view!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed while jumping excitedly in place looking out the window, urging everyone to go take a look at the scenery.

Instantly, every pony, human, and pokemon knew in that moment that their adventure would be met with challenges at every step. As the town came into view, they could all see the distinct black pillars of smoke from the fires that tore at the pastel-colored houses, the townsfolk running for the hills trying to evacuate.

Ponyville was burning.

Chapter 6: Fiery Premonitions

Ponyville was on fire.

The train's conductors had begun stopping the train in its tracks a few miles before reaching the town at the sight of that disaster for the safety of those onboard. Yanking at the control rod for the breaks with everything they had, the massive locomotive listed forward heavily as the inertia from its movement having been stunted so abruptly sent everyone into a rough ride and were violently tossed forward, then backwards. The panic within the train was now at a frenzy and the steward was shouting for everyone to calm down.

However, the six familiar ponies and two humans aboard the train had already gotten up and out of their seats, and were jumping out into the outside from the gangway connector. The train had slowed down considerably for them to make the jump, and it only took a rough tumble before everyone was back on their feet and sprinting with dear life toward the disaster in front of them.

What a horrible outcome... Ruin for the innocent world of ponies... It pained Emile greatly to hear the horrified mares recite the names of their loved ones as they mumbled to themselves in absolute worry through their gasping breaths while they ran. At first, the six had stayed behind with the two humans despite their natural overall speed being faster than theirs, afraid that separating from the group might mean that something horrible could happen to any one of them. It was Emile who had to command them to leave them behind and hurry.

"But Emile, we can't just leave you." Twilight tried to reason.

"Of course you can! This is your town!" Pretty words be damned, this was an emergency. "We're outsiders and you don't have time for this! You're all faster than we are, so go help anyone you can. We'll meet you when we get there. If there are Pokemon present, do not engage. Even baby Pokemon carry enough power to have caused something like this, and you'll be severely hurt if you face one down one on one."

The six nodded solemnly, understanding his point of view. At this, Twilight took charge and began giving directions to the other five.

"Rainbow Dash, you go find the mayor or the royal guard pony sent by Princess Celestia, ask what happened here. The rest of us, go secure your loved ones first and then meet back up in the middle of the town. Look out for anything that might've caused this. And like Emile warned us, don't engage." She said, splitting the group their separate ways. "And Emile, Hilda... please be careful, okay?" She said before finally sprinting away from them with all the speed her legs could carry her with.

Emile was having a difficult time running at his best since his arm was still healing and unable to help with his sprinting momentum. The two Pokemon had long been recalled into their respective Pokeballs, but Eve still didn't have one, so it opted to secure itself to his back and beneath the hood of his jacket. The two humans made for a very strange sight indeed as they approached the town, running past some evacuating ponies who had skidded to a stop to avoid them. There was a look of panicked terror in their faces, as though somehow thinking that these strange creatures before them were at fault for the town burning in the confusion of the moment. But there was no time to explain anything to anyone, and they continued unabated towards the town.

The group of mares had already been long gone before the two had reached it. In getting there, they were met by massive pillars of winding flames encircled all over the pastel-colored houses of Ponyville, with most of the houses already evacuated save for a few brave ponies who were going door to door checking for any injured... or worse. Emile could surmise from the look on their faces that they had yet to be met by anything truly distasteful, and that was a sigh of relief if he had, had a moment to express it. But what he had to do still took precedence.

"I'll use Eve and Osha to put out all the fires I can. Hilda, go ask them if you can help and use Teah's natural fire resistance to search the homes safely. If the Pokedex is right, then she should have the move Odor Sleuth that you can use to sniff any survivors out. If you're met with any Pokemon, be careful too. We're not sure how battle-ready our buddies are. Take these and take care." Emile said as he handed her a couple of Super Potions he had in his backpack when he came to this world.

"Yessir! Great idea boss, I'm on it." She said without hesitation and began to run over to them.

"I'm technically younger than you are right now!" He shouted back, only getting a thumbs up from Hilda who mostly ignored him.

Emile quickly scanned through his Pokedex when he brought it up to Eve and Osha after letting the water otter out of his ball. He was searching through its function of being able to see their moves and was quite relieved to see that Osha could use Water Gun, immediately directing it to shoot out any fires he could upon doing so. It wasn't the kind of battles that the small otter had been expecting, but even so, it reveled at the challenge as the fires raged all around it and in its serious demeanor, began his orders with haste.

"Eve, think you can become a Vaporeon for me?" He asked, unsure if the little fox could really change at will and at his command. Sure enough, however, Eve complied without a second thought, and its form slowly changed into a Vaporeon again.

Something was rather odd with his Pokedex when he tried scanning Eve for its moves. Unlike with Osha, none of its available moves were showing, and every individual entry in it was replaced by question marks. He could not make heads or tails as to why this was happening. He thought back to the fight against the evolved trio at the garden. As an Eevee, it had been able to perform the usual moves he had already seen it use and he hadn't thought much else about it then, but when it transformed into the different eevolutions, it had used a multitude of high-level moves. From Thunderbolt, to Leafblade, and even Solar Blade. A very powerful and high-level move.

In retrospect, he had taken quite a risky gamble. He had naturally assumed that Eve still had its old moveset from before they came into this world when it became a Leafeon again, so he had asked of it what felt natural at the time, and his brain had just confirmed it without a second thought upon seeing it use Solar Blade. But if Eve was like Osha or Teah to any respect, then it shouldn't have had its old moveset at all considering it had, had its time rewound to before they had ever journeyed together.

Eve tilted its head inquisitively at Emile as it just watched him think for a bit. Emile finally brought one desperate finger towards the sky and slowly, as though he thought he was crazy, asked of the little blue fox one request.

"Eve, use Rain Dance."

Just like that, his suspicions were confirmed when Vaporeon became engulfed in a light blue aura whose glow began to grow brighter and brighter until it looked to the sky to howl at it. In mere moments, dark rain clouds gathered overhead, and it began to pour heavily all throughout the town. Emile fell to the ground and onto his butt in yet another ground-shattering revelation as he could only but stare at his buddy with all the bewilderment in the world. All logic had flown out the window this time.

As the rain beat down, the fires began to lessen little by little, with the bigger more ferocious ones being left to Osha to fight with the pressurized water from his Water Gun. Before he had realized it, a drenched Hilda was yelling at him with concern from his side. She had returned over to him after seeing the rain appear.

"Emile!"

"Huh?! What. Uh." He stammered while getting back up onto his legs to face her.

"Are you okay? You were really out of it."

"Yeah sorry, something weird just happened but we're all good."

"That's crazy fortunate that Eve knew Rain Dance, huh? Being able to evolve at will is one thing, but I didn't know it had Rain Dance in its natural moveset!" She said with a hearty laugh and slapped Emile on the back in a friendly Unovian gesture.

"Yeah... neither did I." He said, knowing full well that it wasn't. Rain Dance was clearly a move that could only be learned by Vaporeons through TMs...

"It's a huge relief to know we'll have saved a good bit of the town with this. Let's go check up on the farther side of Ponyville before we rendezvous with the girls where they told us to." Hilda said as she watched Osha put out the last big fire in their vicinity.

"Um. Yeah, before that..." Emile held out his coat to Hilda, looking away with a fluster to his face.

"Hm? You want me to take it?" She eyed him suspiciously as she slowly reached out to grab it. "Why do I feel like I know what this is about..." When she finally grabbed it, she looked down at her white shirt and small-fit black jacket that didn't quite reach the important bits. It had been raining after all. She immediately turned around on a dime and put on his coat without a word and with haste. She coughed awkwardly as she pointed both of her index fingers towards the direction they were meant to be going at this moment. "Ahem, yeah, so uh, let's get going right?"

"Yup, yup." Emile walked ahead, the two of them mighty embarrassed. "So uh, did the search turn up anyone?" Emile asked on the walk over to try to make conversation in the silence.

"Eh? Uh, yeah actually. Just one pony that got caught in the rubble but we managed to get 'em out thanks to Teah. She's quite strong! She was able to Tackle those heavy beams apart with ease!" She sounded like she had already forgotten about it, but Emile didn't dare turn around. He was still 25 on the inside, and he wasn't about to give himself even a single chance at thinking something strange about a young girl like Hilda. Even if said girl was twenty on the inside herself. "Also, Teah's nose is like the best. She immediately found the pony too and we were able to trust her judgement going from house to house. When the rain started and it put out the fires, they told me they'd go back and recheck the houses just to make sure. I hope nothing bad happened to anyone. You didn't find anything like that, did you, Teah?" Hilda said worriedly as she looked down at the piglet in her arms, happily proud at being complimented by her favorite human. It oinked in response as if to say no, which made the girl relax.

"Our Pokemon have already been a huge help and we hadn't even befriended them for long! We'll have to cook the best curry in recompense to make it up to them." Emile mused to himself.

"Red's curry?!" Hilda gasped, shutting her mouth as if she had just said something outlandish. "Sorry, Emile I meant."

"No worries. I bet it's not easy to just flip a switch on my name just like that. But uh... you heard about my cooking before?"

"Who hasn't? It's like the main discussion on the forums dedicated to you online." Again, she slapped her mouth to quiet herself.

"I had forums dedicated to me? Ehm, did I really have that many fans? I didn't know, I just spent most of the time adventuring with my Pokemon..."

"Of course you did. Don't you know how insanely popular you were? I mean, even my two best friends and I owned all sorts of Red merchand-" The zero filter on her mind with her words were even affecting her, as she could not stop from saying all manner of embarrassing things to her detriment. "Uhm but yeah. You were popular and stuff." She said quietly trying to be more mindful. "It's common knowledge that you were really good at cooking since you even managed to evolve a Feebas into a Milotic with some really hard-to-make poffins."

"Oh yeah, I did do that, didn't I?" He thought about it for a bit. "All in the name of filling the dex. You know how crazy rare it is to find a Feebas in the first place much less a wild Milotic? It was insane. I was out fishing for weeks all down by the river in Route 119 in Hoenn. I knew I had to get good at cooking just to make it evolve, or else I was never going to see a Milotic for myself and document it for the dex." He sighed after having remembered the absolute pain in the butt that experience had been. "But at least now I can make some mean dishes."

"I'm so looking forward to trying it! Please make tons of extras for me and Teah!" Hilda said with the little piglet oinking her agreeance.

"Sure thing. I just hope we can find similar ingredients in this world that I can work with."

They both continued down through the town checking for stray ponies with Teah's help and putting out any rogue fires in the process thanks to Osha's help. The rain from Rain Dance had already cleared too by this point. After a good while and finally feeling like they were done, they recalled their two Pokemon and headed over to where Twilight had asked them to meet at near her library. Only three ponies were visible as they approached.

"Emile, Hilda! Thank Celestia you're okay." Twilight exclaimed upon spotting them from a distance, the two other ponies trailing behind her.

"Good to see you guys safe too. Any problems on your end?" Emile asked, getting a very relieving no from the purple unicorn.

"No reports of anyone hurt or missing in the head-count, except for one that Rainbow Dash said had been found recently."

"So happy that you guys are okay. It was really scary all-around town for a while but thankfully Mr and Mrs Cake and the tots had evacuated so I went about helping everypony I could. Oh! Then it started to rain and everything was okay afterwards." Said the pink fluffy mare bouncing up behind Twilight.

"And some rain that was. It came out of nowhere! Even stranger, I couldn't even touch those rainclouds or stand on top of them. It was like if they were just... made of water. They were like mist! It's so wweeeiirdd." Voiced the perplexed Rainbow Dash.

"Eh? What are clouds usually made up of for you guys then?" Hilda asked inquisitively.

"Well, most clouds are created in Cloudsdale by mixing magic into them."

"Sorry gals, I don't think I quite understand magic just yet. I know you tried teaching me this stuff back in Canterlot but... I have like 0 clue how that works. This world is all sorts of topsy-turvy for us."

"Seconded." Followed up Emile. "Those rain clouds you saw were the natural ones from our world, although unnaturally called forth by Eve's move, Rain Dance.

"Wait, that was Eve? It can even call rain?!" Rainbow Dash said with surprise, the three ponies slack-jawed in response.

"I did mention it before, didn't I? Pokemon can even control the weather."

"Yeah, but we thought you meant Pokemon like that Arceus. We weren't expecting something as small as Eve being able to do that." Twilight petted the Vaporeon draped across his shoulders while addressing it.

"Oh for sure, Twilight, any Pokemon that can learn Rain Dance can call rain, even tiny pokemon like Tympole who are yay-big," Hilda said as she motioned out with her hands a very small tadpole-type Pokemon. "But what a move! Its power is entirely dependent on the Pokemon's strength. That Rain Dance felt like it came from a level 100!"

"Er, level 100?" Twilight asked.

"Our world likes to quantify the strength of a Pokemon in a numerical value. Level 100 is the pinnacle of strength, and not much is known on whether Pokemon can exceed that threshold. Each Pokemon species is unique and can be more powerful in certain areas than others, but they all seem to have a max ceiling for their strength." Emile explained. "What Hilda said was true. Which um, took me by surprise too because I didn't expect Eve to be this strong, especially considering the power of its Tackle and Quick Attack from when we first arrived here were so weak. As Rainbow Dash can tell you." He said, prompting her to nod to his explanation.

"Maybe the levels went down and then back up for some reason? Can that happen?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, actually. It's a little-known fact even in our world strangely enough." Emile mused. "It couldn't have happened as fast as it did this time in only a few days, but it's a possibility since levels can go down over time. I actually used to have many people interview me asking me why I didn't just steamroll through each Pokemon League upon my arrival to new regions considering my Leafeon had been at level 100 before. But it's sorta like exercising, you know? You work out and get strong. If enough time passes, you get flabby again and lose the muscle. Same principle. Eve and I always took some nice vacations in-between adventuring into new regions so it checks out." Vaporeon cried out its agreement. "No idea why its power seems to be fluctuating though... Hilda, what you said about Rain Dance earlier..."

"Hmm? Yeah, about being surprised it had it in its natural moveset?" She said. Emile nodded to this.

"It doesn't have it. Rain Dance is only something it can learn from TMs. By all accounts, it shouldn't have that move at all..."

"Wait, I'm not following," Twilight said as she was desperately trying to understand this bit of information.

"This is actually some pretty freaky stuff, Twilight." Hilda brought her hand to her chin now that she was starting to understand it herself. "Pokemon learn a few moves naturally as they get stronger. We call this the natural moveset. Some moves they can learn only exclusively from the parents when they are born. Some moves can only be taught to them by Pokemon tutors, humans who specialize in training Pokemon. And some moves can only be learned through TMs, otherwise known as training machines. Little man-made informational tools that help them learn it. There's none in this world as far as we know, but Eve was able to use Rain Dance, a TM move, regardless."

"Is that really such a weird thing? Is there not a chance it can learn it naturally?"

"No. It's perhaps the weirdest thing I've ever heard of or seen, along with Eve being able to evolve at will... Worse yet, none of the registered moves that it knows when I try to scan Eve show up either..." Emile said with expressive worry, causing the Vaporeon to cry out its concern.

"Well, weird or not, that rain was a huge help! So isn't it a good thing?" Pinkie Pie lightened the mood, bouncing with happiness.

"You're right this time, Pinkie." Emile followed up with, feeling a lot calmer. "We'll have to test your powers out at some point Eve, you okay with that?" He asked it. Eve cried out its readiness, prepared to do what it must. "That's what I like to hear."

At that very moment, they were met by the high-pitched shrieking of a particularly proud white unicorn.

"Help, help! Somepony, help! Oh, the horror!" She yelled out, immediately making everyone rush towards the direction of her voice.

The group of friends was met by the visage of Rarity, laid across the ground in dramatic fashion as she had one of her forelegs to her forehead.

"Rarity! What's wrong?! Are you okay?" Twilight asked immediately as they reached her.

"I am okay, certainly. But something is very not okay!" She exclaimed, again, dramatically accentuating the dire straits she was experiencing.

"Is Sweetie Belle okay?!" Twilight tried guessing.

"Yes, she is. She evacuated with the rest of the fillies. But woe is me. It's horrible what happened." Twilight looked around inquisitively after the panic had faded in that instant at her obvious display of dramatics.

"Um. Did your boutique catch fire and ruin some of your dresses?" She tried guessing.

"No, my boutique was entirely untouched."

"Okay then. So what happened?" Twilight almost sounded annoyed now.

"It's Opalescence! Look at her! She's all skinny. Oh poor thing must've been beside herself when the fires went out and she must've become emaciated in her concern for me. I need Fluttershy, where is Fluttershy?! Or a vet!" She said as she pointed towards a rather thin, grey cat with a long curled up tail.

"Um." Twilight looked at the cat in question up and down. "That doesn't look anything like Opalescence, Rarity."

The white unicorn huffed as though she were being insulted. "How could it not be Opal dearest? Her glamour, her sophistication, every ounce of her is Opal." She said as she tried to paint the picture for Twilight as Rarity made a grab for the cat's tail, ears, and finally paws, earning her a pretty strong Scratch on the nose in return.

"Hmm, I guess it is Opal huh? Or maybe you're just bad with animals?" Twilight said as she saw Rarity recoiling from that familiar, annoyed attack.

Hilda and Emile looked at each other for a brief moment in silence and then nodded. Everypony turned to the noise of a plastic click that went off behind them, and they all eyed Emile walking up to the cat with an unfolded Pokedex.

"Emile?" Twilight clamored over to him to see what he was attempting to do, with everypony else and Hilda following suit. "What are you..."

Glameow, the Catty Pokémon. When angry, it flashes its claws, but it can also purr quite affectionately. It hides its spiteful tendency of hooking its claws into the nose of its Trainer if it isn't fed. When it's happy, Glameow demonstrates the beautiful movements of its tail, like a dancing ribbon.

"Yeah, can't be your pet, Rarity. This is a Pokemon. I've seen a few of them myself before." Emile said as the Pokedex had finished its description.

"What? Really? But that can't be true... even the air about her is so much like Opal..." She said as she looked despondently at the cat. "So then, where's the real Opal? I haven't seen her anywhere in my store..."

Before Rarity could feel terribly sad over it, Fluttershy's voice popped into hearing distance in the air above them as she rushed over to them in a flight.

"Girls! Please... I need to find Dr. Fauna! I think something is wrong with Angel..." She said as she dangled a huffy, annoyed little rabbit between her forelegs. A rabbit with very distinct orange-tipped ears and the ends of its feet, with a yellow tuft of fur in the middle of its nose.

"What's wrong with his ears and nose Fluttershy?" Twilight asked at the sight of him, having not being able to tell a difference between the original and this one.

"That's what I don't know. I think he's horribly sick! He was kicking up fire earlier with his feet and I had to scold him with... the stare."

Another plastic click, this time from Hilda.

Scorbunny, the Rabbit Pokémon. A warm-up of running around gets fire energy coursing through this Pokémon's body. Once Scorbunny is ready for battle, the pads above its nose and under its feet give off intense heat. The soles on its feet are also said to bring good luck.

"I recognized this one from the newly discovered Pokemon last year! This one is from the Galar region." Hilda beamed.

"Wait, Pokemon? But... I was so sure this was Angel." The little bunny, much like Angel, gestured at Fluttershy something that no one there but Fluttershy was seemingly understanding. "He's saying that he is." She said as she was somehow understanding this creature before her better than she ever had any of her animal companions.

"You can understand it Fluttershy? That sounds a lot like what I can do with my Pokemon..." Emile was starting to get the clue.

"Yes... now that you say it..." Fluttershy turned back to hear more of what the rabbit was saying.

"Fellas! Thank goodness I've found ya. Somethin' strange is goin' on with Winona." Applejack said as she bolted over to the group, a small excitable brown puppy with a rocky fur collar trailing alongside her.

At this point, what was happening was clicking in everyone's head. Without a word, Rainbow Dash flew off somewhere at lightning speeds, and the rest of the mares that were left stared at Emile and Hilda, waiting for them to do what was only natural at this point.

"Huh? Uh. What's up with you guys? Nevermind that, I need your help Twilight, Fluttershy... Winona is..." Before she could continue, she was interrupted by the Pokedex's unique text-to-speech voice.

Rockruff, the Puppy Pokémon. Rockruff have lived with humans since ancient times. They train themselves by running around. Rockruff evolves into Lycanroc, which has two different forms based on when it evolves. It evolves into Midday Form Lycanroc during the day and Midnight Form Lycanroc during the night. Furthermore, when it gets close to evolving, Rockruff's temperament becomes more aggressive, and it tends to act more independent. It's common for it to disappear and then return after it has evolved.

"Now hold on... what in tarnation is going on here? Winona, a Pokemon?" Applejack eyed the dog curiously as it yapped a small little bark as if to agree with this new assessment.

Rainbow Dash reappeared at this moment, holding in her forelegs a small green little turtle with a brown shell and two little leaves on a twig on top of its head. "Tank is..." The mix of emotions in her face were undiscernible as she looked like she was ready to explode. Emile scanned the little turtle already knowing full well what it was.

Turtwig, the Tiny Leaf Pokémon. Its shell is made of earth and when it absorbs water, it becomes harder. It undertakes photosynthesis with its body, making oxygen. The leaf on its head wilts if it is thirsty. This Pokémon becomes more energetic the more sunlight there is. The part resembling a shell is similar to silt and is slightly damp and warm to the touch.

"Tank is awesome!" Rainbow Dash finally concluded as the little turtle lit up with happiness and sprayed a bundle of leaves in a random direction using its Leafage.

"Wait, so the animals are all turning into Pokemon? What in Celestia's name is going on..." Twilight said as she eyed the transformed pets.

"That can't be. Nothing was wrong with any of my other animal friends, even the ones I went to go check up on near their grottos. This is only happening to Angel and the rest of our pets..." Fluttershy spoke up, with normal birds passing overhead as if to confirm this.

"Then, is it just our pets that are transforming?!" Twilight looked over at Pinkie Pie who was just happily smiling away like she usually did. Everyone turned to stare at her. "Pinkie! Go check up on Gummy!" She said, distraught that the Pink pony had not already done so like Rainbow Dash.

"Gummy is fine! Nothing is different with him." She said in between a snorting laugh at their suspicion, quickly bringing out a small brown and black striped crocodile from who knows where. It just stared into space, like the usual Gummy did as it sat between Pinkie Pie's hooves.

"It's... pretty identical. Did you just color him black and brown, Pinkie?" Twilight asked.

"No, not really. It's been a while since I've painted him for parties. Maybe he just wanted to look different today?" Pinkie Pie looked the little croc up and down and up and around. "Hmm..." She rubbed her chin. "Well now that I think about it, he's a bit different. See?" She pulled its lip flaps up with her hoof, only to show... TEETH

Every pony immediately bolted backwards in horror, with Rainbow Dash and Applejack pulling the humans along with them, leaving the pink one laughing at their reaction from a distance.

"Goodness, how terrifying." Rarity said.

"I've seen this one myself, I think. " Hilda said as she walked up to it with her Pokedex having ignored everpony's visible fear, scanning the little reptile. Before she had a chance to finish the scan, Gummy lept a few meters upwards sporadically and bit the air where she was standing had it not been for her quick reflexes. "Yowzers. I see what has you guys so scared..."

Sandile, the Desert Croc Pokémon. A dark membrane protects its eyes from the sun, and it buries itself in the sand with its eyes and nose sticking out. The sun-warmed sands prevent their body temperature from dropping. Sandile is small, but its legs and lower body are powerful. Pushing sand aside as it goes, Sandile moves through the desert as if it's swimming.

As every pony and Hilda were left to discuss how this could've happened to their pets, something in the back of Emile's mind was surfacing...

What was it?

What was the thing that just wasn't making sense...?

The events with Arceus...

Coming to this world...

Being thrown back in time, and Eve's new powers...

Why was he having an icy cold premonition of something at the very pit of his stomach?

Suddenly, Twilight's voice spiked as she shouted something at the top of her lungs.

"SPIKE!!!" She immediately got up on all fours and started to run towards the direction of the evacuated ponies.

"Twilight! What's going on?!" Emile asked as he caught up to her just barely, making her slow down to explain to him her concern.

"Everyone's pets are turning into Pokemon... but I don't have a pet! Spike is the only one in my life that comes close to that, and he's my family... I'm afraid what will happen to him... I got a message from him when I tried searching the library during the fire that he had evacuated, but I don't know if this transformation is only happening now. I need to make sure he's safe!"

Before they could even turn the corner of a street, they were stopped by a small little green figure standing on its hind legs with two tusks coming out of its mouth horizontally.

There was total silence as the little dragon walked up to Twilight to stare at her in the eyes. You could see Twilight's heart shattering from her expression. "Oh no... Spike..." She said as she brought her forehead down to the little dragon in front of her, making it happy as it received this unfortunately sad, but tender expression from her.

"Did you call me, Twilight? I heard you yell out my name from way off. I was just returning to the library now. Oh hey! You met my new friend." Said the little distinct purple and green dragon from behind the tusky dark green one before her. She immediately looked up with confusion not understanding what had happened.

"Spike! You're okay!" She said mightily relieved now.

"Yes? I guess I am." He said as he walked up the dark green dragon and placed a claw over its shoulders. "But I found this little guy when we were evacuating. He hasn't said a word yet, but I can FEEL that he's a dragon too. So he's my friend now!"

"Wait wait! I got this." Hilda called out from behind them at this point as she unfolded her Pokedex and scanned the little fella.

Axew, the Tusk Pokémon. Axew marks its territory by making scratch marks on trees with its tusks, which regrow if they fall out. Its large tusks have a tendency to break, but each time they grow back, they grow in harder and sturdier. They use their tusks to crush the berries they eat.

"A Poke wha?" Spike mumbled his confusion after the device stopped talking.

Spike was very behind on the information it seemed, as he had only had a very quick explanation once before on what was happening, both with the humans and Pokemon. While Twilight took the purple dragon aside to explain it all to him and how he would be joining them on this new adventure, the rest of the group were left to talk to Hilda and Emile about Pokemon in detail and how they should go caring for their newly transformed companions. They could not rule out the possibility that more animals were transforming into Pokemon, so now a new variable was thrown into the veritable mix of problems on their hands.

There was also the investigation left to do about how and why Ponyville had been brought to the point of almost being burned to the ground. Nothing indicated that Fluttershy's scorbunny Angel had been the one to initiate the fires, so then there must still be those Pokemon around or at least somewhere nearby. They would have to find the Princess' Royal Guard she had sent out here to investigate and see what he knew...

Again, Emile had another cold chill trying to think deeper on why these things were happening. He could feel a very deep and very powerful mental block in the recesses of his mind. Hopefully continuing on this quest would help him find some answers, as this all seemed connected somehow.

He sighed to himself as he returned back to the conversations being had over how to proceed with their new reality. For better or worse, they would be met with all sorts of challenges from here on out.

Author's Note

Currently working on another story in tandem with this one, going between them whenever I feel a lack of motivation for one or the other. If you want to read more from me, go check out 'A Kindled Beginning' as that's a story I'm putting my heart, soul, and even money into by creating some art for it!

Also, consider leaving a comment to show how you felt. It goes a long way to keep me motivated.

Chapter 7: Ghost Stories, Training, and Good Old Times.

Huddled near a campfire at nightfall at the edge of a familiar unnerving thicket of trees, they reviewed all the information they had on hand. And there was a lot of it after going around trying to get testimonies from eyewitnesses. The process had been helped along by Celestia’s royal guard after he’d been found incapacitated near the Everfree Forest who had a more accurate description to give them all as to what ailed the town of Ponyville.

But the info was very troubling indeed, and it had turned a lot of ponies and even Hilda white as sheets as they spoke of it.

“Illusive purple whisks of flames were appearing in the town late last night from the reports of the normal citizens. Considering the royal guard’s accounts of what he saw when trying to confront them near the Everfree, the stories check out. We know that there was a purple-tinted smoke that weakened him when he entered it and that the entity in question proceeded to sap him of his energy with a black, ethereal type of power. If this is a Pokemon we’re dealing with, do you guys know what we’re up against?” Twilight asked the two humans who were busy trying to put it all together themselves, with Hilda rubbing at her arms in fear.

"This sounds like the work of either a Dark-type Pokemon or a Poison one," Emile said. "I only know of a few moves who put out a fog. But a purple one? That's gotta be the poison-type move, Smog. As for that black-sapping power... doesn't sound like any dark type move I know of. There's also that whole fire too. We can assume it's also a Fire-type of some kind. Hilda, any guesses?"

He had given her quite a start as the conversation was passed onto her, and what she said next unnerved the poor ponies to their wit's end.

"Yeah... I do... I've seen them once before when I was really young. Those Pokemon are called Litwicks." She hesitated to speak of them, inadvertently increasing the tension in the air. "I was almost spirited away when I was just a small girl because of them. They're Ghost and Fire type Pokemon..." Teah who’d been resting in Hilda’s lap had turned to the girl in worry.

The ponies were not having a very nice introduction to Pokemon at all. Between the harrowing ordeal that was Arceus, to witnessing the dangers and power of Pokemon during Eve's struggle and the fight against the trio, and now this... Ghosts... Sure enough, just about every pony went deadly still in their shock with the exception of the Pinkiest of Pies and the curious Twilight.

“Wait, real ghosts? Ghost Pokemon exist?” Twilight asked.

Having had the chance to talk more about his favorite subject, Pokemon, Emile proceeded to pick up the conversation where Hilda had left off. “I’m afraid so. It’s said that ghost-type Pokemon are the spirits of Pokemon when they were alive and can often be materialized from other spiritual energies like from humans as well. In Sinnoh, there was one called a Spiritomb created from thousands of restless souls trapped into a stone said to have a need to consume more if it happens upon unwary passersby. They’ve often been associated with death and many of them are malicious in nature, often disguising themselves and using tricks to lure away unassuming kids and creatures into a trap to sap away their souls. Drifloons are Pokemon in the shape of balloons, and they’re said to abduct and carry off children to the spirit world. I’ve had a lot of run-ins with them, but the scariest I’ve ever felt around Ghosts was back in my home region when I visited Lavender Town. There was something called the Pokemon Tower there which is one massive funeral and resting place for a lot of beloved Pokemon. Being in there was something else. It felt unnatural and otherworldly, it felt like just being in there you were slowly being eaten away at by hundreds of hungry mouths. Like if-”

Suddenly he felt a weak little Tackle from his Eve against his stomach as it had been trying to make him stop that entire time, making him realize what he was causing in this tangent of his.

He had really made a mess of things.

On any day, his vast Pokemon knowledge would’ve been a good thing for the studious Twilight and an interesting conversation for anyone not in the know. But this particular subject had made even the purple in Twilight disappear as she contemplated the true nature of Ghost-type Pokemon. Only Pinkie Pie was left standing unabated.

“Eh? Oh. Uh. Whoops. I guess this is not such an easy thing to talk about, was it? Uhm...” He said as he finally noticed the group of friends who were one of three things. Hugging each other witless like Applejack and Rarity, timidly with their heads to the ground and their forelegs covering their eyes like Fluttershy and Twilight, or Rainbow Dash who had gone very still indeed. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, had busied herself with scribbling on Spike’s face as he slept, it being past the little dragon’s internal curfew. “Would it help to know that those are all just rumors? Ghost types are certainly mysterious, but they very rarely do the things they’re described in doing. I know of a ton of Pokemon trainers who love their ghost types very dearly and tenderly. Even I myself have captured them, trained them, and lived alongside them. They’re like any other type of Pokemon. They all just need a little love and appreciation, or so I think.” He said as he petted Eve on his lap.

It really did help to have painted that picture of them in that way, as he noticed them all relax a bit. For better or worse, they all had Pokemon now and if those Ghost-types were anything like their pets, they didn't want to associate them with those awful rumors.

The only one this hadn't worked for at all was a terribly shaken up Hilda who was still in the middle of trembling her fears away by hugging Teah close to her chest, clearly troubled by her own personal experience of almost being abducted by them. Emile felt a bit guilty as he watched her be comforted by the ponies but to no avail. Emile was, for the most part, fearless. Often diving headfirst into danger. He would've imagined Hilda to have been this way too, due to her cheery disposition and likeness of his mannerisms.

But everyone was different at the end of the day, no matter how much you look up to or try to copy someone else. What could work? He thought to do the only thing he knew how to do to comfort another. Except the only others he'd comforted in his life were his Pokemon. So... Emile felt Hilda's shivers slowly go away, unbeknownst to him that they had been replaced with flustered embarrassment. Patting someone's head might've done the trick too, but how was he to know that gently caressing her hair might've been a little overkill?

She was redder than one of Applejack's apples by the time he felt it was enough, not realizing it since she'd kept her face hidden beneath her hair. Maybe if he'd been more observant and knowledgeable of others' feelings, Hilda's burning ears might've given her away.

"Sorry, Hilda. I should've realized it'd be a touchy subject for you." He said as he concluded his actions. "If it troubles you, you can stay back in Ponyville where you won't have to face any Litwick. I'm sure my two water types can take care of it."

She shook her head, her face still hidden in shame as she felt the playful grins of everyone save for the clueless Emile. "It's fine, I'll be okay." She said in a hushed voice.

"Are you sure? You don't see-"

"Please dear, you should learn to accept when someone is determined to see things through. Perhaps looking in the mirror might help you do that, Emile." Rarity's voice interjected in trying to save the poor girl. For a few seconds anyways before she finally noticed the article of clothing Hilda had been wearing as she had not taken it off that entire time. “But say, Hilda, why are you wearing Emile’s jacket? Do you like it? I could’ve made you one of your own if you’d only asked.”

Rarity’s question only furthered her embarrassment as both her and Emile realized that she’d been dry for a while now, and that they’d forgotten about it in the heat of the excitement. She took it off with haste and draped it over one arm towards Emile, using her other hand to dig her cap as far down as it would go to hide her shame. Now even Emile could notice the obvious grins on the faces of the mares that were insinuating something troubling. As he took his jacket back and put it on, he coughed in his own awkward shame when he felt the warmth and the girlish aroma still lingering on it.

“No no, it’s nothing like what you guys think. We just got caught out in the rain because I didn’t know if Eve knew Rain Dance when I asked my buddy to perform it, and so I ended up dousing Hilda in the process by accident.” Emile had tried to explain it away.

Though, it was a wonder how they hadn’t tripped this sort of conversational trap sooner. The timing could not have been worse, as it was Rainbow Dash who thoughtlessly thought to ask the next question.

“So? What does that have to do with you handing over your jacket? You wouldn’t see me passing over my clothes to another pony if either of us got wet. If I wore clothes anyhow.”

They had not accounted for the physical, mental, and customary differences between their two species. Emile was now stuck between a rock and a hard place. He could explain to the ponies why humans would feel embarrassed if they were exposed and why that was even a sensitive topic to begin with in order to save his own pride after he’d shown them his embarrassment earlier. But it would come at the cost of leaving the ready-to-keel over Hilda to her demise as he would basically be confirming to her that he did, indeed, manage to catch sight of whatever it was that they had hidden with the jacket in the first place. What a terrible time for Spike to have been asleep, Emile thought, wishing he’d have a voice to complain about this girly talk at his behest.

“Anyways! Let’s make a plan of action for the Litwick, okay?!” He yelled out in frustration with his head to the sky trying to avoid all gazes, his own ears burning with a flush. “By some act of providence, it is safe to assume all the Pokemon we met today are your previous pets transformed. We know this much thanks to Fluttershy’s connection with Angel. Thankfully none of them had any issues registering to you guys with the Pokeballs provided to you by Hilda, with the exception of Rarity who had to try and capture Opal several times.” Rarity gave a sigh as Emile mentioned it in front of everyone.

“So typical of Opal. She wouldn’t be tamed by just anyone, I assure you. But if it’s a battle of endurance, I’ve got her beat.” She said, getting a chuckle out of everyone.

“So here’s what I’m thinking. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, you’ll be with me in handling all Pokemon battles if they arise. By the look of the dex, your new Pokemon companions are the only ones that know moves that can naturally counter their Ghost/Fire typing. Prepare for some practice bouts with me later. We’ve got to get you guys up to snuff on how to handle commands.” Twilight and Applejack looked a little worried still especially since they’d be at the forefront.

“I don’t know if I’d be alright handlin’ battlin’ other creatures with Winona. I know you mentioned that it’s a natural occurrence in your world and that you even hold tournaments and such, but I apologize if I can’t stomach it.” Applejack’s usual confidence had wavered. It wasn’t such an easy thing for innocent ponies to accept, after all.

It was only Applejack that had voiced her incredulity. Twilight’s own doubts were being overwritten by her overpowering curiosity and Pinkie well... She seemed to be accepting everything Emile was saying at face value, like it was just second nature and natural to assume what he was saying was right.

“It’ll be alright, I assure you. We’ll have to handle them in some form or another before they cause further harm to Ponyville or to the Everfree considering their Fire-typing. Besides, Pokemon are smart enough to know when to hold back for the sake of others. Eve and our Pokemon will be able to communicate our points across to them, and if they refuse to listen then we’ll just have to forcibly relocate them where they can’t cause serious damage in the meantime and teach them to be nicer. In that case, we’ll have Fluttershy attempt her first Pokemon Breeder job by rehabilitating them.” Emile said as he smiled her way, making the yellow pegasus cheer up a bit at the prospect.

“What about me? I wanted to do some Pokemon battling too! Tank and I can handle anything.” Rainbow Dash interjected.

“Sorry Dash. Tank is a Grass-type which is susceptible to Fire-types and he doesn’t have any move that would be super-effective or even manage to touch ghost types. For his sake, I would advise you to sit this one out.” He said, making her droop a bit with disappointment. “But that doesn’t mean you’re without a role. We’ll need fast scouts to try to find those Litwicks, so I’ll need you and Fluttershy to search the area from the sky. And if you really want to do some battling too, I’ll spar with you in our practice rounds later. Sound good?” He’d said, cheering up the cyan pegasus considerably.

“So then what should I do?” Rarity asked from behind.

“For now, there’s not much you can do, as Glameow doesn’t have anything in the way of offensive moves that can take on Ghost-types either. I ask of you this, Rarity, if you’d oblige me. Stick with Hilda and use your unicorn magic to protect her however possible. Unfortunately, Teah doesn’t have a strong moveset against Fire types but she’s not weak to them either so if anything happens, Teah should be able to protect her long enough for you to get word to us. I know she already said she’s fine coming with us, but I’d be much more at ease knowing you were backing her up.” He said, genuinely concerned for the girl and with no regard for how she might take his statements.

“I said I’m FINE!” Hilda finally yelled out in a lighter flush, having moved past her earlier shame and now just annoyed that she was being picked on again by a couple of sly smiles.

“Count on me, dear, I’ll protect you however I can.” Rarity bellowed.

“But all of that comes later, for now, let’s get some practice in.”

What followed next was an extensive lesson with the four mares on how to battle with their Pokemon. Fluttershy didn’t think she was capable of sparring much less battling anything, so they respected her wishes and left her behind with Rarity who had also refused to partake in the rabble of fighting, both of them looking after Hilda who was doing her best to stay composed.

Rainbow Dash was the first to step up to the plate. She was a ball of instinct and could time her directions to dodge or protect from attacks with Turtwig's Withdrawal pretty easily, being able to see even the minor twitches of a command in Emile or a move being prepared by Eve on its own in its Eevolutions, having seen its moveset not even a handful of times before. Despite only having five moves, she struggled to memorize all of them in the heat of battle and their effects, often asking Tank to Tackle a distant target instead of using Leafage or Razor Leaf. She never once used Growth either to boost the power in Tank’s physical moves, and had completely forgotten Tank’s Overgrow ability, thus causing her swift defeat. Both Tank’s and Rainbow Dash’s pride had been shaken, but they both looked like they had a lot of fun tackling this new experience and wanted to do more.

Applejack on the other hand had a better understanding with commands and was able to lead Winona almost silently which posed a challenge in, in of itself as the two coordinated almost beautifully. She had some difficulty remembering the moves much like Dash, but both of them were experts at dodging when needed and instinctively knew the right moves to use in certain situations. Winona had Howled before Rock Throw, and Double Team’d after a Sand Attack. The scariest part for Emile was almost being caught off-guard by a juke Rock Throw that had forced Eve into a position where Winona could follow up with a Tackle. Thankfully, they were still a few leagues before reaching Emile and Eve’s prowess.

Pinkie Pie and Gummy were a wild card entirely, and Oshawott had to step in to handle that battle, as Osha’s battle instinct and lighting speed reaction were the only thing that could match Gummy’s sporadic nature. At first, it seemed Pinkie was using Gummy’s moves at random by asking it to Sand Tomb the ground and Hone Clawing many times before so much as using an attack move, but the Pink menace was incredibly cunning in her own right, or at the very least, Gummy’s natural calling for chaos was so powerful her moves just made sense at the end of the fight. In between Pinkie’s seemingly random babble, Gummy all on his own used Leer and Scary Face to slow and weaken Osha. It began using the inaccurate Sand Tomb closer and closer around Osha to corner him into the sand traps it had created, and nearly KO’d the struggling otter in one move as it narrowly avoided a VERY powerful Bite that had been Hone Claw’d considerably by managing to insert his shell side-ways into Gummy’s mouth.

Gummy with teeth was... terrifying.

Twilight was the last to try her hoof at battling as she tried to learn from her friends’ mistakes and was overall the fastest learner, being able to memorize Axew’s unique moveset altogether and being able to memorize typing advantages and all the different moves’ effects. She’d managed to combo a good string of moves together by using Leer first, then Taunt, and then Dual Chop. For Ghost-types, she also had Assurance and Bite to fall back on, or even Dragon Rage in long-distance combat. Coupled with Axew’s Rivalry ability, the little dragon was a force to be reckoned with under the right circumstances. Having been awoken by the sounds of practice, Spike looked on at the sight of Twilight and Axew coordinating their moves indignantly for a bit as he felt left out, before changing his mind as a real sparring session went underway with Oshawott parrying Axew’s Dual Chop with ferocity. If nothing else, Spike was a bit bewildered by the sight of a Pokemon battle.

“Whoa dude! That’s awesome! You gotta teach me how to do that!” Spike said as he went up to the little dragon after the fight had concluded.

Axew had a bit of a mild personality, so all it did was tilt its head inquisitively at Spike as it considered his statements. Then it put out a little claw and cried its distinct cry as Spike made a grab to shake it with his own.

“Spike, you do know that Axew is a girl, right?” Twilight chimed in.

“What?! Really? I couldn’t tell.” Spike coughed apologetically. “Sorry, uh, Axew.” The little dragon gave out an amused cry at Spike’s reaction.

“It would’ve already attacked you for Twilight’s approval otherwise Spike. Axew’s are notorious for their Rivalry which often makes jealous Pokemon. It’s an ability that sees the Pokemon’s power drastically increase against the same gender or decrease to the opposite gender.” Emile intersected by having seen a similar ability on Nidorans.

“So I guess you can say that Axew is weak against Spike?” Twilight asked curiously enough, not realizing the implication which flustered the little dragon but had left Axew unfazed. “We should test it, for the sake of research. Axew, Leer at Spike!” The Axew only stared at Spike’s direction for a bit, then looked back at Twilight having not accepted the command.

“Well, that theory would only work on attacking moves, Twilight, but I wouldn’t condone attacking your friends for the sake of research. Even if Spike’s scales could protect from Axew’s Scratch. But hmm. that’s weird. It didn’t use Leer at all. Try it again?” Emile spoke up.

As she did, nothing.

“Okay, this is going to sound weird but... Spike. Try to command Axew to use Dual Chop on Osha.”

As Spike repeated his words verbatim, sure enough, the little dragon used her powers to follow the command. More strange happenstances. He’d only seen dual masters before a handful of times, but he didn’t expect to come across them in this world.

“Well uh, congratulations, Spike. You’ve got a Pokemon you can battle with too. Just be sure to keep Axew’s Rivalry in mind as this little girl is prone to jealousy. Ask either me or Twilight anything about her moveset so you can join us in our future sparring lessons.”

The little Axew gave out a happy cry as she walked over to both Twilight and Spike and placed a claw on both of them.

“Uhm, I don’t know how to feel about this.” Spike said unassuredly, not feeling too good about commanding his own kin to do battle.

“You’ll get the hang of it.”

“Well, only if you’re okay with it.” Spike said over to the Axew as he placed a claw on her head in order to pet her on it. She replied with a cry of happy agreement. “This is so weird.”

“Anywho, that aside, let’s get down to reviewing your performances, girls.” He said over to the fighting mares. “I was not expecting you guys to be so good right off the bat.” Emile beamed at the girls who were now maintaining their Pokemon pet companions after that battle by grooming them. “What did you think, Hilda, do we have some Champion material amongst their midst?” He called over to the girl that had been spectating from the sidelines.

“All of them I don’t doubt. That was pretty good handling of your Pokemon for your first battle, girls.” Followed up Hilda. “In particular, Twilight, you remind me of my friend Cheren. He always used to battle so by the books and writing notes on everything to do with battles. He’s had the Unova reign for quite a while. Dash, you remind me of that old man Alder, the champion that came before me. So full of passion and instinct! Pinkie Pie, you remind me of this rising star that became Champion for a bit too. Her name was Iris, and she was so quirky. Good kid, big heart. And Applejack... you were scary. The way you and Winona fought silently... you reminded me of an old friend I used to have. Hilbert was his name. He went far away one day to go chase his dreams. He didn’t talk much but he and his Pokemon were terrifyingly in sync and powerful.”

“Mighty big compliments, sugarcube. Thank you. It’s nice hearing about your hometown. It still sounds like you miss them all dearly.” Applejack said as she noticed the shift in her expression. Her mood had dropped again as she began reminding herself of what she left behind. “Would you like to talk more about your world?”

Before she had the chance to refuse, she felt Emile’s hand on her shoulder, and she looked to see him nodding his approval. She was a rather open book if even Emile could see she needed this. They had all gathered back at the campfire to listen to her talk.

“Oh gosh, where do I start?” She thought for a bit as she looked up at the night sky. “I met so many wonderful people in Unova. Cilan from Striaton City, Lenora from Nacrene... Burgh, Elesa, Clay, Skyla, Roxanne. Even that weirdo Brycen and that grumpy old man Drayden. But you know, Unova wasn’t such a happy-go-lucky place all the time either. I know when I was young, back then we had our own Team-Rocket type troublemakers called Team Plasma, and they were doing this horrible thing of stealing other people’s Pokemon.” She was visibly distressed by all the sadness that event had caused, no doubt.

“W-what?! W-why would they do that. Pokemon are people’s companions. They’re family. Oh that just sounds so awful.” Fluttershy had flown into hysterics, but not as much as Emile was feeling it.

“Stealing other people’s Pokemon... Why...?” His voice was a dangerous, low growl as he clenched his fist very tight, his Eve crying out its worry in his direction.

“Don’t worry! The story has a good end.” Hilda said easing everyone up. “A lot of people still ended up facing the sadness of their loss for quite a while. However, thanks to Cheren, Bianca, and myself along with a spritely young girl named Rosa, a bright boy named Nate, and a serious kid that went by Hugh a few years later, we were able to put a stop to Team Plasma for good with the help of all the Gym Leaders. Those were some harrowing adventures; I’ll tell you what. But I felt the unity of being helped by everyone at that time. All my friends all across Unova. Even unlikely friends like that N guy that was originally the figurehead of Team Plasma. He had this unique ability of being able to talk directly with Pokemon, and he cared for them a lot. He had been twisted up into believing lies, but he eventually saw the real truth for what it was and helped us out. Good guy in the end. Heck, even the big wigs of Team Plasma eventually saw reason too, like Colress and the Shadow Triad. One of my best friends was actually a girl I met in an unlikely situation. Yancy. Loved hanging out with her every now and again."

Hilda sighed an awfully sorry sigh as she recalled everything. Emile and the ponies could not imagine the depths of her sadness as she spoke. They were listening to a lifetime of friendships and loved ones that were seemingly now so far out of reach and with no one having a concrete answer as to if they could make it back or not. In a way, Emile was lucky to have come out of his world with no real baggage holding him down. But the same could not be said for Hilda. You could hear the hurt in her voice, as it shook from being almost at the point of tears.

“Bianca, my childhood friend, was always the more sensitive one of us two.” She began again, realizing that they could all tell this from her. “It hurt her to feel like she was not doing good at Pokemon battles. It pained her to feel like she was aimlessly wandering around life when she began her Pokemon Journey. And it crushed her when her father denied her the freedom of going on that Journey to find her purpose and almost forced her to go back. I don’t know what I was feeling at the time when I saw her go through all that. I just thought she looked so strong, being able to confront it all. But if it’s anything like what I’m feeling now, I feel I can understand her a bit better. I can understand her dad too, as he just wanted to know she was safe and sound at home where he wouldn’t miss her. And I think about my own Pokemon and my mom...”

Emile and Hilda had been sitting close to each other around the campfire. He thought to do the only thing he could think of doing and placed his hand over hers, gripping at it to silently tell her to be strong. In much the same way his own mother used to for him long, long ago. This talk of parents had made him remember his own mom, and so he was feeling a similar pang of emotion. Perhaps he’d just done it to comfort himself by comforting her, but it had worked.

She sniffed back tears and wiped at the moisture clouding at her eyes, having been stronger about thinking of the past than last time. Emile’s moral support had helped a lot, as well as the understanding nature of the ponies who kept adding to the levity by asking her about every single one of those people she’d mentioned in more detail. It heartened her to talk about them as she spoke about her adventures.

As they conversed and the night grew older, Emile thought to himself that he needed to find the truth to what brought them to this world. He hadn’t really cared much about it until now. His priorities had lied with saving Equestria from the mess he’d made, especially after finding out his world had been saved.

But now, he really wanted to find a way back into his old world.

For Hilda’s sake.

Chapter 8: Blue Fate

“That smells... wonderful...” Hilda’s voice trailed off with Teah oinking in fervorous agreement.

The sound of several empty bellies all echoed their similar sentiment. The smell of food being cooked had now become so overwhelmingly intoxicating, even those who had already eaten by munching on a couple of snacks found that they really wanted to know what this human ‘curry’ was about. Emile sighed after nearly all of them had made it painfully obvious they were looking forward to trying it. Even the usually reserved Rarity had trouble not shooting glances at the pot.

“Come on guys, you’re hyping my food way too much. I’ve been making it for ages so I couldn’t tell you if it’s any good. I never compared it to anything so I don’t know if it’ll suit your tastes. Um, you know, I also had to improvise a lot of ingredients to make it work.” He sighed and ladled a spoon into a small bowl to taste for seasoning. In trying it, he felt a little relieved. They would at least get a good taste of his hometown thanks to this nearly perfect batch. The only thing it was missing was a bit of soy sauce that would undoubtedly take forever to make since fermentation could last upwards of years.

“Don’t let him fool you, girls! Emile is renowned for his sweets and his curry. You can all practically smell it too, can’t you? This an authentic curry in all its forms.” Hilda had said in a grandstanding way, trying to impress to the girls with what she could already tell from the scent.

“No really! It’s nothing to write home about. I had to do a lot of improvising with what he had on hand. Er, hoof? If it does taste good, it’s likely thanks to Applejack and Spike for helping gather the fresh foodstuff. Speaking of which, now that it’s ready, I think it’s only fair that the first plates go to the ones that helped out the most.” Emile gestured over to the three Pokemon who’d helped with the fire rescue, and then over to the two whose names had been mentioned as well as Hilda.

Emile prepared the six plates, all filled with a mound of fluffy white rice still steaming from coming straight out of the pot. The empty half of those plates were basted in the thick sauce of homemade curry with softened chunks of carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, and chickpeas decorating the savory yellowed stew made from a vegetable broth and a careful mix of spices honed from years of improvising the recipe on the daily. To almost picture perfection, it truly was the ideal curry. The rice was salted just enough that its natural sweetness was elevated by the savory tones, which complemented the meaty-like taste of the thickened sauce.

“This really is amazing! You gotta show me the recipe sometime!” Spike said after digging a spoonful of the curry into his mouth.

“It feels like I’ve always known this taste. Reminds me of home. Like I’m back at the farm and digging into something ol’ Granny Smith cooked up. And I don’t say that lightly, sugarcube. She’s a master chef at her age. This is truly wonderful.” Applejack followed up. She’d placed a hoof on her chest and had begun to reminisce.

The others looked on with envy at the sight of their first bite, sheer bliss in their expressions while they ate heartedly. Thankfully for the rest of the girls and the Pokemon present, Applejack had also provided some very large pots that allowed Emile to cook everything almost at once so they didn’t have to wait long for the food to make its way to them. They all spoke of a similar taste. The kind of taste born from a long-standing tradition where you could feel the careful adjustments that it had undergone. Even generationally, as this recipe felt older than Emile himself. Like Applejack had said, it really was the nostalgic taste of home.

“My mother would be smiling from ear to ear at your words. She’s the one that drilled the recipe into me.” Emile had said in an attempt to deflect the compliments thrown his way. “It’d been years since I last saw her in person before coming to this world, but that talk we had earlier made me remember her so clearly. Guess I couldn’t help but insert that into my work in some way today. I don’t usually put that much cumin, ginger, and salt into my food, but that’s the way she had always done it. It still tastes pretty great, no? It’s hard to go wrong with curry.” He brought a spoonful of his own curry to Eve’s mouth to the little fox’s delight, being the very last one to eat only after making sure everyone had, had their fill.

Twilight and the rest of the girls had taken silent note of this. While this tiny thing might seem like nothing on the surface and completely harmless, it was an indication of Emile’s troubling personality. Thanks to their talk with the Professor and Princess Celestia, they were all hyperaware of just how self-sacrificing Emile could be, even in these tiny mannerisms. Twilight would’ve chastised him for it there and then but she didn’t want to seem ungrateful, especially after the wonderful meal he’d created for them all almost single-handedly.

The night had now reached its peak after they’d finished their meals and packed up the cooking supplies. They were slowly becoming more and more anxious as their dining experience had come to an end. The food had kept their minds away from their inevitable duty, one that would not come easy to any of them save for Emile who’d been used to this line of work.

“Like we mentioned before, our main fighters are Eve, Osha, Winona, Gummy, and Axew. The rest of our Pokemon friends are either weak-match-ups against Litwick, or can’t so much as scratch them so we’ll be splitting our group accordingly to cover the perimeter.” Emile looked to Twilight and Hilda for their guidance. “How do you feel we should divvy up everyone?”

“Considering your communication devices, it’ll probably be smarter if we have you two lead the two groups.” Twilight motioned a hoof over at the two humans. “That way if there’s any real trouble, we can send instant word for each other.” Hilda looked a little downtrodden by this idea, but she did her best not to show it with the only ones noticing this being Teah and Eve, both of their eyes falling on her serious expression.

“The local range of our phones is only a few kilometers. The flora in the forest seems to be dense too, so there’s still a likely hood of our communication being cut off. I’ve had to do a number of rescues as a Pokemon Ranger at times, so let me speak from experience that we should all prepare for the worst-case scenario.” Emile looked up to the two Pegasus who were hovering in the air already. “That’s where we’ll need you guys. You’re acting as more than just scouts for this. Remember to circle back around after any amount of searching and make sure the two parties are okay and not in danger. If they are, again, do not engage and seek the other party out.” Rainbow Dash saluted him with a hoof in her approval of his command, with Fluttershy mimicking her much more meekly.

“Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, you’ll be part of Hilda’s group. Spike and I will follow Emile.” Twilight had been the one to organize everyone.

“Eh? Really?” Emile had said involuntarily in his surprise, feeling like he had some nagging coming his way from this. Sure enough...

“Yes, really. It’s either this or I will never let you live it down if you get hurt outside of my watch again.”

“So you’ll let me go free if I do get hurt under your supervision?” Emile’s unhealthy dark wit and pension for these types of remarks really weren’t winning him any favors with the cross, purple unicorn. Or any of the girls save for Hilda who looked conflicted in wanting to laugh or be mad, and Spike who had laughed at that moment only to get a glare of his own shot his way. Well, at least Emile was feeling a little relieved he wasn’t entirely alone in a group of girls. A wonder how Spike had faired alone with them until now. Emile coughed awkwardly and composed himself again. “Alright, so that settles it. Stay vigilant and stay frosty, so to speak.” He slugged his backpack over his shoulders again and Eve jumped up to his outstretched arm to propel itself with another jump and onto his head, where it gently landed and slid down into the hood of his jacket.

It seemed as though Emile had learned a bit since coming to this world after all. Before they all went their separate ways, he could see Hilda’s rigidity in her movements. In everyone else’s too, but especially hers. The anxiety in the air and the trauma of her fear were no doubt getting to her. He inched closer to her while the two groups walked together to the edge of the forest where they would officially split up and put a hand on her shoulder, giving her the kind of look that was asking if she would be okay with this after all or not.

“Mm, yeah, I’ll be fine. On my way to being champion, I’ve had to face ghost types before. I just don’t do particularly well with Litwicks is all. My Pokemon were always the ones to take the helm whenever we faced any. But it’s not like I have to fight any of them, right? Besides, I have Teah with me. She’ll protect me.” Hilda had said in her reply to his worried stare, prompting the little piglet in her arms she’d been hugging for emotional support to squeal a huff of determination, undeterred by the spooky ghosts. Emile shook one of her tiny hooves as if to make a silent pact with her to keep that promise.

Emile took out a small cloth bag from his backpack tied with a beautiful ornate string and presented it to Hilda. “You should have this. Even if you don’t find a use for it, consider it a lucky charm. It’s kept me from feeling the weight of fear so many times in the past, and I don’t think I need it anymore.”

“What is it?” She took it from him, touched by the gesture even if not fully understanding the weight of the item she’d just been handed.

“It’s Sacred Ashes. A one of a kind use item that’ll save you in an absolute pinch. There should be enough in that pouch for your full party.”

Hilda had just about dropped the pouch in her absolute shock and surprise. “No! I can’t have this! Are you joking, Emile?!” She held it back out to him.

“I insist, keep it. I want you to have it, especially if it’ll help you feel safe.” His choice of words were flustering Hilda all over again and she’d begun trying to push it back onto him forcibly.

“Umm, what’s that supposed to be?” Twilight spoke up watching the interchange between the two.

“A crazy rare and valuable item is what! Twilight, tell him to take it back!” Hilda was now swiping at his jacket’s pocket, Emile swiftly dodging her attempts.

“The answer is no. It’s yours now. You touch it, you keep it.” Emile had even gone so far as to make a dive and a roll on the ground to avoid Hilda’s efforts.

Perhaps this was just the natural way in which both of them would’ve acted before, or maybe there was something deeper to think about with their shift in time, but both Emile and Hilda were acting incredibly childish now as the ponies and Pokemon present just looked back at them unamusedly trying to understand what this was all about. Pinkie having joined in on the little game by trying to catch Emile hadn’t helped one bit. It seems neither of them had noticed this until they were made to stop by Rarity who proceeded to reprimand them for their crude behavior at such an important time.

“Honestly you two. Find a better time for this away from prying eyes. You’re the leaders of our groups and we’re supposed to trust you with that role?” She said, sitting all three of them down in front of her, red up to their ears after they finally realized what they’d displayed.

“But he started it!” Hilda had, had enough and tossed the bag at him with reckless abandon, which Emile proceeded to bat back onto Hilda’s lap in his quick reflexes with an open palm. A testament to how wonderfully stitched and closed shut that bag was, as none of the powder had been shaken out of it.

“ENOUGH! Please, behave yourselves.” Rarity looked first at Emile, then over at Hilda. She was not going to win this one, especially with Rarity at the helm of the scolding. “Learn to appreciate what’s been given to you dear. A lady should be graceful at all times. The bigger the gift, the more grateful you should be.” She said matter-of-factly, making Hilda finally submit to the gift. Rarity turned to Pinkie now who was sitting in the middle of the two and sighed. “Pinkie, I swear to Celestia, you need to comport yourself.”

“Yes, on it!” She said with a laugh, which made Rarity roll her eyes and put a hoof to her face.

“AND EMILE!” She stomped a hoof in his direction, which made him shrink a bit. “Do not press a girl more than she is comfortable with. If you were an adult before this, then behave like one! Honestly, first at the garden and now you’re out here acting like a child. Do you have any sense of how much worry you cause others? Any idea the amount of magic I had to stitch into your clothes so you don’t get badly hurt again? I understand you’ve had good reasons in wanting to protect everyone but more than Twilight, you’re going to have me to contend with if you keep this up.”

He’d been sitting on his knees as he was lectured, and he bowed his head to Rarity in his remorse. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not looking for ‘sorries’ Emile. What do you say?”

“Yes, thank you for the clothing, ma’am!” He exclaimed.

“Good, good. Accept generosity with grace, you two.” She finally concluded her lecture.

“Wait but uh, seriously, what is that Sacred Ashes item? What makes it so valuable?” Twilight was still curious to know.

“They’re ashes from one of the most powerful Pokemon in our world. A Pokemon so elusive, it might as well be a myth. The Legendary Ho-Oh, the Rainbow Pokemon, often attributed to the legends of Phoenixes. Its image is often associated with the sign of rebirth, and it was the one that gave life to the Legendary Beasts of the Johto region. Sacred Ashes are said to be so insanely valuable, they’re priceless. Apparently, they have such extreme recuperating effects that they’re able to bring all your Pokemon in your party out of a faint instantly and at a full fighting potential. They claim you’re guaranteed absolute victory if you have them on you.” Hilda had said, muttering her discontent in her tone.

“Right. So you see why I wanted you to have them? They should help you muster your courage for this journey. Not just with the Litwick but from here on out too. They’re yours now, and I was hoping they’d keep you safe.” Emile remarked.

Hilda had turned red again, but she just puffed her cheeks and bit her lip back while she stared angrily down at her knees not trying to incur Rarity’s wrath again. She was now inching closer to the ponies mentality of how annoyingly selfless Emile was turning out to be, and how clueless he was about the things he said.

It had taken a few more strong words here and there, but eventually, the two groups finally splintered into the Everfree to begin their important task of ghost hunting.

Eve was resting on Twilight’s back after that kerfuffle, and the trio behind Emile were now snickering at the sight of him getting lectured earlier. Betrayal so soon by his new male buddy, not even including the one from his long-term one. Emile sighed as he pushed apart the thick flora that blocked their pathways.

They had progressed through quite the length of the forest with not much of anything to impede them, which Twilight was quick to note that it was oddly silent. She’d mentioned that she’d often venture into the forest to visit a Zebra friend of hers and that she’d be able to hear a lot of insects usually, but now not even their chirping could be heard. Just an unnerving silence and a dense fog.

At one point, Spike got spooked by a passing branch he said he’d felt tickling at his back, but with no evidence to back up his claim. Emile saw Twilight trying to laugh at a gnarled-up tree that looked like it had a face on it, only to laugh more nervously as nothing changed in its appearance. He’d asked her what that was for after she’d returned a little out of her wits, and she mentioned it had been Pinkie’s way to get rid of scary aberrations created by the mind, which had worked for them a long time ago in a similar situation but was seemingly no longer working now. Even Emile himself had a couple of roots catch him off-guard and made him tumble as his foot stumbled onto them.

None of it seemed coincidental, and Emile began taking a much more careful look at his surroundings. Sure enough, he could see a few silhouettes bounce from tree to tree in their direction from the corner of his eye. There were some tricksters trying to make them flee. The work of ghost types no doubt.

“Keep calm, Twilight. I think we’ve got some ghost Pokemon messing with us right now.” He whispered under his breath at her after he slowed his pace to walk beside her.

“What do we do?” She’d taken the hint and was doing a great job at remaining calm, unlike Spike who had overheard them and was now trembling a bit.

“I’m gonna lure them out with Osha, and then Eve and Axew will do the battling if they’re looking for a fight afterward. Ready? On my signal.” He counted down with Osha’s Pokeball behind his back, letting the little otter out as soon as he reached zero, commanding him to Slash at the trees in their proximity. Osha had the battle sense necessary to know this was meant as a battle order as soon as he came out his ball, but to the little otter’s chagrin, all that appeared were a couple of spooked ghosties that ran immediately as soon as they were found out. They looked like clouds of black smoke attached to a tree trunk and were quick to blend back into the flora as they ran away. Thankfully, Emile had gotten a scan of them with his Pokedex just as they faded from view.

Phantump, the Stump Pokémon. Phantumps come from rotting tree stumps that have been possessed by spirits. Lonely forests are their preferred habitat. According to legend, medicine to cure any illness can be made by plucking the green leaves on its head, brewing them, and boiling down the liquid. Imitating the voice of a child, Phantumps causes people to get hopelessly lost deep in the forest.

It was a Pokémon Emile had never seen before, but they looked friendly enough, and even their appearance indicated how shy they must be. From their entry in the dex, they were grass and ghost.

"That gave me quite the start! Guess those were Pokémon after all? Never seen anything like them." Twilight mentioned while comforting the baby dragon now that he was clinging to one of her forelegs intensely, finally calming down after seeing how non-threatening those Phantumps had been.

"Seems they were just playing a couple of pranks on us to keep us away. The dex says they're usually the opposite of this since they try to lure in adults with child-like mimicry in order to make friends. Admittedly I've never seen them before but if they're anything like the Pokémon I know, it's likely due to their stress or the command of an alpha Pokémon that's getting them to do its bidding. That's likely the case since none of them stood their ground to fight. I think we might be facing more than just Litwick if that's the case."

The timing could not have been worse. Fluttershy swooped in on them after having said this in a frantic panic. She struggled for a bit to say the words she was meaning to speak.

"Rainbow Dash gave me the danger signal! I-I think they've found the Litwick!" The group bolted into a sprint in the direction of Fluttershy’s flight. Considering that Phantumps and Litwicks were polar opposites in typing, Emile just about guessed the kind of issues they had on their hands, and was sincerely hoping they hadn't been too late to save their friends. Thankfully, in breaking through a thick underbrush, they caught sight of the battle holding out fairly well, with Teah and Rarity protecting a shaken-up Hilda who looked as if she was trying her best not to break down right there and then.

Gummy looked as if it had already racked up a count of Pokemon fainted, standing still and waiting for the hesitant Litwick to approach it, while Rockruff was huffing in its exhaustion from evading Will-O'-Wisps. The ground around the two had been burned to black ash, and they were mostly lucky that none of their attacks had set alight any of the overgrown flora. Some of the leaves looked a little singed, but Emile guessed Rainbow Dash had been hastily putting out fires left and right. She looked a little worn out hovering mid-air.

The Litwick had already sensed they were outmatched by the two smaller Pokemon, but now in the presence of Osha and Eve, they'd been spooked outright by their battle prowess and retreated back into the treeline, carrying off their fainted companions.

"Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, keep on them. Don't lose sight of them." Emile commanded the two, hastily agreeing and flying off. "Is everyone alright?" He got a silent nod from the ponies, with Hilda still rubbing at her arms and shaking a bit. Emile walked right up in front of her and looked her in the eyes. His concerned stare wanted to bring her to tears again but she sniffled them back and finally nodded that she was ok. Turning back to direct everyone else for the next part of the operation, he felt a small tug on his jacket from behind. "Girls, what's the situation? What happened before we arrived?" He asked in Applejack's and Pinkie Pie's direction.

“It’s like you guessed, sugarcube. We found ‘em Litwick not too long ago, but those phone things weren’t working so we had to signal to Fluttershy that there was trouble brewin’. Even before that, the Everfree forest has been all sorts of weird so it’s been throwing us into a tizzy. Even more so than usual. It almost felt like the trees were playing tricks on us.”

“Same thing happened to us. It was the work of another ghost-type Pokemon from what the dex said.” Twilight spoke up. “A Phantump. They were these small dark wisps with their head in the shape of a tree stump. Did you see anything like that?”

“Now that you mention it, dear, I think I did see something like that on our walk. It was awfully hard to spot since it naturally blended with the forest, but I could’ve sworn I saw some tree stumps moving about. Then Pinkie disappeared for a bit in their direction so I thought maybe I wasn’t crazy after all, but there wasn’t time to mention it with the Litwick in tow.” Rarity had spoken up. “Speaking of, Pinkie, don’t think you’re going to get away without an earful about it once we’re out of here.

“Ooooohhhh, so that’s what they were.” Pinkie laughed snorted. “They were so cute, I wanted to make friends with them but they just ran away immediately.”

Emile who’d been pensive the entire time finally clued into the circumstances. None of those Pokemon looked like they were being affected by anything on the outside, so it likely wasn’t an external factor. Considering the dex’s descriptions, Phantumps seemed relatively at home in the Everfree so they wouldn’t be stressed about their environment. All signs were pointing to the former possibility. An Alpha of some kind.

"The situation is more dire than I thought. Even fire Pokemon wouldn't be so thoughtless as to use their moves inside a forest. We’re likely looking at a territorial dispute between the two factions of Pokemon in the forest, and one or more very powerful Pokemon that are commanding the ones that are here to keep anything out. It’s likely why the Everfree has been so quiet, on account of what Twilight said. What do you think Eve?” Emile asked the little fox, prompting a small cry of serious agreement from his buddy.

“What do you propose we do, Emile?” Applejack asked while returning Winona to her ball for easy transportation half knowing what came next, along with every pony else.

“Only one thing to do, let’s follow the Litwick and try to get to the bottom of this.” He waved over at Fluttershy to begin following her direction to where Rainbow Dash was trailing the Pokemon.

Heading in that direction now, Emile could feel Hilda’s weak tug on his shirt with her following close behind him. He hadn’t minded it one bit. He just felt sorry that there was not much more he could do to alleviate her worries. If he tried anything else like he did with the Sacred Ashes, he’d never hear the end of it. Instead, he opted to stay quiet as they walked and allowed himself to be Hilda’s emotional support that way.

They were all a little more confident now that they were walking together in their bigger group. Something about being surrounded by friends that had a way of putting pep in your step. A feeling he knew well from being around Pokemon so often, but never with people. Or, the equivalent of people in the ponies’ cases. At this point, Emile was finding it easier and easier to blend their realities together, and he no longer made a distinction of their race in his mind. Not unless he’d get caught in an actual difference between them like with the whole jacket thing. Something to be said about his adaptability to strange situations, one supposes.

Before any of them could feel too at ease, now it seemed like the Phantumps had started kicking up their pranks up a notch, with facial expressions on the trees so twisted up, it gave even Pinkie Pie the heebie-jeebies. They couldn’t laugh those away either. Speaking of laughter, there were sounds of child-like laughter and even a few cries coming from the opposite end of where they were headed. Twilight and Emile warned that it was the work of the Phantumps, and they should not stop for it. The Phantumps were now trying desperately to stop their forward momentum, with tree roots aggressively swiping at their feet and hooves. Eventually, they all had to start running to keep ahead of the vines and overgrowth branching out to stop them. They could now see where Rainbow Dash was hovering mid-air, waving at them to stop and be careful but to no one’s consideration as they were all busy trying to outrun the ever-closing path in front of them.

Bursting through a shrub, the group of mares and the two humans made their way into a circular clearing within the Everfree forest where one massive moving tree sat, staring right at them with its one bright red eye. Emile silently pulled up his Pokedex to scan it, only for it to immediately try and attack them with Shadow Claw.

“Eve! Become Umbreon and use protect!” Eve had shielded them all from that attack in just the knick of it by following his command. “Keep it steady buddy, I need a scan of it.”

Trying to keep the dex steady mid-battle was difficult, especially with such a large Pokemon that almost reached the treetops themselves. After a bit, he finally got a full scan.

Trevenant, the Elder Tree Pokémon. A Ghost and Grass-type. Trevenant spread out thin roots from their feet, connecting to the surrounding trees to control them at will. This Pokémon is said to devour anyone daring to ravage the forest. To the creatures dwelling in the forest, it offers great kindness. It's feared as a ghost of the forest. Lumberjacks bring along Fire types, which Trevenant hates when they enter the forest.

Eve cried out as it took another hit onto a second Protect it cast. The sheer strength of the Pokemon before them was so overwhelming that even Eve’s type match-up was having problems holding strong. Emile could sense a very strong energy and aura coming from the Trevenant. The same chaotic one from the wormholes... Emile hastily commanded everyone to not involve their Pokemon in this fight.

Eve proceeded to Dark Pulse it further away from them in the little time afforded to the fox to push it away and continued to Protect as best it could while the Trevenant took hold of entire tree trunks to bring down on top of Umbreon’s forcefield in one mighty Wood Hammer. The Trevenant was generally slow but its incredible size was making it difficult for the fox to keep its footing while it tried all manner of tricks to get Eve’s guard down, like pushing the roots underground to unsettle the soil beneath its paws. Even with Eve’s incredibly unique and wonderful powers, Emile was having a hard time seeing how he could win this with just the little fox alone. He’d likely have to enlist the help of another Pokemon to even the odds but Osha was weak to grass types so he was out of the picture. Trevenant was far too powerful for him to feel good about relying on any one of the ponies and their Pokemon, inexperienced as they were. The only one he could think to ask was... Hilda.

Hilda was still holding onto him, not being able to do much but witness the spectacle happening before her. Emile guessed that the Trevenant had attacked them due to Teah’s presence considering that the Pokedex spoke of its hatred for fire Pokemon. Hilda had been carrying the little piglet around the entire time on her head. In looking at her, Emile turned to face whatever it was Hilda had fixated on, and just to the side of the Trevenant lay a large group of fainted, hurt Litwick. He could see the conflicted nature of her stare. More than just trauma, she was a trainer too, and like any trainer worth their salt, it must not have felt good to be witness to that. He felt a little guilty, but Emile felt like he could use this to his advantage at that moment.

“Hilda!” He took hold of her shoulders and snapped her into reality. “Listen, I need you to help me here with Teah. The Trevenant is far too powerful. Eve can’t do this alone, and those Litwick as well as our friends are in danger.”

It was all a bit much for the poor girl. She was being forced out of her fears to face an incredibly hard challenge in front of her, all in order to save the very creatures of her trauma and her friends. She only stared blankly at Emile as the battle ensued.

“Emile! Watch out!” Twilight cast a spell that acted in a similar manner to Protect, feeling a large chunk of forest debris from broken tree logs whizz above his head with the rest falling harmlessly to his wayside. Both Emile and Hilda had been shaken to the floor by that little stunt. He sighed with relief and gave her a thumbs up.

“Good looking out, Twilight! Keep safe for now, we got this!” The purple unicorn nodded at him. Emile turned to face Hilda again. “You talked about your friend Bianca overcoming her troubles and seeing how strong she is. But what about you? Aren’t you made of sterner stuff? Aren’t you a former Pokemon Champion? What is your truth, and what is your ideal? This is your chance to step into tomorrow.” He got back up onto his feet and held out a hand for her. “And I need you to take that step with me. Please.”

The ground cracked beneath them from a massive Wood Hammer missing Eve and hitting the floor when the little fox dodged backward, sending shockwaves that sent everyone reeling for their footing. Before Emile could fall back to the ground again and totally ruin his, unknown to him, rather embarrassing gesture, Hilda had finally come to her senses and had taken his hand to support the both of them. Teah oinked her happiness from atop her head and jumped to the floor to go join Eve in the battle.

“You’re not very convincing, you know that?” Hilda laughed, looking a lot better now.

“I’m not a people person.” He shrugged. “You ready?” She silently nodded to him while she looked on at the battlefield. “Alright, no time for plans, let’s do this. Eve! Use Confuse Ray!” At his command, Eve sent out an array of lights that floated into the Trevenant's view, staggering it as they blinded its eyesight, swinging at nothing only to hit itself in its confusion. “Follow up with a Helping Hand!” Umbreon took a step back from the fight to begin pooling its energies toward the little Piglet.

“Teah, now’s our chance! Flame Charge!” Teah’s nostrils flared with an ember-filled smoke as she exhaled stronger and fiercer than before. Running over to the Trevenant, she ignited the smoke all at once with one powerful snort and enveloped herself in flames, tossing the full weight of her body and that fire with a force that was vastly augmented by Umbreon’s Helping Hand, sending the Trevenant sprawling backward even more.

The two trainers and their Pokemon did not let up, and before it could retaliate, Emile had commanded Eve to use Taunt to direct its attacks over to the fox while it used Protect again, with Teah being free to Ember it from a safe distance.

Despite the battle going so well now, a horrible chill crawled down the length of Emile’s spine. He could feel the malice within the energies of the Trevenant begin to rise, as though the chaotic energies that resembled the wormholes were beginning to spike to their fullest extent. And only now he was sure that this was not a natural occurrence at all, no matter which way he spun it in his head. Something, was behind these events, and that something was watching their battles carefully and would not let them have an easy win. Even now, he could feel a pair of eyes outside of the ones there staring intently at him. From the Phantumps? From whatever that something was? He could not know.

“Alright, let’s end this! Eve, use Foul-Play!” Emile commanded Eve to use a move that used the opponent's own Attack against them, and considering how powerful this Trevenant was, it would surely have been the finishing move. But Emile could not have expected what came next. Trevenant all too cleanly and quickly slipped into the ground and into the shadows beneath it, causing Eve to miss its attack. At a speed that he would not have expected from the Trevenant, the shadow it slipped into traveled across the ground and over to Hilda and Teah almost instantly, appearing behind them only to slash at them with ghostly power, sending them both to the ground. They hadn’t been physically hurt, but their lifeforce and energy had been drained from that ghost-type attack. It then reeled back with one large Wood Hammer at the ready. If it connected, it could only mean the worst for the two girls.

Again Emile found himself rushing recklessly toward them to protect them from that attack. He was sure he’d get quite the harsh scolding from Twilight and friends, but he didn’t care at all. It’s one thing to say you won’t try to play the hero in a lull of peace, but in the heat of the moment, Emile didn’t think it’d be as cut and dry as that. Sometimes you can’t stop your body from moving. Even one slip-up could mean sacrificing someone all over again... And Emile would not allow that, even at the cost of his life.

As if time itself was playing in slow motion, with his body outstretched in front of the two ready to take the blow, he saw the beginnings of Twilight’s spell forming in front of him. The speed at which it was forming and the downward momentum of that Wood Hammer meant that she would be too late to protect him to any real effect, but that was okay, no more sacrifices, he thought.

Then... he caught sight of the blue figure he’d seen a number of times before since coming to this world, just outside of his direct peripheral vision atop a tree. The blue figure that was likely responsible for giving him the sense that someone was watching them intently. It had distinct red eyes, a step, and a form all like ones he’d seen once before. Sure enough. It was the figure that had attached strings to his heart.

It had already locked on to the ghost-typing of the Trevenant with Foresight and had sent a small, familiar Aura Sphere crashing onto its side and causing the Wood Hammer to narrowly miss them by a hair’s breadth, deviating due to the sphere's explosion. A saving grace much like he’d had with Oshawott’s evolved form.

Like Blue Fate.

Author's Note

The power portrait of the Trevenant was made by Ishmam on DeviantArt, and the Phantump one is directly from the game’s art/Bulbapedia.

This chapter felt a little disjointed in my head. Maybe I’m just out of it. Oh well, at least I got my Halloween chapter out before the actual date.

Here’s some extra Halloween theme pictures for you to enjoy.

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Penultimate Chapter: Sacrifice Part 1

Tick.

His heart began to beat along with the sounds of a small mallet striking at a wooden surface.

Tock.

There it was again. That unnerving feeling. Compounded by the noise, yes. But aided and abetted by time itself having come to a complete stop.

This was no illusion. It wasn't something he'd dreamt up. Nothing caused by irregularities in his mind either. He could physically feel the stones, dust, and dirt kicked up into the air by the Trevenant's massive wood hammer that had missed him. The ground all around where it had landed had been uprooted and the shockwave of that incredible energy was still passing through the ground evident by the distortion in the earth. All of the ponies and Pokemon present still held onto the expression that they had, had at that moment. A mix of shock, terror, and urgency. All of them frozen in place unable to move even an inch.

Tick. Tock.

Emile turned to look at the small blue figure again, still stuck in the stupor and daze of all that had transpired before. He couldn't quite get a good image of it no matter how hard he tried focusing his eyes on it. No amount of squinting or opening his eyelids as far as they would go did anything. But he didn't need an accurate picture of it to know what it was. It was obvious. And he was now more than a hundred percent positive that this was a joke.

A truly distasteful joke at his expense.

Tick...

Tock...

The noise had stopped all together now. From the direction of the blue figure, reality began to shift and bend. Like pages being torn out of a notebook, the very world was ripped into shreds until everything both around him and the blue figure was nothing but nebulous cosmos. No ponies or baby dragon. No Hilda. No Eve. Just him and the blue figure. Emile couldn't tell if it was just a simple illusion or not. It felt like he still had ground beneath him. His shadow still lay sprawled on some surface even with nothing below his feet.

Emile could do nothing but hold his silence. He was waiting for something. But what? Awaiting someone. But who? It was a waiting game that was driving him insane with each second that passed by in the silence of this surreal experience.

Finally, above the blue figure, a light radiated out in a bright pink light. From it spawned an equally pink ball.

"What are you?!" Emile tried to yell out to it with all his might, with his words finding nowhere to go in the emptiness of space.

It took moments more before the pink ball began to shift and move. It did so sporadically, like a muscle in motion. A heartbeat, almost. Then, it uncurled to show the sleeping body of a cat-like creature with a long tail. It opened its sleeping eyes slowly, shifting its gaze every which way until fixating on him at last.

Emile immediately thought back on Arceus' words, and a single word repeated in his head at the sight of it. Demon. He gulped in the anticipation of the moment.

The blues of its irises were deeper and more vibrant than all the cosmos that surrounded them. But there was nothing in them. It didn't even feel like it was directly looking at him. He half expected, due to the sheer presentation of its entrance, that it would hold some level of animosity or intensity towards him. If this really was the demon that Arceus was so concerned over, enough to take even It for a fool, then Emile imagined that this thing was also responsible for his transportation to Equestria. Was it punishing him by doing so? Did it have bigger plans for Arceus, him, and the world of Equestria?

Its enduring silence was only making him more fearful of its intentions. This thing was the massive question mark in this impossible equation. The mystery of his entire life.

Then...

It opened its tiny mouth all the way it could and gave out one cute little yawn, in the distinct cry of a Pokemon. It proceeded to bring both of its small arms up to its mouth and motion out a chuckle while looking gleefully at Emile's distressed expressions. It started swaying back in forth in a small dance, twirling and twisting in the absolute nothingness of space, amused to no end. All while repeating its cry over and over like if it was trying to speak with him.

"Mew!" It repeated, over and over and over.

A lock was undone in Emile's head at the sound of that cry. A memory of his encounters with Mewtwo. Yes... the creature that had been there to stop Mewtwo's Pokemon clone army. Mew... the Pokemon whose DNA was used to make Mewtwo. Just a shadow of the original creation, and yet Mewtwo was by far one of the most powerful psychic Pokemon in all of existence. A shudder ran through him at the thought as he watched the pink cat continue trying to talk to him with no hint of malice within its tone. It then floated back down towards the blue figure and its pink body began to morph into something else entirely.

Revelations. One after another. A lock was undone at the sight of Mew's new form. A similar body shape to the one beside it, standing taller and more imposing. Both images of those two figures finally focused into eyesight for him at this point, and he could clearly make out what they were now.

A small little Riolu whose deeply red eyes were fixated on him, scanning for something intently in his visage. And Mew, who had become a Lucario... But not just any Lucario. It was mimicking Luca down to even her tiny mannerisms.

He began to remember his harrowing adventures at the Tree of Beginning. The place where he'd first met Luca and the second time he had come across Mew... and how he had to transfer almost all of his life energy to the tree in order to save it from destruction via Mew itself. Something wasn't sitting right about this memory, however.

His memories were saying that he and Luca's energies had not been enough to restore the tree, and so one of them would have had to sacrifice their life for it. When Luca had demanded that it be her to do it, Emile had forced the role onto himself to spare her of that fate in not wanting to see her die for his sake. But after that, all he could remember was blacking out and waking up beside all of his Pokemon outside of the tree itself. No sacrifice had been made. Mew never appeared before him again either.

But there in his hand at that time lay a distinct Pokeball unlike any other. A pink ball with purple swirls that he had never seen in his life.

A dream ball.

The very same that had worked on Arceus in the last moments of their confrontation.

Mew could clearly read his mind to some extent, as in that moment of realization, using its powers it proceeded to spawn that very same Pokeball from thin air in front of him, slowly lowering it down to his hands so he could take hold of it once more.

"So this was your doing?" He asked in absolute bewilderment as he took hold of the Pokeball and saw the cracks that Arceus had made on it. "Us being here in this world... or perhaps something more? Arceus' prophecy?"

Mew quickly shifted out of Luca's form and back to its original self, and laughed in its usual airy way. It swirled side to side with glee while repeating its cry again.

"I don't understand what you're saying..." Emile commented to himself since none of his words were being met with an audible sound in the deadness of space. Mew had been using its powers of telepathy to both speak and read into his mind the entire time and became visibly irritated at having not been understood. It then gave a quick jerk of an expression akin to having come up with an idea, and proceeded to put one small paw on top of the Riolu's head.

"Master... Red. Emile. Human. Hello." The Riolu spoke to him in form of its unique aura telepathy, going initially from emotional to deadly monotonic in its tone with each word. The voice was delicate and feminine, and it belonged to the young Riolu so it sounded like that of a small girl.

Emile froze in shock. He felt himself choke up with the tears that were beginning to form on his eyes. His heart began to beat heavily in his chest, and he could feel his hands ball up into a fist with powerful intensity. That Riolu... How had he missed this obvious sign? He had known it inside his heart of hearts too. This was no normal Riolu. This was...Luca herself, having been rewinded just like everyone else.

She was still alive. But how?

Perhaps he hadn't connected the dots yet because of the advent of Mew appearing in the way that it did, and still riding the emotional high of the kind of threat it posed after everything that had happened. But now, more than relieved to see her alive or confused as to why she was with them like this, Emile was angry. Mew had taken control of her mind, and her eyes were dulled to indicate this.

This told Emile everything he needed to know about the way Mew was seeing them without so much as word having been spoken... They were all pawns in some form of game for it.

"What did you do to her..." He thought inside of himself in a low growl, knowing Mew would read it.

"Human can't speak. Have use for it ability. Tell human things! Human speak back. Conversation with human."

Mew's tail swished back and forth. If it had anything in common with other cat Pokemon, then this was a dangerous sign indeed. Emile forcedly controlled his temper with the understanding that he should remain calm to hear this. Being needlessly emotional now could spell disaster for all of them. But it was proving harder than he thought, as he could do nothing but stare directly at Luca. He was desperately trying to hold back all of the many thoughts racing through his head.

"Human Emile curious. Why here now? No answer, want to find answer. Typical of human." Mew chuckled. "Only answer. Here because I want. Amusing. Useful. Fight Father and win! Mostly."

"Your father...? Arceus, I'm guessing. Why are you at odds with him?"

The Mew proceeded to create a bubble for which to rest on, and drooped its head backward in an attempt to think. Then it went back to controlling Riolu with the tip of its tail.

"Simple way to describe. Creator, as father." Mew was becoming more concise in its inhuman capacity to learn language now that their conversation had gone on only a bit. "Mad because I took tablets."

"You...! It was you?! But why...?"

"Why?" It closed its eyes and began to shine in a bright pink light.

Emile felt his body constrict. No longer could he move even a single muscle. This showed the absolute power that Mew had over him in this realm. His breath became more erratic and he tried breathing in deeper and harder in his panic.

"Why do we live?" Luca's voice in his head had been replaced with a deep and alien one, something horrifyingly dark and mechanical in nature. "To persevere. To procreate. To enjoy our waking moments and rest when we sleep." This was the moment he noticed Mew's tail had disconnected from Luca and was swishing more violently and erratically than before, whipping to the sounds of its anger rising. "Why do we love? To connect. To build a future together. So that we are not alone. It then got close to him and placed its tail onto his forehead, connecting their minds together.

"Why do we hurt? To learn lessons and grow. To give meaning to why we live, and to why we love. That is why I'm doing this." Mew had said this using Emile's own voice, forcing him to speak. "Eons and I have only ever been met with dull characters. But you, flawed human, show limitless potential. You have proven it time and again. That's why I chose you, your pokemon, your friends, and their companions. Anything to do with you, is amusing. You are to be my Father's foil, and the King in this chess game."

Interconnected with its mind, Emile was able to find the answers to many of his questions. Like myth and legend told, Mew carries the blueprint for all of Pokemon kind in its body, as it was Arceus' first creation. Using Mew's genetic makeup, it created the Lake Trio, the Creation Trio, and all of Pokemon kind. This ultimately gave Mew the keys to Pokemon as a whole. Using its powers of trickery and deception, it incited the human's avarice and gave Pokemon the power to help them usurp Arceus' throne and his tablets.

And it did so all on a whim.

No reason in particular. It just figured it would have fun with the tablet's powers in order to aid in its games. Over time, it became bored with their usefulness and recklessly scattered many of them across the Pokemon world while keeping a few for itself. Arceus' feud with Mew had turned deadly ever since, but Mew's pranks only increased in intensity to match, almost killing It a number of times due to Its weakened state.

Emile didn't know what to think... What was worse? Knowing there was a sinister god-like entity wanting your destruction and total erasure or leaving the world's fate to a trickster who just took its jokes too far? The fact of the matter was, Arceus never even intended to end his world... The prophecy had been Mew's own contrivance, in one of its many machinations to lead a weary somebody of its choosing into this world in another one of its games...

All for what? Some fun? Risk the lives of everyone just for that?

But then, why hadn't Arceus made it clearer to him when he spoke to It? What use was all the cryptisicm at the end of the day? If he could've just spoken clearly to It when he met Arceus atop Spear Spillar, all of this could've been avoided. But Arceus had refused. Rightly so in anger due to human's involvement in Mew's plans all that time ago. But after centuries? Could Arceus have held a grudge that long?

Then he remembered the Red Chain which should've only ever seen a single creation due to the rare one-of-a-kind jewels needed to make it from the Lake Trio's body. There should have been no way that they could've been replicated for the use of so many Guardian legendary Pokemon... Unless Mew had been involved with that too, having used its power of transformation and genetics to create more jewels... It had purposely spurred on an apocalyptic scenario to get Arceus' attention for its ends.

So maybe the fact that he hadn't heard reason either of the two times he met Arceus wasn't all a coincidence either, considering the blocks in his mind.

Just like everything that had happened so far since the moment he had obtained the dream ball, it all felt... strange. The red chains, Equestria, Eevee's evolutions and powers, the wormholes, animals turning into Pokemon... It all felt unnatural, like if none of it was supposed to be happening. Like if he shouldn't have been alive to see any of it, either. His sacrificial nature should've gotten him killed back in the Tree of Beginning. But he was saved. With Arceus' own powers and tablets when Mew had used them to substitute the Tree's energy.

All so he could be Mew's plaything.

Tick. Tock.

That noise again. But he now knew what it was. One of Mew's favorite abilities, transformed to have more dire consequences. A dice roll for a reality-bending board game of its own design. Metronome.

"The dice do not fall in my favor this time, Emile. I hope to talk to you again in the future. In the meantime, I'll be hoping you put on a good show. Boredom can be... killer." It took its tail off of Emile and teleported far backward into the cosmic void, only to be attacked by a powerful Hyper Beam when it reappeared for a split second.

The range and sheer strength of that Hyper Beam had alighted the cosmos around him, ripping holes into the cloudy formations that Emile could only imagine to be lightyears away. This was a fight amongst gods... Sure enough, all around him was indescribable anger and pressure, but thankfully, Arceus had no time or patience to even pay him any mind while it tried chasing after Mew in a fury. Trailing behind Arceus was a massive swarm of unown. It looked almost like a giant school of fish courting danger as some would almost get blasted by Arceus' attacks while it spitted Hyper Beams this way and that with Mew teleporting away every time effortlessly, likely using Arceus' own tablets against him.

In retaliation, he could see Mew creating an innumerable amount of pink balls of pure psychic energy, only to string them all together into one massive attack toward Arceus. Not knowing what kind of attack this was, Emile took to calling it "Genesis Supernova" due to the sheer power of it and the fact that it was being used in this kind of battleground and by Mew.

In control of his own body again, Emile slapped his face with both of his hands to regain his senses. It was no time to be lost in the spectacle of that battle, or in the thoughts about trying to figure out Mew's ultimate goal. Something was telling him that there was more to it than all of that, since he couldn't trust that everything that he saw in Mew's mind was the truth. There was no doubt that everything he'd been met with so far, like the battles and events of his coming to Equestria, was all of Mew's own design. But there was still a larger mystery he wasn't seeing. A mystery surrounding the fate of both worlds... Only a real talk with Arceus would give him those answers, but now was definitely not the time for that. Evident by the ensuing battle of cosmic proportions.

Emile narrowly avoided a Hyper Beam that had been thrust his way by the chaotic confrontation. He had been stumbling forward into the void to reach Luca, who still lay where Mew had left her last with her eyes closed, recovering from the mind control. Before he could reach her however, a disembodied hand took a hold of his wrist. It was coming from a strange ripple in the void, as if from nowhere. It was desperately trying to pull him into the ripple, but Emile was refuting its pull with all of his might. He needed to reach Luca at all costs, even with Arceus and Mew's battle becoming more dangerous by the second.

He took hold of Luca in his one free arm just as another Genesis Supernova had begun its explosion near him, pushing them both violently through that ripple where the hand had been trying to pull him through.

"Girls, help me! I can't pull him through!" Hilda yelled over to the ponies who were on their wit's end. First because of Emile's sudden disappearance into the chaotic, twisted wormhole where he had been standing last, and now because of the danger having increased exponentially due to the inclusion of another massive Pokemon in the way of an Alpha Chandelure who had been powered up by the wormhole's energy from the fallen Litwick. And due to the wormhole's strength and intensity being several times of that seen in the courtyard against the Unova's starter trio, it had even rejuvenated the Trevenant's energies and increased its violent temperament, sending both of them into a frenzy and fighting each other.

All of the ponies peeled off the battle to help Hilda pull Emile through where she had reached in hoping to feel around for him and finding success. Yet even their strength combined did not match his desperate attempt to save Luca, and he had managed to grab onto her right in the nick of it.

The explosion of Mew's attack had sent him flying through the wormhole, bowling everyone over into a heap. He was positively shell-shocked, hurt in several places, and riding a really emotionally high, but after several minutes and a few hardy slaps from Hilda, he managed to come to his senses now that his cheeks had a hand imprinted onto them.

"Emile! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Hilda yelled into his face when his eyes fluttered into normalcy.

"Yes! Yes, I think I can. No need to shout so loud." He said, regaining himself. At that moment, a shockwave on the ground sent everyone sprawling to the floor again. Another missed Wood Hammer from Trevenant. But now the forest was a ghastly sight, with Chandelure's flame having ignited the surrounding flora. "What's going on?!" He shouted, now fully aware of the dire circumstances.

From the kettle to the frying pan.

"No time to explain! We need to do something, and fast!" Hilda got back onto her feet and helped him up. She would've questioned the Riolu resting in his arms still unconscious, but there were more pressing things at hand.

"Eve! Use Rain Dance!" Emile shouted at the Umbreon that had been focused on protecting everyone that entire time while he had disappeared, worried out of its mind but trying to get its priorities straight, trusting that Emile would be okay from intuition alone. Rain started to pour strongly when it did as it commanded after turning into a Vaporeon.

"Osha! Fire control, you know what to do!" He said as he took out the little otter, making him immediately run over to the winding fires. He side glanced the battle between the two titans wanting to be a part of it, but the little Otter understood the more pressing concerns and did as it was commanded.

Unfortunately, there was not much else he could do to bring this battle to a halt, since the wormhole was still very much present and showed no signs of ending, feeding infinite power into the alpha pokemon. Arceus' and Mew's battle was likely adding to the chaos of the situation, forcing the portal to stay open due to their energies making their way to the portal. None of his Pokemon were powerful enough to make this battle come to a conclusion either.

Things became increasingly dire when the Trevanant used Energy Ball to stop a Will'O'Wisp from Chandelure, causing the collision of attacks to spread a ghostly fire in all directions. The kind that could burn even through the rain.

Tick. Tock.

Even knowing what this sound meant, it did not help his concerns at all. Mew was trying to pull another wild card on all of them. Emile could only desperately wish for some solution to come out of this random power...

But no. Instead, a bunch of small marbles fell from the sky in front of them, along with a thin black band and a green jewel in the middle of it.

Tick. Tock.

Adding fuel to the fire, this next metronome only enshrouded the two titans in the brilliant light of Ancient Power, raising all of their stats and making them more powerful in turn.

Tick. Tock.

Finally, something that had brought a positive change to the battlefield. At the sound of this last Metronome, the wormhole disappeared. Presumably due to a positive effect that Mew had managed to pull in its own battle against Arceus.

Now all they had to do was wait for the two Titans to tire out and contain their damage. But since they'd been powered up by Ancient Power, defeating the straggler would be no easy feat, and waiting for them to tire out could be a while still. He was already imagining the damage they'd ultimately end up causing to be devastating. Already the surrounding area was full of trees burnt to cinders and tons others uprooted to be used as Wood Hammers. And the ghostly flames showed no sign of stopping either. That was only something defeating the Chandelure could accomplish.

Emile tightened his grip on Luca, overwhelmed by everything that had happened in such a short time. He set her down on the ground near where the marbles had fallen. For once in his life, he had no idea what to do. There was nothing clever or spectacular he could do to help. There's only so much a single person can do before it all catches up to them. Maybe his tolerance had been much higher than other people's, but he still had his limits. And he just about reached his. He slumped to his knees and proceeded to stare blankly at all the craziness. His mind empty. His heart hollow.

Luca was alive. No sacrifices had been made. Just like the time when he'd made out of the Tree of Beginning alive... He didn't know the right way to feel. About anything.

Though Emile wonders if Mew ever plans anything in advance, or if it's all just a random luck of the draw. For what happened next was something he had never seen before, let alone think was possible. But as Hilda would be sure to tell him afterward when all the craziness had died down, a phenomenon only ever seen in the Kalos region was beginning to happen to Luca. She was glowing in a bright white light. But this was no typical evolution. Stranger yet, this phenomenon was skipping a few steps in the process too. From this bright light, strings of beautiful rainbow streaks were encircling Luca. She was being filled with a tremendous amount of power. A power that far surpassed anything Luca had ever been able to achieve in his memory, and a power that far surpassed the two Titans in front of him, buffed up by Ancient Power as they were. When the light had given way, Luca stayed standing with her eyes closed.

She looked a world different. She didn't look like any Lucario he'd ever seen. Black stripes now adorned her body more numerously than before, especially around her eyes. She had more spikes around her body, and the tips of her paws and hair were tipped red. Her tail had now been covered by her yellow coat. She looked incredibly majestic. And incredibly powerful. When her eyes finally opened at that moment, Emile felt himself stop breathing altogether.

There was an intensity about them. A cold-hearted, cruel, merciless intensity. Something he never knew Luca was capable of.

Emile took out his Pokedex to check on what kind of new evolution or form this was, hoping the dex would have something to say about her. Sure enough, it did. But strangely, it spoke of something he'd never even heard of before. Mega evolution?

"Black streaks all over its body show where its auras and the energy of Mega Evolution intermingled and raced through it. Its aura is far greater in this form. Governed only by its combative instincts, it strikes enemies without mercy. It readies itself to face its enemies by focusing its mental energies. Its fighting style can be summed up in a single word: heartless."

What kind of entry was this? He'd never seen such a dire entry before... But he could feel it to be the truth. The way in which Luca just stared on at the sight of the two Titans battling was soul-wrenching.

"Luca?" She didn't respond. "Please... say something. Please tell me it's you in there." Still, nothing. Nothing Emile said to her was getting through to her. If anything, Emile could feel her bloodlust increase. Then, without warning, she struck.

Having locked on to their ghost typing using Foresight on both of the Pokemon, she used Extreme Speed to close the gap on them both in an instant, kicking up a large dust cloud in her path. She started with Bone Rush, creating mallets of earth from what she'd ripped from the ground and brought them down on Chandelure. She followed up her assault by countering Trevenant's Wood Hammer with a Meteor Smash, splitting its log in two as her hardened fist ran through it to connect with Trevenant, sending it sprawling backward several feet.

A red glow surrounded Luca for a moment, indicating that Meteor Smash had increased her attacking power. She immediately used Detect, sensing that the Chandelure was readying an attack behind her back, causing its Flamethrower to completely miss her thanks to Detect's increase of her reactionary speed. In a brutal move, she proceeded to Crunch down on the Chandelure to keep it from retreating, and Stone Edge'd it with her free limbs into an absolute KO.

The Trevenant was now fully aware that it could only stand to lose this battle, and began to back away slowly. It started the beginnings of its Phantom Force only to be pinned out of its shadow by a Mach Fist faster than it could slip away, with an Ice Punch in the other fist for a subsequent attack to keep it from escaping afterward. It then proceeded to KO it with the pure violence of Close Combat, pummeling it into submission until its log vessel was dotted with indentations of her furious attacks.

Luca let out a deafening roar having reveled in the brutality, her muscles contracting as she extended her limbs up to the sky. Her chest heaved with ferocious breath, still unsatisfied with the battle she had just been a part of. In the veil of night now that the smoke had died down, her red amber eyes were glowing with the thrill of battle and overwhelming bloodlust.

Then, her cold gaze fell on all of them. The ponies. The small dragon. The humans. And their Pokemon.

Author's Note

This story will continue in a second book, as there is much bigger stakes at play than what's on the surface.

I did think to make this chapter the last one for this first book, but after writing both of the sequences and events in this one, it felt like there would have been too much going on in a single chapter. And that cut-off felt perfect for a cliffhanger, so to heck with it. Let's go for one more round.

For Luca's battle sequence, I was imagining something along these lines. Big fan of high-action sequences contrasted against a somber, sad soundtrack to give you a realization of the kind disparity in those scenes. Perfect for this moment. As for Mew's voice with no vessel? Something like this, probably.

Prologue: In The End

Pokemon: Knight of Order

By: Team Magma Grunt (a.k.a Darkevony)

Prologue: In The End

Weary, his body exhausted, he kept moving with a determination that superseded the cry of fear from his heart. His sight was beginning to blur as the skies and the world all around him became dark, darker still. He could no longer feel anything in his limbs when trying to urge them forward. His breath had become short and sharp, striking him with pain at every huff.

He fell to his knees. A small purple sphere with a distinct white M fell out of his pocket and into the mud. A strong rain beat heavily across the baked plains in front of him. The intensity of the sun tore even through the thick dark clouds with the air itself feeling locked and scarce. Far to his right, the ocean was in chaos with hurricane-like winds and violent waves thrashing the beach. The sea to his left was covered completely in ice, showered by a strong hail. The forest far behind him was ablaze in a golden rainbow-like fire, burning to sacred ashes. Thunder and lightning ravaged the heavens with their silhouette cracking and streaming across the darkened sky.

It truly felt like the end of the world.

Both his body and his clothes had been done in. They’d been burned to singes, hardened by frostbite, and torn at by powerful claws and fangs. The mixture of the elements had taken a huge toll on even his mind and he struggled to stay standing. Deafening roars screamed all around him and he could feel his legs begin to fail him.

He remained steadfast and got up again, his mind yelling at him not to stop. He couldn't stop... as stopping now meant the end of everything he'd ever loved.

But before he could even take another step forward, he felt an invisible force push him down and was forcefully knelt onto the muddied burnt ground. It took him a great deal of effort to even look up towards the sky where three ripple-like holes distorted the very space around them. The celestial trio... this is it then, he thought.

In that moment, several small noises sounded off near him. He knew the sounds all too well, the sound of Pokemon being released from their pokeballs. He felt a tug on his battered shirt. Two tusks picked him up off the ground and onto something feathery and soft. He felt his body relax as his Staraptor's down enveloped him in a Roost. He opened his eyes and saw his Leafeon looking directly at him in worry.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the tattered back of his Mamoswine... its stance ready for battle. His eyes widened in shock realizing what it intended to do. His fears were confirmed when he saw his worn Wailord's fins drift down into the depths of the ocean. His Magnezone too surveyed the air with what little energy it had left in it.

Pokemon were deeply instinctual creatures, but even through the worst of times, they had stuck with him through thick and thin. Yet the events unfolding before them were unlike anything they'd ever faced before. Even in his human nature, he felt like his very soul was screaming at him to run.

He couldn't possibly understand why they had stayed as long as they had. They had already fought so much up until now... In his heart, he couldn't accept what they planned to do.

They stood their ground fully prepared to protect the final steps of his journey. To fight to the very end...

He sat straight up immediately to shout at them to stop and run away, but a force from behind pulled him back onto Staraptor's back and a black spiked hand placed itself onto his chest.

"Luca, please... Don't do this. Please tell them to run."

This is our fate, master. To fight by your side and for you. Yours is up there. Allow us this final farewell. He heard his Lucario's voice speak into his mind as she placed into his hands the purple pokeball that had fallen out of his pocket. How could he accept this? No person could possibly wish for this. But it seemed Luca had already foreseen all of this happening. She and the rest of his Pokemon were intent in seeing this through, come what may.

The blue pokémon nodded towards the Staraptor, then towards a small leafeon at its side. Wordlessly, they exchanged their plans. The leafeon proceeded to wrap him usings its powers to keep him from interfering. The boy struggled in vain in Leafeon's conscript of vines from the grass knot it used on him. The green fox proceeded to jump onto his chest and yell over to the Staraptor to take off. His heart filled with overwhelming sadness as he watched his Pokemon get further and further away.

From the sky, he saw Groudon making his way towards Mamoswine, the two-behemoths readying to fight. In the oceans, he could see the giant silhouette of his Wailord and Kyogre's slamming against each other. Thunderbolts and waves of energy were striking all around them as his Magnezone valiantly fended off an angered Ho-Oh, thankfully dodging and reflecting the powerful flames. A steel type like Magnezone was a weak match up to it... How much longer could it keep it up...? How much longer until they would suffer this terrible fate that he himself had placed them in?

A surge of terror arose within him when he saw the serpent body of Rayquaza appear from within dense, black clouds and heading straight for them, its mouth gaped in a roar. Staraptor made a dangerous maneuver, purposely plummeting down to ground to avoid the angered protector of the sky's Extreme Speed.

Before the leviathan doubled back to hit them, it was intercepted by Luca's aura sphere. She sent a second volley to goad and taunt it in order to distract its pursuit.

Master, you must hurry! Don't look back. You must finish what we began. Luca’s voice said into his mind, sensing that this would be the end.

He watched on in absolute horror as Rayquaza slammed into the ground towards her with the full heft of its body kicking up a massive dust cloud. When the green serpent broke through the veil of dirt and towards the sky, he saw Luca holding onto the Guardian's head and using her Flash Cannon at point blank into the mighty beast's eyes. It roared in pain and lashed out in the air with Luca holding on with everything she had. He could feel his Staraptor having difficulties avoiding Rayquaza's violent movements that were sending shockwaves of air toward them.

He felt his breath leave him all together when Rayquaza shook off a now weakened Luca, following her freefall descent with a Hyper Beam priming in its mouth. The blue fighter met this by creating the most powerful Aura Sphere she could muster within her hands.

"Luca!!!" The boy yelled atop of Staraptor's back, his heart sinking into a deep despair when the two were enveloped by a bright light and the dark smoke of a very strong explosion as their powers met. Lucarios and their masters shared a deep connection in thoughts and feelings, and they could sense each other's souls even from many kilometers away. But as he saw Rayquaza's body appear from the smoke to hit the ground below defeated, he could not sense even a fraction her soul anymore. His devastation was immeasurable, and he could no longer help the emotion in his heart from spilling forth.

He felt a soft nudge on his side, his Leafeon crying with him and doing its best to comfort him at the same time. He hugged his Leafeon tight, his tears rolling onto its fur and leaves. "What am I to do? What can I do?" Leafeon called out to him in a cry of worry as if responding that he needed to be strong, that he needed to go on. "You're right, I'm sorry... Luca knew better than me... I can't let her sacrifice be in vain."

As they flew, something was beginning to change. Subtly and quietly, a creeping feeling began to replace the space before them as if there was something wrong with reality itself.

In that moment, the very air around them became still and silent, as if time had stopped. Just as suddenly, hundreds if not thousands of cries began to fill the silence. From the ground below, he could see an overwhelming amount of Pokemon appear, all of them somehow being called upon. He was thoroughly bewildered and couldn't understand what was happening. Even the guardians that had been fighting his Pokemon had stopped their advance and were beginning to pool enmasse with the rest of them. He felt a great relief seeing his Mamoswine, Wailord and Magnezone fall to the wayside tired from their fighting. Wounded but not fatally so. Even the unaffected guardians that had not been corrupted by the red chain had begun to appear within the swarms. From the Regi's to even the mythical types.

He looked up to see the celestial trio now in full view in the sky. They yelled out their deafening, alien roar. Yet even they only floated there, staring at them with uncanny silence and purpose. Thousands of Pokemon were still pouring out of every inch from water, land, and even the sky. All of them seemingly standing guard as he flew away with his Staraptor, and slowly becoming specs across the terrain. They were anticipating something... And the boy could hazard a guess as to what that something was.

At a distance, Mt. Coronet came into view. He could see it... the top of Spear Pillar. His Staraptor landed heavily near the peak in its exhaustion having been wounded before when it staved off a couple of the legendary birds. It struggled to compose itself again. It was hard to tell if his Staraptor would be okay after this.

"Thank you old friend, but we both know it's time for you to leave. Time for you to rest from all the fighting we've done." He spoke softly at it, pooling its beak in his two hands and bringing its head onto his. His Staraptor refused at first, but they could both sense that this was their final farewell. The boy couldn't help but remember the past and imagined a fledgling Starly reluctantly taking flight, slowly becoming a Staravia when it hesitated to leave in a hover mid-air, and finally seeing his Staraptor fade away in the distance.

He looked down, only now aware of Leafeon's concern towards him. "Leafeon... you too... You should've left with Star..." It responded with defiance as if it did not want to leave. "Please, you need to. Do it for me." Leafeon stayed where it was and doubled down on its refusal.

To be honest, he didn't want Leafeon to leave. They had become the best of friends, the first Pokemon he had ever obtained. He had saved it during a thunderstorm back when it was just an Eevee. It had cried out in pain amidst the pouring rain, a felled log of a tree on top of its leg. Thankfully he had been able to save that Eevee in between that chaotic force of nature, but not before being hit by a bolt himself, the lightning missing his heart but leaving a serious scar that ran down the full length of his back. Electricity was dangerous in any capacity, even from Pokemon. But nature's lightning was far stronger than a Pokémon's, and it had left him with a permanent mark that he now looks back on as the proof of his friendship with his Leafeon. He had made that Eevee his starter Pokemon thereafter and they had become inseparable from that point onwards.

But... whatever came ahead he knew he had to do alone. What he was going to attempt to do was tantamount to going against the very end of the world. He could not be sure that he would even survive. He didn't want that for his Leafeon...

His Leafeon cried out to him with all the resolution of a creature knowing full well what was at stake. It was ready to follow him to the ends of the world. He could understand his Leafeon more than any other Pokemon, even Luca, and heck, even all other humans too. The bond they shared was undeniable. He didn't need words to know what it wanted to say.

"Leafeon..."

It stood by him, a determined look on its face. There really was no convincing this little one. They were absolutely inseparable. He nodded at his Leafeon and the two walked to the beginning steps of Spear Pillar and onto an ornate slab on the ground just before reaching them. The slab itself was made from a material far different than the rest of the old broken pillars and steps, with an unusual engraving of some ancient language on it. From his bag, he pulled out a strange golden shell-like flute that resonated an elusive and mythical power. He placed his lips onto the mouthpiece and blew on it softly. An otherworldly and mystic tune played from it without him having to do anything as an unseen contraption from within rotated the segmented parts of the flute to play that alien melody autonomously.

When it ended, a glass-like stairway began to materialize. They all lead far up into the sky, to the beginning of time, space, and all that had ever existed. The birth of life and the end of destiny. The start of all these problems... The Hall of Origin.

He climbed for what felt like hours, each step heavier than the last. He wanted to collapse right there and then, but he would not allow himself. The unnerving silence stabbed at him as he drew closer to the end. Finally, at the top... there stood a being unlike any other looking directly at him. Ethereal and almost transcendental. It was like nothing he had ever read about. Nothing he could even begin to understand. The historical markings... the ancient glyphs... the very annals of time all pointed towards...

Arceus.

The ideals and truths that have led you here still hold strong in your heart. You've gone through much, the weary soul that believes himself a pretender. I shall pass on your judgement, speak. It's ethereal voice spoke to him inside his head.

"It was your doing, wasn't it? You wanted me here... You could've made them stop sooner; you knew I was coming. You could've fixed everything from the start, yet, you still insisted on meeting me in the end. I want to know... why?"

Arceus looked at him with an indescribable pressure and lack of any emotion, as though It were looking at an ant. What is it that you will do now as you stand before me? That is what I wished to know.

The boy laughed defeatedly. "So just a show, huh? Found us interesting for once?" He enlarged the small purple ball that he had been fiddling in his hand nervously that entire time. "Well, alright, I'll tell you what it is I came here for. It was to end what I had begun. To ask you for my one wish. Turn back the world's fate! Don't let it end like this! They all deserve better... every Pokemon and human living together. Please, I implore you!"

The world's failing is their own. Once judged, it will not be undone. This judgement is for you alone.

"Then so be it."

He produced an ancient blue tablet from his satchel, glyph-like lettering engraved on its surface. At the mere presence of Arceus, the tablet trembled with incredible power. It burst and shattered into thousands of shards that then encircled the deity in a glow that forced It to change its forms.

"Leafeon, Leaf Storm!" With that, Leafeon unleashed a great power from its own being, materializing a massive swarm of leaves to weaken Arceus by slashing at the vulnerability the tablet had afforded them. As if understanding the next set of commands without being told, Leafeon followed up with Grass Knot, enveloping Arceus' legs in a binding hold and forcing the almighty being to kneel.

That tablet... what... no... who led you to this human?

"As the creator, you must understand! I want to see this world live on. I must fix this. Even if I have to take you down." Leafeon struggled intensely to keep its hold. Even severely weakened by the tablet, Arceus was stronger than they could've imagined. The boy threw the purple ball with all his might, wishing against all hope itself that it would work.

As the ball took in the almighty being's form into it, immediately it began to shatter. White streaks of light formed across its entire surface.

Come on... I can't let things lie as it is... please..... He thought to himself. With every shake, the white glowing cracks increased until eventually there was nothing of the purple from the ball, only a white sphere too bright to even look upon.

The ball broke entirely at this and Arceus' form began seeping back into the Hall of Origin, stronger than ever before and undoubtedly angered by this insolence. The boy felt his heart sink to its very depths. His hopes had been shattered along with the ball.

"Arrogance! O' foolish child of man!" Its voice echoed throughout the cosmos and in his head at the same time. Its anger had now become the very air around them. "My Judgement will not be light for you or your world!"

Arceus' golden rims along his sides began to glow pure white.

No... no no no no! His thoughts began to grow rampant. This wasn't how he wanted things to end. In his desperation, he pulled a brown tablet out of his satchel and like the blue one from before, it vanished changing Arceus' form with It still creating Its Judgement.

"Leafeon! Solar Blade!" Leafeon slashed at Arceus with a massive blade of energy, forcing the figure to fall again. In a final act of desperation, the boy pulled out a pinkish ball with purple swirls that he had kept in his bag since he'd first started his journey. He had no idea what it really was. It was like no other Pokeball he had ever seen, and truthfully, he could not even so much as remember where he'd obtained it from, but this was the last shot he was going to get. It was now or never.

He ran towards Arceus with all his might, Its Judgement filling the Hall of Origin with a pure white light. He felt himself disappearing... but this was not the end... he had to...

Finally, he managed to connect the ball with Its body. Arceus' Judgement remained as its form went into the pink ball. The boy felt his own body slowly disappearing, the light of Judgement seemingly shredding his very existence. He felt himself beginning to slip into nothing...

Finally, his strength left him altogether and the ball slipped out of his hand and onto the floor where it still shook.

Then the shaking stopped.

Arceus was caught...

An explosion went off atop Mt. Coronet with a strength rivaling even the strongest volcanic eruption. A white, blindingly bright light enveloped the entire mountain top as though a star had gone supernova. The shockwave of pressure and air reached out for miles, shaking the earth with violence. Almost as suddenly as it had appeared, the white light shrank as though it had collapsed into itself and disappeared. The resulting phenomena left a now hollowed Mt. Coronet, a scar of what had taken place.

All of the Pokemon that had been instinctually called had stayed all throughout having not been scared away by the explosion. Sensing that the moment had passed, they began to scatter back to their homes.

The Pokemon who had battled for their master turned towards the guardians, seeing if they still intended to fight in their frenzied state. Yet, it was as though their anger had been blown away by that explosion and they now started to return to their own resting locations too.

The oceans calmed, the sky cleared, and a gentle sunlight filled the landscape as the ground itself began to rest and settle. The four Pokemon now without a master cried their respect at Mt. Coronet one last time almost as if knowing what had happened, and they too headed back to their homes.

The boy awoke with a start, his vision having a hard time adjusting to the bright pastel colors of his surroundings. The world itself had become incredibly alien and unlike anything he'd ever seen before, as though it had come straight out of a children's fairy tale. The clouds were unnaturally fluffy, the trees unusually lush. Even the air tasted and smelled slightly sweet. Stranger yet, he felt MUCH better than he had in months, heck even years. His clothes were still tattered, but his limbs felt more flexible than he could've imagined only a week ago. In taking a look around him, he noticed a large white egg sitting next to his legs, and on the other side, a small brown fox-like animal.

"L-Leafeon?!" He shook it gently with one hand. "Leafeon, c'mon buddy, if it's you say something." He flinched at his own voice, it sounded much... different. He shook off his immediate surprise, his concerns entirely on the Eevee before him.

It slowly awakened to its name, or perhaps maybe the pestering from him. "Leafeon! Is everything alright?! You're not hurt or anything?" It shook its head in order to shake off its sleep and then proceeded to stare at him blankly. "Leafeon...?"

Stuck in a stupor and finally regaining its sense, it jumped with fear as it realized that there was an unknown human before it, its wild instincts telling it to run.

"Wait Leafeon where are you going?!" The boy ran after it leaving the egg behind. The boy was beginning to see how deathly afraid the Eevee was of him, and a sense of dread filled him as he chased after it. What was going on? Why had his Leafeon reverted to an Eevee? It almost felt like he was chasing after a wild Pokemon that couldn't recognize him at all. Despite all of that, he was sure that this was his Leafeon. Every slight twitch of its ears, every swish of its tail... even in the way it ran he could see every bit of his old Leafeon's mannerisms in it.

"Leafeon! It's me!" The small Eevee kicked dirt into his face with Sand-Attack and used Tackle to make him stumble backwards while he shook the dirt off, his eyes watery. The Eevee then used Bite on his leg causing the boy to yell in pain, further startling the fox making it run away again. Had his Leafeon truly lost its memory? All the times they had spent together... Could they truly have been lost to the wind? Tears began to roll down his eyes. "Leafeon!!!"

The Eevee turned back in the middle of its run at the sound of its former name. Seeing the boy crying seemingly slowed its stride, as though it had felt guilty about what it had done. In looking back however, it crashed into the large egg from before, sending both of them careening towards a very steep cliff. The Eevee cried out in fear and tried to dig its claws into the ground trying to slow down its rapid slide, to no avail as it flew off the edge along with the egg.

"Leafeon!!! I'm coming buddy!" The boy said, throwing himself over the cliff after the fox. He barely caught a hold of the Eevee and quickly manuvered himself to protect it from the inevitable drop by turning his body to the ground in order to cushion its fall. He was left breathless as the pain from the impact sent shockwaves through his entire back.

The Eevee, understanding that it had just been saved, saw as the boy struggled in pain. It cried out to him in its worry and licked his cheek, easing one part of the boy's worry. Finally composed, he sighed with relief as he relaxed his body into the cushiony grass beneath him.

"What a ride, huh? You really don't seem to remember anything... well... that's too bad..." The boy began to cry. His exhaustion had gotten the better of him, slowly lulling him to sleep as tears rolled down his cheeks. It had been a long day for his weary soul. The Eevee didn't understand a word the boy had been saying, but it stayed with him, seemingly concerned for him.

From his dreamless sleep he heard the Eevee cry out in panic, and in the distance, the clattering of hooves.

Author's Note

This is a 2022 rewrite of Pokemon: Knight of Order which was written in late 2012. It’s a decade old story now and I’ve done my best to adapt the initial chapters to fit more modern times. That’s no excuse to forgive its shortcomings but hopefully if you keep this in mind it’ll make the reading experience more tolerable!

Chapter 1: New Region? No... A New World!

He felt incredibly alone. It was unlike any other time in his journeys throughout his life. From the early points of his childhood, he had always spent his life with his Leafeon by his side. But now, he didn't even have that. Now he was in a strange unown place that he could not make heads or tails of. Following the events from before, he didn't even know if he was dead, dreaming, or in some form of afterlife. His emotionally stricken heart had found it hard to cope with it all.

He closed his eyes awaiting something. But what? Awaiting someone. But who? It was a waiting game that was driving him insane. He felt so very alone as he whispered his sorries to Luca, hoping in his heart he had done the right thing. Hoping he'd somehow made a difference in the world's fate.

He shook those depressing thoughts out of his head as he placed an ear to the earth beneath him to listen to any signs of life, Pokemon or human. He rested his head back into the smooth grass, the tears of resignation welling up in his eyes as he heard nothing and no one, save for the Eevee beside him. At the very least, it seemed the small fox had come to trust him again. That alone kept him from truly despairing. He didn't dislike the idea of having to start all over in their friendship, as he loved his little friend all the same. But it didn't help much as he felt lonely within its company. And even as he closed his eyes to rest, his sleep was restless and empty.

Amidst his dreamless sleep, the Eevee licked his cheek with expressive worry and curled up into a ball within his arms, seemingly standing guard for him. Not everything was awful, so it seemed. At least the Eevee was worried about him. That was a start. He let his exhaustion wash over him and the tired sleep endured, the warmth of the brown fox expanding throughout his chest.

Some time passed and suddenly, he heard the faint gallop of hooves. He felt as the Eevee perked itself up suddenly, it too awaiting something coming closer. He had been asleep quite a while, but he was still too exhausted to even get up. He was drained. Hungry too. No energy left to even see what it could be.

He found an inner strength to pull himself up and open his eyes when the small Eevee began to growl and pat its tail on his arm, urging him to awaken. The small fox stood before him readied to protect him from something it perceived as dangerous. In the distance was a light blue creature with wings and a rainbow mane hovering in the air, staring at them with curiosity.

A Pokemon? I've never seen anything like it. He pulled out a still completely intact Pokedex from his pocket and pointed it towards the Pokemon before him. Strangely, it offered no information on it as if the creature had no known entry to begin with.

Eevee coiled back in preparation of executing a move. The boy surmised that it was dangerous, given by the signs of his Eevee's instinctual nature to stand its ground. If their species did not feel like they had the option to run, then its last resort was to fight.

"Eevee, are you willing to battle for me?" He whispered to it thinking that now would be the best time to see if the small fox would still consider following his orders despite its lack of familiarity. His fears confirmed, the small Eevee remained unresponsive to his questions or command. It had no trust in him, no sense of companionship. The Eevee might as well have been a wild Pokemon by all accounts. He looked over at the ponyta-like creature with growing anxiety as it just kept on staring. He could feel a cold sweat run down the side of his temple. In the silence of this showdown, he could hear both his and the fox's heart beating in anticipation.

Finally, the deadlock seized the moment the pony drew closer to the two in its curiosity which caused Eevee to kick up sand into its face, making it flinch and shake off the sand with its hooves.

"Hey, what was that for!"

He heard it shout in a sort of mildly high-pitched voice like that of a tomboyish girl. He was absolutely bewildered by the fact that it could talk. He knew that some special Pokemon like his Lucario and many of the legendaries could speak through telepathy using their psychic abilities, but not with this level of vocal range. This Pokemon was undoubtedly special, and powerful at that, with no question that its hyperintelligence could rival a human's. He had to be very careful.

Without warning, Eevee sprang forth in a Tackle, striking the blinded Pegasus. It sent the creature skiing to the ground, seemingly unfazed by the infantile fox's efforts to drive it away.

"Ow, stop that!" The pegasus yelled. It flew straight towards Eevee in a flight quicker than any Pokémon he'd ever seen to pin it to the ground and keep it from attacking. Not just powerful but also dizzyingly fast, the danger level was increasing by the second.

Before he could rush to the fox's aid, the Eevee enveloped itself in the white light of a Quick Attack and shook out of the sky-blue pegasus' grip. It then proceeded to juke her by stringing multiple Quick Attacks in rapid succession to jump from tree to tree, creating afterimages to occasionally tackle the confused ponyta.

Even if his Leafeon had reverted back to an Eevee and had lost all of its memories of their adventures together, its battle instinct and training had remained with it evident by the battle prowess of its decision-making and technique. That alone made him think that perhaps there was still something left in that little fox that would remember him, but he left those thoughts for later as the battle ensued.

Despite that, the unknown creature did not flinch at its attacks, as there was little power in Eevee's strikes. Seeing the little fox bounce off its hide reminded him of that Pokemon he'd saved back in that thunderstorm during his childhood. In his reminiscence, he made a grab for the scar that should have been down the length of his shoulder blade and all across his back... and was met with nothing.

Before he could even panic at this, however, the battle before him took a turn for the worse when the ponyta finally decided to fight back. "Okay that's it, it's go time!" The voice cracked. It drew its hind legs and kicked the Eevee as it rushed her, KO’ing it in one hit and leaving it fainted in the process.

"Eevee!" He reached his hand towards his belt for some pokeballs he could use to recall the Eevee with, but found nothing on it. In his desperation, all he could think to do was run down towards the fainted Eevee. His full-on sprint unsettled the pegasus and made her rear backwards to get some distance from the two.

"What's your problem? What did I do to you two?!" The Pokemon spoke again. He picked up the Eevee in his arms and tried to make a run for it.

Before he could get far, he felt himself be tackled by the Pegasus onto the ground, knocking the wind out of him. As he forcibly pushed the strange Pokemon away with all his might, it retracted its legs one last time and kicked him in the face, knocking him out cold.

"Don't you think you might have gone a little overboard?"

"I have no idea what that thing is... besides it attacked me first. I acted out in self-defense, I swear!"

"Still, you didn't have to kick it into submission you know. Seriously, reflect on this. This is terrible."

"Yeah yeah, I already said I was sorry. I didn't think I would hurt it that badly. Other ponies usually take worse. These creatures are fragile."

The voices grew louder as he slowly regained his consciousness completely. Their speech... they sounded very much like human voices. One of them was familiar and he'd already attributed it to the Pokemon that had attacked him. He was hopeful that the second voice had come from its human trainer, but in opening his eyes his worst fears were realized when it so happened to be a second Ponyta-type Pokemon. A purple one with a deeply violet mane with pink and blue highlights. They hadn't noticed that he'd awoken yet, but it was unnerving all the same. The boy quickly scanned his surroundings in order to make a plan of escape.

For starters, he was lying on a soft mattress. By the feel of the cushioned panels, he narrowed it down to a sofa. Far over to his opposite side was his Eevee sleeping soundly on a rocking chair covered in a blue rag. His eyes widened when he spotted the horn of the purple ponyta light up and a pencil begin to write on its own into a hovering book.

Psychic, huh... it doesn't have wings so it must be a pure Psychic type. Just hope by the color it isn't half poison. That rainbow one must be flying and fighting considering her sheer strength, those double kicks were hard. Weird... Could I be in some sort of new region? He moved a bit, noticing that his shirt had become a bundle under the sofa while he was laid down face first. As he moved to adjust it ever so lightly, he felt their stares focus on him. He became as still as ice and could feel them surveying every inch of his body. He sincerely hoped they hadn't noticed he'd woken up yet. He swore under his breath at his light blunder.

"So you were saying, Twi? What is this thing?" The rainbow-colored Pokemon asked.

He almost let out a sigh of relief, but he was carefully controlling his actions now. He listened in on the conversation.

"I really don't know. That fox is weird too. It is unlike anything I've read or seen in my books." The purple one responded, her voice was scholarly, assured, and knowing. Nerdy almost.

"It could be a bear."

"Don't be silly, it's far too thin and hairless to be a bear."

What? That was offensive. He wasn't an underdeveloped man or anything. The last time he saw himself, he was in the beginning stages of having a friendly beard since he aimed to be a Pokemon Professor in his retirement. Sure, it was just a light morning shadow, but it was something. He was, after all, near to being twenty-five years of age. Actually, today should have been his birthday, though not like it mattered in this situation. He'd never really celebrated his birthday as he hadn't many human companions and the ones he did have he kept at arm's length.

"I know a bear when I see one."

"Hmm, why not call over Fluttershy? She might know what it is considering she's around animals all the time."

"Yeah, and I'll get her to agree with me, just you watch." Like that, the rainbow one zoomed out of a nearby circular window.

Animal? Had they really never seen a human before? What kind of Pokemon were these things...? He thought to himself while he surveyed the room a bit, looking at the furniture and the odd curving design of the circular room. The walls were made of brown bark as if the house itself was carved into a big tree.

In the absence of the other, the purple ponyta got unnervingly close to him and began prodding at his sides. He closed his eyes to be careful that it wouldn't notice that he was awake. He felt a small glass item against his forehead, like some sort of thermometer. He could also hear sketching noises as if it was writing something down on a piece of paper. His curiosity and anxiety were driving him insane by this point. What was it trying to do to him? Was it... analyzing him? A sudden force plucked a single hair straight out of his head. It was difficult not to flinch but he managed somehow, biting back the pain his hands were desperately wanting to soothe like an itch.

He heard her move back to where her study was, her hooves making less noise the more she moved away. He carefully opened one eye and viewed the side of the purple unicorn Pokemon levitating the piece of his hair she had plucked, and with her psychic abilities, she brought it into a small flask with liquid in it which immediately began to turn brown.

"Huh... this is strange. Never seen anything like it." She said as she began to 'study' his hair.

He assured himself that he had lost all of his wits. He was either dreaming of these different-hued ponytas or he was dead. He didn't bother thinking too much on it, for if he wasn't dead, all that mattered now was his Eevee. He needed to get it to safety. That was everything on his mind. He hadn't even spared a thought for what would come next after that.

Before he even had the chance to formulate a plan, however, the door burst open and the rainbow Pokemon's wings were fluttering and struggling to pull something into the room.

"C'mon, Fluttershy, you gotta see this!" She said as she flew into the room. It dropped off on the floor yet another winged pony Pokemon, this time in a yellow with a large curled pinkish mane.

"Sorry, Rainbow Dash, I'm still half asleep. The animals kicked up quite a fuzz last night so it was hard to get a moment of rest. I think they might've been spooked by something." She said in a delicate and soft voice, almost motherly.

How was it not surprising anymore that they could all talk? Maybe they were some sort of talking Pokemon or something, happened he to be in a new region.

"Well, this'll shake the sleep right off ya, take a look!" The rainbow one pointed towards him. He could do nothing but listen in as they talked about him.

"Well... what is it?"

"That's why we brought you here. We think it's a bear or something and we thought you might know better."

"Correction, you are the only one who thinks it's a bear."

"Will you can it, Twilight."

He felt a hoof to his cheek at this, the yellow pony pokemon taking great care to be gentle evident by its light touch as it felt the rest of his upper body.

"Oh, uhm... I can't say I've ever seen anything like it. It doesn't have claws or even fangs. What do you think it is, Twilight?"

"I poured over all of my books on animals and their anatomy. My best guess is... an oversized hairless monkey."

They've really never seen a human before... if they even have literature to begin with and it mentioned nothing about us, then something is definitely wrong here. He thought to himself.

"That makes sense. It has fingers like one." The yellow Pokemon responded and placed a hoof in his open hand.

"Maybe it's a new species or something." The purple one said. "Though the mystery runs deeper considering the cloth around its body. Even the trinkets it had on hand were made of processed metals and synthetic materials. Whatever it is, it's safe to assume that it has the same level of intelligence as us."

The boy's body flinched involuntarily at this revelation as he considered the possibility of humans not existing in this strange new reality.

"Poor thing must be scared." The yellow one stroked his hair, mistaking this for a night terror.

"Well, maybe after what Dash did, I don't doubt it. Kicked it unconscious."

"I already said I was sorry! Don't look at me like that, Fluttershy."

"Come, Fluttershy, he is the first, there is that." The boy opened his eyes in curiosity to see the purple mare lead her away from him, only to be struck with panic as she pointed at Eevee.

The yellow one passed a hoof over the Eevee's head and began to pet it. "Aw, it's so cute!"

"Troublesome too." The rainbow one replied. "It was the one that attacked me."

"Come on, look at it, it wouldn't even hurt a fly." The yellow one held Eevee to her chest in a hug. "It is rather strange though, it's unlike any fox I've seen either."

"A phenomenon is all we can call it for now." The purple one proposed. "We just have to wait for them to wake up and hope that they're not too afraid of us especially considering the circumstances."

As the yellow pegasus let down the Eevee onto the chair again, in that moment, it began to struggle in pain while still unconscious. He could feel it too. Even if the Eevee had forgotten him, he hadn't. He could sense the pain that it was under while it shook and tremored.

"Huh, what's going on with it?" The rainbow one asked.

"It seems feverish, could it be sick? Its cry is very distinct."

"It sounds hurt..." The yellow pegasus pet it gently trying to comfort it.

Perhaps because of the fantastical day he already had, seeing his buddy struggle in pain like this had made him a bit irrational, throwing away any semblance of a plan he'd been patiently formulating in his head.

"Get away from Eevee!" With sheer force, he pulled his aching body up off the sofa, his backpack and effects still in hand, and he made a sprint over to the three now startled ponytas who hadn't even the time to react to his presence before he snatched Eevee as quickly as he could. The door to the outside had been right beside them and in one quick motion, he managed to burst through it shortly after securing the fox within his arms.

"Rainbow Dash, don't!" He heard the purple one exclaim, seemingly trying to prevent her friend from retaliating and exacerbating the issue again.

The orange-gold light of the morning sun blinded him for a second and made him stumble from having tackled open the door with the full heft of his body. When his vision adjusted, he took a quick look at his surroundings. Much to his surprise, it turned out the house WAS carved into a tree. A big one at that. The houses all around him were pastel colored and normal comparatively, and their style reminded him of some of the more old-fashioned houses he'd seen on his travels. He felt his mind stop thinking in his panic altogether the moment many of the similar types of Pokemon like the ones from before all turned to look his way, whispering under their breath as they talked about him.

He had surely gone crazy. How could there be an entire town of just Pokemon? How could Pokemon build all of this?! His curiosity did not last long as he could feel Eevee squirm in his arms and cry out in pain. He was painfully aware of the presences behind him too. They were trying to say something to no avail since he hadn't made room in his head to think of anything else. He made a mad dash towards the far end of the town that led to the empty roads near a large hillside.

"Hold on buddy, I just need to find a way out of here. There must be civilization somewhere. Please, hold on..."

"Wait, please! Don't leave!" He heard the voice of the purple Pokemon shout out to him. But the boy had not been in the mood to listen in his panic.

He kept running as fast as his legs could carry. When he reached the top of the hill at the end of the road, he couldn't believe his eyes. He was knocked to the ground in his surprise.

"You have to be kidding me!!!"

Standing at the edge of a mountain was an entire city. No Pokemon could have built something like that! There must be humans there! He thought to himself, his brain desperately ignoring the morning sun almost tick like a clock halfway above the horizon.

Breathless and seemingly unpursued, he decided to walk after he had lost sight of the town behind the hill. He had a goal now; he needed to go there and find someone that could help his Eevee.

After some time walking, he neared an area with a lot of trees in neat rows. He laid back on a tree to rest, and as he looked up, he noticed bright red apples hanging from its branches. It was a lone apple tree that had strayed outside the fenced apple orchard of a farm he had just now noticed. After he'd seen that town of ponytas, it didn't seem outlandish to think that one of them would be taking care of that farm, so he made no thought to go ask for help there.

The boy's stomach began to rumble at the sight of the plump ripeness of the apples. He hazard a guess that maybe his Eevee had been hungry too, and decided that he would try to get one to share. Tried as he might though, he didn't have the strength to climb the tree as he'd expended the last of his energy by running for dear life on an empty stomach. He hit the tree with his forehead in resignation and to his surprise, it shook easily. He hadn't put that much force in his expression of frustration, as his forehead hadn't even hurt from that hit, but the tree had shaken with a mighty force all the same. But a couple of apples fell off the tree all the same. Well that was convenient. He couldn't help but think.

He punched the tree with his full might in a sort of hypothesis, testing his assumptions. Again, it did not hurt. This time, the tree shook much harder. It was almost as if the very tree itself wanted to shake the apples off and almost all fell from how loose they already were. He now had a good dozen on his hands and began to eat what he could while placing the rest in his rucksack. He took out a small knife and cut up one into tiny pieces for his Eevee to eat.

As he tried nudging the little fox awake and held out a small piece for it to eat, however, it actively refused the slice, still unconscious as if in a deep sleep. "C'mon buddy, wake up please." He tried to get him to eat several times. He even tried opening Eevee's mouth gently and placing the slice of apple in its mouth in hopes it would eat it by instinct. To his relief, it managed to eat it but that quickly turned to worry as it started to cry out in pain again with the second slice as the Eevee let it fall out of its mouth.

"I guess you aren't hungry after all... Don't worry, you'll be fine... I promise..." He petted the little fox until it finally calmed down again.

Beside himself with worry, he checked the contents of his bag to see what he had on hand that could help. The medicines and potions he had on him had proved ineffective at helping the ailing Eeevee. If only I had a pokeball I could alleviate its suffering a little. He thought to himself. Then, he spotted the machine that Kurt had given him so long ago which he had not had a use for in almost a decade. Could it be used with anything other than Apricorns to make pokeballs? He eyed the apples curiously and took one of them out. Kurt was a genius inventor he had met and subsequently helped back in Johto, and the machine he'd given him was his pride and joy, a Pokeriss, a hand-held device able to produce Pokeballs on the fly, but only with the nuts known as apricorns. Since having awoken in this place, he had not so much as spotted even a berry let alone an apricorn so this was an act of desperation on his part.

He slotted the apple into the device in his curiosity and prayed with all his might for it to work as he closed the little glass hatch at the top of the device. It began to glow in its usual rainbow hue to signify that it was working as intended, and he sighed a heavy sigh of relief. He now wondered what would be produced from those apples. It would take a while for it to produce a single pokeball no doubt, but if it worked, he could place Eevee into one and make it much easier to transport him to a Pokemon center. That was, if one even existed in this place...

Suddenly, the voices of the ponyta Pokemon from before were now coming over the hill. It wasn't just the three from before, but two new ones too as a white one with a purple mane and a bright pink one trailed alongside them. The boy quickly placed the Pokeriss into his jacket's pocket and started to sprint with his Eevee in tow.

His tattered clothing had been making it difficult to run since his torn pants consistently got the cuffs caught underneath his shoe, making him stumble. Even without those issues, he noticed that those ponytas were far too quick for him to outrun, so he quickly slid his backpack onto his frontside while in mid-dash, and secured Eeevee within it in order to use the full weight of his arms and body to run faster. With the ponytas gaining in on him, he jumped the picket fence in a last-ditch effort to escape. The orchid would give him some cover from the flying ones and generally slow them down even on their ground pursuit.

From his many years of handling all sorts of Pokemon, he had guessed correctly that although they were fast like typical ponytas, they generally had trouble adjusting to the flexible terrain afforded to him by the row of trees. The Pegasi would also have issues recklessly entering the tree line since the branches presented a big obstacle one way or another, not even considering the small flight space for making micro adjustments in aerial turns. But in the middle of their chase, he saw the cyan rainbowed pegasus fly farther in front of him outside the orchid, and the grounded ponytas split up to his sides and back. They were trying to pincer him into an ambush. Just a little distance over the rainbow Pokemon, he could see the bright red color of the farm's barn. If he could only reach it maybe he could barricade in there until they left him alone, he thought.

Just as he'd guessed, he was forced out of the maze of trees by the coordinated pursuit and was met by the cyan pegasus. He would not be done in like last time and was fully prepared to do everything possible to go right through her. As she readied herself to stop his advance, the boy quickly skidded into a slide and put all the force into his arms to do a very precise acrobatic maneuver that Winona from Hoenn had thought him. Then a second dance-like one that Wallace had forced onto him upon connecting with the ground again to regain his balance and continue his momentum into a sprint, much to the surprise of the rainbow Pokemon. Despite how embarrassed the ballerina-like moves made him feel, he had strung the two together for the benefit of Eevee, as they did not rattle his bag too much to make it uncomfortable for the little fox.

Being a long-term Pokemon trainer your whole life was no easy feat. You'd certainly pick up a thing or two in your years of travel. His physical prowess was unrivaled after more than a decade of adventures. But for some reason, his body felt simultaneously lighter and also weaker, and he found his body becoming sluggish after just that short sprint. He had felt like he was at 100% after that rest he'd taken at the tree, so he couldn't understand why he felt so tired already. Beyond that, his moves were uncoordinated and he had almost messed up the landing in that maneuver, almost as if his limbs had shortened and was trying to cope with the difference in the length of his legs and arms.

Still, he'd pulled it off expertly and jumped over and straight at the now encroaching barn entrance. With its doors bursting open at his tackle, he quickly shut them with his two hands. He laid Eevee down on the ground and used the full force of his back to guard the entrance. He slumped back into it in victorious relief. There were no milktank or one of those ponytas inside, and he thanked his lucky stars in between his short panting breath. Now it was just a matter of waiting this out. Surprisingly, he didn't feel them bang at the door like he initially expected them to. In fact, it was quiet. A little too quiet...? He sighed in relief as a few moments went by with nothing eventful.

His heart sank the moment a bright purple light flashed in front of his eyes and the silhouette of the studious ponyta appeared before him. The psychic purple Pokemon knew Teleport...

He stared at her in horror and quickly took hold of his Eevee in his arms; his breathing erratic as it paced closer to him. He was caught... why didn't he think this through? These Pokemon were dangerously powerful, and he feared what they might do to him now. What did they want with him in the first place? He hadn't really listened at all despite their efforts to communicate with him. He felt himself slowly open up to the idea that maybe he could bargain with them. Could he? He hadn't been thinking straight yet.

Now with the purple unicorn standing right in front of him, she lifted a hoof and slowly brought it close to his head. He broke into a cold sweat as her slow, careful movements built up the anticipation of the moment. What was it going to do?

Though, instead of his face, her hoof eventually landed on the door behind him to push it open. He fell backwards into the wide-open outdoors, the rest of the ponies now all staring at him with yet another new face in the mix. This, an orange one with a cowboy hat, undoubtedly the rancher of that farm. He closed his eyes and didn't dare to move; he was exhausted and his heavy breathing from all that running wasn't helping his anxiety.

"See? What did I tell you? It's trouble. We should just bind it." The cyan one spoke first.

"Now calm down, Dash, we just heard it talk, maybe we can communicate with it."

"I came to check out the ruckus you girls were making here but man I was not expecting this." Said the new voice, western in its accent. Probably from the orange one that had just arrived.

"Oo, oo, what is it? Could it be a new friend? Does it have any friends? I could be its first!" That was a lot of talking... another new voice, this one more excited and cheerful.

"Wait up, Pinkie, don't scare it. It's been through a lot already."

"Seriously, Rainbow Dash? I've told you time and again to take more care in your fits of anger." Said yet another new voice, this one more elegant and refined.

"What?! How do you even know it was me before anyone even told you? Okay, it was me... but I'm serious, it was self-defense!"

"Wadda ya reckon 'it' is?"

"Well, we first thought it was a monke-"

"Bear."

"A bear, but then we thought it was a monkey. That is until it suddenly spoke and ran off with that fox thing over there."

"It spoke? Animals can't speak Twi, don't be silly."

"I don't think its an animal Rarity."

"U-uhm yeah. Rainbow Dash and I were there when it happened. I think it's still panicked by us."

Sure enough, it was just as the yellow one had said. The boy was still in a major fit of panic and was unable to properly parse the conversation happening right in front of him. He couldn't understand where all of his worries were coming from, as he had always stayed calm in unnerving situations considering his adventuring experience, but now just about anything made him flinch as though his nerves of steel had been shattered or perhaps even reverted to a much earlier point in his career.

The yellow pegasus placed a gentle hoof on his chest and whispered softly. "Um, you don't have to be afraid, everything is going to be alright. Everything will be okay." The soft voice relaxed him a little. The emotional spell on him broke as he was comforted, and finally, the words that they were saying began to seep into his skull.

"Y-you can talk..." Was the first thing he thought to say at that moment.

"Of course we can, we're just as amazed that you can talk too." The purple one loomed over him again, talking a little common sense into him.

He sat upright, the pony Pokemon making way as he did. They all sat down in front of him and he somehow guessed there were a lot of questions that would need to be answered. At that moment, his Eevee began to squirm again like if it were some cosmic joke on the poor boy. His anxiety immediately brought him out of the hands of rationality and he made yet another mad dash for escape when he thought he had found an opening.

Though it didn't last long as a lasso wrapped around his legs and pulled him back onto the ground. He struggled to pull free from it. He could hear his Eevee crying out in pain, and his stupid panicky mind associated its pain with the rope. He writhed within the lasso as much as he could.

"Eevee, everything will be fine... I just have to get you out of here... please..." He said as he tried pulling the lasso off of his legs.

The purple ponyta sighed and brought her horn up to his forehead. As it lit up, his consciousness left him and he fell into a deep sleep.

He slowly awoke again. Now though, he found himself guarded by the six ponytas from all sides with his back against the wall. He was inside a different place altogether, in a rather cozy cottage with many birdhouses and feeding bowls laid about. He slumped back onto the wall defeatedly. Even he could tell when there was no point in running anymore.

"Guess who's awake." Huffed the rainbow one.

"Will you cut it out, Rainbow Dash. No doubt it's because of stuff like this that its afraid of us."

"Rainbow... Dash?" The boy followed up involuntarily. 'So they also have names' he thought.

"Oh! Yes, that mean one over there is Rainbow Dash. I'm Twilight Sparkle by the way. I'm sorry if we had to resort to these measures to calm you down." She bowed her head in apology. Judging from everything he'd seen up until that point, he could tell at a glance how much the curiosity in her heart poured over, and was dying to ask all sorts of questions.

"I-It's okay. I understand that I was acting a bit irrationally..." The boy said and bowed his head to her as well.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie, nice to meet you!" The pink one exclaimed as she cheerfully walked over to him and placed both of her hooves on his chest. She didn't have any special features like the pegasus or the unicorn, but she was much stronger than the other two undoubtedly and he couldn't help but huff when she brought them down on top of him. "Oops, I'm sorry!"

"I-I'm Fluttershy." The yellow one meekly called from the farthest point of the group. Much like her name suggested, she was incredibly shy. Her whole body language spelled out her lack of self-confidence. Her shyness now seemed a little uncharacteristic considering how she'd treated him earlier, but he had seen a similar attitude from Pokemon breeders. She was like the types of people who could only be themselves around animals and Pokemon, and it made sense considering that they had thought he was an animal not moments before.

"Howdy, Applejack's the name." The orange one bowed respectively. She must've been the farm hand that had lassoed him earlier.

"Rarity, dear. A pleasure." Followed the white one. With one glance, she eyed the boy's clothing and shook her head in disapproval. "My... Your clothes are a mess. Does your kind dress like this usually or have you taken a tumble through a whirlwind?"

"Oh? No. I've just been... through a lot. I don't have any spare clothes though, and I don't know where I'd find another."

"Mind if I whip something up for you? Free of charge of course. I take this as an opportunity to work on my sewing skills, dear. It's quite the prospective challenge for a seamstress." She said as she hid her generous intentions with excuses.

"Please, if you could. I would be very grateful, though I would like to pay you back if possible."

"Think nothing of it, surely." At this, she left the room to go work on his clothes.

A nagging feeling nettled at him as they conversed. He felt something was off. Suddenly, it struck him all at once.

"Eevee!"

"It's okay! Everything is going to be okay." Fluttershy brought her hooves to his chest to calm him down again. It seemed initially considering him as an animal had done work towards her being more confident with him as she did her best to comfort the boy.

"W-What happened to him?" He asked after having calmed a bit more.

"By Eevee do you mean the small fox you were carrying?" Twilight asked. He nodded in reply. "Fluttershy is a good animal caretaker and she saw how sick that Eevee was. We brought it back to her house to nurse it. It's doing a lot better now." Her words were a huge relief as he felt himself sink back into the couch he was on, his fears abating.

"Oh yes, it seemed like it had a fever, so I gave the poor thing some medicine. It got better almost immediately, so now it just needs a little rest."

"Thank goodness..." It had been the first real sense of calm he had felt since arriving at this strange place. He was downright overcome with relief. "And thank you Fluttershy. To you all as well. If it hadn't been for you all chasing me down when I panicked, Eevee might still have been in danger." He bent forward at a perfect right angle and bowed his head, an expression traditionally used in his home region to show great reverence, respect, or apology.

"It's alright, we just felt like helping you is all. We saw how panicked you were, so it felt only natural. Now I understand what had you up in arms so much. You really care about that fox don't you?" Twilight responded.

"Mm." He nodded as he got back to sitting on the couch. "He's my best friend. A lot has happened lately, and I've been dealing with a lot even before meeting any of you. I couldn't help my worry make a fool of my senses. Sincerely, I'm sorry."

Twilight pondered a bit, and then finally asked an important question that every one of them had been waiting to ask. "I hope you don't mind us asking, but what are you?"

Well, it seemed it was the best time to start answering their questions now that he was afforded some time and tranquility. "I am... a human."

"Human?"

He spent several agonizing minutes explaining to them what humans were. The ancestry of human evolution. What humans had achieved. How they lived their lives. All the important bits while leaving the more nuanced things for some other time.

"Wow, so we have a lot in common then." Twilight thought a bit about this. "But from all this, surely we would've heard about humans before right? Since you said that they lived all across the world. To be honest, you're the first human anyone has ever seen to my knowledge, and I read a lot of books!"

"Y-yeah. I was thinking about that when we first met. I uh... overhead when you talked about me back in your home, Twilight." He said as he'd gotten to know them a bit better. "Likewise, I've never seen creatures quite like you. I've seen all sorts of Pokemon throughout the world but you're the first I've met of your kind. Moreso, you're able to talk with your vocal chords which is something I didn't even know was possible."

"Ehm, Pokemon? You mentioned them a few times when you talked about humans and their history. We've never called ourselves that so we don't know much about them. All of us are ponies. Specifically, Rarity and I are Unicorns, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are Pegasi, and Pinkie Pie and Applejack are earth ponies."

"Yeah... I've been thinking about that this entire time. It's probably safe to assume you guys aren't even Pokemon to begin with, considering the circumstantial evidence. But talking to pony-types is still quite strange since I can't help attribute you to some similar Pokemon. I'm sorry if I say something that offends you. I don't quite know how to handle this situation."

"Us neither, sugarcube. It'll take some learning I reckon." Applejack followed up.

Rainbow Dash cut into the conversation at this point and dropped Eevee into his arms gently. "Eevee! Thank goodness you are alright." He held the Eevee in a tight embrace, not wanting to let go. It opened its eyes and yawned sleepily in a stupor, probably from the medicine.

"You're welcome." Rainbow Dash flew back to where she was previously spectating. Despite her rudeness, the cyan pegasus was quite kind and caring in her own way.

"Thank you, Rainbow Dash, I appreciate it. I'm... sorry we met in less-than-ideal circumstances." He bowed his head to her apologetically.

"Not even a problem, don't mention it." She batted her wing as if dismissing the issue altogether like it were a thing of the past.

"O-oh, uhm, is Eevee one of the Pokemon you were talking about? You mentioned that they were animal companions, right?" Fluttershy said while petting the brown fox on his lap.

"Yeah, you guessed right. Eevee is a Pokemon." He thought a bit more on his response when they all looked at him inquisitively as if asking with their stares what the difference between a Pokémon and an animal was. "So uh... for us humans, Pokemon is just a short word for pocket monsters. Compared to normal animals, they are incredible creatures that can even control the elements with their powers. They can do a range of things from strengthening their own bodies to affecting the very weather. Pokemon also have an innate ability to shrink down to such an incredibly small size that it allows them to fit in our pocket. Hence the term, 'Pocket Monster'."

"It sure isn't small enough to fit in your pocket though... and how could such a cutsie wootsie thing like that be a monster? Monsters are mean and scary." Pinkie Pie asked as she petted Eevee herself.

"Ehm, well we call them monsters because of our troubled, distant past when humans and Pokemon did not co-exist to this extent. But really, nowadays they're mostly gentle creatures with a few exceptions. They're quite intelligent and even understand us almost as well as any human can, sometimes even more so than the average person. This little one here... we've been together for ages so our bond is strong. We were best friends for a long time..." His explanation trailed off and his mind led him to a sad place momentarily. He picked himself up before any of the ponies could notice. "But you know, I'm still thinking that you guys are Pokemon considering how you all fit the bill for some of their typing categorizations."

"Typings? What do you mean?" Twilight spoke up.

"Typings are the kind of elements or attributes a Pokemon has and can use the power of. Ehm, for example, Twilight." The purple mare perked up. "You would've been considered a psychic-type Pokemon. A kind of Pokemon that is able to use the power of their mind to move around items with telekinesis. When you teleported back at the barn, I was so sure you were one too." He laughed nervously.

"Telekinesis? Oh, it's nothing like that. I was just using good ol' magic. I spent a long time studying the magical arts in Canterlot and more here in my study in Ponyville. Do humans know of magic?"

"Magic? Wait, like real magic?" She nodded her response at his question. "Whoa, for real? Uh, we do know OF it. Sometimes there are just unexplainable phenomena we can't help but attribute to magic of some kind, but the most we ever see in the way of 'magic' is parlor tricks and slight of hand illusions with decks of cards..."

"Oh I see, those tricks exist for ponies too. But yes, it's real magic. It's not an end all, be all power like some ponies believe it is, but magic is able to do some awesome stuff I do admit." She said as she used her magic to give him a few examples of the things she could do with it. It was a lot to take in for the boy, and he only stared in bewilderment.

"You know, Pokemon are the closest things to actual magic where I come from, but even then their powers can all be quantified and explained with science. At the end of the day, none of it is magic but it might as well be since humans are not able to mimic their power even through our advancements in our technology. This Eevee here, he has a unique set of moves, with one of them being Quick Attack. He's able to pool his energy to strengthen his body in order to gain a huge burst of speed all at once."

"So you mean to tell me that the things that Eevee did back at the forest when it moved really quickly with that white streamline behind it was its powers?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeah, you guessed it. This little guy wasn't listening to me back then, so I was powerless to stop it from fighting you. Probably acting out of self-defense since it might've considered you as a threat. Again, I'm sorry Rainbow Dash."

"It's okay, for real. I got to see something interesting at least! The way it just zipped from tree to tree and how it rattled me with that power was awesome! It might even rival my own speed with that." As he and Rainbow Dash spoke of the events only they had seen, the others were beset with envious curiosity. "I was doing my workout routine when I heard a loud crash so I came to check it out and I saw both of you lying on the ground. Hmm, but you said it wasn't listening to you? Does it usually?"

"Yeah. My occupation err... I'm what's known as a Pokemon trainer. Usually, Pokemon listen to our commands no matter what once they recognize you as their master, but this little one here attacked you regardless of what I had to say. Eevee and I have been friends for ages so there shouldn't have been an issue but... I'm sorry. A lot of strange things have been happening lately."

"It attacked? Why would it do such a thing... Are Pokemon usually violent?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.

"Pokemon are not strictly aggressive by nature. Some are territorial, which is completely natural. Ah, that's right. Forgot to mention it. Pokemon Trainers often battle each other with their Pokemon."

"Battle?! Oh my... what for? Doesn't that hurt them?" She asked frantically.

"Fluttershy, calm down, he might have an explanation." Twilight told her, which made her pull back from the questions a bit.

"It might sound bad, but some Pokemon love to battle. It doesn't hurt them all too much unless they take serious damage which very rarely happens as Pokemon Trainers are licensed and expected to uphold the rules as much as possible, with heavy penalties otherwise. Not everything is about battling though. For Pokemon trainers and other Pokémon enthusiasts, there are those that treat Pokemon as pets. Me? My Eevee is my companion, my family. I wouldn't battle with him if I knew he didn't like it. But, in the end, we're bred from that kind of cloth." That eased her troubled heart a bit. "If it really troubles you, Fluttershy, there are also Pokemon Breeders whose whole job lies in nurturing and raising Pokemon in big daycares, not battling. They're also the ones to rehabilitate wild Pokemon who become too injured to be reintroduced to the wild too soon."

"Oh... thank goodness. I don't think I'd be cut out for a trainer."

"Sounds like breeder is down your alley, Shy!" Pinkie Pie followed up. "But you said you were a trainer? Is that like a job? What's that like?"

"It's hard to put it into words, but I guess Pokemon trainers are adventurers since they travel the world to collect information on Pokemon and compete for sport. Trainers find purpose in the heat of Pokemon battles. We join massive tournaments that happen once a year to see who the very best trainers and their Pokémon are. There's an old adage in my hometown that reads 'Only through battle do we find the things most important to us.' In my case, I found that my most important thing is wanting to protect my friends..." His voice trailed off.

"It's a lovely sentiment, sugarcube. I've been meaning to ask, is there any Pokemon besides Eevee? You know, like a different species?" Applejack asked, intrigued by the fox in his arms.

"Of course. Actually, in the world there has been six hundred and forty-nine different unique Pokemon sighted, if you can believe it. More are being discovered every single day. My Pokemon professor theorized once that there might be more than a thousand out there!"

"What!? That's so many!" Rainbow Dash couldn't help but exclaim.

"I know, it's incredible."

"You said Pokemon trainers collect information... Do you have any on hand that we can see?" Twilight said, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Sure, hold on, give me a sec." He took out the Pokedex from his satchel and began scrolling through it.

"What is that?" Twilight asked as the lit screen of his handheld device entranced her.

"It's a Pokedex, a Pokemon encyclopedia created by Pokemon Professors so a Trainer can collect information about a Pokemon's habitats and mannerisms to further increase our ever-expanding research on the intricacies of Pokemon. Here we can actively catalog and review Pokemon as we come across them. Although... something seems to be wrong with it. It's not working."

"What could be wrong with it?" She said as she had no idea how it was supposed to function.

"Well uh... despite my many years adventuring as a Pokemon trainer, none of my entries are in here. It's blank. I was sure I had gotten them all by now. I'm sorry to disappoint you." He had a quick thought to try to cheer everyone up. "Well, actually, there's one entry we can view with this since the Pokemon in question is right in front of us."

At this, every pony crowded up to see it.

Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon. Eevee is a unique Pokémon that can adapt to its environment by changing its form and abilities when evolving. Because of its unstable DNA, Eevee possesses a wide variety of evolutionary possibilities hidden inside. It is widely believed to be the key to unlocking the mysteries behind Pokemon evolution.

The ponies had basically witnessed a miracle in the images and the sounds that popped up within the small device. He played back the recording of Eevee's cry and read to them the auxiliary information on its height, weight, classification, and typing.

"We often give each Pokémon a unique classification that we base off different things. Apart from Pokemon, there are normal animals like the ones I'm seeing here in Fluttershy's home, and it's what we use to categorize most of the Pokemon we see, though Pokemon come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some even come in the form of inanimate objects."

Twilight was finally the one to ask a very important question that had seemingly flown underneath his radar the entire time. "Excuse me for saying this, but the more we talk about animals and Pokemon, the more things don't make sense. The information is not adding up considering how Equestria has never so much as seen anything like you humans or the Pokemon you mention. With how prominent you speak of them; we would've known about this sooner right?" Twilight thought on this and racked her brain for possible answers.

The room grew very quiet. The boy's brow furrowed and he contemplated the happenstances that had occurred thus far, how all the information presented to him fit in this big puzzle he just wasn't seeing for some reason. Then, it hit him. An epiphany as though it had been the most obvious thing in the world. A realization about the world.

"I-I uh..." He hesitated to voice his thoughts. Even he thought it was crazy coming out of him. But considering the events with Arceus and now this... Well, it only left one conclusion... "This is going to sound insane, but..."

"What is it, sugarcube?" Applejack put a hoof to his leg to reassure him that they would do the best to listen to him talk.

"I think I got transported to a different world. Yeah..."

The room was unnervingly quiet for a bit, then Twilight chimed in. "No... yeah no. Uhm. No actually yeah. Yeah." She struggled to come to her own conclusion. "I mean, we have physical evidence in the way of you and Eevee. If what you say is true, then it's very possible that that's the case. But... I've never heard of this happening before. No such otherworldly magic exists to my knowledge here in Equestria to be able to summon people from other worlds. So then something must've happened on your end? Though, what on earth could've caused this to begin with?"

Yeah... it had all been incredibly obvious now. This turn of events had REALLY somehow made him forget his circumstances that had happened not even a day ago. Even though he had a very strong suspicion in his heart, it was a topic he didn't want to touch with these innocent creatures that he'd just befriended. It was not something they needed to know...

"Also, I didn't quite catch your name, now that I think about it." Twilight said, which made him flinch.

"Uh..."

"Is anything wrong?"

"To be honest, I don't know my name..."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I can't remember it..."

"Rainbow Dash, I think you might have kicked him too hard."

The truth of it was, he COULDN'T remember his name, as though there was a physical block on it. Try all he might, it felt like every time he tried remembering his name being spoken, it would blank out in his memory.

"No, it wasn't her doing. I'm pretty sure of it, er... man this is a bit unsettlingly now. I might have amnesia." The room grew quiet.

"If you don't know it, just choose a new one!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly, trying her best to keep the mood souring by the second. Honestly, her pension for good vibes was a blessing in disguise.

"I honestly can't remember no matter how hard I try... So I think Pinkie Pie is on to something. At least for now, I think it's a good idea to come up with one." He said, easing everyone's concerns and brightening up the Pink one considerably.

"So then... what will your name be?" Applejack asked.

"Hmm..." He thought about it long and hard. "How about Emile? I always took a liking to that name for some reason..."

"Emile? Is that a normal name for humans?" Asked Rainbow Dash, receiving a nod from him in response. "Weird naming conventions but I guess it's okay."

"Are you a.... boy or a girl?" Applejack continued.

Everything got quiet again. This was just plain weird, even if the situation called for it, it was almost a little comical at this rate. Well, only one way to answer this one at least.

"Boy."

Now that he was thinking sanely again, he began to realize something incredibly important that, again, his mind had just skipped over in his previous disorientation. His body... his voice... it all felt... smaller... younger...

"Can you give me a mirror?"

"Sure."

Twilight levitated a mirror to his hand and he took a hold of it. What he saw looking back at him made his heart jump. He was younger. Much younger... like the time he had met Eevee. He made a grab for the scars which he had realized before were now gone... And all at once, the dawning realization hit him like a truck.

He was ten years old again...