Nuzlocke: Hearts of Gold and Souls of Silver

“It's too dark, I can't see a goddamn thing!” I said to my friends.

“Well, considering we went shopping after our lunch break, and got here around 4 pm, I'd say that after a hour or so of walking around here, it should be getting darker than before.” Blackburn replied. It made sense. With almost no light during daytime and even less of it during nighttime, we shouldn't be able to see anything at all.

“This way, I don't think we will be able to get out of the forest, even with the light of our pokemon, we don't know the way out, and could get lost.” Violet informed. “I think we should set up camp for the night.”

Blackburn looked at me, waiting for my opinion about the idea, and I just nodded as a signal that I agreed with it.

“Alright, so I'll be searching for rocks. Atlas, your search for some sticks so we can make a fire.” Blackburn divided the group functions. I just nodded. “And violet, you can start setting our tents up. We meet here in an hour.” He finished giving our functions and went on his way to get some rocks before it got even darker.

I was walking my way through trees and tried to use my magic to levitate Pulse's pokeball out, so he could get me some light and keep me company, but my efforts of doing so failed. “Darn, I still can't use my magic. If I knew that the cave's wall was breakable, I wouldn't waste my self on teleporting three fully grown ponies ten meter forward.” I thought to myself as I used my hoof to search my saddlebags for my pokeball.

When I got my hoofs at the right pokeball, I was about to let Pulse out, I saw a strange highlight deeper in the woods, and as a curious one, I decided to take a look on what it could possibly be. I started walking in it's direction, picking any sticks or branches on my way so we could have a camp fire.

As I approached it, I started thinking of what was the worst thing that could be there. First, I thought of another pony to battle me, but I remembered that one of thew rules was that there couldn't be eliminations during nighttime. After that, I thought about getting to see Freddie and his three friends, but then they wouldn't do anything to me any ways, unless they wanted to beat me up.

I got near it, and I then saw a pony in the light. A grey unicorn mare. She had a rather long light blue hair, that covered part of her eyes, which were yellow colored. I was able to see her cutie mark because of the light. Her cutie mark was a telescope, similar to one pony very familiar to me. “Wait! Isn't that my mother?” I thought to myself, she was exactly like her, from what I could remember. “It's exactly like her! I can't believe it!”

I ran out of the woods, dropping all the wood I had collected. I ran her with all my energy, trying to call her attention, since she was still far from me.

“Mom! Mom! It's me, Atlas!” I screamed out of the top of my lungs as I galloped in her direction.

I finally got real close to her. She was standing on a small hill. I got by her side and tried to touch her with my hoof to call her attention.

“Mother, It's me, Atlas, your son.” I slowly said as I extended my hoof to touch her. As I ended my message, the figure started to disappear, going invisible, as the light started to fade.

I tried to grab her, as the light was closing. my eyes widened by the situation. My eyes starting to fill up with tears. I started panicking, trying to everything to save my mother, from using a spell to jumping in her with no success, my whole body just passed through.

I got up from the ground, seeing the image of my mother dissapearing. “Don't fear Atlas. Everything is going to turn out okay” The mare mouthed the words as they came out with no sound, but as a thought on my head.

My body had given up, and threw itself on the ground in sadness, and my eyes letting out the tears. “Why mom, why?”

“Me and my friend studied medicine, but I started getting difficulties with renting a room here in Canterlot for both of us. We saw that this place gave a cash reward to the winner, so we got in mainly for fun, but aiming to get some extra money to the bills. I have a part-time job of singing in a bar in Canterlot, and my friend helps some students in math. That was how we could keep ourselves here for so long.” Violet was telling what she came to Canterlot to do. Her home city was Manehattan.

The three of us were sitting on some large rocks Blackburn had put near the campfire with the help of his Geodude, and were having a good conversation for some hours now. Well at least the two pagasi were having it.

“Cool. I plan on continue my father business on the gun shop, but I'm trying to get some kind of job as a sniper or a hunter.” Blackburn told his plans for his future. As a guns expert, I think he would have success in doing so, but now seeing how Violet was a good singer and didn't get a job as one, I'm not that sure. “Atlas here is a music player. He has been playing a piano for years now, and he knows how to put some cool melodies together. Maybe you two could record a music together, what do you think?” He asked me, but I remained in silence.

“Atlas, are you okay?” Violet asked after a few seconds of awkward silence. “I don't remember you saying anything for the whole night.”

“I... I don't wanna talk about it.”

“Aw, come on! What could be so sad that kept you like this?” Blackburn pushed, not knowing what he was going to hear.

“Fine.” I said as I got my head high and looked at them. “When I was gathering wood for us, I-” I paused for a second, to keep myself together. “-I saw my mother.”

Blackburn's eyes widened, while Violet got curious. Blackburn was about to open his mouth and tell me that it was okay not to talk about this, but was interrupted by Violet's curiosity. “Your mother? Did something happen to h-” She then got Blackburn's signal to stop. “-e...er?”

“Like you, I also don't have a mother.” I started, as I looked down and saw the face of regret on her face. “When I was young, My father ,as a guard, had to go to an expedition with other fellow guards to the Everfree Forest. Three days later, he had yet not returned, and my mother started getting crazy, with no news from them, she received a letter at her job on the observatory saying that something might have happened to him. After that she started drinking, and I suspected she drugged herself as well. One week after that, she vanished and I was left alone at home. I would have died in no time if my father had not returned two days later.” Violet looked shocked. Her story now looked like nothing near mine. Blackburn wasn't shocked, he had heard this story before, since I would talk to him about this when we met at school, and he knew how sad it was to me to talk about my mother. “Turns out my mother went after him. They found her dead body with bites from Timberwolves. It's been over ten years since that.”

The three of us kept in silence. Violet shocked, Blackburn unsure of what to do next, and I getting up my rock to walk to my tent. I told my friends I was going to sleep, and the only one who gave a response by nodding was Blackburn. I wasn't sure if Luna would talk to me tonight, but I'm not looking forward to it right now. The last thing I want to do is hear how well or bad I'm doing.

Morning had come, and we still barely had any light, but at least it was enough for me to see. We were packing up, we still had to go through the forest and Route 34 if we wanted to get to Goldenrod City today. I had all my things packed up already, but I still had something to talk with Violet, so I walked to her.

“Hey, Violet, look, I'm sorry for ruining the night for you and Blackburn yesterday. I didn't mean to sadden everything.”

She stopped tying her saddlebags and looked at me.

“No, Atlas, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I didn't expect that my curiosity tell me that much about you. Blackburn told me that life was never easy for you, and that you had to struggle a lot to come to where we are now. I thought my childhood was hard with no mother, but the true is that I had never come to see her, and as a child I didn't think about her death so much. I see that yours have been worse than mine. I'll try not to bring subjects about the past back again.”

“What? I didn't mean for her to be guilty, or to feel pity for me. My past is not a matter of fact that I should be treated differently.” I thought to myself.

“Look. My past is over, I shouldn't get over reacted by that. I was just sad yesterday because my mind played with me. Whenever you feel like wanting to know more about my life, I'd be happy to tell you. Oh, and for crying out loud, my whole life hasn't been all suffering, I did get some good moments too.” I told her, finishing with a smile in my face. apparently that cheered her up as well.

I then walked away, to check how Blackburn was doing. I saw that he was checking his map, to see in which direction we had to head in order to get out of the forest.

“Good morning Blackburn. Are we ready to move on?”

“Mornin' Atlas. I'm all packed up, just waiting for Violet.” He then got back to his map, but looked back, looking at my hoof gadget. “Could I borrow you "Pip-Boy 3000"-thing for a second?”

“You've been playing too much Fallout lately. I can't give it to you, it's stuck in my arm.” I said as I extended my hoof over his map. “But go ahead, I don't mind leaving it hanging.”

Blackburn then put his map back on his bag and grabbed my arm. He opened the map on it, to see if it had a map for the Ilex Forest. “I regret not buying one when I had the chance. Remind me of buying one in Goldenrod, will ya?” He said as he looked the fast way and direction for us to follow. I just nodded.

Minutes later, he let go of my hoof and I was able to move now. Violet had her stuff ready now and we were ready to move, and we wanted to avail the sunlight while we had it. I walked away from Blackburn and got myself some space. This time I was able to levitate things again, so I used my telekinesis to grab Pulse's pokeball out of my bag.

I didn't like to admit it, but out of my team, I had more sympathy for Pulse, followed by Scout, Seed, Phoenix and Venom. I loved them all, but I loved Pulse the most, he was my starter after all, and had been with me since the start of this adventure, a few minutes more than Blackburn or Scout.

Peew!

Pulse appeared out of a red light that the pokeball made. He took a look around us and looked at me with confusion.

“Don't worry, we ain't battling anything now. At least not yet. I just wanted to see how you were doing.” I told my night hound friend.

“I've been doing okay since we hit a rock and you protected me. Thanks for that.” He answered me as he continued looking at our surroundings. “We are traveling now, aren't we?” He asked, and I just nodded in response.

“Look, I needed to ask you something.” I said as I knelled to him. “Would you mind keeping me company through the forest?”

“Why are you asking me that? Of course I'll be with you. You know that all of us are loyal to you, and we will keep with you despite how wrong or right you are.” He answered, leaving a smile on my face.

I then got up on my four legs again and walked back to were Blackburn and Violet were waiting for me.

“Alright. Atlas, you lead the way, since you have our map, me and Violet will follow behind. You just need to follow this line here.” Blackburn said, showing me the direction on my hoof gadget.

I then started walking ahead with Pulse by my side, and the two following me, and for some reason, with some distance.

It been some time since we were walking in the forest, I had been taking a look on our surroundings. there wasn't much to see, there are just trees and bushes surrounding us right now. but I could see some pokemon hiding in the treetops. Hoothoots and Bug-type pokemon. It made sense why the bug gym was located just near here.

I started hearing some laughing from behind me, and I realized that Blackburn and Violet were somewhat far from me and Pulse, So I slowed down, but continued walking, and Pulse did as well. I perked my ears to try and hear some of the conversation myself.

“Hehehe. But seriously, do you think it's good for Atlas to be leading the way?” Violet asked Blackburn. The conversation is being taken with a low tone of voice, so it was hard to hear. Fortunately, I concentrated myself enough to hear what there are talking about.

“What do you mean?” Blackburn asked back.

“You know, this place looks a lot like the Everfree Forest, just not that deadly. Don't you think it could be somewhat traumatizing for him to be taking the lead, after what happened with his mother?”

I felt rage, sadness, lonely and shame. All in the same time, but didn't know why. I can't believe Violet thought I'm covered in fear from my past, although I understood her concern. She thinks that I fear that I will have the same fate as my mother. I decided stop for a second and turn around.

“For crying out loud, can you stop worrying about me so much for a second? It's been ten years, for fuck's sake, My past is not what matters now!” I screamed for the two. Pulse got surprised by my reaction.

I turned back to walking in the direction we had to go.

“Atlas knows how to take care of himself, okay? You don't know him like I do” Blackburn replied to Violet.

I wonder why Violet worries so much about us. I think it might be because she doesn't really knows about our life, so she thinks about what would be better from what she knows. That explains why she thought it could be traumatizing for me, and she is right in someway. Last night my head played that on me and keeps remembering about my mother. Maybe this is kinda traumatizing.

Minutes later, I had my mind lost in thoughts.

“I did over react about something from my past. What did I tell Violet before?”

“I know what I told her, but I can't have her thinking I'm weak.”

“But I'm weak.”

“I grow stronger. I struggled enough to know how to take care of myself.”

“This last week didn't appear to be so.”

“I know better than to panic when surrounded by memories of my mother.”

“True, I may be strong about that. But who said you don't need them to actually feel safe.”

“Nopony. But if I get to take care of myself, I can learn to feel safe without help. Just like Luna told me to do.”

“Very well. Let this be my lesson. Don't think that you have your friend with you now. Close your eyes and think of how are you feeling.”

“...”

“How is it?”

“I don't feel danger. I don't feel anything. I don't feel safe, but I don't feel like anything bad is gonna happen.”

“And how do I feel with your friends?”

“Safe, happy. I know that no matter what, we will always be friends.”

“Can I feel this when you're alone?”

“No. Guess I'll have to learn how to. But how do I do that?”

“I'll have to keep calm”

“My friends might be what keeps me calm, but I need to be calm alone.”

“Friendship.”

“What else keeps me calm?”

“Love.”

“But how can I feel loved when I'm alone?”

“I've to know that there is somepony out there who believes in me.”

“But who?”

“Princess Luna.”

Our walk was interrupted when we were stopped by a river. Blackburn and Violet caught with me and Pulse moments later.

“I don't remember seeing an ocean here on the map.” I said as I brought my map on my gadget. Blackburn walked to my side.

“The ocean is shown on the world map. If we keep following this border to the north, we should be able to get to Route 34.” The blue pegasus told me. I just nodded and started walking by the side of the river.

“Uhh...” Violet made a sound with her mouth. “Guys, I think I've found something.” She called for us

I turned to see what troubled her, and saw her pointing a small wood shrine in the middle of the woods. Blackburn started walking towards it, so I got that as a pause for our trip.

As me and Pulse arrived at the shrine, Blackburn was already taking a look at the structure. He mad a signal with his right hoof telling me to come near it.

I obeyed my friend and moved to his side. “Could I borrow your "clock-map-news feed-interface-inventory-thingy" again?” He asked me.

“Sure, go ahead.” I replied. Blackburn than immediately grabbed my hoof and started to work.

He opened the maps tab again and went on the Ilex Forest map. He then started to search for something when he finally saw what he was looking for, the shrine. The information given to us was "Many people say that the shrine is a symbol of good luck and wards off evil spirits. Some others say the shrine is linked to the Legendary Pokémon Celebi"

“So this could be true?  Celebi could really be around.” Blackburn suspected. “If it's shrine is still up, it could be true.”

“And that would explain why I haven't heard IT yet.” I thought to myself.

“Celebi?” Violet asked.

“Celebi is a legendary pokemon which is the spirit of this very forest. A little before you joined us, back in the Ruins of Alph, me and Atlas were discussing if Legendary pokemon could be found.” Blackburn explained. I forgot that Violet hasn't got the same experience on pokemon like me and Blackburn. “This here leaves our doubts hanging, but brings more possibilities.”

“And what would you do with a Legendary pokemon?” She asked.

“Well, they are kind of overpowered, so it would pretty much be a easy win.” I replied.

“They still can be beaten, can't they?”

“Yes, but compared to other pokemon, they are somewhat gods.”

Her eyes widened. “Like the alicorn princesses?”

I nodded. If we compared the princesses with them, they could easily destroy something, but could be beaten, just like Celestia was against the Changeling queen years back. But that would be a battle between equivalent power. To easily beat one, you had to use a legendary that had advantage against the other, or just be lucky.

“This has been interesting talk, but we should go back to moving. Golden rod city isn't very far away now.” Blackburn said as he stopped inspecting the wood structure. “We could easily stop losing time traveling if you knew how to fly Atlas.” He joked, as I was the only one who couldn't fly between us.

“Atlas! Stop!” I hear Blackburn talking to me, interrupting me during my line of thought that I started having since we left the shrine. There wasn't much let for me to do than that, since all I had to do is follow a line.

I looked back, to see what Blackburn was calling out for. He had his face locked on something behind me, and had a expression of fear. It is something strange to me. Blackburn usually isn't scared by anything, he is the bravest between the two of us. I looked at Violet, who didn't look any different than Blackburn, and by their side was Pulse. Why wasn't he beside me?

“I'm fucked, ain't I?”

I could tell that something bad was about to happen to me by my friend's expressions. There was probably something behind me. What a cliché.

I turned around to face a full army of Beedrills, a wasp-like pokemon that had large pointy stings in two of it's legs. They were usually very aggressive. I started backing away when suddenly they started charging. My eyes widened.

“What do I do? They are coming after me, so if I get with my friends they well get hurt too, but if I run in a different direction, I can probably spare them.”

I turned to the middle of the forest, with my back to the ocean.

“Run you fools! I will drive them away.” I screamed as I started to gallop into the forest.

“What about you?” Blackburn screamed back.

“I'll find you all back on Route 34, if I don't get there until nighttime, go on with out me, I will probably be dead by then!” I replied.

I concentrated back on galloped and dodging trees. I started running as fast as I could, like my life depended on it, and it did. From my experience with pokemon, I knew that a sting from a Beedrill would hurt a lot, and the pain could drive a pony crazy, if not dead. I had an army of at least three dozens of them behind me.

“I just doomed my self, didn't I?”

I still had two hours before nighttime felt. I had to find a way to stop those wasps and leave the forest. I forgot I could still fight them, but so I remembered it now. I searched my bag for Pulse's pokeball to help me.

“Maybe his Smokescreen could help me leave this place unnoticed.” I said as a sudden realization came to me. “I left Pulse with Blackburn and Violet.”

I really had doomed myself. I still had another idea, but this really needed my concentration, and I was running while dodging trees, and my magic level wasn't that great, so I'd waste myself a lot. I had the idea of letting Phoenix out so she could spit fire while I floated her, and so I would slowly get the bugs away from me. The problem was that she weighted around 19 kg, which was a little too much for me to float without difficulties, which was 15 kg.

As I ran and dodged trees, another idea came to my head, I could use Scout. he could fly so I had no difficulties when it came to floating, and he was pretty fast, so he could keep up with me with no problems, and his Air-type gave me advantage against Bug-type.

I then got to work with my plan. I used my telekinesis to search through my bags for his pokeball. I could have used the Pokemon tab on my arm, but that would be me walking with three legs.

Peeew!

“Scout, there is no time to explain. I need you to get those Beedrills out of my tail. Can you do that?” I hurried the whole introduction.

“Workin' on it!” He replied as he flew ahead of me for some space for his attacks. I just kept galloping

Scout was ahead of me, and gave a u-turn and stopped in the air and charged his wings for his attack.

Vrooosh!

A big wave of air passed through me, it was powerfull enough that I could see the leaves from the trees shaking. The buzzing from the Beedrills behind me didn't stop, but they got much smaller. I bet they lost control for a second and were recovering to keep up with us, if they didn't faint. Moments later, the sound of the buzzing came back to it's original, but was much smaller than before. I reckon at least one of the three dozens was put down.

I needed to give us more time, if I kept in a line, they would easily get us. I decided to turn ninety degrees to my left, reducing the distance between us and the bugs, but having them lose some time to keep following.

“Scout! Use Air Slash again!” I screamed. Scout took the command and flew ahead. He then attempted to repeat the same process as before.

Sting!

I heard a sound coming from behind. A moment later, a large poisonous sting flew over my head, aiming for Scout. “No! if he get poisoned, I won't have time to use an antidote, and the poison will only wear off if we get out of combat and he is near death. If he gets poisoned, I won't be able to use him if I don't want he dead.”

I closed my eyes, hoping not to run in any trees, and concentrated enough to create the glowing in my horn. Using magic while running wasn't that hard, but I was nervous.  I opened them again and aimed for the sting, nearly hitting Scout. I got it! I had grabbed the sting with my magic.

Sting! Sting! Sting! Sting! Sting!

Another fleet of stings flew over my head, this time I could see dozens of them. There were more, aiming for me, but nearly missing and hitting the dirt. “Shit! I can't get that many stings, and there is more coming!” I worriedly thought to myself. I started picking as many stings as I could.

Vroooosh! Stink!

Scout has been poisoned!

“Scout! No!”

Scout was able to attack them, slowing a big amount of them again, but right when he attacked he was hit by one of the stings. Scout now fell on the ground near a tree trunk that had fallen in the middle of the forest.

“I don't think you'll let me, but I will take control against your will. You won't last any longer without me.” A voice spoke in my head.

I was running towards Scout, who was unconscious on the ground. I could see the blue magic field on the stings I was still holding turning red, and I suspected the energy on my horn turning from dark blue to red too. My eyes started hurting, it was like my iris was changing. I had became the nightmare version of myself!

I stopped in front of Scout. I then turned back to the Beedrills, who were still insisting in following me. I had taken advantage of the time they had lost with Scout's attack to set myself up. I hadn't any control over myself. It was just like at Bellsprout tower. My demons had taken control!

“Sting! Sting! Sting! Sting! Sting!”

The Beedrills shot more stings at me. I wanted to grab Scout and and keep running, but couldn't. My horn glowed even more, this time, I was sure my horn's magic had been turned to red when I could see the light coming out of it. I started picking even more stings than I really could. I had stopped the whole fleet.

Stink!

Well, not every one of them. I had been hit by one, and gosh, how did it hurt. My front left leg had been hit, and probably affected. The poison was deadly so I had just got in big trouble.

I, well, the other I was holding the stings, and controlled them to turn back to the Beedrills, shooting them back. They had just been standing there, but tried to escape when they saw what I was doing. “I'm not afraid to kill any of you!”

Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink!

The wild swarm of Beedrills was defeated.

“It looks like my job is done. Sorry for the poison and for the magic waste.” I thought to myself, literally this time. The other me apologized for the damage and vanished.

I then fell on the ground, with my control back. It was like I was spectating from my perspective.

“Did he just helped me rather fuck everything up? I don't really understand the other me.” I said as I tried to get up. I brought my left front leg to see a big sting stuck on my leg, deep enough to have damaged the meat. I tried to remove it with my magic, but I was out of it since I overused it on the other stings. “Ugh. This is gonna hurt.” I said to myself out loud while I used my other hoof to get a big stick and positioned it on my mouth.

I wrapped my other hoof on the sting and bit the stick, holding myself until the pain came. I held the sting and pulled it out.

“Aaaaaaargh!” I screamed with the stick on my mouth.The pain of removing the big spiked sting out of my leg was gigantic. I bit the so hard that it started crushing into pieces.

Blood started coming out of the hole, and  I needed to stop the bleeding. I spitted the stick in the ground and opened one of my saddlebags. I used my mouth to grab the one blanket I had, that I used when we camped out, and used my two front hooves to tear it apart into a rag.  Still suffering from the pain, I wrapped and tied the rag on injury as a bandage, and prevent further bleeding.

I also started suffering from the poison. I started getting dizzy and nauseated. My body was going through magic waste, gigantic pain and poison. I started thinking that I'm gonna die. there is no way I can get out of here undamaged, and what if another swarm of  Beedrills attack me? Scout was already poisoned

“There is no way I can get out of here undamaged, and what if another swarm of  Beedrills attack me? Scout was already poisoned” I realized. “Wait, Scout is poisoned!”

I got back to my hooves and turned back to help my poisoned unconscious friend. I brought the Pokemon tab on my gadget to see how much health he had left, and the result I got was somewhat bad. His health was nearly zero, and was still losing health through the poison. I opened the inventory tab and selected an antidote for him.

“Al right, all that I need is to give the antidote for him, and the other one for me.” I planned how to save both of us. I was surprised to see how many antidotes I still had left. I only had one, and I started thinking. If I don't give this to Scout, he will die, or in the best case, be left near death. And if I gave it to him, I had the chance of dying on the state I was in.

“No, I'm not that selfish. I'm ready to suffer if it means the well of my friends and family.”

The Antidote have been used of Scout.

Scout is now cured from the poison.

I gave a smile as I could see my friend feeling better. I also used one health potion to heal his damage. In the same moment, my head started to hurt, as I believed the poison was putting me down. I haven't considered that if I died, this is all over. But in the same time, I didn't want to feel guilty or selfish. I had also stopped another burial for my pokemon.

“I need to rest, there is no way I can get up and get to my friends on Route 34. I guess they'll have to go without me.” I said as I started lay on the ground. I got the saddlebags with my pokeballs and emptied it on the ground. I returned Scout to his pokeball and got the remaining pokemon out. Venom, Phoenix and Seed.

Peew!

They took a look as they wondered what was happening.

“Hey everyone.-” I stopped to cough a few times. “- I called all of you here because I need some protection while I try to rest and give some time for Scout to wake up too. Could you guys provide me that protection?” And as I finished my question, I coughed again. The poison left me sick. I'm slowly dying.

“Yes, I can do that.” Seed replied.

“I'll keep you safe as you did to me during the gym battle.” Phoenix repaid the debt she kept for herself.

“Sure, why not?” Venom answered. Even being the one I had the less experience with, he still gave the same trust the others gave to me.

“Thank you all. I won't be away for very long, I'll...” My vision stated to fade. “Just...” I started to lose body balance. “Take a...” My vision turned black, I couldn't see anything now. A second later, I felt my head hitting the ground.

A creature started coming to my vision as I started to see again. I realized I'm not in the same place as before so I started to think this is a dream.

“Luna, is it you?” I asked the shadow coming near me. I had a better vision now, so I could see that the silhouette was not from a pony or zebra, or even a gryphon. It was from a fairy-like creature with big blue baby eyes. When it came to light, I could see that it's body was green colored as well. It was Celebi.

“Forgive the creatures from my forest. I didn't mean to attack you.” The Celebi spoke with me.

“You attacked me?” I asked back.

“Yes, but I didn't have the intention.” It answered. “A little before your attack, my forest was disturbed by another group of ponies that caused part of the forest to be destroyed. I may have thought it was you and your friend and attacked you.”

“Aren't you the spirit of the forest? Can't you feel where the fire was coming out?”

“Unfortunately, I can't feel it. I can only feel a disturbance. I sent pokemon in search for the fire to stop it, and sent pokemon to attack any intruders. I'm sorry to cause you this much trouble and separate you from your group.”

“Intruders? We were just passing through to get to the next Route.”

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean that bad. I call you trainers intruders since there is always one out to try and capture me. I see you are not a bad soul. I could see how you chose your pokemon other than you.”

“My pokemon is always important to me, I would never leave them hanging”

The Celebi stopped and looked at me for a few second and during that time, I decided to take a look around. I was laying on the ground, just like before I went out, but in a hole different place, This looked like a spirit world of some kind. the forest surrounding me was different, and there was floating islands in the sky. There weren't enough trees to cover the whole sky, so I could see it.

“I see that you are a experienced trainer. You care deeply for your companions and threat them as another one of your kind. You understand that with them you are a strong combination, and the friendship between you all makes you stronger.”

I looked deep inside me and thought.

“Why are you here, Celebi?” I asked it with a serious and focused look on my face

“I see that your mind is confused, Atlas.”

“I asked why you're here.”

“I want to help you.”

My eyes widened, but I keep serious “How?”

“Your mind doesn't really understand the concept of good and evil.” It replied. I kept silenced and he took it as a signal to go on. “You must understand that, good and evil, are not the opposite of one another, but two parts of one. I understand that you are trying to achieve internal peace alone. While it is always best to believe in one’s self, a little help from others can be a great blessing. You must understand that, even without your friends, having someone to support you is always good. Being in need of your friends shouldn't bring you shame, but happiness. It shows that you're capable of love. I leave you my wisdom, for it's one of the greatest weapons you'll ever have.” The Celebi than turned back and started to float away.

“That is not the only thing that troubles me.” I broke my silence. The Celebi turned back and came back to hear me. “I have suffered through various moments of my life, and my past keeps haunting me. I want to forget my past.”

“Yes, you have. You struggled. You suffered. But you have always followed your own path.” Celebi started it's sentence. “That composed your mind. The experiences you went through and learned from them cannot be forgotten, they are part of you. Sometimes life is like this dark tunnel, you can’t always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving, you will come to a better place.” It stopped for a moment. “It's best for one's to learn to live with it, as wisdom comes within experience.”

It was telling me that although I have suffered and struggled, my past is a important part of me. My mother's death served as one experience that shown that the world isn't that beautiful, and made me stronger from the beginning.

“Atlas.” Celebi interrupted my thinking. “It’s time for you to look inward and start asking yourself the big question: who are you and what do you want?” It asked me. “I'm afraid we will not see each other again after this, but that's a question you must ask yourself and answer yourself. I offer you this wisdom, and you should use it in order to seek your own peace.”

The Celebi turned around and started flying away. I got up and went after the creature to ask it more questions, but our time had ended. I galloped after him, but he was faster than I, and as I galloped, the world around us started cracking and tearing apart. Everything was starting to get white, as the world disappeared.

“Celebi! Wait!”  I raised my voice's tone to call for it's attention. “I need to know more!”

Everything turned white. I woke, surrounded by my pokemon. I was laying in the ground. Night had fell over the region of Johto. My pokemon had been keeping company all this time.

I got back on my hooves, full of energy. The magic waste was gone, since I haven't fully wasted my self this time, like I did with teleportation. I brought my gadget up, to check if Scout was okay this time. My eyes widened when I saw the information it showed me. Scout was alright and ready to battle, he had already regained consciousness and was ready to travel.

What really surprised me was what it showed for Pulse. He was badly injured, and near death. I wasn't with him, but I started panicking to know he could be in serious danger. He was with Blackburn and Violet, and that worried me too. Something might have happened to all of them.

Or, in the worst case scenario, Pulse followed me into the forest rather staying with my friends, and got in trouble.

“Everyone, we need to move, Pulse needs our help!”

I entered Goldenrod city, at 04:21 of the night, according to my clock. Route 34 was pretty easy. Not many trainers to battle, and a rather small walk. Nothing me and my current pokemon couldn't handle.

I walked in the direction of the pokemon center, to heal my pokemon, and I would look for Blackburn and Violet in one of the hotels in this town. I stopped a moment to take a look at my gadget. It showed that Pulse was still alive, but his state haven't changed. I wonder why Blackburn and Violet did not heal Pulse, but they might not know  that he is injured. I tried to keep myself calm.

As I walked through the streets of the big town I was in, I took a look around. There was this giant bridge over a few houses in the middle of the town, that was a big train station that leaded to Kanto, around was some big buildings, some as high as the Bellsprout Tower. This town reminded me a lot of Manehattan on Equestria when I visited it one time with my father.

For a big city, it wasn't that bad. Sometimes I'd have problems when going around in Canterlot. Usually there was something happening that would stop me from enjoying a calm moment. One time I had seen this grey earth pony, Octavia was her name if I recall correctly, that she was playing a classical song, that I myself as a musician enjoyed, and would listen to it for a while until she was covered in fans wanting autographs. She is a pretty great violin player, and I myself enjoy her songs, it calms myself. But that is it. All the time I was in Canterlot, or even when I was visiting Manehattan, ponies were never calm. That is what makes such a small town as Ponyville so great, it's calm, a perfect place to let your hair down.

I myself had considered moving to Ponyville. I'm out of school now, and I'm free to do what I want. Sure, I may not drink or be ready to take on any sexual relations, but I can have my life the way I want until then. But seeing that I have addepted myself to the society of Canterlot (The way they think that they are better than others), and seeing how I have a life already settled up there, it makes me wonder. But still, a calm afternoon would be nice.

I entered the pokemon center, and saw two familiar ponies around. It was Blackburn and Violet. They were talking with the receptionist, who would take our pokemon for a while to heal them. They haven't noticed me yet, so I slowly approached them from behind. They were apparently healing their pokemon, and while the mare who took them was away, they would talk.

“I don't know Blackburn. I don't think it's better for me to tell him.” Violet spoke, with a tired tone on her voice.

“Don't worry, Atlas isn't a pony that gets mad all the time. I think he will understand it.” Blackburn comforted the mare.

They were talking about me. I didn't know if it was for me to worry about, or to be comforted, but I could see that it wasn't anything of good, if they talked about me being mad. I continued stealthily approaching. I wanted to surprise them, probably by going up with a "what did I lose?"

“It was his starter, I could see he had a lot of affection over the Umbreon.” Violet spoke again, still with a insecure tone in her voice. My eyes widened when she mentioned Pulse.

“I'm telling you, he have done this before, and he never became so close to one of his pokemon. We aren't even sure if he is still out there. I'm sure he will understand when we explain that we lost his starter.” Blackburn tried to comfort Violet again.

“They lost Pulse?” I thought to myself while my eyes started to water.

“You make it sound easy. I'm not sure he will take this loss so easy like you say so.” She replied to Blackburn, looking directly at him this time. I believed she saw me this time, as she was about to say something and stopped. Tears started dropping out of my eyes over the comments.

Blackburn turned around to see what Violet was looking at and saw me as well. The both turned around to see me, but were unsure of what to say.

“Atlas, I'm so glad you're alive!” Blackburn tried to talk to me, but it was too late. I heard the conversation and was crying already. After his speech he tried to approach me, but I backed off. after he started, and so he stopped as well.

“What did you do to Pulse?” I asked, my eyes tearing up.

“Atlas, uhh... It's somewhat complicated...” Violet started, but did not know how to properly phrase herself.

“I used my gadget to see how Pulse was doing, and I can see he is badly injured. Where the fuck is him and what did you do to him?!” I screamed with my friends, unsure if I could trust them.

“Atlas, calm down, I need to speak with you about it.” Blackburn tried to calm me down, but my mind was filling with rage.

“How do I know I can trust you! In the end of this there will be only one left alive, and I know you two are planning eliminating me.” I started getting more aggressive towards them, and I could feel my body going just like before. Exactly like on the Bellsprout tower, after Sonar's death. I bet if I used any magic, my horn would glow red rather dark blue as usual.

“While it is always best to believe in one’s self, a little help from others can be a great blessing. You must understand that, even without your friends, having someone to support you is always good. Being in need of your friends shouldn't bring you shame, but happiness. It shows you're capable of love” Celebi's wisdom echoed in my head. I calmed down.

“They took him” Violet spilled it out, ashamed of saying such thing.

“Who took him?” I asked back, this time with a calmer tone.

“Poison Strike.” Blackburn answered. My eyes widened. It was time to face an old enemy.

“We know that he is still in town. He showed his badges after he surrounded the three of us with a large group of six ponies.” Blackburn explained. “He haven't beaten Whitney yet.”

“Six? I should have guessed they recruited more grunts. But why are they stealing other's pokemon?” I asked.

“We're not sure. We asked around during this night to other competitors, and haven't seen any more cases. I think that it was something personal.” Violet responded.

“He always wanted the chance to beat me up and now he has it. Why not just do it already?” I asked myself out loud.

“It's nighttime. Battle against other competitors isn't allowed during nighttime, or he is just baiting you.” Blackburn explained why and showed the possibilities

“Well, then it's working.” I replied as I got out of my seat.

“Atlas, where are you going?” Violet asked.

“I'm going after him.”

“We don't even know where he is. how do you expect to find him?” Blackburn reasoned

“There is only one place he could be hiding a group so big. The underground passage.” I used my knowledge

5:52 am. I galloped my away across the hallway of the underground passage, near the metro station and the radio tower.

“What is exactly your plan?” Violet asked me.

“I'm going to use the time I have left to bust in there and get to Poison Strike, what happens after 6 am is different. I'll end him.” I replied. “You two don't need to follow me. I just want to rescue Pulse and eliminate, or kill, Poison Strike, I don't care if I get eliminated after that.”

The two looked at each other, and looked back at me. “We'll cover you while you deal with him.” Blackburn told me. I had my friends with me. I was happy enough now.

I floated the four pokemon I had and let them all out.

Peeeew!

Venom, Scout, Seed and Phoenix got out of their pokeballs, running with me. They already knew what this meant. It was time we saved Pulse.

I was galloping with all I had, my leg would still hurt a lot, and I think made the bleeding come back with all this effort I was putting on it. Violet offered to take a look at it, but we would have lost time. I couldn't let Pulse suffer one extra minute.

“Phoenix! Use Fire-Blast on that door!” I ordered her out, and she kindly accepted it.

Vrooosh! Kaboom!

We blasted through the door. A few grunts woke up from their sleep and took a fast look at us. They couldn't battle us, it was still 5:54. We were safe until 6 am.

After some running, we found Poison Strike, who seemed to know about my invasion. He was next to a jail were Pulse was locked. I wanted to kill him in that very moment. I galloped up to him and stopped a few yards away.

“Give me Pulse back!” I ordered him, my voice filled with anger.

“You can't force me. It is 5:55 yet. You can't battle me until 6.” The dark green unicorn replied.

“I'll kill you if I need to!” I angrily yelled at him. Blackburn and Violet finally caught up with me, and were giving back up.

“Well, we can't battle pokemon until 6. That doesn't mean I can't break you up with my poison!” He yelled back.

He then positioned himself and his horn started to glow. He was going to shoot poison at me!

Teck! Teck!

I had closed my eyes to prepare for the impact, but opened them to see I was okay. Venom had taken the hits for me. He was a Poison type pokemon, so this did not affect him.

“You know I don't like you so much because you're evil and all, but I ask you to go all killer on him. Only this time”

“I'm not evil, you should reconsider your feelings. But I accept your request.”

I started feeling the changes with my body again. I took a fast look on the reflection on my gadget and saw my "nightmare moon-like" eyes, and with that I knew my magic had been boosted. I did still have control this time. It was like I was sharing the experience with my other self. I was sure of one thing. We both hated Poison Strike.

My horn started glowing red. I was preparing to use a combat spell, something I have never used before.

Vroosh! Boom!

A Flashing line of red was shot at him. It caused an explosion, and I was feeling good with that. Poison Strike had been hit, but got out of the smoke caused by the explosion. He hadn't expect me to fight back with magic. He won't let his guard down this time.

Teck!

Swoosh! Scrosh! Scrosh!

He shot at me but I brought a shield up and instantly shot two back at him. He dodged both.

Teck! Teck! Teck!

Vroosh! Vroosh!

Each of our attacks neutralizing the other, but even if we were neutral in power, I could see that I was winning, there was something off about him, he is slipping.

“Are you afraid just because I never used magic against you before? You haven't seen anything before!”

Vrooosh!

I shot a lighting bolt into the ceiling of the room, distracting him.

Swoosh!

The sound of me teleporting trough the air froze him. I was right behind him.

I jumped at him, with all my anger ready to blow his head like a balloon. “You'll give me the key's to that jail now, or I will end you right here!”

He kept a expressionless face. “Very well. Take it!” He gave me the key. “I would love to finish our combat, but I really need to move on. Abra, get me out here.”

A pokemon suddenly came out of the shadows and teleported the two out of the hideout.

I got right up and opened Pulse's cage. He was unconscious and had a lot of injuries in his body. I hugged him, and the rest of my pokemon was with me hugging Pulse. It was 6:07 when our battle ended, I could have killed Poison Strike already, but didn't. I won't it let it be this easy next time. Blackburn and Violet had been fighting off the grunts, and had now finished the last one. They had fought five of them in order to keep me safe. I couldn't be thankful enough. The other me appeared to have left as well, as I was feeling normal now

“Don't worry Pulse, You're gonna be okay!” I said to my sleeping friend, with tears coming out of my eyes.