Pokemon, A Whole 'New' Frontier

Chapters

Prologue
Ch.1 In forest unknown
Ch.2 Hollow Shades
Ch.3 Flashback with a side of eggs
Ch.4 Departing
Into the Forest
Scream at the ghosty
A New, A New Shot!
Bumpy Tracks

Prologue

Author's Note

Again I would like to thank Zeusdemigod131 for letting me use his world, for those who need the link for his main story here it is. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/149050/a-new-world-a-new-way

Prologue

On the road to Viridian City via route 22, one day before the universe altering event.

“You know we’ve come a long way from home Nao, heck we’ve come a long way from Johto.” The trainer sighed as he continued to walk; his heavy breathing continued on showing that he’d been walking for quite a distance. “Think we can take a break now?”

“Maybe if you had accepted the bike back at the last station we’d be there already.” Speaking to her trainer had become second nature to her by this point. “Come on keep going, we’re almost there.”

That was rather far from the truth, his Pokgéar was enough to tell him that much. “That’s easy for you to say since I’m carrying you.” And from here it seemed like the trail went on forever. “Can we at least see if there are any Pokémon around? It’s been a while since we picked up a new friend.”

Crawling up from his arms Nao would stand just behind his head, using her trainer’s hood as a perch. “Fine but you’re getting me fish for dinner.” Finding both new Pokémon and fish meant the same two things, one being they’d have to get off the trail and second it would likely add hours on to their travel time. Lifting her ears into the air she would pulse the area around them with her psychic abilities, locating Pokémon this way ‘might’ be cheating but only if she was looking for Pokémon, this time she was looking for a river or stream. “Go that way Jayce.” Using her paws she would physically turn Jayce’s head, causing him to stumble in the desired direction.

A stumble, a branch, and a trip later Jayce was rolling down the side of a small hill, his roll stopping with a rather loud thud. Once the dirt settled the scene would appear very comedic, him upside down with Nao standing a few steps away licking a paw. “First step’s a dozy.”

“Nao… I am not… a cat… I don’t always land on my feet.” No, it seemed he landed on his face more times than not. Turning over Jayce would stand and wipe the dirt from himself. “And you should have warned me before!” Taking a few steps he would stumble again but would catch himself, finally reasserting his dominance over gravity.

Jayce 1, Gravity 8.

Only Jayce could make Nao laugh, she proved this by laughing as she walked towards the nearby stream. “If it hurts I’ll lick it later, after you catch some dinner, now this way to the stream.” A thudding along the ground caused the Pokémon to stop, the squawk got Jayce’s attention. “Great, company, Jayce your new friend is here.”

Unfortunately for it a Doduo had decided to look for the sound, unfortunate because Nao was looking for dinner and Jayce was wanting to battle. “Duo?” The cute little bird ruffled it’s feathers as it looked to the trainer, it knew what was about to happen.

“Alright! A Doduo, I haven’t seen one of them in a long time.” Jayce quickly ran across his check list of Pokémon, right now he only carried three including Nao and there wasn’t a Doduo amongst his friends yet. “Nao start off with Mean Look followed by Scratch.” That would keep the Doduo from running and would start the fight off just the way he wanted it.

Nao had already been moving towards the Doduo, her face would appear grim but what really set the look off were her bright red eyes. “Look at me...” And thus the battle took off, Nao’s look seemed to affect one head but the other one squawked at her. Quickly the unaffected head pecked the other and the Doduo started running at Nao.

Once the two were close enough blows would be traded, Nao scratched across Doduo’s body while Doduo’s left head managed to peak at Nao.

Seeing the attack Jayce would slowly raise his hands and start to clap, urging Nao on. “Come on Nao, follow up with Psychic!” He would clap once every two seconds, keeping track of his time in his head.

“You do realize you can’t do helping hand right?” Saying as she followed Jayce’s command, her two ears flipping up to reveal two eyes. “Psychic!” A blue outlining would appear around Doduo as it was stopped in its tracks, the glow matched that which was coming from Nao. The wild Doduo quickly found itself slung into a nearby tree.

“Sure I can, see. Clap clap clap” Jayce would continue to prove his point by continuing to clap despite Nao’s words. “I’m doing it cause I can.” It was his way of cheering on Nao and it oh so amused him very much.

Doduo tried to stand from where it was, managing to do so a few moments later. “Duo!” It moved forward and promptly fell forward, eyes swirling as it fell unconscious.

While Nao face palmed Jayce walked over to the fallen Pokémon, dropping to a knee to look it over. “There there little one, mean old Nao hurt you didn’t she?” Pulling a Pokéball from his belt he would bring it forward and lightly tap the Doduo on the head. “You know I don’t think I would ever willingly throw a Pokéball at a Pokémon, I mean really, ow.” Rising from the ground he would kiss the Pokéball and smile. “Rest for a while.”

”Are you done yet? there’s fish over there.” Meowstic’s were somewhat known for their lack of emotion, Nao just wanted food.

“Yeah yeah…” With a bit of a sigh he would scoop up the Meowstic and walk towards the sound of running water. “Let’s get some dinner.”
________________________________________
Stream near Route 22, roughly fourteen hours until universe altering event.

Nao sat near the stream with a fishing rod braced in the dirt. “Jayce we have been here for hours and haven’t…” The sound of the fishing reel suddenly pulling stopped the words in her… mind. “Of course now it chooses to feed me.” The Meowstic just stared at the rod which began to float and wind back the line.

Nearby under the shade of a tree Jayce laid with his eyes closed and hat pulled down just enough to cover his face. “Always when you least expect it right? Take it easy precious we’ve got all the time in the world but not a whole lot of line left on the reel.” The last thing they needed was the line snapping again, fishing required patience and Nao didn’t always have a ready supply of that. Tilting the hat back he would look Nao over and notice her predicament, it was an advantage he wasn’t going to let get away from him. Turning over Jayce would start to inch towards his unsuspecting pray, slowly like a Caterpie he approached. “Say Nao…”

The possibility of fish for dinner was more than enough distraction Nao needed, the rarely smile she showed around others prominent on her face. “We’re going to have fish and Oran berries, and then we are going to get to town. Fried fish or grilled fish, all fish is good fish.” The mantra the small Pokémon had been going for was abruptly interrupted by an ill timed pounce from her partner. Now the surprise of Jayce suddenly jumping her wasn’t enough for Nao to unfurl her ears but it was plenty for the rod to be snapped. “JAYCE!”

The psychic reverb literally echoing through his head was well worth being this close to his oh so fluffy Nao. “Your voice, in my head, oh so very loud Nao. Quiet for snuggles please.” So clearly this happened more often than not, Jayce loved his little Nao. The reverb would come to an end as he and the now relatively helpless Pokémon rolled backwards.

“That was going to be our dinner…” There was no helping her current situation, not that she’d change it for love… nor fish… possibly fish depending on its size. “I can’t help but think you like your mind being shaken; you remember what happened last time?”

“Nope, don’t’ remember a thing.” The scowl the answer earned him quickly changed his mind. “Of course I remember. Splitting headache, seeing spots for ages, fluffy thing in my arms, what wasn’t to love?” His love for Nao might be confused for Poképhilia and honestly if they were a bit more compatible it might have been, but as it was all he could really do was hold her as close as possible.

Nao would squirm a bit until she was face to face with Jayce, eyes staring into his. “Will you ever learn?”

“Oh eventually, either when you beat it into me or my head pops.” Leaning forward he’d peck her on the forehead, smiling warmly. “I can accept the former; the latter seems a bit too much for me. I kind of like my head they way it is.”

Pushing up from his position Jayce would carry his little Meowstic towards his sleeping bag and other little odds and ends he used for camping, pot of stew, canteen of water, and clothes line for cleaning. The sun was already starting to set in the background. “Besides at least I managed to set up camp while you fished, so not everything’s lost, heck I even managed to some stew going if you’re hungry.” Motioning with his somewhat free hand he’d point to Doduo who was recovering from the fight, his close friend Hazel a Skiddo, and finally Splash the Totodile “Oh and I think I’ll call Doduo Zippy.”

“Let’s just go to bed Jayce…” It appeared Nao wasn’t in the mood to share Jayce and honestly he was fine with that, since he didn’t like sharing either.

With a warm smile he’d walk towards the sleeping back and whisper. “Anything for you.”
________________________________________
Somewhere along route 22, making way towards Viridian City. Half an hour till universe altering event.

The sky had darkened over the night, rain was coming but that didn’t affect Jayce’s mood what so ever. “Isn’t this great Nao? With the clouds we don’t have to worry about the sun bearing down on us all day. I feel like I could walk all day if I have to.” He was content to do just that actually.

Looking up from his arms Nao frowned a bit. “It’s your fault we’re starting out so late, I can’t believe you fell in the stream.”

“What I had to clean the-“ Being cut off mid sentence wasn’t a very nice, being cut off by the sound of a rather loud motorcycle suddenly coming to a screeching halt made it oh so much worse. From the back of the bike a Jenny dismounted with a whistle blowing.

“Stop right there criminal-“There wasn’t much time to get the rest of her speech out when Nao’s ears snapped open and were surrounded by a light blue glow. Within a moment the bike that had been next to Jenny and part of the trail was obliterated by a powerful psychic blast, bits and pieces of both falling to the ground as if a bomb had just gone off. “Scum…” Jenny’s eye twitched as her head turned to the spot her bike had been. “You…are…” It was obvious that this might have been the first time she dealt with a Meowstic, or really a Pokémon that could destroy something so quickly. Dropping the whistle she would smack her cheeks before forcing herself to continue. “You are hereby under arrest for suspicious activity and destroying official property! Growlithe go!”

By the time Jenny’s Growlithe appeared both Jayce and Nao had enough time for a somewhat full conversation, the majority being how long it would take them to give up. The decision to run hadn’t been very hard, it wasn’t the first or last time they’d run away, people often tried to get them tagged for Poképhilia or did something stupid enough to scare Nao. “Shadow Ball the ground, we’ll take off to the left, they always go right first.”

Jumping back Jayce would avoid the pouncing Growlithe, the gap giving Nao to shadow ball the ground. “Shadow Ball!” The dirt that was kicked up was enough to create a bit of a dirt cloud for them to dash off. Running from the trail they would have to jump two bushes and down a small hill. From behind them they could hear a coughing before a loud barking that was in fact coming in their general direction. “Run faster Jayce that Growlithe is REALLY unhappy.”

“Got it! Run… ing.” An odd sensation started to overcome Jayce; it was as if his body started to get heavier. “Nao... are you messing with my head?” No answer would come for the two as he fell to the ground, his mind starting to go blank as an odd…peace overcame him.

“Rest now my children, for when you awake a whole new world shall be your home.”
_____________________________________
Meanwhile in Equestria, a dark grey Earth Pony found himself wondering in the forest east of Hollow Shade.

"Haha hello all my little ponies!" The stallion said to nobody as he looked to the right and smiled. "it's time for your favorite show, that's right it's time for 'Cooking with Rock Soup!' and I am your humble host Rock Soup!" Stopping for a moment he stood up on his hind legs and struck a pose, all the while making special effect sounds like 'fwoosh' and 'kaboom'. "On today's episode of 'Cooking with Rock Soup' I the awesome Rock Soup am taking you on a rock hunt!" Pausing for dramatic effect he would continue. "Today we're looking for the right rock to put some delicious Chowmane into"

Smiling a bit he looked back towards the camera. "First for you first time viewers, I bet you're wondering how I became a chef!" Kicking over a rock he passed he would break it in half. "Well it's a great story! Once day I was just your everday rock farmer, yeah I know boring right." Laughing at himself for a few seconds. "Well one day I got bored and broke a rock to see what was in it and to my surprise it was empty! So I thought hey it was a good shape for soup and so I put some in it and thus I became a chef!" This had been yesterday.

It was obvious that he was as cracked as the rocks he worked with.

Stopping he pointed forward in a dramatic style. "There! That has to be the right one" Running over now he stood before a piece of granite that was easily two times larger than he is. "Now now you're asking yourselves 'Rock Soup that is obviously too big what do you intend to do?'. Well now fillies and gentlecolts since you asked so nicely I'll tell ya" Tapping a hoof on the granite he began to chip away at it. "Over the next hour I am going to chisel this down into the perfect bowl!"

It was at that exact moment that Arceus began transferring pokemon. It was also the same moment a Geodude jumped off a cliff. What happened next was one for instant replay, if such a thing existed.

A loud whistling sound broke the silence. "Hey what's that? Who's messing with my pefect-" THUD!

"Dude!"

The moment Rock Soup looked towards the sound was the moment said Geodude collided with his face. "...alright everypony...take five" He promptly fell over, Geodude falling free of his face once he hit the ground.

"Geodude."

Ch.1 In forest unknown

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Ch.2 Hollow Shades

Jayce just stared at the two ponies in front of him, how could they ask what Pokémon were? Turning back to Nao he’d stutter but no words would come out. Now he could forgive not knowing what a Meowstic was since they weren’t super common nor were they in every region, and that could be what this was but something deep down told him that wasn’t the case. Finally he would turn his head back to Grace, the more sane of the two ponies. “Does the word Pokémon mean anything to you?”

She had to think about it! The look on her face said that Grace was thinking about the question pretty hard, it was that point between headache and ‘my eyes are going to pop’. After what seemed like hours she looked down to Jayce and shook her head. “I’ve never heard of that, is that what you are?” That couldn’t be right though, these two were cats while those things in the forest hadn’t been anything other than a chandelier and a Nightmare Night witch’s hat. Jayce, she thought, looked like he was about to have a heart attack or something of that nature while Nao simply looked like Nao.

“Before Jayce has a heart attack I would like to ask, where are we?” They might have just been in a region where Pokémon weren’t as common, not that she’d ever heard of such a place but anything was possible. Well in a world with Pokémon who could control the elements and even time itself, anything really was possible.

Rock popped up to answer the question. “Oh I know that one, you’re in the forest.” Not necessarily a smart answer. The looks he got from his three companions had him back peddling to hide behind the nearest rock, it just happened to be Geodude.

“Dude.” It seemed the rock Pokémon was starting to come around himself.

Shaking his head Rocky ducked down. “I know right.”

“Geo geo dude.” It appeared that Rocky and Geodude were having a conversation; that would have been amazingly unbelievable had it actually been the case.

“I know my answer was the right one, they just didn’t like it.” Rocky was really having a conversation with himself, only using Geodude to validate anything he was saying or thinking at the time. “Only you understand my plight Little Dude.” Finally a friend who thought he was smart!

In reality Geodude had been asking questions of his own, such as why are you hiding and why was he hiding behind him. Geodude wasn’t a large Pokémon by any means and in this case Rocky wasn’t hidden at all by his stone friend.

Shaking her head Grace would pull off her saddle bags and start digging through them, looking for a length of map she’d packed that morning. “He wasn’t completely wrong; you’re in the forest surrounding Hollow Shades..aha.” She would produce the map; it actually looked fairly recent since the edges weren’t frayed or yellowing. “Now we are…here.” Poking a hoof at the spot they were in showed they weren’t that far from town actually which meant a place to take refuge for the night. If the residents didn’t run them out of town for what had happened.

The map however had Jayce’s eyes wide, the dark green pupils dilating to a point that it looked painful. “Nao that’s not Kanto! Where on Earth are we?” Very quickly he looked around the edges of the map, hoping to perhaps see a region he knew or even heard about. Sadly that wouldn’t be the case; there was something about zebra and griffon but nothing about Johto, Kanto, Hoenn, or even Kalos.

“Earth? I don’t know where that is but you’re in Equestria” That wasn’t hard to tell though as Equestria was scribbled across the top of the map in fancy looking lettering. Below that the word Equus was stenciled in somewhat bold letters that were no less fancy.

“Nao…Nao…Nao.” He called her name repeatedly as he pointed to Equus, if the mare didn’t know what Earth was then that clearly meant they weren’t there. If they weren’t on Earth then they were on another planet and these ponies were…the indigenous race which meant… “That means-“

“I know what it means Jayce.” Nao would cut him off as politely as she could, trying to keep him from panicking any further. Turning to the mare who seemed grounded, as in not panicking either, Nao would calmly explain. “It seems we’re on another planet entirely.” That brought on a whole new line of thought, like how they got there and other various questions of equal importance.

Grace shook her head in disbelief, even though the things she’d seen in this forest this morning were clearly not of Equestria.
“Does that mean you’re-“

A loud crash from the general direction Rocky was hiding caught the trio’s attention. Turning they would find that Rocky had once again passed out and the Geodude was busily fanning his face. “Dude geo geodude geo.”

Both Nao and Jayce had to facepaw at what the Geodude had said though it was Nao who spoke first. “Seems space alien ghosts were just a bit too much for him, can we leave him like that for a bit?” She tilted her head to the side at the last bit, some silence from that area would make things go a lot smoother.

With a sigh the mare would have to nod in agreement. “Yeah…I…If you’re aliens then I don’t know if I should be talking to you, there has to be some official way of communication or something?” Grace’s mind was going a mile a minute, what if she would be sent to jail for this? It certainly seemed like a possibility with how dangerous these creatures were. “And I need to get these folk back to town, who knows how many more of those...Pokémon?..are still out here.” Looking around there were at least ten townsfolk with the addition of two foals.

“We can help with that.” Jayce was quick to offer his help in this situation, friendship could go far.

Nao however bopped him on the head again causing Jayce to shudder. “I can help them if we must, but not you Jayce. You just evolved and don’t know how to control your abilities yet.” Keeping the next bit between just the two of them she would add. “Remember what I did to Jenny’s bike? I don’t want you doing that to them even on accident.”

Jayce took a step back, his eyes going to pin pricks as he realized what could happen. A Meowstic could easily crush a ten ton truck with the power stored in their ears, what could have happened to these ponies had he recklessly tried to pick them up? “I…” He wasn’t left alone long, Nao scooted back to put her arms around him in a soothing way, her tail would loop back to wrap around his own.

Worry etched on Grace’s face when she saw Jayce’s reaction to what was said. “What’s evolving? That glowy thing you did?”

“Yes, but we can talk more about that later.” Nao said as she turned to look over the townsfolk. “But you’re right we should try to get out of here, I doubt those are the only Pokémon here that are confused and they aren’t even the meanest.” There weren’t that many ponies so floating them in psychic wouldn’t be too hard, but the translation thing would have to stop since it was draining. “I can carry them but talking like this isn’t going to happen while I’m doing it, this little bit is already making me tired.”

Actually that didn’t sound like a bad idea, it would get the townsfolk back and make the pokemon seem like the helped. At least it would possibly help them stay in town for a little while until everything was figured out, it also gave Grace the time to be alone in her head. “Alright, we’re only a few miles from town. Once we get there though don’t…talk in anyone else’s head…Hollow Shades is a bit of a superstitious town.”

With a plan set the group started getting to work, while Nao could grab everyone from where they were she had decided it best to round them up, possibly only floating the larger ponies and setting the smaller ones on their backs. The end result was four piles of ponies with Rocky having a stallion on his back with the two foals on that stallion’s back. Once they were settled Nao sat on Grace’s back so she wouldn’t have to waste energy on walking, but this left Jayce to walk which he was perfectly fine with.

“I need to work on my abilities.” Jayce was muttering to himself after the walk began, the pace would have to be slow so he could keep up and so that bumps wouldn’t knock Nao around. This also helped the Geodude keep, who seemed to be bent on following Rocky wherever he went. Seemed that even in this strange situation friendships could bloom and this one was literally friendship at first rock.

The best part of this was Nao couldn’t tell him to stop moping or muttering since she had to focus on the task at hand. Generally he did everything in his power to make Nao happy, he loved her more than anything but sometimes it just felt good to mope. Now if he could remember the pokedex entry correctly it had said something about the genders of Meowstic, but what was it. Frustration etched itself on Jayce’s face; it was going to bug the hell out of him until he figured it out.

“Male Meowstics what…” His eyes would shift to Nao, who was doing her best to focus on floating the ponies. She was strong and definitely a powerhouse when it came to attacking psychically which gave her an edge in double and triple battles. Then he thought back to what he was doing before he’d evolved, protecting the innocent and willing to take damage. “Aha!” Slamming one paw into the other he figured it out; male Meowstics were really good at supporting as their natural move set involved a lot of abilities like protect and quick guard. With a bit of a grin he’d reach up and tug at his ears for a moment. “Alright are you going to work with me? It’s either with me or against me and we work as a team on this body.” It seemed Jayce was giving himself a pep talk, yay for him.

Giving a slight bounce of excitement Jayce began to choose a move he wanted to try, though it really wasn’t a choice. Raising his hands up above his head he would start to clap in tune with the hoof falls of Grace. “Helping Hand.” After a moment of walking he would start to sing. “I can clap if I want to, we can help each other, but if you don’t clap then I’ll just clap alone Hey!” It was a cheesy song and he knew it but dang it if it didn’t make him feel better. Inside he could feel energy surging up and his ears would lift just a smidge as he tried to channel it.

Looking up from the back of Grace Nao frowned for a moment. “Jayce you know you can’t…” Listening to the clapping though seemed to invigorate her; she could feel the energy coming from Jayce. “I guess you can use helping hand…” For a moment she’d forgotten Jayce had become a Pokémon since only he could sing so badly, well lyrically anyway. “Thank you.”

Grace didn’t know what was going on though, the assumption was that Jayce was suddenly happy instead of sad and that she could live with. Behind her floated the towns folk and the pace was going to double how long it took her to get out here in the first place. “Hey Jayce are you alright?” She would turn her head back to look at the Meowstic, the clapping certainly had a tempo and as a pony she found it hard not to sing.

A smile crossed Jayce’s face as he gave a firm nod, indeed he could do helping hand. That above all else at this very moment amused him the most, after all he’d spent a good number of years pretending to do helping hand. Irony was not lost on him. “Don’t you think its funny the first skill I use as a Meowstic is helping hand Nao?” Picking up the pace he’d try to get to an even pace with Grace, instead of going too slow or too fast. “I mean-“

“Jayce I’m trying to float a thousand or so pounds of pony without crushing them.” Her eyes was focused on the townsfolk, some of them were beginning to wake up though they remained still out of fear. After all they’d just spent a few hours wandering aimlessly without a thought in their heads.

Slinking back Jayce would nod, the excitement was still there even after being told to be quiet. “And then there was one and his name was Jayce and he was the most helpful Meowstic ever.” His paws continued to clap along but now it was more to his own beat rather than Grace’s hooves. “I want to shake my tail and dance along.” For now Jayce would be in his own little world, which was fine for a time.

Hollow Shades was quiet by the time they arrived and the sun wasn’t quite high in the sky yet so many of the buildings were putting off shadows. These shadows added to the towns over all quiet and spooky vibe, buildings were made of wood with thatch and tiled roves spread throughout town. Outside there wasn’t a single pony to be seen and the sounds of shutters closing on approach could be heard, the sound being almost depressing.

“We’re getting into town now so I think a few guidelines need to put up I think.” Trying hard not to use the word rules Grace spoke quietly. “The townsfolk in Hollow Shades are a bit more superstitious compared to the average pony; it took years to get a train station put in because some of the elderly were afraid it would bring in ruffians, omens, and so on. You should probably stay close to me and maybe rock if he doesn’t pass out again, that should keep the pony from freaking out.” More so anyway, at least it seemed like more of the Pokémon hadn’t come into town yet. “Would you mind carrying them a bit further, we have a little clinic in town and I’d like them to come to with a helping hoof.”

With a nod from Nao and a paws up from Jayce they walked through town towards the clinic. The layout was pretty simple, few roads meant little confusion and quick travel times. Arriving at the clinic they were met with a colorful sight, not the building of course it was a few shades of brown and green with a red cross on the door, but rather who was there. A Blissey had managed to find its way to the clinic and was standing outside looking somewhat offended. Upon arrival the pink and white Pokémon turned around, its eyes going wide at the sight of other Pokémon.

“Hey look it’s a Blissey!” Jayce shouted as he pointed a bit too dramatically. At the exclamation Nao had to put the ponies down so she too could take a look at the nurse Pokémon.

The Blissey walked towards the group, its footsteps making it seem like she was bouncing along the ground a fair bit. “Oh thank goodness other Pokémon, please please one of you be human.” The Blissey’s eyes went from surprised to hopeful with a hint of pleading, it seemed this was another human turned pokemon.

“Sweet another human, we almost have enough members for a club!” Jayce ran forward he took the Blissey’s hand, paw, thingy, and gave it a shake. “And from your voice you’re Joy aren’t you?” It was somewhat rude to refer to a Nurse Joy as ‘a Joy’, Jayce had learned that a few regions back.

Nao shook her head as she walked forward, Jayce it seemed couldn’t be brought down for longer than a few minutes. “So Jayce isn’t the only one.” Standing next to Jayce she would weave her tail with his just so the Nurse Joy would know where they stood. After all some Joys were for Pokémon and human relationships while others were so against it they would keep a Pokémon held and restrain the trainer. Turning back she hear Grace do one of those fake coughs, the kind that are meant to get attention. “Hold on let me translate…” Raising her ears she would channel some energy into them, tapping into Grace’s mind so she could understand. “There.”

There was a grateful nod from Grace as she walked to the door and rapped on it. “Doctor Fields?” With a glare at the door she proceeded to increase how hard she was knocking on the door, and it was knocking at this point. “Doctor Fields unlock this door! We’ve got the missing pony and they need to be looked at!” It would take a few more thuds before the wise doctor finally opened the door.

“You did? That’s good…” Poking his head out, he was a smaller brown stallion with a reddish mane with a thread and needle cutie mark. “Is the pink thing gone, it’s not done nothing but ah don’t trust it.” Looking past the town’s mayor he saw that not only was it not gone but there were more creatures. “Get them to go away and ah’ll look at the injured.”

“He doesn’t realize we can understand him does he?” Saying as he nonchalantly leaned against Nao, Jayce had hoped it might get a startle out of the pony. Now he wasn’t all about scaring ponies or hurting anyone, far from it actually, but he hated when people or ponies judged others without knowing them. “Or that she’s a nurse? Probably didn’t bother to ask or anything.”

“Probably not, he’ll learn soon enough.” Nao added, her red eyes now looking at the doctor.

Needless to say the good doctor looked faint when he heard voices suddenly in his head. “They’re in my head, oh goddesses they want my brain.” Fields hit the deck like it was his day job, hooves quickly over his head in a protective way.

Grace looked back at the Pokémon; Jayce was whistling innocently, Nao didn’t seem like she cared, and Nurse Joy seemed a bit confused. “No they’re not Doctor, it’s the only way we can understand them.” Reaching down she’d gently take him by the hoof and pull. “And those two cuties helped save the missing ponies.”

“Only after you bribed them I bet.” Not quite ready to give up the fight, he quite liked being stuck in his ways.

With a smile and a bit of an eye twitch Grace would pull on the doctor again, this time pulling him to his hooves. “Not at all, they insisted on helping, and now I think the pink one is willing to help as well.” With mention of ‘pink one’ Nurse Joy stepped forward while trying to look unthreatening. “So why don’t you get over there and try to make nice? After all you could use all the help you can get, there’s foals who haven’t woken and those who seem to be coming too aren’t moving much either.” She would purposely point the doctor at Rocky, who was still quietly passed out on the ground. “Don’t help him, I’m pretty sure he’s beyond help.”

That actually got a bit of a chuckle out of the doctor even if it was nervous. “Ain’t been right since his momma dropped him, poor guy…” His eyes would go from Rocky to the Pokémon who were waiting for word. “Fine, Celestia knows I was taught love and tolerance “ With a grunt he would walk towards the downed ponies, muttering under his breath until he was closer. “Uh..Nurse…never had one of them before…just if I ask for help be ready, some of the foals might need hold’n and you look soft enough.”

To her credit Joy took that as a compliment, she wasn’t expecting much of one anyway with how the pony had been acting. “Would you two mind explaining what’s going on once they’re helped?”

“Well I can tell you what we know right now, but yeah probably best not to talk about yet.” Jayce said as he glanced up, he wasn’t a doctor and was pretty certain he had no moves to help with healing. “It’s not even noon yet and this day feels like it’s been going forever.”

Nao nodded her head but didn’t say anything, being this close to Jayce was enough to keep her placated for now even if it was meant to keep the Nurse Joy at bay.
__________________________________________________________________________________

An hour would pass by as pony after pony was roused from their catatonic state, some hadn’t been unconscious but scared stiff and need proper prodding to move along. Some had needed to be taken inside to be looked at a bit closer but even those woke up with a little bit of time. As for the foals it had been more of a bad dream for them and waking up to an incredibly round and fluffy new thing had them running around in circles laughing and giggling. The scene would have been adorable had they not caught sight of the two cats nearby, they were instantly the center of attention.

Nao had very quickly escaped the situation by climbing on to Grace’s back, thus leaving Jayce to be tugged and pulled. In turn he resigned to being the foals’ play thing. It didn’t seem like he minded all that much, back on Earth he had always loved children since they were easy to get along with. In time parents arrived to pick up their foals were quickly whisked away and the ponies who had vanished departed the clinic. Throughout the most serious of injures was sustained by Rocky which was a bump on his head from passing out, repeatedly.

“Well ah reckon that went better than I expected it to, can’t blame them for wanting to get away from the little critters. Over the last hour the doctor had been having idle chit chat with Nurse Joy, who he actually found quite intelligent in the field of medicine. “It’s uh been nice chatting with you Miss Joy, sorry about yelling at you earlier but ah gotta get back to work.” Because Rocky still wasn’t awake and that was somewhat of a blessing to the group.

“So where do we go from here? I’d rather not go back to the forest right now.” Jayce managed to get out just before yawning, he was exhausted after an hour of play.

Walking past the Pokémon Grace motioned to one of the larger houses in town. “That’s my family’s house, I’m the only one staying there right now.” Jayce raised his head to ask a question but was quickly cut off. “Mom and Dad went out of town, once the railroad went in they decided to travel for a bit. Come on let’s get you inside before any pony else decides to start poking around.”

“I’m going to cut the connection now…I’m getting tired.” There wasn’t much of a warning before the connection cut out and Nao passing out from exertion.

Jayce moved fast enough to catch Nao as she fell from Grace’s back, catching being he used his body as a cushion. “Ow.” And now he was under her, normally this situation would be a bit more enjoyable but as it was it simply sucked. “Some help please…” Getting her off wouldn’t be too hard, they were the same size now and roughly the same weight, he just didn’t want to hurt her.

Nurse Joy was there a moment after the fall; she had managed to procure a few medical supplies from Doctor Fields. After a rather quick inspection she was able to come up with a diagnosis, it was easy really since she had been helping Pokémon for years.
“She’s just exhausted herself; with some rest she’ll be just fine.” She even ran a paw over Jayce just to make sure he had no injuries from the fall either, thankfully he was soft.

“She never was one to let others know when she was tired.” Or in over her head, Nao was a bit proud and really hard headed when it came to relying on anyone that wasn’t Jayce. Joy had no problem picking up Nao then placing her back on Grace’s back. “And now Grace can’t understand us, which mean we can’t ask questions until Nao wakes up.” Running around he would have to wave for Grace to continue on.

Nurse Joy followed alongside Grace, paw on Nao the entire way to Grace’s home. “Can you use the same ability she was?”
Shaking his head Jayce let out a sigh. “I’m just like you Nurse Joy, there are only a few things I can do if I think about it.” The fight before had been mostly by instinct and gut feeling meaning he had no idea how to really do those skills again. “I’ll have to have her teach me do it, else I could end up scrambling their brains or something.” Looking over to the Blissey who hadn’t done a single skill since they’d met he would add. “And I would rather avoid that…Nurse Joy what region are you from?”

Joy didn’t like the idea of having him try anymore nor was she quite thrilled that Nao was doing if that was a possible result. “I ran the Pokécenter in Viridian City before this happened.” She puffed up a bit as if she was proud of it, it was after all one of the larger centers in the region and took a great number of Chansey to run the facility. “Speaking of do you know where we even are? It’s not Kanto I know that and I’m pretty sure we’re not in Johto either; I treat Pokémon from that area occasionally.”

“Mind if I tell you once we’re inside? You’re going to want a place to rest.” Or freak out, he’d almost done just that but had smoothly kept himself from doing so.

Grace could tell they were having a conversation but she’d be darned that she couldn’t tell what they were talking about. As it was she was distracted by their voices, there was something cute about the way both Pokémon sounded. “Well we’re about there.”

The house seemed pretty old this close up but they could also tell that work was done on a regular basis; a ladder with a few tools around it spoke of that. The paint was a dark blue and the trimming along the windows and doors was a dirty looking white, a mat out front said welcome. All in all it was a nice place to rest for a bit and maybe stay a bit longer if allowed or needed.

Moving up to the door Grace would open it, it appeared that she was one of those who didn’t lock their door when they were going out or going into life threatening situations where survival isn’t guaranteed. “Welcome to my home, I apologize if it’s a bit messy we’re in middle of doing a little remodeling.” She would enter first as to light candles and lanterns that hung throughout the foyer. In the middle of the room was a table which held a few books, a few cushions that looked well used, a few shelves here and there, and what looked like a tea set which joined the books on the table. “I also…alright I’m not the most tidy pony but at least there’s more than enough room for you all.”

Nao was transferred to one of the less used pillows where Jayce promptly took his spot right next to her, almost in a protective way.

Finally out of the public view and somewhat alone Nurse Joy took this moment to ask the same question she’d asked earlier. “Jayce where are we?” She had taken a seat on the far end of this square table, which sat her oh rough five feet away.

“Um well…” He reached up to scratch his ear hoping to delay his answer, maybe Nao would wake up and save him from this? Jayce continued to scratch his ear for a minute before the impatient look from Joy made him speak. “This isn’t going to be easy…but we’re on a new world…” He immediately cringed as the words left his mouth, hopefully her reaction would be better this his own had been?

Joy leaned forward so that her ear was forward. “I’m sorry I didn’t hear you right, it sounded like you said we’re on a new world.”

“That’s because I did.”

Leaning back she would simply answer. “Oh my, that’s what I feared.” Nurse Joy quietly took this moment to introduce herself to the table then the cushion as she too passed out, though from shock rather than exertion.

Jayce looked between Nao and Joy and smiled. “And then there was one.”

Ch.3 Flashback with a side of eggs

By the time Grace returned from the kitchen Nurse Joy had been moved to the top of the pillow instead of being half on and half off, but now it seemed it was just her and Jayce left awake. “Well I don’t know what happened while I was gone, but I don’t think we can have a conversation…” From behind the mare the kettle she’d just put on was beginning to whistle. “At least there’s something we can do until they wake up.”

And so the two had an early lunch, green tea was served and small sandwiches were set on the table for ready consumption. Having no clue what ponies ate Jayce had to choose the ones that looked edible. Really it just ended up with him eating bread with cucumbers, which was not a sandwich it was…bread with a cucumber. ‘If only I had my bag…’ Jayce was left wanting more and who could really blame him, ponies didn’t eat meat and what they had readily available was hay, grass, and other fruits and vegetables. He didn’t have a problem with fruits and vegetables it was the principle of not being able to serve them with stew or meat or well anything consisting of real flavor.

Silence prevailed for a few minutes before Grace decided to speak up. “So...with your wife-“

What little tea Jayce had been sipping at that moment shot out of his mouth and his eyes instantly went to the unconscious Joy.

“Wife no…” Shaking his head he actually felt a little bad with how fast he rebutted that comment, if they were back in their world that comment alone would have been means for investigation.

“Girl friend?” Grace hadn’t expected that reaction though there was a saying about assumption that might have fit right there.

Jayce couldn’t deny that one and so he tapped on the table once while saying. “Yeah.” Which in turned wounded like meow to Grace. With a sigh he scooted a little closer to Nao as his current position had him sitting right between the two pokemon.

The tapping however did give Grace an idea. “I know how we can talk. Since you can understand what I’m saying I can ask you questions in return you tap once for yes and twice for no.” Brilliant she thought to herself, at least they wouldn’t be eating in silence. “Let’s see…” There were a lot of questions she wanted to ask but right now she was noticing how Jayce was picking at the food. “Are you a vegetarian?”

Tapping twice he would shake his head before opening his mouth, inside were a few pointy teeth. All the better to eat fish with and to bite those who annoyed them, Meowstics were pretty awesome. That thought actually made him cringe, a paw went to his left arm where Nao had bitten him a few years ago for a prank gone bad. “Ehehe…never again.”

Grace didn’t flinch at the sight of teeth, knowing they were cats of some sort she’d been expecting them. “Then you’re omnivores?” Having seen him eat some of the sandwiches she’d quickly ruled out carnivores.

One tap and a smile later Jayce began to hope the pony actually had some sort of meat around, wouldn’t that be nice?

“I thought so, sadly we’re mostly vegetarian.” Reaching a hoof up Grace would tap her chin to think. “I may have a few eggs left from breakfast.” Standing up she would walk back towards the kitchen, Jayce would follow behind to take a look. The kitchen was quite spacious as it held a decent sized fridge, a large stove, a number of shelves and counters. On an island in middle of the kitchen sat a brightly decorated cake in one of those glass displays, a sign on it said ‘don’t touch’. Skirting the island Grace went straight to the fridge and pulled it open, inside was a bottle of milk, some vegetables, and on the door was two eggs.

Reaching for the eggs Grace would have to stop, the eggs vanished from where they’d been sitting. “What the…” Turning she saw Jayce holding the eggs in his paws no more than a few paces away from her, he was holding them up to the light inspecting them. “Are you going to eat those raw?” A twitch had appeared over her left eye, the thought of eating eggs raw was making her a bit ill.

However Jayce shook his head and started wondering around the kitchen looking for cooking utensils. “Going to make Nao some eggs, then she will be a happy Nao and a happy Nao makes Jayce happy.” Talking to himself always seemed to help and wasn’t weird in the slightest, nope. Soon there was a frying pan on the stove with a spatula.

“Do you know how to cook?” Asking nervously as she took a step back, a cooking cat was something Grace wanted to see but it also scared her a bit…

Looking back with a grin he would flip on the stove, a stove was a stove after all and they worked about the same no matter what world you were in. “Can I cook? Ha, I cook every day and I’ve never once had a complaint.” Not entirely true, Nao had been a pretty harsh judge for a while but that urged him to get better. With a crack the eggs were soon sizzling on the frying pan and Jayce watched them like a hawk. “I might not like eggs but I know how to cook’em.”

Grace didn’t understand a word Jayce said. “I’m going to assume you are explaining what you are doing.” Curiosity got the better of her and she ended up inching closer to the stove to watch the cat cook the eggs. Choosing to be helpful Grace would pull a plate down from one of the cabinets and set it next to the cooking Meowstic whom gave an appreciative nod.

Sunny side up didn’t take terribly long to cook, long enough for him to poke the eggs and then transfer them to the plate provided. Jayce looked proud of himself and Grace looked surprised that he was actually able to cook. “Wow I didn’t expect you to be able to cook.” There was a lesson in there somewhere about judging a book by its cover, or rather a cat by its fur.

Grabbing the plate he’d lift it above his head and jump off the counter, the look on his face saying he landed a bit wrong. “I’m not used to this yet…” With gritted teeth he started to walk back towards the foyer, at least the eggs weren’t scrambled or else they’d have ended up all over the floor. “My plan is going along smoothly, Nao will smell the eggs then she will wake up to eat the eggs. Yep my master plan is flawless!” Of course there was no way to know for sure, yes this tactic had worked in the past but not every time he did it. Once the eggs ended in his face which left him flailing for a good half hour, they were hot of course but mostly because he REALLY didn’t like eggs.

Padding into the room Jayce would set the eggs down on the table to debate on the best way to do this, Grace simply followed behind to watch what he was doing. “Let’s see…I could…no that would be bad…oh…no that could be dangerous.” Eventually he would decide to place the plate on the floor next to Nao then position himself so that her head was resting on his legs. From here he would gently fan at the eggs so that the smell would waft towards Nao’s nose. “Come on love, breakfast is ready.”

Watching Jayce try to wake Nao brought a smile to Grace’s lips, she had expected him to make the food for himself. “Awww” The scene was cute and loving, too much so for words to describe. Instead of interrupting further she would find her spot at the table and sit, hoping it would wake Nao up.

The reaction wasn’t as quick or explosive as one might suspect, it started with a twitchy nose and a flutter of ears. From there Nao turned her head from one side to the other before her eyes would slowly start to open though stopping for a moment for her eyes to adjust to the brightness of the room. “Jayce..those better be sunny side up…” A light groan would escape her as she looked up, from here she could see his face and that brought a little bit of a smile. Then Nao remembered where she was and sat straight up, her somewhat cold demeanor returning. “Breakfast now.”

However Jayce clung to Nao as she sat up. “No good morning hug or kiss?” Making a pouty face he snuggled against Nao. “And I went through the trouble of making breakfast.”

Perking her ears up Nao would look between Grace, eggs, Joy, and Jayce, repeating the process twice more before letting out a sigh. Without a word she would peck Jayce on the cheek then grab the eggs as if she’d just claimed victory. Jayce beamed brightly as Grace started laughing

“Do you ever feel like you’ve seen something you shouldn’t have?” Normally Grace wouldn’t have laughed at something like that but the expression on Nao’s face and reaction made the moment feel priceless. “You two could probably stand to be a bit more.” Pausing for a second to think she’d finish up with. “Like a couple?” She had found it odd that Nao looked so emotionless sometimes and others did her best to not show affection.

Having been about to dig into the eggs provided Nao glared at the pony for a moment. With a little bit of a grow she flapped her ears for a moment to re-establish the mental connection, after all only one pony shouldn’t be too hard and she only needed to translate their words. “It’s complicated.”

Jayce just kept quiet, he quite liked where he was at this moment. While it was indeed complicated, and the passed out Nurse Joy might be one reason, she was not the only reason why their relationship was complicated before. A smile stayed on his lips as he rested his chin on Nao’s shoulder, it was so very soft and fluffy especially with fur tuft around her neck.

“Love is love, there’s nothing complicated about it.” That’s the way most ponies were raised anyway and so Grace thought it to be true. “Simple.”

Nao looked back at Jayce before taking a bite of the eggs, the moist yoke popping as her teeth broke through. It was amusing to watch Nao eat because sometimes she would eat with forks and sometimes when she wanted to be lazy or busy she would just float whatever it was she was eating to her mouth. This happened to be the latter and so when the egg popped it sort of leaked on the table and plate, somehow missing her body entirely.

It was Jayce to answer and his voice seemed a bit low. “Nothing is ever as simple as it should be.” Tilting his head up he would look Grace in the eyes with his piercing green eyes. “If I were a Meowstic originally then…yes we could have been together and nobody could or would have stopped us.” It was about time they started getting more information about where they were and to do that he would share first.

Confusion crossed Grace’s face, he looked like a kitty now so what had he been before? The kitten perhaps? “What do you mean; you look like you go together.”

“Before we were here I was human…” Nao seemed to go rigid when he said that, the conversation might be going in a direction that would cause Jayce distress. “And close relationships with Pokémon were illegal.” His voice continued to be low as his eyes shifted back to the Nurse Joy who thankfully was still unconscious, that was another problem he’d rather not deal with at this moment.

Blinking and clearing her throat Grace looked a little dumbstruck, she didn’t know what a human was but it sounded like something was wrong with them. “That doesn’t-“ There was a sharp look from Nao that said to stop, it was a sensitive subject. “Um…” She scrambled for another question to ask and the most logical had to be. “How did you two meet?”

For most the question would have brought smiles and over all sense of good feelings, for them this wasn’t the case. By this point Nao had finished the eggs and her frown had remained but now Jayce had a frown on his face. “I don’t want to talk about it.” There was a twinge of something in the way he said it, sadness perhaps?

Finally Nao would have to speak up while Jayce buried his face in the scarf like tuft of fur around her neck. “There’s more to that story than you’d expect and it’s not a happy one, not for Jayce.” Pushing up from Jayce’s lap she would walk around the table until she was right in front of Grace, staring at her as if trying to determine something. “I have seen it from his perspective and my own, I can show it to you if you wish to know but I won’t subject Jayce to it.”

Jayce was left grasping at the pillow, somewhat unaware she had actually gotten up. “I’m going to go sit outside I think, don’t worry I won’t wonder around or anything.” He was grateful that Nao was able to handle it, there were some things he refused to relive and those days before meeting Nao were it.

Grace looked between the two for a moment; something bad had to have happened for Jayce to act like this. After all the entire time here he’d been happy go lucky and downright silly at some points. “I…if I’m going to side with you.” And possibly alienate herself to the entire town. “I would like to know, if anything I’d like to know how things worked where you were from.” And somewhere deep inside her curiosity was getting to her and hopefully curiosity didn’t kill the pony.

Once the sound of the door opening and closing was heard Nao would open her ears, revealing the eye shaped symbols in side. “I don’t do this often, but do not fight me.” To Grace it would seem like these psychic organs would glow and pulse as her world slowly began to go black.

Jayce found himself sitting at the edge of his bed in the morning; the light was filtering into his room from behind a closed curtain which painted the white walls of his room a light blue. In his hands he held a pamphlet which was currently opened to a picture of three Pokémon; the three were Froakie, Fennekin, and a Chespin. At thirteen he was already a few years late in starting his own journey but that was more because he didn’t want to go on a journey rather than not ready to go. “But I don’t want to go…” On the floor next to his bed sat a stuffed backpack and a jacket, on top of the backpack sat a leather fedora looking hat.

“Try not to worry honey, the professor won’t be in town till next week.” His mother said as she walked in, with long brown hair and sharp blue eyes she looked like a beautiful young woman, too young to have a child so many have pointed out. Walking over she would set down a neatly ironed shirt, dress pants, and dress shoes. “You know we love you but sitting at home with mommy all day isn’t healthy for a boy your age.” It was a conversation they had often over the last three years, it wasn’t Jayce’s fault he loved his parents and didn’t want to leave them. “Go on and get cleaned up, we have to be at the dock in a few hours.”

That’s right he thought, his expression brightening a bit as he took the clothes. Today his father’s boss was throwing a party on his boat, the S.S. Summer, to celebrate a year of ‘progress’ as he had called it. Really it just seemed like an excuse to throw a party for a project no one really knew about, maybe to make the employees feel like they were important or something. But party it was and party they shall do in dress attire! “I’m going to wear my hat.” It wasn’t up for debate, it was a choice that was his to make and his alone and darn it he was going to wear it.

His mom ruffled his hair with a little chuckle. “Alright honey just make sure to wash your hair, it gets oily if you don’t.” She would leave the room after that to finish getting ready as well.

Once she was out of the room Jayce would put the paper down and grab a towel from the back of a nearby chair. “I wonder if there’s going to be a lot of food.” Wondering to himself as he walked into the hall only to be stopped a moment later after tripping over his mothers Furfrou who yelped then barked happily as it noticed Jayce. This would have been nice if Jayce was a dog person, he didn’t hate dogs they just never really got a long all that well. “Ugh…Frofro…stop barking please…”

Frofro barked a few times, wagged his tail, and took off down the hall as he heard something fall. He was an energetic dog even if his hair was too long and often tripped over it. Good for him.

A few hours passed and before long Jayce would find himself walking down a dock with his mom and dad, Frofro was of course pulling up the rear. The breeze coming off the water was nice but chilling which caused him to pull his coat all the tighter while his mom and dad chuckled about something. Ahead of them sat the majestic looking S.S. Summer, it was done up in reds and oranges with lights highlighting windows and other sections.

“Wow it looks like it’s on fire.” The lights seemed to move and flicker, they were really well done.

His father, a lean looking man with a trimmed beard looked down at him and grinned. “Of course it does, the boss man likes to be big and flashy.” Pointing ahead he would continue on. “I’m sure he’s dressed just as flashy too, I think you’ll like him.”

Excitement filled Jayce’s eyes as he jogged down the dock, leaving his parents behind just a bit. The boat was huge!

At the ramp looked a rather plump looking man, his hair was done back in a slick way and was died an amazingly bright shade of red. “Oh ho ho what do we have here? Someone little and full of energy? Do you know what that means.” Crouching down he’d offer a hand to the kid. “It means you’re here for a party of course!” Looking past Jayce and he’d wave to the man and woman who of course return the wave with their own. “Come! Come aboard, treats and music await you for a night you won’t forget!” From there the man led the family up the ramp and from the sound of the ramp being pulled up they were the last to board.

On deck music was blaring, lights were dancing, and food was sizzling on grills placed at the end of the deck. People crowded here and there and when the boat started to move towards the river everyone cheered, the boat ride was beginning. Jayce and his parents mingled until the sun started to sink in the sky and the moon began to rise. By the time the sun was gone however Jayce was sitting at the back of the boat away from the noise and light with his hat pulled down over his eyes.

“Ladies and gentlemen, children, the moon is starting to sink and the light is starting to dim. What does that mean? Fireworks of course!” Applauds went around as it seemed the night was starting to tie down. “Before that I would like to thank everyone for your hard work over the last year. A lot has come from it even if you have been kept in the dark.” Fireworks started to go off behind him, highlighting the sky nicely but it also highlighted the helicopter above as well. A rope ladder would drop down from the helicopter and he would reach up to grab it.

Violent explosions rocked the boat as the fat man spoke, those closer to the first explosions were killed violently while the rest were sent scrambling to the deck. Jayce was thrown from the seat he was on and on to the deck, hitting the ground hard enough to hear something crack. “Agh!”

“Sadly you will not be around to see the fruits of your labor. Fair well.” The helicopter began to pull away from the boat and the man seemed to fly behind it while grasping the ladder.

The moment he was away from the ship more explosions went off through the boat, horrid shrieks and screams of death filled the air. A frantic barking raced through the ship which roused the boy from his pain filled stupor. Frofro looked pained and covered in injuries as he began to push Jayce towards the edge of the rapidly sinking boat.

Jayce could barely open his eyes now, the pain was horrible and a sick sensation was filling him. “Fro..fro..where’s mom?” Something was wrong, it wasn’t just him who was hurt from this and now Frofro was trying to save him. “Fro…get mom it hurts.” Glancing down to his side there was a trail of blood and he couldn’t tell if it was coming from him or Frofro, probably both. “Fro-“ A final explosion sent him hurdling over the edge, arms outstretched towards Frofro as he plummeted towards the cold water below.

The river’s current swept him away; the last thing he saw of the boat was flames as it sank, the sight would forever be burned into his mind.

Ten whole minutes he was in the water being thrashed about by the current and the debris from the ship which floated down stream. Before long Jayce washed ashore, his body covered in cuts, bruises, and blood with his consciousness fading in and out. Sand and dirt greeted him; here he laid for what seemed like an hour before Pokémon started to poke around to see what had happened.

The first Pokémon to appear were Oddish and Sentret and soon they were followed by Audino. Each one showed concern for the child that was hurt but none dared to get too near; what if whatever caused this to him was still nearby? Curiosity did seem to snag one of the smaller on lookers as an Espurr poked it’s head out of a nearby bush.

“Espurr? Es es espurr.” It appeared to be asking questions or trying to get the others to act. The responses it got back didn’t seem to sit well as the Espurr puffed out it’s chest and wiggled it’s ears. “Espurr!” The look on Espurr’s face and the voice made it clear that she was trying to get the others to act, using Leer and Disarming voice. Whether or not what the Espurr said or rather fear of it the other Pokémon moved forward to pull the boy away from the cold water and into the slightly warmer forest, just in time for a helicopter with spotlights to pass over.

The Oddish and Sentret did their best to take care of his wounds while the Audino and Espurr gathered berries and fruits for when the boy woke. The night air was cool though and on the second return Espurr decided to stay behind to try and keep the boy warm. Through the night the other Pokémon left to return to their homes and families and yet Jayce didn’t move much, only once to turn over and cling to Espurr.

Morning would come and the early rays of light peaked through the forest’s canopy above, rousing Jayce from his pain and nightmare filled dreams. By now, thankfully, the bleeding had come to a stop leaving behind aches and sore limbs.

“No…it’s too early…” He groaned as he buried his head a bit deeper in the Espurr’s fur, though the feel of it confused him. Jayce didn’t have a pillow that felt like this. Tilting his head up he would look around and the night’s events would slowly pop in his head. “Mom…Dad?” Jayce sounded hoarse and his voice was quickly filling with panic as he looked around. “No no no no.” Trying to stand up just wasn’t going to happen as pain shot through him as soon as he tried; the leg was broken or at least fractured somewhere.

Espurr would awaken to the panic stricken boy and would immediately try to calm him down the only way she knew how. It would sit there and look absolutely adorable. “Espurr.” It’s when it noticed him trying to stand and falling down in pain that got Espurr to act. Popping up it would shout “Esssspurr! Esp purr!” Its voice echoed throughout the forest loudly, causing rustling from a number of bushes which soon had Pokémon coming out of them.

Suddenly the Oddish and Sentret were back with branches, vines, and leaves and moving to help with the wounds they might have missed. Jayce found himself utterly surrounded by Pokémon who were poking and prodding him here and there, binding and splinting whatever might have been broken or fractured. There were no Nurse Joys out here for wild Pokémon and so they watched out for one another, thus why they were able to help Jayce. In minutes Jayce was back up on his feet with a proud looking Espurr helping hold him up on the uninjured leg.

Even while grief tore at his hear there was a sense of amazement starting to fill him, if this was how Pokémon were then perhaps he should have started his journey earlier. “T..Thank you” His voice was quiet as he stumbled towards the beach, following the drag marks left by his own body. The scene though brought back memories from the previous night, debris had washed ashore including bodies. “…” Stepping back repeatedly he beat a hasty retreat while trying not to scream and shout, Espurr was left clinging to his leg. He did indeed scream as he ran.

Jayce didn’t stop running, limping rather, until he could no longer breathe. “Why…” Now he was lost and confused but not for long!
Espurr to the rescue!

Flapping her ears Espurr would attempt to connect with Jayce, it was most definitely a she with the sound of her voice. “Stop please.”

The very sudden intrusion on his mind and adorable voice was enough to cause Jayce to go head over heels, literally. Tumbling he ended with the Espurr in his lap and staring at him with those saucer like eyes almost like she was staring into his soul. Or something. “Who’s there?” Turning back and forth he tried to find whoever said that though his head would eventually stop at the Espurr. “Was that you?”

“Yes. Help you.” Expurr turned her head to the side a bit and offered a smile. Moving to the side she would pat his leg where the splint was. “Better?”

Jayce stared at the small kitty Pokémon, he could help himself from bending down and picking her up. “No I’m not better…I…my parents are gone” Tears pricked at his eyes again, he would bury his face in Espurrs fur in an attempt to not. “I’m alone.” There wasn’t any way his parents could have survived that as he had barely survived with the help of Frofro. “Why’d you have to save me Frofro?” While no one wanted to die it had to be better than living with this didn’t it?

Espurr tried her best to hug him though her arms prevented a real hug from where she was. “Not alone, I’m here.” Basic communication was the best she could do and even this seemed to strain her. But clearly the boy was distressed and she didn’t want that. She was worried however that the reason why he was sad had to do with the big explosion yesterday.

He stopped to stare at the fluff ball in his arms, his eyes widening a bit before asking. “Will you stay with me?” Being alone was something he didn’t want to be right now, he was barely holding on from breaking down and losing whatever composure he had. “Please…”

She thought about it for a moment before nodding her head, Espurr had wanted to get out of the forest for a while. It wasn’t really a fun place to be anymore since most of the Pokémon were somewhat afraid of her after the last incident, it wasn’t her fault a 300 foot radius was sudden blasted into the forest. Scolipedes were scary enough said. Besides it seemed like he really needed someone or some Pokémon to be with him and he was hugging her despite the inherent danger. “Yes.”

“Thank you so much.” Squeezing Espurr he would start to walk a bit, looking only mildly surprised that she did squeak. “Now then I think you need a name, you’re too cute to not have a name.” It was also a process to distract him from what was going on around him. “Fluffy?”

Espurr shook her head repeated at the bad name. “No Now.”

Scratching his chin Jayce would continue to think about it. “Squeak?” After all she had squeaked after being squeezed so maybe that could be a thing?

“No Now.” There was a bit of annoyance seeping into her tone now, Jayce had horrible ideas for names. “With me, Now.”

Jayce hummed at that, he wasn’t quite getting it but decided to go with it. “Now then but I’m going to spell it N-a-o that way it sounds like a name.” Or is at least written like one whenever he actually managed to get a Pokéball. “But…we have to find an officer Jenny and go home…”

The world eventually reasserted itself beneath Nao and Grace, Nao’s ears would close as she cut the connection to the memory while leaving Grace looking sad and confused. “That is how-“

Something funny about sharing memories the way Nao had done it was the fact one tended to lose track of what was happening in reality. This meant that someone could move things around, paint something on your face, bounce around, or be prepared to pounce and glomp behind you. Jayce had taken his time to make sure he was in the perfect spot for the attack and when Nao’s ears closed he made his attack. “Glooooomp!” Calling out as he tackled her from behind and glomped her ear, the shade of red Nao went was priceless and well worth the psychic shout that was coming.

“Jayce!” She put as much force behind it she could but still Jayce would not budge from his position, the shade of red continued to deepen. Of course Nao’s weak spot were her ears.

Grace had to stand up from the table, something horrible had happened to one of these creatures she was starting to think of as friend. “I…I’m going to make lunch.” Shuffling away from the table the clock in the room would strike noon which only prove to hasten her steps. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Once through the kitchen doors tears started to stream down her face. She doubted there was a pony in all of Equestria that wouldn’t have shed a tear at that story unless they were being held in the deepest darkest cell in Canterlot.

From Beneath Jayce Nao began to turn over so that she was facing him, even her eyes seemed to have emotion in them. “Jayce…” The psychic connection breaken once Grace was out of eye shot or ear range as it were. Then he did something unexpected, Jayce kissed her.

“I love you Nao.”

“I love you too.” Her arms reached out to hug him just as she had tried so many years ago, this time able to wrap around him.

Ch.4 Departing

Grace was left well alone in the kitchen to prepare and get over what she’d seen in those memories. She had recognized…well… no one really in the memory, but with the way they acted she assumed the hairless thing was Jayce and the small Espurr had been Nao. What shook her the most wasn’t that humans were weird looking. No, it was that someone could be cruel enough to kill the people who had worked for him without so much as a second thought. “Why?” Looking down at the sandwiches she’d been making Grace realized they’d have to be tossed; tears didn’t go well with hay.

It was around this time that Nurse Joy started to rouse from her shock induced sleep. “What…where am I?” Bewildered and confused she poked up over the edge of the table just in time for Jayce and Nao to turn their heads. Being stared at by one Meowstic was creepy enough, especially if it was a female. To have two Meowstics staring at you as if they see your soul…that was just too much. Sliding a ways away, Joy would stare at the two and how very close they were. “What are you doing?”

“Staring at you.” Was the unanimous decision between the two.

Perturbed or disturbed, she couldn’t be quite sure which it was she felt, but Joy certainly felt something. “No no no before that, you know before I uh…” Looking around to try and find the time. She gave up after a few seconds. “Passed out.” There was a little bit of disappointment in her voice at her own weakness.

Glancing from side to side Jayce decided to take advantage of the situation again and kiss Nao. “This and that but mostly this, that wasn’t all that fun. This though?” Again he would peck her but on the cheek this time. “This is soft and fun.” Wasn’t he just evil?

The blush on Nao’s face though didn’t match the angry look she was trying to give Jayce. “Uh…you were doing this and I was doing that.” Trying to play along with Jayce’s natural silliness, it didn’t come so easy.

The look on Joy’s face was priceless, stuck between shock, disgust, and confusion. “You two should be ashamed.” Trying to play the Nurse Joy she knew she was even if on the outside pleasantly plump was what others saw. “Pokémon and trainers shouldn’t be acting like that.” Poképhilia was a topic Joy tried to avoid at all costs, not because it was illegal but because she didn’t know how to feel about it.

Waving his paw madly Jayce laughed. “Sure when the two weren’t the same but lookie.” Sitting up on top of Nao was difficult but he managed to do. “I’m so fluffy and adorable that I believe I am a Pokémon. There’s nothing wrong with one Pokémon loving another right? Hell of a thing breeders do if it is.”

“No you’re not…” But they were Pokémon weren’t they? Nurse Joy would take a moment to look down at herself, to really look at herself. Everything from color to size told her the truth. “We are Pokémon aren’t we?” Defeat filled those precious eyes of hers and that stung even Nao.

The poking had gone too far and soon Nao and Jayce were sitting next to Joy. “For some of us being a Pokémon isn’t a bad thing, I think I can be happier this way.” Jayce’s eyes seemed to widen as he grinned broadly, yep there was nothing but happiness in the way he looked. “Besides I’m adorable now and I have a tail…err…three tails.” Turning his head back he’d actually count his tails just to make sure Nao hadn’t pulled one off in her anger.

Joy was left staring at the two Meowstic as Grace finally returned from the kitchen with a platter of food, nothing fancy some sandwiches and hay fries. “Sorry it took so long, I had some…trouble.” Her face though betrayed how calm she was trying to act as even now tears looked to have streaked her cheeks. “I didn’t have anything with meat but I did my best with these.” Setting the tray down she’d place a plate in front of each seat, two in front of Nao, and followed up with tea. “If you need anything else please ask."

Food glorious food.

Lunch appeared to be just what everyone needed even if the Pokémon dived in a bit slower. “Hey Grace.” Jayce had scooted a bit closer to the pony throughout the meal, somewhat worried about why she was sad looking and because he needed to tell her something. “I uh…was thinking that Nao and I might head back into the forest for a while. We have some friends missing and I’m a little bit more than worried about them.” A partial truth anyway though Nao was able to pick up on that.

“Jayce what are you talking about?” She would ask without using the psychic connection to translate.

“Well you see I was starting to think about Grace and the town a bit. The town seems pretty much deserted since we’ve come, so maybe if we leave the town, then the ponies will come out again.” Yes he was thinking of others again rather than himself. Turning back away from Nao and to Grace again he would continue. “Also I’m sorta used to carrying a bag, would you happen to have a small one I could have?” If Jayce could get away with the bag then he could carry useful things like medical supplies, food, and well a map.

“Oh um…” The two cats wanted to go and for some reason it made her feel a bit sad. “Of course you need to find your friends.” Pushing up from the table she’d head over to the closet which was next to the front door. Inside were a number of coats, boots, and yes, some bags. Digging through the closet she’d pull out saddle bag after saddle bag, looking for something Jayce could use.

Jayce and Nao watched as Grace dug through the closet Jayce would comment. “You don’t think she’s sad to see us go do you?”

If Grace wasn’t sad to see them go then Joy certainly had some sort of feeling. “Where do you think you’re going?! If you get lost you’re supposed to stay put and I think we’re lost.” Creepily enough it looked as if Joy inflated a bit to make herself look a bit more intimidating. “You’re going to stay right here until this is fixed.”

Normally most trainers would listen to a Nurse Joy since they generally wanted the best for the trainer. However Jayce wasn’t most trainers and only one person could boss him around, she just happened to sitting next to him. “Believe me when I say I mean no disrespect Nurse Joy but.” Jayce would look to Nao who simply nodded. “You’re not my boss and I really don’t have to listen. Now I have friends I want to find and I want to spend time with Nao.”

While Joy was left to stare in awe at the two Meowstic, they proceeded to stand from the table and walk over to Grace. By now there was a small pile of bags next to the closet which seemed to be growing until it appeared Grace found something. “Ah ha here we go.” The bag in question wasn’t large but the strap was long enough that Jayce could wear it. “I remember this bag, it’s one my older brother used when he moved out a while ago.” Oh yes she remembered it now, her brother had wanted to try and carry absolutely everything to prove how strong he was and this bag was one that went around his neck. “You can adjust the strap too in case it’s too long.”

The bag was exactly what Jayce had been hoping for and soon he had it around his small body. “Thank you so much Grace, you’ve been really nice.”

But Grace wasn’t done being nice it seemed as she went back to her own packs and produced both the map and a canteen. “If you’re going somewhere, then you need to know where you’re going first. Also, water is important.” There was a large amount of berries in the forest which were edible and the ones that weren’t clearly looked poisonous. Quickly she would deposit the things into Jayce’s bag while trying to keep her smile sincere. “Do you have to leave now?”

Both Jayce and Nao nodded their heads in unison. “Some of our friends are young and need our help.”

“Besides, us being here is going to cause you problems with the other ponies around here.” Nao wasn’t going to let them just leave under false pretenses after all the truth rarely came back to bite them. “But you can keep the pink one.”

Wait was that why they had decided to leave all of a sudden? “But you don’t need to go because of that. The other pony will come around just wait and see...” She reasoned, though inwardly she was face hoofing. Oh who was she kidding. If the other ponies had their way, there’d be a wall around the town to keep even strangers out. “Where will you go?” She asked as she gave up trying to convince them to stay.

“If I remember the map right then…Canterlot? Those are mountains over there, and Hazel is a Skiddo...” he muttered, reaching up to tug at his ears as he’d have to think about that, assuming that Hazel was near the mountains could easily lead them away from him or any of his other Pokémon. “Maybe we’ll just wander around the woods for a while?”

Nao simply gave a nod, wondering around wouldn’t be bad to get them used to the area and it might keep Jayce with her for a bit longer.

“We’ll go back the way we came and walk around the town. That way, it might scare off some of the other Pokémon who might be curious.” He was already imagining the map and was plotting the path they would take. It wasn’t going to be a short walk and would more than likely take a day or so to walk it unless the train happened to come by. Oddly enough, he had no problem with hitching a ride on a train since the conductor probably wouldn’t know how to charge them.

Looking between the two Meowstic Grace would walk up and throw her hooves around them. “I wish you the best of luck. Thank you for saving us.” She was going to say more when there was a rather loud and already obnoxious banging at the door. With a sigh Grace pulled away and walked to the door already knowing who it would be. Rocky stood at the door with the majority of his face wrapped in bandages, not that he needed them they were more likely just to keep the stallion quiet.

“Heya Grace those cat things still here? Wanted to thank them for you know protecting us and all that?” With a broad grin he dropped a rock at the door and even though it appeared to be carved and made pretty the thing was still a rock. “Ah know what you’re thinking ‘Rocky it’s a rock’ and ah know that. The outside is a rock.” Rolling the thing over he would reveal a cork. “Filled it with soup, ain’t giving up on the soup thing yet.”

Both Jayce and Nao just stared out the door and at the rock, it honestly look fairly heavy. Reaching out Nao would start translating for him as well. If the rock obsessed pony thought they would actually carry it with them then maybe he was a bit cracked. “Keep it for us please.” Nao really didn’t want it and was hoping that Grace would actually help them with this.

“I would be happy to keep it for you.” Stepping around the thing Rock had brought she would start to roll it inside the house. “Rocky they’re actually getting ready to leave, lets walk them to the edge of town?” The soup holding rock weighed a good thirty pounds or so and was fairly hard to push but push Grace. “What’d you make this out of?” Yep it was inside the door and it could stay there!

“Well rock of course, if you want to get technical then um…stone yep stone.” As if there was any other kind. “As long as I don’t have to leave town, last time didn’t go so well.”

Then everyone seemed to turn around to look at Nurse Joy who hadn’t yet moved from the table. In fact she looked quite comfortable on the cushion with the tea. Her eyes danced between Jayce and Nao before turning her head away. “If you want to go and get lost I won’t stop you. I’m going to stay here in case someone else comes along.”

“Please take care of Nurse Joy for us, we may not see eye to eye but she’s a good person in our world even if there are like thousands of them.” Grace looked down at Jayce as he explained and gave him that ‘what’ look. “Really thousands of them, there’s at least one at every Pokécenter. Family reunions have to be hectic I mean can you even imagine it? What’s really awesome is they all look exactly alike, confuses most new trainers.”

No, no she couldn’t imagine it. Sure in Equestria there were some over populated cities like Manehatten but to think a single family had thousands of members? The Apples not included. “Um…okay she can stay as long as she needs…” Confusion aside if any other Pokémon came to town maybe Nurse Joy could talk them down or treat them if needed.

Joy brightened a bit when she was welcomed to stay. “Thank you.” She was then promptly dropped from the link as Nao didn’t really care enough to include her.

Grace started to walk back outside when she stopped at an idea. “Would you two mind waiting about ten minutes? I need to do something before you leave.”

Jayce and Nao looked at each other as they’re eyes spoke wonders for each other before both turned back and nodded. “We can wait a few minutes for you Grace.” It would have felt wrong to not say good bye to the one pony that treated them nicely.

With a warm smile Grace dashed off into town, leaving Rocky looking a bit more dumbfounded than he had been before. “While she’s gone ah can tell you about my soup! Now you might say ol Rock Soup how…” A long ten minutes this would be.

Grace returned home half an hour later looking a bit smugger than she had earlier. On her back sat a new bag which clearly held a few things from the way it bulged. “Sorry it took me so long.” On the ground in front of her lay Rocky who seemed to be in some sort of daze and muttering to himself. Looking from him to the two Meowstic she only gave a sigh. “What did I miss?”

“You don’t want to know but I don’t think Nurse Joy is coming out for a while.” Came the reply from Jayce who had his normal smile. “No really don’t ask, you really don’t want to know.”

Nao however had a bit of an annoyed expression on her though it wasn’t that much different than the usual expression she held. “Idiot.”

“Anyway..” Walking over to Jayce she’d pull open his bag again. “I got you something to snack on later.” The first thing into the bag was a box of cookies which was followed by a small book. “The book has a little bit about a few of the towns and some about the princesses.” The cover was marked with a unicorn symbol over what had to have been the shape of Equestria. The last thing which would be attached to the outside of the bag was a small lantern, something perhaps a foal might be able to carry in his or her mouth. “It gets dark in the forest fast so this should help.”

The bag certainly felt heavier but the weight left him speechless. Grace was going out of her way to make sure that they’d have an easier time getting around even though they may or may not have knocked out Rocky. “I…thank you Grace this is really generous of you.”

“If you were a bit bigger I could have done more but I didn’t want to weigh you down too much.” Then she would motion them to start going. “But there’s one more surprise or there had better be anyway.” What had she done?

The pace they kept got them to the edge of town in a few minutes. Grace seemed to be in a little bit of a hurry but wouldn’t say why. Why was revealed when they made it to their destination, and the sight bewildered Jayce. In front of them stood the towns ponies who they had helped save from the forest, the foals were running about while the adults seemed to be chatting to one another. The foals were the first to catch sight of Jayce though they did they made a beeline straight at him, not to him but at him.

Before they arrived Nao had but a moment to pull the bag from him before he was on the ground.

“Save me! Their adorableness is going to kill me.” He would reach out in a rather dramatic fashion towards Nao who simply stepped away. “Traitor!” The Foals were on him now trying to pull him this way and that while the adults walked over and gave their thanks. Jayce couldn’t hear any of it as his ears were now the subject of glee for the foals…

“I went around to the ones you helped save and told them you were leaving. This isn’t all of them but I think a good number showed up.” Grace walked over to the foals and pulled them off of Jayce so that he too could appreciate what had been done. “They wanted to see you off.”

Each of the ponies bowed their head a bit and looked genuinely thankful for what had happened. An elderly stallion with a beard that almost dragged the ground stepped out from the crowd. “We also want you to know that you can come back any time. Don't worry about what the others think. Heck, we’ll whip the town into shape if we...” A long serious of coughs interrupted his speech but continue on he would. “have to.” Those around him agreed in earnest and even went so far as to pat him on the back which brought out more coughing.

An overwhelming sense of joy came over Jayce even as Nao pulled the bag back around him. “Thank you every..” Turning he’d look at Grace to help fill him in, she mouthed the word pony. “Everypony. We’ll be sure to come back sometime soon.” Reaching down to take Nao’s paw he’d start walking towards the forest. “I can’t believe they did that, it makes me hopeful.” Turning back for only a moment he would wave to the ponies who he hoped to see again.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay folks, writers block is a hard mistress to run off but we managed.

I'd like to thank Zeus and tdnpony for helping me edit and making this chapter the best it could be.

Into the Forest

Once again they found themselves walking through the forest; the eerie silence had persisted even now. If either of them was put off by the forest’s appearance they certainly didn’t show it as Nao was forever hard to read and Jayce never seemed to falter when Nao was around. As it was, Jayce was singing a bit too loudly and Nao was trying her best to ignore him… though that was as easy as keeping honey from a Teddiursa. It just didn’t happen.

In fact Jayce found himself bouncing a bit as he walked. “I’m on the road to-“

“Jayce please stop.” There was only so much of this particular song she could handle at this moment as the irony behind it wasn’t lost on her. “You are aware we were almost to Viridian when that Jenny found us right?” Sometimes it was left to her to point out the obvious since it was occasionally needed.

Smirking Jayce stopped the bouncing and took hold of Nao’s arm. “I know but it amuses me so though I suppose we could walk like this for a while.” He knew Nao didn’t particularly like walking since he’d always carried her but seeing as they were the same size carrying her wasn’t going to happen unless he was going to do so bridal style. Oddly enough he could imagine Nao trying to smite him for that and she could so very easily. Then something occurred to him and really it should have a bit earlier. “Or you can teach me how to use my abilities correctly.”

Being clung to had a bit of an adverse effect as she felt a bit more subdued than normal. “I’m going to miss being carried.” A slight red tinged her cheeks as she remembered the feel of his arms around her, that would be the feeling she missed most. Now he was a Meowstic though and that opened a lot more possibilities for the future. “Eh what?” Quickly Nao would shake her head as she tried to make the blush go away. “You do realize even though we’re both Meowstic our skill sets are different right?”

“That’s something I looked into a while back, I know you have a preference to attack and that shows with how we battle. Male Meowstics play a more supporting role in battles.” As they had seen against a trainer a few years back who battled Nao with his own male Meowstic. That battle had been fun but had turned a bit less so as he learned the other Meowstic had been trying to hit on Nao through the entire battle. “Still the process should be about the same right? At least I’d like to walk around and not worry I’m going to blow a house away or something.” Reaching up he would tug at his ears which seemed to have become a bit of a habit now that he had them.

Nao had to shake her head, while using abilities might seem the same to a non Pokémon fundamentally it was quite different. “I look to do damage and knock out our opponents as quickly as possible while you would look to protect and support me.” Her eyes would look to Jayce as he tugged at his ears, her paw reached up to tap his paws. “Stop doing that until you can control it.” There was a reason during their first year or so of travel she hadn’t allowed him to play with her ears.

Pulling his paws away he’d let out a small sigh. “I can’t help it…” Normally his hat was on his head and even though he was hardly the same as before Jayce still missed the feeling of it on his head. “Once I figure this out I know we’ll be stronger.” The term perfect team might have been something to say but as it was he already felt they were the perfect team and while he may not have skills to back it up he would eventually.

Nao slowed her pace just enough so that she could examine Jayce. Back in the other world Jayce had spent a lot of time trying to support her and in doing so learned all of the moves she was capable of and the moves that male Meowstics had. Never once did he mention anything about trying to get another Meowstic on the team and Nao knew he never would as he had wanted her all to himself and vise versa. “Why don’t you open your ears and try focusing on the move you did before..and not helping hand.” Even before Jayce had used that particular move she had the suspicion that it’d come easy to him.

Eyes brightening Jayce would try to open his ears though it appeared to be harder than before. Turns out when he actually had to think about doing a move rather than letting it come naturally he’d not quite figured out the trick. “The muscles in my ears should…” It seemed he’d gone into his own world as he tried to talk the process out to himself. Slowly his ears would start to twitch before opening. “Protect!” Once again as it had before a nearly transparent barrier popped into existence around him. Not being in battle this time allowed Jayce to actually look at the barrier he was holding up. This one, at least to him, felt a fair amount stronger than the one he made when he was an Espurr.

Having had to jump away a little bit, she too examined the barrier. “Seems solid enough…try holding it for a few.” Holding the ability might be a bit too much for him right now but Nao had wanted to see him try. Raising a paw up she would take this time to test the barrier herself. “Scratch.” Three little glowing claws seemed to come from her paw as she struck the barrier.

With his ears shaking a bit the struggle Jayce had with keeping the ability going was clearly evident. “Wait what?” Asking as he turned to look at Nao as she hit the barrier. As soon as her attack connected, there was an immediate pressure but he pushed it back to the best of his ability and the barrier didn’t give. “Don’t do that mean ol Nao.”

The mean comment was enough to provoke Nao into slashing at the barrier again and again until it did finally pop. To Jayce’s credit he was able to withstand four strikes before he had to give up the ability. “No other Pokémon would stop when asked and you called me mean.” While it might have been a bit mean to continue attacking he had asked for it. “You’ll need to keep practicing.” Though she’d been a bit surprised when it survived the first attack and again when it survived four more strikes.

“I know I know, practice makes perfect and perfect makes me adorable.” Saying as his paws went to his waist as he tried to strike a more heroic pose. Both he and Nao burst out laughing as he failed horribly to look remotely heroic.”Well that failed, let’s keep going anyway we’ve only been walking for half an hour.” Thus he began walking again though with a little bit more of a vigor to his pace.

Another half an hour passed by without much in terms of interruptions and still the forest remained quiet with the occasional snapping breaking or rustling of leaves. Despite the silence the forest was far from void of life as they saw the occasional bird or even Pokémon, all just happened to be quiet as they too tried to figure out what was happening.

Jayce couldn’t stop himself from feeling a little bad as he saw them lost in their confusion. “Hopefully everything will get a bit better with time. So far this forest hasn’t been too bad and with the ponies seeming somewhat accepting. I think things could go back to being a bit normal.” At least for the wild Pokémon who had never had the chance or the want to partner with a trainer. The trainers however, and this he knew for a fact, would have some serious problems adjusting and adapting if they ever chose to accept it. Some would never accept being a Pokémon as he had, which might cause some problems for the ponies here. At least it seemed there weren’t any Pokéballs or else he might have already had them. For that matter it seemed like nothing from their world except the Pokémon, trainers, and apparently Joys were brought to this world. “Either someone thought this through extremely well or not well enough.”

A rustling in the bush caught Jayces attention and he reacted by taking the stance he would have as a trainer, some things were just innately ingrained in him. Blinking he’d ease his pose as he pointed to the bush for Nao to inspect. “Something’s in there.”

Before Nao could get closer to the bush a Growlithe sprang from it and it appeared to be mad. “Stop right there criminal scum!” Oh no it couldn’t be… “I’m here to place you under arrest for attacking an officer and changing me into a Pokémon!” Somehow Officer Jenny had managed to follow them into this world and was angry enough to think they could do something like that. From behind her another Growlithe stepped out from the bush looking tired.

The audacity of this woman was enough to cause Jayce and Nao to stare. “Wait hold on.” Jayce waved his paws in front of him for a moment just to keep the fire headed Jenny from shouting anymore. “Let me get this straight, you get turned into a Growlithe and the first thing you do is track us down? Never mind how you managed to track us down but you actually think we did this?”

The Jenny actually stopped for a moment to look offended by them. “Yes! Who else could do it? After all you destroyed my motorcycle!” Her Growlithe companion looked at Jayce and shook his head not buying what Jenny was trying to sell. “Even if I don’t know where I am I can still arrest you, thats my power as an officer of the law.”

Jayce burst out laughing at her explanation though clearly he hadn’t meant to. “I’m pretty sure your power of authority doesn’t extend to Equestria.” While it wasn’t in him to really fight an officer since his normal tactic was to flee from them this time it seemed that wasn’t really an option. “Also it’s your own fault that your bike was destroyed, I get it you’re from the Kanto region but really?” Sidestepping he would stand just behind Nao and poke her ears. “Do you know what sort of Pokémon we are?”

Both Growlithe looked between the two and both seemed to shake their head.

“That’s what I figured.” With a sigh he would walk back around Nao to stand in front of her. “We’re Meowstic. Psychic types.” His own ears flapped open as he’d finally managed to get them to without blasting anything. “Our ears are extremely sensitive and are the source of our abilities.” Flipping his ears shut he’d just stare at the two, particularly Jenny.

Jenny looked to Growlithe and frowned as Jayce was trying to explain something to her. "What’s that have to do with destroying my bike?” She wasn’t supid she was just a bit more hard headed than the average Jenny.

“Everything. Our power is barely contained as it is.” Taking a deep breath he would have to count down from ten to keep himself calm, it was very rare for him to get angry. “Who in their right mind drives at someone and stops like that? You didn’t drive towards us, you drove at us and scared-”

Nao cut into the conversation long enough to correct Jayce. “Startled not scared.”

“I stand corrected. You startled Nao and that was enough for her to lose control.” Actually it was more akin to a counter than a loss of control seeing as Nao hadn’t lost it for a very long time. “Point being you caused your own bike to be destroyed when you decided to come at us.”

That succeeded in getting Jenny to take a step back and actually think about it. There had been a trainer a while back that she’d scared pretty badly too doing the same thing. “Alright I concede that point but the other charges still stand! Someone reported a strange boy engaging in poképhila by the lake!” That had been the original reason for her investigation in to Jayce and she’d be damned if she didn’t stand by it.

Actually there was no explaining that one away, while they hadn’t done anything that night they had in the past. It would be an insult to Nao if he denied it and that was one thing he refused to do. “You know what I accept that charge but seeing as we’re Pokémon now I don’t think it matters.” Still he spread his legs and arms as he prepared to fight if it came down to that.

“What you are now doesn’t change the fact you broke the law and I’m going to take you down. Flamethrower!” Dropping her mouth down Jenny let lose a stream of fire at Jayce. Her Growlithe partner however didn’t seem to jump in to help though, in fact he’d remained quite quiet during the conversation.

Jayce countered the move with one of his own. “Light Screen!” A translucent yellow screen materialized in front of Jayce just in time to intercept the flamethrower. When the attack hit the shield it seemed to slow a bit but it would still hit Jayce though with minimal damage. What did manage to happen was the fire singed his fur a bit and he did seem to feel some of the pain. “Gah!”

With the attack Nao moved to Jayce’s left looking really rather angry. Nobody attacked Jayce except for her. “Psychic!” Officer Jenny was enveloped in a blue lining and lifted from the ground which caused her to panic a bit. “I don’t care who you are, Jayce is mine.” Her eyes quickly shifted to the other Growlithe just before Jenny was flung into him. She was aware that the Growlithe hadn’t done anything to this point but needed to make sure he would stay out of commission as well.

Growlithe managed to soften Jenny’s landing enough for her to pop back up. “I’ll get you!” With a growl she started running straight at Nao. “Take down!”

Not about to let Nao get hurt Jayce threw himself in front of the charging Jenny while shouting out his next move. “Reflect!” This time translucent blue barrier popped up in front of him. Just like last time with light screen the ability didn’t stop her completely, Jenny hit him hard enough that he went rolling but the adverse effect was she too was knocked back with it. “That…hurt..” Saying from the ground where he landed.

For the first time in a very long time Nao growled as she saw Jayce hit the ground and what was worse she couldn’t tell who she was more angry with. Right now it was between the crazy Jenny who hit him or the idiot Jayce for taking the hit that was meant for her. “I’m going to-“ Her progress towards the two was halted by a sudden and very familiar yell.

“Stop hurting my big brother!” A loud stomping sound was heard from their left just before a Skiddo crashed through the undergrowth and straight into Jenny, the sudden take down sent her rolling along the ground. The goat seemed to recoil a bit from the strike but stood his ground as he looked over the downed Jenny who didn’t appear to be moving so much.

Nao was left staring while Jayce’s eyes went as wide as saucers at the latest arrival. “Hazel?” His voice was barely a whisper with the pain he felt from the take down. With help from Nao he was able stand up to get a better look. There was no mistaking it, this was Hazel.

At the sound of Jayce’s voice, Hazel brightened up before running straight at Jayce and not stopping…oh he didn’t stop. With a rather loud crash, the two hit the ground with Hazel on top of Jayce, nuzzling him. “I missed you big brother sooo much and I heard you singing so I came running and and and.” It took the energetic Skiddo a few moments to finally notice that Jayce was not in fact a human and that he was sitting on top of his trainer. “Big brother? You’re like big sis now.”

Reaching up Jayce would pat him on the head with a warm smile just as he always had before. “Yes I am but we can talk in a minute.” With a little bit of a limp he would walk over to the Growlithe who’d been hurt in the crossfire.

“Sorry about that, Nao’s very protective of me and takes it a bit too far sometimes.” The huff from behind him was enough to say she wasn’t happy with that answer.”There’s a town nearby called Hollow Shades back the way we came. In town there’s a large house that belongs to a pony named Grace, a Nurse Joy is staying with her for a while. She’s uh…not adjusting very well either.”

“I understand.” The Growlithe’s voice was young sounding maybe close to Jayce’s age if it had been a human.

“Thank you I’ll try to get her to go that way. I’m sorry about earlier though she’s kind of focused on you since this change so she doesn’t have to think about it.” With help from Jayce Growlithe finally managed to get off the ground. “Stay safe out there, we don’t know what to expect from this place.”

With a pat on Growlithe’s head he would walk away to rejoin Nao and Hazel, the latter having kept his eyes on Jayce. “Let’s try to get out of here before Jenny wakes up then we can talk. Think you could carry Nao? I know she doesn’t care to walk that much.”

Nao was still fuming a bit about what had actually happened. “I’d rather walk to make sure you don’t do something stupid again. Really Jayce? Really?” Her eyes pierced through him as if she was staring at his soul and it sent shivers down him.

“I deserve that..” Saying as he started to walk away and back on the path they’d decided on earlier. Yes he had jumped in the way of the attack meant for, he would do it again if he had to. Behind him he could hear Nao and Hazel following behind him which was good since he’d been worried he’d pushed Nao a bit too far. “So how did you manage to find us Hazel?” Here Jayce had been worried that there would be miles and miles between them.

“Oh I know this um..” Clopping his hooves on the ground Hazel had to think about it. “I smelled big sis when I woke up but I didn’t know how far, then I heard you singing and clapping.” That had been earlier this morning which had sent him off running. “Then I started running then I heard you singing and I ran even faster.” That had explained everything in one swoop. “Then I saw the mean ol Growlithe attack you so I attacked her and saved my big brother. Is the hero of the hour.” Hazel actually stopped to make a heroic pose and it worked!

Drifting closer Nao would collide with Jayce’s side and stay there as they walked. “I don’t smell.”

The tone she used sent shivers down his spine; best not argue with her right? “I’ve always thought you smelled nice.” Leaning over he’d bury his nose in the fur around her neck and smile. “Now that I’m like you I love it so much more.” To be fair though everyone and everything smelled, now that he was a Meowstic he was noticing things like that a bit more now.

Stiffening a bit she would lightly boop at his nose. “Stop that.” Again though there would be a light tinting of red on her cheeks. “But now that Hazel is here that only leaves two more…” Not including the ones that may have been kept with the professor.

“That’s right Zippy and Splash are left, I’m not sure where to find either of them but they’ll probably show up at some point.” Zippy was still recovering from the fight which worried Jayce a fair amount. “Zippy should be a priority as for Splash just listen out since he likes to well splash.” That was always a good way of finding him when lost if it ever happened. “He’ll look for a lake or something, maybe a river if he’s lucky.”

Hazel shook his leafy mane and looked more energetic than before. “Then you can ride me and we can go fast! I like going fast its fun!” In the other world Jayce had only ridden him once or twice and those were in times of need, he’d felt that using Hazel as a bike would have been cruel. “And since you’re so small I won’t even notice you it’ll be great!” In his excitement he made a full circle around the two who were left looking at each other.

That had been an option Jayce had been considering. “I know you like to be ridden.” Now that he was really rather light it wasn’t out of the question. “We can at least explore a little bit more around here before running off in a random direction.” The direction wouldn’t be as random as he’d already planned a path on the map which he was now working on pulling out. “As I said earlier, before you got here Hazel, we’re going to be looping around the forest then heading this way towards Canterlot.” That was of course if he could get a bearing on direction.

“Oooo will I get to canter around a lot? Which way is it?” Hazel asked as he poked his nose a little too close to the map.

Pushing Hazel away wasn’t so easy as the goat was larger than he was. “West, Canterlot is to the west and sadly I don’t think you can.” By the looks of the map it was obvious this Canterlot was the capital of the region.

“Oh I’ll just have to show them what cantering is then I’m sure they’ll let me canter..” Again he would try the heroic pose while trying to canter at the same time, this ended with a quick trip to the ground.

Jayce couldn’t keep himself from chuckling as he moved to help Hazel up. “Don’t worry too much about it Hazel, we’re dealing with ponies so I’m certain they know how to canter.” Once Hazel was up he’d do a quick once over to make sure he was perfectly fine and not in need of bandages…as was his usual. “Though you can canter all you want while we’re out here.” That seemed to return a bit of Hazel’s energy.

From well off behind them they all stopped as they heard the shout of an angry sounding officer Jenny. “Who’s up for a run? I am!” Grabbing hold of Nao with new found strength and a bit of panic Jayce tossed her on top of Hazel before climbing up. “Hi ho Hazel!”

Rearing on his hind legs Hazel let out a victorious shout. “Woohoo!” Victorious to him any way, to Jayce and Nao it was a declaration of here we are. But before either of them could object to the loud shout, Hazel bolted into the woods, giving no care whether he was too loud. That and the fact he was running off the path Jayce had set with the direction, going deeper and deeper into the forest. “Wait! We’re going the wrong way!” Jayce tried to shout, but it went unheard as the over excited Skiddo kept on going.

Scream at the ghosty

Deeper and deeper they went into the woods, never stopping nor slowing until Hazel dropped from sheer exhaustion. It seemed as though they had run for hours, which was actually pretty close to true. Along the way Jayce had been knocked clean out from the rough ride and Nao’s insistence of him being quiet instead of screaming. The big red bump on his head would tell exactly how well that had worked out. Around them the forest had darkened considerably, even the trees seemed to be a bit darker in comparison to the rest of the forest. Worse the canopy above had become so dense that the sun was no longer visible and getting a firm setting on direction would be incredibly difficult to get.

On the ground panting, Hazel seemed to be happy beyond his heart’s content, to the point where Nao could swear she could see hearts floating above him. “That was so much fun can we do it again…huh huh…” Woops there went the little air he’d had in his lungs which caused him to start coughing. “Yay.” Would he be quiet? Not really in his personality it seemed. “Maybe we can run to that Canterlot place.” His head went to Jayce who had fallen next to him after his collapse, though he didn’t seem to notice the bump on his head, no Jayce was only asleep. “Jayce Jayce Jayce.” Repeating over and over again as he poked and prodded his sleeping trainer…

Either Jayce didn’t hear him or he wasn’t having any of it since he just laid there motionless.

This wasn’t something Nao could allow much longer even if she had been the one to cause this. Stepping carefully around Hazel to avoid the pokes and prods, she got to Jayce’s side and stared down at him. “Wake up Jayce.” Normally she’d do her best to try waking him up gently with some amount of affection, but this time...not so much. “Dream Eater.” The energy surged which brought a glow to her eyes as the move took effect.

Needless to say Jayce had been having a very lovely dream about colorful ponies and a fluffy Nao he couldn’t stop cuddling. The dream didn’t last long as Nao seemed to start to grow bigger and bigger before attempting to eat him. Now normally this might have been amusing, but right now she was quite scary. “Gah!” Jayce scream as he shot straight up, his face colliding with Hazel who happened to get a bit too close while Nao tormented him. After a few moments of sheer panic he was finally able to actually breathe thanks to the pain in his head which reminded him this was real. “Really Nao?” Oh she was lucky she was adorable or else he might actually have been mad instead of mildly annoyed.

A devious smile crossed Nao’s face as she helped pull him from the ground. “You wouldn’t wake up. Hazel’s been trying so I helped.” Reaching a paw out she would pat the larger bump on his head from where she’d smacked him.

“Next time I’m out like that just wait. Don’t do that again.” Whenever one of his team had been knocked out he let them sleep it off while tending their wounds so yeah he hoped they’d return the favor a bit. Choosing to pace a bit rather than stomp about and grumble he’d ask the question which was bugging him. “Where are we? Before I went out I know Hazel was running…man can you run Hazel.” As awesome as that was though, it may have put them in a bad position or at least really far from their destination.

Hazel beamed with the compliment but didn’t get up. Well... he tried to, but it just didn’t work quite yet. “I ran way far away, it was great. I’m like Super Hazel, I run at the speed of Hazel and can leave things that Hazel can leap.” Now all he needed was his red scarf back and it’d be absolutely perfect.

That’s what was worrying Jayce as he stopped to pull out the map. What sucked was being this deep in the forest there was really nothing to use as a landmark, but at least they had a compass. “Alright I think I can fix this.” Oh how he hoped he could cause if he couldn’t then they were severely screwed, like being up the river without a paddle. “Nao which way did Hazel run from where we left?”

Walking over Nao would look at the map before pointing. “About this direction.” She pointed to the directly to the East which put them in the deepest part of the forest. “And it’s been getting darker so it’s either turning night, some dark types messing around, or both.” That had been something worrying her, not so much of going the wrong way more of the who or what is around them. “I hope you can work some more abilities.”

Hazel sat on the ground still beaming with pride.

Right now he could only come up with a rough estimation of where they were. As it was the forest looked quite thick which told him they were closer to the middle of the forest rather than the outer skirts. “I can try, miracle eye might be a good move to practice while we’re here.” That was ability he often wished Nao could learn but it simply wasn’t in her move set. “Alright so if we take the path I think is right we should be able to round back and get to the train tracks.” That had been the original intent anyway.

“Once Hazel can stand you mean?” Nao pointed out since it had been rather obvious.

Both would turn to look at Hazel who was playfully swatting at a flower in front of him, clearly having zoned out of the whole conversation. Feeling the eyes staring into him though was enough to get his attention back on track. “I can run now.” Shakily he would push up to his hooves looking more like a newborn rather than a kid. “Whoooooa the leaves are spinning.” And down he went again.

That was going to be troublesome. “Just stay down a bit and rest Hazel I think we’re safe for now.” He would say as calmly as he could at this moment before walking over and plopping on the ground next to Hazel. “We can all rest for the moment actually.” His breathing had started to pick up by this point as well and with each breath it seemed to get harder for him to breathe.

Joining Jayce, Nao would plop down and lean against him. “I know that look Jayce, you’re putting too much thought into it.” Reaching a paw out she’d motion to the forest around them. “It’s probably just night setting in. We’ll be fine.” If she didn’t calm him down, either Jayce would start to hyperventilate or even lose control over his power and both situations were equally bad for different reasons. “Deep breathes Jayce.”

Oh hyperventilating was coming on at this point though Nao always seemed to be able to calm him even in this mindset. With her reassuring him Jayce was able to return his breathing back to normal. “Yeah…I know I do that.” Mouth open, mouth close, mouth open, mouth close, it was a mantra he had started to get very good at repeating. They weren’t in a horribly bad situation it wasn’t even a dangerous situation at the moment, no they were just lost in the woods. “We’re just lost in the woods, we have a compass and map. We should be good.” Breathe returning to normal he would perk his head around. “Let’s break for camp tonight and move on in the morning.” With a soft squeak he’d pull himself up. “Firewood and some tinder and…” A snore from behind him caught his attention. “A sleeping Hazel.”

Spreading out from the others just a bit, still in eye sight, Jayce would get to work getting the things as he always had. “Nao go on and get some sleep.” It was already getting a bit too dark to go much further or he’d lose sight of them so the kindling wouldn’t be too much. At least if they needed firewood they could take down a tree, at least in the morning that’d clear a bit of the canopy as to get an accurate time. “I hate cutting down trees.” Muttering to him, there was something innately wrong with the act especially since he was a Pokémon now. Trees were friends…

“I’ll sleep when you get here like always.” Jayce always tried to get her to sleep but she never really did without him, only when she was hurt or sick did she sleep so much. Instead she’d start clearing away a small spot away from Hazel for the fire to actually be started. Away from Hazel because he was a grass type and they had a notorious dislike of fire. “Well…” Mostly, Hazel liked the fire so long as Jayce was there petting him or something along those lines. Finding a decent spot she would start by pulling out some of the grass before resorting to using a move. “Scratch.” The familiar glowing claws came out of her paws before she went to town on the patch of ground.

A few minutes later Jayce returned with an arm full of sticks, twigs, and leaves, it wasn’t a lot considering their size but by the same measure they weren’t that big and were covered by fur. Fighting off the cold was not the objective here they were simply wanting light. Looking down at Nao as he returned he noticed the hole in the ground and that she was cleaning her paws. “Uh nice work…and yeah”

“I got annoyed with digging.” Holding up her hands the claws had retracted which left the dirt to rest on her paws. “And this was easier.” It had allowed her to tear up the dirt, grass, roots, and whatever else might have been there.

Now Jayce had a choice to make, teepee or log cabin style…if he remembered right teepee was to get more smoke while log cabin burned longer and that’s what he wanted. Building the fire with the tender in the middle and the larger thicker pieces of wood around it he’d start to search for the flint and steel. “Alright and we have….fire…now we have fire…” Three strikes and you were out or so he was told but Jayce had to strike the darn thing upwards of a dozen times. “Fire…”

It would have been an impressive feat if this wasn’t how it went almost every time they made a fire. “I thought we decided to let me make the fire since fire doesn’t like you.” Sometimes she thought his hands were fire retardant since he could build a fire, put a stick in, and it just dies out.

“Because I’m a guy and I like to do things on my own just so I feel manlier.” Yep that was the excuse he gave every time even if it wasn’t true. Honestly he liked to push his luck with fire building, since sometimes it rained, sometimes wind was strong, and sometimes freak accidents of nature put the fire out like rampaging Diglett. Don’t ask, you really don’t want to know. “Thank you for getting the hole dug though, the last thing we’d want is a forest fire.” Something about an Ursaring with overalls and hat saying ‘only you can prevent forest fires’ popped into his head at that moment. “You remember that commercial a while back during the Finals about Ashy? That Ursaring haunts me every time I make a campfire.”

Hazel rustled at the sound of Ashy the Ursaring. “He’s a real hero.” He would mumble in his sleep as he turned back over so that his face was facing away from the fire. “Not like me though…”

Jayce couldn’t keep himself from going d’aww at Hazel, somehow no matter what mood he was in Hazel had the ability to do that. “Guess that’s why he’s my little brother huh.” And he had always thought of Hazel that way ever since he was first caught. The poor Skiddo’s story was as sad as Jayce’s so it was a wonder he could be still so happy and innocent.

Now that the fire was started both Jayce and Nao could settle down together and actually relax a bit. While being with Grace and Rocky had been nice the atmosphere had been a bit odd for them. After all meeting the indigenous people, or ponies in this case, of a new world was far from a normal experience. That and Joy had really pushed their nerves a bit but out here in the forest they could be themselves and not worry about anyone judging them. The two pressed as close together as they could, Jayce with his arm around Nao and their tails twined together.

“I…don’t know what could be better than this.” They had never been able to get this close; it was normally Jayce holding Nao in his arms but now that they were of the same size? Holding each other was so much better.

Rather than agreeing or disagreeing Nao took this moment to smile deviously. There had been a lot of things Nao had wanted to do and now that Jayce was not only small enough but the same species most of the things were doable. Releasing his tail she would use her own to pull him backwards and with the use of her paws she’d render him helpless on the ground. “I know how.” Saying as she climbed up to sit on top of him. As Nao did this a red blush had formed under her eyes which lit up her face.

The same coloring of red appeared on Jayce as well. “Nao what are you doing?” Of course he wasn’t stupid and this was something they had often tried back in the other world, no he just wanted to make sure. “Because you know it’s…”

Before he could finish the statement the area around the campsite started to get darker, not night dark but as if something was blocking out the light all together. There were a few Pokémon that could and would do this though there was no laughter so a few could be ruled out right from the start. A scream and a shout from the South or what they assumed to be South completely shattered the moment they were hoping to have.

Rolling off the top of Jayce, Nao would walk towards the scream, not quite leaving the safety of the fire. They’re moment was gone and neither of them were too happy about it. “What do you think that was?” The tone of her voice said she wasn’t very happy about the disturbance and to be honest neither was he, but Jayce was a bit more…soft?

Sitting up from the ground and shaking his head to get his mind back on track Jayce would let out a sigh. “Doesn’t matter who or what it was, whoever it was needs our help.” Turning to look at Hazel he was clearly hesitant to leave him behind. “Hazel?” Crawling over he’d push the sleeping Skiddo on the side a few times to rouse him from his sleep. “Hold on I know.” Why hadn’t he thought about it before? Pulling over his pack he’d rummage through it looking for…cookies. “Ah ha.” Opening the cloth they were wrapped in he’d lay them out in front of Hazel with a slight smirk. Who didn’t have a sweet tooth on his team?

As expected Hazel started to move a bit well really just his nose sniffing around for the cookies. His nose stopped right at the cookies where he remained still for a moment or two. Suddenly his eyes snapped open with a burning fire. “Muuuuunchlax!” He shouted just as his mouth made contact with the entire pile of cookies, scoffing them down as if they were well...cookies. “Mine mine mine mine in my belly.” Crumbs were going everywhere and a weaker person might be truly terrified of the scene before them. When it came to sweets Hazel wasn’t a hero, no he was in fact the worst villain ever. In seconds the entire stack of cookies were gone leaving behind a very content looking Hazel. “Lax…I mean yum.”

Shaking his head Jayce would pet him on the head. “Alright since you ate ALL the cookies I take it you can move now. Really? You know those were meant for all of us right?” There was no shame on Hazel’s face nope he was proud of the destructive force he had towards cookies. “I knew it. Alright up and at’em Hazel we’ve got work to do.”

“Work but I just woke up?” Asking as he got to his hooves and shook, trying to get his matted fur to not be so thick. “Do I get to run again?” Obsession wasn’t healthy but at least he wasn’t sitting around getting fat like an actual Munchlax. Another scream sent a shiver down everyone’s spine including Hazel’s who may or may not have jumped a little bit. “I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.” Except for the fact his eye were twitching a bit as he looked back and forth frantically.

They didn’t need to wait long before the source of the scream flew straight through the middle of the camp. The source in question was a Vivillon and the cause sent shivers down everyone’s spine. At the edge of the camp, a swirling mass of purple mist, green dots covered the mass and in the center were eyes and a mouth.

Spiritomb the Forbidden Pokémon.

There weren’t a lot in the world they came from that knew a lot about this Pokémon other than the fact it could be very bad. “To me…for me…you shall be…part of me.” The voice was dark and with every word more shivers spread across their bodies. Rumor had it that a Spiritomb wrecked havoc on a town in another region. It entered camp as if the others weren’t there as its primary focus was still in front of it. “Forever shall we be.”

“Running? I think running would be appropriate right now Hazel.” This was not a Pokémon they could handle especially if it was running after a Vivillon. “Nao! Let’s go!” Shouting as he jumped on the back of Hazel, Nao must have read his mind as she was already running to them. “Hey! Fly that way!” Calling out to the Vivillon, his paw was pointing to the North West which just happened to be the direction Hazel took off in once Nao was on. “Hi ho Hazel!”

Vivillon took the hint and took off in the right direction as well, she certainly was a fast Pokémon. “Got it.” Saying as she put all of her effort into flying as fast as she could. Her breathing rate and the sweat that covered her showed that she’d either been flying for a while or at the very least actively searching for something. That was until the Spiritomb popped up which gave her new reason to fly for her life. Literally.

The Spiritomb had already changed course and was following behind them though losing ground at a rapid pace now that there were several targets. “All shall be….with me.” If distance was a problem it certainly didn’t show it as it floated along the ground. The difference between the living and the ghost was that they didn’t need to stop to take a break. No, he would continue to chase them until they were one with him.

Letting Nao sit further up Hazel’s back Jayce would stand at the back of the running Skiddo while relying on his cat like reflexes to keep balance. “Alright let’s get this show on the road.” Moving his paws out to the side he’d let the power flow to his eyes and ears which caused the former to glow. “Trick Room!” In his mind he visualized what he wanted to see and before him the area started to warp and change as reality started to shift. This had been a move he’d looked into back in the other world and even managed to find a technical machine which showed its use but the problem was it was beyond Nao’s move set. Luckily he’d watched it as many times as he tried to get Nao to.

The problem was that the move wasn’t meant to stop a Pokémon but rather disorient enough that other moves might be able to land. Unless they put in a large amount of distance between them Spiritomb would be able to follow and even strike at them while they rested. As it was the Spiritomb was already starting to look around trying to figure out the illusion.

Biting at his lower lip Jayce would have to come up with something else. “Can you land on Hazel’s back? We’ll make some room for you, and that way Hazel can go all out.” He said to the Vivillon who was flying side by side with them now. A nod was the only confirmation they got before she tried to land which gave them a moment to get situated. Once the Vivillon was on, they would really get some speed going. “Alright little brother, Seed Bomb the ground followed by Double Team!” Yeah Jayce was still a trainer at heart.

Following Jayce’s orders Hazel would smile brightly. He loved to battle as much as he loved to run. “Seed Bomb!” Tilting his head down Hazel would blast the ground they were running over which caused a curtain of dirt to rise. “Double Team.” Quicker he would run and move from side to side until there were multiples of them which shot out from the smoke. The loud boom might be enough to draw the Spiritomb’s attention but with the doubles out and about it wasn’t likely that it could follow.

“Sorry about running through your camp.” The Vivillon called out over the air that was rushing by them. “I’m Viola.” Reaching an arm, hand thingy, forward to shake Jayce’s once he offered it. “And you are?”

Jayce took the hand as soon as Viola’s hand was there. “Jayce, nice to meet you even under this circumstance.” And he meant it too since meeting people and trainers was one of the things he enjoyed most about traveling. “Don’t worry, we’ve got a course plotted too so long as Hazel doesn’t run too fast again.” Letting go of the hand he’d lean forward to wrap his arms around Nao. “Next time.” He would whisper softly enough that only she could hear him.

A shiver ran down Nao’s spine as her face once again turned red, suddenly glad that she was at the front where no one else could see her. “No interruptions.” Muttering softly as she leaned back against Jayce. This was something that they both had wanted ever since she had evolved and now that it was within grasp nothing would stop them.

“Would you two happen to know where we are? And uh…how did we end up this way?” Now that they were away from the Spiritomb for the time being Viola could actually breathe and come up with the questions that were bugging her. “And um…you wouldn’t happen to have seen another Vivillon or a Surskit anywhere around here would you?

Those questions might have seemed innocent enough but it had a cold water effect on the two. Why couldn’t she have waited to ask until tomorrow? OR at least when they stopped for the night or evening, whichever came first. “As much as I want to answer those can we wait until we know the Spiritomb isn’t following us?” Yep quick thinking Jayce, at least this would give him enough time to come up with some way of explaining without scaring the lady. Well better than he had with Joy or Jenny but really? Those two sort of had it coming.

It was going to be a long night…

A New, A New Shot!

Through the entire night and even through most of the early morning hours, the Spiritomb chased them. At times, it would seem they could stop and rest for the night, only for the Pokémon to appear out of thin air to continue the chase and to scare them. When the early hours of morning started to come around, the Spiritomb seemed to lose it’s energy and, when the light of dawn was visible the chase seemed, to stop all together. Still, they would continue to run until they were certain the cursed thing was not coming back. Sadly, the chase would leave all the Pokémon and trainers tired, especially poor Hazel who’d been their mighty steed.

With a loud yawn, Hazel would collapse to the ground, sending everyone who was riding on his back to the ground, all except Viola who picked the perfect time to flap her wings. “I ran again big brother, we went so far. You think we can get the scary thing to chase again?” Apparently, Hazel hadn’t been intimidated by the Spiritomb, but rather had just wanted to run. “After a nap and some more cookies perhaps?” His eyes went wide with hope at the prospect of more cookies.

Jayce, however, was content with just laying on the ground, so there he would stay. It may or may not have been because Nao had landed across his chest, there was no proof! “You ate all the cookies Munchlax, remember I used them to wake you?” Jayce would say as he repositioned Nao so that he and she could be a bit more comfortable. “But I think we should all get some sleep while we can.” The others seemed to nod and Nao was already fast asleep on him; her cute snore was enough to bring a big smile to his face. Tilting his head up, he would look at the forest canopy above them, the leaves were thinned and the sun was quite low which meant it was still early in the morning. But more importantly, it meant they were somewhere near the edge of the forest or at the very least a place that was thinned out.

Looking a bit more defeated than intended, Hazel would lay his head down on the ground. “Then jam and crackers.” Nodding his head vigorously against the ground, he would slowly doze off, a slight drool dripping from his mouth. No doubt his dreams would be filled with sweets and delights with a healthy dose of running and jumping.

“This is a picture perfect moment! My targets and this light assure me the perfect shot. If only I had my camera. Or my friends...” Viola touched down a few feet away from Jayce and Nao looking a bit down. “Vivillon… Surskit, where are you?” Being apart from her friends was starting to take a toll on her. “Being trapped like this is bad enough…” She would have said alone but she did have the others so that helped a bit.

As bad as Jayce felt for Viola, there wasn’t much he could do to actually help her at the moment, since even they were still missing friends. “We’re heading to this land’s capital.” He would say as softly as he could as to not wake the others. At different times over the night, he had done his best to explain the situation to Viola and she had surprised him by remembering who he was, not only from challenging her gym but also from the Team Flare incident so many years ago. “Maybe we can find your team there or at least put word out.” Thank the gods, or god in this case, that two of them were psychic types so communication with ponies was possible. “But… let’s get some sleep first.”

Viola nodded before floating over to the others and curling her wings around herself. It was so strange that doing this felt so natural to her, but in the end, she figured it was thanks to her being so close to her own Pokémon that this was so easy. Once feeling as comfortable as possible, she slowly drifted off to sleep, even her antennae seemed to droop a bit with slumber.

The few hours between first light and noon would speed by in peace, the horror that had chased them having not disturbed their sleep. Around this time, Jayce was starting to come to again, though he was feeling very much content with his current position once he felt Nao clinging to him. The silence however, would be broken in the most unexpected way.

“Greetings citizens of Equus, both old and new.” Arceus’ voice echoed through the mind of every being on the planet.

The sudden intrusion was enough to not only rouse everyone from their sleep, but even cause one particularly grassy goat to spring up and plop on his side as if he had fainted. His limbs sticking straight out to the side though was enough to make Jayce laugh. Well, he would have if he wasn’t terrified out of his mind, it wasn’t often a psychic Pokémon had their mind utterly invaded like that, and even Nao looked disturbed by it.

”I am Lord Arceus, creator of the Pokémon realm. You have no reason to fear me, I come in peace.” The voice of the alpha Pokémon tried to assure those he was speaking to.

After the initial moment of panic and shock, Jayce quickly pulled himself up to his feet and looked around. “So… our earlier suspicions had been right.” Their ‘oh Arceus’ comments from yesterday had hit right on target. “For once, can we not be right? Is that so hard to ask for?” Honestly though, it was better this way than one of their other ideas. Taking a moment to keep himself from pacing, he looked at the others only to find both Hazel and Viola sprawled on their back with Nao getting to her feet.

“I have revealed myself to inform you that I am the one responsible for the Pokémon’s presence in this world, for the citizens of Equus, the Pokémon are the beings who have appeared over the past few days.”

Nao stumbled a bit as she got to her feet, using Jayce to balance herself out. One of the few things about Nao was that she was not a morning kitty. In fact, some days she adamantly refused to get up and had to be carried. “Turn down the volume...” she muttered as she buried her face in the fur scarf around Jayce’s neck. “Too loud.” And it seemed like all of his companions agreed to that as well.

Almost as if he was listening, Arceus’ voice seemed to become a bit more quiet. Not as if speaking more softly, but like someone turning down the volume on a speaker. “I have my reasons for bringing them here, and to the leaders I will reveal them in time, but for now a warning, the Pokémon, while some may not seem it, are just as intelligent as any race who calls Equus home, and, seeing as how they are my subjects, I will not tolerate them being treated any differently than you would treat your fellow Pony, Griffin, Minotaur, Diamond Dog, Changeling, Deer, Hippocampi, Zebra, Horse, Buffalo, Cow, Donkey, or Dragon depending on whichever race you belong to.”

None of the group decided to talk during the moment Arceus paused, figuring that he was pausing for dramatic effect or something.

“To my Pokémon, I say this, I brought you, all of you, here so that you could live in peace, do not seek to harm the natives of this world, for I am the one responsible for your displacement. And to the Pokémon who went through changes when I brought you here I say this. You are the ones who proved themselves worthy, those who were fair, kind and good in the old world, consider this your reward. And to all of you, as sapients the laws of Equus, and the varying countries, now apply to you, and only the laws of Equus.”

“That is all for now, but just to be clear, the Pokémon are not to be harmed simply out of spite, if you have a problem with what I’ve done, feel free to contact me, I currently reside in an ancient temple deep in the Everfree Forest, or a pocket dimension outside of the space time continuum, so if any of you wish to face the sheer power of a god, feel free to come by. Goodbye for now, though I doubt this will be the last you hear of me, and peace to you all.”

Moments passed before anyone would say anything, but thanks to snooping around and already figuring some things out, the overall reaction wasn’t too surprising. “Sooo… he confirmed what we knew, which is great.” Jayce would say as he helped Nao to actually wake up rather than being in that place between sleep and being awake. “Come on, Nao,” he said as he prodded at her ears with a smile. “Wakey wakey.” There would be no promise of fish or bacon though as he had neither at this moment. “I do wish we could have gotten some tea or something from town.”

For Nao and Hazel, the announcement hadn’t really meant anything since they were with Jayce and since he was fine being here, there was no problem. Viola looked a bit more perturbed by the news. “So we were chosen against our will? No! That I can handle, since this means new places with new photo opportunities! But really?! Separate us from our Pokémon and think we’ll be happy?” And Viola did look angry and she was a woman that appeared never to get mad. “If I wasn’t a Vivillon and fond of my wings I would soooo tear him apart! Give me Surskit and Vivillon back!” she shouted at the sky with all her feelings directed towards one particular alpha Pokémon.

It was around this time that Hazel was coming out of his fright filled stupor only to be frightened again by a very angry sounding Viola. “Wah!” Joining in the shout, he would shoot out to hide behind Jayce and Nao as if they were a wall.

“Alright everyone, calm down! We already have a plan for this, remember?” Being the ringleader came naturally to Jayce even if he couldn’t really move at this moment. “Sleep, train, then Canterlot. I’m not the only one who was paying attention was I?” A quick glance around and the looks upon most everyone’s face told him otherwise. “Of course. Alright.” Stepping away from Nao, he’d pull out the map from his pack. “Here’s the plan alright?” Unrolling it, he would point to their approximate location. “We are here.” Moving his paw along the paper he’d point to the train tracks. “We’re going here.” Then following the train tracks around he’d get to Canterlot. “And we’ll end up here.” Not very complicated, in fact, it was quite an easy plan to follow.

There was a shared moment of silence amongst the group as Viola calmed down a bit and Hazel stopped acting so afraid.

Viola was the first to speak while Nao moved to Jayce’s side. “Then it’s time for us to go then, a change of scenery as it were.” Saying as her eyes turned towards the direction they would be traveling.

Packing everything that’d been taken out was rather quick, and soon they were on their way through the woods again, this time with a goal. “Alright so…” Recalling the map from memory, Jayce would point ahead. “We’re looking for an opening in the trees. Viola, if you could fly overhead, I think that could help.” He was also keeping an ear open, listening for anything that could sound like a train. Viola nodded before flying a bit higher in the air, though she was careful to avoid flying out of sight, but still enough so that she could see through the trees easily.

Hazel was leading the group, as his energetic nature kept him from following quietly. “Oh oh oh, we can play ‘I Spy’? It’s like a game where you uh...spy stuff! I’m good at that game.” Quickly, he’d turn his head from side to side looking for something. “I spy something green.”

To her credit, Nao only looked mildly annoyed at the Skiddo.”I’ve not had my morning tea yet, Hazel.” Sounding a bit grouchy, her eyes would shift to Jayce who did his best to look innocent. “Why didn’t you get tea from them anyway?”

“I didn’t exactly ask for any of this except for the map and pack.” Though it might have been a good idea to ask for some tea leaves or even the instant stuff. Jayce had developed a skill at brewing tea just right over the years of traveling with Nao and his friends, more or less because Nao refused coffee and to him the stuff tasted like mud anyway. “Maybe we can find something here that can be brewed?” Problem was he wasn’t familiar with Equestria’s nature and while something might look harmless enough, it could turn out to be quite poisonous… or an extreme laxative… A full bodied shiver ran through Jayce as he remembered that one particular incident. “Never again will I try to make tea from things I don’t know. And Hazel,” He didn’t even need to look around to guess. “Leaves.”

Freezing in his tracks, Hazel would stare at Jayce, looking rather awestruck. “You didn’t even look? How’d you know? Are you in my head?” It would have been a legitimate question if Hazel’s first choice wasn’t always either leaves or grass. Once, he’d thrown a loop in and said it was his coat but it’d really been leaves...

“Nope, I’m just that good, but that means it’s my turn.” Slowly he would look one way then another, stopping his head for a moment or two to give the illusion he spotted something. “I spy something white.” While the game was generally in good fun and only mildly annoying it could, in fact, prove to be a way to keep him quiet for a bit.

To his credit, Hazel only paused a second before guessing. “Cloud.” Not a lot of credit, but at least he was quick to the guesses. Seeing Jayce shake his head, he would, of course, guess again and again and again. “That flower? Oh, that flower? Your pack… no wait, that’s not white. Um, oh I know, it’s Viola!”

Ten minutes later…

“Alright I got it this time, I’m a smart Hazel and I knew it all along. Is it a cloud?” Oh, he managed to look smug, alright, as he thought he’d gotten the answer this time. Turns out, there were a hundred some odd white or near white things in the forest. Just none of them were the correct answer. “No no don’t tell me, I got it didn’t I?” Ten times he had said cloud, hoping it was the correct answer, ten times it had been the wrong answer.

All the while, Jayce looked rather amused, Nao looked significantly more annoyed, and Viola had floated just a bit higher to get away from the yapping Skiddo. “Wrong again, Hazel, you give up yet?” he asked with a bit of a smile.

“Yep! Hazel gives up now, Jayce you’re really good at this game!” Actually he wasn’t it was just that Hazel tended to be a bit oblivious to the obvious answers.

With a grin he would recite, “I spy something white, I spy Hazel’s face.” Quickly, he would run forward to place his paw to the side of Hazel’s face and give his cheek a soft pinch. “You named absolutely everything we passed and some things we didn’t, but you never looked at yourself, Hazel. Silly Hazel.” Reaching up he’d wrap his arms around Hazel’s neck to give him a nice warm hug. Coincidentally it also caused him to be dragged along the ground a little bit but it was a pain he was willing to live with.

Running to catch up, Nao would climb on to Hazel’s back before reaching down to pull Jayce on. “The sooner we get to the train, the sooner we get to this Canterlot place.” And the sooner she could get something to drink that wasn’t water.

With the help and Hazel slowing down a bit, Jayce would climb on just behind Nao, making sure he was pressed against her in a nice warm hug. “I know, but we can’t have Hazel carry us everywhere. We’d get lazy and pudgy. A pudgy Jayce isn’t a good Jayce, he is a Jayce that requires all the hugs and cookies.” Actually that was more or less how Jayce was all the time.

From above, Viola would drift down until she was floating next to the others. “The way you are with your Pokémon is really something else Jayce, even in this situation, it’s outstanding.” A smile was on her face as she spoke.

Leaning his head on Nao’s shoulder, Jayce would reply. “Thank you, but the truth is I’m more their’s than they are mine, if it weren’t for my friends I wouldn’t be well...” he paused, looking for the right way to put. Living right now was the real answer, but it was a bit more depressing than he’d like to admit. “Where I am today. I couldn’t be luckier.” The praise he gave his Pokémon was always true and pure; he loved each of them dearly.

“And that is why you’re special; a lot of trainers wish they could fit together so well.” Giving a quick twirl, Viola would propel herself forward a bit. “Also, I saw the clearing up ahead, looked like it went on and on, so it’s probably the tracks. Or a group of Pokémon decided to bulldoze a straight line through the woods for no reason. Oh! Could you imagine what sort of picture that would be?”

The news of the tracks was overshadowed by the ground suddenly starting to shake and the sound of a loud train whistle off in the distance. Excitement and glee filled the group, well, as close as it could get for Nao anyway. It seemed their timing had been spot on and it was all thanks to the horrible ghost that had been following them. “Alright, Hazel, now you can run as fast as you want.” Jayce would say as he lightly prodded Hazel’s sides.

With childlike glee, as there is no other kind of glee, Hazel would shoot off like a rocket. Problem was, it was so sudden that Jayce hadn’t a moment to hang on and was sent spiralling off the back. Luckily, Viola was there catch him! “Whoa there, I got’cha.” Saying triumphantly as she caught him. Surging forward, she would place Jayce back on Hazel’s back before attempting to zoom ahead, though the Skiddo’s speed was a bit too much for her to overtake. All together, they would burst through the trees that kept them from the tracks and emerge into the clearing around the train tracks.

Down the tracks, the massive bundle of metal barreled down the tracks in their direction. Oddly enough, it seemed to be almost as brightly colored as the ponies that lived in this world and it appeared to be coal powered. A whistle blew, signaling it either saw them or whoever driving it really really liked to blow the thing. Considering a series of five more whistles followed, they were banking on the latter to true. From here, they could see that the train was pulling a few passenger cars and a few boxcars, as luck would have it one door was open.

“Alright! Hazel, Nao, this is something we can do!” Speaking as if they had experience with the matter, Jayce would point off to a small bush that was relatively close to the tracks. In the past, they had used this method of transportation when they were attempting to avoid people or, well, going into town where they might have had issues. Viola looked relatively impressed even if all she had to do was fly in.

The train would finally pass in front of them and their target rapidly approached them. As much joy as they felt about leaving this forest behind, that was very suddenly overshadowed by a sudden feeling of despair… and cold, gripping fear.

“One with me you shall be…” A voice echoed somewhere behind them, close, but not yet on top of them.

“Moving now!” Both Jayce and Viola shouted at the same time just as the boxcar made it into position. Together as a group, they would bolt for the train car, Hazel leaping with all his strength to land inside while Viola zoomed in with relative panicked ease. Their bodies hit the floor with heavy thuds as both Jayce and Nao rolled away from Hazel who continued to roll a bit until he connected with the opposite wall.

Throwing her head up, Nao would flap open her ears to let loose the telekinetic energy stored to slam the door. Not slide it quietly, not to hastily shut it, but to slam the door with such force that it threatened to shatter. Luckily, it was made of both metal and wood so while the wood cracked a bit, the metal remained strong. “No!” It seemed she’d had enough of the creepy ghost thing chasing them as well. Then she would lay her head back down on the floor.

With a grimace, Jayce would sit up or rather prop himself up against one of the nearby crates. “It’s official, I hate Spiritombs. Well… that one, anyway.” There was no reason to hate on the entire species of Pokémon based on only one. Turning slowly as to not aggravate any sort of wound he might have gotten, he’d look to Hazel who wasn’t moving. “Hazel?” A small twitch and a few seconds later, Hazel turned over to shake his head. While looking a bit confused, the Skiddo didn’t look to be hurt at all and so he would look to Nao. Similarly, she looked a bit roughed up from the landing but overall pretty good, which left one. “Hey Viola, are you alright?”

Out of everyone, she had fared the best since she didn’t have to tumble or roll in order to get in, rather she’d just landed on one of the crates. “I’m good.” As if to make a point, she would give her lovely wings a few flaps

“Wonderful.” Taking his time, he would crawl his way over to Nao to lay his head on her belly. “Seeing as we no longer have to walk and just hope this train goes to Canterlot, I think we can relax.” He’d also have to keep Hazel from trying to look in all the crates. That and he hoped the ponies driving wouldn’t get curious as to why some of the train shook, but that was a worry for later.

“Now we just need cookies and it’ll be like last time!” Hazel said cheerfully, though he remembered them being out of cookies thanks to him. But the intended effect was there as everyone started to laugh.

Far behind the train, the Spiritomb watched as the locomotive pulled away from it. “You may run… you may hide… but you shall be one with me. Whether you want to or not.” Lifting from the ground under it’s own power, it started to slowly follow behind the train which spirited away its prey. It seemed no matter where they ran, it would surely follow, and while they had managed to get away for now, one thing was certain. The hunt was far from over…

Bumpy Tracks

Author's Note

Chapter Editing Finished?! Say it isn't so! Err...probably for the best.

Bumpy Tracks

The feeling that this train ride would be a long one had started to sink into everyone’s mind. While they had only been on the train for half an hour, it seemed there was no sign of slowing down. This had the wonderful effect of allowing them to explore the train car they had happened to land in. Having traveled the rails before in the other world, they could tell from the vibrations and bumps that they were near the rear of the train. Inside, at least, the floor was clean of dust and the boxes were arranged in a very open sort of way which told them that it was simply a tag along cart, but they also knew that, at the end of the trip, somepony would end up coming back here to open it.

“So...it seems like we’re going to be here awhile.” Jayce had finally managed to find the strength to get up and start wandering around the area. He could tell the majority of the crates were sealed shut while others seemed only to have lids on top. “Why don’t we take a look around? Maybe see if the car connects to the next one? At the very least, they might have some bedding material sitting around we could use.” However, that would require them getting into crates that weren’t theirs.

Hazel was the first to move, albeit a bit more shakily than Jayce was used to seeing. “Exploring? I like exploring, exploring can be fun, and when I explore…whoa!” His legs gave out from under him, causing him to thump down to the floor again. “Did you know exploring makes me shaky? I didn’t! That was so cool! Think I’ll lay down for a bit, yep, exploring makes me tired and a tired Hazel isn’t a fun Hazel. Hazel should always be fun.” Instead of trying to get up again, he curled into a ball on the floor with his head propped up on one of his forelegs. It seemed he had taken the brunt of the crash landing and his body was just telling him “no”.

A slight growl came from Nao, who hadn’t managed to quite get up yet. In fact, it seemed she was content with crawling over to Hazel to use him as a pillow. “We’ve been here half an hour, Jayce, and we ran most of the night, just get some rest.” She wouldn’t mention it was mostly Hazel who ran through the night or the fact that they’d napped just before jumping on board.

The bright side of being on a moving vehicle was that bumps were bound to happen. Better was the well timed bump that knocked Nao back over. And again a moment after that to knock her right back. “I hate trains!” she yelled as she started to get up. It seemed that gravity, or whoever laid the tracks, was agreeing with Jayce about getting up. Once on her paws, she moved over to Jayce to bopped him on the forehead lightly. “Can we sleep in a bed tonight? Maybe?” Her expression turned from one of annoyance to one of hope, though there wasn’t much of a difference between the two since one was frowning and one had a slight smirk on the side of her mouth. Only Jayce would be able to tell the difference.

“If we get to Canterlot tonight, maybe... it all depends on if they like us Pokémon or not. Considering how Hollow Shades was acting, I would guess not everyone likes us here.” Little did he know that was an understatement of legendary proportions… depending on who you asked. “But if not, I’ll try to find us somewhere comfortable,” he said as he rubbed his head. “And ow, Jayce doesn’t like when Nao hits him.” That earned him another boop which caused Viola to laugh.

The former gym leader had found a place to sit atop a few crates, which had allowed her to watch the others with a bit of amusement. “You two are adorable! With a bit more lighting and a camera, you two would make the perfect picture. Not that you aren’t perfect now, but a little extra never hurts.” Floating down from her perch, she landed a few paces from the two. “Though Jayce is right, we should take a look around. Maybe find some more food?” As Pokémon, they had to constantly eat to keep up their strength, which was hardly a challenge unless they didn’t have food.

Another bump shook the whole cart, enough so that it urged Jayce to get a look outside. Moving away from Nao, he tried to focus on using Psychic to open the train door. It took a few seconds before he felt the skill take effect, which was visible by the blue outline around both Jayce and the door. From the slam earlier, the door barely budged at first, but slowly slid open with a loud, creaky, grindy sound. Letting out a pant, Jayce made his way to the door to peer out. “Now what is…”

Beneath the train, it seemed as if the ground was moving up and down: one might even mistake the movement for mud. It even took Jayce and the others a moment to figure out exactly what was going on. “Are those…” Jayce asked as he squinted.

Viola floated out the door a bit while using the train cart’s wall to keep stable, “It couldn’t be…”

“It is…” Finishing her statement with a facepaw, Nao took a few steps back as another bump jolted the train.

Sadly, this had the adverse effect of sending Jayce out the door since he’d been looking at the ground. With a yelp, he clung to the side of the train with panic and surprise in his eyes. “Heeeeelp!” Meowstic didn’t have the upper body strength to pull themselves up; Jayce was just lucky he had enough strength to actually hold on. From this vantage point, he could easily hear the voices of the Pokémon below him, hundreds of voices filled the air and each of them said the same thing.

“Diglett Dig. Diglett Dig. Diglett Dig.”

“Trio Trio Trio!”

A blue field surrounded Jayce as he was pulled back into the train. “This is bad. Really really bad.” He had only heard of this sort of thing happening once, maybe twice, while he was travelling in Kanto before. “Diglett stampede!” Up ahead, the train’s whistle blew furiously as the Diglett and Dugtrio started to rock the train back and forth as if it were a ship at sea. Up ahead, the group could hear screaming from both outside the train and the three passenger carts ahead. “Oh… no.” A thought occurred to him at this particular moment. “What do you think would happen if the train derailed?” That went over everyone like a bucket of ice water.

“Oh sweet Celestia, make it stop!” a shout rang out near their cart.

All Jayce had to do was point towards the door for Viola to take action. Because she could fly, Viola could easily duck out the train cart to take a look while holding on to the side to keep herself from flying backwards. Outside, she was surprised by the sight of two ponies bouncing back towards them on the top of the Diglett and Dugtrio. One was screaming while the other was trying his darndest to not lose his lunch. “Hey uh...guys...What would you think if this train was pulled by ponies?” Her head slowly turned back to Jayce and Nao with a disturbed look. “And say these ponies weren’t pulling the train?”

A silent glance went amongst the group as the head of a pony bounced into view and a hoof seemed to cling to the open door. Jayce rushed to the door as both Viola and Nao tried to pull that pony in while he tried to find the other one. A sick feeling washed over Jayce as he noticed how close the other pony was to the wheels of the car. His ears unfolded as he focused on pulling him away from the train while hoping he didn’t screw up. Slowly, the pony started to lift into the air with an expression of thanks and fear. Not letting the pony’s fear distract him, Jayce did his best to pull him into the train with his companion, both of which were out of breath.

Once in the train, the two ponies collapsed and breathed heavily, both thankful that the ground was being reasonably still. The two were both of the draft horse build and looked relatively similar to each other that anyone might call them siblings. “Thank Celestia!” The one who spoke seemed to be a light brown color with a coal colored mane.

The other one was doing his best to calm his stomach. “Yeah…” His coat was also a shade of brown, though, right now, it looked to have a tint of green to it. Neither really moved to get up, though the other one did seem to lock his eyes on the Pokémon around him.

“Hey, uh, bro...there’s some cat critters here and a bug looking thing. You don’t suppose they're some of those Pokémon things, do ya?” The first one started to move about as his eyes went around the Pokémon. “One of’em don’t look too happy.” Of course his eyes were locked on Nao who was almost always frowning.

Moving forward, Jayce put his hand on the sick pony’s head before looking him over. “Nao, could you?” This one was a bit more beaten than his brother was and the sickly green look wasn’t going away either. Pulling his satchel around, he started to pull out a few things: canteen, bandages, and a salve of some sort.

Nao stepped forward, which caused the pony to cringe, but when her ears opened, he looked a bit confused. “Try not to move so much. You don’t want me messing up, I assure you.” Her mind made contact first before she bridged it to Jayce and Viola. “And please, for the love of whoever you worship, don’t panic.” While she could understand why people and ponies might panic at an intrusion in their mind, it didn’t mean she had to like it. In fact, Nao downright hated it sometimes since, if she’d meant harm, she’d hardly have to tell them.

“What she means to say is try not to panic. I’m going to help your brother since he’s hurt.” It would be a cold day in hell before Jayce left an injured go untreated. Carefully, he ran his paws along the pony’s body as he tried to get a feel for anything that might be broken. Luckily, it seemed the damage was only bruises and a few cuts here and there. Jayce applied the salve, which smelled minty, to the bruises before wrapping the worst of the cuts and bruises in bandages. “By the way, I’m Jayce, the unhappy looking one is Nao, the Vivillon is Viola, and the sleeping lump over there - ” his ear motioned to Hazel who snoozed happily despite what was going on outside “ - is Hazel.”

The pony looked a little surprised as he fought the nausea of having his mind touched. “I uh..” Well he’d be darned these little critters were polite. Sorta anyway. “I’m Click and my brother there is Clack.” Click’s eyes locked on to Jayce as the critter tended to his brother’s wounds, thankful that somepony… thing… was willing to help without being asked. “Y’all know what’s going on out there, ground’s movin like it’s an earthquake but ah know it ain’t one of those.” Being an earth pony, he knew what an earthquake felt and looked like.

Nao’s own mind was racing at a different thought at this particular moment and it had something to do with what Viola had said. “Ignoring that question for now, I have one of my own. If you aren’t pulling the train, who is?” It wasn’t an overly hard question or even that complicated of one since she knew the answer. At least it was enough of an attention getter to make Click look outside.

“Right. Err, yep we might be out of control here.” Click muttered as he dragged himself closer to the door to look outside. “Eeeyup, we’re pickin’ up speed too.” For a moment or two, he looked rather calm before his expression changed to panic. “Runaway train!” Jumping from his spot, he tackled his brother and gave him a good, thorough shake. “Clack, wake up, oh sweet Celestia, wake up!”

A muffled groan came from under Click as his brother started to wake. “Get off.” Well, he certainly didn’t sound too happy about being woken up this way. “Wait.” Blinking his eyes open, Clack looked around until his eyes came to the door. A moment or two passed before he said anything else. “Why aren’t we stoppin’ the train?” Clearly, he didn’t remember getting beaten up by Diglett and Dugtrio nor did he seem to remember getting pulled into the train. Shakily, he pushed himself up to his hooves with the help of Click, who in turn helped Clack to the door to get a better look. “Eeyup, the ground’s still moving…”

For the moment, Jayce had stepped back to stand next to Nao so the two brothers could have a moment. “Those are Diglett and Dugtrio. They, uh, like to dig.” He’d not been able to figure out exactly why they were doing what they were doing, but seeing them stampede this way worried him a bit. From his last experience, they only did this when there was construction but, for all he knew, the vibrations from the train had been stirring them up to this. “This could go on for a while if they’re following the train, if not, then it’s really up to them to stop.”

Meanwhile, Viola was busy trying to figure out what exactly was going on outside. Once she felt the connection to Nao and Jayce, she headed out of the train once more and made her way towards the front by pulling herself along. Up ahead, she could hear the panicked screams of other ponies while the driver seemed to just love blowing that whistle. Further and further, she dragging herself until she was at the windows of the nearest passenger car. Inside, she could see a number of ponies but what worried her most was the sight of children, or what she assumed to be children. “There are children on board!” Calling out as loudly as she could as worry worked its way into her. Why did there have to be children on board? Rallying herself, she continued along the train.

From here, it was obvious the train was going downhill and that the Digletts were unintentionally causing the train to go faster and faster. As she moved along, the bumpiness seemed to become more constant as the train made it to the middle of the stampede. “Come on….come on.” She was trying to encourage herself to go With the wind constantly trying to tear her back from the train, her trip to the front would take a while which was really starting to annoy her. Of course, the wind wouldn’t be as bad if she kept them tucked to herself, but Viola had to use them to keep her balance.

Click, Clack, Jayce, and Nao were left staring at each other as the ponies seemed to debate whether or not to believe them. “So yer tellin’ me that a bunch of these Digletts and Dugtrio are diggin’ up our railroad?” It was Click who spoke first, as he seemed to be the most vocal of the two brothers.

While Click spoke, Clack remained near the door watching the ground. While he wasn’t the biggest fan of these Pokémon, these two did save his life so he’d trust them. For the moment, he would watch the things digging to see if they were moving in one direction or if they were following the train. It wasn’t doing much good sadly, with the citters bobbing up and down so quick that it was getting hard to tell if they were moving or just going up and down. “Heya, big brother? Ah think the blue’un is tellin’ the truth.” The closer he looked to the ground, the more details he was able to pick out.

“There are children on board!” The panic in Viola’s voice was more than enough to remind them of their current situation.

“Ah right, ah guess now’s not the time ta stare at each other. We need ta get this train slowed down or stopped. We got some brakes in the caboose which is the next car back. The problem is they could derail us if we don’t get the train ta slow down.” Click stood just a bit taller as he explained his plan which wasn’t really much of a plan.

Nao managed to look skeptical of the “plan” even while Click spoke. “He said derail, right?” Her eyes went straight to Jayce and it didn’t take a mind reader to tell exactly what she thought of the idea. The return look and grin she got from Jayce told exactly what she wanted to know. “You already have a plan, don’t you?”

It would be a a few heartbeats before Jayce answered, his eyes locked on the two ponies in front of him. Both were earth bound from what he could tell, and neither had horns, which meant they didn’t do magic. “Yeah… I do.” He was trying to remember some of those videos he’d seen of various psychic types doing different things. What had stood out to him was that a few used their psychic abilities to float. “If we can get to the front of the train, you can float me out in front.” Straight out, the plan was putting him in danger and Nao’s dislike of that was clear. “Listen to me, love. You float me out and I use Protect to push the Diglett away from the front of the train. It won’t be perfect, but it should move them out of the way long enough for the train to reach track.” Looking back to the two ponies, he continued. “And you two get the brakes once you feel the train straighten out.”

“Right, cause if the front car touches down, then it’s brakes can work too.” Click wore an impressed expression as he measured the blue one up. “Ah take it you’re the leader of this group here? Ya got a good head there.” To his side, Clack was nodding in agreement. “Well, let’s get this plan goin’, shall we?” Tapping his brother on the shoulder, he moved to the open door, peered out, then disappeared around the corner. Click was swiftly followed by Clack, who gave a wave before disappearing.

Finally taking the steps to end this crazy ride, Jayce and Nao stepped towards the open door. “Lift me up, Nao, then I’ll lift you up. If it goes well, we can use this to skip across train cars.” Up until this point, he’d only tried floating small things, so hopefully this would go well. If not, Nao might end up on the ground outside or worse, crushed. But if Nao had any doubt, she certainly didn’t show it as she placed a kiss on his cheek and stepped forward, with ears folding open. The subtle blue light of Psychic enveloped Jayce and soon, he too was out the door and resting on top of the car. “Deep breath, confidence, and will. Whatever I put my mind to I can do.” It was a mantra he’d used in the other world shortly after the accident.

“You can do it.” The feeling Jayce got from Nao was soft, she must have felt his nervousness.

Feeling a new confidence, he would let the skill take ahold of him, eyes glowing and ears flapping open, and he would pull Nao from the car below. For a moment or two, she floated above the ground before she was pulled up next to Jayce. Once Psychic went out, he put his arms around her and squeezed. “Thank you.” Together, they shared a moment before another bump of the train would remind them of their job.

Looking ahead, Jayce and Nao would look about the train until they spotted Viola, who was desperately clinging to the train whistle. Luckily for them, she had managed to disable the cursed thing. “Viola, can you hang on a bit longer? We’ll be down there as soon as we can!” A simple nod was all they got as an answer. But now, they had another problem to deal with. Being on top of the train left them vulnerable to the wind which was now whipping past them.

Traversing the train in this manner would be incredibly difficult, especially since they were so small and light. The first jump, as Jayce would call it later, had nearly sent Nao off the train but, after that one incident, things got better. Thankfully, the top of the train had divots and other protrusions they could latch on to. And so, the order would go like this: Nao over first to find a place to cling on to, then Jayce would follow up and cling to her. Step by step and car by car, they would make their way to the front car. By this point, Viola looked to be winded. She had angled her wings so that the wind was going over her instead of through her, which saved her a bit of struggle.

The mental link between the group had been maintained even this far. “Alright we’re in position, give a howler when y’all don yer part.” It was Click who gave them the signal to continue.

“Nao, can you move Viola so that she’s between the cars? We’re going too fast for her to keep up.” Now he didn’t know how strong a Vivillon’s wings could be, but he had the funny feeling they weren’t strong enough to keep up. Worse, he felt she might do some serious damage if she continued to hold on like that. In his travels, he had seen many injuries, some were not so bad while others were horrific. One stuck to his mind though, from when a Butterfree and a Scyther fought. The poor Butterfree’s wing was nearly sliced off in the fight. If memory served right, it had spent months in a Pokécenter for both surgery and physical therapy.

He need not explain any further as Nao wrapped a psychic blanket around her. “See if you can calm the children a bit, I can hear their screaming from here.” Nao’s voice was calm, though the way she said it was more of a statement rather than a question.

Once Viola was tucked away safely inside, Jayce and Nao got back to work. It wasn’t much further from here until they were at the front of the train and, with the whistle and other protrusions, getting in front of the runaway train had been easy. Well, easier than jumping onto a train moving at full speed while hoping to get into a train car. Below them, they could see where the train pullers would have been strapped in and that metal thing in front that pushed things aside, Jayce couldn’t ever remember what it was called.

“Nothing to stand on and the straps are broken.” Turning his gaze to Nao, Jayce smiled. “Looks like you’ll have to hold me from here, love. Hey, do you remember?” It seemed Nao didn’t want to revisit that particular incident, not that he could blame her for that. The warm glow of psychic wrapped around him as he was slowly pushed out in front of the train. Thankfully, the the blue glow kept his ears from flapping all about in the intense wind pressure he was suddenly feeling. “Thanks!”

Now that he was here in front of the train, his plan seemed a bit more profound. Who in their right mind would want to be dangled in front of a speeding runaway train?! Good thing he wasn’t exactly in his right mind on a fairly regular basis. Feeling the psychic field around him tighten at Nao’s impatience, he would get this, hopefully well thought out, plan underway. Careful as not to have his ears yanked out, Jayce unfurled his ears while closing his eyes. With his practice earlier, he knew he could do Protect without too much thought, but this needed to be done carefully Slowly, a barrier faded into existence and pushed away from him, bending to accommodate the front of the train. Instead of using Protect to just wrap around himself, he continued to push out out, the strain causing a cold sweat to break out across his fur. Eventually, the barrier stretched as wide as the train and deep enough into the ground to push away any Diglett or Dugtrio that might be beneath the soil.

Above, Nao had wrapped her tail around a light fixture as she caught sight of what Jayce was trying to do. Admittedly, they’d not battled a lot of trainers who used psychic types, let alone enough who thoroughly thought out the fight. So, bending a barrier such as Protect hadn’t been something Nao would think of normally. But, of course, this was Jayce and, short of getting himself killed, he’d do anything to help someone in danger, especially if she might be in danger as well. “Idiot.”

All of a sudden, Viola found herself inside the first passenger car where there were a number of eyes now locked on her. Better yet, it seemed as if all the children, or foals in this world, had been gathered here. She looked around to assess the train car for some kind of plan. To the naked eye, it would seem like a normal, overly colorful passenger car, but years of taking pictures and finding the perfect shots told her otherwise. If something were to happen, say a runaway train, then this car would likely be the best shot of jumping free of the train’s wheels. Normally, one would go to the caboose to drop off in such a situation, but she doubted the foals could make it there. There was plenty of room in the middle of the train since chairs had been moved away, and the windows were large enough that they could be pushed out. More importantly, there was plenty of rope about.

One of the foals, a chocolate colored colt, noticed her and bounced from his place on the floor. “Momma momma look, a butterfly!” Before his mother could grab him, he bolted across the car to the very pretty Vivillon. “Momma, think it’s one of those Pokémon things?” While he and the other foals seemed unphased by her appearance, the other adult ponies were looking a bit worried.

“Chocolate, come back over here.” Of course, the foal’s name was Chocolate because there’s nothing else it could be. The panic in his mother’s eyes might have been because Viola had appeared but the more likely reason was the current situation.

Chocolate made a silly face at his mother that consisted of stretching his cheeks and sticking his tongue out. “Bleeeeh it’s not scary, it’s a butterfly.” Saying as if it being a butterfly ended the argument or even removed the doubt and panic from his mother.

Viola simply floated in the air as she listened the mother and foal talk. Nao had asked her to try calming the foals. It seemed her presence had done that a bit to distract the children but more needed to be done. Thinking back to some of her pictures and even some battles she tried to think about how to help when an idea came to mind. Propelling herself up a bit higher, Viola started to flap her wings. “Aromatherapy.” Praying the skill would work, she let out a sigh of relief once she smelled Aromatherapy.

The move had the intended effect as all the ponies relaxed a bit; at least, the crying quieted and even the mother seemed a bit happier. Taking this moment, she flew over the ponies to look around while remaining out of the reach of the curious foals. “I’ve calmed some of the ponies on board. I think~” Her sentence was cut off by the suddenly lurching train which had the misfortune of going down enough to knock her to the ground. “I’m going to take a nap now.~” The word “now” being drawn out.

Up ahead, Jayce and Nao’s work was starting to pay off. The Diglett and Dugtrio started to get the point. Those that weren’t pushed to the side by Protect moved aside on their own trying to avoid the train and cat. That would be when the train’s wheels clicked down on the tracks which caused the train to surge. This had two immediate effects on Jayce and Nao. One, the sudden jolt caused Nao’s psychic to disperse as she fell; however, because her tail was latched on, she didn’t go too far.

The second, and most painful, was Jayce very briefly being in freefall as his back made contact with the front of the train. Sadly, this caused Protect to break as it was just not strong enough to take a train, who’d have guessed? A sudden pain wrecked his body moments before passing out entirely. Later, he’d swear he heard someone call out “flawless victory”. Luckily, the train was going fast enough that the pressure was able to keep him pinned to the train until a now fearful Nao was able to pull him up.

A mix of panic and fear washed over Nao as she realized what happened before grabbing hold of Jayce again. Pulling him up, her eyes widened at the sight of a bit of blood. She had long enough to pull Jayce back to the whistle before the front car started to lay on the brakes. “Brakes in front are on! Viola, first-aid kit now!” The train would lurch again with a bit more force just as they got Viola’s message of taking a nap.

Then the brakes in the rear of the train squeaked as they were engaged, causing the train to rapidly decelerate to an acceptable speed. From inside the front car, she could hear the driver cheer as he regained control of the runaway train. A very distinguished “Yee haw!” could be heard from below.

Letting out a slight sigh of relief as the wind stopped thrashing them about, Nao lifted Jayce using Psychic. At least, from this short amount of time up here, she could tell there wasn’t too much blood so it might just be a flesh wound. At the other end of the train, she could see Click and Clack walking along the roofs of the back cars though it appeared they’d stopped to grab Hazel who was walking just behind them. From their expressions, she could tell that they were glad they couldn’t actually understand what the Skiddo was saying to them. “Can you hurry and get a first aid kit? Jayce is hurt!” Now, she didn’t hate slackers and she did a fair amount of that on her own, but Jayce was hurt.

That seemed to put a spring in their step as they picked up their pace, even Hazel looked worried which was way too strange looking on him. Car after car they moved even as Nao focused on getting Jayce into the first passenger car. Inside, a number of gasps were heard as she placed him on a chair. After a minute or so, Click, Clack, and Hazel came in from the back and moved across the car and passed the other ponies who had decided to give the two cats space. By now, Viola too was starting to come out of her train induced sleep.

“Well now, this looks mighty painful,” Click said as he assessed what damage there was to Jayce. “Y’all lucky it wasn’t worst, coulda been well…” The face he made was grave, it even seemed color blanched a little bit. Clack came up from behind with the standard first-aid kit and pulled it open while Hazel laid on the floor.

“Big Brother will be fine, right? I mean, he’s fallen off a lot of things, boats, bikes, trains, hills, trees…” Hazel would continue to list a large number of things while the others worked.

With Nao holding Jayce up in Psychic, the brothers were able to clean the wounds and pull a roll of gauze around him. Over and under, they wrapped him so that it was on nice and snug while still allowing him some freedom once he woke up. Once that was down, Nao found one of the seats in the cart and laid him over her lap. Hazel, of course, moved over and laid his head on the chair next to Jayce, as if his closeness was going to help heal him.

Thankfully, the car had remained reasonably quiet until Click cleared his throat. “These two here are Jayce and Nao.” There’d been some low muttering while they tended Jayce, some wasn’t very nice. “They went out of their way to help us and look, the blue one got hurt for it. That’s Jayce by the way. Good guy...cat thing he is.” Turning to his brother, he’d clop him on the shoulder as if he knew Clack had something to say.

“Eeyup.” Sweet Celestia he can...eeyup.

If one word wasn’t enough, it certainly didn’t effect Click who happily clopped him a few more times. “There ya got it, no one could say it better.” Was there pride in his voice? Of course there was, which was really starting to warm the others up. Heck, it even got Viola to start flying around the car a bit more happily despite her worry over Jayce. Finally, the ponies and foals went back to where they’d come from while others seemed to stay around to pet Nao. Seeing as Jayce was out cold, she would have to grudgingly accept it.

After half an hour speaking to the ponies on board, the train came to a stop. After that point, the conductor asked Click and Clack to get back to pulling. With goodbyes and promises of hard cider, whatever that was, the two left. While waiting for the train to start moving again, the conductor went about reassuring everypony that everything was going to go smoothly from here, stopping at Jayce, Nao, Viola, and Hazel to give them his own thanks and offer them a free ride to Canterlot.

Before long, the train started to move again and the countryside started to pass by in a blur. Nao kept her paws on Jayce’s head as she watched the scenery. “Idiot…” she grumbled, though she still smiled gently. Even if he was an idiot, Jayce was HER idiot and she loved him for it. Behind her, noise could be heard as Hazel, tired of being bored, started to play with the foals. Better with a bit of begging and the most adorable puppy dog eyes ever, they had recruited Viola into their fun. At least the ride to Canterlot hadn’t been boring, and with luck, the rest of the trip would go smoothly...