A new world, A new horde

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3: If you give a Pikachu a cookie...
Chapter 4: Rusty Walrus and the Jackal
Chapter 5: Gotta Dance
Chapter 6: Random events
Chapter 7: Begin Reassembly

Chapter 1

It began like most days for us. I was helping Leader devise a plan for the day. Teacher was giving the young Pichu lessons in berries. Oran, Pecha, and Cheri were getting ready to hunt for berries. And Scout was checking that we didn't have any unfriendly pokemon nearby. We had others but their jobs wouldn't start for a bit. Some had nighttime jobs and others... well others were just really eccentric.

"So we're going to need more berries than usual to prepare for the deep-freeze," Leader said to me halfway through the plan. I nodded in agreement and waited to hear anything I might need to help him revise. "And with the amount of new Pichu we might need to have two teachers instead of just one."

"So one would have the name Mentor and she can keep the name Teacher?" I asked, pointing my yellow paw in the direction of our current Pikachu named Teacher. She glanced over and gave a friendly wave before turning back towards the students. Good thing she did as well. The three Pichu named Larry, Curly and Moe were trying to sneak off the instant she had turned her back on them.

"Well that's what I was thinking. But we would be splitting up the classes so that the older Pichu could move on to more advanced stuff while the new ones could learn basic stuff... Obviously those three would be remaining in basic for a long time." He motioned towards the three Pichu in question.

"Thank Arceus..." I breathed, "So what's next on the agenda?" I asked.

Before Leader could respond we turned towards some rustling bushes on the edge of the nest. Both of us suddenly became quiet as the others started moving away from the bushes. Quickly afterwards another Pikachu burst out panting hard.

"Scout!" Leader called out, "What's the matter?"

Scout was our patrolling Pikachu so to speak. He kept a close eye on the area around the nest and warned us if any danger was coming our way. He also was the fastest among us when it came to moving through trees so we were in good paws there.

"Kangaskhan.... injured baby... electric burns... very mad..." He panted out obviously tired. I felt the blood drain from my face. A ticked off mother was bad enough, even worse that it was a Kangaskhan. I ran over to him to help him catch his breath and Leader turned towards the rest of the nest with an angry glint in his eyes. After a few seconds he set his eyes on a rather unruly group of Pichu who were hiding behind one of the camp's berry trees.

"Alright which one of you decided to play 'zap the baby' to prove your so-called courage?" There was no mistaking the anger in his voice. Even though we Pikachu have a small stature, he was able to make it look intimidating if he so chose. With his paws on his sides and his cheeks looking like they could spark electricity at any second... Heck even his ears and tail looked like they could be electrified when he was mad. I'll admit to wanting to laugh once when I first saw it but he then gave me a good jolt.

The Pichu tried shoving eachother out to make one of them take the blame. I padded over there to examine them.

"Those two... They look like they've been shocked and we're the only species in the forest that can use electricity," I muttered pointing out the two in the back. I kept watching them as Leader went around to the back and grabbed the two I pointed out.

"Right, all of you scatter. We don't want too many Pokemon present. It'll upset Kangaskhan more if it looks like we're ready to attack," he ordered.

I raised one of my ears a little. "I didn't expect you to realize that that quickly."

"Not all Pokemon are as dumb as you think."

"Learn to take a joke."

"Hello pot, meet kettle."

During the exchange the rest of the horde had vanished into the trees where their homes were.

The Kangaskhan burst in roaring in anger, "Who hurt my child!"

"Calm down ma'am," I said motioning with my paws, "We've got the two right here to apologize. I thought we'd taught them we-" I broke off looking at the injured baby. "Hold up... Those don't look like electric injuries."

"What?!" She yelled and I had to quickly grab the two Pichu to make sure they didn't scarper.

I walked closer and looked at the baby. There was a bit of charring on his head but it didn't look like the fine points from electrical shocks. "But then... what caused these if those two didn't? And how did they get their own shocking injuries?"

Lost in thought, I missed the voice that echoed through every Pokemon's head including my own and fell unconscious. Still trying to figure out what could've caused the injury.

"Rest now my children. For when you awake a whole new world shall be your home."

I shot straight up with a chill through my fur coat. It had gotten remarkably cold for still being summer. The wind was gusting and it felt like snow was pelting my coat. That didn't exactly seem right to me. I cracked open one eye to see what was going on and then shot both of them open. I was in the middle of a tundra with no trees around.

I couldn't speak, couldn't think... couldn't even scream in shock. It took all I had to just look around to try to find some familiar surroundings. Nothing. Just cold, barren wastelands... and a yellow form a bit away.

Wait. What?

I got to my feet and ran as fast as I could, slipping in the snow as I did so. When I skidded to a stop I saw who it was, Teacher.

"Hey, wake up... Come on we can't be sleeping out here!" I nudged her, then began trying everything I could to wake her up. With no other pokemon out here to help and, as much as I disliked the idea, no humans either we'd be fending for ourselves and sleeping out in this cold would kill us both.

Despite my prodding she didn't wake up and my worry was increasing by the second. I had to find some help or we would both be dead in a matter of hours, her pulse was steady but her body temperature was decreasing. I started focusing my hearing trying to hear anyone or anypokemon off in the distance. Nothing... My panic started mounting when I heard something peculiar off to my left. It was like there was something blocking the wind a bit there. Could be a snow hill but if it was even a chance of shelter we had to take it.

I lifted Teacher over my back and started hobbling as fast as possible towards the object, grunting under her weight as well. "If we get out of this alive... you are going to cut down on the berries," I mumbled under my breath. As we got closer I was beginning to make out what was blocking the wind. It looked somewhat spherical but the bottom half was cut off. There was also a small little opening carved into the front where the wind wasn't blowing that looked to be about twice our height. With no other option I entered and felt immediate relief from the wind and snow. Whatever this was blocked it very nicely and also held the heat in well.

I sat teacher down next to the wall and sat down next to her. Now that we were safe I could start trying to figure out what happened. But... I was at a loss. There weren't any snowy areas near Vermillion Forest and I didn't think there were any in the whole region. There also should have been at least some Pokemon in the area moving around but... I didn't hear any. Then again the wind could've blocked it out so I was out on that point. Come to think of it, I thought looking around, Who would set up here... and why would they make this thing out of snow? And where is this- Oh... My eyes settled on a snowy staircase in the middle of the dwelling. Whoever built this would probably be down there.

I looked at her quickly and made up my mind. I stood up shakily and picked her up again. I struggled with her over to the stairs and looked down to see how far they went. With a deep breath I put a step on the icy steps and... instantly slipped.

When I finally came to a rest at the bottom of the stairs, in quite a bit of pain I might add, I picked my head up and saw probably the strangest stuff. At the bottom there was this large opening. Like a cave but... more smooth I think. Scattered all through it were tables, chairs, strange objects filled with liquids, strange pieces of metal that gave off a scent like they could have electricity in them.. And they were all about half the size from what our scouting trips into Vermillion City had shown us. But easily the oddest thing to me was the Ponyta-like creature moving around the area muttering to itself. It had a grey coat of fur and its mane was piercing white, like you'd see on an old human. On its flank was a mark of a magnifying glass and to top it all off it had a horn on its head, not to the same size or sharpness of a Rapidash though.

"No no that doesn't make sense. An energy spike of that magnitude does not occur naturally. No something must've happened but what?" He muttered. Yes, he. His voice was deep enough it had to be male. I stepped a bit further in, awed at what I was seeing... and he saw me.

"Hmm? Hello there... And what might you be- oh dear. That doesn't look good." He walked over to Teacher and checked her over quickly. "Yes seems to be hypothermia. Your fur coats must not be the best for this weather. Suited for a more forested biome I assume?"

I couldn't do much more than nod. At that he smiled a little and shocked me by lifting Teacher up, not by hoof but through a white aura around his horn. "Come now then. Let's see if we can't get your little friend back to normal."

Time passed in a sudden flurry of activity as he pulled a clipboard from nowhere and started checking different things on both Teacher and I. He pulled a small round metal object and placed it on both our chests with two strange antennae in his ears. He stuck a long stick both of our mouths checking it after he pulled it out. Eventually it got to the point where I was sitting on strange cloth object in a new room and he was wrapping another one around Teacher.

"I take it you've never seen something like me or nopony has ever shown much kindness to you hmm?" He asked, noticing my confused stare, "It's just as well. I've never seen something like you before and judging from what I just picked up that may not be coincidence. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Doctor Xavier Periment. You may call me Experiment.. All my friends do. Or they would if they were still my friends or if any had existed in the first place."

"I'm Thinker," I said cautiously and got a confused look for my attempt.

"Pikachu? Is that your name?" He started wrapping the cloth object I was sitting on around me, "I don't think that's exactly a normal name here but-" He cut off seeing me facepaw. "Oh not your name then... Species perhaps?" I nodded, starting to feel the warmth of the cloth. Started feeling drowsy too from the new warmth. Maybe I could take a nap here and be safe.

"Hmm I'll need to call you something for now to avoid confusing the two of you when she awakes..." As he thought he made the mistake of touching one of my red cheeks. An involuntary reaction happened and he wound up probably getting the shock of his life.

"Ok... that settles it," He said from his new position, flattened on the wall, "You're getting called Shock."

I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. Now it was obvious he hadn't seen anything like me before.

From the desk of Xavier Periment

I believe I may have stumbled across an astounding discovery! Or rather it stumbled across me. Earlier today I got a little surprise as two yellow mice fell down the stairs into the iceberg lab. Upon examination the conscious one appeared to be extremely exhausted, no doubt by the brutal weather conditions that seem to have been appearing as of late. The companion was unconscious and suffering from hypothermia. The first one has it as well but it looks like it'll make a full recovery. I'm not so sure about its partner though. Only time will tell.

Now where was I... Oh yes the discovery! After the small examination I gave them I was wrapping one in a blanket and after doing an introduction, making sure my voice was calm and soothing like one would use to a young foal or raging beast, it attempted to give me its own name and from its reactions to the response I gave I can conclude it might have some level of sapience! Oh and there is the little bit of making sure not to touch its red cheeks otherwise somepony could find themselves on the receiving end of a very nasty shock. Speaking of which, that's the name I gave the first one to make sure I could distinguish it from its companion. I hope to make great strides in figuring out where these little ones came from and what that strange energy spike was earlier this day.

Report signed, Doctor Xavier Periment

Everfree Forest

On any ordinary day you could see any variety of strange creatures in the Everfree. Manticores, Hydras and Timberwolves were just some of the locale that inhabited this forest. Today wasn't exactly ordinary but nonetheless there were still strange creatures. Specifically two new little yellow mice seemingly debating over a blueberry lunch.

"So no Leader, no Thinker, not even the three troublemakers... Though that last bit is probably a blessing. Although it's a hollow one because this forest gives me the creeps." the first one said, looking at some of the more twisted tree designs.

"Makes me wonder where we are. This definitely is not our home. Can't even smell the nest. Oran? Any thoughts?" The second one asked looking at the first one.

"I've got a question!" The berry suddenly hopped, "Why the heck am I a berry?!"

Author's Note

So... I got this idea in my head after reading so many of the spinoffs. They all include pokemon trainers and whatnot... But there's only one other that stars wild pokemon. So I did some thinking and came up with a group that has been featured in the anime and has had very few encounters with pokemon trainers. The Vermillion Forest Pikachus. I wound up doing some creative thinking on the naming and the structuring of the group and I hope it turned out well.

Also if you have questions on why certain things aren't described by their names. Think about it. This is from the eyes of a Pikachu who hasn't seen many man-made products. He knows about cloth and steel because certain people visited the area in the anime but that's about it.

If you didn't like it or feel there's something I can improve on, let me know. I know I've got room for improvement but what I need help on is figuring out where said improvement can be put.

Chapter 2

The Strange Snow Lab

I woke up a little while later to the sound of banging in the room where we first entered. I was feeling loads better and Teacher looked better as well. Whatever that cloth thing was it trapped heat as well as that snow thingy outside. I hopped off the table where we had been napping and padded over to the door to peek in at Experiment. What I saw utterly baffled me.

He had a strange metal object in his mouth and he was hitting another bigger object with it. He set it down and examined a strange white slab quickly before picking it up and hitting another side of the object a few times. He set the object down again and looked with glee at his creation.

"There that ought to do it!" He exclaimed happily. I didn't know why of course but, eh, I got the feeling I was going to figure out very very quickly.

"Ah Shock! Good to see you up and about. Come here come here. I've got something you might be interested in," He beckoned me over with a hoof and as I got closer to him I noticed little red circles on different metal objects.

"Now I'm guessing you know us unicorns have magical abilities. We can use spells and whatnot to assist us in our daily lives," he started droning on and on about how magic was used. Almost like a mini-lecture. I started looking around and noticed the circles were sticking out a bit from the metal objects. Eventually curiosity got the better of me and I pushed one in.

I jumped about three feet in the air as a loud voice came through the air. "Get on with it!" Experiment frowned at me now clinging to his back for dear life.

"I suppose I should warn you that I've hooked up a speaker set to help me figure out when experiments go awry? And that was just a little joke one to mess with ponies who drone on?" He deadpanned, "I guess in any case the point of the little lecture was I never learned a translation spell... And that's where this little device comes in!"

He lifted me off his back and I stared at the device as he called it. "This is a translator machine. It picks up voices that aren't in native Equestrian and translates them to Equestrian. It still has a few bugs to work out... after all I took the little speaker outside in the wind and got cursed at... I don't even know how that happened.," He looked out at the wind a bit confused, "Anyways to get it to work all you have to do is speak into this." He motioned to a small stick and set me next to it.

I picked it up and looked at him slightly confused. "Go on, give it a go." He encouraged.

"Um... Can't think of anything. " I tried to think of anything to say but some figures appeared on a screen. He looked at it and turned back to me.

"Did you say this?" He asked and repeated what I just said. I nodded quickly and he jumped in the air with glee. "It works! Oh this is a great day for science! It's kind of funny that this all happened because I never learned a translation spell. While there are tweaks to work out, I think I can safely assume this be added to my few inventions that actually work!"

"So.. you can understand me now?" I asked.

He looked at the monitor, winced, then turned back to me "Do you use that language in front of your mother?"

I tilted my head, unsure of what he meant... then he repeated what the translator said and I fell over...

"That's not really what you said was it..." I shook my head furiously. "Blast still needs a lot of tweaking... At the very least it works to some extent but not to an amount I'd like it to." He went back to tinkering with it, muttering all the while.

I hopped off the table and walked over to the room where I was sleeping before to check in on Teacher. She looked a lot better and a bit of the color had returned to her.

"She's going to be fine." I jumped a foot in the air at Experiment's sudden voice behind me and turned to him.

"Hehe, sorry about that Shock. But she will be. It'll take awhile though. The wind out there can be very brutal but this laboratory traps heat very well," He shuddered at some memory and levitated me onto his back, "Come I'll give you a tour of the labs. I need to take a break from that little device for awhile. Kept giving me really bad translations... When there was nothing around. I suppose I'll have to get somepony else's help for that."

He walked over to a hallway that was nearby the main room and opened the first door in it... which lead to another hallway. After a bit he opened a second door and I saw a very brightly colored room. There were little things scattered all around it and it looked like something small had been messing around in here. I cautiously took a sniff and heaved a sigh of relief as I didn't smell those three around... Wait... Where were they then?

"This is a room for when little foals accidentally come here. Unfortunately this is somewhat close to the Crystal Empire and there have been times where children will leave the urban area and get lost during snowstorms. Some of them happen upon the Igloo-" igloo? Did he mean that weird thing we entered above the stairs? "-and being that this lab is full of highly delicate machinery they need somewhere to play during the time while the snowstorm rages. Thus I have them come into here until the winds die down and I can escort them back home."

The Strange Snow Lab has been renamed to Igloo Lab!

I nodded my head and felt the familiar feeling of the strange psychic attack lifting me onto his back again. He carried me back through the first hallway and opened the door closest to the lab. Inside was nothing like the metallic floor and walls that I'd seen before. There were strange wood structures scattered throughout the room. Some looked like they held things and others had cloth on them and looked very nice to sit down on. And right in the middle of it all was- FIRE!

I hopped off and made to bolt before I felt the psychic attack grasp me again.

"Whoa whoa whoa! What's the matter? This is just my little relaxation room," Experiment said with a puzzled look on his face. I started jabbing towards the fire and he got the hint. "Ah should've realized it by now. You're a woodland creature aren't you? Explains why you and your friend aren't fit for this sort of environment," He dropped me with a chuckle, "Not to worry Shock! That fire is kept at bay by a steel grate... and the fact that it has no fuel outside of the fireplace."

I tilted my head at one of his words. What did he mean by fuel? He caught my expression, sighed and face... would it be facehooved here?

"Something tells me you're going to need to learn quite a few things hmm? Well that can be handled later! Onwards!" He didn't pick me up so I wound up running behind him in his obvious excitement this time. Before we reached where he was heading I skidded to a halt sniffing the air.

As his hoofbeats faded I hopped up and opened a door like I had seen him do before and started following my nose. After navigating around a table and a couple steel sitting things I followed the scent over to a white object leaning up against a wall. I opened it up and felt my mouth begin to water... Foooooooood.

Experiment's view

I opened up the door to the little homely portion of my lab and turned to find that Shock hadn't followed me all the way here. Now I don't know if you're aware but that lab that I met him in was not the only lab I've got in this little complex. It was merely the safest. So you can possibly understand why I started to panic.

I turned around and began retracing my steps trying to find anything out of place that he could've done to get somewhere else. It was only a matter of time until I came across the open kitchen door. I peered inside... and began laughing. There was Shock munching happily on some cookies I'd stored in the fridge. What? They are amazingly crunchy when you do that.

"Pi?" Shock jumped as my laughter startled him and it was about a foot higher than when he pushed the button. I realized something pretty quickly. He was a mouse that could use electric attacks... and he now was on a sugar rush. I peeled myself off the wall again and started following the yellow blur that was now bouncing off the walls towards a room filled with... Hmm that might actually help there.

3rd perso- pony I meant pony

As Shock bounced away a loud screech echoed through the hallway. Experiment turned towards the lab muttering, "Who could it be at this time?"

He stepped into the room to see another pony looking at the machines he hadn't finished. The newcomer was a Pegasus that had a tan coat, a brown mane, and a cutie mark of a small bag and a dagger. In all honesty he looked like he'd be more at home somewhere in the desert. But the oddity of the coat wasn't what unnerved him. It was the appraising way he was looking over the stuff and what he was saying.

"Dunno why the boss wants this hunk of junk but all I gotta do is remember the script... That'll get this crazy coot out of he- And with my luck he's right behind me," the intruder turned towards Experiment with a grin on his face, "Heya knucklehead! The name's Jackal and I've got a message for you from the Khamer and Profiteur Merchantry! You didn't pay the mortgage! You know what that means right?"

"I'm afraid I don't-" Experiment began with a perplexed look on his face but was interrupted by Jackal, "It means you get to pack up your bags and hit the road Jack!"

"You didn't let me finish. I'm afraid I don't follow because... there is no mortgage on this place," he finished.

"Whaaaaaa?" Jackal's jaw hit the floor.

"I own it. No one else would have paid for it and I offered the Landlord quite a bit to purchase this land for myself and experiments plus early looks at whatever I was working on at the point. There's no mortgage because I never took out a loan on it," Experiment finished off this little lecture with a grin... It quickly faded when the intruder pulled out a dagger.

"Fine then. We get to do this the hard way. Hand over the deed and you get to keep your stallion bi-" -bop!-

Both stallions looked at the round object that hit Jackal on the nose and back towards the hallway. A flash of yellow, then silver, and then another ball soared across the room and smacked the intruder on the nose with another -bop!-. There was Shock at the entrance... atop a giant pile of plastic balls.

"What is that tiny yellow rat doi-" He never would finish that sentence. Shock bolted from the pile of balls and in ten seconds flat he was above the stallion's head with his tail glowing silver. Before he could utter something else, which I'm willing to bet wasn't "Oh dearie me," the tail swung onto his head and the last thing he felt was what seemed like an iron bat slamming into the side of his cheek. Then it all turned black.

A few minutes later

"I'm going to have to figure out what you used Shock. That looked like it hurt," Experiment shot a meaningful look at Shock who gave an innocent look. The attack had not only turned the side of Jackal's face purple with a nasty bruise but also sent him flying into a wall... admittedly the same wall that Experiment had been shocked into. Right now he was hogtied and lying in a corner of the room unconscious.

"Well for now we won't get any information from him. But I might as well send a letter off to my sister. When he wakes up we're going to have to figure out who this Khamer and Profiteur Merchantry is... and she is great with this stuff. In fact she manages to still scare me to this date" He shuddered, probably thinking of her then, and got out a piece of paper before realizing something, "Oh and she can probably help us cure your friend. I actually helped my sister create her main method of treatment. We worked together it's the only real reason it was finished."

Shock tilted his head slightly and Experiment chuckled, "She's a doctor. Probably one of the better ones I've seen. But her bedside manner leaves much to be desired... I do have one question though."

Shock motioned for him to go on, "How exactly did you get that massive pile of plastic balls in here so quickly?" Shock merely grinned... and began nibbling on another cookie.

Canterlot - A shabby doctor's office - 2 days later

"And ven ze patient woke up, his skeleton was missing and ze doctor was never heard from again!" The speaker was a female unicorn with a red mane, pinkish body, and a red blood cell inside a red cross as a cutiemark, who was operating on a rather heavyset stallion... His chest was open revealing his organs and yet he didn't seem to be feeling any pain. This probably was due to a beam that was being directed onto his chest from a machine hovering above the operating table. The two started laughing hysterically as she finished off the joke, "Anyvays... Zat's how I lost my medical license."

The heavyset stallion stopped laughing suddenly with a worried look replacing his smile. "Archimedes! A little to the left!" The mare called out and the beam shifted a little to the left. Behind the machine was a little Pikachu moving a lever. His real name was actually Sitrus. Red Cell, the unicorn, had taken him in before he had been caught by the guard. As thanks he was now working with her for a bit.

A letter shuffled through the mail slot and Red Cell picked it up, reading it as she returned to the operating table. "Well well well Archimedes! It seems my brother found some of your kin!" She looked up at the little mouse who gave a thumbs-up, "Ooh and a little conspiracy for good measure! Archimedes you must come of course. And Heavy! Ve shall finish zis quickly and you shall accompany me," she exclaimed, poking his rib... which broke instantly.

He cried out in pain as she levitated it out, "Oh don't be such a baby. Ribs grow back!"

Author's Note

So one reference is obvious... Can you find the second one?

Big thanks to Zephrystrife for helping pre-read this chapter. Make sure to check out his story as well!

Chapter 3: If you give a Pikachu a cookie...

Igloo Lab
Shock/Thinker

So it had been a couple days since that letter had been sent off. I didn't know how long it would take for that little piece of... He called it paper to reach that other pony he was talking about and I didn't know how it would get them here in the first place either. In the meantime, Experiment had been showing me around the lab even more... Making sure to avoid that room with the white machine.

His words? "You don't need any more sugar. The plastic ball fort in the main entrance is testament to that."

He hadn't moved it, probably because he was afraid it would fall down on him, so I had a neat little bed to sleep in now. I had checked up on Teacher multiple times during the time we were waiting and she hadn't gotten any better... but she wasn't worse off either. However some of the other Pokemon we'd found weren't so lucky. A Rattata had fallen into the lab after the paper had been sent and he was a lot worse than Teacher. Alongside him was a shivering fox like Pokemon, a frog-like Pokemon, and a baby Kangaskhan. I hoped we could find his mother when he woke up.

He'd also moved the unconscious pony into a room deeper in the lab and then brought me to a room filled with... screens? Yeah that's what he called them. One of them showed the pegasus and, from what he said, the rest of the screens covered the entirety of the lab. He also said he was one of the few ponies to possess this kind of technology, whatever that is, and it had already recorded him attacking us. Another thing I noticed from this room? His lab was really confusing. It had a ton of twists and turns and even some unfinished areas.

Another event was the fact that we heard a voice echoing through the labs. Experiment merely looked baffled but I knew instinctively who it was. Arceus, the creator. I won't bother with the details as any Pokemon or pony will remember it clearly, a mysterious voice echoing around the world does that, but he revealed that he was the one behind the Pokemon appearing. Of course Experiment looked strangely relieved. In his own words: "Now I know where that energy spike came from... Good thing it wasn't Discord this time."

As Experiment and I watched the screens he said, "Now the plan is to wait for him to wake up... and see if he can find his way back to the lab. Given how twisted I made this place it should take him awhile. Hm?" Experiment turned his head back towards the lab hearing something. I heard a slight pop and a loud clank as well and started walking back to the lab only to have Experiment yank me onto his back and run towards the lab as well.

"Vat ze buck is zis all about!" We heard a female voice exclaim in a... well speaking in a way that confused me. The way she said things didn't quite match up with Experiment's way of speaking. His seemed a bit more distinguished yet hers seemed to be a bit... I honestly don't know how to describe it. And then another voice spoke up as we got closer in yet another way.

"Heavy not know. But cage seems to be- OW!" This was accompanied by a zapping sound.

"Oh great they seem to have stumbled into my little defense," Experiment mumbled, pushing open the door as he said this, "Red Cell! It's been too long!"

Inside a slightly electrified cage was a female Unicorn and a rather heavyset Earth Pony. The Unicorn had a red mane, pinkish body, and a mark on her rear of a red droplet within a red outline of a cross. Her companion was... well already said he was heavy. He had a black vest around most of his body, which was red. The vest obscured whatever mark he would've had but the two most striking things about him were that he was bald and he had a giant sort of metal thing on his back. The Unicorn had something like this as well but she had it attached to her side. And right on their backs was- "Sitrus is that you?"

A Pikachu hopped off of the Unicorn's back as Experiment ran to disable the cage. "Heh fancy seeing you here Thinker. What have you been up to?"

"Recovering from cold chills, watching over Teacher and a few other Pokemon... Oh and creating a giant fort of these balls." I pointed towards my little fort of plastic balls.

The bars of the cage retracted as me and Sitrus caught up(and Experiment took a hoof to the face). I was somewhat surprised to learn he'd taken on a new name. He now called himself Archimedes and he was helping this Unicorn. In turn he was surprised to learn that these wonderful little treats could cause us to run at the speed of sound for a bit of time.

3rd Person

"And vat vas ze cage for?" Red Cell yelled at Experiment.

"We had a little incident and I thought it a necessary precaution... When did you get a Germane accent?" He responded quickly.

"Studied in Stuttgart, Germane and got my medical license there."

"And apparently lost medical license too," the heavyset stallion replied in a Russian accent.

Experiment stared at him for a second then looked back at Red Cell. "And uh... who is this and how did you lose the medical license as well?"

Red Cell placed a hoof around the heavy stallion's shoulders and said, "Zis is Heavy Weapon. He's helped as a test sub- I mean bodyguard for some time. You know how my little operations breed resentment. As for ze other question, story for another time."

"Oh I know and I still harbor some for what you did LAST time," Experiment deadpanned.

"Oh right nearly forgot. During ze last time I operated on you I may have switched your back left hoof with your back right hoof."

"WHAT?!" Experiment shot his head down to check.

"Made you look!" Red Cell started laughing and her Pikachu companion walked up and tapped her side.

"Vat is it, Archimedes?" He whispered something in her ear and she chuckled, "Ah if I remember my brother right it'll be the first right turn zen about two doors down on ze left."

Both Pikachu bolted out of the room and Experiment turned an inquisitive gaze on her. "How exactly did you understand him?"

"I used a translation spell. Vat? You don't know one?" She said with a smirk.

"No I don't and you knew that! Why do you think I was working on a translation device?"

"And like alvays you came across some new problem and instantly forgot."

"This time the problem came to me. Come on, I'll show you where I put him for now," Experiment shot back and started walking towards the security room, "I also have a few patients for you. The Medigun should suffice hopefully."

Red cell tapped his shoulder quickly and he turned around.

"One last question," she said.

"Shoot." She pointed towards the door leading to one of the hallways, "How ze buck did that happen?"

It was Experiment's turn to chuckle as he looked upon the plastic ball fort. "That's apparently what happens when you give a Pikachu a cookie. I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't checked the security recordings but he was like a little yellow blur as he built that. And apparently he also did that within thirty seconds while I was being threatened by a Pegasus named Jackal-"

Red Cell held up a hoof, "Did you say Jackal?"

"Yes what about it?"

"Let me see those recordings."

As they walked into the security room Experiment saw one of the screens and his face grew a little pale. "Oh dear Celestia... How did they find that again?"

"Find vat?" Red replied before seeing the screen, "Oh ze kitchen? I told Archimedes where it was and both of zem were off like little lightning bolts."

"Oh this isn't good... I forgot to put the cookies and other sweets away."

"Vhy is zat bad?"

"Look at this recording and then you get your answer." He put up a small recording that had been taken during Jackal's attack.

Wait for it...

Just a little longer.

"Oh sweet Celestia..." She breathed as her eyes widened.

"Lock the door."

"On it!"

5 minutes later

"Odd," Experiment said, watching the kitchen camera, "They've been eating the cookies for a few minutes and switched to other things that are just as sugary... Why aren't they bouncing off the walls?"

"Don't know." Heavy said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Ah Red Cell. You seemed to know something about Jackal earlier. What was it?" Experiment asked, turning to a screen with the captive Pegasus. His bonds had been removed and the door was unlocked... but he was in a really deep part of the lab and that area itself was like a maze

"Hmm? Ah Jackal! Yes yes I know of him. He's under ze thumb of a stallion named Profiteur who owns a merchantry and a small sect of Canterlot. He's a highly skilled thief who makes a living stealing from the rich ponies of Canterlot. However zere is a rumor that he might be doing it to help a group of orphans."

"Wait... Profiteur of the Khamer and Profiteur Merchantry?" Experiment turned towards Red Cell.

"Aha so you do know of zem! I thought you were in the dark out here in ze frozen wastelands," Red Cell chuckled.

"Jackal said he was here on orders from them to take this lab. Whatever for I have no clue but after his little guise failed he attempted to threaten me."

"Vat? But wait how did he not get away with it?"

"You are seeming like coward," Heavy added.

"Hey!" Experiment shouted. Heavy merely shrugged and Experiment turned towards the screen, muttering something about siccing a static charged mouse on him.

"Shock was the one who stepped in. I don't know how he did it and probably wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it but he dashed forward and hit Jackal with his tail. Take a look at the footage again."

They both started watching the video recording. As it got to the point where Shock/Thinker's tail glowed white, Red Cell's hoof shot out and hit pause. "Can you enlarge zat a bit?" She asked and Experiment zoomed in around the tail and they both got a startling surprise.

"My word! Is his tail... metal?" Experiment gasped.

"Little mice Pokemon doing something now!" Heavy pointed at the kitchen screen and as the three ponies watched, the two Pikachu started bouncing in place as the sugar started taking effect.

"How much sugar did zey consume?" Red Cell asked.

"Judging by the empty containers, at least... two boxes of cookies, a tub of ice cream, three candy bars each and... oh he's paying for this one."

"Vat?"

"They drank my soda..."

"Wimp."

Research Log
Day 3

Shock appears to be growing more intelligent each day. I believe he taught himself to read our language after hearing me read off my designs when I was working yesterday, as if more proof that he was sapient was needed, and even before that I've noticed him adapting more and more to this new environment. What's more startling is the effect sugar seems to have had on his growth. Before, the only thing I had noticed was his speed going up physically as shown by the security footage. However I am now convinced his mental prowess was sped up during the sugar rush as well. The reasoning is that before, in a most likely forested biome, he never would have had access to anything here besides the outside snowy area and even then never to that extent. Yet under the effects of a sugar rush he was able to not only start moving massive amounts of plastic balls from the ball pit but also to arrange them in a fort-like position without any signs of structural weakness.

Other notes of interest include the other strange creatures that have appeared. We have a rat one, a small red fox, a blue frog(note to self: must check for any hypothermia. Don't like the shade of that blue), and a baby kangaroo. It seems, given some recognition of Shock to the baby, they might be of the same origins but different species. Assuming I can find the proper information I might be able to learn more about these intriguing creatures. One thing is for certain though. They are most likely Pokemon. No pony has seen something like them before this... Arceus apparently moved them to Equus. This is another point of research. Find Arceus and confirm these points. He has been kind enough to provide his location and seems willing, if one can call it that, to accept visitors. However if he is as powerful as he claims this might not be such a good idea.

One other sidenote, make sure to put the sugar away in properly locked containers. After what today will surely bring I do not wish to let Shock at any other sort of sugary substances.

Doctor Xavier Periment

Canterlot Slums

"Oh zis is vat I get for trusting zat useless URCHIN to do something right for once."

An angry Prench accented voice echoed out from an old building. It used to be used for business meetings but it had fallen into disuse. On the outside the letters "K & P" were just barely visible, covered in dust.

"Sir would you like me to retrieve him?" A cold voice echoed out as well. This one, under the right circumstances, could cause anything to get a shiver down their spine.

"Vat do you think?!"

"The usual price then?" The voice returned, not showing any emotion.

"Of course and I'm feeling generous today. Get me zat lab and I'll throw in a bonus! Make sure to take along ze beast. A surprise smashing should help get ze deed handed over."

A loud roar echoed from the building, spooking passerbys who hadn't heard the full conversation.

"Contract established. You'll have your money's worth." The sound of metal scraping echoed through the building as maniacal laughter soon followed.

Author's Note

Taking all bets on how much chaos will reign!

Right... the next chapter will probably be dedicated to the shenanigans of the Pikachu in full. And has anyone caught the second line of references I'm using?

Thanks to ZephyrStrife for helping pre-read the chapter again!

Chapter 4: Rusty Walrus and the Jackal

Igloo Lab
Thinker/Shock
10:04 AM

"Whoa... This feels good," Sitrus said, starting to vibrate with the effects of the sugar.

"And this is just the beginning," I replied with a little grin.

"What- holy Arceus..." He gasped. I mentally agreed. I felt my mind start to speed up at an incredible rate and judging from his expression he was feeling the same exact thing.

"This... this is amazing!" He yelled and jumped in the air, only to crash right into the ceiling and fall flat on his face. "The energy! I feel like I could take on Lord Zapdos!"

"Tone it down a notch. Come on, we've got work to do." I started to walk out of the kitchen but stopped to stare at something odd. "Is it just me... Or is the bottle floating?"

Sitrus stepped up to it and looked closely. "It's not just you... It's actually falling really slowly. You think we might have had too much?"

"Maybe. I have a couple ideas that we can actually pull off now. We're going fast enough that they can't see us anymore." I turned and walked out of the kitchen towards the lab again.

"How? They aren't able to watch us. They aren't in the room with us," he asked, following me closely. I chuckled and motioned to what Experiment had shown me the day before. The cameras scattered along the ceiling.

"If they're in a certain room they will be able to. Now come on." I outlined my plan and while he didn't get part of it at first he slowly began to chuckle as well.

"The last time you tried something remotely like this it messed with Leader's head, right?"

"Yup. With the stuff we've got access to it's going to work even better now."

Igloo Lab
Security Room

"And there they go. I can't even see them now," Experiment mumbled, watching the screens. The three ponies stared as the forms of the Pikachu turned into yellow blurs as they started moving faster than the naked eye could see.

"Now then... Let's check on Jackal. I'll be surprised if the lad isn't awake yet." He turned towards one of the other screens after prodding Heavy to keep an eye on the lab. Just in case anything went wrong, he wanted somepony to have an eye on it.

Looking at the screen showing Jackal's cell, he frowned for a second. He then grinned and started panning around the maze-like interior of the lab.

"Vat are you doing?" Red Cell asked, seeing what he was doing.

"Jackal isn't in his cell. It seems he took our bait and is now lost in the maze of the lab. If we can convince him he won't get out without our help, we might get some information from him," Experiment said, switching the cameras constantly to find the Pegasus.

They stopped on a screen as they finally caught him and... something wasn't exactly right. Experiment got a worried look on his face and Red Cell started chuckling evilly.

"My word... What is that thing chasing him? And which one of the kitchens did he steal that from?!" Experiment wondered while Red Cell laughed.

Heavy took a look over at the monitor, shrugged and looked back at the Pikachu constructing a strange device. He could just barely make out the shapes through the yellow blurs speeding through the labs. As he watched the device take shape, a small book caught his eye. He picked it up and opened it, hoping for a good read. What he got instead was Experiment’s observation notebook.

Igloo Lab
Lab maze
Five minutes earlier

Jackal opened his eyes to find himself in a small, damp room. Like the other parts of this lab it had metal plating on the walls, ceiling and floor. Adorning its interior was a small bed, a trough and a sink. In essence, a jail cell... just without the iron bars.

"Gits," he muttered as he started searching for a way out. He'd escaped from many jails before and he was certain this would be no different. But this Experiment pony. He seemed smarter than the average guard. No doubt this would not be an easy- -click-.

"..." Jackal pushed the door open, holding back laughter. "He left the jail cell unlocked. He's supposedly a clever inventor and he left the door unlocked."

With a gleeful laugh, he bolted out the door and started racing down the hallways. Every time he came to a turn he took it in his bid for freedom. Unfortunately the more he turned, the more lost he became. And he didn't even realize it.

He soon slowed to a stop, panting heavily. "Why did he design this blasted place like this? It makes no sense and it's confusing as Tar- huh?" He broke off, hearing a thump from behind him. As he turned towards the sound, he frowned. There was only a wall there. Another thump echoed and the wall dented inward. He started backing up as the wall dented in even further. With the next thump, the wall shattered and a strange walrus broke into the hallway. Unlike normal walruses it was blue with white rings around its neck. It also had what looked like white ruffles on the top of its head right above its yellow eyes and a fantastic white mustache right below them. And of course the most unsettling aspect about it was the white fangs descending from its maw.

"What?"

The walrus exclaimed joyfully, "Wal! Walrein Wal Walrein!" and Jackal noticed one last thing. The walrus was clutching a knife and had a chef hat on top of its white ruffles. With another joyous yell, the walrus began chasing him down the hallway with him screaming for his life. All thoughts of exhaustion vanishing as he ran from the hungry walrus.

"Walrein!" A loud thump caused him to look as he was running and his yelling intensified. The walrus was now encased in a ball of ice and rolling at a high speed towards him. With a flap of his wings he left the ground and began flying through the hallways in an attempt to evade it.

Security Room
Igloo Lab
Present time

"We need to get that thing isolated and fast. We can't have it chasing him into another lab but we also can't let him die. Heavy, get over here and stand by the door buttons. We won't have many shots at this before he gets to a dead end or they get to a lab," Experiment directed. "Red Cell, hop on another camera monitor and help me figure out where we can try splitting the two apart."

Heavy and Red Cell did as they were told, with Heavy dropping the journal on the page where he had been reading.

"What are buttons for, doctor?" he asked, hovering his hooves over them.

"They are for built-in security doors. If we time this right we can shut one between the walrus as well as Jackal. Time it wrong and we either shut the door behind the walrus or... in front of him."

"Ah! 53B!" Red Cell called out.

"Right. Red Cell. Heavy! On my mark." Heavy quickly moved his hoof over the button and left it about a centimeter above it.

"Not yet...." The two got closer to the door, Jackal screaming his head off all the way.

"Little closer... Little closer... Now!" Heavy slammed his hoof down on button and the door slammed shut between Jackal and the walrus. "Success!"

They turned to the monitors and Experiment slammed his hoof into his forehead. Bad idea as it sent him reeling back with a nice red bump on his forehead now. The walrus was beginning to attack the door. His tusks were strong enough to actually pierce it and Jackal began scrambling away from it. Another swipe and the door was caved halfway in. With a terrified heave he pulled himself to his hooves and started to take flight again as the walrus tore through the door, continuing the chase.

As the walrus continued the chase, it released a burst of icy wind. As it hit Jackal, he faltered and slowed down.

"Vait? Vat's going on? He's slowing down? Looks as if he is in pain as vell."

"If I had to guess -ow- it would appear that this sort of wind not only will damage the target but cause the muscles to slow down and thus slow the target down," Experiment responded, rubbing a snowball against his head. "Where are they on the map monitor?"

Red Cell checked another monitor close-by the first one and said, "Close to the lab. It seems Shock and Archimedes aren't there anymore."

"WHAT?! Where are they?"

"I don't know, quit shaking me!" Experiment let her go as he darted back to the monitors. He was starting to panic now. First the walrus breaks through his steel doors, which were going to cost a fortune to replace, and now his guests were missing.

"Found little mice!" Heavy's voice called out. He yelped as Experiment shoved him aside to look at the monitor. They were standing in front of Jackal and appeared to be talking with the walrus.

"What on Equus?" Experiment breathed. He grabbed his notebook, right out of Heavy's hooves to Heavy's dismay, and began writing in it. "It appears that the Pikachu possess some sort of capability of speaking with this strange walrus. They seemed to be able to understand the other sleeping Pokemon snores as well so it must be assumed that they can understand the other members of their species outside of the Pikachu race. With this theory it must be assumed that there is a great number of total Pokemon subspecies and that they can understand one another to a certain degree at least, the amount being unknown at this point in time. A database must be constructed so I can keep track of the amount that I come across. Image alone may not be enough if some look like the others as it seems that the subspecies might have differences between the genders judging by the tails of Shock and the other Pikachu he carried in. Statistics such as average height, weight, and hoof- no that's not exactly accurate. The Pikachu have paws and that strange walrus has flippers. Whatever they use to walk will be taken into account alongside previously noted statistics." He closed the book and set it back in Heavy's hooves, with a very happy grin gracing Heavy's face.

"It looks like their talks have broken down." Red Cell noted. The walrus started charging again but it didn't make it a foot before the two Pikachu shocked it with lightning. This in turn shocked Experiment and Red Cell.

"Now here I thought they just had a little shocking reflex to whenever their cheeks were touched but it appears they are capable of not only actively using that lightning but precisely controlling it as well!" He grabbed the notebook again from Heavy and started writing down his observations, including the part where the walrus tipped over on its side with little birds flying around its head.

Meanwhile, Shock and Archimedes turned to Jackal and began checking to see if he was alright. The monitors didn't play the sound so it was unclear what was going on. Jackal first started by panicking, then became calm. After a bit where it seemed he didn't understand what they were saying, he seemed to get the gist of it and nodded his head. In turn, both Shock and Archimedes extended their paws to Jackal who shook one with his hoof. Of course Experiment missed it but it was on recording for later. And then Heavy noticed one thing.

"Oh sweet Celestia," he whispered, zooming in a camera on his heavy weapon in the lab. After a bit of examination he glared at the screen with the Pikachu. "They touched my gun!"

The Pikachu hopped at the yell and turned to look down the hallway. Experiment and Red Cell cleaned their ears out a bit and glared at Heavy. "What? They did!"

Author's Note

You get three guesses as to what the Walrein said and the first two don't count.

Also heads up. The Heavy's gun does not fire bullets(just in case people start panicking given the bit of outcry at an AK-47 in another story). What does it really fire? Well you'll have to wait.

Thanks to not only Zephyrstrife for pre-reading but Shynight and NobleLeader6. You guys are awesome!

Chapter 5: Gotta Dance

Iceberg Lab
Main Lab

"Pika. Pikachu!"

"Nope. Still off a bit." A loud whack rang out through the lab. "Alright, try again."

"Explain to me what you're doing here, Periment," Jackal said with a bored look on his face. Experiment and Shock had been going at this for about an hour now since the issue with the walrus and Jackal was finished. Experiment set down the hammer and laughed.

"We're trying to get this translator running. It works to some extent but it doesn't give consistent and accurate translations. Shock and his friend somehow managed to get it working even better but it still needs work," he said as he examined the other device Shock and Archimedes had made. It was a three foot long rod with a bulb at one end. Dotted around the bulb were little buttons which Experiment did not want to touch. He'd had too many encounters with a nuts Diamond Dog who had gotten him to test out inventions before. Granted, he signed a waiver, but he didn't want his mane and tail burned off again.

"How is it inaccurate?"

"Put it this way. It'd give your mother and grandmother heart attacks with the inaccurate translations. Shock, can you hand me the wrench?" Experiment cranked at a bolt again while Jackal sat there with the imagery.

"And you started on this... when?" He asked.

"Same day that the Pokemon arri- Ah, nearly forgot!" He dropped the wrench on Shock's tail on accident and ran over to the computer. As he began frantically typing things in, he didn't notice a certain Pikachu muttering murderously.

Jackal leaned over to read what the translator was saying and winced. Somehow he got the feeling that wasn't a mistranslation.

"So..." Jackal began but he was interrupted again.

"Not now, I'm working on something fairly important." Experiment kept typing away and soon the image of a Pikachu took form on the screen alongside stuff like a name, height, weight and footprint... He'd grabbed them while Shock slept last night.

"What is that..."

"Well, it's an encyclopedia of Pokemon. I'm not certain of how many different types there are, so I'm constructing this. Hopefully it will come in handy for when I come across more varieties. But... there is a problem."

"What's the problem, prof?" He stepped closer, marveling at the device. "This thing looks pretty amazing to me."

"And it's a giant freaking computer. I'll have to write the stuff down that I find out and add it into this later. And in this snowy wasteland you can guess where that would be a problem."

"Right. Wet paper isn't fun. You have no idea how many times that I was sent on a mission for Profiteur and the rain ruined the message he was sending."

Experiment stopped typing abruptly and turned to Jackal. "Right. We need to talk about that. Come on." He started leading Jackal towards the kitchen. Before he shut the door he levitated Shock and Archimedes out. "No sugar for you!"

Shock glared at him again before walking off towards the room where the other Pokemon were still sleeping. They hadn't woken up at all but Red Cell said she had an idea of how she could help. He hopped up on the bed while he waited for her to start on her plan and curled up next to Teacher.

Back in the lab, Red Cell was using the electricity to charge up her self-proclaimed medigun and Heavy was watching nervously. As she unplugged it and began walking towards the sleeping area, he followed her as well. Not wanting anything to happen to the fluffy Pokemon... well mostly fluffy. The frog really wasn't.

Red Cell flipped a switch and started aiming. After a few seconds, a few tendrils of red energy extended towards the rat. As they made contact the injuries began vanishing slowly. Its skin returned to a normal color, the breathing rate sped up from its slow state, and it grew warmer. Slowly its eyes creaked open and when they fully did, its head shot up with a "Rattata?"

"So... This verks on Pokemon? That is good to know. Now zen! Let us continue with the others!" She grinned and turned on the medigun, aiming it once again.

-Zap!-

"Froa?"

-Zap!-

"Fen!"

-Zap!-

"Pika!"

-Zap!-

"Kangaaaaaa!"

The last one caused Red Cell and Heavy to draw back and Shock to jolt awake. The baby that Experiment had rescued burst into tears upon waking up. The other Pikachu that Shock had been sleeping next to stretched out and started patting the baby who visibly calmed down, looking up at her.

"Pika pi... Pikachu?"

"Kanga?"

"Heavy wish that translator was working." He muttered, scratching the back of his head with a hoof.

"Und zis is vere we cheat." Red Cell grinned, her horn glowing with a spell. In a few seconds a glowing aura surrounded the Pokemon, right as Shock got up and padded over to the baby Pokemon as well.

He glanced at Red Cell and Heavy before turning back to the baby.

"Who are you?" The baby squeaked and Heavy nearly had a heart attack from the cutes.

"My name is Thinker. You're in a safe place now."

Red Cell quickly pulled out a notepad and began scribbling notes as Shoc- Thinker began speaking with the baby. One of the things she noted was he gave off an air of authority but it wasn't oppressive, it was more gentle. Like he'd had experience dealing with babies before. Who knew? He might have, she just had no clue when.

2 hours later

"Well, I'm glad we got that all straightened out," Experiment said as he and Jackal left the kitchen, both with copious amounts of frosting on their lips.

"It's a bit better than having you suspect me... how did you manage to stockpile that many donuts without them going bad?" Jackal asked.

"Same way I hid them from Shock and Archimedes, airtight containers." He stopped as he saw Red Cell watching something... with her medigun strapped to her back.

"What's going on?" He asked and her hoof flew to her mouth in a shushing manner. She then pointed over towards the table near the translator. Experiment slowly turned his head over there and Jackal did the same. Sleeping in a little pile on the table was Shock, Archimedes and the other Pokemon they had rescued. Right in the center of the pile, where the most heat was concentrated, was the little baby Pokemon and the frog.

"When did this happen?" He whispered.

"I... I voke them up with ze medigun and the baby began crying. Sh- Thinker started talking with him for a bit and the other Pikachu helped calm him down... We waited for you and Jackal to finish talking because they'd found something out but the baby became tired and fell asleep on Thinker's back. Thinker curled up around him and the other Pokemon followed suit... Heavy had a heart attack but he'll be fine."

Experiment nudged the unconscious stallion with a hoof. "How did you understand them anyways? And who's Thinker?"

"I may have cheated a little bit. I used a translation spell when Thinker voke up to listen in on their conversation. And as for who Thinker is... It's Shock's real name."

"What did you find out?"

"Vell first," She pointed at the baby, "Zis is a baby Kangaskhan, or at least that's what Thinker called it, and normally zey do not leave their mother's pouch until they are a teenager. But zis one's mother was taken from it and it vas by sheer luck it wandered here."

"Where was it before this?"

"The Crystal Empire." Both Experiment and Red Cell turned to face Jackal, who was trying to avoid their eyes. "It was in the Crystal Empire."

"Und how do you know zis?" Red Cell asked, raising Heavy's minigun quietly.

"I was there. With Profiteur's other merc that he works with. I was off the clock, trying to get something to eat when I saw him. He went for both of them but the mother caught sight that it was extremely snowy outside of the castle town. She took a chance, set the baby down and nudged it in the direction of the exit before she turned to face him. I guess she hoped that he wouldn’t be able to track it out there."

"Wait wait wait," Experiment raised a hoof, "Where were the guards during all this?"

"When the Pokemon appeared in massive numbers, it caused a ton of confusion. I was lucky to catch him attacking the Kangaskhan but I doubt anypony else did. The guards were actually clustering near the castle because a giant blue crocodile was attacking. I also caught sight of a flaming monkey as well. The baby stumbled towards the exit and vanished into the snow... just as Sorcery Sword knocked out the Kangaskhan. After that he tied it up and hauled it to Canterlot through the train system. I doubt the guards cared. Apparently for a bit they were trying to catch the Pokemon, thinking they were just animals and threats to boot. If anything they might have thought he was doing their job for them. Nopony knows Sorcery is involved with Profiteur and most ponies don't know that Profiteur is actually corrupt besides those in his sector of the city."

"He's got a sector?" Experiment raised a hoof to his chin thoughtfully, "This could be troublesome then."

"Not officially. But the ponies in that area are all in debt to him. Through blackmail or financially. He's good at actually keeping them in debt as despicable as that is."

"And with the Pokemon arriving... Oh, this isn't good. We'll have to get Sho- er, Thinker, that'll take a bit to get used to, awake so we can ask just what Kangaskhans are capable of. But... How exactly are we going to do that? He's out like a rock." Experiment prodded Thinker experimentally and Jackal looked at the rod that the two Pikachu had created in their sugar induced rage.

"Say... what does this thing do anyways?" He reached out towards the button on the top of the rod.

Experiment turned around and his eyes shrunk to tiny dots. "No, wait! Stop!" Too late. Jackal hit the button and a yellow core appeared at the top... at the same time a catchy tune began to play causing everyone in the room, including the Pokemon it just woke up, to perk up and start bobbing their heads involuntarily at the beat.

As the music progressed their head bobbing increased until it hit full-swing... and caused them to begin dancing with Jackal still holding the rod. What was strange was that none of the ponies knew how to dance but they were still somewhat competent.

And then things got even more hectic when a gigantic purple biped with a huge mouth burst through one of the walls, did a cartwheel, and started dancing along with them. Its moves were somewhat like disco but it seemed to be going along with the beat, seeming to enjoy it and making sounds as it danced. "Lou-ou-dred! A Lou-ou-dred!"

"Turn it off!" Experiment shouted.

"I'm trying! But I can't reach the button!" Jackal tried flailing his hoof to reach the top button but missed entirely and hit another switch causing a medley to begin playing. And of course this made their dancing styles change each time the medley changed, as did the tempo to fit the new theme. What was interesting was how the Pokemon were dancing. Each time the style changed, theirs would as well. But they mimicked one another so that they were still dancing the same. The ponies weren't so lucky, the music was literally forcing them to dance the way that they normally would to this style... and it wasn't a pretty sight to say the least.

As the song finally ended, the core shrunk back to the rod and everypony, and Pokemon, fell to the ground panting heavily from the unexpected physical exercise... well, all except the purple Pokemon that was still dancing with no beat. It was dancing to the more tropical tune still it seemed. "Loudred, Lou. Loudred, Lou..." It suddenly realized that there was no music and posed with its finger pointed to the ceiling. "Loudred! Lou... Loudred!" Its eyes flickered around at the faces pointed at it. "Loudred?"

Experiment broke away from looking at the Pokemon, who he now assumed to be called Loudred, to examine the hole in the wall. "Geez, why does this always happen? Last time it was a Diamond Dog tunneling through on accident." He sniffed the air and winced. Thinker had wandered over as well. Upon smelling the stench he hopped on Experiment's back and used his mane as a way to block out the scent.

"We need to block that up soon... That's a sewer alright," He quickly sniffed again and grimaced at the Loudred.

Red Cell quickly put a clip on her nose to plug it and glared at Experiment. “Vhy do you have a sewer line right next to your lab?”

“It’s not… right next to it. I thought it was quite a distance away. Looks like he blasted straight through at least a kilometer of dirt to get here, as well as my wall.” Experiment poked his head in the new hole in the wall, careful to avoid breathing through his nose. “He also tunneled up a bit. Just how good of hearing does this thing have? Regardless, these labs are so expansive I think I tunneled through a couple sewer lines on accident while having ponies help me build it. We had go around them multiple times.”

“Ve are going to touch on vhy you need such a large lab later.” Red Cell said.

“Fine, we’ll need to give that thing a bath first.” Experiment jabbed at the Loudred who nodded in response.

Red Cell also nodded in agreement and heard a new voice speak up, “Owwww… I don’t think my teacher ever pushed P.E. on us that badly…” She looked down to see the Rattata curled up in exhaustion. As she tilted her head, he peered up and jumped a little before realizing she was the one who helped him earlier. He tried uncurling but… well he was still in pain. “T-thanks again for earlier.”

She smiled, not the smile that a doctor would give to a patient, but more the smile that a mad scientist would have. Admittedly she never had the kind smile, not even as a filly. “It vas my job,” she said, failing to see that her smile was scaring the shit out of the Rattata.

“Red Cell!” She peered over to see Experiment glaring at her.

“Eh heh. My apologies,” she turned back to the scared Rattata, “My name is Doctor Red Cell. Vat vould your name be?”

The Rattata took a deep breath, uncurling himself in the process, and looked up at her. It was slightly evident that he was trying to avoid panicking. He was suppressing some shivers. Though that could also be attributed to the fact that he just went through at least a half-hour of impromptu dancing.

“W-well. My name is Joey… but I wasn’t a Rattata when I went to sleep last night,” he said.

Experiment overheard and walked over. “Last night? Lad, it’s been a good five days since Pokemon appeared in Equus.”

He flinched back at this, the name of the world and the fact that Pokemon were all over said world, but most of all the time that he was out. “W-was I… How did-” He started to say.

Experiment cut him off by lightly petting his back, “Well, you had the misfortune to appear in the frozen wastes outside of the Crystal Empire. You weren’t the only one to be found out there. The only one that wasn’t suffering from the extreme cold was Thinker here and he didn’t come out of it unscathed either- OW!” He flailed his hoof at the Rattata that had now bitten into it and was hanging on.

Apparently Joey was high-strung, understandably enough, and the Rattata instincts that were now a part of him commanded him to chomp.

Red Cell started laughing hysterically but cut off when she noticed Heavy wasn’t nearby. She looked around and caught him near the stairs taking ai- “No Heavy! Put zat down now! Don’t you dare fire zat in here!”

Neither of them remembered to tell Joey about Arceus’ message that he missed.

Author's Note

So um... Would you guys believe that Joey had a cult following that I was unaware of? Yeah I'm not making that up.

Apologies for this taking so long. Right before I started it, college started again for me.

Thanks to Zephyrstrife, Shynight, and Nobleleader6 for pre-reading.

As always if there's something I can improve on, let me know in the comments below.

Chapter 6: Random events

Experiment’s log
Day 5

This is the first time I’m using a vocal recorder so let’s hope this works.

Where to begin… Well I suppose the obvious is in order. I must never let the Pikachu, or any Pokemon of similar build, get sugar again. Somehow they managed to find the soda and… well I had to reset three circuit breakers before I could get power back to my lab. Additional measures are required apparently.

Joey’s been a big help. We’ve been learning so much about the world he came from and some things that we never knew about these Pokemon. An example being how they can rapidly evolve in a manner of seconds when all known evidence of evolution for other creatures indicates tens of thousands of years. And not just evolution over time exists for the Pokemon. There are numerous other ways for a Pokemon to evolve. Friendship, through a stone, trading… whatever that is, and some evolve through learning moves or by stat increases. Heck some are affected by whether or not it’s day out.

He’s also assisted me with these… types I think they’re called? From what I’ve learned there’s 18 different types. Each with different defining characteristics, weaknesses, and resistances. Not only are Pokemon defined under these types, the moves they use are categorized as well. For example, Joey is a Normal type but the move he used was Dark type, at least according to him. There is so much to learn now that I feel like a little colt on his birthday! I shall be very busy for the foreseeable future. And with Joey, Thinker, and the other Pokemon helping, I feel I can make great strides.

Anyways I managed to follow the tunnel that the Loudred left behind and confirmed it was attached to a sewer. The smell wasn’t as bad as the Loudred’s stench made it seem so it makes me wonder how long he was down there. I didn’t notice any ill effects but I still let Red Cell at him regardless. He needed a bath and she is the only one who would have any slight notion of whether or not he was suffering from malnutrition. Though if he was down there the whole time and isn’t suffering from that… It makes me wonder what he was eating.

I attached a makeshift door onto the hole into the sewer so that we could block out the smell somewhat. I’ll probably need to go into the Crystal Empire either today or tomorrow to get air fresheners as well as try finding somepony to attach a sealed door instead. I don’t exactly like the fact that my Igloo entrance is easily spotted and given the fact that I’ve drawn the ire of a nasty corporation within Canterlot I’d prefer to have a different entrance. Of course I’ll have to speak to somepony about actually being able to do that… and possibly getting experiments run in there.

After all it could be a good chance to set some environmentalists minds at ease and if anything else… it’ll give me a chance to investigate something odd.

Experiment clicked the button to listen back to his recording, to make sure it worked. Satisfied he popped out the tape and set it in a drawer. He’d label it later… If he could find it amongst the other unlabeled tapes. That would be a fun day when he finally decided to give them titles. As he walked down the hallway back to the main lab, he looked through a door that was wide open

“You having fun in there?”

“Pi!”

“Why do you have a ball- OW! Hey stop throwing those at me!” Jackal yelped as another plastic ball hit him in the muzzle. He dug deep into the ball pit and started bucking plastic balls back at Thinker. It escalated into all out war from there.

Experiment quietly shut the door and walked away from the room.

“Sometimes I wonder why I put that in there, myself…” He mused as he continued back to the lab.

“I said NEIN! Zis goes over here!”

“Loudred Lou! Loudred!”

“Are you certain? Because I thought zis tendon was HERE ven ve began!” That didn’t bode well. Perhaps his thought that the coming days would be interesting was a little too accurate? He quickly hurried to the room that he heard the voices coming from and threw open the door.

“Alright Red Cell! I thought we agreed no more… operations… Uh…” He faltered as he took in the scene, “What exactly am I looking at?”

It was the exact opposite of what he’d expected. Instead of Red Cell operating on the Loudred, like he thought, there was a model of a pony on the table. Complete with fake organs and movable tendons.

“I am teaching zis Pokemon how to be a surgeon!” Red Cell gleefully replied with the Loudred nodding.

“And… are you sure you’re qualified?” Experiment said, raising one eyebrow.

“Vat? Vhy not?”

“Do I really need to remind you? What’s the one thing you’re missing right now?” The Loudred turned to her curiously at this.

“I… erm… Gotta go!” She bolted from the room and into the depths of the lab. Experiment set a hoof gently on his forehead and sighed.

“And wait five minutes for her to realize that she is going to become hopelessly lost in there.” He looked over at the curious Loudred. “Ah I guess you still want to know, huh?” He got a confirming nod from the Pokemon.

“Well… I don’t know how exactly but she lost her medical license. It’s something she hasn’t told me why yet but… I hope I can find out eventually… Wait I thought she’d have put a translator spell on you?”

The Loudred shook his head and started messing with the model again. Experiment chuckled and started out the door.

“I suppose there’s no harm in messing with it… But please don’t operate on any pony unless you actually get licensed.”

“Lou…” Loudred shot him a deadpan stare.

Experiment ignored it and finally reached the lab. “Finally… Now then time to get those letters writ-... Oh what’s that smell now?” He sniffed the air a couple times and narrowed it down to the Pokemon bedrooms. He opened the door to see what was going on… and got a stream of flame in the face, followed by a jet of water knocking him out of the room.

“What the Tartarus?!” The sound of fighting now echoed through the lab as the Fennekin and Froakie, he’d figured out their names earlier, spilled into the lab. All he could do was watch as his machines got damaged and in some cases destroyed in the ensuing mayhem.

As the dust settled, he saw the Fennekin standing triumphantly over the Froakie. “See I told you I could beat you!” She yipped. Experiment remembered that Red Cell had placed a translator over all the Pokemon that had been in the bedroom.

“Right… Can you -ow- get off of my stomach now?” The Froakie responded. Fennekin hopped off and started bouncing excitedly until she noticed Experiment’s shocked expression.

“Uh… oops?”

“My… lab. My machines… My inventions…”

“I think we broke him!”

2 Hours Later

Red Cell poked her brother with a hoof causing him to tip over with a thud.

“I vould ask vat caused zis… But…” She looked at the scorched interior of the lab and the soaked tables before turning back to the anxious Pokemon, “I think it vould be obvious. But... How on Equus could you little ones do such damage?”

Fennekin shot her a deadpan stare, then spat a flame onto the ground while Froakie burped out water.

“You vield ze power of ze elements? Most intriguing… Regardless ve really should try to fix zis. Pity I have no clue how to do zis.” She raised a hoof to her chin.

“Aha!” Her hoof shot into the air in glee, “I have an old colleague. He may be a bit hard to understand and he might have a little bit of a grudge against me, but he is an amazing mechanic. I just hope he doesn’t attack me on sight.”

“What did you do Miss Cell?” Fennekin asked timidly. All the Pokemon had seen her… nuts side already, despite them only being awake for a day.

“Vell… Story for another time perhaps? Anyvays I vill need to head out for a little bit to go fetch them. If mein brüder vakes up, tell him I went to see a pony by ze name of Twisted Gear.”

Froakie and Fennekin nodded quickly and Red Cell teleported out. She soon reappeared and went into the monitor room. A loud yelp rang out and Red Cell dragged out Heavy towards their equipment. Without a word she attached the minigun to Heavy and attached her medigun to herself.

“Archimedes!” She called out and Sitrus ran into the room. “Ve need to run an errand and I vould very much like for you to come with.”

“Yes ma’am.” He hopped onto her back as Thinker walked into the room.

He took in what was going on quickly. Experiment on the ground, shellshocked Fennekin and Froakie, Red Cell and Heavy gearing up for a fight. “Nope, not even asking.” And walked right back into the room where he and Teacher had been catching up.

Red Cell chuckled a little and teleported out of there.

“So… That happened,” Fennekin said. She looked at Froakie and grinned. “Round two?”

“Bring it on!” Froakie hopped back and charged at Fennekin.

Somewhere in Las Pegasus

“Sir, Ah don’t see your issue. Ah fixed your heater like you asked and added in a free modification to make it more efficient. Your house now heats up at twice the speed it used to and with no extra energy or money cost.”

“You say that but then why did my energy bill double after you did this?”

“Sir… That may have to do with the electric telescope you used to peek in windows.Specifically at mares bathing? I also gave it a little zoom boost for you.”

“I- Wait what? I-I don’t know what you’re speaking about.”

“Sir, Ah am not the one at fault here regardless. Please leave. Now.”

“I will not-” A click echoed through the office. A small machine swiveled up from the floor and pointed itself at the arguing stallion, finishing its movements with a beep.

“Ah will only ask you once more. Leave please.”

“Th-this isn’t over!” He fled with his tail between his legs and the pony behind the desk propped his back legs on said desk.

“Sometimes they get unruly. Ah suppose that is bound to happen. ‘Specially in this city. Aint that right Boom?” He popped the lid off of a beer and took a sip from it as a second stallion in the room began to laugh. This second one was red in fur color but had a brown mane and an eyepatch over his left eye. His cutie mark was that of a bomb so it was fairly obvious what his specialty was.

“Ye got that right Gear! Maybe next time ye ought to let me do the negotiating as well! Me and ol scrumpy could do a bit of good work eh?”

The first pony sighed and tilted his sunglasses off of his eyes. He pointed a blue hoof at Boom. “Ah’ll only do that if I want the building demolished. Ah still remember the last time you decided to do the negotiations and Ah’m still paying that off.”

“Oh keep yer hard hat on. It was merely a suggestion lad!”

Both of them turned towards the front of the office as the sound of a teleport spell echoed through it. Given that most ponies used the doors, it was safe for them to assume they either had an important guest who remained anonymous or an old ‘friend’ coming to visit. Twisted Gear hoped it was the former.

“Quiet, Boom. Ah think we have a customer.” Gear looked back towards the entrance and lowered his hooves off his desk..

“Vell I vouldn’t say zat.” A familiar pink face walked into the light with a brown pony following her. Twisted Gear cursed inwardly.

“Red Cell. Ah didn’t think you’d ever show your face around here again.” Gear colored his voice with a hint of displeasure.

“I vouldn’t be here if I had any other choice. It looks like I require your assistance.”

“Yeah well you can just git on out of here. Ah got no help for you today.”

“Oh don’t be like zat. Surely you and I can come to some sort of arrangement, ja?” She grinned at him, giving her own little sadistic side the barest of glimpses.

“Ye know lass, I don’t think this is gonna end well for ya!” Boom hopped off of his seat and walked over to stand next to Gear’s desk, fetching his own launcher from behind it alongside a reinforced wooden shield.

“Ah Big Boom! It has been so long since I saw you last. I see ze tail and mane regrew for you very nicely!” She kept up with her grin.

“Ah ye noticed?” He turned away with a barely visible redness on his already red face.

“Enough! Red Cell, take yer overgrown rodent and your low IQ coltfriend and ge-” He broke off as Sitru- I mean, Archimedes began to spark with rage.

“He did not!” Heavy covered his mouth with a fake gasp.

“Und now you did it… Zis von’t end vell. Ah vell let’s go ze whole way. Heavy!” Heavy looked in her direction, with his minigun spinning up. “Charge.”

Heavy grinned, lifted his weapon and started charging at Twisted Gear and Big Boom. Archimedes hopped on his back yelling along with Heavy.

“Zis might be a bad time to mention but… Zey don’t like being called animals.”

Heavy let loose a stream of magic bullets and Twisted Gear dived out of the way. Heavy’s minigun never fired real bullets. It got too expensive and after three times in prison for accidental killing, they decided to switch to magic bullets formed from the Earth Pony magic in Heavy’s own body. These couldn’t actually penetrate any skin but it would leave a nasty bruise that could also knock out a pony. And given enough shots it still could kill. It just meant no more unintentional deaths. Coincidentally enough, Twisted Gear and Experiment had worked together to create the system used to make said magic bullets. Any other pony that used weapons made by Twisted Gear had this same restriction imposed on them. Scarily enough they only did that to avoid legal troubles. They really had no troubles with killing which made them disturbing amongst other ponies.

“So… ready to give us a hand Gear? Or maybe I should just let zem continue attacking you.”

“Ah’m not giving up yet! You think you’re the only one with a trick up her sleeve?” He called from the shadows he had dived into.

“Oh so you have a new toy?”

A lot of metal clanking answered her as a gigantic arachnoid machine clanked into view, with Twisted Gear in the pilot seat. “Ah’m not the Canterlot wizpony for nothing! Ah’ll teach you to poke your muzzle in my business! Come on!” He leveled one of the turrets on the machine down towards them, hit a button which caused a large metal tail to swing into view, and silently thanked Celestia that he’d installed the soundproof and extremely durable plating just last month. Otherwise he’d probably have been arrested numerous times since then for noise complaints… and probably property destruction.

Heavy stood back beside Red Cell, spinning up his minigun once more. Red Cell focused her Medigun beam on Heavy. And Archimedes started charging a lot of electricity, to the point where the ponies in the room got a bit poofy from electricity in the air.

As all of them stared at the machine Red Cell voiced a single thought, “How ze buck did zat fit in here?”

“Heavy not know! But is coward killing time! Ahahahaha!”

Author's Note

This took... longer than I expected.

I did decide against releasing the bloopers now but they will be on the way eventually.

Thanks to Goggari, Trolleroids, and Votederpycausemuffins for helping me pre-read this!

Chapter 7: Begin Reassembly

Day 6 - Twisted Gear’s surprisingly insulated office

Red Cell dodged out of the volley of magic bullets, keeping her healing beam trained on Heavy at all times. Heavy for his part was returning fire and Archimedes was nowhere to be found.

“Ah told you!” Gear shouted as a few magic bullets pinged off of the machines shell, “I’m not the Canterlot wizpony for nothing! You think I’d really forget the only ponies that truly pissed me off? I made this especially to deal with you all when you came around!” He hit a control and the tail swung down, barely missing Heavy.

“Oi! What Heavy do to you?” He shouted as he shot another stream of magic bullets at the machine, searching for a weak spot.

“Ya darn near killed me for touching your gun!”

“Nopony touch Sasha!”

“I had to touch it to get that damned upgrade in so we all wouldn’t go to jail!”

“Bah! Was not first time in jail! Was not last!” Heavy looked back at Red Cell who gave him a wink. With a small shudder he turned back towards the machine. “Doctor?”

“Yes?”

“Are you sure this will work?” He asked timidly, a stark contrast to his boisterous nature.

A sadistic smile split Red Cell’s face as she flipped a switch. “I have no idea!”

Both Red Cell and Heavy shone with a brilliant red light and the tail swung down again, landing on Heavy’s head.

“Gotcha! Pesky rat!” Twisted Gear shouted in glee. But his newfound happiness was replaced by fear as he saw the tail flying back at the machine, sending it smashing into a wall. He heard Heavy’s laughter and saw the bullets flying at the machine, fired from a now glowing, lustrous, red form with yellow eyes. It matched Heavy's proportions but now resembled more a red demon. To add to his horror, the bullets now tore through it like paper. But just when all seemed lost for him, the glow vanished and the bullets bounced uselessly off of it again.

He wiped his brow in relief, he could still win this. He hit the controls and the machine pulled itself out of the wall and with a quick flick, the tail sent Heavy into the wall. A yellow blur shot off of Heavy's back and started darting around. Despite the efforts of the machine, the blur dodged each tail and claw strike making its way closer and closer before another hit nearly crushed it. The impact just sent it flying to the side from the wind. As he turned his attentions back to the main fight... He failed to notice a lance of lightning boring a hole into the side of the machine.

As Archimedes climbed in, he took the time to send small overdoses of power to the different nodes, causing different effects. Like a claw starting to spin then shutting off, bullets randomly firing from a turret, and his personal favorite when he found out, the machine started dancing for a few seconds and stopped. During this time, Twisted Gear had no idea what was going on. This was quickly rectified when he felt a small tap on his shoulder and heard quick steps backward.

He turned around and saw Archimedes, sitting right behind him… right next to the power generator and the fake self-destruct button. Archimedes raised a paw over the power generator and another over the button, then quickly put both over the generator and shot a massive amount of electricity into it with the cheekiest grin possible. “Oh horseapples…”

Outside the machine Heavy and Red Cell were watching carefully as the machine sparked, smoked, and right before it exploded Archimedes dove out of the front onto Red Cell’s back.

“Pity… I would’ve liked to get his assistance… Heavy do you know any other inventors?” Red Cell said, not at all upset.

“Nyet! Gear was only one!” Heavy was upset, having considered Twisted Gear an actual friend before this.

“Back to square one zen…”

Both Heavy and Red Cell turned around to leave, stopping only to stare at Big Boom.

“Boom?”

“Yes?”

“Were you just sitting there the entire time?”

Big Boom smiled amiably at them over his bucket of popcorn. “Of course lass! Best show in a long time! And it’s not over yet!” He pointed with a hoof towards the trembling wreckage.

“You… You think you’ve won? No way… I’m just getting started!” Twisted Gear pulled himself free from the wreckage, glaring at Red Cell and Heavy. He cracked his neck, pulled a small button from the scrap metal and grinned at them.

“You think that was my only trick? You really think I’d stop at just one? No. You haven’t won! Not by a long shot!” He slammed his hoof onto the button and the floor under him sank, depositing him into a room filled with even more machines.

“Somepony’s been busy,” Red Cell muttered, flipping the switch on again for the medigun. Heavy began spinning up his minigun and Archimedes began using Charge.

As they moved forward, a platform rose revealing a castle-like machine. It was gold for the most part with the towers, which were spinning, having green where the windows would be. It stood on four legs with a glowing red eye in the center. As the platform finished rising, the eye gave an ominous glow.

“Well I’ll be a scotspony’s uncle. He actually did it,” Boom said, taking a swig of his bottle.

“Did… vat?” Red Cell asked, preparing her medibeam.

“The lad called it Project Manipulator. Said something about it being his best combat bot ever. He was gonna use it for something he called Project Alexander but the guard shut him down before that blasted out of the concept stage.” He took another swig, a bite of popcorn, and pulled out his weapon.

“Well lass, lad, rodent- OW-” He got a slight zap for that one, “-looks like you’ll be needin’ me help! Let’s take this thing down!” He tossed his bottle behind him and laughed maniacally.

Meanwhile - The Lab

“Map?”

“Check.”

“Extra gear?”

“Check.”

“Thinker is an idiot?”

“Che- Hey!”

“Alright, what are you two up to now?” Jackal called out, looking up from the book he’d picked out from the living room.

Experiment and Thinker peered over from a table filled with assorted items, finally catching sight of Jackal.

“Well, Experiment says that his sister is trying to reunite some team and there’s another apparently here in the lab,” Thinker said.

“Team?” Jackal asked.

“My sister was a part of a now disbanded mercenary group which disbanded upon the death of one of their members,” Experiment said, not looking up from his map. “Damn, what was I thinking making it this labyrinthian… Gotta remember. Two left turns, go right, straight for a while…”

“Er… what?” Jackal tilted his head.

“Experiment? Should I explain this?” Thinker turned to him.

“Go ahead. Creating this plan is going to take a bit.”

“Alright… Can I have a cookie?”

“No.”

Thinker sighed and turned towards Jackal. “As you’ve probably noticed, Red Cell and Heavy take up two different roles that work well together.”

Jackal nodded. “Yeah. Heavy would be a… tank right? And Red Cell’s obviously the medic.”

“Precisely. Now what if I were to tell you that they actually did fit their roles in a much larger team?”

Jackal took the time to think about it, grabbing Thinker’s tail when he tried to sneak past.

“Yeah you get the idea,” Thinker grumbled, seeing Jackal’s pale face. “According to Experiment, the pony she went to see was a member of that team as well. He created the tech they use… most of it. The medi-gun was still her own design and Experiment helped her build it.”

“Wait how did he-”

“She threatened to geld him.”

Jackal instinctively covered himself at that.

“There’s also four more members for them to find. One of them goes by the name of Big Boom. He runs a slightly successful demolition company but… given the fact that he’s perpetually drunk, nopony trusts him.”

“He actually makes his explosives while drunk and he does it extremely well!” Experiment called over, writing down a couple things.

“That’s even scarier,” Jackal muttered, "And who else?"

“Then there’s Twisted Gear. He was the mechanic and apparently their weaponry was built with his help-”

“And my own!” Experiment interjected.

“He was the one who would likely bear the most ire towards them,” Thinker continued, sending a glare towards Experiment, “Most of his gear was destroyed by the guard when they were caught as the majority of the team tried to claim they wouldn’t be able to do anything without it… All except him who tried to just take the normal sentence so he wouldn’t lose it. He spent years building it apparently.”

Jackal winced, “So… what should we put on their tombstone then?”

“I wouldn’t underestimate them,” Experiment walked over, with his bags bursting with gear, “Who do you think destroyed them originally? With the majority of the stuff fighting back in fact. Gear apparently programmed self-preservation protocols into them. Despite everything he’s a savant mechanic. Pity his reputation wound up destroyed after that.”

"After that there's Camo. Once again, no one really knows his real name but him and that's because he managed to hide his face extremely well. He's an earth pony but one with a knack for disguising himself. In fact it's completely capable that he's in any town at any point and no one would know it. In the team, he was simply called Spy," Experiment continued.

Thinker walked over and hopped onto Experiment’s back, curling up to nap in the process.

“Uh… Where are you guys going?” Jackal asked.

“One of their team is here. He goes by the name of Sarge though that isn’t his real one. In fact his real one hasn’t been used for so long that he’s forgotten it,” Experiment said, “During the aftermath of Fleet Hoof’s unfortunate demise-”

“Fleet Hoof?” Jackal interjected.

“Their scout. Unfortunate incident that caused the team’s disbanding and the imprisonment of the member who caused it… Who is also batshit insane. I’ll let Red Cell tell the whole story. She… She’s the one who would be better suited,” He broke off a little there, but quickly shook himself out of it and continued on.

“In any case, during the aftermath, he asked me and Gear to create a training room for him. One that was self-sufficient and was locked so that he could only be disturbed if he was needed. We were confused and did so but the instant we did and confirmed it was ready… He locked himself in there and hasn’t been seen for three years. The only reason I know he’s still alive is because his combat record on the system keeps updating. His only solace from his friend’s death was to immerse himself in combat it seems. Well… He’s needed now so I can only hope he’s in his right mind.”

“Let’s get goin’ then!” Jackal walked over to Experiment.

“You’re coming with?”

“Why wouldn’t I? Given what you’re saying you’ll probably need that extra hand otherwise you might get killed!” Jackal chuckled.

“That… is actually very possible. He and Boom are the only ones that couldn’t have their weapons altered to make them safer to the populace,” Experiment mused.

“Wait I was kidding. You’re saying he could actually kill us?” Jackal began panicking.

“Grab a blast shield from the room prior to the training room, you’ll need it.” With that, Experiment began walking down the lab halls, humming quietly to himself.

"I will not ask again," A slightly prench accented voice said, "Where is Red Cell."

"I'm telling you! I don't know! She left town a few days ago and no one's seen her since!" A panicked voice answered.

"Good colt. Here's a candy."

"Huh?"

"And a boot to the head." -thump!... thud-

"It seems my colleague is actually fulfilling her promise. Well little one. It looks like we shall have to track her down before we can find your friend that she has."

"Pika!"

"Ah don't worry. She wouldn't have killed him... Merely opened him up to see what makes him tick."

Author's Note

I'm back baby... Did you miss me?

For a while I had a bit of... well lack of motivation is the right term for it. I couldn't decide where I wanted to take this and Glitch's review had given me quite a bit to think about. I've finally decided and while it's not going to be immediately obvious there is now an endgame goal. Now then. Pre-readers. I have none. If anyone catches errors in here I would be happy if you pointed them out so I can edit them.

Secondly. Once the team is fully assembled there will be a MASSIVE time skip. As it stands I cannot catch up to the current timeline without one yet I don't wish to do a time skip without the full team there. So for those of you who read this you have until that point to vote on whether or not I should include pieces of the time during the time skip in one chapter or just go to that new point at that time. Also at that time, they will begin preparations of travel. Now I don't want to interfere with anyone's story on accident so unless there is a crossover, I will be making sure to stay out of the other stories ways.

For those who were still reading this and favoriting this... Thank you. Despite the fact that this was on hiatus and not likely to return soon you still kept reading. As someone who normally has a self-deprecation problem you brightened my day every time I looked up and saw that someone had added it to a bookshelf. If it weren't for you all, this chapter probably wouldn't have come for another month.

As a last notice, because I know I suck at descriptions... If you're truly curious as to what the mech looks like, take a peek