A New World, A New War

Suddenly there was a change.

"Unh... My... Ow..." Was all I managed to get out before falling unconscious again. Several hours might have passed before I became aware of a wet nose nudging me.

"Are you alright?" I was too in pain to reply. "Come on, Sass. Carry him. We are taking him with us." My brain suddenly froze. Sass? Did I know a Sass? It seemed familiar, alright.

"Fine." Came a gruff response. That really sounded like... Sass!

"S... Sa... It... It's me..." And then everything went black again.

When I came to, again, I wondered what I was laying on that was so soft. And bumpy. And blue. And seemed remarkably like an Arcanine. Did I know a blue Arcanine? Were Arcanines even supposed to be blue? I feel like I should know who this is.

"Are you awake back there?" Asked a soft voice laced with a light Scottish accent. "You've been out for quite a while. You must have taken quite a beating."

Did I? I think the last thing I remember is falling... Oh! I fell off the Celestial Tower, after I heard that voice and went all woozy. And then I ended up here... in this... place? Everything is still blurry, though there is a lot of green.

"...Where... Am I?" I managed to mutter.

"I... do not know, my friend. Do not worry, I'm sure we will find our way, sooner or later. Right, Sass?" Came the reply.

I was suddenly alerted to a familiar Lucario walking proudly next to us.

"Sass..." I said, actually feeling happy, despite the pain.

"Of course it's me! Who else would it be?" Came the sassy reply. 'Yep, that's Sass, alright.'

Suddenly another thought occurred to me. "How... can I understand you?" I asked, baffled.

"You tell me, little Riolu. Cooper." I froze. That name... I think it was... is... my name. I took a look at myself through groggy, blurry eyes. I couldn't see very well, but what I did see was not peach. It was... blue.

"Wh..."

I once again awoke, this time less comfortably. I think I was in what looked like an old medieval dungeon. I heard what sounded like... hoofsteps. I rubbed the last bit of blurriness out of my eyes. I expected a ponyta to come into view, but apparently not. No, what did appear was some failed experiment to merge a zubat and a rapidash together.

And then it spoke, presumably to me. "Creature. What is going to happen is very simple. I am going to ask you questions, and you are going to answer them. In plain Equuish. Understand? Plain. Equuish. You are not going to repeat the same word over and over." He... it leaned in close. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes? Ri?" I answered, with uncertainty. It just groaned, and muttered something that sounded like 'stupid creatures...'

This left me with some time to think. Just what had happened while I was out? Why am I a Riolu? Who was that blue Arcanine? How had Sass known my name? What is even going on here?

Minutes later, the same... thing came back, this time with a frightened looking Blitzle... thing on a collar and leash, the same type you'd find on a slave, and threw her in the cell with me. "This lovely lady here is going to spend the next hour with you, and you two are going to find a way to communicate. And if you haven't? I'm just going to leave it hanging there." The thing... the monster... slammed the cell door and walked away, chuckling to itself.

"Please don't rape me..." Blitzle-Thing said, in a quiet voice, curling up in a corner. From what I could judge, it was definately female. Pretty young, too.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Lo ri ril lourio." I said, in a soft tone. From her scared, yet bewildered expression, I guessed she probably didn't understand me. This was going to be a long hour.

After about half an hour of me trying to communicate, I started to smell burning metal and hear screams. That normally wasn't good. From what I could see through my little window, which was significantly harder when you are only about seventy centimetres tall, that blue Arcanine from before was rampaging through the 'town', though it was more like a fortified prison island.

As if sensing my confusion, and confusing my confusion for dismay, the Blitzle explained. "We're in Thestralcatraz, a big detention centre off the south coast of Thestralia. Once you're here, the only way out is to die, or to be sold off as a slave. The warden, Nightwing, is a corrupt, 'old world', racist bigot who despises anything not Thestral. And they all despise him back." I winced, this did not sound like a place I wanted to be. The Blitzle carried on. "If you misbehave, you get sent to the barracks. And then they bind you up... and... and...  p-pass you around to the guards as a... a…" While my mind went to dirty places I motioned for her to stop. It was obviously a painful memory, and I never push for memories. Not that I could right now, being separated by a language barrier and all.

I shook my head, this was no time to get sidetracked. The Blitzle's story just left me with more questions than answers. Where is Thestralia? What is a Thestral? How did I get locked up in a prison? Who is that blue Arcanine? Why could this Blitzle not understand Pokésh? Why can I not remember anything? It... it's too much.

Suddenly the guard from before burst in to our cell and looked at me. "You're not worth getting killed over." He snapped his hoof (How does that even work?) and I was out like a light.

The land of dreams is a wondrous place. Unfortunately, my head was currently experiencing a nightmare. If there was one thing I hated, and I mean truly hated, it was officers. Guards. Fucking Rangers. People who think they're better than everyone because they have the permission to do so. Call me an anarchist, but I hate democracy.

But more than that I hated it when they caught me. Normally I'd have Hoth to use Earthquake, or Spectre to use Night Shade, but this time was different. I was alone, and that's why it was a nightmare.

So colour me surprised when the entire crime scene burst into smoke and this blue, winged Rapidash with the night sky leaking out of its hair walked calmly toward me with a disapproving look on its face.

"'Tis not right to run from the law." She stated.

"Tch. Some 'law' they have." I retorted.

She frowned. "And what, pray tell, is wrong with the law 'they' have?" She asked, questioningly.

"What isn't wrong? Some of the crimes I'll admit to. Underage drinking, assault, but some others are just Tauroshit."

"Wha-"

I cut her off. "They made it illegal to love. Illegal. To. Love. If they catch you, they won't stop chasing you. They'll destroy everything you hold dear just to break up your 'abusive' Poképhiliac relationship."

"Who-"

I cut her off again. "So, no. I'm not turning myself in. I'll keep running until they get tired."

Suddenly I was wrapped up in a soft hug. "I am so sorry you had to suffer through such things."

Rapidash wings are strong. I couldn't break that hug even if I used Teleport. Which I can't. "Don't be."

I stopped to get a good look at her. "What are you, anyway?"

She looked at me as though I'd just asked who she was.

"You've... never seen an Alicorn before?" I shook my head simply. She looked bewildered, to say the least.

"I am Princess Luna of Equestria. I watch over my subject's dreams and ensure there are no nightmares."

Princess? Luna? Equestria? What I wouldn't do for someone to answer my questions.

"I've never heard of an 'Equestria' region before." Now she looked at me as if I'd just said I had no idea where I am.

"It..." She froze. "Someone is trying to wake you up. We will have to resume this at another time. Sweet dreams… By the way, his name is In..." She yelled over the noise, as she was forcibly thrown out of my dream and I was forcibly woken up, in a violent coughing fit.

"My friend, are you alright?" Said a voice that I really think I should know.

"Who..." I trailed off, suddenly taking in my surroundings. I was in what looked like a hut in the middle of a rainforest. Another Blitzle looking thing entered through the open doorway.

"Drink this." He said, handing me a glowing purple potion, that looked exactly like a Potion.

It tasted... slightly bitter, almost like a Sitrus Berry. I could feel my insides shifting, and my vocal chords tingling, and suddenly it felt like I could speak a whole new language.

"How do you feel?" He asked, slightly hopeful.

"Better." I said, and immediately the Blitzle started dancing with joy.

"It works! I can understand you! Now your turn, tiger." He said, turning toward the Arcanine, who downed it without question.

"Now, I want to ask you some questions." I said. "You're not a normal Blitzle, so what are you, really?"

He looked at me as though I'd just asked what species he was.

"I'm... a zebra?" I noted it in my mind.

"And what of those other creatures? Those zubat-ponytas?"

"All I got was 'bat-pony'. They're Thestrals, and they own this island. Not all of them are as bad as Nightwing, before you go killing any you see." He almost looked a bit sick at that.

I nodded, before continuing. "Who are you, anyway?"

"My name's Xephyr, the tribe's alchemist and the chief's brother. Um... Who, or what, are you?" Asked Xephyr.

I racked my amnesia riddled brain for an answer, trying to remember what Riolu's Pokédex entry was.

Luckily, the Arcanine spoke up for me. "He is a Riolu, the pre-evolution of Lucario. I am an Arcanine, the evolved form of Growlithe. We are both what is known as 'Pokémon'."

Xephyr was scribbling furiously on a notepad he procured out of nowhere, and suddenly he stopped and looked at us skeptically. "Did you say 'evolve'?"

The Arcanine nodded, with a look of patience evident on his face.

"That's a process that takes thousands of years! How-"

"I do not know how it works here, but in our world it takes a matter of seconds to evolve." The Arcanine stated, cutting Xephyr off.

But all I heard was 'our world' before I fainted, again.