A New World, Same Shadows

Chapter 3: Vs. Tyranitar

Selene and the ashen unicorn stared each other down, watching as each group shifted their positions to mirror each other. Carlos and Manectric stood to Selene's side while the two pegasi mirrored them. Phoebe and the pony stallion stood behind Selene and the ashen unicorn respectively. "Since it appears you can communicate with us, let's start with introductions." the ashen unicorn stated as he stepped forward to the group of Pokémon "My name is Vigilant Specter, officer of the Equestria Royal Guard," he said motioning to himself with a forehoof. Vigilant then motioned to the twin pegasi to his side "to my left is Typhoon Eye, weather pony of Kouma and his sister Hurricane Eye."

"Hey." the aqua pegasus said tersely. He had his wings tucked tightly to his side and his storm cloud-like mane bristled just with him looking at the Pokémon. The brand on Typhoon Eye's flank looked like a swirling cyclone of clouds with a hole in the center.

"Was'sup!" the lime-green pegasus added happily. Unlike her brother, she waved at them whole-heartedly, smiling all the while. Her brand looked like her brothers except the cyclone was spinning in the opposite direction.

Vigilant then moved to the side, revealing the orange and silver pony who merely stared at them with contempt "And behind me is Doctrine, Mayor of Kouma." Vigilant introduced. Mayor Doctrine only responded with a scoff as he turned away from the group, revealing the unrolled piece of parchment with unintelligible scribbles on it as his brand. It was clear to the Pokémon that he wanted nothing to do with them. Sighing, Vigilant retuned his attention to the Pokémon "That's us, now it's your turn."

"Right." Selene replied as she began to mirror Vigilant and introduce her friend, and the Rangers she supposed "My name is Selene, partner to the Pokémon Trainer James Kirikaze, I'm what's known as a Gardevoir." she said via telepathy, moving on to the Dusknoir staring off into space, nodding occasionally "This is Phoebe, member of the Hoenn Elite Four, and currently in the body of a Dusknoir."

Hearing her name, Phoebe snapped her attention back to the group and waved one of her hands "Dusk..."

"She says 'hi' by the way." Selene translated before moving on "He is Pokemon Ranger Carlos, and a Darmanitan. The other one is his partner Manectric." the two ranger Pokémon nodded, not happy they found themselves in. Having the Pokémon of a criminal acting as a liaison was a huge blow to their pride "Collectively we are a species known as a Pokemon." Selene finished "So, who wants to answer the first question, you or us?"

"How about you." Vigilant Specter said "First off, where's this 'Hoenn' you mentioned? I've never heard of it before."

"We could say the same about your 'Equestria'." Selene replied "Have you heard of Sinnoh? What about Kanto? Kalos? Unova? ...Almia?" Selene listed off, making the Darmanitan clench his fist at the last one.

"There's nowhere on Equus called any of those."

"Equus? You mean Earth right? You know, the planet were currently standing on." Selene corrected "...Right?"

"This planet is called Equus, not Earth!" Doctrine interjected behind the royal guard.

Three of the four Pokémon stared at the ponies wide-eyed and slack-jawed, the odd one out was still staring away from the group, nodding occasionally. Selene exchanged glances with the others, to make sure she didn't mishear something. Phoebe noticed her stare and looked back at her inquisitively, Carlos was still looking at the ponies with wide-eyes and his mouth almost literally hitting the ground, and Manectric was not much better.

'James is going to freak when he hears this.' Selene thought to herself as she came to terms with what the implications of what they just said were. Sensing the discomfort growing from the ponies, she regained her composure "I think it's safe to say we're not from this planet, so saying where Hoenn is would be moot."

"Another world? Really?" Vigilant said as he gave Selene a disbelieving stare. When she nodded in affirmation he let out a disappointed sigh "Okay, new question; how are you speaking to us in our heads?"

"I'm using telepathy. It's a specialty of Psychic types like me." Selene said matter of factly.

"Telewha-?"

"Mind reading sis... mind reading." Typhoon Eye said evenly.

Vigilant raised a forehoof to his head "so your projecting your thoughts into our heads in a way that we would understand." he questioned Selene who replied with a nod "Why? You clearly understand our language."

"Because while I may know the language, that doesn't mean I can speak it." Selene answered "Also, Phoebe and Carlos used to be able to speak the way you do." she then once again shifted to the side revealing Phoebe staring off into space "Let's see what they have to say. Phoebe? Carlos?"

"Dusk~ dusknoir! (Heya guys!)" Phoebe said once again to the group.

"Darmanitan...(I feel like I'm being used...)" Carlos mumbled.

"Gar. (You are.)" Selene said reassuringly before returning to her mental link "See? Now it my turn; Can we enter the estate?"

"Are you crazy!? Do you not see the ferocious sandstorm happening in there?" Doctrine chided.

Slowly but surely, Selene was starting to dislike that pony. Still, there was work to be done and whatever James was facing she was certain that he would need help. Taking a breath to calm down she continued on, suppressing the urge to make a retort "the sandstorm is most likely being caused by some type of Pokémon, most likely scared or worried about something beyond the point of rational thought." she stated, earning a surprised reaction from each of the ponies. The pegasi 'it's definitely pegasi' in particular looked the most surprised.

"Pokémon can control the weather too!?" Hurricane Eye asked, flying in front of Selene's face with an excited grin "So cool!"

"Yeah, fantastic..." Her brother muttered.

Recovering from the invasion of personal space by something other than James, Selene gently pushed Hurricane Eye away from her face with Psychic before clearing her throat "I also have reason to believe that one of you ponies has already entered it in an attempt to rescue her grandfather. Red coat, short black mane, ring any bells?"

"Ringo." they all said in a deadpan tone.

Seeing the confused look on Selene, as well as the surprised look on the two rangers and the...aloof expression of the flowery one, 'ok, does that one even care about what was going on around her?' Vigilant thought, going off on a tangent. Deciding to ignore it, he looked back to the (mostly) confused Pokémon "Ringo Apple, Granddaughter of Fuji Apple, the owner of this apple orchard."

"That's Fuji Apple the Fourth, enforcer!" an old male voice interrupted. The voice belonged to a tan pony with no wings or horn balancing a wooden plate with five ceramic teacups on his back. Like the mayor, Fuji had a greying mane and tail. Unlike the mayor, Fuji's face had wrinkles and his legs were much thinner than the rest of them, showing how much older than the rest of the ponies here. His brand was that of a group of apple trees with yellowish-red apples on it.

"Enforcer?"

"Long story..." Vigilant sighed, clearly not interested in telling said story.

"Sorry 'bout the interruption. Mah names Fuji Apple the Fourth, named after mah great grandpappy. Now, what's this about mah granddaughter?"

"I think she's in this sandstorm looking for whatever may have caused it, and you..." Selene answered "On behalf of the Pokémon here I am asking that-"

Before she could say anymore everyone there heard the rumble of the earth followed shortly after by the physical shaking of the ground beneath them. Hurricane Eye and Typhoon Eye flew up into the air and Phoebe blinked her cyclopean eye out of her trance and looked around, finally noticing the world was shaking. Doctrine and Vigilant braced themselves and tried to keep themselves up, only to fall to the ground shortly after. Carlos and Manectric tried to do the same but didn't last much longer while Selene knelt down on one knee and rode out the shakes. All the group could hear was the rumbling of the ground around them and the breaking of tiles falling from the gate until the shakes eventually stopped.

"Consarn it...those were my good teacups too." Fuji complained as the teacups he had been balancing on his back had fallen to the ground and shattered, spilling the tea as well. Amazingly though the old stallion had remained standing throughout the whole thing.

"Was that an earthquake?" Hurricane Eye asked, looking around at the damage from the air.

Aside from Fuji's teacups, a few tiles on the roof of the gate had fallen off, the stone foundation of the surrounding wall had been shook loose in some places and the cobblestone pathway leading to the main house had been sundered, and that was only the damage that could be seen from outside the sandstorm. No one knew what the inside of the house looked like now.

But Selene wasn't focused on that right now, she was focused on the whisper she heard in her head. A whisper that belonged to the mare she and James had been following. For the first time since she ran off, the mare, Ringo was finally able to make a coherent thought. Selene had been searching constantly for Ringo's thoughts so that when she had to find her it wouldn't take long to find her. But now that she finally has a mental link with Ringo, her blood ran cold at the thought currently going through her head.

'I'm...going...to die here...aren't I...'

Throwing aside all forms of diplomacy, Selene began making her way towards the ponies, and the gate they were standing in front of "Change of plans! Ringo is in danger! We're entering the sandstorm now whether you like it or not!" she said to everyone present, not just the ponies. Upon hearing that, Carlos and Phoebe snapped to attention and followed suit, Manectric shadowing his partner. The two pegasi then followed suit, leaving Vigilant, Doctrine, and Fuji standing where they were.

"What? Hey! Stop!" Vigilant commanded, conjuring his magic to restrain Selene in an indigo aura. Selene responded by turning towards him, her eyes and body glowing light blue, and capturing him in her own Psychic attack. The strain became too much for Vigilant an he released Selene from his grasp "You can't-" he tried to protest, only to be cut off by a hoof.

"There's somethin' ya gotta ask yerself, enforcer." Fuji said in an even tone "If ah pony's life is on the line, are you gonna sit back and do nothing because your rules say you can't help? Or are ya goin to save that somepony, even if you have ta bend those rules?" he then removed his hoof from Vigilant's path and slowly started making his way inside "You better have an answer ta that question soon before ya make too many enemies."

Vigilant Specter struggled with what to do. He knew he couldn't stop them, Selene had proven that when she overpowered his magic. And it wasn't like they were going on some rampage, they were going to save somepony. With a loud growl he finally relented "Hang on, I'm coming with you!" he yelled, running to catch up to the group.

James dashed through the sandstorm, keeping his eyes barely open enough to see where he was going and not much else. The Earthquake attack he felt gave him a clue where the Pokémon he was searching for was as well as what the condition of the mare was. It also would give Selene a chance to approach the Pokémon with the Rangers and in order for "version two" to work, he had to get there first and at least stop the sandstorm.

All things considered, it was time to stop dillydallying.

As he ran through the sand, he held larger versions of his Water Shuriken in each of his palms, closely spinning near his head catching any sand that blew through and tossing it away from his face. James had found out that the shurikens he produces can be infused with quite a bit of water and that the water he created from his hands could be conjured without a medium. Given enough time, he could create shurikens as big as him. The drawback was one that size would require both hands to create and maintain and wouldn't last long once it was thrown so instead he stuck with a medium sized pair in his hands.

He was also keeping his tongue tucked away in his mouth considering everything he tasted with it today, including a double helping of wood, he felt adding sand to the list could wait. With his vision mostly unhindered by the sand, he ran towards the epicenter of the Earthquake where he expected to find the both the source of the storm and whatever was unlucky enough to cause the quake.

And as he expected he saw in the distance a Pokémon looming over the body of something, reaching out to grab it. What he also expected was that the body looked like the mare that he and Selene had been following.

What he was not expecting was the Pokémon to turn out to be a Tyranitar.

'Well I already planned on beating whatever was causing this sandstorm...the bar's just a little higher than I originally thought. I can handle this, no problem.' James thought as he closed the distance between him and the rampaging Pokémon 'Besides, it's my time to shine! Got my one-liner picked out and everything.

Increasing his speed, James uncrossed his arms, moving the Water Shurikens to his sides. Locked on to his target, James hurled the first shuriken at the Tyranitar hitting its outstretched arm, knocking it away from the fallen mare. The Tyranitar looked his way in confusion just in time to notice the second shuriken headed directly towards its surprised face.

Out of reflex the Tyranitar leapt away from the incoming projectile, putting some distance between it and the mare.

James took this opportunity to slide to a stop in between it and the mare, kicking up a dust cloud with his feet. Looking over the mare he could tell she would not have lasted another attack, or even being moved roughly for that matter. 'Well the hero does show up just in the nick of time...' he mused.

The mare's red coat was covered in dirt, sand, and most likely her own blood as well. she had bruises all over her body, namely her barrel, hooves, and a large one on her chest. throughout her core there were bumps sticking out of her, either damaged organs from the fighting or more likely broken bones, or both for all he knew! Her head was also laying in a pool of her own blood, one slowly getting bigger if the drip coming from her mouth was any indication.

And yet she was still conscious!

Through barely open eyes, she looked back at him. She was breathing, but her breaths were short and raspy. She was visibly in a tremendous amount of pain, yet still somehow aware of her surroundings 'Damn, she took on a Tyranitar head on, alone, and is still breathing!? I LIKE HER!' James thought.

This was it, this was the moment he was hoping for. A damsel in distress behind him (even if it was an alien mare), a ferocious monster in front of him (or at least an angry Tyranitar but close enough...), and witnesses on their way (probably), It was time to be a badass! Giving the mare a smirk, he set one of his arms on the ground and raised the other behind his head. And in a voice that radiated confidence he said; "Don't worry. The hero...is here!"

"I...have no clue...what you're saying."

...

"Seriously!" James yelled, turning towards the bloodied mare "It took me five minutes to think of a decent one-liner! Five. Minutes. In a sandstorm no less! And you're telling me that-" his tirade was interrupted when she broke out into a coughing fit, spewing up more blood into the pool under her "Right...dying." he noted before changing his tone from irate, to comforting, "Ok, just lay there and get some rest. Help is already on the way. In the meantime," to determined "I'll handle him."

"Stay out of my way..." the Tyranitar growled.

"Great Arceus you're a girl..." James blurted out subconciously "Well this is awkward, I honestly thought you were a guy." he amended as his cheeks slowly turned red.

"Move!" she yelled.

Instead of doing what she said, James stood up and rubbed the back of his head "yeaaahh no. See, I've kinda been tailing this thing all day and I think I'm starting to get attached to it. I mean, she was able to outmaneuver me, a Greninja, and was able to go a few rounds with you, a Tyranitar, so there must be more to her than meet's the eye. Speaking of, what if she could transform, or had wings, or, or could level a mountain with one hand, or hoof I suppose, and was fighting against these other transforming creatures that took over her homeland. I couldn't let an opportunity like that pass m by! Anyway, that's just one reason I can't let you hurt her. Another is-"

James continued rambling on, talking about how he couldn't because the stars weren't in the proper alignment, or that he couldn't see with the sandstorm raging, or that he wasn't prepared to, going into excruciating detail about all of those points. Eventually Tyranitar's patience dried up "SHUT UP! Stone Edg-"

"Water Shuriken!" Jamed interrupted, tossing a small Water Shuriken at her face and landing a direct hit. He then pointed a webbed finger at the Armor Pokemon "Heroes rule number five: never interrupt the seemingly pointless monologue." he scolded.

That was the last straw. The mare could wait. She wanted this frog dead NOW! "Graaah! Just GO AWAY!"

"Make me! Water Shuriken!" he said, throwing three more shurikens at her eyes.

The Tyranitar used her arm to shield her eyes from the attack. She then swatted off the moisture that had accumulated from the paltry attack and returned her gaze to the Greninja...only to find that he was no longer there. She looked through the sandstorm for any signs of where the Ninja Pokemon ran off to, and was hit in the knee by a large Water Shuriken. the force from the hit was enough to make her kneel over, and the follow-up shurikens to the face stung like a Beedrill's Twinneedle. Yet despite the flurry of water projectiles, all they did was make her angrier. Shaking the excess water from her face she glared toward where the shurikens came from "Grah! Stop hiding and fight me!"

"Start looking in the right place and I will." a voice said from very close by, in fact, it sounded like it was coming from on top of her. Looking towards the back of her neck as best as she could, she saw James crouched onto her back with a carefree smile on his face holding up a large Water Shuriken "Yo" was all he said as he brought the shuriken down on her face causing it to rupture and drench her once more. He then leapt off the flailing Tyranitar, landing a few feet back 'hey, this is pretty easy. I can handle this.'

Now seething and finally having the Greninja in her line of sight, the Tyranitar rushed forward prepared to sink its fangs into it with its mighty Crunch attack. James dodged the attack by leaping to the side with barely enough time to notice a large spiked tail heading in his direction. Acting fast, James ducked down as far as he could to avoid the tail sweep and jumped backwards into the air when the tail corrected for his dodge and came back. Seeing an opening, Tyranitar opened her mouth and began gathering up all the energy it could and, in the form of a massive beam, fired it at where the Greninja would land.

"Hyper Beam!"

James eyes widened, realizing his mistake as the beam of energy easily bigger than him was barreling towards him. He had jumped too high. Now as he fell towards the ground and the incoming Hyper Beam he was guarding with his arms and legs hoping, wishing, and praying that he was somewhere else right now to no avail. 'damn damn damn damn damn DAMN!'

Tyranitar watched as the Greninja was engulfed in the blast, his silhouette vanishing in the light of the beam as it continued through the sandstorm, tearing it apart and impacting into the mountain range on the horizon. She watched as her sandstorm dissipated and the blackened remains of the Greninja laid on the ground in front of her. The Hyper Beam had vaporized its limbs and face, leaving only the charred body left. Satisfied with her work she turned her attention back to the strange dying Ponyta thing who looked at her 'saviors' corpse in complete shock. Behind her, the Tyranitar could now see more approaching Pokémon and more of the strange creatures, two of which had wings. Letting out a low growl she cursed as the Pokémon formed a perimeter around the dying creature 'MORE distractions!' she seethed as she took a defensive stance, ready for whatever attack may come.

Selene ran through the storm in the direction of Ringo's thoughts using Psychic to shield herself from the sand by using the sand as a shield. The group of Pokémon and ponies that chose to follow her were on her tail, being protected by an indigo colored barrier. To give Vigilant some credit, he was quite skilled when it came to this 'magic'. He had been able to create and move a barrier large enough to fit three ponies and relatively large Pokémon.

If she had the time, Selene might ask more about his talents or even challenge him to a battle. He was a guard so he must know how to fight...right? But alas, right now her attention was focused on who should be in front of her. She sensed that Ringo's emotions were becoming more peaceful, perhaps somebody was holding off the Pokémon assailing her. Then again it could also mean she has come to terms with her demise.

Shaking off the negative thought, Selene pushed harder through the sandstorm, intent on saving Ringo and making sure James doesn't do something reckless. That was her job after all...

Her momentum was halted when a beam of light cut through the sky in the distance, heading inland towards a far off mountain range. The air around her trembled as the shockwave from the beam reached her, sending the airborne sand into turmoil. When the group opened their eyes after the shockwave, the sandstorm had dissipated, giving an unobstructed view of their surroundings, and the devastation wrought. Every inch of ground was covered in sand with toppled trees littering the ground and wasted apples smothered in sand. Whatever trees that were left standing were stripped of their bark, leaves, and especially fruit, leaving spiked growths of wood protruding from the ground, glittering from the oppressive heat of the sun. To make things worse was that a short distance in front of them was the back of a Pokémon that none of the former humans wanted to see up close; a Tyranitar 'At least now we don't have to worry about the sandstorm.' Selene sighed, releasing her Psychic as she focused on the thing laying on the ground between her and it

The still body of a red, bloodied mare.

"Rin-!" was all Hurricane Eye could say before her mouth was enveloped in a light blue aura.

Selene turned toward her with a finger over her mouth. "shh...The Tyranitar doesn't know we're here yet, and I can heal her so long as I can get close." she said calmly and evenly, even if she was anything but.

James should've been there but aside from a few desolate trees, all she could see was Ringo, Tyranitar, and the group behind her "Don't. Panic." she said to everyone in the group, herself included as they quickly made their way closer to Ringo.

Selene mentally cursed as the Tyranitar looked back at the dying pony and then to them growling. She was the first to reach Ringo kneeling down beside her and began using repeated Heal Pulses with Carlos, Manectric, and Phoebe standing in front of Ringo, covering her and Selene as she worked. Vigilant Specter joined the Pokémon on the front while  the pegasi stood near the mare with worried expressions on their face.

Slowly but surely the bruises all over her body faded away, the blood dripping from her mouth stopped, and the lumps dotting her chest and barrel receded back into her as the soft light soaked into the mare's body. After a while, she began to look as normal as the other ponies did, or at least as 'normal' as Selene thought. Hooves were bent the way they should be, nothing was sticking out of her, and she was no longer bleeding out so...she was calling it good.

Which is why when Ringo sprung up and ran past the Tyranitar, alarm bells started ringing in Selene's head.

'No...no, no, NO!' Ringo screamed. How did it go so wrong? Greninja had been doing so well. He had knocked it down, he had damaged it, he was winning!

Until that beam of energy consumed him.

Now she ran towards the charred remains laying on the ground behind Tyranitar, the monster letting her pass and keeping its attention on the new creatures that appeared, along with Hurry, Ty, and the enforcer. She slid down to his blackened husk fighting back tears "why..." she whispered to the remains "Why did you try to save me? You didn't even know me."

"Ty~raa...!" Tyranitar roared causing one of the creatures, the white and cyan one that healed her Rin noticed, to take a shuddering step back. The other three creatures each started their own forms of attack, ready to move at a moments notice. The big red one's fists started burning in a brilliant flame, the yellow and blue one was discharging electrical sparks from its fur, and the floating cyclops thing had conjured a sphere of darkness in its hand.

"I guess you were something special to her" Rin lamented, nuzzling the blackened remains. She didn't understand a word Greninja said, she couldn't figure out why it was protecting her to begin with or where it came from, she didn't even know what it actually was. She just called it 'Greninja' because like the other weird creatures she's seen today that was all it said.

But another thing she didn't understand was...why was his body so plush? "nin, nin, nin, nin..."

Her ears turned, hearing something strange in the wind as she looked around. "nin, nin, nin..."

She then took a closer look at the remains...and found something odd about them. What was left of the arms were in the wrong spot, the legs were too far apart, and she could just barely see the remains of a smiling face "is this...a doll?"

"Nin, nin, nin~ja!" a familiar voice said as it dropkicked the back of Tyranitars head.

He put everything he had into his dropkick, planting the Tyranitars head into the ground before leaping off and landing beside the mare. She currently had a dumbstruck expression on her face and continued to do so as he hoisted her up over his shoulder and leapt towards Selene and the group. "So, the cavalry's arrived." he said in an even tone, setting down the mare "Unfortunately you're too late, I'm claiming this battle as mine. Don't interfere."

He watched as Selene fought the urge to embrace him right then and there, knowing it would ruin their plan 'I promise to make it up to you later.' he vowed.

His attention didn't remain on her for long as the ranger Darmanitan stepped forward, glaring at him "and who exactly are you?"

That was the question he had been dreading. The entire reason he split up with Selene, fought the Tyranitar alone, and was now rejecting their help. As far as the Rangers were concerned, James Kirikaze was a dangerous criminal and a Poképhile  who sent one of their members into a coma and many others to the hospital using his slaves.

So as long as there were rangers nearby he couldn't be "James Kirikaze".

"My name is Kira."

Kira carefuly watched the expressions of the Pokémon. He noticed Selene's expression drop at the sound of his second name, the name he used most often when dealing with Pokémon poachers and other criminals who may have had friends in high and low(er) places. Only seven people outside his team knew the connection between James and Kira, and judging by the surprised expression of the Dusknoir it was one of those seven. The rangers still looked at him in annoyance, their expression unchanging, good.

"Ok Kira," the Manectric started "do you know that your battle has been destroying these ponies' apple orchard?"

'They're called ponies!? huh, so close..." Kira thought before turning toward the Tyranitar, replying "then I will finish this quickly." and sped off toward the Armor Pokémon with a Water Shuriken ready.

Tyranitar saw red, blue, and even more red. The Ponyta-thing that attacked her was getting up again thanks to the shiny Gardevoir. The Greninja she thought she killed was coming back at her with renewed vigor. And now there were three more Water Shurikens heading for her face...wait...what? Tyranitar had no choice but to close her eyes as the three shurikens impacted her head, one would have hit her eye if the eyelid wasn't in the way. When she opened her eyes, the Greninja was gone again! "Raaagh! Where are you!?" Tyranitar yelled "Come out or I'll level EVERYTHING! Earthqu-" her attack was once again interrupted by a shuriken hitting her face eliciting a yell in response.

Kira hid behind one of the stripped trees, watching the Tyranitar curse his name and roar in every direction 'this isn't working...' he thought, looking at the raging Pokémon 'every hit I land, she just shrugs it off and attacks again. I need something with a bit more power behind it...' looking over his body for some sort of inspiration for another move he knows. Legs aren't giving him any ideas, for so many reasons he's not using his tongue, and his hands were still dripping from the last Water Shuriken 'maybe...' he thought, trying to conjure more water in his hand, with some success shown by the blue sphere the size of a Voltorb 'well, one way or another this is gonna hurt. I just hope it's not me.' making peace with himself incase this went south fast, he leapt out of his hiding and rushed toward Tyranitar. No longer hiding, Kira launched the sphere of water towards his opponents gut only to have the sphere fall short and hit the ground below her.

Noticing the failed attack, Tyranitar turned toward the Greninja intent on keeping him in her sights and quickly stomped the ground "Stone Edge!" she called out as jagged stones began to pierce though the ground.

Kira moved quickly to avoid the Stone Edge, jumping to the side seconds before the first spikes erupted from the ground. He couldn't rest long as a second batch appeared, jumping backwards out of instinct to avoid getting skewered. He then jumped onto one of the stone spikes, dodging the third Stone Edge attack and, using it as a push board, propelled himself towards Tyranitar, this time creating another sphere of water with both of his hands. Landing on the moistened ground, he slid right up to Tyranitar and thrust the sphere into the base of her neck.

"This ends now! Water Pulse!" Kira yelled as the sphere exploded into a miniature torrent, nearly knocking Tyranitar off her feet. She struggled to keep her balance from the attack as her throat was compressed by the shockwave. Tyranitar was able to keep standing and taking in air to replace what was forced out, she brought her head down to where Kira was.

And right into the next Water Pulse.

The following attack hit directly in the center of Tyranitar's face, filling her mouth with water and knocking her vision skyward once more. The world around her was spinning and she couldn't think straight anymore. What she could see was that the Greninja had taken a few steps back and like the rest of the colored blobs in the distance were watching what she was doing. She tried taking one step forward and found it nearly impossible to not lose her balance. After a second step, she found out nearly impossible had become completely impossible. With a resounding thud Tyranitar fell onto her belly and stared at the group with water filled eyes.

Kira relaxed as the fallen Tyranitar made no effort to get back up, dissipating the Water Shuriken he was holding just in case things continued. Motioning to the group that it was safe he bent down to the Tyranitar's head and asked in a calm but stern tone; "Why did you create a sandstorm?"

"I had to..." Tyranitar shakily replied.

"That doesn't answer my question. Why did you have to?"

"To find him..."

"Find WHO?"

"To find my baby!" Tyranitar snapped, causing everyone else present to take a step back. Yet to all of the Pokémon present's surprise her voice wasn't out of anger but out of desperation "I just wanted to find my baby Larvitar! If he was stuck in the bushes my sandstorm would have freed him! if he had been Pokénapped my sandstorm would have given him the cover to escape! He only emerged a week ago and he's still so naïve about the world..." Tyranitar continued with tears streaming down her face "if someone from Team Rocket found him, I could never forgive myself."

'Well...now I feel like a dick.' Kira thought, after hearing everything the Tyranitar mother said. What made it sting worse was that it was all true because right in front of him, Selene, the rangers, and the ponies was something you don't just see.

The Tyranitar, the indestructible Armor Pokémon known for its love for battle, a Pokémon known to level mountains and change landscapes, was on her knees with her head pressed against the ground begging "please...help me. Help me find my Larvitar. I'll do anything, but, please...he's just a child. I just wanted to find my baby Larvitar..."

At this point there were two things Kira could do, but only one of those things entered his mind. With a long sigh, he wrapped his tongue around him in a scarf and turned back to the group, namely the Darmanitan ranger "well, you heard the mother and I already know my answer, what's yours?"

"As a Pokémon Ranger of Hoenn, I cannot let a baby Pokémon be away from its mother in a new land, regardless of what body I find myself in." the ranger responded, showing his conviction with his eyebrows blazing higher than ever.

"My feelings are the same. I will follow my partner wherever he may go." the Manectric added.

"As one of Hoenn's Elite Four, it's my duty to help out people and Pokémon in need! You can count me in...Kira." the Dusknoir said in a mock salute.

'Wait...flowery patterns, knows who I really am, Hoenn Elite Four, Ghost-type body...Phoebe!?!' Kira realized, trying his hardest to not show his epiphany to the rangers in front of him. Thankfully the next voice made that easier.

"My trainer James would never allow a Pokémon to be away from its family, not if he had any say in it, and I share his feelings, as does the rest of his team." Selene declared "you have my full support, Kira."

"Thank you, all of you." Kira said, smiling behind his scarf. he then retuned his attention to the kneeling Tyranitar who only looked on with tears still streaming down her face in disbelief and awe "You heard them, you've got our full support. We'll find Larvitar for yo-"

"Thank you!" Tyranitar said, embracing Kira and silencing anything else he had to say as tears ran down onto his head "Thank you..."

'Current list of things I thought I would never taste: dirt, wood, sand, Tyranitar tears. what's next Houndoom drool?'