A New World, Same Shadows

Chapter 4: The Sun In The Sand

Rin...wasn't sure what she just witnessed. The last thing that made sense to her was that she was dying, bleeding from her organs being punctured by her broken bones to be specific, and some frog thing she named Greninja tried to rescue her only to be reduced to a blackened lump. That's when more strange creatures arrived with the enforcer and the weather twins, one of them somehow able to heal her wounds. Not really thinking, she then went over to Greninja's charred body and embraced it tightly.

Then everything went crazy. The thing in her hooves wasn't the remains of a living thing but was in fact a charred doll. After that Greninja went flying over her and planted both of its feet into the back of Tyranitars head. And while Tyranitar was pulling itself out of the ground Greninja exchanged a few words that she, unsurprisingly, couldn't understand before retuning to the battle, finishing it off with two spheres of water to the neck and face. And yet thing got crazier as Tyranitar then started bawling and eventually hugged Greninja.

This made it very easy for one lime-colored pegasus to fly up and tackle the distracted red earth pony.

"Rin! You're ok!" Hurricane Eye squealed as she held her friend in a death hug.

"Hurry...choking...stop..." Rin gasped, trying to not pass out from loss of oxygen or her bones breaking...again.

Hurricane Eye opened her eyes, finally noticing her friend rapidly tapping on her back "oh! Sorry, hehe." she said sheepishly, releasing her from the embrace.

Now that she was free, Rin greedily sucked in large breaths of air as she focused on her friend. Hurricane Eye always assaulted her with one of these hugs whenever she would get injured or threatened. It was her way of showing that she cared and it did make Rin feel better every time she did it, even if she nearly blacked out each time.

With her lungs once again filled with air, she looked beck at Hurricane Eye's frizzy mane and smiling face and trying her best to not chuckle "pff...what happened to your mane?" she said from behind her hoof, failing.

"Heheh, me and Ty tried to blow the sandstorm away." Hurry said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head and knocking loose some sand caught in her mane "Thought we were doin pretty well too, until the sandstorm blew us away. I swear, first thing I'm doin' when I get home is brushing this sandy mess back to normal." she griped, examining the now sand covered hoof she used to scratch her head.

"So glad you have your priorities straight," Rin replied in an amused tone. She then surveyed the area around her, noting to what extent the sandstorm had damaged the orchard.

It wasn't good. From where she stood nearly half the orchard was covered in a thick layer of sand. Of that half, eighty percent of the trees that were supposed to be there had been either toppled over or had their fruit destroyed by the sand and the remaining trees were being burnt from the glaring midday sun. "I'm going to be cleaning this sand for Celestia knows how long." Rin sighed. One of the downsides of caring so much about appearances was that she was the only farmhand working at the orchard besides her grandpa, and even then he only tends to the specialty apples behind the house because only he knows how.

"Ringo."

Rin jumped as the new voice that echoed through her mind "who said that?" she said scanning around to find the source of he voice but only seeing the creatures and ponies talking amongst themselves.

"Said what?" Hurry said, also looking around with her friend "ohhh...that might've been Selene," the lime pegasus said once she noticed two of the creatures staring at the two, one being the tall, slender, cyan and white one and the other being Tyranitar "that's her over there. Apparently she can talk using her mind, at least that's what Ty said. She called it tele-something-or-other, I don't really know how to say it." Hurry mused. Her musings stopped when she noticed the piercing glare coming from Selene's eyes "You should probably see what she wants, or else she might mess with your head and make you think you're a seagull or something."

Rin just stared at her friend unamused at her warning "I really doubt she could do something like that..."

"True, the best I could do is a Slowpoke. Instead I would just tear apart your mind and leave you no more sentient than a pile of dirt." Selene said matter of factly, echoing her voice through both of their heads his time "Now please, while I'm still asking nicely, come here."

Not wanting to know whether or not her claim was true, Rin slowly walked up to the two while Hurricane silently prayed to Celestia for her friends well-being "yes?" Rin asked tentatively.

"Apologize." was all Selene said.

It was all Selene needed to say to make Rin grit her teeth "apologize? It tried to kill me! I think it should apologize to me." Rin retorted, watching as Tyranitar glared at her and stepped forward to attack only to be cut off by one of Selene's arms and a cautionary glare.

Unfazed by the outburst, Selene returned her attention to Rin "you kicked her, rather hard I might add, when she was looking for her son calling her, and I quote, a 'stupid rock'. Apologize."

Rin wanted to argue with her, to say that nearly dying was more than compensation for kicking her tail. On the other hoof Selene healed her from the brink of death, intimidated Tyranitar, and was so nonchalant about turning her mind into a vegetable it actually scared her to wonder what else she could do. Considering it was in her best interest to comply, she hung her head and sighed, resigning herself to whatever happens next "alright...fine...I'm sorry. I was worried about my grandpa, in the middle of a sandstorm, and didn't have the best opinion of rocks at the time so I'm sorry ok." while her tone suggested otherwise she really did mean her apology.

Selene and Tyranitar whispered amongst themselves for a moment, occasionally nodding to each other before turning their attention back to Rin with a smile "apology accepted," Selene answered. Tyranitar also chimed in with a few growls "and she also says that she may have overreacted as well..." Selene translated.

'Gee, you think?'

"I can still hear you, you know."

If it weren't for her already red coat, her head would be the same color as the surviving apples "y-you said that her son is missing. Shouldn't we be trying to find him?"

"Yes, shouldn't we?" Vigilant interjected, walking with the twin pegasi and attracting the attention of the others "We may be from different worlds but a missing foal is a big deal around here. Let me help. At least then I can act as an intermediary between you Pokemon and the townsponies."

"Thank you, both of you, for helping." Selene said in a bow. Shortly afterwards the big red one, 'Darmanitan' if Rin was still going to name them based on what she heard them say, started talking to her with the rest of the Pokemon chiming in on occasion. After a back and forth conversation between Darmanitan and Selene, with Tyranitar visibly getting angry at one point, Greninja clenching its fist and interjecting from time to time, and 'Dusknoir' looking away dejectedly for the majority of the talk, the entire group nodded in agreement and turned towards the four Kouma ponies "Here's our plan," Selene began "we'll split up into two teams. Carlos, Manectric, and Phoebe will go with Vigilant Specter and search the town for any signs of Larvitar. In the meantime Kira, Tyranitar and I will search the rest of the orchard with Ringo for the same thing." she said while using her hands to point out the members of each team. To her surprise, Rin had been right about Tyranitar's name but was wrong when it came to Darmanitan, Greninja, and Dusknoir. "We will search our designated areas until sunset and rendezvous at the orchard gates. Should either of our teams find something, Phoebe or I will fire off an attack into the air and we'll immediately head to the rendezvous point. Does everyone understand?" she asked the ponies. When the two mentioned nodded their heads, Selene couldn't help but smirk "Good, then let's go."

Each of the Pokemon town team said some encouraging words to Selene and headed towards town. The act unintentionally frustrated Rin since she couldn't understand a word they said and also because all she got was a "good luck" from Vigilant as he left, which didn't amount to anything considering she shared her grandpa's sentiment about the enforcer. She was also nervous with working with Tyranitar on Fuji's farm but at the same time was reassured that she was with the one that healed her and the one that beat Tyranitar. All in all she felt confident that they would find Larvitar, whatever Larvitar looked like anyway.

"Hey! what about me and Ty? What are we gonna do?"

"Someone has to stay behind and clean up Mr. Fuji's house." Selene answered over her shoulder as her group walked deeper into the orchard.

"Whaaat! That's lame..." Hurricane Eye moaned.

"No use crying over it sis, let's just get it done." Typhoon Eye said as he started blowing the sand into a pile with his wings.

Twenty-seven Pokémon and twenty-four ponies later the Pokémon of the town team sat in the middle of town exhausted as the sun beat down on them watching the ponies react to the new Pokémon in town, many of them they already questioned.

"Nothing..." Carlos said to the group, sitting against the wall of a building staring blankly into the sky all the while "seventeen Pokémon and eight former humans, and none of them have seen a Larvitar around here."

"My Odor Sleuth is useless with all this new stuff around us." Manectric complained, laying beside Carlos panting "And he's not hiding underneath any of the buildings either."

"He's not in any of the buildings, and nobody I talked to has seen him either." Phoebe added, laying on the ground in the shade with her arms stretched out and her lower body sunken into the ground.

From what Carlos had seen, Phoebe just floated around aimlessly the entire time they had been searching, usually just under the rooftops "Phoebe, I have SO many questions for you right now." he said with equal parts concern, scolding, and intrigue.

"Here you go guys! Ice cream for each of you." Vigilant Specter said, levitating a tray with four sundaes on it with him. Though the speaker might as well have been from Arceus himself as the ice cream was nothing short of a divine blessing in the oppressive heat. Each one had an assortment of fruits topped on it and was drizzled in chocolate syrup with a spoon sticking out of the side. He stopped when he saw how the Darmanitan was leaning against the building "Um, Carlos? Your eyebrows are burning that wall down."

Surprised, each of the Pokémon looked at the wall Carlos had been leaning on. Sure enough, there were two burning holes already in the wall. Acting quickly, Carlos franticly tried to smother the fire with his hands while Phoebe attempted to suffocate the fires by phasing her hands through the wall where the holes were.

When the fires were put out, Carlos let out a long sigh and bowed to the owner of the home apologizing repeatedly 'I bet I'm the only human Pokémon that's managed to accidentally catch a building on fire.' he chided before moving a safe distance away from the building and into the direct sunlight. That didn't matter anymore as one of the sundaes floated over to him in an indigo aura, setting down in front of him just like two others had done for the remaining Pokémon. After thanking Vigilant for the ice cream (even if he couldn't understand them still) the trio dug in and reveled in the chilled sweet flavor of their treat.

"Ahh, this hits the spot!" Phoebe exclaimed, putting another spoonful into the mouth on her stomach.

Carlos watched with his mouth agape as the ghost Pokémon continued to scarf her ice cream literally into her stomach "Can you even eat that?" he absentmindedly asked. He may not be an expert on Ghost Pokémon but he was almost certain that they didn't need to eat anything to survive.

"Of course." Phoebe replied with a mouth/bellyful of ice cream "Why?"

"Er...no reason." It was probably best if he dropped the issue.

"So, what are we going to do, partner?" Manectric asked as he licked his sundae, the fruit having already been eaten.

"What else, expand the search area until we find him or until it's time to rendezvous."

"I mean about Kira." he corrected, earning the attention of the other team members "I don't know if you noticed but when we first met him, he was covered in Selene's scent."

"Now that you mentioned it, he did smell funny. I just thought that was what a Greninja smelled like to a Pokémon." Carlos said to himself. That wasn't all he considered weird about the Greninja either, the way he fought was sloppy, he failed to use some of his moves during the battle, and even then he only used two different Water type attacks, not a random assortment of moves and then seeing what works. No...this Greninja was knowledgeable about his opponent but not himself, like how he is right now.

And then there was the aftermath. When the groups were being determined, it was his idea to have the Tyranitar join the orchard team and make Phoebe be apart of the town team. Not that either decision was a bad one but it filled up who was going where quickly, or another way to look at it, made it where he would have to be in Selene's group to keep the teams even. But that raises the question; why would an unknown Greninja want to team up with the shiny Gardevoir?

Unless he wasn't an unknown Greninja "In fact there's a lot of things about him that are suspicious."

"W-wait a moment," Phoebe interrupted, taking a break from eating her ice cream "maybe Kira bumped into her and they took a tumble together before meeting up and just didn't want to talk about it." she'd admit that her excuse wasn't the best one she ever thought of but that was the best she had on short notice "I know if that happened to me, I wouldn't want to bring it up in front of strangers."

"There's more to it than that," Manectric retorted, eating more of his ice cream "He was also very on edge whenever Selene was nearby, always distancing himself from her whenever possible."

"Selene is a Fairy type," Phoebe retorted before shoveling the rest if the sundae into her mouth, finishing it off "it makes sense he's nervous around her. Even Sidney complains whenever a team full of Fairy types challenges him." she then added nonchalantly. Many trainers did challenge each one of the Elite Four with similar tactics thinking that if they beat them the Pokémon League will make them members in their stead, none more so than Sidney, thinking the Dark type master was the weakest member. And while that was true to an extent, weakest doesn't mean pushover. Sidney took each one of them with only one of his Pokémon, showing how much they were out of their league. But with the discovery of Fairy type Pokémon, his battles had gotten much harder while the trainers themselves hadn't improved. "Kira probably didn't want to be near her because of the type disadvantage."

"Then why did he want to be a part of her group?" the discharge Pokémon countered as he finished off his own sundae "And perhaps more importantly, why are you covering for him?" he accused, now glaring down the Elite Four member who decided to return the accusing stare with an uneasy look of her own.

Their attention, however, turned towards the sky as a pillar of yellow light and electricity erupted from past Fuji's apple orchard. They weren't the only ones to notice it either, in fact every pony there stopped what they were doing to gawk at the beam of light and the lightning shooting into the sky. From Carlos and Phoebe's perspective, the ponies looked like they were either about to panic hysterically or run off to see what caused the anomaly whereas the Pokémon simply glanced at the beam before returning to what they were doing previously.

A heavy sigh brought them back to the present as the ashen unicorn put the last bite of ice cream into his mouth "looks like you'll have to continue your conversation later." Vigilant commented as he collected the empty bowls with his magic and blinked them out of existence, and into a nearby garbage bin "Come on, let's go see what the others found." he said to the rest of his group before galloping off to the signal.

Manectric, Carlos, and Phoebe exchanged uneasy glances with each other, none of them saying anything before reluctantly heading toward the orchard too. Whatever happened at the orchard was more important than their squabble, for now anyway. Manectric was almost certain who 'Kira' was and once the opportunity arose he was going to put him under arrest or, if he resisted, take him out. Carlos had similar feelings, those doubts he had were never quelled and should Kira really be 'The Cleaving Winds' then he would have to pay for his actions against the Ranger Union. Phoebe was trying to remain calm, but with Kira's secret nearly being exposed already she had to do something to throw them off his trail, at least until she had a chance to talk with him. Altogether the three rushed to their destination solely intent on resolving this issue with Tyranitar and getting answers from the enigmatic Greninja.

None of them noticed the orange earth pony walking down towards the town, a scowl on his face.

"It's...too...hot..."

"What did he say?"

"He said it's too hot."

"Oh...you can make water in your hands, stop complaining!"

Rin and the others trudged through the desolated part of the orchard which, thanks to the sandstorm, was now more akin to a desert. The ground was covered with a layer of sand deep enough to lose a hoof in it, fallen trees stripped of their bark and leaves were scattered about baking in the overwhelming heat of the sun. Ahead of them they could see where the sandstorm ended as the desert abruptly  returned to the green of what the orchard should look like and the trees were mostly untouched save for a light dusting of sand that made them sparkle in the distance.

But as much as Rin wanted to enjoy the scenery there was work to be done. Even with Selene directing them to any Pokémon caught in the sandstorm they still haven't found any sign of Larvitar. All they could confirm was that a Larvitar was in the area thanks to one of those strange seagulls she saw earlier today that Selene introduced as a Wingull. But that had been an hour ago with not another Pokémon seen or sensed nearby, and it was starting to take it's toll. Tyranitar seemed unperturbed at not finding her son, or maybe Selene was privately speaking with her to keep her calm but all she did was scan the area with that unnerving stare she always wore. Kira on the other hoof...

While Rin was at the forefront of the group, Selene and Tyranitar shadowing her, he was lagging behind. Looking back she saw he was dragging his webbed feet with his arms dangling at his side. His lidded eyes stared blankly forward and his tongue that was used as a scarf currently hung from his mouth almost touching the ground swaying slightly with each lethargic step he took.

"You wouldn't understand my pain. You're not the Water type shriveling up here." Kira groaned despite knowing that Rin could only hear him say "Gree~. Gre~ninja."

"What did he say this time."

"More complaining and that you wouldn't understand."

"Oh, alright then..."Rin said behind gritted teeth. She then turned toward him still clenching her teeth shooting daggers at him all the while "tell him if he doesn't get his flank in gear I'll buck him to the other side of the farm." she venomously warned. Sure she was hot too but she didn't need to be reminded of it every other second by something she couldn't even understand on her own. Even Tyranitar grumbled something while surveying the landscape "Not you too..."

"Actually she said she'd help, not that I'd let either of you harm him." Selene translated, her voice becoming very ominous as the second part entered her head "And he can understand you just fine."

Rin was very thankful for her red coat hiding the embarrassment she was feeling from the oversight as she returned her attention to where she was going groaning at her little faux pas "I really wish there was a way I could understand what you're all saying..."

"The feeling's mutual you cherry colored jacka-"

"Kira...be nice." Selene scolded "Although you do have a point." she added, losing herself in her thoughts. With a nod Selene reached out with her mind connecting hers and Rin's together. Satisfied that this would work she tried out the new link "There, is this better?"

Rin stopped dead in her tracks as she heard the familiar voice, not just in her head either but her ears were registering her voice as well "yeah, much!" Rin replied.

"That's good," Selene sighed in relief "I was worried there might be some sort of mistranslation issue seeing that I've never done this with a pony before."

Rin simply stood there amazed, it was like there was no language barrier between them anymore. Every word was clearly understood and matched the movements of Selene's lips. Even better it wasn't echoing through her head either. Imagine what this could be used for, nations divided by a language barrier could come together, ponies who couldn't speak could finally be able to communicate with loved ones, she could barely imagine how this could be applied in diplomacy, healthcare, everything really. It was world changing, and that was putting it mildly.

"What'd you do anyway?" she asked, her curiosity finally taking over.

"Simply put, I made a psychic link with you. Now you can hear and understand what I hear." Selene replied nonchalantly.

"Woah..." Rin gasped with eyes wide in awe. While she was no expert on magic she knew enough to know that only alicorns, unicorns, and changelings could even attempt a spell such as this. But then the awe in her eyes changed to disbelief "Wait...why didn't you do this sooner?"

"I'm not omnipotent, even I have limits." Selene said with a shrug "Linking five Pokémon to four non-Pokémon would give me a serious headache, and for a Psychic type like me that's incredibly dangerous."

"Dangerous? How so?"

Kira cleared his throat, drawing Rin and Selene's attention "A Gardevoir, that being what she is, is said to be capable of using its psychic power to create a black hole when its trainer is in danger." he said, not a ounce of the lightheartedness or humor he displayed in his voice "Imagine having that kind of power but not the ability to control it, to be able to tear apart anything with a thought while your mind already feels like it's being torn apart." he continued, his eyes blankly looking at the ground. It didn't take a genius or a changeling to realize Rin had struck a nerve, and she was even starting to miss his complaining.

"He's not exaggerating. She could have beaten both of us without breaking a sweat." Tyranitar added, either oblivious or uncaring of Kira's current mood.

"Speaking of sweat, I'm still roasting back here!"

And just like that Rin took back her previous thoughts.

"Ugh, complain complain, complain! Is that all you do? Just keep searching and enjoy the nice sunny day we're having!" she yelled, stamping a hoof to help prove her point.

"Hey I do more than complain, I saved your tail remember." Kira retorted, pointing a finger back at her.

"No, that was her. You showed up, got hit by an energy beam, and beat up a distressed mother."

"...It could be a Sunny Day couldn't it?" Selene muttered, putting a hand over her mouth and scanning the area thoroughly, pondering the thought.

Ringo stared in disbelief at Selene's comment "of course it is, see?" she said motioning towards the wide blue sky "Not a cloud in the sky."

"Huh? Pffhmhmhm...no that's not what I meant." Selene giggled at her misinterpretation "Sunny Day is the name of a move that intensifies sunlight during battle and, by extension, Fire type moves."

"Wait. You Pokémon can control the sun!? Only Princess Celestia can do that, or an army of unicorns!" Rin objected. This was starting to get ridiculous. She could believe a giant rock monster being able to create a sandstorm, an alien figure with a horn sticking out of her chest communicating with her mind, and even a frog being able to use hydrokinesis, but this was where she drew the line. Whats next, Pokémon who could control time and space?

"Sunny Day doesn't work like that. Think of it like...putting a giant magnifying glass over an area." Selene reassured with a faint smile. The smile vanished though when she returned her attention to the surroundings in concern "But it's still weird. If this sunlight is caused by Sunny Day then surely we should have seen a beam of light going up into the sky by now."

"Why?"

"Sunny Day only lasts so long, even outside of battle." Kira answered "In order for the sunlight to persist it would have to be reused, meaning a beam of light would have to be shot into the air. Unless...!"

Selene looked at her love inquisitively, trying to figure out what he was getting at when it clicked "Drought!"

"Excuse me?" Rin questioned. As an Apple, she didn't like where this was going.

"Drought is a Pokémon Ability like my Sand Stream, where I can create a sandstorm at will," Tyranitar explained, now fully interested in this conversation taking place "a Pokémon with Drought can intensify the sun's rays indefinitely outside of battle."

"Ability? Sand Stream? This is making my head hurt..." Rin said raising her hoof to her temple.

Tyranitar let out a disgruntled groan "every Pokémon has some sort of inherent trait called an Ability." she explained "Some abilities affect the Pokémon their fighting, others affect themselves, and there are a few that affect the whole battlefield." she then turned towards the shiny Gardevoir "But only Groudon can have the Ability Drought and I don't see him anywhere nearby."

"But Groudon's not the only Pokémon that can have Drought. I know of one other who has it," Selene said, barely able to contain her excitement. Even Kira looked a little happier at the news "I'm going to try something, give me a second." Selene said, closing her eyes and temporarily disconnecting the link she had with Ringo. She then closed her eyes and reached out as far as she could, using Calm Mind to further expand her range, to each Pokémon mind she could feel. Sorting through the ones she knew couldn't be the familiar Drought user Selene gently spoke to the Pokémon, hoping one of them would respond "Cinder? Cinder~. If you can hear me you can stop maintaining Drought."

"Mommy? MOMMY!" a very familiar young female voice responded "You're here! You're here!"

There was not a single doubt in Selene's mind who that voice belonged to, and she had to resist falling to her knees crying tears of joy, she could do that later. Right now there was a job to do so she would have to be content with this ecstatic feeling in her chest "yes sweetie, I'm here. Now where are you?"

"I'm underground with my new friend, he is a bit of a wimp though. We've been hiding from the sandstorm so I don't get all sandy. Hehe, pretty smart huh?"

Selene couldn't help but chuckle. The world could be ending and Cinder would still find some way to brighten the mood "yes that was very smart of you, Cinder, but the sandstorm is over. You don't need to hide anymore." she was also thankful Cinder remembered what to do in case she was ever separated from her and Kira. But considering that she was currently underground, Selene made a mental note to determine how far and in which direction Cinder's presence was.

Right now though she was curious about her new friend. If it turned out to be some Bunnelby trying to get an egg out of her then she'll finally have a target to practice her Moonblast on, as well as begrudgingly give Cinder the talk. On the other hand, it could be exactly who they were looking for. "Could you tell me your friends name?" Selene asked, silently praying to Arceus it wasn't the Bunnelby.

"Of course, his name's Larvitar. He said he was looking for his mommy too."

'Thank you, Arceus...' Selene thought before breaking the news to Cinder "I'm actually with his mother now, we'll meet you on the surface ok."

"Really! Ok, we'll wait on the surface then! See you soon Mommy!" Cinder said before Selene undid the link.

With the mental link severed, Selene exhaled the breath she was apparently holding, smiling as she redid the previous link she had with Ringo "I found our children." she proclaimed happily. Although her eyes were still closed, she could feel the flood of emotions radiating off of everyone, mostly being some version of surprise, and could just imagine the wide-eyed slack-jawed expressions she was getting. Opening her eyes and smiling inward at calling their expressions she focused on Tyranitar who looked about ready to cry "Let's not keep them waiting any longer." she said right before rushing towards a cluster of apple trees still standing on the orchard.

Tyranitar didn't waste a second and followed Selene running as fast as she could over anything in her path to keep up with her, causing the ground to rumble with every step she took. Kira snapped out of his stupor a second later and followed suit, quickly overtaking Tyranitar and catching up to Selene and matching her pace while he re-wrapped his tongue scarf.

Rin stood motionless, still trying to process what Selene said for another few seconds. Though once she realized the Pokémon were leaving her behind she turned around and started galloping after them "hey wait!" she called out desperately "What do you mean 'our children'? Wait a...you're a mother!?"

Rin's chase led her to the fence surrounding Fuji's special apple trees behind the Apple estate across the orchard. There she found the Pokémon standing on the other side of it in a semi-circle, staring at an unassuming part of the land in the distance with an almost giddy expression on their face. Leaping over the fence apparently caught Kira's attention as the blue frog turned in her direction and waved her over.

"Thanks for leaving me back there by the way." Rin deadpanned, once she was in earshot.

"What took ya?" Kira jovially replied.

"Funny." she added, walking in between Kira and Selene "So, what's so special about that patch of dirt?"

"Wait and see." he replied with a smirk.

Before Rin had a chance to argue with, or interrogate, Kira anymore the ground everyone else was staring at started to shift upwards. At first it was subtle but then the loose pile of dirt being pushed upwards began to grow exponentially, becoming the size of a filly after a minute. With one final rumble something popped out of the pile of dirt, something a clay green with a long horn on its head and red eyes with black marks under them.

A head. It was a Pokémon's head.

As the little rock thing looked around taking in its surroundings, Rin looked at it and sighed inwardly 'I know this is most likely Tyranitar's child but couldn't at least one of these Pokémon be cute or fluffy?'

It seems someone was listening as a moment later the little rock creature was pushed out of the hole and onto his face by a pair of brown paws. Following the paws came the reddish-orange head of a fox laying on the edge of the hole sighing in relief. On its head was a scruffy orange tuft of hair covering the forehead that was curled three times behind the ears. It had a small black nose and, when it inevitably noticed the group, stared back at them with big brown baby-doll-like eyes.

"Mommy!"

"Mom..."

The two young Pokémon rushed forward tackling Tyranitar and Selene respectively, with Larvitar being caught in his mother's embrace and the fox successfully knocking the Gardevior down to the ground (or perhaps she took a dive) and started nuzzling her chest while her front paws wrapped around her neck in a hug and her six curled tails caressed her waist. "I knew you wouldn't abandon me." the fox Pokémon mumbled barely loud enough for Selene to hear it.

"Of course, my little Cinder. Neither me or James would ever do that." Selene cooed, returning her daughter's affection with a hug of her own. When she eventually let go and Cinder hopped off of her she got up and walked over to Kira and Rin, letting Tyranitar enjoy the moment with her son "Well, I guess we better let the others know we found something." she said right before raising one of her arms into the air. Electricity started arching around her raised fingers, condensing into a small sphere of yellow. She then loosed the stored energy skyward resulting in a large beam of condensed electricity towering above any landmarks near Fuji's Apple Orchard, let alone the town of Kouma.

When the electricity dissipated, Selene shook off any remaining charge of electricity she had left on her hand "well, they should be able to see that," Selene commented, seeing Cinder run around her saying how cool that was as well as noting Rin's astonished expression "shall we meet them at the gate?"

"Let's." Kira politely answered, hoisting the still stupefied earth pony over his shoulder and turning towards Tyranitar and Larvitar, still locked on an embrace "Meet up with us whenever you two are ready." he said, earning a simple nod in acknowledgement from the mother and child. With the search finished the four made their way to the front gate.