Equestrial Plains: Corrupted Parks

Chapters

Enter the Pokepark
Tales: Twitch
Alley Hoop
Tales: Evo

Enter the Pokepark

Spike covered his eyes so his eyes could get used to the light. Even though they spent no real time in the Reverse World, it had felt like a few weeks, and the Reverse World was much dimmer than the outside. Once his eyes stopped hurting, he lowered his arm and looked around. He was standing on a large dirt trail in the middle of a large forest with trees almost up to the clouds. Around him stood Blitzle, Ponyta, Sableye, Keldeo, Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity. Arbah, Victini, and Rainbow were in the air, and Pinkie was bouncing around in a large circle. Spike took a deep breath. The air smelled clean and had a rejuvenating feel to it that made Spike feel like he could take on Missingno all by himself. Arbah floated in front of the group and looked at them.

"Follow this path to reach the Meadow Zone. Once there, go talk to Shaymin to learn some more about the Zone and how it has been affected. Remember, keep us posted on how things are going by finding a reflective surface, and escape to the Reverse World whenever you need. Even if they are busy, I was told to keep my eyes on you at all times except when they are. Good luck!" Arbah then teleported back to the Reverse World, leaving a small bag behind.

"That was... informative." Spike grumbled. Arbah was fun to hang out with and talk to, but he just got so aggravating sometimes because of how much he teleported around. Not like it was his fault: he was a unique Abra that was capable of teleporting into and out of the Reverse World. Due to this, he had become Giratina's friend and helper, doing jobs and delivering messages for the Legendary. The bigger issue is that he must have been so used to Giratina knowing what he was talking about that he didn't explain half of what he said. "How it has been affected? Missingno made all the Pokemon violent and angry, right?"

"Not necessarily." Twilight sighed. "All Palkia said was that Missingno was 'driving Pokemon apart from each other'. Given how most Pokemon already love fighting, I don't think that being violent is what is being referred to." Twilight dug into the bag. Palkia had made a dimension inside to hold everything they would need or want to carry. It had the Elements of Harmony, way more food than any of them thought was necessary, a spare rope for Applejack, an extra party cannon, lots of berries, a few dozen hold items for the Pokemon, quills, ink, lots of scrolls, and a list of the Attractions. More than enough things for what they'll need, but with the words 'just in case' running through her head, she knew it would be worth it. Plus, that much stuff would normally weigh them down, so the whole 'dimensional inside' made things helpful.

Victini shrugged. "Maybe they're just mistrusting, or rude, or ignore each other, or something. Maybe it hasn't affected all Pokemon yet. Who knows?"

Blitzle smiled. "We will. Let's get moving. The sooner we get to the Meadow Zone, the sooner we can stop Missingno." Taking the lead, Blitzle galloped ahead at a very fast pace, but not as fast as he had been able to go on Equestria. He missed the amount of speed he had due to the magic. He was still really fast, but he couldn't move like lightning anymore. As he came to a loop around a large tree, he stopped and looked back. "I think that we're almost there."

Pinkie bounced over. "Hey, who's that Pokemon?" She pointed at a small rabbit that looked like Lopunny.

"It's Buneary!" Victini called. Upon hearing them, the Buneary turned.

"Oh, hi there. Are you going to the Pokepark?" She shook her head. "Well, you aren't going to get in. There's a Snorlax sleeping in front of the entrance and it won't wake up. I tried attacking it, but it didn't even flinch. Since we can't go in yet, do you want to play a Skill Game?"

"What's a Skill Game?" Rainbow looked expectantly at Twilight, who was bewildered.

"That's right! We never told you about Skill Games!" Victini yelled in alarm. "A Skill Game is the usual way that Pokemon makes friends in the Pokeparks. There's Chase, which is tag, hide-and-seek, battles, and Obstacle Hop, which often consists of running and jumping around a small obstacle course to get to the end. Some Pokemon only want to give you a Quiz, though, so pay attention to the Pokemon and places around you."

Buneary nodded. "Many Pokemon issue the Skill Game and won't be friends with those that lose, while others only need you to give them a challenge. No one's ever beaten Chesnaught in battle, but he's friends with any who actually decide to fight him. Well, no one in the Meadow Zone. I heard that he once fought Blaziken to a tie and only Charizard from the Granite Zone has ever beaten him. He isn't bitter about it, though. So, anyone for a game of Chase?" Buneary was immediately tackled by Rainbow and Blitzle, and Victini and Pinkie just jumped on the pile.

"Uh, you can get off her now." Fluttershy said, prompting the pile to stand up. To their immense surprise, Buneary wasn't there.

"Looking for me?" Buneary called. Looking around, they found her leaning against the tree. "I'm not the fastest Pokemon in the park, but I've learned to do quick dodges to avoid being caught or hit by an attack. What, you thought I was just going to run away from you? You're in for a rude awakening then. Most Pokemon in the Park don't just run away, because then it would be a race of who's faster. No, we like to make things harder. Me, I just dodge and jump really high. Some throw out attacks, others escape to somewhere you may need to Obstacle Hop towards and then run away when you get close, and the Aipom especially like to climb into trees, so if you can't knock them down, you lose." Buneary giggled. "Come on, you can still catch me." She jumped straight up to avoid Blitzle and kicked hard off the tree to avoid Rainbow. She landed next to Pinkie and slid under her legs as she made a move and did a jumping roundhouse kick on Victini to knock it away. She did a small hop to make Blitzle jump over her and then did a large one to leap past Ponyta. She then found herself lassoed around the waist.

"Gotcha!" Applejack tugged at the rope, dragging Buneary in. "I win."

"All you did was restrict my movement to a smaller area. You tag me to win." Buneary jumped right at Applejack and ended up going right into her hat, knocking it off. While Applejack was distracted with her hat, Buneary goaded Rainbow into flying at her and used the rope to crash her into Applejack, removing her grip on the rope. Buneary quickly untied the lasso and jumped over Spike and Sableye. "Nice try!" Keldeo swung its sword, and Buneary ducked it and jumped backwards. As she landed, she felt a tap on her back. Looking behind her, she saw Fluttershy.

"I got you, I think. Do I need to tackle you or was the tap okay?" Fluttersy smiled.

"How'd you do it?" Buneary was both surprised and impressed. "I thought I would have avoided you."

"I just saw how you jumped away from Keldeo and guessed where you'd land. You jumped high, so it was, um, kind of easy." Buneary laughed.

"Not the first time that happened to me, honestly. You guys are good at this other than my dodging. Let's be friends and do this again some time."

Applejack pushed herself up. "Sounds good to me. How do you suppose we move that Snorlax?" Ponyta used Flamethrower, but Snorlax stayed sleeping.

"Maybe with an electrical shock!" Blitzle used Wild Charge, but ended up bouncing off of Snorlax's side and getting flung into the tree. "Or... maybe not. Ow." Applejack and Pinkie tried to knock it up with either a buck or a party cannon, but they didn't do anything.

"Having fun, or should I just do it?" Victini asked from Twilight's head.

"Get off my head!" Twilight shook Victini off, and jumped up and down a few times to get rid of the energy Victini gave her. "How are you so sure you can do it?"

"Easy." Victini flew over and put a hand on Snorlax. "Wait for it... wait for it..."

"YAAAAAAAWN." Snorlax rubbed his eyes. "I must've overslept. I'm more energized than I usually am."

"No, I just gave you energy." Snorlax looked down a bit and saw Victini.

"Oh, thank you. I came out here to greet Buneary, but she might have gone in already." Snarlax turned to the entrance. "Maybe another day."

"I couldn't go in, you were in the way." Buneary called up.

"Was I? Strange. I thought I slept right by the tree. Oh well, must have rolled." Snorlax let out another yawn. "Hello Buneary, I would guess that your friends are waiting for you."

"You're right! I woke up later than usual! They must be so worried!" Buneary began hopping through the entrance. "I'm here guys! I'm here!"

"I guess I'll head back to the Cavern Zone." Snorlax began to walk into the Park. "Maybe I'll grab a Big Berry." As he disapeared from view, Twilight closed her eyes.

"Alright. The Meadow Zone is just ahead. We need to find Shaymin who will explain everything we need to know." She turned to Keldeo. "You do know what Shaymin looks like, right?"

Keldeo nodded. "It looks like a small green bush with two flowers on it at the minimum. If it's happy, then more flowers appear. Well, usually." Before giving Twilight a chance to ask for clarification, it started walking towards the entrance. "Come on, we have a Meadow Zone to get to." Not needing to be told twice, they all followed Keldeo down the path out of the forest and into the Meadow Zone.

As they walked into the Meadow Zone, they saw that it seemed peaceful. There was a battle going on between a large green insect and a purple monkey with two tails that ended in hands, a pink deer chased a small dog-like creature with leaves on it, but other than that nothing really strange was going on. Spotting Buneary talking to a few small squirrels and a brown puppy, they walked over. Buneary turned and smiled.

"Hi!" Buneary yelled with its friends. "I'm glad you didn't get lost. These are my friends, the Pachirisu brothers, Emolga, and Lillipup."

"We made a new friend yesterday after you left." Lillipup shook some grass next to him. Hidden behind the grass was a small bush. "Wake up already." The bush moved a little, and then uncurled revealing a small creature.

"I'm Shaymin. It's nice to meet you." Shaymin rubbed its eyes and yawned. "Sorry, I was busy last night. A strong wind blew a load of volcanic smoke and ash into the Meadow Zone, and I was absorbing it so the Zone wasn't poisoned. It took a while, and since it was night I had to get help from Butterfree to intercept it early." It looked at Fluttershy who had somehow gotten an inch from its face. "Um... hi there."

"You're so cute! You look like a green hedgehog!"

"Well, I am. Specifically, I'm a hedgehog." Twilight and Keldeo groaned. Shaymin couldn't help but laugh at their reaction. "Mew thinks it's cleverer than it really is."

"Shaymin, has anything strange been happening in the Meadow Zone?" Victini asked. "Other than the increase in Legendary appearances." Catching on, Shaymin nodded.

"Lots of Pokemon here are being kind of aloof. Not too much, but enough to be strange. Venusaur had a big fight with his friends Blaziken and Empoleon, and has completely cut the Meadow Zone off from the Meeting Place and the rest of the Pokepark. He also banned playing the attractions." Shaymin looked sad. "Makes things difficult, right?"

"Closed the attractions?" Buneary cried. "But I love Bulbasaur's Daring Dash! We're so good at it!" Emolga landed next to her friend.

"Don't worry. A nice Pokemon named Jirachi went to talk with him about it. Bulbasaur isn't happy about it either, and has been discussing it with this really scary Pokemon by the Attraction Sign. Come on, let's go talk to them." Emolga started flying away, causing Buneary to follow. Sableye and Spike shrugged and followed with the others.

"-and that's when I unleashed my Fire Blast attack. They didn't stand a chance." A large brown lion-like creature stood by a Bulbasaur about a third of its size. It looked up as a large group approached, as did Bulbasaur.

"Oh, you guys again. I told you, I really shouldn't let anyone run my Attraction, Venusaur's orders. Keep us safe and all, you know?" Bulbasaur sighed. "I don't have to like it, but until I'm told otherwise..." He trailed off as the lion put a paw in front of him.

"Hold. Is that Victini and Keldeo I see?" Its stoic face softened into a smile. "It is. So this is the group Jirachi has told me about, is it?" When Victini nodded, it closed its eyes. "I see. In that case, I suppose I will have to pull rank. Bulbasaur, open the attraction not on the orders of Venusaur, leader of the Meadow Zone, but on the command of Entei, the Legendary Volcano Pokemon."

Bulbasaur blinked a few times, and then gave a small smile. "Well, can't argue with that. Venusaur might, but I can't. So," Bulbasaur looked back at the group. "in order to play Bulbasaur's Daring Dash, we need teams of four. Do you guys all want to play?"

"Oh, don't worry. We have a plan." Emolga smirked as she flew up. The Pachurisu brothers sent electricity upwards to Emolga, who sent electricity around herself in a sphere. After a few seconds, she flew back down. "We made a signal for when you re-opened the Attraction." Not long after, many Pokemon came over.

Bulbasaur couldn't help but laugh. "Alright then. Make your teams."

"Hold up!" A large green insect walked over. "Venusaur forbid the Attraction from being played. Bulbasaur, you know this. You can't do this."

Keldeo walked over. "Come on, Blades. You're only saying that because you don't want us to know ho much you like the attraction, and you don't want anyone else to play it when you can't. You follow the rules too much." Blades didn't show any reaction, so Keldeo chuckled. "You're just mad that I beat you in our last fight."

"It wasn't a fair fight! I was tired from running the Daring Dash!" Blades fumed. "You had just arrived and you didn't wait for the countdown to end before you attacked!"

"Which I admitted. Good to know you're still as easy to anger as before." Keldeo smiled as Blades realised what had happened. "Come on Blades, run the attraction. Me, you, Leafy, and Ribbon, just like old times."

Blades sighed and gave a smile. "Alright. But we're having a rematch after, got it?"

Keldeo gave a huge grin. "Absolutely." It turned to Twilight's amazed look. "I've been to the Pokeparks before, so has Victini. We know some of these Pokemon."

"Alright, I need to know the teams." Bulbasaur looked overjoyed that so many wanted to participate.

"Scyther, Keldeo, Sylveon, Leafeon."

"Pachirisu, Lillipup, Buneary, Pachirisu."

"Caterpie, Magikarp, Weedle, Shroomish."

"Aipom, Aipom, Aipom, Aipom."

"Ambipom, Sceptile, Vigoroth, Persian."

"Blitzle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie." Blitzle looked at the named three. "You okay with that?" All three nodded in approval.

"Accelgor, Jolteon, Weavile, Greninja."

"Minccino, Pikachu, Tauros, Electrike."

"Enough!" Bulbasaur cut off any other teams from entering. "The eight spots have been filled. Does anyone not know how to play Bulbasaur's Daring Dash?" Pinkie raised her hoof. "Alright. This is a relay race, where your team of four races around the track once each. You can't go until being tagged, and each runner needs to complete a lap. Yes, we can tell if you only do three, Aipom. Decide your order, and get ready to go." Bulbasaur began walking away. "Oh, the track is this way."

"We may be slow, but we have fun!" Caterpie was giving a 'rousing' speech to its team. "What we lack in speed, we make up for in determination! Let's go!" Its team seemed into it, but points for effort don't translate into speed.

"Blades, take an early lead. Pass it to sis, and I'll go third. Keldeo, use your water pumps hoof skill. We will win this!" Sylveon was better at planning than Caterpie. The Aipom were just jumping around, and Buneary was debating which Pachirisu should run first.

"Okay, which one of us takes the longest to get up to speed when running?" Rainbow raised her hoof and Blitzle nodded. "Be first. I'll go second, and Pinkie-"

"I'll be last!" Pinkie bounced around happily.

"Okay then. Applejack, be third. Remember, we don't need to win this to get that Prism Piece charged up, we just need to make sure that everyone is having fun. Winning is a nice bonus, though." Victini flew over and sat on Blitzle's head looking worried.

"I have a bad feeling about that team with a Weavile on it. They aren't from the Meadow Zone."

"Victini, what does that have to do with anything?" Applejack shook her head. "We aren't from the Meadow Zone either, but that isn't stopping us from participating."

"Yeah, but didn't Venusaur lock the Meadow Zone down so that no one could come in." Victini glanced back at the team. "Jolteon usually are in the Granite Zone, Accelgor hang out in the Cavern Zone, Greninja are usually in the Haunted or Beach Zones, and Weavile are in Cavern, Haunted, or Iceberg Zone, but never in the Meadow or Lava Zones. I may not be listing the Areas they are usually in, but that shouldn't matter now. One or two of them being here I can understand, but all four of them here? This isn't normal." Victini flew over to the sidelines as Applejack and Blitzle shared uneasy looks.

"Okay, go to the start line!" Bulbasaur looked excited to have his Attraction run again. He nodded to Entei, who waited until Weedle, Rainbow, Jolteon, Pachirisu, Blades, Aipom, Ambipom, and Minccino had stepped up.

"Bulbasaur's Daring Dash is about to begin." Entei looked at Bulbasaur, who nodded happily. "3. 2. 1. GO!" Everyone took off running at high speed... other than Weedle. Blitzle saw this and laughed as he stepped to the line.

"Nice try Weedle, but we all know you're faster than that. Now stop fooling around and run!" Weedle actually picked up speed and, while not as fast as the other runners, was moving at a reasonable pace. Magikarp flopped over to its lane and looked at Blitzle.

"Thank you for that. Usually the other teams and the crowd cheer even though we're always the last ones, which makes losing feel good. The last time we raced, right before Venusaur closed the Meadow Zone down and banned the Attraction, this one team started booing and jeering at us and somehow got the rest of the crowd to do it as well. It... really hurt. When you started laughing, we all thought it was going to start again. I saw Weedle start to slow down and turn to leave the track, but when you finished it started going faster than I've ever seen. I... We can't do anything to thank you enough."

"Actually..." Blitzle glanced back down the track before looking right at Magikarp. "There's something you can do for me, and it's basically what I did for you. Be nice and friendly to everything that comes into the Meadow Zone, and make it as welcoming as it once was. Sound fair?"

"Absolutely."

Rainbow took off running, leaving any worry behind as she focused on her hooves hitting the dirt track and propelling her forward at a high speed. She glanced to side and saw Aipom and Ambipom were each running with bananas in their tails, eating as they ran. In her head, that seemed similar to how Ahuizotl was described, and wondered if A.K. Yearling had somehow met the monkeys and used them as inspiration. Before she could keep thinking in that direction, she heard the crackle of electricity directly to her left, and slowed down for a second as Jolteon sent a bolt of lightning across the field and hitting Blades. "HEY! What was that about?" Jolteon merely growled and sent another bolt at her, which she avoided by accelerating. "Alright, Victini was right about your team. Hey Blades, do you have any ranged attacks?"

"Only my friends can call me Blades. But yes, I do." Blades fired off a Razor Wind. "Ambipom, Aipom, help me out here." Jolteon jumped another Razor Wind, but was hit by Swift.

"Thanks Scyther." Rainbow spread her wings, still running but using them to increase her speed. She sprinted down the track with the battle raging on close behind her. Spotting the finish line, she clenched her teeth and focused on getting to Blitzle. She tagged him by putting her hoof right into his nose. "GO!"

"Don't need to tell me twice." Blitzle ran off, and Rainbow took to the air, performing a loop and performing a high-speed tackle right into Jolteon, although not preventing it from tagging Weavile.

"What are you doing?" Bulbasaur ran over the the fighting duo. Using Vine Whip, he separated the two. "No fighting, you could interrupt the race!"

"This team doesn't care about the race!" Blades lunged at Jolteon, who ran under him and hit him with Double Kick before firing Pin Missile. Ponyta backed away and used Flamethrower to intercept the attack, while Twilight caught it with magic.

"Gotcha!" Twilight didn't miss the fact that Jolteon was about to attack with electricity, and moved out of the way even as the lighting changed direction right into the waiting Electrike. "What? Why did you attack him?"

"It didn't mean to." Electrike ran over. "I have the ability Lightning Rod, so Electric type attacks always hit me and make me more powerful."

"That's useful." Twilight made a shield to block a Pin Missile. "Do me a favor, and electrocute Jolteon's team as you run." Electrike nodded and ran to the line, where it was tagged by Pikachu.

"Burn!" Victini shot a fireball at where Jolteon had been held by Twilight. Bulbasaur dived for cover as Jolteon was hit. "Twilight! Behind you!"

Twilight caught Weavile mid-lunge. "Nice try, but I'm not a Psychic type, nor is this a Psychic move. You're not getting out of this." Twilight flashed a smile before being slammed into by Greninja, dropping her telekinesis. Weavile lunged again but Blades was faster.

"Pick on someone your own style." The two began slashing at each other, Weavile unable to use superior agility to its advantage as Blades was able to keep up and block it at every slice. Jolteon was using speed to avoid attacks until Buneary drop-kicked it.

"Who said Jump Kick had to be vertical?" Buneary began using Pound with her ears to pin Jolteon to a tree. "Pachirisu, go!" Pachirisu tackled Jolteon and used Super Fang and Hyper Fang.

"Blitzle, what are you doing? Fight!" Ponyta sent another Flamethrower at Accelgor. "I can't keep up with him on my own, and Pinkie is already running. You shouldn't worry about it!"

"There are Volt Absorb and Lightning Rod Pokemon here, I wouldn't be of much use. Accelgor dodges every physical attack I try." Blitzle Flame Charged forward, which Accelgor dodged, jumping right into a Flamethrower.

"You can definitely help someone else then." Ponyta used Flame Charge into Accelgor. "Don't stand looking impressed, catch Greninja before it comes back around."

Blitzle glanced up and saw Pinkie crossing the line. "How the- most teams haven't started the fourth lap! Are we just that fast?" He blinked and Pinkie was somehow already on top of Accelgor shouting 'TAG!' and 'Catch me if you can!'. "Maybe I shouldn't worry about it." Greninja charged for Fluttershy while she wasn't paying attention, but mid-jump it slowed down, covered in webbing.

"Eat String Shot, cheater!" Weedle yelled as Caterpie joined it in firing the string to catch Greninja. "You almost stepped on me as I tagged Magikarp!" Greninja tried to pull the strings off, but only ended up tying itself in a knot.

"A stopped water type I need to hit? Sounds like fun." Blitzle used Wild Charge and slammed right into Greninja. After Blades sliced through Weavile, Ponyta and Pinkie blasted Accelgor, and Jolteon was kicked by Buneary again, the four turned into the dark mist signifying them as Missingno's Glitched Pokemon. Instead of the mist dissolving as it had before, it reformed into a shadowy version of a large Pokemon with two large teeth.

"This is Raikou, one of my fellow beasts." Entei stepped forward. "Or rather, this is his form. Missingno is trying to use a Legendary to stop you on your quest. Do not let him succeed." Entei and Glitch Raikou charged at each other.

"I'm not going to do nothing!" Blitzle ran towards the fight. "Come on, this is our fight. For the Pokepark!"

"FOR THE POKEPARK!" A number of Pokemon ran towards the point of impact as if the Meadow Zone itself was joining the fight, but as Entei and Raikou collided, a strange portal appeared and sucked everyone into it. Looking around, they found that they were in some strange dimension.

"Oh, it isn't Raikou's turn yet. I called first dibs." Looking at the voice, they found a dark figure of about Mew's size. It had two horns and held a ring in each hand. "I think I shouldn't have bothered though. You don't look too strong." It juggled the rings for a second before giving a toothy grin, revealing spiked teeth. "Let's play a game. It's called 'Ring Around the Enemies'. If I catch you in one of my rings, you lose. If you lose, well let's just say you don't want that." It then threw one of its rings at the group, which expanded as it flew. "Fair warning: I've never failed to catch all my foes."

"Tell us about some of the stranger Pokemon you've come across. It might be nice to hear some off the more out-there Pokemon because, according to Giratina, the Pokemon in the Pokepark aren't exactly normal. So by knowing the extremes we can try and prepare for the Pokemon we will meet."

"Who do you want to hear about first? Evo, Copy, Atmos, Energy... Geez, I know a lot strange Pokemon."

"What about some of my friends? There's Twitch, Coney, Egg, and that's only a few. I'm not even counting the trainers or groups of Pokemon yet like the Puzzlers or the Fighter's Assembly."

"That's all? What about all the Teams we know that seem odd even for Rescue Team standards? Team Rival, Team Honey, Team Soundwave, Team Grapple. First four off my head."

"Ooh, lots of choices. Which should we choose?"

"Meh, I don't care. As long as they're cool, that's fine with me."

Author's Note

All cliffhangers aside, that last question was one to the readers. As this story will be taking an extended hiatus so I can get several chapters ahead (so if I can't write for an extended period of time I can still post), I want to know who you want to hear about. From these choices or your submissions (check THIS blog for information), I will be introducing side characters, teams, and groups. On this chapter or through private messaging, however, please let me know which one of these choices I've left you with you would like to hear about more. I mean, all you know are their names! Wouldn't you like to know about such cool characters like Twitch or Evo?

Something I need to talk about is the formatting. During these chapters are going to be assorted flashbacks to the time in the reverse world. These time zone changes will be using two Horizontal Rules, like how scene changes in a linear timeline are with one Horizontal Rule. Notably, this means that the hyphen lines from Equestrial Plains will be changed into Horizontal Rules. If you don't like it, let me know and I'll try to find an alternative. During the hiatus between this chapter and the next one, the ask blog will be updated so please ask questions there. Any other questions should be asked here or in private messaging, so feel free to ask me pretty much anything. Have a good one.

-Deku

Tales: Twitch

"Victini, you mentioned someone named Twitch before we came through the portal," Twilight said. "And you just mentioned it again. Mind telling us who you're referring to?"

"An excellent choice to hear about! Twitch is.. well... huh. In order for you to understand it, first I'd have to explain to you a lot of things like computers, streaming, and Porygon. How best to go about that?"

Ponyta coughed, getting Victini's attention. "A better question is, why is a Psychic type asking that question?"

Victini paused, and then connected face with palm. "Right. Silly me. Prepare your brains, guys." Victini began to distribute information about computers, the internet, and how Porygon are connected to Cyberspace which, according to Twitch, required the capitalization. Twilight was practically hyperventilating with excitement by the end.

"How do they work? What spells do they use? What kind of power source-"

"With a combination of coding, electricity, and satellites, none because our world doesn't have magic, and electricity." Victini interrupted. "But that's not important. What's important is how they're used. You see, computers can be used to communicate with people anywhere else on the planet, play games with them, and any number of things. Twitch likes to stream - that's live-stream, meaning it shows a recording as it happens. Think like if you sent a picture to Princess Celestia, but it doesn't stay still and instead shows what's going on through the camera's lens - playing games. That would be rather boring and admittedly pretty much the same as most streamers with one major difference. You see, it has been modified so that what it sees can be displayed on LiveGameStreamer.com, the website we use to stream. While streaming, the video is usually accompanied by Chat, which is where those watching can chat about what's going on. Sometimes, the streamer reads them, sometimes they don't. Rarely do they actively influence the game, but Twitch takes that to a whole new level. You see, another mod that Twitch has is one that sends Chat straight to it as well. It also has mods that allow it to change how much Chat influences its behavior, form not at all to complete control. This 'Twitch Plays Game' or 'Chat Plays Game' or 'Chat Plays Twitch' thing has led its channel to become fairly popular, especially within the dedicated members of Chat. In fact, that's how I met Twitch in the first place."

You see, I had a stream of my own at the time. Still do, in fact. My username is StarOfVictory. My gimmick, aside from always winning, was that I set various win conditions every time, like 'I will only capture your pieces with a Knight'. I could be beaten, sure, but not at what I set out to do. In that way, I was sometimes called a cheater when playing online with someone who didn't know who I was. A really good example of just how far someone can go against me with my win conditions is when I say that 'I won't lose a single round' while playing a fighting game.

"Oh my. Is that really safe?"

Fluttershy, calm down. It's just characters on a screen, no one is actually getting hurt. Anyways, this one guy - who I later found out was the World Champion - he didn't win a single round, as that would involve me losing. But he managed to get me down to the tiniest sliver of health every single round and, one time, managed to make it a tie.

"Health? You mean like hit points in Role Playing Games?"

Wait, You have those here?

"Yeah, Ogres and Oubliettes."

Sounds like Grottoes and Goodra. Remind me to play that with you when we have free time, Twilight. I want to know the differences and similarities.

"Don't worry Twilight, I already put it on the list. Any other good examples?"

Yeah. The game was Chess, and the condition was win. I was having fun on this online chess website under the name 'Deepest Blue', as a reference to one of the greatest chess playing programs ever coded. Someone in my chat dared me to search for a certain username, 'Twitch'. I think you can guess who that was. I challenged 'Twitch', who accepted. We played, and it kept making silly moves and I kept outmanuvering it, but once in a while it would surprise me - and almost scare me - with a really smart move from out of the blue, and put me in check. I won the first round easy, but this "Twitch" was beginning to seem like a threat: I couldn't predict it, and it seemed to hide skill behind supposedly bad moves. I got suspicious pretty quickly, but dismissed it as a new player.

The second round, it got smart. It was as if it had changed gears entirely. It was at this point I thought to look up Twitch on the streaming site, and that was a good idea. I found out his secret; this round, only two people were really giving moves, and both were really good moves. Sometimes someone else said a move, but not very often. I won, naturally, but it was a much closer match.

Before the third game, I made Chat stop with one sentence. I said, word-for-word, 'I will take every last one of your pieces. Then, and only then, will I allow you to be mated'. Chat, once they recovered from the shock that Victini just posted in chat, went crazy at the fact that the opponent who they were fighting was Victini. Twitch didn't seem all that fazed, and it later told me that it had checked my web history and used that to figure out who I was. All it said was 'Bring it on, one-on-one'.

That third round was just me and Twitch, no chat influence. They were watching, sure, and sometimes Twitch humored them by taking a suggestion or two, but they weren't in direct control. Heck, the earlier matches it just chose one of the moves, but it could have ignored them. Let me tell you something, that Porygon-Z is insanely good at chess, possibly because, while we played, it was downloading the code for Deep Blue, Deeper Blue, Deep Fritz, and Hydreigon, some of the best Chess-playing computers ever made, running them through itself, its computer, and my computer. Using them, it was able to analyze every single possible game from each point, saw each program make the choice of what move, and then selected a move from either those choices or its own. I won with it only having its king left, as I claimed, but I only had my king and a rook left.

After that point, the respect was large and mutual. We became friends fast, and proceeded to play games and do other challenges together, with varying degrees of chat influence and success. Our streams became friendly rivals, with viewers of both watching the other.

"Somewhere along the line, I Favored Twitch. After that point, games that Twitch Plays tended to get played a lot better, or at least a lot funnier." Victini giggled.

"I don't mean to intrude, but what do you mean by Favored? Is that a Pokemon thing we haven't been told about?" Rarity looked to Sableye, who shrugged.

"First I've heard of it." Ponyta raised an eyebrow at Victini. "Care to share the knowledge?"

"You I can understand." Victini pointed at Rarity. "You and your partner, however, need to know this. You two have no excuse, especially seeing as you're heavily favored by Reshiram and Zekrom."

Keldeo stood. "That would explain being able to use their special attacks. I didn't think about that. That would explain most of it."

"That's how I figured it out in the first place. I'm surprised you didn't. Hey, aren't you supposed to be the Pokemon with all the facts in this group?"

"Hey! It's not like I've Favored anyone myself. How would I know what-"

"Ahem?" Twilight raised an eyebrow, and was as confused and unamused by the argument as everyone else. Well, except for Pinkie. She appeared to be extremely interested in the debate.

Victini grinned sheepishly. "Right. Explanations. Legendary Pokemon have the ability to Favor others, often when the Favored has skills, goals, or abilities that have similarities to that of the Legend or, in some cases, just highly amuse them. Twitch falls under both categories."

"When one is Favored, they gain skills, traits, or powers relating to the one who Favored them." Keldeo pointed a hoof at Blitzle and Ponyta. "Examples include the Trailblazers here, they can use the signature moves of Zekrom and Reshiram. There's also this Smeargle, the Painter Pokemon, Favored by Arceus himself, and it has the power to-"

"No no no, Keldeo!" Victini interrupted. "That one isn't Favored, that one was created by Arceus himself! Of course he has abilities other Smeargle don't have!" Victini put a hand to its chin in thought. "There's that many-time memory champ, they say that he's Favored by Uxie... Eh, probably just a joke though."

"Who would you favor, Keldy?" Pinkie asked before blinking. "Keldy... I like it!"

"Uh...not sure. Probably someone who could best or otherwise match me in honorable bladed combat." He turned to Twilight. "And if I see him again, maybe your brother. Hey Victini, how do you Favor someone?"

"I... Hehehe... I don't remember."

"What of Twitch?" asked Rarity.

"It and Chat became a lot more coherent when playing games together... or doing anything together, for that matter. Chalk it up to the Streamer and Twitch getting better programming, or to chat getting better at doing things together, or to Twitch being Favored, or any of those causing each other - whatever it is, everyone benefits."

"So... what is Twitch doing right now?" asked Blitzle.

"Good question. Their time is pretty much stopped in comparison to us, though, so even if we saw it they wouldn't continue until Dialga resumes time. I think Arceus, Mew, and Celebi are capable of moving through normal time, and maybe any that Dialga or Celebi Favored if it was due to something involving time, but that's it."

Victini huffed. "You take the fun out of things, Keldeo. Not all the time, but this time, at least." Pinkie proceeded to collapse in a fit of laughter with Victini joining in immediately after, leaving all the others to wonder what had happened.

Cyberspace is a weird place. Few can truly understand how it all fits together. Fewer can travel through it to get to a specific location. Luckily for Twitch, it was one of those lucky few who could. Geez Twitch, when you warned me that Cyberspace is bad on the eyes, I didn't think you meant it like this. Twitch chose not to respond, instead continuing along a path it knew like it knew the exact coding of the Streaming Modification, which is to say perfectly. Several minutes passed, and Twitch saw the chat discuss what could have happened to their friend,
Could Victini be sick?
Doubtful. Victini doesn't really get sick, and could have easily recovered by now.
Even if it was sick, Victini could at least post something or let us know.
Yeah. It hasn't even made a post on anything lately.
I can't think of anything that could have happened that would have prevented Victini from doing something.
Twitch, what's your ETA?

"Declaration: Arriving at Liberty Island now." Twitch exited the computer and changed back from code into a physical body. Looking around, it didn't see anything. Looking around, Anthony's voice said what everyone was thinking. What the- Where's Victini? Looking back at the computer, Twitch sent a foot into the computer once more. "Strange... the computer has been idle for several weeks now. Victini hasn't just done nothing online, judging by the dust it has done nothing offline either." A website pulled up on the stream, merely at a corner of Twitch's vision. "According to the height, Victini hasn't done anything at all for several weeks. This corresponds perfectly with the computer's information." Having determined that an issue was, in fact, real, Twitch looked around to see if Victini had redecorated. Several posters for new games were hanging, the large pile of video games and board games had grown even larger, and a skateboard was sitting on the bed. Examining it, Twitch got an idea. "Query: Hey dudes, wanna go skateboards?" Laughs filled chat as Twitch turned around to see if there was a clue as to Victini's location. Something it missed, something it didn't consider. It knew there had to be something, and expected that something would just make sense if it looked at it correctly.

Absolutely no one expected a note to be taped to the computer screen.

"I- What- How the- ERROR! ERROR! DOES NOT COMPUTE!" Twitch was completely flabbergasted, and if chat was any indication, so was everyone else.
How the heck did that get there?
Someone explain this! Did we all just straight-up miss that being there?
Twitch, are you sure you aren't stuck in some kind of 'escape the room' game?

Looking carefully at the note, Twitch read it aloud. "So, you have come looking for Victini. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised that you would. Victini is out on a dangerous mission at this time. if you so wish, you can attempt to assist it. Be warned. You would be going up against a foe who may be capable of controlling you completely. Due to your nature, however, you may hold a large advantage in a fight against it. Do you wish to proceed?" Lower on the paper, there were two choices with the words 'Circle One'. Well... that's not something you see every day. What are your thoughts, Twitch? "I'm not sure. Chat seems to think we should, but perhaps that is only the vocal portion. All right, let's put it to vote. Find Victini or not? Check chat for a link to the vote." Several minutes pass before Twitch checks the results. "Not a single one of you voted not to. I'm glad that we're on the same page." Twitch turned to the paper, grabbing one of Victini's pencils and circled 'YES'. The paper dissapeared, and a portal appeared in front of the computer. Twitch flew around it, and checked with chat. "Any change in stream quality?"
Nothing.
I'm not having any issues.

Signal isn't losing strength on my end, buddy. You're good to go. With the final confirmation, Twitch entered the portal.

Author's Note

Apologies are in order. Some of you may have seen the unfinished state of the next story chapter due to a mis-click. That was, as stated, unfinished, but also unedited. It will be posted once I have a set of chapters that I can say "Alright, if I fall behind again I won't lose too much time between posts". I was mostly done with this, so I figured I'd finish up fast and send it out with my apologies. So, yeah, that happened. I promise that I'll be more careful. Otherwise you may find out that they fight |NAME REDACTED| before there's been a proper buildup. Have a good one.

-Deku

Hey, can anyone guess why the streamer's name is Anthony? No, really, I want to know if anyone can guess it. Hint: It has something to do with some of what Twitch does. Mind you, that hint might be making things worse if you get focused on the wrong things, but it might help.

Hey look, there's an ask blog that you can use to ask the characters questions!

Alley Hoop

"Those rings are portals! Get out of the way!" Victini let out a psychic pulse that shoved everyone outward and away from the ring. "This is a copy of Hoopa." Victini dropped to the ground and ducked the ring. As the ring stopped over it, it shot forward so the ring didn't catch it.

Twilight teleported away from another ring, ending up right by Keldeo. "What's the plan?"

Keldeo looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"This so-called 'game' isn't going to end until we're all caught. if we can knock it into its own rings, or take it out in battle, we might be able to get back." Twilight sent a magical blast at one of the rings, but it just went into the portal. "So, what's the battle plan?"

"Alright. Hoopa's Confined Form is a Psychic-Ghost type, and we can't count on its usual personality to give us any openings. Those rings can't pull you in, so the only danger is actually passing through the ring. That doesn't stop Hoopa from pushing you in, or the rings passing around you on their own. The main weakness of those portals is that the rings are still solid, meaning they can be attacked or grabbed. A battle plan is attacking with Ghost or Dark Type attacks as they are super effective, or with pretty much anything that isn't Normal, Fighting, Psychic, or Poison, as Hoopa resists those Types. Special attacks deal less damage than an equally powerful Physical attack, so use Physical attacks when possible." Keldeo shot water out of its hooves to launch itself over one of the rings. Twilight caught the ring in her magic, but it began pushing against her. She grunted and sent an explosive magical bolt at the ring, catching its solid portion and knocking it across the area, where it shrank down to the bracelet size it had been before.

"What? How did you do that? My rings shouldn't be able to be stopped!" Glitch Hoopa flew to the ring with a shocked expression, picking it up without seeing Blitzle jump over it with the other ring following him. The ring passed around Glitch Hoopa, but the portal stopped before touching it and reappeared after passing around it. Glitch Hoopa looked up at the looks of surprise. "What, you thought that it was going to be fair? That I was dumb enough to give you a chance? I saw it coming and just removed the portal temporarily." It used the ring around its midsection to warp to a different part of the area, where it fired a Shadow Ball right at Entei, catching it the face and knocking it back toward a portal. Another hit from Shadow Ball and the back half of Entei had been knocked into the portal, and despite Entei's speed the ring was matching it and starting to outspeed it to put the rest of Entei on the other side of the portal. Glitch Hoopa laughed, floating in front of Entei. "Well, looks like you just lost a Legendary Pokemon!"

"Don't count me out yet." Entei growled. "I have two very good reasons to believe I'm not done yet. One is that you should never assume that a Battle is over until the other side can no longer fight." Glitch Hoopa laughed at Entei.

"You're almost entirely through the portal. I fail to see how you have a chance to continue. But for curiosities's sake, what is the other reason?" Entei smirked as flames began to ignite all over its fur.

"Extreme Speed and Flare Blitz." Glitch Hoopa gasped and tried to use Shadow Ball, but Entei had already slammed head-first into it. Entei used Bite followed by Fire Blast, causing major damage and knocking Glitch Hoopa back. "Never count a Pokemon out until they are really and truly out or they fully surrender. Even then, do not drop your guard." Entei looked at Keldeo. "I'm the substitute teacher for now."

"That's not funny!" Keldeo sliced at another ring, sending it spinning. "We need a way to get back."

"Can you hurry it up?" Blades was being chased by one of the rings. "I don't know how long we all can keep this up." Keldeo saw that he was right. Buneary was getting closer and closer to being caught, and both Leafeon and Sylveon were slowing down a little. The only ones who didn't mind were Ambipom and the four Aipom, and they were just swinging around the rings, easily avoiding the portals by abusing the fact that they could grab the rings. Sceptile, Vigoroth, Pikachu, Tauros, Electrike, and Persian were in a circle, fighting off any rings coming for them, scattering when a ring came down and grouping back up whenever possible. They were slowing down and their attacks were getting less powerful. Even Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie were starting to get tired despite the fact that the rings weren't chasing them very often. In fact, Keldeo noticed that there were a lot more rings than usual chasing them around... and some of them were golden as opposed to grey. It wasn't certain what that meant.

"Okay, time for a plan. Twilight, hold the water flat, like a lake's surface." Keldeo used Water Gun, and Twilight caught the water with her magic and held it flat. "Victini, try to contact the Reverse World. If anyone can get us out of this, it's Palkia." Victini nodded and began trying to force a connection to the Reverse World.

"Come on Arbah. You said you'd be watching..." Victini lost concentration when a loud ringing sound like a school bell runs through its head.

Testing, testing. Are you there, Victini?

"Who're you? Wait-" Who're you?

Palkia asked for our aid in the Pokepark on Giratina's request. It was also Palkia who told me what Telepathic Frequency to use to find you.

Does that mean you're in the Meadow Zone?

Yes. I'll teleport to you now.

"NO WAIT! DON'T DO THAT!" Victini shouted, confusing everyone else. I'll bring my group to you. Is there an open area of ground in front of you?

Of about 100 feet by 40 feet, yes.

Good. Hold on a second. Victini looked up and grinned. "Twilight, help me out here." Twilight looked confused until Victini began pulling everyone but Glitch Hoopa in. When they were all together, Victini sent an absolutely massive ball of fire at Glitch Hoopa from three directions, forcing it to pull its rings to itself to block the fire. As one went past, however, it psychically grabbed it. Pulling the ring along, it kept the ring held above the group. Victini stood on Twilight as the portal in the ring began wavering, like the connection was unstable. The portal suddenly solidified and Victini slammed it down on the group.

Twilight was the first to recover from the teleportation between dimensions. Looking around, her jaw almost hit the floor. "Whoa."

"This is the Reverse World. Arbah, help them get accustomed to the physics of this dimension. Once that is done, help them get over to where my brothers and I are." Dialga flew across the vast emptiness, moving around floating landmasses. Rainbow laughed as it left.

"Really? I don't need to relearn how to fly. Let me know when you catch up." Rainbow took off after Dialga, not realizing that gravity had thrown a harsh look in her direction and demanded to know what she thought she was doing. Due to this, she fell up and slammed into the ceiling. "What the heck? How did I fall up?"

"The Reverse World is very different than the Real World, and thus has very different rules." Victini said, flying up to Rainbow. "Why are you upside down?"

"I'm not upside down! You're upside down!" Rainbow looked up at her friends below her. "Wait. How am I standing here when they're standing there?"

"Like Dialga implied, physics are weird here." Keldeo called up. "Look." He sent a stream of water straight ahead, and as it traveled it fell don, curved back up, moved to the sides, and split into smaller streams to fall in different directions onto different landmasses. "I've never been in here, but Cobalion said that gravity is usually normal, as long as you ignore the fact that it changes directions. Victini and Arbah shouldn't be affected by it because they float in a way unaffected by gravity, but we need to figure out how to jump between these islands."

"Essentially, yes. It shouldn't be too hard, but each single spot tends to have its own gravity, so rely on jumping or floating, not flying." Arbah floated over to a landmass. "Make your way over here." Twilight levitated Spike, Fluttershy, and Rarity over one-by-one while Victini carried Sableye and Blitzle, Keldeo, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Ponyta jumped. After Twilight arrived, Arbah nodded. "Good. Come on, we must go this way." Victini, deciding that it didn't want to deal with island-hopping, just grabbed all of them in Psychic and flew after.

"Welcome! We've been expecting you for a short amount of time, but it is still a pleasure to see you have arrived!" A deep voice boomed in the emptiness, and they all looked in mild fear at the massive serpent-like dragon staring at them with a look that seemed to be trying to be happy. "I was worried you would still be figuring out how to traverse my domain. I am Giratina, Ruler of the Distortion World, Renegade Pokemon of Antimatter, Patroller of Dimensions-"

"The one with no indoor voice, essentially." To Giratina's left floated Dialga, and to the right was a large creature that looked like it could be a statue in the royal garden. It spoke in a higher pitched but still deep voice. "Forgive Giratina. It rarely gets visitors that are not on its level of power, and thus, in its own domain, tends to speak loudly as only Arbah is sensitive enough for the volume to be of any issue, and he is used to it by now. I am Palkia, third member of our little trio, counterpart of Dialga, Master of Space." Spike raised an eyebrow.

"Then why aren't you the patroller of dimensions?" Something must have been funny, as all three dragons began to laugh.

"It is a simple answer." Palkia said, amused. "I do patrol them, but Giratina guards - or guarded - the most dangerous one. Therefore I let it hold the title. Regardless, we do not have much time. Dialga has put the entirety of creation in a time-lock excluding this dimension, but it cannot be maintained forever. We have a month at most."

"Three weeks." Dialga cut in. "That is all the time we have, and this is counting the full power of the Temporal Tower being siphoned for this. We need to use this time wisely. You need to learn the Attractions and how to fight even more effectively if you are to win. Ask us if you need anything, but for right now, train. We will set up attractions for you to do as practice." Dialga closed its eyes and grunted. "I suggest you hurry with the training."

"What was that?" Twilight took a step only to fall over. "Why do I feel so drained?"

"About that..." Victini gave a sheepish grin. "I don't just have the ability to give energy. I have the ability to reverse the flow of energy. Usually, my infinite energy spreads to those I am near or touch. What happened there is that I took your energy and used your magic to force the Hoopa Ring to change the location it sent us, as I know you can teleport and have made a wormhole. Unfortunately, it tends to drain the other side of it quickly. Make sense?" Victini didn't wait for a reply, and instead looked around for the voice it had heard. It saw a Xatu and flew over. "I'm glad you were there, Xatu. That would have been difficult to get out of otherwise."

"Think nothing of it. Palkia wanted our help, so we came." Looking behind Xatu, a human stood. "I'm Klhan Star. Palkia said I was from a dimension different than this one."

"Dangerous game, Palkia. Didn't you mention that Giratina requested you?" Victini scratched its head. "What did you do to have it request you?" Klhan shrugged

"I'm a smart battler, and I like adventuring. It may just be an apology for causing a lot of issues in my dimension chasing Cyrus. Or an apology for my dimension's Giratina chasing my dimension's Cyrus."

"Poor guy." Victini shook its head sadly before suddenly realizing something. "Wait a second. You're a Pokemon Trainer! This must be some kind of desperate play. Arceus knows that we're desperate, but going for a different dimension... I guess Missingno's just that big of an issue. I mean, I know it is, but I didn't realize that the other dimensions were under threat. Oh well. Come on, I should let the others thank you for your help." Victini dragged Klhan over to the diminished pile of Pokemon and ponies, now containing only the traveling group. As they approached, Fluttershy, Rarity, Sableye, and Spike ran over.

"Oh dear. Are you all okay? There was Entei and Raikou and then you all disappeared." Fluttershy looked like she had been about to cry.

"I must agree. I must have been outside the range of the teleportation, because I stayed here. even though I was pulling a gem out of the ground to hit that Raikou with. On a related note, Spike and Sableye have recently eaten." Rarity helped Rainbow up. "What happened?"

Blitzle grunted. "Raikou was a trick to get us close. We were attacked by Missingno's Hoopa."

"Glitch Hoopa." Victini said, looking proud of itself. At the blank looks, Victini sighed. "We need some way of differentiating them from the real ones, and we can't use Shadow as the prefix as Shadow Pokemon are a different thing and Shadow Mewtwo is already kind of pushing the limit of Pokemon we can call Shadow."

Blitzle rolled his eyes and looked up at Klhan. "What's that thing?" Klhan looked at Xatu with a raised eyebrow, clearly not answering Blitzle.

"Any chance you could translate for me? I don't understand Pokemon."

"Right! Sorry, I forgot. Humans understand me and Twitch has a Translation Program, so I forgot that humans can't understand Pokemon." Victini grinned. "Okay, say something." Ponyta turned to Keldeo.

"I don't like Glitch Hoopa. Is that what the real one is like?" Keldeo shrugged.

"Like Victini, the real Hoopa loves fun and games. The only real difference between real and Glitch is that the real one would have the other side of the rings be a beach or a clearing somewhere." Ponyta groaned.

"I'm not going to like it, then." Klhan nodded at Victini, who beamed.

"Now that Klhan knows what i'm saying, what is he?"

"He is a human, specifically a Pokemon Trainer. I think I mentioned those before. I'm surprised that you don't remember. Didn't Victini show you mentally?" Victini nodded at Keldeo's look. "Anyway, his name is Klhan Star." Klhan looked at the ponies a little funny.

"Do any of you know Sunset Shimmer?" When they shook their heads, he sighed. "Oh well. She must be somewhere else in your dimension."

"Interesting but not important." Blitzle looked around. "We're all back, but Entei probably still has the Sky Prism Piece."

"Don't be ridiculous. I never had one in the first place. Besides, even if I had, it probably would have been taken the moment that I was forced even halfway into the ring." Entei had returned with Bulbasaur. "You won the attraction, but due to the battle breaking out halfway through the Sky Prism Piece is uncharged and thus useless. However, as I assume you will be participating in the Attraction again, I am going to go use Rest to recover the little strength I lost in the battle and spare you the lecture others may give." Entei winked before walking back towards the Attraction's sign, lying down, and falling asleep. Holding back laughs, Bulbasaur gave Pinkie the Sky Prism Piece.

"When Entei wakes up, we're running Bulbasaur's Daring Dash again." Bulbasaur walked over to where Entei was sleeping.

"Well then." Keldeo turned to Klhan. "How about a Pokemon Battle, us versus you?" Klhan raised an eyebrow before smiling.

"Alright. How many on each side?"

"Assuming all the Pokemon want to join and none of the ponies or Spike do, five on each side. Me, Victini, Blitzle, Ponyta, and Sableye. Any issues?" When none of them objected, Keldeo nodded. "Alright. We're going with Set Rules, so no switching until the Pokemon is fainted. Who are you going to use?"

"I think Xatu will sit this out." Klhan glanced at Xatu, who merely nodded. "In that case, I'll use Ampharos, Gliscor, Roserade, Dragonite, and Totodile."

"The Sky Prism is possibly a more powerful object of Harmony than even your Elements, however it is a much more passive artifact. It being shattered means that many of the more hot-headed Pokemon are going to have a harder time keeping calm, as its power creates something like a calming field, which would help Pokemon like Primeape or Gyarados not go on a rampage. Mew has managed to guarantee that the Pieces are at each Attraction and ONLY the Attractions, claiming that even when drained the Sky Prism is attracted to the level of harmony exuded by the attractions. They must be brought to the Sky Pavilion in order to fix the Sky Prism. Palkia, however, has reminded us of a second issue. If you would like to explain?"

"I would. Missingno drained the Sky Prism of its power, and the only way to fix it is to recharge the pieces so that they can fuse, and then charge the Sky Prism the rest of the way directly. My best guess is that just running the Attraction isn't enough to charge the Sky Prism Pieces. If i am correct, you will need to truly play the Attraction, make every single Pokemon want to participate and find out who wins, make them act not as a crowd of Pokemon, but as a group of friends. If it works, the Sky Prism Piece should charge up and begin to glow. Otherwise, it will just look like a dull gem. With Dialga trying to maintain the time-lock and having some... issues, we have very little time. Many Attractions involve running or floating almost on the ground. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, please come with me. I think I know a way for your wings to help propel you even faster than just normal running. I wish I had thought of it earlier, because now we only have a few days before Dialga can no longer control itse... I mean, maintain the time lock."

Ponyta gritted her teeth. The start of the battle was her against Ampharos, and she had worked with an electric type long enough to know a strong one. Ampharos gave her the feeling that no matter how hard she fought, Ampharos would be holding back to make it fair.

"Can we get this started already?" In the time it had taken to get all set up for the battle, a crowd had formed. To make sure the rules were followed, the same Absol they met in Ponyville had been deemed the judge, with Shaymin on his back. They had been more surprised that Absol knew what a human was than the fact that she was at the Pokeparks, which made it a nice reunion. She seemed pleased to see them as well, but warned them that she felt a disaster arriving at some point. She couldn't narrow down the time frame, which worried her more than the disaster.

"Ready? 3, 2, 1, Go." Absol's quiet voice was instantly drowned out by Thunder. Ponyta managed to avoid it, and sent a Flamethrower back across the field. Ponyta knew she couldn't take too many strong hits against the kind of power Ampharos was packing, so she had to play things safe. Sending Fire Spin across the field, she closed her eyes to feel the electricity come at her.

"Ampharos, Electro Ball!" Ponyta jumped to the side as Electro Ball hit where she had been standing. "Try Thunder Bolt!" Backing up this time, she felt the electricity land in front of her.

Klhan fights smart but aggressively. I can use this against him. Keldeo watched the battle with interest, learning the fighting style of the trainer. Ampharos I'm not too worried about, Blitzle can take care of her if Ponyta can't, Gliscor may prove an issue for the others, Roserade shouldn't be much trouble for any of us, Totodile shouldn't be able to beat me or Blitzle, so Dragonite is the one I'm most worried about. I don't know if anyone but me or Victini can take down a trained Dragonite if it is anywhere on par with this Ampharos, especially if it was trained from a Dratini. Of course, this all hinges on whether or not Klhan fights the same with his other Pokemon as he does with Ampharos.

"Come on Ampharos! Restrict her movements with Thunder Bolt, then follow up with an Electro Ball!"

"Sounds like a plan." Ampharos gave a small smile as she sent lighting arcing across the field. Without letting up the assault, she had an Electro Ball fly across the field and hit Ponyta directly. Taking the opportunity, Ampharos brought all the Thunder Bolts together and blasted Ponyta directly with Thunder. After a brief pause, Ponyta stood.

"Ow. Tag out, I'm done." Ponyta staggered off the field, collapsing next to Pinkie. "I forgot how much Electric Type attacks hurt."

"How did you do that?" Looking up, she saw Klhan looking at her with interest. "Dodge almost all of Ampharos's attacks, I mean. Thunder, I can understand, but you avoided Thunder Bolt and Electro Ball with your eyes closed."

"Simple. I trained her to feel the electrical charge of my attacks. It's a way I found to be able to predict where Electric Types are, since all of them have an ambient charge on them. It's part of what keeps us from being Paralyzed, I think." Blitzle grinned. "It's good training. Who's up next?" After some discussion, Blitzle ran onto the field. "Guess it's me."

"Why Blitzle of all Pokemon? Both of our Electric Type attacks are going to do less damage." Klhan pulled out a red device and glanced at it. "Ugh, it was a better move than I thought. Your Abilities both put me at a larger disadvantage due to negating Electric Type attacks. But don't count Ampharos out just yet! Dragon Pulse!" Eyes widening, Blitzle ran to avoid the attack. He's fast! i need to think of something or he could take out all my Pokemon. Except Gliscor due to his Ground Type.

On the other side of the field, Keldeo grimaced. Only really strong Ampharos can use Dragon Pulse. Even if it was just through a Move Tutor, this makes things look worse for our chances. It can probably use Signal Beam and Power Gem, if Dragon Pulse is an option. "Come on! Try to close the distance and use neutral attacks!"

"Oh, why don't you tell them the rest of my plan?" Blitzle used Discharge to send an electrical charge along the entire field to mask his movements, closing in and hitting hard with Flame Charge. Even as Ampharos tried to keep balanced, Blitzle had already circled behind her and hit her with another Flame Charge, sending Ampharos falling to the ground. Not giving her a break, Blitzle leaped over a Signal Beam and hit hard with Stomp and then Flame Charge again, and Ampharos tumbled off the battle field, groaning.

"You are fast." Ampharos shook her head. "And that hurt. I guess we really underestimated you."

"Ampharos, return." Klhan held out a Pokeball, and Ampharos turned into red light before going in. "Let's go, Gliscor." As the large winged scorpion came out, Keldeo glanced at Klhan.

Is he... no, that can't be right. Keldeo shook its head and focused back on the battle. Blitzle's in a bad spot. Gliscor negates most of his moves, can easily avoid Stomp, and resists everything else Blitzle has been shown to have. Good thing Gliscor is... taking a nap?

"Gliscor! Don't do that! Wake up!" Klhan groaned. I should have seen this coming. Maybe Noivern would have been a better Pokemon to bring with me. Sure, it would give me a bigger Ice weakness, but at least Noivern would put in effort. Blitzle tried to use Thunder Bolt to wake him up without doing any damage, but Gliscor continued napping.

"Maybe he's just scared!" Victini taunted from the sidelines. "I think he knows he can't win, and doesn't want to fight."

"What did you say?!" Gliscor glared at Victini before glancing at Klhan. "Are we in a battle?" Klhan nodded. "Excellent."

Never mind. I forgot how much Gliscor likes to battle. Almost as much as he loves napping. "Alright, Fire Fang!" Gliscor dove for Blitzle with a flaming mouth, but Blitzle jumped over him. Without waiting for a move to be called, Gliscor jabbed his tail into the ground and used it like a pivot point, whirling himself around as he lifted off to hit Blitzle with Sky Uppercut. Blitzle, having seen him coming, used Stomp and slammed Gliscor to the ground. "Gliscor, get back into the air!"

"Flame Charge!" Blitzle charged towards Gliscor, who caught Blitzle by the head.

"My turn!" Gliscor used Poison Jab followed by Sky Uppercut to knock Blitzle into the air. Klhan sighed, shaking his head.

"If that's how you're going to fight, fine. Use X-Scissor." Gliscor took to the sky and slammed Blitzle down with X-Scissor. Unbelievably, Blitzle stood back up. "What? How are you still up? Gliscor, Acrobatics!"

"Guess again. Thunder!" Blitzle sent a large bolt of electricity up into a nearby cloud, where it stayed stuck like a rope. Smirking, Blitzle ran right past Gliscor's attack, dragging the cloud along. Blitzle pulled the cloud down onto the field, making a thick fog.

"Gliscor, get out of there!"

Agitated due to being stuck in a fog with a fast foe and ignoring his trainer, Gliscor began blindly attacking the fog around him. Suddenly, electricity began arcing throughout the cloud. "That still doesn't do anything to me. Ground Type, remember?"

"Oh, I am well aware that this won't do anything to you. I was more planning on it helping me. I'm getting faster from Motor Drive, and I can tell where you are due to where the electricity stops arcing around. You don't resist Stomp, and I've been told that the faster you go, the farther you can jump and the more force you hit with." Blitzle began running around in the cloud, playing a game of hit-and-run with Gliscor, doing both the hitting and the running because Gliscor had gotten far too mad to fight smart. Eventually, Gliscor was knocked out of the cloud, unable to get up.

"Gliscor, return." Klhan shook his head. "If you listened to me, you wouldn't be the one out of the-" He stopped as Blitzle collapsed.

"Ugh... I think I got Poisoned. I'm out." Blitzle stood slowly and walked out of the field. "Sableye, you want in?" Sableye walked onto the field, grinning.

"Alright. Totodile, your turn." As the green and purple crocodile came out, Fluttershy made some sort of squeaking noise.

"He's so cute! He looks kind of like Spike, only with the colors reversed and not being a dragon."

"Reasonable." She looked up at Keldeo, who was still watching the battle intensely despite nothing happening. "Totodile is the Big Jaw Pokemon, and some have been recorded biting through solid stone. Given Spike's favorite food, you can see just how similar the two reptilian creatures are." Choosing Totodile because Sableye is the small one. Smart move, but Sableye is surprisingly strong, especially if she wants to use her Mega Evolution. No matter what, Victini or I can take out Roserade and Totodile if Sableye can't, so Dragonite is still the only real threat. Keldeo smirked. Typical humans. Most never have anything beyond simple strategies in battle. Use this, avoid that. Pokemon who fight on their own for long enough learn to use everything they can to their advantage because they don't have extra eyes watching the whole field.

"Let's go, let's go." Totodile jumped up and down before turning to Klhan. "Is it fight time? I love fight time." Keldeo glanced at Klhan.

No way... He's smirking. He's enjoying this. Keldeo smiled. Typical humans. Most never get the chance to have a big battle against foes who fight very differently to the usual styles. If nothing else, he has one heck of a story to tell.

"To answer your question, Water Gun." Totodile turned and sent a deluge of water at Sableye, who countered with Shadow Ball. "Try for an Ice Fang." Totodile ran forwards, hopping a Shadow Ball to get in close, and closed his frozen jaws around a large spherical gem.

"Sableye, no! Don't try and feed Totodile a... is that a Pale Sphere?" Victini was incredulous for half a second before collapsing in laughter.

"Remove it." Keldeo said. Sableye shook her head. "Do that during a serious battle when we can't afford to lose, not a battle for fun." Annoyed, Sableye forced Totodile's mouth open wider and pulled out the sphere. "Better."

"Ice Fang!" Totodile dived for Sableye, who flipped over him and countered with a wave of electricity. "What the-" Klhan pulled out his Pokedex. "What was that? Shock Wave? How does a Sableye learn Shock Wave?"

"Through a Move Tutor. Unless I'm mistaken, however, Sableye has never been to a Move Tutor. How did you learn it?" Keldeo directed the question at Sableye, but it was Blitzle that answered.

"Well, Victini mentioned that, if taught, Sableye could learn Shock Wave. I figured that, since I know Shock Wave, I could teach her. Victini taught her Trick, along with several other things. She taught herself Thunder Fang, which Victini said she shouldn't normally be able to know, but determined that it made sense for her to learn." As he spoke, Totodile froze.

"He... He was kidding, right? No Thunder Fang?"

"Sorry, but no. Thunder Fang." Sableye opened her mouth and slammed it shut with electricity crackling.

"Um... Crap. Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap." Totodile began running away from Sableye, who chased him down while firing Shadow Ball and Shock Wave. "Nope nope nope nope nope Klhan help please what do I do crap crap crap." Klhan considered.

"The only ranged attacks you have are Water Type. Unless you want to see how much damage you can do before going down, give up. I don't want you hurt in a futile battle." Totodile considered, before turning around and using Ice Fang as Sableye used Thunder Fang. Totodile had to be pulled from battle, but ice started forming all over Sableye. "At least you froze her for my next Pokemon. Roserade, you're up!"

"Whatever you say, dearie!" The bipedal rosebush smiled.

"Use Weather Ball." The ball of condensed air slammed into Sableye, who continued not to move.

"That Roserade has the Technician Ability, doesn't it? That Weather Ball looked a lot more powerful than usual." Klhan merely grinned.

"Now Magical Leaf." Watching carefully, Keldeo saw the leaves glow green as they shot towards the still-frozen Sableye.

"Come on, Sableye!" Victini called from the sidelines. "Snap out of it! You can do it! Don't just stand there and take it!"

"Victini's right." Blitzle yelled. "Break out of the ice! You're good enough to do that."

"Let's go Sableye!" Ponyta pounded the ground with her front hooves. "I know you can do it!" When Twilight and her friends joined in as well, something changed in the atmosphere. It was almost imperceptible, but Rainbow Dash had worked with the weather long enough to recognize the slight change and began looking around. The source soon became clear, as Twilight's bag and Sableye began glowing purple. Klhan's eyebrows raised.

"Roserade, Petal Blizzard. Fast!" Roserade spun around, sending leaves and petals up in the air around her. She pointed and they all shot right at Sableye right as she flashed bright white. There was a cracking noise, and shards of ice shot in every direction. Once everyone could look without getting hit by ice, they saw that, despite being nearly twice as tall as Sableye, Roserade looked worried. Mega Sableye lifted her gem up above her head. Klhan's jaw dropped. "A Mega Evolution? You have a Mega Evolution with you?"

"Alright then." Mega Sableye took a deep breath before grinning, her yellow spiked teeth making it creepier than usual. "My turn."

"Roserade, fight at a distance! You don't have any good close range move anyway, and it can prevent her from using most of her moves."

"Sounds good to me, dear." Roserade backflipped over a Shadow Claw, but couldn't move out of the way of a Shadow Ball.

"Alright!" Ponyta stomped her hoof. "Now hit her with what we practiced! Power Gem!" Mega Sableye tossed some gemstones into the air and used the giant gem to send them flying right at Roserade at such a speed that even Blitzle was having a hard time following them, hitting in quick succession. Grinning, Mega Sableye then threw her massive gem at Roserade. She avoided this one, and Mega Sableye ran over to the gem as Roserade passed her, switching sides on the field. Mega Sableye then fired Shadow Ball into the gem. It stayed in the gem even as Mega Sableye picked up the gem.

"Klhan, dear, what's the plan?" Roserade backed up so Sableye couldn't hit her. "I don't see this ending well."

"Leech Seed then Giga Drain. Do not let it recover!" Klhan glanced at Keldeo. "She doesn't know Recover, does she?"

"As far as I know, no. We've seen how much that matters, though, so don't assume that she doesn't." Mega Sableye blocked the seed with her gem, but got hit with Giga Drain. Growling, she headbutted her gem, breaking the Shadow Ball inside into several small pieces. Said pieces shot out of the gem in a spread, hitting Roserade with two of them. Taking the opportunity, Mega Sableye tossed her gem to the side and ran up to Roserade, slamming into her with Zen Headbutt. Not finished yet, Roserade hit her with Giga Drain and a point-blank Petal Dance. Mega Sableye managed to stay standing through the end of it and hit with Zen Headbutt as soon as Roserade got Confused. This attack sent her flying, and only Victini and Xatu's Psychic prevented her from landing in the river.

"Ooh! That attack hadn't done that much before. What was that?" Pinkie turned to Keldeo. 'You know, don't you? Well don't keep it to yourself, shout the answer out!"

"I'm not certain, because Roserade couldn't brace herself this time, but I think that was a Critical Hit. Sableye must have hit her in a weak point, allowing Zen Headbutt to do even more damage."

"Alright, after this you are going to have to help my Pokemon learn some of things you can pull. Strategy has never been my strong suit, but I didn't think I would be getting this badly beaten." Klhan shrugged. "Time for my last Pokemon. Drago, your turn." The large Dragon came out and let out a loud roar. "This is a friendly battle, so-"

"Don't care." Drago Dragon Rushed Mega Sableye, sent her flying upward with Wing Attack, and slammed her into the ground with Aqua Tail. She was about to use Fire Punch when Klhan called out, ignoring Victini's surprised gasp.

"Drago, stop. Sableye is out, calm down." Klhan commanded. The Dragonite seemed to struggle with itself, but eventually sighed.

"Fine." Drago turned and walked back over to Klhan before turning around to find a fireball as big as her stomach floating in front of her.

"I. DESPISE. Berserkers. You're always violent, rarely know when to stop, and never go down or even seem to be damaged until you literally cannot fight anymore. Funnily, it's almost always Dragon types or Pokemon similar, like Charizard or Gyarados. Let's go, Berserker." Victini growled. "Searing Shot!"

"Hurricane!" The two attacks combined into Magma Storm. Victini flew through the storm to stop right in front of Drago.

"Eat Dazzling Gleam!" Victini flashed white right in front of the Dragonite, but she didn't seem to mind. Roaring, Drago used Aqua Tail, followed by a quick succession of Slam, Thunder Punch, Dragon Rush, Wing Attack, Dragon Tail, and Thunder Wave just to try and take out the Pokemon now embedded in the ground.

"Drago! Stand down. Listen to me." Drago actually would have if not for one thing, and that would be the massive ball of fire that caught her in the stomach.

"That's one. As for two..." Victini launched into the air, Drago flying up in pursuit. She fired Hurricane, Twister, and Dragon Rage just to hit the tiny, fast-moving pest.

"Stay still!"

And Victini did. Drago flew right past it, and Victini flew up above Drago, angled down, sparked with electricity until a blue orb had formed around it, and slammed into Drago, bringing the two of them into the ground. "Fusion Flare-boosted Fusion Bolt. Hard to set up, but in this case, totally worth it." Noting Drago start to get up, Victini shook its head. "Stay down. Glaciate."

"Dragonite, return." Klhan sighed. "I lost, and Drago wouldn't listen to me. Again." Shaymin jumped off Absol and began to heal the combatants.

"Still, the fact that you ran us down to the Legendary is impressive. You're fighting style is effective, if simple." Keldeo walked over to him. "I think a trade is in order. We help you with tactics and try to help with Dragonite, and your Pokemon help teach us moves. Mostly Ponyta and Blitzle, though. They need a better move spread if we come across more Ground types." Klhan pulled out his Pokedex and the two began to discuss moves. As they talked, Klhan sent out his Pokemon that weren't Drago, intent on sending him out when Victini was finished seeing where it could help.

"Totodile, how do you Ice Fang?" Sableye walked over to the Shiny reptile. "I want to learn Ice attacks, but Victini doesn't know any small-scale enough for me to try and learn."

"Well, try Thunder Fang, but make it colder." When Sableye gave him a look, he shrugged. "It's natural for me. I'd ask to learn Dig, but it's just digging, isn't it?"

"Not really. I have to sense where my foe is in order to hit them. I only learned it because it made gem hunting easier. Maybe use your nose to try and smell out your foe while underground." A small distance away, the two Electric Types were having a discussion.

"What if you send your electricity from your tail? I'm pretty sure that orb would increase the power from just sending it out." Blitzle nodded as Ampharos did so. "Yeah, that looks right. It doesn't really work for me, but that orb should help. You said to condense the electricity into a ball for Electro Ball?" Twilight was speaking with Roserade and Rainbow about how to condense the atmosphere into a ball for Weather Ball and how similar it and Rainbow's weather magic is when a large explosion occurred. Twilight used her magic to clear the air and found Ampharos and Blitzle standing in the middle of burned grass. Ampharos coughed a few times.

"I also said to hold it together with static electricity." She rubbed her eyes. "Don't ever do that again. That kind of electrical discharge is dangerous, as even Discharge is focused somewhat. With the amount of electricity that needs to be condensed for Electro Ball, it essentially can function as an explosive point-blank Hyper Beam, especially when charging it. The issue is that it can't be controlled, and is just as likely to make you pass out as it is to knock out your foe. I think it has to do with the amount of heat that lightning has."

"Blitzle, stop blowing things up." Twilight commanded before returned to her conversation. "So if you can use your Pegasus Magic to condense the atmosphere into a ball, you might be able to use Weather Ball so that you don't only have to fly in close to hit something."

"Excuse me." Entei strolled over. "Can we finish the Attraction before you get so far into your conversation that it cannot be stopped? I really would like for you to finish your mission. The world kind of depends on it." Blitzle chuckled at Entei's laid-back tone.

"Alright, come on guys. We've got a race to win." Blitzle ran to the start line, causing Ponyta to go over to make sure he didn't do something he shouldn't.

"Look, if you don't want to do the qualification tests, I can't let you join the tournament. Get out of here." The receptionist sighed as the trainer and his Poliwrath left the building. He seemed so passionate about it that she almost felt worse for having to turn him away. She looked at the next person in line. He was of average build, wearing a large jacket. She briefly wondered how anyone could wear a jacket in the summer, but dismissed it as some trainers wear very specific clothes. "How can I help you?" He seemed surprised to be spoken to, but recovered quickly.

"Erm, hello. I was wondering if I could get some more information on how to enter this fighting tournament. Is there paperwork to fill out, or would i just show up for qualifications? I was not given much information." The receptionist knew this was going to be a long day as soon as he finished. She didn't like having to deal with people who didn't understand how the tournament would work. She considered that he could be a tourist, but decided it was highly unlikely. The Ferrum region wasn't a big tourist location yet. That was part of the reason for the tournament, to try and drum up some tourism.

"First of all, this is a tournament for Pokemon."

"I am aware." She let out a sigh of relief that she didn't think she had held.

"You would be surprised the amount who don't. There is some paperwork, but only after your Pokemon passes the qualification tests. If you don't want to send your Pokemon out here, then go to the waiting room to the right, take a number, and wait to be called."

"Thank you." He started to leave.

"Hey, out of curiosity..." He turned back to her. "What Pokemon are you planning on using? I started keeping a list to see what Type is likely to be the most common."

"I would prefer to keep that a surprise," Walking to the waiting room, he muttered to no one visible "Make sure the illusion holds." The invisible Zorua nodded happily as Shadow Mewtwo rubbed her belly. "Thank you. I'm glad that we found a way for you not to have to keep up the full illusion of a human." It smiled under the illusion. Mew was right. This style of fighting feels natural to me, even against an illusionary foe. I am glad that I found a Zorua to help me, as my crystal shoulder would be hard to hide otherwise. Now to see how the people who run the Pokken Tournament will react to a Legendary Pokemon's entry.

Across the planet, three Pokemon Trainers walked south, leaving Lumiose City behind them. One, of average height and build, had a tiny Rattata half-buried in his brown hair, a small Pikachu on one shoulder, and a Smeargle at his side. His female companion, slimmer and a few inches taller than him had a Plusle on one shoulder and a Minun tangled in her long brown hair while she sat on a Metagross with a Meowth doing a crossword, Meowth occasionally exchanging a few sentences with Metagross as they pieced together the puzzle. Their third, bulkier than either of the others and only just shorter than the female walked with his Machamp and Lucario slightly behind him. Lucario carried a small Squirtle who was pointing at various things they passed, and a Poochyena running around by their legs. The friends were leaving due to a letter they had received through a mail Chatot, asking them to go to a specific hill outside of Lumiose City to meet with someone. They would need to say a password before the one thy were to meet with would reveal himself, but that was fine. In fact, the most interesting thing about the letter was the sender.

"Is it weird that I can never get over how you get letters from Mew?" Smeargle glanced at her with a confused expression. Sharon sighed and elaborated. "I mean, I know you're a chosen of Mew, but that's one of the most powerful Pokemon ever, and you just get letters from it. Back me up, Ross." She glanced at the guy with the Fighting Types.

"Makes sense to me. Mew is Paul's friend, friends send letters to each other. Maybe e-mails or texts, but a letter is fine." Ross grinned at Squirtle, who nodded solemnly in return. "See? Even Squirtle agrees!"

"Look, can we stop arguing? We're here." Paul stopped walking and looked at the letter again. "Let's see... 'I'm howling at the moon, and sleeping in the middle of a summer afternoon'." As the words left his mouth a howl cut through the air, slowly turning into a laugh.

"I can't believe you actually said it! Mew said you would, but I just didn't believe it!" The air in front of the group rippled, and Discord shimmered into visibility. Most of the Pokemon immediately got into battle stances, Metagross psychically levitating its passengers off of itself. "You are the group known as the Puzzlers, yes?"

"We are. Who's asking?" Paul pulled something out of his pocket, rolling the small ball in his hand.

"Oh, put your toy away. I'm with Mew - not now, obviously, but having me collect you was Mew's idea. I am Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony, at your service." Discord took the orange top hat that had appeared on his head and bowed low. "We have a situation that Mew and Arceus determined you could help deal with." Smeargle looked at Paul and, getting a nod, quickly painted a staircase on the ground. Nothing happened for a second but then a stone staircase rose out of the ground. Paul walked to the top so that he was eye to eye with the floating Discord.

"What kind of situation are we talking about?"

"Oh, nothing major, just a massive gang of Electric Type Pokemon that needs to be dealt with. As Pokemon are the best way to deal with Pokemon, Mew determined that you would be the best choice for dealing with them." Discord teleported in a flash of light so that he was right next to Paul. "What do you say?"

"I say that you're crazy." Discord laughed and Paul nodded. "I'm going to talk to the others, but I think that we are in." He walked back down the stairs to Sharon and Ross. "We need to vote. I'm in, as is Pikachu and Rattata."

I am in as well. Discord does not mean to deceive us. Plusle, Minun, your vote?

"I don't think this is the wrong thing to do. I'm not saying we shouldn't." Minun glanced at his sister.

"I think we should be careful. He implied he isn't a Pokemon. Plus, we don't have any Ground Types unless Smeargle uses Camouflage or Conversion or something. But I still say yes! This could be fun!" Plusle cheered, falling off of Sharon's shoulder.

"A strange creature brings the promise of adventure and fights! I say let's go for it!" Machamp cheered as Lucario shook his head.

"There are too many unknowns. I vote no." Meowth echoed Lucario's sentiment, while Smeargle voted for going.

"I'm... not sure. I'll vote against for the reason that it isn't what we do." Sharon sighed. "We usually travel around doing small bits of good while going to Paul's Rumble tournaments or toy conventions. Fighting an evil gang? Isn't that a bit much?" Ross grunted, looking directly at Discord.

"Whatever he is, whatever he really wants, going with him is the right choice." Sharon and Lucario both opened their mouths to complain but he ignored them. "When has my Blue Force ever steered us wrong?" Discord casually floated over and pulled a party popper, causing everyone to jump.

"Have you decided yet? Or do I need to have Mew convince you?" He pointedly ignored the glares he got for the party popper.

Paul nodded. "You're way past crazy, but we're in." Discord clapped his hands together and grinned.

"Excellent! Well then, allow me to bring you straight to the Princesses, who will explain everything in more detail. Welcome to Equestria!"

Author's Note

To quote another of John de Lancie's reality warping characters, "He's back!". After a ridiculously long hiatus (I promise I didn't plan on taking this long), I am back and ready to bring a ton of things together. Let's start the rundown:

Oh, hey, look, a move that should be learned that isn't, like Sableye's Dig. Hey, as long as the Pokemon can learn similar moves in type and in style, they should be able to do certain moves. So if a Pokemon can use Ice Beam and Bite, then they should, if they can learn or figure out how to combine them, use Ice Fang. Mega Sableye's gem shouldn't work that way, but I thought it was interesting. Plus her speed should be a lot less, but I felt as though it would be more interesting if she could have a smaller gem during Mega Evolution depending on the need. This will happen again later, especially in the Iceberg Zone.

If there is an event-only move, I count it as move set viable UNLESS it is for a more-common Pokemon, in which case it will have very limited access. So Victini can use Bolt Strike or Glaciate, but not every Pikachu will have access to Surf or Fly. Some may be able to learn it from those that know it, though.

Let's give a hand to Klhan Star from Shadow Hero! He's quite the interesting trainer to look at on his own with several powerful Pokemon. We will be seeing more of him. He won't be joining the main cast, but he will be sticking around the Meadow Zone.

As for the ending bits, let's see... I hinted at Shadow Mewtwo going to Pokken in the first one, and it will appear again. My foreshadowing and side-plots all come together, I swear.

The Puzzlers are an interesting group, actually based off of the free-to-play games that had been out at the time of their creation. Almost every Pokemon they have was chosen specifically for which game they "represent". Each human also has something special about them that will be explored at a later date as they deal with the Thunderclaps. You know, that one-off gang that escaped? Yeah, there is a good reason they did and it will be explained much later.

For those of you asking, I am not dead nor did I forget about this fic. I planned most things out but realized that I needed to rework things for the puzzlers and Shadow Mewtwo, then I got some crazy ideas and needed to figure out how to fit those in, and then Sun and Moon happened so I have been gone way longer than I had wanted. See you soon, and have a good one.

-Deku

A wild ask blog appeared! Will you: Ask, Questions, Read, or Run?

Tales: Evo

"My turn." Keldeo stated, making Victini sigh. "Oh come on, we all need to take turns if we want to learn, so wait your turn. I'm talking about Evo."

"Evo like evolution, or is it a coincidence?" Twilight asked.

"Good catch. Evo is an Eevee, a Normal-Type Pokemon. She doesn't really talk about how she got how she did much, but she told me once. Let's see if I remember it correctly. Paying attention?"

"Yes, now get on with it." Rainbow poked him. "Come on, this one sounds boring. Hurry up so we can get to the fun stuff!" Keldeo laughed before continuing.

"Eevee is a Pokemon with an interesting evolutionary line. Specifically, the evolutionary line diverges, which technically isn't anything unique. Many Kirlia can evolve into either Gardevoir or Gallade, for example. But it was the first known pokemon that could do this, and to this day it still holds both the record for number of divergences, and for the most types in one line. You see, using various methods of evolution - Three with an evolutionary stone, two via friendship, two via proximity to enough of a certain kind of element, and one via affection which is different than friendship - Eevee can evolve into 8 different pokemon, each with different types. As you should already know, evolution sticks if it isn't Mega Evolution. Pokemon that can evolve need something to trigger the change, but it is something specific built into them. Eevee is different as its cells have more of an unfinished evolution gene, requiring something to complete the gene for it to evolve. They're unspecialized, with no true purpose until sent a signal to change in a specific way. At least, that's what Evo told me, and that's what she gleaned from her tormentors."

"Hold on, tormentors?" Blitzle asked.

"Yeah. You see, someone in Team Plasma - an criminal organization that later split in two, one led by the evil Ghetsis and one led to become heroes by their king, N - got it into their head that if an Eevee could evolve into multiple different species, then it could possibly evolve into all of them. So they captured one and experimented on it. According to Evo, she was painfully being forcibly evolved and genetically forced back down to Eevee."

"That's impossible!" Victini yelled. "That isn't possible. MEW said that it isn't possible!"

"Tell that to the scientists that created a walking arsenal out of an old fossil. Did I forget to mention how Team Plasma created Genesect first?" Looking at the expressions on the faces of its companions, it hadn't. "Evo was simultaneously broken and fixed. She can evolve herself at will, and step down back to Eevee whenever she wanted. She can switch between each Eeveelution in moments, or even cancel in the middle of attacks to catch foes off-guard. She used these abilities to escape her captors, destroy the place on its way out to prevent them from ever doing the same to anything else. Unless something happened while we were gone, it has never happened again." Keldeo sighed. "She doesn't argue with the results anymore, as she's found them pretty useful. No trainer can catch her, no normal pokemon can even keep up with her, and even groups of Pokemon and trainers fail to stop her. She refuses to forgive Team Plasma for its crimes, even the group who didn't know about the experiment, and she won't let scientists touch her with a ten-foot pole. She's generally pretty laid back and friendly, but she quite the tomboy. She tries to get into fights more often than Rainbow Dash tries to get into races."

Now back when we first met, I was still with the Swords of Justice. We were travelling in the Unova region when a Pidove told us that a massive forest fire had broken out in the middle of the Pinwheel Forest. Cobalion said that Terrakion and I were to go into the forest to try and get Pokemon out and put out the fire, while he and Virizion patrolled farther out to find who or what caused this, as well as keep others out until the fire is out. We ran in and found a group of people in strange armor trying to put out the fire with Gust or by covering it with dirt. My Hydro Pump and Terrakion's Rock Slide got the fire done for. The only one not in armor had long green hair, and he thanked us for our help. He also said that his troops told him that a Flareon had caused this. He asked us to try and find it before picking up the Zorua at his feet and starting to look for the Flareon. Terrakion told me to go let Cobalion and Virizion, but when I went looking I couldn't find them. I went back into the forest and found a Glaceon. She said that those people had caused the fire, and I almost believed her. I turned around while asking what a Glaceon was doing in a forest this far from the cold, but Jolteon caught me with Thunderbolt and started running. She ran right into Cobalion, who immediately brought a foot down on her to hold her down. Not even turning into Espeon could get it off her, and she eventually gave up and became an Eevee. She explained how she could turn into every Eeveelution and how Team Plasma had experimented on her. That was our first real clue that Team Plasma wasn't as good as they claimed. She said that she started the fire to drive them away, and that it succeeded. Cobalion eventually let her up, and she said that she'd be trying to keep a low profile for a while.

"You're laughing. What's so funny?"

Sorry, it's just that Evo kept it up for about 3 days before joining an attack on Plasma in Castelia City. And then attacking a bunch of Plasma grunts near Mistralton City. And then leading a bunch of wild Pokemon to attack Team Plasma's Castle. She personally rode a Haxorus, while she switched forms and giving cover fire so Haxorus could Dragon Tail or Dragon Rush his foes. Us Swords attacked from a different angle, and met up after Terrakion slammed a Gigalith through the wall. Vaporeon Hydro Pumped it into a Conkulder, and the large group joined us as we stormed through the halls. That's when something really strange happened. A massive Emboar was sent through a wall, with his trainer running after him. Chasing them was a Tryantrum, with a member of Plasma riding it with an Omastar. He looked absolutely livid, and shouted something about how he can't believe that he missed the signs and how his Tyrantrum was boosted by lots of Dragon Dance. His Omastar pointed us out to him, and he told us to go help the kid stop Ghetsis, their leader, from unleashing Reshiram's power. He had his Kabutops come out to lead us to where the kid, N, and Ghetsis were. We got there, and a guy named Black was using Zekrom to fight Ghetsis's Hydreigon. N was healing his Pokemon, and a girl named White was fighting back the members of Plasma trying to get in. We all joined her, and when N healed Reshiram it joined the battle with Zekrom, and the two of them utilized Fusion Flare and Fusion Bolt to take out Hydreigon.

"Ghetsis somehow managed to escape, and later tried to use Kyurem's power to freeze all of Unova. Us Swords were in Hoenn at the time, but from what I heard Latios managed to get some more help to battle White Kyurem in the form of Heatran and Landorous. They joined Zekrom and fought White Kyurem while others fought Ghetsis. After that defeat, Ghetsis lost his mind. Quite literally, he had a mental breakdown. He hasn't been heard from since he went to jail, but he is famous as the one villain who nearly succeeded." Keldeo finished. "Any questions?"

"Well, I'm just happy that Victini was using psychic powers to let us know what the Pokemon are that you mentioned." Twilight grimaced. "I don't like the prospect of Legendary Pokemon being used for evil, but at least everything was mostly fixed. What happened with Evo?"

"She headed out for adventure and fights. Last I heard, she had decided to try and defeat all the Gym Leaders, but she was going to go find a team to work with. I haven't seen her much, but when we last met she helped us take out a Pokemon stealing ring."

An Eevee walked alone through a forest, coming out along the path. I need to start recruiting, as opposed to just traveling. What if I come across an Electric Type I need to fight, like Eelektross? I can only do neutral damage. Then again, without Gravity or Mold Breaker or something so does everything. Maybe that wasn't the best example. Nothing is really a good example, since at least one of my forms has at least one move of every Type other than Dragon and Rock, and Psychic can throw rocks around. There isn't really a Pokemon that I can't hit with a super effective attack, thinking about it. Still, some gyms might require certain Types or having more than one Pokemon. She looked up and saw Castelia City in the distance. Hey, isn't this near where that Victini guy supposedly lives? Maybe I'll drop by. She heard a footstep behind her and whirled around to find a Machamp. "Can I help you?" The Machamp looked almost relieved.

"Yes, actually. I have a bit of a-"

"Cool, I am capable of providing help to a Machamp. Bye now." She turned to leave and actually got a few steps before Machamp said anything.

"Hey, wait!" Machamp didn't looked pleased as Evo turned around.

"Yes?"

"I... I need your help with something." Evo raised an eyebrow. A Machamp needing help was strange enough, but a Machamp not only admitting it needs help but also asking for it is even stranger. Along with the fact that it was asking an Eevee for help, Evo didn't trust this. The only reason that it would specifically go for her was... Nah, there's no way a Machamp I've never met knows about me.

"Curious now. What's the issue?"

"There's something I've been trying to do, but these infernal creatures keep preventing me from doing it." Evo was impressed. Machamp was calm when speaking about a problem, and hadn't started flexing.

"What, Pokemon Trainers and their Pokemon? I know what you mean." Why didn't Machamp say Trainers or Pokemon? Why creatures?

"Not Pokemon and Trainers, Pokemon and Po-" Machamp shut its mouth with a look of unease.

"Po... What? Po...rcelain? Po...rtals? Po...tatoes? What is it? Come on, speak up." Evo grinned. Now to apply force to the crowbar.

"Forget I said anything." Machamp grumbled. "I'll look for help somewhere else."

"Oh, no, by all means, spill. I'm very interested right now." She looked almost hungry for the knowledge.

"It doesn't involve you, goodbye." Machamp turned to leave.

"Uh, DIDN'T involve me. This Pokemon is a very curious nine. Spill, NOW." Machamp started to turn as if to run, but Umbreon used Mean Look and trapped Machamp in the battle. She leapt into the air and fired a Moonblast that caught Machamp in the chest. Growling, Machamp rushed in with a Bullet Punch, a Poison Jab, a Dynamic Punch, and a Fire Punch. None of them actually hit, as Machamp as lifted into the air by a psychic aura. "Game, Set, Match. Espeon 1, Machamp 0. So, let's see what you were hiding from me." Machamp laughed.

"As if. There's no way some Espeon can break my mental-"

"Ponies? With magic, actual magic."

"WHAT? How did you-"

"-break your mental blocks?" Evo calmly interrupted with a bit of a smirk. "Nice try, but you don't have any. How a Machamp could have any mental blocks at all isn't even the point, it's a pure Fighting Type. I'll give you a seven for effort, but a two for combat. You might have done better if you sent a puppet that could effectively use ranged attacks. Missingno, for a supposed to-be reality destroyer, you really aren't good at this."

"That's impossible! Missingno knows all of that, I just know that i was purposefully not given any information just in case you tried to do this. The only way you could have learned that is if you read its mind through me, but there's no way that you could have-"

"Blah, blah, blah, don't care. Let me read." Evo sat still for several moments before letting out a growl that would have been more fitting from an Umbreon. "Keldeo's there. That's settled it, I'm going to go to the Pokepark. I haven't gotten in a real fight since the Plasma thing, and I've been bored. I'm glad to know where to get a good fight, but then that means I don't need you anymore." She shut her eyes even as they glowed a brilliant blue. The Espeon hardly flinched as she ripped the Machamp into pieces with Psychic. "What a waste of my time." She watched as the pieces of Machamp turned into dissolving dark mist. "Something is trying to destroy creation? Sounds like my kind of party." Espeon teleported away, leaving an empty path through a forest.

Author's Note

No, I didn't steal the idea from Pokemon Special's Vee. I actually thought this would be cool a long time before reading that, I promise (or do I?). Evo, like Twitch before her, will appear in the Pokeparks. She is snarky, sarcastic, and genuinely good at heart. Have a good one.

-Deku

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