A New World, Several New Ideasby cyberlord4444ChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 1Grey was an engineer, specifically a train engineer from Anville Town. And, as anyone from Kanto to Kalos could tell you, no true train is built anywhere else. The Anville Engineers were legendary for their skill, no matter what kind of project they set themselves, from trains to tunnels to towers to televisions. All except for the Hyperspeed Train, which had been on the drawing board for as long as anyone could remember. However, every once in a while, there are those who are a cut above the rest, Grey was one of those. However, it was not his skill alone that granted him the respect he had earned, to be honest he was average in all aspects of engineering except for design, for an Anville Engineer anyway. The true source of his success came from his Pokemon. The head of his crew was a Raichu named Flux, who was able to use his tail to preform seamless welds. The heavy lifting was done by two Pokemon. One was a Magnezone named Brace, who could use powerful magnetic fields to lift massive metal components and hold them in place. The other was a Torterra named Dome, who carted around materials and helped Brace with lifting objects. Temper was a Torkoal that didn't usually go out into the field, but was a master of forging and heat treating metal. Shine was a Lampent, and the newest member of the group, but quite skilled in using her flames as a cutting torch. Together they made a heck of a team, and were quite skilled despite the fact that they only had about 2 years of experience. Today they were repairing a carriage that had been on the wrong side of a Mega Gyrados's Hyper Beam. The Battle Subway's trains were specially designed to be as close to indestructible as possible, they had to be considering their intended use, but even they had limits. "Man," Grey said as he ground down some of the sharper edges left from one of Shine's cuts, "this is the third one this week." "Rai," replied Flux, as he started welding on a new plate. "We should talk to Ingo and Emmet about banning Mega use from the Subway," Grey said. "Chu" Flux replied, in agreement from the tone of his voice. Grey glanced at a clock, "Well, it's getting late, let's finish this up and call it a day." "Lamp," Shine replied cheerfully as she finished cutting off the last piece of bent metal. The others quickly voiced their agreement. "Guess that's unanimous," Grey said, "so, pasta tonight?" The gathered Pokemon cheered, Grey might be an engineer, but his cooking skills were just as good. Especially when it came to pasta, that was just glorious. After ensuring that the carriage was ready for the next day, and that no one could wander into the shed they were working in and get hurt, they headed home. After a glorious meal, they quickly hit the hay, except for Grey, who was looking at a singed schematic. "Zone?" called Brace from behind his shoulder. Grey grinned, "Just looking at some of dad's old blueprints, thought they might have a way to reinforce the carriages in case we have to deal with more Megas." "Mag," Brace said remorsefully. "Yeah," Grey replied, patting Brace, "I miss him too." Nuzzling into the pat slightly, Brace yawned. "Yeah yeah," Grey chuckled before yawning himself, "just let me put these away first okay?" Brace nodded before heading to his own room. Grey rolled up the schematic and placed it in it's tube, then placed it alongside several others. Turning off the light and heading to bed, he soon drifted into a deep slumber. Dead to the world, he was unaware that his Pokemon started vanishing, with himself following suit soon after. "Rest now my children, for when you awake a whole new world shall be your home.” When Gray woke up, his body felt rather heavy and he had a pounding headache, both of which he attributed to not having his coffee yet. Looking around, he noticed that he was not in his room, instead he was in some sort of cave. Also, he wasn't alone. That in and of himself wasn't unusual, Flux and Brace took it upon themselves to help wake their boss up, usually with gratuitous amounts of coffee. This time however was a Pokemon he had never even heard of. At first glance it looked like a cross between a Riolu and a Lillipup, but Grey decided to worry about it when he got some coffee. "Hello," she said, at least that's what he assumed based on her tone of voice, "who are you?" While Grey was slightly taken aback by the fact that she could talk, he didn't find it completely outlandish. While rare, Pokemon that could speak English did exist, in fact he had seen a Meowth with the skill a few years ago. Deciding that she could tell him where he was and how he got here, he decided to be polite. "I'm Grey." "That's a funny name," she replied, "I've never heard of anyone named 'Gross' before." Grey groaned as he started to facepalm, having forgotten how useless he was in the morning before he got his coffee. However, as his arm came into view, he stopped. Grey might have known next to nothing about biology, but he knew his own body pretty well. Last time he checked, his arm wasn't the size of a rail, or silver. It also wasn't shiny enough to see his reflection, assuming it was, because what he saw was a massive quadrupedal goliath with a yellow X on his face. Grey did what any good engineer would do in that situation, he took in the facts, decided on a plan of action, then followed through. He completed his facepalm, freaking out could wait until after he had some coffee. Chapter 2Grey and his new friend walked down the tunnel. Well, his new friend walked, Grey kinda shuffled, half from inexperience in his new form, half from lack of coffee. "So Gross," said his new friend, "how did you get down here anyway? I haven't seen anything like you before." Grey sighed, hoping that his new name wouldn't stick. 'You know, it's rude to ask for someone's name without giving your own,' he thought to himself. His new friend's ears perked up as she glanced around. "Huh, could have sworn I heard something," she said, "anyway, sorry but I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Ferria of Clan Forgeburn." 'Huh, just when I was thinking about...' Grey facepalmed as he realized something, 'I'm a Metagross, I'm part Psychic, let's see if this works.' Grey closed his eyes and concentrated,'Come on Grey, you've seen Caitlin's Pokemon do this all the time. You've got 4 brains now, you can handle this. Testing, can you hear me Ferria?' Ferria's eyes widened slightly, "Is that you Gross?" "Well, glad to see I can do that mind-link trick," Grey said, "by the way, my name's 'Grey', not Gross, Metagross is the type of Pokemon I am. Plus I haven't had my morning coffee yet." "Oh, I'm sorry," said Ferria, "what's a Pokemon?" "Well, and keep in mind this isn't my field of expertise, Pokemon are creatures with various abilities. They come in a variety of types, though no single breed of Pokemon is more than 2. For example, Metagross like myself are Steel and Psychic type." "Ooh, so does that mean you're a good metalworker?" Ferria asked. "Two things, 1: just because I'm a Steel type doesn't mean I'm good at working with metal," Grey said. "2: that said back home I fixed trains with my team." Before either one could continue, they were interrupted by shouts in the distance. "Hoopa's Rings," Grey said, "what was that!?" (The Hall of Legends) Hoopa paused as she felt something, for some reason she spontaneously felt a strange sense of pride. Disregarding it, she returned to her task, hoping Diance wouldn't be too mad if she borrowed one of her sculptures. Grey and Ferria arrived to see an argument between a group of what appeared to be miners and some Excadrill. Well, as close as they could get to an argument seeing as the miners couldn't understand a word the Excadrill were saying. "What's going on here?" Ferria asked. "Lady Ferria," said what Grey assumed was the leader of the miners, "these creatures have caused one of the major mine shafts to collapse. Luckily no one was in there, but we'll need at least a week to clear it." "Lady Ferria?" Grey asked. "Well, my father is a Diamond Dog noble," Ferria explained, "although I'm nowhere close to becoming the next head of House Forgeburn." "Anyway, I think I can handle this," Grey said before walking over to the Excadrill. The leader of the Excadrill turned towards him. "Thank Arceus, a Metagross, now we can get somewhere." "Well, I was going to help anyway," Grey said, "but why is me being a Metagross a good thing?" The Excadrill scoffed, "All Pokemon know that Metagross as master mediators. Now, tell these sorry excuses for Ground types that we need to carve a safe place for our young, for some reason they can't seem to understand simple Pokespeak." Grey looked to see that nestled protectively within the group of Excadrill was a group of Drilbur. "Well, I can see that's important," Grey said, "but the reason they couldn't seem to understand you was because they're not Pokemon." "You're pulling my claw," replied the Excadrill, "they clearly aren't humans, so they must Pokemon, even if I've never seen them before." Grey sighed, "Look, I'm just going to set up a mental link so we can all talk." Grey's eyes glowed slightly for a moment as he set up the connection, "Testing, we all good?" Ferria and the Excadrill nodded as the head miner just stared, "What is this?" "Psychic," Grey simply said, "now, I know they caused you some problems, but they just arrived out of nowhere and were just trying to find a place for their young, surely you can understand that." The miner nodded, "Children are the future, it would be dishonorable to fault another for trying to preserve it." "As for you," Grey said, turning to the Excadrill, "I know you didn't mean anything, but you caused these nice, Diamond Dogs I think they're called, some problems." The Excadrill sighed, "To be honest, finding a place to live is the least of our problems, we need to find a source of food as well." Grey tapped his chin, wishing his headache could go away so he could think. Suddenly it did, and dozens of scenarios played out in front of his eyes. Grey smiled as he settled on one. "How about this. Excadrill are master tunnelers, so, perhaps you could give them a mined out section to settle if they clean up the mess they made?" "That sounds reasonable to me," said the head miner. "Sounds good to me as well," said the Excadrill, "except for the fact that it doesn't solve our food problem." "I'm getting to that," Grey said before turning back to the miner. "Anyway, if the Excadrill do a good enough job, perhaps you could hire them? "Perhaps," the miner said, "although I don't expect much, there is no race on Equis that can match a Diamond Dog Miner when it comes to tunneling." The Excadrill bristled, "Oh really? Come on boys, let's show these dogs how a real Ground Type digs!" With that, about half of the Excadrill collapsed into their drill stances and shot forward, digging through the collapsed section of the tunnel with ease. "Well then," Grey said, noticing the stunned look on the faces of all the Diamond Dogs gathered, "I'd recommend figuring out how to communicate when I'm not around, cause I think you just gained a few new employees." Chapter 3After working out a way for the miners and Pokemon to communicate, Grey and Ferria continued on their way. "So," Grey asked, "mind telling me exactly where we're going?" "To see my father," Ferria replied, "he should know about the situation, assuming he hasn't already." "Ah yes, you mentioned he was a lord." "Yep, and unlike the ones in Equestria our nobles earn their keep," Ferria replied before sighing, "I've met Princess Celestia and Luna before, they're nice, but man are their nobles stuck up." Grey chuckled, "Well, I guess I'm lucky I ended up here then. By the way, Equestria?" "Oh, it's another country," Ferria explained. "Our country is called Cannida. There's also the Crystal Empire, ponies live there and in Equestria, Griffinheim is the land of the Griffions, the Minion and Changling Empires, Zebrica, and a bunch of others I don't know. Like I said, I'm probably not going to be the next head of the house." "Fair enough," Grey replied as he filed the information away. Rounding a bend, they arrived at an ornate door flanked by a pair of guards. "Lady Farris," said one of them, "welcome back." "Greetings," she replied, "might I ask why the gates are closed?" "Order of your father," replied the other, "in leau of the recent appearance of various types of strange creatures, the gates are to be dogged until such time as public safety can be assured. You and your friend are permitted to pass, we are simply here in case of they become hostile." Ferria and Grey nodded as the guards opened the doors. Grey whistled, "I'll give you one thing, you Diamond Dogs know how to build a city." Said city was indeed impressive. It was set within a massive cavern, and they made excellent use of it. Stone walkways connected buildings that were carved into the walls, stalactites, and stalagmites. The walls were riddled with various brass pipes that carried water and steam throughout the city. The citizens were just as impressive, there were bakers, artisans, and various other merchants selling their wares in stalls carved into the rock. Various Pokemon were also wandering around, mostly Ground, Steel and Fire Types. While most of them were a bit wary of the other, they got along well enough. "Glad you like it," Ferria said, "welcome to the city of Black Anvil." Grey sighed as he heard that. "What's the matter?" Ferria asked. "Nothing really," Grey replied, "it's just that, back home, I lived in a place called Anville Town. It just hit me, I'm probably not gonna see that place again, and I can only hope that my friends made it here too." "Sorry," Ferria said, "I didn't mean to." "No problem, it would have happened sooner or later," Grey replied. "So, where exactly are we headed?" "Hammer Keep," Ferria said, pointing up to a castle carved high into the rock. 'Hmm, that's a bit of a climb,' Grey thought to himself, 'pity I'm not a flying type.' "Um, Grey, how are you doing that?" asked Ferria. Grey looked to see that he was now floating and glowing with a yellow aura. 'Magnet Rise, sweet,' he thought to himself as he calculated a route. "Hop on, we're taking the express route." Ferria climbed onto Grey's back and he went towards the Keep, slowly but steadily. After a few minutes, they arrived at the gates. "Lady Farria," said one of the guards stationed, "your father wishes to see you." "As do I," she replied before gesturing to Grey, "I have with me someone who can help explain things." The guards looked over Grey before nodding. "Very well, you may proceed," said the lead guard before they opened the doors. Ferria and Grey entered the fort, and after a short walk they arrived at the throne room. Seated there was an impressive looking Diamond Dog. "Hello my daughter, I see you've brought a friend." "Father, this is Grey," Ferria replied, "he's been teaching me about these new creatures." Grey nodded as he set the mental link to include him, "Greetings." The Diamond Dog leaned forward slightly, "Fascinating. I am Lord Gimli Forgeburn, if I may ask, how is it you can do these things?" "Simple, I'm a Psychic Type Pokemon," Grey replied, "well, Steel/Psychic if you want to get technical. All Pokemon can use various abilities based on their type." "So, these new creatures are called Pokemon," Gimli said, "I don't suppose you could tell me how you arrived?" Grey shrugged, or at least did his best approximation of a shrug that he could with his new body type, "Not a clue. In fact, yesterday I wasn't even a Pokemon." "Interesting," Gimli replied. However, before anyone could continue, another Diamond Dog burst into the room, carrying a Raichu by the neck. "Father," he shouted, "I thought you were keeping tabs on these creatures?" "I am, Bjorn," Gimli replied. "Then why was this in my personal forge?" "Hey, it's not my fault I ended up there, last thing I remembered before that was going to bed" the Raichu replied, "besides, I was doing you a favor, that place was messier than Shine after a potluck." While the gathered Diamond Dogs were in confusion as to what the Raichu was saying, Grey was staring for a different reason, "Flux?" "How'd you know my name?" Flux asked. "It's me Grey." Flux chuckled, "Yeah no, last time I checked, Grey was a human." Grey reached over and tapped the pair of tinted Safety Goggles on Flux's forehead. "Remember these? I got them custom for you when you figured out Arc Bolt. You were so proud to have invented a new move that I made your favorite, Eggant Berry Parmesan." Flux sighed then grinned, "Well I guess you are Grey, think you can get me down?" "No problem," Grey said before extending the link to include the two newcomers. "Mind putting my friend down?" Bjorn sneered, "I don't know what you are, but this little rat needs to answer for invading the personal Forge of a Lord to be." "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear," Grey said, "put, down, my, friend." As he said the last word, his face moved into a fierce scowl, and released a faint dark aura. Bjorn and Flux palled. "Sure, take the stupid rat," Bjorn replied dropping Flux. "You okay pal?" Grey asked. "Aside from being on the wrong end of a Scary Face, sure," Flux replied, "seriously, your scowl was nasty enough when you were a human." Grey chuckled, "I'll keep that in mind." "Um, Grey," Ferria said, "weren't you going to tell us about these Pokemon?" "Sorry, I was happy that it looks like my friends made it here too," Grey replied sheepishly, "now, before we begin, mind if I can finally get some coffee? This is going to take a while." Author's Note Obvious source material is obvious, Black Anvil is based on a combination of Dwemer Ruins and Markarth, and you can all guess where Gimli got his name. Chapter 4"Man that took way longer than it should have," Grey sighed. "Only because you took so many coffee breaks," Flux quipped back. "Shut up, oil and coffee are what flow through the veins of an Anville Engineer," Grey retorted, "wasn't even particularly good coffee, strong as a Machamp, but about as subtle in it's flavor." "So, what now?" Flux asked. "Now we wait for our hosts to deliberate on their position on Pokemon, and more importantly us." "Yeah, I'm boned." "What makes you say that?" "Your first impression was good, you solved a dispute between some miners and some Excadrill. As for me, I try to do a little bit of house keeping and get manhandled by the local prince who's got it in for me. So yeah, I'm boned." "You know, I think I liked you better when I couldn't understand you." "You're just jealous that unlike you, I could get a date. Speaking of which, I noticed you finally managed to get some tail, literally." "Okay 1: Ferria is 12, I'm 21, major age difference. 2: keep that up and I'll start trying out some moves that actually do damage, Metagross can learn Bullet Punch right?" "Okay okay, I'll shut up." After a few minutes, Flux spoke up again, "Think she has a sister?" The doors opened as Ferria walked through them. "Grey, my father has reached a deci... what are you doing?" Grey was currently giving Flux a noogie of epic proportions, "Teaching this little playboy some respect." "UNCLE!!!" Ferria sighed, "Well anyway, my father has come to a decision, if you could follow me." Ferria, Grey and Flux reentered the throne room. "I have come to a decision regarding the Pokemon. They shall be permitted to remain, as long as they follow our laws." "Sounds reasonable to me," Grey said. "As for you and your companion," Gimli continued, "Ferria mentioned that you built trains in your old world?" "With my team yes," Grey replied. "Well then, there is an old cavern that's no longer in use, I grant it to you so that you may continue your craft." "Thank you," Grey replied as Flux pumped his fist. "Ferria can show you the way," Gimli finished before they left. "This doesn't look half bad," Grey said as they arrived. "It has plenty of space I'll give ya that," Flux replied, "a nice open cave like this will make a nice roundhouse." "I'm glad you like it," Ferria replied, "I think you can use those openings on the upper levels to live in." "Yep, looks good to me," Grey replied, "and based on that map, it's close to a rail line, so connecting it up shouldn't be a problem." "Yeah, although that's the least of our problems," Flux said. "Oh yeah, that might be a problem," Grey replied. "What is it?" Ferria asked. "Nothing big," Flux replied, "we just don't have anything to actually do the work with." "Yeah, I kinda need my tool belt if I want to fix a train," Grey continued. "Tool belt nothing, we need to find the rest of the crew," Flux replied, "although I must admit my filler rods would come in handy. "Oh yeah, my bad," Grey chuckled, "I hope Shine's doing okay, you know how she can get." "Well, it's too late to start searching now," Flux said, "we'll start looking in the morning." "I'll just leave you two to settle in," Ferria said as she turned to leave. "Come back any time," Grey replied. The next morning, Grey awoke to a voice in his head. “Greetings citizens of Equus, both old and new.” ”I am Lord Arceus, creator of the creatures that you have seen over the past few days. You have no reason to fear me for I come in peace.” “I am the one who brought the creatures you see to this world, they are known as Pokémon.” “I have my reasons for bringing them here, I will be holding a summit with the world's leaders so that they can help inform their citizens the best. For now I issue a warning; Even if some do not appear as such, the Pokémon are just as intelligent as any other creature that calls this world home. Since they are MY subjects I will not tolerate their mistreatment or abuse. Treat them as you would your own neighbor.” “Pokemon who have awoken in this new world, do not seek to harm the natives of this world. To the pokemon that experienced certain... Changes... when you arrived; You are the ones who proved that not all of your kind deserved vengeful retribution, consider this your reward. To live new lives, free of the burdens of the old world, a chance to start anew. As sentient beings of varying intelligence, the laws of the respective countries you now reside in apply to you, and only those laws.” “That is all for now, the Pokémon are not to be harmed simply out of spite. If you have any qualms with what I have done, I reside in a temple located within the Everfree forest and welcome all who would like to speak, or a pocket dimension outside of the space time continuum, so if any of you wish to face the sheer power of a god, feel free to come by.” “Goodbye for now, though I doubt this will be the last you hear of me, and peace to you all.” As Grey was processing the information, Flux burst into the room. "Tell me you heard that." "Looks like the mystery of how we got here's solved," Grey replied. "Yeah, well I was thinking, maybe we should go visit him. If he brought us here, chances are he could bring us our equipment, assuming he hasn't already." "I hear ya, we'll head out as soon as we let Ferria know." "Um, nothing personal, but why?" "I happen to consider her a friend, and it's bad form to get up and leave without letting your friends know." "I guess you're right, I'll see if I can wrangle up some supplies." As Flux left, Grey thought to himself, 'Well, I guess we'll be seeing god about some tools, and I'm not coming back without my coffee maker.' Chapter 5"Are you crazy!?" Ferria shouted. Grey and Flux had already informed Lord Gimli of their intention to visit Arceus, and Ferria wanted to come along. However, the problem was Grey's desired method of travel, Magnet Rise. "Back home Pokemon were used for transportation all the time," Grey replied. "Yeah, Flying types," Flux interjected, "not to mention the fact that you only learned that move yesterday." "Name one good reason we can't just take the train." "Because in my professional opinion as someone who builds trains for a living, it's crap." "I am unable to argue with that," Flux added. "It's top speed is a mere 45 mph, it can only haul about a dozen loaded cars, and on top of that, it looks like an apprentice's first solo project." "Maybe, but couldn't we walk or something?" "Sure, if you wanted to take 5 weeks instead of 5 days," Flux scoffed, "although to be honest, I wouldn't mind trying out one of those airship things." "Um... those are kinda expensive," Ferria said. Grey and Flux shared a glance, contrary to popular culture, they weren't completely inept in matters of social cues. "Well then, I guess we're flying then," Grey said as he knelt down for Flux and Ferria to get on his back. As Grey lifted into the air, Flux pulled out a borrowed map and compass, and Ferria whimpered slightly. (A week later) "Looks like we're here," Flux said as they approached a small town. "Where exactly is here if I may ask?" Grey said as he lined up to land. "Ponyville, borders the Everfree forest, maybe we should get a snack before we head out." "Sounds like a plan," Grey said as he landed. As soon as he touched down Ferria jumped down and started taking deep breaths. "You know, you didn't need to come." "I said I'd come, and a Forgeburn always does what they say they'll do," Ferria replied. "Fair enough, and are you ever getting down?" Grey asked Flux, who was still on his head. "You used to let me ride around on your head all the time when I was a Pichu until I got too big," Flux retorted, "I'm collecting on my interest." Grey sighed as he looked around for somewhere to grab a bite to eat. After a few seconds, he spotted a place that looked like a functional gingerbread house. "What do you think?" Flux gave the air a sniff, "There are various aromas of chocolate coming from that direction, let's go." As they arrived, they ran into a small hiccup. Grey sighed as he handed Flux the bag of bits they were granted with their home, "No way am I getting through that door, grab me my usual?" Flux nodded as he and Ferria entered. Behind the counter was a blue pony with a pink mane. "What can I get ya dearies?" she asked with a slight bit of hesitation in her voice. Flux, unsure if the connection would carry over, relayed his and Grey's orders to Ferria, "I'll have a parfait, my friend here will have a double chocolate donut, and a coffee and honey crueler for our friend outside, to go please." The mare nodded as Flux handed her a few coins. A few minutes later, they were walking towards the Everfree enjoying their purchases, mostly anyway. "Why is it that the same place that serves the best crueler I've ever had only has above average coffee?" "Why is it that you can never be happy with whatever kind of coffee you get?" Ferria asked as she munched on her parfait. "Because you've never had the real good stuff," Flux replied,"trust me, until you've had hand pressed Alola beans run through Grey's custom rig, you haven't had good coffee." Grey just chuckled, "I'm not that good, that place in Coumarine City was excellent though." As they reached the edge of the forest, they stopped, "So, through here right?" "I guess," Ferria said. "Let's get on with it then," Grey replied before hey headed in. After a while, they found themselves in front of a ruined looking castle. "Wow, this place has held up pretty well," Flux commented. Grey nodded in agreement. Before they left, they noticed a Lampent exiting that looked a bit familiar. Their suspicions were confirmed when it pulled out a hollowed out berry shell and started sipping from it. "Shine!" Grey and Flux called out, causing her to jump. "Flux, is that you? Man, I thought I'd never see you again after Arceus' little stunt. And Grey, you're a Metagross now? Suits ya, you were always pretty clever for a human." "Good to see you too Shine," Grey chuckled, "see you're keeping your flame fueled." "Oh this?" Shine said as she lifted her cup, "a local Shuckle managed to hook me up with some Chesto Berry Juice. It's got nothing on that Bluk Chardonnay from Kalos, you know the one, but it's not too bad, enough alcohol content to keep me glowing." "Glad to hear it, anything interesting happen?" "Nothing much, a local Gengar thought to turn this place into a kind of hostel for us Ghost types. They're all pretty nice, except for this one Cofagrigus in the basement who's still sleeping, but I think that a cute little Shuppet I met was gonna wake it up." "Glad to see you were doing well," Grey said before connecting her to the link, "Ferria, meet my old friend Shine, Shine, meet my new friend Ferria." "Hello!" "Hi," Ferria replied. "So, there a reason you guys or out here, or was it just to visit little old me?" "We're off to visit Arceus to try and get our stuff back," Flux answered. "You mean Grey's coffee maker right?" Grey pouted as the others laughed. "Let's just get going shall we?" "Just a sec," Shine said before turning back to the castle, "Hey Gengar! See ya!" Out of the shadows a Gengar materialized, "Very well Shine, though Drifloon's gonna miss you." "I'll miss that little cutie too," Shine grinned, "keep the little ones out of trouble." "Will do," Gengar replied. As they turned to leave, Flux noticed that Ferria wasn't moving. As he went to poke her, she fell over. Flux just sighed as he waved Grey over, some people just couldn't handle Ghost types. Author's Note Next chapter, legedaries and a cameo Chapter 6Ferria was having a rather lovely dream, one that involved a swimming pool that was filled with chocolate, when she was roused by a light shining in her eyes. As she cracked open her eyes to tell whoever it was to go away, she jumped back. "Man, looks like someone still doesn't like Ghost types," Shine chuckled. "Well, don't wake me up by shining your light in my face," Ferria replied as she dusted herself off. "Knock it off you two," Grey said, "we're here." Ferria looked up to see that they had arrived at a massive temple-like structure, who's door was guarded by a trio of golems. "Party of th... 4 to see Arceus," Grey said to the Regis. In response, their eyes flashed in sequence, before they stepped aside as the doors opened. As they walked inside, Ferria couldn't help but notice something, "Hey, how did I get here?" "Comfy up here isn't it?" Flux said from his perch atop Grey. After a brief round of chuckles, they arrived at a rather impressive looking door which was slightly ajar. Grey peeked in to see that Arceus was there, as well as a Luxray who was going on a bit of a rant. Sighing, Grey pushed the door closed, "Looks like we'll have to wait a while." Before anyone could comment, they were interrupted. "Hello." Ferria jumped back as a red and blue lanky Pokemon appeared in front of her. "Ah, you're Deoxys I presume," Grey said as the others were still reeling from his sudden arrival. "You've heard of me? That's good, most of the guys who come here to visit me haven't heard of me. They've heard of Mewtwo and Genesect, but they're younger than me, kinda wierd huh?" "I guess," Grey chuckled. "I wonder why that is?" Deoxys said to himself before he turned himself upside down. "Um, why are you doing that," Flux asked. "Hoopa said that if I've got more blood in my brain you think better. I need all the help I can get if I'm gonna figure out why nobody seems to have heard of me." "Um, that doesn't really work." "But Hoopa said it did, and she said she heard it from Uxie." "You do know Hoopa is the Mischief Pokemon right?" "It has only given me headaches now that I think about it, I need to go punch her later," Deoxys said as he flipped right side up. As Grey and the others chuckled, they were interrupted by a loud boom. "What was that!" Ferria asked rather loudly. "Oh, that's probably Groudon and Kyogre going at it again, I bet a basket of macaroons on Kyogre. What, Victini's macaroons are awesome." This prompted another round of chuckles as the Luxray walked out of the audience chamber, accompanied by a Sylveon, Absol and a Pony. He was looking pretty beat, so Grey merely nodded to him in greeting as he entered the audience chamber himself. Sitting at a massive table was Arceus himself, although he currently wasn't the exact picture of a divine being. Meloetta, I told you I'm fine," Arceus said as the Melody Pokemon was applying a salve to him. "No buts, Divine Pokemon or not, you don't get hit by a Thunder and not get at least a little hurt, especially if you didn't use your Earth Plate." "For the love me, could you please stop? We have guests." Meloetta turned to see Grey and the others standing there. Grey was chuckling slightly, Ferria was in awe of the Origin Pokemon, Shine was sipping from her berry shell, and Flux was holding a rose he grabbed from, somewhere. "Well hello," Flux said, rather suavely one had to admit, "I'm Flux, and it's a pleasure to meet such a lovely lady such as yourself." Meloetta giggled, "Thank you, but sorry, you're not my type." Flux sighed as he and the rose deflated. Arcues chuckled, "My, it's been rather a long time since anyone has had the nerve to attempt to court a Legendary." "That's just Flux being Flux," Grey chuckled, "anyway, it's an honor to meet you Lord Arceus." Arceus raised one of his eyebrows, "And it has been even longer since a human has addressed me as such." "My mother was a member of a sub-sect of your church, and taught me to respect all Legendaries." Arceus grinned, "Sounds like a fine woman, I do hope to meet her, she sounds like she would have made the journey." "Speaking of which," Shine said as she drained her shell, "I was wondering why you brought us, and by extension most of Earth here?" "Because for thousands of years I was forced to watch as countless Pokemon were treated as nothing more than tools by most of Humanity," Arceus said as his face contorted into a frown, "so, upon my release, I transferred my Pokemon, as well as all Humans who proved worthy, here. Now, I suppose this is the part where you ask to turned back?" "Actually, I'm kinda liking this," Grey admitted, "even without the ability to use Psychic to move stuff around, the intelligence boost from being made a Metagross? I've got so many ideas running through my head that I had to dedicate one of my brains to keep track of them all, once I figured out how of course. "Glad to hear it, so why did you come to seek an audience with me?" "To be honest, I kinda wanted our stuff," Grey grinned sheepishly. "Yeah," Flux interjected, "kinda shortsighted to send us to another planet and not let us pack first." "Yeah, Arceus might be pretty powerful, but he's also quite scatterbrained," Meloetta grinned. "Let's just get these nice Pokemon their stuff," Arceus said as he rummaged through the store of everything he had brought from Earth. After a few minutes, he pulled out several crates, "Is this what you were looking for?" Grey poked through the crates for a few minutes before he pulled out a sightly worn tool belt, which he then wrapped around one of his forearms, "Yeah, this is it." "You know, there are probably a lot more former humans that have stuff they'd like back," Shine said as she rummaged through another of the crates, before shrieking in delight as she pulled out a bottle of wine. Arceus simply face palmed as Meloetta chuckled, "Why don't I just get Hoopa to send your stuff home ahead of you?" Grey nodded as Arceus sent a telepathic request for Hoopa, who arrived a minute later holding an ice pack to her face. "What happened?" Arceus asked with concern. "Deoxys got wise to a prank I pulled on him a while back and slugged me, pretty hard. Can't complain too much though, gotta lot of mileage out of that one." "That's what happens when you pull pranks," Meloetta grinned, "sometimes your target gets you back." "Yeah yeah, let's just get this done quick maybe? Groudon's kicking Kyogre's tail, and I've got a ton of Poffins on him." Everyone just chuckled before Grey mentally sent the destination to Hoopa. After Hoopa sent the crates off and hurried back to the fight, Arceus turned towards Grey, "Is there anything else you need?" "Just let any of my team know where I am if they turn up," Grey said before leaving. As they exited the temple, they noticed a Sudowoodo dancing around. Apparantly there was a party happening that night, and he was telling everyone he met about it. At the mention of a party, Shine latched herself to Grey's face, "Can we go? Please please please please pleeeeaaase?" Grey sighed before nodding, causing Shine to start cheering. Who knows maybe they's find another member of his team there, or at least some half decent coffee. Chapter 7Grey sighed, looks like this party didn't have any coffee, although Shine was upset about something a little different. "Are you kidding me? What kind of party doesn't have booze!?" Shine was currently complaining to the pony behind the bar about the lack of certain kinds of beverages. Luckily for Grey, someone had covered the entire party with a translation spell, so he was able to set the link to standby mode and relax. As he set 'learn about magic' in his idea brain, he looked around the party. There were several Pokemon and ponies mingling, and even a couple of legendaries had shown up. He noticed Flux walking towards him, his body language stating that he had been up to his old tricks, and failing miserably. "So, who'd you try to hook up with this time?" "I met this cute Sylveon, who already had a mate." Grey chuckled, "Honestly, why do you keep doing this?" "Because I do occasionally get a date." Grey sighed as Shine floated over with a glass of punch, "Stupid Pinkie Pie saying no booze cause it might hurt the Pokemon, Pokemon can handle booze just fine." As she said that another pony walked up to the bar and ordered a drink, but as the bartender pulled the tap, it squirted in her face, causing Shine to start laughing her face off. "Thank you karma, you deny me my booze, YOU GET CIDER IN THE FACE!"7 Grey sighed, “I can’t wait to find the rest of the team, at least they can be trusted to behave in public.” “I dunno, Shine’s kinda nice, after you get used to the whole ‘ghost’ thing,” said Ferria. Grey chuckled as a white unicorn with a purple mane walked up to them, “Welcome, I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. I’m Rarity, and I must ask, how did you manage to get your skin so shiny?” “Special Anville Town Metal Coat,” said Grey, “I’m Grey by the way.” “Anville Town?” “Best engineers on the planet,” said Grey, “well, Earth anyway. Gonna need to build the Anville name up from scratch, should prove interesting.” “You’re an engineer you say?” said Rarity, “I happen to be a fashion designer myself.” “To each their own,” Grey said as he popped a tart into his mouth, as Ferria looked at Rarity with a look of minor confusion on her face. “Excuse me,” she said, “you wouldn’t happen to be the same Rarity who ran afoul of a local Diamond Dog pack, would you?” “That I am, horrid brutes,” Rarity said, turning towards Ferria, a nervous grin appearing on her face as she noticed exactly what Ferria was, “er... no offence?” “None taken, you can’t expect an outland pack to be as civilized as a Canidian city,” said Ferria. “Besides, when my father heard about how you managed to best them, he was laughing for 5 hours straight.” “Well, I suppose it is rather humorous when you think about it miss...?” “Ferria Forgeburn, daughter of Gimli Forgeburn, Lord of Black Anvil,” said Ferria, as she clasped her right paw over the left side of her chest in a form of salute. “A Lord?” Rarity said, “well, I must say I never expected... Anyway, if you’ll excuse me, I think I see one of my friends.” Ferria scratched her head as Rarity walked away, “I wonder what that was about?” “Probably a little trouble meshing her past experiences with meeting you,” said Grey before turning towards Flux, “by the way, I noticed you managed to contain yourself for once.” “Are you kidding? The last three times I hit on a Rapidash, I got kicked into low earth orbit,” said Flux, “I have no desire to see if the pattern holds with ponies.” Grey was helping himself to some rock candy as the others decided to mingle when he saw a somewhat familiar face come towards him. Of course, it would be a little more familiar if it wasn’t upside down. ”Hey Grey” said Deoxys, ”I was hoping to find you.” “It’s nice to see you too,” said Grey as he levitated Deoxys some candy, “you do know you don’t have to do that right?” ”Stupid Hoopa had me doing this for so long its become a habit,” grumbled Deoxys as he righted himself. Grey just chuckled. “So, what were you thinking about?” ”Latias is gonna race a pony tomorrow, was trying to figure out which one would win.” “And what’s your opinion so far?” ”I don’t know enough. I mean, I’ve raced Latias before, so I’ve got a pretty good idea of what she can do,” Deoxys said as he shifted to his Speed Form, ”but I’ve got bubkis on this Rainbow Dash other than she can break the sound barrier.” Grey whistled, “Sounds like that could be worth watching.” ”I’ll see you there then,” Deoxys said as he floated off, once again upside down. “Wonder what he’s thinking about know,” Grey said to himself as Ferria rejoined him. “I have no idea who this Pinkie Pie is, but she sure knows how to throw a party.” “Good thing someone put up this translation spell,” Grey said as he saw a group of foals playing tag with some Pokemon, “the whole thing could have gone south real quick if half the guest didn’t have a clue what the other half were saying.” “No argument there,” Ferria said as she had a sip of punch, “not sure why they didn’t use runes though.” “Runes?” “Diamond Dog magic. Special symbols that, when done correctly, have various effects,” Ferria explained. “they may take more time and effort than unicorn magic, but they can function almost indefinitely if they aren’t damaged. Runemasters can even create teleportation gates, although those are strictly one-time only.” “Sounds useful,” said Grey, “I wouldn’t mind learning some of that.” “I brought a few books with me,” said Ferria, “you’re welcome to have a look.” “Thank you very much,” said Grey. Now he had something to occupy his time between his morning coffee and the race. Author's Note Dear Zeus, can I please get sorted into whether this is cannon or not?
Chapter 1Grey was an engineer, specifically a train engineer from Anville Town. And, as anyone from Kanto to Kalos could tell you, no true train is built anywhere else. The Anville Engineers were legendary for their skill, no matter what kind of project they set themselves, from trains to tunnels to towers to televisions. All except for the Hyperspeed Train, which had been on the drawing board for as long as anyone could remember. However, every once in a while, there are those who are a cut above the rest, Grey was one of those. However, it was not his skill alone that granted him the respect he had earned, to be honest he was average in all aspects of engineering except for design, for an Anville Engineer anyway. The true source of his success came from his Pokemon. The head of his crew was a Raichu named Flux, who was able to use his tail to preform seamless welds. The heavy lifting was done by two Pokemon. One was a Magnezone named Brace, who could use powerful magnetic fields to lift massive metal components and hold them in place. The other was a Torterra named Dome, who carted around materials and helped Brace with lifting objects. Temper was a Torkoal that didn't usually go out into the field, but was a master of forging and heat treating metal. Shine was a Lampent, and the newest member of the group, but quite skilled in using her flames as a cutting torch. Together they made a heck of a team, and were quite skilled despite the fact that they only had about 2 years of experience. Today they were repairing a carriage that had been on the wrong side of a Mega Gyrados's Hyper Beam. The Battle Subway's trains were specially designed to be as close to indestructible as possible, they had to be considering their intended use, but even they had limits. "Man," Grey said as he ground down some of the sharper edges left from one of Shine's cuts, "this is the third one this week." "Rai," replied Flux, as he started welding on a new plate. "We should talk to Ingo and Emmet about banning Mega use from the Subway," Grey said. "Chu" Flux replied, in agreement from the tone of his voice. Grey glanced at a clock, "Well, it's getting late, let's finish this up and call it a day." "Lamp," Shine replied cheerfully as she finished cutting off the last piece of bent metal. The others quickly voiced their agreement. "Guess that's unanimous," Grey said, "so, pasta tonight?" The gathered Pokemon cheered, Grey might be an engineer, but his cooking skills were just as good. Especially when it came to pasta, that was just glorious. After ensuring that the carriage was ready for the next day, and that no one could wander into the shed they were working in and get hurt, they headed home. After a glorious meal, they quickly hit the hay, except for Grey, who was looking at a singed schematic. "Zone?" called Brace from behind his shoulder. Grey grinned, "Just looking at some of dad's old blueprints, thought they might have a way to reinforce the carriages in case we have to deal with more Megas." "Mag," Brace said remorsefully. "Yeah," Grey replied, patting Brace, "I miss him too." Nuzzling into the pat slightly, Brace yawned. "Yeah yeah," Grey chuckled before yawning himself, "just let me put these away first okay?" Brace nodded before heading to his own room. Grey rolled up the schematic and placed it in it's tube, then placed it alongside several others. Turning off the light and heading to bed, he soon drifted into a deep slumber. Dead to the world, he was unaware that his Pokemon started vanishing, with himself following suit soon after. "Rest now my children, for when you awake a whole new world shall be your home.” When Gray woke up, his body felt rather heavy and he had a pounding headache, both of which he attributed to not having his coffee yet. Looking around, he noticed that he was not in his room, instead he was in some sort of cave. Also, he wasn't alone. That in and of himself wasn't unusual, Flux and Brace took it upon themselves to help wake their boss up, usually with gratuitous amounts of coffee. This time however was a Pokemon he had never even heard of. At first glance it looked like a cross between a Riolu and a Lillipup, but Grey decided to worry about it when he got some coffee. "Hello," she said, at least that's what he assumed based on her tone of voice, "who are you?" While Grey was slightly taken aback by the fact that she could talk, he didn't find it completely outlandish. While rare, Pokemon that could speak English did exist, in fact he had seen a Meowth with the skill a few years ago. Deciding that she could tell him where he was and how he got here, he decided to be polite. "I'm Grey." "That's a funny name," she replied, "I've never heard of anyone named 'Gross' before." Grey groaned as he started to facepalm, having forgotten how useless he was in the morning before he got his coffee. However, as his arm came into view, he stopped. Grey might have known next to nothing about biology, but he knew his own body pretty well. Last time he checked, his arm wasn't the size of a rail, or silver. It also wasn't shiny enough to see his reflection, assuming it was, because what he saw was a massive quadrupedal goliath with a yellow X on his face. Grey did what any good engineer would do in that situation, he took in the facts, decided on a plan of action, then followed through. He completed his facepalm, freaking out could wait until after he had some coffee.
Chapter 2Grey and his new friend walked down the tunnel. Well, his new friend walked, Grey kinda shuffled, half from inexperience in his new form, half from lack of coffee. "So Gross," said his new friend, "how did you get down here anyway? I haven't seen anything like you before." Grey sighed, hoping that his new name wouldn't stick. 'You know, it's rude to ask for someone's name without giving your own,' he thought to himself. His new friend's ears perked up as she glanced around. "Huh, could have sworn I heard something," she said, "anyway, sorry but I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Ferria of Clan Forgeburn." 'Huh, just when I was thinking about...' Grey facepalmed as he realized something, 'I'm a Metagross, I'm part Psychic, let's see if this works.' Grey closed his eyes and concentrated,'Come on Grey, you've seen Caitlin's Pokemon do this all the time. You've got 4 brains now, you can handle this. Testing, can you hear me Ferria?' Ferria's eyes widened slightly, "Is that you Gross?" "Well, glad to see I can do that mind-link trick," Grey said, "by the way, my name's 'Grey', not Gross, Metagross is the type of Pokemon I am. Plus I haven't had my morning coffee yet." "Oh, I'm sorry," said Ferria, "what's a Pokemon?" "Well, and keep in mind this isn't my field of expertise, Pokemon are creatures with various abilities. They come in a variety of types, though no single breed of Pokemon is more than 2. For example, Metagross like myself are Steel and Psychic type." "Ooh, so does that mean you're a good metalworker?" Ferria asked. "Two things, 1: just because I'm a Steel type doesn't mean I'm good at working with metal," Grey said. "2: that said back home I fixed trains with my team." Before either one could continue, they were interrupted by shouts in the distance. "Hoopa's Rings," Grey said, "what was that!?" (The Hall of Legends) Hoopa paused as she felt something, for some reason she spontaneously felt a strange sense of pride. Disregarding it, she returned to her task, hoping Diance wouldn't be too mad if she borrowed one of her sculptures. Grey and Ferria arrived to see an argument between a group of what appeared to be miners and some Excadrill. Well, as close as they could get to an argument seeing as the miners couldn't understand a word the Excadrill were saying. "What's going on here?" Ferria asked. "Lady Ferria," said what Grey assumed was the leader of the miners, "these creatures have caused one of the major mine shafts to collapse. Luckily no one was in there, but we'll need at least a week to clear it." "Lady Ferria?" Grey asked. "Well, my father is a Diamond Dog noble," Ferria explained, "although I'm nowhere close to becoming the next head of House Forgeburn." "Anyway, I think I can handle this," Grey said before walking over to the Excadrill. The leader of the Excadrill turned towards him. "Thank Arceus, a Metagross, now we can get somewhere." "Well, I was going to help anyway," Grey said, "but why is me being a Metagross a good thing?" The Excadrill scoffed, "All Pokemon know that Metagross as master mediators. Now, tell these sorry excuses for Ground types that we need to carve a safe place for our young, for some reason they can't seem to understand simple Pokespeak." Grey looked to see that nestled protectively within the group of Excadrill was a group of Drilbur. "Well, I can see that's important," Grey said, "but the reason they couldn't seem to understand you was because they're not Pokemon." "You're pulling my claw," replied the Excadrill, "they clearly aren't humans, so they must Pokemon, even if I've never seen them before." Grey sighed, "Look, I'm just going to set up a mental link so we can all talk." Grey's eyes glowed slightly for a moment as he set up the connection, "Testing, we all good?" Ferria and the Excadrill nodded as the head miner just stared, "What is this?" "Psychic," Grey simply said, "now, I know they caused you some problems, but they just arrived out of nowhere and were just trying to find a place for their young, surely you can understand that." The miner nodded, "Children are the future, it would be dishonorable to fault another for trying to preserve it." "As for you," Grey said, turning to the Excadrill, "I know you didn't mean anything, but you caused these nice, Diamond Dogs I think they're called, some problems." The Excadrill sighed, "To be honest, finding a place to live is the least of our problems, we need to find a source of food as well." Grey tapped his chin, wishing his headache could go away so he could think. Suddenly it did, and dozens of scenarios played out in front of his eyes. Grey smiled as he settled on one. "How about this. Excadrill are master tunnelers, so, perhaps you could give them a mined out section to settle if they clean up the mess they made?" "That sounds reasonable to me," said the head miner. "Sounds good to me as well," said the Excadrill, "except for the fact that it doesn't solve our food problem." "I'm getting to that," Grey said before turning back to the miner. "Anyway, if the Excadrill do a good enough job, perhaps you could hire them? "Perhaps," the miner said, "although I don't expect much, there is no race on Equis that can match a Diamond Dog Miner when it comes to tunneling." The Excadrill bristled, "Oh really? Come on boys, let's show these dogs how a real Ground Type digs!" With that, about half of the Excadrill collapsed into their drill stances and shot forward, digging through the collapsed section of the tunnel with ease. "Well then," Grey said, noticing the stunned look on the faces of all the Diamond Dogs gathered, "I'd recommend figuring out how to communicate when I'm not around, cause I think you just gained a few new employees."
Chapter 3After working out a way for the miners and Pokemon to communicate, Grey and Ferria continued on their way. "So," Grey asked, "mind telling me exactly where we're going?" "To see my father," Ferria replied, "he should know about the situation, assuming he hasn't already." "Ah yes, you mentioned he was a lord." "Yep, and unlike the ones in Equestria our nobles earn their keep," Ferria replied before sighing, "I've met Princess Celestia and Luna before, they're nice, but man are their nobles stuck up." Grey chuckled, "Well, I guess I'm lucky I ended up here then. By the way, Equestria?" "Oh, it's another country," Ferria explained. "Our country is called Cannida. There's also the Crystal Empire, ponies live there and in Equestria, Griffinheim is the land of the Griffions, the Minion and Changling Empires, Zebrica, and a bunch of others I don't know. Like I said, I'm probably not going to be the next head of the house." "Fair enough," Grey replied as he filed the information away. Rounding a bend, they arrived at an ornate door flanked by a pair of guards. "Lady Farris," said one of them, "welcome back." "Greetings," she replied, "might I ask why the gates are closed?" "Order of your father," replied the other, "in leau of the recent appearance of various types of strange creatures, the gates are to be dogged until such time as public safety can be assured. You and your friend are permitted to pass, we are simply here in case of they become hostile." Ferria and Grey nodded as the guards opened the doors. Grey whistled, "I'll give you one thing, you Diamond Dogs know how to build a city." Said city was indeed impressive. It was set within a massive cavern, and they made excellent use of it. Stone walkways connected buildings that were carved into the walls, stalactites, and stalagmites. The walls were riddled with various brass pipes that carried water and steam throughout the city. The citizens were just as impressive, there were bakers, artisans, and various other merchants selling their wares in stalls carved into the rock. Various Pokemon were also wandering around, mostly Ground, Steel and Fire Types. While most of them were a bit wary of the other, they got along well enough. "Glad you like it," Ferria said, "welcome to the city of Black Anvil." Grey sighed as he heard that. "What's the matter?" Ferria asked. "Nothing really," Grey replied, "it's just that, back home, I lived in a place called Anville Town. It just hit me, I'm probably not gonna see that place again, and I can only hope that my friends made it here too." "Sorry," Ferria said, "I didn't mean to." "No problem, it would have happened sooner or later," Grey replied. "So, where exactly are we headed?" "Hammer Keep," Ferria said, pointing up to a castle carved high into the rock. 'Hmm, that's a bit of a climb,' Grey thought to himself, 'pity I'm not a flying type.' "Um, Grey, how are you doing that?" asked Ferria. Grey looked to see that he was now floating and glowing with a yellow aura. 'Magnet Rise, sweet,' he thought to himself as he calculated a route. "Hop on, we're taking the express route." Ferria climbed onto Grey's back and he went towards the Keep, slowly but steadily. After a few minutes, they arrived at the gates. "Lady Farria," said one of the guards stationed, "your father wishes to see you." "As do I," she replied before gesturing to Grey, "I have with me someone who can help explain things." The guards looked over Grey before nodding. "Very well, you may proceed," said the lead guard before they opened the doors. Ferria and Grey entered the fort, and after a short walk they arrived at the throne room. Seated there was an impressive looking Diamond Dog. "Hello my daughter, I see you've brought a friend." "Father, this is Grey," Ferria replied, "he's been teaching me about these new creatures." Grey nodded as he set the mental link to include him, "Greetings." The Diamond Dog leaned forward slightly, "Fascinating. I am Lord Gimli Forgeburn, if I may ask, how is it you can do these things?" "Simple, I'm a Psychic Type Pokemon," Grey replied, "well, Steel/Psychic if you want to get technical. All Pokemon can use various abilities based on their type." "So, these new creatures are called Pokemon," Gimli said, "I don't suppose you could tell me how you arrived?" Grey shrugged, or at least did his best approximation of a shrug that he could with his new body type, "Not a clue. In fact, yesterday I wasn't even a Pokemon." "Interesting," Gimli replied. However, before anyone could continue, another Diamond Dog burst into the room, carrying a Raichu by the neck. "Father," he shouted, "I thought you were keeping tabs on these creatures?" "I am, Bjorn," Gimli replied. "Then why was this in my personal forge?" "Hey, it's not my fault I ended up there, last thing I remembered before that was going to bed" the Raichu replied, "besides, I was doing you a favor, that place was messier than Shine after a potluck." While the gathered Diamond Dogs were in confusion as to what the Raichu was saying, Grey was staring for a different reason, "Flux?" "How'd you know my name?" Flux asked. "It's me Grey." Flux chuckled, "Yeah no, last time I checked, Grey was a human." Grey reached over and tapped the pair of tinted Safety Goggles on Flux's forehead. "Remember these? I got them custom for you when you figured out Arc Bolt. You were so proud to have invented a new move that I made your favorite, Eggant Berry Parmesan." Flux sighed then grinned, "Well I guess you are Grey, think you can get me down?" "No problem," Grey said before extending the link to include the two newcomers. "Mind putting my friend down?" Bjorn sneered, "I don't know what you are, but this little rat needs to answer for invading the personal Forge of a Lord to be." "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear," Grey said, "put, down, my, friend." As he said the last word, his face moved into a fierce scowl, and released a faint dark aura. Bjorn and Flux palled. "Sure, take the stupid rat," Bjorn replied dropping Flux. "You okay pal?" Grey asked. "Aside from being on the wrong end of a Scary Face, sure," Flux replied, "seriously, your scowl was nasty enough when you were a human." Grey chuckled, "I'll keep that in mind." "Um, Grey," Ferria said, "weren't you going to tell us about these Pokemon?" "Sorry, I was happy that it looks like my friends made it here too," Grey replied sheepishly, "now, before we begin, mind if I can finally get some coffee? This is going to take a while." Author's Note Obvious source material is obvious, Black Anvil is based on a combination of Dwemer Ruins and Markarth, and you can all guess where Gimli got his name.
Chapter 4"Man that took way longer than it should have," Grey sighed. "Only because you took so many coffee breaks," Flux quipped back. "Shut up, oil and coffee are what flow through the veins of an Anville Engineer," Grey retorted, "wasn't even particularly good coffee, strong as a Machamp, but about as subtle in it's flavor." "So, what now?" Flux asked. "Now we wait for our hosts to deliberate on their position on Pokemon, and more importantly us." "Yeah, I'm boned." "What makes you say that?" "Your first impression was good, you solved a dispute between some miners and some Excadrill. As for me, I try to do a little bit of house keeping and get manhandled by the local prince who's got it in for me. So yeah, I'm boned." "You know, I think I liked you better when I couldn't understand you." "You're just jealous that unlike you, I could get a date. Speaking of which, I noticed you finally managed to get some tail, literally." "Okay 1: Ferria is 12, I'm 21, major age difference. 2: keep that up and I'll start trying out some moves that actually do damage, Metagross can learn Bullet Punch right?" "Okay okay, I'll shut up." After a few minutes, Flux spoke up again, "Think she has a sister?" The doors opened as Ferria walked through them. "Grey, my father has reached a deci... what are you doing?" Grey was currently giving Flux a noogie of epic proportions, "Teaching this little playboy some respect." "UNCLE!!!" Ferria sighed, "Well anyway, my father has come to a decision, if you could follow me." Ferria, Grey and Flux reentered the throne room. "I have come to a decision regarding the Pokemon. They shall be permitted to remain, as long as they follow our laws." "Sounds reasonable to me," Grey said. "As for you and your companion," Gimli continued, "Ferria mentioned that you built trains in your old world?" "With my team yes," Grey replied. "Well then, there is an old cavern that's no longer in use, I grant it to you so that you may continue your craft." "Thank you," Grey replied as Flux pumped his fist. "Ferria can show you the way," Gimli finished before they left. "This doesn't look half bad," Grey said as they arrived. "It has plenty of space I'll give ya that," Flux replied, "a nice open cave like this will make a nice roundhouse." "I'm glad you like it," Ferria replied, "I think you can use those openings on the upper levels to live in." "Yep, looks good to me," Grey replied, "and based on that map, it's close to a rail line, so connecting it up shouldn't be a problem." "Yeah, although that's the least of our problems," Flux said. "Oh yeah, that might be a problem," Grey replied. "What is it?" Ferria asked. "Nothing big," Flux replied, "we just don't have anything to actually do the work with." "Yeah, I kinda need my tool belt if I want to fix a train," Grey continued. "Tool belt nothing, we need to find the rest of the crew," Flux replied, "although I must admit my filler rods would come in handy. "Oh yeah, my bad," Grey chuckled, "I hope Shine's doing okay, you know how she can get." "Well, it's too late to start searching now," Flux said, "we'll start looking in the morning." "I'll just leave you two to settle in," Ferria said as she turned to leave. "Come back any time," Grey replied. The next morning, Grey awoke to a voice in his head. “Greetings citizens of Equus, both old and new.” ”I am Lord Arceus, creator of the creatures that you have seen over the past few days. You have no reason to fear me for I come in peace.” “I am the one who brought the creatures you see to this world, they are known as Pokémon.” “I have my reasons for bringing them here, I will be holding a summit with the world's leaders so that they can help inform their citizens the best. For now I issue a warning; Even if some do not appear as such, the Pokémon are just as intelligent as any other creature that calls this world home. Since they are MY subjects I will not tolerate their mistreatment or abuse. Treat them as you would your own neighbor.” “Pokemon who have awoken in this new world, do not seek to harm the natives of this world. To the pokemon that experienced certain... Changes... when you arrived; You are the ones who proved that not all of your kind deserved vengeful retribution, consider this your reward. To live new lives, free of the burdens of the old world, a chance to start anew. As sentient beings of varying intelligence, the laws of the respective countries you now reside in apply to you, and only those laws.” “That is all for now, the Pokémon are not to be harmed simply out of spite. If you have any qualms with what I have done, I reside in a temple located within the Everfree forest and welcome all who would like to speak, or a pocket dimension outside of the space time continuum, so if any of you wish to face the sheer power of a god, feel free to come by.” “Goodbye for now, though I doubt this will be the last you hear of me, and peace to you all.” As Grey was processing the information, Flux burst into the room. "Tell me you heard that." "Looks like the mystery of how we got here's solved," Grey replied. "Yeah, well I was thinking, maybe we should go visit him. If he brought us here, chances are he could bring us our equipment, assuming he hasn't already." "I hear ya, we'll head out as soon as we let Ferria know." "Um, nothing personal, but why?" "I happen to consider her a friend, and it's bad form to get up and leave without letting your friends know." "I guess you're right, I'll see if I can wrangle up some supplies." As Flux left, Grey thought to himself, 'Well, I guess we'll be seeing god about some tools, and I'm not coming back without my coffee maker.'
Chapter 5"Are you crazy!?" Ferria shouted. Grey and Flux had already informed Lord Gimli of their intention to visit Arceus, and Ferria wanted to come along. However, the problem was Grey's desired method of travel, Magnet Rise. "Back home Pokemon were used for transportation all the time," Grey replied. "Yeah, Flying types," Flux interjected, "not to mention the fact that you only learned that move yesterday." "Name one good reason we can't just take the train." "Because in my professional opinion as someone who builds trains for a living, it's crap." "I am unable to argue with that," Flux added. "It's top speed is a mere 45 mph, it can only haul about a dozen loaded cars, and on top of that, it looks like an apprentice's first solo project." "Maybe, but couldn't we walk or something?" "Sure, if you wanted to take 5 weeks instead of 5 days," Flux scoffed, "although to be honest, I wouldn't mind trying out one of those airship things." "Um... those are kinda expensive," Ferria said. Grey and Flux shared a glance, contrary to popular culture, they weren't completely inept in matters of social cues. "Well then, I guess we're flying then," Grey said as he knelt down for Flux and Ferria to get on his back. As Grey lifted into the air, Flux pulled out a borrowed map and compass, and Ferria whimpered slightly. (A week later) "Looks like we're here," Flux said as they approached a small town. "Where exactly is here if I may ask?" Grey said as he lined up to land. "Ponyville, borders the Everfree forest, maybe we should get a snack before we head out." "Sounds like a plan," Grey said as he landed. As soon as he touched down Ferria jumped down and started taking deep breaths. "You know, you didn't need to come." "I said I'd come, and a Forgeburn always does what they say they'll do," Ferria replied. "Fair enough, and are you ever getting down?" Grey asked Flux, who was still on his head. "You used to let me ride around on your head all the time when I was a Pichu until I got too big," Flux retorted, "I'm collecting on my interest." Grey sighed as he looked around for somewhere to grab a bite to eat. After a few seconds, he spotted a place that looked like a functional gingerbread house. "What do you think?" Flux gave the air a sniff, "There are various aromas of chocolate coming from that direction, let's go." As they arrived, they ran into a small hiccup. Grey sighed as he handed Flux the bag of bits they were granted with their home, "No way am I getting through that door, grab me my usual?" Flux nodded as he and Ferria entered. Behind the counter was a blue pony with a pink mane. "What can I get ya dearies?" she asked with a slight bit of hesitation in her voice. Flux, unsure if the connection would carry over, relayed his and Grey's orders to Ferria, "I'll have a parfait, my friend here will have a double chocolate donut, and a coffee and honey crueler for our friend outside, to go please." The mare nodded as Flux handed her a few coins. A few minutes later, they were walking towards the Everfree enjoying their purchases, mostly anyway. "Why is it that the same place that serves the best crueler I've ever had only has above average coffee?" "Why is it that you can never be happy with whatever kind of coffee you get?" Ferria asked as she munched on her parfait. "Because you've never had the real good stuff," Flux replied,"trust me, until you've had hand pressed Alola beans run through Grey's custom rig, you haven't had good coffee." Grey just chuckled, "I'm not that good, that place in Coumarine City was excellent though." As they reached the edge of the forest, they stopped, "So, through here right?" "I guess," Ferria said. "Let's get on with it then," Grey replied before hey headed in. After a while, they found themselves in front of a ruined looking castle. "Wow, this place has held up pretty well," Flux commented. Grey nodded in agreement. Before they left, they noticed a Lampent exiting that looked a bit familiar. Their suspicions were confirmed when it pulled out a hollowed out berry shell and started sipping from it. "Shine!" Grey and Flux called out, causing her to jump. "Flux, is that you? Man, I thought I'd never see you again after Arceus' little stunt. And Grey, you're a Metagross now? Suits ya, you were always pretty clever for a human." "Good to see you too Shine," Grey chuckled, "see you're keeping your flame fueled." "Oh this?" Shine said as she lifted her cup, "a local Shuckle managed to hook me up with some Chesto Berry Juice. It's got nothing on that Bluk Chardonnay from Kalos, you know the one, but it's not too bad, enough alcohol content to keep me glowing." "Glad to hear it, anything interesting happen?" "Nothing much, a local Gengar thought to turn this place into a kind of hostel for us Ghost types. They're all pretty nice, except for this one Cofagrigus in the basement who's still sleeping, but I think that a cute little Shuppet I met was gonna wake it up." "Glad to see you were doing well," Grey said before connecting her to the link, "Ferria, meet my old friend Shine, Shine, meet my new friend Ferria." "Hello!" "Hi," Ferria replied. "So, there a reason you guys or out here, or was it just to visit little old me?" "We're off to visit Arceus to try and get our stuff back," Flux answered. "You mean Grey's coffee maker right?" Grey pouted as the others laughed. "Let's just get going shall we?" "Just a sec," Shine said before turning back to the castle, "Hey Gengar! See ya!" Out of the shadows a Gengar materialized, "Very well Shine, though Drifloon's gonna miss you." "I'll miss that little cutie too," Shine grinned, "keep the little ones out of trouble." "Will do," Gengar replied. As they turned to leave, Flux noticed that Ferria wasn't moving. As he went to poke her, she fell over. Flux just sighed as he waved Grey over, some people just couldn't handle Ghost types. Author's Note Next chapter, legedaries and a cameo
Chapter 6Ferria was having a rather lovely dream, one that involved a swimming pool that was filled with chocolate, when she was roused by a light shining in her eyes. As she cracked open her eyes to tell whoever it was to go away, she jumped back. "Man, looks like someone still doesn't like Ghost types," Shine chuckled. "Well, don't wake me up by shining your light in my face," Ferria replied as she dusted herself off. "Knock it off you two," Grey said, "we're here." Ferria looked up to see that they had arrived at a massive temple-like structure, who's door was guarded by a trio of golems. "Party of th... 4 to see Arceus," Grey said to the Regis. In response, their eyes flashed in sequence, before they stepped aside as the doors opened. As they walked inside, Ferria couldn't help but notice something, "Hey, how did I get here?" "Comfy up here isn't it?" Flux said from his perch atop Grey. After a brief round of chuckles, they arrived at a rather impressive looking door which was slightly ajar. Grey peeked in to see that Arceus was there, as well as a Luxray who was going on a bit of a rant. Sighing, Grey pushed the door closed, "Looks like we'll have to wait a while." Before anyone could comment, they were interrupted. "Hello." Ferria jumped back as a red and blue lanky Pokemon appeared in front of her. "Ah, you're Deoxys I presume," Grey said as the others were still reeling from his sudden arrival. "You've heard of me? That's good, most of the guys who come here to visit me haven't heard of me. They've heard of Mewtwo and Genesect, but they're younger than me, kinda wierd huh?" "I guess," Grey chuckled. "I wonder why that is?" Deoxys said to himself before he turned himself upside down. "Um, why are you doing that," Flux asked. "Hoopa said that if I've got more blood in my brain you think better. I need all the help I can get if I'm gonna figure out why nobody seems to have heard of me." "Um, that doesn't really work." "But Hoopa said it did, and she said she heard it from Uxie." "You do know Hoopa is the Mischief Pokemon right?" "It has only given me headaches now that I think about it, I need to go punch her later," Deoxys said as he flipped right side up. As Grey and the others chuckled, they were interrupted by a loud boom. "What was that!" Ferria asked rather loudly. "Oh, that's probably Groudon and Kyogre going at it again, I bet a basket of macaroons on Kyogre. What, Victini's macaroons are awesome." This prompted another round of chuckles as the Luxray walked out of the audience chamber, accompanied by a Sylveon, Absol and a Pony. He was looking pretty beat, so Grey merely nodded to him in greeting as he entered the audience chamber himself. Sitting at a massive table was Arceus himself, although he currently wasn't the exact picture of a divine being. Meloetta, I told you I'm fine," Arceus said as the Melody Pokemon was applying a salve to him. "No buts, Divine Pokemon or not, you don't get hit by a Thunder and not get at least a little hurt, especially if you didn't use your Earth Plate." "For the love me, could you please stop? We have guests." Meloetta turned to see Grey and the others standing there. Grey was chuckling slightly, Ferria was in awe of the Origin Pokemon, Shine was sipping from her berry shell, and Flux was holding a rose he grabbed from, somewhere. "Well hello," Flux said, rather suavely one had to admit, "I'm Flux, and it's a pleasure to meet such a lovely lady such as yourself." Meloetta giggled, "Thank you, but sorry, you're not my type." Flux sighed as he and the rose deflated. Arcues chuckled, "My, it's been rather a long time since anyone has had the nerve to attempt to court a Legendary." "That's just Flux being Flux," Grey chuckled, "anyway, it's an honor to meet you Lord Arceus." Arceus raised one of his eyebrows, "And it has been even longer since a human has addressed me as such." "My mother was a member of a sub-sect of your church, and taught me to respect all Legendaries." Arceus grinned, "Sounds like a fine woman, I do hope to meet her, she sounds like she would have made the journey." "Speaking of which," Shine said as she drained her shell, "I was wondering why you brought us, and by extension most of Earth here?" "Because for thousands of years I was forced to watch as countless Pokemon were treated as nothing more than tools by most of Humanity," Arceus said as his face contorted into a frown, "so, upon my release, I transferred my Pokemon, as well as all Humans who proved worthy, here. Now, I suppose this is the part where you ask to turned back?" "Actually, I'm kinda liking this," Grey admitted, "even without the ability to use Psychic to move stuff around, the intelligence boost from being made a Metagross? I've got so many ideas running through my head that I had to dedicate one of my brains to keep track of them all, once I figured out how of course. "Glad to hear it, so why did you come to seek an audience with me?" "To be honest, I kinda wanted our stuff," Grey grinned sheepishly. "Yeah," Flux interjected, "kinda shortsighted to send us to another planet and not let us pack first." "Yeah, Arceus might be pretty powerful, but he's also quite scatterbrained," Meloetta grinned. "Let's just get these nice Pokemon their stuff," Arceus said as he rummaged through the store of everything he had brought from Earth. After a few minutes, he pulled out several crates, "Is this what you were looking for?" Grey poked through the crates for a few minutes before he pulled out a sightly worn tool belt, which he then wrapped around one of his forearms, "Yeah, this is it." "You know, there are probably a lot more former humans that have stuff they'd like back," Shine said as she rummaged through another of the crates, before shrieking in delight as she pulled out a bottle of wine. Arceus simply face palmed as Meloetta chuckled, "Why don't I just get Hoopa to send your stuff home ahead of you?" Grey nodded as Arceus sent a telepathic request for Hoopa, who arrived a minute later holding an ice pack to her face. "What happened?" Arceus asked with concern. "Deoxys got wise to a prank I pulled on him a while back and slugged me, pretty hard. Can't complain too much though, gotta lot of mileage out of that one." "That's what happens when you pull pranks," Meloetta grinned, "sometimes your target gets you back." "Yeah yeah, let's just get this done quick maybe? Groudon's kicking Kyogre's tail, and I've got a ton of Poffins on him." Everyone just chuckled before Grey mentally sent the destination to Hoopa. After Hoopa sent the crates off and hurried back to the fight, Arceus turned towards Grey, "Is there anything else you need?" "Just let any of my team know where I am if they turn up," Grey said before leaving. As they exited the temple, they noticed a Sudowoodo dancing around. Apparantly there was a party happening that night, and he was telling everyone he met about it. At the mention of a party, Shine latched herself to Grey's face, "Can we go? Please please please please pleeeeaaase?" Grey sighed before nodding, causing Shine to start cheering. Who knows maybe they's find another member of his team there, or at least some half decent coffee.
Chapter 7Grey sighed, looks like this party didn't have any coffee, although Shine was upset about something a little different. "Are you kidding me? What kind of party doesn't have booze!?" Shine was currently complaining to the pony behind the bar about the lack of certain kinds of beverages. Luckily for Grey, someone had covered the entire party with a translation spell, so he was able to set the link to standby mode and relax. As he set 'learn about magic' in his idea brain, he looked around the party. There were several Pokemon and ponies mingling, and even a couple of legendaries had shown up. He noticed Flux walking towards him, his body language stating that he had been up to his old tricks, and failing miserably. "So, who'd you try to hook up with this time?" "I met this cute Sylveon, who already had a mate." Grey chuckled, "Honestly, why do you keep doing this?" "Because I do occasionally get a date." Grey sighed as Shine floated over with a glass of punch, "Stupid Pinkie Pie saying no booze cause it might hurt the Pokemon, Pokemon can handle booze just fine." As she said that another pony walked up to the bar and ordered a drink, but as the bartender pulled the tap, it squirted in her face, causing Shine to start laughing her face off. "Thank you karma, you deny me my booze, YOU GET CIDER IN THE FACE!"7 Grey sighed, “I can’t wait to find the rest of the team, at least they can be trusted to behave in public.” “I dunno, Shine’s kinda nice, after you get used to the whole ‘ghost’ thing,” said Ferria. Grey chuckled as a white unicorn with a purple mane walked up to them, “Welcome, I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. I’m Rarity, and I must ask, how did you manage to get your skin so shiny?” “Special Anville Town Metal Coat,” said Grey, “I’m Grey by the way.” “Anville Town?” “Best engineers on the planet,” said Grey, “well, Earth anyway. Gonna need to build the Anville name up from scratch, should prove interesting.” “You’re an engineer you say?” said Rarity, “I happen to be a fashion designer myself.” “To each their own,” Grey said as he popped a tart into his mouth, as Ferria looked at Rarity with a look of minor confusion on her face. “Excuse me,” she said, “you wouldn’t happen to be the same Rarity who ran afoul of a local Diamond Dog pack, would you?” “That I am, horrid brutes,” Rarity said, turning towards Ferria, a nervous grin appearing on her face as she noticed exactly what Ferria was, “er... no offence?” “None taken, you can’t expect an outland pack to be as civilized as a Canidian city,” said Ferria. “Besides, when my father heard about how you managed to best them, he was laughing for 5 hours straight.” “Well, I suppose it is rather humorous when you think about it miss...?” “Ferria Forgeburn, daughter of Gimli Forgeburn, Lord of Black Anvil,” said Ferria, as she clasped her right paw over the left side of her chest in a form of salute. “A Lord?” Rarity said, “well, I must say I never expected... Anyway, if you’ll excuse me, I think I see one of my friends.” Ferria scratched her head as Rarity walked away, “I wonder what that was about?” “Probably a little trouble meshing her past experiences with meeting you,” said Grey before turning towards Flux, “by the way, I noticed you managed to contain yourself for once.” “Are you kidding? The last three times I hit on a Rapidash, I got kicked into low earth orbit,” said Flux, “I have no desire to see if the pattern holds with ponies.” Grey was helping himself to some rock candy as the others decided to mingle when he saw a somewhat familiar face come towards him. Of course, it would be a little more familiar if it wasn’t upside down. ”Hey Grey” said Deoxys, ”I was hoping to find you.” “It’s nice to see you too,” said Grey as he levitated Deoxys some candy, “you do know you don’t have to do that right?” ”Stupid Hoopa had me doing this for so long its become a habit,” grumbled Deoxys as he righted himself. Grey just chuckled. “So, what were you thinking about?” ”Latias is gonna race a pony tomorrow, was trying to figure out which one would win.” “And what’s your opinion so far?” ”I don’t know enough. I mean, I’ve raced Latias before, so I’ve got a pretty good idea of what she can do,” Deoxys said as he shifted to his Speed Form, ”but I’ve got bubkis on this Rainbow Dash other than she can break the sound barrier.” Grey whistled, “Sounds like that could be worth watching.” ”I’ll see you there then,” Deoxys said as he floated off, once again upside down. “Wonder what he’s thinking about know,” Grey said to himself as Ferria rejoined him. “I have no idea who this Pinkie Pie is, but she sure knows how to throw a party.” “Good thing someone put up this translation spell,” Grey said as he saw a group of foals playing tag with some Pokemon, “the whole thing could have gone south real quick if half the guest didn’t have a clue what the other half were saying.” “No argument there,” Ferria said as she had a sip of punch, “not sure why they didn’t use runes though.” “Runes?” “Diamond Dog magic. Special symbols that, when done correctly, have various effects,” Ferria explained. “they may take more time and effort than unicorn magic, but they can function almost indefinitely if they aren’t damaged. Runemasters can even create teleportation gates, although those are strictly one-time only.” “Sounds useful,” said Grey, “I wouldn’t mind learning some of that.” “I brought a few books with me,” said Ferria, “you’re welcome to have a look.” “Thank you very much,” said Grey. Now he had something to occupy his time between his morning coffee and the race. Author's Note Dear Zeus, can I please get sorted into whether this is cannon or not?
