After what felt like hours of walking to get as far away from the Ursaring as possible, the group finally found a spot that they all deemed safe. It was actually about 20 minutes, but it felt like longer thanks to the constant bickering between Gallade and Chrys. Gallade would get mad every time Chrys stumbled. That would be followed by Chrys yelling at him about the fact that his leg was badly injured. Sunset had to tell them to be quiet numerous times and she developed a headache over the course of the walk.

The spot they settled on was a small area in between a few trees. It wasn’t as big as the clearing they all met in and it also wasn’t technically a clearing, since it had another entry/exit point opposite to where they had entered. Even though it was smaller, it allowed them to stick together for safety and not be cramped together at the same time in case the Ursaring showed up, and they had they escape route since the Ursaring would have to come from the direction that they did.

Gallade put Chrys down by a tree to the left of where they entered the area. Once seated, Chrys watched the team go to work setting up camp. Sunset set up a tent with Gallade while Vulpix began to gather twigs, presumably for a fire. It took the group no longer than ten minutes to put everything together. A campfire with a makeshift stand above it with a metal pot hanging from it was in the center of the area and a tent was in the corner. Sunset began to put some vegetables into the pot.

“You cook?” Chrys commented more than he asked.

“I’m on the road all the time. Had to teach myself at some point,” she replied, opening her bag that Chrys only just noticed that she had.

Wow. I am particularly blind today, he thought, as Sunset pulled out a couple of tupperware containers and two bowls. The containers held small, brown pellets just slightly bigger than mini marshmallows.

“Is that for the pokémon?” Chrys asked. Sunset simply nodded as she set the bowls down and poured the food in them, using one container to fill one bowl and the second container to fill the other bowl. The food must be separated for the two of them, he thought as the two pokémon began messily eating their meals. Sunset went back to the pot began stirring whatever she was making, which Chrys couldn’t smell much of. Now I wonder why that is.

“So,” Sunset started. “What is a changeling doing in the middle of the Kokiri Forest?” she asked.

You can’t be serious. Kokiri Forest? How many game references am I gonna encounter, he thought, as something else Sunset said popped into the forefront of his mind. So I’m a changeling, huh. Might as well tell her the truth. “I’m not sure, but I can tell you one thing with certainty. I was not a changeling an hour ago. I don’t know what the hell happened but I was definitely not this,” Chrys explained. Sunset glared at him suspiciously as her horn lit up briefly.

“Then what were you?” she asked.

“I was a human,” he replied. Right when he was about to start explaining what a human was, Sunset interrupted him, a look of total shock plastered on her face.

“Human! You mean hairless, ape-like creatures that don’t have tails and can’t use magic and are all wingless!?!” She asked him. Now it was Chrys’ turn to look shocked.

“Yeah... but how did you know all that?” Chrys asked, slack-jawed.

“Well, it’s kind of a long story. To put it simply I was... sent through this magical mirror made by a unicorn legend that took me to a parallel world from this one. I spent a few years there actually,” she said.

“Where did you end up? I’m from San Francisco.”

“San Francisco? I’ve never heard of that,” Sunset replied, scratching her chin. Chrys looked just as bewildered.

“You’ve never heard of San Francisco? It’s one of the top cities people tour to in the United States.” Sunset looked even more confused.

“United States?”

“...”

“...”

“I think it’s safe to say I’m from a different human world than the one you were in,” Chrys concluded.

“Agreed. But if that’s the case, you didn’t get here through the mirror, so how are you here right now?” Sunset asked rhetorically.

“I wish I knew that myself,” Chrys replied.

“Well I can tell you one thing. You’re in deep trouble thanks to your new body.”

“Um, why is that?” Chrys asked worried.

“There is a very hostile relationship between ponies and changelings,” Sunset explained.

“How so?”

So Sunset told him of the attack on the wedding in Canterlot, and the infiltration of the changelings on the Equestrian royalty and the Elements of Harmony, which she also explained to Chrys. She told him of the changeling queen and her ambitions as she knew them. She also explained their unique eating habits and what she knew of changeling biology and culture, which also explained why he could barely smell the food she was making.

Sunset gave Chrys a small mirror to look at himself in. He was completely black, like he had already figured out. His eyes were completely green and he had a crooked horn on his head, something he really wanted to learn how to use. Sunset continued her explanation once he took everything he knew so far in.

“So after that infiltration was thwarted by Starlight Glimmer and her companions, the changelings all transformed into a greater state of being. They grew up in a sense. They no longer need to feed on love and emotions. But, according to the changelings and ponies who were there, Chrysalis didn’t give up her worthless pride, and she ran to begin plotting her revenge on Starlight, and created the new breed of changelings, what you now are, which are referred to as Newbloods. The only noticeable difference between Reborns and Newbloods is that the Newbloods have green eyes, but they are supposedly wired differently to be completely submissive to Chrysalis,” Sunset explained.

“Uh... than you have no reason to trust me,” Chrys pointed out. Sunset shook her head.

“Actually, I can. Scientists studied captured Newbloods and found out that-“

Chrys cut her off. “Isn’t that torture? Is torture not illegal here?” he asked

“Not necessarily. They only released the fact that they studied them and what the results of the studies were. What they did to them specifically, nobody knows.”

Chrys nodded, but something didn’t sit right with him. That pretty much convinced me that something bad happened to those changelings. I can’t really do anything about it though, so I’ll try not to dwell on it too much.

“So anyway, in order for Chrysalis to control a changeling, regardless of the type of changeling,” Sunset continued, “she needs a changeling to be connected to her hive mind in order to control them. I learned a spell a while back that allows me to sense whether someone is connected to a hive mind in order to protect us from being deceived or tricked. I cast it when you said you weren’t a changeling originally. It showed me that you aren’t connected to any hive mind whatsoever. That’s why I can trust you.” Chrys just nodded and motioned for her to continue.

“The Newblood changelings, along with all others that aren’t Reborns, were recently classified as a terrorist organization, which hasn’t happened to this world in like, ever. They’ve attacked numerous major cities in Equestria and all of the other countries. They attack using their pokémon as well as magic, and they can easily infiltrate thanks to their ability to transform. Chrysalis isn’t the only Queen either. It’s believed that there is at least one queen running a sector of the organization within pretty much every country.”

“Whoa whoa whoa. Slow down a second. There’s more than one hive?”

“Yes. The Griffin Kingdom has had the most encounters with their queen. I believe her name is Hornet. Japan has had a major problem as well. Nothing is definitive, but it’s practically accepted that it is highly likely all of the hives are working with each other to achieve some sort of goal or multiple goals.”

Chrys scratched his chin. This just raises more questions. What’s their end game? How many hives are there exactly? There are Griffons? Why is Japan just Japan and not some stupid pun? Chrys thought as Sunset sat down next to him, slowly chewing on whatever she made.

“I’ve actually had run-ins with the Newbloods before.” Chrys’ eyes shot up in surprise at this.

“How did that go?” he asked, genuinely concerned for the mare.

“Not as bad as it could’ve went. Actually met Gallade in that... encounter, as a Kirlia.”

“Don’t tell me that-“

It was Sunset’s turn to cut him off. “Yup. He was a changeling drones pokémon, and he wasn’t treated all that well. It’s why he got so angry with you. Please don’t hold it against him,” Sunset explained. Chrys had many questions, but decided to hold the more personal of them off for later, as the topic was something Sunset clearly didn’t want to talk about.

“Yeah. No problem,” he replied. “And you said drone? Is that some sort of changeling class?” he asked.

“Yeah. They are the bottom class. From bottom to top, it goes drone, soldier, admin, queen. Drones are born as drones and soldiers are born as soldiers. Admins are just soldiers that have proven themselves worthy of being promoted, and there are supposedly only six per hive. Queens obviously run the show and shit like that.”

“Do the queens birth everybody like in a bee hive, ‘cause I notice that we’re kinda bug-like?”

“According to Thorax, the king of the Reborn changelings, yes and no. If a queen wants to start up a hive, which is what Chrysalis obviously did, they can produce changelings however they want to with their magic. This process allows the hive to grow very rapidly. From that point, the changelings and the queen can make children with their... organs. So they can do the things... with those... parts.”

“Yeah yeah. I got it.” Both of them blushed furiously. “You also mentioned that the Reborn changelings don’t need to worry about feeding on emotions. How do I do that then?” Chrys asked.

“I don’t have the answer to that one,” she answered.

“And you know so much,” Chrys replied with a smirk.

“I studied up on it to know what I have to know to be prepared for anything they’re able to dish out. It’s also taught in schools. This is all pretty common knowledge at this point,” Sunset explained.

“So maybe I just need to go to this Thorax and ask him myself,” Chrys decided. “Would you be willing to help me get there, as I don’t know where the hell they live?” He asked her. Sunset contemplated on it, looking to her pokémon, who had both finished eating at this point. Vulpix ran up to Sunset nuzzling her leg.

“Vulpix seems to be okay with it. How about you Gallade?” The blade pokémon looked to Sunset and than to Chrys, staring at the latter, who promptly gulped.

“Gallade,” it replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“Thank you. I don’t know what the hell I would do on my own,” Chrys said.

“No problem. It isn’t like we do much of anything besides travel anyway. I also haven’t been to Thorax’s hive and I hear it’s become quite the spectacle in recent years,” Sunset said.

“Cool. So what are we doing about my leg?”

“There’s a town pretty close to here that I just came from. If we follow the path we were taking we can make it there in a half hour tomorrow. I’ll finish eating and we can pick this conversation up at the Pokémon Center tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

When the group woke up, they began to pack their things immediately. Once they were all packed, they began to move towrds the town nearby. Sunset took the point, Gallade held Chrys in the middle, and Vulpix trailed them in case the Ursaring got too close. They walked for ten minutes or so in silence until Chrys decided to break it.

“So how long have you been a trainer, Sunset?” he asked.

“About two years, give or take.”

“So you only have these two with you?”

“Yeah. I met Vulpix first.” She paused for a minute, contemplating how to phrase her story. “I was living in Vanhoover for the first few years of being back in this world. I was bored one day so I decided to venture out into the area just outside of the city. That’s where we met,” she explained.

“So what happened that made Vulpix become your partner?” Chrys asked.

“Not much. We just clicked. We became fast friends and she came home with me that day. She lived with me for a week or so before we finally decided to go explore the world together and experience things for ourselves. I officially caught her and we went on our way.” She looked up to the sky. “I wish everything stayed that simple,” she sighed.

“The changelings ruined everything I suppose,” Chrys stated.

“Ever since I met Gallade, nothing’s been the same, not that I regret saving him,” she said. Gallade was about to try and keep her from telling Chrys everything about how they met when the human-turned-changeling patted the blade pokémons shoulder.

“It’s okay man. I’d like to know what happened to you so I can be more motivated to help kick their asses as well.” They all stared at him stunned.

“You don’t even have a pokémon! How do you suppose you’ll stop a massive army!?!” Sunset questioned, baffled.

“By getting some and training them. Duh,” he replied.

“But you don’t know the first thing about training a pokémon,” Sunset pointed out. Gallade nodded in agreement.

“I know more than you think,” Chrys replied.

“How?”

“That information is for me to know and for you to find out,” he snarkily replied, not wanting to say that his knowledge came from an anime and video games. “Just trust me. I have a decent idea on what to do.”

“When we get to the Pokémon Center, I want you to prove it,” she challenged.

“Sure thing. Let me get right on that with all those pokémon I don’t have,” Chrys said sarcastically.

“I’ll let you borrow Vulpix, as I doubt Gallade would listen to you.” Gallade confirmed this with a nod.

“That works for me I guess,” Chrys conceded.

The rest of the walk went by silently. It took them 15 more minutes to arrive at the next town, fortunately without incident, where they came upon a sign that read Kokiri Village in big, bold letters. Chrys inwardly groaned at this.

Fuck off Equestria. That wasn’t even a place in the game. There was a village, but it was just called Kokiri Forest, he thought to himself as they entered the the village. Their destination was impossible to miss, as it was the big, red building in the center of town. As the group began walking towards the Pokémon Center, they were almost immediately stopped by the townsponies.

“What in Celestia’s name are you doing here with a Newblood,” said an old earth pony male. His coat was brown and he was wearing a green tunic, white pants, and had brown boots and gloves on.

I swear on my mothers grave, if I see any more bullshit like this I’m gonna strangle an infant, Chrys thought, annoyed at the off brand pony version of Link. I suppose I need to get this outta the way.

“What is your name?” he asked the earth pony, dreading the highly possible outcome.

“I am simply known as Shroom,” Shroom replied.

Weird, but he doesn’t look like Mario, so I’m okay with this. “I’m Chrys. I come in peace. And pain,” he said to the elder pony, pointing to his leg.

“Nonsense! This is just a setup! Chrysalis is trying to take control of our fair village!” Shroom declared as a crowd began to form, vocalizing their agreement with several cheers. Sunset face-palmed while Chrys slouched his shoulders and adorned a look of disbelief.

“You realize that’s profiling and I really don’t appreciate that,” Chrys said, somewhat genuinely but mostly to be obnoxious. Sunset glared at him with the rest of the mob.

“Don’t make this worse than it already is,” she demanded through gritted teeth.

“Okay then. More importantly, why would Chrysalis want to take over a town in the middle of bumfuck nowhere,” Chrys deadpanned. This caused the crowd to gasp, clearly offended. “What? That’s a fact. You are literally surrounded by trees and nothing else.”

“Get ‘em!!!”

The crowd started charging at the group and Sunset looked at the changeling with a look of death in her eyes. “Hold on,” she commanded. Gallad nodded as he grabbed Vulpix and Sunset put her hand on his shoulder. The unicorns horn lit up causing them to disappear and the ponies of the angry mob slammed into each other.

The group reappeared right outside of the Pokémon Center. Everyone besides Chrys moved in since the Newblood was in a daze. This forced Gallade to carry him inside, cradling him like a baby. The blade pokémon set down the changeling in a chair by the entrance befor sitting up against the wall himself. Chrys blinked a few times before he spoke.

“What... the fuck,” he said, rubbing his eyes.

“That’s my line! What the hell were you thinking you twit!?!” Sunset screamed. Chrys just stared at her.

“I’m a professional asshole,” was his reply, causing Sunset to blankly stare at him.

“No argument there,” she said, looking around the center. “Where is Nurse Joy?” she asked to nobody in particular.

As if on cue, a white mare with a pink mane and tail entered through a hallway on the left hand side of the lobby. She wore a pink dress and had a cap with a red cross on it. Next to her was a pink, egg shaped pokémon. It had three hair-like growths on the sides of its head, tipped with a darker shade of pink. There was a dark pink pouch on the center of its belly that contained a single white egg. Its arms were stubby, and it had small, dark pink feet. Chrys recognized it to be a Chansey, which was pretty standard for a Nurse Joy so he didn’t question it.

What he did question however was the pokémon that came in after Joy and Chansey. A small, blue, canine pokémon that had black legs and a black torso, a blue tail, and a yellow collar. Its eyes were blood red and were staring angrily right at him. Chrys knew this was a Riolu, as Lucario was his favorite pokémon by a large margin. Before he could vocalize how cool this was, the Riolu lunged at him while Nurse Joy just stood completely still, presumably in fear.

Vulpix immediately sprung into action and blocked the attack, which seemed to be a Focus Punch, with a blue sphere that enveloped her body, which looked like Protect. The Riolu glared at the Vulpix, growling at her.

“Are you nuts!?! You do realize what you’re protecting, right!?!” said a feminine voice. Sunset and Chrys blinked repeatedly.

“Did that Riolu just talk?” Chrys asked.

“Not talk. But it definitely is able to speak using telepathy. It’s just so rare that I’m a bit taken aback by it,” Sunset explained.

“So what!?! You’re protecting a Newblood!?! That’s a bit more disconcerting than me speaking!” Riolu angrily replied. Chrys shakily stood up.

“I’m not with them! I just woke up from... a coma. I have no clue what’s been going on besides what Sunset told me!” Chrys shouted back, however Riolu was not buying it. She charged at him at blistering speeds. Vulpix blocked it again with a Quick Attack of her own, landing in front of Chrys. This gave Sunset an idea.

“Hey Chrys,” Sunset said.

“Yeah...” Chrys replied, fearing where this was going.

“You battle the Riolu,” she suggested. Vulpix turned her head back and nodded. “She can use Flamethrower, Quick Attack, Protect, and Extrasensory.”

“Fuck it,” Chrys sighed and moved behind Vulpix, putting pressure on his good leg. Riolu got into a boxer-like fighting stance and motioned with her paw for them to go first.

Here goes everything. “Vulpix use Quick Attack!” he commanded. Vulpix charged Riolu at full speed. Riolu dodged with a Quick Attack of her own. The emanation pokémon swiftly changed directions, and using her momentum, she hit Vulpix with a Focus Punch. The punch sent Vulpix flying across the lobby, but the fire fox managed to land on her feet.

“You good?” Chrys asked. Vulpix nodded and got in a battle stance. “Okay. Use Flamethrower.” Vulpix did as commanded and a stream of blazing hot fire exited her mouth. Once the fire was about to hit Riolu, her leg set ablaze, and she kicked the Flamethrower up towards the ceiling, but it never hit it.

Blaze Kick huh. Now I know what one of her parents is, Chrys thought to himself, thinking about how to respond. His thoughts were cut short as Riolu used a Quick Attack in an attempt to reach Vulpix. I got it!

“Extrasensory!” Vulpix did just that, catching Riolu in the Extrasensory’s grip. “Now! Use Flamethrower!” Vulpix let her flames loose. The force of the flames sent Riolu out of Vulpix’s psychic grip and into the wall opposite of the fox pokémon. Riolu then slid down the wall, passed out from battle. Sunset and Gallade’s jaws dropped and Vulpix stared innocently at the two of them. Chrys faced the Riolu, pointing all his fingers at her with his thumb extended upwards.

“Boi,” was all he said, making Vulpix burst into a fit of giggles, Sunset and Gallade’s jaws drop lower, and Chrys shake his head at himself. I apologize o mighty meme lords.

“What? Why? How did you know to do that!?!” Sunset asked after composing herself.

“If there is one thing I’ve learned in my life, it is to pull shit out my ass at the right moments,” Chrys replied.

“So you’re saying you had no idea that would work?”

“That is exactly what I am saying, yes,” Chrys said, rubbing the back of his head with a stupid grin on his face.

Author's Note

https://youtu.be/gFez5SoThuE

Part of this chapter is absolute buttcheeks in my opinion so I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of anything good that fit with the idea that I had in mind for how I’d get things going so I ended up going with shitty references. I definitely wanna reboot this chapter and will eventually get around to it. Please don't sue me and I appreciate any suggestions or criticisms you may have.