A New World, A New Way: Deepground

Chapter Nineteen

A New Day

With New Problems

(Sweet Apple Acres)

Sweet Apple Acres, home to the element of honesty Applejack, her brother Big Mcintosh, little sister Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith. The property consists of a farmhouse, a barn for the animals, and acres upon acres of apple trees. It is here that a certain group of humans turned into Pokemon along with their Pokemon are having a conversation with each other about what had transpired today during the afternoon.

“And that’s what happened at Twilight’s Castle,” Applejack said as the ones present within the house were Gene, Belle, Mage, May, Blaziken, Misty, and Ash stared at the farm pony in shock.

“You mean to tell me, that a human was able to make Mewtwo, the strongest psychic Pokemon, run for the hills with his tail between his legs?” Mage asked as the Applejack nodded.

“That can’t be right. Never has Mewtwo ever been known to run away from a fight from what the other legends had said about him.” Belle said, “What is it that the human did to make him run?”

“She said she summoned death.” She answered. “And I don’t mean like a death threat, she summoned the grim reaper herself to chase Mewtwo out of Ponyville.”

“It’s true,” Korrina said as she shivered at the memory of it. “I can’t believe it myself, but that human summoned death itself…still gives me shivers each time I remember it.”

“Wow, this Emma person must be something else,” Ash said as they noticed a grin appearing on his face. “And she’s not from our world?”

“Given what she showed, which I recommend you don’t ask. She’s not from our world. And get this, she can turn the humans that Arceus turned into Pokemon into humans.” Iris said, which took Gene, Misty, Ash, and May by surprise.

“Well humanish, Georgia had features of a glaceon, and Burgundy had the lower body of a deerling, but the upper body of a human,” Korrina added as she heard Ash speak.

“You saw Georgia and Burgundy!?”

“Yeah, they ended up meeting Emma, Lyra, and Bon-Bon in Canterlot. They’re currently with her at Ponyville Hospital.”

“How is that possible? I thought Arceus was the only one that could change people into Pokemon.” Gene said with a worried expression on his face.

“Yeah, and Arceus is not happy about it. I don’t know what that human was thinking when she decided to talk back to Arceus about what he did, but I can tell from his aura he was not pleased about it.” Lucario said, which caused Belle, Mage, and Blaziken to stare at her in disbelief.

“....How is that human not dead yet!?” Mage said in astonishment. “She does realize that he’s a god…right?”

“She doesn’t believe he’s a god. She thinks he is just a powerful being with too much power on his hand… calling him a child.”

“...This human is either insane, has brain damage of some kind, or is overconfident in her ability,” Gene said before looking at Korrina. “Is the hospital still open?”

“Given how it’s almost midnight, I doubt it. If you want to meet her, we’ll have to go early in the morning.” She answered as Gene nodded. “Why, you’re going to ask her something?”

“It’s more of curiosity as to what she looks like and what she did to Georgia and Burgundy.”

“I wouldn’t mind meeting her as well,” Ash said with a determined expression on his face. “If she’s from another world, then maybe her world must have Pokemon as well.”

“I wouldn’t hold your breath, because she doesn’t know anything about Pokemon other than what Georgia and Burgundy have been telling her…though, I’m sure she might have some kind of animal similar to a Pokemon from her world.” She said which caused Ash’s grin to widen more in excitement.

“So I guess we’ll be meeting Emma tomorrow then?” Belle asked as Gene nodded.

“Seems like it. I can assume everyone else is going as well?” Gene asked as he looked at the others, who nodded in agreement. “Alright, then we’ll meet up at Ponyville Hospital around Nine o’clock.”

The sun began to rise over the town and city of Ponyville and Canterlot as Celestia began to raise the sun. As the sun rose, the rays from it hit Emerald Weapon, and the shine from it cast an emerald glow over certain parts of the house close to it. From the looks of it, some of the flying Pokemon would be using the weapon as a birch or resting place to rest on before flying off somewhere else. While the ponies were busy waking up to start the new day in whatever it was they were doing, Celestia was currently trying to maneuver through her room in the body of a human.

“Okay Celestia, you can do this. I mean, Emma can do it, so why shouldn’t you?” Celestia said as she was using the nightstand next to her bed for support. It had been about thirty minutes or so since she woke up to find herself in the form of a human. At first, she was taken by surprise upon finding her usual white coat was now replaced with a brown skin similar to Emma’s. However, that surprise quickly vanished upon remembering what she said about the transformation process taking twenty-four hours for ponies and twelve hours for humans who were turned into Pokemon. On the one hand, the foreign magic she learned from the materia did help her in dragging Discord to her room last night, though the downside is that she’ll have to learn how to walk again on two legs instead of four.

So far for the past thirty minutes, Celestia has been trying to walk from her bed to the doorway but was unsuccessful in that matter. Mainly because she would fall face-first onto the floor, or accidentally run into a wall and had to use her magic to teleport her back from the start. It was only when Luna entered the room via magic that she paused in her somewhat training. There was a moment of silence as Luna stared at a dark-skinned human with similar pony features to that of Celestia before she spoke.

“...So…by foreign magic, you used the materia that Emma gave you to call Discord last night?” Lun asked as Celestia nodded with a sheepish expression on her face. “I had a hunch that was the case.”

“Given what was said last night, can you blame me for doing that?”

“It’s understandable…I just find it kind of weird that you look a lot thinner as a human than you were as a pony.” Luna said which caused Celestia to deadpan at her.

“Now’s not the time to be calling me out like that. I would like some assistance, please?” Celestia asked before feeling herself being levitated over onto Luna’s back.

“So dear sister. What’s the plan for your appearance? Because I don’t think saying that you use magic to look like a human to make Emma feel comfortable around you is going to cut it for the most part.”

“Hm…I could chalk it up to Emma’s attempt at turning former humans back to normal, though that might open up a can of worms that would upset Arceus.”

“You’re saying as if you care if he’s upset or not.”

“It’s not him I’m worried about…but more of the lines of Emma. We know Mother said that she would be the key in dealing with the monster that was sealed away one thousand years ago, but for what we don’t know.”

“Have you read more that was within the journal?” Luna asked as Celestia shook her head.

“So far there hasn’t been anything else other than what I’ve read yesterday. Everything else is just blank pages…but the more I look through it, dried-up blood and scratches can be seen on the pages, which I fear isn’t a good thing.”

“So we’re pretty much just winging it just like usual with Emma?”

“In a sense, sadly yes,” Celestia said, which caused Luna to look over her shoulder at Celestia with a disappointed expression. “Don’t give me that look, this is a whole new territory for me. It’s bad enough that Arceus came to Equis without so much of a plan or warning, but now we have an Equestrian version of Jenova, which I’m going to call the monster mother sealed away, going to break out and devour all life on this planet.” She said before sighing in annoyance. “What happened to the simple days where problems like this could be solved with just a simple singalong and a lesson about friendship and stuff.”

“If you want an accurate timeline of that, I believe that died off when Twilight became a princess.”

“Oh right, that plan on making Twilight a Princess and then have her rule over Equestria, and we’ll go off into retirement.”

“That’s a plan? Letting your student run Equestria?” Luna asked.

“It would’ve gone off perfectly, but that’s when mister holier than thou Arceus came and threw a monkey wrench into that plan.” She said before trying to get herself relaxed on Luna’s back. “I ruled over Equestria for one thousand years, you also ruled but were sent to the moon for a thousand years, I figured we needed a break and let the next generation of ponies run things. But now things have derailed than expected, and with the added fact that we have a little sister whom Arceus is hellbent on doing, Faust knows what…I’m just winging it as it goes by.”

“...I can see what you mean by that,” Luna said as her horn lit up, causing the sheets that were on Celestia’s bed to fly over to her sister, wrapped themselves on her body, and formed into a short dress-like attire. “It also doesn’t help that we have to deal with Arceus’s blunder of teleporting about all of his creation and half of the humans' who were turned into Pokemon population here.”

“Mother of me, don’t remind me about that.” She said before looking over her attire. “Thanks, that would’ve been bad if I were to walk out naked.”

“Perhaps I should bring Twilight and the others after dropping you off at the hospital. That way Lyra can teach you how to walk.”

“I don’t have much of a choice, considering she’s an expert on the whole human anatomy…Starting to wish I took her seriously about starting a human anatomy class.”

“Well, nothing’s stopping you from doing that,” Luna said as her horn began to glow. “Now, let us head over to the Hospital before anything else happens.”

(Ponyville Hospital)

(Emma’s Room)

Silence fell upon the room as Emma and her friends were currently up as the soldier was examining Georgia and Burgundy's injuries. The reason why the room was silent was due to a particular question that Emma asked. Can humans and Pokemon have some kind of romantic relationship? This caused Georgia and Burgundy to look at each other and explain a certain taboo on their planet involving human and Pokemon relationships. After a rough explanation of said taboo, Emma just stared at the two for a moment before speaking again.

“...Bullshit,” Emma said, which took the two trainers by surprise.

“What do you mean bullshit?” Georgia asked.

“I think she means the whole taboo thing?” Lyra answered, which caused Emma to shake her head.

“No, fuck that taboo for treating Pokemon as if they don’t have a mind of their own. I’m referring to…What’s the term for humans falling in love with Pokemon?”

“Pokephilia,” Burgundy answered, which caused Emma to cringe at the word.

“God even hearing the word makes me want to throw up. You guys must be screwing with me. Who the dumbasses that thought of the name for it!?”

“I think it was the Pokemon Rangers that made up the name for it,” Georgia answered as Emma stared at the humanoid in confusion. “Oh right, we never did tell you about Pokemon Rangers haven’t we?”

“Not even the slightest, but I have a feeling it’s going to be something stupid,” Emma said, which caused Georgia to deadpan her. “I’m sorry, but a lot of the stuff you’re telling me about your world doesn't make a lot of sense to a certain degree. Now it would be one thing if it were animals, that would fall under the bestiality, which we can all agree that it’s wrong and fucked up. But treating sentient beings as animals even though it can be proven that Pokemon are just as if not smarter than humans. You can’t expect me not to criticize something like that.”

“We know, but other people might take offense to that. Especially if they’re Pokemon Rangers.” She said before hearing Burgundy speak up.

“For context, They are not Pokémon Trainers, as their goals and methods for interacting with Pokémon are very different. They harness the power of certain Pokemon and utilize them to help defend nature.”

“Hm, and how do they harness the power of a certain Pokemon?” Emma asked as the two trainers shrugged.

“We don’t know, but they do tend to do stuff similar to law enforcement to a certain degree, and place those who perform Pokephilia under arrest. Both the bad kind and the ones where both parties are consenting to the whole love thing.”

“...Yeah, I am going to have a field day messing with a Pokemon Ranger if they have a mindset of thinking Pokemon are animals instead of sentient beings~” She said which caused the two trainers to deadpan even harder at Emma. “Sorry…not sorry.”

“Look, can you at least promise me you won’t mop the floor with them? Unless they attack you first? We already have Arceus on our backs, we don’t need any more problems sneaking up behind us.” Georgia asked as Emma rolled her eyes.

“Please, like I would be the one to throw the first punch. I may be a super soldier made by an evil company, but I’m not a battle-hungry idiot to start a fight with someone I know I can beat easily.” She said before moving over to the two trainers as she looked over the bandages she placed on them. The soldier looked them over for a moment before carefully pulling them off the area where she applied them. “Okay, looks like the wounds you were inflicted on are patched up, so no need for the bandages seeing how your body's natural healing factor took care of that.”

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Lyra said as she was currently practicing her magic. “Still find it odd that we can learn magic instantly while it took you years to master them~”

“Which I call bullshit on, and I hate it,” Emma said before walking next to her bed to gather her belongings. “I’ll have to do more research on how it’s possible, but that will have to wait. I need to make some plans on dealing with Arceus and the other legendaries.”

“You can’t possibly think you can take on a god…do you?” Georgia asked as the soldier nodded before her hand gave off a red glow due to the red materia in it.

“You think he’s the only god in this world?”

“I almost forgot about that…but are they strong enough to fight him?” Bon-Bon asked.

“I can think of at least three.” She said before lowering her hand. “But I will need something to make sure he never tries to come after me or you guys. Which is why I’ll be asking Celestia if she’s willing to let me have access to the forbidden archive.”

“What makes you think she’ll do that?” Lyra asked.

“Because she doesn’t trust Arceus. Especially given what happened to me yesterday. If I can gain access to the archive, then it’ll allow me to find some kind of sealing magic to keep the big guy in check.” She said before reaching into her bag to pull out her clothes from when she appeared in Canterlot.

“So you’re not trying to kill him, but to seal his powers away?” Burgundy asked. “Is that even possible?”

“If magic can seal the god of chaos, I’m pretty sure it can do the same for a god of Pokemon. Keep in mind that magic is four times effective given the results I showed you.”

“True…I hope you don’t end up doing something that could get you in trouble to the point where even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna can’t protect you.” Lyra said with a worried expression on her face.

“I always have a countermeasure in case things turn south. But for now, it’s time to see which class to go to~” She said before changing into her deepground attire.

“You’re wearing that? Aren’t you worried that Pokemon might think you’re part of Team Plasma?” Burgundy asked, which caused Emma to pause for a moment before grinning.

“Oh you just gave me the golden opportunity to have some fun~,” Emma said before reaching for her back and slowly crawling inside it. “Be back in a minute or so.” She said before vanishing inside the bag.

“...You know, I only know her for a short amount of time…but has anyone noticed that she’s acting…a bit childish?” Bon-Bon asked as Lyra nodded.

“In her defense, she was made into a weapon for an evil company…reminds me of Mewtwo…only he was able to escape while this girl was stuck there for nineteen to twenty years. I can’t imagine how much she had to keep her emotions bottled up.”

“Yet that is no excuse for provoking Arceus or the other Legendaries,” Burgundy added. “We need to make sure she doesn’t get herself killed, or worse. Get us killed by her childish behavior.” She said before looking at Lyra. “As her friend, it’s your job to prevent that from happening.”

“Why me?” Lyra asked.

“Because you were the one that found her first and became friends with her,” Bon-Bon answered, which caused the unicorn humanoid to huff in annoyance.

“Fine, but I make no promises.” She said before looking at the bag Emma went into. “Should we be worried about what she’s planning?”

“I’m just hoping Princess Celestia or Princess Luna comes here so we don’t have a huge problem on our hooves.”