All the Smallest Things: Original Draft

The Pokémon Emergency Taskforce spent the next week preparing for the leaders' conference. The three teams split up again; Team Zephyr continued to train the royal guards and told Queen Haven about their plan, while Team Bridlewood helped to build new homes for the ponies who'd lost theirs. The Bay Squad had already booked CanterLove Studios, but they had a lot more to do...

One morning, just as Sunny, Pawmot, and Arven had finished breakfast, they heard a knock on the Brighthouse's front door. Sunny opened it to see Mariama, Skye, and Chirper.

"I have some great news!" exclaimed Skye. "We finally made a translation potion that worked!"

"Yes it did! Yes it did!" squawked Chirper, who was perched on Skye's mane.

"That's great!" said Sunny. "Do you have it with you?"

"Of course," said Mariama. She pulled a bottle filled with a dark-green potion out of her saddlebag. "You can have this, if you want."

"That's great! Thanks!" Sunny took the bottle and placed it in her saddlebag. "How much have you made?"

"We've only made enough to fill five bottles so far," said Mariama, "but it'll work after a single sip. We're planning to make the recipe available for free, and we'll set up a market stand to sell the extra doses."

"We need to make money somehow," Skye added.

"Alright. See you later!" Sunny waved as they left.

Later, Sunny went to the sheriff's station to talk to Hitch.

"We finally have a translation potion!" she exclaimed with a grin as she showed it to him. "I was thinking of giving this to Steven first. Do you know where to find him?"

Hitch led Sunny to the beach, which was a lot busier than usual. Foals were playing with Pokémon she didn't recognise, while their parents watched on in peace. The edge with the cave, however, was as quiet as usual.

Hitch pointed to a giant, bluish-black penguin who had just slid onto the shore and stood up. "That's him."

Sunny gulped and stepped towards Steven. "Hello. You're Steven Stone, right? My friend Hitch told me about you." He looked down upon Sunny with his small, sharp eyes. "I've got a translation potion for you. Please could you drink it?" She pulled it out of her saddlebag and presented it to Steven, who snatched it up with the metallic claws under his flipper. "You only need to take a single sip."

Steven did as instructed. "That taste was most unpleasant... did it work?" His voiced sounded formal and gentle, and he bent down to give the potion back to her.

Sunny breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "Yes," she said.

"Anyway, we've come here to talk about something important," said Hitch. "We're planning to hold a world leader's conference next week, and we were hoping you could represent Pokémon there."

"Represent? You do realise that contrary to popular belief, the champion doesn't—" Steven started.

"—Have any political power. We know," Hitch interrupted. He gestured at Sunny.

"Our friend Nemona has heard of you, and she said you're an expert on handling Pokémon," she said. "We need to come up with a plan for how to deal with Pokémon in the long term, and you're the best representative we can find... especially on such short notice."

"Really? Well, I'm flattered," said Steven.

Sunny and Hitch spent the next few minutes giving him more details. Afterwards, Sunny asked, "Do you want a tour of Maretime Bay?"

"Gladly," he said.

Sunny and Hitch received some odd looks as they guided Steven around Maretime Bay. Some ponies looked scared, while others stared in curiosity or took photographs with their phones. First they showed him the town square, then Mane Street, then CanterLove Studios. Finally, they brought him to the Brighthouse.

"Would you like to stay with us?" Sunny asked.

"No thank you," said Steven. "I'm happy living on the beach... and besides, I don't think I could fit inside." He looked at the doorway, which was barely taller than him.

"That's okay," said Sunny. "See you at the conference!"