The next morning, Twilight and company met up in Ponyville, ready to set forth once again, this time leaving by Route 14 to reach Hive Omega. With a last goodbye to friends and family, they were ready to set out on their journey.
Route 14 extended from Ponyville's southwest and ran across the seemingly endless hills of the southwestern quadrant of Equestria. The region was famous for its vast diversity of pokémon, and was the home of the famous Safari Zone, a paradise of biodiversity where many rare species of pokémon could be found. At the distant end of the road was the city of Hive Omega, the mysterious home of the Changelings. True to her word, Cadence had gotten Twilight and her friends permission to tour the Chrysalis Laboratory.
But before any of that, there was the vastness of Route 14 before them. It would be five days at least before they reached the Safari Zone and even longer to reach Hive Omega. Twilight sighed. It was going to be a long hike.
"So Twi, tell us s'more bout that pokémon yer brother gave ya." Applejack insisted with a gentle nudge.
"I don't know much about it honestly." Twilight answered. "All I know is Gible is a dragon type pokémon and when it evolves it gets crazy strong."
"Did somepony say dragon pokémon?" The familiar voice made Twilight groan. Trixie. "Trixie is impressed Twilight. Never before would I have guessed you'd be able to capture a dragon type."
"It was a gift from my brother!" Twilight retorted without thinking.
Trixie laughed. "I should have guessed. Well as it happens, Trixie has her own dragon-type. So what do you think Twilight? You want to put your pokémon to the test?"
Twilight growled. "Fine Trixie. I have full faith my pokémon can deal with yours."
"Then let the battle begin!" Trixie declared gleefully. "Deino, Trixie has need of you!" A small mass of black fur and blue scales landed on the grassy earth. Deino let out a fearsome growl and bared its jagged teeth.
"Come on out, Gible!" Twilight shouted as she threw her own pokéball. Gible took shape, growling back at its opponent, snapping its mighty jaw. Twilight wasted no time giving her first order. "Alright Gible, open up with Dragon Rage!"
Gible inhaled deeply, gathering a mass of bluish fire in its mouth-
Which it promptly breathed at Twilight.
Twilight fell over, her face darkened by the Dragon Rage. "Gible… return." She weakly moaned as she attempted to recall Gible. However, when she tried to throw its pokéball back, Gible swatted it away.
"Deino, keep that thing distracted. Use taunt." With Deino monopolizing Gible's attention, Trixie scooped up Gible's pokéball, and while it wasn't paying attention, managed to nail Gible in the back of its head, putting it back in its ball. Trixie galloped to Twilight's side. "Twilight, are you alright?" She asked. There was no sarcasm in that voice, but rather genuine concern.
Quickly she was surrounded by all of her friends, each of whom desperately tried to rouse Twilight. "Twi, c'mon, say something!" Rainbow Dash cried.
Twilight sputtered, and with a weak cough, fell unconscious. The last thing she heard before passing out were the voices of her friends, and that of Trixie standing out among them.
* * *
Several hours later, Twilight came to, in a bed in Fluttershy's cottage back in Ponyville. She sighed with relief. Thankfully they had barely left Ponyville when…
Gible. She still had a hard time believing the Gible Shiny had given her had actually gone and attacked her. She had never seen a pokémon react so aggressively toward their own trainer before. What had caused it to attack?
"Are you feeling okay Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, placing a piping hot bowl of onion soup near her. "Your poor Pokémon are worried sick about you. They'll be so happy to know you're okay. "
Yeah, all but one. Twilight mused. "What about-"
"Gible is in his pokéball." She answered before Twilight could finish. "Or was that not what you meant?"
"No, it was." She breathed. "How is the little monster?"
"I tried to offer him some food but he wasn't interested. He started fighting with poor Cubone and I had to put him back in his ball."
"Hey Fluttershy? What happened after I blacked out?" Twilight still had no idea what had happened, how she had wound up here, or even what had become of Trixie.
"Actually, it's thanks to Trixie that you got back here." Fluttershy smiled. "She was very nice to us. She gave us some potion and burn heal which helped fix you up, and then she helped carry you back here."
Twilight bit her lip, making sure she wasn't dreaming. "Are we talking about the same Trixie?"
Fluttershy nodded. "I don’t think I would have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself."
A loud knock came on the door downstairs, and seconds later, the door was forcefully opened. Rainbow Dash appeared in the stairwell panting, carrying a bag stamped with the Poke Mart logo. "Hey Fluttershy, I got the stuff you asked for." She set the bag down on the nightstand, allowing Twilight a peek inside. It was full of burn heal, poke dolls, and a rainbow of berries.
"Thank you Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy said, turning her attention back to Twilight. "We gave you a mix of burn heal and Aspear and Oran berries while you were still asleep. Are you feeling any better?"
"Fine," Twilight said, exhaling deeply. "Honestly the whole thing might as well have been a dream."
Fluttershy smiled as she went to put the supplies away. "Well, it's too late for us to hit the road again. Why don't you try to rest for now and we can leave again in the morning?"
Twilight wanted to protest but thought better of it. True she wanted nothing more than to move, but the thought of spending one more sweet night on a proper bed quieted her. We'll get going first thing tomorrow. She thought as sleep once again overcame her. Then I can figure out what to do with that Gible.