//------------------------------// // Chapter 26- To Griffonstone! // Story: Twilight Sparkle has a Pokemon Journey // by Darkmetroidz //------------------------------// The next morning, Twilight got her things together and prepared to make the journey across the ocean to Griffonstone. That was the location of the next gym, the leader of which was supposedly an expert in rock-types. Travelling to Manehattan by way of train, the six mares enjoyed the respite offered by the cushioned seats of the train car after two ten day hikes with barely any rest in between them. Twilight's hooves still ached off the back of the trip, but with a new badge in her case and a pokémon that not a single other pony in Equestria had in her possession, she considered the voyage well worth it. The train ground to a halt in Manehattan Central Station, putting the six mares on a familiar strip of Bridleway. "Doesn't this bring back memories?" Applejack chuckled. "It wasn't that long ago." Twilight said back. Hard to believe the whole business with Team Umbra had gone down less than a month ago. The short time she had been on her journey had been without a doubt the most eventful time of her life. Bridleway was as busy as it was the last time they were there, but instead of turning deeper into the city, they turned toward the harbor, looking for a ferry company where they could buy tickets. The streets surrounding the docks were currently packed. An outdoor market was taking place, and vendors eagerly lined the streets to peddle their wares. They passed by ponies of all stripes, a few Griffons and even a Changeling at stalls selling everything they could imagine. One cart managed to draw in Twilight's attention. A grizzled old Griffon sat in a beaten up lawn chair, with stacks upon stacks of stones on display. "Come 'ere ladies. Let Kugo show you some wonderful items." "I'd stay away from that fellow if I was you." Rarity advised. Her words fell on deaf ears, as most of the mares had already gravitated toward the old seller of curios. "I see ye've got an eye for quality. " He chuckled. "I sell evolution stone, ye see. We find 'em every now an' again back in Griffonstone. If ever you need pokémon to evolve, I can sell you what you need." Twilight thought about the Griffon's offer. Marowak and Espeon were fully evolved, Gible and Ivysaur she knew didn't need stones, and she had no idea what could happen to Silvia, or if it was even capable of evolving. Helioptile though… She brought Helioptile out from its ball. "My Helioptile would need a Sun Stone to evolve, right?" Kugo nodded. "Smart little pony. That's right. And as it would happen, I have one here. Last in stock, too. Care to take it off these wrinkled claws?" "Yes please." Twilight gave him her bits, probably more than it was worth, but she didn’t care. In return he gave her the Sun Stone. "Enjoy your Heliolisk, girlie. Can I perhaps help anypony else?" "Oooh! Me! Meeee!" Pinkie cried. The Griffon beckoned her towards his stand. "What pokémon have ye got, girlie?" Pinkie produced her pokéballs. "These are my babies! Skiploom, Lombre, and Exeggcute." Unfortunately, I'm sold out of Water Stones, so I won't be able to help ye with yer Lombre. But an Exeggcute ye say?" Kugo scratched the ruffled feathers on his chin. "It's been too many years since I laid eyes on one of those. Brings back some good memories. I tell you what, you trainers wouldn't happen to be on a journey, would ye?" "Yep!" She gleefully answered. "Any chance you'll be going to Griffonstone soon?" He asked. "Actually, that's where we're going now." Twilight answered. Kugo smiled. "Well if that's the case, I want you to have this Leaf Stone." He pressed the stone into Pinkie's hooves and chuckled. "But I need to ask ye one favor. Don't use that there stone until you get to Griffonstone, ya hear?" "Why?" Pinkie asked. The old Griffon laughed to himself. "You'll see." With that, they walked away from the stall and resumed their search for a ferry. Applejack grinned at Pinkie. "Yer mighty lucky, Pinkie. He saved ya a bundle just givin' you that stone." "True, but why in Equestria did that old Griffon just give it away for free?" Rarity interjected. "Griffons are notorious penny-pinchers. I'm quite suspicious." "Maybe he just really likes Exeggutor?" Rainbow suggested. Pinkie shrugged. "Still, it kinda stinks I have to wait until we get to Griffonstone to use it…" Twilight nudged her on the shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll hold off on evolving Helioptile until we get there. We can do it together." "That sounds fun!" Pinkie giggled. "Bet my cute little eggy-weggies will be super excited!" Finally, they found a ferry station advertising fast passage to Griffonstone. They purchased tickets and made their way aboard the ship. The voyage would take four days, leaving them with some time to decompress aboard the SS Cascade, a large vessel that provided small compartments to sleep in, as well as buffet meals. Twilight was able to read through Chrysalis' research without interruption, and after that was done, she spent the remainder of her time playing with her pokémon, or battling other trainers on the main deck. Gible remained as hostile as ever, but at this point Twilight was not expecting anything different. Silvia on the other hoof was obeying her commands without hesitation. To her relief, the other passengers had been more amazed by it than horrified. Makes me wonder why Cadence was so afraid. Perhaps it was her personal history with Chrysalis that made her inherently mistrustful of anything the Changeling scientist created. Oh well. She had been allowed to keep Silvia, and that's all that mattered. The ferry arrived on the rocky coast of Griffonstone after a smooth and uneventful crossing. Twilight sighed with relief as her hooves made contact with solid ground. Time go get my badge. The time spent on the ship had focused her mind onto that one solitary goal. There wasn't much to do in Griffonstone anyway, so she probably wouldn't miss much by making this trip a short one. Griffonstone had a much less friendly atmosphere than did Equestria. Nopony made eye contact with one another or spoke unless absolutely necessary, leaving the air to be filled with the sounds of hooves and claws walking on the stone streets. When anypony did speak, it was usually either in a curt conversation with a vendor on the street, or shouting slurs at one another Twilight had thought had fallen out of use decades ago. "Would it kill 'em to show some hospitality?" Applejack commented. "I don't think we'll have much of a reason to spend much time here." Twilight sighed. "Is there anything anypony wants to do apart from challenging the gym?" Rarity raised her voice. "Actually Twilight there is something I would like to do. If I remember correctly, the Griffon who bred my Zorua lives here in Griffonstone. I would very much like to meet him and learn about my precious little devil." "Then that's what we'll do." Twilight looked around at the derelict town surrounding them. "But maybe first we should find an inn?" As everypony turned to leave, Pinkie Pie refused to move. "Hey Twilight, aren't you forgetting something?" She whirled around to face Pinkie. "Oh right! We still have to evolve our pokémon!" Twilight dug through her backpack to find Helioptile's ball. "Come on out buddy!" Pinkie did the same, letting her Exeggcute onto the ground. "So Pinkie, do you want to go first?" Twilight felt a small pang of guilt for forgetting about Pinkie. The whole ride over she had been nearly vibrating with excitement about evolving her Exeggcute. She shook her hoof. "Nah. You go Twi." "Alright." Twilight pressed the Sun Stone up to Helioptile's forehead. The stone vanished from her hoof, and Helioptile became enshrouded in a bright aura. With an intense flash, the aura cleared, leaving behind a new, stronger pokémon. Heliolisk displayed its sun-like frill with a proud hiss. "Heliolissssk!" It cried. Everypony turned to Pinkie. "Alright darlin'. It's your turn." With a gleeful giggle Pinkie pressed the Leaf Stone onto the front egg of her Exeggcute. The group of bouncing pink eggs were caught up in a swirling aura, just like Helioptile was. But in a matter of seconds, things took a turn for the strange. The size of the blazing glow grew gigantic, expanding high up into the air. Twilight looked at the scene, completely taken unaware by this development. This isn't right. Exeggcute shouldn't be getting this big. With a flash, the aura cleared. The pokémon left behind was an Exeggutor, or at least that's what it looked like. Everypony stared at it blankly for a moment before Rainbow Dash broke the silence. "What's wrong with it?" "Shush yourself Dashie!" Pinkie snapped. "Don't you be so mean to him. He's perfect!" She wrapped her hooves around the base of Exeggutor as it plodded around merrily. Twilight held her pokédex up to Exeggutor. Exeggutor, the Coconut pokémon. In Griffonstone, Exeggutor grew tall in order to take advantage of the more intense sun. Griffon tradition insists that this is in fact the true form of Exeggutor. That's interesting. She had seen it first with Marowak, but the entire idea that a pokémon could have different forms based on its environment still came off as incredible. She supposed it was similar to how an Eevee evolves based on so many different factors. She checked through her pokédex, looking up Marowak. Surely enough, the version she had was the variant form native to Griffonstone. How the hay she had gotten in in Equestria was a question she did not have the answer to. Perhaps a visit to Cadence- Twilight cut herself off. Maybe not right away. She still was a bit on edge around Cadence, and she would probably benefit from giving her some space for a little while. At any rate, now that that's done, we should probably find a place to stay for the night. * * * Twilight and company found a small establishment at the south end of town. It was by no means luxurious, but the prices were fair and the accommodations were comfortable enough. They had gotten themselves settled into their room and taken a seat in the restaurant downstairs, and had just began to browse over the limited menu when the sound of a door slamming loudly at the far end of the restaurant drew every pair of eyes in the building toward the source of the sound. Even with the glow of the sun behind the intruders, the uniform of Team Umbra was instantly recognizable. A mare with a light fuchsia coat swaggered into the bar, leading two other goons behind her. The eclipse motif on their uniforms was the same, but these Umbra operatives had a much more rough appearance to them. Their uniforms were torn, but not by wear but instead ripped for fashion, and they each had bandanas with the Team Umbra eclipse tied on their heads or over their mouths. One feature that still remained was the blue scarf denoting the leader as an Admin. Aria sauntered her way to the bar, ignoring the many griffons and ponies alike who cowered in fear behind their tables. "Yo feathers, gimme the usual." She demanded, her mouth twisted into an obnoxious smile. "Gee Aria, I'd love to, but you and your boys still haven't paid your tab, and-" The griffon was cut off by a ferocious snarl from Aria, and a hoof swiping a pokéball off her belt. "Remember what happened the last time we had this conversation, birdbrain?" She threw her pokéball with a cocky grin. "Scrafty, mess 'em up." Her Scrafty pulled up the baggy skin around its legs, and with a powerful kick caved in part of the bar. It hopped up onto the bar's surface, and grabbed hold of a stool, throwing it toward the barkeep. The portly griffon ducked, but the stool hit the large display of bottles on the shelf at the back of the bar, putting the spilled contents of dozens of exotic alcohols and a rainbow of now-shattered glass bottles on the floor. "Please, stop!" He begged. "I'm so sorry, let me make you your drink. On the house." The bartender quickly put together a cocktail from what was left of his liquor. Aria snatched the drink and tossed it back, smashing the glass on the floor. She pulled her Scrafty back into its ball and left without another word, turning to her fellow thugs and laughing. If she had seen Twilight, she didn't recognize her. Once they had left, Applejack and Rainbow Dash galloped over and helped the bartender to his feet. "Thank you." he sighed. The bartender wiped himself clean with a dish towel, trying to dry the alcohol from his feathers. "What in tarnation was that?" Applejack asked, fetching the frazzled griffon a glass of ice. The bartender took the ice and pressed it to his head."A real bunch of jerks, that's what. Team Umbra set up shop here a few months back and they've been running around like they own the place. We here in Griffonstone don't take flak from nopony, but the bunch of them are so freakishly strong, we've had to just sit back and accept it." "Hasn't anypony sent for help?" Fluttershy asked. The barkeep shook his head. "Aria was very specific. She said if they see a single member of the royal guard here, this entire town is toast." Twilight stood up. "We've dealt with them before. My friends and I will get them out of Griffonstone." The griffon looked at them critically. "Good luck. They've trounced every strong trainer around, even the Gym Leader got her feathery behind kicked by them." "I HEARD that Grover." A harsh female voice growled. A female griffon barged into the bar and gave the bartender a long stare. "They cheated me and you know it." Grover shrugged. "Doesn't matter now. These here mares think they can take care of Aria and Team Umbra for us." The Leader looked at Twilight. "I'll believe it when I see it. Although, on behalf of Griffonstone, I have to wish you luck. What's your name by the way?" "Twilight," she answered. "What's yours?" "Name's Gilda. I'm a rock-type specialist and the Gym Leader of this miserable land. I've got a bone to pick with Team Umbra, but that Aria is tough, I'll give her that. Not that it's much surprise. Anypony who can handle Raikou is gonna be tough." How do all these Team Umbra Admins have legendary pokémon? Between Sunset with her Moltres, Adagio and Entei and now Aria with Raikou, she wondered what their leader could possibly have. She then remembered that there had been a third mare in Aria and Adagio's group, and suddenly Twilight realized where the third member of the Legendary Beast trio probably was. Twilight spoke out without thinking. "I'll take them on!" She declared. "So long as my friends are at my side, they won't be able to defeat us!" Gilda allowed herself a laugh. "You're a piece of work Twilight. But I'll give you this, you've got moxie. I think you're beyond crazy, but if you actually can get those jerks out of here, I think I may have a reward for you." Why are you doing this Twilight? That was a question she did not have an answer to. Just a few minutes ago she and her friends had planned to get their business done and leave. But now… Twilight enjoyed battling with her pokémon. But this was the first time she had so thoroughly wanted to battle somepony. Something about Team Umbra lit a fire in Twilight's eyes, the likes of which she had never felt before. I'm coming for you Aria. I hope you're ready, because your days in Griffonstone are numbered.