//------------------------------//
// Chapter 27- Groucho 
// Story: Twilight Sparkle has a Pokemon Journey 
// by Darkmetroidz 
//------------------------------//

Twilight and company had set forth from the inn, eager to track down Team Umbra and get them out of Griffonstone. However, even with so great an amount of determination, there was one thing that she was lacking; a lead. Neither Gilda, nor Grover the bartender, nor any of the other griffons knew where Team Umbra was operating from. After searching around town for any sort of a lead without success, the group opted to abandon the search for the time being and decided to try and make good on Rarity's request to meet the famous breeder, Groucho. 

The old bird was rich, that much was certain. Groucho lived on a large estate to the north of town, a large ranch with rolling fields of well-kept grass and a brick wall surrounding the property. Through the gate, Twilight could see large numbers of pokémon walking around within, with several pony and griffon workers scurrying about all over the place. One of them noticed the group standing outside and moved over to the gate. 

"Good afternoon, may I help you?" She asked politely, leaning up against the gate.  

Rarity stepped forward to answer. "Good afternoon to you too madam. My name is Rarity, and I had hoped that I would be able to meet Mr. Groucho. You see, I received a pokémon of his, and I wanted very much to meet the breeder." 

The worker cringed. "I'm sorry. Mr. Groucho does not usually accept guests, and-"

The husky mare was cut off mid-sentence by a crotchety old squawk. "Get back to work, lazybones!" The worker frantically scurried away from the gate, her place taken by a grizzled old Griffon. Twilight didn't know why, but she knew just from the look of the old hawk that this was the legendary Groucho. "Who are you?" He asked. 

Rarity cleared her throat to repeat herself. "My name is Rarity. I won a pokémon bred at this estate in a competition some time ago. I had wanted to come and learn about the pokémon, and about breeding perhaps. 

The Griffon's eyes narrowed. "Let me see that pokémon." Rarity produced the pokéball her Zorua had came in. The old bird's eyes lit up like stars upon seeing the pokéball. Rarity released Zorua, allowing the small pokémon to spring out and landed with a happy yip. 

"No doubt about it, that's one of my pokémon." Groucho smiled tenderly. "Tell me, how did you come into ownership of little Zorua here?"	

"She was the prize of this year's Appleoosa Trainer's Cup." Rarity answered. 

Groucho nodded, tenderly stroking Zorua's silky coat. "I remember this pokémon. Her mother is an amazing creature, I'll tell you what. A long time ago that Zoroark belonged to Princess Luna herself. The Princess sent her here to be bred, but Zoroark was so happy to be out on the ranch that Princess Luna decided to let her stay. Her lineage has produced some admirable pokémon. A few have been trained to use their ability to disguise themselves to act in movies. One of them even ended up with the Gym Leader in the Crystal Empire."

"That's certainly an impressive resume. Perhaps could I ask you a bit about what you do here?" Rarity put Zorua away in her pokéball, giving her full attention to the master breeder. "I would ever so much like to learn about your art." 

Groucho chuckled at that. "Don’t hear it called that often. But I suppose. I don't get much for company aside from clients and employees. Let me show you around." Groucho lifted his cane and pointed it off toward the large white barn in the distance. "That's where we'll go first."

A cobbled path led the group from the gate to the barn, running along the manicured lawn, several neatly trimmed hedges, and several pokémon milling about or being led by Groucho's employees. A Torterra slept beneath a large oak tree, meanwhile a Flygon jealously guarded a clutch of eggs atop another such tree, which two of the employees were trying and miserably failing to retrieve. 

"It all starts in here." Groucho said to nopony in particular. The here in question was the stark white barn at the far end of the property. Twilight just noticed the solar panels on the roof, and the series of pipes and machines running along the side of it. Having grown up as a part of the upper class in Canterlot, Twilight had taken indoor heat and water for granted before she had began her journey. That a barn could have those same amenities struck her as astounding. 

As she quickly realized, heating and hot water were only the beginning of Groucho's operation. "We spare no expense keeping the expecting mothers comfortable." Comfortable was an understatement. The barn was organized into several stalls, but unlike the barn Applejack owned back in Ponyville, each stall came equipped with a plush matt for the pokémon to sleep on, a tray full of delicate berries and gourmet pokémon food, and other equipment specific to the creature inside. One pen they passed held a pair of Weavile who had just welcomed the first of several baby Sneasel into the world, and along with plenty of food for the new infant pokémon, the pen had a small enclosed box set up that was encased in ice, meant to give the Weavile a chance to enjoy their native climate. 

The next one over held a Talonflame, who sleepily sat atop her eggs. The workers had set up an artificial tree in the pen and allowed her to build herself a nest atop it. The scattered bones of Rattata beneath the pen suggested that this tenant had been allowed to indulge its predatory instincts, while at the same time fighting back any vermin problems. Twilight shuddered. Nature was beautiful but many times those roses had surprisingly sharp thorns. 

"The pokémon we breed fall into one of two categories." Groucho explained, not missing a beat as he kept walking through the well-cleaned barn. "Some of these belong to trainers who wanted to have their pokémon bred for some reason or another, gifts or to keep a good pedigree going. Those usually cost a bit more because we have to set things up specifically for that pokémon. The others are pokémon we breed and sell off, like that Zorua of yours. Of course, they're just as well-bred as the others, but it's easier for us since we have all the equipment already and we can usually expect a bigger return on investment. We keep those ones in special pokéballs we make here. Basically, those balls are a stamp of quality we put on each and every pokémon bred on this property."

"How does one make a pokéball?" Rarity asked. 

Groucho beckoned toward the exit. "Let me show you." He led them out of the barn and off on a long path towards the corner of the property, where trees had been allowed to grow freely and the path shrunk to a dirt trail. Groucho lifted his cane and pointed to a ramshackle old building, which looked like it had barely been maintained in decades. 

"This is where I make all my pokéballs." Groucho said proudly, leading them toward the run-down building. "Don't worry. The building is stable. Enough." 

He led them inside the hut. Sunlight barely passed through the grimy old windows, leaving the entire building lit by faint rays of light that managed to pass through the filth. " This is my old home. Long before I started breeding, I worked here, making pokéballs the old-fashioned way, out of Apricorns." Groucho rested himself on his haunches, looking at the run-down building with fondness. "Even after all these years, I do all my work here to make sure I never forget where I came from. Keeps a bird humble, you know?"

Apricorns, huh? Twilight had once read something about how before they could be mass-manufactured, pokéballs were made using special fruits called Apricorns. The type of ball was dependant on the kind of Apricorn used, and while those who still practiced the art were a dying breed, they could apparently make highly specialized pokéballs, such as one that worked on super heavy pokémon, or one that worked better on fast-moving pokémon. 

Groucho led them behind the shack, where beneath an awning lay a toolkit and a strange contraption that looked like it was half anvil and half lemon squeezer. "This is where I make every single pokéball used here. I could have gone mechanical ages ago, but I decided not to. It gives me something to do and it's a symbol of pride for the ranch." Groucho let out a nostalgic sigh, absentmindedly wrapping his free claw around the grip of his hammer. "This was my job for years before I started to breed." 

"Excuse me. Not to interrupt, but I have a question," Fluttershy meekly peeped. "How did you get all this stuff on the ranch? I mean it's all very nice, but how did you get the money to build all this?" 

Groucho's nostalgia vanished in an instant as he dropped his hammer, focusing his eyes dead on Fluttershy. The buttercream mare flinched under his dire gaze. "A stroke of luck, I guess you could call it." He said as he recounted his story. "I was going through the woods looking for my harvest of Apricorns when I came across something I didn't even believe existed; a Purple Apricorn tree." 

Groucho allowed a silence to set in as soon as he finished. Nopony seemed to understand the magnitude of what he said, leaving them all in a confused silence. Finally, Rainbow Dash raised her voice with the question on all six of their minds. "What's so special about a Purple Apricorn?" 

Groucho looked around with an unusual amount of paranoia. Finally with a sigh, he produced one from beneath his workbench. "These fruits are highly rare, almost nopony ever finds a single one, let alone an entire tree. Each different Apricorn can be used to make a different pokéball. The Purple kind is used in the manufacture of master balls." 

"So you have what's essentially sole access to the thing that can be used to make a master ball." Rarity concluded. 

Groucho nodded nonchalantly. "That’s the short of it. In reality it takes a bit more than just the Apricorn to make one, but it's the only material in the world that can make a lid that's strong enough. Some companies like Silph are trying to make them using entirely artificial parts, but they still haven't had any success. But they've been buying them off me for years for research." 

And with that matter-of-fact remark, everything made sense. The money Groucho had needed to build himself up as a world-renowned breeder came from selling the Purple Apricorns to Silph Co. Twilight had to admire Groucho's success and good fortune, but also respected that he had never lost touch with his past. She knew if she had been in his horseshoes she probably would have stopped working on a forge ages ago. 

Groucho quickly stowed the Apricorn away under his bench. "You mustn't tell anypony about this. From what I understand, Team Umbra is here looking for these Apricorns so they can build their own master ball. For all the pokémon on this ranch, we don't have any trainers strong enough to protect the ranch from Team Umbra, so it's of utmost importance they don't learn about this."

"Too late." Everypony whirled around to see the source of the voice. Aria, along with two of her thugs, had broken into the ranch and now were staring down Groucho. "I'll give you a choice old timer. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Your choice." 

"If you ruffians are going to intimidate somepony, at least have the courtesy not to rely on clichés." Groucho scolded, slamming his cane on the bench for emphasis. "It's pretty pathetic." 

Aria's face contorted from shock to rage to a disdainful sigh in a matter of seconds. "I guess it's the hard way then. Yo Froslass, hit 'em with flash." The ice-type sprang out of her pokéball and emitted a blinding pulse of light that caused Groucho, Twilight, and the others to cry out in pain. When their eyesight returned, Team Umbra was gone, as were the Purple Apricorns from under Groucho's bench. 

In a defeated rage, Groucho slammed his cane onto his anvil, breaking the ornate piece in two. "Blast it all!" He cried, "We need to stop them!" 

Without skipping a beat, Rainbow Dash pulled a pokéball from her bag. "Pidgeotto, help us out!" Pidgeotto took flight, soaring off into the air. "I need you to follow Team Umbra!" Rainbow shouted. Pidgeotto took off toward the main estate, leaving everypony else to follow on hoof. 

"So what's your plan Dash?" Twilight asked. They had taken off running, leaving Groucho behind at his smithy while they trailed Aria and Team Umbra. Each worker they passed along the way pointed them in a vague direction as to which way Aria had gone. Wherever they had been going, they hadn't been subtle about it. 

"We'll keep moving in the general direction until Pidgeotto comes back." She said through her deep breaths as she sprinted along. "Pidgeotto will come back once she finds them." 

The six galloped out of the front gate, maintaining the fastest pace they could manage without exhausting themselves. Team Umbra could have gone anywhere, and they would need all of their strength to fight once they finally found them.