“Ugh... Ooohh...” Twilight awoke to a splitting headache, starting from her horn and working its way backward. She reached up to touch it and hopefully rub the pain away, but a lance of stinging pain shot through at first contact. “Ouch...” she hissed, pulling back momentarily before steeling herself and applying some pressure to the tip. It was some time before she was willing to put her hoof down and shake it off. “Whatever that was, I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
*crunch*
Her eyes shot open in surprise, only to quickly shut as another lance pierced her brain. She squinted and slowly opened her eyes again, this time wary of the bright, midday sun beaming down on her. Her gaze traveled downward to where her hoof had fallen. ‘Leaves?’ she thought to herself. ‘When did I get outside?’
Her head swiveled from side to side as she explored her surroundings. Not only was nopony in sight, but no buildings were in sight. In fact, hardly anything was visible with the grass at such a height, save for the tops of a few trees. How could anypony live with grass like this?
*growwwwwwl*
Twilight looked around with a heavy blush, but thankfully there was still nopony around to see it. “Eheh... I guess I should be thankful that somepony was so negligent of their lawn, or somepony might’ve noticed that.” She pondered a moment and smelled the grass. It smelled nice, at least as far as grass is concerned. Well kept and healthy, even if it wasn’t grazed or even cut properly. She looked around one last time. When she saw nopony coming, she grinned widely and took an unladylike mouthful of the rich, green blades and chewed for all their worth.
“Mmm...” she mmm’d as her grin only grew. If anypony had seen her at that point, they would’ve been appalled at her manners! Such egregious behavior was unbecoming of a Canterlot unicorn! She giggled at the thought and swallowed her food with a loud gulp. She went to take another bite...
*crunch*
She froze. Her hooves hadn’t moved that time. Ears swiveling back and forth to find the source of the sound, she slowly lifted her head. “Hello?” she called. “Is somepony there?”
*****
‘Shoot, I spooked it! Please don’t run, please don’t run, please don’t run...’
Professor Birch winced and carefully lifted his foot, cursing the errant branch underneath. Just moments ago, his Dexnav had indicated a pokemon previously unseen in the area, but in his haste he hadn’t looked where he was stepping. Thankfully, the pokemon seemed to calm down a little bit. It returned to its grazing, but he could tell by the way its ears flicked back and forth that it was being more cautious.
‘Phew... That was a close one. Alright, little guy. What are you?’ Birch lifted up his Pokedex and scanned the creature once it turned its head away. As he waited for the reading to complete, he watched the pokemon in barely restrained fascination. It was small, about the size of a Numel, and looked a bit like a Kanto Ponyta. Only without flames. And Purple. And had a Seel’s horn right in the middle of its forehead. ‘What a strange looking creature...’
“Unknown pokemon. Unknown pokemon,” said a robotic sounding voice, startling Birch into jumping with its far-too-loud speaker. He fumbled with the device, trying to make it be quiet, but in his haste, he lost his grip and sent it flying. He lunged out to grab it before it could get away, but that only served to throw him off balance and let gravity do the rest. With a great crash, he landed on the ground, the Pokedex underneath his belly.
He picked himself up, grabbed the Pokedex, and mashed the mute button to finally silence the voice, but by then it was too late. As he lay on the ground, he found himself staring into the eyes of the creature almost within arm's reach.
*****
As Twilight stared into the eyes of the massive creature, her mind raced yet went nowhere while several parts ideas warred for attention. In one hoof, the scientific side of her rambled on about the discovery of a species and first contact with aliens. In another, her intellectual mind pointed out the facts in front of her: a massive creature was staring down at her, carrying a strange and noisy device in its thick paws, and that it was probably the same creature that made the noise from earlier. And it wore clothes! It had to be civilized, or at least somewhat intelligent, if it wore clothes! In a third, her survival instincts were screaming at her to stop thinking and do something about protecting herself. Run. Hide. Fight. Anything but stand stupidly and let it catch her.
In the end, survival won out and diverted the rest of her brain to figuring out the best course of action. Should she run? At first glance, getting as far away as possible seemed like a good idea, but she realized that she was already lost in the middle of nowhere. Running could put her in an even worse situation. Hide? Where could she hide? The grass was tall enough to whip the tip of her horn standing up, but the creature found when her head was low, meaning it had a way of tracking her without using sight. Whatever she chose to do, she needed to be quick, for the creature wasn’t waiting for her and reached into the pocket of its white coat.
Twilight crouched low, and pointed her horn at it, hoping to scare it away with her magic. But the moment she felt her magic course through her horn, it felt like somepony had jabbed into it with a needle. She winced as her magic cut out abruptly, but her efforts appeared to have worked, because the creature suddenly stopped. However, it wasn’t enough to make it go away. The creature just lied there, rummaging through its pockets. As their eyes locked, she realized she would have to use a more basic approach.
She blinked.
The massive creature blinked.
She scowled and stomped her hoof on the ground.
The creature patted its pockets, its eyes wide as it looked back at her.
She screamed a piercingly high-pitched scream, reared back, and charged, horn lowered.
The creature screamed a not-so-piercingly, but still high-pitched scream, and scrambled to its feet. But it wasn’t fast enough...
*****
“Ouch! Gah, stop that! Ooo-hoo-hoo, that one smarted!” he cried, desperately flailing his arms backward at the little purple pokemon in an attempt to spare his buttocks from becoming a pincushion. “Ow! If I could just- Yeowch! Gotta get to my bag!”
Birch ran for his backpack, but every time he got close, the little pokemon would rush forward and drive him in a different direction, as though it was actively trying to prevent him from reaching it.
Just then, he spied a girl running up the path from Littleroot Town. “Hey, you! Please, You’ve gotta help me! There are pokeballs in my backpack!”
*****
Twilight slowed down, panting from chasing the giant around. Thankfully, it also looked worn out, and didn’t attack her. Still, she kept a wary eye on it, just in case it tried something.
Suddenly, a flash of light snatched her attention. The light morphed and shifted its form, changing into a bipedal figure about half her height. As the light faded, Twilight found herself staring at an orange bird with a little plume of yellow feathers sticking out from the top of an enormous head relative to its body.
“Torchic!” the bird screeched, its plumage ruffling up as it glared at her, scratching at the ground with sharp-looking talons.
“Wow! That was amazing!” Twilight’s fascination with the spectacle momentarily overcame her fatigue, and she quickly ran up to the bird and started inspecting it, much to its confusion. “How did you do that? Are you some kind of phoenix? You don’t look like anything I’ve read about in my books!”
Something shouted from nearby, snapping Twilight back to reality. She looked over toward the source of the noise to see a much smaller, yet similar creature to the one from before. It also wore clothes, but its mane was longer and pulled into a set of tails. It was also holding onto a red and white orb. As Twilight looked closer, she saw a small button in the center, pointing at the bird next to her.
Twilight screamed as a burning sensation flared in her leg, dropping her to the ground. When she looked down, she saw a trickle of blood welling up from a fresh cut. The bird was now standing a short ways away, still glaring, but as Twilight looked closer, she spied several purple hairs caught in one of its talons. She almost shouted at it, but then she realized where it had positioned itself: right between her and the larger, hairless creatures.
“Are those your masters?” she asked. The bird didn’t give her a response, but the long-maned creature shouted something else, and the bird crouched low. “Wait! I’m sorry! I didn’t- OUCH!” she yelled, another cut appearing on her chest.
“Torchiiiiiic!” the bird cried, as though it were proclaiming its defiance against Twilight. She clutched the wound and whimpered, a small tear forming in her eye from the sting.
*****
“Drat... May,” Birch called as he ceased rummaging through his pouch.
“Yes, professor?” The girl replied, taking her eyes off the battle for a moment.
“That pokemon could be the first of its kind ever recorded, but I forgot all my pokeballs at the lab... Could you keep battling it for a little while longer while I go and grab them?”
“Yes sir!” May turned back to the battle.
“Oh, and May!” She turned her head, keeping her eyes on the little pokemon. “Try not to make it faint!”
May nodded and listened as Professor Birch ran back to town. It was still nursing its wound, so she took the opportunity to give another order. “Torchic, use ember!”
*****
‘It has to be a phoenix, but I’ve never heard about phoenixes serving masters before...’ she thought as a barrage of tiny flames singed her sides. ‘I wonder why this one serves those... whatever-they-ares? Was it raised in captivity? What happened to its parents?!’
When the flames finally stopped peppering her, she turned back and took a small step to the side to get out of the small patch of burnt grass. “Ouch!” She cried, lifting her hoof up to her mouth and sucking on it. One particularly large ember still smoldered right where she had stepped, and a patch of blackened fur sank into her hoof. She set it back down, but it stung when it touched the ground. She plopped down, head hanging low.
“Why is this happening to me? Did the princess send me away?” Twilight choked back a sob. “I wish I never went to take the test... I wish mommy and daddy were here...” The tears flowed from her eyes, no longer capable of holding back. “I want to go home!”
*****
May watched as the pokemon started to cry, unsure what to do. The Torchic under her command also looked confused, glancing back to her for guidance she wasn’t sure she could give. She had never seen a Pokemon cry before. What was she supposed to do?
Then her Torchic began to move forward. It slowly walked up to the Pokemon and peered at the tears flowing from its eyes. Then, strangely, it nuzzled the Pokemon, as though it were trying to cheer it up. The pokemon looked up at Torchic, not quite sure what to make of its actions. Torchic poked down at the pokemon’s burnt hoof, hanging its head when it saw the black patch. It hopped over to the other side and nuzzled the pokemon again. After a moment, much to May’s surprise, it nuzzled back and smiled. It lifted up its leg and stroked Torchic’s plume, and Torchic trilled happily.
Then the bird turned toward May and scowled, surprising her again. It marched back toward her with its thin little legs and sat down right in front of her, eyes closed.
“Uh... Torchic, I need you to keep battling, okay? Otherwise that pokemon might get away.” The little bird simply shook its head back and forth, refusing to move. “Please?” Again, it shook its head. May sighed. "Alright, fine. Torchic return." She held out the pokeball, and Torchic disappeared inside.
But then the other pokemon slowly walked forward, keeping wary eyes on May, until it stood next to where Torchic had been, searching the area as though looking for the bird. May watched it until it looked back up at her and the ball in her hand. "...Torchic, come out." The pokemon jumped as Torchic reappeared, then examined Torchic, babbling in its strange language.
'Weird... It's using more than just one word to talk... More than just its name.' Finally, the creature stopped and sat down next to Torchic and pulled it close to its body, much to the bird's dismay at being squished. May giggled at her pokemon's distress, then watched as the pair just sat there together, not battling, not moving, not talking. Just keeping each other company. She had never seen a wild pokemon get along like this with a trainer pokemon, especially mid-battle. Yet at the same time, it brought a smile to her face. Part of her wished that they could stay like that forever.
As friends.
“May! I’m back! Please tell me it’s still there!” Professor Birch called, running up to the group with satchel on shoulder and pokeball in hand.
“Professor, wait!” May cried, whirling around to stop him, but she was too late. The pokemon’s eyes widened, and it turned and started to run away. However, it could only limp and stumble thanks to the burn on the bottom of its leg. Birch quickly caught up and readied his pokeball.
“Oh, good! It’s still here! Pokeball, don’t fail me now!” He lobbed the device at the fleeing pokemon.
Only for it to explode in a shower of tiny flames.
“What?!” Birch said, flabbergasted. His gaze descended upon Torchic, whose mouth still smoked. “Torchic, what are you doing?! This could be my only chance!” He quickly grabbed for another pokeball and made to give chase, but Torchic blocked his path, beak glowing with fire. He stopped and looked, hoping that his could just throw the ball over, but the pokemon was too far away for him to reach it. “Aww... I was so close, too... Torchic, why did you do that?”
May growled, arms stretched toward the ground. “Professor, now look what you’ve done!”
While May shouted at the professor, Torchic merely watched its new friend disappear into the brush.