The girls stood outside the looming entrance to the Everfree Forest, all three of them showing some sort of negative emotion, Twilight Sparkle seemed to look worried, Applejack looked peeved and Rainbow Dash appeared as if she was a mix of the two emotions. They looked at the trees which arced way above their heads, shadowing them from the late afternoon sun.
‘So,’ Applejack broke the silence at once. ‘We have to get though here to get to Cloudsdale?’
‘Unfortunately, yes.’ Twilight shivered in fear.
‘You can see Cloudsdale from here, I think.’ Rainbow Dash looked to the horizon and saw, very faintly, a giant floating land mass in the sky.
‘Hoowee,’ Applejack looked in astonishment. ‘I heard all those old wives tales saying that it was actually in the clouds, but I didn’t believe ‘em till now.’
‘Even though it’s the closest neighbouring city to us, bar Canterlot,’ Rainbow chuckled as she entered the dark forest. ‘I swear you have a screw loose, AJ.’
‘Get lost, you Rainbow-haired freak!’ Applejack chased her into the woods, calling after her. Twilight hesitated, looked at the dark brown hunks of old bark one more time, and slowly walked in.
Twilight caught up with the two girls, exhausted and panting after a little chase around the trees of Everfree.
‘You’re both awful, you know that.’ Twilight Sparkle said, looking at them with a disgruntled expression.
‘Well, I’m sorry but someone decided to get too offended about a joke!’ Rainbow said very spitefully.
‘But you know I don’t take kindly to you insulting my intelligence!’ Applejack scorned back.
‘GIRLS,’ Twilight shouted to stop them from arguing. ‘We left Ponyville twenty minutes ago and already you two are quarrelling! Now apologise, both of you.’
‘Gah, I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, just stop being such a pain in my behind when you don’t need to be.’ Applejack showed her hand of forgiveness.
‘Oh it’s alright, I’m sorry too,’ Dash shook the hand. ‘But just for the record, calling me a “Rainbow-haired freak” isn’t an insult, it’s a compliment.’
All three of the girls chuckled at that.
All of a sudden, they heard a hooting sound in the distance, which captured the curiosity of the trio, especially Twilight, whose head bobbed up like a Meerkat.
‘Could that be a new Pokémon in the distance?’ She wandered over in the direction of the hooting, Rainbow and Applejack having to wander behind her.
As the Pokémon calling began to get louder, the trees began to submerge the sunlight, and it became much more difficult to navigate without the gang hitting a tree, for example.
‘Right, this is getting ridiculous,’ Twilight grumbled, pulling out a Pokéball. ‘Come on out, Fennekin.’
She dropped the Sphere onto the ground, and out came her Pokémon, the little Fox licked its paw and was very quiet.
‘Dude, be careful with that thing,’ Dash cowered behind Applejack for protection. ‘If it so much as sneezes then this entire Forest goes up in flames. KA-BOOM!’ She shouted, making an explosion gesture with her arms. Twilight laughed it off.
‘Don’t be silly Rainbow Dash. Even if that did happen, do you forget you own a water type Pokémon?’ She put her hands on her hips and raised a single eyebrow, giving a cocky grin. Fennekin replicated her face right down to the slight turning of her head.
‘Uhhhhh… Yeah you’re right, ignore me, hahaha.’ Rainbow scratched the back of her head and said through gritted teeth. Applejack laughed at her expense.
Twilight picked up a foot long stick off of the ground, along with a little twig too, which she threw to Fennekin to snack on. Then she placed the stick towards the Fire types face, and it breathed out an ember-y red ignition, lighting the stick and turning it into a torch. For its efforts, Twilight Sparkle fed Fennekin another twig.
‘Not a bad idea after all, Twi!’ Applejack said, impressed by her friends handiwork.
‘Well it’s a lot better than trying to navigate in the dark, especially since none of our Pokémon has flash.’ She shrugged, and the three Trainers continued walking, Fennekin skipping to the side of Twilight.
Rainbow Dash giggled. ‘Hehehehe…Flash.’
‘What’s so funny, Dash?’ Twilight turned around so see that she had contorted her face to stop laughter escaping.
‘Nothing.’ She said very quietly.
The hooting had become very loud by this point, and it was obvious now to everyone that there was not only just a single Pokémon, but at least several of the same species. Twilight noticed a glimmer of light in the distance, so the gang approached it, hacking their way through branches and bushes until they saw the evening sun, and found the source of the hooting.
The girls were stood at the top of a hill, and at the bottom of it, there were hundreds upon hundreds of little Owl Pokémon, stood in circles, hooting towards what appeared to be a large stone statue of a much bigger owl in the centre. The ritual took the girls by surprise but they were in awe at how organised this horde of creatures appeared to be.
‘Wow,’ Twilight said. ‘There’s so many of them.’
‘Let’s see what the Pokédex has to say.’ Rainbow added on, pulling out her tablet and scanning the Pokémon.
‘HOOTHOOT, the Owl Pokémon.
HOOTHOOT stands on one leg, but uses both its powerful eyes to see clearly even through the darkest night.’
‘Awwww, Hoothoot,’ Twilight pulled out a Pokéball from her backpack. ‘I wanna catch one.’
‘Now, now, Twi,’ Applejack gripped her shoulder in a swift motion. ‘You can’t just approach them, because then they’ll all get scared and fly away.’
‘Ugh, you’re right,’ Twilight put the ball away and sat down. ‘We’ll just have to wait for the right moment.’
This triggered the other girls to sit down, although Rainbow Dash got annoyed. Considering she wanted to face the Cloudsdale Gym as soon as possible, this wasn’t helping her.
One of the Hoothoots came out of the darkness and fluttered over their heads. The poor thing could hardly fly, so it stopped just in front of the trio and Fennekin, where it began to plod down the hill. About halfway down, however, it tripped up over its own feet, and came tumbling down, crashing into a bush as it hit the bottom.
All of the other Hoothoot turned around and saw the state of their brethren, and they all laughed. Every single one chuckled at the schadenfreude that took place, even Rainbow Dash got in on the act, laughing at the unfortunate Owl’s fate.
‘Rainbow Dash, stop it, it might be really hurt.’ Twilight scolded her friend.
‘Awww c’mon Twilight,’ Dash said through a fit of laughter. ‘You can’t admit that it wasn’t at least a little funny.’
‘I’ve decided that’s the one I wanna catch.’ Twilight said, ignoring her friend’s statement entirely.
As the girl in the glasses reached into her bag, she saw two silhouettes on the other side of the circle of Hoothoot’s. As they walked further into the light, she noticed they were two children, one was very lanky and carried himself awkwardly, and the other was on the contrary, being very short and wide. They went from a creep, to a full on sprint as they charged into the Owl Pokémon, scaring them all away. That is except for the clumsy Hoothoot that was left trapped in the bush, injured and crying for help.
‘Awwww, nice scare, Snails!’ The shorter kid said.
‘Thanks Snips, you too!’ Snails replied with a chuckle. He then looked and noticed the injured Hoothoot, nudging and pointing at Snips to look as well.
‘Woah, let’s take that Pokémon!’ Snips shouted in his very pitchy voice, with him and Snails running as fast as their legs could take them, but before they could even get to their destination, Twilight cut them off and blocked them from the Hoothoot.
‘You don’t want this Hoothoot. Go away.’ She spoke very maturely, but the kids weren’t having any of it, bursting out into laughter.
‘Why not, it’s just a weak little Owl!’ Snails was so tall for his age he was on eye level with Twilight, who tried to not noticeably wince at the sight of these two bullies.
‘Don’t you two look a little too young to be handling Pokémon? Last time I checked you had to eighteen.’ Applejack now squared up the two boys, who cowered in fear.
‘We ARE eighteen, right Snails?’ The short tubby boy lied.
‘Uh, yeah, we are. Haha!’ His friend replied, both shaking at the sight of the strong farmer that is Applejack.
‘Right okay let’s settle this once and for all,’ Applejack turned back to Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash with a look of determination. ‘How’s about a double battle, me and Twi versus Twiddledee and Twiddledum here, whoever wins gets the Hoothoot?’
Twilight gave a grin: ‘It’s settled.’ She answered.
Snips and Snails also gave a nod, and the match was set in stone.
The arena was marked almost right where they were stood on, if not just spread out a little more. Applejack and Twilight stood closer to the Hoothoot, who had now recovered and watching from the side-lines with Rainbow Dash who, despite all her setbacks, was more than happy to referee if it meant she could watch her friends kick butt. Snips and Snails stood on the other side, giving off the look of trying to be intimidating, but failing.
‘Alright,’ Rainbow Dash said, folding her arms and smirking. ‘This is a double battle, so two versus two. The first team to knock out both Pokémon will be the winner!’ She nodded to let the match begin, so Applejack and Twilight pulled out their respective Pokéballs.
‘Come on out, Chespin!’
‘Go, Fennekin!’
Their two starter Pokémon jumped out in glee and shouted their names in excitement.
Snips and Snails pulled out their two Pokéballs, obviously stolen from some Trainer or Lab, and threw them out with Snips and Snails respectively shouting:
‘Go Karrablast!’
‘Go Shelmet!’
Their two Pokémon landed, neither of which the girls had ever seen before, making Rainbow Dash curious, so she scanned the Pokémon:
‘KARRABLAST, the Clamping Pokémon
KARRABLAST live in forests and fields, and often hide in trees or grass when threatened. They can also defend themselves by spitting acid.’
‘SHELMET, the Snail Pokémon
SHELMET closes its shell to protect itself from attacks. It also produces and spits out a poisonous, sticky liquid.’
‘I said describe the Pokémon, not their trainers!’ Rainbow Dash said insultingly, making her two friends laugh.
‘Ignore her, Karrablast,’ Snips said. ‘And go in for the peck on Chespin!’
‘KARRA!’ The little bug Pokémon shouted as it leaped at Chespin, pecking it and knocking the little creature backwards.
‘Chesssss!’ It yelled in pain as it got back on its feet.
‘Right Fennekin, use Ember on the Shelmet!’ Twilight commanded her Pokémon.
‘And Chespin, use rollout on that good for nothin’ Karrablast!’ Applejack added on.
And so the two Pokémon speeded towards their enemies, Chespin curled up into a ball and dashed into Karrablast, knocking it back but not flooring it, and Fennekin scorched the Shelmet, giving it a nasty burn.
‘SHELLLLLLLLLLLL!’ Snails’s Pokémon cried, rocking back and forth as the pain was affecting it.
‘Shelmet! Hit that Chespin with Acid!’ Snails beckoned, his voice cracking in the process.
Shelmet then launched a gooey purple slime from its mouth and hit the Chespin, knocking it down and poisoning it.
‘Alright that’s it Chespin, hit that Shelmet with another Rollout!’ Applejack said with an edge of anger in her voice.
Chespin, in a manner that was very sloppy because it was so weak, rolled into Shelmet again. This, alongside the burn it had gained, caused the Shelmet to pass out in pain and tiredness.
‘Awwww come on,’ Snails muttered ‘Stupid bug…’ He grunted as he called in his fainted Pokémon.
‘Alright, Karrablast, it’s just down to us!’ Snips said to his injured bug Pokémon, who was still up and rearing to go.
‘Karrablast!’ It shouted in anticipation.
Chespin, however, seemed exhausted, after knocking out Shelmet it stumbled around for a few seconds before crashing to the floor, fainted.
‘Awww, little buddy, you can rest now,’ Applejack called back her fallen Pokémon. ‘It’s all up to you now, Twilight.’
‘Alright, Fennekin, let’s show this Karrablast who’s boss!’ She said giddily.
‘FENN!’ Her Pokémon replied.
‘Hit it with an ember!’ Twilight commanded. Her Fennekin ran to the Karrablast, and when it was hit by the attack it didn’t take it very well.
‘Karrrr~’ It mumbled.
‘Don’t give up, you stupid bug! Hit that little furry thing with Fury Cutter!’ Snips screamed, showing how agitated he was getting just in his looks alone.
Karrablast sprinted towards Fennekin and slashed at it with its horn and arms, weakening Twilight’s Pokémon.
‘Right Fennekin, hit it with one last scratch and it should go down for good!’ The trainer said, straightening her glasses.
‘FEN FEN!’ The tired Fox hopped towards Karrablast and clawed it ruthlessly, striking it to the ground, knocked out.
The three girls cheered in victory together whilst Snips and Snails threw tantrums like little toddlers.
‘Well, I hope you young’uns have learnt a lesson.’ Applejack said confidently to the two boys.
‘Yeah,’ Rainbow Dash added on. ‘Respect your elders, don’t take Pokémon that aren’t your own, and they made Trainer signing up age to be eighteen for a reason.’
‘Let’s get away from these losers.’ Snips said in spite, running away, snails followed closely behind.
‘Yeah, this isn’t the last you’ll hear from Snails and Snips!’ The other boy shouted as they sprinted back into the forest.
‘I thought it was Snips and Snails…’ The smaller boy argued.
‘Oh shut up!’
‘Yenno, I really hope that’s the last we hear from them.’ Twilight said, making the other girls laugh.
As she turned around she saw that the Hoothoot she had been fighting for was stood at her feet, nudging her leg.
‘Well, waddaya know,’ Rainbow said in an impressed fashion. ‘It looks like someone wants to be caught!’
‘Yes, finally!’ Twilight squealed, pulling out her Pokéball and throwing it at the Owl Pokémon. Without even shaking once, the Pokémon was caught, which astonished the girls greatly.
‘Awww Twi, I’m so proud of you,’ Applejack gave her friend a tight hug that almost suffocated her. ‘You caught your first Pokémon.’
‘I know, just you wait Hoothoot, we’re gonna get along so great!’ She said joyfully, looking at the Pokéball for the newly caught creature.
‘C’mon you guys, it’s almost night time,’ Rainbow Dash pointed at the sky, which was now a deep purple in colour. ‘And that Cloudsdale Gym can’t wait for me much longer!’
And so, as the girls walked back into the dark regions of the Everfree Forest, there was a sense of accomplishment from all three of them, but none more so than Twilight, who had caught her very first Pokémon! However, their trek into the sinister Woods had only just begun, many things were lurking around the corner for Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle to conquer, and get to the Cloudsdale Gym in one piece! Will they be able to achieve such a task? Find out next time in the world of Pokémon!