Some time later Twilight came to. Her neck was unbearably stiff from the awkward position she had fallen unconscious in, but the knowledge that she had escaped from the caves filled her with relief. Slowly, she sat up, trying to get a read on her surroundings. They had landed a stone's throw away from where the geyser, in the middle of a large patch of sandy dirt. How long exactly they had been laying there, she couldn't tell. The sun had been shining when they had landed, but now darkness was encroaching as dusk settled in. From previous nights in Appleoosa, Twilight knew it would soon get very, very dark.
"Oh hey, you're awake." Rainbow smiled with a sigh of relief. "That's good. You've been out for awhile. I borrowed your pokémon to help set up camp. Hope you don't mind." Twilight looked up to see what Dash was talking about. Out of the corner of her eye, Ivysaur and Cubone, along with Pidgeotto and Phanpy, were marching in a line, bringing sticks to Rainbow Dash, which she stuck into a small fire. Gardevoir and Buneary looked after the other mares, who were either in a similar state to Twilight, or still out cold.
"I think we might just want to make camp here for the night." Rainbow suggested, half talking to Twilight and half to herself. "Town's still a good hike away, and we aren't in any condition to walk back. Besides, it's nighttime." They had no idea what kind of pokémon skulked around the wastelands at night, but Twilight had heard enough ghost stories of Cacturne stalking lone travelers in the night to utterly remove her desire to move.
Weakly, she stood up, trying to make herself useful and pitch a tent. She thanked her lucky stars she had thought to buy a waterproof backpack before she left home. In spite of the geyser eruption, all of her things were still dry.
Except for one thing. Twilight moaned as she found the broken mess of wires and crushed plastic that had been her pokédex. She had kept it in the side pocket of her saddle bag to be able to quickly grab it if she needed it. Unfortunately, this part was not waterproofed, and judging by the way she had landed, it wouldn't have mattered. It had hit the ground and been crushed by the impact. It didn't take an expert to tell that the thing was beyond repair.
Twilight groaned. She would have to make a call to Cadence to ask if she could get it replaced once she could get to a phone. Until then, she'd have to rely on her own knowledge.
She pitched her tent, helping Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy do the same. Rainbow and Twilight, who were in the best physical state, helped the other four into the tents and put them down to sleep. With that done, the two returned outside to sit around the fire.
"Crazy day, huh Twilight?" Rainbow commented with a sarcastic laugh. Twilight nodded. It certainly had been an adventure.
Rainbow continued talking. "Ya know, something about these stones we found gives me a weird feeling." She commented. "I don’t know what they are, but I think they're something special."
Twilight dug hers out of her backpack. The stone was small, the perfect size to put into a bracelet or a necklace. The next time they were in Ponyville, Twilight would have to ask Rarity to make a piece of jewelry out of it. She couldn't help but notice its color had changed since she picked it up. While it had started a rainbow of hues, it had changed to more resemble the lilac of her coat, and the purple and pink of her mane. Rainbow's had done the same. It was predominantly light blue, and the rainbow of colors within had grown more pronounced. It was almost as if they had become attuned to the holders…
"Wait a second!" Twilight cried in a panic. She dug frantically through her bag, hoping that her fears were unfounded. Every single item was removed from the bag and thrown in a heap while she inspected every last crevice. "My badge case is missing!"
Rainbow immediately jumped onto her hooves and began searching around for it. "You had it today, right?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "I remember seeing it in there when we were still fishing over at the sand pit."
"Do you know when you might have lost it?" Rainbow asked.
"I don't know. I think I had it before we got launched out of the cave."
Rainbow nodded wordlessly, her eyes taking a dire glare. "Search around. We aren't too far from where we landed. Maybe they fell out along the way." She called to Pidgeotto, who came to a roost next to her. "Pidgeotto, look for Twilight's badges." She commanded.
Pidgeotto took wing to the sky while Twilight and Dash searched on the ground. A quick sweep confirmed it wasn't anywhere directly between where they had landed and the mouth of the geyser.
"Hey Twi, look at this!" Rainbow waved her hooves frantically, bringing Twilight galloping. She pointed to a small imprint in the dirt with an unnatural rectangular shape. It was unmistakably left by an official Pokémon League badge case. A reference of Dash's case proved it beyond question. There were small footprints leading away from the imprint, off into the sea of sand.
Twilight cursed her broken pokédex. If it had been working, she could have checked the footprint to figure out what kind of pokémon had run off with her badge case. The pokémon had three-toed feet, and seemed to walk on all fours. The front tracks were smaller than the back ones, and they seemed to disappear when the pokémon had left. So it must also be able to walk on two legs.
She racked her brain, trying to figure out what kind of pokémon had made those footprints. In the entire list of ground-pokémon she had checked earlier, she didn’t see a single one that could have made those tracks. She could also rule out Cacnea, Cacturne, and Maractus, as their feet didn't look the slightest bit reptilian, like these. What other pokémon lived in the desert?
Twilight followed the tracks, hoping to see where they led. She saw a half-dug hole about a hundred feet away with a shiny black piece of plastic sticking out of it. "My case!" She cried happily, galloping to retrieve her precious gym badges.
Right before she reached the hole, she tripped. Something was in the ground. Something moving. "Heli!" It angrily cried. "Helioptile!"
A Helioptile. Twilight remembered these strange pokémon. An odd combination of normal and electric types, Helioptile and its evolved form Heliolisk were the only electric types to call the desert home. The pokémon raised its large ears in a threatening pose. It wasn't going to let Twilight take the case. She'd have to win it.
She cringed as she reached for her pokéballs.. Most of her pokémon were still at the campsite. Twilight would have used Cubone, but he was off getting firewood with Ivysaur. That left her with only one option…
"Eevee! Go!" Twilight yelled. Eevee sprung onto the dirt with a happy yip, facing off against the wild pokémon. "Go for a quick attack!" Eevee sprung into action and hit Helioptile head-on. Rainbow tried to edge in to grab the case, but Helioptile snapped at her for trying. Twilight groaned. She would have to defeat it if she wanted to get anywhere.
Helioptile fired off a thundershock towards Eevee, knocking it back but not causing serious harm. Twilight couldn't help but notice the pokémon looked tired. Helioptile draws energy from the sun. It must not be at full strength because it's so dark.
"Take down, let's go!" Eevee slammed into Helioptile hard. The pokémon was knocked further back, but wasn't ready to quit.
"Heli, heli, heliiiiiiiiii!" It cried as an electric field grew around it. "TILE!" An arc of electricity bounced from it to Eevee and back. Eevee was hurt and Helioptile was rejuvenated. Twilight knew about this move- Parabolic charge. Helioptile was one of the few pokémon that could learn that particular attack.
"Eevee, let's get back those badges we fought so hard for!" Twilight yelled, "Bring it down with bite!" Eevee clamped onto Helioptile hard with its teeth, causing the electric pokémon to screech in pain. While it was distracted, Twilight saw an opening, and jumped on it.
"Go, pokéball!" She tossed the capsule at the reptilian pokémon, consuming it in the ball's red glow. Twilight didn't even wait for it to hit the ground before she raced over to snap up her badge case from the ground, stuffing it back in its rightful place in her backpack.
The pokéball wiggled for a few seconds before emitting a series of sparks and its telltale click. She gave a satisfied smile as she picked the pokéball off the ground. Not only had she retrieved her hard-won badges, but now she also had Helioptile as the newest addition to her team.
Twilight and Rainbow returned to their tents, exhaustion from the day's events. Between their voyage through the caves and forced ejection, and now a fight with Helioptile, Twilight was on the verge of collapse. She figured it was about time to end her break and get back to what had brought her to Appleoosa in the first place: the gym.