My Little Pokémon: Hoop Hoppers

by Azure Ravenscroft

Chapter 2: What are we doing?

Chapter 2: What are we doing?!

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Twilight and Rainbow Dash stood at opposite ends of the clearing, facing each other. Rainbow Dash had one of her Pokéballs in her hand, while all of Twilight’s friends stood behind her, ready to either be called or cheer on whoever else was called.

“Okay, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash calls from her side of the clearing, “let me show you how awesome Pokémon battles can be. Go, Tank!”

Rainbow enlarges one of her Pokéballs in her hand before throwing it in the air. As it travels up, it splits open to reveal the red energy Twilight had become familiar with. The energy condensed into a beam that shot towards the ground, forming a creature as it did. When the red light faded, a green turtle-like Pokémon stood in place with its head down. On its back was an orange shell with what looked like two shrubs growing out of it. The bottom of its legs and jaw were the same colour as the shell, looking just as sturdy. As the last of the Pokéball energy left the turtle, it raised its head and roared, “Grrrotle!”

Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie all ran for cover behind Twilight as Tank roared at them, leaving Spike as Twilight’s only option, “Spike, you ready?”

“Always,” Spike nodded, “Tank in our world has flown into me one too many times, time for some payback.” Spike began to march forward, rolling up imaginary sleeves as he went. Spike’s speed gave Twilight enough time to look over her notes, hoping she could work out the best strategy for taking down what looked like a grass-type, but at the same time she didn’t want to make Spike work too hard at first.

“You can have the first move, Twi!” Rainbow called, snapping Twilight’s eyes away from her notes and towards the battle. Spike was only a metre or so away from Tank, so with one last look at the notes she made her decision.

“Spike, use Headbutt!” she called at her assistant.

“A please would be nice,” Spike grumbled to himself, “but okay.” Doing what came naturally in his new body, Spike lowered his head, aiming for his opponent’s underbelly, and charged.

Before Spike could make contact, however, Rainbow Dash used her experience to her advantage, “Tank, Withdraw,” she called calmly to her Pokémon. With a smirk it had clearly picked up from its trainer, Tank spun so its back was facing Spike and curled into his shell, raising his defence against the oncoming attack. Unable to change his course, Spike ran straight into Tank’s shell and rebounded off harmlessly.

Much to Spike’s surprise, he didn’t feel any pain in his head as he landed on his feet a short distance from Tank. While Twilight was unaware of Spike’s momentary thanks for not being hurt by his own attack, she was confused as to why such a strong looking attack did little to no damage, “What happened, Applejack?” Twilight questioned the referee, “I thought you said Headbutt was a strong attack for Spike.”

“Ah did, but not when your opponent uses a move like Withdraw,” Applejack clarified, “y’see, that move raised Tank’s physical defence, so moves like Headbutt will do less damage for the time bein’.”

“Oh, so I should use a move that doesn’t touch Tank physically?” Twilight asked hopefully.

“Do what you think’s right, sugarcube,” Applejack did her best to remain impartial.

While the two of them discussed Dash’s last move, Rainbow was ready with her next one. She saw Spike would occasionally look back at Twilight, hoping for advice on how to act, so at her next opening, Rainbow called out to her Pokémon, “Alright, Tank, use Tackle.”

With a nod and a low ‘Gro!’, Tank began the charge towards Spike who was just now turning back to look at his trainer.

“Twilight!” his voice was frantic, “Any time you wanna, I dunno, tell me what to do!” But before Twilight could register what was happening, Tank was upon Spike in a surprising show of speed for such a bulky beast. With his head turned to the side, he spun it back to the centre as he rammed into Spike, sending the dragon flying off to the side.

“Spike!” all the Pokémon watching shouted, jolting Twilight from her daze.

“Spike, I’m so sorry,” Twilight shouted, “do you want to switch?”

“Not just yet, Twilight,” the dragon winced as he stood back up, “I’m still warming up.”

“That’s what I like in a challenger,” Rainbow cheered, “ready when you are, squirt.”

Not even needing to check the notes, Twilight knew what she had to do. Since there was a large gap between the two active Pokémon, there was no way Tank could reach Spike with a physical attack, so long distance attacks would be where Twilight won this fight, “Right, Spike, time to use Ember!”

Again, the instincts of his new body kicked in, spewing small, numerous flames from Spike’s open mouth. Unfortunately, the distance Twilight had hoped would help turned into Rainbow Dash’s advantage, as it gave her enough time to get Tank to counter the move.

“Tank, intercept the flames with Razor Leaf!” Rainbow pointed dramatically, seemingly lost in the thrills of the battle. The two shrubs on Tank’s shell glowed white before many leaves began to fly in the direction of Spike’s incoming Ember. Sadly for Rainbow, leaves catch fire easily so only most of the Ember was intercepted, stray wisps still making contact with Tank.

“Quick, Spike,” Twilight shouted desperately, also lost to the joys of Pokémon battles, “run towards Tank and use Ember again!”

Not even bothering with complaining about the lack of pleasantries, Spike nodded and ran as fast as his little legs would carry him, which turned out to be pretty quick. As he closed in on his opponent – who was still regaining composure after the light singeing – his mouth was close to erupting with the flurry of fireballs, but he still wasn’t close enough.

Closer.

Closer.

Now!

With mere feet between Spike and Tank, Spike opened his mouth wide, the Ember spraying wide on and around Tank.

“Shake it off, buddy,” Rainbow cried in panic, wondering how a newbie could be doing so well. Well, I guess she has type advantage.

Ever the diligent Pokémon, Tank obeyed his trainer and shook away the flames to surprising effectiveness, leaving only mild burn marks across his shell. Before Twilight could finish the job, Rainbow used the only move in her arsenal that could help her here, “Time for Seed Bomb, Tank!” she smirked as she watched Spike’s eyes widen in fear.

After getting in close for his last attack, Spike had failed to retreat, meaning there was only a very small gap between the turtle and the dragon. With a cry of his name, the Grotle opened his mouth wide as glowing seeds formed in the opening. In rapid succession, five seeds were shot down at Spike’s feet, with one hitting his chest before exploding with ear splitting volume. None of the observers were surprised when Spike was shot backwards by the force of the explosion, landing just short of Twilight and the other Pokémon.

As Twilight rushed over to Spike and scooped him into her arms, he coughed out weakly, “I-I’m sorry, sis.”

“Don’t apologise, Spike,” she smiled down at him, before embracing him in a hug, “you deserve a diamond when we get home for that performance. Take a good rest in here,” Twilight held up his Pokéball before returning him.

“Spike is unable to battle, Tank is the winner,” Applejack announced from her position on the side-lines, “meaning Twilight is down to one Pokémon while Rainbow still has two. Who’s next, Twi?”

“Oh, me me me!” Pinkie was about to jump on the battlefield but Twilight stopped her.

“Sorry, Pinkie, but you wouldn’t do much against Tank, Applejack told me you’re weak against grass-types like him,” Twilight explained in her motherly tone usually reserved for Spike, but Pinkie Pie still looked gloomy even in her happy-looking form, “you’ll get the next battle, Pinkie promise.”

She looked up at Twilight with determination in her reptilian eyes, “You mean it?”

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” of course with the motions.

“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie happily skipped back to the others.

Twilight had made up her mind who would be next before Spike had even finished, but Pinkie was almost too eager for her, “Fluttershy, you’re up.”

“Good,” the normally docile caretaker leapt forward in long hops, a scowl present on her face, “I need to teach that big meanie a lesson!”

Leaping up onto Twilight’s shoulder, Rarity whispered into her ear, “Are you sure she’ll be okay, darling? She looks awfully angry.”

“Trust me, Rarity,” the trainer petted her cat Pokémon contently, “I know what I’m doing.”

After enjoying leaning into the affection, Rarity sighed, “If you say so, Twilight.”

On the battlefield, Fluttershy was still angrily hopping towards Tank, ready to give him a piece of her mind. As she got closer, Tank seemed a lot bigger than he had over in camp Twilight, and Fluttershy lost her nerve, “L-look he-here, mister,” she pointed an arm at Tank’s face, “that was not nice, and, if you wouldn’t mind, please don’t do it again, if it’s not too much trouble…” her voice got quieter and quieter as she went on, almost inaudible half way through. When Tank just stared down at her, Fluttershy decided hiding her eyes behind her fluffy ears would be best, so that’s what she did, her whole body visibly shaking as she stood there.

Rainbow and Twilight had been content to just watch what just happened happen, but now was time for action. At the same time, Twilight called to Fluttershy and Rainbow called to Tank.

“Use Baby-Doll Eyes, Fluttershy!”

“Tackle, Tank, you can do it!”

Except Tank couldn’t do it. As he lowered his head to begin charging, Fluttershy peeled her ears away from her face, revealing large shimmering eyes looking straight through Tank’s eyes and into his soul. He stood there as his will to attack was ripped out of him.

“Excellent, ‘Shy,” the elated Twilight cheered, joined by similar comments from Rarity and Pinkie Pie, “now use Sky Uppercut; Finish him!”

Blinking twice to return her eyes to their normal, smaller state, Fluttershy whispered, “I’m sorry,” before her curled up, right ear glowed white with energy. After a moment for the energy to charge, Fluttershy angled her head so her curled ear was below Tank’s jaw before extending her ear at full speed, knocking Tank flying through the air with his legs flailing uselessly.

Tank was unceremoniously dumped by gravity onto his back after a few moments of being airborne, crashing down with an almighty ‘THUD!’ and whipping up a cloud of dust.

As the dust cleared, everyone looked on, eagerly awaiting the results of Fluttershy’s attack. They were greeted by a lack-lustre sounding Tank, “Groooo…”, whose head raised for a split-second before dropping back to the ground, his eyes spiralling.

“Tank is unable to battle, the winner is Fluttershy,” Applejack announced, as shocked as most watching, while Fluttershy apologised to her ‘victim’. “This means both of you are down to one Pokémon, so who ya choosin’, Rainbow?”

Said trainer returned her Pokémon to his ball, whispering, “You did awesome, Tank,” when his ball had finished closing. “I’ve got to say, Twi, not bad for a beginner,” Rainbow winked at her opponent, “but here’s where I get awesome! Go, Phanpy!”

Rainbow threw a Pokéball into the air, her rainbow hair trailing behind her head as it swept from side to side with the motions. The ball opened mid-air and once more shot a beam of energy at the ground. The creature that formed this time was smaller than Tank had been, and once the energy dissipated, Twilight could see it was a light blue colour. It looked like a small elephant with a red ring on its tiny trunk and two red patches at the tips of each ear, and when it cried its name its voice was, to be expected, nasally, “Phanpy!” Phanpy finished its entrance with a long toot of its horn-like trunk.

“She’s pretty awesome, wouldn’t you say, Twilight?” Rainbow asked confidently.

“Actually,” Twilight bit her lip, “she’s kind of cute.”

At this, Phanpy blushed. Rainbow, on the other hand, felt her jaw hit the floor, “Cute?! My Pokémon aren’t meant to be cute, they’re fierce fighters!”

“Even Ah got to agree with Twi on this one, RD,” Applejack pitched in, “she is your cutest.”

“Uugh, let’s just battle,” Rainbow reminded everyone why they were there, “Phanpy, Defence Curl!”

“Fluttershy, use Pound,” Twilight was also eager to continue. Fluttershy nodded, feeling a familiar feeling of an attack brewing in her ears. She ran towards Phanpy who had curled into a ball, tucking her tail and trunk under her body, making it look like she was completely vulnerable to those watching.

For Fluttershy, this was quickly proven false when she tried to strike with her ears, as she barely managed to roll Phanpy backwards while remaining tucked in a ball.

“Oh come on!” Twilight groaned, “What now?”

“It’s like Withdraw, Twi,” Applejack confirmed Twilight’s suspicions, “Phanpy raised her defence by protecting her weaker areas.”

“And Fluttershy doesn’t know anything that isn’t physical,” Twilight said to no one in particular, “Except one. Use Baby-Doll Eyes!”

As Fluttershy tried her hardest to make Phanpy look at how adorable she was trying to be, Rainbow could only laugh out loud, “Come on, Twi, Phanpy isn’t going to see you while she’s tucked up like that. You’re wasting your time,” she waved her hand in a dismissive gesture, “Phanpy, Rollout!”

While still curled in her ball, Phanpy began to spin on the spot, giving Fluttershy cause for concern. Before either her or Twilight could react, Phanpy rolled at high speeds towards Fluttershy, her ears looking like spikes on the side of her rolling form. Luckily, Fluttershy was quick on her feet so was able to hop out of the way, letting Phanpy roll past harmlessly.

All this accomplished, however, was to let Phanpy build up speed for a second run at Fluttershy, who once again dodged. This game of cat and mouse – or elephant and rabbit – last for several more passes, Phanpy getting closer and closer each time, as well as getting faster. Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie were all cheering for Fluttershy, hoping she could keep this up until Phanpy wore herself out or got dizzy.

These exchanges eventually carried the two of them over to where Spike and Tank finished their battle, where, unbeknownst to the still dodging Fluttershy, a shell from Tank’s Seed bomb lay wedged into the grassy floor. As Fluttershy made a dodge to her left, her paw caught on the shell and she lost her balance, rolling away and ending up on her back. The girls cried out as they saw her stumble, but Rainbow just cheered for her Pokémon to carry on after her downed opponent.

A quick turn in her path meant Phanpy was suddenly facing down Fluttershy and barrelling towards her at full speed. Twilight thought of one way she could make anything of this, “Fluttershy, use Sky Uppercut when Phanpy is on top of you!” Fluttershy was currently staring down her body at the incoming attack, but did as Twilight asked and curled her ears ready for a counter attack.

The blow was harder than Fluttershy had imagined, Phanpy’s body feeling like a boulder had crashed into her. But, as Twilight had requested, she still managed to use Sky Uppercut, though Phanpy had mostly passed overhead by then so she didn’t take too much damage.

From their attacks, Phanpy landed and skidded to a halt by Rainbow Dash’s feet, clearly eager for more, whereas Fluttershy had got caught on the ground as Phanpy had passed, so she had flipped through the air halfway between Rainbow and Twilight, landing on her chest this time.

“Okay, Phanpy,” Rainbow encouraged her Pokémon, “finish this with Slam.”

Phanpy looked up to her trainer, tooted her trunk, and then began to run towards her target. She built up speed over the distance, though nothing nearly as fast as she had just been going.

“Fluttershy, if you can stand up you have to get out of the way,” Twilight pleaded, and Fluttershy slowly got to her feet, stumbling a bit as she did. As she turned to look at Phanpy, Twilight called again, “Use Quick Attack to get out of the way!”

As much as Fluttershy wanted to avoid another attack, her legs were just too tired from her earlier dodging, so as soon as she tried to run her right leg gave way and she tripped.

“Phanpyyyyy!” Phanpy cried as she swung her trunk at Fluttershy, taking the opportunity to use Slam.

Fluttershy cried out in pain as she was struck, the trunk feeling heavy and muscular as it made contact.

“Now, Phanpy, sit on Fluttershy,” Rainbow commanded. Phanpy complied, straddling her fallen target. “Give up yet, Twi?”

Twilight shook her head, having full faith in her friend, “Fluttershy, get up, come on, I know you can do it!” She was sounding more and more desperate as she went on, but Fluttershy couldn’t move under Phanpy’s weight.

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” Fluttershy was close to tears thanks to her exhaustion, “I just- I just… can’t.” Her head dropped, defeated.

Seeing the victor, Applejack called the match before Fluttershy got any more hurt, “And the winner is Phanpy, meaning the battle goes to Rainbow Dash! Unlucky Twilight, you done good, considerin’ that was your first try an’ all.”

As the match was ended, Phanpy stood up off of Fluttershy and offered her trunk so she could get up. Fluttershy accepted with a smile and thanked Phanpy for a good battle. Seeing that Fluttershy wasn’t mad at her, Phanpy wrapped her trunk around Fluttershy’s chest in a hug, one which Fluttershy happily returned by wrapping her ears around the elephant-Pokémon’s neck softly. Everyone else had gathered around the fighters, Twilight being followed closely at either side by Rarity and Pinkie Pie.

The hug soon stopped, but only because Fluttershy noticed the Pokémon she was holding had started glowing white, which she assumed meant Phanpy was about to attack, “Wha-what’s happening, Rainbow?” Fluttershy jumped into Twilight’s arms and spun in her grip to look at Phanpy’s trainer, “What’s she doing?”

“She’s evolving,” Rainbow replied excitedly, hopping on the spot, forgetting the newcomers didn’t know anything about this world or what 'evolving' meant.

Thankfully, Applejack was there to ease the confusion, “It’s what happens when a Pokémon gets stronger, they change shape and become a more powerful Pokémon,” she explained, showing herself to be the more knowledgeable – or at least the more understanding of others – of the two travellers, “lots of Pokémon can do it, and judging by how strong your friends are, Twi, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they evolved too.”

After Applejack had finished her short speech, Phanpy’s form had finished growing and the blinding glow receded, revealing her new form. Her body was now longer, taller and well-built, and the colour had faded to a light grey. The biggest change was the addition of tusks on her face and what looked like armour running from the tip of her tail to the tip of her trunk, covering a thick strip of her back. The armour was a darker grey than her body and also covered her now-smaller ears.

Rainbow fist-pumped in celebration as Phanpy called out her new name, “Donphan!”

“This… is so… awesome!” Rainbow cheered after Donphan had finished cheering for herself.

“But, is that still Phanpy?” Twilight asked, tilting her head adorably.

“Don,” Donphan nodded, then reached up and hugged Fluttershy with her stronger trunk, causing Fluttershy to gasp for air. Good thing she was used to Pinkie’s hugs so she recovered quickly.

“I wonder what I’ll evolve in to…” Pinkie pondered, “Maybe I’ll be huge with a massive mouth, then I can eat all the cake I want!”

“Pinkie, you eat like that anyway,” Rarity pointed out, “now if I were to evolve, I would be the most gorgeous creature in existence.” She twirled dramatically, swishing her tail in an exaggerated fashion as she would her mane back home.

“That is if we don’t find a way home before then, girls,” Twilight reminded them. All four of the transformed ponies sighed longingly at the thought of how far from home they all were.

“Now, now, no needed to get all glum,” Applejack slapped Twilight on the back in a friendly manner, “Ah’ve seen shorter faces on a Rapidash, so what’s say I cook us up some good ‘ol Apple family food. I’ll heal your Pokémon, too, girls.”

“Cheers, Applejack,” Rainbow thanked her friend before running in the direction of their tents, “all this being awesome really takes it out of me.”

“Well, at least some things stayed the same,” Twilight thought out loud, looking at Rainbow’s retreating figure.

“She this difficult as a pony, too?” Applejack sounded doubtful that anything, including another Dash, could be as bad as her travelling companion.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Rarity groaned, the others agreeing with their own friendly groans. The others proceeded to the tent at their own paces, none having the energy to run like Rainbow had.

On the way back, Applejack decided light conversation might help take Twilight’s mind off of not being at home, “Say, Twi, what’s in that backpack of yours?”

Her backpack was back at the tents, as she had had enough of carrying it by the time they arrived, so it hadn’t crossed Twilight’s mind in a while, “Huh, now that you mention it, I never checked,” Twilight looked into the sky as though in deep thought, “I think I’ll check it now.”

A few seconds later, they were at the bench where Twilight had tucked her bag under earlier. She lifted it onto the table, noting that it was much lighter than she had anticipated. There was one main pocket and two smaller pockets on either side of the bag. On the main pocket was Twilight’s cutie mark. Since she couldn’t feel much in the side pockets, Twilight decided to start with the main one. Unzipping it with Twilight’s usual level of care when she handled old books in her library, she soon saw that most of the bag was clothes for her new body, along with general beauty items such as a hair brush and several smaller items she assumed were for the Pokémon.

What stood out when she had worked her way through the other contents was a book. It took Twilight only a second to recognise it as Sunset’s diary. Of course! she thought, Spike had gone to get the diary before we got pulled through the hoop. I was going to see if any had appeared in the human world, but I guess we all got distracted. Besides the diary were writing equipment, a long quill pen and a corked vial of ink, thankfully undamaged from all Twilight’s movements.

“What’s the book, Twi?” Applejack glanced over as Twilight held the quill in her hand.

“It’s a diary, one from a friend of ours in another world,” Twilight was barely audible due to her excitement. She decided to leave out the fact that Pokémon was nothing more than a game in that world, unsure of how that information would go down here. “Can I use your tent, Applejack? I’d like to write something.”

“Sure thing, I’ll let you know when food’s ready.”

“Thanks, and could you look after Spike and the girls, please?” Twilight asked as she held up Spike’s Pokéball.

“No problem, have fun with your book.” Applejack accepted the Pokéball and returned to the bench where her ingredients awaited her.

This was perfect. Not only could she now check to see if anything had gone wrong in the human world, but she could also look back over Sunset’s notes on Pokémon, maybe even ask more about what she had seen so far here.

Sitting herself down on Applejack’s orange sleeping bag, Twilight set up her quill and ink ready to write:

Dear Sunset Shimmer,

Firstly, thank you for your most recent friendship report; I’m glad some more students are beginning to forgive you.

Now, I’m afraid I have some bad news. While exploring my castle, Spike discovered a golden floating hoop in the basement. It was filled with swirling colours, mainly black and dark purple, and was about as wide as Princess Celestia is tall. Has anything like this appeared in the human world as far as you know?

When Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and I examined it more closely, we saw a face. It looked vaguely human at first, with light blue skin, large purple hair and a purple beard. It had two horns on its head and sharp canine teeth, making me assume – later proven correct – that this wasn’t human.

We were dragged through the hoop and found a void-like space, not too dissimilar to the portal between our worlds, except much darker and with many rings like the one we entered it through. Then the creature appeared, with six floating arms and a smaller hoop built into its large body. Panicking, I took us through the nearest hoop and we found ourselves in a different world.

Now, this next part you may not believe, but I had been turned into a tan skinned human and the others have been turned into Pokémon. One of the locals, a girl named Rainbow Dash, much like the ones we know except she has light tan skin and she is a Pokémon trainer, found us and took us back to her camp. We have also encountered another Applejack, who appears to be very knowledgeable of the creatures of this world.

While your previous accounts of the Pokémon game have been very informative, I would like some more details regarding certain Pokémon, namely Bagon, Buneary, Glameow and Totodile, as these are what my friends have been transformed into. I’m sure the Pinkie in your world should know other things I may need to know in my time here, so please share this with her as soon as possible.

Many thanks and good luck with your new friends,

Twilight Sparkle.

Just as she was about to read through the notes Sunset had already imparted regarding Pokémon, Twilight was brought back to the here and now by Applejack poking her head in the tent, “Twi, grub’s up!”

I’ll just have to check later, the ever-studious Princess thought. The food smelled good, though, so for once research could wait.