Twilight Sparkle has a Pokemon Journey

by Darkmetroidz

Chapter 22- Hive Omega

Another five days of walking put Twilight and company at the outskirts of Hive Omega, the mysterious home of the Changelings. The entire city exuded a foreboding aura. The sky itself seemed to darken above its grey spires, which tore at the sky like massive claws. These towers were only a small part of the actual city. Most of it was hidden deep underground, in a network of deep tunnels and caves. The enigmatic lab of Professor Chrysalis was supposedly one such structure, They gym however, was said to stand in an open-air stadium nestled in a vast web of the strange fungus that coated every surface in the city.

The group began to grow uneasy as they passed onto the territorial bounds of the Hive. The difference wasn't subtle; the grey web-like fungus that covered every surface in the city formed a stark border of the outer bounds of the Changeling territory. The material had a strange, squishy feeling on the bottoms of their hooves. The feeling was beyond awkward. Each of the mares had thought to pack a set of boots, which they quickly put on before daring go any further.

Although the boots came as a relief, they did not stop the sickening squishing sound that they made with every step. They tried their hardest to ignore it, but the stark lack of any other noise made that incredibly difficult. Making matters even more uneasy were the countless pairs of beady blue Changeling eyes that peered out from windows and burrows at them. It made Twilight and friends very uncomfortable to
know they were being watched by so many.

Finally, they arrived at a large edifice leading down into the caverns, clearly marked with the a sign. Chrysalis Laboratory: Authorized personnel only. Twilight gave an apprehensive knock on the door, which was coated in the same grey sticky fungus as the rest of the city.

"Who goesss there?" Hissed a changeling from the other side. "Tressspasssersss are not welcome here."

"We were invited to come here," Twilight answered back, uneasily. "Professor Cadence made us arrangements to visit-"
She was cut off by hissing noises from behind the door. From within the tunnel Twilight could hear whispers of "Guesssstssss" and "Vissssitorsssss." After a minute the door creaked open, offering them passage down into the caves. The six proceeded down into the dark tunnels, which were barely lit by bioluminescent mushrooms. After a minute of walking, they arrived at a large polished steel door that was impeccably clean of any fungal growth. The door slowly opened as they drew near, allowing them into the heart of the sterile white laboratory.

Standing in the center of the chamber was a massive changeling, easily twice Twilight's height. She had a similar stature to an Alicorn like Cadence, but with a longer neck and a more insectoid form. Her intense green eyes shone like emeralds behind a pair of rimless glasses. She wore a bleached white lab coat, underneath which peeked out an old T-shirt with a strange pokémon that Twilight could not recognize. Her earrings were small steel silver helixes, and a black and green stone hung on a pendant around her neck.

"Welcome." She said with a toothy smile. "You must be Twilight Sparkle and friends. We've been expecting you."

"Thank you for inviting us into your lab, Professor Chrysalis." Twilight said with a bow. "I speak for all of us when I say we're very excited to see your discoveries."

"You flatter me." Chrysalis laughed. "I know all too well that Cadence and I often don't see eye to eye. I was frankly quite surprised when she contacted me to ask if one of her pupils could come to tour my lab."

"I'm very much excited to." Twilight smiled. "Cadence said that you've created entirely new species of pokémon. Can you tell me about those?"

Chrysalis roared with an echoing laugh that reverberated throughout the lab. "Follow me, Twilight Sparkle, down this tunnel I have a gallery exhibiting all of the pokémon we have created." The Changeling leader led her six guests through the lab, into a hallway with several glass tanks with pokémon inside them.

They approached the first tanks and Chrysalis began to give a rehearsed speech about her creations. "The first pokémon we created came into existence by accident. Trubbish and Grimer, as well as their evolved forms Garbodor and Muk, rose from chemical runoff from our laboratory that mixed with garbage and grime. Unfortunately we couldn't contain them quickly enough, and as a result they've become a nuisance in cities across Equestria."

Without pause she moved on to the next pen. "Voltorb and Electrode were created semi-intentionally. We exposed a pokéball to a surge of energy, and that gave birth to a new species. After we discovered that we could create living pokémon from pokéballs, we started to purpose-make them, and they're quite popular among electric-type trainers."

The next tank had two computer monitors in front of it, one showing thousands of lines of code and the other showing a 3-D image of the pokémon in the pen. "Porygon is the one pokémon here I cannot take credit for. It and its evolution Porygon-2 were created a few years back by the Silph Company as an experiment aiming to create a digital pokémon. Porygon was the first, and was made to evolve into Porygon-2 using special software. We decided to try our hooves at enhancing Porygon-2 ourselves, but the software made it act strangely, creating Porygon-Z."

They passed another pen, although this one stood empty. The glass was riddled with fractures and a massive hole had been blasted in the ceiling, leaving burn marks and debris all over the containment unit. "What happened here?" Twilight asked.

Chrysalis sighed. "At one point that container housed our greatest creation. This pokémon was a clone of an ancient species known only as Mew. We had attempted to use its DNA to create the strongest pokémon in existence. We were successful in doing that, but it was too powerful to contain. It broke free from the containment unit and went on a rampage. Half of Hive Omega was burned to the ground that day." Chrysalis tensed up. "We underestimated its strength. Mewtwo was too powerful to be controlled by ponies. I don't know where it is now, but I know only a fool would ever try to recapture it."

Twilight stared blankly at the hole. Whatever pokémon had created that hole must be freakishly strong. She only hoped this "Mewtwo" had fled somewhere where nopony would ever find it. She thought back to the twisted spires of the exterior of the city, which now were overcome with the creeping fungus. What had those towers looked like before Mewtwo broke free?

Chrysalis walked down one row further to show another pokémon. "This one is our newest creation."

The sight of the pokémon was an uncanny one, and caused Twilight and friends to take a collective step back. The most striking feature of it was the strange mask that covered its face and attached to its bizarre, wedge-shaped horn. Then there was its body. It looked like Chrysalis and her scientists had taken several pokémon of different types and sewn them together haphazardly to create this unsettling chimera.

"Impressed? This pokémon is named Type: Null, a pokémon designed to be highly adaptable and able to stand up to the strongest of pokémon."Chrysalis gave a toothy smile. The pride she had for the pokémon was plain to see.

Applejack leaned into Twilight's ear, "Now what kind of silly name is that?"

"I don't know. I guess when you create a pokémon, you can name it." The remark had come across as more sarcastic than Twilight had meant, but Twilight had found Applejack's comment to be rather petty. "How did you make this pokémon?" Twilight asked eagerly.

"We spliced the DNA of several species of Pokémon together." Chrysalis explained. "We engineered it to be adaptable, cunning, and powerful. The helmet is to help keep its power in check, like a training weight. We intend to remove it eventually, but not until we're able to perform a more thorough examination of its capabilities. Truth be told, we only created it about a month ago, and we're still learning new things about it every day."

The hall of enclosures ended at Type: Null, but Chrysalis still seemed to have one more surprise left to show off. She led them around a corner to a massive steel door, which like the rest of the lab was scrubbed clean of fungus. It was guarded by two abnormally large Changeling drones packing riot gear and a belt of pokéballs. Without a word, she punched a long code into a number pad on a wall, and pressed both her hoof and her eye up to separate scanners to have her identity confirmed. Whatever was behind that door, it must have been something extraordinarily valuable to warrant such security.

Massive motors moved the door open, revealing a whole separate lab staffed by lab coat wearing Changelings. This one was awash with chrome and dominated by a large tank made of incredibly thick glass. Inside sat a strange pokémon. It was insectoid in build but covered in metal, with a large cannon mounted on its back. "Impressed?" Chrysalis beamed. "What you see before you is the new ultimate pokémon, stronger even than Mewtwo before it. This pokémon is named Genesect, my magnum opus."

The pokémon left Twilight and company speechless. Genesect seemed to lock onto them with its harsh red eyes, assuming an aggressive stance, causing Fluttershy to let out a frightened shriek.

Chrysalis turned to two of her Changeling staff members. "Gyzak, engage Combat Protocol 18." She ordered. "And Duna, fetch me my helmet." The drones Chrysalis spoke to hurriedly performed the tasks asked of them. As one returned with a large helmet, with long wires sticking out the back and a reflective visor over the face, a platform raised inside the enclosure, with a crude effigy made in the image of an Ursaring. Chrysalis donned the helmet and the room suddenly grew very quiet.

All at once, piercing lights shot out from the eyes of the helmet, and suddenly Genesect assumed a much more poised stance. The cannon in its back lit blue, green, white, before finally settling on red. Chrysalis' mouth, which showed beneath the visor, spread into a wicked toothy grin. "Techno blast." She commanded. The cannon began to glow and rumble, before firing off a flaming beam toward the target, utterly destroying it, leaving nothing behind but cinders.

With a nod, Chrysalis removed the helmet. Once the strange device was removed from her head, Genesect seemed to relax. Whatever Chrysalis had done to it was over.

"What you just witnessed was a combat simulation I have been working on for quite awhile." Chrysalis dumped her helmet back into her drone's hooves as she continued speaking. "In order to make sure we didn't lose control of this one like Mewtwo, we integrated computer systems into Genesect's brain to control it using a program. The helmet serves to link the pokémon to the trainer, allowing them to battle as one entity. Don’t worry, he isn't harmed by it."

Twilight could barely speak. All she could manage was a breathy "How?"

"Genesect is a modified version of an ancient pokémon resurrected from a fossil. We reinforced its body with armor, gave it the cannon to fight, and added computer integration systems which can help relay it information and also allows a trainer to use the headset to connect to its systems. It's quite marvelous, don't you think?"

"Twilight, I wanna go home…" Fluttershy whispered.

"Fluttershy is right." Rarity added, "This place makes me uncomfortable to no end."

Twilight ignored them. She was far too amazed to be disturbed. Cadence had described Chrysalis' research as mad, even sacrilegious. But Twilight couldn’t help but look at these synthetic pokémon with a glimmer of awe in her eye.

"Seriously Twilight, I'm starting to get freaked out here." Rainbow Dash added.

Twilight turned to her friends. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to. But I want to hear more about Chrysalis' research."

With a collective sigh, her friends left the chamber, returning to the entrance to wait for their friend to finish, leaving Twilight alone with the Changeling Queen.

"I do have a couple more things to show you." Chrysalis said with a stern demeanor. "I must warn you, these pokémon are quite an unsettling sight to see."

"I have to see it!" Twilight exclaimed. "I mean, how can you learn if you don't get out of your comfort zone?"

"Wise words, Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis smiled proudly, "Now follow." Chrysalis led her down another hallway towards another row of tanks. There were four pens, each pair with a pair of pokémon inside.

Disturbing barely did justice to the pokémon Twilight saw. "W-w-what have you done?" She cried.

"You are wrong Twilight Sparkle." She reassured grimly. "These pokémon are natural breeds. The two on your left are called Ponyta and Rapidash. Those on your right are called Mudsbray and Mudsdale."

Author's Note:

This one has been a pain to edit. I've had other pieces where I've rewritten the whole thing several times over, but this one was more just a constant string of minor tweaks to get things feeling right. I haven't been able to write as much as I'd like lately, so the usual 1-2 chapter buffer I keep for myself has run out. Might mean I may not be able to get another chapter out for a while. Between classes, trying to start a D&D game, and an addiction to League of Legends (help) I haven't been having much success writing. Only place I ever seem to be able to get any work done on this is my Environmental Earth Science class...

At any rate, thank you for sticking with me. I hope you're all as excited for Sun and Moon as I am. It's an interesting time to be writing a pokemon fic because there's so much interesting new stuff to be able to integrate into the world as time goes on. As a parting hint I will say this: Twilight and that Type: Null have not seen the last of each other.

Comments

[Vakama95096]

amazing chapter

[Booster Spice]

Type:Null meet Discord, Genesect, meet Pinkies Party Cannon.

Mewtwo, meet Fluttershy.

Would the equine pokemon compared to Equestrians be like comparing Mr Mime to humans? Or is that the other way round.

So much mad scientist fun.

Looks like the free demo gives you only one pokemon, Ash Greninja, but quite a bit of items if you check round each day? Dont get anythin for catching 10 pokemon at the catch game though. the nugget at 4.

[Nova Blaze]

I was wondering when Ponyta and Rapidash would show up. And including Sun and Moon was pretty neat.

[Darkmetroidz]

7658904 This is a very exciting time to be writing a story like this. And as for Ponyta and Rapidash, I knew when I started this project that I'd have to address that at some point. Writing Chrysalis as a scientist who dabbles in less taseteful research gave me a perfect opportunity.

[Calliope Pony]

I've been wondering how a pony society would view Ponyta and Rapidash! Are Blitzle and Zebstrika going to turn up too?

[shynight]

7663020
Actually, I went back to double check, a group of Blitzles was mentioned drinking from a river in the Safari Zone.

[Steel Stud]

It's mudbray not mudsbray