//------------------------------// // 3 Return To Sender // Story: Misplaced Displaced // by Frazzle2Dazzle //------------------------------// Twilight waved a hoof to her parents and brother as she left her home, ready to start her journey. “Bye, sweetie! Be sure to write!” Her mother called out as she left, waving a hoof. “Don’t worry, mom! I’ll send a letter every week!” Twilight called back over her shoulder. “I’ll be home once I beat the league!” Turning forward again, she raced forward down the path and away from her home for the past seventeen years into the thick of Canterlot. As she headed down the streets and toward Professor Oak’s laboratory, her grin continued to widen in excitement as she practically skipped down the road, happy thoughts racing through her head. Oh I can’t wait to see what Pokémon I get! I hope they’ll like me, cause if they don’t like me, that’ll be a bad way to start my journey, and if I start my journey badly, I will probably finish badly, andifIfinishbadlyIWON’TBECOMEAPOKÉMONPROFESSOR- Twilight mentally slapped herself before continuing to trot down the street. Relax, Twilight, nothing like that is going to happen, the Pokémon you get will like you, and you’ll beat the League and get a scholarship to the Canterlot Pokémon College, and everything will work out fine... Probably. Finally, after about a half hour of walking, she stopped outside Professor Oak’s lab in the Pokémon district of Canterlot, grinning in excitement, before heading inside through the double doors. Ren smiled as he walked through the con, enjoying the sites and sounds, especially the pretty cosplaying girls, who he, dressed as Tony Stark, gave a wink or two at as they passed him by. Quite the con, this year... Hope that I can get some autographs for my collection at home. Maybe get that new Spidey comic signed... As he was looking though... “Wait... Is that...?” From behind his stall, a man in a hood and face wrap gave off a chuckle as he handed a Lilo and Stitch hat to a person cosplaying as Goofy. “Have a good day, sir!” Twilight gaped in shock as she saw three ponies had beaten her to the lab and already claimed the three starters Professor Oak had. “...And remember, they are your partners, not pets, so treat your Pokémon with kindness and respect.” She heard the tail end of Oak’s speech to the beginning trainers as she walked up. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. The great and powerful Trainer Trixie will be an expert at handling her Pokémon!” A blue unicorn mare with silver mane wearing a pointy wizard hat and star patterned cape exclaimed flamboyantly. Another unicorn mare, this one orange with a red and yellow mane, snorted at that. “If this is what an expert looks like, I’d hate to see how a novice looks.” The third one, a blue pegasus mare with a rainbow colored mane and tail, scoffed at the two of them. “I’m gonna be at least twenty percent cooler while taking care of my Pokémon than you two will be combined!” Twilight shook herself out of her stupor and quickly walked around the three arguing mares and up to Professor Oak, a grey stallion with a white tail and mane, wearing a red shirt and a lab coat. “Uh, excuse me... Do you have any Pokémon for trainers left, by chance?” Professor Oak turned to Twilight, surprise on his face. “Oh, another trainer ready to start their journey? I’m afraid that the three starters for this year have already been given to the mares you passed on your way in here.” Twilight’s head hung low as she heard that, sadness clearly written across her face. “But....” Oak continued, “I do happen to have a rather curious Pokémon that might be just the partner for you!” Twilight’s face immediately shot up in hope. Maybe she could achieve her dreams this year after all... “Though I must warn you, I’ve never seen anything like him before, so there’s no telling how he might act on your journey.” Taking a Pokeball out of a drawer in one of the desks in the room, Oak tossed it to the ground and red energy bunched up around it before coalescing into a beam and hitting the ground right in front of the ball. Ren walked up to the booth, gazing at the wares with great curiosity. Sure, he might’ve had a weird hallucination the last time he almost bought something there, but the merchandise was still really cool. The ‘Merchant’ was still creepy, though. “Ah, good day sir! And what would you like to buy from here?” The Merchant said, his unseen grin obvious in his voice. Looking over the items, Ren shrugged and pointed to an Arc Reactor and a Pokeball. “I’ll take those two things, if you please.” “Hmm... I can understand the Arc Reactor, but why the Pokeball?” He asked. “Eh, I like the games and haven’t really gotten much stuff for it in a while, so, why not get it now?” He shrugged nonchalantly at the impulse buy. “Well who am I to complain? It’s more business for me...” He said while retrieving the items. “That’ll be... Forty dollars.” Ren held the shock from showing on his face. That cheap for two pieces that looked so authentic? The arc reactor even looked like it was actually made of metal! With a small grin, he handed over two twenties and took the items before walking off. He idly pressed the button on the Pokeball, wondering if it would do anything. And with a blinding red light, his world turned to darkness. With another red light, sight came back to Ren’s world. It was still dark, though... All of a sudden, what looked like blue holograms popped up in his vision, as well as an oval of color that showed an image of a very cartoony world. Turning his head, he realized he was in said world. “What the-?!” “Wow! What kind of Pokémon is he, Professor?” A female voice asked. Turning, Ren saw... Twilight Sparkle? Wait... Huh? “As far as I can tell, it’s a Steel and Fighting type Pokémon that’s apparently called a ‘Stark’” This new voice belonged to a grey horse a little to Ren’s left, who was, of all things, wearing a red shirt with a lab coat. “He was sent to me by Merchant Stall over in Griffonstone. I myself am curious as to how he was procured...” “Excuse me, but... What’s going on?” Ren said before they could continue. They both looked up at him, Twilight with a slight frown and the professor with an easygoing grin. “‘Stark Stark’ to you too, buddy.” The professor said to Ren. ...Wait, ‘Stark Stark?’ “Do you think he likes me, Professor Oak?” “I’m certain if he doesn’t yet, he’ll grow to like you as you go on your journey. There’s nothing like a good battle to strengthen the bond between Pokémon and trainer!” Professor Oak expressed with a smile. “Go ahead and introduce yourself, for now.” Twilight nervously walked up and stuck a hoof out to Ren. “Uh, hi! I’m Twilight Sparkle, and it looks like I’m going to be your Pokémon trainer!” Ren just stood there, staring stupidly at Twilight for what felt like an uncomfortable amount of time. Her tightening smile finally kicked him into action, and he put his own fist to her hoof in an impromptu fist/hoof bump. “I, uh, hope you’ll... Train me well?” Ren uncertainly replied. This was honestly getting really weird. Almost as weird as his previous hallucination about My Little Pony. “You should put him back in his Pokeball before leaving,” Oak said, “It’s going to be a while before you get to the first town.” Twilight grinned and nodded. “Okay, professor!” She turned to Ren, holding out the Pokeball. “Stark, return!” And with another flash of red, his world, annoyingly, went dark once again. “Let’s see... Oak said there should be some good Pokémon to start off with around here...” Twilight muttered to herself, wandering through a field on Route One. She checked her Pokédex once again, still on the page with her Stark’s information. Name: Stark Species: Stark Level: 7 Pokémon type: Steel/Fighting Species information: Unknown Move-list: Charge Beam, Dynamic Punch, Meteor Mash, Fly, She was honestly surprised by that last one. There weren’t many Pokémon that weren’t flying types who could fly. Ghost types excluded, of course. Whatever the case, Twilight was still going to do her best while working with her new Pokémon, and she wouldn’t let a seemingly out of place move stop her from becoming a Pokémon Professor! As she solidified her views even more, she heard some rustling in the bushes to her left, and, glancing up, she saw a Pidgey fly out of them straight at her, which she barely dodged. Twilight grinned confidently and plucked a Pokéball out of her saddlebag with her magic and threw it out in front of the Pidgey. With another red flash, color returned to Ren’s world. The first thing he saw was that he was most definitely not in the same place as before, with this new location seeming more like a forest or a field. Secondly, there was a Pidgey directly in front of his oval of vision. A fricking real Pidgey. “Stark, use Dynamic Punch!” He heard Twilight shout from somewhere, and suddenly a display appeared in his field of view, showing him how to do the action. Still confused, Ren just shrugged off any concerns and followed the instructions, punching the bird in front of him. The Pidgey was hit back a few feet and flapped confusedly for a bit before steadying out and glaring at Ren. It’s right wing turned a steely color, and it flew at high speed... Straight into the ground. “It’s confused, awesome!” He heard Twilight say again, “Go, Pokéball!” A Pokéball flew from behind him and hit the Pidgey straight on the head, and the bird practically burst into red light that was quickly sucked into the orb, which landed on the ground. True to form for Pokémon games, it shook three times before a loud click sounded out. Grinning from ear to ear, Twilight walked forward from his right and picked up the Pokéball in her magic. “Yes, I caught a Pidgey!” Ren could only stare in further confusion at the sight of a floating Pokéball next to a grinning purple unicorn. Just what kind of weird drug trip was he on? Twilight grinned from ear to ear as she threw out the Pokéball containing her new Pokémon, letting loose her new companion. With a flash of red light, a Pidgey formed into the world next to the Stark she started with. “Pidge... Pidge pidgey?” The bird cried out in confusion. “Hi!” Twilight said, bending down to eye level with it, “I’m Twilight Sparkle! I’m your new trainer!” The Pidgey eyed her up and down for a few seconds, before nodding in approval. It flew up and landed on Twilight’s head, giving a loud “Pidge!” of approval. “I’m sure we’re going to work great, together!” “Stark stark.... Stark stark stark stark stark stark stark stark stark....” Glancing over to her other Pokémon, Twilight just looked at him in confusion. “I still have no clue what you’re saying... I wonder if Professor Maple has come up with a translation spell, yet...?” She muttered idly to herself, before shrugging off the thoughts. “Oh well, there’s quite a ways before we see them. Right now, we need to get moving! Stark, Return!” Walking further through the forest, Twilight spotted something blue peeking out of the top of the grass, and getting closer, she saw it was a- “WOBBUFFET!” With a meep of surprise she twisted around to see that, standing behind her, there was indeed a Wobbuffet. Acting on instinct, she threw out the first Pokéball she gripped her magic on, and with a flash of red light, Pidgey coalesced into being on the field. “Pidgey! Use Steel Wing!” She called out. It’s wings turning a silvery sheen, the bird dive-bombed the blue Pokémon, it’s wing hitting it back a few feet. “Wobbuffet!” It cried out before a blue glow surrounded its body a moment later. Narrowing her eyes, Twilight gave another command, “Pidgey, use Gust!” “Pidge!!” Flapping its wings quickly, the Pidgey let loose a small tornado of wind in the direction of Wobbuffet... Only for it to turn around and come right back at the Flying Type. “No, Pidgey!” Twilight cried out. “Great, Wobbuffet used Mirror Move...” Glaring at Wobbuffet again, she didn’t notice the swirling wind looping around until she was in the midst of, turning her whole world into a spinning mess. Without much grace, the wind died down, dropping her onto the ground in a daze as the Wobbuffet let loose a series of chuckles while her Pidgey looked on in concern. “Abub, uh, muggle dee dum...” The gibberish fell out of her mouth as she saw stars in her vision. Collecting her wits, she gave her head a quick shake, getting her four hooves back under her. Glaring at the Wobbuffet, she gave an annoyed huff. “So, you like to play dirty, huh?” I need to end this quick, Pidgey can’t keep this up forever... “You won’t be laughing after this...” As a glow started surrounding the Wobbuffet, Twilight grabbed the first Pokeball her magic felt and threw it at the Pokemon in front of her. “Go, Pokeball!” And as the Pokeball hit the Wobbuffet’s glowing form, a loud Crack! was heard, and everything turned white. With another blinding red light, Ren found himself sitting on his bed at his home, wearing a plastic Iron Man costume. What... What just happened? Was that all just another dream? Getting up and moving over to the window, he saw that the sun was still high in the sky, and with a quick grab around the costume into his pants pocket, his phone confirmed it. No time had passed at all since this all started. He didn’t know how it happened, or why he had a new Iron Man costume on, but he was just glad that it was all over. With the sound of a door opening, he quickly turned to see his mom coming in with a basket of his laundry, looking surprised to see him. “Oh, you’re back already? I didn’t hear you pull in.” She said, a little surprised. Wait, didn’t hear him pull i- ? Oh. OH FU- The Merchant sighed in disappointment as he stopped looking back in on the, once again, failed Displaced. At least I have something new to sell. He thought with a grin, as he looked down to the Twilight and Pidgey dolls in his hands. “I better save them for his next trip...” He muttered to himself with a grin.