Following along behind Twilight and Elaine, Sunset blinked in the bright sunshine as she emerged from the lab’s front door and stepped out into Pallet Town. Looking around, she saw that it was a quaint little place, with a mix of paved roads and dirt paths leading through the buildings. Wide open fields could just about be seen out beyond the limits of the town.
Taking a deep breath of fresh air, Sunset felt herself begin to relax a little. Professor Oak’s tests hadn’t been so bad, She’d still flat out refused to have her internal temperature taken, though. The Professor had warned that a doctor would need to know her standard internal temperature if she got ill, so they could calibrate their oral thermometers to account for her fire, but she couldn’t currently breathe fire, so she figured she’d cross that bridge when she came to it.
“So… um, where do we go from here?” Twilight asked.
Elaine pointed down one of the roads, “This way. We’ll go up Route 1 first and head to Viridian City, to the North.”
“Is it far?” Sunset asked, then slapped a hoof to her face as she remembered that asking a human was pointless.
Fortunately, Twilight seemed to be thinking along the same lines. “How far away is Viridian City?”
“Not far, just a couple of hours’ walk,” Elaine replied, taking the lead down the street, “We just have to head up through Route 1. We can always stop for a break on the way, if you need to.”
“That… will probably be a good idea. I’m not exactly athletically gifted,” Twilight admitted shyly, before looking down at Sunset, “What about you, Sunset, are you going to be alright with walking?”
“I’ll be fine,” Sunset replied with a confident nod. She had to maintain a gentle trot to keep up with their pace, but it was nothing too strenuous.
Twilight didn’t look convinced, but she let it slide, “If you’re sure.”
“If she gets tired, you can always put her in a Pokéball,” Elaine said.
“What’s a Pokéball?” Sunset and Twilight asked in unison.
Elaine stuck a hand in her pocket and pulled out a small object, holding it out for Twilight to see. It was a little orb, around the size of a ping-pong ball, half red and half white, with a little button in the middle. Elaine pressed the little button and, to Twilight and Sunset’s astonishment, the ball suddenly increased in size to around that of a baseball. “This is a Pokéball. We use them for catching and storing Pokémon.”
Sunset cocked her head to the side and stared at it, “How does that work? How would a pony, er, Pokémon, my size fit in something that small?”
Elaine just looked down at her with mild confusion.
“Er… I think Sunset’s trying to ask how it works?” Twilight supplied.
Suppressing a groan, Sunset nodded curtly. She needed to figure out a proper way of communicating, and fast.
Elaine hummed thoughtfully, blissfully unaware of Sunset’s discomfort. “I’m not sure about the details, but essentially it converts any Pokémon it touches into some kind of energy and stores it digitally. Then, when you let them out, it turns them back to normal.”
“That’s incredible!” Twilight cried. “Do you mind if we try it out?”
“Sure!” Elaine replied. “Pikachu doesn’t like being in a Pokéball, but I’d be happy to let your Shimmy use one if you want?”
Sunset stopped dead in the street, “Hey, woah, hold on a second. First up, what the heck is a Shimmy? And second,” she narrowed her eyes at Twilight, “what do you mean, ‘try it out’? Are you seriously expecting me to just let you put me in that thing?” The two humans just stared at her in confusion, prompting Sunset to slap a hoof to her face.
“Do… you want to try the Pokéball?” Twilight asked tentatively.
Sunset heaved a sigh. “You know what? Fine. Whatever.” She stepped towards Elaine and sat on the floor, resigned to her fate for now. “So, how do we do this?”
“I think she’s okay with it,” Elaine said brightly, holding the ball out to Twilight. “Here, all you have to do is touch her with the little button in the middle.”
“That seems easy enough,” Twilight replied. She squatted down and held out the Pokéball, pointing the button at Sunset, “Okay, Sunset. I’ll leave it to you.”
Sunset just stared at it warily, suddenly regretting her irritated rashness. “Uh, what do you think Pikachu?” she asked, trying to buy herself a little more time.
Pikachu glanced down from her perch on Elaine’s shoulder and shrugged, “Eh, its not my kinda thing. I’ve heard that most Pokémon kinda enjoy it though.”
“Right, because that doesn’t sound like a euphemism at all,” Sunset muttered sarcastically.
Pikachu smirked, evidently having heard her, “You know, I’ve heard that some Pokémon actually kinda enjoy having their temperature taken with that kind of therm-”
“Okay! Trying out the Pokéball now!” Sunset jabbed the button with a hoof before Pikachu could finish her sentence. The ball snapped open with a pop, and Sunset’s vision flashed red for a brief instant as she felt a tremor run through her entire body, leaving an odd prickling sensation in its wake. When the sensation passed, Sunset found herself curled up into a ball. Fighting the initial urge to try and struggle, she took a deep breathe in and slowly let it out, before trying to get her bearings.
Faint pink light suffused the empty space around her, somehow holding her close and enveloping her in comforting warmth. It felt like being wrapped up in bed on a winter’s day, with a thick blanket covering her entire body. All she could hear was her own heartbeat, strong and steady, and somehow amplified so that it echoed through the floating space. Even the smell was comforting, something warm and homely that she couldn’t quite identify.
‘Woah, that was amazing!’
Sunset’s ears pricked at the sound of Twilight’s voice. Listening closely, she found that she could hear everything that was happening outside, though the noise was faint and slightly muffled. She could even vaguely sense that the Pokéball was moving, though she couldn’t tell how fast or in what direction.
Listening to the rhythmic thumping of her own heart, combined with the sound of carefree voices in the background and the comforting warmth that held her in a gentle embrace, Sunset was put in mind of that moment when you first wake up in the morning, drifting on the border between wakefulness and sleep.
Click.
The sharp sound cut through the soft atmosphere, then the whole world flashed red before the warmth and the tender embrace were both gone, replaced with a hard floor and a cool breeze.
Sunset blinked and looked around, confused by the sudden change in environment. She was lying on a dirt track, with grass verges on either side. Looking back, she saw Twilight and Elaine looking at her with mild concern and, a little further back, a couple of small buildings at what must have been the edge of Pallet Town. “What the…?”
Pikachu giggled at her. “Hold up, did you actually fall asleep in there? Are you a Snorlax or something?”
“I don’t know what that is, but shut up,” Sunset grumbled as she tottered to her feet, still a little addled from her impromptu nap.
Twilight crouched down next to her. “Sunset? Are you okay? How was it” she asked softly.
Sunset sucked in a deep breath, then let it out slowly and nodded. “Phew! I’m fine, just a little… wow.” She eyed the Pokéball still clutched in Twilight’s hand warily. She quietly resolved never to let herself be put in one of those again. It was hard enough getting herself out of bed in the mornings, getting out of that thing voluntarily would be almost impossible.
Twilight noticed her look. “Do you want to go back in there?” she asked in surprise, clearly misinterpreting.
“Not a chance," Sunset replied with a determined shake of her head.
Seeing that her friend was alright, Twilight’s expression shifted almost instantly from concern to eager curiosity. “So, how was it in there? How did it feel being digitized like that? Was it comfortable? Could you feel anything while you were being stored digitally? What about sight, could you see anything? Hear anything?”
Sunset just gave her a flat look and pointed at her throat. “Try asking that when I can actually reply in a way you’ll understand.”
Twilight sighed heavily, “Awww. We need to find a way for you to communicate, you have to tell me what that was like!”
“Right, sure, that’s the main reason.” With a huff and a roll of her eyes, Sunset turned to face the way ahead. The path stretched on past a set of white picket fencing before it came to an abrupt end amongst a wide thicket of long grass.
“Okay, this is Route 1,” Elaine called out. She threw her arm forward, pointing dramatically, “Next stop, Viridian City!”