Pokémon Red and Purple

by Universal Librarian


Chapter 6 - Plants and Plans

"I really need to pick up more notebooks," Twilight sighed. She had originally brought several with her, but all of them had been utterly ruined by her impromptu dip in the sea upon arrival in this world.

"You should be able to pick some up in Viridian City," Elaine consoled her.

"I suppose," Twilight replied sadly, fruitlessly trying to switch her phone on again. It hadn't handled the sea water any better than the paper had. Still, she supposed she should count herself lucky that it hadn't fallen out of her pocket and gotten lost at sea. That and the fact that she had survived, of course. "It's just annoying having so many new things to learn and no way of recording all of it."

Elaine raised an eyebrow at her. "You really like learning, don't you?"

"Are you kidding? This is fascinating!" Twilight exclaimed. "I have a whole world's worth of knowledge to pick up, and the fact that Sunset is now, er, I mean, since Sunset's a Pokémon, it's even more important for me to learn everything I can!"

"Huh…?" Elaine gave her a suspicious look, evidently curious about her accidental slip-up, but, thankfully, she was distracted by Sunset coming back to the group. "Oh, hey, your Shimmy's back."

Twilight looked around and smiled when she spotted her friend plodding towards them. "Hey, the- huh? Sunset? What's wrong?" Sunset didn't reply at first. She had a look of deep contemplation on her face, and didn't seem to be paying much attention to her surroundings. "Sunset? Sunset Shimmer this is Twilight Sparkle, please respond."

Sunset blinked and looked up, looking for all the world as if she had forgotten that the others were there. "Shim shimmy shim shim, shim shimmy shimmy shim shim shimmy, shim shim shimmy shim sh-"

"Uh, Sunset? You do remember I can't understand you right now, right?" Twilight interrupted.

Sunny slapped a hoof to her face, then set about scratching out a note in the dirt. 

WEIRD POKÉMON APPEARED. SAID SORRY THEN DISAPPEARED.

Twilight frowned as she read. "Uh…"

"What Pokémon was it?" Elaine asked.

Sunset shrugged. "Shimmy shim shim?"

"Sunset hasn't really seen any other Pokémon before today, either," Twilight put in, prompting a nod from Sunset. 

"Wait, really?" Elaine's eyes widened in surprise. "You've never seen another Pokémon either?" Sunset shook her head. "Wow. What region were you from again?"

Twilight and Sunset shared a blank look. "Uh, we were in a place called Equestria."

"Equestria?" Elaine thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Nah, never heard of it." With a casual shrug she clambered to her feet and started repacking her backpack. "Maybe you can tell me about it while we walk? If you're okay to get moving again, that is?"

Both Twilight and Sunset were eager to continue on, so the group worked together to tidy up their little picnic and set off towards Viridian City. They saw several wild Pokémon as they walked, including a few more Rattatas, but none of them came anywhere near the four.

Twilight pondered what Sunset had told them as she walked. Having a strange Pokémon turn up and apologize to Sunset when she was alone was either fantastically random, or something deeper was going on than she had originally suspected. Unfortunately, unless the Pokémon came back at some point there was no real way of telling.

"Hold up a second." Twilight almost walked into Elaine's outstretched arm when she stopped suddenly. Curious as to why they were stopping, she peeked around Elaine and saw something rustling through the long grass on the side of the path.

A moment later, a truly bizarre creature emerged from the grass. It looked like a walking plant; with roots in place of feet, leaves instead of arms and a yellow bell-shaped head. 

"It's a Bellsprout!" Elaine crouched down and held a hand out to it. "Hey there, little one. Are you looking for a trainer?" The Bellsprout paused as it spotted the group, then flared its leaves and tipped its head back in an apparent defiance. "Okay, here we go!"

Twilight watched curiously as Elaine straightened up and pulled a Pokéball out of her pocket. She pressed the button to enlarge it, then, to Twilight's utter astonishment, hurled it directly at the Bellsprout. The ball struck the little Pokémon on its head and popped open; turning the Bellsprout red and sucking it inside before snapping shut and dropping to the floor.

"Come on… come on…" Elaine muttered as the ball wobbled slightly. After a moment the ball fell still and she pumped a fist into the air, crying out excitedly, "Alright! I caught a Bellsprout!"

Blank shock was all that registered in Twilight's mind. "Did you… but… did you just capture a wild animal?!"

"Shim shimmy?" Sunset added.

"Well, yeah?" Elaine answered with a raised eyebrow, as if capturing wild creatures was perfectly normal. She opened her mouth to ask something else, then slapped herself in the forehead. "Right, of course! Never heard of Pokémon before, of course you wouldn't get it. I guess I'd better explain a few things."


Sunset glared up at Elaine as they continued on their way, shocked and appalled that she had captured a wild animal apparently on a whim.

Elaine hummed loudly. "How do I explain this? Basically, Pokémon trainers like me, we catch and train Pokémon."

"Never would have guessed that," Sunset deadpanned. 

"A lot of that involves catching wild Pokémon from different places," Elaine continued obliviously. "I guess that might seem strange to an outsider, but don't worry, if.a Pokémon doesn't want to get caught, it's pretty easy for most of them to get away. They can even break out of a Pokéball if they try. Don't get me wrong, you do get some bad trainers out there, and there are people who catch Pokémon against their will, but most of the time the Pokémon we catch aren't really against the idea of being caught."

Sunset huffed quietly. "How can you expect us to believe that?"

"It's true," Pikachu put in from her perch on Elaine's shoulder. "Heck, the only reason I wandered all the way down here from the forest was because I was looking for a trainer I liked the look of."

"Really?" Sunset looked up at her incredulously. "Why would you want that, though?"

Pikachu shrugged. "For me, it was a bunch of reasons. No more struggling to find food, no more sleeping outside in the cold or rain, and no more worrying about getting on the wrong side of a Beedrill swarm." She shivered at an apparent bad memory. "Anyway, like boss-lady says, if we don't want to get caught, we don't get caught. If that Bellsprout was really upset we would've known about it, trust me."

Sunset made a mental note to ask the Bellsprout herself what it thought about this as soon as she got a chance. Before she could ask anything else, Elaine pointed ahead to a building at the end of the path. "That's where we're going next," she said brightly. 

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

Elaine smiled and reached up to scratch Pikachu between the ears. "The entrance to Viridian City."


"My word, things really seem to be getting out of hand." Professor Oak frowned as he watched one of the tv screens in his lab, his personal cellphone pressed against his ear. 

Professor Elm, a close friend and former student of his, was on the other end of the line. "I know, I can hardly believe everything that's happening! Did you really not hear anything about any of it?"

"I'm afraid I was distracted by the new Pokémon that I told you about." Professor Oak sighed heavily and turned away from the tv, heading towards his office. 

Over the course of last night, while the professor was taking care of Miss Sparkle's little Pokémon, a whole host of large-scale disruptions had occurred across the world. 

First of all a Jirachi had apparently appeared in a Galarian government facility, sending the region's ecosystem protection agency into a meltdown. Next, there had been some sort of terrorist attack on the Aether Foundation in Alola. Thousands of Gothitelle's, Xatu's, and other far-seeing Pokémon of that ilk all over the world were suddenly becoming extremely agitated for no apparent reason, the implications of which Professor Oak didn't even want to contemplate, and finally, as if all of that wasn't enough, there had been a colossal explosion atop the summit of Mount Coronet in the Sinnoh region, utterly destroying large parts of the mountain.

"Do you think that new Pokémon and her partner are connected to everything else in some way?" Professor Elm asked.

"I have no idea." Professor Oak hummed and admitted, "However, given the timing, it seems likely."

"I'm going to go one step further and say it's almost certain, especially when you add in what's going on with the Celebi," Professor Elm put in.

Professor Oak paused with his hand on the office door. "Celebi? What do you mean?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Professor Elm asked in surprise. Professor Oak sighed and tried not to get annoyed at his friend's scatterbrained nature as Elm apologized profusely, "I'm so sorry, I thought I had told you already! Anyway, as I was saying… what was I saying? Oh, yes! The Celebi! Right, well, there have only been two or three plausible sightings over the last five years or so."

"That's normal, isn't it?" Professor Oak asked.

"It is, which makes the last few days particularly unusual," Professor Elm replied. "There have been over a hundred verified sightings over the last three days, most of them involving multiple Celebi at once. I've got three of them flitting around in my lab as we speak!"

"What?!" Professor Oak cried. "I… I thought Celebi was an extremely reclusive Pokémon?!"

"So did I!" Professor Elm cried in response.

Gathering his wits, Professor Oak opened his office door and stepped through, only to stop dead as he saw what was waiting inside. "Erm… you say there are three Celebi in your lab at the moment?"

"Yes, they appear to be looking for something, though I have no idea what." 

Professor Oak nodded. "May I ask what colour they are?"

"Green, just as all of the sightings suggest." Professor Elm's tone rose curiously as he asked, "Why?"

"Because there appears to be one sat on my desk waiting for me, only this one is pink," Professor Oak replied, staring at the little Pokémon sitting comfortably on the edge of his desk. As he watched, the Pokémon smiled and waved for him to enter. "I… er… I think my visitor wishes to speak to me, er…" His eyes widened as the Celebi nodded. "I'll call you back."

"O-of course!" Professor Elm spluttered. "Call me back when you're done, and tell me everything!"

Professor Oak absently ended the call and slipped the cell phone into his pocket, not taking his eyes off the Pokémon. "So… erm… can I help you?"

The little Pokémon nodded again. "I certainly hope that you can."

Professor Oak stumbled back in amazement. "You can talk?!"

The Celebi giggled at his reaction. "I can indeed. A good friend of mine taught me, long ago." The little one's voice was high-pitched yet soft, bringing to mind wind chimes or the gentle ring of a crystal glass. "Also you are correct, I am a Celebi, although I believe I am what some of you humans call a 'shiny' Pokémon." Celebi tucked it's hands into it's lap and bowed slowly. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Keres."

"Professor Oak," the professor replied on reflex. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that Keres didn't seem to be in perfect condition; the Celebi's eyes were bloodshot, with dark bags underneath them. "Erm, can I get you anything? If you're tired I have a suitable bed you can use, or I can get you a glass of wa-"

"It's quite alright." Keres smiled warmly, if a little sadly. "Kind and observant, the old stories about you really are true. I appreciate the offer, but I am afraid that, ironically, I do not have the time." The Celebi gestured to Professor Oak's pc, which was currently displaying all of the information about the new Pokémon that he had compiled. "I know I'm imposing, but I wish to ask you to provide a little more help for the two who appeared on your doorstep last night."

Professor Oak blinked in surprise. "You mean Twilight Sparkle and her Pokémon, er… I believe she named it Sunset?"

"Hm, interesting names," Keres said thoughtfully, then waved a hand and dismissed the thought. "Anyway, the two of them are going to require currency on their journey."

"Ah, I knew I had forgotten something!" Professor Oak shook his head and sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't think my budget will stretch enough to cover travel expenses for the two of them at the moment. I could look i to gett-"

"You misunderstand," Keres said quickly. "I do not expect you to pay for them, I have already made arrangements for covering their expenses. All I want you to do is contact your assistant in Viridian City so that he can meet them and transfer the necessary details."

Professor Oak stared blankly at the little Pokémon. "I… well, I can certainly arrange that, but how did you know that I had an assistant in Viridian City on an errand? And, if you don't mind me asking, why are you so invested in these two?"

Keres visibly slumped. "Let's just say, I rearranged a few dominos and made sure the right Butterfree flapped its wings at the right time." Straightening up, the Celebi looked up at Professor Oak with a pleading expression. "Will you do me this favour?"

Professor Oak found himself nodding. There was no way he could refuse such a request. "Of course. I'll contact my assistant immediately. What details do you need me to transfer?"

"You'll receive a telephone call with everything you need to know," Keres replied. "Specifically, in about 3… 2… 1…"

"Professor Oak?" The professor turned to see one of his aides looking in, clutching the lab's main phone. "I've got someone on the phone, they say they need to speak to you urgently."

"I, er, one moment." Professor Oak held up a finger and looked back at Keres, but the Pokémon was nowhere to be seen. He stood there, blinking dumbly at the empty space where the Celebi had been, then turned back to his aide. "Who is it?"