//------------------------------//
// The Purr-fect Crime 
// Story: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescuers of Harmony 
// by Codex92 
//------------------------------//

It was a new day as the sun rose across the horizon. Johann walked out of the base, stretching out his arms with a smoky yawn as their team's toolbox was strapped over his shoulder.

"A new day to help others in need!" Johann said, eager to start his day. After his talk with Scott last night after sulking and losing control of his rage, he felt a little better after revealing how much stronger he was compared to his best friend, but he still worried he'll let his rough patch with his father and being bullied by Team Neo Meanies. Pushing his sadness and fears, not wanting to let his friend constantly worry about his true feelings more than he already has, he inhaled deeply through his nostrils, breathing in the morning air. "Ahhh. Today's gonna be a good day."

"Glad you're ready, Johann, but we've got something to do first." The Charmander turned around to find Scott with an annoyed look, carrying the huge stack of books Twilight borrowed from their guild. "We need to take all these back to the guild's library. Somehow, in only a few short days, she's read all of these."

"And I'm going to borrow even more~!" Twilight sang, making Scott groan and wilt in agony.

"Hey, I'm not gonna be your pack Mudbray anytime you want to take several dozen books every week!" Scott complained.

"Yeah, that job isn't really easy when dealing with Twilight and her book crazes," Spike said with a shrug. "But I'm used to it."

"I don't know how she can read all of these that fast! It'd take me weeks to just read one of these!" Scott whined.

"Because you'd rather train than read," Johann teased, grinning widely as his friend grumbled with his eye twitching in irritation.

"At least my tail isn't considered a fire hazard that keeps me banned from the library," Scott teased back with a smirk, getting back at his friend as the Charmander let out a frustrated sigh.

"And my day's already gonna be ruined," Johann groaned.

Once everyone was ready, they headed off to the guild to return the surplus of books Twilight borrowed, along with showing her friends what the guild was like and meet Alakazam. As they entered Pokemon Square, Twilight held the Pokedex out to gather and store information on the many Pokemon in town for future use. She already got her friends' Pokemon forms after testing it some more, learning more details than what the huge glossaries had to offer. The other Pokemon were a bit perturbed seeing the odd device pointed at them, and despite it being harmless, they were cautious with the unknown technology.

"I swear, if I have to carry another huge stack of books again-" Scott grumbled, barely paying attention to where he was walking with the books blocking his vision.

He heard someone yelp a bit too late, stumbling into another Pokemon and sent them falling over each other. Books scattered around the two, along with a large pink pearl that rolled a little bit away from the toppled Pokemon. The unfortunate victim let out a groan underneath Scott.

"Should have watched where you're going, dude," Rainbow said.

"Gee, it was like I had a bunch of books blocking my vision," Scott grumbled. He then noticed he was squashing someone underneath him, quickly leaping up and helping them back up. "S-Sorry about that."

"Uhh. I should have watched other Pokemon while sightseeing," the Pokemon groaned.

The Equestrians got a better look at the bumped into Pokemon: a small, gray pig-like creature, a large snout, short ears, stubby arms, and a spring-like coil beneath it as its legs. "It's a cute piggie!" Pinkie squealed.

"But where are its legs?" Spike questioned.

Twilight hummed curiously and aimed the Pokedex at the spring-tailed Pokemon. "Spoink, the Bounce Pokemon. A Psychic-type. Spoink moves around by bouncing on its tail. Its psychic powers are made stronger by the pearl on its head."

Looking at the image of the Spoink on the picture compared to the one in front of them, Twilight noticed a huge difference between them. "Spoinks carry a pearl on their heads, but this one doesn't," she noted.

Hearing the Ralts, Spoink looked up, then began to panic as it bounced around frantically. "Oh no! My pearl! What happened to it!?" he exclaimed.

Rarity spotted the pearl nearby, letting out an intrigued mewl as she approached it. "Oh my. What a beautiful pink pearl." As much as she wanted to examine its luster more, she figured this must have been the pearl Spoink had. She picked it up with her tail, then walked over to the bouncing Spoink while blindly searching the area. "Is this yours, darling?"

Spoink stopped bouncing and looked at Rarity, letting out a relieved snort before bouncing up to the Skitty. "My pearl! Thank you!" Spoink took back his pearl, setting it on top of his head, and with perfect balance as he bounced happily. "I really don't want to lose it again. I mistook a Cleffa for my pearl once, and that was an embarrassing moment when their parents found me carrying off my 'pearl'."

"You mistook a Pokemon for a pearl?" Johann asked.

"Well, it was round and pink," Spoink explained with a bashful giggle. "We Spoink find it hard to tell the difference between our pearls and something else. But they help increase our psychic abilities."

"How does that work?" Rainbow asked. "Is it magical?"

"I think the pearls Spoink carry come from Clamperl," Johann said. "Nothing magical, but it has special properties for a Spoink's psychic prowess."

"Just don't use any psychic attacks anywhere near me," Scott said. He went around and picked up the scattered books, brushing the dirt off them with a grimace. "Ugh. I really hope they didn't get ruined. I don't want to pay the guild for damaging the library's books."

"Sounds like you care about books, even though you're not an avid reader," Twilight teased.

"I'm more worried about paying all the Poké we just got from our last tough fights to replace these things," Scott grumbled, leering bitterly at the Ralts. "And you're only going to borrow one or two books at a time. No more giant stacks that make it hard for me to see around these things."

Twilight huffed with a small pout. "Fine," she grumbled. "At least until I master using my own psychic powers, then I'll take all the huge stacks I can without your help."

"Did you say you're in a guild?" Spoink asked Scott curiously.

"Yeah. We're just a beginner team for the guild here in this area," Scott explained.

"That's so cool! I wish I could be part of a guild!" Spoink said.

"There's always openings, and you'll get assigned to a team if you don't have a partner to start one for yourself," Johann said.

"Maybe I'll check it out later. I want to see more of this town. Thanks for the info!" Spoink hopped down the road to explore the square some more after giving the team a wave.

"Spoink's a really cute Pokemon," Fluttershy said with a squee. "That little snout, and the curly tail it bounces on."

"Wonder if we'll see him join up at the guild one day," Johann said.

"Speaking of, let's keep going, guys," Scott said. He then plopped the small stack he picked up in Johann's hands. "Here, you share the workload so I don't run into a cranky Primeape or something worse."

Johann sighed, holding the half stack for Scott while he took the last of the other half after checking to see if the pages, covers, and spines weren't busted or dirty. They continued heading north of the square and down the path toward the guild. The other Equestrians saw the huge building in the distance and the massive variety of Pokemon out in the field. Twilight took the chance to catch all the information she could with the Pokedex, scowling at it for describing them so slowly before it scanned the next one, only getting a few Pokemon before entering the front doors. Scott and Johann led the girls and Spike to the library to return all of Twilight's borrowed books, but the Riolu warned her again that she can only take one or two books at a time from now on. Twilight grumbled, but complied, waiting until their next visit to borrow some books.

They then made their way to Alakazam's room, Johann knocking politely before backing up as the door opened. "Enter," the Psychic Pokemon called out. The moment they walked inside, the Charmander froze when he saw his father in the room with Alakazam, along with their third partner, Tyranitar. "Ah. The rookie team, Rescue Rangers. And I believe the rest of our otherworldly guests with Miss Twilight Sparkle."

"Yes, guild master," Scott said. "Figured you'd want to meet the others while we don't have any missions or jobs to do yet."

"I was hoping sooner, but now's a perfect time," Alakazam said. Twilight introduced Team A.C.T. to the rest of her friends and number one assistant. While the girls and Spike greeted the veteran rescue team, Scott's aura sensed Johann's fear. Looking back at his friend, he noticed that the Charmander was frozen still near the guild master's door, barely budging an inch while staring at his dad. Scott looked at Charizard, who seemed just as grumpy as the last time he saw him. Sensing Charizard's aura, he seemed to be angry, as he expected, but the dragon was glaring at his son with a look of discontent. He didn't have much to dwell on Charizard's attitude when Alakazam spoke to him next. "Scott? Scott!"

"H-Huh? What?" Scott asked, snapping out of his thoughts.

"I asked you a question: are you helping our guests get accustomed to their forms and practicing their self-defense as members of your team?" Alakazam asked.

"Er, yes, guild master, sir," Scott quickly said as he stood at attention. "We've...had a few hiccups between training, but they seem to be fitting in and fighting pretty well."

"Hmm...I see." Alakazam then floated a piece of paper over to him, then cleared his throat. "I find that hard to believe when your first unofficial mission involved taking on the dangerous Poison Twins, then a reported Snorlax attacking the Miltank farm not too far from here, which you all seemed to handle at your level as a rescue team." Scott stiffened in shock, then lowered his head in shame. He knew the guild master was going to find out about their exploits sooner or later. "Now, as noble as you are, Scott, you need to accept these jobs first, and learn not to jump headfirst into trouble when others are in it worse than you are. While I commend you and the others for stopping these Pokemon, don't risk our Equestrian guests when they're still new to our world, and endangering yourselves, too."

"Yes, guild master," the Riolu mumbled dejectedly, part of him relieved to be given a warning, but still felt dumb for getting excited for a tough fight with the Poison Twins and left with no other options against the wild Snorlax. His head perked up, almost forgetting about mentioning the Snorlax's odd behavior after Johann beat it. "Oh yeah. About that Snorlax. It sounds crazy when I say this, but after we knocked it out, it woke back up and didn't remember crashing the Miltank farm at all."

Tyranitar and Charizard's eyes widened in shock, the latter finally taking his eyes off his son to stare at the Riolu. "He didn't know he made a mess of the farm?" Tyranitar asked.

"Snorlax can learn Amnesia. It's possible he tried to get out of trouble by claiming innocent in that way," Charizard grunted.

"Oh, no way, Charizard. Snorlax usually live further north in forests that have a ton of food for them to eat," Tyranitar explained. "One of them making a long trip down here to munch up groves of berry trees and guzzle gallons of Miltank milk? That makes no sense when Amnesia's meant to strengthen one's defense against special attacks."

"And you believe this runt and the pint-sized squeak squad took down a Snorlax of that size without so much as a limp?" Charizard questioned as he glared at his teammate.

"Actually, Johann was the one who really beat it," Pinkie pointed out.

Charizard quickly snapped his head toward the Swirlix, then to Johann. Giving a growl of disbelief, his glower made the Charmander gulp nervously, silently ordered to come over to him. Johann lowered his head and walked forward, twiddling his claws while avoiding his father's gaze. Scott could tell his friend didn't want to be anywhere near his father just from his facial expression, and his aura was struggling to hide the sadness mixed with the terror inside.

"Johann," Charizard said in a low tone. Johann trembled, shutting his eyes tightly. "Look at me. Now." Swallowing nervously, Johann opened his eyes, tilting his head up, and flinched at his father's gaze. "Did you really take down a Snorlax that strong by yourself?"

"I-I-I...I-I d-d..." Johann stammered, unable to answer.

Scott gently placed a paw on his friend's shoulder, giving Charizard as tough of a glare as he could back at the powerful Pokemon. "He sure did," he said, making Johann wince.

"I didn't ask you, runt!" Charizard roared.

"Charizard!" Alakazam scolded. The dragon Pokemon glanced at his leader, earning a serious glare from the Psychic-type. The two stared each other down before Charizard huffed, giving up and stomping off in frustration. Johann dared to look back as his father left, regretting it as the frown on the larger Pokemon's face expressed his disbelief, dejecting the Charmander. "I must apologize. Charizard is not usually this angry."

"Somepony needs a hug," Pinkie grumbled as she watched Charizard slam the door behind him. "And certainly not from me."

"I'll see what's got a burr tangled in that hot-headed butt of his," Tyranitar said. "But still, Johann, that's quite an impressive feat, even though it was dangerous."

"Actually, we saw Johann defeat Snorlax, but he had no idea where he was or what he was doing after we left the square," Twilight said. Alakazam and Tyranitar looked at each other in bewilderment, then back to the depressed Charmander. "Before we got to the farm, we were stopped by another rescue team who calls themselves Team Neo Meanies, and they made fun of Scott and Johann."

"They were really hurtful and mocked them," Fluttershy said with an angry pout. "That meanie Obstagoon said Charizard didn't care about Johann, and it really hurt his feelings."

"And during the fight with Snorlax, Johann's Blaze ability activated and he went into a rage," Scott added.

As the Riolu rubbed his friend's shoulder, reassuring him that they didn't think anything differently about him, Rainbow Dash gave him a curious gaze. "Ability? What, does he have some secret move we don't know about that makes him stronger?"

"Many Pokemon have different abilities that can aid them in battle against opponents, even catching some off guard when they discover a certain move won't affect them," Alakazam explained. "You each have one as well, but what it is, you'll have to figure out what it may be."

"I thought that Blaze increases Fire-type attacks when the Pokemon's on their last legs," Tyranitar pondered aloud. "Did Johann even get hurt yesterday?"

The group sans Johann shook their heads in response. Alakazam brought a finger to his chin with a hum in thought.

"...Perhaps it was not physical damage that unleashed Johann's fury and activated his Blaze ability," Alakazam said. "Sometimes, if a Pokemon is emotionally or psychologically scarred, trying to repress their sorrows and fears turns into anger that cannot be contained if triggered. Fire-types with Blaze can sometimes lose too much control if push comes to shove and will continue their rampage until their anger has been quelled by releasing all of their pent up pain or be knocked unconscious in a fight." He saw the shocked reactions from the Equestrians, feeling just as much pity for Johann as Scott was. Alakazam let out a sigh, knowing more about the Charmander than the others with his father being a part of his team for a long while. "I'm going to also give a stern talking to Team Neo Meanies. They represent our guild, and if they harass other rescue teams, they disgrace what our guild stands for and could potentially drive off young up-and-coming rescuers wishing to do some good for our world."

"Good luck with that," Scott said. "They'll probably think we're lying to get them in trouble."

"With a group named Neo Meanies, they are probably just as bad as the former Team Meanies," Tyranitar said, then let out a sigh and shook his head. "Except those three can fight pretty well, even though they only go for missions that have Poké as rewards instead of helping any Pokemon in worse trouble."

"Just leave those three to me, and if they do this again, I'll take their rescue team badges away faster than they can blink," Alakazam assured. "Now, go and help some Pokemon in the meantime. And this time, accept missions from the board or at the Pelipper Post Office. No more random heroics."

"Yes, sir," Scott said, giving the Psychic-type leader a bow.

The group took their leave, Fluttershy walking alongside Johann to help comfort him. After leaving, Tyranitar sighed again.

"Charizard got a little too rough with the kid," he said. "He's happy, upbeat, and optimistic when he's not around, but just being in his presence dampens his mood."

"If I were him, I would be ecstatic learning he took on a tough Pokemon like a Snorlax," Alakazam said. "I think our friend needs some time off. Clear his head and reflect on his actions." The guild master walked forward, levitating his spoons to his hands. "Now to have a talk with Team Neo Meanies."

Tyranitar chuckled as he followed his team leader. "Oh, this is gonna be good."





Halfway down the path to the square, Team Rescue Rangers slowed their pace while Johann tried to recover. Luckily, they didn't run into Charizard, who must have gone off somewhere to vent his anger. Johann felt humiliated being defended by his friends, but he was grateful to have Scott back him up like that.

"You feeling ok, Johann?" Fluttershy asked while rubbing the Charmander's back.

"Not really," Johann mumbled. "Sorry about my dad. He's kind of...intimidating."

"More like aggressive as a bull seein' the color red," Applejack said.

"What was up with him anyway?" Rainbow asked.

"I...I don't know," Johann said. "Even if you all confirmed you saw me beat Snorlax, he still wouldn't have believed me."

"I think your dad needs a vacation," Scott said. "He's probably being such a grump because he forces himself to take on tough missions every day."

"It doesn't really bother him," Johann said. "Our family line has had tough male Charizards that never lost a battle against any Pokemon. Even with types that have a stronger advantage."

"And you're really strong, too!" Pinkie said as bounced in front of Johann, keeping up with the group while hopping backwards and talking to him. "You rescued those Miltank from Snorlax with that super fire breath attack!"

"Flamethrower," Johann corrected.

"Yeah, that attack!" Bounding closer, Pinkie snuck in a quick kiss on the Charmander's cheek, startling him and almost made him stumble in surprise. Pinkie stuck out her tongue teasingly. "That was for saving me from getting eaten yesterday. I wasn't able to when you were still kind of in your angry rage stage, but later is better than never."

Johann stammered, fumbling with his words as his cheeks burned bright red. "W-W-Well, I-I wasn't e-even...I-I-I-I d-d-didn't..."

Scott snickered at his friend's bashfulness. "Don't be so embarrassed, Mr. Hero," he teased, then glanced at Fluttershy. "Hey, Fluttershy, why don't you give him a 'reward' on his other cheek?"

Johann tensed up, his blush only intensifying as he stammered more. Even his tail seemed to flare up slightly, turning a brief flash of pink before returning to its reddish-orange glow. Scott couldn't hold back his laughter at Johann's embarrassed reaction. The Charmander couldn't find the words to chide his friend for teasing him.

"Alright, Scott, leave Johann alone," Applejack said. "He's gettin' more flustered than Twilight tryin' to find a friendship problem to solve."

"H-Hey! I thought Princess Celestia wanted me to send her a friendship letter every week! I assumed it was a weekly assignment and I panicked!" Twilight exclaimed.

"You know, in hindsight, the princess knew that it would be difficult finding a friendship problem EVERY week," Spike said. "And with your fear of being tardy all the time, you just made it worse by enchanting your Smarty Pants doll and threw the whole town into chaos."

Twilight grumbled irritably, then glared at Scott as he stifled his laughter. "Don't you say anything, mister," the Ralts warned.

"You freak out...over being late?" Scott snorted, his body shaking while doing his hardest to hold back his laughter. Twilight's eyes glowed, using Confusion to freeze the Riolu and lift him up in the air. "Ahh! Ok, ok! I'll stop! Psychic moves hurt me!"

"Good," Twilight mumbled, dropping the Riolu unceremoniously to the ground, making him sigh in relief. "I take my studies seriously and complete my assignments and projects on time. Unlike you, I don't procrastinate or make rash decisions."

"Yet you did some weird magic to make your town in your world go crazy?" Scott questioned.

"Do you have any idea how powerful an alicorn princess is compared to the likes of you!?" Twilight exclaimed. "She could banish you to the sun if you so much as sneezed in her direction!"

"That sure doesn't sound like Princess Celestia," Spike commented.

"Yeah. Didn't you say this Celestia was kindhearted or something?" Scott asked, bringing his paws behind his head while he questioned why Twilight would fear someone who was like a second mother to her.

As Twilight continued bickering to Scott, the group made it back to Pokemon Square. Johann was grateful for the distractions from what happened at the guild, even though he looked away from Fluttershy bashfully after Scott mentioned her giving him a kiss on the cheek after Pinkie gave him one. Scott blankly stared ahead as he walked, trying to tune out the boring lecture Twilight gave him about the importance of studying and taking every matter seriously. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings as a trio of purple blurs rammed into the Riolu, tackling him to the ground, trampled over him, and kept on running.

"Outta the way!" one of the blurs shouted as they ran toward the entrance of Pokemon Square.

Scott groaned as he laid flat on his back, dirty pawprints all over his body from the trampling trio that rammed him. "Maybe you should have watched where you were going instead of zoning out on me," Twilight chided.

"Maybe you should stop worrying about everything and relax a little more," Scott grumbled. He stood up with a grunt, rubbing his trampled face while sticking out his tongue in disgust. "Ugh. They looked like they were in a rush. And no thanks to their dirty paws, I need a bath."

"What kind of Pokemon were they?" Fluttershy asked.

"They looked like small purple cats," Rarity pondered. "Those pawprints look similar to mine, but at least I keep mine clean."

"No! Come back!" Hearing a familiar voice, everyone looked toward the road where the rushing trio came from, and found Spoink trying to bounce after them. He panted, looked absolutely mortified, and to their shock, his pearl was missing from his head. "Give me back my pearl, you thieves!"

"Thieves!?" Pinkie shrieked.

Spoink bounced up to the rescue team, tears streaming down his face. "Those Purrloin snatched my pearl from me out of nowhere!" he cried. "I was being so careful, too, and they just came out of nowhere, tackled me to the ground, and stole my pearl when I fell!"

"Purrloin?" Twilight questioned. She pulled out the Pokedex, scrolling through the Pokemon she's documented in the device today, but she never saw one on their walk to the guild to get its data. "Ugh. If only this thing explained everything about a Pokemon when I wanted it to so I could scan every one we came across."

"To summarize what that thing might say, they're Dark-types, and can be really sneaky thieves," Johann explained. "And with Psychic-types having a huge weakness to Dark-type moves, there's no way Spoink could have been able to fight back against them."

"Please, you have to get my pearl back!" Spoink begged. "I don't know if I can find another one like it, and I'll be completely helpless without it helping me practice my Psychic powers!"

"Don't worry, Spoink. We'll get your pearl back," Scott promised, then grabbed his scarf and showed his rescue badge to the troubled Pokemon. "Team Rescue Rangers are on the case!"

"Oh, thank you so much!" Spoink said with joyous relief.

"Come on, guys! Let's hurry and catch those thieving Purrloin!" Scott said, then dashed off after the fleeing trio.

The Equestrians were surprised by how fast Scott ran, and he wasn't using Quick Attack as he was already halfway out of town before they could blink. "Wow. He's a speedy puppy, isn't he?" Pinkie asked.

"That's why he trains so much," Johann said. "I heard Riolu could sprint for miles without rest for a whole day. That probably explains where all his excitement and energy comes from."

"Then let's hurry before we lose both of them!" Rainbow said, then flew on ahead, the others following the pursuit at a bit of a slower pace than the Riolu and Starly.

"Good luck, Team Rescue Rangers!" Spoink called out as he watched them disappear down the road.





Running down the path, three feline Pokemon laughed as they escaped Pokemon Square. They had mostly purple fur, though they had violet markings over their green eyes and parts of their bodies had cream-colored fur: their muzzles, shoulders, hind paws, necks, even little oval-shaped markings above each of their eyes. They had tufts of fur from their cheeks and ears, and their long tails at the tips were curved and vaguely scythe-like. Two of them had a sack riding on their backs, each one filled with their haul. After getting far enough away, they came to a stop and looked back before jumping in the bushes. Completely hidden, the Purrloin giggled as they stood up, able to stand on two legs despite looking bipedal, then dug through their "treasures".

"We scored some pretty good loot today," one of them said, all three of their voices feminine.

"Oh yeah, we sure did," the second of the trio giggled, pulling out random amounts of Poké or rare, valuable items.

The third one dug in the other bag, pulling out Spoink's pink pearl. "And nabbing that clumsy Spoink's pearl was way too easy. Too bad we couldn't have roughed him up more because of that town."

"Us Dark-types are completely immune to Psychic-types. Easy targets for us," the first one gloated.

"You don't think we'll get in trouble running into that Riolu, will we?" the second one asked.

The Purrloin let out a perturbed hiss at the mention of the Pokemon they rammed through. "I can't stand dogs," the third one grumbled. "And it's bad enough they're Fighting-types."

"Let's just worry about getting our goods to the boss before someone finally realizes their stuff is gone," the first Purrloin said, the other two nodding in agreement.

As they put all their loot back in their sacks, their ears twitched when they heard fast footsteps coming down the road. Peeking through the brush, they waited for the Pokemon to pass, then get going when the coast was clear. Down the road, Scott grunted as he sprinted down the road, following the footprints the Purrloin left. He skid to a halt as the trail ended, letting out an annoyed huff as he looked around the forest the path split down.

"Drat. They must have gone into the woods," Scott mumbled. Humming, he closed his eyes and focused his aura, the hidden Purrloin watched the Riolu they knocked over back in town curiously, hoping he'd move along and search further down the road. Scott's dread-like appendages floated and stood straight out, focusing hard to expand his inner sight to see beyond the trees. He was able to see maybe twenty to thirty more yards from where he stood, but it should be enough to find the frisky felines if they're slinking in the underbrush. As he scanned his surroundings, he didn't need to search far as he spotted three brighter aura signatures among the faded glow of the plant life around him, and they took the shape of the familiar thieving cats he was searching for. Quickly snapping his eyes open, his appendages drooped back against his head as he crossed his paws across his chest and extended the metal stubs into claws. "Gotcha!"

Quickly shifting his feet, Scott dashed toward the bush, and with a swipe of his Metal Claw, he went through the leaves and skid to a halt with his arms held out. The bush was sliced apart, sparing the Purrloin and revealing them, letting out a shriek in surprise.

"Holy Tauros, that was fast!" the first of the trio exclaimed.

Scott turned around, his metal claws quickly turning back into stumps as he pointed to the thieving Purrloin. "You three cat burglars are in for it now!" he exclaimed. "Hand over your stolen goods and come quietly, or else you deal with Team Rescue Rangers!"

"A rescue team!?" the second Purrloin squeaked.

"We ran into a rescue Pokemon," the third one whimpered. "And it seems like this Riolu's the leader if he caught up with us."

As much as Scott wanted to gloat that he is one of the leaders, he had a job to do, and that was getting Spoink's pearl back. "I won't ask again. Turn yourselves in, or I'll make you."

Scott flexed his paws and crouched in a fighting stance. Having a type advantage against the Purrloin trio, he was going to put these thieves in their place, seeing they weren't going to comply.

"Yo, Scott! Wait for me!" Scott grimaced when the Purrloin turned around. Rainbow Dash swooped down, spotting the thieves and barely paying attention to the startled Riolu. "Aha! There you thieving rats are! Taste wind, kitties!"

Rainbow Dash used Gust, flapping her wings hard to create a powerful gale toward the Purrloin. The trio smirked, then dove away from the gale wind, now headed straight for Scott. Too flabbergasted by Rainbow's dumb sneak attack, the Gust attack struck him, making yell out in pain as he was flung back from the harsh winds, then smacking into a nearby tree with a grunt.

"Make a break for it!" the leader of the Purrloin trio said, then scattered into the woods to escape.

"Hey, get back here!" Rainbow called out. She was about to fly off after the Purrloin when she finally spotted Scott sitting against the tree. "Scott, what are you doing taking a break!?"

"That Gust you aimed at them hit me instead," Scott growled. He stood up, a bit shakily with a hiss after getting struck by a move that was one of his type's few weaknesses. "That really hurt."

"How are you that badly hurt from a small gust like that!?" Rainbow questioned.

"Fighting-types like me are weak to Psychic-, Fairy-, and Flying-type attacks!" Scott listed. "And when you come up to try to block them in, any attacks you fling at them could miss and hit whoever else is in front of you!"

Rainbow just stared blankly at the Riolu. "...Seriously? You're weak to birds?" she questioned skeptically.

"Yes! Did you even bother looking up what your strengths and weaknesses against another Pokemon are!?" Scott yelled angrily. "That's pretty important to know unless you want to get knocked out with one blow!"

"And you're weak to Flying attacks?" Rainbow questioned again.

Scott grumbled irritably, struggling to keep his cool despite having a vein pounding in his head in frustration. "You're reading up on type weaknesses again after this. Now shush. I need to concentrate." Scott calmed himself and focused his aura again to search for the Purrloin. Ignoring Rainbow Dash's unique aura signature, his aura view reached out, managing to spot one of the Purrloin not too far from where they stood, only for the aura to disappear into a cave. "Over this way."

Scott led Rainbow through the woods, carefully trekking through the bushes and around the trees. They soon came upon the cave where he saw the Purrloin flee into, unable to pick up anymore aura signatures inside.

"Nowhere to run now, you thieves!" Rainbow called out. "Come on out!"

"Wait, this...isn't a normal cave," Scott said. "It's not that deep going farther."

"So...what does that mean?" Rainbow asked.

"Find the others and guide them over here. I'll keep an eye out." Rainbow nodded, then flew off to find their other friends. Scott looked in the mouth of the cave, unable to see the back from the sun's lighting, and there was no sign of the Purrloin trio through his aura. "Oh, great. This isn't an ordinary cave, is it?"

A moment later, the others finally arrived, Spike panting as he ran out of breath no thanks to his stumpy limbs. "So...much...traveling," the Gible panted. "I-I...I gotta...get in more shape."

"Where did those Purrloin go?" Johann asked.

"Right here in this cave," Scott said.

"So we got them cornered?" Spike asked, then sighed in relief. "Good. No more running."

Johann stepped closer to the mouth of the cave, bringing his tail closer to illuminate the entrance a bit more. "Hmm...Doesn't look pretty deep."

"Except I can't sense their aura anymore," Scott said. Johann glanced at his friend as the Riolu nodded his head, already guessing what the Charmander was thinking. "I think this cave is a Mystery Dungeon."

"A Mystery Dungeon!?" the Equestrians exclaimed.

"How can you tell this is a Mystery Dungeon?" Twilight asked. "Are there signs? Markings? A strange magical force unexplained and only felt by certain Pokemon?"

"Well, considering my aura's still improving with the training I put myself through, if I concentrate enough, I can see the aura of every living creature in a wide area," Scott explained, peaking Twilight's curiosity. "I can see that look on your face. I can't see that far beyond where I stand, but if I were a Lucario, I could sense the aura of anything from miles away."

"Wow. That's impressive," Fluttershy mumbled.

"So...you can't 'see' those Purrloins' aura?" Rainbow questioned. "Can you only see two feet farther or what?"

Scott growled, giving the Starly a dirty look. "Far beyond your own eyesight," he said.

"What did you say!?" Rainbow exclaimed, diving down and butting her head against Scott's. "You still ticked that you were having a casual conversation with those Purrloin rather than knocking them out!?"

"I'm not just gonna attack like a wild Pokemon, and I would have easily handled them if you didn't intervene and waited for the others so we could corner them!" Scott argued. "And no thanks to your Gust attack, that missed them and hit me, so you gave them and any other Pokemon roaming inside that cave a bit of a handicap!"

The others were surprised by the confrontation they missed, and were shocked hearing Scott getting struck by Rainbow mistake with an attack that he was weak to. "Rainbow Dash, you can't just attack with any of your moves any time you feel like it." Johann said. "You could end up hurting your teammates if you're not careful."

"Fighting-types are weak to Flying-type attacks, too," Twilight added.

"Oh, come on! How does that make any sense!?" Rainbow exclaimed.

"We went over type advantages and disadvantages a while ago, Rainbow," Applejack scolded. "Strange as they may be, ya have to understand that. You're the only one out of us aside from Twilight who can really hurt him."

Rainbow grumbled, still questioning how Scott got that seriously injured by a harsh breeze made by her own wings. Fluttershy walked up to Scott, fretting over him to see if he was badly hurt.

"Fluttershy, I'm not that hurt," Scott assured the worried Buneary. "I'll live, but Rainbow Dash needs to calm down more than me."

"I just want to make sure you're not too hurt if you and Johann are leading us in that cave," Fluttershy said. "Do you need an Oran Berry? Those are the berries that heal you, right?"

"Yeah, but I can tough it out. If we run into those Purrloin, I've got the type advantage to take on Dark-type attacks," he said.

"Don't push yourself too hard or we won't have our ace against the Purrloin," Johann said to Scott. The Riolu nodded, ensuring his team that he wasn't going to be reckless this time. Not when they were about to jump into a Mystery Dungeon. "Ok, guys. Stay together. Who knows what other Pokemon will be roaming around in here."

Together, Team Rescue Rangers filed inside the cave, reaching a stairway in the back of the short cave leading down into the Mystery Dungeon. Once they reached the first floor of the cavern basement, the stairs behind them seemed to have vanished once the last of the group got off the final step. The room they were in was empty with a couple different pathways leading who knows where in the maze-like dungeon.

"Ok, where do we go from here?" Rarity asked.

"Hey, lookie!" Pinkie bounced over to a corner of the room, grabbing some Poké sitting on the ground. "I found some money!...Uhh, we can take it, right?"

"Anything in a Mystery Dungeon is up for grabs," Scott said. "Berries, seeds, accessories, Poké, anyone and everyone can take it."

"Oh, goodie!" Pinkie picked up the Poké with her tail, then hopped back over to Johann to place their free money inside for safekeeping. "More cash for a bash!"

"Just don't wander off too far," Johann warned. "I'm not sure if this dungeon has any, but Mystery Dungeons can sometimes have floor traps that can hurt or disorient us."

"Heh. Lucky for me, I can just hover over the traps," Rainbow gloated.

"They affect every Pokemon, even those who can fly, float, or hover off the ground," Scott mentioned drolly. Rainbow leered at the Riolu with a growl. "That's what we've heard about these Mystery Dungeons. Take the advice or ignore it, but don't come crying to us if you set one off in the future."

"Pth. No dumb trap's gonna stop me," Rainbow muttered.

"Hey, who's over there!?" Down one of the halls came a Pokemon who spotted them. The group turned to face another feline Pokemon, though this one seemed to look like a smaller version of Persian. Similar white fur and a curled tail-tip, but he had a bit of brown fur on his hind legs and the tip of his tail. He stood on his hind legs rather than on all fours like Rarity, Persian, or the Purrloin, four whiskers on his cheeks with two on his head next to its ears, and instead of a red jewel on his forehead, a big gold coin takes its place in the center of his forehead. The Pokemon's big eyes eyed the group, then at their toolbox and Scott and Johann's rescue badges, his charm glinting for a second upon glancing at the box holding their supplies. "Oh. What do we have here? Some rescue team twoips invading the Cat's Den?"

"The Cat's Den?" Rarity asked.

"The name of this here dungeon, toots," the feline said with a shrug. "You're a Skitty. You should know about this place since a lot of cat Pokemon love this place. Myself included."

"More cat Pokemon?" Fluttershy asked, her eyes gleaming with curiosity. "And this one's so cute!"

"What Pokemon is he?" Spike asked.

Twilight took out the very handy Pokedex, opened it, and pointed it at the cat Pokemon. "Meowth. The Scratch Cat Pokemon. A Normal-type. When Meowth encounters something shiny, the charm on its forehead gleams."

"A Meowth, huh?" Twilight uttered. She looked up from the image of the feline Pokemon to the one standing before them. "He almost looks like Persian from the Felicity Bank. Are you related to Persian from Pokemon Square?"

Meowth's ears twitched as his scowl deepened. "No. Persian is what I'll evolve into," he explained. "And I ain't related to no Persian you know of, nor do I want anything to do with those prissy, stuck up cats!"

Taken aback by Meowth's outburst, the rescue team glanced at each other quizzically. "Wait, can Pokemon choose not to evolve?" Twilight asked.

"Its not rare for pre-evolved Pokemon to stay the way they are, but most of them stay that way because some a bit faster than their evolutions, or they learn different moves while training than what they can learn after evolving," Johann explained.

"And he doesn't want to associate with Persians," Scott added. "I can see why with how stingy Persian back in town acts."

Fluttershy began walking toward Meowth, seeing he didn't attack them right away and was probably friendly. "Have you seen three Purrloin run through here?" she asked. "They stole a pearl from a Spoink, and we're here to take it back from them."

"There's lots of Purrloin that run around here," Meowth said. "And with how random these Mystery Dungeons can be, I might not have seen the trio you're hunting down." Fluttershy looked a little disappointed, but she understood considering the explanation about Mystery Dungeons Scott and Johann gave them. "Oh, and by the way, little Buneary-" Meowth smirked, held up his front paws, and unsheathed his claws. "-don't trust any Pokemon you run into in a Mystery Dungeon!"

Meowth yelled and lunged forward with his claws slashing. Fluttershy squeaked and quickly hopped away, avoiding Meowth's Scratch attack and regrouping with her friends.

"Hey, that's not very nice!" Pinkie shrieked.

"I don't play nice, you fluffy puffball!" Meowth said, then charged forward for another Scratch attack.

Scott quickly jumped in, using Metal Claw to block Meowth's claws from harming his friends. "Neither do we, cat!" he said, then let out a grunt and slashed back.

Meowth was knocked back with the sound of something getting sliced through. Meowth growled and held up his claws for another scratch, only to have one set of claws falling off his digits. Glancing at the broken claws, Meowth yowled in pain, hopping around while clutching his hurt paw with tears in his eyes.

"Ahhhh! My poor claws!" he whined while Scott smirked, showing off his tougher, metallic claws. Meowth glared at the Riolu angrily. "You're gonna pay for that, twoip!" Sheathing his other paw's claws, Meowth brought his arms across his face, his coin charm gleaming brightly before swinging his arms down, unleashing a barrage of coins similar coins appearing around him and flung toward the Riolu. "Eat Pay Day, twoip!"

Scott quickly brought his paws up to block the attack, grunting slightly from the coins smacking him and scattering across the ground. The coins changed to Poké once the ones that hit Scott hit the ground.

"Hey, more free money!" Pinkie pointed out.

"That's what Pay Day does; not a strong attack, but it can help get you change in a pinch," Johann explained.

"If Meowth knows that, then how come the Persian in town doesn't use it all the time to get all the money he needs?" Applejack asked.

Johann shrugged his shoulders in response. "I don't know if we should ask him."

Meowth laughed as his attack hit Scott. "How's about that, kid? Cowering at my strength?" he mocked, even though Scott was barely phased. "Now, be a good little bunch of twoips and hand over what other goodies you got in that toolbox before I really put the hurt on ya?"

"Is he joking?" Rainbow asked. "Scott cleaved off some of his claws."

Scott grunted with an amused smirk. In the blink of an eye, he used Quick Attack, startling Meowth as he shortened the distance between them. Before the feline could react, Scott yelled and gave Meowth a swift roundhouse kick against the side of his head. Meowth grunted, sent flying from the much stronger Fighting-type's kick until he smacked into the wall in a daze. Slinking against the wall, Meowth groaned as his eyes spun, easily beaten despite his threats. While Scott dusted off his paws, Pinkie bounced around and gathered up the Poké from Meowth's Pay Day.

"So much for that wannabe cat burglar," Scott said.

Even though Scott was highly confident in his fighting prowess, the others could see his legs shaking a little, still feeling banged up from Rainbow's Gust attack. "How about I take the lead for now, Scott?" Johann suggested.

"What? I'm good. Lots of the cat Pokemon are weak to my type," Scott argued.

"And you already took a hit from an accidental attack from Rainbow Dash and just got struck with Pay Day," the Charmander countered. "You may be tough, but you're not invincible."

"And if you get knocked out, then we lose our ace against the Purrloin since Dark-types are weak to Fighting-types," Twilight added.

Scott grumbled, but he could see neither of his friends were going to back down from his own arguments to push himself to get stronger. Sighing in defeat, he nodded his head. Johann decided to take the lead and picked a direction before handing the toolbox to Twilight since her Confusion attack won't do much if they run into any other Purrloin that Meowth had mentioned. Scott took the rear, forced to recover from his prior injuries, but he can keep watch in case they end up getting ambushed. He didn't like being the backup against Pokemon he could easily trounce with one move, but he was going to keep his mind open to letting the team come up with better decisions and not jump the Sharpedo with his own choices that'll knock him out faster than he can say, "Oops."

The caverns were like a labyrinth, corridors twisting around corners to either wind up in another room or, at worse, a dead end. Luckily, there weren't many that they found as the group traversed into big, opened rooms, some of them with some useful items to keep on their trek. And just like Meowth said, the Cat's Den had mostly feline Pokemon roaming around: Purrloin, Skitty, Meowth, and two other Pokemon the Equestrians have never seen before. One was a Shinx, small, blue and black-furred Electric-type cubs with tufts of fur on their heads and smaller tufts on their cheeks, yellow eyes, yellow fur-bands around their forepaws, yellow star-shaped markings in their ears, a tiny red nose, and a long tail with a yellow star-shaped tip. The other was a Glameow, slender, gray Normal-type cats with crescent-shaped heads with white-tipped ears, a white muzzle, small black nose, pink eyelids, yellow eyes with blue irises, two rows of thin whiskers, white paws, fringes of fur on their necks and legs, and a curled, spring-like tail with a white, fluffy tip. Scott and Johann had to keep Fluttershy from trying to cuddle with the Shinx whenever they bumped into one, finding them adorable and like baby lion cubs, only with electrical shocks sparking from their fur and could shock anyone with strong Electric attacks.

There were only a few floors in this Mystery Dungeon, though it was hard to tell how far they've gone with each new floor looking similar to the last, just with a different maze layout. And the stairs they took to descend when they found them on the previous floor seemed to disappear, trapping them on that floor until they found the stairs to the next. They found some more Poké in piles on the ground, a few assortments of berries, and some clumps of Gravelrock to fling at distant foes to catch their attention or batter them up for an easy victory.

Johann used Ember to knock out a Shinx that was blocking their way into the next room where the next staircase was located. "Oh, I feel so bad for all the poor Shinx we have to fight," Fluttershy whimpered.

"You don't feel bad for the other Skitty, Meowth, or Glameow we ran into earlier?" Rainbow questioned.

"Oh no, I do, but Shinx are just too cute," Fluttershy gushed.

"At least we can tell Rarity apart from the other Skitty thanks to our cutie marks," Pinkie mentioned. "Otherwise, we would have accidentally attacked her if we got surrounded."

"All the better for us to have our own bandannas to tell us apart," Rarity said. "Maybe with enough Poké from this dungeon, I can buy some sewing supplies and make our own." She then looked down at her paws as she walked, letting out a small grumble. "Without my magic, I'll have to figure out how to sew with my hooves alone. Er, paws."

"Uhh, I-I can help with the sewing, Rarity," Spike said to Rarity, flexing his claws on his tiny arms.

"Oh, thank you, Spikey-wikey, but if there's a challenge in fashion, I won't back down from it," Rarity said. Scott snickered as he heard Spike's pet name Rarity gave him, and the Gible was too infatuated with the Skitty to hear him or pay attention to anything but her. "But I do appreciate the help, Spike."

"Anything for you, Rarity," Spike sighed with a goofy grin.

"Oh, jeeze," Scott mumbled with a shake of his head. "What does he see in her?" They soon found the next staircase and headed down, finally reaching what appeared to be the lowest floor of the Mystery Dungeon. There was only one passage leading further ahead and no more split paths or winding trails. Halfway through the corridor, everyone paused when they heard voices come from the room up ahead. "Sounds like our thieves are just ahead."

Sneaking quietly to avoid getting spotted, they inched closer to spy on the three feline perps. They watched the Purrloin gathering their spoils in a pile, Spoink's pearl sitting on the top of the Poké, gems, and jewelry or really expensive-looking accessories. Along with the Purrloin was another feline Pokemon, though it was much bigger. Similar purple fur, but the cream yellow fur was a bit darker than the Purrloins', and had speckled yellow rosettes along its purple fur. The pink around its eyes looked like a mask, and it had two pairs of long whiskers.

"Quite a nice haul you girls acquired today," the Pokemon said, which happened to be male. One of his paws reached for the pink pearl, letting out a curious hum as he picked it up and examined it. "And this...Oh, my. A pink pearl. How did you three manage to get one of these?"

"We 'borrowed' it from a Spoink we accidentally 'bumped' into," the leader of the trio answered, followed by them snickering impishly.

The bigger Pokemon smirked, setting Spoink's pearl back down on the pile. "How very kind of this Spoink for chipping into our charity," he said with a chuckle. "At this rate, we'll be able to get out of this cave and live in the lap of luxury in a huge manor far from this continent and these natural disasters destroying it."

With Johann's tail glowing and could give away their position, Scott moved a bit closer while staying in the shadows to investigate. He watched the thieving group gather today's stolen goods and place it in a bigger pile in a corner of the room with a few hay beds.

"No way. How much money did these guys steal?" Scott uttered to himself. "They must have robbed other Pokemon right under their noses." He snuck back to his friends to relay what he saw. "Those Purrloin are led by a Liepard, and they have a whole lot more treasures they nicked from other Pokemon back in town."

"A Liepard?" Spike asked.

"They're the evolved form of Purrloin, and that's already bad news if a stronger Pokemon's leading them," Johann said.

"And they're no good, rotten thieves," Pinkie grumbled. "No good, rotten thieves don't get any cupcakes. Ever!"

"Let's take back the stuff they stole and kick their flanks into next week!" Rainbow said, but Scott quickly grabbed her by the tail feathers, making her yelp as she was yanked down to the ground. "Hey! What are you doing!?"

"You ever hear of being stealthy?" Scott questioned. "You don't plan anything in advance, do you?"

"Why does everypony keep going for my tail?" Rainbow grumbled.

"Because you're acting like Scott and jumping in without a plan," Twilight said.

"Yeah," Scott agreed. He then leered irritably with a grumble before slowly turning to face Twilight. "Hey, I take offense to that."

"If ya know Rainbow long enough, she pulls these kinds of stunts all the time," Applejack said.

"We need to figure out how to beat them," Johann said. "There's no way they can escape that easily with all the stuff they stole, and they'll more than likely fight us to keep all of it. We'll need to split the Liepard up from the Purrloin and take them out in different groups."

"Well, we're unfortunately down to nine Pokemon with Twilight's Confusion attack useless against Dark-types," Scott mentioned. "But...Ralts are also part Fairy-type, too, and they have moves that can really hurt Dark-types. Don't you know Disarming Voice, Twilight?"

"I'm still learning how to just use my Psychic powers. I haven't had the chance to try using a move like that," Twilight said.

"Then I guess Twilight will stay back and offer support with the stuff we found in the dungeon," Johann suggested, to which Twilight agreed with a nod as she pulled out a small stack of Gravelrocks they gathered. "Pinkie should have gotten strong enough to learn a Fairy-type move while we traveled through the dungeon."

"I did?" Pinkie asked curiously.

Twilight pulled out the Pokedex and looked over Swirlix's data, looking over its moves that it can learn. "There's a Fairy-type attack Swirlix can learn called Fairy Wind."

"Oooh. Sounds pretty," the Swirlix said. "I can give that a try!...If I can figure out how to make fairy wind."

"So I guess it's more up to me, even though I don't know any Fighting-type moves just yet," Scott said. "Johann and I will take on Liepard while the rest of you can handle the Purrloin."

"Yeah. The two of us more experienced fighters against the leader sounds reasonable enough," Johann agreed. "If you guys are ready, let's-"

"HEY! THIEVES!" Everyone balked when they heard Rainbow shout. Scott had let go of the Starly while discussing their plan of attack, and she flew on ahead, bored and itching for a fight. "We got a bone to pick with you!"

"Darn it, Rainbow Dash," Twilight growled.

The rest of the team quickly ran down the hall, finding the Purrloin and Liepard already alerted to Rainbow's presence and now spotting them joining the Starly. "Nyah! It's that Riolu!" one of the Purrloin exclaimed as she pointed at Scott.

"And he's brought friends," the second Purrloin added.

"Hay yeah, we do!" Rainbow said.

"We're not talking about you, you dumb Starly," the third Purrloin said, making Rainbow growl in irritation.

"What'd you call me!?" Rainbow shouted, but Twilight held her brash friend back with Confusion.

"Can it, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack said. "Ya can't go rushin' in when we don't know what these cats can do!"

"And let them try to run off with all the loot they stole!? Like hay I'm gonna just sit still when we're trying to stop evil Pokemon like them!" Rainbow argued.

Liepard chuckled at the dysfunctional group of young rescue Pokemon. "How amusing," Liepard said, then glanced down at his three lackies. "Were you three followed by these children?"

"I kinda thought we lost the Riolu and Starly, but we were pretty close to the Cat's Den before losing them," the first Purrloin answered.

"No matter. Even with their large group, they won't stand a chance," Liepard said. He and the Purrloin trio glanced back to the bickering rescue team, most of them berating Rainbow Dash as she continued arguing back with everyone about making plans before the bad guys could get away. "Let's kick these miscreant runts out of here."

The Purrloin smirked as all four feline Pokemon crouched down. They then lunged forward simultaneously, in sync with each other like a proper team. Fluttershy's drooped ear quickly sprang up as she heard the thieves' footsteps, then quickly looked toward them.

"AHH! Look out!" she shrieked, getting everyone's attention as they turned toward them.

They didn't have time to react. Liepard, leading the pack, quickly jumped over the group, distracting them as the Purrloin moved closer. The trio jumped at them, stopping mere inches from them, then clapped their front paws together simultaneously, unleashing a shockwave that sent the group flying back into Liepard. Everyone cringed in surprise aside from Scott, leaving the others to get rammed by the bigger feline and sent tumbling into a heap between the thieving group while the Riolu jumped away. The group groaned as they struggled to get up, still caught off guard by the Purrloins' strange attack.

"Ugh. Ow. What was that?" Spike asked.

"They just...clapped? And it hurt us?" Applejack questioned.

"Fake Out," Johann grunted. "Only useful on a Pokemon's first turn in a fight. It's weak, but it can make us flinch."

Rainbow looked up, finding Scott the only one of them who was still standing as he faced down Liepard. "Why's Scott not crumpled in the pile with us?"

The Purrloin were just as baffled when their combined Fake Out attacks failed to make Scott flinch. "Heh. Thank you, Inner Focus," Scott said with a cocky smirk.

"Inner what?" Rarity asked. "Is that a move?"

"An ability," Johann explained, getting back up on his feet as he and the others slowly recovered from the triple Fake Out. "He won't get affected by most moves that can make a Pokemon flinch."

"Lucky pup," Liepard uttered. "Shouldn't underestimate a Fighting-type like you."

"Then let me show you what else I've got." Scott charged Liepard with a Quick Attack, letting out a battle cry as he threw a punch at him.

Liepard leapt to the side to avoid Scott, then back away as he planted his feet against the wall and pushed off to continue pursuing the purple feline. Scott kept the leader split from his Purrloin followers, exactly how they intended before Rainbow nearly messed their plan up, letting Johann handle them until their other friends recovered. While keeping Liepard distracted, Johann used Ember to keep the Purrloin back as they tried to rush them and swipe their claws at them. It didn't take long for the Equestrians to get back on their feet, ready to fight back, although Twilight was completely helpless with Confusion as her only attack move while they were facing Dark-types.

"You guys ok now?" Johann asked.

"Yeah. At least that's only going to happen once, right?" Twilight asked.

"We've still got more tricks up our sleeves!" one Purrloin said.

Pinkie began to giggle at the Purrloin's statement. "But you guys don't have sleeves. Or pants, or even scarves like Scotty and Johnny. OOH! Maybe Rarity can make you some if you turn yourselves-"

While Pinkie was going on a tangent, the Purrloin charged forward, one heading straight for the Swirlix and tried to scratch her with her claws. Pinkie squealed and hopped away from one as the other two attacked the others. One headed straight for Twilight, but Rainbow sideswiped the Purrloin, ramming into the Dark-type hard with a swift Tackle.

"Trick this, you thief!" Rainbow shouted, then blew the Purrloin back with Gust.

"Yeah, I think you guys got this," Johann said, leaving their friends to handle the Purrloin while he ran over to where Scott and Liepard were fighting to help his partner.

Scott and Liepard continued dashing across their half of the room, each one avoiding the other's lunges and respective claws. Liepard tried to scratch Scott with Fury Swipes, but the limber Riolu leapt and vaulted backwards. "You're quite agile, little pup," Liepard complimented, but Scott didn't get the chance to reply with a snarky comeback. Liepard suddenly dashed forward, leaving behind a splitting afterimage before reappearing as he rams into the Riolu hard. Scott grunted as he was pushed back, startled more by the Feint Attack than the weak amount of damage it dealt with his strength against Dark-type attacks, then was pounced and pinned down by the big feline Pokemon. "But it's not enough for the likes of me."

Liepard was blindsided by Johann's Ember attack, hissing in pain as he leapt off of Scott. Johann ran up to his friend, helping him back on his feet.

"Luckily, I've got a great partner backing me up," Scott said, brushing the dirt off his fur. Liepard stared down the two young Pokemon, ignoring the slightly singed fur on his side. "You're in for it now, Liepard. Johann, let's give him a real burn with your Flamethrower."

Johann nodded, then took in a deep breath. Liepard crouched, preparing to dodge the incoming fire breath. Johann exhaled heavily, only for a puff of smoke to escape his opened maw. The three Pokemon stood silently, ignoring the background fight between the Equestrians and Purrloin trio as they processed what happened. Scott's confidence quickly waned as sweat began to bead down the back of his and his friend's heads.

"...Uhh..." Johann grimaced, trying again to use Flamethrower, but he kept exhaling puffs of smoke.

Liepard smirked in amusement, relaxing his stance as he watched the Charmander struggle to breathe a blast of fire. "Uhh, Johann, I said Flamethrower, not a pitiful Smokescreen," Scott grumbled nervously.

"I-I'm trying!" Johann said with another smokey breath, getting more anxious with each failed attempt. "I-I don't know why I can't!"

"You did it before with that Snorlax!" Scott exclaimed. "And you know the move when you still kept Ember! How can you NOT use it!?"

"I said I don't know!" Johann exclaimed right back, getting more frustrated and began trembling.

Before Scott could try to figure out what gave his friend such a strange case of stage fright, Liepard dashed toward them, quickly spinning and smacking Scott back with his tail, sending him tumbling away, then faced Johann. "A Charmander who can't use Flamethrower. You children really are in over your heads, aren't you?" Johann tried to steel his nerves and tried using Flamethrower again, but he just kept blowing out smoke. Liepard chuckled in response to the Charmander's attempts to burn him, then slapped him away with his paw, sending Johann to the ground. "Veteran rescuers will let any child be a part of a rescue team nowadays."

Scott yelled and rammed into Liepard with Quick Attack, pushing the Pokemon away from his friend. "We'll show you we have what it takes to be rescue Pokemon!"

Liepard hissed, retaliating as the feline and canine Pokemon went back to their speedy duel. Johann got back up, shaking his head from the smack, composing himself before jumping back in, using Ember instead of Flamethrower to avoid embarrassing himself and disappointing his friend. On the other side of the room, the remaining team members from thieves and rescue team were going at it in different groups: Rarity and Spike facing one Purrloin, Rainbow Dash with the second, Pinkie and Applejack with the third, and Twilight and Fluttershy on the sidelines to jump in if their friends need help, even though Twilight can't do much until she figures out how to use Disarming Voice.

While their friends fought, Twilight pulled out the Pokedex to get their opponents' entries in the little device if they ever run into anymore of these Pokemon. "Purrloin, the Devious Pokemon. A Dark-type. Purrloin fools people into letting their guard down so it can steal their possessions. When angered, it uses its claws to fight back." Twilight looked up, watching Pinkie bouncing around and distracting hers and Applejack's Purrloin, giving the Yamper an opportunity to zap the cat Pokemon with Nuzzle. Rainbow was flying circles around her opponent on her own, and Rarity and Spike double Tackled their Purrloin, sandwiching the Purrloin and knocking the wind out of her. She then focused on Scott and Johann and their fight with Liepard, though they seemed to be having a bit of trouble with the evolved Pokemon. "Liepard, the Cruel Pokemon and the evolved form of Purrloin. A Dark-type. Well-known for its beauty, Liepard uses the element of surprise when battling opponents, attacking before they react."

"Liepard's pretty strong," Twilight noted. "Fairy and Fighting-type moves could do so much more damage, but I have no idea how to use Disarming Voice."

"Twilight, does that also show what moves Pokemon can use?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

"I'm not sure. Maybe it does." Twilight scrolled through the Pokedex, accessing Ralts's information, and as luck would have it, it showed what moves it can learn. "Huh? Disarming Voice is one of the first moves a Ralts can learn? I had an attack before Confusion???"

"Maybe you can use it," Fluttershy said. "How does it work?"

"It says, 'Letting out a charming cry, the user does emotional damage to opposing Pokemon. This attack never misses.'" Twilight read aloud. "So, do I just...scream?"

"Twilight, Fluttershy, look out!" Rainbow called out.

Looking up from the Pokedex, Fluttershy and Twilight yelled in surprise as the Purrloin Rainbow faced slipped from the fast Starly and charged straight for them. Fluttershy bounced away with her powerful legs, but Twilight wasn't so lucky. The Purrloin rammed into her and pinned the Ralts down, noticing the Pokedex she had in her hand.

"Ooh. What's that?" the Purrloin asked. "Must be pretty expensive. Hope you don't mind if we add it to our haul after we knock you rescue team wannabes out."

Purrloin raised her paw, ready to strike, but Twilight wasn't going to let this thieving Pokemon take away something that can hold vast information on the species of this world. "Hope this works. Disarming Voice!"

Taking in a quick breath, Twilight let out a harmonizing wail, releasing a pink aura wave with different music notes and hearts flowing within the aura. The song-like soundwave hit the Purrloin point blank, making her yowl in pain as she was flung off the Ralts. Purrloin hit the ground with a painful grunt, damaged severely by the super effective type. The other two Purrloin heard their friend getting hurt, quickly running from their foes to help her up.

"Hey, get back here! You can't run away from this battle!" Pinkie exclaimed. She hopped after them, only for one of them to hiss at the Swirlix and swipe at her with her claws. "Eek! Hey, make up your mind! Oooh, you kitty cats are making me so angry, I could just-!" Wagging her tail wildly in frustration, Pinkie began to unintentionally pick up a strange, sparkling dust around her. Pinkie then flipped and let out a yell, blowing the dust at the Purrloin. The trio yelled in pain as they were struck by her Fairy Wind, all three of them sent tumbling away from the sparkling wind attack. Pinkie blinked, then looked at her tail with a big grin on her face. "Hey! I think I did my Fairy Wind attack thingie! I didn't need to blow any wind at all; just with my tail!"

"Well, ya finished them off," Applejack mentioned as she pointed her paw to the downed Purrloin, each of them groaning in agony while slumped in a pile. "That Fairy Wind did a number on them."

With the Purrloin defeated, the girls and Spike quickly ran up to Twilight, Fluttershy quickly helping the unicorn-turned-Ralts back on her feet. "Are you ok, Twilight? I'm so sorry. I should have fought back."

"I'm fine. I just can't believe I figured out how to use that move," Twilight said.

"At least we're all ok," Spike said. The Equestrians winced when they heard Scott yell as he was bashed hard by Liepard, turning in time to watch the Riolu rolling into the thieves' hoard of stolen treasures. The Poké, gems, and other assortment of shiny, expensive currency and accessories buried the Riolu as he let out a groan. "Uhh, I completely forgot about the Liepard."

Johann struggled to keep up with Liepard, avoiding the feline's sharp claws, only to lose sight of him when he used Feint Attack. As soon as Liepard reappeared, he slammed into Johann and knocked him on his back with a thud. The Charmander crawled back, blowing out smoke as he desperately tried to use Flamethrower as Liepard prowled toward the Fire-type.

"What's Johann doing? Why's he blowing out smoke?" Rarity questioned.

"Oh no. Did he lose his ability to breathe fire?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.

"We gotta help him! Come on, guys!" Rainbow flew off, dive bombing onto the Liepard with her talons.

Liepard roared, swatting away the Starly while she continued to pester and distract him from Johann. "We'll keep him away from Johann!" Applejack said. "Twilight, Fluttershy, help Scott!"

The Ralts and Buneary nodded, racing off to help Scott while the others charged in to attack Liepard. Scott was already trying to pull himself out of the treasure pile, grunting in effort to climb out. Twilight and Fluttershy helped dig him out, grabbing one of his arms and pulled him out. From the pile, Spoink's pearl rolled down, bumping into Fluttershy's foot. She picked up the pink pearl, making sure to keep it safe and return it to Spoink.

"Ugh. Who let the Tauros out of their pen?" Scott mumbled, holding his hand with one paw, but clutched a disc he grabbed while pulling himself out of the treasure pile.

"If a Tauros is some sort of bull, I think they would make much more of a mess," Fluttershy said.

Twilight dug into the toolbox, pulling out an Oran Berry, then used her Confusion to split the berry in half, keeping the other for Johann after getting him to safety. "Open wide," Twilight said, plopping the one half for the dazes Riolu into his mouth. The moment he bit down on the berry, he quickly chewed it up and swallowed, feeling more energized with a sigh of relief. "Why do you have a knack for getting knocked out of the loop?"

"That Liepard's stronger than he looks," Scott said.

"Don't you know any Fighting-type moves to help you?" Fluttershy asked.

"Er...not at my current strength," he admitted bashfully. He was about to rub the back of his head, only to grimace when he bumped the disc against his noggin. "Hmm? What the heck am I...?" Scott looked at the disc, never realizing he grabbed a TM buried under all the treasure while struggling to free himself. "They even stole TMs, too? Why these if they can't use whatever moves they hold?"

"Maybe to sell for a quick bit," Twilight said. "What's even on it?"

"Not a...clue..." As Scott stared at the reflective side of the disc, he trailed off when he felt something strange coming from the TM.

It was odd, but whatever move was contained inside, he seemed to understand how it's done. He didn't know how these discs granted other Pokemon moves they couldn't learn through training, but the reflective side shimmered, making him gasp as the move within it was instantly given to him. The reflection faded away, leaving the TM empty. A few seconds of silence passed before Scott slowly lifted his paws, feeling the new move it gave him flowing through him.

"Scott? Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked, feeling worried as she and Twilight noticed the Riolu staring into space.

Their attention was soon brought back their friends' fight with Liepard, hearing the girls and Spike grunting as Liepard used Feint Attack on them all to scatter them away. "I'm starting to get really annoyed by you pests!" Liepard snarled. He faced Scott, Twilight, and Fluttershy, only for his eyes to widen in shock when he spotted the TM that was in the Riolu's paw. "That TM...You didn't...?"

Scott smirked, dropping the empty TM, then clenched his paws. "I did," he said. "Thanks for tossing me into your hoard. I really needed that." Suddenly, a small gust of wind began to billow around him, startling Fluttershy and Twilight as they backed away from him. The wind was a light blue as it swirled around him and to his outstretched paws. Bringing them together, they began to form a small sphere of wind. "Might not be an Aura Sphere, but this'll be good practice for when I learn it."

"No you don't!" Liepard shouted, using Feint Attack again to reach the Riolu.

Anticipating his attacking, Scott leapt back, pulling one of his arms back, which now carried the sphere of wind alone. "Vacuum Wave!" he shouted, then thrust his arm toward Liepard.

A swirling gust of wind shot out from his paw, flying swiftly at the stunned Liepard. The beam of wind struck, making the feline yell out in pain from the super effective attack as he was knocked back hard. Crashing to the ground, Liepard grunted, but he wasn't down just yet. The others of the rescue team stared in awe as Scott smirked, flexing the digits on his paws after using Vacuum Wave for the first time.

"Wow. Was that some sort of Flying-type move?" Rainbow asked. "Can I do that?"

While the others were relieved to see Scott learning a powerful move from the TM he luckily snagged from the thieving felines, Johann stared at his friend, looking heavily disappointed; not at his friend, but at himself. Lost in his thoughts, he was snapped back to reality when Fluttershy helped him back up on his feet, giving him the other half of the Oran Berry Twilight split. Johann silently nodded his head, taking the berry half and slowly chewed on it. The others regrouped with Scott, Twilight, and Fluttershy, the Riolu looking at Twilight with a wink and flexing his arm.

"I think I found the perfect starting Fighting-type move," he gloated, disappointed Rainbow Dash after hearing what type Vacuum Wave was.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Don't get too carried away, now."

"How is that a Fighting move!? It uses wind! Air!" Rainbow complained, only to groan in frustration. "Ugh, I give up. I'm just gonna have to go along with however anything in this world works and stop questioning things."

"Hey, just like me!" Pinkie chimed in. They all heard Liepard groan as he shakily tried to stand up. "Uh oh. He's still up."

"Then let's end this with a triple finish," Scott suggested, glancing at Twilight and Pinkie. Both Pokemon grinned confidently, nodding to the Riolu, then stepped forward to deal a triple finishing blow to the leader of the thieving Pokemon. "Let's go, girls!"

"Disarming Voice!"

"Fairy Wind!"

"Vacuum Wave!"

All three attacks fired simultaneously toward Liepard, the swirling vortex beam flying through the pink soundwave while spiraling the sparkling fairy dust inside. Liepard looked up, bracing himself as he couldn't muster the strength to dive out of the way. The triple attack struck him as he let out a yell in pain and sent flying back across the room. Liepard crashed into the wall, then fell forward, his eyes swirling as he was knocked out and finally beaten. Waiting a few seconds to be sure that he wasn't going to get back up, Pinkie cheered and bounced around in victory.

"Yay! We did it! We did it! Oh yeah, yeah, yeah!" the Swirlix chanted.

"That was quite a beautiful combination," Rarity said. "Ooh, if I had some sewing supplies, I've got enough inspiration to make some fabulous new dresses!"

"I'd call this a job well done," Scott said as he grabbed his rescue team badge. "Let's call in Magnezone to haul these cat burglars away and give back all the stolen goods to everyone they robbed."

Scott's badge began to glow, teleporting every single Pokemon in the room out of the Cat's Den, including the treasures Liepard and the Purrloin trio stole.





The rescue team made their way back to Pokemon Square after the criminals were apprehended. Magnezone was summoned by Scott's and Johann's badges, taking away the thieves along with the stolen money and items to return to their rightful owners while they kept Spoink's pearl to give back to him. They found Spoink in the center of town, hopping back and forth worriedly about his stolen pearl.

"Hey, Spoink!" Scott called out, getting the Psychic-type pig's attention. "Good news! We caught the frisky felines and their leader at their hideout!"

"Oh? Is...Is that all?" Spoink asked nervously, fearing there would be bad news.

Thankfully for Spoink, Fluttershy walked up to him, and she was holding his stolen pearl. "We got your pearl back, too," she said.

"Ahh! Oh, thank you!" Spoink squealed with glee. He bounced up to the Buneary, then lowered his head to let her place the pearl atop his head. Spoink laughed joyously and hopped in place with his tiny arms against his head. "I never thought I'd get it back! Thank you again...uhh, I don't think I got the name of your team."

"We're Team Rescue Rangers," Scott said.

"Rescue Rangers. Sounds fitting for a big group like you!" Spoink complimented. After calming down from getting his important possession back, Spoink pulled out a few seeds. "I don't really have much on me besides these Blast Seeds. I hope this might be enough for a reward for all your hard work?"

Scott chuckled and rubbed his snout cheekily in response. "Just happy to help, but if you insist, I guess those might come in handy to surprise our foes. Right, Johann?" Looking to the Charmander for his approval, along with everyone else, Scott's grin faded as he noticed his friend looked miserable. It was starting to get frustrating for the Riolu to not notice the change in his friend's mood, especially through his aura. "Johann?"

"Huh?" Snapping out of his daze, Johann noticed everyone was staring at him. "Uhh...Y-Yeah. That's...that's fine," he said, trying to give a reassuring grin, but he wasn't fooling his teammates.

Spoink gave the Blast Seeds to Fluttershy, thinking everything was fine with the Charmander. "If I ever need help with anything, I know who to come to first!"

Spoink bounced off on his merry way after waving goodbye to Team Rescue Rangers. "So, we got dumb seeds as a reward," Rainbow mumbled.

"Blast Seeds cause an explosion when thrown at someone. Or, if you munch on it, you can literally blow the blast in their face," Scott said. Fluttershy squeaked at the explanation as the Equestrians looked panicked, the Buneary carefully and slowly placing the seeds in the toolbox that Twilight still carried. Scott laughed at everyone's cautious reaction. "They're not gonna blow up if you drop them. It takes a lot of effort for those things to blow up on anyone."

"Still ain't a good idea carryin' somethin' that's like a bomb waitin' to go off," Applejack chided.

"At least we got something out of chasing and fighting those Pokemon," Twilight said.

"And to celebrate on a mission success, berry smoothies on me!" Scott said.

"Yay!" Pinkie and Spike cheered while the girls all voiced their agreements on their reward for the hard work they did today.

"You guys head back to the base while Johann and I get the smoothies." The Equestrians nodded, then headed back to the base while wondering how good the berries in this world would taste in a blended beverage. As soon as their friends were out of sight, Scott draped his arm around Johann's shoulders, casually guiding him to the town's malt shop. "You know, when I mentioned berry smoothies, I thought you'd be the first to jump at the chance to get the first one. You're addicted to those things."

"O-Oh...Uhh, I'm...not really all that thirsty," Johann uttered.

"You're upset again," Scott said, knowing full well his friend wouldn't turn down a berry smoothie. "Is it about what happened against Liepard? Your Flamethrower not coming out?" Johann stopped, making the Riolu stop as well. Releasing his friend, he gently patted the Charmander's back. "Hey, I may have sounded a bit miffed back there, but we were under a bit of pressure. And you know me; I always underestimate how good we are against some tough foes and get in over my head." Scott chuckled, trying to help assuage Johann's self-doubts, but he was still disappointed in his part against Liepard. "Maybe you choked? I put a lot of pressure on you and you got some stage fright or something."

"I wasn't afraid. I was ready to stop Liepard," Johann said, letting out a depressed sigh. "I don't know why my Flamethrower failed. I kept trying and trying, but...it just didn't want to come out."

"Because you're afraid you would have burnt any of us by mistake?" Scott asked, trying to find the answer. Johann shook his head in response. "Is it your ability and you afraid of going into a rage and hurting us?"

Johann shook his head harder, getting more frustrated with the questioning. "I don't know why! I just kept trying and looked stupid in front of Liepard!" he shouted, startling Scott. Panting slightly, Johann calmed his anger with a depressed sigh and turned away from Scott. "...I'm some co-leader. I let all of you down when you put all your faith in me. Without that Vacuum Wave TM you found in their hoard, we wouldn't have stood a chance..."

"Hey, come on, don't think that. We'll just keep on training and get better," Scott reassured. "If you get stronger, you'll use Flamethrower easily." Johann looked over his shoulder, feeling unsure about his friend's idea. "Let's just take it easy for now and get those smoothies. I'll buy you your favorite one, extra large size~."

Johann stared at the cheeky grin on his friend's face as he teased him with his favorite smoothie flavor. "...You're buying, you said?" he asked as he turned back around, crossing his arms against his chest. The Riolu nodded silently in response. "...With OUR team's Poké from our bank?"

"We made a lot from our other two jobs, and we'll probably get more if Liepard and his crew had a bounty," Scott reasoned.

Johann blankly stared at Scott, finally giving up the staring contest and walked past him, giving him a light punch in the arm. "Make it extra EXTRA large," he said.

Scott smirked and let out a chuckle before catching up with his friend. "Alright. But you're gonna be carrying that massive cup on your own. I've got eight other smoothies to take back, too."