//------------------------------// // Gold and Silver // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Over at Canterlot, early afternoon. "You want me as a teacher also?" Ash spoke. He and Pikachu were currently with Princess Celestia and Luna. Just outside of the classroom where Hollow was teaching. "Pika?" "Indeed. Like Hollow, you're also very knowledgable when it comes to Pokemon after all," said Celestia. "You're already a mentor to Twilight and everypony in Ponyville after all." "Hm...That's true." Ash nodded. "With the Pokemon School close to being completed, many young ponies from across Equestria are looking to improve themselves as trainers. We've only been using the old classroom Luna and I used to sit in when Star Swirl taught us both. It's not exactly a place for Pokemon. But that certainly is." Celestia opened up the curtains, revealing the almost complete Pokemon School. "Oooh..." Ash gazed at the sight of it. Even though it wasn't finished yet, he could already tell it would be something spectacular. "Pika..." "Once it's finished, foals will be flocking towards this school. And with the amount of them becoming trainers and some even aiming to either succeed in the Equestria League or the Pokemon Contests, they'll need someplace where they can all gather instead of this small classroom. Which also means that the number of teachers must increase. Hollow definitely cannot keep this up on this own." Luna explained. "He has been feeling burnt out lately. Coming from Johto to Canterlot for five days straight, teaching non-stop. Even with his break, he'll still end up tiring himself out. Some of his friends have already decided to become teachers here along with other humans who've caught wind of our school." Celestia replied. "Oh, I gotcha." Ash nodded. "As great as it sounds, I'm not sure I'm fit to be a Pokemon Teacher. I'm more of a mentor. But thanks for the offer." "An expected response," Luna uttered. "Your dream is to become a Pokemon Master after all, correct Ash?" "Right! I'm gonna be the greatest master of them all, ya know." "Pikachu!" "Well. It was a decent effort. Thank you anyways, Ash." Celestia thanked him. "No problem. Now I-" Ash's words were put to a halt for one reason. At this very moment, at this very point in time, another gateway had opened up. It has been a while since new gateways have shown up, but the last one that had appeared was none other than the gateway that led to a parallel Pokemon world. In fact, this particular one is similar to that. The booming sound of the gateway startled everypony, causing them to put a stop to what they were doing immediately. From the classroom, castle and homes. The windows had almost shattered from the thunderous sound as the clouds had even split apart as well. Ash, Celestia and Luna went out to the balcony, raising their heads up., preparing themselves for whatever the Rift was pulling this time. This time, it wasn't anything hostile. Not at all. Ash looked closer to the gateway, squinting his eyes. From what he could see, there was a silhouette of a human. Two actually. One looked very familiar to Ash. A trainer who he came across in his adventures once but only met him once and that was it. In Ash's world, he has a certain name. But in the other world, he has another. Gold. "Ah-Aaah!" Gold was screaming at the top of his lungs. And for good reason. Both he and his friend were currently falling from above all of a sudden. "Yikes! Not good!" Ash grabbed his Poke Ball, tossing it forward. "Dragonite! Catch them!" Out came Dragonite, already on the move. The Dragon Pokemon flew up from the balcony, spreading its arms out to catch these two. The two trainers braced for impact, closing their eyes as Gold's hat flew off into the air. "Dra!" Dragonite had thankfully caught the two trainers without any harsh impact following afterwards. Gold's hat had fallen right back to him, landing on his face. The Dragon Pokemon flew back to the balcony. "Oh..whew." Gold breathed in and out, glad that he was safe and sound. "That was close! I thought I was a goner!" "No kidding..." Silver did the same. He didn't have as large of a reaction as Gold but he was certainly shaken up. "You two okay?!" Ash went up to them both. "Yeah...We are now. Thanks for the-" Gold got off Dragonite's claws, preparing to thank Ash. That is until they both stared at each other, freezing for a brief moment. When their eyes examined each other, they actually felt like they recognized each other. "...Red?" Gold squinted his eyes. "Ethan?" Ash's eyes widened instead. His eyes then shifted over to Silver, who also looked familiar to him. "Paul?" "My name is Silver." Silver hopped of Dragonite's clutches, dusting himself as he played it cool. "You're Red right?" Gold went up to Ash. "You look a lot like him." "You know Red?" Ash asked, recognizing a name like that. Now, this is where things get a bit confusing for him and Gold. "Well, sorry but I'm Ash." "Ash, huh? Guess you're not him. But who are you calling Ethan? I'm Gold." "Gold?" Ash raised an eyebrow, unaware of that name. "And Silver?" "What fitting names," Luna whispered to Celestia. "Oh, hold on!" Ash put two and two together. The sudden gateway, the similarities to Ethan and Paul and the fact that they thought he was Red could only mean one thing. "You two must be the alternate versions of Ethan and Paul, huh?" "Alternate versions?" Gold and Silver both looked at each other. "Right! You see...I met Red a while ago once. He looked a lot like me from when I first saw him. The same went for his friend, Blue, who I recognized as Gary. But it wasn't. That's when I found out that they're basically me and Gary from another world." "Wait. So that thing's a..." Gold turned his head to the skies, looking up at the gateway. "A gateway to another universe." Silver finished his sentence. "We're in another universe?! WOAH!" Gold shot up. His eyes immediately scanned all of Canterlot, seeing ponies galore alongside Pokemon who were their partners. But he didn't know that. He instantly mistook them for Pokemon. "Check out these Pokemon!" He raised a Poke Ball up, aiming to battle Celestia and Luna. "These two just scream Legendaries!" "Ah, hold on!" Ash stopped Gold from trying anything he'll end up regretting. "They're not Pokemon!" "T-They're not?" Gold lowered his hand. "Nope. Everyone you see here is just a normal citizen. Ponies. But these two are princesses. And the Pokemon are just their partners." "Oh. Wait. Are humans extinct in this world?" Gold asked. "Nah. You see..." Ash pulled back, holding his head. "I gotta explain it all don't I?" "Allow me, Ash." Celestia stepped forward, willing to do all the hard work by explaining why everything is the way it is now. After a simple and short yet understandable explanation, all the information had travelled through Gold and Silver's heads, staying there. "So that's it huh? Boy, that sounds pretty overwhelming. How'd you all get used to it so fast?" said Gold. "Simple. Ash and the humans were thankfully willing to help us all get adjusted to Pokemon." Luna placed her hoof on Ash's shoulder. "If not for them, our experience with Pokemon would be vastly different." "Well, that clears everything up. Let's head back then." Silver turned around, already aiming to leave. "Hold on, Silver! We can't leave just yet! I wanna explore this place for a bit." Gold replied. "Right? And I want to battle Gold over here." Ash place his arm around Gold's neck as they both had a cheesy grin on their faces. "Eeugh..." Silver winced as he saw how both of them were practically mirrors of each other. "Do we have to though?" He pinched his face. "So, what's this world like? And what are those things on you?" Gold pointed at Celestia and Luna's Cutie Marks. "And how do you get your hair to do that?!" "...This is going to be a long day..." Celestia said to Luna. Judging by how things were turning out so far, she was most likely right. Over at the classroom, The students were still looking up at the gateway out of curiosity. They were wondering where it led to. "You all have been staring at that gateway for a while now," Hollow commented. "Yeah. What do you think's past there?" Sapphire wondered. "We saw two humans fall from it after all." "Probably a world where there's only humans. Maybe. I think." Sunrise responded. "Curiosity..." Hollow scratched his hair. "Come to think of it. One of them looked a lot like that trainer from Johto..." Speaking of that certain trainer, AKA Gold, he had taken the pleasure of venturing Canterlot Castle. Much like Ash, he was a sucker for adventure and discovering new things. His exploration led to him to the classroom since that was the nearest room. The Johto trainer opened the door, grabbing the attention of Hollow and the foals there. "They have an entire classroom like us? This place is impressive..." Gold gawked. "Hm?" Hollow examined Gold's appearance even further. His mind began digging for memories of anyone resembling him that Hollow had seen. Then it hit him. "Oh! Aren't you Ethan?!" "Eh?" Gold pulled back, turning to Hollow. "Again? Am I that similar to this Ethan guy?" "You do look like him. Only your outfit's a bit different but still kinda the same." Hollow nodded. "You recognize him, Mr Hollow?" Dew Drops asked. "Sure do. I don't really know too much about Ethan. I only saw him in my travels one time and heard about how he participated in the Johto League. But that's about it. Although, he's right here in front of us at this very moment." "Ah sorry. I'm not Ethan. Name's Gold. Guess you're mistaking me for my counterpart from this combined universe." Gold chuckled as Ash, Silver and two princesses appeared behind him. "Counterparts...?" Hollow took a moment to realize what that meant. He looked outside, staring back at the gateway that was up in the sky. Now it all made sense. "Oh...oh." He nodded his head. "What? What is it?" A colt was confused about what he meant by that. Hollow had explained what was most likely going on to all of the students, telling them about how this was a parallel version of the trainer known as Ethan. "Aah..." The foals all said at the same time. "This place is so...colourful." Silver felt like his eyes were hurting from all the saturated and vibrant colours that filled this world. He couldn't look away for one second without coming across hundreds of colours clashing against each other. "I must ask you two. Gold. Silver." Luna spoke. "If you two are from a parallel world that is based around the Pokemon World, what is it like exactly?" "What's it like? Well, it's amazing!" Gold exclaimed. "There's so much to do and see in our world! Never a dull moment!" "So exactly like Ash and Hollow's world." Luna nodded. "I suppose in every universe the Pokemon World is just that entertaining. "Both of us have only really explored the Johto and Kanto region. We both ended up bumping into each other right at Goldenrod City. Next thing we know, a flash of light happened, and we both ended up here." Silver explained. "To think that some sort of Rift was capable of this." "Say, Gold. If you've met Red, then you've battled him before right? How'd it go?" Ash questioned, curious about Gold's knowledge of Red. "Red? Yeah. I've battled him alright. Man...It was something." Gold closed his eyes, recalling the day he battled Red on Mt. Silver. "It's a day I'll never forget. On Mt. Silver. When I first came across Red, he gave off an aura that was all kinds of scary. It was like it was telling me to make a run for it while I could." "Ooh..." The foals leaned in, curious about this story. "But, I wasn't willing to run away. So I challenged him." "And then? How'd it go?" Ash grinned, wanting to know how the battle went down. "It was intense! His team was unlike anything I've ever faced before! His Charizard, Venusaur, Blastoise, Lapras, Snorlax and Pikachu were way stronger than I anticipated. No one else has pushed me to that level before or even backed me into a corner that fast. Not even Silver." "I believe him." Silver responded to that. "Me and my Pokemon were getting smacked around like ragdolls by his. His team had a counter for everything I had. I'll tell ya, it's the one battle that really put my skills as a trainer to the test." "Oh! Sounds so cool! Did you win?!" Ash asked once more. "Yeah. Barely! It was a super close call. But luckily, thanks to my good buddy Typhlosion, we managed to hang in there at the last second and beat Red's Charizard!" Gold grinned, feeling proud of himself for defeating Red. "Awesome!" Ash said in a giddy tone. "Pikachu!" "Yeah...it was pretty awesome. What about you, Ash? I mean, you're Red's counterpart after all. Did you battle him too?" "Sure! It was a few months back too! He was something alright! But uh...we never really did finish our battle though. I'm looking forward to when we meet again, then we can battle for real!" "Oh. Sounds like you had a blast. You're pretty different from my version of Red though. He's not really a talker, ya know." Gold smirked. "Only when he battles he says something." "Speaking of battling, how about we have one too, Gold?" Ash requested. "A battle? Yeah, I'm up for one!" Gold, sharing the exact energy as Ash, agreed instantly. They're both trainers who love to battle and aim to be the best, so of course, they would want to battle each other. "Are we gonna see a battle between some top-level trainers?" Sunrise gasped. "Looks to be that way. If you two are going to have a Pokemon Battle, best do it outside at Canterlot Gardens." Celestia went up to the two of them. "Alright. You gonna join in, Silver?" Gold turned to his rival. "Hm? Nah. I'll pass on a battle this time. I'll just stand back and watch. You two go crazy." "Suit yourself. Let's have an awesome one, okay Ash?!" "You got it, Gold!" "Pikachu!" The stage had been set. Out in Canterlot Gardens. Where they have all the space to cut loose and go wild. Celestia, Luna, Silver, Hollow and the students would simply just sit back and watch these two trainers go at it at their best. Arceus knows what these two will cause when they start. "You've got 6 Pokemon with you?" Gold asked him. "6? Nah not at the moment. I've got a brand new team so some of my Pokemon are back at Professor Oak's lab. But I'm okay with just using 5!" "Just 5? Pretty gutsy. But I like that!" Gold held a Poke Ball in his hand as he pivoted his foot forward. "What's say we quit the chatter and start battling?" "Read my mind." Ash tightened his gloves. "Pika!" "This might get a bit destructive." Luna gulped. "Yeah...best we move back just a slight bit." Hollow and foals moved a few inches back, not wanting to become victims of the inevitable carnage that's about to take place. "I'll start off with you. Ampharos!" Gold tossed his Poke Ball forward, sending out his first Pokemon. An Ampharos. "Ampha!" The Light Pokemon roared. "Ampharos, huh? Think you can take him, buddy?" Ash looked to his best pal. "Pikachu!" "Then in that case...Pikachu! I choose you!" "Pika!" The Electric Mouse Pokemon ran on Ash's arm, jumping right off it as he landed with style. "Pikachu..." The two trainers and Pokemon stared each other down for a bit, getting ready to go at it. If an Audino were here, it would hear the blood boiling and fires igniting within these two. "Let's go! Ampharos! Use Dragon Pulse!" "Ampharos!" Starting off strong with a mighty Dragon-Type move, the Ampharos opened up its mouth generating draconic energy from thin air. "Use Quick Attack!" Ash pointed forward. "Pika!" With blinding speeds, Pikachu dashed forward, leaving behind a white trail along with afterimages of himself. Before Ampharos could pull off Dragon Pulse, Pikachu had tackled its belly, causing the Light Pokemon to move back a bit. "Pharos!" "Ampharos! Power Gem!" "Pha!" The Light Pokemon quickly recovered, narrowing its eyes at Pikachu. Around its body, twenty sparking rays of light in the shape of gemstones surrounded the fully evolved Electric-Type Pokemon. By command, rays of light rushed over towards Pikachu, ready to pelt and bombard him. "Knock them away with Iron Tail!" "Chu-Pika!" Pikachu jumped up, swinging his hardened steel tail over at the incoming gemstone-shaped rays. He managed to knock away ten of them with Iron Tail thanks to his speedy body, however, some of the gems managed to make direct contact with the Electric Mouse Pokemon. "PIKA!" Pikachu had been bombarded with glowing rocks, forcing him back down onto the ground. Once he hit the ground, he tumbled about, taking some pretty heavy damage from Power Gem. "Pikachu! You okay?!" "Pika...Chu!" Pikachu stood back up, shaking his head. He was still raring to go. "Let's have another go. Use Power Gem one more time!" "We'll change it up! Pikachu! Spin with Thunderbolt!" "What did he say?" Gold squinted his eyes, confused at Ash's command. Once the glowing rays of light surrounded Ampharos once more, Pikachu got on his back, shooting out Thunderbolt as he initiated the always handy tactic of Counter Shield. Power Gem had been shot directly at Pikachu in hopes of dealing some good damage once more. However, due to Counter Shield being active, the gems had been knocked away with much more efficiency than Iron Tail. The whips of 100,000 volts prevent Power Gem from even making contact with Pikachu. "No way! How's that even possible?!" Gold gasped. He had never seen anything like it. "Getting worried Gold?" Silver said to him. "A little bit. He's definitely more unpredictable than Red, that's for sure. Ampharos! Hyper Beam!" Opening its mouth wide, Ampharos was prepared to blast straight through the Counter Shield with the always hard-hitting and devastating Hyper Beam. Ash realized that not even Counter Shield was stopping Hyper Beam. An explosion of energy erupted from Ampharos's mouth as Hyper Beam tore through the ground itself. "Pikachu! Dodge with Quick Attack!" "Pika!" Pikachu had rolled forward, exiting out of Counter Shield. Seeing that Hyper Beam was coming his way, the Electric Mouse Pokemon had managed to avoid the attack by a hair thanks to the always fast-moving Quick Attack. "Now! Thunderbolt!" Pikachu skidded on the ground, quickly regaining his balance after Hyper Beam. 100,000 volts of thunder were sent straight to Ampharos, shocking the Light Pokemon. "How about we head in and get up close and personal? Ampharos! Rush in and Use Zap Cannon!" "Ampha!" Ampharos shrugged off the Thunderbolt, bolting forward towards its fellow Electric-Type. "Here it comes. Pikachu! Electroweb!" The second-stage evolution had gathered electricity around his tail, swinging it straight towards Ampharos. The net of volts had made contact, but that didn't stop Ampharos. It burst through the Electroweb as if it was nothing, summoning an even mightier Electric-Type attack in thin air. "Pika?!" Pikachu gasped as he saw a blast of electricity race towards him. Before Ash could give off a command, Pikachu had been hit by Zap Cannon, causing the Electric Mouse Pokemon to be launched like a rocket. "KA!" "Nice!" Gold pumped his fist. "Pi...ka!" Pikachu being the resilient Pokemon that he was, could still stand. Although, he was looking pretty beat up right now. "Pikachu!" "Think you can keep going on, pal?!" "Pika!" "Sorry. But Pikachu's fainting this time. Ampharos! Let's finish it with Hyper Beam!" With yet another devastating Hyper Beam being prepared, Ash held his breath, preparing for the worst. With pure power, Hyper Beam was fired towards the Electric Mouse Pokemon, once again, tearing Canterlot Gardens' ground apart. "Pikachu! Hit it back with Iron Tail!" "PIKA!" Ash was up to his crazy antics once more. He capitalized on the Steel-Types resistance to Normal-Types in the form of Iron Tail. Pikachu hardened his tail, leaping straight towards the incoming Hyper Beam. "Chu-Pika!" Swinging his tail forward, Pikachu's Iron Tail had connected with Hyper Beam. To Gold and everypony else's surprise, it was working. Pikachu was holding the beam in place with his Iron Tail as it soon became a struggle between both Electric-Types with Ampharos still having its mouth open. "A-Ampha..." "Pi-Pika..." "He's a million times more unpredictable than Red! Push through Ampharos!" "Pharos..." Ampharos, with all its strength, had begun moving forward, slowly gaining the upper hand on its opposing Electric-Type. "Breakthrough, Pikachu!" "Pika...chu..." Pikachu did the same. Using every ounce of strength that he had in his glass cannon body, he pushed like he's never pushed before. Sparks were flying from their clash with both Pokemon letting out strains as their bodies were close to giving out. Celestia and Luna noticed that their struggle was not only tearing the ground apart, but the sheer force of their battle was so intense that it would eventually reach all of Canterlot, causing a massive collapse. The two sisters realized that maybe it was best that this battle came to an end before it got really ugly. But first, perhaps protecting everypony from the impact would be the better option right now as they both put up shields. Finally, one of the two had come out on top. That being Pikachu. That Steel-Type advantage was really a good call from Ash. With a burst of energy, Pikachu's Iron Tail smacked the Hyper Beam right back to Ampharos. "PIKACHU!" "Ampha?!" Ampharos gasped as its mouth was still open due to Hyper Beam. The last thing it saw was its own attack coming right back at it. And the last thing it felt was the devastating impact that struck its mouth and body at the same time. An explosion of energy occurred from the reflected impact, causing the hedges of Canterlot Garden to almost fly off from their spot. The barrier formed by the princesses was strong enough to shield everypony and the rest of Canterlot from the overwhelming aftershock. But there was a slight crack in the shields. Ash and Gold both held their hats, standing firmly on the ground as the explosion was dying down. Once that came to an end, it was revealed that Ampharos had fainted from its own attack. "Ampharos..." "Oh! Ampharos!" Gold squealed. "Yes! That did the trick!" Ash and Pikachu both jumped up. "PIKA!" "Would ya look at that..." Silver was surprised. Not many can really catch Gold off guard like that. Especially not in a way that sends attacks right back at his Pokemon. "This Ash guy's pretty tenacious actually." "Return, Ampharos." Gold returned his fainted Pokemon to its ball. "Man...that Pikachu's just as fierce as Red's. Either Typhlosion or Umbreon will be good against it. I think I'll go for Umbreon next!" "Okay! I think that's enough!" Celestia gasped as she and Luna teleported in front of both trainers. "You two have had your fun." "Aw. Over already?" Ash groaned along with Pikachu. "Pika?" "Wait. We're done?" Gold raised his eyebrow. "Bummer." "Sorry for the sudden pause. But your battle almost tore up Canterlot." Luna explained. "I suppose even battling in a space like this isn't enough to protect everypony from a Pokemon Battle." "Oh well. I had a blast anyway." Gold nodded. "That was a good short battle, Ash!" "Mhm! It was getting pretty close there for Pikachu! Right, pal?" "Pikapi." Pikachu hopped back on Ash's shoulder, holding his tail. It was a bit sore from clashing with Hyper Beam after all. "So that's what it looks like when top-level trainers battle? Awesome..." Sunrise drooled at how fast-paced that battle was. He couldn't pick a favourite moment. "I thought we were gonna get blown away..." Sapphire breathed in and out. "I'm just glad they didn't head on to their second Pokemon." Hollow wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Oh...When mother and father come for a visit, let's hope that Canterlot isn't in ruins by then." Luna turned to Celestia. "Agreed..." The older sister nodded. "Guess we'll have this battle another time." Gold adjusted his hat. "Alright, Silver. I guess now we can head back." "Uh...look again." Silver gawked at the sky, noticing that something was off. What took him by surprise was the fact that the gateway to their home was moving around all of a sudden. Similar to what happened back when Red and Blue first arrived. Only this time, instead of it moving about once both trainers had passed through, it was having random movements despite the fact that Gold and Silver have not yet passed through it. "It's moving around?!" Gold gasped. "It can do that?!" "Ah, that happened with Red and Blue actually. You might wanna catch it before it heads somewhere random." Ash warned them. "Now you tell us! Let's go Silver!" Gold made a run for it, almost tripping on his feet. Silver, however, just simply walked at a casual pace, following his rival after the gateway. They all watched as they pursued their way home, but judging by how the gateway was moving, it might take a while for them to catch up. But on the bright side, that leaves Gold even more opportunities to explore Equestria for himself. "To think...Not only are there worlds parallel to ours, but even for Pokemon." Luna was starstruck. "Mhm. It's crazy how big everything is, ya know? But that's what makes it so exciting. And that just leaves me with even more places to explore!" "Pikachu!" A second parallel Pokemon World has now been introduced with the gateway to the parallel Johto lingering around somewhere. Much like the gateway to parallel Kanto, its whereabouts are unknown and can only really be found via exploration. Whatever the parallel worlds are like and how they compare to this Pokemon World, there's sure to be a surprise waiting past that gateway as the journey continues. Chapter 219 End!