The midday sun shone upon the three mares as they made their way up the quiet pathway. The trail wound around a quiet sea as a large path lay above them, supported by large concrete beams in the water. Only a few birds flew overhead, leaving the trail feeling desolate. Fluttershy tried her best to keep the armored stallion out of her thoughts, but the silence between her and her friends made it difficult. She looked down to the ground in nervous ticks, wondering what to do. Rainbow trotted ahead with her head confidently forward while Pinkie trudged alongside Fluttershy.
“What makes that officer so sure that those ponies will want to talk to us about this?” Rainbow Dash asked, breaking Fluttershy out of her nervous fit. “Their whole city was just burned down, and even we haven’t talked for the past few hours.”
“Maybe they won’t,” Fluttershy spoke up. A siren blared ahead of them as another vehicle barreled past them on the road above towards the once standing Slateport City. “We should probably focus on staying away from that stallion until Twilight brings us home.”
“I guess,” Rainbow said dejectedly as the three trotted around the final bend.
The sight of buildings rose over the horizon as the trail straightened, giving Fluttershy a straight line of sight to Mauville City. Not another pony nor Pokémon was on the road, worrying her that the refugees had already arrived and dispersed throughout the city. Fluttershy dug through her bag, searching for any food she had left, but ended up empty hoofed. She sighed, placing the bag away before continuing up the road.
Before they could clearly see the city, Fluttershy’s Pokédex began to beep, alerting the three and wiping the bored expressions off their faces.
“Quick, open it!” Pinkie hollered. “I wonder what the next gym leader will be like...”
“Didn’t we skip the second gym?” Fluttershy asked, confused as she pulled out the metallic noise maker. “I know that the gym in that town was boarded up, but I thought we needed the second gym badge to advance.”
“You were called into the fifth gym right away, remember? I don’t think this thing is following any real pattern here,” Rainbow stated.
Without further interruptions, Fluttershy opened the Pokédex and listened to the pre-recorded message that blared from the device. Once again, the message glitched when saying her name, but continued as normal. With a beep, the message ended and the turquoise screen faded to black. “9:00 pm tomorrow.”
“Great, that gives us time to train and rest up,” Rainbow said, increasing her speed down the path.
“Do you think maybe we should talk to Stephanie before we do anything? That stallion is probably still looking for me and I don’t want to make a scene without knowing how to approach this,” Fluttershy asked in a cautious tone.
“I don’t see why not,” Pinkie stated. “Ooo, maybe he... er, she knows about the next gym. Also where to find someplace to eat, I’m starving.”
“Hopefully, I won’t interrupt anything.”
“Just call him so we can focus on the gym fight sooner,” Rainbow said, annoyed.
Fluttershy stopped and lifted her forehoof, cycling through several screens before finding the phone application. She clicked a button on the device’s side as Stephanie’s name showed on screen. The screen went dark, then brought up a strange rotating circle as a long tone ran through the speakers. Before long, Stephanie’s face appeared on the screen. It looked like she was in a library with tall shelves of books lining the walls.
“Hello, who is this?” Stephanie asked before looking at Fluttershy. “Oh, it’s you, Fluttershy. How are you doing- Wait, what happened to you? You don’t look too well.”
“Uh, I’m fine,” Fluttershy responded, puzzled as to how she could see the Twilight analogue through the PokéNav. “About... this,” she waved her hoof around her face, showcasing her drooping eye-lids, “I need to talk to you about it.”
“Shoot. I’m sure I can help with what’s going on, I mean I have been a female for the past 28 years or so so I know how that kind of stuff works.”
Flush, Fluttershy stammered then spoke up, “No, not about... that... but about what happened to me and my friends.”
“Ah, that makes more sense. Was the gym that rough over in Dewford? I didn’t think Brawly had it in him. Oh, did you hear the news this morning? There was a fire over in Slateport. You might want to be careful when you head over there.” Stephanie began taking books of the shelves and flipping through them as she spoke.
“We... already went to Slateport. That’s what I want to talk to you about.”
“You did? What happened?” She asked, looking up to the screen again.
“It’s a long story, but there was a stallion in weird blue armor that burnt the city down. He was looking for me, and said he knew everything about the session. I don’t know what to do...”
“Hmm...” Stephanie picked up a blue bound book and opened it, scanning her hoof over the words as she read. She reminded Fluttershy of Twilight so much; it was hard for her to separate the two as long as she didn’t pay attention to how she spoke. “That’s strange; there are a bunch of scribbles in this book, and they look like my handwriting... er, hoofwriting. Yeah, I think that’s a good replacement.”
“What does it say?” Fluttershy asked curiously.
“Well, it says something about a Spark, a Blueprint, a Callen and sessions. It doesn’t seem to go farther than their definitions though.”
“That’s what he talked to me about! He said I was the Slueprint, he was the Callen, and my friends were Sparks. I have no idea what he was talking about though.”
“Maybe this will help. It says that the Blueprint is the one who first enters here while the Sparks occur when another from their point of origin enters the same session. It must be a glitch in the system, so maybe that’s why everything is acting so weirdly.”
“What’s the Callen?”
“Well, it doesn’t really say. I’m not sure how accurate these definitions are since there are no places to cross-reference them. Judging by what I know about languages, ‘callen’ seems to be an old version of the word ‘called’, so maybe a chosen person or pony is what he was talking about. These definitions had to have been written during other sessions when Sparks occurred, but I still need more information. I’ll have to put in more research and get back to you on it.”
“Do you by any chance know about the stallion?”
“Who, the one in the armor?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have any description of him other than ‘he was a stallion’?”
“Oh, I do.” Fluttershy dug through her bag and pulled out the shrapnel that broke off the stallion’s armor then held in front of the camera. In the sunlight the armor shone with a brilliant azure hue. “This broke off his armor when he tried to touch me.”
There was a slight pause as the scholar thought with one eyebrow raised. “It came off when he touched you? Interesting. To be honest, I really don’t know much about armor, but I do know someone at Mauville University who should know about this piece. His name is Dr. Maxwell; he’s a professor in archaeology and ancient cultures. You should go talk to him about it.”
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said with a slight smile. “I’ll call you again if anything happens.”
“I’ll talk to you then.” The screen went black as Stephanie hung up the phone.
Fluttershy placed her hoof on the ground and looked over to her two friends. Pinkie began to hop down the road, leaving Fluttershy and Rainbow to catch up with the bouncing pony.
“Why didn’t you ask him about the gym? Or what to do about the stallion?” Rainbow demanded, causing Fluttershy to lower her head in shame.
“I... I don’t know. I don’t want to call him again so soon... it would probably be rude.”
“That’s fine, I’m sure we can figure out what to do ourselves!” Pinkie chimed in, “It can’t be that hard to keep a low profile in a city of thousands of ponies.”
“How do you know there are thousands?”
“Look at the buildings, silly. No city with this many tall buildings has a small amount of ponies in it.”
“I guess,” Fluttershy stated as Mauville City came into full view. Buildings and ponies were strewn across the city as far as the eye could see and buildings towered over any that Fluttershy had ever seen. Various assortments of Pokémon followed traveling ponies as they went down the sidewalks, some stopping at various stands and buildings. The three made left the path and kept going straight, losing themselves in the sea of concrete and ponies that littered the walkways. Fluttershy lightly coughed as particles of dust and smog entered her windpipe.
“This place is huge!” Rainbow said excitedly. “Wait, how are we going to find those ponies from Slateport?”
“Let’s ask around,” Pinkie suggested, hopping over to a group of suited ponies. Fluttershy couldn’t help feeling that something was wrong with the city. She couldn’t place her hoof as to why, maybe May’s memories were permeating her thoughts and the city was somehow different than what the memory suggested, but trying to focus on that when it felt like everypony was staring at her made her drop that particular train of thought.
As Pinkie continued to pester the business ponies, they looked at her and their noses scrunched as a grimaced look washed over their faces. “Hey, have you seen anypony from Slateport around here?”
“Have you bathed lately? I can smell you from here!” one of the ponies stated, then proceeded to escape their rancid question up until they turned at an intersection just up ahead.
“Huh, well that’s not very nice,” Pinkie said, putting her hoof up to her chin in thought.
“To be fair, we haven’t exactly taken care of ourselves since we got here,” Rainbow said, smelling her clothes and forcing her head away as she took a sniff. “Yeah, my jacket smells fishy.”
“Tonight we should clean our stuff at the Pokémon Center. Maybe they have soap or something to put on this,” Fluttershy suggested, taking Alerce and her bandanna off her head. The bandanna was still wet from the gyarados’ conjured storm, making Fluttershy question the state of the rest of her attire. She had never had to wash any clothing since Rarity always cleaned her dresses after parties. “We should keep looking.”
With one unsuccessful questioning, the mares kept up their pace, making sure to keep their distance as they asked other ponies. As the three searched, they merged into a sea of bodies, each going every which way. No pony wished to speak to them they went further into Mauville City.
“Excuse me, please...” Fluttershy pleaded to the passerbys. “It will only take a second of your time.” No pony paid the yellow pegasus any attention.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere,’ Rainbow exclaimed. “We should just focus on the gym fight and improving our pokémon so we can smash that stallion’s armored face in the next time he shows up.”
“I still want to find out what happened. We really should try to find out more about what we’re dealing with.”
“Fine,” Rainbow protested, continuing her search. At the corner of an intersection Rainbow spotted a young mare, standing with bags under her eyes. Her eyes darted back and forth before she bolted down the road, toppling over several ponies in the process. “Let’s ask her.”
“Okie dokie, Dashie!” Pinkie said as she burst from the sidewalk out and ran across the street with the mare in sight.
“A-are you sure?” Fluttershy asked, noticing both Rainbow and Pinkie were already gone. “Wait for me!” Fluttershy yelled as she followed behind Pinkie, watching as the frazzled mare sped down the road. The frantic mare looked back for a split second before turning down an alleyway. Fluttershy watched as her friends turned down the alley, following close behind as they kept their eyes out for their target.
The alley was dark, covered with grime and discarded trash. Fluttershy tentatively trotted down the alley, hearing a soft wail in the distance. As they went further down, they spotted the mare blocked by a concrete wall. She shrunk down and shook as they approached, whimpering as the three halted. Fluttershy didn’t want to get closer, seeing as the pony looked stressed enough without her and her friends bearing down on her.
“S-stay back, please,” the mare pleaded, shielding her eyes with her hoof as her voice cracked.
“We aren’t here to hurt you, we were just curious about what you were doing,” Pinkie explained with a warm smile.
“Why? Why me?”
“We’re looking for somepony, anypony from Slateport that could help us,” Fluttershy said, slowly resuming her approach.
“I-I’m from Slateport. What do you want?”
“I’m sorry for bringing this up, but do you know anything about that armored stallion?” Fluttershy inched closer, trying to break the cold tension surrounding them.
“Not really... why do you want to know?” The mare’s eyes dried up as she spoke, her voice ceasing to crack as well.
“I... can’t really say. Please, I’d just like to know.”
“All I remember is my husband running into the house and saying we need to leave. I grabbed all the supplies I could and my foals and ran out of the house. All I remember after that is watching a Gyarados start torching everything in sight.” She began sobbing, making Fluttershy take a step back. “My husband said he told them that he’ll kill anypony that stayed in Slateport. Did he say ‘anypony’? I think he said ‘anyone’... I guess I’m still recovering from it.” She lightly chuckled. “I must’ve embarrassed myself by running like that, huh?” The mare sniffed as she looked up at the Equestrians.
“You don’t know anything either...” Fluttershy said disappointed. “Well, do you know anything about the gym here?”
“Are you Pokémon Trainers?” The mare’s demeanor seemed to change as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked more positive than before. “When’s your match?”
“Uh, 9:00 tomorrow,” Fluttershy said, relieved that the conversation had lost its awkward air.
“Wow, so you’re in a prime time slot! Lucky. I’ll make sure to watch it when it comes on.”
Fluttershy looked at the white mare puzzled. “Watch? Are there stands like in Petalburg’s gym?”
“You don’t know about this? The matches are televised for ponies to watch at home. 7:00 and 9:00 at night are the prime time slots which bring in larger crowds. I can’t afford a ticket in anyway.”
“T-t-televised?” Fluttershy stuttered, her body shaking with nervousness. “W-what kind of Pokémon do they use?”
“I think it’s electric type. She might have changed it lately though, she doesn’t keep with one team for long.”
“Thanks,” Fluttershy said as the mare stood up and brushed herself off as she wiped the stream of tears from her eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Sorry for worrying you, I need to go. My husband is waiting for me,” the mare said, squeezing past the three Equestrians and trotted down the alleyway as if nothing happened. Fluttershy stood perplexed, wondering if any other interaction with one from Slateport would have been so odd.
“Now that we have that, let’s go get some training in,” Rainbow suggested, now hovering slightly off the ground. “You have a gym fight to win, and you can’t look weak in front of all those ponies.”
“Right...” Fluttershy groaned, still shivering as they left the alley and joined the remainder of the moving crowd. They were sandwiched between a stallion in a business suit, walking with a large grass snake slithering beside him and a kid in a baseball cap with a rat placed firmly on his head much like Alerce. The sight of the serpent made the yellow pegasus wary, causing her to dart her eyes to the other side of the street to avoid it all together. As much as she was thrilled about meeting new animals, the reality of the night before was too fresh in her mind. “Don’t you think we should check the university for that professor first? I mean I know that I have a gym fight coming up, but I would really feel more comfortable if we knew about that stallion first.”
“Fluttershy, we’re disgusting at the moment,” Rainbow stated bluntly. “We should train now while our clothes and fur reek, then wash up in the Pokémon Center tonight and speak with him tomorrow.” Pinkie and Fluttershy nodded in agreement, turning onto the street that led them back to the route they entered the city from.
The trail that led back to Slateport City remained desolate, giving the three mares plenty of room to spar. A cool breeze blew though the trees, rustling the leaves and making Fluttershy feel at ease. The three trotted a ways down the road, making sure they were far enough away from the city to not cause a ruckus before setting up for a fight, not that fighting in the city would raise any suspicions. Alerce lept off from Fluttershy’s head and landed on the pavement, shaking its legs as if it felt some pain from impact. Fluttershy dug though her bag and tossed Wolver’s Poké Ball, letting him breathe some fresh air before bringing the two together in a huddle.
Rainbow threw her two Poké Balls out from her jacket pocket, breaking out Igni and Lorica onto the trail. With a cocky smile, she brought the two Pokémon together and huddled like Fluttershy, discussing strategies and tactics to use against her friend’s type disadvantaged creatures.
Pinkie had released Lady Gummy II from her Poké Ball long before they reached the trail, and had let her clamp onto her tail with its infantile teeth as they approached their destination. With an excited laugh, Pinkie stripped Lady off her tail and set her down, waiting for her two friends to cease strategizing.
“Are you two ready?” Pinkie asked impatiently. “Lady and I have been ready for minutes now, and you two are just talking!”
“Hold on Pinkie, I’m almost ready,” Fluttershy said, bringing her attention back to her two Pokémon. “How strong are you two now?” the yellow pegasus whispered to the combatants. “I know that Rainbow trained you two while I was asleep, but how far did she push you?” Fluttershy put her hooves up to her mouth in thought, wondering if Rainbow’s training was enough to take down a gym leader on live television. She shuddered at the thought as she looked up, taking notice of a hoof tapping Rainbow Dash.
“I’m ready, Fluttershy. We don’t have all day,” Rainbow called out, pushing Lorica to the forefront of the ranks.
“Alright, I’m ready,” Fluttershy announced, letting Wolver take the helm. The two Pokémon were around the same size, yet Lorica’s large steel head-plate made it appear much larger compared to the tiny wolf. Both Pokémon began to pace around between the two trainers, the Aron making sure to keep its shield facing Wolver at all times. They paced for several rotations, each not wanting to make the first move.
Fluttershy looked up at Rainbow who hovered in the air with a confident, almost cocky smile plastered on her face. She tilted her head down, looking at Fluttershy with a fierce gaze as to make the first move. The yellow pegasus wanted to reach for her Pokédex to find out how to fight the creature, but decided against it. She didn’t want to rely on a piece of technology when it came to an animal when her talent with them worked just as well.
Steel plating would make it hard for me to attack directly, especially with that shield present, she thought, trying to come out with a competent strategy.
“Lorica, bash it!” Rainbow commanded, prompting the Aron to charge straight at Wolver, giving the wolf ample time to dodge the sluggish cave dweller. With a slight sidestep, the Poochyena dodged Lorica’s charge, and opened its mouth, watching its teeth give off a wispy black glow. It looked up at Fluttershy, waiting for a command as it took notice of Lorica’s heel-face turn. Quickly, Fluttershy ignored her previous conviction and took out her Pokédex, pointing it at the wolf’s teeth. The device beeped, showing Wolver’s teeth on the screen with the caption “Bite” at the bottom.
“Again, with more weight behind it!” Rainbow called out, making Lorica sprint head down at Wolver at a slightly faster pace. To the side of the image, the Pokédex listed the attack’s specifics, including its type.
“A Dark-type move?” Fluttershy thought aloud, watching Lorica’s continued feeble attempts at chasing down the fleet-footed lupine. I don’t want to do this but..., “Wolver, use Bite!”
At his master’s command, Wolver leapt over the sluggish Lorica and opened its mouth, once again revealing the Dark-type Bite. He chomped down on the Aron, causing it to yelp out in pain as Wolver snarled and scratched at its steel exterior.
“H-how did you do that? You can’t bite through steel!” Rainbow protested, much to the delight of Pinkie who seemed to take joy in the cyan pegasus’ annoyance. “Lorica, shake it off!”
The Aron tried its hardest to throw Wolver off of him, flailing and running about. The Poochyena refused to let go, keeping his teeth sunk into Lorica as the steel-clad pokémon tired itself out. With a thud, Lorica slumped to the ground, giving up the fight against its quicker adversary.
“Really, you’re going down like that?” Rainbow complained, watching Wolver open its jaw, taking the Aron out of its clutches. With a wag of its tail, Wolver dashed over to Fluttershy, sitting down and letting its tongue hang out. Fluttershy reached down and pet him, drawing a content smile out from the beast.
With a sigh, Rainbow returned Lorica back to its Poké Ball, looking down and putting a hoof on her stomach. “Hey, Fluttershy? Why don’t we have the main event fight, then grab something to eat? I need a win.”
Fluttershy rubbed her stomach as the mention of food brought up the fact that she hadn’t eaten all day. With no money, it was easier for the pegasus to keep her attention on important matters, anything that didn’t include food. Unfortunately, she still needed a meal.
“I’m fine with that,” Fluttershy confirmed, showing Alerce into the center to spar.
Igni quickly hopped into the ring, ruffling its feathers in anticipation. Unlike the previous two combatants, the pokémon stood still and stared each other down, each growling in an intimidating manner. Rainbow seemed to join in, staring down Fluttershy with a sharp, dagger-like gaze. How committed Rainbow was to Pokémon fighting frightened the timid pegasus.
“Scorch him!” Rainbow called out, prompting Igni to expel flames from its mouth. Alerce sidestepped as quickly as he could, but was pelted by the burning embers. As a plume of smoke rose from the turtle, he shook himself off and began to charge at the orange fowl.
“Use Tackle!” Fluttershy commanded, watching intently as the two faced off.
The nerves Fluttershy usually felt from battle seemed to have disappeared. Her only thoughts were that of the armored stallion’s presence, making her care less about her old ways and made her embrace the new to survive. It was something she felt she would never have done back in Ponyville. A small weight still formed in the pit of her stomach as she thought about it, but she found it easier to ignore.
Igni skidded across the ground on his back, quickly hopping back to its talons and shacking off the heavy blow. Flames once again flew through the ring, scattering across the ground and into Alerce’s face. The turtwig staggered back, trying desperately to shake off the burning cinders that clung to his body.
“Use your shell to block it!” Fluttershy yelled, but before Alerce could react another wave of embers clung to the turtle, making him stand with his head hanging low. He began to breathe heavily, forcing his eyes shut in pain. “Try tackling him again,” the nervous pegasus suggested, watching Alerce burst from the ground, slamming Igni in the gut. The torchic flew across the ring, bouncing off the ground while struggling to get up.
With a confident smile, the turtwig turned to Fluttershy. She smiled back, but her expression turned to worry as turned his head down and coughed up a pool of saliva on the ground. His breathing turned to labored wheezes as he collapsed on the ground, shaking and crying out in pain. Quickly, Fluttershy flew to the distressed Alerce, trying to diagnose whatever was happening to the Pokémon.
“A-Alerce? What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked, getting no response from the pained Turtwig. She looked up to Rainbow who looked at her with a worried gaze, same with Pinkie. As Fluttershy turned to Alerce again, a bright white light burst from the turtle, knocking Fluttershy back in shock. A small, white wisp surrounded Alerce, making Fluttershy extremely worried, yet curious as to what was happening. With a fierce cry, Alerce arched back in pain and his body began to violently shiver. Without warning, the scales that covered his body began to shed off, leaving exposed green skin. His body then began to grow in size, easily doubling or tripling his original size. With a disgusting squelching sound, new green scales pierced out from his body, releasing a sickly green-ooze that dripped down the fresh scales and caused Fluttershy to put her hoof to her mouth in disgust.
As Alerce ceased his unannounced growth spurt, a fissure line split lengthwise down his shell, cracking it in two. It fell to the earth, making way for a new shell to emerge from the turtle’s back. It ran across the entire length of his body, covering everything from his head to the tip of his tail. The shell severed the small sprout of Alerce’s head as two yellow scaled spikes jutted from the side of his jaw. Before the metamorphosis was complete, two torso length bushes cracked through the shell near its center, arranging itself comfortably on the turtle’s back. With one final gasp and head held up, Alerce slumped to the ground as the white glow surrounding his body faded away.
The three Equestrians stood with their mouths agape, staring at Alerce blankly with no words to speak of. Fluttershy gazed at the now giant turtle in a confused stupor, unable to draw any conclusion as to what exactly happened. As she snapped herself out of her trance, she hastily took her Pokédex out and pointed at the transformed Alerce. The screen showed Alerce’s familiar information, but its species stuck out to her. Where it had normally shown “Turtwig”, it now showed the word “Grotle”. Fluttershy thought she should be more shocked by this transformation, but Alerce’s change from gecko to turtle seemed much more unlikely. Curious, she pressed the button next to the species name, bringing her to a screen which showcased the species as a whole. As she read, it stated that grotle was an evolved form of turtwig, confusing her further.
H-how can a turtle ‘evolve’? They don’t go through that kind of metamorphosis...
“W...what just happened?” Rainbow asked, finally breaking from her stupor. “I mean, that was cool, but what happened exactly?”
“It says here that he ‘evolved’, but turtles don’t normally change like this,”
“Yeah, and geckos don’t turn into turtles either,” Rainbow quipped. “Does your Pokédex say anything about it?”
“Hold on, let me check,” Fluttershy said as she scrambled to find the explanation. After going through several screens, she came upon a massive list of words and their definitions. She scrolled down then clicked when “Evolution” was highlighted, bringing up its definition. “Here we go.” Fluttershy began reading, “‘Evolution what occurs when a pokémon reaches a certain stage of maturity and strength. As it reaches this point, a pokémon will change in shape, substantially increasing its natural power as well as possibly changing its type. An evolved pokémon may learn more powerful moves, but will learn moves slower than its less evolved forms. While some creatures may evolve more than once, some may not evolve at all. Evolution is always a harrowing and exciting experience for any new trainer.’”
“Does that mean... Igni and Lorica could evolve into something amazing and powerful?” Rainbow asked with an excited tone.
“That... was.. AMAZING!” Pinkie finally blurted out, rushing over to the passed out Alerce. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”
“Fluttershy just said what it was,” Rainbow explained, watching as Alerce’s eyes opened. With a large yawn, the grotle got to his feet and tested out his new body. “I know, let’s try out his new power!”
“Wait, what?” Fluttershy asked, turning to the cyan pegasus. “Don’t you think he should rest first?”
“Look at him, he’s fine.” Alerce plopped back to the ground, closing his eyes and snoring loudly.
“Dash, I don’t think-”
“Igni, use Ember!” Rainbow commanded, causing Igni to spew flames from his mouth again, hitting Alerce square on his massive body. He slowly opened his eyes, looking casually at the burning cinders. With one quick swipe, he brushed off the cinders and got to his feet. Rainbow’s face grew pale as Alerce bucked his head upwards, smashing Igni into the air, over Rainbow’s head and into the brush far off the path. With a sharp exhale, the lumbering giant fell back to sleep, paying no attention to the scrambling Rainbow Dash as she rummaged through the bushes on the side of the trail.
“That was incredible...” Fluttershy squeaked, slowly approaching the slumbering Alerce. She patted her hooves on his shell, hearing him let out a contented rumble. At this point, she was just happy that Alerce still acted the same as he did before.
“We need to evolve all of our pokémon,” Rainbow stated bluntly, emerging out from the brush with a very dazed Igni on her back. “If these things can evolve more than once, could you imagine how powerful they could be. Do you think that’s why that Gyarados was so powerful?”
“That would explain a lot,” Pinkie said, picking up Lady and holding the crocodile out in front of her. “I wonder what she would turn into? Whatever it is, it’s probably something massive.”
“How about we get them food and clean up for tomorrow?” Fluttershy suggested, calling Alerce back to her Poké Ball. A small part of her wondered how she would feel without Alerce outside with her, but her empty stomach stopped the train of thought short.
“Yeah, this is probably a good place to stop. Besides, we should get to the Pokémon Center early and see if we can catch a gym fight.” Rainbow said, letting Igni on her back. Pinkie hoisted Lady up to her head, letting the Totodile sit on her head as Fluttershy trotted silently alongside Wolver. Fluttershy’s nerves calmed a bit as they traveled back into the city, Alerce’s new found strength reassuring her as her scheduled fight drew nearer.
The moon rose on Mauville as the three mares finished eating. A mass of yellow, halogen lights littered the streets as brightly colored billboards and illuminated storefronts drew their attentions as the sky grew pitch black. Unlike Petalburg and Dewford after dark, ponies continued to flood the streets, hollering and growing more rambunctious as the night went on. Fluttershy gazed in awe, noticing lights strung from the top of large skyscrapers and a large white haze in the distance.
“The plan is to win to get some kind of money, right?” Pinkie asked, curious about the aforementioned plan. “That free food was nice, but I don’t think we’ll be that lucky again.”
“Well, that’s part of it, but Fluttershy’s new evolved Alerce should wipe the floor with whatever pokémon that gym leader’s got,” Rainbow presumed, weaving her way through the mass of ponies. As they trotted, Fluttershy caught the sight of several street performers putting on a show. Only a handful of ponies stopped to watch them juggle or play drums with plastic buckets. The lack of a crowd gave Fluttershy a small sense of relief about the next gym fight, but she still held onto her doubts.
“Hold on,” Fluttershy said. “What’s the plan? The matches are televised, and that stallion could be watching.”
“We’re stuck here until Twilight gets us out, right? We need to find out everything we can about this place and how these animals fight so we can survive long enough for her to bring us home,” Rainbow stated as they crossed the street and the orange roof of the Pokémon Center came into view. “We go in, give that gym leader a swift defeat, and by the time that jerk gets here we’ll already be gone. If we keep moving, we’ll hit him when he least expects it.”
“But, he said he knew—”
“By the way, what time is it? Aren’t the prime time matches about to begin?”
“Well... um...” Fluttershy looked down at her PokéNav. “It’s 7:14.”
“We’re already missing it?” Rainbow realized, quickening her pace. “We have to hurry; I need to see what, or who the gym leader looks like.”
“It might not even be an analogue,” Fluttershy stated, weaving through the bustling crowd and apologizing at every turn.
“Whoever it is, it’s probably exciting for it to be on television!” Pinkie said, quickly running along the curb and avoiding the crowd all together. “It’s just over there!”
With the Pokémon Center drawing closer, Fluttershy began running through the possibilities of analogues in her head. She was innately curious to see what Pinkie and Rainbow’s analogues would be like, or if she had one of her own. Applejack’s was still up in the air, or it could even be a pony she could have never thought of. They crossed two more roads and found themselves at the sliding glass doors of the Pokémon Center, waiting for them to open as the white light inside invited them inside.
The doors opened, allowing the three to trot in as they saw a massive crowd of ponies staring at something in the corner. As they settled in, the crowd roared and several ponies gave each other high-hooves then turned back to the corner. Curious, Fluttershy trotted over and attempted to catch a glimpse of whatever was happening. The sound of cheering and laughter drowned out the sound as she could only make out small sections of the screen in between the excited crowd.
“What’s going on? Is this the gym match?” Fluttershy asked, causing a few ponies to turn and face her.
“Yeah, and the challenger is kicking her butt!” a yellow earth pony exclaimed, quickly glancing back to catch more of the match.
“I-Is there any room so I can see? I can’t make out anything,” Fluttershy asked.
“You should’ve gotten here sooner,” A grey unicorn stated.
“Maybe some ponies will make room after the 7:00 match,” Fluttershy said, hoping to just catch one look at Mauville’s star gym leader.
“It’s worth a shot,” Rainbow said before tapping the grey unicorn on the shoulder. “Hey, any chance of squeezing in here once this match is over?”
The stallion laughed. “You’re joking, right? You have to get here at least an hour before it begins to see anything.” He scanned them over. “You’re pokémon trainers, right? Why don’t you just buy a ticket and watch it live?”
“What makes you think we’re trainers?” Rainbow asked.
“You smell like sweat and seawater,” he said, turning his back to the mares.
Rainbow scoffed at the stallion, but thought he was as good of a pony as any to ask. “Can you at least tell us the gym leader’s name?”
“It’s Wat—”
“Wattson,” Fluttershy interrupted, prompting the two conversing ponies to stare at the dumbfounded mare. “I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt anypony.”
“Whatever, just leave me alone.” The stallion turned away again, just before jumping in celebration as the rest of the crowd roared in excitement. Fluttershy held her head in her hoof in embarrassment, wondering if she could somehow stop May’s memories from surfacing at such inopportune times.
“Hey, can anyone tell us who the gym leader is?” Rainbow’s question became lost in sea of excited ponies, causing Rainbow to turn towards the downward-leading stairs. “Come on, let’s get cleaned up for tomorrow.”
“Sounds good to me,” Pinkie said, following the cyan pegasus downstairs.
“Wait, shouldn’t we...” Fluttershy trailed off before reaching the front desk, asking the nurse if the Pokémon Center had accommodations for them that night. After a quick nod from the nurse, Fluttershy headed downstairs, noticing the building’s larger basement in comparison to Petalburg’s as she made her way down. A dozen ponies were sprawled across the floor, some sleeping and some talking or playing with their pokémon. To the left some sinks and faucets were protruding from the wall, along with some cots and blankets pushed off to the side. Next to the sinks were several white, box-like machines with porthole windows on the doors. Curious, Fluttershy walked over and saw one of them with clothes tumbling inside. A small bell rung, prompting an orange pegasus to trot over and take the clothing out. With a look of annoyance, the pony fit her clothing into a basket and sat back down near her partner.
“E-excuse me?” Fluttershy called out, catching the pegasus’ attention. “Is this where you wash clothes? I’ve never done it before.”
With a look of utter confusion, the mare trotted over to Fluttershy. “You look like you’re my age, how come you’ve never washed clothes before?”
“Well, where I come from we don’t normally wear clothes, they’re more for special...” Fluttershy caught the mare’s eyes, noticing her shifting uncomfortably. “...occasions. Could you help me?”
“As long as you don’t stand there naked in front of me, I can,” the orange pegasus said.
“I only have one pair of clothes... and...”
“Here.” The annoyed pegasus took a pair of greyish blue leggings and a red with collared shirt with thin vertical stripes out from her basket and threw it onto Fluttershy’s head. “Put those on, then come back here with those rags you have on.” She lightly sniffed the air, recoiling as the stench pierced her nostrils. “What is that, fish?”
“I-I’ll be right back,” Fluttershy said, blushing in embarrassment. She went to the other side of the stairs where no pony was looking and stripped her clothes off, using them to dab any filth or perspiration from her yellow coat before dirtying the clean attire. Feeling moderately cleaner, she donned her new clothes and carried her traveling attire to the waiting mare.
“Alright, first off, we...” The mare proceeded to show Fluttershy the ins and outs of using a washing machine and dryer as both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie listened in and watched. As the machines worked their cycles, the three Equestrians and the generous pegasus and her partner sat down to chat. They introduced themselves to each other as the roar of the excited crowd above them threatened to drown out their conversation.
“So, who’s the gym leader in this city?” Rainbow asked, tapping her hoof impatiently.
“You don’t know who she is? I thought everypony has seen her battle at least once,” the orange pegasus’ orchid-coated stallion friend asked.
“We’re new around here, and Fluttershy has a match tomorrow with her at 9:00,” Rainbow explained.
“That’s great! You can see what she looks like in person,” the orange pegasus exclaimed. “I wouldn’t want to spoil something so magical. I’m sure you’ll love her; she has an amazing stage presence.”
“What’s her name?” Fluttershy asked, hoping to at least get that much out of them. Considering that Wattson sounded like a male name to her and Steven had been changed into Stephanie when she became Twilight’s analogue, having the name of another gender-bent gym leader would likely explain a lot.
“Trust me, you’ll know when you get there,” the orange pegasus said as the timer on the washer had expired. With no success, Fluttershy stood and trotted to the dryer, taking her clothes out and bringing them to where Pinkie and Rainbow had set up the cots. As the pokémon matches continued, Fluttershy slumped into her cot, tired and worried, and forced herself to sleep through the incessant chattering of voices just on the other side of the room.
Night had long turned into the afternoon as the three mares studied a map of Mauville City. Cleaned up and filled with food, they had found an information booth alongside the sidewalk, a massive amount of graffiti littering its sides. Mauville was several times larger than any city Fluttershy had ever been in, making it hard for her comprehend how many ponies could live in a city this large.
“Have either of you found Mauville University yet? I can’t see it anywhere?” Pinkie asked, nudging her muzzle against the map.
“No, not ye—Here it is,” Fluttershy responded, pointing to the Chimecho district on the western side of the map. “So if that’s there, then the stadium is...” She scanned the map again, instantly finding the stadium. “There. Er...”
“It’s on the opposite side of the city!” Rainbow exclaimed, putting her head in her hooves in frustration. “Where are we now?”
“Right here?” Fluttershy pointed at the southern section of the city. “If we want to get to all three, we’ll have to head to every part of town.”
“Well, what time is it now?”
“It’s 2:34,” Fluttershy explained.
“We have less than five hours to get to the stadium. We have no money for the bus, and...” Rainbow stretched out her bandaged wing. “I can’t fly with this right now.” Rainbow folded her wing as she attempted to chart out the route to the stadium. “There has to be a Pokémon Center close to the stadium, right? I think we should finish the gym fight, sleep, give that professor a visit tomorrow, then leave before that lunatic can track us here.”
“Shouldn’t we talk to Maxwell first? Figuring out who that stallion is more important than a gym fight, right?”
“Don’t you remember what your Pokédex keeps saying? If we don’t show up on time, you’ll be banned from the league and there’ll be no way to get the training we need to fight the stallion in the first place,” Rainbow stated bluntly.
“I guess,” Fluttershy said, disappointed by their lack of available time. “We should get moving then if we want to get there on time.”
“Sorry about taking so long this morning,” Pinkie apologized, looking down at her still warm clothes. “I’m sure we can make it there on time.”
With half of their lunches in Fluttershy’s bag, they began their trek to Mauville’s stadium, paying close attention to their only map. As the hours passed and the stadium drew closer, Fluttershy’s own nervousness began to rise. Feeling unprepared and wary of making a scene at the gym fight, she kept her head low as they traveled. Along the sidewalks were shops filled with various odds and ends that could be seen through their windows, windows that Pinkie couldn’t help pressing her muzzle against to peak inside. It never took long for the pink earth pony to catch up as her excitement for the gym battle rose. Fluttershy looked over to Rainbow to gauge her feelings, noticing her eyes staring straight ahead, unwavering. She was obviously confident in her plan which gave Fluttershy a small sense of relief.
Along the streets, there were vertical banners hanging from every street light. They were light yellow with the silhouette of a pony with swirled hair hanging down its front and were advertising the city’s gym. Fluttershy couldn’t tell what kind of pony the mare was, nor did she look familiar to her, causing her to believe that she wasn’t an analogue.
“Hey, do either of you recognize that pony on those banners?” Fluttershy asked, prompting Pinkie and Rainbow to give them another look.
“I’ve never seen a pony like that before,” Pinkie explained. “What do you think, Dashie?”
Rainbow Dash intensely focused on the banners, her face showing her deep in thought. “I don’t know... She looks familiar, but I can’t put my hoof on it. Whatever, we’ll find out soon enough.”
“Oh, okay,” Fluttershy said, perplexed by Rainbow’s slight familiarity with the mare. Fluttershy was now even more curious about her opponent as they continued down the sidewalk.
Hours passed as the sun began shining in the orange hue of dusk. The stadium loomed in the distance, rising as tall as many of the larger buildings. Ponies swarmed the outside and accompanying areas; all of them were either headed to the stadium or were there already. Fluttershy’s throat dried as she noticed the volume of onlookers, making her shiver. Two large beams of light shot from the stadium into the sky and a large screen lay near the entrance of the rectangular stadium, flashing many different images and videos of pokémon fighting inside.
“There are a lot more ponies than I expected,” Rainbow Dash spoke up, quickening her pace to reach the snake-like line that formed from its entrance. Pinkie and Fluttershy soon followed as the butter pegasus tried to keep herself from hyperventilating. The roads near the stadium were blocked off by orange and white striped wooden blockades with ponies in black riot gear that had the word “POLICE” written on their chests in white.
“Why is there all this security?” Fluttershy asked as they trotted past the blockade. “They can’t do this every night, could they?”
“Did you see how popular these gym fights were with those ponies back in the Pokémon Center? I’m not surprised they have to increase security with us being the opponent!” Rainbow exclaimed, sounding proud of her boasting.
“No pony knows who we are though, do they, Dashie?” Pinkie added, looking for the end of the line.
“May is a gym leader’s daughter, isn’t she? They obviously hyped that up and got ponies to buy up tickets.”
“I really hope this is just the normal attendance...” Fluttershy muttered, watching ponies as they sat under open tents, drinking and grilling vegetables in an open concrete field. Several of the ponies began hollering and celebrating, downing drinks as they did so. There was a smell of barley and hops in the air, a strong air wafting over the stadium’s outside. Fluttershy turned her head away from the hooligans, noticing that they were now at the end of the line. Rainbow had already started a conversation with the pony in front of them as Pinkie played with Lady.
“Are there normally this many ponies here? It seems like a lot,” Rainbow asked, yelling over the excited crowd.
“Oh no, tonight is special,” the tan unicorn started. “They were showing ads about this, uh, mystery trainer during the 9:00 match. It’s sounds awesome!”
Fluttershy turned her head to the unicorn in full alert, trying to piece together why her match was special. She peeked her head to the side, catching a glimpse of the screen. A shadowed pony appeared on screen with a red question mark over it, followed by text about the final match of the night. The pegasus gulped, realizing that both gym leaders she faced before hadn’t known her either. With her nerves racking her she brought her attention back to the conversation to try to calm herself..
“Hey, what time is it?” Pinkie asked as she got up from letting Lady crawl on her stomach. “You think the line is gonna move soon?”
“6:43,” the stallion said, watching the line in front begin to move into the stadium. Fluttershy turned to the tailgaters, seeing them pack up their supplies and head to the back of the line as it moved at a relatively quick pace. The cheering grew louder as they approached, watching the line shrink until they arrived at four booths with ponies inside, taking tickets from the spectators’ hooves.
Fluttershy was next. She cautiously trotted up to the tired looking mare in the window, wondering what to do.
“Do you have a ticket, or are you here to purchase one. We only have a few hundred left,” the mare explained.
“I’m, uh, the challenger for the nine o’clock match,” Fluttershy explained, watching the mare give her a curious look.
“You are, huh? Let me see your Pokédex; I need to see if your trainer ID matches.” Fluttershy reached into her bag and pulled out her Pokédex, slipping it through the opening in the glass pane. The mare in the booth quickly opened the device, flipping through the menus until the reached Fluttershy’s ID. “Hmm, 78342. The paper says that as well...” The attendant closed the Pokédex and gave it back to Fluttershy, unlocking the turnstile to let the pegasus through.
“Oh, could you let me friends in as well? They’re right behind me,” Fluttershy asked as Rainbow and Pinkie waved their hooves.
“I don’t see why not.” Rainbow and Pinkie promptly thanked the mare as they caught up to Fluttershy. “When you go in, go down the first hallway you come across to the left; a security guard will see you to your waiting area.”
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said as she entered through the stadium’s massive gates.
Inside the stadium under the seats were dark with only a sparse number of fluorescent lights illuminating the area. Beyond the hallway lay a set of stairs leading up to the bleachers and a large set of doors at the ground level. Most of the crowed piled up the stairs as several went up to booths, buying drinks and snacks. The walls of the entrance soon passed, leaving the three in the presence of a massive corridor to their sides, wrapping around the field.
Fluttershy looked to her left, noticing a lone pony in a black suit wearing sunglasses waiting in the middle of the hallway. Curious, she and her friends trotted over to the stallion, distancing themselves from the ecstatic crowd. The noise of the crowd grew dimmer as they approached, giving the timid pegasus a little piece of mind.
“Are you trainer number 78342?” the stallion asked, lifting his sunglasses to get a better look at the mares.
“Yes, I am,” Fluttershy responded, handing her Pokédex to the stallion as she watched another similarly dressed stallion approach. “You must be the security guard that attendant was telling me about.”
After the stallion went through the Pokédex he gave it back to Fluttershy and placed his sunglasses back on his face. “Right this way; let me show you to your box seat as you wait for your match.” The guard turned and nodded to the other stallion, causing him to turn up a distant flight of stairs.
“Box seat? What’s that?” Pinkie asked excitedly.
“I’m more curious about who this gym leader is. No pony has said a word to us about it,” Rainbow complained, glaring at Fluttershy. “Maybe somepony shouldn’t have interrupted that stallion in the Pokémon Center.”
“W-Well, ponies have said that its a ‘she’, and Wattson is normally a male name,” Fluttershy stated, averting Rainbow’s gaze. “She has to be an analogue like Steven, but this stadium and city don’t feel right.”
“What do you mean? Nothing looked out of the ordinary to me,” Pinkie said as they began to ascend the plush, crimson carpeted stairs.
“I... I don’t know. It’s probably something with May’s memories. It doesn’t seem to important at least.”
The staircase climbed to mid-point of the stadium, leading to a narrow hallway with wooden doors on their right. It was much brighter than the area below, leading Fluttershy to believe that this was a much classier area. The stallion ahead trotted to the door just around the bend, opening it and waiting for the three to enter. Excited, Rainbow and Pinkie barged through the doorway, leaving Fluttershy to enter the plush, nicely furnished room.
As she entered, the first thing she noticed was the room-sized window that gave a clear view of the entire arena. Ignoring the other furnishings, Fluttershy trotted up to the window, noticing the massive amount of ponies in the stands. Not a single seat appeared empty as even more attendants swarmed the stadium. Fluttershy gulped and shivered, averting her eyes from the crowd and down to the field where a stallion stood with a green, pink-bellied raptor-like pokémon with leaves jutting from its arms and a long one that flowed down from its head. On the other side was a stage with wires strewn across its empty floorboards.
“Fillies and gentlecolts!” the speakers blared, causing the crowd to fall silent for a moment. “Welcome to Mauville Stadium for tonight’s entertainment! Each opponent tonight is fighting for the illustrious Dynamo Badge, which will bring them closer to Hoenn’s Pokémon League and becoming Hoenn’s new champion!” The crowd erupted in hoof stomps and cheering. Fluttershy could feel the sound permeating the glass, shaking her as the stallion below stood tall.
“Ooo, this is so exciting!” Pinkie said, pressing her front hooves and muzzle to the glass.
“Our first opponent is a technical engineering student from Mauville University, showing up with his pokémon, Grovyle.” The stallion pumped his hoof into the air as she heard part of the crowd begin chanting ‘M U! M U!’ as the announcer continued.
“Wow, some of those ponies painted themselves red and white!” Rainbow said, looking at the crowd.
Fluttershy turned to Rainbow who was transfixed on the stage that lay below. “We should go talk to that pony after the match. You know, save us from traveling all that way.”
“Yeah, sure,” Rainbow said, sounding as if she was ignoring the timid pegasus. Fluttershy again turned her attention back down to the stage.
“Will this science major be victorious this day? Only one mare stands in his way. Introducing the gym leader that needs no introduction, but wants one regardless. A mare whose electric power can be seen in the legendary Mauville storms!”
The lights inside the stadium suddenly shut off, leaving only one spotlighting the stage as smoke began to pour from the floor boards. As the spectacle occurred, the crowd’s enthusiastic roars grew to their highest point, giving Fluttershy the feeling that the stadium would shake apart. Fluttershy caught a glimpse of a light blue mare as she made her way out of the smoke, her light blond hair swirling at both ends as she posed for the ecstatic crowd.
“Fillies and gentlecolts, introducing Mauville’s own gym leader, the Electrifying and Powerful Wattsie!”