Cyllage City, Kalos.
The city of peaceful strolls. A city nestled between the cliffs and the sea overlooked by steep bicycle racecourses.
At the moment, it was nighttime for Kalos and most of the Pokemon World as well. The people of Cyllage City were either asleep or were just about to clock out for the night.
Over at the Hotel Cyllage, a trainer and his Pokemon were about to do just that. With the trainer turning the lights off and his partner Carbink.
"Good going on today's Gym Battle, Carbink." He said. "I was a bit nervous going up against Grant but that Gyro Ball really helped."
"Bink! Carbink!" The Jewel Pokemon bounced up and down on the bed.
"Let's do our best tomorrow." He picked up his partner, adjusting the bed so that Carbink would have someplace to rest due to its rocky and hard body.
The Jewel Pokemon hopped on its partner's shoulder, watching him adjust the bed as Carbink let out a grumbled and exhausted yawn.
The way the moon shined through the window made Carbink's body shined, showing off its beautiful crystals which lit up the room and gave it some enchanting and relaxing sparkles, which the trainer enjoyed very much.
However, that enjoyment was cut short when Carbink could sense something nearby. "Car?" The Rock-Fairy-Type knew that this wasn't anyone friendy like the hotel employees such as the bellboy or room service. Instead, this was someone who was a mystery yet had an ominous feel to them. "Bink...!"
"What's wrong, Carbink?" The trainer asked. He couldn't sense it like Carbink but from the way his partner was acting at the moment, something unwarranted was nearby. "Where do you sense it?" He navigated his head across the room, seeing if he could spot whatever Carbink was sensing.
Just then, he could hear footsteps. Or rather, the sound of hooves moving around. Those were the sounds that reached the trainer and Pokemon as they turned their attention to the direction of the sound.
But when they turned around, they nothing. The only thing they were able to spot was a blur that had a green trail behind it. They weren't exactly sure what this green trail was as they kept searching.
Just then, the trainer's body had been outlined in a sudden light blue aura as he was suddenly frozen in place. "W-What?!" He gasped as he tried to move his limbs. "I-I can't move!"
"Carbink?!" Carbink noticed that its trainer had been surrounded by this mysterious aura, unable to move at all. Carbink was about to use Gyro Ball to make its trainer move but that was quickly stopped when a nylon rope had wrapped around the Jewel Pokemon, holding it in place. "C-Carbink!"
"Ah! Carbink!" The trainer bellowed as he kept trying to break free. He attempted to get his other Pokemon out, struggling to reach his pockets, but that was no use.
"Bink...Car...!" The nylon rope had been tightened, putting extra pressure on the Rock-Fairy-Type as Carbink couldn't use any of its moves due to how thick this rope was.
Once the rope had been wrapped around Carbink enough, the Jewel Pokemon was suddenly pulled out of the hotel room, flying out the window. "Carbink!"
The trainer had finally been released as he was dropped on the floor with the mysterious light blue aura fading away. "Ugh...!" He held his head, recovering in a short amount of time. The trainer ran towards the window, looking outside to see if he could spot his partner. But there wasn't a sign of Carbink anywhere. "Carbink!"
Carbink was gone. Stolen from its own trainer. But it wasn't just him. Most of the lights in Cyllage City had been turned on as everyone there had unexpectedly experienced something similar to the trainer.
Many of them were screaming out loud for their Pokemon, asking them to come back or for whoever stole them to return their partners as many of them came outside to find nothing. Not a trace of them.
The people of Cyllage City have just had their Pokemon stolen from them.
But what's worse, this wasn't limited to Cyllage City.
Whoever these mysterious bandits are, they were getting a move on. The only thing that the people could spot that indicated that someone had stolen them was a green blur. But that was it.
Anything else was a mystery.
Ponyville, Day.
"Hot..." Ash rested his head on a table. "How'd it heat up so quickly today?"
"Pika...chu..."
"Well, you two did run around a lot today." Fluttershy patted Ash on the head. "And summer's approaching faster than we expected. But it's probably normal in the Pokemon World."
"Oh. That reminds me." Ash raised his head from the table. "Fluttershy. You said you wanted to visit Eindoak Town, right?"
"Mhm." Fluttershy nodded. "You told me that's where Victini lives. I really want to see Victini again!"
"Okay! Eindoak's pretty far away so it'll take a bunch of days to get there. We can probably finish the Pokemon Festival and then head to Eindoak later."
"Pikachu."
"Or, Victini might come for the second festival just like how it did for the first. We could meet up again there."
"Ah, yeah that's true." Ash nodded his head along with Pikachu.
"Pikachu."
"Well." Ash stood up. "We've got I think...1 week or less before the festival starts? I can't remember. But I'm psyched either way! I wonder if I'll meet some new Pokemon I've never seen before!"
"Me too!" Fluttershy squeed. "It's so exciting isn't it?"
"Yeah!"
"Pikachu!"
"Audino...?" Audino's ears tingled as she heard a brand new sound coming towards Ponyville.
"What do you hear, Audi?" Fluttershy asked.
"Audino." Audino focused her attention on the noise, trying to figure out what it was. By getting the right frequency, it sounded a lot like a motorcycle. "Dino-Audino?"
"A motor...cycle?" Fluttershy tilted her head.
"Motorcycle? Here?" Ash squinted his eyes.
"Pikachu?"
Ponyville's never had a motorcycle come by before. They haven't even been invented in Equestria yet since their world is somewhat lagging behind the Pokemon World.
But this was the first of many.
Everypony could hear the motorcycle due to its unusual and violent noise as it got closer to the town. They were all wondering what that noise could be since they've never heard it before in their lives, minus Ash and Pikachu.
It was then revealed that the individual riding on the motorcycle was none other than an Officer Jenny alongside her Herdier. Specifically, one of the Officer Jenny's of Kalos judging by her cop uniform.
"Officer Jenny?" Ash recognized her in a heartbeat
"Pika-ka-Pikachu?"
"Hm?" Jenny turned her attention to Ash as she hopped off her motorcycle. "Oh, it's you. Ash right?"
"What are you doing here in Ponyville?" Ash asked with curiosity. It was somewhat surreal to see Officer Jenny of all people here in Equestria.
"Sorry if coming here in this small town seems a bit sudden. But I'm currently on a search right now."
"What are you searching for?" Fluttershy went up to her.
"I'm here searching for thieves." Jenny gave her reason. "And Herdier's tracking led me to this world."
"Herd."
"Thieves?!" Fluttershy gasped. "W-What did they steal?"
"Not objects, that's for sure. These thieves have been going around stealing Pokemon from trainers."
"Stealing Pokemon? Like a Pokemon Poacher?!" Ash exclaimed.
"Something like that. The other Jenny's from every other region have been on this case for a while now. We're just now starting to get somewhere."
"You mean that this has been happening frequently?" said a worried Fluttershy.
"Unfortunately. These thieves are much like Pokemon Poachers. They sell Pokemon for a profit and their own personal gains. But what makes them different from the poachers is that they don't go for Wild Pokemon. Instead, they go after Pokemon that have trainers. Many trainers from different regions have had their Pokemon outright taken from them, but only during the night."
"You said that Herdier's tracking led you here. Are they somewhere in Ponyville?" Ash questioned.
"They're not from your town. However, we've found out that they're relatively close to Ponyville. Which is why we've stopped here."
"Somewhere near Ponyville?" Fluttershy looked around, wondering which of the many landmarks the thieves were residing in. "Could somepony be stealing without us knowing?!"
"Even though these thieves are a mystery, they made the same mistake every thief does." Jenny dug into her pocket, pulling out a yellow strand of hair. "They left evidence as always."
"Pika..."
"We had our best forensics team take a look at this mane and we can safely say from all the possible culprits, none of them are from Ponyville."
"Oh thank goodness..." Fluttershy let out a deep sigh of relief.
"But they're certainly from this world. Herdier's tracking isn't over yet. These thieves are fairly elusive since we haven't caught them all yet." Jenny put the strand of hair in front of Herdier's face.
"Then we'll help you find them!" Ash exclaimed.
"Pikachu!"
"Huh?" Jenny raised an eyebrow.
"Stealing Pokemon from trainers isn't something we can just ignore, ya know. We helped before with Malamar. So let's help you again!"
"Pika!"
"Count me in too." Fluttershy hung on Ash's shoulder. "I can't sit by and let something like that just happen without anypony doing something.
"You two..." Jenny paused for a moment. She expected Ash to obviously join in but not Fluttershy. But it wasn't too out of the ordinary for her. "Alright. You obviously know this world better than I do so you can help me around."
"Great!" Ash exclaimed. "You said that they steal Pokemon at night right?"
"Right." Jenny nodded. "They seem to prefer acting in the dark. You won't catch them moving around in the day, that's for sure."
"And you said that they sell Pokemon for a profit. Do they go after Pokemon that have something valuable with them?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well...Despite them stealing Pokemon of every kind...the three Pokemon they seem to focus on the most is Persian, Clamperl and Carbink. Those three Pokemon can either create money or have valuable items apart of them. Like Clamperl's pearl or Carbink's crystals."
"So they're gonna for those kind's of Pokemon, huh? Then I've got an idea!" Ash put his hands together, already coming up with a plan to catch these thieves. "If they're close to Ponyville and they're going for guys like Carbink then there's only one thing left to do."
Night, Ponyville. White Tail Wood.
Ash's plan had been created. What did he come up with exactly?
Well, for starters, he requested the assistance of Pinkie Pie's Slurpuff to help track down the thieves by using its amazing nose. Slurpuff's sniffing abilities were more versatile and advanced than Herdier's.
He had also requested assistance from Rarity and her Pokemon. Since the thieves tend to go for the Pokemon with valuable objects with them most of the time, Rarity had decorated her Pokemon with necklaces that had gems on them.
And as a bonus, she had Ampharos out for the night, so that if the thieves get close, Ampharos can shine his tail and reveal them.
Audino was once again a huge team player thanks to her amazing hearing and this time, Twilight and her Absol were joining in. In a sense, this could be seen as a disaster to Absol, albeit a smaller scale one.
Ash, all of his friends and Officer Jenny were following Slurpuff who was tracking down the thieves by using the yellow mane as a source. Herdier helped out as well.
"Think we're close enough yet?" Applejack asked.
"Hopefully. Keep those jewels on you at all times, Pheromosa." Rarity said to her partner.
"Phero."
"I didn't know there were those who sold Pokemon for a profit by stealing them. That's awful." Twilight said.
"There are a lot of criminals in our world, unfortunately. Whether it's for profit, power or just for a ruse, there's always someone who'll take advantage of a Pokemon at any moment." Jenny replied. "The Pokemon Poachers are a huge example of that."
"Yeah..." Ash nodded. He was thinking about how many people he's met that have either taken advantage of a Pokemon's trust or used them for further power.
"Slur."
"Herdier."
Slurpuff and Herdier had stopped walking as they had finally hit the jackpot. Their scents had picked up on something potent as they both faced west.
"What did you two find?" Jenny kneeled.
"Herdier!" Herdier could sense something underground, telling his trainer that whatever they've found was deep underneath.
"Underground you say...Alright. Herdier, use Dig!"
"Dier!" The Loyal Dog Pokemon got to work. By rapidly using its paws, Herdier had dug into the ground, kicking up tons of dirt from White Tail Wood.
Audino's ears were picking up on something underground. It sounded like water flowing to her. Absol's horn wasn't acting up, meaning that there was no immediate danger nearby. But there was truly something major underneath.
After, digging a large hole, Herdier and everypony had peered their heads over, seeing something new to them, but not new to Twilight.
"This is..." Twilight gawked. "This is where Adagio captured me!"
Indeed it was. It the same damp cave that Adagio had brought Twilight to when she had the Alicorn Amulet on her. However, this time, it seemed to be occupied with tables. On those tables were Poke Balls, most likely belonging to the trainers that the thieves had stolen from.
Jenny and everyone hopped down, entering the cave as Ampharos lit his tail up, adding some glow to the area for a better view on things.
"So this is where they've been hiding out," Jenny observed as she went up to the table, picking up a Poke Ball. "Using an underground cave is rarely used by thieves actually."
"Are these all Pokemon that once belonged to their trainers?" Pinkie went up to the table.
"Looks like it. They've probably been sitting around for the entire day. Who knows how many of them used to be here and have been sold already."
"But...I don't see the thieves anywhere." Spike said. "You think they've gone out already?"
"They only act at night. So they're already out there somewhere, stealing more trainers' Pokemon." Ash replied.
"Audino...?" Just then, Audino picked up on another sound. But this time, it was the sound of a Pokemon instead of water flowing. "Dino!"
"Audi hears a Pokemon somewhere in here!" Fluttershy flew up.
"She does?!" Jenny gasped. "Where?!"
"Audino!" Audino pointed south of the cave as she quickly ran in that direction. They all followed her, wondering what Pokemon she ended up hearing. It sounded like the Pokemon was moving about with rustling being heard.
The closer Audino got, the more noises she heard. It wasn't just one Pokemon. It was multiple. And they certainly weren't coming from the Poke Balls.
By reaching the corner of the cave, they had all found multiple Pokemon that were restrained with large metal rings, nylon rope or knocked out on the ground. All of them belonged to trainers.
And one of them was the Carbink from Cyllage City, who, for the last 24 hours has been trying to blast away the rope from its body, but it was too tight. Tighter than rope can actually get.
"C-Carbink!" The Jewel Pokemon writhed on the ground, trying to break free.
"So this is where they are...Pikachu! Iron Tail!" Ash commanded.
"Chu...Pika!" Pikachu went up to the restrained Pokemon, using his Iron Tail to cut the metal rings and rope in half, freeing the Pokemon that were restrained.
"Bink?" Carbink fell flat on the ground after being released. The Pokemon who had been freed looked at themselves, seeing that they no longer had restraints on them. What a relief. Their worried and whimpering cries turned into that of joy as some of them gathered around Pikachu, thanking him.
"Pi-Pika?!"
The Pokemon who were knocked out were a different story. It seems that they had put up a fight against the thieves, but were ultimately subdued in the process as some of them had scratches on their bodies, showing that there was a struggle.
"Are you all alright?" Fluttershy went up to the Pokemon who had been freed whilst Audino tended to the Pokemon who were knocked out by using Heal Pulse on them.
"Tatta! Ratta!" A Rattata and many other Pokemon chattered about their capture and how they were fine now thanks to Jenny and the others coming to rescue them.
"They were going to sell all of these little darlings?" Rarity picked up a Cottonee.
"Cottonee!"
"Seems like these are Pokemon who prefer to stay out of their Poke Balls," Jenny said.
"Well then let's grab the Poke Balls too and get out of here." Applejack suggested.
"Wait." Jenny suddenly stopped Applejack. "We're at their underground base during the night. Which means that once their usual nighttime heist is over, they'll come back here with more Pokemon."
"Then what do we do?" Spike asked.
"I say we smash em when they get back here!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"Here's what we'll do." Jenny stood up. "They're going to notice the giant hole in their base thanks to Dig. They most likely enter the cave using another entrance. There's probably another hole somewhere inside of this cave they come in and out of."
"Or maybe we don't use a hole at all."
An unfamiliar voice echoed through their ears. That prompted everypony to jolt up with the ears alerted and awareness being risen to the highest level.
"Sol...!" Absol's horn was tingling. Someone of erroneous nature was nearby. Audino's ears were trying to pick up on where the voice was coming from, but to her surprise, she couldn't find a proper direction. It was almost as if the voice was coming from all directions.
"Who's there?!" Jenny shouted as her Herdier stood beside her
"Thought you could be all sneaky and sly? Sorry, but that's our thing."
"Where's that voice coming from...is it magic?" Twilight grumbled.
"Since you're here with the Pokemon...how about you join them? Secret Power."
The voice had just given off the command for a Pokemon move. It seems that they owned a Pokemon of their own and they were in hiding, unavailable to the eyes of everypony else.
Multiple green tentacle-like energy surrounded the ground, flowing up as they towered over everypony and the Pokemon here.
"W-What Secret Power is this?!" Fluttershy whimpered.
"It's the Secret Power that puts you to sleep!" Jenny realized as she and the others were starting to fall asleep due to the aura of the tentacles.
"N-Not like this...!" Rainbow Dash growled as she was struggling to stay awake.
"I don't wanna sleep now..." Pinkie Pie grumbled as she held onto Slurpuff, trying to stay up.
"If I'm generous I'll toss you all out of our base. Minus the Pokemon obviously."
"T-That won't happen..." Ash felt wobbly. "P-Pikachu...Thunderbolt...!"
"Pika..." Pikachu's eyes were almost closing shut from the browsing energy as it looked like he would fall asleep without a doubt. "C-Chuuu!" But thankfully, he found the extra strength he needed as he shocked everyone around him with 100,000 volts of electricity.
That amount of electricity was enough to keep them awake due to how potent it was. But the Secret Power had to be dealt with somehow.
"Audi! Safeguard!" Fluttershy made the right call.
"Audino...!" Audino used Safeguard by creating a protective green barrier around everyone, preventing them from falling asleep.
"Phew." Rainbow Dash sighed. "That was close."
"You're going to show yourself so I can turn you in!" Jessie growled.
"I'd like to see you try." The voice chuckled.
"If we can't see them...then it has to be an illusionary spell. Two can play at that game." Twilight lit up her horn to see if she could find this supposed unicorn with her own magic.
Twilight being an alicorn meant that her magic was superior to many unicorns with some exceptions here and there as she expelled a purple pulse of magic that filled the entire cave.
And indeed, it was an illusionary spell that was allowing the thieves to stay hidden as the spell had been cancelled out by Twilight's.
Thus, the thieves were revealed. Three of them actually.
All of them seemed to be wearing the same suit. Pitch black with green lines on the side and bottom of their hooves as there was a hole in the middle of their suit so that they could see.
"Accursed alicorn magic." The unicorn in the middle scoffed.
"Found ya!" Rainbow Dash stomped her hooves.
"I don't recognize them at all. Who are they?" Pinkie tilted her head.
"Carbink..." Carbink hid behind Fluttershy and Rarity along with the other Pokemon.
"Who are you three?!" Jenny ordered them to tell her their names.
"You won't get our real names, that's for sure. But what you need to know is that we're the Umbrage Thieves. That's all." The middle one wiped some dust off her suit.
"Umbrage Thieves?" Twilight said.
"The last thing I wanted was the Princess of Friendship getting involved." The middle one narrowed her eyes. "But if she has an Absol of all Pokemon..."
"Absol...!" The Disaster Pokemon growled at them.
"You three sicken me. I'll be bringing you all in and returning the Pokemon to their rightful owners!" Jenny and Herdier stepped forward.
"You can try." The middle one's horn began to light up, indicating that she was planning on teleporting out of here with the others. Which actually explained how they were able to enter and leave without using a hole. Much like how Adagio did the same when in here.
"No, you don't!" Twilight used her own magic to zap at the unicorn, but the stallion on the right got in the way, taking the hit for her.
"Buh-Bye." The unicorn flailed her hoof around as she teleported her fellow thieves out of the cave, without leaving a single trace at all this time.
"Wait! Jenny exclaimed. She tried to run after them, but there was no point since they used teleportation to go who-knows-where.
"See ya around~!" The unicorn's last words were in a sprightly and teasing tone as she giggled with her voice echoing throughout the cave.
"Darn it!" Jenny felt defeated.
"No need to worry." Ash went up to her. "We've saved the Pokemon here. That's all that matters right now. Now that we know who's behind it, we'll get them next time for sure."
"I suppose." Jenny sighed. "I could've finally arrested one of them."
"Who were those three anyway?" Rarity wondered.
"They looked like a unicorn, pegasus and earth pony from what I saw." Applejack replied.
"And the one the middle one was the tallest of them all. Hard to believe that only three of them were capable of stealing all of these Pokemon." Spike said.
"It's not just three," Jenny responded. "I never know about their name being Umbrage Thieves. But I and the many other Jenny's knew about their existence. There's multiple of them."
"Multiple?!" Spike screeched.
"It's hard to say how many of them there truly are. There could be some we don't even know about. Jenny put her hand on her head. "We've been chasing this case for months now and just when I thought I'd capture at least one of them..." Jenny was getting frustrated.
"Herdier..." Her partner looked up at her.
"Sorry, Herdier. I know you don't like seeing me like this." Jenny patted Herdier's head. "All of you. Thank you so much for your help. I'll return these Pokemon to their trainers immediately."
"What about this base? Now that they know we've found it..." Pinkie spoke.
"They're obviously not going to come back here at all." Jenny shook her head. "They must have other hideouts somewhere else in this world. And unfortunately, My sisters haven't really been here that often. This is my first time here among with many others."
"You can leave it to us, Officer Jenny," Ash reassured. "If we find any, we'll call you for sure! The gateway to Kalos isn't that far anyway!"
"Pikachu!"
"Thank you, Ash. Everyone. My sisters and I will be coming to this world more often because of this. Now, let's get these Pokemon back home."
Officer Jenny took everything from here. She was doing all the hard work on getting the Pokemon back to their trainers by having her sisters help her out. It took a while, but eventually, the trainers were reunited with their partners.
However, many Pokemon are still out there, missing and have been sold off due to the Umbrage Thieves. A strange and unexpected new threat involving Pokemon had originated from Equestria, but that won't be the only threat that they will all have to encounter and deal with as the journey continues.
Chapter 294 End.