//------------------------------// // Little safe haven // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Olivine City. Johto. Afternoon. A city where you can hear the melody of the sea and a port with beautiful sea breezes. This is where Ash had ended up when passing through the gateway connected to Deerling Forest. He could finally breathe as he was away from all the conflict since most of Equestria is hunting him down. Entering Olivine City was a relief. "Phew." Ash sighed. But he couldn't stop now. He had friends he needed to get to. Right now, he was far from Equestria and especially White Tail Wood and Saddle Lake, where he last saw his friends before getting dragged underneath the earth. He would have to take many gateway shortcuts to reach those locations without being caught by any influenced ponies or Pokemon who want to eliminate him for the sake of J's revenge. "Alright. Where's the next gateway?" Ash wondered. It's been years since he's been to Olivine City. A lot has changed over the years. Some new buildings had been sprung up. Especially a very visible mansion that was next to the Battle Tower. As Ash started searching for the gateway in Olivine, he first took out his Xtransceiver, calling for his friends. He selected Rainbow Dash's Trainer number since she's always the first to answer her Xtransceiver more than anyone else. And sure enough, Rainbow Dash did in fact pick up Ash's call first in less than seconds. This was an urgent situation so it would only make sense for her to pick up immediately as her face showed on the screen. Not just that, all of his friends too. "Ash!" Rainbow Dash and everyone exclaimed. "Pikapi!" "Hey, guys. Glad to see you're okay." "We can say the same for you! Mostly you!" Twilight bellowed as her face pushed Rainbow Dash's face aside. "You had us seriously worried there! Are you hurt?! Where are you now?!" "Ow." Rainbow Dash held her face. "I'm fine. Feeling a bit numb from using too much Aura and pushing it a bit though. Right now, I'm at Olivine City." "Thank goodness..." Twilight sighed. "Great news, Ash." Fluttershy's face was shown. "Everypony's helping out. Well, the ones we freed. Princess Celestia told them to head out and stop any influenced ponies or Pokemon across Equestria." "So we've got like a ton of backup now!" Rainbow Dash's face came back into view. "You don't have to worry about a thing now. Everypony's gonna make sure this whole thing blows over. Soon, that Hunter J's not gonna have anyone left to mess with it." "Hold on. Did you say Olivine City, Ash?" Celestia asked. "Yeah?" Ash nodded. "Hollow and Jewel should be there. Meet up with them if you can, Ash. They can be of great help, actually." Celestia ordered. "Oh, really?" Ash looked up, gazing at the more obvious building here. The mansion. Ash already knew that Jewel was rich so that mansion was a dead giveaway. "Alright, I gotcha." "Pikapi! Pikachu!" Pikachu desperately wanted to see Ash again as his face came into view on the screen. "We'll be right there as soon as we can." Celestia was about to use teleportation to transport her and the others to Deerling Forest since she already knows about most gateways in Equestria and which part of the Pokemon World they lead to. "Ok. See ya soon." Ash hung up the call as he set his eyes on the mansion ahead. At the same time, that same pegasus who was watching Ash in secret at Deerling Forest had passed through the gateway, locking her sights on the trainer. She spotted Ash heading towards the mansion as she was the only influenced pony to know where he was now. And as a bonus, J's Desire knew as well since it was connected to all of the ponies and Pokemon it had influenced. When the pegasus came through and saw Ash, so did the Desire. It knew where Ash was headed. "You can't hide forever, Ash Ketchum. As long as I have someone nearby under my control, I'll always find you, one way or another." Hollow and Jewel's mansion. Standing at the very front of the mansion on the outside was none other than Hollow's Houndoom who acted as a sort of guard dog to the mansion. The Dark Pokemon noticed Ash arriving as he immediately recognized the trainer, not deeming him as an enemy. "Doom! Houndoom!" Houndoom barked, signalling that Ash had arrived. "Hey, Houndoom. Been a while." Ash finally arrived at the mansion, greeting Houndoom with a head pat. "Hound!" "Are Hollow and Jewel home?" He asked the Dark-Fire-Type. "Houndoom." Houndoom pointed his head over to the door. But, Ash wouldn't need to wonder if they were home. Because Houndoom's barking a few seconds ago was already an alert sign. The door to the mansion was being opened up as someone had responded to Houndoom's barking. And that someone, two of them actually, were Hollow and Jewel. "Ash You're here!" Jewel exclaimed. "Yep!" Ash nodded. "Sorry for the sudden appearance." "It's fine. We heard you were being hunted down or something by Equestria?" Hollow narrowed his eyes. "What's up with that exactly?" "Oh. That." Ash laughed. "Guess you found out. Yeah, I'm in a bit of a chase right now. Ya, see a Pokemon Hunter named J's got a Desire to take revenge on me and everything. Looks like J's Desire was strong enough to make almost everyone wanna take revenge on me." "Hang on. Did you say J?" Jewel put her hand out. "Yeah?" "Hunter J." Jewel thought for a moment, looking into the sky. "I've heard of that name before. The infamous Pokemon Hunter from Sinnoh. She wants to take revenge on you?" "She's not really a big fan of me since I keep getting in her way," Ash replied. "Oh." Hollow nodded. "Yeah, that checks out. But I thought Hunter J was lost forever...Guess she must've found her way back." "Celestia told me to come here and see if you two could help. She and the others will be here soon. But you might be busy right now, huh?" "No, it's fine." Hollow shook his head. "If Celestia ordered it, we can definitely help out, can we?" "Hm?" Jewel turned to Hollow. "Ah, right! It all seems important anyway. Since they're all hunting you down, it's best not to stay out in the open. Come inside, Ash." "Thanks!" Ash was led inside the home of Hollow and Jewel, using it as a place to hide until Celestia and the others arrive. This would also be Ash's first time in the mansion that was mostly owned by Jewel because of her family heritage. Strangely enough, it somewhat resembled Skyblue Shine's mansion with a lot of striking similarities. Although, Ash has never seen that mansion before in Equestria. "Ooh..." Ash gawked at the mansion as he could see that most of Hollow and Jewel's Pokemon were out of their Poke Balls, roaming around indoors. "Has anyone in our world been influenced by the Desire?" Hollow asked. "No, I don't think so." Ash shook his head as all he had seen were ponies being influenced. "So far, it's only hit those in Equestria. I don't think it passed over to here." "If it did then that could raise some problems for you, Ash," Jewel said. "Last thing you need is two worlds hunting you down, huh?" "No need to worry. Since Celestia, Passion, Lucario and I can free them, we've got a lot of great help right now. Everyone we freed is gonna be doing their best to try and stop the Desire too. So it's not all bad." Ash gave a thumbs up. "Seriously?" Hollow thought about what the current situation might be right now. He was imagining two different sides going at each other, causing madness across Equestria in a sort of power struggle. The thought of that made him shudder a bit. "Oh, man..." "Problem is...we can't exactly find J." Ash scratched his hair. "If we could, this whole thing would've been over way faster. Passion can't sense her anywhere in Equestria." "Then she's probably here in this world." Hollow sat down. "Maybe that's why she can't be found in Equestria. But even so, the Pokemon World is gigantic. There are so many regions she could be in any one of them. I'm not sure that even Passion could sense her with all this distance." "Oh, good point." Jewel nodded. "But, where would she be? I mean, if she just came back all of a sudden, she would be in someplace less obvious. Coming to Equestria would hide her from Officer Jenny, wouldn't it?" "I think I know of a place," Hollow replied. "You do?" Both Ash and Jewel turned to Hollow. "The Pokemon Black Market. That's where most Pokemon criminals head to when they're doing their dirty business." "Oh, right. I heard about it." Ash recalled hearing about the Pokemon Black Market during Sinnoh. If anything, Sinnoh is where his knowledge of the Pokemon World kept growing and growing with each adventure. "Where is it?" "Everywhere. Practically every region has one in secret. But that's all I know about it. Sorry." "Dear. How do you know of this?" Jewel slid over, curious? "Eh? Ah, well!" Hollow stood up, laughing nervously. "You learn a lot when you've got an adventurous grandpa. Hahaha!" "Hm?" But something else had caught Ash's attention that drew him away from talking about subjects related to J. He noticed that there was a cabinet that held very familiar items that he's seen before. Gym Badges, trophies and contest ribbons galore. All were inside of this one singular cabinet and Ash recognized all of them through his adventures. "Oh!" Ash dashed over. "Awesome! You guys got all of these?!" "Sure did." Hollow gave off a proud smirk. "Proud owner of regional gym badges and a few trophies here and there." "And you're looking at a top coordinator and her possessions right now." Jewel crossed her arms, also giving off a proud and confident smile. "Hollow and I had journeyed across regions for years now. We've seen a lot and done a lot." "I took part in many Pokemon Leagues and she took part in Hoenn and Sinnoh's Pokemon Contests. And it all really paid off in the end." "Man, this really takes me back." Looking at this made Ash reminisce about his friends and journeys throughout previous regions. "Houndoom!" While he was admiring it, Houndoom was barking again, signalling that someone new had shown up. Hollow quickly responded to Houndoom's barking as he approached the door. "Hold on, I'm coming!" Hollow quickly rushed over as Ash looked back, hoping that it was his friends that were here. After all, it wouldn't take too long for them to show up. Celestia knows where Deerling Forest is so with one teleportation spell, she can show up there and pass through the gateway, arriving at Olivine City easily. So it would take little time for her and the others to show up. And lo and behold, when Hollow opened up the door, there they were. Pikachu, Celestia and Ash's friends had arrived at last. "Pikapi!" Pikachu immediately spotted his best friend as he jumped over Hollow, entering the mansion with the brightest smile on his face. "Pikachu!" Ash held his arms out, allowing Pikachu to hop into his embrace. Both of them reunited with a powerful hug as they spun around together. "Dra!" And of course, Ash's Dragonite couldn't resist a hug as she flew forward, grabbing both Ash and Pikachu and giving them her signature hug. "Ough!" Ash's eyes widened after being given a surprise Dragonite hug along with Pikachu. "Pi-Pika!" "Thank goodness..." Fluttershy was relieved. "All of you are here?" Hollow pointed at them all. "Certainly." Celestia nodded as she came inside. "Ash has told you everything?" "Uh, yeah." Hollow watched them all enter. "Everything so far about J and Equestria." "Then will you help us?" Celestia turned to face Hollow. "With how expansive J's Desire is, we'll need all the help we can get if we are to stop all of this." "We agreed to help, already." Jewel patted Dragonite's stomach. "It's already serious enough. I mean, an entire nation after one kid? What did you do to make her so mad, Ash?" "Ahaha..." Ash chuckled while adjusting his hat. "Everypony in Equestria's doing their best to stop the other influenced ponies and Pokemon but..." Twilight grumbled. "We're not sure how long all of this will last..." "J's Desire itself said that we might be able to stop it here. But it'll return, either way, remember?" Rarity reminded Twilight. "Although, I wonder if that was just to give us false hope." She herself was worried but that quickly changed when she took a better look at the mansion. "Oooh. Hello there~" "I believe we can stop it here and now." Celestia took that hope. "If we can free more influenced ponies and Pokemon, large groups of them, then we'll be able to weaken the Desire to the point where its influence won't be as effective. And I trust that the ponies we've freed will be able to reach out to them. Ash's Aura had already freed a large majority and so did Passion." "Gardevoir." "Well, then all you need to do is round up another large group and you'll weaken it severely again, right?" Jewel shrugged. "That's the idea." Rainbow Dash spoke. "After that, all they'll need is some good talking and this whole thing's gonna be over soon. Besides, I've got a Gym Battle I need to get to soon." "It'd be a lot easier if we found J. But Passion can't sense her." Pinkie Pie said. "So, not even when coming to this world, huh?" Hollow replied. "Figures. There are too many regions..." "Huh? J's in this world?" Pinkie turned to Hollow. "Maybe. But, even still, the Pokemon World is massive. A Gardevoir can only sense so much in one region." Jewel explained. "Voir." Passion sighed. "No need to worry." Ash smiled as Pikachu climbed onto his shoulder. "We'll solve this without finding J. Count on it. We should also trust everypony else that's helping out." "And you think we'll be done before the day ends?" Hollow asked. "Sure do!" Ash nodded. "Pikachu!" "Then let's make it happen." Celestia cleared her throat. "Luna and Darkrai are already involved in this as well. With Darkrai's Dark Void, we can easily immobilize many influenced ponies and Pokemon. Passion and I will head to Equestria and free everypony else from the Desire. Ash and Lucario will do the same, but perhaps when they're all immobile and not too out in the open." "Lucario and I got it." "Lu." "And speaking of Lucario...this might be a bit of a heavy risk, I was thinking that Passion and Lucario should both combine their powers as one to hopefully speed up the process," Celestia recommended. "Oh!" Twilight and everyone shot up. "Really?! Can that work?!" "Not sure. It was just something that I thought of." Celestia shook her head. "Only Passion and Lucario have the necessary ability to combat the Desires. Aura and Fairy Magic from the seems. If we can put those two together, then perhaps, it could overpower the Desire much more effectively than before. It's just a theory though." "No, no." Hollow raised his hand. "You have a point, princess." "She does?" Everyone turned to Hollow. "Oh yeah. Something like that can totally happen." Ash suddenly spoke, prompting everyone to look at him. "Wait, Ash! It's possible to do that?" "Well, I don't know about Aura and Fairy Magic coming together but mixing two different energies isn't anything new. It can happen and make something even stronger. Just like the Fusion Magic that came from our world's magic and Equestria magic. Even though that stuff's unpredictable." "So, if we were to put Aura and Fairy Magic together, what would happen?" Rarity asked. "Aura's the living life force everything in the universe. We all have Aura within us. Even a Gardevoir. If we were to put it with Fairy Magic, the purest form of magic, no doubt about it, something good's gonna come out of it." Hollow explained. "But I don't know what it would make." "Well, then in that case..." Celestia made a proud smile. "Let's attempt it. This might be our ace in the hole. When we have a group of influenced ponies and Pokemon within our reach, Lucario and Passion will merge their Aura and Fairy Magic." "Lucario." Lucario looked at Passion, nodding at her as they both knew what they needed to do now. "Gardevoir." Passion nodded back. "Doom! Houndoom!" Just then, Houndoom started barking again, alerting everyone in the mansion. This time, his barking sounded more along the lines of being aggressive "Again?" Hollow raised an eyebrow. "Who is it now? I'm coming, Houndoom, hold on." "Hound! Hound-" Abruptly, Houndoom's barking had stopped. But not for the right reason at all. When Hollow approached the door, unexpectedly, Houndoom had been blasted through it, crashing into his trainer. "Ough!" Hollow groaned after being hit by his own Pokemon. Both Hollow and Houndoom fell on the floor hard after that sudden crash as the mansion door had been blown open. "Hollow! Houndoom!" Jewel gasped as she rushed over to their side immediately. The cause of this sudden crash through came from what seemed to be an Electric-Type attack as sparks of lightning were coming out of Houndoom's body. Not only that, but within the smoke, some electricity could be seen, further confirming that it was an Electric move. Everyone looked at the smoke with high alert emanating out of them. As the smoke cleared, it was soon revealed that the Pokemon that had hit Houndoom was an Eelektross. And with the Eelektross were many ponies and Pokemon were standing outside of the mansion. And of course, they were all influenced. "Eelek!" "They found us?!" Pinkie Pie gasped. "H-Houndoom...Are you okay?" Hollow asked. "Doom!" Houndoom got up as he started growling. That Electric attack from Eelektross didn't bother him too much as flames started flaring out of his mouth and between his teeth when he growled. "Found you." A unicorn whistled. "So much for staying safe here!" Ash stepped forward. "We wouldn't go anywhere else if we were you." A pegasus said. "We've got the whole mansion surrounded." "The whole mansion?!" Fluttershy gasped as she could hear other sounds from different sides. Especially her Audino, who was able to pick up on over a hundred different sounds. Front, back, left and right. Even above. In fact, there sounded like there were more than a hundred. And speaking of other sides, the Pokemon from each side blew the mansion walls open, further revealing that the entire mansion was indeed surrounded by an abundance of influenced ponies and Pokemon with not a single angle open. "Audino?!" "Do we try that Aura and Fairy Magic combo now?" Rainbow Dash whispered. "First, we'll need to restrain all of them." Rarity whispered back. "Don't worry. My Leavanny and Pheromosa already know what needs to be done. Although...there are seemingly more of them now. We might need more strings." The Desire of J, who could see everything from the perspective of those it influenced suddenly started speaking to all of them in their minds, giving them orders. "Cornered with nowhere to run. Don't hold back. Tear down this mansion if that's what it takes. Destroy Ash Ketchum once and for all." "Right." The unicorn nodded in understanding as did everyone else. By this point, they were identical to zombies that were following one order. "Eelektross! Zap Cannon!" "Croconaw! Hydro Pump!" "Noctowl! Air Slash!" All of a sudden, everypony started given their Pokemon orders to attack the mansion and those inside of it. The influenced Pokemon got to work using all of their moves at once. All from afar instead of up close. "Oh!" Celestia gasped as she quickly put up a magical barrier around her friends. This many Pokemon attacks could be devastating to the body, especially from every angle. She expanded in size while also increasing its strength. Each of the hundreds of Pokemon moves connected with Celestia's magical barrier, causing a plethora of chaotic explosions that filled the entire mansion in less than seconds as Ash and the others closed their eyes. The people of Olivine City witnessed and heard all of this from afar. Especially those nearby at the Battle Tower. A flare and flurry of explosions, ranging from electricity, fire, water, poison, grass and many other forms of energy. The smoke cleared as the mansion itself had already taken a heavy beating from this sudden attack. But, considering its size, the parts that had been destroyed paled in comparison to the sheer size of it. Through the remaining smoke, Celestia's shield had successfully protected everyone from the attacks. Not only that, but Celestia further expanded the shield, causing some of the nearby Pokemon to be pushed back. She then lowered the shield afterwards. "Is everypony alright?" Celestia asked. "Totally fine," Ash replied while turning to face his pursuers. "Houndoom!" Houndoom ferociously barked at everyone, waiting to attack them for what they did to his trainer's home. Hollow and Jewel looked at the destruction made to their mansion. Holes and large rubble piles everywhere. But on the plus side, the cabinet was still safe. "Phew." Both Hollow and Jewel let out sighs of relief. "Let's try this again! Eelektross! Zap-" "Dark Pulse!" Hollow quickly interrupted the trainer and their Eelektross by having Houndoom shoot out a short-burst Dark Pulse from his mouth, blasting both the trainer and Pokemon away. "Tross!" Eelektross went out screaming while flying in the distance as all the influenced ponies and Pokemon watched them fly off. "No time to stand around. Ash." Hollow then faced Ash with a whisper. "Our mansion's pretty huge. We have a ton of rooms for you to hide in. We'll keep them all occupied in the time being. For now, hide in the lower section, okay?" "Alright. I gotcha." Ash nodded. "First, we'll create another field of smoke. Houndoom! Overheat on the floor!" Hollow ordered. "Hound...Doom!" Houndoom then opened his mouth, generating intense levels of heat as he aimed his head forward, firing a volatile and terrifying blast of fire down, causing it to hit the floor. Audino overheard what Hollow told Ash so she knew to quickly put up a Protect around her friends. The blast of fire caused an explosion that immediately filled the indoors of the mansion with violent flames being involved in them. It was so fierce that it actually intimidated the pursuers and forced them to back away since none of them wanted to be caught up in the brunt of that attack. Audino had successfully protected her friends while the explosion from Overheat then in fact form a field of smoke that covered the indoors of the mansion. While the smoke had been formed, Ash made a run for it, heading towards the downstairs of the mansion with his Pokemon while everyone else stayed behind. The smoke cleared as the pursuers noticed that Ash was suddenly gone and no longer within their sights or even a part of the group anymore. "What the- where'd he go?!" A pony wondered. "Nevermind that," Hollow spoke. "But right now, you're sort of trespassing at this point at our home. And I can't allow that." "Not one bit." Jewel shook her head. "Terribly sorry." "If we can render all of them unable to continue, then we'll have a chance to end this once and for all," Celestia said as she and Passion had already geared up to put an end to this. Everypony else and their Pokemon faced different directions, covering all sides. Their plan was simple. Prevent anyone from reaching Ash and immobilize everyone here so that Lucario and Passion can work their magic. All within a mansion of all places too. This pursuit had only intensified even further as both sides were determined to put this to an end once and for all as the journey continues. Chapter 398 End.