//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: the Journey Begins Anew // Story: Pokémon Journey - A Trainer & His Adventure in Equestria // by NinjaMare //------------------------------// Today was another usual sunny kind of day in Ponyville, and ponies were really enjoying the nice weather while they could, before the pegasi have to change it due to some kind of order from Cloudsdale. Which has happened more often than the ponies of Ponyville would’ve liked. But while most ponies were enjoying the sun, the crisp fresh breeze that run through the town, at the Golden Oaks Library something was going on. Whether that something would be good, or not, remains to be seen. Down in the basement of the treebrary Twilight Sparkle, student and protégé of princess Celestia, was back at it again in studying the old rustic tome from yesterday, and was once again attempting to cast the spell she goofed a few times the day prior. This time however the unicorn has some company, and helpers this time around. “Twilight. Sugarcube.” Applejack the towns resident apple farmer spoke to her violet coated friend in a slightly unsure tone as she, and Pinkie Pie stood in the center of the room. “I don’t want to disturb ya while yer experiment’n ‘n’ all but…what exactly are we doing?” Applejack asked her unicorn friend as she and Pinkie stood inside of a large intricate looking circle, that the violet mare has been drawing around them for the past ten or so minutes. And for herself, Applejack was starting to reconsider her proposal in helping her friend with her magical research, especially when said unicorn doesn’t seem to quite have a grasp on what she is doing. But as far as Applejack has known Twilight, she seemed like the type of pony who wouldn’t get any kind of magical what’s-it’s wrong. Much. “I’m trying to see if this old version of teleportation could be useful.” Twilight said as she finished making the circle around her friends. “And why do you need to see if this works Twilight?” the farmer questioned. “You can already teleport.” “Yeah Twi this seems like a redundant thing for you to try and do.” Pinkie Pie pipped in as she looked closely at the circle and its strange runes. “If I’m able to make this teleportation spell work I can help you guys a lot more.” “What do ya mean Twi?” Applejack asked with raised eyebrow. “Think about it. If I can make this work, then I could help Rarity & you spread your products, and merchandise to other towns and cities faster and without all the hassle of traveling. Especially through dangerous areas that you sometimes have to go through.” Twilight explained to her friends. “Think about it Applejack, if I can get this teleport spell down I can help you transport shipments of apples, and other stuff that you're family makes.” The farmer did take a moment to think about the prospect of a faster delivery system, and definitely sounded appealing. Especially that wretched swamp with the chimeras wandering it. “That does sound rather appealing Twilight.” “Sure does!” Pinkie Pie blurted as she bounced in place. “If this thing actually works, I can get Mr. & Mrs. Cakes confectionaries some major street cred in other towns and cities, and we’ll be able to satisfy more ponies sweet tooths!” “Exactly!” Twilight said with a minor dose of the pink mare’s enthusiasm as she finishes her work. “Now for this test I’m just going to teleport you two to Applejack’s farm, just to see if it works.” “Gotcha Twilight. Actually I do have one other question.” The unicorn hummed a questionable murmur as she perked her ears towards Applejack. “What would happen if this whole things turned out to be a failure?” “Oh you might just be displaced somewhere between point A & B, maybe stuck in the ground or in a building.” “Oh okay well that—WAIT WHAT!” Applejack said in shock and a twinge of fear. “Hit the spell Twilight and let’s get this party started!” Pinkie blurted as she wrapped her forelegs around Applejack’s neck, while the two earth ponies horned friend starts powering up her magic, and pours it into the circle. “I’m starting to regret my decision in this regard!!!!!” Applejack shouted as whirling sound started to grow in volume as a blinding light engulf everything, forcing the apple farmer to clench her eyes shut, and waiting for whatever result may happen. A moment later the whirling sound faded into nothing, but Applejack still kept her eyes clenched shut. To afraid to see what kind of weird, horrible, or troubled state that she could’ve been put in. “Are we stuck in anything?” she asked hesitantly. “Why don’t you open your eyes and find out.” Pinkie’s still cheerful voice suggested. Applejack then started to slowly open her left eye bracing herself for whatever awkward, or horrible position she may find herself in. but thankfully she found that she was still in the libraries basement. “Oh thank Celestia!” “Ah! The spell didn’t work.” Pinkie bemoaned as her plump rump ‘thwumbed’ down onto the ground. “I don’t understand? I did everything that was written down in the tome, down to the letter and yet, nothing happened.” A very disappointed Twilight said as she furiously scanned the pages over and over. As the unicorn flipped back and forth between the pages, Applejack decided to hop out of the circle before anything happened, whether it be accident or by some kind of delay in the spell. Probably more accident than the later. “Well Twilight looks like this whole thing was a bust.” The farmer said with a bit of joy in her voice. Mostly due to the fact that she wasn’t plunged into a wall, or the ground, or sent to who knows where. “Sorry hun.” Twilight just gave a stressful sigh as she brought a hoof up to rub her temple. “No its fine Applejack. I’m just sorry I wasted your and Pinkie’s time with a failed experiment.” “Eh, it’s cool Twi. The point is you tried to do a good thing to help your friends, no bigy.” Pinkie jovially said as she tossed a foreleg around her friends neck. “Now how about we get something to eat?” Both Applejack and Twilight agreed to the idea of getting something to munch on, and started to make their way out of the basement of the library. one thing was for sure though after this little escapade, Applejack may have to re-think on the things she is willing to help her friends in. Especially if said things include un-tested, and un-sure spell works and other such magical experimentations. ~~Elsewhere~~ A very pained groan escapes Matt’s mouth as he starts to regain consciousness, however as he starts to slowly wake up from his body started to pulsate with minor waves of pain, causing him writhe on the ground. But the pain quickly subsides as it fades away, and a familiar sensation started to nuzzle against his head. Gradually opening his eyes Matt found his partner Camerupt gently nuzzling the side of his head, while a worried look occupied its features which is accompanied by a sad sounding ‘bahing’ murmur. Bringing a hand up Matt started to pat his pokemon on the head, causing it to stop its sad ‘bahing’ to more uplifted ‘bahing’! “Hey there Camerupt. Sorry to worry you partner.” Matt said as he starts to get up into a sitting position, which made him felt like an old man as he still felt a little bit sore and stiff. But once he was semi-upright Matt took notice that his surroundings weren’t that of the stadium, but instead was what looked like to be old ruins, like those he’s seen in some regions. “What in the world…where are we?” Matt said more to himself as he tried to get up to his feet, which his quadrupedal friend helped him by using its head as a means of leverage. “Thanks pal.” Matt says to Camerupt as he regains his balance. Once Matt felt like he was stable enough both he, and his Camerupt, started to walk around in the ruins that they found themselves in and aside from some of the collapsed walls, pillars, and pieces of the ceiling, there wasn’t much else in the ruins. As the two partners continued to wander through the ruins they have discovered some other stuff aside from collapsed rubble. There were old worn out tapestries that hung from the walls, and even with their colors and illustrations mostly faded away Matt was able to make out some of their features, which strangely reminded him of the old depictions of the legendary Pokémon of the Alola Region. However instead of Solgaleo & Lunala, these tapestries have what appeared to be what looked like winged equine looking Pokémon. “Strange.” Matt commented as he and Camerupt continued to walk down one of the hallways with several of these tapestries lining the walls. But aside from the tapestries Matt also noticed that there were pieces of armor scattered around, but these pieces of armor didn’t suit humans, not did they seem fitted for any Pokémon that he is familiar with. “Just where in the world did I end up?” Matt said to himself as he picks up an old dusty helmet. “And how did I end up here?” Matts internal train of thought was interrupted when Camerupt let out a rather loud bellow, getting the young man’s attention. Dropping the helmet Matt rushed down the hallway, and found Camerupt on a lower level, and surrounded by small furry Pokémon of varying orange and blue colors. All of them with sharp spines, and razor sharp looking teeth! Seeing his Pokémon in danger Matt looked around for something help fend off these wild Pokémon, and an old shield and banner pole with its piece of cloth ripped off. quickly grabbing them Matt hopped over the railing, and landed a few feet from the group of Pokémon who all looked towards him, and spun around looking away from him and then fired a barrage of quills. “Oh snap!” Matt half-shouted as he crouched down as much as he could, and held the shield in front of him, which started to rattle and prattle as the spikes assail the rounded piece of equipment. Some even piercing through the shield just a bit. “Man! For little guys they sure aren’t afraid of getting aggressive.” Matt muttered to himself as he pulled his Pokédex out, while he hears Camerupt bellow angerly and started stomping around. “Now let’s find out what these little guys are.” Matt then aimed his Pokédex at the feisty little buggers as they scurry around the larger Pokémon, avoiding the stomping hooves and little puffs of fire from Camerupts mouth. “No Pokémon entry found.” The Pokédex simply stated. “Figures. New region, new Pokémon. Well it was worth a shot.” Matt then pocketed his Pokédex, and took the pole in his hand, and charged at the small Pokémon to give his Camerupt a more even playing field. But even with Matt joining the battle, and even putting his self-defense and limited martial skills to use, the little Pokémon still proved to be a handful. And they were really scrappy little guys, managing to get some good hits in on both Matt and Camerupt. Even if Matt and Camerpupt battered and knocked the little Pokémon away, they just got right back up and went back on the attack. Either with their powerful bites, little claw slashes, or with their dangerous quill spray attack. ‘Things are really looking bad! I could have Camerupt use one of its moves to get these little guys to scatter, but none of his damaging moves, it could bring the whole place down. Wait a minute!’ Matt quickly batted away the latest small Pokémon away from him, and then hopped behind his partner. “Camerupt use Yawn!” The large Pokémon ceased its stomping and head flailing, and let out a loud low grumbling sound from its mouth, echoing through the open space of the section of ruins Matt and his partner, and the small Pokémon were in. Peeking out from behind his larger friend, Matt saw that all of the little Pokémon were starting to wobble and get groggy eyed, until they all eventually collapsed onto the ground. Happily snoring away as little sleep bubbles form from their noses. With the danger subsided for now, Matt and Camerupt took the opportunity to make a run for it by darting into a nearby hallway, which lead to another large chamber with a weird pedestal of what looked like a solar system in the center of the room. “Phew that was close.” Matt said as he rubbed a hand gently over one of the many cuts he has on his body. “They really got us good back there.” the young man then looked over to Camerupt and saw that it was licking some of its wounds. Placing the pole down Matt reached around to his small backpack, and dug out a super potion, and started to carefully spray his partner where it was injured. “There. that should do it for the time being.” Camerupt thanked its trainer by rubbing its head against Matt’s stomach as it ‘bahed’ thankfully. “Alright pal why don’t you take a break for the time being, you’ve still haven’t recovered from the last battle with Zangoose and its trainer.” Camerupt gave a nod and allowed Matt to return it back to its own personal Pokéball. Once Camerupt was safely in its Pokéball Matt retook the pole in his hand, and continued to look around the ruins, preferably for a way out. For the next hour and a-half Matt wandered aimlessly through the decrepit ruins, walking through hallways, holes in the walls and scaling collapsed structures, and yet so far the young man seemed to be making no progress. But as he wandered the ruins he’s made a few more strange discoveries. Among his discoveries were more fully intact pieces of armor, and by these one design they appeared to be built for some kind of small quadruped Pokémon, but aside from the armor and even more tapestries of the winged equine Pokémon Matt has found some other stuff. In one massive chamber which appeared to be a library of sort Matt found that the books were rather intact, despite the conditions of their surroundings and that the pages were surprisingly in good condition, however the text inside some of the books he looked through looked like weird take on ancient writing. Aside from the library Matt found what could’ve been some kind of dining hall, if the massive table and numerous chairs were of any indication. Another room looked to be a music hall, with chairs and rusted old instruments left in place, with cobwebs and pieces of rock and pebbles scattered about the ground. Finally after nearly two hours of aimlessly wandering through the ruins, Matt was finally able to find his way out of the ruins. But upon exiting the structure Matt found that beyond the grounds of these old ruins, was thick boarder of large thick trees which looked like a naturally formed barricade. “That’s going to be one pain of a forest to get through, especially since I have no idea where in the world I am.” Matt then dropped his shield and pole and then reached towards his belt, pulling out a great ball. “Luckily I still have you to give me a hand in this situation. Probopass I need your help.” The Pokéball then popped open and from it sprang a large stone head-shaped Pokémon, which emitted a low grumbling drone sound. As it fully appeared onto the grassy field outside the ruins, the large Compass Pokémon took amount to look around itself seemingly to get its bearings, but it eventually turned to look to where Matt was. “Hey there buddy.” Matt said as he patted the forehead of the large rock type, who closed its eyes in a happy manner while making a cheerful droning sound. “I need your help here buddy, we’re in…some unknown forest and we need to find a town to see where we are.” Matt then patted the side of his right hip where the belt holding his Pokéballs were. “And get the rest of team fully healed up. Probopass instantly stood, or more accurately float to attention, before moving two of its mini-heads towards Matt’s feet where the trainer carefully stood on top of them, while the third head floats towards Matt’s right hand. Once the trainer was situated on the mini-heads, both trainer and Pokémon started to float upwards till they passed the highest tower of the ruins, where Matt then asked Probopass to figure out which way north was. Probopass then closed its eyes, and dropped its red-stone cap and, the large Pokémon then started to slowly spin in place while its big nose developed a dim red glow. A moment later Probopass stopped its spinning and pointed to Matt’s right. with this information Matt started to look around himself for any signs of civilization, if he couldn’t find anything then he and Probopass will travel north and hope they would find something. Although it seemed that plan is unneeded as Matt saw something. It was far off into the distance, but after digging out a pair of binoculars from his pack, and when he brought the item to his eyes Matt could see the outline of a town. A smile then grew across the trainers mouth as he stuffed his binoculars back into his pack, and instructed his large floating Pokémon to fly towards the direction of the town, and with a delighted low drawl sound Probopass started to fly off in the direction that Matt pointed towards. “Hopefully the people in this town can help me out in telling me where I am.” Matt said to himself as he and his Pokémon fly over the densely packed forest, where the sounds of wild Pokémon noises echoed, which Matt was thankful that he didn’t have to traverse through. Cause he doubt he would make it through the forest without getting heavily damaged, especially with ninety percent of his team knocked out and damaged.