Equestria. Out in the far mountains. Pokemon Hunter J's secret hideout. Afternoon.
Currently still on the move and staying in secrecy was J. She kept using that same cave deep within the mountains as her new hideout. It was obscure enough to be hidden away from many. Over time, she had improved her hideout, gradually getting rid of the cave-like theme to it.
She even still had the new henchmen that she received from the Pokemon Black Market after making a wealthy trade. At this point, J was getting back at full speed. Currently, at this moment, J was taking a look at the news on her phone. And what she found shocked her.
"What's this?!" J gasped as her men went up to her after being alerted.
"What happened, boss?!" One of them asked.
"This is new and interesting..." J looked at what seemed to be an article. And on that article, a certain equine Pokemon could be found on it. Rapidash. J looked at the article, seeing the information it gathered. Usually, this wouldn't be a big deal, however, there was something about this Rapidash that was special to the eyes.
And once she saw what made this Rapidash special, reading it in her mind, she grinned. Having a new goal. "And here I thought Rapidash had lost its value as time went on. Seems like this one is the be-all-end-all of Rapidash. Boys. We're heading for that Rapidash."
"Seems pretty intense. The height on it seems out of this world too."
"All the more reason we need to have it. Get ready." J put her phone away, heading for her equipment. There was a new Pokemon to hunt after all.
"We should be focusing on Equestria mostly. Especially with Ash Ketchum..." But, speaking to her from her mind was the loose Desire of Princess Twilight Sparkle. It was still a part of J, staying there. One part of it was J's Desire to defeat Ash and another, a tiny bit of it, was Twilight's love for Ash.
"We'll deal with that later," J spoke to the Desire, placing her gauntlet on along with her special eye. She also placed the Protean Gauntlet on her hand, ready to continue using her brand-spanking-new gear for hunting Pokemon. "There's something far more important within our sights here."
Kanto Region. Pallet Town. Professor Oak's Lab. Day.
"Now, Twilight. You've been my new apprentice here at my lab for a while. I assume you've learned a lot, haven't you? Especially about the Pokemon around you." Oak spoke to the Human counterpart of Twilight Sparkle. This was another day of Twilight being his newest apprentice.
"I sue have, Professor Oak!" Twilight nodded in agreement while Spike and Hisuian Zorua were playing outside. "And I've got a few Pokemon to start with." She stood next to a table, having some Pokemon that Ash owned by her side. The first was Ash's Snorlax. "Not much to say about Snorlax at all. It's a straightforward Pokemon that only eats, sleeps and repeats. It can even do it while battling." She said, holding out a berry.
"Snorlax..." Snorlax's senses went off. Once it had smelled some food, the Sleeping Pokemon had rolled over, casting a massive shadow on Twilight.
"Hm?" She looked over to see the Normal-Type rolling in her direction. "Oh! Wait!" She cried out but it was too late to do anything. Snorlax landed right on her, forcing Twilight to the floor. And the same time, it managed to get a bite out of the berry either way.
"Lax..."
"You have a fair point with that, Twilight." Oak stood there with his hand on his back despite how Twilight had been crushed. Twilight's hand poked from the side, giving a thumbs-up as she groaned underneath Snorlax
Eventually, she was freed, cleaning herself and focusing on the next of Ash's Pokemon. This time, it was Muk. The details for Muk would be longer than Snorlax's, no doubt.
"Here's Muk. Despite its bad smell that can cause anyone to faint and its fluid being able to kill any plant it touches in a few seconds, it's pretty cute. Isn't it?" She giggled, facing the Sludge Pokemon. "Vile and all."
"Muk! Muk!" Muk greatly enjoyed that compliment. So much so that it had launched itself at Twilight, preparing for a hug.
"Gah!" Twilight screeched as Muk's hug involved its sludge consuming her. Thankfully, since Muk saw Twilight as a friend, the toxic fluid around its body was not lethal. "M-Muk! Don't hug me too much!"
"Well done, Twilight." Oak approved once more as Twilight was struggling to get Muk off of her. "We should have you visit Alola soon for the regional variant."
Twilight's time with Muk ended as her glasses had been readjusted. Her hair was a bit of a mess as she had sighed. The next of Ash's Pokemon was Glalie. The Face Pokemon.
"And uh...here's Glalie." Twilight chuckled, still feeling overwhelmed by Muk. "I just learned something about this Ice-Type recently. Apparently, Glalie and the other Pokemon related to it such as Snorunt and Froslass have sweet spots. If you touch it, you'll immediately trigger its instinct to cause a flash-freeze. For example..."
Twilight tapped the back of Glalie, hoping that it would fire some ice in another direction that was not her. She could do without being attacked by another Pokemon a third time. And she did.
"Glalie!" Glalie let out an excited giggle before shooting a beam of ice from its mouth. But not only did it hit someone else, Professor Oak, but the ice was also so great that it ended up affecting Twilight too. So she had been attacked either way as both Oak and Twilight were frozen.
"G-G-Ghh....J-Just like that..." She shuddered.
"Well done as always, T-T-Twilight!" Oak complimented before falling over in his icy prison. Eventually, once they were freed from their ice prison as a courtesy of Ash's Charizard, Ash himself along with Pikachu had shown up at the lab.
"Hey. How's it going?"
"Pikachu?"
"Hey, Ash...Pikachu..." Twilight sighed. "Just caught us at a less than worse time."
"Looks like it. But it's about to get better. Check this out!" Ash had then held a box in front of Twilight. A cardboard box at a first glance. But once Ash shook it, it was revealed that a plethora of objects was inside it.
"Hoh!" Twilight gasped before approaching the box. This seemed vital to her. Very vital. "Y-You actually got them from me?!"
"Yeah. Straight from Unova, Hoenn and Kalos. I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I just grabbed everything I could. Cost me a lot though." Ash chuckled. "If the right thing you didn't want isn't in there, sorry."
"It's okay. You got a lot for me and that's all that mattered. Thank you so much, Ash!" Twilight took the box off of Ash's hands, excited to open it. She wasted no time at all. Within it, various Pokemon Essentials were within it. Twilight requested these and Ash delivered.
"You've made yourself comfortable with our world perfectly, Twilight," said Oak. "I think you're ready to set off out there to the large Pokemon World. But that's not your style, is it?"
"Well...it's got me interested." Twilight shrugged. "Not sure what I would do aside from gathering as many Pokedex data that I can find. Battling's also not something I'm leaning towards."
"I see, I see. Well, you work on that. By the way, Ash. I wanted to talk to you about that Time Leak out in the forest." Oak turned to Ash.
"Yeah? Did something happen with it?" Ash was all ears. If something was up with that leak, he and Pikachu would go and investigate.
"Seems like it. Al the cameras stored in that forest managed to catch something. A Pokemon came out of the Time Leak and is now in our time. Time Travel without it even knowing." Oak explained, facing his monitor. On the monitor, an image could be displayed. And that was an image was a Rapidash. But something was off about this Rapidash. Ash and Twilight took a closer look at Rapidash appearance. It had the same look but it seemed bigger. And its eyes were glowing red.
"Say...That Rapidash's pretty massive, isn't it?" Ash observed, noticing something different about this Rapidash compared to the rest that he's seen.
"That's not its usual size?" Twilight turned to him. Ash shook his head as that was most definitely not Rapidash's usual size. A Rapidash's height is 5 foot 7. This Rapidash looked to surpass that.
"This large Rapidash is an oddity, no doubt. What's more, is those red glowing eyes it has on it. They aren't temporary at all. Have a look." Professor Oak then showed them a video containing the same images. The video started rolling as it was focused on the Time Leak.
And jumping out of it was the Rapidash. With a mighty jump of its powerful hooves, the Rapidash from another time had arrived in the Human World. And upon landing, it could be seen with those crimson eyes that illuminated. And with the video rolling, it stayed there instead of vanishing.
The Rapidash looked around for a moment, witnessing the area around it. It clearly wasn't aware of it being sent to another point in time. Right as it stood there for a bit, the Fire Horse Pokemon could be seen galloping away with the cameras no longer having it in view.
"Man...Was that a Totem Pokemon, maybe?!" Ash exclaimed, believing it to be a Totem Pokemon. They were certainly Pokemon that were slightly bigger than the rest of their species. It certainly wasn't a Dynamax Pokemon, because those are on another level.
"Not quite. Even Totem Pokemon don't appear that big." Oak shook his head. "This is something different. One more thing to note. From what was reported, this Rapidash could use a move that no other Rapidash could use. Dragon Pulse."
"A Rapidash with Dragon Pulse?! Awesome!" Ash and Pikachu marvelled at that thought with their eyes sparkling. A Dragon Pulse Rapidash was one of the coolest things they could imagine.
"As if it couldn't get any better, hm?" Oak chuckled. "But that Rapidash wasn't the only Pokemon that came through. "Oak then switched to another video on the monitor that took place on a different day.
It focused on the Time Leak as always. And once more, much like the Rapidash, another Pokemon could be seen passing through it. But this footage was harder to make out as the area at that time was pouring snow due to it being December. Thus, the figure that had passed through not only moved at swift speeds but it had also been obscured by the snow.
However, from what they could tell, it had a four-legged figure on it. It was fairly small too before disappearing from the camera footage. "That was a bit hard to spot. Who was that Pokemon?"
"Could be any." Oak shrugged as for now, it was left up to interpretation. "But, we know more about that giant Rapidash. Mostly because it's been making news now. Recently, people have said that they saw a Rapidash of unusual proportions galloping around the Kalos Region. Not only that, but it's far more violent than they expected."
"How violent?" Ash and Twilight asked.
"Usually, Rapidash are kind and peaceful Pokemon. But this Rapidash is far more aggressive than the rest of its species. Reports say that it'll attack if it spots just one person. That's a terrifying thought."
"Oh! Maybe it's the red eyes?!" Twilight gasped, thinking of the red eyes that Rapidash had. "That could have something to do with it since no other Rapidash has that."
"Well...there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Oak smiled, raising his finger.
"Yeah. We go and check it out!" Ash was already ahead of Oak. This was something he wanted to explore as well. And hopefully, solve this Rapidash issue that had suddenly emerged. "Are you up for it, Twilight?"
"Hm. Twilight still isn't ready. Remember, Ash?" said Oak. "Plus, going from Kanto to Kalos is a massive leap. Especially since Unova's-"
"It's fine, Professor Oak. I'll go." But surprisingly, Twilight who had interrupted decided to go along with it. Oak blinked for a moment from that response.
"Are you sure? Just a moment-"
"I know. But, it's not like I'm going to stay away from the rest of the Pokemon World forever. Besides, I've got two amazing friends here who helped open my world." She looked at Ash and Pikachu. "I feel safe around them too. So I definitely want to try and get out there. It'll be fun too."
"That's the spirit, Twilight." Ash liked what he was hearing. Twilight was on board for this. Zorua and Spike quickly ran back inside of the lab, hopping into Twilight's bag.
"We're going somewhere new, Twilight?" Spike asked.
"Please don't let it be someplace with a lot of people and Pokemon..." Zorua whimpered, preferring a less populated area due to being afraid of almost everyone.
"Have no fear, Zorua. The recent sighting of this large Rapidash is Mt. Molteau." Oak reassured Zorua that she wouldn't have to worry about heavily populated areas.
"Mt Molteau? Hey, that's where Moltres sometimes rests." Ash remembered Mt Molteau. It was the same spot he and his Pokemon, mainly Talonflame when it was a Fletchinder, battled against Moltres. That's a place that Rapidash would totally go to, now that I think about it. Let's go!"
"Pikachu!"
Kalos Region. Mt Molteau.
Located in between Dendemille Town and Anistar City was Mt Molteau. A mountainside with an active volcano and one of the resting places that Moltres dons.
They had taken a plane here with Ash paying the fee for it. Twilight got to see a bit of Kalos from above and what this grand region had to offer. But, that would come later. There was a Rapidash that they were going to search and learn more about. It certainly wasn't a Totem Pokemon or Dynamax Pokemon. But the size, odd glowing and the ability to learn a move that no other Rapidash could access eyes are something to marvel at.
"One day, you have got to show me Anistar City! It looked so amazing!" Twilight gushed as they had arrived at the start of the mountain already.
"Sure will. Okay." Ash tightened his gloves, taking a deep breath. "It's a pretty big place. But that Rapidash is bigger than other Pokemon. "Super big. Plus those flames are bright. That's something we can work with."
"And those glowing red eyes." Twilight held a picture of Rapidash out that was given to her by Professor Oak. "What do you think that other Pokemon that came out of the Time Leak was?"
"Hmmm..." He pondered along with his partner, having the same facial expression. "Could be any small Pokemon, honestly. Maybe someday, we'll figure that out together."
"You're right. And it's always fun doing it together. Especially with you. Oh!" Twilight gasped before placing her bag down. "I think we can use some of the new items that I got to better find that Rapidash. She then started digging in her bag while Zorua and Spike had hopped out to give Twilight arm space.
Twilight ended up pulling two items out. A Fluffy Tail and some Sweet Scent bottles. Each were focused on attracting Pokemon near or far. "Do you think this might work, Ash? I mean, it is kinda dangerous since that Rapidash is pretty aggressive. But who could resist this?" She then shook the Fluffy Tail as it made a squeaky noise when shook.
Ash and the others giggled at the sound that it made. The sound was also extremely loud, echoing throughout the mountain. It made sense as to why this item was made to attract Wild Pokemon. Twilight kept shaking it as it was amusing to them all.
But as they were all having a good time walking across the mountain, something nearby Pikachu was the first to feel this. His nose tingled along with his ears poking about. "Pika?" With his head aimed upwards to the azure skies, the Mouse Pokemon had an ominous feeling. "Pikachu..."
"Oh! Look at this!" Twilight gasped as she spotted a marvellous sight in front of her. Ash and the rest would soon notice this. Right on the ground, hoofsteps could be found. But they weren't just average hoofsteps. "Flaming Hoofsteps!" These hoofsteps were on fire. Only one Pokemon was capable of that.
There was a trail of hoofstep that could be seen ahead, giving Ash and Twilight a good idea on how to find Rapidash. Following that trail of flaming hoofsteps. And they did just that, making sure to keep in line with the pathway that Rapidash had supposedly gone on.
The hoofsteps seemed to lead upwards on the hill of Mt Molteau. Sort of in a spiralling motion as well. Seemingly, this could lead to a spot closer to the volcano. It wouldn't be too farfetched to believe that Rapidash would be near the volcano. Or perhaps even within it.
And the further they went, the hotter the flames around the flaming hoofsteps burned. Their heat was so aggressive that it was even warming the area. Other Pokemon would usually be here. Mainly Butterfree and Crustle with the only other species being the single Moltres that sometimes come over here. But, they were nowhere to be found. This mountain was seemingly exempt from life.
Near the active volcano.
The volcano that makes Mt Molteau. Around and within it, the flames burned with a merciless heat and cruel disposition. Lava could be seen flowing all around this volcano. Very few can reside in it. Thankfully, that was where Fire-Type Pokemon excelled.
And one of which was the Pokemon of the hour. Taking one step and leaving a hoofprint of fire was the Rapidash from another timeline. Standing larger than any other Rapidash out there with red glowing eyes, the Fire Horse Pokemon put on a cautious stance. That was because it could feel someone approaching here.
"Rapidash...!"
And it was right to stay alert. Because that someone was one of the most dangerous people out there, joining by henchmen. Pokemon Hunter J.
"There you are. Rapidash." J spoke, standing before the Fire Horse Pokemon. "You look to be 8 feet tall at best now that we have a closer look at you."
"Dash...!" Rapidash growled at J and her men with its mane bursting with aggravation.
"Those red eyes of yours...I've read a bit into Sinnoh's history once to know which Pokemon I could grab. And I remember one book mentioning Pokemon with red glowing eyes that were larger than their usual species. You seem to be one of them. I didn't think they would still be around. But look at what we have here."
"RAPIDASH!" The Fire Horse Pokemon roared, causing a shockwave so powerful from its roaring that it had knocked some of J's men back. The volcano also rumbled as well. J's men backed up once they saw lava bursting out. It was as if Rapidash was also commanding the lava to spurt out at times.
"I shouldn't waste time chatting then!" J held out a Poke Ball, throwing it. "Salamence!"
"Salamence!"
"Boss!" Just then, J got a call on her earpiece. "We have a problem. We think that Ash Ketchum might be here..."
"Him again?! Such rotten timing...The rest of you go and handle that brat!" J commended. "I'll take of Rapidash! Salamence, use Dragon Pulse!"
"Sala...!" The Dragon Pokemon went first as J's men ran off to deal with Ash. And as soon as they started moving, Rapidash, in response, had also used Dragon Pulse. A move that the Rapidash species cannot learn as two dragon-shaped shockwaves had burst forward, clashing.
Upon them clashing, the volcano trembled with a powerful pressure coming through. J's men had been knocked over by this collision with parts of the volcano being destroyed. Rocks fell over because of their impact.
"So you do have Dragon Pulse!" J smirked as the dust between the Dragon Pulse clash had ended. "The rumours of you being a special Rapidash were right! This'll make the catch all the more worth it! Salamence, use Earthquake!"
"Mence!" Salamence roared before descending on the ground with a heavy descent. It had summoned the Infinity Energy of Ground, causing the ground to tremble with cracks forming. And out of those cracks, golden shockwaves were flying out.
"Rapidash!" But Rapidash had a response to that as well. The Fire Horse Pokemon used its powerful legs to jump into the air. Due to this airtime it had gained, it had promptly evaded the incoming shockwaves of Earthquake. After doing so, Rapidash had moved in with Iron Tail. Its flaming tail had transformed into iron, extending for a bit as a swift tail swing had been delivered.
"S-Sal!" Salamence had been slapped in the face by this Iron Tail, staggering for a bit. Rapidash delivered a second tail swing that had pushed Salamence back. "M-Mence!"
"Rapi...!" Rapidash was ready to continue its attack by charging up a Dragon Pulse. However, it quickly ceased its charge-up the moment it sensed something coming its way. That was J's Protean Gauntlet. By using the Water option, J had sprayed a stream of water towards Rapidash.
The Fire-Type just barely managed to evade it by galloping back. The water stream hit the walls with J moving her arm to continue the movement of it. This forced Rapidash to start galloping away from this stream to avoid any super-effective damage and the safety of its flames.
"And you have amazing swift instincts too!" J smirked while moving her gauntlet to chase down Rapidash. "I'm starting to think I shouldn't sell you! Maybe I can keep you as my own! I need a Pokemon of your power on my team! Salamence, Hyper Beam!"
"Sala!" Salamence ascended as the goal was to overwhelm Rapidash and limit its chances of escaping. It was already focused on the stream of water. Now it would have to deal with Salamence who was still a threat. The Dragon Pokemon pulled its head back before unleashing a raging beam of energy.
The beam had struck the ground near Rapidash, birthing an explosion. This ferocious explosion knocked Rapidash's galloping off-balance, allowing for J to strike.
"There!" J found an opening, aiming her gauntlet with precision. The Fire Horse Pokemon had been struck by the stream of water. It had carried Rapidash away, slamming the Fire-Type against the walls of the volcano. It certainly felt that.
J then switched the function of the Protean Gauntlet, going for the Rock-Type option. Out of the gauntlet, mini-rocks started flying out. But those rocks soon expanded, becoming larger than what they were originally. These large rocks had crashed onto Rapidash, mainly its hooves. The rocks had been dented within the wall, making sure to stick Rapidash there.
"R-Rapidash...!" But despite the weaknesses that it had, Rapidash did not go down so easily. It had used Iron Tail, swinging its elongated tail and smashing them onto the rocks. Just like that, it had managed to free one of its hoves. Rapidash had also used its unique Dragon Pulse, blowing away the rocks in front of it.
J gasped as just like that, Rapidash had freed itself without much issue. Even when being hit by Rock and Water, it could still move regardless. Its eyes flared with greater intensity as it now had full aggravation and hostility towards J.
"You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?"
Meanwhile, the rumbling of the battle between J and Rapidash eventually echoed throughout the rest of the mountains. It was only a matter of time until Ash and Twilight felt it.
"W-What was that?!" Twilight gasped.
"That must be Rapidash!" Ash replied, looking at the volcano in the far distance. "It could be in a Pokemon Battle right now, maybe!"
"Pika? Pikapi! Pika!" Pikachu noticed something else. Pointing ahead, he spotted an incoming group in the distance. Ash and Twilight soon turned there to see this approaching group. J's men.
"Who are they?" Twilight wondered.
"If they're here...then Pokemon Hunter J's here too!" Ash put the pieces together. It also correlated with the rumbling within the volcano. "Twilight! Stay close to me!" Ash grabbed Twilight by the shoulders.
"W-Why?! What's wrong?!" Twilight questioned, feeling nervous.
"Pokemon Hunters are bad news, Twilight. They hunt for Pokemon and sell them on the Black Market. If they find out about your Zorua, they could take her away."
"Oh!" Now Twilight understood the severity of this situation. Zorua quickly hid inside Twilight's bag immediately. Now there was one other approach. Hiding. There were quite a handful of J's men, so taking a different approach was needed.
"This way!" Ash brought Twilight along, already finding someplace to hide. Thankfully, trees were nearby Mt. Molteau. An acre of them too along with some bushes. They would use those for cover as J's men approached. Twilight zipped the bag that Zorua hid in, making sure that they aren't aware of her in any capacity.
J's men started searching for Ash and Pikachu. Mainly those two as they were major threats. But they didn't acknowledge Twilight's existence at all. It was just Ash and Pikachu. They had their Pokemon out to survey the area. Mainly Metang, Skarmory and Golbat.
"Pika...!" Pikachu's red sacs flared as he was waiting to strike all of them at any time.
"Ash...What do we do?" Twilight asked, shaking.
"J's obviously here for that Rapidash. It was all over the news so she had to know too. She's probably already at Rapidash with all that rumbling going on. We're shooting for that location." He pointed at the volcano in the distance.
"You're going straight there? Right at the volcano? I know you're used to dangerous things but, this is a bit much, don't you think? You're worrying me, Ash."
"Yeah. I worry a lot of friends, don't I?" Ash grinned. "But no need to worry. I can't stand around without helping someone. And I wanna keep everyone safe too." He placed his hand on Twilight's shoulders once more. "Old or new friends out there. Like you, Spike and Zorua. So wait right here. I'm gonna get to Rapidash. Stay out of sight or head to Dendimille Town It's the closest."
"Not this time." Twilight then held Ash's hands. "I want to help you, Ash. I was scared before. Hiding from Ghetsis and that whole portal incident..But thanks to you, I feel brave enough to do something else. Maybe not battling but something more. So won't you believe me in me to help you in this?"
"Yeah. I believe in you." Just like that, Ash could see Twilight's determination. "You're showing the signs of a great Pokemon Trainer right there."
"Hehe. Thanks." Twilight blushed from that compliment, gaining rosy cheeks.
"W-We're not battling, are?" Zorua stammered, poking her head out of the bag by unzipping it herself.
"Not at all, Zorua. We'll have our own approach. Ash and Pikachu can handle the battling." She looked back at her partner. "You'll be safe and out of sight still."
"Okay!" Ash stood up, ready to head out there to take action. "We know what we're each doing. Rapidash. Wait for us."
"Pikachu!"
All of this focus on one special Rapidash. A unique and larger Rapidash. Once again, Ash and J had crossed paths in a similar location concerning Pokemon that was special to the rest. But even with these opposing odds, the Rapidash they were focused on had high aggression that said otherwise to anyone. Only one outcome can be made out of this as the journey continues.
Chapter 671 End.