Chapter Two
New world New Problems
“So...you decided to work for Shinra?” said a middle-aged light skin woman who was in a wheelchair.
“It’s not like I have a choice in the matter. This way you’ll be taken care of and we’ll have enough Gil for you to leave Midgar.” Emma said as she noticed her mother wheeling over to her.
“You know you don’t have to do this? I know times are tough due to my injuries, but there are other ways to get by.”
“Much as I would love to find a way to save up a lot of Gil, this is the only way to help you. Shinra science and research facilities will help me be able to help not only others but you as well. I just need about a good five years or so. Once I’m done, I’ll turn in my resignation, and then we’ll be able to leave this place.”
“But dear-”
“But nothing mom. You have done enough for me for a long time, let me help you in return like I have been doing.” Emma said before kneeling to her and reaching out to grab her hand. “You’re my mother. Even if I’m not blood-related to you, dad, and Simon. We’re a family.” She said as tears began to roll down her mother’s face upon hearing this.
“A-Alright, I’ll allow it. But promise me that you’ll come and visit us from time to time, okay?”
“You know I would do that even if you didn’t tell me to do that,” Emma said as she felt her mother pull her in for a hug.
“Whatever happens. Just remember, we will always love you, Emma.”
“I know Hanna...I know.”
Emma’s eyes slowly began to open as her vision was slightly adjusted to the darkness that she was currently in. Once her eyes fully recovered and adjusted to the darkness around her, she found herself in a dark alleyway on top of a mountain of trash bags. Not like this wouldn’t be the first time she would wake up on a mountain of trash...though trash in the deepground would be dead bodies of other deepground soldiers or failed experiments.
“Looks like escape worked,” Emma said before pulling herself off the mountain of trash. Though while she was doing that, she felt a surge of pain rushing through her body as she kneels on the ground. “Though I think the adrenaline I was feeling during the fight with the Wutai soldiers is wearing off. Man do they hit hard...but not as hard as Weiss when he’s not pissed or in the mood for the hunt.” She said before scanning the alleyway she was in. “I don’t think I’m in a different area of Wutai, nor am I back in Midgar given how the alleyway doesn’t have many posters hanging around that involve joining Shinra and Wutai propaganda stuff. Could I be on a different continent or something?” The deepground soldier pondered this while staggering to her feet before making her way out of the alleyway.
Once she was out, she blinked upon finding herself in a city that wasn’t anything like Midgar. From what she could tell, it looked like she was in some kind of child’s fantasy book about the medieval ages, though there were hints of technology, just not the type you see in Shinra or Midgar. It also doesn’t help that there are walking technicolor horses walking around wearing fancy outfits. The deepground soldier pressed a button on the side of her helmet. It slowly disappeared to reveal a dark-skinned girl, with cherry-colored hair, blue eyes, and a scar in the shape of an x on the right part of her face as she pinched herself to make sure this wasn’t a dream…sadly it wasn’t a dream.
“Yep, definitely not a dream.” She thought before quickly heading back into the alleyway to avoid being seen by anyone. “Okay, better get in contact with Shinra HQ to see if they can give me some help.” The moment she tried to get in contact with Shrina HQ, all she was met with was static on her end which caused her to flinch a bit from the sudden sound of said static. “And communication is out...guess I’ll have to go scout for information.”
The deepground soldier looked around the area she was in before noticing a ladder that reached the top of a very tall building. The girl placed her helmet back onto her head before jumping onto the ladder and making her way up onto the roof of the building. Once there, she walked to the ledge of the roof as her helmet began to scan the area she was in. Once she was done, a digital screen appeared inside her helmet as information from a nearby computer in Canterlot Castle began downloading into her helmet.
“Hm, might take a while for the information to be done. But during that time, I can have a lot around this city called.” Paused for a moment as she pulls out the name of the city she was in, but soon deadpans upon seeing the name. “Canterlot…You know I should’ve expected this city to have some kind of horse pun to it…I pray to God that’s the only town or city with a pun in its name.” Just as she was about to start heading into the city from rooftop to rooftop, she soon heard the sound of a girl screaming off in the distance to her right causing her to stop in her tracks. “Already in a new place, and there’s already trouble starting up.” She said before quickly turning to where she heard the scream and quickly heading over in that direction. Once she made it to the area where the scream came from, she looked down to see a mint-colored unicorn surrounded by what appeared to be dogs...or this world’s version of a species of dog.
”Back away you mutts. I have a stick of bread.” Lyra said as she pulled out a stick of bread from her grocery bag and waves it around in a defensive manner. “And I’m not afraid to use it!” she yelled as one of the houndours took a deep breath and unleashed a flamethrower attack at the stick of bread. Lyra yelps upon seeing this as she drops the piece of bread onto the ground. “Had…I had a stick of bread…Oh, this isn’t going to end well.”
“Seems like that pony is in trouble,” Emma said as she carefully watched the scene unfold in front of her. “Shinra did say not to get involved in matters that aren’t important to me.” She said before noticing the dog firing another flamethrower at Lyra as she quickly brought up a barrier around herself. “But then again, they’re not here to monitor me.” The deepground soldier took a step back for a moment before getting a running head start and jumped off of the building she was on. In a matter of seconds, she landed behind the group of pokemon, raising her hand towards them as particles of water droplets gathered into a large ball. “If you don’t want to get hit, I suggest you keep that barrier up, horse!”
Lyra turned her attention from the houndours and onto the human. Her eyes widened upon noticing the ball of water behind the pokemon as she kept the barrier up. Upon seeing the barrier still holding up, she focused her attention on the pokemon as she unleashed aqua breath onto them. The group turns around, only to be met with a flood of water-like bubbles at them which causes them to yelp in pain and be pushed into the barrier in a comedic fashion. A smirk appeared on the soldier’s face as she watched them stand back up.
“You’re going to pay for that whoever you are!” One of the houndours said as it took Emma by surprise. Upon hearing this dog speak English, the human pressed the side of her helmet to make it disappear to reveal her face to them.
“You can speak English?” She asked which took the houndours by surprise to see that their assailant was a human…one that could understand them.
“Your…your a human…and you can understand us?” he said as Emma guessed that he was the leader of the two.
“N-no….no that’s impossible. Lord Arceus brought us here to get away from humans.” The female houndour said as she backed away in fear. “Not to mention the ones that he brought here should be pokemon.”
“T-They found us, they found a way to get to this planet.” The other male houndour said before glaring daggers at the deepground soldier. “You’re not going to take us! We would rather die than go back! Ember!” he said before firing off an ember attack at Emma. Upon seeing this, she quickly cast an Aero spell around herself as the embers vanish upon making contact with the barrier of wind.
“This might be a long shot to ask this, but I would like to ask you three a few questions if you’re willing to answer them.”
“Flamethrower!” The female dark pokemon yelled as she fired a burst of fire at the soldier as it made contact with her body. “Ha! I got her!”
“You did, but thanks to that little attack, I got the monster skill that I always wanted to try,” Emma said as the three houndours turn blinked in surprise upon seeing a red glow coming off her body. They soon saw her take a deep breath before firing off a flamethrower of her own. The houndours yelped in surprise upon seeing the human perform their move as they quickly scattered out of the way. Once the flames vanish, she lets out a slight burp as a small flame escapes from her mouth.
“She just used our attack against us?” asked the leader as he glared at the human. “How is that possible?”
“How should I know? Humans can’t use bubble beam, gust, or flamethrower attacks like that.” said the female houndour as she and the other male moved close to their leader. “You sure she’s a human and not a pokemon?”
“Maybe she’s a Zoroark using her Illusion to pretend to be a human? It would make sense. Especially seeing how she can understand us.” The other male houndour said before speaking to Emma. “Alright, drop the disguise Zoroark. We know you’re not human.”
“....What the hell are you talking about…Um…I’m sorry but what are your names?” Emma asked as the leader of the houndours spoke up.
“The name’s Azazor and these are my friends Charcol and Burner.” He said pointing a paw to the other two pokemon. “We’re the dark scavengers of Canterlot. Any pony that comes into our turf is gonna get hurt.” There was a moment of silence in the air after the trio posed dramatically as the deepground soldier felt a piece of herself dying upon seeing this cringe moment.
“That pony walked into our turf.” Charcoal said as she glared at Lyra. “We were planning on just taking her food, but then she started waving it around trying to hit us.”
“Now she gonna get got,” said Burner with a smirk on his face.
“Don’t you mean ‘now she’s gonna get it?’” Emma corrected as Burner tilted his head in confusion. “Saying that she’s gonna get got isn’t proper grammar, nor does it sound right. If you’re going to be a gang and act tough, you at least have to have proper grammar.”
“...I mean, she’s not wrong about that,” Lyra said as the houndours glared at her. “What? It’s true.”
“Quiet pony!” Amazon said before focusing on Emma. “Now drop the illusion act and show us your real self, Zoroark.”
“First of all, I don’t know who this Zoroark person is. Second, I am one-hundred percent human.”
“Cut the crap! There’s no way a human can use Bubblebeam, gust, or flamethrower!” Burner said as he growled at the soldier. “The only explanation is that you’re a Zoroark.”
“...I can see this going nowhere real fast. So I’m just going to knock you three out and just talk with the horse to get my answers.” She said before dodging an ember attack to the face by Azazor.
“You’re not going anywhere. Especially now seeing how you stuck your nose into something that wasn’t your business,” said Azazor as he and his friends moved in front and behind the soldier. “You two aren’t going anywhere.”
“You entered our turf, and now you’re gonna get got.” Burner said as Emma soon notices the houndour charging at her with his fangs coated in fire as he jumps and attempts to bite her. Before he could sink his fangs into the human’s neck, Emma ducked underneath the fire fang attack as she grabbed the houndour’s neck.
“Thundara,” Emma said as electricity flowed from her hand into Burner’s. The dark pokemon let out a yelp of pain upon being hit by the thundara spell before feeling himself being tossed to the side and into a pile of trash.
“Burner!” yelled Charcoal before glaring at the human and unleashing a flamethrower attack. Emma pulled her head back to avoid the fire attack as she countered with aqua breath, only this time the attack came from her mouth. The houndour yelps upon being hit with aqua breath as she was sent flying back into a wall and knocking her out.
“You’ll pay for that!” yelled Azazor as he took a deep breath before firing off a fire blast attack.
“Oh crap!” Emma yelled before using a blizzaga spell to create a wall of ice in front of herself to block the oncoming attack. Upon making contact with the ice, an explosion erupted from it and created a mist made out of the evaporated water engulfing the area they were all in. The houndour closed his eyes for a moment before looking around to see where Emma was.
“Dammit, where did that stupid pokemon go?” he asked before noticing a shadowy figure off in the distance. A smirk appeared on Azazor’s face as he fired off a flamethrower attack at what he could guess was Emma, but the moment the mist was pushed away by the attack, it was revealed to be a pile of trash in the shape of the human that he hit.
“Little bit of advice,” Emma said as the houndour’s eyes widened upon hearing Emma behind him. “As a leader, you should’ve done a better job at leading your team.” Azazor quickly turned around and was about to use fire fang to bite her, only for her to quickly grab him by the throat and keep him away as he tried to bite her. “And you need to do a better job at becoming a stronger leader.”
“Screw you stupid Zoroark.” He said as the human noticed the houndour was about to use flamethrower again. She soon placed a hand on the dark pokemon’s face and cast a sleep spell on him.
“Now sleep, pup,” Emma said as the houndour’s eyes felt heavy upon hearing her say that as he soon faded into unconsciousness. The moment he passed out, Emma examined Azazor a bit before placing him on the ground “Hm, you’re an interesting creature. I would like to know more about who or what you are, but I think I’ll ask someone else that’s a bit more cooperative.” She said before looking over at the unicorn as she dropped the barrier she had placed around herself. The two of them stare at each other in awkward silence as Emma speaks up. “You okay? You’re not hurt or anything-” Before she could speak, she felt the unicorn tackle her to the ground as a grin appeared on her face.
“You’re a human, right? Not a pokemon pretending to be a human or using some kind of illusion ability to hide your appearance!?” Lyra asked as the human slowly nodded. In doing so, caused the unicorn to hop off of Emma and hop around her while screaming. “I knew humans were real! I mean I heard there were humans turned into pokemon due to Arceus and the ones that were turned into pokemon got angry when I asked them what humans look like, but I never thought I ran into an actual human!” She yelled before posing triumphantly. “In your face everypony that thought I was crazy!”
“Um…not to sound rude or anything, but you wouldn’t happen to know where I am…or more importantly what those creatures I was fighting were, why can they speak English, and why am I in a place full of horses?”
“Ponies, not horses.” Lyra corrected as she trots over to her. “I’m willing to answer any questions you have, but we need to go someplace private and not stay here for much longer.”
“You mean because of the explosion during my fight with the dogs?” Emma asked as Lyra nodded. “I figured as much. Know of a place we can talk in private?”
“I have a room in a hotel nearby. We can talk there…but getting you around town might be hard to do. I can place an invisibility spell on you to make you invisible to anypony else other than me.”
“I can fix that,” Emma said as she pressed a button on her wrist. Lyra blinked in surprise from seeing the soldier vanishing from her sight.
“Whoa! You can make yourself invisible!? How did you do that?” Lyra asked as she searched for the human by waving her hooves around in front of her. In a matter of seconds, Emma appeared next to her which caused Lyra to yelp in surprise from seeing her appear like that.
“Shinra technology. They may be a horrible company that deserves to rot in hell, but their technology is something I can respect.”
“Shinra?” Lyra asked as she tilted her head in confusion.
“I’ll explain it later.” She said before making herself invisible. “Lead the way and I’ll follow.”
“Alright, human,” Lyra said as she took the lead and began walking towards the hotel she was currently staying in. “Thanks for saving me back there. I don’t know what would happen to me if you didn’t stop them…they’re not dead are they?”
“No, they’re knocked out. I was planning on bringing one with us, but something tells me that it would’ve been pointless seeing how they’ll either attack me, remain quiet, or try to escape. So I figure knocking them out would be best instead of killing them.”
“Okay, good. So you’re a good human.”
“Wouldn’t say I’m good. I just do things on a logical side compared to most people where I come from.”
“...Where are you from?”
“You answer my questions first, then I’ll answer yours.”
“Well can you at least tell me your name? It would be rude to just call you human instead of your real name?” Lyra asked as it caused Emma to pause for a moment before speaking up.
“Emma Rosemary…what’s your name?”
“Lyra Heartstrings. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Emma.” The unicorn said as she continued to lead the deepground soldier to the apartment she’s staying in.