//------------------------------// // The Presence // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Sinnoh. Mount Coronet. Afternoon. "Silver Spoon...hey, Silver Spoon!" A voice cried out to Silver Spoon, who was unconscious for a while. The earth pony had been slapped in the face a few times, slowly waking up as her vision was still blurry. Her glasses had been taken from her after all. Once those eyes were opened, her vision returned. The glasses were no longer being toyed around with by the thorns. It was as if they never left her face in the first place, though, there was a visible crack which was one drawback. And the one responsible for waking her up was Apple Bloom. She was joined by the rest of her friends who all had messy manes at the moment. "Ah, that's good." Apple Bloom sighed with great relief in her voice. "You were out for a bit." "W-What happened?" Silver Spoon stood up before noticing the crack in her glasses. All that dangling and throwing around resulted in this minuscule damage. There was already a hole poking through that ruined the glasses. "Aw...my glasses." "The thorns just up and left. Take a look." Scootaloo pointed to where the thorns had retreated. It started from the inside and soon the outside. It slithered away, removing its prickly parts from the mountain. But the thorns wouldn't leave without some payback. They still felt vengeance toward Galaxy Master after exposing their weakness. If it was going to leave, it was going to leave with something damaging. And that would be trying to crush Mount Coronet. However, there it was again. The same thing that Galaxy Master sensed. Something within the mountain had revealed itself without any form of visibility. Only a presence. But this presence made sure that Galaxy Master wasn't the only one to sense it. The thorns sensed it too. This presence was unlike anything it had ever sensed before. It was both warm and welcoming but threatening and overpowering at the same time. The thorns sensed the latter. And after sensing this presence, the thorns abandoned crushing the mountain entirely. Instead, they would fully retreat. All the thorns would retract, faster than expected as well. This presence terrified them. So much so that even these sadistic thorns had to flee in terror. "They've stopped." Galaxy Master pointed out. Since he was the only one here who could sense this presence, he knew exactly why the thorns were so quick to leave all of a sudden. "They planned to crush the mountain and everyone in it but that presence from before scared them away..." "So it's finally over. That's a relief." Sweetie Belle sighed, lying on her back once the thorns left the scene. Everyone else could relax and get on with their day. All their manes would have to be readjusted and fixed after what they went through. That involves a new pair of glasses for Silver Spoon. "It's not over yet." Galaxy Master replied as there was one final act. Luckily, once the thorns fled, that act of heroism could be completed. "Noctowl!" Now it officially was. Emerging from above and flying through the walls as a Noctowl. Specifically, Galaxy Master's Noctowl, who he had sent out. Noctowl was tasked with doing one thing. Finding Scootaloo's Poke Ball that contained Rapidash. After being thrown out thanks to the thorns and from such a high height as well, it was hard to say if the Poke Ball withstood that fall. Thankfully, when showing up at the mountain after the thorns had retreated, Noctowl confirmed that the Poke Ball survived the fall. There wasn't even a crack on it. "My Poke Ball!" Scootaloo rushed over, almost flying for a bit. Noctowl rolled in on the ground, prompting Scootaloo to pounce on it. With a gleeful smile that almost ate the pebbles on the ground thanks to her pounce, Scootaloo grabbed Rapidash's Poke Ball. "Thank you! Thank you, so much!" "Now, it's over. Great work, Absol." Galaxy Master adjusted his cape before holding his arm out, returning Noctowl. Noctowl did what it needed to do and with great success too. A smile had been put on Scootaloo's face which was satisfactory to Galaxy Master. After all, he stopped what he was doing from another region just to help these fillies and all the Pokemon here. Speaking of the Pokemon, after the thorns left, removing themselves from the mountain, they rejoiced. It felt like that would've gone on forever. But they had someone to thank for this. The individuals that came here and chimed in. After sighing over her cracked glasses, Silver Spoon and the rest of her friends noticed how the Strange and Wonderful Creatures came storming over with smiles on their faces. Well, most of them could form smiles anyway. The Pokemon had to thank them. It was only right as their special home had been protected from imminent destruction. Something as longstanding as Mount Coronet couldn't fall to thorns of all things. "Hm. Well, my work here is done." Galaxy Master said. "Get home safely. I have a feeling that this mountain and the presence within it will protect you." "Wait. You're leaving?" Sweetie Belle replied. "So soon?" "I have others to help." Galaxy Master was about to turn his body into light particles along with Pikachu, but he stayed for a bit to speak with these children. "A hero must always be on the lookout for others." "You're helping the Rift though..." Diamond Tiara grumbled. "Thanks for saving us but..." "Yeah. Forget about the Rift." Scootaloo stepped forward. "There's something I gotta know. Do you know who Ash is?" "Ash?" There it was again. The name that was able to grab Galaxy Master's attention. "That name still sounds so familiar to me...Ash." "You should know who Ash is. He's our hero back home." Sweetie Belle added. "Just like you as well, mister." "Is he now?" Galaxy Master turned around, looking to the sky. It was hard to see his face but one could imagine he was pondering for a moment. Possibly even putting on a smile. "So, he truly is out there...Then why wasn't I informed about his existence? Ah, this makes me happy." "It does?" The fillies all said. "This changes a few things...Anyway, I should be off now. Stay out of trouble children but if you do get into trouble, know that with one shout for help, I'll be there. Come along, Pikachu." "Pikachu!" "Wait! We still want to ask you a lot of-" But before Diamond Tiara could say anything, Galaxy Master and Pikachu had turned into bodies of light, immediately exiting through one of the many destroyed walls of this mountain. It was back to the Arcane Sea at the Unova Region, where an entire sea of Rift Energy was to be gathered. The fillies were slightly confused about how he could help both the Rift and them as well. But they understood that was the way of a hero. Helping those in need. "He kinda reminded me of Ash a bit." Apple Bloom commented. "Ya know what I mean" "He did come from a comic book so I guess so...He said he was happy about it too. What does that mean?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I don't know. All I know is that we should get out of here. Sorry for getting you guys into this mess by the way. I didn't think this would happen. Those thorns didn't look like they were from Mount Coronet so I don't know where they came from." Scootaloo felt like she had to be guilty about this, apologizing to her friends. "I'm not even sure if Quilava got that magic in him." "It's fine. We can always try again at this mountain another time." She was forgiven without a second thought, starting with Diamond Tiara. "Who cares if that magic may or may not have entered Quilava? At least we're okay." "Yeah...I'm just gonna have to guess at this point. Let's head home and do something else. You said you wanted to catch some Pokemon that can learn certain moves just for that Normalium Z, right?" "I did but...let's take a break and rest up first." Diamond Tiara stretched her hooves, postponing her goal for some recovery. Mainly to heal up since those thorns did poke into their bodies, leaving some marks But once that was done with, they would continue their endless fun at the Pokemon Festival. But hopefully without something like this happening again. Mount Coronet was safe once more. Both by Galaxy Master and the mysterious presence that exists here. There was another presence that only Quilava could sense though. Before returning to his Poke Ball, he thought back to those orbs that had the voice of Cyndaquil within them. Potentially, that was a sign. A sign that the magic within Mount Coronet was already within Quilava. But only time would tell. And that time would come when Quilava potentially evolves. All he had to do was wait. Hearthome City. The Pokemon Festival. Afternoon. Back at Hearthome, Fantina helped everyone here by getting them some space to clear their minds. Hearthome was a tad bit empty now once they were away from Rosa Maledicta's presence. But while Rosa was annoyed that Fantina could bypass her presence and ignore it in every way, she was also planning on bringing Fantina with her. Back to Magehold. After seeing how immune Fantina was to her presence alone, Rosa Maledicta figured that having someone like that at Magehold teach everything about Pokemon to her subjects was a great move. Of course, it wouldn't be under Fantina's own will and decision. But before that, Rosa was alerted by something else. Her thorns. The thorns that she summoned upon entering this world for the first time returned to her. But they didn't return with their massive sizes or vast quantities. Instead, they returned in the form of 7 smaller thorns that were hard to see. But could only be seen by Rosa. Rosa held her hoof out as the thorns slithered to their creator like a child rushing to their parents after being upset. And the thorns were certainly upset. "My darlings. Back so soon? Why's that?" Rosa asked, sensing that the thorns were feeling vengeful and defeated at the same time. She spoke to them, putting her ear close to the thorns. Rosa Maledicta then heard whispers from the thorns. Much like how the orbs back at Mount Cornet could speak to Quilava, these thorns could speak to Rosa. "Someone hurt you. Your poor things." She caressed the thorns with her hoof, not even feeling the prickly parts of them. She was completely immune to her own creations, unsurprisingly. "Don't worry. Speak their names and everything that happened. And I'll make preparations for them. Especially when they become subjects at Magehold. The thorns weaved the story to Rosa, telling them everything that happened. Mainly focusing on how their amazing adaptability skills had been matched and countered by someone. "What?!" Rosa gasped, pulling back. "Impossible. Apart from my magic, there's nothing that can counteract your amazing adaptability. Yet there's something that can do so?" This displeased Rosa Maledicta. So much so to the point where she didn't feel like being here anymore. The Lich Queen stood up from her seat, deciding to focus everything on this shocking revelation. Her thorns could be seen as perfect with no weaknesses. And if they did have a weakness, the thorns would just adapt and erase it. That wasn't the case anymore. Now, there existed something in this world specifically that could fight back against the adaptability of the thorns to the point where it's all fair game. "I'll sort it out when we return to Magehold, my darlings. But before that, I need to do two more things. The people and Pokemon here still need something left behind. A shame they won't remember me. And...there's someone here I want to bring back with me." Rosa then made the thorns vanish. They disintegrated by just a single blow from her breath, leaving only small bits of themselves behind. They would be needed again when the time is right. And for Rosa, that time was the Black Crusade. Her time at Hearthome City would be over. But not without something to leave behind and someone to bring along. Rosa Maledicta's horn let out a tiny drop of magic. This tiny drop was a green and black sparkle that immediately sunk into the ground. This sparkle of magic would then expand underneath the city the moment it descended. The prime target before anyone else was Fantina who was oblivious to what was coming. Then again, there was no way she would know about this. However, the Hearthome City Gym Leader, even if for a brief moment, turned around to witness the last thing she'd ever see at Hearthome City. Everything for this Pokemon Contest expert and Gym Leader had gone to black in a heartbeat. It was even before her heart could be one more time. Whatever came next was something that Fantina couldn't hope to ever think about. And neither would she see what would happen to Hearthome City. Pegalysium. Stream Park. Starmap's Tower. Afternoon. Over at Pegalysium, Starmap was at her tower, even during this festive time when everyone was invited to the Pokemon Festival. But that didn't mean she couldn't involve herself while staying home. "Now is a good time for me to map the rest of the Pokemon World." Starmap already planned on mapping the entire Pokemon World. Or rather, the Pokemon Universe. She already managed to make a map of this universe, especially every position of Pegalysium and now that Equestria and Pegalysium were on good terms, the chances of her entering the Pokemon World shot up. Her room was already flooded with maps, but it was about to increase in quantity very soon. To prepare a map for the Pokemon World, Starmap brought over a fresh piece of paper. Multiple of them which would soon form into an astral projection of the entire universe that she could craft. However, when looking at the sheet of paper, Starmap, despite not having anything on it right now, was fully focused on it. She could see the Pokemon World in her eyes. But not how it was now. "It's happening again...The Pokemon World will appear a certain way when I get there. But...I fear that something might happen. Something awful." Her wings started fluttering after saying that. Right now, she felt a bad omen that could emerge within the Pokemon World, only for her wings to slow down. "Or maybe not. Maybe it's the opposite. I can already feel something wonderful about this new world. It could either lead to something beautiful for years to come or something awful might ruin it all." "Starmap! I made it!" Just then, interrupting Starmap was a pegasus none other than Cloudflare. Cousin to Shooting Star and someone who knew Starmap. "It's already the second day. Are you ready to head out?" "I am. I have the sheets that I need." She faced Cloudflare, holding up the sheets with her magic from her wings. "And this time, I had enough sleep so I'm ready to see this festival through and through. "Great stuff. I'd love to see your new work completed. Having a map of the Pokemon World in its entirety would just be the best. And judging by what I got from Shooting Star when he was given a Pokedex, there are some locations with Pokemon that I could head to or just avoid entirely." "Speaking of which, did you get yours already, Cloud?" "I sure did." With a wink, she revealed a Pokedex from her bag. At last, Pegalysium were getting Pokemon Essentials delivered to them. They needed it since these Strange and Wonderful Creatures now populated their nation "And it's amazing. I saw some Flying-Types nearby the other day and this thing is too effective for its own good. What about you?" "Mine? Oh, I forgot. I was too cooped up in her as always. But I'll get mine and learn about the Pokemon too. But I'm not really a creature expert. I'm a map expert." She chuckled, flipping her mane. "Leave that to me. I know a thing or two about creatures. Oh, and you're gonna need this too." Out of her bag, Cloudflare revealed some more essentials that were necessary when living among Pokemon. Thrown in Starmap's direction were the famous and always helpful Poke Balls. "Oh!" Starmap tried catching them, only to have her hooves full with the map, resulting in the Poke Balls hitting her in the face. "Ow..." "We finally got some Poke Balls. Mainly these things called Quick Balls if we wanna catch a Pokemon as fast as we can without all the hassle. And the normal red ones too." "Hmm...So these are the things we just throw at them and it catches them?" "Yeah. Well, it's got its inner workings. I'm assuming it's magic, which is why I'm too excited to go to the Pokemon World and find out for myself. What about you? Aside from the maps and all that." "Well...while I do love my maps, I want to know about the history of the Pokemon World too. Just like how I recovered maps of old civilizations that lived at those temples here at Pegalysium, I want to do the same for Equestria and the Pokemon World." "Wait, you never told me that!" Cloudflare gasped, getting in Starmap's face. "You can do that?!" "Y-Yeah. I can also remake the entire structure of anything from the past. No matter how old it is." Starmap further revealed the extent of her abilities. Not only could she make out the universe from the way the stars are aligned, the formation of planets, etc, but even the past was a factor as well. "Amazing...You're so lucky your family line has something like that." Cloudflare backed away. "Are you sure you're not a Pegasus of Destiny? Maybe a secret one?" "I'm positive I'm not. Just good genes." Starmap playfully laughed at that joke. "Come on, let's hurry, please! The Pokemon can change the terrain too to their liking, so I need to remember that as well!" "Right, right. Just follow my lead, Star." The two of them would depart with Starmap finally getting involved on the outside. She already had fun doing her job but the now fun shall be doubled with the Pokemon Festival. Making sure everything was left in place, Starmap shut the door, only returning when needed. When she has everything she needs on these new maps, then she shall return. The Pokemon World. It's various regions. It's landscapes that are ever-changing and the various ancient structures that still reside to this day. The stars in the Pokemon cosmos and beyond. All of it is something that Starmap wishes to map down. No matter what. Hoenn. Mossdeep City. Afternoon. Mossdeep City. The city where research is always underway, day and night, all in the hope of understanding the distant reaches of space. Such places of interest involve the Mossdeep Space Center. For a city that wishes to understand the cosmos, this Space Center was the ideal structure to make. Right now, Ash's party had arrived at Mossdeep City. What exciting things can they get to here after leaving Kalos? Perhaps one of the attractions that have shown up just for the Pokemon Festival. An attraction that was larger than the Mossdeep Space Center and even the Tempo Dome that had recently been revealed. This attraction resembled one of the most playful places in the world. A carnival. That was what their eyes were set on. This carnival stood out to them the most as the name of it is what truly got their attention. Mainly Ash, Rainbow Dash and Hilbert's attention. These three are battle-heavy and the name of this carnival involved the word 'Battle'. Battle Carnival was its name. "Yeah. This is the place." Ash and Hilbert equally said, standing before this carnival. "Battle Carnival." "They even have Pokemon Battles at Carnivals? Why?" Sci-Twi needed to know. At this point, Pokemon Battles could be found anywhere or could start anywhere. She was still new to Pokemon so all of this was bizarre to her. "My guess is that living with Pokemon from the beginning leads to stuff like this. Don't think about it too much. It's the charm of this world." Twilight could only respond to her human counterpart in this way. It was probably the best answer she could give. "How long has it been since I've been to a carnival?" A giddy Bertha spoke, reminiscing about her younger days just from the sight of a carnival. "Oh, I hope it's like how it was when I went there in my younger days." "Only one way to find out." Someone replied to them. Appearing right next to the door along with a few were employees, wearing colourful outfits that fit the carnival them. "Step right into the Battle Carnival and see what awaits you." "Something for everyone. Special rules are waiting for you in there. Are you feeling brave and lucky enough?" "I guess we are." Hilda shrugged as they all nodded in unison. "Great. We can see some bright looks on your faces. I can already tell some of you are more interested in the battling more than anything. Don't worry. There are simple non-battling activities in there as well." The employee removed her hat, winking at them. "But how about we tell you something special about the battle challenges that reside within this carnival?" "I'd like to hear more about this carnival in its entirety but...go ahead," Twilight said. "Okay then." Another employee slid to the centre, adjusting his bowtie. "When you get in there, you'll obviously use your Pokemon to battle. But here's the kicker...you only get to use one of your Pokemon." "Only one?!" They all spoke in unison. A special rule had been laid on them. Just one of their Pokemon. No more than that. This carnival, in the few minutes that they've already stood in front of it, hit them with a rule that many trainers of high levels would tackle. "That's right. Bad the only Pokemon you can use...are other Pokemon that aren't yours. Whether it'd be from another trainer or the rental Pokemon we have here." They laid out some extra rules before they entered. "But we, the employees, can use our own Pokemon. Sound fair?" "Sounds fun!" Ash, Hilbert, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Hilda and Pinkie Pie collectively said. Bertha already agreed with it, nodding in approval. "So we can only use other Pokemon that aren't ours, huh? That does make things fun." Rainbow Dash pondered. "Maybe Roxanne was planning us for this when she made us trade Pokemon." "We all have a sizable number of Pokemon, right? I mean...I assume all of you have 6. I have five which works out for whoever gets my Pokemon." Sci-Twi commented. "Before you enter, think carefully about who you want to use. One Pokemon that belongs to you and 5 others that don't. No takebacks by the way. "Hmm...Who am I gonna choose to help me out in battle?" Ash looked at his friends. "I'm gonna have Pikachu by my side as always but everyone's got a lot of Pokemon so..." "Melo!" Just then, Meloetta clung herself onto Ash's arm. Just then, Victini and Hoopa hovered in his direction as well. Ash looked around him to see that these Mythical Psychic-Types had all focused on him alone. He already knew what this meant. "Huh. I guess I know who I'm teaming up with. I'll team up with these guys!" He pointed at the Psychic-Types, making everyone, including the employees. That was a massive choice. "Hang on...I just now noticed them!" One of the employees screeched, dropping his music note cane. "Isn't one of them...Victini?" "You only recognize Victini?" One of the employees raised her eyebrow. The other Mythicals should be surprising, but it seems his knowledge ended there. "Aw, no fair, Ash!" Hilbert groaned. "I was gonna choose one of them. Mainly Victini..." "Hoopa. Victini. Meloetta. I'm counting on you three. We've never battled together too so..." "But you still need two more Pokemon. Any other Mythical Pokemon we don't know about?" "Yeah. These two." Hitting the employees with an even bigger surprise, Both Mews had popped out of Pinkie Pie's mane, waving at the employees. "Mew-Mew!" "Oh." That's all they could say. They were so blown back by the other Mythical Pokemon in front of them that the appearance of Mew, while surprising, wasn't enough to overcome the reaction they already had. "...Alright then. No complaints here. But uh...no duplicates, please." "Ash. You can have my Absol." Twilight offered one of her Pokemon to Ash, holding out Absol's Poke Ball. He was now down two one more Pokemon. "Absol? What about Mega Evolution for Absol?" Ash asked. "I don't always have to use it. I've got Z-Crystals now to fill that void. And it works for all my Pokemon unlike Mega Evolution so there's that bonus." "Great. That just leaves one more Pokemon for me to join up with." "Uh...I don't have much faith that she'll listen to me throughout the whole thing...so I'd like you to have her, Ash." Sci-Twi would offer up one of her Pokemon to Ash as well. In this case, it was the one Pokemon she struggled communicating with. Her Alpha Rapidash. "Here. I hope she's not a handful for you, Ash. You know how she can be." "Yeah. I hear ya. No need to worry, I'll do my best to work with Rapidash." Ash now had six Pokemon to battle with. One of them was his and five of them weren't. Now it was everyone's turn. Ash traded some of his Pokemon with his friends as they all would mix their options. One by one, they took Poke Balls from different individuals, making it all unique. This even involved Bertha, who was mainly a Ground-Type specialist. But with this challenge, she would battle with other Pokemon that weren't Ground-Types. A notable swap was that Pinkie Pie entrusted Mew to Sci-Twi. Her Mew, not Mewie, who was still a Wild Pokemon. Sci-Twi would have to work together with a Mythical Pokemon. Certainly a leap from working alongside Alpha Pokemon. Once everyone swapped with each other, they were ready to enter the carnival and see what they could encounter. These battles were probably difficult for a requirement like this to exist. Ash was more than ready alongside his new tames, adjusting his gloves. "Alright! Let's go!" "Pikachu!" As the journey continues. Chapter 866 End.