Museum Mayhem
Zander had gotten up early and was waiting for the girls in the Pokemon Center's lobby. Eventually the girls joined him.
“Good morning everyone,” Zander said greeting them.
“Good morning.” They replied.
“So what's up for today?” Rainbow asked. “Are we going to the next town?”
“Not yet there's something I still want to do here.” Zander showed them a pamphlet to the Pewter City Science Museum. “I want to see the new exhibit. Apparently it's on loan from a place called Nacrene City. Of course you guys are welcome to join me.”
“You can definitely count me in!” Twilight said with excitement.
“I figured you would, and the rest of you?”
“I would love to come, it sounds like a lovely outing,” Rarity said.
“Me too!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“I would like to go too, if it's alright.”
Zander chuckled a bit, “Of course it is Fluttershy I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want the company, and you two?” He asked Rainbow and Applejack.
“Sounds really boring, I'd rather train my Pokemon.”
“I see, just be careful.” Zander turned to Applejack to hear her answer.
“Ah'd like to, but ah think it's best if we don't go out alone.”
“That's actually not a bad idea, it helps keep you guys out of trouble and you have someone watching your back.” Zander took a moment to look at the clock, “We should get going.”
________________________
Rainbow and Applejack went to the park, while Zander and the others headed to the museum. Once inside, the group was met with a fossilized skeleton of what looked like some sort of flying dragon hanging from the ceiling. Ahead of them were several glass cases with more fossils in them.
“So,” Zander said getting everyone's attention, “where would you like to start?”
“I thought you wanted to see the new exhibit.” Rarity pointed out.
“Well I do, but we're going to be here all day so there's plenty of time. Also, there's probably other new things to see too.”
“In that case can we start by learning what that is?” Twilight said pointing to the skeleton on the ceiling.
“Ah, that would be the flying and rock type Aerodactyl a Pokemon that went extinct millions of years ago.”
“That reminds me one of Brock's Pokemon was supposed to be millions of years old too right, and if so wouldn't it be extinct too, and if that's true then how did he get one?”
“Very good question Twilight, Cranios is an extinct Pokemon, so what Brock probably did was have a Cranios fossil revived.”
“Wait you have the ability to restore fossils into living creatures again?”
“Yes, we do.”
Twilight's face had a shocked look on it, “Then why are these Pokemon still extinct? Why not revive all the fossils you find?”
“Not all fossils can be restored, and the ones that are, are either used by trainers that can handle them or they're revived for study. Also, we can't have Pokemon running around that don't know or understand that they're in a new time period. It would cause some problems.”
“I see.”
“Good. Now come on let's check out the 'Hall of Minerals'.” Zander lead the group to the wing where various rocks, precious stones, and minerals were on display.
One of the displays caught Rarity's eye, “What are these?”
“Those are evolution stones, they can be used to make certain Pokemon evolve.”
“Wait I thought Pokemon evolved as they get stronger.”
“Most do Twilight, but some Pokemon evolve only under certain conditions, some with stones, some with close bonds with their trainers, and some with special items. For example,” Zander pointed to the green stone with a yellow lightning bolt in it, “that's called a Thunderstone and can be used to evolve your Pikachu into a Raichu.”
“I hate to interrupt, but can I borrow your notebook Twilight?” Rarity asked.
“Sure, but why?”
“I want to make some notes, these stones have given me some great ideas!”
“And, once you're done with that we can check out the meteorites.”
For the next few hours Zander acted as a tour guide. Eventually he lead the group to the wing where the artifacts found in the Kanto ruins were on display. Twilight walked around the room in wonderment looking at all the ancient tools, pots, and tablets eventually she and the others were drawn to a giant tablet on the wall. The tablet was about eight feet tall and six feet wide and filled with ancient writing and pictures.
“This is interesting, what do you think it says?” Rarity asked.
Twilight read the artifact's information box, “Well, this says it's the record of a hero and his Pokemon that ended a war before it even began.”
“That appears to be accurate, although the details seem to be missing.” Zander said looking at the tablet.
Twilight looked at Zander with confusion, “You can read that?”
“A little bit my ancient Pokemopolis is a little rusty and it doesn't help that it already is hard to read with its age, but I can still make out enough to know what it's about.”
Twilight's look went from confusion to surprise, “How? I mean you don't seem like-”
“Someone who would study ancient civilizations?”
“Um, yes.”
Zander let out a small chuckle, “Yeah, I admit I sort of fell into it. You see when I was in Johto I helped out some researchers in the ruins of Alph, and in the process I wrote my own report and studied the language. I'm glad I did too, it really helped in Hoenn and especially in Sinnoh.”
“Would you mind if I read your report?”
“Oh, no not at all. Now we should get going, I'd like to see that new exhibit.”
The group went to the wing near the entrance where the loaned exhibit was being displayed. In the center of the room was a large skeleton of a Pokemon.
“Out of all the fossils we've seen, this one is definitely the most unique.” Rarity said.
“What do you think it was?” Pinkie asked.
“According to this, it's a dragon Pokemon that used to fly around the world.” Twilight said reading the information box. She watched Zander to see if he would give his opinion.
“It looks like a Dragonite.”
“Um, what's a Dragonite?”
“Well, Fluttershy a Dragonite is a dragon type Pokemon, it's also one of the rarest. Though dragon types are hard to find anyway.” Zander then took out his pokedex, “Here I have an entry.”
“Dragonite the Dragon Pokemon and the evolved form of Dragonair. It can circle the globe in just 16 hours. It is a kindhearted Pokemon that leads lost and foundering ships in a storm to the safety of land.”
“That's an interesting hypothesis young man.” A women said from behind them.
“It's not really a hypothesis, I've seen Dragonites before and they look identical to this skeleton.”
“I see, if that's true then I'll have to talk to Hawes about it when we go back home.” The woman walked up to the fossilized Pokemon, “We may finally know what you are.”
“Um... Miss?”
“Oh, sorry I haven't introduced myself, I'm Lenore director of the Nacnene City Museum and it's gym leader.”
“Nice to meet you I'm Zander and these are my friends Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.”
“It's a pleasure to meet all of you, especially you,” Lenora said to Zander, “Your name is very familiar, you wouldn't happen to be the Champ-”
“Yes I am! And I would appreciate it if you wouldn't let everyone here know it.”
“I understand my lips are sealed.”
The next few minutes were spent with Zander and Twilight asking Lenora questions about her studies on ancient Pokemon.
“The Relic Castle? Sounds like Unova would be worth a visit.”
“You should come, I know I would love to have a battle with you at the gym.”
“Well, it will have to wait, right now I'm little preoccupied.”
Lenora was going to say something when screams started coming from the entrance.
“What was that?” Twilight asked.
“It sounded like screaming.” Lenora answered.
“Ooo, you think someone's throwing a party?”
“I don't think so Pinkie, those were screams of terror not joy. We should check it out!” Zander said running toward the entrance.
“Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but shouldn't we run away from screams of terror?” Rarity said.
“Not when you're with me.”
Once the group made it to the entrance they saw two dozen people dressed in black with one man giving out orders.
“Remember we have at least ten minutes, so fan out and do what you can.”
Zander began to walk over to their leader, but Twilight stopped him.
“What are you doing?”
“I'm going to take them down.” Zander's voice was cold and even, but Twilight could tell he was suppressing a lot of anger.
“We should leave them alone they look dangerous.”
“I can handle them.”
“Zander please don't, I don't want to see you get hurt.”
Zander stopped his advance and looked at Twilight and put his hand on her shoulder as he spoke softly, “Twilight, I appreciate your concern, but this is something I have to do. I'll be fine, trust me.” With that, Zander continued toward the group.
“Don't worry sweetie we'll have his back.” Lenora said reassuring Twilight.
“Proton, how've you been?” Zander said as loudly as he could with out shouting.
The leader froze and slowly turned his head. “Zander!”
“Yep, it's me. You never write, you never call it's like you don't like me anymore.”
“I never liked you! I should have guessed you'd show up to ruin our plans. And as much as I would love to crush you now, I need to make sure we get the job done.” Proton motioned some of his followers over, “Deal with him and his little entourage.”
“Yes sir!” They replied.
Proton left to go deeper in to the museum.
“You can't run forever Proton! You know I'll just mop the floor with these grunts, and when I'm done here I'm coming for you!” Zander was then confronted by six of Proton's grunts. Great now I have to deal with these guys. What a bother.
“We got your back Zander!” Twilight said as she and the others squared off against the grunts.
“Absolutely not! These guys are dangerous!”
“Zander,” Twilight said softy, “you're not alone anymore. You have friends that can help you, so please let us help.”
Zander looked around and saw the others giving him the same pleading look Twilight was giving him. “Alright.”
Each of the grunts had two Pokemon a Rattata and a Zubat. Zander and Lenora took their opponent’s out easily, with Lenora showing off new Pokemon and moves Zander had never seen before. Unova... I'm definitely going to have to visit there sometime.
Twilight took her opponent down almost as quickly as Lenora. Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie had more difficulty then the other three but they still won. After they were defeated the grunts ran outside only to be caught by the police.
“Alright, now that, that annoyance is dealt with it's time to take Proton down!” Zander said as he began to follow Proton's footsteps.
“We're right behind you!” Twilight said.
Zander froze remembering he wasn't alone, “No.”
“But-”
“No! You guys took a lot of damage in that last fight and I'm not risking your safety. You need to stay here! Lenora look after them okay?”
“You bet.”
“I'm still going with you!”
“Twilight...”
“I'm going! You need someone to help you and my team is still good to go.”
“But...”
“I'm coming with you end of discussion!”
Zander was a bit taken aback by this, very few people would stand by him in this situation, he felt strangely happy. At this point he knew he could count on their support whenever he would need it.
“Okay.” The two left to go look for Proton, Zander looked at Twilight, “Thank you.” He said with a smile.
As they went through the museum they found more of Proton's underlings. Zander took them down with extreme prejudice.
“You really don't seem to like these people.”
“I only want to teach these guys a lesson for alining themselves with Proton.”
“I caught that the two of you seem to have some history. Who is he?”
“*sigh* He was one of the leaders of the 'New' Team Rocket. He and his ilk have done things I can never forgive.”
“Like what?”
“Now is not the time or the place for this.” Zander and Twilight entered the room with artifacts form the Kanto ruins, there they saw Proton and some of his men trying to steal the giant tablet. “Now it's time to end this.”
___________________________
Rainbow and Applejack left the park an hour after they arrived. No one wanted to battle them once they learned the two had beaten Brock.
“Man I can't believe no one wants to battle us just because we got a badge.” Rainbow said with a groan.
“Ah can't say ah blame 'em, doesn’t look like they're ready to face Brock, y'think they'd wanna battle us?”
“*sigh* I guess you're right. So, what should we do now?”
“We could join Zander at the museum.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Really? That's the best thing you can think of? Museums are like the most boring thing ever!”
“You thought the same thing about books remember?”
“That's different, books are cool, but museums are just buildings full of old things that no body cares about.”
“Well, Zander and the rest of our friends care, and so do I.”
“Fine, we'll go.” Rainbow said in a defeated tone.
The two began to walk over to the museum with Rainbow taking her time. On the way they saw several police cars drive by with there lights and sirens on, heading toward the museum.
“Whata y'think's goin' on?” Applejack asked.
“I don't know, but we better find out!”
When they arrived the building was being blocked off by the police and a crowd had gathered. Rainbow asked someone what was going on.
“Well, I heard some shady looking people in black stormed the museum.”
“What!”
“Yeah, and just after the police showed up some of them ran out.”
Applejack asked Rainbow what they should do.
“Do you hafta to ask? We're going in there to make sure our friends are okay.”
The two went through the crowd but were stopped by an officer, “Where do you think you two are going?”
“Inside, our friends are in there, we need to make sure they're safe!” Rainbow explained.
“Well isn't that noble, but we can handle things here.”
“But we can help!” Applejack pleaded.
“We have things under control here, you should run along and play like good little girls.”
“What did you just say?”
“Whoa there Rainbow.” Applejack held Rainbow back as she tried to deck the officer.
“You can let them through, they're with me.” Brock said from behind the barricade.
“Oh, um very well.”
Applejack and Rainbow walked over to Brock, though Rainbow took some time to stick her tongue out at the officer who stopped them.
“So, what's goin' on?” Applejack asked.
“A short time ago an unknown group stormed the building. We don't know who they are or what they’re after, and the six we caught didn't tell us much beyond saying they were beaten in a battle. We were about to go in, you guys want to join us?”
“You bet!”
“Darn tootin'!”
The three of them along with a dozen police officers entered the building and found Lenora with the other three girls.
“Rainbow, Applejack!” The girls cried as they entered a group hug.
“Good to see y'all are safe... but where's Twi and Zander?” Applejack asked.
“They went after the leader.” Lenora explained.
“Can you show us the way? I'm sure they'll need back up.” Brock asked Lenora.
“Yep, this way.”
_________________________
“Boss, look! It's him!”
“So it is, you boys keep doing what you're doing I'll handle our little pest.”
Zander took a deep breath, “Proton you and I both know how this will end. Please if there is a single shred of decency in you you'll surrender and spare your Pokemon harm.”
Proton laughed, “You know something Zander? I hate you! I hate you with every fiber of my being! You're probably right I won't win, but there's still a chance I can! And I will take it! Beating you is well worth the risk of being caught. Now prepare yourself! Go Crobat!”
“Very well, I didn't want to do this, but you forced my hand. Time to use my heavy hitter. Go Dragonite!”
Out of Proton's pokeball came a large purple bat with four wings, out of Zander's came a seven foot tall Dragon.
“I thought those were extinct.” Twilight said.
“No one ever said they where, they're just rare.”
“Crobat use Toxic!”
“Counter with Safeguard!”
As Crobat fired the ball of toxins Dragonite covered itself in a vial of energy that rendered the attack useless.
“My turn, Dragonite use Rock Slide!”
“Crobat use Air Cutter!”
Crobat flapped its wings and sent blades of air at Dragonite which had summoned stones and sent them flying at Crobat. The Rock Slide blocked Crobat's attack and hit the bat Pokemon knocking it out.
“What?”
“How do you feel now?”
“Don't patronize me! Come out Sandslash! Use Crush Claw!”
“Use Outrage!”
Sandslash ran in and hit Dragonite with its claw not seeming to do much. Dragonite went into a frenzy and started pummeling Sandslash.
“Sandslash use Slash!”
Sandslash slashed at Dragonite whenever it paused in its rampage. Eventually Dragonite calmed down and Sandslash fainted.
“I'm not out of this yet! Go Toxicroak! Now use Poison Jab!”
Toxicroak punched Dragonite in its stomach and it fell to one knee and had a sick look on its face.
“Oh no! Is it alright?” Twilight asked.
“Not really it's poisoned, but it's an easy fix. Dragonite use Rest.”
Dragonite closed its eyes and fell a sleep.
“How it that any better?”
“You'll see.”
“Ha, Toxicroak Poison Jab it into oblivion!”
As Toxicroak made its move Zander called out, “Sleeptalk!” Dragonite flew up, did a back flip and rushed it's opponent. The attack hit and knocked Toxicoak into one of the displays.
“What... what just happened?” Twilight asked dumfounded.
“Sleeptalk it lets a sleeping Pokemon use one of its moves at random. That time it was Dragon Rush.”
“Damn you Zander! I can't even beat you when your Pokemon are a sleep? Toxicoak get up and use Sludge Bomb!”
“Sleeptalk Dragonite.”
Toxicoak fired its sludge attack while Dragonite summoned more rocks for its Rock Slide. The two attacks passed each other in the air and hit their targets. Dragonite stirred from its sleep while Toxicoak was unconscious in front of Proton.
“Had enough yet?”
“I will never surrender, especially not to you! Lets go Weezing!”
“Let's just end this. Dragonite, use Draco Meteor!”
Dragonite's body glowed with mysterious energy that was then concentrated and fired into the air. The ball of energy exploded raining down several energy 'meteorites' on Weezing. Weezing was knocked out with a single hit.
Proton collapsed, “Why... why can't I beat you? Why must you always meddle? Why can't you just leave me alone?”
“Mostly, it's because you're evil.”
“Don't worry, boss we'll get him!” One of Proton's men said.
“Zander!”
Zander looked behind him and saw Brock, Lenora, the girls and several police officers enter the room.
“How do you like your odds now?” Zander said with a little smugness in his voice.
Proton looked up from the floor, “We'll go quietly this time. But remember you may have won the battle but the war isn't over!”
________________________
Zander the two gym leaders and the girls watched as the police lead the the last of Proton's group into the police vans. Officer Jenny then turned her attention to Zander and the others.
“Thanks to you and your friends we manged to finally catch Proton and his gang.”
“Not a problem Officer Jenny. Buy why did they bother trying to rob a science museum in the first place?”
“They were probably commissioned by someone who collects artifacts. Rest assured we're going to have a long discussion about it once we get back to the station. Right now though take pride that you stopped them from hurting anyone and that nothing was stolen.”
“That's not entirely true mam,” An Officer said helping a man in a lab coat walk over to the group.
“What happened?”
“Someone knocked me out and stole my research, that's what happened!” The man said clearly upset.
“We must have missed something. We'll need to check the security system again. Hopefully, we'll find whoever did this.”
“That must be what Proton meant about 'the wars not over',” Zander said, “Can you tell us what your research was about?”
“It had something to do with the space-time legend. But what was unusual was we found it in ruins in the Sevii Islands. That's all we know, all we'll ever know.”
“We'll get your statement later, right now take him to see the paramedic.”
“Officer,” Zander said in low tone, “can we go now?”
“Yes we're done here you can leave.”
The group walked back to the Pokemon Center. Along the way Twilight and others filled in what happened today before Rainbow and Applejack showed up.
“You're kidding me, Zander has a dragon?” Rainbow said in disbelief.
“Yep, it's true and it's really strong, isn't that right Zander?” Twilight and the rest of the group looked behind them, Zander was following them at a slow pace, his eyes focused on the ground. “Zander?”
“Huh? What?”
“You have a Dragonite right?”
“Oh, Yes. Sorry I have a lot on my mind right now. I'll show it to you guys later, if you want.”
The girls continued to talk among themselves until they reached the center. Once inside Zander went through his bag and took out a small blue tablet.
“Here Twilight.”
“What is it?”
“The original copy of my report.”
“Thank you, I'll look it over immediately!”
“Take your time. If anyone needs me I'll be in my room.”
After Zander left, Rarity spoke, “Is it just me, or does he seem a little... off?”
“He has been really quiet since we left the museum.” Pinkie added.
“He's probably a little shook up with today’s events.” Rainbow suggested.
“I don't know about that, but something is definitely bothering him. We should give him some time, then one of us should talk to him.” Twilight said.
“Which one of us should talk to him?” Rarity asked.
“Oh, let me!”
“Thanks Pinkie, but ah think Twi should be the one.” Applejack said.
“Me?”
“Yep you're always good with situations like this.”
Twilight looked at Zander's report, “I guess you're right, and I do have an excuse to talk to him.”
____________________________
Zander was lying on his bed trying to balance an empty pokeball on his finger. *sigh* Nothing ever changes. I thought I could have a fun little adventure with some new friends, but noooo, that jerk Proton just had to show up! Why can't I go out on a journey with out meeting some evil group? At least this wasn't another Team Rocket revival, but still I do I have to deal with it?
*Knock Knock*
“Who is it?”
“It's me, Twilight.”
Did she finish the report already? “Come in.”
Twilight entered with Zander's report in hand, “I think you know why I'm here?”
Zander sat up, “You finished the report and now you want to talk about it. Sorry, but I don't feel like talking right now.”
“As much as I would love to talk about your research, I think we need to talk about what happened today.”
“You were there, you know what happened.”
“That's not what I meant, and you know it!”
“Like I said I don't feel like talking.”
“Then maybe you can listen for a bit.”
Zander just looked at her and didn't say anything.
“I... we don't know much about you or your past. We don't know anything about Team Rocket. But that doesn't matter,” Twilight sat next to him, “because we know you're a good person. That's why despite all the anger and hate you had toward Proton you still tried to reason with him and tried to get him to surrender without anyone getting hurt.
“And that's also why you’re going through all this with us. We also know that something is bothering you, and it isn't because there are still bad people in the world.”
Zander sighed and looked at Twilight, “Am I that easy to read?”
Twilight nodded.
“Alright yes, there is something bothering me and it isn't Proton. Don't get me wrong, the fact he was still committing crimes and I had to deal with it annoys me to no end. But what's really got me upset is that research that could have helped to get you home is gone.”
“You don't know that.”
“It wouldn't have hurt. And I can't shake the feeling that not having it will come back to bite us.”
“Zander,” Twilight said in a soft tone as she and put her hand on his, “everything will work out, I'm sure of it, right now let's focus on the here and now, and let the experts worry about getting us home.”
“Aren't you the least bit worried you'll never see your home, friends, or family again?”
“Of course I am, but I can't control that. Equestria will be fine. The Elements of Harmony are still there, and if needed new heroes will rise to save it. That's why I'm not that worried, and you shouldn't be either, it's not your responsibility.”
“You're right I shouldn't focus on things I can't control.” Zander smiled, “Thank you for the talk it helped. I also appreciate that you and the others care about me even though we haven't known each other for very long.”
Twilight smiled and hugged Zander, “We'll always be there for our friends.” Twilight broke the hug, then got Zander's report, “Now if you don't mind I'd like to talk about your studies.”
Zander laughed, his laughter shook off any seriousness left from their last conversation. Once he was done he spoke, “Alright what do you want to know?”