//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Where am I? What is That? Pt. 2 // Story: Equestria, I Choose You! // by BronyDJ //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack had been trekking through the Everfree Forest for quite some time now. According to a map Twilight had brought, they were somewhere near the middle of the massive forest. It had a familiar feeling, and before Twilight could remark anything, a low growl sounded through the thickets. Fluttershy's ears perked up, and she quickly, but quietly galloped ahead of the other three ponies. What she saw was quite unexpected. There were three medium sized creatures made of various fallen branches and leaves. They were canine-like in appearance, though kept together by some mysterious force. Timberwolves. But that wasn't what caught Fluttershy's attention. The three Timberwolves were surrounding a small, yellow and green quadruped that also appeared to have leaves sprouting out of its coat. How interesting, Fluttershy thought. Is this what could have came through that portal? Her three friends were close behind, and she shushed them before they could complain or scold her. She simply pointed at the scene before them and watched it unfold. The Timberwolves took one more step together, and the smaller creature let out a cry, "Leafeon!" and charged towards the three antagonists. Stephen's POV Nova and I had been walking for seemed like ages until we heard something familiar. I turned to Nova, who had a certain look on her face and ran ahead of me. I had to sprint to keep up. Within moments, the two of us reached a small clearing with three wooden dog things surrounding a small creature. I immediately noticed the latter, and recognized it as the smallest member of my team: Maple, the Leafeon. Nova then tugged my shirt and had us duck down to watch, just in case anyone else was. Then I noticed that her coat, was a darkened shade of yellow. It was a similar condition to Nova's. What had caused this? "Leafeon!" A cry came from the small creature as it charged its bullies, redirecting my attention. She jumped at the closest one, her tail now glowing white, spun in midair and hit the wooden dog's face dead on. The accosted canine was sent flying into a tree near us and exploded into dust and forest debris. What? I thought. How is that possible? "Interesting," I heard Nova whisper. "They're just sticks with a dark aura holding them together." "What kind of dark aura?" I whisper back. These creatures, as far as I could tell, were not of our world. "It's sinister, yet playful." the Gardevoir answered, "Like a ghost type." I nodded and continued to watch the 3-on-1 battle. The leaves on Maple's body began to glow a light green, and when she flicked her head towards the second wooden dog, dozens of leaves just kept barraging the wooden frame. When the leaves stopped coming, the target could barely stand. Seeing this, Maple pointed her head up, and began to form a green orb above her, just outside of her mouth. and with another cry of her species' name, she flicked her head back down, launching the Energy Ball at the dog. I felt a proud smile on my lips; despite Maple being the smallest out of all on my team, she was, without a doubt, a very valuable member. The remaining wood-wolf, as I had finally started calling them, now stood wary of Maple. With good reason of course. His brethren were taken out so easily, and the Grass Pokemon didn't even have a scratch on her. I looked at Maple who had been waiting for the last wood-wolf top attack, but soon had a bored expression on her face. Once more, she raised her head, but this time, the orb of energy by her mouth was a sun-golden yellow color, the color of a Solarbeam. Like a curious puppy, the wood-wolf approached Maple and this new object in front of her. "Leeeaaaff..." The small Leafeon began pouring more and more energy into the orb. "eeeOOOOONNN!!!" She then unleashed a large beam of solar energy at her foe. The result was a third pile of sticks and leaves. I checked that the coast was clear before standing up and walking out of my hiding spot and slowly walking towards Maple, Nova in tow. Pony POV The four ponies' jaws dropped the moment the small, dark yellow creature took down the first Timberwolf with a single strike of its glowing tail. Fluttershy was in absolute shock; how could something so cute and nice looking be so dangerous and strong? Meanwhile, Rarity marveled at the glowing tail, and the glowing leaves on the creature's body. What designs those leaves could inspire! Applejack watched as the big terrors of the Everfree were tossed around and easily beaten by such a small creature, chuckling quietly at the irony. However, the moment she saw the Energy Ball form, Twilight's eyes began to grow in excitement and wonder. When she witnessed to SolarBeam attack, she immediately took down notes as to what she just witnessed. "Twilight," Applejack started quietly. "Whatca writin' about?" "AJ, that small creature is not only new to our world," Twilight answered excitedly. "It's capable of some kind of magic! A strong kind, at that." Before anypony could say more, a new voice rang through the clearing. "Maple?" The four ponies' heads turned to the source of the voice and went completely silenced. It was about (12) Hooflengths long (6 feet), had a short brown mane and clothes. It looked like a tall,upright, and near hairless ape. Rarity observed its unique style of clothing: casual, but appropriate for outdoors. This strange creature had a sense of fashion? Applejack looked to the creature's arm; it didn't look that muscular from what she could tell, but she wouldn't know for certain. Fluttershy could see the biped's eyes: dark brown, but filled with a certain kindness and intelligence in them. Perhaps this creature was friendly after all? Twilight's eyes darted to the thing's bag and sash. What contents lay in that bag? What were those round things on its sash? Weapons, maybe? The four wisely stayed quiet as the tall being approached the creature called, "Leafeon," though her called it by "Maple." Stephen's POV "Maple," I slowly approached the Leafeon, and saw its tail light up for another Iron Tail strike. She ran and jumped at me, but before she could turn with her tail, I caught her and her tail lost its glow. I turned her towards me. "Maple, listen, I-" I was cut off by small leaves sailing at my face, forcing me to drop the Leafeon. "Stephen," I heard by my side. Nova had her arm raised, and looked to me. "Nova, Thunderbolt." As I commanded, a golden, crooked beam of electricity raced out of Nova's body, through her arm, and out towards Maple. It hit before the latte could react. I knew it wouldn't hurt Maple, Electric isn't effective against Grass, but it should be enough to paralyze her. Sure enough, Leafeon tried moving after being struck by Thunderbolt, but small sparks appeared across her small body, a telltale sign of paralysis. I picked her up again. "I'm sorry we had to hurt you, Maple, but you aren't acting like you." This was true. She would never face 3 opponents at once, she usually ran away unless she had someone else from the team with her. I put my palm on her head, and her ears flattened. She calmed down a tad, seeing as she was in now condition to fight back. I smiled at the sight of the feisty Leafeon. "Always the feisty one, Maple. From the moment you hatched as an Eevee, you were strong and quick. Even if you were the smallest member of my team, you'd never let me down in any battle. Especially when you evolved." ~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~ A teenage Stephen was in the middle of an intense battle. However, his opponent's Abra proved to be quite troublesome, as Hidden Power overpowered most of Stephen's team. He took out his last Pokeball, unsure as to how to lay it out. He swallowed his doubt and called out the final member of his team, Eevee. "Okay, Eevee, I know this is tough, but I know you can do it!" Stephen cheered his Pokemon on. He led his turn with a Quick Attack, but his opponent followed suit with Hidden Power after Hidden Power. Stephen knew his little friend couldn't make it, and could see the brown Normal Pokemon looking frustrated, though she was close to fainting. Just as the opponent called for a final Hidden Power, the Nomal Type let out a long cry. "EEeeeeeee..." Stephen watched in awe as a small dark orb formed in front of his Eevee's mouth. "VEEE!" The Shadow Ball flew right at the Abra, and sent it flying a few feet. When it landed, its eyes were dazed; it had fainted. The battle was won. Extremely happy, Stephen rushed forward to meet the victorious Pokemon. However, before he could even touch her, she began to glow. "What?" Stephen wondered. "How?" He looked around and saw a large mossy rock very close by. He looked back to the evolving Eevee with a big smile on his face. When the transformation was finished, there stood a confident looking Leafeon. "Leafeon!" she cried, and ran towards Stephen. She grew quickly and was easily one of the faster Pokemon among all of the teams his raised. He could tell Maple had a lot of potential, and planned to raise her the best he could. ~~~~~~~~~~Real time~~~~~~~~~ Pony POV The ponies' jaw were still on the ground, in amazement. Not only did the tall ape-like creature speak, it spoke coherently! So, there was a way to communicate with it. Twilight hurriedly wrote that note down, then began to comment on the white figure next to the being. It was able to just harness lightning and aimed it at the smaller creature, rendering it weakened. Then as the taller being spoke to the Leafeon creature, Twilight and the others noticed the latter beginning to relax. The biped spoke again. "Maple, this isn't the real you. You're sweet, innocent, and never went out to pick a fight, especially as dangerous as this one. I promised to you, as I promise all of my Pokemon friends," Pokemon? Twilight wondered. Is that what thing is? "I will always be there for you,and take care of you the best way I can as any great Pokemon Trainer should." The white figure stood closer to the clothed biped, and gave what looked like a smile to the creature called "Maple." Then, a small light began to surround "Maple," and then began to flow across its whole body. After a few seconds, the small quadruped had a bright yellow coat, and let out a much more cheerful cry at the sight of the tall ape, who pulled out a small spray bottle from his bag and sprayed it on Maple. In moments, the sparks on its body disappeared, and it leaped at the giant's face, licking it. "Okay, okay, Maple," the tall one said, now own its back. "It's great to see you again, too." Twilight and the others watched as he then pulled a ball from his sash, enlarged it, and said, "Maple, return!" The four gasped quietly and watched the cute creature turn into red energy and flow into the ball. The biped then stood up, nodded to the white being, and together, they walked away. "That's... that's...." Twilight was in awe. "How is that possible? That completely breaks the laws of physics!" Though as a counter though, she was friends with Pinkie, so it could be expected that somethings weren't made to make sense. "I can't believe it," Fluttershy added. "It looked so brutal! Those attacks could really hurt somepony!" "But," Rarity interjected, "that tall creature was able to calm it down." "Yes, that's true." Twilight said. "And how in Equestria did that other, white creature summon lightning to jump from its hands? It's not even a pegasus!" Applejack asked, "Should we confront 'em?" Twilight shook her head, "There are six little balls on it sash. One for the white creature he called 'Nova', and another for that 'Maple' creature." She turned towards the direction where the two mysterious beings walked to. "Meaning there are 4 more creatures that he has to find. We should lay low and see what happens." The other three ponies agreed, Fluttershy was reluctant, though. She really hoped she didn't have to see anymore violence. With that, the group of mares went on to stalk Stephen and Nova.