"Sweetie Belle we've been walking forever!" Scootaloo was once again complaining. The girls had been walking for longer than Sweetie Belle had predicted.
Sweetie Belle sighed as she looked at the map before responding, "It says we are going the right wa- uh oh..."
"What is it?" Skeeter asked curiously.
"Let me see that!" Apple Bloom said as she took the map from Sweetie Belle. She started trailing her finger along the path they were on and gasped, "You read the map upside down, we were walking backwards!"
Scootaloo's jaw dropped, "WHAT?!" She turned around and glared at Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie Belle raised her hands up defensively as a nervous chuckle escaped her lips, "I'm sorry girls!"
"You had one job Sweetie Belle, one job!" Scootaloo then yelled.
"I said I was sorry!" Sweetie Belle retorted defensively.
"Girls stop it!" Skeeter finally said, "There is no point in fighting, I say we should just set up camp and rest for the night."
The girls looked up to the sky and realized it was now night time. With a sigh, they all agreed that what Skeeter said was for the best. They each took off their back packs and started rummaging through them. It was at that point they realized that no one packed a tent.
"What do we do now?" Scootaloo groaned in annoyance.
"Did any of you pack sleeping bags?" Skeeter asked curiously.
The girls looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time.
"At least the soil here is softer than other areas... we will just have to use the ground then." Skeeter crossed his arms and nodded his head as he said this, a look of disapproval showing on the girls' faces.
"So then it's just like the time we went on that camping trip with Rainbow Dash and our sisters!" Sweetie Belle said happily. Unfortunately, the thought of that night brought the memories of her sister to the surface of her mind. "I'm starting to miss my sister..."
Apple Bloom sighed sadly since, she too, missed her sister, "Ah wonder if they noticed we are missing yet? Do ya'll think they came looking fer us?" She asked, somewhat hopefully.
Scootaloo sighed as she shook her head before looking at the girls, "Come on girls! The faster we get our pokemon trainer cutie marks, the faster we can go home and show it off to those two bullies!" She was now hopping up and down happily once she said this, her wings buzzing happily. The image of a shocked Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon was enough motivation for her to continue.
Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom perked up after hearing this, a smile forming on their lips.
"Yeah! We can show off our pokemon to them as well, that will make them stop picking on us for sure!" Apple Bloom looked at the pocket on her backpack she had her pokeball in with a smile.
"We may even be the new popular kids in school!" Sweetie Belle happily chipped in, her pokeball already in her hand.
Skeeter chuckled happily, glad that the girls were being positive again, "Well, while you two were having a nice chat, I decided to make you some beds for you to use." He had finished the last of the make-shift leaf beds and smiled.
Scootaloo grinned big, before running up to Skeeter and hugging him. "You are the best pokemon ever!"
Skeeter could not stop the blush that formed on his cheeks from that, thankful that his blue fur covered most of it, "We should get some rest, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
"Yeah! Maybe I can get Chatot to sing us a lullaby?" Sweetie Belle tossed her pokeball into the air, causing a ed beam to shoot out from it and form into the musical note pokemon.
"Chatot!' It said happily, before flying on Sweetie Belle's shoulder.
Sweetie Belle giggled happily from this, gently petting Chatot on the head. "Hey Chatot, think you can sing us a lullaby? As in... are you able to use sing?" She asked hopefully.
The Chatot nodded it's head as the girls laid on their leaf beds, Skeeter laying down next to Scootaloo. Once it saw the girls were comfortable, Chatot opened it's mouth and started to sing.
All three of the girls, and Skeeter, went wide-eyed at this. After a few seconds, however, their eyelids started to get heavy.
"We've been..." Scootaloo began, but could not finish, since she fell asleep.
The other three fell asleep shortly after, leaving Chatot to snuggle against Sweetie Belle as it too fell asleep after it was finished.
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Rays of light shone down on top of the group of adventurers, stirring them from their sleep. With a yawn, the three of them sat up and rubbed the sleep from their eyes.
"Wow... look out Fluttershy, you have been beat in the ways of the lullaby." Sweetie Belle said as she stretched.
"Yeah, that must be the power of sing. Ah guess it works on more than just pokemon." Apple Bloom chipped in.
"Hey Skeeter, wake up." Scootaloo nudged her sleeping pokemon, being rewarded with a groan of annoyance, "Come on you sleepyhead, get up!" She nudged a bit more, causing Skeeter to open his eyes.
"Heh, sing has more of a lasting effect on pokemon. That's why I had to be woken up, in case you were wondering." Skeeter replied as he stood up and stretched.
Sweetie Belle had already taken out the map, and was currently scanning for any shortcuts to the mountain. It did not take long for her to sigh in defeat. "It seems we have to keep going the same way. There are no shortcuts to Twist Mountain."
Apple Bloom groaned in defeat before sitting down. "Well that's just great! This is going to take forever!"
"Not to mention im thirsty... and hungry." Scootaloo said as her stomach started to grumble.
No sooner than she said this, Scootaloo tripped over an object on the ground, and landed on her face, "Ow..." She slowly stood up and looked over at what made her fall. That was when she saw a larger than average egg, "Hey girls this is our lucky day! We can create a fire by hoof and cook this egg!"
Sweetie Belle had already started looking for information on what kind of egg it was by checking her encyclopedia, ignoring what Scootaloo had said until she found what she was looking for. "Wait Scootaloo, that's cannibalism!"
Scootaloo thought about those words for a few seconds before glaring at Sweetie Belle. "Oh ha ha very funny Sweetie Belle!"
"I don't mean that Scootaloo. What I meant is that egg is a pokemon egg, it has a pokemon inside it!" Sweetie Belle explained.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo raised their eyebrows as they looked at the egg. Finally, Apple Bloom spoke up, "What kind of pokemon do ya think is inside it?"
Scootaloo poked at it with her finger, before looking over at Skeeter. "Is this your egg Skeeter?"
If it was not for his blue fur, the blush on Skeeter's cheeks would have made him look as red as a tomato, "What?! That egg is not mine! She planned on waiting until we evolved to do that!"
This got the attention of all three girls now, but it was Sweetie Belle who spoke up, "She? Who are you talking about?"
Skeeter went rigid as he started to feel sweat trickling down the back of his head, "No one, now put the egg in your backpack and let's keep walking." Skeeter said, as he turned around and began walking ahead.
"I am still hungry though!" Scootaloo nearly shouted in anguish.
Sweetie Belle simply rolled her eyes as she took out two cans of fruit, and opened them with the can opener she had packed. "Eat these girls, it should hold you over until we get to the next town."
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo each took an opened can happily, before Apple Bloom had a realization, "Oh hey! Ah also packed water and some Apple Cider fer us." She opened her backpack, and pulled out a few water bottles, "Ya want one Skeeter?"
The Lucario just shook his head. "No thank you, I'm not thirsty."
"Suit yourself!" Apple Bloom replied as she shrugged her shoulders, putting away the water bottle she had taken out for him.
Once the small group had finished their breakfast, they continued their journey towards Twist Mountain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After nearly a half hour later, the group of friends found their way at the foot of Twist Mountain. Little snow trails could be seen flowing in the wind as it blew along the mountain. They were not even on the mountain yet but they could still feel the cold creeping up on them.
"I am guessing no one brought any winter gear right?" Skeeter asked as he looked up at the tall, snow-covered mountain. He looked over towards the three girls, and sighed when they shook their heads. "Sucks for you then, I can handle the cold. In fact, I am resistant to ice types." He chuckled happily upon saying this.
"Well yippee fer you." Apple Bloom said sarcastically as they started walking up the mountain.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle each shared a glance, and a giggle, at their friend's tone as they started scaling the mountain as well.
It took only fifteen minutes before the girls were huddled together, being gently pushed along by Skeeter. "Come on girls, I think I see a cave up ahead where we can warm up!"
"But what about catching Pokemon?" Scootaloo yelled through the blistering winds.
"Would ya rather freeze before we even get the chance?!" Apple Bloom yelled in response.
"We're here girls!" Skeeter said as they all went inside the cave.
The cave itself was relatively small, stalactites hanging from the ceilings, frozen cobwebs littering various spots, it wasn't even that deep either. The back of the cave was only ten feet away from the entrance. However, the sound of breathing could be heard from the darkness of the backside of the cave.
"What do ya suppose that sound could be?" Apple Bloom asked out loud, mostly to herself.
"Let's find out!" Scootaloo said as she rushed towards the sound.
"Scootaloo wait!" Sweetie Belle yelled out, only to be ignored.
Scootaloo kept running until she came to a stop in front of a group of Cubchoos, she smiled happily as she took out one of the pokeballs from the bag. "All right!" She scanned the group of sleeping Cubchoo, and threw her pokeball at the biggest one she saw. The pokeball hit the target, and the pokeball got sucked in. Unfortunately, the pokeball broke open almost instantly, and a very angry Beartic popped out.
Scootaloo's pupils shrank when she saw her mistake. "Oops..."
"Oops? What do ya- uh-oh...' Apple Bloom asked in a scolding tone before looking up at the angry Beartic.
"Sorry Mr. Bear!" Scootaloo called out nervously.
Sweetie Belle was too busy looking for the pokemon in her encyclopedia to say much.
"Beartic!" It shouted ferociously as the group of Cubchoos woke up, and started running out of the cave in a panic. Once the Beartic saw it's cubs run out the cave, it covered itself in a red glow before rushing at Scootaloo.
"Scootaloo!" Skeeter called out as he lept in front of the Superpower attack, getting slammed against a wall and falling unconsciously after.
"Skeeter!" She rushed over to the downed Lucario, and watched as the Beartic glared at her from the entrance of the cave.
Then it raised it started stomping on the ground madly before slamming against the sides of the cave with it’s body, before running out. This disruption caused the whole cave to shake before a bunch of rocks fell in front of the entrance. They were trapped.
"Oh no..." Sweetie Belle said sadly as she dropped her book. "That was a Beartic, it's very defensive of it’s young. Like a real bear would be." She then turned to Scootaloo with a glare. "What the hay were you thinking?! Now we are trapped here!"
Scootaloo threw her hands up defensively. "I'm sorry!"
Apple Bloom tried moving one of the rocks, with no luck. "Girls, we have a bigger problem on our hands. How are we going to get out?"
Outside of the cave, on top of a cliff nearby, the silhouette of a four-legged pokemon could be seen watching the event take place.