//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Starlight: Redshift // by the-pieman //------------------------------// Rarity went through her battle much more defensively, trying to carefully keep her pokémon safe and out of reach, while launching lots of ranged attacks. Overall, I am rather impressed. the battle is taking longer, but Rarity’s Pokémon are much less injured than mine end up as. Not knowing many attack names or the movesets is a problem, but she seems to get the gist of it at least. More importantly, each pokémon that goes down is making her look absolutely miserable, whether hers or her opponent’s. She’s definitely not good as a Trainer, but she’ll do well in the competition circle. Eventually they are down to their last Pokémon each, Rarity making surprisingly good use of a Sliggoo against an impressively resilient Tangela, neither making much headway. The Sliggoo was just healing from all of Tangela’s attacks and Tangela unable to deal enough damage without getting in range of Sliggoo’s Poison Tail, which I assume was bred in. “Rarity, Sliggoo can use-!” I stop myself. Gotta remember. No helping! “Just... do your best.” I facepalm, jeez it can be hard being the smart one. I just sit quietly and watch, my brain screaming advice silently, hoping through some mystic power I can inject my strategies into her brain. It works as well as that time I tried to blow up cars on the freeway using the power of thought alone: It only worked once. The two continued to circle, until finally, Rarity told Sliggoo to just close in and hit it already, her own frustration with the half-hour long match just as evident as mine. Thankfully, poison is plenty effective against grass, and the Tangela was down. Now I await for the professor to tell Rarity she passed. I mean she obviously would be very protective, something trainers have to be... though perhaps not to her extent... “Well, you did quite well in the practical, though your test scores were only so-so. You need to brush up on move names, and type advantages. All of that aside... you passed. You’ll need to speak with someone certified if you want to become a Licensed breeder, but I can give you your Trainer Card and get you on the road to doing the other parts of this.” Rarity takes it well, and the Ledyba that’s been following her toddles over and receives a hug from her. Next is Twilight... who comes in looking more nervous than I’ve ever seen her. She came out looking mostly like a normal human, though her three-tone hair won’t stick out here in the Pokemon world. Yay for anime genes. She looks at the arena, and steps up, and the exam battle begins. It was a short, brutal battle. Twilight kept trying to give good advice, but it was often good advice for another situation. I mean, I figured she was doomed from the start as she tried throwing a shrunken ball first... but this battle. Yikes. Gotta give her credit though, she’s obviously doing her best. Her first matchup was a really bad one, with a fight between a Scyther and a Roselia going exactly how it sounds like it would, only with a bit less blood and a lot more crying. The second matchup, between that same Scyther and Twilight’s second pokémon, a Swadloon, went a little better until the Scyther used a Wing Attack and ended that fight. Twilight actually took down the Scyther when her next pokémon was a Lairon, but she wasn’t able to figure out how to beat Professor Basswood’s speed with the Monferno. The fire-fighting combo bludgeoned that poor Lairon. “You did very well on your test, you got all but one of the questions right and you showed a lot of pluck in continuing with the heavy type disadvantages you faced.” Twilight smiled happily at the review, but the smile broke when the professor continued. “However, you did abysmally at leading your pokémon, and nearly got them severely injured several times during the battle. You tried being too cautious, and then tried being too aggressive, and the sudden switch in tactics was ill-timed.” As Twilight wilts, I can’t help but feel a little sorry. She’d only even heard of these things today, and she spent part of the morning nearly unconscious from being knocked around by one. “I’m going to pass you, but you need to concentrate on working on these deficiencies. Merely knowing the statistics and the premade strategies will only get you so far.” I stand up and walk over to Twilight. “Yeah, books and tests only go so far. Doing it is different, and you just need practice. I might be able to consider you my rival in a month’s time if you get better every day! If you’re lucky.” Twilight scowls at me, but she actually looks too cute for that. It’s strange, but I’m starting to see human faces as ‘adorable’. I think I spent too long in Equestria. “Alright, you three, let’s just go look up your records, and then get your Trainer Cards matched to them, and you’ll be all set.” I feel ice slip through my veins. She hadn’t meant I needed no record, she’d meant I needed a clean record. This might go over very poorly. “Well, actually, professor... there might be a problem.” I think Quickly. “Twilight and Rarity won’t be in there, for obvious reasons... sentient Pokemon and all. I, uh...” I can’t think of any excuse for myself, I am so doomed! “Yes?” Basswood quirks an eyebrow, and the girls are looking confused. “Wait, you have a national identification system? Do they work through those computers?” Twilight asks. “Well, computers in general, yes. But those computers back there are specific for certain tasks, so their capabilities are heavily limited.” “So... those are limited?” Twilight asks, looking shocked. “that’s... that’s amazing!” “Ahem!” Basswood clears her throat, and we pay attention again. “So... do you have an excuse? Or are you going to tell me your real name, and let me figure out what’s going on? Or do I need to call in an officer and have you arrested?” Drastic times call for drastic measures. “I... I won’t be in there, because I’m not entirely human either...” I Spark up, my glow a bit more faded than I recall, but my skin is still gray and slightly transparent, leaving little to the imagination that I’m not ‘normal’. “Uh-huh. And the fact that there’s more than two dozen ways you could be faking that, or otherwise doing with any number of psychic abilities, makes your demonstration hold little weight.” right, psychic abilities are something humans have here. I try to demonstrate a bit more variety. I hold up my hands and summon flames from my palms, again, oddly lacking the power I’m used to, but still... fire! It’s not as impressive as I’d thought it would be, not much more than a candle flame. “Okay, you have a basic grasp of pyrokinesis.” Damnit... Gotta up the ante. Electricity? Worth a shot. I generate sparks now, shifting to my Dynamo form for a proper demonstration of high-powered electricity. A single spark jumps between my fingers, and I feel a wave of dizziness begin to overtake me. Where the hell did my powers go? “No, wait! Really! I’m a stellar being, a living star, I swear! Twilight, back me up on this!” “He really is. Though, us being pokémon wasn’t accurate... We’re ponies, from Equestria. It’s another world.” Basswood looks at her for a moment. “Oh. Uh... I don’t... I don’t know what to say to that.” “Listen, I know it sounds crazy, but believe me, I used to have a lot more power than this. I've saved towns from demons! I don’t know why I’m so diluted now, but really, we’re from somewhere else!” Basswood inhaled deeply. “I- I‘m going to have a friend of mine come in, and make sure you’re telling the truth. It’ll take him about a day, so I guess I can put those two up in the guest bedroom. You can stay on the couch. don’t make me have to track you down, got it?” “Yes ma’am...” Dang, this was not going as planned... but with a foolproof lie-detector backing us up, we’ll be in the clear by tomorrow morning! ...Right? “Now if you don’t mind, I need to go send him a message.” I turn to the girls, still feeling wiped. “Sorry... I figured it would be a bit easier than this. I guess I just wanted it so badly that... sorry.” The night was a long one, but at least dinner was spaghetti and meatballs. Explaining that was fun.