"Leav, Leavanny?"
"Chansey..."
"Miltank, mil Miltank!"
Dinky could barely hear a number of voices around her as she slowly returned to consciousness. However, it was a little while longer before her vision came back. As her eyes slowly opened, she found that she was looking up at a forest canopy. The leaves of the trees formed a ceiling with many holes in it that let sunlight stream in towards where Dinky lay. After viewing what was above her for a moment, Dinky hazily looked over to see four figures not too far from where she was. Two of them were rather bulky in build, and the other two were noticeably thinner. The bulky ones and one of the skinny ones looked to be about the same height as an average mare, but the last one looked like it was almost as tall as Princess Celestia herself, maybe even a little taller.
Dinky tried to rub her head, but noticed that her hooves were caught under something. A quick glance down revealed that she was currently lying under what looked like a blanket made of leaves and silk string.
“Wha...?” Dinky asked as she tried to take the blanket of leaves off.
“Leavanny!” the short skinny figure shouted as it rushed forward towards Dinky. “Leavanny Leavanny!”
Upon closer view, Dinky saw that the creature was bipedal and looked like a bug for the most part, but it was also dressed in leaves. With how odd it looked, Dinky could only assume this creature was another Pokemon.
“She's upset with you,” another voice said to Dinky, this one oddly fast. She cocked her head to the right to find the other skinny creature walking up to Dinky, followed by the other two. The creature who spoke was also bipedal, and it wore a gray jacket, white pants, and a black cap. He also had messy but still long green hair. “Leavanny is never happy when someone messes with her creations of leaves.”
“I... what?” Dinky asked. “I'm sorry, but-”
“Oh, no, it's ok,” the creature said as he knelt down to see Dinky better. “You've been through a lot. I'd understand if you were confused.”
Dinky was silent.
The creature sighed before continuing. “I'll try to give you everything one at a time. First off, my name is N, and these are some friends of mine. Leavanny you've met. This one is Miltank.” He indicated one of the bulky creatures, which Dinky recognized as some type of cow, only this one stood upright. “And the other one is Chansey.” Chansey was mostly a large pink ball with some feather-like attachments to her head and a pouch on her belly which held an egg.
“Are you all Pokemon?” Dinky asked.
“Not all of us,” N replied. “They are, but I'm a human. I'm sure you've at least heard of my kind.”
“I heard Arceus turned all you 'hoomans' into Pokemon,” Dinky said with a tone of confusion in her voice.
“Perhaps he did...” N said. “But what good is an existence without mysteries?”
“Well-” Dinky started, but she was cut off when she heard a soft growling noise. It took less than a second to register that the noise was coming from her own stomach. “Eh heh heh... I don't think I've had anything to eat since last night. Do you know what time it is?”
“Just before noon, I believe,” N replied.
“Chansey,” Chansey chirped as it stepped forward proceeding to pick up its egg and hand it to Dinky. “Chan Chansey.”
“She's offering you breakfast,” N explained. “It's not every day that a Chansey actually offers its egg to someone.”
“Ok,” Dinky said. She then turned back to Chansey and took the egg. “Thank you, Chansey.”
“Chansey Chansey!” the Pokemon replied with a smile.
“It looked like she was fond of this egg,” Dinky said. “Will it be ok?”
“She can make another egg easily,” N replied. “Go ahead and eat that one, though. It's very nutritious.”
Dinky wasn't sure about what N was saying, but she decided to take a bite of the egg anyway. The egg tasted really good, like it was full of life energy. As Dinky swallowed the bite she took, she thought about how happy the egg made her feel for some reason. Almost happy enough to forget about-
“CLEFAIRY!” Dinky suddenly shouted, startling everyone around her.
“What?” N asked.
“I was with Clefairy last night,” Dinky said. “We got attacked by something. I don't remember much, but...” Dinky then started crying. “But whatever it was, it took her. She was my best friend, too.”
N wasn't sure how to confront the situation before him. He was used to comforting Pokemon, but the time he'd spent in Equestria so far had taught him that ponies weren't quite the same as Pokemon.
“Uh...” N said while reaching an unsure hand towards Dinky. “There there, don't cry. I'm sure your Clefairy's alright.”
“That thing said it wanted to eat her,” Dinky replied. “Oh, why did I drag Clefairy with me to that stupid graveyard?” It was then that Dinky started crying loudly again.
“Wait a second,” N said. “Did you say you were in a graveyard?”
“Y-yes,” Dinky said through her tears. “W-we wanted to see some P-Pokemon that didn't hang around Ponyville.”
“Do you know exactly what it was that attacked you two?” N asked.
Dinky managed to stop crying for a moment, but her voice was still shaky. “A Gengar, a Muk, something that tried crawling out of a grave, and its hands. But the hands were huge and they were floating around.”
“Oh no,” N said. “I think I know what exactly happened to you and Clefairy.”
“Really?” Dinky asked. “Aside from us getting randomly attacked, right?”
N shook his head with an expression on his face that said he was less than enthusiastic to explain what he was about to to Dinky. “I'm afraid this was no random attack,” he finally said. “I fear you disturbed one of the most dangerous spirits in Pokemon history.”
“What does that mean?” Dinky asked. N was silent. “What does it mean?”
N shook his head, but spoke this time. “It's not a pretty story,” he said. “But even so, it would be too much trouble to tell.”
“But will the story tell me what happened to Clefairy?” Dinky asked. N sighed.
“I'm afraid so,” he finally said. He then turned to his Pokemon companions. “You three should leave for now.”
Leavanny, Chansey, and Miltank could tell from N's tone that it would be wise to follow his directions, so they all departed from view, leaving Dinky and N in the clearing.
“There's a few parts to this story, and the first part is a little easier to say,” N started. “I was in the woods last night. While there, I heard you and Clefairy screaming and some kind of commotion going on. I looked over to find that you two were in trouble. I recognized the Pokemon you were facing and instantly leapt into action. I fought your four assailants off before picking you two up and trying to run you back to safety, but the creature who attacked you, Buried Alive, had his Pokemon and White Hands give chase, one of them knocking me to the ground, causing me to drop you. After that, its Muk attacked me and kept me from getting to you.”
“Wait a second-” Dinky started.
“I know what you're about to say,” N said. “That detail will be touched upon in a moment. The Muk had me pinned and I was unable to get out, but then Clefairy attacked it, allowing me to get up. Then Clefairy turned to me. 'Get Dinky out of here,' she said. 'She's hurt to badly to move anymore, so you're her only hope. I'll draw the others away. Dinky is more important to me than I am, and I could never live with myself if I survived this and she didn't.'” N paused for a moment before continuing. “I'd only seen that kind of a commitment to a trainer in a few other Pokemon, and I would have been more moved had I not had to comply with her wish and get you out of there. So I picked you up and ran as fast as I could before I brought you to this clearing. Then I and the others you saw before watched you until you woke.”
“But does that mean Clefairy is...?” Dinky started, but she didn't dare finish her own question. Instead, she opted to rephrase it. “Is there a way to save her?”
“And that's where we get to the second part of the story,” N said. “But Dinky Hooves, I need you to be brave, and be ready to face the truth I'm about to reveal to you.”
“But could the rest of the story tell me how to save Clefairy?” Dinky asked. “That's all I wanna know right now.”
“Perhaps,” N said. “But I must apologize if you don't find the answer right away. And I must also apologize if what you see is... terrifying.”
“I'll be brave,” Dinky said as she looked up. “For Clefairy.”
“So be it,” N said. He then stood up and took a few steps away from Dinky. Then, he lifted his head slightly and started glowing with a slightly golden light. Particles of light swirled around him, all of which started to turn dark before completely engulfing his body. When the particles faded, however, what remained was not N, but rather a Zoroark. One Dinky recognized as the one who saved her the night before.
“No way...” Dinky said as she stared wide eyed.
It was right then that Zoroark looked up with a slight glint in its eye. “Zoroark!” it roared before rushing forward towards Dinky with one of its claws in striking position.
Dinky could do nothing but scream as Zoroark pounced and the world around her went dark once again.