We stand at the intersection, looking into the dense, packed Krosa forest. I have no doubt a fire-type could use Flamethrower until they were hoarse, and make no dent in the greenery. Heavy, dense trees lined the dirt path leading in, roots hacked and chopped to leave the road clear.
“So... we just need to go in there, then?” Rarity says, sounding unsure.
“Yeah,” is my only response.
None of us move into the deep shadows before us. I shrug and take a step in. “Well, if we can’t walk through a dark forest, we won’t get very far, now will we?”
The two follow me, though I think it’s more because they don’t want to be reduced in ‘herd’ size near this forest, not because of my rousing commentary. The forest floor is almost pitch black, and it takes my eyes some time to adjust. It doesn’t help that thin spears of light break the canopy, making the floor dapple between void-black and searing gold. A deep hush fills the roadway, only broken by our breathing and the occasional noise in the woods. It’s eerie beyond belief, and I occasionally see leering faces hide in the deep darkness at the edges of the road when they think I’m not looking. They always vanish if I look straight at them, so I’m hoping they’re just hallucinations from the quiet, or small pokémon being curious.
A few seem to have begun following us more closely, becoming obfuscated by the undergrowth, but sometimes becoming easily visible. I stop as I hear a distinctive, wooden clack, repeated four times. Only a few things make that noise. The top two being a nutcracker...
And a Shiftry.
A pair of silvery eyes glare from the dense canopy, and I see a bulky shape only by the spots of light it displaces from above. I lean close to Twilight and whisper just loud enough for her to hear. “Get Tepig out, and don’t panic.”
Twilight seems to already be halfway there, and I have to remind myself she has no idea what’s out there, in the slightest. The little fire-pig appears in the characteristic flash of white, and looks around at the darkness. Almost immediately, Tepig runs over to Twilight and hugs her leg, looking scared.
“If you trained as much as I hope you did, Tepig should give us at least a distraction so we can get away. For now, let’s just try circling around and hope it doesn’t get us. Shiftry are fast.”
A whoosh from behind us prompts me and Twilight to turn around, in time to see Rarity’s beret vanish. An eerie piping fills the air, and I feel dread settle into my chest like a weight.
“Ooooookay. Twilight, if Tepig doesn’t know Flame Charge yet, we may be in trouble.”
We begin to try turning back out of the forest, and see the Shiftry, gleefully wearing Rarity’s hat and grinning smugly at us. Rarity appears to be covering her fear with indignity, but I don’t think it’ll be enough. “Get Spheal too. I think we have to gamble the Ice advantage for the weakness to grass...”
The Shiftry begins to walk in exaggerated sashays, obviously mocking Rarity. It’s actually kinda hysterical, since it’s a very wide, short pokémon taunting Rarity this way. Wait... Taunting. Crap, it’s trying to start a fight!
“Twilight!” I whisper harshly. “Do something, or I will, and I’m not equipped for this.”
“I read about these, though! They’re called the ‘wicked’ pokémon! That can’t mean they’re really nice pokémon!”
I sigh. Fighting really wouldn’t help us at all. I turn to the Shiftry. “Fine, you want the hat? Take it. We’re leaving.” I take a step forward down the trail.
I hear a distressed noise from Rarity, but she doesn’t protest any further, Twilight also walks along, ungainly from the fire-type glued to her leg and the Spheal in her arms. I hear a dejected sigh from behind me, and resist the urge to turn around.
“It’s just a hat Rarity, there are worse things to have happen. And Twilight, no offense, but I’m guaranteed to know anything you could possibly learn about Pokémon, and then some. Secondly, a pokémon’s nature is individual. Not all pokémon are the same in their species. If that were true, Rarity wouldn’t have Ledyba. It would have taken one look at us, realized it was alone, and bolted.”
I hear two loud clacks from behind me, and risk a look back. The shiftry is sulking, and turned away, and I see it blur as it leaps into the canopy. “It was just trying to egg us into a fight. That seems more ‘competitive’ than ‘wicked’ wouldn’t you say?”
“Idunno... but that sigh, do you think it was disappointed in us for not fighting?” Twilight asks, looking at me.
“Yeah. His goal was to fight us. We didn’t. He got disappointed. So now the super-peaceful pony culture says we should try and beat the crap out of someone if they are literally asking for it, even though ‘violence is bad’? Make up your mind.”
“I’m just trying to understand. I can’t do anything if I don’t understand what’s going on.” Unlike Rainbow Dash, but that’s neither here nor there.
“That will be a severe handicap in this place, just warning you. Crazy stuff happens, and you have to react whether you know if it’s the right way or not.”
“Well, I don’t want to make a wrong choice that gets somebody killed.” Twilight says quietly.
“But doing nothing is just as likely to get someone get killed. What’s worse? Them dying because you screwed up, or them dying because you didn’t try?” I look back, intending to give Twilight a strong look, and see that she’s really not taking it well. Sighing, I remind myself that she’s used to magic pony land, where knowing the answer is easy, and getting it right means everybody’s happy. Well, here, she needs to learn. At least she did do the right thing in not engaging the Shiftry. It was a minimum of around level twenty, but likely a lot higher than that, judging by its speed and willingness to fight a Fire type. It even got Rarity’s hat from in front of us without us seeing it.
“So, how many times do I have to say ‘this world is dangerous and strange’ before you get it? I can always write it down and duct tape it to your foreheads.”
I don’t get a response, and I shake my head in exasperation. I see some larger spots of light ahead. Picking up the speed, I move towards them, only to stop and help halt the girls when I see what it is. A group of Victreebel and Weepinbell are resting in the canopy, shimmering clouds of dust floating around them. There’s some clear spots between them, but it’s going to take some level of agility to make it past safely.
“Okay, we need to be quick. If one of those is mad or hungry, it’s gonna try to eat us alive. No joke. Like, whole.” I pause for a moment. “Also, don’t touch the spore clouds. I’m guessing it’s either stun spore and will lock up your muscles, or it’s sleep powder which is self-explanatory.”
Rarity nods, looking like she’s going to stretch, until I see Twilight, back in pony form, simply roll her eyes. A large, pink dome forms over us, and she just starts walking forwards. I move to keep up, and watch as the dome brushes aside the dust and gently moves the resting grass-types out of the way. None of them lash out, though I see a sleeping Weepinbell drool on the shield. The slime slides off, and begins eating an acidic hole in the turf.
“And that’s why they’re classified as Poison type.” I mention, as we continue on. “I have a feeling that we should find a place to grind a bit so we aren’t outclassed.”
The girls nod, Twilight’s horn glow a reassuring light in the deep gloom. We continue on after breaching the other side of the colony, spotting other poison-types and grass types nearby, all of them also sleeping. Then I see a group of Shroomish and Foongus huddled on a thick mound. Then, I see that it’s a sleeping Slaking. then, I see it’s not breathing, and has a hole in its chest with more Foongus nested in there. Eesh. I don’t call attention to it, Twilight may need to be less naive, but that would just be cruel, and I don’t want her losing concentration.
Finally, we’re past the nesting grass pokémon, and I see what I sincerely hope is a clearing ahead. Breathing a sigh of relief, I can only smile when we arrive and see that it is.
Looking up, I regret the relief immediately, as I see what is the absolute most copyright infringing replica of the main gates from Jurassic Park staring down at me. Complete with torch-bowls. On the top of the arc are the words, ‘Primal Reserve’. Down at eye level is a smaller sign, saying, ‘no trespassing. this is for your own safety.’ hand-written in sloppy black paint.
Wait... Primal Reserve, Jurassic P-... Oh brother. I thought I left the puns behind in Equestria. Oh well, it’s probably just a coincidence. They most likely don’t have any dinosaurs. But prehistoric pokémon... I grin. If I land myself a Kabutops, I will be very very happy. Though type-coverage-wise, my team will be a little unbalanced.
I step up to a little gatehouse next to the massive doors, and see a guy in a gray suit with a black jacket on, a stylized red “A” on the shoulder, standing in the gatehouse.
I wave to the guy. “Hey man, I was wondering if we could go in. We uh, should be prepared enough.”
The guy looks me up and down. “Uh, I’m sorry. I’m just a guard... I can try phonin’ ya in, but the boss- er, my boss, that is, said he’d be kinda busy up there.”
“Oh. Well, perhaps another time then. We were actually looking for some of the breeding ranches around here, know where we could find them?”
“Ah, I’d have to call up the chain y’know? Gimme a minute, I should call ‘em about you anyways. Don’t go anywhere, ‘kay?” He says making placating gestures. There’s not really anywhere I can go, and Twilight’s still in her pony form.
The guard turns to a phone on the wall and picks it up, going as far towards the back of the gatehouse booth as the cord will reach and leaning against the wall. He stares at me, then Twilight, then Rarity, then back to me as he starts talking on the phone.
Now, I’m not an eavesdropper by nature, usually. But I can hear some of what he’s saying, because he’s really bad about remembering to whisper.
“Yeah, it’s two kids... No, don’t think so. Might be a Ranger... One of ‘em... neat pokémon. Never seen... for the collection? Yeah. Lemme see if I can... Yeah, they’ll believe what I say. They think I’m a guard.”
Man, I hope whoever he works for has a million other goons just like him. They would be the most hilariously easy organization to take apart. I was hoping for something along the lines of a serious organization like Galactic or Rocket, but these will have to do. But for the sake of roleplay... I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear anything, see if he can keep his charade up.
As he hangs up the phone, he grins pleasantly. If he didn’t have such a hard time speaking quietly, he’d actually be decent at acting. However, he steps forward and immediately begins to speak. “So the boss wants t’ see ya. Said you’d get a free pass ‘n stuff. Pretty neat, huh? Not many trainers get to just come right in, you must be special, you two. Sweet date location, gotta say.” He winks at me, and I feel my face and arms freeze in an effort not to face-palm. Why is that the first thought anyone has about a guy and a girl wandering through a dark and scary forest more or less unsuperv- riiight.
“Well, guess we’re pretty lucky. As for special...” I walk up to the gate and give him a sideways glance and grin. “You have no idea...”
He grins back, apparently assured of his charade. I wonder if he plays poker... I could stand to make a ton of money.
The gates open before me- or, at least, a normal-sized door opens in one of the larger gate doors, which makes a lot more sense, now that I think about it. Twilight and Rarity follow me through the door, which shuts behind us with an ominous clang! sound. Ahead is more trees, and a simple dirt road continuing where the one outside left off.
Hmmm... I wonder if the girls picked up anything about that guy. Knowing the typically peaceful land they live in, I wouldn’t put it past them to not understand the idea of a crime syndicate. “So, what did you think of that ‘gatekeeper’ back there? Notice anything strange?”
Twilight speaks first. “Well, he seemed alright... but I got this really slimy feeling when he talked, like he wanted to sell something... or buy something, which is somehow worse. Idunno, that doesn’t make much sense, does it?”
Rarity, who actually stands a little taller than me in her human form, turns to me and whispers urgently. “There was another human on the floor in the booth. I could see a set of boots tied up. And that ensemble is utterly gauche.”
“Heh, aside from that. That may or may not be their uniform. Not entirely sure of their purpose or intents, but you know how a lot of people think you guys are rare Pokémon? Well, what do some people try to do with rare things? Those who are of more... questionable morality?”
Twilight scrunches up her face. “Collect them where they can’t be shown to others?”
Rarity, though gets it, judging by her narrowed eyes and her snort of rage, she understands perfectly. “Thieves.” She says it with a level of venom strong enough to grant a status affliction, and I have to take a step back out of her grip as her hands tighten on my shoulders.
“Yeah. No idea of their motives, but some people form groups, make a job out of stealing rare pokémon and either using them to steal more, or selling them off to make a profit. Usually not caring about how badly they treat the pokémon they steal. As for the other guy, most likely he’s the real gatekeeper, and that first guy tied him up and took his place. By his boss, I assume we are to meet the leader of their organization. First thing on their agenda? Incapacitate us, and take our Pokémon. That would include you, Twilight, since you are technically very rare.”
Twilight looks horrified. “But... that’s like plagiarism!” she says, sounding utterly aghast. Right, scholar first, everything else second.
“Plagiarism? You could end up in a cage too small to actually hold you, barely fed and treated like a filthy animal then sold to whoever’s willing to pay the most money for you. This will also happen to all our Pokémon if they aren’t desirable enough. Now do you get it?”
Twilight looks somewhere between terrified... and horrifically angry. These ponies may not be the most worldly, but holy crap can they muster a righteous fury when they think it’s called for. She simply motions for me to follow, her pokéballs in her magical grasp.
“So, they don’t know that we know. We are gonna walk in there and see this guy. We will be given free pass up to him, apparently, and when things start to turn ugly... we should probably have a plan for that, because we are likely to be not only outmatched, but also outnumbered by at least a dozen to one. These crime organizations are normally pretty big.”
Twilight only stops, I think, because she realizes that she’d just be handing her pokémon over to waltz in like she is. Or maybe something else stops her, hell if I know right now. But she stops, and looks at me. “I think I have a plan. Now hand me your pokémon while I explain...”